Jeremiah 6:7

As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds. FOUNTAIN - rather, a well dug, from which water springs; distinct from a natural spring or fountain. CASTETH OUT - causeth to flow; literally, causeth to dig, the cause being put for the effect. See for instances of "violence," the times of Manasseh, Amon, and the interval before Josiah's accession (; ; ). BEFORE ME - Yahweh. Before my eyes....

The Prophet enlarges on what he had said in the last verse; for he had shewn, by mentioning one kind of evil, that Jerusalem was a den of thieves, as oppression dwelt in the midst of it. But he now, by a comparison, amplifies his former statement, and says, that violence, oppression, devastation, grief, and smiting, streamed forth like waters from a fountain. It is possible for many vices to break out from a place, but repentance afterwards follows; but when men cease not, and heap vices on vices, it then appears that they swell with wickedness, and even burst with it, as they cannot repress it: they are like a fountain, which ever bubbles up, and cannot contain its own waters. We hence see the object of the Prophet. The word בור, _bur_, means a fountain, and באר, _bar_, means also a fountain, or a well, and they are no doubt synonymous: and hence appears the mistake of a very learned ma...

1-8 Whatever methods are used, it is vain to contend with God's judgments. The more we indulge in the pleasures of this life, the more we unfit ourselves for the troubles of this life. The Chaldean army shall break in upon the land of Judah, and in a little time devour all. The day is coming, when those careless and secure in sinful ways will be visited. It is folly to trifle when we have eternal salvation to work out, and the enemies of that salvation to fight against. But they were thus eager, not that they might fulfil God's counsels, but that they might fill their own treasures; yet God thereby served his own purposes. The corrupt heart of man, in its natural state, casts out evil thoughts, just as a fountain casts out her waters. It is always flowing, yet always full. The God of mercy is loth to depart even from a provoking people, and is earnest with them, that by repentance and re...

Verse Jeremiah 6:7. _AS A FOUNTAIN CASTETH OUT HER WATERS_] The inhabitants are incessant in their acts of iniquity; they do nothing but sin....

AS A FOUNTAIN CASTETH OUT - Better, As a cistern “cooleth.” BEFORE ME ... - Before My face continually there is disease and wounding: Disease as the result of poverty and want: wounding, or, the commission of deeds of actual violence....

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

AS A FOUNTAIN CASTETH OUT HER WATERS,.... In great abundance, and continually: SO SHE CASTETH OUT HER WICKEDNESS; this metaphor expresses the multitude of her sins, the frequent and constant commission of them, and the source and spring of them, the corrupt fountain of the heart; see Matthew 12:34: VIOLENCE AND SPOIL IS HEARD IN HER; that is, the cry of those that are oppressed and spoiled is heard, and that by the Lord himself, whose ears are open to the cries of the oppressed, and will avenge them: BEFORE ME CONTINUALLY IS GRIEF AND WOUNDS; the poor, who were grieved and wounded by their oppressors; the Lord was an eye and ear witness of their grievances, and would redress them; nor could their enemies expect to escape his wrath, since they were all known to him; or else the sense is, that because of their violence and spoil of

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 SIEGE OF THE SINFUL CITY. The prophet bids his kinsfolk (Anathoth, his birthplace, being in Benjamin) to abandon the capital, and to gather in the southern mountains; the northern peril is now nearer than ever, and the fair and luxurious city is to be destroyed. Her besiegers are around her, like shepherds with their flocks, ravaging the land. We hear the foe discussing their plans a surprise at noon when men are resting from the heat; then, when they lament the loss of this opportunity (Woe unto us!), a night attack. The trees around the city (Jeremiah 6:6 _mg.; cf._ Deuteronomy 20:19) are cut down, and earthworks are thrown up as part of the enemy's plan of attack. The city is visited, _i.e._ punished, because she keeps fresh ...

FOUNTAIN. Hebrew. _bor_. a well, bored or hewn out. Compare 2 Samuel 23:15; 2 Samuel 23:16; 1 Chronicles 11:17. See note on Genesis 21:19....