be againft thee, O daughter of Zion, the defign the examples of the former; and fo it denctes, that as the corruption was general, the punifhment would be: and the neighbour and his friend fhall perife, in the fame calamity, being involved in the guilt of the fame iniquity, in which they encouraged and hardened one another. ‘The Sep/wagint and Arabic verfions, by /tumbling-blocks underftand an infirmity or difeafe, which fhould come upon the people, and make a general defolation among them. Kimchi interprets the whole of the wickednefs of fathers and children, neighbours and friends, and fuch as were in trade and partnerfhip, and/of their delight in mifchief; that tho’ they were aware of the ftumbling-blocks, yet would not give each other warning of them. |The whole, according to the accents, fhould be rendred thus, and they shall fall upon them, the fathers and the fons together, the neighbour and bis friend, and they fball perifh, falling and perifhing are faid of them all.
¥. 22. Lhus faith the Lord, bebold, a people cometh from the north country, &c.| The Affyrians from Babylon, which lay north of Fudea, as in chs i. 14, 15. and iv. 6: and a greai nation shall be raifed, that is, by the Lord, who would ftir them up to this undertaking. The Targum is, ‘* many ‘¢ people fhall come openly::” from the fides of the earth; afar off, as Babylon was, ch. v. 15.
y. 23. They foall lay bold on bow and fpear, &c.] That is, every one of them fhould be furnifhed with both thefe pieces of armour, that they might be able to fight near and afar off; they had bows to fhoot arrows at a diftance, and {pears to {trike with when near. The Zargum renders it bows and fhields. They are cruel, and have no mercy; this is faid, to ftrike terror into the hearts of the hardned Fews: their voice roareth like the fea, the waves of it, which is terrible, Luke xxi. 25,26: and they ride ‘upon borfes; which ftill made them’ more formidable, as well as fuggefts that their march would be quick and fpeedy, and they would foon be with them: fet in array as men for war, prepared with all forts of armour for battel: or, as a man*; as one man, denoting their conjunction, ardour, and unanimity; being not only well armed without, but inwardly, refolutely bent as one man, to engage in battel, and conquer or die; fee Fudg. xx.
being againft her, and all the preparation made ge”. BRE MP aE Chile ieee her account; which had a very dreadful appearance, and threatned with ruin, and therefore filled her with terror and diftrefs, as follows. ¥. 24. We have beard the fame thereof, &c.] Meaning not the prophet’s report then, but the rumour of the enemy’s coming from another quarter, at the time he was actually coming. Thefe are the words of the people, upon fuch a rumour fpread; or the words of the prophet, joining himfelf with them, defcribing their cafe, when it would be ftrongly reported, and they had reafon to believe it, that the enemy was juft coming, and very near: our bands wax feeble; have no ttrength: in them, fhake and tremble like men that have a palfy, through fear and dread: anguifh hath taken hold of us; tribulation or affliction; or rather anguifh of fpirit, on hearing the news of the near approach of the enemy: aud pain, as of a woman in travail; which comes fuddenly, and is very fharp; and this denotes that their deftruétion would come fuddenly upon them, before they were aware, and be very fevere, ¥. 25. Go not forth into the field, &c.] Either for pleafure, or for bufinefs; to take a walk in it for the air, or to till it, plow, fow, or reap; but keep within the city and its walls, there being danger: nor walk by the way; in the high road from Ferufalem, to any town or village near it: for the fword of the enemy or, becauje there is a fword for the enemy”; or, the enemy has a fword, and that drawn; the enemy is in the ficld, and in the ways, and there’s no efcaping him: and fear is on every Jide; all round the city,’ being encompafied by the Affyrian army: or, the enemy’s {word, is fear on every fide *; caufes fear in all parts round the.city. The Targum is, ‘* becaufe the fword of the enemy «¢ kills thofe who are gathered round about;” or on every fide.. ¥. 26. O daughter of my people, gird thee with Jfackcloth, &c.) Either as a token of repentance for fin; fo the king of Niniveh and his fubjects did, to fhew their repentance, ‘fon. ili. 6, 8. or as a fign of mourning, for the calamities coming on them, Gen. xxxvil. 34: and wallow thyfeif in afbes; or roll thyfelf in them, as a token of the fame. The Targum is, *° cover your heads with afhes.” Make thee mourning as for an only fon; which of all is the moft bitter: and therefore it is added, mof bitter lamentation; fee Zech. xii. 10. For the fpoiler fball fuddenly come upon us; namely, Nebuchadnezzar, that would fpoil their cities, towns, villages, and houfes, and them of all their wealth and fubftance, and carry it away. ¥. 27. [have fet thee for a tower, 8&c.