Jeremiah 2:31, commentary and pictures

God calls that generation to listen to his word and obey him rather than men, asking whether he has been barren and dark toward his people like a desert without pasture, water, cleansing, care, or light, and confronting their proud claim to be their own masters who need him no more.
The charge is covenant unfaithfulness, for a people pledged to give him their hearts had willingly turned back as Judah slid toward captivity, and are bidden to explain their leaving instead of blaming him.
Their leaving was sinful backsliding into false worship, first honoring him in forbidden high places and then seeking help from hills and mountains and from Egypt and Assyria, which is seeking false gods instead of God.
Israel had been joined to the Lord as a wife to a husband, as the church is joined to Christ, so joining with the world or with earthly powers is adultery that turns the chaste bride into a harlot, the pattern for the harlot Babylon of Revelation, ending in confusion, spoiling, and ruin.
Yet turning away does not put forgiveness beyond reach, for God still pleads with backsliders to return with the whole heart, to leave cherished sin and separation from the world, and he promises to heal even the thousandth return because they are redeemed, while the fearful are reminded that his past faithfulness warrants trust in present need.

Words and Historical Setting

O generation is summoned to give heed to the word of the Lord, to settle the heart to obey God's word rather than the words of men. Have I been a wilderness and a land of darkness denies that life with God has been barren and desolate like a wilderness or a land without sunlight, a place of disorder and darkness. The questions press the people to say whether God has failed to provide green pastures and still waters and loving care, cleansing from sin, and the light of His love. He has not been a wilderness to those who trust Him, and His past faithfulness gives a fearful heart reason to rely on His promises in present need.

We are lords, we will come no more is a proud, self-sufficient declaration of independence from God and refusal to come to Him, claiming to need no further help from Him. In the wilderness Israel spoke humbly, but after prosperity in Canaan she spoke proudly and turned from God. Outward gain can thus bring inward spiritual loss, so prosperity should prompt humility and watchfulness.

The verse belongs to God's dealings with backslidden Judah and Israel in their awful backsliding in the closing days before the Babylonian captivity. Its history is one of God calling His people to return to Him. The section comprising chapters 2-11 is counted by some as prophecies Baruch wrote after Jehoiakim burned the first roll.

Those addressed had pledged covenant faithfulness to give God their hearts and keep His commandments but turned back, their lives implying they could not live with God. The verse therefore brings the charge of covenant unfaithfulness into focus and bids them account for their departure rather than blame God.

Unfaithfulness and Gracious Return

The turning away was willing and sinful backsliding toward false worship, beginning with altars to the Lord set up on high places and going on to altars for heathen gods, and looking to hills and mountains for help was seeking aid from false gods rather than from God. Israel had been espoused to the Lord as a wife to her husband, the same covenant union by which the church is espoused to Christ, and the Jewish church afterward corrupted that espousal by unfaithfulness and friendship with the world. What should have been the pure bride turned from the instruction of her Divine Spouse to seek other lovers, leaning upon Egypt and turning to Assyria, abandoning rightful dependence on God.

Uniting with the world instead of God commits fornication and adultery against Him, because the church lawfully belongs to God alone, so joining itself to the world breaks that marriage bond. Any union between the church and the world, or between the church and the State in any way, is fornication and departing from God. That course turns the professed people of God from a chaste virgin into a harlot, pictured also in the daughter of Zion turning from God to the nations and in the church's illicit union with earthly powers with their idolatry and errors. It leads blindly to confusion, destruction, spoiling, and nakedness.

This Old Testament pattern of the harlot provides the pattern for the Babylon harlot of Revelation. The wilderness imagery of disorder and darkness also describes the place where the woman representing the church flees during her apostate state. Though the verse exposes the wickedness of God's people, worse than the heathen, in declaring independence and refusing to come to Him, turning away does not by itself make forgiveness impossible. God still pleads with backsliders to return and promises to heal their backsliding, and when His people turn back in repentance He can receive them again, just as a wife may take back a repentant husband.

Because backsliders are already redeemed by Christ giving Himself, they can be accepted and healed even the thousandth time if they give up cherished sin, separate from the world, and return to their Creator, Redeemer, and Husband with all the heart. The verse rebukes distrust by asking whether He has failed to provide for His people, reminding a fearful heart that He has not been a wilderness to those who trust Him and that His past faithfulness gives reason to rely on His promises in present need. Applied to a professed Christian wandering into sinful pleasures, it calls for honest examination of any complaint against God, tested carefully in the light of His character, rather than accusing Him wrongly of having treated them without loving care and satisfaction. Israel spoke humbly in the wilderness but spoke proudly with self-sufficient refusal to come to God after prosperity in Canaan, showing that outward gain can bring inward spiritual loss and that prosperity should prompt humility and watchfulness.