Jeremiah 6:27

I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way. I HAVE SET THEE FOR A TOWER AND A FORTRESS AMONG MY PEOPLE - (Jeremiah 1:18); rather, an assayer (and) explorer. By a metaphor from metallurgy in Jeremiah 6:27-24, Yahweh, in conclusion, confirms the prophet in his office, and the latter sums up the description of the reprobate people on whom he had to work. The Hebrew for 'assayer' (English version, "tower") is from, a root to try metals [ baachown (H969), from baachan]. 'Explorer (English version, "fortress") is from an Arabic root, keen-sighted; or a Hebrew root, cutting - i:e., separating the metal from the dress (Ewald). G...

The Prophet says, that he was _set _by God as a _watchtower_, which was also fortified, that he might observe the wickedness of the people. In order to gain more authority for his prophecy, he introduces God as the speaker. He had spoken hitherto in his own person; but now God himself comes forth, and says, _I have made thee a citadel. Jerome _renders the last word “probation.” The verb בחן, _becken_, means to prove; and Jeremiah uses the verb in this verse, “that thou mayest prove their way.” But as the word מבצר, _mebezar_, “fortress, “follows, we cannot take the word here otherwise than as meaning a citadel or rampart. I therefore have no doubt but that a citadel for watching is what is meant; as though God had said, that his Prophet was like a watchtower, from which might be seen at one glance whatever was done far and wide: for we cannot see far from a plain, but they who are locate...

18-30 God rejects their outward services, as worthless to atone for their sins. Sacrifice and incense were to direct them to a Mediator; but when offered to purchase a license to go on in sin, they provoke God. The sins of God's professing people make them an easy prey to their enemies. They dare not show themselves. Saints may rejoice in hope of God's mercies, though they see them only in the promise: sinners must mourn for fear of God's judgments, though they see them only in the threatenings. They are the worst of revolters, and are all corrupters. Sinners soon become tempters. They are compared to ore supposed to have good metal in it, but which proves all dross. Nothing will prevail to part between them and their sins. Reprobate silver shall they be called, useless and worthless. When warnings, corrections, rebukes, and all means of grace, leave men unrenewed, they will be left, as...

Verse Jeremiah 6:27. _I HAVE SET THEE FOR A TOWER AND A FORTRESS_] Dr. _Blayney_ translates, _I have appointed thee to make an assay among_ _my people_. The words refer to the _office of an assayer of silver_ _and gold_; and the _manner of assaying_ here intended is by the _cupel_, a flat broad iron ring filled with the ashes of burnt bones. To separate the alloy from the silver they add a portion of _lead_; and when all is fused together, and brought into a state of ebullition, the cupel absorbs the lead, and with it the dross or alloy, and the silver is left pure and motionless on the top of the cupel. The people are here represented under the notion of _alloyed silver_. They are full of _impurities_; and they are put into the hands of the prophet, the _assayer_, to be purified. The _bellows_ are placed, the _fire_ is...

Render it: I have set thee among My people as a prover of ore, And thou shalt know and try their way. They are all of them rebels of rebels (i. e., utter rebels): Slander-walkers, were copper and iron, Corrupters all of them. The bellows glow: from their fire lead only! In vain hath the smelter smelted, And the wicked are not separated. Refuse-silver have men called them: For Yahweh hath refused them. The intermixture throughout of moral words and metallurgical terms is remarkable....

EXPOSITION A prophecy, in five stanzas or strophes, vividly describing the judgment and its causes, and enforcing the necessity of repentance. JEREMIAH 6:1 Arrival of a hostile army from the north, and summons to flee from the doomed city. JEREMIAH 6:1 O YE CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN. The political rank of Jerusalem, as the capital of the kingdom of Judah, makes it difficult to realize that Jerusalem was not locally a city of Judah at all. It belonged, strictly speaking, to the tribe of Benjamin, a tribe whose insignificance, in comparison with Judah, seems to have led to the adoption of a form of expression not literally accurate (see Psa 128:1-6 :68). The true state of the ease is evident from an examination of the two par

I HAVE SET THEE FOR A TOWER,.... Or "in" one d; in a watch tower, to look about and observe the actions of the people, their sins and transgressions, and reprove them for them; as well as to descry the enemy, and give notice of danger; see Habakkuk 2:1 or, "for a trier"; since the word used comes from one which signifies to "try" metals, as gold and silver; and the rather this may be thought to be the meaning here, since the verb is made use of in this sense in the text; and the metaphor is carried on in the following words; though the word is used for towers in Isaiah 23:13 and may well enough be understood of a watchtower, agreeably with the office of the prophet; who is here addressed as a watchman, and was one to the house of Israel: and as the faithful discharge of his work required courage, as well as d

CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The call to the children of Benjamin (Jeremiah 6:1) _ 2. Corruption and the deserved judgment (Jeremiah 6:9) 3. The prophet addressed (Jeremiah 6:27) Jeremiah 6:1. The children of Benjamin are exhorted to flee for safety on account of the evil from the north. There were probably among the Benjamites God-fearing men. Those who heeded the call fled and escaped. It is a warning message which follows: “Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, let my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” But they heeded it not....

THE PROPHET'S TASK. The record of earlier prophecies (Jeremiah 6:1) fitly closes with the application to the prophet of the figure of the trier (_mg._) or assayer; so inextricably is the alloy mixed with the silver that, though the bellows blow, and the lead (which was added to carry away the alloy) is oxidised in the heat, no purification is effected; only impure silver remains (Driver). Jeremiah 6:27. Omit A FORTRESS, which is probably a marginal note on the rendering tower, which should be trier....

The last of the four divisions. See introd. note to the ch....