Jeremiah 15:1-9 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Jeremiah 14:1 to Jeremiah 15:9. The Drought in Judah, and Jeremiah's consequent Intercession. The date of this disaster is unknown, but some year in the latter half of Jehoiakim's reign is most probable. The effects of the drought are graphically described in Jeremiah 14:2-6. The personified gates represent the people who gather at them in mourning attire and attitude (sit in black upon the ground; cf. Jeremiah 8:21; Jeremiah 13:18). The empty pits are dried-up storage cisterns (cf. Jeremiah 2:13). Men cover their heads because of grief (2 Samuel 15:30). The first clause of Jeremiah 14:4 (to chapt) is best emended, with Duhm, after LXX, The tillers of the ground are dismayed (cf. mg.). The eyes of the wild asses fail through fruitless search for herbage (cf. Lamentations 4:17). In Jeremiah 14:7-9, the prophet confesses the people's sin, but appeals to Yahweh's honour (Jeremiah 14:7), and His ownership of Israel (Jeremiah 14:9; cf. Jeremiah 7:10), as a reason for His permanent presence and effective help. In Jeremiah 14:10-18, Yahweh replies that His aloofness corresponds (even so) to the people's abandonment of Him (Jeremiah 14:10 b as Hosea 8:13), and announces evil as the only answer to their sacrifice; to which Jeremiah objects (Jeremiah 14:13) that the people have been misled by the prophets (Jeremiah 23:9 ff.) who promised peace. Yahweh, disowning these prophets (Jeremiah 14:14), announces their doom as well as that of the people, and Jeremiah is bidden to lament the horrors that are coming on Judah through invasion and its consequences. In Jeremiah 14:19-22, Jeremiah continues the dialogue with a further confession on behalf of the people, and with an appeal to the ties that bind Yahweh to Israel (Jeremiah 14:21 mg.) ; Yahweh alone can remove the terrors of this drought. In Jeremiah 15:1-9, Yahweh replies that even such pleaders as Moses (Numbers 14:13-20) and Samuel (1 Samuel 7:9) would not turn Him from His purpose; let the people go forth to pestilence (death, Jeremiah 15:2), sword, famine, and captivity; let them be an object of consternation (for tossed to and fro, Jeremiah 15:4) to all, because of the heathenism of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:11 ff.). It is Jerusalem that has rejected Yahweh (thou, Jeremiah 15:6, emphatic), and therefore is winnowed with a fork. The coming destruction is described (Jeremiah 15:8) as widespread and unexpected (at noonday, as in Jeremiah 6:4); even the (happy) mother of seven (1 Samuel 2:5) utterly collapses.

Jeremiah 14:3. Read both mgg.

Jeremiah 14:14. divination, and a thing of nought: read, with Driver, a worthless divination by omission of one letter.

Jeremiah 14:18 b is difficult and obscure; for go about we should perhaps render go begging, or, with second mg. alternative, simply journey

Jeremiah 14:21. the throne of thy glory: Jerusalem, as containing the Temple; cf. Jeremiah 17:12.

Jeremiah 14:22. vanities: i.e. gods.

Jeremiah 15:7. fanned with a fan: i.e. winnowed; cf. Jeremiah 4:11; Isaiah 30:24; Matthew 3:12. The Eastern threshing-floor is described in Thomson, The Land and the Book, pp. 538ff.

Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 15:1

Jeremiah 15:1-9

1 Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.

3 And I will appoint over them four kinds,a saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.

4 And I will causeb them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroyc my people, since they return not from their ways.

8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the motherd of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.