Jeremiah15chapter 15

Jeremiah 15:1

“Then said the Lord unto me,.... In answer to his expostulations and entreaties, Jer 14:19, though Moses and Samuel stood before me; to pray before me, as the Targum; to make intercession for the people. Standing is a prayer gesture. The Jews say there is no standing but prayer, or that is meant when it is mentioned; See Gill on Mat 6:5. Moses and Samuel were named, because they were eminent for prayer, and had success in it, for the people of Israel. Of Moses, see Exo 32:11 and of Samuel, see 1Sa 7:9 and of both, Psa 99:”

Jeremiah 15:1

“Cast them out of my sight - Rather, “send them out of My presence, and let them go away.” The prophet is to dismiss them, because their mediators, Moses and Samuel, whose intercession had been accepted in old times (marginal references), would intercede now in vain.”

Jeremiah 15:1

“The putting of this as a case, Though they should stand before me, supposes that they do not, and is an intimation that saints in heaven are not intercessors for saints on earth. It is the prerogative of the Eternal Word to be the only Mediator in the other world, whatever Moses, and Samuel, and others were in this. He condemns them all to one destroying judgment or other.”

Jeremiah 15:2

“Whither shall we go forth? - Such as are for death, to death - Some shall be destroyed by the pestilence, here termed death. See Jer 18:21. Others shall be slain by the sword in battle, and in the sackage of cities. Others shall perish by famine, shall be starved to death through the mere want of the necessaries of life; and the rest shall go into captivity. There shall be different sorts of punishments inflicted on them according to the nature of their transgressions. Some shall be punished in one way, and some in another.”

Jeremiah 15:3

“And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord,.... Or four families (x), and these very devouring ones; that is, four sorts of punishment; and so the Targum, "four evil punishments;'' which are after mentioned.”

Jeremiah 15:3

“Kinds - literally, as the margin, i. e., classes of things. The first is to destroy the living, the other three to mutilate and consume the dead. To tear - literally, “to drag along the ground.” It forcibly expresses the contumely to which the bodies of the slain will be exposed.”

Jeremiah 15:4

“I will cause them to be removed into an kingdoms of the earth - This seems to have respect to the succeeding state of the Jews in their different generations; and never was there a prophecy more literally fulfilled; and it is still a standing monument of Divine truth. Let infidelity cast its eyes on the scattered Jews whom it may meet with in every civilized nation of the world; and then let it deny the truth of this prophecy, if it can.”

Jeremiah 15:4

“Manasseh - Manasseh is here named as the son of Hezekiah for his shame, because of his degeneracy from so good a parent; it is expressly said, 2 Kings xxiii, 26, that not withstanding Josiah's reformation, yet the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his wrath, kindled against Judah, for the provocations of Manasseh.”

Jeremiah 15:4

“The greatest part of a generation was worn off since Manasseh's time, yet his sin is brought into the account; as in Jerusalem's last ruin God brought upon it all the righteous blood shed on the earth, to show how heavy the guilt of blood will light and lie somewhere, sooner or later, and that reprieves are not pardons.”

Jeremiah 15:6

“I am weary with repenting - With repeatedly changing my purpose. I have often, after purposing to punish, showed them mercy. I will do it no longer; it is useless. I took them often at their promise, and in every instance they have failed.”

Jeremiah 15:7

I will fan them ... - Or, “I have winnowed them with a winnowing shovel.” The “gates of the land” mean the places by which men enter or leave it. As God winnows them they are driven out of the land through all its outlets in every direction. I will bereave - Rather, “I have bereaved, I have destroyed my people.” Omit “of children.” Since they return not ... - Rather, “from their ways they have not returned.”

Jeremiah 15:7

“A fan - Not a purging fan by affliction, to separate their chaff and dross from them, but a scattering fan. In the gates - This is added in pursuit of the metaphor of fanning, men usually chusing barn-doors to fan at, that they may have the advantage of the wind.”

Jeremiah 15:8

“Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas,.... Their husbands being slain; not in the times of Ahaz, when a hundred and twenty thousand men were slain in one day in Judah, by Pekah the son of Remaliah, 2Ch 28:6, as Kimchi thinks; but in the times of Zedekiah, at the siege of Jerusalem, and the taking of it, and in the Babylonish captivity before predicted.”

Jeremiah 15:8

Translate, “I have brought upon them, even upon the mother of the young man, a spoiler etc.” The word rendered “young man” means a picked warrior. The mother has borne a valiant champion; but neither his prowess nor the numerous offspring of the other can avail to save those who gave them birth; war bereaves both alike. At noonday - i. e., unexpectedly, as armies used to rest at noon (see Jer 6:4 note). I have caused him ... - Rather, “I have brought suddenly upon her,” the mother of the young warrior, “anguish and terrors.”

