[80] Instead of שדי מצור "from the rock of the field," I have ventured to read שדי מצוף (Lam. iii. 54; Deut. xi. 4; 2 Kings vi. 6). For ינתשו "plucked up" "uprooted," which is inappropriate in connexion with water, Schnurrer's ינתשו "dried up" (Isa. xix. 5; Jer. li. 30), is probably right. In the second couplet, I read זבים for זרים, which is meaningless, and transpose קרים with נוזלים.
JEREMIAH xix.
The result of his former address, founded upon the procedure of the potter, had only been to bring out into clearer distinctness the appalling extent of the national corruption. It was evident that Judah was incorrigible, and the Potter's vessel must be broken in pieces by its Maker.
_Thus said Iahvah: Go and buy a bottle_ (_baqbûq_, as if "a pour-pour"; the meaning is alluded to in the first word of ver. 7: _ubaqqothi_, "and I will pour out") _of a moulder of pottery_ (so the accents; but perhaps the Vulgate is right: "lagunculam figuli testeam," "a potter's earthen vessel," A.V.; lit. _a potter's bottle_, viz., _earthenware_), _and_ (_take_: LXX. rightly adds) _some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests, and go out into the valley of ben Hinnom at the entry of the Pottery Gate_ (a postern, where broken earthenware and rubbish were shot forth into the valley: the term is connected with that for "pottery," ver. 1, which is the same as that in Job ii. 8), _and cry there the words that I shall speak unto thee_,--Jeremiah does not pause here, to relate how he followed the Divine impulse, but goes on at once to communicate the tenor of the Divine "words"; a circumstance which points to the fact that this narrative was only written some time after the symbolical action which it records;--_and say thou, Hear ye Iahvah's word, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Thus said Iahvah Sabaoth, the God of Israel: Lo, I am about to bring an evil upon this place, such that, whoever heareth it, his ears shall tingle!_ If we suppose, as seems likely, that this series of oracles (xviii.-xx.) belongs to the reign of Jehoiachin, the expression "kings of Judah" may denote that king and the queen-mother. Another view is that the kings of Judah in general are addressed "as an indefinite class of persons," here and elsewhere (xvii. 20, xxii. 4), because the prophet did not write the main portion of his book until after the siege of Jerusalem (Ewald). The announcement of this verse is quoted by the compiler of Kings in relation to the crimes of king Manasseh (2 Kings xxi. 12).
_Because that they forsook Me, and made this place strange_--alienated it from Iahvah by consecrating it to "strange gods"; or as the Targum and Syriac, "polluted" it--_and burnt incense therein to other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers knew_ (xvi. 13); _and the kings of Judah did fill this place with blood of innocents_ (so the LXX. "Nor the kings of Judah" gives a poor sense; they are included in the preceding phrase), _and built the bamoth Baal_ (High-places of Baal; a proper name, Josh. xiii. 17), _to burn their sons in the fire_, [_as burnt-offerings to the Baal_: LXX. omits, and it is wanting, vii. 31, xxxii. 35. It may be a gloss, but is probably genuine, as there are slight variations in each passage], _which I commanded not_, [_nor spake_: LXX. omits], _neither came it into My mind: therefore, behold days are coming, saith Iahvah, when this place will no more be called the Tophet and valley of ben Hinnom but the Valley_ _of Slaughter!_ [_and in Tophet shall they bury, so that there be_--remain--_no room to bury!_ This clause, preserved at the end of ver. 11, but omitted there by the LXX., probably belongs here: see vii. 42]. _And I will pour out_ (ver. 1; Isa. xix. 3) _the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place_--that is, I will _empty_ the land of all wisdom and resourcefulness, as one empties a bottle of its water, so that the heads of the state shall be powerless to devise any effectual scheme of defence in the face of calamity (cf. xiii. 13)--_and I will cause them to fall by the sword "before their enemies"_ (Deut. xxviii. 25), _and by the hand of them that seek their life; and I will make "their carcases food unto the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth"_ (Deut. xxviii. 26; chap. vii. 33, xvi. 4). _And I will set this city "for an astonishment"_ (Deut. xxviii. 37) _and a hissing_ (xviii. 16); _every one that passeth by her shall be astonished and hiss at all her "strokes"_ (xlix. 17, l. 13) or "_plagues_" (Deut. xxviii. 59). _And I will cause them to "eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters," and each the flesh of his fellow shall they eat--"in the stress and the straitness wherewith their enemies" and they that seek their life "shall straiten them."_ It will be seen from the references that the Deuteronomic colouring of these closing threats (vv. 7-9) is very strong, the last verse being practically a quotation (Deut. xxviii. 53). The effect of the whole oracle would thus be to suggest that the terrible sanctions of the sacred Law would not remain inoperative; but that the shameless violation of the solemn covenant under Josiah, by which the nation undertook to observe the code of Deuteronomy, would soon be visited with the retributive calamities so vividly foreshadowed in that book.