Jeremiah 9:14

But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: WALKED AFTER THE IMAGINATION OF THEIR OWN HEART - (). BAALIM - plural of Baal, to express his supposed manifold powers. WHICH THEIR FATHERS TAUGHT THEM - (, "I ... profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers;" .) We are not to follow the errors of the fathers, but the authority of Scripture and of God (Jerome)....

He then adds,_And they have walked after the hardiness, _or _obstinacy_, or _imaginations_, _of their own heart _(246) He opposes the imaginations, or hardness of the heart, to the voice of God, as we find in other places, where contrary things are stilted, that is, what men’s minds devise, and what God shews by his word to be right; for there is no less contrariety between the rule of right living and the imaginations of men, than there is between fire and water. Let us therefore know, that our life cannot be rightly formed except we renounce our own imaginations, and simply obey the voice of God: for as soon as we yield the least to our own imaginations, we necessarily turn aside from the right way, which God has made known to us in his word. This contrast, then, between the law of God and the imaginations or the obduracy of men ought to be carefully noticed. He then more clearly expla...

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....

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....

BUT HAVE WALKED AFTER THE IMAGINATION OF THEIR OWN HEART,.... What their own hearts devised, chose, and were best pleased with; Jeremiah 7:24, AND AFTER BAALIM; the idols of the Gentiles; these they served and worshipped, and not the true God: WHICH THEIR FATHERS TAUGHT THEM; which was so far from excusing them, that it was an aggravation of their sin, that they had continued in their wicked ways and idolatrous practices, from age to age, from one generation to another. This then was the cause of their calamity and destruction; they had forsaken the law of the Lord, and had broken that; they had chose their own ways, and had been guilty of idolatrous practices time out of mind; wherefore the Lord had shown much longsuffering and patience with them, and would now no longer forbear he was just and righteous in his doings....

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...

BECAUSE THEY HAVE FORSAKEN MY LAW. These three verses declared the reasons why these awful judgments shall come upon Israel. They had forsaken God's law; they had turned to the worship of Baalim, or the Baal gods; therefore they should reap the fruit of their sins and eat wormwood and drink gall. The bitterness of wormwood and gall are metaphors to declare the bitterness of the anguish....