Approaching studies within Jeremiah, instead of trying to follow chronologically, which is difficult with this book, for roughly the first half of the book, the first 29 chapters, we will instead only produce studies within their appropriate chapters, theming them as follows:

• Jeremiah’s Calling                     Ch.1
• Jeremiah’s Main Message        Ch.2,3,5,7,21,22
• Jeremiah’s Action Parables      Ch.13,18,19,27
• Jeremiah’s Opposition              Ch.11,12, 14,18,20,26,28
• Jeremiah’s Message of Hope   Ch.3,23,24,25,29

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, and the particular theme, as with studies elsewhere, each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read on the main Bible page.

Jeremiah’s Main Message: 1. First Spoken Prophecy

Jer 2:1-11   

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ‘Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

‘This is what the Lord says:

‘“I remember the devotion of your youth,
    how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
    through a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
    and disaster overtook them,”’
declares the Lord.

4 Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
    all you clans of Israel.

5 This is what the Lord says:

‘What fault did your ancestors find in me,
    that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
    and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, “Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
    through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
    a land where no one travels and no one lives?”
7 I brought you into a fertile land
    to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
    and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask,
    “Where is the Lord?”
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
    the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
    following worthless idols. 9 ‘Therefore I bring charges against you again,’
declares the Lord.
    ‘And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
    send to Kedar] and observe closely;
    see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 has a nation ever changed its gods?
    (Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God
    for worthless idols.

A. Find Out:

1. To whom was Jeremiah to speak this word? v.2
2. What did the Lord say He remembered? v.2,3
3. To whom does He now address this? v.4
4. How does He say they have strayed? v.5
5. Against whom does He specifically speak? v.8
6. What have they done? v.11

B. Think:

1. What had Israel once been like?
2. What were they like now?
3. Who was to blame?

C. Comment:

In this first prophecy that the Lord gives to Jeremiah to speak out, He calls the people, first of all, to remember what they had been like when He had first called them to be a nation: they had followed Him closely out of Egypt; they had known God’s provision in protection against enemies. Then He asks them what HE had done wrong! Had He failed them? Had He done wrong that they should have left Him and gone after idols? The answer, of course, is no! They in their foolishness had had turned away from Him and worshipped things made with their own hands.

It is clear that the prophets, the priests and the leaders had all turned away from the Lord, all who should have known better. There is no excuse for these people who should have looked to their past and remembered the mighty acts of the Lord in days gone by. So, the Lord asks, has there ever been any other nation in history that as changed its gods? Certainly not! Which makes it doubly bad that Israel should have turned away from the One True God. Jeremiah’s prophecies are constantly calls by the Lord for the people to come back to Him. He reminds them of their glorious past and calls them back into the relationship they once had.   

D. Application:

1. Think back to all the Lord has done for you.
2. Thank Him for His love that calls and calls us again and again.

Jeremiah’s Main Message: Two Sins

Jer 2:12-19 

12 Be appalled at this, you heavens,
    and shudder with great horror,’
declares the Lord.
13 ‘My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
14 Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth?
    Why then has he become plunder?
15 Lions have roared;
    they have growled at him.
They have laid waste his land;
    his towns are burned and deserted.
16 Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
    have cracked your skull.
17 Have you not brought this on yourselves
    by forsaking the Lord your God
    when he led you in the way?
18 Now why go to Egypt
    to drink water from the Nile?
And why go to Assyria
    to drink water from the Euphrates?
19 Your wickedness will punish you;
    your backsliding will rebuke you.
Consider then and realise
    how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the Lord your God
    and have no awe of me,’
declares the Lord,
the Lord Almighty.

A. Find Out:    

1. What is the first sin of the people? v.13a
2. How does Gods describe Himself? v.13b
3. What is the sin of the people that follows on from that? v.13c
4. But what condition were they in? v.13d
5. How is Israel described? v.14-16
6. Who had they turned to for help? v.18

B. Think:

1. What does this passage indicate the Lord was supposed to be to Israel?
2. Why, according to this passage, wasn’t He?
3. What, therefore, was the state of Israel at this time?

C. Comment:

In these important verses God identifies the two basic sins of all men, that have been committed now by Israel:

First, the people have TURNED AWAY FROM GOD. That is ALWAYS the first sin that any person commits. If they hadn’t turned away from God they would not have gone on to sin in some other way. Man’s sin is always first of all “godlessness” (see it in Rom 1:18), of turning away from their Creator.

Second, they have not only given up trusting in God, they have “dug their own cistern”, (cisterns were large holes cut in the ground to collect water) i.e. TURNED TO THEIR OWN RESOURCES, turned to their own ways; they now rely on their own ideas, their own activities. We should also note that God refers to Himself as “the spring of living water”. Water is necessary for life and therefore the Lord says HE is the source of all life and these people have turned from Him and sought other means of “providing for life”. If people will not rely upon God then they are only left with relying on their own efforts, and they are always inadequate! The second sin of every person is that of unrighteousness, of doing it “my way”, which is wrong!

D. Application:

1. Affirm afresh today that the Lord will be your source of life.
2. Reject all imitation supplies of life.