Jeremiah 2:1-19
Q.1. How did God view Israel’s beginning? What was His question to the nation? Why was God outraged by their treatment of Him? What two evils had Israel committed? – (Jer.2:1-13)
God reminded Israel of its promising beginning – I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals, your following after Me in the wilderness, through a land not sown. 3 “Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of His harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; Evil came upon them (Jer.2:2-3). In reality, even under Moses, Israel constantly challenged God in the wilderness. However, God protected Israel from all opposition because they were His Covenant people. That was why He asked the nation – What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty? (Jer.2:4). He accused them – I brought you into the fruitful land to eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, and My inheritance you made an abomination (Jer.2:7). He was outraged that the priests, rulers, and prophets had failed to arrest the apostasy. He asked – 11 “Has a nation changed gods when they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit (Jer.2:11). God called for the heavens to be witnesses against His people, and to be appalled (Jer.2:12). He accused Israel of two evils – For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water (Jer.2:13). Their rebellion did not make any sense.
Q.2. What had happened to Israel? Why was the nation taken captive? What further insult had she committed in exile? Why would her sins catch up with her? – (Jer.2:14-19)
Judah had relied on alliances, rather than on the Lord. These foreign nations had taken advantage of her. God observed – Have you not done this to yourself by your forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way? (Jer.2:17). His people had turned to Egypt, Assyria, and now Babylon for relief. Now they were tasting the bitterness of their captivity. God would leave them to their own devices, knowing that – Your own wickedness will correct you, and your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God (Jer.2:19). They had drifted so far that – the dread of Me is not in you (Jer.2:19).