Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.” “Return, backsliding children,” says Yahweh; “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” says Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of Yahweh’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘Yahweh’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Yahweh’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.
“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’
“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12–22 The Prophet, after having shewn that the tribe of…
The Prophet, after having shewn that the tribe of Judah deserved a heavier punishment than the ten tribes, and having mentioned the cause, that they had seen their brethren severely chastised and were not moved, now turns his discourse to the Israelites themselves, or the ten tribes, and promises that God would be propitious to them. The kingdom of Israel had now been overthrown, and the people had been banished into Assyria, Persia, and Media. They had been scattered, and the name of the kingdom had been obliterated. The land had been often laid waste and the kingdom partly existed, as four tribes only were first driven to exile; but at, length the very name of a kingdom ceased to exist, and they were all, as I have said, led away into captivity. Hence the Prophet is bidden to address his words towards the north; for though the greater part of the people dwelt then in the east, yet as they had been banished by the Assyrians, God had a regard to the capital of the monarchy in bidding the Prophet to address those whom the enemies had led away to the north.
Cry, then, not so much on account of the distance of the place, but that the Jews, who were deaf, might hear him crying; for the Prophet was bidden to speak not only for the sake of the Israelites, but that through them he might set before the Jews the mercy of God, if only they returned to a sound mind. Now the import of the whole is, — that though the Israelites had been rebellious and had turned away from God, yet pardon was ready for them, if they returned. What the Prophet means by the word return, we have already in part explained, and we shall have to speak on the subject more fully elsewhere. He then requires repentance, and promises that God would be propitious to them in case they returned to him.
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He afterwards adds, I will not make my face, or rather, my wrath, to fall upon you; for this latter meaning is the most appropriate. God had already severely punished their sins; for what can happen to a people more grievous than to be banished from their own country, and then to be oppressed by cruel tyranny? They yet suffered a heavier punishment; for the worship according to the Law had been taken away from them, they had been repudiated by God, they had lost that glory by which they thought that they excelled all other nations in having been chosen as God’s peculiar people. All these things had been entirely lost. In what sense then does God declare that he would not be angry with them? By this way of speaking the Prophet simply means, that God would not be irreconcilable, as though he had said, “My wrath shall not dwell, or shall not he upon you; but I will mitigate the punishment which I have inflicted.” Hence I do not disapprove of Jerome’s rendering, “I will not make steady,” (firmabo;) though when he adds “face, “he does not sufficiently set forth the meaning of the Prophet. But this may be admitted, “I will not make steady my wrath upon you;” that is, “My wrath shall not lie or dwell on your heads, so as wholly to overwhelm you.” God’s wrath had already fallen upon them, but in such a way that there was still some hope of deliverance. God then denies, that the calamities, by which he had chastised their sins, would be fatal, for he would withdraw his hand and not pursue them to the last extremity.
The meaning then is, — that if the people returned to God they would obtain pardon, because God of his own free will invited them and promised that the punishment which he had inflicted on account of their sins, would be only for a time.
God further confirms this truth by mentioning what his nature is, for merciful am I, and I will not retain wrath for ever The promise was special in case the people returned; God now adds a general truth by way of confirmation, — that he was disposed to shew mercy, and that he would readily forgive for his mercy’s sake. Since God then is such, and cannot deny himself, there is no reason why a sinner should despair and thus close up the way, that he should not in his penitence implore God’s mercy.
We may hence gather a profitable doctrine, — that whenever unbelief lays hold on our minds, so that we cannot apply to our benefit the promises of God, this should ever be remembered by us — that God is merciful. As God then is so gracious, that he reserves not wrath for ever, but that it is only for a time, we ought to entertain hope; and corresponding with this is what is said in the Psalms,
“A moment is he in his wrath; and life is in his goodness and mercy,” (Psalm 30:5;)
as though he had said, that God’s wrath soon passes away, provided we repent, but that he shews his mercy through all ages; for this is what is meant by the word “life.” He then goes on —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22 Whereas the Israelites were now kept in captivity by…
Whereas the Israelites were now kept in captivity by the Assyrians, to whom he promiseth mercy, if they will repent.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–22 Jer 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the…
Jer 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I [am] merciful, saith the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for ever.
Ver. 12. Go and proclaim these words toward the north,] i.e., Toward Assyria and Media, into which countries the ten tribes had been carried captive. And although they cannot hear thee, yet in time this prophecy may be brought to their hearing; and the men of Judah, meanwhile, may be wrought upon thereby.
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And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you.] Heb., I will not make my face to fall: I will not further frown upon you, or deal hardly with you.
I will not keep anger for ever.] Heb., I will not keep for ever. There is nothing that a man is more ready to keep than his wrath. Therefore the Hebrews put keep, for keep wrath. {Psa 103:9 Lev 19:18 Jer 3:5}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–22 Go: it may possibly be used here as an…
Go: it may possibly be used here as an adverb of exciting, namely, to go, as is usual; or it notes speed, Go quickly, out of hand; not locally, but set thy face, Jer 2:2, or feet, that way, or by thy office address thyself to them, viz. by way of proclamation, crying aloud; possibly implying the distance of place: this voice may in time reach them, though a great way off. Or rather the deafness of Israel, or the obdurateness of Judah, that they might hear what God saith to Israel, conceive hope, and be reclaimed by their example, and be excited to emulation.
Toward the north, i.e. to Assyria and Media, and the regions thereabouts, that lay northward from Judea, whither the ten tribes were carried by Tiglath-pileser and Shulmaneser, 2Ki 15:29; 17:6.
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And I will not cause mine anger; upon condition of returning to their former true worship of God, that thereby Judah might be awakened, he promiseth that he will not let his anger, or his face, as in the Hebrew, (because anger principally appears in the face,) his angry face, or countenance, to be upon them; so it is used Lev 17:10; Psa 34:16; and not be inexorable, viz.
for ever, which is to be supplied from the next words; for otherwise his anger lay heavy upon them at this time.
To fall a metaphor from things on high that drop down to the hurt of whatever is under them, and so Jer 23:34; compare Gen 19:24.
For I am merciful: here is the ground of this conditional promise, taken from the nature of God, that sinners may not despair, Psa 86:15; 103:8,9, &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv12, 20 Here is a great deal of gospel in these…
Here is a great deal of gospel in these verses, both that which was always gospel, God's readiness to pardon sin and to receive and entertain returning repenting sinners, and those blessings which were in a special manner reserved for gospel times, the forming and founding of the gospel church by bringing into it the children of God that were scattered abroad, the superseding of the ceremonial law, and the uniting of Jews and Gentiles, typified by the uniting of Israel and Judah in their return out of captivity. The prophet is directed to proclaim these words towards the north, for they are a call to backsliding Israel, the ten tribes that were carried captive into Assyria, which lay north from Jerusalem. That way he must look, to show that God had not forgotten them, though their brethren had, and to upbraid the men of Judah with their obstinacy in refusing to answer the calls given them. One might as well call to those who lay many hundred miles off in the land of the north; they would as soon hear as these unbelieving and disobedient people; backsliding Israel will sooner accept of mercy, and have the benefit of it, than treacherous Judah. And perhaps the proclaiming of these words towards the north looks as far forward as the preaching of repentance and remission of sins unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, Luk 24:47. A call to Israel in the land of the north is a call to others in that land, even as many as belong to the election of grace. When it was suspected that Christ would go to the dispersed Jews among the Gentiles, it was concluded that he would teach the Gentiles, Joh 7:35. So here.
