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

‘O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness?’ If Israel was to bring charges against the Lord to justify their rebellion, what would they say? Would that claim that he had mistreated them when they only had to look back in their history, which their national memory could not deny, and could remember how they had been delivered from bondage in Egypt and made into a nation when they were no nation? They had been protected on their journey through the wilderness, and though a generation had been punished for their unbelief, the nation as a whole had been brought into a wonderful land full of vineyards which they had not planted but which they possessed for themselves, a land under the favour of God. God had gone ahead, as it were, to prepare this land for them, and they had seen his bounty towards them. It was not a land of darkness but of blessing.‘Wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?’ This reads as an expression of independence from God. ‘We are lords’ – we are advanced to the point where we no longer need the help of God, but can supply our own needs, fight our own battles, solve our own problems. We do not need the help of God anymore, so why should we continue to worship him or obey him or pay any attention to what he says?God’s response to this insult is very gracious. ‘Can a maid forget her ornaments,’ – a bride, that is – ‘or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.’ A bride on her wedding day stands out as being unique and special, because she's the only one in a wedding dress. She is marked out; she is distinct. It's her day, her special day. She is, humanly, the focal point of attention. Well, you see, you are like that, says Jeremiah. You are special, because you are the Lord's, and you love him, and you live for him, and you serve him. If you turn from that – even as a Christian man or woman – to serve the world, you have lost your distinctiveness; you are no longer different; you are no longer special. You like a bride who forgets her wedding dress. Nobody knows who she is. She is just one of the great crowd; she is nothing special anymore. She may still be beautiful. She may still be attractive – we are not talking about that – but she is not dressed in such a way that she is marked out. The implication is that a bride cannot forget, but Israel has done what no bride would do and abandoned the Lord who made her distinct from every other nation.