“At that time,” says Yahweh, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.
Parallel Translations
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“At that time,” says Yahweh, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.
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At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
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At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 8:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 6:5 I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols. I will scatter your bones around your altars.
- 1 Kings 13:2 He cried against the altar by Yahweh’s word, and said, “Altar! Altar! Yahweh says: ‘Behold, a son will be born to David’s house, Josiah by name. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’ ”
- 2 Kings 23:16 As Josiah turned himself, he spied the tombs that were there in the mountain; and he sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them on the altar, and defiled it, according to Yahweh’s word which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
- 2 Kings 23:20 He killed all the priests of the high places that were there, on the altars, and burned men’s bones on them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
- 2 Chronicles 34:4-5 They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and he cut down the incense altars that were on high above them. He broke the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images in pieces, made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 7:32-34 Therefore behold, the days come”, says Yahweh, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away. Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.”
- Ezekiel 37:1 Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in Yahweh’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.
- Amos 2:1 Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain I Have said that Jeremiah repeats in the first…
I Have said that Jeremiah repeats in the first verse what he had before said, — that the Jews would be deprived of their graves, in order that there might be on the dead a mark of God’s vengeance; as though he had said, that after having been destroyed by the hand of enemies, they would have their punishment extended farther by having their dead bodies exposed to the wild beasts and birds. The faithful, as I have said, suffer no loss, when burial is denied them; but yet they do not disregard burial, inasmuch as it is a badge of the resurrection. Though God suffers them to be involved in this disgrace with the reprobate, yet this does not hinder but that God should execute his vengeance on the wicked by such a temporal punishment as turns to a blessing to the faithful. It is therefore no unmeaning denunciation, when the Prophet says that the time was at hand, when their bones would be taken out of their graves.
He mentions the bones of kings, and of priests, and of prophets, and of the whole people The kings thought that as soon as they were hid in their graves, their dead bodies would be deemed sacred: the same notion prevailed as to rulers, priests, and prophets: but he says that no grave would be untouched or free from the outrage of enemies; and thus he shews, that the city would be rooted up from its foundations. Were the city to remain safe, the graves would be spared. Hence this punishment could not have been inflicted, without the very foundations of the city being dug up by the enemies. In short, he points out here a dreadful and final overthrow; and at the same time he shews the reason why God would manifest such severity towards the Jews.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The enemy for greediness of gain shall rifle your…
The enemy for greediness of gain shall rifle your graves, and lay you before those idols, which in your life you worshipped, to see if they can help you.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 8:1 At that time, saith the LORD, they…
Jer 8:1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
Ver. 1. At that time they shall bring out the bones.] They shall not suffer the dead to rest in their graves, maxime propter ornamenta in sepulchris condita, chiefly for the treasure the Chaldees shall there look for. See 2Ch 36:19 Neh 2:3; Joseph. Antiq., lib. xiii. c. 15. /Apc Bar 2:24. For extremity of despite also, dead men’s bones have been digged up. Pope Formosus was so dealt with by his successor, Stephanus VI, {a} and many of the holy martyrs by their barbarous persecutors. Cardinal Pool had a purpose to have taken up King Henry VIII’s body at Windsor, and to have burned it, but was prevented by death. {b} Charles V would not violate Luther’s grave, though he were solicited so to do when he had conquered Saxony. But if he had, it had been never the worse with Luther; who, being asked where he would rest, answered, Sub coelo: coelo tegitur qui caret urna. Under the sky: the sky is the covering for those who lose their funeral urn. Of all fowl, we most hate and detest the crows; and of all beasts the jackals, a kind of foxes in Barbary; because the one digs up the graves and devours the flesh, the other picketh out the eyes of the dead.
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{a} A.D. 897.
{b} Acts and Mon., 1905. Ibid., 1784.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This chapter being a continuation of the former, he…
This chapter being a continuation of the former, he proceeds in carrying on the threatening with higher aggravations of the judgment, viz. that when the time shall come spoken of Jer 7:32, the Chaldeans’ rage shall reach, not only to the living, but even against those that are in their graves, and that sparing none of any degree or quality.
They shall bring out the bones of the nobles and princes, as Manasseh and others, possibly led to it out of greediness, supposing to find great treasure in their sepulchres; of the
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priests and prophets, principally the false ones, as a just judgment of God against them for deceiving the people; of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their spite and fury kindled against them, as soldiers, or in contempt and ignominy: and this notes the utter desolation of the city, not only razing the walls, but turning up the very sepulchres, which were accounted sacred, and not to be violated.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain These verses might fitly have been joined to the…
These verses might fitly have been joined to the close of the foregoing chapter, as giving a further description of the dreadful desolation which the army of the Chaldeans should make in the land. It shall strangely alter the property of death itself, and for the worse too.
I. Death shall not now be, as it always used to be - the repose of the dead. When Job makes his court to the grave it is in hope of this, that there he shall rest with kings and counsellors of the earth; but now the ashes of the dead, even of kings and princes, shall be disturbed, and their bones scattered at the grave's mouth, Psa 141:7. It was threatened in the close of the former chapter that the slain should be unburied; that might be through neglect, and was not so strange; but here we find the graves of those that were buried industriously and maliciously opened by the victorious enemy, who either for covetousness, hoping to find treasure in the graves, or for spite to the nation and in a rage against it, brought out the bones of the kings of Judah and the princes. The dignity of their sepulchres could not secure them, nay, did the more expose them to be rifled; but it was base and barbarous thus to trample upon royal dust. We will hope that the bones of good Josiah were not disturbed, because he piously protected the bones of the man of God when he burnt the bones of the idolatrous priests, Kg2 23:18. The bones of the priests and prophets too were digged up and thrown about. Some think the false prophets and the idol-priests, God putting this mark of ignominy upon them: but, if they were God's prophets and his priests, it is what the Psalmist complains of as the fruit of the outrage of the enemies, Psa 79:1, Psa 79:2. Nay, those of the spiteful Chaldeans that could not reach to violate the sepulchres of princes and priests would rather play at small game than sit out, and therefore pulled the bones of the ordinary inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves. The barbarous nations were sometimes guilty of these absurd and inhuman triumphs over those they had conquered, and God permitted it here, for a mark of his displeasure against the generation of his wrath, and for terror to those that survived. The bones, being dug out of the graves, were spread abroad upon the face of the earth in contempt, and to make the reproach the more spreading and lasting. They spread them to be dried that they might carry them about in triumph, or might make fuel of them, or make some superstitious use of them. They shall be spread before the sun (for they shall not be ashamed openly to avow the fact at noon day) and before the moon and stars, even all the host of heaven, whom they have made idols of, Jer 8:2. From the mention of the sun, moon, and stars, which should be the unconcerned spectators of this tragedy, the prophet takes occasion to show how they had idolized them, and paid those respects to them which they should have paid to God only, that it might be observed how little they got by worshipping the creature, for the creatures they worshipped when they were in distress saw it, but regarded it not, nor gave them any relief, but were rather pleased to see those abused in being vilified by whom they had been abused in being deified. See how their respects to their idols are enumerated, to show how we ought to behave towards our God. 1. They loved them. As amiable being and bountiful benefactors they esteemed them and delighted in them, and therefore did all that follows. 2. They served them, did all they could in honour of them, and thought nothing too much; they conformed to all the laws of their superstition, without disputing. 3. They walked after them, strove to imitate and resemble them, according to the characters and accounts of them they had received, which gave rise and countenance to much of the abominable wickedness of the heathen. 4. They sought them, consulted them as oracles, appealed to them as judges, implored their favour, and prayed to them as their benefactors. 5. They worshipped them, gave them divine honour, as having a sovereign dominion over them. Before these light of heaven, which they had courted, shall their dead bodies be cast, and left to putrefy, and to be as dung upon the face of the earth; and the sun's shining upon them will but make them the more noisome and offensive. Whatever we make a god of but the true God only, it will stand us in no stead on the other side death and the grave, nor for the body, much less for the soul.
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II. Death shall now be what it never used to be - the choice of the living, not because there appears in it any thing delightsome; on the contrary, death never appeared in more horrid frightful shapes than now, when they cannot promise themselves either a comfortable death or a human burial; and yet every thing in this world shall become so irksome, and all the prospects so black and dismal, that death shall be chosen rather than life (Jer 8:3), not in a believing hope of happiness in the other life, but in an utter despair of any ease in this life. The nation is now reduced to a family, so small is the residue of those that remain in it; and it is an evil family, still as bad as ever, their hearts unhumbled and their lusts unmortified. These remain alive (and that is all) in the many places whither they were driven by the judgments of God, some prisoners in the country of their enemies, others beggars in their neighbour's country, and others fugitives and vagabonds there and in their own country. And, though those that died died very miserably, yet those that survived and were thus driven out should live yet more miserably, so that they should choose death rather than life, and wish a thousand times that they had fallen with those that fell by the sword. Let this cure us of the inordinate love of life, that the case may be such that it may become a burden and terror, and we may be strongly tempted to choose strangling and death rather.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring…
At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah,.... That is, either the Chaldeans or the Romans would do this; for this refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, either by the former or the latter; and it is certain that Jerusalem was ploughed up by the Romans, whereby the prophecy in Mic 3:12 was accomplished; when it is highly probable the graves were dug up, and the bones of the dead brought out, and scattered abroad by way of revenge; or it may be that graves were opened, especially the graves of kings and great men, for the sake of finding treasure in them: it follows,
and the bones of his princes; of the princes of Judah:
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and the bones of the priests; that sacrificed to idols:
and the bones of the prophets: the false prophets; though this might be the case of the priests and prophets of the Lord; whose bones, in this general devastation, might be exposed as well as others; which of all might be thought to be the most sacred: and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves; high and low, rich and poor, male and female; their graves, in common, were without the city.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The calamity of the Jews, both dead and alive,…
The calamity of the Jews, both dead and alive, ver. 1-3. Their brutish impenitency, ver. 4-7. Their vain boast of wisdom: their covetousness, security, impudence, ver. 8-12. Their grievous judgments, ver. 13-17. Bewailed by the prophet, ver. 18-22.
The bones - This denotes the utter desolation of the city, not only rasing the walls, but turning up the very sepulchres which were accounted sacred, and not to be violated.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The judgments threatened in the last chapter are here…
CHAPTER VIII
The judgments threatened in the last chapter are here declared
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to extend to the very dead, whose tombs should be opened, and
the carcasses treated with every mark of indignity, 1-3.
From this the prophet returns to reprove them for their
perseverance in transgression, 4-6;
and for their thoughtless stupidity, which even the instinct of
the brute creation, by a beautiful contrast, is made to
upbraid, 7-9.
This leads to farther threatening expressed in a variety of
striking terms, 10-13.
Upon which a chorus of Jews is introduced, expressing their
terror on the news of the invasion, 14, 15;
which is greatly heightened in the next verse by the prophet's
hearing the snorting of Nebuchadnezzar's horses even from Dan,
and then seeing the devastation made by his army, 16,
whose cruelties God himself declares no entreaties will soften,
17.
On this declaration the prophet laments most bitterly the fate
of the daughter of his people, changing the scene unawares to
the place of her captivity, where she is introduced answering
in mournful responses to the prophet's dirge, 18-22.
The variety of images and figures used to diversify the same
subject is equally pleasing and astonishing. The dress is
generally new, always elegant.
NOTES ON CHAP. VIII
Verse 1. They shall bring out the bones] This and the two following verses are a continuation of the preceding prophecy, and should not have been separated from the foregoing chapter.
In order to pour the utmost contempt upon the land, the victorious enemies dragged out of their graves, caves, and sepulchres, the bones of kings, princes, prophets, priests, and the principal inhabitants, and exposed them in the open air; so that they became, in the order of God's judgments, a reproach to them in the vain confidence they had in the sun, moon, and the host of heaven-all the planets and stars, whose worship they had set up in opposition to that of Jehovah. This custom of raising the bodies of the dead, and scattering their bones about, seems to have been general. It was the highest expression of hatred and contempt. Horace refers to it: -
Barbarus, heu, cineres insistet victor, et urbem
Eques sonante verberabit ungula:
Quaeque carent ventis et solibus ossa Quirini
(Nefas videre) dissipabit insolens.
Epod. xvi. 11.
"Barbarians fell shall wanton with success,
Scatter the city's flaming ruins wide;
Or through her streets in vengeful triumph ride,
And her great founder's hallowed ashes spurn,
That slept uninjured in the sacred urn."
FRANCIS.
See this judgment referred to, Baruch 2:24, 25.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 8:1-2. At that time, &c. — The first…
Jer 8:1-2. At that time, &c. — The first three verses of this chapter properly belong to the preceding, and ought not to have been separated from it. They shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah — “The Chaldeans shall regard neither the living nor the dead. They shall put the living to death without remorse; and shall break open and defile the tombs of the dead, in hopes of finding riches deposited there. They shall cast them out of their sepulchres, and leave them upon the ground, without staying to collect them together, and replace them.” We learn from Josephus (Antiq, lib. 7, cap. ult.) that King Solomon laid up vast treasures in his father’s sepulchre, which remained untouched till the pontificate of Hyrcanus, who, on a public emergency, opened one of the cells, and took out at once three thousand talents of silver. And afterward Herod the Great opened another cell, out of which he also took considerable wealth. That it was no uncommon practice at the sacking of cities to open the monuments of the great, and scatter their bones abroad without concerning themselves to cover them again, the learned reader may see in Horace’s 16th Epod. Jer 50:13. And they shall spread, or expose, them before the sun and the moon, &c. — The idols which they have worshipped, but which shall not be able to help them in their misery. Whom they have loved, served, walked after, sought, worshipped — The prophet multiplies words to express their extraordinary zeal in the service of their idols, and to ridicule the folly and madness of their idolatry. And they shall not be gathered, &c. — The bones which shall be thus scattered about shall not be gathered again, or laid up in their sepulchres.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Not the living only but the dead shall be…
Not the living only but the dead shall be exposed to the ruthless violence of the enemy, who will ransack the graves of the wealthier classes.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Graves. They might suppose that they would find treasures…
Graves. They might suppose that they would find treasures in them, as the tombs of Semiramis, Cyrus, &c., were thus enriched. This inhumanity seems to have taken place before the last siege, Baruch ii. 24. (Calmet) Quæque carent ventis et solibus ossa Quirini
Nefas videre dissipabit insoleas.----- (Horace, epod. 16.)
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--- Cruelty and avarice cause persecutors to act thus. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 1 At this time, saith Jehovah, they shall bring1
1. 6. FULFILMENT OF RETRIBUTION CORRESPONDING TO THE IDOL-ABOMINATIONS
Jer_8:1-3
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1 At this time, saith Jehovah, they shall bring1
The bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of his princes,
And the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets,
And the bones of the citizens of Jerusalem out of their graves,
2 And they shall spread them out to the sun,
And to the moon, and to all the host of heaven,
Which they loved and which they served and followed,
And which they sought and worshipped;
They shall not be gathered, nor buried;
They shall be dung on the surface of the earth.
3 And the whole remnant of the survivors of this wicked race
Shall prefer2 death to life in all places of the survivors3,
Whither I have driven them, saith Jehovah Zebaoth.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
It is clear from the contents that this strophe is closely connected with the preceding. Death is to come in a new form, as it were, in those who are already dead. The bones of the buried shall be disinterred and strewed in the face of the stars, their powerless deities, shall become stinking ordure (Jer_8:1-2). And the surviving remnant will long for death as a benefit (Jer_8:3).
Jer_8:1-2. At this time, saith Jehovah … surface of the earth. Of the motive of the disinterment the prophet says nothing. He had certainly no idea of its being the search for booty (Jerome, Hitzig, [Henderson]). He has in mind only the punitive justice of God.—His before princes is to be referred to the kings, viz., the princes of each king or kingdom, or of the crown. Comp. Jer_24:8; Jer_25:19; Jer_34:21. We should have expected in reference to Judah their princes, as in Isa_3:4; Hos_7:16; Hos_9:15.—Spread them out. Observe the irony. The stars look powerlessly down on the bones of their worshippers—while these send up a stench!—Gathered. Comp. Jer_16:4; Jer_25:33.—For the subject-matter compare 2Sa_21:12 sqq.
Jer_8:3. And the whole remnant … saith Jehovah. The discourse concludes with a parting glance at the survivors, who are the most unfortunate of all. Comp. Jer_25:26.—On the subject-matter comp. Jer_24:8 sqq.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer_7:1. The exhortation which Jeremiah here addresses to his contemporaries is, as Chrysostom remarks, substantially the same as that of John the Baptist to the Jews of his time: “Bring forth therefore fruits—meet for repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” But there is a difference between trusting in descent from Abraham, and in the stone Sanctuary at Jerusalem. For as the tabernacle and the sanctuary at Shiloh have disappeared, so the temple built by Solomon and the ark of the covenant itself; and even the temple re-erected without the ark was destroyed a second time by Titus and not rebuilt, though according to the testimony of Josephus (Bell. Jud. VI. 2, 1) the mad resistance of the Jews was chiefly based on the idea that Jerusalem being the city of God was in no danger of destruction. Now while the sacred places and buildings for worship, from the tabernacle to the temple of Herod, were destroyed, never to be rebuilt (comp. Jer_3:16 לֹא יֵעָשְׁה עוֹר) the descent from Abraham, in spite of all temporary reversions, retains its eternal significance, as the Apostle Paul shows in Romans 11, where he says, “If the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy so are the branches. … If some of the branches have been broken off on account of unbelief, yet they may be grafted in again. … For according to the Gospel, he says, I regard them as enemies, but according to the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” If now to trust in descent from Abraham is in so far foolish and unjustifiable, as it does not prevent partial destruction of the nation, to trust in the outward sanctuary, constructed of earthly material, is still less justifiable, for this has no guarantee of continuance; it may indeed suffer total destruction without endangering the foundations of the theocracy. Just as unjustifiable as this confidence of the Jews in an earthly sanctuary as the chosen place of divine presence and blessing is every analogous confidence of the Christian church in a real or supposed divinely chosen earthly substratum of tokens of blessing, whether it be a place, office or race. All the places consecrated by the presence of the Lord and the ministry of His apostles have been destroyed and given up to the abomination of desolation: Jerusalem with the Mt. of Olives and Golgotha, Bethlehem, Nazareth, the whole of Palestine, Asia Minor and Greece, became Christian and yet fell a prey to the crescent. All the less may Rome count on perpetuity, since the chair of Peter rests not on divine but on arbitrary human institution. So also the legitimate ruling families of Europe, who so fondly imagine, that they are irrevocably chosen, should never forget that the Lord not only appoints but deposes kings. (Comp. Dan_4:32; Dan_5:21).
2. Petrus Galatinus (de Arc. cath. 8:5:10) remarks (according to Ghisler.) that some Rabbins refer the lying word of the thrice repeated הֵיכָל to the false hope of those who suppose that a third temple will yet be built. But this hope is not a false one. It certainly will not be realized in the erection of a third sanctuary of stone but in that spiritual body of which we must regard Ezekiel’s temple as the type. Comp. Balmer-Rinck, on the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the temple, Basel, 1858, and my review of this work in Reut. Rep. 1860, H. III. S. 151, 2. This is not of course to say that the thrice repeated word does not really refer to the third temple.
3. “If God has not His temple and abode in the heart, that (viz., that thou hast an outward temple or house of God) will avail thee nothing.” Mic_3:11-12. Starke.
