Jeremiah 8:14

Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. ASSEMBLE - for defense. LET US BE SILENT - not assault the enemy, but merely defend ourselves in quiet, until the storm blow over. PUT US TO SILENCE - brought us to that state that we can no longer resist the foe; implying silent despair. WATER OF GALL - literally, water of the poisonous plant [ ro'sh (H7219)], perhaps the poppy (Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 23:15)....

This verse, and those which follow, are explained in different ways; but I will briefly shew the meaning of the Prophet. I have no doubt but that he speaks here in the name of the whole people. The Prophet, then, in these words, represents what occupied their minds, and the counsels which the Jews adopted: and further, there is no doubt but that he shews in these words that they, as hypocrites are wont to do, had recourse to expedients, by which they thought they could protect themselves from God’s wrath. For they who think that the Prophet spoke his own sentiments are greatly mistaken: on the contrary, he relates here the purposes which the Jews formed; and at the same time he reproves their hardness in turning here and there, and in thinking that they could turn aside the judgment of God; for hypocrites, unless constrained, never ascend to the first cause; that is, they never acknowled...

14-22 At length they begin to see the hand of God lifted up. And when God appears against us, every thing that is against us appears formidable. As salvation only can be found in the Lord, so the present moment should be seized. Is there no medicine proper for a sick and dying kingdom? Is there no skilful, faithful hand to apply the medicine? Yes, God is able to help and to heal them. If sinners die of their wounds, their blood is upon their own heads. The blood of Christ is balm in Gilead, his Spirit is the Physician there, all-sufficient; so that the people may be healed, but will not. Thus men die unpardoned and unchanged, for they will not come to Christ to be saved....

The people rouse one another to exertion. “Why,” they ask, “do we remain here to be overwhelmed?” They are ready now to follow the command given (see the marginal reference), but with the conviction that all hope is over. LET US BE SILENT THERE - Rather, let us perish there, literally “be put to silence.” WATER OF GALL - i. e., poison. The word rendered “gall” was probably the belladonna, or night-shade, to the “berries” of which the grapes of Israel were compared....

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 8:1 Punishment will even overtake the sinners who have long since been deceased. JEREMIAH 8:1 THEY SHALL BRING OUT THE BONES. Not only shall many of the dead bodies remain unburied, but the sepulchers of those who have till now "lain in honor, each one in his house" (Isaiah 14:18), shall be violated. THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM meant are evidently those of the upper class, for the others were buried, with but little regard to the security of the corpses, in the valley of Kedron (2 Kings 23:6). According to some, the mot

WHY DO WE SIT STILL?.... In the country, where were barrenness and want of provisions; in the villages and unwalled towns, where they were exposed to the spoils and ravages of the enemy. These words, with what follow, are the words of the prophet, in the language of the Israelites, as Kimchi observes. ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES; this is the gathering together, in order to be consumed, before threatened, which they themselves were made to do: AND LET US ENTER INTO THE DEFENCED CITIES; such as Jerusalem, where they thought they should be safe from their enemies: AND LET US BE SILENT THERE; either promising themselves rest, quietness, and security; or suggesting that it would be right in them to say nothing by way of complaint; having no reason to murmur at their afflictions, since they were no other than what their own sins had brought upon them: FOR THE LORD OUR GOD HATH PUT US TO SILENCE; s...

Jeremiah 8:1. _At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: and they shall spread them before the sun and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth._ This is an awful picture. Here is a nation that would worship the sun, and the moon, and the stars, instead of worshipping God. Here they are, and their bones lie exposed to the sun and moon and stars which they had worshipped, dead people before lifeless gods. This is all that idolatry produces for the ruined people wh

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The horrors of the invasion (Jeremiah 8:1) _ 2. Hardened hearts and retribution (Jeremiah 8:4) 3. Utter destruction threatened (Jeremiah 8:13) 4. The prophet's lamentation (Jeremiah 8:18) Jeremiah 8:1. These verses must not be detached from the preceding chapter. The division of Chapter s is often unfortunate in this book. The invaders from the north would even have digged out the bones of the dead. Kings, priests, prophets and people who had worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars shoul

JUDAH'S UNNATURAL CONDUCT AND ITS PUNISHMENT. There is something unnatural in the persistency of the people's misconduct; they show no inclination to return to Yahweh, but pursue a headstrong course away from Him (Jeremiah 8:6 _mg.)._ They put themselves below the level of the very birds of heaven, the stork, the turtle-dove, the swift, and the swallow (so in Jeremiah 8:7), who know the time of their return in spring (after their winter migration; _cf._ Isaiah 1:3). Their alleged knowledge of Yahweh's teaching (law, Jeremiah 8:8) is delusive; they have been misled by insincere teachers, whose punishment awaits them. ...

WHY... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis. verses:_ 14-16 spoken by the prophet, not the People. They were being threatened for not doing what is here spoken of, verses: Jeremiah 12:13. Moreover, Jeremiah 8:15 is spoken by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 14:19, which is an earlier passage, chronologically. WE: i.e. the prophet to the People. God. Hebrew. _Elohim._ App-4. SILENCE. Figure of speech _Ploke_, the word being used in. different sense. WATER OF GALL. poppy water;. poisoned water. SINNED. Hebrew. _chata'._ App-44....