Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 4:14
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
14. How long, etc.] Cp. Hos 8:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thy vain thoughts – Thy iniquitous thoughts. Aven, the word used here, is especially applied to the sin of idolatry: thus Bethel is generally called Bethaven by Hosea (Hos 4:15; Hos 5:8, …), because instead of being the house of God, El, it was the house of an iniquity, Aven, the golden calf.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 4:14
Wash thine heart from wickedness.
Purity necessary to salvation
I. The natural depravity of the human heart.
1. This doctrine requires definition. Depravity of the heart includes–
(1) The entire absence of the Divine image.
(2) A natural aversion to God and godliness.
(3) A universal propensity or disposition to evil.
2. This doctrine demands evidence.
(1) Divinely revealed.
(2) Practically exemplified.
(3) Deeply lamented.
II. The spiritual purity which the lord requires.
1. The possibility of obtaining purity of heart. This appears from–
(1) The design of redemption (Heb 9:13-14).
(2) The ability of the Saviour (Joh 1:16; 1Co 1:30).
(3) The promises of Scripture (Eze 36:26-27; 1Pe 1:3-4).
(4) The experience of believers (Rom 6:22; 1Jn 1:7).
2. The important duty of seeking purity of heart.
III. The absolute necessity of personal holiness.
1. A necessary property of religion.
2. A necessary meetness for heaven. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
The heart to be kept pure
You have seen, said Spurgeon, the great reservoirs provided by our water companies, in which the water to supply thousands of houses is kept. Now the heart is the reservoir of man, and our life is allowed to flow in its proper season. That life may flow through different pipes–the mouth, the hand, the eye; but still all the issues of hand, of eye, of lip derive their source from the great fountain and central reservoir, the heart; and hence there is great necessity for keeping this reservoir in a proper state and condition, since otherwise that which flows through the pipes must be tainted and corrupt. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?–Vain thoughts:–
I. Characteristics. Those thoughts are vain–
1. From which we do not and cannot reap any good.
2. Which cannot associate in any agreement with useful and valuable ones.
3. Which have to be kept out in order for the mind to attend to any serious or good purpose.
4. Which dwell largely and habitually on trifling things.
5. Which trifle with important things.
6. Which are fickle, not remaining with any continuance on a subject.
7. When the mind has some specially favourite trifle, some cherished, idolised toy.
8. Which continually return to things justly claiming a measure of attention, when the thinking of them can be no advantage.
9. When the mind dwells on fancies of how things might be or might have been, when the reality of how they are is before us.
10. Which men indulge concerning notions and schemings of worldly felicity.
II. Corrective.
1. Have specified subjects of serious interest to turn to when thought reverts to these vanities.
2. Make a sudden charge of guilt on your mind when vain thoughts prevail.
3. Have recourse to the direct act of devotion.
4. Interrupt and stop them by the question, What is just now my most pressing duty?
5. Have recourse to some practical occupation, matter of business, or a visit to some house of mourning.
6. Constrain your habitual thinking to go along with the thoughts of those who have thought the best, by reading the most valuable books.
7. Think to a certain purpose–towards a purposed end.
8. Reflect on how many things we have to do with which vain thoughts interfere; and also, what would have been the result of good thoughts instead of so many vain.
9. Discipline of the thoughts greatly depends on the company a man keeps (Pro 13:20).
10. If the complaint be urged, that this discipline involves much that is hard and difficult, we answer, It is just as hard as to do justice to a rational and immortal spirit placed here a little while by God for its improvement, and then to go where appoints. Hard, but indispensable. (John Foster.)
Bad lodgers, and how to treat them
I. Here are certain bad lodgers.
1. Many thoughts may be called vain because they are proud, conceited thoughts. Thus, whenever a man thinks himself good by nature, we may say of his thoughts, Vanity of vanities: all is vanity. If you are unrenewed, and dream that you are better than others because your parents were godly, it is a vain thought. Every thought of self-righteousness is a vain thought; every idea, moreover, of self-power–that you can do this and do that towards your own salvation, and that at any time when it pleases you you can turn and become a Christian, and so there is no need to be in a hurry, or to seek the help of the Holy Spirit:–that also is a vain thought.
2. Another sort of vain thoughts may be ranged under the head of carnal security. The poet says, All men think all men mortal but themselves, and often as the saying is quoted never was a proverb more generally true.
3. I know another set of thoughts: they are better looking, but they are equally vain, for they promise much and come to nothing: they are vain because they are fruitless. These vain thoughts are like the better order of people in Jerusalem–good people after a sort–that is to say, they really thought that as God threatened them with judgments, they would turn to Him. Certainly they would. They had no intention of being hard hearted. Far from it; they owned the power of the prophets appeal; they felt a degree of awe in the presence of the just God as He threatened them, and of course they meant–they meant to wash their hearts, and they meant to put away all their forbidden practices; not just yet, but by and by. Some men brood so long over their future intentions that they all of them become addled eggs, and nothing whatever is hatched. O man, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it, do it, do it with thy might.
II. Now, let me show what bad lodgers they are.
1. First, they are deceitful. The man that says, When I have a more convenient season I will send for thee, does not send for Paul any more: he never intended to do so. A man says, Tomorrow; but tomorrow never comes. When that comes which would have been tomorrow it is today; and then he cries, Tomorrow, and so multiplies lies before God.
2. Vain thoughts are bad lodgers, for they pay no rent; they bring in nothing good to those who entertain them. There is the ledger of self-righteousness, for instance: what good does self-righteousness ever do to the man who entertains it? It pretends to pay in brass farthings: it pretends to pay, but the money is counterfeit. What good does it do to any man to harbour in his mind the empty promise of future repentance? It often prevents repentance.