4. “The words ‘this is the Lord’s temple’ might properly be written on the hearts of believers,” 1Co_3:16; Gen_28:17. Starke.
5. “It is a heathenish delusion and false confidence to suppose that God is bound to any place or spot, as the Trojans thought because they had the temple of Pallas in their city it could not be taken, and in the present day the manner of the Papists is to bind Christ to Rome and the chair of Peter, and then defiantly maintain ‘I shall never be moved’ (Psa_10:6). For, they say, the ship of Peter may sink a little, but not altogether. Then the only point that is deficient is this, that they are not the ship of Peter, but rather an East Indianman with a cargo of Indian apes and such like foreign merchandize, pearls, purple, silk, brass, iron, silver, gold, incense, lead, that they may carry on simony and make merchandize of religion, and deceive the whole world (Rev_18:11 sqq.).” Cramer.
6. On Jer_7:9-11. Necessary as the doctrine of the church is in the organic system of Christian doctrine it may become dangerous, if the church is regarded one-sidedly as an objectively saving-institution, and the subjective conditions of its operation are undervalued. For then it is regarded as alone necessary to salvation, and not only in the sense that this virtue is ascribed exclusively to one particular church in opposition to another, but also in the sense of supposing that the church alone, as an objective institution, is the means of salvation, a man needing to do nothing more than to enter into a passive relation to the church, i.e., without conscious resistance (obex). From this alone saving church there is but one step to the infallibly saving, i.e., to that, of which a passive member cannot be lost, however much he may steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, etc. Where this ruinous delusion prevails men enter the church, perform the ceremonies, wipe their mouths, and say salvi sumus (נִעַלְנוּ). But thus the church of Christ becomes a den of robbers.
7. On Jer_7:16. “This may serve to comfort you, for God thus testifies to the power of prayer, that it would stand in His way so that He could not go on. Therefore He had first of all to forbid the prophet from praying. Thus also He says to Moses (Exo_32:10) ‘Let Me alone that My wrath may burn against them. So much may a believing prayer accomplish.” Cramer.
8. On Jer_7:22-23. In Psa_51:16-17, we read “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Had sacrifices and burnt-offerings been positively displeasing to God, He would have forbidden them. But they must have been pleasing to Him even as types of the sacrifice on Golgotha. They displease Him only when He is to accept them instead of a broken and contrite heart. The sacrifices have thus a two-fold significance; objectively as types, and in so far as God beholds in every sacrifice that of Christ, they are pleasing to Him—subjectively, as the offering of man. But when in this relation God is to be satisfied with the fat and blood of an animal instead of the spiritual oblatio cordis, the sacrifice is displeasing. Thus as the sacrifice is on the one hand pleasing, on the other displeasing, Jeremiah might say that God did not speak of sacrifices, though on the other hand it is admitted, that He did speak of them.
9. On Jer_7:26. “It is an evil consolation, and one of the greatest exercises of the witnesses, when they are treated with such indifference, that they are not opposed, but also receive no real attention. Then is Satan most firmly seated, and his business best established when he has induced such a state of indifference. Phlegm in religion, patience in hearers (a sign that they are inured to blows) is an incurable evil. So long as they are calumniated, persecuted, mocked, the witnesses still have a handle. But the time, when one preaches and no one rises, is a miserable epoch for the ministry. Yet it must be endured, for it is either not general or a teacher is usually free. For because the Lord ‘spews out of His mouth’ such men and such times of lethargy are heralds of the overflowing of the divine judgments, and especially of the removal of the candlestick from its place, there is generally a new period for the teachers, and they become elsewhere a great nation (Exo_32:10)” Zinzendorf.
10. On Jer_7:33. “Charitati Christianæ et legi naturæ consentaneum est, ut hominum cadavera terra obruantur, unde Augustinus (De Civ. D. I. 13); non contemnenda et abjicienda sunt corpora justorum et fidelium, quibus tanquam organis et vasis suis ad omnia bona opera spiritus sanctus fuit usus.” Förster.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_7:1-3. [Henry:—“Note: (1) Even those that profess religion have need to be preached to, as well as those that are without. (2) It is desirable to have opportunity of preaching to many together. Wisdom chooses to cry in the chief place of concourse, and as Jeremiah here, in the opening of the gates, the temple gates. (3) When we are going to worship God, we have need to be admonished to worship Him in the Spirit, and to have no confidence in the flesh. Php_3:3.”—S. R. A.]
2. On Jer_7:3-7. The doctrine of the Church. I. The church externally or as an external I ordinance. 1. What is this external ordinance? (Word, sacrament, office). 2. How far is this external ordinance necessary? 3. What reasons have we to be on our guard respecting it? (Jer_8:4. It may be overestimated).—II. The church internally. 1. It is essentially a community of saints and true believers. (“Congregatio sanctorum et vere credentium.” Conf. Aug. Art. VIII.) 2. Its existence is manifested, a. in the holy walk of its members (Jer_8:3; Jer_8:5-6); b. in the blessings of the Divine presence (Jer_8:3; Jer_8:7).
3. On Jer_7:8. [Henry:—“The privileges of a form of godliness are often the pride and confidence of those that are strangers and enemies to the power of it. It is common for those that are furthest from God to boast themselves most of their being near to the church.”—S. R. A.]
4. On Jer_7:8-15. An earnest warning against merely external ecclesiasticism. I. Its essence is: false confidence in the unconditional saving efficacy of a supposed or real sanctuary (Jer_8:8; Jer_8:10). II. Its consequences are: 1. Demoralization (Jer_8:9-10). 2. Desecration of the holy (Jer_8:11). 3. Destruction of the offenders (Jer_8:12-15).
5. On Jer_7:16. On Intercession. 1. When it is not in place (compare this verse with 1Jn_5:16). 2. When it is in place. 3. What it can accomplish.
[Henry:—“See here (1). That God’s prophets are praying men. (2). That God’s praying prophets have a great interest in heaven, how little soever they have on earth. (3). It is an ill omen for a people when God restrains the spirits of His ministers and people from praying for them. (4). Those that will not regard good ministers’ preaching cannot expect any benefit by their praying. If you will not hear us when we speak from God to you, God will not hear us when we speak to Him for you.”—S. R. A.]
6. On Jer_7:18. [Henry:—“Let us be instructed even by this bad example in the service of our God. (1) Let us honor Him with our substance. (2). Let us not decline the hardest service, nor disdain to stoop to the meanest, for none shall kindle a fire on God’s altar for naught. (3). Let us bring up our children in the acts of devotion; let them, as they are capable, be employed in doing something toward the keeping up of religious exercises.”—S. R. A.]
7. On Jer_7:22-23. Of the true service of God. I. Its nature (1) not outward ceremonies, but (2) walk according to the divine commands. II. Its reward. (I will be your God, that it may be well with you).
8. On Jer_7:24-29. Of disobedience to God’s word. I. Its cause is, (1) not neglect on the part of God to make known His word to men (Jer_7:25). (2) Not the imperfect performance of his duties by the preacher (Jer_7:27) but (3) the hardness of men’s hearts, who (a) walk only after the thoughts of their heart, and therefore (b) do not hear, do not believe, (Jer_7:28) do not wish to improve. II. Its consequence is (1) increasing moral corruption (Jer_7:24; Jer_7:26) and (2) rejection on the part of God (Jer_7:29).
9. On Jer_7:25-28. The sad characteristics of an unbelieving epoch. 1. Contempt of the preaching of the divine word. 2. Stiff-neckedness in respect to the visitations of divine chastisement. 3. Increase of wickedness in spite of all the warnings of the past. (Lic. Clauss).—When is a people ripe for destruction? 1. When it despises the visitations of divine grace (Jer_7:25). 2. When it hardens itself in unbelief against God’s word and voice (Jer_7:26-27). 3. When in spite of the divine judgment it departs the more into sin (Jer_7:26; Jer_7:28).—The people Israel a warning example for the present race in view of the prevailing unbelief of the times. Their example is admonitory, 1. with respect to their ingratitude for God’s gracious visitations. 2. with respect to their opposition to the true friends of the nation; 3. with respect to their frivolity in view of inevitable destruction. (Dr. Gr.)—Let the remembrance of our calling serve to awaken us. To this end let us consider. 1. What is our calling? 2. How does the Lord call us? 3. How long does He call us? 4. How have we answered Him? 5. What will be the end of our calling? (Z.—: Gesetz u. Zeugniss, Juni. 1860, S. 339).
Footnotes:
[1]Jer_8:1.—Instead of ויוֹצִיאוּ the Masoretes would omit the ו, as they perceived that neither as consecutive nor as copulative is it in place, while in accordance with the constant usage we should expect it to be followed by the perfect. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 840. Yet in such cases the imperfect with Vau copulat. is not without example; comp. Exo_12:3.
[2]Jer_8:3.—וְנִבִּחַד comp. Pro_21:3. Naegelsb. Gr., § 100, 4.
[3]Jer_8:3.—הַנִּשְׁאָרִים. If we do not with Hitzig and Graf reject this word as resting on a clerical error, we must explain it with Maurer and De Wette as the repetition of the noun instead of the pronoun, so that the article stands before the construct state in an emphatic almost pronominal signification: in all those places. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 71; 5 Anm.
II. SECOND CHARGE: THEIR RUINOUS PERSISTENCE IN EVIL
Jer_8:4-22
1. Their stiff-necked impenitence and its punishment
Jer_8:4-12
4 And say to them: Thus saith Jehovah:
Do men4 fall and rise not up again?
Or does one turn away and not return again?
5 Why then does this people, Jerusalem,
Turn away5 with a perpetual6 apostacy?
They hold fast to error,7 wish not to return.
6 I inclined myself and listened:
They speak that which is worth nothing.
There is none who repents of his wickedness
And who says: what have I done?
They are all8 turned away in their courses,
Like a mad9 stallion in the battle.
7 Even the stork in the air knoweth his seasons,
The turtle-dove, swallow and crane keep the time of their coming,
But my people know not the judgment of Jehovah.
8 How say ye then, We are wise,
And the law of Jehovah is with us?
Behold! surely the lying style of the writer has brought forth only lies.
9 The wise men are put to shame,
Confounded and taken are they.
Behold! they have despised Jehovah’s word,
What Wisdom , 10 however, is among them?
10 Therefore11 will I give their wives to others,
Their fields to the conquerors,
For from the least to the greatest they are all bent on gain;
From the prophet to the priest they all practise deceit,
11 And healed the hurt of the daughter of my people most slightly,
Saying, Peace, peace! when there is no peace.
12 They are put to shame, for they have committed abomination;
Yet they blush not, nor understand to be ashamed.
Therefore shall they fall with the falling,
At the time of their visitation will they be overthrown,
Saith Jehovah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The second point in the charge concerns the impenitent obduracy with which the people, true to their often censured character (comp. Exo_32:9; Exo_33:3; Exo_33:5; Exo_34:9; Deu_9:6; Deu_9:13; Deu_10:16; Deu_31:27 coll. Jer_5:3; Isa_48:4; Eze_2:4; Eze_3:7) persist in the perverse course they have adopted (Jer_8:4-7). To be sure they will not admit that they have adopted a false course. They maintain on the contrary (comp. Jer_7:21 sqq.) that they are in the right way, because they are not lacking in instruction or knowledge of the law of God (Jer_8:8). But the prophet does not allow this to pass. He traces their imagined wisdom to the deception of their false leaders, of whom he predicts that with their pseudo-sophy they must be put to shame (Jer_8:9), and then he again announces to all in the words of a former discourse the judgment of God for their manifold wickedness (Jer_8:10-12). This strophe contains the main thought of this chapter, i.e., of the second part. The two following strophes describe only the particular features of the punishment.
Jer_8:4-5. And say to them … wish not to return. The simple introduction by and say shows that what follows is closely connected with the preceding. The meaning of שׁוּב is here, the first time to turn, to make any kind of a turn (comp. Jos_19:12, etc.), the second time to return.—It is evident that the prophet had hoped that Israel would have returned in view of his previous representations. No one who falls remains lying on the ground, and no one perseveres in the course he has taken without turning to one side or another, how then is it that Israel so obstinately persists in his perverse ways? The answer is given in Jer_8:6. By the manner in which the prophet emphasizes the idea of turning we are forcibly reminded of Jer_3:1-4;—Wish not to return, comp. Jer_5:3; Hos_11:5.
Jer_8:6. I inclined myself … stallion in the battle. It is best to regard this as an answer to the question why? in Jer_8:5. In order to be able to give the Lord a correct answer, the prophet listens. For thus he may be able to learn the true secret thoughts of their hearts. The information he thus obtains is not comforting; from their speeches he learns only the radically corrupt condition of their hearts, closed against all knowledge of the right. Hence their obduracy.—They do not speak that which is right, i.e., they not only are silent with respect to the right, but they speak that which is not right, which is false. Comp. Gen_42:11; Gen_42:19; Gen_42:31; Gen_42:33-34, and Exo_10:29; 2Ki_7:9; Pro_15:7; Isa_16:6; Jer_23:10; Jer_48:30.—Their conduct corresponds to their words; there is none who repents.—שָׁב stands in opposition to the שׁוּב desired in Jer_8:4-5, with a certain irony; they are not wanting in שׁוּבturn, but they practise it only in the sense se avertere. This they certainly pursue with the greatest ardor. They turn away in their entirety.—in their courses. The plural form is explained by the collective idea of the noun, to which all refers. This plural gives a satisfactory sense, and it is therefore unnecessary to alter it as the Keri does according to Jer_23:10. As to the meaning: the word in 2Sa_18:27 has the meaning of violent running, hunting, chasing. This meaning is suitable to Jer_22:17; Jer_23:10, and is also demanded by the connection here. They turn them in this sense, that with violent haste they pursue their chosen path.
Jer_8:7. Even the stork … the judgment of Jehovah. What חֲסִירָה is, is very uncertain, since the distinctive marks mentioned in Old Testament passages (Lev_11:19; Deu_14:18; Psa_104:17; Job_39:13; Zec_5:9) suit several birds, on which account (apart from the fact that the LXX. translate sometimes ἓποψ, sometimes ἐρωδιός or πελεκάυ, the Targumists and Talmudists רַּיִּיתָּא חִוַּרְתָּאmilvus albus, videBuxtorf, Lex. Chald., p. 528) modern commentators are divided between “heron” (So Bochart, Gesen., Rosenm., Fuerst in his concordance, Ewald, Meier, and others) and “stork” (Winer, FuerstLex., Graf and others). Since the derivation from חָסִירpius is the most natural and the designation of the stork as avis pia is very general (comp. ἁυτιπελαργεί̓ν, although in single cases the filial piety of the heron is also celebrated, Ælian, Anim. III. 23), I give my preference in this instance to the meaning stork.—תּוֹר is the turtle-dove. That it is migratory in the East (comp. the American migratory pigeon) may be inferred also from Son_2:11-12. Comp. Winer, R. W. B.s. v.—וסוס ועגור. The meaning of these words is uncertain. Both words occur besides only in Isa_38:14.—There it reads כְּסוּם עָגוּר כְּן אֲצַפְצְף. There the asyndeton is in favor of rendering עָגוּר as the predicate or in apposition to סוּם, but in the present passage the וְ is opposed to it. Neither the dialects nor the early translators and commentators afford us any secure data. In order to deal fairly with both passages, we must take one of the two words in a sense which would allow it to be rendered both as in opposition and as an independent word, as, for example, we may say felis leo or felis et leo. Perhaps סוּם (for which the Keri and Palestinian could read סֵים) is an onomatopoeticum or imitation of the natural sound (Venetian Zysilia=swallow. VideRosenm.) and in this sense the name of the genus and species at the same time (comp. felis-felis). At any rate the prophet wishes to say that the irrational animals punctually obey the natural law which prescribes their return into a certain country, while Israel seems not even to know the rule instituted by Jehovah for their moral action.—But my people. Comp. Isa_1:3; Jer_5:4-5.
Jer_8:8. How say ye then … only lies. To the charge at the close of Jer_8:7 the prophet supposes the people to reply: We are wise, etc.; just as what is said in Jer_7:21 sqq., presupposes an appeal of the people to their observance of the ceremonial law, so here also the assertion is put into their mouth that they were well instructed in the law. It may be inquired whether חֲכָמִים is here used in a general sense, or whether it contains an allusion to those who from the age of Solomon constituted a particular class of the supporters and promoters of culture by the side of the priests and prophets. (Comp. Bruch, Weisheits-Lehre der Hebräer, Strassb., 1851, S. 48). Jeremiah himself (Jer_18:18) names wise men together with priests and prophets. But Ezekiel in the parallel passage Jer_7:26, uses elders for wise men, and generally it might be difficult to prove that in Jeremiah and elsewhere, (especially in Pro_1:6; Pro_13:20; Pro_15:12; Pro_22:17; Pro_23:24), they appear as a special class and not rather as specially gifted men of every class and calling, as Solomon also was a תָכָם, and with him men of the priestly and levitical orders (1Ki_5:9-11). Observe also that it is said not: wise men are among us, but, wise men are we.—That תּוֹרָה must designate the Torah in the sense of the Pentateuch cannot be maintained, for the word occurs frequently in a more general signification, ex. gr., Isa_2:3; Isa_8:16. Certainly the word would have to be rendered in the narrower sense if hemistich 2 were to be translated: truly (אָכֵן comp. Jer_3:23; Jer_4:10) the lying style of the scribes has made it a lie. But on the other hand 1, to supply the suffix is not a matter of course, as it must be if the want of the suffix (which is certainly frequent, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 78, 2, Anm.) is to appear justified. 2, סֹפְרִים, scribes in the sense of those who spin a web of human inventions around the word of God is of later date. Ezra, as is well known, was the first סֹפֵר (comp. Ezr_7:6; Ezr_7:11) but not in a bad sense, for the evil practices of the scribes were only a corruption of the praiseworthy labors commenced by him (comp. Herzog, R.-Enc. XIII. 5. 733, etc.) Since the verb עָשָׂה is decidedly used in an absolute sense =to make, to work, (Exo_5:9; Exo_31:4; 1 Ki. 5:30; 1Ki_20:40; Rth_2:19; Pro_13:16; Pro_31:13) this passage can mean only: behold! he has worked for a lie, i.e., has done lying work, the pen of the scribe has produced lies. Scribes indeed occur almost up to the time of Jeremiah only as State-officials (Jdg_5:14; 2Sa_8:17; 2Sa_20:25; 2Ki_12:11; 2Ki_19:2, etc), but Baruch also is called a scribe (Jer_36:26; Jer_36:32), and since the canonical writings set before us the picture of a literary activity in a good sense, why may they not also have given us one in a bad sense? False prophets labored with their word in opposition to the word of the true prophets, why might they not do the same with their writings? Jeremiah here presupposes a literary activity which designated its productions as the directions of Jehovah, but not in truth. For what was thus written in the name of Jehovah, and doubtless with an appeal to the law, was human invention and lies. Comp. Isa_10:1.
Jer_8:9. The wise men are put to shame … what wisdom however is among them? The prophet for every “abuse of the name of God” declares the divine punishment. They are put to shame with their teaching and prophecy. The false scribes had evidently flattered the people and promised them good days to come. (Comp. infra Jer_8:11; Jer_6:14; Jer_23:9; Ezekiel 13.). The contrary, says Jeremiah, will be the case, to their shame and their hurt.—Put to shame, comp. on Jer_2:26.—The wise here are not identical with those to whom the predicate wise is applied in Jer_8:8. For while the latter refers to all Israel, the former refers only to the scribes. These are called wise men, not because they formed a special class, but because they boasted of special insight into religious things.—Confounded, etc. Comp. Jer_48:1; Jer_1:2. Because they have despised the word of the Lord and substituted their own wisdom, it will come to the light that they know nothing.
