3 And say, Thus saith Adonai Yahweh unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.

Jerusalem, Samaria, and Sodom

"Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite,"

could not refer to Abraham and Sarah, who not only had nothing to do with the founding of that city, but were Shemites imported into the land of the Amorites by divine command.

It is probably a reference to the first man and woman who took up their abode on Mount Zion, and started the settlement which afterwards developed into the city of Jerusalem. The whole sketch is historic, and must be held to go back to beginnings in the case.

The object of the sketch is to show that Jerusalem had nothing to boast of after the flesh, and that her subsequent elevation was due wholly to divine choice and rescue: whence arose the argument, that Jerusalem ought to have been utterly subservient to God, who had chosen her as a dwelling-place for His name there: instead of which, she had taken the silver and the gold God had given her (verse 17), and

"My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour and oil, and honey wherewith I fed thee"

(verses 18–19), and used them in the honour and service of the idolatrous nations around.

She is declared to have done worse than Samaria and Sodom, her sister-neighbours, whom she disdained so much that they were not mentioned by her in the day of her pride (verses 47–52, 56). Therefore in the day of restoration, Samaria and Sodom would figure prominently, and Jerusalem only

"in the midst of them," "that thou mayest hear thine own shame and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done" (verse 54).

"Nevertheless..",

And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am Yahweh - v62