Jeremiah 15:8

“Their widows--My people's (Jer 15:7). have brought--prophetical past: I will bring. mother of the young men--"mother" is collective; after the "widows," He naturally mentions bereavement of their sons ("young men"), brought on the "mothers" by "the spoiler"; it was owing to the number of men slain that the "widows" were so many [CALVIN].”

Jeremiah 15:8-9

“A dreadful slaughter is here described. First, The wives are deprived of their husbands: Their widows are increased above the sand of the seas, so numerous have they now grown. It was promised that the men of Israel (for those only were numbered) should be as the sand of the sea for multitude; but now they shall be all cut off, and their widows shall be so.”

Jeremiah 15:9

“She hath been ashamed - Or, “is ashamed.” To a Hebrew mother to be childless was a disgrace. Many consider that Jer 15:7-9 refer to the battle of Megiddo, and depict the consternation of Jerusalem at that sad event. If so, in the sun going down while it was day, there will be a reference to the eclipse on September 30, 610 b.c.”

Jeremiah 15:9

“Seven being the perfect number indicates full fruitfulness. languisheth--because not even one is left of all her sons (Jer 15:8). sun is gone down while . . . yet day--Fortune deserts her at the very height of her prosperity (Am 8:9). she . . . ashamed--The mothers (she being collective) are put to the shame of disappointed hopes through the loss of all their children.”

Jeremiah 15:10

“A man of contention to the whole earth! - To the whole Land, to all his countrymen; though he had done nothing to merit their displeasure.”

Jeremiah 15:10

“He was a peaceable man, gave no provocation to any, nor was apt to resent the provocations given him, and yet a man of strife, not a man striving, but a man striven with; he was for peace, but, when he spoke, they were for war. And, whatever they pretended, that which was the real cause of their quarrels with him was his faithfulness to God and to their souls.”

Jeremiah 15:11

“Shall be well with thy remnant - Or, thy loosing shall be for good; in the sense of being set free, deliverance. To entreat thee well ... - Rather, “to supplicate thee in the time of evil etc.;” fulfilled in Jer 21:1-2; Jer 37:3; Jer 42:2.”

Jeremiah 15:11

“It is in the original expressed in the form of an oath: " If I take not care of thee, let me never be counted faithful; verily it shall go well with thy remnant, with the remainder of thy life" (for so the word signifies); "the residue of thy days shall be more comfortable to thee than those hitherto have been." Thy end shall be good; so the Chaldee reads it.”

Jeremiah 15:12

“Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? - Shall our weak forces be able to oppose and overcome the powers of the Chaldeans? נחשת nechasheth, which we here translate steel, property signifies brass or copper united with tin, which gives it much hardness, and enables it to bear a good edge.”

Jeremiah 15:12

"Can one break iron, (even) the northern iron, and brass," on the ground that English Version makes ordinary iron not so hard as brass. But it is not brass, but a particular mixture of iron and brass, which is represented as harder than common iron, which was probably then of inferior texture, owing to ignorance of modern modes of preparation.

Jeremiah 15:12

“The northern iron - As the northern iron and steel is the hardest, and no iron could break that, so God having edged and hardened their enemies, the Chaldeans, all opposition to them would signify nothing.”

Jeremiah 15:12

“They were continually clashing with him, and were rough and hard as iron; but Jeremiah, being armed with power and courage from on high, is as northern iron, which is naturally stronger, and as steel, which is hardened by art; and therefore they shall not prevail against him; compare this with Ezek. ii.”

Jeremiah 15:13

“Jeremiah is personally addressed in the verse, because he stood before God as the intercessor, representing the people. (1) God would give Judah’s treasures away for nothing; implying that He did not value them. (2) the cause of this contempt is Judah’s sins. (3) this is justified by Judah having committed them throughout her whole land.”

Jeremiah 15:13

“And it is their own iniquity that herein corrects them: It is for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. All parts of the country, even those which lay most remote, had contributed to the national guilt, and all shall now be brought to account. Let not one tribe lay the blame upon another, but each take shame to itself: It is for all thy sins in all thy borders.”

Jeremiah 15:14

“And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies,.... Not Jeremiah, but the Jews, to whom these words are continued. The meaning is, that they should go along with the Chaldeans out of their own land into theirs: into a land which thou knowest not; the land of Babylon; and there is another reading of the words in the margin, "I will cause thee to serve thine enemies (o), in a land that thou knowest not"; which is followed by the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions.”