} Or in one *; in a watch-tower, to look about and obferve the actions. of the people, their fins and tranfgreffions, and reprove them for them; as well as to defcry the enemy, and’ give notice of danger; fee Hab. ii. 1. or, for a trier; fince the word ufed comes from one which fignifies to ¢ry metals, as gold and filver; and the rather this may be thought to be the meaning here, fince the verb is made ufe of in this fenie in the text; and the metaphor. is carried on in the following words; tho” the word is ufed for towers in Jf, xxiii. 13. and xxxii. r4. and may well enough be under{tood of a watchtower, agreeable with the office of the prophet; who is here addrefied as a watchman, and was one to the houfe of J/rael: and as the faithful difcharee of his work required courage, as well as diligen to and faithfulnefs, it follows, and for a fortre s rat - my people; ‘not to defend them, but himfelf againft’ ~ them; or he was to confider himfelf as {6 under — the divine proteétion, that he was as a fortrefs or {trong tower, impregnable, and not to be difmayed and terrified with their calumnies and threatnines; © fee Fer. i. 18: that thou mayeft know and try th. way; their courfe and manner of life, whether ~ good or bad; which he would be able to do, be- ~~ ing in his watch -tower, and in the difcharge of his duty; for the miniftry of a good man is as a touch-ftone, by which the principles and praétices of men are tried and known; for if it is heard » and attended to with pleafure, it fhews that the principles and practices of men are good; but if — defpifed and rejected, the contrary is evident; fee 1 Fobn iv. 5, 6. ~ é; ¥. 28. They are all grievous revolters, &c.} From the right way of God and his worfhip: or, they are all revolters of revolters*, of all, the greateit revolters, the greateft finners and tranfgreflors, the moft ftubborn and difobedient; or fons of revolt= ers; fathers and children are alike. The Targum is, ‘¢ all their princes rebel;” and fo the Vulgate Latin and Syriac verfions: walking with flanders; of one another; or with deceit, as the Targum; in an hypocritical and fraudulent manncr; playing the hypocrite with God, or tricking and deceiving their neighbours. They are dra/s and iron; as vile and mean as thofe metals, and not as gold and filver 5 or as hard and inflexible as they are; or they deal as infincerely ‘‘ as he that mixes brafs with iron,”” fo the Targum: they are all corrupters, as fach that’ mix metals are; they are corrupters of themfelves, * and of others; of the doétrines and manners of ~ men, and of the ways and worfhip of God. y¥. 29. The bellows are burnt, &c.) Which Kimchi interprets of the mouth and throat of the prophet, which, through reproving the people, were dried up, and become raucous and hoarfe, and without any profit to them; and fo the Targum, ** lo, as the refiners blower, that is burnt in the” ~ ‘« midit of the fire, fo'the voice of the prophets is ‘* filent, who prophefied to them, turn to the law, ‘¢ and they turned not;” or the judgments and chaftifements of God upon the Yews may be meant; which were inflicted upon them to no purpofe = the lead is confumed of the fire; lead being ufed ” formerly, as is faid ‘, inftead of quickfilver, in puritying of filver; which being confumed, the re+ fining is in vain: or it may be rendered, Bt the fire it is perfec? lead *®; or wholly lead, a baie’ ” metal, no gold and filver in it, to which the Jews — are compared: the founder melteth in vain; tO ~ whom either the prophet is likened, whofe reproofs, threatnings, and exhortations, anfwered no — end; or the Lord himfelf, whofe correétions and” punifhments were of no ufe to reform this people: for the wicked are not plucked away, from their evil way, as archi; or from good men, they are not feparated the one from the other: or (fins) are not plucked away*; from fint drofs is not purged away from them; neither the words of the prophet, nor the jud, of God, - had any effect upon them, The args a of the latter part of the yerfe is, “ and as lead which is” “ melted of the prophets which prophefied to them were nothing in their eyes; and without profit their teachers taught them, and they did not leave their evil works.”. ¥. 30. Reprodate filver fall men call them, &c.] Or, call ye them’, as the Targum; fo the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic verfions; by whom are meant the Jews, who thought themfelves of fome account, as filver; being the feed of Abrabam, and having the law, the covenant and pro- melted in the midit of the furnace, fo the words mifes,: and fervice of God; when thofe that tried”
, them, as the prophets, found them to be. nothing but drofs; and therefore, if they muft.be called filver, they could call them no other than reprobate filver; or what is of no account and value; and which is confirmed by the following reafon, which contains the judgment.and conduct of him that cannot err: for the Lord hath rejected them, from being his people; and therefore caft them out of their own land, and caufed them to go inte captivity.
