The sin of Judah is written with a style of iron, with the point of a diamond, engraven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
Judah's sin is not scribbled — it is carved. It is cut into two surfaces: the heart, and the horns of their altars. Can a record engraved that deeply ever be undone?
The word behind "diamond point" is not the gem we know today. Its force lies in hardness.
shamir. Ezekiel 3:9; Zechariah 7:12. It is translated 'diamond' only once, in Jeremiah 17:1. The word itself stands for extreme hardness — 'harder than a flint.' It is also translated 'briars,' and it means any 'sharp point': so a diamond point, or anything hard.
The sin in view is idolatry. The verse names two places for it.
Verses 1-4. The sin of Judah was idolatry, engraved with a pen of iron, the point of a diamond, upon their heart (from which it proceeded) and upon the horns of their altars. Only a few years before, they had destroyed the asherim (translated groves, a kind of sacred post). Now their children turned back to the abominable heathen cults. His anger and judgment must now be their portion.
The horns of an altar were not decoration. They had a set role in Israel's sacrifices.
The horn is a symbol of strength. So when the blood was sprinkled on the horns, the whole strength of the altar turned. That strength had been against the sinner; now it works for him, and it is shown in full. So the horns of the altar became a place of refuge, a sanctuary no one could break into, for all who had a right to their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood.
One spot in Israel's worship spoke of mercy. Now it carries the charge — and these altars belonged to false gods.
But this was the very place where God showed mercy to those who sought Him in repentance. Now it witnessed to their ongoing sin in departing from Him. Judah's sin was written on the horns of their altars to false gods. They might put the blood of sacrifice to idols on the horns of their altars. It would only witness against them, and they would themselves be cut off. That showed there was no strength for mercy in the idol or his altar (Amos 3:14).
The verses that follow turn from the nation to the individual.
The sin of Judah was deeply engraved in their hearts and openly proclaimed on their hills of idolatry. It had kindled a fire that would consume them completely, for the anger of God was roused against them (Jeremiah 17:1-4). What then was any believing individual to do when God had pronounced this terrible destruction of the nation?... Let him not trust in man. Let him not lean on human strength, whether it claims scholarship or anything else. To do so is to depart in heart from the Lord... God never leaves us with only a negative, simply saying what we are not to do. The blessed man is the one marked by positive confidence in the Lord Himself. Here, then, is the secret of soul prosperity at all times.
The hearts that took this engraving were stone. God's answer, spoken through Ezekiel, is to supply new material to write on.
In their hearts, the children of Israel were terribly like the stone the law was written on... Israel proved to have a heart of stone. There was no material there for anything to be written on. So in this book of Ezekiel the Lord in effect says, "I am going to recreate Israel. I am going to work by My Spirit, so that they will be able to receive what I am going to write in a coming day." So He is going to have some new material to write on.
This is not Israel's problem alone.
If theirs is to be a writing in the heart, so there is a writing in our hearts now. The sovereign mercy and working of God are as necessary for us as for them... Our hearts, then, are no less stony than theirs. God must work to make them able to take an impression. This He has done in new birth, and so, in new covenant mercy, He has given us "fleshy tables."
- Engraved — The word behind "diamond" means extreme hardness. Judah's sin is cut in, not written in ink; nothing human can rub it out.
- Sourced — The heart is named first because that is where the idolatry came from. The altars only display what the heart produced.
- Reversed — The horns were the place of refuge. There, blood turned the altar's strength toward the guilty. Here the guilt itself is carved where the blood should have been.
- Personal — The nation's judgment is fixed. The one path left to a believer is to stop leaning on human strength and rest his confidence in the Lord.
- Rewritten — Stone hearts cannot receive God's writing, so He gives new material. The engraved heart of Jeremiah 17 is answered by the new covenant heart God Himself creates.
whilst their children remember their altars and their Asherahs, by the green trees, upon the high hills.
Jeremiah 17 opens with a picture of Judah's sin cut too deep for any reform to scratch out. Verse 2 names the proof: the children still had the old shrines in mind, which raises two questions — what were these "Asherim," and how did they outlive a national clean-up?
The older translation "groves" misleads. One reference work shows why the word cannot mean trees at all.
The word "grove" suggests a row of trees. But that cannot be the meaning, since people set up groves "under every green tree." Manasseh set a carved image of the grove he had made in the temple, and Josiah removed it, burned it, and ground it to powder. That image was no doubt made of metal, but the groves were of wood, as we learn from people cutting them down and burning them. They are always linked with idols and images.
So the children were not remembering scenery. They were remembering man-made idols that stood beside real trees on real hills.
Why hills and green trees at all? One writer traces the pull of such places to something that feels religious but is only natural.