I. Here is an invitation given to backsliding Israel, and in them to the backsliding Gentiles, to return unto God, the God from whom they had revolted (Jer 3:12): Return, thou backsliding Israel. And again (Jer 3:14): "Turn, O backsliding children! repent of your backslidings, return to your allegiance, come back to that good way which you have missed and out of which you have turned aside." Pursuant to this invitation, 1. They are encouraged to return. "Repent, and be converted, and your sins shall be blotted out, Act 3:19. You have incurred God's displeasure, but return to me, and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you." God's anger is ready to fall upon sinners, as a lion falls on his prey, and there is none to deliver, as a mountain of lead falling on them, to sink them past recovery into the lowest hell. But if they repent it shall be turned away, Isa 12:1. I will not keep my anger for ever, but will be reconciled, for I am merciful. We that are sinful were for ever undone if God were not merciful; but the goodness of his nature encourages us to hope that, if we by repentance undo what we have done against him, he will by a pardon unsay what he has said against us. 2. They are directed how to return (Jer 3:13): "Only acknowledge thy iniquity, own thyself in a fault and thereby take shame to thyself and give glory to God." I will not keep my anger for ever (that is a previous promise); you shall be delivered form that anger of God which is everlasting, from the wrath to come; but upon what terms? Very easy and reasonable ones. Only acknowledge thy sins. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive them. This will aggravate the condemnation of sinners, that the terms of pardon and peace were brought so low, and yet they would not come up to them. If the prophet had told thee to do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it? How much more when he says, Only acknowledge thy iniquity? Kg2 5:13. In confessing sin, (1.) We must own the corruption of our nature: Acknowledge thy iniquity, the perverseness and irregularity of thy nature. (2.) We must own our actual sins: "That thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, hast affronted him and offended him." (3.) We must own the multitude of our transgressions: "That thou hast scattered thy ways to the strangers, run hither and thither in pursuit of thy idols, under every green tree. Wherever thou hast rambled thou hast left behind thee the marks of thy folly." (4.) We must aggravate our sin from the disobedience that there is in it to the divine law. The sinfulness of sin is the worst thing in it: "You have not obeyed my voice; acknowledge that, and let that humble you more than any thing else."
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II. Here are precious promises made to these backsliding children, if they do return, which were in part fulfilled in the return of the Jews out of their captivity, many that belonged to the ten tribes having perhaps joined themselves to those of the two tribes, in the prospect of their deliverance, and returning with them; but the prophecy is to have its full accomplishment in the gospel church, and the gathering together of the children of God that were scattered abroad to that: "Return, for, though you are backsliders, yet you are children; nay, though a treacherous wife, yet a wife, for I am married to you (Jer 3:14) and will not disown the relation." Thus God remembers his covenant with their fathers, that marriage covenant, and in consideration of that he remembers their land, Lev 26:42.
1. He promises to gather them together from all places whither they are dispersed and scattered abroad, Joh 11:52, I will take you, one of a city, and two of a family, or clan; and I will bring you to Zion, Jer 3:14. All those that by repentance return to their duty shall return to their former comfort. Observe, (1.) God will graciously receive those that return to him, nay, it is he that by his distinguishing grace takes them out from among the rest that persist in their backslidings; if he had left them, they would have been undone. (2.) Of the many that have backslidden from God there are but few, very few in comparison, that return to him, like the gleanings of the vintage - one of a city and two of a country; Christ's flock is a little flock, and few there are that find the strait gate. (3.) Of those few, though dispersed, yet not one shall be lost. Though there be but one in a city, God will find out that one; he shall not be overlooked in a crowd, but shall be brought safely to Zion, safely to heaven. The scattered Jews shall be brought to Jerusalem, and those of the ten tribes shall be as welcome there as those of the two. God's chosen, scattered all the world over, shall be brought to the gospel church, that Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, that holy hill on which Christ reigns.
2. He promises to set those over them that shall be every way blessings to them (Jer 3:15): I will give you pastors after my heart, alluding to the character given of David when God pitched upon him to be king. Sa1 13:14, The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart. Observe, (1.) When a church is gathered it must be governed. "I will bring them to Zion, not to live as they list, but to be under discipline, not as wild beasts, that range at pleasure, but as sheep that are under the direction of a shepherd." I will give them pastors, that is, both magistrates and ministers; both are God's ordinance for the support of his kingdom. (2.) It is well with a people when their pastors are after God's own heart, such as they should be, such as we would have them be, who shall make his will their rule in all their administrations, and such as endeavour in some measure to conform to his example, who rule for him, and, as they are capable, rule like him. (3.) Those are pastors after God's own heart who make it their business to feed the flock, not to feed themselves and fleece the flocks, but to do all they can for the good of those that are under their charge, who feed them with wisdom and understanding (that is, wisely and understandingly), as David fed them, in the integrity of his heart and by the skilfulness of his hand, Psa 78:72. Those who are not only pastors, but teachers, must feed them with the word of God, which is wisdom and understanding, which is able to make us wise to salvation.
3. He promises that there shall be no more occasion for the ark of the covenant, which had been so much the glory of the tabernacle first and afterwards of the temple, and was the token of God's presence with them; that shall be set aside, and there shall be no more enquiry after, nor enquiring of, it (Jer 3:16): When you shall be multiplied and increased in the land, when the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up, which by the accession of the Gentiles will bring in to the church a vast increase (and the days of the Messiah the Jewish masters themselves acknowledge to be here intended), then they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord, they shall have it no more among them to value, or value themselves upon, because they shall have a pure spiritual way of worship set up, in which there shall be no occasion for any of those external ordinances; with the ark of the covenant the whole ceremonial law shall be set aside, and all the institutions of it, for Christ, the truth of all those types, exhibited to us in the word and sacraments of the New Testament, will be to us instead of all. It is very likely (whatever the Jews suggest to the contrary) that the ark of the covenant was in the second temple, being restored by Cyrus with the other vessels of the house of the Lord, Ezr 1:7. But in the gospel temple Christ is the ark; he is the propitiatory, or mercy-seat; and it is the spiritual presence of God in his ordinances that we are now to expect. Many expressions are here used concerning the setting aside of the ark, that it shall not come to mind, that they shall not remember it, that they shall not visit it, that none of these things shall be any more done; for the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, Joh 4:24. But this variety of expressions is used to show that the ceremonies of the law of Moses should be totally and finally abolished, never to be used any more, but that it would be with difficulty that those who had been so long wedded to them should be weaned from them; and that they would not quite let them go till their holy city and holy house should both be levelled with the ground.
4. He promises that the gospel church, here called Jerusalem, shall become eminent and conspicuous, Jer 3:17. Two things shall make it famous: - (1.) God's special residence and dominion in it. It shall be called, The throne of the Lord - the throne of his glory, for that shines forth in the church - the throne of his government, for that also is erected there; there he rules his willing people by his word and Spirit, and brings every thought into obedience to himself. As the gospel got ground this throne of the Lord was set up even where Satan's seat had been. It is especially the throne of his grace; for those that by faith come to this Jerusalem come to God the judge of all, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, Heb 12:22-24. (2.) The accession of the Gentiles to it. All the nations shall be discipled, and so gathered to the church, and shall become subjects to that throne of the Lord which is there set up, and devoted to the honour of that name of the Lord which is there both manifested and called upon.
5. He promises that there shall be a wonderful reformation wrought in those that are gathered to the church: They shall not walk any more after the imagination of their evil hearts. They shall not live as they list, but live by rules, not do according to their own corrupt appetites, but according to the will of God. See what leads in sin - the imagination of our own evil hearts; and what sin is - it is walking after that imagination, being governed by fancy and humour; and what converting grace does - it takes us off from walking after our own inventions and brings us to be governed by religion and right reason.
