2. children remember--Instead of forsaking the idolatries of their
fathers, they keep them up
(Jer 7:18).
This is given as proof that their sin is "graven upon . . .
altars"
(Jer 17:1),
that is, is not merely temporary. They corrupt their posterity after
them. CASTALIO less probably translates, "They
remember their altars as (fondly as) they do their children."
groves--rather, "images of Astarte," the goddess of the heavenly
hosts, represented as a sacred tree, such as is seen in the Assyrian
sculptures
(2Ki 21:7;
2Ch 24:18).
"Image of the grove." The Hebrew for "grove" is Asherah,
that is, Assarak, Astarte, or Ashtaroth.
by the green trees--that is, near them: the sacred trees (idol
symbols) of Astarte being placed in the midst of natural trees: "green
trees" is thus distinguished from "groves," artificial trees.
HENDERSON, to avoid taking the same Hebrew particle in the same
sentence differently, "by . . . upon" translates "images of Astarte
on the green trees." But it is not probable that images, in the form
of a sacred tree, should be hung on trees, rather than near them.
JFB.
Picture Study Bible