Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Yeremia 2:19

Job pours great scorn (Ezekiel 23:32) on Zophar's philosophical method, that by which he had determined that since we possess knowledge only by reason of our senses as they apprehend the exterior of things, and we do not perceive the reality of things as they are in themselves, it is conceivable that though a person may appear to be righteous according to our sense perception, he is in truth wicked and is deserving of perdition and torment by reference to his inner spiritual essence. Is there anything more ludicrous, asks Job, than that a person who appears to be virtuous in all his acts and beyond suspicion, should be told that he does not really know his own mind or its intrinsic state, in terms of which he may be both wicked, and a sinner, and deserving of misfortunes? (Job 12:5), Is it conceivable that God created man in such an evil and bitter manner (Jeremiah 2:19) for scorn and for ridicule (Ezekiel 23:32); so that his calm and secure thoughts (Amos 6:1) about his righteousness are as a burning torch inside him (Isaiah 62:1) heaping coals of fire (Proverbs 25:22) and mockery on his head? For not knowing his soul (Proverbs 14:9) nor trusting his life (Job 24:22), he is perhaps a criminal and guilty, but does not know it! (Ch.12:3-4).

2) The very branch against which the person committed a wrong is the first to exact retribution from the sinner, as we know from Jeremiah 2,19 "that the very evil you are guilty of will act as the instrument which disciplines you." The prophet tells us that the source of sanctity once perverted will turn into a source of harm, G'd forbid.

Our verse may also be understood thus: וידבר אלוקים, G'd spoke to Moses on matters of justice. Since G'd wanted Moses to know that his argument had been heard and considered, He added: אני השם. The use of this attribute at this juncture is equivalent to G'd asking Moses: "how could you attribute to Me a negative virtue such as being the originator of harm befalling My people? My outstanding characteristic is the sttribute of חסד, love, mercy, etc." Even the prophet Jeremiah has already made it plain that evil never originates with G'd (compare Lamentations 3,38: "Evil does not originate from G'd (but only Good)." The letter ו in front of the word והטוב in the verse in Lamentations refers to the fact that G'd does not interfere if a person wants to be good or evil. These decisions are up to each individual. It is up to man to choose good rather than evil. When you study the Bible you will find that whenever G'd mentions that the wicked are being remembered when they receive their deserts, the Bible underlines that the evil they are being punished for is of their own making. Compare in this respect Samuel I 24,13: "Wicked deeds come from wicked men." Jeremiah 2,19: "Your evil deeds will cause you to be disciplined." Isaiah 64,6: "You have made us melt because of our iniquities." There are many more similar quotations in the Bible. In view of this what gave Moses the right to assume that the Israelites' additional hardships were not due to something they had done themselves? It is also possible that the Israelites had not yet been adequately punished for whatever they had been guilty of prior to Moses' appointment. Perhaps some of the people had even become guilty of lack of faith after Moses had accredited himself as their prophet and leader. Your best proof that this was possible is the fact that the elders who set out to face Pharaoh together with Moses and Aaron dropped out on the way. Perhaps G'd would not have allowed Pharaoh to make the decree of withholding straw if the elders had not abandoned Moses on the way? At any rate Moses had been too quick to describe what happened to the people as being G'd's fault.