3. The next reason for the ejectment of these lodgers is this: that they are wasting your goods and destroying your property. For instance, every unacted resolution wastes time, and that is more precious than gold. It also wastes thought, for to think of a thing and to leave it undone is a waste of reflection. It is a waste of energy to be energetic about merely promising to be energetic; it is a great waste of strength to be forever resolving to be strong, and yet to remain weak.
4. Worst of all, these vain thoughts are bad lodgers because they bring you under condemnation. There have been times when to entertain certain persons was treason, and many individuals have been put to death for harbouring traitors. Rebels condemned to die have been discovered in a mans house, and he has been condemned for affording them a hiding place. Now, God declares that these vain thoughts of yours are condemned traitors. Are you going to harbour them any longer?
III. Let us see what to do with these bad lodgers.
1. The first thing is to give them notice to quit at once. Let there be no waiting. When a man is converted it is done at once. There is a line, thin as a razors edge, which divides death from life, a point of decision which separates the saved from the lost.
2. Suppose that these vain thoughts will not go just when you bid them begone. I will tell you what to do to get rid of them: starve them out. Lock the door, and let nothing enter upon which they can feed.
3. The best way in all the world that I know of to get rid of vain thoughts out of your house–these bad lodgers that have gone in and that you cannot get out–is to sell the house over their heads. Let the house change owners. When you have dope that, you know, it will be the new owner that will have the trouble of turning them out; and He will do it. I recommend every sinner here that wants to find salvation to give himself up to Christ. Ah, now the stronger than they are has come, and He will bind the strong ones, and He will fling them out of window, and so break them to pieces with their fall that they shall never be able to crawl up the stairs again. He knows how to do it. He can expel them; you cannot. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Vain thoughts
Heart compared to house, to entertain and lodge guests; into which, before conversion, all the light wanton thoughts that post up and down in the world have open access; while they, like unruly gallants, revel day and night, and defile those rooms they lodge in. How long? whilst I, with My Spirit, and Son, and train of graces, stand and knock, and cannot find admittance?
I. What is meant by thoughts?
1. The internal acts of the mind; reasonings, resolutions, consultations, desires, cares, etc.
(1) The thinking, meditating, musing power in man, which enables him to conceive, apprehend, fancy.
(2) Thoughts which the mind frames within itself (Pro 6:14; Jam 1:15; Isa 59:4-7).
(3) Thoughts which the mind in and by itself begets and entertains.
2. What vanity is.
(1) Unprofitableness (Ecc 1:2-3).
(2) Lightness (Psa 62:9).
(3) Folly (Pro 12:11).
(4) Inconstancy (Psa 144:4; Psa 146:4).
(5) Wicked and sinful (2Ch 13:7; Pro 24:9).
II. The particulars wherein this vanity of the thinking, meditating power of man consists.
1. In regard to thinking what is good.
(1) A want of ability to raise and extract holy and useful considerations and thoughts from the occurrences and occasions which surround us.
(2) A loathness to entertain holy thoughts.
(3) The mind will not be long intent on good thoughts.
(4) If the mind think of good things, it does so unseasonably; intrudes on prayer and interrupts it (Pro 16:3).
2. The readiness of the mind to think on evil and vain things.
(1) This vanity shows itself in foolishness (Mar 7:22), which proves itself in the unsettledness and independence of our thoughts.
(2) If any strong lust or passion be up, our thoughts are too fixed and intent.
(3) A restless curiosity concerning things not affecting us.
(4) Taking thought to fulfil the lusts of our flesh.
(5) Acting sins over again in our imagination.
III. Remedies against vain thoughts.
1. Get the heart furnished and enriched with a good stock of sanctified and heavenly knowledge in spiritual truths.
2. Endeavour to preserve and keep up lively, holy, and spiritual affections in the heart.
3. Get the heart possessed with deep and powerful apprehensions of Gods holiness, majesty, omniscience, and omnipresence.
4. In the morning when thou awakest, as did David (Psa 119:18), prevent the vain thoughts the heart naturally engenders by filling it with thoughts of God.
5. Have a watchful eye upon thy heart all day; though vain thoughts crowd in, let them know that they pass not unseen.
6. Please not thy fancy too much with vanities and curious flights (Job 31:1; Pro 4:25).
7. Be diligent in thy calling (2Th 3:11; 1Ti 5:13); only, encumber not the mind too much (Luk 10:41).
8. In thy calling and all thy ways commit thy goings to the Lord (Pro 16:3). (T. Goodwin, B. D.)
Vain thoughts
I. What are vain thoughts?
1. Unprofitable imaginations.
2. Unscriptural opinions.
3. Unholy desires.
4. Unseasonable ideas.
II. The solemn inquiry. How long?
1. Shall it be till some temporal judgment be sent to awaken you out of your carnal security?
2. Till habit rivets these vain thoughts, and makes repentance and conversion harder than ever?
3. Till the grieved Saviour forsakes thee, and the resisted Spirit ceases to strive with thee?
4. Till the sentence goes forth, cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? (J. Jowett, M. A.)
The vanity of man as a thinker
I. It is the glory of man that he can think.
1. Thought brings the outward universe into mans soul, and thus makes it his own.
2. Thought enables us to subordinate the outward world to our service.
3. By the power of thought we construct new universes.
4. Thought determines our condition.
(1) Even materially, it influences our health, shapes our countenance, tunes our voice.
(2) Spiritually, our condition is almost absolutely governed by thought. By thought we can pierce the heavens, enter into the holy of holies, hold fellowship with the Infinite. By thought we can break forth from our own little earthly sphere–make God our centre, and run a wider and brighter orbit than the stars.
