Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 9:10
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
10. Cp. Jer 4:23-26.
a lamentation ] lit. a inah, i.e. a composition carefully constructed in a definite rhythmical form. See Intr. p. xlix, also notes in C. B. on Amo 5:2; Amo 5:16, with pp. 232 ff. there.
burned up ] better, laid waste.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10 16. See introd. summary to the section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The punishment described in general terms in the preceding three verses is now detailed at great length.
Jer 9:10
The habitations i. e – the temporary encampments of the shepherds (see Jer 6:3).
So that none can … – Or, They are parched up, with no man to pass through them; neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the birds of the heaven even to the beasts they are fled, they are gone.
Jer 9:11
Dragons – Rather, jackals.
Jer 9:12
For what the land perisheth … – This is the question proposed for consideration. The prophet calls upon the wise man to explain his question; that question being, Wherefore did the land perish? He follows it by the assertion of a fact: It is parched like the wilderness with no man to pass through.
Jer 9:13
The cause of the chastisement about to fall upon Jerusalem, was their desertion of the divine Law.
Jer 9:14
Imagination – Or, as in the margin.
Which their fathers taught them – It was not the sin of one generation that brought upon them chastisement: it was a sin, which had been handed down from father to son.
Jer 9:15
I will feed them … – Rather, I am feeding them. The present participle used here, followed by three verbs in the future, shows that the judgment has beam, of which the successive stages are given in the next clause.
Wormwood – See Deu 29:18, note, and for water of gall, Jer 8:14, note.
Jer 9:16
This verse is taken from Lev 26:33. The fulfillment of what had been so long before appointed as the penalty for the violation of Yahwehs covenant is one of the most remarkable proofs that prophecy was something more than human foresight.
Till I have consumed them – See Jer 4:27 note. How is this consuming consistent with the promise to the contrary there given? Because it is limited by the terms of Jer 9:7. Previously to Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem God removed into safety those in whom the nation should revive.
Jer 9:17
The mourning women – Hired to attend at funerals, and by their skilled wailings aid the real mourners in giving vent to their grief. Hence, they are called cunning, literally wise women, wisdom being constantly used in Scripture for anything in which people are trained.
Jer 9:18
Take up a wailing for us – i. e., for the nation once Gods chosen people, but long spiritually dead.
Jer 9:19
Forsaken – Or, left: forced to abandon the land.
Because our dwellings … – Rather, because they have east down our dwellings. The whole verse is a description of their sufferings. See 2Ki 25:1-12.
Jer 9:20
The command is addressed to the women because it was more especially their part to express the general feelings of the nation. See 1Sa 18:6; 2Sa 1:24. The women utter now the death-wail over the perishing nation. They are to teach their daughters and neighbors the lamentation, i. e., dirge, because the harvest of death would be so large that the number of trained women would not suffice.
Jer 9:21
Death is come up … – i. e., death steals silently like a thief upon his victims, and makes such havoc that there are no children left to go without, nor young men to frequent the open spaces in the city.
Jer 9:22
The handful means the little bundle of grain which the reaper gathers on his arm with three or four strokes of his sickle, and then lays down. Behind the reaper came one whose business it was to gather several of these bundles, and bind them into a sheaf. Thus, death strews the ground with corpses as thickly as these handfuls lie upon the reaped land, but the corpses lie there unheeded.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled] The land shall be so utterly devastated, that neither beast nor bird shall be able to live in it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The prophet having, Jer 9:1, taken up a lamentation for the slaughter of the people, he now reassumes it for the desolation of the whole land, every part of it being to be laid waste: see Jer 4:23,26. And it either sets forth the greatness of his grief, that shall reach to he very mountains, as the words may be read; or rather, the cause of his mourning, because he presently adds, for
the habitations of the wilderness. Of the wilderness; plain, or valley, as it often signifies; so the word is used Isa 63:13,14; or, pleasant plains. The country of Judea being mountainous, these plains and valleys were their chief places for pasturage, vhich dealt greatly aggravate the devastation; these shall be burnt up, the herbage so burnt that it shall be left utterly barren, like a parched heath, Jer 9:12. The mountains shall not be able to secure them, nor the valleys to feed them. None can pass through them; either there being no path; the LXX. render it, on the paths of the wilderness; or none to pass to and fro, and so leave it desolate; or so parched and waste that none can pass through it, so far are they from being inhabited, Jer 2:6. Neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; there, where once all sorts of cattle and fowls in great plenty where wont to feed and graze, there is not so much as the chirping of a bird, the bleating of a sheep or lowing of an ox to be heard: see Jer 23:10-12; 50:3. They are said to be fled and gone; either the enemy hath swept away all, or they have forsaken the land, because there was no food, Jer 12:4. A figurative expression of a universal desolation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Jeremiah breaks in uponJehovah’s threats of wrath with lamentation for his desolatedcountry.
