Jeremiah 18:14 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Will a man leave the snow, &c.— Shall one leave the moisture of the field for the snow-water of Lebanon; or shall the running waters be forsaken for the muddy waters? Lowth. The two similitudes in this verse are evidently designed to illustrate the unnatural and absurd conduct of the Jewish nation in deserting their God, and adopting the superstitions of a strange idolatry, in preference to the good old paths which God had ordained for them to walk in. As to the first, Lebanon, it must be observed, was the highest mountain in Israel, lying to the north of it, and having its summit always covered with snow; from the whiteness of which it is supposed to have derived its name. See the accounts of modern travellers referred to, Ancient Univ. Hist. vol. 1: book 1: p. 570 fol. The same circumstance is also recorded by Tacitus, Hist. lib. 5: cap. 6.