6. That Judah and Israel shall be happily united in one body, Jer 3:18. They were so in their return out of captivity and their settlement again in Canaan: The house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, as being perfectly agreed, and become one stick in the hand of the Lord, as Ezekiel also foretold, Eze 37:16, Eze 37:17. Both Assyria and Chaldea fell into the hands of Cyrus, and his proclamation extended to all the Jews in all his dominions. And therefore we have reason to think that many of the house of Israel came with those of Judah out of the land of the north; though at first there returned but 42,000 (whom we have an account of, Ezra 2) yet Josephus says (Antiq. 11.68) that some few years after, under Darius, Zerubbabel went and fetched up above 4,000,000 of souls, to the land that was given for an inheritance to their fathers. And we never read of such animosities and enmities between Israel and Judah as had been formerly. This happy coalescence between Israel and Judah in Canaan was a type of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel church, when, all enmities being slain, they should become one sheepfold under one shepherd.
III. Here is some difficulty started, that lies in the way of all this mercy; but an expedient is found to get over it.
1. God asks, How shall I do this for thee? Not as if God showed favour with reluctancy, as he punishes with a How shall I give thee up? Hos 11:8, Hos 11:9. No, though he is slow to anger, he is swift to show mercy. But it intimates that we are utterly unworthy of his favours, that we have no reason to expect them, that there is nothing in us to deserve them, that we can lay no claim to them, and that he contrives how to do it in such a way as may save the honour of his justice and holiness in the government of the world. Means must be devised that his banished be not for ever expelled from him, Sa2 14:14. How shall I do it? (1.) Even backsliders, if they return and repent, shall be put among the children; and who could ever have expected that? Behold what manner of love is this! Jo1 3:1. How should we who are so mean and weak, so worthless and unworthy, and so provoking, ever be put among the children. (2.) To those whom God puts among the children he will give the pleasant land, the land of Canaan, that glory of all lands, that goodly heritage of the hosts of nations, which nations and their hosts wish for and prefer to their own country, or which the hosts of the nations have now got possession of. It was a type of heaven, where there are pleasures for evermore. Now who could expect a place in that pleasant land that has so often despised it (Psa 106:24) and is so unworthy of it and unfit for it? Is this the manner of men?
2. He does himself return answer to this question: But I said, Thou shalt call me, My Father. God does himself answer all the objections that are taken from our unworthiness, or they would never be got over. (1.) That he may put returning penitents among the children, he will give them the Spirit of adoption, teaching them to cry, Abba, Father, Gal 4:6. "Thou shalt call me, My Father; thou shalt return to me, and resign thyself to me as a father, and that shall recommend thee to my favour," (2.) That he may give them the pleasant land, he will put his fear in their hearts, that they may never turn from him, but may persevere to the end.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–22 Go and proclaim these words towards the north,.... With…
Go and proclaim these words towards the north,.... With his face thitherwards, towards Babylon, which lay north of Judea, and was the metropolis of Assyria, where the ten tribes were carried captive; and though they were dispersed in the cities of Media and Persia, which lay eastward, yet Babylon being the head of the empire, respect is had to that; not that the prophet was to go thither to them, or to prophesy in the land of the north, as the Targum paraphrases the words: for the word "go", as Jarchi observes, is only expressive of a command on the part of God; and of readiness, as Kimchi says, on the part of the prophet to obey, but not of local motion; he was to read these words, as the latter of these suggests, in Jerusalem, before the elders of Judah, with a respect to Israel, as if they were before him; and the design of this was to show that the Lord was gracious and merciful, and ready to receive backsliders; and to stimulate Judah to repentance, and to turn unto the Lord:
and say, return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord not return from the land of their captivity, though that they shall return in the last day Kimchi thinks is here intimated; and Jarchi says some of them did return, in the eighteenth year of Josiah; but return from their idols to the living God: and for their encouragement it is added,
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and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; or, "my face" (d); by frowning upon them, expressing displicency with them, and anger towards them; the meaning is, that he would not continue his resentments, or cause his anger to fall upon them any more, or at least not for ever, as Kimchi interprets it; he had caused his anger to fall upon them like a mighty storm of rain, by carrying them captive; but now he intimates, should they repent and return, he would remove his anger from them, and not cause it to return any more:
for I am merciful, saith the Lord; so he proclaimed himself before Moses, Exo 34:6 and of this they had had often instances and proofs:
and I will not keep anger for ever; or, "thy sins", as the Targum; I will not mark and observe them, or reserve them for punishment, but will mercifully forgive them; See Gill on Jer 3:5.
(d) "non faciam cadere facies meas super vos", Schmidt.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 The north - To Assyria and Media, that lay…
The north - To Assyria and Media, that lay northward from Judea, whither the ten tribes were carried by Tiglath-pileser, and Salmanezer.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 Verse 12. Proclaim these words toward the north] The…
Verse 12. Proclaim these words toward the north] The countries where the ten tribes were then in captivity, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, c., see 2Kg 17:6 these lay north of Judea. How tender and compassionate are the exhortations in this and the following verses! Could these people believe that God had sent the prophet and yet prefer the land of their bondage to the blessings of freedom in their own country, and the approbation of their God?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22 Jer 3:12-13. Go, and proclaim these words toward the…
Jer 3:12-13. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north — “The sin of the ten tribes being attended with more favourable circumstances than that of Judah, the prophet is commanded to call them to repentance with promises of pardon. In order to this he is bid to direct his speech northward, that is, toward Assyria and Media, whither the ten tribes had been carried away captive, which countries lay north of Judea.” And say: Return, thou backsliding Israel — Repent of thy backslidings, return to thy allegiance; come back to that good way out of which thou hast turned aside. And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you — Namely, more grievously than it has already fallen, or for ever; for otherwise his anger lay heavy upon them at this time. Observe, reader, God’s anger is ready to fall on sinners, as a lion falls on his prey, and there is none to deliver. But if they repent, it shall be turned away, for he is merciful, and will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity — Own thyself in a fault, and thereby take shame to thyself, and give glory to God. Confess and forsake thy sins; for he that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy. This will aggravate the condemnation of sinners, that the terms of pardon and peace were brought so low, and yet they would not come up to them. Sinner, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much more when he saith, Only acknowledge thine iniquity. The Hebrew, דעי עונן, is properly, Know thine iniquity, that is, in order to thy acknowledging and forsaking it. We must call our sins to mind, consider the number, greatness, and inexcusableness of them, that we may conceive a proper hatred to them, and sorrow for them, and thereby, and through faith in the divine mercy and grace in Christ, may obtain pardon and deliverance from them. That thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God — Against the infinite and eternal Jehovah, who had taken thee to be his peculiar people, and was in covenant with thee as thy God. And hast scattered thy ways to the strangers — To other gods, to idols, running hither and thither to worship them. The phrase is taken from the lewdness of common harlots, who promiscuously prostitute themselves to all comers: see Pro 30:20. The clause may be rendered, Thou hast wandered among strangers, or strange gods; that is, thou hast not repaired, or had recourse, to one strange god, but many; under every green tree — Alluding to the heathen performing the ceremonies of their idolatrous worship in groves, or under large spreading trees. And ye have not obeyed my voice — So that your sin is not a sin of ignorance, but of obstinacy, for you shut your ears against my counsels, sent by my prophets for reclaiming you.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–22 The north - The ten tribes, settled by Salmanezer…
The north - The ten tribes, settled by Salmanezer in the north of Assyria.
I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you - literally, I will not cause my face “to fall upon you:” i. e., “I will not receive you with averted looks.” The “and” before this clause should be omitted, as also before the next clause, “I will not keep ...”
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I will not keep - All God’s promises and threats are conditional upon man’s conduct.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 North. Samaria, or rather Assyria, where the people were…
North. Samaria, or rather Assyria, where the people were captives. --- Face, in anger.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–22 Go--not actually; but turn and proclaim towards the north…
Go--not actually; but turn and proclaim towards the north (Media and Assyria, where the ten tribes were located by Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser, Kg2 15:29; Kg2 17:6; Kg2 18:9, Kg2 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.
