Jeremiah 9

Chap. IX. Ver. 1—26. The Prophet laments the sins and miseries of his country. This chapter connects so intimately with the preceding, that both are injured by the separation. The immediate cause of the Prophet’s exclamation, “O that my head were waters!” &c., appears to have been his despair of Zion’s recovery, arising from the desperate depravity of her children, in his dilating upon which, a gradation has been observed. First, (ver. 7,) the people are cast into the furnace of affliction, to try if this may purify them: this failing, they are visited by severer judgments. Jerusalem, their capital, is then destroyed; next, all the other cities of the land suffer nearly the same fate, and afford them no refuge: only the wretched inhabitants are reserved for farther calamities, and their miserable life preserved by gall and wormwood.

To bear such existence might be still tolerable to a Jew, were he only permitted to stay in his own country, weep over the ashes of his dear Jerusalem, and find a grave in the holy land. But even this melancholy comfort is denied. They must be dragged, the slaves of cruel masters, to a foreign and a heathen country. There the sword pursues them; there they suffer and there they die. But this is not all. By a beautiful allusion to an ancient custom, the subject is still pursued: a band of mourning women is called to lament over them, (ver. 17,) and even the funeral dirge (on the occasion) is given us in terms full of beauty, elegance, and pathos. At length, however, to relieve this mournful scene, a gleam of hope springs up amidst the gloom.

God is introduced, declaring that he has still loving-kindness in reserve for them that know him, and threatening to take vengeance on the enemies of his people at a future period.—Dr. J. Smith.

Notes on the verses

_ Chap. IX. Ver. 2. In the wilderness—or desert.—A lodging place—That is, a temporary hut.—Ver. 7. I will melt them as silver:—{A metaphorical expression, derived from the process of refining metals. I will put them in the furnace of affliction, and see if there be any means of purging away their dross.}—Bagster. Ver. 12. Who is the wise, &c.—[In this style of interrogation, says Dr. Blayney, the prophet indirectly declares himself to be the person qualified by Divine inspiration to answer the question proposed in the latter part of the verse; which he accordingly does in the following verses.]—Bagster. Ver. 17. Mourning women—Who made it their profession to lament over the dead, as we find in many parts of scripture.

See (2 Chronicles 35:25); (Amos 5:16); (Matthew 9:23).—[This was a custom among the Greeks and Romans, as well as Hebrews; and Homer describes the corpse of Hector as being thus attended: “Arrived within the royal house, they stretched The breathless Hector on a sumptuous bed, And singers placed beside him, who should chaunt The strain funereal: they, with many a groan The dirge began; and still at every close The female train with many a groan replied.”]—Cotoper.—Bagster. The customs of the native Irish, in this respect, much resemble those of the East. Ver. 21. The children from without—Who played in the streets. Compare ch. vi. 1. and (Matthew 10:17). Ver. 26. All that are in the utmost corners.—See margin.—[Drs.

Durell and Boothroyd justly consider the marginal as far preferable; as being descriptive of the mode in which the Arabians cut their hair and beard. See notes on (Leviticus 21:5).]—Bagster. By this practice, the Arabs were distinguished from the Jews. See (Leviticus 19:27). etc.