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Jeremiah 2: 11 - 18.
A | 11. | a | Changed gods.
b | Yet no gods?
a | Changed glory.
b | For no profit?
B | 12. Be astonished; horribly afraid; very desolate.
C | 13. Two evils. | c | Forsaken Me, the Fountain.
d | Hewed cisterns, no water.
A | 14. | a | Is Israel a servant?
b | Is he a homeborn slave?
B | 15, 16. Roar, yell, waste.
C | 17, 18. Two evils. | c | The Lord. Forsaken.
d | Water of Egypt in Assyria.
Until we acquaint ourselves with the statement of scripture on the subject, the question
of "profit" appears to be somewhat remote as a spiritual motive, yet we observe that it
finds a place in the Divine argument. Israel are said to have walked after Baal and those
things that "do not profit" (Jer. 2: 8), and, in verse 11, "My people have changed their
glory for that which doth not profit". So in chapter 7: verse 8 we read, "Behold ye
trust in lying words, that cannot profit" and, again, in 23: 32, lying prophets "shall not
profit this people at all, saith the Lord". It is right to ask, "What is the profit?" It is
wrong to spend our money for that which is not bread and our strength for nought. The
Saviour enforces the same question of profit in Matt. 16: 26 and again and again
Ecclesiastes asks, "What profit" is there in all the labour that man does "under the sun"?
It could certainly not be deemed a profitable undertaking that forsook the Fountain of
living waters, only to find that the cisterns hewn with such vast labour were useless.
"Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but My people have
changed their glory for that which doth not profit" (Jer. 2: 11).
The reader is urged by the prophet to go over to the isles of Chittim, (probably Cyprus
and the north coast line of the Mediterranean), or travel to Kedar, in Arabia: in other
words, whether he goes West or East he will not discover such a senseless thing as Israel
had done. Israel had followed in the way of the darkened heathen, "changed their glory",
(see Rom. 1: 23), and corrupted themselves. Apart from the great labour involved in
hewing cisterns out of the rock, the profitlessness of such labour is exposed by the fact
that, when hewn, they were found to be "broken" and could "hold no water". The
spiritual teaching behind these figures may be seen when we find the same word, "to
hold", translated "comprehend" in Isa. 40: 12, and "abide" in Joel 2: 11 and Mal. 3: 2.
The power of the living God cannot be contained by any man-made medium. The ONE
Mediator is Christ; He alone is the Channel through which infinite power and Divine life
can pass to man, without harm or fear. In view of the two evils here brought to light let
us the more take to ourselves the language of faith:
"Lord, to Whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and
are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."