My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That can hold no water.
Jeremiah 2:13
They have affronted their God, by turning their back upon him, as if He were not worthy their notice: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, in whom they have an abundant and constant supply of all the comfort and relief they stand in need of, and have it freely." God is their fountain of life, (Ps 36:9) There is in Him an all-sufficiency of grace and strength; all our springs are in Him and our streams from Him; to forsake Him is, in effect, to deny this. He has been to us a bountiful benefactor, a fountain of living waters, over-flowing, ever-flowing, in the gifts of his favour; to forsake Him is to refuse to acknowledge his kindness and to withhold that tribute of love and praise which his kindness calls for...If we make an idol of any creature-wealth, or pleasure, or honour,-if we place our happiness in it, and promise ourselves the comfort and satisfaction in it which are to be had in God only,-if we make it our joy and love, our hope and confidence, we shall find it a cistern, which we take a great deal of pains to hew out and fill, and at the best it will hold but a little water, and that dead and flat, and soon corrupting and becoming nauseous. Nay, it is a broken cistern, that cracks and cleaves in hot weather, so that the water is lost when we have most need of it, (Job 6:15). Let us therefore with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord only, for whither else shall we go?
He has the words of eternal life.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database.
