Jeremiah 6:1-30. The Doom In this chapter Jeremiah continues to give warning of the Scythians" approach, and furnishes the people with a lively representation of the troubles that were at hand. It will not now suffice, in accordance with Jeremiah 4:5 ff., to flee to walled towns. Zion itself will b... [ Continue Reading ]
_ye children of Benjamin_ Jeremiah was himself a Benjamite (ch. Jeremiah 1:1), and Jerusalem was in Benjamin, the boundary between that tribe and Judah lying in the valley of Hinnom, to the south of the city. _and blow … Beth-haccherem_ these two clauses interrupt the Ḳinah measure, and break into t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The comely … cut off_ So the MT., but it is open to suspicion, and the Versions differ much from it. With some emendation the sense may be that Zion is compared to a pasturage, upon which shepherds bring their flocks to feed, the latter denoting the enemy carrying with them devastation. _The comel... [ Continue Reading ]
For shepherds in the sense of leaders, rulers cp. chs. Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 3:15. _every one in his place_ The Heb. is lit. _each his hand_. They shall not need to encroach upon one another, finding abundance in their own portion.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Prepare_ lit. as mg. SANCTIFY. Cp. Jeremiah 51:27 f.; so Isaiah 13:3, "my consecrated ones," said of the armies summoned to destroy Babylon. The entering upon war was looked upon as a solemn religious act, and was accompanied by corresponding ceremonies. See Deuteronomy 20:2 ff., and cp. Ezekiel 21... [ Continue Reading ]
The impatience of the soldiers at the delay takes the form of a demand for a night assault. Cp. Isaiah 15:1. _palaces_ LXX here and often translate by θεμέλια, _foundations_, though varying much elsewhere in the rendering of the word, and significantly avoiding "palaces." See Article by Mr P. J. Hey... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hew ye down trees_ See Deuteronomy 20:20. _trees_ mg. _her_(the city's) _trees_. _cast up a mount_ Earth was carried in baskets, and poured in a heap, until it was on a level with the walls. The assault was then made. Cp. 2 Kings 19:32; Isaiah 29:3; also Herodotus (I. 162), describing the campaig... [ Continue Reading ]
The Scythians would not make their approaches to the city in this fashion, while the absence of metre makes us hesitate to take the passage as inserted by the prophet in Jehoiakim's time, when the Chaldaeans were the enemy expected. Hence it may be of later date.... [ Continue Reading ]
The cherished wickedness of the people is illustrated by a metaphor. _a well casteth forth_ MT. has two readings, _well_and _fountain_. In the former water is stored to keep it fresh, in the latter it springs out of the ground. In this application accordingly Jeremiah will mean either (_a_) that sin... [ Continue Reading ]
_instructed_ rather, _disciplined, corrected_. Cp. Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 5:3. _lest my soul be alienated_ The verb in the original is much stronger, BE WRENCHED. In Genesis 32:25 (Heb. 26) the same verb is rendered "was strained.... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. note to ch. The gleaners shall go over and over again. Calamity shall not visit the land once only, as it has already visited the Northern tribes, but many times.... [ Continue Reading ]
_turn again thine hand_ addressed to the leader of the attack upon the land. Du. and Co., omitting for metrical reasons "They shall … Israel," consider that the prophet is bidden to search whether any good grapes are yet concealed under the leaves. Cp. Genesis 18:32. In this case Jeremiah 6:10 gives... [ Continue Reading ]
_their ear is uncircumcised_ dedicated not to God's service, but to profane uses only. Cp. Acts 7:51; so of the lips, Exodus 6:12; Exodus 6:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_ BUT. _the fury of the Lord_ The wrath which He feels has been infused into me His prophet, that I may make it known to men. _pour it out_ LXX (so A.V.) have _I will pour, etc._The imperative of MT. is best taken not as a prayer by Jeremiah but as God's command to the prophet. It is, ho... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will stretch out my hand_ Cp. for this phrase Isaiah 5:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses are almost identical with ch. Jeremiah 8:10-12, where they are probably a later insertion.... [ Continue Reading ]
