Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 30:14
All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; [because] thy sins were increased.
14. thy lovers ] See on Jer 22:20.
for the greatness, etc.] mg. multitude. Probably the latter part of the v. has been accidentally introduced from Jer 30:15, where it suits the context better.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the multitude … – Or,
Because of the multitude of thine iniquity,
Because thy sins are strong.
Judahs lovers are the nations which once sought her alliance (see Jer 22:20; Jer 27:3).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
In the time of thy prosperity thou hadst many friends, but now they have
forgotten thee. Very probably the Egyptians and Assyrians, whose help the Jews made often use of, are the lovers here intended, 2Ch 28:21; Hos. 12:1; indeed the Egyptians were before conquered, or very much brought low, by the king of Babylon. They see the miserable case they are in, and now do not covet thee as formerly, they discern that I have wounded thee with such a wound as cruel men use to give their enemies; though it be in me no act of cruelty, for it is but in a just punishment of your iniquities, which were increased to a very great multitude.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. loversthe peoplesformerly allied to thee, Assyria and Egypt (compare La1:2).
seek thee nothave castaway all concern for thee in thy distress.
wound of an enemyawound such as an enemy would inflict. God condescends to employlanguage adapted to human conceptions. He is incapable of “enmity”or “cruelty”; it was their grievous sin which righteouslydemanded a grievous punishment, as though He were an “enemy”(Jer 5:6; Job 13:24;Job 30:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
All thy lovers have forgotten thee,…. The Egyptians and Assyrians, whom they sought unto for help, and entered into an alliance with, and who promised them great things; but forgot their promises and forsook them:
they seek thee not; to ask of thy welfare, as the Targum adds; they do not, visit thee, nor inquire after thine health, or how it is with thee, having no manner of care and concern for thee; this has been the case of the Jews for many ages:
for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one; so it might seem to be; and thus it might be interpreted by them, as if the Lord acted the part of an enemy, and a very cruel one, that had no mercy; though he corrected them, as in
Jer 30:11, in measure, moderation, and mercy: or else the meaning is, that he wounded them, when their nation, city, and temple, were destroyed, by the hand and means of an enemy, even a very cruel and merciless one, the Romans:
for the multitude of thine iniquity; [because] thy sins were increased; a very wicked people the Jews were, not only before they went into the Babylonish captivity, but after their return; and in the times of Christ and his apostles; who complain of their covetousness, hypocrisy, adultery, thefts, murders, and sacrilege; and particularly they were in the above manner chastised by means of the Romans, for their unbelief and rejection of the true Messiah, and the persecution of his followers.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet again repeats, that nothing remained for Israel as coming from men, for no one offered to bring help. Some, indeed, explain the words as though the Prophet had said, that friends, as it is usually the case, concealed themselves through shame on seeing the condition of the people hopeless: for as long as friends can relieve the sick, they are ready at hand, and anxiously exert themselves, but when life is despaired of, they no longer appear. But the Prophet, I have no doubt, condemns here the Jews for the false confidence with which they had been long fascinated; for we know, that at one time they placed hope in the Egyptians; at another in the Assyrians; and thus it happened that they brought on themselves many calamities. And we have seen elsewhere, in many passages, that these confederacies are compared to impure lusts; for when the people sought at one time the friendship of the Egyptians, at another, that of the Assyrians, it was a kind of adultery. God had taken the Jews under his care and protection; but unbelief led them astray, so that. they sought to strengthen themselves by the aid of others. Hence, everywhere in the Prophets the Egyptians and the Assyrians are compared to lovers. And this view will suit well here; for it was not enough to point out the miseries of the people, without making known the cause of them.
Then the Prophet refers to those false counsels which the Jews had adopted, when they thought themselves secure and safe while the Egyptians, or the Assyrians, or the Chaldeans were favorable to them. For this reason he says, that all their friends had forgotten them, and also that they did not inquire for them, that is, that they had cast off every care for them. And he adds the reason, because God had smitten, the people with an hostile wound Here the Prophet summons them again to God’s tribunal, that they might learn to consider that these evils did not happen by chance, but that they were the testimonies of God’s just wrath. God then comes forth here, and declares himself the author of all those calamities; for the Prophet would have spoken to no purpose of the miseries of the people, had not this truth been thoroughly impressed on their minds, — that they had to do with God.
Now, that God calls himself an enemy, and compares himself to a cruel enemy, must not be so understood as that the covenant had been abolished by which he had adopted the children of Abraham as his own; for he, through his mercy, always reserved some remnants. Nor ought we to understand that there was excess in God’s severity, as though he raged cruelly against his people, when he executed his judgments: but this ought to be understood according to the common perceptions of men. God also calls elsewhere the Israelites his enemies, but not without lamentation,
“
Alas!” he says, “I will take vengeance on my enemies.” (Isa 1:24)
He assumed there the character of one grieving, as though he had said, that he unwillingly proceeded to so much rigor, for he would have willingly spared the people, had not necessity forced him to such severity. But, as I have already said, when God calls himself the enemy of his people, it ought to be understood of temporal punishment, or it ought to be explained of the reprobate and lost, who had wholly alienated themselves from God’s favor, and whom God had also cut off from the body of his Church as putrid members. But as the Prophet here addresses the faithful, there is no doubt but that God calls himself an enemy, because, according to the state of things at that time, the Jews could not have otherwise thought than that God was angry with them.
With regard to cruel one, we have already said, that excess is thereby denoted, as though too much rigor or severity were ascribed to God: but the Jews could not have been otherwise awakened to consider their sins, nor be sufficiently terrified so as to be led seriously to acknowledge the judgment of God. And God himself, in what follows, sufficiently proves, that though he compares himself to a severe or cruel man, yet nothing wrong could be found in his judgments.
For he adds, for the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy sins have prevailed Though the Jews thought that God acted severely, when he threatened them with long exile, here their mouth was closed by the multitude of their iniquity; as though he had said, “Set in a balance on one side, the weight of the punishment of which ye complain, and on the other side the heap of sins by which ye have often, and for a long time, provoked my wrath against you.” God then, by multitude of iniquity, shews that it could not be ascribed to him as a fault that he so severely punished the Jews, because they deserved to be so punished. And he confirms the same thing in other words, not that there was anything ambiguous in what he had said, but because the Prophet saw that he had to do with perverse men. That he might then reprove their indifference, he says, that their sins had grown strong (11) It follows —
(11) It is better to retain the literal word “lovers,” than “friends,” as rendered by the Sept., the Syr., and the Targ., though not by the Vulg. The particle על is commonly a preposition, but not when preceding a verb, as here; and that רב is a verb here is proved by the sentence which follows, which is in apposition; and it is so rendered by Blayney. The verse may be thus rendered —
14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, Thee they seek not: Verily with the stroke of an enemy have I struck thee, — With a violent correction; Because multiplied had thine iniquity, Grown strong had thy sins, etc.
The word for “violent,” or cruel, is so construed in the early versions; the Targ. alone countenances our version. The last line conveys a different idea from the preceding. The verb, indeed, means strong in number as well as strong in power; but as number is expressed in the previous line, we may justly consider that power is meant here: their sins were not only many, but strong and vigorous, so strong as to resist all exhortations and all threatenings. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) All thy lovers have forgotten thee . . .The lovers of a nation are, of course, as in Jer. 22:20, its allies and tributaries. Moab, Ammon, Edom, Tyre, had at one time courted the favour of Judah (Jer. 27:3). They looked on her now as smitten of God and afflicted. He had smitten her as an enemy smites. His chastisement had seemed to imply that she was given over to a deserved destruction. In Jer. 40:14; Jer. 48:27, Lam. 4:21, Psa. 137:7, we have traces of this change of feeling.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Lovers Allied peoples; such, for instance, as Egypt and Syria. Comp. Jer 22:20; Jer 27:3.
Wound of an enemy As it appeared; merciless and severe.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 30:14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; [because] thy sins were increased.
Ver. 14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee. ] Thy sweethearts, thine idols, thy carnal friends, thy priests, prophets, riches, pleasures, all these have given thee the bag, as we say; they stand aloof from thy help.
They seek thee not.
For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy.
With the chastisement of a cruel one.
For the multitude of thine iniquities.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lovers: Jer 2:36, Jer 4:30, Jer 22:20, Jer 22:22, Jer 38:22, Lam 1:2, Lam 1:19, Eze 23:9, Eze 23:22, Hos 2:5, Hos 2:10-16, Rev 17:12-18
I: Job 13:24-28, Job 16:9, Job 19:11, Job 30:21, Lam 2:5, Hos 5:14
because: Jer 30:15, Jer 5:6, Psa 90:7, Psa 90:8, Eze 9:8-10
Reciprocal: Deu 32:42 – revenges Job 6:15 – My brethren Isa 23:16 – General Isa 28:21 – his strange Isa 63:10 – he was Jer 6:23 – cruel Jer 14:17 – with a very Lam 1:5 – for Lam 2:4 – bent Hos 5:13 – his wound Oba 1:7 – the men of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 30:14. Since human means could not cure the diseased condition (which was idolatry) the Lord only could heal the nation of it. This healing was to consist of a severe treatment, even the chastisement of a cruel one, which means the enslavement of the people In the land of Babylon.