1Mit dem Spruch: Wohl, schickt ein Mann sein Weib fort und sie geht von ihm, wird eines andern Mannes, darf er noch zu ihr wiederkehren? - Heißts nicht: Entarten muß solch ein Land, entarten!? - Du aber, gehurt hast du mit vielen Gesellen, und nun: »Kehre wieder zu mir«! SEIN Erlauten ists. 2Zu den Kahlhängen hebe deine Augen, sieh: wo bist du nicht beschlafen worden? An den Wegen ersaßest du sie, wie ein Steppenaraber in der Wüste. Da entartetest du das Land mit deiner Hurerei, mit deiner Bosheit, 3die Wolkengüsse wurden gehemmt, der Lenzregen war nicht mehr. Aber dein ist eines Hurenweibs Stirn, du weigerst, dich zu schämen. 4Von jetzt an, nicht wahr?, magst du mir gern rufen: »Mein Vater, mein Jugendtrauter du!« 5»Will auf Weltzeit er grollen, auf Dauer denn es bewahren?!« Wohl, so redest du, aber du tust weiter das Böse - und meinst zu übermögen?! 6ER sprach zu mir in den Tagen des Königs Joschijahu: Hast du gesehen, was Frau Abkehr, Jissrael, tat? Da ging sie hin auf alljeden hohen Berg, unter alljeden üppigen Baum, dort hurte sie. 7Ich sprach, nachdem sie all dies hatte getan: Kehre um zu mir! Sie aber kehrte nicht um. Das sah ihre Schwester, Frau Verrätrisch, Jehuda, 8sie sah, daß, alldieweil gebuhlt hatte Frau Abkehr, Jissrael, ich sie fortschickte, ihr eine Trennungsurkunde gab, aber nicht fürchtete sich die Verrätrin, Jehuda, ihre Schwester, sie ging hin, hurte, auch sie. 9Es geschah durch die Leichtfertigkeit ihres Hurens, da entartete sie das Land: sie buhlte mit dem Stein, mit dem Baum. 10Aber auch bei alle dem kehrte nicht um zu mir ihre Schwester, Frau Verrätrisch, Jehuda, mit all ihrem Herzen, sondern mit Lug, ist SEIN Erlauten. 11Weiter sprach ER zu mir: Bewahrheitet hat ihre Seele Frau Abkehr, Jissrael, eher als die Verrätrin, Jehuda. 12Geh, rufe diese Rede nordwärts, sprich: Kehre um, Frau Abkehr, Jissrael! ist SEIN Erlauten, nicht gesenkt wider euch will ich mein Antlitz lassen, denn huldreich bin ich, ist SEIN Erlauten, nicht will auf Weltzeit ich grollen: 13erkenne nur deine Verfehlung, daß MIR, deinem Gott, du abtrünnig warst, verstreutest deine Brunst an die Fremden unter alljedem üppigen Baum, und auf meine Stimme hörtet ihr nicht, ist SEIN Erlauten.. 14Kehret um, abgekehrte Söhne, ist SEIN Erlauten, denn ich bins, der sich euer bemeistert! So will ich euch nehmen, einen von einer Stadt, zweie von einer Sippe, will euch kommen lassen nach Zion, 15will euch Weidehirten geben nach meinem Herzen, weiden sollen die euch in Erkenntnis und Begreifen. 16Geschehen solls: wenn ihr euch mehrt, ihr fruchtet im Land in jenen Tagen, ist SEIN Erlauten, wird man nicht mehr sprechen: Schrein SEINES Bundes! nicht steigt der im Herzen dann auf, nicht wird man seiner gedenken, nicht wird man ihn vermissen, nicht wird je wieder einer gemacht. 17In jener Zeit wird Jerusalem man rufen: SEIN Thron! Dahin stauen alle Weltstämme sich, zu SEINEM Namen hin, hin zu Jerusalem, und der Sucht ihres bösen Herzens gehen sie nicht mehr nach. 18In jenen Tagen werden sie gehn, das Haus Jehuda samt dem Haus Jissrael, mitsammen werden sie kommen aus dem Land des Nordens in das Land, das ich euren Vätern zueignete. 19Damals habe ich selber gesprochen: Wie will ich dich einsetzen unter den Söhnen! Ich gab dir ein Wunschland, ein Eigentum der Zier vor den Zierden der Weltstämme. Ich sprach zu mir, »Mein Vater!« werdest du mich rufen, von meiner Nachfolge dich nicht kehren. 20Jedoch, verriet je ein Weib seinen Genossen, so verraten habt ihr mich, Haus Jissrael! SEIN Erlauten ists. 21An den Kahlhängen ist eine Stimme zu hören, ein flehentliches Weinen der Söhne Jissraels, daß sie ihren Weg verfehlten, vergaßen IHN, ihren Gott. 22- Kehret um, abgekehrte Söhne, ich will eure Abkehrungen heilen. - Da sind wir, wir laufen dir zu, denn DU bists, unser Gott! 23Ja doch, lügnerisch war das von den Hügeln her, das Toben auf den Bergen, jedoch in IHM, unserm Gott, ist die Befreiung Jissraels! 24Gefressen hat die Schande das Erarbeitete unsrer Väter von unsrer Jugend an, ihr Schmalvieh, ihr Pflugtier, ihre Söhne, ihre Töchter! 25In unsrer Schande müssen wir liegen, unsre Schmach muß uns hüllen, denn an IHM unserm Gott haben wir gesündigt, wir und unsere Väter, von unsrer Jugend an und bis auf diesen Tag, nicht gehört haben wir auf SEINE, unsres Gottes, Stimme.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 GOD'S MERCY NOTWITHSTANDING JUDAH'S VILENESS. (Jer. 3:1-25)
They say--rather, as Hebrew, "saying," in agreement with "the LORD";
Jer 2:37 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," saying.
