decessors. He evidently knew the other Scriptures by heart, and perpetually reproduces them, but in his own way. He never quotes them briefly and succinctly, but developes them, so as to give them something of his own soft luxuriance; but his testimony to the existence of them in the same state as that in which we have them at present, is most clear. Most numerous are his quotations from the Pentateuch, and especially from the Book of Deuteronomy. It had been so lately found that this is just what we should expect. His young mind must have been deeply penetrated by such a scene as that described in 2 K. xxiii. 1-3. But such quotations in a book of which the genuineness is acknowledged, are of the greatest possible value for the criticism of the writings from which they are taken.

As Jeremiah has also the peculiar habit of repeating himself, I have appended a list of the principal places where this occurs:

List of places in which the same

thought or image is repeated.

The brasen wall, ch. i. 18, xv. 20. The turned back, ch. ii. 27, vii. 24, xxxii. 33. Fury that burns like fire, ch. iv. 4, xxi. 12.

The travailing woman, ch. iv. 31, vi. 24, xiii. 21, xxii. 23, xxx. 6.

Rising up early, ch. vii. 13, 25, xi. 7, xxv. 3, 4, xxvi. 5, xxix. 19, xxxii. 33, XXXV. 14, 15, xliv. 4. Water of gall, ch. viii. 14, ix. xxiii. 15,

The voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, ch. vii. 34, xvi. 9, xxv. 10, xxxiii. II.

Men dying in the siege by the sword, the pestilence, and by famine, ch. xiv. 12, XV. 2, xviii. 21, xxi. 7, 9, xxiv. 10, xxvii. 13, xxix. 17, xxxii. 24, 36, xxxiv. 17, xxxviii. 2, xlii. 17, 22, xliii.

13.

II;

xliv.

CHAP. I. 1. The words of Jeremiah] The usual title of the prophetical books, occurring no less than eight times, is The Word of the Lord: on the contrary the two books of Amos and Jeremiah are called the words of those prophets, probably, as Kimchi, Abravanel, and other Jewish commentators suggest, because they contain not merely prophecies, but also the record of much which belongs to the personal history of the writers. In Hebrew historical works are regularly called the words, rendered acts in 1 K. xi. 41; 2 Chro. xxxiii. 18; but book thrice in 1 Chro. xxix. 29. also "The Life of Moses," quoted by Bp Pearson on the Creed, is called in the original

So

27, the words of Moses. More exactly, therefore, this title might be translated the life or acts of Jeremiah. Graf however and others understand by it a collection of the prophecies of Jeremiah, supposing the phrase to be taken from-ch. xxxvi. 10, but the other view is more

in accordance with Hebrew idiom.

Jeremiah] Most commentators render this name Jehovah shall throw down, in proof of which Hengstenberg refers to Exod. xv. 1, where the verb to throw down is ramah. A name so ill-omened would scarcely have been in such common use, for seven or eight Jeremiahs are mentioned in the Bible, and a more reasonable derivation is from ram, high, giving as the meaning God exalteth.

the son of Hilkiah] As the proper names of the Jews were comparatively few, their bearers were further distinguished by the addition of the father's name. Could we keep the Hebrew form ben-Hilkiah, we should escape the danger of applying to the father what belongs to the son, and of inaccuracies such as occur in the translation of the rest

2 To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah. king of Judah, unto the carrying

of the verse. This Hilkiah may have been the high-priest of that name. See Introduction, p. 311.

of the priests that were] More correctly, who was, i.e. dwelt. The right meaning is that Jeremiah was a priest, who dwelt at Anathoth. The Vulgate makes the same mistake as the A.V., but the LXX. and the Targum render it correctly. The Syriac, like the Hebr., is ambiguous, the pronoun being indeclinable, and neither language using a copula. Hitzig supports the rendering of the A.V.

2. To whom the word of the LORD came] The simple Hebr. phrase is to whom the word of the Lord was; but as the verb to be is seldom in Hebr. a mere copula, but has a strong meaning, signifying to abide, to exist, the phrase implies that Jeremiah possessed God's word from that time onward, not fit

fully as coming and going, but constantly.

the thirteenth year of his reign] According 629, but if the Ptolemaic canon is right in to the ordinary reckoning this would be B.C. putting the capture of Jerusalem in B.C. 586, it would be two years later, namely B. C. 627. According however to the Assyrian chronology it would be B.C. 608. It was the year after that in which Josiah began his reforms.