mountainsoncecultivated and fruitful: the hillsides were cultivated in terracesbetween the rocks.
habitations of . . .wildernessrather, “the pleasant herbage (literally, ‘thechoice parts’ of any thing) of the pasture plain.” The Hebrewfor “wilderness” expresses not a barren desert, but anuntilled plain, fit for pasture.
burned upbecause noone waters them, the inhabitants being all gone.
none can pass throughthemmuch less inhabit them.
fowl (Jer4:25).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing,…. Because of the desolation of them; because no pasture upon them, nor flocks feeding there; or “concerning” them, as the Arabic version; or “upon” them y, in order to cause the lamentation to be heard the further; but the former sense seems best, as appears by what follows. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read it as an exhortation to others, “take up a weeping”: but they are the words of the prophet, declaring what he would do.
And for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation; for the cottages of the shepherds, erected for their convenience, to look after their flocks, feeding on the mountains, and in the valleys; for the wilderness does not denote barren places, but pastures:
because they are burnt up; by the fire of the Chaldeans, who burnt the cottages, and drove off the cattle:
so that none can pass through them; or there is none that passes through; as no inhabitant there, so no passenger that way; which shows how very desolate these places were:
neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; the lowing of the oxen, or the bleating of the sheep, there being none to be heard, being all carried off; and indeed no men to hear them, had there been any:
both the fowl of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone; or, “from the fowl of the heavens to the beasts”, c. z, the places lying waste and uncultivated there were no seed for the fowls to pick up, which generally frequent places where there is sowing, and where fruit is brought to perfection; and no pasture for the beasts to feed upon. Kimchi says these words are an hyperbole. The word , “beast”, being by geometry, or numerically, fifty two, the Jews a gather from hence, that for the space of fifty two years no man passed through the land of Judah; which they reckon from the time that Zedekiah was carried captive, to the commandment of Cyrus.
y “super montibus”, Cocceius; “super montes”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus. z “ab ave coelorum usque ad bestiam”, Schmidt. a T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 145. 2. & Gloss. in ib. Vid. T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 11. 1, 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Vs. 10-16: THE CAUSE OF JERUSALEM’S RUIN
1. Whoever the speaker may be in verses 10-11, the lamentation over the ruin and desolation of Judah expresses the heart of both Jeremiah and his Lord, (Jer 4:25; Jer 12:4; Jer 12:10; Eze 14:4-5).
2. Was there anyone in the land wise enough to discern the cause of Judah’s calamity? (vs. 12; Psa 107:43; Hos 14:9; comp. Jer 23:16).
3. The Lord will leave no room for misunderstanding, (vs. 13-14).
a. It is because they have forsaken the law of the Lord -refusing to obey His voice, and to walk in the way He has appointed, (vs. 13; Jer 5:19; 2Ch 7:19-20).
b. Rather, they have walked according to the stubbornness of their own hearts – following after Baalim as their fathers had taught them, (vs. 14; Jer 7:24; Jer 11:8; Jer 2:8; Jer 2:23; comp. Rom 1:21-25).
4. Thus, the Lord of hosts, and God of Israel, declares that He will feed them with wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink! (vs. 15; Jer 8:14; Jer 23:15; comp. Deu 29:18-21).
5. He will, further, disperse them among strange nations (comp. Deu 28:64) – following them with the sword, until He has consumed them, (vs. 16; Jer 44:27).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet had exhorted others to lament and to bewail. He now comes forth as though none had ears to attend to his admonition. As then he himself undertakes to mourn and to lament, he no doubt indirectly condemns the insensibility of the whole people. He saw by the spirit of prophecy, that all the rest thought what he said incredible and therefore fabulous. For though the kingdom of Judah was at that time much wasted, and the kingdom of Israel wholly fallen, they yet continued secure and heedless when they ought to have expected God’s vengeance every day, and even every hour. Since then there was such insensibility in the people, the Prophet here prepares himself for lamentation and mourning.
