15. Because--rather, "And yet"; in defiance of the natural order of things.
forgotten me--([Jr 2:32]). This implies a previous knowledge of God, whereas He was unknown to the Gentiles; the Jews' forgetting of God, therefore, arose from determined perversity.
they have caused ... to stumble--namely the false prophets and idolatrous priests have.
ancient paths--([Jr 6:16]): the paths which their pious ancestors trod. Not antiquity indiscriminately, but the example of the fathers who trod the right way, is here commended.
them--the Jews.
not cast up--not duly prepared: referring to the raised center of the road. Calvin translates, "not trodden." They had no precedent of former saints to induce them to devise for themselves a new worship.
16. hissing--([1Ki 9:8]). In sign of contempt. That which was to be only the event is ascribed to the purpose of the people, although altogether different from what they would have been likely to hope for. Their purpose is represented as being the destruction of their country, because it was the inevitable result of their course of acting.
wag ... head--in mockery ([2Ki 19:21]; [Mt 27:39]). As "wag ... head" answers to "hissing," so "astonished" answers to "desolate," for which, therefore, Munster and others rather translate, "an object of wonder" ([Jr 19:8]).
17. as with an east wind--literally, "I will scatter them, as an east wind (scatters all before it)": a most violent wind ([Job 27:21]; [Psa 48:7]; [Is 27:8]). Thirty-two manuscripts read (without as), "with an east wind."
I will show them the back ... not ... face--just retribution: as "they turned their back unto Me ... not their face" ([Jr 2:27]).
18. ([Jr 11:19]). Let us bring a capital charge against him, as a false prophet; "for (whereas he foretells that this land shall be left without priests to teach the law, Mal 2:7; without scribes to explain its difficulties; and without prophets to reveal God's will), the law shall not perish from the prophet," &c.; since God has made these a lasting institution in His church, and the law declares they shall never perish ([Le 6:18]; ; compare [Jr 5:12]) [Grotius].
the wise--scribes and elders joined to the priests. Perhaps they mean to say, we must have right on our side, in spite of Jeremiah's words against us and our prophets ([Jr 28:15], ; , ; ); "for the law shall not perish," &c. I prefer Grotius' explanation.
with ... tongue--by a false accusation ([Psa 57:4]; ; ; ). "For the tongue" (Margin), that is, for his speaking against us. "In the tongue," that is, let us kill him, that he may speak no more against us [Castalio].
19. Give heed--contrasted with, "let us not give heed" ([Jr 18:18]). As they give no heed to me, do Thou, O Lord, give heed to me, and let my words at least have their weight with Thee.
20. In the particulars here specified, Jeremiah was a type of Jesus Christ ([Psa 109:4], ; [Joh 15:25]).
my soul--my life; me ([Psa 35:7]).
I stood before thee ... to turn away thy wrath--so Moses ([Psa 106:23]; compare [Eze 22:30]). So Jesus Christ, the antitype of previous partial intercessors ([Is 59:16]).
21. pour out their blood by the force of the sword--literally, "by the hands of the sword." So [Eze 35:5]. Maurer with Jerome translates, "deliver them over to the power of the sword." But compare [Psa 63:10], Margin; [Is 53:12]. In this prayer he does not indulge in personal revenge, as if it were his own cause that was at stake; but he speaks under the dictation of the Spirit, ceasing to intercede, and speaking prophetically, knowing they were doomed to destruction as reprobates; for those not so, he doubtless ceased not to intercede. We are not to draw an example from this, which is a special case.
put to death--or, as in [Jr 15:2], "perish by the death plague" [Maurer].
men ... young men--Horsley distinguishes the former as married men past middle age; the latter, the flower of unmarried youth.
22. cry--by reason of the enemy bursting in: let their houses be no shelter to them in their calamities [Calvin].
digged ... pit--([Jr 18:20]; [Psa 57:6]; ).
23. forgive not--([Psa 109:9], [10, 14]).
blot out--image from an account-book ([Re 20:12]).
before thee--Hypocrites suppose God is not near, so long as they escape punishment; but when He punishes, they are said to stand before Him, because they can no longer flatter themselves they can escape His eye (compare [Psa 90:8]).
deal thus--exert Thy power against them [Maurer].
time of thine anger--Though He seems to tarry, His time shall come at last ([Ec 8:11], ; [2Pe 3:9], ).
Chapter 19
Jr 19:1-15. The Desolation of the Jews for Their Sins Foretold in the Valley of Hinnom; the Symbol of Breaking a Bottle
Referred by Maurer, &c., to the beginning of Zedekiah's reign.
1. bottle--Hebrew, bakuk, so called from the gurgling sound which it makes when being emptied.
ancients--elders. As witnesses of the symbolic action ([Jr 19:10]; [Is 8:1], ), that the Jews might not afterwards plead ignorance of the prophecy. The seventy-two elders, composing the Sanhedrim, or Great Council, were taken partly from "the priests," partly from the other tribes, that is, "the people," the former presiding over spiritual matters, the latter over civil; the seventy-two represented the whole people.
2. valley of the son of Hinnom--or Tophet, south of Jerusalem, where human victims were offered, and children made to pass through the fire, in honor of Molech.
east gate--Margin, "sun gate," sunrise being in the east. Maurer translates, the "potter's gate." Through it lay the road to the valley of Hinnom ([Jos 15:8]). The potters there formed vessels for the use of the temple, which was close by (compare [Jr 19:10], ; [Jr 18:2]; [Zec 11:13]). The same as "the water gate toward the east" ([Ne 3:26]; ); so called from the brook Kedron. Calvin translates, as English Version and Margin. "It was monstrous perversity to tread the law under foot in so conspicuous a place, over which the sun daily rising reminded them of the light of God's law."
3. The scene of their guilt is chosen as the scene of the denunciation against them.
kings--the king and queen ([Jr 13:18]); or including the king's counsellors and governors under him.
tingle--as if struck by a thunder peal ([1Sa 3:11]; [2Ki 21:12]).
4. ([Is 65:11]).
estranged this place--devoted it to the worship of strange gods: alienating a portion of the sacred city from God, the rightful Lord of the temple, city, and whole land.
nor their fathers--namely, the godly among them; their ungodly fathers God makes no account of.
blood of innocents--slain in honor of Molech ([Jr 7:31]; [Psa 106:37]).
5. commanded not--nay, more, I commanded the opposite ([Le 18:21]; see [Jr 7:31], ).
6. no more ... Tophet--from Hebrew, toph, "drum"; for in sacrificing children to Molech drums were beaten to drown their cries. Thus the name indicated the joy of the people at the fancied propitiation of the god by this sacrifice; in antithesis to its joyless name subsequently.
valley of slaughter--It should be the scene of slaughter, no longer of children, but of men; not of "innocents" ([Jr 19:4]), but of those who richly deserved their fate. The city could not be assailed without first occupying the valley of Hinnom, in which was the only fountain: hence arose the violent battle there.
7. make void the counsel--defeat their plans for repelling the enemy ([2Ch 32:1-4]; [Is 19:3]; , ). Or their schemes of getting help by having recourse to idols [Calvin].