Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

Introduction. - Jer 33:2. "Thus saith Jahveh who makes it, Jahveh who forms it in order to establish it, Jahveh is His name: Jer 33:3. Call on me and I will answer thee, and tell thee great and hidden things which thou knowest not." The reference of the suffixes in עשׂהּ, אותהּ, and הכינהּ is evident from the contents of the propositions: the Lord does what He says, and forms what He wants to make, in order to accomplish it, i.e., He completes what He has spoken and determined on. יצר, to frame, namely, in the mind, as if to think out, just as in Jer 18:11 : the expression is parallel with חשׁב; in this sense also we find Isa 46:11. הכין, to establish, realize what has been determined on, prepare, is also found in Isa 9:6; Isa 40:20, but more frequently in Jeremiah (Jer 10:12; Jer 51:12, Jer 51:15), and pretty often in the Old Testament generally. On the phrase "Jahveh is His name," cf. Jer 31:35. The idea contained in Jer 33:2 reminds us of similar expressions of Isaiah, as in Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26; Isa 46:11, etc.; but this similarity offers no foundation for the doubts of Movers and Hitzig regarding the genuineness of this verse. The same holds as regards Jer 33:3. The first proposition occurs frequently in the Psalms, e.g., Jer 4:4; Jer 28:1; Jer 30:9, also in Jer 7:27; Jer 11:14; but קתא with אל is unusual in Isaiah. The words בּצרות לא are certainly an imitation of נצרות ולא ידעתּם, Isa 48:6; but they are modified, in the manner peculiar to Jeremiah, by the change of נצרות into בצרות. The combination גּדלות וּבצרות noit is elsewhere used only of the strong cities of the Canaanites, Deu 1:28; Deu 9:1; Jos 14:12, cf. Num 13:28; here בּצרות is transferred to things which lie beyond the limits of human power to discover, and become known to men only through divine revelation. There is no good reason for Ewald's change of בצרות in accordance with Isa 48:6. - On the contents of these verses Hengstenberg remarks: "It may seem strange that, though in the opening part the prophet is promised a revelation of greater, unknown things, for which he is to call on God, yet the succeeding announcement contains scarcely anything remarkable or peculiar." Graf also adds the remark of Hitzig, that the command to pray, addressed to Jeremiah, cannot have the effect of keeping us from the conclusion that the verses are an addition by a later hand. Ngelsbach replies that the mode of expression presents nothing specially unlike Jeremiah, and that what is most calculated to give the impression of being unlike Jeremiah's, namely, this introduction in itself, and especially the peculiar turn of Jer 33:3, "Call unto me," etc., is occasioned by the prayer of the prophet, Jer 32:16-25. To this prayer the prophet had received an answer, Jer 32:36-44; but he is here admonished to approach the Lord more frequently with such a request. The God who has the power to execute as well as make decrees is quite prepared to give him an insight into His great thoughts regarding the future; and of this a proof is at once given. Thus, Jer 33:1-3 must be viewed as the connecting link between Jer 32; 33. Yet these remarks are not sufficient to silence the objections set forth against the genuineness of Jer 33:2, Jer 33:3; for the specializing title of our chapter, in Jer 33:1, is opposed to the close connection which Ngelsbach maintains between Jer 32; 33. The fact that, in Jer 32, Jeremiah addresses the Lord in prayer for further revelation regarding the purchase of the field, as commanded, and that he receives the information he desired regarding it, gives no occasion for warning to the prophet, to betake himself more frequently to God for disclosures regarding His purposes of salvation. And Ngelsbach has quite evaded the objection that Jeremiah does not obey the injunction. Moreover, the succeeding revelation made in vv. 4-26 is not of the nature of a "proof," for it does not contain a single great leading feature in God's purposes as regards the future. - Hengstenberg also points out the difficulty, "that the Scripture everywhere refuses to recognise a dead knowledge as true knowledge, and that the hope of restoration has an obstacle in the natural man, who strives to obscure and to extinguish it; that, consequently, the promise of restoration is always new, and the word of God always great and grand;" but what he adduces for the solution of the difficulty contained in the command, "Call on me, and I will show thee great and unknown things," is insufficient for his purpose. The objection which expositors have taken to these verses has arisen from an improper application of them; the words קרא אלי have been understood as referring to the request that God should give some revelation regarding the future, or His purposes of deliverance, and ענה as referring to the communication of His purposes for increasing our knowledge of them. But "to call on God" rather signifies to pray to God, i.e., to beseech Him for protection, or help, or deliverance in time of need, cf. Psa 3:5; Psa 28:1; Psa 30:9; Psa 55:17, etc.; and to "answer" is the reply of God made when He actually vouchsafes the aid sought for; cf. e.g., Psa 55:17, "I call on God, and Jahveh answers me (saves me);" Psa 4:2, Psa 4:4; Psa 18:7; Psa 27:7, etc. Consequently, also, "to make known" (הגּיד) is no mere communication of knowledge regarding great and unknown things, no mere letting them be known, but a making known by deeds. The words עשׂהּ and יוצר אותהּ, ascribed to the Lord, suggest and require that the words should be thus understood. With the incorrect reference of these words to knowing and making known there is connected the further error, that the command, "Call unto me," is directed to the person of the prophet, and gives an admonition for his behaviour towards God, for which the text affords on foundation whatever; for it does not run: "Thus saith Jahveh to me" (אלי), and the insertion of this אלי is unwarranted, and inconsistent with the use of כּי which introduces the announcement. Hitzig, Graf, and others have passed by this כּי without remark; and what Ngelsbach says about it is connected with his view, already refuted, as to the essential unity of Jer 32; 33. Lastly, Ewald has enclosed Jer 33:3 within parentheses, and considers that the introductory formula of Jer 33:2 is resumed in Jer 33:4 : "Yea, thus saith Jahveh." This is a conclusion hastily formed by one who is in difficulty, for Jer 33:3 has not the nature of a parenthesis. If we allow the arbitrary addition "to me" after the words, "Thus saith the Lord," Jer 33:2, and if we take the words in their simplest sense - the invocation of the Lord as a call to God for help in need - then Jer 33:2, Jer 33:3 do not contain a mere prelude to the revelation which follows, but an exhortation to the people to betake themselves to the Lord their God in their calamity, when He will make known to them things unattainable by human discernment; for (כּי, Jer 33:4) He announces, in reference to the ruined houses of the city, that He will repair their injuries.