THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. Chronological notes relative to the commencement of Jeremiah's prophesying. Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3375.-Year from the Deluge, according to the generally received Hebrew text, conferred with Acts vii. 4, 1719.-Fourth year of the thirty-seventh Olympiad.-Year from the building of Rome according to the Varronian account, 125.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 629.-Twelfth year of Ancus Martius, the fourth king of the Romans: this was the one hundred and twentieth year before the expulsion of the Tarquins.-Nineteenth year of Phraortes, the second king of Media.-Twenty-third year of Archidamus, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Proclida. Sixteenth year of Eurycrates II., king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Eurysthenida.-Third year of Sadyattes, king of Lydia, which was the eighty-second year before the conquest of this kingdom by Cyrus.-Twelfth year of Philip, the sixth king of Macedon, or the two hundred and ninety-third before the commencement of the reign of Alexander the Great.-Thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah.-Epoch of the building of Cyrene by Battus, according to some chronologers. CHAPTER I. General title to the whole Book, 1-3. Jeremiah receives a commission to prophesy concerning nations and kingdoms, a work to which in the divine purpose he had been appointed before his birth, 4-10. The vision of the rod of an almond-tree and of the seething-pot, with their signification, 11-16. Promises of divine protection to Jeremiah in the discharge of the arduous duties of his prophetical office, 17-19. A. M. 3375. HE words of Jeremiah the ? To whom the word of the LORD came in A. M. cir. 3394. -3416. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah f B. C. cir. 610. A. M. 3375. Anci Martii, 5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I Olymp. XLII. 3. king of Judah, 'unto the end sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a proof the eleventh year of Zede-phet unto the nations. B. C. cir. 610. -588. -XLVIII. 1. Josh. xxi. 18. 1 Chron. vi. 60. Ch. xxxii. 7, 8, 9. Verse 1-3. The words of Jeremiah] These three verses are the title of the Book; and were probably added by Ezra when he collected and arranged the sacred books, and put them in that order in which they are found in Hebrew Bibles in general. For particulars relative to this prophet, the times of his prophesying, and the arrangement of his discourses, see the introduction. Eleventh year of Zedekiah] That is, the last year 2881 h 8 Exod. xxxiii. 12, 17.- h Luke i. 15, 41. Gal. i. 15, 16. i Heb. gave. of his reign; for he was made prisoner by the Chaldeans in the fourth month of that year, and the carrying away of the inhabitants of Jerusalem was in the fifth month of the same year. Verse 4. The word of the Lord came unto me] Then I first felt the inspiring influence of the Divine Spirit, not only revealing to me the subjects which he would have me to declare to the people, but also the words which I should use in these declarations. Verse 5. Before I formed thee] I had destined 8 X The prophet's visions of the A. M. 3375. B. C. 629. Ol. XXXVII. 4. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord nations and over the kingdoms, GOD! behold, I cannot speak: 7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child; for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. b 8 Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have 'put my words in thy mouth. 38. A. M. 3375. Anci Martii, R. Roman., 12. to "root out, and to pull down, Ol. XXXVII. 4. 11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. 12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. 13 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the toward the north. 10 See, I have this day set thee over the face thereof is i a Exod. iv. 10. vi. 12, 30. Isai. vi. 5.- b Numb. xxii. 20, Ch. v. 14. -81 Kings xix. 17.- -h Ch. xviii, 7, 8, 9, 10. Matt. xxviii. 20.- c Ezek. ii. 6. iii. 9. Ver. 17. 2 Cor. x. 4, 5.- Ezek. xi. 3, 7. xxiv. 3.- Heb. from d Exod. iii. 12. Deut. xxxi. 6, 8. Josh. i. 5. Ch. xv. 20. the face of the north. Acts xxvi. 17. Hebr. xiii. 6.- e Isai. vi. 7.