Examining The Scripture CVII: Mostly Unflattering Metaphors

Among other methods of trying to get a point across, Jeremiah certainly liked metaphors. As a matter of fact he liked them so much that in Jeremiah 2 he used (17) seventeen different metaphors for Israel/Judah.

Sadly, I must say that this is not a very flattering list to describe Israel/Judah. It is as if we asked a jaded lover or a disgruntled friend about what they thought of an unfaithful, cheating or treacherous person. Some of the metaphors are less caustic but the general tone is negative.

(v2): A unfaithful bride or lover, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride” their hearts went after other gods.
(v3): First fruits
(v4): Jacob (personification; anthropomorphism)
(v5): deluded idolaters; by pursuing nothing they became nothing (empty). By pursuing idols they became idolaters
(v7): fertile land defiled (by idolatry)

(v9-13): Broken cisterns: Israelites abandonment of the True God for fake ones was like abandoning a clean spring for a broken muddy cistern that could not hold water
(v14): servant, bond servant, slave that has become a victim. God had redeemed the Israelites from Egypt only to become slaves again to false gods. What is worse is they allied themselves with surrounding powers (non-believing) like Assyria and Egypt becoming a vassal state again and were systematically being plundered by these unholy alliances both monetarily and spiritually.
(v20): A stubborn or stupid animal (an ass?); a harlot/prostitute
(v21): A degenerate shoot of a foreign vine (a la Isaiah 5)
(v22): A dirty or defiled body that no amount of cleaning will clean


(v23): A swift, young, preoccupied camel
(v24 & 25): A wild donkey in heat, prostituting herself to the first taker. Israel is so immersed in sin that she literally chase after everything and is a hopeless case
(v 26): A thief caught red-handed and shamed because of being caught.
(V29-33): Unruly or incorrigible children.
(V34): Shedders of innocent blood and injustices
(V35): Liars/deniers of shedding innocents blood
(V36-37): Prisoner of war “hands on your head” because of flirtations with Egypt and Assyria. Because the Lord has rejected them the alliance with them will not prosper.\

Bright, John. "Chapter 2: Indictment of the Nation's Sins." Jeremiah (Anchor Bible Series, Vol. 21). New York: Anchor Bible, 1965. 13-14. Print.

Wiersbe, Warren. "Rebellion: God Sees His People’s Sins." Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament: The Prophets (Bible Knowledge). Acambaro: Victor, 2003. 80-81. Print.