Jeremiah 14:6 Komentář

This chapter was penned upon occasion of a great drought, for want of rain. This judgment began in the latter end of Josiah's reign, but, as it should seem, continued in the beginning of Jehoiakim's: for less judgments are sent to give warning of greater coming, if not prevented by repentance. This calamity was mentioned several times before, but here, in this chapter, more fully. Here is, I. A melancholy description of it (Jer 14:1-6). II. A prayer to God to put an end to this calamity and to return in mercy to their land (Jer 14:7-9). III. A severe threatening that God would proceed in his controversy, because they proceeded in their iniquity (Jer 14:10-12). IV. The prophet's excusing the people, by laying the blame on their false prophets; and the doom passed both on the deceivers and the deceived (Jer 14:13-16). V. Directions given to the prophet, instead of interceding for them, to lament them; but his continuing notwithstanding to intercede for them (Jer 14:17-22).

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 14 This chapter contains prophecy of a drought, which produced a famine, Jer 14:1, and is described by the dismal effects of it; and general distress in the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 14:2, even the nobles were affected with it, whose servants returned without water ashamed, when sent for it, Jer 14:3, the ploughmen could not use their plough, their ground was so hard, Jer 14:4 and the very beasts of the field suffered much, because there was no grass, Jer 14:5, upon this follows a prayer of the prophet to the Lord, that he would give rain for his name's sake; he confesses the sins of the people, that they were many, and against the Lord; and testified against them, that they deserved to be used as they were; and he addresses the Lord as the hope and Saviour of his people in time past, when it was a time of trouble with them; and expostulates with him, why he should be as a stranger and traveller, and like a mighty man astonished, that either had no regard to their land any more than a foreigner and a traveller; or no heart to help them, or exert his power, than a man at his wits' end, though he was among them, and they were called by his name; and therefore he begs he would not leave them, Jer 14:7, but he is told that it was for the sins of the people that all this was, which the Lord was determined to remember and visit; and therefore he is bid not to pray for them; if he did, it would not be regarded, nor the people's fasting and prayers also; for they should be consumed by the sword, famine, and pestilence, Jer 14:10, and though the prophet pleads, in excuse of the people, that the false prophets had deceived them; yet not only the vanity and falsehood of their prophecies are exposed, and they are threatened with destruction, but the people also, for hearkening unto them, Jer 14:13, wherefore the prophet, instead of putting up a prayer for them, has a lamentation dictated to him by the Lord, which he is ordered to express, Jer 14:17, and yet, notwithstanding this, he goes on to pray for them in a very pathetic manner; he expostulates with God, and pleads for help and healing; confesses the iniquities of the people; entreats the Lord, for the sake of his name, glory, and covenant, that he would not reject them and his petition; and observes, that the thing asked for (rain) was what none of the gods of the Heathens could give, or even the heavens themselves, only the Lord; and therefore determines to wait upon him for it, who made the heavens, the earth, and rain, Jer 14:19.

And the wild asses did stand in the high places,.... To see where any grass was to be had, or where the wind blows more freely and cooly, to draw it in; as follows. The Targum renders it, "by the brooks"; and so Jarchi interprets it brooks of water; whither they came as usual to drink, and found them now dried up; and where they stood distressed and languishing, not knowing where to go for any: they snuffed up the wind like dragons: which, being of a hot nature, open their mouths, and draw in the wind and air to cool them. Aelianus (b) reports of the dragons in Phrygia, that they open their mouths, and not only draw in the air, but even birds flying. The word used for dragons signifies large fishes, great whales; and some understand it of crocodiles, who will lift up their heads above water to refresh themselves with the air: their eyes did fail; in looking about for grass; or for want of food, being quite starved and famished: because there was no grass; for their food and nourishment. With great propriety is the herb or grass mentioned, this being the proper food of asses, as Aristotle (c) observes; and with which agrees the Scripture; which represents them as content when they have it; and as ranging about the mountains for it when they have none; being creatures very impatient of hunger and thirst; see Job 6:5 wherefore the Greek writers surname this animal dry and thirsty; and hence the lying story of Tacitus (d), concerning Moses and the children of Israel; who, he says, being ready to perish for want of water, Moses observed a flock of wild asses going from their pasture to a rock covered with trees, and followed them, taking it for herbage, and found large fountains of water. And very pertinently are their eyes said to fail for want of food, and the sight of them grow dim, which is more or less the case of all creatures in such circumstances; but the rather is this observed of the wild ass, because, as an Arabic writer (e) suggests, it is naturally very sharp and clear sighted. (b) De Animal. l. 2. c. 21. (c) Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 8. (d) Histor. l. 5. c. 3. (e) Damir apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 16. col. 878.

(Verse 5, 6.) For even the deer (or deer) in the field give birth (or gave birth) and abandon (or abandoned) because there is no grass. And the wild donkeys stood on the cliffs, they drew in the wind like dragons, their eyes failed, because there is no grass (or hay). Great sterility, when even the deer in the field give birth and abandon their offspring, because there is no grass or hay; just as serpents draw out venomous animals from caves with the smell of their nostrils and kill them, they do not use food as a means of gratitude. And also about the wild donkeys it is written in Job: Who has let the wild donkey go free into the wilderness? (Job 39:5) They wander about for food, seeking sustenance in the desert. They live among the rocks and make their home in the cliffs. They cannot run but drag themselves along like serpents. Their eyesight fails, and they cannot see. They survive on sparse vegetation. This drought often happens in the churches, when deer and wild donkeys are found among the people, and there is a scarcity of teachers: there are those who can learn, but there are not those who can teach. If our iniquities answer (or resist) against us, O Lord, do it for your name's sake, because our turnings away (or sins) are many. We have sinned against you, O expectation of Israel: the Savior thereof in time of trouble. If we doubt why the rains do not descend upon the earth, why all things wither with dryness, let us hear. Our iniquities have resisted against us; therefore, O Lord, not according to our works, but according to your holy name, overcome our many turnings away (or sins). For we have sinned against you, whom the secrets of the heart do not deceive, and we wait for you, who are the true hope and expectation of Israel: and you save them in the time of tribulation, according to what is written: I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and he heard me (Psalm 119:1). Let us also say in the time of drought and shortage of water: We have sinned against you, and we have done evil before you (Psalm 50:5), we await your coming, who save Israel, not by their own merit, but by your mercy.

PROPHECIES ON THE OCCASION OF A DROUGHT SENT IN JUDGMENT ON JUDEA. (Jer. 14:1-22) Literally, "That which was the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah concerning the dearth" drought--literally, the "withholdings," namely, of rain (Deu 11:17; Ch2 7:13). This word should be used especially of the withholding of rain because rain is in those regions of all things the one chiefly needed (Jer 17:8, Margin).

wild asses--They repair to "the high places" most exposed to the winds, which they "snuff in" to relieve their thirst. dragons--jackals [HENDERSON]. eyes--which are usually most keen in detecting grass or water from the "heights," so much so that the traveller guesses from their presence that there must be herbage and water near; but now "their eyes fail." Rather the reference is to the great boas and python serpents which raise a large portion of their body up in a vertical column ten or twelve feet high, to survey the neighborhood above the surrounding bushes, while with open jaws they drink in the air. These giant serpents originated the widely spread notions which typified the deluge and all destructive agents under the form of a dragon or monster serpent; hence, the dragon temples always near water, in Asia, Africa, and Britain; for example, at Abury, in Wiltshire; a symbol of the ark is often associated with the dragon as the preserver from the waters [KITTO, Biblical CyclopÃ&brvbrdia].