Jeremiah · Chapter 9

Verse 1. O that my head were waters] מים ראשי יתנ ym mi yitten roshi mayim, “who will give to my head waters?” My mourning for the sins and desolations of my people has already exhausted the source of tears: I wish to have a fountain opened there, that I may weep day and night for the slain of my people. This has been the sorrowful language of many a pastor who has preached long to a hardened, rebellious people, to little or no effect. This verse belongs to the preceding chapter.

Verse 1. O that my head, &c. — The prophet sympathizes with the calamities of his people, as before, Jeremiah 1:19; 8:21; and thereby excites them to a sense of their own misfortunes, that they might humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. The passage is a fine instance of the pathetic, wherein Jeremiah so much excels. That I might weep day and night for the slain, &c. — For the multitudes of his countrymen that he foresaw would fall by the sword of the Babylonians. When we hear of great numbers slain in battles and sieges, we ought not to make a light matter of it, but to be much affected with it; yea, though they be not of the daughter of our people — For of whatever people they are, they are of the same human nature with us; and there are so many precious lives lost, as dear to them as ours to us, and so many precious souls gone into eternity.

PREVAILING DECEIT AND WICKEDNESS, 1-8.

1. Mine eyes a fountain of tears — This verse should go with the preceding chapter, as indeed it does in the Hebrew. We see in its pathetic words, as in a mirror, the heart of him who has been denominated, and not unaptly, the Weeping Prophet. Comp. Lamentations 2:11, and 3:48.

V. 2. A lodging place-Some retiring place, though it were but some mean hut in the wilderness.

Verse 2. O that I had in the wilderness] In the eastern countries there are no such inns or houses of entertainment as those in Europe. There are in different places public buildings called caravanserais, where travellers may lodge: but they are without furniture of any kind, and without food. Indeed they are often without a roof, being mere walls for a protection against the wild beasts of the desert. I wish to hide myself any where, in the most uncomfortable circumstances, that I may not be obliged any longer to witness the abominations of this people who are shortly to be visited with the most grievous punishments. Several interpreters suppose this to be the speech of GOD. I cannot receive this. I believe this verse to be spoken by the prophet, and that God proceeds with the next verse, and so on to the ninth inclusive.

Verse 2. O that I had in the wilderness, &c. — The prophet here wishes that he had a lodging-place, or tent, such as travellers in this country were wont to lodge in when they travelled over the deserts, professing that he would rather pass his days in such a habitation in some desert place, than at Jerusalem, which was filled with wicked men. That I may leave my people and go from them — Not chiefly because of the ill usage he met with among them, but rather because his righteous soul was vexed from day to day, as Lot’s was in Sodom, with the wickedness of their conversation, 2 Peter 3:7, 8. It made him even weary of his life to see them dishonouring God and destroying themselves. Time was when the place where God had chosen to put his name, there were the desire and delight of good men. David, in the wilderness, longed to be again in the courts of God’s house; but now Jeremiah, in the courts of God’s house, (for there he was when he said this,) wishes himself in a wilderness! Those have made themselves very vile and very miserable, that have made God’s people and ministers weary of them, and desirous to get from among them. It may not be improper to observe here, that “travellers in the East are not, nor ever were, accommodated at inns on the road, after the manner of the European nations. In some places indeed there are large public buildings provided for their reception, which they call caravansaries; but these afford merely a covering, being absolutely without furniture; and the traveller must carry his own provisions and necessaries along with him, or he will not find any. Nor are even these empty mansions always to be met with; so that if the weary traveller at night comes into a town where there is no caravansary, or pandoceion, as it is called Luke 10:34, he must take up his lodging in the street, unless some charitable inhabitant will be pleased to receive him into his house, as we find Judges 19:15. And if he passes through the desert, it is well for him if he can light upon a cave, or a hut, which some one before him may have erected for a temporary shelter. And this last is what I conceive to be here meant by µyjra ˆwlm, a solitary and not very comfortable situation, but yet preferable to the chagrin of living continually in the society of men of profligate manners.” — Blaney. For they be all adulterers — The expression seems here to be metaphorical, implying that they were apostates from God, to whose service they were engaged by the most solemn covenant, like that which obliges a wife to be faithful to her husband. See note on Jeremiah 2:2; and compare Matthew 16:4; James 4:4.

Verse 2. Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodgingplace of wayfaring men. In countries where the peasantry are very poor, travellers provide for themselves as they can. Even in Spain many of the passadoes only lodge the traveller; he must provide his own food. Jeremiah preferred a lodging among the country poor, rather than occupy his station in the temple. In the East they have caravanseras, often dirty and very offensive.

2. From his own sorrows the prophet now turns to the people’s sins. He sighs for solitude rather than contact with the prevailing wickedness. Similarly has a modern poet spoken in a passage which is not merely an imitation, but almost a literal translation of this:

O for a lodge in some vast wilderness,

Some boundless contiguity of shade,

Where rumour of oppression and deceit,

Of unsuccessful or successful war,

Might never reach me more! — Cowper.

Wilderness — An uninhabited place away from the homes and haunts of men. Lodging place — Caravansary. They were created on the route of caravans for their accommodation. They were often a mere enclosure, lonely and filthy, but preferred by the prophet to a dwelling among a corrupt people. An assembly — This word here has some suggestion of disparagement, like gang or crew.

Verse 3. They bend their tongues like their bow for lies] And their lies are such that they as fully take away life as the keenest arrow shot from the best strung bow. The false prophets told the people that there was no desolation at hand: the people believed them; made no preparation for their defence; did not return to the Lord; and the sword came and destroyed them.

