Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 15:15
O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
15. longsuffering ] mercy towards my enemies.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15 18. See summary at commencement of section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This is the prayer of a man in bitter grief, whose human nature cannot at present submit to the divine will. Gods long-suffering toward the wicked seemed to the prophet to be the abandonment of himself to death; justice itself required that one who was suffering contumely for Gods sake should be delivered.
Rebuke – i. e., reproach, contumely.
Jer 15:16
Thy words were found – Jeremiahs summons to the prophetic office had not been expected or sought for by him.
I did eat them – i. e., I received them with joy. This eating of the divine words expresses also the close union between that which came from God and the prophets own being.
I am called by thy name – i. e., I am consecrated to Thy service, am ordained to be Thy prophet.
Jer 15:17
Rather, I sat not in the assembly of the laughers, and was merry. From the time Gods words came to Jeremiah he abstained from things innocent, and a gravity came over him beyond his years.
I sat alone because of thy hand – As a person consecrated to God he would also be separated. See Jer 1:5; compare Act 13:2.
With indignation – The prophet thus taught of God sees the sins of the people as offences against God, and as involving the ruin of His Church.
Jer 15:18
Why is my pain perpetual – i. e., Are all my labors to be in vain?
As a liar … – Really, as a deceitful brook, a brook which flows only in the winter, the opposite of the perennial stream of Amo 5:24. Jeremiah had expected that there would be a perpetual interference of Providence in his behalf, instead whereof things seemed to take only their natural course.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 15:15
Remember me and visit me.
The desire to be remembered
Jeremiah desires many things; but the thing he asks first, as including all the rest, is that God would not let him drop out of sight and thought.
I. The perpetually recurring phrase, God knows, expresses a mood of thought common to rational creatures.
1. A craving everywhere to be remembered. From the lips of the dying, from friends of whom we are taking farewell, fall the words, Remember me. Ambitious minds, not content that their memorial should be kept in a few hearts, labour that their names may be remembered by multitudes. Oblivion appalls us.
2. The moralist can easily show the vanity of this desire, and the emptiness of the end. What good will it do you, he asks, to be remembered when out amid Australian wilds or on parched Indian plains? or what harm to be forgot?
3. Enough for us, that God so made us that, by the make of our being, we desire to be kindly remembered.
II. The prophet shows us the right direction in which to train this desire. Pointing to the heaven above, he bids us seek to be remembered there.
1. The thought that such a prayer may be offered to God, teaches us a great deal of His kindliness, condescension, thoughtful care.
2. It was while looking on the kindly human face of Christ, that the whole hearts wish of the poor penitent thief went out in the Lord, remember me!
3. It was in special clearness of revelation of Gods love, that the Psalmist was emboldened to say, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
III. The encouraging view of the hearer of prayer implied in the words of the prophets petition.
1. He was not staggered, as he drew near in prayer, by intruding doubt whether the Almighty would listen to his poor words or consider his hearts desires.
2. It is not presumption, but faith, that speaks here.
3. Ponder for your comfort that God thinketh upon you knoweth your frame, etc.
IV. In such individuality of prayer there is no selfishness. It is not the wish to be distinguished above, but to be remembered even as the other members of the family. It is but that when Christ, the great Intercessor, speaks to Almighty God for Himself and His brethren of mankind, saying, in name of all, Our Father, the poor sinner should not be left out.
V. Mark what simple trust in Gods wisdom and kindness is implied.
1. Everything is asked in that. Enough, just to put oneself under Gods eye, just to get God to think of one at all.
2. It is assumed that if God remembers us, it will be in love.
3. Gods remembrance is practical. He comes to our help.
4. Doubtless there is a season in the history of the unconverted man in which he can have no real desire that God should remember him: he rather desires to keep out of Gods sight and remembrance.
5. Yet the prayer expresses the first reaching after God of the awakened soul (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)
Jeremiahs prayer
I. The prophets prayer.
1. Remember me, O Lord!
(1) There is a sense in which God may be said to remember His people so as to take particular knowledge of them, and all that pertains to them. He remembers their persons, knows their exact number, and not one of them shall be lost (Isa 44:21-22; Isa 49:14-16). He remembers their frailties and infirmities, how unable they are to bear affliction without His support, and hears the gentle whisper and the secret groan with parental tenderness (Jer 2:2-3). He remembers all their endeavours to serve and please Him, however weak and imperfect they have been; and in instances where they pitied and relieved any of His needy and afflicted ones, without the prospect of reward, and from love to Him, He will bring it to remembrance, and return it all into their bosom (Heb 6:10). All the prayers of His people are come up as a memorial before Him, and shall not be forgotten. Sooner or later they shall all be answered, whether they live to see it or not; for God sometimes answers the prayers of His people, after they are gone to their graves, in blessings on their connections and posterity.
(2) The Lord not only remembers His people so as to know and notice them, as He does His other works; but in a special manner, so as to delight in them to do them good, and feel a satisfaction in them. He taketh pleasure in the prosperity of His servants, and will exert Himself on their behalf. He will so remember them as to direct them in their difficulties, succour them in their temptations, guard them when in danger, and bring them out of trouble.
2. And visit me. This implies that where God graciously remembers anyone, He will also visit them. Of the Lords visits to His people, it may be observed–
(1) They are promised, and He will fulfil His word. Thus it was with respect to that long-expected and much-desired one, at the incarnation (Luk 1:54-55; Luk 1:78-79). The same may be said of all His visits to His people: they are not casual, but determined. And as they are at a fixed time on Gods part, so they are most seasonable on ours: they are made when we most need them, and when He shall be most glorified by them.
(2) They are free and voluntary and on our part wholly undeserved: they are what we seek, but cannot claim.
(3) Divine visits are often short and transient, like the sheet that was three times let down from heaven while Peter was praying upon the house top, and almost immediately taken up again. The manifestations of Divine love are often like a land flood–sudden, overflowing, and soon spent; but the love itself is a boundless ocean, an ever-flowing stream.
(4) However short the Divine visits are, they are often repeated, and are peculiar to the favourites of heaven. They impart life to our graces, vigour to our services, and comfort to our souls.
(5) They are powerful and influential, always bringing peace and comfort to the soul.
II. Concluding remarks.
1. Though God hath promised His presence with His people, yet He may for a time withhold the manifestation of it (Job 23:8-9; Lam 1:16). Such departures are very distressing, though but temporary; and those who have been most indulged with the Divine presence are most affected with its withdrawment; while those who have never experienced the former are insensible and unconcerned about the latter.
2. When God forbears His visits, His people are apt to think that He has forgotten them (Psa 31:12; Psa 88:14-15).
3. To be remembered and visited of God is a blessing infinitely to be desired; and those especially who fear they are forgotten by Him feel it to be so (Psa 73:25).
4. Those who desire Gods presence must seek it by earnest prayer. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Prayer
I. Divine knowledge is no hindrance to prayer.
1. Thou knowest–
(1) My character.
(2) My condition.
(3) My need.
2. Yet, though Thou knowest, yea, because Thou knowest, I pray to Thee.
II. Divine condescension an encouragement to prayer.
1. Remember me.
2. Visit me.
3. Vindicate me.
III. Human need a stimulus to prayer. Poor, persecuted, and in peril, where could he go for help? He is driven to God by trouble, and drawn by loving kindness.
IV. The vicissitudes of life suggest topics for prayer. Poverty, weakness, affliction, persecution, temptation–the sins and sorrows of others.
