Jeremiah 2:4-5 | |
4. Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: | 4. Audite sermonem Jehovae domus Jacob, et omnes cognationes (vel, familiae) domus Israel: |
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? | 5. Sic dicit Jehova, Quid invenerunt patres vestri in me iniquitatis, quia alienati sunt a me, et ambulaverunt (vel, profecti sunt) post vanitatem, et facti sunt evanidi (vel, evanuerunt)? |
Here God explains why he had referred to what we have noticed, -- that he had consecrated Israel to himself as a peculiar people, and as the first -- fruits. God often mentions his favors to us, in order to encourage our hope, that we may be fully persuaded that whatever may happen we are ever safe, because we are under his protection, since he has chosen us. But in this place, and in many other places, God recounts the obligations under which the Israelites were to him, that thence their ingratitude might become more apparent.
Hence he says,
Then follows the charge:
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou continuest at this day, both morning and evening, to invite us to thyself, and assiduously exhortest us to repent, and testifiest that thou art ready to be reconciled to us, provided we flee to thy mercy, -- O grant, that we may not close our ears and reject this thy great kindness, but that remembering thy gratuitous election, the chief of all the favors thou hast been pleased to shew us, we may strive so to devote ourselves to thee, that thy name may be glorified through our whole life: and should it be that we at any time turn aside from thee, may we quickly return to the right way, and become submissive to thy holy admonitions, that it may thus appear that we have been so chosen by thee and called as to desire to continue in the hope of that salvation, to which thou invitest us, and which is prepared for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. -- Amen.
Lecture Fifth
WE heard yesterday God's complaint, and his expostulation with his people. He said in short, that if they came before any judge there were reasons sufficient to condemn their ingratitude, and that they were without excuse, because they had gone after vanity and were become vain; or, in other words, that they had without a cause forsaken him, and were carried away only by their own intentions. It now follows --
1 The literal rendering of this verse is as follows, -
5. Thus saith Jehovah, What have your fathers found in me? Oppression? For they have gone far from me, And have followed after vanity, And have become vain.
The word