keth after faithfulness, and I will pardon her. Ver. 2. And if they say. ' As Jahveh liveth,1 then in this they swear falsely. Ver. 3..lahveh, are not Thine eyes upou faithfulness? Thou smitest them, and they are not pained; thou consumest them, they will take no correction; they make their face harder than rock, they will not turn. Ver. 4. And I thought, It is but the baser sort, they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jahveh, the judgment of their God. Ver. 5. I will get me then to the great, and will speak with them, for they know the way of Jahveh, the judgment of their God; yet together have they broken the yoke, burst the bonds. Ver. 6. Therefore a lion out of the wood smiteth them, a wolf of the deserts loth them, a leopard lieth in wait against their cities: every one that goeth out thence is torn in pieces; because many are their transgressions, many their backslidings. Ver. 7. Wherefore Bhould I pardon thee? thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn I y them that are no gods. I caused them to swear, but they committed adultery, and crowd into the house of the harlot. Ver. 8. Like well-fed horses, they are roaming about; each neigheth after the other's wife. Ver. 9. Shall I not punish this.' saith Jahveh; or shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this.
The thought of ver. 1, that in Jerusalem there is not to bo found one solitary soul who concerns himself about uprightness ami.sincerity, does not, though rhetorically expressed, contain any rhetorical hyperbole or exaggeration such as may have arisen from the prophet's righteous indignation, or have been inferred from the severity of the expected judgment (Ilitz.); it gives but the simple truth, as is.^een when we consider that it is not Jeremiah who speaks according t«> the best of his judgment, but God, the searcher of hearts. Before the all-seeing eye of God no man is pure and good. They are all gone astray, and there is none that doeth good, Ps. xiv. 2, 3. And if anywhere the fear of God is the ruling principle, yet when the look falls on the mighty hosts of the wicked, even the human eye loses sight of the small company of the godly, since they are in no case to exert an influence on the moral standing of the whole mass. " If ye find any " is defined by, " if there is a worker of right; " and the doing of right or judgment is made more complete by "that seeketh faithfulness," the doing being given as the outcome of the disposition. «"^DK is not truth (1??$), but sincerity and good faith. On this state of affairs, cf. Hos. iv. 1, Mic. vii. 2, Isa. Ixiv. 5f. The pledge that God would pardon Jerusalem if He found but one righteous man in it, recalls Abraham's dealing with God on behalf of Sodom, Gen. xviii. 23. In support of what has been said, it is added in ver. 2, that they even abuse God's name for lying purposes; cf. Lev. xix. 12. Making oath by the life of Jahveh is not looked on here as a confession of faith in the Lord, giving thus as the sense, that even their worship of God was but the work of the lips, not of the heart (Eos.); but the solemn appeal to the living God for the purpose of setting the impress of truth on the face of a lie, is brought forward as evidence that there is none that strives after sincerity. The antithesis forced in here by Hit/., ami Graf is foreign to text and context both, viz. that between swearing by Jahveh and by the false gods, or any other indifferent name. The emphi lies on swearing ~~"*\ &s | to swearing in the way de- even in this, or nevertheless. — Yer. o. The eye of the Lord is directed towards faithfulness, which is not to be found in Jerusalem (ver. 1),? showing the direction toward person or thing, as in Pa, x.wiii. IS, where } alternates with **. Hit/, is
>ng in translating: are not thine eyes faithful, i.r. directed lording to faithfulness; a sei (uite unsuitable here, since the matter in hand is not the character or direction of the eye God, hut that on which God looks. But because God desired sincerity, an 1 there was none in the people of Jerusalem, He has smitten them, c 1 them, hut they felt no pain (wi from?vn, the tone being drawn back by reason of the -L); the chastisement made no impression. Thou consumedst them, terminatedst them, >.■. "Thou hast utterly exterminated multitudes and swarms of tin m " (Hit/.), hut they refused to receive correction; cf. ii. >'>0. They made their face harder than rock, 1.6. hardened them by obstUlfl etting the divine chastisements at naught; cf. Ezek. iii. 7,8. — Ver. 4 f. This total want of good faith and uprightness is found notonlv in the lower orders of the populace, amongst the mean and ignorant rabble, hut in the higher ranks of the educated. This is rhetorically put in this shape, that Jeremiah, believing that only the common people are so deeply sunk in immorality, turns to the great to speak to them, and amongst them discovers a thorough-going renunciation of the law- of God. 0*7?, weak, are the mean and poor of the people, who live from hand to mouth in rudeness and ignorance, their anxieties bent on food and clothing (cf. xxxix. 10, xl. 7). These do foolishly i^N'O as in Num. xii. 11), from want of religious training. They know not the way of Jahveh, i.e. the way, the manner of life, prescribed to men by God in His word; cf. 2 Kings xxi. 22, Ps. xxv. 9, etc. The judgment of their God, i.e. that which God demanded as right and lawful, 2 Kings xvii. 26 a great, U the wealthy, distinguished, and educated! S ■ even these have broken the yoke of the law, i.e. have emancipated themselves from obedience to the law (Hitz.); cf. ii. 20. Therefore they must he visited with punishment.— ^ Ver. 6. Tiiis verse is neither a threatening of future punishments, nor is to he taken figuratively (lion, bear, leopard, as figures for dreadful enemies). The change from the perf. D3H to the imperf. trnw and *}W tells against the future construction, showing as it does that the verbs are used aoristicallyof chastisements which have partly already taken place, which may be partly yet to come. And the figurative explanation o( the beasts of prey by hostile peoples— found so early as the Ohald. — is not in the Least called for by the text; nor is it easy to reconcile it with the specification of various kinds of wild beasts. The words are a case of the threatening of the law in. xxvi. 22, that God will chasten the transgressors of His law by sending beasts of prey which shall rob them of their children. Cf. with the promise, that if they keep His commandments, lie will destroy the wild beasts out of the land. Cf. also the fact given in 2 Kings xvii. 25, that God sent lions amongst the heathen colonists who had been transplanted into the depopulated kingdom of the ten tribes, lions which slew some of them, because they served not Jahveh. The true conception of the words is confirmed by Ezek. xiv. 15, when in like manner the sending of evil (ravening) beasts is mentioned as an example of God's punishments, niin, smite, is a standing expression for the lion's way of striking down his prey with his paws; cf. 1 Kings xx. 36. nizny nxr is not wolf of the evening, as Chald., Syr., Hitz. explain it, following Hab. i. 8 and Zeph. iii. 3; for niznv is not the plural of:ny, but of piny, steppe: the wolf that lives in the steppe, and thence makes its raids on inhabited spots. The reference of the words to place is suggested plainly by the parallel, the lion out of the wood. The leopard (panther) watches, i.e. lies lurking in wait against their cities, to tear those that come out. The panther is wont to lie in wait for his prey, and to spring suddenly out on it; cf. Hos. xiii. 7. With " because many are thy transgressions/' cf. xxx. 14 f.
Since these chastisements have profited nothing God cannot pardon the people. This is the meaning of the question in ver. 7, Ttitib 'X, wherefore should I then pardon? not, should I then pardon for this? for ^ by itself does not stand for n ii, but is set before the pronom. demon str. to give it the force of an interrogative adjective; cf. Ew. § 326, a. The Cheth.?™s est obsoletum adeoque genuinum (Ros.); the Keri substitutes the usual form. To justify the question with a ativo answer implied, the people's fall into idolatry is again set up before it in strong colours. Thy sons (the sons of the daughter of Zion, i.e. of the national congregation, and so the individual members of the nation; ef. Lev. xix. 18) have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods, i.e, the idols; ef. ii. 11. For DrtH >"-'-'*, 1 caused them to swear, the old translators have ri-'x, 1 filled them to the full, and s.»it is read in many codd. and vdd. This reading is preferred by most of the ancient comment and they appeal for a parallel to ver.
. and Deut. xxxii. 15 ("when Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked"), II"-. xiii. 6, Neh. i.\. 2."), etc., where apostasy from God is chidden as a consequen i superfluity of earthly good-. So Luther: "and now that I have filled them full, they committed adultery."' Now possibly it is just the recollection of the ] cite 1 that has su_rLr«'>ted the reading y'3;J\s\
The apodosis, they committed adultery, forms no antithesis to filling full. Adultery presupposes a marriage vow, or troth plighted by an oath. God caused Israel to swear fidelity when lie made the covenant with it at Sinai. Ex. xxiv. This oath Israel repeated at each renewal of the covenant, and last une p J iah: 2 Kings xxiii. 3; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 31 f. Hence we must not wholly restricl the swearing to the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, nor wholly to the renewal of it under dab. We must refer it to both acts, or rather to the solemnity at Sinai, together with all solemn renewals of it in after times; while at the same time the reference to the renewal under Josiah, this being still fresh in memory, may have been the foremost. We must not confine the reference of WW to spiritual adultery (= a fall away from Jahveh into idolatry); the context, especially the next clause, and yet more unmistakeably ver. 8, refers to carnal uncleanness. This too was a breach of the covenant, since in taking it the people bound itself not only to be faithful to God, but to keep and follow all the laws of His covenant. That the words, crowd into the house of the h:irl«»t, i.e. go thither in crowds, are to be taken of carnal uncleanness, may be gathered from ver. Sb: each neighs after the wife of his neighbour. Fornication is denounced as a desecration of the name of the Lord in Amos ii. 7. The first clause of ver. 8 BUggestS a comparison: well-fed horses are thev, i.e. they resemble Mich. ()n the lechery of horses, see on Ezek. xxiii. 20. The Cheth. D^ntD is partic. Iloph. of fl?, in Aram, feed, fatten, here most suitable. The Keri D%JP& would be the partic. Pu. from IT, the meaning of which is doubtful, given arbitrarily by Kimchi and others as armati sc. membra genilali. D*3Bto, too, is derived from Tj'J'D, and given by Jerome sensu obscceno: trahentei «c. genitalia; but DWb cannot come from -j^b, MB>0 being the only possible form in that case. Nor does trahentes, "draught-horses" (Hitz.), give a sense at all in point for the comparison. A better view is that of those who follow Simonis, in holding it to be partic. Hiph. of njt?, in Aethiop. aberrant, vagatus est. The participle is not to be joined with " horses " as a second qualifying word, but to be taken with W, the periphrastic form being chosen to indicate the enduring chronic character of the roaming. — Ver. 9. Such abandoned behaviour the Lord must punish.
Vers. 10—18. In spite of the feeling of security fostered by tin' false prophets, the Lord will make good His word, and cause the land and kingdom to be laid waste by a barbarous people. — Ver. 10. u Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end: tear away her tendrils; for they are not Jahveh's. Ver. 11. For faithless to me is the house of Israel become and the house of Judah, saith Jahveh. Ver. 12. They deny Jahveh, and say, He is not; and evil shall not come upon us, and sword and famine we shall not see. Ver. 13. And the prophets shall become wind, and he that speaketh is not in them: so may it happen unto them. Vers. 14. Therefore thus saith Jahveh the God of hosts: Because ye speak this word, behold, I make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Ver. 15. Behold, I bring upon you a nation from far, house of Israel, saith Jahveh, a people that is strong.
a people that is from of old, a people whose speech thou knowest not, and understandest not what it saith. Ver. 16. Its quiver is as an open grave, they are all mighty men. Ver. 17. It shall eat up thy harvest and thy bread: they shall eat up thy sons and thy daughters; it shall eat up thy flocks and thy cattle, eat up thy vine and thy fig-tree; it shall break down thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword. Ver. 18. But yet in those days, saith Jahveh, 1 will not make a full end with yon.
