Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 2:15
The young lions roared upon him, [and] yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.
15. The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled ] referring to the frequent Assyrian invasions. The lion was the symbol of Assyria (Nah 2:12 f.). Cp. Isa 5:29 (of an attacking host).
burned up ] Many prefer to render, slightly altering MT., are laid waste, desolated, as in Jer 4:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Upon him – Rather, against him. Israel has run away from his masters house, but only to find himself exposed to the beasts of prey in the wilderness.
They made his land waste – The prophet points to the actual results of Israels until the multiplication of wild beasts rendered human life unsafe 2Ki 17:25, but the Assyrian invasions had reduced Judaea to almost as sad a state.
Burned – Others render, leveled to the ground.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 2:15
The young lions roared upon him, and yelled.
Dangers outside the Divine bounds
That comes of going from home, leaving sacred discipline, taking life into ones own hand, assuming the mastership of ones own fortune and destiny. Woe betide the man who goes beyond the bounds which God has fixed! Immediately outside those bounds the lion waits, or the plague, or the pestilence, or the pit hardly hidden but deep immeasurable. Luther said: Who would paint a picture of the present condition of the Church, let him paint a young woman in a wilderness or in some desert place; and round about her let him figure hungry lions whose eyes are glaring upon her and whoso mouths are open to devour her substance and her beauty. Is the Church in a much better condition today? That is the natural condition of the Church. The Church always challenges the lion, tempts the devourer, excites the passions of evil men. When an evil generation tolerates the Church, applauds its dogmas, and flatters its ministry, it is because that Church has surrendered her prerogatives and trampled her functions in the dust. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Know that the Church of the living God is alive, and is fulfilling her destiny, when all round about her are men more cruel than ravenous beasts. Israel, the home-born slave, who ought to have walked arm-in-arm with the son of the house, left the precincts of the family and plunged into the way of lions. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. The young lions roared upon him] The Assyrians, who have sacked and destroyed the kingdom of Israel, with a fierceness like that of pouncing upon their prey.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The young lions; understand the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians, &c., called
lions from their fierceness, and young from their strength. See this Jer 4:7; 50:17.
Roared upon him, and yelled; noting the terrible voice that the lion puts forth, either in the seizing the prey, some say in sport, Lam 2:7; or the devouring it, Isa 5:29. A metaphor, noting the cruelty of the enemy, Psa 74:4.
Burned without inhabitant, i.e. so consumed and wasted that they are uninhabitable, or shortly shall so consume and waste them. See Jer 2:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. lionsthe Babylonianprinces (Jer 4:7; compare Am3:4). The disaster from the Babylonians in the fourth year ofJehoiakim’s reign, and again three years later when, relying onEgypt, he revolted from Nebuchadnezzar, is here referred to (Jer 46:2;2Ki 24:1; 2Ki 24:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The young lions roared upon him, and yelled,…. Or, “gave out their voice” e; meaning the kings of the nations, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi explain it; and are to be understood of the kings of Assyria and Babylon, and particularly of Nebuchadnezzar; see Jer 50:17 compared to lions for their strength and cruelty; their “roaring” and “yelling design” the bringing forth of their armies against Israel, the noise of the battle, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, and the voice of the warrior:
and they made his land waste; all this is said as past, when it was yet to come, because of the certainty of it, and the sure accomplishment of these prophecies; for this respects the future desolation of the land of Israel at the Babylonish captivity:
his cities are burnt without inhabitant; not only Jerusalem was burnt with fire, Jer 52:13, but other cities in the land of Israel, so that they were not inhabited: or, “they were desolate or destroyed” f as the Septuagint version, so that none could dwell in them; and so the Targum,
“her cities are desolate, without inhabitant.”
Kimchi’s father explains the word by , “budded”, or brought forth herbs or plants; for desolate places bring up plants; where there is no inhabitant, grass grows.
e “dederunt vocem suam”, Montanus, Pagninus; “edunt rocem suam”, Schmidt. f , , “desolatae sunt, [sive] destructae”, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He afterwards adds, Over him roar the lions. The Prophet seems not simply to compare the enemies of Israel to lions on account of their cruelty, but also by way of contempt, as though he had said, that Israel found that not only men were incensed against them, but also wild beasts: and it is more degrading when God permits us to be torn by the beasts of the field. It is then the same, as though he had said, that Israel were so miserably treated, that they were not only slain by the hands of enemies, but were also exposed to the beasts of prey. And then he adds, they have sent forth their voice; which is the same as to say, that Israel, whom God was wont to protect by his powerful band, were become the food of wild beasts, and that lions, as it were in troops, were roaring against them.
He then adds, without a metaphor, that his land was laid waste, and his cities burnt without an inhabitant This language cannot be suitably applied to lions or to any other wild beasts; but what he had figuratively said before, he now explains in a plain manner, and says, that the land was desolate, that the cities were cut off or burnt up. Now this, as we have said, could not have been the case, had not Israel departed from God, and had been on this account deprived of his help. (42)
(42) The verse literally is as follows,-
Over him shall young lions roar; They have uttered their voice, And have made his land a waste; His cities are grown over with grass, Without an inhabitant.
