Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 5:19
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these [things] unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.
19. The punishment was to be severe, because the wickedness which had called it forth was gross.
in a land that is not yours ] Referring to the approach of exile, and therefore belonging to the time of the Roll (b.c. 604). Cp. Jer 16:10-13, Jer 22:8 f.; Deu 29:24 ff.; 1Ki 9:8 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The reason why God so chastises His people. As they in a land especially consecrated to Yahweh had served strange (i. e., foreign gods, so shall they in a land belonging to others be the slaves of strangers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 5:19
When ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God these things unto us?
In the time of tribulation
I. Acknowledgment of God as that Supreme Ruler of all from whose hand afflictions come. It is one great secret of that peace which passeth all understanding to mark the hand of God in all the changes and sorrows of this ever-varying scene of things; the want of this it is which so frequently leaves the men of the world a prey to vexation and despair. Secondary causes are but the links in the chain of providence; follow them by the light of Gods Word and the guidance of a simple faith, and you will find that chain depending from the very throne of God Himself, held in His own hand; every part of it adjusted as He sees it best to permit, according to the counsel of His own will.
II. A conviction that when God sends affliction He has a reason for what He does.
1. God often uses affliction for the purpose of correcting His childrens faults, and bringing them to a sense of their guilt.
2. The promotion of our growth in grace is another reason of Gods afflictive dispensations. Holy men are by trial weaned from a vain and evil world; are brought more and more to realise experimentally what religion is; and are enabled to enjoy in a peculiar manner the consolation of the Gospel of Christ.
III. A wish to know what that reason is. Not that we may be satisfied that God is just in what He does. But that understanding what the reason of His dispensation is, we may ask ourselves, have, then, those dispensations wrought in us the result designed? But how is he to ascertain it? I apprehend that we shall generally be guided to it when depending on the Holy Spirit for direction; we simply look at the nature of the trial, and the state of our own hearts. (J. Harding.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? this speaks either their unparalleled insolency, in a manner challenging God, as if they had not deserved such dealing at his hands, they might have expected better usage from him; the Jews were good at these kinds of challenging of God, Isa 58:3. Or gross stupidity, as being such sots as not to be sensible of what they had done to provoke him; like to that Jer 16:10.
Served strange gods, Heb. gods of the stranger; he doth not say strange gods, but gods of the stranger, which aggravated their crime, that while they lived in their own land, and the true God among them, they would precariously go fetch in gods from the heathens.
Serve strangers in a land that is not yours: here the prophet,
1. Opposeth strange lords to rule over them to those strange gods that they had served, which God calls a forsaking of him.
2. He opposes a land not theirs to their own land; so that by this the prophet shows what resentments God had of their sin; for it implies that their sin was much greater, that they served strange gods in their own land, than if they had done it in another, under the tyrannical imposition of a stranger; and therefore he would accordingly suit their punishment, that they should serve in a strange land, which should be worse than to be servants in their own. This is a dreadful but a just retaliation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Retribution in kind. As yehave forsaken Me (Jer 2:13), soshall ye be forsaken by Me. As ye have served strange (foreign) godsin your land, so shall ye serve strangers (foreigners) in a land notyours. Compare the similar retribution in Deu 28:47;Deu 28:48.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say,…. That is, the people of the Jews, to whom the prophet belonged, after they had been spoiled by the enemy, and carried captive:
wherefore doth the Lord our God all these things unto us? as if they were innocent and guiltless, and had done nothing to provoke the Lord to anger; and it may be observed, that they professed to know the Lord in words, and call him their God, though in works they had denied him; and they own the hand of the Lord in all those evils that would now be come upon them; though before they had said they were not spoken by the Lord, nor would they befall them, Jer 5:12:
thou shalt then answer them; that is, the Prophet Jeremiah, in the name of the Lord:
like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land; when they were in their own land they forsook the worship and ordinances of God, and served the idols of the Gentiles, as the Targum rightly explains it:
