Jeremiah 20
DOYLY— Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars &c.] My pretended friends encourage one another in spreading false reports of me; or desire to hear from my mouth more prophecies, in hopes to find some matter of accusation against me, whereby they might take away my life, and so satisfy their desire of revenge. W. Lowth.
— if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works.] If He will shew his wonderful power, in giving us a total deliverance from the hands of our enemies the Chaldeans. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 20:2
- — the stocks] More properly “the house of correction.” The original word occurs twice besides; chap.
f Chap. 7. 32. g Chap. 32. 29. Pashur’s fearful doom. Jeremiah complaineth of contempt, Before CHRIST about 605. That is, fear round about. b 2 Kings 20. 17.
that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
Jeremiah 20:12
- But, O Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous,] Who maketh trial of his faith and patience by affliction. See Ps. xi. 5. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 20:14
- Cursed be the day &c.] What we here read is a lamentation written in a poetical strain, like the dirges which the mourning women used to sing; wherein strong poetical figures are used, and all the circumstances brought in, that are proper to raise the passions, but which it would be extremely wrong to interpret in a strict and literal sense; and therefore the imprecations of the Prophet are not to be looked upon as so many expressions of indignation and malice, but rather of mourning and sorrow. Divested of this poetical heightening, all that the Prophet says amounts only to this: that the man, who had brought his father the tidings of his birth, had been in reality the messenger of ill news instead of good; for that, as things had turned out with him, it would have been a kinder and more charitable office to have strangled him in the womb, than to have assisted in bringing him into the world, to lead a life of so much bitterness and disquietude. W. Lowth, Dr. Blayney. Compare Job iii. 1.
Jeremiah 20:15
- — the man who brought tidings to my father,] It is the custom in Persia, to announce to the father the birth of his male children with particular ceremonies. Sir J. Chardin. And something of this kind appears to have prevailed among the Jews. Harmer. See Job iii. 3; and the note there.
many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. † All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.
Jeremiah 20:16
- — let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide.] The alarm of war, or such a rejoicing as the enemies make over the vanquished. The version signifies the being perpetually beset with terrours of hostile invasion. W. Lowth.
Chap. XXI. From the two first verses of this chapter we learn, that it was delivered in answer to a message sent by king Zedekiah, when Nebuchadnezzar was coming to make war against him; that is, about the ninth year of his reign. All the intermediate prophecies therefore of Jehoiakim’s reign, and of the eight first years of Zedekiah’s, ought properly to precede this.
This chapter contains the first of those prophecies, which were delivered by Jeremiah subsequent to the revolt of Zedekiah, and the breaking out of the war thereupon; and which are continued on to the taking of Jerusalem, related in chap. xxxiv. in the following order: chap. xxi. xxxiv. xxxvii. xxviii. xxxxiii. xxxviii. xxxix.
The message in this chapter has by some been confounded with that in chap. xxxvii: but they appear to be clearly distinct from each other. From the reply given to that in chap. xxxvii, it is manifest that the Chaldeans, who had been besieging Jerusalem for some time, had already raised the siege, and were gone to meet the Egyptian army, leaving the Jews in great hopes that they would never return again. But the terms of this message seem to imply, that the king of Babylon had but just commenced his hostilities against Judah, of which Zedekiah informs the Prophet, as of a matter that might not have come to his certain knowledge; and desires him to intercede with God, that He would divert the storm by some such extraordinary interposition as He had been wont to manifest in favour of his people, ver. 1, 2. The answer likewise takes no notice of any siege or operations past, but simply regards the future, which it is declared should end unfortunately, because
Jeremiah foretelleth a hard siege, and counsellet the people to surrender.