Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. Egypt - put first, to degrade Judah, who, though in privileges above the Gentiles, by unfaithfulness sank below them. Egypt, too, was the power in which the Jews were so prone to trust, and by whose instigation they, as well as the other peoples specified, revolted from Babylon.
All that are in the utmost corners, х qªtsuwtseey (H7112) pee'aah (H6285)] - rather, 'having the hair shaven (or clipped) in angles' - i:e., having the beard on the cheek narrowed or cut; a Canaanite custom, forbidden to the Israelites (Leviticus 19:27, "Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard;" Leviticus 21:5). The Arabs are hereby referred to (cf. Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 49:32), as the words in apposition show, "that dwell in the wilderness."
These nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their heart. The addition of "in their heart" in Israel's case marks its greater guilt in proportion to its greater privileges, as compared with the rest.
Remarks:
(1) Once the voice of joy and thanksgiving had been heard in Jerusalem, while she was faithful to her heavenly King; but now scenes of slaughter, the terrible fruit of sin, were witnessed on every side in her, so that the patriot-prophet could only weep incessantly over her slain (Jeremiah 9:1). Sin, soon or late, is sure to change joy into sorrow, life into death, a populous city into heaps and desolation (Jeremiah 9:9-11).
(2) Even a lodging in a wilderness is preferable to the most luxurious mansion in a city polluted with defilements; and a lonely solitude is better than association with the ungodly.
(3) It is a sure sign of the degeneracy of a people when there is apparent a growing disregard of truth and honesty. Such a nation is certain to "proceed from evil to evil" (Jeremiah 9:3). Having no experimental knowledge of the Lord, they have no safeguard against growing corruption. In such a state of things it especially becomes the godly to be "valiant for the truth upon the earth." Zeal for "the truth" as it is in revelation will most effectually preserve us from being tainted by or indifferent concerning the untruthfulness, treachery, selfishness, and slanders of the world around us (Jeremiah 9:3-6; Jeremiah 9:8).
(4) The yoke of Satan is a galling one, and the service of iniquity wearies its bond-servants; yet sinners will go on "wearying themselves to commit iniquity." Therefore the Lord in mercy casts His erring children into the furnace of trial now, that they may be "melted" into sorrow for sin, and the dross may be removed, and His elect may be gathered out from the ungodly mass (Jeremiah 9:7).
(5) Spiritual "wisdom" must be obtained from on high before any man can "understand" God's ways in His providence, and also in His revelation. For "the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:11), and he to whomsoever the Spirit of God reveals them. This is a "wisdom" in which a man may rightly "glory," though not in mere carnal, natural "wisdom" (Jeremiah 9:23); because "the wisdom which is from above" (James 3:17) will empty us of self-vanity and pride, and will teach us to "glory in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31), in that we "understand and know Him, that He is the Lord who exerciseth loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, delighting in these" especially (Jeremiah 9:24).
(6) He who is taught by the Spirit thus to understand and know the Lord is so taught "that he may declare it" (Jeremiah 9:12) to all around. "Come and hear ... and I will declare what He hath done for my soul" (Psalms 66:16); and again, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Psalms 34:11).
(7) However fact we shut our doors and windows death enters our houses The palaces of the great no more (7) However fact we shut our doors and windows, death enters our houses. The palaces of the great, no more than the cottages of the poor, can escape the stroke of God's visitation. Death rudely breaks in upon the plays of happy childhood, and "cuts off the young men from the streets" (Jeremiah 9:21). In a dying world, how preposterous it is to glory in physical health and strength, in military "might," or in "riches" (Jeremiah 9:23). These possessions are perishing like ourselves; and even while we have them, fail to give solid satisfaction. They are to be prized only insofar as they are used for the glory of God and the good of man. Let us beware of having "uncircumcision in the heart" amidst all our outward privileges, temporal and spiritual (Jeremiah 9:25-26).