The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 412

illnstmtion of the Divine retributive justice. time "with a pen of iron" (ver. 1). The 'l'hc prophet assumes the truth of o. popular fountain, etc.; a favourite phrase of our belief respecting the pnrtridgo (still n prophet (see eh. ii. 13). common bird in J udreo. ), tho.t it brooded Vere. 14-18.-A prayer of the prophet in upon eggs which it had not laid. As the this his hour of need. He who makes his young birds soon leave the fa.Isa mother, so boast of Jehovah may reckon upon his help. unjustly acquired riches soon forsake their This is J eremiah's principlo. He pray~ for possessors. [ Canon Trietrem rejects this heeling, Heal me, ... and I shall be-rather, explanation, on the ground that the state- that I may be--healed. He is one of those ment is not true to natural history; the "broken in heart," whom Jehovah alone po.rtridge neither steals the broods of other~ can "heal" (Ps. ex\ vii. 3). nor needs to do so, as it lays o. very large Ver. 15.-The oceasion of this prayer is number of eggs. But grammar requires us the hostility of his neighbours, and their to translate as snggeeted above, and conse- mocking question, Where is the word of the quently excludes any other explanation. Lord 1 The prophecy seems to be floating as May not the unusually large number of the it were in mid-air, u □able to alight (Isa. ix. eggs laid by the partridge have led to the 8) o.nd fnlfil itself, so thRt Jeremiah could fancy that they could not be all its own?] be plausibly treated as a false piophet (Deut. Vere. 12, 13.-A.n address to Jehovah in xviii. 22). Hence, o.s Keil remarks, the dis- two parts, the first specially referring to the course of which thiB forms the conclusion temple regarded as the sacramental symbol must have been spoken before the first of the Divine presence (comp. Pa. v. 7), the Babylonian invasion of Judah. second to Jehovah himself. It seems to Ver. 16.-I have not hastened from bei □ g us, no doubt, singular thus practically to a pastor to follow thee; i.e. I have not identify J chovoh and hiB temple; but the eagerly withdrawn from following thee as a prophet's meaning iB that God can only be shepherd (or prophet). The prophet does addressed in so far as he has revealed him- not follow his own vague inclinations ; he self. The temple was not, strictly spell.king, is but an under-shepherd, and waits on the the "Name" or revelation of God, but it will of his superior. He is, as Hosea calls was" the place of the Na.me of Jehovah," him (ix. 7, Hebrew), "the man of the and in the language of strong feeling might Spirit." If God leads any one, whether be addressed as if it were really the Divine people or indi vidnals, it is through the No.me. The disciples of the incarnate Name agency of the Spirit (Isa. !xiii. 11, 12); and were familiar with the idea that their Mester it is the characteristic of the typical prophet was in some sense the antityp~ of the tem- that hie ear is "wo.kened morning by morn- ple (Matt. xii. 6; John ii. 19). In proposing i □ g" to receive his daily lesson. Only by thiB explanation, it has been tacitly o.ssumed thus "following" the Divine Leader, can that the Authorized Version, A glorious high a prophet o.ct as pastor to his people. [The throne . . . is the place of our sanotuary, is construction is, however, rnther simplified wrong. Gremmatically, indeed, it is not by the rendering-a perfectly legitim11.te one, indofensibla; but it is a weo.k rendering in . . . from following thee as a companion.] such a context. Render, therefore, Thou The woeful day. 'fhe word for " woeful" throne of glory, a height from the beginning, is the same renderccl " desperntely wicked" thou plac~ of our •anc!uari;, thou hope of (ver. 9); the" do.y" of Jud11.h's calamity is Israel, Jehovah. The temple is called " the metaphorically "sick," like the heo.rt of thronA of thy glory" in eh. xiv. 21; "height" ml\n. So, other words bei □ g used, Isa. xvii. is a common synonym for heaven (Ps. vii. l l ( end). Was right before thee ; ro.ther 8, Hebrew; Isa. !vii. 15, Hebrew), but is also (since some adjective must be supplied), 10a8 opplied to Mount Zion (Ezek. xvii. 23; xx. manijCBt before thee. He appeals to the all- 40, quoted by Keil), which is also in Isa. Ix. seeing Eye as a witness to his fide!Hy to his 13 called, "the place of my sanctuary." By mission. o.dding the concluding words of the o.ddrees Ver. 17.-Jeremio.h reokons on Jehovah'e (at the opening of ver. 13), the prophet protection ; he therefore entreats that his prevents the suspicion that he attached God will not bring him to shame by leaving importance to the mere outward buildings hiB prophecies unfulfilled. A terror is a of the temple, like those formalist J ewe, weo.k rendering; a consternation would be whose words ore quoted in oh. vii. 4. better. Ver. 13.-They that depart from me. Ver. 18.--{On this terrible execration, 'l'he abrupt change of person is extremely with reference to Jeremiah's oho.meter, see harsh; the Vulgate, followed by Ewald o.nd the general Introduction.) Destroy them Olehausen, supposes that a final caph has with double destruotion. " Double" here dropped out, reudering, " they tho.t depart means" amply sufficient" (comp. Rev. xviii. from thee." llh&ll be written in the earth; 6, and see on eh. xvi. 18). I\ contrast to that which is recorded for oII Vere. 19-27.-An c-xhortation to a more ~l'.!:E)l[AH, 2 1,: 418 THE BOOK OF 'l'IIE PROPHET JEREUIAII. [cu. xvn. 1-27.