Jeremiah 6:20 – Jeremiah 6:22-23

Jeremiah 6:20

Jeremiah 6:20

20. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

20. Ad quid hoc mihi thus e Sabeis venit, et calamus bonus e terra longinqua? holocausta vestra non sunt ad beneplacitum (hoc est, non placent, neqne grata sunt,) et sacrificia vestra non sunt suavia (aut, jucunda) mihi.

The Prophet here replies to those hypocrites, who thought that they made an expiation when they had offered incense and sacrifices, as though that was all that was necessary in serving God: and hence we shall hereafter see, that the Temple had become the den of thieves; for when they sedulously offered incense every day and performed other ceremonies, they thought that God was pacified. Thus hypocrites ever mock God with their fopperies and regard God as extremely cruel, when not satisfied with external display. This was a perpetual evil, with which the prophets had to contend: and hence the notion is often found referred to by our Prophet,

“I desired not sacrifices; I commanded not your fathers, when I stretched forth my hand to bring them out of Egypt, to offer burnt — offerings to me, but only to obey my voice,”
(Jeremiah 7:21, 22)

So we find in other prophets: the Psalmist says,

“If I hunger, I will not tell thee,” (Psalm 50:12)

It is said also by Micah,

“What does God require of thee, but to humble thyself before him? He seeks not thousands of rams nor thousands of oxen from thy herds,” (Micah 6:7)

And we see at this day, that men cannot be rightly taught, except we carry on war against that external splendor with which they will have God to be satisfied. As then men deceive themselves with such trifles, it is necessary to shew that all those things which hypocrites obtrude on God, without sincerity of heart, are frivolous trumperies. This is the import of what is here taught.

There is, then, no doubt but that the Jews punctually offered their sacrifices, and observed the legal rites. All this might have appeared very commendable; but God gives this answer, To what purpose does frankincense come to me from the Sabeans, and a sweet cane (that is, odoriferous) from a far country? Thus the Prophet here anticipates hypocrites, that he might not leave them — what they might have objected: for while they spent a large sum of money on their forms of worship, they thought that God was as it were bound to them: and where they also bestowed much labor, they supposed that their’ toil could not be superfluous or useless. And under the Papacy we observe the same thing: when any one builds a splendid church, and adorns it with gold and silver and supplies it with rich furniture, and then provides a revenue for saying masses, he thinks that lie holds in his hands all the keys of the kingdom of heaven, so that he can push in even against the will of God. Similar is the madness of the Papists, when they undertake pilgrimages: when they labor and toil, they think that every step they take must be numbered before God, and that God would be unjust, were he not to approve of what is offered to him with so much trouble. Such was also the conceit of the Jews. As their incense, brought from the Sa-beans, that is, from the east, even from Persia, was precious, and cost a considerable sum of money, they wished that this should be deemed a satisfaction for all their sins; and they looked for the same benefit from the cane: as the most odoriferous cane was bought at, a high price, they expected that it would be of account before God, and that it would avail to compensate for their punishment. This is the folly which God here treats with contempt. “What are they to me, “he says, “your expenses? I indeed count as nothing all that ye spend in buying incense and sweet cane.” And then he speaks of the Sabeans and of a far country.

Note 180. It is rendered “cinnamon” by the Septuagint and Arabic, “a sweet smelling reed” by the Vulgate, and “an aromatic reed” or cane by the Syriac and Targum. The literal rendering of the verse is as follows, — 20. For what purpose is this done to me? Incense, from Sheba it comes, And the precious reed, from a distant land: Your burnt-offerings, they are not acceptable, And your sacrifices, they are not pleasing to me. The reed or cane was dried and powdered, and formed a part of the incense. The latter is mentioned first, and then one of its ingredients. Sheba and the distant land are the same. The same order is to be observed in the burnt-offerings and sacrifices; the finished act first, and then the previous act of presenting a sacrifice. — Ed.

He afterwards adds, Please me do not your burnt — offerings, and your sacrifices are not acceptable Under one kind Jeremiah includes the whole worship according to the law; and yet it had been divinely appointed: this is indeed true, but for another purpose. Fasting does not of itself displease God; but it becomes an abomination to him, when it is thought to be a meritorious work, or when some holiness is connected with it. The same is true as to sacrifices; for they who sought to pacify God by victims robbed Christ of his honor: it was to transfer the favor, which comes from Christ, to a calf or to a goat: and what a sacrilege was this, and how abominable? When, therefore, the Jews set such a high value on their sacrifices, they sought first childishly to trifle with God, as though these were expiations to pacify him; and then to offer burnt — offerings, to slay an animal, for pacifying God, was to change his nature; and lastly, it was, as I have said, to rob Christ of his honor: for expiation is to be sought by no other means than through his blood, by which we are cleansed from every stain through the Holy Spirit, who sprinkles it on our hearts. But when this was attributed to sacrifices, they substituted the victim, or the ram, for Christ, according to what has been stated.

Now there ought to have been in sacrifices the exercise of the duty of repentance: but when they became more and more hardened, and thought that by their ceremonies they obtained a greater license to sin, and that God required no more from them, as though they had settled matters with him, they completely neutralized the design of God: for sacrifices, as it has been already said, had been enjoined for this end, — that they might exercise penitence.

We now then see that this answer given by Jeremiah was not in vain, — that their sacrifices did not please God. There is a severer language used elsewhere, — that God nauseated them, that he was wearied in bearing them, that he was constrained to be troubled with them, while they thus profaned his name. (Isaiah 1:14.) The meaning here is the same, — that God never required sacrifices for their own sake, but for another end; and also, that all external rites are of themselves mere trumperies and mockeries, nay, a profanation of God’s name; so that they could not pacify him, but, on the contrary, provoke his wrath. It follows —

Jeremiah 6:21

Jeremiah 6:21

21. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

21. Propterea sic dicit Jehova, Ecce pono huic populo offendicula, et offendent (nam sunt ab eadem radice et nomen et verbum) patres et filii similiter; vicinus et socius ejus peribunt.

Here God, in plain words, declares what vengeance he would execute on the people. He says first, that he would lay for them stumbling blocks He no doubt compares the judgments which were nigh to nets or traps; for the Jews hoped to escape. He therefore says, that they would be ensnared: “Wherever ye go, “he says, “ye shall meet with those nets by which God will catch you: Fall, therefore, shall both fathers and sons, the neighbor and his friend ”

He means by these words, that however they might conspire together, they would yet be exposed to the same punishment. For when sons follow the examples of their fathers, they think themselves innocent; and also when any one has many associates, he thinks himself safe in his licentiousness. As, then, consent or society hardens the ungodly, so that they fear not the wrath of God, the Prophet on this account includes sons with their fathers, and a neighbor with his friend, as those who were to perish together, and without any difference. The word “stumbling blocks” is indeed metaphorical; but in the next verse the Prophet speaks without a figure, and says —

Jeremiah 6:22-23

Jeremiah 6:22-23

22. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

22. Sic dicit Jehovah, Ecce populus veniet e terra Aquilonis, et gens magna excitabitur e lateribus terrae:

23. They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

23. Arcum et hastam (alii vertunt, clypeum) apprehendent; crudeles erunt et non parcent; vox eorum quasi mare tumultuabitur, et super equos ascendent; erunt dispositi sicuti vir ad proelium, super to, filia Sion.

It was no useless repetition when the Prophet said so often that God said. He might have said only, “Behold, a nation shall come from the north;” but he premises by saying that he derived this message from God, and not only so, but he introduces God as the speaker, that his message might be more impressive. In the former verse he had also said, Thus saith Jehovah, and elsewhere: but he now repeats the same words, that the holy name of God might more powerfully rouse their minds.

Behold, he says, a people shall come from the land of the north For forty years Jeremiah ceased not to proclaim war against the Jews, and also openly to name their enemies: we yet see that so much preaching was without fruit. This was dreadful indeed: but we may thus see, as it were in a mirror, how great is our hardness and stupor, and how great is our fury and madness against God. He then designates here the Chaldeans as a northern nation, and says that it was a great nation: and yet he shews, that the Chaldeans would not of themselves come; it shall be roused, he says. This act is to be applied to God; for though ambition and avarice impelled the Chaldeans to lay waste nations and lands far and wide, yet that war was carried on under the guidance of God himself: he armed and impelled the Chaldeans, and used them as the scourges of his wrath. We may learn this from the verb יעור, iour, “shall be roused;” and he says, from the sides of the earth, for they came from a distant country. But the Prophet means, that there would be nothing to hinder the Chaldeans from entering Judea, and from destroying and putting to flight the people, and from demolishing the city and the temple.

Note 181. The ancient versions render it, “from the end, or ends, or extremities, of the earth.” — Ed.

He adds other particulars, in order more fully to render the Chaldeans objects of dread: They shall lay hold, he says, on the bow and the lance They who render the last word shield, do not sufficiently attend to the design of the Prophet. For there is no mention here made of defense; but it is the same as though the Prophet had said, that they would come furnished with bows and spears, that they might shoot at a distance. The word כידון, kidun, means a spear and a lance; and it means also a shield: but in this place the Prophet, I doubt not, means a spear; as though he had said, “They will strike at a distance, or near at hand.”

Note 182. It is rendered “a spear,“ or a lance, by the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic; but improperly “a shield” by the Vulgate and the Targum. It is not true that it ever means a shield. It was a short spear or javelin. “It is evident,“ says Parkhurst, “that this word signifies neither the larger spear nor the shield, because it is distinguished from both. See 1 Samuel 17:6; 41:45 [sic]; Job 39:23.” — Ed.

He afterwards adds, that they would be cruel, according to what Isaiah says, when he speaks of the Persians and Medes,

“They will covet neither gold nor silver,” (Isaiah 13:17)

and yet they were a rapacious people. This is indeed true; but the Prophet meant both these things, that as the Persians and Medes were to be the executioners of divine vengeance, they would come with a new disposition and character, despising gold and silver, and other kinds of spoil, and seeking only blood. And they will shew, he says, no mercy; and then he adds, their voice shall make an uproar, or sound, like the sea He touches, I have no doubt, on the stupor of the people in not attending to the voice of God; for the teaching of Jeremiah had for many years sounded in their ears: Isaiah and others had preceded him; but the people had continued deaf. He says now, “Ye shall hereafter hear other teachers; they will not warn you, nor give you counsel, nor be satisfied with reproofs and threatenings, but they will come like a tempest on the sea; their voice shall make an uproar ”

He adds, Ascend shall they on horses, and be set in order as a man for war; that is, “Thou, Jerusalem, shalt find that thou wilt have to do with military men.” The Prophet means, in short, that the Jews most foolishly trusted in their own strength, and thus heedlessly despised the threatenings of the prophets. But as their security was of this kind, he says that they would at length really find out how stupid they had been, for the Chaldeans would come with dreadful violence, prepared for war — against whom? Against thee, he says, O daughter of Sion I cannot proceed further, on account of some other business.

Note 183. Literally it is, “And on horses shall they ride.” Then the following line is, referring to the nation in verse 21, — Set in order it shall be, like a man for war, Against thee, daughter of Sion. Then the next verse refers to the same, the nation, — Heard have we the report of it; Relaxed have become our hands,
Distress has laid hold on us, The pain like that of one in travail. The effect is first stated, the relaxation of the hands; then the cause, the distress and anguish they felt. — Ed.