II. It is the curse of man that he thinks wrongly.
1. Vain thoughts find a lodgment in the minds of some. If the thoughts cherished be vain, the life pursued will be vain. In order in some measure to estimate the amount of vain thought cherished by men, let us do three things. Compare the true theory of happiness with the conduct which men pursue in order to obtain it; the true theory of greatness with the efforts which they put forth in order to realise it; and the true theory of religion with their conduct in relation to it.
2. The expulsion of vain thoughts is a matter of urgent importance.
(1) They can be got rid of. By consecration of our energies to true work. By companionship with truthful souls. By realising the constant presence of the heart-inspecting God. By a change in the governing dispositions of the mind.
(2) The urgent necessity of this. They waste the mental life; corrupt the heart; imperil the soul. (Homilist.)
Vain thoughts
I. The evil of permitting vain thoughts to lodge within us. By vain thoughts may be meant all unlawful desires, vile affections, wicked tempers, and mischievous imaginations of every kind. If these, or any other evil thoughts to which we are subject, lodge in our breasts, they must render our persons abominable to God, corrupt all our performances, and produce many bitter fruits.
II. The necessity of washing our hearts from wickedness. As it would be madness in the husbandman to sow his seed upon ground that was covered with thorns, so it is equally foolish to expect the fruit of good living in any person whose heart lies fallow, unbroken, and overspread with the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things, which our Saviour calls thorns. (W. Richardson.)
The place of thought in the making of character
Anyone who has visited lime stone caves has noticed the stalactite pillars, sometimes large and massive, by which they are adorned and supported. They are natures masonry of solid rock formed by her own slow, silent, and mysterious process. The little drop of water percolates through the roof of the cavern and deposits its sediment, and another follows it, till the icicle of stone is formed, and finally reaching to the rock beneath, it becomes a solid pillar, a marble monument which can only be rent down by the most powerful forces. But is there not going forward oftentimes in the caverns of the human heart a process as silent and effective, yet infinitely more momentous? There in the darkness that shrouds all from the view of the outward observer, each thought and feeling, as light and inconsiderable perhaps as the little drops of water, sinks downward into the soul, and deposits–yet in a form almost imperceptible–what we may call its sediment. And then another and another follows, till the traces of all combined become more manifest; and if these thoughts and feelings are charged with the sediment of worldliness and worldly passion, then all around the walls of this spiritual cavern stand in massive proportions the pillars of sinful inclination and the props of iniquity, and only a convulsion like that which rends the solid globe can rend them from their place and shake their hold. (American National Preacher.)
Bad lodgers
John Huss, seeking to reclaim a very profane wretch, was told by him that his giving way to wicked, wanton thoughts was the original of all those hideous births of impiety which he was guilty of in his life. Huss answered him, that although he could not keep evil thoughts from courting him, yet he might keep them from making a lodging place in his heart; as, he added, though I cannot prevent the birds from flying over my head, yet I can keep them from building nests in my hair.
Vain thoughts
A true Christian, who, by experience, knows what it is to deal with his own heart, finds it infinitely more difficult to beat down one sinful thought from rising up in him than to keep a thousand sinful thoughts from breaking forth into open act. Here lies his chief labour, to fight against phantasm and any apparitions, such as thoughts are; he sets himself chiefly against these heart sins, because he knows that these are the sins that are most of all contrary to grace, and do most of all weaken and waste grace. Outward sins are but like so many caterpillars that devour the verdure and flourishing of grace; but heart sins are like so many worms that gnaw the very root of grace. (Bp. E. Hopkins.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart] Why do ye not put away your wickedness, that ye may be saved from these tremendous judgments? How long shall thy vain thoughts of safety and prosperity lodge within thee? Whilst thou continuest a rebel against God, and provokest him daily by thy abominations!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart; cleanse your inward parts, O ye men of Jerusalem; not your hands only, as hypocrites do, but your hearts, Jam 4:8. The same exhortation with Jer 4:3,4, only in another metaphor of washing, which seems to be taken from such potions first physicians give to clear away the inward parts from noxious humours. See Isa 1:16,17.
From wickedness; viz. from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 2Co 7:1; Jam 1:21.
That thou mayest be saved: this hath reference in this place to temporal salvation; it is prescribed as a means to prevent the judgments that are impending on them, as is plainly expressed, Jer 4:4, yet not exclusive of spiritual salvation, 2Th 2:13; Tit 3:5.
Vain thoughts; wicked thoughts, or rather hopes or expectation from any helps, Jer 2:5,37; pleasing thyself with vain fancies of safety and security, which thoughts of thine will assuredly bring ruin and misery upon thee, which is inevitably coming, as in the next verse.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. Only one means ofdeliverance is left to the Jewsa thorough repentance.