ie this chapter the Lord, by the prophet, calls
¥.1. The word that came to Feremiab, &c.] The the people of the Hews to repentance and reformation; reproves them for their vain confidence; and threatens them with deftruction for their many word of prophecy, as the Targum: from the Lord, /aying; this begins a new prophecy.. This verfe, and the beginning of the next, are wanting in the fins, and particularly idolatry. The preface to all this isin ¥. 1,2. the exhortation to amendment, encouraged to by a promife that they fhould dwell in the land, is in ¥. 3. but this was not to be expected on account of the temple and temple-fervice; but thro’ a thorough reformation of manners; an exercife of juftice, and avoiding all oppreffion and idolatry, ¥7 4, 5, 6, 7. their vain confidence in the temple is expofed; they fancying that their ftanding there, and doing the fervice of it, would atone for their theft, murder, adultery, perjury and idolatry; and that they might commit thefe- with impunity; wherefore they are let to know, that fo doing thefe they made the temple an houfe of thieves; and that for fuch wickedneis, what the Lord had done to his place in Shi/oh, which they are reminded of, he would to the temple, and to them, reject and caft them off, ¥. 8,.9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. and feeing they alfo had a dependence on the prophet’s prayer, he is bidnot to pray for them, for his prayers would not be heard; and he is directed to obferve their wretched idolatry, of which an inftance is given, whereby they provoked the Lord to anger; and therefore he was determined to pour out his fury on man and.beaft, and on the trees and fruit of the field, ¥. 16,17, 18,19, 20. and whereas they trufted in their burnt-offerings and facrifices, thefe are rejected, as being what were not originally commanded; but obedience to the moral law, and the precepts of it, which they refufed to hearken to, tho’ they were often called upon to it by his fervants,. the prophets, ¥. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. and it is foretold that the prophet Feremy would meet with the fame treatment; that they would not hearken to his words, nor anfwer to his call; and therefore he fhould declare them a difobedient, incorrigible, and an unfaithful people, ¥. 27, 28, hence, either he, or Ferufalem, is called upon to cut off the hair, as a fign of mourning; for their rejection of the Lord, occafioned by their fins, and efpecially their idolatry, of which inftances are given, Y. 29, 30, 31. and it is threatened, that the place of their idolatry fhould be a place of flaughter and of burial, till there fhould be no room for more; and the carcafes of the reft fhould be the food of fowls and beafts; and all joy fhould ceafe from Fudab and Ferufalem, ¥. 32, 33, 34-
¥. 2. Stand in the gate of the Lord’s houfe, &c.] That is, of the temple, and the court of it.. This gate, as Kimchi fays, was the eaftern gate, which was the principal gate of all; fee Fer. xxvi. 2; and proclaim there this word, aud fay; with a loud voice, as follows: bear ye the word of the Lord, all ye of Fudah; the inhabitants of the feveral parts of Fudea, which came to the temple to worfhip; very probable it was a feaft-day, as Ca/via conjectures; either the paflover, or pentecoft, or feaft of tabernacles, when all the males in, //rael appeared in court: that enter in at thefe gates, to worfbip the Lord; there were feven gates belonging to the court, three on the north, three on the fouth, and one in the eaft, the chief of all,.as Kimchi, Abarbinel, and Ben Melech obterve, and this agrees with the account in the Mi/na *. The names of them were thefe; on the fouth-fide were. thefe three, the water-gate, the gate of the firitlings, or the gate of offering, and the gate of kindling; on the north were thefe three, the gate Nitzolz, called alfo the gate of the fong, the gate Korban, fometimes called the gate of women, and Beth Moked, and the gate in the eaft was the gate Nicanor, and this gate was the moft frequented; and therefore Feremiah was ordered to ftand here, and deliver his meflage.
