Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 8:14
Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defensed cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
14. be silent put us to silence ] better, as mg. perish caused us to perish. Cp. 1Sa 2:9.
water of gall ] a plant yielding some bitter flavour reminding of gall. It is mentioned also Jer 9:15, Jer 23:15; Deu 29:18 (Matthew 17), Jer 32:32; Psa 69:21; Lam 3:5; Lam 3:19; Hos 10:4 (“hemlock”). It cannot be identified with any certainty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14, 15. The people in their straits address one another. Cp. Jer 4:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The people rouse one another to exertion. Why, they ask, do we remain here to be overwhelmed? They are ready now to follow the command given (see the marginal reference), but with the conviction that all hope is over.
Let us be silent there – Rather, let us perish there, literally be put to silence.
Water of gall – i. e., poison. The word rendered gall was probably the belladonna, or night-shade, to the berries of which the grapes of Israel were compared.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Why do we sit still? the people at length seem to bethink themselves, and thus to bespeak each other. Let us enter into the defenced cities; in the scattered villages there is no safety for us, let us retire into places of greater security, Mat 24:16-18; possibly they thought they might be secured there, as they had been before in the time of Sennacherib.
Let us be silent there; keep close within our walls, say or do nothing to provoke the enemy; but sit down and bewail the desperateness of our condition, Lam 3:28,29, or tremblingly expect the issue of this sad war, for there is no possibility of making head against such an enemy, that bears down all before them.
The Lord our God hath put us to silence: they now begin to perceive that the hand of God is in all this, and that therefore they have not a word to say, as if they were wronged; God hath put them to shame: much less courage to oppose the Babylonians; their heart fails them, they are as men in a great terror and consternation; God hath put us to silence, let us be silent.
Water of gall; or, poison; probably the name of some poisonous herb, with the juice or infusion whereof they were wont to kill persons, as hemlock, nightshade &c. See Hos 10:4. It notes those bitter destructive judgments that God was bringing upon them, Jer 9:15, which did spring from that bitter root of their sinning against him, as in the next words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. assemblefor defense.
let us be silentnotassault the enemy, but merely defend ourselves in quiet, until thestorm blow over.
put us to silencebroughtus to that state that we can no longer resist the foe; implyingsilent despair.
water of gallliterally,”water of the poisonous plant,” perhaps the poppy (Jer 9:15;Jer 23:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Why do we sit still?…. In the country, where were barrenness and want of provisions; in the villages and unwalled towns, where they were exposed to the spoils and ravages of the enemy. These words, with what follow, are the words of the prophet, in the language of the Israelites, as Kimchi observes.
Assemble yourselves; this is the gathering together, in order to be consumed, before threatened, which they themselves were made to do:
and let us enter into the defenced cities; such as Jerusalem, where they thought they should be safe from their enemies:
and let us be silent there; either promising themselves rest, quietness, and security; or suggesting that it would be right in them to say nothing by way of complaint; having no reason to murmur at their afflictions, since they were no other than what their own sins had brought upon them:
for the Lord our God hath put us to silence; stopped their mouths that they could not complain, being convicted in their consciences of their sins; and brought them into a state of destruction and death, which makes silent:
and given us water of gall to drink; afflictions bitter and deadly. The Targum is,
“and hath made us drink the cup of an evil curse, as the heads of serpents;”
a poisonous and deadly potion:
because we have sinned against the Lord; which they were obliged to own; though it does not appear that they had true repentance for their sins, or amended their ways; sometimes confession of sin is made without either of these.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The horrors of the approaching visitation. – Jer 8:14. “Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities, and perish there; for Jahveh our God hath decreed our ruin, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jahveh. Jer 8:15. We looked for safety, and there is no good; for a time of healing, and behold terrors. Jer 8:16. From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; at the loud neighing of his steeds the whole earth trembles: they come, and devour the land and its fulness, the city and those that dwell therein. Jer 8:17. For, behold, I send among you serpents, vipers, of which there is no charming, which shall sting you, saith Jahve. Jer 8:18. Oh my comfort in sorrow, in me my heart grows too sock. Jer 8:19. Behold, loud sounds the cry of the daughter from out of a far country: ‘Is Jahveh not in Zion, nor her King in her?’ Why provoked they me with their images, with vanities of a foreign land? Jer 8:20. Past is the harvest, ended is the fruit-gathering, and we are not saved. Jer 8:21. For the breaking of the daughter of my people am I broken, am in mourning; horror hath taken hold on me. Jer 8:22. Is there no balm in Gilead, or no physician there? why then is no plaister laid upon the daughter of my people? V. 23. Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears! then would I weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.”