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cause . . . anger to fall--literally, "I will not let fall My countenance" (compare Gen 4:5-6; Job 29:3), that is, I will not continue to frown on you.
keep--"anger" is to be supplied (see on Jer 3:5).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–22 12. Toward the north — Hebrew, midnight; “the north”…
12. Toward the north — Hebrew, midnight; “the north” being so designated because it is in the opposite direction to the meridian sun. Here it means the provinces of Assyria, into which Shalmanezer had carried away the ten tribes.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–22 12. look in anger] lit. as mg. cause my…
12. look in anger] lit. as mg. cause my countenance to fall upon you. For the falling of the countenance in this sense, cp. Gen_4:5.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–22 (12) Toward the north.—The prophet utters his message as…
(12) Toward the north.—The prophet utters his message as towards the far land of Assyria and the cities of the Medes to which the ten tribes of Israel had been carried away captive (2Ki_17:6; 2Ki_17:23). He had a word of glad tidings for the far-off exiles.
Return, thou backsliding Israel.—It is hard to reproduce the pathetic assonance of the original, “Shubah, mashubah,”—turn back, thou that hast turned away; return, thou renegade.
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I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you.—Literally, my face; the face so awful in its wrath.
I will not keep anger for ever.—With perhaps a latent reference to the hope held out in Hos_3:5, and to the words which Judah had uttered in her hypocrisy (Jer_3:5), but which were truer of Israel.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–22 Israel, therefore, shall be recalled from exile. Her sins…
Israel, therefore, shall be recalled from exile. Her sins are less than those of Judah, and how long and bitterly has she suffered for them! Toward the north. For Israel had been carried captive into the regions to the north of the Assyrian empire. (2Ki_17:6 2Ki_18:11) Comp. the pro-raise in Jer_31:8. I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; rather, my face to fall towards you (i.e. upon your return).
Vers. 12, 13. God inviting the return of his sinful children.
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This invitation is offered to "backsliding Israel" in preference to "false Judah" (ver. 11). There seemed to be more hope of the former. Openly wicked men are more easily led to repentance than hypocritical pretenders to goodness. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners, (Mat_9:12, Mat_9:13) and his invitations were more readily accepted by publicans and reprobates than by Pharisees.
I THE INVITATION IS FROM GOD. Before men return to God he seeks them. The Father calls to his children while they are yet in rebellion against him. In the quarrel between man and God all the wrong is on man"s side, yet God is the first to bring about a reconciliation.
1. We have not to reconcile God to us, but to be reconciled to him. (2Co_5:20) Any difficulty on God"s side has been removed by his own act in the sacrifice of his Son. Now it only remains for us to return.
2. We have not to wait for God"s willingness to receive us, nor to persuade him. Already he has invited as, and he now waits to be gracious.
II THE MOTIVE FOR THE INVITATION IS THE GOODNESS OF GOD. We must not imagine that there is in us any inherent attractiveness, any merit which in the eye of God outweighs our sin, any valuable qualities which make us necessary to him. The reason for God"s anxiety to have his children return is simply his love for them, and this love is not derived from their worthiness, but from his nature.
1. It is because God is merciful," i.e. this is his peculiar characteristic; and mercy is exercised not according to desert, but according to need. Therefore the less man"s desert is the greater will be the outgoing of God"s mercy, because the deeper will be man"s wretchedness.
2. It is because God"s anger is temporary, while his mercy endureth forever." God says, "I will not keep mine anger forever;" but he does keep his love forever. We say "God is love," but we do not say "God is anger." He exercises anger when this is required, but to serve an end to establish justice, to punish sin, etc., whereas he exercises love for its own sake. This latter is more fundamental, in the very heart of God, and outlives the wrath. Hence behind the passing anger that denounces and punishes, there is the eternal love that invites to reconciliation.
III THE ONE CONDITION FOR ACCEPTING THE INVITATION IS THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GUILT. "Acknowledge thine iniquity.
1. This acknowledgment is necessary. We can only return to God by forsaking our sin, for it is just our sin which keeps us from him, and as long as this is retained must still keep us from him. Indeed, separation from God and sin are but two aspects of the same spiritual condition. We can only be forgiven when we admit our guilt, and only be welcomed by God when we humble ourselves before him.
2. This acknowledgment must be complete. It must include a recognition of
(1) positive disobedience hast transgressed," etc.;
(2) the multitudinous variety of sins hast scattered thy ways;
(3) the disregard of God"s voice even when he has spoken in love and urged us to return.
3. This acknowledgment is sufficient. "Only acknowledge thine iniquity. No sacrifice, penance, or partial reformation is first required on our part. The new and better life must begirt with our return to God.
Vers. 12-19. Confession of sin the indispensable prerequisite for its pardon.
That this is so is shown by the evident fact that if it could have been dispensed with it would have been. For the desire of God to pardon his guilty people is, as this section shows, intense. He will not cease to seek after them even when the punishment of their sin has actually come upon them. Hence (ver. 12) he addresses them in the lands of their exile, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Media, (2Ki_17:6) and three times (vers. 12, 14, 22) implores them to "return." He "fills his mouth with arguments," and endeavors by every kind of assurance and promise to induce them to return. Ver. 12: they shall be completely forgiven. Ver. 14: they ought to return, for they are his by right, as the wife is the rightful possession of the husband. Ver. 14: they are the object of his constant regard, so that they cannot be concealed from his eye or hindered from his help. No, though in a whole city, or tribe, or nation, there should be but "two" or even "one," still his hand would reach them there, and bring them out and restore them to Zion. Ver. 15: and those who in days gone by had so happy rule they should greatly multiply in the land. And, better still, they should so realize and rejoice in the spiritual presence of God that they should no longer need the aid of the ancient symbols of that presence, such as the ark of the covenant of the old dispensation. Ver. 17 and Jerusalem should be so filled with the Lord"s presence that they should call the city "the throne of the Lord." And the "nations" should be converted, and their wickedness be forsaken. Ver. 18: and Judah and Israel should be one, and in unity and affection possess the land. Such were the glorious hopes with which God sought to win back his people"s hearts to himself, and they conclusively show how intensely the heart of God was set upon his people"s return. But eagerly desirous as God was for this restoration of his lost children to his heart and home again, he is evidently held back from indulging such affectionate promptings by considerations that could not be overlooked. What they were, the demand that he makes for confession of sin plainly shows. They are
I. The Law of righteousness. Sin is the violation of that Law, and until due atonement and acknowledgment have been made, sin ought not to be forgiven. I may, in accordance with cur Savior"s commands, refrain from inflicting punishment on one who has wronged me, even though he have not repented of his wrong; and that refraining from inflicting punishment, or from demanding what is my right, is forgiveness in the sense our Lord meant; but he did not mean, for it would be a command impossible to obey that I should receive such a one into the same confidence and love which I bear towards a dear friend who has never deserved anything else. Therefore my forgiveness of such an unrepentant offender, though granted in accordance with our Lord"s command, and well-pleasing in his sight, and the best I am capable of, is nevertheless not complete, not perfect; for perfect forgiveness, that which God would bestow upon sinful men, means far more than the remission of penalty: it means restoration to the love, the fellowship, and the confidence of God. But this cannot be apart from due atonement made on the part of the wrongdoer. The Law of righteousness, the Law written upon our hearts as well as inherent in the nature of things, forbids such forgiveness apart from the essential condition of such forgiveness.