Jer_8:10-12. Therefore will I give their wives … saith Jehovah. These verses refer not to the false prophets alone but to all those previously mentioned in common. They announce both to the whole people, who were addressed in Jer_8:4-7, and to their perverse leaders, to whom Jer_8:8-9 refer, their common, public, and outwardly palpable punishment, and in so far form the necessary conclusion of the strophe. This announcement is made in the form of a quotation, these three verses being a repetition of Jer_6:12-15. As it is the leaders of the people, the priests and prophets who are there spoken of (Jer_6:13-15), the verses suit this place very well, particularly as Jer_8:11, and healed, etc., so well proves the shaming of the false prophets (Jer_8:9). But nevertheless we see that this passage is a quotation and is not here in its original position. For Jer_8:10 is a contracted form of Jer_6:12-13. Here also the sequence of thought is not quite correct, the causal כִּי following the illative particle לָכֵן. But that a copyist did not transpose the passages, but the prophet himself repeated with freedom his former utterance, is seen from the little alterations which betray a reproduction from memory as well as the hand of an author making free use of his own property, in Jer_8:10-12 (comp. Jer_10:15; Jer_11:23; Jer_23:12, etc.). On the repetitions in Jeremiah see the table in Naegelsb.: Jer. u. Bab. S. 128.—Comp. besides the excellent refutation of Hitzig’s view as to the interpolation of this passage in Graf, S. 135.
Footnotes:
[4]Jer_8:4.—היפּלו. The indefinite subject in Hebrew may be expressed as here by the 3d pers. of the plural or of the singular. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 101, 2.—On the disjunctive question comp. Gr. § 107, 4. [Blayney, Noyes, Umbreit, etc. render as in the text: Henderson has: Shall they fall; but incorrectly, for as Hitzig says, the Jews cannot be the subject in Jer_8:4.—S. R. A.]
[5]Jer_8:5.—שׁוֹבְבָה (not שׁובֵבָה, Jer_31:21; Jer_49:4, nor שוֹבָבָה, Jer_3:14; Jer_3:22) is to be regarded according to Ewald, § 188 b, as a verbal form, and in a directly causative sense = to make a turn. Comp. rems. on Jer_31:21.—This people is not in the relation of a genitive to the following Jerusalem, as is evinced by the form, but the latter is in simple apposition to the former. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr. § 66. [Henderson: this people of Jerusalem].
[6]Jer_8:5.—נִצִּהַ (adject. denomin. ad formam עִוִּרִ ·דּבֵּר Comp. N. Gr., § 42, a, S. 87) is an ἅπ. λεγ. The meaning is derived from נֶצַח perfectio, absolutio = perfectus, absolutus:
[7]Jer_8:5.—תִּרְ מִית (comp. Jer_14:14, Keri; Jer_23:26; Zep_3:13; Psa_119:118) must here according to the connection be rendered in a passive sense = error.
[8]Jer_8:6.—כֻּלּהֹּ is literally: its entirety. From the singular suffix we perceive that the nation is regarded as a single individual. Comp. Ewald, § 286, e.
[9]Jer_8:6.—שׁוֹטֵף used originally of streaming water (comp. Isa_30:28; Isa_66:12; Eze_13:11; Eze_13:13); in the transferred sense of the running of a horse here only (comp. effuso cursa, faga effusior in Livy). [All the English translations render: as a horse rushes into the battle.—S. R. A.]
[10]Jer_8:9.—הכמת־מה [lit. : the wisdom of what]? sapientia cujus? Comp. Jer_44:28; Gen_24:33; Naegelsb. Gr., § 65, 2, b.
[11]Jer_8:9.—[“The LXX. omit these three verses with the exception of the first two lines of the 10th. The repetitious character of many parts of the book of Jeremiah leaves no reason to doubt that the repetition here of Jer_6:12-15 is genuine. Theodotion and the Hexaplar Syriac supply the omission of the LXX.” Henderson.—S. R. A.]
2. FURTHER PORTRAYAL OF THE VISITATION ANNOUNCED IN VER
Jer_8:13-17
13 I will sweep12 them utterly away, saith Jehovah.
There were no grapes on the vine,
No figs on the fig-tree,
The land was withered.—
So I gave to them13 those who shall overrun them.
14 “What is then the ground on which we remain?
Assemble, let us go into the fortified cities and perish14 there?
For Jehovah, our God, has allowed us to perish
And given us water of poison to drink;
For we have sinned against Jehovah.
15 We hoped15 for blessing but no good came—
For a time of healing16 and behold terror!”
16 From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses,
At the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole earth trembles.
And they came and devoured the land and what was in it,
The city and those that dwelt therein.
17 For behold, I send among you serpents,
Basilisks, against which no charm avails,—
These shall bite you, saith Jehovah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This strophe is entirely occupied with the further portrayal of the visitation which is announced in Jer_8:12. The object of the discourse, the visitation, appears under various images, according to the use of literal or figurative language. The speakers are also changed several times. First the Lord announces that He will sweep them away in the storm as unfruitful withered plants. Then they must themselves announce that they wish to flee into the fortified cities but without the hope of escape. For they themselves feel and express that they bear their death within them, as it were, the Lord Himself having given them poison-water as a punishment for their sins, and instead of healing they find (in the cities) only terror. (Jer_8:14-15). For they already perceive the approach of the enemy from the North (Jer_8:16 a), which the prophet confirms, describing in blunt words the sad end as already begun (Jer_8:16 b). At last the Lord Himself again speaks, and returning to the figurative mode of speech compares the threatening enemies with serpents of the poisonous kind, for whose bite there is no remedy (Jer_8:17).
Jer_8:13. I will sweep them … overrun them. In what follows the motive of this punishment is presented. Israel is an unfruitful vine and fig-tree, a withered branch. The same figure in Psa_1:3; Jer_17:7; Isa_1:30; Isa_5:2; Mic_7:1; Luk_13:8.—I regard the words I will sweep them utterly away as a general statement of what follows. In this the Lord Himself accounts for the genesis of this declaration. He relates that he instituted an investigation, the result of which was that Israel was like an unfruitful, withered tree. In consequence of this He determined that they should be swept away by a storm: then I gave to them those who shall overrun them. (Comp. Isa_8:8; Dan_11:10, and Jer_5:22; Jer_23:9). In overrun is evidently an allusion to whirlwind, to which sweep points, and the verse forms a sort of circle, the end returning to the beginning. The plural overrun intimates that in reality a number of persons would represent this storm. Comp. Jer_8:16.—The certainly peculiar expression וָאֶתֵן for then I appointed for them, hung over them, is explained by supposing that the prophet intended a play upon the words תְּאֵנִים, תְּאֵנָה.
Jer_8:14-15. What is then the ground on which we remain? … and behold terror. The people themselves relate how that which was determined in the secret counsels of Providence was actually carried out. The prophet portrays how the people, seized by the foreboding of threatening destruction, felt themselves insecure in their abodes, and concluded to flee to the fortified cities. עַל־מָה causal = why? Comp. Jer_9:11; Job_13:14. Yet I would take עַל at the same time as local: on what? on what insecure ground are we sitting? I endeavored to express this double sense in the translation.—Assemble, etc., taken verbatim from Jer_4:5. The people thus do something to which the Lord had previously summoned them by His prophet, but to follow this advice now will not avail, since they so long openly transgressed the holy will of God, as revealed in His law. In all their measures for flight they have this consciousness: there is no help, we are already lost.—And perish there. Not to be saved, but only to perish somewhat later, to obtain a little respite, do they flee to the cities.—For Jehovah, etc. They know that their destruction is already determined upon, and that they bear death, as it were, in their bodies into the cities. This is the sense of given us water of poison, etc. Comp. Jer_9:14; Jer_23:15, and Jer_25:15; Jer_25:17; Lam_3:15; Psa_60:5. On ראֹשׁ comp. Winer, R. W. B., s. v.Gift.—Vain therefore is also the hope, which they still maintain, because every man hopes while he lives. This passage is repeated in Jer_14:19.
Jer_8:16. From Dan … that dwelt therein. Hemistich a states the cause of the terror, again referring to a former declaration (Jer_4:16; Jer_6:22-23). It appears that these words belong still to the speech of the Israelites, at least these may thus speak, since the words contain only the description of what was then perceived. But hemistich b describes the future as though it had already taken place. This could be done only by the prophet; וַיַבֹאוּ וַיּאֹכְלוּ are therefore prophetic aorists. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr. § 88, 5. [Green’sGr. § 262, 4.—S. R. A.]—The prophet interposes with and they came, etc., to say that the terror was not an empty one, but that the enemy thus announced had really come. The singular suffixes refer to the enemy represented as a single person. Comp. Jer_4:13.—אַבִּיר of horses, Jer_47:3; Jer_50:11.
Jer_8:17. For behold, I send … saith Jehovah. The discourse is now again figurative and Jehovah speaks Himself, as in the beginning of the strophe, Jer_8:13. We might compare a strophe like this with the variations of a musical theme. The more frequently the theme changes its form, the more impression does it make, the more ways of entrance are opened to it. That this verse has the character of a conclusion is seen, (a) from there turn to the beginning, (b) from the climax, which is expressed in the figure of serpents inaccessible to all charms. This contains the idea of the most intensive destruction, excluding all possibility of healing. Since this is the main thought of the verse כּי is best referred to Jer_8:16, b.:—Thus is it, for, etc. The Lord Himself confirms the words of the prophet. This verse has moreover a striking resemblance to Gen_49:17, and it would not be impossible that the prophet, reminded by the mention of Dan of the prophecy concerning him, makes use of the images there employed for his description of the enemy coming from Dan.—צִפְעֹנִי(Isa_11:8; Isa_59:5; Pro_23:32) and צֶפַע (Isa_14:29) so called probably a sibilardo (so Gesen. Thes., Fuerst, Drechsler) are regarded by most modern commentators, following in this Aquila and the Vulgate (the LXX. vary) as the basilisk, a small, exceedingly poisonous kind of viper. On no charm, etc., comp. Psa_58:5-6, [4, 5].
Footnotes:
[12]Jer_8:13.—אָסֹף from אֲסִיפֵם, אָסַף from desinere, Hiph. finem imponere, consumere. As in סוּף at the same time the idea of storm is contained (comp. סוּפה, procella) this compound evidently signifies to sweep away in a storm. The connection of two verbs, having roots of different or similar sound, in this construction frequently occurs. Comp. Jer_48:9; Isa_28:28, and especially Zep_1:2-3; where we find the same connection as in this passage (Naegelsb. Gr., § 93, d. Anm.) The Hiph. הֵסִיף occurs only in these three passages.
[13]Jer_8:13.—The ancient rendering, occurring in the Chaldee and Syriac: and I recompensed to them that which they transgressed, is harsh and opposed especially by the difficulty of thus satisfactorily explaining the suffix.—The explanation preferred by most modern commentators: and I give them up to those who come over them—has against it, (1) that וָאֶתֵּן must be made into וְאֶתֵן which besides is not a normal construction, comp. the remarks on ויוציאו Jer_8:1; (2) that להם must be translated not “to them” but “to those,” (3) that the suffix must be supplied to אֶהֵּן, which, as was remarked on עָשָׁה, can only take place where this supplementation is a matter of course.
[14]Jer_8:14.—ונרמה. This form follows the Aramaic formation with reduplication of the first radical. Comp. יִתִּמוּ Deu_34:8; יִדְּמוּ Ps. 31:78; Job_29:21. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 31, Anm. Olsh. § 243, d.
[15]Jer_8:15.—קַוֵּה Inf. abs. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 92, 2, b.
[16]Jer_8:15.—מַרְפֵה instead of מרפא. Camp. Jer_8:11.
3. CONTINUATION: THE VISITATION ENDS WITH THE, CARRYING AWAY CAPTIVE OF ISRAEL, TO THE INEXPRESSIBLE GRIEF OF THE PEOPLE AND OF THE PROPHET
Jer_8:18-22
18 O my comfort17 in the sorrow!
My heart within me is faint.
19 Hark! a cry of my people from distant18 lands:
“Is Jehovah not in Zion, or her king not in her”
“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
With their foreign vanities?”
20 “The harvest is past, the fruit-gathering is over,
And we are not saved!”
21 For the wound of the daughter of my people am I wounded,19
I go mourning; horror hath seized me.
22 Is there ho balsam in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then proceeds not the healing of the daughter of my people?
23 O that mine head were waters,20
And mine fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This strophe, in which the nameless grief of the prophet at the destruction of his people is expressed in simple but highly poetical words, serves for the elucidation and completion of the previous one. In that the manner of the destruction, which the Northern enemy was to inflict, was not distinctly designated; at the most Jer_8:13 contained a dim intimation of a threatening captivity. That this will be the punishment of the people, is now distinctly expressed in this strophe. In deep sorrow (Jer_8:18), the prophet tells us that he has heard from distant lands the mournful question of his people, whether Jehovah is no longer in Zion (Jer_8:19, a). To this the answer of the Lord is: This is the punishment of idolatry (Jer_8:19, b).—New lamentation of the people: respite after respite and no salvation! (Jer_8:20).—Finally the wailing of the prophet: the cause of his sorrow is the misery of his people (Jer_8:21) being hopeless (Jer_8:22), wherefore nothing remains for the prophet but to bewail this misery with endless weeping (Jer_9:1). Observe also in this strophe the dramatic character of the change in persons.
Jer_8:18. O my comfort … is faint. Comp. the Text. and Gram. rems.—In the words within me is contained the idea of the heavy heart, which is felt as an oppression or burden. Comp. Psa 42:6, 7, 12; Psa_43:5; Psa_142:4; coll. Jer_39:4; Lam_1:20.
Jer_8:19. Hark! a cry … foreign vanities. The prophet beholds Israel in exile. Their eyes are still turned towards Zion as the chosen abode of the God of Israel (comp. Psa_14:7; Psa_20:3; Psa_128:5; Psa_134:3; Isa_37:32, etc.) but it appears that He has forsaken it. Comp. Mic_4:9.—This painful question is answered by the Lord Himself, who continues and accounts for this impression. The expression provoked to angerwith their images reminds us of Deu_32:21; 1Ki_16:13; 1Ki_16:26. Comp. Jer_14:22; Psa_31:7.
Jer_8:20. The harvest is passed … not saved. Period after period elapses without help coming (comp. Isa_59:9). Without observing Jer_8:19, a, or the time when this discourse was composed, most of the ancient commentators refer these words to the vain expectation of Egyptian help, which presupposes 2Ki_24:1; or to that which is expressly announced in Jer_37:5. On the other hand Schnurrer correctly remarks that the expression has somewhat of a proverbial character. Even those who are in exile still hope, as is also intimated in Jer_8:19 b, but still in vain.
Jer_8:21-22. For the wound … the daughter of my people.—I go mourning. Comp. Jer_4:28; Jer_14:2. The prophet is inwardly broken, and to this corresponds his outward appearance.—The prophet tells us in Jer_8:22 why the wound of his people causes him so much pain: it is not only a very dangerous one, as is clear from all that precedes, but also, which is the worst, no one heals it. It is as though Gilead no longer possessed any balsam, or any man skilful in the application of it, though the balsam was especially, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat., XII. 54) exclusively, to be found in Palestine. The question: “Is there no balsam,” etc., has then the meaning: Is Israel wanting in that which was given to him in preference to all other nations? It is plain that the prophet here alludes to the relation of Israel to Jehovah, as the peculiar “glory of the land.” (Gen_43:11, song = best fruits, of the land). Whether צֳרִי is precisely the resin of the balsam-plant, which elsewhere is called בֶּשֶׂם, בּשֶֹׁם, or בָּשָׂם, is uncertain. Comp. Winer, R. W. B. s. v. Balsam. It is mentioned as a remedy also in Jer_46:11; Jer_51:8, as an article of commerce, Gen_43:11; Eze_27:17.—Is there no physician there? Graf would not refer there to Gilead, because it is not known that physicians were fetched from thence. But we may well suppose that in the land of the balsam the use of it was best understood. The prophet therefore wishes only to say: Is there then in Israel, where the true medicina salutis is found, no one who understands how to make the application of it? He silently answers this question in the negative, and gives the reason for it in what follows.—The healing. The same expression in Jer_30:17; Jer_33:6; 2Ch_24:13; Neh_4:1. Comp. Isa_58:8. The expression “bandage” does not suit in all these passages, but “healing” does everywhere. Comp. Rosenm. ad loc.
Jer_9:1. O that mine head … daughter of my people. The poetry of suffering is presented most touchingly in these brief but thrilling words. It is the wish of the prophet that the whole interior of his head might dissolve into water, so that his eyes might be inexhaustible fountains of tears. For all he can do is to weep, and this is his only comfort.
Footnotes:
[17]Jer_8:18.—מַבִלִיגִית is ἅπαξ λεγ—The radix בָּלַג, illuminate, beam upon, (in Arabic of the rising sun) occurs only in Hiphil: Amo_5:9; Psa_39:13; Job_9:27; Job_10:20. It is formed like מַרְבִּית (multitude, fulness, increase, Lev_23:37), מַרְעִית (pastio, flock, Jer_23:1), מַשׁבִּית (copy, Num_33:52). Comp. Olsh. § 218, a. The meaning is therefore: beaming, enlightening, exhilaration. [Henderson renders: my exhilaration within me is sorrow. Noyes, with a better sense: O where is consolation for my sorrow?—S. R. A.] The construction with עַל (Comp. Amo_5:9) appears to be founded on the radical meaning, O beam on sorrow! The suffix of the first person refers to the whole, which is to be regarded as a single conception, in like manner as in מַחֲסִי עזֹ רַּרכֵּךְ, זמָּה, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 63, 4, g. According to the Keri, and even according to the Chethibh of several codices of Kennicott and De Rossi we should read מבלי גיתי in two words, which reading the LXX. seem to follow (καί δὴξονται ν́μᾶς ἀνίατα μετ’ ὀδὺνης) yet without its being possible to give to this גיתי a satisfactory meaning. For many other explanations, comp. Rosenmueller.
[18]Jer_8:19.—The form מַרְהַקִים is found besides only in Isa_33:17.
[19]Jer_8:21.—הָשׁבַּר Hoph. here only. The Niph in this sense is frequent, ex. gr., Jer_23:9.
[20][Jer 8:23.—In the A. V. this verse Isa_9:1, but not in the Hebrew.—S. R. A.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer_8:4. “In this consists our human blindness in spiritual matters, that he who has fallen cannot imagine he has fallen, he who errs will not be convinced that he errs. For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him, 1Co_2:14.” Cramer.—“Labi humanum est, resurgere Christianum, nolle resurgere diabolicum.” Förster.
2. On Jer_8:5. “The people will still go astray more and more, they hold so fast to their false worship that they will not be turned away, and this because they have no proper place: because they have the service of God in reserve only au pis aller, it does not so much concern them whether they lie or steal, whether they go right or wrong, they do not wish to go anywhere.” Zinzendorf.