vain thoughtsnamely,projects for deliverance, such as enlisting the Egyptians on theirside. GESENIUS translates,”How long wilt thou harbor vain thoughts?”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness,…. These are the words of the prophet, or of God by the prophet, showing the cause of all their ruin and destruction, the wickedness of their hearts; and they are expressed in such form and language, as to be accommodated to the case of any unregenerate sinner: every man’s heart is wicked, desperately wicked, even wickedness itself; everything in it is wicked; the thoughts, and the imagination of the thoughts of the heart, the mind, the understanding, the will, the conscience, and the affections; and everything that is wicked is in that: it is the womb in which all sin is conceived; the shop and forge in which it is wrought; it is the habitation of every unclean lust; the seeds and principles of all sin are in it; it is the fountain spring and source of all evil; of all evil thoughts, words, and actions; all come out of it, and have their rise in it: and this wickedness is of a defiling nature, and has left a pollution on it; and what comes out of it defiles the man, that he stands in need of washing; which cannot be done to purpose by ceremonial ablutions and sacrifices, by moral acts of righteousness, by humiliation and tears, nor by submission to Gospel ordinances; nor indeed is this to be done by man at all, any other way than by faith dealing with the blood of Christ, by which only the heart is purified: for this is God’s work, as appears from his promises to cleanse his people from all sins; from their prayers to him, to create in them clean hearts, to wash them thoroughly from their iniquity, and cleanse them from their sin; from the sanctifying grace of the Spirit, and the washing of regeneration ascribed to him; and from the end and efficacy of the bloodshed of Christ, to cleanse from sin, and purge the conscience from dead works; and the design of such exhortations as these is to convince men of the wickedness and pollution of their hearts, of the necessity of being washed from it, and of their own inability to do it of themselves; and to lead them to the fountain of Christ’s blood, to wash in for sin and for uncleanness:
that thou mayest be saved; not only with a temporal salvation, which may be here primarily meant; but with a spiritual and eternal one; for without purification of the heart there is no salvation: this is the meetness for the undefiled inheritance; without the washing of regeneration, there is no seeing nor entering into the kingdom of God; and unless we are washed by Christ, and in his blood, we can have no part nor portion with him in the heavenly glory; none shall ascend the holy hill, or dwell in the holy place, but such who have clean hands, and a pure heart; without this there is no seeing of God, nor having communion with him; this is the way in which he saves men, Tit 3:5:
how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? or, “wilt thou suffer them to lodge within thee?” z if the question is of right, the answer is, they ought not to lodge one night, one hour, one moment; but if it is of fact, the answer is, they will have a place in the heart as long as we are in this tabernacle; but the words are spoken by way of complaint and reproof: the thoughts of men’s hearts are vain, are taken up about vain and foolish things; and these not only pass to and fro, but have a lodging in the heart; and particularly vain are the thoughts of those who think themselves pure, and that their hearts are good, and trust in them; or that they can wash themselves from their wickedness; and that an outward reformation of life and manners is sufficient; and who think they can be saved without the washing of regeneration, and the blood of Christ. The Targum is,
“cleanse thine heart from doing evil, O Jerusalem, that ye may be saved; how long shall they endure and be stable who do violence, which is in the midst of thee?”
z “quousque morari sines”, Pagninus, Montanus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Vs. 14-18: JUDAH MAY STILL REPENT
1. Jeremiah urges Jerusalem to cast out all vain thoughts (vs. 14b; Jer 6:19; Jer 13:27), and to thoroughly purify her heart from wickedness, (vs. 14a; Isa 1:16; Jas 4:8); only in this way might she be saved from the calamity that fast approaches.
2. From the broken-down altar of Dan, and from the hills of Ephraim – their people already passed into captivity – Jerusalem may hear the bad news concerning the end, (vs. 15).
3. The nations are alerted to observe what happens to a people who forsake and rebel against their God, (vs.16-17; Jer 5:15; Eze 21:22).
4. Her ways and works of wickedness have brought this bitterness of heart upon the people whom Jehovah called to walk with Him in holiness, (vs. 18; Jer 2:17; Jer 2:19; Psa 107:17).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here now the Prophet expressly and avowedly exhorts the people to repent. By bidding Jerusalem to wash from wickedness her heart, that she might be saved, he shews that there was no remedy, except the Jews were reconciled to God; and that this could not be, except they repented of their sins. He had said before, that while God was angry they could not but perish; he now confirms the same thing, — that thou mayest be saved, wash thine heart from wickedness; as though he had said, that there was war between the Jews and God, and that salvation could by no means be hoped for, since God was armed for their destruction, and shewed himself a judge to punish their vices: he at the same time reminds them of the true way of repentance; it was by washing their heart from wickedness. For hypocrites ever seek to appease God by external rites and observances; but the Prophet shows that God cannot be pacified, except they from the heart return to him. He then means that the beginning of true repentance is an inward feeling. We now perceive what the Prophet means.
But they reason foolishly who maintain that repentance is the cause of salvation, because it is said, “That thou mayest be saved, wash thy heart from wickedness:” and the Papists lay hold on such passages to set up free — will; and they hold that sins are abolished and punishment remitted through satisfactions made by us. But this is extremely absurd and frivolous. For the Prophet is not speaking of the cause of salvation; but, as I have said, he simply shows that men are extremely thoughtless when they expect a peaceable condition, while they carry on war with God, and when he is armed to execute vengeance on them. We are not then to inquire here, whether a sinner delivers himself from God’s hand by his repentance: but the Prophet had only this one thing in view — that we cannot be safe and secure, except God be reconciled to us. He further shews, that God will not be propitious to us, except we repent, and that from the heart or from a genuine feeling within.
He then adds, How long shall remain within thee the thoughts of thy vanity? He here touches on the hypocrisy of his own nation; and he in effect says, that whatever excuses they might make, they were yet proved guilty before God, and that their evasions were frivolous, because God penetrated into the inmost recesses of their hearts. He indeed speaks most suitably, for he had to do with hypocrites who thought that their outward performances pacified God; and they also thought that when they alleged their evasions they ought to be forgiven, as they could not be condemned by earthly judges. The Prophet derides these delusive thoughts, How long shall thoughts of vanity remain within thee? that is, “Though the whole world were to absolve thee, what yet would it avail thee? For vain thoughts remain in the midst of thee, that is, in the recesses of thy heart; and God knows them, for nothing is hid from him. There is then no reason for you to think that ye will gain anything by your outward display or your excuses; for God is the searcher of hearts. Let not these thoughts continue within thee.”
