Jeremiah 6:9

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. The Jews are the grapes, their enemies the unsparing gleaners. TURN BACK ... HAND - again and again, bring freshly-gathered handfuls "to the baskets;" referring to the repeated carrying away of captives to Babylon-namely, Jehoiachin or Jeconiah and his mother, with all his princes, warriors and artisans: then in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar 832 persons: then in the 23rd year by Nebuzaradan, the captain of his guard, 745 persons, probably in the commotions after Gedaliah's assassination (; note, ; )....

God here confirms the former statement, as though he had said, that he dreaded a sight so sad and mournful, which yet the Jews disregarded. He then shews, that he did not in vain exhort the Jews, even though late, to repent, for he foresaw how dreadful would be their calamities. Hence he says, _Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Gleaning they shall glean_; for the word here does not mean to gather the vintage, but to glean, _grapiller_, after the vintage. As after the harvest the poor follow and gather ears of corn here and there, until nothing remains in the field; so also in vintages when there is a gleaning, nothing remains. Hence God in the law forbade the vineyards to be gleaned, that there might be something left for the poor. (Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 24:21.) But he says here, “Gleaning they shall glean as a vine;” he speaks not of the people but o

9-17 When the Lord arises to take vengeance, no sinners of any age or rank, or of either sex escape. They were set upon the world, and wholly carried away by the love of it. If we judge of this sin by God's word, we find multitudes in every station and rank given up to it. Those are to be reckoned our worst and most dangerous enemies, who flatter us in a sinful way. Oh that men would be wise for their souls! Ask for the old paths; the way of godliness and righteousness has always been the way God has owned and blessed. Ask for the old paths set forth by the written word of God. When you have found the good way, go on in it, you will find abundant recompence at your journey's end. But if men will not obey the voice of God and flee to his appointed Refuge, it will plainly appear at the day of judgment, that they are ruined because they reject God's word....

Verse Jeremiah 6:9. _THEY SHALL THOROUGHLY GLEAN THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL AS A_ _VINE: TURN BACK THINE HAND_] The Chaldeans are here exhorted to _turn back_ and glean up the remnant of the inhabitants that were left after the capture of Jerusalem; for even that remnant did not profit by the Divine judgments that fell on the inhabitants at large....

THEY ... - Each word indicates the completeness of Judah’s ruin. TURN BACK THINE HAND - Addressed perhaps to Nebuchadnezzar as God’s servant Jeremiah 25:9. He is required to go over the vine once again, that no grapes may escape. INTO THE BASKETS - Better, “upon the tendrils.” While the Jews carried captive to Babylon escaped, misery gleaned the rest again and again....

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

THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS,.... Finding that all his threatenings, admonitions, and expostulations, were in vain, he says of the Chaldeans, with respect to the Israelites, THEY SHALL THOROUGHLY GLEAN THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL AS A VINE; by "the remnant of Israel" are meant the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were left in the land when the ten tribes were carried captive; and these the Chaldeans should come and carry away also, just as the poor come into a vineyard, after the vintage has been gathered in, and pick off and glean what is left upon the branches: TURN BACK THINE HAND AS A GRAPEGATHERER INTO THE BASKETS; these words, according to Kimchi, are the words of the Chaldeans to one another, to turn their hands to the spoil, and to the prey, again and again, just as the grape gatherer does; he gathers a bunch of grapes, and puts it into his basket, and then turns his hand, time...

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 JUSTIFICATION OF YAHWEH'S WRATH. The turn of Judah, the remnant of Israel, is now come, and Yahweh bids the foe, figured as a grape-gatherer at work on the vine (see on Jeremiah 2:21) to do his work thoroughly (Jeremiah 6:9 _mg.)._ The prophet complains that the ears of the people are closed to his word, yet he cannot hold it back (Jeremiah 20:9), and will pour it out (so LXX) even on the playing children and the irresponsible youth. Calamity falls on all alike, for all seek gain, and the very leaders are false with their easy talk of prosperity (Jeremiah 6:15; both _mgg.)._...

AS. VINE. Here, and in Jeremiah 8:13, one Codex (Harley, 5720, B. M., Lond.) reads, "on the vine"....