3. On Jer_8:7. “God opens to us the book of nature not only that we may behold as in a mirror the divine wisdom and omnipotence, but that we may also take thence good examples of discipline and improvement. Isa_1:3; Pro_6:6. For if we behold such examples in nature we ought surely to be ashamed that irrational creatures are so willing and obedient, and do that for which they are created, but we men (who were made in His image and sealed with the Holy Ghost on the day of redemption) are so opposed, rebellious and disobedient to Him. This will certainly, in the case of no amendment, lead to a devilish bad ending.” Cramer.
4. On Jer_8:5. “Manifeste docet nos, malitiam non esse opus naturæ, sed voluntatis (προαιρέσεως).” Theodoret.
5. On Jer_8:7. “Chrysostom, homil de Turture see de virtute: turturem dicit omnem castam ecclesiam, hirundinem vero Joannem hominum amatorem, cicadam autem eloquentissimum Paulum, ecclesiæ organum.” Ghislerus.
6. On Jer_8:8. “Jeremiah finds some of those also among us, who (according to this description of the theologians of his country) either deduce propositions from the Scriptures which a child may see are not so, or make up sentences and bring them to the people, and when they are asked: Where is that in the Bible? reply unabashed: O there is much in the Bible that is no longer applicable! or, All that is true is not in the Bible.” Zinzendorf.
7. On Jer_8:9. Ghislerus here remarks that the concionatores bene prædicantes sed male operantes are put to shame and judged by the progress in wisdom and virtue of their hearers. He adduces a passage from the 18th Sermon of Bernard on the Song of Solomon, where it is said that the preacher should be concha not canalis. “Hic pæne simul et recipit et refundit; illa vero donec impleatur exspectat, et sic quod superabundat sine suo damno communicat.”
8. On Jer_8:13. Compare here Luk_13:6 sqq. and the New Year’s hymn of Rambach, “One year after another comes,” especially Jer_8:3. “Hew down, said He, the barren tree,” etc.
9. On Jer_8:14. “Despair is the last point to which God in His just judgments allows the godless to fall (Mat_27:4; Mat_27:6). Despairing men know indeed God’s just judgment concerning them, but not so that they are penitent for their sins (Gen_4:13-14),” Starke.
10. On Jer_8:16. In accordance with the view widely extended among the church fathers and supported by Gen_49:17 (see Delitzsch ad. h. l.), that the Antichrist should proceed from Dan (comp. also Lev_24:11 and the supposed origin of Judas Iscariot from the tribe of Dan). Irenæus (Adv. Hær. V. 30) remarks on this passage: “Jeremias non solum subitaneum Antichristi adventum sed et tribum, ex quo veniet, manifestavit dicens; ex Dan audiemus vocem velocitatis equorum ejus, etc. Et propter hoc non adnumeratur tribus hæc in Apocalypsi (Jer_7:5-8) cum his quæ salvantur.”
11. On Jer_8:16. “As the snorting of the horses sounded long before in the ears of the prophet, so shall the voice of Christ forever sound in our ears: ‘Arise ye dead and come to judgment.’ ” Cramer.
12. On Jer_8:17. “Frustra ad Deum preces fundunt adversus serpentem antiquum qui Dei præcepta contemserint.” Ghislerus.
13. On Jer_8:21. “Our connection with those who hear us continually is so full, so intimate, so tender, no one can understand it who has not experienced it. We get love, we get somewhat from the heart, which was broken for its enemies, and which could cry even on the cross: Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Zinzendorf.
14. On Jer_8:22. “A pastor of a separatistic spirit cannot make many things whole, and it will be better for him to testify in earnest for the building up of those whom he would rather see pulled down.—He who will help his religion must regard it not as a Babylon, but as a broken Zion, and this from his heart; then he asks for salve and help, then he mourns for the hurt of Joseph.” Zinzendorf.
15. On Jer_8:22. “Non solum in præsenti loco, sed et in multis aliis testimoniis scripturarum invenimus resinam Galaad pro pœnitentia poni atque medicamine, mirarique nunc Deum, quare vulnera Jerusalem nequaquam curata sint, et necdum cicatrices obduxerint cutem, eo quod non sint prophetæ nec sacerdotes, quorum debeant curari medicamine.” Jerome.
16. On Jer_9:1. The tears of Jeremiah are a prelude and type of the tears which the Lord wept over Jerusalem. Luk_19:41. As the blood of Abel cried to heaven so do these tears, and it is here first truly manifest how ruinous it is for men when the servants of God exercise their office among them not with joy but with sighs (Heb_13:17).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_8:4-9. An earnest admonition to all who know that they are walking in perverse ways. They are admonished 1. to uprightness. They are (a) not to palliate their sins, (b) least of all to palliate them by a false interpretation of the divine word, either α. themselves or β. allow others to do it (Jer_8:8-9).—2. To speedy return, for (a) he who returns betimes may be helped (Jer_8:4 the falling, the erring, Jer_8:7 the migratory birds); (b) but he who wilfully persists goes to ruin (Jer_8:6, the mad stallion). [Henry: Those who persist in sin oppose 1. the dictates of reason (vers 4 and 5), 2. the dictates of conscience (Jer_8:6), 3. the dictates of Providence (the judgment of the Lord, Jer_8:7), 4. the dictates of the written word (Jer_8:8-9).—S. R. A.]
2. On Jer_8:4-7. God’s complaint of the impenitence of His people. 1. How far this applies to us; 2. what should awaken us to repentance: 3. what true repentance is. Brandt. Epistelpredigten.
3. On Jer_8:10-13. Signs of the decline and fall of a nation. 1. Avarice reigns. 2. Priests and prophets teaching false worship, hush up and deceive the people with false comfort. Deacon Hauber, in Palmer’s Casual-Reden. 2te Folge. I. Stuttgardt, 1860.
4. On Jer_8:18-22. In times of great distress in the church this text gives us occasion to consider I. Zion’s complaint. This Isaiah 1. (in its subject) (a) general (Jer_8:19, a), (b) special, of the true servants of the church (Jer_8:21; Jer_9:1); 2. (in its object) directed (a) to being (for the moment) forsaken (Jer_8:19 b), (b) to the delay of help (Jer_8:20). II. Zion’s guilt (Jer_8:19 b). III. Zion’s salvation. This is conditioned (a) by the presence of the true means of salvation (word and sacraments), (b) by the true application of the same.
5. On Jer_8:20-22. The question of the divine word in our harvest-complaint and the answer of the divine word to our harvest-question. 1. Our harvest-complaint runs thus: the harvest is past, the summer is ended and no help is come to us. Then God’s word asks thee: (a) What is at fault? Is it not thy sin? (b) Is it really true that there was no help for thee? 2. Our harvest question runs: Is there then no salve in Gilead? Or is there no physician there? Why then is not the daughter of my people healed? To this the word of God answers: (a) O yes, salve and physician are there. The salve is the word of the fathers and the physician is thy Lord. (b) It is because the salve and the physician are not employed that our people are not healed. Florey, 1862.
6. [On Jer_8:20. 1. Every person who still remains in sin may at the close of the year usefully adopt this lamentation. 2. A season of religious revival is also eminently a time of harvest, and such as lose this season may usefully adopt this lamentation. 3. Another situation to which this melancholy reflection is peculiarly liable is that of a dying sinner. Dwight—“There is in this text I. The acknowledgment of opportunity. II. The confession of neglect. III. The anticipation of doom.” J. W. W.—S. R. A.]
7. [On Jer_8:22. I. Sin prevails as a disease. It is (a) hereditary, (b) pervading, (c) vital and inveterate, (d) deceitful, (e) often painful, (f) mortal. II. There is a physician. III. How then does this condition exist? Because men are (a) insensible of need, (b) disposed to procrastinate, (c) will not take the remedy simply. Dr. A. Thomson, of Edinburgh.—S. R. A.]
8. [On Jer_9:1. “The same word in Hebrew signifies both the eye and a fountain, as if in this land of sorrows our eyes were designed rather for weeping than seeing.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain RETRIBUTION, Jer_8:1-3.
RETRIBUTION, Jer_8:1-3.
1. They shall bring out the bones — Thus to complete the dreadful picture. Even the grave is not a safe covert from the avenging justice of God. The victorious enemy shall violate the sanctuaries of the dead in their search for plunder, or to express their hatred and contempt.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Jer_8:1. they shall bring out] Not, apparently, with the…
Jer_8:1. they shall bring out] Not, apparently, with the hope of finding spoil, treasures and ornaments of value being often buried with the dead (cp. Darius’s fruitless visit to the tomb of Nitocris, Herod. I. 187), but that the objects of their former devotion might look down on the indignities to which those who had served them were subject, as a cause of painful disquiet to their shades in the unseen world.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) At that time.—There is, it is obvious, no…
VIII.
(1) At that time.—There is, it is obvious, no break in the discourse, and the time is therefore that of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldæans, and of the burial of the slain. Not even the dead should sleep in peace. With an awful re-iteration of the word, so as to give the emphasis as of the toll of a funeral bell, the prophet heaps clause upon clause, “the bones of the kings,” “the bones of the princes,” and so on. The motives of this desecration of the sepulchres might be either the wanton ferocity of barbarian conquerors, bent, after the manner of savage warfare, on the mutilation of the dead, or the greed of gain and the expectation of finding concealed treasures. So Hyrcanus, to the great scandal of the Jews, broke open the sepulchre of David (Joseph., Ant. vii. 15).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-3. Punishment will even overtake the sinners who…
Vers. 1-3. Punishment will even overtake the sinners who have long since been deceased.
They shall bring out the bones. Not only shall many of the dead bodies remain unburied, but the sepulchers of those who have till now "lain in honor, each one in his house", (Isa_14:18) shall be violated. The inhabitants of Jerusalem meant are evidently those of the upper class, for the others were buried, with but little regard to the security of the corpses, in the valley of Kedron. (2Ki_23:6) According to some, the motive of this invasion of the chambers of the dead is avarice (comp. Herod., 1:187, Darius at the tomb of Nitocris); but the context, without excluding this view, rather suggests malice and contempt. Thus "the wrath of man" was to "praise" Jehovah. (Psa_76:10)
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HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1, 2. The bones of the dead idolaters cast out before their cities.
I ASK HOW THIS SPOLIATION COMES TO PASS. One cannot suppose that it came by the intention of Jehovah. Rather would it arise as a necessary part of wholesale pillage. Considerable treasures might be lying in the tombs of these grandees of Israel, and much might also have been hidden in them for purposes of safety, and therefore, seeing that this hideous devastation had to happen, it was fitting to call attention to it beforehand. It was another indication of how completely, for its sins, Jerusalem had been handed over to the foreign destroyer. It makes all the difference to mention such a terrible circumstance beforehand, as an illustration of the severity of God"s dealings. Thus it is seen that the spoliation cannot be laid to his charge. And though it must be taken as a sign how barbarous the ancient civilization was at bottom, this is but a consideration by the way. The real cause of this hideous spectacle was in the idolatry of those who had covenanted to love and serve Jehovah, to walk after him and seek him and worship him. These dead ones had forsaken God and taught their posterity to forsake him also; and now there was none among the living able to protect the bones of the dead from such horrible insult.
II OBSERVE THAT THE HUMILIATION HAS A PECULIAR CONNECTION WITH THE IDOLATRY OF THE PEOPLE. Not only are the tombs emptied, but the bones are scattered before the host of heaven. The enemy was not thinking of this exhibition, but it happened so very opportunely. Sun, moon, and stars looked down upon the scene thus strewn with the bones of the illustrious, as if in rebuke for the use which Israel had tried to make of them. They had worshipped and served the creature in opposition to the Creator, and this was what had come of it. These bones had strengthened the living body to worship the sun, and now the sun shone steadily down on them, as if in public rejection of what was not only a mistaken honor to the creature but a shameful insult to the Creator. The very things we misuse become the instruments of our humiliation.
III THE GENERAL QUESTION OF THE TREATMENT OF DEAD BODIES IS SUGGESTED FOR CONSIDERATION. Various are the customs of men with respect to the treatment of the dead, but many of them have one common element, in that they try to preserve the visible, tangible relics of life as long as possible. There is something very touching in the hopes and beliefs which are represented by an Egyptian mummy, as if the survivors felt that life had receded into some deep, inscrutable chamber, again to come forth in due time and reanimate its old tenement. We think of how Joseph must have been under the influence of a feeling of this kind, when he gave such strict commandment concerning his bones. Still, it is part of the salvation wherewith Christ saves his people, that we are lifted above these haunting considerations as to the corporeal frame. It is according to the Spirit of Christ that we should labor, by exercise and self-denial, to make the living body an efficient agent of his will; but when the life has gone, no sentimental treatment of ours can alter the fact that the body is mere matter, fast under the chemical laws which will soon resolve it into its constituent elements. Have not the bodies of God"s saints been shamefully maltreated, both during life and after death? Think out of what a mangled and bleeding form the spirit of Stephen took its flight to everlasting bliss. If there be force in the injunction of Jesus not to fear what men can do to the sentient body, how much more may it be urged not to fear what they can do to the senseless corpse. The enemies of the noble and fearless witnesses of truth have shown more than once their contemptible spirit by the way in which they have treated the dead. They could not get at them when living, and they thought it was something of a triumph to insult their remains when gone; e.g. Wycliffe and Cromwell. The scattering of these bones before sun, moon, and stars would have been a thing to glory in, if the men to whom they belonged had been soldiers in the noble army of martyrs. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Chronology and History, as in chap.…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—Chronology and History, as in chap. 7. Observe, however, that a new section in this extended prophetic address commenced with Jer_8:4, which continues to chap. Jer_9:22.
1. Geographical Reference. Jer_8:22. “Gilead:” a mountainous region, bounded on the west by Jordan, east by high plateau of Arabia, north by Bashan, south by valley of Heshbon; covering an area of cir. 60 miles by 20. The mountains of Gilead have an elevation of between 2000 and 3000 feet. The valleys of Gilead are richly wooded, presenting all the noble features of forest scenery. The torrent-beds are filled with oleanders. The district so charmed the Reubenites and Gadites that they asked it for their inheritance rather than pass “over Jordan” (Num_32:1-5).
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2. Personal Allusions. Jer_8:8. “Scribes:” the Sopherim, students and interpreters of the written law, who probably owed their elevation into a distinctly-recognised order to Shaphan (2Ch_34:13; 2Ch_34:15); their employ was to write out the law, classify its contents, enumerate its clauses and letters, with “every jot and tittle” (cf. Jer_2:8). Jer_8:9. “The wise men:” specified also in chap. Jer_18:18 as a distinct class; but probably here used of those who prided themselves on their knowledge, learned men of all orders of society (cf. Jer_9:23).
3. Natural History, Jer_8:7. “Stork:” Chasidah, a name suggestive of piety and benevolence, from חֶסֶד, zeal, benignity; specially careful for her young and her aged parents, makes her nest on high (Psa_104:17), soars very loftily (“in the heaven”), far above the range of human vision, annually migrates as soon as cold warns her of winter’s approach; arrives in Palestine about the middle of March, where it rests for about six weeks. “Turtle,” i.e., turtle-dove, Thor: heralds the spring (Son_2:12) with sweet voice (Son_2:14), yet mournful tones (Nah_2:9); its plumage rich (Psa_68:13), nestles in rocks (Psa_68:28), has eyes of peculiar softness and lustre (Son_1:15; Son_5:12), migratory. “Crane:” Sus, means the swift, also a bird of passage, very noisy, with a harsh note; in appearance resembling the stork. “Swallow:” here Agûr [the words Sus and Agur are used interchangeably in Scripture for swallow and crane; difficult, therefore, to fix the name on either]; the swallow prefers populous scenes, and builds her nest in dwellings of mankind; her note is quick and querulous (Isa_38:14), her migration is annual. Jer_8:13. “Grapes on the vine:” Anabim, cluster of grapes (Gen_40:10). (See notes on chap. Jer_2:21, Jer_6:9.) “Figs:” Tenim, three kinds in Palestine—the early, the summer, and the winter fig; tree grows to vast dimensions, and abounds throughout the land (Deu_8:8). (See notes on chap. Jer_5:17.) Jer_8:14. “Water of gall,” i.e., poisonous water; lit. water of the poisonous plant, מַי־רֹאשׁ, Gesenius pronounces it the poppy; but Speaker’s Com. refers to the same word in Deu_32:32, where the further description, “their grapes are grapes of gall,” necessitates the abandonment of the poppy, which has no berries (“grapes”); and concludes, “probably it was the belladonna or nightshade, to the berries of which the grapes of Israel were compared.” In Hos_10:4, rôsh is rendered “hemlock,” and in Job_20:16, “poison” of asps. The Targum renders it “the cup of malediction.” Jer_8:17. “Serpents, cockatrices,” i.e., serpents, even cockatrices, or vipers: Tsiphoni, small but very venomous vipers, basilisks which cannot be charmed. Its name, Tsiphoni, given to it on account of its remarkable hissing; its sting deadly (Pro_23:32, where rendered “adder”). So fatal is its wound, that natural historians assert that all other serpents hurry away and hide themselves at its hiss, and that its very breath will blast plants and poison the air. “This dreadful snake is not a native of Canaan, but abounds in the miry fields of Egypt” (Dr. Porter). Jer_8:22. “Balm in Gilead:” this balsam early mentioned in Scripture (Gen_37:25) as an article of commerce with Midianitish merchants, who carried it to Egypt; sufficiently valued as to be among the presents sent by Jacob to Joseph (Gen_43:11), and possessed of acknowledged medicinal properties. It cannot be identified with any particular tree. Pliny and Strabo attest the celebrated virtue of the opobalsamum or myrobalanus; but Bochart selects the resin drawn from the terebinth as the “balm” here alluded to. There is now no tree in Gilead which yields such balsam, but it may be found in Arabia and Egypt. A fragrant and medicinal balsam is used and sold among Turks which is obtained from Mecca.
4. Manners and Customs. Jer_8:1. “They shall bring out the bones,” &c.: ornaments and treasures were buried with the dead; the enemies, knowing this, would ransack the sepulchres, and plunder the dead of their insignia and valuables. Refer to Josephus, Antiq. vii. ch. 15, § 3, for account of Hyrcanus rifling the sepulchre of David, robbing it of 3000 talents; and to Heredotus i. 187, for statement of like act of Darius with grave of Nitocris. A customary arrangement for crown, sceptre, and royal insignia to be interred with kings; nobles and the wealthy imitated this by burying other treasures and valuables. Jer_8:8. “Pen of the scribes:” the pen or style was of iron, pointed (cf. Jer_7:1), though this “iron pen,” or graver of steel, was probably used only for tracing letters upon stone or metallic plates. When tablets of wood covered with wax, skins, and parchments received the writing, a metal stylus or a reed formed the “pen.” Jer_8:22. “Is there no physician there?” The inquiry suggests that practitioners in the medical art had established themselves in Gilead, who both collected the “balm,” and applied it to the suffering who resorted thither for healing.
