The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 119

Hebrew text, though somewhat more diffi- lative unbelievers, like men of the world cu It, is yet perfectly cnpnble of explanntion; in genernl. trnd, alight as t.hc difference is in the rending . Ver: 13.--And the prophets, etc. A con- adopted by Ewald (it involves o mere shndo tmuation of the speech of tho nnbcliovino- of pronunciation), it is not to be preferred Jews. Tho word is not in them. 'l'h~ to the rcceirn,l reading. Rend, therefore, Anth:ori~ed Version gives n good meaning, though I made them to swear (alkgiance), but 1t mvolres an interforcnce with the yet they comm,ittd aduUery. The oath may points. Tho pointed text must be rendered, bo that of Sinai (Exod. xxiv.), or such an he who speaketh (throug/1 U1e prophets, viz. oath as had been recently taken by Josinh Jchovnh) i8 not in them. Thus the Jews and the people (L Kings xxiii. 3; 2 Cluon. hurl against prophets like Jeremiah the xxxiv. 31, 32). The "e.dnltery" may be very charge which Jeremia,h himself brings t.ikcn both in a literal and in a figurative against tlie "fe.lse prophets" in eh. xxiii. sense, and so also the "ho.riots' houses" iu 25-32. Thus shall it be done; ra,tber, so the next clause. It is also well worthy of be it done; i.e. may the sword o.nd famine, cunsideration whether the prophet may not with which they threaten us, fall upon them. be referring to certain matrimonial customs Ver. 14.-My words in thy mouth fil"e. handed down from remote antiquity and (Sec on eh. i. !), 10.) arising from the ancient system of kinship Ver. 15.-0 house of Israel After the through women (comp Ezek. :xxii. 11). captivity of the ten tribes, Judo.h became Ver. 8.-As fed horses in the morning. the sole representative of the people of The rendering fed horses .has considerable Israel (comp. eh. ii. 26). A mighty nation. authority. "Lustful hor:5es" is also pos- The Authorized Version certainly gives a part sible; this represents the reading of the of the meo.ning. The Hebrew word rendered Hebrew margin. The following word in "mighty" ('ethiin), rather, "perennial," is the Hebrew is extremely difficulL "In tho the epithet of rocks and mountains (Nmnb. morning" cannot be right, n.s it is against xxiv. 21; Micah vL 2); of a pasture (eh. grammar; but it is not easy to furnish a :dix. 19); of rivers (Deut. :xxi. 4; Ps. lxxiv. substitute. Most modems render "roving 15). As applied in the present insta,nce, it ab"nt;" Furst prefers "stallions." seems to describe the inexhaustible resources Vera. 10-18.-Provoked by the open un- of a young nation. Render here, ever re- belief of the men of Judah, Jehovah re- plenished; i.e. ever drawing anew from its pents his warning of e. sore judgment. central fountain of strength. Does not this Yer. 10.-Her we.lls. TLcre is a doubt aptly convey the impression which a long. about "walls,'' which shonld, as some think, civilized nation (nnd the Jews, who have rather bo tiine-rows (a change of points is been railed "rude," were only so by com- involved; also of shin into sin-the slight- parison with the Egyptians and Assyrians) est of all changes), or ahools, or branches must derive from the tumultnons incursions (comparing the Syrie.e). The figure would of nomad hosts? The description will thus gain somewhat in symmetry. How- therefore fit the Scythians; but it is not ever, all the ancient interpreters (whose inappropriate to the Chaldeans, if we take authority, overrated by some, still counts for into account the composite nature of their something) explain the word as in the Au- armies. An anoient nation; i.e. one which thorized Version, and, as Graf remarks, iu still occupies its primeval scat in tho north order to destroy the vines, it would be (eh. vi. 22), undisturbed by invailers. Whose uoccssary to climb up upon the walls of the language thou lmowest not. So Isaiah ol ,•incyard. (For the figure of the vine or tLe Assyrians, "(a people) ofa stammering tLe vineyard, comp. on eh. iL 21.) Take tongue, tho.t thou canst not unde1·stand." away . . . not the Lord's. The Septuagint TLe Jews were no philologists, and were os and Peshito read differently, translating unlikely to notice the fundamental o.flinity "leave her foundations, for they are the of Hebrew and .Assyrian as an ancient Lord's" (supposing the figure be taken from Greek to observe the conneotion between a building). As the text stands, it is better his own langunge and the Persian. When to change battlements into tendrilB. Judah's the combatants wero to co.eh other {Jd.p{Japa,, degenerate membem a.re to be removed, but mercy could hardly bo expected. 'fhe se- tlie vine-stock, i.e., the believing kernel of quence of vers. 49 b o.nd 50 iu Deut. xxviii. the nation, is to be left. It is the key-note speaks volumes. of the "remnant" which Jeremiah again Ver. 16.-Their quiver. (See on oh. iv. strikes (see eh. iv. 27). 29.) As an open sepulohre; i.o. furnished Ver. 12.-It is not he. Understand " who with deadly o.rrows, "fiery do.rts." So the l'peaks by the prophet»" (Payne Smith). psalmist, of the "throat" of deceitful perse- H is hardly conecivnble that any of the cutors (Ps. v. 9). Jews absolutely denied the existenco of Ver. 17.-Which thy sons o.nd thy daugh- Jehovah. They were practical, not specu- ters, etc.; rather, tlley sllall eat thy sona and err. v. 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 115