Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 4:19
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
19. My bowels ] considered as the seat of profound emotion. Cp. Jer 31:20, Isa 16:11; Isa 63:15; Ca. Jer 5:4 (R.V. mg.).
I am pained ] decidedly to be preferred to mg. I will wait patiently.
at my very heart ] O the walls of my heart! a separate exclamation. The “walls” are the sides of the cavity of the heart or the chest, against which it seems to beat. The prophet is speaking to some extent as a representative of the people.
is disquieted ] The word in the Hebrew denotes tumultuous movement, pain, and the expression of it in sound.
thou hast heard, O my soul ] better, as mg. (with different vocalisation in the Hebrew) my soul heareth. So LXX, Du. and Co. omit “my soul,” and read, with a very slight addition to the Hebrew verb, I hear.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
19 22. The prophet is racked with grief at the noise of war and the thought of its horrors and all through the mad folly of his people.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
19 22. See summary at commencement of section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The verse is best translated as a series of ejaculations, in which the people express their grief at the ravages committed by the enemy:
My bowels! My bowels! I writhe in pain!
The walls of my heart! My heart moans for me!
I cannot keep silence!
For thou hast heard, O my soul, the trumpets voice!
The alarm of war!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 4:19-26
I am pained at my very heart.
The prophets lamentations over his peoples doom
I. The complaint or lamentation itself.
1. The parts affected. The soul and inward man.
(1) The secrecy of it, the mind and soul being inward and hidden.
(2) The mind receives and digests the thoughts.
(3) The mind is the mother of thoughts, conceiving and generating them.
2. The grief of those parts.
(1) God need not go far for the punishment of wicked men; He can do it from within themselves; can punish a man with his own affections and thoughts.
(2) What good cause we have to regulate and control our affections, avoid passion and excess of emotion, take care to be pacific, and enjoy a sabbatic tranquillity in our spirits.
3. The passage or vent.
(1) The speech of discovery. He cannot help revealing these workings of his own spirit.
(2) The speech of lamentation. He must bewail and utter complaint, his anguish was so great (Job 7:11).
II. The ground or occasion of his lamentation.
1. The tidings or report itself.
(1) The trumpet of providence.
(2) The trumpet of the Word.
(3) The trumpet of vision, or extraordinary prophetical revelation.
2. The conveyance of it to the prophet.
(1) The soul, through the corporeal organ of hearing.
(2) The soul immediately, as being that which had communion with God.
(3) The soul emphatically; that is heard, indeed, which is heard by the soul. Hence–
(a) Gods excellency: He speaks.
(b) Mans duty: he hears.
3. The improvement or use he makes of it.
(1) His meditations aroused his affections.
(a) This is the aim of a revelation.
(b) We should endeavour to bring revelations for others to our own spiritual advancement and profit.
(2) What these affections were which the tidings aroused.
(a) An or at his peoples obstinacy.
(b) Fear of the coming judgment.
(c) Grief at his peoples state and doom (T. Herren, D. D.)
The alarm of war.
War
The alarm of war. A dreadful alarm; one that conjures up horrors and miseries that can scarcely be too deeply coloured. It sends a shudder through the system to think of the wealth of faculty and of resource that is expended over the problem how men can most effectually blow up and slay their fellows, and spread ruin and devastation upon the earth. Strip the thing of all the plumage of romance; look at it in its naked literalness, and it is simply horrible. That is true, too true, undeniably true. But let us learn a lesson. What capacities of heroism, of lofty patriotism, of courageous and unstinting self-sacrifice are called forth by the sound of the trumpet! Well, if only this potency of action, this burning enthusiasm, could be transferred to the Holy War that we are called to wage–ay, what then? Who are the real world heroes? An Alexander, a Napoleon? No, not the wakeful conquerors whose path has been as the whirlwind, but the men and women of whom the world often heard little, for the world does not know its best benefactors–the men and women who have broken the chains of the slave; who have lifted the poor from the dunghill; who have spoken the word of truth for which the soul of man was waiting; who have helped their kind to nobler and higher life; and all and only for God and for humanity. To them the statues and the monuments should be reared, and the canvas animated, and the laurel entwined. They are your leaders, O Christian people. Their fight is your fight, and it is His fight who is the Captain of our salvation. If I were to say to you in regard to this highest and noblest warfare, as Marshal Blanco said to the Cuban Spaniards, Do you swear to follow in this fight? would you reply Yes, we do? I suppose you would. But just pause. Have you ever parted with a single comfort, with an enjoyment, with something that you feel to be good, if not necessary for your well-being; a something to which you are quite entitled; to secure an unselfish end; to better some cause; to get more into the inner place of human soul; to spread the knowledge of Gods Christ and of your Fathers kingdom in our world? Oh, that as we raise the vision of one kind of war that is blistered all over with mourning, lamentation, and woe, oh, that there might rise upon our souls the vision of that other war that has no such blisters, that is written all over with the characters of true, noble, glorious life or death! Oh, that this vision might take some shape and some consistency and some solidarity within us. There is no life that is worth anything that is not a fighting life. God made us to fight; He set us in the world to fight. The enemy is around us, before us, without us, aye, and within us. I ask, who of you are ready, humbly, reflecting, but earnestly, to lift up your hand to Him, your risen Lord, who is beckoning you, and say, By Thy help, Lord, I will. Here am I. I have been but a laggard; I have been content to fight in the rear. Take me on to the van, and let me have some worthy part with Thee in this great holy war. Here am I, Prince of Peace, send me. (J. M. Lang, D. D.)
The alarm of war
I. Of hearing the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war.
1. We ought to have our ears open to the voice of God in the dispensations of His providence (Mic 6:9).
2. When we hear the sound of the trumpet, and the alarm of war, we ought to consider the causes of these alarms. The prophets often denounce war as a judgment of God against His people, or against the Gentiles. In publishing such threatenings they, for the most part, speak of the sins that have provoked God to afflict His creatures with this calamity; and when they do not specify the grounds of the Lords controversy, as in chap. 49, they leave no room to doubt that God is justly displeased. God has just reason, for our sins at present, not only to threaten, but to punish us with His vengeance. We ought to wonder at His forbearance, that He has not long since caused the sword to reach unto the whole of the nation, to avenge the quarrel of His covenant.
3. The probable or possible consequences of these alarms of war ought to come under our view when we hear the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war. When we make that preparation which religion enjoins against possible evils, if these evils should not overtake us, we are no losers, but gainers. The fear of evil has often been productive of much good. Happy is the man who feareth always, and especially in times when there is peculiar cause of fear; but he who hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
II. The impression which the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war ought to make upon us.
1. Those external scenes of distress which are the consequences of war must give pain to a heart that is not contracted and hardened by a reigning selfishness of spirit.
2. Souls precipitated into an eternal world must awaken awful sensations in those who believe that, when the dust returns to the earth as it was, the spirit returns to God who gave it.
3. The influence that wars may have upon the interests of religion is a source of anxious concern to the lovers of God (Lam 1:9; Lam 2:6-7; Lam 2:9). Amidst the ravages of war, even in our own times, we have too often heard of the alienation or destruction of houses ordinarily employed in the services of religion. Should God, in His wrath, refuse us His help against those who threaten the subversion of our liberties, who can foresee what dismal consequences in the state of religion would ensue?
4. Gods indignation, apparent in the alarms of war, ought to impress every mind with deep concern.
III. What improvement is to be made of the sound of the trumpet and of the alarm of war?
1. Let us consider our ways, and inquire how far we are chargeable with those provocations of the Divine majesty which expose us to danger from our enemies. When God threatens judgments, He observes our behaviour. He returns and repents when men are ready to acknowledge their offences, and to forsake them; but woe to those who are at ease in their sins, and never inquire what are the causes of the Lords contendings with them.
