CAST THEM OUT OF MY SIGHT - Rather, “send them out of My presence, and let them go away.” The prophet is to dismiss them, because their mediators, Moses and Samuel, whose intercession had been accepted in old times (marginal references), would intercede now in vain.... [ Continue Reading ]
KINDS - literally, as the margin, i. e., classes of things. The first is to destroy the living, the other three to mutilate and consume the dead. TO TEAR - literally, “to drag along the ground.” It forcibly expresses the contumely to which the bodies of the slain will be exposed.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BE REMOVED - Rather, “to be a terror.” BECAUSE OF MANASSEH THE SON OF HEZEKIAH - The name of the pious father intensifies the horror at the wickedness of the son.... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse gives the reason of the refusal of Yahweh to hear the prophet’s intercession. The punishment due has been delayed unto wearisomeness, and this seeming failure of justice has made Judah withdraw further from God.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FAN THEM ... - Or, “I have winnowed them with a winnowing shovel.” The “gates of the land” mean the places by which men enter or leave it. As God winnows them they are driven out of the land through all its outlets in every direction. I WILL BEREAVE - Rather, “I have bereaved, I have destroy... [ Continue Reading ]
Translate, “I have brought upon them, even upon the mother of the young man, a spoiler etc.” The word rendered “young man” means a picked warrior. The mother has borne a valiant champion; but neither his prowess nor the numerous offspring of the other can avail to save those who gave them birth; war... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE HATH BEEN ASHAMED - Or, “is ashamed.” To a Hebrew mother to be childless was a disgrace. Many consider that Jeremiah 15:7 refer to the battle of Megiddo, and depict the consternation of Jerusalem at that sad event. If so, in the sun going down while it was day, there will be a reference to the e... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah vents his sorrow at the rejection of his prayer. In reading these and similar expostulations we feel that we have to do with a man who was the reluctant minister of a higher power, from where alone he drew strength to be content to do and suffer. STRIFE - More exactly, “lawsuit;” the sense... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BE WELL WITH THY REMNANT - Or, thy loosing shall be for good; in the sense of being set free, deliverance. TO ENTREAT THEE WELL ... - Rather, “to supplicate thee in the time of evil etc.;” fulfilled in Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 37:3; Jeremiah 42:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STEEL - “brass,” i. e., bronze. By the “iron” is meant Jeremiah’s intercession; but this cannot alter the divine purpose to send Judah into exile, which is firm as steel and brass. For “brass” see Exodus 25:3 note. The alloy of copper and zinc now called brass was entirely unknown to the ancient... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah is personally addressed in the verse, because he stood before God as the intercessor, representing the people. (1) God would give Judah’s treasures away for nothing; implying that He did not value them. (2) the cause of this contempt is Judah’s sins. (3) this is justified by Judah having... [ Continue Reading ]
Render, “And I will make thee serve thine enemies in a land thou knewest not.” FOR A FIRE ... - See the marginal reference. The added words show that the punishment then predicted is about to be fulfilled.... [ Continue Reading ]
This is the prayer of a man in bitter grief, whose human nature cannot at present submit to the divine will. God’s long-suffering toward the wicked seemed to the prophet to be the abandonment of himself to death; justice itself required that one who was suffering contumely for God’s sake should be d... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah had questioned God’s righteousness (see Jeremiah 12:1 note); he is told, “If thou return,” if thou repent thee of thy doubts, and think only of thy duty, “then will I bring thee again, then will I cause thee again to stand before Me.” To stand before a person means to be his chief officer o... [ Continue Reading ]