Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 15:10
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.
10. Woe is me, etc.] Cp. Job 3:1 ff., also Savonarola’s address to God in one of his sermons, “O Lord, whither hast thou led me? From my desire to save souls for Thee, I can no longer return to my rest. Why hast Thou made me ‘a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth?’ ” W. R. Clark’s Savonarola, p. 230.
I have not lent ] Cp. Deu 23:20; Psa 15:5. Necessity being almost the sole motive for borrowing, the moneylender would naturally be held in extreme disfavour. So “Interest is money begotten of money; so that of the sources of gain this is the most unnatural” (Aristotle, Politics, Bk. I. ch. 3, end). “Sources of gain, which incur the hatred of mankind, as those of tax-gatherers, of usurers ”. Cicero, de Officiis, Bk. I. 150. Cp.
“When did friendship take
A breed for barren metal of his friend?”
Mer. of Venice, 1:3, v. 123.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. Jer 15:10-21. The prophet bewails his lot. God’s reply
The passage as a whole is one of the most eloquent and pathetic in the Book. The date cannot be determined with confidence. The latter part of Jehoiakim’s reign is a fitting one to suggest. Jer 15:13-14 are almost certainly to be rejected, while 11 and 12 need either drastic emendation or omission. Gi. considers that 11 14 have been inserted here from another context. They are also unrhythmical. We may subdivide as follows.
(i) Jer 15:10-14. Alas, that I was ever born to be assailed by all men. I am subjected to revilings, as though I were a usurer or a defaulting debtor. Jehovah indeed promised me support in evil times, and that my foes should seek my aid when trouble came. Can what is strong as northern iron or bronze be broken? [Thy valued possessions throughout the land shall be plundered by thy foes because of thy misdeeds. They shall lead thee into captivity, by reason of thy sins.]
(ii) Jer 15:15-18. O Lord, Thou knowest that my sufferings are on Thy behalf. Spare Thou my foes no longer. Thy words have been my stay and sustenance, yea, my joy, in my loneliness. Thy wrath at the wickedness of the nation has been mine as well. Shall my pain be ever as now? Shall my trust in Thee be brought toconfusion?
(iii) Jer 15:19-21. The Lord’s reply. If thou wilt return wholeheartedly to My service, and reject from within thee every unworthy thought, I will accept thee again, and the people, unsolicited, shall seek My words at thy mouth. Through My support thou shalt be impregnable against all attacks of the strongest of thy enemies.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jeremiah vents his sorrow at the rejection of his prayer. In reading these and similar expostulations we feel that we have to do with a man who was the reluctant minister of a higher power, from where alone he drew strength to be content to do and suffer.
Strife – More exactly, lawsuit; the sense is, I am as a man who has to enter into judgment with and reprove the whole earth.
I have neither lent … – i. e., I have no personal cause of quarrel with the people, that I should thus be perpetually at strife with them. The relations between the moneylender and the debtor were a fruitful source of lawsuits and quarrelling.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 15:10
A man of strife.
Men of progress, men of strife
I. Because of noncompliance with popular sins. Always some interested in doing wrong, and maintaining evil among the people. Those who will not conform, especially such as speak and labour against sin, are considered men of strife.
II. Because they are in advance of the age. They look at all matters from a more elevated standpoint, and seek to bring the people up to their level.
III. Because they are earnest and energetic. Some can be indifferent; true souls cannot be.
IV. Because all good work causes strife. Evil has to be conquered, the devil to be cast out. No curse will peaceably give place to a blessing.
V. Because the field of battle is the path of glory. Salvation is finally for him that endureth to the end. Fight the good fight of faith. (W. Whale.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. A man of contention to the whole earth!] To the whole LAND, to all his countrymen; though he had done nothing to merit their displeasure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The prophet in this verse cannot be excused from a great measure of passion and human infirmity; he almost curseth the day of his birth, denouncing himself a woeful, miserable man, to be born a man of strife and contention to the whole world, that is, those nations in it against which God sent him to denounce his judgments; which denunciations, how true soever, and the truth of which they afterward did effectually find, yet they were not able to bear, and therefore they strove with him, and contended against him; yet it was not for his sin.
Usury was forbidden the Jews, Deu 23:19, and so was the more odious; but saith the prophet, I have not followed that trade, I have neither lent nor borrowed upon usury; I have done them no wrong, or given them any occasion against me; yet they will not be reconciled to me, but speak of me all manner of evil. This was the lot of the old prophets, the lot of Samuel, of Christ, of his apostles, and of all the faithful ministers of the gospel ever since; let them carry themselves never so innocently and obligingly to people, yet if they will be faithful, and truly reveal unto people the mind and will of God, that is enough to anger a people whose wills are not subjugated to the will of God, and they will curse them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. (Jer 20:14;Job 3:1, c.). Jeremiah seems tohave been of a peculiarly sensitive temperament yet the Holy Spiritenabled him to deliver his message at the certain cost of having hissensitiveness wounded by the enmities of those whom his wordsoffended.
man of strifeexposedto strifes on the part of “the whole earth” (Ps80:6).
I have neither lent,&c.proverbial for, “I have given no cause for strifeagainst me.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man of strife,…. Not that the prophet was a quarrelsome and contentious man, but others quarrelled and contended with him, and that for no other reason than for his faithful discharge of his office, under which he ought to have been easy; but being a man of like passions with others, wishes he had never been born, than to meet with so much trouble; and seems to blame his mother for bearing him; or however looked upon himself to be a miserable man through his birth, and that he was destined from thence to this sorrow:
and a man of contention to the whole earth; or “land”; the land of Judea, the inhabitants of it, as the Targum; for with no other had Jeremiah to do; and it were these only that contended with him, because he brought a disagreeable message to them, concerning their captivity:
I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; which was not lawful with the Jews to do; and therefore such were cursed that did it: but this is not to be restrained to this particular branch of business, which was not usual; but has respect to all trade and commerce; and the meaning is, that the prophet did not concern himself with secular affairs, but attended to the duties of his office; he carried on no negotiations with men; he was neither a creditor nor a debtor; had nothing to do with pecuniary affairs; which often occasions strifes and contentions, quarrels and lawsuits; and yet, notwithstanding, could not be free from strife and debate:
yet everyone of them do curse me; that is, everyone of the inhabitants of the land of Judea, so much known were Jeremiah and his prophecies; these slighted and set light by both him and his predictions; and wished the vilest imprecations upon him for his messages to them. The word here used is compounded of two words, or derived from two roots, as Kimchi observes; the one signifies to make light or vilify, in opposition to honour and glory; and the other to curse, in opposition to blessing; and this is often the case of the ministers of the word, not only to be slighted and despised, but to be defamed and cursed; see 1Co 4:12.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Complaint of the Prophet, and Soothing Answer of the Lord. – His sorrow at the rejection by God of his petition so overcomes the prophet, that he gives utterance to the wish: he had rather not have been born than live on in the calling in which he must ever foretell misery and ruin to his people, thereby provoking hatred and attacks, while his heart is like to break for grief and fellow-feeling; whereupon the Lord reprovingly replies as in Jer 15:11-14.
Jer 15:10 “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me, a man of strive and contention to all the earth! I have not lent out, nor have men lent to me; all curse me. Jer 15:11. Jahveh saith, Verily I strengthen thee to thy good; verily I cause the enemy to entreat thee in the time of evil and of trouble. Jer 15:12. Does iron break, iron from the north and brass? Jer 15:13. Thy substance and thy treasures give I for a prey without a price, and that for all thy sins, and in all thy borders, Jer 15:14. And cause thine enemies bring it into a land which thou knowest not; for fire burneth in mine anger, against you it is kindled.” Woe is me, exclaims Jeremiah in Jer 15:10, that my mother brought me forth! The apostrophe to his mother is significant of the depth of his sorrow, and is not to be understood as if he were casting any reproach on his mother; it is an appeal to his mother to share with him his sorrow at his lot. This lament is consequently very different from Job’s cursing of the day of his birth, Job 3:1. The apposition to the suffix “me,” the man of strife and contention, conveys the meaning of the lament in this wise: me, who must yet be a man, with whom the whole world strives and contends. Ew. wrongly render it: “to be a man of strife,” etc.; for it was not his mother’s fault that he became such an one. The second clause intimates that he has not provoked the strife and contention. , lend, i.e., give on loan, and with , to lend to a person, lend out; hence , debtor, and , creditor, Isa 24:2. These words are not an individualizing of the thought: all interchange of friendly services between me and human society is broken off (Hitz.). For intercourse with one’s fellow-men does not chiefly, or in the foremost place, consist in lending and borrowing of gold and other articles. Borrowing and lending is rather the frequent occasion of strife and ill-will;
(Note: Calvin aptly remarks: Unde enim inter homines et lites et jurgia, nisi quia male inter ipsos convenit, dum ultro et citro negotiantur ?)
and it is in this reference that it is here brought up. Jeremiah says he has neither as bad debtor or disobliging creditor given occasion to hatred and quarrelling, and yet all curse him. This is the meaning of the last words, in which the form is hard to explain. The rabbinical attempts to clear it up by means of a commingling of the verbs and are now, and reasonably, given up. Ew. ( Gram. 350, c) wants to make it ; but probably the form has arisen merely out of the wrong dividing of a word, and ought to be read . So read most recent scholars, after the example of J. D. Mich.; cf. also Bttcher, Grammat. ii. S. 322, note. It is true that we nowhere else find ; but we find an analogy in the archaic . In its favour we have, besides, the circumstance, that the heavy form is by preference appended to short words; see Bttcher, as above, S. 21.
Jer 15:11-14 To this complaint the Lord makes answer in Jer 15:11-14, first giving the prophet the prospect of complete vindication against those that oppose him (Jer 15:11), and then (Jer 15:12-14) pointing to the circumstances that shall compel the people to this result. The introduction of God’s answer by without is found also in Jer 46:25, where Graf erroneously seeks to join the formula with what precedes. In the present 11th verse the want of the is the less felt, since the word from the Lord that follows bears in the first place upon the prophet himself, and is not addressed to the people. is a particle of asseveration, introducing the answer which follows with a solemn assurance. The vowel-points of fo require , 1 pers. perf., from = the Aram. , loose, solve (Dan 5:12): I loose (free) thee to thy good. The Chet. is variously read and rendered. By reason of the preceding , the view is improbable that we have here an infinitive; either , inf. Pi. of in the sig. inflict suffering: “thy affliction becomes welfare” (Hitz.); or , inf. Kal of , set free: thy release falls out to thy good (Ros., etc.). The context suggests the 1 pers. perf. of , against which the defective written form is no argument, since this occurs frequently elsewhere, e.g., , Nah 1:12. The question remains: whether we are to take according to the Hebrew usage: I afflict thee to thy good, harass thee to thine advantage (Gesen. in the thes. p. 1482, and Ng. ), or according to the Aramaic (_ra) in the sig. firmabo, stabiliam: I strengthen thee or support thee to thy good (Ew., Maur.). We prefer the latter rendering, because the saying: I afflict thee, is not true of God; since the prophet’s troubles came not from God, nor is Jeremiah complaining of affliction at the hand of God, but only that he was treated as an enemy by all the world. , for good, as in Psa 119:122, so that it shall fall out well for thee, lead to a happy issue, for which we have elsewhere , Jer 14:11, Psa 86:17; Neh 5:19. – This happy issue is disclosed in the second clause: I bring it about that the enemy shall in time of trouble turn himself in supplication to thee, because he shall recognise in the prophet’s prayers the only way of safety; cf. the fulfilment of this promise, Jer 21:1., Jer 37:3; Jer 38:14., Jer 42:2. , here causative, elsewhere only with the sig. of the Kal, e.g., Jer 36:25, Isa 53:12. “The enemy,” in unlimited generality: each of thine adversaries.
Jer 15:12-14 That the case will turn out so is intimated by Jer 15:12-14, the exposition of which is, however, difficult and much debated. Jer 15:12 is rendered either: can iron (ordinary iron) break northern iron and brass (the first “iron” being taken as subject, the second as object)? or: can one break iron, (namely) iron of the north, and brass (“iron” being taken both times as object, and “break” having its subject indefinite)? or: can iron…break ( intrans. as in Jer 11:16)? Of these three translations the first has little probability, inasmuch as the simile of one kind of iron breaking another is unnatural. But Hitz.’s view is wholly unnatural: that the first “iron” and “brass” are the object, and that “iron from the north” is subject, standing as it does between the two objects, as in Son 5:6, where, however, the construction alleged is still very doubtful. Nor does the sense, which would in this way be expressed, go far to commend this rendering. By iron and brass we would then have to understand, according to Jer 6:28, the stiff-necked Jewish people; and by iron from the north, the calamity that was to come from the north. Thus the sense would be: will this calamity break the sullen obstinacy of the prophet’s enemies? will it make them pliable? The verse would thus contain an objection on the part of the prophet against the concession vouchsafed by God in Jer 15:11. With this idea, however, Jer 15:11-14 are emphatically not in harmony. The other two translations take each a different view of the sense. The one party understand by iron and brass the prophet; the other, either the Jewish people or the northern might of the Chaldean empire. Holding that the prophet is so symbolized, L. de Dieu and Umbr. give the sense thus: “Let him but bethink him of his immoveable firmness against the onsets of the world; in spite of all, he is iron, northern iron and brass, that cannot be broken.” Thus God would here be speaking to the prophet. Dahl., again, holds the verse to be spoken by the prophet, and gives the sense: Can I, a frail and feeble man, break the determination of a numerous and stiff-necked nation? Against the later view the objection already alleged against Hitz. is decisive, showing as it did that the verse cannot be the prophet’s speech or complaint; against the former, the improbability that God would call the prophet iron, northern iron and brass, when the very complaint he has making showed how little of the firmness of iron he had about him. If by the northern iron we understand the Jewish people, then God would here say to the prophet, that he should always contend in vain against the stiff-neckedness of the people (Eichh.). This would have been but small comfort for him. But the appellation of northern iron does not at all fit the Jewish people. For the observation that the hardest iron, the steel made by the Chalybes in Pontus, was imported from the north, does not serve the turn; since a distinction between ordinary iron and very hard iron nowhere else appears in the Old Testament. The attribute “from the north” points manifestly to the iron sway of the Chaldean empire (Ros., Ew., Maur., and many others); and the meaning of the verse can only be this: As little as a man can break iron, will the Jewish people be able to break the hostile power of the north (Jer 13:20). Taken thus, the pictorial style of the verse contains a suggestion that the adversaries of the prophet will, by the crushing power of the Chaldeans, be reduced to the condition of turning themselves in supplication to the prophet.
Jer 15:13-14 With this Jer 15:13 and Jer 15:14 are thus connected: This time of evil and tribulation (Jer 15:10) will not last long. Their enemies will carry off the people’s substance and treasures as their booty into a strange land. These verses are to be taken, with Umbr., as a declaration from the mouth of the Lord to His guilt-burdened people. This appears from the contents of the verses. The immediate transition from the address to the prophet to that to the people is to be explained by the fact, that both the prophet’s complaint, Jer 15:10, and God’s answer, Jer 15:11-13, have a full bearing on the people; the prophet’s complaint at the attacks on the part of the people serving to force them to a sense of their obstinacy against the Lord, and God’s answer to the complaint, that the prophet’s announcement will come true, and that he will then be justified, serving to crush their sullen doggedness. The connection of thought in Jer 15:13 and Jer 15:14 is thus: The people that so assaults thee, by reason of thy threatening judgment, will not break the iron might of the Chaldeans, but will by them be overwhelmed. It will come about as thou hast declared to them in my name; their substance and their treasures will I give as booty to the Chaldeans. = , Isa 55:1, not for purchase-money, i.e., freely. As God sells His people for nought, i.e., gives them up to their enemies (cf. Isa 52:3; Psa 44:13), so here He threatens to deliver up their treasures to the enemy as a booty, and for nought. When Graf says that this last thought has no sufficient meaning, his reasons therefor do not appear. Nor is there anything “peculiar,” or such as could throw suspicion on the passage, in the juxtaposition of the two qualifying phrases: and that for all thy sins, and in all thy borders. The latter phrase bears unmistakeably on the treasures, not on the sins. “Cause…to bring it,” lit., I cause them (the treasures) to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not, i.e., I cause the enemies to bring them, etc. Hitz. and Graf erroneously: I carry thine enemies away into a land; which affords no suitable sense. The grounding clause: for hire, etc., is taken from Deu 32:22, to show that the threatening of judgment contained in Moses’ song is about to come upon degenerate Judah. “Against you it is kindled” apply the words to Jeremiah’s contemporaries.
