Jeremiah 8:17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

For behold, I send serpents, &c., which shall not be charmed Such enemies as you shall not be able to soften by any entreaties you can use. That some persons possessed the faculty of rendering serpents harmless, is a fact too well attested by historians and travellers to admit of contradiction: but by what means this effect was produced is not quite so clear. Pliny speaks of certain herbs which, being carried about, prevented the bite of serpents, Nat. Hist., lib. 20. sec. 16, lib. 22. sec. 25. Others tell surprising, but not altogether incredible stories, of the influence of musical sounds. See Shaw's Travels, p. 429; and Sir John Chardin's MS., cited by Harmer, chap. Jeremiah 8:14. In this same MS. the author remarks, that “those who know how to tame serpents by their charms are wont commonly to break out their teeth; and supposes this to be alluded to, Psalms 58:6, Break their teeth, O God, in their mouths.” But whatever were the methods commonly practised to charm serpents, the enemies of the Jews are here compared to such serpents as were not to be mollified nor disarmed by any of those means. They shall bite you, saith the Lord See Blaney, and note on Psalms 58:5.