3 Israel was holiness unto Jehovah, the first-fruits of his increase: all that devour him are guilty; evil shall come upon them, saith Jehovah.
According to his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a certain first-fruits of *his* creatures.
These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins: these are they who follow the Lamb wheresoever it goes. These have been bought from men [as] first-fruits to God and to the Lamb:
Lo, all that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish.
For a holy people art thou unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be unto him a people for a possession, above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
And now, if ye will hearken to my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall ye be my own possession out of all the peoples -- for all the earth is mine -- and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel.
Thus saith Jehovah against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of bewilderment unto all the peoples round about, and also against Judah shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day [that] I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone unto all peoples: all that burden themselves with it shall certainly be wounded, and all the nations of the earth shall be assembled together against it. In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; but I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness.
But *ye* [are] a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light;
according as he has chosen us in him before [the] world's foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love;
Now if the first-fruit [be] holy, the lump also; and if the root [be] holy, the branches also.
and falling on the earth he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he [said], *I* am Jesus, whom *thou* persecutest.
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO JEHOVAH; and the pots in Jehovah's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto Jehovah of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of hosts.
And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah: Israel is my son, my firstborn. And I say to thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill thy son, thy firstborn.
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: After the glory, hath he sent me unto the nations that made you a spoil; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Woe to them that are at ease in Zion and that are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the renowned of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come.
He hath made my vine a desolation, and barked my fig-tree; he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away: its branches are made white. Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Therefore all that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be for a spoil; and all they that prey upon thee will I give to be a prey.
I was wroth with my people, I polluted mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the aged didst thou very heavily lay thy yoke;
He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants. He sent Moses his servant, [and] Aaron whom he had chosen: They set his signs among them, and miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. He turned their waters into blood, and caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs, -- in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came dog-flies, [and] gnats in all their borders. He gave them hail for rain, [and] flaming fire in their land; And he smote their vines and their fig-trees, and broke the trees of their borders. He spoke, and the locust came, and the cankerworm, even without number; And they devoured every herb in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. And he smote every firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigour.
He suffered no man to oppress them, and reproved kings for their sakes, [Saying,] Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm.
I would soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of Jehovah would have come cringing unto him; but their time would have been for ever.
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they give to Jehovah, have I given thee.
and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labours which thou hast sown in the field, and the feast of in-gathering, at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labours out of the field.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 2
Commentary on Jeremiah 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
It is probable that this chapter was Jeremiah's first sermon after his ordination; and a most lively pathetic sermon it is as any we have is all the books of the prophets. Let him not say, "I cannot speak, for I am a child;' for, God having touched his mouth and put his words into it, none can speak better. The scope of the chapter is to show God's people their transgressions, even the house of Jacob their sins; it is all by way of reproof and conviction, that they might be brought to repent of their sins and so prevent the ruin that was coming upon them. The charge drawn up against them is very high, the aggravations are black, the arguments used for their conviction very close and pressing, and the expostulations very pungent and affecting. The sin which they are most particularly charged with here is idolatry, forsaking the true God, their own God, for other false gods. Now they are told,
Those hearts were hard indeed that were untouched and unhumbled when their sins were thus set in order before them. O that by meditating on this chapter we might be brought to repent of our spiritual idolatries, giving that place in our souls to the world and the flesh which should have been reserved for God only!
Jer 2:1-8
Here is,
Jer 2:9-13
The prophet, having shown their base ingratitude in forsaking God, here shows their unparalleled fickleness and folly (v. 9): I will yet plead with you. Note, Before God punishes sinners he pleads with them, to bring them to repentance. Note, further, When much has been said of the evil of sin, still there is more to be said; when one article of the charge is made good, there is another to be urged; when we have said a great deal, still we have yet to speak on God's behalf, Job 36:2. Those that deal with sinners, for their conviction, must urge a variety of arguments and follow their blow. God had before pleaded with their fathers, and asked why they walked after vanity and became vain, v. 5. Now he pleads with those who persisted in that vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers, and with their children's children, that is, with all that in every age tread in their steps. Let those that forsake God know that he is willing to argue the case fairly with them, that he may be justified when he speaks. He pleads that with us which we should plead with ourselves.
Jer 2:14-19
The prophet, further to evince the folly of their forsaking God, shows them what mischiefs they had already brought upon themselves by so doing; it had already cost them dear, for to this were owing all the calamities their country was now groaning under, which were but an earnest of more and greater if they repented not. See how they smarted for their folly.
Jer 2:20-28
In these verses the prophet goes on with his charge against this backsliding people. Observe here,
Jer 2:29-37
The prophet here goes on in the same strain, aiming to bring a sinful people to repentance, that their destruction might be prevented.