Jeremiah 1:14

1:11-19 God gave Jeremiah a view of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The almond-tree, which is more forward in the spring than any other, represented the speedy approach of judgments. God also showed whence the intended ruin should arise. Jeremiah saw a seething-pot boiling, representing Jerusalem and Judah in great commotion. The mouth or face of the furnace or hearth, was toward the north; from whence the fire and fuel were to come. The northern powers shall unite. The cause of these judgments was the sin of Judah. The whole counsel of God must be declared. The fear of God is the best remedy against the fear of man. Better to have all men our enemies than God our enemy; those who are sure they have God with them, need not, ought not to fear, whoever is against them. Let us pray that we may be willing to give up personal interests, and that nothing may move us from our duty.

Then the Lord said unto me,.... Explaining the above vision: out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land; that is, out of Babylon, which lay north, as Jarchi says, and so the Talmud (t); or north east, as Kimchi and Ben Melech, to the land of Israel; from hence came Nebuchadnezzar and his army, which are meant by "the evil" that should break forth, or "be opened" (u) and loosed, which before were bound and hindered by the providence of God; see Revelation 9:14 and come upon all the inhabitants of the land of Israel; and who are signified by the boiling pot to the north; or, however, by the fire under it, which came from thence; for rather by the pot is meant Jerusalem; and, by the boiling of it, its destruction by the Chaldeans; see Ezekiel 11:3. (t) T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 6. 1. and Bava Bathra, fol. 25. 2.((u) "aperietur", Munster, Tigurine version, Cocceius; "pandetur", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.

Verse 14. - Out of the north . Previously to the battle of Carchemish, the Babylonians are only mentioned vaguely as a northern people (see Jeremiah 4:6 ; Jeremiah 6:1, 22 ; Jeremiah 10:22 ). Strictly speaking, they were an eastern people from the point of view of Palestine; but the caravan-road which the Chaldaean armies had to take entered Palestine at Dan (comp. Jeremiah 4:15 ; Jeremiah 8:16 ), and then proceeded southward. (On the question whether a Scythian invasion is referred to, at least conjointly with the Babylonian, see Introduction.) An evil ; rather, the evil ; viz. the calamity which in deepening gloom forms the burden of the prophet's discourses. Shall break forth ; literally, shall open ; i . e . let loose by opening (comp. the use of the same verb in Isaiah 14:17 , literally, "looseth not his prisoners homewards;" and Amos 8:5 , literally, "that we may open," i . e . "bring forth wheat"). There is, however, some difficulty in explaining the choice of this expression. We might indeed suppose that the caldron had a lid, and that the removal or falling off of this lid is the "opening" referred to by the phrase. Jeremiah 1:14

14 . evil ] the evil —the evil which was to be expected, foretold by all the prophets as the result of national sin. shall break forth ] shall be opened, shall disclose itself . But it is best by a slight change in the Hebrew to render shall be blown (as in Jeremiah 1:13 ), i.e. kindled.

Out of the north ... - The caldron represents the great military empires upon the Euphrates. In Hezekiah's time, Nineveh was at their head; but stormed by the armies of Cyaxares and Nabopalassar it is itself now the victim whose limbs are seething in the caldron, and the seat of empire has been transferred to Babylon. But whoever may for the time prevail, the tide of passion and carnage is sure finally to pour itself upon Judaea. An evil shall break forth - "The evil shall be opened," shall show itself, be disclosed from the north: that special evil, which from the days of Micah M1 Corinthians 3:12 all the prophets had denounced upon the Jews if they lapsed into idolatry. At present the caldron is fiercely boiling upon the Euphrates. As soon as either of the parties struggling there gains the victory it will pour the whole seething mass over other countries in the shape of an invading army (see Jeremiah 25:17-26).

The Lord said; explained this vision. Out of the north, i.e. from Babylon, a metonymy of the subject; for though it lie eastward, yet it is north from Jerusalem, as lying four degrees more from the equinoctial. See Jeremiah 1:13 . Shall break forth; it shall be withheld or restrained no longer in my treasure; I will let it out, viz. that evil of punishment represented by the fire. Of the land: though God gave almost all the then known world to the king of Babylon, yet here he understands the land of Judea, Jeremiah 25:9 .

14. break forth—"shall disclose itself." Out of the north—(Jer 4:6; 6:1, 22; 10:22; 25:9; Eze 26:7). The Chaldeans did not cast off the yoke of Assyria till several years after, under Nabopolassar, 625 B.C.; but long previously they had so increased as to threaten Assyria, which was now grown weak, and other neighboring peoples.

The Seething Pot. - Jeremiah 1:13 . "And there came to me the word of Jahveh for the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I:said: I see a seething-pot; and it looketh hither from the north. Jeremiah 1:14 . Then said Jahveh to me: From the north will trouble break forth upon all inhabitants of the land. Jeremiah 1:15 . For, behold, I call to all families of the kingdoms towards the north, saith Jahveh; that they come and set each his throne before the gates of Jerusalem, and against all her walls round about, and against all cities of Judah. Jeremiah 1:16 . And I will pronounce judgment against them for all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have offered odours to other gods, and worshipped the work of their hands." סיר is a large pot or caldron in which can be cooked vegetables or meat for many persons at once; cf. 2 Kings 4:38 ., Ezekiel 24:3 . נפוּח, fanned, blown upon, used of fire, Ezekiel 21:36 ; Ezekiel 22:20 .; then by transference, seething, steaming, since the caldron under which fire is fanned steams, its contents boil; cf. Job 41:12 . The פּנים of the pot is the side turned to the spectator (the prophet), the side towards the front. This is turned from the north this way, i.e., set so that its contents will run thence this way. צפונה, properly: towards the north; then, that which lies towards the north, or the northerly direction.

In the interpretation of this symbol in Jeremiah 1:14 , תּפּתח, assonant to נפוּח, is introduced, just as in Amos 8:2 קיץ is explained by קץ; so that there was no occasion for the conjecture of Houbig. and Graf: תּפּח, it is fanned up; and against this we have Hitzig's objection that the Hophal of נפח never occurs. Equally uncalled for is Hitzig's own conjecture, xaw%pt@f, it will steam, fume, be kindled; while against this we have the fact, that as to xpanf no evidence can be given for the meaning be kindled, and that we have no cases of such a mode of speaking as: the trouble is fuming, steaming up. The Arabian poetical saying: their pot steams or boils, i.e., a war is being prepared by them, is not sufficient to justify such a figure. We hold then תּפּתח for the correct reading, and decline to be led astray by the paraphrastic ἐκκαυθήσεται of the lxx, since תּפּתח gives a suitable sense. It is true, indeed, that פּתח usually means open; but an opening of the caldron by the removal of the lid is not (with Graf) to be thought of. But, again, פּתח has the derived sig. let loose, let off (cf. ,פּתח בּי Isaiah 14:17 ), from which there can be no difficulty in inferring for the Niph. the sig. be let loose, and in the case of trouble, calamity: break forth. That which is in the pot runs over as the heat increases, and pours itself on the hearth or ground.