INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 8 In this chapter the prophet goes on to denounce grievous calamities upon the people of the Jews; such as would make death more eligible than life; and that because of their idolatry, Jeremiah 8:1 and also because of their heinous backslidings in other respects, and contin... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THAT TIME, SAITH THE LORD, THEY SHALL BRING OUT THE BONES OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH,.... That is, either the Chaldeans or the Romans would do this; for this refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, either by the former or the latter; and it is certain that Jerusalem was ploughed up by the Romans, wher... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL SPREAD THEM BEFORE THE SUN AND THE MOON, AND ALL THE HOST OF HEAVEN,.... The stars. This shows, not only that they should be publicly exposed; but, as it refers to their idolatrous worship of the sun, moon, and stars, that these deities will not be able to help them; as they could not... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DEATH SHALL BE CHOSEN RATHER THAN LIFE,.... By them that should be alive in those times, who would be carried captive into other lands, and be used very hardly, and suffer greatly, by the nations among whom they should dwell; see Revelation 9:6. The Septuagint version, and those that follow it,... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, THOU SHALT SAY UNTO THEM,.... The Jews, in Jeremiah's time, in order to leave them inexcusable, though the Lord had before assured that they would not hearken to him, Jeremiah 7:27: THUS SAITH THE LORD, SHALL THEY FALL, AND NOT RISE? men, when they fall, endeavour to get up again, and gen... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY THEN IS THIS PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM SLIDDEN BACK BY A PERPETUAL BACKSLIDING?.... These people fill into sin, and rise not again by repentance; they turn out of the good ways of God and religion, and return not again; they backslide and revolt from the Lord, and they continue in their revolt and reb... [ Continue Reading ]
I HEARKENED AND HEARD,.... These are either, the words of the prophet, as Kimchi and Abarbinel think; who listened and attended to, and made his observations upon, the words and actions, conduct and behaviour, of this people, of which he gives an account: or of the Lord himself, as the Targum; who h... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, THE STORK IN THE HEAVEN KNOWETH HER APPOINTED TIMES,.... Of going and returning; for this is a bird of passage, as Pliny d and other naturalists observe; which goes away as winter approaches, and returns when that is over. The temperature of the air, as to heat and cold, and the natural propens... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW DO YE SAY, WE ARE WISE,.... Which they were continually boasting of, though they were ignorant of the judgment of the Lord, and were more stupid than the stork, turtle, crane, and swallow: AND THE LAW OF THE LORD IS WITH US? this was the foundation of their boast, because the law was given to t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WISE MEN ARE ASHAMED,.... Of the wisdom of which they boasted, when it would appear to be folly, and unprofitable to them: THEY ARE DISMAYED AND TAKEN; frightened at the calamities coming upon them, and taken as in a snare, as the wise sometimes are in their own craftiness, Job 5:13. LO, THEY... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE WILL I GIVE THEIR WIVES UNTO OTHERS,.... To strangers, to the Gentiles; than which nothing could be more disagreeable to them, or a sorer punishment, of a temporal one: AND THEIR FIELDS TO THEM THAT SHALL INHERIT THEM; or, TO THE HEIRS i; other and new ones; and who should possess them a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY HAVE HEALED THE HURT OF THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE,.... Jeremiah 6:14, Jeremiah 6:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 6:14. Jeremiah 6:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SURELY CONSUME THEM, SAITH THE LORD,.... Or, "gathering I will gather them" k; into some one place, the city of Jerusalem, and there destroy them. The word is, לשון כלייה, expressive of consumption and destruction, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe; and so the Targum, "destroying I w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY DO WE SIT STILL?.... In the country, where were barrenness and want of provisions; in the villages and unwalled towns, where they were exposed to the spoils and ravages of the enemy. These words, with what follow, are the words of the prophet, in the language of the Israelites, as Kimchi observe... [ Continue Reading ]
WE LOOKED FOR PEACE,.... Outward prosperity, affluence of temporal blessings, peace with enemies, and safety from them, which the false prophets had given them reason to expect; or which last they concluded and hoped for, from their being in the defenced cities: BUT NO GOOD CAME; they were disappoi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SNORTING OF HIS HORSES WAS HEARD FROM DAN,.... That is, was heard at Jerusalem. It seems to be a hyperbolical expression, showing the certainty of the coming of the Assyrian monarch and his army, to invade Judea, and besiege Jerusalem; the news of which was brought from Dan, which lay in the fur... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR, BEHOLD, I WILL SEND SERPENTS, COCKATRICES, AMONG YOU,.... The Chaldeans, comparable to these noxious and hurtful creatures, because of the mischief they should do unto them. The Targum is, "for, lo, I will raise up against you people that kill as the destroying serpents.'' These were raised u... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I WOULD COMFORT MYSELF AGAINST TERROR,.... Either naturally, by eating and drinking, the necessary and lawful means of refreshment; or spiritually, by reading the word of God, and looking over the promises in it: MY HEART IS FAINT IN ME; at the consideration of the calamities which were coming... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE VOICE OF THE CRY OF THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE,.... This was what made his heart faint, such was his sympathy with his countrymen, his people in distress, whom he affectionately calls the daughter of his people, whose cry was loud, and whose voice he heard lamenting their case: BECAUSE O... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HARVEST IS PAST,.... Which was in the month of Ijar, as Jarchi observes, and answers to part of April and May: THE SUMMER IS ENDED; which was in the month Tammuz, and answers to part of June and July: AND WE ARE NOT SAVED; delivered from the siege of the Chaldeans; and harvest and summer being... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE HURT OF THE DAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE AM I HURT,.... These are the words, not of God, as Jerom; nor of Jerusalem, as the Targum; but of the prophet, as Kimchi observes, expressing his sympathy with the people in their affliction: and they may be rendered, "for the breach of the daughter of my pe... [ Continue Reading ]
IS THERE NO BALM IN GILEAD?.... Which was famous for it; see Genesis 37:25, or rather turpentine or rosin, a gum which drops from pine trees and the like; since balm or balsam grew on this side Jordan, near Jericho and Engedi, and not beyond Jordan, in the land of Gilead; and rosin is good for heal... [ Continue Reading ]