(Note: Jer 15:11-14 are pronounced spurious by Hitz., Graf, and Ng. , on the ground that Jer 15:13 and Jer 15:14 are a mere quotation, corrupted in the text, from Jer 17:3-4, and that all the three verses destroy the connection, containing an address to the people that does not at all fit into the context. But the interruption of the continuity could at most prove that the verses had got into a wrong place, as is supposed by Ew., who transposes them, and puts them next to Jer 15:9. But for this change in place there are no sufficient grounds, since, as our exposition of them shows, the verses in question can be very well understood in the place which they at present occupy. The other allegation, that Jer 15:13 and Jer 15:14 are a quotation, corrupted in text, from Jer 17:3-4, is totally without proof. In Jer 17:3-4 we have simply the central thoughts of the present passage repeated, but modified to suit their new context, after the manner characteristic of Jeremiah. The genuineness of the verses is supported by the testimony of the lxx, which has them here, while it omits them in Jer 17:3-4; and by the fact, that it is inconceivable they should have been interpolated as a gloss in a wholly unsuitable place. For those who impugn the genuineness have not even made the attempt to show the possibility or probability of such a gloss arising.)
Jer 15:15-16 Jeremiah continues his complaint. – Jer 15:15. “Thou knowest it, Jahveh; remember me, and visit me, and revenge me on my persecutors! Do not, in Thy long-suffering, take me away; know that for Thy sake I bear reproach. Jer 15:16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy words were to me a delight and the joy of my heart: for Thy name was named upon me, Jahveh, God of hosts. Jer 15:17. I sat not in the assembly of the laughers, nor was merry; because of Thy hand I sat solitary; for with indignation Thou hast filled me. Jer 15:18. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound malignant? will not heal. Wilt Thou really be to me as a deceiving brook, a water that doth not endure?”
The Lord’s answer, Jer 15:11-14, has not yet restored tranquillity to the prophet’s mind; since in it his vindication by means of the abasement of his adversaries had been kept at an indefinite distance. And so he now, Jer 15:15, prays the Lord to revenge him on his adversaries, and not to let him perish, since for His sake he bears reproach. The object to “Thou knowest, Lord,” appears from the context – namely: “the attacks which I endure,” or more generally: Thou knowest my case, my distress. At the same time he clearly means the harassment detailed in Jer 15:10, so that “Thou knowest” is, as to its sense, directly connected with Jer 15:10. But it by no means follows from this that Jer 15:11-14 are not original; only that Jeremiah did not feel his anxiety put at rest by the divine answer conveyed in these verses. In the climax: Remember me, visit me, i.e., turn Thy care on me, and revenge me, we have the utterance of the importunity of his prayer, and therein, too, the extremity of his distress. According to Thy long-suffering, i.e., the long-suffering Thou showest towards my persecutors, take me not away, i.e., do not deliver me up to final ruin. This prayer he supports by the reminder, that for the Lord’s sake he bears reproach; cf. Psa 69:8. Further, the imperative: know, recognise, bethink thee of, is the utterance of urgent prayer. In Jer 15:16 he exhibits how he suffers for the Lord’s sake. The words of the Lord which came to him he has received with eagerness, as it had been the choicest dainties. “Thy words were found” intimates that he had come into possession of them as something actual, without particularizing how they were revealed. With the figurative expression: I ate them, cf. the symbolical embodiment of the figure, Eze 2:9; Eze 3:3, Apoc. Jer 10:9. The Keri is an uncalled for correction, suggested by the preceding , and the Chet. is perfectly correct. Thy words turned out to me a joy and delight, because Thy name was named upon me, i.e., because Thou hast revealed Thyself to me, hast chosen me to be the proclaimer of Thy word.
Jer 15:17 To this calling he has devoted his whole life: has not sat in the assembly of the laughers, nor made merry with them; but sat alone, i.e., avoided all cheerful company. Because of Thy hand, i.e., because Thy hand had laid hold on me. The hand of Jahveh is the divine power which took possession of the prophets, transported their spirit to the ecstatic domain of inner vision, and impelled to prophesy; cf. Jer 20:7; Isa 8:11; Eze 1:3, etc. Alone I sat, because Thou hast filled me with indignation. is the wrath of God against the moral corruptness and infatuation of Judah, with which the Spirit of God has filled Jeremiah in order that he may publish it abroad, cf. Jer 6:11. The sadness of what he had to publish filled his heart with the deepest grief, and constrained him to keep far from all cheery good fellowship.
Jer 15:18 Why is my pain become perpetual? “My pain” is the pain or grief he feels at the judgment he has to announce to the people; not his pain at the hostility he has on that account to endure. adverbial = , as in Amo 1:11; Psa 13:2, etc. “My wound,” the blow that has fallen on him. , malignant, is explained by “(that) will not heal,” cf. Jer 30:12; Mic 1:9. The clause ‘ still depends on , and the infin. gives emphasis: Wilt Thou really be? , lit., lying, deception, means here, and in Mic 1:16, a deceptive torrent that dries up in the season of drought, and so disappoints the hope of finding water, cf. Job 6:15. “A water,” etc., is epexegesis: water that doth not endure. To this the Lord answers –
Jer 15:19-21 By reprimanding his impatience, and by again assuring him of His protection and of rescue from the power of his oppressors. – Jer 15:19. “Therefore thus saith Jahveh: If thou return, then will I bring thee again to serve me; and if thou separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. They will return to thee, but thou shalt not return unto them. Jer 15:20. And I make thee unto this people a strong wall of brass, so that they fight against thee, but prevail not against thee; for I am with thee, to help thee and to save thee, saith Jahveh. Jer 15:21. And I save thee out of the hand of the wicked, and deliver thee out of the clutch of the violent.”
In the words: if thou return, lies the reproach that in his complaint, in which his indignation had hurried him on to doubt God’s faithfulness, Jeremiah had sinned and must repent. is by many commentators taken adverbially and joined with the following words: then will I again cause thee to stand before me. But this adverbial use has been proved only for the Kal of , not for the Hiphil, which must here be taken by itself: then will I bring thee again, sc. into proper relations with me – namely, to stand before me, i.e., to be my servant. , of the standing of the servant before his lord, to receive his commands, and so also of prophets, cf. 1Ki 17:1; 1Ki 18:15; 2Ki 3:14, etc. In the words: if thou make to go forth, i.e., separate the precious from the vile, we have the figure of metal-refining, in course of which the pure metal is by fusion parted from the earthy and other ingredients mixed with it. The meaning of the figure is, however, variously understood. Some think here, unfittingly, of good and bad men; so Chald. and Rashi: if thou cause the good to come forth of the bad, turn the good into bad; or, if out of the evil mass thou cause to come forth at least a few as good, i.e., if thou convert them (Chr. B. Mich., Ros., etc.). For we cannot here have to do with the issue of his labours, as Graf well remarks, since this did not lie in his own power. Just as little is the case one of contrast between God’s word and man’s word, the view adopted by Ven., Eichh., Dahl., Hitz., Ew. The idea that Jeremiah presented man’s word for God’s word, or God’s word mixed with spurious, human additions, is utterly foreign to the context; nay, rather it was just because he declared only what God imposed on him that he was so hard bested. Further, that idea is wholly inconsistent with the nature of true prophecy. Maurer has hit upon the truth: si quae pretiosa in te sunt, admixtis liberaveris sordibus, si virtutes quas habes maculis liberaveris impatientiae et iracundiae ; with whom Graf agrees. (with the so-called verit.), as my mouth shalt thou be, i.e., as the instrument by which I speak, cf. Exo 4:16. Then shall his labours be crowned with success. They (the adversaries) will turn themselves to thee, in the manner shown in Jer 15:11, but thou shalt not turn thyself to them, i.e., not yield to their wishes or permit thyself to be moved by them from the right way. Jer 15:20. After this reprimand, the Lord renews to him the promise of His most active support, such as He had promised him at his call, Jer 1:18.; “to save thee” being amplified in Jer 15:21.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Prophet’s Complaint; The Prophet Assured of His Safety. | B. C. 606. |
10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me. 11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. 14 And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
Jeremiah has now returned from his public work and retired into his closet; what passed between him and his God there we have an account of in these and the following verses, which he published afterwards, to affect the people with the weight and importance of his messages to them. Here is,