3. It came also] Literally, And it was. In the subsequent enumeration of the kings in whose time Jeremiah prophesied, two are omitted, Jehoahaz and Jeconiah, probably on account of the shortness of their reigns. The whole period contained in the verse is no less than forty years and six months, namely, eighteen years under Josiah, two

a Isai. 49. 1, 5.

periods of eleven years each under Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, and three months under each of the omitted kings Jehoahaz and Jeconiah. Few prophets were God's witnesses for so long a period, and under such trying circumstances, as Jeremiah.

in the fifth month] The capture of Jerusalem took place in the fourth month, but its destruction in the fifth, called Ab (2 K. xxv. 3, 8), the ninth day of which was subsequently kept as a fast-day in remembrance of this sad event (Zech. vii. 3).

INTRODUCTORY PROPHECY. THE CALL OF JEREMIAH,

4. the word of the LORD came unto me] Or, was. The form of the title, as we have shewn in the Introduction, p. 321, proves that this history of Jeremiah's call to his office formed a part of his first address to the people. It was no afterthought, but a public proclamation, by which from the first he stood forth, claiming to act by an external authority, and to speak not his own words, but those of Jehovah. It is plain too from what we read afterwards that he considered that the prophetic office was forced upon him from without: for we find him resisting the divine call. See ch. xv. 18, XX. 7, 14-18.

The narrative divides itself into four parts, the call, vv. 5-8; the inauguration, v. 9; the objects of his ministry, vv. 10-16; the promise of divine assistance, vv. 17—19.

5. I knew thee] The Hebr. verb to know is not merely fore-knowledge, the προγια vwσKEL of the New Test. (Rom. viii. 29; I Pet. i. 20), but something more. In Amos iii. 2, it is equivalent to choosing, selecting: and constantly it means a thorough approval consequent upon experience. So Ecolampadius, Verbum cognitionis verbum favoris est. Among many instances see Gen. xviii. 19; Isai. li. 7, lviii. 3; Nahum i. 7; and so in the New Test. Matt. vii. 23, xxv. 12.

I sanctified thee] The Hebr. verb (p) to sanctify, has usually been explained as signifying to separate, apopičew, but this view is untenable. The original meaning of the root is to be pure, clean (see note on Exod. xix. 6), thence, from the ancient connection of the ideas of cleanliness and holiness, to be holy. This connection is seen in the designation of animals as clean that were fit for sacrifice (Gen. vii. 2), in the washings of the priests

15, 16.

↑ Heb. gave.

sanctified thee, and I ordained thee Gal. 1. a prophet unto the nations. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! Exod. behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child75

10.

and of consecrated vessels, and finally in baptism. The causal conjugation therefore means to make holy, and so to dedicate to holy purposes (see 2 S. viii. 11). God therefore, having first selected Jeremiah, now consecrates and devotes him to the prophetical office.

I ordained thee] Rather, Before I formed thee in the belly I approved of thee [as one fit for the prophetic office], and before thou camest forth from the womb I made thee holy [dedicated thee to holy uses], I have appointed thee [now by this public call to be] a prophet unto the nations. The conjunction and inserted by the A.V. (following the Vulg.) would make the prophet's appointment as well as his sanctification to have preceded his birth.

unto the nations] It is remarkable how carefully the Targum, which embodies the Jewish interpretation, perverts every indication of God's future purposes of mercy to the heathen. So here it paraphrases the words thus: "I have appointed thee as prophet to make the Gentiles drink the cup of cursing." Equally insufficient, though less false, is the explanation of St Chrysostom, that the words refer to the prophecies against the neighbouring nations. More truly St Ambrose says that the privileges contained in this verse are so great as in their full sense to be true only of Christ Himself, while to Jeremiah they belong as being in so many particulars a type of Christ (Apol. Davidis,' c. 11. Cp. Lactant. 'Inst.' IV. 8, etc.). Add that prophets unto Israel only there were many: Gad, Nathan, Abijah, Elijah, Elisha, Urijah, &c. They did God's work, and left no further memorial behind them. Other prophets were God's gifts to all mankind, and by their writings "they being dead, yet speak unto us."

