Jeremiah 2:9 - Meaning and Application

The prophet has already shown their deep ingratitude in turning away from God. Now he shows how unstable and foolish they were (Jeremiah 2:9). God says, “I will still argue the case with you.” Before God punishes sinners, he first reasons with them, to bring them to repentance.

And even after much has been said about the evil of sin, there is still more to say. When one part of the charge has been proved, another must be brought forward. We may speak much for God, yet we still have more to say on his behalf (Job 36:2). Those who try to convict sinners must use many arguments and keep pressing the issue.

God had already argued with their fathers and asked why they ran after emptiness and became empty themselves (Jeremiah 2:5). Now he speaks to those who kept following that same empty way, passed down from their fathers, and to their children after them, in every generation. Let those who turn from God know that he is ready to reason fairly with them, so that he may be shown right when he speaks. He brings against us the same case we ought to bring against ourselves.

He shows, first, that they acted against the practice of all nations. Their neighbors were more loyal to their false gods than Israel was to the true God. Israel wanted to be like the nations, yet in this they were unlike them. God challenges them to find any nation that had changed its gods (Jeremiah 2:10, Jeremiah 2:11). They could look at old records or at the present condition of the isles of Chittim, a name for the lands west of them, or Kedar, a people to the southeast, and they would still find no example of a nation abandoning its gods.

These nations had no kindness from their gods, because their gods were no gods at all. Yet they still clung to them. They respected the choice of their fathers so strongly that they would not trade gods of wood and stone for gods of silver and gold, much less for the living and true God. We do not praise them for that, but their steadiness shames Israel. Israel alone had every reason to keep their God, yet Israel alone changed him. People find it hard to leave the religion they were raised in, even when it is foolish and false. The faithfulness of idolaters should shame Christians out of their coldness and wavering.

He shows, second, that they acted against common sense. It may sometimes be wise to change, but they changed for the worse and made a bad bargain. They left a God who was their glory. He made them truly honorable and gave them dignity. They could rightly boast in him with humble trust, because he is himself a glorious God and the glory of those who belong to him. He was especially the glory of Israel, since his glory had often appeared over their tabernacle, their sacred tent.

But they turned to gods that could not help them. Idols do no good to the people who worship them. Idolatry turns God’s glory into shame (Romans 1:23), and it also brings shame on the worshipers themselves. In dishonoring God, they dishonor their own souls and work against their own best interest. Whatever people turn to when they leave God will never truly benefit them. It may flatter them for a time, but it cannot profit them.

Then heaven itself is called to be amazed at this sin and folly (Jeremiah 2:12, Jeremiah 2:13). “Be astonished, O heavens, at this.” The earth is so full of corruption that it seems unmoved by it, but let the heavens be amazed. Let the sun blush to see such thanklessness, and be afraid to shine on such ungrateful people. These same people had worshiped the sun, moon, and stars, but those heavenly bodies, if they could speak, would rather be dark than be made an excuse for idolatry. Some take this as referring to the angels in heaven. If they rejoice when sinners return to God, we may think they are astonished and horrified when souls turn away from him.

The point is that this people’s conduct toward God was shocking, hateful, and dreadful in its outcome. It was shocking because people who claim to reason could do something so unreasonable. It was hateful because it was a wicked insult to their Maker, whose honor every good person should defend. And it was dreadful because of where it would lead. What will the end of this be? They have thrown themselves out of God’s grace and favor, and they should tremble at the thought of his wrath and curse.

What exactly is so terrible? This: “My people, whom I taught and should have ruled, have done two great evils. They have shown ingratitude and folly. They have gone against both their duty and their own good.” First, they insulted their God by turning their backs on him, as if he were not worth their attention. “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.” In God there is a full and constant supply of all the comfort and help we need, and he gives it freely. He is the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9). All our true strength and all our best gifts come from him. To leave him is, in effect, to deny that truth and refuse to honor his kindness with love and praise.

Second, they cheated themselves. They forsook their own mercy, and chose lying vanities instead. They worked hard to dig cisterns, pits or reservoirs to hold water, but these proved broken and leaky, unable to keep any water. When they came to drink, they found only mud, mire, and stale waste. So it is with idols and with every false refuge. If we turn any created thing, wealth, pleasure, or honor, into an idol, and expect from it the happiness that comes from God alone, we will find it empty. We may labor hard to shape and fill it, but at best it will hold only a little water, and that water will soon become stale and foul.

No, it is like a broken cistern that cracks and splits in hot weather, so the water is lost when we need it most (Job 6:15). A cistern is a water storage pit, and a broken one cannot keep what it is meant to hold.

Let us, then, hold fast to the Lord alone with all our heart. Where else could we go? He has the words that lead to eternal life.