¥. 3. Thus faith the Lord of hofts, the God of Tirael, &c.] The Lord of armies above and below in general, and the God of J/rae/ in particular; wherefore they ought to -hearken to what he was about to fay, and to be obedient to him: amend your ways, and your doings, or, make them good', which fhows that they were bad, and were not agreeable to the law and will of God, to which they ought to have been conformed; and the way to amend them was to aét according to the rule of the divine word they were favoured with: and I will caufe you to dwell in this place; to continue to dwell in Ferufalem and in Judea, the land of their nativity, and in the temple, the houfe of God, and place of religious worfhip; but if not, it is fuggefted, that they fhould not continue here, but be carried captive into a ftrange land.
¥.4. Truft ye not in hing words, &c.]. In the words of the lying prophets, as the Targum; and to-the fame purpofe is the 4radic.verfion, ‘* do
ius BE Tremel-
«* not truft in lying words, for the falfe prophets *¢ do not profit you in any thing;” the things in which they trufted, and in which the falfe prophets taught them to place their confidence, were their coming up to the temple at certain times for religious exercifes, and their attendance on templefervice and worfhip, offering of facrifices, and the like. The Septuagint verfion is, ‘rut not in yourfelves, in lying words; fee Luke xviii. g. in their external a¢tions of devotion, in their ritual performances, taking them for righteoufnefs; and adds, what is not in the Hebrew text, for-they altogether profit you not; in the bufinefs of jultification before God, and acceptance with him: /aying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are thefe, that is, the people that hypocritically worfhipped there, as the falfe prophets told them; and fo the Syriac verfion, ye are the temple of the Lord, tho’ that begins the next verfe, with the laft claufe of this, if ye amend your ways, &c. fee 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. or rather, the temple of the Lord are thofe gates thro” which they entered, y¥. 2. or thofe buildings which were pointed at with the finger; or PIDN see, is a claule by itfelf; and the fenfe is, thefe are the lying words that fhould not be trufted in, namely, the temple and temple-fervices; when all manner of fin and wickednefs were committed by them, which they thought to atone for by coming to the temple and worfhipping there. The mention of thefe words three times is, as Yarchi thinks, in reference to the Fews appearing in the temple three times a year, at the feaft of paffover, pentecoft and tabernacles; and fo the Targum, ‘* who fay (i. e. the falfe prophets) ‘* before the temple of the Lord ye worfhip; be- ‘* fore the temple of the Lord ye facrifice; before ** the temple of the Lord ye bow; three times in ‘* a year ye appear before him.” Kimchi’s father, R. Fofeph, is of opinion,»that it refers to the three parts of the temple, the porch, the holy place, and the holy of holies; but Kimchi himfelf takes it, that thefe words are trebled for the greater confirmation of them; and they may denote the vehemence and ardour of affection for the temple. ¥. 5. Hor if ye thoroughly amend your ways, and your doings, &c.] Or, if ye make your ways good, and do your works well, which is what is exhorted to, ¥. 3. and refpects the duties of the moral law; which are more acceptable to God than legal facrifices, when done from right principles, and with nee views, from love, in faith, and to the glory of God; which is doing good works well; the particulars of which follow: if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; without refpect to perfons, without favour and affection, without bribery and corruption; paffing a righteous fentence, and making an equitable decifion of the cafe between them, according to the law of God, and the rules of juftice and equity: this refpects judges and civil magiftrates,
