---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Jeremiah 8"
description: "CHAPTER 8   :-. THE JEW"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/jeremiah/8"
---

CHAPTER 8

. THE JEW'S
COMING PUNISHMENT;
THEIR UNIVERSAL
AND INCURABLE
IMPENITENCE.

**1.** The victorious Babylonians
were about to violate the sanctuaries of the dead in search of
plunder; for ornaments, treasures, and insignia of royalty were
usually buried with kings. Or rather, their purpose was to do the
*greatest dishonor* to the dead ().

**2. spread . . . before the sun,**
c.—retribution in kind. The very objects which received their
idolatries shall unconcernedly witness their dishonor.
**loved . . . served . . .
after . . . walked . . . sought . . . worshipped**—Words are
accumulated, as if enough could not be said fully to express the mad
fervor of their idolatry to the heavenly host ().
**nor . . . buried**— ().
**dung**— ([Jeremiah 9:22](../../../kjv/jeremiah/9/22)
[Psalms 83:10](../../../kjv/psalms/83/10)).

**3.** The survivors shall be still
worse off than the dead ([Job 3:21](../../../kjv/job/3/21);
[Job 3:22](../../../kjv/job/3/22); [Revelation 9:6](../../../kjv/revelation/9/6)).
**which remain in all the
places**—"in all places of them that remain, whither I . . .
that is, in all places whither I have driven them that remain
[MAURER].

**4.** "Is it not a natural
instinct, that if one falls, he *rises again;* if one turns away
(that is, wanders from the way), he will *return* to the point
from which he wandered? Why then does not Jerusalem do so?" He
plays on the double sense of *return;* literal and metaphorical
([Jeremiah 3:12](../../../kjv/jeremiah/3/12); [Jeremiah 4:1](../../../kjv/jeremiah/4/1)).

**5. slidden . . . backsliding**—rather,
as the *Hebrew* is the same as in , to which this verse refers, "*turned away* with a
perpetual *turning away.*"
**perpetual**—in contrast
to the "arise" ("rise again," ).
**refuse to return**—in
contrast to, "shall he . . . not return" ([Jeremiah 8:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/8/4);
[Jeremiah 5:3](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/3)).

**6. spake not aright**—that is,
not so as *penitently to confess* that they acted wrong. Compare
what follows.
**every one . . . his
course**—The *Keri* reads "course," but the
*Chetib,* "courses." "They persevere in the
*courses* whatever they have once entered on." Their wicked
*ways* were *diversified.*
**horse rusheth**—literally,
"pours himself forth," as water that has burst its
embankment. The *mad rapidity* of the war horse is the point of
comparison ().

**7.** The instinct of the migratory
birds leads them with unfailing regularity to return every spring
from their winter abodes in summer climes (); but God's people will not return to Him even when the
winter of His wrath is past, and He invites them back to the spring
of His favor.
**in the heaven**—emphatical.
The birds whose very element is the *air,* in which they are
never at rest, yet show a steady sagacity, which God's people do not.
**times**—namely, of
migrating, and of returning.
**my people**—This
honorable title aggravates the unnatural perversity of the Jews
towards *their* God.
**know not,** c.— ([Jeremiah 5:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/4)
[Jeremiah 5:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/5); [Isaiah 1:3](../../../kjv/isaiah/1/3)).

**8. law . . . with us**— (). Possessing the law, on which they prided themselves, the
Jews might have become the wisest of nations; but by their neglecting
its precepts, the law became given "in vain," as far as
they were concerned.
**scribes**—copyists. "In
vain" copies were multiplied. MAURER
translates, "The false pen of the scribes hath converted it [the
law] into a lie." See *Margin,* which agrees with *Vulgate.*

**9. dismayed**—confounded.
**what wisdom**—literally,
"the wisdom of what?" that is, "wisdom in what
respect?" the Word of the Lord being the only true source of
wisdom ([Psalms 119:98-100](../../../kjv/psalms/119/98-100);
[Proverbs 1:7](../../../kjv/proverbs/1/7); [Proverbs 9:10](../../../kjv/proverbs/9/10)).

**10-12.** Repeated from . See a similar repetition, [Jeremiah 8:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/8/15);
[Jeremiah 14:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/14/19).
**inherit**—*succeed to
the possession* of them.

