Jeremiah 3:4

“Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, etc.] These words are either a confirmation and proof of that impudence with which these people are charged; for had they not been impudent, or had not a forehead like a whorish woman; or were they truly ashamed, they would have cried to the Lord henceforward; called upon him; claimed their relation to him; and owned his favours in time past: or, if they had not been impudent, they would not have dared from this time to have called God their Father and their guide, when they had so wickedly sinned against him; so that this is a charge of hypocrisy and deceit, calling God their Father and guide, when they were at the same time worshipping idols: or…”

“from this time--not referring, as MICHAELIS thinks, to the reformation begun the year before, that is, the twelfth of Josiah; it means--now at once, now at last. me--contrasted with the "stock" whom they had heretofore called on as "father" (Jer 2:27; Luk 15:18). thou art--rather, "thou wast." guide of . . . youth--that is, husband (Jer 2:2; Pro 2:17; Hos 2:7, Hos 2:15). Husband and father are the two most endearing of ties.”

“Or, Hast thou Not from this time called “me, My Father, thou art the” husband “of my youth?” i. e., from the time of Josiah’s reforms in his eighteenth year, in opposition to “of old time” Jeremiah 2:20. return to 'Top of Page'”

“My father - Wilt thou not as a child call upon me, whom thou hast thus greatly provoked. The guide - I have been brought up by thee. Jeremiah 3:5”

“3:4-5 Instead of confessing their sins, the people tried to cover them over with sweet talk. However, God saw through their deception. They were inadvertently correct that he would not be angry forever (Ps 103:9; Isa 57:16; Mal 1:6), though he promised to vent his wrath (Jer 4:7).”

“Wilt thou: Jer 3:19, Jer 31:9, Jer 31:18-20; Hos 14:1-3 My father: Jer 2:27 the guide: Jer 2:2; Psa 48:14, Psa 71:5, Psa 71:17, Psa 119:9; Pro 1:4, Pro 2:17; Hos 2:15; Mal 2:14 Jeremiah 3:5”

“Henceforward, forsooth, it calls upon its God, and expects that His wrath will abate; but this calling on Him is but lip-service, for it goes on in its sins, amends not its life. הלוא, nonne, has usually the force of a confident assurance, introducing in the form of a question that which is held not to be in the least doubtful. מעתּה, henceforward, the antithesis to מעולם, Jer 2:20, Jer 2:27, is rightly referred by Chr. B. Mich. to the time of the reformation in public worship, begun by Josiah in the twelfth year of his reign, and finally completed in the eighteenth year, 2 Chron 34:3-33. Clearly we cannot suppose a reference to distress and anxiety excited by the drought; since, in Jer 3:3,…”