6. Ab, Lord GOD!] More correctly translated Alas, O Lord God, in Josh. vii. 7; Judg. vi. 22; or, literally, "Alas, my Lord Jehovah." There is no resistance on Jeremiah's part, but he shrinks back alarmed. So at the vision of the cherubim Isaiah. cried "Woe is me!" (Isai. vi. 5), and Ezekiel "sat astonished for seven days" (Ezek. iii. 15). Jeremiah's gentle and tender spirit submits, but with a cry of pain.

I cannot speak] The Targum paraphrases this correctly I cannot prophesy, i.e. I have not those powers of oratory necessary for success. The prophets of Israel were the

national preachers in religious matters, and their orators in political.

I am a child This implies nothing very definite about Jeremiah's age, though subsequently the Rabbins fixed fourteen as the limit up to which a person was still a lad, nangar, the word used here. See notes on Gen. xxiv. 16, 1 K. ii. 2. Still the long duration of Jeremiah's prophetic mission makes it probable that he was very young when called to the office, as also were Isaiah, Hosea, Zechariah, and others.

7. Say not, I am a child] As Jeremiah does not resist God's will, but only mentions real difficulties (so Luke i. 34), there is no word of reproof such as Moses incurred by his repeated refusals to obey God (Exod. iv. 14).

thou shalt go] Many commentators take these words as a promise, thou wilt go, wilt speak. The A.V. is preferable: for by saying that he was a child Jeremiah suggested two difficulties, the first inexperience, the second timidity. God now removes the first of these. Inexperience is no obstacle where the duty is simple obedience. His timidity is removed by the promise given him in the next verse.

9. touched my mouth] made it touch. Both here and in Isai. vi. 7, where equally there is the inauguration of a prophet into his office, the Hiphil or causative conjugation is used. In Dan. x..16, where there is no such inauguration, we have the simple conjugation, be touched. This making to touch was the symbol of the bestowal of divine grace and help, by which that want of eloquence, which the prophet had pleaded as a disqualification, was removed; and distinctly was an external act, impressing itself objectively upon his consciousness, though in what exact manner it is impossible for us to tell.

10. I have...set thee over] Third in order comes the object of Jeremiah's mission, briefly indicated in this verse, and more fully in the two visions which follow. The words I have set thee over literally mean I have made thee Pakeed, i.e. deputy. This title is given only to those invested with high authority, as, for instance, to the officers appointed to collect

the corn in Egypt during the years of plenty (Gen. xli. 34), to Abimelech's viceroy (Judg. ix. 28), to the high-priest's deputy (2 Chro. xxiv. 11), to the representative of the Levites at Jerusalem (Neh. xi. 22), and to the vicegerent of the high-priest in the temple (Jer. XX. 1, xxix. 26). Here then we see the other aspect of prophecy. God's dealings may be viewed either from above or from below (Phil. ii. 12, 13). Viewed from God's side the prophet is a mere messenger, speaking what he is told, doing what he is bid. From man's side he is God's vicegerent, with power "to root out, and to pull down." Looking at his office in this its human aspect Ezekiel speaks of "the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city" (Ezek. xliii. 3). Our translators were so offended at this that they have tried in the margin to soften it down, and render it "When I came to prophesy that the city should be destroyed." But in their relations to men, it was the prophets who built up and pulled down, and it was this which made their word "a fire to devour, and a hammer to beat down and crush" (ch. xv. 14, xxiii. 29).

to root out, and to pull down] In the Hebr. the verbs are nethosh and nethotz, an instance of the alliteration so common in the prophets, and agreeable to oriental taste. The former signifies the destruction of anything planted, and is rightly rendered to root out: the latter refers to buildings, and as it implies force, to pull down is scarcely strong enough. It should be to break down, throw down. In the final clause to build and to plant are the opposites of these two ideas.

to destroy, and to throw down] The two former words would have confined the prophet's mission to nature and to cities. Two words therefore of more general meaning follow, of which the second more exactly means to tear in pieces. Alting remarks that there are four words of destruction, and but two of restoration, as if the message were chiefly of evil.

