Jeremiah 16:19

O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. O LORD ... THE GENTILES SHALL COME UNTO THE EARTH. The result of God's judgments on the Jews will be that both the Jews when restored and the Gentiles who have witnessed those judgments shall renounce idolatry for the worship of Yahweh: fulfilled partly at the return from Babylon, after which the Jews entirely renounced idols and many proselytes were gathered in from the Gentiles; but not to be realized in its fullness until the final restoration of Israel, (Isaiah 2:1.)...

What the Prophet has said hitherto might appear contrary to the promises of God, and wholly subversive of the covenant which he had made with Abraham. God had chosen to himself one people from the whole world, now when this people were trodden under foot what could the most perfect of the faithful suppose but that that covenant was rendered void, since God had resolved to destroy the Jews and to obliterate their name? This was then a most grievous trial, and sufficient, to shake the strongest minds. The Prophet therefore now returns to the subject, and obviates this temptation; and seeing men in despair he turns to God, and speaks of the calling of the Gentiles, which was sufficient wholly to remove that stumbling — block, which I have mentioned respecting the apostasy and ruin of the chosen people. We now perceive the Prophet’s meaning. When any one reads the whole chapter, he may think...

14-21 The restoration from the Babylonish captivity would be remembered in place of the deliverance from Egypt; it also typified spiritual redemption, and the future deliverance of the church from antichristian oppression. But none of the sins of sinners can be hidden from God, or shall be overlooked by him. He will find out and raise up instruments of his wrath, that shall destroy the Jews, by fraud like fishers, by force like hunters. The prophet, rejoicing at the hope of mercy to come, addressed the Lord as his strength and refuge. The deliverance out of captivity shall be a figure of the great salvation to be wrought by the Messiah. The nations have often known the power of Jehovah in his wrath; but they shall know him as the strength of his people, and their refuge in time of trouble....

Verse Jeremiah 16:19. _THE GENTILES SHALL COME_] Even the days shall come when the Gentiles themselves, ashamed of their confidence, shall renounce their idols, and acknowledge that their fathers had believed lies, and worshipped vanities. This may be a prediction of the _calling of the Gentiles_ by the Gospel of Christ; if so, it is a _light_ amidst much _darkness_. In such dismal accounts there is need of some gracious promise relative to an amended state of the world....

EXPOSITION With this chapter should be taken the first eighteen verses of Jeremiah 17:1. The heading of the Authorized Version well expresses the contents of Jeremiah 17:1, provided that "the types" are understood to be typical actions of the prophet himself. "The prophet, under the types of abstaining from marriage, from houses of mourning and feasting, foreshoweth the utter ruin of the Jews." To the inquiry, why these calamities should come upon them, the old and well-known answer is to be given (Jeremiah 17:10), accompanied by a definite prediction of captivity (Jeremiah 17:13). Then, to relieve the p

O LORD, MY STRENGTH AND MY FORTRESS,.... These are the words of the prophet, rising out of the temptation which beset him; casting off his impatience, diffidence, and unbelief; calling upon God, and exercising faith in him; having received the promise of the restoration of his people to their land, and a view of the future conversion of the Gentiles; which were a means of recovering his spiritual strength, of invigorating grace in him, and of encouraging him to exercise it in a lively manner; to go on in his duty constantly, and to bear affliction cheerfully and patiently; "strength" to do which he had from the Lord; and to whom he ascribes it; and whom he calls his "fortress", or strong hold; and such the Lord is to his people, a strong hold to prisoners of hope, and a strong tower or place of defence to all his saints: AND MY REFUGE IN THE DAY OF AFFLICTION; in which he now was, or sa...

THE COMING CALAMITIES: RESTORATION PROMISED, RUIN IMMINENT ON ACCOUNT OF JUDAH'S SIN AND CONCERNING THE SABBATH (16-17) CHAPTER 16 _ 1. The coming calamities (Jeremiah 16:1) _ 2. The coming days of restoration and blessing (Jeremiah 16:14) Jeremiah 16:1. In view of the coming calamities Jeremiah is bidden to remain unmarried and not to raise a family. The verses which describe the coming calamities need no further annotations. Jeremiah 16:14. The great dispersion was announced by the Lord in the preceding verse: “Therefore will I cast you out of this land, into a land that ye know

JEREMIAH 16:1 TO JEREMIAH 17:18. THE COMING DISTRESS A PENALTY FOR SIN. The prophet is forbidden to found a family, because of the coming sorrows (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 7:29 ff.), in which death will be too common even for due mourning and burial. He is to stand aloof from the ordinary expressions of grief (Jeremiah 16:5) or social joy (Jeremiah 16:8 f.; _cf._ Jeremiah 7:34), as a sign that Yahweh will make both to cease in the universal dis

STRENGTH. strength (for protection). Hebrew. _'azaz._ GENTILES. nations....

Du. rejects all these _vv_. Co. omits 9 13, suspects the genuineness of 14, 15 both here and in Jeremiah 23:7 f., and rejects 16, as well as portions of 17 21. Gi. retains of the whole series only Jeremiah 16:19, while admitting (_Metrik_) that 20, 21 _may_be genuine. Schmidt denies the genuineness of 14 21. There is thus a considerable consensus of authorities against the passage, but their arguments do not appear conclusive except as to 14, 15. See further in individual notes. According to Gi. (_Metrik_) metre is doubtful or non-existent, except in 7, 8, 19 21....