- f Isai. l. 16. thee to the prophetic office before thou wert born: I had formed my plan, and appointed thee to be my envoy to this people. St. Paul speaks of his own call to preach the gospel to the Gentiles in similar terms, Gal. i. 15, 16. Verse 6. I cannot speak] Being very young, and wholly inexperienced, I am utterly incapable of conceiving aright, or of clothing these divine subjects in suitable language. Those who are really called of God to the sacred ministry are such as have been brought to a deep acquaintance with themselves, feel their own ignorance, and know their own weakness. They know also the awful responsibility that attaches to the work; and nothing but the authority of God can induce such to undertake it. They whom God never called run, because of worldly honour and emolument: the others hear the call with fear and trembling, and can go only in the strength of Jehovah. "How ready is the man to go, Whom God hath never sent! Verse 7. Whatsoever I command thee] It is my words and message, not thine own, that thou shalt deliver. I shall teach thee; therefore thy youth and inexperience can be no hindrance. Verse 8. Be not afraid of their faces] That is, the Jews, whom he knew would persecute him because of the message which he brought. To be fore-warned is to be half-armed. He knew what he was to expect from the disobedient and the rebellious, and must now be prepared to meet it. Verse 10. I have-set thee over the nations] God represents his messengers the prophets as doing what he commanded them to declare should be done. In this sense they rooted up, pulled down, and destroyed— declared God's judgments; they builded up and planted-declared the promises of his mercy. Thus God says to Isaiah, chap. vi. 10: "Make the heart of this people fat-and shut their eyes." Show them that they are stupid and blind; and that, because they have shut their eyes and hardened their hearts, God will in his judgments leave them to their hardness and darkness. Verse 11. A rod of an almond tree.] p shaked, from pw shakad, "to be ready," "to hasten," "to watch for an opportunity to do a thing," to awake ; because the almond-tree is the first to flower and bring forth fruit. Pliny says, Floret prima omnium amygdala mense Januario; Martio vero pomum maturat. It blossoms in January, when other trees are locked up in their winter's repose; and it bears fruit in March, just at the commencement of spring, when other trees only begin to bud. It was here the symbol of that promptitude with which God was about to fulfil his promises and threatenings. As a rod, says Dahler, is an instrument of punishment, the rod of the almond may be intended here as the symbol of that punishment which the prophet was about to announce. Verse 12. I will hasten my word] Here is a paronomasia. What dost thou see? I see pw shaked, "an almond," the hastening tree: that which first awakes. Thou hast well seen, for ("pw shoked) I will hasten my word. I will awake, or watch over my word for the first opportunity to inflict the judgments which I threaten. The judgment shall come speedily; it shall soon flourish, and come to maturity. Verse 13. A seething pot-toward the north.] We find, from Ezekiel xxiv. 3, &c., that a boiling pot was an emblem of war, and the desolations it produces. Some have thought that by the seething-pot Judea is intended, agitated by the invasion of the Chaldeans, whose land lay north of Judea. But Dr. Blayney contends that mippeney tsaphonah should be translated, From the face of the north, as it is in the margin; for, from the next verse, it appears that the evil was to come from the north; and therefore the steam, which was designed as an emblem of that evil, must have arisen from that quarter also. The pot denotes the empire of the Babylonians and Chaldeans lying to the north of Judea, and pouring forth d 15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. * Ch. iv. 6. vi. 1. vi. 22. x. 22. xxv. 9. xxviii. 20. Ch. xvii. its multitudes like a thick vapour, to overspread the land. Either of these interpretations will suit the text. Verse 14. Shall break forth] non tippathach, shall be opened. The door shall be thrown abroad, that these calamities may pass out freely. b Heb. shall be opened.- - Ch. v. 15. d Ch. xxxix. 3. xliii. 10. - Deut. 13.—f 1 Kings xviii. 46. 2 Kings iv. 17 Thou therefore f gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. 18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. 29. ix. 1. Job xxxviii. 3. Luke xii. 35. 1 Pet. i. 18. Exod. iii. 12 Ver. 8. Ezek. ii, 6. -h Or, break to pieces. Isai. 1. 7. Ch. vi. 27. xv. 20.* Ver. 8. suffers to be done. Or, Do not fear them, I will not suffer thee to be confounded. So Dahler, Ne crains pas que je te confonde a leurs yeux, "Do not fear that I shall confound thee before them." It is well known that the phrase, gird up thy reins, is a meta on going a journey or performing their ordinary work, they were obliged to truss up under their girdles, that the motions of the body might not be impeded. Verse 15. Shall set every one his throne at the enter-phor taken from the long robes of the Asiatics; which, ing of the gates] As the gates of the cities were the ordinary places where justice was administered, so the enemies of Jerusalem are here represented as conquering the whole land, assuming the reins of government, and laying the whole country under their own laws; so that the Jews should no longer possess any political power: they should be wholly subjugated by their