Jeremiah 8:16

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. HIS HORSES - the Chaldean's. WAS HEARD - the prophetic past for the future. FROM DAN - bordering on Phenicia. This was to be Nebuchadnezzar's route in invading Israel: the cavalry in advance of the infantry would scour the country. STRONG ONES - a poetical phrase for steeds, special to Jeremiah (, "The stamping of the hoofs of his strong (horses);" cf. ; ;...

He says, _Heard has been the snorting of horses from Daniel _Dan was on the extremities, as it is well known, of the land of Canaan. Some think that the loudness of the noise is intended, as it was heard from such a distance in the holy city itself; but I know not whether this can be gathered from the words of the Prophet. The simpler and the correcter meaning then is, that though Jerusalem rested securely, they were not yet in a quiet state on the borders of the land, for they were disturbed by the snorting of the enemies’ horses. _From Dan _then _has been heard a snorting _When the inhabitants of a city indulge in pleasures, while the borders of the land are assailed by enemies, it might be pertinently said to them, “Why do ye here live at your ease? your neighbors and your brethren are exposed to the assaults of enemies: war therefore ought to be waged in your land, though it has not...

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....

Verse Jeremiah 8:16. _THE SNORTING OF HIS HORSES WAS HEARD FROM DAN:_] _Dan_ lay in the way from Babylon to Jerusalem; and it was by this city, after the battle of Carchemish, that Nebuchadnezzar, in pursuing the Egyptians, entered Palestine. _THE WHOLE LAND TREMBLED AT THE SOUND OF THE NEIGHING OF HIS_ _STRONG ONES_] Of his _war horses_. This is a fine image; so terrible was the united neighing of the cavalry of the Babylonians that the reverberation of the air caused the ground to tremble. This is better, and more majestic, than the celebrated line of _Virgil_:- Quadrupe-dante pu-trem soni-tu quatit ungula campum. It would be much easier to _shake the ground_ with the _prancings_ of many horses, than to cause an _earthquake_ by the sound of the _neighing_ of the troops of cavalry....

DAN - i. e. the northern boundary of the land. HIS STRONG ONES - i. e., “his war-horses.”...

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

THE SNORTING OF HIS HORSES WAS HEARD FROM DAN,.... That is, was heard at Jerusalem. It seems to be a hyperbolical expression, showing the certainty of the coming of the Assyrian monarch and his army, to invade Judea, and besiege Jerusalem; the news of which was brought from Dan, which lay in the further part of the land; see Jeremiah 4:15, and pointing at the way in which they should come northwards, through Phoenicia and the tribe of Dan, with a numerous cavalry of horses and horsemen: for, by "his" horses are meant Nebuchadnezzar's; unless, with Calvin, it can be thought that they are called the Lord's, because ordered and sent by him, whose war it was against the people. The Targum paraphrases the words thus, "because they worshipped the calf that is in Dan, a king with his army shall come up against them, and carry them captive;'' and so Jarchi interprets it.

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. ...