The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 483

EXPOSITION. (1 Kings vii. 2). Of Gilead In general, CHAPTER XXII. Canon 'fristram writes, "No one can fairly judge of Israel's heritage who has not seen Oh. xxii. o.nd x.xiii. o.re connected to- the luxuriant exubero.nce of Gilead, as well gether by similarity of subject. The tem- as the h11rd rocks of Judrea." And ogo.i11, por11l and spiritual leaders of the people, " Lovely knolls and dells open out 11t every who are mo.inly responsible for the national turn, gently rising to the wooded plateau catastrophe, receive their merited castig11- above. Then we riHe to higher ground nu,! ride through noble forests of oak. Then for tion. Vers. 1-8 of eh. ::uiii., properly a mile or two through luxuriant green coru, spe11king, belong to eh. xxii.; thus we get or perhaps through a rich forest of scattered a well-rounded discourse on the conduct of olive trees, left untended and uncared fo1·, the kings, with four symmetrical p11rts or with perhaps patches of corn in the open f!trophes-vers. 1-12, 13-19, 20-30, and glades" (' Bible Places,' p. 322). 'l'he cedo.rs of Leb11non, however diminished, still be11r eh. xxiii. 1-8. Each begins with a general witness to the e.noient fame of this splendid exhortation or meditation, and continues mountain district. A wilderness, and oities with a poetical description of the fates, suc- which are not inhabited. The comparison cessively, of .Jehoahaz, Jehoin.kim, and has a terrible significance when rend in the Jehoiachin. The prophecy is concluded, light of De Vogiie's and Freshfield's dis- coveries. For Gilead itself is fnll of ruined according to the good old rule of Isaiah, by cities of massive stone architecture. "It is a Messianic promise. no uncommon thing," s11ys Mr. F. A. Eaton, Ver. 1.-Go down. Not literally, for the "to see these houses in a complete st11te of royol palllce wo.s probably the highest build- preserv11tion, built of huge blocks of black ing in the city (comp. ver. 6); but because of basalt, with slabs of the same for the roof, the spiritual eminence of the temple (comp. twelve feet long, 11 foot and a half wide, and eh. xxvi. 10, "They came up from the king's half a foot thick, and entrnnce doors also of house unto the house of the Lord"). b11s11lt . . . great solid stones of the same Ver. 2.-And thy people. The Septu11gint material being used o.s lintels at the top 11nd reads, "And thy house and thy people;" bottom " (Speech at the meeting for setting thus the passage will o.gree with eh. x.xi. on foot the ~nrvey of E11stern Palestine, 11, 12. November 30, 1880: Statement of Pales- Ver. 4.-Parnllel p11ssoge, eh. xvii. 25. tine Exploration Fund, January, 1880, p. Ver. 5.-1 swear by myself. " Because 11). Cities which are not i11habited; not, he could swear by no greater, he aware by indeed, the cities of Gilead of the time himself" (Heb. vi. 13). A synonymous of Jeremiah, but constructed of m11teri11ls expression is, " As I live, saith Jehovah " which m11y reasonably be presumed to have (ver. 24). boen chiselled in II for more remote an- Ver. 6.-trnto the king's honse of J'udah; tiquity. (The do.ta of the cities in their rather, concerning the house of the Kina of present state is subsequent to the Christian Jv.11,ah; i.e. the royal palace, which, on ac- era.) count of its height and its being constructed Ver. 7.-1 will prepare; liter11lly, I will so lo.rgely out of cedar-wood (comp. vers. 14, consecrate; the Babylonians being instru- 23), is called " Gilead, and the summit of ments of the Divine vengeance (see on oh. Lebauon," just as Solomon's palace wo.s vi. 4). e&iled "the house of the forest of Lebanon" Vera. 10-12.-There is a fate worse than 490 THE BOOK OF THE PROPIIE'l' JEREMIAlI. [on. x.in. l~O.