Ver. 7. — ^We offend not ; rather, we incur no guilt. As long as Israel lived a life con- secrated to Jehovah, "all that devoured him Incurred guilt " (ch. ii. 3). But now that he had wandered from Jehovah, and so forfeited his protection, his adversaries denied that they could be brought to aooonnt. Habitation of justice ; strictly, poffora </ righteoueneu. The same title is
applied in ch. xxxi. 23 to Jerusalem. But
Jerusalem's spiritual efficacy is only deriva- tive; rest and life flow from Jehovah alone, who is, therefore, the true Pasture of his people. In the Hebrew, " Jehovah " is placed emphatically at the end of the verse. The hope of their fathers (comp. Ps. xxii. 4). To forsake Jehovah was an act of treason to the former generations.
Ver. 8. — The prophet returns to the fate of Babylon. He exhorts the captive Israel- ites to flee in time, before the hostile army reaches the city (comp. Isa. xlviii. 20). Be as the he-gcats before the flocks; lather, a$ Ihe rams, whose example is followed nn- liwiitatingly by the flock. The " ilocks " in this case are the strangers in Babylon (ver. lU).
Ver. 9. — I will raise ; literally, / will stir up (or, atoalcen) ; comp. eh. vi. 22; Isa. xiii. 17. An assembly of great nations. So in a parallel propliecy, " the kingdoms of nations gatbeied together" (Isa. xiii. 4). Callias in Ebers' learned story, 'The Egyptian Princess,' speaks of " an empire 10 casually heaped together, and consisting of seventy populations of different tongues and customs, as that of Persia." From thence ; t.«. from the head-quartera of the array of nations. As of a mighty expert man ; rather, 08 of an expert warrior (or, mighty man). The marginal rendering of the Authorized Version represents a various rending of the Hebrew found in three old editions, and presupposed in the Targum and Vulgate, "one making childless," ie. "a destroyer." The received reading, however, is telf-evidently right. None shall return in vain. It seems doubtful whether (his refers to the arrow or to the mighty man. The arrow may be said to " return [or, turn '] in vain " when it misses its aim or strikes the mark without piercing it (comp 2 Sam. i. 22, where, however, it is the sword which is thus spoken of) ; the mighty man when he retires from the tield defeated. Tiiis wider use of the phrase is <ianction('d by Isa. Iv. 11.
Vers. 11 — 20. — Babylon's desolation and Israel's glorification.
Vers. 11, 12.— Because ye were glad, etc.; rather, Truly ye mny he glad ; truly ye may rejoice, ye spoilers of mine heritage ; truly ye may leap as a heifer at grass, and neigh as iteeds; yet your mother, etc. Yimr triumph shall be of short duration ; disgrace follows closely upon its heels. " Your mother" is a term for the nation regarded as a whole (comp. Isa. 1. 1; Hos. ii. 2; iv. 5). "At grass " is the reading adopted by the Septua- gint and Vulgate; thepoiuted text has (the vowels alone are difiisrent), "(a heifer) that thresheth," i.e. allowed to eat its fill of corn, agreeably to the direction in Deut. sxv. 1.
278
THE BOOK OF THE PKOPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. u 1—46.
It 1b not dear why the Authorized Version deserted the received pointing. Behold, the tiindermost of the nations shall be a wilder- ness; rather, Behold, the hindermost of the nations 1 a wilderness, etc. The subject understood in thw first part is obviously the people, in the second the bind, of Babylon.
Ver. 13. — All but the first clause of this verse is taken from cli. xix. 8; xllx. 17.
Ver. 14. — Put yourselves in array, etc. The Authorized Version, j'uided, perhaps, by considerations of rliytlmi, lias misplaced the first stop, which ouglit to be after " bow." The Modes are referred to in a parallel prophecy as great archers (Isa. xiii. 18).
Ver. 15. — Shout against her; t'.e. raise the battle-cry (comp. Josh. vi. 16 ; Isa. xlii. 13). She hath given her hand. This action is generally mentioned as a pledge of friend- ship or a ratification of a promise (2 Kings X. LI ; Ezek. xvii. 18 ; Ezra x. 19) ; but the notion of surrender or submission would naturally follow (so in 1 Chron. xxix. 24 ; 2 Chron. "xxx. 8). Dr. Payne Smith well quotes tlje words of Turnus, when begging his life of JSneas, " Vioisti, et victum ten- dere palmas Ausonii videre " (' iEneid,' xii. 936). Her foundations. The word is difB- cult, but a comparison with the Syriac sug- gests the rendering, her walU. "Founda- tions " is obviously wrong.
Ver. 16.— Cut off the sower, etc. " Babif- lon " here probably means Babylonia, for it is clear from ver. 12 that the curse belongs to the country as well as the city of Baby- lon ; indeed, " Babylon " in ver. 13 seems to bo used in the wider sense. Otlrers think ot the open spaces within the walls of Babylon, in which it is said that crops were raised to provision the city incase of a siege (see Eawlinfon, 'Ancient Monarchies,' ii. 513); but this is less natural. They shall turn, etc. The subject is, not the husband- men, but the strangers in Babylonia ; comp. the parallel passage, Isa. xiii. 14, on which this passage is bused. JEschylus ('Pers.,' 53) speaks of the Trd/jL/uKTos ux>^os in Ba- bylon. Win ther brought by force from tlieir homos, like the Jews, or voluntary residents for the sake of commerce, all should hurry from the doomed city.
Ver. 17. — Israel is a scattered sheep, etc. Here a pause in the discourse occurs. The prophet returns to the present condition of Israel, who is likened to a sheep scared away from its fold by lions. The ruin wrought by the lions is described first as "devouring" and then as "breaking the bones " of I.^rael — in either cabe it is com- plete destruction, but the completeness is more emphasized by the second figure. In fact, when tlie "ten tribes" were carried captive, the elements of the theocracy still remained in the southern kinadom.
Ver. 19.— The flock restored. Hia habi- tation is an unfortunate rendering, which obscures the beautiful figure; read, hit pasture (as in ver. 7). The places mentioned were all famous for their rich pasturage (oomp. cli. xxii. 6 ; Isa. xxxiii 9; Micah vii 14 (especially); Ezek. zzxiv. 13. 14; Cant. iv. 1).
Ver. 20. — ^In those days, etc. An evan- gelical promise, reminding us of ch. xxxi. 34 and xxxiii. 8, and of the combination of spiritual with temporal blessings in the latter part of Isaiah.
Vers. 21—28. — The punishment of Baby Ion, corresponding to her crimes.