Jeremiah 9

Jer 9:1-26.

JEREMIAH'S

LAMENTATION FOR THE

JEWS'

SINS AND

CONSEQUENT

PUNISHMENT.

1. This verse is more fitly joined to the last chapter, as

verse 23

in the Hebrew (compare

Isa 22:4;

La 2:11; 3:48).

2. lodging-place--a caravanseral for caravans, or companies travelling

in the desert, remote from towns. It was a square building enclosing an

open court. Though a lonely and often filthy dwelling, Jeremiah would

prefer even it to the comforts of Jerusalem, so as to be removed from

the pollutions of the capital

(Ps 55:7, 8).

3. bend . . . tongues . . . for lies--that is, with lies as their

arrows; they direct lies on their tongue as their bow

(Ps 64:3, 4).

not valiant for . . . truth--

(Jer 7:28).

MAURER translates, "They do not prevail by

truth" or faith

(Ps 12:4).

Their tongue, not faith, is their weapon.

upon . . . earth--rather, "in the land."

know not me--

(Ho 4:1).

4. supplant--literally, "trip up by the heel"

(Ho 12:3).

walk with slanders--

(Jer 6:28).

5. weary themselves--are at laborious pains to act perversely

[MAURER]. Sin is a hard bondage

(Hab 2:13).

6. Thine--God addresses Jeremiah, who dwelt in the midst of deceitful

men.

refuse to know me--Their ignorance of God is wilful

(Jer 9:3; 5:4, 5).

7. melt . . . try them--by sending calamities on them.

for how shall I do--"What else can I do for the sake of the

daughter of My people?" [MAURER],

(Isa 1:25;

Mal 3:3).

8. tongue . . . arrow shot out--rather, "a murdering arrow"

[MAURER]

(Jer 9:3).

speaketh peaceably . . . in heart . . . layeth . . . wait--layeth

his ambush [HENDERSON],

(Ps 55:21).

9.

(Jer 5:9, 29).

10. Jeremiah breaks in upon Jehovah's threats of wrath with

lamentation for his desolated country.

mountains--once cultivated and fruitful: the hillsides were

cultivated in terraces between the rocks.

habitations of . . . wilderness--rather, "the pleasant herbage

(literally, 'the choice parts' of any thing) of the pasture plain." The

Hebrew for "wilderness" expresses not a barren desert, but an

untilled plain, fit for pasture.

burned up--because no one waters them, the inhabitants being all

gone.

none can pass through them--much less inhabit them.

fowl--

(Jer 4:25).

11. And--omit "And." Jehovah here resumes His speech from

Jer 9:9.

heaps--(see on

Isa 25:2).

dragons--jackals.

12. Rather, "Who is a wise man? (that is, Whosoever has inspired

wisdom,

2Pe 3:15);

let him understand this (weigh well the evils impending, and the causes

of their being sent); and he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken

(that is, whosoever is prophetically inspired), let him declare

it to his fellow countrymen," if haply they may be roused to

repentance, the only hope of safety.

13. Answer to the "for what the land perisheth"

(Jer 9:12).

14.

(Jer 7:24).

Baalim--plural of Baal, to express his supposed manifold powers.

fathers taught them--

(Ga 1:14;

1Pe 1:18).

We are not to follow the errors of the fathers, but the authority of

Scripture and of God [JEROME].

15. feed--

(Jer 8:14; 23:15;

Ps 80:5).

16. nor their fathers have known--alluding to

Jer 9:14,

"Their fathers taught them" idolatry; therefore the children shall be

scattered to a land which neither their fathers nor they have known.

send a sword after them--Not even in flight shall they be safe.

17. mourning women--hired to heighten lamentation by plaintive cries

baring the breast, beating the arms, and suffering the hair to flow

dishevelled

(2Ch 35:25;

Ec 12:5;

Mt 9:23).

cunning--skilled in wailing.

18.

(Jer 14:17).

19. The cry of "the mourning women."

spoiled--laid waste.

dwellings cast us out--fulfilling

Le 18:28; 20:22.

CALVIN translates, "The enemy have cast

down our habitations."

20. Yet--rather, "Only" [HENDERSON].

This particle calls attention

to what follows.

teach . . . daughters wailing--The deaths will be so many that there

will be a lack of mourning women to bewail them. The mothers, therefore,

must teach their daughters the science to supply the want.

21. death . . . windows--The death-inflicting soldiery, finding the

doors closed, burst in by the windows.

to cut off . . . children from . . . streets--Death cannot be said

to enter the windows to cut off the children in the streets, but

to cut them off, so as no more to play in the streets without

(Zec 8:5).

22. saith the Lord--continuing the thread of discourse from

Jer 9:20.

dung--

(Jer 8:2).

handful . . . none . . . gather them--implying that the handful has

been so trodden as to be not worth even the poor gleaner's effort to

gather it. Or the Eastern custom may be referred to: the reaper cuts the

grain and is followed by another who gathers it. This grain shall

not be worth gathering. How galling to the pride of the Jews to hear

that so shall their carcasses be trodden contemptuously under foot!

23. wisdom--political sagacity; as if it could rescue from the

impending calamities.

might--military prowess.

24. Nothing but an experimental knowledge of God will save the

nation.

understandeth--theoretically; in the intellect.

knoweth--practically: so as to walk in My ways

(Jer 22:16;

Job 22:21;

1Co 1:31).

loving kindness--God's mercy is put in the first and highest place,

because without it we should flee from God in fear and despair.

judgment . . . righteousness--loving-kindness towards the godly;

judgment towards the ungodly; righteousness the most perfect

fairness in all cases [GROTIUS].

Faithfulness to His promises to

preserve the godly, as well as stern execution of judgment on the

ungodly, is included in "righteousness."

in the earth--contrary to the dogma of some philosophers, that God

does not interfere in terrestrial concerns

(Ps 58:11).

in these . . . I delight--as well in doing them as in seeing them

done by others

(Mic 6:8; 7:18).

25. with the uncircumcised--rather, "all that are circumcised

in uncircumcision" [HENDERSON].

The Hebrew is an abstract term, not a concrete, as

English Version translates, and as the pious "circumcised" is.

The nations specified, Egypt, Judah, &c., were outwardly

"circumcised," but in heart were "uncircumcised." The heathen

nations were defiled, in spite of their literal circumcision, by

idolatry. The Jews, with all their glorying in their spiritual

privileges, were no better

(Jer 4:4;

De 10:16; 30:6;

Ro 2:28, 29;

Col 2:11).

However,

Eze 31:18; 32:19,

may imply that the Egyptians were uncircumcised; and it is uncertain as

to the other nations specified whether they were at that early time

circumcised. HERODOTUS says the Egyptians were so;

but others think this applies only to the priests and others having a

sacred character, not to the mass of the nation; so English

Version may be right

(Ro 2:28, 29).

26. Egypt--put first to degrade Judah, who, though in privileges

above the Gentiles, by unfaithfulness sank below them. Egypt, too,

was the power in which the Jews were so prone to trust, and by whose

instigation they, as well as the other peoples specified, revolted from

Babylon.

in the utmost corners--rather, "having the hair shaven (or clipped)

in angles," that is, having the beard on the cheek narrowed or cut: a Canaanitish custom, forbidden to the Israelites

(Le 19:27; 21:5).

The Arabs are hereby referred to (compare

Jer 25:23; 49:32),

as the words in apposition show, "that dwell in the wilderness."

uncircumcised . . . uncircumcised in the heart--The addition of "in

the heart" in Israel's case marks its greater guilt in proportion

to its greater privileges, as compared with the rest.