Verse 14
The prophets prophesy lies - They say they have visions, but they have them by divination, and they are false. The people should know their character, and avoid them but they love to have it so, and will not be undeceived.
Verse 15
By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed - Jeremiah had told Jehoiakim that, if he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, he should be overthrown, and the land wasted by sword and famine: the false prophets said there shall be neither sword nor famine, but peace and prosperity. The king believed them, and withheld the tribute.
Nebuchadnezzar, being incensed, invaded and destroyed the land; and the false prophets fell in these calamities. See [2Kgs 25:3]; [Lam 2:11-19].
Verse 16
And the people - shall be cast out - They shall be destroyed, because they preferred their lying words to my truth, proclaimed by thee.
Verse 17
For the virgin daughter of my people is broken - First, the land was sadly distressed by Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt. Secondly, it was laid under a heavy tribute by Nebuchadnezzar. And, thirdly, it was nearly desolated by a famine afterwards. In a few years all these calamities fell upon them; these might be well called a great breach, a very grievous blow.
Verse 18
If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword - Every place presents frightful spectacles; the wounded, the dying, the starving, and the slain; none to bury the dead, none to commiserate the dying, none to bring either relief or consolation. Even the prophets and the priests are obliged to leave the cities, and wander about in unfrequented and unknown places, seeking for the necessaries of life. Dr. Blayney thinks that the going about of the prophets and priests of the land, is to be understood thus: - "They went trafficking about with their false doctrines and lying predictions, as peddlers do with their wares, seeking their own gain." I think the other sense preferable.
Verse 19
We looked for peace - We expected prosperity when Josiah purged the land of idolatry.
And there is no good - For we have relapsed into our former ways.
Verse 20
We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness - This the prophet did in behalf of the people; but, alas! they did not join him.
Verse 21
Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory - The temple. Let not this sacred place be profaned by impious and sacrilegious hands.
Break not thy covenant - See [Exo 24:7], [Exo 24:8]; [Exo 19:5]. They had already broken the covenant, and they wish God to fulfill his part. They ceased to be his people, for they abandoned themselves to idolatry; and yet they wished Jehovah to be their Lord; to defend, support, and fill them with all good things! But when the conditions of a covenant are broken by one of the contracting parties, the other party is not bound; and the covenant is necessarily annulled.
Verse 22
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles - Probably the dearth was now coming, as there had been a long want of rain. It was the prerogative of the true God to give rain and send showers at the prayers of his people.
Therefore we will wait upon thee - If thou do not undertake for us, we must be utterly ruined.
Introduction
God declares to Jeremiah that not even Moses and Samuel, whose prayers had been so prevalent, could divert him from his purpose of punishing so wicked a people, [Jer 15:1]. Accordingly their captivity is again announced in a variety of images so full of terror, [Jer 15:2-9], that the prophet complains of his own hard fate in being obliged to deliver such unwelcome messages, [Jer 15:10]; for which too he is reproved, [Jer 15:11-14]. Immediately he appeals to God for his sincerity, and supplicates pardon, [Jer 15:15-18]; and God tempers his reproof with promising again to protect him in the faithful discharge of his duty, [Jer 15:19-21].
Verse 1
Though Moses and Samuel - Moses had often supplicated for the people; and in consequence they were spared. See [Exo 32:11] and following verses, [Num 14:13]. Samuel also had prayed for the people, and God heard him, [1Sam 7:9]; but if these or the most holy men were now to supplicate for this people, he would not spare them.
Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth - Do not bring them into my presence by your prayers; let them go forth into captivity.
Verse 2
Whither shall we go forth? - Such as are for death, to death - Some shall be destroyed by the pestilence, here termed death. See [Jer 18:21]. Others shall be slain by the sword in battle, and in the sackage of cities. Others shall perish by famine, shall be starved to death through the mere want of the necessaries of life; and the rest shall go into captivity. There shall be different sorts of punishments inflicted on them according to the nature of their transgressions. Some shall be punished in one way, and some in another.
Verse 3
I will appoint over them four kinds - There shall appear four instruments of my justice.
1. The sword to slay.
2. The dogs to tear what is slain.
3. The fowls of the heaven to feed on the dead carcasses. And,
4. The wild beasts to destroy all that the fowls have left.
Verse 4
I will cause them to be removed into an kingdoms of the earth - This seems to have respect to the succeeding state of the Jews in their different generations; and never was there a prophecy more literally fulfilled; and it is still a standing monument of Divine truth. Let infidelity cast its eyes on the scattered Jews whom it may meet with in every civilized nation of the world; and then let it deny the truth of this prophecy, if it can. The Jews are scattered through every nation, and yet are not a nation; nor do they form even a colony on any part of the face of the earth. Behold the truth and the justice of God!
Verse 5
Who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? - Perhaps there is not a more despised nor a more degraded people under the sun. Scarcely any one thinks himself called upon to do a kind office for a Jew. Their character is bad in society, and they are not at all solicitous to redeem it.
Verse 6
I am weary with repenting - With repeatedly changing my purpose. I have often, after purposing to punish, showed them mercy. I will do it no longer; it is useless. I took them often at their promise, and in every instance they have failed.
Verse 7
I will fan them with a fan - There is no pure grain; all is chaff.
In the gates of the land - The places of public justice: and there it shall be seen that the judgments that have fallen upon them have been highly merited. And from these places of fanning they shall go out into their captivity.
Verse 8
The mother of the young men - The metropolis or mother city, Jerusalem.