Geremia 5:16 Commento

Reproof for sin and threatenings of judgment are intermixed in this chapter, and are set the one over against the other: judgments are threatened, that the reproofs of sin might be the more effectual to bring them to repentance; sin is discovered, that God might be justified in the judgments threatened. I. The sins they are charged with are very great: - Injustice (Jer 5:1), hypocrisy in religion (Jer 5:2), incorrigibleness (Jer 5:3), the corruption and debauchery of both poor and rich (Jer 5:4, Jer 5:5), idolatry and adultery (Jer 5:7, Jer 5:8), treacherous departures from God (Jer 5:11), and impudent defiance of him (Jer 5:12, Jer 5:13), and, that which is at the bottom of all this, want of the fear of God, notwithstanding the frequent calls given them to fear him (Jer 5:20-24). In the close of the chapter they are charged with violence and oppression (Jer 5:26-28), and a combination of those to debauch the nation who should have been active to reform it (Jer 5:30, Jer 5:31). II. The judgments they are threatened with are very terrible. In general, they shall be reckoned with (Jer 5:9, Jer 5:29). A foreign enemy shall be brought in upon them (Jer 5:15-17), shall set guards upon them (Jer 5:6), shall destroy their fortification (Jer 5:10), shall carry them away into captivity (Jer 5:19), and keep all good things from them (Jer 5:25). Herein the words of God's prophets shall be fulfilled (Jer 5:14). But, III. Here is an intimation twice given that God would in the midst of wrath remember mercy, and not utterly destroy them (Jer 5:10, Jer 5:18). This was the scope and purport of Jeremiah's preaching in the latter end of Josiah's reign and the beginning of Jehoiakim's; but the success of it did not answer expectation.

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 5 This chapter contains a further account of the destruction of the Jews by the Chaldeans, and the causes of it, the sins of the people, as want of justice and truth; being so corrupt, that a just and faithful man was not to be found among them; could there, the city would have been pardoned for his sake, Jer 5:1, their swearing falsely by the name of the Lord, Jer 5:2, their incorrigibleness by chastisements, which was the case not only of the lower, but higher rank of people, Jer 5:3, wherefore the enemy, who for his cruelty is compared to a lion, a wolf, and a leopard, is threatened to be let in among them, Jer 5:6, then other sins are mentioned as the cause of it, as idolatry and adultery, Jer 5:7 hence the enemy has a commission to scale their walls, take away their battlements, though not to make a full end, the Lord disowning them for his, Jer 5:10, because of their perfidy against him, their belying of him, contradicting what he had said, and despising the word sent by his prophets, Jer 5:11, wherefore it is threatened, that his word like fire should devour them; and that a distant, mighty, and ancient nation, of a foreign speech, should invade them; who, like an open sepulchre, would devour them, and eat up the increase of their fields, vineyards, flocks, and herds, and impoverish their cities, yet not make a full end of them, Jer 5:14, and in just retaliation should they serve strangers in a foreign country, who had served strange gods in their own, Jer 5:19 then a declaration is published, and an expostulation is made with them, who are represented as foolish, ignorant, and blind, that they would fear the Lord; which is pressed by arguments taken from the power of God, in restraining the sea, which had no effect upon them; and from the goodness of God, in giving the former and latter rain, and the appointed weeks of the harvest, which their sins turned away and withheld from them, Jer 5:20, and then other sins are mentioned as the cause of God's visiting them in a way of vengeance, as the defrauding of men in trade, and the oppression of the fatherless and the poor in judgment; and false prophesying, to the advantage of the priests, and the king of the people, Jer 5:26.

Their quiver is an open sepulchre,.... The Chaldeans used bows and arrows in fighting; and the quiver is a case for arrows; and the phrase denotes, that their arrows would do great execution, and be very mortal; so that a quiver of them would be as devouring as an open grave, into which many dead are cast. The Septuagint and Arabic versions have not this clause; and the Syriac version renders it, "whose throats are as open sepulchres"; see Rom 3:13, they are all mighty men; strong in body, of bold and courageous spirits, expert in war, and ever victorious; so that there was no hope of being delivered out of their hands.

(Verse 15 and following) Behold, I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you will not understand, nor will you know what it speaks. Its quiver is like an open tomb, all mighty warriors. And it will devour your crops and your bread; it will devour your sons and daughters; it will devour your flocks and herds; it will devour your vineyards and fig trees; and it will crush your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword. However, in those days, says the Lord, I will not make an end of you. Not much later, and not falsely believed, the Prophets will speak to you in vain, but now I will bring upon you the nation of the Babylonians, who will come from afar: a strong nation, as it is written in Hebrew, Ethan (Gen. X), an ancient nation, once ruled by the giant Nimrod. Whose language you will not understand, as it is written in Hebrew: you will not understand what they say: for it is the solace of evil, if you have those enemies whom you can ask, and who understand your prayers. And what follows: Her quiver is like an open grave; it is not referred to as Babylon in the Septuagint edition, but it signifies the armory. There is no doubt that the kingdom of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, and Persians is extremely skilled in archery. And it also describes the devastation of the land of Judah, the slaughter of sheep, the herding away of livestock, the destruction of cities and walls, because they are all captured by the enemy sword, and yet in such great evils He does not destroy them completely; but He preserves the remaining ones, either those who were led into Babylon and sent back to cultivate the land of Judah, or those who, after the heat of persecution, have kept the faith of the Lord through flight or confession.

THE CAUSE OF THE JUDGMENTS TO BE INFLICTED IS THE UNIVERSAL CORRUPTION OF THE PEOPLE. (Jer. 5:1-31) a man--As the pious Josiah, Baruch, and Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem at that time, Jeremiah must here mean the mass of the people, the king, his counsellors, the false prophets, and the priests, as distinguished from the faithful few, whom God had openly separated from the reprobate people; among the latter not even one just person was to be found (Isa 9:16) [CALVIN]; the godly, moreover, were forbidden to intercede for them (Jer 7:16; compare Gen 18:23, &c.; Psa 12:1; Eze 22:30). see . . . know--look . . . ascertain. judgment--justice, righteousness. pardon it--rather, her.

open sepulchre--(Compare Psa 5:9). Their quiver is all-devouring, as the grave opened to receive the dead: as many as are the arrows, so many are the deaths.