John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 16

The word of the Lord came to me, saying .
] The Targum is, the word of prophecy from the Lord: whether this is a new prophecy, or the former continued, is not certain; the latter seems probable. This introduction is omitted in the Septuagint and Arabic versions.

You shall not take yourself a wife Not because it was unlawful; for it was lawful for prophets to marry, and they did; but because it was not advisable, on account of the calamities and distresses which were coming upon the nation; which would be more bearable by him alone, than if he had a wife, which would increase his care, concern, and sorrow. Neither shall you have sons nor daughters in this place ; in Anathoth, says Kimchi; but it is most likely that Jerusalem in particular is meant, though the whole land of Judea in general may be designed; and though nothing is more desirable than to have children to build up the family, and bear and continue a man's name for futurity, yet in times of public calamity these do but add to the affliction.

For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place and concerning their mothers that bore them, and concerning their fathers that begot them in this land. This is a reason given why the prophet should not have, and why he should not be desirous to have, sons and daughters in such a place and country, devoted to destruction:

the land of Judea; which shows what is meant by the place before mentioned; both the one and the other, parents and children, should die there; this is what was determined by the Lord concerning them; and therefore it could not be a desirable thing for a man to have wife and children, whom he must part with in such an uncomfortable manner, as is after described; and to show the certainty of which the prophet is forbid to do as above.

They shall die of grievous deaths Such as the sword, famine, and pestilence. The Targum particularly adds famine. It may be rendered, "deaths of diseases, or sicknesses" ^F21; such as are brought on by long sickness and lingering distempers; by which a man consumes gradually, as by famine, and is not snatched away at once; and which are very grievous to bear.

They shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; which two offices are usually done to the dead by their surviving relations; who mourn for them, and express their grief by various gestures, and which especially were used by the eastern nations; and take care that they have a decent burial: but neither of these would now be, which is mentioned as an aggravation of the calamity; that not only the deaths they should die of would be grievous ones, but after death no regard would be shown them; and that either because there would be none to do these things for them; or they would be so much taken up in providing for their own safety, and so much in concern for their own preservation, that they would not be at leisure to attend to the above things:

but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth; lie and rot there, and be dung to the earth; which would be a just retaliation, for their filthy and abominable actions committed in the land:

and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; the grievous deaths before mentioned; the sword without, and the famine within; the one more sudden, and at once, the other more lingering; and therefore may be more especially designed by the death of lingering sicknesses referred to:

and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and
for the beasts of the earth; lying unburied; see (Jeremiah 7:33).

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: (Myalxt ytwmm) "mortibus aegrotationum", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, "aegritudium", Munster, Vatablus; "mortibus morborum", Schmidt. So Stockius, p. 340, 597, who restrains it to the death of individuals by the pestilence.

For thus says the Lord, enter not into the house of mourning ,
&c.] On account of his dead relations or neighbours; since they were taken away from the evil to come, and therefore no occasion to mourn for them:

moreover, this was to show the certainty of what is before and after said; that, at the time of the general calamity predicted, there would be no lamentation made for the dead. R. Joseph Kimchi says the word here used signifies, in the Arabic ^F23 language, a lifting of the voice, either for weeping, or for joy ^F24 ;

and Jarchi, out of the ancient book Siphri, interprets it a "feast"; and it is rendered a "banquet" in (Amos 6:7) , and so may here design a mourning feast, such as were used at funerals, called by the Greeks (perideipnea) , and by the Latins "parentalia", as Jerom observes.

Neither go to lament nor bemoan them; neither go to the house of mourning, or the mourning feast; to the houses of the deceased, to condole the surviving relations, and to express sorrow for the dead, by shedding tears, and shaking the head, or by any other gesture or ceremony after mentioned,

For I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord ;
all peace or prosperity is of God, and therefore called his, and which he can take away from a people when he pleases; and having determined to take it away from this people because of their sins, he is said to have done it, it being as certain as if it was done:

even lovingkindness and mercies;
all benefits, which flowed from his favour, love, and mercy, as the whole of their prosperity did.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: "magna et vehementi voce praeditus", Golius ex Giggeio, col. 979.
• F24: So the word is used in the Chaldee language: as Schindler observes in Lex. col. 1722.