Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 8:17
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
17. basilisks ] better (mg.) adders, for the basilisk was only fabulous. The creature here meant cannot be identified with certainty. See conjectures in Dr., pp. 351 f. No art of the charmer will avail against the foe here figured. The serpent-charming art is still kept up in the East. It is supposed that the sharp shrill sounds which the charmers produce by their voice or an instrument are the means by which the desired result is reached. They also “repeatedly breathe strongly into the face of the serpent and occasionally blow spittle, or some medicated composition upon them.” Thomson, op. cit. p. 154.
18 9:1. See summary at commencement of section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will send – Or, am sending. No prophet changes his metaphors so suddenly as Jeremiah. The invading army is now compared to snakes, whom no charming can soothe, and whose bite is fatal. Compare Num 21:5-6.
Cockatrices – Vipers. See Isa 11:8 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 8:17
I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you.
Penalty
There are countries that are desolated by animals; there have been harvests eaten by locusts; there have been vineyards stripped by insects; there is, therefore, no violence in the figure, and there is nothing of the nature of exaggeration. The animals have one keeper. God can make them live where tie likes. The sight of that cockatrice might make a man almost pray. It would turn many a blustering, blatant sinner in the city into a coward if he could but once catch sight of it on the counting house floor; then any prophet would be welcome who could charm the evil thing. But this cockatrice will not be charmed. It will look with proud disdain upon your traps and snares and all your offered flatteries, and all your bribes to its cruel dignity; it has come to do Gods judgment work and it will not accept the compromise the sinner proposes. These words are full of sadness, full of horribleness: but we must be horrible before we can be gracious; we must know what the law is before we can know what the Gospel is; we must preach–oh, sad confession, and hurtful to a dainty and irrational sentimentality!–we must preach hell, if haply men may, by the terror of the Lord, be brought to know the meaning of His grace. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. I will send serpents] These were symbols of the enemies that were coming against them; a foe that would rather slay them and destroy the land than get booty and ransom.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He proceeds in increasing of their terror: q.d. There will be no appeasing or allaying of their fury by any art or method; therefore represented by the cockatrice, called in Latin regulus, or king of serpents, as putting to flight all other serpents; but by apposition to
serpents, showing what kind of serpent they shall be, a sort that cannot be charmed, viz. such an enemy as by no entreaty can be made exorable: see on Isa 11:8. LXX. deadly serpents. They shall bite you; they shall afflict you with sore punishments, not only stings in their tails, as scorpions, but in their teeth, whereby they shall devour you, Jer 8:16.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. IJehovah.
cockatricesbasilisks(Isa 11:8), that is, enemieswhose destructive power no means, by persuasion or otherwise, cancounteract. Serpent-charmers in the East entice serpents by music,and by a particular pressure on the neck render them incapable ofdarting (Psa 58:4; Psa 58:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you,…. The Chaldeans, comparable to these noxious and hurtful creatures, because of the mischief they should do unto them. The Targum is,
“for, lo, I will raise up against you people that kill as the destroying serpents.”
These were raised up by the Lord, and sent by him, just as he sent fiery serpents among the Israelites in the wilderness, when they sinned against him; there literally, here metaphorically.
Which will not be charmed: Jarchi says, at the end of seventy years a serpent becomes a cockatrice, and stops its ear, that it will not hearken to the voice of the charmer, according to Ps 58:4, the meaning is, that these Chaldeans would not be diverted from their purposes in destroying of the Jews by any arts or methods whatever; as not by force of arms, so not by good words and entreaties, or any way that could be devised.
And they shall bite you, saith the Lord; that is, kill them, as the Targum interprets it; for the bite of a serpent is deadly.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He increases their terror by another comparison, — that not only enemies would violently attack them, but that their bitings would be venomous. He had spoken of horses, and mentioned their violent onsets; but he now expresses another thing, — that the Jews would have to carry on war with vipers and basilisks The Prophet no doubt only meant to shew that they could not possibly escape; for as from serpents men can hardly escape, especially when they are numerous, and assail them on every side, so he intimates, that the war would be fatal to the Jews, when attacked by serpents and vipers.
They shall bite you, he says, and for them there will be no incantation; that is, by no means can they be driven away from you. If one asks, Can serpents be driven away by incantations? the answer is, — that the Prophet here does not refer to what is true, but speaks according to the common opinions of men. It has been thought in all ages, that serpents can be driven away by incantations, or be killed, or be deprived of the power of hurting. “The deadly snake, “says Virgil, in Eclo. viii., “is dissolved in the meadows by singing.” What that heathen poet has said has been believed also by other nations; and as I have already said, it has been a commonly received opinion that serpents may be charmed. As then it was a common belief, the Prophet says, “If ye think that these serpents can be turned away, and the hurt that proceeds from them, ye are greatly deceived; for there will be for them no incantation.” There is also a mention made of incantation in Psa 58:6 : but as I have already said, the prophets accommodate their words to the comprehension of men. The Prophet does here also indirectly reprove the Jews, by comparing their false resources to incantations, as though he had said, — “Ye think that ye can soothe your enemies by flatteries and bribery, so that they may not hurt you; and ye also think that ye have ready at hand various means by which you may avert the evils which impend over you: in vain, he says, ye deceive yourselves with such hopes; for all your incantations as to these serpents shall be to no purpose, and wholly useless.”