I will take up, he says, mourning and lamentation for the mountains The words may be explained, “I will take up mourning, which shall ascend as far as the mountains;” but the cause of mourning seems rather to be intended; for it immediately follows, and weeping for the pastures of the desert Had not this clause been added, the former meaning might be taken, that is, that mourning would be so loud as to penetrate into the mountains or ascend into the highest parts. But as Jeremiah connects the two clauses, for the mountains, and for the pastures of the desert, the other meaning is much more appropriate, — that the confidence of the people was very absurd, as they thougilt themselves beyond danger, dwelling as they did on the plains; for the enemies, he says, shall leave nothing untouched; they shall come to the mountains and to the pastures of the desert. It hence follows, that they were foolish who promised themselves quietness on the plains, where the enemy could easily come.
We now then understand the Prophet’s meaning: he sets here his own fear and solicitude in contrast with the stupor of the whole people. I will raise, he says, weeping and lamentation for the mountains: but others remained secure and thoughtless in their pleasures. He then shews, that while they were blind, his eyes were open, and he saw the coming ruin which was now at hand. And he sets the mountains and pastures of the desert in opposition to the level country. For when a country is laid waste, we know that still a retreat is sought on mountains; for enemies dread ambushes there, and access is not easy where the roads are narrow. Then the Prophet says, that even the mountains would not be beyond the reach of danger, for the enemies would march there: he says the same of the pastures of the desert. We hence learn how absurd was their confidence who thought themselves safe because they inhabited the plain country, which was the most accessible.
As to the word נאות naut, it comes from נוה hue, which means to dwell. (242) He then takes נאות haut, as signifying pleasant places, or pastures. Some render it sheds or cottages. David uses the same word in Psa 23:2, in speaking of God’s favor to him, who was pleased to become his shepherd:
“
He makes me to lie down,” he says, “in pleasant places.”
But the Prophet no doubt means pastures here. And he calls them the pastures of the desert. The word מדבר midbar, we know, is taken to designate not only waste and sterile places, but also a mountainous country. Though then the richest pastures were on mountains, yet the Jews were wont to call them deserts: there is therefore nothing absurd in saying, the pleasant places or pastures of the desert. But we must bear in mind the contrast, of which I have reminded you: for he intended to condemn the foolish confidence of the people, who thought that they were dwelling in safety, when yet they were exposed to enemies, and had no means to repel or retard their progress.
Because they are laid waste, He says. This word may be taken in another sense, “burnt up;” but it is not suitable here. He says then that these places are laid waste, so that no one passed through. He means that mountains would not only be without inhabitants, but would be so deserted and solitary that there would be none passing over them. There would then be none to frequent them. It hence follows, that there would be no inhabitants, He then adds, that no voice of cattle was heard; as though he had said, that their enemies would take away as their spoil whatever should be found there: for the wealth of mountains consists in cattle; for there is neither sowing nor reaping there; but inhabitants of mountains get their living and whatever is necessary to support life, from flesh and skin and milk and cheese. When therefore the Prophet declares that there would be no voice of cattle, it is the same as though he had said, that the mountains would become altogether uninhabited, for their enemies would take away all the cattle found there.
He then adds, From the bird of the heavens to the earthly beast they shall migrate and depart (243) Here he seems again indirectly to reprove the insensibility of the people, as though he had said, that the birds would feel it to be the judgment of God, while yet men were wholly insensible; and that there would be a similar feeling in brute animals; as though he had said, that there would be more understanding in birds and animals than in the Jews, who had not only been created in the image of God, but had also been enlightened as to the truth of salvation; for shine among them did the truth of God in the law. Hence the Prophet shews that this stupidity was most shameful; for they were as stupid as if they had no thought and no understanding, while yet birds acknowledged the vengeance of God, and brute animals were terrified by it. We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet. It follows —
(242) It is not from this root, but from אוה, to desire, in Niphal, נאוה to be desirable. The noun means desirable or pleasant places or spots. See Psa 23:2; Jer 25:37; Joe 1:19. — Ed.
