Jeremiah 1:17 | |
17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confouml thee before them. | 17. Et tu accinge lumbos tuos et surge, et loquere ad ipsos quaecunque (vel, omnia quae) ego mandavero tibi; ne timeas a facie ipsorum, ne to conteram (vel, timere faciam) a facie ipsorum (est enim verbum sumptum ex eadem radice.) |
God first bids his Prophet to be the herald of the dreadful judgment, which we have already noticed: for it was not his purpose to speak only as it were in a corner, or secretly, to Jeremiah, but he committed to him what he intended should be proclaimed audibly to the whole people. It hence follows, And thou, etc. We therefore see that the Prophet had been taught by the Lord, that he might confidently and boldly declare what we shall hereafter see. These things should then be connected, -- that God would ascend his tribunal to execute the vengeance he had deferred, -- and also that Jeremiah would be the herald of that vengeance he was prepared to inflict. Thou then, -- an illative is to be added here, for the copulative is to be thus taken in this place, -- Thou then; that is, as thou hast heard that I shall be now the avenger of the people's sins, and that the time of vengeance is at hand; and also as thou knowest that this has been told thee, that thou mightest warn them to render them more inexcusable, -- Thou then,1
And hence we learn, that all who are called to rule the Church of God cannot be exempt from blame, unless they honestly and boldly proclaim what has been committed to them. Hence Paul says that he was free from the blood of all men, because he had from house to house and publicly declared whatever he had received from the Lord, (Acts 20:26, 27;) and he says in another place,
"Woe is to me if I preach not the Gospel,
for it has been committed to me." (1 Corinthians 9:16)
God bids the Prophet to
He now again repeats what he had before said,
He afterwards adds,
"Take heed to thyself; for if thou be timid, I will cause thee really to fear, or, I will break thee down before them."
He then intimates, in these words, that the Prophet ought to be sufficiently fortified, as he knew that he was sent by God, and thus acted as it were under the authority of the highest power, and that he should not fear any mortal man.2 There is also to be understood here a threatening, "See, if thou conductest thyself courageously I shall be present with thee, and however formidable at the first view thy opponents may be, they shall not yet prevail; but if thou be timid and faint -- hearted,3 I will render thee an object of contempt: thou shalt not only be timid in heart; but I will make thee to be despised by all, so that thou shalt be contemptuously treated; for in that case thou wilt not be worthy that I should fight for thee and supply thee with any courage and power to put thine enemies to flight."
We hence see what this means,
This passage contains a useful doctrine, from which we learn that strength shall never be wanting to God's servants, while they derive courage from the conviction that God himself is the author of their calling and become thus magnanimous; for God will then supply them with strength and courage invincible, so as to render them formidable to the whole world: but if they be unhinged and timid, and turn here and there, and be influenced by the fear of men, God will render them base and contemptible, and make them to tremble at the least breath of air, and they shall be wholly broken down; -- and why? because they are unworthy that God should help them, that he should stretch forth his hand and fortify them by his power, and supply them, as it has been already said, with that fortitude, by which they might terrify both the Devil and the whole world.
PRAYER
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast been once pleased to fortify thy servant Jeremiah with the invincible power of thy Spirit, -- O grant that his doctrine may at this day make us humble, and that we may learn willingly to submit to thee, and so to receive and even cordially to accept what thou offerest to us by thy servant -- to sustain us by thine hand, and that we, relying on thy power and protection, may fight against the world and against Satan, while each of us, in his vocation, so recumbs on thy power, as not to hesitate, whenever necessary, to expose our very life to dangers: and may we manfully fight and persevere in our warfare to the end, until having finished our course we shall at length come to that blessed rest which is reserved for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. -- Amen.
1 This is correctly given, only the
And thou, gird thy loins,
And arise, and speak to them
All that I shall command thee.
"And as for thee," by Blayney, is very tame and prosaic. The version of the Geneva Bible is, "Thou, therefore, trusse up thy loyns." -Ed.
2 It is true that the primary meaning of the verb here used is, to be broken, or to be broken down, to be broken in pieces. It is applied to the breaking of a bow, and to the breaking down of images, 1 Samuel 2:4; Jeremiah 50:2; and to the breaking down of nations, (Isaiah 8:3;
Isaiah 30:31.) Such is its meaning when applied to what is material and visible; but when applied to the mind or spirit, it means to be dispirited, daunted, terrified, or dismayed, 2 Kings 19:26; Jeremiah 8:9. It is here first in a passive sense, and then in Hiphil, as in Job 31:34; and in Jeremiah 49:37, -
Be not dismayed at them,
Lest I cause thee to be dismayed before them.
or,
Be not terrified by them,
Lest I terrify thee before them.
Blayney gives to the verb first its secondary meaning, and then its primary, " Be not thou afraid of them, lest I should suffer thee to be crushed before them." How crushed before them? By whom? And to say that there is no threat included in the last line is singular, as words could hardly be framed to express it more distinctly.
The Targum expresses the meaning of the first line, "Restrain not thyself from rebuking them." Grotius renders the last line, "Ne ego to perterrefaciam coram illis-lest I terrify thee before them;" which seems to be its best rendering.-Ed.
3 Cotton, the old translator, has rendered it very strikingly, "If thou quailest," expressing the two words in one.-Ed.