Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 2:22
For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, [yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
22. lye ] the same as washing-soda. “It occurs as an incrustation on the ground in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere, and is also a constituent in the water of certain saline lakes. The most famous of the latter are the ‘natron lakes’ in Egypt. They lie in the ‘natron valley’ about 60 miles W.N.W. of Cairo.” HDB. s. v. Nitre.
soap ] As natron is a mineral so this is a vegetable alkali. Salsola kali (saltwort) is the chief plant among those used in its production, and is found in abundance on the Mediterranean coast of Palestine, as well as on the shores of the Dead Sea. This and other plants on being burnt furnish ashes, the lye of which (formed by passing water through them) was used for cleansing purposes. The immense heaps of rubbish frequently found in Palestine shew the extent of the manufacture. Soap-making by the admixture of oils and animal fat, now a prominent branch of industry in Palestine, was much later than Jeremiah’s time.
thine iniquity is marked ] The original word occurs nowhere else in O.T. and apparently means stained. Cp. our expression, (iniquity) of the deepest dye.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Nitre – Or, natron, a mineral alkali, found in the Nile valley, where it effloresces upon the rocks and surfaces of the dykes, and in old time was carefully collected, and used to make lye for washing (see Pro 25:20).
Sope – A vegetable alkali, now called potash, because obtained from the ashes of plants. Its combination with oils, etc., to form soap was not known to the Hebrews until long after Jeremiahs time, but they used the lye, formed by passing water through the ashes. Thus then, though Israel use both mineral and vegetable alkalies, the most powerful detergents known, yet will she be unable to wash away the stains of her apostasy.
Thine iniquity is marked – i. e., as a stain.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 2:22
Though thou wash thee with nitre.
No self-expiation
One of the shortest, but most pregnant, words in our language is sin. And yet it is one of those words least understood. The whole system of the Gospel rests on the fact of sin, and on the dreadful evil of sin, and on the inexpiable character of sin by any human means whatsoever. Our text puts the truth with a very startling clearness. The nitre here mentioned was a mineral substance, and the soap was a vegetable substance, both employed for the purpose of removing spots; and the meaning is, adopt what means you may and all the means within your power, and still your sin will remain, it will strike through again, and be as fresh as the day on which it was committed. This is true of sin in both its aspects of guilt and stain: as guilt or wrong you cannot remove it; and as a blot you cannot remove it. Let us look at it as guilt or wrong. Who can expiate it as a matter of right? If the question be asked, but may not God waive His right? We answer that, if He did this, it would be an act of grace; it would be a voluntary surrender on His part of what He had a right to claim and to inflict. But it does not require much thought to teach us that God could never give to any of His creatures the power of expiation consistent with the stability of His own throne and government. To grant that a man has power to expiate a sin, would be to grant that he has a right to insult God and to sin whenever he desires. Such an engagement would place God in the position of a being who was trafficking in selling the right to do iniquity. You can conceive of a foolish father or mother possessing an imperious nature, and anxious to display supreme authority, incessantly commanding and forbidding their children to do certain trifling things–things which, whether done or left undone, would be of no injury to the children. This is not government. It is irritation. This is not encouraging obedience; it is promoting rebellion. It frets the will by the assertion of needless and unreasonable claims. But surely, the commands of God are not of this character. The commands of God are God Himself in expression, and not merely the power of God or the will of God, but the sense of right and justice and holiness, without which He could have no claim on the obedience and reverence of any creature. But this is not all. Not only do Gods commands express His own eternal nature, and not only do they appeal to our moral nature, so that we cannot treat them as if they were simply suggestions, or pieces of advice, or matters of taste; but they are commands which contemplate and secure, in so far as they are obeyed, our happiness. In other words, they not only enjoin the right way, but the happy way. To sin, therefore, is not only to disobey, but to derange; it is not only to set at nought a Divine injunction, but to outrage your own nature. If therefore the line of obedience to the Divine will is also, as it most assuredly is, the line of blessedness to yourself, do you not see that there can be no expiation for disobedience? Will punishment for a certain time be an expiation? In no country is it held that imprisonment for theft is as good as honesty; in no country is a fine for drunkenness as good as sobriety. But if punishment is not an expiation for sin in human government, in the sense of being regarded as an equivalent for the offence which has been committed, if it does not restore to a man either the character or the standing which he occupied before, so neither is it an expiation for sin in our relations to God. It is true that He too says, If you sin you will also suffer; but He does not say, Your suffering will stand good instead of your obedience. When God punishes, He says first, I cannot be trifled with, and I cannot have My laws set at nought. The punishment means that in the first instance; it must mean that, whether it means anything else or not. If it be asked whether punishment is not meant to be corrective, and whether it is not meant also to be preventive, by way of example to others who see the suffering which follows sin, I admit that these are among the purposes of punishment; but they are secondary purposes. God says to us, If you sin punishment will follow whether you are corrected by it or you are not, and whether others take warning by it or not. It may be said that suffering is not the only nitre and soap by means of which men seek to wash off the guilt of sin; that there is repentance, and future amendment; and that these are sufficient as a set-off against any amount