VII.
(1) This chapter and the three that follow form again another great
prophetic sermon, delivered to the crowds that flocked to the Temple.
There is nothing in the discourse which absolutely fixes its date, but
the description of idolatry, as prevalent, and, possibly, the
reference to the presenc... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GATE OF THE LORD’S HOUSE. — As a priest, Jeremiah would have
access to all parts of the Temple. On some day when the courts were
thronged with worshippers (Jeremiah 7:10), probably a fast-day
specially appointed, he stands at the inner gate of one of the courts,
possibly, as in Jeremiah 17:19, t... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR WAYS AND YOUR DOINGS. — “Ways,” as in Zechariah 1:6, of
general habits, “doings” of separate acts.
I WILL CAUSE YOU TO DWELL. — The English suggests the thoughts of
something new, but what Jeremiah promises is simply the continuance of
the blessings they had hitherto enjoyed. _I will let you d... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUST YE NOT IN LYING WORDS... — The emphatic threefold repetition
of the words thus condemned, “The temple of the Lord,” points to
its having been the burden of the discourses of the false prophets,
possibly to the solemn iteration of the words in the litanies of the
supplicants. With no thought of... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN AND HIS NEIGHBOUR. — The Jewish idiom for the English “one
man and another.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STRANGER, THE FATHERLESS, AND THE WIDOW. — Grouped together, as
in Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 24:19, as the three great
representatives of the poor and helpless, standing most in need
therefore of man’s justice and of the divine protection.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR EVER AND EVER. — Literally, _from eternity to eternity,_ or,
perhaps, _from age to age._ The English punctuation connects these
words with “I will cause you to dwell,” but the accentuation of
the Hebrew with “I gave to your fathers;” the gift was to have
been in perpetuity (Genesis 17:8), but th... [ Continue Reading ]
LYING WORDS. — With special reference to those already cited in
Jeremiah 7:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL YE STEAL. — The English obscures the emphasis of the Hebrew
idiom which gives the verbs as a series of infinitives, _What! to
steal, to murder, to burn incense to Baal..._ _and then have ye come
before me_ _...!
_... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_10_)_ AND COME AND STAND. — Better, _and then_ have ye come, and
stood before me.
WE ARE DELIVERED. — Taking the word as it stands (a different
punctuation adopted by some commentators and versions gives _Deliver
us,_ as though reproducing, with indignant scorn, the very prayer of
the people), t... [ Continue Reading ]
A DEN OF ROBBERS. — The words had a special force in a country like
Palestine, where the limestone rocks presented many caves, which, like
that of Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1), were the refuge of outlaws and
robbers. Those who now flocked to the courts of the Temple, including
even priests and prophets,... [ Continue Reading ]
MY PLACE WHICH WAS IN SHILOH. — The history of the past showed that
a Temple dedicated to Jehovah could not be desecrated with impunity.
Shiloh had been chosen for the centre of the worship of Israel after
the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 18:1), and was reverenced as such
through the whole period of t... [ Continue Reading ]
RISING UP EARLY AND SPEAKING. — A characteristic phrase of
Jeremiah’s, and used by him only (Jeremiah 13:25; Jeremiah 25:4;
Jeremiah 26:5; Jeremiah 29:19). In its bold anthropomorphism it takes
the highest form of human activity, waking from sleep and beginning at
the dawn of day, to represent the l... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WHOLE SEED OF EPHRAIM. — The fate of the tribes of the Northern
kingdom, among which Ephraim had always held the leading position, was
already familiar to the people. They were dwelling far off by Habor or
Gozan, and the cities of the Medes (2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:6; 2
Kings 18:11). A like ex... [ Continue Reading ]
PRAY NOT THOU. — The words imply that a prayer of intercession, like
that which Moses had offered of old (Exodus 32:10), was rising up in
the heart of the prophet. He is told that he must check it. Judgment
must have its way. The discipline must be left to do its work. A like
impulse met by a like r... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEST THOU NOT...? — We enter on one of the darker regions of Jewish
idolatry, such as Ezekiel (Jeremiah 8) saw in vision. A foreign
worship of the basest kind was practised, not only in secret, but in
the open places.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN. — The goddess thus described was a kind of
Assyrian Artemis, identified with the moon, and connected with the
symbolic worship of the reproductive powers of Nature. Its ritual
probably resembled that of the Babylonian Aphrodite, Mylitta, the
mother-goddess, in its impurities (He... [ Continue Reading ]
DO THEY NOT PROVOKE THEMSELVES...? — The interpolated words, though
they complete the sense, mar the abrupt force of the Hebrew. _Is it
not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
_... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BE POURED OUT. — The word is used in Exodus 9:33 of the plague
of rain; here, of the great shower of the fire of the wrath of Jehovah
(comp. Nahum 1:6). It is significant that it had been used by Josiah
on hearing of the judgments denounced in the new-found copy of the Law
(2 Chronicles 34:21)... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT YOUR BURNT OFFERINGS. — i.e., “Add one kind of sacrifice to
another. Offer the victim, and then partake of the sacrificial feast.