_from the least of them even unto the greatest_ Cp. Jeremiah 5:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_of my people_ Cp. Jeremiah 8:11; Jeremiah 8:21, which have _the daughter of_. Hence it has been inserted needlessly here in mg. _lightly_ LXX excellently, _making nothing of it_. As worthless surgeons the religious leaders refuse to examine or probe the wounds of those who are under their charge,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination_?] THEY SHALL BE PUT TO SHAME, BECAUSE THEY HAVE COMMITTED ABOMINATION (so mg.). This part of the verse is made interrogative in the English in order to avoid the difficulty which the seeming contradiction contained in the following words produc... [ Continue Reading ]
_saith_ rather, SAID, in His frequent remonstrances. Of the branching paths the old established one will prove that which alone ye may follow with divine sanction. _the good way_ lit. _the way of that which is good_. Cp. Jeremiah 18:15; Deuteronomy 32:7. _rest for your souls_ The words have not t... [ Continue Reading ]
The third division. See introd. note to the ch.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I set_ " I EVER RAISED UP," Dr. See on Jeremiah 6:16. _watchmen_ the prophets; so Ezekiel 3:17; Ezekiel 33:7. _the sound of the trumpet_ Cp. Jeremiah 6:1; Amos 3:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Gentiles are summoned to witness the punishment. Cp. Jeremiah 4:16. _O congregation_ The Hebrew word is elsewhere confined to Jews, an application which the parallelism with "nations" here forbids. Moreover, the obscurity of the expression, "what is among them," suggests a corruption of MT. Per... [ Continue Reading ]
The conclusion of the threefold appeal. Thus God pledges Himself as it were in the sight of the whole world, that He will no longer forbear. _the fruit of their thoughts_ the results of their rebelliousness. Cp. Proverbs 1:31. _my law_ See on Jeremiah 8:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
For the uselessness of ceremonial without obedience, cp. Isaiah 1:11; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:21 ff.; Micah 6:6; Psalms 50:13 f. _frankincense from Sheba_ Cp. Isaiah 60:6, and "Centumque Sabaeo Ture calent arae" (_Aen_. I. 416 7). The word occurs only in the later portions of O.T., viz. Jeremiah 17:26; Je... [ Continue Reading ]
_stumblingblocks_ The enemy shall trip them up in their easygoing ways. Cp. Jeremiah 6:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
_from the north country_ The reference, originally at any rate, was to the Scythians. See on Jeremiah 1:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
The last of the four divisions. See introd. note to the ch.... [ Continue Reading ]
A large part of ch. 50 reads as an expansion of these _vv_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_set in array, as a man to the battle_ EQUIPPED AS A MAN FOR WAR.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah is here the mouthpiece of his fellow-countrymen on the arrival of the news. _fame_ i.e. _report_. _wax feeble_ lit. _sink down_. Cp. Isaiah 5:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
and _terror on every side_ Omit "and." The remaining words are a characteristic expression of Jeremiah. Ch. Jeremiah 20:3 (where see note), 10, Jeremiah 46:5; Jeremiah 49:29; Psalms 31:13; cp. Job 18:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
_daughter of my people_ collective, as in Jeremiah 4:11. _wallow thyself in_ more probably, _sprinkle thyself with_(so LXX), though the meaning of the Hebrew root is doubtful in all its occurrences (Jeremiah 25:34; Ezekiel 27:30; Micah 1:10). _as for an only son_ The importance attributed by the Je... [ Continue Reading ]
_a tower_ rather, as mg., _a trier_. It was owing to a difficulty presented by the following substantives that this was rendered _tower_. _a fortress_ The same word (with slight difference in vocalisation) has the sense of "tower" in Isaiah 23:13. Hence probably, and with a reference to Jeremiah 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
In these _vv_. the Lord reassures Jeremiah of his divine commission, and he appears under the figure of one testing metal. The result of the testing process is that no precious metal is found. All is dross.... [ Continue Reading ]
_grievous revolters_ Heb. _revolters of revolters_, one of the ways of expressing the superlative. Cp. Genesis 9:25; Ezekiel 32:21 (see note in C. B.). _they are brass and iron_ an awkward expression in this place, and perhaps a later insertion, suggested by Ezekiel 22:18-22.... [ Continue Reading ]
The figure from refining metals is continued from Jeremiah 6:27. "In refining, the alloy containing the gold or silver is mixed with lead, and fused in a furnace on a vessel of earth or bone-ash: a current of air is turned upon the molten mass (not upon the _fire_); the lead then oxidizes, and actin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Refuse … rejected_ There is a play on the words in the Hebrew. _Refuse refused_.... [ Continue Reading ]