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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Jeremiah 11:18 - 11:18
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Evidence that Judah is Unreclaimable, and that the Sore Judgments Threatened cannot be Averted. - As a practical proof of the people's determination not to reform, we have in Jer 11:18-23 an account of the designs of the inhabitants of Anathoth against the prophet's life, inasmuch as it was their ill-will towards his prophecies that led them to this crime. They are determined not to hear the word of God, chiding and punishing them for their sins, and so to put the preacher of this word out of the way. - Jer 11:18. "And Jahveh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it; then showedst Thou me their doings. Jer 11:19. And I was as a tame lamb that is led to the slaughter, and knew not that they plotted designs against me: Let us destroy the three with the fruit thereof, and cut him off out of the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. Jer 11:20. But Jahveh of hosts, that judgeth justly, trieth reins and heart-I shall see Thy vengeance on them, for to Thee have I confided my case. Jer 11:21. Therefore thus hath Jahveh spoken against the men of Anathoth, that seek after thy life, saying, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of Jahveh, that thou die not by our hand. Jer 11:22. Therefore thus hath Jahveh of hosts spoken: Behold, I will punish them; the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and daughters shall die by famine. Jer 11:23. And a remnant shall not remain to them; for I bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation."
Jeremiah had not himself observed the designs of the people of Anathoth against his life, because the thing was carried on in secret; but the Lord made it known to him. אָז, then, sc. when I knew nought of their murderous intent; cf. Jer 11:19. "Their doings," i.e., those done in secret. Jer 11:19. כֶּבֶשׂ , agnus mansuetus, a tame pet-lamb, such as the Arabs used to keep, such as the Hebrews too, 2Sa 12:3, kept; familiar with the household, reared by them in the house, that does not suspect when it is being taken to be killed. In like manner Jeremiah had no suspicion that his countrymen were harbouring evil designs against him. These designs are quoted directly without לֵאמֹר. The saying is a figurative or proverbial one: we will destroy the tree בְּלַחְמֹו. This word is variously taken. The ordinary meaning, food for men and beasts, usually bread, seems not to be suitable. And so Hitz. wishes to read בְּלַחֹו, in its sap (cf. Deu 34:7; Eze 21:3), because לֶחֶם may mean grain, but it does not mean fruit. Näg. justly remarks against this view: What is here essential is simply the produce of the tree, furnished for the use of man. The word of the prophet was a food which they abhorred (cf. Jer 11:21). As לֶחֶם originally meant food, we here understand by it the edible product of the tree, that is, its fruit, in opposition to sap, wood, leaves. This interpretation is confirmed by the Arabic; the Arabs use both lahûmun and ukulu of the fruit of a tree, see ill. in Rosenm. Schol. ad h. l. The proverbial saying is given in plain words in the next clause. We will cut him (i.e., the prophet) off, etc.
Jer 11:20-23
Therefore Jeremiah calls upon the Lord, as the righteous judge and omniscient searcher of hearts, to punish his enemies. This verse is repeated almost verbally in Jer 20:12, and in substance in Jer 17:10. Who trieth reins and heart, and therefore knows that Jeremiah has done no evil. אֶרְאֶה is future as expressing certainty that God will interfere to punish; for to Him he has wholly committed his cause. גִּלִּיתִי, Pi. of גָּלָה, is taken by Hitz., Ew., etc. in the sense of גָּלַל: on Thee have I rolled over my cause; in support of this they adduce Psa 22:9; Psa 37:5; Pro 16:3, as parallel passages. It is true that this interpretation can be vindicated grammatically, for גלל might have assumed the form of גלה (Ew. §121, a). But the passages quoted are not at all decisive, since Jeremiah very frequently gives a new sense to quotations by making slight alterations on them; and in the passage cited we read גָּלַל אֵת רִיב. We therefore adhere, with Grot. and Ros., to the usual meaning of גָּלָה; understanding that in making known there is included the idea of entrusting, a force suggested by the construction with אֶל instead of לְ. רִיב, controversy, cause. - The prophet declares God's vengeance to the instigators of the plots against his life, Jer 11:21-23. The introductory formula in Jer 11:21 is repeated in Jer 11:22, on account of the long intervening parenthesis. "That thou diest not" is introduced by the וְ of consecution. The punishment is to fall upon the entire population of Anathoth; on the young men of military age (בַּחוּרִים), a violent death in war; on the children, death by famine consequent on the siege. Even though all had not had a share in the complot, yet were they at heart just as much alienated from God and ill-disposed towards His word. "Year of their visitation" is still dependent on "bring." This construction is simpler than taking שְׁנַת for accus. adverb., both here and in Jer 23:12.