Jeremiah 2:1-13

Summary: Jeremiah gives a timeless definition of idolatry when he says in chapter 1:16 that Israel ‘worshipped the works of their own hands.’ Worshipping the one true God forced Israel to admit how helpless and dependent they were (see 2:6-7). Idols demanded far less and afforded Israel the luxury of believing they were, in some part, self-sufficient. Jeremiah’s theme throughout our text is how irrational it is to forsake the one true God and chase after idols. For example, it’s like trading the endless supply of a fresh spring for the putrid and unreliable water of a hand-dug cistern (2:13). God reminds Israel that their satisfaction can be found no where else but in complete dependence and trust upon him. This too is what Jesus meant when he said, “The water that I will give will become in them a spring of living water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).