Jeremiah 11:19

And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings. Jeremiah here digresses to notice the attempt on his life plotted by his townsmen of Anathoth. He had no suspicion of it until Yahweh revealed it to him (Jeremiah 12:6). THE LORD HATH GIVEN ME KNOWLEDGE OF IT ... THEN THOU SHOWEDST ME THEIR DOINGS. The change of person from the third to the second accords with the excited feelings of the prophet. THEN - when I was in peril of my life. THOU SHOWEDST ME THEIR DOINGS - those of the men of Anathoth. His thus alluding to them, before he has mentioned their name, is due to his excitement. Verse 19. LIKE A LAMB ... BROUGHT TO THE SLAUGHTER, [ kebes ...

The Prophet adds here, as I think, that he did not retaliate private wrongs: for the Jews might, under this pretext, have rejected his doctrine, and have said, that he was moved by anger to treat them sharply and severely. And doubtless, whosoever allows his own reelings to prevail in the least degree, cannot teach in sincerity; for he who prepares himself for the prophetic office, ought to put off all the affections of the flesh, and to manifest a pure, and, so to speak, a limpid zeal, and also a calm mind, so that he may seek nothing, and have no object but the glory of God and the salvation of those to whom he is sent a teacher. Whosoever then is under the influence of private feelings cannot act otherwise than violently, so that he cannot either faithfully or profitably discharge the office of a prophet or a teacher. Hence the Prophet now adds, in the second place, that he did not pl...

18-23 The prophet Jeremiah tells much concerning himself, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Those of his own city plotted how they might cause his death. They thought to end his days, but he outlived most of his enemies; they thought to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, and will be blessed while time lasts. God knows all the secret designs of his and his people's enemies, and can, when he pleases, make them known. God's justice is a terror to the wicked, but a comfort to the godly. When we are wronged, we have a God to commit our cause to, and it is our duty to commit it to him. We should also look well to our own spirits, that we are not overcome with evil, but that by patient continuance in praying for our enemies, and in kindness to them, we may overcome evil with good....

Verse Jeremiah 11:19. _I_ WAS _LIKE A LAMB_ OR _AN OX_] _Dahler_ translates, "I was like a fattened lamb that is led to the slaughter." _Blayney_, "I was like a tame lamb that is led to slaughter." The word אלוף _alluph_, which we translate _ox_, is taken by both as an _adjective_, qualifying the noun כבש _kebes, a lamb_. It may probably signify a lamb brought up in the house-fed at home, (אלוף _alluph_,) instructed or nourished at home; perfectly innocent and unsuspecting, while leading to the slaughter. This meaning the word will bear in _Arabic_, for [Arabic] _alaf_ signifies _accustomed,_ _familiar_, (to or with any person or thing;) a _companion_, a _comrade_, an _intimate friend_. I therefore think that ככבש אלוף _kechebes alluph_ signifies, like the familiar la...

LIKE A LAMB OR AN OX - Rather, “like a tame lamb.” Jeremiah had lived at Anathoth as one of the family, never suspecting that, like a tame lamb, the time would come for him to be killed. THE TREE WITH THE FRUIT THEREOF - The words are those of a proverb or dark saying. All the Churches agree in understanding that under the person of Jeremiah these things are said by Christ....

EXPOSITION The superscription in Jeremiah 11:1 evidently belongs to the three chapters 11-13, though Jeremiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 12:1 are more closely connected with each other than with Jeremiah 13:1. To which period the group of prophecies belongs—whether to the reign of Josiah, or of Jehoiakim, or of Jehoiachin, or to various periods, is a matter of dispute. It contains at any rate one passage (Jeremiah 12:7) which was almost certainly put in by a later editor. It is doubtless Jeremiah's work, but seems out of place her

BUT I WAS LIKE A LAMB, OR AN OX,.... The word "alluph", rendered an ox, is by many considered as an adjective to the word lamb n; since the disjunctive particle or is not in the next; and is differently translated; by the Vulgate Latin version, "as a meek or tame lamb"; by the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "as an harmless lamb": and by the Syriac version, "as a pure" or "clean lamb"; and by the Targum, "as a choice lamb;'' and so R. Menachem in Jarchi, a large or principal one; but the words respect not the excellency, the meekness, patience, innocence, and harmlessness of the prophet; but his security and insensibility of danger, like one or both of these creatures: THAT IS BROUGHT TO THE SLAUGHTER; to be sacrificed by the priest, or killed by the butcher; not knowing but it is going to the pasture to feed in, or to the fold or stall to lie down in; so ignorant was the prophet of t...

CHAPTER 11 The Broken Covenant and the Plot Against Jeremiah _ 1. The broken covenant (Jeremiah 11:1) _ 2. The plot revealed and Jehovah's answer (Jeremiah 11:18) Jeremiah 11:1. Jehovah had made a covenant with His people. He tells the prophet about it and the responsibility which was connected with that covenant. They were to obey His voice. Then should they be His people and He their God. And of this covenant it was written, “Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant.” The prophet answered the Lord: “So be it LORD” (Amen). Then he is commanded to proclaim this covenant and tell the people that they had broken the covenant. They had followed the evil exampl

THE ANATHOTH PLOT. The abrupt introduction of this account of the plot of the men of Anathoth against the life of the prophet might be explained by the supposition that his advocacy of the Deuteronomic Reformation (Jeremiah 11:1 ff.) would seem treachery to his kinsmen. For, as stated in the Introduction, they may have traced their descent from Abiathar, a priestly line now perpetually set aside in favour of the Zadokite priests of Jerusalem. If, however, Jeremiah's advocacy of Deuteronomy be not accepted as historic, then the Anathoth persecution will be a special instance of the general unpopularity of Jeremiah. Whether it was provoked by some particular utterance like that of Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth we do not know. Jeremiah says that he was as unconscious of this plot as is a tame (gentle) lamb (_cf._...

LIKE. LAMB. See App-85. SAYING. Note the Figure of speech. _Ellipsis_ (App-6), as frequently with this verb. See notes on Psa_109::5. Psalms 109:6; Psalms 144:12, &c. THE TREE WITH THE FRUIT THEREOF. Hebrew "the dish in his food". Figure of speech _Hypallage_ (App-6), for the food in his dish. FROM THE LAND OF THE LIVING. Jeremiah. type of Christ. See Isaiah 53:8 and App-85....