Jeremiah 2:4-8
4 Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
5 Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
6 Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
8 The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
He upbraids them with their horrid ingratitude, and the ill returns they had made him for these favour; let them all come and answer to his charge (Jer. 2:4); it is exhibited in the name of God against all the families of the house of Israel, for they can none of them plead, Not guilty.
(1.) He challenges them to produce any instance of his being unjust and unkind to them. Though he had conferred favours upon them in some things, yet, if in other things he had dealt hardly with them, they would not have been altogether without excuse. He therefore puts it fairly to them to show cause for their deserting him (Jer. 2:5): “What iniquity have your fathers found in me, or you either? Have you, upon trial, found God a hard master? Have his commands put any hardship upon you or obliged you to any thing unfit, unfair, or unbecoming you? Have his promises put any cheats upon you, or raised your expectations of things which you were afterwards disappointed of? You that have renounced your covenant with God, can you say that it was a hard bargain and that which you could not live upon? You that have forsaken the ordinances of God, can you say that it was because they were a wearisome service, or work that there was nothing to be got by? No; the disappointments you have met with were owing to yourselves, not to God. The yoke of his commandments is easy, and in the keeping of them there is great reward.” Note, Those that forsake God cannot say that he has ever given them any provocation to do so: for this we may safely appeal to the consciences of sinners; the slothful servant that offered such a plea as this had it overruled out of his own mouth, Luke 19:22. Though he afflicts us, we cannot say that there is iniquity in him; he does us no wrong. The ways of the Lord are undoubtedly equal; all the iniquity is in our ways.
(2.) He charges them with being very unjust and unkind to him notwithstanding.
[1.] They had quitted his service: “They have gone from me, nay, they have gone far from me.” They studied how to estrange themselves from God and their duty, and got as far as they could out of the reach of his commandments and their own convictions. Those that have deserted religion commonly set themselves at a greater distance from it, and in a greater opposition to it, than those that never knew it.
[2.] They had quitted it for the service of idols, which was so much the greater reproach to God and his service; they went from him, not to better themselves, but to cheat themselves: They have walked after vanity, that is, idolatry; for an idol is a vain thing; it is nothing in the world, 1 Cor. 8:4; Deut. 32:21; Jer. 14:22. Idolatrous worships are vanities, Acts 14:15. Idolaters are vain, for those that make idols are like unto them (Ps. 115:8), as much as stocks and stones as the images they worship, and good for as little.
[3.] They had with idolatry introduced all manner of wickedness. When they entered into the good land which God gave them they defiled it (Jer. 2:7), by defiling themselves and disfitting themselves for the service of God. It was God’s land; they were but tenants to him, sojourners in it, Lev. 25:23. It was his heritage, for it was a holy land, Immanuel’s land; but they made it an abomination, even to God himself, who was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel.
[4.] Having forsaken God, though they soon found that they had changed for the worse, yet they had no thoughts of returning to him again, nor took any steps towards it. Neither the people or the priests made any enquirer after him, took any thought about their duty to him, nor expressed any desire to recover his favour. First, The people said not, Where is the Lord? (Jer. 2:6). Though they were trained up in an observance of him as their God, and had been of then told that he brought him out of the land of Egypt, to be a people peculiar to himself, yet they never asked after him nor desired the knowledge of his ways. Secondly, The priests said not, Where is the Lord? (Jer. 2:8). Those whose office it was to attend immediately upon him were in no concern to acquaint themselves with him or approve themselves to him. Those who should have instructed the people in the knowledge of God took no care to get the knowledge of him themselves. The scribes, who handled the law, did not know God nor his will, could not expound the scriptures at all, or not aright. The pastors, who should have kept the flock from transgressing, were themselves ringleaders in transgression: They have transgressed against me. The pretenders to prophecy prophesied by Baal, in his name, to his honour, being backed and supported by the wicked kings to confront the Lord’s prophets. Baal’s prophets joined with Baal’s priests, and walked after the things which do not profit, that is, after the idols which can be no way helpful to their worshippers. See how the best characters are usurped, and the best offices liable to corruption; and wonder not at the sin and ruin of a people when the blind are leaders of the blind.
— Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714)
