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اقرأ كلمة الله وادرسها وتأمل فيها.

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الأنبياء الكبار الأصحاحات 2–29: تحذيرات ليهوذا

يحذّر الله شعبه من دينونة آتية ويَعِد بعهد جديد.

دُعي إرميا وهو شاب، وتنبأ في العقود الأخيرة من تاريخ يهوذا. وعلى مدى أربعين سنة حذّر من أن بابل ستدمر أورشليم ما لم يرجع الشعب عن عبادة الأوثان والظلم. فرُفض وضُرب وسُجن، وسكب حزنه في صلوات صادقة.

الكاتب: النبي إرميا، بمعاونة كاتبه باروخ · التاريخ: خدمة إرميا نحو 627–580 ق.م.

نظرة على السفر ومخططه وآياته الرئيسية
إرميا 16 ALAB
استمع
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1وَأَوْحَى الرَّبُّ إِلَيَّ بِهَذَا الْكَلامِ: 2«لا تَتَزَوَّجْ فِي هَذَا الْمَوْضِعِ وَلا تُنْجِبْ فِيهِ أَبْنَاءً وَلا بَنَاتٍ». 3لأَنَّ هَذَا مَا يَقُولُهُ الرَّبُّ عَنِ الأَبْنَاءِ وَالْبَنَاتِ الْمَوْلُودِينَ فِي هَذَا الْمَوْضِعِ، وَعَنِ الأُمَّهَاتِ وَالآبَاءِ الَّذِينَ أَنْجَبُوهُمْ فِي هَذِهِ الْبِلادِ: 4«سَيَمُوتُونَ بِالأَمْرَاضِ، فَلا يُنْدَبُونَ، وَلا يُدْفَنُونَ بَلْ يُصْبِحُونَ نُفَايَةً مَطْرُوحَةً عَلَى وَجْهِ الأَرْضِ، وَيَفْنَوْنَ بِالسَّيْفِ وَالْجُوعِ، وَتَكُونُ جُثَثُهُمْ طَعَاماً لِجَوَارِحِ السَّمَاءِ وَلِوُحُوشِ الأَرْضِ. 5لَا تَدْخُلْ إِلَى بَيْتٍ فِيهِ مَأْتَمٌ، وَلا تَذْهَبْ لِتَنْدُبَ أَحَداً أَوْ لِلتَّعْزِيَةِ، لأَنِّي قَدْ نَزَعْتُ سَلامِي وَإِحْسَانِي وَمَرَاحِمِي مِنْ هَذَا الشَّعْبِ، 6فَيَمُوتُ الصَّغِيرُ وَالْكَبِيرُ فِي هَذِهِ الأَرْضِ فَلا يُدْفَنُونَ وَلا يُنْدَبُونَ أَوْ يَخْدِشُ أَحَدٌ نَفْسَهُ أَوْ يَحْلِقُ شَعْرَهُ حِدَاداً عَلَيْهِمْ. 7وَلا يُقَدِّمْ أَحَدٌ طَعَاماً فِي مَأْتَمٍ عَزَاءً لَهُمْ عَنِ الْمَيْتِ، وَلا يَسْقُونَهُمْ كَأْسَ الْمُوَاسَاةِ عَنْ فَقْدِ أَبٍ أَوْ أُمٍّ. 8وَلا تَذْهَبْ إِلَى بَيْتٍ فِيهِ مَأْدُبَةٌ لِتَجْلِسَ مَعَهُمْ وَتَأْكُلَ وَتَشْرَبَ، 9لأَنِّي أَقْطَعُ مِنْ هَذَا الْمَوْضِعِ، أَمَامَ أَعْيُنِكُمْ وَفِي أَيَّامِكُمْ، صَوْتَ أَهَازِيجِ الْبَهْجَةِ وَالطَّرَبِ، وَأَغَانِيَ الاحْتِفَالِ بِالْعَرُوسِ وَالْعَرِيسِ. 10وَعِنْدَمَا تُبَلِّغُ هَذَا الشَّعْبَ هَذَا الْكَلامَ، وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ: لِمَاذَا قَضَى الرَّبُّ عَلَيْنَا بِكُلِّ هَذَا الشَّرِّ الْعَظِيمِ؟ مَا هِيَ آثَامُنَا؟ وَأَيَّةُ خَطِيئَةٍ ارْتَكَبْنَاهَا فِي حَقِّ الرَّبِّ إِلَهِنَا؟ 11عِنْدَئِذٍ تُجِيبُهُمْ: يَقُولُ الرَّبُّ: لأَنَّ أَبَاءَكُمْ نَبَذُونِي وَضَلُّوا وَرَاءَ الأَوْثَانِ وَعَبَدُوهَا وَسَجَدُوا لَهَا، وَتَرَكُونِي وَلَمْ يُطَبِّقُوا شَرِيعَتِي. 12وَلأَنَّكُمْ أَنْتُمْ أَيْضاً قَدْ أَسَأْتُمْ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ آبَائِكُمْ، وَغَوَى كُلُّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْكُمْ وَرَاءَ قَلْبِهِ الشِّرِّيرِ الْعَنِيدِ وَرَفَضَ طَاعَتِي. 13لِذَلِكَ هَا أَنَا أَقْذِفُكُمْ خَارِجَ هَذِهِ الأَرْضِ إِلَى أَرْضٍ لَمْ تَعْرِفُوهَا أَنْتُمْ وَلا آبَاؤُكُمْ، فَتَعْبُدُونَ هُنَاكَ أَصْنَاماً بَاطِلَةً نَهَاراً وَلَيْلاً، لأَنِّي لَنْ أُبْدِيَ لَهُمْ رَحْمَتِي». 14لِهَذَا يَقُولُ الرَّبُّ: «هَا أَيَّامٌ مُقْبِلَةٌ لَا يُقَالُ فِيهَا بَعْدُ: حَيٌّ هُوَ الرَّبُّ الَّذِي أَخْرَجَ شَعْبَ إِسْرَائِيلَ مِنْ مِصْرَ، 15إِنَّمَا يُقَالُ: حَيٌّ هُوَ الرَّبُّ الَّذِي أَخْرَجَ شَعْبَ إِسْرَائِيلَ مِنْ بِلادِ الشِّمَالِ وَمِنْ سَائِرِ الأَرَاضِي الَّتِي سَبَاهُمْ إِلَيْهَا. لأَنِّي سَأُرْجِعُهُمْ ثَانِيَةً إِلَى أَرْضِهِمِ الَّتِي وَهَبْتُهَا لِآبَائِهِمْ. 16هَا أَنَا أُرْسِلُ صَيَّادِينَ كَثِيرِينَ، لِيَصْطَادُوهُمْ، ثُمَّ أَبْعَثُ بِقَنَّاصِينَ كَثِيرِينَ لِيَقْتَنِصُوهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ جَبَلٍ وَمِنْ كُلِّ رَابِيَةٍ وَمِنْ شُقُوقِ الصُّخُورِ. 17لأَنَّ عَيْنَيَّ تُرَاقِبَانِ طُرُقَهُمُ الَّتِي لَمْ تَحْتَجِبْ عَنِّي وَإِثْمَهُمُ الَّذِي لَمْ يَسْتَتِرْ عَنْ عَيْنَيَّ. 18فَأُعَاقِبُهُمْ عِقَاباً مُضَاعَفاً عَلَى إِثْمِهِمْ، لأَنَّهُمْ دَنَّسُوا أَرْضِي بِجُثَثِ أَصْنَامِهِمْ، وَمَلَأُوا مِيرَاثِي بِنَجَاسَاتِهِمْ». 19يَا رَبُّ أَنْتَ عِزِّي وَحِصْنِي وَمَلاذِي فِي يَوْمِ الضِّيقِ، إِلَيْكَ تُقْبِلُ الأُمَمُ مِنْ أَقَاصِي الأَرْضِ قَائِلَةً: «لَمْ يَرِثْ آبَاؤُنَا سِوَى الْبَاطِلِ وَالأَكَاذِيبِ وَمَا لَا جَدْوَى مِنْهُ. 20هَلْ فِي وُسْعِ الْمَرْءِ أَنْ يَصْنَعَ لِنَفْسِهِ إِلَهاً؟ إِنَّ هَذِهِ لَيْسَتْ آلِهَةً. 21فَلِذَلِكَ هَا أَنَا أُعَرِّفُهُمْ هَذِهِ الْمَرَّةَ قُوَّتِي وَجَبَرُوتِي، فَيُدْرِكُونَ أَنَّ اسْمِي يَهْوَه (أَيِ الرَّبُّ)».
