14 A servant 'is' Israel? Is he a child of the house? Wherefore hath he been for a prey? 15 Against him roar do young lions, They have given forth their voice, And make his land become a desolation, His cities have been burnt without inhabitant. 16 Also sons of Noph and Tahapanes Consume thee—the crown of the head! 17 Dost thou not do this to thyself? 'By' thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, At the time He is leading thee in the way? 18 And now, what—to thee in the way of Egypt, To drink the waters of Sihor? And what—to thee in the way of Asshur, To drink the waters of the River? 19 Instruct thee doth thy wickedness, And thy backslidings reprove thee, Know and see that an evil and a bitter thing 'Is' thy forsaking Jehovah thy God, And My fear not being on thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 2:14-19
Commentary on Jeremiah 2:14-19
(Read Jeremiah 2:14-19)
Is Israel a servant? No, they are the seed of Abraham. We may apply this spiritually: Is the soul of man a slave? No, it is not; but has sold its own liberty, and enslaved itself to divers lusts and passions. The Assyrian princes, like lions, prevailed against Israel. People from Egypt destroyed their glory and strength. They brought these calamities on themselves by departing from the Lord. The use and application of this is, Repent of thy sin, that thy correction may not be thy ruin. What has a Christian to do in the ways of forbidden pleasure or vain sinful mirth, or with the pursuits of covetousness and ambition?