The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 544

Ie11. Ii. 17, 22: Ezek. xxiii. 31-34: Hab. is II literal sword. The " making all the ii. 16: Pe. Ix. 3: l.uv. 8). nations to drink" is simply a way of ex- Ver. lG.-And be moved, and be mad; pressing the prophet's firm faith that '.the r11ther, and reeZ to and fro, ancl beha-oe word of Jehovah will not" return nnto him themstZues madly. The inspired writers do void "-th11t n prophecy once uttered must not scruple to 11ecribe all phenomen11, the fulfil itself; and "~ent me," in the last "bad" as well oe the "goot.1," to II Divine clause, merely means "entrusted me with a operation. "Shall there be evil in a cit_v, message" (comp. Prov. xxvi. 6). For the and Jehovah bath not done it?" (Amoa iiL fulfilment of tbie detailed prediction, see on 6). "An evil spirit from Elohim came upon eh. xlvi.-h. Saul, and he became frenzied" (1 S11m. xviii. Ver. 18.-Tbe kings thereof (see on eh. 10; see also lee.. xi.x. 14; xxix. 10: 1 Kings xix. 3). Aa it is this day. As to the meaning xxii. 19-23, and especially the very rcmar&- of this phrase, see on eh. xi. 5. The words able prologue of the Book of Job). To un- evidently presuppose that the prediction derstand this form of expression, we must has already been falfilled (comp. eh. xliv. 6, remember the strength of the reaction 23); consequently, they cannot have stood experienced by the prophets ago.inst the here in the original draft of the prophecy. polytheism of the surrounding nations. It An early editor, or even Jeremiah himself, was not open to them to account for the must have insertccl them. They are omitted existence of evil by ascribing it to the ac- in the Septuagint. tivity of various divinities: they knew Je- Ver. 19.-l'haraoh king of Egypt. After hovah to be the sole cause in the universe. leaving Judah and Jerusalem, the prophet To us, "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of turns to the f11r south-to Egypt; then he thought," such a doctrine occasions "great ascends to the south-oost (Uz), and the senrchings of heart," and is sometimes a south-west (the Philistines): thence he sore trio.I of our faith. But the prophets p11sses to the east (Edom, Moab, A=on): were not logicians, and their faith, compared 11nd thence to the west of the Holy Land to ours, was as an oak tree to a sapling: (Phmnicia). This suggests the maritime hence they can generally ( see, however, lands "beyond the sea" (including espe- Isa. )xiii. 17) express tbe trutll of tile uni- ci11lly Cyprus); a sudden transitiou brings verse.I causation of J ehovp.h with perfect the prophet to the Arabian tribes (Dedao, trouquillity. :eeoause of the sword. Here etc.), from whence he p11ssee by the road of Jeremiah deserts tile figure of the cup, and, the north-east (Elam, Media) to tl1e iot.lefi- as most commentators think, uses the lan- nitely dist11nt north. Last of all, in solitai-y guage of fact. It is not, however, certain grandeur or info.my, Babylon is mentioned. that " the sword" means thnt of God's Ver. 20.-The mingled people; Septua- human iustrumeuts: Jehovnh himself hns gint, ,cal ,rttvT<is 'TO~s rrvµµ.!1yovs: Vulgntc, et o sword (eh. xlvi. 10: xlvii. G: 1. 35-38: universos generaliter. Tb:e Hebrew 'erebh Isa. xxvii. 1: xxxiv. 5; and elsewhere), just probably me11ne, not "mingled [ i.e. 'motley'] as he ho.s o. h11nd (lsn. viii. 11: !ix. 1) and people," as the Authorized Version, but on o.rm (Is11. xl.10: liii. 1). All these belong "foreign people," i.e. n body of men be- to n group of ohildlike symbolio expressious longing to some pnrticular nation intennixed for the manifestation of the Deity. J ehovah's or interspersed e.mong those belonging to "sword" is dcsc1·ibed more fully in Gon. iii. another. Thie explaontion will account for 24: it "turns hither and· thither," like the the use of the word in o.11 the pnss'1gu3 in lightning-11 striking fignre of the com- which it occurs (hero and in var. 24: nlso pleteness with which God perfonns hie work Exocl. xii. 38; Noh. xiii. 3; 1 1 Kings x. of vengeance (see 11lso on ,·er. 27). 15: eh. I. 37; Ezck. xxx. 5: 11ml perhaps Ver. 17.-Then took I the oup . . . and 2 Chron. ix. 14). 'fho context !Jore nod in made all the nations to drink. It is too pro- I Kings x. 15 seems to imply that the namo s11io to sopposo either th11t Jeremiah m:i.de was given cspccinlJy to tllo tribes (probubly 11 journey to '' 1111 the nations," or th11t he Dedllwi11 tribes) on the frontier of Jmlnh 11ctu11\ly went through the form of present- towards the desert, though iu Ezek. x:n. 5 ing the cup to the o.mb11ss11dors who (it is it is cviclently o.ppliccl to n peoplo which conjectured, comp. eh. xxvii. 3 b) had como in somo sonso belonged to Egypt. fo to J erus11lem to take measures o.gainst the Exotl. xii. 38 it may bo doubted. whether common foe (so J. D. Michaelis). But tho tho phraso is used from tho point of view supposition arises (es Keil has well observed) of Egypt or of the Ismolites: in eh. I. 37 it out of an imperfec:t comprehension of the 1 In Exodus nod Nehemiah the word is figure. It is not a cup with wine which tbo prophet receives from Jehovah, but a pointed. 'erebh (with fere instead of seghol), wine-cup filled with the wino of God's fury, but no one will think of denying th11t tho which wine (ono may o.dd) is no moro 11 word is tho same ns in Jercmi11h, Ezekiol, liter11l wine than the " sword of J chovah " nncl I Kings.  552 THE BOOK OF 'l'IIE PilOPHE'l' JEREMIAH. [cu. xxv. 1-36.