The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
Jeremiah 9
Chapter IX · Vol. III, p. 1242
1 Jeremiah lamenteth the Jews for their manifold sins, 9 and for their judgments. 12 Disobedience is the cause of their bitter calamity. 17 He exhorteth to mourn for their destruction, 23 and to trust not in themselves, but in God. 25 He threateneth both Jews and Gentiles.
1 Oh thata my head1 were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
a Is.22.4. ch.4.19; 14.17; 13.17. La.1.2,16,20; 2.10,11,18,19; 3.48,49. Eze.21.6,7,12,14; v.-vii. ix.
1 Heb. Who will give my head, &c.
2 Ohb that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
b Ps.55.4-11; 120.5,6. Mi.7.1-6. ch.5.7,8. Ho.7.4; 6.9; 4.1,2. Eze.22.4-12.
3 Andc they bend their tongues like their bow for lies; but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth: for they dproceed from evil to evil, and they eknow not me, saith the LORD.
c Ps.120.2; 52.2-4; 64.3,4. ver.8. Is.59.3,4,13-15. Mi.7.2,4,5. Jude 3.
d ch.7.26. 2 Ti.3.13. Ps.69.27.
e ch.4.22. Ju.2.10. 1 Sa.2.12. Ho.4.1-3,6.
4 Takeg ye heed every one of his neighbour,2 and trust ye not in any brother: hfor every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour iwill walk with slanders.
5 Andj they will deceive3 every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and kweary themselves to commit iniquity.
j Mi.7.2,4. Is.59.3,4,13-15. ch.13.23. ver.8. Ps.55.21.
3 Or, mock.
k Ps.7.14. Is.5.11,18. Pr.4.16. Eze.24.12.
6 Thinel habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they nrefuse to know me, saith the LORD.
l ver.2-5. Mi.7.1-6. Ps.55.11,21; 120.5,6; 109.2.
n Pr.1.24. Ho.11.2,7; 4.1,2,6. Job 21.14,15. Jn.5.40.
7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts,4 Behold,o I will melt them,5 and try them; for howp shall I do for the daughter of my people?
4 As the speaker here is undoubtedly Jehovah (Messiah) speaking prophetically; and as he speaks of Judah as 'the daughter of my people,' is not this whole lamentation such as he uttered over Jerusalem, when 'in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears;' and is it not accompanied with the same uncompromising rebukes of sin which he afterwards ministered to scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers—and the 'evil and adulterous generation' by whom the Holy One was rejected, and the Sinless One crucified? Mat.12.39; 17.17. Mar.8.38. He.5.7. See Ho.11.8.—C.
o ch.6.29,30. Is.1.24,25; 48.10. Mal.3.3; 4.1. Eze.21.13; 22.17-22. Zec.13.9.
5 An allusion to the 'assaying tower,' ch.6.27.—C.
p 2 Ch.36.15,16. Is.5.4,5. Ho.6.4,5; 11.8. ch.3.19.
8 Theirq tongue is as an arrow shot out;6 it speaketh deceit: one rspeaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart7 he layeth his wait.8
9 Shalls I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Fort the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the 9habitations1 of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up,2 so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle: 3both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
11 And I uwill make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah 4desolate,5 without an inhabitant.
u La.2.2,7,8. Is.25.2. ch.17.27; 21.8; 34.22; 10.22; 51.37. Is.13.22; 34.13. Ps.44.19.
4 Heb. desolation.
5 See Wylie's Modern Judea, p. 328.—C.
12 Whov is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare wit, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
13 And the LORD saith, xBecause they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
x Le.26.14-39. De.28.15-68; 29.24-28; 31.16,17; 32.15-26. Ju.2.11-20. 2 Ki.17.7-23. xvi.; xxi. Is.i.-iii. v. ix. xxiv. lviii. lix. ch.ii.-xxiii. Eze.v.-viii. xiii.-xxiv. Mi.i.-iii. vi. vii. 1 Pe.1.18. Zep.3.1-6.
14 But have walked after the 6imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
6 Or, stubbornness.
15 Thereforey thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, zI will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall7 to drink.
y ch.5.19; 15.6; 16.10,11; 22.8,9; 2.17,19; 4.18; 6.19. Is.3.11.
z ch.8.14; 23.15. La.3.15,19. Ps.80.5; 60.3; 75.8. Is.51.17,22. ch.25.15-18. La.i.-v.