2. We ought to humble ourselves before God, on account of our iniquities. Observe in what manner Ezra and Daniel bewailed and confessed their own iniquities, and the iniquities of their people (Ezr 9:1-15; Dan 9:1-27). What would we think of a child that did not mourn when his father was justly displeased with him? We would think that he was cursed with a disposition that totally disqualified him for enjoying the sweetest pleasures that man can taste. By this similitude the Scripture teaches us how unnatural a thing insensibility to the chastisements of the Divine hand ought to be reputed (Num 12:14).
3. Supplications for pardoning and reforming grace ought to accompany our humiliation. We are greatly encouraged to pray by the many examples of successful petitioners for public mercies in Scripture. The ways of God are everlasting. He delights in mercy. He puts words into our mouth for imploring His mercy. He hath left us many promises of merciful returns to our prayers, that we may be encouraged to come boldly to His throne of grace for mercy to ourselves, to our friends and brethren, to the Church, to our king and country.
4. We are warned by the sound of the trumpet and the alarms of war to make God our refuge, and the Most High our habitation. To trust to ourselves is the fruit of atheism. If there is a God, He rules in the army of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of the earth; and He does according to His pleasure. He sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. He bringeth the princes of the earth to nought; He maketh its judges as vanity. But the name of the Lord is a strong tower of defence, some may say, only for the righteous (Pro 18:10). And we are conscious of so many evils, that we have no reason to hope for protection from the Holy One, who takes no pleasure in wickedness, and will not suffer evil to dwell with Him. It is true, the Lord our God is holy; but it is true likewise, that He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Him that cometh unto Me, says Jesus, I will in no wise cast out. You have perhaps heard some ridiculous stories of men that, by some magical secret, were rendered invulnerable in battle. You would not be afraid to encounter the most formidable armies if you were masters of such a secret; but, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. He that liveth, and believeth in Me, shall never die. Who is he that can kill those who cannot die? The words, you will say, must be figuratively understood; for who is the man that liveth, and shall not see death? But, however they are to be understood, they are true and faithful sayings of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, of Him that liveth, and was dead, and is alive for evermore, and holds the keys of the spiritual world, and of death. You are called to mourning in days of danger, but not to that kind of mourning which swallows up the soul. You are called to mourn, that you may rejoice; to be afflicted for your sins, that you may flee from wrath to Christ, and find in Him safety, security, and joy.
5. The sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war is a loud call to us to cease to do evil, and to learn to do well. Our faith in God is a delusion if we hold fast our iniquities. Our faith in Christ, if it is genuine, will purify our hearts and lives. We are exposed to danger, not only from our own personal sins, but from the sins of our fellow subjects; and therefore we ought not only to forsake sin, but to use all our influence to turn other sinners from the error of their ways. It is a righteous thing with God, that those who do not duly oppose the prevalence of sin should share in the miseries which it brings. We ought not only to renounce all iniquity, but to live in the habitual practice of every duty which God requires. (G. Lawson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. My bowels] From this to the twenty-ninth verse the prophet describes the ruin of Jerusalem and the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans in language and imagery scarcely paralleled in the whole Bible. At the sight of misery the bowels are first affected; pain is next felt by a sort of stricture in the pericardium; and then, the heart becoming strongly affected by irregular palpitations, a gush of tears, accompanied with wailings, is the issue. – “My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart, (the walls of my heart;) my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace.” Here is nature, and fact also.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My bowels, my bowels! here begins the woeful complaint of, and the great trouble the prophet was in, upon the consideration of these things, crying out as one even under great pain and torment, doubling his words for want of vent, thereby expressing the excess of his sorrow, which in words was inexpressible; the like 2Sa 18:33; which sorrow of his he expresseth Jer 9:1,10.
I am pained at my very heart, Heb. the walls of my heart; or, my heartstrings, that surrounded and encompassed my heart, are ready to break. He may possibly allude to their encompassing the walls of Jerusalem. Or the proper meaning is, my heart is ready to break; the LXX. rendereth it doth beat or pant. Maketh a noise; is disturbed within me, I can have no rest nor quiet within, Job 30:27; Lam 1:20.
I cannot hold my peace; I cannot forbear my complaints, I am so troubled and grieved, Job 7:11; Isa 22:4.
Because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, i.e. I have heard in the spirit of prophecy; it is as certain as if I now heard the trumpet sounding, and the alarm of war beating up.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. The prophet suddenly assumesthe language of the Jewish state personified, lamenting itsaffliction (Jer 10:19; Jer 10:20;Jer 9:1; Jer 9:10;Isa 15:5; compare Lu19:41).
at my very heartHebrew,“at the walls of my heart”; the muscles round the heart.There is a climax, the “bowels,” the pericardium,the “heart” itself.
maketh . . . noisemoaneth[HENDERSON].
alarmthe battle shout.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My bowels, my bowels,…. These are either the words of the people, unto whose heart the calamity reached, as in the preceding verse; or rather of the prophet, who either, from a sympathizing heart, expresses himself in this manner; or puts on an appearance of mourning and distress, in order to awaken his people to a sense of their condition. The repetition of the word is after the manner of persons in pain and uneasiness, as, “my head, my head”, 2Ki 4:19:
I am pained at my very heart; as a woman in labour. In the Hebrew text it is, “as the walls of my heart” e; meaning either his bowels, as before; or the “praecordia”, the parts about the heart, which are as walls unto it; his grief had reached these walls, and was penetrating through them to his heart, and there was danger of breaking that:
my heart makes a noise in me; palpitates, beats and throbs, being filled with fears and dread, with sorrow and concern, at what was coming on; it represents an aching heart, all in disorder and confusion:
I cannot hold my peace; or be silent; must speak, and vent grief:
because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war; Kimchi observes, he does not say “my ears”, but “my soul”; for as yet he had not heard with his ears the sound of the trumpet; for the enemy was not yet come, but his soul heard by prophecy: here is a Keri and a Cetib, a reading and a writing; it is written , “I have heard”; it is read , “thou hast heard”, which is followed by the Targum: the sense is the same, it is the hearing of the soul. The prophet, by these expressions, represents the destruction as very near, very certain, and very distressing. The trumpet was sounded on different accounts, as Isidore f observes; sometimes to begin a battle; sometimes to pursue those that fled; and sometimes for a retreat.
e “parietes cordis mei”, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. f Orignum l. 18. c. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Grief at the desolation of the land the infatuation of the people. – Jer 4:19. “ My bowels, my bowels! I am pained! the chambers of my heart – my heart rages within me! I cannot hold my peace! for thou hearest (the) sound of the trumpet, my soul, (the) war-cry. Jer 4:20. Destruction upon destruction is called; for spoiled is the whole land; suddenly are my tents spoiled, my curtains in a moment. Jer 4:21 . How long shall I see (the) standard, hear (the) sound of the trumpet? Jer 4:22. For my people is foolish, me they know not; senseless children are they, and without understanding; wise are they to do evil, but to do good they know not. Jer 4:23. I look on the earth, and, lo, it is waste and void; and towards the heavens, and there is no light in them. Jer 4:24. I look on the mountains, and, lo, they tremble, and all the hills totter. Jer 4:25 . I look, and, lo, no man is there, and all the fowls of the heavens are fled. Jer 4:26. I look, and, lo, Carmel is the wilderness, and all the cities thereof are destroyed before Jahveh, before the heath of His anger.”
