Jeremiah 18:17

18:11-17 Sinners call it liberty to live at large; whereas for a man to be a slave to his lusts, is the very worst slavery. They forsook God for idols. When men are parched with heat, and meet with cooling, refreshing streams, they use them. In these things men will not leave a certainty for an uncertainty; but Israel left the ancient paths appointed by the Divine law. They walked not in the highway, in which they might travel safely, but in a way in which they must stumble: such was the way of idolatry, and such is the way of iniquity. This made their land desolate, and themselves miserable. Calamities may be borne, if God smile upon us when under them; but if he is displeased, and refuses his help, we are undone. Multitudes forget the Lord and his Christ, and wander from the ancient paths, to walk in ways of their own devising. But what will they do in the day of judgment!

I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy,.... As the east wind, which is generally strong and boisterous, drives the chaff and stubble, and anything that is light, before it, and scatters it here and there; so the Lord threatens to scatter the people of the Jews over the face of the earth, before their enemies, whom they should not be able to withstand. It denotes the power of the enemy God would make use of; the ease with which this should be done; and the utter dispersion of them; and is their present case: I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity; that is, will not look upon them in a favourable way, nor with any pity and compassion for them, nor hear their cries; but turn his back upon them, and a deaf ear unto them, and give them no help and relief, or deliver them out of their calamities; but suffer them to continue upon them, and them to sink under them; see Proverbs 1:26; which refers to the same time of calamity as here.

17 . as with an east wind ] better, perhaps, as an east wind . look upon … their face ] mg. shew them the back, and not the face , in answer to the people’s own behaviour towards Him. See ch. Jeremiah 2:27 . They shall flee for shelter from the enemy as from the sirocco, the scorching wind in Palestine which springs suddenly from the desert in the E. or S.E. Cp. Genesis 41:6 (“blasted”) and see on Amos 4:9 in C.B.

(17) With an east wind. —MSS. vary, some giving “with” and some “as an east wind.” The difference does not much affect the meaning. The east wind blowing from the desert was the wind of storms, tempests, and parching heat ( Jonah 4:8 ; Psalm 48:7 ; Isaiah 27:8 ). I will shew them the back, and not the face.—The figure is boldly anthropomorphic. The light of God’s countenance is the fulness of joy ( Numbers 6:25 ). To turn away that light was to leave the people to the darkness of their misery. What was thus done by Jehovah was but a righteous retribution on the people who had “turned their back” and “not their face” to Him ( Jeremiah 2:27 ).

I will shew them the back - The hiding of God's face is the sure sign of His displeasure Isaiah 1:15 ; Isaiah 59:2 . I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. (Compare Genesis 41:6; Exodus 10:13; Exodus 14:21; Job 38:24; Psalm 78:26; Habakkuk 1:6). This wind was usually hot, noxious, blasting and scorching (Taylor).

The east wind is (or was at least in those parts) the fiercest wind. As the east wind scatters the chaff, so, saith God, I will scatter them. And when they shall be in great calamity and misery, I will not hearken to them, I will not turn my face to them, or show them my face; but I will turn my back upon them, I will not regard them crying, nor hear their prayers.

17. as with an east wind—literally, "I will scatter them, as an east wind (scatters all before it)": a most violent wind (Job 27:21; Ps 48:7; Isa 27:8). Thirty-two manuscripts read (without as), "with an east wind." I will show them the back … not … face—just retribution: as "they turned their back unto Me … not their face" (Jer 2:27).

The application at Jeremiah 18:15 is introduced by a causal כּי. Ew. wrongly translates: that my people forgot me. כּי means for; and the causal import is founded on the main idea of Jeremiah 18:13 : A very horrible thing hath Israel done; for it hath done that which is unheard of in the natural world, it hath forsaken me, the rock of safety; cf. Jeremiah 2:32 . They burn odours, i.e., kindle sacrifices, to the vanity, i.e., the null gods, cf. Psalm 31:7 , i.e., to Baal, Jeremiah 7:9 ; Jeremiah 11:13 , Jeremiah 11:17 . The subject to יכשׁלוּם may be most simply supplied from the idea of "the vanity:" the null gods made them to stumble; cf. for this idea 2 Chronicles 28:23 . This seems more natural than to leave the subject indefinite, in which case the false prophets (cf. Jeremiah 23:27 ) or the priests, or other seducers, would be the moving spirits. "The ancient paths" is apposition to "their ways:" upon their ways, the paths of the old time, i.e., not, however, the good old believing times, from whose ways the Israelites have but recently diverged. For עולם never denotes the time not very long passed away, but always old, immemorial time, here specially the time of the patriarchs, who walked on the right paths of faithfulness to God, as in Jeremiah 6:16 .

Hitz. and Graf have taken "the ancient paths" as subject: the old paths have made the Israelites to stumble on their ways, which gives a most unnatural idea, while the "paths of the earliest time" is weakened into "the example of their ancestors;" and besides, the parallelism is destroyed. As "by-paths" is defined by the apposition "a way not cast up," so is "on their ways" by "the ancient paths." The Chet. שׁבוּלי is found only here; the Keri is formed after Psalm 77:20 . A way not cast up is one on which one cannot advance, reach the goal, or on which one suffers hurt and perishes. - In Jeremiah 18:16 the consequences of these doings are spoken of as having been wrought out by themselves, in order thus to bring out the God-ordained causal nexus between actions and their consequences. To make their land an object of horror to all that set foot on it. שׁרוּקות occurs only here, while the Keri שׁריקות is found only in Judges 5:16 for the piping of shepherds, from שׁרק, to hiss, to pipe. In connection with שׁמּה as expression of horror or amazement, Jeremiah elsewhere uses only שׁרקה, cf. Jeremiah 19:8 ; Jeremiah 25:9 , Jeremiah 25:18 ; Jeremiah 29:18 ; Jeremiah 51:37 , so that here the vowelling should perhaps be שׁרוּקת. The word does not here denote the hissing equals hissing down or against one, by way of contempt, but the sound midway between hissing and whistling which escapes one when one looks on something appalling.