V. Conscious sincerity gives freedom in prayer. I have suffered for Thy sake.
VI. The mediation of Christ gives efficacy to our prayer. (W. Whale.)
Take me not away in Thy long-suffering.
The long-suffering of God
I. The nature of this long-suffering.
1. It is part of the Divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from both. The Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger.
(1) Long-suffering differs from mercy in respect to the object; mercy respects the creature as miserable: patience, or long-suffering, respects the creature as criminal; mercy pities him in his misery; long-suffering bears with the sin, and waits to be gracious.
(2) Long-suffering differs also from goodness, in regard to the object. The object of goodness is every creature, from the highest angel in heaven to the meanest creature on earth; goodness respects things in a capacity, or in a state of creation, nurseth and supporteth them as creatures. Long-suffering considers them as already created and fallen short of their duty; goodness respects persons as creatures; long-suffering, as transgressors.
2. Since it is a part of goodness and mercy, it is not insensibility. Gods anger burns against the sin, whilst His arms are open to receive the sinner.
3. As long-suffering is a part of mercy and goodness, it is not constrained or faint-hearted patience.
4. Since it is not for want of power over the creature, it is from a fulness of the power over Himself.
5. As long-suffering is a branch of mercy, the exercise of it is founded on the death of Christ.
II. How this long-suffering or patience is manifested.
1. His giving warning of judgments before they are commissioned to go forth.
2. In His unwillingness to execute His threatened judgments, when He can delay no longer.
3. In that when He begins to Send out His judgments, He doth it by degrees.
4. By moderating His judgments. He rewardeth us not according to our iniquities.
5. In giving great mercies after provocations.
6. When we consider the greatness and multitude of our provocations.
III. The ground and reason of this long-suffering to us-ward.
1. As a testimony of His reconcilable and merciful nature towards sinners.
2. That sinners may be brought to repentance.
3. For the continuance of His Church (Isa 65:8-9).
4. That His justice may be clear when He condemns the impenitent.
5. In answer to the prayers of His people, His long-suffering is exercised towards sinners.
To conclude–
1. How is the long-suffering of God abused?
2. Is the Lord long-suffering? How much better, therefore, is it to fall into the hands of God, than into the hands of man; the best of men.
3. We may infer from the Lords long-suffering towards sinners, the value of the soul; He not only died to redeem it, but waits with unwearied patience and forbearance to receive it.
4. If the Lord be thus long-suffering to us-ward, who have so long and repeatedly rebelled against Him, ought not Christians to exercise forbearance and long-suffering one towards another? (Eph 4:1-6.) (Pulpit Assistant.)
A promise of better things
Thomas Scott, the commentator, tells the following incident: A poor man, most dangerously ill, of whose religious state I entertained some hopes, seemed to me in the agonies of death. I sat by his bed for a long time, expecting to see him expire; but at length he awoke as from a sleep, and noticed me. I said, You are extremely ill. He replied, Yes, but I shall not die this time. I asked the ground of this strange confidence, saying that I was persuaded he would not recover. To this he answered, I have just dreamed that you, with a very venerable-looking person, came to me. He asked you what you thought of me. What kind of tree is it? Is there any fruit? You said, No; but there are blossoms! Well, then, I will spare it a little longer. This dream so exactly met my ideas as to the mans state of mind, and the event so answered his confidence by recovery, that I could not but think there was something peculiar in it. I have since learned that after many backslidings the man became a decidedly religious character–and his case furnishes a most striking instance of the long-suffering and tender mercy of our God!
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. O Lord – remember me, and visit me] Let me not be carried away into captivity; and it does not appear that he had ever been taken to Babylon. After the capture of the city he went into Egypt; and either died there, or was put to death by his countrymen.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
O Lord, thou knowest; either thou knowest my sincerity, how faithfully I have revealed thy will; so Psa 139:1,23; or thou knowest my sufferings, how wickedly they deal with me; or thou knowest what thou hast to do, what is in thy purpose and resolution to dc; I will say no more unto thee; only for my. own sake I beg, remember me and visit me, that I may not be out of thy thoughts, nor without the visitations of thy love, while this people is under the visitations of thy wrath, Neh 5:19; 13:14; Jer 18:20.
Revenge me of my persecutors: thou hast commanded me not to avenge myself, Lord, do thou avenge me upon my persecutors. (See the notes on Jer 11:20; 17:18, how the prophet could thus pray against his enemies.)
Take me not away in thy long-suffering; confirm thy word, let not me be taken away into captivity; though I be a sinner, yet exercise toward me patience and long-suffering.
Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke; Lord, remember that my reproach, and all that I suffer, is for thy sake, because I have faithfully published thy truth, and maintained and defended thine honour and glory.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. thou knowestnamely, mycase; what wrongs my adversaries have done me (Jer12:3).
revenge me(See on Jer11:20). The prophet in this had regard to, not his own personalfeelings of revenge, but the cause of God; he speaks by inspirationGod’s will against the ungodly. Contrast in this the law with thegospel (Luk 23:34; Act 7:60).
take me not away in thylong-sufferingBy Thy long-suffering towards them, suffer themnot meanwhile to take away my life.
for thy sake I have sufferedrebukethe very words of the antitype, Jesus Christ (Psa 69:7;Psa 69:22-28), which lastcompare with Jeremiah’s prayer in the beginning of this verse.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Lord, thou knowest,…. All persons and things; he knew the prophet and his heart, and all that was in it; his innocence and integrity; all his afflictions, and what he met with from his enemies; and he knew them, and all their malicious designs against him:
remember me; with the favour which he bore to his own people, his covenant with him, his promises to him, and the word on which he had caused him to hope; because of his trials and troubles, he might seem to be forgotten by him:
and visit me; in mercy for good; and so the Targum adds,
“that thou mayest do well unto me:”
and revenge me of my persecutors; not so much for his own sake; unless this is to be attributed to his frailty and infirmity, to the warmth of his spirit, being a man of like passions with others; for private revenge ought not to be sought by good men, but for the sake of God and his glory, in whose cause he was engaged, and on whose account he was persecuted:
take me not away in thy longsuffering; while thou art bearing with others, do not take me away by death; or suffer them, whom thou dost forbear, to take me away, or give them an opportunity thereby so to do; or when thy longsuffering is at an end, do not involve me in the same calamity with them. The Targum is,
“do not give delay to my injury;”
or,
“length to my affliction;”
that is, do not delay to take vengeance on my persecutors; and to this sense Jarchi interprets it,
“do not take my cause, and leave it to thy longsuffering, but hasten and avenge me;”
and De Dieu proposes such a rendering of the words, “to thy longsuffering do not bring me” q; and which sense is favoured by the Septuagint version:
know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke; let it appear, and that even to mine enemies, that it is for thy sake that all this reproach is cast upon me; and all these afflictions are endured by me, by thy resentment of their carriage to me.
q “ne ad longanimitatem tuam adduc me”, De Dieu; “nec me capias ad dilationem irae tua”, Gussetius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Prophet’s Humble Appeal to God; God’s Answer to Jeremiah’s Address. | B. C. 606. |
15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. 16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. 17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail? 19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. 20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 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.
