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Commentary on Jeremiah 3 verses 1–5
These verses some make to belong to the sermon in the foregoing chapter, and they open a door of hope to those who receive the conviction of the reproofs we had there; God wounds that he may heal. Now observe here,
I. How basely this people had forsaken God and gone a whoring from him. The charge runs very high here. 1. They had multiplied their idols and their idolatries. To have admitted one strange God among them would have been bad enough, but they were insatiable in their lustings after false worships: Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, Jer 3:1. She had become a common prostitute to idols; not a foolish deity was set up in all the neighbourhood but the Jews would have it quickly. Where was a high place in the country but they had had an idol in it? Jer 3:2. Note, In repentance it is good to make sorrowful reflections upon the particular acts of sin we have been guilty of, and the several places and companies where it has been committed, that we may give glory to God and take shame to ourselves by a particular confession of it. 2. They had sought opportunity for their idolatries, and had sent about to enquire for new gods: In the high - ways hast thou sat for them, as Tamar when she put on the disguise of a harlot (Gen 38:14), and as the foolish woman, that sits to call passengers, who go right on their way, Pro 9:14, Pro 9:15. As the Arabian in the wilderness - the Arabian huckster (so some), that courts customers, or waits for the merchants to get a good bargain and forestal the market - or the Arabian thief (so others), that watches for his prey; so had they waited either to court new gods to come among them (the newer the better, and the more fond they were of them) or to court others to join with them in their idolatries. They were not only sinners, but Satans, not only traitors themselves, but tempters to others. 3. They had grown very impudent in sin. They not only polluted themselves, but their land, with their whoredoms and with their wickedness (Jer 3:2); for it was universal and unpunished, and so became a national sin. And yet (Jer 3:3), "Thou hadst a whore's forehead, a brazen face of thy own. Thou refusedst to be ashamed; thou didst enough to shame thee for ever, and yet wouldst not take shame to thyself." Blushing is the colour of virtue, or at least a relic of it; but those that are past shame (we say) are past hope. Those that have an adulterer's heart, if they indulge that, will come at length to have a whore's forehead, void of all shame and modesty. 4. They abounded in all manner of sin. They polluted the land not only with their whoredoms (that is, their idolatries), but with their wickedness, or malice (Jer 3:2), sins against the second table: for how can we think that those will be true to their neighbour that are false to their God? "Nay (Jer 3:5), thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldst, and wouldst have spoken and done worse if thou hadst known how; thy will was to do it, but thou lackedst opportunity." Note, Those are wicked indeed that sin to the utmost of their power, that never refuse to comply with a temptation because they should not, but because they cannot.
II. How gently God had corrected them for their sins. Instead of raining fire and brimstone upon them, because, like Sodom, they had avowed their sin and had gone after strange gods as Sodom after strange flesh, he only withheld the showers from them, and that only one part of the year: There has been no latter rain, which might serve as an intimation to them of their continual dependence upon God; when they had the former rain, that was no security to them for the latter, but they must still look up to God. But it had not this effect.
III. How justly God might have abandoned them utterly, and refused ever to receive them again, though they should return; this would have been but according to the known rule of divorces, Jer 3:1. They say (it is an adjudged case, nay, it is a case in which the law is very express, and it is what every body knows and speaks of, Deu 24:4), that if a woman be once put away for whoredom, and be joined to another man, her first husband shall never, upon any pretence whatsoever, take her again to be his wife; such playing fast and loose with the marriage-bond would be a horrid profanation of that ordinance and would greatly pollute that land. Observe, What the law says in this case - They say, that is, every one will say, and subscribe to the equity of the law in it; for every man finds something in himself that forbids him to entertain one that is another man's. And in like manner they had reason to expect that God would refuse ever to take them to be his people again, who had not only been joined to one strange god, but had played the harlot with many lovers. If we had to do with a man like ourselves, after such provocations as we have been guilty of, he would be implacable, and we might have despaired of his being reconciled to us.
IV. How graciously he not only invites them, but directs them, to return to him.
1.He encourages them to hope that they shall find favour with him, upon their repentance: "Thou thou hast been bad, yet return again to me," Jer 3:1. This implies a promise that he will receive them: "Return, and thou shalt be welcome." God has not tied himself by the laws which he made for us, nor has he the peevish resentment that men have; he will be more kind to Israel, for the sake of his covenant with them, than ever any injured husband was to an adulterous wife; for in receiving penitents, as much as in any thing, he is God and not man.
