Jeremiah 2:3 - Exposition

Israel was holiness , etc. Israel was a consecrated people (comp. Exodus 19:5 , Exodus 19:6 ; Deuteronomy 7:6 ; Deuteronomy 14:2 ; Deuteronomy 26:19 ). Isaiah, fond as he is of the phrase "Israel's Holy One ," does not expressly enforce the correlative truth, as Jeremiah does here. The first-fruits of his increase ; rather, his firstfruits of increase. Israel is compared to the firstfruits ( reshith ) of the land, which were devoted to the house of the Lord ( Exodus 23:19 ; Numbers 18:12 , Numbers 18:13 ). So in Amos 6:1 , the title given him is "the chief [margin, 'firstfruits'] of the nations" (in Jeremiah 31:7 , a synonymous and cognate word, rosh , takes the place of reshith for "chief"). All that devour him shall offend ; rather, all that ate him incurred guilt , or became guilty of a trespass. Foreigners were forbidden to eat of consecrated things; by breaking this law they became guilty of a "trespass," having invaded the rights of Jehovah (Le 22:10, 15, 16). The word for "trespass" is the same as that rendered "guilt."