Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 8:9
The wise [men] are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom [is] in them?
They have rejected the word of the Lord – It became in the hands of the Soferim or scribes a mere code of ceremonial observance. Compare Mar 7:13.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken; they trusted to their refuge of lies, but when God shall bring the judgment threatened, the wisest among them will find that they shall be confounded among themselves, not knowing what to do for all their wisdom, but shall be taken with the rest, Jer 4:9; by wise men he means the scribes in the former verse. The same said of Babylon, Isa 47:10.
What wisdom is in them? or, What is wisdom to them? How can they say they are wise, when they have no fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, Pro 1:7; when they have no respect at all to the word of God, as to any holy practice, which is the fountain of all wisdom? Deu 4:6; Psa 19:7; 2Ti 3:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. dismayedconfounded.
what wisdomliterally,”the wisdom of what?” that is, “wisdom in whatrespect?” the Word of the Lord being the only true source ofwisdom (Psa 119:98-100;Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The wise men are ashamed,…. Of the wisdom of which they boasted, when it would appear to be folly, and unprofitable to them:
they are dismayed and taken; frightened at the calamities coming upon them, and taken as in a snare, as the wise sometimes are in their own craftiness, Job 5:13.
Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; sent by the prophets, which urged obedience to the law, and is the best explanation of it; but this they despised, and refused it:
and what wisdom is in them? to contemn that, which, if attended to, would have been profitable to them, and the means of making them wise unto salvation; let them therefore boast of their wisdom ever so much, it is certain there can be none in persons of such a spirit and conduct.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Those who held themselves wise will come to shame, will be dismally disabused of their hopes. When the great calamity comes on the sin-hardened people, they shall be confounded and overwhelmed in ruin (cf. Jer 6:11). They spurn at the word of Jahveh; whose wisdom then have they? None; for the word of the Lord alone is Israel’s wisdom and understanding, Deu 4:6.
The threatening in Jer 8:10 includes not only the wise ones, but the whole people. “Therefore” attaches to the central truth of Jer 8:5 and Jer 8:6, which has been elucidated in Jer 8:7-9. The first half of Jer 8:10 corresponds, in shorter compass, to what has been said in Jer 6:12, and is here continued in Jer 8:10-12 in the same words as in Jer 6:13-15. are those who take possession, make themselves masters of a thing, as in Jer 49:2 and Mic 1:15. This repetition of the three verses is not given in the lxx, and Hitz. therefore proposes to delete them as a supplementary interpolation, holding that they are not only superfluous, but that they interrupt the sense. For he thinks Jer 8:13 connects remarkably well with Jer 8:10, but, taken out of its connection with what precedes as we have it, begins baldly enough. To this Graf has made fitting answer: This passage is in no respect more superfluous or awkward than Jer 6:13.; nor is the connection of Jer 8:13 with Jer 8:10 at all closer than with Jer 8:12. And Hitz., in order to defend the immediate connection between Jer 8:13 and Jer 8:10, sees himself compelled, for the restoration of equilibrium, to delete the middle part of Jer 8:13 (from “no grapes” to “withered”) as spurious; for which proceeding there is not the smallest reason, since this passage has neither the character of an explanatory gloss, nor is it a repetition from any place whatever, nor is it awanting in the lxx. Just as little ground is there to argue against the genuineness of the two passages from the variations found in them. Here in Jer 8:10 we have instead of the of Jer 6:13; but the suffix, which in the latter case pointed to the preceding “inhabitants of the land,” was unnecessary here, where there is no such reference. In like manner, the forms for , and for , are but the more usual forms used by Jeremiah elsewhere. So the omission of the in for , as coming either from the writer or the copyist, clearly does not make against the genuineness of the verses. And there is the less reason for making any difficulty about the passage, seeing that such repetitions are amongst the peculiarities of Jeremiah’s style: cf. e.g., Jer 7:31-33 with Jer 19:5-7; Jer 10:12-16 with Jer 51:15-19; Jer 15:13-14, with Jer 17:3-4; Jer 16:14-15, with Jer 23:7-8, Jer 23:5-6, with Jer 33:15-16; Jer 23:19-20, with Jer 30:23-24, and other shorter repetitions.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
He says now that the wise were ashamed, and astonished, and ensnared By which words he means, that the Jews gained nothing by their craftiness, while they arrogated to themselves wisdom, and under this pretense rejected all admonitions, and sought to be spared.
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This wisdom, “he says, “avails you nothing, for God, as it is said in another place, will take you unawares.” (Isa 29:14; 1Co 1:19.)
Ashamed, then, he says, are they; not that they were then ashamed; for be said before, in Jer 6:15, and will state the same presently, that they were so hardened that they could not be made ashamed, nor be made to blush: (222) but he here denounces a punishment, which was soon to overtake them; as though he had said, “Ye have now an iron front, and think that ye can elude God and his servants with impunity; but God will take you unawares, and will so shake off the masks under which you hide yourselves, that your disgrace shall be made manifest to all.” This is the meaning.
For the same purpose he says, “Ye are now secure, but God will shortly fill you with such terror, that he will make you greatly astonished ” He intimates, then, that nothing would benefit them while they took delight in their vices, and increasingly hardened themselves; for God would deprive them of their craftiness, and cast them down with terror, however secure and perverse they were now.
