Address delivered by Jeremiah at the gate of the Temple The first question to be answered in regard to these Chapter s as a whole is the date to which they are to be referred, whether to the reign of Josiah or Jehoiakim. This seems to be answered by ch. 26, for while its Jeremiah 7:1 have a marked... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 8:4 to Jeremiah 9:1. Forecast of punishment as the result of sin The section may be thus summarized. (i) Jeremiah 8:4. Human fortunes and conduct are as a rule liable to change, but Israel pursues a steady course of disobedience. Migratory birds obeying unerringly their instincts compare... [ Continue Reading ]
_a lodging place_ a caravanserai, hospice (khan). Shelter was all that they afforded. The most desolate spot is to the prophet's mind better than the sights which thrust themselves upon him in Jerusalem. _adulterers_ See on last words of ch. Jeremiah 2:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
_falsehood_ as the arrow. For the figure cp. Psalms 64:3 f. _truth_ mg. _faithfulness_. See on Jeremiah 5:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Micah 7:5 f. "The mutual distrust, which had already in the time of Hezekiah broken up families and divided the nearest friends, and made a man's worst enemies those of his own household, had now reached the highest degree of intensity" (Stanley, _J. Ch_. II. 437). _will utterly supplant_ The H... [ Continue Reading ]
Here, and in Jeremiah 9:4, the verbs had best be rendered by present tenses. _deceive_ better (as mg.) _mock_.... [ Continue Reading ]
The MT. has apparently suffered some corruption. The LXX yield a fairly good sense. Dividing the four consonants of the Hebrew word rendered "thine habitation," so as to end Jeremiah 9:5 with the first two, which thus yield the meaning of _turn_, and then taking the second pair, which will thus mean... [ Continue Reading ]
_melt_ the same Hebrew word as "refining" in Jeremiah 6:29, where see note, and cp. Zechariah 13:9. _how else should_ or, _how_(terribly) _will_. _because of the daughter_ LXX probably rightly has _because of the evil of the daughter, etc_. Cp. Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 32:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
LXX, by a different arrangement of the words forming the second and third clauses, have _the words of their mouth are deceitful_, an improvement in symmetry, to which the original easily lends itself.... [ Continue Reading ]
Here repeated from ch. Jeremiah 5:9; Jeremiah 5:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Jeremiah 4:23-26. _a lamentation_ lit. a _ḳinah_, i.e. a composition carefully constructed in a definite rhythmical form. See Intr. p. xlix, also notes in C. B. on Amos 5:2; Amos 5:16, with pp. 232 ff. there. _burned up_ better, _laid waste_.... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to the section.... [ Continue Reading ]
_jackals_ mentioned again chs. Jeremiah 10:22 [Jeremiah 14:6], Jeremiah 49:33 [Jeremiah 51:37].... [ Continue Reading ]
Du. and Gi. consider this passage to be condemned by prosaic wording and the vagueness or absence of metre. Co. thinks it to contain Jeremianic elements, worked up later. It certainly forms a remarkable contrast to the poetical sub-section which follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who is the wise man_ meaning that there are none such found, with a hint at the would-be wise, the false prophets. Cp. Hosea 14:9, where however there is no suggestion of sarcasm.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I set before them_ See e.g. Deuteronomy 4:8; Deuteronomy 4:44.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Baalim_ See on ch. Jeremiah 2:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
The coming troubles are likened to wormwood and water of gall. _wormwood_ a generic word for the species _Artemisia_, found chiefly in desert places. Cp. Jeremiah 23:15; Lamentations 3:15; Lamentations 3:19. _water of gall_ See on ch. Jeremiah 8:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
_cunning_ i.e. _skilled_. Cp. Genesis 25:27; 1Sa 16:18; 2 Chronicles 26:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
"There are in every city and community women exceedingly cunning in this business.… When a fresh company of sympathisers comes in, these women -make haste" to -take up a wailing" that the newly come may the more easily unite their tears with the mourners. They know the domestic history of each perso... [ Continue Reading ]
See summary introducing the section.... [ Continue Reading ]
Co. considers that the _v_. is a gloss as breaking the connexion between the summons to the wailers and the words which they are bidden to use. _have forsaken_ a prophetic perfect, meaning _must forsake_. Exile is regarded as inevitable.... [ Continue Reading ]
No traditional formula will suffice; Jehovah will dictate a dirge, and it shall be for universal use.... [ Continue Reading ]
_is come up_ Cp. Joel 2:9. _palaces_ See on Jeremiah 6:5. _from without_ Cp. Zechariah 8:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Speak, Thus saith the Lord_ The words are not found in LXX and they break the connexion.... [ Continue Reading ]
See summary introducing the section. Piety alone is the source of true glory. Circumcision, as the mere external mark of the covenant, of itself brings no man, Jew or otherwise, favour with God. 23, 24, and 25, 26 form two detached utterances, which have no relation to this context, and we cannot no... [ Continue Reading ]
Quoted freely 1Co 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_circumcised in their uncircumcision_ probably meaning circumcised in body but not in heart. "Judah cannot rely on a rite which she shares with the heathen, indeed the corresponding inward circumcision is as lacking in her as in them," Pe. See on Jeremiah 4:4. The statements in Jeremiah 9:26 are con... [ Continue Reading ]