17<\/strong>. thy wares out of the land<\/em> ] the Hebrew word occurs here only, and is of doubtful meaning. This rendering connects it with the Hebrew root of Canaanite; the Canaanites being the merchants best known to the Hebrews. It seems to mean a few articles gathered together, rather than any considerable amount or burden. Hence it suggests hasty flight. The mg. thy bundle from the ground<\/em>, derives it from a root found in Arabic and meaning, to be contracted or folded in; hence to be done up tightly. See Dr. pp. 354 f.<\/p>\n O thou, etc<\/em>.] fem. and so collective. See on Jer 4:11<\/span>, Jer 7:29<\/span>.<\/p>\n O thou that abidest in the siege<\/em> ] i.e. thou who art in a besieged city. This is to be preferred to the reading in mg.<\/p>\n 17, 18<\/strong>. Du. and Co. omit these vv<\/em>., Du. rejecting 20, 21 also, while Gi. omits Jer 10:18<\/em><\/span>. See note on it.<\/p>\n 17 25. Exile is at hand. Appeal to Jehovah in His wrath to remember mercy<\/p>\n The utterances, interrupted by Jer 9:23-26<\/span>, and Jer 10:1-16<\/span>, are now continued. The passage has apparently suffered both by corruption of MT. and by marginal glosses, afterwards incorporated with the text. It may be summarized thus.<\/p>\n (i) 17 22. The city is bidden hastily to prepare to be cast forth into exile as the result of impending siege. The country laments, as it lies waste. The inhabitants are carried captive, because of the folly of their rulers. The report of the invasion of the northern foe presages desolation.<\/p>\n (ii) 23 25. The prophet, pleading the weakness of man’s nature, prays that there may be a mitigation of Judah’s punishment, and that God’s wrath may be poured instead upon heathen nations.<\/p>\n The prophet now returns to the main subject of his sermon, the conquest of Judaea.<\/P> Thy wares – <\/B>Rather, thy bundle, which could contain a few articles for necessary use, and be carried in the hand. They are going into exile.<\/P> O inhabitant of the fortress – <\/B>i. e., thou that art besieged, that inhabitest a besieged town.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 17<\/span>. Gather up thy wares<\/B><\/I>] Pack up your goods, or what necessaries of life your enemies will permit you to carry away; for,-<\/P> <\/p>\n The prophet now enters upon another subject, and probably begins another sermon. <\/P> Gather up thy wares, i.e. every thing thou hast any advantage by, not only thy domestic concerns, but all thy traffic and merchandise, wherever thou hast any concerns in the land, as men use to do in case of invasion by an enemy, to secure them. It seems to be a sarcasm, or kind of military derision. <\/P> O inhabitant of the fortress: this is understood by some as spoken to the Babylonians, that they should make provision for their escape, their idols being not able to save them; but this seems to be remote from the prophets meaning. It is rather therefore directed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that being the chief place of security in Judea, and by a synecdoche to all other places that they promised themselves security in; the approaching destruction being to pass through the whole country. <\/P> <\/p>\n 17. wares<\/B>thine effects ormovable goods (Eze 12:3<\/span>).Prepare for migrating as captives to Babylon. The address is toJerusalem, as representative of the whole people. <\/P> inhabitant of thefortress<\/B>rather, “inhabitress<\/I> of the fortress.”Though thou now seemest to inhabit<\/I> an impregnable fortress,<\/I>thou shalt have to remove. “The land” is the champaignregion opposed to the “fortified” cities. The “fortress”being taken, the whole “land” will share the disaster.HENDERSON translates,”Gather up thy packages<\/I> from the ground.”ROSENMULLER, for”fortress,” translates, “siege,” that is, thebesieged city. The various articles, in this view, are supposed to belying about in confusion on the ground during the siege.