Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 18:11
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
11. The direct application of the figure to the people here begins.
frame ] The Hebrew root is the same as that for potter.
amend your ways and your doings ] See on ch. Jer 7:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The word rendered frame is a present participle, and is the same which as a noun means a potter. God declares that He is as free to do what He will with the Jews as the potter is free to shape as he will the clay.
Devise a device – I am purposing a purpose.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 18:11
Return ye now everyone from his evil way.
Return! Return!
My text is all about repentance; it is an exhortation from God, very brief and sententious, but very earnest and plain: Return ye now everyone from his evil way. I want you all to notice that this is the call of mercy. God would have you saved, and therefore He cries to you, Return, because He is willing to receive you, and to blot out all your sin. But remember that it is equally the call of a holy God, the God who knows that you cannot be saved except you turn from your evil ways. Thou must be made to hate thy sin, or else, where God is, thou canst never come.
I. What does the text say? The picture is that of a man who is going the wrong way. He is trespassing, he is on forbidden ground, he is advancing in a dangerous road, and if he shall continue to go in that direction, he will by and by come to a dreadful precipice over which he will fall, and there he will be ruined. A voice cries to him, Return! What does that word mean? It is very simple, and that I may make it plainer still, perhaps, for practical purposes, let me say that the first thing such a man would do would be to stop. If I was out in the country, on a road which I did not know, and I heard a voice crying out to me, Return, I should certainly stop, and listen; and if I heard the cry repeated, with great eagerness and earnestness, Return! Return! I should pause, and look round, and try to see who it was that had called to me. I wish that all of you who are wandering away from God, would stop, and consider where you are going. In Gods name, I would arrest thee; as Gods officer, I would put my hand on thy shoulder, and say to thee, Thou must stop; thou shalt pause; thou shalt consider thy ways. I cannot let thee go on carelessly to thy ruin, like a sheep into the slaughter house, or a bullock going to be killed. Stop, I pray thee. Suppose a man did stop, that would not be returning; it is but the commencement of the return when a man stops, but it will be necessary for him, next, to turn round. The order for him to obey is, Right about face. There must be a total, a radical change in you, ii you are really to obey the command, Return. I think I hear you ask, Who can effect this change? And I am glad to hear that question, for I trust it will lead you to pray, Turn me, O Lord, and I shall be turned! There is something done towards returning when a man stops, there is still more done when he turns round; yet he does not actually return until, with persevering footsteps, the wanderer hastens back to him from whom he had departed. What God desires is that all His prodigal children should come home, that His stray sheep should be brought back to the fold, that the lost pieces of silver should be put into the treasury again; that, indeed, you who have wandered in sin should be as they are whom Christ has washed in His precious blood, whom the Holy Spirit has regenerated, and whom the Father has adopted, and put among His children.
II. When are sinners to return? Return ye now everyone from his evil way. The voice of God bids you to return now, and I would urge you to do so, because life is so uncertain that, if you do not return now, you may not live to return at all. He who would have his estate rightly ordered when he is dead should have his will made, everybody says that; and he who would have his eternal estate ordered aright should yield himself at once to the sovereign will of the Most High, for life is uncertain. Return, now, for the calls of grace may not always come to you. Recollect, also, that your sin will be increased by delay. If you keep on in the wrong path, not only will you have sinned the more, but that sin will have taken a more terrible hold upon you. Habits begin like cobwebs, but they end like chains of iron. Moreover, it is well for us to return unto our God now, because the sooner we return to Him the sooner we shall enjoy His favour, and the more delightful will our life become. Peace with God makes even this life to be a blessed life; and he who has it begins, even here, to enjoy the felicities of the glorified. Do you not see, too, that God will have the more service from you? The sooner you are brought to Him, the longer will you have of life in which to serve Him. If any of you have gone past youth, into manhood, and to middle age, or even to old age, then the word now should come to you with a sharp, clear crack, as of a rifle. It comes like a staccato note in music, Now! Now! Now! Yet once more, return now, because, if ever there is a reason for returning, that reason points to the present moment. If there is a hope that a man will leave his sin some time or other, there must be a better hope that he will leave it now than that he will leave it in a years time. Wisdoms voice cries, Now! It is folly that says, Tarry.
III. Who is the person that is to return? Everyone. Many of you have returned. But every man, every woman, every child who has not returned, should hear the voice of the Lord repeating this message. Well, says one, perhaps there will be some people converted through this sermon. Do not talk so, I pray you. Will you be converted through it? Possibly some of you are like the man we read of in the papers some time ago. He was walking by the seaside, and trod on a large chain, and slipped his foot right through one of the links. When he tried to draw it back again, he could not, for he was held fast. The tide was coming in, and there he was a prisoner. He had to call long and loud before anybody came; and by the time the people arrived, he had very much hurt his foot in endeavouring to extricate himself. He begged them to run for the smith, that he might come, and break the iron. He came, but he brought the wrong tools with him, so he could not accomplish the task. It would be some time before he could be back, and, meanwhile, the tide had come in, and the water was up to the mans feet, so he cried, Run for the surgeon. Let him come, and cut my leg off; it is the only hope of saving my life. But by the time the surgeon came, the water was up to the mans neck, so the doctor could not get down to where his foot was fast in the iron chain, and there was nothing that could be done for him. There he was, poor fellow, and the tide rolled over him, and he was drowned. Some of you seem to me to be just like that man, held fast by some invisible force; yet, when I try to get at the chain, I cannot find out what it is, it is so far under the water. Perhaps you do not yourself know what it is. I am going to make a dive to try to get at it, as I ask my last question concerning the text.
