The prophet Jeremiah, a native of Anathoth, a town situated a little over three miles northeast of Jerusalem, within the boundaries of Benjamin, was born shortly before Josiah became king. He was a member of a priestly family, and God called him to be a prophet when he was still a very young man. He witnessed the great reformation in the eighteenth year of Josiah, whose death he lamented. During the early years of Jehoiakim's reign he was in danger of losing his life on account of his faithful preaching. He was threatened even by his townsmen and opposed by his own family. He was obliged to endure many other indignities and adversities, not only under the reign of Jehoiakim, but also under that of Zedekiah, the climax of his sufferings being reached when the armies of the Chaldeans approached the city. After the capture of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was taken in chains as far as Ramah, but released by Nebuchadnezzar's general. He lived with Gedaliah, the governor of the country, for a while, but after the assassination of Gedaliah was carried to Egypt by force. He continued to preach and prophesy in Egypt, predicting the conquest of the country by Nebuchadnezzar and warning the Jews to abstain from idolatry. He seems to have died in Egypt, according to tradition having been stoned to death by his own countrymen.

As the brief outline of Jeremiah's life shows, the period of Jewish history in which he lived was the critical time preceding the nation's doom. Only one of the five kings under whom Jeremiah prophesied was a pious ruler. The people became guilty of gross idolatry and, as they relapsed into paganism, of immoral practises. Covetousness, dishonesty, murder, adultery, stealing, false swearing, and other sins were prevalent throughout the nation. Year after year Jeremiah came with messages from God, whose mercy and compassion sought to turn His people to repentance, but the moral corruption was too great, and the people refused to obey. They preferred to listen to various false prophets, who predicted peace and prosperity. But though the work of Jeremiah, to all outer appearances, was vain, it resulted, in fact, in a clearing of the situation,

since, as a consequence, the true Israelites were preserved in faith. In spite of all the trying experiences, therefore, which Jeremiah, naturally of a mild, sensitive, and retiring disposition, had to undergo, he remained faithful to his task as a prophet of the one true God. He ever found comfort and strength in the promise which the Lord had given him at the beginning of his labors: "Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee.... They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee."

The arrangement of the Book of Jeremiah is topical rather than chronological. It may be divided into two large groups. The first division contains the introduction and the prophecies concerning Judah, together with some historical matter, chaps. 1-45; the second division contains ten prophetical discourses concerning nine foreign nations, together with a final historical account concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the release of Jehoiachin. A more detailed division of the book yields the following outline: prophecies belonging for the most part to the reign of Josiah, chaps. 1-6; prophecies belonging probably chiefly to the reign of Jehoiakim, chaps. 7-21; prophecies probably belonging to the reign of Jehoiachin, chaps. 22 and 23; prophecies and events in the reign of Zedekiah, chaps. 24—39; history and prophecies under Gedaliah's administration and in Egypt, chaps. 40-44; group of prophecies against heathen nations, chaps. 46-51; historical conclusion, chap. 52. As stated above, however, this division is only general.

There are several notable prophecies in the Book of Jeremiah, some of them being veritable gems of epigrammatic utterance. But the most beautiful passages are the Messianic prophecies concerning the Lord, our Righteousness. Cp. chap. 23,5.6; 30,9; 33. The prophecy of the New Covenant refers to the days of the New Testament, which began with the coming of Christ. Chap. 31, 31-34.1)

1) Cp. the introduction in Fuerbringer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 67-70; Concordia Bible Class, May, 1919, 68-71; Sampey, Syllabus for Old Testament Study, 222-240.

THE SUPERSCRIPTION. V. 1. The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin, this being one of the four cities within the territory of Benjamin allotted to the Kohathites, Josh. 21, 18; v. 2. to whom

V.3.

the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son

of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem, that is, of its inhabitants, captive in the fifth month. Note that Jeremiah expressly claims divine authority and inspiration for his prophecies, insisting that it is the Word of the Lord which he recorded. He omits the names of Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin from his list, since they reigned only three months each, and his title intends to specify in a general way only. "Since Jeremiah labored from the thirteenth year of Josiah, consequently eighteen years under Josiah, and eleven years each under Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, he ministered altogether, including the six months under the kings omitted, forty years in the midst of the theocracy." Jeremiah was a member of a lowly family, and yet the Lord called him to a very important position as chief adviser of kings. God often chooses the weak, base, and despised things to confound the mighty. 1 Cor. 1, 27-29.

