Jeremiah 18

• argument; Under the figure of a potter, the prophet shews God*s ab- •’ solute power in disposing of kingdoms, and thereupon exhorts the Jews to repentance: he then bewails their ■ obstinacy, and thrcateneth destruction to those that devised evil against him. shall tks running waters be forsaken for the muddy ivaters? (See the following note.) Or shall the cold flowing ivaters that come from another place be forsaken?] Following the translation set down in the former note; the words majim zarim signify muddy waters, such as are brought down by a flood, deriving zarim from zerim, an inundation, in which sense Schindler supposes the word to be used, Isa. i.7. Translating the verse thus, it is exactly parallel with ii. 13. 18. Thou hast forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to drink the muddy turbid waters of Sihor. The sense is much the same, if we understand majim zarim, in its usual signification, for strange ivaters, or waters that come from another. place; that is, waters conveyed in pipes or conduits for common use.

Jeremiah 18:1

OrO, get thee apotter’s earthen bottle. An earthen pitcher with a narrow neck made to drink. outof; in the Hebrew bakbuk, called so from the noise that the draught of liquor made; so the Greek.word. fiopfivkiog, and the old Latin verb bilbire, are derived from the like sound. (See Casaubon’s, Comment on Athenaeus’s sixth Book, chap. 8.) By this emblem the prophet signified, that the city and people might as easily be destroyed, if God so pleased, as an earthen vessel could be broken. (Seexviii. 5.) And take of the ancients of the people.] Some of the members of the great Sanhcdrin. (Compare xxvi. 17. Ezek. viii. 11.).. And of the ancients of the priests] The heads of the fourand-twenty courses. (See 1 Chron. xxiv. 4.)

Jeremiah 18:2

And go forth into the valley qf the son of Hinnom. t Sce vii. 31. Which is by the entry of the east gate.] By which men entered into the temple, from whence they have a prospect of the valley of Hinnom, which lay south-east of the temple. (See Josh. xv. 8. and Dr. Lightfoot’s Description of the Temple.) The Hebrew reads, the gate Harsith, which some interpret the dang gate, -mentioned Nehcm. ii. 13. Others the potter’s gate;, the potter’s field being near the temple. (See Zech. xi. 13. Matt, xxvii. 10.) -

Jeremiah 18:3

O kings ofJudah. See xvii. 20. Hie which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.] The 4L Microsoft® C2G [chap. XX. very report of it shall astonish the hearers. (Sec 1 Sam. in. 11. 2 Kings xxi. 12.)

Jeremiah 18:4

Because they have forsaken?ne, and have estranged this place. Jerusalem was the city of God, (Psal. xlviii. 1, 2.) and the place of his peculiar residence; therefore called the holy city, Matt, xxvik 53. but the Jews in a sacrilegious manner have defiled it, by the practice of the worst and most inhuman idolatry. Nor the kings of Judah.] The good kings of former times, such as David, Asa, Jchoshaphat, Hczckiah, and Josiah. And have filled this place with the blood of innocents.] Of the children sacrificed there to Moloch. (Compare ii. 34.) •

Jeremiah 18:5

Tliey have built also the high places of Baal, &c. The words were better translated, Tliey have even built the high places, &c. for the same sin is here expressed which was mentioned in the latter part of the foregoing verse, and the copulative particle van is sometimes used by way of explication. (Sec the note on Isa. Ii. 19.) To burn their sons with fire for burntofferings to Baal.] The idol to whom these inhuman sacrifices were offered, is elsewhere called Moloch. (See Lev. xviii. 21. 2 Kings xxiii. 10.) Baal and Moloch were two names promiscuously given to one and the same idol, as appears from xxxii. 35. of this prophecy: They have built the high places qf Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Moloch. Baal and Moloch are equivalent words, both signifying lord, or king; and seem to have been promiscuously given by each idolatrous nation, to that idol they chiefly wor-. shipped. And as tho worship of Baal, or Belus, prevailed in several countries, so Moloch was esteemed a principal idol in other nations, as appears by the names of Malcom, Melicerta, Adrammelcch, Anammelech, and tho like, all derived from the word Moloch. (See Dr. Spencer, de Legibus Hebr. lib. ii. cap. 10. n. 1, 2.) Which I commanded not, &c.] See the note on vii. 31.

