The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 371

a mother). Tho population ure to fo.11 in of either going to Babylon with the exiles we.r (comp.those.me figure in Ezek. v. 17). or dwelling with the Jews who were allowed The tenso is the perfect of prophetic certi• to remain under Gedaliah the governor. tude ; literally, I have bereaved, etc. He chose, e.s the narrative in eh. xl. tells us, Ver. 8.-To me; i.e. at my biclcling. It is to stay with Gedaliah; but the narrativo the dative of ce.uae. Against the mother of could not, in e.crorda.nce with the reserve the young men; rather, up<m . . . youna which characterizes the inspired writers, man. The widow he.a lost her husband, tho reveal the state of mind in which this mother her son, so that no human power difficult choice wa.s made. This omission is ce.n repel the barbarous foe. The word supplied in the paragraph before us. Jere- rendered "young man " is specie.Uy used miah, with that lyric tendency peculiar to for "young warriors,'' e.g. eh. xviii. 21 ; him among the prophets, gives e. vent to his ::tlix. 26; Ii. 3. Others, following Rasbi, emotion in these impassioned verses. He take " mother" in the sense of " metropolis," tells his friends that the resolution to go to or "chief city" (see Authorized Version, Gedaliah may cost him a severe struggle. margin), in which case" young mau" Jtrnst He longs for rest, and in Babylon he would be connected with the participle rendered have more chance of e. quiet life than among "a. spoiler;" but though the word has this the turbulent Jews at home. But he has sense in 2 Sam. xx. 19, it is there coupled looked op to God for guidance, and, how- with "city," so that no doubt can exist. ever painful to the fiesh, God's will m wt be Here the prophet would certainly not he. ve obeyed. He gives ns the substance of the used the word in so unusuo.l a sense without revelation which he received. The Divine giving some guide to his meaning. The counsellor points ont that he has already rendering adopted e.bove has the support of interposed in the most striking manner for Ewald, Hitzig, and Dr. Payne Smith. At Jeremiah, and declares that if he will devote noonday; at the most unlooked-for moment himself to the Jews un,ler Gedalbh, e. new (see on eh. vi. 4). I have caused him, etc.; and fruitful field will be open to him, in rather, I have caused pangs ancl terrors to which, moreover, by Divine appointment, fall up<m her suddenly. no harm can happen to him. Whether this Ver. 9.-That he.th bome seven; a pro- is reully the buckground of the paragraph verbie.le:i:pression(comp. l Snm. ii. 5: Ruth must remain uncertuin. In e. case of this iv. 15). Her sun is gone down, etc. The kind, we are obliged to call in the help of figure is that ofan eclipse (comp. Amos ix. 9). the imagination, if the words of the prophet She hath been ashamed, etc. ; rather, she is e.re to be realized with any degree of vivid- ashamed, etc. Ewald supposes the sun, ness. There are some great <lifficulties in which is sometimes feminine in Hebrew, the text, e.nd apparently one interpobtion to be the subject (comp. Isa.. xxiv. 23): but (vers. 13, 14 being in o.11 probability e.n the view of the Authorized Version is more incorrect copy of eh. xvii. 8, 4). probable. The she.me of childlessness is Ver.10.-Woeisme,'my mother! This is repeatedly referred to (comp. eh. 1. 12; one of those passages (comp. Introduction) Isa.. liv. 4: Gen. xvi. 4: xxx. I, 23). which illustrate the sensitive and shrinking Vere. 10-21.-These verses come in very chl\racter of our prophet. unexpectedly, and are carte.inly not to be " If his meek spirit erred, opprest regarded as a continuation of the preced- 'fhe.t God denied repose, ing discourse. They describe some deeply Whu.t sin is onrs, to whom Heaven's rest pathetic moment of the prophet's inner life, Is pledged to heal earth's woes?" e.nd in e.11 probability beloug to a le.ter (Cardiual Newme.n, in 'Lyra Apos- period of the history of Judah. At e.ny tolice.,' lxxxviii.). re.to, the appreciation of the next chapter will be facilite.ted by reading it in close I have neither lent on usmy, etc. : e. speak- connection with ver. 9 of the present ing figure to men of the e.ncient world, to chapter. But the section before us is too whom, e.s Dr. Pe.yne Smith reme.rks, "tho impressive to be cast adrift without un relations between the money-lender e.nd the attempt to find e. place for it in the life of the debtor were the most fruitful source of prophet. The attempt has been made with le. wsuits e.nd quarrellings." some plausibility by a Jewish scholar, Dr. Ver. 11.-The Lord so.id. The prophets aro Griitz, who considers the background of usually so tene.ciousof the same formulro that these verses to be the sojourn of J eremie.h even their slight deviations e.re noteworthy. at Ramah, referred to in eh. xl. 1, and groups "'l'he Lorcl ee.id" for "'fhus saith tho them therefore, with another prophecy ( eh. Lord,'' occurs only hero and in eh. xlvi. 25 xxxi.' 15-17), in which Ramnh is mentioned (where, however, the phl'ase has possibly 1,y name e.s the temporary a~ode of the been detached by mistake from tho preced- Jewish cl\ptives. We a.re to!~ lil ?h. xl._4, ing verse). It shall be well with thy rem- 5, that Jeremie.h had the choice given him nant; re.ther, I have wosed thee fol' (thy) good, 3',4 THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PUOPHE'l' JEllEMlAH. [uu. xv. 1-21.