Jeremiah 5:16

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. OPEN SEPULCHRE - (cf. ). Their quiver is all-devouring, as the grave opened to receive the dead: as many as are the arrows, so many are the deaths....

The Prophet had already threatened the Jews with the vengeance of God, and had said that the ministers and executioners of it would be the Chaldeans: he now continues the same subject, and says that their _quiver _would be like an _open sepulcher _The nations of the East, we know, made much use of arrows and darts, for they had no pitched battles; but they pretended a flight, and then suddenly turning, they hurled their darts and arrows against their enemies. The Prophet then had a regard to this mode of fighting, when he says that their quivers would be like open sepulchres. It may seem at first sight an unnatural comparison; but it is the same as though he had said, that they would be so skillful in throwing arrows as to destroy all who met them. (145) And he adds, that they would be all _strong, _that the people might know that it would not be a slight conflict: in short, it is the sa...

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 5:16. _THEIR QUIVER_ IS _AN OPEN SEPULCHRE_] They are such exact archers as never to miss their mark; every arrow is sure to slay one man....

THEIR QUIVER - See Jeremiah 4:29, 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,...

THEIR QUIVER IS AN OPEN SEPULCHRE,.... The Chaldeans used bows and arrows in fighting; and the quiver is a case for arrows; and the phrase denotes, that their arrows would do great execution, and be very mortal; so that a quiver of them would be as devouring as an open grave, into which many dead are cast. The Septuagint and Arabic versions have not this clause; and the Syriac version renders it, "whose throats are as open sepulchres"; see Romans 3:13: THEY ARE ALL MIGHTY MEN; strong in body, of bold and courageous spirits, expert in war, and ever victorious; so that there was no hope of being delivered out of their hands....

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)....