(243) The whole verse is as follows, —
10. For the mountains will I raise weeping and wailing, And for the pleasant places of the desert, a lamentation; For they are desolate, without any one passing through, And they hear not the voice of cattle; From the bird of heaven even to the beast, They have migrated, they have gone away.
The “pleasant places” were “desolate;” and “in the mountains” no “voice of cattle” was heard. No one “passing through” explains the desolation. The word is improperly rendered, “burnt up,” in our version and by Blayney. It was used before in the sense of desolation, Jer 4:7; and it ought to be so rendered in Jer 2:15. In the last line, the migration refers to birds, and the going away to the beasts. In none of the ancient versions is this distinction intimated. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) For the mountains . . .The Hebrew preposition means both upon and on account of, and probably both meanings were implied. The prophet sees himself upon the mountains, taking up the lamentation for them because they are burned up.
The habitations.Better, as in the margin, pastures. The wilderness is simply the wild open country.
So that none can pass . . . neither can men hear.Better, with none to pass through them . . . neither do men hear.
Both the fowl . . .The Hebrew is more emphatic; from the fowl of the heavens to the beast . . . they are fled.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE DESOLATION OF THE LAND AND THE DISPERSION OF THE PEOPLE, Jer 9:9-15.
10. The whole passage to the twenty-second verse is devoted to setting forth in detail the punishment which is about to come upon the land and the people.
For the mountains Once cultivated and fruitful, and covered with happy flocks, but now desolate.
For the habitations Namely, of the shepherds, who pitch their tents or construct their booths wherever is pasturage for their flocks. But these pastures are to be burned up, so that there will be no life left.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Desolation of the Land
v. 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, v. 11. (And) I will make Jerusalem heaps, v. 12. Who is the wise man that may understand this? v. 13. And the Lord said, v. 14. but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, v. 15. therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, v. 16. I will scatter them also among the heathen, v. 17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye and call for the mourning women, v. 18. and let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, v. 19. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, v. 20. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, v. 21. For death is come up into our windows, v. 22. Speak,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Jer 9:10. For the mountains, &c. These words, says Houbigant, as they now lie, must belong either to Jeremiah, or the daughter of Zion; and yet it follows in the next verse, And I will make; which are the words of God: therefore this verse should be rendered, Take ye up a weeping and wailing on the mountains; a lamentation in the dwellings of the wilderness; for they are desolate, because there is no travellers; nor is the voice of cattle heard in them: both the fowl, &c. The prophet here describes the total desolation of the country. The remark which St. Jerome makes on Hos 4:3 is suitable to this place: “He who thinks that this has not happened to the people of Israel, let him behold Illyricum, let him behold Thrace, Macedonia, and Pannonia, and all that tract of land from Propontis and Bosphorus to the Alps; and he will then confess that not only men, but likewise every animal which was formed for the use of men, are extinct and swept away by the before of destruction.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 9:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
Ver. 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping. ] Accingit se Tropheta ad luctum. Jeremiah was better at weeping than Heraclitus, and from a better principle. Lachrymas angustiae exprimit Crux: lachrymas poenitentiae peccatum: lachrymas sympathiae, affectus humanitatis, vel Christianitatis: lachrymas nequitiae, vel hypocrisis vel vindictae cupiditas. Jeremiah’s tears were of the best sort.
Because they are burnt up.
Both the fowl of the heaven.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 9:10-11
10For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge,
Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
A haunt of jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
Jer 9:10-11 Again the question arises as to who is speaking in these two verses. The NIV translates Jer 9:10 as the prophet speaking and Jer 9:11 as God speaking. But the NASV and RSV translate them as God speaking in both verses. It is basically an extended metaphor that the land is being affected by mankind’s sin (cf. Deuteronomy 27, 28; Rom 8:18-22).
Jer 9:11 A haunt of jackals This is a metaphor for ruin and destruction (cf. Jer 10:22; Jer 49:33; Jer 51:37; Isa 34:13) and possibly even the presence of the demonic. See Special Topic: The Demonic in the OT .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
habitations = pastures.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 9:10-22
Jer 9:10-11
For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passeth through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone. And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
The weeping and the wailing here are because of the forthcoming desolation upon Jerusalem and Judaea. The mountains, which once teemed with life, and the pasture lands (here called ‘wilderness’) which once supported numerous herds of sheep and cattle, all of this is to be destroyed; even the Holy City itself shall be without inhabitant, deserted, a den of jackals! The answer as to why it is necessary for God to bring such destruction against the land of his people is in the following verses.