Jeremiah 18:6

Jm^S the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand. God’s absolute power over his creatures, both by virtue of his creating them, and having dominion over them, is justly represented by this metaphor. (See Isa. xiv. 8. Rom. ix.20.) This place shall no more be called Tophet, &c] Sec vii. 32. and tho following verse.

Jeremiah 18:7

And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, &c. They shed innocent blood in this place, (ver. 4.) and God will discomfit them here, and will cause their blood to be shed by the hand of the Chaldeans, who shall lay siege to the city.

Jeremiah 18:8

i" will repent of the evil I thought to do unto them.’) If we take repentance in a strict and proper sense, for a change of the inward purposes and resolutions, it cannot be applied to God, according to that saying of Balaam’s, God is not a man that he should repent, (Numb, xxiii. 19.) Therefore, whenever repentance is ascribed to God, it must be meant only of a change with respect to tho outwnrd administrations of his providence, and his dealing with men otherwise than he did before: and this doth not imply a change in God, but only in ourselves: he still acts by the same rules, but we, according to our different behaviour, become the objects cither of his favour or his displeasure. And I will make this city desolate, and a hissing, &c] See xviii. 16.

Jeremiah 18:9

A7id they shall cat the flesh of their sons and of their daughters, &c. A terrible judgment threatened by Moses, Dcut. xxviii. 53. to which place the text plainly alludes; and actually fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem. (Sec Lam.iv. 10.),

Jeremiah 18:10

I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them. From this and the foregoing verse we may infer. That God’s promises in Scripture, however uttered in* general terms, arc yet, for the most part, to be understood conditionally, according as men behave themselves, especially when applied to particular persons. (See Numb. xiv. 34.) And as God did justly reject those Jows, who refused to embrace the gospel, notwithstanding the general promises he had made to that people: so neither can particular Christians nor churches lay any claim to God’s general promise of preserving his church, any farther than they keep close to that rule of faith and manners, which he hath prescribed to them in the New Testament. Then thou shall break the bottle in the sight of the men.] To give them a sensible representation of the ruin threatened against them. (See li. 63,64.)

Jeremiah 18:11

Return ye now every one from his evil way, &c. See the note on xvii. 25. This and the parallel texts shew, that God’s threatenings arc not to be understood as absolute predictions, but such as may be reversed upon men’s repentance, as appears in the famous instance of Nineveh, Jonah iii. 4. 10. (Sec the note on iv. 28.) Ver*. 12.’ And they said, There is no hope, &c] See ii. 25. Even so will I break this people, and this city, &c.] The breaking of an. earthen vessel is a proper emblem of utter ruin; for such a one, when it is broken, can never be mended or put to any farther use. (Sec Isa. xxx. 14.) And they shall bury in. Tojyhet.] Sec vii. 32.

Jeremiah 18:12

And even make this city as Tophet. A place of slaughter. (See ver. 6. and the following verse.)