He calls them the thoughts of vanity The word, און, aun, means sometimes substance, but, it also means power, and sometimes grief, and sometimes vanity or trouble. The Prophet means here, I have no doubt, trouble or vanity. But some expound it as signifying lust; but I know not whether it can be so taken. Either of the two foregoing meanings may suit the passage, though vanity seems the best, How long, then, shall thoughts of vanity remain within thee? that is, by which thou deceivest thyself: for when God suspended his vengeance, the Jews thought that they had escaped from his hand. (110) They might, at the same time, have been called the thoughts of trouble or sorrow from the effect; for how could it have been otherwise, but they must have found that they had procured a heavier judgment for themselves, by trifling with the indulgence and forbearance of God? Too strained is the explanation given by some, who render the words, “thoughts of grief, “because the Jews had done many wrongs to their neighbors, and caused them unjust vexations. I therefore doubt not but that the Prophet refers to those deceptive hopes, by which the Jews grew more perverse against God, so as not to fear any punishment.
(110) The word means also iniquity, wickedness: and this is the sense in which the Vulgate and the Targum have taken it, and also Blayney, “ the devices of thine iniquity:“ and this corresponds more with the former part of the verse. The whole is as follows, —
14. Wash from evil thine heart, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved: How long shall lodge within thee The thoughts of thy wickedness,
Or,
Thy wicked thoughts.
The word for “wash” here, according to Parkhurst, is ever applied to express a thorough washing, the washing away of what is inherent, such as the dirt of linen and of clothes: and he says, that there is another word, רחף, which is used when the washing of the surface of anything is intended, such as the washing of hands. “Shall lodge,” — it is no objection that this is singular, and the “thoughts” plural. It is an idiom: the same exists in Welsh: and in no other form would this sentence be rendered in that language. The present translation is incorrect, as the verb is taken to be in the second person, and applied to Jerusalem; which cannot be, as in that case it must have been in the feminine gender. The correct rendering would be, —
(lang. cy) Pa hyd y hetya o’th fewn Dy feddyliau drygionus !
If the verb had followed its nominative case, it would have been in the same number; but as it precedes it, it is singular while the noun is plural. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
3. The third figure: the keepers (Jer. 4:14-18)
TRANSLATION
(14) Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, that you might be saved. How long will you harbor in your midst wicked thoughts? (15) For hark! A messenger from Dan, one who announces bad tidings from the hills of Ephraim! (16) Report it to the nations: Behold! Publish concerning Jerusalem, Watchers are coming from a distant land and they shall give forth their voice against the cities of Judah. (17) Like watchmen of a field are they against her round about for she has rebelled against Me (oracle of the LORD). (18) Your way and your deeds have done these things to you; this is your evil. Surely it is bitter! Surely it has touched your very heart.
COMMENTS
The third figure opens with an appeal to the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse themselves from evil in order that they might be saved. Amid the crashing threats of divine judgment it is easy to overlook these quiet and sincere appeals. Jeremiah was perplexed by the obstinacy of his countrymen. In view of the impending disaster Jeremiah asks rhetorically, How long will you harbor (lit., cause to lodge) in your midst (within you) wicked thoughts (Jer. 4:11). Repentance is so urgent for Jeremiah can see in prophetic vision the rapid advance of the enemy, He dramatically depicts a messenger arriving from Dan, the northern border of Palestine. Almost as quickly as the first messenger reaches Jerusalem a second runner from the hills of Ephraim ten miles from Jerusalem arrives with equally bad tidings. The enemy is rapidly advancing toward Jerusalem (Jer. 4:15). Even the neighboring nations are called upon to take heed to what is taking place at Jerusalem for the divine visitation there has universal significance. Watchers, i.e., the besieging army. station themselves around the cities of Judah. They lift up their voices against the besieged cities in ridicule, in taunts and. demands for total surrender (Jer. 4:16). The enemy erects pavilions, booths and tents about the besieged city like unto those erected by those who guard a field (cf. Isa. 1:8). The enemy watches the city lest any within make good their escape. All this has come upon Judah because she has rebelled against the Lord (Jer. 4:17). The sin of Judah is bitter indeed. It has reached to the very heart of the nation dealing a death blow to her (Jer. 4:18).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(14) O Jerusalem.The prophets answer to the cry that comes from the city. In that washing of the heart which had seemed impossible before (Jer. 2:22), but is thought of now as possible with God, is the one hope of salvation. (Comp. Isa. 1:16.)
Vain thoughts.The Hebrew has a force which the English does not reproduce, thoughts of vanity, thoughts of aven, i.e., of the word which had been specially applied, as in Beth-aven for Beth-el (the house of vanity for the house of God) to the idols which Israel and Judah worshipped (Hos. 4:15; Hos. 10:5; Amo. 5:5).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart Again does the prophet pause, but this time it is not to remonstrate with God, but to plead with man. In the presence of this great calamity, so rapidly and resistlessly moving on, he urges the people to hide themselves in God, and to cast out all evil from their own hearts, for it is only when there is evil within us that there can be evil without us. Sin is the only fuel of the fire which burns to our destruction.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 1037
IMPORTANCE OF SUPPRESSING VAIN THOUGHTS
Jer 4:14. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved: how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
THE displeasure of God is never raised to such a height, but that he is willing to pardon his offending creatures, and longs for their repentance on purpose that he may exercise his mercy towards them. The denunciations of his wrath do indeed frequently appear as if they could not be reversed: but they always, even when most positive, imply a condition, and leave room for hope. The approaching destruction of Nineveh was foretold by the prophet in terms which seemed to preclude a possibility of their escape: but their penitence averted the impending storm. Thus, in the chapter before us, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans is spoken of as hastening with the velocity of an eagle, insomuch that the prophet complains of it as already accomplished: Woe unto us! for we are spoiled: yet in the very next words he introduces, as in a parenthesis, a brief and pathetic exhortation to repentance, as the sure and only means of staying the Divine judgments.