To express the misery which the approaching siege of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah is about to bring, the prophet breaks forth into lamentation, Jer 4:19-21. It is a much debated question, whether the prophet is the speaker, as the Chald. has taken it, i.e., whether Jeremiah is uttering his own (subjective) feelings, or whether the people is brought before us speaking, as Grot., Schnur., Hitz., Ew. believe. The answer is this: the prophet certainly is expressing his personal feelings regarding the nearing catastrophe, but in doing so he lends words to the grief which all the godly will feel. The lament of Jer 4:20, suddenly are my tents spoiled, is unquestionably the lament not of the prophet as an individual, but of the congregation, i.e., of the godly among the people, not of the mass of the blinded people. The violence of the grief finds vent in abrupt ejaculations of distress. “My bowels, my bowels!” is the cry of sore pain, for with the Hebrews the bowels are the seat of the deepest feelings. The Chet. is a monstrosity, certainly a copyist’s error for , as it is in many MSS and edd., from : I am driven to writhe in agony. The Keri , I will wait (cf. Mic 7:7), yields no good sense, and is probably suggested merely by the cohortative form, a cohortative being regarded as out of place in the case of . But that form may express also the effort to incite one’s own volition, and so would here be rendered in English by: I am bound to suffer pain, or must suffer; cf. Ew. 228, a. – , prop. the walls of my heart, which quiver as the heart throbs in anguish. is not to be joined with the last two words as if it were part of the same clause; in that case we should expect . But these words too are an ejaculation. The subject of is the following ; cf. Jer 48:36. In defiance of usage, Hitz. connects with : my heart can I not put to silence. But this verb in Hiph. means always: be silent, never: put to silence. Not even in Job 11:3 can it have the latter meaning; where we have the same verb construed with acc. rei , as in Job 41:4, and where we must translate: at thy harangues shall the people be silent. The heart cannot be silent, because the soul hears the peal of the war-trumpet. is 2nd pers. fem., as in Jer 2:20, Jer 2:33, and freq., the soul being addressed, as in Psa 16:2 (in ), Psa 42:6, 12. This apostrophe is in keeping with the agitated tone of the whole verse.
Jer 4:20-26 One destruction after another is heralded (on , see Jer 4:6). Ew. translates loosely: wound upon wound meet one another. For the word does not mean wound, but the fracture of a limb; and it seems inadmissible to follow the Chald. and Syr. in taking here in the sense of , since the sig. “meet” does not suit . The thought is this: tidings are brought of one catastrophe after another, for the devastation extends itself over the whole land and comes suddenly upon the tents, i.e., dwellings of those who are lamenting. Covers, curtains of the tent, is used as synonymous with tents; cf. Jer 10:20; Isa 54:2. How long shall I see the standard, etc.! is the cry of despair, seeing no prospect of the end to the horrors of the war. The standard and the sound of the trumpet are, as in Jer 4:5, the alarm-signals on the approach of the enemy.
There is no prospect of an end to the horrors, for (Jer 4:22) the people is so foolish that it understands only how to do the evil, but not the good; cf. for this Jer 5:21; Isa 1:3; Mic 7:3. Jer 4:21 gives God’s answer to the woful query, how long the ravaging of the land by war is to last. The answer is: as long as the people persists in the folly of its rebellion against God, so long will chastising judgments continue. To bring this answer of God home to the people’s heart, the prophet, in Jer 4:23-26, tells what he has seen in the spirit. He has seen ( , perf. proph.) bursting over Judah a visitation which convulses the whole world. The earth seemed waste and void as at the beginning of creation, Gen 1:2, before the separation of the elements and before the creation of organic and living beings. In heaven no light was to be seen, earth and heaven seemed to have been thrown back into a condition of chaos. The mountains and hills, these firm foundations of the earth, quivered and swayed ( , be put into a light motion, cf. Nah 1:5); men had fled and hidden themselves from the wrath of God (cf. Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21), and all the birds had flown out of sight in terror at the dreadful tokens of the beginning catastrophe (Gen 9:9). The fruitful field was the wilderness – not a wilderness, but “changed into the wilderness with all its attributes” (Hitz.). is not appell. as in Jer 2:7, but nom. prop. of the lower slopes of Carmel, famed for their fruitfulness; these being taken as representatives of all the fruitful districts of the land. The cities of the Carmel, or of the fruitful-field, are manifestly not to be identified with the store cities of 1Ki 9:19, as Hitz. supposes, but the cities in the most fertile districts of the country, which, by reason of their situation, were in a prosperous condition, but now are destroyed. “Before the heat of His anger,” which is kindled against the foolish and godless race; cf. Nah 1:6; Isa 13:13.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Punishment Predicted. | B. C. 620. |
19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. 29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. 30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
The prophet is here in an agony, and cries out like one upon the rack of pain with some acute distemper, or as a woman in travail. The expressions are very pathetic and moving, enough to melt a heart of stone into compassion: My bowels! my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; and yet well, and in health himself, and nothing ails him. Note, A good man, in such a bad world as this is, cannot but be a man of sorrows. My heart makes a noise in me, through the tumult of my spirits, and I cannot hold my peace. Note, The grievance and the grief sometimes may be such that the most prudent patient man cannot forbear complaining.
Now, what is the matter? What is it that puts the good man into such agitation? It is not for himself, or any affliction in his family that he grieves thus; but it is purely upon the public account, it is his people’s case that he lays to heart thus.
I. They are very sinful and will not be reformed, v. 22. These are the words of God himself, for so the prophet chose to give this character of the people, rather than in his own words, or as from himself: My people are foolish. God calls them his people, though they are foolish. They have cast him off, but he has not cast them off, Rom. xi. 1. “They are my people, whom I have been in covenant with, and still have mercy in store for. They are foolish, for they have not known me.” Note, Those are foolish indeed that have not known God, especially that call themselves his people, and have the advantages of coming into acquaintance with him, and yet have not known him. They are sottish children, stupid and senseless, and have no understanding. They cannot distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil; they cannot discern the mind of God either in his word or in his providence; they do not understand what their true interest is, nor on which side it lies. They are wise to do evil, to plot mischief against the quiet in the land, wise to contrive the gratification of their lusts, and then to conceal and palliate them. But to do good they have no knowledge, no contrivance, no application of mind; they know not how to make a good use either of the ordinances or of the providences of God, nor how to bring about any design for the good of their country. Contrary to this should be our character. Rom. xvi. 19, I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
II. They are miserable, and cannot be relieved.
1. He cries out, Because thou hast heard, O my soul! the sound of the trumpet, and seen the standard, both giving the alarm of war,Jer 4:19; Jer 4:21. He does not say, Thou hast heard, O my ear! but, O my soul! because the event was yet future, and it is by the spirit of prophecy that he see it and receives the impression of it. His soul heard it from the words of God, and therefore he was as well assured of it, and as much affected with it, as if he had heard it with his bodily ears. He expresses this deep concern, (1.) To show that, though he foretold this calamity, yet he was far from desiring the woeful day; for a woeful day it would be to him. It becomes us to tremble at the thought of the misery that sinners are running themselves into, though we have good hopes, through grace, that we ourselves are delivered from the wrath to come. (2.) To awaken them to a holy fear, and so to a care to prevent so great a judgment by a true and timely repentance. Note, Those that would affect other with the word of God should evidence that they are themselves affected with it. Now,
2. Let us see what there is in the destruction here foreseen and foretold that is so very affecting.
(1.) It is a swift and sudden destruction; it comes upon Judah and Jerusalem ere they are aware, and pours in so fast upon them that they have not the east breathing time. They have no time to recollect their thoughts, much less to recruit or recover their strength: Destruction upon destruction is cried (v. 20), breach upon breach, one sad calamity, like Job’s messengers, treading upon the heels of another. The death of Josiah breaks the ice, and plucks up the flood-gates; within three months after that his son and successor Jehoahaz is deposed by the king of Egypt; within two or three years after Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took it, and thenceforward he was continually making descents upon the land of Judah with his armies during the reigns of Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, till about nineteen years after he completed their ruin in the destruction of Jerusalem: but suddenly were their tents spoiled and their curtains in a moment. Though the cities held out for some time, the country was laid waste at the very first. The shepherds and all that lived in tents were plundered immediately; they and their effects fell into the enemies’ hands; therefore we find the Rechabites, who dwelt in tents, upon the first coming of the army of the Chaldees into the land retiring to Jerusalem, Jer. xxxv. 11. The inhabitants of the villages soon ceased: Suddenly were the tents spoiled. The plain men that dwelt in tents were first made a prey of.