so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours: which some understand of strange gods; but rather it designs strange lords, as the Chaldeans in the land of Babylon, a land not theirs; and so it is measure for measure, a just retaliation in righteous judgment upon them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This calamity Judah is preparing for itself by its obduracy and excess of wickedness. – Jer 5:19. “And if ye then shall say, Wherefore hath Jahveh our God done all this unto us? then say to them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Jer 5:20. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Jer 5:21. Hear now this, foolish people without understanding, that have eyes and see not, have ears and hear not. Jer 5:22. Me will ye not fear, saith Jahve, nor tremble before me? who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, an everlasting boundary that it passes not, and its waves toss themselves and cannot, and roar and pass not over. Jer 5:23. But this people hath a stubborn and rebellious heart; they turned away and went. Jer 5:24. And said not in their heart: Let us now fear Jahveh our God, who giveth rain, the early rain and the late rain, in its season; who keepeth for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Jer 5:25. Your iniquities have turned away these, and your sins have withholden the good from you. Jer 5:26. For among my people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as fowlers stoop; they set a trap, they catch men. Jer 5:27. As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore are they become great and rich. Jer 5:28. They are grown fat and sleek, they go beyond bound in wickedness; the cause they try not, the cause of the orphans, that they might have prosperity; and the right of the needy they judge not. Jer 5:29. Shall I not punish this? saith Jahveh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this? Jer 5:30. The appalling and horrible is done in the land. Jer 5:31. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule under their lead, and my people loves it so. But what will ye do in the end thereof.”
The thought of Jer 5:19, that the people, by its apostasy, draws down this judgment on itself, forms the transition from the threat of punishment to the reproof of sins. The penalty corresponds to the sin. Because Judah in its own land serves the gods of foreigners, so it must serve strangers in a foreign land.
Jer 5:20-22 The reproof of sins is introduced by an apostrophe to the hardened race. The exhortation, “Publish this,” is addressed to all the prophet’s hearers who have the welfare of the people at heart. “This,” in Jer 5:20 and Jer 5:21, refers to the chiding statement from Jer 5:23 onwards, that the people fears not God. The form of address, people foolish and without understanding (cf. Jer 4:22; Hos 7:11), is made cutting, in order, if possible, to bring the people yet to their senses. The following clauses, “they have eyes,” etc., depict spiritual blindness and deafness, as in Eze 12:22; cf. Deu 29:3. Blindness is shown in that they see not the government of God’s almighty power in nature; deafness, in that they hear not the voice of God in His word. They have no fear even of the God whose power has in the sand set an impassable barrier for the mighty waves of the sea. “Me” is put first for emphasis. The waves beat against their appointed barrier, but are not able, sc. to pass it.
Jer 5:23-24 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; it bows not beneath the almighty hand of God. “Stubborn and rebellious,” joined as in Deu 21:18, Deu 21:20. Hence the following is not to be taken from : they defy (Hitz.), but from : they turn away and go off, and consider not that they owe their daily bread to the Lord. Neither does God’s power move the obdurate people to the fear of Him, nor do the proofs of His love make any impression. They do not consider that God gives them the rain which lends the land its fruitfulness, so that at the fixed time they may gather in the harvest. The cop. before is rejected by the Masoretes in the Keri as out of place, since is not any special rain, co-ordinate to the early and late rain (Hitz.), or because they had Deu 11:14; Joe 2:23 before them. But in this they failed to notice that the before and that before are correlative, having the force of et – et. is stat. constr. from , weeks, and to it is co-ordinated in place of an adjective, so that is dependent on two co-ordinate stat. constr., as in Jer 46:9, Jer 46:11; Zep 2:6. But the sense is not, the weeks, the statutes, of the harvest, i.e., the fixed and regulated phenomena which regulate the harvest (Graf), but, appointed weeks of harvest. The seven weeks between the second day of the passover and the feast of harvest, or of weeks, Exo 23:16; Exo 34:22; Deu 16:9., are what is here meant. We must reject the rendering, “oath as to the harvest-time” (L. de Dieu, J. D. Mich., and Ew.), since Scripture knows nothing of oaths taken by God as to the time of harvest; in Gen 8:22 there is no word of an oath.