THE CALL AND COMMISSION OF THE PROPHET. V. 4. Then, namely, at the time designated in the introduction, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, v. 5. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, before ever his conception had taken place, the Lord had destined him to be His prophet; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, separating and consecrating him, setting him apart for the sacred office, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations, not only to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, but to other nations as well. Jeremiah's choice of his calling was not the result of meditation and reflection, of a false enthusiasm and ecstasy, but of a supernatural revelation, of a selection on the part of God, which was in no way influenced by any ability or disposition on the prophet's part. V. 6. Then said I, with some realization of the difficulty and danger of the divine commission, Ah! Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child, a young man below the age at which the Israelites took an active part in public work. The sensitive nature of Jeremiah shrank back from a position which would expose him to public criticism. The work of the ministry is a good work, 1 Tim. 3, 1, but it is attended by difficulties which the average person appreciates only in rare instances. Well may a timid person shrink back from its ordeal. V. 7. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, in an effort to make his youth and inexperience an excuse for refusing to follow the Lord's call; for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. It was not a matter to be argued, but the Lord, by a categorical declaration of His will, commissioned Jeremiah. No matter to which nations and princes the Lord would bid him go, he was cheerfully to declare God's counsel and will, regardless of any show of hostility. V. 8. Be not afraid of their faces, in an excess of awe which would interfere with

the effectiveness of his message; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. He thus imparted the necessary courage to His servant to enable him to stand before the mighty of the world. Cp. Matt. 10, 16-22. V. 9. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, this, of course, being a symbolical act experienced by Jeremiah in a vision, its meaning being that God Himself would give His servant the right utterance, would inspire him to proclaim His message in its full truth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth. The Lord made the individuality of Jeremiah the instrument of His eternal wisdom in mak

ing His will known to men. V. 10. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, the naturally timid and fearful prophet being appointed to their oversight, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, to extirpate, exterminate, and eliminate, and to throw down, to pronounce the divine judgment upon His enemies, to build and to plant, by announcing God's mercy and grace to all who heeded His call. The conditions in Judah were such at that time as to provoke threatenings and rebukes on the part of the Lord rather than promises of grace and mercy. V. 11. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? Jehovah wanted to give His prophet some signs confirming his call. And I said, I see a rod of an almond-tree, a shoot or branch of the tree which was the first to awaken to life after the winter's sleep and was therefore a symbol of wakefulness. V. 12. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen; for I will hasten My word to perform it, literally, "wakeful (or intent) shall I, on My part, be with regard to My words to do them," the allusion to the wakeful tree thus being justified. V. 13. And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? a second vision being vouchsafed the prophet. And I said, I see a seething pot, one of the large kettles used to prepare vegetables for many guests; and the face thereof is toward the north, so that its contents threaten to be emptied from that side. V. 14. Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth, out of a great and wide opening, upon all the inhabitants of the land. A boiling kettle is an Oriental symbol of a raging war, and since Babylon was regarded by the people of Judah as situated toward the north, it was clear that the Lord prophesied the Babylonian invasion. V. 15. For, lo, I will call all the families, the tribes or clans, of the kingdoms of the North, saith the Lord, all the great chieftains of the Chaldeans uniting in an effort to overthrow Judah; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, the conquering princes establishing their tribunals

of justice in the place set aside for this purpose of old, thereby taking over the administration of the land, and against all the walls thereof round about and against all the cities of Judah, thereby laying siege to all the fortified cities of the land in a successful campaign. V. 16. And I will utter My judgments against them, the wicked inhabitants of the land, touching all their wickedness, pronouncing their condemnation and doom, who have forsaken Me and have burned incense unto other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. Thus the Lord, by His stern judgments and punishments, would visit His wrath upon the apostate Jews for their idolatry, the sin which, like the unbelief of to-day, is the essence and summary of disobedience. The symbols having been explained, the Lord now adds an admonition to Jeremiah to fulfil the duties of his office with fearless zeal. V. 17. Thou, therefore, gird up thy loins, like a soldier or a man on a journey, to remove every hindrance in traveling, and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee, the fact of his being the Lord's messenger and representative once more being stressed; be

not dismayed at their faces, shrinking back before them, lest I confound thee before them, so that he would be rejected, crushed, and overcome before them. V. 18. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defensed city, one fortified most strongly, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, enduing him with strength which no power of the enemies would be able to overcome, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land, all of whom would unite to oppose his message and warning. V. 19. And they shall fight against thee, a fact of which Jeremiah was to be aware from the outset, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee, this assurance serving as the source of the prophet's strength in the coming trials. It has happened more than once in the history of the Church that practically a single man was obliged to stand against the enmity of the mighty ones of the earth and of the masses of people as well, but that he maintained his righteous cause in the power of the Lord.

God's Faithfulness and Israel's Faithlessness.