Here, as before, we have,
I. The prophet’s humble address to God, containing a representation both of his integrity and of the hardships he underwent notwithstanding. It is a matter of comfort to us that, whatever ails us, we have a God to go to, before whom we may spread our case and to whose omniscience we may appeal, as the prophet here, “O Lord! thou knowest; thou knowest my sincerity, which men are resolved they will not acknowledge; thou knowest my distress, which men disdain to take notice of.” Observe here,
1. What it is that the prophet prays for, v. 15. (1.) That God would consider his case and be mindful of him: “O Lord! remember me; think upon me for good.” (2.) That God would communicate strength and comfort to him: “Visit me; not only remember me, but let me know that thou rememberest me, that thou art nigh unto me.” (3.) That he would appear for him against those that did him wrong: Revenge me of my persecutors, or rather, Vindicate me from my persecutors; give judgment against them, and let that judgment be executed so far as is necessary for my vindication and to compel them to acknowledge that they have done me wrong. Further than this a good man will not desire that God should avenge him. Let something be done to convince the world that (whatever blasphemers say to the contrary) Jeremiah is a righteous man and the God whom he serves is a righteous God. (4.) That he would yet spare him and continue him in the land of the living: “Take me not away by a sudden stroke, but in thy long-suffering lengthen out my days.” The best men will own themselves so obnoxious to God’s wrath that they are indebted to his patience for the continuance of their lives. Or, “While thou exercisest long-suffering towards my persecutors, let not them prevail to take me away.” Though in a passion he complained of his birth (v. 10), yet he desires here that his death might not be hastened; for life is sweet to nature, and the life of a useful man is so to grace. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.
2. What it is that he pleads with God for mercy and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers.
(1.) That God’s honour was interested in this case: Know, and make it known, that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Those that lay themselves open to reproach by their own fault and folly have great reason to bear it patiently, but no reason to expect that God should appear for them. But if it is for doing well that we suffer ill, and for righteousness’ sake that we have all manner of evil said against us, we may hope that God will vindicate our honour with his own. To the same purport (v. 16), I am called by thy name, O Lord of hosts! It was for that reason that his enemies hated him, and therefore for that reason he promised himself that God would own him and stand by him.
(2.) That the word of God, which he was employed to preach to others, he had experienced the power and pleasure of in his own soul, and therefore had the graces of the Spirit to qualify him for the divine favour, as well as his gifts. We find some rejected of God who yet could say, Lord, we have prophesied in thy name. But Jeremiah could say more (v. 16): “Thy words were found, found by me” (he searched the scripture, diligently studied the law, and found that in it which was reviving to him: if we seek we shall find), “found for me” (the words which he was to deliver to others were laid ready to his hand, were brought to him by inspiration), “and I did not only taste them, but eat them, received them entirely, conversed with them intimately; they were welcome to me, as food to one that is hungry; I entertained them, digested them, turned them in succum et sanguinem–into blood and spirits, and was myself delivered into the mould of those truths which I was to deliver to others.” The prophet was told to eat the roll,Eze 2:8; Rev 10:9. I did eat it–that is, as it follows, it was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, nothing could be more agreeable. Understand it, [1.] Of the message itself which he was to deliver. Though he was to foretel the ruin of his country, which was dear to him, and in the ruin of which he could not but have a deep share, yet all natural affections were swallowed up in zeal for God’s glory, and even these messages of wrath, being divine messages, were a satisfaction to him. He also rejoiced, at first, in hope that the people would take warning and prevent the judgment. Or, [2.] Of the commission he received to deliver this message. Though the work he was called to was not attended with any secular advantages, but, on the contrary, exposed him to contempt and persecution, yet, because it put him in a way to serve God and do good, he took pleasure in it, was glad to be so employed, and it was his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him, John iv. 34. Or, [3.] Of the promise God gave him that he would assist and own him in his work (ch. i. 8); he was satisfied in that, and depended upon it, and therefore hoped it should not fail him.
(3.) That he had applied himself to the duty of his office with all possible gravity, seriousness, and self-denial, though he had had of late but little satisfaction in it, v. 17. [1.] It was his comfort that he had given up himself wholly to the business of his office and had done nothing either to divert himself from it or disfit himself for it. He kept no unsuitable company, denied himself the use even of lawful recreations, abstained from every thing that looked like levity, lest thereby he should make himself mean and less regarded. He sat alone, spent a great deal of time in his closet, because of the hand of the Lord that was strong upon him to carry him on his work, Ezek. iii. 14. “For thou hast filled me with indignation, with such messages of wrath against this people as have made me always pensive.” Note, It will be a comfort to God’s ministers, when men despise them, if they have the testimony of their consciences for them that they have not by any vain foolish behaviour made themselves despicable, that they have been dead not only to the wealth of the world, as this prophet was (v. 10), but to the pleasures of it too, as here. But, [2.] It is his complaint that he had had but little pleasure in his work. It was at first the rejoicing of his heart, but of late it had made him melancholy, so that he had no heart to sit in the meeting of those that make merry. He cared not for company, for indeed no company cared for him. He sat alone, fretting at the people’s obstinacy and the little success of his labours among them. This filled him with a holy indignation. Note, It is the folly and infirmity of some good people that they lose much of the pleasantness of their religion by the fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which they humour and indulge, instead of mortifying it.
(4.) He throws himself upon God’s pity and promise in a very passionate expostulation (v. 18): “Why is my pain perpetual, and nothing done to ease it? Why are the wounds which my enemies are continually giving both to my peace and to my reputation incurable, and nothing done to retrieve either my comfort or my credit? I once little thought that I should be thus neglected; will the God that has promised me his presence be to me as a liar, the God on whom I depend to be me as waters that fail?” We are willing to make the best we can of it, and to take it as an appeal, [1.] To the mercy of God: “I know he will not let the pain of his servant be perpetual, but he will ease it, will not let his wound be incurable, but he will heal it; and therefore I will not despair.” [2.] To his faithfulness: “Wilt thou be to me as a liar? No; I know thou wilt not. God is not a man that he should lie. The fountain of life will never be to his people as waters that fail.“
II. God’s gracious answer to this address, v. 19-21. Though the prophet betrayed much human frailty in his address, yet God vouchsafed to answer him with good words and comfortable words; for he knows our frame. Observe,
1. What God here requires of him as the condition of the further favours he designed him. Jeremiah had done and suffered much for God, yet God is no debtor to him, but he is still upon his good behaviour. God will own him. But, (1.) He must recover his temper, and be reconciled to his work, and friends with it again, and not quarrel with it any more as he had done. He must return, must shake off these distrustful discontented thoughts and passions, and not give way to them, must regain the peaceable possession and enjoyment of himself, and resolve to be easy. Note, When we have stepped aside into any disagreeable frame or way our care must be to return and compose ourselves into a right temper of mind again; and then we may expect God will help us, if thus we endeavour to help ourselves. (2.) He must resolve to be faithful in his work, for he could not expect the divine protection any longer than he did approve himself so. Though there was no cause at all to charge Jeremiah with unfaithfulness, and God knew his heart to be sincere, yet God saw fit to give him this caution. Those that do their duty must not take it ill to be told their duty. In two things he must be faithful:– [1.] He must distinguish between some and others of those he preached to: Thou must take forth the precious from the vile. The righteous are the precious be they ever so mean and poor; the wicked are the vile be they ever so rich and great. In our congregations these are mixed, wheat and chaff in the same floor; we cannot distinguish them by name, but we must by character, and must give to each a portion, speaking comfort to precious saints and terror to vile sinners, neither making the heart of the righteous sad nor strengthening the hands of the wicked (Ezek. xiii. 22), but rightly dividing the word of truth. Ministers must take those whom they see to be precious into their bosoms, and not sit alone as Jeremiah did, but keep up conversation with those they may do good to and get good by. [2.] He must closely adhere to his instructions, and not in the least vary from them: Let them return to thee, but return not thou to them, that is, he must do the utmost he can, in his preaching, to bring people up to the mind of God; he must tell them they must, at their peril, comply with that. Those that had flown off from him, that did not like the terms upon which God’s favour was offered to them, “Let them return to thee, and, upon second thoughts, come up to the terms and strike the bargain; but do not thou return to them, do not compliment them, nor comply with them, nor think to make the matter easier to them than the word of God has made it.” Men’s hearts and lives must come up to God’s law and comply with that, for God’s law will never come down to them nor comply with them.
