The Tabernacle of Judah broken up. JEREMIAH, X. The Prophet's Prayer for Correction. & & 22. out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a 'den of dragons. land, O 1inhabitant of the fortress. Heb., inhabitress. prosper, and all their flocks shall be (18) For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I scattered. (22) Behold, the noise of the will sling out the inhabitants of the ach115; &5 15; bruit is come, and a great commotion land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so. (19) Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. (20) My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: b ch. 9. 11. c Prov. 16. 1; & 20. 24. ch. 30. 11. 2 Heb., diminish (23) O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. my children are gone forth of me, and a Ps. 6. 1 ; & 38. 1; (24) O LORD, correct me, but with judgthey are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. (21) For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD therefore they shall note Ps. 79. 6. me. bundle (the English "wares" suggests the idea of trade, which is foreign to the context), and with that as the sole remnant of her possessions, to go forth into exile. Probably, indeed, the word may mean simply the travelling carpet or mantle which the exile was to take with him. The whole phrase has something of a proverbial type, like our bag and baggage or the collige sarcinulas et exi ("take up your packages and begone") of Juven. Sat. vi. 146. 66 (18) I will sling out. The same bold metaphor, though not the same word, for violent expulsion, is found, in the prophecy of the fate of Shebna (Isa. xxii. 18). That they may find it so.-In the Hebrew, the verb, though transitive, stands by itself, without an object. The ellipsis has been filled up either by "it," as in the English Version, i.e., may feel it in all its bitterness; or by " me," as in the Syriac version, i.e., may be led through their misery to seek and find Jehovah. The parallelism of Deut. iv. 29; chap. xxix. 13, makes the latter meaning probable (see also Acts xvii. 27); but it may be suggested that the very omission of an object was intended to be suggestive in its abruptness. "They would find . what they found would depend upon themselves. A possible construction is that they (the enemy) may find them (the people besieged), but this is hardly the natural sequel of the exile of which the previous words speak. (19) Woe is me .-From this verse to the end of the chapter we have, with the prophet's characteristic dramatic vividness, the lamentation of the daughter of Israel in her captivity, bewailing the transgressions that had led to it. That this follows immediately on verse 18 gives some support to the view above given as to the force of the words "that they may find." Israel is represented as having "found" in both aspects of the word. Grievous.-In the sense of all but incurable. This is a grief. .-Better, this is my grief or plague, that which I have brought upon myself and must therefore bear. To accept the punishment was in this, as in all cases, the first step to reformation. (20) My tabernacle .-The tent which had been the home of Israel is destroyed, the cords that fastened it to the ground are broken, the children that used to help their mother in arranging the tent and its curtains ment; not in thine anger, lest thou 2 bring me to nothing. (25) Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up The daughter of Zion has, as it were, been brought back to her nomadic state. (21) The pastors.-The "shepherds," used, as in chaps. ii. 8, iii. 15, and elsewhere, of rulers generally, rather than of priests as such. Therefore they shall not prosper.-Better, therefore they have not done wisely. This is the primary meaning of the word (that of prosperity, as the result of prudence, the secondary), and is adopted by the LXX., Vulg., and most other versions. All their flocks.-Literally, all their pasture, the place, or the act, of pasturing, taken practically for the sheep that fed on it. (22) Behold, the noise of the bruit is come.Better, A cry is heard, Behold, it cometh. The cry of terror is heard and it utters the tidings, terrible in their brevity, that the army of the invader is come, and with it the " great commotion," the stir and rush of the army, coming from the north country of the Chaldeans. (Comp. chap. i. 13.) In Matt. xxv. 6, "There was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh," we have a striking parallel. The word "bruit" (here and in Nah. iii. 19) may be noted as one of those which have become obsolete since the date of the Authorised Version. A den of dragons.-i.e., jackals, as in chap. ix. 11. (23) O Lord, I know -The confession is made not by the prophet for himself, but as by and for Israel. The way of man.-The path which a man takes for good or evil, for failure or success. His conduct in life depends, the prophet says, on something more than his own choice : "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Compare Prov. xvi. 9, xx. 24, as expressing the same thought of the necessity of divine guidance. The two Hebrew words for man are used in the two clauses, the first expressing the weakness, the latter the strength of men. Even the strong man has to confess that he needs a hand other than his own to direct his steps. (24) With judgment.-The rendering is accurate, but the idea is, perhaps, better expressed by the translation of the same word in chaps. xxx. 11, xlvi. 28 as "in measure." In either case the discipline that comes from God as the righteous Judge, at once retributive and reformative, is contrasted with the punishment which is simply vindictive. Lest thou bring me to nothing.-Literally, lest CHAPTER XI.-(1) The word that to Jeremiah from the LORD, came saying, 3. 10. B. C. cir. 608. The Lord's Remonstrance. Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed a Deut. 27. 26; Gal. unto your fathers, to give them a land him, and have made his habitation flowing with milk and honey, as it is desolate. this day. Then answered I, and said, 1So be it, O Lord. (6) Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. (7) For I earnestly protested unto your fathers. in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. (8) Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not. (2) Hear ye the words of this covenant, of this covenant, () which I com- Deut. 7. 12. (9) And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of perform the oath which I have sworn 2 Or, stubbornness. Judah, and among the inhabitants of thou make me small; but the English Version is an adequate expression of the meaning. (25) Pour out thy fury.-The words are identical with those of Ps. lxxix. 6, 7, but it is more probable that the Psalmist borrowed from the Prophet. By many critics the Psalm is referred to the time of the Maccabees, and it would seem, from the language of verses 1-3, that it must at any rate have been after the destruction of the Temple by the Chaldeans. On the last supposition the two writers may have been contemporaries. XI. (1) The word that came to Jeremiah.—The words indicate that we are entering on a distinct message or discourse, which goes on probably to the end of chap. xii. No date is given, and we are driven to infer it from the internal evidence of the message itself. This points to an early period of Jeremiah's work, probably in the reign of Josiah. The invasion of the Chaldeans is not so near, as in the preceding chapter. Jeremiah is still residing at Anathoth (chap. xi. 21). By some critics, however, it is referred to the reign of Jehoiachin. (2) The words of this covenant.-The phrase had obviously acquired a definite and special sense in consequence of the discovery of the lost book of the Law under Josiah, and the covenant into which the people had then entered (comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 3). The "curse under which the people had fallen was practically identical with that in Deut. xxvii. 26, the word "obeyeth" being substituted for "confirmeth." (3) Cursed be the man .-The verse is, as it were, a mosaic, so to speak, of phrases, with slight verbal changes, from the recently discovered book of Deuteronomy-the "iron furnace" from Deut. iv. 20; 1 Kings viii. 51, "Hear my voice and do them" from Deut. xxviii. 1, "Ye shall be my people" from Deut. xxix. 13. The "iron furnace" was, of course, Egypt, the "furnace of affliction," as in Isa. xlviii. 10, in which the people had endured sufferings of which that was the only adequate symbol. The word used denoted the "furnace "of the smelter, but the actual form of bondage through which the Israelites had passed, working in the brick-kiln furnaces (Exod. i. 14), had probably given a special force to the phrase. (5) A land flowing with milk and honey.— The description appears for the first time in Exod. iii. 8, 17. It rapidly became proverbial, and is prominent in Deut. vi. 3 and Josh. v. 6. It points primarily, it may be noticed, to the plenty of a pastoral rather than an agricultural people (see Note on Isa. vii. 22), and so far to the earlier rather than the later stages of the life of Israel. So be it, O Lord.-The Amen of the liturgies and litanies of Israel, brought probably into fresh prominence by Deut. xxvii. 15—26, and uttered by princes and people in the solemn ceremonial of 2 Kings xxiii. 3. (6) In the cities of Judah . . .-It is, at least, probable that the words are to be taken literally, and that the prophet went from city to city, doing his work as a preacher of repentance, and taking the new-found book of Deuteronomy as his text. The narrative of 2 Kings xxiii. 13-20 indicates an iconoclastic journey throughout the kingdom as made by Josiah; and the prophetic discourse now before us, enforcing the observance of the covenant just made, would have been a fit accompaniment for such a mission. (7) Rising early.-The phrase in its spiritual meaning, as applied to Jehovah, is almost peculiar to Jeremiah, and is used by him twelve times. In its literal sense, or as denoting only ordinary activity, it is found often, e.g., Gen. xx. 8; Prov. xxvii. 14. (See Note on chap. vii. 13.) (8) Imagination.-Better, as before (chap. iii. 17), stubbornness. Therefore I will bring upon them.-Better, I have brought upon them. The words contain not a direct prediction, but an appeal to the experience of the past as in itself foreshadowing the future. (9) A conspiracy.-The words explain the rapid apostasy that followed on the death of Josiah. There The many gods of Judah. Jerusalem. JEREMIAH, X1. of. Prov. 1.23: Isa. 1. 15; ch. 14. 12; (10) They are turned back | Heb., to go forth to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and a they went after other gods to serve them the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my cove-2 Heb., evil. nant which I made with their fathers. (11) Therefore thus saith the LORD, Be- 6 ch. 2. 28. hold, I will.bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and 3 Heb., shame. though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. (12) Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their 2trouble. (13) For according to the number of thy 'cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up e ch. 7. 16; & 14 11. The green Olive-tree burnt and broken. altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal. (14) Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their 4trouble. (15) d5 What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. (16) The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. (17) For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, 6 Or, when thy evil which they have done against them 4 Heb., evil. a Isa. 1. 11, &c. Heb, What is to my beloved in my had been all along, even while he was urging his reforms, an organised though secret resistance to the policy of which he was the representative. (10) Their forefathers.-The Hebrew is more specific-their first fathers (as in Isa. xliii. 27), with special reference to the idolatries of the forty years' wandering and the first settlement in Canaan. They went after other gods.-The Hebrew pronoun is emphatically repeated, as pointing back to the subject of the first clause of the verse, the men of Jeremiah's own time-" they have gone after other gods." (11) I will bring evil.-The Hebrew expresses immediate action, I am bringing. 66 (13) According to the number of thy cities ..-This and verse 12 reproduce what we have heard already in chaps. ii. 27, 28 and vii. 17. The shameful thing" is, as in chap. iii. 24, the image of Baal, which would seem to have been set up openly in some prominent place in every city of Judah, every street. of Jerusalem. The reference is probably made, as before, to the formal recognition of Baal-worship in the days of Manasseh (2 Kings xxi. 3; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 3), but the sin may have been repeated as soon as the restraint of Josiah's reign had been removed. (14) Therefore pray not.-The words imply, as in chap. vii. 16, that the prophet's human feelings had led him to pour his soul in passionate intercession that the penalty might be averted. He is told that it is at once too early and too late for that prayer. The people have not yet been moved to repentance, and their cry is simply the wail of suffering. The discipline must do its work, and the judgment they have brought down on themselves can be stayed no longer. (15) My beloved.-sc., Judah-or, perhaps, Israel collectively as the betrothed of Jehovah. What has she to do, what part or lot has she in that house of Jehovah which she pollutes ? Seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many.-The Hebrew is difficult, and probably corrupt. The most probable rendering is What hath my beloved to do in my house, to work it even evil devices? Thy many, i.e. (probably, as in chap. iii. 1), thy many lovers, and the holy flesh (i.e., her sacrifices), will they make it (the guilt of her devices) to pass away from thee? Keeping the present text of the Hebrew the latter clause would run, they shall pass away from thee, i.e., shall leave thee, as thou wert, unreconciled and unforgiven. A conjectural emendation, following the LXX., gives, will thy vows and the holy flesh remove thy evil from thee... The general sense is, however, clear. A religion of mere ritual-sacrifices and the like will not avail to save. The Hebrew for "lewdness" does not convey the idea which we now attach to the English word, but means primarily a plan of any kind, and then a "device" or "scheme" in a bad sense, as in Ps. x. 2, xxi. 11; Prov. xiv. 17. Probably the translators, here, as in Acts xvii. 5, xviii. 14, used the word in this more general sense. Primarily, indeed, "lewd" in Old English was simply the opposite of "learned." 66 When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. -The clause is involved in the same difficulty as the rest of the verse. The English version is tenable, and gives an adequate meaning. By some commentators, however, the passage is rendered, referring evil to the previous sentence, Will they (vows, &c.) remove evil from thee? Then mightest thou rejoice. (16) A green olive tree. The parable is essentially the same, though a different symbol is chosen, as that of the vine of Isa. v. 1; Jerem. ii. 21, or the fig-tree of Luke xiii. 6. The olive also was naturally a symbol of fertility and goodness, as in Ps. lii. 8; Hos. xiv. 6; Zech. iv. 3, 11. In the words "the Lord called thy name we have the expression of the Divine purpose in the " calling and election " of Israel. This was what she was meant to be. Fair, and of goodly fruit.-The words point, as before, to the ideal state of Israel. She had made no effort to attain that ideal, and therefore the thunderstorm of God's wrath fell on it. The word for " tumult " is used in Ezek. i. 24 for the sound of an army on its march, and is probably used as combining the literal or figurative meaning. (17) The Lord of hosts, that planted thee.-As in chap. ii. 21, stress is laid on the fact that Jehovah had planted the tree and bestowed on it all the conditions of fruitfulness, and that it was He who now passed the sentence of condemnation. The Prophet's Appeal to the Lord. JEREMIAH, XII. The Message to the Men of Anathoth, with his bread. selves to provoke me to anger in offering 1 Heb., the stalk incense unto Baal. a 1 Sam. 16. 