In 2:32 Jehovah says, "Can the virgin forget her ornaments, /Or the bride her attire?/But My people have forgotten Me / For days without number." Israel had forgotten Jehovah for days without number, for so many days that they could not be counted. This means that they had forgotten Him for a very long time. In this matter, they were different from the virgin, who could not forget her ornaments, or the bride, who could not forget her attire. This word concerning ornaments and attire indicates that God is our ornament and attire; that is, God is our beautification. Although God was Israel's beautification, Israel forgot Him.
Israel made themselves the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine to suffer Jehovah's correcting punishment (vv. 21, 19, 29-30; 3:3a). In punishing them Jehovah did not even give them the showers or the spring rain. He caused the heavens above to be as brass, not giving them any supply.
"It is said, / If a man divorces his wife / And she goes from him / And becomes another man's wife, / Will he return to her again? / Will not that land be / Utterly polluted? / But you have committed fornication with many lovers. / Yet return to Me, declares Jehovah" (3:1). This indicates that in spite of Israel's fornication, which was like that of a divorced wife, Jehovah would return to her again, if she would return to Him. This is Jehovah's compassions, and His compassions do not fail; they are new every morning. But whether or not Israel would experience God's compassions depended upon whether or not she would return to God.
"Have you not just now called out to Me, My Father, / You are the guide of my youth?" (v. 4). This indicates that if Israel would return to Jehovah, she would say to Him that He is her Father, the Guide (Companion) of her youth. This shows the situation and condition of Israel.