2.He therefore kindly expects that they will repent and return to him, and he directs them what to say to him (Jer 3:4): "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me? Wilt not thou, who hast been in such relation to me, and on whom I have laid such obligations, wilt not thou cry to me? Though thou hast gone a whoring from me, yet, when thou findest the folly of it, surely thou wilt think of returning to me, now at least, now at last, in this thy day. Wilt thou not at this time, nay, wilt thou not from this time and forward, cry unto me? Whatever thou hast said or done hitherto, wilt thou not from this time apply to me? From this time of conviction and correction, now that thou hast been made to see thy sins (Jer 3:2) and to smart for them (Jer 3:3), wilt thou not now forsake them and return to me, saying, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now?" Hos 2:7. Or "from this time that thou hast had so kind an invitation to return, and assurance that thou shalt be well received: will not this grace of God overcome thee? Now that pardon is proclaimed wilt thou not come in and take the benefit of it? Surely thou wilt."
(1.)He expects that they will claim relation to God, as theirs: Wilt thou not cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth? [1.] They will surely come towards him as a father, to beg his pardon for their undutiful behaviour to him (Father, I have sinned) and will hope to find in him the tender compassions of a father towards a returning prodigal. They will come to him as a father, to whom they will make their complaints, and in whom they will put their confidence for relief and succour. They will now own him as their father, and themselves fatherless without him; and therefore, hoping to find mercy with him (as those penitents, Hos 14:3), [2.] They will come to him as the guide of their youth, that is, as their husband, for so that relation is described, Mal 2:14. "Though thou hast gone after many lovers, surely thou wilt at length remember the love of thy espousals, and return to the husband of thy youth." Or it may be taken more generally: "As my Father, thou art the guide of my youth." Youth needs a guide. In our return to God we must thankfully remember that he was the guide of our youth in the way of comfort; and we must faithfully covenant that he shall be our guide henceforward in the way of duty, and that we will follow his guidance, and give up ourselves entirely to it, that in all doubtful cases we will be determined by our religion.
(2.)He expects that they will appeal to the mercy of God and crave the benefit of that mercy (Jer 3:5), that they will reason thus with themselves for their encouragement to return to him: "Will he reserve his anger for ever? Surely he will not, for he has proclaimed his name gracious and merciful." Repenting sinners may encourage themselves with this, that, though God chide, he will not always chide, though he be angry, he will not keep his anger to the end, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion, and may thus plead for reconciliation. Some understand this as describing their hypocrisy, and the impudence of it: "Though thou hast a whore's forehead (Jer 3:3) and art still doing evil as thou canst (Jer 3:5), yet art thou not ever and anon crying to me, My Father?" Even when they were most addicted to idols they pretended a regard to God and his service and kept up the forms of godliness and devotion. It is a shameful thing for men thus to call God father, and yet to do the works of the devil (as the Jews, Joh 8:44), to call him the guide of their youth, and yet give up themselves to walk after the flesh, and to flatter themselves with the expectation that his anger shall have an end, while they are continually treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath.
Scripture designates the children of adulterers as imperfect. Such a soul, to be sure, that prostrates itself totally to the tendencies of the flesh and bodily desires, has forsaken union with the spirit, and as if turned away from God will shamelessly hear, “You have the face of a harlot. You have made yourself shameless to all.” She will be punished, therefore, like a harlot, and her children will be ordered to be prepared for slaughter.
He has come as a physician, not as a judge. Therefore, in like manner, as those of old took harlots for wives, even so God too married to himself the nature that had played the harlot. This also prophets from the beginning declare to have taken place with respect to the synagogue. But that spouse was ungrateful toward him who had been a husband to her, while on the contrary, the church, when once delivered from the evils received from our ancestors, continued to embrace the Bridegroom.
“You did sit waiting for them like a deserted bird.” Now if God did not exclude from repentance her who had many times committed fornication, much more will he embrace your soul, which has now fallen for the first time. For certainly there is no lover of bodily beauty, even if he be very frantic, who is so inflamed with the love of his mistress as God longs after the salvation of our souls.… See at least, both in the introduction of Jeremiah and many other places of the prophets, when he is despised and scorned, how he again hastens forward and pursues the friendship of those who turn away from him. He also himself made clear in the Gospels saying, “O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”
(Chapter III - Verse 1) It is commonly said (for which the Seventy have translated 'only said'). If a man divorces his wife and she goes and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be considered defiled and polluted? (or that land?) And you have committed adultery with many lovers (or shepherds.) For the word 'Reim' (), which is written with four letters Res, Ain, Yod, Mem, signifies both lovers and shepherds. And if we read Reim, it means lovers; if Roim, it means shepherds.
