CHAPTER V _The prophet, having described the judgments impending over his_ _countrymen, enlarges on the corruptions which prevailed among_ _them. Their profession of religion was all false and_ _hypocritical_, 1, 2. _Though corrected, they were not amended, but persisted in their_ _guilt_, 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:2. _THE LORD LIVETH_] Though they profess to _bind themselves_ by Jehovah, as if they acknowledged him their God and only Lord, yet they _swore falsely_; for not believing in him, they took _a_ _false oath_; one by which they did not believe themselves bound, not acknowledging him a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:4. _THESE_ ARE _POOR_] They are ignorant; they have no education; they know no better.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:5. _I WILL GET ME UNTO THE GREAT MEN_] Those whose circumstances and rank in life gave them opportunities of information which the others could not have, for the reasons already given. _THESE HAVE ALTOGETHER BROKEN THE YOKE_] These have cast aside all restraint, have acted above la... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:6. _WHEREFORE A LION_] Nebuchadnezzar, according to the general opinion; who is called here a _lion_ for his courage and violence, a _bear_ for his rapaciousness, and a _leopard_ for his activity. _Dahler_ supposes the _Scythians_ to be intended, both here and in Jeremiah 4:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:7. _IN THE HARLOTS' HOUSES._] In places consecrated to idolatry. In the language of the prophets, adultery generally signifies _idolatry_. This we have often seen.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:8. _AFTER HIS NEIGHBOUR'S WIFE._] This may have been _literally_ true, as the abominations of idolatry, in which they were so deeply practised, would necessarily produce such a state of things as that here mentioned.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:10. _GO YE UP UPON HER WALLS_] This is the permission and authority given to the Chaldeans to pillage Jerusalem. _TAKE AWAY HER BATTLEMENTS_] Some translate נטישות _netishoth,_ _branches_; others, _vines_. Destroy the _branches_, cut down the _stem_; but do not damage the _root_. L... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:12. _THEY HAVE BELIED THE LORD_] כחשו _kichashu_. They have _denied_ or disavowed the Lord. IT IS _NOT HE_] לוא הוא _lo hu, he is not_; there is no such being; therefore this evil shall not come upon us. On their premises, this conclusion was just. There is no judge; therefore ther... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:13. _AND THE PROPHETS SHALL BECOME WIND_] What are the prophets? Empty persons. Their words are wind; we hear the _sound_ of their threatenings, but of the matter of the threatenings we shall hear no more. _AND THE WORD_ IS _NOT IN THEM_] There is no inspirer, but may their own pre... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:14. _BECAUSE YE SPEAK THIS WORD_] Because ye thus treat my message, "I will make my words in thy mouth fire." They have said _they are but air_; but I will make them _fire_, and a _fire_ too that shall _devour them_. And how this was to be done, and by whom, is mentioned in the next... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:15. _I WILL BRING A NATION_] The _Scythians_, says _Dahler_; the _Babylonians_, whose antiquity was great, that empire being founded by Nimrod. _WHOSE LANGUAGE THOU KNOWEST NOT_] The Chaldee, which, though a dialect of the Hebrew, is so very different in its words and construction... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:16. _THEIR QUIVER_ IS _AN OPEN SEPULCHRE_] They are such exact archers as never to miss their mark; every arrow is sure to slay one man.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:18. _I WILL NOT MAKE A FULL END_] There are more evils in store for you. You shall not only be spoiled, and all your property destroyed, but ye shall be carried into _captivity; and ye_ _shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours_, Jeremiah 5:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:22. _WHICH HAVE PLACED THE SAND_ FOR _THE BOUND OF THE SEA_] What can I not do, who confine the sea, that enormous mass of waters, and prevent it from overflowing the earth; not by immense _mountains_ and _rocks_, but by the _sand_, no particle of which is in cohesion with another?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:23. _THEY ARE REVOLTED AND GONE._] They have abandoned me, and are gone farther and farther into transgression. They are gone _entirely_ away from truth and righteousness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:24. _GIVETH RAIN, BOTH THE FORMER AND THE LATTER_] Jeremiah 3:3. _THE APPOINTED WEEKS OF THE HARVEST._] As the early rains fell in the northern parts of Judea about the end of _September_, in the _civil year_ of the Hebrews, so the _latter rains_ fell before harvest, in the months... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:25. _YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE TURNED AWAY THESE_ THINGS] When these appointed weeks of harvest do not come, should we not examine and see whether this be not in God's judgments? Have not our iniquities turned away these good things from _us_?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:26. _THEY LAY WAIT, AS HE THAT SETTETH SNARES_] A metaphor taken from _fowlers_, who, having fixed their nets, lie down and keep out of sight, that when birds come, they may be ready to draw and entangle them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:27. _AS A CAGE IS FULL OF BIRDS_] There is no doubt that the reference here is to a _decoy_ or _trap-cage_, as Dr. _Blayney_ has rendered it; in these the fowlers put several tame birds, which when the wild ones see, they come and light on the cage, and fall into the snare.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:28. _THEY JUDGE NOT THE CAUSE, YET THEY PROSPER_] Perhaps we might be justified in translating, "And shall they prosper?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:30. _A WONDERFUL AND HORRIBLE THING IS COMMITTED ON THE_ _LAND_] _Dahler_ translates: "Strange crimes and horrible trespasses have been committed in the land." These have been already detailed; but this may refer to what follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 5:31. _THE PROPHETS PROPHESY FALSELY_] The false prophets predict favourable things, that they may please both the princes and the people. _THE PRIESTS BEAR RULE BY THEIR MEANS_] The false prophets affording them all that their influence and power can procure, to enable them to keep... [ Continue Reading ]