Jeremiah 2:2

Go, viz. from Anathoth to Jerusalem.

Cry in the ears; proclaim it so that they may hear it.

Of Jerusalem; declare God’s will to the inhabitants thereof; a metonymy of the subject.

Thus saith the Lord; the prophet’s usual form of words in this book, whereby he frequently intimates that he came with God’s message, not his own; and therefore directs his sermon here, as in God’s name and person, to the whole body of the people.

I remember thee; I record, or I mind thee of the kindness that was between us: though this be sometimes taken in a way of favour, Nehemiah 13:31, yet not always so, as Nehemiah 13:29; Psalms 137:7.

The kindness of thy youth; either those forward and early affections of thine to me in thy youth; or rather, the kindness that I showed thee in thy youth, Isaiah 46:3; for this relates to the time of God’s bringing them out of Egypt, which is sometimes called the birth of this people, Isaiah 44:2; Hosea 2:3, and their youth, Isaiah 54:6; Hosea 2:15. The story seems to favour most this latter sense, Deuteronomy 9:6,Deuteronomy 9:24.

The love of thine espousals, viz. when I entered into a covenant relation with thee at the giving of the law, Exodus 24:7,Exodus 24:8; Deuteronomy 4:20,Deuteronomy 4:23,Deuteronomy 4:34; Ezekiel 16:8, &c.

When thou wentest after me in the wilderness; either out of that love and affection that thou didst show to me in following my conduct; or rather, when thou wert led by me in the wilderness, and I took such care of thee, both for protection and provision, in that howling wilderness, though thou didst ill deserve it, where nothing necessary to thy subsistence could have been expected; and therefore it is expressed in the next words by a periphrasis, a land that was not sown; and more enlarged upon Jeremiah 1:6; for it plainly appears by the story that they did not follow him with entire affection, but went a whoring from him, Amos 5:25,Amos 5:26, and which we have a large account of Psalms 106:7, &c.