Jer 5:25-27 The people has by its sins brought about the withdrawal of these blessings (the withholding of rain, etc.). , turned away, as in Amo 5:12; Mal 3:5. “These,” i.e., the blessings mentioned in Jer 5:24. The second clause repeats the same thing. The good, i.e., which God in His goodness bestowed on them.
This is established in Jer 5:26. by bringing home to the people their besetting sins. In (amidst) the people are found notorious sinners. in indefinite generality: they spy about, lie in wait; cf. Hos 13:7. The singular is chosen because the act described is not undertaken in company, but by individuals. from , bend down, stoop, as bird-catchers hide behind the extended nets till the birds have gone in, so as then to draw them tight. “They set;” not the fowlers, but the wicked ones. , destroyer (Exo 12:23, and often), or destruction (Ezek. 21:36); here, by virtue of the context, a trap which brings destruction. The men they catch are the poor, the needy, and the just; cf. Jer 5:28 and Isa 29:21. The figure of bird-catching leads to a cognate one, by which are set forth the gains of the wicked or the produce of their labours. As a cage is filled with captured birds, so the houses of the wicked are filled with deceit, i.e., possessions obtained by deceit, through which they attain to credit, power, and wealth. Graf has overthrown Hitz.’s note, that we must understand by , not riches obtained by deceit, but he means and instruments of deceit; and this on account of the following: therefore they enrich themselves. But, as Graf shows, it is not the possession of these appliances, but of the goods acquired by deceit, that has made these people great and rich, “as the birds that fill the cage are not a means for capture, but property got by cunning.” , cage, is not strictly a bird-cage, but a bird-trap woven of willows (Amo 8:1), with a lid to shut down, by means of which birds were caught.
Jer 5:28 Through the luxurious living their wealth makes possible to them, they are grown fat and sleek. , in graphic description, is joined asynd. to the preceding verb. It is explained by recent comm. of fat bodies, become glossy, in keeping with the noun , which in Son 5:14 expresses the glitter of ivory; for the meaning cogitare, think, meditate, which bears in Chald., yields no sense available here. The next clause is variously explained. points to another, yet worse kind of behaviour. It is not possible to defend the translation: they overflow with evil speeches, or swell out with evil things (Umbr., Ew.), since c. accus. does not mean to overflow with a thing. Yet more arbitrary is the assumption of a change of the subject: (their) evil speeches overflow. The only possible subject to the verb is the wicked ones, with whom the context deals before and after. are not words of wickedness = what may be called wickedness, but things of wickedness, wicked things. serves to distribute the idea of into the particular cases into which it falls, as in Psa 65:4; Psa 105:27, and elsewhere, where it is commonly held to be pleonastic. Hitz. expounds truly: the individual wickednesses in which the abstract idea of wicked manifests itself. Sense: they go beyond all that can be conceived as evil, i.e., the bounds of evil or wickedness. The cause they plead not, namely, the case of the orphans. , imperf. c. consec.: that so they might have prosperity. Hitz. regards the wicked men as the subject, and explains the words thus: such justice would indeed be a necessary condition of their success. But that the wicked could attain to prosperity by seizing every opportunity of defending the rights of the fatherless is too weak a thought, coming after what has preceded, and besides it does not fit the case of those who go beyond all bounds in wickedness. Ew. and Graf translate: that they (the wicked) might make good the rightful cause (of the orphan), help the poor man to his rights. But even if seems in 2Ch 7:11; Dan 8:25, to have the signif. carry through, make good, yet in these passages the sig. carry through with success is fundamental; there, as here, this will not suit, being in any case applicable only to doubtful and difficult causes – a thought foreign to the present context. Blame is attached to the wicked, not because they do not defend the orphan’s doubtful pleas, but because they give no heed at all to the orphan’s rights. We therefore hold with Raschi that the orphans are subject to this verb: that the orphans might have had prosperity. The plural is explained when we note that is perfectly general, and may be taken as collective. The accusation in this verse shows further that the prophet had the godless rulers and judges of the people in his eye.
Jer 5:29-31 Jer 5:29 is a refrain-like repetition of Jer 5:9. – The Jer 5:30 and Jer 5:31 are, as Hitz. rightly says, “a sort of epimetrum added after the conclusion in Jer 5:29,” in which the already described moral depravity is briefly characterized, and is asserted of all ranks of the people. Appalling and horrible things happen in the land; cf. Jer 2:12; Jer 23:14; Jer 18:13; Hos 6:10. The prophets prophesy with falsehood, , as in Jer 20:6; Jer 29:9; more fully , Jer 23:25; Jer 27:15. The priests rule , at their (the prophets’) hands, i.e., under their guidance or direction; cf. 1Ch 25:2., 2Ch 23:18; not: go by their side (Ges., Dietr.), for is not: go, march on, but: trample down. My people loves it so, yields willingly to such a lead; cf. Amo 4:5. What will ye do , as to the end of this conduct? The suff. faem. with neuter force. The end thereof will be the judgment; will ye be able to turn it away?
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
It hence appears that what I have said is true, — that the Prophet did not soften what was severe in the threatenings which we have noticed, but that he treated the Jews according to their perverseness; for he saw that they were untamable; and the Spirit had taught him that such would be their obstinacy, that until they were wholly broken down, they would not bend their necks to receive the yoke. He further assigns the cause here, that they might not contend with God, as hypocrites are wont to do, whenever God sharply chastises them; for they murmur against him, and complain and demand reasons why he treats them so severely, as though they were wholly innocent. As, then, hypocrites made such complaints, the Prophet here replies to them.
It shall be, he says, when ye shall say: he addresses the Jews in the person of God. He then immediately turns God’s address to himself, Why has Jehovah our God done to us all these things? He ascribes here to hypocrites what is ever in their mouths whenever they are summoned to judgment; for they are so well prepared to contend, as though their cause was the best that could be; and, could God be constrained to render an account, they would prove him guilty of cruelty and of immoderate rigor. We hence see how graphically the Prophet describes refractory men, who will not yield nor acknowledge their fault, but with an iron front rise up against God: and the same thing we find in other passages in the prophets, especially in the first chapter of Malachi; for there the Prophet often repeats the words of the people, “In what? In what? What means this?” So also here Jeremiah says, When ye shall say, Why has Jehovah done all these things to us? as though they were innocent: for the reprobate, as though they had washed away all their sins by having wiped their mouths, boldly come forth and demand a reason why God chastises them. So also in this place they hesitate not to call God their God, as though they had not denied God, according to what we have seen yesterday. For so gross an impiety prevailed among them, that they imagined that all things were ruled by chance, and that God unjustly punished them. Though then they had perfidiously forsaken God, yet the Prophet here, in order to expose their petulancy, introduces them here as saying that they regarded God as connected with them.
Then, he says, thou shalt say God one while addresses the people, and at another time the Prophet. When, therefore, they shall begin thus to murmur, then thou mayest reply, Because ye have forsaken me That what was said might have more weight, God would have the Prophet to speak in his name, “because ye have forsaken me, “as though Jeremiah did not himself say the words, but God by his mouth; and have served the gods of the alien, that is, of aliens, in your land God shews here briefly what the Jews deserved; and he thought it sufficient to mention one kind of sin only. We shall see elsewhere, as we have often seen, that they were in other respects wicked and guilty before God. But the Prophet observes brevity here, and charges them only with one sort of sin. Ye shall serve tyrants, he says, in a strange land, who shall cruelly oppress you, because ye have served their gods in your own land
God reproves them here for having abused his kindness; for he had expelled the heathen nations from Canaan, and gave that land, which was so pleasant and fruitful, as an inheritance to them, so as to be to them a perpetual rest. God called the land his own rest, because he protected the Jews there, and appointed them as the legitimate heirs of the land even to the end of the world. Hence he says now, your land The reminding them of this kindness was doubtless intended to amplify their guilt; for they possessed the land by the best title, though they had not acquired it themselves.