2. What God here promises to him upon the performance of these conditions. If he approve himself well, (1.) God will tranquilize his mind and pacify the present tumult of his spirits: If thou return, I will bring thee again, will restore thy soul, as Ps. xxiii. 3. The best and strongest saints, if at any time they have gone aside out of the right way, and are determined to return, need the grace of God to bring them again. (2.) God will employ him in his service as a prophet, whose work, even in those bad times, had comfort and honour enough in it to be its own wages: “Thou shalt stand before me, to receive instructions from me, as a servant from his master; and thou shalt be as my mouth to deliver my messages to the people, as an ambassador is the mouth of the prince that sends him.” Note, Faithful ministers are God’s mouth to us; they are so to look upon themselves, and to speak God’s mind and as becomes the oracles of God; and we are so to look upon them, and to hear God speaking to us by them. Observe, If thou keep close to thy instructions, thou shalt be as my mouth, not otherwise; so far, and no further, God will stand by ministers, as they go by the written word. “Thou shalt be as my mouth, that is, what thou sayest shall be made good, as if I myself had said it.” See Isa 44:26; 1Sa 3:19. (3.) He shall have strength and courage to face the many difficulties he meets with in his work, and his spirit shall not fail again as now it does (v. 20): “I will make thee unto this people as a fenced brazen wall, which the storm batters and beats violently upon, but cannot shake. Return not thou to them by any sinful compliances, and then trust thy God to arm thee by his grace with holy resolutions. Be not cowardly, and God will make thee daring.” He had complained that he was made a man of strife. “Expect to be so (says God); they will fight against thee, they will still continue their opposition, but they shall not prevail against thee to drive thee off from thy work nor to cut thee off from the land of the living.” (4.) He shall have God for his protector and mighty deliverer: I am with thee to save thee. Those that have God with them have a Saviour with them who has wisdom and strength enough to deal with the most formidable enemy; and those that are with God, and faithful to him, he will deliver (v. 21) either from trouble or through it. They may perhaps fall into the hand of the wicked, and they may appear terrible to them, but God will rescue them out of their hands. They shall not be able to kill them till they have finished their testimony; they shall not prevent their happiness. God will so deliver them as to preserve them to his heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. iv. 18), and that is deliverance enough. There are many things that appear very frightful that yet do not prove at all hurtful to a good man.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 15-18: ON THE VERGE OF DESPAIR
1. Jeremiah’s lament is poured out to Jehovah who knows ALL! (vs. 15; comp. Psa 139:1-4).
a. Thus, he calls on the Lord to remember, visit and avenge him of his adversaries.
b. Since he has suffered reproach for the Lord’s name sake (Jer 20:8; Psa 44:22; Psa 69:7-9), surely the Lord will not permit them to take his life!
2. Remembering his initial call to the prophetic office, he recalls the joy and gladness following his wholehearted acceptance of God’s word, (vs. 16; comp. Eze 2:8 to Eze 3:3; Rev 10:9-10).
3. Because of the Lord’s hand upon him, Jeremiah has sat, indignant and alone, in the midst of those who – ignoring the calamity that was about to befall them – made merry, (vs. 17, comp. Jer 16:8; Jer 13:17; La 3:28; Eze 3:24-25; Jer 6:11-12; 2Co 6:17).
4. Life has become, for him, a perpetual pain – an incurable wound that will not be healed! (vs. 18a; Jer 30:12; Jer 30:15; Mic 1:8-9; Job 34:6).
5. Will the Lord, like the waters of a deceitful brook (that flow profusely in the Winter, but offer no refreshment in the hot Summer), fail him in the hour of his deepest need? (vs. 18b; Jer 14:3; comp. Job 6:15).
6. So deep is the utter loneliness and despair of the prophet, whose own relatives have turned against him, that he seems ready to resign his prophetic office!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The Prophet again turns to God, to shew that he had to do with the deaf. This breaking off in the Prophet’s discourse has much more force than if he had pursued regularly his subject. Had he spoken calmly and in uniform order to the people, his address would have been less forcible, than by speaking to them as it were angrily and by severely reproving them, and then immediately by turning from them and addressing God as though bidding adieu to men. Of this we have spoken elsewhere, but it is well to remind you of what we have before noticed. We now perceive the design of the Prophet, in thus abruptly turning from the people to God, and then again from God to the people, even because he indignantly bore the loss of his labor, when the ears of almost all were closed, and when they had become so hardened that they had no fear of God, nor any regard for his teaching. As then the Prophet indignantly bore so great a wickedness, he could not but speak in a hasty manner.
According to this strain, he now says, Thou knowest, Jehovah; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of mine enemies The Prophet, however, seems here to have been more angry than he ought to have been, for revenge is a passion unbecoming the children of God. How was it, then, that the Prophet was so indignant against the people that he desired revenge? We have said elsewhere that the prophets, though freed from every carnal feeling, might yet have justly prayed for vengeance on the reprobate. We must distinguish between private and public feelings, and also between the passions of the flesh, which keep within no limits, and the zeal of the Spirit. It is certain that the Prophet had no regard to himself when he thus spoke; but he dismissed every regard for himself, and had regard only to the cause of God: for inconsiderate zeal often creeps in, so that we wish all to be condemned of whom we do not approve; and such was the excessive zeal of the disciples, when they said,
“
Lord, bid fire to descend from heaven to consume them, as was done by Elias.” (Luk 9:54)
But it is necessary not only to be moved by a pious zeal, but also to be guided by a right judgment: and this second requisite was possessed by the Prophet; for he did not let loose the reins to his own zeal, but subjected himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Since, then, these two things were united, — a right zeal, to the exclusion of any private feeling, — and the spirit of wisdom and a right judgment, it was lawful to ask for vengeance on the reprobate, as the Prophet does.
There is further no doubt but that he pitied the people; but he was in a manner freed from the influence of human feelings, and had put off whatever might have disturbed him and led him away from moderation. Though, then, the Prophet was thus emancipated and freed from every kind of perturbation, there is yet no doubt but that he prayed for final judgment on the reprobate; and yet, if there were any healable, he doubtless wished them to be saved, and also prayed anxiously for them.
