John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 3:2

"Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness." — Jeremiah 3:2 (ASV)

The Prophet had charged the Jews with behaving wantonly in a loose and promiscuous manner, as is the case with abandoned women who have cast away all shame. So that they could not evade this charge by objecting that they were not conscious of any crime, he, in a way, makes them the judges themselves.

He says, Raise up your eyes to the high places and see; that is, “I bring forward witnesses sufficiently known to you; there is no hill in the land where you have not been connected with idols.” We have already said, and we will find the same thing often mentioned by this Prophet—that superstitions are considered idolatries by God.

But it was customary for the Jews to ascend high places, as though they were nearer to God there. This is why the Prophet commands them to turn their eyes to all the hills. See, he says, whether any hill is free from your fornications. For as prostitutes seek hiding-places to perpetrate their obscenities, so the Jews sought hills as their brothels.

And so their impiety was more detestable because they acted openly, especially as they wished their heinous acts to be seen from a distance, ascending, as they did, high places. In contrast, prostitutes, having found adulterers or lovers, usually seek secret retreats. The Prophet then cuts off every opportunity for the Jews to evade the charge when he commands them to raise up their eyes to the high places; for when they prostrated themselves before their idols, it was the same as when prostitutes commit acts of adultery.

And he adds that they sat by the ways, as the Arabian in the desert. He again repeats what we have observed before: the Jews were not led away by the enticement of others to violate the covenantal pledge they had given to God. On the contrary, they were moved by their own wantonness, so that they themselves sought base and filthy gratifications.

He had said before, “You have corrupted others by your wickedness;” and now he confirms the same, “You have sat,” he says, “by all the ways.” This is also what is done by vile prostitutes who, as has been said, have lost all shame.

But the Prophet enhances this crime by another comparison: As an Arabian in the desert, who lies in wait for travelers to rob and kill them, so you have sat by the ways.

We then see a double comparison here. One is taken from prostitutes who, having made a gain in the past, now that they find themselves neglected, lay siege to the roadsides and offer themselves to anyone they may meet. This is the first comparison.

The other is that they were like robbers who lie in wait for travelers to rob and kill them. It is as though he had said that the Chaldeans and Egyptians were excusable when compared with the Jews. This is because they had been drawn by the Jews' wicked arts into illicit treaties, much like a traveler passing by who is enticed by a robber— “What are you but a helpless man? But if you join me and agree to be my companion, there is the best prospect of gain, and new spoils will fall into our hands daily.”

Such a robber is two or three times more wicked than the other. So also, the Prophet says of the Jews that they were like old robbers, hardened in intrigues, plundering, and every kind of wickedness, who had enticed to themselves both the Egyptians and the Assyrians.