Jeremiah 6
DOYLY— a sign of fire] The Prophets often speak of these signals, which were raised upon the heights, to give notice to distant people of the approach and the irruptions of an enemy. They are particularly convenient and useful in mountainous countries like Judea. Calmet.
Jeremiah 6:3
- The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her;] Meaning the Chaldean generals, (for in that sense “shepherds” are sometimes understood; see chap. xxv. 34,) and their armies. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 6:4
- Prepare ye war against her; &c.] Then shall the eager and furious commanders say, Hasten your preparations against her; arise, let us take the day before us; the time flees away; the evening hastens on; let no minutes be lost for our assault. Bp. Hall.
The alacrity and eagerness with which the Chaldeans undertake and execute the commission with which they were charged, is described in this and the following verse in a beautiful vein of poetry. Though it was late in the day before they received their orders, they are for beginning their march immediately; and, though it was night before they got to the place, they are unwilling to put off the assault till morning. Dr. Blayney.
Jeremiah 6:6
- — Hew ye down trees,] Which were to be employed in the siege of Jerusalem. Dr. Blayney. See the note on chap. xxxii. 24.
Jeremiah 6:8
- Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, &c.] Take warning by the many threatenings and judgments I have denounced against thee; amend thy ways and doings, lest, if thou persist in thy wickedness, my mind and affection be utterly alienated from thee, (see Ezek. xxiii. 17, 18; Hos. ix. 12,) and I cast off all bowels of compassion toward thee, and give thee up to ruin and desolation. This threatening God fulfilled afterwards, when He suffered the city and nation to be utterly ruined and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar: but it still received a further completion, in that final desolation brought upon them by the Romans, under Titus and Vespasian. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 6:9
- — turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.] That is, take them again into thine hand, and begin the work of gathering or gleaning anew. The address is from God to the Chaldeans; exhorting them, like a grapegatherer, to return again after the first time, and pick up those few inhabitants that were left before, like the grape-gleanings, and to carry them also into captivity. The Chaldeans did so, as may be seen, chap. iii. 28—30. Dr. Blayney.
Jeremiah 6:10
- — their ear is uncircumcised,] See the note on Exod. vi. 12.
— and they cannot hearken:] While men are not duly disposed to hear the truth, they cannot give due attention to what God speaks to them. In the same sense Christ saith to the Jews, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another?” John v. 44; meaning, that such a temper was an obstacle to their believing on Him, and hindered them from receiving the truth in the love of it. W. Lowth. They cannot, because they will not, hear. Woe betide those, who have placed themselves by their own fault out of a condition of hearkening to the voice of God! It is the remark of St. Jerome upon this passage, “Inability, which proceeds from scorn and unbelief, is not exempted from punishment.” Calmet.
— the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach;] The subject of their scorn and derision: see chap. xx. 8. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 6:11
- Therefore—I will pour it out &c.] See note on chap. i. 10. The Prophet is here said to pour out the Divine “fury upon the children abroad,” who take delight in playing in the street; see Zech. viii. 5; and the “young men who assemble” in meetings for diversion or conversation: compare chap. ix. 21. W. Lowth.
— the aged with him that is full of days.] From hence it appears, that the word here rendered “the aged” means only that a man has passed a certain time of life, which may be considered as his zenith, so as from thenceforth to be upon the decline. In contradistinction to whom is placed one, who is arrived at what is esteemed the full period of human life; in respect to which the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, David,
Before CHRIST about 612. loused, or, dispointed. The prophet proclaimeth God’s wrath.
Jeremiah 6:14
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They have healed also the hurt &c.] Instead of sharp and seasonable reproofs, they have gone about to salve up the spiritual sores of my people with flattering and plausible words; Peace, peace, all shall be well; when there is nothing but fear and danger. Bp. Hall.