In short, whenever the prophets were carried away by such a fervor as this, we must understand that they were fined by the Spirit of Christ; and we must know that, when they were thus fined, their whole zeal was directed against the reprobate, while they were at the same time endeavoring to gather together all that could be saved: and the same was the case with David; when he fervently implored destruction on his enemies, he no doubt sustained the person of Christ, as he was fined by his Spirit. (Psa 35:4) Hence he turned and levelled all his vehemence against the reprobate; but, when there was any hope of salvation, David also, in the spirit of kindness, prayed for the restoration of those who seemed to have already perished. Now, then, when the Prophet says, “Thou knowest, Jehovah; remember me, and visit, me, and avenge me of my persecutors,” he doubtless does not mean all his persecutors, but those who had been given up and devoted to destruction, and whom he himself knew to be reprobates. (144)
He afterwards shews what he meant by these words — remember me, and visit me; for he says, Take me not away by deferring So they render the passage, “Whilst thou bearest with the impiety of this people, and for a time suspendest thy vengeance, let not thy wrath take me away.” The word ארך arek, means to defer, to protract, and also to prolong, to extend, and to continue. Hence this meaning is not unsuitable, “Take me not away in the protraction of thy wrath;” that is, “By protracting thy wrath, not only for one day, but for a long time, take me not away, involve me not in the same destruction with the reprobate.” David also prayed for the same thing,
“
When thou destroyest the wicked, involve me not with them.” (Psa 26:9)
The sum of the whole is, that the Prophet asks a favor for himself, that God would make a difference between him and the reprobate while he was protracting his wrath; that is, while he was not only taking vengeance on the impiety of the people for a short time, but also while he was adding calamities to calamities, and accumulating evils on evils, and while thus his fire burned for a long time, until the whole land was consumed: and this is the meaning which I prefer, though all the interpreters agree in another. (145)
It must further be noticed that the Prophet, in this prayer, did not so much consult his own advantage as the good of the people, — that they might at length dread the dreadful judgment which was at hand. We have already stated how supine a security prevailed throughout Judea; and they also hoped, that if any calamity happened it would be for a short time, so that, having endured it, they might again live in pleasure and quietness. Hence the Prophet speaks of the protraction of God’s wrath, in order that they might know, as I have already said, that the fire which had been kindled could not be extinguished until they all perished.
(144) There are distinctions here made not allowed by the passage. To pray for vengeance on enemies was in accordance with the covenant made with Abraham, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee,” Gen 12:3. See also Gen 27:29; Num 24:9. As they were the enemies of God’s servant for delivering his word, they were the enemies of God himself; and they had already been wholly repudiated by God, and given up to judgment. — Ed.
(145) The versions favor another view. The Septuagint omit the verb, and connect “long-suffering” with the previous clause, “Defend me from me persecutors, not in thy long-suffering;” that is, without delay, as the Targum literally expresses it. The Vulgate is, “Do not in thy patience take me;” the Syriac, “Do not according to thy long-suffering bring me out;” the Arabic, “Without delay;” it omits the verb, and connects the words with the former sentence like the Septuagint. The words may be thus literally rendered, —
Not in (or, according to) thy long-suffering receive me;
that is, under they care and protection: he deprecated delay. This is the purport of all the versions, and also of the Targum.
Venema divides the clause, —
Let there be no lengthening of thy wrath; receive me; Know that for thee I have borne reproach.
Blayney’s version is hardly intelligible, —
Within the length of thine anger comprehend me not.
The meaning of which he says is, “Lengthen not thy resentment as to comprehend me within its limits.”
Probably the rendering of Cocceius is the best, —
Do not through thy long-suffering take me away;
that is, “Do not bear long with my persecutors, and thus allow them to destroy me.”
The verb here used seems simply to take; but it signifies sometimes to take away, and sometimes to take into favor, to take under protection. The most intelligent rendering seems to be as follows: —
15. Thou knowest, Jehova; Remember me, and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors; Through thy long-suffering towards them take me not away; Know that I have for thee borne reproach.
“
Take me not away” means “Suffer me not to be taken away.” He feared for his life if the vengeance he denounced on the people was not soon executed. See Jer 15:18. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. The Prayer of Jer. 15:15-18
TRANSLATION
(15) You, O LORD, know; remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. Do not take me away by deferring your anger. Know that for Your sake I have been bearing reproach. (16) Your words were found and I ate them; and Your words were to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (17) I have not sat in the assembly of the merry makers, that I might rejoice. Because of Your hand I sat alone, because you filled me with indignation. (18) Why is my pain perpetual and my wound in curable, refusing to be healed? You have surely become unto me like a deceptive stream, like waters that fail.
COMMENTS
In Jer. 15:15 the second of the so-called confession of Jeremiah begins. The prophet begins by affirming the omniscience of God, you know, O Lord. The fact that God knows what the prophet has been going through comforts Jeremiah. His petition contains three positive requests and one negative one: (1) He wants God to remember him. (2) He needs to see some visible sign of Gods continued care; He wants God to visit him. (3) He asks God to avenge his persecutors. God executes vengeance on behalf of His people. This is why Gods people are forbidden to act in a vengeful way toward others. He is asking that these persecutors receive their just deserts. (4) Jeremiah asks that he not be taken away, i.e., that he not be allowed to die an early, premature death. If God continues to exercise long-suffering with regard to the wicked enemies of Jeremiah, the prophet fears that he will be killed.
From petition Jeremiah moves in his prayer to narrative. Even though God knows all, still Jeremiah rehearses before his God the particular difficulties which he has recently been experiencing. First he asks God to take note of the reproach which he bears daily for His sake (Jer. 15:15). When the Lord initially put His word in the mouth of the prophet (Jer. 1:7) Jeremiah ate them. To eat words means to make them ones own, to digest them, to absorb them, to make them the constant food of ones spiritual life (cf. Eze. 3:1 ff.; 1Ti. 4:14-16). Jeremiahs whole life revolved around the word of God. It was to him a source of great joy to learn that he had been called of God to be His prophet, His messenger (Jer. 15:16). But as time went on Jeremiah found out that being Gods man had distinct disadvantages. His preaching made him unpopular. This man was filled with Gods indignation against sin. His messages centered in the wrath and judgment of God. For this reason he was excluded or perhaps excluded himself from the joyous festivals. He lived a lonely, solitary life because the touch of Gods hand had set him apart. The Old Testament contains numerous references to a prophet being touched by the hand of God.[207] The hand of the Lord came upon is an idiomatic expression meaning that the irresistible power of God came upon the life of a man. Because he possessed the prophetic spirit Jeremiah was different. He suffered alone (Jer. 15:17).
[207] See 2Ki. 3:15; Isa. 8:11; Eze. 3:14.
Jer. 15:18 contains interrogation and accusation. Jeremiah asks the question that many other discouraged saints through the ages have asked, Why? In earlier passages (e.g. Jer. 12:1 ff.; Jer. 14:8-9; Jer. 14:19) Jeremiah was asking how God could finally forsake Israel. But now Jeremiah feels that God has forsaken his servant; and so the question why is renewed but this time with a personal application. Thus far his ministry had not been blessed with success. He had faithfully sown the word of God but had reaped only hatred and opposition. His mental anguish is perpetual, like a wound which will not heal. He would love to preach salvation but instead he must preach damnation. In this moment of anguish and despair he cries out against God: you have surely become to me as a deceptive stream, a brook that runs dry in summer. He had publicly preached that God was a fountain of living water (Jer. 2:13); now privately he accuses God of being a dried up stream! He is accusing God of being unreliable, untrustworthy, unfaithful. To soften the thrust of the last part of Jer. 15:18, some make this sentence a question. While this is a possible translation there is no real indication that a question is intended. Jeremiah has simply reached the breaking point. In this moment of weakness Satan has placed this blasphemous thought in the mind of Jeremiah.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(15) O Lord, thou knowest . . .The prophet continues in the bitterness of his spirit the complaint that had begun in Jer. 15:10. The words remind us of the imprecations of the so-called vindictive psalms (such, e.g., as Psalms 69, 109), and may help us to understand the genesis of the emotions which they express. Not even the promise of Jer. 15:11 has given rest to his soul. He craves to see the righteous retribution for the sufferings which men have wrongfully inflicted on him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Remember me, etc. Here we have another phase of Jeremiah’s complaint, for nothing is so eloquent or so exhaustless as the heart. It contains two elements: 1) The hard lot of having to predict the ruin of his country. 2) His own personal trials in executing this commission.