I. The complaint which the prophet makes to God of the many discouragements he met with in his work, v. 10.
1. He met with a great deal of contradiction and opposition. He was a man of strife and contention to the whole land (so it might be read, rather than to the whole earth, for his business lay only in that land); both city and country quarrelled with him, and set themselves against him, and said and did all they could to thwart him. He was a peaceable man, gave no provocation to any, nor was apt to resent the provocations given him, and yet a man of strife, not a man striving, but a man striven with; he was for peace, but, when he spoke, they were for war. And, whatever they pretended, that which was the real cause of their quarrels with him was his faithfulness to God and to their souls. He showed them their sins that were working their ruin, and put them into a way to prevent that ruin, which was the greatest kindness he could do them; and yet this was it for which they were incensed against him and looked upon him as their enemy. Even the prince of peace himself was thus a man of strife, a sign spoken against, continually enduring the contradiction of sinners against himself. And the gospel of peace brings division, even to fire and sword, Mat 10:34; Mat 10:35; Luk 12:49; Luk 12:51. Now this made Jeremiah very uneasy, even to a degree of impatience. He cried out, Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me, as if it were his mother’s fault that she bore him, and he had better never have been born than be born to such an uncomfortable life; nay, he is angry that she had borne him a man of strife, as if he had been fatally determined to this by the stars that were in the ascendant at his birth. If he had any meaning of this kind, doubtless it was very much his infirmity; we rather hope it was intended for no more than a pathetic lamentation of his own case. Note, (1.) Even those who are most quiet and peaceable, if they serve God faithfully, are often made men of strife. We can but follow peace; we have the making only of one side of the bargain, and therefore can but, as much as in us lies, live peaceably. (2.) It is very uncomfortable to those who are of a peaceable disposition to live among those who are continually picking quarrels with them. (3.) Yet, if we cannot live so peaceably as we desire with our neighbours, we must not be so disturbed at it as thereby to lose the repose of our own minds and put ourselves upon the fret.
2. He met with a great deal of contempt, contumely, and reproach. They every one of them cursed him; they branded him as a turbulent factious man, as an incendiary and a sower of discord and sedition. They ought to have blessed him, and to have blessed God for him; but they had arrived at such a pitch of enmity against God and his word that for his sake they cursed his messenger, spoke ill of him, wished ill to him, did all they could to make him odious. They all did so; he had scarcely one friend in Judah or Jerusalem that would give him a good word. Note, It is often the lot of the best of men to have the worst of characters ascribed to them. So persecuted they the prophets. But one would be apt to suspect that surely Jeremiah had given them some provocation, else he could not have lost himself thus: no, not the least: I have neither lent money nor borrowed money, have been neither creditor nor debtor; for so general is the signification of the words here. (1.) It is implied here that those who deal much in the business of this world are often involved thereby in strife and contention; meum et tuum–mine and thine are the great make-bates; lenders and borrowers sue and are sued, and great dealers often get a great deal of ill-will. (2.) it was an instance of Jeremiah’s great prudence, and it is written for our learning, that, being called to be a prophet, he entangled not himself in the affairs of this life, but kept clear from them, that he might apply the more closely to the business of his profession and might not give the least shadow of suspicion that he aimed at secular advantages in it nor any occasion to his neighbours to contend with him. He put out no money, for he was no usurer, nor indeed had he any money to lend: he took up no money, for he was no purchaser, no merchant, no spendthrift. He was perfectly dead to this world and the things of it: a very little served to keep him, and we find (ch. xvi. 2) that he had neither wife nor children to keep. And yet, (3.) Though he behaved thus discreetly, and so as one would think should have gained him universal esteem, yet he lay under a general odium, through the iniquity of the times. Blessed be God, bad as things are with us, they are not so bad but that there are those with whom virtue has its praise; yet let not those who behave most prudently think it strange if they have not the respect and esteem they deserve. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
II. The answer which God gave to this complaint. Though there was in it a mixture of passion and infirmity, yet God graciously took cognizance of it, because it was for his sake that the prophet suffered reproach. In this answer, 1. God assures him that he should weather the storm and be made easy at last, v. 11. Though his neighbours quarrelled with him for what he did in the discharge of his office, yet God accepted him and promised to stand by him. It is in the original expressed in the form of an oath: “If I take not care of thee, let me never be counted faithful; verily it shall go well with thy remnant, with the remainder of thy life” (for so the word signifies); “the residue of thy days shall be more comfortable to thee than those hitherto have been.” Thy end shall be good; so the Chaldee reads it. Note, It is a great and sufficient support to the people of God that, how troublesome soever their way may be, it shall be well with them in their latter end, Ps. xxxvii. 37. They have still a remnant, a residue, something behind and left in reserve, which will be sufficient to counterbalance all their grievances, and the hope of it may serve to make them easy. It should seem that Jeremiah, besides the vexation that his people gave him, was uneasy at the apprehension he had of sharing largely in the public judgments which he foresaw coming; and, though he mentioned not this, God replied to his thought of it, as to Moses, Exod. iv. 19. Jeremiah thought, “If my friends are thus abusive to me, what will my enemies be?” And God had thought fit to awaken in him an expectation of this kind, ch. xii. 5. But here he quiets his mind with this promise: “Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil, when all about thee shall be laid waste.” Note, God has all men’s hearts in his hand, and can turn those to favour his servants whom they were most afraid of. And the prophets of the Lord have often met with fairer and better treatment among open enemies than among those that call themselves his people. When we see trouble coming, and it looks very threatening, let us not despair, but hope in God, because it may prove better than we expect. This promise was accomplished when Nebuchadnezzar, having taken the city, charged the captain of the guard to be kind to Jeremiah, and let him have every thing he had a mind to, Jer 39:11; Jer 39:12. The following words, Shall iron break the northern iron, and the steel, or brass? (v. 12), being compared with the promise of God made to Jeremiah (ch. i. 18), that he would make him an iron pillar and brazen walls, seem intended for his comfort. They were continually clashing with him, and were rough and hard as iron; but Jeremiah, being armed with power and courage from on high, is as northern iron, which is naturally stronger, and as steel, which is hardened by art; and therefore they shall not prevail against him; compare this with Eze 2:6; Eze 3:8; Eze 3:9. He might the better bear their quarrelling with him when he was sure of the victory. 2. God assures him that his enemies and persecutors should be lost in the storm, should be ruined at last, and that therein the word of God in his mouth should be accomplished and he proved a true prophet, Jer 15:13; Jer 15:14. God here turns his speech from the prophet to the people. To them also v. 12 may be applied: Shall iron break the northern iron, and the steel? Shall their courage and strength, and the most hardly and vigorous of their efforts, be able to contest either with the counsel of God or with the army of the Chaldeans, which are as inflexible, as invincible, as the northern iron and steel. Let them therefore hear their doom: Thy substance and thy treasure will I give to the spoil, and that without price; the spoilers shall have it gratis; it shall be to them a cheap and easy prey. Observe, The prophet was poor; he neither lent nor borrowed; he had nothing to lose, neither substance. nor treasure, and therefore the enemy will treat him well, Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator–The traveller that has no property about him will congratulate himself when accosted by a robber. But the people that had great estates in money and land would be slain for what they had, or the enemy, finding they had much, would use them hardly, to make them confess more. And it is their own iniquity that herein corrects them: It is for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. All parts of the country, even those which lay most remote, had contributed to the national guilt, and all shall now be brought to account. Let not one tribe lay the blame upon another, but each take shame to itself: It is for all thy sins in all thy borders. Thus shall they stay at home till they see their estates ruined, and then they shall be carried into captivity, to spend the sad remains of a miserable life in slavery: “I will make thee to pass with thy enemies, who shall lead thee in triumph into a land that thou knowest not, and therefore canst expect to find no comfort in it.” All this is the fruit of God’s wrath: “It is a fire kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you, and, if not extinguished in time, will burn eternally.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 10-14: A MAN OF STRIFE AND CONTENTION
1. Perplexed by the seeming impossibility of his task, Jeremiah laments the day of his birth, (vs. 10; comp. Jer 20:14; Job 3:3; Job 20:8-9).
a. He has not made a loan, or taken one; yet, everyone curses him!
b. His is a position of legal strife and contention with the whole land!
2. There will come a time, however, when his enemies will come seeking his intercession on their behalf, (vs. 11; comp. Jer 21:1-6; Jer 37:3; Jer 42:1-6).
3. Jeremiah will be amply vindicated for his faithful warnings; the armaments of Judah will be shamefully inadequate to repel the might of Babylon, (vs. 12; Jer 28:14).