In spirit the prophet sees the enemy forcing his way into the country, and the inhabitants fleeing into the fortified cities. This he represents to his hearers with graphic and dramatic effect. In Jer 8:14 the citizens of Judah are made to speak, calling on one another to flee and give up hope of being saved. “Why do we sit still?” i.e., remain calmly where we are? We will withdraw into the strong cities (cf. Jer 4:5), and perish there by famine and disease ( for , imperf. Niph., from : cf. Gesen. 67, 5, Rem. 11; in Niph. be destroyed, perish). The fortresses cannot save them from ruin, since they will be besieged and taken by the enemy. For our sin against Him, God has decreed our ruin. The Hiph. from , prop. put to silence, bring to ruin, here with the force of a decree. , bitter waters; or , Deu 32:32, is a plant with a very bitter taste, and so, since bitterness and poison were to the Jews closely connected, a poisonous plant; see on Deu 29:17. So they call the bitter suffering from the ruin at hand which they must undergo. Cf. the similar figure of the cup of the anger of Jahveh, Jer 25:15.
Jer 8:15 Instead of peace and safety hoped for, there is calamity and terror. The infin. abs. is used emphatically for the imperf.: We looked for safety, and no good has come to us: for healing, sc. of our injuries, and instead comes terror, by reason of the appearance of the foe in the land. This hope has been awakened and cherished in the people by false prophets (see on Jer 4:10), and now, to their sore suffering, they must feel the contrary of it. The same idea is repeated in Jer 14:19. is a mis-spelling of , Jer 14:19, etc.
Jer 8:16 From the northern borders of Canaan (from Dan; see on Jer 4:15) is already heard the dreadful tumult of the advancing enemy, the snorting of his horses. The suffix in refers to the enemy, whose invasion is threatened in Jer 6:22, and is here presumed as known. , his strong ones, here, as in Jer 47:3; Jer 50:11, a poetical name for strong horses, stallions; elsewhere for strong animals, e.g., Psa 22:13; Psa 50:13. The whole earth, not the whole land. With “devour the land,” cf. Jer 5:17. and have an indefinite comprehensive force; town and country on which the enemy is marching.
Jer 8:17
The terribleness of these enemies is heightened by a new figure. They are compared to snakes of the most venomous description, which cannot be made innocuous by any charming, whose sting is fatal. “Vipers” is in apposition to “serpents;” serpents, namely basilisks. is, acc. to Aq. and Vulg. on Isa 11:8, serpens regulus, the basilisk, a small and very venomous species of viper, of which there is no charming. Cf. for the figure, Cant. 10:11; and fore the enemies’ cruelty thereby expressed, cf. Jer 6:23; Isa 13:18.
Jer 8:18-22 The hopeless ruin of his people cuts the prophet to the very heart. In Jer 8:18 -23 his sore oppressed heart finds itself vent in bitter lamentations. Oh my comfort in sorrow! is the cry of sore affliction. This may be seen from the second half of the verse, the sense of which is clear: sick (faint) is my heart upon me. shows that the sickness of heart is a sore burden on him, crushes him down; cf. Ew. 217, i. “My comfort” is accordingly vocative: Oh my comfort concerning the sorrow! Usually is supplied: Oh that I had, that there were for me comfort! The sense suits, but the ellipse is without parallel. It is simpler to take the words as an exclamation: the special force of it, that he knows not when to seek comfort, may be gathered from the context. For other far-fetched explanations, see in Ros. ad h. l. The grief which cuts so deeply into his heart that he sighs for relief, is caused by his already hearing in spirit the mourning cry of his people as they go away into captivity.
