Jeremiah 6:8–9

Jeremiah 6:8

Jeremiah 6:8

8. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

8. Erudire Jerusalem, ne discedat (vel, avellatur) anima mea abs to; ne ponam to desertum (vel, solitudinem) et terram inhabitabilem (hoc est, quae non habitatur.)

Though the Prophet had spoken as though there was no remedy for the evils of Jerusalem, he yet exhorts it to seek peace with God, and addresses men past remedy in his name. It is then the same as though God was stopping in the middle course of his wrath, and saying, “What is to be done? Shall I destroy the city which I have chosen?” He then attributes here to God a paternal feeling, as we also find in several other places: God appeared as unwilling to proceed to extreme rigor in punishing his people.

“Alas! I will now take vengeance on mine enemies,”
he says by Isaiah. (Isaiah 1:24)

He called them enemies, and justly too; for as it was said before, they ceased not to carry on war against him; but he spoke with grief: “Alas! must I take vengeance on mine enemies; I would, however, willingly spare them, were it possible.” God is not indeed subject to grief or to repentance; but his ineffable goodness cannot be otherwise expressed to us but by such mode of speaking. So also, in this place, we see that God as it were restrains himself; for he had previously commanded the enemies to ascend quickly the walls, to overturn the towers, and to destroy the whole city; but now, as though he had repented, he says, Be instructed, Jerusalem; that is, “Can we not yet be reconciled?” It is like the conduct of an offended father, who intends to punish his son, and yet desires to moderate his displeasure, and to blend some indulgence with rigor. Be then instructed; that is, “There is yet room for reconciliation, if thou wishest; provided thou shewest thyself willing to relinquish that perverseness by which thou hast hitherto provoked me, I will in return prove myself to be a father.”

Note 168. Or, “Be warned,“ or, “Be reformed.” The verb in Niphal is found in four other places, Leviticus 26:23; Psalm 2:10; Proverbs 29:19; Jeremiah 31:18, and rendered reformed, instructed, corrected, and chastised. It is the same as to receive correction and to become reformed. — Ed.

There is no doubt but the object of the threatenings of the prophets was to lead the people to know their sins, and suppliantly to seek pardon; for why were the unbelieving threatened, except that God thereby proved whether they were healable? It is indeed true that the reprobate are known by God, and that God does not try or seek to find what is in their hearts, as though he did not know their obstinacy; but as I have already said, God speaks here after the manner of men: and he also shews what is the end of teaching, which is to lead men to repentance; and this cannot be done without giving them the hope of pardon and reconciliation. The Prophet thus briefly shews here for what purpose he had hitherto so dreadfully threatened the Jews, even to lead them at length to repentance.

Lest torn shall be my soul from thee Here God more clearly shews that he was as yet restrained by love. He alludes no doubt to a similitude which we have observed in another place; for God sustains the character of a spouse to his Church; and hence he shews, that he had not yet divested himself of that love which a husband has towards his wife. For a husband, when grievously offended at his wife, cannot immediately throw aside his conjugal affection; some feeling of this kind will ever remain. And we have seen in the fourth chapter, that God surpasses all husbands in kindness; for he says there, “When a repudiated wife has found another husband, will the former receive her again? Return to me, thou harlot, return to me, thou strumpet and adulteress, and I am ready to pardon thee.” It is the same course that God pursues here, “Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul wholly depart from thee;” as though he had said, “Even though I am now angry, and have resolved severely to punish thy perfidy and rebellion, I shall yet be reconciled to thee, provided thou returnest.” And it is added, Lest I make thee a desolate land, a land uninhabited

Note 169. Or, “Lest forced shall be my soul from thee.” The verb means to drive, to thrust, to force. To “depart,“ as rendered by the ancient versions, and by our version, is too weak, and is not the idea; and still worse is “alienated,“ as rendered by Blayney. It intimates God’s unwillingness, as it were, to give up his chosen people, according to what Calvin observes. — Ed.