**11.** ().

**10-12.** Repeated from . See a similar repetition, [Jeremiah 8:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/8/15);
[Jeremiah 14:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/14/19).
**inherit**—*succeed to
the possession* of them.

**13. surely consume**—literally,
"gathering I will gather," or "consuming I will
consume."
**no grapes . . . nor figs**—
([Joel 1:7](../../../kjv/joel/1/7); [Matthew 21:19](../../../kjv/matthew/21/19)).
**things that I have given . .
. shall pass away**—rather, "I will appoint to them those
who shall overwhelm (pass over) them," that is, I will send the
enemy upon them [MAURER].
*English Version* accords well with the context; Though their
grapes and figs ripen, they shall not be allowed to enjoy them.

**14. assemble**—for defense.
**let us be silent**—not
assault the enemy, but merely defend ourselves in quiet, until the
storm blow over.
**put us to silence**—brought
us to that state that we can no longer resist the foe; implying
silent despair.
**water of gall**—literally,
"water of the poisonous plant," perhaps the poppy ([Jeremiah 9:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/9/15);
[Jeremiah 23:15](../../../kjv/jeremiah/23/15)).

**15.** Repeated ().
**We looked for**—owing to
the expectations held out by the false prophets.
**health**—healing; that
is, restoration from adversity.

**16. his horses**—the Chaldean's.
**was heard**—the
prophetical past for the future.
**from Dan**—bordering on
Phoelignicia. This was to be Nebuchadnezzar's route in invading
Israel; the *cavalry* in advance of the infantry would scour the
country.
**strong ones**—a poetical
phrase for *steeds,* peculiar to Jeremiah (; compare [Jeremiah 4:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/4/13);
[Jeremiah 4:29](../../../kjv/jeremiah/4/29); [Jeremiah 6:23](../../../kjv/jeremiah/6/23)).

**17. I**—Jehovah.
**cockatrices**—basilisks
([Isaiah 11:8](../../../kjv/isaiah/11/8)), that is, enemies
whose destructive power no means, by persuasion or otherwise, can
counteract. Serpent-charmers in the East entice serpents by music,
and by a particular pressure on the neck render them incapable of
darting ([Psalms 58:4](../../../kjv/psalms/58/4); [Psalms 58:5](../../../kjv/psalms/58/5)).

**18.** (). The lamentation of the prophet for the impending calamity
of his country.
**against sorrow**—or, *with
respect to* sorrow. MAURER
translates, "Oh, my exhilaration as to sorrow!" that is,
"Oh, that exhilaration ('comfort', from an *Arabic* root,
to *shine* as the rising sun) would shine upon me as to my
sorrow!"
**in me**—within me.

**19.** The prophet in vision hears
the cry of the exiled Jews, wondering that God should have delivered
them up to the enemy, seeing that He is Zion's king, dwelling in her
([Micah 3:11](../../../kjv/micah/3/11)). In the latter half
of the verse God replies that their own idolatry, not want of
faithfulness on His part, is the cause.
**because of them that dwell in
a far country**—rather, "from a land of distances,"
that is, a distant land ([Isaiah 39:3](../../../kjv/isaiah/39/3)).
*English Version* understands the cry to be of the Jews *in
their own land,* because of the enemy *coming from their far-off
country.*
**strange vanities**—foreign
gods.

**20.** Proverbial. Meaning: One
season of hope after another has passed, but the looked-for
deliverance never came, and now all hope is gone.

**21. black**—sad in visage with
grief ([Joel 2:6](../../../kjv/joel/2/6)).

**22. balm**—*balsam;* to be
applied to the wounds of my people. Brought into Judea first from
Arabia Felix, by the queen of Sheba, in Solomon's time [JOSEPHUS,
*Antiquities,* 8.2]. The *opobalsamum* of PLINY;
or else [BOCHART] the
resin drawn from the terebinth. It abounded in Gilead, east of
Jordan, where, in consequence, many "physicians"
established themselves ([Jeremiah 46:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/46/11);
[Jeremiah 51:8](../../../kjv/jeremiah/51/8); [Genesis 37:25](../../../kjv/genesis/37/25);
[Genesis 43:11](../../../kjv/genesis/43/11)).
**health . . . recovered**—The
*Hebrew* is literally, "lengthening out . . . gone up";
hence, *the long bandage applied* to bind up a wound. So the
*Arabic* also [GESENIUS].

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