Expositor's Bible: The Book of Jeremiah, Chapters XXI.-LII.

362

xvi. 14, 15, xxiii. 7, 8.

363

i. 10.

364

xxiv. 6.

365

xxx. 5-8.

366

xxx. 12-17.

367

The two verses xxx. 10, 11, present some difficulty here. According to Kautzsch, and of course Giesebrecht, they are a later addition. The ideas can mostly be paralleled elsewhere in Jeremiah. Verse 11 b, "I will correct thee with judgment, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished," seems inconsistent with the context, which represents the punishment as actually inflicted. Still, the verses might be a genuine fragment misplaced. Driver (Introduction, 246) says: "The title of honour 'My servant' … appears to have formed the basis upon which II. Isaiah constructs his great conception of Jehovah's ideal servant."

368

xxxiii. 2, 3; "earth" is inserted with the LXX. Many regard these verses as a later addition, based on II. Isaiah: cf. Isa. xlviii. 6. The phrase "Jehovah is His name" and the terms "make" and "fashion" are specially common in II. Isaiah. xxxiii. so largely repeats the ideas of xxx. that it is most convenient to deal with them together.

369

xxxiii. 6-8, slightly paraphrased and condensed.

370

xxx. 8, 11, 16, 20. Cf. also the chapters on the prophecies concerning foreign nations.

371

i. 10.

372

xii. 14. xxx. 23, 24, is apparently a gloss, added as a suitable illustration of this chapter, from xxiii. 19, 20, which are almost identical with these two verses.

373

xxx. 21.

374

Cf. Chap. VIII.

375

xxiii. 3, 4.

376

iii. 15.

377

Isa. iv. 2, çemaḥ; A.V. and R.V. Branch, R.V. margin Shoot or Bud.

378

Isa. xi. 1.

379

xxv. 5, 6; repeated in xxxiii. 15, 16, with slight variations.

380

In xxxiii. 14-26 the permanence of the Davidic dynasty, the Levitical priests, and the people of Israel is solemnly assured by a Divine promise. These verses are not found in the LXX., and are considered by many to be a later addition; see Kautzsch, Giesebrecht, Cheyne, etc. They are mostly of a secondary character – 15, 16, = xxiii. 5, 6; here Jerusalem and not its king is called Jehovah C̦idqenu, possibly because the addition was made when there was no visible prospect of the restoration of the Davidic dynasty. Verse 17 is based on the original promise in 2 Sam. vii. 14-16, and is equivalent to Jer. xxii. 4, 30. The form and substance of the Divine promise imitate xxxi. 35-37.

381

xxx. 18-20.

382

xxxiii. 10-13.

383

xxiii. 3, 4.

384

iv. 19.

385

xxiii. 6.

386

xxx. 10.

387

Isa. xxxiii. 16-21: cf. xxxii. 15-18.

388

xxxiii. 11.

389

xxx. 9.

390

xxx. 21, as Kautzsch.

391

xxxiii. 9.

392

xxxiii., 7, etc.

393

vii. 15.

394

Amos ix. 14.

395

Micah ii. 12; Isa. xi. 10-16.

396

Hosea xi. 8.

397

Hosea xi. 9.

398

Hosea xiv.

399

So Giesebrecht, reading with Jerome and Targum l'margô'ô for the obscure and obviously corrupt l'hargî'ô. The other versions vary widely in their readings.

400

R.V. "with lovingkindness have I drawn thee," R.V. margin "have I continued lovingkindness unto thee"; the word for "drawn" occurs also in Hosea xi. 4, "I drew them … with bands of love."

401

So Giesebrecht's conjecture of bocerim (vintages), for the nocerim (watchmen, R.V.). The latter is usually explained of the watcher who looked for the appearance of the new moon, in order to determine the time of the feasts. The practice is stated on negative grounds to be post-exilic, but seems likely to be ancient. On the other hand "vintagers" seems a natural sequel to the preceding clauses.

402

According to the reading of the LXX. and the Targum, the Hebrew Text has (as R.V.) "O Jehovah, save Thy people."

403

iii. 21.

404

Isaiah does not mention Benjamin.

405

"Which is Bethlehem," in Genesis, is probably a later explanatory addition; and the explanation is not necessarily a mistake. Cf. Matt. ii. 18.

406

1 Kings xv. 17.

407

xl. 1.

408

LXX. omits verse 17 b, i. e. from "Jehovah" to "border."

409

Slightly paraphrased.

410

More literally as R.V., "I do earnestly remember him still."