IV. From what are these people to return? From his evil way. Then, each man has a way of his own,–an evil way of his own,–some personal form of sin. What is your own way? Is it some constitutional sin to which you are prone? Well, asks one, what do you think is my evil way? I will answer by putting another question to you, What is the sin into which you most frequently fall? I should think you can tell that, and that is the evil way from which you have most to fear. It is from that one way that you are called upon specially to return. Tonight, if you were tempted, to which temptation would you be most likely to yield? You do not know, you say; well then, let me put another question to you. When do you get most angry if anybody rebukes you? What is it in the preaching that makes you say, There, I will never go to hear that man again; he cuts my hair so short, he comes quite close to the skin? Well now, that will help you to find out what is your own personal evil way; and it is from that way that you are to return. Again, what sin of yours eats up the other sins? Where does your money mostly go? You could have told that Joseph was Jacobs favourite, because he made him a coat of many colours; and there are some sins that wear the coat of many colours, and often, as it were, it is dipped in the mans own blood, for everything goes for that particular sin. But I have not hit on your sin yet, my friend, have I? You have an evil way which you will not tell to anyone; it is not as bad as any I have mentioned; it is a very respectable kind of evil way which you have. Your evil way is this, the evil way of self-righteousness. It makes out that the death of Christ was a superfluity; it tells God that He is wrong in charging a man with sin; it raises a clamour against God; it claims as a right every good thing that God has to give; it does, in fact, uncrown the Saviour, bid the Holy Spirit go His way as no longer needed, and throws the Gospel, which is the crown jewel of God, into the mire. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Returning from evil ways
There are two things proper to a man that returneth: first, to go a way clean contrary to the way he went before; secondly, to tread out and obliterate his former steps, First, I say, he must go a way clean contrary to his former way. Many men think that the way to hell is but a little out of the way to heaven, so that a man in small time, with small ado, may pass out of the one into the other; but they are much deceived: for as sin is more than a stepping aside, namely, a plain, a direct going away from God; so is repentance, or the forsaking of sin, more than a little coasting out of one way into another. Crossings will not serve; there is no way from the road of sin to the place we seek, but to go quite back again the way we came. The way of pleasure in sin must be changed for sorrow for the same. He that hath superstitiously worshipped false gods must now as devoutly serve the true; the tongue that hath uttered swearings, and spoken blasphemies, must as plentifully sound forth the name of God in prayer and thanksgiving; the covetous man must become liberal; the oppressor of the poor as charitable in relieving them; the calumniator of his brother a tender guarder of his credit: in fine, he that hated his brother before must now love him as tenderly as himself. (Joseph Mede.)
Repentance useless without amendment
Repentance without amendment is like continual pumping in a ship, without stopping the leaks. (J. Palmer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
The Lord fixeth a particular application to the more general doctrine which he had before delivered. God had told this people, that though he had by his prophet denounced his wrath and anger, and threatened to pluck them up and destroy them, yet if they turned from their sinful courses, he would show mercy to them, and alter the course of his providence. Now he tells them that this was their case, God had a work upon the wheel against them, and was framing evil against them, and bringing ruin upon them; therefore it was their wisdom now to return from their evil ways, and to make their doings good. Those who think that these exhortations are vain, if man hath not a power in himself to turn from his evil way, ought to consider that none denieth that man hath a power in himself, by virtue of that common grace of God which he denieth to no man, to turn from such evil courses as were before mentioned, viz. not to carry out burdens upon the sabbath day, not to Bow down to and worship idols, but to worship the true and living God according to the prescription of his word. In short, there is no man but hath a power to do much more than he doth do, and so much as may serve to avert temporal judgment; and although no man without special grace, beyond the outward means of grace, hath a power to do whatsoever God requireth in order to his salvation, yet he hath a power to do so much, as if he doth, no instance can be given of any to whom, so doing, God denied his special grace, enabling him to do whatsoever God requireth of him in order to eternal life.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. frame evilalluding to thepreceding image of “the potter,” that is, I, Jehovah, amnow as it were the potter framing evil against you; but in theevent of your repenting, it is in My power to frame anew Mycourse of dealing towards you.
return, &c. (2Ki17:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now therefore go to,…. This is the application of the above general rules of procedure to the people of the Jews, and particularly that which relates to the destruction of a nation or kingdom, and the declaration of it in order to reclaim them:
speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
saying, thus saith the Lord; or, “to the man of Judah” u; the body of the Jewish nation, and especially the inhabitants of the metropolis of it; which was the source of sin to the whole kingdom, and on which the calamity threatened would chiefly come, if not prevented by a reformation:
behold, I frame evil against you; as the potter frames his clay upon the wheel, to which the allusion is; which is to be understood of the evil of punishment, but not of any secret purpose, and settled determination, in the mind of God to bring it upon them; for that is never disannulled by himself or others, or ever changed; but some operation in Providence, which began to work towards their destruction; some providential step which God had taken, and which threatened their ruin:
and devise a device against you; the same as before; by which it looked as if he had thought of the matter, and had contrived a scheme, which if he went on with, would issue in the subversion of their whole state:
return you everyone from his evil way; that so the reformation may be as general as the corruption was: it supposes a sense of the evil of their former conduct, and repentance for their sins, of which their forsaking and abstaining from them would be an evidence:
and make your ways and your doings good; for it is not sufficient barely to abstain from sin, which is only a negative holiness; but there must be a performance of good works, a walking in them, a constant series and course of obedience to God, according to the rule of his word.
u “ad virum Jehudah”, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Application of the emblem to Judah. – Jer 18:11. “And now speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus hath Jahveh said: Behold, I frame against you evil and devise against you a device. Return ye, now, each from his evil way, and better your ways and your doings. Jer 18:12. But they say: There is no use! For our imaginations will we follow, and each do the stubbornness of his evil heart. Jer 18:13. Therefore thus hath Jahveh said: Ask now among the heathen! who hath heard the like? A very horrible thing hath the virgin of Israel done! Jer 18:14. Does the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field? or do strange, cold trickling waters dry up? Jer 18:15. For my people hath forgotten me; to the vanity they offer odours; they have made them to stumble upon their ways, the everlasting paths, to walk in by-paths, a way not cast up. Jer 18:16. To make their land a dismay, a perpetual hissing, every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and shake his head. Jer 18:17. Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; with the back and not with the face will I look upon them in the day of their ruin.”
Jer 18:11-12 In Jer 18:11 and Jer 18:12 what was said at Jer 18:6. is applied to Judah. , from in sense of prepare (cf. Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26), is chosen with special reference to the potter ( ). , the thought, design, here in virtue of the parallelism: evil plot, as often both with and without ; cf. Est 8:3, Est 8:5; Est 9:25; Eze 38:10. The call to repentance runs much as do Jer 35:15 and Jer 7:3. – But this call the people reject disdainfully, replying that they are resolved to abide by their evil courses. , not: they said, but: they say; the perf. consec. of the action repeating itself at the present time; cf. Ew. 342, b. 1. as in Jer 2:25; on “stubbornness of their evil heart,” cf. Jer 3:17. By this answer the prophet makes them condemn themselves out of their own mouth; cf. Isa 28:15; Isa 30:10.
