Jeremiah 2:5

Jer 2:5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Ver. 5. What iniquity have your fathers found in me?] How unreasonable was their apostasy! and how senseless is your pleading from their example! Nothing is more irrational than irreligion.

That they are gone far from me.] Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man? said Themistocles to his ungrateful countrymen.

And have walked after vanity.] An idol is nothing at all, but only in the vain opinion of the idolater.

And are become vain,] scil., " In their imaginations"; {Rom 1:21} as vain as their very idols. {Psa 115:8}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:5 The Israelites worshiped worthless idols, so their lives were ruled by delusions.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Altogether given to vanity, and are become blind and insensible as the idols that they serve.

That is, fallen to most vile idolatry.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

iniquity--wrong done to them (Isa 5:4; Mic 6:3; compare Deu 32:4).

walked after vanity--contrasted with "walkest after me in the wilderness" (Jer 2:2): then I was their guide in the barren desert; now they take idols as their guides.

vanity . . . vain--An idol is not only vain (impotent and empty), but vanity itself. Its worshippers acquire its character, becoming vain as it is (Deu 7:26; Psa 115:8). A people's character never rises above that of its gods, which are its "better nature" [BACON] (Kg2 17:15; Jon 2:8).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. What iniquity have your fathers found in me] Have they ever discovered any thing cruel, unjust, oppressive in my laws? Any thing unkind or tyrannical in my government? Why then have they become idolaters?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Then follows the charge: What, iniquity have your fathers found in me, that having forsaken me they should walk after vanity and become vain? Here Jeremiah charges the people with two crimes, — that they had departed from the true God, whom they had found to be a deliverer, — and that they had become vain in their devices; or, in other words, that they were become for no reason apostates: for their sin was enhanced, because there had been no occasion given them to forsake God, and to alienate themselves from him. As then God had kindly treated them, and they themselves had shaken off the yoke, and as there was no one whom they could compare with God, they could not have said, “We have been deceived,” — how so? “For ye have, he says, followed vanity; and vanity alone was the reason why ye have departed from me.” I wish I could proceed farther; but I have some business to which I was called even before the lecture.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) Vanity.—In the special sense, as a synonym for idol-worship (Deu_32:21; 1Ki_16:13). As in the character of a husband wronged by his wife’s desertion Jehovah pleads with His people, and asks whether He has failed in anything.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Has Israel had any excuse for their disloyalty to Me? None.

have walked after vanity] ‘vanity’ (lit. a breath) is here used in the same sense as in 1Ki_16:13. Jehovah and His prophets regarded idols simply as unsubstantial, unreal things. Hence ‘vanity’ (i.e. idols) expresses their view. So in 1Co_8:4. Cp. Jer_2:8; Jer_2:11, Jer_16:19; 1Sa_12:21; Isa_44:9 f. Ch. Jer_10:10 contrasts God as “the true God,” “the living God”; while the notions of that which is unreal and that which is positively injurious are combined in Jer_16:19.

and are become vain] have their characters assimilated to the objects which they serve. Cp. Rom_1:21 f., they “became vain in their reasonings … they became fools.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither said they, where is the Lord?.... They did not ask after him, nor seek his face and favour, nor worship him, nor took any notice of the blessings he bestowed upon them:

that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? by means of Moses the deliverer, with a mighty hand, and outstretched arm; for, though Moses was the instrument, God was the efficient cause of the deliverance; the favour was his, and the glory of it ought to have been given to him:

that led us through the wilderness; of "Shur", or of "Sin", the desert of Arabia, Exo 15:22 and a dreadful and terrible one it was:

through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death; where were scorpions, fiery serpents, drought, and no water, and so very dangerous as well as uncomfortable travelling; and yet through all this they were led, and wonderfully supplied and preserved;

through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt; there was no passenger in it, nor inhabitants on it, so that there were none to relieve them; whence it appears, that all their supply, support, and preservation, were from the Lord. The Jews (y) interpret this of the first man Adam, after this manner,

"all land, concerning which the first man decreed that it should be inhabited, it is inhabited; and all land, concerning which he did not decree it should be inhabited, it is not inhabited; and such they suggest was this wilderness;''

see Deu 8:15.

(y) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 31. 1. & Sota, fol. 46. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Vanity; idols, whom he will not mention, to spare their shame. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

God having, as it were on his own behalf, shown how kind he had been, calls upon them to speak now, if they knew any thing of injury, either in breach of covenant or severity, that they can charge him with, that they have thus apostatized. See Poole "Isa 1:18"; See Poole "Isa 5:3": compare Mic 6:2-4. By this manner of speech his proceeding appears the more justifiable; he both makes their conviction the clearer, and the reproof the sharper.