They are not valiant for the truth] They are bold in sin, and courageous to support their lies; but the truth they neither patronize nor support.

Verse 3. They bend their tongues like their bow — With a great deal of craft, their tongues are fitted for lying, as a bow which is bent is for shooting. Thus the psalmist compares the tongue to a bow and words of calumny and falsehood to arrows, Psalm 64:3, 4. But they are not valiant for the truth — They use their tongues in defence of lies rather than of the truths of God; and, in the administration of justice, they have not courage to stand by an honest cause that has truth on its side, if greatness and power be on the other side. Truth is fallen in the land, and they dare not lend a hand to help it up, Isaiah 59:14, 15. They proceed from evil to evil — From one sin to another, and from one degree of sin to another. They every day grow more bold in their wickedness, because they escape punishment, and they enrich themselves by their evil deeds, and so become formidable, defending and maintaining their wickedness by fresh acts of wickedness. And they know not me, saith the Lord — And where men have not the true knowledge of God, what but evil can be expected from them? Observe, reader, men’s ignorance of God is the cause of all their bad conduct one toward another.

3. Tongues like their bow — Ready to shoot out lies. Not valiant for the truth — This grand phrase is not defensible as a translation in this place. The precise thought is, They do not bear sway in faithfulness; that is, they gain their influence by treachery and deceit. Upon the earth — Rather, in the land, namely, Judea.

Verses 4-6. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour — Or, of his friend, as wh[r rather signifies; of him who pretends friendship to him, or whom he has befriended. And trust ye not in a brother — Against whom you must stand as much upon your guard as if you were dealing with a stranger. For every brother will utterly supplant — Will deceive, overreach, and take all possible advantage of his nearest relation; and every neighbour — Or friend, rather, as before; will walk with slanders — Will not care what ill he says of another, though never so false. The Hebrew, Ëlhy lykr, is properly, will go about as a detracter, or calumniator, namely, carrying slanders with him from house to house. This is a strong description of the falsehood and calumny which universally prevailed among them. And weary themselves to commit iniquity — They are so inclined and enslaved to iniquity, that they not only commit it when they can do it easily, but when the commission of it is attended with difficulty; for they take more pains to carry on their ill designs than the practice of truth and integrity would cost them. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit — That is, all about thee are addicted to it, therefore stand upon thy guard. They are God’s words to the prophet. If all around us are false and deceitful, it concerns us to beware of them, and to be wise as serpents. Through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord — “The knowledge of God, which is true religion, is incompatible with the practice of any wickedness. And therefore it is natural enough for those that are resolved at all events to abide in their evil courses, to endeavour, if possible, to divest themselves of all religious principles, which, if insufficient to restrain, will be sure at least to be very troublesome to them.”

Ver. 4. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour. Take heed of his tongue, his bow is already bent. Take heed of your character among the people of Sodom; take heed of your property, of your wife, of your daughter, yea of your own life. Do we need books on original sin? Is not every heart a volume?

4-6. Every brother will utterly supplant, etc. — A terrible indictment! Just in the ratio in which truth is put down must the bonds of mutual confidence be relaxed. Such a state of things brought forward to its full result and made permanent, would be hell! No material flames would be needed. The fires of universal enmity and distrust would burn to the very core of the soul.

V. 5. Weary-They use industry, and contrivance in it, they spare no labour.

Verse 5. And weary themselves to commit iniquity.] O, what a drudgery is sin! and how much labour must a man take in order to get to hell! The tenth part of it, in working together with God, would bring him to the gate of glory.

Verses 4-6. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour — Or, of his friend, as wh[r rather signifies; of him who pretends friendship to him, or whom he has befriended. And trust ye not in a brother — Against whom you must stand as much upon your guard as if you were dealing with a stranger. For every brother will utterly supplant — Will deceive, overreach, and take all possible advantage of his nearest relation; and every neighbour — Or friend, rather, as before; will walk with slanders — Will not care what ill he says of another, though never so false. The Hebrew, Ëlhy lykr, is properly, will go about as a detracter, or calumniator, namely, carrying slanders with him from house to house. This is a strong description of the falsehood and calumny which universally prevailed among them. And weary themselves to commit iniquity — They are so inclined and enslaved to iniquity, that they not only commit it when they can do it easily, but when the commission of it is attended with difficulty; for they take more pains to carry on their ill designs than the practice of truth and integrity would cost them. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit — That is, all about thee are addicted to it, therefore stand upon thy guard. They are God’s words to the prophet. If all around us are false and deceitful, it concerns us to beware of them, and to be wise as serpents. Through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord — “The knowledge of God, which is true religion, is incompatible with the practice of any wickedness. And therefore it is natural enough for those that are resolved at all events to abide in their evil courses, to endeavour, if possible, to divest themselves of all religious principles, which, if insufficient to restrain, will be sure at least to be very troublesome to them.”

Ver. 5. Weary themselves to commit iniquity. What is it that bad men will not do to gratify the leading passion of their heart? Money, honour, the tenderest ties, and life itself must go in pursuit of some imaginary pleasure. But when the prodigal drank water instead of wine, “he came to himself.”

4-6. Every brother will utterly supplant, etc. — A terrible indictment! Just in the ratio in which truth is put down must the bonds of mutual confidence be relaxed. Such a state of things brought forward to its full result and made permanent, would be hell! No material flames would be needed. The fires of universal enmity and distrust would burn to the very core of the soul.

Verses 4-6. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour — Or, of his friend, as wh[r rather signifies; of him who pretends friendship to him, or whom he has befriended. And trust ye not in a brother — Against whom you must stand as much upon your guard as if you were dealing with a stranger. For every brother will utterly supplant — Will deceive, overreach, and take all possible advantage of his nearest relation; and every neighbour — Or friend, rather, as before; will walk with slanders — Will not care what ill he says of another, though never so false. The Hebrew, Ëlhy lykr, is properly, will go about as a detracter, or calumniator, namely, carrying slanders with him from house to house. This is a strong description of the falsehood and calumny which universally prevailed among them. And weary themselves to commit iniquity — They are so inclined and enslaved to iniquity, that they not only commit it when they can do it easily, but when the commission of it is attended with difficulty; for they take more pains to carry on their ill designs than the practice of truth and integrity would cost them. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit — That is, all about thee are addicted to it, therefore stand upon thy guard. They are God’s words to the prophet. If all around us are false and deceitful, it concerns us to beware of them, and to be wise as serpents. Through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord — “The knowledge of God, which is true religion, is incompatible with the practice of any wickedness. And therefore it is natural enough for those that are resolved at all events to abide in their evil courses, to endeavour, if possible, to divest themselves of all religious principles, which, if insufficient to restrain, will be sure at least to be very troublesome to them.”

4-6. Every brother will utterly supplant, etc. — A terrible indictment! Just in the ratio in which truth is put down must the bonds of mutual confidence be relaxed. Such a state of things brought forward to its full result and made permanent, would be hell! No material flames would be needed. The fires of universal enmity and distrust would burn to the very core of the soul.

V. 7. Try them-By melting them, I will bring upon them, the fire of the Chaldean war, that shall purge away those deceits in which they trust, that the remnant may be purified. For how-I have tried all other means.

Verse 7. Behold, I will melt them] I will put them in the furnace of affliction, and see if this will be a means of purging away their dross. See Clarke on “Jeremiah 6:27”.

Verses 7, 8. Behold, I will melt them and try them — I will cast them into the furnace of affliction, that I may purify them from their dross. See note on Jeremiah 6:29, 30, and on Isaiah 1:25. For how shall I do, &c. — I have tried all other means, and they have proved ineffectual. Their tongue is as an arrow, &c. — It was compared to a bow bent, verse 3, plotting and preparing mischief; here it is an arrow shot out, putting in execution what they had projected. Dr. Waterland renders the words, as a sharp, or killing arrow; it speaketh deceit — They speak what they do not mean, that they may more easily deceive the credulous: they speak fair when they mean to destroy, as the next words explain it.

7. I will melt them… try them — Even their punishment is not simply retributive, but rather, corrective. God punishes for their sake and not for his own. He puts them into the crucible, not to torture, but to purify. How shall I do, etc. — That is, how else can I do? Is there any other course for me to take? Other and milder measures have failed, this alone remains.

Verses 7, 8. Behold, I will melt them and try them — I will cast them into the furnace of affliction, that I may purify them from their dross. See note on Jeremiah 6:29, 30, and on Isaiah 1:25. For how shall I do, &c. — I have tried all other means, and they have proved ineffectual. Their tongue is as an arrow, &c. — It was compared to a bow bent, verse 3, plotting and preparing mischief; here it is an arrow shot out, putting in execution what they had projected. Dr. Waterland renders the words, as a sharp, or killing arrow; it speaketh deceit — They speak what they do not mean, that they may more easily deceive the credulous: they speak fair when they mean to destroy, as the next words explain it.

8. An arrow shot out — This is founded on the Keri of the Masorites. But the English text a murderous arrow, is better.

THE DESOLATION OF THE LAND AND THE DISPERSION OF THE PEOPLE, 9-15.

V. 10. Wailing-The prophet having taken up a lamentation for the slaughter of the people, now re-assumes it for the desolation of the whole land. The mountains shall not be able to secure them, nor the valleys to feed them.

Verse 10. Both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled] The land shall be so utterly devastated, that neither beast nor bird shall be able to live in it.

Verses 10, 11. For the mountains will I take up a weeping — “These words,” says Houbigant, “as they now lie, must belong either to Jeremiah or the daughter of Zion; and yet it follows in the next verse, And I will make, which are the words of God: therefore this verse should be rendered, by a slight alteration of the text, ‘Take ye up a weeping and wailing on the mountains, a lamentation in the dwellings of the wilderness; for they are desolate, because there is no traveller; nor is the voice of cattle heard in them; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled.’“ The prophet laments that general desolation which he sees coming upon the whole land, and which would involve all the parts of it, both high and low, in one common destruction. I will make Jerusalem heaps — Of rubbish, and lay it in such ruins that it shall be fit for nothing but to be a den of dragons — Or serpents, as the word µynt frequently signifies, or such creatures as are usually found in ruins or desolate places.

Ver. 10. Both the fowl and the beasts are fled. The remark of Jerome on Hosea 4., applies here. “He who thinks that this has not happened to the people of Israel, let him behold Illyricum. Let him behold Thrace, Macedonia, and Pannonia, and all that tract of land from Propontis and Bosphorus to the Alps; and he will then confess that not only men, but likewise every animal, which was originally formed for the use of man, are extinct, and swept away by the besom of destruction.”

10. The whole passage to the twenty-second verse is devoted to setting forth in detail the punishment which is about to come upon the land and the people. For the mountains — Once cultivated and fruitful, and covered with happy flocks, but now desolate. For the habitations — Namely, of the shepherds, who pitch their tents or construct their booths wherever is pasturage for their flocks. But these pastures are to be burned up, so that there will be no life left.

Verse 11. A den of dragons] תנים tannim is supposed to mean here jackals; the chakal is a beast frequent in the east, an attendant on the lion, the refuse of whose prey he devours. It is an animal that seems to have been bred originally between the wolf and the dog. The original is sometimes interpreted, dragons, whales, &c.

Verses 10, 11. For the mountains will I take up a weeping — “These words,” says Houbigant, “as they now lie, must belong either to Jeremiah or the daughter of Zion; and yet it follows in the next verse, And I will make, which are the words of God: therefore this verse should be rendered, by a slight alteration of the text, ‘Take ye up a weeping and wailing on the mountains, a lamentation in the dwellings of the wilderness; for they are desolate, because there is no traveller; nor is the voice of cattle heard in them; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled.’“ The prophet laments that general desolation which he sees coming upon the whole land, and which would involve all the parts of it, both high and low, in one common destruction. I will make Jerusalem heaps — Of rubbish, and lay it in such ruins that it shall be fit for nothing but to be a den of dragons — Or serpents, as the word µynt frequently signifies, or such creatures as are usually found in ruins or desolate places.

11. Dragons — Rather, jackals. Fittingly associated with the ruinous stone heaps of Jerusalem.

V. 12. Who is-Is there not a wise man among you, that will search into the cause of all these threatened judgments.

Verse 12. Who is the wise man] To whom has God revealed these things? He is the truly wise man. But it is to his prophet alone that God has revealed these things, and the speedy fulfilment of the predictions will show that the prophet has not spoken of himself.

Verses 12, 13. Who is the wise man — Or, Is there not a wise man, who understands this? — Is there none of you so well acquainted with the will of God and the methods of his providence, as to be able to declare the reasons why he has given such severe instances of his anger against this land? The question implies, that there are none, or very few, that consider common calamities in the cause of them, but rather impute the divine chastisements to chance, not seeing the hand of God in them. And the Lord saith. Because they have forsaken my law, &c. — Here God himself declares the reasons of his judgments by the mouth of his prophet.

Ver. 12. The land—is burnt up like a wilderness. When Bonaparte was on his march to Moscow, the Russians set the metropolis on fire that the French might find no shelter. It is likely that the Hebrews did the same to stop the progress of the invading armies, the word burning being of frequent occurrence.

12. For what the land perisheth — This is the question which is proposed for the consideration of the wise men, and should stand out: Wherefore doth the land come to ruin?

Verses 12, 13. Who is the wise man — Or, Is there not a wise man, who understands this? — Is there none of you so well acquainted with the will of God and the methods of his providence, as to be able to declare the reasons why he has given such severe instances of his anger against this land? The question implies, that there are none, or very few, that consider common calamities in the cause of them, but rather impute the divine chastisements to chance, not seeing the hand of God in them. And the Lord saith. Because they have forsaken my law, &c. — Here God himself declares the reasons of his judgments by the mouth of his prophet.

Verse 15. I will feed them—with wormwood] They shall have the deepest sorrow and heaviest affliction. They shall have poison instead of meat and drink.

Verses 15, 16. I will feed them, &c., with wormwood — See on Deuteronomy 29:18. The word rendered wormwood here, it seems, had better be rendered wolfsbane, as signifying an herb which is not only bitter and nauseous, but also noxious. And give them water of gall to drink — Or juice of hemlock, as some read it; some other herb that is poisonous as well as distasteful. By these expressions is signified not only a scarcity of meat and drink, but the most grievous calamities. I will scatter them also among the heathen — They have been corrupted by their intimacy with heathen idolaters, with whom they mingled themselves, and whose works they learned, and now they shall lose themselves among those through whom they lost their virtue. Whom neither they nor their fathers have known — They set up gods to worship, which they had not known, strange gods, new gods, Deuteronomy 32:17; and now God will scatter them among those people whom they had not known, those with whom they can claim no acquaintance, and from whom therefore they can expect no favour. The nations to the east, beyond the Euphrates and Tigris, seem to be chiefly meant here, whom the Jews knew little or nothing of before they were carried into captivity among them. And from that time to this the Jews have been scattered among those people. They are now also scattered through almost all the nations of the earth; so that this prophecy has received its full accomplishment in the most literal sense; for they have indeed been scattered among those whom neither they nor their fathers had known. And what deserves highly to be remarked is, that among none of these nations have they attained to any share of supreme power, but have always lived among them upon courtesy or sufferance. And I will send a sword after them, &c. — A judgment threatened by Moses in case of their disobedience, Leviticus 26:23, and fulfilled upon several of the Jewish captives in Egypt and elsewhere.

Ver. 15. I will—give them water of gall. Hebrews var rosh, or hemlock. This word must designate a herb, because it grows in the furrows, or bye-places of the field. Hosea 10:4. Moses also associates this plant with wormwood, as in the present instance. With these herbs a stupifying potion was made for culprits before their crucifixion.

V. 16. A sword-But I will follow them with the sword, ‘till they be destroyed, such of them as were appointed for destruction; for otherwise, they were not all consumed, a full end was not to be made.

Verses 15, 16. I will feed them, &c., with wormwood — See on Deuteronomy 29:18. The word rendered wormwood here, it seems, had better be rendered wolfsbane, as signifying an herb which is not only bitter and nauseous, but also noxious. And give them water of gall to drink — Or juice of hemlock, as some read it; some other herb that is poisonous as well as distasteful. By these expressions is signified not only a scarcity of meat and drink, but the most grievous calamities. I will scatter them also among the heathen — They have been corrupted by their intimacy with heathen idolaters, with whom they mingled themselves, and whose works they learned, and now they shall lose themselves among those through whom they lost their virtue. Whom neither they nor their fathers have known — They set up gods to worship, which they had not known, strange gods, new gods, Deuteronomy 32:17; and now God will scatter them among those people whom they had not known, those with whom they can claim no acquaintance, and from whom therefore they can expect no favour. The nations to the east, beyond the Euphrates and Tigris, seem to be chiefly meant here, whom the Jews knew little or nothing of before they were carried into captivity among them. And from that time to this the Jews have been scattered among those people. They are now also scattered through almost all the nations of the earth; so that this prophecy has received its full accomplishment in the most literal sense; for they have indeed been scattered among those whom neither they nor their fathers had known. And what deserves highly to be remarked is, that among none of these nations have they attained to any share of supreme power, but have always lived among them upon courtesy or sufferance. And I will send a sword after them, &c. — A judgment threatened by Moses in case of their disobedience, Leviticus 26:23, and fulfilled upon several of the Jewish captives in Egypt and elsewhere.

THE CARNIVAL OF DEATH, 16-21.

16. I will scatter them — God’s determination thus to do is rendered more appalling by the statement whom neither they nor their fathers have known. Till I have consumed them — Not utterly, as is repeatedly indicated in this book: God’s forbearance still continuing to the remnant who should be spared a feeble life in their own land.

V. 17. Women-Who were hired to tear their hair, and beat their breasts, with other mourning postures, a foolish custom which has obtained in most ages and countries. Cunning-Such as are most skilful in it.

Verse 17. Call for the mourning women] Those whose office it was to make lamentations at funerals, and to bewail the dead, for which they received pay. This custom continues to the present in Asiatic countries. In Ireland this custom also prevails, which no doubt their ancestors brought from the east. I have often witnessed it, and have given a specimen of this elsewhere. See the note on Matthew 9:23. The first lamentations for the dead consisted only in the sudden bursts of inexpressible grief, like that of David over his son Absalom, 2 Samuel 19:4. But as men grew refined, it was not deemed sufficient for the surviving relatives to vent their sorrows in these natural, artless expressions of wo, but they endeavoured to join others as partners in their sorrows. This gave rise to the custom of hiring persons to weep at funerals, which the Phrygians and Greeks borrowed from the Hebrews. Women were generally employed on these occasions, because the tender passions being predominant in this sex, they succeeded better in their parts; and there were never wanting persons who would let out their services to hire on such occasions. Their lamentations were sung to the pipe as we learn from Matthew 9:23. See the funeral ceremonies practiced at the burial of Hector, as described by Homer:— Oi d~ epei eisagagon kluta dwmata, ton men epeita

Trhtoiv en leceessi qesan, para d~ eisan aoidouv,

Qrhnwn exarcouv, oi te stonoessan aoidhn

Oi men ar~ eqrhneon, epi de stenaconto gunaikev.

IL. lib. xxiv., ver. 719.

“Arrived within the royal house, they stretched

The breathless Hector on a sumptuous bed,

And singers placed beside him, who should chant

The strain funereal; they with many a groan

The dirge began; and still at every close

The female train with many a groan replied.”

COWPER.

St. Jerome tells us that even to his time this custom continued in Judea; that women at funerals, with dishevelled hair and naked breasts, endeavoured in a modulated voice to invite others to lament with them. The poem before us, from the seventeenth to the twenty-second verse, is both an illustration and confirmation of what has been delivered on this subject, and worthy of the reader’s frequent perusal, on account of its affecting pathos, moral sentiments, and fine images, particularly in the twenty-first verse, where death is described in as animated a prosopopœia as can be conceived. See Lowth’s twenty-second Prelection, and Dodd. The nineteenth verse is supposed to be the funeral song of the women. “How are we spoiled!

We are greatly confounded!

For we have forsaken the land;

Because they have destroyed our dwellings.”

Verse 17. Consider ye, and call for the mourning women — Consider the evil circumstances you are in, which call for mourning and lamentation: and since you yourselves are not sufficiently affected with the dangers that threaten you, send for those women whose profession it is to mourn at funerals, and upon other sorrowful occasions, and let their lamentations excite true sorrow in you. The prophet seems here to compare the Jewish state to a person dead, and going to be buried, and therefore calls upon the people to send for those who used to be hired to make lamentations and wailings at funerals. The reader will observe, “it was an ancient custom of the Hebrews, at funerals, and on other like occasions, to make use of hired mourners, whose profession it was to exhibit in public all the signs and gestures of immoderate and frantic grief, and by their loud outcries and doleful songs to excite a real passion of sorrow in others. Women were generally employed in this office, either because it was an office more suitable to the softness of a female mind, or because the more tender passions being predominant in that sex, they succeeded better in their parts; nor were there ever wanting those artists well instructed in the discipline of mourning, and ready to hire out their lamentations and tears on any emergency. It was the chief excellence of other arts to imitate nature; it was likewise esteemed so in this; their funeral dirges, therefore, were composed in imitation of those which had been poured forth by genuine and sincere grief. Their sentences were short, querulous, pathetic, simple, and unadorned; somewhat laboured indeed, because they were composed in metre, and to be sung to the pipe, as we learn from Matthew 9:23; and from Homer,” where, speaking of Hector’s funeral, he says, — — Para d’ eisan aoidouv,

Qrhnwn exarcouv, oite sonoessan aoidhn,

Oi men ar’ eqrhneon, epi de senaconto gunaikev.

ILIAD, W. 720.

A melancholy choir attend around,

With plaintive sighs, and music’s solemn sound;

Alternately they sing, alternate flow

Th’ obedient tears, melodious in their wo.

See POPE’S IL., book 24. verse 900.

Jerome tells us, in his comment on this verse, that the practice was continued in Judea down to his days; “That women, at funerals, with dishevelled hair, and naked breasts, endeavoured, in a modulated voice, to unite others in lamentation with them.” Frequent allusions to this custom are to be met with in Scripture, particularly 2 Chronicles 35:25, where the singing men and singing women are said to have made it a constant rule, after King Josiah’s death, to commemorate that excellent prince in all their future dirges or lamentations, as one in whom the public in general had sustained an irreparable loss. Such were the mourners, mentioned Ecclesiastes 12:5, and said to go about the streets; and those whom Amos calls, yhn y[dwy, skilful of lamentation; Amos 5:16. And such no doubt were the minstrels and the people making a noise; oclon qoruboumenon, whom our Saviour found in the house of the ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter was just dead; who, St. Mark says, wept and wailed greatly, klaiontav kai alalazontav polla, Mark 5:38. There are especially several traces of this custom to be met with in the prophets, who frequently delivered their predictions of approaching calamities in the form of funeral dirges. The poem before us, from verse 19 to 22, is both an illustration and confirmation of this, and worthy of the reader’s frequent perusal, on account of its affecting pathos, moral sentiments, and fine images; particularly in verse 21, where death is described in as animated a prosopopœia as can be conceived. See Lowth’s Prelec., Calmet, and Blaney.

Ver. 17. Call for the mourning women, taught to touch the minstrel, and utter in dirges the sentiments of a wounded heart for the loss of parents and children. See more in Dr. Beattie’s Minstrel, a beautiful poem; and on Genesis 50:10. It would seem, from ver. 20, that women were taught the pensive art by their ancestors. “Oh ye women, teach your daughters wailing.” The prophet justly calls on the women to mourn, for they had been particularly faulty in drawing their husbands to idolatry; “to walk after Baal in the imagination of their heart.”

17-20. Consider ye, and call — To heighten the poetical effect of this passage Jehovah calls for the mourning women; those women who among the Orientals are hired to make lamentation, because “skilled in the arts of woe,” and so here called cunning. (See Miss ROGER’S Domestic Life in Palestine. pp. 181-184. for a very vivid picture of these mourning ceremonies at the present time.) Here every impressive feature of such a picture is blended: the office of the women themselves, their character, their words, the effect of their lamentations, and finally their fewness as compared with the greatness of the woe, so that they are called upon to teach their arts to others. Teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation — The ravages of death have overstepped the resources of mourning, as in the times of fearful pestilence.

17-20. Consider ye, and call — To heighten the poetical effect of this passage Jehovah calls for the mourning women; those women who among the Orientals are hired to make lamentation, because “skilled in the arts of woe,” and so here called cunning. (See Miss ROGER’S Domestic Life in Palestine. pp. 181-184. for a very vivid picture of these mourning ceremonies at the present time.) Here every impressive feature of such a picture is blended: the office of the women themselves, their character, their words, the effect of their lamentations, and finally their fewness as compared with the greatness of the woe, so that they are called upon to teach their arts to others. Teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation — The ravages of death have overstepped the resources of mourning, as in the times of fearful pestilence.

17-20. Consider ye, and call — To heighten the poetical effect of this passage Jehovah calls for the mourning women; those women who among the Orientals are hired to make lamentation, because “skilled in the arts of woe,” and so here called cunning. (See Miss ROGER’S Domestic Life in Palestine. pp. 181-184. for a very vivid picture of these mourning ceremonies at the present time.) Here every impressive feature of such a picture is blended: the office of the women themselves, their character, their words, the effect of their lamentations, and finally their fewness as compared with the greatness of the woe, so that they are called upon to teach their arts to others. Teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation — The ravages of death have overstepped the resources of mourning, as in the times of fearful pestilence.

V. 20. Every one-It denotes how large and universal the mourning shall be.

Verse 20. Teach your daughters] This is not a common dirge that shall last only till the body is consigned to the earth; it must last longer; teach it to your children, that it may be continued through every generation, till God turn again your captivity.

17-20. Consider ye, and call — To heighten the poetical effect of this passage Jehovah calls for the mourning women; those women who among the Orientals are hired to make lamentation, because “skilled in the arts of woe,” and so here called cunning. (See Miss ROGER’S Domestic Life in Palestine. pp. 181-184. for a very vivid picture of these mourning ceremonies at the present time.) Here every impressive feature of such a picture is blended: the office of the women themselves, their character, their words, the effect of their lamentations, and finally their fewness as compared with the greatness of the woe, so that they are called upon to teach their arts to others. Teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation — The ravages of death have overstepped the resources of mourning, as in the times of fearful pestilence.

V. 21. Death-The unavoidableness of the ruin is expressed metaphorically, alluding to the storming of a city, wherein there is no respect had to sex, youth, or age.

Verse 21. For death is come up into our windows] Here DEATH is personified, and represented as scaling their wall; and after having slain the playful children without, and the vigorous youth employed in the labours of the field, he is now come into the private houses, to destroy the aged and infirm; and into the palaces, to destroy the king and the princes.

Ver. 21. Death is come up into our windows. The Hebrew soldiers being slain, the assailants overleaped the walls, and stormed the barricaded houses by the windows. These are the scenes which call for the prophet’s tears.

21. Death is come up into our windows — Implying his resistlessness, and the universality of his conquests. He comes in by all avenues. As the result of his work there are no children… without, nor young men in the streets. Silence and death bear undisputed sway.

V. 22. As the handful-They shall be no more regarded than a few scattered ears that drop out of the reapers hand, which either lie on the ground and are eaten by birds, or trod to dirt by beasts. None-None shall have so much respect to them, as to afford burial.

Verse 22. And as the handful after the harvestman] The reapers, after having cut enough to fill their hand, threw it down; and the binders, following after, collected those handfuls, and bound them in sheaves. Death is represented as having cut down the inhabitants of the land, as the reapers do the corn; but so general was the slaughter, that there was none to bury the dead, to gather up these handfuls; so that they lay in a state of putrescence, as dung upon the open field.

22. Carcasses of men — The burning utterances of the prophet burst forth into one vivid and comprehensive statement — a fitting conclusion to this remarkable passage. The dead shall be too many to be buried, as in Jeremiah 8:32, 33. As the reaper lets fall his handful of grain for the gleaner, so death shall cast down his handful, and none shall gather them.

Verse 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom] Because God is the Fountain of all good, neither wisdom, nor might, nor riches, nor prosperity can come but from or through him. Nothing can be more rational than that the Source of all our blessings should be acknowledged. Riches cannot deliver in the day of death; strength cannot avail against him; and as a shield against him, our wisdom is foolishness.

Verses 23, 24. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom — Let not men value themselves on account of their wisdom, strength, or riches, which are things in themselves of a very uncertain continuance, and such calamities are coming, (see verses 25, 26,) in which they will stand the owners of them in very little stead. The only true, valuable endowment is the knowledge of God, not as he is in himself, which is too high an attainment for poor mortals to pretend to, but with respect to his dealings with men; to have a serious sense of his mercies to the penitent, of his judgments to the obstinate, and of his truth and integrity, in making good his promises and threatenings to both. It is in the exercise of these attributes God chiefly delights; and it is by these he desires to make himself known to the world; and he that forms a just and lively apprehension of God, chiefly with regard to these his perfections, will always demean himself suitably toward him. Judgment and righteousness are often equivalent terms, but here the former seems to denote God’s severity against the wicked, and the latter his truth, justice, or holiness. See Lowth. Upon the whole, all other wisdom is vain and dangerous, except that which has God himself for its object, and teaches us to despise ourselves, to be humbled beneath his mighty hand, and to glory in him alone.

THE ONLY SAFETY, 23-26.

23. In such a calamity, where is help and deliverance? Not in human wisdom, nor might, nor riches. Could these avail, this ruin had not come.

V. 24. Knoweth-Whether we make any curious distinction between understanding God, as if that be more speculative, whereby we rightly apprehend his nature; and knowing God, as if that be more practical, as directing the conversation, we need not here enquire; yet certainly both center in this, that we so know and understand God as to trust in him, and depend on him alone in all conditions. Exercise-Kindness, as it relates to his own people; judgment, in punishing the wicked; righteousness, as he deals justly and uprightly with both.

Verse 24. But let him that glorieth] To glory in a thing is to depend on it as the means or cause of procuring happiness. But there can be no happiness but in being experimentally acquainted with that God who exercises loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. He who has God’s mercy for his portion may well exult; for he need not fear the power of any adversary.

Sometimes the ancient heathen poets uttered sentiments of morality far beyond their dispensation. Witness PHOCYLIDES on this subject:— Mh gaurou sofih, mht~ alkh, mht~ eni ploutw,

Eiv Qeov esti sofov, dunatov q~ ama, kai toluolbov. “If wisdom, strength, or riches be thy lot,

Boast not; but rather think thou hast them not.

ONE GOD alone from whom those gifts proceed

Is wise, is mighty, and is rich indeed.”

Verses 23, 24. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom — Let not men value themselves on account of their wisdom, strength, or riches, which are things in themselves of a very uncertain continuance, and such calamities are coming, (see verses 25, 26,) in which they will stand the owners of them in very little stead. The only true, valuable endowment is the knowledge of God, not as he is in himself, which is too high an attainment for poor mortals to pretend to, but with respect to his dealings with men; to have a serious sense of his mercies to the penitent, of his judgments to the obstinate, and of his truth and integrity, in making good his promises and threatenings to both. It is in the exercise of these attributes God chiefly delights; and it is by these he desires to make himself known to the world; and he that forms a just and lively apprehension of God, chiefly with regard to these his perfections, will always demean himself suitably toward him. Judgment and righteousness are often equivalent terms, but here the former seems to denote God’s severity against the wicked, and the latter his truth, justice, or holiness. See Lowth. Upon the whole, all other wisdom is vain and dangerous, except that which has God himself for its object, and teaches us to despise ourselves, to be humbled beneath his mighty hand, and to glory in him alone.

24. I am the Lord — Driven from all these human defences. God still remains, and so the grand lesson for this time and for all time is, Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth… the Lord.

3. The Means of Escape from Impending Punishment. — Jeremiah 9:25-10:25.

Verse 25. I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised] Do not imagine that you, because of your crimes, are the only objects of my displeasure; the circumcised and the uncircumcised, the Jew and the Gentile, shall equally feel the stroke of my justice, their transgressions being alike, after their advantages and disadvantages are duly compared. In like manner, other nations also were delivered into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, these he immediately enumerates: Egypt and Edom, and the Moabites and the Ammonites, and the Arabians of the desert. All these nations were uncircumcised in that way which God required that rite to be practised as a sign of his covenant; and the Israelites, that did practise it as a sign of that covenant, did not attend to its spiritual meaning, for they were all uncircumcised in heart. And it may be remarked, that these people were in general confederated against the Chaldeans.

