22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have no intelligence; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Brethren, be not children in [your] minds, but in malice be babes; but in [your] minds be grown [men].
For your obedience has reached to all. I rejoice therefore as it regards you; but I wish you to be wise [as] to that which is good, and simple [as] to evil.
there is not the [man] that understands, there is not one that seeks after God.
and these things they will do because they have not known the Father nor me.
Their doings do not allow them to return unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they know not Jehovah.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; for thou hast rejected knowledge, and I will reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.
And he said, Go; and thou shalt say unto this people, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and healed.
And according as they did not think good to have God in [their] knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind to practise unseemly things;
Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots? [Then] may ye also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.
When its branches are withered they shall be broken off; women shall come [and] set them on fire. For it is a people of no intelligence; therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he who formed them will shew them no favour.
And I said, Surely these are the wretched ones, they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, the judgment of their God.
Who is blind, but my servant? and deaf, as my messenger whom I sent? Who is blind as he in whom I have trusted, and blind as Jehovah's servant, -- seeing many things, and thou observest not? With opened ears, he heareth not.
Where [is the] wise? where scribe? where disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom has not known God, God has been pleased by the foolishness of the preaching to save those that believe.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; Israel doth not know, my people hath no intelligence.
{To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David.} The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They have corrupted themselves, they have done abominable works: there is none that doeth good. Jehovah looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. They have all gone aside, they are together become corrupt: there is none that doeth good, not even one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, eating up my people [as] they eat bread? They call not upon Jehovah.
And the lord praised the unrighteous steward because he had done prudently. For the sons of this world are, for their own generation, more prudent than the sons of light.
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Fools and blind, for which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it is a debtor. [Fools and] blind ones, for which is greater, the gift, or the altar which sanctifies the gift? He therefore that swears by the altar swears by it and by all things that are upon it. And he that swears by the temple swears by it and by him that dwells in it. And he that swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him that sits upon it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin, and ye have left aside the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith: these ye ought to have done and not have left those aside. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat, but drink down the camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within they are full of rapine and intemperance. Blind Pharisee, make clean first the inside of the cup and of the dish, that their outside also may become clean.
Even a stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of Jehovah. How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? Behold, certainly the lying pen of the scribes hath made it falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected Jehovah's word; and what wisdom is in them?
For Jehovah hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your chiefs, the seers, hath he covered. And the whole vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. And they give the book to him that cannot read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot read.
And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to thy father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art become odious with thy father; and the hands of all that are with thee shall be strong. So they spread a tent for Absalom upon the roof; and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had inquired of the word of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 4
Commentary on Jeremiah 4 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 4
Jer 4:1-31. Continuation of Address to the Ten Tribes of Israel. (Jer 4:1, 2). The Prophet Turns Again to Judah, to Whom He Had Originally Been Sent (Jer 4:3-31).
1. return … return—play on words. "If thou wouldest return to thy land (thou must first), return (by conversion and repentance) to Me."
not remove—no longer be an unsettled wanderer in a strange land. So Cain (Ge 4:12, 14).
2. And thou—rather, "And if (carried on from Jer 4:1) thou shalt swear, 'Jehovah liveth,' in truth, &c.", that is, if thou shalt worship Him (for we swear by the God whom we worship; compare De 6:13; 10:20; Isa 19:18; Am 8:14) in sincerity, &c.
and the nations—Rather, this is apodosis to the "if"; then shall the nations bless themselves in (by) Him" (Isa 65:16). The conversion of the nations will be the consequence of Israel's conversion (Ps 102:13, 15; Ro 11:12, 15).
3. Transition to Judah. Supply mentally. All which (the foregoing declaration as to Israel) applies to Judah.
and Jerusalem—that is, and especially the men of Jerusalem, as being the most prominent in Judea.
Break … fallow ground—that is, Repent of your idolatry, and so be prepared to serve the Lord in truth (Ho 10:12; Mt 13:7). The unhumbled heart is like ground which may be improved, being let out to us for that purpose, but which is as yet fallow, overgrown with weeds, its natural product.
4. Remove your natural corruption of heart (De 10:16; 30:6; Ro 2:29; Col 2:11).
5. cry, gather together—rather, "cry fully" that is, loudly. The Jews are warned to take measures against the impending Chaldean invasion (compare Jer 8:14).
6. Zion—The standard toward Zion intimated that the people of the surrounding country were to fly to it, as being the strongest of their fortresses.
7. lion—Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans (Jer 2:15; 5:6; Da 7:14).
his thicket—lair; Babylon.
destroyer of the Gentiles—rather, "the nations" (Jer 25:9).
8. Nothing is left to the Jews but to bewail their desperate condition.
anger … not turned back—(Isa 9:12, 17, 21).
9. heart—The wisdom of the most leading men will be utterly at a loss to devise means of relief.
10. thou hast … deceived—God, having even the false prophets in His hands, is here said to do that which for inscrutable purposes He permits them to do (Ex 9:12; 2Th 2:11; compare Jer 8:15; which passage shows that the dupes of error were self-prepared for it, and that God's predestination did not destroy their moral freedom as voluntary agents). The false prophets foretold "peace," and the Jews believed them; God overruled this to His purposes (Jer 5:12; 14:13; Eze 14:9).
soul—rather, "reacheth to the life."