Revenge me In judging of such words we must not leave out of view the fact that the speaker has a consciousness of being in some eminent and peculiar sense the embodiment of God’s cause, and that the honour of that cause is bound up with his own personal fate. So, for instance, was it with Jonah in his complaint at the sparing of Nineveh. His bitter grief was not a merely low and selfish regard for his reputation as a prophet; were it so, he were a monster and not a man. But, in addition to any sense of personal defeat and dishonour he may have experienced, there was a shock to his faith, and a fear that the cause of Israel’s God had come to dishonour before his enemies. We are not, then, to interpret these words as a vindictive cry for revenge, but a prayer for vindication as a prophet of God.
In thy longsuffering Namely, that which spares the wicked. The prophet had come to feel that the issue was so joined, that to spare the wicked would be to destroy him who by God’s command had predicted their downfall. And so he bases his prayer upon this very longsuffering. He prays that He who deals so leniently with his enemies may mercifully consider his own servant.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Private Dealings Between Jeremiah and YHWH ( Jer 15:15-21 ).
In this passage where he is wrestling with self-doubt Jeremiah stresses that he has been faithful to God’s word (Jer 15:16) and God’s ways (Jer 15:17) and reminds Him of the loneliness that he has endured in serving Him (Jer 15:17). In his anguish at what ministering for Him has meant for him (Jer 15:18), for it has been very costly, he calls on God and asks Him to step in on his behalf (Jer 15:15). He is clearly both troubled and puzzled as to why things are as they are. He was learning that God’s ways are not men’s ways, and finding it very hard.
We must never underestimate what Jeremiah had to go through. For long periods he stood ‘alone’ against the world with almost every man’s hand against him, while he himself bore the burden of the nation’s sin. We can understand therefore why it had begun to get him down.
YHWH’s reply is intriguing for it reveals that to some extent He saw Jeremiah as faltering in his ministry (Jer 15:19). But He graciously promises him that if he will but return to Him with all his heart, and seek what is pure, true and right (Jer 15:19), He will give him the strength to endure and make him strong in the face of his adversaries (Jer 15:20), delivering him out of their hands (Jer 15:21). He will restore him to being a successful ‘man of God’.
We have a reminder in this that while God will make all provision for us as we seek to serve Him, walking with Him does not promise an easy and carefree life, nor is it a guarantee of outward success. Indeed, like Jeremiah, we might find ourselves alone against the world. For like Jeremiah, some sow and see little reward, laying the foundation for others who will follow and reap. That is God’s way. Some sow in hardship for others to reap in rejoicing (Joh 4:34-38). And it is such lonely sowing that requires the greatest grace from God. But what all His people are called to do, whether they sow or reap, is to receive and rejoice in His word (Jer 15:16), and not to be conformed to this world, but to keep themselves separate from ‘worldliness’ and worldly attitudes (Jer 15:17), by having a new and transformed mind (Rom 12:2).
Jer 15:15
‘O YHWH, you know, remember me,
And visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors.
Do not take me away in your longsuffering.
Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.’
The first thing that he stresses here, and which is a comfort to him, is that YHWH knows exactly what his position is. ‘O YHWH you know.’ In the words of Job he could say, ‘you know the way that I take, and when you have tried me I will come forth as gold’ (application of Job 23:10). So he is confident in this at least that God has not forgotten him, and that He is acquainted with all his ways. Nevertheless he calls on Him urgently to take note of those ways (‘remember me’), and prays that God will ‘visit him’ by acting on his behalf, and will avenge him on his persecutors. This cry for vengeance may initially surprise us in the light of Jesus’ later teaching, but we should note that he is not himself by this seeking to take personal vengeance but, aware that what they are doing to him is because their hearts are hardened towards God, he is following out the injunction that declares, ‘vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord (See Rom 12:19; Deu 32:35; Heb 10:30; compare Luk 18:7; Rev 6:10) and calling on Him to vindicate His word. We must remember in this regard that, unlike us, he is speaking of those for whom God has forbidden him to pray because their doom is determined (Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14). Thus he knows that only judgment awaits them and his desire is to survive in order that he might see the vindication of his ministry as God brings His will about and obtains vengeance on His adversaries, as indeed He had promised him when He initially called him (Jer 1:14-16).
He recognises that at the present time God is showing longsuffering towards the people, giving them an opportunity, if they will, to repent, and he prays that such longsuffering may not result in his own demise. He might well have recalled that it had certainly had that result for Uriah the prophet (Jer 26:20-23). So he reminds Him in this regard of the reproach that he is suffering for His sake, and indicates firmly that he does not want to be cut off in the middle of his ministry with his work left undone.
Jer 15:16
‘Your words were found, and I did eat them,
And your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart,
For I am called by your name,
O YHWH, God of hosts.’
He draws attention to his faithfulness to the word of YHWH. He had, he points out, fully absorbed His words (‘eaten them’) and they had been a delight to him. The ‘finding of His words’ may refer to the discovery of the Law Book in the Temple in the days of Josiah, or it may simply signify the different ways in which YHWH’s words came to him, for God is not restricted in His methods. But he stresses what a joy those words of God had been to him, and how they had rejoiced his heart. This was because he was one of God’s true people. He was ‘called by His Name’ (or more strictly had ‘His Name called upon him’), that is, the name of YHWH, God of hosts. To be ‘called by YHWH’s name’ was to be someone who responded to and served Him, honoured Him in his life, and revealed His attributes in his own life. That is what happens to anyone who is truly ‘begotten by the word of truth’ (Jas 1:18; compare Joh 3:1-6; 2Co 5:17; 1Pe 1:23). By their fruits they are known.
Jer 15:17
‘I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry,
Nor did I rejoice,
I sat alone because of your hand,
For you have filled me with indignation.’
Jeremiah points out the loneliness that he had suffered because of his concern for the truth of YHWH, and the price that he had been willing to pay. He had not joined in with those who made merry, he did not enter into the general rejoicing of men and women, he had not set out to ‘enjoy life’, rather he had ‘sat alone’ because God had had His hand on him and had filled him with indignation at the behaviour of the people, whose ways were so contrary to YHWH’s covenant. He had refused to compromise what he stood for by partaking in what was displeasing to YHWH, and this was because he was responding to the call of God. For the hand of YHWH upon him compare Jer 1:9; Jer 16:21; Isa 8:11; Eze 8:1. The idea was of His irresistible power and pressure.
Jer 15:18
‘Why is my pain perpetual,
And my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?
Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful wadi,
As waters that fail?’
