Jeremiah 3

Jeremiah 3:1-5

The foregoing chapter was wholly taken up with reproach and threatening, against the people of God for their appalling from him; but in this chapter gracious invitations and encouragements are given them to repent and turn, notwithstanding the multitude and grounds of their provocations. Here, 1. It is further shown how had they had been, and how well they deserved to be abandoned, and yet how ready God was to receive them into his favour, ver. 1—5.

2. The impenetracy of Judah is aggravated from the judgments of God upon Israel, ver. 6—11. 3. Great encouragements are given to these backfidders to repent; and promises made of great mercy which God had in afters for them, ver. 12—19. 4. The charge removed against them for their appalling from God, and the invitation repeated to repent, to which are added the words which they should make use of in their return to God, ver. 20—25.

3. THEY say, If a man put away his wife, and the go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but ’thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, faith the LORD.

4. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with: ‘in the ways hast thou far for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness, and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms, and with thy wickedness. 3. Therefore the flowers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain, and thou hastst a whore’s forehead, thou refuse’st to be ashamed. 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art ’the guide of my youth?

5. Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldst.

When for our sins we deserve to be abandoned, our God is merciful, and not willing that any should perish, as here most eminently appears.

1. Their iniquities were great, numberless, and aggravated. Like the most infamous prostitute, thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, multiplying their idols as their sister, chap. ii. 28. and not an high place was in the land where their spiritual adulteries had not been committed, v. 2. Nay, they had courted others to join them, as a prostitute sits by the way, cultivating the traveller; or as the Arabian robber, lying in wait for his prey. Brazen against reproof, with a whore’s forehead they blushed at none of their abominations; but as if trying how wicked they could be, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldst; they gloried in their wickedness, and studied to provoke God to the uttermost. Nere, (1.) Lewdness indulged by degrees banishes shame; and this last relic of virtue lost, there is no hope of recovery. (2.) The thief that lies in wait for our purse is innocent, compared with the temptor, that by leading us into sin, would rob us of our fools. (3.) They are advanced to the summit of wickedness, who give an unbounded loose to all their appetites, and know no restraint from sin, but the want of ability.

2. God would be perfectly justified in giving them up to destruction. The law was express in case of an adulteress divorced, that she could no more be restored to her husband’s bed, for the land would have been polluted thereby. God might therefore well treat them in the same manner, by an utter rejection, especially after he had in vain chastised them, by withholding their rain in its season; and instead of repenting, they continued hardened under his judgments, v. 3. Nere, (1.) If sinners had to do with man instead of God, all reconciliation must be defeated of. (2.) When the heart is stubborn under the rod of correction, it is much to be feared the stroke of final judgment is near.

3. Notwithstanding all that was past, God invites them to return, and directs them in the way. Return again and not, faith the Lord, which contains a gracious intimation that he was yet ready to receive them. And the chief of sinners may be assured, whenever they in penitence cry to him, he will yet speak to them pardon; and therefore will then not from this time cry to me? after so long and treacherous departures, it is high time at last, though late, to begin; and now is the accepted time, when the invitations of mercy are pleading, and without delay to be embraced. And least, confounded at their guilt, they should not know what to say, God puts words in their mouth, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth; as returning

prodigals, unworthy to be called children, yet hoping to find in God a merciful father; and as those, that since they have left him, have ever erred and wandered to and fro in misery, and therefore desire to be taken under his care; and henceforward, as in the days of youth, to be guided by his will and word. Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? No; he is God, and not man, and as his majesty is, faith is his mercy. Nere, (1.) If a sense of God’s grace does not engage the sinner’s heart to return, nothing can. (2.) They who begin to be sensible of their departures from God, will be importunate on their knees, to be restored to his forfeited favours. (3.) Whatever fears unbelief may suggest, God is a father, whose tender compassions fail not, and we may confidently trust in his mercy.

