Jeremiah 17:1 - Exposition

The sin of Judah , etc. "Judah's sin" is not merely their tendency to sin, but their sinful practices—their idolatry. This is said to be graven upon the table of their heart , for it is no mere form, but carried on with passionate earnestness, and as indelible as if engraved with an iron pen. How unlike, however, is this record to that of which the same expression is used in Job 19:24 ! With the point of a diamond ; or, with a point of adamant (harder than flint, as Ezekiel 3:9 says). Fragments of adamant, says Pliny ('Hist. Nat.,' 37.15), are sought out by engravers and enclosed in iron; they easily overcome every hardness. Upon the horns of your altars. First of all, what altars are referred to? Those erected for the worship of idols or the two in the temple of Jehovah, which had been defiled by idolatry? And why is the sin of Judah said to be engraved upon the horns of the altars? Probably because the "horns," i.e. the projections at the four upper corners ( Exodus 28:2 ) were smeared with the blood of the victims. The direction in Exodus 29:12 and Le Exodus 4:7 was doubtless not peculiar to the ritual of the Law.