On the mountain-tops man could imagine himself nearer to God than in the valleys. The depths of groves and forests helped too: the beauty of nature made him think he was nearer to the God of nature than he really was. There is indeed a witness to God in all these things — who would wish to deny it? Yet just here man so often makes the fatal mistake. He puts what is merely natural in the place of what is spiritual, and so deceives himself.
Another writer gives the excuse such worshippers would make, and what it cost them.
They would no doubt say that these things were to remind them of God. But God had forbidden such things. Using them always lowered God in their eyes, until the things themselves became the objects of their worship.
The sting of verse 2 is its timing. These shrines had been torn down inside living memory, yet they had not died.
The sin of Judah was idolatry. It was engraved with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond, on their heart (where it came from) and on the horns of their altars. Only a few years before, they had destroyed the asherim — translated "groves," a type of sacred post. Now their children turned back to the abominable heathen cults.
The reform had reached the hilltops but not the hearts. One writer looks at that revival under King Josiah and asks what it actually changed.
In these end-time revivals everyone feels a powerful effect, yet only in the hearts of the remnant is it real. The book of Jeremiah, who prophesied under Josiah, shows us that in fact nothing changed in the moral state of the people. They agreed to do away with idolatry, since the king was faithful, but their hearts remained as far from God as ever.
That makes the children's part worse, not lighter. One writer weighs a son's guilt against his father's.
The sin of a son who sins after his father is greater than his father's sin. If there is light in my heart, the sight of that sin will act powerfully on my conscience. If I keep on in my father's sin, I am more guilty than he is, because his sin was a warning to me. My sin is doubled. It is morally increased by all the effect his sin ought to have had in deterring me.
Verse 2 names the altars the children remembered. The horns of those altars carried the blood of the sacrifice.
The reference to the horns of the altar here is God's solemn sentence on Judah, when He is about to remove him from his inheritance. So Judah must no longer turn to the established witness of atonement on the horns. Now at last his sin is engraved there instead of blood.
One writer joins the two halves of this picture — the heart and the hills — to what came next.
The sin of Judah was engraved deep in their hearts and proclaimed in public on their hills of idolatry. It had kindled a fire that would consume them completely, for the anger of God was roused against them.
- Remembered. The Asherim were wooden idol-posts. Josiah's reform cut them down and burned them, yet the children still had them in mind.
- Removed, not renounced. Under a faithful king the people gave up idolatry, but their hearts never moved.
- Repeated. A son who copies a sin he watched has had a warning his father never had, so his guilt is doubled.
- Relocated. Hills and green trees let a man feel nearer to God than he is, and the reminder becomes the idol.
- Recorded. Sin is engraved where the blood belonged, so the altar no longer shelters the worshipper. It accuses him.
My mountain in the field, thy substance, all thy treasures will I give for a spoil, -- thy high places, because of sin throughout thy borders.
Jeremiah 17:3 is God's sentence on Judah: their wealth goes to the plunderers, because of sin spread through every part of their land. Why would God strip His own people, and what did their "high places" have to do with it?
Verse 3 follows two verses about a sin cut deep. One writer shows where that engraving was, and how recently Judah had turned back.
The sin of Judah was idolatry. It was engraved with a pen of iron, the point of a diamond, on their heart (where it came from) and on the horns of their altars. Only a few years before, they had destroyed the asherim (translated groves, a kind of sacred post). Now their children turned back to the abominable heathen cults. His anger and judgment must now be their portion.
Being God's chosen people did not soften the blow. One writer reads the verse beside an older warning, and beside Bethel and Gilgal, two of Israel's famous worship sites.
So then judgment was inevitable, for the Lord shall judge His people. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for your iniquities." (Amos 3.) Bethel and Gilgal could be no cover for the sins of the chosen people. They only made those sins more glaring and inexcusable. So comes the word: "O my mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures to the spoil, and your high places for sin, throughout all your borders."
Kelly quotes an older wording of the verse: "O my mountain in the field." The ESV reads "on the mountains in the open country." He also applies the point to us: "grace in their case, as in ours, in no way sets aside the governmental dealings of God."
The verse ties the loss to Judah's high places. These were places of worship away from the one centre God had chosen. One writer tells how King Josiah cleared them out, and why they offended God.
One thing stands out: Josiah began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places. These were very offensive to Jehovah. They expressed the people's neglect, and even contempt, for His chosen centre. He had plainly commanded the people to destroy all the images of the Canaanites and to wreck their high places (Num. 33:52). … He would choose His own centre, and the tribes of Israel were told to bring their sacrifices and offerings there. Shiloh, in Ephraim, was Jehovah's first dwelling place (Jer. 7:12); later He chose Zion (Ps. 78:60-68).
Verse 1 said Judah's sin was engraved on the horns of their altars. Atoning blood used to go on those horns. One writer draws out what the swap means.
