_JEREMIAH IS SENT TO CALL FOR TRUE REPENTANCE, TO PREVENT THE JEWS' CAPTIVITY: HE REJECTETH THEIR VAIN CONFIDENCE, BY THE EXAMPLE OF SHILOH: HE THREATENETH THEM FOR THEIR IDOLATRY: HE REJECTETH THE SACRIFICE, OF THE DISOBEDIENT: HE EXHORTETH TO MOURN FOR THEIR ABOMINATIONS IN TOPHET, AND DECLARES TH... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORD THAT CAME TO JEREMIAH— We have here a new discourse, which reaches to the 13th chapter, wherein the prophet declaims against the vices of Judah and Jerusalem, particularly their hypocrisy and false confidence in their religious principles; delivering also some threats against Edom, Moab, Am... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD ARE THESE— These _gates,_ in which Jeremiah was commanded to stand: so in the Gospel our Savour says, _See you all these things?_ pointing to the temple, of which one stone was not to be left upon another. The threefold repetition of _the temple of the Lord,_ expresses great v... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE DELIVERED TO DO— _We are delivered, though we have done,_ &c. The old version of 1611 renders it, _We have been delivered, though we have done,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GO YE NOW UNTO MY PLACE WHICH WAS IN SHILOH— Shiloh was the place where, upon the first coming of the Israelites into Canaan, the tabernacle, in which was the ark of God's presence, was set up, by divine appointment no doubt; and there it continued for a long space of time until the days of Samu... [ Continue Reading ]
RISING UP EARLY, &C.— See 2 Chronicles 36:15. The phrase means, "making all possible haste, and using every endeavour, continually and carefully preventing you with my remonstrances: I employed, with all possible attention, severity, and softness, promises and threats; but all to no purpose.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN THE WHOLE SEED OF EPHRAIM— The ten tribes, who were sent into captivity in the reign of Hezekiah, the great-grandfather of Josiah, under whom Jeremiah prophesied.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, PRAY NOT THOU, &C.— This is not said to Jeremiah, because God would not have him affected with love for his country; but to assure him, that if he prayed it would be in vain, as he had determined to punish the incorrigible sins of the Jews. These expressions, however, admirably mark out t... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN— _The queen of heaven_ was the _moon;_ the same as _Astarte_ or _Ashtaroth._ The prophet here describes the whole family as busied in preparing their sacrifices and superstitious rites to this idol. Houbigant renders the words _other gods,_ very properly, by _strange gods;_ an... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT YOUR BURNT-OFFERINGS, &C.— Houbigant renders this, _Put together your burnt-offerings with your peace-offerings; and eat their flesh._ The meaning is, "Eat your sacrifices yourselves, your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings. I am equally regardless of one and the other. I have nothing to d... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WENT BACKWARD, &C.— _And they turned from me, and not towards me,_ (Jeremiah 7:25.). _Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, unto this day. And I sent unto them,_ &c. _JEREMIAH 7:27. THEREFORE,_ &C.— _And when thou shalt speak all these things unto them, they will... [ Continue Reading ]
CUT OFF THINE HAIR, O JERUSALEM— See Job 1:20. Isaiah 15:2 and Ezekiel 27:31. Jerusalem is here addressed as a woman under extreme misery, and exhorted to take upon her the habit and disposition of a mourner, and to bewail the calamities which were fallen upon her. Instead of, _Take up a lamentation... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HIGH PLACES OF TOPHET— The valley of Hinnom, or of the son of Hinnom, was near Jerusalem, and was the scene of those horrid sacrifices which the Israelites, in imitation of their idolatrous neighbours, made of their Children to Moloch. Tophet was the particular spot in the valley where the fires... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE VALLEY OF SLAUGHTER— The reason of this name is given in the words immediately following; _for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place:—"_Till it is intirely filled, and there is no vacant space left." Houbigant and the Vulgate render the last clause, _And they shall bury in Tophet,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WILL I CAUSE TO CEASE, &C.— "There shall be no more marriages; no more shall the voice of mirth and rejoicing be heard; or the sound of musical instruments, which usually attends this sort of festivals." See Pindar's third Pythian Ode, line 30. REFLECTIONS.—1st, This chapter begins a new sermo... [ Continue Reading ]