1At that time, says Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of the heavens, which they have loved and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and to which they have bowed down. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth. 3And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of Hosts. 4Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah, Shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return? 5Why has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a continual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. 6I listened and heard, but they did not speak right; no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turned to his own course, as a horse rushes into the battle. 7Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of Jehovah. 8How can you say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsehood. 9The wise are ashamed, they are dismayed, and are captured. Lo, they have rejected the Word of Jehovah; so what wisdom is in them? 10Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall inherit them, for everyone from the least even to the greatest profits from unjust gain. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 11For they have healed the ruin of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down, says Jehovah. 13I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; I give them to those who pass through. 14Why do we sit still? Gather yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence, and has given us bitter water to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah. 15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, but behold, terror! 16The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his valiant ones. For they have come, and devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who live in it. 17For, behold, I will send serpents and vipers among you, which cannot be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Jehovah. 18I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint within me. 19Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images, with foreign vanities? 20The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21For the ruin of the daughter of my people I am broken; I am in gloom; horror has seized me. 22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of my people not come?
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE JEW'S COMING PUNISHMENT; THEIR UNIVERSAL AND INCURABLE IMPENITENCE. (Jer. 8:1-22)
The victorious Babylonians were about to violate the sanctuaries of the dead in search of plunder; for ornaments, treasures, and insignia of royalty were usually buried with kings. Or rather, their purpose was to do the greatest dishonor to the dead (
Isa 14:19).
2 spread . . . before the sun, &c.--retribution in kind. The very objects which received their idolatries shall unconcernedly witness their dishonor.
lover . . . served . . . after . . . walked . . . sought . . . worshipped--Words are accumulated, as if enough could not be said fully to express the mad fervor of their idolatry to the heavenly host (
2Kgs 23:5).
nor . . . buried-- (
Jer 22:19).
dung-- (
Jer 9:22;
Ps 83:10).
3 The survivors shall be still worse off than the dead (
Job 3:21-
Job 3:22;
Rev 9:6).
which remain in all the places--"in all places of them that remain, whither I . . . that is, in all places whither I have driven them that remain [MAURER].
4 "Is it not a natural instinct, that if one falls, he rises again; if one turns away (that is, wanders from the way), he will return to the point from which he wandered? Why then does not Jerusalem do so?" He plays on the double sense of return; literal and metaphorical (
Jer 3:12;
Jer 4:1).
5 slidden . . . backsliding--rather, as the Hebrew is the same as in
Jer 8:4, to which this verse refers, "turned away with a perpetual turning away."
perpetual--in contrast to the "arise" ("rise again,"
Jer 8:4).
refuse to return--in contrast to, "shall he . . . not return" (
Jer 8:4;
Jer 5:3).
6 spake not aright--that is, not so as penitently to confess that they acted wrong. Compare what follows.
every one . . . his course--The Keri reads "course," but the Chetib, "courses." "They persevere in the courses whatever they have once entered on." Their wicked ways were diversified.
horse rusheth--literally, "pours himself forth," as water that has burst its embankment. The mad rapidity of the war horse is the point of comparison (
Job 39:19-
Job 39:25).
7 The instinct of the migratory birds leads them with unfailing regularity to return every spring from their winter abodes in summer climes (
Song 2:12); but God's people will not return to Him even when the winter of His wrath is past, and He invites them back to the spring of His favor.
in the heaven--emphatical. The birds whose very element is the air, in which they are never at rest, yet show a steady sagacity, which God's people do not.
times--namely, of migrating, and of returning.
my people--This honorable title aggravates the unnatural perversity of the Jews towards their God.
know not, &c.-- (
Jer 5:4-
Jer 5:5;
Isa 1:3).
8 law . . . with us-- (
Rom 2:17). Possessing the law, on which they prided themselves, the Jews might have become the wisest of nations; but by their neglecting its precepts, the law became given "in vain," as far as they were concerned.
scribes--copyists. "In vain" copies were multiplied. MAURER translates, "The false pen of the scribes hath converted it [the law] into a lie." See Margin, which agrees with Vulgate.
9 dismayed--confounded.
what wisdom--literally, "the wisdom of what?" that is, "wisdom in what respect?" the Word of the Lord being the only true source of wisdom (
Ps 119:98-
Ps 119:100;
Pro 1:7;
Pro 9:10).
10 Repeated from
Jer 6:12-
Jer 6:15. See a similar repetition,
Jer 8:15;
Jer 14:19.
inherit--succeed to the possession of them.
11 (
Ezek 13:10).
13 surely consume--literally, "gathering I will gather," or "consuming I will consume."
no grapes . . . nor figs-- (
Joel 1:7;
Matt 21:19).
things that I have given . . . shall pass away--rather, "I will appoint to them those who shall overwhelm (pass over) them," that is, I will send the enemy upon them [MAURER]. English Version accords well with the context; Though their grapes and figs ripen, they shall not be allowed to enjoy them.
14 assemble--for defense.
let us be silent--not assault the enemy, but merely defend ourselves in quiet, until the storm blow over.
put us to silence--brought us to that state that we can no longer resist the foe; implying silent despair.
water of gall--literally, "water of the poisonous plant," perhaps the poppy (
Jer 9:15;
Jer 23:15).
15 Repeated (
Jer 14:19).
We looked for--owing to the expectations held out by the false prophets.
health--healing; that is, restoration from adversity.
16 his horses--the Chaldean's.
was heard--the prophetical past for the future.
from Dan--bordering on Phśnicia. This was to be Nebuchadnezzar's route in invading Israel; the cavalry in advance of the infantry would scour the country.
strong ones--a poetical phrase for steeds, peculiar to Jeremiah (
Jer 47:3; compare
Jer 4:13,
Jer 4:29;
Jer 6:23).
17 I--Jehovah.
cockatrices--basilisks (
Isa 11:8), that is, enemies whose destructive power no means, by persuasion or otherwise, can counteract. Serpent-charmers in the East entice serpents by music, and by a particular pressure on the neck render them incapable of darting (
Ps 58:4-
Ps 58:5).
18 (
Isa 22:4). The lamentation of the prophet for the impending calamity of his country.
against sorrow--or, with respect to sorrow. MAURER translates, "Oh, my exhilaration as to sorrow!" that is, "Oh, that exhilaration ('comfort', from an Arabic root, to shine as the rising sun) would shine upon me as to my sorrow!"
in me--within me.
19 The prophet in vision hears the cry of the exiled Jews, wondering that God should have delivered them up to the enemy, seeing that He is Zion's king, dwelling in her (
Mic 3:11). In the latter half of the verse God replies that their own idolatry, not want of faithfulness on His part, is the cause.
because of them that dwell in a far country--rather, "from a land of distances," that is, a distant land (
Isa 39:3). English Version understands the cry to be of the Jews in their own land, because of the enemy coming from their far-off country.
strange vanities--foreign gods.
20 Proverbial. Meaning: One season of hope after another has passed, but the looked-for deliverance never came, and now all hope is gone.
21 black--sad in visage with grief (
Joel 2:6).
22 balm--balsam; to be applied to the wounds of my people. Brought into Judea first from Arabia Felix, by the queen of Sheba, in Solomon's time [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 8.2]. The opobalsamum of PLINY; or else [BOCHART] the resin drawn from the terebinth. It abounded in Gilead, east of Jordan, where, in consequence, many "physicians" established themselves (
Jer 46:11;
Jer 51:8;
Gen 37:25;
Gen 43:11).
health . . . recovered--The Hebrew is literally, "lengthening out . . . gone up"; hence, the long bandage applied to bind up a wound. So the Arabic also [GESENIUS].