Jeremiah 15:15

“This is the prayer of a man in bitter grief, whose human nature cannot at present submit to the divine will. God’s long-suffering toward the wicked seemed to the prophet to be the abandonment of himself to death; justice itself required that one who was suffering contumely for God’s sake should be delivered. Rebuke - i. e., reproach, contumely. Jer 15:16 Thy words were found - Jeremiah’s summons to the prophetic office had not been expected or sought for by him. I did eat them - i. e., I received them with joy.”

Jeremiah 15:15

“Contrast in this the law with the gospel (Lu 23:34; Ac 7:60). take me not away in thy long-suffering--By Thy long-suffering towards them, suffer them not meanwhile to take away my life. for thy sake I have suffered rebuke--the very words of the antitype, Jesus Christ (Ps 69:7, 22-28), which last compare with Jeremiah's prayer in the beginning of this verse.”

Jeremiah 15:16

"And your word shall be to me for gladness." It is not now, but "shall be"; for since at present your word is to me for imprisonments, for trials, for troubles, for defamations, for pains — yet the end of these shall be gladness. "And your word shall be to me for gladness and joy of my heart, because your name has been called upon me, Lord Almighty." And if Christ says it, the name of the Father has been called upon him.

Jeremiah 15:16

“The Keri reads, "Thy word." thy word . . . joy-- (Job 23:12; Ps 119:72, 111; compare Mt 13:44). called by thy name--I am Thine, Thy minister. So the antitype, Jesus Christ (Ex 23:21).”

Jeremiah 15:18

Now the so-called gods of the Greeks, unworthy of the name, are faithful neither in their essence nor in their promises, because they are not everywhere. The local deities amount to nothing over the course of time and undergo a natural extinction. For these reasons, the Word cries out against them, that "faith is not strong in them," that they are "waters that fail" and "there is no faith in them." But the God of all, who is indeed truly faithful, who is ever the same, says, "See now that I, even I am he," and "I change not."

Jeremiah 15:18

“Wilt thou be altogether unto me as - waters that fail? - Leaning either springs, which in the height of summer grow dry; or, like that phenomenon in the sandy desert, where, by a peculiar action of the air on the rising vapors, the resemblance of water is produced, so that the traveler, deceived, rejoices that he is come, in the sandy desert, to the verge of a beautiful lake; but the farther he travels, it is still at the same distance, and at last vanishes; and he finds the whole was an illusion, for the waters have failed.”

Jeremiah 15:18

"Pain," namely, the perpetual persecution to which he was exposed, and his being left by God without consolation and "alone." Contrast his feeling here with that in Jer 15:16, when he enjoyed the full presence of God, and was inspired by His words.

Jeremiah 15:19

“It is obvious that the text above was said not by Jerusalem but by a prophet. To him the Lord responds, "If you turn from the sins of the people, I likewise will turn you from tribulation toward joyfulness, and you will stand before my face like the angels stand in the presence of God daily, beholding his face." Also, if you separate the precious from the vile, you will become like my mouth.”

Jeremiah 15:19

“Therefore thus saith the Lord, if thou return,.... From thine unbelief, diffidence, and impenitence, and repent of them; expressed in the preceding verses: then will I bring thee again; or, "restore thee (s)"; pardon his sin, and return him to his post and place, to his office and ministry in it, and confirm and establish him therein: and thou shalt stand before me; not only as a petitioner for the people; see Jer 15:1, but as a servant of the Lord, attending to his word, and waiting his orders, and ready to execute them.”

Jeremiah 15:19

“Jeremiah had questioned God’s righteousness (see Jer 12:1 note); he is told, “If thou return,” if thou repent thee of thy doubts, and think only of thy duty, “then will I bring thee again, then will I cause thee again to stand before Me.” To stand before a person means to be his chief officer or vicegerent. It implies therefore the restoration of Jeremiah to the prophetic office. If thou take forth the precious from the vile - i. e., if thou cause the precious metal to come forth from the dross.”

Jeremiah 15:21

“And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked,.... The wicked Jews, Zedekiah and his courtiers, who imprisoned him: and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible; as kings and great men of the earth seem to be; or, "the violent", or "strong" (t), and mighty; that were stronger than he, that would use him with violence, and inject terror into him. (t) עריצים "violentorum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt; "fortium", V. L.”

Jeremiah 15:21

“I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked - From the power of this evil people. And I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible - Out of the power of the Chaldean armies. Every thing took place as God had promised, for no word of his can ever fall to the ground.”

Jeremiah 15:21

“God will so deliver them as to preserve them to his heavenly kingdom ( 2 Tim. iv. 18 ), and that is deliverance enough. There are many things that appear very frightful that yet do not prove at all hurtful to a good man.”