Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 22:22
The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
22. feed ] mg. feed upon, but rather shepherd, so as to preserve the play on words in the Heb.
shepherds ] See on Jer 2:8. Thy leaders, in whom thou hast confidence, shall be driven like a flock into exile by the wind of adversity.
thy lovers ] perhaps inserted from Jer 22:20, as being here superfluous from the metrical point of view.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Shall eat up all thy pastors – literally, shall depasture (Jer 2:16 note) thy pastors. Those who used to drive their flocks to consume the herbage shall themselves be the first prey of war. The pastors mean not the kings only, but all in authority.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. The wind shall eat up all thy pastors] A blast from God’s mouth shall carry off thy kings, princes, prophets, and priests.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Either a vain hope and presumption shall destroy thy rulers and governors who flatter time with promises of prosperity; or a judgment shall seize them, that shall be like a violent wind, which presently scattereth the clouds and the smoke; or they shall be blasted by my judgments, as plants are blasted and eaten up by winds. And those that have been thy friends and allies, Syria and Egypt, in whom thou hast trusted, shall themselves be made captive. Surely when thou seest this, thou wilt be convinced, and ashamed of thy wicked courses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. windthe Chaldees, as aparching wind that sweeps over rapidly and withers vegetation(Jer 4:11; Jer 4:12;Psa 103:16; Isa 40:7).
eat up . . . pastorsthatis, thy kings (Jer 2:8). Thereis a happy play on words. The pastors, whose office it is tofeed the sheep, shall themselves be fed on. They who shoulddrive the flock from place to place for pasture shall bedriven into exile by the Chaldees.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The wind shall eat up all thy pastors,…. King, nobles, counsellors, priests, prophets, and elders of the people; they shall be carried away as chaff before the wind, or perish as trees and fruits are blasted with an east wind; to which Nebuchadnezzar and his army are sometimes compared; see Jer 18:17. The Targum is,
“all thy governors shall be scattered to every wind;”
and thy lovers shall go into captivity: the Assyrians and Egyptians, as before; see Jer 52:31;
surely then thou shalt be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness; being disappointed of all protection from their governors at home, and of all help from their allies abroad; and will then, when too late, be convinced of all their wickedness, and ashamed of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As the main fault was in the chief men, therefore God shews, that there would be no defense found in their prudence and wealth, when things came to an extremity: and it was a usual thing for the common people, when reproved, to refer to their rulers as their shield: nor is there a doubt but that the Jews made this objection to God’s Prophets, — “What do you mean? that God has suffered us to be unhappily governed by bad princes? then he has exposed us as a prey to wolves: now if he punishes us, it seems an unjust thing for us to suffer for the fault of others.” At the same time, they who thus spoke were secure and despised God, because they thought that their safety was secured by their chief men.
Hence, the Prophet here shakes off from the Jews this vain confidence, Thy pastors, he says, the wind shall eat up By pastors he understands the king and his counsellors, as well as the priests and the prophets. The word eat up, means that all would be consumed by the wind. Sometimes, indeed, men are said to feed on the wind, that is, when they entertain vain confidences. So the wind means in other places vain hopes, as they say; but it is in another sense that the Prophet speaks, when he says that pastors would be eaten up by the wind, that is, that they would vanish away like the smoke. Thus God shews that their presumption, and frauds, and false imaginations, were nothing but smoke and emptiness. (62)
He then speaks of their lovers, — that they would migrate into exile: for the Jews thought at first, that they would be impregnable as long as the throne of David stood; and then we know that the common people were easily deceived by external splendor, when they saw that the priests as well as the prophets and the king’s counsellors were endued with craftiness, and swelling with great pride; and hence they disregarded what the prophets threatened. Now, the second ground of confidence was their alliance with the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and other neighboring nations. Therefore God, after having said, that all their pastors would be destroyed, adds, that the Egyptians and others would be driven into captivity.
He afterwards says, Surely, thou shalt then be ashamed, and shalt blush for all thy wickedness; (63) that is, “Thou shalt at length know that thou art justly punished for thy sins, when God shall denude thee of all aids, and make it evident that everything that now gives thee confidence is altogether empty and vain.” And he mentions all wickedness; for the Jews had not sinned only in one thing, but had added evils to evils, so that they had provoked God’s vengeance by an immense heap of wickedness. Their acknowledgment, however, would not be that which availed to repentance, but extorted; for the reprobate, willing or unwilling, are often constrained to acknowledge their shame. It follows —
(62) The wind sometimes means what is empty; and in this sense the Sept., the Vulg., and the Arab. take it here, “All thy pastors the wind shall feed;” but the Syr. and the Targ. take the “wind” as meaning a blasting or a stormy wind: “All thy pastors the wind shall feed on,” or eat up, is the Syr.; and the Targ. gives this paraphrase, “All thy pastors shall be scattered unto every wind.” The verb, no doubt, means to feed, and to feed on, or eat up, or consume, but not to scatter or disperse. Therefore the meaning here is, either that the pastors would have nothing but what was empty to support them, or that they would be consumed as by a blast. The first is most consonant to the tenor of the passage; for the aid of their lovers is previously referred to; but they would find this aid to be “wind,” and then it is added, that these lovers as well as themselves would be driven into captivity. There is a striking paronomasia in the words. The word for pastors is derived from the verb to feed. We may give this version, “All thy feeders shall the wind feed.” The feeders had fed the people with winds, with empty expectations, and they, in their turn, would have nothing but wind, what was empty, to live upon or to support them. — Ed.
(63) Our version is better as to the two verbs here used, “ashamed and confounded.” The latter is stronger than the former. The Vulg. and the Targ. invert the order, “confounded and ashamed.” The Sept. and Arab. have “ashamed and dishonored,” or despised. The first verb means simply to be ashamed, and the other to turn aside as it were from a sense of shame, as one not able to look on others. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) The wind shall eat up all thy pastors.The word for eat up is the root of the noun rendered pastors, and the play of sound may be expressed in English by shall feed on them that feed theei.e., thy princes and statesmen. The lovers are, as before in Jer. 22:20, the kings chosen allies.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. The wind shall eat up, etc. There is here a play upon words, of which the common Version gives no glimpse: depasture thy pastors eat up thy feeders. As the parching east wind eats up the grass, so shall the fire of war consume the “pastors” (that is, the leaders) of the people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 22:22. The wind shall eat up all thy pastors “All thy pastors shall find themselves mere wind and smoke; they flattered themselves with succours which they shall not find.” By pastors he means princes, kings, and great men. Hosea makes use of the same manner of speaking, ch. Jer 12:1. Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: “He satisfies himself with vain hopes.” The Chaldee, which is followed by many interpreters, renders the passage, You pastors, you leaders, shall be dispersed by all the winds; shall be dispersed into all parts of the world; which well agrees with the next clause, Thy lovers shall go into captivity. See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
Ver. 22. The wind shall eat all thy pastors, ] a i.e., The vain hope that thy governors have in foreign helps shall deceive them; for God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack and break.
Surely then shalt thou be ashamed.
a Vento vanitatis, ut chamaeleontes aere pascuntur.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wind. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
pastors. Put for rulers of all kinds. See notes on Jer 2:8; Jer 3:15, &c.
wickedness. Hebrew. ra’a’. App-44. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for the cause of the calamity.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
wind: Jer 4:11-13, Jer 30:23, Jer 30:24, Isa 64:6, Hos 4:19, Hos 13:15
thy pastors: Jer 2:8, Jer 5:30, Jer 5:31, Jer 10:21, Jer 12:10, Jer 23:1, Jer 23:2, Eze 34:2-10, Zec 11:8, Zec 11:17, Act 7:51, Act 7:52
thy lovers: Jer 22:20
surely: Jer 2:26, Jer 2:27, Jer 2:37, Jer 20:11
Reciprocal: Isa 57:13 – let Jer 30:14 – lovers Hos 12:1 – feedeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 22:22. As a wind will sweep things before it because of their lightness, so these pastors (unfaithful teachers) were to be swept away by the (“east) wind of the Babylonian army. When that takes place all the guilty ones will go into captivity. Be ashamed and confounded refers to the humiliation and confusion that was to result when the nation has been taken into Babylonian captivity.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 22:22. The wind shall eat up all thy pastors Thy kings, princes, priests, and false prophets, who have presided over thy civil and religious affairs, shall be destroyed by my judgments, as plants are blasted by winds. Gods judgments are often compared to a scorching and blasting wind. Thy lovers shall go into captivity Thy allies shall themselves be made captives by the Chaldeans, and shall not be able to preserve themselves, much less to give any assistance to thee.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy shepherds, {p} and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
(p) Both your governors and they that would help you will vanish away as wind.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord would remove her nobles and leaders, and all the people she had trusted in to supply her needs would go into captivity. Then Jerusalem would feel ashamed because she had behaved wickedly. This happened in 597 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar deported many of the nobles (2Ki 24:10 to 2Ki 25:7).