Jer 18:13-14 Such obduracy is unheard of amongst the peoples; cf. a like idea in Jer 2:10. = , Jer 5:30. belongs to the verb: horrible things hath Israel very much done = very horrible things have they done. The idea is strengthened by Israel’s being designated a virgin (see on Jer 14:17). One could hardly believe that a virgin could be guilty of such barefaced and determined wickedness. In Jer 18:14. the public conduct is further described; and first, it is illustrated by a picture drawn from natural history, designed to fill the people with shame for their unnatural conduct. But the significance of the picture is disputed. The questions have a negative force: does it forsake? = it does not forsake. The force of the first question is conditioned by the view taken of ; and may be either genitive to , or it may be the accusative of the object, and be either a poetic form for , or plural c. suff. 1. pers. (my fields). Chr. B. Mich., Schur., Ros., Maur., Neum. translate according to the latter view: Does the snow of Lebanon descending from the rock forsake my fields? i.e., does it ever cease, flowing down from the rock, to water my fields, the fields of my people? To this view, however, it is to be opposed, a. that “from the rock” thus appears superfluous, at least not in its proper place, since, according to the sense given, it would belong to “snow of Lebanon;” b. that the figure contains no real illustrative truth. The watering of the fields of God’s people, i.e., of Palestine or Judah, by the snow of Lebanon could be brought about only by the water from the melting snow of Lebanon soaking into the ground, and so feeding the springs of the country. But this view of the supply for the springs that watered the land cannot be supposed to be a fact of natural history so well known that the prophet could found an argument on it. Most recent commentators therefore join , and translate: does the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field (does it disappear)? The use of with is unexampled, but is analogous to , Gen 24:27, where, however, is used transitively.
But even when translated as above, “rock of the field” is variously understood. Hitz. will have it to be Mount Zion, which in Jer 17:3 is called my mountain in the field, and Jer 21:13, rock of the plain; and says the trickling waters are the waters of Gihon, these being the only never-drying water of Jerusalem, the origin of which has never been known, and may have been commonly held to be from the snow of Lebanon. Graf and Ng. , again, have justly objected that the connection between the snow of Lebanon and the water-springs of Zion is of too doubtful a kind, and does not become probable by appeal to Psa 133:3, where the dew of Hermon is said to descend on the mountains of Zion. For it is perfectly possible that a heavy dew after warm days might be carried to Jerusalem by means of the cool current of air coming down from the north over Hermon (cf. Del. on Psa 133:3); but not that the water of the springs of Jerusalem should have come from Lebanon. Like Ew., Umbr., Graf, and Ng. , we therefore understand the rock of the field to be Lebanon itself. But it is not so called as being a detached, commanding rocky mountain, for this is not involved in the sig. of (see on Jer 17:3); nor as bulwark of the field (Ng. ), for does not mean bulwark, and the change of into , from , a hemming in, siege, would give a most unsuitable figure. We hold the “field” to be the land of Israel, whence seen, the summit of Lebanon, and especially the peak of Hermon covered with eternal snows might very well be called the rock of the field.
(Note: “Hermon is not a conical mountain like Tabor, with a single lofty peak and a well-defined base, but a whole mountain mass of many days’ journey in circuit, with a broad crest of summits. The highest of these lie within the Holy Land, and, according to the measurements of the English engineers, Majors Scott and Robe (1840), rise to a height of 9376 English feet – summits encompassed by far-stretching mountain ridges, from whose deep gloomy valleys the chief rivers of the country take their rise…. Behind the dark green foremost range (that having valleys clothed with pine and oak forests) high mountains raise their domes aloft; there is a fir wood sprinkled with snow as with silver, a marvellous mingling of bright and dark; and behind these rises the broad central ridge with its peaks covered with a deep and all but everlasting snows.” – Van de Velde, Reise, i. S. 96f. Therewith cf. Robins. Phys. Geogr. p. 315: “In the ravines round about the highest of the two peaks, snow, or rather ice, lies the whole year round. In summer this gives the mountain, when seen from a distance, the appearance of being surrounded with radiant stripes descending from its crown.”)
Observe the omission of the article before Lebanon, whereby it comes about that the name is joined appellatively to “snow:” the Lebanon-snow. And accordingly we regard the waters as those which trickle down from Hermon. The wealth of springs in Lebanon is well known, and the trickling water of Lebanon is used as an illustration in Son 4:15. , are rooted up, strikes us as singular, since “root up” seems suitable neither for the drying up of springs, nor for: to be checked in their course. Dav. Kimchi thought, therefore, it stood for , omittuntur ; but this word has not this signification. Probably a transposition has taken place, so that we have for , since for in Niph. the sig. dry up is certified by Isa 19:5. The predicate, too, is singular. Strange waters are in 2Ki 19:24 waters belonging to others; but this will not do here. So Ew. derives from , press, urge, and correspondingly, from , spring, well up: waters pouring forth with fierce pressure. In this case, however, the following would be superfluous, or at least feeble. Then, , Pro 25:25, is cold water; and besides, means constinxit, compressit , of which root-meaning the sig. to press forth is a contradiction. There is therefore nothing for it but to keep to the sig. strange for ; strange waters = waters coming from afar, whose springs are not known, so that they could be stopped up. The predicate cold is quite in keeping, for cold waters do not readily dry up, the coldness being a protection against evaporation. Such, then, will be the meaning of the verse: As the Lebanon-snow does not forsake the rock, so the waters trickling thence do not dry up. From the application of this general idea, that in inanimate nature faithfulness and constancy are found, to Israel’s bearing towards God arises a deeper significance, which shows why this figure was chosen. The rock in the field points to the Rock of Israel as the everlasting rock, rock of ages (Isa 30:29 and Isa 26:4), and the cold, i.e., refreshing waters, which trickle from the rock of the field, point to Jahveh, the fountain of living water, Jer 2:13 and Jer 17:13. Although the snow does not forsake Lebanon, Israel has forgotten the fountain of living water from which water of life flows to it; cf. Jer 2:13.
