Jer 2:29 | KingComments | STEP | The people turn things around by contending with God, by calling Him to account ( ). As if He had not done something right! After all, it is they who have rebelled against Him. Therefore He has disciplined them ( ). But it is in vain. They even killed with the sword the prophets He sent to them ( ; cf. ; ). They have raged against them like a lion. Thus they have brought destruction upon themselves. The prophets, who are such a great blessing of God to the people, have been treated by them as if they were a great plague. The LORD asks His people to listen to Him again ( ), for He has something to say to them that is irrefutable. He is speaking to the generation living at that time. He asks if He has sometimes been a wilderness to them, or perhaps a land of thick darkness. Is there with Him no refreshment and provision for their needs? Is there no light with Him on the way they must go? They cannot deny this. But the attitude of the people does not show that they acknowledge it at all. Bluntly, they say they will no longer come to Him. They want to be unbound, free. To them, submission to Him is a reprehensible thought. They refuse to submit to Him. That is what the LORD presents to them, whom He calls “My people” here. He may expect so much else from them precisely because they are His people. Instead of being a wilderness without life and a land without light, He has been their ornament and they have been to Him a virgin and a bride ( ). However, they have acted in complete opposition and have forgotten Him, and have done so for so long. He does not see that time as a specific period, but counts in days. Every day that they forget Him counts for Him. He can no longer count the days, so hard is it for Him that His people just ignore Him day after day. This goes even further than the refusal to come to Him of the previous verse. We hear the great sorrow of God Who is rejected by the people He loves so much and for whom He has done so much. That they have forgotten God is not because they don’t know the way to get to Him. It is because they do not want to go that way, and that in turn is because they are going another way, a way of fornication. That way they want to go and how well they know that way ( )! They know this evil way so well, that they teach it with the greatest ease also to other people who live in sin. At the nadir of their deviance, they have also become murderers. In their path of fornication, they stop at nothing. On their hands is the blood of poor innocent souls ( ) whom they have put out of the way because they stood in their way. There is no reason for it, as, for example, the killing of a burglar ( ). What they do, beats all. Who commits adultery shows a total lack of respect for life. Harlotry and murder belong together. David is first a fornicator and then also becomes a murderer ( ). This is also true today. In the wake of a completely derailed sexual morality, abortion and euthanasia follow. The people to whom Jeremiah addresses the word are playing innocent. They act as if they have done nothing wrong ( ). They believe that the LORD has no reason to become angry toward them. Even today in professing Christianity, sin is being condoned. There is no longer any sense of what is right before God. God’s Word is twisted to such an extent that the most heinous sins can be committed with an appeal to God’s Word. But the LORD cannot and will not accept this. He will have a trial with them and convince them of their guilt precisely because they say they are innocent. This self-justification is abominable in God’s eyes. Time and again they go out to seek salvation somewhere else ( ). First it is Assyria ( ), now it is Egypt again. But they will be put to shame by Egypt as they did before by Assyria ( ). This going back and forth, this constantly changing their path, this constantly choosing a new tactic to hedge against evil or to secure benefits separately from the LORD, is useless. They will be taken away as captives and have no prosperity, for the LORD breaks everything on which they rely ( ). With their hands on their heads, which means in great disgrace, they will go out (cf. ).

‏ Jeremiah 2:29

Israel’s Folly

The people turn things around by contending with God, by calling Him to account (Jer 2:29). As if He had not done something right! After all, it is they who have rebelled against Him. Therefore He has disciplined them (Jer 2:30). But it is in vain. They even killed with the sword the prophets He sent to them (1Kgs 19:10; cf. Mt 23:37a; Acts 7:52). They have raged against them like a lion. Thus they have brought destruction upon themselves. The prophets, who are such a great blessing of God to the people, have been treated by them as if they were a great plague.

The LORD asks His people to listen to Him again (Jer 2:31), for He has something to say to them that is irrefutable. He is speaking to the generation living at that time. He asks if He has sometimes been a wilderness to them, or perhaps a land of thick darkness. Is there with Him no refreshment and provision for their needs? Is there no light with Him on the way they must go? They cannot deny this. But the attitude of the people does not show that they acknowledge it at all.

Bluntly, they say they will no longer come to Him. They want to be unbound, free. To them, submission to Him is a reprehensible thought. They refuse to submit to Him. That is what the LORD presents to them, whom He calls “My people” here. He may expect so much else from them precisely because they are His people.

Instead of being a wilderness without life and a land without light, He has been their ornament and they have been to Him a virgin and a bride (Jer 2:32). However, they have acted in complete opposition and have forgotten Him, and have done so for so long. He does not see that time as a specific period, but counts in days. Every day that they forget Him counts for Him. He can no longer count the days, so hard is it for Him that His people just ignore Him day after day. This goes even further than the refusal to come to Him of the previous verse. We hear the great sorrow of God Who is rejected by the people He loves so much and for whom He has done so much.

That they have forgotten God is not because they don’t know the way to get to Him. It is because they do not want to go that way, and that in turn is because they are going another way, a way of fornication. That way they want to go and how well they know that way (Jer 2:33)! They know this evil way so well, that they teach it with the greatest ease also to other people who live in sin.

At the nadir of their deviance, they have also become murderers. In their path of fornication, they stop at nothing. On their hands is the blood of poor innocent souls (Jer 2:34) whom they have put out of the way because they stood in their way. There is no reason for it, as, for example, the killing of a burglar (Exo 22:2). What they do, beats all.

Who commits adultery shows a total lack of respect for life. Harlotry and murder belong together. David is first a fornicator and then also becomes a murderer (2Sam 11:2-5 ; 14-17). This is also true today. In the wake of a completely derailed sexual morality, abortion and euthanasia follow.

The people to whom Jeremiah addresses the word are playing innocent. They act as if they have done nothing wrong (Jer 2:35). They believe that the LORD has no reason to become angry toward them. Even today in professing Christianity, sin is being condoned. There is no longer any sense of what is right before God. God’s Word is twisted to such an extent that the most heinous sins can be committed with an appeal to God’s Word. But the LORD cannot and will not accept this. He will have a trial with them and convince them of their guilt precisely because they say they are innocent. This self-justification is abominable in God’s eyes.

Time and again they go out to seek salvation somewhere else (Jer 2:36). First it is Assyria (2Kgs 15:19), now it is Egypt again. But they will be put to shame by Egypt as they did before by Assyria (2Chr 28:20). This going back and forth, this constantly changing their path, this constantly choosing a new tactic to hedge against evil or to secure benefits separately from the LORD, is useless. They will be taken away as captives and have no prosperity, for the LORD breaks everything on which they rely (Jer 2:37). With their hands on their heads, which means in great disgrace, they will go out (cf. 2Sam 13:19).