CHAPTER IV _Sequel of the exhortations and promises addressed to Israel in_ _the preceding chapter_, 1, 2. _The prophet then addresses the people of Judah and Jerusalem,_ _exhorting to repentance and reformation, that the dreadful_ _visitation with which they were threatened might be averted_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:2. _THOU SHALT SWEAR, THE LORD LIVETH_] Thou shalt not _bind_ thyself by any false god; thou shalt acknowledge ME as the Supreme. Bind thyself BY me, and TO me; and do this _in truth_, in _judgment_, and in _righteousness_. _THE NATIONS SHALL BLESS THEMSELVES IN HIM_] They shall be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:3. _BREAK UP YOUR FALLOW GROUND_] _Fallow_ ground is either that which, having been _once tilled_, has _lain long uncultivated_; or, _ground slightly ploughed_, in order to be ploughed again previously to its being sown. Ye have been long _uncultivated_ in righteousness; let true re... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:4. _CIRCUMCISE YOURSELVES_] Put away every thing that has a tendency to grieve the Spirit of God, or to render your present holy resolutions unfruitful.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:5. _BLOW YE THE TRUMPET_] Give full information to all parts of the land, that the people may assemble together and defend themselves against their invaders.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:6. _I WILL BRING EVIL FROM THE NORTH_] From the land of Chaldea.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:7. _THE LION IS COME UP_] Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. "The king (Nebuchadnezzar) is come up from his tower." - _Targum_. _THE DESTROYER OF THE GENTILES_] Of the _nations_: of all the people who resisted his authority. He destroyed them all.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:8. _LAMENT AND HOWL_] הילילו _heililu_. The aboriginal Irish had a funeral song called the _Caoinian_, still continued among their descendants, one part of which is termed the _ulaloo_: this is sung responsively or alternately, and is accompanied with a _full_ _chorus of sighs and g... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:9. _THE HEART OF THE KING SHALL PERISH_] Shall lose all courage.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:10. _AH, LORD GOD! SURELY THOU HAST GREATLY DECEIVED THIS_ _PEOPLE_] The _Targum_ paraphrases this verse thus: "And I said, Receive my supplication, O Lord God; for, behold, the false prophets deceive this people and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace." The pr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 11. - 13. _A DRY WIND - A FALL WIND - AS CLOUDS - AS A WHIRLWIND_] All these expressions appear to refer to the _pestilential winds,_ _suffocating vapours_, and _clouds and pillars of sand_ collected by _whirlwinds_, which are so common and destructive in the east, (Isaiah 21:1;) and these ima... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:12. Jeremiah 4:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:13. Jeremiah 4:11. Ver. 13. _WO UNTO US!_] The people, deeply affected with these threatened judgments, interrupt the prophet with the lamentation - _Wo unto us, for we are spoiled_! The prophet then resumes: -... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:14. _O JERUSALEM, WASH THINE HEART_] Why do ye not put away _your wickedness, that ye may be saved_ from these tremendous judgments? _How long shall thy vain thoughts_ of safety and prosperity _lodge within thee_? Whilst thou continuest a rebel against God, and provokest him daily b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:15. _FOR A VOICE DECLARETH FROM DAN_] _Dan_ was a city in the tribe of Dan, north of Jerusalem; the first city in Palestine, which occurs in the way from Babylon to Jerusalem. _AFFLICTION FROM MOUNT EPHRAIM._] Between Dan and Jerusalem are the _mountains of Ephraim_. These would be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:16. _WATCHERS COME FROM A FAR COUNTRY_] Persons to besiege fortified places.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:17. _AS KEEPERS OF A FIELD_] In the eastern countries grain is often sown in the _open country_; and, when nearly ripe, guards are placed at different distances round about it to preserve it from being plundered. Jerusalem was watched, like one of these fields, by guards all round a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:19. _MY BOWELS_] From this to the _twenty-ninth_ verse the prophet describes the ruin of Jerusalem and the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans in language and imagery scarcely paralleled in the whole Bible. At the sight of misery the _bowels_ are first affected; pain is next felt b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:20. _DESTRUCTION UPON DESTRUCTION_] Cities burnt, and their inhabitants destroyed. _MY TENTS SPOILED_] Even the solitary dwellings in the fields and open country do not escape.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:23. _I BEHELD THE EARTH_, (the land,) _AND LO_ IT WAS _WITHOUT_ _FORM AND VOID_] תהו ובהו _tohu vabohu_; the very words used in Genesis to denote the formless state of the chaotic mass before God had brought it into order.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:24. _THE MOUNTAINS - HILLS_] Princes, rulers, c., were astonished and fled.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:25. _THE BIRDS OF THE HEAVENS WERE FLED._] The land was so desolated that even the fowls of heaven could not find meat, and therefore fled away to another region. How powerfully energetic is this description! See Zephaniah 1:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:30. _THOUGH THOU RENTEST THY FACE WITH PAINTING_] This probably refers to the custom of introducing _stibium_, a preparation of antimony, between the eye and the lids, in order to produce a fine lustre, which occasions a distension of the eye-lid in the time of the operation. In ord... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 4:31. _BRINGETH FORTH HER FIRST CHILD_] In such a case the fear, danger, and pain were naturally the greatest. _SPREADETH HER HANDS_] The gesture indicated by nature to signify distress, and implore help. We have met with this figure in other parts, and among the classic writers it i... [ Continue Reading ]