Hast not thou procured this? rather, Is it not this that doth procure it unto thee (namely) that thou hast forsaken, etc.? or, Is it not thy forsaking Jehovah that pro. cureth thee this? When he led thee by the way.
The prophet thinks, perhaps, of the rebellion of the forefathers of Israel, who too soon ceased to "go after" Jehovah (comp. Jeremiah 2:2), and whose fickleness was imitated but too well by their descendants.
This view is favored by the phraseology of Deuteronomy 1:33; Deuteronomy 8:2, Deuteronomy 8:15. But we may, if we prefer it, explain "by (or, rather, in) the way," on the analogy of the promise in Jeremiah 31:9, "I will lead them … in a straight way," i.
e. I will grant them an uninterrupted course of prosperity. The omission of the adjective in the present passage may be paralleled by Psalms 25:8, "Therefore will he instruct sinners in the (right) way."