Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 8:13 - 8:22

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 8:13 - 8:22


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Further Description of the Impending Punishment

v. 13. I will surely consume them, saith the Lord,
making a clean sweep of them all; there shall be no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig-tree, both of these plants representing unfruitful Israel, and the leaf shall fade. As it had been at the time of Isaiah, Isa_5:2, and as it later was at the time of Christ, Mat_21:19, so it was emphatically stated of Israel in the last years before the Chaldean invasion that the Lord was deeply disappointed in the fruit which He expected of the people as such. And the things that I have given them shall pass away from them, rather, "I will give them to those who shall overrun them," overwhelming and subduing them in the invasion which was here predicted.

v. 14. Why do we sit still?
So the prophet hears the people of Judah cry out in view of the impending calamity. Assemble yourselves, so they are represented as urging one another, and let us enter into the defensed cities, seeking security behind their buttressed walls, and let us be silent there, to perish after but a little respite; for the Lord, our God, hath put us to silence, having definitely determined their destruction, and given us water of gall to drink, a poisonous draught, which would surely result in their extermination, because we have sinned against the Lord, a realization which came to them when it was too late.

v. 15. We looked for peace,
still expecting deliverance, but no good came, their hope of blessing being utterly vain; and for a time of health, when healing would come to them, and behold trouble! So all the promises of the false prophets upon which the people had depended were found to be vain.

v. 16. The snorting of his, the invader's, horses was heard from Dan,
on the extreme northern border of Canaan, the prophet here seeing the Chaldean hordes advancing to subdue the country; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones, of the proud chargers of the Chaldean cavalry; for they are come and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the food and the treasures and everything of value, the city and those that dwell therein.

v. 17. For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you,
reptiles of a most poisonous kind, which will not be charmed, rendered harmless by soothing music, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord. The Chaldeans are here represented as cruel and destructive enemies, whose power no means could counteract. With this fate of his beloved nation before his eyes, the prophet breaks forth in a bitter lamentation.

v. 18. When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me,
literally, "O my exhilaration in sorrow! My heart very ill!" His sorrow was so great that he despaired of finding consolation. He hears the bitter complaint of his people,

v. 19. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people because of them that dwell in a far country,
a lament from the people in exile in distant lands: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her? namely, to deliver His people from their captivity and to lead them back to Jerusalem. But the divine justice asks in turn. Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities, with foreign gods? so that He was compelled, as it were, to carry out His punishment upon them.

v. 20. The harvest is past,
so the people continue to lament, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. As the farmer who expects a good harvest and is disappointed sees only failure and ruin before his eyes, so Israel despaired of deliverance.

v. 21. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt,
so the prophet once more cries out in bitter grief; I am black, deeply sad and mournful, his face expressing dark despair; astonishment hath taken hold on me, a horror and dread of the ultimate consequences.

v. 22. Is there no balm in Gilead?
the reference being to a balsam which was in wide use in the Orient for the cooling and healing of wounds. Is there no physician there? Because this balsam, found chiefly in the country east of Jordan, drawn from the terebinth-tree and similar plants, was considered so very healthful, many persons established themselves in that territory and practiced the profession of physician. But for the wound of the daughter of Zion no physician of the body was sufficient. Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of My people recovered? Why could not the healing of her illness proceed? For the wounds of the soul, for the illness of sin, there is no healing except by the Word of God's grace.