[256] Characteristic Expressions (1), p. 269.
[257] מצלל.
[258] xx. 2, xxxvii. 15.
[259] xxxvii., xxxviii.
[260] xxvi. 20-24.
[261] ii. 34, xix. 4, xxii. 17.
[262] v. 25, vi. 6, vii. 5.
[263] vi. 13.
[264] ii. 34.
[265] vii. 5-9.
[266] xxiii. 14.
[267] Characteristic Expressions (2), p. 269.
[268] xxiii. 10, 14.
[269] xxix. 23.
[270] v. 21, quoted by Ezekiel, xii. 2. The verse is also the foundation of the description of Israel as "the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears," in Isa. xlii. 18 ff., xliii. 8. Cf. Giesebrecht on Jer. v. 21.
[271] vii., xxvi.
[272] xvi. 10.
[273] xxxiv.
[274] xxxii. 26-35: cf. p. 269, Characteristic Expressions (3).
[275] Literally "copper and iron."
[276] vi. 28.
[277] xxxii. 26-35.
[278] Hosea iv. 1, 2; also Hosea's general picture of the kingdom of Samaria.
[279] The A.V. translation of xi. 12 ("Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints") must be set aside. The sense is obscure and the text doubtful.
[280] Amos ii. 4-8.
[281] Micah iii. 10, 11.
[282] Zeph. iii. 3, 4.
[283] Ezek. vii. 23: cf. vii. 9, xxii. 1-12.
[284] Exod. xix. 6.
"They have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them."--JER. xxii. 9.
"Every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his heart."--JER. xxiii. 17.
The previous chapter has been intentionally confined, as far as possible, to Jeremiah's teaching upon the moral condition of Judah. Religion, in the narrower sense, was kept in the background, and mainly referred to as a social and political influence. In the same way the priests and prophets were mentioned chiefly as classes of notables--estates of the realm. This method corresponds with a stage in the process of Revelation; it is that of the older prophets. Hosea, as a native of the Northern Kingdom, may have had a fuller experience and clearer understanding of religious corruption than his contemporaries in Judah. But, in spite of the stress that he lays upon idolatry and the various corruptions of worship, many sections of his book simply deal with social evils. We are not explicitly told why the prophet was "a fool" and "a snare of a fowler," but the immediate context refers to the abominable immorality of Gibeah.[285] The priests are not reproached with incorrect ritual, but with conspiracy to murder.[286] In Amos, the land is not so much punished on account of corrupt worship, as the sanctuaries are destroyed because the people are given over to murder, oppression, and every form of vice. In Isaiah again the main stress is constantly upon international politics and public and private morality.[287] For instance, none of the woes in v. 8-24 are directed against idolatry or corrupt worship, and in xxviii. 7 the charge brought against Ephraim does not refer to ecclesiastical matters; they have erred through strong drink.
In Jeremiah's treatment of the ruin of Judah, he insists, as Hosea had done as regards Israel, on the fatal consequences of apostasy from Jehovah to other gods. This very phrase "other gods" is one of Jeremiah's favourite expressions, and in the writings of the other prophets only occurs in Hosea iii. 1. On the other hand, references to idols are extremely rare in Jeremiah. These facts suggest a special difficulty in discussing the apostasy of Judah. The Jews often combined the worship of other gods with that of Jehovah. According to the analogy of other nations, it was quite possible to worship Baal and Ashtaroth, and the whole heathen Pantheon, without intending to show any special disrespect to the national Deity. Even devout worshippers, who confined their adorations to the one true God, sometimes thought they did honour to Him by introducing into His services the images and all the paraphernalia of the splendid cults of the great heathen empires. It is not always easy to determine whether statements about idolatry imply formal apostasy from Jehovah, or merely a debased worship. When the early Mohammedans spoke with lofty contempt of image-worshippers, they were referring to the Eastern Christians; the iconoclast heretics denounced the idolatry of the Orthodox Church, and the Covenanters used similar terms as to prelacy. Ignorant modern Jews are sometimes taught that Christians worship idols.