{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"JER","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jeremiah","commonName":"Jeremiah","introduction":"JEREMIAH, son of Hilkiah, one of the ordinary priests, dwelling in Anathoth of Benjamin (Jer 1:1), not the Hilkiah the high priest who discovered the book of the law (Kg2 22:8); had he been the same, the designation would have been \"the priest\", or \"the high priest\". Besides, his residence at Anathoth shows that he belonged to the line of Abiathar, who was deposed from the high priesthood by Solomon (Kg1 2:26-35), after which the office remained in Zadok's line. Mention occurs of Jeremiah in Ch2 35:25; Ch2 36:12, Ch2 36:21. In 629 B.C. the thirteenth year of King Josiah, while still very young (Jer 1:5), he received his prophetical call in Anathoth (Jer 1:2); and along with Hilkiah the high priest, the prophetess Huldah, and the prophet Zephaniah, he helped forward Josiah's reformation of religion (2Ki. 23:1-25). Among the first charges to him was one that he should go and proclaim God's message in Jerusalem (Jer 2:2). He also took an official tour to announce to the cities of Judah the contents of the book of the law, found in the temple (Jer 11:6) five years after his call to prophesy. On his return to Anathoth, his countrymen, offended at his reproofs, conspired against his life. To escape their persecutions (Jer 11:21), as well as those of his own family (Jer 12:6), he left Anathoth and resided at Jerusalem. During the eighteen years of his ministry in Josiah's reign he was unmolested; also during the three months of Jehoahaz or Shallum's reign (Jer 22:10-12). On Jehoiakim's accession it became evident that Josiah's reformation effected nothing more than a forcible repression of idolatry and the establishment of the worship of God outwardly. The priests, prophets, and people then brought Jeremiah before the authorities, urging that he should be put to death for his denunciations of evil against the city (Jer 26:8-11). The princes, however, especially Ahikam, interposed in his behalf (Jer 26:16, Jer 26:24), but he was put under restraint, or at least deemed it prudent not to appear in public. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim (606 B.C.), he was commanded to write the predictions given orally through him, and to read them to the people. Being \"shut up\", he could not himself go into the house of the Lord (Jer 36:5); he therefore deputed Baruch, his amanuensis, to read them in public on the fast day. The princes thereupon advised Baruch and Jeremiah to hide themselves from the king's displeasure. Meanwhile they read the roll to the king, who was so enraged that he cut it with a knife and threw it into the fire; at the same time giving orders for the apprehension of the prophet and Baruch. They escaped Jehoiakim's violence, which had already killed the prophet Urijah (Jer 26:20-23). Baruch rewrote the words, with additional prophecies, on another roll (Jer 36:27-32). In the three months' reign of Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, he prophesied the carrying away of the king and the queen mother (Jer 13:18; Jer 22:24-30; compare Kg2 24:12). In this reign he was imprisoned for a short time by Pashur (Jer. 20:1-18), the chief governor of the Lord's house; but at Zedekiah's accession he was free (Jer 37:4), for the king sent to him to \"inquire of the Lord\" when Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem (Jer 21:1-3, &c.; Jer 37:3). The Chaldeans drew off on hearing of the approach of Pharaoh's army (Jer 37:5); but Jeremiah warned the king that the Egyptians would forsake him, and the Chaldeans return and burn up the city (Jer 37:7-8). The princes, irritated at this, made the departure of Jeremiah from the city during the respite a pretext for imprisoning him, on the allegation of his deserting to the Chaldeans (Jer 38:1-5). He would have been left to perish in the dungeon of Malchiah, but for the intercession of Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian (Jer 38:6-13). Zedekiah, though he consulted Jeremiah in secret yet was induced by his princes to leave Jeremiah in prison (Jer 38:14-28) until Jerusalem was taken. Nebuchadnezzar directed his captain, Nebuzar-adan, to give him his freedom, so that he might either go to Babylon or stay with the remnant of his people as he chose. As a true patriot, notwithstanding the forty and a half years during which his country had repaid his services with neglect and persecution, he stayed with Gedaliah, the ruler appointed by Nebuchadnezzar over Judea (Jer 40:6). After the murder of Gedaliah by Ishmael, Johanan, the recognized ruler of the people, in fear of the Chaldeans avenging the murder of Gedaliah, fled with the people to Egypt, and forced Jeremiah and Baruch to accompany him, in spite of the prophet's warning that the people should perish if they went to Egypt, but be preserved by remaining in their land (Jer. 41:1-43:13). At Tahpanhes, a boundary city on the Tanitic or Pelustan branch of the Nile, he prophesied the overthrow of Egypt (Jer 43:8-13). Tradition says he died in Egypt. According to the PSEUDO-EPIPHANIUS, he was stoned at TaphnÃ&brvbr or Tahpanhes. The Jews so venerated him that they believed he would rise from the dead and be the forerunner of Messiah (Mat 16:14).\n\nHAVERNICK observes that the combination of features in Jeremiah's character proves his divine mission; mild, timid, and susceptible of melancholy, yet intrepid in the discharge of his prophetic functions, not sparing the prince any more than the meanest of his subjects--the Spirit of prophecy controlling his natural temper and qualifying him for his hazardous undertaking, without doing violence to his individuality. Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Daniel, and Ezekiel were his contemporaries. The last forms a good contrast to Jeremiah, the Spirit in his case acting on a temperament as strongly marked by firmness as Jeremiah's was by shrinking and delicate sensitiveness. Ezekiel views the nation's sins as opposed to righteousness--Jeremiah, as productive of misery; the former takes the objective, the latter the subjective, view of the evils of the times. Jeremiah's style corresponds to his character: he is peculiarly marked by pathos, and sympathy with the wretched; his Lamentations illustrate this; the whole series of elegies has but one object--to express sorrow for his fallen country; yet the lights and images in which he presents this are so many, that the reader, so far from feeling it monotonous, is charmed with the variety of the plaintive strains throughout. The language is marked by AramÃ&brvbrisms, which probably was the ground of JEROME'S charge that the style is \"rustic\". LOWTH denies the charge and considers him in portions not inferior to Isaiah. His heaping of phrase on phrase, the repetition of stereotyped forms--and these often three times--are due to his affected feelings and to his desire to intensify the expression of them; he is at times more concise, energetic, and sublime, especially against foreign nations, and in the rhythmical parts.\n\nThe principle of the arrangement of his prophecies is hard to ascertain. The order of kings was--Josiah (under whom he prophesied eighteen years), Jehoahaz (three months), Jehoiakim (eleven years), Jeconiah (three months), Zedekiah (eleven years). But his prophecies under Josiah (the first through twentieth chapters) are immediately followed by a portion under Zedekiah (the twenty-first chapter). Again, Jer 24:8-10, as to Zedekiah, comes in the midst of the section as to Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah (the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fifth chapters, &c.) So the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth chapters as to Jehoiakim, follow the twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirty-third, thirty-fourth chapters, as to Zedekiah; and the forty-fifth chapter, dated the fourth year of Jehoiakim, comes after predictions as to the Jews who fled to Egypt after the overthrow of Jerusalem. EWALD thinks the present arrangement substantially Jeremiah's own; the various portions are prefaced by the same formula, \"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord\" (Jer 7:1; Jer 11:1; Jer 18:1; Jer 21:1; Jer 25:1; Jer 30:1; Jer 32:1; Jer 34:1, Jer 34:8; Jer 35:1; Jer 40:1; Jer 44:1; compare Jer 14:1; Jer 46:1; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34). Notes of time mark other divisions more or less historical (Jer 26:1; Jer 27:1; Jer 36:1; Jer 37:1). Two other portions are distinct of themselves (Jer 29:1; Jer 45:1). The second chapter has the shorter introduction which marks the beginning of a strophe; the third chapter seems imperfect, having as the introduction merely \"saying\" (Jer 3:1, Hebrew). Thus in the poetical parts, there are twenty-three sections divided into strophes of from seven to nine verses, marked some way thus, \"The Lord said also unto me\". They form five books: I. The Introduction, first chapter II. Reproofs of the Jews, the second through twenty-fourth chapters, made up of seven sections: (1) the second chapter (2) the third through sixth chapters; (3) the seventh through tenth chapters; (4) the eleventh through thirteenth chapters; (5) the fourteenth through seventeenth chapters; (6) the seventeenth through nineteenth and twentieth chapters; (7) the twenty-first through twenty-fourth chapters. III. Review of all nations in two sections: the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth through forty-ninth chapters, with a historical appendix of three sections, (1) the twenty-sixth chapter; (2) the twenty-seventh