To give emphasis to the threat, that the Lord will avenge Himself on such a people, we have immediately following, in ver. 10, the summons given to the enemy to subdue the land. ..-.._.-.. ■ variously explained. The old translators took -""""J' to mean walls: but t!:ul clause, tear away the tendrils, - ms not to suit this well. And then this word occurs but once again, and with the meaning " caravan," while walls are throw any doubt on the rendering: walls, supported as it is by the old versions. The form TYf\ti from "W i-^ contracted from a form ^~"-". constructed analogously to >~^s~'. The second
;e to moan exclusively town walls or fortifications. But this is not the case. Even it' the suffix here referred to.Jerusalem, mentioned in ver. 1, which is very doubtful, still then the city would be looked on not in the light of a stronghold, but only ntative of the kingdom or of the theocracy. Probably, however, the suilix refers to the daughter of Zion as seat of the kingdom <: Grod, and the idea of a vineyard was in the prophet's mind (cf ii. 2 1), under which figure Isaiah (v. 1-7)
forth the kingdom of God founded on Mount Zion; so that under walls, the walls of the vineyard are to be thought of. Elsewhere, indeed, these are called HlTa (also in xlix. 3), but only where the figure of a vineyard is further developed, or at least is brought more plainly and prominently forward. Here, again, where the enemy is summoned to go upon the walls, this figure is mixed up with that of a city; and so the word rivvj'. as indicating walls of any kind, seems most fitting. Graf has overthrown, as being unfounded, Ilitz.'s assertion, that 2 H?P signified only, to go up against a thing; and that iracy and elegance required that the destruction should be of the walls, not of the vineyard itself, npy c, 2 means also: 0 up upon a thing, e-g. J\s. xxiv. 3, Deut. v. 5; and the verb *"""-" stands quite absolutely, so that it cannot be restricted to the walls. k- And destruction can only take place when, by scaling the walls, entrance has been obtained into that which is to be destroyed, be it city or vineyard." We therefore adhere to the sig. walls, especially since the other translations attempted by Ew. and Hitz. are wholly without foundation. Hitz. will have us road ■"•.—:•. and take this as plural of FniB>; next he sup] row of vines to be intended, but he obtains this sense only by arbitrarily appending the idea of vines. Ew. endeavours, from the Aram, and Arab., to vindicate for the word the meaning: clusters of blossom, and so to obtain for the whole the translation: push in amidst the blossom-spikes. A singular figure truly, which in no way harmonizes with 3 vJ|. " Destroy" is restricted by the following " but make not," etc.; see on iv. 27. On k* tear away her tendrils," cf. Isa. xviii. 5. The spoilers are not to root up the vine itself, but to remove the tendrils, which do not belong to Jahveh. Spurious members of the nation are meant, those who haVe degenerated out of their kind.
The reasons of this command are given in ver. 11 ff., by a renewed exposure of the people's apostasy. The house of Israel and the house of Judah are become faithless. On this cf. iii. 6 ff. The mention of Israel along with Judah gives point to the threatening, since judgment has already been executed upon Israel. Judah has equalled Israel in faithlessness, and so a like fate will be its lot. Judah shows its faithlessness by denying the Lord, by saying Ran *6. This Ew. translates: not so, after the ovk eart ravra of the LXX.; but he is certainly wrong in this. Even though Wff\ may be used in place of the neuter, yet it cannot be so used in this connection, after the preceding iWPa «ra. Better to take it: He is not, as the fools speak inFs. xiv. 1: there is no God, i.e. go on in their lives as if God were not. " Jahveh is not" is therefore in other words: there exists not a God such as Jahveh is preached to us, who is to visit His people with sore punishments. This view is not open to the objection, quod pro lubitu suppknt, which
Kos. raises against the interpretation: von est i«, fjualem prophetce describunt. For we take ton not as is qualem, but as i ' sc. Jul iv eh; and we explain the meaning of Jahveh onlv in that reference in which He is disowned by these men, namely, as God who visits I lis people with punishments. In tin's character He was preached by the prophets. This appears from what is further said by these disowners of God: evil or mischief will not come on us. To a saying of this kind they could have been provoked only by threatenings of punishments. The prophets were not indeed the first to announce judgments; Moses in the law threatened transgressors with the punishments.
But the context, the threatening against the false prophets in ver. 1."), suggests that here w< to think of announcements by the prophets. Doubtless the false prophets assured the people: evil shall not come upon you, in opposition to the true prophets, who threatened the sinful race with the judgmenl 1. 1. Such prophets are t<> become wind. se. with their utterances. ~-~~i is not a noun: the word, but a verb, with the article instead of the relative pronoun, as in Josh. x. 2 L, 1 ( 'hron. xxvi. 28, and often: He who speaks is not in them, i.e. in them there is none other speaker than themselves; the Spirit of God is not in them. "tf, k> there is none/1 is strong r than iS, meaning: they speak out of their own hearts. The threat, SO he it unto them, may he most -imply r i to the first clause: they become wind. Let tin* emptiness of their prophecies fall on their own heads, so that they themselves may come to nought. — Ver. 11. Hut the people is to have proof of the truth of the word of the Lord. Because it. despising the threatening of punishment, Misfortune shall not light upon us, the
Lord will make the word in the mouth of Jeremiah a fire, and the people wood, that the fire may consume it. On this figure, cf. Isa. i. 31, x. 17. Ver. 15 it. explain this, and announce the inroad of a dreadful enemy that is to lay waste the land and consume the people. " A people from far," as in iv. 16. Judah is called u house of Israel," not so much because it is what remains of Israel, but because, after the captivity of the ten tribes, Judah regarded itself as the only true Israel or people of God. Further description of the hostile people is intended to show its formidable power, and to inspire dread, |n*K, enduring, firm, strong; cf. Gen. xlix. 24, Mic. vi. 2. c6to dating from eternity, U vny ancient, not of recent origin! but become mighty in immemorial antiquity. A people speaking a language unfamiliar to the Jews, to comprehend whom il impossible, i.e. barbarous; cf. Deut. xxviii. 49. Further (ver. It'-), it is a race of very heroes, fully furnished with deadly weapons..1. D. Mich, took objection to the figure, "its quiver i- as an open grave;" but his conjecture SnZV put nothing better in place of it. The link of comparison is this: as an open grave is filled with dead men, so the quiver of this enemy is filled with deadly missiles.— Ver. 17. This people will devour the harvest and the bread, the children, the cattle, and the best fruits of the land. Devour, here as often, in the wider sense, destroy; vi. e.g. iii. 24 and x. 25, where the first half of the present verse is compressed into the words: they ate up Jacob. We need not wait to refute Hitz.'s absurd remark, that the author imagined the enemy, the assumed Scythians, to be cannibals. In the second half of the verse the words, "the fenced cities wherein thou trustest," are a reminiscence of Deut. xxviii. i) 2 \ and hence we may see, that while our prophet is describing the enemy in vers. 15-18, Moses' threatening, Deut. xxviii. 4*^-52, was in his mind. B>Bn, break in pieces, as in Mai. i. 4. With the sword, i.e. by force of arms; the sword, as principal weapon, being named, instead of the entire apparatus of war. In ver. 18 the restriction of ver. 10 (cf. iv. 27) is repeated, and with it the threatening of judgment is rounded off.
Vers. 19-31. This calamity Judah is preparing for itself by its obduracy and excess of wickedness. — Ver. 19. " And if ye then shall say, Wherefore hath Jahveh our God done all this unto us? then say to them, Like as ye have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Ver. 20. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Ver. 21. Hear now this, foolish people without understanding, that have eyes and see not, have ears and hear not. Ver. 22. Me will ye not fear, saith Jahveh, nor tremble before me? who have set the sand for a bound to the sea, an everlasting boundary that it passes not, and its waves toss themselves and cannot, and roar and pass not over. Ver. 23. But this people hath a stubborn an I rebellious heart; they turned away and went. Ver. 24. And said not in their heart: Let us now fear Jahveh our God, who giveth rain, the early rain and the late rain, in its season; who keepeth for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Ver. 25. Your iniquities have turned away these, and your sins have withholden the good from you. Ver. 26. For among my people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as fowlers stoop; they sit;i trap, they catch men. Ver. 27. As a cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore are they become great and rich. Ver. 28. They are gTOWD fat and sleek, they go beyond bound in wickedness; the cause they try not, the cause <>f the orphans, that they might have prosperity; and the right of the needy they judge not. Ver, 29. Shall I not punish this I saith Jahveh; shall not my soul he avenged on such a people as tin- I Ver. 30. The appalling and horrible is done in the land. Ver. 31. 'The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule under their lead, and my people loves it SO. But what will ye do in the end thereof?"
The thought of ver. 19, that the people, by its apostasy, diaws down this judgment on itself, forms the transition from the threat of punishment to the reproof of sins. The penalty corresponds to the sin. B Judah in its own land the <roils of foreigners, so it must serve Btrangers in a foreign land. — Ver. 20 f. The reproof of sins is introduced by an apostrophe to the hardened race. The exhortation, "Publish this," is addressed to all the prophet's hearers who have the welfare of the people at heart. u This," in vers. 20 and 21, refers to the chiding statement from ver. 23 onwards, that the people fears not God. rldie form of address, people foolish and without understanding (cf. iv. 22, IIos. vii. 11), is made cutting, in order, if possible, to bring the people yet to their senses. The following clauses, <c they hai -," etc., depict spiritual blindness and deafness, as in Ezek. xii. 22; cf. Deut. xxix. 3. Blindness is shown in that they see not the government of God's almighty power in nature; deafness, in that they hear not the voice of God in His word. They have no fear even of the God wdiose power has in the sand set an impassable barrier for the mighty waves of the sea. " Me" is put first for emphasis. The waves beat against their appointed barrier, but are not able, «. to pass it.-Yer. 23. Bat this people has a stubborn And rebellious heart; it bows not beneath the almighty hand of God. u Stubborn and rebellious," joined as in Deut. xxi. 1 B, 20. 1 [ence the following no is not to be taken from "no:" defy (Hit/.), but from T,D: they turn away and go off,' and consider not that they owe their daily bread to the Lord! Neither does God's power move the obdurate people to the fear oi Him, nor do the proofs of His love make any impression. They do not consider that God gives them the rain which lends the land its fruitfulness, so that at the fixed time they may gather in the harvest. The i cop. before rrrt* is rejected by the Masoretes in the Ken as out of place, since Upi is not any special rain, co-ordinate to the early and late rain (Hitz.), or because they had Deut. xi. 14, Joel ii. 23 before them. But in this they failed to notice that the 1 before r\y and that before PIPpO are correlative, having the force of et—et. n*JQB> is stat. constr. from n>-'rM, weeks, and to it nipn is co-ordinated in place of an adjective, so that TSj? is dependent on two co-ordinate stat. constr., as in xlvi. 9, 11, Zcph. ii. 6. But the sense is not, the weeks, the statutes, of the harvest, i.e. the fixed and regulated phenomena which regulate the harvest (Graf), but, appointed weeks of harvest. The seven weeks between the second day of the passover and the feast of harvest, or of weeks, Ex. xxiii. 1C, xxxiv. 22, Deut. xvi. 9 f., are what is here meant. A\ e must reject the rendering, " oath as to the harvest-time" (L. de Dieu, J. D. Mich., and Ew.), since Scripture knows nothing of oaths taken by God as to the time of harvest; in Gen. viii. 22 there is no word of an oath.— Ver. 25. The people has by its sins brought about the withdrawal of these blessings (the withholding of rain, etc.). V®*}, turned away, as in Amos v. 12, Mai. iii. 5. " These," i.e. the blessings mentioned in ver. 24. The second clause repeats the same thing. The good, i.e. which God in His goodness bestowed on them.
This is established in \ner. 26 f. by bringing home to the people their besetting sins. In (amidst) the people are found notorious sinners. "W^ in indefinite generality: they spy about, lie in wait; cf. Hos. xiii. 7. The singular is chosen because the act described is not undertaken in company, but by individuals. T{V from ^V, bend down, stoop, as bird-catchers hide behind the extended nets till the birds have gone in, so as then to draw them tight. " They set;'' not the fowlers, but the wicked ones. WIPD, destroyer (Ex. xii. 23, and often), or destruction (E/ek. xxi. 36); here, by virtue of the context, a trap which brings destruction. The men they catch are the poor, the needy, and the just; cf. ver. 28 and Isa. xxix. 21. The figure of bird-catching leads to a cognate one, by which are set forth the gains of the wicked or the produce of their labours. As a cage is filled with captured birds, so the houses of the wicked arc filled with deceit, i.e. possessions obtained by deceit, through which they attain to credit, power, and wealth. Graf has overthrown HitZ.'fl note, that we must understand by nO^D, not riches obtained by deceit, but the means and instruments of deceit: and this on account of the following: therefore they enrich themselves. But, as Graf shown, it is not the possession of these appliances, but of the goods acquired by deceit, that has macJe the pk great and rich, "as the birds that fill the r^r. cage, ifl not strictly a bird-cage, but a bird-trap woven of wj].;;;. 1,. with a lid to shut down, by means of which birds were caught,— Ver. 28. Through the luxurious living their w< alth makes possible to them, they are grown fat and sleek. *n«£, in graphic description, is joined asynd. to the preceding verb. It is explained by recent conun. of fat bodies, become glossy, in keeping with the noun n*J*y, which in Cant. v. 14 expresses the glitter of ivory: for the meaning cogitare, think, meditate, which WH bears in Chald., yields no sense available here. The next clause is variously explained. C3 points to another, yet worse kind of behaviour. It is not possible to defend the translation: they overflow with evil speeches, or swell out with evil things (Tmbr., Ew.), siuce TOJ c. accus. does not mean to overflow with a thing. Yet more arbitrary is the assumption of a change of the subject: (their) evil speeches overflow. The only possible subject to the verb is the wicked ones, with whom the context deals before and after. TmT\ are not words of wickedness = what may be called wickedness, but things of wickedness, wicked things. TO serves to distribute theidea of in into the particular cases into which it falls, as in Ps. lxv. 4, cv. 27, and elsewhere, where it is commonly held to bo pleonastic. Ilitz. expounds truly: the individual wickednesses in which the abstract idea of wicked manifests itself. Sense: they go beyond all that can be conceived as evil, i.e. the bounds of evil or wickedness. The cause they plead not, namely, the cause of the orphans, vriw, imperf. c. i
• that so they might have prosperity. Hitz. regards the wicked men as the subject, and explains the words thus: such justice would indeed be a necessary condition of their success. But that the wicked could attain to prosperity by seizino- every opportunity of defending the rights of the fatherless is too weak a thought, coming after what has preceded, and besides it does not lit the case of those who go beyond all bounds in wickedness. Ew, and Graf translate: that they (the wicked) might make good the rightful cause (of the orphan), help the poor man to his rights. But even if rTOn seems in 2 Chron. vii. 11, Dan. viii. 25, to have the signif. carry through, make good, yet in these passages the sig. carry through with success is fundamental; where, as here, this will not suit, rrtai being in any case applicable only to doubtful and difficult causes — a thought foreign to the present context. Blame is attached to the wicked, not because they do not defend the orphan's doubtful pleas, but because they give no heed at all to the orphan's rights. We therefore hold with Raschi that the orphans are subject to this verb: that the orphans might have had prosperity. The plural is explained when we note that DiJV is perfectly general, and may be taken as collective. The accusation in this verse shows further that the prophet had the godless rulers and judges of the people in his eye. — Ver. 29 is a refrain-like repetition of ver. 9. — The vers. 30 and 31 are, as Ilitz. rightly says, " a sort of epimetriim added after the conclusion in ver. 29," in which the already described moral depravity is briefly characterized, and is asserted of all ranks of the people. Appalling and horrible things happen in the land; cf. ii. 12, xxiii. 14, xviii. 13, Hos. vi. 10. The prophets prophesy with falsehood, 1|»k, as in xx. 6, xxix. 9: more fully TIT? n?B>3, xxiii. 25, xxvii. 15. The priests rule DrPT bv, at their (the prophets') hands, i.e. under their guidance or direction; cf. 1 Chron. xxv. 2 ff., 2 Chron. xxiii. 18; not: go by their side (Ges., Dietr.), for rrn is not: go, march on, but: trample down.
My people loves it so, yields willingly to such a lead; cf. Amos iv. 5. What will ye do ^"111^, as to the end of this conduct? The suff.fcem. with neuter force. The end thereof will be the judgment; will ye be able to turn it away?
Chap. vi. TlIE JUDGMENT IS IRREVOCABLY DECREED. — A hostile army approaches from the north, and lays siege to Jerusalem, in order to storm the city (vers. 1-8). None is spared, since the people rejects all counsels to reform (vers. 9-15). Since it will not repent, it will fall by the hands of the enemy, in spite of the outward sacrificial service (vers. 16-21). The enemy will smite Zion without mercy, seeing that the trial of the people has brought about no change for the better in them (vera. 22 30).
•• Fli i: Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and in Tekoa blow the trumpet, and over Beth-haccerem set up a sign; for evil approachcth from the north, and great destruction. \ v. 2. The comely and the delicate — I lay waste the daughter of Zion. Ver.;». To her come shepherds with their Hocks, pitch their tents about her round about, and devour each his portion. \.1. Sanctif j war against her: arise, let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day declineth; for the shadows of evening lengthen. \ Arise, let as no op by night, and destroy her palaci. Ver. 6. Fox thus hath Jahveh of hosts spoken, Hew down wood, and pile up against Jerusalem a rampart; she is the city that is (to be) punished, she is all full of oppression in her midst. Ver. 7. As a fountain pours forth its water, so pours she forth her wickedness: violence and spoiling is heard in her; before my face continually, wounds and smiting. Ver. 8. Be warned, Jerusalem, lest my soul tear herself from thee, lest I make thee a waste, a land uninhabited."
In graphic delineation of the enemy's approach against Jerusalem, the prophet calls on the people to flee. As regarded its situation, Jerusalem belonged to the tribe of Benjamin; the boundary between the tribal domain of Judah and Benjamin passed through the valley of Ben-Hinnom on the south side of Jerusalem, and then ran northwards to the west of the city (Josh. xv. 8, xviii. 16 f.). The city was inhabited by Judeans and Benjamites, 1 Chron. ix. 2 ff. The summons is addressed to the Benjamites as the prophet's fellow-countrymen. Tekoa lay about two hours' journey southwards from Bethlehem, according to Jerome, on a hill twelve Roman miles south of Jerusalem; Bee on Josh. xv. 59. This town is mentioned because its name admits of a play on the word typfi. The alarm is given in the country south of Jerusalem, because the enemy is eoming from the north, so that the flight will be directed southwards. Beth-haecerem, ace. to Jerome, was a hamlet (view) between Jerusalem and Tekoa, qui lingua Syra et Hebraica Bethacharma nominator, et ipse in monte positus, apparently on what is now called the Frank's Hill, Jebel Fureidis; see on Neh. iii. 14. r)KK>p, the lifting up, that which raises itself up, or is raised; here a lofty beacon or signal, the nature of which is not further made known. The meaning, fire-signal, or ascending column of smoke, cannot be made srood from Judg. xx. 38, 40, since there ]fV is appended; nor from the statements of classical authors (in Ros.), that in time of war bodies of troops stationed in different places made their positions known to one another by masses of rising flame during the night, and by columns of smoke in the day time. As to the last clause, cf. i. 14. " Great destruction," as in iv. 6. — In ver. 2 the impending judgment is further described. It falls on the daughter of Zion, the capital and its inhabitants, personified as a beautiful and delicately reared woman. HU? defectively written for nisj, contracted from njfctt, lovely, beautiful. The words are not vocatives, O fair and delicate, but accusatives made to precede their governing verb absolutely, and are explained by " the daughter of Zion," dependent on " I destroy: " the fair and the delicate, namely, the daughter of Zion, I destroy. Tim as in Hos. iv. 5. The other meaning of this verb, to be like, to resemble, is wholly unsuitable here; and, besides, in this signification it is construed with?K or?. Ew.'s translation, I mean the daughter of Zion, is not justifiable by the usage of the word, the Piel only, and not the Kal, being capable of this interpretation.— Ver. 3. The destruction comes about by means of shepherds with their flocks, who set up their tents round the city, and depasture each his portion. We need hardly observe that the shepherds and their flocks are a figure for prince?:, wlio with their peoples besiege and sack Jerusalem • with this cf. i. 1 ">. The figure does not point to a nomad swarm, or the Scythian people, as Ew. supposes. "Each his hand," i.e. what lies to his hand, or next him. — Ver. 4. The description ] hisses from figure to reality, and the enemies appear before us as speaking, inciting one another to the combat, encouraging one another to storm the city. To sanctify a war, i.e. prepare themselves for the war by religious consecration, inasmuch as the war was undertaken under commission from God, and because the departure of the army, like the combat itself, was consecrated bv sacrifice and other religious ceremonies; see on Joel iv. 9. go up against a place as an enemy, not. go up upon, in which case the object, them (the city or walls), could not be omitted. It is plainly the storming or capture of the town that is meant by the going up; hence we may understand what follows: and we will destroy her palaces. We have a rousing call to go up at noon or in clear daylight, joined with u woe to us," a cry of disappointment that they will not be able to gain their ends so soon, not indeed till night; in these we
9 with which they earry on the assault. Di*, the day turns itself, declines towards its end; cf. Ps. xc. 9. The en mies act under a commission from God, who has imposed on them the labour of the Biege, in order to punish Jerusalem for her sins. Jahveh is here most fittingly called the God of tor as God of the world, obeyed by the armies of heaven, He commands the kings of the earth to chastise His people. Hew wood, i.e. fell trees for making th works, cf. Dent. xx. 20, both for raising the attacking ramparts,1 and for the entire apparatus necessary for storming the town, ~%fj is not a collective form from "V, like nn from XI; but the H— is a suffix in spite of the Omission of the Mappik, which is given by but a few of the codd., eastern and western, for we know that Mappik is sometimes omitted, e.g. Num. xv. 28, 31; cf. Ew. § 217. </. We are encouraged to take it so by Deut. xx. 19, where TO> are the trees in the vicinity of the town, of which only the fruit trees were to be spared in case of sieire, while those which did not bear eatable fruit were to be
1 Agger ex terra lignisque attollitur contra murum, de quo tela jactantur. Veget. tit re milit. iv. 15.
made use of For the purposes of the siege. And thus we must here, too, read W: and refer the suffix to the next noun (Jerusalem »• ()!l " Pta up a rampart," cf. 2 Sam. xx. 15, Ezek. iv.
-• l: • ^:~ <s °sed as passive of Kal, and impersonally. The connection with vyn is to be taken like 1YJ run in Isa. xxix. 1: the city where it is punished, or perhaps like Ps. lix. 6, the relative being suppli-d: that is punished, rfa is not to be joined, contrary to the accents, with lj?ari (Ven., J. D. Mich.), a connection which, even if it were legitimate, would give but a feeble thought. It belongs to what follows, "she is wholly oppression in her midst," Le. on all sides in her there is oppression. This is expanded in ver. 7. LXX. and Jerome have taken TgH from Tip, and translate: like as a cistern keeps its water cool C+^e*, frigidam facit),so she keeps her wickedness cool. Ilitz. has pronounced in favour of this interpretation, but changes "keep cool" into " keep fresh," and understands the metaphor thus: they take good care that their wickedness does not stagnate or become impaired by disuse. But it would be a strange metaphor to put "keep wickedness cool," for "maintain it in strength and vigour." We therefore, along withLuth. and most commentators, prefer the rabbinical interpretation: as a well makes its water to gush out, etc.; for there is no sufficient force in the objection that "fipO from "Vip, dig, is not a spring but a well, that "i*pn has still less the force of making to gush forth, and that ii3 wholly excludes the idea of causing to spring out. The first assertion is refuted by ii. 13, lip^J, fountain of living water; whence it is clear that the word does mean a well fed bv a spring. It is true, indeed, that the word 113, a later way of writing "»K2 (cf. 1 Chron. xi. 17 f. 22 with 2 Sam. xxiii. 15 f. 20), means usually, a pit, a cistern dug out; but this form is not substantially different from "»K3, well, puteus, which is used for 113 in Ps. Iv. 24 and Ixix. 16. Accordingly, this latter form can undoubtedly stand with the force of 1N3, as has been admitted by the Masoretes when they substituted for it doubt the legitimacy of giving to Tpn, from nip, to dig a well, the signification of making water to gush forth. The form rnj?n is indeed referable to Tip, but only shows, as is otherwise well known, that no very strict line of demarcation can be drawn between the forms of verbs 'yy and 'iy; von again is formed regularly from Tip. Violence and spoiling; cf.xx. 8, and Amos iii. 10, Ilab. i. 3. "Before my face," before mine eyes, corresponds to " is heard," as wounds and uniting! are the consequences of violence. On that head, cf. Ps. lv. 10-12. — Ver. 8. If Jerusalem cease not from these Bins and crimes, the Lord must devote it to spoliation. Let thyself be corrected, warned; cf. Ps. ii. 10, Lev. xxvi. 23. PR1 from VP\ tear oneself loose, estrange oneself, as in Exek. xxiii. 17 ff. "A land uninhabited" 18 an apposition giving greater expressiveness to u a waste," wii. •'..
un.— Vi v. 9. u Thus hath Jahveh of hosts said: They shall have a gleaning of the remnant of brael as of a vine:
lay thine hand again ss a vine-dresser on the shoots. Ver. 10. T.> whom shall I speak, and testify, that they may heart B hold, uncircumcised is their ear, and they cannot give heed:
behold, the urnd of.Jahveh is l.eeoine to them I ivproach: they have no pleasure in it. Ver. 11. But of the fury of Jahveh am 1 full, am weary with holding it in. Pour it out upon the child on the street, and upon the group of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall ho taken, the old man with him that is full of days. Ver. 12. And their houses shall pass unto others, fields and wives together; for I stretch out mine hand against the inhabitants of the land, saith Jahveh. \ er. L3. For great and small are all of them greedy lor gain: and from the prophet to the priest, all use deceit'. Ver. 14. And they heal the breach of the daughter of my people lightly, ing, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Ver. 15. They are put to shame because they have done abomination, yet they take not shame to themselves, neither know they disgrace; therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall stumble, hath Jahveh said."
The threatening of ver. 9 is closely connected with the foregoing. The Lord will make Jerusalem an uninhabited waste, because it will not take warning. The enemy will make a gleaning like vine-dressers, i.e. they will yet search out even that which is left of the people, and crush it or carry it captive. This.still sterner threat does come into contradiction with the repeated pledge, that [srael is not to be wholly extirpated, not be made an utter end of (iv. 27, v. 10, 18). For even at the gleaning odd clusters are left, which are not noticed or set Btore by. The words convey the idea that the enemy will not have done with it after one devastating campaign, but will repeat his inroads. &y is construed with the accus. of the vineyard in Lev. xi\. 10. The "remnant of Israel" is not the kingdom of Judah at large, but Judah already reduced bv judgments. In the second clause the idea of the first is repeated in the form of a command to the gleaners. The command is to he looked on as addressed to the enemy by God; and this turn of the expression serves to put the thought with a positiveness that excludes the faintest doubt. To brine back the hand means: vet a<*ain to turn it, stretch it out against a person or thing; cf. Amos i. 8, Isa. i. 25. HipppD is. not baskets, like D79, Gen. xl. 16, but like BwT, Isa. xviii. 5, vine-shoots, pro]), waving twigs, like B^Pfl, Cant. v. 11, from 7?D = 7?\ and??fl, wave (E\\\, Hitz.). — Ver. 10 f. Well might Jeremiah warn the people once more (cf. ver. 8), in order to turn sore judgment away from it; but it cannot and will not hear, for it is utterly hardened. Yet can he not be silent; for he is so filled with the fury of God, that he must pour it forth on the depraved race. This is our view of the progress of the thought in these verses; wdiereas Hitz. and Graf make what is said in ver. 11 refer to the utterance of the dreadful revelation received in ver. 9. But this is not in keeping with " testify that they may hear," nor with the unmistakeable contrast between the pouring out of the divine fury, ver. 11, and the testifying that they may hear, ver. 10. Just because their ear is uncircumcised so that they cannot hear, is it in vain to speak to them for the purpose of warning them; and the prophet has no alternative left but to pour out on the deaf and seared people that fury of the Lord with which he is inwardly filled. The question: to whom should I speak 1 etc. (?V for %, as xi. 2 and often), is not to be taken as a question to God, but only as a rhetorical turn of the thought, that all further speaking or warning is in vain.
u Testify," lay clown testimony by exhibiting the sin and tlie punishment it brings with it. "That they may hear," ut audiant, the Chalcl. has well paraphrased: ut accipiant doctrinam. Uncircnmcised is their ear, as it were covered with a foreskin, so that the voice of God's word cannot find its way in; cf. v. 24, iv. 4. The second clause, introduced by n.|n, adduces the reason of their not beinir able to hear. The word of God is become a reproach to them; they are determined not to hearken to it, because it lashes their sins. Ver. 11 comes in adversatively: But the fury of the Lord drives him to speak, nirv non is not a holy ardour for Jahveh (Graf and many ancient comm.), but the wrath of God against the people, which the prophet cannot contain, i.e. keep to himself, hut must pour out. B - cause they will not take correction, he must inflict the judgment upon them, not merely utter it. The imper.!|bB> is to be taken like -'-"". ver. '.', not as an expression of the irresistible necessity which, in spil all his efforts against it, compels the prophet to pour forth, in a certain sense, the wrath of the Lord on all classes of the people by the very publishing of God's word (Graf); hut it is the command of God, to be ecuted by him. a- i- shown by "for I stretch out mine hand," ver. 12. The prophet is to pour out the wrath of God by the proclamation I l's word, which finds its fulfilment in judgments of wrath:;i i. 10. Upon all classes of the people: the children that play in the street (cf. >ung men gathered together in a cheerful company, the men and women, old men and them that are full of days, i.e. those who have reached the furthest limit of old age. '- tolls why the prophet i< so to Bpeak: for upon the whole population will God's wrath ured out. T3JI, not, he taken captive, but, be taken, overtaken by the wrath, as in viii. *': cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 41. — Ver. 12a gives the result of being thus taken: their houses, fields, and wives will be handed over to others, descend to others. Wives are mentioned along with houses and fields, as in the commandment, Ex. xx. 17; cf. Dent. v. 18. The loss of all one's possessions is mentioned in connection with reproof, following in ver. 13, of greed and base avarice. The threatening is confirmed in ver. l'2b by the clause: for I (Jahveh) stretch my hand out, etc. Then in vers. 13 and 14 the cause of the judgment is adduced. The judgment falls upon all, for all, great and little, U mean and powerful (cf. vers. 4, 5), go after base gain; and the teachers, who ought to lead the people on the true way
( I-i. x\x. 21), use deceit and dishonesty. They heal the breach of the daughter of my people, i.e. the infirmities and injuries of the state, after a light and frivolous fashion (il^ja is partic. Niph. /win., and?V is of the tiling that covers another);— in this namely, that they speak of peace and healing where there is no peace; that they do not uncover the real injuries so as to heal them thoroughly, but treat them as if they were trifling and in no way dangerous infirmities. — Ver. 15. For this behaviour they are put to shame, i.e. deceived in their hope. The perf. is prophetic, representing the matter as being equally certain as if it had been already realized. It cannot bear to be translated either: they should be ashamed (Ros., Umbr. after the Chald.), or: they would be ashamed (E\v.). The following grounding clause adduces the cause of their being put to shame: because they have done abomination; and the next clauses bring in a contrast: yet on the contrary, shame and disgrace they know not; therefore on the day of visitation they will fall with the rest. When these verses are repeated in chap. viii. 12, the Niph. E?jn is used in place of the Hiph. DVDH. It does not, however, follow from this that the Hiph. has here the force of the Niph., but only thus much, that the Hiph. is here used, not in a transitive, but in a simply active meaning: to have shame or disgrace. For DWpS) with the relative omitted, time when I visit, we have in viii. 12 the simpler form of the noun Dn'npQ, as in x. 15, xlvi. 21, and often. Such divergencies do not justify the accommodation of the present passage to these others, since on occasions of repetitions the expression in matters of subordinate importance is often varied. The perf. of the verb has here the force of the fid. exact.
Vers. 16-21. The judgment cannot be turned aside by mere sacrifice without a change of heart.— -Ver. 16. " Thus hath J ahyeh said: Stand on the ways, and look, and ask after the everlasting paths, which (one) is the way of good, and walk therein; so shall ye find rest for your souls. But they say, We will not go. Ver. 17. And I have" set over you watchmen, (saying): Hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they say, We will not hearken. Ver. 18. Therefore hear, ye peoples, and know, thou congregation, what happens to them. Ver. 19. Hear, O earth! Behold, I bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts; for to my words they have not hearkened, and at my law they have spurned. Ver. 20. To what end, then, is there incense coming to me from Sheba, and the good spice-cane from a far land? Your burnt-offerings are not a pleasure, and your slain-offerings are not grateful to me. Ver. 21. Therefore thus hath Jahveh said: Behold, 1 lay stumbling-blocks for this people, that therein fathers and sons may stumble, at once the neighbour and his friend shall perish."
\.. L6 i. The Lord has not left any lack of instruction and warning. He has marked out for them the way of salvation in the history of tin- ancient times. It is to this reference is made when they, in ignorance of the way to walk in, are called to ask after the ting paths. This thought is clothed thus: they are to stop forth upon the ways, to place themselves wh< several ways diverge from one another, and impure as to the everlasting path-. er which is the right way. ami then on this they are to walk. D7i]J r-y~: are paths that have been trod in the hoary time of old, but not all SOItS of ways, good and bad, which they are to walk on indiscriminately, so that it may be discovered which of thorn is the right one ( Ilitz.). This meaning is not to be inferred from the fact, that in xviii. 15 everlasting paths are opposed to untrodden ways; indeed this very passi teaches that the everlasting ways are the right ones, from which through idolatry the people have wandered into unbeaten paths. Thus the paths of the old time are here the ways in which Israel's godly ancestors have trod; meaning substantially, the patriarchs' manner of thinking and acting. For the following question, a which is the 'way," etc., does not mean, amongst the paths of old time to seek out that which, as the right one, leads to salvation, but says simply thus much: ask after the paths of the old time, so as thus to recognise the right way, and then, when ye have found it, to walk therein. 2itin STYj, not, the good way; for 3ii3n cannot be an objective appended to ^"n, since immediately after, the latter word is construed in nil as faym. " The good'' is the genitive dependent on " way:" way of the good, that leads to the good, to salvation. This way [srael might learn to know from the history of antiquity recorded in the To rah. Graf has brought the sense well out in this shape: " Look inquiringly backwards to ancient history (Dent. xwii. 7), and see how success and enduring prosperity forsook your fathers when they left the way prescribed to them I tod, to walk in the ways of the heathen (xviii. 15); learn that there is but one way, the way of the fear of Jahveh, on which blessing and salvation are to be found (xxxii. 39, 40)." Find (with 1 con sec), and find thus=:so shall ye find; cf. Ew. § 347, l>\ Ges. § 1:50, 2. To " we will not go," we may supply from the context: on the way of good. — Ver. 17. But God does not let the matter end here. He caused prophets to rise up amongst them, who called their attention to the threatening evil. Watchers are prophets, Ezek. iii. 17, who stand upon the watch-tower to keep a lookout, Hab. ii. 1, and to give the people warning, by proclaiming what they have seen in spirit. " Hearken to the sound," etc., are not the words of the watchmen (prophets), for it is they who blow the trumpet, but the words of God; so that we have to supply, " and I said." The comparison of the prophets to watchmen, who give the alarm of the imminent danger by means of the sound of the trumpet, involves the comparison of the prophets' utterances to the clang of the signal-horn, — suggested besides by Amos iii. 6. — Ver. 18. Judah being thus hardened, the Lord makes known to the nations what He has determined regarding it; cf. Mic. i. 2. The sense of " Know, thou congregation," etc., is far from clear, and has been very variously given. Kos., Dahl., Maur., Umbr., and others, understand nny of the congregation or assembly of the foreign nations; but the word cannot have this meaning without some further qualifying word. Besides, a second mention of the nations is not suitable to the context. The congregation must be that of Israel. The only question can be, whether we are by this to think of the whole people (of Judah), (Chald., Syr., Ew., and others), or whether it is the company of the ungodly that is addressed, as in the phi rn'p nny (Hitz.). But there is little probability in the view, that the crew of the ungodly is addressed along with the nations and the earth. Not less open to debate is the construe- tion of CS"^L"S"ns. In any case little weight can be attached to Hit/ nimption, that H« is used only to mark out the "^"X
HWI seems to have this force, are different in kind; for a definite noun precedes, and to it the relation X"N~nx is subjoin And then what, on this construction, is the reference of 23, amidst t/icmi Iliiz. has said nothing on this point. Bat it could only be referred to " peoples:"' the company which is amidst the peoples; and this gives no reasonable sense. These three words can only be object to " know:" know what is amongst (in) them; or: what is or happens to them (against them). It has heen taken in the first sense by Ghald. (their is), Umbr., Manr.: what happens in or amongst them: in the second by B 1.: what I -hall do against them. Ewald, again, without more ado, changi - ~- into ^-: know, thou congation, what ling. By this certainly a suitable sense i- secured: but there are no sufficient reasons for a change of the text, it is tl tpedient of embarrassment. All the ancient translators have read the present text; even the translation of the LXX.: CO! o'l WOlfMUirOVT€% Ttk TTOifiVia avTU)Vy has been arrived at by a confounding of letters (my *jn with ~ny *in). We understand u c ation" of Israel, i.e. not of the whole people of Judah, but of those to whom the title u congregation" was applical I of the godly, small a> their number might be, \ cordingly, we are not to refer D3 igWTttC to u l:" what is occurring amidst the peoples, viz. that they are coming t>» besiege J< rnsalem, etc. (ver. 'Ml'.). Nor is it to be referred to those in Judah who, according to vers. 16 and 17, do not walk in the right way. and will not pive ear to the sound of the trumpet. The latter reference, ace. to which the disputed phrase would be translated: what will happen to them (against them), seems more feasible, and corresponds better to the parallelism of vers. 1 8 and 19, since this same phrase is then explained in ver. 1CJ by: I bring evil upon this people.1
1 So that we cannot hold, with Graf, that the reading of the text is '■ manifestly corrupted;" still less do we hold as substantiated or probable his conjectural reading: D3 *nfcWTI TJ:N *JTft, and know what I have testified against them.
In ver. 19 the evil is characterized as a punishment drawn down by them on themselves by means of the apposition: fruit of their thoughts, u Fruit of their thoughts," not of their deeds I hi. iii. 10), in order to mark the hostility of the evil heart towards God, God's law is put in a place of prominence by the turn of the expression: Mv law, and they spurned at it; cf. Ew, § 344,6, with 309, &.— Ver. 20. The people had no shortcoming in the matter of sacrifice in the temple; but in this service, as being mere outward service of works, the Lord has no pleasure, if the heart is estranged from Him, rebels against His commandments. Here we have the doctrine, to obey is better than sacrifice, 1 Sam. xv. 22. The Lord desires that men do justice, exorcise love, and walk humbly with Him, Mic. vi. 8. Sacrifice, as opus operatum, is denounced by all the prophets: cf. lb>s. vi. 6, Amos v. 21 ff., Isa. i. 11, Ps. 1. 8 ff. Incense from Slieba (see on Ezek. xxvii. 22) was required partly for the preparation of the holy incense (Ex. xxx. 34), partly as an addition to the meat-offerings, Lev. ii. 1, 15, etc. Good, precious cane, is the aromatic reed, calamus odoratus (Ex. xxx. 23), calamus from a far country, — namely, brought from India, — and used in the preparation of the anointing oil; see on Ex. xxx. 23. ji^J? is from the language of the Torah; cf. Lev. i. 3 ff., xxii. 19 ff., Ex. xxviii. 38; and with *6: not to well-pleasing, sc. before Jahveh, i.e. they cannot procure for the offerers the pleasure or favour of God. With 'b «")g && cf. Hos. ix. 4.— Ver. 21. Therefore the Lord will lay stumbling-blocks before the people, whereby they all come to grief. The stumbling-blocks by which the people are to fall and perish, are the inroads, of the enemies, whose formidableness is depicted in ver. 22 ff. The idea of totality is realized by individual cases in " fathers and sons, neighbour and his friend." 1W belongs to the following clause, and not the Keri, but the Cheth. VU&, is the true reading. The Keri is formed after the analogy of xlvi. 6 and 1. 32; but it is unsuitable, since then we would require, as in the passages cited, to have i>SJ in direct connection with 7^3.