shall he return unto her--will he take her back? It was unlawful to do so (
Deut 24:1-
Deut 24:4).
shall not--Should not the land be polluted if this were done?
yet return-- (
Jer 3:22;
Jer 4:1;
Zech 1:3; compare
Ezek 16:51,
Ezek 16:58,
Ezek 16:60). "Nevertheless," &c. (see on
Isa 50:1).
2 high places--the scene of idolatries which were spiritual adulteries.
In . . . ways . . . sat for them--watching for lovers like a prostitute (
Gen 38:14,
Gen 38:21;
Pro 7:12;
Pro 23:28;
Ezek 16:24-
Ezek 16:25), 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.
3 no latter rain--essential to the crops in Palestine; withheld in judgment (
Lev 26:19; compare
Joel 2:23).
whore's forehead-- (
Jer 8:12;
Ezek 3:8).
4 from this time--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.
me--contrasted with the "stock" whom they had heretofore called on as "father" (
Jer 2:27;
Luke 15:18).
thou art--rather, "thou wast."
guide of . . . youth--that is, husband (
Jer 2:2;
Pro 2:17;
Hos 2:7,
Hos 2:15). Husband and father are the two most endearing of ties.
5 he--"thou," the second person, had preceded. The change to the third person implies a putting away of God to a greater distance from them; instead of repenting and forsaking their idols, they merely deprecate the continuance of their punishment.
Jer 3:12 and
Ps 103:9, answer their question in the event of their penitence.
spoken and--rather (God's reply to them), "Thou hast spoken (thus), and yet (all the while) thou hast done evil," &c.
as thou couldest--with all thy might; with incorrigible persistency [CALVIN].
6 From here to
Jer 6:30, is a new discourse, delivered in Josiah's reign. It consists of two parts, the former extending to
Jer 4:3, 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 (
Jer 4:5, &c.;
Jer 5:14, &c.;
Jer 6:1, &c.; Jer. 22:1-30); and probably not later than the second thorough reformation in the eighteenth year of the same reign.
backsliding--literally, "apostasy"; not merely apostate, but apostasy itself, the essence of it (
Jer 3:14,
Jer 3:22).
7 I said-- (
2Kgs 17:13).
sister-- (
Ezek 16:46;
Ezek 23:2,
Ezek 23:4).
8 I saw that, though (whereas) it was for this very reason (namely), because backsliding (apostate) Israel had committed adultery I had put her away (
2Kgs 17:6,
2Kgs 17:18), and given her a bill of divorce, yet Judah, &c. (
Ezek 23:11, &c.).
bill of divorce--literally, "a writing of cuttings off." The plural implies the completeness of the severance. The use of this metaphor here, as in the former discourse (
Jer 3:1), implies a close connection between the discourses. The epithets are characteristic; Israel "apostate" (as the Hebrew for "backsliding" is better rendered); Judah, not as yet utterly apostate, but treacherous or faithless.
also--herself also, like Israel.
9 it--Some take this verse of Judah, to whom the end of
Jer 3:8 refers. But
Jer 3:10 puts Judah in contrast to Israel in this verse. "Yet for all this," referring to the sad example of Israel; if
Jer 3:9 referred to Judah, "she" would have been written in
Jer 3:10, 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" &c. [MAURER]. English Version, however, may be explained to refer to Israel.
lightness--"infamy." [EWALD]. MAURER not so well takes it from the Hebrew root, "voice," "fame."
10 yet--notwithstanding the lesson given in Israel's case of the fatal results of apostasy.
not . . . whole heart--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 (
2Chr 34:33;
Hos 7:14).
11 justified herself--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
Ezek 16:51;
Ezek 23:11).
more than--in comparison with.
12 Go--not actually; but turn and proclaim towards the north (Media and Assyria, where the ten tribes were located by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser,
2Kgs 15:29;
2Kgs 17:6;
2Kgs 18:9,
2Kgs 18:11).
