and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words 13 which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall serve 14 themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands. 15-30. The Wine-cup of God's fury is to be drunk by all the nations. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take 15 13. even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations] At this point there presents itself one of the most marked discrepancies between the Septuagint Version of Jeremiah and the Hebrew. (See Introduction, chap. III. §§ 8-12.) The Greek Version ends the sentence with "in this book," and for the rest reads "What Jeremiah prophesied against the nations. Elam." Upon which follows what with us appears as chap. xlix. 35-39, and then the other prophecies against foreign nations including Babylon, which in the Heb. text (and Eng. Vers.) come at the end of the whole Book (chaps. xlvi.—li.). This fact, coupled with the expression which Feremiah hath prophesied, an expression hardly likely to have been used by Jeremiah himself, has suggested to some that the arrangement in the Septuagint may be closer to the form in which Jeremiah at first at any rate arranged his writings. One or two other omissions in the Greek, as compared with the Heb. of these verses ("and to Nebuchadrezzar, see note on ver. 9, "the king of Babylon...and the land of the Chaldeans," ver. 12), have been thought to point in the same direction. According to this view then the words 'which (what) Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations' will stand as the immediate introduction to those prophecies, that still follow upon this passage in the Septuagint; while ver. 14, not occurring in that Version, will be a marginal note or gloss, afterwards inserted as such notes often were by a copyist in the text, and intended to account for the preceding words, now that the detailed prophecies which they originally introduced had been withdrawn. 14. shall serve themselves of them also] The pronoun them in the Heb. is repeated for the sake of emphasis, and refers to the Chaldaeans. Their punishment shall be severe. As they have done to the people of God, so shall He requite them. The same sentiment is expressed in the prophecy specially directed against Babylon, but written some years later, chap. 1. 29, li. 24. 15-30. THE WINE-CUP OF GOD'S FURY IS TO BE DRUNK BY ALL 15. For thus saith] In this section we have the rapid enumeration the wine cup of this fury at mine hand, and cause all the 16 nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will 17 send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD 18 had sent me: to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; 19 as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, of those kingdoms which should be involved with the Jews in the overthrow. the wine cup of this fury] more literally, this wine-cup, namely fury. The likening of disaster to a bitter draught is frequent in the Bible. See chaps. xlix. 12, li. 7; Job xxi. 20; Ps. lx. 3, lxxv. 8; Is. li. 17, 22; Ezek. xxiii. 31; Hab. ii. 15; Rev. xiv. 8, xvii. xviii. 3. 16. be moved] reel. 4, be mad] The words mean, behave as madmen. Their dismay at the horrors of war shall be so great, that they will have the bearing of men drunken or insane. the sword] Here Jeremiah, as so often, returns suddenly from figure to fact. See for other instances Introd. chap. II. 8 (d). 17. Then took I the cup] not however in any literal sense, just as the cup was not a literal cup, but along with its contents a figurative expression for the wrath of God as manifested in a national subjugation. Hence the view, which has been maintained, that Jeremiah presented a cup of actual wine to the ambassadors of these various powers, assembled, according to this hypothesis, for counsel in Jerusalem, may be dismissed, as utterly improbable. The figure was sufficiently carried out by the proclamation of God's message in Jerusalem, whence it might be conveyed to the other nations united by a common danger. 18. We may perceive a certain system (south to north) in the enumeration. After Jerusalem and Judah the prophet takes in order the furthest south (Egypt), south-east (Uz), south-west (Philistines), east (Edom, etc.), west (Tyre, etc.), east and northwards (Dedan, etc. to the Medes), and finally the north far and near (ver. 26). kings] For the use of the plural see note on xix. 3. a desolation...] See notes on v. 30 and xviii. 16. as it is this day] may well be an insertion of Jeremiah's after the fulfilment of the prophecy. 19. Pharaoh] a name belonging not to an individual but (compare Cesar and Czar) to the monarch as such. The word is no doubt Coptic, more or less altered in shape by its transmission to us through Hebrew. According to the latest view it great house (compare Sublime Porte), while others have thought it to be either (i) from PI=the definite article and OURO=king, or (ii) PI RA=sun-god, whom the king of Egypt represented. (For authorities see Schaff's Through Bible Lands, p. 91.) = 20 and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod: Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, and all the kings 22 of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, 23 20. the mingled people] This phrase, which occurs also ver. 24, seems to mean in general those who without being connected by blood with the nation had for one reason or other attached themselves to it (compare 1. 