XVIII. (1) THE WORD WHICH CAME TO JEREMIAH. — The message that follows comes in close sequence upon that of the preceding chapter, _i.e.,_ probably before the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim. It has the character of a last warning to king and people, and its rejection is followed in its turn... [ Continue Reading ]
THE POTTER’S HOUSE. — The place was probably identical with the “potter’s field” of Zechariah 11:13, the well-known spot where the workers in that art carried on their business. The traditional Aceldama, the “potter’s field” of Matthew 27:7, is on the southern face of the valley of Hinnom, south of... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WROUGHT A WORK ON THE WHEELS. — Literally, _the two wheels._ The nature of the work is described more graphically in Ecclus. xxxviii. 29, 30. The potter sat moving one horizontal wheel with his feet, while a smaller one was used, as it revolved, to fashion the shape of the vessel he was making wi... [ Continue Reading ]
OF CLAY. — The reading in the margin, which gives “as clay,” must be regarded as a clerical error, originating, probably, in the desire to bring the text into conformity with Jeremiah 18:6, that in the text of the Authorised Version being confirmed by many MSS. and Versions. HE MADE IT AGAIN. — Lite... [ Continue Reading ]
CANNOT I DO WITH YOU AS THIS POTTER? — The question implies a theory of the universe, which is neither (as some have thought) one of absolute fatalism, crushing man’s freedom, nor, on the other hand, one which merges God’s sovereignty in man’s power of choice. The clay can resist the potter, or can... [ Continue Reading ]
(7-10) AT WHAT INSTANT I SHALL SPEAK CONCERNING A NATION... — The words carry the thoughts of the prophet back to those which had been stamped indelibly on his memory when he was first called to his work (Jeremiah 1:10). He is now taught that that work was throughout conditional. In bold anthropomor... [ Continue Reading ]
I FRAME EVIL. — The verb chosen is that which specially describes the potter’s work, and from which the Hebrew word for potter is itself derived. This, so to speak, is the shape of the vessel actually in hand, determining its use, but its form is not unalterably fixed. It is shown _in terrorem,_ and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID. — Better, _But they say,_ as of continued action. This was the ever-recurring answer (see Note on Jeremiah 2:25) which they made to the prophet’s pleas. It was the answer of defiance rather than of despair. “There is no hope, _you_ need not hope, that we will do as you bid us. We will... [ Continue Reading ]
ASK YE NOW AMONG THE HEATHEN. — The appeal of Jeremiah 2:10 is renewed. Judah had not been true, even as heathen nations were true, to its inherited faith and worship. The virgin daughter of Israel (Isaiah 1:8; Jeremiah 14:17) — the epithet is emphasised, as contrasted with the shame that follows —... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL A MAN LEAVE...? — The interpolated words “a man” pervert the meaning of the verse, which should run thus: _Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or shall the cold_ (or, with some commentators, “rushing “) _flowing waters from afar_ (literally, _strange,_ or, as some take it,... [ Continue Reading ]
VANITY. — The word is not that commonly so translated (as in Jeremiah 2:5; Jeremiah 10:8; Ecclesiastes 1:2, _et al., q. 5_)_,_ but that which had been used of idols in Jeremiah 2:30; Jeremiah 4:30; Jeremiah 6:29, rendered “in vain.” See also Ezekiel 13:6; Ezekiel 13:8. They [ Continue Reading ]
DESOLATE... ASTONISHED. — Better, _desolate_ in both clauses. The Hebrew verb is the same, and there is a manifest emphasis in the repetition which it is better to reproduce in English. A PERPETUAL HISSING. — The Hebrew word is onomatopoetic, and expresses the inarticulate sounds which we utter on... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH AN EAST WIND. — MSS. vary, some giving “with” and some “as an east wind.” The difference does not much affect the meaning. The east wind blowing from the desert was the wind of storms, tempests, and parching heat (Jonah 4:8; Psalms 48:7; Isaiah 27:8). I will shew them the back, and not the face... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, AND LET US DEVISE DEVICES. — The priests and people thus far appear to have listened to the prophet, but at the threatening words of the preceding verse their anger becomes hatred, and their hatred seeks to kill (Jeremiah 18:23). We are reminded of the oft-recurring statement in the Gospels th... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE HEED TO ME... — This is the prophet’s answer to the resolve of the people, “Let us not give heed.” He appeals in the accents of a passionate complaint to One who will heed his words. The opening words are almost as an echo of Psalms 35:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE DIGGED A PIT FOR MY SOUL. — The image has become so familiar that we have all but lost its vividness. What it meant here (as in Psalms 57:6) was that the man was treated as a beast, the prophet who sought their good as the wolf or the jackal whom they entrapped and slew. REMEMBER THAT I ST... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE DELIVER UP THEIR CHILDREN... — The bitter words that follow startle and pain us, like the imprecations of Psalms 35, 69, 109. To what extent they were the utterances of a righteous indignation, a true zeal for God, which had not yet learnt the higher lesson of patience and forgiveness, or... [ Continue Reading ]
LET A CRY BE HEARD FROM THEIR HOUSES. — _i.e.,_ let their city be taken by the enemy and the people suffer all the outrage and cruelty which their heathen invaders can inflict. What these were, the history of all wars, above all of Eastern wars, tells us but too plainly (2 Kings 8:12; Hosea 13:16).... [ Continue Reading ]
YET, LORD, THOU KNOWEST ALL THEIR COUNSEL... — Secret as their plots had been, they were not hidden from Jehovah, nor, indeed, as the words show, from the prophet himself. The words might seem, at first, to refer specially to the conspiracy of the men of Anathoth (Jeremiah 11:21), but by this time,... [ Continue Reading ]