Глава 15

1–9. Jehovah's new refusal to the prophet's prayer. 10–21. The spiritual suffering of the prophet and his encouragement by God. Jeremiah 15:1–9. The Lord does not want to forgive His people because they do not deserve it. The people remain to accept all the punishments determined for them by the righteous judgment of God, and the prophet already sees the implementation of this sentence. Jer.15:1. And the Lord said to me: Even though Moses and Samuel appear before Me, My soul will not bow down to this people; drive them away from My presence, let them go away. Moses and Samuel, as in Ps 98.6, are shown here as such intercessors for the people, whose intercession Jehovah accepted (Exodus 32.11 et seq.; Num. 14.13 et seq.; 1 Sam. 7.9 et seq.; 1 Sam. 12.18). But now even these intercessors could not be heard by God - so great is the crime of the Jewish people before God! - “Let them go away.” The Jews, obviously, themselves came to the church to beg for forgiveness. Jeremiah 15:3. And I will send upon them four kinds of plagues, says the Lord: a sword to kill, and dogs to tear, and birds of the air, and wild beasts to devour and destroy; Dogs, birds (of prey) and beasts appear to devour the corpses of the murdered Jews and, as unclean creatures, to defile them with this. Jer.15:4. And I will give them to all the kingdoms of the earth to cause bitterness because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem. “I will give them over to bitterness” - more precisely from the Hebrew: I will make the Jews such that, looking at them and their fate, all nations will tremble. - “For Manasseh.” This thought seems to be a repetition of the thought of the writer of the 4th book of Kings (2 Kings 21.11 et seq.; 2 Kings 23.26; 2 Kings 24.3). Jeremiah could hardly say that for the sins of one king, who, moreover, repented and was returned from captivity (see 2 Kings 21.11 et seq.), God would still destroy the entire population of Judea. If he thought so, then what would be the purpose of his sermon about repentance, with which he addressed his people for a long time?! Obviously, Manasseh here is only a type of Jewish sinner. And in the Jews, his contemporaries, the prophet sees imitators of this wicked king, which is why he proclaims their destruction. Jer.15:5. etc. sts to 9th are a small, metrically correct poem. Jer.15:7. I fan them beyond the gates of the earth; I deprive them of their children, I destroy My people; but they do not return from their ways. "Beyond the Gates of the Earth". The Jews, like tares, will be thrown out of their country. But the original text says: “at the gates of the earth.” Gates here, as in Jeremiah 14.2, are mentioned instead of cities (Symmachus also understands this word in the sense of cities) and the whole expression can be translated as follows: “I will fan you in (all) cities.” Jer.15:8. I have more widows than the sand in the sea; I will bring upon them, upon the mother of the young men, the desolator at midday; fear and horror will suddenly attack them. "On the mother of young men". This expression, which is not entirely clear, is more successfully conveyed in the Syriac translation: to a mother and her son (cf. Gen. 32.12; Hos. 10.14). - “Devastator at noon,” that is, the enemies, knowing that there is no one to defend Jerusalem, will attack it in broad daylight. Jeremiah 15:10–21. The prophet suffers at the sight of the bitterness that his speeches arouse in the Jews about the judgment of God awaiting his fellow citizens. Although God reassures the prophet with the promise of His support, the prophet still cannot gather his courage. How long will he suffer? After all, he bears reproaches for Jehovah’s sake! At first, indeed, he was firm in the work of his ministry and it gave him pleasure to be the messenger of Jehovah's commands, so that he refused the usual time spent with young men. But now he is unable to bear the full weight of his mission, and he does not feel the power that Jehovah promised to maintain in him. God responds to this by reproaching the prophet for cowardice. Let the prophet gather his strength again, then God will support him, return to him the dignity he has lost, and the prophet will again take the same position that he occupied when entering his ministry. Jeremiah 15:10. “Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me as a man who argues and quarrels with the whole earth! I have not lent money to anyone, and no one has lent money to me, and everyone curses me.” Nothing so easily arouses mutual ill will and hatred as the relationship between those who give and take money at interest. Jeremiah 15:11. The Lord said: Your end will be good, and I will cause the enemy to deal well with you in time of trouble and in time of tribulation. The enemies of the prophet, i.e. the Jews themselves, will seek the prophet’s intercession before God when disasters befall them (cf. Jer 21.1 et seq.; Jer 37.3). Jeremiah 15:12. Can iron crush northern iron and copper? More correctly: “Is it possible to break iron, northern iron (mined in the northern mountains and very hard) and copper?” Here the prophet, miraculously strengthened by God, is called iron. Jeremiah 15:13. I will give up your property and treasures for plunder, without payment, for all your sins, throughout your borders; Jer.15:14. and I will send you with your enemies to a land that you do not know; For a fire has kindled in My wrath, it will burn against you. These words represent God's direct address to the people. With this interpolated appeal, God wants to convince the prophet that His words will come true. “Without payment,” that is, the devastators of the Judean country will not be punished by God. Jeremiah 15:15. Oh my God! You know everything; remember me and visit me, and avenge me on my persecutors; Do not destroy me according to Your long-suffering; You know that for Your sake I bear reproach. You know, the prophet does not doubt the expediency of all of Jehovah’s actions in relation to him, but asks only to take into account his weakness. – The enemies of the prophet appear to him at the same time as the enemies of Jehovah Himself. Jeremiah 15:16. Thy words were found, and I ate them; and Thy word was to me the joy and gladness of my heart; for Thy name is called upon me, O Lord God of hosts. Wed. Jer 1.9. Here, however, the more natural translation is LXX, which relates the expression “Thy words are found” to the previous verse. It is better to translate the end of verse 15 and the beginning of verse 16 as follows: “I bear reproach from those who reject Your words. Finish with them!.. And let it be...”, etc. Jeremiah 15:17. I did not sit in the assembly of those laughing and did not rejoice: under Your hand weighing on me, I sat alone, for You filled me with indignation. The heavy hand is the revelations that Jeremiah received from God. These revelations were of gloomy content, and therefore he, of course, could not be joyful when he accepted them. Jer.15:18. Why is my illness so persistent, and my wound so incurable that it refuses healing? Will You really be for me like a deceptive source, unfaithful water? There are many streams in Palestine that have water only during rainy periods. In summer, these streams are simple hollows along which you can walk. Jeremiah 15:19. To this the Lord said this: if you turn, then I will raise you up, and you will stand before Me; and if you bring the precious out of the worthless, you will be like My mouth. They themselves will turn to you, and not you will turn to them. Jehovah does not express any regret about what Jeremiah has experienced so far and seems to forget about his merits. This makes Jeremiah understand that by his excessive complaints he has humiliated his dignity as a servant of Jehovah. No, those lips that the Lord made as an instrument for proclaiming His will should not say anything unworthy. Anyone who is not satisfied with his position as Jehovah’s messenger, but also wants something for himself personally, is not worthy to be a servant of God! - “You will extract the precious from the insignificant” - more correctly: “if you bring only the noble and nothing insignificant.” Jeremiah has both good and bad inclinations. He must develop in himself only the first ones and free himself from carnal aspirations common to people. Special notes. Chapters XIV and XV represent one whole. When was the speech here given? Judging by the position in which the prophet was at that time, this speech can be attributed to the second half of the reign of Joachim. At this time, the prophet, indeed, suffered extremely from the universal hatred that he aroused towards himself among the inhabitants of Jerusalem with his prophecies about the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the church. You might be interested in: