Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 18:18
Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
18. they ] the prophet’s enemies, who are plotting against his life. Cp. Jer 11:18 ff., Jer 12:1 ff., Jer 15:10 f., 15 ff.
the law shall not perish ] See on ch. Jer 8:8. Cp. Eze 7:26 (last part of v.). “The wise” were those who composed such sayings as we find in Proverbs. The sense is that the people refuse to believe Jeremiah’s warnings that the established state of things shall cease.
smite him with the tongue ] utter destructive slanders about him. Cp. Amo 7:10 f.
let us not give heed ] LXX omit the negative. The sense would then be, Let us watch him, so as to fasten on him a charge of treason. Cp. Jer 20:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
18 23. See introd. note to section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Jews were only hardened by the foregoing prophecy, and determined to compass Jeremiahs death.
Let us devise devices – i. e., deliberately frame a plot for his ruin (see Jer 18:11 note).
The law shall not perish … – As the Law of Moses was imperishable, the people probably drew the conclusion that the Levitical priesthood must also endure forever, and therefore that Jeremiahs predictions of national ruin were blasphemous (compare Act 6:13-14).
Let us smite him with the tongue – Their purpose was to carry a malicious report of what he had said to king Jehoiakim, and so stir up his anger against him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 18:18
Come, and let us smite him With the tongue.
The reformers task difficult and dangerous
If there were a hundred violins together, all playing below concert pitch, and I should take a real Cremona, and with the hand of a Paganini should bring it strongly up to the true key, and then should sweep my bow across it like a storm, and make it sound forth clear and resonant, what a demoniac jargon would the rest of the playing seem! Yet the other musicians would be enraged at me. They would think all the discord was mine, and I should be to them a demoniac. So it is with reformers. The world thinks the discord is with them, and not in its own false playing. (H. W. Beecher.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. Come, and let us devise devices] Let us form a conspiracy against him, accuse him of being a false prophet, and a contradicter of the words of God, for God has promised us protection, and he says we shall be destroyed, and that God will forsake his people.
Let us smite him with the tongue] ON the tongue; so it should be rendered. Lying and false testimony are punished in the eastern countries, to the present day, by smiting the person on the mouth with a strong piece of leather like the sole of a shoe. Sometimes a bodkin is run through the tongue. Blasphemy, calumny, and cursing of parents, are usually punished in that way among the Chinese.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This faithful dealing of the prophet with them did only enrage them (as is usual) against the prophet; they plot against the prophet, how to be revenged on him, because he would cross their humours, and would not prophesy as they would have had him.
For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet; we have the church on our side; the regular priests and the prophets, they know Gods mind as well as he; for there is a promise that the law shall not perish from the priest, nor the word from the prophet; the priests and prophets tell us other things than this Jeremiah doth.
Let us smite him with the tongue, expose him by railing on him, telling lies about concerning him, representing him to be what we know the people hate, abusing him to his face, informing against him; or, in the tongue, let us silence him, command him to speak no more; or, for his tongue, for prophesying at this rate; and for his
words, let us not value them at a rush, nor at all regard them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. (Jer11:19). Let us bring a capital charge against him, as a falseprophet; “for (whereas he foretells that this land shall be leftwithout priests to teach the law, Mal2:7; without scribes to explain its difficulties; and withoutprophets to reveal God’s will), the law shall not perish from theprophet,” c. since God has made these a lasting institution inHis church, and the law declares they shall never perish (Lev 6:18;Lev 10:11; compare Jer5:12) [GROTIUS].
the wisescribes andelders joined to the priests. Perhaps they mean to say, we must haveright on our side, in spite of Jeremiah’s words against us and ourprophets (Jer 28:15; Jer 28:16;Jer 29:25; Jer 29:32;Jer 5:31); “for the lawshall not perish,” c. I prefer GROTIUS’explanation.
with . . . tongueby afalse accusation (Psa 57:4Psa 64:3; Psa 12:4;Psa 50:19). “For the tongue”(Margin), that is, for his speaking against us. “In thetongue,” that is, let us kill him, that he may speak no moreagainst us [CASTALIO].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said they, come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah,…. Being enraged at the judgments threatened them, they propose to enter into a confederacy and consultation together, to think of ways and means to stop the mouth of the prophet, and even to take away his life; since he had told them that God had devised a device against them, they were for devising devices against him; that so they might walk after their own devices, without being teased and tormented with this prophet:
for the law shall not perish from the priest; whose business it is to teach it; we have other priests besides Jeremiah, and we shall seek the law at their mouths, and not at his; and perhaps these are the words of the priests themselves, the men of Anathoth; so Jarchi thinks; pleasing themselves with their character and office, and the perpetuity of it; that, notwithstanding what Jeremiah had said, there would be a constant succession of this order of then; nor should the law ever cease from being aught by them, to whose instruction men ought to listen, and not to such a prophet:
nor counsel from the wise; we have wise rulers and governors, counsellors of state, and members of the sanhedrim, and judges of all controversies, and who are capable of giving advice upon any occasion; nor shall we ever want such, to whose prudent counsel we do well to attend, and not to what this babbling man says; does he think to know better than our statesmen and sages, our counsellors in church and state?
nor the word from the prophet; we have prophets among us, that prophesy as well as he, and better things; and whose words of prophecy shall be fulfilled, when his will not; who assure us that we shall have peace and prosperity; and therefore let us not regard what this man says, or be intimidated by his threatenings:
come, and let us smite him with the tongue; by saying all the evil we can of him: by threatening him with pains and penalties; by loading him with reproaches and calumnies; by taking away his good name, and lessening his character and reputation among the people; and so the Targum,
“let us bear false witness against him;”
or, “let us smite him in the tongue” c; cut it out, as Abarbinel; or stop his mouth, and hinder him from speaking any more in this manner to the people; or, “let us smite him for the tongue” d; because of the words he says, or the prophecies he delivers out:
and let us not give heed to any of his words; or, “to all his words” e; all which they reckoned his own, and not the words of the Lord. The Septuagint version is, “and we shall hear all his words”; we shall provoke him to say all he has to say, and shall hear and have enough out of his mouth to condemn him; and in all this, and in many other things that follow, Jeremiah was a type of Christ, to whom Jerom applies the whole passage.
c “in lingua”, Montanus, Castalio. d Propter “linguam istam”, Junius Tremellius. e “ad omnia verba ejus”, Gataker “ad universa verba ejus”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Enmity displayed against the prophet by the people for this discourse, and prayer for protection from his enemies. – Jer 18:18. “Then said they: Come and let us plot schemes against Jeremiah; for law shall not be lost to the priest, and counsel to the wise, and speech to the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue and not give heed to all his speeches. Jer 18:19. Give heed to me, Jahveh, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me! Jer 18:20. Shall evil be repaid for good, that they dig a pit for my soul? Remember how I stood before Thee to speak good for them, to turn away Thy wrath from them! Jer 18:21. Therefore give their sons to the famine and deliver them to the sword, that their wives become childless and widows, and their men slaughtered by death, their young men smitten by the sword in battle. Jer 18:22. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when Thou bringest troops upon them suddenly; for they have digged a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet. Jer 18:23. But Thou Jahveh knowest all their counsels against me for death: forgive not their iniquity and blot not out their sin from before Thy face, that they be overthrown before Thee; in the time of Thine anger deal with them.” Even the solemn words (Jer 18:15-17) of the prophet were in vain. Instead of examining themselves and reforming their lives, the blinded sinners resolve to put the troublesome preacher of repentance out of the way by means of false charges. The subject of “and they said” is those who had heard the above discourse; not all, of course, but the infatuated leaders of the people who had. They call on the multitude to plot schemes against him, cf. Jer 11:18. For they have, as they think, priests, wise men, and prophets to give them instruction out of the law, counsel, and word, i.e., prophecy – namely, according to their idea, such as advise, teach, and preach otherwise than Jeremiah, who speaks only of repentance and judgment. Recent scholars render doctrine, which is right etymologically, but not so when judged by the constant usage, which regards the Torah, the law, as containing the substance of all the doctrine needed by man to tell him how to bear himself towards God, or to make his life happy. The Mosaic law is the foundation of all prophetic preaching; and that the speakers mean in this sense is clear from their claiming the knowledge of the Torah as belonging to the priests; the law was committed to the keeping and administration of the priests. The “counsel” is that needed for the conduct of the state in difficult circumstances, and in Eze 7:26 it is attributed to the elders; and “speech” or word is the declarations of the prophets. On that subject, cf. Jer 8:8-10. To smite with the tongue is to ruin by slanders and malicious charges, cf. Jer 9:2, Jer 9:4, Jer 9:7, where the tongue is compared to a lying bow and deadly arrow, Psa 64:4., Psa 59:8, etc. That they had the prophet’s death in view appears from Jer 18:23; although their further speech: We will not give heed to his words, shows that in the discourse against which they were so enraged, he had said “nothing that, according to their ideas, was directly and immediately punishable with death” (Hitz.); cf. Jer 26:6, Jer 26:11. Against these schemes Jeremiah cries to God in Jer 18:19 for help and protection. While his adversaries are saying: People should give no heed to his speeches, he prays the Lord to give heed to him and to listen to the sayings of his enemies. “My contenders,” who contend against me, cf. Jer 35:1; Isa 49:25. – In support of his prayer he says in Jer 18:20: Shall evil be repaid for good? cf. Psa 35:12. In his discourses he had in view nothing but the good of the people, and he appeals to the prayers he had presented to the Lord to turn away God’s anger from the people, cf. Jer 14:7., Jer 18:19-22. (On “my standing before Thee,” cf. Jer 15:1.) This good they seek to repay with ill, by lying charges to dig a pit for his soul, i.e., for his life, into which pit he may fall; cf. Psa 57:7, where, however, instead of (Jer 2:6; Pro 22:14; Pro 23:27), we have , as in Jer 18:22, Chet. – He prays the Lord to requite them for this wickedness by bringing on the people that which Jeremiah had sought to avert, by destroying them with famine, sword, and disease. The various kinds of death are, Jer 18:21, distributed rhetorically amongst the different classes of the people. The sons, i.e., children, are to be given up to the famine, the men to the sword, the young men to the sword in war. The suffix on refers to the people, of which the children are mentioned before, the men and women after. On , cf. Eze 35:5; Psa 63:11. “Death,” mentioned alongside of sword and famine, is death by disease and pestilence, as in Jer 15:2.
Jer 18:22 To the terrors of the war and the siege is to be added the cry rising from all the houses into which hostile troops have burst, plundering and massacring. To lay snares, as in Psa 140:6; Psa 142:4. is the spring of the bird-catcher.
Jer 18:23 Comprehensive summing up of the whole prayer. As the Lord knows their design against him for his death, he prays Him not to forgive their sin, but to punish it. The form instead of (Neh 13:14) is the Aramaic form for , like , Jer 3:6; cf. Ew. 224, c. The Chet. is the regular continuation of the imperative: and let them be cast down before Thee. The Keri would be: that they may be cast down before Thee. Hitz. wrongly expounds the Chet.: but let them be fallen before Thee (in Thine eyes), i.e., morally degraded sinners; for the question is not here one of moral degradation, but of the punishment of sinners. In the time of Thine anger, i.e., when Thou lettest loose Thy wrath, causest Thy judgments to come down, deal with them, i.e., with their transgressions. On , cf. Dan 11:7.