5. Literary Criticism. Jer_8:1. “At that time:” points back to chap. Jer_7:32, “the days come.” Jer_8:4. “Shall they fall … shall he turn?” More correctly, Shall men fall and not arise! shall one turn, &c.? An appeal to the general experience and conduct of men—viz., that it is customary for men to arise after having fallen, &c. Jer_8:6. “No man repented him,” &c.: lit. No man has pity upon his wickedness; the sinner would compassionate and commiserate himself did he fully realise his sin and its consequences. Jer_8:8. “Certainly in vain made he it,” &c. Margin, “The false pen of the scribes worketh for falsehood.” Lange also, taking the verb עָשָׂה as emphatically to work, translates thus: “Behold he has worked for a lie, i.e., has done lying work; the pen of the scribes has produced lies.” Keil and Speaker’s Com. render the words: “Lo! the lying pen of the scribes bath made it (the law of the Lord) into a lie.” The Vulgate has, “Verily, falsehood has the false pen of the scribe wrought.” Jer_8:10-12. The LXX. omits from the words, “for every one from the least,” &c., to the end of Jer_8:12. They are a repetition of words from chap. Jer_6:12-15. Jeremiah frequently quotes his former utterances; hence Hitzig’s suggestion that they are an interpolation is without force. Jer_8:13. “And the things that I have given them shall pass away from them:” the old translators (Chald., Syr., Vulg.) render the passage, “What I have given them they have trangressed.” Ewald sustains this. The A.V. translation suggests the meaning, they should lose God’s beneficent gifts. Umbriet, Venema, Keil, and Speaker’s Com. render the words, “So I appoint unto them those that shall pass over them:” נָתַן, to appoint; and עָבַר, to overrun (cf. Isa_8:8). Hitzig and Graf., “I deliver them up to mem who pass over them.” Jer_8:14. “Be silent,” from, דּמָה the Niphil form (נִדְּמָה), meaning to perish; then “put to silence,” from דָּמָם, Hiphil form (הֵדֵם), meaning to destroy: hence, Jehovah hath decreed our ruin. Jer_8:18. “When I would comfort myself,” &c.: lit., “Oh, my comfort in the sorrow! my heart within me is faint;” an outcry of anguish. Noyes renders it, “Oh, where is consolation for my sorrow?” Jer_8:19. “Behold the voice … because of them in a far country.” More correctly, “Behold! the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land;” her cry being, “Is not the Lord in Zion!” &c., from which she is now an exile. To this question God returns the counter-question, “Why have they provoked Me?” &c. Jer_8:21. “I am hurt,” am broken, i.e., in heart. “I am black,” am in mourning (Keil); I go mourning (Speaker’s Com.). Jer_8:22. “The health,” &c. Why, then, has no bandage (of balsam) been laid upon my people? (So Keil, Speaker’s Com.) But “health” is the more uniform rendering of the word (cf. Jer_30:17, Jer_33:6). Hend. remarks, “אֲרוּכָה, health, properly means length, from the circumstances of long linen bandages being employed in binding up wounds.”
HOMILIES AND OUTLINES ON SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 8
Section
Jer_8:1-3.
The dead: their graves dishonoured.
Section
Jer_8:4-12.
The living: their unabashed iniquity.
Section
Jer_8:13-17.
Maledictions: God’s messages of doom.
Section
Jer_8:18-22.
Lamentations: the prophet’s dismay.
Jer_8:1-3. THE DEAD: THEIR GRAVES DISHONOURED
This would be done by the Chaldean hordes in search for booty. Jeremiah, however, suggests not the motive of this sacrilegious disturbance of the dead; he regards only the fact as the punitive judgment of an offended God. Even plunderers may carry into effect the righteous displeasure and retribution of the Most High.
“At the time of the siege of Jerusalem, not only will they bury in Tophet (Jer_7:32-34) till there be no more room, such will be the carnage; but they who bury there will also open the graves of those who are buried, the kings and princes of Judah, and expose them to public contumely and shame. Perhaps the corpse of King Jehoiachim was then disinterred (Jer_22:19).”—Wordsworth.
“Their dead bodies should lie unburied in the sight of these their deities (Jer_8:2), whom these idolaters had worshipped while they were alive, and thought they could never do enough for, but who could do them no good either alive or dead.”—Trapp.
“In their reckless search, the barbarians would never think of replacing the bones which they had disturbed, but would leave them exposed to open gaze. The objects of idolatrous worship are here introduced with admirable effect, as unconcerned spectators of the indignity offered to their former worshippers. The condition of survivors (Jer_8:3) would be more pitiable than that of the dead.”—Henderson.
I. The sanctuaries of the dead profaned (Jer_8:1). What a conception does this fact supply of the barbarity of the Chaldean hordes! Nothing sacred in their esteem. War lets loose the worst passions of the best armies, but never did an army equal in lawless badness this Babylonian host. Lust and greed drove them on to ruthless violation of everything they met. (See Addenda to chap. Jer_8:1, “Graves disturbed.”)
II. The pitiless indifference of idol deities (Jer_8:2). How does this statement set before these idolaters the worthlessness of their gods! In their most evil hour their chosen deities will neither commiserate or help them. Suggestive of man’s treatment from those he substitutes for the true and gracious Lord; contemptuous unconcern in his day of calamity.
III. The horror and anguish of survivors (Jer_8:3). There is something worse than death; yea, than a dishonoured burial: life, when itself “evil;” when “driven” away by God; when abandoned to “places” of exile, among foes and scoffers and cruel despots. To live experiencing and enduring God’s vengeance is the direst calamity man can bear (comp. Job_3:21-22; Rev_9:6). (Addenda to chap. Jer_8:3, “Death desired.”)
Jer_8:4-12. THE LIVING: THEIR UNABASHED INIQUITY
I. They would not attend to the dictates of reason (Jer_8:4-5). The most careful traveller may miss his way; but then, as soon as he is aware of it, “will he not return?” No man in his wits will go on in a way that he knows will never bring him to his journey’s end: “why then has this people slidden back with a perpetual blacksliding?” The nature of sin: it is—(1.) backsliding; (2.) perpetual, unless Divine grace prevent it; (3.) a cherished deceit; (4.) of which its dupes refuse to be undeceived.
II. They would not attend to the dictates of conscience (Jer_8:6). Observe: 1. What expectations there were from them, that they would bethink themselves: “I hearkened and heard. (Comp. Job_33:27.) 2. How these expectations were disappointed: “They spake not aright;” and the only speaking “aright” would have been in words of “repentance of wickedness;” but this was refused. (a.) They did not take even the first step towards repentance: “None said, What have I done?” (b.) They were so far from repenting that they went on resolutely in their sins: “Every one turned to his course,” &c.
III. They would not attend to the dictates of Providence (Jer_8:7). Though they are “my people,” yet, 1. They were heedless of God’s dealings with them: “Know not the judgments of the Lord.” 2. The inferior creatures around them showed more sagacity. (Addenda on Jer_8:7. “Stork,” “Turtle,” &c.)
IV. They would not attend to the dictates of the written Word (Jer_8:8-9). Many enjoy abundance of the means of grace, but they do not answer the end of their having them. Those who are “wise” yet do no better for their souls with their wisdom than they who pretended to none, will have reason to be “ashamed,” and will be taken in their own snare. 1. He threatens the judgments of God against them (Jer_8:10). 2. He gives a reason for those judgments: they were greedy of wealth, “given to covetousness;” they made no conscience of speaking truth, “every one dealeth falsely;” they flattered people in their sins (Jer_8:11); they were lost to all sense of virtue and honour (Jer_8:12), “they could not blush.” Such as these were ripe for ruin.—Henry.
Jer_8:13-17. MALEDICTIONS: GOD’S MESSAGES OF DOOM
A succession of varied images and ideas; vine, stronghold, trouble, invasion, serpents: Jeremiah’s quick transitions from figure to fact is characteristic. Also observe the frequent change of speakers in this section: God speaks in Jer_8:13, the people in Jer_8:14-15; Jeremiah himself, Jer_8:16; Jehovah again, Jer_8:17; a style indicative of the passion and intensity of the prophet. Both the varied imagery and the interchange of speakers denotes the deep emotion under which Jeremiah now speaks: the dreadful theme harrows his own spirit. Behind his impetuous thoughts and words lay this great grief: “How can I endure to see the destruction of my people?” To announce “glad tidings of good things” is a far easier and happier task than to bear messages of wrath. Yet we must not say, “Peace, peace, where there is no peace” (Jer_8:11); but tell fully what God bids. A series of maledictions under varied images.
I. The vine: Fruitless things God will consume (Jer_8:13). “There are no grapes,” &c. (not, there shall be). Fruitlessness is the reason why God will “consume.” Keil translates Jer_8:13 : “Away, away will I sweep them, saith Jehovah: no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf is withered; so I appoint unto them those that shall pass over them.” And the Speaker’s Com. thus comments: “These intermediate clauses describe the present state of the Jews, and not, as in the Authorised Version, the result of God’s judgment. Judah is a vine which bears no fruit, a tree which makes even no profession of life, for her leaf is dry.” Others regard the words as threatening the Jews with the deprivation of the fruits of the earth; but the former interpretation has fuller authority and significance.
II. Strongholds: Defences cannot exclude the penalties of sin (Jer_8:14). The people awake at length to the urgency of the case: would shelter themselves in fortified cities; yet withal they realise their sure destruction: “Let us perish (be silent) there.” Strong walls cannot exclude God’s judgments: “The Lord our God hath decreed our destruction.” (See Literary Criticisms on ver. supra.) Sin must eventuate in overthrow: “Because we have sinned,” &c. Though they rally one another to flee, yet they are conscious they cannot escape; they are irremediably lost. It is mournful abandonment to despair.
III. Trouble: Sinners’ false hopes assuredly shattered (Jer_8:15). False prophets had beguiled them to “look for peace;” now they experience the utter reverse: “no good,” for where can “good” be found when God is lost? “and behold trouble,” properly “terror;” so overwhelming would the calamity prove. Suggestive of the sinner’s anguish of dread—in death, in judgment.
IV. Invasion: Terrible forces of retributive justice (Jer_8:16). (See on chap. Jer_4:15.) The border-line crossed by the foe. Health may be our border-line, or a carnal confidence; the enemy will pass that line, and then, oh our dismay! There are “strong ones,” rushing cavalry, which scour the land; no resisting their fury or checking their impetuous speed. The result: “devoured.”
V. Serpents: Alleviation and avoidance of misery impossible (Jer_8:17): “not be charmed,” and “they will bite you.” No incantation, devices, or persuasives will disarm the attack of the foe; the venomous bite will inevitably bring death. Such is the issue of the “Serpent’s” bite. No crafty measures will avert the miseries which follow upon sin: “At last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”
Jer_8:18-22. LAMENTATIONS: THE PROPHET’S DISMAY
As Jeremiah regards his people’s ruin, his heart is sorely oppressed with grief and horror. (Addenda to chap. Jer_8:18. “Bitter lamentations.”) He was wholly unlike those fastidious philanthropists
“Who sigh for wretchedness, yet shun the wretched,
Nursing in some delicious solitude
Their dainty loves and slothful sympathies.”
—COLERIDGE, “Religious Musings.”
I. A disastrous event (Jer_8:19). The invaders have carried the people into a “far country.” (See Lit. Crit. supra.) From the scene of their exile their bitter laments come ringing upon the prophet’s troubled ear. Yet their complaining cry, “Is not the Lord in Zion?” is answered by God’s accusing inquiry concerning their prolonged and provoking apostasy.
II. A grievous reflection (Jer_8:20). The day of hope and remedy is irretrievably gone! This is the bitter outcry of the wretched exiles themselves. Sinners will one day see and bewail their impiety and folly. (Addenda, chap. Jer_8:20. “Opportunity lost.”)
III. A stricken mourner (Jer_8:18; Jer_8:21). He can lay hold on no comfort in his sorrow; calls after it as lost, and his burdened heart is sick within him; while also he himself suffers (Jer_8:21) the agonies which he witnesses his people bear. In this Jeremiah was a type of Him who was “stricken and afflicted;” for “surely He hath borne our griefs.”
IV. A bewildered inquiry (Jer_8:22). (1.) A remedy existed; “balm.” (2.) Skilled administrators of the remedy could be found: “physicians there” (these physicians were her priests and prophets, scribes and wise men; comp. Jer_8:8-11); yet she had suffered many things of many physicians, without being healed of any. For there is but one True Physician for the maladies of sin, and to Him she had not applied. “Why?” The prophet is staggered at Judah’s neglect of Him: what is her reason? “Neglect of the great salvation” is therefore unreasonable, unjustifiable, astounding. For because of such neglect unutterable miseries and grievous wounds remain, and must continually be borne. Verily, man’s wilful repudiation of the Divine remedy is appalling, and he thereby “wrongs his own soul.”
HOMILETIC TREATMENT OF SELECTED VERSES IN CHAPTER 8
Jer_8:1-3. Theme: THE DEAD DIS-HONOURED, YET DEATH DESIRED. (Addenda to chap. Jer_8:1; Jer_8:3, “Dead molested; Death desired.”)
Note: Burial is an expression of our hope of resurrection; hence our common reverence for places of sepulture, and our horror at sacrilegious violation of the grave.
“The dreadful desolation which the Chaldean army would make in the land would strangely alter the property of death itself, and for the worse too:
“I. Death shall not now be, as it always used to be, the repose of the dead. Threatened in former chapter that slain should be unburied, but here the graves of the buried are to be maliciously opened.
“II. Death shall now be, what it never used to be, the choice of the living. And this, not in a believing hope of happiness in the other life, but in an utter despair of any ease in this life.”—Henry.
Jer_8:2. Theme: PHASES OF IDOLATROUS HOMAGE.
“There is great force in the piled-up verbs by which their worship of the heavenly bodies is described.
“1. With their hearts they ‘loved’ them. 2. With costly offerings they ‘served’ them. 3. With submissive following they ‘walked after’ them. 4. Frequenting their temples, in order to gain their favour, they ‘sought’ them. 5. Bowing down before them and publicly honouring them, they ‘worshipped’ them.
“Yet these gods, thus served with heart and hand, do nothing whatever for their worshippers, except to aid their bones to decay. Hitzig well points out how the prophet, beginning with the heart (‘loved’), describes their worship in the various stages of development, and then contrasts its fulness with the miserable reward which ensues.”—Speaker’s Com.
I. Progressive stages of idolatrous service.
II. Absolute entirety of idolatrous self-subjection.
III. Pitiless abandonment by idols of their votaries.
IV. Melancholy doom of idolatrous victims.
Jer_8:4. Theme: THAT MEN HABITUALLY TRY TO RIGHT THEMSELVES.
When they fall, they are not so senseless as to lie there; they can and they do get up. When they err and lose their way, they do not madly resolve to accept their mistake and continue to go wrong; they refuse to proceed along a road which leads they know not where, but certainly where they do not wish to go; and they retrace their steps.
Basil uses the text as a motive for repentance.
Chrysostom finds in it an argument that no sinner need despair of repentance.
It suggests: i. The sinner’s power to help himself. ii. The stupidity of doing nothing to better his case. iii. The extent to which his self-help can attain. iv. The common proneness of man to fall and err. v. The necessity for direction, that he may not continue to wander and so be lost. vi. That God approves man’s efforts to retrace his errors. vii. Grace will certainly avail for those who desire to tread the right way.
Jer_8:5. Theme: PERPETUAL BACKSLIDING. (Addenda to chap. Jer_8:5.)
I. The causes of backsliding.
1. Fear of man. 2. Intercourse with worldly society. 3. Presumption. 4. Secret sin. 5. Neglect of prayer.
II. The symptoms of backsliding.
1. Absence of pleasure in attending to the secret exercises of religion. 2. Irregular and unprofitable attendance on public ordinances. 3. Unwillingness to act or suffer for the honour of Christ. 4. Uncharitable feelings toward fellow-Christians. 5. Indulgence in sins once abandoned.
III. The forms of backsliding.
1. Declension into error. 2. Into unbelief. 3. Into lukewarmness or want of love. 4. Into prayerlessness. 5. Into immorality. 6. Into open rejection of a Christian profession.
IV. The evils of backsliding.
1. Its evils to the backslider: (1.) It diminishes his happiness. (2.) It arrests his progress. (3.) It destroys his usefulness.
2. Its evils to others: (1.) It staggers the anxious inquirer. (2.) Seduces the weak Christian. (3.) Embarrasses all the friends of religion. (4.) Supplies materials to the mocker.
V. The cure of backsliding.
1. Let the backslider remember from whence he has fallen. 2. Let him reflect on his guilt and danger. 3. Let him return to God, from whom he has wandered. 4. Let him live near Christ. 5. Let him forsake the sin into which he has fallen. 6. Let him learn to depend on the promised aid of the Holy Spirit.—Brooks, “Plans.”
Jer_8:6. “WHAT HAVE I DONE?” (Addenda to chap. Jer_8:6, “Self-interrogation.”)
1. In reference to God. 2. To myself. 3. To Christ. 4. To Christians. 5. To the unconverted.—Brooks.
“The thought expressed here is best explained by what St. Paul says in 1Co_11:31 : ‘For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.’ ”—Speaker’s Com.
Jer_8:6-7. Theme: MAN ON EARTH.
Text leads us to look upon man on earth in three aspects:
I. As the special object of Divine attention. “I hearkened and heard,” says God; expressing deep interest Two things show His special interest in man on earth:
(a) The language He employs in the Bible. “As I live, saith the Lord,” &c. “Lo, these three years I came seeking fruit,” &c.
(b.) The provision He has made in the Bible. Why this special attention?
i. We may imagine that man’s spiritual infirmities on earth would draw towards him the special notice of his Maker. The diseased child attracts most parental sympathy and attention. This world is the invalid member of God’s family.
ii. We may imagine that man’s critical position on earth would draw towards him, &c. Here, he has practically to decide his destiny.
iii. We may imagine that man’s social influence on earth would draw, &c. Who can tell the influence, for good or evil, of one man on this earth? One may send thousands to hell, or “turn many to righteousness.”
II. As the probationary subject of redemptive discipline.
Under this system three things are required of him:
1. Rectitude of language. “They spake not aright,” i.e., in accordance with moral truth.
2. Contrition of heart. “No man repented of his wickedness.” Repentance is essential to his recovery.
3. Self-searching thought. “What have I done?” in relation to my soul, the universe, God? When prodigal began to think he came to himself.
III. As the wicked abuser of the system under which he lives.
In two ways, as here specified:
1. Reckless obstinacy. “Every one turned to his course.” And the way of each was from God; as infidel; drunkard, &c. “As the horse rusheth” (Job 29.)
2. Unnatural ignorance. “Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth,” &c. (1.) These creatures have remarkable instincts, suitable to the external circumstances of their nature. So have you. They have instincts of perceiving coming changes, and of adjusting themselves to those changes. (2.) These creatures invariably render obedience to their instincts. You do not. How unnatural!—Homilist. (Addenda to chap. Jer_8:7, “Stork,” &c.).
Jer_8:8. “Lying pen of the scribes.” (cf. “Personal Allusions,” on ver. supra, and Addenda.)
Jer_8:8-9. Theme: INTELLECTUAL VANITY PERVERTING REVELATION.
“The law of the Lord is with us;” that was the state of their case; but what did they do with it, and what did it do for them? What we have is of subordinate importance to the use we make of it and the advantage it secures to us. Men now have the Word of God; how do they treat it, what does it profit them?
I. Sources of sacred wisdom. “Law of Lord is with us.” They “knew the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make wise unto salvation.” The Jews, having in there possession these sacred oracles, might have attained to the “wisdom which is from above,” and consequently been the wisest people on earth. We possess a revelation which “makes the simple wise,” and teaches holiest and most precious truth to man.
