Vv 5,6: The same detailed contrast (trees, water, etc) of Psa
1 -- now distorted to the negative. See also vv 7,8: restatement of Psa
1.
Jer 17:9
THE HEART IS DECEITFUL: "When we are consciously and
deliberately doing God's will, we are happy. When we are not, we are not. In the
nature of things it has to be that way. And in the reality of things, it is that
way. Analyze it through, and you will find it so. Any other 'pleasure' has to
be, and is, self-deception: an ignorant or deliberate self-blinding, a shutting
out of reality and consequence, a desperate, warped, juvenile submersion in the
present to drown the pain of natural life's meaninglessness and emptiness, to
briefly dim the final, inescapable, staring face of eternal death"
(GVG).
"When I fall into a certain sin for the first time, I may
stand aghast, horrified at it. When I fall into it the second time, I am not
more aghast, but less. if I go on sinning long enough, I cannot see the thing
that belongs unto my peace at all, and I cannot see sin as sin. The conscience
that once shouted 'This is wrong!' now only whispers and in the end may be
silent altogether. Sin is unique in all God's universe in that the more you
practice it, the less you know its nature" (Leslie Weatherhead).
Jer 17:11
A PARTRIDGE THAT HATCHES EGGS IT DID NOT LAY: The
partridge has a strong maternal or acquisitive instinct, sitting other birds'
eggs and appropriating their chicks.
IS THE MAN WHO GAINS RICHES BY UNJUST MEANS... THEY WILL
DESERT HIM: ...But the chicks don't stay with her!
AND IN THE END HE WILL PROVE TO BE A FOOL: "Be on your
guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance
of his possessions... You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from
you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" (Luk
12:15,20).
Jer 17:27
The LM prohibited kindling a fire on the Sabbath (Exo 35:3).
In effect, God says, 'If you violate Sabbath, so will I!'