On this prayer of the prophet to God to exterminate his enemies Hitz. remarks: “The various curses which in his bitter indignation he directs against his enemies are at bottom but the expression of the thought: Now may all that befall them which I sought to avert from them.” The Hirschberg Bible takes a deeper grasp of the matter: “It is no prayer of carnal vengeance against those that hated him, Jer 18:18, Jer 18:23, Psa 9:18; Psa 55:16; but as God had commanded him to desist (Jer 14:11, Jer 14:12) from the prayers he had frequently made for them, Jer 18:20, and as they themselves could not endure these prayers, Jer 18:18, he leaves them to God’s judgments which he had been already compelled to predict to them, Jer 11:22; Jer 14:12, Jer 14:16, without any longer resisting with his entreaties, Luk 13:9; 2Ti 4:14.” In this observation that clause only is wrong which says Jeremiah merely leaves the wicked to God’s judgments, since he, on the other hand, gives them up thereto, prays God to carry out judgment on them with the utmost severity. In this respect the present passage resembles the so-called cursing psalms (Psa 35:4-10; Psa 109:6-20; Psa 59:14-16; Psa 69:26-29, etc.); nor can we say with Calvin: hanc vehementiam, quoniam dictata fuit a spiritu sancto, non posse damnari, sed non debere trahi in exemplum, quia hoc singulare fuit in propheta . For the prophet’s prayer is no inspired , but the wish and utterance of his heart, for the fulfilment of which he cries to God; just as in the psalms cited. On these imprecations, cf. Del. on Ps 35 and 109; as also the solid investigation of this point by Kurtz: Zur Theologie der Ps. IV. die Fluch-und Rachepsalmen in the Dorpat Ztschr. f. Theol. u. Kirche , vii. (1865), S. 359ff. All these curses are not the outcome and effusions of personal vengeance against enemies, but flow from the pure spring of a zeal, not self-regarding at all, for the glory of God. The enemies are God’s enemies, despisers of His salvation. Their hostility against David and against Jeremiah was rooted in their hostility against God and the kingdom of God. The advancement of the kingdom of God, the fulfilment of the divine scheme of salvation, required the fall of the ungodly who seek the lives of God’s servants. In this way we would seek to defend such words of cursing by appealing to the legal spirit of the Old Testament, and would not oppose them to the words of Christ, Luk 9:55. For Christ tells us why He blamed the Elias-like zeal of His disciples in the words: “The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” In keeping with this, the peculiar end of Christ’s coming on earth, we find no curses from Him against His enemies and the enemies of the kingdom of God. But just as the word, “I am not come,” etc. (Luk 9:56), does not exclude the truth that the Father hath given all judgment to Him, so, as Kurtz very justly remarks, “from our hearing no word of cursing from the mouth of Christ during His life on earth we cannot infer the absolute inadmissibleness of all such; still less can we infer that Christ’s apostles and disciples could not at all be justified in using any words of cursing.” And the apostles have indeed uttered curses against obdurate enemies: so Peter against Simon the Magian, Act 8:20; Paul against the high priest Ananias, Act 23:3, against the Jewish false teachers, Gal 1:9 and Gal 5:12, and against Alexander the coppersmith, 2Ti 4:14. But these cases do not annihilate the distinction between the Old and the New Testaments. Since grace and truth have been revealed in Christ, the Old Testament standpoint of retribution according to the rigour of the law cannot be for us the standard of our bearing even towards the enemies of Christ and His kingdom.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Conduct of Persecutors; Prophetic Imprecations. | B. C. 600. |
18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. 19 Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. 20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. 21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. 23 Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
The prophet here, as sometimes before, brings in his own affairs, but very much for instruction to us.
I. See here what are the common methods of the persecutors. We may see this in Jeremiah’s enemies, v. 18.
1. They laid their heads together to consult what they should do against him, both to be revenged on him for what he had said and to stop his mouth for the future: They said, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. The enemies of God’s people and ministers have been often very crafty themselves, and confederate with one another, to do them mischief. What they cannot act to the prejudice of religion separately they will try to do in concert. The wicked plots against the just. Caiaphas, and the chief priests and elders, did so against our blessed Saviour himself. The opposition which the gates of hell give to the kingdom of heaven is carried on with a great deal of cursed policy. God had said (v. 11), I devise a device against you; and now, as if they resolved to be quits with him and to outwit Infinite Wisdom itself, they resolve to devise devices against God’s prophet, not only against his person, but against the word he delivered to them, which they thought by their subtle management to defeat. O the prodigious madness of those that hope to disannul God’s counsel!
2. Herein they pretended a mighty zeal for the church, which, they suggested, was in danger if Jeremiah was tolerated to preach as he did: “Come,” say they, “let us silence and crush him, for the law shall not perish from the priest; the law of truth is in their mouths (Mal. ii. 6) and there we will seek it; the administration of ordinances according to the law is in their hands, and neither the one nor the other shall be wrested from them. Counsel shall not perish from the wise; the administration of public affairs shall always be lodged with the privy-counsellors and ministers of state, to whom it belongs; nor shall the word perish from the prophets” –they mean those of their own choosing, who prophesied to them smooth things, and flattered them with visions of peace. Two things they insinuated:– (1.) That Jeremiah could not be himself a true prophet, but was a pretender and a usurper, because he neither was commissioned by the priests, nor concurred with the other prophets, whose authority therefore will be despised if he be suffered to go on. “If Jeremiah be regarded as an oracle, farewell the reputation of our priests, our wise men, and prophets; but that must be supported, which is reason enough why he must be suppressed.” (2.) That the matter of his prophecies could not be from God, because it reflected sometimes upon the prophets and priests; he had charged them with being the ringleaders of all the mischief (ch. v. 31) and deceiving the people (ch. xiv. 14); he had foretold that their heart should perish, and be astonished (ch. iv. 9), that the wise men should be dismayed (Jer 8:9; Jer 8:10), that the priests and prophets should be intoxicated, ch. xiii. 13. Now this galled them more than any thing else. Presuming upon the promise of God’s presence with their priests and prophets, they could not believe that he would ever leave them. The guides of the church must needs be infallible, and therefore he who foretold their being infatuated must be condemned as a false prophet. Thus, under colour of zeal for the church, have its best friends been run down.
3. They agreed to do all they could to blast his reputation: “Come, let us smite him with the tongue, put him into an ill name, fasten a bad character upon him, represent him to some as despicable and fit to be prosecuted, to all as odious and not fit to be tolerated.” This was their device, fortiter calumniari, aliquid adhrebit–to throw the vilest calumnies at him, in hopes that some would adhere to him. to dress him up in bearskins, otherwise they could not bait him. Those who projected this, it is likely, were men of figure, whose tongue was no small slander, whose representations, though ever so false, would be credited both by princes and people, to make him obnoxious to the justice of the one and the fury of the other. The scourge of such tongues will give not only smart lashes, but deep wounds; it is a great mercy therefore to be hidden from it, Job v. 21.
4. To set others an example, they resolved that they would not themselves regard any thing he said, though it appeared ever so weighty and ever so well confirmed as a message from God: Let us not give heed to any of his words; for, right or wrong, they will look upon them to be his words, and not the words of God. What good can be done with those who hear the word of God with a resolution not to heed it or believe it? Nay,
5. That they may effectually silence him, they resolve to be the death of him (v. 23): All their counsel against me is to slay me. They hunt for the precious life; and a precious life indeed it was that they hunted for. Long was this Jerusalem’s wretched character, Thou that killedst many of the prophets, and wouldst have killed them all.
II. See here what is the common relief of the persecuted. This we may see in the course that Jeremiah took when he met with this hard usage. He immediately applied to his God by prayer, and so gave himself ease.
1. He referred himself and his cause to God’s cognizance, v. 19. They would not regard a word he said, would not admit his complaints, nor take any notice of his grievances; but, Lord (says he), do thou give heed to me. It is matter of comfort to faithful ministers that, if men will not give heed to their praying. He appeals to God as an impartial Judge, that will hear both sides, as every judge ought to do. “Do not only give heed to me, but hearken to the voice of those that contend with me; hear what they have to say against me and for themselves, and then make it to appear that thou sittest in the throne, judging right. Hear the voice of my contenders, how noisy and clamorous they are, how false and malicious all they say is, and let them be judged out of their own mouth; cause their own tongues to fall upon them.“
2. He complains of their base ingratitude to him (v. 20): “Shall evil be recompensed for good, and shall it go unpunished? Wilt not thou recompense me good for that evil?” 2 Sam. xvi. 12. To render good for good is human, evil for evil is brutish, good for evil is Christian, but evil for good is devilish; it is so very absurd and wicked a thing that we cannot think but God will avenge it. See how great the evil was that they did against him: They have dug a pit for my soul; they aimed to take away his life (no less would satisfy them), and that not in a generous way, by an open assault, against which he might have an opportunity of defending himself, but in a base, cowardly, clandestine way: they dug pits for him, which there was no fence against, Ps. cxix. 85. But see how great the good was which he had done for them: Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them; he had been an intercessor with God for them, had used his interest in heaven on their behalf, which was the greatest kindness they could expect from one of his character. He is a prophet and he shall pray for thee, Gen. xx. 7. Moses often did this for Israel, and yet they quarrelled with him, and sometimes spoke of stoning him. He did them this kindness when they were in imminent danger of destruction and most needed it. They had themselves provoked God’s wrath against them, and it was ready to break in upon them, but he stood in the gap (as Moses, Ps. cvi. 23) and turned away that wrath. Now, (1.) This was very base in them. Call a man ungrateful and you can call him no worse. But it was not strange that those who had forgotten their God did not know their best friends. (2.) It was very grievous to him, as the like was to David. Psa 35:13; Psa 109:4, For my love they are my adversaries. Thus disingenuously do sinners deal with the great intercessor, crucifying him afresh, and speaking against him on earth, while his blood is speaking for them in heaven. See John x. 32. But, (3.) It was a comfort to the prophet that, when they were so spiteful against him, he had the testimony of his conscience for him that he had done his duty to them; and the same will be our rejoicing in such a day of evil. The blood-thirsty hate the upright, but the just seek his soul, Prov. xxix. 10.
