shadow of death--the densest gloom; death shade ([Psa 44:19]). Light and darkness are images of prosperity and adversity.
17. hear it--my exhortation.
in secret--as one mourning and humbling himself for their sin, not self-righteously condemning them ([Php 3:18]).
pride--(see on [Jr 13:15]; [Job 33:17]).
flock--([Jr 13:20]), just as kings and leaders are called pastors.
18. king--Jehoiachin or Jeconiah.
queen--the queen mother who, as the king was not more than eighteen years old, held the chief power. Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan, carried away captive with Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar ([2Ki 24:8-15]).
Humble yourselves--that is, Ye shall be humbled, or brought low ([Jr 22:26]; ).
your principalities--rather, "your head ornament."
19. cities of the south--namely, south of Judea; farthest off from the enemy, who advanced from the north.
shut up--that is, deserted ([Is 24:10]); so that none shall be left to open the gates to travellers and merchants again [Henderson]. Rather, shut up so closely by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, sent on before ([2Ki 24:10], ), that none shall be allowed by the enemy to get out (compare [Jr 13:20]).
wholly--literally, "fully"; completely.
20. from ... north--Nebuchadnezzar and his hostile army ([Jr 1:14]; 6:22).
flock ... given thee--Jeremiah, amazed at the depopulation caused by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, addresses Jerusalem (a noun of multitude, which accounts for the blending of plural and singular, Your eyes ... thee ... thy flock), and asks where is the population ([Jr 13:17], "flock") which God had given her?
21. captains, and as chief--literally, "princes as to headship"; or "over thy head," namely, the Chaldeans. Rather, translate, "What wilt thou say when God will set them (the enemies, [Jr 13:20]) above thee, seeing that thou thyself hast accustomed them (to be) with thee as (thy) lovers in the highest place (literally, 'at thy head')? Thou canst not say God does thee wrong, seeing it was thou that gave occasion to His dealing so with thee, by so eagerly courting their intimacy." Compare [Jr 2:18], 36; [2Ki 23:29], as to the league of Judah with Babylon, which led Josiah to march against Pharaoh-necho, when the latter was about to attack Babylon [Maurer].
sorrows--pains, throes.
22. if thou say--connecting this verse with "What wilt thou say" ([Jr 13:21])?
skirts discovered--that is, are thrown up so as to expose the person ([Jr 13:26]; [Is 3:17]; [Na 3:5]).
heels made bare--The sandal was fastened by a thong above the heel to the instep. The Hebrew, is, "are violently handled," or "torn off"; that is, thou art exposed to ignominy. Image from an adulteress.
23. Ethiopian--the Cushite of Abyssinia. Habit is second nature; as therefore it is morally impossible that the Jews can alter their inveterate habits of sin, nothing remains but the infliction of the extremest punishment, their expatriation ([Jr 13:24]).
24. ([Psa 1:4]).
by the wind--before the wind.
of the wilderness--where the wind has full sweep, not being broken by any obstacle.
25. portion of thy measures--the portion which I have measured out to thee ([Job 20:29]; [Psa 11:6]).
falsehood--([Jr 13:27]), false gods and alliances with foreign idolaters.
26. discover ... upon thy face--rather, "throw up thy skirts over thy face," or head; done by way of ignominy to captive women and to prostitutes ([Na 3:5]). The Jews' punishment should answer to their crime. As their sin had been perpetrated in the most public places, so God would expose them to the contempt of other nations most openly ([La 1:8]).
27. neighings--([Jr 5:8]), image from the lust of horses; the lust after idols degrades to the level of the brute.
hills--where, as being nearer heaven, sacrifices were thought most acceptable to the gods.
wilt thou not ... ? when--literally, "thou wilt not be made clean after how long a time yet." (So [Jr 13:23]). Jeremiah denies the moral possibility of one so long hardened in sin becoming soon cleansed. But see [Jr 32:17]; [Lu 18:27].
Chapter 14
Jr 14:1-22. Prophecies on the Occasion of a Drought Sent in Judgment on Judea
1. Literally, "That which was the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah concerning the dearth"
drought--literally, the "withholdings," namely, of rain ([De 11:17]; [2Ch 7:13]). This word should be used especially of the withholding of rain because rain is in those regions of all things the one chiefly needed ([Jr 17:8], Margin).
2. gates--The place of public concourse in each city looks sad, as being no longer frequented ([Is 3:26]; ).
black--that is, they mourn (blackness being indicative of sorrow), ([Jr 8:21]).
unto the ground--bowing towards it.
cry--of distress ([1Sa 5:12]; [Is 24:11]).
3. little ones--rather, "their inferiors," that is, domestics.
pits--cisterns for collecting rain water, often met with in the East where there are no springs.
covered ... heads--([2Sa 15:30]). A sign of humiliation and mourning.
5. The brute creation is reduced to the utmost extremity for the want of food. The "hind," famed for her affection to her young, abandons them.
6. wild asses--They repair to "the high places" most exposed to the winds, which they "snuff in" to relieve their thirst.
dragons--jackals [Henderson].
eyes--which are usually most keen in detecting grass or water from the "heights," so much so that the traveller guesses from their presence that there must be herbage and water near; but now "their eyes fail." Rather the reference is to the great boas and python serpents which raise a large portion of their body up in a vertical column ten or twelve feet high, to survey the neighborhood above the surrounding bushes, while with open jaws they drink in the air. These giant serpents originated the widely spread notions which typified the deluge and all destructive agents under the form of a dragon or monster serpent; hence, the dragon temples always near water, in Asia, Africa, and Britain; for example, at Abury, in Wiltshire; a symbol of the ark is often associated with the dragon as the preserver from the waters [Kitto, Biblical Cyclopædia].
7. do thou it--what we beg of Thee; interpose to remove the drought. Jeremiah pleads in the name of his nation ([Psa 109:21]). So "work for us," absolutely used ([1Sa 14:6]).