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led Chaldæi; and mentions their iron mines. Lib. xii. p. 549. These however were a different people from the Chaldeans, who were united with the Babylonians.

13. Not for price-] That is, not making thee any compensation, but inflicting these losses upon thee as a punishment for thy sins.

Ibid. But for all thy sins] The ancient Bodl. MS. No. 1. and one more, with the LXX. Syr, and Vulg. omit the conjunction 1. The Syr. and Chald. also omit 2, and seem to have read only No772. Because of thy sins."

14. And I will cause [them] to pass with thine enemies] The same

,והעברת serve for accusatives to this verb חילך ואוצרתיך substantives

,והעברתיך

-

as to the verbs in the preceding verse; Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for spoil and will cause them to pass with thine enemies into a land, &c. ;" that is, I will suffer thine enemies to carry them away. There appears therefore no internal cause to suspect the authenticity of the text. But the LXX. and Syr. for 'ny read "And I will cause thee to serve;" whether they actually found it so in their Hebrew copies, as it now appears in one MS. and perhaps in two more; or whether they thought it necessary to bring the text to a conformity in this instance with Ch. xvii. 4. Of these two passages however it may be observed, that though there is a simiLarity between them in some respects, there is a difference in others, and intentionally no doubt, because they relate to different objects, the one to an individual, the other to the Jewish nation taken collectively; so that what might be true of the one, would not hold equally with respect to the other. Thus the Jewish nation were made to serve their enemies in a foreign land; but not so Jeremiah, who retired, when he left his own country, into Egypt, where he was not under the Babylonish dominion. But all that he had was carried off by the Babylonians with the rest of the spoil; so that for good reasons the present reading of seems to be authentic. Seven MSS. and one Edition

Also in the .והעברתיך .and one MS והעבדתי notwithstanding read

subsequent part of the verse five MSS. for ready in like conformity with Ch. xvii. 4. But this last variation is not countenanced by any of the ancient versions, which seem uniformly to have

עליכם been made after

15. Within the length of thine anger comprehend me not] There is no doubt that denotes "slowness to anger," Exod. xxxiv. 6. &c. but that sense is not suitable here. But is applied to space as well as time; and denotes a length or extent of limits; and the prophet may be understood to pray, that God would not so far lengthen or carry forward his resentment, as to comprehend him personally within the limits of it, who had already incurred the reproach of men for his zeal in God's service. Our old Version renders, "take me not away in the continuance of thine anger;" which differs not very greatly from the sense I have proposed; the prophet seeming to think, that during a long course of God's anger against his people, he himself, however innocent, might naturally be involved in those sufferings,

which were intended for the punishment of the guilty. But the former translation seems preferable.

So Jerome repre

16.—and I entertained them] Et suscipiebam eos. sents the translation of Symmachus. In which case seems to be derived from 12, complecti. And it is certain that none of the ancient versions, except the Vulgate, understand as belonging to the verb, to eat. The prophet says of himself, that when God's commands were communicated to him, he instantly received them with cordiality and goodwill; and was rejoiced at the honour done him in being appointed the servant and messenger of such a master.

Ibid. And thy commission-] All the ancient versions read 729 in the singular number, according to the reading of the Masora, and of eleven MSS. and two Editions.

17. I have not sat in the assembly of those that make merry] pwn, which our translators have here rendered, "mockers," is more properly translated, "them that make merry," Ch. xxx. 19. xxxi. 4. In the preceding verse the prophet had declared, that he had felt great satisfaction at first in being appointed to the office of God's messenger. But his joy was not of long continuance; the tenor of his commission was such as to affect him, like St Paul, and much upon the same account, with "great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart;" Rom. ix. 2. so that renouncing all cheerful society, he indulged a solitary melancholy, in prospect of the dire effects of God's indignation against his unhappy country.

Ibid. --because of thy hand] "The hand of God" upon a prophet often means the impulse of the prophetic spirit. 1 Kings xviii. 46. 2 Kings iii. 15. Ezek. i. 3. iii. 14, 22, &c. &c.

18. Wilt thou be altogether unto me as the lying of waters, &c.] These words, I think, may be thus paraphrased," Wilt thou frustrate and disappoint my hopes, as the waters of a spring, that fail in a dry season, do the hopes of those who are thirsty, and seek for them in vain to allay their thirst ?”

» מכתי I would rather make ,היה

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On this passage DR DURELL has the following note, "As is equally the third pers. femin. as the second masc. of the same verb, my wound" the subject of the verb, than God. A wound alternately healing and rankling may not impro. perly be compared to "a liar." But for a prophet of the true God to address his Creator under that idea, seems to me to border on profaneness. I would therefore render, "It is altogether to me as a liar, &c.” DR DURELL.

I have produced the above remark of my late pious and learned friend as being certainly ingenious, and corresponding with the LXX. and Vulgate versions. There appears not however to me that profaneness in the prophet's expression, which the Doctor supposes; but a degree of impatience only, which is duly checked in the following reply. But I cannot help bringing forward another citation made by Mr Harmer (Ch. v. Obs. 24. Note) from one of Sir John Chardin's MSS. concerning a delusive appearance of water in the desarts of Arabia, Q T

which, as Mr H. supposes, may be referred to in this place." There is a splendour or vapour, says Chardin, in the plains of the desart, formed by the repercussion of the rays of the sun from the sand, that appears like a vast lake. Travellers of the desart, afflicted by thirst, are drawn in by such appearances, but coming near, find themselves mistaken; it seems to draw back as they advance, or quite vanishes. I have seen this in several places. Q. Curtius takes notice of it in speaking of Alexander the Great in Susiana."-With this allusion in view we might render," Wilt thou be to me as the delusion of waters that are not real," or, 66 not answerable to their appearance

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19. If thou wilt turn as I shall turn thee] The prophet, having shewn some impatience at the nature of his commission, is informed by God that the condition of being his servant must be following implicitly the directions given him; and that if he did so, and discharged his duty in a proper manner, his opponents should be obliged to conform to him, instead of his complying with their humours and inclinations, and he might rest assured of safe protection.-To "separate the precious from the vile" means to teach sound doctrine, distinguishing rightly between what is good and what is otherwise; which is the characteristic of a true minister of God.

CHAP. XVI.

THE prophecy which begins here is continued on to the end of the 18th verse of the next Chapter. Nor is there any reason to suspect its being out of its proper place, but that it may have been delivered, as well as those of the preceding Chapters, towards the beginning of Jehoiakim's evil reign.

The prophet is forbidden to marry or beget children because of the Judgments that were about to fall upon all the inhabitants of the land, both old and young, v. 1-4. For the like reasons he is commanded not to join with any of his neighbours either in their mourning, or in their convivial mirth ; v. 5—9. He shews that their calamities were the effect of their apostasy and disobedience, for which God would drive them into exile, and give them no quarter, till he had fully requited their wickedness ; v. 10-18. But their future restoration is intermediately foretold, v. 14, 15. as is also the conversion of the Gentiles, v. 19-21.

3. Those that are born-] Forty one MSS. and twelve Editions for read more rightly, b, the particip. Pahul.

4.-Of mortal diseases-]n D-Literally, "Of deaths of sicknesses;" meaning no doubt epidemical disorders, such as the pestilence, terminating in death.

,מוזה

5.-the house of mourning] I see not the least reason for rendering , "a mourning feast," as it is expressed in the margin of our Bibles, and as several learned commentators have distinguished it. The word occurs only once besides in the Hebrew, namely, Amos vi. 7. nor is another to be met with from the same root. And in that passage of

رزح

Amos the notion of a funeral banquet is clearly out of the question; and I am inclined to think the same as to any banquet at all. That funeral feasts were in use among the Greeks and Romans, cannot be doubted; and that something of the same kind was practised by the Jews, may likewise be allowed; but whatever relates to that point is here treated of at ver. 7. In Arabic the verbs male habuit, and mal affecit, vel detrimentum passus, might countenance in the sense of mourning or affliction, which the context in this place evidently suggests, but without any idea of feasting, with which these verbs seem not to have the least connexion. But under the root in Castel's Lexicon we find a sense, which seems exactly to suit 2 in both passages where it is used, though in different ways; namely, exaltatio vocis, sive ad fletum, sive ad latitiam; so that in one place it might stand for noisy mirth, in the other for the loud outcry of lamentation. The latter is characterized in St Mark's gospel, Ch. v. 38. by the term Jogubos, where speaking of Jairus's daughter lately departed, our Savionr, it is said, found θορυβον, κλαίοντας και αλαλάζοντας πολλα. Correspondent to which is a passage cited by Mr Harmer, Ch. vi. Obs. 54. from one of Sir J. Chardin's MSS. concerning the present manners of the East, in which the "concourse to places where persons lie dead is said to be incredible. Every one runs thither, the poor and the rich; and the first more especially make a strange noise." See also what follows in the same Observation still more to the purpose. The prophet then is forbidden to enter into the house from whence such lamentable outcries proceeded; or of " one that lamenteth thus loudly;" (for

may be the participle present in Pikel;) as he is said at ver. 8. to go into the house of feasting.

Ibid. Lovingkindness and tender mercies.] These words are not expressed in the version of the LXX.; but Origen has inserted, as from some other version, και τον ελεον μ8, και τους οικτιρμούς με, which supposes

,ואת חסדי ואת רחמי,the reading of the text to have been

But

none of the ancient versions besides, nor any of the collated MSS. countenance this reading. And perhaps it might be meant, that as God had withdrawn "his peace" from the people, so he would not have any others shew" lovingkindness or compassion" for those, with whom be had declared himself at enmity.

להם-לחם ולא יתגדד [-No one shall cut himself for them .6

is commonly joined with the words preceding; but those words are complete by themselves, as may be seen above ver. 4. and in one MS.

will make להם לא יתגדר is omitted, in which case ולא in ו the

a hemistich perfectly corresponding with the next.

The cutting of their own flesh as a mark of grief for their deceased friends and relations, though expressly forbidden to the Jews by the law, Lev. xix. 28. Deut. xiv. 1. appears from hence to have been still in use among them, as well as among their neighbours, on this and other occasions of great mourning and affliction. See Ch, xli. 5. and compare Ch. xlvii. 5. xlviii. 37. The like practice attendant on funeral obsequies has been found among people lately discovered in the South seas.

"The new Zelanders have deep furrows marked on their foreheads, These were cut in the frenzy of their grief with a sharp shell for the loss of their friends and relations. The Otaheitean women wound the crown of the head under the hair with a shark's tooth, to prove the sincerity of their grief. And the ancient Huns wounded their cheeks on all occasions, where they wanted to testify their grief for the loss of a great man or a relation." Forster's Observations, p. 588. It is curious to remark, and to investigate the cause of such corresponding usages in nations so widely distant from each other.

It has been observed, that the priests of Baal slashed themselves with knives, in order to excite the attention and commiseration of their idol; 1 Kings xviii. 28. and hence it has been supposed, that this cutting of the flesh was forbidden the Israelites in the law of Moses, as having been practised by their heathen neighbours under the form of an idolatrous rite. This may have been so in some measure; and the superstition of heathen nations might have led them to think, that the anger of their deities, which had occasioned their misfortune, might be propitiated by the voluntary sufferings they inflicted on themselves. If this practice therefore in succeeding times was unattended with any such superstitious intention among the Jews, this may have been the cause why the breach of the law in this respect was so coolly passed over in them, who meant no more by cutting their flesh, than others do by tearing their hair and beating their breasts, namely, to give vent to their -grief; perhaps not without some indignation against themselves, as if they thought themselves accessory to the evil they deplored by some fault or inadvertency of their own. But that there was no infringement of the law in this proceeding, can never be granted, either as to the letter, or the spirit of it. As to the first, Mr Harmer indeed contends, Ch. x. Obs. 66. that the law would not be at all contravened, if the word "dead" in Deut. xiv. 1. be understood to signify dead idols, But this cannot possibly be the case, if we consider that there must be understood as wab Lev. xix. 28. where the same prohibition is given. And if there can be any doubt concerning the import of this latter word, we shall find it explained in a subsequent Chapter, Lev. xxi. 1. where the priests are forbidden to be defiled was, "for the dead among his people"; that is, they were not to approach any dead body, or assist in doing the last offices for it ; unless, as expressed in the following verses, that dead body was one of their kindred in the nearest degrees of consanguinity. And in the verse immediately after, the same prohibition of shaving off their hair and cutting their flesh is especially renewed in their particular case. This therefore plainly shews, that by the terms, "cutting the flesh for the dead," the law had respect to nothing else, than to this mode of expressing grief for, or in regard to, a deceased relation or friend. And that the spirit, as well as letter, of the law was violated by this practice, will likewise appear from the reason assigned, Deut. xiv. 2." For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth." A similar reason is given Lev. xxi. 6. for restraining the priests from the same behaviour.

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