(2.) This dreadful war continued a great while, not in the borders, but in the bowels of the country; for the people were very obstinate, and would not submit to the king of Babylon, but took all opportunities to rebel against him, which did but lengthen out the calamity; they might as well have yielded at first as at last. This is complained of (v. 21): How long shall I see the standard? Shall the sword devour for ever? Good men are none of those that delight in war, for they know not how to fish in troubled waters; they are for peace (Ps. cxx. 7), and will heartily say Amen to that prayer, “Give peace in out time, O Lord!” O thou sword of the Lord! when wilt thou be quiet?
(3.) The desolations made by it in the land were general and universal: The whole land is spoiled, or plundered (v. 20); so it was at first, and at length it became a perfect chaos. It was such a desolation as amounted in a manner to a dissolution; not only the superstructure, but even the foundations, were all out of course. The prophet in vision saw the extent and extremity of this destruction, and he here gives a most lively description of it, which one would think might have made those uneasy in their sins who dwelt in a land doomed to such a ruin, which might yet have been prevented by their repentance. [1.] The earth is without form, and void (v. 23), as it was Gen. i. 2. It is Tohu and Bohu, the words there used, as far as the land of Judea goes. It is confusion and emptiness, stripped of all its beauty, void of all its wealth, and, compared with what it was, every thing out of place and out of shape. To a worse chaos than this will the earth be reduced at the end of time, when it, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. [2.] The heavens too are without light, as the earth is without fruits. This alludes to the darkness that was upon the face of the deep (Gen. i. 2), and represents God’s displeasure against them, as the eclipse of the sun did at our Saviour’s death. It was not only the earth that failed them, but heaven also frowned upon them; and with their trouble they had darkness, for they could not see through their troubles. The smoke of their houses and cities which the enemy burnt, and the dust which their army raised in its march, even darkened the sun, so that the heavens had no light. Or it may be taken figuratively: The earth (that is, the common people) was impoverished and in confusion; and the heavens (that is, the princes and rulers) had no light, no wisdom in themselves, nor were any comfort to the people, nor a guide to them. Comp. Matt. xxiv. 29. [3.] The mountains trembled, and the hills moved lightly, v. 24. So formidable were the appearances of God against his people, as in the days of old they had been for them, that the mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs, Ps. cxiv. 4. The everlasting mountains seemed to be scattered, Hab. iii. 6. The mountains on which they had worshipped their idols, the mountains over which they had looked for succours, all trembled, as if they had been conscious of the people’s guilt. The mountains, those among them that seemed to the highest and strongest, and of the firmest resolution, trembled at the approach of the Chaldean army. The hills moved lightly, as being eased of the burden of a sinful nation, Isa. i. 24. [4.] Not the earth only, but the air, was dispeopled, and left uninhabited (v. 25): I beheld the cities, the countries that used to be populous, and, lo, there was no man to be seen; all the inhabitants were either killed, or fled, or taken captives, such a ruining depopulating thing is sin: nay, even the birds of the heavens, that used to fly about and sing among the branches, had now fled away, and were no more to be seen or heard. The land of Judah had now become like the lake of Sodom, over which (they say) no bird flies; see Deut. xxix. 23. The enemies shall make such havoc of the country that they shall not so much as leave a bird alive in it. [5.] Both the ground and the houses shall be laid waste (v. 26): Lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, being deserted by the inhabitants that should cultivate it, and then soon overgrown with thorns and briers, or being trodden down by the destroying army of the enemy. The cities also and their gates and walls are broken down and levelled with the ground. Those that look no further than second causes impute it to the policy and fury of the invaders; but the prophet, who looks to the first cause, says that it is at the presence of the Lord, at his face (that is, the anger of his countenance), even by his fierce anger, that this was done. Even angry men cannot do us any real hurt, unless God be angry with us. If our ways please him, all is well. [6.] The meaning of all this is that the nation shall be entirely ruined, and every part of it shall share in the destruction; neither town nor country shall escape. First, Not the country, for the whole land shall be desolate, corn land and pasture land, both common and enclosed, it shall be laid waste (v. 27); the conquerors will have occasion for it all. Secondly, Not the men, for (v. 29) the whole city shall flee, all the inhabitants of the town shall quit their habitations by consent, for fear of the horsemen and bowmen. Rather than lie exposed to their fury, they shall go into the thickets, where they are in danger of being torn by briers, nay, to be torn in pieces by wild beasts; and they shall climb up upon the rocks, where their lodging will be hard and cold, and the precipice dangerous. Let us not be over-fond of our houses and cities; for the time may come when rocks and thickets may be preferable, and chosen rather. This shall be the common case, for every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall be left that dares dwell therein. Both government and trade shall be at an end, and all civil societies and incorporations dissolved. It is a very dismal idea which this gives of the approaching desolation; but in the midst of all these threatenings comes in one comfortable word (v. 27): Yet will not I make a full end–not a total consumption, for God will reserve a remnant to himself, that shall be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger–not a final consumption, for Jerusalem shall again be built and the land inhabited. This comes in here, in the midst of the threatenings, for the comfort of those that trembled at God’s word; and it intimates to us the changeableness of God’s providence; as it breaks down, so it raises up again; every end of our comforts is not a full end, however we may be ready to think it so. It also intimates the unchangeableness of God’s covenant, which stands so firmly, that, though he may correct his people severely, yet he will not cast them off, ch. xxx. 11.
(4.) Their case was helpless and without remedy. [1.] God would not help them; so he tells them plainly, v. 28. And, if the Lord do not help them, who can? This is that which makes their case deplorable. “For this the earth mourns and the heavens above are black (there are no prospects but what are very dismal), because I have spoken it; I have given the word which shall not be called back; I have purposed it (it is a consumption decreed, determined) and I will not repent, not change this way, but proceed in it, and will not turn back from it.” They would not repent and turn back from the way of their sins (ch. ii. 25), and therefore God will not repent and turn back from the way of his judgments. [2.] They could not help themselves, Jer 4:30; Jer 4:31. When the thing appeared at a distance they flattered themselves with hopes that, though God should not appear for them as he had done for Hezekiah against the Assyrian army, yet they should find some means or other to secure themselves and give check to the forces of the enemy. But the prophet tells them that, when it comes to the setting to, they will be quite at a loss: “When thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? What course wilt thou take? Sit down now, and consider this in time.” He assures them that, whatever were now their contrivances and confidences, First, They will then be despised by their allies whom they depended upon for assistance. He had often compared the sin of Jerusalem to whoredom, not only her idolatry, but her trust in creatures, in the neighbouring powers. Now here he compares her to a harlot abandoned by all the lewd ones that used to make court to her. She is supposed to do all she can to keep up her interest in their affections. She does what she can to make herself appear considerable among the nations, and a valuable ally. She compliments them by her ambassadors to the highest degree, to engage them to stand by her now in her distress. She clothes herself with crimson, as if she were rich, and decks herself with ornaments of gold, as if her treasuries were still as full as ever they had been. She rents her face with painting, puts the best colours she can upon her present distresses and does her utmost to palliate and extenuate her losses, sets a good face upon them. But this painting, though it beautifies the face for the present, really rends it; the frequent use of paint spoils the skin, cracks it, and makes it rough; so the case which by false colours has been made to appear better than really it was, when truth comes to light, will look so much the worse. “And, after all, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; all thy neighbours are sensible how low thou art brought; the Chaldeans will strip thee of thy crimson and ornaments, and then thy confederates will not only slight thee and refuse to give thee any succour, but they will join with those that seek thy life, that they may come in for a share in the prey of so rich a country.” Here seems to be an allusion to the story of Jezebel, who thought, by making herself look fair and fine, to outface her doom, but in vain, 2Ki 9:30; 2Ki 9:33. See what creatures prove when we confide in them, how treacherous they are; instead of saving the life, they seek the life; they often change, so that they will sooner do us an ill turn than any service. And see to how little purpose it is for those that have by sin deformed themselves in God’s eyes to think by any arts they can use to beautify themselves in the eye of the world. Secondly, They will then be themselves in despair; they will find their troubles to be like the pains of a woman in travail, which she cannot escape: I have heard the voice of the daughter of Zion, her groans echoing to the triumphal shouts of the Chaldean army, which he heard, v. 15. It is like the voice of a woman in travail, whose pain is exquisite, and the fruit of sin and the curse too (Gen. iii. 16), and exhorts lamentable outcries, especially of a woman in travail of her first child, who, having never known before what that pain is, is the more terrified by it. Troubles are most grievous to those that have not been used to them. Zion, in this distress, since her neighbours refuse to pity her, bewails herself, fetching deep sighs (so the word signifies), and she spreads her hands, either wringing them for grief or reaching them forth for succour. All the cry is, Woe is me now! (now that the decree has gone forth against her and is past recall), for my soul is wearied because of murderers. The Chaldean soldiers put all to the sword that gave them any opposition, so that the land was full of murders. Zion was weary of hearing tragical stories from all parts of the country, and cried out, Woe is me! It was well if their sufferings put them in mind of their sins, the murders committed upon them of the murders committed by them; for God was now making inquisition for the innocent blood shed in Jerusalem, which the Lord would not pardon, 2 Kings xxiv. 4. Note, As sin will find out the sinner, so sorrow will, sooner or later, find out the secure.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 19-22: PROPHETIC ANGUISH AND DIVINE LAMENTATION
