XV. (1) THEN SAID THE LORD UNTO ME. — With a bold and terrible anthropomorphism, the prophet again speaks as if he heard the voice of Jehovah rejecting all intercession for the apostate people. The passage reminds us of the mention of Noah, Daniel, and Job, in Ezekiel 14:14, as “able to deliver the... [ Continue Reading ]
SUCH AS ARE FOR DEATH... — The difference between the first two forms of punishment is that the first points possibly to being led out to execution as criminals, as in Deuteronomy 19:6, but more probably to death from pestilence, as in Job 27:15; the second, to falling in a vain and hopeless conflic... [ Continue Reading ]
FOUR KINDS. — The sword, as the direct instrument of death, is followed by those that follow up its work, the beasts and birds of prey that feed on the corpses of the slain. The latter feature has naturally been from the earliest stages of human history the crowning horror of defeat. So Homer, _Il.... [ Continue Reading ]
MANASSEH THE SON OF HEZEKIAH. — The horror of that long and evil reign still lingered in the minds of men, and the prophet saw in it the beginning of the evils from which his people were now suffering. The name of Hezekiah may have been inserted as an aggravation of the guilt of his successor.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO ASK HOW THOU DOEST? — This is a fair paraphrase of the original, but it wants the Oriental colouring of the more literal _to ask after thy peace._ As “Peace be with thee” was the usual formula of salutation, sc.,” Is it peace?” was the equivalent for our more prosaic question, “How do you do?” (G... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST FORSAKEN ME. — The Hebrew word has the stronger sense of rejecting or repudiating as well as simply leaving, and gives the reason for a like rejection on the part of Jehovah. I AM WEARY WITH REPENTING. — The long-suffering of God is described, as before, in anthropomorphic language (comp.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FAN THEM WITH A FAN. — The image is, of course, the familiar one of the threshing-floor and the winnowing-fan or shovel (Psalms 1:4; Psalms 35:5; Matthew 3:12). The tenses should be past in both clauses — _I have winnowed..._ _I have bereaved_... _I have destroyed._ IN THE GATES OF THE LAND.... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE BROUGHT... — Better, _I have brought upon them, even upon the mother of the young warrior_ (_i.e.,_ upon the woman who rejoices most in her son’s heroism), _a spoiler at noon-day, i.e.,_ coming, when least expected, at the hour when most armies rested. (See Note on Jeremiah 6:4.) I HAVE CAUS... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE THAT HATH BORNE SEVEN. — In the picture of the previous verse the glory of the mother was found in the valour of her son, here in the number of her children. “Seven,” as the perfect number, represented, as in 1 Samuel 2:5; Ruth 4:15, the typical completeness of the family. HER SUN IS GONE DOWN W... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE IS ME... — The abruptness of the transition suggests the thought that we have a distinct fragment which has been merged in the artificial continuity of the chapter. Possibly, as some have thought, Jeremiah 15:10 have been misplaced in transcription, and should come after Jeremiah 15:14, where th... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THY REMNANT. — The passage is obscure, and the reading uncertain; (1) _Thy freedom shall be for good,_ or (2) _I afflict thee for thy good,_ or (3) _I strengthen thee for thy good,_ have been proposed as better renderings. The second seems to give the meaning most in har... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL IRON BREAK...? — The abruptness of the question and the boldness of the imagery make the interpretation difficult. That which most harmonises with the context (assuming this verse to carry on the thought of Jeremiah 15:1, after the interruption, possibly the interpolation, of Jeremiah 15:10) i... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SUBSTANCE AND THY TREASURES... — Assuming the words to stand in their right place, we must look on them as addressed to Jeremiah as the intercessor, and therefore the representative, of his people. If we admit a dislocation, of which there seem many signs, we may connect them with Jeremiah 15:5,... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MAKE THEE TO PASS WITH THINE ENEMIES... — The Hebrew text is probably corrupt, and a slight variation of the reading of one word brings the verse into harmony with the parallel passage of Jeremiah 17:4, and gives a better meaning, _I will make thee serve thine enemies in a land thou dost not... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, THOU KNOWEST... — The prophet continues in the bitterness of his spirit the complaint that had begun in Jeremiah 15:10. The words remind us of the imprecations of the so-called vindictive psalms (such, _e.g.,_ as Psalms 69, 109), and may help us to understand the _genesis_ of the emotions wh... [ Continue Reading ]
THY WORDS WERE FOUND... — The words _go_ back to the mission of Jeremiah 1, and paint, with a wonderful power, the beginning of a prophet’s work, the new-born intensity of joy in the sense of communion with the Eternal. The soul feeds on the words that come to it (see the same figure in a bolder for... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE MOCKERS. — Rather, _of the mirthful._ The word, which is the same as that found in Isaac (= laughter), does not necessarily imply an evil or cynical mirth, like that of the “scorner” of Psalms 1:1. What is meant is, that from the time of his consecration to his office the prop... [ Continue Reading ]
WILT THOU BE ALTOGETHER UNTO ME AS A LIAR...? — The words express a bitter sense of failure and disappointment. God had not prospered the mission of His servant as He had promised. The Hebrew, however, is not so startlingly bold as the English, and is satisfied by the rendering, _wilt thou be unto m... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD... — The Divine voice within makes answer to the passionate complaint. The prophet also needs, not less than the people, to “return” to his true mind, to repent of his murmurings and distrust. Upon that condition only can he again “stand before” the Lord in the full sen... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MAKE THEE UNTO THIS PEOPLE... — It is significant that the promise reproduced the very words which the prophet had heard when he was first summoned to his work (see Note on Jeremiah 1:18). Jehovah had not been unfaithful to His word, but, like all promises, it depended on implied conditions,... [ Continue Reading ]