Walked after vanity, viz. idols, showing their folly in going from God to such vain things as idols are, Deu 32:21; 1Sa 12:20,21; and see on Isa 41:29; the abstract for the concrete, Ecc 1:2.

Become vain, viz. in following their imaginations; fools,

Rom 1:21,22, as senseless as the stocks and stones that they made their idols of, Psa 115:8; and herein they are said to go far from God, and choose their delusions, Jon 2:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Have walked after vanity — The original of “vanity” is, in the historical books, used in the sense of idols or false gods, as in Deu_32:21; 1Ki_16:13; 1Ki_16:26, etc.; but in Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms, it is used in a more general or abstract sense. In this book it is used in its earlier import, and this is one of many indications of the affinity of this book in thought and language with the formative period of Hebrew life. The precise words of this text occur in 2Ki_17:15, where they are applied to the ten tribes. They involve the universally recognised law that the worshipper will be as the worshipped. The deity enshrined in the soul will, of necessity, be the dominant force in the life and character. God will be first of all — Creator in his own realm.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What iniquity, etc.; rather, what unrighteousness, etc. (comp. Deu_32:4, "a God of faithfulness, and without unrighteousness," alluding to the "covenant" between Jehovah and Israel) God"s condescending grace (his anavah, Psa_18:36). As if he were under an obligation to Israel. (comp. Mic_6:3, etc.; Isa_5:3) Vanity; i.e. the idols; literally, a breath. (so Jer_10:15 Jer_14:22 Jer_16:19) Are become vain. The whole being of man is affected by the want of solid basis to his religion; (comp. Jer_23:16 Psa_115:8) and the evident allusion to our passage in Rom_1:21 (St. Paul has emataiwyhsan , as Septuagint here). The clause is verbally repeated in 2Ki_17:15, with reference to the ten tribes.

Vers. 5-7. The ingratitude of sin.

Of the many aspects under which sin may be viewed none is more sad than that of ingratitude to God. Every act of sin is a distinct act of ingratitude; for every such act is an offence against him who has shown to us nothing but love, and from whom we are taking innumerable favors in the very moment of our transgression.

I THE INGRATITUDE OF SIN IS SEEN IN THE FORGETFULNESS OF GOD"S SAVING MERCY. So the Israelites forget the glorious deliverance from Egypt, and preservation amidst the horrors of the wilderness (ver. 6). God is resorted to in distress only to be ignored, forsaken, insulted, directly rebelled against, when he has effected a deliverance.

II THE INGRATITUDE OF SIN IS SEEN IN THE IGNORING OF THE PRESENT GOODNESS OF GOD. (Ver. 7) The Israelites were eating the fruit of the good land which God had given to them while they were rebelling against him. This is even worse than ingratitude for past blessings. Such ingratitude might attempt to plead the excuse of failure of memory; but ingratitude for present mercies can only arise from gross spiritual blindness or willful disregard of all claims of justice and affection.

III THE INGRATITUDE OF SIN IS SEEN IN THE FALSE CHARACTER WHICH IS ASCRIBED TO GOD. God asks, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me?" The conduct of the Jews was a direct indictment of the character of God. They deliberately insulted him, and rejected him for heathen deities. Such conduct could only be justified by the discovery that he was not what he claimed to be. After God has revealed himself to men in myriad fold evidences of goodness, there are some who hold, if they do not confess to, such evil conceptions of his character as amount to the basest calumnies of heartless ingratitude.

IV THE INGRATITUDE OF SIN IS SEEN IN THE CHARACTER OF THE GODS WHO ARE PREFERRED TO JEHOVAH. These are "false" gods. Jews who knew that converted religious worship into an unreality, and thus became themselves hollow and unreal. For this miserable result did they forsake the God of heaven and earth, their Savior and constant Benefactor! If they had found a rival with some pretensions to worth the insult would have been less. Herein is the grossness of the insult to God seen in all sin. What do men prefer to him? Transient pleasures, earthly dross. The pearl of great price is flung away, not for a smaller pearl, but for dust and ashes.

V THE INGRATITUDE OF SIN IS SEEN IN THE ABUSE AND CORRUPTION OF GOD"S GIFTS. God gave the Israelites "gardenland," and they defiled it; they made Gods heritage an abomination. When we sin we do so by employing the very powers which God has bestowed upon us. We insult him by turning his own gifts into weapons of rebellion. We blaspheme him with the tongue which he has made.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vanity - Idols. Vain - Fools; senseless as the stocks and stones that they made their idols of.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.