Commentary for Jeremiah 2:31

See the word of the Lord He took out to them the jar of manna. He said to them, “See here how helpful the word of the Lord is.” was I a desert to Israel Heb. המדבר. This is the interrogative form. Therefore, the ‘mem’ is punctuated ‘weak,’ i.e., without a ‘dagesh’ and the ‘heh’ with a ‘hataph- pattah.’ Did it seem to your forefathers that it was a desert when they traversed it? For I brought down for them this bread, the necessity of each day in its day.

thick darkness מאפליה, an expression of darkness.

Why have My people said, “We have been separated...”? Heb. רדנו, we have been separated from You. Like one who separates (רודֶה) bread from the oven. So is the midrash of Rabbi Tanhuma (Bamidbar 2). Menahem, however, explains רדנוּ as an expression of descending (ירידה) and also in other manners (Machbereth Menahem, p. 162).