But return to me, says the Lord (or you have returned to me, says the Lord). In Hebrew, even after fornication, he accepts the repentant, and exhorts them to return to him. But in the Septuagint, it does not invite to repentance, but reproaches the impudence of the prostitute who dares to return to her husband after adultery. And what it says: and that woman will be defiled, for which in Hebrew we read the land, provides an example, and speaks more clearly about the land of Israel, which is compared to the adulterous woman. Let us use this testimony against those who abandon the faith of the Lord and, hindered by the errors of heretics, after many fornications and deceptions of souls, pretend to return to the ancient truth: not to remove the venom from their hearts, but to deceive others.
Hence again under the figure of Judea it is said to every sinful soul: "If a man puts away his wife, and she departs and marries another man, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be polluted and contaminated? But you have fornicated with many lovers; nevertheless return to me, says the Lord." Behold, he gave the example of a shameful woman. He showed that after such shame she cannot be received back. But he overcomes by mercy this very example that he set forth, when he says that a fornicating woman can by no means be received back, and yet he himself waits to receive the fornicating soul. Consider, brothers, the weight of such great tenderness. He says what cannot be done, and demonstrates that he himself can do this even against custom. Behold, he calls, and those whom he declares to be defiled, he also seeks to embrace, those by whom he complains he has been abandoned.
Those who have experienced the sins of the flesh are to be admonished to observe vigilantly with how great a benevolence God opens the bosom of his pity to us, if after transgressions we return to him. He says through the prophet, “If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, shall he return to her again? Shall not that woman be polluted and contaminated? But you have played the harlot with many lovers. Yet return again to me, says the Lord.” So, concerning the wife who has played the harlot and has deserted, the argument of justice is put forward. Yet to us, returning after the fall, not justice but pity is displayed. Where we are surely meant to gather, how great is our wickedness if we return not, even after transgression, seeing that, when transgressing, we are spared with so great pity. Or what pardon for the wicked will there be from him who, after our sin, ceases not to call us.
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SUMMARY
Jeremiah 3:1 opens with a profound rhetorical question, drawing upon the Mosaic Law's stringent regulations concerning divorce and remarriage, which prohibited a man from taking back a divorced wife who had subsequently married another, lest the land be defiled. This legal precedent serves as a powerful and stark analogy for Judah's egregious spiritual adultery, as the nation is unequivocally accused of having "played the harlot with many lovers" through rampant idolatry and faithless foreign alliances. Yet, in a breathtaking and counter-intuitive display of divine grace that transcends human legal limitations, the verse culminates in the LORD's astonishing and compassionate invitation for His unfaithful people to "return again to me," revealing His boundless mercy and enduring desire for reconciliation.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 3:1 is profoundly enriched by its masterful use of literary devices that amplify its urgent and poignant message. The most prominent is the Rhetorical Question, "shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted?" This question is not posed to elicit information but to make a forceful, self-evident point, emphasizing the impossibility and defilement according to human law. This starkly contrasts with God's subsequent, unexpected offer. This contrast is further highlighted by a powerful Analogy or Metaphor, where the sacred covenant relationship between God and Israel is consistently likened to a marriage. Judah's pervasive idolatry and their reliance on foreign alliances are vividly portrayed as "playing the harlot" and having "many lovers," drawing on the deeply intimate and exclusive nature of marriage to underscore the profound spiritual betrayal and infidelity. The concept of the "land" being "greatly polluted" employs subtle Personification, attributing a moral state (defilement) to an inanimate entity, thereby emphasizing the pervasive and tangible impact of sin on the entire creation. Finally, the verse employs striking Juxtaposition or Contrast between the strict, unforgiving demands of human law (no return for the remarried divorcee) and the boundless, surprising grace of God ("yet return again to me"), revealing a divine love that surpasses human understanding and legalistic boundaries, offering hope where none should exist.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 3:1 is a profound theological statement on the very nature of God's covenant love, the tragic reality of human unfaithfulness, and the astonishing depth of divine grace. It firmly establishes that Israel's relationship with Yahweh was not merely a political alliance or a religious adherence, but a deeply personal, exclusive, and sacred bond, akin to a marriage. Their spiritual idolatry and pursuit of foreign alliances constituted a profound act of spiritual adultery, grievously breaking the covenant and defiling the land. Yet, the verse's most striking theological truth is God's astonishing willingness to invite His unfaithful "wife" back, despite the human legal precedent that would strictly forbid such reconciliation. This reveals a God whose mercy triumphs over judgment, whose love is steadfast even when His people are faithless, and who always provides a path for genuine repentance and restoration. It underscores the radical nature of divine forgiveness, demonstrating that God's character is not bound by the limitations of human law, but rather transcends them in His relentless pursuit of reconciliation with His beloved, albeit wayward, people.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 3:1 offers timeless and deeply personal insights for believers today, serving as both a sober warning and an incredible source of hope. Firstly, it functions as a powerful mirror, prompting us to honestly examine our own hearts for any form of "spiritual harlotry." While we may not bow to physical idols of wood or stone, anything that usurps God's rightful place as the supreme object of our affection, trust, and devotion—be it career ambition, material wealth, human relationships, personal comfort, self-image, or even the accolades of ministry—can become a "lover" that draws us away from our exclusive covenant with Christ. This verse reminds us of the seriousness of divided loyalties and the "pollution" they inevitably bring to our spiritual lives and our witness. Secondly, and perhaps most profoundly, it broadcasts the incredible, counter-intuitive grace of God. Despite our wanderings, our betrayals, and our spiritual infidelities, the LORD's arms remain open, echoing His persistent call, "yet return again to me." This passage is a profound source of hope, assuring us that no sin is too great, no distance too far, for God's forgiveness and restorative love. It encourages us to abandon shame and pride, confess our unfaithfulness, and wholeheartedly return to the One who faithfully awaits our repentance, demonstrating His enduring commitment to us even when we are faithless.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of the divorce law in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 for this verse?
