Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 33:5
They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but [it is] to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.
5. have hid my face ] in displeasure. Cp. Deu 31:17 and elsewhere.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Render, They, i. e., the Jews come to fight with the Chaldaeans, and to fill them, i. e., the houses, with the dead bodies etc.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
It is very difficult to determine whether these words contain an entire sense in themselves, or what connexion they have with the foregoing words: not to repeat mens diverse apprehensions, of which a large account is given by the author of the English Annotations, I think they judge best who think they have an entire sense in themselves, and judge that the they here mentioned are the Jews, of whom the prophet saith they come, because he knew they would sally out and fight with their enemies; but to no purpose but to fill their houses with their own dead bodies, whom he would cause in his anger to be slain, for their wickedness which they had provoked God by, and caused him to hide his face from that city which had so much of his countenance formerly.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. Theythe Jews; thedefenders of the “houses” (Jer33:4), “come forward to fight with the Chaldeans,” whoburst into the city through the “thrown-down houses,” butall the effect that they produce “is, to fill them (the houses)with” their own “dead bodies.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They come to fight with the Chaldeans,…. Either the Jews out of the country, or their auxiliaries, their neighbours, to oblige them to break up the siege; but all to no purpose: or rather the Jews within; who, from the mounts erected, fight with the Chaldeans; or by sallying out upon them:
but [it is] to fill them with the dead bodies of men; the mounts, made of their houses, or their houses themselves; it is only to make them graves, and fill them with these carcasses:
whom I have slain in mine anger, and in my fury; that is, suffered to be slain, being wroth and angry with them, for their sins, as follows:
and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from the city; had no pity for it, showed no mercy to it, gave it no help and assistance, or protection, having withdrawn his presence from it. So the Targum,
“I have caused my Shechinah to depart from this city, because of their wickedness.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There are two parts to this prophecy, — that the Jews were about to perish through their own fault, — and that they were to be restored through the favor and goodness of God alone. Here, then, in the first place, the Prophet condemns the false confidence of the people, who stoutly resisted the Chaldeans. They came, he says, to fight with the Chaldeans; but what would be the issue of the battle? even to fill, he says, with the carcases of men their very houses When he says that the Jews were come, he speaks of what had already, as it were, taken place. It is indeed a participle in the present tense, coming; but the Prophet here sets before their eyes what was to be, as though he had said, “The Jews will boldly rush forth, and will think themselves equal, and even superior to the Chaldeans; thus they will arm themselves with courage for the battle.” Then he says this, in order to ridicule the audacity of the people. The sad issue of the fight follows, the filling of their own houses with the carcases of men. The copulative is redundant, or it must be taken as explanatory, and rendered, even. They shall come then to fight, evern that they may fill their own houses with carcases, and thus inflame the fury of their enemies. (87) For it hence happened that the Chaldeans shed more blood, and spared not the mass of the people; because we know that when a city is won by force, more cruelty is exercised, and the slaughters become much greater. Had the Jews willingly surrendered, they would have received more humanity at the hand of their conquerors; but the Chaldeans became implacable, because their fury had been kindled by the pertinacity of the people fighting against them. God, at the same time, shews that the Chaldeans would not be victorious through their own valor, but because he himself would smite or slay the Jews. Then he ascribes to his own vengeance the calamity which might have seemed to proceed from the Chaldeans; for Jeremiah could not have exhorted the people to repentance except he shewed that it happened through a righteous judgment, that the Chaldeans so cruelly raged against them. But we must defer the rest until to-morrow.
(87) These two verses have been improperly separated, so that באים, “coming,” stands by itself without connection with anything; it ought to be in regimine with “sword.” The versions vary, but none give any tolerable meaning. The verses may be thus rendered, —
4. For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Concerning the houses of this city, And concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, — Which are thrown down by the engines,
5. And by the sword of those who come To make war, even the Chaldeans, And to fill them [ i.e., houses] with the carcases of the men, Whom I have smitten in mine anger, And in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city, —
6. Behold, I will bring, etc. etc.
The present and past time in the 4 and 5 verses, is used for the future, which is often the case in prophecies. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) They come to fight with the Chaldeans . . .The Hebrew construction is participial, and has the force expressed in English by they used indefinitely. The prophet sees, as it were, a sortie of the besieged, but it is doomed to failure, and the houses of the city are filled with those who were slain by the sword, as well as by the famine and pestilence (Jer. 32:24).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. They come to fight, etc. This sentence is very enigmatical, and has occasioned many conjectural emendations of the text. But all such violent solutions of difficulties are to be rejected. We may take into thought the possibility of textual change, but have no right to postulate such change. The best explanation these puzzling words admit of is, They (the people) come to fight with the Chaldeans, but ( the result is,) to fill the houses with the dead bodies of the slain, etc.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 33:5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but [it is] to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.
Ver. 5. They come to fight with the Chaldeans. ] But they fight not in God’s name; for he hath, for all their wickedness, hidden his face from them; therefore they fight with such sorry success; the houses which they would defend are filled with their dead caresses. This whole verse would be hemmed in with a parenthesis.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
They come: i.e. the demolished houses are coming to be used for defense, &c. For this sense of “come”, see Mar 4:21 (Greek)
with. Some codices, with two early printed editions and Septuagint, read “against”.
men = mankind. Hebrew. ‘adam. App-14.
wickedness = lawlessness. Hebrew. rasha’.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
come: Jer 21:4-7, Jer 32:5, Jer 37:9, Jer 37:10
I have hid: Jer 18:17, Jer 21:10, Deu 31:17, Deu 32:20, Isa 1:15, Isa 1:16, Isa 8:17, Isa 64:7, Eze 39:23, Eze 39:24, Eze 39:29, Mic 3:4
Reciprocal: 2Ch 20:24 – they were dead Isa 30:26 – bindeth Eze 17:17 – by Eze 23:47 – the company Hos 6:1 – he hath torn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 33:5, They refers to the people of the houses mentioned in the preceding verse. They thought they could resist tbe Chaldeans (or Babylonians) but they failed. As a result their cities were filled with dead bodies which God had caused to be slain.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
33:5 They come to {d} fight with the Chaldeans, but [it is] to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my {e} face from this city.
(d) The Jews think to overcome the Chaldeans, but they seek their own destruction.
(e) He shows that God’s favour is cause of all prosperity, as his anger is of all adversity.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The city was also full of Judahite corpses, people who had already died in the siege. Sadly, these people had died because the Lord was fighting against His people. He had not responded to their cries of help because of their wickedness.