3. He imprecates the judgments of God upon them, not from a revengeful disposition, but in a prophetical indignation against their horrid wickedness, v. 21-23. He prays, (1.) That their families might be starved for want of bread: “Deliver up the children to the famine, to the famine in the country for want of rain, and that in the city through the straitness of the siege. Thus let this iniquity of the fathers be visited upon the children.” (2.) That they might be cut off by the sword of war, which, whatever it was in the enemy’s hand, would be, in God’s hand, a sword of justice: “Pour them out (so the word is) by the hands of the sword; let their blood be shed as profusely as water, that their wives may be left childless and widows, their husbands being taken away by death” (some think that the prophet refers to pestilence); let their young men, that are the strength of this generation and the hope of the next, be slain by the sword in battle. (3.) That the terrors and desolations of war might seize them suddenly and by surprise, that thus their punishment might answer to their sin (v. 22): “Let a cry be heard from their houses, loud shrieks, when thou shalt bring a troop of the Chaldeans suddenly upon them, to seize them and all they have, to make them prisoners and their estates a prey;” for thus they would have done by Jeremiah; they aimed to ruin him at once ere he was aware: “They have dug a pit for me, as for a wild beast, and have hid snares for me, as for some ravenous noxious fowl.” Note, Those that think to ensnare others will justly be themselves ensnared in an evil time. (4.) That they might be dealt with according to the desert of this sin, which was without excuse: “Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; that is, let them not escape the just punishment of it; let them lie under all the miseries of those whose sins are unpardoned.” (5.) That God’s wrath against them might be their ruin: Let them be overthrown before thee. This intimates that justice was in pursuit of them, that they endeavoured to make their escape from it, but in vain; “they shall be made to stumble in their flight, and being overthrown they will certainly be overtaken.” And then, Lord, in the time of thy anger, do to them (he does not say what he would have done to them, but) do to them as thou thinkest fit, as thou usest to do with those whom thou art angry with–deal thus with them. Now this is not written for our imitation. Jeremiah was a prophet, and by the impulse of the spirit of prophecy, in the foresight of the ruin certainly coming upon his persecutors, might pray such prayers as we may not; and, if we think by this example to justify ourselves in such imprecations, we know not what manner of spirit we are of; our Master has taught us, by his precept and pattern, to bless those that curse us and pray for those that despitefully use us. Yet it is written for our instruction, and is of use to teach us, [1.] That those who have forfeited the benefit of the prayers of God’s prophets for them may justly expect to have their prayers against them. [2.] That persecution is a sin that fills the measure of a people’s iniquity very fast, and will bring as sure and sore a destruction upon them as any thing. [3.] Those who will not be won upon by the kindness of God and his prophets will certainly at length feel the just resentments of both.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 18-23: A PLOT TO SILENCE THE VOICE OF WARNING
1. Weary of having their sins so persistently exposed, the rebels of Judah determine on such a conspiracy as will silence the voice of this faithful prophet, (vs.18,11; Jer 11:19).
a. They can conceive of no possible circumstance in which the nation would be left without guidance; they had capable leaders, without having to listen to such a disturbing voice as that of this FANATICAL PROPHETI (vs. 18b; comp. Jer 2:8; Jer 8:8-9; Jer 5:12-13; Mal 2:7).
b. Thus, they agreed to LAY THEIR TONGUES AGAINST THIS MAN – evidently bringing some serious political accusation (perhaps a charge of outright treason) against him, (Jer 20:10; Psa 52:25).
c. They even schemed to find some way whereby they might SLAY him, (vs. 23a).
d. Whatever else might develop, they would NOT HEED his words! (comp. Jer 43:1-3).
2. No wonder Jeremiah is so concerned that the Lord hear what they are plotting against him! (vs. 19).
a. His faithful warnings have been recompensed with evil; they have dug a pit for his very life! (vs. 20, 22; comp. Psa 35:7; Psa 57:56).
b. He has often stood before the Lord to plead their defense -to turn away the Lord’s anger from them, (comp. Psa 106:23).
3. At last he sees the absolute necessity of divine judgment, (Jer 11:21-23; Jer 14:16-17; comp. Psa 109:9-20).
4. More important than a call for personal vindication, Jeremiah’s concern is for the maintenance of the divine cause, as set forth in the principles to which the nation had pledged itself at Mt Sinai.
5. Thus, he not only ASSENTS TO DIVINE JUDGMENT, but URGES the manifestation of righteous indignation against the adversaries of Jehovah, his God I (comp. Psa 137:9).
6. And we need to understand that indignation and anger with sin is NOT INCONSISTENT with the Christian responsibility TO LOVE OUR ENEMIESI (Mat 5:44; Rom 12:20; Eph 4:16); to ignore sin is the first step toward accepting it!
May the Lord grant to His people hearts that desire to FLEE from the very APPEARANCE OF EVIL – while finding their greatest joy in yielding themselves fully to the rightful sovereignty of God over every area of their lives!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here Jeremiah relates how great was the fury which seized the minds of those on whom he had denounced the vengeance of God. It was no doubt a dreadthl thing to hear, that when they should be in a state of despair, no aid from God could be expected: for this is the import of what we have observed, — “In the day of their calamity I will shew them my back and not my face;” that is, “They shall see my back and not my face.” As then there was no hope of pardon remaining for them, was it not a monstrous stupidity not to be moved and humbled, when they saw that God was thus angry with them? But the Prophet shews, that his denunciation was heedlessly despised by them; nay, that there was such obstinacy in their wickedness, that they then more stoutly prepared themselves for battle. For he says that they avowedly conspired against him, after he had warned them of God’s dreadful judgment.
And he introduces them as encouraging one another, Come, and let us think thoughts against Jeremiah. We may observe what it was that they set up against God’s judgment, even their own counsels and purposes: this was in a word to transfer authority from God to themselves. They thus deprived God of his right, and sought to occupy his throne, as though they were the judges and could subject to their own will whatever the Prophet had declared. It is indeed probable, that they did not avowedly or designedly carry on war with God; for hypocrites raise up for themselves mists and clouds, by which they wilfully bring darkness on themselves. In the meantime a diabolical fury possesses them, so that they make no account of God; for were they really to consider the truth brought to them, they might easily understand it. Whence then is this violent fury and madness, that when they seek to contend with man, they really fight with God? Even because their impiety and pride, as I have said, so blinds them, that they hesitate not to rob God of his honor, and thus they put themselves in his place.
The same thing is to be seen now under the whole Papacy: for when they conspire among themselves to oppose plain truths, they do not ask at the mouth of God, nor regard anything taught in the Scriptures, but are satisfied with trumpeting forth their rotten decrees, or rather dreams, in which there is nothing, however futile, which they do not regard as an oracle: and when they bring forth their bulls, they think themselves sufficiently fortified, as though God were deprived of his own right. But this will appear more fully from the context.
They said, For perish shall not the law from the priest (204) This reason, which they added, shews whence that security arose, through which they hesitated not to reject the words of the Prophet: there were priests and prophets who occupied a place in the Church, and who boasted of their titles, though they were nothing but mere masks, having no care to possess what their calling required. Thus the vizarded priests were satisfied with an honorable vocation, and cared nothing for the account that was to be rendered to God: and thus in all ages hypocrites have abused the gifts of God. This is seen most clearly under the Papacy. For doubtless when all things are well examined, we find that the Pope and all his party mainly rely on these weapons; for when they are a hundred times conquered by proofs from Scripture, they still strenuously defend themselves with this one shield, — That the Church cannot err, that the Church is represented by the Pope, the bishops, and the whole clergy, and also that those whom they call prelates are successors of the Apostles: and so they boastingly thunder out a continual succession from Peter. They at length conclude, that the Church of Rome is the mother of all the faithful, and also that the Holy Spirit dwells there; for whosoever succeeds in the place of Peter and occupies his chair, is endued with the same spirit and the same authority. We hence see, that the Papists at this day contend with us with no other weapons than those with which all the ungodly reprobates assailed Jeremiah.
They said first, that it would be enough if they had their own thoughts, that is, if they resolved among themselves what was necessary to be done; for under the word thoughts, they included decrees as well as deliberations; as though they had said, — “We possess an ordinary jurisdiction; for God has set us over his Church: whatever then proceeds from us, ought to be deemed inviolable. The reason is, because the law cannot perish from the priest, and counsel cannot perish from the wise, nor the word from the Prophets.” These three things were very speciously brought against Jeremiah; nor could it have been denied, but that there were legitimate priests as to their vocation, that there was also a church, and that the elders, who were connected with the priests, justly boasted of their dignity; and lastly, that the people ever had their prophets. We hence see that they could have alleged very specious offenses against God’s Prophet, by which they might have easily deceived the simple. If a cornparison be made, doubtless the whole Papal system, cannot justly have any such pretensions; but they are far inferior to those of the Jews. For when they say that they represent the Church, that is disputed; and they are at length constrained to come to this point — to define what the Church is: and when it is settled what the Church is, we are then to inquire whether the bishops or prelates are legitimate. Now their calling is not founded on the word of God; for they are all schismatics; and this appears from their own canons, as there is among them, at this day, no canonical election. It then follows that their calling, of which they are so foolishly and arrogantly proud, comes to nothing. But let us allow them to be lawful ministers, and their calling to be approved according to God’s word, it does not yet hence follow that they are true ministers of God, that is, because they hold an ordinary station and jurisdiction in the Church. For we find that in all ages the Church of God has been subject to the evil of having wolves occupying the place of pastors, of having impious and perfidious men daring to oppose God in his own name.
As it thus happened formerly, neither the Pope nor all his masked bishops can shew any difference in the present day, why we ought not to dread wolves: how so?
“
There were formerly,” says the Apostle, “false prophets, so also there will be false teachers among you.” (2Pe 2:1)
He shews that at this time no less than formerly we ought to beware of false bishops, of false prophets, and of false teachers, however high their titles may be. When therefore the Papists vainly boast that the Church cannot err, they are justly objects of ridicule; for we see who those are whom they follow: as formerly the manifest enemies of God contended with Jeremiah, even so now they openly oppose God by this vain pretense only — they are priests, they are prophets, they are elders or presbyters, that is, they hold an ordinary jurisdiction. But this passage is sufficient to confute their folly; for they bring words instead of proof, and rely only on this argument — “The Church cannot err:” and what the Prophet relates further, “The law cannot perish from the priest,” means the same thing. But we find elsewhere what God threatened, even that a dreadful judgment was at hand, when the wise would become blind, when the priests and prophets would become foolish and fatuitous. (Hos 9:7; Isa 29:14.) But we may hence learn on what condition and for what purpose God everywhere honors the ministers and pastors of the Church with high eulogies: it is not certainly that they may be proud through a false pretense, but that they may faithfully execute their office.
However this may be, we see that it is a false confidence, when pastors allege that the law and the word or the truth, cannot depart from them, because they are, and are called priests.
They added, Come and let us smite him with the tongue. They again magnify their own authority, as the Papists do at this day, who, standing as it were on high, look down on us with contempt, and say, “We must not dispute with heretics, for things formerly settled, and which the Church has once decreed, must not be called in question.” For it seems very strange to them, and even unbecoming, when we ask a hearing and wish the controversies, by which the world is now disturbed, to be decided and removed, by the law, and the prophets, and the gospel. “What! are then the Church’s decrees to be reduced to nothing? The Scripture is a nose of wax; it has nothing sure or certain; it can be twisted to favor any party, and hypocrites always pervert the word of God; and therefore it follows that there is nothing certain or clear in the Scripture.” This is to smite with the tongue, as we see to have been done to Jeremiah, — “Why should we dispute with that man, who so daringly threatens us, as though he was superior to others? but he is only one of the people; what need then of long disputation; for we have authority, and it will be enough by one word to determine, that whatever he brings is to be rejected. There is then no reason why we should weary ourselves by a long contest; for our tongue, as they say, decisively settles what is right.”