In your land, he says, ye worshipped gods; he does not say, “strange gods, “but “the gods of the stranger, “or of strangers. The prophets often speak thus; they call them the gods of the strangers, or of strange people: but the expression is emphatical; for it was very base and less excusable for the Jews, while they had God dwelling among them, to seek gods here and there, and as it were to entreat heathens for gods, and say, “Give us your gods.” It was then this base conduct that the Prophet now points out as with the finger, Because ye have served the gods of strangers.
He afterwards adds, Ye shall serve strangers; he does not mean, as I think, strange gods; and it seems to me that those who introduce “gods” here, pervert the meaning. (148) He speaks of tyrants, according to what is said elsewhere,
“
I had given you my good laws, which if any one keeps he shall live in them; and ye would not obey: I will therefore give you laws which are not good,” (Eze 20:21 🙂
that is, “I will lay on you a tyrannical yoke, and conquerors, and those barbarians whose language shall be unknown to you, shall plunder you and your possessions, because ye have been disobedient and unteachable.” It follows —
(148) The last clause has been improperly omitted in the Arabic: it is found in the other versions. The word for “strangers” is different from that connected with “gods.” They served “the gods of the alien,“ or, of the heathen: they would have to serve “strangers,“ or, foreigners, in a land not their own. As they had adopted the religion of heathens, they would have to submit to the dominion and tyranny of heathens: and as they did the former in their own land, they would have to do the latter in a foreign land. Thus their idolatry would expel them from their own country, and subject them to the tyranny of those from whom they derived their idolatry. Thus God often makes the tempters of his people (if they succeed) to be their tormentors. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
4. Religious apostasy (Jer. 5:19-24)
TRANSLATION
(19) And it shall come to pass when you shall say, For what reason did the LORD our God do all these things to us? Then you shall say unto them, Just as you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, thus you shall serve strangers in a land not your own. (20) Declare this in the house of Jacob and make it known in Judah, saying, (21) Hear now this: O foolish people who are without understanding, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and do not hear. (22) Do you not fear Me (oracle of the LORD)? Do you not tremble from before My face who placed the sand as a border to the sea, an eternal statute and it shall not cross over it. (23) But this people has a revolting and rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone. (24) They did not say in their heart, Let us fear now the LORD our God who gives us the rain in season, even showers of autumn and spring, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
COMMENTS
Once the divine calamity begins to fall upon Judah men will inquire of the prophet as to why their nation is suffering so. His answer is to be honest and uncompromising: you willingly forsook God and served strange gods in your own land. As your punishment you must serve strange people in a foreign land (Jer. 5:19). The divine punishment corresponds to the crime which the people have committed against God. On at least four occasions, possibly more, Nebuchadnezzar led away captives from Jerusalem, in 605, 597, 587 and 582 B.C.
In order to impress once again the seriousness of the national apostasy upon the people Jeremiah is commissioned to deliver another oracle to the house of Jacob, i.e., Judah (Jer. 5:20). The people of Judah are foolish, without understanding. They have eyes and ears but they do not see and hear (Jer. 5:21). This same terminology is used in Psa. 115:5 f. where it refers to idols. Perhaps by applying this familiar terminology to the people of Judah Jeremiah is suggesting that people become like the object of their worship (cf. Eze. 12:2). These people are blind to the omnipotence of God revealed in nature. In the Hebrew Me and My presence are placed in an emphatic position as if to stress how incomprehensible it is that people cannot recognize the might and majesty of the Creator. As but one example of His handiwork Jeremiah mentions how the creator has placed the sand as an impassable barrier to the sea. This is an eternal statute or perpetual decree, a law of nature (Jer. 5:22). But while inanimate nature is submissive to the divine will, Israel has a rebellious heart or will. They have actually defied and opposed their God and gone away from His will (Jer. 5:23). They, were utterly blind to their dependence upon God for their sustenance. God had faithfully given to His people the autumn and spring rains upon which the agricultural prosperity of Palestine depends. Year in and year out God kept the weeks of the harvest for the benefit of His people. This expression may simply mean that God granted to His people an annual harvest in late April or early May. On the other hand, God may have kept the harvest in the sense of preserving the harvest period from rain until the crops were gathered. In other words, God gave them rain when they needed it and restrained the rain when it would have been harmful to them. Yet in blind ingratitude they never thought of rendering to God the fear and reverence due to Him (Jer. 5:24).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(19) When ye shall say.The implied promise in Jer. 5:18 is explained. Then there shall come the backward glance at the past, which brings with it questionings and repentance.