enemies. Verse 16. I will utter my judgments] God denounced his judgments: the conquest of their cities, and the destruction of the realm, were the facts to which these judgments referred; and these facts prove that the threatening was fulfilled. Worshipped the works of their own hands.] Idolatry was the source of all their wickedness, and was the cause of their desolations. For wyn lemaasey, the works, more than a hundred MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's, with many editions, have nwyn lemaaseh, the work. Idolatry was their ONE great WORK, the business of their life, their trade. Verse 17. Gird up thy loins] Take courage, and be ready, lest I confound thee; take courage and be resolute, pen, lest by their opposition thou be terrified and confounded. God is often represented as doing or causing to be done, what he only permits or Verse 18. I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls] Though thou shalt be exposed to persecutions and various indignities, they shall not prevail against thee. To their attacks thou shalt be as an impregnable city; as unshaken as an iron pillar; and as imperishable as a wall of brass. None, therefore, can have less cause to apprehend danger than thou hast. The issue proved the truth of this promise: he outlived all their insults; and saw Jerusalem destroyed, and his enemies, and the enemies of his Lord, carried into captivity. Instead of an chomoth, walls, many MSS. and editions read on chomath, a wall, which corresponds with the singular nouns preceding. Verse 19. They shall not prevail against thee] Because I am determined to defend and support thee against all thy enemies. One of the ancients has said, Otov Oελovтos, kai esi piños TλEŋ Zwŋ Thestius, apud Theophil. ad Autolyc. lib. ii. "God protecting thee, though thou wert at sea upon a twig, thou shouldst be safe." CHAPTER II. God expresses his continued regard for his people, long since chosen, 1-3. He then expostulates with them on their ungrateful and worse than heathen return to his regard, 4—11; at which even the inanimate creation must be astonished, 12, 13. After this their guilt is declared to be the sole cause of the calamities which their enemies had power to inflict on them, 14-17. They are upbraided for their alliances with idolatrous countries, 18, 19; The Lord's controversy JEREMIAH. with his people. and for their strong propensity to idolatry, notwithstanding all the care and tender mercy of God, 20-29. Even the chastenings of the Almighty have produced in this people no repentance, 30. The chapter concludes with compassionately remonstrating against their folly and ingratitude in revolting so deeply from God, and with warning them of the fearful consequences, 31-37. 3, 8, 19. a Or, for thy sake.- Ezek. xvi. 8, 22, 60. xxiii. Hos. ii. 15.- - Deut. ii. 7.--d Exod. xix. 5, 6.i. 18. Rev. xiv. 4.-—f Ch. xii. 14. See ch. 1. 7. v. 4. Mic. vi. 3.- h2 Kings xvii. 15. Jonah ii. 8.Ixiii. 9, 11, 13. Hos. xiii. 4.- k Deut. viii. 15. xxxii. 10. Or, the land of Carmel.- Numb. xiii. 27. xiv. 7, 8. k A. M. 3375. B. C. 629. Ol. XXXVII. 4. Anci Martii, R. Roman., 12. 6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? 7 And I brought you into 'a" plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye " defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. 8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, Pand the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. 9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead. Deut. viii. 7, 8, 9.- n Lev. xviii. 25, 27, 28. Numb. xxxv. betrothed to the Lord, they were considered his especial property; they therefore who injured them, were considered as laying violent hands on the property of God. They who persecute God's children have a grievous burden to bear, an awful account to give. NOTES ON CHAP. II. Verse 2. I remember thee] The youth here refers to their infant political state when they came out of Egypt; they just then began to be a people. Their espousals refer to their receiving the law at Mount Sinai, which they solemnly accepted, Exod. xxiv. Verse 5. What iniquity have your fathers found in 6-8, and which acceptance was compared to a beme] Have they ever discovered any thing cruel, untrothing or espousal. Previously to this they were no people, for they had no constitution nor form of govern-just, oppressive in my laws? Any thing unkind or ment. When they received the law, and an establish- tyrannical in my government? Why then have they ment in the Promised Land, then they became a people and a nation. become idolaters? Verse 6. Through the wilderness] Egypt was the house of their bondage: the desert through which Wentest after me] Receivedst my law, and wert they passed after they came out of Egypt, was a obedient to it; confiding thyself wholly to my guid-place where the means of life were not to be found; ance, and being conscientiously attached to my worwhere no one family could subsist, much less a comship. The kindness was that which God showed pany of 600,000 men. God mentions these things to them by taking them to be his people, not their kind-show that it was by the bounty of an especial pro ness to him. vidence that they were fed and preserved alive. Previously to this, it was a land through which no man passed, and in which no man dwelt. And why? because it did not produce the means of life; it was the shadow of death in its appearance, and the grate to those who committed themselves to it. Verse 7. And I brought you into a plentiful country] The land of Canaan. My land] The particular property of God, which 12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. 13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. with his people. 15 The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. A. M. 3375. 16 Also the children of Noph and "Tahapanes, " have broken the crown of thy head. 17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when P he led thee by the way? r 18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? 19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: 14 Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn know therefore and see that it is an evil thing slave? why is he spoiled? i Or, over to. b Mic. iv. 5.- c Ps. cxv. 4. Isai. Xxxvii. 19. Ch. 'xvi. 20.—d Ps. cvi. 20. Rom. i. 23. e Ver. 8. -f Isai. i. 2. Ch. vi. 19. - Ps. xxxvi. 9. Ch. xvii. 13. xviii. 14. John iv. 14.- h See Exod. iv. 22. Heb. become a spoil?- - Isai. i. 7. Ch. iv. 7. 1 Heb. and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD he gave to them as an inheritance, they being his Fountain of life, light, prosperity, and happiness. peculiar people. Verse 8. They that handle the law] won vethopheshey, they that draw out the law; they whose office it is to explain it, draw out its spiritual meanings, and show to what its testimonies refer. The pastors also] Kings, political and civil rulers. Prophesied by Baal] Became his prophets, and were inspired with the words of lying spirits. Verse 9. I will yet plead with you] arib, I will maintain my process, vindicate my own conduct, and prove the wickedness of yours. Verse 10. The isles of Chittim] This is the island of Cyprus, according to Josephus. In 1 Maccabees, chap. viii. 5, it is taken for Macedonia. Besides this, how they (the Romans) had discomfited in battle Philip and Perseus, king of the Chittims. Chittim was the grandson of Japhet; and Bochart has made it appear that the countries inhabited by the Chittim were Italy and the adjacent provinces of Europe, lying along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea; and probably this is the prophet's meaning. Send unto Kedar] The name of an Arabian tribe. See if nations either near or remote, cultivated or stupid, have acted with such fickleness and ingratitude as you have done! They have retained their gods, to whom they had no obligation; ye have abandoned your God, to whom ye owe your life, breath, and all things! Verse 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens] Or, the heavens are astonished. The original will admit either sense. The conduct of this people was so altogether bad, that among all the iniquities of mankind, neither heaven nor earth had witnessed any thing so excessively sinful and profligate. Secondly, they hewed out broken cisterns; they joined themselves to idols, from whom they could receive neither temporal nor spiritual good! Their conduct was the excess of folly and blindness. What we call here broken cisterns, means more properly such vessels as were ill made, not staunch, ill put together, so that the water leaked through them. Verse 14. Is Israel a servant?] Is he a slave purchased with money, or a servant born in the family? He is a son himself. If so, then, why is he spoiled? Not because God has not shown him love and kindness; but because he forsook God, turned to and is joined with idols. Verse 15. The young lions roared upon him] The Assyrians, who have sacked and destroyed the kingdom of Israel, with a fierceness like that of pouncing upon their prey. Verse 16. The children of Noph and Tahapanes] Noph and Tahapanes were two cities of Egypt, otherwise called Memphis and Daphni. It is well known that the good king was defeated by the Egyptians, and slain in battle. Thus was the crown of Judah's head broken. Verse 18. What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt] The way of Assyria] Why make alliances with the Assyrians? All such connexions will only expedite thy ruin. To drink the waters of the river?] The Euphrates, as nahar or hannahar always means Euphrates, the country between the Tigris and Euphrates is termed to this day Maher alnahar, "the Verse 13. Two evils] First, they forsook God, the country beyond the river," i. e., Mesopotamia. |