Jeremiah 42:18

because the cause of all prosperity is the favor of God, and so his curse always renders all issues sad and unhappy: and however prosperous at first may be what we undertake against God's will, yet the end will be wretched and miserable, according to what the Prophet teaches here. PRAYER Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast not once only shown to us the way and the end to which we ought to proceed, but art pleased daily to stretch forth thy hand to us, and dost by thy constant exhortations invite and stimulate us to go onward, — O grant, that we may attend to thy voice, and so renounce all the corrupt desires and lusts of our flesh, that nothing may hinder us wholly to submit to thee, and so to follow whithersoever thou mayest call us, that we may at length come to that blessed rest, which thou hast prepared for us in heaven through Christ our Lord — Amen. Lecture One Hundred and Fifty-Eighth Jeremiah 42:18 18. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more. 18.

42:7-22 If we would know the mind of the Lord in doubtful cases, we must wait as well as pray. God is ever ready to return in mercy to those he has afflicted; and he never rejects any who rely on his promises. He has declared enough to silence even the causeless fears of his people, which discourge them in the way of duty. Whatever loss or suffering we may fear from obedience, is provided against in God's word; and he will protect and deliver all who trust in him and serve him. It is folly to quit our place, especially to quit a holy land, because we meet with trouble in it. And the evils we think to escape by sin, we certainly bring upon ourselves. We may apply this to the common troubles of life; and those who think to avoid them by changing their place, will find that the grievances common to men will meet them wherever they go. Sinners who dissemble with God in solemn professions especially should be rebuked with sharpness; for their actions speak more plainly than words. We know not what is good for ourselves; and what we are most fond of, and have our hearts most set upon, often proves hurtful, and sometimes fatal.

For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... See Gill on Jeremiah 42:15 ; as mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; like a large hasty shower of rain; or rather like melted metal, which suddenly and swiftly runs, and spreads itself, and burns and consumes with a violent heat; such was the wrath of God on Jerusalem, in the destruction of it by the Chaldeans: so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt; as soon as they had well got there, quickly after they were settled there; for it was in the time of the then present king of Egypt, Pharaohhophra, and by the then present king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, that the destruction of Egypt was, in which these Jews suffered: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; men should be astonished at the hand of God upon them, reproach them for their sins; and when they made any imprecation on themselves, it would be in this form, if it be so, let the same calamities come upon me as upon the Jews in Egypt: and ye shall see this place no more; and so their case would be worse than their brethren in Babylon; who, after a term of years were expired, would return to their own land, which these would never see any more.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an horror, and a {g} curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more. (g) Read Jer 26:6 showing that this would come on them for their infidelity and stubbornness.

If you would see your doom in a glass, look upon Jerusalem, which according to my word I have dealt so severely with, that amongst men it would be called fury, though in me it was but deliberate justice, that my wrath declared against it (like liquid things melted) diffused itself into all the parts of it: I will deal so with you soon after you shall have entered into that land, where you promise yourselves so much ease, rest, and prosperity; and as I threatened to make Jerusalem a curse, an astonishment, and a reproach, Jeremiah 24:9 29:18 , so I will deal with you; and in this I will (saith God) deal worse with you, that whereas those of your brethren that were carried from Jerusalem to Babylon shall some of them come back again after sixty years, you shall see this place no more. There was this aggravation of the Jews’ sin, to whom God was now by his prophet speaking, they had lately seen the words of the Lord spoken by the same prophet verified, and yet would take no warning, but ran into the same sin of unbelief.

ויהיוּ, used instead of the impersonal והיה, is referred to the following subject by a rather unusual kind of attraction; cf. Ewald, 345, b. All the men who set their faces, i.e., intend, to go to Egypt shall perish; not a single one shall escape the evil; for the same judgment of wrath which has befallen Jerusalem shall also come on those who flee to Egypt; cf. Jeremiah 7:20 . On the expression "ye shall become a curse," etc., cf. Jeremiah 24:9 ; Jeremiah 25:18 ; Jeremiah 29:18 . Taking for granted that the leaders of the people will not obey, Jeremiah appends to the word of the Lord an earnest address, in which several points are specially insisted on, viz., that the Lord had spoken to them, that He had forbidden them to go to Egypt, and that he (the prophet), by proclaiming the word of the Lord, had warned them (העיד בּ, to testify, bear witness against a person, i.e., warn him of something, cf. Jeremiah 11:7). Thus he discloses to them the dangerous mistake they are in, when they first desire some expression of the mind of the Lord regarding their intentions, and, in the hope that He will accede to their request, promise unconditional obedience to whatever He may direct, but afterwards, when they have received a message from the Lord, will not obey it, because it is contrary to what they wish.

