The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 35

count for tho propondero.nce of " false pro- women [' wicked ones' ie in the feminine] phets" referred to in ver. 8 (cf.Matt. xxiii. 29). ho.ve been able to learn something from thee" Ver. 31.-0 generation, see ye. It is (so the great Dutch scholar,De Dieu,in 1518). doubtful whether generation here means Bat e. more natural rendering is, "There- "contemporaries" (eqnivnlent to "men of fore [i.e. to gain thine ends] thou hast this generation"), or, like 'Y•v«f sometimes in accustomed thy ways to those evil things." the New Testament, R. class of men united Nemo repente Ju.it turpissimv,.•. It reqnirerl by moral affinity (comp. Ps. xiv. 5; lxxviii. e. deliberate "e.ceustoming," or " training " 8). In the latter case we should rather (such ie the literal meaning or limmad), to attach \he pronoun in "see ye" to "0 gene- produce snch a habit (l!,r) BS ia here re- ration," and render "0 (evil) generation buked. that Y9 are I" So Hitzig, Keil, and Payne Ver. 34.-Also in thy skirts, etc.; or, Smith; Ewald and Delitzsch adopt the first there i• e11en found in thy skim (or, perhaps, rendering. Kave I been a wilderness, etc.? in thy slee11e,-the wide sleeves of an Eastern "Have I not been the source of light and mantle). The fact which follows is a<lducecl happiness to my people, and of all temporal as the crowning evidence of wickedness. blessings?" (comp. eh. ii. 6). So the Divine 'Blood of the souls is explained by the state- speaker in Isa. xiv. 19, "I said not unto the ment in Lev. xvii. 11, "The soul of the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain," or more flesh [i.e. of the bodyJ is in the blood;" hence literally, "in chaos" (same word as in Gen. the importance of the blood in the Mosaic i. 2) ; "chaos '' and " the wilderness" are sacrifices. The historical reference or this both images-of that which is utterly unre- passage of J ererniah may well be to the per- munerative. A land of de.rlmees. This is, secution of Manasseh, who is said to ho.Ye of cour.re, not literally accurate BS a descrip- "shed innocent blood very much" (2 Kings tion of the Arabian desert. "Darkness" is xxi. 16). It is Judah, no doubt, who is here used as a synonym for " misery." addressed, but the prophets mostly o..ssume Cloud and re.in occupy precisely opposite the " solidarity" of king and people places iu the. estimation of nomadic and ( analogoue to that of a forefather and his agricultmal peoples respectively. "The posterity); Manasseh, moreover, probably Bedouins," says an.Axabic scholast, "always had the support of 11, large section of tho follow the rain and the places where rain- population, at any rate in so far e.s ho drops fall;" whereas o. townsman of Mecca favoured the inveterate cultus of the high calls himself "child of the sun." So Indra places or loco.I sanctuaries. I have not and Ve.rune., originally belonging to the found it by seoret search; rather, thou hast cloudy and rainy sky, o.re in the Vedia not fou.nd them brea1'ing through (houses). hymns endowed with solar traits. It should The phraseology agrees with tho.t of Exo,l. be added here that it is o.n old problem, and xxii. 2, the lo.w o.gainst "breo.king through;" too difficult a one for us to investigate, it suggests that the houses of o.11 but the whether we should render "the darkness of highest class in ancient o.s well as often in Jo.h" (Jehovah) or (as Authorized Version) modern Palestine, were made of mere sun- simply " darkness." The former rendering dried briok, which conld be easily " dn~ will mean very great dnrkness, such as into" (comp. Ezek. xii. 5; Matt. vi. 19, 20, Jehovnh sends in judgment (e.g. to the in the Greek). [Lieut. Conder states, it i8 Egyptians, Exod. x. 21-23). On this true, tho.t in hilly districts of Palestine tlw question, see Dr. Ginsburg on Cant. viii. 6 houses of the vilhtges a.re built of stone, but (where II similo.r doubt exists), Geiger's he adds that the stone is simply to.ken from • Urschrift und Uebersetzungen der Bibel,' the ruins of the o.acient towns.] Burgfors p. 276; Ewa.Id, • Lehrbnch der Hebriiischen caught in the a.et might be killed (Exod. t3pro.che,' § 270 c. We are lords; rather, xxii. 2), but the innocent victims of persecu- toe have broken loose. It is, however, a. diffi- tion could not be brought under this category, cult word, which only occurs elsewhere in o.n<l hence those who slew them were really Gen. xxvi. 40; Hos. xii. 1; Ps. Iv. 3. guilty of murder. But upon ell these ; Ver. 32.-Or o. bride her attire. The ro.ther, bu.t because of all these things; i.e. i1rophet perhaps means the magnificently not for o.ny crime, but beco.uso of thine adorned girdle which the bride woro on her o.postasy o.nd ze11I for the false gods ("tiicso wedding do.y (comp. Isa. xli.x. 18). llut the things," o.s in eh. iii. 7); so Hitzig, Keil, word only occurs again in Isa. iii. 20, and its Payne Smith; less no.turo.lly De Dieu, " bu- precise signification is uncertain. co.use of those false godd." Ver. 33.-Why trimmest thou thy way t Ver. 35.-Beoa1111e. This "because" is rother, How well thou. cootrivest thy way, mislendiug; there is. no o.rgurnent, but the etc. ? Therefore he.et thou also taught, eto. sto.tement of a supposed fact. The po.rticlc The meo.niag which floated before our trans- so renclered merely servos to introdno;i the lators seems to be this: "so uttedy immoral speech of the Jews (liko an). Shell turn; is thy cotme of life, that even the worst of rather, hath turned. Judnh hncl so 1,mg 28 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [on. It. 1-87,