1. Here appears to be a mingling of the heartache of the prophet with that of his God.
2. First, one hears the anguished cry of the prophet – the very well-springs of his emotions (“My bowels!’ so stirred that he cannot be silent, (vs. 19; comp. Son 5:4; Isa 16:11; Isa 63:15; Jer 31:20); his soul can already hear the sound of the trumpet and the shout of battle, (vs. 20).
3. He views the whole land as devastated and laid waste – the tents of Judah destroyed with one swift stroke.
4. How much longer must the signals of warfare and the blast of the trumpet be heard in the land?
5. It is Jehovah Himself who describes His people as foolish, stupid and without knowledge of Him who is their only Saviour; skilled in wickedness, they do not know how to do good!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Some interpreters think that the Prophet is here affected with grief, because he saw that his own nation would soon perish; but I know not whether this is a right view. It is indeed true, that the prophets, though severe when denouncing God’s vengeance, did not yet put off the feelings of humanity. Hence they often bewailed the evils which they predicted; and this we shall see more clearly in its proper place. The prophets then had two feelings: when they were the heralds of God’s vengeance, they necessarily forgot their own sensibilities; but this courage did not prevent them from feeling sorrow for others; for they could not but sympathize with their brethren, when they saw them, even their own flesh, doomed to ruin. But in this place the Prophet seems not so much to mourn the calamities of the people, but employs figurative terms in order to awaken their stupor, for he saw that they were torpid, and that they neither feared God nor were touched with any shame. Since then there was so much insensibility in the people, it was necessary for Jeremiah and other servants of God to embellish their discourses, so as not simply to teach, but also forcibly and strongly to rouse their dormant minds.
He therefore says, My bowels, my bowels! We shall see that the Prophet in other places thus laments, when he speaks of Babylon, of Edom, and of other enemies of his people, and why? The Prophet was not indeed affected with grief when he heard that the Chaldeans would perish, and when God declared to him the same thing respecting other heathen nations, who had cruelly persecuted the holy people; but since thoughtless men, as I have said, take no notice of what God from heaven threatens them with, it is necessary to use such expressions as may rouse them from their torpor. So I interpret this place: the Prophet does not express his own grief for the calamities of his people, but by the prophetic spirit enlarges on what he had previously said; for he saw that what he had stated had no effect, or was not sufficient to rouse their minds. My bowels! he says. He had indeed grief in his bowels, for he was a member of the community; but we now speak of his object or the purpose he had in view in speaking thus. It is not then the expression of his own grief, but an affecting description, in order that what he had said might thoroughly rouse the minds of those who heedlessly laughed at the judgment of God.
He then adds, My heart tumultuates, or makes a noise: the verb means to resound, and hence it is metaphorically taken for tumultuating. He speaks of the palpitation of the heart, which takes place when there is great fear. But he calls it noise or tumult, as though he had said, that he was not now master of himself, so as to retain a calm and tranquil mind, for God smote his heart with horrible dread. He afterwards adds, I will not be silent, for the sound of the trumpet has my soul heard, or thou, my soul, hast heard, and the clamor of battle; for the word מלחמה chme, is to be thus taken here. He says that he would not be silent because this clamor made a noise in his heart. We hence conclude that he grieved not from a feeling of human sorrow, but he did that which he had been bidden to do by God; for he had been chosen to be the herald of God’s vengeance, which was nigh, though not dreaded by the Jews. (116)
Some think that soul is here to be taken for the prophetic spirit, for trumpets had not yet sounded, nor was yet heard the clamor of battle. They therefore suppose that there is to be understood here a contrast, that Jeremiah did not perceive the noise by his ears, but in his heart. But I know not whether this refinement may be fitly applied to the Prophet’s words. I therefore think that Jeremiah means, that he spoke in earnest, because he saw God’s vengeance as though it were already made evident. And this availed not a little to gain credit to what he had stated, so that the Jews might know that he did not speak of himself, nor act a part as players do on the stage. They were then to know that he did not relate what God had pronounced, but that he was God’s herald in such a way, that he heard in his soul or heart, to his great terror, the tumult of war and the sound of the trumpet. It follows —
(116) Remarkably concise and striking are the words of this verse, —
My bowels! my bowels! I am in pain! O the enclosures of my heart! Turbulent is my heart within me; I will not be silent; for the sound of the trumpet Have I heard; my soul, the shout of battle.
To change the person of the verb, “I am in pain,” or in labor, as it literally means, as Blayney does, destroys the force and the vehemence of the passage; and all the early versions retain the first person. “The enclosures,” literally “the walls,” that is, what encloses or surrounds the heart, he mentions first the bowels, then what surrounds the heart, and afterwards the heart itself: and his pain was like that of a woman in travail. Being in this state, he resolved not to be silent but to declare their danger to the people. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. Description of Coming Judgment Jer. 4:19-31
In the last half of chapter four Jeremiah describes the coming judgment. He emphasizes that this judgment will be (1) terrifying (Jer. 4:19-22); (2) devastating (Jer. 4:23-26); and (3) inevitable (Jer. 4:27-31).
1. Terrifying judgment (Jer. 4:19-22)
TRANSLATION
(19) O my bowels, my bowels! I writhe! O walls of my heart! My heart roars within me! I cannot remain silent! for the sound of the trumpet you have heard, O my soul, the battle cry! (20) Destruction upon destruction is called for; the whole land is spoiled; suddenly they have spoiled my tents, in a moment my curtains. (21) How long shall I see a standard, hear the noise of a trumpet? (22) For My people are foolish, they know not Me; they are stupid sons! they are senseless ones. They are wise to do evil but they do not know how to do good.
COMMENTS
Let no one think that Jeremiah enjoyed preaching his message of judgment. He was no sadist who took delight in the suffering of others. As he contemplates the imminent destruction of his people he is emotionally shaken. His heart pounds; his bowels, considered by the ancients to be the seat of emotion, are in agony. He cannot remain silent. He must give vent. to his intense feelings (Jer. 4:19). When he hears the war trumpet, the battle cry and sees in his minds eye wave after wave of destruction sweeping across his land he is completely overwhelmed. Suddenly, in a moment it seems, the land and all its tents and curtains fall into the hands of the enemy (Jer. 4:20). Of course the people of Judah had long since given up the tents and curtains of their nomadic age for more permanent dwellings. Here Jeremiah is using tents and curtains as a metaphor for the habitations of the citizens of Jerusalem.[158]
[158] Jer. 30:18; 2Sa. 20:1; 1Ki. 8:66; 1Ki. 12:16; Psa. 132:3.
