The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 33

prefer it, explain "by (or, rather, in) the Septuagint and Vulgate in rendering "thou wny ," on the nnalo~y of the promise in eh. hast broken . . . (and) burst." This docs :uxi. O, "I will lead them . , . in o. straight not, strictly speaking, imply a new rearlin~ way," i.e. I will gmnt them an uninterrupted of the text, for ti was the old form of th~ course of prosperity. The omission of the suffix of the 2ncl pers. fem. sing.; there is a adjective in the present passage may be precisely similar case in Micah iv. 13. It is po.rnlleled by Pa. xxv. 8, "Therefore will he a true description of the history of Israel be- instruct sinners in the (right) way." fore the exile. It would almost seem as if Ver. 18.-What hast thou to do in the way there was a fusion of two races among tho of Egypt 1 rather, with the way to Egypt. Israelites, and that the smaller but nobler Isaiah (x.u:. 2-5; xxxi. 1) o.nd Hosea (vii. stock supplied all the great men in the sphere 11, 16) hacl already inveighed ago.inst an of religion; just as in Florence, most of tl,e Egyptian alliance. The uame given by men who have illustrated her annals bear Manasseh to his son and successor (Amon) names of Teutonic origin. So we might suggests that at one period in his reign an argue, if we wished to explain the Biblical Egyptian policy was in the ascendant, which history from purely natural canses. Ilnt God coincides with the tradition preserved in 2 (to apply the Caliph Omar's worus) "knowetll Chron. x.xxiii. 11, of an Assyrian captivity his own." Bands (see on eh. v. 5). I will no·; of Manasseh, Jehoiakim a.t a. later period transgress. This is the translation of the was a vassal of Egypt (2 Kings x.xiii. 31, marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible, 35). To drink the waters; taking up the wuich, though implied also in the Targnm, idea of the second clause of ver. 13. Sihor, or is probably a. conjecture of the Jewish critics. Shihor, occurs a.gain in Isa.. x.xiii. 3, as a. The text reflding (also that of the Septuagint name of the Nile. It properly means, not o.nd the Syriac) is, '· I will not serve," so much "ihe black" as "the dark groy" (equivalent to "I will not be o. slave any (connected with shakhar, the morning grey), longer"). Obviously this does not harmon iz0 from the colour of the water. Rosenmiiller'H with the rendering "I have broken," elc., in contra.et between the muddy waters of foreign the first clause ( unless, with Dr. Payne Smith, streams and the " fountain of living waters" we explain "I will not serve" as virtually is uncalled for ; besides, the Nile water has equivo.!eut to '' I will slill serve my itlol- nlways been held in high esteem. The gods "); llence the Jewish critics, by ju.;t Septuagint ha.a I"11wv, i.e. Gihon, also a. no.me adding -a. K<pa.ia. (Matt. v. 18), cllange, l of the Nilo according to Ecclus. xxiv. 27. "serve" into "transgress." They did not The way of-rather, to-Assyria. It is true venture to alter thenextclo.use, which, quito that Assyria was, to say the least, powerless as much as tile first, presupposes the reading to interfere for good or for evil, when these "serve" (see next note). When-mther, words were written. But in ver. 5 the pro- /or-upon every high hill, etc. Bare, treeless phet hns already warned us that his com- heights were favourite spots for sacrifices, plaints a.re partly retrospective. It would ospecio.lly fur Bao.I; groves, o.nd lca.fy trees in seem that the Assyrian party from time to general, for tho lascivious rites of Ashero.h time gained the upper hand over the Egyp- a.nd Ashtoreth. The apparently extreme tio.n in the councils of the State. Or per- ata.tement of the prophet is not to be mini- haps the prophet ma.y refer to the Quixotic mized. Travellers still tell us of vestiges oC fidelity to Assyrio. of J osia.h (sec below on o.ncient and doubtless pre-Christian iuola.- ver. 36). The river; i.e_. the Euphrates, trous worship still visible on almost every " the great river" (Gen. xv. 18). Babylonio. e.ttro.ctive spot in tho open country in Pales- it should be remembered, was in nominal tine. Under every green tree. We h11ve no subjection to .Assyria; the Euphro.tes wo.s single word to convey tl10 "fluid" meo.ning tile boundary between Syria a.nd Palestine of this expressive worcl. H combines, in fact, ou the one hand, o.nd Assyria-here the the senses of pliant, sappy, leafy (comp. note Assyria-Babylonian region-on the other. on eh. xi. 16). Thou wanderest; rather, thou Ver. 19.-Shall oorrect , . , shall reprove; wast stretching thyself out. ro.ther, chastise . .. pu11ish. It is o. constantly Ver. 21.-A noble vine. Jeremit\h means renewed punishment which follows the ever- the choicest kind of Oricutt\l viue, callutl repeated offence. Bf»'el, (fro1u tho dark-rot! colour of its grnpcs ), Ver. 20.-Here a new section begins. I a.nd mentioned ago.in in Isa. v. 2. The figure have broken . . . blll'llt. This is, gruwmo.ti- of the vine is one endeared to us by its asso- ca.lly, a. possible rendering, but inconsistent ciation especi11lly with our Lord; it was en- with the second person in thou said.at, unless deared to the Jews by the o.nnuo.l festivities indeed (with Ewald) we suppose tho.t some- of the vinto.go. The so.crcd writers o.re never thing has fallen out of the text between the a.fro.id of its po.Hing on the ear by repetition first and the second clauses of the verse. 'fhe (comp. eh. v. 10; vi. 9; iii. 10; Isa. v. 1-7; best critios, except Ewald a.nd Dr. Payne uvii. 2, 3; Ezok. xvii. 6; Pa. lxx.x. 8-16). Bwith, a.re agreed that we should follow the A right seed; i.e. o. vine-shaot of the genuino 26 'l'HE BOOK OJ<' 'l'HE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [err. u. 1-37.