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Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, Shame is a great restraint upon sinners at first; but that soon falls off: and when men have once lost their innocence, their modesty is not like to be long troublesome to them. For impudence comes on with vice, and grows up with it. Smaller vices do not banish all shame and modesty, but great and abominable crimes harden men’s foreheads, and make them shameless. When men have the heart to do a very bad thing, they seldom want the face to bear it out. Abp. Tillotson.
Jeremiah 6:16
- — Stand ye in the ways, &c.] Do like travellers, when they are at a loss which way they must go: in like manner do ye enquire what way the patriarchs of old, the judges, the kings, and prophets of former times walked in: imitate their practices, wherein you will find
true comfort and satisfaction, and not the late devices of your princes and prophets, whereby you have been seduced into error, and betrayed into many mischiefs. Compare chap. xviii. 15. W. Lowth.
Jeremiah 6:20
- To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba.] See Isa. lx. 6. The Prophet reproves the hypocrisy of the Jews, whereby they sought to cover their inward corruption by the external shews of religion: which the Prophets often declare to be of no value when they do not proceed from a devout mind: see chap. vii. 21, 22; Isa. 1. 11. W. Lowth.
— the sweet cane from a far country? The calamus aromaticus is a reed of a very fragrant smell; which, when cut down, dried, and powdered, becomes an ingredient of the richest perfumes. We are informed by heathen writers that it came from Saba. Dr. Blayney.
- — gird thee with sackcloth, See the note on Gen. xxxvii. 29.
Jeremiah 6:27
- I have set thee for a tower and a fortress] As for thee, O my Prophet, I have set thee as in a watchtower, to descry the ways of my people; yea, I have made thee as a strong tower and fortress against all the rage of them; so that thou mayest fearlessly discover and reprove them. Bp. Hall.
Jeremiah is sent to call for true repentance. Before CHRIST about 612. m Ezek. 22. 18. n Isa. 1. 22. Or, Refuse silver. walking with slanders: they are m brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
Jeremiah 6:28
28.—they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.] They are all but falsifiers and corrupters. Bp. Hall. Brass and iron are the baser metals, used to adulterate the pure silver. Dr. Blayney.
Jeremiah 6:29
- The bellows are burned, &c.] All the means, that can be used to purge this people of their dross, prove ineffectual: the wicked are not separated from the righteous. Therefore your city shall be as one common furnace, wherein you shall be melted down all together. See Ezek. xxii. 19, &c. W. Lowth. —the lead is consumed of the fire;] Before the use of quicksilver was known, the refiners made use of lead for separating the silver from the other substances mixed with it. So we learn from Pliny’s Natural History. Dr. Blayney. —the wicked are not plucked away.] Or, “the bad are not separated.” By “the bad” are meant, according to the metaphor, “the base ingredients;” that is, the bad principles and habits, which prevail so much, and adhere so closely, that all the endeavours and pains used by the refiner to purge them away and get clear of them are frustrated, and prove ineffectual: so that, as it follows in the next verse, nothing remains but to throw them aside, as a metal disallowed and cried down by authority, counterfeiting silver, but not capable of being brought to the sterling standard. Dr. Blayney.
Jeremiah 6:30
- Reprobate silver shall men call them, &c.] As base money is refused by every one, because it cannot bear the touchstone, so shall these hypocrites and evildoers be rejected both by God and by man; for none of their actions will bear the test of God’s laws, or abide his severe trial. The Greek word, which is rendered “reprobate” in the New Testament, has an allusion to this place; and, in pursuance of the same metaphor, the laws and judgments of God are often compared to a refiner’s fire: see Prov. xvii. 3; Isa. i. 25; Zech. xiii. 9; Mal. iii. 2, 3; 1 Pet. i. 7. W. Lowth. Chap. VII. ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah] A new prophecy begins with this chapter, and is continued on to the end of chap. x. The date is not precisely marked; but the probability is, that it was delivered not long after the preceding one, and, as it should seem, on the following occasion. Besides the Prophets, who were commissioned to announce the approaching