Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 6

The new discourse, or section of a discourse, deals more locally with the coming desolation of Jerusalem.

O ye children of Benjamin. — The city, though claimed as belonging to Judah, was actually on the border of the two tribes, the boundary running through the valley of Ben-Hinnom (Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16), and its northern walls were in Benjamin's territory. It was natural that the prophet of Anathoth should think and speak of it as connected with his own people.

Blow the trumpet in Tekoa. — That is, “give the signal for the fugitives to halt, but not until they have reached the southernmost boundary of Judah.” Tekoa was about twelve miles south of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 11:6). The Hebrew presents a play on the name Tekoa, as its sound is nearly identical to the verb “blow,” and the town is probably mentioned for that reason. The play on the name is analogous to those found in Micah 1:10-16.

Sign of fire. — Better, signal. The word, though applied to a fire or smoke signal in Judges 20:38; Judges 20:40, does not necessarily imply it. Such signals were, however, in common use in all ancient warfare.

Beth-haccerem. — That is, the house of the vineyard, halfway on the road from Jerusalem to Tekoa. There, too, the signal was to be raised so that the fugitives might gather around it. Jerome states that it was on a mountain and was known in his time as Bethacharma. It has been identified with the modern Jebel Fureidis, or “Hill of the Franks.”

Evil appeareth out of the north. — Literally, is bending over us, as looking down on its prey. The word is that used of righteousness looking down from heaven (Psalms 85:11).

To a comely and delicate woman. — “Woman” is not in the Hebrew, and the word translated “comely” is elsewhere (Isaiah 65:10; Jeremiah 23:3; Exodus 15:13) rendered “fold” or “habitation;” and the passage should probably read as follows: I have likened the daughter of Zion to a fair pasturage, thus suggesting the imagery that is developed in the next verse. The clause is, however, rendered by some scholars as the fair and delicate one (or, the fair pasturage), the daughter of Zion, I have destroyed.

Shall come to her. —Better, To it (that is, the pasture) shall come shepherds with their flocks—that is, the leaders and the armies of the invaders. The other verbs are in the past tense, the future being seen, as it were, realized, They have pitched, they have pastured.

Every one in his place. —Literally, each on his hand, or perhaps, “they shall feed, each his hand,” that is, shall let it rove in plunder at will by the side of his own tent. The work of plunder was to go on everywhere. The imagery is drawn from the attack of a nomadic tribe on a richly-cultivated plain.

Prepare war. —Literally, Sanctify. The opening of the battle was accompanied by sacrifices, divinations, and prayers. Compare Deuteronomy 20:1-3 for the practice of the Israelites, and Ezekiel 21:20-22 for that of the Chaldeans, which was, of course, present to Jeremiah’s mind.

The cry thus given with dramatic force comes from the soldiers of the invading army, impatient for the fight. They are so eager that, instead of resting at noon as usual for their midday meal, they would eagerly press on for the assault.

Their orders are against this, and as the shadows lengthen, they raise their cry of complaint, “Alas for us, the day declines...” Then, still impatient and unwilling to wait as their commanders order them for an attack at daybreak, they shout, “Let us go by night.”

Hew you down trees, and cast a mount. —The words graphically describe the process of an Eastern siege as seen in the Assyrian bas-reliefs (Layard, Mon. of Nineveh, i. 73-76). Compare 2 Samuel 20:15; Job 19:12; Isaiah 29:3; Ezekiel 4:2. First the neighboring country is cleared by cutting down the trees; next, either by piling earth on these as a timber framework, or using the earth alone, a “mount” (or, in later English, a mound) was raised until it reached the level of the wall of the besieged city; and then the assault was made. The law of Israel forbade, it may be noted, this destruction, but apparently only in the case of fruit-trees (Deuteronomy 20:19–20). There is no adequate ground for the marginal rendering, “pour out the engine of shot.”

Is ... to be visited. —Literally, is visited, in the sense of “punished,” but Hebrew usage gives to the verb so employed a gerundive force. The words admit, however, of the rendering, this is the city; it is proved that wholly oppression is in the midst of her.