Jeremiah 5:10

Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's. Abrupt apostrophe to the Babylonians, to take Jerusalem, but not to destroy the nation utterly (remark, Jeremiah 4:27, "Make not a full end." BATTLEMENTS - [ nªTiyshowteyhaa (H5189)], rather, tendrils (Maurer): the state being compared to a vine (Jeremiah 12:10, "Many pastors (the Babylonian invading princes) have destroyed my vineyard"), the stem of which was to be spared, while the tendrils (the chief men) were to be removed....

Here God by the mouth of his Prophet addresses the enemies of his people, whom he had appointed to be the ministers of his vengeance: and this was usual with the prophets, when they sought more effectually to rouse and more sharply to touch the hearts of men; for we know how great is their indifference when God summons them to judgment. As then Jeremiah saw that simple instruction availed but little, he used this mode of speaking. He then in the person of God addresses the Chaldeans, and bids them to come to attack Jerusalem. The prophets often speak thus, — “Hiss will God for the Egyptians,” or, “Sound shall the trumpet, and he will send for the Chaldeans.” (Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 7:18.) But the representation is more effectual to penetrate into the hearts of men, when the Prophet at God’s command assembles enemies as a celestial herald and bids them what to do, ev

10-18 Multitudes are ruined by believing that God will not be so strict as his word says he will; by this artifice Satan undid mankind. Sinners are not willing to own any thing to be God's word, that tends to part them from, or to disquiet them in, their sins. Mocking and misusing the Lord's messengers, filled the measure of their iniquity. God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes very remote. He has mercy in store for his people, therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Let us not overlook the "nevertheless," ver. Jeremiah 5:18. This is the Lord's covenant with Israel. He thereby proclaims his holiness, and his utter displeasure against sin while sparing the sinner, Psalms 89:30-19....

Verse Jeremiah 5:10. _GO YE UP UPON HER WALLS_] This is the permission and authority given to the Chaldeans to pillage Jerusalem. _TAKE AWAY HER BATTLEMENTS_] Some translate נטישות _netishoth,_ _branches_; others, _vines_. Destroy the _branches_, cut down the _stem_; but do not damage the _root_. Leave so many of the people that the state may be regenerated. The _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Arabic_, read, "Leave her foundations, for they are the Lord's;" and this agrees with "Destroy, but make not a full end....

HER WALLS - It is Possible that not the city walls, but those of a vineyard are meant. Judaea is God’s vineyard Isaiah 5:1, and God permits the enemy to enter the vineyard to destroy her. BATTLEMENTS - tendrils. The tendrils and branches of Judah’s vine are given up to ruin, but not the stock. See Isaiah 6:13 note....

EXPOSITION Is the punishment thought too severe? Then let the moral condition of Jerusalem be inquired into. Must not such transgressions precipitate its people into ruin? There are four well-marked sections or strophes. JEREMIAH 5:1 Gladly would Jehovah pardon, if his people showed but a gleam of sound morality. But they are all deaf to the warning voice—the Law of God is flagrantly violated. In particular the marriage tie, as well the typical one between man and woman as the anti-typical between the people and its God, is openly disregarded (comp. Hosea 4:1; Micah 7:2; Isaiah 64:6,...

GO YE UP UPON HER WALLS, AND DESTROY,.... These are the words of the prophet, or of the Lord by the prophet, to the Chaldeans, ordering them to ascend the walls of Jerusalem, and break them down, as they did, even all the walls of it round about, Jeremiah 52:7, there can be nothing done without the Lord's will; and there is no evil in a city but what is done, or ordered, or suffered to be done by him, Amos 3:6: BUT MAKE NOT A FULL END; meaning not of the walls, for a full end was made of them, they were broken down all around; but of the people; there were a remnant to be preserved from the sword, and to be carried captive, and to be returned into their own land again, after a term of years: TAKE AWAY HER BATTLEMENTS; which must mean not the battlements of their houses, or of

Jeremiah 5:10. _Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for the are not the LORD'S. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. They have belied the LORD,_ They have made it out as though God himself were a liar. They have contradicted him whose word is the truth itself. They have despised his threatenings, they have refused his invitations, they have disbelieved his promises: «they have belied the Lord,» Jeremiah 5:12. And said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because y

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The apostate conditions of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 5:1) _ 2. The impending judgment (Jeremiah 5:10) 3. Sowing and reaping (Jeremiah 5:19) 4. The horrible thing (Jeremiah 5:30) Jeremiah 5:1. So degenerate had the inhabitants of Jerusalem become that the Lord promised if but one man could be found in the city who executed judgment and sought the truth, He would pardon Jerusalem. It was a general apostasy. A similar apostasy is predicted for the end of our age. “Nevertheless when the Son of Man

THE COMING OF THE FOE. Let the enemy, therefore, destroy the vineyard of Judah, for of its owner Judah has said, He does nothing, rejecting His warnings by (true) prophets. The word they have rejected now becomes a fire to consume (_cf._ Jeremiah 23:29; ancient thought attached great power to the spoken word). The enemy (Scythians or, later, Babylonians) comes to destroy, being enduring (_mg.),_ foreign in speech (Isaiah 28:11), and a nation of warriors (mighty men), whose arrows do not miss (Jeremiah 5:16). Heathenism at home shall bring exile abroad (Jeremiah 5:19)....