<\/P><\/p>\n Gather up thy wares out of the land<\/strong>,…. Or thy merchandise, as the Targum; or thy substance, as the Septuagint; all valuable effects and goods that are movable, which might be carried from place to place. The meaning is, that the Jews would gather up their riches from the several parts of the land of Judea, and bring them to Jerusalem, a fortified place; or they would be in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy. Kimchi interprets the words as if spoken of Babylon, and directed to the Chaldeans, not to be elated with the captivity of Israel; and because the word signifies “to humble and subdue” he takes the sense to be,<\/p>\n “gather in or contract thine humiliation or subjection;”<\/p>\n that is, of other nations; refrain thyself, or cease from subduing kingdoms; that is now at an end, it shall be no more so; but the words manifestly respect the people of the Jews, as is clear from the next verse.<\/p>\n O inhabitant of the fortress<\/strong>; of the fortress of Zion, or the fortified city, Jerusalem. The Targum is,<\/p>\n “O thou that dwellest in the strong place, in the fortified cities.”<\/p>\n It may be rendered, “that dwellest in the siege” y; in the besieged city, Jerusalem.<\/p>\n y “quae habitas in obsidione”, V. L. Cocceius, Schmidt.<\/p>\n The captivity of the people, their lamentation for the devastation of the land, and entreaty that the punishment may be mitigated. – <\/em> Jer 10:17<\/span>. “Gather up thy bundle out of the land, thou that sittest in the siege. <\/em> Jer 10:18<\/span>. For thus hath Jahveh spoken: Behold, I hurl forth the inhabitants of the land this time, and press them hard, that they may find them. <\/em> Jer 10:19<\/span>. Woe is me for my hurt! grievous is my stroke! yet I think: This is my suffering, and I will bear it! <\/em> Jer 10:20<\/span>. My tent is despoiled, and all my cords are rent asunder. My sons have forsaken me, and are gone: none stretches forth my tent any more, or hangs up my curtains. <\/em> Jer 10:21<\/span>. For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not sought Jahveh; therefore they have not dealt wisely, and the whole flock is scattered. – <\/em> Jer 10:22<\/span>. Hark! a rumour: behold, it comes, and great commotion from the land of midnight, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, an abode of jackals. – <\/em> Jer 10:23<\/span>. I know, Jahveh, that the way of man is not in himself, nor in the man that walketh to fix his step. <\/em> Jer 10:24<\/span>. Chasten me, Jahveh, but according to right; not in Thine anger, lest Thou make me little. <\/em> Jer 10:25<\/span>. Pour out Thy fury upon the peoples that know Thee not, and upon the races that call not upon Thy name! for they have devoured Jacob, have devoured him and made an end of him, and laid his pastures waste.”<\/p>\n <\/em> Jer 10:17-20<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> In Jer 10:17<\/span> the congregation of the people is addressed, and captivity in a foreign land is announced to them. This announcement stands in connection with Jer 9:25<\/span>, in so far as captivity is the accomplishment of the visitation of Judah threatened in Jer 9:24<\/span>. That connection is not, however, quite direct; the announcement is led up to by the warning against idolatry of vv. 1-16, inasmuch as it furnishes confirmation of the threat uttered in Jer 10:15<\/span>, that the idols shall perish in the day of their visitation, and shows besides how, by its folly in the matter of idolatry, Judah has drawn judgment down on itself. The confession in Jer 10:21<\/span>: the shepherds are become brutish, points manifestly back to the description in Jer 10:14<\/span> of the folly of the idolaters, and exhibits the connection of Jer 10:17-25<\/span> with the preceding warning against idolatry. For “gather up,” etc., Hitz. translates: gather thy trumpery from the ground; so that the expression would have a contemptuous tone. But the meaning of rubbish cannot be proved to belong to ; and the mockery that would lie in the phrase is out of place. , from Arab. kn , contrahere , constipare <\/em>, means that which is put together, packed up, one’s bundle. The connection of and is pregnant: put up thy bundle and carry it forth of the land. As N. G. Schroeder suspected, there is about the expression something of the nature of a current popular phrase, like the German Schnr dein Bndel <\/em>, pack up, i.e., make ready fore the road. She who sits in the siege. The daughter of Zion is meant, but we must not limit the scope to the population of Jerusalem; as is clear from “inhabitants of the land,” Jer 10:18<\/span>, the population of the whole land are comprised in the expression. As to the form , see at Jer 22:23<\/span>. with dag. lene<\/em> after the sibilant, as in Isa 47:2<\/span>. “I hurl forth” expresses