The Kethib התעתים has been incorrectly written for התעיים, the Hiphil from תּעה, to err; here, as in Proverbs 10:17, it means to make a mistake. בּנפשׁותיכם, not, "you mislead your own selves," decepistis animas vestras (Vulg.), nor "in your souls," - meaning, in your thoughts and intentions (Ngelsbach), - but "at the risk of your souls," your life; cf. Jeremiah 17:21. וּלכל אשׁר (Jeremiah 42:21), "and that in regard to all that for which Jahveh has sent me to you," points back to their promise, Jeremiah 42:5, that they would do "according to all the word." By employing the perfect in Jeremiah 42:20, Jeremiah 42:21, the thing is represented as quite certain, as if it had already taken place. Jeremiah 42:22 concludes the warning with a renewed threat of the destruction which shall befall them for their disobedience.

ותּתּך with ו consec.: therefore has the curse poured itself out, and the oath, i.e., the curse strengthened with an oath. נתך, to pour forth, of storms of rain and hail ( Exodus 9:33 ), but especially of the destroying fire-rain of the divine wrath, cf. Nahum 1:6 with Genesis 19:24 , and Jeremiah 7:20 ; Jeremiah 42:18 ; Jeremiah 44:6 . האלה is used, Deuteronomy 29:18 ., of the threatenings against the transgressors of the law in Leviticus 26:14 ., Deuteronomy 28:15 ., to which Daniel here makes reference. To strengthen the expression, he has added השּׁבעה (and the oath) to האלה, after Numbers 5:21 ; cf. also Nehemiah 10:30 .

Daniel 12:11 ‘from the time when the continual burnt-offering was taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate (or appalleth ) set up’; and above, Daniel 8:13 ); and it is highly probable that, slightly changing the text, we should read here, similarly, ‘and in its place ( כנו for כנף : so Van Lennep, Kuenen, Bevan, Kamphausen, Prince; cf. Daniel 11:38 ) shall be the abomination that maketh desolate ( or appalleth )’ ( שׁקוץ משׁומם , as Daniel 11:31 , for שׁקוצים משׁומם ,—a מ erroneously repeated, and then שׁקוצם written plene שׁקוצים ), i.e. instead of the legitimate ‘sacrifice’ and ‘meal-offering’ on the altar of burnt-offering, there will be the detestable heathen altar (see on Daniel 11:31 ), built upon it by Antiochus. and that , until the consummation , and that which is determined (i.e. the determined doom), be poured upon the desolator (or appaller )] the heathen abomination will remain upon the altar until the destined judgement come down upon its author (Antiochus). The phrase, the consummation , &c., from Isaiah 10:23 ; Isaiah 28:22 . Be poured is often used of anger or fury ( Jeremiah 42:18 ; Jeremiah 44:6 al. ).

## Some actions of a man about waters, as to pour out, which signifies evil, sometimes with respect to God, when he is said to "pour out his wrath," that is, when he grievously punishes, 2 Chronicles 12:7; Isaiah 42:25; Psalms 79:6; Jeremiah 42:18; Ezekiel 9:8; 22:31; Daniel 9:11; Lamentations 2:4; Hosea 5:10 . God is said "to pour contempt upon princes," Psalms 107:39-40 ; that is, he will divest tyrants of all authority, and make them contemptible in exiles or banishment, as it follows there. See Job 16:13; Psalms 141:8 . As it respects men, it signifies the evil of guilt and punishment, or afflictions, &c. See examples, Job 30:16; Lamentations 2:11-12; Psalms 22:14-15; 73:2; Ezekiel 16:15.