_GOD'S GREAT MERCY IN JUDAH'S VILE WHOREDOM. JUDAH IS WORSE THAN ISRAEL. THE PROMISES OF THE GOSPEL TO THE PENITENT. ISRAEL REPROVED, AND CALLED BY GOD, MAKETH A SOLEMN CONFESSION OF SIN._ _Before Christ 628._... [ Continue Reading ]
HIGH-PLACES, &C.— See Proverbs 7:8 and the _Observations,_ p. 52. The fondness of the people for idolatry is compared to the wantonness of a harlot, who lies in wait for men as for her prey; or as the Arabian hides himself in the desert, to strip the unwary traveller. Mr. Harmer has cited from a man... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE SHOWERS HAVE BEEN WITHHOLDEN— The general import of this passage is, that though God had begun in some degree to chastise his people (as he threatened, Leviticus 26:19. Deuteronomy 28:23.) with a view to their reformation, his chastisement had not produced the desired effect; for they... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, &C.— _Behold, thou hadst but spoken, and didst wickedly, and with all thy might._ Houbigant renders this whole verse, _Shall these things therefore be dissembled, and covered in perpetual silence, after thou hast so often offended, and confirmed thyself in thy wickedness?_... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SAID ALSO UNTO ME— A new discourse begins at this verse. Jeremiah having convinced the Jews of their infidelity, idolatry, and all sorts of corruption, in the way of pleading, from the second chapter to the present verse; here the Lord, as judge, pronounces the sentence, and exhorts the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW, &C.— _And I saw when on account of the adultery which backsliding Israel had committed,_ &c. Houbigant renders the words, _I saw,_ in the third person; _Nay, though she saw, that l had put away backsliding Israel, for all the adulteries,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BACKSLIDING ISRAEL HATH JUSTIFIED HERSELF— _Backsliding Israel hath appeared just in comparison of perfidious Judah._ The crimes of the latter greatly surpassed those of the former. See Ezekiel 16:51.... [ Continue Reading ]
GO, AND PROCLAIM, &C.— The sin of the ten tribes being attended with more favourable circumstances than that of Judah, the prophet is here commanded to call them to repentance, with promises of pardon; and accordingly is ordered to direct his speech northward; that is to say toward Assyria and the c... [ Continue Reading ]
TURN,—FOR I AM MARRIED, &C.— _Turn—and though I have rejected you, I will take you one of a city, and two of a tribe,_ or _country:_ that is to say, "I will receive you, though there should be but one from a city willing to return, and two for a province, or tribe." These prophesies were accomplishe... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER SHALL THAT BE DONE ANY MORE— There can be no doubt to any reader of this and the subsequent verses, that, however they may refer, in their primary sense, to the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, they have their full and perfect completion only in the abolition of the la... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I SAID, &C.— _And when I said, How shall I place thee among sons, and give unto thee the land of desire, the inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations? Then said I, Thou shalt call me, My Father; and thou shalt not turn aside from following me._ The paranomasia is a figure that the Hebrew... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY HAVE PERVERTED— _For that they have perverted their way, and had forgotten,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
TRULY IN VAIN, &C.— _Certainty there is nothing in the hills but a lie, in the mountains but vanity._ Houb. This refers to the idols, and the high places where they were worshipped. _Shame,_ in the next verse, בשׁת _bosheth,_ signifies the _confusion_ arising from the worship of idols. See ch. Jerem... [ Continue Reading ]
WE LIE DOWN IN OUR SHAME— "God has justly abandoned us to our confusion: he has permitted, that the worship of those idols which we have adored, should serve only to throw us into a condition deplorable as death; into captivity, exile, and oppression." See Calmet. REFLECTIONS.—1st, When for our sin... [ Continue Reading ]