the violent manner of the captivity; cf. Isa 22:17<\/span>. “This time;” hitherto hostile invasions ended with plundering and the imposition of a tribute: 2Ki 14:14<\/span>; 2Ki 16:5<\/span>; 2Ki 18:13<\/span>. – And I press them hard, or close them in, . These words are variously explained, because there is no object expressed, and there may be variety of opinion as to what is the subject. Hitz., Umbr., Ng. , take the verb find in the sense of feel, and so the object would easily be supplied from the verb : so that they may feel it, i.e., I will press them sensibly. But we cannot make sure of this meaning for either from Jer 17:9<\/span> or from Ecc 8:17<\/span>, where know ( ) and are clearly identical conceptions. Still less is Graf entitled to supply as object: that which they seek and are to find, namely, God. His appeal in support of this to passages like Psa 32:6<\/span>; Deu 4:27<\/span> and Deu 4:29<\/span>, proves nothing; for in such the object is manifestly suggested by the contest, which is not the case here. A just conclusion is obtained when we consider that contains a play on in Jer 10:17<\/span>, and cannot be understood otherwise than as a hemming in by means of a siege. The aim of the siege is to bring those hemmed in under the power of the besiegers, to get at, reach them, or find them. Hence we must take the enemy as subject to “find,” while the object is given in : so that they (the enemy) may find them (the besieged). Thus too Jerome, who translates the disputed verb passively: et tribulabo eos ut inveniantur <\/em>; while he explains the meaning thus: sic eos obsideri faciam, sicque tribulabo et coangustabo, ut omnes in urbe reperiantur et effugere nequeant malum <\/em>. Taken thus, the second clause serves to strengthen the first: I will hurl forth the inhabitants of this land into a foreign land, and none shall avoid this fate, for I will so hem them in that none shall be able to escape.<\/p>\n This harassment will bring the people to their senses, so that they shall humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. Such feelings the prophet utters at Jer 10:19<\/span>., in the name of the congregation, as he did in the like passage Jer 4:19<\/span>. As from the hearts of those who had been touched by their affliction, he exclaims: Woe is me for my breach! i.e., my crushing overthrow. The breach is that sustained by the state in its destruction, see at Jer 4:6<\/span>. , grown sick, i.e., grievous, incurable is the stroke that has fallen upon me. For this word we have in Jer 15:18<\/span> , which is explained by “refuseth to be healed.” introduces an antithesis: but I say, sc. in my heart, i.e., I think. Hitz. gives the force of a limitation = nothing further than this, but wrongly; and, taking the perf. as a preterite, makes out the import to be: “in their state of careless security they had taken the matter lightly, saying as it were, If no further calamity than this menace us, we may be well content;” a thought quite foreign to the context. For “this my suffering” can be nothing else than the “hurt” on account of which the speaker laments, or the stroke which he calls dangerous, incurable. has, besides, frequently the force of positive asseveration: yea, certainly (cf. Ew. 354, a<\/em>), a force readily derived from that of only, nothing else than. And so here: only this, i.e., even this is my suffering. , sickness, here suffering in general, as in Hos 5:13<\/span>; Isa 53:3<\/span>., etc. The old translators took the Yod as pronoun (my suffering), whence it would be necessary to point , like , Zep 2:9<\/span>; cf. Ew. 293, b<\/em>, Rem. – The suffering which the congregation must bear consists in the spoliation of the land and the captivity of the people, represented in Jer 10:20<\/span> under the figure of a destruction of their tent and the disappearance of their sons. The Chald. has fairly paraphrased the verse thus: my land is laid waste and all my cities are plundered, my people has gone off (into exile) and is no longer here. construed with the accus. like egredi urbem <\/em>; cf. Ge. 54:4, etc. – From “my sons have forsaken me” Ng. draws the inference that Jer 10:19<\/span> and Jer 10:20<\/span> are the words of the country personified, since neither the prophet could so speak, nor the people, the latter being indeed identical with the sons, and so not forsaken, but forsaking. This inference rests on a mistaken view of the figure of the daughter of Zion, in which is involved the conception of the inhabitants of a land as the children of the land when personified as mother. Nor is there any evidence that the land is speaking in the words: I think, This is my suffering, etc. It is besides alleged that the words give no expression to any sense of guilt; they are said, on the contrary, to give utterance to a consolation which only an innocent land draws from the fact that a calamity is laid upon it, a calamity which must straightway be borne. This is neither true in point of fact, nor does it prove the case. The words, This is my suffering, etc., indicate resignation to the inevitable, not innocence or undeserved suffering. Hereon Graf remarks: “The suffering was unmerited, in so far as the prophet and the godly amongst the people were concerned; but it was inevitable that he and they should take it upon their shoulders, along with the rest.” Asserted with so great width, this statement cannot be admitted. The present generation bears the punishment not only for the sins of many past generations, but for its own sins; nor were the godly themselves free from sin and guilt, for they acknowledge the justice of God’s chastisement, and pray God to chasten them , not in anger (Jer 10:24<\/span>). Besides, we cannot take the words as spoken by the prophet or by the godly as opposed to the ungodly, since it is the sons of the speaker (“my sons”) that are carried captive, who can certainly not be the sons of the godly alone.<\/p>\n Jer 10:21-25<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> The cause of this calamity is that the shepherds, i.e., the princes and leaders of the people (see on Jer 2:8<\/span>; Jer 3:15<\/span>), are become brutish, have not sought Jahveh, i.e., have not sought wisdom and guidance from the Lord. And so they could not deal wisely, i.e., rule the people with wisdom. is here not merely: have prosperity, but: show wisdom, deal wisely, securing thus the blessed results of wisdom. This is shown both by the contrasted “become brutish” and by the parallel passage, Jer 3:15<\/span>. , their pasturing, equivalent to “flock of their pasturing,” their flock, Jer 23:1<\/span>.<\/p>\n The calamity over which the people mourns is drawing near, Jer 10:22<\/span>. Already is heard the tremendous din of a mighty host which approaches from the north to make the cities of Judah a wilderness. is an exclamation: listen to the rumour, it is coming near. From a grammatical point of view the subject to “comes” is “rumour,” but in point of sense it is that of which the rumour gives notice. Graf weakens the sense by gathering the words into one assertory clause: “They hear a rumour come.” The “great commotion” is that of an army on the march, the clattering of the weapons, the stamping and neighing of the war-horses; cf. Jer 6:23<\/span>; Jer 8:16<\/span>. From the land of midnight, the north, cf. Jer 1:14<\/span>; Jer 4:6<\/span>, etc. “To make the cities,” etc., cf. Jer 4:7<\/span>; Jer 9:10<\/span>. – The rumour of the enemy’s approach drives the people to prayer, Jer 10:23-25<\/span>. The prayer of these verses is uttered in the name of the congregation. It begins with the confession: Not with man is his way, i.e., it is not within man’s power to arrange the course of his life, nor in the power of the man who walks to fix his step ( before merely marking the connection of the thought: cf. Ew. 348, a<\/em>). The antithesis to and is , with God; cf. Psa 37:23<\/span>; Pro 16:9<\/span>: Man’s heart deviseth his way, but Jahveh establisheth the steps. The thought is not: it is not in man’s option to walk in straight or crooked, good or evil ways, but: the directing of man, the way by which he must go, lies not in his own but in God’s power. Hitz. justly finds here the wisdom that admits: “ Mit unserer Macht ist nichts getan <\/em>,” – man’s destiny is ordained not by himself, but by God. Upon this acquiescence in God’s dispensation of events follows the petition: Chasten me, for I have deserved punishment, but chasten , acc. to right, not in Thine anger; cf. Psa 6:2<\/span>; Psa 38:2<\/span>. A chastening in anger is the judgment of wrath that shall fall on obstinate sinners and destroy them. A chastening acc. to right is one such as is demanded by right (judgment), as the issue of God’s justice, in order to the reclamation and conversion of the repentant sinner. “Lest Thou make me little,” insignificant, puny; not merely, diminish me, make me smaller than I now am. For such a decrease of the people would result even from a gentle chastisement. There is no comparative force in the words. To make small, in other words, reduce to a small, insignificant people. This would be at variance with “right,” with God’s ordained plan in regard to His people. The expression is not equivalent to: not to make an utter end, Jer 30:11<\/span>, etc. The people had no call to pray that they might escape being made an utter end of; thus much had been promised by God, Jer 4:27<\/span>; Jer 5:10<\/span>. – God is asked to pour forth His fury upon the heathen who know not the Lord nor call upon His name, because they seek to extirpate Jacob (the people of Israel) as the people of God, at this time found in Judah alone. The several words in Jer 10:25<\/span><\/em> suggest the fury with which the heathen proceed to the destruction of Israel. The present verse is reproduced in Psa 79:6-7<\/span>, a psalm written during the exile, or at least after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; but in the reproduction the energetic expansion of the “devoured” is omitted.<\/p>\n Lamentation of Judah; Sovereignty of Divine Providence; Prophetic Imprecations.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 606.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 17 Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. 18 For thus saith the LORD<\/B>, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.<\/I> 19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is<\/I> a grief, and I must bear it. 20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are<\/I> not: there is<\/I> none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD<\/B>: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. 22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and<\/I> a den of dragons. 23 O LORD<\/B>, I know that the way of man is<\/I> not in himself: it is<\/I> not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 24 O LORD<\/B>, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.<\/P> In these verses,<\/P> I. The prophet threatens, in God’s name, the approaching ruin of Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 10:17<\/span>; Jer 10:18<\/span>. The Jews that continued in their own land, after some were carried into captivity, were very secure; they thought themselves inhabitants of a fortress;<\/I> their country was their strong hold, and, in their own conceit, impregnable; but they are here told to think of leaving it: they must prepare to go after their brethren, and pack up their effects in expectation of it: “Gather up thy wares out of the land;<\/I> contract your affairs, and bring them into as small a compass as you can. Arise, depart, this is not your rest,<\/I>” Mic. ii. 10<\/span>. Let not what you have lie scattered, for the Chaldeans will be upon you again, to be the executioners of the sentence God has passed upon you (v.<\/I><\/span> 18<\/span>): “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once;<\/I> they have hitherto dropped out, by a few at a time, but one captivity more shall make a thorough riddance, and they shall be slung out as a stone out of a sling, so easily, so thoroughly shall they be cast out; nothing of them shall remain. They shall be thrown out with violence, and driven to a place at a great distance off, in a little time.” See this comparison used to signify an utter destruction, 1 Sam. xxv. 29<\/span>. Yet once more<\/I> God will shake their land, and shake the wicked out of it,<\/I> Heb. xii. 26<\/I><\/span>. He adds, And I will distress them, that they may find it so.<\/I> He will not only throw them out hence (that he may do and yet they may be easy elsewhere); but, whithersoever they go, trouble shall follow them; they shall be continually perplexed and straitened, and at a loss within themselves: and who or what can make those easy whom God will distress,<\/I> whom he will distress that they may find it so,<\/I> that they may feel that which they would not believe? They were often told of the weight of God’s wrath and their utter inability to make head against it, or bear up under it. They were told that their sin would be their ruin, and they would not regard nor credit what was told them; but now they shall find it so;<\/I> and therefore<\/I> God will pursue them with his judgments, that they may find it so,<\/I> and be forced to acknowledge it. Note, sooner or later sinners will find it just as the word of God has represented things to them, and no better, and that the threatenings were not bugbears.<\/P> II. He brings in the people sadly lamenting their calamities (v.<\/I><\/span> 19<\/span>): Woe is me for my hurt!<\/I> Some make this the prophet’s own lamentation, not for himself, but for the calamities and desolations of his country. He mourned for those that would not be persuaded to mourn for themselves; and, since there were none that had so much sense as to join with them, he weeps in secret, and cries out, Woe is me!<\/I> In mournful times it becomes us to be of a mournful spirit. But it may be taken as the language of the people, considered as a body, and therefore speaking as a single person. The prophet puts into their mouths the words they should<\/I> say; whether they would say them or no, they should have cause to say them. Some among them would thus bemoan themselves, and all of them, at last, would be forced to do it. 1. They lament that the affliction is very great, and it is very hard to them to bear it, the more hard because they had not been used to trouble and now did not expect it: “Woe is me for my hurt,<\/I> not for what I fear, but for what I feel;” for they are not, as some are, worse frightened than hurt. Nor is it a slight hurt, but a wound,<\/I> a wound that is grievous,<\/I> very painful, and very threatening. 2. That there is no remedy but patience. They cannot help themselves, but must sit still, and abide it: But I said,<\/I> when I was about to complain of my wound, To what purpose is it to complain? This is a grief, and I must bear it<\/I> as well as I can. This is the language rather of a sullen than of a gracious submission, of a patience per force, not a patience by principle. When I am in affliction I should say, “This is an evil, and I will bear it, because it is the will of God that I should, because his wisdom has appointed this for me and his grace will make it work for good to me.” This is receiving evil<\/I> at the hand of God, Job ii. 10<\/span>. But to say, “This is an evil, and I must bear it,<\/I> because I cannot help it,” is but a brutal patience, and argues a want of those good thoughts of God which we should always have, even under our afflictions, saying, not only, God can and will do what he pleases, but, Let him do what he pleases.<\/I> 3. That the country was quite ruined and wasted (v.<\/I><\/span> 20<\/span>): My tabernacle is spoiled.<\/I> Jerusalem, though a strong city, now proves as weak and moveable as a tabernacle or tent, when it is taken down, and all its cords,<\/I> that should keep it together, are broken.<\/I> Or by the tabernacle here may be meant the temple, the sanctuary, which at first was but a tabernacle, and is now called so, as then it was sometimes called a temple. Their church is ruined, and all the supports of it fail. It was a general destruction of church and state, city and country, and there were none to repair these desolations. “My children have gone forth of me;<\/I> some have fled, others are slain, others carried into captivity, so that as to me, they are not;<\/I> I am likely to be an outcast, and to perish for want of shelter; for there is none to stretch forth my tent any more,<\/I> none of my children that used to do it for me, none to set up my curtains,<\/I> none to do me any service.” Jerusalem has none to guide her of all her sons,<\/I> Isa. li. 18<\/I><\/span>. 4. That the rulers took no care, nor any proper measures, for the redress of their grievances and the re-establishing of heir ruined state (v.<\/I><\/span> 21<\/span>): The pastors have become brutish.<\/I> When the tents, the shepherds’ tents, were spoiled (v.