Jeremiah 9:10 Komentář

In this chapter the prophet goes on faithfully to reprove sin and to threaten God's judgments for it, and yet bitterly to lament both, as one that neither rejoiced at iniquity nor was glad at calamities. I. He here expresses his great grief for the miseries of Judah and Jerusalem, and his detestation of their sins, which brought those miseries upon them (Jer 9:1-11). II. He justifies God in the greatness of the destruction brought upon them (Jer 9:9-16). III. He calls upon others to bewail the woeful case of Judah and Jerusalem (Jer 9:17-22). IV. He shows them the folly and vanity of trusting in their own strength or wisdom, or the privileges of their circumcision, or any thing but God only (Jer 9:23-26).

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 9 This chapter is a continuation of the judgments of God upon the Jews for their sins and transgressions herein mentioned; illustrated by the lamentation of the prophet; by calling for the mourning women, and upon other women that had lost their husbands or children, with an intimation that none of any rank and class should escape. The prophet is introduced mourning over the destruction of his people, Jer 9:1, and as uneasy at his stay with them, because of their uncleanness, treachery, lying, unfaithfulness, and deceit, Jer 9:2, wherefore the Lord threatens to melt and try them; and for their deceitfulness particularly to visit them, and avenge himself on them, Jer 9:7, the destruction is described by the desolation of the mountains and habitations of the wilderness; they being so burnt up, that there were neither grass upon them, nor beasts nor birds to be seen or heard about them; and of Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, so that there was no inhabitant in them, Jer 9:10, upon which a wise man is inquired after, to give the true reason of all this, Jer 9:12 but none appearing, the Lord gives it himself; which were their disobedience to his law, and their worship of idols, following the imagination of their own hearts, Jer 9:13 wherefore they are threatened to be fed with wormwood and gall; to be scattered among the nations, and a sword sent after them to their utter consumption, Jer 9:15, hence, for the certainty of it, mourning women are ordered to be called for in haste, to assist them in their mourning, on account of their distress, Jer 9:17, and such as were mothers of children are bid to teach their daughters and neighbours lamentation, because of the children and young men cut off by death, and for the carcasses of men that should fall as dung in the field, and as the handful after the harvestman, Jer 9:20, and it is suggested that none should escape; not the wise man by any art or cunning he was master of; nor the strong man by his strength; nor the rich man by his riches; and therefore ought not either of them to glory in these things, but in the Lord, as exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, Jer 9:23, and the chapter is concluded with a strong asseveration, that the wicked, both circumcised and uncircumcised, should be punished, Jer 9:25.

For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing,.... Because of the desolation of them; because no pasture upon them, nor flocks feeding there; or "concerning" them, as the Arabic version; or "upon" them (y), in order to cause the lamentation to be heard the further; but the former sense seems best, as appears by what follows. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read it as an exhortation to others, "take up a weeping": but they are the words of the prophet, declaring what he would do. And for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation; for the cottages of the shepherds, erected for their convenience, to look after their flocks, feeding on the mountains, and in the valleys; for the wilderness does not denote barren places, but pastures: because they are burnt up; by the fire of the Chaldeans, who burnt the cottages, and drove off the cattle: so that none can pass through them; or there is none that passes through; as no inhabitant there, so no passenger that way; which shows how very desolate these places were: neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; the lowing of the oxen, or the bleating of the sheep, there being none to be heard, being all carried off; and indeed no men to hear them, had there been any: both the fowl of the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone; or, "from the fowl of the heavens to the beasts", &c. (z), the places lying waste and uncultivated; there were no seed for the fowls to pick up, which generally frequent places where there is sowing, and where fruit is brought to perfection; and no pasture for the beasts to feed upon. Kimchi says these words are an hyperbole. The word "beast", being by geometry, or numerically, fifty two, the Jews (a) gather from hence, that for the space of fifty two years no man passed through the land of Judah; which they reckon from the time that Zedekiah was carried captive, to the commandment of Cyrus. (y) "super montibus", Cocceius; "super montes", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus. (z) "ab ave coelorum usque ad bestiam", Schmidt. (a) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 145. 2. & Gloss. in ib. Vid. T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 11. 1, 2.

(Ver. 10.) Over the mountains I will lift up weeping and lamentation, and over the beautiful paths of the deserted plains there will be mourning. For they are burned up because there is no man passing through, and they have not heard the voice of the possessor, from the bird of the sky to the livestock they migrate and depart. With the coming of the Babylonian army, and as it devastates everything, the solitude of the province is prophesied, that there will be lamentation on the mountains, weeping in the desert or on the paths of the wilderness, that everything will fail and burn up, and there will be no one who walks the earth, with everyone slain and nothing remaining that can breathe and live. From the word 'possidente' (possessing), seventy substances were transferred, which in Hebrew is called Macne (): and here substance is not taken in the sense of essence, but in the sense of power and wealth. And what it implies is this: They have withdrawn and gone away from the birds of the air to the cattle, which shows what we have often said, that the whole creation feels the anger of God, and not only the birds of the air, but also the fish of the water perish. According to the allegory, we understand weeping upon the mountains, and lamentation upon the beautiful wilderness, when the leaders of the Church sin and nothing of God's substance is found in her, nor is the voice of the Lord who possesses the Church heard through the holy and apostolic men; and from the birds of the air to the cattle, from those who can ascend to the heights to the irrational and simplest creatures who have withdrawn (or have withdrawn) from God's assembly.

JEREMIAH'S LAMENTATION FOR THE JEWS' SINS AND CONSEQUENT PUNISHMENT. (Jer. 9:1-26) This verse is more fitly joined to the last chapter, as Jer 9:23 in the Hebrew (compare Isa 22:4; Lam 2:11; Lam 3:48).

Jeremiah breaks in upon Jehovah's threats of wrath with lamentation for his desolated country. mountains--once cultivated and fruitful: the hillsides were cultivated in terraces between the rocks. habitations of . . . wilderness--rather, "the pleasant herbage (literally, 'the choice parts' of any thing) of the pasture plain." The Hebrew for "wilderness" expresses not a barren desert, but an untilled plain, fit for pasture. burned up--because no one waters them, the inhabitants being all gone. none can pass through them--much less inhabit them. fowl-- (Jer 4:25).