We see how the ungodly dared to set forward their own decrees, by which they tried to overwhelm the prophetic word and to take away the authority of Jeremiah. Whenever then men thus elevate themselves, so as to seek to smite God’s servants with the tongue, and to suppress his word when spoken by them, we understand how to regard them, and what weight belongs to all their decrees or dceterminations. (205)
But the end of this verse shews more clearly how wantonly they despised every truth; for it is a proof of hopeless contumacy when no attention is paid to the prophetic word: Let us not attend, they said; that is, “Let us not care for what he says, and let us boldly despise whatever he may speak.” The Prophet, as I have said, meant by this expression to shew, that they were so blinded by a diabolical impulse, that they hesitated not to reject whatever proceeded from God, to close their ears and designedly to neglect it, as is usual with the wholly wicked. No less contempt is now to be seen under the Papacy; for were they calmly to hear us, were they to consider with tranquil minds and meek hearts what we allege, doubtless the matter would soon be settled between us. But their only resolution is, not to hear; for they are content with this fallacious prejudice, — that as they represent the Church, it is in their power to condemn whatever we say, and that when they have condemned us, there is no need of any disputation.
But we are hence reminded, that when men are guilty of many vices, there is yet some hope of salvation remaining, provided they are not unteachable, and do not with resolute confidence reject what is proposed to them from the law, and the prophets, and the gospel. For as there are many diseases, and those grievous and dangerous, which yet may be healed, so also we ought to conclude that men are healable, as long as they bear to be taught, to be admonished and reproved; but when with closed ears they pass by every truth, when they despise all counsels, when they esteem as nothing God’s threatenings and reproofs, then their salvation is hopeless. It follows —
(204) It would be better to render this, “The law cannot perish,” etc.; for the future with a negative may often be thus rendered: כי, translated, “For,” often means certainly, truly, surely, doubtless, and might be so translated here, —
Surely, not perish can the law from the priests, Or counsel from the wise, Or the word from the Prophet.
These things they thought were impossibilities. How like are errors and the delusions of men in every age! “The word” was what the prophets taught and preached: hence “the word” in the New Testament often means the preaching of the gospel — Ed.
(205) This phrase, “Let us smite him with the tongue,” is thus literally rendered by the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Arabic; but by the Syriac, “Let us smite his tongue,” and paraphrased by the Targum, “Let us testify against him false testimonies.” “With our tongue,” is Piscator ’s; that is, by accusations to the king; “For his tongue,” is Junius’s; that is, for his denunciations; “On the tongue,” is Blaney ’s; that is, on the offending part, an allusion to a mode of punishment that was practiced; or, as Gataker suggests, in order to stop his mouth.
The most probable meaning is, that they meant to accuse him before the authorities; therefore “with the tongue,” as countenanced by the best versions, is the best rendering.
“
Let us accuse him, let us speak so ill of him, that no man may attend to him, but that all may flee from him,” Cocceius. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
II. THE HUMAN VESSEL Jer. 18:18-23
In Jer. 18:18-23 Jeremiah experiences the third personal crisis of his ministry. These verses contain (1) the plan of the adversaries (Jer. 18:18), and (2) the prayer of the prophet (Jer. 18:19-23).
A. The Plan of the Adversaries Jer. 18:18
TRANSLATION
(18) And they said, Come and let us devise a plot against Jeremiah that instruction may not perish from the priest, counsel from the wise or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue in order that we might not have to listen to all of his words.
COMMENTS
Any man of God who preaches the word of God with boldness will inevitably make enemies. Their patience exhausted, the enemies of Jeremiah secretly began making plans to rid themselves of the prophetic pest. After all, they had the priests, the wisemen and other prophets so why should they tolerate a dangerous preacher like Jeremiah. They seemed to fear that if left alone Jeremiah might gain a popular hearing and the regular leaders of the nation might loose their positions of influence. Thus the enemies plan to smite Jeremiah with the tongue i.e., to slander him and make lying accusations against him. By twisting his words they hoped to turn the masses against him and perhaps lay the ground work which would result in legal action against the prophet.
Jer. 18:18 is instructive in pointing to the three groups within ancient Israelite society from which one might receive divine instruction. It was the special duty of the priests to give instruction based on the law of Moses (Deu. 33:10; Deu. 17:9-11). The priests of Jeremiahs day had not been mindful of their high mission. The second class of religious instructors were the wise men. In the period of the United Monarchy Ahithophel and Hushai were prominent members in the court of David. Some of the wise men of ancient Israel, being gifted by the Holy Spirit, produced the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. But the wise men in Jeremiahs day had become worldly wise. They were strictly political counselors or statesmen who judged matters purely from the standpoint of logic and not faith. The third class of religious teachers were the prophets who were to deliver to the people the word or oracle which was revealed to them by God from time to time. Throughout his ministry Jeremiah seems to have been in constant conflict with the prophets. These men had not received a heavenly call to the prophetic office nor did they receive genuine revelations from God. They were mere professionals who maintained their positions by giving oracles which were pleasing to both the general populace and the ruling powers.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(18) Come, and let us devise devices.The priests and people thus far appear to have listened to the prophet, but at the threatening words of the preceding verse their anger becomes hatred, and their hatred seeks to kill (Jer. 18:23). We are reminded of the oft-recurring statement in the Gospels that priests and elders took counsel against our Lord to put Him to death (Mat. 12:14; Mat. 27:1; Mar. 3:6; Luk. 6:11; et al.).
For the law shall not perish . . .The words meant apparently (1) that they had enough guidance in the Law, in the priests, and in the prophets who met their wishes, and (2) that they might trust in the continuance of that guidance in spite of the threatenings of destruction that the prophet had just spoken. The words are suggestive as showing the precise nature of the guidance expected from each. The priests interpret the Law, the wise give the counsel of experience, the prophet speaks what claims to be the word, or message, of the Lord. A striking parallel is found in Eze. 7:26.
Come, and let us smite him with the tongue.We probably find the result of the conspiracy in the measures taken by Pashur in Jer. 20:1-3. He had heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things, and we may well believe that his informants were some of those who thus announced their intentions. There is no sufficient reason for the marginal reading, for the tongue.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE RECEPTION OF THIS DISCOURSE, Jer 18:18-23.
18. This verse sets forth the effect of Jeremiah’s words on the people. Law shall not perish, etc. We have no need of this prophet of evil; we have the law and our priests.
Smite him with the tongue A really characteristic Hebrew phrase.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The People Respond In Vindictiveness To Jeremiah’s Message ( Jer 18:18 ).
The people were not best pleased with Jeremiah’s prophecies and asked themselves whether in fact they really needed him when they were surrounded with those who could give them the good advice that they needed.
Jer 18:18
‘Then they said, “Come, and let us scheme schemes against Jeremiah, for the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
Comparison with Jer 18:11 demonstrates that they are indulging in tit for tat. So according to Jeremiah YHWH would ‘devise devices’ against them would He? Very well then. They will devise devices (plan strategies) against Jeremiah. For why did they need him? Did they not have the priests to expound to them the Law, the wise men to give them counsel and advice, and the prophets to bring them the word of YHWH? (An interesting depiction of the various talents seen as available in Judah, compare Eze 7:26). And was it likely that their talents and knowledge would all suddenly disappear? (Compare Jer 2:8; Jer 8:9 for YHWH’s assessment of such people).
Their plan was to destroy Jeremiah with their words (‘with the tongue’), while at the same time refusing to listen to him (although easier said than done). They would accuse him of being a false prophet whose prophecies never came about (they asked themselves in a superior tone, had they not waited long enough?), they would spread slanders about him (compare Jer 9:2; Jer 9:4; Jer 9:7), they would seek to demean him as a fanatic, and if he was not careful they would shut his mouth for good. Furthermore they would cover up their ears when he spoke. Once they had finished with him he would not know where to put himself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jer 18:18. Come, and let us devise, &c. “Let us accuse him of being a false prophet; for his threatenings plainly contradict God’s promises to his people; whereby we are assured that there shall always be a succession of priests to explain the law, or scribes or learned men to elucidate the more difficult parts of it, and of prophets to instruct the people in the knowledge of futurity.” The word machashaboth, rendered devices, signifies an accusation. Houbigant thinks that the clause, Let us smite him with the tongue, should rather be rendered, Let us smite him privily; for the enemies of Jeremiah rather consulted how they might kill him, than how they might wound his reputation. Respecting the strong execrations found in the remainder of this chapter, and in other parts of this book, we must refer to what we have said on the similar ones in the book of Psalms. They are not to be considered as the effusion of an unholy zeal, but as simple prophesies.
REFLECTIONS.1st, God often teaches by similitudes, to make the deeper impression, and that the truths may be better remembered. We have,
1. The prophet sent to the potter’s house, and informed that God would instruct him. Instantly obedient, he goes down, and observes the workman turning the wheel, fashioning the vessels, marring and making them according to his pleasure.
2. God’s application of the subject. Such absolute power as the potter hath over the clay, hath God over the sons of men. He hath the most incontestible right over us: it were arrogance in us to find fault with his procedure, and folly to oppose what we cannot prevent. According to the counsels of his own will, he may dispose of nations and individuals, and none can say unto him, What doest thou? Absolute and intire submission to his will is our bounden duty: not that he exercises his power in any manner to the impeachment of his justice or mercy. He will be found righteous in all his ways; not only sovereignly great, but infinitely gracious. Even when his threatenings have gone forth against a nation, and their destruction approaches, if they repent and return, he will change the method of his dispensations towards them, remove their fears, and return to them in mercy. On the other hand, if he have spoken by way of promise, to crown a people with every national blessing, to enrich them with good, and prosper all their enterprizes; if they prove ungrateful for his favours, desert his service, and disobey his word, then he will turn the current of his kindness from them, and pour on them the wrath which they have provoked. Note; (1.) All our miseries may be traced from our sins, whether private or public. (2.) God will make his glory to appear; and, though as absolute sovereign none have a right to question him, he will vindicate his ways to man, and appear just when he judgeth.
2nd, The foregoing truths are particularly applied to the Jewish nation. We have,
1. The warning and admonition given to the Jewish people. Evil was on the wheel for them, though the execution was for awhile suspended; and one more invitation given them, to prevent the impending ruin by their speedy and penitent return. Note; God never strikes without warning: they who continue impenitent are inexcusable.
2. Their hardened rejection of the warning. They said, There is no hope; if nothing but parting from their sins would do, they resolved to abide the consequences. Let God do his worst, we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Note; Sinners often dare not express themselves with such effrontery in words, yet practically every sinner does it in works, and these speak most strongly.