The verb in the first line is future, the other verbs are in the past tense; and Blarney thinks that they are so put to denote the certainty of what is said, as it is often done by the prophets: and this is rendered probable by what is contained in Jer 4:7, where the same judgment is spoken of. The verb נצתה, in the received text, ought evidently to be נצתו, according to the Keri and twenty MSS.; and so we find it in Jer 9:10. Our version and Calvin give it the idea of “burning;” but according to Leigh and Parkhurst, its meaning is, to shoot forth, to produce grass, or to grow over with grass, as the case is with ruined cities; and the words connected with it here and in other places seem to favor this meaning. It is rendered in our version, “laid waste,“ in Jer 4:7, and “desolate” in Jer 46:19. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) The young lions roared . . .The real answer to the question, that Israel had forsaken its true master, is given in Jer. 2:17. Here it is implied in the description of what the runaway slave had suffered. Lions had attacked him; not figuratively only, as symbolising invaders, but in the most literal sense, they had made his land waste (2Ki. 17:25).
Are burned.Better, levelled with the ground.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Lions roared upon him “Lions” stand for enemies thirsting for plunder. Mic 5:8; Isa 5:29, etc. They “roared,” not “upon,” but against, him; a symbolical statement of the calamities already experienced as well as of those yet in reserve. The last sentence in the verse sets forth in plain language the present condition of the kingdom of Israel. But while this is the foreground of the picture, the swiftly-coming calamities of Judah are also present in prophetic vision.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 2:15-16. The young lions roared, &c. Against him lions shall roar: they have lifted up the voice and have made his land a desolation; his cities are burned, so as to be without an inhabitant. Also the children of Memphis and Daphne shall bruise the crown of thy head. It appears, by this verse, who are meant by the young lions in Jer 2:15. Noph and Tahapanes, or Memphis and Daphne, were two cities in Egypt. Jeremiah speaks here of the future as of the past. In the time of Josiah the country was not in the condition here described: the land was not reduced to desolation, nor the cities burned with fire: but the determination of the Lord was past. See ch. Jer 1:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 2:15 The young lions roared upon him, [and] yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.
Ver. 15. The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, ] i.e., The King of Babylon and his forces, more fierce and fell than young lions. Would any take the Church’s picture? saith Luther; a then let him paint a silly, poor maid, sitting in a wood or wilderness, compassed about with hungry lions, wolves, boars, and bears; for this is her condition in the world.
And they made his land waste,
a Loc. com. tit. de persecut. verae Ecclesia.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
young lions: Jer 5:6, Jer 25:30, Jer 50:17, Jdg 14:5, Job 4:10, Psa 57:4, Isa 5:29, Hos 5:14, Hos 11:10, Hos 13:7, Hos 13:8, Amo 3:4, Amo 3:8, Amo 3:12, Nah 2:11
yelled: Heb. gave out their voice
they made: Isa 1:7, Isa 24:1, Eze 5:14
his cities: Jer 4:7, Jer 9:11, Jer 26:9, Jer 33:10, Jer 34:22, Jer 44:22, Isa 5:9, Isa 6:11, Zep 1:18, Zep 2:5, Zep 3:6
Reciprocal: Jer 4:16 – give out Jer 6:8 – lest I Jer 12:8 – crieth out Jer 12:9 – the birds Jer 51:38 – roar Eze 6:6 – the cities 1Pe 5:8 – as
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 2:15. Lions roaring and storming out of their thickets against a civilization is used lo illustrate the Invasion of the Babylonian army. Cities are burned took place in course of the siege and attack recounted in 2 Kings 24, 25. Most of the accounts of that campaign pertain to Jerusalem because it was the capital city. But the phrase the mighty of the land in 2Ki 24:13 indicates that a general attack was made in the country; it was then the cities were burned.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 2:15-16. The young lions roared upon them Lions, in the figurative style of prophecy, denote powerful princes and conquerors; see Jer 50:17; where the king of Assyria is mentioned as one of those lions which had devoured him, and Nebuchadnezzar as another. If we consider the prophet as speaking here of what was past, by the young lions he probably means the kings of Syria and Assyria, who laid the country waste, not only of the ten tribes, but also Judah and Benjamin; and carried the Israelites into captivity; see Isa 1:7. But the words are more properly rendered, The young lions shall roar upon him; and so may be understood of Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, whose successive hostilities against the kingdom of Judah were foreseen by the prophet, and are probably here foretold. It is true, the following verbs of this verse are in the past time, but the context favours interpreting them of the future. Nor is it unusual for the prophets to speak of events yet to come, and foreseen by them, as if they had been already accomplished. They made his land waste, his cities are burned, &c.
That Jeremiah speaks here of the future, and not of the past, appears from this: that in the time of Josiah, when this prophecy was uttered, the country was not in the condition here described; the land had not been reduced to desolation, nor the cities burned with fire; but the determination of the Lord was past, and the prophet clearly foresaw that these calamities would come. Also the children of Noph, &c., have broken the crown of thy head By the children of Noph and Tahapanes are meant the Egyptians, these being the two principal cities of Egypt, called by heathen writers Memphis and Taphanes, or Daphn Pelusic. This no doubt alludes, says Blaney, to the severe blow which the nation received in a capital part, when the good King Josiah was defeated by the Egyptians, and slain in battle; or when, afterward, upon the deposition of Jehoahaz, the glory of the monarchy was debased, by its being changed into a tributary and dependant kingdom, 2Ki 23:29-34, and 2Ch 35:20.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:15 The young {x} lions roared upon him, [and] yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without {y} inhabitant.
(x) The Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.
(y) Not one will be left to dwell there.