Jeremiah 1:18

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. DEFENCED CITY ... - i:e., I will give thee strength which no power of thine enemies shall overcome (Jeremiah 6:27; Jeremiah 15:20; Isaiah 50:7, A type of Messiah, who says, "I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed;" Jer. 54:17 , So Israel, literal, and also spiritual, the believing church; Luke 21:15;...

God supplies here his servant with confidence; for courage was necessary in that state of trembling which we have observed. Jeremiah thought himself unfit to undertake a work so onerous; he had also to do and to contend with refractory men, and not a few in number; for the whole people had already, through their ungodly and wicked obstinacy, hardened themselves in the contempt of God. As, then, there was no more any care for religion, and no regard manifested by the people for heavenly truth, Jeremiah could not, diffident as he was, undertake so heavy a burden, without being supported by the hand of God. For this reason, then, God now declares that he would make him like _a fortified city and an iron pillar _(25) Indeed, the word prop would be more proper; for עמור _omud, _comes from the root עמד, _om _e_d; _and the Prophet understands by it, not a pillar that

11-19 God gave Jeremiah a view of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The almond-tree, which is more forward in the spring than any other, represented the speedy approach of judgments. God also showed whence the intended ruin should arise. Jeremiah saw a seething-pot boiling, representing Jerusalem and Judah in great commotion. The mouth or face of the furnace or hearth, was toward the north; from whence the fire and fuel were to come. The northern powers shall unite. The cause of these judgments was the sin of Judah. The whole counsel of God must be declared. The fear of God is the best remedy against the fear of man. Better to have all men our enemies than God our enemy; those who are sure they have God with them, need not, ought not to fear, whoever is against them. Let us pray that we may be willing to give up personal interests, and that nothing may move us from...

Verse Jeremiah 1:18. _I HAVE MADE THEE THIS DAY A DEFENCED CITY, AND AN IRON_ _PILLAR, AND, BRAZEN 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 חמות _chomoth, walls_, many MSS. and editions read חמת _chomath, a wall_, which corresponds with the singular nouns preceding....

Metaphorically the walls and fortifications of the city represent the prophet’s power of patiently enduring the attacks of his enemies; while the iron pillar, supporting the whole weight of the roof Judges 16:29; 1 Kings 7:21), signifies that no trials or sufferings would crush his steadfast will....

EXPOSITION AN ACCOUNT OF THE CALL AND CONSECRATION OF JEREMIAH TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE, FOLLOWED BY TWO EXPRESSIVE SYMBOLS OF THE MATTERS WHICH HE HAS TO ANNOUNCE. JEREMIAH 1:1 There are some indications that the original form of the heading has been somewhat modified. Notice (1) that the words with which Jeremi

FOR, BEHOLD, I HAVE MADE THEE THIS DAY A DEFENCED CITY,.... Or, "as" one; so read the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; which is inexpungible, and cannot be taken: AND AN IRON PILLAR; which cannot be removed out of its place: AND BRASEN WALLS; which cannot be broken down. All these metaphors show the safety and security of the prophet, being surrounded by the power of God; his constancy, immovableness, and invincibleness in the work of the Lord, having such a spirit of power, fortitude, and of a sound mind, that nothing was able to move and shake him, or to deter him from the execution of his office; and that he should stand inflexible AGAINST THE WHOLE LAND; of Judea, and all the inhabitants of it: AGAINST THE KINGS OF JUDAH; in successive reigns, as Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, or Jechonias, and Zedekiah: AGAINST THE PRINCES THEREOF; who desired he might be

Jeremiah 1:1. _The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month._ Jeremiah was a young man when he was called to the prophetic office; and he was sent of God, as a young prophet, to help the young king, Josiah. His public life, therefore, opened somewhat happily. But, after the death of Josiah, wicked kings sat upon the throne, and it was the painful lot, and yet in some respects the choice privilege, of this weeping prophet to be sent upon his Master's errand, time after time, to a disobedient

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE CALL TO REPENTANCE, THE IMPENITENCE OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED CHAPTER 1 The Call of the Prophet _ 1. The introduction (Jeremiah 1:1) _ 2. The divine call (Jeremiah 1:4) 3. The renewed call and the first visions (Jeremiah 1:11) Jeremiah 1:1. The first three verses introduce us to the person of the prophet, to the time the Word of the Lord came unto him, and to the sphere of his ministry. Jeremiah's father, Hilkiah, was a priest of the line of Ithamar; his home was Anathoth of Benjamin. (See general introduction.)...

THE TWO VISIONS OF JUDGMENT. These form a separate experience, and imply some change of standpoint, since it is now the judgment of Judah through the instrumentality of the nations which is presented to the prophet's eye. The first vision (Jeremiah 1:11 f.) is preparatory; he sees the branch (rod) of an almond tree, and the interpretation of his vision is that this _shâ kç d_ stands for the Divine _shô kç d,_ the watcher God (who slumbers not nor sleeps, Psalms 121:4), ever wakeful unto judgment. The almond tree is here called the waker, because of its early (February) blossoming; see Thomson, _The Land and the Book,_ p. 318. Such play on words is characteristic of Hebrew thought; it finds a parallel, _e.g._ in Amos