| Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 3:1-7 The holy God hates sin most in those nearest to him. A sinful state is, and will be, a woful state. Yet they had the tokens of God's presence, and all the advantages of knowing his will, with the strongest reasons to do it; still they persisted in disobedience. Alas, that men often are more active in doing wickedness than believers are in doing good.
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - The voice; i.e. of God, as heard in the Law and at the mouth of his prophets (comp. Jeremiah 7:24, etc.; Jeremiah 9:13). Received not correction. They took not to heart the chastisements sent upon them, and did not profit by them. She trusted not in the Lord, but in man. When danger threatened, she relied on human aid, made alliances with the heathen, or else had recourse to idols and prayed for help to false gods, as the next clause complains. She drew not near to her God. She broke the covenant which she had made, would not avail herself of the privilege bestowed upon her, and had no intercourse with the Lord in prayer and worship.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleShe obeyed not the voice,.... Of his servants the prophets, as the Targum, by way of explanation, adds, who warned her of her sins and of her ruin. The inhabitants of Jerusalem hearkened not to the voice of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, who gave notice of his coming; nor to the voice of Christ himself, who stretched out his hand all the day to a disobedient and gainsaying people; nor to the voice of his apostles, whose doctrines they contradicted and blasphemed; and put away the word of God from them, thereby judging themselves unworthy of eternal life: she received not correction; by the rod, by the judgments of God upon her: or "instruction" (y); by the Gospel preached to her inhabitants. So the Targum interprets it, "she received not doctrine;'' the doctrine of baptism, repentance, and remission of sins, preached by John; but rejected the counsel of God by him against themselves, Luke 7:31 nor the doctrine and instruction of Christ and his apostles, though of more worth than gold and silver; but, on the contrary, slighted and despised it, and rejected it with the utmost contempt: she trusted not in the Lord; not in the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; the essential Word, Christ Jesus; the Word made flesh, and dwelling among them; they trusted in the law of Moses, and in their obedience to it; in their rites and ceremonies, and in the observance of them, and the traditions of their elders; they trusted in the flesh, in their carnal privileges; in their own legal righteousness, and in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others; and particularly the righteousness of Christ they submitted not unto; they trusted not in him, nor in that; though they were told, that, if they believed not that he was the Messiah, they should die in their sins: she drew not near to her God; Immanuel, God manifest in the flesh, who was promised to the Jews, and sent unto them, whom their fathers expected, and whose God he was, and theirs also; being in his human nature of them, and God over all blessed for ever; so far were they from drawing near to him, and embracing, him, that they hid, as it were, their faces from him; they would not come to him for life and light, for grace, righteousness, and salvation; nor even to hear him preach, nor suffer others to do the same; but, as much as in them lay, hindered them from attending his ministry, word, and ordinances. The Targum is, "she drew not nigh to the worship of her God.'' (y) "institutionem", Drusius, Tarnovius.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary2. received not correction—Jerusalem is incurable, obstinately rejecting salutary admonition, and refusing to be reformed by "correction" (Jer 5:3). trusted not in … Lord—Distrust in the Lord as if He were insufficient, is the parent of all superstitions and wickednesses [Calvin]. drew not near to her God—Though God was specially near to her (De 4:7) as "her God," yet she drew not near to Him, but gratuitously estranged herself from Him.
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