19 Have you completely given up Judah? is your soul turned in disgust from Zion? why have you given us blows from which there is no one to make us well? we were looking for peace, but no good came; and for a time of well-being, but there was only a great fear.
But you have quite given us up; you are full of wrath against us.
We were looking for peace, but no good came; and for a time of well-being, but there is only a great fear.
For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.
When they say, There is peace and no danger, then sudden destruction will come on them, as birth-pains on a woman with child; and they will not be able to get away from it.
Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain.
My heritage has become like a lion in the woodland to me; her voice has been loud against me; so I have hate for her.
When this came to God's ears he was very angry, and gave up Israel completely;
(But even Judah did not keep the orders of the Lord their God, but were guided by the rules which Israel had made. So the Lord would have nothing to do with all the offspring of Israel, and sent trouble on them, and gave them up into the hands of their attackers, till he had sent them away from before his face.)
So I say, Has God put his people on one side? Let there be no such thought. For I am of Israel, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not put away the people of his selection. Or have you no knowledge of what is said about Elijah in the holy Writings? how he says words to God against Israel, Lord, they have put your prophets to death, and made waste your altars, and now I am the last, and they are searching for me to take away my life. But what answer does God make to him? I have still seven thousand men whose knees have not been bent to Baal. In the same way, there are at this present time some who are marked out by the selection of grace. But if it is of grace, then it is no longer of works: or grace would not be grace.
And in one month I put an end to the three keepers of the flock; for my soul was tired of them, and their souls were disgusted with me. And I said, I will not take care of you: If death comes to any, let death be its fate; if any is cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest take one another's flesh for food.
What example am I to give you? what comparison am I to make for you, O daughter of Jerusalem? what am I to make equal to you, so that I may give you comfort, O virgin daughter of Zion? for your destruction is great like the sea: who is able to make you well?
Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel came before me, I would have no desire for this people: send them away from before me, and let them go.
Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 14
Commentary on Jeremiah 14 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 14
Jer 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 (Jer 17:8, Margin).
2. gates—The place of public concourse in each city looks sad, as being no longer frequented (Isa 3:26; 24:4).
black—that is, they mourn (blackness being indicative of sorrow), (Jer 8:21).
unto the ground—bowing towards it.
cry—of distress (1Sa 5:12; Isa 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 (Ps 109:21). So "work for us," absolutely used (1Sa 14:6).
for thy name's sake—"for our backslidings are so many" that we cannot urge Thee for the sake of our doings, but for the glory of Thy name; lest, if Thou give us not aid, it should be said it was owing to Thy want of power (Jos 7:9; Ps 79:9; 106:8; Isa 48:9; Eze 20:44). The same appeal to God's mercy, "for His name's sake," as our only hope, since our sin precludes trust in ourselves, occurs in Ps 25:11.
8. The reference is, not to the faith of Israel which had almost ceased, but to the promise and everlasting covenant of God. None but the true Israel make God their "hope." (Jer 17:13).
turneth aside to tarry—The traveller cares little for the land he tarries but a night in; but Thou hast promised to dwell always in the midst of Thy people (2Ch 33:7, 8). Maurer translates, "spreadeth," namely, his tent.
9. astonied—like a "mighty man," at other times able to help (Isa 59:1), but now stunned by a sudden calamity so as to disappoint the hopes drawn from him.
art in the midst of us—(Ex 29:45, 46; Le 26:11, 12).
called by thy name—(Da 9:18, 19) as Thine own peculiar people (De 9:29).
10. Jehovah's reply to the prayer (Jer 14:7-9; Jer 2:23-25).
Thus—So greatly.
loved—(Jer 5:31).
not refrained … feet—They did not obey God's command; "withhold thy foot" (Jer 2:25), namely, from following after idols.
remember … iniquity—(Ho 8:13; 9:9). Their sin is so great, God must punish them.
11. (Jer 7:16; Ex 32:10).
12. not hear—because their prayers are hypocritical: their hearts are still idolatrous. God never refuses to hear real prayer (Jer 7:21, 22; Pr 1:28; Isa 1:15; 58:3).
sword … famine … pestilence—the three sorest judgments at once; any one of which would be enough for their ruin (2Sa 24:12, 13).
13. Jeremiah urges that much of the guilt of the people is due to the false prophets' influence.
assured peace—solid and lasting peace. Literally, "peace of truth" (Isa 39:8).
14. (Jer 23:21).
15. (Jer 5:12, 13).
By sword and famine … consumed—retribution in kind both to the false prophets and to their hearers (Jer 14:16).
16. none to bury—(Ps 79:3).
pour their wickedness—that is, the punishment incurred by their wickedness (Jer 2:19).
17. (Jer 9:1; La 1:16). Jeremiah is desired to weep ceaselessly for the calamities coming on his nation (called a "virgin," as being heretofore never under foreign yoke), (Isa 23:4).
18. go about—that is, shall have to migrate into a land of exile. Horsley translates, "go trafficking about the land (see Jer 5:31, Margin; 2Co 4:2; 2Pe 2:3), and take no knowledge" (that is, pay no regard to the miseries before their eyes) (Isa 1:3; 58:3). If the literal sense of the Hebrew verb be retained, I would with English Version understand the words as referring to the exile to Babylon; thus, "the prophet and the priest shall have to go to a strange land to practise their religious traffic (Isa 56:11; Eze 34:2, 3; Mic 3:11).
19. The people plead with God, Jeremiah being forbidden to do so.
no healing—(Jer 15:18).
peace … no good—(Jer 8:15).
20. (Da 9:8).
21. us—"the throne of Thy glory" may be the object of "abhor not" ("reject not"); or "Zion" (Jer 14:19).
throne of thy glory—Jerusalem, or, the temple, called God's "footstool" and "habitation" (1Ch 28:2; Ps 132:5).
thy covenant—(Ps 106:45; Da 9:19).
22. vanities—idols (De 32:21).
rain—(Zec 10:1, 2).
heavens—namely, of themselves without God (Mt 5:45; Ac 14:17); they are not the First Cause, and ought not to be deified, as they were by the heathen. The disjunctive "or" favors Calvin's explanation: "Not even the heavens themselves can give rain, much less can the idol vanities."
art not thou he—namely, who canst give rain?