II And the well being of his household is that other consideration which restrains the prompting of affection to forgive sin unconditionally and from mere pity. Man is not the whole of God"s household. He may be only the one sheep who has gone astray. The rest, the ninety and nine blessed ones who need no repentance. But to pardon sin without atonement would be to confound all moral distinctions, to discourage the good, and to teach the wrong-doer to regard his wrong as a very slight matter; it would be to carry the discords of earth into the presence of God, and to reproduce there the sins and sorrows of this world. Therefore let the love of God towards sinful man be inconceivably great, and it is so, still it is held back in its exercise by these considerations now named. But where sin is confessed as God demands it should be, then, as is promised here and in many other Scriptures beside, God"s pardoning love can go forth and the sinner be restored to the favor, which he had lost. And the reason of this is not because the sinner"s poor and inadequate confession of his sin is a sufficient atonement for the wrong he has done, but because, when he sincerely makes that confession, he is invested with the acceptableness of Christ.
For Christ has made that atonement perfectly which man can only offer in the most imperfect way; "man"s repentance needing too often, to be repented of, and his very tears to be washed in the blood of Christ. But Christ looked upon sin as God looks upon it, hated it as God hates it, consented to God"s judgment concerning it by bearing the penalty of it; "he bore our sins in his own body on the tree," and so made that true, that perfect confession and atonement which we can never make. And he did this in our nature, and as our Representative. So now, when we come in his Name, sincerely repenting of sin, though that repentance be inadequate in itself, yet because it is "the mind of Christ," and looks upon sin sorrowing over it as he did, our imperfect atonement is accepted in his perfect one, we have the fellowship of his sufferings, his atonement is in our measure reproduced in us, and we are made conformable to his death. Pardon thus bestowed neither violates the Law of righteousness nor is inconsistent with the well being of the whole family of God. Hence it is that, as in ver. 13, the demand is made for confession of sin, and then of their iniquity in all its aggravated forms. Without such confession pardon cannot be bestowed. Not till the prodigal "came to himself," went to his father and said, "I have sinned," was he forgiven, notwithstanding all the yearning of the father"s heart after his lost child. Now, to bring men to this looking upon their sin as God looks upon it, as the Lord Jesus looks upon it, is the object of God"s disciplines, of the pain and smart which so often accompany sin, and of so much of the teaching of the Bible and of God"s providential government. And those who have trusted in Christ are continually to be "looking unto Jesus," for in that trustful look is the sure guarantee of the preservation of the "mind of Christ" in them in regard to sin, and so of their forever abiding in the favor and love of God. This mind of holy hatred and sorrow on account of sin it is the especial work of God"s Holy Spirit to produce in men; that Spirit who is given to them that ask his aid, more readily than even parents give to their children what those children they so much love need and ask for. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21 Return, thou backsliding Israel.
Jer_3:12-15
Return, thou backsliding Israel.
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The backsliders return
I. The invitation to return.
1. From one who
(1) has been wronged (Jer_3:13);
(2) might therefore justly be angry;
(3) but is merciful (Jer_3:12).
2. To one who
(1) has been grossly disobedient;
(2) has been equally ungrateful;
(3) is reaping consequences of disobedience and ingratitude.
II. The condition of return. Confession is the condition of return, because--
1. Genuine confession of sin can proceed only from genuine contrition for sin, which is not unfrequently brought about (Luk_15:17) by a comparison of the lamentable consequences of backsliding, with happiness previously enjoyed.
2. Godly sorrow or genuine contrition worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; i.e. it finds relief only in that confession which is the condition of return. True repentance involves--
(1) Contrition for sin against God.
(2) Confession of sin to God.
(3) Return from sin towards God (Act_20:21).
III. Results of the return.
1. Gods anger will be averted (Jer_3:12).
2. God will Himself escort the wanderer home.
3. A happy future. Comprising
(1) life under a rule which can commit no errors, legislative or judicial (Jer_3:15);
(2) a promise that the restored shall not walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart (Jer_3:17), the cause of their backsliding. (H. A. Hall, B. D.)
Return! Return!
1. It is a fearful thing that a believer should backslide.
(1) Such mercy has been shown to him.
(2) Such love has been enjoyed by him.
(3) Such prospects lie before him.
(4) Such comfort is sacrificed by his backsliding.
2. It is a wretched business for the man himself, since by it nothing is gained, and everything is endangered.
3. It is injurious to the whole church to which the backslider belongs.
4. It is mischievous to the outside world.
5. What is the immediate duty of the backslider? the immediate remedy for his backsliding?--Return.
I. Wonder awakened by the call.
1. The usual jealousy of love.
2. The abundance of the sin (Jer_3:2).
3. The obstinate continuance in evil, notwithstanding chastisements (Jer_3:3).
4. The refusal of tender persuasion (Jer_3:4).
5. The perversion of mercy (Jer_3:5).
6. The warnings which had been despised (Jer_3:6-11). It is a great increase of iniquity when we perceive the suffering which it causes others, and yet persevere m it ourselves.
II. Memories aroused by the call.
1. Does it not remind you of other days?
(1) When you first came to Jesus.
(2) When you were happy with other believers.
(3) When you could teach and warn others.
(4) When you began to go aside, a little.
(5) When you have sinned grievously through this backsliding.
2. Indulge these memories till they affect your heart.
III. Reasons urged for obeying the call.
1. It is God Himself who utters it.
2. Anger will be removed (Jer_3:12).
3. Love continues (Jer_3:14).
4. Healing will be given (Jer_3:22).
IV. Directions given to make obedience to the call easy.
1. Only acknowledge thine iniquity (Jer_3:13). What a simple matter!
2. Lament the evil (Jer_3:21).
3. Own the sad result (Jer_3:25).
4. Trust in God for restoration (Jer_3:23).
5. Heartily renew allegiance (Jer_3:22).
V. Promises made to those answering to the call.
1. Special guidance (Jer_3:14).
2. Suitable food (Jer_3:15).
3. Spiritual insight (Jer_3:16-17).
4. Childlike spirit (Jer_3:19). (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Backsliding
Let us have up the backsliders, and ask them why they slid back. Of course they have excuses. All wrongdoers have. You interview any defaulting bank officer, etc., and they will tell you a tale of sweet and childlike artlessness to account for their weakness, as they will call it.
1. I was deluded into being confirmed by the urgent solicitations of the rector, or my parents, or my Sunday school teacher. I was over-persuaded by my wife or my friends. I acted hastily. Now just put this into plain English and look at it. You were deluded into an attempt to rise to a higher plane. You were over-persuaded to strive to be a better: man or woman. You acted hastily in resolving to strive to get the better of evil passions and ugly habits. How does that sound?
2. My rector said that there would be a great comfort in being a communicant, that it would bring a peaceful conscience, and a joy in life, and a satisfaction of heart. Now I did not find it so. After I became a communicant, my old bad feelings returned, and I gave way often to evil thoughts, words, and deeds, and the world did not change, and I was not very different, and so I stopped the whole thing. Now, if you had a very sick friend, and the doctor should leave pills which if steadily taken would bring relief, what would you reply on hearing your friend say after taking two or three, I feel no better, I will take no more? You would reply: The doctor never said a dose or two would answer. He said that if persevered in the pills would bring relief. Would you blame the doctor or the medicine, if your friends bad symptoms still continued?
3. It was such hard work. Why, there was no end to the care we had to take. We had to watch our words all the time to see that we let out no scandalous or ugly or impure ones, and our steps that we went nowhere which would be likely to peril our Christian profession. We found that to be consistent we had to struggle, and to meet opposition, and to go contrary to our own wishes, and when we fell, it was so hard to get back, we got discouraged and gave up. Young men have told me that, whom I saw, just to keep their places in the store, working like very galley slaves, thinking no self-denial too great to hold on there, rising early, going without sleep, hurrying through their meals, restraining their tempers, bearing patiently with troublesome customers and overbearing employers. Do you not see the awful inconsistency, the poor futility, of this excuse? (C. Locke, D. D.)
