The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 509

is u?lruth. 'Ibey are" mighty men" only in Ver. 16.-They make you ve.in; i.e. fill tell mg untruths (comp. eh. ix. 3; Isa. v. 22). you with vain imaginations. A similar Ver. 11.-:Both prophet o.nd priest are phrase occurs in eh. ii. 5, on which see note. pr_o~a.ne; i.e. a.re unholy, disobeying the A vision of their own heart ; the heart being D1vme commo.nde (see on eh. v. 7). The the ccn tre of the intellectual as well as of snme two important classes speciflccl ns in the moral life, according to the Hebrew eh. vi. 13. Yea, in my honee, etc. Evidently conception. some sin specially incongrnons with its Ver. 17.-Unto them that despise me, The locality is referred to, either idolatry (comp. Lord hath said. The Septuagint and the eh. vii. 30) or the totemistio worship of Syriac render the same text (the consonants figures of animals (Ezek. viii. 10, 11). a.re nlone the text) with different vowels, Comp. note on eh. v. 7. thus: "Unto those who despise the word of Ver. 12.-Their way ehall be unto them the Lord." In favour of this it may be aa slippery ways, etc.; rather, slippery urged that the phrase, " The Lord hath places. The paaeage has a manifest atliuity said," is nowhere else used in this abrupt with Pa. mv. 6 (in one of the Jeremian- way to introclnce a real or supposed revela- izing psalms; see on eh. xviii. 19, 20). They tion, and Hitzig and Graf accordingly shall be driven on; or, as Ewald, taking nccept it. Ye shall ha.ve peace ; as ob. over the last worrl of the preceding clause, vi. H. After the ima.gina.tion; :other, in they shall be thrust into the darkness. 'l'his the stubbo-mness (see on eh. iii. 17). involves a reminiscence, probable enough, of Ver. 18.-For who hath stood in the ooun- Isa. 'l'iii. 22 b. It is against the accentual sel of the Lord ; rather, in the council. tradition, but improves the rhythmical divi- This verse is connected with ver. 16; it gives sion of the verse. If we ask who " thrusts" the reason why the false prophets were not them, Pa. xx.xv. 5 supplies the answer-it to be listened to. None of them had been is not merely external circumstances, but e.dmitterl to the secret council of the Lord; "the Angel of J ehovab," i.e. Jehovah him- the interrogation is here n form of denial. self. As Bishop Hall says, " God wounds us "To stancl in the council" is not the same by many instruments, but with one hand." as "to sit" (Ps. i. 1); tho laitrr phrase I will bring evil upon them, etc. Favourite implies to.king an o.cti,c part in the consul- expressions of Jeremiah (comp. eh. xi. 23). tntions. It is specio.\ly e.pplicablc to tho Vers. 13, 14.-The prophets of S.'\mo.rie. true prophets, o.ccording to ver. 22, an,! thi~, were no doubt guilty enough, but their ns we gather from other passages, in a two- offences dwindled by the side of tho "hor- fold sense. Sometimes the prophets hnd rible" transgressions of those of the southern visions, in whioh their inner eye was granted kingdom. The prophet apparently means, a sight of Jehovah in consultation with his not only that the former, having fewer tru~ted servants (Isa.. vi. 1, comp. 8; 1 Kings spiritual ndv1mtngcs, were loss responsible xxii. 19); and the words of Elipho.z, "Wert than the latter, but also that they hnd not thou listening in the council of God?" \'iolated the morol code so conspicuously. (Job xv. 8), o.ppenr to be descriptive of l\ Ver. 13.-I he.ve seen folly ; rather, similar experieuce. But the phmse mo.y absurdity or unseemliness; litero.lly, that also be used in o wider sense of entirely wllic/1 is umavoury (comp. Job vi. 6). The unecstntie revelations. Amos says (iii. 7), word occurs with a similar reference to "Surely the Lonl Jehovah will do nothing, Jehovah in Job i. 22; xxiv. 12. To "pro- but he reveo.leth his secret counsel unto phesy by Baal" was o.bsurd," 11 unseemly," his servants the prophets; " and n psalmist beco.use Bo.al Wll.S n "non-entity" (lso.io.h's extends the term " secret counsel" to tho word for o.n idol). In Be.al; rather, by, or communion whioh God grants to the pious by means of, Baal (see on eh. ii. 8). in general (Ps. xxv. 14; comp. Prov. iii. 32). Ver. 14.-I he.ve seen also,. etc. ; rather, Thus there is no he.rd-o.nd-fo.st line between But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen. the experiences of tho prophets o.nd those Horrible; a.a in eh. v. 30. They oommit of humbler beliovers. In so far ns the adultery, etc.; lilero.lly, the committing adul- lntter are " disciples of ,ehovah '' (Isa. tery and the wall,ing in lies-a. much more liv. 13), they too mny be truly so.id to forcible way of putting it. They a.re e.11 of "stand," o.t least in the cloorwny, "in the them; rather, They have become all of them; council of Jehovah;" just as B well-known viz. either the prophets or the people in collect inherited from the Lntin Church genera.I. The inha.bite.nts thereof; viz. of beseeches the.t "by God's holy inspirnlion Jerusalem. wo may think those things thl\t bo ,;,,0<1." Ver. 15.-On the punishment here threat- Who he.th marked hie word 1 A Jewish ened, see note on eh. ix. 15. tradition, represented by the marginal noles Vere. 16-22.-A warning addressed to the in the Hebrew Dible, ho.s taken offence at people age.inst the folso prophecies (comp. this vuriatiun in the expression, and would Bzck. xiii.). correct the reading to "my word." But  516 'l'HE IlOOK OF TUE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [cu. xxm. 1-40,