The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 354

of the wild asses fail, beoause there·wu [is] ment, which till then is laid up in store no grass ; rather, herbage. They grow Jim ( comp. Gen. xv. 16 ; Isa. xvi ii. 5; xniii 10). first with seeking it so long in vain, ond Ver. 11.-Pray not for this people. So in then from lack of nourishment. oh. vii. 16 (on which see note); eh. xi. 14. Ver. 7.-The intercession of Jeremiah Ver. 12.-Thei.r ory. The word is very begins. Do thon it; a :pregnant expression, forcible; it is the shriek in which an un- equivalent to "act glonously" (as Ps. xxii. sophisticated man gi vos vent to bis pain and 31; Toa. xliv. 23). For thy name's sake. grief. An oblation. It is the vegetnble Jehovah's" Name" pledges him to be merci- offering (Authorized Version," meat offer- ful to bis people, and not to make a full end ing;" Luther, "speisopfer ") which is re- of them, even when they have offended ferred to in the so-railed minkhah (literally, (comp." Our Redeemer was thy name from of gift). Though sometimes offered separately, old" Isa. !xiii. 16). it regularly accompanied a burnt offering. Ver. 8.-How patbetto a supplication I I will not aocept them. Dr. Payne Smith Jehovah will surely not be as a stranger in tries to soften the rejection of these worship- the land-the strangers, or" sojourners," like pers by the remark that" there is a time when the p.bouco,, enjoyed no civic rights, and the most genuine repentance ovails nothing consequently had no interest in the highest to avert the temporal consequences of sin." concerns of the state-and as a wayfaring But the analogy of other similar passages man that turneth aside-or perhaps, pitcheth (e.g. Isa.. i. 15) w11.rrants the view of Keil that hui tent; for the traveller in Palestine doubt- the ground of the rejection of the worship Iese carried his tent with him then 11.s now- is its heartless formalism and insincerity, to tarry for a night. With the latter figure which was equally a bar to Jehovah'e favour compare the beautiful comparison of the 11.nd the prophet's intercession. hope of the ungodly to "the remembrance Ver. 13.-" Pleading with Providence, of a guest that tiu'rieth but a d11y " (Wisd. the good prophet lays the blame on ill v. 14). teaching, but the stem answer (ver. 14), Ver. 9.-As a man astonied ; rather (com- admitting tho plea 11.s true, rejects it as paring ,the Arabic dahama), as one struck inadequate (ver. H).and denounces sorrows dumb. But Dr. Payne Smith, with much which (vers. 17-22) tho prophet passion- reason, is more than half inclined to follow atoly deprec11.lcs" (Rowland Williams). Ah, the Septuagint reading, equiv11.lent to "tlB Lord God I rather, .Alas I O Lard Jehovah one in a deep sleep." Leave us not; literlllly, (see on eh. i. 6). The prophets say unto lay us not down; as if a burden of wbioh the them. The greater pnrt of tho prophetic bearer is tired. order ho.d not kept p11.ce with its moro Vere. 10-16.-The answer of Jehovah. spiritual member, (Isnio.h, Jeremiah, etc.). Ver. 10.-Thus have they loved to wander, 'l'hoy still trnde<l on those natural gifts of . . . therefore the Lord doth not aooept divination (Micah iii. 6) which were, no them; i.e. with suoh pertinacity have they doubt, whore genuine, of Divine origin, Lut been sot upon "wandering" (roving law- whieh, even then, needed to be supplo- lessly about), th11.t the Lord h11.th no moro meuted 11.nd controlled by 11. special impulse plo11.Snre in them. "Therefore," is, liter11lly, from the Spirit of holiness. J eremio.h, how- and. "Thus,'' or "so," is used in the s11.me ever, declares, on tho authority of a revela- sense as in I Kings x. 12, which runs liter- tion, that these prophets did not divine by ally, " ... there cnme not so [nbun<lantlyl any God-given faculty, but •• the deceit of 11.lmug timber." The particle of compari- their own heart" (ver. 14). The Deutero. son hns given much occupation to the com- nomio Torali, discovered 11.fter n period uf mentators (see Payne Smith's note), but the concealment nt the outset of JeremialJ's nbove view is at once simple and suitable to ministry, energetically forbids the prnctice the context; for .Jeremiah h11.e already 11.d- of the art of divination (Deut. xviii. 10). mitted that "our bo.ckslidings are multi- Ver. 14.-A thing of nought. The word, plied" (ver. 7). The Lord dot/1 not, eto. however, is collective, and me11.ns all the (to the end of the verse), is quoted t1er- various futile me11.ns 11.dopted for prying into batim from Hos. viii. 13. Jeremi11.h pule the future. conspicuous honour on the older inspired Ver. 16.-I will pour their wiokedness; writors; he has no cmving for originality. i.e. the fruits of their wickedness (comp. eh. Nearly all has been sCLitl alrondy; whnt he ii. 19, " Thine own wickedness shall cor- has to do is chiefly to 11.d11.pt and to apply, rect theo "). Be will now remember, eto. Tbe emphusis Vers. 17-21.-The prophet's grief, and is on ''now." Nothing is more remarkable second intercession. in the prophets th11n the stress lo.id on the Ver. 17.-Therefore thou shalt say, elc. unening justness of the time chosen for Thero is soruelhing slrnnge nud contrary Di vino interpositions. When the iniquit_y is to verisimilitude in the prefixing of thid fully l'ipo, it ns it woro attracts lho punish- fonnul.i, not to a Divine revolution, but to u.  THE BOOK OF THE PltOPHE'l' JEREMIAH. [oH. xiv. 1-22.