We now then perceive the Prophet’s intention, and see that by this figure he ironically derides the crafty measures of the people, and all the remedies which they thought they had in readiness when assailed by their enemies. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Serpents, cockatrices.There is a sudden change of figure, one new image of terror starting from the history of the fiery serpents of Num. 21:6, or, possibly, from the connection of Dan with the serpent and adder in Gen. 49:17. It is not easy to identify the genus and species of the serpents of the Bible. Here the two words are in apposition. Cockatrice, however, cannot be right, that name belonging, as an English word, to legendary zoology. The Vulg. gives basilisk. In Pro. 23:32 it is translated by adder. In any case it implies a hissing venomous snake (probably the cerastes or serpens regulus), and the symbolism which identified it with the Assyrian or Chaldan power had already appeared in Isa. 14:29.
Which will not be charmed.The figure is that of Psa. 58:4-5. The deaf adder that refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer represents an implacable enemy waging a pitiless war. Serpent-charming, as in the case of the Egyptian sorcerers (Exo. 7:11), seems to have been from a very early time, as it is now, both in Egypt and India, one of the most prominent features of the natural magic of the East.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 8:17. Behold, I will send serpents Under the idea of beasts and venomous creatures are represented inexorable enemies: see chap. Jer 5:6. Psa 58:4-5 and Calmet. That some persons possessed the faculty of rendering serpents harmless, is a fact too well attested by historians and travellers to admit of contradiction. But by what means this effect was produced, is not quite so clear. Pliny speaks of certain herbs, which being carried about, prevented the bite of serpents. Hist. Nat. lib. 20: sect. 15 lib. 22 sect. 25. Others tell surprising, but not altogether incredible stories of the affinity and influence of musical sounds. See Bochart De Sacr. Animal. par. II. lib. 3: cap. 6. Shaw’s Travels, p. 429 and Sir John Chardin’s manuscript, cited by Harmer, ch. 8. obs. 14. In this same manuscript the author remarks, that “those that know how to tame serpents by their charms, are wont commonly to break out their teeth;” and supposes this to be alluded to, Psa 58:6. “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth.” But whatever were the methods commonly practised, the enemies of the Jews are here compared to such serpents as were not to be mollified nor disarmed by any of those means; “they shall bite you, saith JEHOVAH.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 8:17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
Ver. 17. Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, ] i.e., Chaldees, no less virulent than serpents, as violent as horses. Serpentum tot sunt venena quot genera, tot pernicies quot species, tot dolores quot colores, saith an ancient. a Serpents are of several sorts, but all poisonous and pernicious. The basilisk or cockatrice here instanced (the worst sort of serpents, say the Septuagint here) goeth not upon the belly, as other serpents, but erect from the middle part, and doth so infect the air, that by the pestilent breath coming therefrom fruits are killed, and men being but looked upon by it, and birds flying over it; stones also are broken thereby, and all other serpents put to flight.
And they shall bite you.
a Isidor., lib. xii. cap. 2.
b Diod., Piscator.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
cockatrices = adders.
will not be charmed. This shows that the People were not penitent, and verses: Jer 8:8, Jer 8:14, Jer 8:16 are not their words.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I will: Deu 32:24, Isa 14:29, Amo 5:19, Amo 9:3, Rev 9:19
which: Psa 58:4, Psa 58:5, Ecc 10:11
Reciprocal: Num 21:6 – General Pro 23:32 – biteth Jer 8:4 – Moreover Eze 9:2 – six Hab 2:7 – bite
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 8:17. The pronoun I means the Lord who is going to use the Babylonian army to chastise the unfaithful people. This army is represented by the figures of poisonous reptiles in order to make use of the additional figure of not being charmed, as was believed that serpents could sometimes be. The literal meaning of the prediction is that nothing can be done to persuade the Babylonians to lift the siege.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 8:17. For behold, I send serpents, &c., which shall not be charmed Such enemies as you shall not be able to soften by any entreaties you can use. That some persons possessed the faculty of rendering serpents harmless, is a fact too well attested by historians and travellers to admit of contradiction: but by what means this effect was produced is not quite so clear. Pliny speaks of certain herbs which, being carried about, prevented the bite of serpents, Nat. Hist., lib. 20. sec. 16, lib. 22. sec. 25. Others tell surprising, but not altogether incredible stories, of the influence of musical sounds. See Shaws Travels, p. 429; and Sir John Chardins MS., cited by Harmer, chap. Jer 8:14. In this same MS. the author remarks, that those who know how to tame serpents by their charms are wont commonly to break out their teeth; and supposes this to be alluded to, Psa 58:6, Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths. But whatever were the methods commonly practised to charm serpents, the enemies of the Jews are here compared to such serpents as were not to be mollified nor disarmed by any of those means. They shall bite you, saith the Lord See Blaney, and note on Psa 58:5.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:17 For, behold, I will {m} send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
(m) God threatens to send the Babylonians among them who will utterly destroy them in such sort, as by no means they will escape.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The enemy would be like a batch of poisonous snakes that no one could charm, that would bite the people fatally (cf. Num 21:6-9).