Jeremiah 17:5

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. CURSED BE THE MAN THAT TRUSTETH IN MAN - referring to the Jews' proneness to rely on Egypt, in its fear of Assyria and Babylon. (Isaiah 31:1). TRUSTETH - this word is emphatic. We may expect help from men, so far as God enables them to help us, but we must rest our TRUST in God alone ()....

The Prophet, I doubt not, prefixed this sentence to many of his discourses, for it was neccssary often to repeat it, as the Jews were so refractory in their minds. We have already seen how sharply he inveighed against their false confidence: but it was necessary to lay down this truth. He then wrote once for all what he had often said. And this deserves to be especially observed, for we shall not sufficiently understand how needful this truth was, unless we consider the circumstances: the Prophet had often found that the promises as well as the threatenings of God were disregarded, that his doctrine was despised, and that he had to do with a proud people, who, relying on their own defences, not only esteemed as nothing what was brought before them under the authority of God, but also, as it were, avowedly rejected it. This then was the reason why the Prophet not only once, but often exho...

5-11 He who puts confidence in man, shall be like the heath in a desert, a naked tree, a sorry shrub, the product of barren ground, useless and worthless. Those who trust to their own righteousness and strength, and think they can do without Christ, make flesh their arm, and their souls cannot prosper in graces or comforts. Those who make God their Hope, shall flourish like a tree always green, whose leaf does not wither. They shall be fixed in peace and satisfaction of mind; they shall not be anxious in a year of drought. Those who make God their Hope, have enough in him to make up the want of all creature-comforts. They shall not cease from yielding fruit in holiness and good works. The heart, the conscience of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is deceitful above all things. It calls evil good, and good evil; and cries peace to those to whom it does not belong. Herein the heart is...

Verse Jeremiah 17:5. _CURSED_ BE _THE MAN THAT TRUSTETH IN MAN_] This reprehends their vain confidence in trusting in _Egypt_, which was _too feeble_ itself to help, and, had it been otherwise, too ill disposed towards them to help them _heartily_. An _arm of flesh_ is put here for a _weak_ and _ineffectual support_. And he who, in reference to the salvation of his soul, trusts in an _arm of flesh_ - in _himself_ or _others_, or in any thing he has _done_ or _suffered_, will inherit a curse instead of a blessing....

In the rest of the prophecy Jeremiah dwells upon the moral faults which had led to Judah’s ruin. Jeremiah 17:6 LIKE THE HEATH - Or, “like a destitute man” Psalms 102:17. The verbs “he shall see” (or fear) and “shall inhabit” plainly show that a man is here meant and not a plant. Jeremiah 17:8 THE RIVER - Or, “water-course” Isaiah 30:25, made for purposes of irrigation. SHALL NOT SEE - Or, “shall not fear...

EXPOSITION Jeremiah 17:1 are closely connected with the preceding chapter. We have just been pointed to the striking contrast between the conduct of the heathen and that of the backsliding men of Judah. The inspired orator's indignation swells as he thinks of the inveterateness and indelibleness of Judah's sin. Then he passes to a subject immediately suggested by the policy of the court, viz. the true source of safety in dangerous times. Trust in man brings a curse; trust in Jehovah a blessing (Jeremiah 17:5). From this portion of the prophecy we can venture to fix the date of the whole. Jeremiah 17:11 is, in fact, a shorter form of the denunciation in...

THUS SAITH THE LORD,.... Here begins a new discourse, or part of one; or, however, another cause or reason of the ruin and destruction of the Jews is suggested; namely, their trust in man, or confidence in the creature, which is resented and condemned: CURSED BE THE MAN THAT TRUSTETH IN MAN; as the Jews did in the Egyptians and Assyrians; see Jeremiah 2:36, and in Abraham their father, and in being his seed, as they did in Christ's time; and which was trusting in the flesh; and as all such may be said to do who trust in their natural descent from good men, Matthew 3:9, they also trusted in Moses, in the law of Moses, and in their having, hearing, and obeying it; which pronounces every man cursed that does not perfectly perform it: they trusted in themselves, and in their own righteousness;

Jeremiah 17:1. _The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond:_ It is so ingrained in their very nature that you might as well try to erase an inscription that is written upon steel with the point of a diamond as hope to get this perversity out of the nation; it is graven upon the tablets of their heart. What is mere habit can be altered, but what is ingrained in the heart cannot be taken away except by a, miracle of grace. It was the heart that was wrong; the fountain-head was polluted, so what could the streams be but foul. Jeremiah 17:1. _It is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;_ Their holiest things were defiled. They wrote up the names of their idol gods even upon God's altar, and so the

TRUSTETH (Psalms 2:12 (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 2:12). _...

CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Judah's sin (Jeremiah 17:1) _ 2. The curse and the blessing (Jeremiah 17:5) 3. The worship of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:12) 4. Concerning the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:19) Jeremiah 17:1. The sin of Judah was idolatry, engraven with a pen of iron, the point of a diamond, upon their heart (from whence it proceeded) and upon the horns of their altars. They had destroyed but a few years before the asherim (translated groves, a kind of sacred post), and now their children turned back to t