Vers. 22-30. A distant, cruel people will execute the judgment, since Judah, under the trial, has proved to be ivorthless metal— Ver. 22. " Thus hath Jahveh said: Behold, a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation raises itself from the furthermost sides of the earth. Ver. 23. Bows and javelins they bear; cruel it is, and they have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and on horses they ride, equipped aa a man for the war against thee, daughter of Zion. Ver. 24. We heard the rumour thereof: weak are our hands: anguish hath taken hold of u<, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Ver. 25. Go not forth into the field, and in the way walk not; for a ord hath the enemy, fear is all anumd. Ver, 26. < > daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and besprinkle thee with ashes; make mourning for an only son, hitter lamentati for suddenly shall the spoiler come upon as. V.:. 27. For a trier haw 1 - t th< 8 among my people M a strong tower, that thou mightest know and try their way. V They are all about as slanderers; brass and iron; they are all dealing corruptingly. Ver. 29. Burned are the bellows by the tire, at an end is the load: in vain they melt and melt; and wicked Oil. ■ j. \'t r<;;n. |v>(._
At the end of this di yei again the invasion of the enemy from the far north is announced, cf. Iv, 13 and v. i:,. and its terribleness is portray* 1 with The farther the land is from which tlk> enemy comes, the more Btrange and rible he appears to the imagination. The farthest (hindmost).sides,,f the earth (cf. •, only a heightening of the idea: land of the nortl. i: in other woixN, the far uttermost north (cf. I a. xiv. 1;;,. I,, this tice of their home, Hitz. finds a proof that the enemies were the Scythians, not the Chaldeans; since, ace. to Ezek. xxxviii. mtl xxxix- -• ( " the 8 ythians, come '-from the sides of the north." But - sides of the earth " is not a geographical term for any particular northern countrv. hut only for very remote lands; and that the Chaldeans were reckoned as falling within this term, is shown by the passage xxxi. 8, according to which Israel is to be gathered again from the land of the north and from the sides of the earth. Here any connection with Scythia in "sides of the earth " is not to be thought of, since prophecy knows nothing of a captivity of
Israel in Scythia, bat regards Assur.and Babylon alone as the lands of the exile of Israelites and Jews. As weapons of the enemy then are mentioned bows (cf. iv. 29, v. 16), and the javelin or lance (jiTS, not Bhield; see on 1 Sam. xvii. 6). It is cruel, knows no pity, and is so numerous and powerful, that. the tumult of its approach, is like the roaring of the sea: cf, [sa. v. 30, xvii. 12. On horses they ride; cf. iv. ™i. 16, Hal), i. 8. TJVU; in the singular, answering to " cruel it is," points back to ^ or Di\ c\s3 is not for ina b*k3 (Ros.), but for norfa l^tG, cf. 1 Sam. xvii. 33, Isa. xiii. 13; and the genitive is omitted only because of the HDrfe& coming immediately after (Graf). " Against thee " is dependent on!jVW: equipped as a warrior is equipped for the war, against the daughter of Zion. In vers. 21-26 are set forth the terrors and the suspense which the appearance of the foe will spread abroad. In ver. 24 the prophet, as a member of the people, gives utterance to its feelings. As to the sense, the clauses are to be connected thus: As soon as we hear the rumour of the people, i.e. of its approach, our hands become feeble through dread, all power to resist vanishes: cf. Isa. xiii. 7; and for the metaphor of travail, Isa. xiii. 8, Mic. iv. 9, etc. In ver. 28 the inhabitants of Jerusalem, personified as the daughter of Zion, are warned not to go forth of the city into the field or about the country, lest they fall into the enemies' hands and be put to death. MDD "riJD, often used by Jeremiah, cf. xx. 3, 10, xlvi. 5, xlix. 29, and, as xx. 10 shows, taken from Ps. xxxi. 14. Fear or terrors around, i.e. on all sides danger and destruction threaten. — Ver. 26. Sorest affliction will seize the inhabitants of Jerusalem. As to "daughter of my people," cf. iv. 11; on " gird thee with sackcloth," cf. iv. 8. To bestrew the head with ashes is a mode of expressing the greatest affliction; cf. Ezek. xxvii. 30, Mic. i. 10. TTP bt? as in Amos viii. 10, Zecli. xii. 10. The closing verses of this discourse (27-30) are regarded by Hitz. as a meditation upon the results of his labours. "He was to try the people, and he found it to be evil." But in this he neglects the connection of these verses with the preceding. From the conclusion of ver. 30, " Jahveh hath rejected them," we may see that they stand connected in matter with the threatening of the spoiler; and the fact is put beyond a doubt when we compare together the greater subdivisions of the present discourse. The vers. 27-30 correspond in substance with the view given in v. 30, 31 of the moral character of the people. As that statement shows the reasons for the threatening that God must take vengeance on inch a people (v. 29), so what is said in the verses before us explain why it is threatened that a people approaching from the north will execute judgment without mercy on the daughter of Zion. For these wises do not till us only the results of the prophet's past labours, but they at the same time indicate that his further effort! will be without effect. The people is like copper and iron, unproductive of either gold or silver; and so the smelting pri n. The illustration ami the thing illustrated separates the slag from the gold and silv< cf. Z ch. xiii. 9,
.1-!) xxiii. 10. "WOO •- at i a difficulty, and is very variously un i. The ancient comm* have interpreted it, according changing pra foriva: eUetum dedi te in populo meo^ in urbe munita forti, Jerome: datur \ pulo incredulo pro- fj.ti-ui<:. Following the usage of the language, we are justified only in taking ■"■»— as apposition to |fna, or to the Bnffix in my people, which is so hard," will appear to be impossible. But again, it has been objected, not without reason, that the reference of u fortress" to.Jeremiah is here opposed to the context, while in i. 18 it falls well in with it; consequently other interpretations have been attempted. Gaab, Maur., Ilitz., have taken note of the fact that TO occurs in Job xxxvi. 19, like "»V3 in the signification of gold; they take ")V3D as a contraction for "UO JO, and expound: without gold, i.e. although then was there no gold, to try for which was thy task. To this view Graf has objected: the testing would be wholly purposeless, if it was already declared beforehand that there was no noble metal in the people. But this objection is not con- elusive; for the testing could only have as its aim to exhibit the real character of the people, so as to bring home to the people's ap] rehensiou what was already well known to God. These are weightier considerations: 1. We cannot make sure of the meaning gold-ore for "N3 by means of Job xxxvi. 19, since the interpretation there is open to dispute; and "iva, Job xxii. 24 does not properly moan gold, but unworked ore, though in its connection with the context we must understand virgin gold and silver ore in its natural condition. Here, accordingly, we would be entitled to translate only: without virgin ore, native metal. 2. The choice of a word so unusual is singular, and the connection of 1V30 with W is still very harsh. Yet less satisfactory is the emendation defended by J. D. Mich., Dahl, Ew., and Graf, "W3D: " for a trier have I made thee among my people, for a separater;" for IV3 has in Heb. only the meaning cut off and fortify, and the Pi. occurs in Isa. xxii. 10 and Jer. li. 53 in the latter meaning, whereas the signif. separate, discriminate, can be maintained neither from Hebrew nor Arabic usage. The ease being so, it seems to us that the interpretation ace. to i. 1£ has most to be said for it: To be a trier have I set thee amid my people "as a strong tower;" and to this Ges., Dietr. in Lex, s.r., adhere. — Ver. 28 gives a statement as to the moral character of the people. " Kevolters of revolters" is a kind of superlative, and ^D is to be derived from Tip, not from ■ftD, perverse of perverse; or, as Hitz., imitating the Heb. phrase, rebels of the rebellious. Going about as slanderers, see on Lev. xix. 16, in order to bring others into difficulties; cf. Ezek. xxii. 9. To this is subjoined the figurative expression: brass and iron, i.e. ignoble metal as contrasted with gold and silver, cf. Ezek. xxii. 18; and to this, again, the unh'gurative statement: they are all dealing corruptingly. DWriBfo, cf. Isa. i. 4, Deut. xxxi. 29. There is no sufficient reason for joining nfo with the preceding: brass and iron, as Hitz. and Graf do in defiance of the accents.— Ver. 29. The trial of the people has brought about no purification, no separation of the wicked ones. The trial is viewed under the figure of a long-continued but resultless process of smelting, "in:, Niph. from Tin, to be burnt, scorched, as in Ezek. xv. 4. M«foj0 is to be broken up, as in the Keri, into two words: V'W and en (from Den). For there does not occur any feminine form ntsfal from C\s*, nor any plural fib's (even HBfal forms the plur. Q*tfK), so as to admit of our reading Dri^XS or DTI&KD, Nor would the plur., if there were one, be suitable; Ew.'s assertion that riVu'S means flames of fire is devoid of all proof. We connect BWO with what precedes: Burnt are the bellows with lire, at an end is the lead. Others attach u by the fire" to what follows: By the fire is the lead consumed. The thought is in either ease the same, only 2Fi is not the proper word for: to be consumed. Sense: the smelting has been carried on so perseveringly, that the bellows have b trched by the heat of the lire, and the lead added in onkr to get the ore into fusion is used up; but they have gone on Bmelting quite in vain. *fXi with indefinite subject, and the infill, absoL added to indicate the long duration of the experiment. In the last clause of the verse the result is mentioned in words without a figure i The wicked have not been arated out (prop., torn asunder from the mass). — Ver. 30. The final statement of the c Tiny call them (the whole people) rejected si' they are recognised as such: for
This discourse divides itself into three sections. Starting with the people's confident reliance in the possession of the temple and the legal sacrificial worship, Jeremiah in the first section, by pointing to the destruction of Shiloh, where in the old time the sanctuary of the ark of the covenant had been, shows that Jerusalem and Judah will not escape the fate of Shiloh and the kingdom of Ephraim, in case they persist in their stiffneckedness against the Lord their God (ch. vii. 1- viii. 3). For the confirmation of this threatening he goes on, in the second section, further to tell of the people's determined resistance to all reformation, and to set forth the terrible visitation which hardened continuance in sin draws down on itself (ch. viii. 4-ix. 21). To the same end he finally, in the third
"on, points out the moans of escape from impending destruction, sho* ing that the way to safety and life lies in acknowledging the Lord as the only, everlasting, and almighty God and in seeing the nothingness of the false gods; and, as the 'fruit oi such knowledge, he inculcates the fear of the Lord, and self-humiliation under His mighty hand (ch. ix. 22-x. 25).
This discourse also was not uttered at any one particular time before the people in the temple, and in the shape in which it comes before us; but it has been gathered into one uniform whole, out of several oral addresses delivered in the temple by Jeremiah upon various occasions in the days of Josiah. According to ch. xxvi., Jeremiah, at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, and in the court of the temple before the people, uttered the threatening that if they would not hear the words addressed to them by the prophets, nor reform their lives, the Lord would make the temple like Shiloh, and make the city a curse to all nations. For this speech he was found worthy of death by the priests and false prophets, and was saved only through the interference of the princes of the people. Now the present discourse opposes to the people's vain confidence in the temple the solemn warning that the temple will share the fate of Shiloh; and hence many commentators, especially Graf and Nag., have inferred the identity of this with the discourse in ch. xxvi., and have referred its composition to the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign. But the agreement of the two chapters on this one point is not sufficient to justify such an inference. Jeremiah is wont often to repeat his leading thoughts in his discourses; and so it is not unlikely that more than once, during the eighteen years of his ministry under Josiah, he may have held up the fate of Shiloh and the sanctuary there, as a warning to the people which built its confidence on the possession of the temple and the performance of the legal cultus. If the foundation even of the first section of the present discourse were to be found in that given in ch. xxvi., taken in connection with the impression it made on the priests and prophets, with the violent feeling it excited, and the storm against Jeremiah which it called forth, then certainly the continuation of this discourse from vii. 16 onwards would have been sometl different from what we find it. In writing down the discourse,
Jeremiah would certainly not have passed immediately from threatening the people with the fate of Shiloli to the repudiation of all intercessory prayers, and to the statement there made as to the sacrificial service. This we mention without entering on the discussion of the Other portions of the discourse. In the whole of the rest of the discourse, as continued ch. viii.-x., there is not the least trace of hostility against Jeremiah on the part of priests or people, or any hint of anything that would carry us beyond the time of Josiah into the reign of Jehoiakim.
THE TEMPLE AND nil. SACRIFICIAL SERVICE.— The temple do b not afford protection from the threatened punishment. If Judah d<> hange in manner of life, the temple will suffer the fate of Shiloli, and Judah will, like Ephraim, be rejected hy the Lord (vera. 1 15). Neither inl u on behalf of the corrupt race, nor the multitude of its burnt and slain offcrii:
will turn aside from Jerusalem the visitation of wrath (vera. 28); for the Lord has cast away the hardened sinners on account of their idolatry, and will make Jerusalem and Judah a field of death (ver. 29 \ Iii. 3
" The word that came to J r miah from Jahveh, saying, Ver. 2.
ind in the gate of the 1: if.Jahveh, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Jahveh, all ye of Judah, that enter these gates to w | hip before Jahveh: Ver. \\. Thus hath spoken Jahveh of hots, the God of Israel, Make your ways and your doings good, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Ver. 1. Trust ye not in lying words, when they say, The temple of Jahveh, the temple of Jahveh, the temple of Jahveh, is this. Ver. 5. But if ye thoroughly make your ways od, and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute right amongst one another; Ver. G. Oppress not stranger, fatherless, and widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither follow after other gods to your hurt; Ver. 7. Then I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land which I have given unto your fathers, from eternity unto eternity. Ver. 8. Behold, ye trust in lying words, though they profit not. Ver. 9. How? to steal, to murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer odours to Baal, and to walk after other gods whom ye know not '. Ver, 10. And then ye come and stand before my face in this bouse, upon which my name is named, and think, We are saved to do all these abominations. Ver. 11. Is then this house mo a den of murderers, over which my name is named, in your ryes.' I too, behold, have seen it, saith Jahveh. Ver. 12. For go ye now to my place which was at Shiloh, where I formerly caused my name to dwell, and see what I have done unto it for the wickedness of my people Israel. Ver. 13. And now, because ye do all these deeds, saith Jahveh, and I have spoken t<> yon, speaking from early morning on, and ye have not heard; and 1 have called you, and ye have not answered; Ver. 1 I. Therefore I do unto this house, over which my name is named, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I have given to you and to your fathers, as I have done unto Shiloh. Ver. 15. And cast you away from my face, as I have cast away all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim."