But such dedication to YHWH had not been easy, and he finally asks why it is that, if God is pleased with him, he is suffering such pain and anguish, unable to find healing? Why do his wounds hurt so much and continue doing so? Indeed he asks, whether God will be to him like a river that is there one moment and gone the next, a flash flood, a river that appears to be permanent and then dries up? He is referring to a wadi, a river that flows in the rainy season, giving an impression of permanence (being ‘deceitful’) but dries up in the hot summer, and he wants the assurance that God will not be like that, and will not desert him in the end. We can contrast this with his previous confident certainty that God was like an ever-flowing spring of living water, in contrast with cisterns that did dry up (Jer 2:13). But the vicissitudes of life had begun to wear him down and it is clear that he senses that he is going through periods when, in the midst of his travail, he feels that God is not satisfying the needs of his soul. How treacherous such feelings are when they cause us to doubt the One Who is our Rock. But it happens to most of us, for such an experience is often that of Christians when they are being chastised or tested with a view to their refinement.
Jer 15:19
‘Therefore thus says YHWH,
“If you return, then will I bring you again,
That you may stand before me,
And if you take forth the precious from the vile,
You will be as my mouth.
They will return to you,
But you will not return to them.”
’
YHWH’s response was to bring home to Jeremiah that the fault lay at his own door. His problem lay in the fact that he had gone astray from his own dedication, and needed to sort out his life and return to God in repentance. Then God would bring him again to the place where he could ‘stand before Him’ and his ministry would one again be powerful. To ‘stand before God’ was a technical description for effectively coming before Him as a prophet or a priest ( 1Ki 17:1 ; 1Ki 18:15; 2Ki 3:14). But it was Jeremiah’s choice (‘if you return’) whether he did so.
And if he did truly return, seeking the pure spiritual gold and rejecting the dross, becoming righteously zealous instead of begrudgingly reluctant, speaking words of God’s truth rather than the ideas of his own mind, then his ministry would be restored, and he would once more become God’s mouthpiece, the one through whom the mouth of God would speak (compare Exo 4:16). But he must certainly not let himself become like those against whom he spoke. They might turn to him, but he must not ‘turn to them’ and become like them.
Jer 15:20-21
“And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze-covered wall,
And they will fight against you,
But they will not prevail against you,
For I am with you to save you,
And to deliver you,” the word of YHWH,
And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.”
And if he did once again turn back to God with all his heart then his prophetic calling would be restored. Once again (compare Jer 1:18) He would make him like a strong city wall reinforced with bronze, (which helped to absorb the impact of the siege machines). The people would still fight against him, but they would not prevail (compare Jer 1:19). And this would be because YHWH was with him to save him and to deliver him (compare Jer 1:19). No matter how wicked and terrible his opponents might be, he would be delivered out of their hand as Israel had been ‘redeemed’ from the mighty Pharaoh so long ago (Exo 20:2).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Though the Lord would not listen to the prophet’s prayer, to avert the visitation concerning the captivity; yet for Jeremiah’s personal safety, the Lord remembered his covenant: see Jer 1:19 . Reader! it is blessed in times of public calamity, to lay hold on the personal promises in Christ; and to remember, that the love of Jesus to his Church, however outward things may vary, is the same as Jesus himself, yesterday, and today, and forever, Heb 13:8 . Oh! for grace to know this, and live upon an unchangeable God in Christ; when all things in us and about us, are changing continually.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 15:15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
Ver. 15. O Lord, thou knowest. ] Jeremiah had begun a complaint, Jer 15:10 not without some tang and tincture of human infirmity. Invalidum omne natura querulum. God graciously interrupted him, and came leaping over all those “mountains of Bether,” all lets and impediments, to his comfort and best satisfaction. Jer 15:11-12 Nevertheless Jeremiah hath not done, but goeth on as before; et humanum aliquid patitur.
Remember me, and visit me.
Take me not away in thy longsuffering.
Know that for thy cause I have suffered rebuke.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 15:15-18
15You who know, O LORD,
Remember me, take notice of me,
And take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.
16Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts.
17I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers,
Nor did I exult.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone,
For You filled me with indignation.
18Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
Jer 15:15-18 This is Jeremiah’s prayer for YHWH to take notice of his faithfulness and service. Notice the names for Deity.
1. Thou who knowest (BDB393, KB 390, Qal PERFECT)
2. O YHWH (i.e., YHWH)
3. Thy name
4. O LORD of hosts (see Special Topic below)
These are all covenant names (cf. Jer 15:16, line 4, see Special Topic: Names for Deity ). If Judah has not been faithful, Jeremiah has and he has suffered for it.
SPECIAL TOPIC: LORD OF HOSTS
Jer 15:15 Notice the prayer requests (i.e., IMPERATIVES) in this verse.
1. remember me – BDB 269, KB 269, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. take notice of me (lit. visit me, see note at Jer 15:3) – BDB 823, KB 955, Qal IMPERATIVE
3. take vengeance for me – BDB 667, KB 721, Niphal IMPERATIVE
4. do not take me away – BDB 542, KB 534, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
5. know that for Your sake I endure reproach – BDB 383, KB 390, Qal IMPERATIVE
Jer 15:16 Jeremiah is expressing, even in the midst of persecution (i.e., Jer 15:15), the joy (BDB 965) and delight (BDB 970) of being YHWH’s prophet. The idiom I ate them refers to God’s message (cf. Eze 3:3).
Some commentators have suggested that the phrase Your words were found refers to the discovery of the Law found in the remodeling of the Temple during Josiah’s reign (cf. 2 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 34; i.e., 621 B.C.).
Jer 15:17-18 Jeremiah describes how being God’s prophet affected his life.
1. I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers
2. I did not exult
3. I sat alone
He states that this is a result of YHWH’s call.
1. Your hand was upon me
2. You filled me with indignation
3. I have perpetual pain
4. I have an incurable wound
Jer 15:18 -d This is one of the most shocking assertions about YHWH in the OT. Jeremiah feels so comfortable with YHWH that he can express himself in hyperbolic imagery (exactly the opposite of Jer 2:13).
1. YHWH is like a deceptive stream (BDB 469). This phrase is intensified by the presence of an INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and IMPERFECT VERB of to be (BDB 224, KB 243).
2. The parallel line is like water that is unreliable (BDB 52, KB 63, Niphal PERFECT, see Special Topic: Amen ; and Special Topic below).
SPECIAL TOPIC: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the Old Testament ()
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
revenge = avenge.
rebuke = reproach.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 15:15-18
Jer 15:15-18
JEREMIAH RENOUNCES HIS COMMISSION
O Jehovah, thou knowest; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach. Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O Jehovah, God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?
Jeremiah here fell into a distressing pit of self-pity. He had succumbed to the “me” virus, for he used the personal pronoun of himself no less than sixteen times in these four verses. It appears that the great prophet was almost totally discouraged about the seeming failure of his mission.
Green pointed out that Jeremiah’s appeal to God has the following: (1) he appeals to God to remember him; he feels forsaken, and checkmated by his enemies; (2) he reminds God of his love and respect for the divine word; (3) he protests his loneliness and his being left out of the assemblies of the people; (4) and he even echoed the sentiments of Christ on Calvary, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”; and (5) finally, in Jer 15:18 he seemed to hit the very depths of despair, “The figure of the deceitful brook is devastating.” It appears that Jeremiah was even tempted to believe that God had become to him a lying water hole, that promised refreshment but failed to give it.
The so-called “weeping prophet” came near to deserving the title here. Halley noted that there is a grotto called Jeremiah’s Grotto which is located at the foot of the very hill where the Cross of Jesus would be raised some 600 years later. “Jeremiah is said to have retired there to weep.”
“Jeremiah had expected that, called to a high office, there would be a perpetual interference upon his behalf; but instead everything seemed to be taking its natural course.”
