Jeremiah 17:9 Komentář

In this chapter, I. God convicts the Jews of the sin of idolatry by the notorious evidence of the fact, and condemns them to captivity for it (Jer 17:1-4). II. He shows them the folly of all their carnal confidences, which should stand them in no stead when God's time came to contend with them, and that this was one of the sins upon which his controversy with them was grounded (Jer 17:5-11). III. The prophet makes his appeal and address to God upon occasion of the malice of his enemies against him, committing himself to the divine protection, and begging of God to appear for him (Jer 17:12-18). IV. God, by the prophet, warns the people to keep holy the sabbath day, assuring them that, if they did, it should be the lengthening out of their tranquility, but that, if not, God would by some desolating judgment assert the honour of his sabbaths (Jer 17:19-27).

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 17 This chapter is a further prophecy of the destruction of the Jews, with the causes of it, their sins, as their idolatry, which was notorious; of which their own consciences, their altars, and their children, were witnesses, Jer 17:1 for which they are threatened with the spoil of their substance and treasure, and discontinuance in their land, Jer 17:3 as also their confidence in an arm of flesh, which brought the curse of God upon them, when such are blessed that trust in him; and the difference between those that trust in men and those that trust in the Lord is illustrated by very apt similes, Jer 17:5, the source of which vain confidence is the wicked heart of man, known to none but God, Jer 17:9 and the vanity of it is exposed by a partridge sitting on eggs without hatching them, Jer 17:11, and their departure from God, by trusting in the creature, and in outward things, is aggravated by their temple being the throne and seat of the divine Majesty; by what God is to his people that trust in him; and by the shame and ruin that follow an apostasy from him, Jer 17:12, wherefore the prophet, sensible of his own backslidings, prays to be healed and saved by the Lord, who should have all the praise and glory, Jer 17:14 and then relates the scoffs of the people at the word of God by him, another cause of their ruin; declares his own innocence and integrity; prays for protection and security from fear in a time of trouble; and for confusion, terror, and destruction to his persecutors, Jer 17:15, then follows an order to him from the Lord, to go and stand in the gate of the city, and exhort all ranks of men to the observation of the sabbath, with directions how to keep it, which had not been observed by their fathers, and which was another cause of their ruin, Jer 17:19, and the chapter is closed with promises of blessings in city, court, and country, in church and state, should they religiously observe the sabbath day; but if they profaned it, the city of Jerusalem, and its palaces, should be burnt with fire, Jer 17:24.

The heart is deceitful above all things,.... This is the source of the idolatry and creature confidence of the Jews, sins which were the cause of their ruin; and though what is here said is particularly applicable to their hearts, yet is in general true of the heart of every man; which is "deceitful", and deceiving; and puts a cheat upon the man himself whose it is: it deceives him with respect to sin; it proposes it to him under the notion of pleasure; it promises him a great deal in it, but does not yield a real pleasure to him; it is all fancy and imagination; a mere illusion and a dream; and what it gives is very short lived; it is but for a season, and ends in bitterness and death: or it proposes it under the notion of profit; it promises him riches, by such and such sinful ways it suggests; but, when he has got them, he is the loser by them; these deceitful riches choke the word, cause him to err from the faith, pierce him through with many sorrows, and endanger the loss of his soul: it promises honour and preferment in the world, but promotes him to shame; it promises him liberty, but brings him into bondage; it promises him impunity, peace, and security, when sudden destruction comes: it deceives him in point of knowledge; it persuades him that he is a very knowing person, when he is blind and ignorant, and knows nothing as he ought to know; and only deceives himself; for there is no true knowledge but of God in Christ, and of a crucified Christ, and salvation by him; see Co1 3:18 it deceives in the business of religion; it makes a man believe that he is a very holy and righteous man, and in a fair way for heaven, when he is far from that, and the character it gives him; in order to this, it suggests to him that concupiscence or lust, or the inward workings of the mind, are not sin; and it is only on this principle that it can be accounted for, that Saul, before conversion, or any other man, should be led into such a mistake, as to conclude that, touching the righteousness of the law, he was blameless: it represents other sins as mere peccadillos, as little sins, and not to be regarded; and even puts the name of virtue on vices; profuseness and prodigality it calls liberality, and doing public good; and covetousness has the name of frugality and good economy: it directs men to compare themselves and their outward conduct with others, that are very profane and dissolute; and from thence to form a good character of themselves, as better than others; and as it buoys up with the purity of human nature, so with the power of man's freewill to do that which is good, and particularly to repent at pleasure; and it puts the profane sinner upon trusting to the absolute mercy of God, and hides from him his justice and holiness; and it puts others upon depending upon the outward acts of religion, or upon speculative notions, to the neglect of real godliness; see Jam 1:22. The man of a deceitful heart, the hypocrite, tries to deceive God himself, but he cannot; he oftentimes deceives men, and always himself; so do the profane sinner, the self-righteous man, and the false teacher; who attempts to deceive the very elect, but cannot; yea, a good man may be deceived by his own heart, of which Peter is a sad instance, Mat 26:33. The heart is deceitful to a very great degree, it is superlatively so; "above all", above all creatures; the serpent and the fox are noted for their subtlety, and wicked men are compared to them for it; but these comparisons fall short of expressing the wicked subtlety and deceit in men's hearts; yea, it is more deceitful to a man than the devil, the great deceiver himself; because it is nearer to a man, and can come at him, and work upon him, when Satan cannot: or "about", or "concerning all things" (q); it is so in everything in which it is concerned, natural, civil, or religious, and especially the latter. The Septuagint version renders it "deep"; it is an abyss, a bottomless one; there is no fathoming of it; the depths of sin are in it; see Psa 64:6 and, seeing it is so deceitful, it should not be trusted in; a man should neither trust in his own heart, nor in another's, Pro 28:26, "and desperately wicked": everything in it is wicked; the thoughts of it are evil; the imaginations of the thoughts are so; even every imagination, and that only, and always, Gen 6:5 the affections are inordinate; the mind and conscience are defiled; the understanding darkened, so dark as to call evil good, and good evil; and the will obstinate and perverse: all manner of sin and wickedness is in it; it is the cage of every unclean bird, and the hold of every foul spirit; all sin is forged and framed in it; and all manner of evil comes out of it, Rev 18:1 yea, it is wickedness itself, Psa 5:9, it is so even to desperation; it is "incurably wicked" (r), as it may be rendered; it is so without the grace of God, and blood of Christ: who can know it? angels do not, Satan cannot; only the spirit of a man can know the things of a man within him; though the natural man does not know the plague of his own heart; the Pharisee and perfectionist do not, or they would not say they were without sin; such rant arises from the ignorance of their own hearts; only a spiritual man knows his own heart, the plague of it, the deceitfulness and wickedness in it; and he does not know it all; God only knows it fully, as is expressed in the next words, which are an answer to the question; see Co1 2:11. (q) "de omnibus", vid. Noldium, p. 548. (r) "et immedicabili malo affectum", Gussetius; "incurabiliter aegrum", Cocceius.

