Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Jeremiah 18:11 - 18:11
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Application of the emblem to Judah. - Jer 18:11. "And now speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus hath Jahveh said: Behold, I frame against you evil and devise against you a device. Return ye, now, each from his evil way, and better your ways and your doings. Jer 18:12. But they say: There is no use! For our imaginations will we follow, and each do the stubbornness of his evil heart. Jer 18:13. Therefore thus hath Jahveh said: Ask now among the heathen! who hath heard the like? A very horrible thing hath the virgin of Israel done! Jer 18:14. Does the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field? or do strange, cold trickling waters dry up? Jer 18:15. For my people hath forgotten me; to the vanity they offer odours; they have made them to stumble upon their ways, the everlasting paths, to walk in by-paths, a way not cast up. Jer 18:16. To make their land a dismay, a perpetual hissing, every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and shake his head. Jer 18:17. Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; with the back and not with the face will I look upon them in the day of their ruin."
Jer 18:11-12
In Jer 18:11 and Jer 18:12 what was said at Jer 18:6. is applied to Judah. יָצַר, from in sense of prepare (cf. Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26), is chosen with special reference to the potter (יֹוצֵר). מַחֲשָׁבָה, the thought, design, here in virtue of the parallelism: evil plot, as often both with and without רָעָה; cf. Est 8:3, Est 8:5; Est 9:25; Eze 38:10. The call to repentance runs much as do Jer 35:15 and Jer 7:3. - But this call the people reject disdainfully, replying that they are resolved to abide by their evil courses. וְאָֽמְרוּ, not: they said, but: they say; the perf. consec. of the action repeating itself at the present time; cf. Ew. 342, b. 1. נֹואָשׁ as in Jer 2:25; on "stubbornness of their evil heart," cf. Jer 3:17. By this answer the prophet makes them condemn themselves out of their own mouth; cf. Isa 28:15; Isa 30:10.
Jer 18:13-14
Such obduracy is unheard of amongst the peoples; cf. a like idea in Jer 2:10. שַׁעֲרֻרִת = שַׁעֲרוּרָה, Jer 5:30. מְאֹד belongs to the verb: horrible things hath Israel very much done = very horrible things have they done. The idea is strengthened by Israel's being designated a virgin (see on Jer 14:17). One could hardly believe that a virgin could be guilty of such barefaced and determined wickedness. In Jer 18:14. the public conduct is further described; and first, it is illustrated by a picture drawn from natural history, designed to fill the people with shame for their unnatural conduct. But the significance of the picture is disputed. The questions have a negative force: does it forsake? = it does not forsake. The force of the first question is conditioned by the view taken of מִצּוּר ; and שָׂדַי may be either genitive to צוּר, or it may be the accusative of the object, and be either a poetic form for שָׂדֶה, or plural c. suff. 1. pers. (my fields). Chr. B. Mich., Schur., Ros., Maur., Neum. translate according to the latter view: Does the snow of Lebanon descending from the rock forsake my fields? i.e., does it ever cease, flowing down from the rock, to water my fields, the fields of my people? To this view, however, it is to be opposed, a. that "from the rock" thus appears superfluous, at least not in its proper place, since, according to the sense given, it would belong to "snow of Lebanon;" b. that the figure contains no real illustrative truth. The watering of the fields of God's people, i.e., of Palestine or Judah, by the snow of Lebanon could be brought about only by the water from the melting snow of Lebanon soaking into the ground, and so feeding the springs of the country. But this view of the supply for the springs that watered the land cannot be supposed to be a fact of natural history so well known that the prophet could found an argument on it. Most recent commentators therefore join מִצּוּר שָׂדַי, and translate: does the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field (does it disappear)? The use of עַזַב with מִן is unexampled, but is analogous to עַזַב חֶסֶד מֵעִם, Gen 24:27, where, however, עַזַב is used transitively.