6. The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, ‘Halt thou seers dear which backfisting Israel hath done?’ she is gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7. And I said, after the land done all these things, ‘Turn thou unto me; but the returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backfisting Israel committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 9. And it came to pass through the highlands of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with flocks. 10. And yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but I feignedly, faith the LORD. 11. And the LORD said unto me, ‘The backfisting Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah,

Jeremiah 3:6-11

Josiah heartily laboured after the reformation of the people, and the prophet, with his sermons, seconded his pious design; but we find the labours of both were ineffectual. The kingdom of Judah was become apolitic as the kingdom of Israel, and must shortly share her fate.

1. The sin and ruin of backfisting Israel are observed. The prophet, in the history of that kingdom, had seen their miserable end about ninety years before. They first revolted from David’s successors, and then left God’s worship for adultery; not only in Dan and Bethel, but on every mountain and under every green tree their spiritual adulteries were committed, v. 6. In vain the prophets warned, in vain the patience of God waited, in vain were all his gracious invitations to return; they persisted in their impenetrics, v. 7. and that produced their ruin: God gave them a divorce; thrust out of his protection, and then they were quickly enshrined, and became a prey to their enemies, v. 8. Nere, Backfidders shall sooner or later be filled with their own ways, and cut their choice.

2. Judah took no warning by the Judgment. She is called her treacherous sister, sprung from the same flock of Jacob, and though affecting to cleave to God’s temple and worship, false and faithless in her professions, v. 7. Instead of being awed, or reformed by her sister’s ruin, she plunged unto the same sins, and played the harlot also, v. 8. As abominable as ever Israel had been, she defiled the land, and with such bare gods as flocks and stones committed adultery, v. 9. Yes, notwithstanding the efforts made by the gracious monarch Josiah, and those who afflicted him in the work, though for a time the people outwardly appeared reformed, their hearts were an unrenewed as ever, and their professions utterly hypocritical, v. 10. Nere, (1.) Appearances may impede upon men, but God trieth the heart. (2.) Hypocrisy is among the greatest sins, and the false-hearted professor may expect to meet an avenging God, as much as the abandoned prodigate. (3.) They who will not take warning by others falls, are harrowing to their own ruin.

3. God justifies backfisting Israel more than treacherous Judah. They had greater means, greater warnings, and made greater professions, therefore their guilt was more aggravated. This does not excuse Israel, but it adds to Judah’s iniquities. Nere, The more we have received from God of mercies and means, the heavier will be our judgment, if we have neglected and abused them.

4. Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, Return, thou backfisting Israel, faith the LORD, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, faith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hath scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, faith the LORD. 14. Turn, O backfisting children, faith the LORD, for I am married unto you

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children as they had been, and promises to heal their backfiddings and refrain them again to his grace and favour. Note, (1.) God is more willing to hear than we to pray, and not a tear falls from the eye of his penitents but it is noted in his book. (2.) The finner’s backfiddings are then healed, when God pardons the pails, and by his grace renews the heart, and prevents it from relashing again into sin.

3. God’s children earnestly and instantly accept his call, and echo back. Behold we come unto thee, without delay, without reserve: for thou art the Lord our God; late our offended but now our reconciled God, in which favour we have a sure interest, to which service we devote ourselves, and on whom alone our dependence is placed. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the fish, and from the multitude of mountains: their idol gods and human confidences they now renounce, convinced of their vanity and insufficiency. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel: out of him there is no salvation; in him there is all insufficiency to save to the uttermost; and as our God we may be assured of his power and grace to interpose on our behalf. We fulfil thus they express their confidence in him, they won their sin and shame, especially their idolatry, which they and their fathers had committed, and the dreadful consequences of which they felt to their confusion, in the curse of God upon all the labour of their hands, on their families and possessions; and own that the visitation was altogether righteous, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, v. 24, 25. Note, (1.) Penitent sinners ever take shame and confusion of face to themselves, and justify God in his judgments. (2.) The sense of our own great unworthiness must not discourage us from exercising faith on the divine promises. (3.) There is a salvation wrought out for Israel, by which the most desperate may fall find mercy through a Redeemer, and a reconciled God. (4.) When we return to Christ, we must renounce all other confidences, and make mention of his strength and righteousness only.