Jer 9:12-16
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and [who is] he to whom the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through? And Jehovah saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them; therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
These verses “are often referred to as the work of Deuteronomic editors”; but this critical fembu is unworthy of any attention. All of the redactors and editors of the radical critics are shadowy creatures of imagination, for whom there exists no dependable evidence whatever. They are the self-made crutches upon which unbelievers lean in their vain efforts to cast doubt upon the Word of God.
The purpose of this paragraph is clearly that of giving God’s reasons that required his severe punitive action against the remainder of Israel. The answer is specific and sufficient: (1) they had revolted against their legitimate sovereign, a great truth that denies the non-existence of the Mosaic Law at that time; (2) they had not only withdrawn their obedience from God, but they had also taken up arms against him; (3) they were worshipping the idols which their own hands had manufactured; (4) they were worshipping the fertility cults of the various Baalim, wallowing in the vulgar, sensuous rites of that orgiastic religion. It was for all of these things that God would destroy the nation and send the remnant of it into captivity, from which the vast majority would never return.
“The King of Kings never made war against his own subjects except when they had treacherously rebelled against him and had made such punishment necessary.”
Who is the wise man, that may understand this…
(Jer 9:12)? Keil tells us that this question is given in the negative form, indicating that There is no wise man who was either able or willing to tell them the Word of God; and that the word ‘wherefore’ in this same verse makes that the fundamental reason behind God’s punishment of his people.
They have forsaken my law which I set before them…
(Jer 9:13). The law mentioned here is the complete Law of Moses, not some small fragment of it found in the temple. Note also that God had set this law before the people, not Hilkiah who found that copy of it. It was the basic constitution of the nation of Israel; and their rebellion against the Covenant of God which was built into and around that law was the reason for the punishment coming upon them.
Ye have. walked after the Baalim …..
(Jer 9:14). Many of the Ugaritic texts regarded the fertility god Baal as the actual head of the Canaanite pantheon, and so is he regarded in this commentary. There is absolutely nothing in the Holy Bible that supports the notion advocated by some that a certain [~’El] was that head. It was Baal. This is proved by the fact that Baal’s name is linked with dozens of lesser gods, often associated with various local areas as in, Baal-hazor, Baal-peor, Baal-sidon, Baal-lebanon, Baal-haram, Baal-berith; it is clear from the Ugaritic texts that many of the cultic practices associated with the Baal fertility cults were heavily oriented toward sexual immorality. This shameful worship was exceedingly attractive to the Jewish people, beginning with the tragic conduct of the whole nation at Baal-peor (Num. 24–26).
Wormwood… water of gall…
(Jer 9:15). Wormwood is a plant having a very bitter juice, and gall was a poisonous bitter herb. The terms were often used together to indicate bitter afflictions.
I will scatter them also among the nations…
(Jer 9:16). This verse comes from Lev 26:33. If, as some critics assert, the Pentateuch as we know it did not then exist, where on earth does one suppose that Jeremiah came up with this? Remember that our chapter here has already stated that God had given Israel his Law (the whole Pentateuch), a fact proved by this verse.
The Dean of Canterbury’s comment on this is, “The captivity of Israel and the scattering of them among the heathen (the nations) was a fulfillment of this passage in Leviticus as the appointed determinate penalty for the violation of God’s covenant; and this is one of the most remarkable facts in proof that prophecy was something more than human foresight.”
Jer 9:17-20
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come: and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
This is a dramatic picture of the horrible destruction coming upon Jerusalem at the hands of the invaders. It is represented to readers of the Holy Bible as a destruction yet future at the time Jeremiah penned this prophecy; and we have no respect at all for the “scholars” who would like to make it a description ” after the event.” Like many another prophecy, this one carries its own imprimature of truth. The thought here is that the people should enlist the aid of the weeping women, not just any weeping women, but “the skilled women,” that is, the women who were experts in providing the type of weeping and wailing which the Jews customarily employed upon the occasion of funerals. This custom prevailed down until the times of Christ, as indicated by the hired mourners who were bewailing the death of the daughter of Jairus (Luk 8:40-56). The thought in this paragraph is (1) that a terrible calamity of death and destruction is approaching for Israel, and (2) that the supply of skilled mourners will be insufficient properly to bewail the tragedy; therefore, enlist the skilled mourners and let everyone teach her neighbor in order to help supply the mourners that would be needed!