II. Perversion of the sources of sacred wisdom. “Pen of scribes made it a lie.” (See Lit. Crit. supra, on Ver.). By false interpretation, and delusive application of the law. This is the constant result of:
1. Wilful trifling with the Scriptures. 2. Intellectual conceit, which reverses and mutilates Scripture language. 3. Narrow bigotry, which will bend revelation to its own shibboleth. 4. Blind hostility, which rebels against the plain Word, and hence explains away literal teachings. 5. Dainty sentimentalism, which softens and practically neutralises distasteful teachings, strong anathemas, and bold declarations.
III. Arrogant pretension to the possession of sacred wisdom. “We are wise;” for no other reason than that they had the Scriptures, and knew the letter. “The law of the Law is with us,” is a boast of more than outward possession of it, but also of inward acquaintance with it, mastery of its contents. Such a familiarity did not, does not, always engender reverence, or lead to obedience. It fostered vanity of mind, intellectual conceit, and became a snare. These scribes rose, indeed, to be “wise above what is within.”
IV. Delusion resulting from the arrogance of wisdom (Jer_8:9). Thus, “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” God will refute such irreverent and merely literary wisdom. Christ thanked the Father that “from the wise and prudent” He had “hid” the precious truth. God denies real light to the intellectually proud, as they exclude themselves from a saving knowledge of the truth. Lowliness and submissiveness are qualifications for Divine enlightenment,—“revealed them unto babes.”
V. Refutation of man’s vaunted wisdom. God asks, “What wisdom is in them?” With all their knowledge and their satisfied vanity, they had practically “rejected the word of the Lord.” It is “he that doeth His will shall know of the doctrine:” hence God repudiates their boast,—denounces them as inflated fools, “wise (only) in their own conceits,” and predicts their coming shame. Intellectual vanity easily leads to tampering with and perverting God’s Word; and then the condemnation is inherited with which the volume of the book closes (Rev_22:18-19).
Comments:
Jer_8:10-12. Almost identical with chap. Jer_6:12-15; yet some distinctive dissimilarities exist sufficient to refute Hitzig’s suggestion that they are an interpolation. The LXX. omit them. Jeremiah, however, frequently reproduces his figures and phrases: e.g. (comp. Jer_5:15 with Jer_14:19).
“To those that shall inherit them” (Jer_8:10). “Rather to those that shall take possession of them, i.e., to conquerors who shall take them by force. To “inherit” is to obtain legally, but the verb here used is that applied to Ahab’s seizure of Naboth’s vineyard (1Ki_21:15), to the subjugation of Palestine by the Israelites (Lev_20:24), to the Babylonian conquests (Isa_14:21).”—Speaker’s Com.
Jer_8:13. Theme. THREATENING OF COMING PUNISHMENT. i. Severity of the visitation. (a.) Certain: “surely.” (b.) Desolating: “consume.” (c.) Agonising: “consume.” ii. Reason of the visitation. (a.) Fruitlessness: “no grapes, no figs:” i.e., there are none. (b.) Decay: “leaf is withered.” In consequence of barrenness Christ cursed the fig-tree. iii. Selected agency of the visitation. Read, “I appoint those who will pass over them.” (a.) God regulates punishment: “I appoint.” (b.) Unconscious agents fulfilling His word: “them that shall pass over them.” Note: 1. God has fixed and serious designs concerning men. 2. He has His agents ready and able to carry them out. 3. When we talk of peace and safety, see no invader, suspect no foe; yea, while the enemy himself is without plan of attack, the design for our overthrow stands complete. 4. Hence, the certainty that “the wicked shall not go unpunished,” and the urgency of our forsaking evil, and seeking reconciliation with God.
Jer_8:14-15. Theme: DEFIANCE REDUCED TO DESPAIR
Until now, Judah had resented God’s warning and messages: had carried on the war of resistance against His Word; entrenched in her carnal security and insolent indifference, had refused to repent or yield. This verse shows her vaunted confidence gone; she must “flee to defenced cities:” and her proud spirit broken; she must “be silent there.” Yet the opening sentence, “Why sit still?” may be, not a panic cry, that her peril is imminent, but a summons of her dejected soul to self-help: one more effort to keep above surrender and despair.
I. A rallying-call to action and self-defence. “Why sit still? Let us go to defenced cities.” (See Homily on Jer_4:5.)
Calvin remarks that these words show “that they (as hypocrites are wont to do) had recourse to expedients, by which they thought to protect themselves against God’s wrath. They (hypocrites) indeed feel their evils, and seek to apply remedies; but they stop at the nearest reliefs, without seeking to pacify God, and to return into favour with Him; and think themselves to be safe if they betake themselves to this or that hiding-place.”
1. Self-chiding: “Why do we sit still?” 2. Self-reliance: “Assemble yourselves, and let us enter.” 3. Self-delusion: “enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there.” Silent there: some render the words, rest there: דָּמָה, to rest or be silent. Merely defend ourselves in quiet, until the storm blow over.
II. A despairing recognition of their woful case. “Let us be silent there; for the Lord our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink.” Authority determines the word “silent” to mean “perish,” lit. be put to silence, from דָּמָם. All that they can promise themselves, in fleeing to fortified cities, is a little respite. 1. Salvation is beyond hope: the “defenced cities” will fall; they cannot expect, therefore, to be saved, but only to put off a little longer the inevitable ruin. 2. Destruction is determined for them: “Jehovah hath put us to silence,” i.e., hath decreed our destruction, and there is now no escape. And “hath given us water of gall;” i.e., of poison. (See “Natural History” on verse.) This simile suggests the bitter suffering incident to their nearing ruin. Horsley renders the words, “And let us sit there in despair, since the Lord our God hath brought us to despair,” &c. For God had at last reduced their defiance of Him, and their self-confident indifference, to utter despair. (Addenda, chap. Jer_8:14, “Defiance issuing in despair.”)
III. A paralysing acknowledgment of sin’s merited judgment. “The Lord hath put us to silence, &c., because we have sinned against the Lord.” Suggests
1. God is against sin: He will not condone it.
2. Sin hath entailed death. God decrees destruction, and gives the poisonous cup to the sinner,—which is the decree brought home to the transgressor against whose sin that decree has gone forth. Flee where they might, they would carry their impiety with them, and, therefore, God’s decree against iniquity would follow them into their fortifications, and wrath Divine would fall upon them there. There is no escaping the sentence and doom which sin entails, for there is no evading God, nor shutting off from us the operation of His omnipresent laws. Men will realise this at last.
IV. A melancholy confutation of the sinner’s vain hopes (Jer_8:15).
1. Flattering expectations are easily cherished. By (1.) The sinner’s own foolish vanity. (2.) By the false counsellors to whom he listens. (See Notes on chap. Jer_4:10, and also Jer_8:11.)
2. Experience scatters our false expectations. Man has the making of his expectations; God of his experiences. Our expectations are what we desire; our experiences what we deserve.
Jer_8:18. Theme: COMFORT IN SORROW. I. Need of comfort. II. Attempt to comfort ourselves. III. Such attempt vicious and vain.—J. Farren. (Addenda to chap. Jer_8:18, “Bitter lamentations.”)
Jer_8:19-20. Theme: A BITTER CRY FROM SCENES OF EXILE.
“This verse should be translated thus:—‘Behold the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land! Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King there? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with foreign vanities?’ The invaders have not merely wasted the land (Jer_8:16), but carried the remnant into captivity. The prophet seems to hear their loud cry for help, but their complaint, Is there no Jehovah in Zion? is met by God demanding of them the reason why, instead of worshipping Him, they have set up idols.”—Speaker’s Com.
“Because they have chosen the empty idols from abroad (“strange,” foreign “vanities”), Jehovah, the Almighty God of Zion, has cast them out into a far country amidst strange people.”—Keil.
“The common cant was; Is not the Lord in Zion? And will not Zion’s God protect Zion’s king and kingdom? This outcry of theirs reflects upon God, as if His power and promise were broken or weakened; and, therefore, He returns an answer to it immediately, Why have they provoked Me? &c. They have withdrawn from their allegiance to Him, and so have thrown themselves out of His protection.”—Henry.
In the midst of their bitterness and woe, they remember the God whom they had forgotten in their prosperity; but this remembrance is not a gracious one,—they do not remember Him to humble themselves before Him, but to bring accusations against Him.
I. We have a cry: That is how the prayer is described. 1. It had in it a meaning: “the voice of their cry.” 2. The matter of the voice: “for them that dwell in a far country” [interpreting the words as Zion’s agonising appeal to God for those “afar-off,” like the prodigal “in a far country”]. 3. Their settled estrangement from God is implied, “them that dwell in a far country.” 4. This prayer for those long estranged is from God’s own people: “the cry of the daughter of my people.”
II. The question: “Is not the Lord in Zion? is not her king in her?” Surely, yes. Then if the Lord be in the midst of Zion, 1. Why do we pray as if He were not? Rather pray, knowing Him near to answer as by fire. 2. Why do you despond because of your weakness? God is all-sufficient. 3. Why those great fears about the prosperity of the Church? The battle is the Lord’s: let us go on and conquer.
III. Another question: “Why have they provoked Me?” &c. 1. Here is a question for the Lord’s people. It is a very solemn thing when God is in His Church, how that Church behaves herself. 2. This text has a particular voice to sinners. You have been saying, God is amid His people; how is it I remain unblessed, unsaved? Because of your “vanities,” your idols, your sins.
IV. Another cry: “The harvest is past,” &c. (Jer_8:20). We thought God would keep us in the days of harvest; but the harvest is past. We dreamed He would chase away our enemies when the summer months had come; but the summer is ended, and still Chaldea has her foot upon Judah’s neck—still we drink the wormwood and the gall: we are not saved.
What harvest, what summers (spiritually) we have had: ingathering of souls; yet you are not saved! Some in your home converted, &c., but you not saved. The day is near when you will have to cry in the sight of the approach of death, “The harvest is past, &c., and I not saved!” Yes, a day comes when, being in torments, you will cry those words! We are looking for Christ’s coming: and then, seeing Him gather His harvest into the sky, the cry again will rise, “Harvest past: we not saved!”—Spurgeon.
Jer_8:20. Theme: THE LOST HARVEST. “Harvest is past,” &c.
Language descriptive of the awful position of those who, having trifled away gracious opportunities, are found at close of life unforgiven and unrenewed. Consider:
I. That the means and opportunities of securing salvation are graciously afforded to men.
II. That these means and opportunities will soon pass away.
III. That when once past, they will have disappeared for ever. Irretrievable despair!—Sunday at Home.
Theme: THE UNAVAILING LAMENTATION. Bethink:
I. That God has given you the gracious seasons of summer and harvest. 1. The summer (a.) of life; (b.) of reason; (c.) of opportunities. 2. The harvest (a.) of knowledge; (b.) of privileges; (c.) of blessings.
II. That these may pass away unimproved 1. Many do not think. 2. Will not forsake their sins. 3. Will not believe. 4. Will procrastinate.
III. That the regrets of such will be awful and unavailing. 1. Sometimes their regrets are expressed in this world. 2. They will surely be uttered in eternity. Regrets (1.) of intense agony, of recollection, of self-condemnation; (2.) regrets will be unavailing,—no space for repentance, no ear for prayer, no fountain, no cross! (3.) of black despair, “harvest past,” &c.
1. None would choose this portion. 2. Who would risk it? 3. Who will flee from it? Now is the “harvest,” &c.—Jabez Burns.
Theme: LIFE’S SOLEMN OPPORTUNITY.
I. What considerations involved. 1. The object: “harvest.” 2. The opportunity: “summer.” 3. The limitation: “past,” “ended.” 4. The neglect irreparable: “We not saved.”
II. To what circumstances applicable. 1. Neglect of decision for God. 2. Neglect of spiritual culture. 3. Neglect of Christian service.
III. What lessons enforced. Importance of—1. Present opportunity. 2. Present dedication.—J. Farren.
Theme: CAUTIONS AND CONSOLATIONS.
Text may be accommodated so as to admit of a general application, and be interpreted in a spiritual sense. Then this lamentation may be understood as the
I. Language of final and absolute despair. That, having neglected means, wasted opportunity, resisted Spirit, “hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord,” now they have no longer hope of mercy: nothing to expect but judgment and misery! Let us dread the doom of the foolish virgins.
II. Language of deep and humbling conviction. That, having abused their only opportunity for seeking salvation, for attending to “the one thing needful,” for fulfilling the solemn object of life, it is gone for ever; their day of grace is over, they must therefore perish without remedy! Awakened at last to the interests of their souls, but awakened too late. “Redeem the time.”
III. Language of distressing and gloomy despondency. Such despondency as the afflicted and tempted servants of Jesus Christ sometimes experience: their minds clouded, peace gone, hope perished, they take up unrighteously the melancholy cry of text: “After all we have thought and felt, we find we have been deceiving ourselves, we have not really known and loved the Lord, our present gloom is proof against our being His; we are undone; harvest is past!” &c. They are “in heaviness through manifold temptations.”
Some have a well-assured hope that their harvest is not passed, that they are saved! For they have fled to Christ for refuge, have in themselves the witness of the Spirit. Remember, that for these who have reasons for hope and joy, the term of life is the “summer” in which they must labour in the service, and for the glory, of their Lord.—Rev. Ed. Cooper, A. D. 1816.
Theme: NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES.
I. There are certain seasons which may be called the soul’s harvests. 1. Times of religious privilege. 2. Times of special religious action. 3. In a sense, the whole of life is a harvest time. 4. Now is emphatically a season of harvest.
II. These seasons have their period of close. 1. By national judgments. 2. By providential removal. 3. By the withdrawing of the Holy Ghost. 4. By death.
III. That these seasons may pass without due impression. 1. Proved from the fact that many take no heed concerning their souls at all. 2. Many are convicted, but never converted. 3. Exhort all to seek the Lord without delay, for
IV. The remorse of those who allow such seasons to pass without due impression, will be—1. Fearful. 2. Unavailing.—A. F. Barfield, “Christian World Pulpit.”
Theme: SEASONS OF GRACE UNIMPROVED AND LOST.
Summer and harvest are proper seasons of action; opportunities for armies to take the field, subdue enemies, and bring about deliverance of an oppressed people. The winter that follows is not a fit season for action. An awful thing when favourable seasons for saving a people from temporal enemies and calamities are lost; but infinitely more alarming to lose favourable seasons of saving their souls. This is ground for deepest lamentation when forced to say, “Harvest is past,” &c. Consider:
I. Favourable seasons, which we should be careful to improve to the salvation of our souls.
1. The summer days of youth. Hopeful season: God loves “first ripe fruits:” young prayers, young tears, young faith, love, &c. (Ecc_12:1).
2. When persons enjoy lively means and ordinances; when Christ crucified is set before them with holy fervour and feeling.
3. When there is a noise and shaking among the dry bones: work of conviction and conversion is going forward, &c.
4. When Satan’s power is restrained, and churches have rest from evil: this is a calm summer day.
5. When God is visiting mankind with alarming providences: then the inhabitants of the earth should learn righteousness.
II. Who may be said to have lost their summer days and favourable seasons of grace? We cannot be positive as to any while life remains, yet of some, sad grounds to fear.
1. Those who have had the Spirit long striving with them, but have resisted His striving and repelled Him (Eze_24:13).
2. Those who persist in sinful courses and harden themselves against the reproofs of the Almighty (Pro_29:1).
3. Those who sin presumptuously, sin in the face of light, in hopes of repentance and pardon (Num_15:30).
4. Those who are so determinately bent on sin that God, their own consciences, and God’s ministers cease to reprove them (Eze_3:27, Hos_4:17).
5. Those who deliberately relapse into sin after having been Divinely corrected and aroused to resolutions (Isa_1:5).
6. Those who give themselves up to commit sin with greediness, and glory in it (Eph_4:19, Php_3:19).
7. Those who mock the offers of the Gospel, and despise those who bring them (2Ch_36:16). “Harvest is past,” &c.
III. The causes why men lose their hopeful seasons.
1. Unbelief; did men believe God’s Word, threatenings, and wrath to come, they would improve their seasons of grace, and flee to Christ.
2. Promise themselves time; leisure to attend to work of salvation; regard death and eternity as distant.
3. Indulge sloth; do not “give all diligence” to the duties of religion, public and private.
4. Love of carnal company and sensual delights: amid sinful pleasures they trifle away their summer days.
Application:
(1.) How dreadful will be the end of those who have lost all their opportunities of salvation! Remembrance of them will not ameliorate but embitter their case.
(2.) Such characters act as if devoid of reason (Jer_8:7, Pro_6:8); worse than the brutes that perish.
(3.) Let us endeavour to improve Gospel seasons, the summer and harvest for our souls, with greatest care.—Hannum.
There is in this text
I. The acknowledgment of opportunity.
II. The confession of neglect.
III. The anticipation of doom.
J. W. W., from Lange. (Addenda to chap. 8 Jer_8:20, “Opportunity Lost.”)
Jer_8:21. Comments:
“For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.” The hopeless case of the people and kingdom moves the seer so deeply that he bursts forth with the cry, “For the breaking of my people I am broken” (the Hophil form = the breaking of the heart). “I am black:” used of wearing mourning—in other words, to be in mourning (cf. Psa_35:14; Psa_38:7). “Astonishment hath taken hold:” horror hath taken hold on me (Jer_6:24, Mic_4:9). Help is nowhere to be found.—Kiel.
“Because of the breaking … I am broken:” the words of the prophet, whose heart is crushed by the sad cry of his countrymen.—Speaker’s Com.
“Astonished:” the astonishment with which he was seized he no doubt sets down as being the opposite of the people’s torpor and insensibility; for they had no fear for themselves.—Calvin.
“I am contemned for bewailing my people’s misery, who neither feel nor fear hurt.”—Trapp.
“Observe here:
i. How great his griefs were (Jer_8:21). For their sin, and the miseries incurred by it. It becomes us to lament the miseries of our fellow-creatures, much more to lay to heart the calamities of our country, and especially of the Church of God. Jeremiah had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, yet he did not rejoice in the proof of the truth of it by its accomplishment, preferring the welfare of his country before his own reputation. If Jerusalem had repented and been spared, he would have been far from fretting, as Jonah did. Jeremiah had many enemies in Judah and Jerusalem, that hated, reproached, and persecuted him; and in the judgments brought upon them God reckoned with them for it, and pleaded His prophet’s cause; yet he was far from rejoicing in it, so truly did he forgive his enemies and desire that God would forgive them.
ii. How small his hopes were (Jer_8:22). No medicine proper for a sick and dying kingdom; no skilful, faithful hand to apply the balm. He looks upon the case to be deplorable and beyond relief. The desolations made are irreparable, and the disease has come to such a height that there is no checking it.”—Henry.
“Our connection with those who hear us continually is so full, so intimate, so tender, no one can understand it who has not experienced it. We get love, we get somewhat from the heart which was broken for its enemies, and which could cry on the cross: Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”—Zinzendorf.
Jer_8:22. Theme: A CURE FOR DISEASED SOULS.
I. That mankind universally are in a diseased state.
The soul of man is meant, hence the diseases are those of the soul. That the distempers of the mind are compared to wounds, disease, and sickness, will appear from Psa_38:5; Psa_103:3; Eze_34:4; Mat_9:12. Point out some of these diseases:
1. Atheism, infidelity, or unbelief of Divine truths.
2. Ignorance of God and Gospel truths, even among those who profess to know Him (Hos_4:6). They may be cured (Rev_3:17-18).
3. Hardness of heart. (Eze_36:26; Php_1:6).
4. Earthly mindedness. Other plagues kill their thousands, this kills its tens of thousands. Pharaoh’s woods are true of them (Exo_14:3). Yet there is help for this (Col_3:12).
