13 Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be disappointed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
It appears more clear from this verse why the Prophet had commended before the excellency of his own nation, even that by the comparison their impiety might appear less excusable; for the more bountiful God had dealt with them, the more atrocious was their sin of ingratitude. As then the Jews had been raised high, so that their elevation appeared eminent through the whole world, the more detestable became their contumacy against God, and also their ingratitude in rejecting and despising a favor so remarkable, when they forsook him and followed idols, vain hopes, and their own false counsels. It is the same as though the Prophet had said, -- "What does it avail you, that God dwells among you, and that the Temple is as it were his earthly habitation, where he converses familiarly with you? what benefit is this to you? for no one accepts of this favor; nay, we wilfully, and as it were designedly cast away from us this kindness which is freely offered to us." We hence see that all this ought to be read together, -- that the throne of God was in Judea, but that the people in the meantime malignantly and wickedly rejected the favor offered them. But the Prophet turns to God, that he might rouse the Jews, for such was their perverseness that he in vain taught them. And he says, Jehovah, the expectation of Israel! whosoever forsake thee shall be made ashamed; as though he had said, -- "The ungodly multitude which accepts not the dignity by which our race excels all other nations, receives no benefit. God indeed dwells in the midst of us, but hardly one in a hundred cleaves to him; nay, almost all treacherously forsake him; but notwithstanding all their glory, they shall be made ashamed who thus reject the kindness of God." The Prophet, in short, reminds the Jews how vainly and presumptuously they gloried, because God had adopted their race; for a reciprocity was required, so that they were to respond to God and receive his benefits. But when they perversely his favor, what could have remained for them? Hence he says, Ashamed shall all they be made who forsake thee. By the word forsake, he intimates that the Jews had been favored by God; for this could not have been said in the same sense, and in an equal degree of the heafilens, as the heathens had never been gathered by God into one body; but the Jews alone had enjoyed this favor. When therefore he had manifested himself to them, and testified that he would be their Father, he was forsaken by them. This defection, of which the Jews alone were guilty, is noticed, because God had sought them for himself; he had also come to them, and made with them a covenant. As then they were thus brought nigh to God, this defection was the more execrable. This is what the Prophet means. He now adds, And they who depart shall be written in the earth. Literally it is, "Who depart from me;" but the y, iod, at the end, as many think, is a servile letter. And some think that the word is a verb, and that the y, iod, at the beginning denotes the future tense, and they regard the y, iod, at the end to be for v, vau, ysvdv isuru, "Who depart." Others suppose it to be a noun, and read ysvry isuri, for vsvrym vasurim [1] As to the meaning, it is evident that the Prophet designed here to shake off from the Jews the vain glory with which they were inflated, when they boasted that they were the people of God, the holy race of Abraham, the royal priesthood; all these things he ridicules as vain, as though he had said, -- "Away with all these boastings, which are all false; ye are apostates, therefore your name shall be written in the earth." No doubt, the earth here is set in opposition to heaven; and Scripture sometimes says, that the name of the wicked shall be a reproach on earth. But as they often acquire a celebrated and honorable name on earth, the Prophet makes a concession and says, "Be it so; let the world regard you as the holy race of Abraham, the blessed seed and the chosen people; let, in short, every one of you claim for himself whatever he pleases, but your name shall be on earth, and shall be blotted out from heaven; there will be no inheritance above for you, no portion in the kingdom of God." He in short intimates, that the Jews would have no place before God and his angels, for they were unworthy that God shouhi regard them as his children, since they had wickedly denied him. He then grants them a name on earth; but it is the, same as though he had said, that they wickedly lied in boasting that they were a chosen people, since they themselves, as far as they could, obliterated the election of God. He afterwards adds, Because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. The Prophet confirms what he had said, lest the Jews should think that they were too severely rebuked, when he said that their name was blotted out from heaven: Ye have forsaken, he says, the fountain of living waters. "What does this mean? God (according to what is said in Jeremiah 2) manifested himself to you; is there not in him a full and sufficient happiness for you? What more can be sought for by a mortal man than to enjoy his God, in whom there is the fullness of all blessings? God has offered himself to you, and his bounty has ever been extended to you, as though he were a fountain from which you might draw enough to satisfy you; but ye have forsaken this fountain. You must therefore perish through thirst, and justly so, for your ingratitude has been so great as to despise these remarkable and invaluable favors of God." It now follows --
1 - The reading of the Keri and of many MSS. is no doubt to be adopted, and the final m as is sometimes the case, is dropped. It would then be, according to the Septuagint, vsvrym Our version is the Vulgate. I would connect "earth" or land with this word, -- And apostates in the land shall they be recorded. This would be their designation; they were to be handed down to posterity as apostates in the very land which God gave them. The reason why the m is dropped is the connection of the word with "land," though preceded by v -- Ed
Shall be written in the earth - i. e., their names shall quickly disappear, unlike those graven in the rock forever Job 19:24. A board covered with sand is used in the East to this day in schools for giving lessons in writing: but writing inscribed on such materials is intended to be immediately obliterated. Equally fleeting is the existence of those who forsake God. "All men are written somewhere, the saints in heaven, but sinners upon earth" (Origen).
