Seventh-day Adventist Bible CommentaryJeremiah 8

At that time. That is, the time when the events recorded in ch. 7:32–34 would take place. Bring out the bones. Some have suggested that the motive for such a desecration would be plunder, a search for treasures, ornaments, insignia, etc., commonly buried with kings. The context suggests that the motive would more likely be to heap malice and contempt upon the dead. Such a practice is in harmony with the gruesome customs of the Assyrians in dealing with the tombs of kings of conquered lands. The classes mentioned as having their bones so treated are the classes who had led in Judah’s backsliding.

Ellen G. White

Spread. Doubtless strewn or scattered carelessly, without any show of respect. The host of heaven. There is irony in this picture. The heavenly bodies mutely witness the desecration of the bones of their worshippers. Loved. See 2 Kings 17:16; 21:3; Jer. 19:13; Eze. 8:16; Zeph. 1:5. Their devotion had become a mad fervor. Gathered. That is, for burial.

Fall, and not arise. The absurdity of the obstinate persistency of Jerusalem’s inhabitants in perverse ways is shown by a contrast with what men ordinarily do. Does a man who slips and falls prostrate lie where he falls without making any attempt to get up? Turn away, and not return. Is it not also a natural instinct for one who has wandered from the right path to return to it?

Rusheth into the battle. The eagerness and mad recklessness of the war horse is a figure of the people’s eager and willful plunge to doom (see on Job 39:19–25).

The stork. The prophet draws a sharp contrast between the fidelity of the birds to their migratory instincts and the unfaithfulness of man to the laws that govern his being. Palestine lies in the migratory path of certain birds going from Africa northward. Both the white and the black stork are known in Palestine. In their migration these birds pass from the Red Sea northward over the Jordan valley. They stop in Palestine to feed on small water animals along the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee. Few birds are more punctual in their migratory habits. Appointed times. Heb. mo‘adim, “appointed places,” or “appointed times.” The turtle. That is, the turtledove. Its return was heralded as a sign of the arrival of spring (S. of Sol. 2:12). The swallow. In its migrations between Africa and Europe this bird passes through Palestine. The more than 200 mi. (320 km.) of fresh water in the serpentine Jordan River makes insect life abundant there in contrast with the Mediterranean coast.

Ellen G. White

How do ye say? The priests and the false prophets are evidently especially addressed (see v. 10; chs. 2:8; 5:31). It was they who boasted of the knowledge and possession of the law in spite of their heedlessness to the divine requirements. In vain made he it. The false prophets would have none of Jeremiah’s instructions, since they regarded themselves as wise and divinely appointed teachers of the people. The priests, too, led the people astray by falsifying the teachings of Holy Writ.

Ellen G. White

What wisdom? Literally, “wisdom of what?” That is, in what respect? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7; 9:10). The Word of God is the fountain of all wisdom (see Deut. 4:5, 6; Ps. 19:7; 2 Tim. 3:15). But these false religious leaders had no respect for either.

Therefore. The punishment and its causes (vs. 10–12) are described in language almost identical with ch. 6:13–15 (see comments there). Inherit. That is, take possession of them.

Were they ashamed? See on ch. 6:15.

Surely consume. The phrase thus translated is ambiguous, the other possibility being that it may be derived from the Heb. ’asaph, which means “to gather.” The clause would then read, “I will surely gather.” The LXX reads, “They shall gather together.” Compare Zeph. 1:2, 3. The translation “I will surely consume” is based on the assumption that the root of the verb is suph rather than ’asaph.

No grapes. Some regard the passage as a threat of crop failure and of scarcity of food. It seems better to understand the language figuratively, as a description of the nation. God’s people had become a degenerate, fruitless vine, a barren fig tree, and a withered branch (see Isa. 5:2; Jer. 2:21; Matt. 21:19; Luke 13:7–9). The leaf. Contrast the picture of the righteous man in Ps. 1:3 with the picture in Jer. 17:8. Shall pass away from them. The Hebrew of the last clause is obscure. The LXX has no corresponding clause. The Hebrew may literally be rendered, “I will give to them, they shall traverse them.” The connection between these two ideas is not clear.