3. Their monstrous folly and wickedness upbraided. Among the vilest heathen nations were no abominations or insolence found equal to theirs; even the people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah; but, horrible to tell! Israel, that virgin daughter, who by her relation to God should have kept herself wholly for him, pure in his ways and worship, has apostatised from him, has forsaken the living God for dumb idols. Will a man, parched with thirst, leave the snow-water of Lebanon which cometh down melted in summer from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken by the thirsty traveller? This would be folly unheard of; yet more egregiously foolish were they; because my people hath forgotten me, the fountain of living waters, to drink at the broken cisterns of idol altars. They have burnt incense to vanity, to wretched deities, who could not profit them: or, in vain they burn incense; their services were an abomination while their sins remained: and they have caused them to stumble in their ways, their idols, or their false prophets, from the ancient paths, the way revealed of old in God’s word; or the paths of eternity, which led to glory everlasting, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; a road unknown to the saints of God; a way of wickedness and idolatry, in which they stumbled and fell into the pit of eternal misery; this being the certain and fatal consequence of their ways, to make their land desolate, ravaged by the enemy, and depopulated by famine and the sword; a perpetual hissing, all who passed by expressing their abhorrence of such guilty conduct; astonished at the devastations they beheld, and wagging their head, deriding or upbraiding them. With blasts of displeasure, furious as the east wind, God will scatter them before their enemies, weak as stubble to resist their attacks, and in the day of their calamity turn a deaf ear to their cries, nor cast a look of compassion on their miseries. Note; (1.) Apostates deserve to be upbraided, and they will shortly awake to everlasting shame and contempt. (2.) They who persevere in the ways of sin, must expect no mercy in the day of judgment. God will then mock at their calamities, Pro 1:26-28.
3rdly, Behold the treatment which faithful ministers may expect from a disobedient and gainsaying people.
1. Enraged by the rebukes of the prophet, they consult how to destroy him. To cover their malice, they pretend zeal for religion, and would brand him as a false prophet. Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah, to get rid of him and his prophesies; for the law shall not perish from the priest, &c. Notwithstanding his predictions of the cessation of the temple service; of the infatuation of their counsels; and his warnings of the falsehood of their prophets; they flattered themselves that their priesthood should continue, and that their rulers in church and state should consult upon and secure their safety; and that they should see the fulfilment of the visions of peace with which their own prophets flattered them: therefore, said they, Come, and let us smite him with the tongue; either accuse him as a lying prophet before the magistrates, to put him to death, or load him with reproaches, and make him contemptible in the eyes of the people: and let us not give heed to any of his words, but treat him as a deceiver, who speaks not from the Lord, but out of his own heart. Note; (1.) The wicked world is in a confederacy against the true prophets, and none forwarder to shew their malice, than the false and faithless ministers who cannot bear their just rebukes. (2.) To cloak the malice of persecutors, this was the old pretence, to represent the faithful and zealous ministers as men dangerous to the state, and not to be tolerated; or as deluders and enthusiasts, and to be trampled on. (3.) They who dare not encounter the lash of men’s tongues, must never think of standing up for God. (4.) Rejection of the servant is an insult on the master. Little do the revilers of Christ’s ministers think, that their reproaches light not so much on them as him.
2. He lodges his appeal with God, and begs his interposition on his behalf. He prayed God to take notice of their blasphemies and reproaches, their ingratitude and cruelty, in returning him evil for good, and thirsting for his blood, when God, the searcher of hearts, knew how earnestly he had laboured, how fervently he had prayed, to avert the impending judgments from them. Therefore, in just indignation, he imprecates upon them the vengeance which they had provoked; that death in every tremendous shape might seize both young and old, and their widows, bereaved of husbands and children together, lament the fearful ravages which they beheld; that shrieks and cries might fill the houses, when the enemy, suddenly entering at the breach, massacred and plundered without pity or remorse: for this would be but the just retaliation for the snares that they laid to murder him, which, however secret, God knew and would avenge. Their sin was now unpardonable; he that had often prayed for them, now abandons them to their ruin; not in a spirit of revenge desiring their misery, but in zeal for God’s glory, to see that vindicated, waiting their final overthrow, and expecting and desiring that God would deal with them in the time of his anger according to the denunciations which, as his prophet, he had delivered. Note; (1.) Jeremiah was a type of Jesus, thus basely reviled, ungratefully persecuted, and all his prayers returned with blasphemies. (2.) What Jeremiah spoke in the spirit of prophesy must not be pleaded as an example for our imitation. We must pray for those that persecute us, if peradventure God may yet give them repentance. (3.) The persecutors of his prophets will find at last an avenging God; and woe to them against whom those abused ministers of grace stand up to bear witness in a judgment-day!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3 THE MANNER IN WHICH THE PEOPLE RECEIVE THE WORD OF THE PROPHET, AND HIS PETITION TO THE LORD FOR PROTECTION FROM THEIR HOSTILITY
Jer 18:18-23
18And they said: Come, let us devise plans against Jeremiah,
For the law shall not perish from the priest,
Nor counsel from the wise,
Nor the word from the prophet.
Come, and let us smite him with the tongue,
And give no heed to any of his words.
19Give thou heed, O Jehovah, to me!
And listen to the voice of my adversaries.14
20Shall then evil be recompensed for good,
For they have digged a pit for my soul?
Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them,
And to turn away thy wrath from them.
21Therefore deliver up their children to famine,
And give them over to the hands of the sword;
And let their wives be childless and widowed,
But let their men be sacrifices of death,
Their youths be slain by the sword in battle.
22Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When thou bringest the murderous troop suddenly upon them;
Because they have digged a pit to take me,
And laid snares for my feet.
23But thou, O Jehovah, knowest all their murderous plans against me;
Cover not up their iniquity,
Nor blot out15 their sin before thy face;
That they may be16 overthrown17 before thee;
And in the time of thy wrath act against them.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Here, as before, the prophet represents his adversaries as answering his faithful admonitions with words of personal enmity. Comp. Jer 11:19; Jer 15:10; Jer 17:15. And as in these passages he always prayed that the Lord would avenge him, so here, but in stronger measure. (Vide infra Doctr, and Ethical No. 13, and the Exegetical rems. on Jer 20:14). After showing the hostile disposition of his opponents, he turns in supplication to the Lord (Jer 18:19-23). In this prayer he beseeches the Lord to give heed to his and to his adversaries speeches (Jer 18:19), and observe above all that they would recompense good with evil, while he has always sought their highest welfare from God (Jer 18:20). Therefore the Lord may permit death and destruction to come upon those who have digged a pit and laid snares for him (Jer 18:21-22); he is not to forgive these murderous associates their iniquity, but to overthrow them, and let them feel His anger (Jer 18:23).
Jer 18:18. And they said any of his words.Let us devise ( ) as in Jer 11:19 coll. Jer 18:11.For the law, etc. The meaning must be: We do not need this Jeremiah, for without him we shall always have priests to instruct us (Mal 2:7), wise men to advise us, prophets to proclaim to us the word of the Lord. Comp. Comm. on Jer 8:8-10; Eze 7:26. It is of course presupposed that the instruction, etc. will be in accordance with their views.With the tongue. That these smitings with the tongue (comp. Jer 9:2; Jer 9:7; Psa 64:4, etc.) had the death of the prophet for their object is evident from Jer 18:23.
Jer 18:19-23. Give thou heed act against them. Observe the antithesis between Give no heed in Jer 18:18 and give thou heed in Jer 18:19.Shall then evil. On the subject-matter comp. Jer 14:7-21; 2Ma 15:12-14. In Jer 18:14 we read: , .How I stood. Comp. Jer 15:1.Into the hands. This expression is found also in Psa 63:11; Eze 35:5; it is used in the sense of in potestatem, which meaning has various gradations. Comp. 2Ki 12:12; Job 16:11; Jer 33:13 with 1Ch 6:16 (into service); 1Ch 15:2-3; 1Ch 15:6; 2Ch 23:18; Ezr 3:10 (in service, under the hands, according to the direction); 2Ch 29:27 (on the foundation).Sacrifices of death. Comp. Comm. on Jer 15:2.Because, etc.Kimchi supposes that the enemies had attempted to administer poison to the prophet; R. Salomo, with many other Rabbins, that they had accused him of adultery, others of blasphemy. Comp. Jer 18:18.Cover not up. Comp. Psa 109:14; Isa 2:9.In the time of thy wrath. Not of grace, i.e., of gracious disposition, but in the moment of wrath, is the Lord to appear and act against themAct, , in the absolute sense, as in Jer 14:7 : Jer 39:12; Dan 11:7 coll Dan 8:4; Dan 11:3; Dan 11:36.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer 18:2. What is the prophet of God to learn in the house of the potter? How shall this be his Bible or his school? But God chooses the foolish things to confound human wisdom (1Co 1:27). Cramer. [An orator would never choose such an instance for the purpose of making an impression on his audience; still less for the purpose of exhibiting his own skill and liveliness. It must be for business, not for amusement, that such a process is observed.What we want in every occupation is some means of preserving the continuity of our thoughts, some resistance to the influences which are continually distracting and dissipating them. But it is especially the student of the events of his own time, of the laws which regulate them, of the issues which are to proceed from them, who has need to be reminded that he is not studying a number of loose disconnected phenomena, but is tracing a principle under different aspects and through different manifestations. A sensible illustration, if we would condescend to avail ourselves of it, would often save us from much vagueness and unreality, as well as from hasty and unsatisfactory conclusions. Maurice.S. R. A.]
2. On Jer 18:6 sqq. Omne simile claudicat. Man is not clay, though he is made of clay (Gen 2:7). Consequently in Jer 20:8; Jer 20:10 the moral conditions are mentioned, which by virtue of his personality and freedom must be fulfilled on the part of man, in order that the divine transformation to good or bad may take place. If the clay is spoiled on the wheel, it cannot help it. It is probably only the potters fault. Nothing then is here symbolized but the omnipotence of God, by virtue of which He can in any given case suppress whole kingdoms and nations, and transform them with the same ease and rapidity as the potter rolls up the spoiled vessel into a ball of clay, and immediately gives it a new form. It would be well for all to convince themselves, by witnessing the process, of the wonderful ease with which the potter forms the clay on the wheel.
3. On Jer 18:6-10. Cogitet unusquisque peccata sua, et modo illa emendet, cum tempus est. Sit fructuosus dolor, non sit sterilis pnitudo. Tanquam hoc dicit Deus, ecce indicavi sententiam, sed nondum protuli. Prdixi non fixi. Quid times, quia dixi? Si mutaveris, mutatur. Nam scriptum est, quod pniteat Deum. Numquid quomodo hominem sic pnitet Deum? Nam dictum est: si pnituerit vos de peccatis vestris, pnitebit me de omnibus malis, qu facturus eram vobis. Numquid quasi errantem pnitet Deum? Sed pnitentia dicitur in Deo mutatio sententi. Non est iniqua, sed justa. Quare justa? Mutatus est reus, mutavit judex sententiam. Noli terreri. Sententia mutata est, non justitia. Justitia integra manet, quia mutato debet parcere, quia justus est. Quomodo pertinaci non parcit, sic mutato parcit. Augustin, Sermo 109. De Tem ad medium.
