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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 16:1 - 16:9
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The Instruction Of Jehovah
v. 1. The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying,
v. 2. Thou shall not take thee a wife, neither shall thou have sons or daughters in this place, he should not have a family, although this was otherwise self-evident among the Jews.
v. 3. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land, all the persons belonging to the married estate being included in this enumeration:
v. 4. They shall die of grievous deaths, in a most miserable manner; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried, but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth, Cf. Jer_8:2; Jer_9:22; and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, perishing in some of the great scourges of the ancient world; and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth, the birds and beasts of prey devouring them where they fell.
v. 5. For thus saith the Lord, in bidding Jeremiah refrain from every show of sympathy for the fate of the apostate people, Enter not into the house of mourning, where some one had died and where people were giving loud expression to their grief, neither go to lament nor bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, saith the Lord, that upon which every blessing and all happiness depend, even loving-kindness and mercies, the source of every good and perfect gift.
v. 6. Both the great and the small shall die in this land, as a result of the withdrawal of His blessing; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, with the usual signs of mourning, nor cut themselves, making incisions in the flesh, nor make themselves bald for them, by shaving off a part of their hair, a token of excessive sorrow and grief in the Orient;
v. 7. neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, literally, "break bread for them," to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. The reference is to the custom of sending bread and wine to the house of such as had been bereaved by death in order to refresh and comfort them.
v. 8. Thou shall not also go into the house of feasting to sit with them to eat and to drink, to attend such a mournful feast of survivors in person and to show sympathy in any form whatever.
v. 9. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who here again makes announcement of His intention in a most solemn manner. Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, that is, "before your eyes," and in your days the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, this being the usual formula for announcing the full sweep of the Lord's wrath. Cf Isa_24:7-8; Rev_18:23.