Jeremiah 18:13

Ask ye now among the heathen who hath heard such things. Such an apostacy as the Jews arc guilty of (sec ver. 15.) is not to be paralleled among the heathen. (Compare ii. 10.) Tfie virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.] Israel being the name that God gave Jacob, as a peculiar mark of his favour, when he blessed him and told him, that as a prince he had power with God, Gen. xxxii. 28. (compare 1 Kings xviii. 31.) denotes here God’s peculiar people, which at that time was confined to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, God having utterly cast off the ten tribes, to whom the name of Israel was commonly given> after the division of the kingdom. In this sense we find the word Israel used, xlviii. 27. Mai. i. 1. ii. 11. The virgin of Israel implies that people which was dedicated to God as a chaste virgin; (sec 2 Cor. xi. 2.) but hath since corrupted herself and gone a whoring after idols. (Compare xxxi. 4. Lam. i. 15. ii. 13. sec another sense of that phrase in the notes on xiv. 17.) And the houses of Jerusalem shall be defiled as Tophet.] Polluted with dead bodies. (See the note on vii. 32.) Because of all the houses itponwhose roofs they have burnt incense to all the host of heaven.] The Jews built their houses with flat roofs; (sec Dcut. xxii. 8.) and there they dedicated altars to the host of heaven, where they could have the fullest view of them. (Sec 2 Kings xxiii. 12. Zeph. iii. 5.)

Jeremiah 18:14

Will, a man leave the snow of Lebanon which comes from the rock of the field?. Lebanon derives its name from the whiteness of the snow that covers the top of it, even in summer-time, as travellers assure us. (Sec Maundrell’s Travels, p. 138.) " Pnecipuum montium Lebanum crigit — tantos inter ardorcs opacuni fidumque nivibus." (Tac. Hist. lib. v.) If we follow the translation in the text, the sense is, It is as strange and incredible for men to forsake the true God for idols, as it would be for a thirsty traveller to forego the cold refreshing streams that come in his way. (Sec Prov. xxv. 25.) But the word mitsor, which our English renders from the rock, may, probably, signify dew, or moisture; from whence Matsor, or Mitsraim> the name of Egypt, is derived, because of its being watered by the river Nile. And then the words may be translated thus, as a learned friend hath suggested to me: Shall one leave the moisture of the field [for] the snow-icater of Lebanon, or He stood in the court of the Lords house.] The great court, which is called the outer court, Ezek. xlvi. 21. supposed to be tho same with the new court, mentioned 2 Chron. xx. 5. as having been built since Solomon’s time. (See xxvi. 2. and Dr. Lightfoot, of the Temple, chap. 18.)

Jeremiah 18:15

Because my people hath forgotten me, and burnt incense to vanity. Idols are often called vanity, (see x. 15. xiv. 22. xvi. 19.) as being the product of men’s vain imaginations, and serving to no good end and purpose. And have caused them to stumble in their ways, from the ancient patJts, &c] The worship of idols hath perverted them from following the old beaten track, plainly set forth in the law of Moses, and in the examples and practice of former ages; (see vi. 16.) and hath engaged them in such new and untried ways of worship, as will end in their utter ruin, (ver. 1G.) Ver. 1G. To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing.’] A gesture by which the enemies of the Jews and their religion insulted over them, and expressed the satisfaction they took in their calamities. (See Lara. ii. 15, 16. 1 Kings ix. 8.) Because they have hardened their necks, &c] See the note on xviii. 23.

Jeremiah 18:17

I will scatter them as with an east wind before, tlie enemy. The calamities of war, and such-like w r asting judgments, are elsewhere compared to an-east wind, which is dry and blasting. (See Isa. xxvii. 8. Ezck. xvii. 10. xix. 12. Hos. xiii. 15.) I will shew them the back, andnot the face.] I wUlshew the same aversion to them that they have expressed towards me. (Sec ii. 27.)

Jeremiah 18:18

Let us devise devices against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Let us accuse him for a false prophet; for his threatenings plainly contradict God’s promises to his people, whereby we arc assured that there shall always be a succession of priests to explain the law; of scribes or learned men to unfold the difficulties that may arise concerning the more obscure parts of it; and of prophets to instruct the people in the knowledge of what is to come. (Compare viii. 8. Matt, xxiii. 34.) They probably grounded their confidence of a succession of priests, to explain the law, and guide men’s consciences, upon that passage of Moses, Deut. xvii. 9. where they arc commanded to consult the priests upon any emergent difficxdly, and follow their determinations. (Compare vii. 4.) Basnage, in his History of the Jews, book iii. chap. 29. by wise men, understands those who were appointed judges of controversies in their synagogues, whoso business it was to give counsel or determination in such cases as were brought before them; in which sense he understands the unseman “mentioned by St. Paul, 1 Cor. vi. 5. Come let us smite him with the tongue (ox for the tongue, that is, for his bold speeches against the government), and. vol. in. let us. not give heed to any of his words.] Let us accuse him of crimes against the state, and by that means take away his life, and then all his prophecies will die with him. This expression is parallel to that of Joseph’s brethren, (Gen. xxxvii. 20.) Come now, and let us slay him — and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

Jeremiah 18:20

For they have digged a pit for my sonL. They have laid a design against my life, ver. 18. (Compare Psal. xxxv. 7. lvii. 6.) Remember that I stood before thee to speak. good for them.] In the execution of my prophetical office, I always interposed with my prayers in their behalf, to avert those judgments which by thy command I denounced against them. (See the note on xv. 1.)

Jeremiah 18:21

TJierefore deliver up their children to the famine, &c. Since they are thus incorrigible, I shall not any more intercede for them, but let those calamities of famine and sword, with which thou hast threatened them, overtake them. (See xvi. 4. and the note upon xi. 20.) t

Jeremiah 18:22

Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou bringest a troop suddenly upon them. When they are unexpectedly assaulted by a troop of their enemies, that come to plunder and destroy them. (Seexx. 6.)

Jeremiah 18:23

But they made their neck stiff/. A metaphor taken from oxen that draw back, and refuse to put their neck under the yoke. (Sec vii. 2G. xix. 15.) Yet, Lord, thou knowest, &c] Or rather, For, Lord, thou knowest, &c.. Forgive not their iniquity.] Compare xi. 20. xv. 15. Psal. lix. 5. Itredounds to the glory of God’s, justice, that incorrigible sinners should meet. with exemplary punishment. CHAP. XIX.:, ARGUMENT.. Under the type of breaking a potter’s vessel, is foreshowed’ the desolation of the Jews for their sins.

Tlien shall there enter into the gate of this city, kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David. Compare xxii. 4. From hence it appears, that tho judgments denounced against Jerusalem, at least as far as they threatened the city with utter destruction, were not irreversible. And from Jeremy’s advico to Zedekiah, (xxxviii. 17.) it may be concluded, that if the king had hearkened to that counsel, the city would not have been destroyed, and he himself might have continued a tributary king under Nebuchadnezzar. It is true, that in several other chapters of this prophecy, God, upon foresight of the* Jews’ impenitence, pronounces a peremptory sentence upon them. (Sec the note on iv. 28.)

From the land of Benjamin. See the note on i. 1. vi. 1. And from the plain, and from the mountains.] The country of Judea, properly so called, i. e. the country allotted to the tribe of Judah,was divided into the hill country, (see. Josh.xxi.21. Luke i. 39.) and the plain or champaigne country; the same wordis rendered valley, xxxii. 44. This lower part reached down to the lake Asphaltites, called the sea of the plain, or the Salt Sea, Deut. iii. 17. And from the south.] That part of Judah which is called the wilderness of Judea, Matt. iii. 1. Josh. xv. 61. By reason of this situation of the wilderness, the word itself sometimes is put for the south. (See Psal. Ixxv. 6.) Bringing burnt-offerings and sacrifices, andmeat-offerings, and incense.] See the notes upon vii. 21. xiv. 12; Incense was always laid upon the meat-offerings. (See Lev. ii. 1,2.) And bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of the Lord.] The peace-offerings were of three sorts; either vows, voluntary or free-will-offerings, and offerings of praise or thanksgiving. (See Lev. vii. 15, 16.) These were offered as grateful acknowledgments for deliverances -in time of danger, or for other mercies received. (Sec Psal. c vii. 22. cxvi, 17.)

Tlien will I kindle afire in the gates thereof, &c. CompareLam.iv.il.