John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 17

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron
Or an iron tool, such as engravers use in working on hard matter: [and] with the point of a diamond ;
such as glaziers use in cutting their glass; though this is not the word used for a diamond in (Exodus 28:18) , this word is elsewhere translated an adamant, (Ezekiel 3:9) (Zechariah 7:12) . Bothart ^F8 takes it to be the smiris, which jewellers use in polishing their gems. Jarchi makes mention of a Midrash, or exposition, which explains the iron pen of Jeremiah, and the point of the adamant, or diamond, of Ezekiel, because of what is said of them, (Jeremiah 1:18) (Ezekiel 3:9) . Kimchi thinks the word "shamir", rendered "diamond", is expressive of the subject matter on which their sin is said to be written, and not of the instrument with which; and then it is to be read thus, ``the sin of Judah is written with an iron pen (with an iron claw, or nail, of which mention is made in some Jewish writings) upon "shamir", or an adamant stone;'' which is no other than their stony heart, as it follows:

it is graven upon the table of their heart ;
where it is so fixed that it cannot be rooted out, and will never be forgotten by them, but always remembered and desired; for which they have the strongest affections, having a place, and having made deep impressions there: or this may denote the evidence of it in their own consciences, which bore witness to it, and which they could not deny:

and upon the horns of your altars ;
on which the names of their idols were engraven or inscribed, (Acts 17:23) , so that their idolatry was notorious; their consciences within, and their altars without, were testimonies of it and besides, the blood of the sacrifices was poured upon the horns of the altar, (Leviticus 4:7) and which, as it was done at the offering of sacrifices appointed of God, so very probably at the offering of sacrifices to idols, and which made their sin notorious; yea, even all the sacrifices of the ceremonial law were a standing testimony of their being sinners, and carried in them a confession of sin, and that they were deserving of death, and so were a handwriting against them; for there is no need to limit the sin of Judah here to idolatry, but it may include all their sins; and so the Targum expresses it in the plural number, ``the sins of Judah;'' though, if any particular sin is intended, it seems to be idolatry, by what follows.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 6. c. 11, col. 842. of which stone, see Dioseorides, Hesychius, & Stephanus in ib.

Whilst their children remember their altars
Which is a further proof of their long continuance in idolatrous practices, and a fresh witness against them; they trained up their children in them; who, when grown up, could not forget them, but imitated them, and went on in the same evil ways.

Some render the words, "as they remember their children, so they remember their altars ^F9 , and their groves, by the green trees upon the high hills"; they had the same love to their idols, and the worship of them, as they had to their children. This sense is received by Kimchi ^F11 ; yea, they had a greater affection for their idols than for their children; since they made their children pass through the fire to Moloch, and burnt their sons and their daughters to Baal.

The Targum renders it, "their groves under every green tree": see (Jeremiah 2:20) (3:6) . Kimchi and Ben Melech connect green trees not with groves but with altars; and take the sense to be, that their altars were by green trees; since groves and green trees were the same, and which altars also were upon high hills.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: (Mtwxbzm Mhynb rkzk) "sicut recordantur filiorum suorum, ita recordantur ararum suarum"; so some in Vatablus.
• F11: So in T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 2. & Gloss in ib.

O my mountain in the midst of the field
Meaning either the temple, called the mountain of the house, and of the Lord's house, (Micah 3:12) (4:1), or else Jerusalem, which stood on a hill in the midst of a plain, surrounded with fruitful fields and gardens; or in the midst of a land like a field. The Targum is, "because you worship idols upon the mountains in the field:"

I will give your substance and all your treasures to the spoil; all the riches of the city and temple to be the spoil and plunder of the enemy; (See Gill on Jeremiah 15:13).

and your high places for sin, throughout all your borders. The sense is, that all their substance and treasure throughout their borders, the riches of the whole land, as well as of the city and temple, (Jeremiah 15:13) and all their high places throughout the land, which were used for sin, for idolatrous practices, on account thereof, should become the spoil of the enemy.