4. On Jer 18:6-10. Comminationes Dei non intelligend sunt absolute, sed cum exceptione pnitenti et conditione impnitenti. Promissiones itidem non sunt absolute sed circumscript cum conditione obedienti, tum exceptione crucis. God stipulates everywhere for the cross. Comp. Deuteronomy 28. Frster.
5. On Jer 18:6-10. Prscientia et prdictio Dei non injicit absolutam eventus necessitatem rebus prscitis ac prdictis. Frster.
6. On Jer 18:8. O felix pnitentium humilitas! Quam potens es apud omnipotentem. Bernard of Clairvaux.
[On Jer 18:8-10. I apprehend that we shall learn some day that the call to individual repentance, and the promise of individual reformation, has been feeble at one time, productive of turbulent, violent, transitory effects at another, because it has not been part of a call to national repentance, because it has not been connected with a promise of national reformation. We may appeal to men by the terrors of a future state; we may use all the machinery of revivalists to awaken them to a concern for their souls; we may produce in that way a class of religious men who pursue an object which other men do not pursue (scarcely a lass selfish, often not a less outward object):who leave the world to take its own course;who, when they mingle in it, as in time they must do for the sake of business and gain, adopt again its own maxims, and become less righteous than other men in common affairs, because they consider religion too fine a thing to be brought from the clouds to the earth, while yet they do not recognise a lower principle as binding on them. But we must speak again the ancient language, that God has made a covenant with the nation, and that all citizens are subjects of an unseen and righteous King, if we would have a hearty, inward repentance, which will really bring us back to God; which will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and of the children to the fathers; which will go down to the roots of our life, changing it from a self-seeking life into a life of humility and love and cheerful obedience; which will bear fruit upwards, giving nobleness to our policy and literature and art, to the daily routine of what we shall no more dare to call our secular existence. Maurice.S. R. A.]
7. On Jer 18:10. God writes as it were a reflection in our heart of that which we have to furnish to Him. For God is disposed towards us as we are disposed towards Him. If we do well, He does well to us; if we love Him, He loves us in return; if we forsake Him, He for sakes us. Psa 18:26. Cramer. [Sin is the great mischief maker between God and a people; it forfeits the benefits of His promises, and spoils the success of their prayers. It defeats His kind intentions concerning them (Hos 7:1), and baffles their pleasing expectations from Him. It ruins their comforts, prolongs their grievances, brings them into straits, and retards their deliverances. Isa 49:1-2. HenryS. R. A.]
8. On Jer 18:12. Freedom of the Spirit! Who will allow himself to be brought into bondage by the gloomy words of that singular man, Jeremiah? Every one must be able to live according to his own way of thinking. Diedrich, The prophet Jeremiah and Ezekiel briefly expounded. 1863, S. 59.This is the watchword of impiety in all times. If in truth everyone bears the divinity within him, then it is justified. But since every man bears within him only a , a divine germ or spark, a point of connection for the objectively divine, and at the same time a point of connection for the diabolical, it is a hellish deception when one supposes he must follow his ingenium. For the question is, whether the voice from within is the voice of God or the voice of the devil. Here it is necessary to try ourselves and to open an entrance to the divine sun of life, so that the divine life-germ in us may be strengthened, and enabled to maintain its true authority.
9. On Jer 18:14. On the summits of the high mountains, even in tropical countries, the snow does not entirely melt, and therefore the mighty cool springs at their feet never dry up. With those men only does the pure white snow of divine knowledge and godly fear never melt, whose heads are elevated above the steam and vapor of earthly cares and passions, into the pure clear air of heaven. And they it is, from whose bodies flow streams of living water (Joh 7:38).
10. On Jer 18:18. Consult the treatise of Luther: How a minister should behave when his office is despised?
11. On Jer 18:18. (Come and let us smite him with the tongue, etc.). It is indeed uncertain whether this is said by the preachers or by the whole people; but this is certain, that such actions are performed daily by those teachers, who know no other way of stopping the mouth of a servant of Jesus. And not give heed to any of his words. This is au pis aller. If we can do him no harm, we will stop our ears, and he shall not convince us. Zinzendorf.
12. On Jer 18:19. (Give heed to me, O Lord). This takes place in two ways. A teacher is looked at by the eye which is as flames of fire. He is also guided by the same eye, which looks on all lands, to strengthen those whose hearts are towards the Lord. No child can rest more securely in the cradle, while the nurse is looking for any fly that might disturb it, than a servant of the Lord can, to whom God gives heed. Zinzendorf.
13. On Jer 18:20. It is a pleasing remembrance, when a teacher considers that he has been able to avert divine judgments from his people. It is also an undeniable duty. The spirit of Job, Moses, Jeremiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Paul in this respect is the true spirit of Jesus Christ. He is a miserable shepherd who can give up his sheep and look on with dry eyes, while the fold is being devastated. Not to mention that teachers are now-a-days, by the salaries which they receive from their congregations, brought into the relation of servitude, and besides the regular obligation of the head are laid under indebtedness, as hospitals and other institutions, to pray for their founders. They give themselves the name of intercessors and thus bind themselves anew to this otherwise universal duty of all teachers. Zinzendorf. But when the servant of God receives odium pro labore, persecutio pro intercessione, this is the worlds gratitude and gratuity. Frster.
14. On Jer 18:21-23. With regard to this prayer against his enemies Calvin remarks, this vehemence, as it was dictated by the Holy Spirit, is not to be condemned, nor ought it to be made an example of, for it was peculiar to the Prophet to know that they were reprobates. For the prophet, he says, was (1) endued with the spirit of wisdom and judgment, and (2) zeal also for Gods glory so ruled in his heart, that the feelings of the flesh were wholly subdued, or at least brought under subjection; and farther, he pleaded not a private cause.As all these things fall not to our lot, we ought not indiscriminately to imitate Jeremiah in this prayer: for that would then apply to us which Christ said to His disciples, Ye know not what spirit governs you (Luk 9:55). In general the older Comm. agree in this. Oecolampadius says tersely: Subscribit sententi divin. Frster also says that originally such a prayer is not allowed, but that to the prophet, who by the divine inspiration was certain of the obstinata et plane insanabilis malitia of his hearers, it was permitted as singulare et extraordinarium aliquid. The Hirschberger Bibel also explains the words as a consignment to the divine judgment, since God Himself has several times refused to hear prayer in their behalf (Jer 14:13-14), and they themselves could not endure it (Jer 20:18). Vide Neumann II. S. 15.Seb. Schmidt says plainly, Licet hominibus impiis et persecutoribus imprecari malum, modo ejusmodi imprecationes non fiant ex privata vindicta, et conditionat sint ad constantem eorum impietatem. Nisi enim ejusmodi imprecationes etiam piis essent licit, propheta non imprecatus esset persecutoribus gravissimam pnam hanc. I believe that it is above all to be observed that Jeremiah does not announce these words (Jer 20:18-18) as the word of Jehovah. It is a prayer to the Lord, like Jer 20:7-18. That which was remarked on Jer 20:14-18, on the Old Testament character of the prayer, applies here also and in a higher degree. For here as there we may set a good share of the harshness to the account of the rhetoric. The standard of judgment may be found in Mat 5:43. Many ancient Comm. ex. gr. Jerome, who regard the suffering prophet as a type of the suffering Saviour, point out the contrast between this prayer of Jeremiahs against his enemies and the prayer of Christ for His enemies (Luk 23:34). The only parallel adduced from the New Testament is 2Ti 4:4. But there it is (according to the correct reading of Tischendorf) not (Text. Rec., Knapp).
15. On Jer 19:1. If man were only a Platonic , and did not dwell in the flesh, but were pure spirit and soul, as the Schwenkfelder dreamed a man might be, he would not need such visible signs.But because man consists of body and soul, God uses, together with the Holy Ghost, the word and Sacrament and other signs. Cramer.
16. On Jer 19:6-9. . Herodotus. Vide Frster, S. 106.
17. On Jer 19:10-11. What is more easily broken in pieces than an earthen vessel? Equally easy is it for the hand of the Almighty to break in pieces the kingdoms of men. And if He spared not the kingdom of Judah, whose king was a son of David and the people the chosen nation, shall He spare the kingdoms of the heathen, none of which can point to any prophecy in its behalf, like that which we read in 2Sa 7:16? Comp. Dan 2:21; Dan 4:14; Dan 4:22; Dan 4:29; Dan 5:21; Sir 10:4; Sir 10:8; Sir 10:10; Sir 10:14.
18. On Jer 19:11-13. This prophecy was not completely fulfilled by the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. For Jerusalem was restored after this destruction. The second destruction, by the Romans, must then be regarded as the definitive fulfillment. Comp. Jerome ad loc.Tophet was used by the inhabitants of Jerusalem for idolatrous purposes. In consequence, the fires of Tophet set Jerusalem on fire, and again the corpses which filled Jerusalem extended even to Tophet, and by reciprocal calamity Tophet became like Jerusalem and Jerusalem like Tophet.
19. On Jer 20:1-2. . Honores mutant mores. Frster. Quod hic fuit tormentum, illic erit ornamentum. Augustin.
20. On Jer 20:3-6. Mark, who is the stronger here: Pashur or Jeremiah? For 1. Jeremiah overcomes his sufferings by patience, 2. He is firm in opposition to his enemy and does not allow himself to be terrified by his tyranny, but rebukes him to his face for his sins and lies. Cramer.
21. On Jer 20:3-6. Pashurs punishment consists in this, that he will participate in the terrible affliction and be a witness of it, without being able to die.He is a type of the wandering Jew.
22. On Jer 20:7-12. The prophet could say with a good conscience that he had not pressed into this office. It was his greatest comfort that the Lord had persuaded and overpowered him, when resisting, and that afterwards the fire within kindled by the Lord compelled him to speak. Thus he at last becomes so joyful, that in the midst of his sufferings he sings a hymn on his deliverance.
Lord Jesus, for Thy work divine,
The glory is not ours, but Thine;
Therefore we pray Thee stand by those,
Who calmly on Thy word repose.
23. On Jer 20:14-18. When the saints stumble this serves to us; 1. for doctrine: we see that no man is justified by his own merits; 2. for , i. e. for the refutation of those, who suppose that there are ; 3. for , if we follow Ambrose, who called to the emperor Theodosius: Si Davidem imitatus es peccantem, imitare etiam pnitentem; 4. for , that he who stands take heed that he do not fall; 5. for , that he who has fallen may after their pattern rise again. Frster.
24. On Jer 20:17-18. The question is, Does a man do right in wishing himself dead? Answer: He who from impatience wishes himself dead like Job, Elijah, Jonah, Tobias, and here Jeremiah, does wrong, and this is a piece of carnal impatience. But when we think of the wicked world and the dangerous times in which we live and on the other hand of the future joy and glory, and therefore desire with Simeon and Paul to be released, we are not to be blamed. Cramer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. The 18th homily of Origen has for its text Jer 18:1-16 and Jer 20:1-7. The 19th has Jer 20:7-12.