Jer 8:19-20 From a far country he hears the people complain: Is Jahveh not in Zion? is He no longer the King of His people there? The suffix in refers to “daughter of my people,” and the King is Jahveh; cf. Isa 33:22. They ask whether Jahveh is no longer King in Zion, that He may release His people from captivity and bring them back to Zion. To this the voice of God replies with the counter-question: Why have they provoked me with their idolatry, sc. so that I had to give them over into the power of the heathen for punishment? “Images” is expounded by the apposition: vanities (no-gods; for , see on Jer 2:5) of a foreign land. Because they have chosen the empty idols from abroad (Isa 14:22) as their gods, Jahveh, the almighty God of Zion, has cast them out into a far country amidst strange people. The people goes on to complain in Jer 8:20: Past is the harvest…and we are not saved. As Schnur. remarked, these words have something of the proverb about them. As a country-man, hoping for a good harvest, falls into despair as to his chances, so the people have been in vain looking for its rescue and deliverance. The events, or combinations of events, to which it looked for its rescue are gone by without bringing any such result. Many ancient commentators, following Rashi, have given too special a significance to this verse in applying it to the assistance expected from Egypt in the time of Jehoiakim or Zedekiah. Hitz. is yet more mistaken when he takes the saying to refer to an unproductive harvest. From Jer 8:19 we see that the words are spoken by the people while it pines in exile, which sets its hopes of being saved not in the productiveness of the harvest, but in a happy turn of the political situation.
Jer 8:21-22 The hopeless case of the people and kingdom moves the seer so deeply, that he bursts forth with the cry: For the breaking of my people I am broken (the Hoph. , of the breaking of the heart, only here; in this sig. usu. the Niph., e.g., Jer 38:7. Horror hath taken hold on me, is stronger than: Anguish hath taken hold on me, Jer 6:24, Mic 4:9. Help is nowhere to be found. This thought is in Jer 8:22 clothed in the question: Is there no balm in Gilead, or no physician there? “There” points back to Gilead. Graf’s remark, that “it is not known that the physicians were got from that quarter,” shows nothing more than that its author has mistaken the figurative force of the words. , balsam, is mentioned in Gen 37:25 as an article of commerce carried by Midianite merchants to Egypt (cf. Eze 27:17), but is hardly the real balsam from Mecca ( amyris opobalsamum ), which during the Roman sovereignty was grown under culture in the gardens of Jericho, and which only succeeds in a climate little short of tropical. It was more likely the resina of the ancients, a gum procured from the terebinth or mastic tree ( lentiscus, ), which, acc. to Plin. h. nat. xxiv. 22, was held in esteem as a medicament for wounds ( resolvitur resina ad vulnerum usus et malagmata oleo ). Acc. to our passage and Jer 46:11, cf. Gen 37:25, it was procured chiefly from Gilead; cf. Movers, Phniz. ii. 3, S. 220ff., and the remarks on Gen 37:25. To these questions a negative answer is given. From this we explain the introduction of a further question with : if there were balm in Gilead, and a physician there, then a plaister would have been laid on the daughter of my people, which is not the case. As to , lit., a plaister comes upon, see on Jer 30:17.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
This verse, and those which follow, are explained in different ways; but I will briefly shew the meaning of the Prophet. I have no doubt but that he speaks here in the name of the whole people. The Prophet, then, in these words, represents what occupied their minds, and the counsels which the Jews adopted: and further, there is no doubt but that he shews in these words that they, as hypocrites are wont to do, had recourse to expedients, by which they thought they could protect themselves from God’s wrath. For they who think that the Prophet spoke his own sentiments are greatly mistaken: on the contrary, he relates here the purposes which the Jews formed; and at the same time he reproves their hardness in turning here and there, and in thinking that they could turn aside the judgment of God; for hypocrites, unless constrained, never ascend to the first cause; that is, they never acknowledge nor regard the hand of him who strikes them, as it is said in another place. (Isa 9:13.) They indeed feel their evils, and seek to apply remedies; but they stop at the nearest reliefs, without seeking to pacify God and to return into favor with him; and when the smallest hope is given them, they think themselves to be safe, if they betake themselves to this or that hiding-place.
This feeling is what the Prophet describes: Why do we sit? or, “Why do we rest?” But the word here means to sit still: Why do we then sit still? as though they had accused themselves of sloth or idleness: “What means this our slothfulness? we sit still in the villages, which are exposed to the violence of enemies: gather then yourselves, and let us enter into fortified cities; we shall rest there.” They thought that they should be safe, if they entered into fortified cities. Then, on the other hand, Jeremiah shews how foolishly they trusted to such refuges. Surely, he says, our God hath made us silent He had said before ונדמה-שם , vanudame-shem, “ and we shall there rest.” The verb, means to rest, and to be silent. He repeats the same word, “ Surely, our God hath made us to be silent;” but in a different sense. There is then a striking allusion in the verb דמה, dame, or the sameness of sound. “Jehovah hath made us to be silent, “or to rest; or, he hath cut us off, for in Hiphil, it has this meaning. (228)
We hence see, that on the one hand is declared what might have given some comfort to the Jews, for there were fortified cities which might have protected them from the assaults of enemies; but, on the other hand, the Prophet shews that they were greatly mistaken, for God would make them to rest in a different manner, as he would reduce them to nothing; for the dead are said to rest, or to be silent. In short, he means a quiet state when speaking in the name of the people; but he refers to destruction when speaking by God’s command.