11. dry wind—the simoom, terrific and destructive, blowing from the southeast across the sandy deserts east of Palestine. Image of the invading Babylonian army (Ho 13:15). Babylon in its turn shall be visited by a similar "destroying wind" (Jer 51:1).
of … high places—that is, that sweeps over the high places.
daughter—that is, the children of my people.
not to fan—a very different wind from those ordinary winds employed for fanning the grain in the open air.
12. full … from those places—rather, "a wind fuller (that is, more impetuous) than those winds" (which fan the corn) (Jer 4:11) [Rosenmuller].
unto me—"for Me," as My instrument for executing My purpose.
sentence—judgments against them (Jer 1:16).
13. clouds—continuing the metaphor in Jer 4:11:12. Clouds of sand and dust accompany the simoom, and after rapid gyrations ascend like a pillar.
eagles—(De 28:49; Hab 1:8).
Woe unto us—The people are graphically presented before us, without it being formally so stated, bursting out in these exclamations.
14. Only one means of deliverance is left to the Jews—a thorough repentance.
vain thoughts—namely, projects for deliverance, such as enlisting the Egyptians on their side. Gesenius translates, "How long wilt thou harbor vain thoughts?"
15. For … from Dan—The connection is: There is danger in delay; for the voice of a messenger announces the approach of the Chaldean enemy from Dan, the northern frontier of Palestine (Jer 8:16; compare Jer 4:6; Jer 1:14).
Mount Ephraim—which borders closely on Judah; so that the foe is coming nearer and nearer. Dan and Beth-el in Ephraim were the two places where Jeroboam set up the idolatrous calves (1Ki 12:29); just retribution.
16. The neighboring foreign "nations" are summoned to witness Jehovah's judgments on His rebel people (Jer 6:18, 19).
watchers—that is, besiegers (compare 2Sa 11:16); observed or watched, that is, besieged.
their voice—the war shout.
17. keepers of a field—metaphor from those who watch a field, to frighten away the wild beasts.
18. (Jer 2:17, 19; Ps 107:17).
this is thy wickedness—that is, the fruit of thy wickedness.
19. The prophet suddenly assumes the language of the Jewish state personified, lamenting its affliction (Jer 10:19, 20; 9:1, 10; Isa 15:5; compare Lu 19:41).
at my very heart—Hebrew, "at the walls of my heart"; the muscles round the heart. There is a climax, the "bowels," the pericardium, the "heart" itself.
maketh … noise—moaneth [Henderson].
alarm—the battle shout.
20. Destruction … cried—Breach upon breach is announced (Ps 42:7; Eze 7:26). The war "trumpet" … the battle shout … the "destructions" … the havoc throughout "the whole land" … the spoiling of the shepherds' "tents" (Jer 10:20; or, "tents" means cities, which should be overthrown as easily as tents [Calvin]), form a gradation.
21. Judah in perplexity asks, How long is this state of things to continue?
22. Jehovah's reply; they cannot be otherwise than miserable, since they persevere in sin. The repetition of clauses gives greater force to the sentiment.
wise … evil … to do good … no knowledge—reversing the rule (Ro 16:19) "wise unto … good, simple concerning evil."
23. Graphic picture of the utter desolation about to visit Palestine. "I beheld, and lo!" four times solemnly repeated, heightens the awful effect of the scene (compare Isa 24:19; 34:11).
without form and void—reduced to the primeval chaos (Ge 1:2).
24. mountains—(Isa 5:25).
moved lightly—shook vehemently.
25. no man … birds—No vestige of the human, or of the feathered creation, is to be seen (Eze 38:20; Zep 1:3).
26. fruitful place—Hebrew, Carmel.
a wilderness—Hebrew, "the wilderness," in contrast to "the fruitful place"; the great desert, where Carmel was, there is now the desert of Arabia [Maurer].
cities—in contrast to the fruitful place or field.
27. full end—utter destruction: I will leave some hope of restoration (Jer 5:10, 18; 30:11; 46:28; compare Le 26:44).
28. For this—on account of the desolations just described (Isa 5:30; Ho 4:3).
not repent—(Nu 23:19).
29. whole city—Jerusalem: to it the inhabitants of the country had fled for refuge; but when it, too, is likely to fall, they flee out of it to hide in the "thickets." Henderson translates, "every city."
noise—The mere noise of the hostile horsemen shall put you to flight.
30. when thou art spoiled—rather, "thou, O destroyed one" [Maurer].
rentest … face with painting—Oriental women paint their eyes with stibium, or antimony, to make them look full and sparkling, the black margin causing the white of the eyes to appear the brighter by contrast (2Ki 9:30). He uses the term "distendest" in derision of their effort to make their eyes look large [Maurer]; or else, "rentest," that is, dost lacerate by puncturing the eyelid in order to make the antimony adhere [Rosenmuller]. So the Jews use every artifice to secure the aid of Egypt against Babylon.
face—rather, thy eyes (Eze 23:40).
31. anguish—namely, occasioned by the attack of the enemy.
daughter of Zion—There is peculiar beauty in suppressing the name of the person in trouble, until that trouble had been fully described [Henderson].
bewaileth herself—rather, "draweth her breath short" [Horsley]; "panteth."
spreadeth … hands—(La 1:17).