Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 8:7
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
7. Instinct renders migratory birds punctual in departure and arrival. How much more should man’s reason and conscience exercise over him an effective control. Cp. Isa 1:3.
stork ] There are two species found in Palestine, the white and the black, the former dispersed generally in pairs over the whole country, the latter living in the deserts and in large flocks.
in the heaven ] at the time of their migration they fly high. (See HDB. and Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, 205, 219, 246.)
turtle ] There are three species of turtle dove in Palestine.
swallow ] better, swift, or martin. All three are common in Palestine. The swift has a harsh cry, constantly repeated.
crane ] perhaps a species of bird akin to that preceding. It may very possibly be the swallow, but no clear indication can be got from any sense of the root in Hebrew or cognate languages.
ordinance ] though it is thus recognised by the lower animals.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jeremiah appeals to the obedience which migratory birds render to the law of their natures. The stork arrives in Palestine about March 21, and after a six weeks halt departs for the north of Europe. It takes its flight by day, at a vast height in the air (in the heaven). The appearance of the turtle-dove is one of the pleasant signs of the approach of spring.
The crane and the swallow – Rather, the swift and the crane.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 8:7
But My people know not the Judgment of the Lord.
A set time for judgment
The judgment of God is either directive, corrective, or destructive. This last is meant here. It is spoken of the judgment of utter ruin and desolation upon whom the former judgment has not taken due effect. In the count of the Holy Ghost in Scripture, a man knows no more than he believes, and is affected with, and makes use of: they knew not, they considered not, believed not, were not affected with, neither did they make use of it, either the judgment itself, nor the time of the judgment, either to fear it, or to fly from it: so that they were more unwise for themselves, and for their temporal and eternal safety, than the unreasonable creatures; they knew not the judgment of the Lord.
I. There is unto a sinful nation a set and appointed time of judgment.
1. There is a time of sinning, a set and an appointed time.
(1) A fulness of sin, appointed by God that it shall have its period (Gen 15:16; Zec 5:6).
(2) A measure of wrath, which every vessel of wrath shall treasure up (Rom 2:4-5).
2. There is a time of patience, when the Lord holds His peace and reproves not (Psa 50:21; Psa 50:23). There is a time of repentance, when God defers the judgment after sinning, on purpose that man may return and come in (Rev 2:21).
3. The times of patience and repentance have their periods; indeed these times are not of the same length to all: to some God shows but a little patience, and to others a great deal, riches of patience and forbearance. But the longest day hath its evening.
4. When the time of patience is expired, there is then a time for judgment, a day of recompense, a year of vengeance, a time for the expending of those treasures of wrath that have been so long laying in; because there was by sinning a time of treasuring: and so there shall also come a time of spending (Rom 2:4-5); a time for the wall that is swelled out to hang, but there will come a time also when it will fall (Isa 30:13).
5. When this time doth come, the Lord will forbear a people no longer: this determinating of judgment in the time of it is exceedingly set before us in the Word, and that under divers expressions.
(1) The Lord doth express it by a full and a peremptory resolution that He will do it (Eze 21:27).
(2) It is called a decree, or the bringing forth the decree (Zep 2:2). Decrees are acts of authority. They are established and firm.
(3) It is called swearing in His wrath (Psa 9:11).
(4) Those means that usually prevail with God, and turn away threatened judgment, prevail nothing in the time of judgment. Repentance, prayer, fasting, intercession of the godly. When once the set time for judgment is come, the Lord will forbear a people no longer.
II. This time of judgment may and most be known. Otherwise they could not be blamed. What, then, are the signs preceding judgment?
1. A fulness of sin (Joe 3:16; Jer 1:11-12). An almond tree hath the first ripe fruit of any tree, and it notes the hastening of them to ripen their sins; and the Lord saith, as they did hasten their sins to a ripeness, so He would hasten to ripen His judgments, so that this is a certain sign foregoing judgment. But when is sin full? When is it ripe in a nation?
(1) When a people seeks to make void the law.
(2) Corrupting the worship of God by human inventions.
(3) Confederacy with idolaters.
(4) Abusing the messengers of God.
(5) Not laying to heart the afflictions of our brethren.
2. The beginnings of judgment are an evident token that the time of judgment draws near (Luk 2:30-31). By a lesser judgment God makes way for His anger, for a perfect and an utter ruin (Psa 78:50).
(1) All nations about them were against them (Jer 12:9).
(2) The general corruption and decay of truth and wisdom of men in places of greatest trust (Isa 1:22).
(3) The subversion of fundamental laws (Psa 82:5).
(4) Private and intestine divisions.