But even when translated as above, "rock of the field" is variously understood. Hitz. will have it to be Mount Zion, which in Jer 17:3 is called my mountain in the field, and Jer 21:13, rock of the plain; and says the trickling waters are the waters of Gihon, these being the only never-drying water of Jerusalem, the origin of which has never been known, and may have been commonly held to be from the snow of Lebanon. Graf and Näg., again, have justly objected that the connection between the snow of Lebanon and the water-springs of Zion is of too doubtful a kind, and does not become probable by appeal to Psa 133:3, where the dew of Hermon is said to descend on the mountains of Zion. For it is perfectly possible that a heavy dew after warm days might be carried to Jerusalem by means of the cool current of air coming down from the north over Hermon (cf. Del. on Psa 133:3); but not that the water of the springs of Jerusalem should have come from Lebanon. Like Ew., Umbr., Graf, and Näg., we therefore understand the rock of the field to be Lebanon itself. But it is not so called as being a detached, commanding rocky mountain, for this is not involved in the sig. of שָׂדַי (see on Jer 17:3); nor as bulwark of the field (Näg.), for צוּר does not mean bulwark, and the change of מִצּוּר into מְצֹור, from מָצֹור, a hemming in, siege, would give a most unsuitable figure. We hold the "field" to be the land of Israel, whence seen, the summit of Lebanon, and especially the peak of Hermon covered with eternal snows might very well be called the rock of the field.
(Note: "Hermon is not a conical mountain like Tabor, with a single lofty peak and a well-defined base, but a whole mountain mass of many days' journey in circuit, with a broad crest of summits. The highest of these lie within the Holy Land, and, according to the measurements of the English engineers, Majors Scott and Robe (1840), rise to a height of 9376 English feet - summits encompassed by far-stretching mountain ridges, from whose deep gloomy valleys the chief rivers of the country take their rise.... Behind the dark green foremost range (that having valleys clothed with pine and oak forests) high mountains raise their domes aloft; there is a fir wood sprinkled with snow as with silver, a marvellous mingling of bright and dark; and behind these rises the broad central ridge with its peaks covered with a deep and all but everlasting snows." - Van de Velde, Reise, i. S. 96f. Therewith cf. Robins. Phys. Geogr. p. 315: "In the ravines round about the highest of the two peaks, snow, or rather ice, lies the whole year round. In summer this gives the mountain, when seen from a distance, the appearance of being surrounded with radiant stripes descending from its crown.")
Observe the omission of the article before Lebanon, whereby it comes about that the name is joined appellatively to "snow:" the Lebanon-snow. And accordingly we regard the waters as those which trickle down from Hermon. The wealth of springs in Lebanon is well known, and the trickling water of Lebanon is used as an illustration in Son 4:15. יִנָּֽתְשׁוּ, are rooted up, strikes us as singular, since "root up" seems suitable neither for the drying up of springs, nor for: to be checked in their course. Dav. Kimchi thought, therefore, it stood for ,יִנָּֽתְשׁוּomittuntur; but this word has not this signification. Probably a transposition has taken place, so that we have ינתשׁו for יִנָּֽשְׁתוּ, since for נָשַׁת in Niph. the sig. dry up is certified by Isa 19:5. The predicate, too, זָרִים is singular. Strange waters are in 2Ki 19:24 waters belonging to others; but this will not do here. So Ew. derives זָר from זָרַר, press, urge, and correspondingly, קָרִים from קוּר, spring, well up: waters pouring forth with fierce pressure. In this case, however, the following נֹוזְלִים would be superfluous, or at least feeble. Then, מַיִם קָרִים, Pro 25:25, is cold water; and besides, זָרַר means constinxit, compressit, of which root-meaning the sig. to press forth is a contradiction. There is therefore nothing for it but to keep to the sig. strange for זָרִים; strange waters = waters coming from afar, whose springs are not known, so that they could be stopped up. The predicate cold is quite in keeping, for cold waters do not readily dry up, the coldness being a protection against evaporation. Such, then, will be the meaning of the verse: As the Lebanon-snow does not forsake the rock, so the waters trickling thence do not dry up. From the application of this general idea, that in inanimate nature faithfulness and constancy are found, to Israel's bearing towards God arises a deeper significance, which shows why this figure was chosen. The rock in the field points to the Rock of Israel as the everlasting rock, rock of ages (Isa 30:29 and Isa 26:4), and the cold, i.e., refreshing waters, which trickle from the rock of the field, point to Jahveh, the fountain of living water, Jer 2:13 and Jer 17:13. Although the snow does not forsake Lebanon, Israel has forgotten the fountain of living water from which water of life flows to it; cf. Jer 2:13.
