Westminster Annotations, Jeremiah · Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI.
Vers. 1. THe word of the LORD came, &c.] Heb. was, &c. as Chap. 1. 2. and 2. 1.
V. 2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sonnes, &c.] Or, Do not take thee a wife, nor have sons, &c. as Exod. 20. 13,-17. Intimating, that the calamities of the times should be so grievous; that wife and children should be but an heavie burden amidst them, and a means to aggravate a mans grief, Hos. 9. 13, 14. Matth. 24. 19. Luk. 23. 29. 1 Cor. 7. 26.
V. 4. They shall die of grievous deaths] Chap. 15. 2. Heb. deaths of grievances. 2 Chron. 21. 18.
they shall not be lamented] Psal. 78. 64. Chap. 25. 33.
neither shall they be buried] Psal. 79. 3.
they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth] Psal. 83. 10. Chap. 8. 2.
consumed by the sword, and by famine] Chap. 14. 15. & 15. 2.
their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth] Psal. 79. 2. Chap. 7. 33. & 34. 20.
V. 5. Enter not into the house of mourning, &c.] Or, mourningfeast. Amos 6. 7. Implying, that the calamitie should be so great, that they should have little lust or leisure, what for fear, and what for grie… otherwise, to use any solemnitie about the deceased. Job 27. 15. Psal. 78. 64. Ezek. 24. 17, 22. Amos 6. 10.
I have taken away] Heb gathered up. Psal. 85. 30.
my peace] Or, prosperitie. Isa. 48. 18. That prosperitie and welfare, which they formerly enjoyed from me, through my favour and goodnesse towards them: Psal. 85. 8, 10.
loving kindnesse and mercies] Or, my loving kindnesse, and my mercies. The ground and cause of their peace.
V. 6. Both the great and the small shall die in this land] Or, Be they great or small that die.
they shall not be buried] No regard in this kind shall be had of great ones more then of the meanest.
neither shall men lament for them] Or, nor shall lamentation be made for them. Chap. 22. 18.
nor, &c.] They shall use none of these outward expressions of mourning for the dead; or of comforting their friends. Vers. 7. Chap. 47. 5.
cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them] Courses usually in such cases, among heathen, and Jewish people also imitating them: but by God fordid den. Lev. 19. 28. Deut. 14. 1.
V. 7. Neither shall men tear themselves for them] Or, break bread for them▪ as Ezek. 24. 17. See Deut. 26. 14.
give them the cup of consolation to drink] Pro. 31. 6, 7.
V. 8. Thou shalt not also go] Neither go. as Vers. 2. 5.
into the house of feasting] Neither mourn, nor make merry with them, Eccl. 7. 2.
V. 9. I will cause to cease out of this place, &c.] Isa. 24. 7, 8. Chap. 7. 34. & 25. 10. Ezek. 26. 13.
in your eyes, and in your dayes] While ye survive yet to see it▪ as Psal. 79. 10. Chap. 20. 4.
V. 10. all these words] Or, things. Chap. 36. 16.
Wh…refore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evill against us] Chap. 5. 19. & 13. 22.
V. 11. Then shalt thou say unto them] Or, Then say thou unto them. as Vers. 7. 8. Because the wicked are pertinacious, ready to smoother their sinnes, and forward to murmur against God, as afflicting them without cause, God instructeth the prophet, what answer in such case to return them. So Chap. 22. 9.
Because your fathers have forsaken me, &c.] Chap. 2. 5.
V. 12. ye have done worse then your fathers] Chap. 7. 26.
after the imagination] Or, stubbornnesse. Chap. 9. 13. and 11. 8. and 13. 10.
that they may not hearken unto me] Or, that ye may not. the person is changed; as Chap. 17. 1.
V. 13. Therefore will I cast you out of this land] Deut. 4. 27. & 28. 64, 65. Chap. 10. 18.
into a land that ye know not] That ye never saw; or where ye never had been before: as Isa. 42. 16.
where I will not shew you favour] Contrarie to that, which he sometime did to some others, Psal. 106. 45. and to some of them also in mercy at this time, Chap. 15. 11. Dan. 1. 9. but his meaning is, that thus it should be with the main body of them, at least, in regard of any release of their captivitie, untill the time came, that he was pleased to receive them again to mercy, and send deliverance by Cyrus. Chap. 30. 3. Vers. 14.
V. 14. Therefore] Or, Notwithstanding. as Chap. 30. 16.
the dayes come, &c.] Implying, that their captivitie in Babylon should be so grievous; and the deliverance out of it so strange and great, that it should in some sort abolish the memoriall of their deliverance out of Egypt▪ but much more should this be effected by their spirituall deliverance wrought for them by Christ. See Chap. 23. 7, 8. Isa. 43. 18.
that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, &c.] In oaths, or vehement asseverations, (1 Sam. 20. 3. 2 King. 2. 2, 6.) As sure as the Lord liveth, that did this, or that, that which I affirm, is true; or what I promise, I will perform.
that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt] Or, that brought them out, &c. Heb. made them to ascend. as Judg. 15. 13. Chap. 39. 5.
V. 15. that brought up the children of Israel, &c.] Isa. 11. 11, 12.
from the land of the north] Out of Chaldea, Chap. 6. 1, 22.
V. 16. I will send for] By a secret instinct and incitement; as by some solemn messengers, Isa. 5. 26. & 7. 18, 19.
many fishers, and many hunters] Either the Egyptians compared to fishermen, because they lived much upon fishing; Num. 11. 5. Isa. 19. 8. 2 King. 23. 29. and the Chaldeans compared to huntsmen, for their fiercenesse: Gen. 10. 8, 9. Or, the Chaldeans, resembled by either, that should sweep them away, like the one; and ferret them out, where they lay hid, like the other: Amos 4. 2. Hab. 1. 14, 15.
out of the holes of the rocks] Unto which they had betaken themselves for fear of the enemie, or retired for shelter and succour against them, Judg. 6. 2. 1 Sam. 13. 6. Isa. 2. 19, 21. & 7. 19.
V. 17. mine eyes are upon all their wayes] Job 34. 21. Pro. 5. 21. Chap. 32. 19.
they are not hid from my face] As they suppose them to be, Isa. 29. 15. Chap. 17. 9, 10.
V. 18. And first] Before I restore them, and receive them into grace and favour again. Vers. 15.
I will recompence their iniquitie, and their sinne double] Abundantly. Isa. 40. 2. Chap. 17. 18.
they have defiled my land] Chap. 3. 1, 2.
filled mime inheritance] Chap. 2. 7.
with the carcasses] See Levit. 26. 30.
of their detestable and abominable things] Or, of their detestable things, (which they sacrificed to their idols; Deut. 12. 17. Isa. 65. 4. & 66. 17. being as abominable also themselves to God, as those creatures were, that they slew and sacrificed to them, Psal. 106. 40.) and with their abominations. that is, their idols, to whom they offered them, Deut. 7. 25. & 27. 15. 2 King. 23. 13.
V. 19. my strength and my fortresse] Psal. 18. 1, 2.
my refuge in the day of affliction] Chap. 17. 17.
the Gentiles shall come unto thee] The Gentiles together with the Jews, shall partake of this thy gracious deliverance; and be brought over to thee by Christ. Chap. 4. 2. Mal. 1. 11.
our fathers have inherited, &c.] Our forefathers were vile idolaters: and it is thy meer mercy therefore that thou takest us the issue of such to thy self, Josh. 24. 2, 3. Or, they gained nothing by the service of their idols, but losse and shame: and it were extream folly therefore, for us their children, still to follow their courses, Chap. 3. 22, 24.
lies] Isa. 44. 20.
vanitie] Chap. 10. 3, 15.
things wherein there is no profit] Isa. 44. 10.
V. 20. Shall a man make gods unto himself] Or, Should. Chap. 18. 20. Should any man, indued with reason, be so simple and sottish, as to account that his God, which having himself made, he may thereby know it not to be God? Or, to think, that he can make that to be God, that is not God? Isa. 44. 16, 17.
and they are] Or, which are. as Mal. 3. 1. Chap. 17. 6.
they are no gods] Chap. 2. 11. Gal. 4. 8.
V. 21. I will this once] Or, at once now. Chap. 10. 18.
cause them to know] The Jewish people. Vers. 18.
mine hand and my might] By my dreadfull judgements, now denounced against them, and then executed upon them, vers. 18. Or, by the deliverance of them; and adjoyning of the Gentiles to them. vers. 19.
that my name is the LORD] Heb. Jehovah. Psal. 83. 18.