And you, even yourself
Or, "you, and in you" ^F12 ; that is, you and those that are in you, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea; or, "you even through yourself" ^F13 ; through your own fault, by reason of your sins and iniquities:

shall discontinue from your heritage that I gave you
be removed from it, and no longer enjoy it: or, "shall intermit from your heritage" ^F14 ; shall not till the land, plough and sow, and reap, and gather the fruits of it: this was enjoined on every seventh year, when the land was to have its rest, or sabbath, (Exodus 23:10Exodus 23:11) , but this law they did not observe; and now, therefore, whether they would or not, the land should be intermitted, and not tilled and enjoyed by them.

The Targum takes in the whole of the sense,

``and I will bring an enemy upon your land; and it shall be desolate as in the year of intermission: and I will take vengeance of judgment upon you, until I remove you from your inheritance which I have given unto you;'' the land of Canaan, which was given them for an inheritance:

I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you know not ;
the Babylonians in Chaldea; or, as Jerom thinks; the Romans. Of the different reading of these words, (See Gill on Jeremiah 15:13):

for you have I kindled a fire in my anger ;
or by your sins had caused the anger of the Lord to burn like fire: which shall burn for ever ;
as it will in hell, and therefore called everlasting fire: here it only means until these people and their country were consumed by the enemy; perhaps some reference is had to the burning of the city and temple by the Babylonians, or Romans, or both.

These first four verses are left out by the Septuagint interpreters, Jerom thinks, to spare their own people.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: Kbw ) "qui [sunt] apud te", Junius & Tremellius.
• F13: "Per te", Piscator.
• F14: Kytlxnm htjmvw ) "ita intermissionen facies", Junius & Tremellius; so Schmidt.

Thus says the Lord
Here begins a new discourse, or part of one; or, however, another cause or reason of the ruin and destruction of the Jews is suggested; namely, their trust in man, or confidence in the creature, which is resented and condemned:

cursed be the man that trusteth in man ;
as the Jews did in the Egyptians and Assyrians; see (Jeremiah 2:36Jeremiah 2:37) , and in Abraham their father, and in being his seed, as they did in Christ's time; and which was trusting in the flesh; and as all such may be said to do who trust in their natural descent from good men, (Matthew 3:9) (John 8:33John 8:39) (Philippians 3:4Philippians 3:5) , they also trusted in Moses, in the law of Moses, and in their having, hearing, and obeying it; which pronounces every man cursed that does not perfectly perform it: they trusted in themselves, and in their own righteousness; despised others, and rejected Christ and his righteousness; and brought an anathema upon them, (John 5:45) (Luke 18:9) and all such that trust in their own hearts, and in their own works, trust in man, in the creature, in creature acts, and involve themselves in the curse here denounced. The Jews also, to this day, expect the Messiah to come as a mere man, and so trust in him as such; and all those that call themselves Christians, and take Christ to be a mere creature, as the Arians, and a mere man, as the Socinians, may be said to trust in man, and entail a curse upon themselves; though we trust in Christ, yet not as a man, but as he is the true and living God:

and maketh flesh his arm ;
or his confidence, as the Targum, to lean upon, and be protected by; man is but flesh, feeble, weak and inactive; frail and mortal; sinful and corrupt; and so very unfit to make an arm of, or to depend upon: God, and an arm of flesh, are opposed to each other; as are also rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having confidence in the flesh, (2 Chronicles 32:8) (Philippians 3:3) :

and whose heart departeth from the Lord :
as men's hearts may, under the greatest show of outward religion and righteousness; and as they always do, when they put their trust in such things; every act of unbelief and distrust of the Lord, and every act of trust and confidence in the creature, carry the heart off from God; every such act is a departing from the living God; see (Isaiah 29:13) (Hebrews 3:12) .