Jeremiah 2

CHAPTER 2THEME: Twofold condemnation of JudahIn the first chapter we saw the impressive call and commission of Jeremiah. God called him when he was a young man, probably about twenty years of age. We know also that the king Josiah was twenty-one or twenty-two years old when God called Jeremiah. So here we have two young men in the land of Israel, the young king and the young prophet. Jeremiah made it very clear that he felt incapable and unworthy of such a calling. He felt that he could not measure up to the office of a prophet, and he offered that as an excuse. God answered him that He would put His words into Jeremiah’s mouth. He would be giving God’s words, not his own. Chapters 2 through 6 were given during the first five years of Jeremiah’s ministry. And since he began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, these messages were given in those five years before the finding of the Book of the Law in the temple. The messages in chapters 7 through 9 have to do with the cleansing of the temple and the discovery of the Book of the Law, which took place in the eighteenth years of the reign of Josiah. Then in chapters 10 through 12 are the messages which came in the period of reform and revival after the finding of the Book of the Law. We will discover that the revival was a surface sort of thing because there was not proper emphasis placed upon the Word of God. Friend, we need to remember that there will never be a real revival until there is a real emphasis placed upon the Word of God. In order to orient ourselves for this period of history, we need to study the historical books along with the prophetic books. Therefore we will turn back to the thirty-fourth chapter of 2 Chronicles to fit the messages of Jeremiah into this particular place in history: “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left” (2Ch_34:1-2). Here is an outstanding king who reigned during the twilight of the kingdom of Judah. “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images (2Ch_34:3). Jeremiah’s first five years of prophesying were during this period. “And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God” (2Ch_34:4-8). It was during this time of cleaning out and repairing the house of the Lord that Hilkiah the priest found a Book of the Law as it had been given to Moses.

In those days probably there were only two copiesone was for the king and one was for the high priest. You see, before Josiah had come to the throne, Judah had sunk to a new low under the wicked and godless reins of his grandfather, Manasseh, and his father, Amon. They had no regard for God or His Word, and the one or two copies in existence were finally lost in the rubbish which collected in the neglected temple. Jeremiah’s first message (Jer. 2:1-3:5) is to this people who had forsaken the living God. It would be difficult to find any portion of Scripture that would surpass it in genuine pathos and tenderness. It is the eloquent and earnest pleading of a God who has been forgotten and insulted. His grace and compassion toward the guilty nation are blended with solemn warnings of dreadful days to come if hearts are not turned back to Him. This is one of the great discourses in the Word of God. The young king Josiah was truly seeking the Lord, but he didn’t have the Word of God! He did know, however, that idolatry must be put down. Now he has a young man, a young prophet, who will encourage him in his resolve.

Jeremiah 2:1

THEY REJECTED JEHOVAHGod is doing something quite wonderful. He is asking Israel to remember the springtime of their relationship to Him when He called them out of the land of Egypthow they followed the pillar of fire at night and the pillar of cloud by day. Out in that frightful and terrible wilderness they sought the Lord. God now reminds them of that. After God had blessed them and given them a good land, they turned form Him. As Hosea had said of the northern kingdom, “Ephraim waxed fat and wicked.” In their comfortable and sophisticated society, they turned away from the living God to serve idols. One cannot help but note that there is an analogy between Judah and our own nation. God is left out today. Our nation was founded by men and women who believed that the Book was the Word of God, and everything they did was based on that Book. As one of our outstanding historians has observed, our nation is controlled by men who do not know its spiritual heritage. We have turned away from God. We are going after the idol of the almighty dollar. The best news out of New York is a vigorous stock market. The best news out of Washington is that which will put more money in our pockets. Money is the god of the present hour. The Ephesians chanted, “…Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Act_19:28). The cry of America is, “Great is the almighty American dollar,” and God is left out. “I remember thee.” God says, “I remember you.” They had forgotten Him, but God had not forgotten them. Oh, how gracious God is! Listen to His longing: “Israel was holiness unto the LORD. Don’t you remember back there how you were? You belonged to Me. You followed Me and you were led by Me.”

Jeremiah 2:4

Although the ten tribes had been conquered by the Assyrians, they were still around. They hadn’t wandered over to Great Britain or America. He addresses the house of Jacob and all the families of Israel. (And they are the same people today, by the way.) God’s message was to them in that day although they were in the Assyrian captivity.

Jeremiah 2:5

Without doubt this is one of the great passages of Scripture. Notice the wonderful way in which God approaches them: “What did I do wrong that you have turned from Me?” In our day, my friend, what is wrong with God that we are not more interested in Him? Why are we not serving Him? Is there unrighteousness with God? Is God doing something wrong today? He asks, “What iniquity have your fathers found in me?”

Jeremiah 2:6

People just didn’t go through that country, and there are not many who go through that country today. I have been at the edge of it, and that is as far as I have wanted to go. Yet God kept His people in that frightful wilderness for forty years, and He took care of them.

Jeremiah 2:7

Today we hear a great deal about ecology and the fact that we need to clean up the land. That is goodit needs cleaning up. But let’s recognize that there is a lot of moral filth around and a lot of degradation and deterioration in character. This is the thing that the Lord God is talking about here. They had polluted God’s land. God intended that they be a witness to Him; instead, they are as bad as the people before them.

Jeremiah 2:8

God puts the responsibility on the spiritual leaders. And I believe that the problems in my country began in the church. No nation falls until it falls first spiritually. There is first of all a spiritual apostasy, then a moral awfulness, and finally a political anarchy. That is the way every nation makes its exit as a great nation. “The priests said not, Where is the LORD?” There are too many folk today who are supposed to be Bible teachers and preachers and witnesses for Him, even among the laymen, who do not know the Word of God. I am sorry to say that, but it happens to be true. As a result of not knowing the Word of God, they don’t really know God. It is necessary to know the Word of God in order to know Him.

Jeremiah 2:9

God says, “I have not given you up. I am still going to plead with you.” How wonderful that is.

Jeremiah 2:13

Israel had committed two evils. First of all, they rejected Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. Second, they hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that couldn’t hold water. Oh, how many people today have hewn out a little cistern for themselves, and they drink from their own cistern! Of course they are not finding satisfaction. For example, every man who has made a million dollars thirsts for morehe wants to make the second million. The same is true of fame. There is never enough to satisfy. God goes on to deal with these people, mentioning their backsliding for the first time.

Jeremiah 2:19

In chapter 3 we will find that backsliding is mentioned in one chapter as many times as it is mentioned in the rest of the Bible; so it must be rather important to God. THEY REARED THEIR OWN GODSThe remainder of chapter 2 is a polemic against idolatry, which continues in chapter 3. Rather than quote this section, I want to recommend that you read it in your Bible, read it all the way through. As you become familiar with the prophecy of Jeremiah, you will be surprised how wonderful it will become to you. It is interesting to see that when man rejects God, he always will make an idol. When people make their own god, they make it as they want it. They make a god whose demands they can meet. In other words, it is actually a projection of the old nature of man.