<\/I><\/span> 20<\/span>), it concerned the shepherds to look after them; but they were foolish shepherds. Their kings and princes had no regard at all for the public welfare, seemed to have no sense of the desolations of the land, but were quite besotted and infatuated. The priests, the pastors of God’s tabernacle, did a great deal towards the ruin of religion, but nothing towards the repair of it. They are brutish<\/I> indeed, for they have not sought the Lord;<\/I> they have neither made their peace with him nor their prayer to him; they had no eye to him and his providence, in their management of affairs; they neither acknowledged the judgment, nor expected the deliverance, to come from his hand. Note, Those are brutish people that do not seek the Lord, that live without prayer, and live without God in the world. Every man is either a saint or a brute. But it is sad indeed with a people when their pastors, that should feed them with knowledge and understanding,<\/I> are themselves thus brutish. And what comes of it? Therefore they shall not prosper;<\/I> none of their attempts for the public safety shall succeed. Note, Those cannot expect to prosper who do not by faith and prayer take God along with them in all their ways. And, when the pastors are brutish, what else can be expected but that all their flocks<\/I> should be scattered? For, if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch.<\/I> The ruin of a people is often owing to the brutishness of their pastors. 5. That the report of the enemy’s approach was very dreadful (v.<\/I><\/span> 22<\/span>): The noise of the bruit has come,<\/I> of the report which at first was but whispered and bruited abroad, as wanting confirmation. It now proves too true: A great commotion<\/I> arises out of the north country,<\/I> which threatens to make all the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons;<\/I> for they must all expect to be sacrificed to the avarice and fury of the Chaldean army. And what else can that place expect but to be made a den of dragons which has by sin made itself a den of thieves?<\/P> III. He turns to God, and addresses himself to him, finding it to little purpose to speak to the people. It is some comfort to poor ministers that, if men will not hear them, God will; and to him they have liberty of access at all times. Let them close their preaching with prayer, as the prophet, and then they shall have no reason to say that they have laboured in vain.<\/P> 1. The prophet here acknowledges the sovereignty and dominion of the divine Providence, that by it, and not by their own will and wisdom, the affairs both of nations and particular persons are directed and determined, v.<\/I><\/span> 23<\/span>. This is an article of our faith which it is very proper for us to make confession of at the throne of grace when we are complaining of an affliction or suing for a mercy: “O Lord, I know,<\/I> and believe, that the way of man is not in himself;<\/I> Nebuchadnezzar did not come of himself against our land, but by the direction of a divine Providence.” We cannot of ourselves do any thing for our own relief, unless God work with us and command deliverance for us; for it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,<\/I> though he seem in his walking to be perfectly at liberty and to choose his own way. Those that had promised themselves a long enjoyment of their estates and possessions were made to know, by sad experience, when they were thrown out by the Chaldeans, that the way of man is not in himself;<\/I> he designs which men lay deep, and think well-formed, are dashed to pieces in a moment. We must all apply this to ourselves, and mix faith with it, that we are not at our own disposal, but under a divine direction; the event is often overruled so as to be quite contrary to our intention and expectation. We are not masters of our own way, nor can we think that every thing should be according to our mind; we must therefore refer ourselves to God and acquiesce in his will. Some think that the prophet here mentions this with a design to make this comfortable use of it, that, the way of the Chaldean army being not in themselves, they can do no more than God permits them; he can set bounds to thee proud waves, and say, Hitherto they shall come, and no further.<\/I> And a quieting consideration it is that the most formidable enemies have no power against us but what is given them from above.<\/I><\/P> 2. He deprecates the divine wrath, that it might not fall upon God’s Israel, v.