He afterwards confirms the same thing in a metaphorical language, God will give them the waters of gall, or, poisoned waters: and he adds, Because they have acted impiously against Jehovah We may learn from this last part, that the Prophet is now performing the duty of his office. The people indeed never willingly allowed that they were suffering punishment justly due to their sins; but the Prophet here reproves them for hoping to be safe by fleeing to fortified cities, as though God could not follow them there. He then says that God’s vengeance would closely pursue them, and that wherever they fled, they would still be exposed to evils, for they carried with them their impieties, which would draw upon them the wrath of God. It follows —
(228) The verb דמה means, to be silent, to be reduced to silence; and the silence is that of inactivity, or of weakness, or of death. The silence of inactivity seems to be the meaning in the first instance, and the silence of weakness in the second: “Let us be silent,“ or, let us rest; “God hath made us silent,“ or, made us feeble, or, reduced to nothing our strength: —
14. Why do we sit still? be ye assembled, And let us go into fortified cities, And let us be silent there; For Jehovah our God has reduced us to silence; And he has given us to drink the water of hemlock, Because we have sinned against Jehovah.
That ראש is “hemlock,“ or some poisonous herb, is evident from Hos 10:4. “The water” seems to be the juice in this instance — “the juice of hemlock.” It is rendered “the water of gall, ὕδωρ χολὢς,” by the Septuagint, and the same by the Vulgate; “ bitter waters,“ by the Syriac; “ water of bitterness,“ by the Arabic; “ the cup of malediction,“ by the Targum. “Water of hemlock” is the rendering of Blayney.
Horsley renders the third and the fourth line as follows: —
And let us there sit in despair, Since the Lord our God hath brought us to despair.
—
Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) Why do we sit still? . . .The cry of the people in answer to the threatening of Jehovah is brought in by the prophet with a startling dramatic vividness. They are ready to flee into the defenced cities, as the prophet had told them in Jer. 4:5, but it is without hope. They are going into the silence as of death, for to that silence Jehovah himself has brought them.
Water of gall.The idea implied is that of poison as well as bitterness. It is uncertain what the gall-plant was; possibly, from its connection with grapes or clusters, as in Deu. 32:32, belladonna or colocynth is meant. Others have suggested the poppy, and this is in part confirmed by the narcotic properties implied in Mat. 27:34. In Deu. 29:18 it is joined with wormwood.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Let us be silent, etc. Better, let us perish, for Jehovah our God hath caused us to perish.
Gall The name of a poisonous plant which cannot be unmistakably identified. From the fact that it is mentioned in Deu 32:32, as having berries, some have not improbably conjectured that the nightshade is intended.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jeremiah Calls On The People To Enter Their Fortified Cities Because The Invaders Are Coming And There Will Be No Peace Terms Accepted Or Healing Of Their Rebellion, For YHWH Is Sending Among Them Serpents Which Cannot Be Charmed, Adders Which Will Bite Them Without Ceasing ( Jer 8:14-17 ). .
In vivid terms Jeremiah calls on the people to barricade themselves inside their fortified cities. But it was not to be in hope of deliverance. Once there they were to be silent, because YHWH had put them to silence by the thought of what was coming on them. They would be given bitter water to drink, because they had sinned against Him. For this time there would be no peace terms and no healing of the rift. The invaders would not be coming in a merciful mood, but in order to obtain vengeance. They were like snakes which could not be charmed, which would bite them without stinting. And this was ‘the infallible word of YHWH’.
Jer 8:14
“Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter into the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there,
For YHWH our God has put us to silence,
And given us water of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against YHWH.”
Jeremiah now calls the people to action. It is not a time for sitting still but for assembling themselves and entering into their fortified cities because the enemy is almost upon them. But it should not be with the hope of deliverance. Rather, once there, they were to be in silence, knowing that YHWH their God had put them to silence and given them bitter and even poisonous water to drink, And this was because of the grievousness of their sin before Him.