Israel invited to renew her marriage by repentance
I. God sends messengers of mercy and not of judgment (Jer_3:12).
II. God requires that they humble themselves before Him (Jer_3:13).
III. God urges the most affecting considerations, in order to prevail upon them.
1. The merciful disposition He felt towards them.
2. The relation under which He still regarded them.
3. The benefits which He was still ready to confer upon them. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
A proclamation from the King of kings
Backsliders are very many. Departing from the living God is no strange thing. Many Christians are one while hot, and another lukewarm, and even cold. They are diligent and fervent today, but idle and indifferent tomorrow. Even the best of believers are not always at their best. Who among us has not had cause to make confession that he has not kept up to his first love at all times; neither has his lamp been always clearly burning?
I. The proclamation: Go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord.
1. It was to be a proclamation, for God is King; and if His subjects rebel He does not lose the rights of His sovereignty. He sends, therefore, to them a royal message with all the power which belongs to the word of a king. Go and proclaim.
2. This proclamation is sent to the worst of sinners, to the very basest of backsliders. They broke their marriage bonds to the one living and true God, and made themselves loathsome in His sight by the most detestable idolatries. It is sad that there should have been such a race of backsliders; but it is glorious to think that to such as these the message of Gods mercy was sent.
3. The Israelitish people were not only the worst kind of backsliders, but they had already reaped in a very large measure the result of their backslidings, for they had been carried away captive. They had suffered the loss of all things because they had departed from their God, and yet they had not learned the lesson which affliction was meant to teach It was still needful to call them to repentance, and God bade them return to Him: His proclamation was to them.
4. I see some mercy, and that of no little kind, in the messenger who was sent to deliver this message, for it was Jeremiah, that man of a broken spirit, who could say of himself, I am the man that hath seen affliction.
II. A precept. It is a very simple one, and as short as it is clear. It is given in the proclamation,--Return, thou backsliding Israel.
1. Return,--be as you were; come back: repent, and do your first works. Hearken this is the precept; return unto your Saviour; just as you are, come back to Him. Come back as you came at first, with your sin acknowledged, looking to His Cross for pardon. Did you grow too great, and think you could live without your Saviour? Return! Did you dream of being so perfect that you did not want His righteousness, for your own would suffice? Away with that glittering bauble, that idle notion of thy perfection, and come back, and beat upon thy breast, and say, God be merciful to me a sinner. Repent of thy pride, and return again to thy Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Return at once. Delays are always dangerous, but never so dangerous as when they are proposed by backsliders.
3. And come thou back with all thy heart. Let there be no mimic repentance; no pretended returning. Thou shalt find the Lord if thou seek Him with all thy heart, and all thy soul.
4. And mind that thou return practically; that is, that thy life shall be changed, thy idols broken, thy omitted duties fulfilled with eagerness, neglected means of grace pursued with fervour; that done which thou hast left undone, and that evil forsaken into which thou hast gone with such headlong folly.
III. The promise. I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you. See that anger, like a black cloud, charged not with refreshing rain, but with fire flakes that shall bum as they fall: ay, burn their way into the very core of your being, as with the fires of hell. Not a flake of it shall burn you if you return unto your God. There is full, free, and immediate forgiveness to be had. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins. Return unto Me. This is a grand motive for coming back: the sin that separates is put away. He will wash you thoroughly from your iniquity, and cleanse you from your sin, and whatsoever you need He will give to you, and He will not upbraid you. I find that the passage might be read, I will not cause My face to fall upon you, meaning this--that if the child of God comes back, God will not look angry at him any more. I will not cause My anger to fall upon you. I will not even cause My face to fall at the sight of you; but I will receive you graciously; I will in tender mercy put away your transgressions, and reveal My love to you.
IV. The argument.
1. Here is, first, Gods mercy. Nothing delights God more than to forgive sin: at this blessed work He is at home. He is happy at it; He finds pleasure in mans turning to Him, and finding life. Mercy as His last-born attribute. Until sin came there was no room for mercy--the mercy that forgives, and therefore mercy is Gods Benjamin, the son of His right hand, and He delights to give to it ten times as much as to His other attributes when they feast together. It is the heaven of His heaven to receive a hell-black sinner to His heart, and put away his sin. I am merciful, saith the Lord. Therefore come to Him, and believe in His mercy; and doubt no longer, but lovingly receive what He lovingly gives.
2. As for you who once knew Him, and loved Him, and rejoiced in Him, I want you just to dwell on that second argument, namely, marriage. Return, for I am married unto you, saith the Lord. It is done, and though you do not stand to it He does, the great transaction still stands on His part: though you believe not, He abideth faithful. He has bought you with His blood, and the price will never return into His veins. Wherefore, come back to Him.
V. The advice that He here gives as to how we are to return. He says, Only acknowledge thine iniquity. Alas, I have so wandered! Acknowledge it. But I have done it so many times! Acknowledge it. But I have wandered against light and knowledge! Acknowledge it. It is not a hard thing to do, to get thee to thy chamber, and before God confess thy faults. You have, first of all, to have a knowledge of it, and then to acknowledge it. Feel thy sin, and then confess it. Be convinced of it, and then plead guilty at the judgment seat. What am I to acknowledge?
1. Your breach of covenant--that you have transgressed against Jehovah your God.
2. Next acknowledge your greedy sin--that thou hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree.
3. Confess also your hardness of heart. God has spoken, and you would not hear; He has entreated, and you would not regard Him; He has come very near to you, and you have turned your back upon Him.
4. Confess also your ingratitude. His voice, which is your Fathers voice, you have not heard or obeyed. What unnaturalness! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Love of the world
I. The ground of the appeal. I am married unto you. A man to have slidden back must at one time have been forward. He cannot have truly wandered from the Lord, unless he has personally known Him. To those, therefore, who are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus is the appeal made, Turn, O backsliding children, etc.
II. To whom the appeal is addressed. The Christian who seeks first his worldly advantage, and fails to see that his chief end is to glorify God, is led step by step farther and farther from the Most High.
III. The appeal itself.
1. The context shows the spirit in which it is to be complied with (verse 13). First must come confession. As the old proverb has it, Sensibility to a fault is half-way to amendment.
2. In the text itself we have the appeal in one word--Turn.
3. The promise associated with this appeal (verse 23). This is a promise of Almighty power. I remember hearing a brother who, when asked who converted him, replied, God converted me, who else could do it? So may we say of the healing of the backslider, Who but God can do it? Blessed be the name of the Almighty, He promises to do it.
4. The language used by the backslider as setting forth the One to whom he returns (verse 22). (W. P. Lockhart.)
To backsliders
I. The nature of backsliding.
1. It is going back.
(1) Easily.
(2) Gradually.
(3) Silently.
2. It is generally preceded by--
(1) Pride (Pro_16:18).
(2) Vain confidence (Mat_26:33).
(3) Negligence (Mat_26:58).
3. A man may be--
(1) Enticed by sinful pleasures.
(2) Led back by sinful companions (1Ki_11:1-43).
(3) Driven back by sinful fears (Mat_26:69-74).
II. The misery of backsliding.
1. Heavy losses.
(1) Self-respect.
(2) Tender conscience.
(3) Sweetest enjoyments.
(4) Brightest hopes.
2. Severe disappointment. His holy expectations are lost, of what he might have been and done for Christ, and the after rewards.
3. Terrible disgrace.
(1) Before the world, as a hypocrite.
(2) Before the Church, as the thief (Jer_2:12).
(3) Before God (Psa_51:3-9).
III. The remedy for backsliding. Return, etc.
1. Immediately.
(1) Delay makes your case worse.
(2) God is willing to pardon.
(3) The Church is waiting to receive you.
2. Humbly.
(1) Confessing sin.
(2) Abhorring sin.
(3) Forsaking sin.