In Jer. 4:21 the agony of the prophet reaches a climax as he cries out, How long shall I see a standard, hear the noise of a trumpet? The prophet seems to be rebelling against the visions of divine judgment which he has so frequently seen. The trumpet and standard here may be those of the enemy who attack Jerusalem or those of the Judeans who are defending their capital. Jeremiah seems to have hoped for some breakthrough in divine revelation, some note of hope. Yet all he has received thus far in his ministry are revelations of death and destruction. He asks the question, How long? He really means Why? God answers that question in Jer. 4:23 by giving a three-fold justification for the impending destruction of the nation. (1) The Judeans are foolish and no longer truly know God in their hearts. (2) When it comes to spiritual things, Gods people are stupid and senseless sons. (3) These people are brilliant in planning further evil but do not know the first thing about how to do what is right. Jeremiah wanted to know how long he would continue to receive revelations of destruction. The implication of Jer. 4:22 is that these revelations will continue so long as the people continue to be foolish and disobedient.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(19) My bowels, my bowels!As with Jer. 4:13, the words may be Jeremiahs own cry of anguish, or that of the despairing people with whom he identifies himself. The latter gives more dramatic vividness, as we thus have the utterances of three of the great actors in the tragedy: here of the people, in Jer. 4:22 of Jehovah, in Jer. 4:23 of the prophet. The bowels were with the Hebrews thought of as the seat of all the strongest emotions, whether of sorrow, fear, or sympathy (Job. 30:27; Isa. 16:11).
At my very heart.Literally (reproducing the physical fact of palpitation), I writhe in pain; the walls of my heart! my heart moans for me. The verb for I am pained is often used for the travail or agony of childbirth (Isa. 23:4; Isa. 26:18).
Thou hast heard, O my soul . . .Silence at such a time was impossible. The prophet, as in the language of strong emotion, addresses his own soul, his very self (Comp. Psa. 16:2; Psa. 42:5; Psa. 42:11).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
LAMENT FOR THE COMING DESOLATION AND RUIN, Jer 4:19-31.
19. My bowels, my bowels Again is the course of thought interrupted by an expression of Jeremiah’s personal experiences. For it is much better to interpret these as the words of Jeremiah than of the people. But the prophet stands for all the friends of God. What he says in his own character, and for himself, expands into an expression in behalf of the people. He passes, in his own thought, perhaps unconsciously, from individual suffering to national desolation. Hence, the expression in Jer 4:20, “my tents.”
I am pained The original word here is, with little doubt, a mongrel form. It is an instance exceeding rare of the Keri having affected the form of the Kethib. The form is probably from , ( chul,) “to writhe in pain.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Desolation Following the Lord’s Judgment.
The prophet here, in a most dramatic manner, introduces Israel as lamenting over the calamity which has struck the nation.
v. 19. My bowels, my bowels! v. 20. Destruction upon destruction is cried, v. 21. How long shall I see the standard, v. 22. For My people is foolish, v. 23. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void, v. 24. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, v. 25. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, v. 26. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, v. 27. For thus hath the Lord said, v. 28. For this shall the earth mourn, v. 29. The whole city, v. 30. And when thou art spoiled, v. 31. For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Jer 4:19-20. My bowels, &c. My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at the centre, or, in the midst, of my heart; my heart is tumultuous within me. This terrific vision is full of the divinest enthusiasm. The calamities described are presented to the mind in such lively colours, the images are so crouded, and arranged with so much art, and the breaks and apostrophes are so animated, that we seem to be involved in the same scene of misery with the prophet. The reader will observe, that the destruction of the land by the Chaldeans, spoken of in the 20th verse, is painted, Jer 4:23; Jer 4:26 in the same colours, as if universal nature was about to fall again into its original chaos. See Bishop Lowth. We may read Jer 4:20. Breach hits upon breach, or destruction dashes upon destruction, &c. Jeremiah compares the cities of Judah, at the end of this verse, to tents; and he expresses the facility wherewith the enemy made himself master of them, by that of the taking up or overturning a tent.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1038
THE MISERIES OF WAR
Jer 4:19. My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me: I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
THE propriety of setting apart days for national humiliation is questioned by none, except those who despise all religion, or those whose extravagant principles of liberty lead them to set at nought all human authorities. The most pious of the Jewish kings endeavoured to unite their subjects in prayer and supplication, as the best means of averting the judgments which they either felt or feared: and even heathen monarchs have resorted to it, as that which their own consciences taught them was the most likely way to obtain favour with the Most High. We have reason to be thankful that this nation is now called in the most solemn manner to humble itself before God, and to implore help from him under its present difficulties: and happy would it be for us, if the people at large laid to heart, as they ought, the calamities which we suffer, or the sins which have brought them upon us!
In the words before us, we may see what ought to be our feelings on this occasion [Note: Fast-Day in 1809.], and what our conduct.
I.
What should be our feelings
That we may estimate aright the feelings which a state of warfare requires, let us view it,
1.
As a calamity endured
[Those who are at a distance from the scene of war, and hear of it only by battles gained or lost, are apt to overlook the miseries of their fellow-creatures, and to think of nothing but the general effects which the events may have on their national aggrandisement. But if we would form a correct judgment of this matter, let us endeavour to realize the horrors of war. Let us think of a hostile army now in our neighbourhood, and marching to attack the very place wherein we live. How would fear seize hold upon us, and all faces gather blackness! Read the menacing descriptions given of an advancing army by the Prophets Ezekiel [Note: Eze 21:8-17.] and Joel [Note: Joe 2:4-11.]: think, from the first tidings of their approach, till you behold them just ready to spread desolation and slaughter all around them; think, I say, what your feelings would be: does the prophet exaggerate, when he compares them to the pangs of a woman travailing with her first-born child [Note: ver. 29, 31.]? See your dearest relatives weltering in their blood; your houses spoiled; the objects of your tenderest affection treated with the most shocking indignities; and you yourselves driven, without food, without raiment, to wander in the open fields, till your exhausted nature sinks under its accumulated woes. Well may we tremble at the bare possibility of such events. Reflect, then, on a whole kingdom thus desolated; the hostile armies carrying fire and sword through all the towns and villages of a populous country; A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness: yea, and nothing doth escape them: What a day of darkness and of gloominess must that be to the people visited with such awful calamities [Note: Joe 2:1-3.]! Say, then, Brethren, what your feelings should be at this time! What if these scenes have not been acted before our eyes; are they the less to be deplored? And who can tell how soon they may be brought home to our own doors! We entreat you, then, to lay these things to heart, and no longer to indulge a stupid insensibility to the calamities of war.]
2.
As a judgment inflicted
[War is one of Gods four sore judgments, wherewith he visiteth a guilty land. It is he who giveth the sword a charge against this or that country [Note: Jer 47:6-7.], and says, Sword, pass through the land [Note: Eze 14:17.] And as he stirred up enemies against Solomon [Note: 1Ki 11:9; 1Ki 11:14; 1Ki 11:23; 1Ki 11:26,], on purpose to avenge the quarrel of his covenant [Note: Lev 26:25.], so it is on account of sin that he is now laying upon us his chastising rod [Note: ver, 17, 18, 22.] Nor can we doubt but that his anger has waxed hot against us, when the judgments inflicted for our sins are so various and of so long continuance. See in what terms he describes his anger against the people of old [Note: Deu 32:23-25.]! and consider whether, when its effects are so visible on us, it be not high time for us to tremble. Yes, surely, the prophets direction is exactly such as we are now called to follow [Note: ver. 8.]: and, if we refuse to follow it, we may well expect that our judgments will be multiplied, till they have wrought either our humiliation or destruction [Note: Lev 26:27-28.]. We must be stupid indeed if we do not see reason to cry, when he is so binding us; and to humble ourselves under his mighty hand, when he is so correcting us.]
But it. will be to little purpose to ascertain what our feelings should be, if we do not also consider,
II.
