Jeremiah 2:20 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, the prophet continues his charge against this backsliding people. The main sin he presses is idolatry, that great offense they were openly guilty of.

They frequented the places where idols were worshiped, on every high hill and under every green tree. They wandered from one shrine to another, like people who could never settle down or be satisfied. In all this, they were playing the harlot, a strong picture for spiritual unfaithfulness, and often for physical immorality too. Those who leave God keep wandering, and sinful desires never get full.

They also made images for themselves and gave them divine honor. This was not only the fault of ordinary people, but of kings and princes, who should have stopped it, and priests and prophets, who should have taught against it. They were so foolish and deluded that they said to a wooden object, "You are my father," meaning, "You are my god, the one who gave me life and whom I must depend on." They said to a stone idol, "You gave me birth," and so they looked to it for protection, provision, and care. What a deep insult this was to God, who is really our Father and Maker. It also insulted their own reason, because they were treating carved wood and stone as if they were living parents.

They kept multiplying these worthless idols without end. Judah had as many gods as cities. Once they turned away from the one true God, who is enough for all people and all needs, they were never satisfied. Idolatry is like greed, because the more people have, the more they want. They also could not agree on one god. After leaving the center of truth and unity, they fell into endless division, with each city wanting its own deity close at hand.

The evidence against them was plain, so no witnesses were needed. Still, they tried to deny it. They wanted to wash themselves clean with nitre and much soap, as if they could excuse or soften the sin. Some claimed they did not worship these things as gods, only as lower beings or as respectful symbols. Others boldly denied the whole charge and said, "I am not polluted. I have not gone after the Baals." Because their worship was done secretly, they thought it could never be proved. Their denial was like the shameless talk of the adulterous woman who says, "I have done nothing wrong" (Proverbs 30:20).

But God plainly convicts them. How could they deny it and say, "I have not gone after the Baals," or, "I am not polluted"? The prophet is amazed at their boldness. God's own knowledge stands against them, because their guilt is marked before Him and stored up for judgment (Deuteronomy 32:34; Job 21:19; Hosea 13:12). Though they tried to wash it away, like murderers trying to remove blood from clothing, it would not come out. God sees it, and His judgment is always true.

Their own conscience also testified against them. They could look at their way in the valley, where they had worshiped idols, not only on the high hills but also in the low places (Isaiah 57:5, 6). This may refer to the valley opposite Beth-peor, where they worshiped Baal-peor (Deuteronomy 34:6; Numbers 25:3). If so, the prophet is reaching back to that old sin. Or it may point to the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they burned their children to Moloch. In either case, the place itself spoke against them.

Their sin was made worse by God’s great goodness to them. He had broken their yoke and burst their bonds, a clear reference to their rescue from Egypt and slavery there. They had forgotten this, but God had not. When He said, "You shall have no other gods before Me," He first reminded them that He had brought them out of Egypt. The bonds God had broken should have tied them to Him forever. Instead, they broke the bonds of duty to the God who had freed them.

They had also made a promise, but they had not kept it. They said, "I will not transgress." When God’s mercy was fresh, they seemed deeply moved and ready to bind themselves to faithful obedience. In the same way, they once said, "No, but we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:21). We too often make such promises, saying we will not sin again, yet we still turn aside like a deceitful bow and repeat our transgressions.

They had also badly declined from what they were when God first formed them as a nation. He had planted them as a noble vine.

The people’s government, both in church and state, was once well ordered. Their laws were right, and their worship was full of instruction and meaning. When they first settled in Canaan, there was also a generation of good men among them. Israel served the Lord and stayed close to him through all the days of Joshua, and through the days of the elders who outlived Joshua (Joshua 24:31).

At that time they were like a healthy plant, ready to fill the vineyard with good vines. But things turned out very differently. The next generation did not know the Lord or the works he had done (Judges 2:10), and from there they grew worse and worse until they became like a degenerate plant from a strange vine. They became the opposite of what they had been at the start. Their whole life together was badly broken, and nothing remained of the purity and devotion their ancestors had shown. Their vine was like the vine of Sodom (Deuteronomy 32:32).