3. Believingly. Remember--
(1) The love of your espousals.
(2) The individuality of your relationship.
(3) The love of your husband.
(4) Your own duty. (The Study.)
The mercifulness of the Divine nature
When the Duke of Argyll was taken in rebellion in Scotland, and brought before James the Second, the King said to him, You know that it is in my power to pardon you? It is reported that the prisoner answered, It may be m your power, but it is not in your nature to forgive,--a speech which, whether true or not, cost him his life. He died like a stoic, executed at Temple Gate. What a contrast to the Divine. To err is human, to forgive is Divine.
I am married unto you.
The relationship of marriage
These be dainty words--a grateful anodyne for a troubled conscience. Such singular comfort is fitted to cheer up the soul, and put the brightest hue on all her prospects. The person to whom it is addressed hath an eminently happy position. God speaks to His Church in her most abject estate, and though He does not fail to rebuke her sin, to lament it, and to make her lament it too, yet still in such an estate He says to her, I am married unto you. Oh! it is grace that He should be married to any of us, but it is grace at its highest pitch, it is the ocean of grace at its flood tide, that He should speak thus of backsliding children.
I. Consider the relationship which is here spoken of.
1. The affinity of marriage, though exceedingly near of kin, is not one of birth. Marriage is not a relationship of natural birth but of voluntary contract or covenant. Such is the relationship which exists between the believer and his God. Whatever relation there was originally between God and man, it was extinguished by the fall. Now, Christian, just contemplate what you were, and the degraded family to which you belonged, that you may magnify the riches of His grace who espoused you in your low estate, and hath so bound Himself with all the pledges of a husband that He saith, I am married unto you.
2. Marriage union is the result of choice. The first choice is with God. That choice was made, we believe, before the foundation of the world. God never began to love His people. He saw them in the glass of His decrees; He foresaw them, with His eye of prescience, in the mass of creatureship, all fallen and ruined; but yet He beheld them, and pitied and loved them. They shall be Mine, saith the Lord. Here we are all agreed; and we ought to be all agreed upon the second point, namely, that we also have chosen our God.
3. Marriage is cemented by mutual love. Where there is not this mutual affection, it deserves not the name of marriage. Need I talk to you of the love of God? It is a theme we are scarcely competent to talk of.
4. This marriage necessitates certain mutual relations. I cannot say duties, for the word seems out of place on either side. How can I speak of the great God making pledges of faithfulness? and yet with reverence, let me word it so, for in my vocabulary I have hardly words to set it forth. When God becomes a husband, He undertakes to do a husbands part--to nourish, to cherish, to shield, to protect, to bless those with whom He condescends, in infinite mercy, to enter into union. And now, what upon our side? The wife has to reverence her husband, and to be subject unto him in all things. That is precisely our position towards Him who has married us. Let His will be our will. Let His wish be our law.
5. It also involves mutual confidences. In a true marriage, the husband and wife become one. Henceforth their joys and their cares, their hopes and their labours, their sorrows and their pleasures, rise and blend together in one stream. The Lord our God has said it. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. Now, Christian, just see: you stand in the relation of a spouse, and you must tell your very heart out to Christ.
6. This marriage implies fellowship in all its relations. Whatsoever a husband possesses becomes his wifes. She cannot be poor if he be rich; and what little she has, whatever it may be, comes to him. When Christ took His people, He gave them all He had. Now, it is saying but very little when I add, that, therefore, whatever we have, belongs to Him--oh! it is so little, so very little, but one wishes it were more.
7. The very crown of marriage is mutual delight and complacency. The wife of a Persian nobleman, having gone to a feast which was given by the great Darius, was asked by her husband whether she did not think that Darius was the finest man in the world. No, she said, she did not think so; she never saw any one in the world who was comparable to her husband. And doubtless that is just the opinion which a husband forms of his wife and a wife of her husband where the marriage is such as it should be. Now, certainly Christ sets a very high store upon us. He does not see us as we are, but in His infinite grace He sees us as we are to be. The sculptor says he can see a bust in a block of marble, and that all he has to do is to chip away the extra marble, and let the bust appear. So Christ can see a perfect being in every one of us, if we are His people; and what He is about with us day by day is taking off the excrescences, making us to be like Himself. And as for us, who are His people, I am sure we can say that there is no delight which can equal communion with Christ.
II. How far do you and I experimentally understand this? Oh! blind eyes, that cannot see beauty in the Saviour! Jesus! they are besotted, they are mad, who cannot love Thee! It is a strange infatuation of the sons of men to think that they can do without Thee, that they can see any light apart from Thee, Thou Son of Righteousness, or anything like beauty in all the gardens of the world apart from Thee, Thou Rose of Sharon, Thou Lily of the Valley! O that they knew Thee! But, Christian, I speak to you. Surely you know something about this, that God is married to you? If you do, can you not say with me, Yes, and He has been a very faithful husband to me? Well, then, speak well of Him, speak well of Him! Make this world hear His praise! As for you who do not know Him, I should like to ask you this question, and do you answer it for yourselves. Do you want to be married to Christ? Do you wish to have Him? Oh! then, there will be no difficulties in the way of the match. If thy heart goes after Christ, He will have thee. Whoever thou mayst be, He win not refuse thee. Oh! He seeks thee! And when thou seekest Him, that is a sure sign that He has found thee. Though thou mayst not have found Him, yet He has found thee already. The wedding ring is ready. Faith is the golden ring which is the token of the marriage bond. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
One of a city.--
One by one
The revelation of God to man is progressive. A revelation depends upon the power of the person revealing to give, and equally upon the power of the person receiving to receive. God could not, if He would, reveal the whole truth concerning Himself to the human race at the outset--not because He was unable to impart, but because the human race was unable to accept. The revelation of God in human history has therefore been a gradual and a progressive revelation. The wise men of all nations have always believed in one God. But there was one nation in which the wise men were wise enough to believe that the common people should also be taught that there is one God; and so, while in all the surrounding nations the doctrine of the unity of God was an esoteric doctrine--that is, a doctrine reserved for the few--in the Hebrew nation the prophets took this interior and secret doctrine, and, by many a trope and figure, and by many a direct affirmation, gave it to the common people. And thence they went on to learn and to teach that this God is a righteous God. The gods of the nations about were either unmoral or immoral; but the doctrine of the prophets, of the Old Testament was, God is a righteous God, deals righteously, expects righteousness. Connected with that was the teaching that God stands in relation, not to the whole human race, for that was too large a doctrine for them to accept at first, but in special relation to the Jewish race; and then that He did stand in relation to the other people also, but in the relation to the other people of a judge, and in the relation to the Jewish people of a Father. And so grew up, in the earlier period of Jewish history, the notion that God had chosen one nation, and was dealing with that nation--guiding, guarding, inspiring, redeeming it. Time passes on. This nation sins more and more, and the prophets see the gathering clouds--gathering for its destruction. They see the Assyrians and the Chaldeans on the north and east gathering against the nation, and they begin to say, Although you are Gods chosen people, God will punish you and carry you away captive; but still Israel is Gods nation, and God will save Israel; though He carries you away captive, He will so discipline you that He will bring you back as a nation, and as a nation you shall be saved and redeemed. Time went on another hundred years or so, and the prophesied disaster drew near, and Jeremiah came, and he brought another message. He said, No, this nation is not to be saved; but God will gather out of the nation here one and there another; He is married to the nation, but the nation as a nation He has given up as hopeless; nevertheless, He will take one out of a city, and two out of a family, and will bring them to Zion; He will deal with them one by one. When Christ came upon the earth, He met the old impression that Israel was to be treated as a nation, and it almost seems at first as though He shared that hope; but His later message was, God will take away the kingdom from Israel; and will give it to a new people that will bring forth the fruits thereof; this people He will gather one at a time from all the world, gathering them into the one great Israel of God.