Jer 18:15-17 The application at Jer 18:15 is introduced by a causal . Ew. wrongly translates: that my people forgot me. means for; and the causal import is founded on the main idea of Jer 18:13: A very horrible thing hath Israel done; for it hath done that which is unheard of in the natural world, it hath forsaken me, the rock of safety; cf. Jer 2:32. They burn odours, i.e., kindle sacrifices, to the vanity, i.e., the null gods, cf. Psa 31:7, i.e., to Baal, Jer 7:9; Jer 11:13, Jer 11:17. The subject to may be most simply supplied from the idea of “the vanity:” the null gods made them to stumble; cf. for this idea 2Ch 28:23. This seems more natural than to leave the subject indefinite, in which case the false prophets (cf. Jer 23:27) or the priests, or other seducers, would be the moving spirits. “The ancient paths” is apposition to “their ways:” upon their ways, the paths of the old time, i.e., not, however, the good old believing times, from whose ways the Israelites have but recently diverged. For never denotes the time not very long passed away, but always old, immemorial time, here specially the time of the patriarchs, who walked on the right paths of faithfulness to God, as in Jer 6:16. Hitz. and Graf have taken “the ancient paths” as subject: the old paths have made the Israelites to stumble on their ways, which gives a most unnatural idea, while the “paths of the earliest time” is weakened into “the example of their ancestors;” and besides, the parallelism is destroyed. As “by-paths” is defined by the apposition “a way not cast up,” so is “on their ways” by “the ancient paths.” The Chet. is found only here; the Keri is formed after Psa 77:20. A way not cast up is one on which one cannot advance, reach the goal, or on which one suffers hurt and perishes. – In Jer 18:16 the consequences of these doings are spoken of as having been wrought out by themselves, in order thus to bring out the God-ordained causal nexus between actions and their consequences. To make their land an object of horror to all that set foot on it. occurs only here, while the Keri is found only in Jdg 5:16 for the piping of shepherds, from , to hiss, to pipe. In connection with as expression of horror or amazement, Jeremiah elsewhere uses only , cf. Jer 19:8; Jer 25:9, Jer 25:18; Jer 29:18; Jer 51:37, so that here the vowelling should perhaps be . The word does not here denote the hissing = hissing down or against one, by way of contempt, but the sound midway between hissing and whistling which escapes one when one looks on something appalling. On “every one that passeth by shall be dismayed,” cf. 1Ki 9:8. only here = , to move the head to and fro, shake the head; a gesture of malicious amazement, cf. Psa 22:8; Psa 109:25, like , Psa 44:15. – In Jer 18:17 the Lord discloses the coming punishment. Like an east wind, i.e., a violent storm-wind (cf. Psa 48:8), will I scatter them, cf. Jer 13:24. Because they have turned to Him the back and not the face (cf. Jer 2:27), so will He turn His back on them in the day of their ruin, cf. Eze 35:5.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| People of God Accused and Threatened; Folly of Idolatry. | B. C. 600. |
11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. 12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 14 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? 15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; 16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
These verses seem to be the application of the general truths laid down in the foregoing part of the chapter to the nation of the Jews and their present state.
I. God was now speaking concerning them to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy; for it is that part of the rule of judgment that their case agrees with (v. 11): “Go, and tell them” (saith God), “Behold I frame evil against you and devise against you. Providence in all its operations is plainly working towards your ruin. Look upon your conduct towards God, and you cannot but see that you deserve it; look upon his dealings with you, and you cannot but see that he designs it.” He frames evil, as the potter frames the vessel, so as to answer the end.
II. He invites them by repentance and reformation to meet him in the way of his judgments and so to prevent his further proceedings against them: “Return you now every one from his evil ways, that so (according to the rule before laid down) God may turn from the evil he had purported to do unto you, and that providence which seemed to be framed like a vessel on the wheel against you shall immediately be thrown into a new shape, and the issue shall be in favour of you.” Note, The warnings of God’s word, and the threatenings of his providence, should be improved by us as strong inducements to us to reform our lives, in which it is not enough to turn from our evil ways, but we must make our ways and our doings good, conformable to the rule, to the law.
III. He foresees their obstinacy, and their perverse refusal to comply with this invitation, though it tended so much to their own benefit (v. 12): They said, “There is no hope. If we must not be delivered unless we return from our evil ways, we may even despair of ever being delivered, for we are resolved that we will walk after our own devices. It is to no purpose for the prophets to say any more to us, to use any more arguments, or to press the matter any further; we will have our way, whatever it cost us; we will do every one the imagination of his own evil heart, and will not be under the restraint of the divine law.” Note, That which ruins sinners is affecting to live as they list. They call it liberty to live at large; whereas for a man to be a slave to his lusts is the worst of slaveries. See how strangely some men’s hearts are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin that they will not so much as promise amendment; nay, they set the judgments of God at defiance: “We will go on with our own devices, and let God go on with his; and we will venture the issue.”
IV. He upbraids them with the monstrous folly of their obstinacy, and their hating to be reformed. Surely never were people guilty of such an absurdity, never any that pretended to reason acted so unreasonably (v. 13): Ask you among the heathen, even those that had not the benefit of divine revelation, no oracles, no prophets, as Judah and Jerusalem had, yet, even among them, who hath heart such a thing? The Ninevites, when thus warned, turned from their evil ways. Some of the worst of men, when they are told of their faults, especially when they begin to smart for them, will at least promise reformation and say that they will endeavour to mend. But the virgin of Israel bids defiance to repentance, is resolved to go on frowardly, whatever conscience and Providence say to the contrary, and thus has done a horrible thing. She should have preserved herself pure and chaste for God, who had espoused her to himself; but she has alienated herself from him, and refuses to return to him. Note, It is a horrible thing, enough to make one tremble to think of it, that those who have made their condition sad by sinning should make it desperate by refusing to reform. Wilful impenitence is the grossest self-murder; and that is a horrible thing, which we should abhor the thought of.
V. He shows their folly in two things:–
1. In the nature of the sin itself that they were guilty of. They forsook God for idols, which was the most horrible thing that could be, for they put a most dangerous cheat upon themselves (Jer 18:14; Jer 18:15): Will a thirsty traveller leave the snow, which, being melted, runs down from the mountains of Lebanon, and, passing over the rock of the field, flows in clear, clean, crystal streams? Will he leave these, pass these by, and think to better himself with some dirty puddle-water? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from any other place be forsaken in the heat of summer? No; when men are parched with heat and drought, and meet with cooling refreshing streams, they will make use of them, and not turn their backs upon them. The margin reads it, “Will a man that is travelling the road leave my fields, which are plain and level, for a rock, which is rough and hard, or for the snow of Lebanon, which, lying in great drifts, makes the road impassable? Or shall the running waters be forsaken for the strange cold waters? No; in these things men know when they are well off, and will keep so; they will not leave a certainty for an uncertainty. But my people have forgotten me (v. 15), have quitted a fountain of living waters for broken cisterns. They have burnt incense to idols, that are as vain as vanity itself, that are not what they pretend to be nor can perform what is expected from them.” They had not the common wit of travellers, but even their leaders caused them to err, and they were content to be misled. (1.) They left the ancient paths, which were appointed by the divine law, which had been walked in by all the saints, which were therefore the right way to their journey’s end, a safe way, and, being well-tracked, were both easy to hit and easy to walk in. But, when they were advised to keep to the good old way, they positively said that they would not, ch. vi. 16. (2.) They chose by-paths; they walked in a way not cast up, not in the highway, the King’s highway, in which they might travel safely, and which would certainly lead them to their right end, but in a dirty way, a rough way, a way in which they could not but stumble; such was the way of idolatry (such is the way of all iniquity–it is a false way, it is a way full of stumbling-blocks) and yet this way they chose to walk in and lead others in.