Return . . . backsliding--Hebrew, Shubah, Meshubah, a play on sounds. In order to excite Judah to godly jealousy (
Rom 11:14), Jehovah addresses the exiled ten tribes of Israel with a loving invitation.
cause . . . anger to fall--literally, "I will not let fall My countenance" (compare
Gen 4:5-
Gen 4:6;
Job 29:3), that is, I will not continue to frown on you.
keep--"anger" is to be supplied (see on
Jer 3:5).
13 Only acknowledge-- (
Deut 30:1,
Deut 30:3;
Pro 28:13).
scattered thy ways, &c.-- (
Jer 2:25). Not merely the calves at Beth-el, but the idols in every direction, were the objects of their worship (
Ezek 16:15,
Ezek 16:24-
Ezek 16:25).
14 I am married--literally, "I am Lord," that is, husband to you (so
Jer 31:32; compare
Hos 2:19-
Hos 2:20;
Isa 54:5). GESENIUS, following the Septuagint version of
Jer 31:32, and Paul's quotation of it (
Heb 8:9), translates, "I have rejected you"; so the corresponding Arabic, and the idea of lordship, may pass into that of looking down upon, and so rejecting. But the Septuagint in this passage translates, "I will be Lord over you." And the "for" has much more force in English Version than in that of GESENIUS. The Hebrew hardly admits the rendering though [HENGSTENBERG].
take you one of a city--Though but one or two Israelites were in a (foreign) city, they shall not be forgotten; all shall be restored (
Amos 9:9). So, in the spiritual Israel, God gathers one convert here, another there, into His Church; not the least one is lost (
Matt 18:14;
Rom 11:5; compare
Jer 24:5-
Jer 24:7).
family--a clan or tribe.
15 pastors--not religious, but civil rulers, as Zerubbabel, Nehemiah (
Jer 23:4;
Jer 2:8).
16 they shall say no more--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, present Himself, 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" (
Hag 2:9).
neither . . . visit it--rather, "neither shall it be missed" (so in
Jer 23:4).
done--rather, "neither shall it (the ark) be made (that is, be restored) any more" [MAURER].
17 Jerusalem--the whole city, not merely the temple. As it has been the center of the Hebrew theocracy, so it shall be the point of attraction to the whole earth (
Isa 2:2-
Isa 2:4;
Zech 2:10-
Zech 2:11;
Zech 14:16-
Zech 14:21).
throne of . . . Lord--The Shekinah, the symbol of God's peculiar nearness to Israel (
Deut 4:7) shall be surpassed by the antitype, God's own throne in Jerusalem (
Ps 2:6,
Ps 2:8;
Ezek 34:23-
Ezek 34:24;
Zech 2:5).
imagination--rather, as Margin, "the obstinacy" or stubbornness.
18 Judah . . . Israel . . . together--Two distinct apostasies, that of Israel and that of Judah, were foretold (
Jer 3:8,
Jer 3:10). The two have never been united since the Babylonish captivity; therefore their joint restoration must be still future (
Isa 11:12-
Isa 11:13;
Ezek 37:16-
Ezek 37:22;
Hos 1:11).
north-- (
Jer 3:12).
land . . . given . . . inheritance-- (
Amos 9:15).
19 The good land covenanted to Abraham is to be restored to his seed. But the question arises, How shall this be done?
put . . . among . . . children--the Greek for adoption means, literally, "putting among the sons."
the children--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
Ezek 37:3; CALVIN makes it, How the race of Abraham can be propagated again, 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, "My Father" (
John 1:12;
Gal 4:6). The elect are "children" already in God's purpose; this is the ground of the subsequent realization of this relationship (
Eph 1:5;
Heb 2:13).
pleasant land-- (
Jer 11:5;
Ezek 20:6;
Dan 11:16, Margin).
heritage of . . . hosts--a heritage the most goodly of all nations [MAURER]; or a "heritage possessed by powerful hosts" (
Deut 4:38;
Amos 2:9). The rendering "splendors," instead of "hosts," is opposed by the fact that the Hebrew for "splendor" is not found in the plural.
20 Surely--rather, "But."
husband--literally, "friend."
21 In harmony with the preceding promises of God, the penitential confessions of Israel are heard.
high places--The scene of their idolatries is the scene of their confessions. Compare
Jer 3:23, in which they cast aside their trust in these idolatrous high places. The publicity of their penitence is also implied (compare
Jer 7:29;
Jer 48:38).
22 Jehovah's renewed invitation (
Jer 3:12,
Jer 3:14) and their immediate response.
heal--forgive (
2Chr 30:18,
2Chr 30:20;
Hos 14:4).
unto thee--rather, "in obedience to thee"; literally, "for thee" [ROSENMULLER].
23 multitude of mountains--that is, the multitude of gods worshipped on them (compare
Ps 121:1-
Ps 121:2, Margin).
24 shame--that is, the idols, whose worship only covers us with shame (
Jer 11:13;
Hos 9:10). So far from bringing us "salvation," they have cost us our cattle and even our children, whom we have sacrificed to them.
25 (
Ezra 9:7).
