Jeremiah 9:2

Now, to justify his willingness to leave them, he shows, 1. What he himself had observed among them. (1.) He would not think of leaving them because they were poor and in distress, but because they were wicked. [1.] They were filthy: They are all adulterers, that is, the generality of them are, ch.

Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men,.... Such as travellers take up with in a desert, when they are benighted, and cannot reach a town or village.

O that I had in the wilderness - In the eastern countries there are no such inns or houses of entertainment as those in Europe. There are in different places public buildings called caravanserais, where travelers may lodge: but they are without furniture of any kind, and without food. Indeed they are often without a root being mere walls for a protection against the wild beasts of the desert.

lodging-place--a caravanseral for caravans, or companies travelling in the desert, remote from towns. It was a square building enclosing an open court.

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From their punishment the prophet now turns to their sins. Jer 9:2 The prophet utters the wish that he might be spared his daily striving, and in some lone wilderness give way to his sorrow, without restraint. A lodging place - It was usual to build in the desert, either by private charity or at the public expense, caravanserais, to receive travelers for a single night, who had however to bring their own supplies with them. An assembly - Or, a gang. Treacherous - Faithless toward one another. Jer 9:3 Rather, “And they bend their tongue to be their bow of lies, i. e.” just as men before a battle get their bows ready, so they of set purpose make ready to do mischief, only their arrows are lying words: “neither do they rule faithfully in the land, i. e.” Judaea. Jer 9:4 In a state of such utter lawlessness, the bonds of mutual confidence are relaxed, and suspicion takes its place. Utterly supplant - An allusion to the name of Jacob Gen 27:36. It might be rendered, “every brother is a thorough Jacob.” Will walk with slanders - Or, slandereth. Jer 9:6 A continuation of the warning given in Jer 9:4. “Trust no one: for thou dwellest surrounded by deceit on every side.” Their rejection of God is the result of their want of honesty in their dealings with one another 1Jn 4:20. Jer 9:7 I will melt them, and try them - The punishment is corrective rather than retributive. The terms used are those of the refiner of metals, the first being the smelting to separate the pure metal from the ore; the second the testing to see whether the metal is pure, or still mixed with alloy. God will put the nation into the crucible of tribulation, that whatever is evil being consumed in the fire, all there is in them of good may be purified. For how shall I do ... […]