3 You did say, Woe is me now! for Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.
For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don't grow weary, fainting in your souls. You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, "My son, don't take lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by him;
I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day. My flesh and my skin has he made old; he has broken my bones. He has built against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He has made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead. He has walled me about, that I can't go forth; he has made my chain heavy. Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has walled up my ways with hewn stone; he has made my paths crooked. He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places. He has turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; he has made me desolate. He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins. I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day. He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood. He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes. You have removed my soul far off from peace; I forgot prosperity. I said, My strength is perished, and my expectation from Yahweh. Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me. For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because the word of Yahweh is made a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day. If I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can't [contain]. For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, [say] all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall; peradventure he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten. But, Yahweh of Hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause. Sing to Yahweh, praise you Yahweh; for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evil-doers. Cursed be the day in which I was born: don't let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying, A man-child is born to you; making him very glad. Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn't repent: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime; because he didn't kill me from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; [yet] everyone of them does curse me. Yahweh said, Most assuredly I will strengthen you for good; most assuredly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass? Your substance and your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders. I will make [them] to pass with your enemies into a land which you don't know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn on you. Yahweh, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don't take me away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach. Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God of hosts. I didn't sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand; for you have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you indeed be to me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail? Therefore thus says Yahweh, If you return, then will I bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them. I will make you to this people a fortified brazen wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says Yahweh. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.
Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol{Sheol is the place of the dead or the grave.} to my son mourning." His father wept for him.
God delivers me to the ungodly, And casts me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target. His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.
Joshua said, Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? would that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan! Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will compass us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what will you do for your great name?
Moses said to Yahweh, Why have you dealt ill with your servant? and why haven't I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Have I conceived all this people? have I brought them forth, that you should tell me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nursing-father carries the sucking child, to the land which you swore to their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give to all this people? for they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. If you deal thus with me, please kill me out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me." Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I don't bring him to you. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to you again." He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him by the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 45
Commentary on Jeremiah 45 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 45
This chapter contains a prophecy, delivered to Baruch for his personal use. The time of it is expressed, Jeremiah 45:1; a reproof is given him for his immoderate grief and sorrow, Jeremiah 45:2; the destruction of the land of Judea is prophesied of; and therefore it was wrong in him to seek great things for himself at such a time; however, he is assured of his own safety, Jeremiah 45:4.
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah,.... Who was his amanuensis or scribe; and this word he spake not to him of himself, but in the name of the Lord, as coming from him; so the Targum calls it,
"the word of prophecy which Jeremiah the prophet prophesied concerning Baruch the son of Neriah:'
when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah; not what immediately precede, concerning the destruction of the Jews in Egypt; which were delivered out many years after the writing of the roll by Baruch here referred to; and which was done, as here said,
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; which was eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem; so that this prophecy does not stand in order, which would more properly have followed the thirty sixth chapter; where we have an account of what Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah in a roll, and read to the people, and after that to the princes; which exposed him to danger, and caused the grief expressed by him in this chapter; but it being written to a private person, is postponed to this place:
saying; as follows:
Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch. Whom he knew by name, had a great regard for, and honours with this prophecy; and, being an Israelite, both in a literal and spiritual sense, he addresses him as the God of Israel, and as being his covenant God; in whom he should put his trust, and from whom he might expect safety and protection in the worst of times; and to whose sovereign will, in all the dispensations of his providence, he ought to have humbly and patiently submitted.
Thou didst say, woe is me now!.... What will become of me? I am ruined and undone; this he said in his heart, if not with his lips, perhaps both ways; and when the king gave orders for the apprehending of him and the prophet, being provoked at the roll which he had wrote and read, Jeremiah 36:26;
for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; caused him grief upon grief, sorrow upon sorrow, an abundance of it; for there was a variety of things which occasioned grief and sorrow; the trouble of his office, as secretary to the prophet; the reproach east upon him by the people for it; the grievous things contained in the prophecies he transcribed, concerning the ruin of his people and nation; the king's displeasure at the roll, and his burning it; to which was added the danger he was exposed unto for writing it; and especially, as he might apprehend, for writing it over again, after it was burnt; to which were annexed new threatenings, and such as personally concerned the king;
I fainted in my sighing; or "with" it; he sighed and groaned at what he saw coming upon his country, and particularly upon himself; it quite overcame his spirits; he sunk and swooned away: or "I laboured in my sighing"F14יגעתי באנחית "in gemitu meo", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatanblus, "in suspirio meo", Cocceius, Schmidt. ; amidst his sighs and groans, he prayed to the Lord, and laboured in prayer, that he might be delivered from the evils he feared were coming upon him:
and I find no rest; from his grief, sorrow, and sighing; no cessation of that; no serenity and composure of mind; no answer of prayer from God. The Targum is,
"and I found not prophecy.'
And the Jewish commentators, as Jarchi, Kimchi, Abarbinel, and Abendana, from the ancient Midrashes, interpret this grief of Baruch to be on account of his not having the gift of prophecy bestowed on him, which he expected by being a servant of the prophetF15Vid. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 32. p. 286. ; and represent him as saying, Joshua ministered to Moses, and the Holy Spirit dwelled upon him; Elisha ministered to Elijah, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him; how different am I from all the disciples of the prophets! "woe is me now!" &c.
Thus shalt thou say unto him,.... This is spoken to Jeremiah, and is an order from the Lord to him, what he should say in his name to Baruch:
the Lord saith thus, behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; the Jewish nation, both as to church and state; which the Lord had built up as a spacious and beautiful house to dwell in, and had planted as a vineyard, and set it with pleasant plants; but now would demolish this building, and destroy this plantation:
even this whole land; not a few cities only, or only Jerusalem the metropolis, but the whole land of Judea; no part of it but what should be left desolate. So the Targum,
"even the whole land of Israel, which is mine.'
Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not,.... Riches and wealth honour and esteem, peace and prosperity; these were not to be sought after and expected, when the whole nation would be involved in such a general calamity. Baruch perhaps expected that his reading the roll to princes would have been a means of preferring him at court, of advancing him to some post or office, in which he might have acquired wealth, and got applause, and lived in peace and plenty all his days; but this was not to be looked for; when, if he observed, the very roll he wrote and read contained in it prophecies of the general ruin of the nation. The Jews restrain this to the gift of prophecy they suppose Baruch sought after, which was not to be enjoyed out of the land of Canaan:
for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh; not upon every individual person in the world; but upon all the inhabitants of Judea, who should either die by the sword or by famine, or by pestilence, or be carried captive, or be in some distress or another:
but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest; suggesting that he should be obliged to quit his native place and country, and go from place to place; as he did, after the destruction of Jerusalem, along with the prophet; and even into Egypt with the Jews that went there; where his life would be in danger, and yet should be preserved; he should be snatched as a brand out of the burning, when Jerusalem was taken; and in other places, when exposed, though he should lose everything, yet not his life; which should be as dear to him as a rich spoil taken by the soldier, being a distinguishing mercy.