Verses 25, 26. Behold the days come, &c. — Blaney translates these two verses, “Behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, that I will punish all the circumcision with the uncircumcision; Egypt, &c., and all those that have their coast insulated, those that dwell in the wilderness: for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” The Greek word akrobusia, which properly means

uncircumcision, is several times used by St. Paul for the persons who are uncircumcised, as peritomh, circumcision, is put for persons circumcised. See Romans 2:26, 27, and 3:30. Because the Jews valued themselves so much upon their circumcision, God here tells them that, when he should send his judgments abroad into the world, they should find no more favour than those that were not circumcised; and, accordingly, in mentioning the heathen nations whom he would punish, he places Judah among them, because they were, in effect, uncircumcised as well as the heathen, contenting themselves with the outward sign of circumcision in the flesh, without seeking that internal circumcision, which is of the heart and spirit, and the purification and holiness signified thereby. By those that have their coast insulated, as Blaney renders one of the clauses of verse 26, he supposes the Arabians are designed, which he thinks may be fairly concluded from the connection in which the same words. hap yxwxq, stand with the context, in Jeremiah 49:32. Concerning the precise meaning, however, of these words, he justly observes, “interpreters differ very greatly. Some represent them as signifying persons cut off from other people, by being thrust into a remote corner; in which light the translators of our Bible appear to have considered them, when they rendered them in the text, All that are in the utmost corners, and in the margin, cut off into corners. But all the ancient versions understand them as expressing the peculiar manner in which the Arabians cut the hair of their heads or beards,” expressed also in our marginal reading; which reading, Dr. Durel says, ought doubtless to be received into the text; the Arabs, who are meant, he thinks, by this periphrasis, being accustomed to cut their hair short, particularly about the crown of the head; and in respect to their beards, leaving only a tuft of hair growing about their chins; a practice which was forbidden to the Jews, Leviticus 19:27. But it seems much more probable that the words have a respect to the peninsular form of the country, surrounded on all sides by the sea, excepting only the isthmus to the north; and thus almost insulated, or cut off, from any other land.

Ver. 25. I will punish all the circumcised with the uncircumcised. Egypt, Edom, Ammon, and Moab; and all the house of Israel, uncircumcised in heart.—Blaney. After this time, as in Daniel the xith, Syria became the successive theatre of wars, and in scourges so disastrous that the country to the present age has never recovered its glory.

25. Circumcised with the uncircumcised — Rather, circumcised in uncircumcision; literally, with the foreskin. The meaning is, God will cut off all who are really uncircumcised, and among these are included those who have received merely the outward rite.

Verse 26. All that are in the utmost corners] hap yxwxq lk col ketsutsey pheah. These words have been variously understood. The Vulgate translates: Omnes qui attonsi sunt in comam; “All who have their hair cut short.” The Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic have understood it nearly in the same way; and so our margin. Others think that the insular or peninsular situation of the people is referred to. Dr. Blayney thinks the Arabians are meant, who dwelt in the great desert, between Mesopotamia and Palestine. I really think our marginal reading should be preferred, as expressing the sense of all the ancient Versions. JEREMIAH

Verses 25, 26. Behold the days come, &c. — Blaney translates these two verses, “Behold, the days are coming, saith Jehovah, that I will punish all the circumcision with the uncircumcision; Egypt, &c., and all those that have their coast insulated, those that dwell in the wilderness: for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.” The Greek word akrobusia, which properly means

uncircumcision, is several times used by St. Paul for the persons who are uncircumcised, as peritomh, circumcision, is put for persons circumcised. See Romans 2:26, 27, and 3:30. Because the Jews valued themselves so much upon their circumcision, God here tells them that, when he should send his judgments abroad into the world, they should find no more favour than those that were not circumcised; and, accordingly, in mentioning the heathen nations whom he would punish, he places Judah among them, because they were, in effect, uncircumcised as well as the heathen, contenting themselves with the outward sign of circumcision in the flesh, without seeking that internal circumcision, which is of the heart and spirit, and the purification and holiness signified thereby. By those that have their coast insulated, as Blaney renders one of the clauses of verse 26, he supposes the Arabians are designed, which he thinks may be fairly concluded from the connection in which the same words. hap yxwxq, stand with the context, in Jeremiah 49:32. Concerning the precise meaning, however, of these words, he justly observes, “interpreters differ very greatly. Some represent them as signifying persons cut off from other people, by being thrust into a remote corner; in which light the translators of our Bible appear to have considered them, when they rendered them in the text, All that are in the utmost corners, and in the margin, cut off into corners. But all the ancient versions understand them as expressing the peculiar manner in which the Arabians cut the hair of their heads or beards,” expressed also in our marginal reading; which reading, Dr. Durel says, ought doubtless to be received into the text; the Arabs, who are meant, he thinks, by this periphrasis, being accustomed to cut their hair short, particularly about the crown of the head; and in respect to their beards, leaving only a tuft of hair growing about their chins; a practice which was forbidden to the Jews, Leviticus 19:27. But it seems much more probable that the words have a respect to the peninsular form of the country, surrounded on all sides by the sea, excepting only the isthmus to the north; and thus almost insulated, or cut off, from any other land.

Ver. 26. All that are in the utmost corners. Nearly all the Versions support the marginal reading: “All who have the corners of their hair polled, or cut short.”

26. Egypt… Judah, etc. — Many commentators, and among them Ewald and Nagelsbach, understand from this passage that all the peoples enumerated practised the rite of circumcision. But there is not sufficient historical proof of this; indeed there is positive evidence to the contrary. For instance. Josephus (Ant., 13:9, 1) tells how John Hyrcanus offered the Edomites the alternative of circumcision, which they accepted. We conclude, then, that the statement, all these nations are uncircumcised, means all nations besides Israel, and that the word “these,” which the translators have inserted, should be thrown out. All that are in the utmost corners — Rather, all who have the corners of their hair shorn. The allusion is to certain Arabian tribes who were accustomed to crop the edges of the beard, and to cut off the hair from the temples, a practice forbidden to the Israelites. Leviticus 19:27.