It is tempting to see in the reference to ‘waters of gall’ a parallel with the water drunk by a wife accused of adultery, which is called ‘the water of bitterness that brings the curse’ (Num 5:18; Num 5:24), but there is no suggestion that that was waters of gall. Indeed it was holy water mingled with dust from the Tabernacle, and if that was meant why was it not called ‘waters of bitterness’? More likely is a reference to Deu 32:32-33, ‘For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah, their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps.’ That makes it a mixture of bitterness and poison which will bring about their end because their sins paralleled those of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jer 8:15
“We looked for peace,
But no good came,
For a time of healing,
And, behold, dismay!”
Their false prophets had promised peace and healing and well being, but it had not come. Furthermore all efforts at appeasing the enemy would fail. They would look in vain for peace, but no good would come. They would seek a time of healing, but instead they would face dismay, for they had offended both God and men. No peace terms would be offered. No mercy would be available. It was the end of the road.
Jer 8:16
“The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan,
At the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles,
For they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it.”
Prophetically Jeremiah hears the snorting of the invader’s horses at Dan, on the borders of God’s inheritance. The enemy are coming and even now, as it were, the sound of the snorting of their horses can be heard! It is as near as that. And at that sound of the neighing of the powerful horses of the enemy the whole land will tremble. In his foresight he sees the invading forces coming and devouring the land, and all that is in it. And they will devour the cities, in spite of their fortifications, and all who dwell in them. There will be no escape from the avenging forces of Babylon. It is already happening before his prophetic eyes.
Jer 8:17
“For, behold, I will send serpents,
Adders, among you,
Which will not be charmed,
And they will bite you,
The word of YHWH.”
For those who are coming are like serpents, like adders come among them. Once again, just as He had previously, God is visiting His people with a judgment of ‘serpents’. In mind here is almost certainly the incident when YHWH previously sent serpents among the people of Israel when they were rebellious, although in that case it had caused the people to repent (compare Num 21:6-9). No attempts at charming them will succeed. There will be no intervention by YHWH. The serpents will be deaf to all attempts to win them over (compare Psa 58:4-5). Instead they will bite all the people of the land. And this is the unfailing ‘word of YHWH’.
The picture of the charmer, at first confident, and then desperately seeking to bring the serpents under control, only in the end to succumb to their bites, is a vivid one. It was an indication that all negotiations with their enemies would fail.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jer 8:14. Why do we sit still? This seems to be spoken in the person of the people who lived in open towns and villages, exhorting one another to repair to Jerusalem, and other fortified places, to seek for refuge; whereas the prophet had before exhorted the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to flee even thence. He therefore replies, in the following part of the verse, that God had indeed put them to silence in another sense; namely, he had taken away all their strength, and left them to be destroyed by their enemies. See Isa 47:5. Lowth and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 8:14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
Ver. 14. Why do we sit still? ] Here the people speak (see on Jer 8:13 ), being grievously frightened upon the coming of the Chaldees, and thereupon consulting what course to take; but all would not do. Jer 8:16
Let us be silent.
For the Lord our God hath put us to silence.
And hath given us water of gall to drink.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Why . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. verses: 14-16 spoken by the prophet, not the People. They were being threatened for not doing what is here spoken of, verses: Jer 12:13. Moreover, Jer 8:15 is spoken by Jeremiah in Jer 14:19, which is an earlier passage, chronologically.
we: i.e. the prophet to the People. God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
silence. Figure of speech Ploke, the word being used in a different sense.
water of gall = poppy water; = poisoned water.
sinned. Hebrew. chata’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 8:14-17
Jer 8:14-17
Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Jehovah our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah. We looked for peace, but no good came; [and] for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay! The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth; for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those that dwell therein. For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah.
Note that in Jer 8:14, the outlying communities surrounding Jerusalem have decided to flee to the fortified cities, realizing that all hope is lost and thinking, perhaps, to survive a little longer there; but even there they expect only to be “put to silence,” a euphemism for “put to death.” Note too that in this verse the betrayal of the people by their false prophets was at last recognized by the people. What has opened the eyes of the people?
“The war horses of the Chaldeans can be heard snorting already in Dan!”
I will send serpents, adders among you…
(Jer 8:17). Jeremiah loved to change his metaphors; and here we have another example of it. The invading Babylonians are symbolized by poisonous serpents that could not be charmed. The invading army, sent to execute God’s sentence, is now compared to snakes, which no charming can soothe, and the bite of which is fatal.
Unavoidable Punishment at the Hand of God Jer 8:13-17
In Jer 2:21 Judah is compared to a vine with bad grapes. In the present figure no fruit at all can be found on the vine or on the fig tree. The leaves are even withered. The plant is dying; it is worthless; it must be destroyed. God has already appointed the destroyer. An army shall sweep through that worthless garden like a raging stream overflowing its banks (Jer 8:13). On the phrase those who overrun see Isa 8:7; Dan 11:10; Dan 11:40. All will be destroyed.
