These verses are almost the same as Jeremiah 6:12-15 ; the differences are in Jeremiah 6:10 . They are omitted in the Septuagint, and Hitzig regards them as an interpolation, at any rate from the point where the present passage coincides verbally with its parallel. His grounds are: Verses 8:13-9:1 Further description of the judgment; grief of Jeremiah. read more
There shall be no grapes , etc.; rather, there are no grapes … and the leaf is faded . It is the actual condition of things which the prophet describes. Elsewhere Judah is compared to a vine with bad grapes ( Jeremiah 2:21 ); here the vine does not even pretend to bear fruit. Another figure is that of a barren fig tree (comp. Matthew 21:19 ). And the things that I have given them , etc.; rather, and I gave them that which they transgress (viz. laws ). The construction,... read more
False hopes ministering despair. The lessons of life are not readily learned by most men. They require to be frequently repeated ere they produce an impression. God, therefore, deals severely with his people, whose delusion is the more unpardonable because of the piety of their fathers and the light of revelation which had been given. He will, therefore, make to "pass away from them" one by one the things that he had given: the fruits of the earth shall be cut off; the comforts of life... read more
The prophet here resumes from Jeremiah 7:28 the main subject of his prophecy. He again invites the Jews to repentance.Shall they fall? - The argument is that when men fall, they do not lie upon the ground, but endeavor to get up again: and when a man loses his way, he does not persist in going on, but turns round, and retraces his steps. Israel then will be only following the dictates of comnon sense in desisting from that which she now knows to be her ruin. read more
When men act as in Jeremiah 8:4, why is God’s own people alone an exception?Slidden back ... backsliding - The same words as “turn” and “return” in Jeremiah 8:4. They should be rendered, “Why doth this people of Jerusalem turn away with a perpetual turning?”Deceit - i. e., idolatry; because men worship in it that which is false, and it is false to the worshippers.Refuse - From a feeling of dislike. read more
I hearkened and heard - God, before passing sentence, carefully listens to the words of the people. Compare Genesis 11:5, where the divine judgment is preceded by the Almighty going down to see the tower.Not aright - Or, “not-right;” which in the Hebrew idiom means that which is utterly wrong.No man repented - The original phrase is very striking: No “man had pity upon his own wickedness.” If men understood the true nature of sin, the sinner would repent out of very pity upon himself.As the... read more
Jeremiah appeals to the obedience which migratory birds render to the law of their natures. The “stork” arrives in Palestine about March 21, and after a six weeks’ halt departs for the north of Europe. It takes its flight by day, at a vast height in the air (“in the heaven”). The appearance of the “turtle-dove” is one of the pleasant signs of the approach of spring.The crane and the swallow - Rather, “the swift and the crane.” read more
The law of the Lord - The “Torah,” or written law, the possession of which made the priests and prophets so boastfully exclaim, “We are wise.”Lo, certainly ... - Rather, Verily, lo! the lying pen “of the scribes” hath made it - the Law - into a lie. The mention of “scribes” in this place is a crucial point in the argument whether or not the Pentateuch or Torah is the old law-book of the Jews, or a fabrication which gradually grew up, but was not received as authoritative until after the return... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:9
The wise men are ashamed . It is the perfect of prophetic certitude, equivalent to "the wise men shall certainly be ashamed." And why? Evidently because they have not foreseen the calamities impending ever their nation. They have preached, "Peace, peace; when there was no peace" ( Jeremiah 8:11 ); and hence they find themselves "taken" in the grip of a relentless power from which there is no escape. What wisdom ; literally, wisdom of what? i . e . in respect of what? read more