Jeremiah 18:18 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Then said they, Come, &c. Namely, after they had heard from Jeremiah what God had ordered him to say to them concerning their destruction; for this seems to be understood. Let us devise devices against Jeremiah Let us accuse him of being a false prophet; for the law shall not perish from the priest, &c. For his threatenings plainly contradict God's promises made to his people. “They seem to have been incensed against him on much the same ground as the Jews, in aftertimes, were against our Saviour and his apostles. They had persuaded themselves, that God had intended for them a perpetual establishment; and would accordingly provide them with a constant succession of man, in all departments, to preserve and maintain the general welfare; namely, priests to direct in all matters of law and religion; wise statesmen to manage their civil concerns; and prophets to make known to them the immediate will of God on all important and extraordinary occasions. Upon this presumption they inferred, that Jeremiah, who foretold the contrary, was a false prophet, and, as such, they determined to punish him.” Blaney. Let us smite him with the tongue Let us calumniate and disparage him, traducing him as an enemy to his country. Let us accuse him of crimes against the state, and by that means take away his life; then all his prophecies will die with him. In the margin we read, for the tongue, which may signify, “Let us punish him for his malignant speeches.” “But I rather think,” says Blaney, “we should render it, Let us smite him on the tongue, that is, on the offending part; alluding to a very significant mode of inflicting punishment, by directing it to that particular member which had the most immediate share in the offence, although here it may possibly carry this general import only, ‘Let us punish him so as effectually to silence him.'“