The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 315

Ver. 3.-He.st: seen me, and tlied; rather, peoples, not, however, without a prospeot l!eest me, and ti-iest. Pull them out. Perhaps of their return homo 11nd conversion to this is correct, and there is an· allusion to Jehovah. It is evident enough tlwt this the figure of tho plant in ver. 2. Dut the passage stands in no oonnection with what "1"erb nec<l mean no more than " rnpnratc" precedes. Tho whole tone is tha.t of a de- (c,,mp. eh. vi. 29). Prepare them; literally, scription of present scenes and not of the eon.<ecra.te them, as vietims for the sacrifice. future. Sometimes, no doubt1 a prophet, in Yer. 4.-How long, etc.? The verse is the oonfidence of faith, represents the future derided rather differently by the Hebrew as though it were already pa.st; but there Mccnts. The question should end at wither, is always something in the context to ,rnd the following words rnn on. Every deterrniuo the 1·cfereuce e.ud prevent am- field should be t.he whole field (i.e. open biguity. Here, however, there is nothing country). The connection has caused to indicate that the desoription 1·elates to some difficulty. But drought is constantly the future; aud it is followed by a predio- described as a judgmcnt (eh. iii. 3; v. 24, tion which presupposes that the p1·ecedi.ng 25; xiv. 2-7; xxiii. 10), n.nd it is a pro- passage refers to the literal past. phetic doctrine that the lower ru1imals suffer Ver. 7.-1 have forsaken mine house. The for the fault of man. Because they said; "house" is here not the temple, but the rather, because they sa.y. The speakers are people of Israel, as the parallel clause shows the ungodly. The subject of the following (see Hos. viii. 1, and comp. Heh. iii. 6; verb is uncertain. Some think it is God; but l 'l'im. iii. 15). Jehovah, not the prophet, when God is said to " see" (i.e. take notice is evidently the speaker. .I have left; of) anything, it is always something actulllly rather, I have cast away. Into the he.nd ot existing. The subject must, tl,erofore, be her enemies. The Hebrew is more ex- the prophet, of whom the ungodly scoffi.ngly pressive: "Into the palm of the hand." declare, He shall not see our last end, Donomi (' Nineveh and her Palaces,' p. 191) beoause his predictions are mere delusions. has an engraving from the monuments of Ver. 5.-Jeremiah's impatience correct~d. guests at a banquet, holding their drinkiug- The expressions are evidently proverbial. vessels in the deeply hollowed palm of their The opposition to the prophet will reach hnnd. So here the people of Israel, in her a still higher pitch; and if he is so soon weak, fainting state, needs only to be held discouraged, how will he bear his impending in the quiet pressure of the palm of the trials ? And if in the land of peace, etc. ? hand. Tue remark and the illustration a.re a second figure, the translation of which duo to Dr. Payne Smith. needs a.mending. If (only) in a land of peace Ver. 8.-The reason why Jehovah has thou art confident, how wilt thou do in the given up his ·people. Israel (or, more pride of Jord,anf The "pride of Jordan" strictly, Judah) has proceed~ to open means the thickets on Hs banks, which were hostility against his God. lie is nn.to mo- notorious as the haunts of lionB (eh. xlix. or rather, has become ®to me-e.s e. lion in the 19 ; 1. 44; Zech. xL 3). "Lions' bones have forest ; a familiar circumstance (corn p. on been found by Dr. Roth in the gravel of the ver. 5 and eh. iv. 7). Therefore have I Jordan. Liona are seldom or never found hated it. "To hate" is e. strong expression now west of the Enphro.tes, although they for the withdrawal of love, showu by the occasionally cross the river" (Rev. W. giving up of Isro.el into the power of his Houghton, 'Bible Educator,' i. 22). enemies, as Mal. i; 3 (Keil). Ver. 6.-An example of the "treachery" Ver. 9. -The first part of this verse is mis- referred to in ver. 1 ; a conspiracy against translated. Instead of Mine heritage is unto Jeremiah in his own family. Rave called me, elc., it should be, Is mine heritage unto ::. multitude 2.fter thee; rather, have called me (i.e. to my ROrrow, a dativus ethicus) a afoud after thee, as one raises a hue and cry coloured bird of vrey 1 Are birds of prey urter a thkf. round about hed The passage is difficult, Vera. 7-17.-A separate prophecy. The but the following seems the most plausible key to il is in 2 Kings xxiv. 1, 2, where it explanation ;-Jehovah is represented as is relalecl tl,at, after J ehoiakim's rebellion surprised to see his chosen people u. prey to ;,gainst Nebuchadnezzar, "Jehovah sent the heathen (a strongly anthropomorphio against him bands of the Chalclees,and bands description, as if Jehovah had not antici- of the Syriaus,and bands of the Moabites, and pated that hie" giving up" his people would bands of the children of Ammon, and seat have such sad results). It seems to him thC;rn against Judah to destroy it." The (adopting human modes of speech) as if prophecy fall~ into twQ strophes or sections, Israel wero "a coloured bird or prey," the vcrs. 7-13 and vers.14-17. In the first we bright plumage of which exoites the ani- !,ave a complaint of the desolation produced mosity of its less brilliant comrades, who by the guerilla warfare; in the second, e. gather round it aud pull it to pieces. It is i,rcdiclion of lhc captivity of tho hostile an allusion to the phcuomenon, well-known on. xn. 1-17.J 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 315