2. On Jer 18:1-11. Comfort and warning, implied in the fact that the threatenings and promises of the Lord are given only conditionally: 1. The comfort consists in this, that the threatened calamities may be averted by timely repentance. 2. The warning in this, that the promises may be annulled by apostasy.
3. On Jer 18:7-10. Comp. the Homiletical on Jer 17:5-8.
4. On Jer 18:7-11. How we should be moved by Gods judgments and goodness: that each, 1. Should turn from his wickedness; 2. should reform his heart and life. Kapff, Passion, Easter and Revival Sermons. 1866.
5. [On Jer 18:12. The sin, danger and unreasonableness of despair. The devils chief artifices are to produce either false security and presumption or despair. Despair Isaiah 1. sinful, (a) in itself, (b) because it is the parent of other sins, as is seen in the cases of Cain, Saul, and Judges 2. It is dangerous. 3. It is groundless, because (a) we still enjoy life and the means of grace, (b) of the long-suffering character of God, (c) of the universality of the scheme of redemption, (d) of the person, character and invitations of Christ, (e) of many instances of final salvation. Payson.S. R. A.]
6. On Jer 18:18-20. Text for a Sermon on the Anniversary of the Reformation. Opposition of the office which has apparent authority to that which has true authority; 1. The basis of the opposition: the assertion of the infallibility of the former office. 2. The mode of the opposition; (a) in not being willing to hear, (b) in the attempt to destroy the latter by violence. 3. The result of the opposition is nugatory, for (a) the Lord hears the voice of the opposers to judge them, (b) He gives heed to His servants to protect them.
7. On Jer 20:7-13. The trial and comfort of a true minister of the Word; 1. The trial: (a) scorn and derision; (b) actual persecution. 2. The comfort: (a) the Lord put him in office and maintains him in it; (b) that the Lord will interpose for His servants and. thus, (1) help His cause to victory, and (2) save their persons.
Footnotes:
[14]Jer 18:19.. The word is found besides only in Isa 49:25; Psa 35:1.
[15]Jer 18:23.. Comp. , Jer 3:6. The form is anomalous for (Neh 13:14). Comp. Olsh. 257, e, Anm.; Ewald, 224, c.
[16]Jer 18:23.. The Chethibh is . The Masoretes did not wish the series of jussive or imperative forms to be interrupted.The word expresses the result, that they lie overthrown. Accordingly this sentence concludes the series of negative petitions; in conclusion follows the positive request: at the time of thy wrath, etc. It is evident that the change proposed by the Keri is unnecessary.
[17]Jer 18:23. points back to Jer 18:15. The form here only. Comp. Psa 9:4; Jer 6:15; Jer 20:11.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Reader! do not hastily pass over this verse. Look through all ages of the Church, and behold the same continually acting over again, towards all the faithful servants of the Lord. One of the surest marks, that that minister is faithful, and his services blessed, who is abused by the ungodly; and both himself and his labours made the drunkard’s song. It would be a melancholy prospect in a gospel Church, where the accused adversary made no opposition. Mat 5:11-12 ; Joh 16:32-33 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 18:18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
Ver. 18. Then said they, Come, let us devise devices. ] Words savouring of a most exulcerate spirit against God and his faithful prophet, quem toto coelo hic explodunt, whom they shamefully slight, and desperately oppose, both with their virulent tongues and violent hands. Hence his ensuing complaint, and not without cause.
For the law shall not perish from the priest, &c.
Come, let us smite him with the tongue.
Let us not give heed to any of his words, NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 18:18
18Then they said, Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words.
Jer 18:18 This verse is an introductory strophe to the poem of Jer 18:19-23. Jeremiah’s enemies plan their attack (cf. Jer 20:10).
1. come – BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. let us devise plans – BDB 362, KB 359, Qal COHORTATIVE
3. come – same as #1
4. let us strike at him with our tongue – BDB 645, KB 697, Hiphil IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense
5. let us give no heed to any of his words – BDB 904, KB 1151, Hiphil COHORTATIVE
a. stop listening, MT, Peshitta, JPSOA, NRSV
b. listen and try to find faults, LXX, JB
This is the only verse in the OT where all three means or genres of YHWH’s revelation are mentioned together.
1. the priest – the Law (question about how to apply the law)
2. the sage – counsel (i.e., Wisdom Literature)
3. the prophet – the divine word
These are mentioned to assert their belief that Jeremiah’s messages are not from YHWH. He is a false prophet (cf. Deu 13:1-5) and should be killed! Because these false leaders have done this to Jeremiah, YHWH will remove all of His revelation from Judah!
The three groups of leaders are mentioned several times in Jeremiah (cf. Jer 2:8; Jer 2:26; Jer 4:9; Jer 5:31; Jer 8:1; Jer 13:13; Jer 26:16; Jer 28:1).
1. kings, princes
2. priests
3. prophets
the law, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 10:11). App-92.
with the tongue = with hard words. “Tongue” put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for the hard words spoken by it.
Jer 18:18-23
Jer 18:18-20
THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST JEREMIAH
Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.
In this first part of Jeremiah’s Fourth Lament, the plot against him is, revealed in Jer 18:18; and Jeremiah pleaded with God not to allow the good which Jeremiah has been doing for the people by his preaching God’s Word to them to be recompensed with evil.
The law shall not perish from the priest. the wise … the prophet …..
(Jer 18:18). These words imply that the people were quite satisfied with the depraved leadership given by their false priests, wise men, and prophets. This trust in false leaders enabled them to accuse Jeremiah of treason, despite the truth that they themselves were the traitors.
Payne Smith’s comment on this passage is: “They said, What need have we of this Jeremiah? Have we not priests with the Torah, the Law of Moses, wise statesmen to give us counsel, and prophets to declare to us “the word?” Not indeed the word of Jehovah, which was too disagreeable for them to wish to have more of it, but that pleasant word the smooth things of Isa 30:10, which false teachers knew so well how to flavor to suit human appetites … The people had the false impression that since the Torah was imperishable, so also were the Levitical custodians of it; and thus they concluded that Jeremiah’s prophecy of national ruin was blasphemous.”
Thus Jeremiah was a victim of the same satanic charges that were later directed against the Christ himself, and by the same satanic instruments, namely the false Jewish leaders. In fact, it was upon a false charge of blasphemy that Christ finally was sentenced to the Cross (Joh 19:7).
Cheyne thought that, “They were satisfied with their false prophets, but that they were still afraid of Jeremiah, as Balak was afraid of Balaam (Num 23:25), and that therefore they would smite him with the tongue,’ that is, with slanderous accusations.”
This first paragraph of Jeremiah’s Fourth Lament is a plea of innocence and of the truth that his good should not be rewarded with evil, but the next paragraph (Jer 18:21-23) appears to pour out God’s wrath upon his enemies.
Jer 18:21-23
JEREMIAH’S PRAYER AGAINST HIS ENEMIES
Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, [and] their young men smitten of the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. Yet, Jehovah, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
It is somewhat tiresome to note how many commentators deplore the un-Christian attitude of Jeremiah in this passage toward his enemies. Did not Christ pray for his enemies, even upon the cross? Yes, yes, indeed; but the sons of the devil who were here arrayed against God’s prophet with the avowed purpose of murdering him were not exactly in the same class as the soldiers who fixed the nails in Jesus’ hands. “For they know not what they do,” Jesus said; but these hardened enemies of God’s Word and of his kingdom knew exactly what they were doing; and there is a strong conviction here that they deserved exactly the same kind of prayer Jeremiah prayed against them.
Feinberg pointed out that: (1) these were not merely Jeremiah’s personal enemies but enemies of God and of his truth; (2) Jeremiah prayed merely that those evil men would reap the reward of their own deeds, “delivering them judicially to the consequences of the course they had deliberately chosen for themselves”; (3) also, “These imprecations were not leveled against the whole nation, but only against Jeremiah’s enemies.”
Such persons as these here, who were the object of Jeremiah’s prayer for their destruction, were like those of whom our Lord said, “These enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me!” (Luk 19:27). Yes, these words were spoken by the gentle and merciful Jesus! There is a false idea in the world today that God is never really going to bruise any wicked sinner, no matter what may be his crimes of blood and lust; but that is not a true picture of what the Bible reveals about God.
Let it also be remembered that the cry of the saints of God for justice and vengeance against their vicious enemies is represented in the Holy Bible as a legitimate emotion, as expressed by those redeemed souls of them that had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held; and upon the opening of the fifth seal, “They cried with a great voice, saying, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:10). We believe that the prayer of Jeremiah in this passage is one in spirit with that of the slain martyrs in heaven and that it does not deserve the censure which some Christian writers have seen fit to assign to it.
Thompson pointed out that God gave no answer to this prayer of Jeremiah, despite the fact that God had given a response to the first three of these laments in Jer 11:20; Jer 12:1-4, and Jer 15:14-18. There was no response to the fourth in Jer 17:14-18, nor in the lament before us (Jer 18:18-23). “Once God responded with a word of encouragement (Jer 11:21-23), and twice with words of rebuke and instruction (Jer 12:5-6, and Jer 15:19).”
The saints in glory who uttered such a lament received a response, as follows: “And there was given to each of them a white robe, and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, who should be killed even as they were, should have fulfilled their course” (Rev 6:11).
Such an answer requires us to see that the ultimate reward of the wicked will be at that Final Day of Reckoning, the Final Judgment.
THE HUMAN VESSEL Jer 18:18-23
In Jer 18:18-23 Jeremiah experiences the third personal crisis of his ministry. These verses contain (1) the plan of the adversaries (Jer 18:18), and (2) the prayer of the prophet (Jer 18:19-23).
The Plan of the Adversaries Jer 18:18
Any man of God who preaches the word of God with boldness will inevitably make enemies. Their patience exhausted, the enemies of Jeremiah secretly began making plans to rid themselves of the prophetic pest. After all, they had the priests, the wisemen and other prophets so why should they tolerate a dangerous preacher like Jeremiah. They seemed to fear that if left alone Jeremiah might gain a popular hearing and the regular leaders of the nation might loose their positions of influence. Thus the enemies plan to smite Jeremiah with the tongue i.e., to slander him and make lying accusations against him. By twisting his words they hoped to turn the masses against him and perhaps lay the ground work which would result in legal action against the prophet.
Jer 18:18 is instructive in pointing to the three groups within ancient Israelite society from which one might receive divine instruction. It was the special duty of the priests to give instruction based on the law of Moses (Deu 33:10; Deu 17:9-11). The priests of Jeremiahs day had not been mindful of their high mission. The second class of religious instructors were the wise men. In the period of the United Monarchy Ahithophel and Hushai were prominent members in the court of David. Some of the wise men of ancient Israel, being gifted by the Holy Spirit, produced the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. But the wise men in Jeremiahs day had become worldly wise. They were strictly political counselors or statesmen who judged matters purely from the standpoint of logic and not faith. The third class of religious teachers were the prophets who were to deliver to the people the word or oracle which was revealed to them by God from time to time. Throughout his ministry Jeremiah seems to have been in constant conflict with the prophets. These men had not received a heavenly call to the prophetic office nor did they receive genuine revelations from God. They were mere professionals who maintained their positions by giving oracles which were pleasing to both the general populace and the ruling powers.
