--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 872 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/872/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 872. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/872/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 872. Jeremiah · 13 of 55 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/872/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/872/#p-N ### Verse 14 [¶1] Every man is brutish - נבער nibar, is a boor, acts as a brute, who may suppose that a stock of a tree, formed like a man, may be an intellectual being; and therefore shuns the form as though it had life. See [Isa 44:10], [Isa 44:11]. Of which verses, by the way, Dr. Blayney gives the following version to correct that of Bishop Lowth: - [Isa 44:10]. Who hath formed a god? Or set up a graven image that profiteth not? [Isa 44:11]. Behold, all that are connected with it shall be ashamed, And the artificers, they above all men! They shall assemble all of them; they shall stand forth; They shall fear; they shall be ashamed at the same time. "That is, while they stand before the image they have set up, and worship it with a religious dread, the glaring absurdity of their conduct shall lead to their shame and disgrace." [¶2] With due deference to this learned man, I think this interpretation too refined. ### Verse 16 [¶4] The Portion of Jacob is not like them - Every nation had its tutelary god; this was its portion; in reference to this God says [Deu 4:19], "He has divided the sun, moon, and stars, to all the nations under the heaven." And the Lord had taken the Israelites to be his portion; for "the Lord's portion is his people," [Deu 32:9], and David says, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance," [Psa 16:5]; [Psa 119:67]. And hence Isaiah terms the smooth stones of the brook, to which Divine honors were paid, the portion of those idolaters, [Isa 57:6]. But in the text he says, "The Portion, i.e., the God of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things," and they are formed by their foolish worshippers. ### Verse 17 [¶6] Gather up thy wares - Pack up your goods, or what necessaries of life your enemies will permit you to carry away; for, ### Verse 18 [¶8] I will sling out the inhabitants of the land - I will project you with violence from your country. I will send you all into captivity. This discourse, from [Jer 10:17], is supposed to have been delivered in the eleventh year of Jehoiakim. ### Verse 19 [¶10] This is a grief, and I must bear it - Oppressive as it is, I have deserved it, and worse; but even in this judgment God remembers mercy. ### Verse 20 [¶12] My tabernacle is spoiled - The city is taken, and all our villages ruined and desolated. ### Verse 21 [¶14] The pastors are become brutish - The king and his counselors, who, by refusing to pay the promised tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, had kindled a new war. ### Verse 22 [¶16] The noise of the bruit is come - How this silly French word bruit, which signifies noise, got in here, I cannot imagine. The simple translation is this: "The voice of the report! behold, it is come; yea, great commotion from the land of the north; (Chaldea); to make the cities of Judea a desolation, a habitation of wild beasts." That is, the report we had heard of the projected invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar is confirmed. He has entered the land; the Chaldeans are at the doors, and the total desolation of Judea is their sole object. ### Verse 23 [¶18] O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself - I will not pretend to dispute with thee; thou dost every thing wisely and justly; we have sinned, and thou hast a right to punish; and to choose that sort of punishment thou thinkest will best answer the ends of justice. We cannot choose; thou hast appointed us to captivity; we must not repine: yet, ### Verse 24 [¶20] Correct me, but with judgment - Let not the punishment be to the uttermost of the demerit of the offense; else we shall be brought to nothing - totally and irrecoverably ruined. ### Verse 25 [¶22] Pour out thy fury upon the heathen - Even those who are now the executors of thy justice upon us will, in their turn, feel its scourge; for if judgment begins at us, who have been called thy house and thy people, shall they who have not acknowledged thee escape? It is impossible. The families and tribes which invoke thee not shall have thy fury poured out upon them, and especially they who "have eaten up Jacob and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate." This was fulfilled in the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar was punished with madness, his son was slain in his revels, and the city was taken and sacked by Cyrus; and the Babylonish empire was finally destroyed! This verse has been often quoted against those ungodly families who set not up the worship of God in their houses. These are spiritual Chaldeans, worse indeed than the Chaldeans ever were: they acknowledge God and his Christ; and yet neither worship nor serve him. How can that family expect the blessing of God, where the worship of God is not daily performed? No wonder their servants are wicked, their children profligate, and their goods cursed! What an awful reckoning shall such heads of families have with the Judge in the great day, who have refused to petition for that mercy which they might have had for the asking. ### Introduction [¶24] The prophet proclaims the tenor of God's covenant with the Jews of old, [Jer 11:1-5]; and then reproves them for their hereditary disobedience, [Jer 11:6-19]. In consequence of this the Almighty is introduced, declaring he will show them no pity, [Jer 11:11-13]; forbidding Jeremiah to intercede, [Jer 11:14]; rejecting their sacrifices, [Jer 11:15]; and in a word, condemning this fair but unfruitful tree to the fire, [Jer 11:16], [Jer 11:17]. In what remains of the chapter the prophet predicts evil to his neighbors of Anathoth, who had conspired against him, [Jer 11:18-23]. "Let us," said they, "destroy this tree, with the fruit thereof," etc., alluding to what Jeremiah had said in the sixteenth verse. ### Verse 1 [¶26] The word that came to Jeremiah - This discourse is supposed to have been delivered in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah. See Dahler. ### Verse 2 [¶28] Hear ye the words of this covenant - It is possible that the prophet caused the words of the covenant made with their fathers in the desert ([Exo 24:4-8]) to be read to them on this occasion; or, at least, the blessings and the cursings which Moses caused to be pronounced to the people as soon as they had set foot in Canaan, Deuteronomy 27, 28. ### Verse 3 [¶30] Cursed be the man that obeyeth not - After the reading, the prophet appears to sum up the things contained in what was read to them; as if he had said, "Ye hear what the Lord saith unto you: remember, the sum of it is this: The man is cursed who obeyeth not; and he is blessed who obeys. From these declarations God will not depart." ### Verse 5 [¶32] So be it, O Lord - Let thy promises be fulfilled; and let the incorrigible beware of thy threatenings! ### Verse 6 [¶34] Proclaim all these words - Let the same covenant, with the blessings and cursings, be read in every city of Judah, and in all the streets of Jerusalem, that all the people may know their duty, their privileges, and their danger. ### Verse 9 [¶36] A conspiracy is found - They were all fratres conjurati, sworn brothers, determined to cast off the Divine yoke, and no longer to have God to reign over them. ### Verse 10 [¶38] They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers - A great reformation had taken place under the reign of Josiah, and the public worship of idols had been abolished, and most of the high places destroyed; but under the reign of his son and his successors, they had turned back again to idolatry, and were become worse than ever. It required a captivity to cure them of this propensity: and God sent one: after that, there was no idolatry among the Jews. ### Verse 12 [¶40] Go, and cry unto the gods - See [Jer 2:28]. ### Verse 14 [¶42] Therefore pray not thou for this people - I am determined to give them up into the hands of their enemies; I will neither hear thy intercession, nor regard their prayers. Their measure is full. ### Verse 15 [¶44] What hath my beloved to do in mine house - This has been supposed to refer to Abraham, Moses, or such eminent servants of God, whose intercession was very powerful. Were even they to appear as intercessors, their prayer should not be regarded. Others think that this is an endearing expression which properly belonged to the Israelites. When God took them into covenant with himself, they were espoused to him, and therefore his beloved; but now that they have forsaken him, and joined themselves to another, what have they to do with his house or its ordinances, which they wish now to frequent with vows and sacrifices, when they see the evil fast coming upon them? This is probably the sense of this very obscure passage. Dr. Blayney translates, "What hath my beloved to do in my house whilst she practiseth wickedness? Shall vows and holy flesh (sacrifices) be allowed to come from thee? When thou art malignant, shalt thou rejoice?"