2. In the mischievous consequences of it. Though the thing itself were bad, they might have had some excuse for it if they could have promised themselves any good out of it. But the direct tendency of it was to make their land desolate, and, consequently, themselves miserable (for so the inhabitants must needs be if their country be laid waste), and both themselves and their land a perpetual hissing. Those deserve to be hissed that have fair warning given them and will not take it. Every one that passes by their land shall make his remarks upon it, and shall be astonished, and way his head, some wondering, others commiserating, others triumphing in the desolations of a country that had been the glory of all lands. They shall wag their heads in derision, upbraiding them with their folly in forsaking God and their duty, and so pulling this misery upon their own heads. Note, Those that revolt from God will justly be made the scorn of all about them, and, having reproached the Lord, will themselves be a reproach. Their land being made desolate, in pursuance of their destruction, it is threatened (v. 17), I will scatter them as with an east wind, which is fierce and violent; by it they shall be hurried to and fro before the enemy, and find no way open to escape. They shall not only flee before the enemy (that they might do and yet make an orderly retreat), but they shall be scattered, some one way and some another. That which completes their misery is, I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. Our calamities may be easily borne if God look towards us, and smile upon us, when we are under them, if he countenance us and show us favour; but if he turn the back upon us, if he show himself displeased, if he be deaf to our prayers and refuse us his help, if he forsake us, leave us to ourselves, and stand at a distance from us, we are quite undone. If he hide his face, who then can behold him? Job xxxiv. 29. Herein God would deal with them as they had dealt with him (ch. ii. 27), They have turned their back unto me, and not their face. It is a righteous thing with God to show himself strange to those in the day of their trouble who have shown themselves rude and undutiful to him in their prosperity. This will have its full accomplishment in that day when God will say to those who, though they have been professors of piety, were yet workers of iniquity, Depart from me, I know you not, nay, I never knew you.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Prophet is now bidden to turn his discourse to the Jews, that he might apply the doctrine of repentance, to which he had referred; for a doctrine generally stated, as it is well known, is less efflcient. He then contends here, as it were, in full force with his own nation: Say then to the Jews and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who indeed ought to have shewn the way to others, but were themselves the worst of all, return ye, he says, every one from his evil way. Here God shews, that what he had before stated generally, applied peculiarly to the Jews, — that he is reconcilable when a sinner returns to him, and that they who disregard and despise his goodness cannot possibly escape unpunished.
Return ye, he says, every one from his evil way, and make right your ways; why so? For behold I frame for you an evil, and I think for you a thought; that is, “Vengeance is now prepared and is suspended over your heads, except ye turn in due time; but if ye truly and from the heart repent, I am ready to receive you.” We see how God includes the two things before referred to: He had previously said, “If I speak against a nation, and it turns from its sins, I immediately repent; but when I promise to be a father to a nation or a kingdom, I do not allow myself and my bounty to be despised, which men do when they reject what I offer.” But he now says, Behold, I think, (195) etc.; this refers to the former clause, the threatenings; and then when he adds, Return ye, he promises pardon; for as it has been said elsewhere and often, there can be no exhortation to repentance without a hope of favor, as God cannot be feared, except there be propitiation with him, according to what is said in Psa 130:4
God then shews in this verse, that he was ready to receive the Jews if they repented; but that if they continued perverse as they were wont to be, he would not suffer them to go unpunished, for he thought of evil for them. But this thought included the effect, the execution, as he was the potter, in whose hand and power they were.
Then the Prophet adds what shews how hopeless was the impiety of the people, for all his labor was in vain. It was indeed a monstrous stupidity, when they could not be terrified by God’s threatenings not allured by his kind promises. But the Prophet meant also to shew, that God tried all means to restore the people from ruin to life and salvation, but that all means were tried in vain, owing to the irreclaimable character of the people. I cannot finish the subject to-day; I must therefore defer it till to-morrow.
(195) More is meant by this word than expressed, which is often the case in all languages. “I contrive with respect to you a contrivance.” is perhaps the most literal rendering. “Device” is taken commonly in a bad sense. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
C. The Proclamation to the People Jer. 18:11-12
TRANSLATION
(11) And now speak please unto the men of Judah and unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD! Behold, I am about to form calamity against you and I am about to plan destruction against you. Turn now each man from his evil and amend your ways and your deeds. (12) But they say, It is hopeless; for after our thoughts we will walk and we will do every man according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.
COMMENTS
Great theological truths are not to be jealously guarded but freely shared with all who will receive them. So it is that Jeremiah is told to proclaim the great truth that he has discovered at the potters house. The Lord is in the process of forming (Hebrew participle) and planning the destruction of the nation. The verb translated form is identical with the word translated potter in the preceding verses. No doubt the verb has been deliberately selected here to suggest the connection between what is now said and the episode of the potter just described. Just as the potter crushed the marred vessel in his hand and began anew, so God is about to destroy Judah and start all over again. In view of this impending disaster God pleads through his prophet for the people to repent (Jer. 18:11). It is not too late if they will only turn to God. The men of Judah respond to this last-ditch effort to secure their repentance in the same language which they used in Jer. 2:25. It is hopeless, they say. The mood here is not one of despondency but one of defiance. The leaders are warning the prophet that it is useless for him to continue trying to convert them. They are saying in Jer. 18:12, We have chosen our path and we will continue to walk in it regardless of what you say the consequences will be.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) I frame evil.The verb chosen is that which specially describes the potters work, and from which the Hebrew word for potter is itself derived. This, so to speak, is the shape of the vessel actually in hand, determining its use, but its form is not unalterably fixed. It is shown in terrorem, and the people are invited to accept the warning by repentance.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
APPLICATION OF THE PARABLE, Jer 18:11-17.
11. Frame The Hebrew word here is kindred with that for potter, so that the continued reference to the illustration already given is more specific than appears in the Authorized Version.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Because Of Their Refusal To Respond To His ‘Shaping’ He Will Now ‘Shape’ Evil Against Them Unless They Now Repent. His Offer Being Turned Down God Calls On The Nations To Be Astonished Witnesses Of Their Perfidy, Something Which Will Result In Their Destruction ( Jer 18:11-17 ).
The lesson of the Potter’s house was that YHWH had given His people every hope for the future if only they would but repent. But in view of the fact that they refuse to do so He now declares that He will apply His Pottery skills to shaping evil against them. As a consequence He calls on the nations to be a witness to their perfidy, drawing out the fact that the seemingly impossible has happened in that His people, contrary to what is to be seen as true in nature, have rejected YHWH’s spiritual provision and have turned to what is false, thus making themselves a spectacle to the nations and a target for God’s judgments.
Jer 18:11
“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
The word that Jeremiah was to speak was the word of YHWH to both the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to both countryside and city.
Thus says YHWH,
Behold, I frame evil against you,
And devise a scheme against you,
Return you now every one from his evil way,
And amend your ways and your doings.”
His warning was that He would use His Pottery skills to ‘shape’ evil against them. (the root of the verb is the same as that for ‘the Potter’), and to ‘think a thought’ (devise a scheme) against them, unless each of them now returned from his evil way, resulting in them amending their ways and their doings. Note the individual plea within the general demand. As always there would be a true remnant who would respond. They represented the true Israel.
