Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 20:15
Cursed [be] the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
15. “No man of course can curse his father or his mother, so Jeremiah curses the messenger, who brought the joyful news from the women’s quarters.” Du.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 15. A man child is born] Borun is to thee a knave child.-Old MS. Bible. This is the old English word for man or servant; and is so used by Wiclif, Re 12:5.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Parents are usually rejoiced when a son is born to them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. A man childThe birth of ason is in the East a special subject of joy; whereas that of adaughter is often not so.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Cursed [be] the man who brought tidings to my father,…. The word signifies commonly good tidings, as the news of a child born, and especially a man child, is to its parent. The Septuagint use the same word the angel did, when he brought the tidings of the birth of Christ, Lu 2:10. This was still more foolish and sinful, to curse the man that carried the tidings of his birth to his father; who did a right thing, and what was acceptable, and perhaps might be a good man. Kimchi observes, that there are some that say, it was known to Jeremiah that this man was Pashur, the son of Immer, and therefore he cursed him; but this is without any foundation;
saying, a man child is born unto thee, making him very glad; as the birth of a man child usually makes glad its parent, whether father or mother; see Joh 16:21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We said yesterday that the Prophet’s confused state of mind is described in this passage; for he would have no doubt himself confessed, that he was carried away by an intemperate feeling, so as not to be himself; for it is to cast reproach on God when any one curses his own birth-day. And he goes farther than this, for he adds, Cursed be the man who declared to my father, that a male child was born Here he not only fights against God, but is also ungrateful towards men; for what but thanks did he deserve who first told his father that he had a son born to him? It was then an ingratitude in no way excusable And hence we also learn that the Prophet had no control over his feelings, but was wholly led away by a blind impulse, which made him to utter very inconsiderate words; for in this sentence there is no piety nor humanity; but as I have said, the Prophet was ungrateful to men as well as to God; and his hyperbolical language also more fully expresses how intemperate his feelings were, who declared to my father that a male child was born He seems here, as though he avowedly despised God’s favor, for we know that males are preferred to females. But the Prophet mentions here the word male, as though he wished to complain of what he ought to have been thankful for.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Making him very glad.The memory, or rather the thought of that day, the joy of father and another when their child was born (Joh. 16:21) was wanted, as in the irony of destiny, to add the keenest pang to the misery of the present. The sorrows crown of sorrow was found in remembering happier days. We note the same tenderness turned to bitterness as in Jer. 15:10. The day of his birth was to him a day of darkness and not of light.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 20:15 Cursed [be] the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
Ver. 15. Cursed be the man. ] Let him have a curse for a reward of his so good news. Thus the prophet, in a fit of impatience, carrieth himself as one who, being cut by a surgeon and extremely pained, striketh at and biteth those that hold him; or, like him in the poet,
“ Quem non incusavi amens hominum que deumque? ”
Aeneid, lib. ii.
Surely as the bird in a cage, because pent up, beats herself, so doth the discontented person. Look to it, therefore. Satan thrusteth in upon us sometimes praying, with a cloud of strange passions, such as are ready to gallow us out of that little wit and faith we have. Resist him betimes. The wildfire of passion will be burning while the incense of prayer is in offering; this scum will be rising up in the boiling pot, together with the meat. See Joh 4:1 . See Trapp on “ Jon 4:1 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man child = a son, a male. Compare Rev 12:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
A man: Jer 1:5, Gen 21:5, Gen 21:6, Luk 1:14
Reciprocal: Job 3:1 – cursed Job 3:3 – Let the day Psa 37:8 – fret
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 20:15-18. Cursed be the man, &c. As in the forms of rejoicing upon a birth-day they blessed every person and thing concerned in the birth, and said, Blessed be the womb that bare thee, and the like, and he that brought the joyful news was always rewarded, so in the forms of sorrow for the miserable they used quite the contrary expressions. Let that man be as the cities, &c. Namely, Sodom and Gomorrah; let him be looked upon as a sad spectacle. Let him hear the cry in the morning, &c. By these expressions he means the cries, shouts, and noises that enemies make when they break in upon a place in a hostile manner. Because he slew me not, &c. Or, because I was not slain; from the womb. Wherefore came I forth to see That is, to experience; labour and sorrow?
Seeing being frequently put to express any sensation. As if the prophet had said, I speak thus in the bitterness of my soul; when I consider how much better it would have been that I had never been born, or that I had given up the ghost immediately on my birth, than to lead a life of continual sorrow and misery. These various expressions show us to what a height the tide of perturbation swelled at this time in this good mans heart, and what need we have to pray to be delivered from the power of our own passions.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jeremiah felt that it would have been better if his father had never received the news that he had a baby boy. Normally the birth of a male child was the best news a man could receive, since the birth of a boy usually guaranteed support for the family and the perpetuation of the family line. Jeremiah was similar to that messenger, in that he thought he was bringing good news of escape-through divine deliverance-to the nation, but it turned out to be bad news of distress and battle cries. [Note: Drinkard, p. 279.]