411

The Hebrew Text has the same word, "tamrurim," here that is used in verse 15 in the phrase "bekhi tamrurim," "weeping of bitternesses" or "bitter weeping." It is difficult to believe that the coincidence is accidental, and Hebrew literature is given to paronomasia; at the same time the distance of the words and the complete absence of point in this particular instance are remarkable. The LXX., not understanding the word, represented it more suo by the similar Greek word τιμωρίαν, which may indicate that the original reading was "timorim," and the assimilation to "tamrurim" may be a scribe's caprice. In any case, the word here connects with "tamar," a palm, the post being made of or like a palm tree. Cf. Giesebrecht, Orelli, Cheyne, etc.

412

Giesebrecht treats verses 21-26 as a later addition, but this seems unnecessary.

413

So Kautzsch.

414

Cf. Streane, Cambridge Bible.

415

Zech. iv. 1.

416

xxiii, 25-32, xxvii. 9, xxix. 8: cf. Deut. xiii. 1-5.

417

Cf. Hosea ii. 23, "I will sow her unto Me in the earth" (or land), in reference to Jezreel, understood as "Whom God soweth" (R.V. margin).

418

i. 10-12.

419

2 Kings xxiii. 25.

420

xv. 1-4.

421

Ezek. xviii. 20: cf. Cheyne, Jeremiah (Men of the Bible), p. 150.

422

Isa. xi. 13.

423

Exod. xxiv. 7.

424

I.e. in the sections generally acknowledged.

425

Hosea ii. 18, vi. 7, viii. 1.

426

xxxiv.

427

Cf. xxxiv. 14 with Deut. xv. 12 and Exod. xxi. 2.

428

Cf. Prof. Adeney's Ezra, Nehemiah, etc., in this series.

429

So also Kautzsch, Reuss, Sugfried, and Stade. The same phrase is thus translated in iii. 14.

430

"I was Baal" = "ba'alti."

431

ἠμέλησα.

432

נצלתי; נצל occurs in xiv. 19, and is translated by A.V. and R.V. "loathed."

433

We usually underrate the proportion of Jews who embraced Christianity. Hellenistic Judaism disappeared as Christianity became widely diffused, and was probably for the most part absorbed into the new faith.

434

iii. 16, slightly paraphrased.

435

xvii. 1.

436

xxiv. 7.

437

xxxii. 39, 40.

438

1 Sam. x. 26.

439

Deut. vi. 5, 6.

440

Gen. viii. 22 (J.).

441

Verses 35-37 occur in the LXX. in the order 37, 35, 36. They are considered by many critics to be a later addition. The most remarkable feature of the paragraph is the clause translated by the Authorised Version "which divideth [Revised Version, text "stirreth up," margin "stilleth"] the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of Hosts is His name." This whole clause is taken word for word from Isa. li. 15, "I am Jehovah thy God, which stirreth up," etc. It seems clear that either this clause or 35-37 as a whole were added by an editor acquainted with II. Isaiah. The prophecy, as it stands in the Masoretic text, is concluded by a detailed description of the site of the restored Jerusalem. The contrast between the glorious vision of the New Israel and these architectural specifications is almost grotesque. Verses 38-40 are regarded by many as a later addition; and even if they are by Jeremiah, they form an independent prophecy and have no connection with the rest of the chapter. Our knowledge of the geographical points mentioned is not sufficient to enable us to define the site assigned to the restored city. The point of verse 40 is that the most unclean districts of the ancient city shall partake of the sanctity of the New Jerusalem.

442

xxxii. 40.

443

xxxi. 26.

444

Heb. ix. 10.

445

Gal. iv. 24, 25.

446

Histoire du Peuple d'Israel, iii., 340.

447

Renan, iii., 340.

448

Renan, iii., 425.

449

We have the idea of a spiritual covenant in Isa. lix. 21, "This is My covenant with them: … My spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, … from henceforth and for ever"; but nothing is said as to a new covenant.

450

Luke xxii. 20; 1 Cor. xi. 25. The word "new" is omitted by Codd. Sin. and Vat. and the R.V. in Matt. xxvi. 28 and Mark xiv. 24.

451

2 Cor. iii. 6.

452

xxxiii. 15.

453

2 Macc. ii. 1-8.

454

2 Macc. xv. 12-16.

455

Ecclus. xlix. 6, 7.

456

Sometimes appended to the Book of Baruch as a sixth chapter.

457

Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, art. "Jeremiah."

458

Hist., iii., 251, 305.