The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 295

si&Sm to oarry tlwtu homo to tho hearts of experience. So be it, 0 Lo1·d. Tho Hebrow the people. Hence it wns that "the word has" Amen, Jehovah." "Amen" equivalent came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, to •• trno, faithful, trustworthy;" or used in HeaT ,e the words of t.his covenant, and this way as a formula of asseveration, "may it be verified by facts" (the Septuagint hoe speak ·unto the men of Judah," eto. -ylvo,,,.o); comp. oh. xxviii. 6. Ver. 2.-Hear ye . . . and speak. To Ver. 6.-Proolaim all these words, etc. whom is this addressed? To Jeremiah and This command probably points to a mis- his disciples. The Septuagint, indeed, fol- sionary circuit of Jeremiah, as suggested lowed by Hitzig and Graf, read (instead of e.bo.-e. Others render, "read aloud" (comp. "speak ye"), "Thon_ ~hnlt speak u!lto 2 Kings xxii. 8, Hebrew); but Jeremiah them," adopting one different vowel-pomt. receives tho direction to " proclaim " or Dut this involves nn inconsistency with the "cry" elsewhere (eh. ii. 2; iii. 12, etc.). first verb, and is not at all necessary, for why So Go.briel, in the Koran, directs Moham- should we suppose Jeremiah to have been med to "cry," i.e. to proclaim or preach completely isolated? If the pro~het ha~ (Sura xcvi. 1). well-wishers even among the princes, it Vers. 7, 8.-A condenso.tion of eh. vii. stands to reason that ho must have had· 23-26. Imagination; rather, stubbornnus more prononnced adherents in the classes (see on eh. iii. I 7). I will bring; rather, J less influenced by the prejudices of society. brought. All the words. "Word JI sometimes Ver. 3.-Here begins a series of direct means "thing spoken of;" here, for instance, references to Deuteronomy, determining the the curses specified in Deut. xxviii. · date of the discourse. Cursed be the man, Ver. 9.-A oonspira.cy. The language 1s etc.; alluding to Dent. xxvii. 26 (which has, figurative. Jehovah is the King of Israel; however, not "obeyeth,'' but "coufirmeth," to commit sin is "to rebel against JI him i.e. ratifieth as his own personal rule of con- (Authorized Version sometimes weakens duct. The words of this coven.a.nt; rather, this into " tro.nsgress ") : and to ei;icoura.ge the words of this ordinance. The rendering one another in wickedness is "to conspire "covenant," however, is not so much erro- against" God. We need not suppose any neons 8J3 unsuitable in this context; it is a open combination against spiritno.l religion ; secondary meaning of the Hebrew b'r_ilh, it is enough if" the spirit of the time" was the original sense being rather " a.uthonta- directly contrary to it. tfre appointment" (from biirah, to cut, Ver. 10.-Their forefathers. The Hebrew hence to decide). Nothing, perhaps, is so has "their fathers, the former ones." The injurious to a corr~ct understand~g of the allusion is to the sins of the Israeli.tea in Scriptures as pers1Stently rendering e. He- the wilderness, and in Cana.an under tho brew or Greek word by the same sup- judges. The prophets are constantly point- posed equivaleut. "Covenant" is no doµbt ing their hearers back to those. early times, appropriate in some passages (e.g. Josh. ix. 6; either for warniag (as here) or for encour- 1 Sam. xviii. 3), because an" appointment" agement (eh. ii. I; Hos. ii. 15; Isa. i. 26; between men, if equa.ls,involves "giving a!ld lxiii. 11, 13). And they went after; rather taking;" but is inadeqnate when the parties and they (themselves) have gone after. 'fhe are not equals, an:i most of e.11 when the pronoun is expressed iu the Hebrew, to superior party is the Divine Being. In these indicate thnt the prophet's contemporaries cases we must clearly recur to the original are now the subject. meaning of" appointment" or" ordinance;" Vere. ll-13.-A summary of Jeremiah's and we have one such case here (sec also usual propheoies (comp. eh. iv. 6; vi. 19; Hos. vi. 7; 2 Kings xi 4; Job xxxi. i.; xix. 3 ; and especially ii. 28 ; vii. I 7). Ps. cv. l 0; but not Gen. xvii. 9). /l,ia.9{]1<71 Ver. 13.-That shameful thing; rathor, (1, an arrangement; 2, a will or testament: the shame. The no.me Ba.al is ohnnged, to 3, a covenant) is to some extent parallel (see mark the abhorrence of the speaker, into Cremer's • Biblico-Theological Lexicon of Bosheth (seo eh. iii. 24). 11:Io.nasseh, we arc New Testament Greek,' ,.v.). told, "raised up altars for Dani" (2 Kings Ver. 4.-From the iron furnaoe; rather, xxi. 3). out of the iron furnace. It is Egypt which is Yer. H.--Therefore pray not thou, etc. thus described (comp. Dcut. iv. 20; 1 Kings First Jehovah declares that ovon the inter- viii. 51). The oppression in Egypt wns like cesHion of the prophet will bo of no nvail tl..te furnace in which iron is rendered mal- (see on eh. vii.16), and then that the bclat~d leable by heat (so Isa. xlviii. 10, "I have supplications of the people t4emseJ.vcs will tested thee in the furnace of nffiiction "). bo ineffectual to avert the· 0p.lam1ty. For Ver. 5.-The oath which I have sworn theii· trouble. '.l.'he four most ancient ver- (e~ Deut. vii. 8 ; eomp. viii. 18). As it is sions and some of the extant Hob1·ew mnnu- this day ; a Deuteronomic formula. (see e.g. scripts, read "in the time of thoir troublEl " Dent. ii. 30; iv. 20), appealing to the test of (ns m ver. 12). Tho confusion between the  cu. XI. 1-23.] THE BOOK OF 1'IlE PHOl'HE'l' JEltEMIAH. 205