4. The land is about to be despoiled of its wealth because of God’s wrath against Judah’s sin – a faithful warning that is still ignored! (vs. 13-14; Jer 17:3; Jer 20:5; Isa 52:3-5; Deu 28:36; Deu 28:64-65; Jer 16:13; Jer 17:4).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet, when he saw that his labor availed nothing, or was not so fruitful as he wished, no doubt felt somewhat like a man, and shewed his own weakness. It must however be observed, that he was so restrained by the secret power of the Holy Spirit, that he did not break forth intemperately, as is the case with many; but, he kept the right end so in view, that his sorrows had ever a regard to his object, even to render his labor useful to the people. A clear example of which is seen in these words.
But he addresses his mother, as though he counted his own life a curse; what does this mean? “Why,” he says, “hast thou begotten me, my mother? Woe to me, that I have been born a man of strife and of contention!” We learn from these words, that the Prophet was not so composed and calm in his mind, but that he felt angry when he saw that he effected less than he wished; and yet it is evident from the context, that all this was expressed for the benefit of the public, even that the Jews might know, that their hardness of heart in despising God’s devoted servant, yea, in maliciously opposing him, would not turn out to their benefit. This is the purport of the whole.
He calls himself a man of strife, not only because he was constrained to contend with the people, for this he had in common with all prophets. God does not send them to flatter or to please the world; they must therefore contend with the world, for no one is brought to a right state, so as to undertake the yoke of God winingly and submissively, until he is proved guilty. Hence men will never obey God, they will never submit to his word, until they know that they are in a manner condemned; and for this reason have I said, that this evil is common to all prophets, — that they have to contend with the world. But Jeremiah calls himself a man of strife and contention, because he was slanderously spoken of throughout Judea, as one who through his moroseness drove the whole people to contentions and strifes. This then is to be referred to the false judgments formed by the people; for there was hardly any one who did not say that he was a turbulent man, and that if he was removed, there would have been tranquinity in the city and throughout the whole land. The same objection is at this day made by the enemies of the truth and godliness; they say, that we needlessly create disturbances, and that if we were quiet, there would be the most delightful peace throughout the whole world, and that dissensions and strifes arise only from us, that we are the fans by which the whole world is kindled into contentions. It was then for this reason that Jeremiah complained that he was born a man of strife and contention; not that he was contentious — not that that he gave any occasion to the people to speak so slanderously of him; for the subject here is not respecting the character of the Prophet, as he knew that his courage was approved by God; but as he saw that he was urged and charged with these false accusations, he calls himself a man of strife and a man of contention; the last word is from דן, den, which means to contend.
But as to the exclamation respecting his mother, I have already reminded you that it was an evidence of an intemperate feeling; for had he spoken in a composed state of mind, what had he to do with his mother, so as to make her an associate in the evil he complains of? He indeed seems to ascribe a part of the blame to his mother, because she had given him birth. Now this appears unreasonable. But it may at the same time be easily gathered, that the Prophet was not led away by so great a vehemence, except for the sake of promoting the public good, and that it was for this end that he uttered his complaint; for it was not his purpose to condemn his mother, though at the first view it appears so; but though she was innocent, he still shews that he was unjustly loaded with such calumnies, as that he was a man of strife and contention; as though he had said, “Enquire of my mother, who hath begotten me, whether I was contentious from the womb? has my mother been the cause why ye say that I am a turbulent man and the author of strifes? Doubtless nothing can be imputed to my mother; and I am as innocent as she is.” We now then see that the Prophet indirectly condemns the wickedness of the people, because they calumniated him, as though he moved tumults and strifes through the whole land; and this he more fully confirms by the words which follow: —
I have not given on usury, nor have they borrowed of me on usury; (138) yet every one curses me He shews here that it was not for a private reason that he was hated by the whole people and loaded with calumnies: for whence come hatreds, and strifes, and complaints, and quarrels, and contentions among men, except through unfair dealing in their intercourse with one another? When, therefore, every one is bent on his own private advantage, he in bears anything to be taken from him. It is indeed a rare thing in the world, that they who carry on business with one another are really friends, and that they wholly approve of each other’s conduct; for, as I have already said, covetousness so prevails, that justice and equity disappear among most men. Hence the Prophet says, that he had not lent on usury Under one kind he includes all transactions of life, as though he had said, Je n’ay point traffique, I have had no contention about money affairs, for I have neither lent nor borrowed money, so that I have had no contention with the people on a private concern, nor have they quarrelled with me as though I had injured them or defrauded them, as though they had suffered any loss on my account: yet they all curse me.” (139)
We see that the Prophet here testifies that he had not incurred the displeasure of the people through his own fault, or on account of any private concern, but because he had faithfully discharged his duty to God and to his ChurJeremiah He then brings against the people a most awful accusation, that they carried on war, not with a mortal man, but rather with God himself. We now understand what the Prophet had in view.
But all faithful teachers are here reminded, that if they perform their office strenuously and wisely, they will surely be loaded with many calumnies, and be called tumultuous, or morose, or disturbers of the peace. They ought then to be fortified against such stumbling — blocks, so that they may persevere in the course of their calling. They ought at the same time to take heed lest they create enemies through any private concerns. For when the pastors of the Church abstain from every public business, yet when they contend, as they ought with the world, all immediately cry out that they are contentious and turbulent; but if the other be added, if they quarrel with this or that man about worldly things, then it cannot be but that the word of God will be evil spoken of through their fault. Hence great care ought to be taken that those who sustain the office of public teaching should not engage in worldly business, and be thus exposed to the necessity of contending about worldly things: they have enough to do, and more than enough, in the warfare in which the Lord has engaged them.
Now when the Prophet says that they all cursed him, it was a sad instance of impiety; for he speaks not of heathens but of the seed of Abraham. There was no Church then in the world but at Jerusalem, and yet the Prophet was regarded there as contentious and a man of strife. It ought not then to appear strange to us, that not only professed enemies of Christ load us with reproaches, but that they also curse us who deem themselves to be members of the ChurJeremiah It now follows —
(138) Not one of the versions, except the Vulgate, mentions “usury,” and Parkhurst says that the verb does not include the idea. Then the rendering ought to be,
I have not lent, nor have they lent to me.
There had been no money transactions between them, which are commonly the causes of disputes and contentions. — Ed.
(139) Literally it is —
The whole of it (the land) is reviling (or cursing) me.
As there is something anomalous in the form of the participle, Blayney proposes an emendation, and thinks the right reading to be כלהם קללונו, “All of them curse me.” The versions and the Targum favor this reading, which is also adopted by the commonly too venturous Houbigant, and approved by Horsley, one equally venturous and bold. By dropping the ו, as in many copies, the anomoly is removed. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
II. PROPHETIC AGONY Jer. 15:10-21
Jeremiah suffered a great deal of mental anguish during his ministry. The rejection of his prophetic intercession on three successive occasions plunges Jeremiah to the depths of despair. This is the second personal crisis in the life and ministry of this great man of God. In response to the complaint of the prophet (Jer. 15:10) God offers consolation (Jer. 15:15-18). But Jeremiah is not satisfied. He feels that God has deceived him and he does not hesitate to tell God so (Jer. 15:15-18). To these wild accusations the Lord does not even bother to respond except to tell his disgruntled prophet that if he will repent he may be reinstated in the ministry (Jer. 15:19-21).
A. Prophetic Lamentation and Divine Consolation
Jer. 15:10-14
TRANSLATION
(10) Woe to me, O my mother, because you gave birth to me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land. I have not lent nor have they lent to me, yet every man curses me. (11) The LORD said, surely I will set you free for good; surely I will cause the enemy to entreat you in the time of evil and in the time of distress. (12) Can iron break iron from the north and bronze? (13) Your wealth and your treasures I will give for plunder without price, even for all of your sins and in all of your borders. (14) And I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land you do not know; for a fire is kindled in My anger; against you it will burn.
COMMENTS
The divine refusal to hearken to the intercession of the prophet has caused Jeremiah to sink into the slough of despondency. He begins to reflect upon his ministry and to think of the trouble that had come to him as he attempted to carry the message of God to his people. His preaching had produced no repentance. He had only succeeded in arousing the animosity of those to whom he preached. This tender and timid soul from Anathoth had become the center of controversy. He wishes he had never been born. To bring a thundering message of accusation and condemnation was contrary to the personality of this man. People viciously curse him just as they might curse a hard hearted creditor. Dealings between money-lenders and debtors in antiquity were anything but cordial. This is the kind of relationship which now exists between Jeremiah and his countrymen (Jer. 15:10).