For this reason it is said, “Who shall declare his generation?” since “he is man, and who shall recognize him?” But one to whom the Father who is in heaven has revealed him knows him, so that he understands that he who “was not born either by the will of the flesh or by the will of man” is the Son of man, that is, Christ, the Son of the living God. For I have shown from the Scriptures that no one of the children of Adam is as to everything, and absolutely, called God or named Lord. But that he is himself in his own right, beyond all people who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King eternal and the incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles and by the Spirit, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth. Now, the Scriptures would not have testified these things of him, if, like others, he had been a mere man. But that he had, beyond all others, in himself that pre-eminent birth that is from the most high Father, and also experienced that pre-eminent generation that is from the Virgin, the divine Scriptures do in both respects testify of him.

For it is of him that Isaiah writes: “A man of suffering and acquainted with the bearing of weakness.” Jeremiah writes: “He is man, and who has known him?” And Daniel writes: “On the clouds he came as the son of man.” The apostle Paul likewise says: “The man Christ Jesus is the one mediator between God and humankind.”

The Father, now that he has made him a little lower than the angels, will crown him with glory and honor and will put all things beneath his feet. Then those who pierced him will know who he is and will strike their breasts, tribe to tribe—because in fact they formerly failed to recognize him in the humility of human condition. “And he is man,” says Jeremiah, “and who shall know him?” Because also, Isaiah says, “His nativity, who shall tell of it?”

David also said in the forty-fourth psalm, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness. You have hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness.” By this word he also shows his name, since (as I have shown above) he has called Christ from his anointing. Then, that he was also man, Jeremiah teaches, saying, “And he is a man, and who shall know him?” Also Isaiah: “And God shall send to them a man who shall save them, shall save them by judging.”

The apostle says, “For God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” He does not say “in the likeness of flesh,” for Christ took on himself the reality, not the likeness, of flesh. Nor does he say in the likeness of sin, for he did not sin but was made sin for us. Yet he came “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” That is, he took on him the likeness of sinful flesh, the likeness, because it is written, “He is man, and who shall know him?” He was man in the flesh, according to his human nature that he might be recognized, but in power he was above humanity, that he might not be recognized, so he has our flesh but has not the failings of this flesh.

Symmacus translates this passage thus: “The heart of everyone is inscrutable. Yet, who is the man who can find it?” It is customary by our own good wish, therefore, but not according to objective knowledge, to use this passage to argue against the Jews that the man in question is the Lord and Savior, according to the dispensation of the assumed flesh, and that no one shall be able to know the mystery of his nativity, according to what is written: “Who will explain his generation?” except God alone, who probes the secrets and returns to each one according to his works. But it is better that we simply accept that no one knows the secrets of another’s thoughts except God alone, for it says above, “Accursed is the person who trusts in humankind” and, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.” Hence, lest we think ourselves to be sure of human judgment, the psalmist implies that almost every heart is perverse, saying, “Cleanse me from hidden thoughts, O Lord, and spare your servant from foreigners,” without doubt meaning foreign thoughts. Also in Genesis, it is written, “God saw how great human malice was on the earth and that every thought of the human heart was intent on evil continuously”;8 and again, “The senses and the thoughts of a person’s heart are prone to evil from his adolescence.” Through these texts, we learn that God alone knows a person’s thoughts. Yet, if it is said of the Savior that “Jesus saw what they were thinking,” and if no one is able to see one’s thoughts except God alone, then Christ is God, “who examines hearts and probes the mind and gives to each one according to his works.”

