And all that are in the utmost corners— All having the angular tonsure, or, having the corners of their hair polled. The reader will find a more particular account of these nations, who drank of the cup of the Lord's fury after Jerusalem had drunk it, in ch. Jeremiah 25:17, &c. They used circumcision as well as the Jews; but are here called uncircumcised, as being in the same state with Israel; that is to say, uncircumcised in heart. Respecting the tonsure of the Arabs, see the note on Leviticus 19:27.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, With bitter grief the prophet beheld the sins of his people, and the ruin which they provoked.
1. He wishes that his head were waters, and his eyes a fountain of tears, that streams incessant might run down his cheeks for the miseries that he foresaw. Weary of dwelling amid so polluted a people, and that he might give full vent to his sorrows, or be removed from the dreadful spectacle before him, he wishes for some desert, some lonely cave; preferring the company of the savages of the wood to so wicked a nation; and safer amid the lions of the forest, than his own treacherous and cruel countrymen. Note; (1.) A good man must be a patriot, and cannot, unmoved, behold the ruin of his country. (2.) They who suffer nothing to interrupt their carnal joy, must never hope to receive the blessedness promised to those that mourn. (3.) It is a dreadful symptom of the wickedness, and a sign of the approaching ruin of a people, when the souls of God's prophets, like Lot, are vexed with their abominations, and weary of dwelling in the midst of them. 2. The causes of these complaints are,
[1.] The sins of his people. They were all adulterers, corporally and spiritually; an assembly of treacherous men, apostates from God and his worship, and false and faithless one to another; bending their tongues like their bow for lies; destitute of all zeal for truth, yea, rather opposing it with all their power; proceeding from evil to worse, instead of repenting and reforming; ignorant of God, and desiring to remain so. Not a neighbour, no, not a brother could be trusted, so selfish and perfidious were they grown. Lies were become familiar to their tongue, and slander the constant topic of their conversation; and no truth was to be expected from them. They spared no pains to compass their ends; they weary themselves to commit iniquity, so eagerly were they bent on it. In the midst of such a people the prophet dwelt, and therefore had need be on his guard against them; nor wonder if they acted deceitfully with him, when they acted hypocritically towards God, as the latter clause of Jeremiah 9:6 may be interpreted. Through the delusions of their false prophets they refused to receive the knowledge of God: no arrow was sharper than their bitter and lying words: and while the guise of friendship and peace seemed to breathe in all their discourse, mischief was in their hearts, and they lay in wait to make a prey of those whom they had deluded. Note; (1.) Lewdness and lying are among the most deadly and prevailing iniquities. (2.) To be silent, and refuse to espouse the suffering cause of God and truth, is highly criminal. (3.) They who have accustomed themselves to a habit of lying, will not speak truth, even when they have no purpose or design to serve, but lie for lying's sake. (4.) The service of sin is usually a wearisome task; and yet so enslaved are sinners to the love of it, that, though the pain exceeds the pleasure, they pursue it yet again, and take more pains to go to hell, than was requisite to carry them to heaven. (5.) There is no stopping in the way of wickedness; every sin indulged opens a way for a greater. (6.) In a wicked and deceitful world we need be ever on our guard.
[2.] The sufferings of his people. They shall be put into the hottest furnace of affliction, to melt and try them, since all other methods have proved ineffectual. The sword shall be bathed in blood, the country wasted, the villages burnt, the lowing herds and bleating sheep no more be heard on the mountains, plundered and carried off by the Chaldean army; not a living creature seen passing through the desolate land; even the wild beasts and the fowls of heaven shall desert it, unable to find food for their hunger, except the dragons, who take up their abode in the ruined palaces of Jerusalem; and so utter will be the overthrow, that not an inhabitant shall remain in all the cities of Judah. Thus will God visit for their iniquities, and his soul be avenged on such a people as this. Note; (1.) In the severest of the afflictions that God lays upon any land, he intends to make the same fire which consumes the wicked, a means of purifying the remaining faithful, and separating them as silver from the dross. (2.) The iniquities of the people have often turned a fruitful land into barrenness. (3.) The prophet who beholds these desolations cannot withhold the tear of pity; yea, his eyes are fountains to bewail them: and when we look round upon the world which lieth in wickedness, and see that great day of the perdition of ungodly men approach, ought we not to be more affected at a sight so unspeakably more terrible?
2nd, If the people perish, it is not for want of awful and repeated warnings.