Use–
1. Not to know the time is misery enough; therefore men are taken suddenly and unawares (Ecc 9:12).
2. That you may know the time to improve this promise (Ecc 8:5).
3. A wise man foresees the evil, and hides himself, but fools pass on and are punished (Pro 22:3).
(1) By a work of humiliation (Hab 3:16).
(2) A work of reformation (Zep 2:3).
(3) Improve all the promises.
(4) Be much in prayer.
(5) Betake thyself to the mediation of Christ. (W. Strong.)
Seek safety before the storm comes
Merchants take care to insure their goods before the ship clears the dock. It would be useless, when the news of a terrible sea storm came, to run to the office, and then expect to make all safe and right. O living but dying man, at once, today, prepare for the coming storm. (E. Foster.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Jer 8:7-8
The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times.
Instinct contrasted with reason in its discernment of times
I. The birds of passage show in their periodic migrations, their discernment of seasons, and this both as regards the time of their visiting and the time of their leaving us. Probably some peculiarity in the material structure of migratory birds renders them extremely sensitive to changes of temperature–and as these changes always recur at certain seasons of the year, they observe seasons, and make a corresponding change in their places of abode. So great is their sagacity, so true their instinct.
II. Consider the operation of unsanctified reason in discerning times.
1. Consider the invitations of this season of grace.
(1) The Saviours voice issuing forth from the pages of the written Word, addresses sinners in such soothing accents, and holds forth to them promises so refreshing, that one would think it could hardly fail of winning an entrance into their hearts, and finding a response there!
(2) But we believe that in every case in which the sinner has made a nominal profession of Christs religion, and been formally admitted to the participation of Christian privileges, the Holy Spirit seconds, by an inward action upon the conscience, this external call of the Saviour. In the abysmal depths of the consciousness He strives with the reluctant soul, and whispers in accents, which even the giddy whirl of vanity and frivolity cannot entirely drown or shut out, Come.
(3) God employs subordinate human agents to herald in the ears of His people His invitations of grace. The bride, that is the Church, says Come. She says so by her ministers, who are her commissioned representatives.
(4) God invites us to return in penitence and faith to His bosom by the dispensations of His providence, no less than by more immediate and direct summons (Hos 5:15; Mic 6:9).
2. But if the majority of sinners be not gently won by the invitations of grace, they will haply be driven by terror to take refuge in those offers. Let growing age and infirmity bring death and judgment very near–the prospect will surely urge the wanderer to return with hurried steps to the sheepfold! When hoar hairs are here and there upon him, he will lay to heart the cheerless desolate prospect which lies before him in the vista of futurity, and fly before the approaching winter of Gods wrath! (Dean Goulburn.)
Migration heavenward
When God would set fast a beautiful thought, He plants it in a tree. When He would put it afloat, He fashions it into a fish. When He would have it glide the air, He moulds it into a bird. The prophet was out of doors, thinking of the impenitences of the people of his day, when he heard a great cry overhead. He looks up, and there are flocks of storks, and turtledoves, and cranes, and swallows, drawn out in long line for flight southwards. As is their habit, the cranes had arranged themselves into two lines, making an angle–a wedge–splitting the air with wild velocity; the old crane, with commanding call, bidding them onward, until the towns, and the cities, and the continents slid under them. The prophet, almost blinded from looking into the dazzling heavens, stoops down and begins to think how much superior the birds are in sagacity about their safety than men.
I. They mingle music with their work. The most serious undertaking of a birds life is this annual travel. Naturalists tell us that they arrive weary and plumage ruffled, and yet they go singing all the way, the ground the lower line of the music, the sky the upper line of the music, themselves the notes scattered up and down between. I suppose their song gives elasticity to their wings, and helps on the journey. Would God that we were as wise as they, mingling Christian song with our everyday work. A violin, chorded and strung, if something accidentally strike it, makes music; and I suppose there is such a thing as having our hearts so attuned by Divine glory that even the rough collisions of life will make heavenly vibration. Some one asked Haydn why he always composed such cheerful music. Why, he said, I cannot do otherwise. When I think of God, my soul is so full of joy that the notes leap and dance from my pen. I wish we might all exult melodiously before the Lord. The Church of God will never become a triumphal Church until it becomes a singing Church.
II. They fly very high. During the summer, when they are in the fields, they often come within reach of the gun; but when they start for their annual flight southward they take their places mid-heaven, and go straight as a mark. The longest rifle that was ever brought to shoulder cannot reach them. We fly so low that we are within range of the world, the flesh, and the devil. So poor is the type of piety in the Church of God at this day that men actually caricature the idea that there is any such thing as a higher life. Moles never did believe in eagles. But because we have not reached these heights ourselves, shall we deride the fact that there are any such heights? I do not believe that God exhausted all His grace in Paul, and Latimer, and Edward Payson. I believe there are higher points of Christian attainment to be reached in the future ages of the Christian world.
III. They know when to start. If you should go out now, and shout, Stop, storks and cranes, dont be in a hurry, they would say, No, we cannot stop. Last night we heard the roaring of the woods bidding us away, and the shrill flute of the north wind has sounded the retreat. We must go. So they gather themselves into companies, and turning not aside for storm or mountain top, or shock of musketry, over land and sea, straight as an arrow to the mark, they go. And if you come out this morning with a sack of corn, and throw it in the fields, and try to get them to stop, they are so far up that they would hardly see it. They are on their way south. You could not stop them. Oh! that we were as wise about the best time to start for God and heaven. I was reading of an entertainment given in a kings court, and there were musicians there with elaborate pieces of music. After a while Mozart came and began to play, and he had a blank piece of paper before him, and the king familiarly looked over his shoulder and said, What are you playing? I see no music before you. And Mozart put his hand on his brow, as much as to say, I am making it up as I go along. It was very well for him; but, oh! we cannot extemporise heaven. If we do not get prepared in this world, we will never take part in the orchestral harmonies of the saved. Oh! that we were as wise as the crane and the stork, flying away, flying away from the tempest. Some of you have felt the pinching frost of sin. You feel it today. You are not happy. There are voices within your soul that will not be silenced, telling you that you are sinners, and that without the pardon of God you are undone forever. Oh! that you would go away into the warm heart of Gods mercy. The southern grove, redolent with the magnolia and cactus, never waited for northern flocks as God has waited for you. Another frost is bidding you away: it is the frost of trouble. Where do you live now? Oh, you say, I have moved. Why did you move? You say, I dont want as large a house now as I used to want. Why do you not want as large a house? You say, My family is not so large. Where have they gone to? Eternity! (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Migratory birds
(childrens address):–It is very remarkable that in the whole globe there is no place suitable all the year round for birds of this order; and that these untaught and unthinking creatures should shift their habitation, and make long voyages through the vast empire of the air. God has imprinted upon their nature that wonderful instinct which enables them to determine when to go and which way to take. The prophet, with the deep instinct of a poet, sees, and declares to Israel, the inner meaning and lessons of the laws and habits of these aerial voyagers.
I. We must obey the call of God. At the appointed time the birds feel an impulse or moving within them that they must be going, they congregate together, like swallows in autumn, all ready for their long journey. So in the same way, by the movements of conscience and the voice of Divine truth, God is calling us. Abraham obeyed that call, and left his idolatrous surroundings, and so did the fishers of Galilee, they left their nets and followed Christ. In the second part of Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, you see how the children left the city of destruction and went on the heavenly journey.
II. Do not delay to start. You have noticed the birds preparing: the trees and hedgerows are covered with them, and there is such a chattering! Stragglers are coming in, one after the other, and, at last, the signal is given, wings flutter, and then, like a moving dark cloud, the birds begin their wonderful passage across the pathless seas. But some swallows are too late, they are left behind, and perish in the cold. We read in the Bible that Lots wife lingered and was overtaken by death: the five foolish virgins were all unprepared and too late; but the Psalmist was of a different character; he said, I made haste, I delayed not to keep Thy commandments.
III. Beware of temptations. What is it that makes some of the birds late, so that they cannot start with the others? Perhaps, the sunshine! Everything looked so beautiful, the trees were decked in splendour, like Josephs coat of many colours, and the fat red berries glowed like little balls of fire, and so the birds were tempted to delay their journey until it was too late. It was so with the Jews in Babylon. God called them out of the land of captivity, and opened a way for them through the desert, back to the temple and city of their fathers, but many of them were tempted to remain behind; they had nice houses in Babylon, and there were many pleasant things there, from which it was hard to break away. So the world today will seek to keep you back from God, and prevent you beginning the heavenward journey. Beware of its temptations, and pray God to make you strong to overcome.
IV. Like birds, fly high, that is, live near to God. There are two advantages the birds have when they fly high up in the air, they can see farther, and they are a greater distance from the guns and snares of the earth, and the weapon of the enemy. In churches, the lectern, on which rests the Bible, is generally a burnished eagle, as if to say, that just as the eagle soars upward and upward towards the sun, so the Bible, if we daily and prayerfully read it, will bring us into the light of Gods own presence. Then shall we see the way of life more clearly, and escape the fiery darts of the evil one. God, too, will fit us for our long journey just as He strengthens the birds for theirs, giving to the swallow long and powerful wings, and to the quail and other birds of shorter pinions marvellous strength of body. Cullen Bryant beautifully says of the waterfowl–
He who from zone to zone,
Guides thro the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way which I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.
(A. Hampden Lee.)
Duty of repentance illustrated
I. Respecting the nature of the duty; the similitude in the text directs us to consider it as a return, a treading back our steps, as birds of passage return to the country from which they departed. We may then define repentance to be, A change of mind, operating in a change of conduct.
1. The leading step in the process must of necessity be conviction. No man will think of returning into the right way, unless he be made sensible that he has wandered out of it. Conviction is produced gradually. Upon some hint given to a man, either from within or from without, he begins to suspect himself in the wrong; and then, if he be honest enough to prosecute the inquiry, discovers at length that he actually is so. Sometimes it is flashed upon the mind at once–he awakes, and the dream is at an end. It is produced by various means, by disappointments, by crosses, by losses, by sickness, by the death of a friend, by a passage in Scripture, or a discourse upon one, by the incidents of common life, or the changes that happen in the natural world; in short, there is hardly a circumstance of so trivial a nature, but that providence, in some instance or other, has been pleased to make it instrumental to this salutary purpose.
2. The next step to conviction, in the process of repentance, is sorrow. The man who has offended his Maker, and is become thoroughly sensible that he has done so, and of the consequences of his having done so, cannot but be grieved to find himself in such a situation. The degree of this sorrow is varied almost infinitely by the different temperaments of mind and body in the penitents, and the different views under which sin presents itself to their several imaginations. And, therefore, the same degree is not to be exacted of all. By enthusiasm it has been, not unfrequently, aggravated even to frenzy and madness. In Scripture it is drawn with an aspect perfectly sober, but yet described, in many instances, as very intense, like that occasioned by the languors of sickness in its last stage, or the pain arising from dislocated or broken bones, and venting itself in complaints and lamentations, in sighs and tears. There are temporal ealamities, which can draw tears plentifully from most persons; nay, a fictitious representation of them can produce the effect. Spiritual ones, perhaps, would do the same, if we felt them as we ought to feel them; as due retirement and meditation would cause us to feel them; and as we shall one day feel them, when death shall be seen levelling his dart at our pillow, and the throne of judgment rising to the view, beyond him.
3. A third step is confession. One of an ingenuous mind, who is heartily sorry for his offences, will not be ashamed or backward to own that sorrow.
4. A fourth step is resolution to amend.
5. One step more remains, and only one, but that very steep and difficult of ascent, which is, to carry what we have resolved into execution. It is this which finishes and crowns all the rest.
II. The motives to it. Evil to be avoided, and good to be obtained, are the motives, which influence and produce all human actions. To escape from the rigours and storms of winter, and to enjoy the sweets of a milder and more gracious season, is the instinctive cause, why the heaven-taught monitors, to whom we are referred, migrate from one country to another. It is to avoid the judgments of God, and partake of His mercies, that man is called to repent.
1. The evil, then, to be avoided, is the judgment of God, consequent upon sin, and sure to overtake it, if unrepented of Sin, which is the transgression of the law, cannot but be noticed by Him who gave that law; and if noticed, must be punished, either in this life, or that which is to come. Sin is often punished in this life; much oftener than we are aware; indeed so often, that we may say to you as Moses to Israel (Num 32:23). It would be in vain, however, to dissemble, that in the present state, as is the offence, such is not always the punishment. Notorious sinners often partake not, to appearance, the common evils of life, but pass their days in prosperity and health, and die without any visible tokens of the Divine displeasure. To take off, in some measure, the force of the objection, it must be remarked, that, besides those judgments of God, which lie open to the observation of mankind, there are others, even in the present life, of a secret and invisible kind, known only to the party by whom they are felt. In the brilliant scenes of splendor, of luxury and dissipation, surrounded by the companions of his pleasures, and the flatterers of his vices, amidst the flashes of wit and merriment, when all wears the face of gaiety and festivity, the profligate often reads his doom, written by the hand whose characters are indelible. Should he turn away his eyes from beholding it, and succeed in the great work, during the course of his revels, yet the time will come, when from scenes like these he must retire, and be alone: and then, as Dr. South says, What is all that a man can enjoy in this way for a week, a month, or a year, compared with what he feels for one hour, when his conscience shall take him aside, and rate him by himself? There is likewise another hour which will come, and that soon–the hour when life must end; when the accumulated wealth of the east and the west, with all the assistance it is able to procure, will not be competent to obtain the respite of a moment. It will still be alleged, perhaps, that instances are not wanting of the worst of men, in principle and practice, going out of life with no less composure than the best. I believe these instances to be very rare indeed. But however, by habits either of sensuality or infidelity, the conscience may be drugged, and laid asleep in this world, let it not be forgotten that there is another world beyond this, in which it must awake, to sleep no more. And if in this world some sins are punished, as we have assurance they are, while others of far greater magnitude and more atrocious guilt are permitted to go unpunished, it will follow, by a consequence which the wit of man cannot gainsay, should he study for a thousand years to do it, that such sins, not being punished here, will most inevitably be punished there.
2. The good to be obtained needeth few words.
(1) The light of heaven shining upon our tabernacle, the Divine favour attending us and ours, through every stage of our existence, sanctifying prosperity, and turning adversity itself into a blessing, while it becomes an instrument to rectify the disorders of our minds, to soften the few hard places remaining in our hearts, to smooth and lay even the little roughnesses in our tempers; thus gradually and gently preparing us for our departure hence, and fitting us for the company of the spirits of just men made perfect.
(2) The answer of a good conscience, diffusing peace and serenity over all the powers and faculties of the soul, refreshing like the dew falling on the top of Hermon, exhilarating as the flagrance of the holy oil descending from the head of Aaron; sweetening the converse of society, and the charities of active life, and affording, in retirement and solitude, pleasures concealed from the world around us, joys in which a stranger intermeddleth not.
(3) The reward in heaven, the glory that shall be revealed, to be known only when it shall be revealed; the bliss without alloy, and without end, which he cannot conceive who has not experienced, and which he who has experienced can find no human language able to express.
III. Some short rules for the conduct of our repentance.
1. Stifle not convictions. Attend to every suggestion of this salutary kind, from what quarter soever it may proceed: attend and slight it not. It is the voice of God calling you to repentance. Listen, and obey.
2. Be serious. The subject will cause any man to become so, who considers it as he ought to do; who reflects, what sin is in the sight of God, what sorrow it occasioned to the Son of God, what destruction it hath brought upon the world, and is about to bring upon himself, unless prevented by a timely repentance. (Bp. Borne.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. The stork in the heaven] The birds of passage know the times of their going and return, and punctually observe them; they obey the dictates of nature, but my people do not obey my law.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the heaven, i.e. in the air, which is often called heaven, where the birds fly, Psa 8:8; compare Jer 7:33, who possibly observe the fit time by the temperature of the air.
Knoweth her appointed times, i.e. observeth the several seasons of her going and coming by some natural instinct, and this is said of the stork: what kind of fowl is here meant is disputable: see English Annotations and Latin Synopsis.
Observe the time of their coming; the same thing diversified in these several fowls, that know also their seasons.
But my people know not: this notes the great stupidity of his people, seeming not to have as much sense in them as the birds in the air, not knowing their summer of prosperity, to make a good use of Gods favours, nor the winter of adversity, either to prevent or remove that wrath of God that hangs over their heads, Isa 5:12; Luk 19:42,44; they know not their time for repentance, and making their peace with God, compared also, on the same account, to the beasts of the field, Isa 1:3; and thus Christ upbraids the Pharisees, Mat 16:2,3.
The judgment of the Lord; either Gods vengeance in general, or particularly hovering over Jerusalem and Judea; or rather, the manner of Gods dispensations with them. So the word is used 1Sa 2:13; 8:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. The instinct of the migratorybirds leads them with unfailing regularity to return every springfrom their winter abodes in summer climes (So2:12); but God’s people will not return to Him even when thewinter of His wrath is past, and He invites them back to the springof His favor.
in the heavenemphatical.The birds whose very element is the air, in which they arenever at rest, yet show a steady sagacity, which God’s people do not.
timesnamely, ofmigrating, and of returning.
my peopleThishonorable title aggravates the unnatural perversity of the Jewstowards their God.
know not, c. (Jer 5:4Jer 5:5; Isa 1:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times,…. Of going and returning; for this is a bird of passage, as Pliny d and other naturalists observe; which goes away as winter approaches, and returns when that is over. The temperature of the air, as to heat and cold, and the natural propensity of such birds of passage to breed their young, are thought to be the incentives to change their habitation; and wonderful thing it is in nature, that they should know the proper time of their passage, what places to go to, and how to steer their course thither; and, as the above naturalist observes, they go and come in the night:
and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming: for these also are birds of passage; the turtle is absent in the winter, and its coming is a sign of spring, So 2:11, the crane, according to Aelianus e, goes away with the stork, and returns when winter is over; and the same is observable of the swallow; hence the common saying, one swallow does not make spring; so Horace f uses “hirundine prima” for the beginning of spring. Where these birds retire to is not known; some think the swallows fly into Egypt and Ethiopia; but Olaus Magnus g says they lurk in holes, and even under water, where they hang together, and are sometimes drawn out in clusters, and being brought to the fire, and thawed, will revive and fly about.
But my people know not the judgment of the Lord; meaning not the unsearchable judgments of God, or those providential dispensations of God which are a great deep, and are not clearly discerned and known by the best of men; but either his own judgments, which are inflicted upon wicked men as punishments for sin, which yet are not taken notice of, and duly attended to, as they should be; or rather the law of God, and his revealed word, which is the rule of judgment and justice, and a declaration of righteousness, showing what is just and good, and ought to be done, which they were willingly ignorant of; or else the final and future judgment of God after death, to which all men must come, and into which every thought, word, and work, will be brought, and which day wicked men put far from them; see Isa 1:3.
d Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 23. e De Animal. l. 3. c. 23. f Ep. l. 1. Ep. 7. g De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 19. c. 11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here again Jeremiah condemns the shameful insensibility of the people, — that they had less wisdom than birds, not endued with reason and understanding. He then says, that the Jews were more foolish than cranes, swallows, and storks. He no doubt deeply wounded the feelings of the people by so severe a reproof; but it was necessary thus sharply to reprehend the despisers of God; for it appears evident by these words, that they were become exceedingly hardened in their vices. No wonder, then, that the Prophet declares that they were more silly than cranes and swallows. Isaiah also exposes the same sort of madness, when he says that the ox knew his own master, and the ass his master’s crib, but that God was not known by his people. (Isa 1:3.) Now Isaiah made the Jews worse than oxen and asses, because these brute animals possess something like memory, so that they keep to their own manger and crib. So now Jeremiah, speaking of storks, etc., says, —
Behold, the stork knows the time in which it ought to migrate from one country to another; and the same is observed by swallows and cranes (220) For at stated times they seek a warmer climate; that is, they leave a cold country, that they may escape the severity of winter; and they afterwards know the time in which they are to return. As, then, the birds of the air observe their seasons, how is it that my people do not consider the judgment of God? By mentioning the heavens, he no doubt alludes to the constant flying of birds, the birds having hardly any rest, for they continually rove through the air. Since, then, there is so much wisdom in birds, which yet the air wafts here and there, how comes it, that a people, who dwell quietly at home, who can leisurely meditate on God’s law — how comes it that this people understand nothing? We hence see that there is an import in the word heavens which has not been noticed. Readers may yet have their doubts; for it is nothing strange that birds in the heavens should have a clearer view, as they come nearer the sun and the element of fire: but different seems to have been the Prophet’s object; which was to shew, that though birds labor as it were continually, they yet contrive to know the suitable time for going and returning. Hence, then, is exaggerated more fully the insensibility of that people, who, while sitting leisurely at home, did not consider what God did set before them.
The particle גם, gam, even, is emphatical; Even the stork, he says. What means this, that birds, though not possessed of understanding, do yet know their time? But my people, etc. By saying “my people, “the Prophet no doubt intended more clearly to set forth their wickedness. For, as I have before said, such blindness in heathens would not have been so strange; but as they were the holy and peculiar people of God, it was far more shameful and monstrous that they knew not his judgment.
Christ uses other words in condemning the Pharisees for not attending to the time of their visitation; for he says, “Ye are wont to conclude what will be the state of the heavens in the morning; for if the sky be red in the evening, ye say, It will be fine to — morrow; and ye know the signs of future and approaching rain: ye possess, he says, judgment sufficiently acute in external things, which conduce to the benefit of the present life; yet ye know not the time of your visitation, and still ye seek signs: but were ye attentive, God would shew to you in a way clear enough, and as it were by the finger, that the time of deliverance which ye pretend to expect is now nigh at hand.” But the Prophet reproves the Jews in a severer strain, when he says that there was more fatuity and madness in them than in birds. They know not, he says, the judgment of Jehovah, though it had been shewn to them many times, and for a long season.
But some one might have objected and said, “No wonder if we perceive not God’s judgment, for his judgments are a great deep; and since these exceed what we can comprehend, there is no reason to find fault with us.” But the Prophet speaks not here of hidden judgments, which elude the comprehension of men, but of punishments, of which they had been so often warned. Since, then, they were so blind as not to see what was clear and evident, the Prophet justly says that they were more foolish than cranes, and the other birds which he mentions. It follows —
(220) It is curious the variety as to the names of birds in this verse, as given in the ancient versions: Vulgate; kite — turtle — swallow — stork; Septuagint, stork — turtle — swallow — sparrows; Syriac, stork — turtle — crane — swallow; Arabic, crane — turtle — swallow — birds; and the Targum is, stork — turtle — crane — swallow. The names in our versions seem to be the most correct, and are adopted by Venema and Blayney, stork — turtle — crane — swallow; the same with the Syriac and the Targum — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) The stork in the heaven.The eye of the prophet looked on nature at once with the quick observation of one who is alive to all her changes, and with the profound thought of a poet finding inner meanings in all phenomena. The birds of the air obey their instincts as the law of their nature. Israel, with its fatal gift of freedom, resists that which is its law of life. The stork arrives in Palestine in March, and leaves for the north of Europe in April or May. The Hebrew name, chasideh (literally, the pious bird), indicating its care for its young, is suggestive, as also is the phrase in the heavens, as applied to its characteristic mode of flight. The turtle-dove appears at the approach of spring (Song Son. 2:12).