Ver. 2. The i^ate of the temple into which the prophet was to go and >tand, is doubtless one of the three gates of the inner or upper court, in which he could stand and address the people gathered before him in the outer court; perhaps the same in which Baruch read Jeremiah's prophecies to the people, xxxvi. 10 (Sch mid, Hitz.). The gates through which the people entered to worship are those of the outer court. The form of address: All Judah, ye who enter, etc., warrant us in assuming that Jeremiah delivered this discourse at one of the great annual festivals, when the people were wont to gather to Jerusalem from the length and breadth of the land. — Ver. 3 contains the central idea of the discourse: it is only morally good endeavours and deeds that give the people a sure title to a long lease of the land. T^ 2W is not merely, amend one's conduct; but, make one's way good, i.e. lead a good life. The " ways" mean the tendency of life at large, the "doings" are the individual manifestations of that tendency; cf. xviii. 11, xxvi. 13. " In this place," i.e. in the land that I have given to your fathers; cf. ver. 7 and xiv. 13 with ver. 15, xxiv. 5, 6. Positive exhortation to a pure life is followed by negative deportation from putting trust in the illusion: The temple, etc. The threefold repetition of the same word is the most marked way of laving very great emphasis upon it; cf. xxii. 29, Tsa. vi. 3. u These," these halls, the whole complex mass of buildings (Hitz.), as in 2 Chron. viii. 11; and here n©n lias the force of the neuter; cf. Ew. §318,/;. The meaning of this emphatic way of mentioning the temple of the Lord is, in this connection, the following: Jerusalem cannot be destroyed by enemies, because the Lord has consecrated for the abode of His name that temple which is in Jerusalem; for the Lord will not give His sanctuary, the seat of His throne, to be a prey to the heathen, but will defend it, and under its protection we too may dwell safely. In the temple of the Lord we have a sure pledge for unbroken possession of the land and the maintenance of the kingdom. Cf. the like discourse in Mic. iii. 11, aJahveh is in our midst, upon us none evil can come." This passage likewise shows that the M lying words" quoted are the sayings of the false prophets, whereby they confirmed the people in their ure sinfulness; the mass of the people at the same time so making ti their own as to lull themselves into the t* security. — Yer. 5. Over against such, sayings Jeremiah puts that which is the indispensable condition of continued sojourn in the land. *3, \ after a preceding negative clause, means: but on the contrary. This condition is a life morally good, that shall show itself in doing justice, in putting away all unrighteousness, and in giving up idolatry. With CS begins a list of the things that belong to the making of one's ways and doings good. The adjunct to D9BTD, right, "between the man and his neighbour," shows that the justice meant is that they should help one man to his rights against another. The law attached penalties to the oppression of those who needed protection— strangers, orphans, widows; cf. Ex. xxii. 21 ff., Deut. xxiv. 17 ff., xxvii. 19; and the prophets often denounce the same; cf. Isa. i. 17, 23, x. 2, Kzek. xxii. 7. Zech. vii. 10, Mai. iii. 5, Ps. xciv. 6, etc. ^E'JTTPS for 'JVN^ is noteworthy, but is not a simple equivalent for it. Like ov fii), s& implies a deeper interest on the part of the speaker, and the sense here is: and ve be really determined not to shed innocent blood (cf. Ew. § 320, b). Hitz.'s explanation, that?K is equal to
DK, is overturned by the consideration that 7* is not at the beginning of the clause; and there is not the slightest probability in Graf's view, that the S>« must have come into the text through the copyist, who had in his mind the similar clause in xxii. 3. Shedding innocent blood refers in part to judicial murders (condemnation of innocent persons), in part to violent attacks made by the kings on prophets and godly men, such as we hear of in Manasseh's case, 2 Kings xxi. 16. In this place (ver. 7), i.e. first and foremost Jerusalem, the metropolis, where moral corruption had its chief seat; in a wider sense, however, it means the whole kingdom of Judah (vers. 3 and 7). "To your hurt" belongs to all the above-mentioned transgressions of the law; cf. xxv. 7. '-In the land," etc., explains "this place." " From eternity to eternity" is a rhetorically heightened expression for the promise given to the patriarchs, that God would give the land of Canaan to their posterity for an ever- Lasting possession, Gen. xvii. 8; although here it belongs not to the relative clause, "that I gave," but to the principal clause, ''cause you to dwell," as in Ex. xxxii. 13.
In ver. 8 there is a recurrence to the warning of ver. 4, under the form of a statement of fact; and in vers. 9-11 it is expanded to this effect: The affirmation that the temple of the Lord affords protection is a sheer delusion, so long as all God's commandments are being audaciously broken. TO'"1?r?rj lit. to no profiting: ye rely on lying words, without there being any possibility that they should profit you. — Ver. 9. The query before the infin. absolL is the expression of wonder and indignation; and the infinitives are used with special emphasis for the verb. fin.: How? to steal, kill, etc., is your practice, and then ye come.... — Ver. 10. Breaches of almost all the commandments are specified; first the eighth, sixth, and seventh of the second table, and then two commandments of the first table; cf. Hos. iv. 2. Swearing falsely is an abuse of Gel's name. In " offer odours to Baal," Baal is the representation of the false gods. The phrase, other gods, points to the first commandment, Ex. xx. 3: and the relative clause: whom ye knew not, stands in opposition to: I am Jahveh your God, who hath brought you out of Egypt. They knew not the other gods, because they had not made themselves known to them in benefits and blessings; cf. xix. 4. While they so darin break all God's commands, they yet come before His face in the temple which Jahveh has chosen to reveal His name there. 'Ml X~PJ TJ'S is not: which bears my name (Hitz.); or: on which rnv name is bestowed, which is named after me (Graf). The name of Jahveh is the revelation of Himself, and the meaning is: on which I have set my glory, in which 1 have made my glorious being known; see on Dent, xxviii. 10 and Amos be. L2, We are saved, 8C. from all the evils that threaten us, i.e. we are concealed, have nothing to fear; cf. £zek. xiv. 16, 18, Amos iii. L2. The perfect denoUU firmam perwKuionem incolumiiatis. Ch. B. Mich. By changing wW into Win, as Ewald, following the Syr., reads, the sense is weakened. IV?? neither: i irda what we have done, nor: because
= while * r wher nave done (Hitz.), but: in order to do, that ye may do. H?P? with the hi/in., as with the per/., has never the sign if., because of or in reference to something past and done, but always means, with the view of doing something;.: to the end that. 1 e thought is simply this: Ye apnt ar in my temple to sacrifice and worship, thinking thus to my wrath and turn aside all punishment, that so ye n doing all these (in ver, 9 enumerated) abominations.
their wicked ongoings, not merely for what they had already done, but for what they do from day to day. — Ver. 11.
such an Idea, God asks if they take the temple for a den of robbers? k- In your eyes" goes with rPJI: is it become in your e. do ye take it for such?
-. murderers, adulterers, etc., gathered to the temple, and supposed that by appearing there they procured the absolution of their sins, they were in very act declaring the temple to he a robbers1 retreat. r*]3, the violent, here: the housebreaker, robber. I, too, have seen, sc. that the temple is made by you a den of thieves, and will deal accordingly. This completion of the thought appears from the context. — Ver. 12, The temple is to undergo the fate of the former sanctuary at Shiloh. This threat is introduced by a grounding *3, for. This for refers to the central idea of the last verse, that v must not build their expectations on the temple, hold it to be a pledge for their safety. For since the Lord has seen how they have profaned and still profane it, He will destroy it, as the sanctuary at Shiloh was destroyed. The rhetorical mode of utterance, (Jo to the place, etc., contributes to strengthen the threatening. They were to behold with their own eyes the fate o( the sanctuary at Shiloh, that so they might understand that the sacredness of a place does not save it from overthrow if men have desecrated it by their wickedness. We have no historical notice of the event to which Jeremiah refers. At Shiloh, now Seilun (in ruins), the Mosaic tabernacle was erected after the conquest of Canaan (Josh, xviii. 1), and there it was still standing in the time of the high priest Eli, 1 Sam. i. 1-3; but the ark, which had fallen into the hands of the Philistines at the time of their victory (1 Sam. iv.), was not brought back to the tabernacle when it was restored again to the Israelites. In the reign of Saul we find the tabernacle at Nob (1 Sam. xxi. 2 ff.). The words of ver. 12 intimate, that at that time " the place of God at Shiloh" was lying in ruins. As Hitz. justly remarks, the destruction of it is not to be understood of its gradual decay after the removal of the ark (1 Sam. iv. 11, vii. 1 ff.); the words imply a devastation or destruction, not of the place of God at Shiloh only, but of the place Shiloh itself. This is clearly seen from ver. 14: I will do unto this house (the temple), and the place which I gave to your fathers, as I have done unto Shiloh. This destruction did not take place when the Assyrians overthrew the kingdom of the ten tribes, but much earlier. It may, indeed, be gathered from Judg. xviii. 20, 31 (see the comment, on this passage), that it was as early as the time of Saul, during a Syrian invasion. By the destruction of the place of God at. Shiloh, we need not understand that the tabernacle itself, with its altar and other sacred furniture (except the ark), was swept away. Such a view is contradicted by the statement in 1 Chron. xxi. 29, 2 Chron. i..">, according to which the tabernacle built by Moses in the wilderness was still standing at Gibeon in David's time, and in the beginning of Solomon's reign; cf. with 2 Chron. i. 5, when the brazen altar of burnt-offering is expressly mentioned as that which was made by Bezaleel. Hence it is clear that the Mosaic tabernacle, with its altar of burnt-offering, had been preserved, and consequently that it must have been moved first from
Shiloh to Nob, and then, when Saul sacked this town (1 Sam. xxii.), to Gibeon. The destruction of the place of God in Shiloh must accordingly have consisted in this, that not only was the tabernacle with the altar carried off from thence, but the buildings necessary in connection with the maintenance of the public worship which surrounded it were swept away when the city was plundered, so that of the place of the sanctuary nothing was left remaining. It is clear that about the tabernacle there were various buildings which, along with the tabernacle and its altars, constituted "the house of God at Shiloh;" for in 1 Sam. iii. we are told that Samuel slept in the temple of Jahveh (ver. 3), and that in the morning he opened the doors of the house of God (ver. 15). Hence we may gather, that round about the court of the tabernacle there were buildings erected, which were used partly as a dwelling-place for the officiating priests and Levites, and partly for storing up the heave-offerings, and for preparing the thank-offerings at the sacrificial meals (1 Sam. ii. 11-21). This whole system of buildings surrounding the tabernacle, with its court and altar of burnt-offering, was called the u house of God;" from which name Graf erroneously inferred that there was at Shiloh a temple like the one in Jerusalem. The wickedness of my people, is the Israelites' fall into idolatry in Eli's time, because of which the Lord gave up Israel into the power of the Philistines and other enemies (Judg. xiii. 1; cf. 1 Sam. vii. 3). a These deeds" (ver. 13) are the sins named in ver. 9. "I?7^.J is a continuation of the infinitive sentence, and is still dependent on ]V\ Speaking from early morn, i.e. speaking earnestly and unremittingly; cf. Gesen. § 131, 3, b. I have called you, i.e. to repent, and ye have not answered, i.e. have not repented and turned to me. — Ver. 15.