Strange gods.Stronger than the other gods of Jer. 1:16, gods of an alien race. The threats that they should serve strangers in a land that was not theirs points to the Chaldan rather than to the Scythian invasion. With this ends the section which began in Jer. 5:14.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JUDAH’S OBDURACY WILL CALL DOWN UPON HER RUIN, Jer 5:19-31.
19. Like as The penalty answers to the sin. Because Judah in her own land served the gods of foreigners, so she must serve strangers in a foreign land.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Blindness of Heart, Ingratitude, Deceit, and Violence
v. 19. And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord, our God, all these things unto us? v. 20. Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah, saying, v. 21. Hear now this, O foolish people and without understanding, v. 22. Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at My presence, v. 23. But this people hath a revolting and rebellious heart, v. 24. Neither say they in their heart, v. 25. Your iniquities have turned away these things, v. 26. For among My people are found wicked men, v. 27. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, v. 28. They are waxen fat, v. 29. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord? Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? v. 30. A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land, v. 31. The prophets prophesy falsely,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Jer 5:19. So shall ye serve strangers Some understand and read this, strange gods; but it seems best to understand it of strange people. “As you have refused to have me for your God, your master, and king, you shall have other kings and masters in a strange land, and shall experience the difference between my dominion, and that of those severe and tyrannical masters.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 5:19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these [things] unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.
Ver. 19. Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? ] Why? Could not they yet tell? And had they not been oft enough (if anything were enough) told wherefore? But they were never willing to hear on that ear. Some of our hearers turn the deaf ear, and say, What tell you us of these terrible things, &c. Many sit before us as senseless as the seats they sit on, the pillars they lean to, the dead bodies they tread upon.
So shall ye serve strangers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Wherefore . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 29:24, Deu 29:25).
strange . . . strangers = foreign . . . foreigners, or aliens.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 5:19-25
4. Religious apostasy (Jer 5:19-25)
Once the divine calamity begins to fall upon Judah men will inquire of the prophet as to why their nation is suffering so. His answer is to be honest and uncompromising: you willingly forsook God and served strange gods in your own land. As your punishment you must serve strange people in a foreign land (Jer 5:19). The divine punishment corresponds to the crime which the people have committed against God. On at least four occasions, possibly more, Nebuchadnezzar led away captives from Jerusalem, in 605, 597, 587 and 582 B.C.
In order to impress once again the seriousness of the national apostasy upon the people Jeremiah is commissioned to deliver another oracle to the house of Jacob, i.e., Judah (Jer 5:20). The people of Judah are foolish, without understanding. They have eyes and ears but they do not see and hear (Jer 5:21). This same terminology is used in Psa 115:5 f. where it refers to idols. Perhaps by applying this familiar terminology to the people of Judah Jeremiah is suggesting that people become like the object of their worship (cf. Eze 12:2). These people are blind to the omnipotence of God revealed in nature. In the Hebrew Me and My presence are placed in an emphatic position as if to stress how incomprehensible it is that people cannot recognize the might and majesty of the Creator. As but one example of His handiwork Jeremiah mentions how the creator has placed the sand as an impassable barrier to the sea. This is an eternal statute or perpetual decree, a law of nature (Jer 5:22). But while inanimate nature is submissive to the divine will, Israel has a rebellious heart or will. They have actually defied and opposed their God and gone away from His will (Jer 5:23). They, were utterly blind to their dependence upon God for their sustenance. God had faithfully given to His people the autumn and spring rains upon which the agricultural prosperity of Palestine depends. Year in and year out God kept the weeks of the harvest for the benefit of His people. This expression may simply mean that God granted to His people an annual harvest in late April or early May. On the other hand, God may have kept the harvest in the sense of preserving the harvest period from rain until the crops were gathered. In other words, God gave them rain when they needed it and restrained the rain when it would have been harmful to them. Yet in blind ingratitude they never thought of rendering to God the fear and reverence due to Him (Jer 5:24).