The introductory formula the Lord said occurs only in Jer. 15:11 and in Jer. 46:25. Surely is a free rendering of what in Hebrew is part of an oath formula. God in effect is taking an oath to perform His promises to the prophet. The translation of the first verb describing what God will do for Jeremiah is difficult. The American Standard Version in the text renders it strengthen and in the margin offers the alternative release. The King James Version gives an altogether different translation, it shall be well with thy remnant. Probably the best rendering is set free or release. God promises to release Jeremiah from the hostility and animosity which he has been experiencing in this phase of his ministry. Those who are currently so bitter against him will humbly come to him to seek his aid and advice when the calamity befalls Jerusalem. They may question his prophetic credentials now but before long they will be forced by the fulfillment of his prophecies to recognize Jeremiah as a true prophet of God. King Zedekiah on numerous occasions during the siege of Jerusalem consulted with Jeremiah, sometimes personally (e.g., Jer. 21:1-2) and sometimes through intermediaries (e.g., Jer. 37:3). After the assassination of the governor Gedaliah the remnant came to Jeremiah to seek an oracle from the Lord (Jer. 42:1-3).
Jer. 15:12 is enigmatic. It is not clear whether God is still speaking to the prophet or whether these words are addressed to the people. Iron from the north, the region of the Black Sea, was of the strongest sort. Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, was one of the strongest metals known to the ancients. Common iron cannot break iron from the north or bronze for that matter. But who is this unbreakable metal? Is it Jeremiah himself? God has told him at his call that he would be an iron pillar and a bronze wall (Jer. 1:18). Is God here reminding Jeremiah of that promise? Possibly so. But it is more likely that Jer. 15:12 is a transition to the two verses which follow. God would then be assuring Jeremiah that his prophecy of an invincible foe from the north would indeed be fulfilled, and the fulfillment of that prophecy would serve to vindicate Jeremiah as a spokesman for God.
The description of the invincible foe from the north continues in Jer. 15:13-14. The enemy will roam throughout the land plundering and looting because of all of the sins which the inhabitants of the land had committed. The phrase without price (Jer. 15:13) has been understood in more than one way. Perhaps it means that the enemy will not need to be paid for attacking Judah. On the other hand the phrase may be taken to mean that God will give Judah to the enemy without receiving any compensation in return. The former interpretation is preferable. The inhabitants of Judah will be forced to serve their enemies in a foreign land. Borrowing an expression from Deu. 32:22 God declares a fire is kindled in My anger (literally, in My nostril). The judgment described in the Song of Moses centuries earlier is now about to fall on Judah.
What consolation is it to the despondent Jeremiah to know that his land and his people will be destroyed? None unless it would be the thought that if he continues to preach this message of doom he certainly will not be discredited. His message was controversial to be sure. But it was a true message and it had to be preached. The warning had to be sounded. Jeremiah needed this reassurance at this juncture in his ministry.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10) Woe is me . . .The abruptness of the transition suggests the thought that we have a distinct fragment which has been merged in the artificial continuity of the chapter. Possibly, as some have thought, Jer. 15:10-11 have been misplaced in transcription, and should come after Jer. 15:14, where they fit in admirably with the context. The sequence of thought may, however, be that the picture of the sorrowing mother in the previous verses suggests the reflection that there may be other causes for a mothers sorrow than that of which he has spoken, and so he bursts out into the cry, Woe is me, my mother! The prophet feels more than ever the awfulness of his calling as a vessel of Gods truth. He, too, found that he had come not to send peace on earth, but a sword (Mat. 10:34). His days were as full of strife as the life of the usurer, whose quarrels with his debtors had become the proverbial type of endless litigation. As examples of the working of the law of debt, see Exo. 22:25; 2Ki. 4:1; Pro. 6:1-5; Isa. 24:2; Psa. 15:5; Psa. 109:11.
We note, as characteristic of the pathetic tenderness of the prophets character, the address to his mother. We may think of her probably as still living, and the thought of her suffering embitters her sons grief. The sword was piercing through her soul also (Luk. 2:35). There, too, there was a Mater dolorosa.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE PROPHET IS CORRECTED AND COMFORTED, Jer 15:10-21.
10. Woe is me Here begins the complaint of the prophet and the answer of Jehovah, in a conversation which constitutes the remainder of the chapter. “Woe is me,” my mother! The deep pathos of this language shows that it was no light burden of duty which Jeremiah was bearing. The language suggests that of Job, in which he cursed the day of his birth, (Job 3:3, etc.,) but is entirely different in spirit. What gives Jeremiah such depth of sorrow is, not only the fate of the commonwealth, but also his experience of personal loneliness, shut out as he was from the sympathy of his countrymen.
A man of strife A prophet of evil omen. I have neither lent, etc. So it seems that in ancient as well as modern times the relations of moneylender and borrower were fruitful of strife.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jeremiah Grieves Over His Unhappy Situation And The Effect That It Is Having On His Mother ( Jer 15:10 ).
Jer 15:10
‘Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
I have not lent, neither have men lent to me,
Every one of them curses me.’
The ‘woe is me’ or ‘alas’ is wrung from him as he thinks about the mothers who will have lost their sons in Jer 15:9, for he grieves over what his own mother has to bear. He recognises that while his own mother may not have lost him to death she has lost him in another way. She has had to look on with grief in her heart as all men curse him and call him ‘traitor’ and she suffers the affliction of seeing every man’s hand turned against him, even that of his own family. And that is in spite of the fact that he has given them no reason to hate him apart from by his acting as YHWH’s mouthpiece. For he has lent no money, thus making men wary of him, nor does he owe money, causing dissension through not paying it back (see Deu 23:19; Psa 15:5). He is not involved in anything that is the usual cause of dissension between men. As far as he is aware there is nothing in his personal life that should cause them to hate him. But they do.
The reference to lending and borrowing brings out how much such activity was despised in Judah if it was connected with obtaining gain by doing so. This was in fact in accordance with the covenant which forbade lending for interest, apart from to foreigners (Deu 23:19-20; Deu 15:2-3). Any loans to fellow Israelites had to be made in goodwill without any hope of gain (Deu 15:7-11).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jeremiah Too Feels That He Has Been Born To Affliction And Strife But Is Comforted By YHWH As He Outlines The Future That Lies Ahead, Including The Invasion From The North ( Jer 15:10-14 ).
The thought of the mothers who have borne their sons only for them to die turns Jeremiah’s thoughts to his own situation, equally terrible in his eyes. Is his mother any better off? She may not have physically lost him but she has borne him only for him to cause strife and contention worldwide, and even in his own family (Jer 12:6), with the result that in spite of the fact that he has not become involved with debt or with lending (in other words not with anything of a doubtful nature) all men curse him, something that he is finding difficult to bear, and something which must have been a great grief and affliction to her. She too had cause to ‘give up the spirit’ and be ashamed and confounded (Jer 15:9).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Prophet’s Lamentation
v. 10. Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! v. 11. The Lord said, Verily, it shall be well with thy remnant, v. 12. Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? v. 13. Thy substance and thy treasures, v. 14. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not, v. 15. O Lord, Thou knowest, v. 16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them, v. 17. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers nor rejoiced, v. 18. Why is my pain perpetual, v. 19. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, v. 20. And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall, v. 21. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Jer 15:10. That thou hast borne me a man of strife The prophet here complains of the opposition he met with from his countrymen for speaking unwelcome truths, which had occasioned him as much uneasiness, as if he had engaged in the most invidious of all occupations, and the most likely to engender strife, that of lending and borrowing upon usury.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
We have here the prophet mourning unmanfully. Jeremiah affords an instance, that he, like all others of Adam’s race, partook of the common stock of corruption. Alas! how unsuitable and unbecoming is it, in men of grace to complain. Jeremiah thought so in a cooler moment; See his Lam 3:39 . Poor Job before him, had vented his sorrow in a language unbecoming, Job 3:2-19 . And Jeremiah as if pleased with those angry expressions, repeated them with still stronger language, Jer 20:14-18 . Alas! what is man, even the best of men, even a Prophet; consecrated from the womb to be a prophet of the Lord? Jer 1:5 . Oh! precious, precious Lord Jesus, to whom shall we look but to thee; whose whole nature was holy, harmless, undefiled; separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens, Heb 7:26 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.
