Jeremiah 4:3

For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,.... The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were at the time of this prophecy in their own land; and so are distinguished from Israel the

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Transition to Judah. Supply mentally. All which (the foregoing declaration as to Israel) applies to Judah.

To the men, Heb. man, i.e. to each man; I speak to every individual among you, ,8. Of Judah and Jerusalem: the Lord having spoke what he had to say at present to Israel, turns now his speech from Israel to Judah, and so continues it; which consists of several subjects, and first begins with repentance. Break up your fallow ground, i.e. prepare your hearts by making them soft, tender, and pliable, fit to embrace my word; a metaphor taken from ploughmen, that do either prepare the ground that hath lain some time waste and untilled, by tearing up the surface of the earth, making it mellow and soft to receive the seed; (for the Hebrew word nir seems to be of larger extent than bare preparation; God useth the same word when he speaks to the same purpose to Israel, ; and so it is used ) or it may relate to both, that every thing that may be injurious to the seed may be stubbed up. Or rather, From such as plough the ground. Sow not among thorns; rid you hearts and hands of what may hinder you of embracing my word; grub up all those briers, and thorns, and mischievous weeds that will not suffer my counsels to take, or my graces to thrive, with you; such as use to overrun the sluggard’ s field, ,31. Here the Lord begins to call upon them to repent. The phrase seems to intimate that the Jews had been wont to mix the truths of God among their own inventions, as seed among thorns, and so corrupted it; as also, that they retained many secret and hidden sins, like hypocrites, which he exhorts them to eradicate.

Jeremiah 4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.Ver. 3. Break up your fallow ground.] Novellate vobis novale. Tertullian rendereth it, Renovate vobis novamen novuum, put off the old man, and put on the new. See Hosea 10:11. By the practice of repentance, runcate, extirpate, root up and rid your hearts and lives of all vile lusts and vicious practices. The breaking up of sinful hearts may prevent the breaking down of a sinful nation. Sow not among thorns,] i.e., Cares and lusts of life, fitly called thorns, because (1.) They prick and gore the soul; (2.) Harbour the old serpent; (3.) Choke the word. There is no looking for a harvest in a hedge: stock them, and stub them up therefore; do not plough here, and make a trench there, &c.

(3) For thus saith the Lord . . .—The words seem the close of one discourse, the opening of another. The parable of Israel is left behind, and the appeal to Judah and Jerusalem is more direct. To the men of Judah.—Literally, to each man individually. Break up your fallow ground.—The Hebrew has the force which comes from the verb and noun being from the same root, Break up for you a broken ground or fallow a fallow field. The metaphor had been used before by Hosea (Hosea 10:12). What the spiritual field needed was to be exposed to God’s sun and God’s free air, to the influences of spiritual light and warmth, and the dew and soft showers of His grace. Sow not among thorns.—Not without a special interest as, perhaps, containing the germ of the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:7. Here, as there, the seed is the “word of God,” spoken by the prophet, and taking root in the heart, and the thorns are the “cares of this world,” the selfish desires which choke the good seed and render it unfruitful.

Verse 3. Break up your fallow ground] Fallow ground is either that which, having been once tilled, has lain long uncultivated; or, ground slightly ploughed, in order to be ploughed again previously to its being sown. Ye have been long uncultivated in righteousness; let true repentance break up your fruitless and hardened hearts; and when the seed of the word of life is sown in them, take heed that worldly cares and concerns do not arise, and, like thorns, choke the good seed.

3. Break up] The ground of their heart is hard. It needs as it were the plough and the harrow. Moreover, it is overgrown with thorns. These must be removed.

To the men - To each man “of Judah.” They are summoned individually to repentance. Break up - literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, i.

3, 4. For, connects the two following verses with the preceding, as being the ground of them. That these verses refer to Judah, while the preceding refer to Israel, suggests a difficulty more apparent than real.