7: 1 Chron. 28, 9; Ps 7.9; ch. 17. 10; & 20. 12; Rev. 2. 23. (21) Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand: (22) therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die 2 Heb., visit upon. by famine: (23) and there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the (18) And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings. (19) But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy 1the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more re-or, let me reason year of their visitation. membered. (20) But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that "triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy the cuse with thee. CHAPTER XII.-(1) Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: vengeance on them: for unto thee have Job 21.7: Ps. 37. yet let me talk with thee of thy judgI revealed my cause. 1; & 73 3; Hab. 1.4. (18) And the Lord hath given me knowledge. -A new section opens abruptly, and the prophet speaks no longer of the sins of Israel and Judah at large, but of the "doings" of his own townsmen, of their plots against his life. Unless this is altogether a distinct fragment, connected, possibly, with chap. ix. 8, the abruptness suggests the inference that the plots of the men of Anathoth against him had suddenly been brought under his notice. (19) Like a lamb or an ox.-Better, as a tame lamb, i.e., one, like the ewe-lamb of Nathan's parable (2 Sam. xii. 3), brought up in the home of its master. There is no "or" in the Hebrew, and the translators seem to have mistaken the adjective (tame) for a noun. The LXX., Vulg., and Luther agree in the rendering now given. Assuming the earlier date of Isa. liii, 7, the words would seem to have been an allusive reference to the sufferer there described. The tree with the fruit thereof.-Literally, the tree with its bread, here taken for its "fruit." Some scholars, however, render the word "sap," or adopt a reading which gives that meaning. The phrase would seem to be proverbial for total destruction, not of the man only, but of his work. While the prophet's life had been innocent and unsuspecting, his own townsmen were conspiring to crush him, and bury his name and work in oblivion. The sufferings of the prophet present, in this matter, a parallel to those of the Christ (Luke iv. 29). (20) Let me see thy vengeance on them.-The prayer, like that of the so-called vindictive Psalms (lxix., cix), belongs to the earlier stage of the religious life when righteous indignation against evil is not yet tempered by the higher law of forgiveness. As such it is not to be imitated by Christians, but neither is it to be hastily condemned. The appeal to a higher judge, the desire to leave vengeance in His hands, is in itself a victory over the impulse to take vengeance into our own hands. Through it, in most cases, the sufferer from wrong must pass before he can attain to the higher and more Christ-like temper which utters itself in the prayer, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke xxiii. 34). Unto thee have I revealed my cause.-i.e., laid it bare before thee. The thought and the phrase were characteristic of Jeremiah, and meet us again in chap. xx. 12. ments: Wherefore doth the way of the (21) Thus saith the Lord.-The "men of Anathoth," it would seem, had at first tried to stop the preaching of Jeremiah by threats, as Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, had tried to stop that of Amos (Amos vii. 12, 13). Failing in this, after the manner of the men of Nazareth in their attack on the Christ (Luke iv. 28, 29), and of the later Jews in their dealings with St. Paul, they conspired against his life (Acts ix. 23, 29, xiv. 19, xxiii. 12). (22) The young men.-As the context shows, these are the men of military age who would die fighting, while their children should perish from famine within the walls of the besieged cities. (23) There shall be no remnant of them.-In Ezra ii. 23; Neh. vii. 27 we find that 128 of Anathoth returned from exile. The words must therefore be limited either to the men who had conspired against the prophet, or to the complete deportation of its inhabitants. The situation of Anathoth, about three or four miles north-east of Jerusalem, would expose it to the full fury of the invasion. The words are apparently spoken with reference to the ever-recurring burden of Isaiah's prophecy that "a remnant" should return (Isa. i. 9, vi. 13, x. 21). The conspirators of Anathoth were excluded from that promise. Even the year of their visitation.-See Notes on chaps. viii. 12, x. 15. (1) Yet let me talk with thee.-The soul of the prophet is vexed, as had been the soul of Job (chap. xxi. 7), of Asaph (Ps. lxxiii.), and others, by the apparent anomalies of the divine government. He owns as a general truth that God is righteous, "yet," he adds, I will speak (or argue) my cause (literally, causes) with Thee. He will question the divine Judge till his doubt is removed. And the question is the everrecurring one, Wherefore doth the way of the wicked a Ps. 17. 3. 2 Heb., with thee. end. Foes in the Household. wicked prosper? wherefore are all they 1 Heb., they go on. they said, He shall not see our last happy that deal very treacherously? (2) Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. (3) But thou, O LORD, "knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward Ps. 107. 34. thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the c ch. 9. 4. day of slaughter. (4) How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, 'for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because 3 Or, they cried 4 Heb.,good things. prosper? (Comp. Ps. xxxvii. 1, lxxiii. 3.) The "treacherous dealing" implies a reference to the conspirators of the previous chapter. Wherefore are all they happy. .-Better, at rest, or secure. (2) Thou hast planted them.-The words express, of course, the questioning distrust of the prophet. The wicked flourish, so that one would think God had indeed planted them. Yet all the while they were mocking Him with hypocritical worship (here we have an echo of Isa. xxix. 13), uttering His name with their lips while He was far from that innermost being which the Hebrew symbolised by the "reins." (3) Thou, Ŏ Lord, knowest me.-Like all faithful sufferers from evil-doers before and after him, the prophet appeals to the righteous Judge, who knows how falsely he has been accused. In words in which the natural impatience of suffering shows itself as clearly as in the complaints of Pss. lxix., cix., he asks that the judgment may be immediate, open, terrible. As if recalling the very phrase which he had himself but lately used (chap. xi. 19), he prays that they too may be as "sheep for the slaughter," dragged or torn away from their security to the righteous penalty of their wrong. Prepare.-Better, devote. The Hebrew word, as in chap. vi. 4, involves the idea of consecration. (4) How long shall the land mourn The Hebrew punctuation gives a different division, How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field (i.e., all the open country) wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, cattle and birds perish, for, say they, he (i.e., the prophet) will not see our latter end (i.e., we shall outlive him, though he prophesies our destruction). A slightly different reading, however, adopted by the LXX. and by some modern scholars, would give for the last clause, "He (God) seeth not our ways," i.e., will leave us unpunished. The opening words point to a time of distress, probably of drought and famine. But out of this wretchedness, the men who were Jeremiah's enemies the forestallers, and monopolists, and usurers of the time-continued to enrich themselves, and scornfully defied all his warnings. (5) If thou hast run with the footmen.-The prophet is compelled to make answer to himself, and the voice of Jehovah is heard in his inmost soul rebuking his impatience. What are the petty troubles that fall on him compared with what others suffer, with what might come on himself? The thought is not unlike that with which St. Paul comforts the (5) If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? (6) For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak 4fair words unto thee. (7) I have forsaken mine house, I have Corinthians (1 Cor. x. 13), or what we find in Heb. xii. 4. The meaning of the first clanse is plain enough. The man who was wearied in a foot-race should not venture (as Elijah, e.g., had done, 1 Kings xviii. 46) to measure his speed against that of horses. The latter ("the swelling of Jordan") suggests the thoughts of the turbid stream of the river overflowing its banks in the time of harvest (Josh. iii. 15; 1 Chron. xii. 15). In Zech. xi. 3, however, the same phrase (there translated " the pride of Jordan") is used apparently in connection with the lions and other beasts of prey that haunted the jungle on its banks (chap. xlix. 19; 1. 44), and that may be the thought here. Commentators differ, and there are no data for deciding. In any case, there is no need for the interpolated words of the English Version. The sentence should run, "In a land of peace thou art secure (i.e., it is easy to be tranquil when danger is not pressing). What wilt thou in the swelling (or, amid the pride) of Jordan? (6) Thy brethren.-It is not certain whether we are to think actually of the sons of the same father, or only of the men of Anathoth (chap. xi. 23), as belonging to the same section of the priesthood. The language of chap. ix. 5 favours the more literal rendering. In any case, it is interesting to note that the proverb which our Lord more than once quotes, “A prophet is not without honour save in his own country and in his own house" (Matt. xiii. 57; Luke iv. 24; John iv. 44), probably had its origin in the sad experience of Jeremiah. They have called a multitude after thee.Better, have shouted a full shout (in our English phrase, "have raised a hue and cry") after thee. (7) I have forsaken mine house.-The speaker is clearly Jehovah, but the connection with what precedes is not clear. Possibly we have, in this chapter, what in the writings of a poet would be called fragmentary pieces, written at intervals, and representing different phases of thought, and afterwards arranged without the devices of headings and titles and spaces with which modern bookmaking has made us familiar. So far as a sequence of thought is traceable, it is this, "Thou complainest of thine own sufferings, but there are worse things yet in store for thee; and what after all are thine, as compared with those that I, Jehovah, have brought upon mine heritage, dear as it is to me?" I have left.-Better, I have cast away. Into the hand.-Literally, the palm, as given over utterly, unable to resist, and not needing the "grasp of the whole hand. |