|
Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
|
Commentary & Explanation
|
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
|
CHAPTER 8
Calamities shall befall the inhabitants of Jerusalem—For them the
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and they are not saved.
|
|
|
1 AT that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and
the moona, and all the host of
heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have
served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom
they have aworshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be
bburied; they shall be for dung upon the face of the
earth.
3 And adeath shall be
bchosen rather than life by all the residue of them that
remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have
driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
|
2a the sun, and the moon Now
the false gods of worship were commonly Ba'al and Ashtaroth, Ba'al being the
'sun god' and Ashtaroth being the queen of heaven, Ba'al's partner the
goddess of the moon. They were gods of the heavenly bodies and counter parts
of corrupted belief varied but were similar from Egypt to Greece and round
about Jerusalem, Assyrian and even Babylon. These two gods of the high places
and or the groves were worshipped by Israel and by Judah. And this is that
which is being spoken of here as the Jews since the time of King Solomon had
had dual worship among them, perhaps a type of religious toleration for the
various wifes of Solomon who had come in from the nations. But the people of
Judah did worship them also. During certain times even the temple of
Jehovah did contain places of worship to these false gods. King Josiah had
done all in his power to correct this but the people persisted and went out
of the city unto such high places and groves of worship to worship these
false gods and such was the nature of things in the days of Zedekiah.
|
|
4 ¶ Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden
back by a perpetual abacksliding? they hold fast deceit,
they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
|
|
|
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed
times; and the aturtle and the crane and the swallow
observe the time of their coming; but my people bknow not
the judgment of the LORD.
8 How do ye say, We are
awise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo,
certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in
vain.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed
and taken: lo, they have arejected the word of the LORD;
and what wisdom is in them?
|
|
|
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12 Were they aashamed when they had
committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they
blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their
visitation they shall be bcast down, saith the LORD.
|
|
|
13 ¶ I will surely aconsume
them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs
on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have
given them shall pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let
us enter into the adefenced cities, and let us be silent
there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of
gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
|
|
|
15 We looked for apeace, but no
good camea; and for a time
of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the
whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his
astrong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the
land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
|
15a We looked for peace, but no good
came Like the saying, 'there is no rest for the wicked',
this condition of being fully rippended in iniquity leaves the wicked non
repentant and ready only for destruction. Judah was to the point of calling
good evil and denying that they were wicked before God in their pagan worship
their rejection of and murdering of the prophets of Jehovah who would teach
that there is salvation only in and through the Lord, even the coming Messiah.
|
|
18 ¶ When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my
people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in
Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to
aanger with their graven images, and with
bstrange vanities?
|
|
|
20 The aharvest is past, the summer
is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I
hurt; I am ablack; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
22 Is there no abalm in
Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|