Jeremiah 15:17

I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation. I SAT NOT IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE MOCKERS, NOR REJOICED - my "rejoicing" () was not that of the profane mockers (; Psalms 26:4; , "hypocritical mockers" who sell their raillery for viands) at feasts. So far from having fellowship with these, he was expelled from society, and made to sit "alone," because of his faithful prophecies. BECAUSE OF THY HAND - i:e., thine inspiration (, "The Lord spake thus to me with...

Here the Prophet more fully declares, that he was hated by the whole people because he pleased God. He indeed inveighs against the impiety of those who then bore rule; he does not here so much reprove the common people as the chief men, who exercised authority and administered justice; for when he speaks of the assembly of the ungodly, he no doubt refers to wicked rulers, as the word סוד, _sud, _which means a secret, means also a council. And David (or whosoever was the author of the sixty-ninth Psalm) says, not that he was a sport to the vulgar, but that he was derided by those who sat in the gate, (Psalms 69:12) which means, that he was reproachfully treated by wicked judges, who possessed the chief authority. So also in this place, Jeremiah says, that he did _not sit in the council of mockers _It is not the same word as in the first Psalm; and סוד

15-21 It is matter of comfort that we have a God, to whose knowledge of all things we may appeal. Jeremiah pleads with God for mercy and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers. It will be a comfort to God's ministers, when men despise them, if they have the testimony of their own consciences. But he complains, that he found little pleasure in his work. Some good people lose much of the pleasantness of religion by the fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which they indulge. The Lord called the prophet to cease from his distrust, and to return to his work. If he attended thereto, he might be assured the Lord would deliver him from his enemies. Those who are with God, and faithful to him, he will deliver from trouble or carry through it. Many things appear frightful, which do not at all hurt a real believer in Christ....

This is the prayer of a man in bitter grief, whose human nature cannot at present submit to the divine will. God’s long-suffering toward the wicked seemed to the prophet to be the abandonment of himself to death; justice itself required that one who was suffering contumely for God’s sake should be delivered. REBUKE - i. e., reproach, contumely. Jeremiah 15:16 THY WORDS WERE FOUND - Jeremiah’s summons to the prophetic office had not been expected or sought for by him. I DID EAT THEM - i. e., I received them with joy. This eating of the divine words expresses also the close union between that which came from God and the prophet’s own being. I AM CALLED BY THY NAME - i. e., I am consecrat

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 15:1 Second rejection of Jeremiah's intercession; awfulness of the impending judgment. JEREMIAH 15:1 THOUGH MOSES AND SAMUEL, etc. It is a mere supposition which is here made; there is no allusion to any popular view of the intercession of saints (see my note on Isaiah 63:16). If even a Moses or a Samuel would intercede in vain, the ease of the Judahites must indeed be desperate. For these were the nearest of all the prophets to Jehovah, and repeatedly prayed their people out of grievous calamity (comp. Psalms 99:6). Jeremiah had alr

I SAT NOT IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE MOCKERS, NOR REJOICED,.... With them, the mockers; or, "those that make merry" r; as the word is rendered in Jeremiah 30:19, and so the Targum, "those that sing;'' and dance and live jovially; with these the prophet did not associate himself; such levity being unsuitable to his character as a prophet, and to those grievous messages he was charged with; and though he had joy, it was of another kind; it was not carnal, but spiritual; not outward, but inward; and what arose from the word of the Lord, being found and eaten by him. Moreover, there were some things which he was obliged by his office to deliver, that were very distressing to him, and made him very melancholy; so that he shunned all company and diversion, which might have been lawfully enjoyed: for this is not to be understood of the assembly or council of the wicked gov

CHAPTER 15 The Prophet's Deep Soul-Exercise _ 1. The answer (Jeremiah 15:1) _ 2. The prophet's grief and sorrow and Jehovah's answer (Jeremiah 15:10) Jeremiah 15:1. The preceding prayer is now answered and the Lord tells Jeremiah that if Moses and Samuel, these two great men of intercessory prayer, were pleading, judgment would not be averted. What is in store for those who are appointed to death, for the sword, for the famine, for captivity, will be accomplished. There is no escape. They will be removed among all kingdoms on account of Manasseh's great sin 2 Kings 21:11. The terrors of jud

THE SORROW AND STRENGTH OF PROPHETIC SERVICE. The experience of the prophet, as described in the following section, may be the result of his unpopularity at the time of the drought, and therefore be rightly placed after Jeremiah 14:1 to Jeremiah 15:9; but it would suit many other occasions of his life. On the great importance of this and similar passages, both for a true conception of Jeremiah's personality, and for his special contribution to _religion, see_ Introduction, § 3. The present passage is interrupted by the irrelevant verses, Jeremiah 15:13 f., which occur again, more correctly and in their proper place, in Jeremiah 17

MOCKERS. merry-makers. HAND. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), for guidance....

Jeremiah 15:10-21. The prophet bewails his lot. God's reply The passage as a whole is one of the most eloquent and pathetic in the Book. The date cannot be determined with confidence. The latter part of Jehoiakim's reign is a fitting one to suggest. Jeremiah 15:13 are almost certainly to be rejected, while 11 and 12 need either drastic emendation or omission. Gi. considers that 11 14 have been inserted here from another context. They are also unrhythmical. We may subdivide as follows. (i) Jeremiah 15:10. Alas, that I was ever born to be assailed by all men. I am subjected to revilings, as though I were a usurer or a defaulting debtor. Jehovah indeed promised me support in evil times, and that my