7 Or hemlock.
16 I will ascatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed8 them.
a Le.26.33,38,39. De.4.27; 28.25,36,63-68. ch.15.1-4,7. Eze.5.12. Mi.4.10.
8 This utter consuming is not threatened against the whole either of Judah or Israel, but chiefly against the faction of Judah, who, in contempt of the Lord's warning by Jeremiah, had persevered in going down to Egypt. See ch.44.12,14,27,28.—C.
17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, bConsider ye, and call for the cmourning women, that they may come; and send for 9cunning women, that they may come:
b ch.2.10. Hag.1.7. La.3.40. De.32.29.
c 2 Ch.35.25. Job 3.8. Am.5.16. Ec.12.5. Mat.9.23. ch.22.18; 48.17. Eze.27.31. Re.18.9-19.
9 This word was used by the translators in the sense of skilful; as mourning amongst the Hebrews required a professional education both in words and airs. See 2 Ch. 35.25. Ec. 12. 5. Am. 5. 16. Mat.9.23. Mar.5.38.—C.
18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For da voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have ecast us out.1
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, gO ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, hand teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation:2
21 For ideath is come up into our 3windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
i 2 Ch.36.17. Is.24.18. ch.6.11; 15.2,3; 16.3,4,6. Eze.21.14; 9.5,6.
3 When our doors were carefully shut, behold the irresistible intruder has entered at our windows!—C.
22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, jEven the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman,4 and none shall gather them.
23 Thus saith the LORD, kLet not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But llet him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which nexercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things oI delight, saith the LORD.
l 1 Co.1.31. 2 Co.10.17. Ps.20.7, with 1 Jn.5.20. Ps.91.14.
n Ex.34.6,7. Ps.25.10. Mi.7.18,19.
25 Behold,p the days come, saith the LORD, that qI will punish5 all them which are rcircumcised with the uncircumcised;
26 Egypt,s and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab,6 and all that are in the utmost corners,7 that dwell in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are tuncircumcised in the heart.
s ch.25.9-26; 27.3-7; xlvi.-lii. Is.i.-xxxiv. Eze.v.-xxxii. xxxv. Mi.i.-vii. Am.i.-ix. Zep.i.-iii.
6 Those who are professed members of the visible church of God, as was Judah, with those who value not, but despise religious profession and ordinances.—C.
7 Heb. cut off into corners, or having the corners of their hair polled.
t ch.4.4. Le.26.41. Ro.2.25,28,29. Eze.44.7,9. De.29.4.
Notes
Ver. 2. Princes in Asia frequently erect in the desert parts of their dominions rest-houses, or choultries, where travellers may reside for a night, a solitary and uncomfortable dwelling, but preferable to a palace amidst profligate and abandoned society. C.
Ver. 13. And the Lord saith—that is, Messiah saith—'God manifest in the flesh,' the only 'wise man,' 'the wisdom of God'—he declares the origin of natural to be moral evil; and traces up the stream of judgment to the fountainhead of sin. C.
Ver. 15. Wormwood. This is, most probably, the plant commonly so named.—Gall. What plant is meant is not known, but there can be no doubt that it signifies something very bitter—the emblem of sorrow and distress. C.
Reflections.—Manifold causes of weeping have faithful ministers in this world. And it is a fearful token of approaching judgments when they are so vexed with their people's abominations as to become weary of dwelling among them. Alas! sinful lusts transform even professors into very devils in crimes. Many are at great pains to secure their own damnation; and one sin opens the door for another. But terrible are the judgments of God upon obstinate sinners. And in a wonderful manner, by the same fire which consumes the wicked, he refines his own people. But every step of departure from him tends only to misery. And let sinners flee where they will, his curse attends them. Death closely follows sin. And very foolish are they who lament losses and death, but never lament sin as the cause of them, nor stand in awe of damnation. But it is very difficult to wean hardened sinners, especially gospel despisers, from every false confidence. Line must be upon line, and precept upon precept, and perhaps after all they will cleave thereto, and perish with heathens.