of transgression. Now, it is impossible for us to determine what repentance can do or what future amendment can do, in reference to past sin, without the light which Scripture gives us. Repentance is a change of mind and heart and life; and in the dispensation under which we live, repentance is connected with faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And it must not be torn from this connection. The parable of the prodigal son teaches us, that as a son must return to his father, and will be received if he returns, so if a man return to God he will be received. But it was not meant to expound the whole Gospel. The great truth is set forth that a returning child is received; but the way of return Christ explains again and again in His other teachings, as for example when He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father, but by Me. The question which we have all to consider is, how is the guilt of our sins to be dealt with that it will not be laid at last to our charge? The answer of the Gospel is not that repentance will stand between it and us. It is that Christ will stand between it and us. Repentance does not bear our sins; Christ bears our sins. (E. Mellor, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre] It should be rendered natar or natron, a substance totally different from our nitre. It comes from the root nathar, to dissolve, loosen, because a solution of it in water is abstersive, taking out spots, c., from clothes. It is still used in the east for the purpose of washing. If vinegar be poured on it, Dr. Shaw says, a strong effervescence is the immediate consequence, which illustrates Pr 25:20: “The singing of songs to a heavy heart is like vinegar upon natron” that is, there is no affinity between them; opposition and strife are occasioned by any attempt to unite them.
Thine iniquity is marked before me] No washing will take out thy spots; the marks of thy idolatry and corruption are too deeply rooted to be extracted by any human means.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Though interpreters do greatly vary. in describing what is particularly meant here by
nitre and soap, and it would be superfluous to mention here; yet all agree they are some materials that artists make use of for the cleansing away spots from the skin, clothes, or other things; and the sense is plain, that the blot of his people is by no art to be taken out: it cannot be covered by excuses; Though thou wouldst dissemble thy idolatries, thou canst not deceive me: nor expiated by sacrifices; it is beyond the power of all superstitious or religious washings to cleanse away, which may be understood by these natural and artificial ways of cleansing.
Thine iniquity is marked: the meaning seems to be either, Thy filthiness is so foul that it leaves a brand behind it that cannot be hid or washed out, but will abide: see Jer 17:1. Or, according to another acceptation of the word,
it is laid up with God. See the like Deu 32:34; Hos 13:12. Purge thee, wash thee, do what thou wilt, thou canst by no means conceal thy wickedness from me, Job 9:20. They that would see greater variety of interpretations, let them consult the Synopsis.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. nitrenot what is now socalled, namely, saltpeter; but the natron of Egypt, a mineralalkali, an incrustation at the bottom of the lakes, after the summerheat has evaporated the water: used for washing (compare Job 9:30;Pro 25:20).
soappotash, thecarbonate of which is obtained impure from burning different plants,especially the kali of Egypt and Arabia. Mixed with oil it wasused for washing.
markeddeeplyingrained, indelibly marked; the Hebrew, catham, beingequivalent to cathab. Others translate, “is treasuredup,” from the Arabic. MAURERfrom a Syriac root, “is polluted.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For though thou wash thee with nitre,…. The word , “nitre”, is only used in this place and in Pr 25:20 and it is hard to say what it is. Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, that some say it is what is called “alum”; and others that it is a dust with which they wash the head, and cleanse everything; and so Jarchi says it is a kind of earth used in cleaning garments; and “nitre” is mentioned by the Misnic doctors s among those things which are used for the washing of garments, and taking spots out of them; though about what it is they are not agreed; and it seems the nitre of the ancients is unknown to us t; and saltpetre is put in the room of it; and some render the word here “saltpetre”; and Pliny u observes, that nitre does not much differ from salt, and ascribes to it a virtue of eating out filth, and removing it; so Aristotle w reports of the lake Ascania; that its water is of such a nitrous quality, that garments, being put into it, need no other washing. Nitre has its name from , “to loose”, because it looses the filth, and cleanses from it:
and take thee much soap. The Septuagint render it, “herb”; and the Vulgate Latin version, “the herb borith”; which is the Hebrew word here used; and about the sense of which there is some difficulty. Kimchi and Ben Melech say some take it to be the same with what is called “soap”; so Jarchi; and others, that it is an herb with which they wash, the same that is called fullers’ herb; but whether it is soap, or fullers’ herb, or fullers’ earth, as others, it is certain it is something fullers used in cleaning garments, as appear from Mal 3:2, where the same word is used, and fullers made mention of as using what is signified by it. It has its name from , which signifies to “cleanse” and “purify”. The sense is, let this backsliding and degenerate people take what methods they will to cleanse themselves from their sins, as by their ceremonial ablutions and sacrifices, which was the usual method they had recourse to, to purify themselves, and in which they rested:
yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God; or, “will retain its spots” x these remain; the filth is not washed away; the iniquity is not hid and covered; it appears very plain and manifest;
yea, shines like gold; or, “is gilded” y; as the word used signifies. It is of too deep a die to be removed by such external things; nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse from sin, take away its filth, removes its guilt, and cover it out of the sight of God, so that it can be seen no more. The Targum is,
“for if you think to be cleansed from your sins, as they cleanse with nitre, or make white with “borith”, or soap; lo, as the mark of a spot which is not clean, so are your sins multiplied before me, saith the Lord God.”