1 cast you out from my sight, i.e. drive you forth amongst the heathen; cf. Deut. xxix. 27; and with the second clause cf.
2 Kings xvii. 20. The whole seed of Ephraim is the ten tribes.
Vers. 16-28. This punishment will be turned aside, neither by intercession, because the people refuses to give up its idolatry, nor by sacrifice, which God desires not, because for long they have turned to Him the bach and not the face, and have not hearkened to His words. — Ver. 16. a But thou, pray not for this people, and lift not up for them cry and prayer; and urge me not for I do not hear thee. Ver. 17. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? Ver. 18 The sons gather sticks, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the Queen of heaven and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, to provoke me! Ver. 19. Provoke they me, saith Jahveh, not themselves, to the shaming of their face? Ver. 20. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jahveh, Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out on this place, upon man, upon beast, upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and shall burn, and not be quenched. Ver. 21. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Your burnt-offerings add to your slain-offerings, and eat flesh. Ver. 22. For I spake not with your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matters of burnt-offering or slain-offering. Ver. 23. But this word commanded I them, saying, Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk in the way which I command you, that it may be well with you. Ver. 24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, and walked in the counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and turned to me the back, and not the face. Ver. 25. Since the day that your fathers went forth of the land of Egypt until this day, I sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily from early morn sending them; Ver. 26. But they hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear, and were stiffnecked, and did worse than their fathers. Ver. 27. And though thou speakest all these words unto them, yet will they not hearken unto thee; and though thou callest unto them, yet will they not answer thee. Ver. 28. Thus speak to them: This is the people that hearken not unto the voice of Jahveh its God, and that receive not correction. Perished is faithfulness, cut off from their mouth."
The purport of ver. 16, that God will not suffer Himself to be moved by any entreaties to revoke the doom pronounced on the wicked people, is expressed by way of a command from God to the prophet not to pray for the people. That Jeremiah did sometimes pray thus, however, we see from xiv. 19 ff. (cf. xviii. 20), when to his prayer the same answer is given as we have here, and all intercession for the corrupt race is characterized as in vain. The second clause: lift not up for them crying, i.e. supplicatory prayer, expresses the same, only more strongly; while the third clause: urge me not, cuts off all hope of success from even the most importunate intercession. The reason for this command to desist is shown in ver. 17, by a reference to the idolatry which was openly practised throughout the land by young and old, men and women. Each takes part according to strength and capacity: the sons gather wood together, the fathers set the fire in order, etc. The deity so zealously worshipped by the people is called the Queen of heaven, and is mentioned only by Jeremiah. Besides here, there is reference to her in xliv. 17, where we see that her worship was very dili- ntly cultivated, and that she was adored as the bestower of earthly possessions. (TEfTQ is stat. const/-., either from theChald. form tpOt or from ft?*??, after the analogy of rn33? st. constr. of rTVai: hut perhaps it has rz^r in slat, abs.) This worship was combined with that of the stars, the host of heaven, which ecially prevailed under Manasseh el Kings xxi. 5). Thence it may be presumed that the Queen of heaven was one of the deities who came to Western Asia with the Assyrians, and that she corresponds to the Assyrian-Persian Tanais and ArtemU} who in the course of time took the place once occupied by the closely related Phoenician Astarte. She is originally a deification of the moon, the Assyrian Selene and Virgo ccelestis, who, as supreme female deity, was companion to Baal-Moloch as sun-god; cf. Movers, P1i6nizier) i. S. 623 ff. With this acconls the statement of Steph. Byz., that ae\i)vrj is also iz^-navov tl To) aarpep irapairX^aiov. The offerings which, ace. to this verse and eh. xliv. 19, \wre brought to her, are called D^3?, a word which would appear to have come to the Hebrews along with the foreign cultus. By the LXX. it was Grecized into ■^avoiva<;1 for which we find in glossators and codd. Kavuivas and Xa{3a)va<;. They were, ace. to the Eh/mol. magn. and Suidas, ciproL eXala) dvcKpvpadivre*; or \ayava 6tttcl (? cooked vegetables); ace. to Jerome, %av(bva<;7 gaas nos placentas interpretati sinnus. In any case, they were some kind of sacrificial cakes,wdiich Vitr. put alongside of the Troirava of Aristophanes and Lucian; cf. the various interpretations in Schleussner, Lexic. in LXX.
. vn'uV. These cakes were kindled on the altar (cf H*iBpo iv. L9) as a kind of Minchali (meat-offering), and with this Minchah a libation or drink-offering (MW) was combined "- corresponds to rtbg, so that b has to 'be repeated; cf' v. 1!'. 25, where we find libations poured out to the Queen 01 heaven. In the L8th verse the expression is generalized into u other gods, with reference to the fact that the service of the Queen of heaven was but one kind of idolatry along with others, since other strange gods were worshipped by sacrifices and libations To provoke me; cf. Deut. xxxi. 29. xxxii. 1G, etc.— Ver. 19. But instead of vexing Him (Jahveh) they rather vex themselves, inasmuch as God causes the consequences of their idolatry to fall on their own head. DTlk is used reflex- cause of the shame of their face, i.e. to prepare for themselves the shame of their face, to cover their face with shame; cf. iii. 25.— For (ver. 20) because of this idolatrous work, the wrath of the Lord will pour itself over the land in the consuming fire of war (cf. iv. 4 with v. 17, Nah. i. 6, etc.), so as to cut off men and beasts, trees and fruit.— Ver. 21. The multiplication of burnt and slain offerings will not avert judgment. Your burntofferings add to your slain-offerings. In the case of the DTOT, the greater part of the flesh was eaten at the sacrificial meals by those who brought them. Along with these they might put the burnt-offerings, which were wont to be burnt entire upon the altar, and eat them also. The words express indignation at the sacrifices of those who were so wholly alienated from God. God had so little pleasure in their sacrifices, that they might eat of the very burnt-offerings.
To show the reason of what is here said, Jeremiah adds, in ver. 22y that God had not commanded their fathers, when He led them out of Egypt, in the matter of burnt and slain.offerings, but this word: " Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God," etc. The Keri wyin is a true exegesis, ace. to xi. 4, xxxiv. 13, but is unnecessary; cf. Gen. xxiv. 30, xxv. 26, etc. This utterance has been erroneously interpreted by the majority of commentators, and has been misused by modern criticism to make good positions as to the late origin of the Pentateuch. To understand it aright, we must carefully take into consideration not merely the particular terms of the present passage, but the context as well. In the two verses as they stand there is the antithesis: Not rajl nfap n:n?y did God speak and give command to the fathers, when He led them out of Egypt, but commanded the word: Hearken to my voice, etc. The last word immediately suggests Ex. xix. 5: If ye will hearken to my voice, then shall ye be my peculiar treasure out of all peoples; and it points to the beginning of the law-giving, the decalogue, and the fundamental principles of the law of Israel, in Ex. xx.-xxiii., made known in order to the conclusion of the covenant in xxiv., after the arrival at Sinai of the people inarching from Egypt. The promise: Then will I be your God, etc., is not given in these precise terms in Ex. xix. 5 ff.; but it is found in the account of Moses' call to be the leader of the people in their exoclus, Ex. vi. 7: and then repeatedly in the promises of covenant blessings, if Israel keep all the commandments of. xxvi. 12, Deut. rxvi. 18. Hence it is clear that Jeremiah had before his mind the taking of the covenant, but did not bind himself closely to the words of Ex. xix. 5, adopting his expression from the passages of Eeviticus ami Deuteronomy which refer to and reaffirm that transaction. If there be still any doubt on this head, it will be removed by the clause: and walk in all the way which I command you this day (D]"DPm is a continuation of the iniper. ","—'). The expression: to walk in all the way God has commanded, is so unusual, that it occurs only once besides in the whole Old Testament, viz. Deut. v. 30, after the renewed inculcation of the ten commandments. And they then occur with the addition C37 31D1 jvnn $U>f in which we cannot fail to recognise the 227 3CP \ych of our verse. Hence we assume, without fear of contradiction, that.Jeremiah was keeping the giving of the law in view, and specially the promulgation of the fundamental law of the book, namely of the decalogue, which was spoken by God from out of the fire on Sinai, as Moses in Deut. v. 23 repeats with marked emphasis. In this fundamental law we find no prescriptions as to burnt or slain offerings. On this fact many commentators, following Jerome, have laid stress, and suppose the prophet to be speaking of the first act of the law-giving, arguing that the Torah of offering in the Pentateuch was called for first by the worship of the golden calf, after which time God held it to be necessary to give express precepts as to the presenting of offerings, so as to prevent idolatry. But this view does not at all agree with the historical fact. For the worship of the calf was subsequent to the law on the building of the altar on which Israel was to offer burnt and slain offerings, Ex. xx. 24; to the institution of the daily morning and evening sacrifice, Ex. xxix. 38 ff.; and to the regulation as to the place of worship and the consecration of the priests, Ex. xxv.-xxxi. But besides, any difficulty in our verses is not solved by distinguishing between a first and a second law-giving, since no hint of any such contrast is found in our verse, but is even entirely foreign to the precise terms of it. The antithesis is a different one. The stress in ver. 23 lies on: hearken to the voice of the Lord, and on walking in all the way which God commanded to the people at Sinai. " To walk in all the way God commanded" is in substance the same as " not to depart from all the words which I command you this day," as Moses expands his former exhortation in DeuL xxviii. 14, when he is showing the blessings of keeping the covenant. Hearkening to God's voice, and walking in all His commandments, are the conditions under which Jahveh will be a God to the Israelites, and Israel a people to Him, i.e. His peculiar people from out of all the peoples of the earth. This word of God is not only the centre of the act of taking the covenant, but of the whole Sinaitic law-giving; and it is so both with regard to the moral law and to the ceremonial precepts, of which the law of sacrifice constituted the chief part. If yet the words demanding the observance of the whole law be set in opposition to the commandments as to sacrifices, and if it be said that on this latter head God commanded nothing when He led Israel out of Egypt, then it may be replied that the meaning of the words cannot be: God has given no law of sacrifice, and desires no offerings. The sense can only be: "When the covenant was entered into, God did not speak *l3n b, i.e. as to the matters of burnt and slain offerings, nil by is not identical with 13^. rtyv nifl are words or things that concern burnt and slain offerings; that is, practically, detailed prescriptions regarding sacrifice.