What should be our conduct
Let us make this inquiry, in reference,
1.
To Ministers
[The prophet tells us what was his conduct, to which indeed he was irresistibly impelled; I cannot hold my peace, Ministers are watchmen, appointed by God himself to warn the people against his impending judgments. And while it is their duty to weep between the porch and the altar, and to intercede with God to spare his heritage [Note: Joe 2:17,], and to give him no rest till he vouchsafe mercy to the land, [Note: Isa 62:6-7.] it is also their duty to lift up their voice as a trumpet, and to shew the house of Israel their sins. They must cry aloud, and not spar. [Note: Isa 58:1.]
Let us not be thought harsh, if we execute our commission with fidelity and earnestness. You yourselves would be the first to condemn a sentinel who did not give you timely notice of an advancing enemy: and you will condemn us also in the eternal world, if by prophesying smooth things we contribute to your ruin. We must, then, speak, whether you will hear or whether you will forbear; and must warn you, that nothing but present and eternal misery can be expected, whilst you continue impenitent in your sins [Note: Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5.] ]
2.
To the people
[Though the text does not particularly specify your duty, the context does, and warns you that an attention to it is the only means of quenching that wrath which is now flaming against you. The advice given you by the prophet may be comprised in three particulars: Seek to have your obstinate hearts softened Put away the evils which have provoked Gods displeasure against you and, Get your hearts thoroughly renewed and sanctified by divine grace [Note: ver. 3, 4, 14. It will be easy to enlarge on the three points In reference to the words of the prophet.]
We accuse not all as manifesting the same obduracy, or as loaded with the same degrees of guilt; but if all would search into their own hearts, they might find much impenitence and unbelief to mourn over, and much worldliness and carnality to put away: even those who make a profession of religion, if they would examine themselves closely as in the presence of God, might rind many evil tempers and dispositions, which obstruct the efficacy of their prayers, and fearfully augment our national guilt. But if we turn not from our wickedness, it is iii vain to hope that God will turn from his fiery indignation ]
Address
1.
The careless
[This comprehends the great bulk of mankind. Whatever calamites are endured by others, they feel nothing, any farther than it immediately affects themselves. When Gods hand is lifted up, they will not see; nor when his judgments are in the earth, will they learn righteousness. But such indifference is most offensive to God: and they who indulge it are likely to become signal monuments of the Divine displeasure [Note: See Amo 6:3-7. Zep 1:4; Zep 1:6; Zep 1:12-18.] ]
2.
The self-confident
[They who see not the hand of God against them are ever leaning on an arm of flesh: if they have failed in ever so many efforts, they still look no higher than to their own exertions for success. What their views are, and what the declarations of God respecting them [Note: Isa 9:8-17.], may be seen in the prophecies of Isaiah. O that we may not thus provoke God to jealousy, and bring accumulated curses on our own heads, when we should be labouring by prayer and supplication to avert them [Note: Jer 17:5-8.]! ]
3.
The mourners
[We hope there are some who possess a measure of Jeremiahs patriotism and piety, and who understand by experience his exclamations in the text, My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart! Would to God that we could see such a spirit universally prevailing! There would be no doubt then of a happy termination of our troubles. Such persons indeed are too generally considered as gloomy enthusiasts: but they are the best friends of their country: they are the people who stand in the gap; they are the few righteous, for whose sake our Sodom has not long since been destroyed. Go on, beloved, like Nehemiah, Daniel, and other holy men, bewailing your own sins, and the sins of this whole nation: and then, if you should not be so happy as to see your efforts successful in relation to the kingdom at large, you may be assured that your labour will not be lost as it respects your own souls: your payer shall return into your own bosom; and your tears be had in remembrance before God, [Note: Eze 9:4.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
I hope the Reader will pause over these verses, and remark the concern of the Prophet. And when he hath done this, let him ask himself what ought to be the concern of the Lord’s prophets: I mean his ministers in the present hour, over the coming, and to come, distresses of our Zion. Was there ever a period in history, so much like the one Jeremiah here complains of, as the present? Did ever Jeremiah’s prophecy suit the Church more than now? And is it not a pity, yea, a sad concern, that so many are at ease in Zion, while her best interests, and the glorious gospel of Jesus, are so little regarded. See Joe 1:13 ; Amo 6:1-6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 4:19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Ver. 19. My bowels, my bowels! ] So, “My head, my head”; 2Ki 4:19 “My leanness, my leanness.” Isa 24:16 Thus the prophet here, to express his inexpressible grief for the calamities of his people.
I am pained.
At the very heart.
My heart maketh a noise in me.
I cannot hold my peace.
Because thou hast heard,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 4:19-22
19My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart!
My heart is pounding in me;
I cannot be silent,
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
20Disaster on disaster is proclaimed,
For the whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my tents are devastated,
My curtains in an instant.
21How long must I see the standard
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
22For My people are foolish,
They know Me not;
They are stupid children
And have no understanding.
They are shrewd to do evil,
But to do good they do not know.
Jer 4:19-22 This shows the way God truly feels (Jer 4:22) about bringing judgment to Judah (cf. Hos 11:8-9).
soul The term soul means bowels (BDB 588). The ancient Hebrew thought the seat of the emotions was in the lower viscera (BDB 589 #5).
The terms soul and heart are repeated for intensity.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEART
Jer 4:19
NASBI am in anguish
NKJVI am pained in my heart
NRSVhow great my agony
TEVI can’t bear the pain
NJBI writhe in pain
JPSOAHow I writhe
The VERB could come from
1. – BDB 296, KB 297, Qal COHORTATIVE, writhe
2. – BDB 403 KB 407, Hiphil COHORTATIVE, wait
This information is from OT Parsing Guide (revised) by Beall, Banks, and Smith, p. 546. The UBS Text Project and AB do not even mention the option.
The sound of the trumpet The JPSOA notes that the MT has you, O my being, hear, but by a change of vocalization, yields, I hear the blare of horns (p. 931).
Jer 4:20 tents. . .curtains The phrase in an instant (, BDB 921), with revocalization, can be translated torn to shreds (cf. LXX, NEB). This would fit the parallelism better.
The NET Bible (p. 1298) makes the comment that this verse could refer to
1. the weakness of Judah’s defenses
2. the destruction of a person’s home (using an ancient cultural metaphor)
The UBS Handbook (p. 137) suggests that tents and curtain could be a reference to the temple in Jerusalem.
Jer 4:21 The standard and the trumpet are military signaling devises, here of the invaders (cf. Jer 4:19).
The two VERBS of this verse are
1. see – BDB 906, KB 1157, Qal IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense
2. hear – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal COHORTATIVE
Jer 4:22 This verse shows God’s disappointment in His covenant people in strong metaphors of irony.
1. they are foolish (BDB 17)
2. they do not know Me
3. they are stupid (BDB 698) children
4. they have no understanding
5. they are shrewd to do evil
6. they do not know how to do good
Notice how they are described in Jer 5:21.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
My bowels. Figure of speech Epizeuxis (App-6), for emphasis. Note the Figure of speech Hypotyposis, verses: 19-31. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Effect), for the emotions which produce and affect their movement.
bowels . . . very heart . . . heart. Note the Figure of speech Anabasis. App-6. See note below.
my very heart = the walls of my heart.
thou hast. Hebrew text reads “I have”; but margin and some codices, with three early printed editions, and Revised Version margin, read “thou hast”, as in Authorized Version.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 4:19-22
Jer 4:19-22
“My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
Jeremiah was evidently not the owner of the many tents suggested in Jer 4:20; and therefore it seems better to accept this paragraph as did Jamieson: “The prophet suddenly assumes the language of the Jewish state personified lamenting its affliction. “Jer 4:19-22 are best understood as a series of ejaculations, in which the people express their grief at the ravages committed by the enemy.
God did not, however, leave the cries of his people unanswered but promptly supplied the reason that lay behind their dreadful suffering.