And such was Jeremiah's message to his contemporaries, but all God's dealings are finally for the good of His people. The Babylonian exile was for the moment a time of chastisement: it became also a time of national repentance (see ch. xxiv. 5—7).

LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.

11. what seest thou?] There is no reason for regarding the two visions which follow as mere vehicles chosen by the prophet for conveying to the people the convictions of his own mind. If we admit a supernatural element in prophecy, visions would be the most simple means of communication between God and

man.

a rod of an almond tree] Makkel shaked. As the former word is often found in the sense of "a staff," such as travellers carry, and even of the staves held in their hands by the Jews when eating the passover (Gen. xxxii. 10; Exod. xii. 11), many translate a staff of almond wood. The vision would thus sig nify that God, as a traveller staff in hand, was just about to set forth upon His journey of vengeance. But the rendering of the A. V. is supported by Gen. xxx. 37, and a branch of an almond tree putting forth its pink flowers in winter, with its light green leaves scarcely venturing as yet to unfold themselves, is an expressive emblem of wakefulness and activity.

The other word, shâkêd, is not the ordinary name for an almond tree, but luz, whence the early name for Bethel, the almond city (Gen. xxviii, 19). Twice however shaked is used for almond nuts (Gen. xliii. 11; Num. xvii. 8), and the almond is still called sheged in Syriac. There is no reason therefore for throwing doubt upon the translation, but probably luz was the ordinary, and shaked a poetical name given to the tree for the same reason which now made Jeremiah choose it. The verb shakad signifies to be arvake, and as the almond blossoms in January, and ripens its nuts in March, it seems to be awake while other trees are still sleeping in the torpor of winter. See Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible,' p. 332, and Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.' lib. XVI. 25.

12. I will hasten] Rather, I watch over my word to perform it. The Hebrew word is the present participle shokêd, and implies

therefore continuous action.

13. a seething pot] The first vision was for the support of the prophet's own faith during his long struggle with his countrymen: the second explains to him the general nature of his mission. He was to be the bearer of tidings of a great national calamity about to break forth from the north. He sees sir, a pot, or rather caldron. It was a vessel of metal (Ezek. xxiv. 11), used for the cooking

shall be opened.

of meat (1 S. ii. 14), large enough to prepare the meal of a numerous community (2 K. iv. 38), and broad at the top, as it was also used for washing purposes (Ps. Ix. 8). This caldron moreover was boiling furiously. The verb used here is elsewhere more correctly rendered to blow, of a smith's bellows (Isai. liv. 16); and the meaning may be a pot bloavn upon, i.e. a pot made to boil furiously by blowing the fire.

the face thereof is toward the north] More correctly the margin, the face thereof is from the face of the north, i.e. toward the south. We must suppose this caldron set upon a pile of wood, bones (Ezek. xxiv. 5), and other inflammable materials. As they consume it settles down unevenly, with the highest side toward the north, so that its face is turned the other way and looks southward. Should it still continue so to settle, the time must finally come when it will be overturned, and will pour the whole mass of its boiling contents upon the south.

14. Out of the north...] The swelling waters of a flood are the usual type of any overwhelming calamity (Ps. lxix. 1, 2), and especially of a hostile invasion (Isai. viii. 7, 8): but this is a flood of scalding waters, whose very touch is death. The caldron_represents the great military empires upon the Euphrates. In Hezekiah's time Nineveh was at their head; but stormed by the armies of Cyaxares and Nabopalassar it is itself now the victim whose limbs are seething in the caldron, and the seat of empire has been transferred to Babylon. But whoever may for the time prevail, the tide itself upon Judæa. For the same reasons of passion and carnage is sure finally to pour which made the Assyrians push their conquests in that direction, namely, the inevitable struggle for supremacy with Egypt, will act with equal force upon the Chaldeans: and this had long before been predicted by the prophets. (See Isai. xxxix. 6, 7.)

an evil More correctly, the evil. The definite article of the Hebrew points to its being that special evil, which from the days of Micah (Mic. iii. 12) all the prophets had denounced upon the Jews if they lapsed into idolatry.

shall break forth] Literally, shall be opened, shall shew itself, be disclosed from the north. See Note at end of Chapter.

the inhabitants of the land] That is, Judæa.