5. Aversion to spiritual duties. Many would rather toil their bodies a whole day than spend a quarter of an hour on their knees in secret with God. (Mal_1:13). Relief for this (Psa_110:3; Isa_40:31; Eze_36:27).
6. Hypocrisy and formality in God’s service (Isa_29:13). This also may be healed (Jer_31:33; Pro_4:18; 2Co_4:16).
7. Trusting to our own righteousness (Rom_10:10).
8. Indwelling corruption (Psa_65:3; Isa_64:6). Yet there is help for this (Mic_7:19; Rom_7:24-25).
9. Backsliding. This is a spiritual consumption, yet may be cured (Deu_30:6; Hos_14:4-6).
There are several symptoms which seem to render our diseases almost desperate and incurable.
α. When the body is universally affected, and with a complication of diseases, the case is truly alarming: and this is the state of the soul (Isa_1:5-6). Still we may be recovered; David was (Psa_103:2-3).
β. When diseases are of long continuance (Psa_51:5; Deu_28:59). Yet the Lord can make dry bones live (Ezekiel 37).
γ. When all around consider their case desperate. Often the case with sinners (Eze_37:3; Eze_37:11). Yet see the promise (Jer_30:17).
δ. When its threatening symptoms are not observed, so as to provide timely remedies. Our case not unlike Israel’s (Isa_57:17).
ε. When the patient becomes lethargic, loses his senses, and cannot be awakened (Isa_26:11; Isa_29:10). Still there is hope (Jer_33:6).
II. That there is a physician who can cure all diseases.
God Himself (Exo_15:26). Our cure is the work of the whole Trinity, but especially of Jesus Christ (Luk_4:18; Mat_9:12-13). In this office of Healer, He was typified by the brazen serpent (Joh_3:14); by the Sun of Righteousness (Mal_4:2); by the Tree of Life (Rev_22:2). Being God-man, He is nobly qualified: for
1. He is infinite in knowledge, and understands all diseases, with the proper remedies, so that He never can err (Joh_21:17).
2. He has sovereign authority, and almighty power, so that He can command diseases to obey (Mat_9:2).
3. He has infinite pity, ready to help the distressed, even unasked, hence represented as Good Samaritan (Luk_10:33).
4. He has wonderful patience towards the distressed; bears with their ingratitude, and works their perfect cure.
III. The remedy which He applies to effect the cure.
It is His own blood. This is the true “Balm of Gilead” (Isa_53:5). Scripture speaks of other means of healing, subservient to the blood:
1. The Spirit of God, with His gracious operations on the soul (Gal_3:13-14).
2. The word and ordinances of Christ; these are the “leaves of the Tree of Life,” &c. (Rev_21:2; comp. Psa_107:20).
3. Afflictions: making us mourn our wounds, and apply for remedy (Isa_22:9).
4. Faithful ministers. The Great Physician sends them to dispense wholesome doctrines (1Ti_6:3; Tit_2:1).
5. Pious Christians help by their prayers (Jas_5:15).
The Physician’s method of applying the remedy. He
α. Makes sinners sensible that they are sick (Mat_9:12). This implies discovery of the nature of sin, grief over it (Psa_38:6; Psa_38:18), despair of healing ourselves (Hos_14:3), and willingness to submit to the Physician’s prescriptions (Act_9:6).
β. Works faith in the soul, by His Holy Spirit: i.e., persuades and enables him to embrace Christ as his Saviour, and apply the balm to his wounded soul. Then danger is over (Joh_5:24).
γ. Accomplishes and perfects the cure by the sanctifying influences of the Spirit (Mat_5:8).
IV. The reasons why so few are healed, notwithstanding there is balm in Gilead, and a physician there. Cause in us: for
1. Many are ignorant of their disease, and wilfully so.
2. Many are in love with their disease, more than with their physician. God may say of them (Psa_52:3).
3. Many neglect the season of healing (Jer_8:20)
4. Many will not trust Christ wholly for healing.
5. Many will not submit to the prescriptions of Christ; to self-examination, repentance, godly sorrow, mortification; therefore are unhealed. To conclude:
α. Let those in a diseased state see their danger, for it is great; if they do not apply to this Physician, they cannot be healed.
β. Balm of Gilead is freely offered in the Gospel (Isa_45:22; Eze_18:32).
γ. Consider how long you have slighted this balm already. Now improve your day, like the people of Capernaum (Luk_4:40; 2Co_6:2).
δ. Those whom Christ has healed, manifest their gratitude by living to His glory.—Hannum.
(Addenda to chap. Jer_8:22. “Balm of Gilead.”)
Jer_8:22. Theme: REASONS FOR THE IRRELIGION OF THE MASSES.
“Why health of my people not recovered?”
Prophet referring to degeneracy and misery of Jews. Ask same question respecting the moral state of the masses of our own nation. Necessary to look.
I. At our moral and evangelical resources.
1. No country in the world in all respects equal in privileges.
2. No age comparable to this: (a.) Plenitude of God’s Word. (b.) Good books. (c.) Evangelical ministry. (d.) Rich variety of social institutions; for Young Men; Temperance; City Missions; Open Air Services, &c.
II. The fearful evils which still exist. Of these:
1. Avowed infidelity. Every form of scepticism.
2. General neglect of Divine worship.
3. Prevailing crime.
4. Juvenile precocity and profligacy.
5. Overwhelming intemperance.
III. The affecting inquiry presented. “Why then,” &c.
Three classes of reasons:
1. In the Church: (i.) Prevalence of spiritual indifference. (ii.) Sectarian contentions. (iii.) Fewness of workers. (iv.) Want of spiritual self-denial. (v.) Coldness in prayer. No sense of the ruin of souls. (vi.) Feeble faith; not proving God.
2. Reasons in the persons themselves. Feel they are separated from other classes; neglected; despised on account of their poverty, &c.
3. Reasons in the world. Seductive temptations, dissipating scenes, especially on Lord’s day. So Gospel is not heard and believed. Souls lost. Sin uncured. Crowds perishing.
Application:
1. We appeal to Church of Christ. Great responsibility.
2. Sinners are inexcusable. Every man must give account.
3. God’s mercy and grace are all-sufficient.
4. The provisions of the Gospel are freely published.—Rev. Jabez Burns.
NOTICEABLE TOPICS IN CHAPTER 8
Topic: INTERROGATING OUR CONDUCT. Text: “What have I done?” (Jer_8:6.)
How attentive God is to us and our actions! He sees His prodigals when yet a great way off; to Him there is music in our sigh, and beauty in a tear. In this verse He represents Himself as looking upon man’s heart, and listening—if possibly He may hear something good. And how amiable God is, that turns aside, with grief in His heart, exclaiming, “I did listen, but no man spake aright,” &c. Never do we have a desire towards God, or breathe a prayer to heaven, but God has been watching and hearkening for it: it was but one tear on the cheek, yet the Father noticed it as a hopeful sign; but one throb went through the heart, yet He heeded it as an omen that not quite hardened by sin. Text, “What have I done?” calls for
I. Words of earnest persuasion, urging all, and especially the unconverted, to ask this question, each for himself, and solemnly answer it. Few men like to take the trouble to review their own lives. Like silly ostrich, when hard pressed by hunters, bury their sight from real evils and danger. But remember.
1. Searching yourself can do you no hurt. Little can be lost by taking stock. You cannot be any worse for a little self-examination. 2. You may be a great deal better for the process: for, if your affairs are all right with God, you may cheer and comfort yourself; but there are many probabilities that they are wrong; so many are deceived, and anything rather than self-delusion. 3. The time for self-examination is short: soon you will know the secret, death will rend off the mask. 4. Though you may deceive yourself, you cannot God. The everlasting Jehovah will grasp the balances of justice, put His law in one scale and the sinner in the other: “Weighed and found wanting!”
Various excuses will arise to check this inquiry: you will plead you are members of churches, have often received the sacramental bread and wine. Easy thing in this age to make profession of religion. Christ had one hypocrite in His twelve! Rest on no profession. Neither put off this question because too busy to attend to spiritual concerns. Know not how near death is to thee. May the Lord prepare each for death and judgment by leading all to ask, “What have I done?”
II. Words of assistance in trying to answer the question.
1. To Christians: “What hast thou done?” You reply, “Nothing to save myself; that was done for me. Nothing to make a righteousness for myself; Christ said, It is finished! Nothing to merit heaven; Jesus did that for me before I was born!” Yes, but say; What hast thou done for Him? for His Church? for the salvation of the world? to promote thine own spiritual growth in grace?
2. To moralists: “What hast thou done?” You answer, “All I ought to have done! You may tell me of sins, but I have done my duty: observed Sabbath, said prayers, given to poor, &c.; and if good works have any merit, I have done a great deal!” True, if any merit; but very unfortunate that they have not, for our good works, if we do them to save ourselves by them, are no better than our sins. Christ will never go shares with you in the work of salvation. Your morality is no help to you whatever as to eternal things.
3. To the worldly: “What done?” “It is very little I do amiss; now and then just a little mirth.” Stop; let us have the right name for that mirth. What do you call it in any one else? “Drunkenness.” “I have been a little loose in talk sometimes!” Write it down, “Lascivious conversation.” Sometimes you have been out on the Sabbath? “Sabbath-breaking.” You may have quoted texts of Scripture to make jokes of them, and used God’s name in foolish talk? “Swearing.” Did you ever adulterate in your trade? “Stealing.” Wished you could get your neighbour’s prosperity? “Covetousness, which is idolatry.” Ever really prayed? “Prayerlessness.” Neglected God and Bible? “Despising Him.” Few but will feel these sins lie at their door. May the Spirit touch your consciences, and convince you of your sins!
4. To the unconverted: “What done?” By your sins you have destroyed your soul, resisted the gospel, spurned Christ. Yes; and think what you have done to your children: taught them the ways of spiritual ruin. To your companions: tempted some to take the first stray step into folly, indulgence, iniquity. Doth not your heart quail within you because of self-ruin and ruin of others?
III. Words of affectionate admonition to those who have had to answer the question against themselves.
1. Solemn that the years roll on and yet you are unsaved. You, not altogether hardened, yet “done” nothing to determine for Christ, and lay hold on eternity. 2. There will be a time when you will ask the question, but it will be too late. “On the death bed?” No, not too late there; but when breath has gone out of your body. After the suicide has taken the fatal leap, he may cry, “What have I done?” but too late! Some mocking spirit in mid-air echoes, “Lost, lost, lost!” In the dreadful judgment, too, the soul will ask that question, as the eye of the Judge fixes itself upon him: He turns to your page in the book, but it has never been blotted with His blood. If you only knew what they feel, and could see what they endure, who have lost opportunity and lost themselves, you would, ere too late, pause and ask, “What have I done?” As immortal spirits, bound for endless weal or woe, fly ye to Christ, seek for mercy at His hand, trust in Him, and be saved.—Spurgeon. (Comp. Addenda to chap. Jer_8:6, “Self-interrogation.”)
Topic: THE RAVAGES OF SIN: A PATHETIC REMONSTRANCE. Text: “Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (Jer_8:22).—(Addenda, “Balm of Gilead.”)
“Astonishment” (Jer_8:21) over “health not recovered” (Jer_8:22) is followed by lament for “the slain” (Jer_9:1). (1.) Between the two there is a distinction: “health” lacking, the soul diseased, impotent, suffering, prostrate, perishing, but not “slain.” (2.) Between the two there is a connexion; let the disease go unchecked, unhealed, the plague not stayed, and the issue will be—the suffering victim of sin “slain.” That sad word “slain” suggests the destroyer’s work done; the ruin of the “daughter of my people” is complete. Therefore, the prophet lifts his voice in the cry of anguish in which there sounds no strain of hope (Jer_9:1). But, in this text, the case is less severe; the malady rages, but recovery is possible, “health may be restored.” To such as have lost spiritual health, and all as yet unsaved, come the hopeful tidings of “balm in Gilead and a physician there.” Four topics:
I. A malady. “Health not recovered:” needed “balm and physician.”
The malady which has devastated the health of humanity is sin. What is sin but a disease of soul? Analogy:
1. In the manner of its development. Disease lies concealed in blood before it assumes visible signs. Began in thought, grew into a desire, advanced into an intention, issued in act.
2. In the rapidity of its progress. Bursts forth into fierce forms, whole system inflamed. Malady quickly spreads through the whole nature, vitiating mind, corrupting character, consuming goodness, till “yield members to uncleanness, and from iniquity unto iniquity.”
3. In its contagious influence. Springs from one to another, speeding and spreading misery and death. Plague of London started from one person. So, “by one man sin entered into world,” &c. Broke out in Eden, pervaded earth, &c. “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” “One sinner destroyeth much good.”
4. In its fatal termination. Unless arrested, disease soon completes its ravages, and victim sinks to the dead. And what the termination of sin? “Wages of sin is death.” “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
II. A remedy. “Balm in Gilead.” Remedy equal to the disease, for might have been “recovered.”
Gilead a mountain; balsam trees flourished; gum had medicinal properties, highly valued and widely celebrated. Thus extracted: Incision with axe or spear; issues a glutinous sap. Concerning its virtues, ancient botanists and physicians eloquent in praise.
Led by analogy from Gilead to Calvary; from balsam-tree to Cross; from issuing sap to Blood; from incision by axe to “with spear pierced His side.” Concerning its healing virtues, ten thousand times ten thousand tongues eloquent. “Health restored:” in heaven, never more sick!
1. It was highly precious. So valued that Pompey and Titus carried some back with them to Rome. “Precious blood of Christ.”
2. It had peculiar properties. Healing virtues in “balm” special to it. “Makes wounded spirit whole, calms troubled breast.”
3. It was easily obtained. Readily flowed forth. “Seek, and ye shall find.” “Whosoever call on name of Lord shall be saved.”
4. It was effectual in its operation. “Whole head may be sick,” &c. Yet healing virtue therein. “Though sins be as scarlet,” &c.
“Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power.”
III. A healer. There is “a physician there.” This a name which Jesus assumed: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
1. He is acquainted with the nature of the disease. Knows the cause of its commencement, mode of development, phases it assumes, issues to which it leads. Knows seat of disease, and how to assail it: “Out of heart proceed evil thoughts,” &c. Familiar with the malady and mode of treatment.
2. He is skilful in administering the remedy. Has had long experience and extensive practice. Every land, every age. “He went about doing good, and healing all manner of diseases and sickness among the people. (Comp. Rom_7:24-25.)
3. He is willing to afford relief. Never wearied, “waits to be gracious;” “desires not death of sinner, but that all come to repentance;’ chides with the dying, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life;” assures, “I will in no wise cast out.”
4. His ability to heal is widely attested. In our midst: “Ye are washed,” &c. In heaven: “Great multitudes; made white in blood of Lamb.”
IV. A remonstrance. “Why their health not recovered?” Many unhealed; what the explanation?
1. Some urge that they are not suffering from any malady. Not deny existence and ravages of sin as general truth, but repudiate charge of personal corruption, infection, and peril. Thus put “balm” and “physician” from them. For that is the issue; if men are not fatally diseased, Christ came not for them; they have no place in His redemptive mission. Because of this folly—ignoring their need of the Divine remedy—“health is not recovered.”
2. Others urge that they are not in a condition of serious danger. Admit personal sin, need remedy, but no occasion for alarm; they “know not that they are wretched, and poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked.” Delusion is a symptom of this malady of sin. “They hold fast deceit” (Jer_8:5). And because of this self-flattery “health is not recovered.”
3. Others urge that they can secure healing at any time. Dreadful procrastination! Deliberate trifling with grace. Surely there is no certainty of finding salvation just when men determine. Death waits not upon our convenience. Melancholy presumption. Yet because of it “health is not recovered.”
4. Others urge that they are too near perishing for recovery. Write hard things against themselves. (See Jer_8:20.) But what state surpasses the Almighty Physician? Have any proved Him unable? “Able to save to uttermost.” Yet because of despair “health is not recovered.”
Sorrow for misery, surprise at hesitancy, indignation over trifling, remonstrance with despair—all are expressed in this plaintive interrogation, “Why, then, is not health recovered!” There is “balm,” a “physician,” and, therefore, “health” for all, for “sinners, even the chief.” “He healed all them that had need of healing.”
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 8: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS
Jer_8:1. GRAVES DISTURBED: DEAD MOLESTED. Dr. Pusey writes of this sacrilege, that it was “a hatred carried beyond the grave, a hatred which is a sort of impotent grasping at eternal vengeance, hatred which, having no power to work any real vengeance, has no object but to show its hatred.” (Note on Amo_2:1.)
“He (David) was buried by his son Solomon in Jerusalem, with great magnificence, and with all the other funeral pomp which kings used to be buried with; moreover, he had great and immense wealth buried with him, the vastness of which may be easily conjectured at by what I now say: for 1300 years afterwards, Hyrcanus, the high priest, when he was besieged by Antiochus, and was desirous of giving him money to get him to raise the siege, and draw off his army, and having no other method of compassing the money, opened one room of David’s sepulchre, and took out 3000 talents, and gave part of that sum to Antiochus, and by this means caused the siege to be raised. Nay, after him, and that many years, Herod, the king, opened another room, and took away a great deal of money.”—Josephus, Antiq. bk. vii. chap. 15 § 3.
“For extremity of despite also, dead men’s bones have been digged up. Pope Formosas was so dealt with by his successor, Stephanus VI.; and many of the holy martyrs by their barbarous persecutors.”—Trapp.
Jer_8:3. DEATH DESIRED.
“To die,—to sleep,
No more; and, by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.”
—Shakespeare.
“Death! to the happy thou art terrible,
But how the wretched love to think of thee!
O thou true comforter, the friend of all
Who have no friend beside!”
—Southey.
“A sleep without dreams, after a rough day
Of toil, is what we covet most; and yet
How clay shrinks back from more quiescent clay!”
—Byron.
“Soon may this woe-worn spirit seek the bourne
Where, lulled to slumber, grief forgets to mourn.”
—Campbell.
Jer_8:5. PERPETUAL BACKSLIDING.
“They fall deepest into hell who fall backwards into hell.”—Bunyan.
“Errare humanum est; perseverare diabolicum.”—Trapp.
Jer_8:6. SELF-INTERROGATION. “What have I done?” The Pythagoreans once a day put this question to themselves. It is reported of Sextus that every night before he slept, he asked of his own heart, “What evil hast thou this day amended? what vice hast thou shunned? what good hast thou done? in what part art thou bettered?”
“As it is an evidence that those tradesmen are embarrassed in their estates who are afraid to look into their books; so it is plain that there is something wrong within, among all those who are afraid to look within.”—Secker.
Thales, the Milesian philosopher, flourished about A.M. 3330, and was cotemporary with Josiah, king of Judah, and Jeremiah, our prophet; and he it was who gave birth to the wise admonition which was the basis of his philosophic teaching, “Know thyself.” Cicero, however, ascribes the maxim to Apollo himself, “because,” he says, “it hath such weight of sense and wisdom in it as appear too great to be attributed to any man.” It was emblazoned in golden letters over the door of the temple of Apollo at Delphos.
Jer_8:7. “Stork.” The same individuals return to the same place year after year.
“The stork-assembly meets; for many a day
Consulting deep and various, ere they take
Their arduous voyage through the liquid sky.
And now, their route designed, their leaders chose,
Their tribes adjusted, cleaned their vigorous wings,
… in congregation full
The figured flight ascends, and riding high
The ærial billows, mixes with the clouds.”
