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93 lines
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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Title = 'The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 3';
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<p id="Chapter3" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 3
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<p id="Jer3_1"><a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,'1-25');">Jer 3:1-25</a>. GOD'S MERCY NOTWITHSTANDING JUDAH'S VILENESS.
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<p>Contrary to all precedent in the case of adultery, Jehovah offers a return to Judah, the spiritual adulteress (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,'1-5');">Jer 3:1-5</a>). A new portion of the book, ending with the sixth chapter. Judah worse than Israel; yet both shall be restored in the last days (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,'6-25');">Jer 3:6-25</a>).
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<p><b>1. They say</b>—rather, as <i>Hebrew,</i> "saying," in agreement with "the LORD"; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',2,37);">Jer 2:37</a> of last chapter [MAURER]. Or, it is equivalent to, "Suppose this case." Some copyist may have omitted, "The word of the Lord came to me," <i>saying.</i>
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<br><br><b>shall he return unto her</b>—will he take her back? It was unlawful to do so (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',24,'1-4');">Deu 24:1-4</a>).
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<br><br><b>shall not</b>—Should not the land be polluted if this were done?
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<br><br><b>yet return</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,22);">Jer 3:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',4,1);">Jer 4:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',1,3);">Zec 1:3</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Eze',16,51,58,60);">Eze 16:51, 58, 60</a>). "Nevertheless," etc. (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Isa/Isa050.html#Isa50_1">Isa 50:1</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_2"><b>2. high places</b>—the scene of idolatries which were spiritual adulteries.
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<br><br><b>In...ways...sat for them</b>—watching for lovers like a prostitute (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',38,14,21);">Gen 38:14, 21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',7,12);">Pro 7:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',23,28);">23:28</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',16,24,25);">Eze 16:24-25</a>), and like an Arab who lies in wait for travellers. The Arabs of the desert, east and south of Palestine, are still notorious as robbers.
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<p id="Jer3_3"><b>3. no latter rain</b>—essential to the crops in Palestine; withheld in judgment (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',26,19);">Lev 26:19</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Joe',2,23);">Joe 2:23</a>).
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<br><br><b>whore's forehead</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',8,12);">Jer 8:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',3,8);">Eze 3:8</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_4"><b>4. from this time</b>—not referring, as MICHAELIS thinks, to the reformation begun the year before, that is, the twelfth of Josiah; it means—now at once, now at last.
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<br><br><b>me</b>—contrasted with the "stock" whom they had heretofore called on as "father" (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',2,27);">Jer 2:27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',15,18);">Luk 15:18</a>).
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<br><br><b>thou art</b>—rather, "thou wast."
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<br><br><b>guide of...youth</b>—that is, husband (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',2,2);">Jer 2:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',2,17);">Pro 2:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',2,7, 15);">Hsa 2:7, 15</a>). <i>Husband</i> and <i>father</i> are the two most endearing of ties.
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<p id="Jer3_5"><b>5. he</b>—"thou," the second person, had preceded. The change to the third person implies a putting away of God to a <i>greater distance</i> from them; instead of repenting and forsaking their idols, they merely deprecate the continuance of their <i>punishment.</i> <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,12);">Jer 3:12</a>, answer their question in the event of their penitence.
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<br><br><b>spoken and</b>—rather (God's reply to them), "Thou hast spoken (thus), <i>and yet</i> (all the while) thou hast done evil," etc.
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<br><br><b>as thou couldest</b>—with all thy might; with incorrigible persistency [CALVIN].
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<p id="Jer3_6"><b>6.</b> From here to <a onclick="return mV('Jer',6,30);">Jer 6:30</a>, is a new discourse, delivered in Josiah's reign. It consists of two parts, the former extending to <a onclick="return mV('Jer',4,3);">Jer 4:3</a>, in which he warns Judah from the example of Israel's doom, and yet promises Israel final restoration; the latter a threat of Babylonian invasion; as Nabopolassar founded the Babylonian empire, 625 B.C., the seventeenth of Josiah, this prophecy is perhaps not earlier than that date (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',4,5);">Jer 4:5</a>, etc. <a onclick="return mV('Jer',5,14);">Jer 5:14</a>, etc. <a onclick="return mV('Jer',6,1);">Jer 6:1</a>, etc. <a onclick="return mV('Jer',22,'1-30');">Jer 22:1-30</a>); and probably not later than the second thorough reformation in the eighteenth year of the same reign.
