Albert Barnes Commentary Jeremiah 9
Albert Barnes Commentary
Jeremiah 9
Albert Barnes Commentary
Jeremiah 9
"Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" — Jeremiah 9:1 (ASV)
This verse is joined in the Hebrew to the preceding chapter. But any break at all here interrupts the meaning.
A fountain - Rather, “a reservoir,” in which tears had been stored up, so that the prophet might weep abundantly.
"Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongue, [as it were] their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah. Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah. Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how [else] should I do, because of the daughter of my people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him. Shall I not visit them for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" — Jeremiah 9:2-9 (ASV)
From their punishment the prophet now turns to their sins.
(Jeremiah 9:2) The prophet utters the wish that he might be spared his daily striving, and in some lone wilderness give way to his sorrow, without restraint.
A lodging place - It was usual to build caravanserais in the desert, either by private charity or at public expense, to receive travelers for a single night, who, however, had to bring their own supplies with them.
An assembly - Or, a gang.
Treacherous - Faithless toward one another.
(Jeremiah 9:3) Rather, And they bend their tongue to be their bow of lies, that is, just as men before a battle get their bows ready, so they intentionally prepare to do mischief, only their arrows are lying words: neither do they rule faithfully in the land, that is, Judea.
(Jeremiah 9:4) In a state of such utter lawlessness, the bonds of mutual confidence are relaxed, and suspicion takes its place.
Utterly supplant - An allusion to the name of Jacob (Genesis 27:36). It might be rendered, “every brother is a thorough Jacob.”
Will walk with slanders - Or, slanders.
(Jeremiah 9:6) This is a continuation of the warning given in Jeremiah 9:4. “Trust no one: for you dwell surrounded by deceit on every side.” Their rejection of God is the result of their lack of honesty in their dealings with one another (1 John 4:20).
(Jeremiah 9:7) I will melt them, and try them - The punishment is corrective rather than retributive. The terms used are those of the refiner of metals: the first is smelting, to separate the pure metal from the ore; the second is testing, to see whether the metal is pure or still mixed with alloy. God will put the nation into the crucible of tribulation, so that whatever is evil is consumed in the fire, and all the good in them may be purified.
For how shall I do ... - Rather, for how else could I act with reference to the daughter of my people?
(Jeremiah 9:8) An arrow shot out - Rather, “a murderous arrow.”
In heart he layeth his wait - Rather, “inwardly he lays his ambush.”
"For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passeth through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone. And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and [who is] he to whom the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through? And Jehovah saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them; therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come: and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation. For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, [and] the young men from the streets. Speak, Thus saith Jehovah, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather [them]." — Jeremiah 9:10-22 (ASV)
The punishment described in general terms in the preceding three verses is now detailed at great length.
The habitations, that is, the temporary encampments of the shepherds .
So that none can... Or, They are parched up, with no man to pass through them; neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the birds of the heaven even to the beasts they are fled, they are gone.
Dragons. Rather, jackals.
For what the land perisheth... This is the question proposed for consideration. The prophet calls upon the wise man to explain his question, that question being, Why did the land perish? He follows it by the assertion of a fact: It is parched like the wilderness with no man to pass through.
The cause of the chastisement about to fall upon Jerusalem was their desertion of the divine Law.
Imagination. Or, as in the margin.
Which their fathers taught them. It was not the sin of one generation that brought chastisement upon them; it was a sin which had been handed down from father to son.
I will feed them... Rather, I am feeding them. The present participle used here, followed by three verbs in the future, shows that the judgment has begun, of which the successive stages are given in the next clause.
Wormwood (see Deuteronomy 29:18 note), and for water of gall (Jeremiah 8:14 note).
This verse is taken from Leviticus 26:33. The fulfillment of what had been so long before appointed as the penalty for the violation of Yahweh’s covenant is one of the most remarkable proofs that prophecy was something more than human foresight.
Till I have consumed them (see Jeremiah 4:27 note). How is this consuming consistent with the promise to the contrary there given? Because it is limited by the terms of Jeremiah 9:7. Previously to Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem, God removed into safety those in whom the nation should revive.
The mourning women. These were women hired to attend funerals and, by their skilled wailings, help the real mourners give vent to their grief. Hence, they are called cunning (literally, “wise”) women, as wisdom is constantly used in Scripture for anything in which people are trained.
Take up a wailing for us. That is, for the nation once God’s chosen people, but long spiritually dead.
Forsaken. Or, left: forced to abandon the land.
Because our dwellings... Rather, because they have cast down our dwellings. The whole verse is a description of their sufferings (see 2 Kings 25:1–12).
The command is addressed to the women because it was more especially their part to express the general feelings of the nation (see 1 Samuel 18:6; 2 Samuel 1:24). The women now utter the death-wail over the perishing nation. They are to teach their daughters and neighbors lamentation (that is, “dirge”), because the harvest of death would be so large that the number of trained women would not suffice.
Death is come up... That is, death steals silently like a thief upon its victims and makes such havoc that there are no children left to go without, nor young men to frequent the open spaces in the city.
The handful means the little bundle of grain which the reaper gathers on his arm with three or four strokes of his sickle and then lays down. Behind the reaper came one whose business it was to gather several of these bundles and bind them into a sheaf. Thus, death strews the ground with corpses as thickly as these handfuls lie upon the reaped land, but the corpses lie there unheeded.
"Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches;" — Jeremiah 9:23 (ASV)
To the end of (Jeremiah 10:0), the prophet urges upon the people the practical conclusion to be drawn from God’s righteous dealings with them. The three things on which people most pride themselves are shown in this verse to have proved vain.
"but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 9:24 (ASV)
This is the prophet’s remedy for the healing of the nation. It is the true understanding and knowledge of God; the first of which means the spiritual enlightenment of the mind (1 Corinthians 2:13–14), and the other, the training of the heart to obedience (John 8:31–32). This knowledge of God is further said to reveal in Him three chief attributes:
- “lovingkindness,” that is, readiness to show grace and mercy;
- “judgment,” a belief in which is declared in Hebrews 11:6 to be essential to faith;
- “righteousness,” which is essential to religion absolutely.
Unless people believe that God’s dealings with them in life and death are right and just, they can neither love nor reverence him.
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