_GOD, HAVING SHEWED HIS FORMER KINDNESS, EXPOSTULATETH WITH THE JEWS ON THEIR CAUSELESS REVOLT, BEYOND ANY EXAMPLE. THEY ARE THE CAUSES OF THEIR OWN CALAMITIES. THE SINS OF JUDAH: HER CONFIDENCE IS REJECTED._ _Before Christ 628._... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, &C.— The prophesy begun in this chapter is continued to the end of the 5th verse of the next chapter. In it God professes to retain the same kindness and favourable disposition towards Israel, which he had manifested in their earlier days. He expostulates with them on their ungrateful retu... [ Continue Reading ]
I REMEMBER THEE, &C.— "I remember my first kindness to thee, when I delivered thee from the bondage of Egypt, and espoused thee to myself, to be my own peculiar people." See Isaiah 54:5. Instead of _a land that was not sown,_ Houbigant reads, _in an uncultivated land._ The discourse which begins her... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THAT DEVOUR HIM SHALL OFFEND— _Are trespassers,_ or _shall rue it._ Or, _All who desired to destroy him were destroyed; evils came upon them._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT INIQUITY HAVE YOUR FATHERS FOUND— That is, "What injustice or unfaithfulness, in not performing my part of the Horeb covenant?" _Walked after vanity,_ refers to their worship of idols. What an instance of goodness in God is it, that he would, as it were, render an account of his conduct to his... [ Continue Reading ]
THROUGH A LAND OF DESARTS AND OF PITS— By the words ושׁוחה ערבה בארצ _beerets arabah veshuchah,_ it was undoubtedly meant to characterize the wilderness by some of its most unfavourable circumstances in point of nature and appearance. But to call it simply, "a land of desarts" seems not to help forw... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRIESTS SAID NOT, WHERE IS THE LORD?— The _priests,_ or scribes, whose office it was to instruct others in their duty, were ignorant or regardless of it themselves; and this was the principal cause of that degeneracy of manners which prevailed among the people. By the _pastors_ are meant the kin... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL YET PLEAD WITH YOU— That is, _I_ will maintain by arguments the equity of my proceedings, and the injustice of yours.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ISLES OF CHITTIM— By איים _iim,_ it is certain that the Hebrews did not mean the same as we do by _islands,_ that is, lands encompassed with water all around; and therefore we ought not so to render this Hebrew word. It sometimes signifies only _a country_ or _region;_ as Isaiah 20:6 but usually... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH A NATION CHANGED THEIR GODS?— That is, according to Bishop Warburton's interpretation, "Have any of the nations brought the God of Israel into the number of their false gods, as the Israelites have brought in them to stand in fellowship with the true?" For that the ancients frequently changed t... [ Continue Reading ]
BE HORRIBLY AFRAID, BE YE VERY DESOLATE— _Be amazed; marvel,_ or _tremble exceedingly._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HEWED THEM OUT CISTERNS— By these cisterns are meant the foreign succours which they sought for from the Assyrians and Egyptians; succours, which became not only useless, but destructive to them. Others understand it of the false deities, upon which they built their confidence. "God," says Lowth... [ Continue Reading ]
IS ISRAEL A SERVANT?— "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? Is he not the son, the chosen and peculiar people of God? Why then hath the Lord treated him as a common slave?" &c. See John 8:33 and Calmet.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE YOUNG LIONS ROARED, &C.— _Against him lions shall roar: they have lifted up the voice and have made his land a desolation; his cities are burned, so as to be without an inhabitant. Also the children of Memphis and Daphne shall bruise the crown of thy head._ It appears, by this verse, who are mea... [ 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 Egyp... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE OWN WICKEDNESS SHALL CORRECT THEE— _Shall accuse_ or _condemn thee._ This whole discourse of Jeremiah is a kind of pleading, (see Jeremiah 2:9.) wherein the prophet maintains the cause of God against his people.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OF OLD TIME, &C.— _I indeed long since have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; but thou saidst, I will not serve: upon every high hill, and under every green tree, I will lay myself down, and play the harlot._ Houbigant. From this translation, which seems very just and unexceptionable, the me... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW THEN ART THOU TURNED, &C.— This passage has occasioned great perplexity; but it does not seem to have occurred to any interpreter, that סורי _surei,_ is the imperative feminine of סור _sur,_ and signifies, "Depart, Get thee gone, O vine of spurious growth," being addressed by God to the house of... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH THOU WASH THEE WITH NITRE— See Proverbs 25:20 and Scheuchzer's observations on the place. See Virg. Georg. 3:... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHHOLD THY FOOT, &C.— The first clause might be rendered, _Do not uncover thy feet;_ and the next, _Restrain thy throat from thirst._ They allude to the manners of those times, and imply, in a primary sense, a total abstinence from every thing unchaste; and, in their secondary sense, an utter abho... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THY CITIES, &C.— The Israelites had now contracted all the fashionable habits of Egypt. We are assured, that it had been long peculiar to the Egyptian superstition, for every city of that empire to have its own tutelary god, besides those which were worshipped in commo... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR OWN SWORD HATH DEVOURED YOUR PROPHETS— That is to say, "You yourselves have put your prophets to death for reproving you." Thus Asa and Joash were put to death in the reign of Manasseh; see 1 Kings 19:1; 1 Kings 19:10. Nehemiah 9:26 and Matthew 23:34. Houbigant renders the last clause, _As a de... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY TRIMMEST THOU THY WAY— Houbigant renders this verse, _Why dost thou strew thy way, that thou mayest find lovers? And teachest thy ways to thy companions?_ The meaning of the original word תיטבי _teitibei,_ rendered _trimmest,_ is to _make right,_ or _agreeable._ The French render this verse, _Wh... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY GADDEST THOU ABOUT SO MUCH, &C.— This is rendered by the Vulgate, _How vile art thou become, changing_ or _repeating thy ways!_ "Continuing still to seek new succours from strangers, though thou hast been so often deceived! Egypt now shall fail thee, as Assyria has done before.... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE HANDS UPON THINE HEAD— As _Tamar_ went forth from her brother Amnon, _her garments torn, and her hands upon her head;_ insulted and despised, and in the deepest grief and misery. REFLECTIONS.—1st, Being ordained a prophet to the Lord, Jeremiah has his message delivered to him, and is commande... [ Continue Reading ]