Jeremiah 8:4-17

Jeremiah 8:4-Esther : . Judah’ s Unnatural Conduct and its Punishment.— There is something unnatural in the persistency of the people’ s misconduct; they show no inclination to return to Yahweh, but pursue a headstrong course away from Him ( Jeremiah 8:6 mg.) . They put themselves below the level of the very birds of heaven, the stork, the turtle-dove, the swift, and the swallow (so in Jeremiah 8:7), who know the time of their return in spring (after their winter migration; cf. Isaiah 1:3). Their alleged knowledge of Yahweh’ s teaching (“ law,” Jeremiah 8:8) is delusive; they have been misled by insincere teachers, whose punishment awaits them. ( Jeremiah 8:10 b – Jeremiah 8:12 should be omitted, with LXX; they have been repeated from Jeremiah 6:13-Ezra :.) They shall perish like a fruitless and withering tree ( Jeremiah 8:13; contrast that of Jeremiah 17:8; cf. Psalms 13 ff.). The stricken people urge each other to gather into the cities, but they cannot escape the bitterness of their fate ( Jeremiah 8:14). The invader approaches from the north ( cf. Jeremiah 4:15), nor can his venomous assault be avoided as a snake-charmer avoids the bite of an adder ( Jeremiah 8:17 mg.; the basilisk of RV is a reptile of fable).

Jeremiah 8:5 . The emphasis should fall on “ perpetual” . Omit “ of Jerusalem” , with LXX.

Jeremiah 8:8 . The reference is apparently to the Book of Deuteronomy, published some dozen years before. With its prophetic attack on heathen modes of worship, etc. Jeremiah was in full sympathy; but its priestly emphasis on the sanctuary and its ritual, and the resultant externalisation of religion, were quite alien to his teaching. [This view is taken by several of the best authorities, and may be correct. But a strong case can be made out for the view that Jeremiah’ s attitude to the law-book was more sympathetic, in which case the reference will be to regulations made by the scribes, which we do not possess.— A. S. P.].

Jeremiah 8:13 f. Read mgg.— gall or bile here stands figuratively for some bitter, if not poisonous, plant, which has not been identified; it is rendered “ hemlock” in Hosea 10:4.