s Misn. Sabbat, c. 9. sect. 5. Nidda, c. 9. sect. 6. Maimon & Bartenora in ib. & in Misn. Celim, c. 10. sect. 1. t Schroder. Pharmacopoeia, l. 3. c. 23. p. 140. u Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 10. w Opera, vol. 1, de Mirabil. p. 705. x “Maculas tamen retinebit iniquitas tua”, Schmidt. y “nitet, [vel splendet], instar anri”, Piscator “obducat se auro insigni”, Junius Tremellius so Gussetius renders the word, “inaurari, auro ebduci” and who rightly observes, that whatever is glided, or covered with gold, the more it is washed with nitre, or soap, the brighter it will appear; and so, whatever other methods are taken to wash away sin, but seeking for justification by the grace of God in Christ, it will be but the more manifest, Ebr. Comment. p. 410.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We have already seen, and the Prophet will often repeat the same thing, — that the people were become so refractory that they would not willingly give way to any reproofs; for they were almost all of such a hard front, and so obdurate in their wickedness, that they dared insolently to raise objections against the prophets; whenever they severely reproved them: “What! Are not we God’s holy people? Has he not chosen us? Are we not the holy seed of Abraham?” It was therefore necessary for the prophets to apply a hard wedge to a hard knot, as they commonly say. As, then, the Israelites were like a knotty wood, it was necessary to strike hard their obstinacy.
On this account Jeremiah now says, Even if thou wert to wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thee borith, yet thine iniquity would be before me marked; that is, “Ye effect nothing when ye set forth various pretences for the sake of excusing your impiety: wash yourselves, but your iniquity remains marked before me.” The Prophet speaks in the person of God, that he might add more weight to the denunciation he pronounced on the Israelites, and by which he reduced to nothing their self — flatteries, according to what has been already stated.
By nitre and borith they removed stains in cloth; and hence borith is often mentioned in connection with fullers. But there is no need of a laborious inquiry, whether it was an herb or dust, or something of that kind; for as to what is meant, it is generally agreed that the Prophet teaches us by this metaphor, — that hypocrites gain nothing by setting up their pretences, that they may escape, when God condemns them. Hence he says, that all their attempts would be vain and fruitless. How so? Because their iniquity remained unwashed; that is, because they could not remove by washing what is imprinted. Spots or stains can indeed be cleansed or washed away by soap or other things; but when the stain is inward, and imprinted within, washing will avail nothing, for the marks are so deep that some more efficacious remedy must be adopted. So now the Prophet says, that the stains were imprinted, and therefore could not be washed away or cleansed by soap or borith. (52)
But the Prophet says, that the stains were marked, or stamped, before God; for it was a common thing with the Israelites to clear themselves from every blame; nay, so great was their audacity, that they openly opposed the prophets, as though some great wrong was done to them; and they called the prophets accusers and slanderers, Hence he says, Thine iniquity is stamped before me? (53) that is, “However thou mayest by self — flatteries deceive thyself, and hidest thy sins before the world, yet thou gainest nothing; for in my sight thine iniquity ever remains stamped. ” He afterwards adds —
(52) What we call “nitre” is different from the “nitron” here mentioned. The verb, from which the noun is derived, means to loosen, to set free: and hence the article called nitron dissolves in water, and loosens and washes away spots and stains. Borith was an herb, which, being burnt, and its ashes dissolved in water, had a strong cleansing power. — Ed.
(53) The verb rendered “stamped” is only found here in Niphel, but, as a participial noun, it seems to mean gold stamped or marked to shew its genuineness. See Psa 45:9; Pro 25:12. A stain or spot is not what it signifies, as given by the Septuagint and the Vulgate, nor “blot,” according to Blarney; but it refers to the stamp or mark imprinted on a hard metal, such as gold: and this idea alone corresponds with the other parts of the verse. A stain, a spot, or a blot, might be cleansed by abstergents, but not a mark stamped on a metal, —
But thou washest thyself with nitron, And multipliest for thyself fuller’s ashes: Stamped is thine iniquity before me, Saith the Lord Jehovah.
—
Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Nitre.The mineral alkali found in the natron lakes of Egypt that took their name from it. The Hebrew word nether is the origin of the Greek and English words. (Comp. Pro. 25:20.)
Sope.Not the compounds of alkali and oil or fat now known by the name, but the potash or alkali, obtained from the ashes of plants, which was used by itself as a powerful detergent. The thought is the same as that of Job. 9:30, and, we may add, as that of Macbeth, Acts 2, sc. 2 :
Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
The guilt was too strongly marked, too deep-dyed in grain to be removed by any outward palliatives.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Nitre A mineral alkali.
Soap A vegetable alkali. The original for wash is not the ordinary term, but the one which is used in application to the fuller. The most powerful means of purification of human devising would be ineffectual.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 2:22. Though thou wash thee with nitre See Pro 25:20 and Scheuchzer’s observations on the place. See Virg. Georg. 3:
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 2:22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, [yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre. ] Much used of old by fullers and neat laundresses, say Isidore and Athanasius, a now not known in these parts; apothecaries use saltpetre instead of it. Sin leaveth behind it a deep stain, so ingrained that it will hardly ever be gotten out, not at all by blanching, extenuating, excusing, &c., or by any legal purifications, hypocritical lotions. All which notwithstanding,
Thine iniquity is marked before me.
a Lib. xvi. Etym.; Lib. de Virg. – Nitrum sordes erodit et expurgat. – Plin.
b Piscat.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
nitre: i.e. a mineral alkali. In Palestine a compound of soap.
sope = soap.
marked = graven.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
For though: Job 9:30, Job 9:31
yet thine iniquity: Jer 16:17, Jer 17:1, Deu 32:34, Job 14:17, Psa 90:8, Psa 130:3, Hos 13:12, Amo 8:7
Reciprocal: Deu 21:6 – wash their hands 1Sa 15:14 – What meaneth 2Sa 11:12 – General 2Sa 14:32 – if there Psa 109:15 – before Pro 16:2 – the ways Pro 28:13 – that Pro 30:12 – that are Jer 13:23 – Ethiopian Mal 1:6 – And ye Mal 2:11 – profaned Mal 3:2 – like fullers’ 1Jo 1:8 – say
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 2:22. Nitre is defined in the lexicon as “potash which corresponds to lye. If both lye and soap are used on a surface without getting it clean. It is certainly very much defiled and the uncleanness would be deep seated. Marked is from KATHAM which Strong defines, “a primitive root,; properly to carve or engrave, i.e. (by implication) to inscribe indelibly. It means the uncleanness is deeper than the surface and is engraved into the body of the object, hence mere cleansing articles such as lye or soap would have no effect on it. The application is to the iniquity of the nation of Israel, and means that nothing the people can do for themselves will remove the mark. This is another passage that might seem to conflict with others where the Lord exhorted his people to reform and make themselves clean and he would receive them. The apparent difficulty is explained by observing the difference, between the nation aB a whole, and certain Individuals in it. There is a long note on (his subject with the comments on 2Ki 22:17 in Vol. 2 of this Commentary.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 2:22. For though thou wash thee with nitre, &c. Though thou shouldest use ever so many methods of washing away thy sins, such as the rites of expiation prescribed by the law, or practised by idolaters; though thou shouldest insist ever so much upon thy own innocence and righteousness, yet the marks or stains of thy sins will always appear in the sight of God, till they are done away by his pardoning mercy, exercised toward thee in consequence of thy repentance and reformation. The nitre here mentioned is not what we call nitre, or salt-petre, but a native salt of a different kind, distinguished among naturalists by the name of natrum, or the nitre of the ancients. It is found in abundance in Egypt, and in many parts of Asia, where it is called soap-earth, because it is dissolved in water, and used like soap in washing. Blaney.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:22 For though thou shalt wash thee with {g} lye, and take thee much soap, [yet] thy iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
(g) Though you use all the purifications and ceremonies of the law, you cannot escape punishment.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Israel could not cleanse herself of her iniquity. Ritual ablutions and sacrifices would not do the job (cf. 1Jn 1:7). "Lye" was a mineral alkali cleanser, and "soap" was a vegetable alkali cleanser.