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<br><br><b>backsliding</b>—literally, "apostasy"; not merely <i>apostate,</i> but <i>apostasy itself,</i> the essence of it (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,14,22);">Jer 3:14, 22</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_7"><b>7. I said</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',17,13);">2Ki 17:13</a>).
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<br><br><b>sister</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',16,46);">Eze 16:46</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',23,2,4);">23:2, 4</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_8"><b>8.</b> I saw that, though (whereas) it was for this very reason (namely), because backsliding (apostate) Israel had committed adultery I had put her away (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',17,6,18);">2Ki 17:6, 18</a>), and given her a bill of divorce, yet Judah, etc. (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',23,11);">Eze 23:11</a>, etc.).
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<br><br><b>bill of divorce</b>—literally, "a writing of <i>cuttings</i> off." The <i>plural</i> implies the completeness of the severance. The use of this metaphor here, as in the former discourse (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,1);">Jer 3:1</a>), implies a close connection between the discourses. The epithets are characteristic; Israel "apostate" (as the <i>Hebrew</i> for "backsliding" is better rendered); Judah, not as yet utterly <i>apostate,</i> but <i>treacherous</i> or <i>faithless.</i>
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<br><br><b>also</b>—herself also, like Israel.
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<p id="Jer3_9"><b>9. it</b>—Some take this verse of <i>Judah,</i> to whom the end of <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,8);">Jer 3:8</a> refers. But <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,10);">Jer 3:10</a> puts <i>Judah</i> in contrast to <i>Israel</i> in this verse. "Yet for all this," referring to the sad example of <i>Israel;</i> if <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,9);">Jer 3:9</a> referred to <i>Judah,</i> "she" would have been written in <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,10);">Jer 3:10</a>, not "Judah." Translate, "It (the putting away of Israel) had come to pass through ...whoredom; and (that is, for) she (Israel) had defiled the land" etc. [MAURER]. <i>English Version,</i> however, <i>may</i> be explained to refer to <i>Israel.</i>
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<br><br><b>lightness</b>—"infamy." [EWALD]. MAURER not so well takes it from the <i>Hebrew</i> root, "voice," "fame."
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<p id="Jer3_10"><b>10. yet</b>—notwithstanding the lesson given in Israel's case of the fatal results of apostasy.
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<br><br><b>not...whole heart</b>—The reformation in the eighteenth year of Josiah was not thorough on the part of the people, for at his death they relapsed into idolatry (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',34,33);">2Ch 34:33</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',7,14);">Hsa 7:14</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_11"><b>11. justified herself</b>—has been made to appear almost just (that is, comparatively innocent) by the surpassing guilt of Judah, who adds hypocrisy and treachery to her sin; and who had the example of Israel to warn her, but in vain (compare <a onclick="return mV('Eze',16,51);">Eze 16:51</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',16,51);">23:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>more than</b>—in comparison with.
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<p id="Jer3_12"><b>12. Go</b>—not actually; but turn and proclaim towards the north (Media and Assyria, where the ten tribes were located by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser, <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',15,29);">2Ki 15:29</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',17,6);">17:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ki',18,9,11);">18:9, 11</a>).
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<br><br><b>Return...backsliding</b>—<i>Hebrew, Shubah, Meshubah,</i> a play on sounds. In order to excite Judah to godly jealousy (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,14);">Rom 11:14</a>), Jehovah addresses the exiled ten tribes of Israel with a loving invitation.
