Jeremiah 48

Wesley

‹ Chapter 47 Jeremiah — All Chapters Chapter 49 ›

Jeremiah 48:1

Thy whoredom - Thy idolatries.

Jeremiah 48:2

Thy whoredom - Thy idolatries.

Jeremiah 48:3

The hind - Hinds use not to get their food in fields, but upon mountains and in wildernesses, but the drought was such, that these creatures came into the lower grounds, and there brought forth their young. The hinds are loving creatures and as all creatures love their young, so hinds especially; but their moisture being dried up, they could not suckle them, but were forced to leave them, running about to seek grass to eat.

Jeremiah 48:4

The wild asses - The wild asses wanting water, got upon high places, where was the coolest air, and sucked in the wind; and this it is said they did like dragons, of whom Aristotle and Pliny report, that they ordinarily stand upon high places sucking in the cool air.

Jeremiah 48:5

Testify - That thou art righteous in what thou hast done. Do thou it - Do thou what we stand in need of; give us rain, though not for our sake, we deserve no such kindness from thee, yet for thy names sake: thy promise, or for thine honour and glory.

Jeremiah 48:7

Astonished - In such disorder through some great passion, that he is able to do nothing. A mighty man - Like a man who in his own nature is strong, but through sickness so weakened, that he cannot put forth any strength for the succour of his friends. Yet - Yet (saith the prophet) thou art in the midst of us; of the whole land, according to what God had declared, Numbers 5:3 35:34. Defile not the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.

Jeremiah 48:8

Thus - Here begins the answer to the prophet’s complaint and prayer in the nine first verses. The substance is, that for their manifold sins, he was resolved to punish them. They loved - They have been fond of their idols, and they have persisted in those sinful courses, notwithstanding all counsels.

Jeremiah 48:19

The throne - The words are either to be understood of the throne of the house of David, called the Lord’s throne, 1 Chronicles 29:23, or else the temple, and the ark in it, the more special symbol of God’s presence.

Jeremiah 48:20

Rain - The present judgment under which they groan, was a drought, which he had described in the six first verses; the prophet imploring God for the removal of it, argues, from the impossibility of help in this case from any other way, none of the idols of the Heathens, which he calls vain things, nothing in themselves, and of no use, or profit to those that ran after them. Give showers - Without thy will? Art not - Lord, art not thou he alone who is able to do it? The scripture constantly gives God the honour of giving rain.

Jeremiah 48:22

Cast them out - I am not able to abide the sight of them, therefore let them go forth.

Jeremiah 48:25

Manasseh - Manasseh is here named as the son of Hezekiah for his shame, because of his degeneracy from so good a parent; it is expressly said, 2 Kings 23:26, that not withstanding Josiah’s reformation, yet the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his wrath, kindled against Judah, for the provocations of Manasseh.

Jeremiah 48:27

I am weary - I am resolved to bear no longer.

Jeremiah 48:28

A fan - Not a purging fan by affliction, to separate their chaff and dross from them, but a scattering fan. In the gates - This is added in pursuit of the metaphor of fanning, men usually chusing barn - doors to fan at, that they may have the advantage of the wind.

Jeremiah 48:29

Their widows - The prophet still speaks of things to come as if present. In Jehoiakim’s time we read of no such plenty of widows; they were multiplied when the city was besieged and taken in Zedekiah’s time, to a great number, hyperbolically compared to the sands of the sea. The mother - Jerusalem was the mother of the Jewish people, against whom, Nebuchadnezzar the spoiler, at noon - day, was sent.

Jeremiah 48:30

Seven - Seven signifies many: the prophet complains, that the country of Judah, that had been very numerous in people, now grew feeble. While - In the midst of her prosperity. Confounded - A part of them were confounded by the judgments of God which came upon them before their captivity.

Jeremiah 48:31

I have not - I have done them no wrong, yet they speak of me all manner of evil.

Jeremiah 48:32

Thy remnant - The latter words of the verse expound the former; for by remnant is meant the remnant of days that Jeremiah had to live.

Jeremiah 48:33

The northern iron - As the northern iron and steel is the hardest, and no iron could break that, so God having edged and hardened their enemies, the Chaldeans, all opposition to them would signify nothing.

Jeremiah 48:34

The substance - All thy precious things shall be spoiled, there shall be no price taken for the redemption of them.

Jeremiah 48:36

Thou knowest - My sincerity, or my sufferings. Visit me - With thy love.

Jeremiah 48:37

Thy words - The words which from time to time thou didst reveal to me, were by me greedily digested. I am called - I became a prophet by thy authority, therefore, do thou own and defend me.

Jeremiah 48:38

I sat not - God had all along filled his mouth with such dreadful messages, that his whole prophetical life had been to him a time of mourning and solitude, a time when he sat alone, mourning and weeping in secret for the wrath of God revealed to him against his people.

Jeremiah 48:39

Why - Jeremiah, though a great prophet, was (as Elijah) a man subject to like passions with other men.

Jeremiah 48:40

If thou - These are God’s words to the prophet, rebuking his distrust in God, and promising him, that if he did return from his distrust in God’s providence, he would restore him to the former favour he had with him, and he should be his prophet to reveal his mind to the people; and that if he would separate the precious truths of God from the vile conceits of men, then God would continue him as his prophet, to speak in his name to the people. But - He charges the prophet to keep his ground, and not to go over to wicked men.