All is fruitless, unless there be the true conditions of acceptance,
repentance, and holiness.”... [ Continue Reading ]
I SPAKE NOT... CONCERNING BURNT OFFERINGS OR SACRIFICES. —
“Concerning” is, literally, _for,_ or _with a view to, the matter
of sacrifices._ The words seem at first hard to reconcile with the
multiplied rules as to sacrifices both in Exodus and Leviticus. They
are, however, rightly understood, stric... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THIS THING COMMANDED I THEM. — The words that follow are a
composite quotation, partly from the lately re-found Deuteronomy
(Deuteronomy 5:33), partly from the words that were strictly true of
the “day” when Israel came out of Egypt (Exodus 19:5), partly from
the very book which seemed to be mos... [ Continue Reading ]
IMAGINATION. — Better, _stubbornness,_ as in Jeremiah 3:17.
WENT BACKWARD AND NOT FORWARD. — The whole sacrificial system, even
at its best, to say nothing of its idolatrous corruptions, was
accordingly, from Jeremiah’s point of view, a retrograde movement.
The apostasy of the people in the worship... [ Continue Reading ]
DAILY RISING UP. — Stress is laid on the continual succession of
prophets as witnesses of the Truth from the beginning. The prophet was
not tied to the actual letter of his statement, and the prominence
given to Samuel, as the first who bore the name of prophet (1 Samuel
9:9), seems at first against... [ Continue Reading ]
WORSE THAN THEIR FATHERS. — The rapid survey of the past makes it
doubtful whether the comparison is made between the generations that
came out of Egypt and their immediate followers, or between those
followers and their successors. Probably the general thought was that
the whole history of Israel h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE... ALSO. — Better, in both cases, _though thou shalt
speak, yet they will not hearken; though thou shalt call unto them,
yet they will not answer thee.
_... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU SHALT SAY. — Better, _And thou shalt say,_ with an implied
“therefore.”
THIS IS A NATION. — Better, _This is the nation,_ as pre-eminent in
its sin.
TRUTH. — Better, as in Jeremiah 7:2, _faithfulness.
_... [ Continue Reading ]
CUT OFF THINE HAIR. — Literally, as in 2 Samuel 1:10; 2 Kings 11:12,
_thy crown_ or _diadem;_ but the verb determines the meaning. The word
_Netzer_ (“consecration” in the Authorised version) is applied to
the unshorn locks of the Nazarite (Numbers 6:7), and from it he took
his name. As the Nazarite... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE HOUSE WHICH IS CALLED BY MY NAME. — This had been done by
Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:2), and after the Temple had been cleansed by
Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:5) had been repeated by Manasseh (2 Kings
21:4; 2 Chronicles 33:3). Josiah’s reformation again checked the
tendency to idolatry (2 Kings 23:4... [ Continue Reading ]
HIGH PLACES. — Not the same word as in Jeremiah 7:29, but _bamoth,_
as in the “high places” of Baal, in Numbers 22:41; Numbers 23:3,
the Bamoth-baal of Joshua 13:17. The word had become almost technical
for the mounds, natural or (as in this passage) artificial, on which
altars to Jehovah or _to_ ot... [ Continue Reading ]
TILL THERE BE NO PLACE. — Better, _because there is no room_ —
i.e., for want of space the dead should be buried even in the spot
which the worshippers of Molech looked on as sacred, and the
worshippers of Jehovah as accursed, and which both therefore would
willingly avoid using as a place of sepult... [ Continue Reading ]
NONE SHALL FRAY THEM AWAY. — No picture could be more appalling in
its horrors — streets and valleys filled with the bodies of the
slain, vultures and jackals feeding on them, and not one hand raised,
like that of Rizpah (2 Samuel 21:10), to protect the dead from that
extremest desecration. Here, ag... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WILL I CAUSE TO CEASE... THE VOICE OF MIRTH. — The special
imagery of the picture of desolation is characteristic of Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 16:9; Jeremiah 25:10; Jeremiah 33:11). No words could paint
the utter break-up of the life of the nation more forcibly. Nothing is
heard but wailing and lament... [ Continue Reading ]