V. 1.

ISRAEL'S LACK OF FAITHFULNESS. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, this being an introduction both to the first prophetic discourse and to the whole cycle of Jeremiah's prophetic messages, v. 2. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, the expression "in the ears" showing that the prophet should preach to the people living in this center of idolatry with clamoring insistence, saying, Thus saith the Lord: I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love which Israel bore the Lord in Egypt and at the time of the Exodus, or the merciful kindness which Israel experienced from the earliest days of its history, the love of thine espousals, at the period between the Exodus from Egypt and the formal establishment of the covenant upon Mount Sinai, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown, with no strange god in evidence in the midst of the arid desert. V. 3. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, consecrated to Him and to His service, and the first-fruits of His increase, the people chosen by Him as the first among all nations, produced as the first in the garden of His love and mercy. All that devour him shall offend, all those who dared to prey upon Israel became guilty before the Lord; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord. His punishment descended upon the Amalekites, the

Amorites, and upon all other nations that interfered with His plans of love toward His chosen people. Such were the manifestations of Jehovah's mercy and kindness to Israel, and therefore His rebuke certainly came with good reason. V. 4. Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel, individually and collectively, the whole nation, all of them being in the same condemnation. V. 5. Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, what wrong done to them by Jehovah, that they are gone far from Me, deserting Him for the false gods of the heathen, and have walked after vanity, the nothingnesses of their idols, and are become vain? The worshipers of idols become just as vain and worthless as their empty gods, and are therefore despised and condemned by God in the same degree. Cp. Deut. 7, 26; Ps. 115, 8; 2 Kings 17, 15; Rom. 1, 21. V. 6. Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, that of Sinai, Paran, and Arabia, through a land of deserts and of pits, where chasms and sink-holes abounded, endangering the lives of man and beast, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, as the way led under overhanging rocky precipices, through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt? Israel is thus pictured as having utterly forgotten the Lord's protection and

blessings, wherefore the Lord asks such reproachful questions. V. 7. And I brought you into a plentiful country, a well-cultivated and fruitful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof, to enjoy all the blessings it offered to the full; but when ye entered, ye defiled My land, namely, by becoming addicted to idolatry, and made Mine heritage an abomination, so that He was filled with loathing for the land which He had chosen for them. V. 8. The priests said not, Where is the Lord?

The

very ones who were supposed to expound the Law ignored the very Giver of the Law. And they that handle the Law knew Me not, the teachers who were occupied with it as the subject of their profession paid no attention to the Lord. The pastors also, the princes of the people, who were supposed to be its shepherds both in a civil and in a spiritual sense, transgressed against Me, being themselves in rebellion against the Chief Shepherd, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, in his name and by his authority, and walked after things that do not profit, that are vain and worthless beside the eternal truths of God's will. V. 9. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, by citing them before His tribunal and pronouncing judgment upon them, and with your children's children will I plead, since they follow their parents in all their wicked ways. V. 10. For pass over the isles of Chittim, applied first of all to the island of Cyprus, but later to the entire coast of the Mediterranean, especially to Greece, and see, and send unto Kedar, the descendants of Ishmael in the Arabian Desert, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. The children of Israel were bidden to search both the West and the East for an instance in which a heathen nation had become guilty of such foolish behavior as exhibited by them. V. 11. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? In spite of the fact that their idols were false gods, the heathen at least had the pride and the decency of clinging to their gods. But My people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit, exchanging their possession of Jehovah, the true God, for vain idols, with less consistency than that shown by the ignorant and despised heathen. In astonishment and horror the Lord cries out: v. 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, at the unspeakable wickedness of their behavior, and be horribly afraid, be filled with shuddering loathing, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, exceedingly aghast at the monstrous spectacle thus presented. V. 13. For My people have committed two evils, thus exceeding even the heathen with their one transgression of foolish idolatry: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, the only true Popular Commentary, Old Test., II.

and living God, and hewed them out cisterns, whose waters lack the freshness and the sparkle of spring or well-water, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Putting aside the one and only Source of spiritual life and power, they placed their trust in gods which belied even the outward appearance that men had given them. The same foolish and harmful course is pursued by all those who in our days deny the inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Christ, and other fundamental doctrines and turn to man-made doctrines instead. ISRAEL'S PUNISHMENT AND ITS CAUSE. V. 14. Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he spoiled? The question, whether asked by the prophet or directly by God, expresses surprise that the nation which was once God's favorite should now be left at the mercy of the enemy like a worthless slave. Whence this change in fortunes? Whence this unhappy condition? V. 15. The young lions roared upon him and yelled, raising their voices in a roar of triumph, and they made his land waste; his cities are burned without inhabitant. This is the condition of Israel which the prophet sees in spirit, the picture of the devastation wrought by beasts of prey being particularly fitting to describe the desolation of the land of Israel after the overthrow by the Chaldeans. V. 16. Also the children of Noph, of Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt at that time, and Tahapanes, of Daphne, a city on the frontier of Egypt toward Palestine, have broken the crown of thy head. The Egyptians also took the opportunity of spoiling Judah when the nation had become weak under the reign of Jehoiakim; for the taking away of the natural covering of the hair, to which reference is here made, was symbolic of an entire sweeping away of the people. V. 17. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, the Israelites having brought this calamity upon themselves, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord, thy God, when He led thee by the way? on the good path of His will, on the road of righteousness. V. 18. And now, what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihor? For Israel had sent to Egypt for help against Assyria and Babylon. Or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria to drink the waters of the river, Euphrates? in endeavoring, at times, to enter into a league with this heathen nation. This reliance upon the power of men was a mark of decay, of a lack of trust in God, of a denial of Jehovah. V. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, their sin bearing with it its own punishment, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee, for the very allies whose help they sought became the instruments of Israel's destruction. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord, thy God, this they were to find out to their cost, and that

