_At the same time, saith the Lord_ Namely, _in the latter days_, mentioned Jeremiah 30:24. _I will be the God of all the families of Israel_ Not of the two tribes only, but of all the tribes; not of the house of Aaron only and the families of Levi, but of all the families. _And they shall be my peop... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people that were left of the sword_ That sword of Pharaoh with which he cut off the male children as soon as they were born, and that sword with which he threatened to cut them off when he pursued them to the Red sea. _Found grace in the wilderness_ Though in the wilderness, where they seemed t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord hath appeared of old unto me_ The prophet here personifies the Jewish nation, the people spoken of in the foregoing verse, who are introduced as calling to mind how God, in times of old, had manifested himself to the fathers of their nation, and appeared for their deliverance. _Yea, I have... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt yet plant vines_ Building and planting are commonly joined together; _upon the mountains of Samaria_ Samaria, being the metropolis of the ten tribes, seems to be put for the kingdom of Israel, as it is distinct from that of Judah. According to which interpretation the mountains of Samari... [ Continue Reading ]
_For there shall be a day, that the watchmen shall cry_ By the watchmen are meant God's prophets, or the ministers of his word, giving notice of his dispensations, and calling upon men to act suitably under them. The first reference may be to the leaders and teachers of the Jews, returning from Baby... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I will bring them from the north country_ Here God himself undertakes to conduct home the remnant of his people from the countries through which they had been scattered; and the promise relates to the ten tribes, as well as to those of Judah and Benjamin; for Assyria and Media, whither they... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations_, &c. This apostrophe, or turning to the heathen nations, was, as it were, the prelude of calling them to the knowledge of the true God. This _calling_ of them was certainly never effected by the Jews in the way and to the degree it was by the apostles of Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall sing in the height of Zion_ By _the height of Zion_ is meant the temple, built upon a hill adjoining to mount Zion, and it is here to be taken metaphorically, as it frequently is in the writings of the prophets, for the church, which is compared, by Christ, to a _city set on a hill_, as... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord; A voice_, &c. Here “the scene of this prophecy changes, and two new personages are successively introduced, in order to diversify the subject, and to impress it more strongly on the mind of the reader. The first is Rachel, who in these verses is represented as just rising from... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have surely heard Ephraim_, &c. Here, still further to diversify the subject, and give it the greater force, the other personage referred to in the preceding note is introduced. Ephraim, representing the ten tribes, is brought forward, lamenting his past undutifulness with great contrition and pe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely after that I was turned, I repented_ After I was enlightened and impressed with a due sense of my duty, and of the many deviations from it of which I had been guilty, and after my will was subjected to the will of God, I straightway became a true penitent, and expressed my repentance by all... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he_, &c. These questions are designed to be answered in the affirmative, as appears from the inference, _therefore my bowels are moved for him._ It seems that, to suit the idiom of our language, and fully to express the sense of the original, the particle _not_ ought to h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Set thee up way-marks_ “These words are a call to Israel to prepare for their return. The word צינים, rendered _way-marks_, means _stone pillars_, and תמרודים, translated _heaps_, from המר, _a palm-tree_, probably signifies _tall-poles_, like _palm-trees_, or, perhaps, made of palm- trees; both set... [ Continue Reading ]
_How long wilt thou go about_ Or, go out of the right way, or follow thine own imaginations, _O thou backsliding daughter_ Thou that didst formerly revolt from thy sovereign Lord, and decline from his worship and service, going after idols, and seeking help from foreign nations, instead of applying... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel_ These prophecies of the restoration of the Jews are ordinarily prefaced with these two attributes of God, the one of which asserts his power to do the thing promised; the other, his goodness to his people; _as yet_, or, _yet again, they shall use thi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upon this I awaked_, &c. These words afford a plain proof that the preceding revelations had been made to the prophet in a dream, or vision. _And my sleep was sweet unto me_ The vision which I had seen was so agreeable to me that it gave me as great satisfaction and comfort as men usually feel when... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will sow the house of Israel_ Under the captivity the land lay desolate, without man and beast, Jeremiah 33:12; but here it is promised that it should be again inhabited and replenished with both. _And like as I have watched over them to pluck up_, &c. I will show the same care and diligence in r... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape_, &c. “God had often declared that he would _visit the sins of the fathers upon the children_, and had particularly threatened to execute judgment upon the present generation for the idolatries and other sins of their forefathers. See note... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, the days come, saith the Lord_ The latter days, or the times of the gospel, are here intended, as is evident from the apostle's applying the following promises to those times, and quoting this whole passage as a summary of the covenant of grace, Hebrews 8:8. _I will make a new covenant with... [ Continue Reading ]
_This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel_ That is, with those who are Israelites indeed, in _whom is no guile, John 1:47_, who are _Jews inwardly, Romans 2:29_, by the circumcision of the heart and spirit, spoken of and promised by God, Deuteronomy 30:6. _I will put my l... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day_ All the acts here mentioned are such as manifest the divine, almighty power of him who is the Lord of all the hosts of the creation. _Which divideth_, or, _who did divide, the sea_ Namely, as the words are generally interpreted, the Red se... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, the days come, that the city shall be built to the Lord_ Or, _for the Lord_, namely, for his use and service. Blaney renders it, _Under the direction_ of the Lord, _from the tower of Hananeel_, &c. “Here follows a description of the circumference of a new city to be built on the site of Jer... [ Continue Reading ]