The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
The verse opens a message from the Lord delivered through Jeremiah, announcing that Israel had forfeited the blessings of the covenant and that its branches would be broken off. It lies in the portion of Jeremiah that is fairly chronological in arrangement. It belongs to the book's opening section, chapters 2-11, which some identify as prophecies Baruch wrote after Jehoiakim burned the first scroll. It stands within the prophecies of Jeremiah 3 to Jeremiah 21 whose meaning stands out very clearly in awful denunciations against sin joined with sorrow of heart over the people's transgression, making most touching appeals to return to God that meet painful lack of response from the mass of the people.
The covenant words God commanded the fathers are the words spoken by His voice, meaning the Ten Commandments. Obeying that voice was not necessarily connected with the system of offerings and sacrifices, for the commandments existed before that system, which became necessary because the law was transgressed. About six hundred years before Christ, when the promises of the new covenant were made, the Ten Commandments were still acknowledged as God's law. The Lord who made a covenant with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt and proclaimed the Ten Commandments as His law is the same Lord who spoke to Jeremiah and promised to make a new covenant and put His law in minds and hearts. The Ten Commandments were the condition of the old covenant, so if they were not His law in Jeremiah's day the old covenant would already have been a nullity, and therefore the law to be put in the heart under the new covenant is the Ten Commandments, since where the new covenant is spoken of there is no intimation of any other law.
The chapter describes the covenant made with Israel as a nation when He brought them out of Egypt, and announces that Israel violated and broke that covenant and forfeited its blessings and conditions, so its branches would be broken off. Their violation is that they continued not in His covenant and so He regarded them not. Their break from the covenant was national, not a declaration that every Israelite was beyond salvation. This covenant was becoming old and would give way to the better covenant later promised in Jeremiah. The good olive tree represents the family of Abraham adopted by God, and the first covenant made at the departure from Egypt and the new covenant made at the time of Christ's ministry and death are made with the same people, so those who were broken off can by the new covenant be grafted in again, and the Gentiles with them, leaving at the close of probation a complete tree representing the twelve tribes of the Israel of God.
The verse opens a message from the Lord delivered through Jeremiah, announcing that Israel had forfeited the blessings of the covenant and that its branches would be broken off. It lies in the portion of Jeremiah that is fairly chronological in arrangement. It belongs to the book's opening section, chapters 2-11, which some identify as prophecies Baruch wrote after Jehoiakim burned the first scroll. It stands within the prophecies of Jeremiah 3 to Jeremiah 21 whose meaning stands out very clearly in awful denunciations against sin joined with sorrow of heart over the people's transgression, making most touching appeals to return to God that meet painful lack of response from the mass of the people.
The covenant words God commanded the fathers are the words spoken by His voice, meaning the Ten Commandments. Obeying that voice was not necessarily connected with the system of offerings and sacrifices, for the commandments existed before that system, which became necessary because the law was transgressed. About six hundred years before Christ, when the promises of the new covenant were made, the Ten Commandments were still acknowledged as God's law. The Lord who made a covenant with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt and proclaimed the Ten Commandments as His law is the same Lord who spoke to Jeremiah and promised to make a new covenant and put His law in minds and hearts. The Ten Commandments were the condition of the old covenant, so if they were not His law in Jeremiah's day the old covenant would already have been a nullity, and therefore the law to be put in the heart under the new covenant is the Ten Commandments, since where the new covenant is spoken of there is no intimation of any other law.
The chapter describes the covenant made with Israel as a nation when He brought them out of Egypt, and announces that Israel violated and broke that covenant and forfeited its blessings and conditions, so its branches would be broken off. Their violation is that they continued not in His covenant and so He regarded them not. Their break from the covenant was national, not a declaration that every Israelite was beyond salvation. This covenant was becoming old and would give way to the better covenant later promised in Jeremiah. The good olive tree represents the family of Abraham adopted by God, and the first covenant made at the departure from Egypt and the new covenant made at the time of Christ's ministry and death are made with the same people, so those who were broken off can by the new covenant be grafted in again, and the Gentiles with them, leaving at the close of probation a complete tree representing the twelve tribes of the Israel of God.