Jeremiah 8:36

14 . The women bewailing Tammuz 14 . gate of the Lord’s house ] i.e. outside the whole temple buildings to the north gate of the outer court; cf. ch. Ezekiel 10:19 , Ezekiel 11:1 . The term “house” embraces all the temple buildings ( Jeremiah 35:4 ). The women may have been seen sitting outside the gate, or they may have been in some of the chambers of the outer gateway. Of course the temple building in Ezekiel’s time did not quite correspond to his ideal sketch in ch. 40 seq., but there were no doubt chambers at that time connected with both gateways ( Jeremiah 35:2 ; Jeremiah 35:4 ; Jeremiah 36:10 ; Jeremiah 36:12 ; Jeremiah 36:20-21 ; cf. Jeremiah 26:10 ; 2 Kings 23:11 ). Tammuz is identical with Adonis. The latter name, Adon , “Lord,” is not a proper name, being applicable to any great god, but when the myth found its way to Greece, the word became a proper name. The name Tammuz is Babylonian Dumu-zi, Dûzi, said to signify “son of life,” and to indicate the eternal youth of the sun-god (cf. Fried. Del. in Baer’s Ezek .; Schrader, KAT . on Ezekiel 8:14 ; Sayce, Hibbert Lect . IV). The story of the death of Tammuz is said to be a solar myth, having reference to the death of the sun-god. The explanations given by Assyrian scholars are not very clear.

Comparing Jeremiah 22:19 ; Jeremiah 36:6 , Jeremiah 36:30 ; and Ezekiel 19:8-9 , it would seem that Nebuchadnezzar must in the fifth or sixth year after Jehoiakim's revolt have determined to go in person to Riblah, to direct operations, first against Tyre and then against Jerusalem. Jehoiakim was taken prisoner, and brought in chains to Nebuchadnezzar, who at first designed to convey him to Babylon, but afterward had him taken to Jerusalem, where he was executed. Afterward, when the Babylonians had withdrawn, the remains were collected and interred in the burying-place of Manasseh, so that the king ultimately "slept with his fathers" 2 Kings 24:6 .

In the eighteenth year - This is the date of the finding of the Book of the Law and of the Passover (marginal reference, and 2 Kings 23:23 ), but is not meant to apply to all the various reforms of Josiah as related in 2 Kings 23:4-20 . The true chronology of Josiah's reign is to be learned from 2 Chronicles 34:3-8 ; 2 Chronicles 35:1 . From these places it appear that at least the greater part of his reforms preceded the finding of the Book of the Law. He began them in the 12th year of his reign, at the age of 20, and had accomplishied all, or the greater part, by his 18th year, when the Book of the Law was found. Shaphan is mentioned frequently by Jeremiah. He was the father of Ahikam, Jeremiah's friend and protector at the court of Jehoiakim Jeremiah 26:24, and the grandfather of Gedaliah, who was made governor of Judaea by the Babylonians after the destruction of Jeruslem 2 Kings 25:22. Several others of his sons and grandsons were in favor with the later Jewish kings Jeremiah 29:3; Jeremiah 36:10-12, Jeremiah 36:25; Ezekiel 8:11. Shaphan's office was one of great importance, involving very confidential relations with the king 1 Kings 4:3.

In the East neither chimneys nor ovens are used, but, in cold weather, a brazen vessel containing burning charcoal; when the wood has burned to embers, a cover is placed over the pot to make it retain the heat. 23. three or four leaves —not distinct leaves as in a book, but the consecutive spaces on the long roll in the shape of doors (whence the Hebrew name is derived), into which the writing is divided: as the books of Moses in the synagogue in the present day are written in a long parchment rolled round a stick, the writing divided into columns, like pages. pen-knife —the writer's knife with which the reed, used as a pen, was mended. "He" refers to the king (Jeremiah 36:22). As often as Jehudi read three or four columns, the king cut asunder the part of the roll read; and so he treated the whole, until all the parts read consecutively were cut and burnt; Jeremiah 36:24, " all these words," implies that the whole volume was read through, not merely the first three or four columns (1 Kings 22:8). 24. The king and his "servants" were more hardened than the "princes" and councillors (see on Jeremiah 36:12; Jeremiah 36:14; Jeremiah 36:16). Contrast the humble fear exhibited by Josiah at the reading of the law (2 Kings 22:11). 25. (See on Jeremiah 36:16). The "nevertheless" aggravates the king's sin; though God would have drawn him back through their intercession, he persisted: judicial blindness and reprobation! ## 26.

Lo-debar ( 2 Samuel 9:4 f., 2 Samuel 17:27 ) and Ḳarnaim ( 1Ma 5:26 , and perhaps in the ‘Ashteroth-Karnaim, i. e. “ ‘Ashtaroth of (or near) Ḳarnaim,” of Genesis 14:5 ), two towns, both on the east of Jordan, the conquest of which by Jeroboam II. he supposes to be the subject of the Israelites’ boast: so G. A. Smith, p. 176 f. But these towns (though Ḳarnaim was strongly situated) hardly seem to have been places of great importance; nor is it the manner of the Hebrew prophets to mention specially such successes; lâḳaḥ , also, is not the word properly used of taking a town ( lâkhad ), whereas to take for oneself (with the reflexive ל ) is an idiom constantly used in the sense of providing oneself with ( Leviticus 23:40 ; Isaiah 8:1 ; Jeremiah 36:2 ; Jeremiah 36:28 ; Ezekiel 4:1 ; Ezekiel 5:1 ; Zechariah 11:15 &c.). At most the conquests of these places may be alluded to , in the words used.

ast day (of which we shall read more Jer_36:9) proclaimed by Jehoiakim, probably to avert the vengeance hanging over them from the Chaldeans, or rather from the drought. It was, undoubtedly, because of the concourse of people which the prophet knew would that day be in the temple that he chose that day, when some would be present from all parts of Judah. Jeremiah 36:7 We had an expression like this Jer_36:3; it teacheth us that the only means to turn away God’s fierce anger ready to fall upon people is prayer and reformation. Jeremiah 36:8 No text from Poole on this verse. Jeremiah 36:9 This fast was appointed upon a particular emergency, whether it was for a famine wh ich was then in the land, or to avert the ruin which they justly feared from the king of Babylon, who had lately brought them under his servitude, is not certain; the yearly fast, Lev_23:27, was to be kept in the seventh month, n

(23) The captains of the armies. —Rather, the army captains; or, the captains of the forces. They and their men had fled with the king, and dispersed themselves over the country ( Jeremiah 40:7 ). Now they came out of hiding. Their men.—The Hebrew text has the men, but all the versions, and Jeremiah 40:7, read rightly, their men. Mizpah.—See 1Kings 15:22. It was well suited to be the governor’s residence, as it lay high, and was a naturally strong position. Moreover, it was the seat of an ancient sanctuary (Judges 20:1), which might serve in some sort as a substitute for the destroyed Temple of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 41:5). Ishmael.—Grandson of Elishama the royal secretary (2Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 36:12; Jeremiah 36:20), and of royal blood (Jeremiah 41:1). Johanan the son of Careah.—Jeremiah 40:8, “and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Careah.” The Netophathite.—The words, “and the sons of Ophai,” have fallen out before this epithet (Jeremiah 40:8), and probably the names of these sons of Ophai in both passages. Netophah is mentioned in Ezra 2:22; Nehemiah 7:26. It may be Beit Nettif south-west of Jerusalem. The son of a (the) Maachathite.—His father was an alien, and belonged to the Syrian state of Maachah (2Samuel 10:6; 2Samuel 10:8).