Jer 18:15-17
The application at Jer 18:15 is introduced by a causal כִּי. Ew. wrongly translates: that my people forgot me. כִּי means for; and the causal import is founded on the main idea of Jer 18:13 : A very horrible thing hath Israel done; for it hath done that which is unheard of in the natural world, it hath forsaken me, the rock of safety; cf. Jer 2:32. They burn odours, i.e., kindle sacrifices, to the vanity, i.e., the null gods, cf. Psa 31:7, i.e., to Baal, Jer 7:9; Jer 11:13, Jer 11:17. The subject to יַכְשִׁלוּם may be most simply supplied from the idea of "the vanity:" the null gods made them to stumble; cf. for this idea 2Ch 28:23. This seems more natural than to leave the subject indefinite, in which case the false prophets (cf. Jer 23:27) or the priests, or other seducers, would be the moving spirits. "The ancient paths" is apposition to "their ways:" upon their ways, the paths of the old time, i.e., not, however, the good old believing times, from whose ways the Israelites have but recently diverged. For עֹולָם never denotes the time not very long passed away, but always old, immemorial time, here specially the time of the patriarchs, who walked on the right paths of faithfulness to God, as in Jer 6:16. Hitz. and Graf have taken "the ancient paths" as subject: the old paths have made the Israelites to stumble on their ways, which gives a most unnatural idea, while the "paths of the earliest time" is weakened into "the example of their ancestors;" and besides, the parallelism is destroyed. As "by-paths" is defined by the apposition "a way not cast up," so is "on their ways" by "the ancient paths." The Chet. שְׁבוּלֵי is found only here; the Keri is formed after Psa 77:20. A way not cast up is one on which one cannot advance, reach the goal, or on which one suffers hurt and perishes. - In Jer 18:16 the consequences of these doings are spoken of as having been wrought out by themselves, in order thus to bring out the God-ordained causal nexus between actions and their consequences. To make their land an object of horror to all that set foot on it. שְׁרוּקֹות occurs only here, while the Keri שְׁרִיקֹות is found only in Jdg 5:16 for the piping of shepherds, from שָׁרַק, to hiss, to pipe. In connection with שַׁמָּה as expression of horror or amazement, Jeremiah elsewhere uses only שְׁרֵקָה, cf. Jer 19:8; Jer 25:9, Jer 25:18; Jer 29:18; Jer 51:37, so that here the vowelling should perhaps be שְׁרוּקַת. The word does not here denote the hissing = hissing down or against one, by way of contempt, but the sound midway between hissing and whistling which escapes one when one looks on something appalling. On "every one that passeth by shall be dismayed," cf. 1Ki 9:8. הֵנִיעַ בְּרֹאשֹׁו only here = הֵנִיעַ רֹאשׁ, to move the head to and fro, shake the head; a gesture of malicious amazement, cf. Psa 22:8; Psa 109:25, like מְנֹוד רֹאשׁ, Psa 44:15. - In Jer 18:17 the Lord discloses the coming punishment. Like an east wind, i.e., a violent storm-wind (cf. Psa 48:8), will I scatter them, cf. Jer 13:24. Because they have turned to Him the back and not the face (cf. Jer 2:27), so will He turn His back on them in the day of their ruin, cf. Eze 35:5.