_Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me_ The discourse begun here is continued to the end of the fifth verse of the next chapter. In it God professes to retain the same kind and merciful disposition toward his people which he had manifested in their earlier days. He expostulates with them on th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem_ In the most public parts of the city, that all may hear; _saying, Thus saith the Lord_ I deliver his message, and not my own. I come to you with a commission from God, and speak in God's name. _I remember thee_, &c. I remember my first kindness to thee, when I d... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear, O house of Jacob_, &c. The prophet here directs his discourse to the twelve tribes, as he does afterward, Jeremiah 3:14, &c. For the captivity of the ten tribes was not so total but that there were some Israelites still remaining in the land among the Assyrian colonists. _What iniquity have y... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I brought you into a plentiful country_ Hebrew, _into the land of Carmel._ Carmel was so fertile a part of Judea, that the word from thence came to be used to express a fruitful place in general. Canaan was as one great, fruitful field, Deuteronomy 8:7. _When ye entered, ye defiled my land_ By... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore I will yet plead with you_ By my prophets, and by my judgments, as I pleaded with your fathers, that you may be left without excuse. _And with your children's children will I plead_ According to the tenor of the law, wherein God threatens to _visit the sins_, particularly the sin of idola... [ Continue Reading ]
_For pass over the isles of Chittim_ The neighbouring isles and peninsulas, which lay west of Judea, meaning especially the countries of Greece and Macedonia, and the islands and continents of Europe in general; the countries that were more polite and learned. _And send unto Kedar_ To Arabia, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this_ A pathetical expression, in the poetic style, signifying that the wickedness of these apostates from God was so great, that the very inanimate creatures, could they be sensible of it, might well stand amazed at it: that the heavens might be affrighted to behold... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave?_ Is he of a condition to be delivered as a prey to his enemies? Is he of those people whom God regards as slaves and strangers? These interrogations imply, and have the force of, a negative. As if he had said, Is not Israel the son, the chosen and pecul... [ Continue Reading ]
_The young lions roared upon them_ Lions, in the figurative style of prophecy, denote powerful princes and conquerors; see Jeremiah 50:17; where the king of Assyria is mentioned as one of those lions which had devoured him, and Nebuchadnezzar as another. If we consider the prophet as speaking here o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?_ Are not all these calamities owing to thy sins, thy known and wilful sins? By their sinful confederacies with the nations, and especially their conformity to them in their idolatrous customs and usages, they had made themselves very mean and contemptible,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now what hast thou to do_, &c. “The kings of Egypt and Assyria were the most potent monarchs in the neighbourhood of Judea; and according as either of these was the stronger, the Jews made their court to him, and desired his assistance. This is expressed by _drinking the waters of Sihor_, an Eg... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy own wickedness shall correct thee_ The miseries that your own sins have brought upon you, one would suppose, might be sufficient to reclaim you from your evil courses, and induce you to return to God, by a sincere repentance, Hosea 2:7. _Know therefore_ Upon the whole matter; _and see that it i... [ Continue Reading ]
_For of old time I have broken thy yoke_ That is, I have delivered thee from the bondage and tyranny that thou wast under, of old time, in Egypt; as also divers times besides. See the book of Judges. _And burst thy bands_ Alluding either to the bands and fetters with which prisoners were wont to be... [ Continue Reading ]
_For though thou wash thee with nitre_, &c. Though thou shouldest use ever so many methods of washing away thy sins, such as the rites of expiation prescribed by the law, or practised by idolaters; though thou shouldest insist ever so much upon thy own innocence and righteousness, yet the marks or s... [ Continue Reading ]
_How canst thou say, I am not polluted?_ With what face canst thou go about to excuse thyself, or deny what is so evident, and so truly charged upon thee? see Jeremiah 2:20. _I have not gone after Baalim_ The word is plural, because meant to comprehend all their idols; being a name usually given to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Withhold thy foot from being unshod_, &c. “Do not wear out thy shoes, or sandals, and expose thyself to thirst and weariness in undertaking long journeys, to make new alliances with idolaters.” Thus Lowth, and many other expositors. “But I rather take it,” says Blaney, “to be a warning to beware of... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the thief is ashamed_ As the thief has nothing to say for himself, but is perfectly confounded when he is taken in the very act, so the house of Israel hath no manner of plea wherewith to defend or excuse their idolatry. _They, their kings, their princes_ Whose duty it was to have restrained the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore will ye plead with me?_ Why do you insist upon your innocence? See Jeremiah 2:35. Why do you lay claim to my former promises, as if you had not forfeited your title to them by your sins? _In vain have I smitten your children_ That is, the children or people of Judah. They had been under d... [ Continue Reading ]
_O generation_ O wicked generation; _see ye the word of the Lord_ Consider what I say to you from the mouth of God. _Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?_ Have ye not been plentifully provided for by me? Have I been backward in bestowing favours upon you? Have I not accommodated you with all necess... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love_ “The prophet,” says Lowth, “alludes to the practices of common harlots, who deck themselves, and use all inveigling arts, that they may recommend themselves to their gallants; in like manner,” the prophet intimates, “the Jews tried all methods to gain the fri... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yet thou sayest_ Or interrogatively, _Darest thou say?_ Hast thou the impudence to affirm it? _Because I am innocent_ Clear of this whole charge; _surely his anger shall turn from me_ Shall not break out against me, Isaiah 5:25. _Behold, I will plead with thee_ I will proceed in my judgment against... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, thou shalt go forth from him_ The ambassadors thou sendest to Egypt shall return with disappointment and confusion; _and their hands on their heads_ Condoling the desperate condition of their people. Or, _Thou shalt go forth from hence_, namely, into captivity, in a strange land. _And thy hand... [ Continue Reading ]