Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 48:6
Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
6. the heath ] See on Jer 17:6. The LXX read somewhat differently from MT., rendering wild ass (as shy and difficult to capture). This is probably right. Cp. Job 39:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Like the heath – Or, Like a destitute man. See the marginal reference note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 48:6
Flee, save your lives.
The Christians flight
Such was the warning addressed to Moab by the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. The Chaldeans were about to lay waste the land of the Moabites–a punishment which they justly deserved for their iniquities and for their long-continued opposition to the people of God But even in wrath the Lord remembers mercy; or, to use the beautiful language of the prophet, He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind. Though Moab shall be punished, her cities overturned, and the country laid waste and desolate, her princes, people, and priests carried into captivity, yet an opportunity is afforded for at least a remnant to escape. Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
I. From what are we to flee? In a word, from everything that would wean his heart from God and endanger the safety of his soul, the Christian is to flee–from all evil and mischief, from sin, from the world, the flesh, and the works of the devil, from hardness of heart and contempt of Gods Word and commandment.
II. For what are we to flee? The life of your soul is concerned; and unless you flee from what stands in your way to God, and blocks up your return to Him, the wrath of God will assuredly overtake you, and you will become a prey to your enemies, to those who seek your life. It is for glory, and honour, and immortality we should flee–blessings of infinite value, prizes beyond all price–nay, far beyond the power of human tongue to tell of their inestimable preciousness; we should flee for the favour of God, the forgiveness of our sins, the worth of our souls, the love and glory of Christ, and the beauty and happiness of holiness. And we should hasten our flight, for the time is short, and death advancing.
III. Where should we flee? Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe, &c. Such was Simon Peters declaration. Such is the confession of Gods people still. To the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, must the sinner flee. He must go as he is, and he like the heath in the wilderness, destitute of fruit or value, fit only for fuel, and seek to be engrafted in the living Vine. For Moab, we may observe, was commanded merely to flee. Whatever would oppose their progress should be put away. (C. A. Maginn, M. A.)
Flee for your life
I. Whence you are to flee.
II. where you are to flee.
III. How you are to flee.
IV. When you are to flee
V. Why you are to flee. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Flee, save your lives] The enemy is in full pursuit of you.
Be like the heath] caaroer, “like Aroer;” which some take for a city, others for a blasted or withered tree. It is supposed that a place of this name lay towards the north, in the land of the Ammonites, on a branch of the river Jabbok; surrounded by deserts. Save yourselves by getting into the wilderness, where the pursuing foe will scarcely think it worth his while to follow you, as the wilderness itself must soon destroy you.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is of no great moment whether we understand these as the words of the Moabites, calling one to another to flee, and save their lives, though they lost all they had, and left themselves as bare as a naked tree; or as the words of the prophets speaking to the Moabites to the same sense.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. They exhort one another toflee.
heathor the juniper(see on Jer 17:6). MAURERtranslates, “Be like one naked in the wilderness.”But the sense is, Live in the wilderness like the heath, orjuniper; do not “trust in” walls (Jer48:7) [GROTIUS].(Compare Mt 24:16-18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Flee, save your lives,…. These are either the words of the Moabites, their cry of destruction mentioned in the latter part of
Jer 48:5; who, seeing nothing but ruin before their eyes, advise one another to flee in all haste, and save their lives if possible, since nothing else could be saved: or else they are the words of the prophet, giving counsel to the Moabites to betake themselves to flight for the safety of their lives, these being in great danger; so Abarbinel; with whom others agree, only think they are spoken ironically; suggesting, that when they had endeavoured by flight to save their lives, it would be to no purpose; they should not escape the hands of their enemies; which seems to be the truest sense:
and be like the heath in the wilderness; which is called “erice”, or “ling”, which grows in waste places. Kimchi and Menachem in Jarchi interpret it of a tree that grows in dry and desert places; a low, naked, barren, fruitless shrub; signifying, that, when they were fled from their habitations, they should be as solitary and stripped of all their good things as such a bare and naked shrub in a desert. Kimchi’s note is, that when they had left their cities and fled, their cities would be as the heath in the wilderness. The Targum is,
“and be ye as the tower of Aroer, “as they” who dwell in tents in the wilderness.”
Jarchi observes that the tower of Aroer was built in the wilderness, and there was no inhabitant round it but those that dwelt in tents; and, the tower standing where there was no inhabitant, it looked like a waste. The Septuagint version is very foreign, “as a wild ass in the wilderness”; which is followed by the Arabic version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Then he adds, Flee, save: this is the crying of distress; for miserable men, as the case is in extreme evils, mutually exhort one another, Flee, save your lives He then compares them to a tamarisk. The word ערוער, oruor, designates a country, as it is probable, and there were also two cities of this name. However, ערער, oror, is a tamarisk, as we have already seen in Jer 17:6. Some render it, “ a tower;” and the words of Isaiah in Isa 17:2, are perverted by some to maintain another meaning; for they think that ערוער, oruor, means the cot of shepherds in the desert; but I prefer the opinion of those who render it “tamarisk,” or juniper, though the Prophet seems to me to allude to the city Aroer, or to a region of that name, but I rather think to the city. He then says, And ye shall be as a tamarisk in the desert: and it is known from other places that Aroer was in the land of Moab.
We now then perceive what the Prophet means: that Moab would be like a juniper in the desert, that is, a barren tree, which never grows to any size; and then it is dry, because it is not cherished by any rain, nor fed by any moisture from the ground. It is in this sense, as we have stated, that our Prophet took the similitude in Jer 17:5 :
“
Blessed,” he says, “is the man who trusts in Jehovah, for he shall be like a tree planted near waters: cursed is the man who trusts in man, and who makes flesh his arm, and withdraws his heart from Jehovah; for he shall be as the tamarisk of the desert;”
that is, he shall be barren and dry, without any moisture or support. It now follows: —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Be like the heath in the wilderness.Here, as in Jer. 17:6, the stunted solitary shrub in the desert is taken as the type of desolation. The LXX., which adopts the meaning in Jer. 17:6, here strangely enough gives as a wild ass in the wilderness. Psa. 11:1 gives us an example of a like comparison. Here probably there is, as before, a paronomasia on the name of the Moabite city Aroer, which closely resembles the Hebrew word for heath. In thus finding an ominous significance in the names of cities, Jeremiah follows in the wake of Micah 1.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Be like the heath, etc. See note on Jer 17:6.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 48:6. Heath Withered tree, Hiller, p. 86.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 48:6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
Ver. 6. Flee, save your lives. ] Whatever else ye lose.
And be like the heath in the wilderness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lives = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
the heath = naked trees. Compare Jer 17:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Flee: Jer 51:6, Gen 19:17, Psa 11:1, Pro 6:4, Pro 6:5, Mat 24:16-18, Luk 3:7, Luk 17:31-33, Heb 6:18
be like: Jer 17:6, Job 30:3-7
the heath: or, a naked tree
Reciprocal: Jer 49:8 – Flee Mic 1:11 – Pass
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 48:6. Flee, save yourselves is a prediction of the distressful condition that was to come upon the land of Moab. Heath means a tract of waste land, and the land of Moab was to become such a place for a time.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
48:6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the {e} bush in the wilderness.
(e) Hide yourselves in barren places, where the enemy will not pursue after you, Jer 17:6 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Moabites would need to flee for their lives. They would be as rare, isolated, and forsaken as juniper trees in the desert, and their safety would lie in their isolation.