Why do we sit still? The prophet dramatically utters words that the terror-stricken people would use in addressing one another. Gall. Heb. ro’sh, a bitter and poisonous plant (see Deut. 29:18; 32:32; Ps. 69:21), possibly the hemlock, the colocynth, the poppy, or the nightshade.

Peace. See on ch. 6:14. Health. Or, “healing.” Trouble. Heb. be‘athah, “terror,” or “dismay” (see ch. 14:19).

The snorting. In a dramatic way the prophet describes the arrival of the dreaded invader in the north and the resultant terror. Dan. A town on the northern border of Palestine (see on ch. 4:15). Strong ones. Here denoting the war horses (see ch. 47:3). Are come. Though future, the invasion is dramatically described as already taking place. All that is in it. Literally, “that which fills it.”

Cockatrices. Heb. ṣiph‘onim. The species of snake referred to is uncertain, but it was doubtless a poisonous variety. The LXX has “deadly serpents” rather than “serpents, cockatrices.” Charmed. Snake charming goes back to very ancient times (see on Ex. 7:11), and is still practiced, notably in India and Egypt. Some serpents presumably do not respond to charming (see Ps. 58:4, 5; see on Eccl. 10:11). The prophet used the figure of such a serpent to represent the implacable nature of the invader. The fury of the enemy could not be appeased or allayed by any art or method.

My heart is faint. The Hebrew of the first part of the verse is obscure. It is clear, however, that the heart of the prophet was crushed by the hopeless condition of his people. Chapter 8 closes with an outpouring of Jeremiah’s heart-rending anguish because of the impending national calamities.

Why? God answers by a counterquestion. Why had the people persisted in idolatry? Their distress was not due to any lack of faithfulness on His part, but to their own disloyalty to their King. Strange vanities. These foreign images represented gods that were nonentities (see Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13, 26; Jer. 14:22; Ps. 31:6). The children of Judah had chosen to serve foreign gods; hence Jehovah cast them out into a foreign land.

The harvest is past. Some consider this verse a further complaint of the captives; others, a continuation of the prophet’s bitter lament for his doomed people. It is, in any case, the lament of failure. In Palestine the grain harvest begins about April. The fruit harvest comes about August or September. When the grain crops failed, there was still

the hope there would be a yield of grapes, figs, olives, etc. For Judah, however, the fruit- gathering season—the last opportunity—had passed, and there was no deliverance. Her doom was now inevitable. Soon for the world the last summer will come and the last harvest be reaped. Then from the lips of thousands now living complacently will again ascend this wail of despair (see 7T 16).

Ellen G. White

For the hurt. The passage reads literally, “For the breaking … I am broken” (see ch. 23:9). Jeremiah was crushed by the sense of the utter ruin in store for his people. I am black. See on ch. 4:28. The prophet puts on mourning (see Ps. 38:6; Ps. 42:9). Astonishment. Heb. shammah, “an awful event,” “a horror” (see on ch. 5:30).

Balm. An aromatic resin or gun much prized for its healing properties (see chs. 46:11; 51:8), derived from a small, flowering evergreen tree that grew in the mountainous region east of the Jordan. The product was exported in OT times (see Gen. 37:25; Eze. 27:17). Was there no balm for Israel’s spiritual wounds and no healer to apply it? The answer implied is, “Yes, there is.” The message borne by the prophets, if heeded, would have provided healing. There is a cure for the disease of sin. Sin may be great, but the Physician of the soul is greater. Why? The people’s lack of healing was not due to the absence of means to effect a cure, but to the refusal of the nation to come to the Great Physician. Perhaps the people had become insensible to their needs. Perhaps they were too proud to accept the remedy, and thought they could cure themselves. Perhaps they had grown to love the disease. At any rate they would not look to the Healer and live. Health. Heb. ’arukah, “healing,” not the same word as the one translated “health” in v. 15. ’Arukah refers to the new flesh growing on the wounded spot. The daughter of my people. A common Hebrew idiom implying that the Hebrew nation throughout its history was the “mother,” and the present generation the “daughter.”

Ellen G. White