The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 151

pulalion of Jerus11lem) is c11utioned against supported by not e. few similar phenomena, ,,enturing outside the w11lls. The sword of that mibhfar, o fortress, has been inserted the enemy; rather, the enemy hath a sword. by mistake from the mo.rgin, where o.n early Fear is on every side; Hebrew, miigor missa- glossator had written the word, to remind bib; one of J cremiah's favourite expressions of the parallel passage (oh. i. 18, " I ha vo (sec eh. xx. 3, 10; xlvi. 5; xlix. 29; and m~de thee this_ day a fortress-city," 'ir comp. I's. xxxi. 13 [14].). N11turally of a. mibhfa1·). In this and the following verses timid, retiring character, the prophet cannot meta lurgic phraseology is employed with a help fcding tlw anxious and alarming moral application ( comp. Isa. i. 22, 25). situation into which at the Divine command Ver. 28.- Grievous revolters ; literally, he bas ventured. rebel-s of rebel-s. Walking; rather, going Ver. 26.-Wallow thyself in ashes; rather, about, 11.s a pedlar with his wares (so Prov. sprinkle thyself with ashes, a. sigu of mourn- xi. 13; xx. 19; Lev. xix. 16). Jeremiah ing (2 Sam. xiii. 19; so Micah i. 10). had good reason to specify this characteristic Mourning, as for an only son. The Septuagint of his enemies (see eh. xviii. 18). Brass and renders 1dv8os a-ya1M7-roii (comp. Gen. nii. 2, Iron; rather, copper and iron, in short, base where in like manner the Septuagint renderfl, metal. not " thine only son," but " thy beloved Ver. 29.-The bellows are burned. The son"). Possibly this was to a.void a. sup- objection to this rendering is that the burn- position which might have occurred to ing of the bellows would involve the inter- some readers ( it has, in fact, occurred to ruption of the process of assaying. We several modern critics) that the" only son" might, indeed, translate "are scorched" (on was Adonis, who was certainly "mourned the authority of Ezek. xv. 4), and attach for" by some of the Israelites under the the word rendered "of the fire" to the first name of Thammuz (Ezek. viii. 14), and clause ; the half-verse would then run : whose Phceniciau name is given by Philo " The bellows are scorched through the fire; of Byblns as '1Eou6 (i.e. probably Yaldtidli, the lead is consumed," i.e. the bellows are only begotten, the word used by Jeremiah; even scorched through the heat of the comp. B71pov8, equivalent to Berith). M. furna,ce, and the lead has become entirely Renan found a vestige of the ancient festival oxydized. But this requires us to alter the of Adonis at Djebeil (the Phcenicio.n Gebal) verb from the masculine to the feminine even at the present day. There would be form of third sing. pel'f. (reading tammah). nothing singular in the adoption of a com- It is better, therefore, to give the verb (which mon popular phrase by the prophet, in spite will be Kul, if the ruin be radical) the sense of its reference to a heathen custom (comp. of "snorting," which it has in Ara.maio e.nd Job iii 8), and the view in question gives in Arabic, and which the corresponding noun additional force to the passage. Bnt the h11s in Hebrew (eh. viii.16; Job mix. 20; ordinary explanation is perfectly tenable xii. 12). The masculine form of the verb and more obvious. The phrase, '' mourning rendered "is consumed'' is still a difficulty; [or,' lamentation'] for an only begotten one," but we have a better right to suppose that occurs again in Amos viii. 10; Zech. xii. 10. the first letter of tittom was dropped, owing In the last-mentioned passage it is parallel to its identity with the second letter, than with "bitter weeping for a firstbom." to append (as the first view would require Ver. 27.-I have set thee, elo.; literally, us) an entirely different letter at the end. aa an auayer ha"e I set thee among my This being done, the whole passage becomes people, a fortreu. Various attempts have clear : "The bellows puff, (that) the lead been made to avoid giving the last word its may be consumed of the fire." In any case, natural Iendering, "a fortress." Ewald, for the general meaning is obvious. The instauce, would alter the points, and render assayer has spared no trouble, all the rules "a separater [of metals]," thus making the of his art have been obeyed, but no silver word synonymous with that translated '' an appears os the result of the process. Lead assayer;" but this is against Hebrew usage. is mentioned, because, before quicksilver Hitzig, assuming a doubtful interpreta- was known, it was employed as a flux in tion of Job xxii. 24, renders " . . . among the operation of smelting. l'luoked away; my people without gold," i.e. "without rather, separated, like the dross from the there being any gold there for thee to as- silver. say" (a very awkward form of expression). Ver. 30.-Reprobate silver . . . rejooted 'fhese are the two most plausible views, and them; rnther, refuse silver (as the margin) yet neither of them is satisfactory. Nothing . . . 1·e/med, them, The verb"! root ii tbe remain& but the very simple conjecture, ~n:ie.  otl. v1. 1~30.J THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET JEREMIAII.