Ver. 10. Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me, ] scil., In such an age wherein I may not pray for my people, nor can preach unto them to any good purpose. Buchanan bewailed it that he was born nec coelo, nec solo, nec coeculo erudite. a Jeremiah lamenteth here for a worse matter. Surely he might well say for his manifold sufferings:
“ Littora quot conchas, quot amaens rosaria flores,
Quotque soporiferum grana papaver habet;
premor salversis, ”& c.
– Ovid., Trist.
A man of strife and a man of contention. ] b Generally opposed and quarrelled, for my free and faithful discharge of my duty. This is the world’s wages to godly ministers, whom they usually make their buttmark. But God be thanked, saith he with Jerome, quod dignus sim quem mundus oderit, that I am worthy whom the world should hate. Lutherus pascitur convitiis, saith he of himself, Luther is fed with reproaches.
I have neither lent on usury,
a Camden’s Elisabeth.
b Virum arguentem. – Arab.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 15:10-11
10Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me
As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
11The LORD said, Surely I will set you free for purposes of good;
Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
Jer 15:10-18 This is known as the second Confession of Jeremiah, but it may be better characterized as his complaint. He prays in Jer 15:15-18. YHWH responds and reassures him in Jer 15:19-21.
Jer 15:10-11 Jer 15:10 is obviously a lament from Jeremiah. He expresses how he feels about the way his ministry is being accepted.
1. expresses sorrow for his birth (cf. Jer 20:14-18, i.e., a metaphor of his life)
2. he has become a man of strife (BDB 936) and contention (BDB 193 I) instead of a servant of YHWH (i.e., [1] he has no honor or [2] is always in a lawsuit against Judah)
3. he is rejected by his own (i.e., metaphor of lending money as causing problems)
Jer 15:11 is difficult to understand in the MT. It could mean
1. YHWH is answering (LXX) Jeremiah (NJB) by reminding him of his call (i.e., Jer 1:4-10). His birth (#1 above) was the will of YHWH (i.e., Jer 1:5).
2. Jeremiah continues to talk to YHWH of his faithfulness (NRSV, TEV)
3. YHWH speaks to Judah of the hope for a remnant (NKJV, JPSOA)
The Hebrew of Jer 15:11 is uncertain. The diversity of the versions and the Kethiv and Qere of the Masoretes show this.
lent on usury. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 22:25). App-92.
Jer 15:10-11
Jer 15:10-11
BEGINNING OF JEREMIAH’S SECOND LAMENT
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; [yet] every one of them doth curse me. Jehovah said, Verily I will strengthen thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
These verses and through the end of the chapter constitute “the second personal lament of Jeremiah,” according to Ash; and this one appears to be the most serious because it actually constituted a denial of Jeremiah’s commission, as we shall see a moment later.
I have not lent, neither have men lent to me…
(Jer 15:10). What a glimpse of human nature is this! Yes indeed, one of the surest ways to make bitter enemies is either to borrow money from them or to lend it to them! Jeremiah refers to his having refrained from doing either as a grounds of his being unable to understand why everybody hated him!
Cheyne believed that this lament “belongs to a later period of the history of Judah” but there is nothing certain about such a speculation. Hyatt stated that, “We do not know the occasion of this lament.”
Woe is me, my mother that thou hast borne me
(Jer 15:10). Many commentators equate this with cursing the day of his birth. To curse the day of his birth was tantamount to a rejection of his very mission. F13 This seems to be going a little too far with such implications, because certainly there is a vast difference in what is said here from the account of what was said when Job cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1-6). Still, Jeremiah’s error, whatever it was, required his repentance (Jer 15:19).
I will strengthen thee for good…
(Jer 15:11). As Dummelow pointed out, Jeremiah’s enemies, of whom was Zedekiah, would not only spare his life, but invoke his aid. An example of this is given in Jer 21:1-7.
I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee…
(Jer 15:11). This was literally fulfilled in Jer 39:11. Nebuchadnezzar gave strict orders to his commander-in-chief to look well to Jeremiah, to do him no harm, and to grant him all the privileges he was pleased to ask.
Jer 15:12-14
THE DESTRUCTION OF JUDAH INEVITABLE
Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass? Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. And I will make [them] to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not; for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
The last two verses here simply state that all of the treasures and riches of Judah shall God cause to be taken away from them because of their sins. Those treasures shall not be paid for, but shall leave “without price,” and be carried away by Judah’s enemies into a country they do not know.
Can one break iron…
(Jer 15:12)? There are several different views about what this means. Dummelow believed that it meant, Judah is not tough enough to withstand the Chaldean power. The prophet is protesting that he is not strong enough to stand against the hardness and stubbornness of the people. Jeremiah’s prayers are not strong enough to break the iron will of the divine purpose to destroy Judah. Jellie also saw Jer 15:12 as teaching that, There is a limit to prayer, quoting also this passage from John Milton’s Paradise Lost:
“Prayer against God’s absolute decree
No more avails than breath against the wind,
Blows stifling back on him that breatheth forth;
Therefore to His great bidding I submit.”
The critical allegation that these verses do not fit is rejected. They clearly predict the exile, which prophecy surely emphasizes the negative answer God had already given in the first paragraph of the chapter to Judah’s appeal for mercy; and if the application of Jer 15:12 is to the inability of Jeremiah’s prayers to break God’s determination to destroy Judah, then this passage is indeed in context. There are no legitimate grounds here for moving these verses or for calling them a gloss. Such allegations are almost certainly incorrect.
Robinson called Jer 15:13-14 “Irrelevant”; Cheyne called them “a digression”; but a much more discerning scholar declared that, “They can hardly be regarded as simply an intrusion into the text; but they may be seen as a significant part of the total picture.”
Jeremiah suffered a great deal of mental anguish during his ministry. The rejection of his prophetic intercession on three successive occasions plunges Jeremiah to the depths of despair. This is the second personal crisis in the life and ministry of this great man of God. In response to the complaint of the prophet (Jer 15:10) God offers consolation (Jer 15:15-18). But Jeremiah is not satisfied. He feels that God has deceived him and he does not hesitate to tell God so (Jer 15:15-18). To these wild accusations the Lord does not even bother to respond except to tell his disgruntled prophet that if he will repent he may be reinstated in the ministry (Jer 15:19-21).
Prophetic Lamentation and Divine Consolation
Jer 15:10-14
The divine refusal to hearken to the intercession of the prophet has caused Jeremiah to sink into the slough of despondency. He begins to reflect upon his ministry and to think of the trouble that had come to him as he attempted to carry the message of God to his people. His preaching had produced no repentance. He had only succeeded in arousing the animosity of those to whom he preached. This tender and timid soul from Anathoth had become the center of controversy. He wishes he had never been born. To bring a thundering message of accusation and condemnation was contrary to the personality of this man. People viciously curse him just as they might curse a hard hearted creditor. Dealings between money-lenders and debtors in antiquity were anything but cordial. This is the kind of relationship which now exists between Jeremiah and his countrymen (Jer 15:10).
The introductory formula the Lord said occurs only in Jer 15:11 and in Jer 46:25. Surely is a free rendering of what in Hebrew is part of an oath formula. God in effect is taking an oath to perform His promises to the prophet. The translation of the first verb describing what God will do for Jeremiah is difficult. The American Standard Version in the text renders it strengthen and in the margin offers the alternative release. The King James Version gives an altogether different translation, it shall be well with thy remnant. Probably the best rendering is set free or release. God promises to release Jeremiah from the hostility and animosity which he has been experiencing in this phase of his ministry. Those who are currently so bitter against him will humbly come to him to seek his aid and advice when the calamity befalls Jerusalem. They may question his prophetic credentials now but before long they will be forced by the fulfillment of his prophecies to recognize Jeremiah as a true prophet of God. King Zedekiah on numerous occasions during the siege of Jerusalem consulted with Jeremiah, sometimes personally (e.g., Jer 21:1-2) and sometimes through intermediaries (e.g., Jer 37:3). After the assassination of the governor Gedaliah the remnant came to Jeremiah to seek an oracle from the Lord (Jer 42:1-3).
