IX. (1) OH, THAT MY HEAD WERE WATERS...! — Literally, _Who will give my head waters..._? The form of a question was, in Hebrew idiom as in Latin, the natural utterance of desire. In the Hebrew text this verse comes as the last in Jeremiah 8. It is, of course, very closely connected with what preced... [ Continue Reading ]
OH, THAT I HAD...! — Literally, as before, _Who will give..._? A LODGING PLACE OF WAYFARING MEN. — i.e., a place of shelter, a _khan_ or _caravanserai,_ such as were built for travellers, such, _e.g.,_ as the “inn” of Genesis 42:27, the “habitation” of Chimham (Jeremiah 41:17), which the son of Barz... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE THEIR BOW FOR LIES. — The inserted words turn the boldness of the metaphor into a comparatively tame simile. _They bend their tongue to be their bow of lies._ The same figure meets us in Psalms 57:4; Psalms 58:7; Psalms 64:3. THEY ARE NOT VALIANT FOR THE TRUTH UPON THE EARTH. — Better, _they a... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE YE HEED... — The extreme bitterness of the prophet’s words is explained in part by what we read afterwards of his personal history (Jeremiah 12:6; Jeremiah 18:18). Then, as at other times, a man’s foes were those of his own household (Matthew 10:36). EVERY BROTHER WILL UTTERLY SUPPLANT. — The w... [ Continue Reading ]
DECEIVE. — The word is commonly translated, as in the margin, _mock._ (So in 1 Kings 18:27; Judges 16:10; Judges 16:13; Judges 16:15.) The context here shows, however, that the kind of mockery is that which at once deludes and derides; and as the former meaning is predominant, the text of the Englis... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE HABITATION... — The words may be an individualised, and therefore more emphatic, reproduction of the general warning of Jeremiah 9:4. It is, however, better to take them as spoken by Jehovah to the prophet individually. The LXX., following a different reading and punctuation, translates “usury... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MELT THEM, AND TRY THEM. — The prophet, speaking in the name of Jehovah, falls back upon the imagery of Jeremiah 6:28; Isaiah 48:10. The evil has come to such a pass that nothing is left but the melting of the fiery furnace of affliction. How else could He act for the daughter of His people?... [ Continue Reading ]
AN ARROW SHOT OUT. — Better, _an arrow that pierceth,_ or _slayeth._ IN HEART. — More literally, _inwardly. _... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL I NOT VISIT...? — The previous use of the same warning in Jeremiah 5:9; Jeremiah 5:29 gives these words also the emphasis of iteration.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE MOUNTAINS... — The Hebrew preposition means both “upon” and “on account of,” and probably both meanings were implied. The prophet sees himself _upon_ the mountains, taking up the lamentation _for_ them because they are “burned up.” THE HABITATIONS. — Better, as in the margin, _pastures._ Th... [ Continue Reading ]
A DEN OF DRAGONS. — Better, here and in Jeremiah 10:22; Isaiah 13:22, _jackals._ The word means, literally, _a howler._ The English version follows the LXX. and Vulgate versions; but even taking “dragons” in its non-mythical sense as applied to some species of serpent, there is nothing in the word t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS THE WISE MAN...? — Sage (comp. Jeremiah 8:9) and prophet are alike called on to state why the misery of which Jeremiah speaks is to come upon the people. But they are asked in vain, and Jehovah, through the prophet, makes answer to Himself. THAT NONE PASSETH THROUGH. — The English is ambiguo... [ Continue Reading ]
IMAGINATION. — Stubbornness, as in Jeremiah 3:17. BAALIM. — The generic name for false gods of all kinds, and therefore used in the plural. (Comp. Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 2:23.)... [ Continue Reading ]
WORMWOOD. — As a plant, probably a species of _Artemisia,_ four species of which are found in Palestine. In Deuteronomy 29:18 it appears as the symbol of moral evil, here of the bitterness of calamity. WATER OF GALL. — See Note on Jeremiah 8:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
MOURNING WOMEN... CUNNING WOMEN. — Eastern funerals were, and are, attended by mourners, chiefly women, hired for the purpose. Wailing was reduced to an art, and they who practised it were cunning. There are the “mourners” that “go about the streets” (Ecclesiastes 12:5), those that “are skilful of l... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE UP A WAILING FOR US. — There is in all such figures of speech an inevitable blending of metaphors. The mourners wail for the dead nation, and yet the members of the nation are sharers in the obsequies, and their eyes run down with tears.... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE FORSAKEN. — Better, _we have left._ The English version suggests a voluntary abandonment, which is not involved in the Hebrew.... [ Continue Reading ]
TEACH YOUR DAUGHTERS WAILING. — The thought of Jeremiah 9:9 is continued. The words rest upon the idea that wailing was an art, its cries and tones skilfully adapted to the special sorrows of which it was in theory the expression. They perhaps imply also that death would do its work so terribly that... [ Continue Reading ]
DEATH IS COME UP INTO OUR WINDOWS. — “Death” stands here, as in Jeremiah 15:2, specifically for the pestilence, which is to add its horrors to those of the famine and the sword, and which creeps in with its fatal taint at the windows, even though the invader is for a time kept at bay, and cuts off t... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK, THUS SAITH THE LORD. — The abrupt opening indicates a new prediction, coming to him unbidden, which he is constrained to utter as a message from Jehovah. AS THE HANDFUL. — The reaper gathered into swathes, or small sheaves, what he could hold in his left hand, as he went on cutting with his... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT THE WISE MAN GLORY IN HIS WISDOM. — The long prophecy of judgment had reached its climax. Now there comes the conclusion of the whole matter — that the one way of salvation is to renounce all reliance on the wisdom, greatness, wealth of the world, and to glory only in knowing Jehovah. The “w... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIM THAT GLORIETH GLORY IN THIS... — The passage is interesting as having clearly been present to the mind of St. Paul in writing 1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17. He had learnt from it to estimate the wisdom and the greatness on which the Corinthians prided themselves at their true value... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PUNISH ALL THEM WHICH ARE CIRCUMCISED WITH THE UNCIRCUMCISED. — The passage is difficult, but the English verse is misleading. Better, _I will punish all those that are circumcised in uncircumcision — _all, _i.e.,_ who have the outward sign, but not the inward purity of which it was the symbo... [ Continue Reading ]
EGYPT, AND JUDAH... — The nations enumerated were all alike, the Egyptians certainly (Herod. ii. 36, 37), and the others, as belonging to the same race as Judah, probably, in the fact of circumcision, and are apparently brought together not without some touch of scornful humour. How could Israel pri... [ Continue Reading ]