Jeremiah 4:21

How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? HOW LONG SHALL I SEE THE STANDARD? - Judah in perplexity asks, 'How long is this state of things to continue?'...

He concludes that part of his discourse, which, as we have said, he embellished with figurative terms, in order more fully to rouse slow and torpid minds: but he confirms what he said at the beginning of the last verse (Jeremiah 4:20) “Distress has been summoned upon distress.” He indeed repeats in other words the same thing, _How long shall I see the standard_, he says, _and hear the sound of the trumpet? _that is, “You are greatly deceived, if ye think that your enemies, after having for a short time marched through the land, will return home: for the evil of war will for a long time afflict you, and God will protract your calamities, so that the sound of trumpets will continue, and the standard will often, and even every day, be exhibited.” We now then perceive the Prophet’s meaning: He first shews, that though their enemies were afar off

19-31 The prophet had no pleasure in delivering messages of wrath. He is shown in a vision the whole land in confusion. Compared with what it was, every thing is out of order; but the ruin of the Jewish nation would not be final. Every end of our comforts is not a full end. Though the Lord may correct his people very severely, yet he will not cast them off. Ornaments and false colouring would be of no avail. No outward privileges or profession, no contrivances would prevent destruction. How wretched the state of those who are like foolish children in the concerns of their souls! Whatever we are ignorant of, may the Lord make of good understanding in the ways of godliness. As sin will find out the sinner, so sorrow will, sooner or later, find out the secure....

THE STANDARD - See Jeremiah 4:6. The alarm caused by the invasion is graphically described. The people are dispersed over the land following their usual pursuits, when tidings come of the enemy’s approach. The only chance of escape is a hasty flight. Flags stream from the hills to mark the safest route, while the blasts of the trumpet quicken the steps of the wavering....

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 4:1, JEREMIAH 4:2 The form and structure of the translation require a change. Render, _If thou wilt return_,_ O Israel_,_ saith Jehovah_,_ wilt return unto me_;_ and if thou wilt put away_,_ _etc; _and not wander_;_ and wilt swear_,_ As Jehovah liveth_,_ with good faith_,_ with justice_,_ and with righteousness_;_ then shall the nations bless themselves by him_,_ and in him shall they glory_. The clause, "and not wander," seems too short; the Septuagint had a choicer reading, "and put away, etc; from his [thy] mouth, and not wander from before me." It is the close of the prophecy which we have here. The prophet subjoins a p

HOW LONG SHALL I SEE THE STANDARD,.... "Ensign" or "banner" displayed; either by the watchmen placed on high hills or towers, who, when they see the enemy approaching, lift up their ensign or banner, and blow with their trumpets, to give the people warning and notice of it, and to call them to battle, and that they might prepare for the same, as Kimchi observes; or else by the Chaldean army, which came with colours flying, trumpets blowing, and set in array for battle, which was very terrible, as an army with banners is, Song of Solomon 6:4: AND HEAR THE SOUND OF THE TRUMPET? either of the watchmen giving notice of danger, and summoning to battle, or of the enemy preparing to attack; see 1 Corinthians 14:8....

Jeremiah 4:1. _If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory._ So he sets before them life and death. First, he begins with these words of encouragement. He begs them to come, for God is willing to receive them notwithstanding all. Jeremiah 4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and bu

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. True repentance and what it means (Jeremiah 4:1) _ 2. The alarm sounded: judgment comes (Jeremiah 4:5) 3. The doom of the rebellious people (Jeremiah 4:14) 4. The desolation of Israel's land through judgment (Jeremiah 4:23) Jeremiah 4:1. A return must be a return unto Him, Jehovah; anything less is insufficient. Their abominations must be judged and put away. Every return of backsliders must be in the same way--a true return to the Lord with confession of sin, self-judgment, and abandonment

THE PROPHET'S GRIEF for his country finds characteristic expression: My bowels! my bowels! Let me writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart moaneth within me! (Driver). His soul hears (_mg._ with LXX) the battle, and identifies itself in sympathy with his people, whose habitation (tents and tent- curtains; _cf._ Jeremiah 10:20) is destroyed, because they are so ignorant of Yahweh. This is the first example (after the call) of that revelation of the inner life which especially distinguishes this prophet, and forms his great contribution to spiritual religion. Jeremiah 4:19. The bowels are the seat of strong emotion according to Hebrew psychology....

Jeremiah 4:5-31. Impending judgements. National disaster This section and the two that follow it (viz. chs. 5 and 6) are somewhat later than the preceding, as presenting a more definite description of the punishment there threatened. They picture the excitement and dismay caused throughout the defenceless portions of the land by the approach of the enemy, and the hasty retreat to walled towns on the part of the country people. No doubt as originally uttered these sections referred to the threatened invasion of Palestine by the Scythian hordes. (See Introd. i. § 3 and on Jeremiah 1:13.) On being reproduced in the Roll of b.c. 604 (ch. 36), when the Chaldaeans had become the formidable enemy, the language may have been modified here and there to suit the new political aspect of affairs. Thus "l