The Prayer of the Prophet Jer 18:19-23
The text does not indicate how Jeremiah became aware of the plot against him. But when he hears what his enemies have planned for him he cries out to God asking Him to take note of the threat against His messenger (Jer 18:19). Jeremiah cannot understand why he is the object of such a vicious plot. He has preached bluntly but always with the ultimate good of his people at heart. He had wept for his people, pled with them and interceded for them at the throne of grace. He was the only true friend that the nation really had. When the people should be honoring him for what he has been doing, they are instead plotting against him. Jeremiah is both perplexed and perturbed by this turn of events. Borrowing the terminology from the Psalmist he cries, They are digging a pit for my soul! (Jer 18:20). See Psa 57:6; Psa 35:7.
The prayer moves from narrative to petition and the petition takes the form of bitter imprecation. He prays that the sons of his enemies might experience famine and that they might be delivered over to (literally, poured out to) the power of the sword. The same terminology occurs also in Psa 63:10 and Eze 35:5 and the meaning is that the young soldiers would be thrust upon the sword until their life-blood had been poured out. He prays that the wives of his enemies will become childless and widows (Jer 18:21). He prays that the homes of his enemies might be plundered by a troop of enemy soldiers (Jer 18:22). He asks God not to pardon these men and to deal with them in the time of divine anger (Jer 18:23).
Several points need to be considered in interpreting this difficult prayer.
1. The imprecation is not hurled at the nation as a whole but at those enemies who plotted his death.
2. The prophets were neither vegetables nor ma chines but men of like passions with ourselves (G. A. Smith).
3. This outburst does not represent Jeremiah at his best and is uttered in a moment of exasperation.
4. The anger of the prophet is aroused not so much because he personally is being attacked as because God was being rejected in the person of His prophet. To blaspheme the Lords messenger is to blaspheme the Lord Himself.
5. The particular blasphemy which the enemies hurled at Jeremiah was that his prophecies had not been fulfilled and that consequently he was a false prophet. Jeremiah now is calling upon God to execute those threats which he has so boldly proclaimed (Jer 4:6-31; Jer 9:17-22; Jer 14:15-18; Jer 15:2-9).
6. The prophet does not pray for these hardened people because the Lord has already indicated His unwillingness to forgive. Cf. Jer 7:16; Jer 14:10; Jer 14:12; Jer 15:1; Jer 15:6; Jer 16:5 b.
7. Precedents for such prayers of imprecation can be found in the Psalms. Jeremiah may have been borrowing the language of the Psalms in formulating this prayer.
At the Potter’s House – Jer 18:1 to Jer 19:15
Open It
1. What is the most arrogant statement youve ever heard?
2. What are some things that, when broken, are impossible to repair?
Explore It
3. Where did God send Jeremiah to receive a message from Him? (Jer 18:1-2)
4. What was the potter doing as Jeremiah watched? (Jer 18:3-4)
5. How did God liken His power over the nations to the decisions of the potter? (Jer 18:5-10)
6. What unthinkable deed had Judah done against God? (Jer 18:13-15)
7. Where did the people of Judah begin to walk when they left Gods ways and began to worship idols? (Jer 18:15)
8. What did God say He would do because Israel worshiped idols? (Jer 18:16-17)
9. What was being said about Jeremiah by the people who resisted his message? (Jer 18:18)
10. Of which past deeds did Jeremiah remind God? (Jer 18:19-20)
11. How did Jeremiah ask God to deal with his enemies? (Jer 18:21-23)
12. Where did God instruct Jeremiah to take the elders and deliver a prophecy? (Jer 19:1-2)
13. What practices (carried out in the Valley of Ben Hinnom) would bring Gods judgment on the people? (Jer 19:3-5)
14. Why would the name of the valley where Jeremiah stood be changed? (Jer 19:6-9)
15. What was the meaning of the symbolic action the Lord told Jeremiah to carry out? (Jer 19:10-12)
16. Whose houses would become defiled like the city dump? (Jer 19:13)
17. What message did Jeremiah take to all the people in the temple because of the reaction of the elders to whom he had delivered the prophecy? (Jer 19:14-15)
Get It
18. What is significant to you about the image of God as a potter?
19. Why did the people think Jeremiah was expendable?
20. Even after God has pronounced a judgment, what might make Him relent or reconsider, either for good or ill?
21. What comes to mind when you think of the image of God turning His back instead of showing His face?
22. What are some ways in which you have avoided the unpleasant in the past?
23. What do you think will become of people who abuse or neglect children, unless they repent?
Apply It
24. What is a practical way in which you can demonstrate Gods concern for a child in need in the coming weeks?
25. What God-fearing person in a position of leadership could use your encouragement today?
Questions On Jeremiah Chapter Eighteen
By Brent Kercheville
1 What is the message of the potter and the clay (Jer 18:1-11)?
2 What is the response of the people and what was Gods response to them (Jer 18:12-17)?
3 What were the people saying (Jer 18:18)? What do we learn from this?
4 What is Jeremiahs response to the plots of the people (Jer 18:19-23)? What do we learn from this?
TRANSFORMATION:
How does this relationship change your relationship with God?
What did you learn about him?
What will you do differently in your life?
Come: Jer 18:11, Jer 11:19, Psa 21:11, Isa 32:7, Mic 2:1-3
for the: Jer 13:13, Jer 13:14, Jer 14:14-16, Jer 29:25-29, Lev 10:11, 1Ki 22:24, Mal 2:7, Luk 11:45, Joh 7:47-49, Joh 9:40
counsel: 2Sa 15:31, 2Sa 17:14, Job 5:13
Come and let us smite: Jer 26:11, Psa 52:2, Psa 57:4, Psa 64:3, Pro 18:21
with: or, for
and let us not: Jer 5:12, Jer 5:13, Jer 43:2, Jer 44:17
Reciprocal: Deu 17:9 – the priests Deu 33:9 – for they Jdg 9:1 – communed 1Ki 22:8 – but I hate him 2Ch 18:7 – I hate him 2Ch 24:21 – conspired Neh 6:13 – that Job 5:21 – be hid Psa 12:4 – With Psa 56:5 – all Psa 94:4 – shall Psa 140:5 – The proud Pro 1:11 – let us lurk Pro 3:29 – Devise not evil Isa 29:21 – and lay Isa 56:12 – to morrow Jer 6:28 – walking Jer 9:6 – habitation Jer 18:23 – thou Jer 20:10 – Report Jer 23:17 – No Jer 26:8 – the priests Jer 37:13 – Thou Jer 44:16 – we Jer 49:7 – Is wisdom Lam 3:59 – thou hast Lam 3:62 – and Eze 2:6 – though they Eze 7:26 – ancients Eze 11:2 – General Eze 33:30 – the children Dan 6:4 – sought Hos 4:4 – as Hos 5:2 – profound Hos 7:16 – the rage Amo 7:10 – not Amo 9:10 – The evil Hab 1:5 – for Zec 7:10 – imagine Mat 22:15 – how Mat 26:3 – assembled Mar 12:13 – they send Luk 11:53 – to speak Luk 20:20 – they watched Act 25:3 – laying 1Co 13:5 – thinketh 2Ti 4:3 – they will Jam 3:5 – so 1Jo 5:16 – I do not
Jer 18:18. Physical persecution has long been a weapon of men who do not like the teaching that condemns their sinful practices. That, kind of persecution was imposed on Jeremiah at times, hut in the present instance they proposed attacking him with their tongues by devising some slander against him. Their grievance was his charge that the priests and other teachers such as the wise men and prophets were failing in their duty of delivering counsel according to the law. They agreed among themselves to deny Jeremiahs accusation and to maintain that the prophets would continue to deliver the proper teaching contrary to Jeremiahs predictions.
Jer 18:18. Then said they, Come, &c. Namely, after they had heard from Jeremiah what God had ordered him to say to them concerning their destruction; for this seems to be understood. Let us devise devices against Jeremiah Let us accuse him of being a false prophet; for the law shall not perish from the priest, &c. For his threatenings plainly contradict Gods promises made to his people. They seem to have been incensed against him on much the same ground as the Jews, in aftertimes, were against our Saviour and his apostles. They had persuaded themselves, that God had intended for them a perpetual establishment; and would accordingly provide them with a constant succession of man, in all departments, to preserve and maintain the general welfare; namely, priests to direct in all matters of law and religion; wise statesmen to manage their civil concerns; and prophets to make known to them the immediate will of God on all important and extraordinary occasions. Upon this presumption they inferred, that Jeremiah, who foretold the contrary, was a false prophet, and, as such, they determined to punish him. Blaney. Let us smite him with the tongue Let us calumniate and disparage him, traducing him as an enemy to his country. Let us accuse him of crimes against the state, and by that means take away his life; then all his prophecies will die with him. In the margin we read, for the tongue, which may signify, Let us punish him for his malignant speeches. But I rather think, says Blaney, we should render it, Let us smite him on the tongue, that is, on the offending part; alluding to a very significant mode of inflicting punishment, by directing it to that particular member which had the most immediate share in the offence, although here it may possibly carry this general import only, Let us punish him so as effectually to silence him.
18:18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise plots against Jeremiah; for the law {g} shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the {h} tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
(g) This argument the wicked have always used against the servants of God. The church cannot err: we are the Church, and therefore whoever speaks against us, they ought to die, 1Ki 22:24, Jer 7:4; Jer 20:2, Mal 2:4 and thus the false Church persecutes the true Church, which stands not in outward pomp, and in multitude, but is known by the graces of the Holy Spirit.
(h) Let us slander him and accuse him: for we will be believed.
Jeremiah’s reaction to a plot against his life 18:18-23
This is another section that contains one of Jeremiah’s "confessions." Evidently there were several separate plots against the prophet’s life (cf. Jer 11:18-23; Jer 12:1-6). People hated him because he brought bad news and called them to repent and to return to Yahweh and His covenant, which most of the people did not want to do. But really the people were rejecting Yahweh (cf. 1Sa 8:7).
Some of the Judahites plotted to kill Jeremiah. They justified their action by noting that even if they killed him, the Mosaic Law and the counsel of other wise men and other prophets would still remain. Thus they rationalized their sin.
"The proverb suggests that nothing can shut up a prophet-he always has a word (the last word?)." [Note: Drinkard, p. 253.]
They did not believe that their lives would change radically because of their failure to repent. They did not really believe that they were heading for exile. They believed Jeremiah’s prophecies were false.
"To disturb a complacent leadership or a misguided populace was only to invite serious repercussions. Human society in every age bears eloquent testimony to the fact." [Note: Thompson, p. 441.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)