Verse 31
Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? - Have I ever withheld from you any of the blessings necessary for your support?
A land of darkness - Have you, since you passed through the wilderness, and came out of the darkness of Egypt, ever been brought into similar circumstances? You have had food and all the necessaries of life for your bodies; and my ordinances and word to enlighten and cheer your souls. I have neither been a wilderness nor a land of darkness to you.
We are lords - We wish to be our own masters; we will neither brook religious nor civil restraint; we will regard no laws, human or Divine. It was this disposition that caused them to fall in so fully with the whole system of idolatry.
Verse 32
Can a maid forget her ornaments - This people has not so much attachment to me as young females have to their dress and ornaments. They never forget them and even when arrived at old age, look with pleasure on the dress and ornaments which they have worn in their youth.
Days without number - That is, for many years; during the whole reign of Manasses, which was fifty-five years, the land was deluged with idolatry, from which the reform by good King Josiah his grandson had not yet purified it.
Verse 33
Why trimmest thou thy way - Ye have used a multitude of artifices to gain alliances with the neighboring idolatrous nations.
Hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways - Ye have made even these idolaters worse than they were before. Dr. Blayney translates, "Therefore have I taught calamity thy ways." A prosopopoeia: "I have instructed calamity where to find thee." Thou shalt not escape punishment.
Verse 34
The blood of the souls of the poor innocents - We find from the sacred history that Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; see [2Kgs 21:16], and [Eze 34:10].
I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these - Such deeds of darkness and profligacy are found only in Israel. Dr. Blayney translates, "I have not found it in a digged hole, but upon every oak." Others cover the blood that it may not appear; but ye have shed it openly, and sprinkled it upon your consecrated oaks, and gloried in it.
Verse 35
Because I am innocent - They continued to assert their innocence, and therefore expected that God's judgments would be speedily removed!
I will plead with thee - I will maintain my process, follow it up to conviction, and inflict the deserved punishment.
Verse 36
Why gaddest thou about - When they had departed from the Lord, they sought foreign alliances for support.
1. The Assyrians [2Chr 28:13-21]; but they injured instead of helping them.
2. The Egyptians: but in this they were utterly disappointed, and were ashamed of their confidence.
See [Jer 37:7-8] (note), for the fulfillment of this prediction.
Verse 37
Thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head - Thou shalt find all thy confidence in vain, - thy hope disappointed; - and thy state reduced to desperation. The hand being placed on the head was the evidence of deep sorrow, occasioned by utter desolation. See the case of Tamar, when ruined and abandoned by her brother Amnon, [2Sam 13:19].
Thou shalt not prosper in them - They shall all turn to thy disadvantage; and this as we shall see in the history of this people, was literally fulfilled. O what a grievous and bitter thing it is to sin against the Lord, and have him for an enemy!
Introduction
The first five verses of this chapter allude to the subject of the last; and contain earnest exhortations to repentance, with gracious promises of pardon, notwithstanding every aggravation of guilt, [Jer 3:1-5]. At the sixth verse a new section of prophecy commences, opening with a complaint against Judah for having exceeded in guilt her sister Israel, already cast off for her idolatry, [Jer 3:6-11]. She is cast off, but not forever; for to this same Israel, whose place of captivity (Assyria) lay to the north of Judea, pardon is promised on her repentance, together with a restoration to the Church of God, along with her sister Judah, in the latter days, [Jer 3:12-20]. The prophet foretells the sorrow and repentance of the children of Israel under the Gospel dispensation, [Jer 3:21]. God renews his gracious promises, [Jer 3:22]; and they again confess their sins. In this confession their not deigning to name the idol Baal, the source of their calamities, but calling him in the abstract shame, or a thing of shame, is a nice touch of the perusal extremely beautiful and natural, [Jer 3:22-25].
Verse 1
If a man put away his wife - It was ever understood, by the law and practice of the country, that if a woman were divorced by her husband, and became the wife of another man, the first husband could never take her again. Now Israel had been married unto the Lord; joined in solemn covenant to him to worship and serve him only. Israel turned from following him, and became idolatrous. On this ground, considering idolatry as a spiritual whoredom, and the precept and practice of the law to illustrate this case, Israel could never more be restored to the Divine favor: but God, this first husband, in the plenitude of his mercy, is willing to receive this adulterous spouse, if she will abandon her idolatries and return unto him. And this and the following chapters are spent in affectionate remonstrances and loving exhortations addressed to these sinful people, to make them sensible of their own sin, and God's tender mercy in offering to receive them again into favor.
Verse 2
As the Arabian in the wilderness - They were as fully intent on the practice of their idolatry as the Arab in the desert is in lying in wait to plunder the caravans. Where they have not cover to lie in ambush, they scatter themselves about, and run hither and thither, raising themselves up on their saddles to see if they can discover, by smoke, dust, or other token, the approach of any travelers.
Verse 3
There hath been no latter rain - The former rain, which prepared the earth for tillage, fell in the beginning of November, or a little sooner; and the latter rain fell in the middle of April, after which there was scarcely any rain during the summer.
Verse 4
Wilt thou not - cry unto me, My father - Wilt thou not allow me to be thy Creator and Preserver, and cease thus to acknowledge idols? See on [Jer 2:27] (note).
Verse 5
Will he reserve his anger for ever? - Why should not wrath be continued against thee, as thou continuest transgression against the Lord?
Verse 6
The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king - This is a new discourse, and is supposed to have been delivered after the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah. Here the prophet shows the people of Judah the transgressions, idolatry, obstinacy, and punishment of their brethren, the ten tribes, whom he calls to return to the Lord, with the most gracious promises of restoration to their own country, their reunion with their brethren of Judah, and every degree of prosperity in consequence. He takes occasion also to show the Jews how much more culpable they were than the Israelites, because they practiced the same iniquities while they had the punishment and ruin of the others before their eyes. He therefore exhorts them to return to God with all their hearts, that they might not fall into the same condemnation. See the following verses.
Verse 7
And I said - By the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, Amos, etc.; for all these prophesied to that rebellious people, and exhorted them to return to the Lord.
Verse 8
I had put her away - Given them up into the hands of the Assyrians.
Verse 9
The lightness of her whoredom - The grossness of her idolatry: worshipping objects the most degrading, with rites the most impure.