chapter; (3) the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth chapters. IV. Two sections picturing the hopes of brighter times, (1) the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters; (2) the thirty-second and thirty-third chapters; and an historical appendix in three sections: (1) Jer 34:1-7; (2) Jer 34:8-22; (3) Jer. 35:1-19. V. The conclusion, in two sections: (1) Jer 36:2; (2) Jer 45:1-5. Subsequently, in Egypt, he added Jer 46:13-26 to the previous prophecy as to Egypt; also the three sections, the thirty-seventh through thirty-ninth chapters; fortieth through forty-third chapters; and forty-fourth chapter. The fifty-second chapter was probably (see Jer 51:64) an appendix from a later hand, taken from Kg2 24:18, &c.; Kg2 25:30. The prophecies against the several foreign nations stand in a different order in the Hebrew from that of the Septuagint; also the prophecies against them in the Hebrew (the forty-sixth through fifty-first chapters) are in the Septuagint placed after Jer 25:14, forming the twenty-sixth and thirty-first chapters; the remainder of the twenty-fifth chapter of the Hebrew is the thirty-second chapter of the Septuagint. Some passages in the Hebrew (Jer 27:19-22; Jer 33:14-26; Jer 39:4-14 Jer 48:45-47) are not found in the Septuagint; the Greek translators must have had a different recension before them; probably an earlier one. The Hebrew is probably the latest and fullest edition from Jeremiah's own hand. See on Jer 25:13. The canonicity of his prophecies is established by quotations of them in the New Testament (see Mat 2:17; Mat 16:14; Heb 8:8-12; on Mat 27:9, see on Introduction to Zechariah); also by the testimony of Ecclesiasticus 49:7, which quotes Jer 1:10; of PHILO, who quotes his word as an \"oracle\"; and of the list of canonical books in MELITO, ORIGEN, JEROME, and the Talmud. \n\n\n\nNext: Jeremiah Chapter 1\n\n","order":24,"numberOfChapters":52,"sha256":"c78e13c74a2800611f22cb60aa103f8a8343344fc49d4e0043f00d5c7e483f21","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":52,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/52.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":52},"totalNumberOfVerses":1164},"chapter":{"number":14,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["gates--The place of public concourse in each city looks sad, as being no longer frequented (Isa 3:26; Isa 24:4). \n\nblack--that is, they mourn (blackness being indicative of sorrow), (Jer 8:21). \n\nunto the ground--bowing towards it. \n\ncry--of distress (Sa1 5:12; Isa 24:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["little ones--rather, \"their inferiors,\" that is, domestics. \n\npits--cisterns for collecting rain water, often met with in the East where there are no springs. \n\ncovered . . . heads-- (Sa2 15:30). A sign of humiliation and mourning.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["The brute creation is reduced to the utmost extremity for the want of food. The \"hind,\" famed for her affection to her young, abandons them.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["wild asses--They repair to \"the high places\" most exposed to the winds, which they \"snuff in\" to relieve their thirst. \n\ndragons--jackals [HENDERSON]. \n\neyes--which are usually most keen in detecting grass or water from the \"heights,\" so much so that the traveller guesses from their presence that there must be herbage and water near; but now \"their eyes fail.\" Rather the reference is to the great boas and python serpents which raise a large portion of their body up in a vertical column ten or twelve feet high, to survey the neighborhood above the surrounding bushes, while with open jaws they drink in the air. These giant serpents originated the widely spread notions which typified the deluge and all destructive agents under the form of a dragon or monster serpent; hence, the dragon temples always near water, in Asia, Africa, and Britain; for example, at Abury, in Wiltshire; a symbol of the ark is often associated with the dragon as the preserver from the waters [KITTO, Biblical CyclopÃ&brvbrdia].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["do thou it--what we beg of Thee; interpose to remove the drought. Jeremiah pleads in the name of his nation (Psa 109:21). So \"work for us,\" absolutely used (Sa1 14:6). \n\nfor thy name's sake--\"for our backslidings are so many\" that we cannot urge Thee for the sake of our doings, but for the glory of Thy name; lest, if Thou give us not aid, it should be said it was owing to Thy want of power (Jos 7:9; Psa 79:9; Psa 106:8; Isa 48:9; Eze 20:44). The same appeal to God's mercy, \"for His name's sake,\" as our only hope, since our sin precludes trust in ourselves, occurs in Psa 25:11.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["The reference is, not to the faith of Israel which had almost ceased, but to the promise and everlasting covenant of God. None but the true Israel make God their \"hope.