The crane and the swallow.In the judgment of Tristram and other modern naturalists, the words should change places, and perhaps swift take the place of swallow. The word for swallow in Psa. 84:3 is different. The same combination meets us in Isa. 38:14.
Judgment.Better, perhaps, ordinance, the appointed rule of life which brute creatures obey and man transgresses.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Yea, the stork knoweth, etc. Even the birds obey the law of God written on their natures, but my people are more brutish than the irrational animals themselves.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 8:7. Yea, the stork in the heaven “These birds know by natural instinct the seasons when to return to the places of their former abode; whereas this people never think of returning to their former and only true God.” The sacred writers often send men to the brute creation for instruction, in order to upbraid their stupidity. See particularly Isa 1:3 and Scheuchzer’s Physique Sacree, tom. 7: p. 297 for an account of these birds of passage. Houbigant renders the last clause, But my people know not the accustomed ways of the Lord, see Pro 2:8 meaning the ways of divine providence, or the course of things whereby God governs the world.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
Ver. 7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times. ] These souls, though wanting reason, know well when to change quarters, whether against summer, as the stork, turtle, and swallow, or against winter, as the crane.
But my people know not the judgment of the Lord.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
knoweth. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for the effect of acting on the knowledge.
turtle = turtle-dove.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
stork: Pro 6:6-8, Isa 1:3
turtle: Son 2:12
people: Jer 5:4, Isa 1:3, Isa 5:12
know: Jer 5:4, Jer 5:5
Reciprocal: Gen 7:9 – General Num 22:23 – the ass turned Job 12:7 – But ask Job 39:13 – wings and feathers unto the Job 39:26 – stretch Psa 32:9 – no Psa 104:17 – as for Pro 1:17 – in vain Pro 13:23 – destroyed Isa 5:13 – because Isa 27:11 – for it is Isa 29:14 – for the wisdom Jer 4:22 – For my Jer 5:21 – O foolish Hos 4:6 – My people Mat 21:27 – We cannot tell Mar 11:33 – We Mar 12:24 – Do Luk 20:7 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A LESSON FROM THE STORK
The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times.
Jer 8:7
We could lay down on the map the great highways along which bird-life comes and goes.
How do they know how to journey so unerringly for thousands of miles? It is one of the greatest mysteries in Nature. They do not travel by sight of landmarks; the birds of each years brood go straight for the first time to their goal. It is not that they are guided by those who have made the journey before; the lark is a solitary pilgrim, and, in the case of many species, the young and the old travel in separate flocks. We, with all our science, know little more of the matter than did Jeremiah.
I. Consider the fowls of the air.The mystery of Nature has its parallel in a mystery of grace; we also are birds of passage, and in us also God has put the homing instinct. We come from Him; in His presence is our native land, our home, and however far we have wandered thence, there is an instinct in our hearts which will not suffer us to rest in peace, but now whispers, now loudly cries, Return, return! He who suffers not seedtime and harvest to fail brings round at last the spiritual spring, when we hear Him call, Rise up and come away, for, lo, the winter is past. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come. Arise and come away. The homing instinct may be feeble now; we have so long resisted, quenched, but it is there; it is in every hardest, vilest heart. Return unto thy rest, O my soul!
II. How far the birds have come!We too have a long journey back to God, but our very unrest and unhappiness in estrangement from Him are assurance that we are not so very far from home as we fear. It is a long journey, but the yearning which bids us set out is promise that we, like the birds, shall be safely guided. They have their appointed path; we have the true and living Way. The birds of passage come unfailingly when the feet of the coming spring touch the meadows and leave the daisies rosy; the souls come home because the bleeding feet of Christ have reddened the path to Calvary.
III. The birds set out, but not all arrive.Many are driven from their course by stress of tempest; birds of North America are found on the east coast of England; hundreds, hypnotised by the glare, dash themselves against the lighthouse lanterns; tens of thousands are snared and shot. There is danger for the birds of passage, and there is danger for the returning souls. Some who started once to come to Godwhither have the tempests of passion driven them, to what bleak shores of exile? Some, dazzled by sins, are dashing out their life in vain attempt to pass the barrier, invisible but impenetrable, which God has set between the sinner and satisfaction. Some are taken by subtle temptation, as the bird in the net of the fowler. The home-coming here is often sad, so many, yet so fewwhere are the nine?
