The Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 8:8-12

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

The present condition of the country, the evils that lowered upon the horizon,—these alike bore their message even to the natural conscience. If Israel was in the right way, and really understood the will of the Lord to do it, why these scandals, miseries, and impending evils? Again, the better to reach the perception of those who were thus unable to draw the inference for themselves, the condemnation was to be in kind—a sort of elementary lesson in the "correspondences" that marked the Divine government of the world was to be read to them. The scribe who had prophesied "smooth things" would be confronted with his own writings and compelled to eat his own words.

I. DIVINE ILLUMINATION ALONE CAN GIVE TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD'S WORD. The priests and scribes, because of familiarity with holy things, claimed to be wise. They were satisfied with the spiritual state of Israel. Had they been wise, they would have anticipated what took place. The Holy Spirit alone bestows Divine insight and foresight.

II. THE DESPISERS OF DIVINE TRUTH, AND THOSE WHO FALSELY PRETEND TO ITS CUSTODY, WILL BE PUT TO SHAME. "Refuges of lies" will be swept away. The judgment, when it comes, will find them wholly unprepared and helpless. "Take heed that the light that is in thee be not darkness." "Blind leaders of the blind," the sorrowing comes to them in vain for comfort, or is deceived to his own hurt; at last the victim of a misplaced confidence, to find himself "of all men most miserable." The sinner meets with no true correction or instruction; and in his desperation he receives from them no help. Their judgment is that they will share the fate of their victims and dupes.—M.

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 8:1-22EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryMatthew Henry on Jeremiah 8:4-13What brought this ruin? 1. The people would not attend to reason; they would not act in the affairs of their souls with common prudence. Sin is backsliding; it is going back from the way that leads to life, to that whic…Matthew Henry commentaryFull of Impenitent Sinners; Hardened Wickedness of Judah. (b. c. 606.)FULL OF IMPENITENT SINNERS; HARDENED WICKEDNESS OF JUDAH. (B. C. 606.) The prophet here is instructed to set before this people the folly of their impenitence, which was it that brought this ruin upon them. They are her…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 8:4-11Backsliding in its worst forms. All departures from God are evil, but some are only temporary, and are quickly followed by repentance, return, and restoration. There are others, however, of a far more serious kind, and…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 8:8-12The exposure of pseudo-wisdom. I. THE CLAIM MADE. Those on whom Jeremiah presses his appeals for a change of purpose reply, if not by plain words, at all events by equally plain actions, that they are so wise in their o…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 8:8How do ye say, We are wise? Jeremiah is evidently addressing the priests and the prophets, whom he so constantly described as among the chief causes of Judah's ruin (comp. verse 10; Jeremiah 2:8, Jeremiah 2:26; Jeremiah…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 8:9The wise men are ashamed. It is the perfect of prophetic certitude, equivalent to "the wise men shall certainly be ashamed." And why? Evidently because they have not foreseen the calamities impending ever their nation.…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 8:10-12These verses are almost the same as Jeremiah 6:12-15; the differences are in Jeremiah 6:10. They are omitted in the Septuagint, and Hitzig regards them as an interpolation, at any rate from the point where the present p…Joseph S. Exell and contributors