_At that time_, &c. The first three verses of this chapter properly belong to the preceding, and ought not to have been separated from it. _They shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah_ “The Chaldeans shall regard neither the living nor the dead. They shall put the living to death without re... [ Continue Reading ]
_And death shall be chosen rather than life_ Not through a lively and well-grounded hope of happiness in another life, but through an utter despair of any ease in this life. It denotes the extremity of misery, when men have no comfort left wherewith to alleviate their calamities, or render their liv... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moreover, thou shalt say_, &c. The prophet is here directed to set before the Jews the unreasonableness and folly of their impenitence, which was the thing that brought this ruin upon them. And he represents them as the most stupid and senseless people in the world, that would not be made wise by a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, the stork knoweth her appointed times_ Of going and returning; _the turtle and the crane, &c., the time of their coming_ The proper season for changing their climate. Taught by natural instinct, they change their quarters as the temper of the air alters, removing to a warmer climate when the w... [ Continue Reading ]
_How do ye say, We are wise?_ As if he had said, These things considered, where is your wisdom? you see the very fowls of the air are not so stupid as you are. He speaks not merely to the princes and priests, but to the whole body of the people. _And the law of the Lord is with us_ They were wont to... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wise men are ashamed_ That is, they have reason to be so, who have not made a better use of their wisdom, and reduced their knowledge to practice. _They are confounded and taken_ All their wisdom has not served to keep them from those courses that will issue in their ruin. They shall be _taken_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore will I give their wives unto others_ See on Jeremiah 6:12; _and their fields to them, that shall inherit_, or _possess, them_ For the word _inherit_ is sometimes taken for any sort of possession. See Psalms 32:8. So Israel is called the Lord's _inheritance_, chap. Jeremiah 10:16, and else... [ Continue Reading ]
_There shall be no grapes on the vine_ A figurative expression, to signify that there should be none of them left. _And the leaf shall fade,_ &c. As both leaves and fruit wither and fade when a tree is blasted or killed, so will I utterly deprive this people of all the blessings I had given them, of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let us enter into the defenced cities_ In these verses the prophet seems to turn to and address his countrymen by way of apostrophe; and, as one of the people that dwelt in the open towns, advises those that were in the like situation to retire with him into some of the fortified cities, and there... [ Continue Reading ]
_The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan_ Dan was situated in the northern extremity of Palestine, on the side whence the Chaldeans were to come against Jerusalem. Accordingly, Grotius observes, after Jerome, that Nebuchadnezzar, having subdued Phenicia, passed through the tribe of Dan in his... [ Continue Reading ]
_For behold, I send serpents, &c., which shall not be charmed_ Such enemies as you shall not be able to soften by any entreaties you can use. That some persons possessed the faculty of rendering serpents harmless, is a fact too well attested by historians and travellers to admit of contradiction: bu... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I would comfort myself_, &c. “When I would apply comfort to myself, my heart misgives me: I find great reason for my fears, and none for my hopes.” Blaney translates the verse, _sorrow is upon me past my remedying; my heart within me is faint._ They seem to be the words of the prophet, who had... [ Continue Reading ]
_The harvest is past_, &c. Here the prophet speaks again in the name of the people, or, rather, represents the people besieged in Jerusalem complaining on account of the length of the siege. Their false prophets had amused them with vain hopes of deliverance, and they had expected the Egyptians to c... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt_, &c. These are the words of the prophet, lamenting the miserable condition of his country. The Hebrew is more literally rendered, _For the breach of the daughter of my people am I broken_, that is, _heart-broken:_ or, as Houbigant renders it, _I... [ Continue Reading ]