—Thomson.
“Turtle.”
“The dove let loose in eastern skies,
Returning fondly home,
Ne’er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies
Where idle warblers roam.
But high she shoots, through air and light,
Above all low delay,
Where nothing earthly bounds her flight,
Nor shadow dims her way.”
—Moore.
“Crane.” Homer (Iliad, Jer_3:2-3) alludes to the harsh sound of the crane in her flight:
“The Trojans indeed advanced, with both clang and shout like birds,
Just in fact as is the noise of cranes in front of the sky.”
“Swallow.” Its instinct is more true than man’s reason or faith.
“Bright bird of summer, what joys are thine!
Voice of the spring, if thy wings were mine,
My merry course should be with thee
To the orange grove and the banyan tree;
For who would dwell in the wintry chill,
And the gloom and cares of this world of ill,
If he could borrow thy wings, and stray
In chase of the summer, with thee away!”
—Anon (See Gray’s “Topics.”)
“Crane and swallow.” It is agreed by all philologists that our translators interchanged the words, and that in each case it should be “swallow and crane,” not “crane and swallow.” Soos, or sîs, rendered “swallow,” scarcely can mean the swallow, for though a migrant it is hardly so in Palestine as to justify these words, “the swallow observes the time of its coming.” But the difficulty was solved, says Dr. Tristram, when we found that soos is to the present day the vernacular or provincial, though not the classical, Arabic name of the swift; and when we noted that, unlike the swallows, the swifts return to Palestine on a sudden in one day, and cover the land in countless myriads.—Sunday at Home.
Jer_8:8. SACRED WISDOM. Needed. Varro, a Roman writer of the first century B. C., states that in his day he had been at the pains to collect the various opinions on the question, “What is the true object of human life?”—in other words, “What is the supreme good?” He had reckoned up as many as three hundred and twenty different answers! How needful is Divine revelation!—Biblical Treasury.
“LYING PEN OF THE SCRIBES.” The mention of Scribes in this place is a crucial point in the argument whether or not the Pentateuch or Torah is the old law-book of the Jews, or a fabrication which gradually grew up, but was not received as authoritative until after the return from captivity. It is not until the time of Josiah that we find Scribes mentioned, except as political officers; here they are students of the Torah. But the Torah must have existed in writing before there could have been an order of men whose especial business it was to study it; and therefore Ewald, Hitzig, Graf, and others explain the verse away by saying that perhaps the Scribes were writers of books, and had published collections of false prophecies written in imitation of the true. But the Torah of Jehovah is mentioned in this very verse, and the whole gist of the passage is lost if what the Scribes turned into a lie was anything except that law, of which they had just boasted that they were the possessors.… Jeremiah’s whole argument depends upon the fact that there were in his days men who claimed to be “wise,” or rather learned men, because of their study of the Pentateuch, and is certainly inconsistent with the assumptions of the new critics, that Jeremiah wrote the book of Deuteronomy, and that Ezra wrote parts of Exodus and the whole of Leviticus.—Speaker’s Commentary.
Jer_8:14. DEFIANCE ISSUING IN DESPAIR. Francis Spira, an Italian apostate, exclaimed on his deathbed, “My sin is greater than the mercy of God! I have denied Christ voluntarily. I feel now that He hardens me, and allows me no hope!”
Hobbes, the infidel, before death, “I am taking a fearful leap into the dark.”
Jer_8:18. BITTER LAMENTATIONS for others’ ruin. When our Redeemer wept over the city that was to perish, He considered it the more to be deplored as it knew not itself its deplorable condition. As many, therefore, as are set on fire by the torch of love weep over other men’s sins as if they were their own. St. Augustine says, “We mourn over the sins of others, we suffer violence, we are tormented in our minds.” St. Chrysostom says that Moses was raised above the people because he habitually deplored the sins of others. “He,” says the same holy doctor, “who sorrows for other men’s sins, has the tenderness of an apostle, and is an imitator of that blessed One who said, ‘Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?’ ”—F. W. Faber.
Jer_8:20. “Harvest is past.” OPPORTUNITY LOST. “The mill can’t grind with the water that is lost.” Opportunities are importunities. Col_4:3, is literally “buying up the opportunity.”
One of the most ingenious tortures of the Hohenslaufen family, in the height of their despotic control, was that of a cell which, at the prisoner’s first entrance, presented an air of comfort and ease; so that it was not till he had been a few days confined that he observed the dimensions of his chamber beginning to contract. But the discovery once made, the fact became more appalling every day. Slowly but terribly, the sides drew closer, and the unhappy victim was crushed to death. What an emblem does this suggest of the sinner’s contracting day of grace! Oh, what would the poor victim in such a cell have given to see the door open, and hear a voice, “Escape for thy life!” Would that sinners would escape as eagerly by the door of grace!—Bowes’ “Illustrative Gatherings.”
“Many do with opportunities as children do at the seashore; they fill their little hands with sand, and then let the grains fall through one by one till all are gone.”—T. Jones.
Jer_8:22. BALM OF GILEAD. Gilead, where the balm was found, was on the wilderness side of promised land; the true Balm of Gilead—Jesus Christ—is for our healing here, before we pass over Jordan. Men travelled far to get it, bought it at great price; but Jesus is nigh to heal us, and restores us “without money and without price.” Merchants conveyed the balm far and wide; missionaries travel far to make the free gift. The balsam tree had to be cut, pressed, &c., to yield the balm; Christ was “wounded” and “bruised” (Isa_53:5). The supply of balm almost exhausted: Christ the same for ever.—“Topics.”
Alexander the Great was dying of a wound, which did not seem very dangerous at first, but it baffled his physicians, and was rapidly becoming mortal. One night, however, it is said, he dreamed that some one had brought him a peculiar-looking plant, which, when applied to the festering sore, had cleansed and closed it. In the morning, when he awoke, he described the plant; and the historian informs us that it was sought for and found, and when applied to the wound, the fiery pain subsided, and he was speedily healed. Now your soul has received a deadly hurt; it has been stung by the old serpent, the devil. The wound gets worse. There is a tender plant which is able to heal you—it is the Balm of Gilead.—Dr. James Hamilton.
Compared with the virture and preciousness of the redeeming grace of Jesus, whose blood cleanses us from all sin.
“Not balm, new bleeding from the wounded tree,
Nor bless’d Arabia with his spicy grove,
Such fragrance yields.”
—Rowe.
So highly prized was the balsam that, during the war of Titus against the Jews, two fierce contests took place for the balsam orchards of Jericho, the last of which was to prevent the Jews from destroying the trees, which they would have done, in order that the trade might not fall into the enemy’s hand.
Not a root nor a branch of the balsam tree is now to be found in all Palestine.
Twice was a balsam-tree exhibited in triumph to the Romans in their streets. The first time was B. C. 65, when Pompey returned from his conquest, and Judea became a Roman province; and the last time was after a lapse of 144 years, when the spoils of the temple of Jerusalem were borne in triumph through the imperial city, and, as a sign of the subjection of the whole country, the precious balm-tree was exhibited with pride by Vespasian.
Bruce saw the balsam-tree in Arabian valleys. The most considerable gardens of them is in a recess of the mountains, between Mecca and Medina.
The balm of Gilead is a small evergreen; at five feet from the ground it branches out something like an old hawthorn; bark is smooth, shining, of a whitish grey colour, with brown blotches; leaves are of a bright green, foliage is scanty and rugged. The greatest quantity of balsam flows from the wounded bark; but there are three kinds procured by art; best is the opobalsam, expressed from the green berry; second, from the ripe nut or berry; the last is obtained by bruising and boiling the young wood.—Scripture Herbal.
The balm of the soul is prayer, saith the Chaldee paraphrast; is repentance, saith Jerome; is Christ applied by faith, say we. Sanguis medici est curatio phrenetici.—Trapp.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Jer 8:7-8
Jer 8:7-8
Our text makes mention of the discrimination of times by the faculty of instinct, and contrasts it favourably with man’s want of discrimination, though endowed with reason.
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I. The birds of passage show, in their periodic migrations, their discernment of seasons, and this, both as regards the time of their visiting and the time of their leaving us. Probably some peculiarity in the material structure of the migratory birds renders them extremely sensitive to changes of temperature, and as these changes always recur at certain seasons of the year, they observe seasons, and make a corresponding change in their places of abode, so great is their sagacity, so true their instinct.
II. Consider the operation of unsanctified reason in discerning times. The season of grace which God allots to His people, admits of comparison in many respects with the warm and inviting springtide. (1) Consider the invitations of this season of grace. Invitations are held forth by the Saviour’s voice in the pages of the written Word, by the Holy Spirit, by the Church, the Bride, and by the Providence of God. (2) If the majority of sinners be not gently won by the invitations of grace, they will haply be driven by terror to take refuge in these offers. Let growing age and growing infirmity bring death and judgment very near—the prospect will surely urge the wanderer to return with hurried steps to the sheepfold? But no, it is not found so. The sinner, however near he may stand to the brink of the grave, puts far away the evil day, instead of taking warning from the prospect of it. We are forced to the conclusion that, although endowed with faculties far higher and nobler than that of instinct, man evinces less intelligence in matters which most nearly concern him, than is evinced every day by the brute creation. Neither the possession of reason nor the possession of revelation can by themselves roll away from man the reproach of folly. Reason must be sanctified before its exercise can make him truly wise. Reason must submit like a little child to be led by the hand of revelation. The Holy Spirit must turn the dead letter into a living letter, the venerable archive into the daily counsellor.
E. M. Goulburn, Sermons in the Parish Church of Holywell, p. 129.
References: Jer 8:9.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii., p. 278. Jer 8:11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1658. Jer 8:19, Jer 8:20.—Ibid., vol. xi., No 608.
Jer 8:20
No hope, no hope! That was the peculiar burden of Jeremiah, that was the vision forced upon him, the message he was constrained to deliver, while the people and their leaders were nursing the assurance that all was going well, that a work was being prosecuted which would secure salvation.
I. Few things are more unpalatable and painful, than to feel it incumbent on you to say to any for whom you entertain sentiments of friendship and affection, what is calculated to damp and dishearten; to spoil the dreams of those who are dreaming pleasantly, deliciously; to destroy or disturb fond hopes: than to feel it incumbent upon you, instead of sympathising with the joy of such hopes—as you fain would, were it possible—to shake your head and contradict them. Comforting and comfortable as the dream may be, the sleeper, in his own best interests, must, if possible, be roused, since the dream is beguiling him perchance to courses that are wrong, and is misshaping and impairing him for what is at hand.
II. By how many has the cry of Jeremiah been breathed inwardly, with sorrow and bitterness, concerning themselves, as they have stood contemplating what they have and what they are, after seasons in their history—seasons that had enfolded golden opportunity, or shone bright with promise. Who is there beyond the boundaries of youth at all, who has not had his seasons of promise, that have left him sighing forlornly over broken hopes? Infinite in this respect is the pathos of human life, crying dumbly evermore for the infinite pity of God. And yet may we not believe, do we not feel to our solace, that at the least, something has always been reaped? reaped for sowing, albeit with tears, in fields beyond; nay, that even in the more lowly and penitent sense of shortcoming, which seems perhaps almost all that has been gained, we shall be carrying away with us from hence, a gathered seed grain, to be for fruit—perchance for the fruit we have hitherto missed, behind the veil.
S. A. Tipple, Sunday Mornings at Upper Norwood, p. 39.
References: Jer 8:20.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1562; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 368; A. F. Barfield, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 363; R. L. Browne, Sussex Sermons, p. 113; R. Storrs, Homiletic Magazine, vol. ix., p. 315.
Jer 8:22
I. Sin is the consumption not of the body, but of the soul, and without seeking to establish any curious analogies, but supposing that you were a mere neutral visitor, a mere unconcerned spectator of this world, you would see all its inhabitants labouring under a disease which has these characteristics: (1) It has its seat in the very citadel of life. Sin is deep in all the soul. The carnal mind is enmity against God, so unsound that it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can be; the whole head is sick, the whole heart faint. (2) It is an hereditary disease. It is in the race, inveterate, a cleaving curse, a rankling virus. Each one is "shapen in sin," and with the dawning intelligence of each, sin is what first develops. (3) It is a fatal disease. It has as good as taken the life of the soul already, and when it has run its course it will infallibly end in the second death. It has no tendency to arrest itself, and there never has been an instance where it stopped spontaneously, and of its own accord passed away. (4) It is a flattering disease. Very seldom does the sinner feel as if he were labouring under a deadly distemper. (5) In many instances it proves an acute and agonising disease.
II. Notice a few analogies between Judah’s balsam and that better balm which heals the wounds of sin—the anguish of the soul. (1) There was no great show about the tree itself. It had no particular grandeur or beauty. And so with the Saviour. He had no outward form nor comeliness. (2) The balm tree was a stranger in Palestine. The Saviour was a stranger in our world. (3) In order to obtain its healing essence, they used to wound the balm tree. And in order to give forth in one conclusive act the merit of His life, the Saviour’s side was pierced. He was obedient unto death. He poured out His blood and made His soul an offering for sin.
J. Hamilton, Works, vol. vi., p. 151.
Reference: Jer 8:22.—W. M. Punshon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 245.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain 1-3. The dead shall share in the universal punishment.
1-3. The dead shall share in the universal punishment.
1. Shall bring out the bones] either from pure wantonness, or in the hope of finding treasure or ornaments of value.
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2. Before the sun] the heavenly bodies will not be prevented by all the offerings and devotions that they have received from using their influence to hasten the rotting of the carcases of their sometime worshippers.
3. Family] the whole nation: see on Jer_3:14.
4-17. The people are hardened in sin.
4. They] RV 'men.' If a man stumble, he will naturally regain his footing: if he lose his way he will return to it. Not so with this people.
6. As the horse, etc.] meaning, an eager plunge into wrongdoing.
7. The turtle and the crane and the swallow] rather, 'The turtle dove and the swift and the crane': cp. Isa_1:3.
8. Lo, certainly in vain.. in vain] RV 'But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely,' i.e. they have used their knowledge of the Law to deceive others, persuading them that they may transgress with impunity. The scribes (frequently mentioned in NT.) were a class of persons who devoted themselves to the study and exposition of the Law. That they were a leading class as early as the time of Josiah (and Jeremiah's whole argument depends on this fact) is a strong argument in favour of the belief that the Book of the Law even at that time had well-grounded claims to antiquity.
10. Shall inherit them] shall take possession of them. The idea is forcible seizure by the invader.
11. See on Jer_6:14.
13. And the things .. from them] RM 'I have appointed them those that shall pass over them': viz. the Assyrians invading them as a flood.
14f. The people address one another, while suffering under the troubles thus described.
Enter into the defenced cities] i.e. out of villages for protection. Water of gall] bitterness is our portion.
16. His horses] i.e. those of the Babylonian invader. Strong ones] warhorses. So in Jer_47:3; Jer_50:11.
17. Cockatrices] RV 'basilisks,' RM 'adders': Jeremiah may have chosen the word because of its resemblance in sound in the Hebrew to the word northern, the invaders coming from that quarter. Charmed] so as to be harmless.
18-22. Jeremiah speaks.
18 When I would] RV 'O that I could.'
19f. Jeremiah is in thought anticipating the captivity and the distressful cries of the exiles in the direction of their home.
20. When the harvest was bad there was still hope of the yield from grapes, etc. But the people had lost one chance of deliverance after another, and might now despair. Summer] RM 'ingathering of summer fruits.'
21. Black] RM 'mourning.'
22. 'Is there no way of saving this people?' Gilead was a mountainous part of Palestine E, of the Jordan. Balm (balsam) was found there, and naturally in the same place would be found those skilled in its use.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. The horrors of the invasion (Jer 8:1-3)
CHAPTER 8
1. The horrors of the invasion (Jer 8:1-3)
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2. Hardened hearts and retribution (Jer 8:4-12)
3. Utter destruction threatened (Jer 8:13-17)
4. The prophet’s lamentation (Jer 8:18-22)
Jer 8:1-3. These verses must not be detached from the preceding chapter. The division of chapters is often unfortunate in this book. The invaders from the north would even have digged out the bones of the dead. Kings, priests, prophets and people who had worshipped the sun, the moon and the stars should be exposed and spread out before the sun and moon, remain unburied and become dung. We doubt not that all this was literally done during the Chaldean invasion.
Jer 8:4-12. They did not repent of their wickedness. Theirs was a perpetual backsliding. The stork knows his appointed time; the turtle, the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but they had hardened their hearts in such a manner that they knew not the judgment of the Lord. Hence the retribution (Jer 8:9-12) .
Jer 8:13-17. The thirteenth verse shows the desolation which will fall upon the land when the Lord arises. The words of Jer 8:14-16 were spoken by the prophet and not by the impenitent people as some take it. The 16th verse (Jer 8:16) is extremely vivid.
Jer 8:18-22. His heart was faint in him. He is overwhelmed with sorrow. The harvest was passed, the summer gone and they were not saved. It is a mournful outburst.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Retribution upon the Jews
Retribution upon the Jews
v. 1. At that time, saith the Lord, namely, when the sentence of God upon Jerusalem would be carried into effect, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, of all the rulers and leaders of the people, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves, the Babylonians defiling even the resting-places of the dead in carrying out the judgment upon Judah;
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v. 2. and they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, exposing them under the open sky to the influence of these heavenly bodies, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshiped, the many synonyms serving to bring out the accumulation of their idolatrous practices, the extremity of the foolish zeal with which they worshiped the host of heaven. They shall not be gathered nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth, the decomposing flesh and the skeletons serving as fertilizer of the fields. But the lot of the survivors would be still worse.
v. 3. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts, literally, "shall prefer death to life in all places of the survivors whither I have driven them, saith Jehovah Sabaoth," the people in exile and captivity among the heathen being thus called to repentance even now.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues to speak of his judgment on the people of Judah.
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At that time
At the time when the events in Jeremiah 7:32 Jeremiah to 34 happen.
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
they will bring
This word "they" here refers to the enemies of the people of Judah.
its officials
"its princes" or "its rulers"
will spread them out
The word "them" refers to the bones of the people listed in the previous verse.
that they have followed and served, that they have walked after and sought, and that they have worshiped
The word "they" here refers to the people of Judah. These three phrases mean about the same thing and are repeated for emphasis. (See: Parallelism)
walked after
This is a metaphor for serving or worshiping. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 2:23. (See: Metaphor)
The bones will not be gathered or buried again
This can be expressed in active form. AT: "No one will gather their bones or bury them again" (See: Active or Passive)
They will be like dung on the surface of the earth
The bones are compared to dung on the ground both to emphasize that they will be disgusting and because they will not be buried. (See: Simile)
on the surface of the earth
"all over the ground"
where I have driven them
The word "them" refers to the people of Judah.
they will choose death instead of life for themselves, all who are still left over from this evil nation
"those who still remain from this evil nation will want to die instead of stay alive"
this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how similar words are translated in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh of hosts has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh of hosts, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
Yahweh
grave
king
kingdom of Judah
priest
prophet
Jerusalem
heaven
servant
walk
seek
worship
bury
dung
earth
die
life
evil
nation
Yahweh of hosts
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:1-2 Scattering the bones of the dead was the…
8:1-2 Scattering the bones of the dead was the ultimate act of contempt for a defeated nation. Jerusalem’s favorite pagan deities—the sun, moon, and stars—would be unable to prevent it from happening.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.