It should seem that, in the midst of all their wickedness, the Jews buoyed up themselves with expectations that the threatened calamities would never come. In reference to these vain hopes the prophet addresses them in the words which we have just read. In these words we see that God notices the vain thoughts, as well as the sinful actions, of men; and that he requires the heart to be purified from those, as well as the life from these.
We shall take occasion therefore from the text to shew,
I.
What are those vain thoughts which are apt to lodge within us
Of course it will not be possible to notice all the vain thoughts that rush into the minds of men; (we might as well attempt to number the sands upon the sea shore:) we must content ourselves with mentioning a few, which deserve more particular attention.
St. Paul speaks of a filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit: agreeably to which distinction we may arrange our thoughts under two heads;
1.
Spiritual
[There are many vain thoughts, which, on account of their having their seat and empire in the mind only, may be called spiritual; but which are peculiarly hateful to God.
What proud thoughts are apt to infest the mind! It is no small complacency which people feel in the beauty of their persons, the elegance of their dress, the dignity of their titles, or the extent and variety of their intellectual acquirements. Even in reference to religion itself, how common is it to behold men puffed up with vain conceit, imagining themselves wise, when they are born like a wild asss colt; and good, when they are enemies to God by wicked works!
Unbelieving thoughts also are ever ready to arise. Indeed, these almost universally prevail. Whence is it that men are so secure, so easy in their sins? Whence is it that all the promises and threatenings of the Gospel have so little weight? Is it not from the secret thought that Gods word shall never be fulfilled, and that, however they may live, they shall have peace at the last? And are not such thoughts peculiarly displeasing to God [Note: Deu 29:19-20.]?
Amongst the most sinful thoughts that can occupy the mind, are those which are vindictive: yet how apt are they to rankle in the breast! What a tumult will they excite within us, agitating our frame, and instigating us to the most bitter invectives, hasty purposes, and violent proceedings! It is well for mankind that all are not equally susceptible of these impressions; but there are few, if any, who have not found them, on some occasions, disturbing their own peace, and operating to the destruction of Christian charity. Nothing can more strongly mark the impiety of such thoughts than Gods express declaration, that he himself will never forgive any person that entertains them in his heart [Note: Mat 18:35.].]
2.
Carnal
[Amongst carnal thoughts we number those which relate either to the world or to the flesh.
The world tempts us principally to anxious, covetous, or ambitious thoughts. To these all are more or less exposed: the statesman, the warrior, the merchant, the mechanic, yea, all orders and degrees of men, are impelled or distracted by them. Doubtless, it is the duty of every man to attend to the proper business of his calling: but when his mind is so occupied with earthly things as that he can find no delight in those which are heavenly, he is sinning against God, who would have him without carefulness [Note: 1Co 7:32. Php 4:6. Mat 6:25-34.], and commands him to set his affections on things above, and not on things below [Note: Col 3:2.].
It is scarcely needful to mention, that amongst the vainest thoughts which find a lodgment within us, are those which are impure. It is surprising with what violence these will sometimes assault the soul; how they will haunt it by night and by day; how they will intrude even into the holiest places, and interrupt our holiest services. Nor can we doubt in what light they are to be regarded, when God himself has declared an unchaste look to be the same in his sight as actual adultery [Note: Mat 5:28.].]
Not to enumerate any more vain thoughts, we shall rather proceed to shew,
II.
The necessity of cleansing ourselves from them
We cannot cleanse ourselves from the guilt which we have already contracted, unless we wash in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. Nor can we purify ourselves from the pollution of sin, unless the Holy Ghost work effectually in us [Note: To this effect we pray that God would cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit.]. Yet this does not supersede the use of means; for when the text exhorts us to wash our hearts from wickedness, it implies that,
1.
It may be done
[Though the power is certainly of God, yet there is much to be done by us: we should maintain a sense of Gods presence with us. If the eye of a fellow-creature, even of a child, were upon us, we should be deterred by it from the commission of many sins: how then should we be restrained from evil thoughts, if we felt a consciousness that God was privy to every imagination of our hearts!
We should guard against the occasions of sin. All our senses and faculties are inlets to sin, or instruments whereby we commit it. All our intercourse with each other gives occasion to evil, if we be not much on our guard against it. We may, by flattering, or worldly, or light conversation, or even by imparting to each other the workings of our hearts, stir up unhallowed passions, and suggest thoughts that may be exceedingly injurious to the soul. We should set a watch before the door of our mouths, and even make a covenant with our eyes, in order to shut out evil from our own hearts, and keep from exciting it in the hearts of others.
We should frequently meditate upon the Holy Scriptures. David found this a good antidote to evil thoughts [Note: Psa 119:113.]. The Scriptures have in themselves an efficacy to purity the heart, when they are applied to us by the powerful energy of the Holy Ghost [Note: 2Co 10:4-5.]: besides which, the more we are filled with holy thoughts, the less room will be left for the intrusion of evil [Note: See Luk 11:24-26.]. Being intent on the promises of God, we shall more easily cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit [Note: 2Co 7:1.].
Lastly, we should diligently keep our hearts [Note: Pro 4:23.]. The heart is the womb in which all evils are generated [Note: Mat 15:19.]; and we must watch all its motions, if we would keep it pure. The very instant any evil arises there, we must expel it: if we cannot prevent its entrance, we must take care it do not lodge within us.]
2.
It must be done
[God notices our thoughts as much as he does our actions [Note: Psa 50:21. Eze 11:5.]; and he considers them as characterizing our state before him. As we think in our hearts, so are we [Note: Pro 23:7. with Mat 12:35.]; we are either hypocritical and vile, or pure and holy, according as we indulge, or abhor, the hidden abominations of our hearts.
Thoughts as really lead to death as actions themselves do [Note: Jam 1:15.]: and they may be so evil in the sight of God as to render it doubtful whether they shall ever be forgiven [Note: Act 8:22.]. They must therefore be repented of as much as actions [Note: Act 8:22.]: and, if they be not repented of, they will inevitably exclude us from the kingdom of heaven. This is strongly intimated in the text, since the mortifying of them is declared to be necessary to saltation: and the same awful truth is taught by our Lord himself, who represents the pure in heart as the only persons who shall see God [Note: Mat 5:8.].
The very manner in which God addresses us in the text, is a very striking proof of the necessity which lies upon us to subdue the evil workings of our hearts. Wherefore is all this tenderness in the exhortation, but because God, who willeth not the death of a sinner, sees the fatal tendency of our evil thoughts? And wherefore this kind impatience in the reproof, but because he sees that the evil, if indulged, will grow upon us; and that, if not speedily suppressed, it will terminate in our ruin?
Tenderly then would we exhort you all to mark the secret motions of your hearts. In respect of actions, many of you, no doubt, are virtuous, and, to a certain degree, blameless, But if you will call to mind the vain thoughts that have lodged within you, you will find abundant reason to blush, and be confounded before God in dust and ashes [Note: Psa 19:12. Pro 20:9.]. You will see that you need the blood of Christ to cleanse you from guilt, and the Spirit of Christ to create in you a new heart, as much as the most abandoned wretch on earth: and that, unless you set yourselves in earnest to cleanse your hands, and purify your hearts [Note: Jam 4:8.], there can be no salvation for you.
Say, Beloved, when will you begin this necessary work? With a holy impatience we would urge you to begin it instantly; lest, while you are purposing amendment, you be summoned unprepared to meet your God in judgment [Note: Isa 55:7.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 4:14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Ver. 14. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness. ] Which defileth it worse than any leprosy, a or jakes, doth the body. Mar 7:19-20 ; Mar 7:23 Thy hands thou often washest, and other outward parts, placing therein no small religion, thou canst not wash them in innocence; wash them therefore in tears, and when thou hast so done, cry to God with Augustine, Lava lachrymas meas Domine: ipsae enim lachrymae sunt lachrymabiles; Wash my very tears, Lord, for they are lamentable ones. Beg of him to bathe thy soul in the blood of his Son, to wash thee thoroughly from thine iniquity, and to cleanse thee from thy sin. Psa 51:2
That thou mayest be saved,
How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
a Frustra sunt lavamenta, ubi nulla est innocentia. – Oecol.
b Hic mora cogitationis redarguitur et eius adlubescentia. – Oecol.
c Vulgate.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 4:14-18
14Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,
That you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts
Lodge within you?
15For a voice declares from Dan,
And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.
16Report it to the nations, now!
Proclaim over Jerusalem,
‘Besiegers come from a far country,
And lift their voices against the cities of Judah.
17Like watchmen of a field they are against her round about,
Because she has rebelled against Me,’ declares the LORD.
18Your ways and your deeds
Have brought these things to you.
This is your evil. How bitter!
How it has touched your heart!
Jer 4:14 Wash your heart This VERB (BDB 460, KB 459, Piel IMPERATIVE) is an allusion to washing a soiled garment, which is a metaphor for repentance and cleansing (cf. Psa 51:2; Psa 51:7; Isa 1:16). It is a call, like Ezekiel 18, for an individual to turn back to YHWH and change his ways (cf. Jer 4:3-4).
That you may be saved The Hebrew VERB (BDB 446, KB 448) has two connotations.
1. physical deliverance
2. spiritual forgiveness
Both are needed for Judah to avert YHWH’s coming judgment!
SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (OLD TESTAMENT TERM)
wicked thoughts Maybe this is best illustrated by Jer 13:27.
Jer 4:15 voice. . .from Dan This was the farthest northern tribe in Palestine. The tribe of Dan, in unbelief, moved from its tribal allocation in the south (cf. Jos 19:40-48) to the north (cf. Judges 18). The phrase from Dan to Beersheba became a way to denote the whole Promised Land (cf. Jdg 20:1; 1Sa 3:20; 2Sa 3:10; 2Sa 17:11; 2Sa 24:2; 2Ch 30:5; Amo 8:14).
Mount Ephraim This refers to the central mountainous (i.e., hill country) region of Palestine, which was the tribal allocation of Ephraim (cf. Jos 17:15; Jos 19:50; Jos 20:7). The mountains of Ebal and Gerizim (i.e., Samaria) were in this region.
Dan and Ephraim fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Now that destruction would come to Judah and Jerusalem (cf. Jer 4:16-17) and the northern invaders were close!
Jer 4:16 This verse starts with two commands to make known YHWH’s coming judgment to Judah.
1. report – BDB 269, KB 269, Hiphil IMPERATIVE (this could refer to the mercenary invaders, Jer 4:16 c)
2. proclaim – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Hiphil IMPERATIVE
The voice from Dan (Jer 4:15) [1] tells the invaders (or the surrounding nations to Judah) they are close to Jerusalem and [2] tells Jerusalem that the invaders are close to them!
Besiegers come from a far country The VERBAL (BDB 665, KB 718, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE) in this context has the meaning of besiege (BDB 666, #5, cf. Isa 1:8; Eze 6:12). It usually is translated enemies. The UBS Handbook (p. 133) suggests advanced scouts of the Babylonian army.