“My people are foolish … sottish … know me not… no understanding … wise to do evil … etc., …” (Jer 4:22). `Sottish’ means `stupefied with drink,’ thus adding drunkenness to the list of the debaucheries of the people.
The Anchor Bible has an interesting rendition of Jer 4:22 as follows:
“Ah, my people are fools!
Me they know not.
Stupid sons are they,
Senseless – they.
Clever are they to do wrong,
To do right, they don’t know how!
1. Terrifying judgment (Jer 4:19-22)
Let no one think that Jeremiah enjoyed preaching his message of judgment. He was no sadist who took delight in the suffering of others. As he contemplates the imminent destruction of his people he is emotionally shaken. His heart pounds; his bowels, considered by the ancients to be the seat of emotion, are in agony. He cannot remain silent. He must give vent. to his intense feelings (Jer 4:19). When he hears the war trumpet, the battle cry and sees in his minds eye wave after wave of destruction sweeping across his land he is completely overwhelmed. Suddenly, in a moment it seems, the land and all its tents and curtains fall into the hands of the enemy (Jer 4:20). Of course the people of Judah had long since given up the tents and curtains of their nomadic age for more permanent dwellings. Here Jeremiah is using tents and curtains as a metaphor for the habitations of the citizens of Jerusalem. See Jer 30:18; 2Sa 20:1; 1Ki 8:66; 1Ki 12:16; Psa 132:3.
In Jer 4:21 the agony of the prophet reaches a climax as he cries out, How long shall I see a standard, hear the noise of a trumpet? The prophet seems to be rebelling against the visions of divine judgment which he has so frequently seen. The trumpet and standard here may be those of the enemy who attack Jerusalem or those of the Judeans who are defending their capital. Jeremiah seems to have hoped for some breakthrough in divine revelation, some note of hope. Yet all he has received thus far in his ministry are revelations of death and destruction. He asks the question, How long? He really means Why? God answers that question in Jer 4:23 by giving a three-fold justification for the impending destruction of the nation. (1) The Judeans are foolish and no longer truly know God in their hearts. (2) When it comes to spiritual things, Gods people are stupid and senseless sons. (3) These people are brilliant in planning further evil but do not know the first thing about how to do what is right. Jeremiah wanted to know how long he would continue to receive revelations of destruction. The implication of Jer 4:22 is that these revelations will continue so long as the people continue to be foolish and disobedient.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
My bowels: Jer 9:1, Jer 9:10, Jer 13:17, Jer 14:17, Jer 14:18, Jer 23:9, Jer 48:31, Jer 48:32, Psa 119:53, Psa 119:136, Isa 15:5, Isa 16:11, Isa 21:3, Isa 22:4, Lam 1:16, Lam 2:11, Lam 3:48-51, Dan 7:15, Dan 7:28, Dan 8:27, Hab 3:16, Luk 19:41, Luk 19:42, Rom 9:2, Rom 9:3, Rom 10:1, Gal 4:19
my very: Heb. the walls of my
O my: Gen 49:6, Jdg 5:21, Psa 16:2, Psa 42:5, Psa 42:6, Psa 103:1, Psa 116:7, Psa 146:1
sound: Jer 4:5, Jer 4:21, Amo 3:6, Zep 1:15, Zep 1:16
Reciprocal: Num 10:9 – then ye shall 2Ki 4:19 – My head 2Ki 8:11 – wept Est 8:6 – For how Job 30:27 – General Jer 6:1 – blow Jer 6:24 – We have Jer 8:21 – the hurt Jer 10:19 – Woe Jer 17:16 – neither Jer 18:22 – a cry Jer 20:8 – I cried Jer 20:16 – let him Jer 42:14 – nor hear Jer 48:36 – mine heart Jer 49:2 – that I will Jer 50:22 – General Lam 1:13 – desolate Lam 1:20 – my bowels Lam 3:51 – eye Eze 21:6 – Sigh Dan 4:19 – was astonied Mic 1:8 – I will wail Zep 1:10 – the noise Mat 24:6 – ye shall hear Mar 13:7 – when Luk 21:9 – when Act 4:20 – we cannot
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 4:19. Jeremiah took an intense personal interest in the experiences of his countrymen which he indicated by the use of the word bowels. That word is from an original which Strong defines, “A primitive root; to fondle: by implication to love, especially to compassionate. The inspired writers of both the Old and New Testaments used words as they were understood by the people for whom they were writing, and did not stop to inquire whether such was based on some erroneous theory; such was the case with the word in question here. In his Greek-English lexicon, Thayer says this of the word for bowels; In the Greek poets the bowels were regarded as the seat of the more violent passions, such as anger and love; but by the 1-tebrewa as the seat of the tenderer affections, especially kindness, benevolence, compassion.” In other words, the ancients thought the intestines were the seat of the mind and emotions, while we consider the brain in that light. By adding the word heart to his state-ment the prophet means to emphasize the intensity of his feelings, because the word means the center or most important part of anything. Thou hast heard; the prophet addresses himself and as an inspired man he can hear the war cry and alarming sounding of the trumpets of the Babylonian army coming to besiege his beloved city.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 4:19-20. My bowels, &c. Or, as Dr. Waterland renders it, My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at the centre, or in the midst, of my heart; my heart is tumultuous within me! It is an exclamation of the prophet, moved beyond measure at the calamities coming on his country, in being made the seat of war, and utterly ruined by a hostile invasion: which was so strongly represented to him in his vision, that he, as it were, saw the army of Nebuchadnezzar before his eyes, and the destruction and desolation made by it, heard the noise of the trumpets, the shouts of the soldiers, the outcries and lamentations of his countrymen, and the groans of the wounded and dying. And the calamities described are presented to the mind in such lively colours, the images are so crowded, and arranged with so much art, and the breaks and apostrophes are so animated, that we seem to be involved in the same scene of misery with the prophet. Bishop Lowths 9th and 17th Prelec. I cannot hold my peace I am so troubled I cannot forbear my complaints. Because thou hast heard, O my soul, &c. I have heard in the spirit of prophecy; the calamity will as certainly come as if I now heard the trumpet sounding. Destruction upon destruction Dr. Waterland reads, Breach upon breach, or, destruction dashes upon destruction; one sad calamity, like Jobs messengers, treading upon the heels of another. First, good Josiah is slain in battle; within three months after, his son and successor, Jehoahaz, is deposed by the king of Egypt; within two or three years after, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and took it, and from thence forward was continually making descents on the land of Judah with his armies, during the reigns of Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, till, about nineteen years after, he completed their ruin by the destruction of Jerusalem. For the whole land is spoiled This is more particularly described Jer 4:23-26. Suddenly are my tents spoiled The enemy makes no more of overthrowing my stately cities than if he were overturning tents made of curtains.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 4:19-22. The Prophets Grief for his country finds characteristic expression: My bowels! my bowels! Let me writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart moaneth within me! (Driver). His soul hears (mg. with LXX) the battle, and identifies itself in sympathy with his people, whose habitation (tents and tent- curtains; cf. Jer 10:20) is destroyed, because they are so ignorant of Yahweh. This is the first example (after the call) of that revelation of the inner life which especially distinguishes this prophet, and forms his great contribution to spiritual religion.
Jer 4:19. The bowels are the seat of strong emotion according to Hebrew psychology.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
4:19 My distress, my {q} distress! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
(q) He shows that the true ministers are lively touched with the calamities of the Church, so that all the parts of their body feel the grief of their heart, even though with zeal to God’s glory they pronounce his judgments against the people.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The anguished response of Jeremiah 4:19-22
This section is the first of Jeremiah’s so-called "confessions." [Note: See Thompson, pp. 88-92.] It is also a lamentation.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah complained that his heart was pounding and he felt very upset because he had heard the Lord’s announcement of impending invasion and destruction.
". . . it would be hard to find a sharper description of uncontrollable inner turmoil . . ." [Note: Kidner, p. 39.]