Jer 18:12
“But they say, ‘It is a waste of time (‘it is hopeless’), for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart’ ”
The words put in the mouths of the people is expressing the truth of their situation in God’s eyes rather than what they actually say. They almost certainly did not see themselves as ‘stubborn in consequence of the evil of their hearts’. They probably thought rather that Jeremiah was being unreasonable.
But YHWH declares that their actual response indicates what they are really thinking, and that is that God and Jeremiah are wasting their time in trying to get them to repent. The wording is expressive, ‘it is noash’ (‘it’s no use, it is hopeless’ – see its use in Jer 2:25; Isa 57:10). And it was hopeless because of the stubbornness of their evil hearts, which meant that they were not prepared to listen to God but would choose rather to walk according to their own devices. Their heels were dug in against obeying God because they were sinful and obstinate, something equally reflected in our own day.
Jer 18:13
“Therefore thus says YHWH,
Ask you now among the nations. Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done a very dreadful thing.”
YHWH then calls on all observers to ask among the nations whether they have ever heard of such things as the behaviour of Israel/Judah. Let them recognise that ‘the virgin of Israel’ has done a very dreadful thing. The contrast between ‘virgin’ and ‘dreadful thing’ is deliberate in order to bring out the greatness of her sin. For a virgin to lose her virginity outside of marriage in those days was a terrible thing (even though the menfolk did not feel the same about themselves). The description ‘virgin of Israel’ looks back to the period when Israel/Judah were pure in the wilderness immediately after leaving Egypt. At that stage their ways had been pure and they had not been involved in idolatry. It may well also be that in their better times, when they had at times refrained from idolatry they had actually gained a jeering reputation among their neighbours as ‘the virgin of Israel’ because of their seeming fastidiousness.
But now the virgin of Israel has done a dreadful thing, she has turned away from the true source of her spiritual life (Jer 2:12-13 – note the same shocked tone there) and has consorted with idols and their sexually depraved worship. She has lost her spiritual virginity. For a similar idea to that of Judah as ‘the virgin of Israel’ compare Jer 2:2-3; Jer 6:2; Jer 14:17; Isa 1:8. She is being pictured in her initial purity when her whole heart was set on YHWH (Exo 19:5-6).
Jer 18:14
“Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rocky surface of the mountainside (‘field’)?
Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?
Her falling away from the source of her spiritual life, her well-spring of living water, and the seeming impossibility of it actually occurring is put in vivid terms. It is to be seen as being rationally impossible, in the same way as it would be rationally impossible for the snows of the mountains of Lebanon not to provide refreshing streams down their rolling slopes. It is as unlikely as the cold waters from Mount Hermon (from afar, outside the land) failing to feed the Jordan (within the land) because (impossibly) they have dried up, or the Sudanese mountains failing to feed the Nile for the same reason.
Jer 18:15
“For my people have forgotten me,
They have burned incense to what is false,
And they have been made to stumble in their ways,
In the ancient paths,
To walk in bypaths,
In a way not built (cast) up.”
But the shocking and dreadful thing is that that is precisely what the virgin of Israel has done. They have forgotten YHWH, the source of their spiritual life, and have gone after other supposed sources of life. They have burned incense to what is false, they have been made to stumble in their ways by the attractions of idolatry, they have left the security of the built up high road and have chosen the ancient paths, the rough by-paths which have not been upraised and are not safe. (The King’s Highway, the main trade route east of Jordan, and other similar roads, were built up so as to be a raised causeway above their surrounds).
Jer 18:16
“To make their land an astonishment,
And a perpetual hissing,
Every one who passes by it will be astonished,
And they will shake his head.”
And as a result Judah have made their land something to be astonished at because of their folly, something to be permanently hissed at (like the villain in a fairy tale), so that everyone who passes by will shake their heads in astonishment, and ask, how could they have done such a thing?
Jer 18:17
“I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy,
I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.”
And as a consequence YHWH will bring their enemy against them like an east wind, a wind that sears and burns like the parching east wind from the desert (compare Jon 4:8; Psa 48:7; Isa 27:8). And when He does this, and they cry to Him for help as the calamity comes on them, He will turn His back on them, showing His back and not His face, in the same way as they had previously done to Him (Jer 2:27). (To have His face turned towards them would have indicated that He was there to assist them).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Parable Further Applied
v. 11. Now, therefore, go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, v. 12. And they said, v. 13. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, v. 14. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? v. 15. Because My people hath forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, v. 16. to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing, v. 17. I will scatter them as with an east wind, v. 18. Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah, v. 19. Give heed to me, O Lord, v. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good? v. 21. Therefore, v. 22. Let a cry be heard from their houses, v. 23. Yet, Lord, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PARABLE IN THE POSITIVE SENSE
Jer 18:11-17
11And now speak indeed4 to the men of Judah,
And to5 the inhabitants [citizens] of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith Jehovah: Behold!
I frame evil against you, and think thoughts against you:
Turn ye now, each from his evil way,
And reform your ways and your works.
12But they will say: No use!6 but our thoughts we will follow,
And will practise, each according to the obstinacy7 of his wicked heart.
13Therefore thus saith Jehovah:
Inquire now among the nations, who hath heard the like?
The virgin Israel hath done a very horrible thing.8
14Ceases9 from the rock of the field the snow of Lebanon?
Or do the strong,10 cool, rippling waters dry up?
15That my people forgat me and burned incense to vanity,
And made them stumble in their ways, the ancient paths,11
To walk in roads of an unleveled way,
16To make their land a desolation,
An object of everlasting derision?12
He who only passes through will be astounded at it,
And will shake his head.13
17Like the east wind will I scatter them before the enemy;
Back not face will I show them in the day of their fall.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
After it had been shown in Jer 18:5-10 that the Lord was not bound by His promises with respect to the people, but has as much freedom as the potter with respect to the clay, He now makes the positive application of this parable. He declares what, like a potter, he is about to form, viz., calamity. The expression , Jer 18:11, is the only point in which this strophe supports itself on the preceding parable, for in what follows there is no further reference to it. To the brief application and exposition of this word, is attached an exhortation to repentance and reformation (Jer 18:11 b), to which the people answer with stubborn rejection (Jer 18:12). On account of this unheard of (Jer 18:13), and unnatural apostasy (Jer 18:14-15), desolation, dispersion and flight are again announced to the people as the divine punishment (Jer 18:16-17).
Jer 18:11-12. And now speak wicked heart.And now introduces the transition, after the basis has been laid for the proper object of the discourse. It has been shown that the Lord can form what He will, it is now positively declared, that He will frame evil.I frame (). In the transferred sense the word is used also in Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26; Isa 46:11; Jer 33:2.Think. Comp Jer 49:30. The words from turn to way, are found verbatim in Jer 25:5; Jer 35:15. In the last passage is found also the rest of the verse with the exception of , your works. Comp. Jer 7:3; Jer 26:13.