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<br><br><b>cause...anger to fall</b>—literally, "I will not let fall My countenance" (compare <a onclick="return mV('Gen',4,5,6);">Gen 4:5-6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',29,3);">Job 29:3</a>), that is, I will not <i>continue</i> to frown on you.
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<br><br><b>keep</b>—"anger" is to be supplied (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jer/Jer003.html#Jer3_5">Jer 3:5</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_13"><b>13. Only acknowledge</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',30,1,3);">Deu 30:1, 3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',28,13);">Pro 28:13</a>).
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<br><br><b>scattered thy ways,</b> etc.— (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',2,25);">Jer 2:25</a>). Not merely the calves at Beth-el, but the idols in every direction, were the objects of their worship (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',16,15, 24,25);">Eze 16:15, 24-25</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_14"><b>14. I am married</b>—literally, "I am Lord," that is, husband to you (so <a onclick="return mV('Jer',31,32);">Jer 31:32</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',2,19,20);">Hsa 2:19-20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',54,5);">Isa 54:5</a>). GESENIUS, following the <i>Septuagint</i> version of <a onclick="return mV('Jer',31,32);">Jer 31:32</a>, and Paul's quotation of it (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',8,9);">Hbr 8:9</a>), translates, "I have <i>rejected</i> you"; so the corresponding <i>Arabic,</i> and the idea of <i>lordship,</i> may pass into that of <i>looking down upon,</i> and so <i>rejecting.</i> But the <i>Septuagint</i> in <i>this</i> passage translates, "I will be Lord over you." And the "for" has much more force in <i>English Version</i> than in that of GESENIUS. The <i>Hebrew</i> hardly admits the rendering <i>though</i> [HENGSTENBERG].
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<br><br><b>take you one of a city</b>—Though but <i>one or two</i> Israelites were in a (foreign) city, they shall not be forgotten; <i>all</i> shall be restored (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',9,9);">Amo 9:9</a>). So, in the spiritual Israel, God gathers one convert here, another there, into His Church; not the least one is lost (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',18,14);">Mat 18:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,5);">Rom 11:5</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',24,'5-7');">Jer 24:5-7</a>).
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<br><br><b>family</b>—a clan or tribe.
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<p id="Jer3_15"><b>15. pastors</b>—not religious, but civil rulers, as Zerubbabel, Nehemiah (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',23,4);">Jer 23:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',2,8);">2:8</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_16"><b>16. they shall say no more</b>—The Jews shall no longer glory in the possession of the ark; it shall not be missed, so great shall be the blessings of the new dispensation. The throne of the Lord, <i>present Himself,</i> shall eclipse and put out of mind the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat between the cherubim, God's former throne. The ark, containing the two tables of the law, disappeared at the Babylonian captivity, and was not restored to the second temple, implying that the symbolical "glory" was to be superseded by a "greater glory" (<a onclick="return mV('Hag',2,9);">Hag 2:9</a>).
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<br><br><b>neither...visit it</b>—rather, "neither shall <i>it be missed</i>" (so in <a onclick="return mV('Jer',23,4);">Jer 23:4</a>).
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<br><br><b>done</b>—rather, "neither shall it (the ark) <i>be made</i> (that is, be restored) any more" [MAURER].
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<p id="Jer3_17"><b>17. Jerusalem</b>—<i>the whole city,</i> not merely the temple. As it has been the center of the <i>Hebrew</i> theocracy, so it shall be the point of attraction to the whole earth (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',2,'2-4');">Isa 2:2-4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',2,10,11);">Zec 2:10-11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',14,'16-21');">14:16-21</a>).
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<br><br><b>throne of...Lord</b>—The Shekinah, the symbol of God's peculiar nearness to Israel (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',4,7);">Deu 4:7</a>) shall be surpassed by the antitype, God's own throne in Jerusalem (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',2,6,8);">Psa 2:6, 8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',34,23,24);">Eze 34:23-24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',2,5);">Zec 2:5</a>).
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<br><br><b>imagination</b>—rather, as <i>Margin,</i> "the obstinacy" or stubbornness.