Jer 4:17 Like watchmen of a field I must admit that I do not understand this phrase in this context. TEV takes it to mean watchmen that surround a field ready to harvest. But here they guard against any persons escaping the besieged city.
The UBS Handbook (p. 134) suggests that the imagery is connected to the tents (booths) of the agricultural watchmen with the army tents of the invaders.
Because she has rebelled against Me Notice the personal affront that YHWH feels! It is not just the violation of His covenant, but the rebellion against Him, Him as husband, Him as King, Him as the only God! Possibly Jer 5:20-29 describes the attitude best.
The VERB rebelled (BDB 598, KB 632, Qal PERFECT) is also found in Jer 5:23; Lam 1:18; Lam 1:20 (twice); and Lam 3:42. However a SYNONYM (BDB 833, KB 981) is used in Jer 2:8; Jer 2:29; Jer 3:13; Jer 33:8; Lam 3:42.
Jer 4:18 The invasion, destruction, and exile of the covenant people from the covenant land and city was their own fault. YHWH gave them only what they had sown (cf. Job 34:11; Psa 28:4; Psa 62:12; Pro 24:12; Ecc 12:14; Jer 17:10; Jer 32:19; Mat 16:27; Mat 25:31-46; Rom 2:6; Rom 14:12; 1Co 3:8; 2Co 5:10; Gal 6:7-10; 2Ti 4:14; 1Pe 1:17; Rev 2:23; Rev 20:12; Rev 22:12).
How bitter This is the result of their rebellion (cf. Jer 2:19; Amo 8:10). Note Job 20:11-16; sin tastes good initially but becomes poison and brings death!
Their idolatry had spread into their very being (i.e., heart). They were sinful through and through!
wash: Isa 1:16-19, Isa 55:7, Eze 18:31, Mat 12:33, Mat 15:19, Mat 15:20, Mat 23:26, Mat 23:27, Luk 11:39, Jam 4:8
How long: Jer 13:27, Psa 66:18, Psa 119:113, Pro 1:22, Act 8:22, Rom 1:21, 1Co 3:20
Reciprocal: Gen 6:5 – thoughts Exo 16:28 – General Exo 29:17 – wash the Lev 1:9 – inwards Num 8:7 – wash their Num 14:11 – How long will this Deu 10:16 – Circumcise Deu 30:2 – with all thine heart 2Ch 34:5 – cleansed Job 1:5 – in their hearts Job 9:30 – General Psa 5:9 – inward Psa 10:4 – thoughts Psa 24:4 – pure Psa 62:3 – How Psa 73:1 – of a clean heart Psa 80:7 – we shall Pro 6:9 – How Pro 6:18 – heart Pro 12:5 – thoughts Pro 15:26 – thoughts Pro 24:9 – thought Pro 30:12 – not Isa 10:6 – against Isa 65:2 – after Jer 3:1 – yet return Jer 4:21 – How long Jer 6:8 – Be thou Jer 23:26 – How Jer 31:22 – How Jer 35:15 – Return Hos 8:5 – how Zec 8:17 – let Mat 6:21 – there Mat 17:17 – how long shall I be Mat 23:37 – Jerusalem Mar 7:4 – except Mar 7:21 – out Luk 9:41 – how Luk 24:38 – and why Joh 13:9 – not Rom 2:29 – which 1Co 6:11 – but ye are washed 2Co 7:1 – filthiness 2Co 10:5 – every thought 1Ti 1:5 – a pure
Jer 4:14. Wash thine heart….. mayest he saved may be considered from two viewpoints. In Its immediate application it is an exhortation to individual reformation of life, explained in the note on 2Ki 22:17 in Vol. 2 of this Commentary, In another application it is a prediction of the cleansing effect of the impending captivity on the nation as a whole. The evidence is that Israel was completely cured of idolatry after the period of the captivity. (See Isa 1:25 in Vol. 3 of this Commentary.)
Jer 4:14-15. O Jerusalem, wash thy heart O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, cleanse your inward parts; not your hands only, as hypocrites do, but your hearts, Jas 4:8; from wickedness Namely, from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 2Co 7:1. See note on Isa 1:16. That thou mayest be saved As the means to prevent the judgments that are impending. How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee? Hopes of safety by the help of foreign forces, or any other such means, while thou continuest in the practice of thine idolatries and other sins. The reformation of a corrupt state is absolutely necessary in order to its salvation. There is no other way of preventing the divine judgments, or turning them away when we are threatened with them, but putting away the sins by which we have procured them to ourselves. And no reformation is saving, but that which reaches the heart and makes it new. And it is made new by the washing of regeneration, and the renovating power of the Holy Ghost; or, by the exercise of repentance toward God, and that faith in him and his word which is productive of new obedience. For a voice declareth from Dan For, lo! a sound of devastation comes from Dan; lo! a tumult is heard from the mountains of Ephraim. Houbigant. As if he had said, It is high time to repent, because reports succeed reports of the enemys swift approach toward you. Dan, being the most northern part of Judea, was first invaded by the Chaldean army, which did not march directly through Mesopotamia and Arabia Deserta into Judea, because of the vast sandy deserts which lay in the way, but took a compass, and passed over the Euphrates at Thapsacus, which lay far northward of Judea, and thence marched through Syria: so that, of course, the rumour of the enemys approach was first heard from Dan. And the evil tidings still increased as the army marched forward toward Jerusalem, by the way of mount Ephraim.
The prophet appealed to his people to cleanse their hearts so God would be merciful to them. There was still time for repentance. The people needed to get rid of their wicked thoughts that had marked them for so long.
"Jeremiah is preeminently the prophet of the heart, for he used the word over sixty times." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 81.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)