2 6 Jeremiah's earliest discourses, viz. from the time of his call (b.c. 626) to a date shortly after that of Josiah's reforms (b.c. 621). These utterances as a whole describe the condition of things at this period, setting forth the corruption of the nation and the punishment to ensue. As the dis... [ Continue Reading ]
_the kindness of thy youths the love of thine espousals_ This has been taken as meaning, the kindness and love (_a_) of Israel towards God, or (_b_) of God towards Israel. In favour of (_a_) is urged (i) the sense of the rest of the _v_., (ii) that the -kindness" and -love" spoken of evidently refer... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel was holiness unto the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase_ Cp. Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 8:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; cp. Jeremiah 26:18 and Amos 3:2. There is no moral significance attached to the word holiness here. It means simply setting apart from ordinary uses, dedication to God. Israel is... [ Continue Reading ]
_all the families of the house of Israel_ addressed not to the ten tribes only, but to the nation as a whole.... [ Continue Reading ]
Has Israel had any excuse for their disloyalty to Me? None. _have walked after vanity_ -vanity" (lit. a breath) is here used in the same sense as in 1 Kings 16:13. Jehovah and His prophets regarded idols simply as unsubstantial, unreal things. Hence -vanity" (i.e. idols) expresses their view. So in... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet brings their thanklessness into bolder relief by depicting in the strongest colours the care lavished upon them of old. Utter forgetfulness is their return for the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, the preservation from the various dangers of the wilderness, and the bestowal of Canaan.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a plentiful land_ lit. _a land of the Carmel_. The word Carmel properly means a piece of ground fertile and well-cultivated (Jeremiah 4:26 R.V. mg.), but was commonly used as the actual name of one such spot of Palestine, the only promontory that the sea-board of the country possesses, jutting out... [ Continue Reading ]
The wickedness of the people is matched and encouraged by that of the chief men both in Church and State. For the denunciation of priests and false prophets on the part of Jeremiah, cp. Hosea and Micah (see Intr. iii. §§ 3, 5), Micaiah (in 1 Kings 22) and Isaiah (Isaiah 28:7). So later Ezekiel (Jer... [ Continue Reading ]
_plead_ rather, CONTEND, as both A.V. and R.V. rightly render in Isaiah 49:25; Isaiah 50:8. To the modern ear the word "plead" suggests intercession, entreaty, a sense which the Hebrew verb never bears.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the isles of Kittim_ The Kittim are mentioned as descendants of Javan in Genesis 10:4. Josephus (_Ant_. I. vi. 1) identifies the original seat of the tribe with the town of Citium (Larnaka) in Cyprus. Gradually the name seems to have been extended, so as to include not only the neighbouring islands... [ Continue Reading ]
_a nation_ i.e. a heathen nation. _which yet are no gods_ Therefore it need not have occasioned surprise, if their worshippers had at some time deserted them. Heathen nations are loyal to their gods, unreal though they be. For reference to the question whether Jeremiah was a -speculative," or only... [ Continue Reading ]
_be ye very desolate_ lit. BE YE DRY. The heavens are bid to shrivel up in horror at the behaviour of the people. By a figure common in all poetry nature is called upon to adapt herself, as though a living being, to the complexion of human affairs. By a slight alteration of MT., however, we get (ins... [ Continue Reading ]
"Jehovah is a fountain of living water, having life in Himself, giving life to all." (Co.) Israel has preferred cisterns, the contents of which, vapid and worthless in themselves, speedily disappear through leakage. For the figure of water as denoting spiritual blessing, cp. Isaiah 12:3; Isaiah 44:3... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn_slave?] An emphatic negative is the reply expected, as in Jeremiah 2:31. Israel is not a slave but a _son_. Why then is he spoiled? If (which is however doubtful) the early legislation, as given in Exodus 21:1-3, still held good, children born to a slave who ma... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel's sin and obstinacy under punishment 14 17. Co. points out that Jeremiah 2:13 connects naturally with Jeremiah 2:18. The cisterns from which Israel has sought water proving unavailable, she has tried the rivers of Egypt and Assyria. Accordingly, while holding that the _vv_. are genuine utter... [ Continue Reading ]
_The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled_ referring to the frequent Assyrian invasions. The lion was the symbol of Assyria (Nahum 2:12 f.). Cp. Isaiah 5:29 (of an attacking host). _burned up_ Many prefer to render, slightly altering MT., _are laid waste, desolated_, as in Jeremiah 4:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_also_ EVEN. The sense is, _those in whom thou most trustedst_. _Noph_ Memphis, formerly the capital of Lower (i.e. Northern) Egypt, the word Noph representing some colloquial Semitic or Egyptian pronunciation of the name. Its site was near what is now Cairo. _Tahpanhes_ now _Tell Defneh_, the _Gre... [ Continue Reading ]