By the third word he sets forth the manner in which they would be treated: God would have his snares by which he would take them. He alludes to the subterfuges in which those hypocrites trust, who proudly oppose God, while they think that by their arts they can escape in this or that way, and often devise some new schemes by which they may deceive God. Hence the Prophet, alluding to their perverse cunning, says, that God would be as it were a fowler, who would ensnare them, and hold them captive.
He afterwards assigns the reason, Because they had repudiated, or despised or rejected, (223) (for the verb means all these things,) the word of Jehovah And he uses a demonstrative particle, Behold, that they might not, as usual, make any evasions: “The thing, “he says, “is sufficiently known, and even children can be judges of your impiety, that you have rejected the word of Jehovah.” He draws hence this inference, What does wisdom avail them? or, What is their wisdom? Either of these meanings may be admitted, They were wise to no purpose, while they provoked God by their impious contempt. “I hate the wise who is not wise for himself, “is an old proverb. As then the Jews ill consulted their own benefit, by rejecting the word of God, in which their safety was involved, the Prophet justly alleges, that their wisdom availed them nothing. Others read, “What is their wisdom, “when there is no fear of God? And doubtless it ever remains a truth, that the fear of God is the beginning and the chief part of wisdom. (Pro 1:7; Pro 9:10; Psa 111:10.) Since then they had basely despised God’s word, rightly does the Prophet ask, “What is their wisdom?” But there is a third meaning which is suitable, even this, And wisdom, what to them? So it is literally, — What is wisdom to them? He still speaks to them ironically, as though he said, “They are indeed wise, but in their own esteem; they have therefore no need of being taught: What then is wisdom to them!” The meaning is, that they were so swollen with pride that they received no instruction. How so? They refused wisdom through the false conceit with which they were inflated. Let, however, every one choose for himself; my object is to shew what I mostly approve. There will be no lecture to — morrow, as a consistory is to be held.
(222) It would be better to consider the shame in this verse as referring to the people, and the want of shame in Jer 8:12, as applied to the teachers, the scribes, the false interpreters of the law, who promised peace, while there was no peace. — Ed.
(223) The verb is here followed by ב : see note on Jer 2:37
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) They have rejected the word of the Lord.The wise men are apparently distinguished from the scribes, probably as students of the ethical or sapiential books of Israel, such as the Proverbs of Solomon, as distinct from the Law. The reign of Hezekiah, it will be remembered, had been memorable for such studies (Pro. 25:1). They, too, kept within the range of traditional maxims and precepts, perhaps with stress on ceremonial rather than moral obligations; and when the word of Jehovah came to them straight from the lips of the prophets, they refused to listen to it, and with that refusal, what wisdom could they claim?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Rejected the word of the Lord “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 8:9 The wise [men] are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom [is] in them?
Ver. 9. The wise men are ashamed. ] They have cause to be ashamed of their gross ignorance and folly, Jer 8:7-8 and greater cause than ever humble Augustine had to say, Scientia mea me damnat, My knowledge undoeth me.
Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord.
And what wisdom is in them?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
rejected. The second of four downward steps. See note on Jer 6:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The wise men are: or, Have they been, etc. Jer 6:15, Jer 49:7, Job 5:12, Isa 19:11, Eze 7:26, 1Co 1:26-29
lo: Deu 4:6, Psa 19:7, Psa 119:98-100, Isa 8:20, 1Co 1:18-29, 2Ti 3:15
what wisdom: Heb. the wisdom of what thing, etc
Reciprocal: Deu 32:28 – General 2Sa 15:31 – turn the counsel 2Sa 16:23 – all the counsel 2Ki 17:15 – they rejected Neh 8:1 – Ezra Psa 50:17 – castest Psa 119:99 – than all Psa 119:100 – because Pro 1:30 – General Pro 14:6 – scorner Isa 5:24 – cast away Jer 2:8 – and they that Jer 6:19 – nor to Jer 10:21 – the pastors Jer 50:35 – her wise men Eze 28:17 – thou hast Hos 4:6 – because Amo 2:4 – because Mat 6:23 – If Mat 7:26 – doeth Mar 7:13 – the word Luk 11:35 – General Joh 3:10 – Art Joh 5:39 – Search Rom 1:22 – General Rom 2:23 – that makest Rom 3:31 – do we 1Co 1:19 – General 1Co 4:10 – are wise 1Ti 1:7 – understanding
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 8:9. The wise men refers to these corrupt leaders who considered themselves wise enough not to need the word of the Lord. Such self-assumed wise men were destined to be brought to shame for their rejection of the word of the Ik>rd.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 8:9. The wise men are ashamed That is, they have reason to be so, who have not made a better use of their wisdom, and reduced their knowledge to practice. They are confounded and taken All their wisdom has not served to keep them from those courses that will issue in their ruin. They shall be taken in the same snares that others of their neighbours, who have not pretended to so much wisdom, are taken in, and filled with the same confusion. Those that have more knowledge than others, and yet provide no better than others for their own souls, have reason to be ashamed. They have rejected the word of the Lord They would not be governed or guided in their conduct by it, would not act as it directed them, nor comply with their duty as there set forth; and what wisdom is in them? None to any purpose: none that will yield them comfort in life, support in death, or boldness at the day of final accounts: none that will be found to their praise when God shall bring every work into judgment, how much soever it may exalt them in their own opinion in the present world.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:9 The {g} wise [men] are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom [is] in them?
(g) They who seem wise may be ashamed of their ignorance for all wisdom consists in God’s word.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord’s Word through Jeremiah had exposed these "wise men." They had rejected the Lord’s Word, and that was not "wise."