Jer 18:13-17. Therefore thus day of their fall. From the peremptory declaration which Israel made in Jer 18:12, it is concluded that this nation has rendered itself guilty of unfaithfulness, the like of which is found neither in history (Jer 18:13), nor in nature (Jer 18:14).Inquire now. Comp. Jer 2:10-11.Virgin. Comp. Amo 5:2; Jer 31:4; Jer 31:21.Ceases, etc. According to the connection the prophet can only mean to adduce a fact in natural history which forms a parallel to the historical fact that a nation has never forsaken its gods. In general it is plain that he has chosen, as the example from natural history, the perennial connection of the snow on Lebanon, and of the fresh abundant springs, with the . But what is this? Disregarding the various arbitrary and forced explanations, two views may be here considered. According to one it is Mt. Zion, according to the other, Mt. Lebanon itself. It is in favor of the former. 1. That Zion in Jer 17:3 appears under the designation , and in Jer 21:13 as . 2. That in Psa 133:3 also the dew of Hermon, which descends on Mt. Zion, is spoken of, and in Pro 25:23 it is said: the north wind brings [Eng. Vers.: driveth away] rain. 3. That the expression snow of Lebanon intimates that the rock of the plain is not identical with Lebanon. On the other hand it may be objected to this explanation: 1. That a connection between the snow of Lebanon and the springs of Zion is very dubious. In a bold poetical figure the extension of the dew of Hermon over the whole land even to Zion, may be spoken of, but here a fact in natural history is treated of, which must have been familiar to the Israelites, and which must have set before them a clear representation of natural and most intimate union. Now other traces show that the Israelites acknowledged the sea to be the true and proper source of rain and moisture for the land, which it also is in fact (comp. 1Ki 18:44-45; Luk 12:54; Winer, R. W. B, s. v., Winde;Raumer, Palst. S. 91). Hence in Palestine the rainy winds are the West and South-west, which the Arabs also call the fathers of the rain. In Pro 25:23 the north-west wind is probably to be understood by , since the north wind, as with us, is cold, producing frost (Job 37:9-10; Sir 43:20). 2. In Jer 17:3 is a designation of the whole land, for it is not=my mountain set in the plain (as antithesis between mountain and plain) but my mountain together with the plain (antithesis between the sanctuary and the rest of the country inhabited and cultivated by men. Comp. the Comm.). The passage Jer 21:13 also does not enter into comparison with this. For there evidently not Mt. Zion, but the house of David, is to be understood, of which it is said that it is like a rock in a valley, eminent above the surrounding level, whereby it is intended to designate, not the topographical position of Zion, but the relation of the kings house to his subjects. 3. That it is not said, Ceases the snow from the rock of the field, from Lebanon? but ceases the snow of Lebanon? etc., is certainly remarkable and in other circumstances would be a strong proof that the prophet wished to distinguish the rock and the mountain. For Lebanon alone presented to them the picture of a snowcapped mountain, and all the snow they had came from it. Add to this, that Lebanon was originally an appellative and signifies albedo (comp. Alpes, which were so called ab albis nivibus) whence there appears to me to be a play upon words in Lebanon: the Lebanon snow and the white snow. The absence of the article favors this, for if Lebanon were regarded merely as a proper name, it would require the article. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 71, 4 b. [So Henderson.S. R. A.].In favor of the other view, according to which is Lebanon itself, Isaiah 1. that the perennial snow of a mountain, like Lebanon, which though in a hot climate is never free from snow, and on which the snow seems to have lost its peculiar quality of disappearing rapidly, is particularly adapted to serve as an emblem of the most faithful adherence. It seems as though Tacitus had this passage in view, when he wrote (Hist. V., 6): Prcipuum montium Libanum erigit, mirum dictu, tantos inter ardores opacum fidumque nivibus. Idem amnem Jordanem alit fanditque. Comp. J. D. Mich., Observ. in Jer., p. 161.Add to this that 2. the expression used of Lebanon seems particularly appropriate in this connection. For not only may Lebanon be mentioned as an isolated far-looking summit, but especially also as a protecting wall for the plains, which wards off the northerly storms and at the same time mitigates the heat. And is not this protecting wall of the plains an excellent emblem of the , which is spoken of in Isa 26:4, and of the , in Isa 30:29? The snow never forsakes the , but Israel, changeable as the snow, easily forsakes the !Dry up. The meaning of tearing out, uprooting, which includes, is not inappropriate if taken in the figurative sense. The change into [dry up], which perhaps lies at the basis of the old translations, with the exception of the Vulgate, and which is supported on Isa 19:5; Isa 41:17; Jer 51:30, is therefore unnecessary.Waters. The wealth of springs on Lebanon is well known. The traveler Korte assures us that nowhere did he see such large and numerous springs as on Lebanon. Vid.Raumer, Palst., S. 30. In Son 4:15 also the rippling waters of Lebanon are used as a comparison. The thought of the prophet is that as the snow covers Lebanon perpetually above, so the flow of waters at its foot is also perpetual. For the snow is the source of the springs. The expression therefore seems to have been chosen purposely to indicate the connection between the snow and the waters of Lebanon. An uprooting of the waters would be caused by the cessation of the snow. Comp. Hitzig on the passage.Cold (, comp. Pro 25:25; Pro 17:27) needs no change; the meaning cold is perfectly appropriate.Rippling, , comp. Exo 15:8; Isa 44:3; Psa 78:16; Pro 5:15; Son 4:15.That my people, etc. This gives the reason why the questions in Jer 18:13-14 have been put. Since the people have forgotten Him (Jer 2:32), the Lord looks about to see whether anything similar occurs elsewhere. Comp. Psa 8:5.Made them stumble. The nominative is the collective idea of the idols designated by , vanity. [Henderson: false prophets and idolatrous priests.S. R. A.] Comp. 2Ch 28:23.When Hitzig and Graf maintain that the old ways were not good, for even the fathers of the Israelites had sinned from ancient times by idolatry (Jer 2:32; Jer 7:25-26; Jer 11:10), they forget that the good ways are more ancient than the people of Israel. Even if Israel since the exodus from Egypt had not served the Lord (which after Jer 2:2 not withstanding Jer 7:25 is not to be maintained too unconditionally), yet the way of Jehovah was the way everlasting (Jer 6:16), and Israels true and proper way, for their fathers at any rate served the God who from them is called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the fathers way is de jure that of the children.To walk, etc., is the immediate and first consequence of the effect designated by made to stumble, while to make a desolation, Jer 18:16, denotes the mediate consequence.Like the east wind. Comp. Exo 14:21; Psa 48:8; Isa 27:8; Hos 13:15; Joh 4:8.Back, etc. Comp. Jer 2:27.
Footnotes:
[4]Jer 18:11.[Henderson: I charge thee. Blayney: I pray thee.S. R. A.]
[5]Jer 18:11.On the change of to , comp. Textual Note2 on Jer 10:1.
[6]Jer 18:12., Niph. part, of , to despair. Comp. Comm. on Jer 2:25. [Henderson: It is hopeless. Blayney: It is a thing not to be hoped.]
[7]Jer 18:12.. The expression is found here only as the object of , elsewhere always with or after (comp. Jer 3:17; Jer 9:13; Jer 16:12; Jer 7:24; Jer 11:8; Jer 13:10; Jer 23:17).
[8]Jer 18:13.. This form is found here only. Comp. Hos 6:10; Jer 5:30; Jer 23:14.
[9]Jer 18:14.There is no other instance of the construction in , for is used transitively even in Gen 24:27. Should we not perhaps read instead of ? is not merely circumvallatio, but also munimentum, arx, turris. Comp. Hab 2:1. Gesen. Thes., p. 1161.
[10]Jer 18:14.Instead of , which certainly affords no satisfactory meaning, the LXX. seems to have read , the proud, splendid. So also Meier in comparison with , Psa 124:5. Ewald (and after him Graf) derives from , to press. This word, however, signifies constrinxit, compressit, and the meaning to press forth is a bare assumption. If the word is to be altered, it is then better to agree with Meier. [ from , to compress, straiten, is descriptive of streams, as contracted within narrow channels, while descending through the gorges and defiles of the rocks. The use of the verb . Arab, nazal, discendit loco, confirms this view. Henderson. Hitzig renders strange, as coming from afar, in the sense of the A. V., and refers to the unknown source of the pool of Siloam, etc.S. R. A.]
[11]Jer 18:15.The form here only in the Chethibh; Psa 77:20. The word does not recur.
[12]Jer 18:16.. This form here only; in Jdg 5:16. In Jeremiah only occurs elsewhere: Jer 19:8; Jer 25:9; Jer 25:18; Jer 29:18; Jer 51:37.
[13]Jer 18:16. . Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 69, 1. Anm. 2. The expression occurs here only. Comp. Psa 44:15; Psa 22:8; Psa 109:25.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Jer 18:11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Ver. 11. Behold, I frame evil against you. ] As the potter frameth his vessel on the wheel.
Return ye now.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
men. Hebrew ish.
I frame = I work (as the potter in Jer 18:3)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 18:11-12
Jer 18:11
JUDAH’S PLACE IN THE ANALOGY
Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
This verse confirms absolutely the paragraph we have just written above it.
I frame evil against you. devise a device against you …..
(Jer 18:11). Henderson rendered this, I am meditating a calamity against you, and forming a plan against you. This shows that the status of God’s Israel at this time was that of a nation which God had purposed to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy. This accounts for the accompanying demand that Israel repent and turn from their wickedness. It is still not too late for them to avert the wrath of God, but the time is growing short indeed.
Jer 18:12
JUDAH REFUSES TO REPENT
But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
“Alas, it was too late; they had gone too far in following the stubbornness of their evil heart; they could only reply, We will follow our own plans.”
The clay simply would not conform to the Potter’s will; and the only options he had were: (1) to cast them off altogether, or (2) design them as a vessel unto dishonor. It was an act of mercy that God chose the second option.
Why will men deliberately reject God’s call to repentance? The obvious answer lies in their unwillingness to be restrained in any manner. They will live free lives, they say; but, like the prodigal son of the parable, they will inevitably find that there are restraints also in that evil world they have chosen, where some evil master will assign them their portion in the swine pens of this world. How free are they? “They call it liberty; but the man who is slave to his lusts and appetites is held in the worst of slaveries!”
The Proclamation to the People Jer 18:11-12
Great theological truths are not to be jealously guarded but freely shared with all who will receive them. So it is that Jeremiah is told to proclaim the great truth that he has discovered at the potters house. The Lord is in the process of forming (Hebrew participle) and planning the destruction of the nation. The verb translated form is identical with the word translated potter in the preceding verses. No doubt the verb has been deliberately selected here to suggest the connection between what is now said and the episode of the potter just described. Just as the potter crushed the marred vessel in his hand and began anew, so God is about to destroy Judah and start all over again. In view of this impending disaster God pleads through his prophet for the people to repent (Jer 18:11). It is not too late if they will only turn to God. The men of Judah respond to this last-ditch effort to secure their repentance in the same language which they used in Jer 2:25. It is hopeless, they say. The mood here is not one of despondency but one of defiance. The leaders are warning the prophet that it is useless for him to continue trying to convert them. They are saying in Jer 18:12, We have chosen our path and we will continue to walk in it regardless of what you say the consequences will be.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
go to: Gen 11:3, Gen 11:4, Gen 11:7, 2Ki 5:5, Isa 5:5, Jam 4:13, Jam 5:1
and devise: Jer 18:18, Jer 4:23, Jer 11:19, Jer 51:11, Mic 2:3
return: Jer 3:1, Jer 3:22, Jer 7:3, Jer 25:5, Jer 26:3, Jer 26:13, Jer 35:15, Jer 36:3, Jer 36:7, 2Ki 17:13, 2Ki 22:13, Isa 1:16-19, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Lam 3:39-41, Eze 13:22, Eze 18:23, Eze 18:30-32, Zec 1:3, Act 26:20
Reciprocal: 2Ch 18:22 – and the Lord Jer 25:2 – General Jer 36:6 – the words Lam 2:17 – done Eze 12:3 – it may Hos 7:13 – spoken Zec 1:4 – Turn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 18:11. The preceding verses of the chapter describe a special communication between God and Jeremiah in which some very Important principles of divine dealing were set out before the prophet. This verse instructs him to deliver the message to the people. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah and hence they are named together frequently as in this passage. Frame evil is used in the sense of something unpleasant but not in the sense of wrong as the word evil usually means. Return ye is another instance of exhortation for reformation of life and calls for the distinction between the nation as a whole and certain individuals in it.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 18:11-12. Now therefore speak to the men of Judah The Lord now commands his prophet to make a particular application of the more general doctrine which he had before delivered. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against you I have a work upon the wheel, which, when finished, will effect your ruin; it is therefore your wisdom now to return from your evil ways, and make your doings good. And they said, There is no hope Thou dost but labour in vain in talking to us. We will walk after our own devices We will proceed forward in our old course; and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart It cannot be supposed that they would call the imaginations of their hearts evil; nor does the prophet mean that they actually expressed themselves in these words; but this was the language of their conduct. They gave evident proof that they were determined to continue in their sins.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord told Jeremiah to tell the people that He was planning to bring calamity on them and that they should repent.