Now was this an event that had already happened, or was it something Jeremiah prophesied for the future? Suppose, as some of the critics would have us believe, that he was talking about an event that had already happened. Can any intelligent person believe for a moment that, if it had already happened, God’s prophet would have been crying so vehemently for the people to train mourners to mourn it? To ask that question is to know the answer! We learned in the minor prophets, especially in Micah, that these great predictive prophecies of the Old Testament carry their own built-in proof of authenticity; and this is another example of the same thing.
Green, quoting Skinner, in the Broadman Commentary, identified this passage as, “Perhaps the most brilliant example of a prophetic elegy which the Old Testament contains!”
Jer 9:21-22
For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, [and] the young men from the streets. Speak, Thus saith Jehovah, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather [them].
This is a continuation of the prophetic elegy, the saddest element of it being the wanton destruction of the children. This was the usual thing to be expected in the ancient conquest of a city as indicated in Nah 3:10; Luk 19:44, etc. There also seems to be an echo here of Eve’s acceptance of Satan’s lie that, “Ye shall not surely die!” Death comes inexorably upon old men, young men, all men, little children, cities, cultures, generations and races of men. Men may bar their doors, but it comes in the windows; none can escape it. What a block-buster of a lie Satan persuaded Eve to believe!
This tragic truth of the ravages of death upon the entire race of Adam seems to have triggered the next paragraph in which the sacred author attempted to turn men’s thoughts to eternal values instead of trusting in the things men generally love to trust.
Impending Destruction Jer 9:9-21
Because of the national corruption, destruction is necessary and imminent. The land will become desolate (Jer 9:9-15) and death will reign supreme throughout the land (Jer 9:16-21).
1. Desolation of the land (Jer 9:9-16)
In view of the terribly corrupt conditions which prevail in Judah God is perfectly justified in taking vengeance upon that land (Jer 9:9). Jeremiah knows what will befall his beloved land. He knows that when the judgment falls he will be weeping and lamenting the desolation which will befall that once proud little country. The pasture lands of the wilderness i.e., the uninhabited region, which once were covered with flocks and herds will become so utterly waste that even the birds depart for lack of food (Jer 9:10). The cities of Judah will not escape the desolation. Their ruins will become the habitation of wild creatures (Jer 9:11). The I of Jer 9:11 is no longer Jeremiah, but God.
In Jer 9:12 Jeremiah challenges the wise men of the land and those who claimed to have received divine revelation to explain why the land has become desolate (Jer 9:12). They are unable to explain it and so God himself gives the explanation. God had placed His law before this people at Sinai. He had amplified His law and kept it before the people through the preaching of the prophets. Yet the people forsook the law of God, refused to hearken to His instruction or walk in His way (Jer 9:13). In their stubborn rebellion they followed after the Canaanite deities, the Baalim. This apostasy and idolatry they had learned from their fathers (Jer 9:14). Where fathers go, sons will follow. What an ungodly legacy the fathers had left to their descendants!. The iniquities of fathers are often magnified in the lives of sons and when iniquity is full the punishment is inevitable (cf. Exo 20:5). The sons must now eat the wormwood and drink the water of gall (Jer 9:15). Wormwood and gall, two bitter and noxious substances, were symbols in the Old Testament for bitter affliction. Judah will become desolate because she will be depopulated. God will scatter the Jews among the far-distant foreign nations. Even in captivity the sword of divine retribution will pursue them until they are consumed (Jer 9:16). Those who would be consumed in captivity are, of course, the unbelieving and unrepentant (cf. Amo 9:9-10). Those who turned to God in sincerity and truth would be restored to their homeland (Jer 16:14-15; Jer 31:9; Jer 31:18-19).