37). Some have thought that here there is a particular reference to mercenary troops from Ionia and Caria, whom Psammetichus, father of Pharaohnechoh, had hired. This however is probably too limited a reference. and all the kings of the land of Uz] The Septuagint Version omits these words, and it has been supposed that it did so, as knowing that Uz lay much too far north to be introduced at this part of the enumeration. On the contrary however Uz appears (Lam. iv. 21) to have been in the neighbourhood of Idumaea, and therefore not far from Egypt. and Ashkelon] even Ashkelon. Azzah] Gaza, which is the ordinary spelling, although that adopted here (and in Deut. ii. 23; 1 Kings iv. 24) is perhaps nearer the Heb. the remnant of Ashdod] For twenty-nine years Psammetichus pressed the siege of Azotus without intermission, till finally he took the place (Rawl. Herod. II. 157). The coincidence is very remarkable between what we might have gathered as the likely result of such a protracted siege followed by capture and the expression here 'the remnant of Ashdod.' If we compare this list of Philistine towns with earlier ones (Josh. xiii. 3; 1 Sam. vi. 17) we notice that Gath is here wanting, as it is also Amos i. 7, 8; Zeph. ii. 4; and Zech. ix. 5, 6. It is not apparently as belonging to Judah that it is omitted in these places, for though taken by David (1 Chron. xviii. 1) it recovered independence afterwards (1 Kings ii. 39). The reason therefore probably is that it was no longer a separate kingdom. 22. Tyrus] This form in place of Tyre is found in the Eng. Vers. of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah, besides the Apocryphal Books of Esdras, Judith and Maccabees. Zidon] the ordinary form of the name in the O. T. Compare xxvii. 3, xlvii. 4. Sidon however, which as the Greek form is that which occurs in the N. T., we find also in Gen. x. 15, 19. The similar usage in the name Zion (Sion) may be compared. isles] more literally, inhabited places. The word is used however most commonly of the places which were, roughly speaking, west of Palestine, and thus it had special reference to the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. 23. Dedan] a tribe descended from Abraham by his wife Keturah (Gen. xxv. 3) and dwelling S.E. of Edom. Their caravans maintained a trade between Tyre and Arabia (Ezek. xxvii. 15, 20). 21 24 and all that are in the utmost corners, and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that 25 dwell in the desert, and all the kings of Zimri, and all the 26 kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Tema] descendants of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 15). Buz] See Gen. xxii. 21. Elihu was a Buzite (Job xxxii. 2). all that are in the utmost corners] For a more correct rendering see note on ix. 26, and for the persons referred to here xlix. 28, 32. 24. Arabia] the part near Palestine. the mingled people] See note on ver. 20. 25. Zimri] This name as that of a people occurs here only. It is commonly connected with Zimran, son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. XXV. 2). A people of similar name are said to have occupied a territory between Arabia and Persia. This would agree with the context here. Elam] Persia. 26. all the kings of the north] put thus vaguely, as dwelling beyond the ken of the Israelitish nation. which are upon the face of the earth] This would not suggest to the Jewish ear, as it does to us, the thought of absolutely universal dominion on the part of Babylon. This we see from such passages as Dan. ii. 38, iv. 22, where the sense intended to be conveyed cannot be in accordance with the sound of the words taken literally. king of Sheshach] Sheshach has been taken by some as equivalent to Hur (Ur), a city containing a very celebrated temple of the moon-god, whose name, as it can be shewn, was, or might have been, read in one of the ancient dialects of Babylon as Shishaki (Rawl. Herod. 1. p. 505, 506). This is however improbable. Sheshach is rather= Babel (Babylon) in accordance with a secret (Kabalistic) system of writing dating from an unknown antiquity among the Jews. This system took different forms, of which this (called Atbash) consists in substituting the last letter of the Heb. alphabet for the first, the last but one for the second and so on. Sh Sh Ch will on this principle take the places of B B L. This is confirmed by li. 41, where Sheshach and Babylon occur in parallel clauses. Another instance of this is seen in li. 1, where the Heb. (Le B Ka Ma Y) for "the midst of them that rise up against me" becomes, when thus transmuted, CaSDIM=Chaldaeans, which is the actual rendering of the Septuagint. They however omit the whole clause in the present passage and the word Sheshach in li. 41. If that word be intended to be significant in itself as well and not to be merely a transmutation of Babel, it will mean either (i) a mass of people or buildings, or (ii) a sinking, downfall, in which case li. 64 will contain an allusion to this name. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of 27 hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they 28 refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For lo, I begin to bring evil on the 29 city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all 30 these words, and say unto them, 30-38. The judgment to come upon all the peoples of the earth. The LORD shall roar from on high, And utter his voice from his holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon his habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; shall drink after them] The turn of Babylon shall itself come to perish. 28, 29. the heathen. Resistance is vain. If God's own people suffer, much more 30-38. THE JUDGMENT TO COME UPON ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH. 30. The Lord shall roar] The figure in this section is that of a lion coming forth from his covert, and terrifying by his approach the shepherds and their flocks. There is no escape and the slain cover the earth. upon his habitation] against his pasture. The word in the Heb. is the same as in xxiii. 3, where see note. It is important that it should not be rendered habitation here with the Eng. Vers., as it is contrasted in sense with the 'holy habitation,' heaven, of the previous clause, and means the land of the chosen people. a shout] literally, a vintage shout, derived from a root meaning to tramp, and alluding to the cry with which the treaders of the grapes used to animate their toil. We see however that the word might also mean a battle shout. Compare li. 14 for its use as against Babylon. 31. A noise] The word denotes a sound like the trampling of a multitude such as an army. It is variously rendered in the Eng. Vers. JEREMIAH 12 31 |