Written on the earth - They shall never come to true honor. Their names shall be written in the dust; and the first wind that blows over it shall mar every letter, and render it illegible.
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, [and] they that depart from me shall be written (m) in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
(m) Their names will not be registered in the book of life.
O Lord, the Hope of Israel,.... Of all true Israelites; such as are regenerate persons, and true believers in him; Christ is the author and giver of that hope that is in them; the door of it unto them; the object on which it is exercised; the ground and foundation of it, or what gives encouragement to it; and the person they are hoping for; Old Testament saints hoped, waited for, and expected his first coming; and New Testament saints are hoping for his second coming, and to be for ever with him (w):
all that forsake thee shall be ashamed; who forsake him as the Hope of Israel, and place their hope elsewhere; in the creature, in themselves, in their riches, in their righteousness, and profession of religion; such shall be ashamed of their vain hope; whereas a true hope, a hope upon the right object, on Christ the Hope of Israel, makes not ashamed; nor shall the man that has it be ashamed of that. The Targum paraphrases it,
"all who forsake thy worship shall be ashamed;''
for they forsake their own mercies, who forsake the house and ordinances of God, and the assembling of themselves together:
and they that depart from me; the prophet; refusing to hear the word of the Lord by him, which was all one as departing from the Lord. Some render it, "from thee", as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions; and so the Targum,
"and the ungodly that transgress thy word;''
whose heart departed from the Lord, as in
Jeremiah 17:1 notwithstanding their show of devotion and religion. Some render the words, "that are chastised by me"; but repent not, and are not reformed thereby; reading not as the Masorites direct, and we, and many others, follow; but according to the letters, and retaining them, (x):
shall be written in the earth; have a name among earthly and carnal men, and be called so, being sensual and carnal, and minding nothing but earth and earthly things; and shall not be written among the living in Jerusalem, or have a name and a place among spiritual men: or they shall be of a short continuance; their memory shall rot; their names be put out for ever; and their memorial perish with them; for things written in the dust do not continue, but are presently destroyed by a puff of wind, or by the treading of the foot upon them; or they shall die, and return to the earth, and be laid in the grave, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; or shall perish eternally, die the second death, being not written in the Lamb's book of life. The Targum is,
"into hell shall they fall.''
The phrase is opposed to a being written, or having names written in heaven, Luke 10:20; which is the same as to be written in the book of life, or to be ordained unto eternal life, Philippians 4:3; and what is the case of such who are not written in heaven, but in earth, may be seen in Revelation 20:15;
because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters; See Gill on Jeremiah 2:13.
(w) the word here used, sometimes signifies a confluence or collection of waters, as in Genesis 1:10 and elsewhere, a place to bathe in; hence Fortunatus Scacchus, in Sacror. Eleaochr. Myrothec. l. 1. c. 23. col. 159. renders it here, "the bath of Israel", the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood is a fountain opened, in which sinners wash, and are cleansed from their sins, Zech. xiii. 1. and this agrees with the latter part of the verse, where the Lord is called "the fountain of living water"; so De Dieu, on ch. xiv. 8, observes, the word is so used in Exod. vii. 21. and so R. Akiba interprets the words, saying,
"what is "the meaning of it is that which cleanses the unclean; even so God cleanses Israel;''
and it is, adds De Dieu, as if you were to call God the pool of Israel, or a confluence of waters where Israel may be washed from his filth. (x) "Castigati a me", Schmidt; so Stockius, p. 455, 725, Junius & Tremellius follow the same reading, only they render the words, not so properly, "castigationes meae".
me--"Jehovah." Though "Thee" precedes. This sudden transition is usual in the prophetic style, owing to the prophet's continual realization of Jehovah's presence.
all that forsake thee-- (Psalm 73:27; Isaiah 1:28).
written in the earth--in the dust, that is, shall be consigned to oblivion. So Jesus' significant writing "on the ground (probably the accusers' names)" (John 8:6). Names written in the dust are obliterated by a very slight wind. Their hopes and celebrity are wholly in the earth, not in the heavenly book of life (Revelation 13:8; Revelation 20:12, Revelation 20:15). The Jews, though boasting that they were the people of God, had no portion in heaven, no status before God and His angels. Contrast "written in heaven," that is, in the muster-roll of its blessed citizens (Luke 10:20). Also, contrast "written in a book," and "in the rock for ever" (Job 19:23-24).
living waters-- (Jeremiah 2:13).
Depart - From what I have revealed to them as thy will, shall have no portion beyond the earth.
*More commentary available at chapter level.