Jeremiah 8

Jer 8:1-22.

THE

JEW'S

COMING

PUNISHMENT;

THEIR

UNIVERSAL AND

INCURABLE

IMPENITENCE.

1. The victorious Babylonians were about to violate the sanctuaries

of the dead in search of plunder; for ornaments, treasures, and insignia

of royalty were usually buried with kings. Or rather, their purpose was

to do the greatest dishonor to the dead

(Isa 14:19).

2. spread . . . before the sun, &c.--retribution in kind. The very

objects which received their idolatries shall unconcernedly witness

their dishonor.

loved . . . served . . . after . . .

walked . . . sought . . . worshipped--Words

are accumulated, as if enough could not be said fully to express the

mad fervor of their idolatry to the heavenly host

(2Ki 23:5).

nor . . . buried--

(Jer 22:19).

dung--

(Jer 9:22;

Ps 83:10).

3. The survivors shall be still worse off than the dead

(Job 3:21, 22;

Re 9:6).

which remain in all the places--"in all places of them that remain,

whither I . . . that is, in all places whither I have driven them that

remain [MAURER].

4. "Is it not a natural instinct, that if one falls, he

rises again; if one turns away (that is, wanders from the way), he

will return to the point from which he wandered? Why then does not

Jerusalem do so?" He plays on the double sense of return; literal

and metaphorical

(Jer 3:12; 4:1).

5. slidden . . . backsliding--rather, as the Hebrew is the same

as in

Jer 8:4,

to which this verse refers, "turned away with a perpetual

turning away."

perpetual--in contrast to the "arise" ("rise again,"

Jer 8:4).

refuse to return--in contrast to, "shall he . . . not return"

(Jer 8:4;

Jer 5:3).

6. spake not aright--that is, not so as penitently to confess that

they acted wrong. Compare what follows.

every one . . . his course--The Keri reads "course," but the

Chetib, "courses." "They persevere in the courses whatever they

have once entered on." Their wicked ways were diversified.

horse rusheth--literally, "pours himself forth," as water that has

burst its embankment. The mad rapidity of the war horse is the

point of comparison

(Job 39:19-25).

7. The instinct of the migratory birds leads them with unfailing

regularity to return every spring from their winter abodes in summer

climes

(So 2:12);

but God's people will not return to Him even when the winter of His

wrath is past, and He invites them back to the spring of His favor.

in the heaven--emphatical. The birds whose very element is the

air, in which they are never at rest, yet show a steady sagacity,

which God's people do not.

times--namely, of migrating, and of returning.

my people--This honorable title aggravates the unnatural perversity

of the Jews towards their God.

know not, &c.--

(Jer 5:4, 5;

Isa 1:3).

8. law . . . with us--

(Ro 2:17).

Possessing the law, on which they prided themselves, the Jews might

have become the wisest of nations; but by their neglecting its

precepts, the law became given "in vain," as far as they were

concerned.

scribes--copyists. "In vain" copies were multiplied.

MAURER translates,

"The false pen of the scribes hath converted it [the law] into a lie."

See Margin, which agrees with Vulgate.

9. dismayed--confounded.

what wisdom--literally, "the wisdom of what?" that is, "wisdom in what

respect?" the Word of the Lord being the only true source of wisdom

(Ps 119:98-100;

Pr 1:7; 9:10).

10-12. Repeated from

Jer 6:12-15.

See a similar repetition,

Jer 8:15;

Jer 14:19.

inherit--succeed to the possession of them.

11.

(Eze 13:10).

13. surely consume--literally, "gathering I will gather," or "consuming

I will consume."

no grapes . . . nor figs--

(Joe 1:7;

Mt 21:19).

things that I have given . . . shall pass away--rather, "I will

appoint to them those who shall overwhelm (pass over) them," that is, I

will send the enemy upon them

[MAURER]. English Version accords

well with the context; Though their grapes and figs ripen, they shall

not be allowed to enjoy them.

14. assemble--for defense.

let us be silent--not assault the enemy, but merely defend ourselves

in quiet, until the storm blow over.

put us to silence--brought us to that state that we can no longer

resist the foe; implying silent despair.

water of gall--literally, "water of the poisonous plant," perhaps

the poppy

(Jer 9:15; 23:15).

15. Repeated

(Jer 14:19).

We looked for--owing to the expectations held out by the false

prophets.

health--healing; that is, restoration from adversity.

16. his horses--the Chaldean's.

was heard--the prophetical past for the future.

from Dan--bordering on Phœnicia. This was to be

Nebuchadnezzar's route in invading Israel; the cavalry in

advance of the infantry would scour the country.

strong ones--a poetical phrase for steeds, peculiar to Jeremiah

(Jer 47:3;

compare

Jer 4:13, 29; 6:23).

17. I--Jehovah.

cockatrices--basilisks

(Isa 11:8),

that is, enemies whose destructive power no means, by persuasion or

otherwise, can counteract. Serpent-charmers in the East entice

serpents by music, and by a particular pressure on the neck render them

incapable of darting

(Ps 58:4, 5).

18.

(Isa 22:4).

The lamentation of the prophet for the impending calamity of his

country.

against sorrow--or, with respect to sorrow.

MAURER translates,

"Oh, my exhilaration as to sorrow!" that is, "Oh, that exhilaration

('comfort', from an Arabic root, to shine as the rising sun)

would shine upon me as to my sorrow!"

in me--within me.

19. The prophet in vision hears the cry of the exiled Jews, wondering

that God should have delivered them up to the enemy, seeing that He is

Zion's king, dwelling in her

(Mic 3:11).

In the latter half of the verse God replies that their own idolatry,

not want of faithfulness on His part, is the cause.

because of them that dwell in a far country--rather, "from a land of

distances," that is, a distant land

(Isa 39:3).

English Version understands the cry to be of the Jews in

their own land, because of the enemy coming from their far-off

country.

strange vanities--foreign gods.

20. Proverbial. Meaning: One season of hope after another has passed,

but the looked-for deliverance never came, and now all hope is gone.

21. black--sad in visage with grief

(Joe 2:6).

22. balm--balsam; to be applied to the wounds of my people.

Brought into Judea first from Arabia Felix, by the queen of Sheba, in

Solomon's time [JOSEPHUS,

Antiquities, 8.2]. The opobalsamum of

PLINY; or else

[BOCHART] the resin drawn from the terebinth. It abounded

in Gilead, east of Jordan, where, in consequence, many "physicians"

established themselves

(Jer 46:11; 51:8;

Ge 37:25; 43:11).

health . . . recovered--The Hebrew is literally, "lengthening

out . . . gone up"; hence, the long bandage applied to bind up a

wound. So the Arabic also [GESENIUS].