Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 15
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Jeremiah 15
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Jeremiah 15
"Then said Jehovah unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth." — Jeremiah 15:1 (ASV)
Then the Lord said to me. — With a bold and terrible anthropomorphism, the prophet again speaks as if he heard the voice of Jehovah rejecting all intercession for the apostate people. The passage reminds us of the mention of Noah, Daniel, and Job in Ezekiel 14:14, as able to deliver their own souls only by their righteousness. Here Moses (Exodus 32:11; Numbers 14:13–20) and Samuel (1 Samuel 7:9; 1 Samuel 12:23) are named as having been conspicuous examples of the power of the prayer of intercession.
Cast them out of my sight. — That is, from my presence, from the courts of the Temple which they profane. That would be the answer of Jehovah, even if Moses and Samuel stood before Him (the phrase, as in Jeremiah 35:19, has a distinctly liturgical meaning), ministering in the Courts of the Temple.
"And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Jehovah: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity." — Jeremiah 15:2 (ASV)
Such as are for death ... —The difference between the first two forms of punishment is that the first possibly points to being led out to execution as criminals, as in Deuteronomy 19:6, but more probably to death from pestilence, as in Job 27:15; the second, to falling in a vain and hopeless conflict.
"And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith Jehovah: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy." — Jeremiah 15:3 (ASV)
Four kinds. —The sword, as the direct instrument of death, is followed by those that follow up its work: the beasts and birds of prey that feed on the corpses of the slain. The latter feature has naturally been, from the earliest stages of human history, the crowning horror of defeat. So Homer, Iliad 1.4:
“And many mighty souls of heroes sent
To Hades, and their bodies made a prey
To dogs and to all birds.”
"And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem." — Jeremiah 15:4 (ASV)
Manasseh the son of Hezekiah. —The horror of that long and evil reign still lingered in the minds of people, and the prophet saw in it the beginning of the evils from which his people were now suffering. The name of Hezekiah may have been inserted as an aggravation of the guilt of his successor.
"For who will have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who will bemoan thee? or who will turn aside to ask of thy welfare?" — Jeremiah 15:5 (ASV)
To ask how you are doing? —This is a fair paraphrase of the original, but it lacks the Eastern character of the more literal to ask after your peace. As “Peace be with you” was the usual formula of salutation, namely, “Is it peace?” was the equivalent for our more prosaic question, “How do you do?” (Genesis 43:27; Judges 18:15). The same phrase meets us in Exodus 18:7, They asked each other of their welfare, literally, of their peace.
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