¥.6. If ye opprefs not the firanger, the fatherle s, and. the widow, &c.] Who have none to help ~-them, and who ought to have mercy and com- -paffion fhown them, as well as juftice done them; and fhould not be injured by private men in their perfons and properties, and much lefs oppreffed in courts of judicature by thofe who fhould be the patrons and defenders of them: and fhed not innocent blood in this place, in the temple, where the Sanhedrin or great court of judicature fat; for this _does not fo much refpeét the commiffion of murder by private perfons, as the condemnation of in-
YERE MIAH Chvii.¥:
nocent men to death by the judges, whi a one as fhedding their blood; and by which a they defiled that temple they cried up, and. their truft in, to fhed innocent blood in any + Kimchi obferves, is an evil; but to it in this” place, in the temple, was a greater eyil, bec: this was the place of the Shekizab, or where divine majefty dwelt: neither walk after ber ¢ to your burt; the gods of the people, as the 9 ai gum, for this, as the Arabic verfion render pernicious to you; idolatry was more hurtful to them-. felves than to God; and therefore it is difftaded from by an argument taken from their own1 k
¥. 7. Then will I caufe you to dwell in this place, &c.] In the land of Fudea, and not fuffer them to be carried captive, which they had been threatened with, and had reafon to expect, fhould they continue in their fins, in their impenitence and vain confidence: in the land that I gave to your fathers; to Abrabam, Tfaac and Facob, by promife; and to the Fewifh fathers in the times of Fofhua, by putting them in actual poffeffion of it: far ever and ever; for a great while; a long time, as Kimche explains it; from the days of dbrabam for ever, even all the days of the world, provided they and their children walked in the ways of the Lord. This claufe may either be connected with the word dwell, or with the word give; and the fenfe is, either, that they fhould dwell in it for ever and ever; or it was given to their fathers for ever and ever. ee
¥.8. Bebold, ye truft in ling words, 8c.] What they are diffuaded from, y. 4. is here affirmed they did, and which is introduced with a note of afleveration, attention and admiration; it being a certain thing that they did fo; and was what was worthy of their confideration and ferious reflection upon and it was aftonifhing that they fhould, fince fo to do was of no advantage to them, but the contrary: that cannot profit, temple-worfhip and fervice, legal facrifices and ceremonies, could not take away fin, and expiate the guilt of it, or juftify men, and render them acceptable to God; thefe, without faith in the blood and facrifice of Chrift, were of no avail; and efpecially could never be thought to be of any ufe and profit, when fuch grofs abominations were indulged by them, as. are next mentioned. =" y¥.9. Will ye fteal, murder, and commit adultery, and fwear falfy, &c.] At the fame time they offered facrifices, and trufted in them, they did thofe things, which would not be grateful to the Lord, nor profitable to them; or, ye do fleal, kc. fo the Septuagint, and all the Oriental verfions; and likewife the Zargum; as charging them with them; thefe are fins againft the fecond table of the law, as what follow are againft the firft: and burn in cenfe to Baal, and walk after other gods whom y know not; for they not only burnt ince which was an act of idolatrous worfhip; other ftrange gods they had not kno whofe names they had never hea whofe help and affiftance they rience, nor received any benefit { from the one and only true God; and t was great folly and ingratitude in them the Lord, and walk after thefe.