<\/I><\/span> 24<\/span>. He speaks not for himself only, but on the behalf of his people: O Lord, correct me, but with judgment<\/I> (in measure and with moderation, and in wisdom, no more than is necessary for driving out of the foolishness that is bound up in our hearts), not in thy anger<\/I> (how severe soever the correction be, let it come from thy love, and be designed for our good and made to work for good), not to bring us to nothing,<\/I> but to bring us home to thyself. Let it not be according to the desert of our sins, but according to the design of thy grace. Note, (1.) We cannot pray in faith that we may never be corrected, while we are conscious to ourselves that we need correction and deserve it, and know that as many as God loves he chastens. (2.) The great thing we should dread in affliction is the wrath of God. Say not, Lord, do not correct<\/I> me, but, Lord, do not correct me in anger;<\/I> for that will infuse wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery that will bring us to nothing.<\/I> We may bear the smart of his rod, but we cannot bear the weight of his wrath.<\/P> 3. He imprecates the divine wrath against the oppressors and persecutors of Israel (v.<\/I><\/span> 25<\/span>): Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not.<\/I> This prayer does not come from a spirit of malice or revenge, nor is it intended to prescribe to God whom he should execute his judgments upon, or in what order; but, (1.) It is an appeal to his justice. As if he had said, “Lord, we are a provoking people; but are there not other nations that are more so? And shall we only be punished? We are thy children, and may expect a fatherly correction; but they are thy enemies, and against them we have reason to think thy indignation should be, not against us.” This is God’s usual method. The cup put into the hands<\/I> of God’s people is full of mixtures,<\/I> mixtures of mercy; but the dregs of the cup<\/I> are reserved for the wicked of the earth,<\/I> let them wring them out,<\/I> Ps. lxxv. 8<\/I><\/span>. (2.) It is a prediction of God’s judgments upon all the impenitent enemies of his church and kingdom. If judgment begin<\/I> thus at the house of God,<\/I> what shall be the end of those that obey not his gospel?<\/I> 1 Pet. iv. 17<\/I><\/span>. See how the heathen are described, on whom God’s fury shall be poured out. [1.] They are strangers to God, and are content to be so. They know him not,<\/I> nor desire to know him. They are families that live without prayer, that have nothing of religion among them; they call not on God’s name.<\/I> Those that restrain prayer prove that they know not God; for those that know him will seek to him and entreat his favour. [2.] They are persecutors of the people of God and are resolved to be so. They have eaten up Jacob<\/I> with as much greediness as those that are hungry eat their necessary food; nay, with more, they have devoured him, and consumed him, and made his habitation desolate,<\/I> that is, the land in which he lives, or the temple of God, which is his habitation among them. Note, What the heathen, in their rage and malice, do against the people of God, though therein he makes use of them as the instruments of his correction, yet he will, for that, make them the objects of his indignation. This prayer is taken from Psa 79:6<\/span>; Psa 79:7<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n Va. 17-25: COMING DESOLATION AND THE SCATTERING OF THE FLOCK<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Forseeing the impending invasion, and the siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah appeals to his people – urging them to accept their just punishment and to prepare for deportation, (vs. 17-18).<\/p>\n 2. In the cry of verses 19-21 he appears to be expressing Judah’s hurt as she laments the ruin that has come upon her through the stupidity of her rulers.<\/p>\n a. Her wound is grievous, but she realizes that she must bear it, (vs. 19; comp. Jer 4:31<\/span><\/strong>; Jer 14:17<\/span><\/strong>; Mic 7:9<\/span><\/strong>).<\/p>\n b. The desolation of her heart is set forth in verse 20; her tent destroyed, her cords broken and her. children exiled, (comp. Jer 4:20<\/span><\/strong>; Jer 31:15<\/span><\/strong>; Isa 51:18<\/span><\/strong>).<\/p>\n c. Since her rulers (shepherds) lost touch with Jehovah, they were not able to lead the flock to safety, (vs. 21; 8a; Jer 12:10-11<\/span><\/strong>; Isa 56:10-12<\/span><\/strong>; Jer 2:8<\/span><\/strong>).<\/p>\n 3. From the north country (Babylon) is heard a commotion that forebodes such crushing of Judah that her cities will become a lair of night-dogs, (vs. 22; Jer 1:14<\/span><\/strong>; Jer 25:9<\/span><\/strong>; Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n