Jer 5:19
“And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”
Here is a definite prophecy of the captivity.
“So shall ye serve strangers …” (Jer 5:19). “Serving strangers is a detail that would not fit the Scythians, who sold their prisoners as slaves.” Thus we should add this to the details mentioned under Jer 5:18, above.
Jer 5:20-25
“Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; that have eyes, and see not; that have ears, and hear not; Fear ye not me? saith Jehovah: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that preserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good from you.”
“Eyes, and see not, and have ears, and hear not …” (Jer 5:21). This, of course, is a reference to the judicial hardening that had already been divinely inflicted upon the unfaithful people, as is clear enough from the following verse.
“Will ye not tremble at my presence …” (Jer 5:22)? What an incredible marvel is it when intelligent people will not fear God, the great and Almighty God who hurled the suns in space, who set the planets in their orbits, who lifted the continents above the rolling seas, and whose tenderness and concern for human beings sends the former and the latter rains! Now wonder, God Himself exclaimed, “Will ye not fear me? will ye not tremble at my presence?”
Since the sun, moon, and stars obey God’s will, what incredible folly it was for Israel or for any one who ever lived, to rebel against the will of God!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Wherefore: Jer 2:35, Jer 13:22, Jer 16:10, Jer 22:8, Jer 22:9, Deu 29:24-28, 1Ki 9:8, 1Ki 9:9, 2Ch 7:21, 2Ch 7:22
Like as: Jer 2:13, Deu 4:25-28, Deu 28:47, Deu 28:48, Lam 5:8
Reciprocal: 2Ch 12:5 – Ye have forsaken me 2Ch 24:20 – because Neh 9:35 – For they Jer 4:18 – Thy way Jer 9:12 – for Jer 44:3 – of their Eze 14:22 – therein
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 5:19, A spirit of inquiry will naturally arise as to why the Lord would thus deal with his people. The answer is given by reminding them of their unfaithfulness in going after strange or foreign gods. Shall ye serve strangers predicts that during the captivity the Jews were not permitted to practice the service required by their law. One thing that was to be accomplished by that period of chastisement was the cure of idolatry. Being compelled to continue in idolatrous worship would help serve that end in that they would thus realize the folly of sueh a system.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 5:19. And when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things? Those that fall under the severity of Gods judgments are apt to think so favourably of themselves, as to wonder why they should be singled out for examples of the divine vengeance, and of terror to others. And particularly the Jews were very apt to think themselves innocent, however guilty they were, and to contend they did not deserve the punishments inflicted on them; and that this severe proceeding was not consistent with those many gracious promises which God had made to their nation. Then shalt thou answer them, &c. God doth not execute these judgments upon you without cause. All his promises were made to you, to be fulfilled upon condition of your obedience, which, when you withheld, you had reason to expect that his threatenings, instead of his promises, as he had repeatedly warned you, would take effect. Like as ye have forsaken me I only retaliate upon you your own conduct: you have forsaken me, therefore I forsake you. You, in that good land which I gave you, have served strange gods, to whom you owed nothing; as being, indeed, the work of your own hands, of mere imaginary beings that had no existence; so will I make you to serve strange masters and lords in a land that is not yours And where you shall not be able to call any thing your own. You have loved strangers, and to strangers you shall go. Or, as some paraphrase the words, As you have refused to have me for your God, your Master, and your King, you shall have other kings and masters in a strange land, and shall experience the difference between my dominion and that of these severe and tyrannical masters.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the LORD our God all these [things] to us? then shalt {r} thou answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.
(r) Meaning, the prophet Jeremiah.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
When the people asked Jeremiah for an explanation of their circumstances, he was to tell them that: since they had forsaken serving Yahweh, and had worshipped idols in His land, the Lord was sending them to serve strangers in the land of those idols. This was only fair (recompense in kind, the lex talionis, cf. Deu 28:47-48).