(Verse 9, 10.) The heart of all is perverse and inscrutable, who can understand it? I am the Lord, searching the heart and testing the kidneys, who gives to each according to their ways and according to the fruit of their inventions. LXX: The heart is deep above all, and man is, who can know him? and so on. The Hebrew word Enos is written with four letters, Aleph and Nun and Vau and Sin. Therefore, if Enos is read, it means 'man', but if Anus, it is inscrutable or desperate, because no human heart can find it. But Symmachus interpreted this passage as follows: Inscrutable is the heart of all: but who is the man that can find it? Some of ours, indeed, with good intentions, but not according to knowledge, use this passage against the Jews, because He is called Lord and Savior, according to the dispensation of the assumed flesh, and no one can know the mystery of His birth, according to what is written: Who shall declare His generation? (Isaiah 53:8) Unless God alone who searches the depths and renders to each according to his works. However, it is better that we simply accept that no one knows the secrets of our thoughts except God alone. For as it was said above: Cursed is the man who has hope in man. And conversely: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. Hence, in order for us not to think that the judgment of men is certain, it was introduced that the hearts of almost all are perverse, as the Psalmist says: Cleanse me from my hidden faults, and spare your servant from the faults of others (Psal. 19:13): undoubtedly referring to thoughts. And in Genesis: But God, seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that every thought and intent of the heart was inclined towards evil at all times (Gen. 6:5). And again: For the sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from their youth (Gen. 8:21). From this we learn that only God knows our thoughts. But if it is said of the Savior: But Jesus, seeing their thoughts (Luke 9:17); and no one can see their thoughts except God alone; therefore Christ is God, who searches the hearts, and tests the kidneys; and rewards each one according to their works (Ps. 7).

The inquirer, then, might say that the prophet says only that Christ is God, without any reference to his human nature. Yet, in our apostolic doctrine, Christ is not only God in whom we may safely trust but also the mediator between God and humankind—the man Jesus. The prophet explains this in the words in which he seems to check himself, and to supply the omission: “The heart,” he says “is inscrutable above all things, and he is man, and who shall know him?” He is man in order that, in the form of a servant, he might heal the hard in heart and that they might acknowledge as God him who became man for their sakes, that their trust might be not in humankind, but in God—man.

His manhood was much more plainly and readily recognized by strangers, who, indeed, were not wrong in believing him to be man, but they did not understand his being God as well as man. Hence Jeremiah says, “He is man, and who shall know him?” He is a man, for it is made manifest that he is a brother. And who shall know him? For it is concealed that he is a husband [to the church]. This must suffice as a defense of our father Abraham against Faustus’s imprudence and ignorance and malice.

How can they declare the Savior a mere man, conceived of a man’s seed? How will he “not be known,” as Jeremiah says of him, “he is man, but who shall know him?” For the prophet, describing him, said, “Who shall know him?” But if he meant a mere man, surely his father would know him, and his mother, his relatives and neighbors, those who lived with him and his fellow townspeople. But that which came to birth is born of Mary, while the divine Word came from above. He was truly begotten not in time and without a beginning, not of a man’s seed but of the Father on high. But in the last days he consented to enter a virgin’s womb and fashion his flesh from her, patterned after himself. This is why Jeremiah says, “And he is man, but who shall know him?” He came from above as God, the only-begotten, divine Word.

THE JEWS' INVETERATE LOVE OF IDOLATRY. (Jer. 17:1-27) The first of the four clauses relates to the third, the second to the fourth, by alternate parallelism. The sense is: They are as keen after idols as if their propensity was "graven with an iron pen (Job 19:24) on their hearts," or as if it were sanctioned by a law "inscribed with a diamond point" on their altars. The names of their gods used to be written on "the horns of the altars" (Act 17:23). As the clause "on their hearts" refers to their inward propensity, so "on . . . altars," the outward exhibition of it. Others refer "on the horns of . . . altars" to their staining them with the blood of victims, in imitation of the Levitical precept (Exo 29:12; Lev 4:7, Lev 4:18), but "written . . . graven," would thus be inappropriate. table of . . . heart--which God intended to be inscribed very differently, namely, with His truths (Pro 3:3; Co2 3:3). your--Though "their" preceded, He directly addresses them to charge the guilt home to them in particular.

deceitful--from a root, "supplanting," "tripping up insidiously by the heel," from which Jacob (Hos 12:3) took his name. In speaking of the Jews' deceit of heart, he appropriately uses a term alluding to their forefather, whose deceit, but not whose faith, they followed. His "supplanting" was in order to obtain Jehovah's blessing. They plant Jehovah for "trust in man" (Jer 17:5), and then think to deceive God, as if it could escape His notice, that it is in man, not in Him, they trust. desperately wicked--"incurable" [HORSLEY], (Mic 1:9). Trust in one's own heart is as foolish as in our fellow man (Pro 28:26).