Jeremiah 20:16

20:14-18 When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was, over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the like, we may learn good lessons from them. See how much those who think they stand, ought to take heed lest they fall, and to pray daily, Lead us not into temptation. How frail, changeable, and sinful is man! How foolish and unnatural are the thoughts and wishes of our hearts, when we yield to discontent! Let us consider Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, lest we should be at any time weary and faint in our minds under our lesser trials.

And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew,.... In his fury, as the Targum and Septuagint add. Meaning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were utterly destroyed, and were never recovered: and repented not; whose sentence God never repented of, nor revoked: this was very severe and uncharitable, to wish for so sore a destruction upon an innocent person; and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; as soon as he is up in the morning, the first thing that salutes his ears, let it be the noise of an enemy invading the city he dwells in; and by noon let him hear the shouting of him, having broke in, and gotten the victory, seizing the plunder.

Verse 16. - As the cities which the Lord overthrow . It is, so to speak, the "technical term" for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah which Jeremiah employs. So deeply imprinted was the tradition on the Hebrew mind, that a special word was appropriated to it, which at once called up thoughts of the awful justice of God (see Genesis 19:25 ; Isaiah 1:7 (?); 13:19; Amos 4:11 ; Deuteronomy 29:23 [22]; Jeremiah 49:18 ; Jeremiah 50:40 ). The cry... the shouting. The cry of the besieged for help; the shouting of the suddenly appearing assailants (comp. Jeremiah 15:8 ). Jeremiah 20:16

16 . let that man, etc .] Du. and Co. object to so much being made of the messenger, and therefore consider that for “man” we should substitute, or at any rate understand, “day” of the previous v . The meaning then would be, Let that day assuredly bring disaster. But the change is unnecessary. The text only expresses a counterpart of the Eastern custom of rewarding the messenger who brought good tidings. the cities ] Cp. Isaiah 13:19 . cry ] Cp. Jeremiah 18:22 . shouting ] mg. an alarm , the same Hebrew word as that rendered “alarm” in Jeremiah 4:19 .

(16) The cities which the Lord overthrew. —The verb is the same as that used in Genesis 19:29 , and the reference is clearly to the “cities of the plain,” whose destruction is there described. The reference to them in Deuteronomy 32:32 ; Isaiah 1:9-10 , shows that they had already become familiar to men as the great representative instances both of evil and its punishment. The cry . . . the shouting.—The former word describes the wail of lamentation, the latter the shout of an invading army.

16. the cities—Sodom and Gomorrah. cry … morning … noontide—that is, Let him be kept in alarm the whole day (not merely at night when terrors ordinarily prevail, but in daytime when it is something extraordinary) with terrifying war shouts, as those in a besieged city (Jer 18:22).

He wishes the fate of Sodom ( Genesis 19:25 ), namely ruin, to befall that man. ולא נחם, and may He (Jahveh) not let it repent Him, is adverbially used: without feeling compunction for the destruction, i.e., without pity. In Jeremiah 20:16 destruction is depicted under the figure of the terrors of a town beleaguered by enemies and suddenly taken. זעקה, the wailing cry of the afflicted townspeople; תּרוּעה, the war-cry of the enemies breaking in; cf. Jeremiah 15:8 .

Micah and Isaiah, a little later, speak of such opposition, in Judah, as habitual Micah 2:6; Isaiah 30:10-11; much more in Israel, where the opposition to God's law was more fundamental, and where God's prophet's had been all but exterminated. Even Asa, in his degenerate days, imprisoned Hanani for prophesying that he would "have wars" 2 Chronicles 16:7, 2 Chronicles 16:10; Joash killed Zechariah son of Jehoiada 2 Chronicles 24:20-21; Amaziah silenced the prophet who rebuked him, "Art thou made of the king's council? forbear. Why shouldest thou be smitten?" 2 Chronicles 25:15-16. Jehoiakim sent even into Egypt to fetch Uriah and killed him Jeremiah 26:20-23. Jeremiah's life was one continuous encounter with false accusations Jeremiah 20:10; Jeremiah 37:13; Jeremiah 38:4, contradictions by false prophets (Jeremiah 23:17 ff; Jeremiah 27:9-10, Jeremiah 27:14-16; Jeremiah 28; Jeremiah 29), hatred Jeremiah 15:10, mockery Jeremiah 17:15; Jeremiah 20:7-8; Jeremiah 23:33, persecution Jeremiah 17:18, imprisonment Jeremiah 20:2; Jeremiah 32:3; Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 37:15-21; Jeremiah 38:6-13, attempts to destroy him (Jeremiah 11:18-21; Jeremiah 18:18, Jeremiah 18:20-23; Jeremiah 26:8 ff; Jeremiah 36:26). The complaint was, as here, "wherefore dost thou prophesy?" Jeremiah 32:3.

Verse 16. - And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord. This is a phrase of warning very common in the mouth of the prophets, when they are about to deliver a rebuke or solemn condemnation (comp. 1 Kings 22:19 ; 2 Chronicles 18:18 ; Isaiah 1:10 ; Isaiah 28:14 ; Jeremiah 7:2 ; Jeremiah 9:20 ; Jeremiah 10:1 ; Jeremiah 19:3 , etc.; Ezekiel 15:35; 34:9; Hosea 4:1 ; Amos 3:1 , etc.). 2 Kings 20:16