The Prophet in short shews in this verse, that however grievously offended God was with his people, there was yet a hope of pardon; for he would be propitious to the people, if they turned and humbly confessed their sins, and sought to return into favor with him. It follows —

Jeremiah 6:9

Jeremiah 6:9

9. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

9. Sic dicit Jehova exercituum, Racemando racemabunt quasi vitem reliquias Israel; reduc (vel, redire fac) manum tuam quasi vindemiator ad canistra (alii vertunt, ad ramos.)

God here confirms the former statement, as though he had said, that he dreaded a sight so sad and mournful, which yet the Jews disregarded. He then shews, that he did not in vain exhort the Jews, even though late, to repent, for he foresaw how dreadful would be their calamities. Hence he says, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Gleaning they shall glean; for the word here does not mean to gather the vintage, but to glean, grapiller, after the vintage. As after the harvest the poor follow and gather ears of corn here and there, until nothing remains in the field; so also in vintages when there is a gleaning, nothing remains. Hence God in the law forbade the vineyards to be gleaned, that there might be something left for the poor. (Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 24:21.) But he says here, “Gleaning they shall glean as a vine;” he speaks not of the people but of the remnant.

The ten tribes had been plundered, and at length their whole country had been laid waste, most of them had been led into exile, but a few had sought hiding — places for a time: and he says that they were like gleanings: “though, “he says, “there be a few grapes, yet these shall follow.” In short, the Prophet sets before the Jews that vengeance of God, which was known already to them as much as to the Israelites, the ten tribes: and yet he shews that God’s vengeance was not completed, for there were still a few remaining, a gleaning: “What then shall come of you? What indeed! ye have seen that your brethren have been plundered, ye have seen that they and their children have been slain; ye have seen that all kinds of cruelty have been exercised towards them; and yet after the name of Israel has been obliterated, and their country now deserted, has become a waste, God will still punish the remnant, and ye shall see that his judgment will shortly overtake them; and what do ye, wretched beings, yet look for? and how great is your torpidity, which never comes to an end? why do you not seek to be reconciled to God, when such an opportunity is offered to you?”

We now then apprehend the Prophet’s object. And then he says, Return thy hand as a vintager to the baskets; that is, “Behold the vintagers, they stimulate one another; so that there is no end of gleaning, as they ever return to their baskets, until they gather everything, until there remains not a grape on the vine.”

Note 170. Blayney’s version is, — Turn again thine hand, like a grape-gatherer, unto the baskets. “That is, Take thou again into thine hand, and begin the work of gathering or gleaning anew.” He takes it as God’s address to the Chaldeans, in which they are exhorted repeatedly to return and to carry away captives the remaining inhabitants. But this does not comport with the simile of the vintager returning the hand to the baskets. It seems to be a command to put in safe custody those whom they took or gleaned, as a vintager, who, when he plucks a grape or a cluster, puts it safely in a basket to be carried away. The “hand” is put here for what the hand holds-the grapes or clusters. It is then the same as though he had said, “Lay up, as a vintager, what you glean, in baskets.” The Jews were gathered, not to be destroyed, but to be carried away into captivity. This seems to have been the intimation here, — Return thine hand, like a vintager, unto the baskets. That is, Throw not away what you gather, but let the hand, that is stretched forth to reach the grapes, bring back what it gleans into the baskets. The Vulgate is, “Turn (converte) thine hand as a vintager to his basket.” The Septuagint. “Turn ye (ἐπιστρέψατε) as a vintager to his basket.” The Syriac is the same with the Vulgate, except that it has “gleaning” instead of “basket.” The Arabic corresponds with the Septuagint. The Targum has an unintelligible paraphrase. — Ed

Prayer Lecture 23

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou kindly invitest us to repentance, and urgest us also by setting before us examples of thy wrath, — O grant, that we may not continue perversely disobedient, but render ourselves tractable and submissive to thee, so that we may not meet with that dreadful severity which thou didst threaten to thine ancient people, but anticipate the wrath which thou didst formerly denounce on them; and may we thus with a pious heart return to thee, that we may find by experience that thou art ever a propitious Father to sinners, whenever with a sincere heart and without dissimulation they return to thee, through Christ Jesus our Lord. — Amen.