Jeremiah (1-31) 2:14 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jeremiah (1-31) 2:14

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‘Is Israel a slave?’ Has he been treated like a slave by the Lord? Is that the basis of the relationship he has enter into with his God? No, the Lord has given everything. When God created the nation of Israel, he intended it to be a free nation, not a slave or a home born slave. He has given deliverance from slavery to sin, from purposelessness, and from condemnation. God has promised to be his helper, and has given salvation through a Saviour, and eternal life and so much blessing. Israel is not a slave as far as God is concerned. So then, why is he spoiled? The sense of this word ‘spoiled’ is not spoiled as a parent may spoil a child, but spoiled as bandits may spoil their prey, and deprive them of everything they possess. Why is Israel spoiled, invaded, stripped of all their riches and belongings, taken captive. Have you ever wondered, Jeremiah is reasoning with them, why you been brought so low? You are still thinking of yourself as God's people, and here you are in the gutter. Have you not asked why? Minor nations have brought them down, and also very big ones.‘The young lions roared upon him’ – that is the Assyrian Empire. Their cities had lions at the gates of the Assyrian palaces to project an image of power and ferocity. Israel had been taken and spoiled by the Assyrians, and the Assyrians made Israel and Judah waste and burned the cities.‘Also the children of Noph’ – that was a place in Egypt – ‘and Tahapanes’ – that too was in Egypt – ‘have broken the crown of thy head.’ Repeatedly, the children of Israel had made treaties with Egypt; they depended upon Egypt to deliver them from the Babylonians. But the Egyptians let them down, took the money and worked for the other side. Have you asked yourself why that happened to you?, says Jeremiah.

Application

It is the same with believers. You were intended to be a child of God. You were never meant to be enslaved to the world. ‘Oh, but I have got to have this, and I have got to listen to that, and I have got to go here or there, or I will be unhappy.’ You have become a slave again to worldly amusements, and worldly possessions. You were never saved to be a slave to the world, to be taken as spoil by the devil, and ensnared by a thirst for what is passing away. That is the reasoning as it would apply to us.

‘Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?’ This is also evangelistic reasoning. We say to people, why all the troubles in life? Why can the world not mend itself? Why is international news as bad today as it was twenty years ago, or a hundred years ago, or five hundred years ago? Why are there so often never-ending upsets, feuds, and difficulties in worldly families?

As you go through this chapter, the illustrations pile up, and the situation of Israel that they depict gets worse and worse. First of all, it's as though Israel is invaded and taken captive, and then the nation is portrayed as wanting it, and becoming enslaved. You start by being tempted to worldliness, and neglecting the Lord and your prayer times and your walk with him. Then the world gets you more and more; then you have got to have it; then you are in captivity to it; then you are for it. You are a child of God, but you are thinking like a worldling, behaving like a worldling. Progressively, it's got you; it’s captured you. And by the end of the chapter, you are firmly within its grasp. The amazing character of this! This has to be inspired material, because Jeremiah assembles his illustrations in such a perfect manner that, as the chapter proceeds, you see the downward plunge of the compromising believer, or the compromising church, or the compromising Israelites.

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Introduction

Jeremiah (1-31) 2:14 Commentary and Bible Study