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, Jeremiah 17:1 for which they are threatened with the spoil of their substance and treasure, and...
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron,.... Or an iron tool, such as engravers use in working on hard matter: [and] with the point of a diamond; such as glaziers use in cutting their glass; though this is not the word used for a diamond in Exodus 28:18, this word is elsewhere translated an adamant, Ezekiel 3:9. Bothart (h) takes it to be...
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, ver. 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...
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: It is so ingrained in their very nature that you might as well try to erase an inscription that is written upon steel with the point of a diamond as hope to get this perversity out of the nation; it is graven upon the tablets of their heart. What is mere habit can be...
Whilst their children remember their altars,.... Which is a further proof of their long continuance in idolatrous practices, and a fresh witness against them; they trained up their children in them; who, when grown up, could not forget them, but imitated them, and went on in the same evil ways. Some render the words, "as they remember their...
Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills. God forbade the setting up of altars. There was one altar at Jerusalem, and there were to be no more; but they selected spots where great trees had long grown, they chose the tops of the hills, and they built shrines for their idols there; and...
O my mountain in the midst of the field,.... Meaning either the temple, called the mountain of the house, and of the Lord's house, Micah 3:12, or else Jerusalem, which stood on a hill in the midst of a plain, surrounded with fruitful fields and gardens; or in the midst of a land like a field. The Targum is, "because thou worshippest idols upon the...
O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders. And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger,...
And thou, even thyself,.... Or, "thou, and in thee" (l); that is, thou and those that are in thee, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea; or, "thou even through thyself" (m); through thine own fault, by reason of thy sins and iniquities: shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; be removed from it, and no longer enjoy it: or,...
Thus saith the Lord,.... Here begins a new discourse, or part of one; or, however, another cause or reason of the ruin and destruction of the Jews is suggested; namely, their trust in man, or confidence in the creature, which is resented and condemned: cursed be the man that trusteth in man; as the Jews did in the Egyptians and Assyrians; see...
For he shall be like the heath in the desert,.... The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "myrice": and so the Latin interpreter of the Targum; but the word that paraphrase makes use of according to R. Hai, mentioned by Kimchi, signifies something that is thorny without, and eatable within; but this is not likely to be intended here. The Septuagint...
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord,.... In the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, in Christ the essential Word of God; see Psalms 2:12 who have a spiritual knowledge of him, and so trust in him, Psalms 9:10 who have seen the vanity and emptiness of all other objects of trust, there being no salvation in them, only in him; who betake...
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,.... Not as a "heath or shrub", but as a "tree", a green olive tree, a palm tree, a cedar in Lebanon, a fruitful flourishing tree; and he is one that really is a tree of righteousness, that is filled with the fruits of righteousness; and not like one of the trees of the wood, that grows wild, or as a...
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...
Is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not be right, shall leave them in the midst of his...
I the Lord search the heart,.... The inward parts of it, every room and corner in it; and know the thoughts of it; all its intents, purposes, designs, contrivances, and imaginations; all the secret motions of it, and the wickedness that is in it; so that this is an answer to the question in the preceding verse; and therefore, though the heart is...
As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not,.... Here seems to be another sin pointed at, as the cause of the ruin of the Jews; as idolatry and trust in the creature before mentioned; so riches unjustly got, and these boasted of and trusted in; the folly of which is illustrated by the simile of a bird sitting on eggs, and not hatching...
A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. The temple, which was a sanctified place, where the holy God dwelt, his holy worship was observed, and his holy people met together. Here, from the beginning of its erection, from the time of its dedication, the Lord took up his residence; the glory of the Lord filled the...
A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou...