26 On Egypt and on Judah and on Edom and on the children of Ammon and on Moab and on all who have the ends of their hair cut, who are living in the waste land: for all these nations and all the people of Israel are without circumcision in their hearts.
So that I went against them and sent them away into the land of their haters: if then the pride of their hearts is broken and they take the punishment of their sins,
Undergo a circumcision of the heart, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem: or my wrath may come out like fire, burning so that no one is able to put it out, because of the evil of your doings.
To have let men from strange lands, without circumcision of heart or flesh, come into my holy place, making my house unclean; and to have made the offering of my food, even the fat and the blood; and in addition to all your disgusting ways, you have let my agreement be broken.
And their camels will be taken from them by force, and their great herds will come into the hands of their attackers: those who have the ends of their hair cut I will send in flight to all the winds; and I will send their fate on them from every side, says the Lord.
You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
The true Jew is not one who is only so publicly, and circumcision is not that which may be seen in the flesh: But he is a Jew who is a secret one, whose circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.
And the Lord your God will give to you and to your seed a circumcision of the heart, so that, loving him with all your heart and all your soul, you may have life.
The word of the Lord about Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. Put up a flag on a clear mountain-top, make a loud outcry to them, give directions with the hand, so that they may go into the doors of the great ones. I have given orders to my holy ones, I have sent out my men of war, those of mine who take pride in their power, to give effect to my wrath. The noise of great numbers in the mountains, like the noise of a strong people! The noise of the kingdoms of the nations meeting together! The Lord of armies is numbering his forces for war. They come from a far country, from the farthest part of heaven, even the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, with destruction for all the land. Send out a cry of grief; for the day of the Lord is near; it comes as destruction from the Most High. For this cause all hands will be feeble, and every heart of man be turned to water; Their hearts will be full of fear; pains and sorrows will overcome them; they will be in pain like a woman in childbirth; they will be shocked at one another; their faces will be like flames. See, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with wrath and burning passion: to make the land a waste, driving the sinners in it to destruction. For the stars of heaven and its bright armies will not give their light: the sun will be made dark in his journey through the heaven, and the moon will keep back her light. And I will send punishment on the world for its evil, and on the sinners for their wrongdoing; and I will put an end to all pride, and will make low the power of the cruel. I will make men so small in number, that a man will be harder to get than gold, even the best gold of Ophir. For this cause the heavens will be shaking, and the earth will be moved out of its place, in the wrath of the Lord of armies, and in the day of his burning passion. And it will be that, like a roe in flight, and like wandering sheep, they will go every man to his people and to his land. Everyone who is overtaken will have a spear put through him, and everyone who goes in flight will be put to the sword. Their young children will be broken up before their eyes; their goods will be taken away, and their wives made the property of others. See, I am driving the Medes against them, who put no value on silver and have no pleasure in gold. In their hands are bows and spears; they are cruel, violently putting the young men to death, and crushing the young women; they have no pity for children, and no mercy for the fruit of the body. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beautiful town which is the pride of the Chaldaeans, will be like God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. People will never be living in it again, and it will have no more men from generation to generation: the Arab will not put up his tent there; and those who keep sheep will not make it a resting-place for their flocks. But the beasts of the waste land will have their holes there; and the houses will be full of crying jackals, and ostriches will have their place there, and evil spirits will be dancing there. And wolves will be answering one another in their towers, and jackals in their houses of pleasure: her time is near, and her days of power will quickly be ended.
In that day Israel will be the third together with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the earth: Because of the blessing of the Lord of armies which he has given them, saying, A blessing on Egypt my people, and on Assyria the work of my hands, and on Israel my heritage.
See, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and make them come against this land, and against its people, and against all these nations on every side; and I will give them up to complete destruction, and make them a cause of fear and surprise and a waste place for ever. And more than this, I will take from them the sound of laughing voices, the voice of joy, the voice of the newly-married man, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the stones crushing the grain, and the shining of lights. All this land will be a waste and a cause of wonder; and these nations will be the servants of the king of Babylon for seventy years. And it will come about, after seventy years are ended, that I will send punishment on the king of Babylon, and on that nation, says the Lord, for their evil-doing, and on the land of the Chaldaeans; and I will make it a waste for ever. And I will make that land undergo everything I have said against it, even everything recorded in this book, which Jeremiah the prophet has said against all the nations. For a number of nations and great kings will make servants of them, even of them: and I will give them the reward of their acts, even the reward of the work of their hands. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said to me: Take the cup of the wine of this wrath from my hand, and make all the nations to whom I send you take of it. And after drinking it, they will go rolling from side to side, and be off their heads, because of the sword which I will send among them. Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and gave a drink from it to all the nations to whom the Lord sent me; Jerusalem and the towns of Judah and their kings and their princes, to make them a waste place, a cause of fear and surprise and a curse, as it is this day; Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants and his princes and all his people; And all the mixed people and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and the rest of Ashdod; Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon, And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the lands across the sea; Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all who have the ends of their hair cut; And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people living in the waste land; And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.
And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Zidon, by their servants who come to Jerusalem, to Zedekiah, king of Judah; And give them orders to say to their masters, This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Say to your masters, I have made the earth, and man and beast on the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I will give it to anyone at my pleasure. And now I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant; and I have given the beasts of the field to him for his use. And all the nations will be servants to him and to his son and to his son's son, till the time comes for his land to be overcome: and then a number of nations and great kings will take it for their use.
The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet about the nations. Of Egypt: about the army of Pharaoh-neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, overcame in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. Get out the breastplate and body-cover, and come together to the fight. Make the horses ready, and get up, you horsemen, and take your places with your head-dresses; make the spears sharp and put on the breastplates. What have I seen? they are overcome with fear and turned back; their men of war are broken and have gone in flight, not looking back: fear is on every side, says the Lord. Let not the quick-footed go in flight, or the man of war get away; on the north, by the river Euphrates, they are slipping and falling. Who is this coming up like the Nile, whose waters are lifting their heads like the rivers? Egypt is coming up like the Nile, and his waters are lifting their heads like the rivers, and he says, I will go up, covering the earth; I will send destruction on the town and its people. Go up, you horses; go rushing on, you carriages of war; go out, you men of war: Cush and Put, gripping the body-cover, and the Ludim, with bent bows. But that day is the day of the Lord, the Lord of armies, a day of punishment when he will take payment from his haters: and the sword will have all its desire, drinking their blood in full measure: for there is an offering to the Lord, the Lord of armies, in the north country by the river Euphrates. Go up to Gilead and take sweet oil, O virgin daughter of Egypt: there is no help in all your medical arts; nothing will make you well. Your shame has come to the ears of the nations, and the earth is full of your cry: for the strong man is falling against the strong, they have come down together. The word which the Lord said to Jeremiah the prophet, of how Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, would come and make war on the land of Egypt. Give the news in Migdol, make it public in Noph: say, Take up your positions and make yourselves ready; for on every side of you the sword has made destruction. Why has Apis, your strong one, gone in flight? he was not able to keep his place, because the Lord was forcing him down with strength. ... are stopped in their going, they are falling; and they say one to another, Let us get up and go back to our people, to the land of our birth, away from the cruel sword. Give a name to Pharaoh, king of Egypt: A noise who has let the time go by. By my life, says the King, whose name is the Lord of armies, truly, like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, so will he come. O daughter living in Egypt, make ready the vessels of a prisoner: for Noph will become a waste, it will be burned up and become unpeopled. Egypt is a fair young cow; but a biting insect has come on her out of the north. And those who were her fighters for payment are like fat oxen; for they are turned back, they have gone in flight together, they do not keep their place: for the day of their fate has come on them, the time of their punishment. She makes a sound like the hiss of a snake when they come on with strength; they go against her with axes, like wood-cutters. They will be cutting down her woods, for they may not be searched out; because they are like locusts, more than may be numbered. The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame; she will be given up into the hands of the people of the north. The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: See, I will send punishment on Amon of No and on Pharaoh and on those who put their faith in him; And I will give them up into the hands of those who will take their lives, and into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants: and later, it will be peopled as in the past, says the Lord. But have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, and do not be troubled, O Israel: for see, I will make you come back from far away, and your seed from the land where they are prisoners; and Jacob will come back, and will be quiet and in peace, and no one will give him cause for fear. Have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, says the Lord; for I am with you: for I will put an end to all the nations where I have sent you, but I will not put an end to you completely: though with wise purpose I will put right your errors, and will not let you go quite without punishment.