تفسير 4
استمع
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Benson
Jeremiah 16
Benson Commentary Jeremiah 16:1 The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, Jeremiah 16:1-4 . The word of the Lord came, &c. — Here begins a new discourse, wherein God forbids Jeremiah to marry, principally with a view to show the miseries of parents, and the confused and ruinous state of things in Judea. “Fruitfulness was promised as a blessing under the law, Deuteronomy 28:4 , but ceased to be so in such difficult times as were coming upon the Jewish nation. For parents could not promise to themselves any comfort in their children, who must be exposed to the many miseries that attend a hostile invasion and a conquering army.” — Lowth. They shall die of grievous deaths — Hebrew ????? ?????? , mortibus ægritudinum, id est, ægerrimis, Buxtorf. Literally, of deaths of sicknesses, that is, very sorrowful deaths; meaning, Blaney thinks, epidemical disorders, (such as the pestilence,) terminating in death. It, no doubt, however, also includes death by the sword and by famine. Jeremiah 16:2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. Jeremiah 16:3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; Jeremiah 16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. Jeremiah 16:5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies. Jeremiah 16:5-6 . Enter not into the house of mourning — Or, of a mourning feast, according to the reading in the margin, the word ???? , occurring also Amos 6:7 , and being there rendered a banquet. The sense seems to be, Do not go to comfort such as mourn for any friends or relations dead; their feastings on those occasions being upon a consolatory account: those that die are most happy. For I have taken away my peace from this people — That is, I have put a full period to their prosperity, and deprived them of every thing wherewith they might comfort themselves and one another; even loving-kindness and mercies — These shall be shut up and restrained, which are the springs from whence all the streams of comfort flow to mankind. Both the great and the small shall die in this land — The land of Canaan that used to be called the land of the living. They shall not be buried, &c. — So many of all ranks and ages shall die that men shall have no time to bury them, or there shall not be a sufficient number left alive to bury the dead. Neither shall men lament for them — Nor shall men have leisure, through their own miseries, to lament for the miseries of others. Or their own calamities shall be so great that they will render them insensible to the calamities of others. Nor cut themselves, &c. — The law expressly forbade the Israelites to make any cuttings in their flesh at funeral obsequies, Leviticus 19:28 ; Deuteronomy 14:1 . Notwithstanding which prohibition, this practice seems to have been adopted by the Jews, among other heathenish customs. Shaving of the head also was a usual expression of mourning, chap. Jeremiah 7:29 . Jeremiah 16:6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them: Jeremiah 16:7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. Jeremiah 16:7 . Neither shall men tear themselves for them — According to this translation the phrase alludes to another expression of immoderate grief, which consisted in tearing their flesh with their nails. But according to the marginal reading, the sense is, Neither shall men break bread for them; alluding to the mourning-feast, mentioned Jeremiah 16:5 . So the LXX., ?? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ?????????? ??? ????????? , “bread shall by no means be broken in their mourning, for consolation concerning the dead.” So also the Vulgate. As to the custom alluded to, Jerome informs us, in his commentary on this place, that “it was usual to carry provisions to mourners, and to make an entertainment, which sort of feasts the Greeks call ?????????? , and the Latins parentalia.” The origin of which custom undoubtedly was, that the friends of the mourner, who came to comfort him, (which they often did in great numbers, as we learn from John 11:19 ,) easily concluding, that a person so far swallowed up of grief, as even to forget his own bread could hardly attend to the entertainment of so many guests, each sent in his proportion of meat and drink, in hopes to prevail upon the mourner, by their example and persuasions, to partake of such refreshment as might tend to recruit both his bodily strength and his spirits. To this custom Tobit is thought to refer when, among other exhortations to his son, he directs him to pour out his bread on the burial of the just. See Blaney. It must be observed, that among the Hebrews all things eaten were called bread. Neither shall men give them the cup of consolation for their father, &c. — They were also wont, on these occasions, to send wine, or some other cheering liquor to drink, that they might forget their sorrows. This is called here the cup of consolation. Sir John Chardin, in one of his MSS. tells us, that “the oriental Christians still make banquets of the same kind, by a custom derived from the Jews; and that the provisions spoken of in this verse were such as were wont to be sent to the house of the deceased, where healths were also drunk to the survivers of the family.” God here tells the Jews by his prophet, that the time should come when so many should die, and so fast, and the rest should be so much upon the brink of the grave, that they should have neither leisure nor heart for using these ceremonies. Jeremiah 16:8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. Jeremiah 16:8-9 . Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting — God not only forbade his prophet to go into houses of mourning, but forbade him also to go into houses where people were wont to eat and drink on joyful occasions, because it would be unseasonable, and would not agree with the afflictive dispensations of Providence that were coming on the land and nation. God called aloud for weeping, mourning, and fasting, because he was coming forth against them in his judgments, and it was time for them to humble themselves before him. And it well became the prophet, who gave them the warning, to give them an example of taking the warning himself, and complying with it; and so to make it appear that he did himself believe what he declared to them. For, behold I will cause to cease the voice of mirth, &c. — In the approaching time of general desolation, all the solemn seasons of mirth and gladness shall cease, as well public as private. The solemn feasts, which were always observed with great expressions of joy, shall be no more celebrated, nor shall nuptial solemnities and other private occasions of rejoicing be any longer observed. Jeremiah 16:9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. Jeremiah 16:10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? Jeremiah 16:11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; Jeremiah 16:12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: Jeremiah 16:13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour. Jeremiah 16:13 . There shall ye serve other gods day and night — The opportunities of frequenting the public worship of the true God shall be taken from you, as a just judgment upon you for your neglect of his service in your own country; and you shall be exposed to the peril of being seduced by the Chaldeans to the worship of idols: see Deuteronomy 4:28 ; Deuteronomy 28:36 , where Moses utters a similar prediction. Compare also 1 Samuel 26:19 . Jeremiah 16:14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; Jeremiah 16:14-15 . Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, &c. — The particle ??? seems to be very improperly rendered therefore here. It evidently sometimes signifies notwithstanding, or nevertheless; see note on Isaiah 30:18 , and sometimes, yet surely, as Jeremiah 5:2 , of this prophecy; which sense agrees well with the scope of this place, and connects this verse with the words foregoing. And so it seems it should be rendered, Jeremiah 30:16 ; Jeremiah 32:36 . Blaney, however, thinks that both in this verse and in all these passages, as also Jeremiah 23:7 , and Hosea 2:14 , it more properly signifies, after this. Accordingly, he translates this clause, after this, behold the days come, saith Jehovah, &c., observing, “that this notice of a future restoration was here inserted on purpose to guard the people, during their exile, from falling into idolatry through despair, by letting them see they had still a prospect of recovering God’s wonted favour and protection.” To which may be added, that he probably intended also, in thus sweetening the dreadful threatenings preceding with this comfortable promise, to prevent such as were pious among them, or should be brought to repentance by these terrible calamities, from being swallowed up of overmuch sorrow. It shall no more be said, &c. — The bringing of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage shall not be so much spoken of and celebrated as their deliverance from their captivity in Babylon. In fact, the latter was in several respects more remarkable than the former. Their deliverance from the power of the king of Egypt was extorted from him by terrifying miracles, which scarcely brought him to a compliance; but their deliverance from their captivity in Babylon was voluntarily granted them by Cyrus, a far greater king than the king of Egypt, and attended by a decree extremely honourable to them. Jeremiah 16:15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Jeremiah 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. Jeremiah 16:16-18 . Behold, I will send, &c. — This may be better rendered, But now I will send, &c. — Because here the prophet returns to denounce threatenings; many fishers, and they shall