\" (Jer 17:13). \n\nturneth aside to tarry--The traveller cares little for the land he tarries but a night in; but Thou hast promised to dwell always in the midst of Thy people (Ch2 33:7-8). MAURER translates, \"spreadeth,\" namely, his tent.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["astonied--like a \"mighty man,\" at other times able to help (Isa 59:1), but now stunned by a sudden calamity so as to disappoint the hopes drawn from him. \n\nart in the midst of us-- (Exo 29:45-46; Lev 26:11-12). \n\ncalled by thy name-- (Dan 9:18-19) as Thine own peculiar people (Deu 9:29).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Jehovah's reply to the prayer (Jer 14:7-9; Jer 2:23-25). \n\nThus--So greatly. \n\nloved-- (Jer 5:31). \n\nnot refrained . . . feet--They did not obey God's command; \"withhold thy foot\" (Jer 2:25), namely, from following after idols. \n\nremember . . . iniquity-- (Hos 8:13; Hos 9:9). Their sin is so great, God must punish them.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["(Jer 7:16; Exo 32:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["not hear--because their prayers are hypocritical: their hearts are still idolatrous. God never refuses to hear real prayer (Jer 7:21-22; Pro 1:28; Isa 1:15; Isa 58:3). \n\nsword . . . famine . . . pestilence--the three sorest judgments at once; any one of which would be enough for their ruin (Sa2 24:12-13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Jeremiah urges that much of the guilt of the people is due to the false prophets' influence. \n\nassured peace--solid and lasting peace. Literally, \"peace of truth\" (Isa 39:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["(Jer 23:21).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["(Jer 5:12-13). \n\nBy sword and famine . . . consumed--retribution in kind both to the false prophets and to their hearers (Jer 14:16).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["none to bury-- (Psa 79:3). \n\npour their wickedness--that is, the punishment incurred by their wickedness (Jer 2:19).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["(Jer 9:1; Lam 1:16). Jeremiah is desired to weep ceaselessly for the calamities coming on his nation (called a \"virgin,\" as being heretofore never under foreign yoke), (Isa 23:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["go about--that is, shall have to migrate into a land of exile. HORSLEY translates, \"go trafficking about the land (see Jer 5:31, Margin; Co2 4:2; Pe2 2:3), and take no knowledge\" (that is, pay no regard to the miseries before their eyes) (Isa 1:3; Isa 58:3). If the sense of the Hebrew verb be retained, I would with English Version understand the words as referring to the exile to Babylon; thus, \"the prophet and the priest shall have to go to a strange land to practise their religious traffic (Isa 56:11; Eze 34:2-3; Mic 3:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["The people plead with God, Jeremiah being forbidden to do so. \n\nno healing-- (Jer 15:18). \n\npeace . . . no good-- (Jer 8:15).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["(Dan 9:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["us--\"the throne of Thy glory\" may be the object of \"abhor not\" (\"reject not\"); or \"Zion\" (Jer 14:19). \n\nthrone of thy glory--Jerusalem, or, the temple, called God's \"footstool\" and \"habitation\" (Ch1 28:2; Psa 132:5). \n\nthy covenant-- (Psa 106:45; Dan 9:19).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["vanities--idols (Deu 32:21). \n\nrain-- (Zac 10:1-2). \n\nheavens--namely, of themselves without God (Mat 5:45; Act 14:17); they are not the First Cause, and ought not to be deified, as they were by the heathen. The disjunctive \"or\" favors CALVIN'S explanation: \"Not even the heavens themselves can give rain, much less can the idol vanities.\" \n\nart not thou he--namely, who canst give rain?\n\n\n\n\nNext: Jeremiah Chapter 15\n\n"]}],"introduction":"PROPHECIES ON THE OCCASION OF A DROUGHT SENT IN JUDGMENT ON JUDEA. (Jer. 14:1-22)\n\nLiterally, \"That which was the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah concerning the dearth\" \n\ndrought--literally, the \"withholdings,\" namely, of rain (Deu 11:17; Ch2 7:13). This word should be used especially of the withholding of rain because rain is in those regions of all things the one chiefly needed (Jer 17:8, Margin).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/14.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":14},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/15.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":15},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/13.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":13},"numberOfVerses":20}