Jeremiah 10:22

10:17-25 The Jews who continued in their own land, felt secure. But, sooner or later, sinners will find all things as the word of God has declared, and that its threatenings are not empty terrors. Submission will support the believer under every grief allotted to him; but what can render the load of Divine vengeance easy to be borne by those who fall under it in sullen despair? Those cannot expect to prosper, who do not, by faith and prayer, take God with them in all their ways. The report of the enemy's approach was very dreadful. Yet the designs which men lay deep, and think well formed, are dashed to pieces in a moment. Events are often overruled, so as to be quite contrary to what we intended and expected. If the Lord has directed our steps into the ways of peace and righteousness, let us entreat him to enable us to walk therein. Say not, Lord, do not correct me; but, Lord, do not correct me in anger. We may bear the smart of God's rod, but we cannot bear the weight of his wrath. Those who restrain prayer, prove that they know not God; for those who know him will seek him, and seek his favour. If even severe corrections lead sinners to be convinced of wholesome truths, they will have abundant cause for gratitude. And they will then humble themselves before the Lord.

Behold the noise of the bruit is come,.... Or, "the voice of hearing" (c); that is, the voice heard; the report that was made that the king of Babylon had invaded the land, and was coming up to besiege Jerusalem: "and a great commotion out of the north country"; a large army from Babylon, which lay north of Judea, which came with great noise, and caused a great trembling and shaking among the inhabitants of the land whither they were coming: to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons; this shows that the whole paragraph is to be understood of the Jewish nation, and of their destruction. See Gill on Jeremiah 9:11. (c) "vox auditionis", Pagninus, Montanus; "vox auditus", Vatablus, Calvin; "vox famae", Schmidt.

Verse 22. - Behold... is come ; rather; Hark! Tidings! Behold , it cometh! The tidings are that the foe is at hand, advancing with a great commotion , with clashing spears, prancing horses, and all the hubbub of a great army. A den of dragons ; rather, of jackals (as Jeremiah 9:11 ). Jeremiah 10:22

(22) Behold, the noise of the bruit is come. —Better, A cry is heard, Behold, it cometh. The cry of terror is heard and it utters the tidings, terrible in their brevity, that the army of the invader is come, and with it the “great commotion,” the stir and rush of the army, coming from the north country of the Chaldeans. (Comp. Jeremiah 1:13 .) In Matthew 25:6 , “There was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh,” we have a striking parallel. The word “bruit ” (here and in Nahum 3:19 ) may be noted as one of those which have become obsolete since the date of the Authorised Version. A den of dragons.—i.e., jackals, as in Jeremiah 9:11.

The prophet had divers times sounded this alarm in their ears, but to very little purpose; his words seemed but as idle tales, they believed him not: he speaks of it partly as one conceiving what dreadful commotions and concussions would be upon the land by the clattering of arms, prancings and neighings of horses, sounding of trumpets, and rattling of chariots, making as it were the earth to shake under them, when that vast army of the Chaldeans should furiously break in upon them. Partly, insinuating an antithesis, opposing the voice of God’s prophets, that had so often spoken of this, but they would not hear, against this dreadful noise, which they should not but hear, and see, and feel too. So that they that would not learn of God’s prophets shall be sent to harder masters, that shall teach them in a manner as Gideon did the men of Succoth, Judges 8:16 . The north country: see Jeremiah 1:14 5:15 . A den of dragons. See Poole "Jeremiah 9:11"

The cause of this calamity is that the shepherds, i.e., the princes and leaders of the people (see on Jeremiah 2:8 ; Jeremiah 3:15 ), are become brutish, have not sought Jahveh, i.e., have not sought wisdom and guidance from the Lord. And so they could not deal wisely, i.e., rule the people with wisdom. השׂכּיל is here not merely: have prosperity, but: show wisdom, deal wisely, securing thus the blessed results of wisdom. This is shown both by the contrasted "become brutish" and by the parallel passage, Jeremiah 3:15 . מרעיתם, their pasturing, equivalent to "flock of their pasturing," their flock, Jeremiah 23:1 . The calamity over which the people mourns is drawing near, Jeremiah 10:22. Already is heard the tremendous din of a mighty host which approaches from the north to make the cities of Judah a wilderness. קול שׁמוּעה is an exclamation: listen to the rumour, it is coming near. From a grammatical point of view the subject to "comes" is "rumour," but in point of sense it is that of which the rumour gives notice. Graf weakens the sense by gathering the words into one assertory clause: "They hear a rumour come." The "great commotion" is that of an army on the march, the clattering of the weapons, the stamping and neighing of the war-horses; cf. Jeremiah 6:23; Jeremiah 8:16. From the land of midnight, the north, cf. Jeremiah 1:14; Jeremiah 4:6, etc. "To make the cities," etc., cf.

Jeremiah 4:7; Jeremiah 9:10. - The rumour of the enemy's approach drives the people to prayer, Jeremiah 10:23-25. The prayer of these verses is uttered in the name of the congregation. It begins with the confession: Not with man is his way, i.e., it is not within man's power to arrange the course of his life, nor in the power of the man who walks to fix his step (וbefore הכין merely marking the connection of the thought: cf. Ew. 348, a). The antithesis to לאדם and לאישׁ is ליהוה, with God; cf. Psalm 37:23; Proverbs 16:9 : Man's heart deviseth his way, but Jahveh establisheth the steps. The thought is not: it is not in man's option to walk in straight or crooked, good or evil ways, but: the directing of man, the way by which he must go, lies not in his own but in God's power. Hitz. justly finds here the wisdom that admits: "Mit unserer Macht ist nichts getan," - man's destiny is ordained not by himself, but by God. Upon this acquiescence in God's dispensation of events follows the petition: Chasten me, for I have deserved punishment, but chasten בּמשׁפּט, acc. to right, not in Thine anger; cf. Psalm 6:2; Psalm 38:2. A chastening in anger is the judgment of wrath that shall fall on obstinate sinners and destroy them.