¥. 10. And come and fand be in this bar éc.] In the temple; this they did after they hac been guilty of fuch immoralities and dolatry; thin ing by their appearance ther of a few ceremonies, and fices, that all were atoned for:.or this denotes their. impudence, that after the commiffion.of fuch notorious crimes, they fhould have the front to come anto the houfe of God, and ftand before him, as if they had never departed from him, and were his people, and the true worfhippers of him: which is talled by my name; the temple of God, the houfe of God, the fanétuary of the Lord; and where‘ his mame was allo called upon, being an houfe of prayer; or where prayer was made to the Lord: and fay, we are delivered, from the punifhment of the above fins, by coming into the temple, and ftanding before the Lord in it, by calling on his name, and offering facrifices, tho? with impure -hearts and hands, and in an hypocritical way: to do all thefe abominations, before-mentioned; theft, ‘murder, adultery, perjury and idolatry. The fenfe is, either, we are delivered and freed from punith- ‘ment, that we may do thefe things with impunity; this is the ufe we make’ of, and. the inference we draw from, our deliverance from evil: or we are delivered, the’ we commit thefe abominations, and therefore go onin them: or feeing we are delivered, therefore do we thefe things; not that they. really faid thefe words, but this was the language of their actions. The Syriac verfion is, dever us, while we commit all thefe fins. ¥. 11. Is this boule which is called by my name, &c.] Meaning the temple: become a den of robbers in your eyes? or do you look upon it, and make ufe of it, as thieves do of dens; who, when they have robbed and murdered men, betake themfelves to them, not only to fhare their fpoil, but to hide them{elves? juft fo thofe thieves, murderets, adulterers, perjurers and idolaters, after they had committed fuch grofs enormities, came into the ‘temple and offered facrifices; thinking hereby to cover their fins, and expiate the guilt of them, and to be looked upon as good men, and true worfhippers of God, when they were no better than thieves and robbers; and fuch were the Pharifees -.in Chrift’s time, and fuch was the temple as made by them; fee Matt. xxi. 13: bebold, even I have feen it, faith the Lord; not only all the abominations committed by them, but the ufe they made of the erie and the worfhip of it; all the hypocrily of their hearts, and the inward thoughts of them, and their views and intentions in their offerings and facrifices; as well as what ruin and deftruction the Lord defigned to bring fhortly upon them, and upon that houfe which they had made a den of robbers; as follows, ¥.12. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, &c.} A city in the tribe of Ephraim, on the north of Bethel, and the fouth of Lebouah, and not far from Shechem,.Fudg. xxi. 19. here were the tabernacle, the ark and altar of the Lord, and the facrifices; and therefore the tabernacle is called the tabernacle of Shilob, Pf. Ixxviii. 60. and here the Lord calls it his place; the place of the houfe of his Shekinah, as the Targum paraphrafes it; and where he would have thofe people go; which is not to be underftood locally, but of their taking this place into the confideration of their minds, and obferve what was done to it, and became of it; tho’ it was once the place where the ~ Lord dwelt, and where his name was called formerly; as follows: ewhere I fet my name at the firft; when the children of J/rae/ firft entered into Ca- Favs hae ds naan’s land, the tabernacle was fet up ‘and eftablithed in Shiloh, in. Fofoua’s time, Fofd. xviii. 1. and there it continued to the times of Ai: and fee what I did to it, for the wickednefs of my people Irael; he refufed and forfook his tabernacle there; he fuffered the ark, which was fetched from thence in the times of Ei, to be taken and carried captive, and that becaufe of the fins of his people, Pf. \xxviii. 60, 61, 67. 1 Sam. iv. 4,11. Ferom™ fays, in his time, the altar that was pulled down was fhown, tho’ fcarce the foundations of it were to be feen. Now the Lord would have thefe people confider what was done to Shiloh; that tho’ this was the firft place where the tabernacle was fet in the land of Canaan, and fo the inhabitants “of it had antiquity on their fide; yet this did not fecure them, nor the tribe it was in, from being rejected by the Lord, when they finned againft him; nor fhould the tribes of F¥udzh and Benjamin think themfelves fecure becaufe of the temple of the Lord, fince they might expect he would do to them for their fins, what he had done to others before.”
¥.13. And now, becaufe ye have done ell thefe works, faith the Lord, &c.] Meaning evil works, fuch as theit, murder, adultery, perjury and idolatry, mentioned ¥: 8. or the fame which were done by the people of J/rae/, on account of which the tabernacle at Shilob was left: and I fpake unto you rifing up early; that is, by his fervants the prophets, whom he fent unto them, and by whom he ipoke, as the Targum paraphrafes it, and as it is iny.25. and.in ch. xliv. 4. fee 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15. which fhows the Lord’s great concern for this people; his early care of them, in fending his fervants betimes to warn, rebuke and reclaim them: aad peaking, but ye heard not; would not liften to the words of the prophets, and of the Lord by them; but turned a deaf ear to them, which aggravates their ftubbornnefs; obftinacy and wickednefs, that fo much refpeé&t fhould be fhown them, fo much pains fhould be taken with them, and that fo early, and yetto no purpofe: and called you, but yeanfwered not; this call was by the external miniftry of the prophets, and was with great vehemence.in them, but not with divine energy; however, it was fufficient to leave the Fews without excufe; and their inattention to it expofes their hardnefs and wilful obftinacy; fee Prov. i. 24.