Jeremiah 17:1 refers to the horns on altars, and it fits this meaning of them. It is God's solemn sentence on Judah, when He is about to remove him from his inheritance. So Judah must no longer turn to the settled witness of atonement on the horns. For now at last, instead of blood there, his sin is engraved on them. The same happens in Amos 3:14. There God will "visit the transgressions of Israel upon him"… "the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground." No blood of atonement can be shown, for the sinner is then to bear his own guilt.
What should a believer do when God announces ruin like this? One writer asks exactly that, and gives a plain answer.
The sin of Judah was engraved deep in their hearts, and displayed openly on their hills of idolatry. It had kindled a fire that would burn them up, for the anger of God was roused against them (Jer. 17:1-4). What then was a believing person to do, when God had announced this terrible destruction of the nation?… Let him not trust in man. Let him not make flesh his arm, whether it claims scholarship or anything else. To do so is to depart in heart from the Lord.
- Engraved. Judah's sin was cut into two places: the heart it came from, and the horns of their altars. The record stood there before the sentence was ever announced.
- Uncovered. Blood on the horns had been the sign of atonement. With sin engraved there instead, no shelter remained, and Judah must bear his own guilt.
- Rivalled. The high places in the verse offended God. They showed neglect, and even contempt, for the one centre He had chosen.
- Exposed. Being the people God knew did not shield them. Their famous worship sites made the sin more glaring, not less. Judgment became certain.
- Answered. The engraved sin kindled a fire of God's anger. For a believer watching it burn, one path is left: trust the Lord, and do not make flesh your arm.
And of thyself thou shalt let go thine inheritance which I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in a land that thou knowest not; for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, -- it shall burn for ever.
Jeremiah 17:4 closes the sentence that begins in verse 1, where Jeremiah pictures Judah's sin as engraved on their hearts and on their altars. The verdict falls on three things at once: the land God gave them, their freedom, and the fire their own sin has lit.
The judgment is not random. It answers one sin, cut into the nation as deeply as a diamond point cuts stone — a sin they had put away once and then taken up again.
The sin of Judah was idolatry. It was engraved with a pen of iron, the point of a diamond, on their heart (where it came from) and on the horns of their altars. Only a few years before, they had destroyed the asherim (translated "groves", a type of sacred post). Now their children turned back to the abominable heathen cults. His anger and judgment must now be their portion.
Everything turns on the words "your heritage that I gave to you". The land was never theirs by right of arms. It came as a gift, on terms a sinful people could not keep.
We must bear in mind that Israel had the land of their possession from Jehovah. No doubt they expelled or subdued the Canaanites. As men reckon, they held it by right of conquest. But a deeper fact lay underneath the successes of Joshua. God gave them strength to put down the most corrupt race then on earth, who had forced their way into a land He had planned from the first and promised to the fathers. Sadly, they did not take the blessing as promises received by faith, on the ground of God's grace. They took it on the condition of their own faithfulness to the law — a condition that must be fatal to the sinner. So came the disasters, and at last the ruin, which Jeremiah here groans out to God.
Canaan belonged to God before it belonged to Israel. So when they turned away from Him, He took back the land and handed them over to their enemies.
God will not allow His people to forget that the land of Canaan is His in a special way. So were the people He gave it to. This was one of their special favours. Israel were His people as no other nation could be then, and their land too was His. He would secure it to them for ever, unless they turned away from Him. For that He drove them out and made them the slave and the target of their enemies' malice and contempt.
The same words had been passed on the nation two chapters earlier, in Jeremiah 15 — the unknown land, the kindled fire. Yet even there the sentence stood alongside a promise to the remnant.
There is no time of retribution, chastening and sorrow when the same faith that sees God in the circumstances is not also given to see Him above them. "The Lord said, Surely I will set you free for your good... I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever."
Later in the same chapter God still speaks of restoring His people. Writers note that the two run side by side: the promise of future blessing never suspends God's present dealings with a nation in covenant with Him.
But grace in their case, as in ours, in no way sets aside how God governs His people. This was true of them above all, since they stood in a covenant relationship under law, before God placed them under Messiah and the new covenant.
The sentence falls on a whole nation. So what is one believer inside that nation to do?
What then was any believing individual to do when God had pronounced this terrible destruction of the nation?... Let him not trust in man. Let him not make flesh his arm, whether it claims scholarship or anything else. To do so is to depart in heart from the Lord.
- Gift. The land was a heritage God gave, not a prize Israel won. They held it on terms of obedience, so they could lose it.
- Grip. Judah's own hand let the heritage go. The sin engraved on their hearts and altars — put away once, then taken up again — loosened their hold.
- Servitude. Losing the gift meant serving enemies in a land they did not know. Freedom became slavery.
- Fire. Their own sin kindled the fire, and God's anger answered it. Grace does not cancel God's government of His people.
- Trust. The answer for a believer in a doomed nation is personal: do not lean on man or on human skill, for that is how the heart departs from the Lord.