JEREMIAH CHAPTER 15 The Jews rejection, and judgments, especially of
four kinds; the sins which procured them, JEREMIAH 15:1. The prophet
complaineth that the people curse and persecute him for these
prophecies; they are threatened, and he instructed and comforted,
JEREMIAH 15:10. We are (though in... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEY SAY UNTO THEE, WHITHER SHALL WE GO FORTH? if they ask thee
what thou meanest by going forth; which being a term of motion,
implieth a term to which the motion should be. Saith God, In the
general, it is to ruin and destruction, but they shall not all be
destroyed one and the same way; some s... [ Continue Reading ]
_ Four kinds of destroyers_; the enemies swords shall slay them, and
so make meat for the dogs, who shall tear their carcasses, and for the
birds of prey, who shall prey upon their dead bodies that shall lie
unburied. And I will also send amongst them wild beasts, who shall
both tear their living bo... [ Continue Reading ]
Though the body of the people were removed into Babylon, yet as it is
more than probable that many of them fled into other countries to save
themselves, so there is no doubt but the king of Babylon removed them
into several kingdoms belonging to his large empire. What Manasseh did
may be read 2 KING... [ Continue Reading ]
The sum of this is, that this people should be in a most miserable,
pitiless state and condition; none should regard them in the day of
their calamity, nor so much as once inquire after them, or how they
fared, or what they did.... [ Continue Reading ]
God here, by more phrases of the same import with many that we have
before met with, declareth his steady resolution to destroy them for
their apostacy from him; and sets out himself to them as angry princes
or parents, that had been often provoked against a subject or a child,
and often resolved to... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FAN THEM WITH A FAN IN THE GATES OF THE LAND; not a purging fan
by affliction, to separate their chaff and dross from them, but a
scattering fan. Some translate it _into the gates of the earth_; so it
is the same that God had before said, that he would remove them into
all nations (_ gates_ b... [ Continue Reading ]
OLBHeb;
The prophet speaking in the name of that God who calleth things that
are not as if they were, still continueth his style, speaking of
things to come as if present. In Jehoiakim's time we read of no such
plenty of WIDOWS; they were multiplied when the city was besieged and
taken in Zedekiah's... [ Continue Reading ]
SEVEN signifies many, 1 SAMUEL 2:5 JOB 5:19. The prophet complains
that Jerusalem, or the country of Judah, that had been very numerous
in people, now grew feeble, neither able to maintain those she had
borne, nor yet to bear more. HER SUN IS GONE DOWN WHILE IT WAS YET
DAY; in the midst of her prosp... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet in this verse cannot be excused from a great measure of
passion and human infirmity; he almost curseth the day of his birth,
denouncing himself a woeful, miserable man, to be born a man of strife
and contention to the whole world, that is, those nations in it
against which God sent him t... [ Continue Reading ]
The latter words of the verse expound the former; for by remnant is
here meant the residue or remnant of days Jeremiah had yet to live,
not the remnant of the people who should come out of Babylon. I WILL
CAUSE THE ENEMY TO ENTREAT THEE WELL IN THE TIME OF EVIL AND IN THE
TIME OF AFFLICTION; I will,... [ Continue Reading ]
There is a great variety among interpreters as to this verse also,
some interpreting this as a prophecy that none should break the
prophet, whom God would make AS THE NORTHERN IRON AND STEEL, which was
the hardest of all iron, the _Chalybes_ (from whom steel had its name
_Chalybs_) being northern pe... [ Continue Reading ]
All thy riches and precious things shall be spoiled, I will have no
regard. saith God, to loss or gain in it, or there shall be no price
taken for the redemption of them; for what shall be done shall be by
me done for all the sins which thou hast been guilty of in all the
parts of the country.... [ Continue Reading ]
As the former verse, so this also, must be understood, not of the
prophet, for he was not carried into Babylon, but of the people, whose
captivity is threatened in this place, and the cause of it declared,
the wrath of the Lord against them for their sins, the effects of
Which are compared to a fire... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, THOU KNOWEST; either thou knowest my sincerity, how faithfully
I have revealed thy will; so PSALMS 139:1,23; or thou knowest my
sufferings, how wickedly they deal with me; or thou knowest what thou
hast to do, what is in thy purpose and resolution to dc; I will say no
more unto thee; only fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Either the words which from time to time thou didst reveal to me were
by me greedily digested; and though some of them were dreadful and
terrible words, yet because they proceeded from thee, I was glad to
hear them, and to be thy instrument to communicate them to thy people;
or, (which better please... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAT NOT IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE MOCKERS, NOR REJOICED, some, and
those the most, interpret these words as an argument the prophet useth
with God to obtain his favour, because though the country was full of
wicked men, such as scoffed at the denouncings of God's judgments, yet
he had no share with t... [ Continue Reading ]
The words are judged to be the words of Jeremiah, and that with
relation unto himself, complaining of the hard task which God had put
upon him, continually filling his mouth With such bitter words of evil
against the people, as exposed him to their most implacable rage
against him, and persecution o... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU RETURN, THEN WILL I BRING THEE AGAIN, AND THOU SHALT STAND
BEFORE ME: at the first reading of these words, one would take them to
be a promise of God to restore this people to their former state, if
they would reform; but upon a more wise and diligent consideration of
what follows, both in t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL MAKE THEE UNTO THIS PEOPLE A FENCED BRAZEN WALL: these
words are expounded by those that follow. THEY SHALL FIGHT AGAINST
THEE, BUT THEY SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST THEE: look, as men may throw
stones or strike at a brazen wall, but do it no hurt; so, saith God,
though thou shalt have enemi... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL DELIVER THEE OUT OF THE HAND OF THE WICKED; the wicked Jews;
AND OUT OF THE HAND OF THE TERRIBLE; and the power of the terrible
Chaldeans, into whose hands thou shalt come, but be preserved from any
harm by the workings of my providence for thee.... [ Continue Reading ]