which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’
The prophet here, as prosecutor in God's name, draws up an indictment against the Jews for wilful disobedience to the commands of their rightful Sovereign. For the more solemn management of this charge, I. He produces the commission he had to draw up the charge against them.
Commenting on Jeremiah 11:1-10
That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers,.... Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: to give them a land flowing with milk and honey: that is, abounding with plenty of all kind of provisions; see Exo 3:8, as it is this day; the land of Canaan continued to those times a very fruitful country; it was as it was promised it should...
in the day--that is, when. The Sinaitic covenant was made some time after the exodus, but the two events are so connected as to be viewed as one. iron furnace-- (Deu 4:20; Kg1 8:51). "Furnace" expresses the searching ordeal; "iron," the long duration of it. The furnace was of earth, not of iron (Psa 12:6); a furnace, in heat and duration enough to melt even iron.