The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 186

EXPOSITION. false prophets evidently retained a lnrgo CHAPTER VII. amount of the old materialistic faith of the Ch. vii.-x.-Severe rebukes of idofotry Semitic nations (lo whom tho Israelites belonged by race), which localized the alternating with announcements of the im- presence and the power or the divinity. pending judgment. The circumstances con- The temple wns, in fact, their palladium, nected with this discourse, or part thereof, and as long ns it stood, the national inde- appear to be detailed in eh. xxvi. Among pendence e.ppeo.recl to them to be securecl. the parallelisms between the two sections, They faithfully handP.d on the teaching of notice especially the reference to the fate of those prophets of the last generation, who, as Micah tells us (iii. 11), were wont to the temple of Shiloh (comp. ver. 14 with eh. "leun upon the Lord, and say, Is not tho xxvi. 6). The date of the original utterance Lord nmong us? none evil can come upon of the prophecy iB thus fixed for one of the us." How Isnio.h met this error we may early years of the reign of J ehoiakim. Ch. collect from Isn. ::s:xviii. 16 (seo my Com- i:. 1-16, however, requires separate con- mentary). Are these; i.e. these buildings (comp. 2 Chron. viii. 11, where for "tho sideration. places" the Hebrew hns " these"). Vere. 1-7.-The Divine requirements Ver.:5.-U ye thronghly amend, etc.; n and the corresponding promise. development of the idea of ver. 3. The true Ver. 2.-Stand in the gata; i.e. not an palladium of Jndah would be the fo.ithful outer gato (for the outer court would be filled performo.nce of Johovah's moml laws, es- with the people whom Jereminh wus to o.d- pecinlly those referring to the conduct of tl10 dress), bnt one of the three g,,tes which led rulers. Observe the stress which all the from the inner court to the outer. Probably prophets lay on the vil'tues of civil life. It was the gate where Baruch recited the Ver. 6.-The stranger, the fatherless, and prophecies of Jeremiah at a later period, the widow; specially commended to tho and which is designated "the m,w gate of co.re of the Israelites (Exod. x.xii. 21, 22- n the Lord's house," and said to have been passogo belonging to one of the most evi- situo.tcd in the "upper" i.e. inner cow-t dently primitive portions of the Pentutcuch; (oh. xxxvi. 10; comp. eh. xxvi. 10). We Dent. xxiv. 17, 19, 21; xxvii. 19; comp. may conjecture that either one of the three Iso.. i. 17, 23; x. 2; Ezek. xx.ii. 7). In this grent festivals or some extraordinary fast plaoe; i.e. specinlly in Jerusalem, but not had brought o. large number of peoplo to- altogether oxcluding the rest of the kingdom gether o.t the temple. (see vors. 3, 7). Ver. 4.-The temple of the Lord. Notice Ver. 7.-For ever and ever. It is doubt- the iteration of the phrase, ns if its very ful, both bore nnd in eh. xxv. 5, whether sound were o. chm·m o.gninst evil. It re- these words should be joined to •• gnve" or minds ue of the pcrformnnces of tho howling "cnuse you to dwell." Still, the !utter con- dervishes at Cniro, who "sometimes remain nection is both in itself the more probublo for hours, incessantly shouting the Muslim ono, and tho.t suggested first of all by the confession of faith (la iltiha, etc.)" (Dr. accentuo.tion (this, however, is not hc1·0 Ebcrs, in Bii.deker's 'Egypt,' p. 150). The decisive). It wns not tho extent of tho phrnse is repeated tl,rce times to express original promise, but that of the enjoyment !ho cnrneetnees of the speakers ( comp. eh. of the gift, which was in question. A Jtxii. 29, "0 earth, earth, earth"). 'l'hcse moro iix!lct rendering of the prophet's 184 THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET JEllEMIAif. [err. vu. 1-34.