Jeremiah 9:25

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; I WILL PUNISH ALL THEM WHICH ARE CIRCUMCISED WITH THE UNCIRCUMCISED - rather, 'all that are circumcised in uncircumcision' (Henderson). The Hebrew is an abstract term, not a concrete, as the English version translates, and as the previous "circumcised" is. The nations specified, Egypt, Judah, etc., were outwardly "circumcised," but in heart were "uncircumcised." The pagan nations were defiled, in spite of their literal circumcision, by idolatry. The Jews, with all their glorying in their spiritual privileges, were no better (, "Take away the foreskins of your heart;" ; ;...

The Prophet, after having removed the obstacle which he saw hindered the Jews from reverently receiving the truth of God, now speaks more sharply, and performs the office of a herald in denouncing the vengeance which was at hand: _Behold, _he says, _come shall the days, _in which _I will visit all the uncircumcised in uncircumcision _ This passage admits of two meanings. Some interpreters take as distinct these two words, מול _mul, _the circumcised, בערלה, _beorle, _in uncircumcision; as though Jeremiah had said, “I will visit the Jews, who are circumcised, as well as the heathen nations, who are uncircumcised,” Others read them jointly, — that God threatens vengeance on the Jews and Gentiles, because they were circumcised, and still retained uncircumcision. The passage may however be thus suitably explained, — that there was a mixture, which corrupted the sacredness of circumcision,

23-26 In this world of sin and sorrow, ending soon in death and judgement, how foolish for men to glory in their knowledge, health, strength, riches, or in any thing which leaves them under the dominion of sin and the wrath of God! and of which an account must hereafter be rendered; it will but increase their misery. Those are the true Israel who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Let us prize the distinction which comes from God, and will last for ever. Let us seek it diligently....

Verse Jeremiah 9:25. _I WILL PUNISH ALL_ THEM WHICH ARE _CIRCUMCISED WITH THE_ _UNCIRCUMCISED_] Do not imagine that _you_, because of your crimes, are the only objects of my displeasure; the _circumcised_ and the _uncircumcised_, the _Jew_ and the _Gentile_, shall equally feel the stroke of my justice, their transgressions being alike, after their advantages and disadvantages are duly compared. In like manner, _other nations_ also were delivered into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, these he immediately enumerates: _Egypt_ and _Edom_, and the _Moabites_ and the _Ammonites_, and the _Arabians of the_ _desert_. All these nations were _uncircumcised_ in that way which God required that rite to be practised as a sign of his _covenant_; and the Israelites, that did practise it as a sign...

ALL THEM WHICH ARE CIRCUMCISED ... - Rather, “all circumcised in uncircumcision,” i. e., all who though outwardly circumcised have no corresponding inward purity....

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....

BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD,.... Or, "are coming" h; it seems to respect the time after the Babylonish captivity, when the punishment after threatened took place, and not before: THAT I WILL PUNISH ALL THEM THAT ARE CIRCUMCISED WITH THE UNCIRCUMCISED; Jews and Gentiles together. The circumcised. Jews trusting in their circumcision, and being, as is said in the next verse, uncircumcised in heart, were no better than the uncircumcised Gentiles; wherefore both being transgressors of the law, and despisers of the Gospel of Christ, are threatened with destruction; see Romans 2:12. h ימים באים "dies [sunt] venientes", Schmidt, Montanus; "venturi sunt", Junius Tremellius, Piscator....

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

THE KNOWLEDGE OF YAHWEH: UNCIRCUMCISED ISRAEL. This paragraph contains two originally distinct prophecies, unrelated to their present context, though quite possibly Jeremianic. They teach the glory of Israel's religion (Jeremiah 9:23 f.), and the futility of physical without spiritual circumcision (Jeremiah 9:25 f.). In the second, Israel is degraded to the level of other, uncircumcised nations. Jeremiah 9:26. The corner-clipt (Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 49:32) are those shaved around the brow, according to the practice of some Arab