Ver. 12. — Shall flow together to the good- ness of the Lord; i.e. the Gphraimites, niter praising God on the holy hill, shall spread themselves over their own territory like au overflowing stream, and enjoy the "good- ness" or good gifts of Jehovah — the corn (not simply the wheat), the wine, the oil, etc. (comp. Deut. viii. 8). Sorrow ; rather, languitli. As Dr. Payne Smith well says, "It expresses the poverty and hL-lpUbSiiess of exili s unable from home-sickness and want of confidence to do anything, with spirit Restored to their homes, they will be as full of vigour as a garden irrigated with water under a Southern sun."
Ver. 13.— Young and old, men and women, shall give themselves up to joy and merriment, the centre of the mirtlj being the maideus with the timbrels (ver. 4). Both young men and old together ; rather, and young taen and old (shall rejoice) to- jether.
Ver. 14. — And I will satiate; literally, water (same word as in Ps. xxxvi. 8). The " fatness" means the fat parts of the thank offerings, which were given to the priests (Lev. vii. 34). Satisfied. " Satiated " would be a happier rendering. The word U dif- fereut from that rendered "satiate" iust above.
Vers. 15 — 22. — From thia glorious prospect Jeremiah's eye turns to the melancholy present. The land of Ephraim is orphaned and desolate. The prophet seems to hear Riicliel weeping for her banished children, and comforts her with the assurance that tliey shall yet be restored. For Ephraim has come li> repentance, and longs for recon- ciliation with his God, and God, who has overheard his soliloquy, relents, and comes to meet him with gracious promises. Then another voice is heard summoning Ephraim to prepare for his journey home. T his verse is quoted by St. Matthew (ii 17) with reference to the massacre of the innocents, with riri iir\riptieri prefixed. The latter formula of itself suggests that there was a previous ful- filment of the prophecy, but that the analogy of ihe circumstances of the innocents jus- tifies — nay, requires— the admission of a second fulfilment. In fact, the promise of the Messianic age seemed in as much danger of being rendered void when Herod wreaked his ftiry on the children of Bethlehem, as when the tribes of Israel were scattered in exile. Dean Stanley finds a geographical inconsistency in the two passages. " The context of oh. zzzi. 15 implies that the Bamab of the prophet was in the northern kingdom, probably Bamah of Benjamin. The context of Matt. ii. 18, on the other hand, implies that the Eamah of the evange- list was within sight of Bethlehem" ('Sinai and Palestine,' p. 225). But thi* remark involves the assumption that the quotation was not intended merely as an application.
Ver. 15.— A voice was heard ; rather, it heard. It is a participle, indioatint< the continuance of the action. In Bamah. In the neighbourhood of which town Bachel was buried, acoonling to 1 Sam. x. 2 (" the city " where Samuel and Saul were — ix. 25 — appears to have been Bamah). Eachel weeping for her children. Bachel (" Eahel " is only a Germanizing way of writing the name), being the ancestress of the three tribes, Ephraim, Manasseh, aid Benjamin, is represented as feeling like a mother for all the tribes connected with those three. Her " weeping " is no mere figure of speech. Jeremiah believes that the patriarchs and holy men of old continue to feel an interest in the fortunes of theii descendants (comp. Isa. Ixiii. 16>
Ver. 16.— Bachel i» admonished to oeasa from weeping, because her work hM not
12
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xxm. 1— lOl
really been in Tain ; hei children shall be re- stored. Thy work shall he rewarded. Like the Servant of the Lord, Kacliel had said {though with the voiceless language of tears), "I have laboured in vain ; I have spent my strength for nought and in vain;" and like the ocean-mother of Zidon,"Ihave not travailed, nor brought forth children, neither nourislied up young men, nor brought up virgins " (Isa. xxiii. 4). Rachel's work had 1>ec:n that of rearing up the patriarchs, "in whose loins" the tribes themselves were, in a certain sense. From the land of the enemy ; i.e. f i cm the countries of Israel's dispersion. But in the spirit of St. Matthew, we may fill the passage with a higher meiming, of which the prophet (like Shakespeare sometimes) was unconscious, namely, "from death;" and tlie passage thus becomes an undesigned prophecy of the Resurrection.
Yer. 17. — Hope in thine end ; rather, hope for thy future (oomp. on oh. xxix. 11). There is no occasion to reader, with the Sep- tuagint and Rosenmiiller, " for thy posterity " (comp. Fs. cxiz. 13, Hebrew) ; for Rachel identifies herself by sympathy with her descendants.
Vera. 18, 19.— The ground of this hope, viz. that Ephraim will humble himself with deep contrition.
Yer. 18. — IkS a bnllook nnaoonstomed to the yoke; literally, a» an untaught calf (comp. Hob. z. 11). Tnrn thou me, etc. Jeremiah has a peculiarly deep view of con- version Isaiah (i. 16 — 20) simply calls upon his hearers to change their course of life; Jeremiah represents penitent Ephiaim as beseeching God so to prepare him that he may indeed " turn."
Yer. 19. — ^After that I was turned, I re- pented ; rather, after my turning away (as oh. viii. 4), / hiave repented. It is a dif- ferent kind of "turning" which is here meant, a turning away from God. I was instmcted ; literally, 1 teat made to hnovo; i.e. brought to my senses by punishment. I smote upon my thigh; rather, I have smitten, etc. Ephraim describes his present state of mind, and the symbols by which he translates it into act. Smiting upon the thigh was a sign of mourning (comp. Ezek. xxi. 17), I £d bear, etc. ; rather, I have borne, eto. The "reproach of Ephraim't youth " is that which be brought upon him- self in early timea by his unfaithfulness to Jehovah.
Yer. 20. — The Divine speaker asks, as it were in sorprise, whether Ephraim, who has BO flagrantly sinned against him, can really b« his dear (or, preetoue) son, bis pleasant child (literally, child ofearetting, i.e. one caressed). The latter expression occurs in a remark- aUa paasag* of Isaiah (t. 1). Sinoe I spake