Resorting to one of his favorite rhetorical devices Jeremiah projects himself into the future to dramatically portray what will happen when Judah comes under enemy attack. The inhabitants of the countryside in gloomy despair urge one another to move into the fortified cities. They feel they are under the curse of God, that they shortly will perish (lit., be put to silence). They are resigned to death. If they move to the cities they will die of some pestilence or plague. But at least that is better than falling into the hand of the enemy. They knew that God was making them drink of the poisonous water of divine judgment. They admit now that it is too late that they have sinned against the Lord (Jer 8:14). They had listened to their false prophets and consequently they had expected peace and national healing. But good times did not come; only the terrors of ruthless war.
Jeremiah must have been a spellbinding preacher. He makes his audience almost hear the snorting and neighing of the enemy horses as the Chaldean calvary bears down upon Dan, the northern-most city of Palestine. All the known world trembles at the news that the mighty northern enemy is sweeping southward. The land and its produce, the cities and their inhabitants will be consumed by this mighty army (Jer 8:16). Like venomous serpents the enemy will sink their death-dealing fangs into the inhabitants of Judah. No one will be able to charm those snakes; no one will be able to control them (Jer 8:17). The doom is unavoidable.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
do: 2Ki 7:3, 2Ki 7:4
enter: Jer 4:5, Jer 4:6, Jer 35:11, 2Sa 20:6
be silent: Lev 10:3, Psa 39:2, Lam 3:27, Lam 3:28, Amo 6:10, Hab 2:20, Zec 2:13
water: Jer 9:15, Jer 23:15, Num 5:18-24, Deu 32:32, Psa 69:21, Lam 3:19, Mat 27:34
gall: or, poison
Reciprocal: Gen 42:1 – Why do ye Deu 32:33 – the poison Jos 10:19 – suffer them Jos 10:20 – fenced cities 1Sa 2:9 – be silent Ecc 3:7 – time to keep Jer 6:25 – Go not Jer 8:4 – Moreover Jer 34:7 – fought against Lam 2:10 – and keep Lam 3:5 – gall Nah 3:11 – thou also Zec 12:2 – trembling Act 22:16 – why
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 8:14. Why do we sit still is the language of the people. They have been Informed by the prophet that nothing they can do will stop the enemy from invading the land. Therefore they seek to bestir themselves to make the best of it” by entering Into fenced (walled) cities and there be sile7it; that is. make no active resistance but await, as calmly as the bitterness of their situation will permit, the attack of the foe. They now seem to realize that their bitter state is because of their sins.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 8:14-15. Let us enter into the defenced cities In these verses the prophet seems to turn to and address his countrymen by way of apostrophe; and, as one of the people that dwelt in the open towns, advises those that were in the like situation to retire with him into some of the fortified cities, and there wait the event with patience; since there was nothing but terror abroad, and the noise of the enemy who had already begun to ravage the country. By this the prophet signifies, that when the Chaldeans should come, there would be no hope of safety left but in fleeing to fortified places, and that none would dare to stay in the open country. He speaks of the thing as already present, because it was soon to happen, and it was represented to him, in his vision, as already present. Let us be silent there, for the Lord hath put us to silence This may mean, that God had suffered the forces of the king of Judah to be so diminished that they were not able to defend the country and open towns, but must of necessity keep themselves cooped up in their fortified cities, and leave the country to be ravaged everywhere by the Chaldeans. And given us water of gall to drink Hath brought us into grievous calamities for the punishment of our sins. We looked for peace We were willing to believe the false prophets, who foretold prosperous times. For a time of health Or, for a time in which we should be cured; that is, for a time of peace, in which we might recover our strength.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:14 Why do we sit still? {i} assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of {k} gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
(i) He speaks in the person of the people, who when the enemy comes will turn about to hide themselves and acknowledge that it is God’s hand.
(k) That is, has brought us into extreme affliction, and thus they will not attribute this plague to fortune, but to God’s just judgment, Jer 9:15; Jer 23:15 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jeremiah invited his fellow countrymen to go with him to the walled cities where they could resist the invader for at least a little longer before they perished. He recognized that the coming judgment was from the Lord because the people had sinned so greatly. He compared their judgment to being given poisoned water ("gall" AV) to drink.