_when he led thee by the way_ If the text be right, the reference is to wilderness journeyings. But there can be little doubt that the words (omitted by LXX) have arisen from a scribe's error in writing twice over the first four Hebrew words of Jeremiah 2:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt_ The thought is the same as that expressed in Isaiah 30:1-3. Ever since the time when Psammetichus I (b.c. 663 610), king of Egypt, reduced under his own sway the twelve separate kingdoms into which that country had been formed, there was a party of statesme... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thine own wickedness shall correct thee_ Thy misdeeds shall bring their own punishment with them. _Correct_in the sense (now growing obsolete) of _chastise_. Cp. Jeremiah 10:24; Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 46:28. So in Proverbs 29:17. _backslidings_ lit. _backturnings_, apostasy. The Hebrew word with... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands_ mg. _thou hast_is doubtless right. So LXX and Vulg. The identity of the archaic form of the pronominal ending for the 2nd person fem. with the ordinary 1st person sing. sufficiently accounts for the error. Israel's rebellion is of long standing. _serve_... [ Continue Reading ]
The fault did not lie in Jehovah's planting, but in Israel's perversity. Hosea 10:1 has the same illustration. Jeremiah has probably a reminiscence also of Isaiah 5:1 ff., where, however, Israel is not as here the vine, but the vineyard in which it is planted. _a noble vine_ a Sorek vine, the word... [ Continue Reading ]
_lye_ the same as washing-soda. "It occurs as an incrustation on the ground in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere, and is also a constituent in the water of certain saline lakes. The most famous of the latter are the -natron lakes" in Egypt. They lie in the -natron valley" about 60 miles W.N.W. of Cairo.... [ Continue Reading ]
If we may assume that this utterance relates to the time before Josiah's reforms, the people could not deny that their worship at the high places included observances outside those belonging to Jehovah. They maintained, however, that it was to Him and not to the Baals, that their service was all the... [ Continue Reading ]
_a wild ass used to the wilderness_ revelling in uncontrolled licence. Cp. Job 39:5 ff. The noun is not a simile for the young camel of Jeremiah 2:23 (a metaphor within a metaphor), but a further metaphor for Israel. Some commentators propose to read the Heb. consonants with other vowels, giving the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst_ Do not pursue thy shameless quest in recklessness and heat, till thy sandals are worn out, and thy throat parched. The words of the reply, the first part of which we might render, "Hopeless! No!" express the desperate determination to... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel, though insensible now to their disgrace, will realise it presently and all classes will be filled with confusion (as a detected thief) when the penalty arrives. Cp. Isaiah 1:29 ff. _ashamed_ disconcerted by the failure of plans, a frequent sense of the word: cp. Jeremiah 2:36; Jeremiah 17:1... [ Continue Reading ]
The "stock" and "stone" symbolize the god worshipped, and doubtless include the wooden poles (Asherahs) and stone obelisks or pillars by which they were represented. The words addressed to them by the worshippers do not imply that the latter considered the spirits of their ancestors to be there embo... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah's sarcastic answer to the people's appeal. Do you cry to Me? Cry to the gods of your choice. _for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods It cannot be through any scarcity in number that the gods whom thou hast chosen come not to thine aid_. LXX add here, as they do in the parall... [ Continue Reading ]
_plead with me_ remonstrate against My wrath. For "plead" see on Jeremiah 2:9, and cp. Jeremiah 12:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_your children_ not literally such, nor yet young men slain in battle, but equivalent to the frequent expression "children of thy people" (e.g. Ezekiel 3:11; Ezekiel 33:2; Ezekiel 33:12; Ezekiel 33:17; Ezekiel 33:30), i.e. the people considered individually, as contrasted with the aggregate. _your p... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel's disregard of Jehovah's past favours 31. _O generation, see ye_ O GENERATION THAT YE ARE, SEE. _a wilderness_ Have I been like a place where ye lacked sustenance? Not so. Cp. Hosea 2:8. _thick darkness_ On the contrary ye have had the light of prophetic teaching. The mg. _darkness from Ja... [ Continue Reading ]
_attire sash_, and so rendered by R.V. in Isaiah 3:20. The exact meaning is unknown, but it was plainly an indispensable part of a bride's costume.... [ Continue Reading ]
_How trimmest thou thy way_ lit. _How thou makest thy way good!_i.e. How cleverly thou goest about (to reach an immoral object)! _even the wicked women, etc_.] even experts in immorality can learn fresh wickedness from thee. LXX ("thou hast done wickedly in corrupting thy ways") very possibly repre... [ Continue Reading ]
_blood, etc_.] "The allusion may be to deaths due to miscarriage of justice or the result of exaction (Jeremiah 7:6; Jeremiah 22:3 end, 17; cf. Micah 3:10; Psalms 94:21), or to the sacrifice of children (see Jeremiah 19:4; cf. Psalms 106:38) or possibly to the martyrdoms under Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel protests that her innocence is proved by her prosperity, which marks Jehovah's favour. He replies that judgement awaits her for her denial of guilt.... [ Continue Reading ]
_to change thy way_ to turn from Assyria and seek the aid of Egypt. The negotiations here referred to are unknown. LXX, vocalising MT. differently, render, _Why makest thou so light of changing thy way?_ ashamed See on Jeremiah 2:26. _thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also_ This was literally fulfill... [ Continue Reading ]
_From him also shalt thou go forth_ The king of Egypt shall repulse thy advances, and thou shalt return mourning. _thine hands upon thine head_ in disgrace and disappointment; cp. 2 Samuel 13:19. _thy confidences_ those in whom thou confidest, Egypt and Assyria.... [ Continue Reading ]