¥.14. Therefore will I do unto this houfe, which is called by my name, &c.} The temple, as in y¥.11. for tho’ it was called by his name, and his name was called upon in it, yet this could not fecure it from defolation; for fo the name of the Lord was fet in the tabernacle at Shi/ob, and yet he forfook it, thro’ the wickednefs of the people: wherein ye tru?; they trufted in the facrifices there offered up, and the fervice there performed; in the holinefs of the place, and becaufe it was the refidence of the divine majefty, wherefore they thought this would be a protection and, defence of them; and this was trufting in lying words, as in ¥. 4: and unto the place which I gave unto you, and your fathers; meaning either Ferufalem; and fo the Syriac verfion renders it, and to the city; or the whole land of Fudea, as inv. 7: as I have done to Shiloh fee the note on ¥. 12..
¥.15. And I will caft you out of my fight, &e.} Or, from before my face, or faces" out of the land of Fudea, and caufe them to go into captivity 3 an
2935 Sy defuper faciebus meis, and fo thé Targum paraphrafes it, ** I will caufe «© you to remove out of the land of the houfe of « my majefty:” as I have caft out all your ‘brethren, even the whole feed of Ephraim, or Ijrael, as the Targum, that is, the ten tribes fo called, becaufe Ephraim a principal tribe, and the metropolis of the kingdom was in it, and Fereboam the firft king of the ten tribes was of it: now, as they were carried captive into Babylon, fo fhould the Jews; or they of the two tribes of ‘fudab and Benjamin, who could not expect to fare better than their brethren, who were more in’ number than they; and efpecially fince they were guilty of the fame fins.
¥.16. Therefore pray not thou for this people, &c.] Thefe are the words of the Lord to the prophet Feremiah, forbidding him to pray for the people of the Jews which he either was doing, or about to do, and which, from the great affection he had for them, he was inclined unto; wherefore to fhow how much the Lord was difpleafed with them, and how determined he was to punifh them with captivity, he orders the prophet not to make any fupplication for them: neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; referring to the geftures of lifting up the eyes and hands in prayer, and alfo to the frame of the heart, in the exercife of faith and holy confidence: cry and prayer are put together, becaufe prayer is fometimes made, efpecially when perfons are in great diftrefs, with ftrong cryings and tears; fee Heb. v. 7: neither make ri terceffion to me; or, meet me°; or come between him and this people, and fo aé the part of a mediator, of which office interceffion is a branch; it properly belongs to Chrift. The Jews fay * there is no Py35 meeting, but prayer, or that is always intended by it; for proof of which they cite this paffage: for I “will not bear thee; on the behalf of them, being fo highly provoked by them, and determined they fhould go into captivity; fee ch. 4. ef y. 17. Seeft thou not what they do in the cities of Fudab, &c.| Not in one city only, but in all of them, and particularly the chief of them; as follows: and in the fireets of Ferufalem? thefe words, with what is faid next, fhew the reafon why the prophet was forbid to pray for this people, and the Lord was fo provoked with them, as to caft them out of his fight; and he appeals to the prophet, and to what whe faw, or which he might fee; for what was done was done not in fecret, but openly, in the very ftreets of the city; by which he might be fufficiently convinced it was but juft with God to do what he determined to do with them.
¥.18. The children gather wood, &c.] In the fields, or out of the neighbouring foreft; not little children, but young men, who were able to cut down trees, and bear and carry burdens of wood: and the fathers kindle the fire, take the wood of their children, lay it in order, and put fire to it; which fhows that they approved of what their children did, and that what they did, was by their direction and order: and the women knead their dough, fo that every age and fex were employed in idolatrous fervice, which is here intended; the corruption was univerfal; and therefore the whole body was tipe for ruin; nor would the Lord be