Jeremiah 9:12

Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? Rather, 'Who is a wise man (i:e., Whosoever has inspired wisdom, , "Our beloved brother, Paul, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you") let him understand this (weigh well the evils impending, and the causes of their being sent)? and he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken (i:e., whosoever is prophetically inspired), let him declare it to his fellow-countrymen, if haply they may be roused to repentance, the only hope of safety?...

Here the Prophet reproves more sharply the insensibility of the people, because none attended to the judgments of God; for though they were apparent, no one considered them. The question arose from astonishment; for it was like something dreadfully monstrous, that so few among the people knew that God would be the punisher of crimes so apparent to all. Had they a particle of understanding, they must have known that a dreadful calamity was nigh at hand, since they continued in so many ways to provoke God. And now that the labor of the Prophet, after having said what ought to have roused them all, had been all in vain; was not this doubly monstrous? For he had spent a long time, and had never ceased to cry; and yet all were deaf, nay, his teaching was treated with contempt. Hence is his astonishment, when he says, _Who is a wise man? _he intimates that there was hardly one in a hundred who...

12-22 In Zion the voice of joy and praise used to be heard, while the people kept close to God; but sin has altered the sound, it is now the voice of lamentation. Unhumbled hearts lament their calamity, but not their sin, which is the cause of it. Let the doors be shut ever so fast, death steals upon us. It enters the palaces of princes and great men, though stately, strongly built, and guarded. Nor are those more safe that are abroad; death cuts off even the children from without, and the young men from the streets. Hearken to the word of the Lord, and mourn with godly sorrow. This alone can bring true comfort; and it can turn the heaviest afflictions into precious mercies....

Verse Jeremiah 9:12. _WHO_ IS _THE WISE MAN_] To whom has God revealed these things? He is the truly wise man. But it is to his prophet alone that God has revealed these things, and the speedy fulfilment of the predictions will show that the prophet has not spoken of himself....

The punishment described in general terms in the preceding three verses is now detailed at great length. Jeremiah 9:10 THE HABITATIONS I. E - the temporary encampments of the shepherds (see Jeremiah 6:3). SO THAT NONE CAN ... - Or, “They are parched up, with no man to pass through them; neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the birds of the heaven even to the beasts they “are fled, they are gone.” Jeremiah 9:11 DRAGONS - Rather, jackals. Jeremiah 9:12...

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 9:1 The Hebrew more correctly attaches this verse to Jeremiah 8:1. OH THAT MY HEAD WERE WATERS, etc.! A quaint conceit, it may be said. But "if we have been going on pace for pace with the passion before, this sudden conversion of a strong-felt metaphor into something to be actually realized in nature, is strictly and strikingly natural." So Bishop Dearie, quoting, by way of illustration, Shakespeare's 'Richard II.,' "meditating on his own utter annihilation as to royalty:" "Oh that I were a mockery king of snow, To melt before the sun of Bolingbroke!" The tone of complaint continues in the following verse, though the subject is different....

WHO IS THE WISE MAN THAT MAY UNDERSTAND THIS?.... Not the calamity, but the cause of it; a man of wisdom would inquire into it, find it out, and understand it; but the intimation is, that there was not a wise man among them, at least very few; there were scarce any that took any notice of these things, or were concerned about them: AND WHO IS HE TO WHOM THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH SPOKEN; and foretold this desolation and destruction; meaning a prophet: THAT HE MAY DECLARE IT; as from the Lord, namely, what follows: FOR WHAT THE LAND PERISHETH, AND IS BURNT LIKE A WILDERNESS, THAT NONE PASSETH THROUGH? that is, what were the sins of the inhabitants of the land, which brought such distress upon it, and for which it became such a ruinous heap, and like the heath in the wilderness, so that it had no inhabitant, nor even a passenger: they must be some very great and abominable iniquities th...

Jeremiah 9:1. _Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!_ Jeremiah foresaw that the Chaldeans would come up, and so many would be slain that the nation would be almost destroyed. Jeremiah 9:2. _Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men._ He mourned because of the doom that awaited them; but he equally mourned because of the sin that would bring that doom upon them. He wished that he could get away into one of those refuges, which were provided in lonely places, where travelers might lodge for a night....

CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The prophet's complaint and Jehovah's answer (Jeremiah 9:1) _ 2. The cause of desolation and destruction (Jeremiah 9:10) 3. The call for the mourning and wailing women (Jeremiah 9:17) 4. Glorying in the Lord in view of judgment (Jeremiah 9:23) Jeremiah 9:1. Here again is a deplorable break. The opening verses of this chapter belong to the preceding one. The prophet still speaks. He is overwhelmed with sorrow; his eyes are fountains of tears. He weeps day and night over the slain. He wish

FAITHLESSNESS AND ITS RETRIBUTION: THE DIRGE OF DEATH. The humblest caravanserai would be preferable to life among these evil men, with their calumnies and the unfaithful use of power by those in authority, their mutual deceit, and their untruthfulness (Jeremiah 9:2)_._ Yahweh will prove them in His furnace (Jeremiah 6:29), because of the wickedness of His people (so read in Jeremiah 9:7, with LXX, which continues preferably, after arrow, in Jeremiah 9:8, the words of their mouth are deceit, and omits with his mouth). Jeremiah 9:9 occurs in...