fish them — “It is common with the sacred writers to represent enemies and oppressors under the metaphors of fishers and hunters, because they use all the methods of open force and secret stratagem to make men their prey.” By these two characters the same enemies are probably meant, namely, the Chaldeans, who should take different methods, one after another, to destroy them; besieging them in their cities, and taking them like fish, enclosed in a net; and afterward pursuing the scattered parties from place to place, till they got them into their hands; so that one way or other, few, if any, would be suffered to escape. Compare Isaiah 24:17-18 , where it is in like manner foretold, that those who escaped from one danger should fall by another. See Blaney. For mine eyes are upon all their ways — I mark all their sins, though they commit them never so secretly, and palliate them never so artfully. They have not their eyes upon me; have no regard to me, stand in no awe of me: but I have mine eye upon them, and neither they nor any of their ways are hid from me. I will recompense their iniquity double — Not double to what it deserves, but double to what they expect, and to what I have done formerly. Or, I will recompense it abundantly; they shall now pay for their long reprieve and the divine patience they have abused; because they have defiled my land — By their idolatry, blood, cruelty, and other sins; have filled mine inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable things — Their idols, which are elsewhere called carcasses, not only because they were without life, but also because of their filthiness and hatefulness in the sight of God: see Leviticus 26:30 ; Ezekiel 43:7 ; Ezekiel 43:9 . Or the words may be explained of the human sacrifices which were offered to idols. Jeremiah 16:17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. Jeremiah 16:18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things. Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Jeremiah 16:19-20 . O Lord, my strength — To support and comfort me; my fortress — To protect and shelter me; and my refuge in the day of affliction — To whom I may flee for deliverance and consolation; the Gentiles, the nations, shall come to thee from the ends of the earth — The prophet, shocked at the apostacy of Israel, and concerned for God’s honour, here comforts himself by looking forward to the time when even the Gentiles themselves should become sensible of the absurdity of their hereditary idolatry, and be converted to the acknowledgment of the one living and true God: and this remarkable and desirable event he predicts, the more emphatically to demonstrate the unreasonableness and folly of forsaking him for idols. And shall say — That is, the Gentiles shall say, Surely our fathers, our ancestors, have inherited lies, vanity, &c. — And did not receive the satisfaction they promised themselves and their children; we are now sensible of the folly and deception of their idolatrous worship, by which they were cheated to their ruin, and therefore we will entirely and for ever renounce it, and in all our wants address ourselves to the true God as our only refuge and protection. Shall a man make gods unto himself? — Thus the prophet represents the Gentiles, when enlightened by the truth, as reasoning with themselves. Shall a man be so ignorant and foolish; so perfectly void of reason and discernment, as to make gods to himself, the creatures of his own fancy, the work of his own hands, which are really no gods? Can a man be so infatuated, so entirely lost to human understanding, as to expect any divine blessing or favour from that which pretends to no divinity but what it first received from him? Observe, reader, that reformation is likely to be sincere and durable which results from a rational conviction of the gross absurdity which there is in sin, and the service of Satan. Jeremiah 16:20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Jeremiah 16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD. Jeremiah 16:21 . Therefore I will this once — Or, as ???? ???? may be rendered, at this time, as the same expression is rendered, 2 Samuel 17:7 . Cause them to know my hand and my might, &c. — “The time alluded to is undoubtedly that when the gospel was to be preached to, and embraced by, the Gentiles; when God promises that he would make such a display of his mighty power as should amply convince them of the truth of his existence and divinity. They shall know that my name is JEHOVAH — A name which implies absolute and necessary existence, the real source and origin of all perfection; and they shall know it by the blessings which shall, from my providence, be derived to them.” — Blaney. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.
Expositors
Jeremiah 16
Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 16:1 The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.
Illustrator
Jeremiah 16
I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Jeremiah 16:14, 15 Larger providences J. Parker, D. D. Thus epochs are made; thus new dates are introduced into human history; thus the less is merged in the greater; the little judgment is lost in the great judgment, and the mercy that once appeared to be so great seems to be quite small compared with the greater mercy that has healed and blessed our life. This is the music, and this is the meaning of the passage. What is experience worth? It is worth exactly what we make of it; it will not follow us, and insist upon being looked at and estimated and applied; it is, so to say, either a negative or a positive possession; we can make it either, according to the exercise of our will and inclination. How often we vow not to forget our experience; yet it is stolen from us in the night time, and we awake in the morning empty-handed, empty-minded, beggared to the uttermost point of destitution. We write our vows in water; who can make any impression on the ocean? whole fleets have passed over the sea, not a track is left behind where the waves were sundered; they roll together again, as if with emulous energy they seek to obliterate the transient mark of the intrusive ships. It is so with ourselves. Let no man think he has sounded the whole depth of God's providence in this matter of punishment or of benediction and blessing. History has recorded nothing yet; history is getting its pen ready for the real registration of Divine ministry in human affairs. No judgment has yet befallen the world worth naming, compared with the judgment that may at any moment be revealed. Do not mock God; do not defy Him or tempt Him: what you have had is but the sting of a whip; He could smite you with a thong of scorpions. Rather say, God pity us, God spare us; remember that we are but dust; a wind that cometh for a little time and then passeth away: smite us not in Thine hot anger, O loving One; in wrath remember mercy. We do not know what plagues God could send upon the earth. Be not presumptuous against the Divine government; do not say, God cannot do this, or send down that judgment; if He forbear, it is because His mercy restrains, not because His judgment is impotent. By a natural accommodation of the passage, we may be led into quite another line of thinking and illustration: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said...but"; and between these words we may put in our own experience, and our own commentaries upon life and destiny. Thus: Behold, the days come that it shall no more be said that we have a Creator, but we have a Redeemer. Men shall not talk about creation. There are some men who are content to talk about one infinitesimal speck of creation; they have not learned the higher philosophy, the fuller wisdom, the riper, vaster law. They are gathering what they can with their hands; they are first the admirers, secondly the devotees, and thirdly the victims of the microscope. They have made an idol of that piece of glazed brass; they who mock the heathen for worshipping ivory and stone and tree and sun, may perhaps be creating a little idol of their own. Behold, the days come when men shall no longer talk about the body, but about the soul. It is time we had done with physiology. If we have not mastered the body, what poor scholars we have been! And yet how far men are from having mastered it in the sense of being able to heal it! Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when men shall no more talk about human deliverance, or deliverance from human extremity, but they shall talk about liberation from diabolic captivity; they shall say they have been loosed from their sins, they have been disimprisoned and set at liberty as to the dominion of their passions and desires and appetences; they shall speak about the higher emancipation, and everywhere men shall be eloquent about the Deliverer who drew the soul from Egyptian and Chaldean tyranny, and gave it liberty and joy in the Holy Ghost. The whole subject of human speech shall be changed; men shall not talk about Egypt, but about Canaan; they shall not talk about the law, but about the higher law; they shall not talk about the outward, but about the inward. Thus dates are introduced into human history. The time will come when men will not speak about being born, but about being "born again." Your birthday was your deathday, — or only the other aspect of it. Date your born-again day from the beginning, the morning of your immortality. Drop the lower theme, seize the higher; dismiss the noise, and entreat the music to take full possession of your nature. Behold, the day is come, saith the Lord, when men shall no longer talk about prayer, but about praise. The old prayer days will be over; they were needful as part of our experience and education, but the time will come when prayer will be lost in praise; the time will come when work will be so easy as to have in it the throb and joy of music; the time will come when it will be easy to live, for life will carry no burden, and know the strain of no care; the days of anxiety will be ended, solicitude will be a forgotten word, and the companionship of God and His angels shall constitute our heaven. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) God's care over His people W. Arnot. A crew of explorers penetrate far within the Arctic circles in search of other expeditions that had gone before them — gone and never returned. Failing to find the missing men, and yet unwilling to abandon hope, they leave supplies of food carefully covered with stones, on some prominent headlands, with the necessary intimations graven for safety on plates of brass. If the original adventurers survive, and on their homeward journey, faint, yet pursuing, fall in with these treasures, at once hidden and revealed, the food, when found, will seem to those famished men the smaller blessing. The proof which the food supplies that their country cares for them is sweeter than the food. So the proof that God cares for us is placed beyond a doubt; the "unspeakable gift" of His Son to be our Saviour should melt any dark suspicion to the contrary from our hearts. ( W. Arnot. ) I will send for many fishers;...I will send for many hunters. Jeremiah 16:16 Fishers and hunters A. R. Fausset, M. A. These refer to the successive invaders of Judea. As to "hunters," see Genesis 10:9 . Nimrod, " the mighty hunter," the first founder of an empire on conquest. The Chaldees were famous in hunting, as the Egyptians, the other enemy of Judea, were in fishing.(1) "Fishers" expresses the ease of their victory over the Jews as that of the angler over fishes.(2) "Hunters" indicates the keenness of their pursuit of them into every cave and nook. It is remarkable the same image of "fishers" and "fish" is used in a good sense of the Jews' restoration, implying that just as their enemies were employed by God to take them in hand of destruction, so the same shall be employed for their restoration ( Ezekiel 47:9, 10 ). So, spiritually, those once enemies by nature ( fishermen many of them literally) were employed by God to be the heralds of salvation, "catching men" for life ( Matthew 4:19 ). ( A. R. Fausset, M. A. ) And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double. Jeremiah 16:18 The double effect of sin F. Inglis. We may illustrate the evil of sin by the following comparison. "Suppose I am going along a street, and were to dash my head through a large pane of glass, what harm would I receive?" "You would be punished for breaking the glass." "Would that be all the harm I should receive? Your head will be cut by the glass." "Yes! and so it is with sin. If you break God's laws, you shaft be punished for breaking them; and your soul is hurt by the very act of breaking them." ( F. Inglis. ) O Lord, my strength, and my fortress. Jeremiah 16:19-21 What God is to His people F. B. Meyer, B. A. One of the Puritans was accustomed to describe prayer as the flight of the lonely man to the only God. There is such prayer here. This man is very lonely. He is like a speckled bird, set on by all the birds of the flock. He looks right and left, but there is no man to care for his soul; then he addresses himself to God in these touching words: I. MY STRENGTH. The Psalmist spoke of God as the strength of his life. The Apostle of love said that little children could overcome the world, because He that was in them was greater and stronger than he that was in the world. "God is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" II. MY STRONGHOLD. A stronghold is what holds strongly. A keep is that which keeps. We keep God's deposit, which is His Gospel: God keeps our deposit, which is ourselves. And none, man nor devil, can snatch us away. III. MY REFUGE IN THE DAY OF AFFLICTION. The night darkening the sky drives the chicks to the hen's wings; so affliction drives us to God. "In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." Do you wish to know Him thus? See that you do not burden yourself by your endeavours. Be still and know. Enter into the still and peaceful land of inward spiritual fellowship. Commune with your own heart. Be a child before Him, innocent, unaffected, unrestrained. ( F. B. Meyer, B. A. ) Safe from trouble G. Swinnock. Travellers tell us that they who are at the top of the Alps can see great showers of rain fall under them, but not one drop of it falls upon them. They who have God for their portion are in a high tower, and thereby safe from all troubles and showers. ( G. Swinnock. ) The Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth. Heathenism and its prospects G. T. Noel, M. A. I. THE CONFESSION WHICH THE GENTILE NATIONS ARE HERE PROPHETICALLY DESCRIBED TO MAKE. "Surely our fathers have inherited lies," etc. Need I say, that the produce of "lies" must be "vanity and things wherein there is no profit"? It may be granted, that if we only esteem things by the partial and short-sighted standard of this present world, falsehood may sometimes bring its gain; there are pleasures of falsehood and gains of falsehood. But then the pleasures of sin are but for a moment; the day is shortly coming, when falsehood shall be found as a rope of sand, as a quicksand on which any structure may have been based; and therefore if it be true that the heritage of the heathen is a heritage of "lies," it follow that it is a heritage of vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. II. THE PURPOSES OF GOD RESPECTING THESE IDOLATERS. You have here the repetition of God's purpose. He is not satisfied with stating once, "I will cause them to know," but He adds a second time, "I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that I am the Lord." There is a distinctness and a certainty upon this matter which is most refreshing to a humane and considerate mind. The intimation of this design is here presented to us as the distinct purpose of God. "Therefore" — since man admits that he has inherited lies, since he sees that he is destitute of any resources in himself, and since the allotment which father has given to son during many an elapsing century, since all the property that could descend from sire to son as ages rolled away was only "falsehood, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit" — since all that this accumulated mass of human skill and industry bestowed, was based on falsehood — now that the confession is made, — "I will cause this people to know My hand and My might." And how was the hand of God to be known? Was it to be the hand of power, crushing to perdition the sinner whose heart was disaffected and his intellect degraded? No; He was to stretch out His hand to heal and to save. There is no power so great, and no power so beautiful in nature, as this hand of God, when it is stretched out to heal. There are needful accompaniments of this wonderful accomplishment of Divine mercy and love to man. There are the ministers of His Gospel. By the instrumentality of these human communications, does the Spirit of God act; and when therefore God says, "And they shall know that I am Jehovah," it is meant that to these nations shall be sent the records of the Scriptures; that to them shall go the heralds of peace; that among them shall the voice of mercy be heard; that amidst their thronged population shall the accents of salvation come forth, from lips which He has touched with a coal from the altar, and made to be the bearers of kind sayings to their poor suffering and degraded sinners. This is God's declaration. III. THE GENEROUS CONSOLATION WHICH THE MIND OF THE PROPHET DERIVES FROM THIS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S GRACIOUS DESIGN IN FAVOUR OF THESE GENTILES. "O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction." When beat down by sorrow, when prostrate in calamity, when standing amidst the decay of national comforts, and amidst the manifestation of God's righteous judgments, he turned for rest to God; God was his strength, God was his fortress God opened to him an asylum whither the wicked could not follow him, whither Satan could not follow him. ( G. T. Noel, M. A. ) Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? God-making J. Parker, D. D. Is not that impossible? From a certain point of view it is utterly impossible, and yet from another point of view it is the very thing men are doing every day in the week. Questions cannot always be answered literally. There may be a moral explanation under the literary definition. Who does not make himself gods as he needs them? — not visible god, otherwise they might bring down upon themselves the contempt of observers, and the contempt of their very makers; but ambitions, purposes, policies, programmes, methods of procedure, — all these may be looked upon as refuges and defences and hidden sanctuaries into which the soul would go for defence and protection when the tempest rages loudly, and fiercely. A subtle thing is this god-making. Every man is at times a polytheist — that is, a possessor or a worshipper of many gods. The Lord could never bring the mind of His people directly and lovingly to the reception of the One Deity. It would seem to be the last thought of man that there can be, by metaphysical necessity, only one God. There cannot be a divided Deity. Yet it is this very miracle that the imagination of man has per. formed. He has set all round the household innumerable idols which he takes down according to the necessity of the hour. He knows he is intellectually foolish, morally the victim of self-delusion, practically an utterly unwise and impracticable man; yet somehow, by force not to be put into equivalent words, he will do this again and again, yea he takes to himself power to fill up vacancies, so that if any clay god or imagined idol has failed him he puts another in the place of the one that did not fulfil his prayer. ( J. Parker, D. D. ).
Matthew Henry
Jeremiah 16
16:1-9 The prophet must conduct himself as one who expected to see his country ruined very shortly. In the prospect of sad times, he is to abstain from marriage, mourning for the dead, and pleasure. Those who would convince others of the truths of God, must make it appear by their self-denial, that they believe it themselves. Peace, inward and outward, family and public, is wholly the work of God, and from his loving-kindness and mercy. When He takes his peace from any people, distress must follow. There may be times when it is proper to avoid things otherwise our duty; and we should always sit loose to the pleasures and concerns of this life. 16:10-13 Here seems to be the language of those who quarrel at the word of God, and instead of humbling and condemning themselves, justify themselves, as though God did them wrong. A plain and full answer is given. They were more obstinate in sin than their fathers, walking every one after the devices of his heart. Since they will not hearken, they shall be hurried away into a far country, a land they know not. If they had God's favour, that would make even the land of their captivity pleasant. 16:14-21 The restoration from the Babylonish captivity would be remembered in place of the deliverance from Egypt; it also typified spiritual redemption, and the future deliverance of the church from antichristian oppression. But none of the sins of sinners can be hidden from God, or shall be overlooked by him. He will find out and raise up instruments of his wrath, that shall destroy the Jews, by fraud like fishers, by force like hunters. The prophet, rejoicing at the hope of mercy to come, addressed the Lord as his strength and refuge. The deliverance out of captivity shall be a figure of the great salvation to be wrought by the Messiah. The nations have often known the power of Jehovah in his wrath; but they shall know him as the strength of his people, and their refuge in time of trouble.