Jeremiah 15

—a spoiler] Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is undoubtedly here designed. In the margin, the preceding word is rendered “a young man:” this would very properly characterize the same person. For Josephus cites from Berosus, the Chaldean historian, a passage to the following purport; “that Nabopollassar king of Babylon, hearing that the provinces of Egypt, Cole-Syria, and Phenice had revolted, and being hunself infirm from age, sent a part of his forces under his son Nebuchadnezzar, then in the prime of youth, by whom these provinces were again reduced.” This was the expedition said to have been undertaken by him in the third year of Jehoiakun king of Judah: in the course of which, after having defeated the Egyptian army at Carchemish, he laid siege to Jerusalem, took, and plundered it, carrying away much spoil and many captives to Babylon. See chap. xlvi. 2; Dan. i. 1—3; 2 Kings xxiv. 1. Dr. Blayney.

nant; &c.] The sense is, That the Prophet himself, his relations and family, should escape the evils coming upon the Jewish nation when the “residue of them should be delivered to the sword,” ver. 9. W. Lowth.

Ver. 6. — neither shall men lament for them.] The thoughts of men shall be wholly taken up with bewailing themselves: their own calamities shall be so great, they shall be unconcerned for the misfortunes of others. W. Lowth.

— nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald] See the notes on the places referred to in the margin.

Jeremiah 15:2

2.—for death.] It is obvious from the foregoing enumeration, that death here means the pestilence. See chap. xiv. 12. Dr. Blayney. 4. And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth. Several Jews were carried captive into other countries, besides Chaldea; see note on chap. xii. 14; others turned voluntary exiles, to avoid the miseries they saw coming upon their country; see chap. xl. 11. The words here are taken out of Deut. xxviii. 25: where Moses threatens them with a general dispersion over the world, which received its utmost completion after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 15:6

6.—I am weary with repenting.] When God suspends the execution of his judgments, He is said to “repent of the evil” He had threatened: see chap. xviii. 8. This He had done so often, that He is represented as a man whose patience is at last quite tired out, it being to no purpose to withhold his hand any longer from striking. Compare Isa. xliu. 24; Hos. xiii. 14; Mal. ii. 17. W. Lowth. 7. And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will toss and scatter them in all the defenced cities of the land, as corn is shaken and dispersed in the winnowing. Bp. Holt.

Jeremiah 15:7

7. Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning.] If this translation be correct, it is only a repetition of what went before. The translation in the margin, “neither shall men break bread for them,” is much to be preferred. As to the custom alluded to, see the note on 2 Sam. iii. 35. To this custom the writer of the book of Tobit refers, when, amongst other good exhortations to his son, he directs him to “pour out his bread on the burial of the just,” Tobit iv. 17. Sir J. Chardin tells us, that “the Oriental Christians still make banquets of the same kind, by a custom derived from the Jews; and that healths were also drunk to the survivors of the family.” These latter meant, no doubt, or were taken from, “the cup of consolation.” In like manner he explains (as many other commentators have also done) “the bread of men,” mentioned Ezek. xxiv. 17,

Before CHRIST about 601. I Or, mourning feast. d Lev. 19. 28. Deut. 14. 1. I Or, break bread for them, as Ezek. 24. 17. e Isa. 24. 7. 8. ch. 7. 31 & 25. 10. Ezek. 26. 15. f Chap. 5. 19. & 13. 22.

Jeremiah 15:8

8.—against the mother of the young men] The nation in general is called “the mother” of each Jew in particular; Isa. l. 1; Hos. ii. 2—5; or, as Lowth thinks, Jerusalem. Abp. Secker. fore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

Jeremiah 15:9

9. She that hath borne seven] “Seven” is put for many: and the multitude of the inhabitants or children of Jerusalem, the mother city, is here alluded to. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 15:10

10.—that thou hast borne me a man of strife &c.] The Prophet here complains of the opposition he met with from his countrymen for speaking unwelcome truths, which had occasioned him so much uneasiness, as if he had engaged in the most invidious of all occupations, and the most likely to engender strife, that of lending and borrowing upon usury. Dr. Blayney. The Jews were forbidden to take usury of their brethren, Deut. xxiii. 19; especially of the poor, Exod. xxii. 25; which was thought so great an oppression, that it made the man who was guilty of it hated and cursed by every one. The Prophet saith, this was just his own case, every body was his enemy for delivering those messages which he had received from God. W. Lowth. Jeremiah prayeth, and receiveth a gracious promise. Before CHRIST about 601. entreat the enemy for ther.

Jeremiah 15:12

12. Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?] The meaning probably is, Shall the enemy crush or overpower one whom I have made like the hardest iron or brass? alluding to what God said to the Prophet when He first engaged him in his service, chap. i. 18. “Iron from the north” is perhaps justly supposed to denote, in a primary sense, that species of hardened iron, or steel, called in Greek Chalybs, from the Chalybes, a people bordering on the Euxine sea, and consequently lying to the north of Judea, by whom the art of tempering steel is said to have been discovered. Strabo speaks of this people as being known in former times by the name of the Chalybes, but afterwards called Chaldæi; and mentions their iron mines. These however were a different people from the Chaldeans, who were united with the Babylonians. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 15:13

13. — without price.] That is, not making thee any compensation, but inflicting these losses upon thee as a punishment for thy sins. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 15:15

15. — take me not away in thy longsuffering:] The sense may be, according to our old version, “take me not away in the continuance of thine anger:” the Prophet seeming to think, that, during a long course of God’s anger against his people, he himself, however innocent, might naturally be involved in those sufferings, which were intended for the punishment of the guilty. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 15:16

16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them;] As soon as I received or understood thy word, and the messages Thou didst deliver to me, I treasured them up in my memory; I meditated upon them, and did inwardly digest them. It was a pleasure to me to think I should be an instrument of conveying thy commands to my brethren, and that I should have the honour of being called thy prophet or messenger. The receiving of God’s word, by which the soul is nourished, is elsewhere compared to corporeal food: see Ezek. iii. 1. 3; Rev. x. 9; Isa. lv. 1, 2; Amos viii. 11; John vi. 27. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 15:17

17. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers.] The

Jeremiah 15:18

18. — wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar.] The words might be better translated, “Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a disappointment, and as waters that fail?” namely, that dry up and disappoint the thirsty traveller. The Prophet means, that God had in a manner deserted him for a time, had left him to struggle with difficulties unforeseen or unexpected, thereby disappointing in some measure his hopes of better success. Presently however, as if he had said too much, he corrects himself, and expresses his entire confidence in the Divine promises to support and strengthen him. See ver. 19—21. Dr. Waterland. — as waters that fail?] Compare Job vi. 15.

Jeremiah 15:19

19. — If thou return, then will I bring thee again, &c.] If thou bethink thyself of this thine impatience, and of thy too great regard to this murmuring and disobedient people, I will so confirm thee that they shall be forced to acknowledge thee my faithful servant; and, if thou do wisely make difference betwixt erroneous doctrine The prophet foresheweth the utter ruin of the Jews. Before CHRIST about 601. o Chap. 1. 16. & 6 27 p Chap. 20. 11.