Jer 15:18, here “is certainly a cry of distrust and despair by Jeremiah.” God’s dramatic answer came in the next verses.
The Prayer of Jer 15:15-18
In Jer 15:15 the second of the so-called confession of Jeremiah begins. The prophet begins by affirming the omniscience of God, you know, O Lord. The fact that God knows what the prophet has been going through comforts Jeremiah. His petition contains three positive requests and one negative one: (1) He wants God to remember him. (2) He needs to see some visible sign of Gods continued care; He wants God to visit him. (3) He asks God to avenge his persecutors. God executes vengeance on behalf of His people. This is why Gods people are forbidden to act in a vengeful way toward others. He is asking that these persecutors receive their just deserts. (4) Jeremiah asks that he not be taken away, i.e., that he not be allowed to die an early, premature death. If God continues to exercise long-suffering with regard to the wicked enemies of Jeremiah, the prophet fears that he will be killed.
From petition Jeremiah moves in his prayer to narrative. Even though God knows all, still Jeremiah rehearses before his God the particular difficulties which he has recently been experiencing. First he asks God to take note of the reproach which he bears daily for His sake (Jer 15:15). When the Lord initially put His word in the mouth of the prophet (Jer 1:7) Jeremiah ate them. To eat words means to make them ones own, to digest them, to absorb them, to make them the constant food of ones spiritual life (cf. Eze 3:1 ff.; 1Ti 4:14-16). Jeremiahs whole life revolved around the word of God. It was to him a source of great joy to learn that he had been called of God to be His prophet, His messenger (Jer 15:16). But as time went on Jeremiah found out that being Gods man had distinct disadvantages. His preaching made him unpopular. This man was filled with Gods indignation against sin. His messages centered in the wrath and judgment of God. For this reason he was excluded or perhaps excluded himself from the joyous festivals. He lived a lonely, solitary life because the touch of Gods hand had set him apart. The Old Testament contains numerous references to a prophet being touched by the hand of God. See 2Ki 3:15; Isa 8:11; Eze 3:14. The hand of the Lord came upon is an idiomatic expression meaning that the irresistible power of God came upon the life of a man. Because he possessed the prophetic spirit Jeremiah was different. He suffered alone (Jer 15:17).
Jer 15:18 contains interrogation and accusation. Jeremiah asks the question that many other discouraged saints through the ages have asked, Why? In earlier passages (e.g. Jer 12:1 ff.; Jer 14:8-9; Jer 14:19) Jeremiah was asking how God could finally forsake Israel. But now Jeremiah feels that God has forsaken his servant; and so the question why is renewed but this time with a personal application. Thus far his ministry had not been blessed with success. He had faithfully sown the word of God but had reaped only hatred and opposition. His mental anguish is perpetual, like a wound which will not heal. He would love to preach salvation but instead he must preach damnation. In this moment of anguish and despair he cries out against God: you have surely become to me as a deceptive stream, a brook that runs dry in summer. He had publicly preached that God was a fountain of living water (Jer 2:13); now privately he accuses God of being a dried up stream! He is accusing God of being unreliable, untrustworthy, unfaithful. To soften the thrust of the last part of Jer 15:18, some make this sentence a question. While this is a possible translation there is no real indication that a question is intended. Jeremiah has simply reached the breaking point. In this moment of weakness Satan has placed this blasphemous thought in the mind of Jeremiah.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
thou: Jer 12:3, Jer 17:16, Job 10:7, Psa 7:3-5, Psa 17:3, Joh 21:15-17, 2Co 5:11
remember: Jer 11:18-20, Jer 20:12, Neh 5:19, Neh 6:14, Neh 13:22, Neh 13:31, Psa 106:4, Psa 109:26-29, Psa 119:84, Psa 119:132-134, Luk 18:7, Luk 18:8, Rom 12:19, 2Ti 4:14, Rev 6:10, Rev 18:20
take: Psa 39:13, Psa 102:24, Isa 38:3
know: Jer 15:10, Jer 11:21, Jer 20:8, Psa 69:7-9, Mat 5:10-12, Mat 10:22, Mat 19:29, Luk 6:22, Luk 6:23, Luk 21:17, Rom 8:35, 1Pe 4:14-16
Reciprocal: Jdg 16:28 – remember me Job 7:7 – remember Psa 7:1 – save Jer 11:20 – let Jer 18:23 – thou Jer 26:24 – that Lam 5:1 – Remember Act 4:30 – By stretching 1Pe 3:14 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 15:15. This verse through the 18th should be marked into a bracket and given the title “Jeremiah’s complaint,* The prophet has taken a deep personal interest in the whole matter of his countrys undone condition. He has been persecuted by the wicked citizens, especially the leaders, and this bracket expresses his personal plea for God’s favor. He protests that his sufferings have been thrust upon him because of his faithfulness to the Lord and the divine law. We shall soon learn that God did not reject the claims of the prophet nor deny the requests that he made.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 15:15-16. O Lord, thou knowest Thou knowest my sincerity, how faithfully I have declared thy will: or, thou knowest my sufferings, how wickedly my enemies act toward me. It is matter of comfort to us, that, whatever befalls us, we have a God to go to, before whom we may spread our case, and to whose omniscience we may appeal, as the prophet here does. Remember me, and visit me Think upon me for good, and visit me with thy love, while this people are visited with thy wrath. Revenge me Or, rather, Vindicate me, from my persecutors, as the Hebrew, , may be properly rendered: give judgment against them, and let that judgment be executed so far as is necessary for my vindication, and to compel them to acknowledge that they have done me wrong: see note on Jer 11:20. Take me not away in thy longsuffering While thou exercisest long-suffering toward my persecutors, and forbearest to vindicate my cause and defend me, let them not prevail to take away my life. Or, as some understand his words, Though I am a sinner, and deserve to be punished as such among the Jews, yet exercise toward me patience and long-suffering, and let me not be taken away into captivity. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Lord, remember that my reproach, and all that I suffer, is for thy sake, because I have faithfully declared thy truth, and defended thy honour and glory. Thy words were found, and I did eat them The words which, from time to time, thou didst reveal to me, were by me readily received, meditated upon, and inwardly digested. And thy word was unto me the joy, &c., of my heart That is, either, 1st, Though some of thy words were very dreadful, and foretold the ruin of my country, which is very dear to me, and in the ruin of which I cannot but have a deep share, yet, because they proceeded from thee, I was glad to hear them, and be thy instrument to communicate them to thy people, all my natural affections being swallowed up in zeal for thy glory. Or, 2d, Thy word of commission, by which I was made thy prophet, was at first very grateful and pleasing to me; and I was glad when thou didst, at any time, reveal thy will to me, and authorize and enjoin me to make it known to the people. For though the execution of this office was not attended with any secular advantages, but, on the contrary, exposed me to contempt and persecution, yet, because I was thereby serving and glorifying thee, and doing good, I was glad to be so employed, and it was my meat and drink to do thy will. For I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts I became a prophet by thy authority, and am thy messenger, and thou, the Lord of hosts, art able to protect me.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15:15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my {o} persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
(o) He does not speak this out of a desire for revenge, but wishing that God would deliver his Church from them who he knew to be hardened and incorrigible.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jeremiah asked Yahweh, who knows all things, to remember him and to punish his persecutors. He requested that the Lord not allow him to die because he had endured reproach for the Lord’s sake.
"There is a boldness about such words which only those in a very close relationship with Yahweh may show." [Note: Thompson, pp. 395-96.]