Jer 15:12 is enigmatic. It is not clear whether God is still speaking to the prophet or whether these words are addressed to the people. Iron from the north, the region of the Black Sea, was of the strongest sort. Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, was one of the strongest metals known to the ancients. Common iron cannot break iron from the north or bronze for that matter. But who is this unbreakable metal? Is it Jeremiah himself? God has told him at his call that he would be an iron pillar and a bronze wall (Jer 1:18). Is God here reminding Jeremiah of that promise? Possibly so. But it is more likely that Jer 15:12 is a transition to the two verses which follow. God would then be assuring Jeremiah that his prophecy of an invincible foe from the north would indeed be fulfilled, and the fulfillment of that prophecy would serve to vindicate Jeremiah as a spokesman for God.
The description of the invincible foe from the north continues in Jer 15:13-14. The enemy will roam throughout the land plundering and looting because of all of the sins which the inhabitants of the land had committed. The phrase without price (Jer 15:13) has been understood in more than one way. Perhaps it means that the enemy will not need to be paid for attacking Judah. On the other hand the phrase may be taken to mean that God will give Judah to the enemy without receiving any compensation in return. The former interpretation is preferable. The inhabitants of Judah will be forced to serve their enemies in a foreign land. Borrowing an expression from Deu 32:22 God declares a fire is kindled in My anger (literally, in My nostril). The judgment described in the Song of Moses centuries earlier is now about to fall on Judah.
What consolation is it to the despondent Jeremiah to know that his land and his people will be destroyed? None unless it would be the thought that if he continues to preach this message of doom he certainly will not be discredited. His message was controversial to be sure. But it was a true message and it had to be preached. The warning had to be sounded. Jeremiah needed this reassurance at this juncture in his ministry.
my: Jer 20:14-18, Job 3:1-26
a man: Jer 15:20, Jer 1:18, Jer 1:19, Jer 20:7, Jer 20:8, 1Ki 18:17, 1Ki 18:18, 1Ki 21:20, 1Ki 22:8, Psa 120:5, Psa 120:6, Eze 2:6, Eze 2:7, Eze 3:7-9, Mat 10:21-23, Mat 24:9, Luk 2:34, Act 16:20-22, Act 17:6-8, Act 19:8, Act 19:9, Act 19:25-28, Act 28:22, 1Co 4:9-13
I have: Exo 22:25, Deu 23:19, Deu 23:20, Neh 5:1-6, Psa 15:5
curse: Psa 109:28, Pro 26:2, Mat 5:44, Luk 6:22
Reciprocal: Num 11:11 – Wherefore hast thou Deu 33:11 – smite Job 3:3 – Let the day Job 3:11 – died I Job 10:18 – hast thou Psa 80:6 – Thou Jer 15:15 – know Jer 15:19 – return Jer 45:3 – Woe Lam 3:59 – thou hast Eze 18:8 – hath not Mic 7:1 – woe Hab 3:16 – that I Mat 10:34 – that I
Jer 15:10. Again Jeremiah shows his personal attitude in the distressing situation and takes it to heart that his country is to be so oppressed. But it is also true that he personally had to suffer at the hand of his countrymen who did not like his plain teaching. He seems to regret that he had been born at such a time of strife. Hove neither lent on usury is an allusion to the grasping leaders of this nation v ho had imposed upon the poor Of the land to increase their own possessions unlawfully. Jeremiah had never done such a wrong to his people, yet he was being persecuted as if be were such a guilty man.
Jer 15:10-11. Wo is me, my mother The prophet here complains of the opposition he met with from his countrymen for speaking unwelcome truths. Thou hast borne me a man of contention to the whole earth Or, whole land, rather. I am the object of common hatred; every body takes occasion to quarrel with me, because I speak truths which they do not like to hear. I have neither lent upon usury, &c. The Jews were forbidden to take usury of their brethren, (Deu 23:19,) especially of the poor, (Exo 22:25,) which was thought so great an oppression that it made the man who was guilty of it hated and cursed by every one. The prophet says that he had never done this, and yet every body was his enemy, only for delivering those messages which he had received from God. The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant The latter words of this verse expound the former: for by , remnant, or residue, is meant the remnant of days that Jeremiah had to live. Verily, I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well I will by my providence so order it that how cruelly and severely soever the enemy may deal with thy countrymen, yet they shall use thee kindly when they shall take the city. This was accordingly fulfilled: the Chaldeans, when they took Jerusalem, and carried the inhabitants of the land into captivity, treated Jeremiah with great kindness, giving him his choice to go where he pleased, and bestowing gifts upon him, as we read Jer 39:11; Jer 40:3-4.
Jer 15:10-21. The Sorrow and Strength of Prophetic Service.The experience of the prophet, as described in the following section, may be the result of his unpopularity at the time of the drought, and therefore be rightly placed after Jer 14:1 to Jer 15:9; but it would suit many other occasions of his life. On the great importance of this and similar passages, both for a true conception of Jeremiahs personality, and for his special contribution to religion, see Introduction, 3. The present passage is interrupted by the irrelevant verses, Jer 15:13 f., which occur again, more correctly and in their proper place, in Jer 17:3 f.; they relate to the people, not to Jeremiah (Heb. of Jer 15:14 is as mg.). More over, Jer 15:11 f. is obscure and possibly corrupt. Jeremiah laments his birth to so unpopular a role as that of a prophet of disaster, as unpopular as that of the creditor or debtor (usury is simply interest, as in Deu 23:20). Yahweh had promised to strengthen him and to humiliate his opponents, but they are too strong for him (Jer 15:12 as in mg., the northern iron and bronze denoting the greater strength of Jeremiahs Jewish opponents as compared with himself; but this is not very satisfactory). Jeremiah begs Yahweh not to destroy him through excessive patience (long-suffering) towards his persecutors. His joy has been to take to heart Yahwehs messages (for the figure of eating, cf. Eze 2:8 to Eze 3:3), and he belongs to Yahweh (Jer 15:16; cf. Jer 7:10 mg.). The compulsion of the Divine Hand in prophetic rapture (Isa 8:11, Eze 1:3*, Eze 3:14; cf. 2Ki 3:15) has separated him from the ordinary joyous fellowship of men, and has urged him to a message of indignant protest against mens ways. Obedience seems to have brought unending pain, and Yahweh is a lying stream, the waters of which are dried up in the hour of need (Jer 15:18; cf. Job 6:15). To this cry of distrust and despair Yahwehs answer is to bid Jeremiah turn from such a spirit, and resume his service (stand before me, 1Ki 10:8; 1Ki 18:15); let him utter the precious, and leave out the worthless elements of his thinking, that he may be Yahwehs mouth (Exo 4:16; cf. Exo 7:1); then, at length, the nation will come to see with him (Jer 15:19). Meanwhile, Yahweh renews the promises with which his ministry began (Jer 1:18 f.).
15:10 {k} Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither {l} lent on interest, nor have men lent to me on interest; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.
(k) By these are the prophet’s words, complaining of the obstinacy of the people and that he was reserved to so wicked a time: in which also he shows what is the condition of God’s ministers, that is, to have all the world against them, though they give no opportunity.
(l) Which is an opportunity for contention and hatred.
4. Warnings in view of Judah’s hard heart 15:10-25:38
This section of the book contains several collections of Jeremiah’s confessions, symbolic acts, and messages. These passages reflect conditions that were very grim, so their origin may have been shortly before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
The prophet’s inner struggles and Yahweh’s responses 15:10-21
This pericope contains two instances in which Jeremiah faced crushing discouragement in his ministry (Jer 15:10-21). He confessed his frustration to the Lord, and the Lord responded with encouragement.
A collection of Jeremiah’s personal trials and sayings 15:10-20:18
This section of text is highly autobiographical. It contains, among other things, most of Jeremiah’s so-called "confessions" (Jer 15:10-12; Jer 15:15-21; Jer 17:9-11; Jer 17:14-18; Jer 18:18-23; Jer 20:7-18). This section can be a great help and encouragement to modern servants of the Lord.
In this lament, Jeremiah first addressed his mother and mourned that she had borne him (cf. Jer 20:14-18; Job 3:3-10). It is normal for a single man like Jeremiah to think of his mother when he gets lonely and discouraged. Since the Lord’s call of him antedated his birth (Jer 1:5), cursing his birth was tantamount to rejecting God’s call on his life. His ministry had produced much strife and contention, both for him and his people (cf. Jer 11:18-20). He sounds like a lawyer who was tired of bringing accusations against his countrymen. He felt that everyone cursed him. Their disagreements with him did not spring from borrowing and lending, a common cause of animosity, but from his preaching. Today we would say that Jeremiah felt burned out.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)