Jeremiah 2:37
Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
The verse pictures backsliding Israel willingly leaving God as a wife leaves her husband, turning from the true source of help to nations and worldly powers for security. That turning included looking to the hills and mountains to false gods that could give no refuge or salvation. The church espoused to the Lord as His married wife and chaste virgin to Christ commits fornication and adultery against Him when it joins itself to the world in an unlawful bond like a harlot. The Lord has rejected those trusted allies and plans, so those who trusted in them go forth from them in shame with hands on the head and find only confusion and ruin instead of prosperity. Yet the word stands among God's pleas that expose wickedness worse than the heathen while calling the backslider to return and be healed, not declaring him beyond forgiveness.
Israel's Rejected Confidences
The verse describes Israel's willing and sinful departure from God, like a wife leaving her husband, as an instance of backsliding from which God calls His people to return. That departure was a turning from God, the true source of help, to the nations and worldly powers to seek help, support and security. Such reliance on those powers is misplaced, for the Lord rejects these false confidences and they cannot prosper through them.
It included looking to the hills and mountains for help from false gods, whose false worship could not provide refuge or salvation. Israel is pictured as a church espoused to the Lord, and as the Jewish church espoused to the Lord, which became unfaithful through an unlawful bond with the world. This unfaithfulness in turning from Him to the nations for help makes His people like a harlot and brings confusion.
Union of God's church with the world is fornication and adultery against God, to whom the church lawfully belongs as His married wife and chaste virgin espoused to Christ. The Lord has rejected the people's trusted allies and plans, so Judah will be sent away in shame and those who trusted in them will go forth from them in shame with hands on the head and will not succeed or prosper in them.
Seeking security in worldly powers brings confusion and ruin rather than prosperity. Such departure from God and union with other powers is spiritual unfaithfulness, and such alliances bring idolatry, error, and persecution of God's people. The church's reliance on worldly powers and nations repeats Israel's unfaithfulness and ends in destruction.
God Pleads for Return
The verse belongs to God's word concerning backsliders, making known His feelings toward them. In it the wickedness of His own people is laid bare as worse than that of the heathen, and yet He is seen pleading with the sinner to turn and with the backslider to return. It stands among His pleas to backsliders, so that the call to return is not to be taken as declaring them beyond forgiveness. Taken together with the call to return in Jeremiah 3:22, it shows God calling His backslidden people in Judah and Israel to come back to Him and be healed.
God deals with His unfaithful people as a pure wife deals with an untrue husband. A wife is justified in separating from a husband who lives in violation of his marriage vow rather than continuing with him in his wrong. Yet she may take him back if he repents, without breaking the marriage law, and in the same way God deals with His unfaithful people.