And there awaits us all a great mysterious migration by a path which no fowl knoweth, which vultures eye hath not seen, a path which, in loneliness, all unerringly followthe tender infant, man in his prime, the feebleness of agethe great migration, whither? From the great deep to the great deepwho knows save God? Doubt and fear are natural, yet we have not so learned of Christ. He teaches that we come, the glories of dawn tinging the souls wings, from God, into the shadowed house of life, and thence emerge into the suns noontide splendour. Birds of passage are we all; yes, but we follow the sun.
Illustrations
(1) If we behold such examples in nature we ought surely to be ashamed that irrational creatures are so willing and obedient, and do that for which they are created, but we men (who were made in His image and sealed with the Holy Ghost on the day of redemption) are so opposed, rebellious, and disobedient to Him. This will certainly, in the case of no amendment, lead to a hopelessly bad ending.
(2) In ordinary life, if one falls he tries to rise again; if he turns away from the right road he endeavours to return to it. But sinful men cling to their self-deceits; they refuse to return (Jer 8:4-5), and madly rush forward in their headlong course like the horse in the battle. The very instinct of the birds may rebuke men who pride themselves on their intelligence. Those who profess to be wise and the leaders of others are especially exposed to the Divine wrath, and on them the heaviest brunt of judgment must fall.
(3) It is worthy of observation that the young birds which have been born in this country and have never made the long journey before, yet set forth with the older ones at the appointed time. They are novices in the art of travelling, yet they try their callow wings, and away they fly to the far-off land where the sun shines as it does not in this higher latitude. I wish that our young people were all as wise as the young swallows are: that they knew their appointed time, that they understood that there is no period in life which has so much of hopefulness about it as the period of childhood and youth, that it is the best time in which to seek the Saviour, for it has a special promise attached to it: Those that seek Me early shall find Me. I would that they could hear the Lord Jesus Christs peculiarly sweet and tender message concerning them: Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Yet, alas! young storks, and swallows, and cranes, and turtle-doves fly at the appointed season, but many young men and maidens delay and waste the joyous hours of the morning of their lives in the ways of sin and folly. Yes, waste the hours which, if consecrated to Christ and to His service, would have brought them a rich return in this life; and, in the life to come, would have tended to increase and intensify their everlasting felicity.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 8:7. In the beginning of the book of Isaiah the ignorance of Gods people was emphasized by reference to some dumb beasts (Jer 1:3). In our verse the same thing is done by referring to some smaller dumb creatures. Stork knoweth her appointed times might be misunderstood because of a popular notion connecting this bird with the birth of children. Smith’s Bible Dictionary says the following about this creature: “It was believed that the young [of the stork] repaid the care of their parents by attaching themselves to them for life, and tending them in old age. That the parental attachment of the stork is very strong has been proved on many occasions. Few migratory [wandering] birds are more punctual to the time of their appearance than the white stork.* The word appointed is from MOWADAH, which Strong defines, Properly an appointment, i.e., a fixed time or season.” The idea is that although the stork is a roving sort of bird, yet because it is permanently committed to the care of its parents, it does not forget when it is time to return to the home nest to see after the welfare of the parents. The illustration is that this dumb creature is more thoughtful and aware of its obligation to its parents than Judah was of the Lord.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 8:7. Yea, the stork knoweth her appointed times Of going and returning; the turtle and the crane, &c., the time of their coming The proper season for changing their climate. Taught by natural instinct, they change their quarters as the temper of the air alters, removing to a warmer climate when the winter approaches, and returning when the spring comes on; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord Understand neither their duty nor their happiness; they apprehend not the meaning either of Gods mercies or judgments, nor how to accommodate themselves to either so as to answer Gods intention therein. They know not how to improve the seasons of grace which God affords them when he sends them his prophets; nor how to make use of the rebukes they are under when his voice cries in the city. They discern not the signs of the times, (Mat 16:3,) nor are aware how God is dealing with them. They know not the law which God has prescribed them, though it be written both in their hearts and in their books.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the {e} judgment of the LORD.
(e) He accuses them in that they are more ignorant of God’s judgments, than these birds are of their appointed seasons to discern the cold and heat.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The migratory birds that visited Palestine yearly knew instinctively when it was time for them to change direction and fly either north or south, depending on the season. But the Judeans had more specific direction from the Lord in His Word and the promptings of His love. Yet they did not see that it was time for them to change the direction of their lives (cf. Jer 5:22-23). The Judahites were not even as smart as birds.
"In matters spiritual and moral we act with a perversity which is quite unlike our common sense at other levels, let alone the impressive wisdom of our fellow creatures (even the bird-brained, 7a!)." [Note: Kidner, p. 52.]