2. Death throughout the land (Jer 9:17-22)
In view of the impending national disaster, Jeremiah calls for professional mourning women to come and bewail the death of the nation. Such women were wise or skillful in the ways of leading public lamentation (Jer 9:17). By helping others to weep and thus give vent to their emotions these women rendered a public service. One can find some measure of relief from anguish and sorrow only as he openly and outwardly expresses it. Jeremiah can seem to hear the wailing coming forth from Zion of Jerusalem. The people have been despoiled and humiliated. They have been forced to forsake the land of their birth. Their homes have been cast down by the enemy. They are confounded and confused (Jer 9:19). Jeremiah calls upon the women who had been so zealous in the worship of false gods to give heed to the word of God. The day is soon approaching when the women of the nation would have to teach their daughters how to lament. So great will be the national tragedy that there will not be sufficient professional mourners. All the women will have to become involved (Jer 9:20).
Why this need for universal lamentation? Death will reign supreme in the land in that day. Death creeps through the windows of homes and palaces. The Grim Reaper stalks the streets and broadplaces or market places of the city. Innocent children are cut down, young men in the flower of their youth (Jer 9:21). The figure of death entering through the windows was a common one in the ancient Near East. In the Ugaritic epic of Baal, death is also described as entering by the window. Baal gave orders that no window was to be made in his palace until he had beaten his rival Moth, the god of death. After the victory over Moth, Baal issued a new order to the craftsman to construct a window. Apparently the entrance of death by the windows eventually became a common figure of speech in the Canaanite and Hebrew languages.
The picture of death throughout the land reaches its climax in Jer 9:22. The first phrase, Speak thus! is abrupt and forceful and serves to arrest the attention of the hearer and draw his attention to this last dramatic announcement. The carcasses of the men of Judah who fall in battle will be left unburied. The dead bodies will be scattered over the surface of the ground like fertilizer spread by a farmer. A reaper in his haste to glean the harvest leaves many handfuls of grain in the field to rot. So would it be with the bodies of the dead. Those who survive the battles will be too few in number and too fearful to venture forth from the walled cities to give the fallen a decent burial (Jer 9:22).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the mountains: Jer 4:19-26, Jer 7:29, Jer 8:18, Jer 13:16, Jer 13:17, Lam 1:16, Lam 2:11
habitations: or, pastures
because: Jer 12:4, Jer 12:10, Jer 14:6, Jer 23:10, Joe 1:10-12
burned up: or, desolate
so: Jer 2:6, Isa 49:19, Eze 14:15, Eze 29:11, Eze 33:28
both: etc. Heb. from the fowls even to, etc. Jer 4:25, Hos 4:3
Reciprocal: Isa 15:5 – My heart Jer 4:23 – the earth Jer 6:26 – make thee Jer 7:20 – Behold Jer 9:18 – take Jer 39:8 – burned Lam 3:11 – he hath made Eze 6:11 – Smite Eze 12:19 – that her Eze 19:1 – take Eze 27:2 – General Joe 1:13 – Gird Joe 1:19 – the fire Amo 5:1 – I take Amo 5:16 – Wailing Mic 1:8 – I will wail Mic 2:4 – and lament
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 9:10. This passage refers to the wasted condition in which the land was to be left after the Babylonian invasion. Burned up was not literal but. the territory was so ruined that all inducement for occupying it was removed.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 9:10-11. For the mountains will I take up a weeping These words, says Houbigant, as they now lie, must belong either to Jeremiah or the daughter of Zion; and yet it follows in the next verse, And I will make, which are the words of God: therefore this verse should be rendered, by a slight alteration of the text, Take ye up a weeping and wailing on the mountains, a lamentation in the dwellings of the wilderness; for they are desolate, because there is no traveller; nor is the voice of cattle heard in them; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled. The prophet laments that general desolation which he sees coming upon the whole land, and which would involve all the parts of it, both high and low, in one common destruction. I will make Jerusalem heaps Of rubbish, and lay it in such ruins that it shall be fit for nothing but to be a den of dragons
Or serpents, as the word frequently signifies, or such creatures as are usually found in ruins or desolate places.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:10 For the {i} mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone.
(i) Signifying that all the places about Jerusalem would be destroyed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jerusalem’s ruin 9:10-16
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord took up a lamentation on behalf of the land that suffered because of His people’s sin. The coming invasion would leave the land deserted-even by cattle and birds. The rest of this message indicates that the invasion had not yet taken place. Jeremiah was describing a future event as though it had already past.