This and the next chapter contain, as we shall see, a most profitable truth; and that the people might be the more attentive, God introduced these prophecies by a preface. Jeremiah spoke many things which afterwards, as it has elsewhere appeared, had been collected and inserted in one volume by the... [ Continue Reading ]
He says that God had commanded him to _write in a book all the words _which he had heard; and the reason follows, _For, behold, come shall the days, saith Jehovah, in which I will restore the captivity of my people Israel and Judah _(2) There is to be understood a contrast between the restoration me... [ Continue Reading ]
We now, then, see why he says, _come shall the days; _for every hope after two years would have been extinguished, had not God interposed. _Come, _then, _shall the days in which I wll restore the captivity of Israel and Judah _The ten tribes, we know, had been already led into exile; the tribe of Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
Both Jews and Christians pervert this passage, for they apply it to the time of the Messiah; and when they hardly agree as to any other part of Scripture, they are wonderfully united here; but, as I have said, they depart very far from the real meaning of the Prophet. They all consider this as a pro... [ Continue Reading ]
Now he says, _Thus saith Jehovah, A cry, _or, _the voice of trembling_, or _of fear_, _have we heard. _The word חרדה, _cherede, _is thought to mean properly that dread which makes the whole body to tremble, and is therefore rendered trembling. God speaks, and yet in the person of the people. Why? In... [ Continue Reading ]
He then adds, _and not of peace _This is emphatically subjoined, that the Prophet might shake off from the people those foolish delusions with which they were imbued by the false prophets. He then says, that they in vain hoped for peace, for they could not flee from terror and fear. He enhances this... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet goes on in this verse to describe the grievousness of that punishment for which the people felt no concern, for they disregarded all threatenings, as I have already said, and had now for many years hardened themselves so as to deem as nothing so many dreadful things. This, then, was the... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah proceeds with what he touched upon in the last verse, even that the Lord, after having chastised his people, would at length shew mercy to them, so as to receive them into favor. He says, in short, that their captivity would not be perpetual. But we must remember what we have before stated,... [ Continue Reading ]
The former promise would have been defective had not this clause been added; for it would not be enough for men to live as they please, and to have liberty promised them, except a regular order be established. It would, indeed, be better for us to be wild beasts, and to wander in forests, than to li... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet enforces his doctrine by an exhortation; for it would not be sufficient simply to assure us of God’s paternal love and goodwill, unless we were encouraged to hope for it, because experience teaches us how backward and slow we are to embrace the promises of God. This, then, is the reason... [ Continue Reading ]
He repeats in other words what we have already stated, but for the purpose of giving fuller support to trembling and wavering minds. God then promises that he would be present with his people to save them. Now as this could not easily be believed, and as the Jews looking only on their state at that... [ Continue Reading ]
The design of the Prophet is first to be noticed: he was fighting with those impostors who gave hope of a return in a short time to the people, while seventy years, as it has been said, were to be expected. The Prophet then wished to shew to the people how foolishly they hoped for an end to their ev... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet speaks first without a figure, then he illustrates the simple truth by a metaphor. He says that there was _no one to undertake the cause _of the people; as though he had said, that they were destitute of every aid. This was, indeed, in a measure already evident; but so supine was the sec... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet again repeats, that nothing remained for Israel as coming from men, for no one offered to bring help. Some, indeed, explain the words as though the Prophet had said, that friends, as it is usually the case, concealed themselves through shame on seeing the condition of the people hopeless... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet now anticipates an objection, lest the Jews should expostulate with God; for it sufficiently appears that they always complained of God’s extreme severity, when they indulged themselves in their vices. As soon then as God treated them as they deserved, they became exasperated and enraged... [ Continue Reading ]
Here, again, the Prophet promises that God would be gracious to his people, but after a long time, when that perverseness would be subdued, which could not be soon cured. We ought, then, ever to bear in mind the difference between the promise of favors, of which Jeremiah was a witness and a herald,... [ Continue Reading ]
When God promised favor to the Jews, he referred to their enemies; for it would have been a grievous temptation, which would have otherwise not only disturbed and depressed their minds, but also extinguished all faith, to see their enemies enjoying all they could wish, and successful in everything t... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah goes on with the same subject, and dwells on it more at large; for as it was difficult to lead the people seriously to repent, so it was difficult to raise up desponding minds after they had been subjected to a multitude of calamities. God then declares here again that he would come to rest... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet confirms what he had said. We have stated that the Jews, while any hope remained for them, were perverse towards God, but that, after they were brought to extremities, they became extremely dejected; for they lost all hope as to their state, and became so desponding that they would recei... [ Continue Reading ]
This abundance of words which the Prophet employs is by no means useless; for we ought always to remember how hard were their temptations when no token of God’s favor appeared for seventy years. It was hence necessary to sustain minds overwhelmed with evils by many supports, so that they might not w... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet, no doubt, explains here more at large what he had said of the restoration of the Church; for we know that the Jews had been so taught, that they were to place their whole confidence as to their salvation on David, that is, on the king whom God had set over them. Then the happiness and s... [ Continue Reading ]
As this verse and what occurs in the first verse of the next chapter are materially the same, they shall be both explained here. God then says that the Jews would become a _people _to him, and that he would become a _God _to them. This mode of speaking is what we meet with everywhere in the Prophets... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet seems to speak abruptly; for nothing could be more delightful than the promise that God gives, that he would be a Father to the people; but he immediately adds, that there would arise an involving _whirlwind, _which would abide on the head of the wicked. These things, at the first view,... [ Continue Reading ]
He confirms the last sentence, and compares the wrath or the vengeance of God to a messenger or a minister, who is sent to carry a message, or to perform what has been commanded him. Of God’s word, that is, of his threatenings as well as of his promises, Isaiah speaks thus, “My word shall not retur... [ Continue Reading ]