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<p id="Jer3_18"><b>18. Judah...Israel...together</b>—Two distinct apostasies, that of Israel and that of Judah, were foretold (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,8,10);">Jer 3:8, 10</a>). The two have never been united since the Babylonish captivity; therefore their joint restoration must be still future (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',11,12,13);">Isa 11:12-13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',37,'16-22');">Eze 37:16-22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',1,11);">Hsa 1:11</a>).
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<br><br><b>north</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,12);">Jer 3:12</a>).
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<br><br><b>land...given...inheritance</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',9,15);">Amo 9:15</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_19"><b>19.</b> The good land covenanted to Abraham is to be restored to his seed. But the question arises, How shall this be done?
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<br><br><b>put...among...children</b>—the <i>Greek</i> for <i>adoption</i> means, literally, "putting among the sons."
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<br><br><b>the children</b>—that is, My children. "How shall I receive thee back into My family, after thou hast so long forsaken Me for idols?" The answer is, they would acknowledge Him as "Father," and no longer turn away from Him. God assumes the language of one wondering how so desperate apostates could be restored to His family and its privileges (compare <a onclick="return mV('Eze',37,3);">Eze 37:3</a>; CALVIN makes it, How <i>the race of Abraham can be propagated again,</i> being as it were dead); yet as His purpose has decreed it so, He shows how it shall be effected, namely, they shall receive from Him the spirit of adoption to cry, "<i>My</i> Father" (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,12);">Jhn 1:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gal',4,6);">Gal 4:6</a>). The elect are "children" already in God's purpose; this is the ground of the subsequent realization of this relationship (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,5);">Eph 1:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',2,13);">Hbr 2:13</a>).
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<br><br><b>pleasant land</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',11,5);">Jer 11:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',20,6);">Eze 20:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',11,16);">Dan 11:16</a>, <i>Margin</i>).
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<br><br><b>heritage of...hosts</b>—a heritage the most goodly of all nations [MAURER]; or a "heritage possessed by powerful hosts" (<a onclick="return mV('Deu',4,38);">Deu 4:38</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',2,9);">Amo 2:9</a>). The rendering "splendors," instead of "hosts," is opposed by the fact that the <i>Hebrew</i> for "splendor" is not found in the <i>plural.</i>
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<p id="Jer3_20"><b>20. Surely</b>—rather, "But."
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<br><br><b>husband</b>—literally, "friend."
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<p id="Jer3_21"><b>21.</b> In harmony with the preceding promises of God, the penitential confessions of Israel are heard.
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<br><br><b>high places</b>—The scene of their idolatries is the scene of their confessions. Compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,23);">Jer 3:23</a>, in which they cast aside their trust in these idolatrous high places. The publicity of their penitence is also implied (compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',7,29);">Jer 7:29</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',48,38);">48:38</a>).
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<p id="Jer3_22"><b>22.</b> Jehovah's renewed invitation (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',3,12, 14);">Jer 3:12, 14</a>) and their immediate response.
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<br><br><b>heal</b>—forgive (<a onclick="return mV('2Ch',30,18,20);">2Ch 30:18, 20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',14,4);">Hsa 14:4</a>).
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<br><br><b>unto thee</b>—rather, "in obedience to thee"; literally, "for thee" [ROSENMULLER].
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<p id="Jer3_23"><b>23. multitude of mountains</b>—that is, the multitude of <i>gods</i> worshipped on them (compare <a onclick="return mV('Psa',121,1,2);">Psa 121:1-2</a>, <i>Margin</i>).
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<p id="Jer3_24"><b>24. shame</b>—that is, the <i>idols,</i> whose worship only covers us with <i>shame</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',11,13);">Jer 11:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',9,10);">Hsa 9:10</a>). So far from bringing us "salvation," they have cost us our cattle and even our children, whom we have sacrificed to them.
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<p id="Jer3_25"><b>25.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Ezr',9,7);">Ezr 9:7</a>).
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