6
JER 1:6
7
JER 1:7
This excuse God holds of no account. As prophet to the nations, Jeremiah was not to make known his own thoughts or human wisdom, but the will and counsel of God which were to be revealed to him. This is signified by the clauses: for to all to whom I send thee, etc. The על belonging to תלך stands for אל , and does not indicate a hostile advance against any one. כל after על is not neuter, but refers to persons, or rather peoples; since to the relative אשׁר in this connection, עליהם is quite a natural completion; cf. Isaiah 8:12, and Ew. §331, c. Only to those men or peoples is he to go to whom God sends him; and to them he is to declare only what God commands him. And so he needs be in no anxiety on this head, that, as a youth, he has no experience in the matter of speaking.
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8
JER 1:8
Just as little needs youthful bashfulness or shy unwillingness to speak before high and mighty personages stand as a hindrance in the way of his accepting God's call. The Lord will be with him, so that he needs have no fear for any man. The suffix in מפ ניהם refers to all to whom God sends him (Jeremiah 1:7). These, enraged by the threatenings of punishment which he must proclaim to them, will seek to persecute him and put him to death (cf. Jeremiah 1:19); but God promises to rescue him from every distress and danger which the fulfilment of his duties can bring upon him. Yet God does not let the matter cease with this pledge; but, further, He consecrates him to his calling.
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15
JER 1:15
Jeremiah 1:15 is not the precise interpretation of the picture seen, but a direct statement of the afflictions about to fall on the inhabitants of Judah. " They will set each his throne. " The representatives of the kingdoms are meant, the kings and generals. To set one's throne ( נתן or שׂוּם ; cf. Jeremiah 43:10; Jeremiah 49:38) is a figure for the establishing of sovereignty. כּסא , seat or throne, is not the seat of judgment, but the throne of the sovereign; cf. the expression: set the throne upon these stones, Jeremiah 43:10; where a passing of judgment on the stones being out of the question, the only idea is the setting up of dominion, as is put beyond doubt by the parallel clause; to spread out his state carpet upon the stones. "Before the gates of Jerusalem:" not merely in order to besiege the city and occupy the outlets from it (Jerome and others), but to lord it over the city and its inhabitants. If we take the figurative expression in this sense, the further statement fits well into it, and we have no need to take refuge in Hitzig's unnatural view that these clauses are not dependent on נתנוּ וגו ' but on וּבאוּ . For the words: they set up their dominion against the calls of Jerusalem, and against all cities of Judah, give the suitable sense, that they will use violence against the walls and cities.
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16
JER 1:16
God holds judgment upon the inhabitants of Judah in this very way, viz., by bringing these nations and permitting them to set up their lordship before the gates of Jerusalem, and against all cities of Judah. The suffix in אותם refers to ישׁבי , Jeremiah 1:14, and אותם stands by later usage for אתּם , as frequently in Jer.; cf. Ew. §264, b. ' דּבּר משׁפּטים את־פ , speak judgment, properly, have a lawsuit with one, an expression peculiar to Jeremiah - cf. Jeremiah 4:12; Jeremiah 12:1; Jeremiah 39:5; Jeremiah 52:9, and 2 Kings 25:6 - is in substance equivalent to נשׁפּט את , plead with one, cf. Jeremiah 12:1 with Jeremiah 2:35, Ezekiel 20:35., and signifies not only remonstrating against wrong doing, but also the passing of condemnation, and so comprehends trial and sentencing; cf. Jeremiah 39:5; Jeremiah 42:9. "All their wickedness" is more exactly defined in the following relative clauses; it consists in their apostasy from God, and their worship of heathen gods and idols made by themselves; cf. Jeremiah 19:4, 1 Kings 11:33, 2 Kings 22:17. קטּר , offer odours, cause to rise in smoke, used not of the burning of incense alone, but of all offerings upon the altar, bloody offerings and meat-offerings; hence frequently in parallelism with זבח ; cf. Hosea 4:13; Hosea 11:2, etc. In the Pentateuch the Hiphil is used for this sense. Instead of the plural מעשׂי , many MSS give the singular מעשׂה as the ordinary expression for the productions of the hand, handiwork; cf. Jeremiah 25:6-7, Jeremiah 25:14; Jeremiah 32:30; 2 Kings 22:17, etc.; but the plural too is found in Jeremiah 44:8; 2 Chronicles 34:25, and is approved by these passages. The sense is no way affected by this variation.
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The divine call throws Jeremiah into terror. Knowing well his too great weakness for such an office, he exclaims: Ah, Lord Jahveh! I know not how to speak; for I am נער , i.e., young and inexperienced; cf. 1 Kings 3:7. This excuse shows that לא יד means something else than לא אישׁ דברים , by which Moses sought to repel God's summons. Moses was not ready of speech, he lacked the gift of utterance; Jeremiah, on the other hand, only thinks himself not yet equal to the task by reason of his youth and want of experience.
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