And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying, Son of man, put down in writing this very day: The king of Babylon let loose the weight of his attack against Jerusalem on this very day. And make a comparison for this uncontrolled people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Put on the cooking-pot, put it on the fire and put water in it: And get the bits together, the fat tail, every good part, the leg and the top part of it: make it full of the best bones. Take the best of the flock, put much wood under it: see that its bits are boiling well; let the bones be cooked inside it. For this is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood, the cooking-pot which is unclean inside, which has never been made clean! take out its bits; its fate is still to come on it. For her blood is in her; she has put it on the open rock not draining it on to the earth so that it might be covered with dust; In order that it might make wrath come up to give punishment, she has put her blood on the open rock, so that it may not be covered. For this cause the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood! and I will make great the burning mass. Put on much wood, heating up the fire, boiling the flesh well, and making the soup thick, and let the bones be burned. And I will put her on the coals so that she may be heated and her brass burned, so that what is unclean in her may become soft and her waste be completely taken away. I have made myself tired to no purpose: still all the waste which is in her has not come out, it has an evil smell. As for your unclean purpose: because I have been attempting to make you clean, but you have not been made clean from it, you will not be made clean till I have let loose my passion on you in full measure. I the Lord have said the word and I will do it; I will not go back or have mercy, and my purpose will not be changed; in the measure of your ways and of your evil doings you will be judged, says the Lord. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, see, I am taking away the desire of your eyes by disease: but let there be no sorrow or weeping or drops running from your eyes. Let there be no sound of sorrow; make no weeping for your dead, put on your head-dress and your shoes on your feet, let not your lips be covered, and do not take the food of those in grief. So in the morning I was teaching the people and in the evening death took my wife; and in the morning I did what I had been ordered to do. And the people said to me, Will you not make clear to us the sense of these things; is it for us you do them? Then I said to them, The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Say to the people of Israel, The Lord has said, See, I will make my holy place unclean, the pride of your strength, the pleasure of your eyes, and the desire of your soul; and your sons and daughters, who did not come with you here, will be put to the sword. And you will do as I have done, not covering your lips or taking the food of those in grief. And your head-dresses will be on your heads and your shoes on your feet: there will be no sorrow or weeping; but you will be wasting away in the punishment of your evil-doing, and you will be looking at one another in wonder. And Ezekiel will be a sign to you; everything he has done you will do: when this takes place, you will be certain that I am the Lord. And as for you, son of man, your mouth will be shut in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which their hearts are fixed, and their sons and daughters. In that day, one who has got away safe will come to you to give you news of it. In that day your mouth will be open to him who has got away safe, and you will say words to him and your lips will no longer be shut: so you will be a sign to them and they will be certain that I am the Lord.
For this cause the Lord has said, No man from a strange land, without circumcision of heart and flesh, of all those who are living among the children of Israel, is to come into my holy place.
The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa; what he saw about Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earth-shock. And he said, The Lord will give a lion's cry from Zion, his voice will be sounding from Jerusalem; and the fields of the keepers of sheep will become dry, and the top of Carmel will be wasted away.
The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will take away everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 9
Commentary on Jeremiah 9 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 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.