I. God as a Creator and Ruler over nature deals in individual ways. Mr. Ruskin has called attention with great eloquence to the difference between the old-time workman and the new-time workman. The old-time workman worked individually, himself carved the whole piece, whatever it was, and so put himself into that carving; it was the product of his hand not only, but of his brain and his heart, and was the manifestation of himself. The modern industrial products are the products of machinery They are multiplied and cheapened, but they are no longer individual. Now, men think of God as one who puts a great machinery in operation, and that works out the product. But not so does the Bible represent Him, and not so does modern philosophy represent Him. God is not a first great cause. He is the perpetual, eternal, everlasting, and only cause, the cause that lies beneath all phenomena, so that every product of nature is a new and different manifestation of a God who is in every phenomenon. This is the reason for the infinite variation in phenomena. God never made two faces alike; never made two blades of grass alike; nothing that ever came from Gods hand, was exactly the repetition of anything else that ever came from Gods hand.
II. As in nature, so in His dealings with humanity.
1. He gives to each individual in the Church and each citizen in the nation His personal work. Humanity is not like a great army that is marching along in serried rank, and if one man drops out another man can take his place; nor like a factory in which a thousand men are working, and if one drops out some one else can come in and carry on his work. It is individual and personal work, and God comes to you, and says, I have something for you to do, and if you do not do it, it will be left undone; there will be one vacancy, one citizen left out of the assembly, one blank space in the page.
2. So He deals with each individual in all the discipline of life. He never sends a tear, a heartache, a failure, what men call a disaster, except as He sees the need for it. He knows what each soul wants, and to each one He adjusts the medicine according to the necessity.
3. So, in all the administration of His love, God deals with you one by one. We discuss the question of indiscriminate charity. The phrase is a contradiction in terms. Charity is discrimination. Love cannot be undiscriminating. God does not give His benefits by wholesale. God does not sound a trumpet when He does His alms, to gather the people to receive them. In all His benefactions, He deals with one at a time. My God shall supply all your need--that is Pauls declaration. Special providences! There are no other. All providences are special. God does not throw men out to the influence of certain great generic laws and then interfere to help them on special occasions. Gods loving kindness and tender mercies are over all His works. Every life is guided and directed by the hand of an infinite love, if we only will allow it to guide. (Lyman Abbott, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v21 Jer 3:21 - Jer 3:22.
Jeremiah
A COLLOQUY BETWEEN A PENITENT AND GOD
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Jer 3:21 - Jer 3:22.
We have here a brief dramatic dialogue. First is heard a voice from the bare heights, the sobs and cries of penitence, produced by the prophet’s earnest remonstrance. The penitent soul is absorbed in the thought of its own evil. Its sin stands clear before it. Israel sees its sin in its two forms. ‘They have perverted their way,’ or have led a wrong outward life of action, and the reason is that ‘they have forgotten God,’ or have been guilty of inward alienation and departure from Him. Here is the consciousness of sin in its essential character, and that produces godly sorrow. The distinction between mere remorse and repentance is here already, in the ‘weeping and supplication.’
I. So we have here a consciousness of sin in its true nature, as embracing both deeds and heart, as originating in departure from God, and manifested in perverted conduct.
Further, we have here sorrow. There may be consciousness of sin in its true nature without any sorrow of heart. It is fatal when a man looks upon his evil, gets a more or less clear sight of it, and is not sorry and penitent. It is conceivable that there should be perfect knowledge of sin and perfect insensibility in regard to it.
A sinful man’s true mood should be sorrow-not flinging the blame on others, or on fate, or circumstances; not regarding his sin as misfortune or as inevitable or as disease.
Conscience is meant to produce that consciousness and that sorrow: but conscience may be dulled or silenced. It cannot be anyhow induced to call evil good, but it may be mistaken in what is evil. The gnomon is true, but a veil of cloud may be drawn over the sky.
Further, we have here supplication. These two former may both be experienced, without this third. There may be consciousness of sin and sorrow which lead to no blessing. ‘My bones waxed old through my roaring.’ Sorrow after a godly sort may be hindered by false notions of God’s great love, or by false notions of what a man ought to do when he finds he has gone wrong. It may be hindered by cleaving, subtle love of sin, or by self-trust. But where all these have been overcome there is true repentance.
II. The loving divine answer.
Another ear than the prophet’s has heard the plaint from the bare heights. Many a frenzied shriek had gone up from these shrines of idolatrous worship, and as with Baal’s prophets, it had brought no answer, nor had there been any that regarded. But this weeping reaches the ear that is never closed. Contrast with Jer 3:23: ‘Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the shouting {of idol-worshippers} on the mountains.’
The instantaneousness of God’s answer is very beautiful. It is like the action of the father in the parable of the prodigal son, who saw his repentant boy afar off and ran and kissed him.
There seems to be, in both the invitation to return and in the promise to hear the backslidings, a quotation from Hos 14:1 - Hos 14:4. We see here how God meets the penitent with a love that recognises all his sin and yet is love. It is not rebuke or reproach that lies in that designation, ‘backsliding children.’ It is tenderest mercy that lets us see that He knows exactly what we are, and yet promises His love and forgiveness. He loves us sinners with a love that beckons us back to Himself, with a love that promises healing. The truth which should be taken into the mind and heart of the man conscious of sin is God’s knowledge of it all already and yet His undiminished love, God’s welcome of him back, God’s ready pardon. All this is true for the world in Christ, and is true for every individual soul.
The answer and the invitation here are immediate.
There is often a long period of painful struggle. It looks as if the answer were not immediate. But that is because we do not listen to it.
III. The happy response of the returning soul.
That too is immediate. The soul believes God’s promises. It recognises God’s claim. It returns to Him. We are attracted by His grace. The sunflower turns to the sun. The penitent is not driven only, but drawn -God’s own loving self-revelation in Christ is His true power. ‘I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.’
The consciousness of sin remains and is even deepened {subsequent verses}, and yet is different. A light of hope is in it. The very sense of sin brings us to Him, to hide our faces on His heart like a child in its mother’s lap.
This response of the soul may be instantaneous. If it is not immediate, it too probably will never be at all.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 16, 17, 19, 21 Acknowledge your iniquity
Acknowledge your iniquity
"Admit how you have sinned." God was speaking to Israel.
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you have shared your ways with strangers under every leafy tree!
The word "strangers" refers to foreign gods. God speaks of Israel worshiping foreign gods as if Israel were a woman who was having sex with strangers. (See: Metaphor)
under every leafy tree
People would worship idols under trees. The word "every" is a generalization used to show that the people of Israel worshiped many gods under many different trees. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
you have not listened to my voice
Here "listened" represents obeying, and "my voice" represents what God has said. AT: "you have not obeyed what I have said" (See: Metonymy)
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
I am your husband
God speaks of Israel belonging to him as if he were Israel's husband. AT: "you belong to me as a wife belongs to her husband" (See: Metaphor)
I will give you shepherds ... they will shepherd you
Here God speaks of leaders as if they were shepherds and the people they led were sheep. AT: "I will give you leaders ... they will lead you" (See: Metaphor)
shepherds after my heart
Here "heart" represents Yahweh's desire or will. The phrase "after my heart" is an idiom that describes people who do God's will. AT: "shepherds who do my will" or "shepherds who do what I want" (See: Metonymy and Idiom)
translationWords
acknowledge
iniquity
transgress
God
voice
people of God
Zion
shepherd
know
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 3:12 In this decree, the Lord calls the survivors…
3:12 In this decree, the Lord calls the survivors of the faithless Israel of a century before to come home. God’s solid, underlying character is merciful, and he desires to extend salvation and restoration (12:15; 31:20; 33:26; 2 Kgs 17:6; Ps 86:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.