This also fits human nature in general. God first made people upright, like a noble vine with a right beginning. But sin has made human nature widely corrupt, so it has become like a strange vine that produces bitter fruit. Such a life is offensive to God and deeply displeasing to him.

They were also fierce and eager in their idol worship. They were attached to their idols and always wanted new ones. Neither God’s word nor his judgments could restrain them, so strong was their drive toward this sin. They are compared to a swift female camel racing about after a mate (Jeremiah 2:23), and to a wild donkey used to the wilderness, untamed by work and full of restless desire (Jeremiah 2:24). When she catches the wind near the male donkey, who can turn her aside? Who can stop her from what she wants?

Those who try to chase such a creature will not tire themselves at once, because they know it is useless. They must wait until the time when she is heavy and slow, and then she can be found and cannot run away. In the same way, eager lust is a beastly thing. Those who refuse to be turned from it by reason, conscience, or honor are acting like brute animals, not rational people. Idolatry is also strangely addictive, and people attached to it are very hard to cure. Some are so set on their sinful desires that warning them does no good, and those who try wear themselves out in vain. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.

Still, the time does come when the fiercest person can be tamed and the wildest heart made manageable. When trouble and pain come, people begin to listen to correction. Then they can be found, as in the time the psalm speaks of, when they are brought low and turn to God (Psalm 141:5-6).

They were also stubborn in their sin. Since they could not be held back, they would not be corrected either (Jeremiah 2:25). God gave them clear warning about the ruin their wicked way would surely bring. If they kept going, he would bring them into a miserable captivity. Their feet would be bare, as if their shoes had been taken away, and they would be forced to travel on foot. Their enemies would also deny them clean water, so their throat would be dried up with thirst. This would be the end of their path.

Those who chase after strange gods and strange ways of worship will rightly end up as prisoners under a strange king in a strange land. Their running after idols would wear the shoes from their feet, and their longing after them would bring thirst to their throat. So they should have stopped, turned back, and kept their foot from these violent pursuits and their throat from these violent desires. It should be enough to check any thoughtful person in a sinful course to consider where it will end.

But they rejected the warning. They said to those who urged them to repent and change, “There is no hope. We will not be moved to give up our idols, because we love strangers, and we will keep going after them.” They were settled in their choice and did not want any more correction. They thought it was useless to speak to them. This is a sad condition, when sin has won such power that people admit they should reform but say they cannot, and so decide they will not. Yet we must not despair of God’s mercy, which is enough to forgive even great sins if we repent. We must also not despair of God’s grace, which is able to overcome even strong corruption if we pray for it and use it well. No one should say, “There is no hope,” while still alive.

They had also brought shame on themselves by trusting in what would fail them in their trouble, and by pushing away the one who could have helped them (Jeremiah 2:26-28). A thief is ashamed when, after all his tricks to hide the theft, he is found out and punished. So the house of Israel will be ashamed, though not with a repentant shame over their sin. It will be the shame of disappointment, because their idols failed them.

They will be ashamed when they are forced to cry out to the God they had treated with contempt. In their good times, they had turned their back on him, not their face. They had ignored him, acted as if they had forgotten him, and tried not to look toward him at all. They went away from him as far and as fast as they could. But in trouble they will find no one else who can help them, and then they will say, “Arise and save us.” Their fathers had often felt this same shame (Judges 3:9, Judges 4:3, Judges 10:10), yet that did not persuade them to stay close to God so they could come to him with confidence in their distress.

They will also be ashamed because the gods they courted cannot help them, and the God who made them will not serve them. To bring them to this shame, and if possible to repentance, they are sent to the gods they served (Judges 10:14). Then they will cry, “Arise and save us.”

God says of the idols, “Let them rise up and save you,” because you have no reason to expect that I will let them do so if they cannot. Let them try to rise from the places where they are fixed. Let them see whether they can save you. But you will be ashamed when you find that they can do you no good.

Even if you had a god for every city, your cities are still burned and left without people (Jeremiah 2:15). This is the foolishness of sinners. They take pleasure in what will surely bring them grief, and they boast in what will surely become their shame.