Answer: The law in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 stipulated that if a man divorced his wife, and she subsequently married another man, her first husband was strictly forbidden from taking her back, as such an act would "pollute" the land. This legal precedent is crucial because Jeremiah 3:1 uses it as a rhetorical backdrop to highlight the immense gravity of Judah's spiritual adultery. By human law, Judah's spiritual infidelity (divorcing God and "marrying" many lovers) should have made reconciliation impossible and permanently defiled the land beyond repair. God's subsequent invitation to "return" therefore underscores the extraordinary, unfathomable nature of His grace and mercy, which transcend the very legal boundaries He established, demonstrating His unique character and profound desire for restoration.
How does Judah "play the harlot" with "many lovers"?
Answer: Judah "played the harlot" primarily through two interconnected forms of profound unfaithfulness: spiritual idolatry and unholy foreign alliances. Spiritually, they abandoned the exclusive worship of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and turned to the worship of pagan deities and the adoption of idolatrous practices from surrounding nations, effectively "marrying" other gods. Politically, their "many lovers" refer to their reliance on and formation of alliances with powerful foreign nations like Egypt and Assyria/Babylon, rather than placing their trust solely in the LORD for their security and deliverance. Both acts were seen as profound betrayals of their covenant relationship with God, likened to a wife's infidelity to her faithful husband.
Does God's invitation to "return" contradict the law He established in Deuteronomy?
Answer: No, God's invitation does not contradict the law but rather demonstrates His sovereign grace and mercy, which operate on a higher, divine plane than human legal limitations. The law in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 serves to illustrate the severity of Judah's sin and the defilement it caused, making humanly impossible reconciliation the expected outcome. However, God, in His divine prerogative, chooses to extend an offer of grace that goes beyond the strict letter of the law, revealing His unique character as a God who desires repentance and reconciliation, even when humanly speaking, it seems utterly impossible. It is a powerful testament to His enduring faithfulness, steadfast love, and redemptive purpose for His covenant people.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jeremiah 3:1, with its profound portrayal of God's persistent and surprising call to His unfaithful people, finds its ultimate and most glorious fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant, like the marriage described, was repeatedly broken by Israel's persistent unfaithfulness and spiritual harlotry. Yet, God's astonishing invitation to "return" foreshadows the new covenant, not merely a renewed version of the old, but a fundamentally new and superior covenant established through Christ, where true and lasting reconciliation becomes possible. Jesus is the faithful Husband who comes not to condemn the harlot bride, but to redeem her. He embodies the very grace that transcends the law's limitations, making a way for those who were utterly defiled by sin to be cleansed, forgiven, and brought back into a righteous and intimate relationship with God. His sacrificial death on the cross is the ultimate act of God's unwavering love, covering the "pollution" of our spiritual adultery and presenting us as a pure and spotless bride for Himself, as beautifully articulated in Ephesians 5:25-27. Through Christ, the seemingly impossible return becomes a glorious reality, as He invites all who are weary and burdened by their sin to come to Him for rest and forgiveness, echoing the ancient prophetic call to "return" (as promised in Matthew 11:28). He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, making a new covenant where God's people can truly be His, and He can truly be their God, forever reconciling the unfaithful bride to her loving Groom (as described in Hebrews 8:6-13).