_IN THE TYPE OF A LINEN GIRDLE, HIDDEN AT EUPHRATES, GOD PREFIGURETH THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS PEOPLE. UNDER THE PARABLE OF BOTTLES FILLED WITH WINE, HE FORETELLETH THEIR DRUNKENNESS IN MISERY: HE EXHORTETH TO PREVENT THEIR FUTURE JUDGMENTS; HE SHEWETH THAT THEIR ABOMINATIONS ARE THE CAUSE THEREOF._... [ Continue Reading ]
GO, AND GET THEE A LINEN GIRDLE— The prophet here begins a new discourse. He himself gives us an explanation of the meaning of the symbolical action here related. See the note on ch. Jeremiah 1:11. He is commanded not to put the girdle into water, to clean it, in order to signify that the people of... [ Continue Reading ]
GO TO EUPHRATES— Many commentators have doubted respecting this particular, and have not thought it possible that the prophet should thus have gone backwards and forwards to the banks of the Euphrates; accordingly they have given different interpretations of the word. Bochart supposes that _Euphrata... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THIS MANNER WILL I MAR THE PRIDE, &C.— _Will I mar the glory of Judah, and the great honour of Jerusalem._ See Jeremiah 13:11. "I will transport them beyond Euphrates; I will hide them in Babylon, as in the hole of a rock, whence they cannot come out. They shall be marred in the midst of the n... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HAVE I CAUSED— _So had I caused._... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY BOTTLE SHALL BE FILLED WITH WINE— The 13th and 14th verses fully explain this. We have before had occasion to observe, that it is frequent in the language of Scripture to express God's judgments under the figures of _wine, a cup, drunkenness,_ &c. Accordingly God here declares, that as they ha... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE GLORY TO THE LORD— That is to say, "Confess your faults, and humble yourselves under his mighty hand, before he bring upon you the night of affliction; before the time come, when ye shall be forced to fly by night unto the mountains for fear of the enemy." See Calmet. _THE DARK MOUNTAINS_— _Th... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE WILL NOT HEAR IT— The prophet declares, that after having done all he could to cause the people to return to their duty, without success, nothing farther would remain for him, but to lay aside his public character, and secretly bewail their obstinacy and contempt of God's word.... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY UNTO THE KING, AND TO THE QUEEN— That is, to Joachin and his mother, who were carried captives into Babylon at the first coming of Nebuchadnezzar. See 2 Kings 24:15. Others suppose that Zedekiah and his mother are addressed. We may read the latter clause, _For the crown of your glory is fallen,_... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH SHALL BE SHUT UP— "The cities in the southern parts of Judaea shall be shut up, because there shall be no inhabitants. All the lot of Judah, heretofore so beautiful, so well-peopled, so full of fine cities, shall be desolate." Some understand this of Egypt, which lay to the s... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFT UP YOUR EYES, &C.— "Ye people of Judah, behold and reconnoitre the Chaldean army, coming against you from the north." The next words are addressed to the king and queen; see Jeremiah 13:18. He represents them under the idea of a shepherd, and the people under that of a flock. "What will you say... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST TAUGHT THEM, &C.— Houbigant renders it, _Since thou hast made them expert against thee, and hast drawn-them upon thine own head._ "Thou hast frequently called them to thy succour, and taught them the way to thy country, whereof they dreamed not before; and not only thus, but by accumul... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SKIRTS DISCOVERED, &C.— See Isaiah 20:4; Isaiah 47:2. Houbigant reads, _And thy heels galled_ [_with irons._]... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN THE ETHIOPIAN, &C.— Jeremiah does not mean hereby to express the absolute impossibility of a moral change; such as that in nature, whereof he speaks. To suppose this, would be to contradict the whole tenor of his writings, and to render insignificant and absurd all his invitations to repentance.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE WIND OF THE WILDERNESS— "The most vehement storms to which Judaea was subject came from the great desert country to the south of it." See Bishop Lowth's Note on Isaiah 21:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO THEE, &C.— The prophet here expresses in the strongest manner his hopes and his desires for the repentance and reformation of this people. The original is remarkably emphatical, עד מתי אחרי _acharei mathai od, when once?_ The aposiopesis is peculiarly beautiful and expressive. REFLECTIONS.... [ Continue Reading ]