1. A summons is given to the wise men among them, to understand and declare the cause of these calamities; but, as no such are found, the prophet himself is commissioned to proclaim both the reason of God's judgments and the terribleness of the vengeance which he is about to execute. Their sin is, apostacy from the worship and service of God commanded in the law, and disobedience against all the warnings and notices that he had sent unto them; in direct opposition to which, they followed the imaginations of their own wicked hearts, and served Baalim, a multitude of false gods, plunging into idolatry after their fathers' example, and filling up the measure of their iniquities. Most righteous therefore, and just as fearful, are God's judgments upon them. They shall be fed with bread of wormwood, and water of gall, the bitterest afflictions. The sword and the famine shall devour them, and their carcases lie unburied on the plain as dung, or as a handful dropped after the harvest-man, which is not regarded or gathered up; and if a few escape the general massacre, they shall be scattered in heathen lands, which their fathers never knew, and even there shall find no rest, the sword of vengeance still pursuing them till they are consumed. Note; (1.) Every step of departure from God tends only to misery. (2.) Wherever the sinner flies, or is driven, the curse of God follows him closer than his shadow.
2. A summons is sent to the mourning women. It was customary among the Jews, as well as other nations, to hire such on the decease of their relations, who, by their cries, their doleful plaints, and melancholy ditties, awakened afresh the sorrows of the survivors. There would now be abundant occasion for them, when the multitude of deaths by famine and the sword should fill every house with lamentation, and cause not merely fictitious, but real anguish; when out of Zion the voice of wailing is heard, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, at seeing their city stormed and taken, themselves captives, driven from their dwellings, and forced from their own, are led into a strange land. Under such a dire calamity God calls on them, as most befitting their circumstances, to weep and wail. The word is addressed to the women, whose husbands probably had fallen in the siege; and, the men being chiefly slain, scarcely any but they remained to lament the desolations. They are enjoined to teach their daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. So universal would be the misery, that none would be exempted from feeling it, and therefore all are called to bewail it. For death is come up into our windows, like an enemy that scales the walls, though the gates are shut; and is entered into our palaces: the king on the throne, as well as the beggar on the dunghill, is exposed to the famine and the sword; and even the children in the streets are murdered; and the young men, unable to make resistance, are slain by their cruel enemies, who have stormed the city. Note; (1.) This is a vale of tears, where death continually spreads his ravages, and wakens up our sorrows. (2.) No palaces can keep out this invader: kings and princes are dying worms. (3.) To grieve for the dead is natural, humane, pious; only let us not be swallowed up with immoderate sorrow. (4.) Many lament their losses and crosses bitterly, who never lament their sins, which are the occasion of them; and this is the sorrow of the world which worketh death.
3rdly, Having foretold their impending calamities, the prophet concludes with a warning to them, not to have recourse to those vain confidences which would prove a refuge of lies; but to take that only method which remained of preventing their ruin, returning to the knowledge of God, and obedience to his will.
1. He warns them against depending on their own wisdom, power, and wealth, to protect them; and directs them to the only sure refuge. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; as if by his politics he could avert the storm: neither let the mighty man glory in his might, which would afford no safety when fighting against God. Let not the rich man glory in his riches; as if these could bribe the invaders, or hire auxiliaries to defend them; for vain would these things prove. If therefore any man would have solid grounds for glorying, it must be in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth me, the only object in whom a sinner can glory; that I am the Lord, the only hope, help, and Saviour of the guilty; which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; shewing mercy to the miserable, pardoning the sinful, strengthening the weak, just in all his providences, and righteous in all his ways; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Note; (1.) Worldly supports are often a dangerous snare. Wisdom, strength, and riches, are apt to swell the heart with pride and self-importance, and then they prove our ruin. (2.) Christ is our only glory. Without him we have nothing but what we had need to be ashamed of, and renounce; in him there is all fulness. (3.) What is God's delight, should be ours; and to be partakers of his compassions, to walk in his judgments, and be found in the practice of righteousness and true holiness, will be infinitely more profitable than the higher attainment of worldly wisdom, or the greater possessions of worldly wealth.
2. He warns them against trusting in their peculiar privileges; as promising themselves, because of the covenant of circumcision, that they should be preserved from evil; for this would stand them in no stead while their hearts were uncircumcised, and they continued devoted to the service, not of the Lord, but of their lusts; therefore they would share with Egypt and Edom, and the neighbouring uncircumcised nations, in their punishment, and find no distinction in the day when God arose to judgment. Note; Our partaking of the outward privileges and seals of the covenant will stand us in no stead, if we are destitute of the inward and spiritual grace; yea, will rather aggravate our guilt. The baptized, unconverted, and unhumbled sinner, will meet even a heavier doom than the unbaptized unconverted heathen.