26

My fear, the reverence which the nation as such should have had toward Jehovah, is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. Wherever the fear of God does not guide and direct the conduct of men, they are bound to pay for their defection and apostasy sooner or later.

THE SIN OF IDOLATRY.-V. 20. For of old time I have broken thy yoke and burst thy bands, rather, "For from ancient times thou hast broken thy yoke and burst thy bands," namely, the laws and ordinances of God; and thou saidst, I will not transgress, literally, "I will not serve," thus obstinately refusing obedience to the Lord, when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, where the sanctuaries of idolatry were always found, playing the harlot, the act of adultery, as practised in connection with heathen rites, being figurative of shameless idolatry. V. 21. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, the finest and most fruitful of the Holy Land, wholly a right seed, cp. Deut. 32, 32; Ps. 80, 8. 9; Is. 5, 1; how, then, art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me? After all the pains which the Lord had taken with Israel it certainly was a matter which could not be laid to His charge that Israel had turned out so badly. V. 22. For though thou wash thee with niter, an alkali having the properties of lye, used for washing, and take thee much soap, the potash which, mixed with oil, was used for washing clothes, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, is a stain before the eyes of the Lord, saith the Lord God. All the efforts of men are not sufficient to purge away the ugly spots of sin on their hearts. V. 23. How canst thou say, I am not polluted, denying the guilt of her wickedness, I have not gone after Baalim? the plural being used to characterize the many forms which this god took among the various nations. See thy way in the valley, considering the course which she had followed, know what thou hast done. Thou art a swift dromedary, a young shecamel, traversing her ways, literally, "braiding (or twisting) her ways," doubling and turning back and forth in her lust; v. 24. a wild ass used to the wilderness, not to be tamed, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure, both to cool her ardor and to direct her way; in her occasion, her anxiety to accomplish her purpose, who can turn her away? All they that seek her will not weary themselves, have no need to tire themselves out in finding her; in her month, at the season of the year when this impulse is strongest, they shall find her, for she will readily be found, since she acts under the uncontrollable impulse of her instinct. With the same fierceness and disregard of consequences Israel was addicted to her idolatry. V. 25. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, in running so violently after idolatry as to wear

out her shoes, and thy throat from thirst, as a result of her excessive exertion in seeking strangers and their idolatrous customs; but thou saidst, There is no hope, no; it is useless to argue, since she is firmly resolved to go on on her sinful course; for I have loved strangers, strange gods in place of the one true God, and after them will I go, determined to persist in her wickedness. V. 26. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, put to shame by the evidences of his guilt, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, leaders and people in the same condemnation, v. 27. saying to a stock, to a tree or log, Thou art my father, hailing the dead creature as god; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth; for they have turned their back unto Me and not their face, that is their transgression; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us. When affliction and trouble bring them to their senses, then they will turn to Jehovah for help. Cp. Luke 15, 16-18. Over against this insulting behavior the Lord tells them: v. 28. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah! Idolaters of all times and places have had the same experience, namely, that idols of every kind cannot deliver from trouble, no matter how great their number.

THE GUILT ESTABLISHED. - V. 29. Wherefore will ye plead with Me? contending with the Lord as though He had no right to punish them. Ye all have transgressed against Me, saith the Lord, forsaking Him in rebellious wickedness. V. 30. In vain have I smitten your children, in endeavoring to bring them to their senses; they received no correction, they would not permit themselves to be guided on the right path; your own sword hath devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. Cp. 2 Chron. 36, 16; Neh. 9, 26; Matt. 23, 29. 31. V. 31. O generation! Children of perverseness now living! See ye the word of the Lord, which is hereby brought before them with the demand that they regard it. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, where all the necessaries of life are wanting, a land of darkness? so that they would seem to be under the shadow of death when in His care. Wherefore say My people, We are lords, proudly strutting about as though they were their own masters; we will come no more unto Thee? fatuously boasting that they no longer were in need of Him. V. 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? the precious girdle with which she adorned herself on her wedding-day. Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. Israel should have clung to her God, her highest and most precious Ornament and Possession, by