Jeremiah 17:6

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. HEATH - [kª`ar`ar, from `aaraah (H6168), to bare]. In Psalms 102:17; Isaiah 32:11; Habakkuk 3:9, the Hebrew is translated, "bare," "naked," "destitute;" but as the parallel in Jeremiah 17:8 is "tree," some plant must be meant of which this is the characteristic epithet (see...

He adds a similitude for the purpose of confirming his doctrine, _He shall be like a tamarisk_, or a juniper, as some render it. The word ערער, _oror_, means a copse. But the Jews themselves are not agreed; some think it to be the juniper, and others the tamarisk; but we may hold it as certain that it was a useless shrub, not fruit-bearing for those Jews are mistaken, in my judgment, who consider it to be the juniper, for some fruit grows on branches of that. It was a shrub or a tree, as I think, unknown to us now. (173) Then he says that they were like shrubs which _grow in the desert, which see not fruitfulness_, but _dwell in droughts, in a land of brine_. The Hebrews call barren land the land of brine or of salt: and he enlarges on the subject by saying, _Which is not inhabited_: for where nothing grows there are no inhabitants. The object of the Prophet, then, was merely to shew

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 17:6. _HE SHALL BE LIKE THE HEATH IN THE DESERT_] כערער _kearar_; or, like a blasted _tree_, without moisture, parched and withered. _SHALL NOT SEE WHEN GOOD COMETH_] Shall not be sensible of it: the previous drought having rendered it incapable of absorbing any more vegetable juices. _A SALT LAND_] Barren; and therefore unfit to be _inhabited_....

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...

FOR HE SHALL BE LIKE THE HEATH IN THE DESERT,.... The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "myrice": and so the Latin interpreter of the Targum; but the word that paraphrase makes use of according to R. Hai, mentioned by Kimchi, signifies something that is thorny without, and eatable within; but this is not likely to be intended here. The Septuagint version renders it, "wild myrice"; it seems to be the same that is called "erice", or "ling", and "heath"; which delights to grow in wild and waste places; hence such with us are called "heaths", whether this grows upon them or not. It is a low shrub, fruitless and useless; and, because neither bears fruit nor seed, is reckoned by Pliny o among unhappy plants, and such as are condemned or forbid religious uses; and very fit to represent such persons as truest in men and in themselves, and not in the Lord: AND SHALL NOT SEE WHEN GOOD COMETH; per...

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

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

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