Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 2. Learn not the way of the heathen] These words are more particularly addressed to the ten tribes scattered among the heathen by the Assyrians, who carried them away captive; they may also regard those in the land of Israel who still had the customs of the former heathen settlers before their eyes.
Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed] The Chaldeans and Egyptians were notoriously addicated to astrology; and the Israelites here are cautioned against it. The signs of the heavens may mean either the sun, moon, planets, and particular stars or constellations; or the figures or characters by which they represented these heavenly bodies.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- The people are corrected, Jerusalem is destroyed. (Jer. 9:1-11) The captives suffer in a foreign land. (Jer. 9:12-22) God' loving-kindness, He threatens the enemies of his people. (Jer. 9:23-26)
Jer. 9:1-11 Jeremiah wept much, yet wished he could weep more, that he might rouse the people to a due sense of the hand of God. But even the desert, without communion with God, through Christ Jesus, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, must be a place for temptation and evil while, with these blessings, we may live in holiness in crowded cities The people accustomed their tongues to lies. So false were they, that brother could not be trusted. In trading and bargaining they said an thing for their own advantage, though they knew it to be false. But God marked their sin. Where no knowledge of God is, what good can be expected? He has many ways of turning a fruitful land into barrennes for the wickedness of those that dwell therein.
Jer. 9:12-22 In Zion the voice of joy and praise used to be heard while the people kept close to God; but sin has altered the sound, it is now the voice of lamentation. Unhumbled hearts lament their calamity, but not their sin, which is the cause of it. Let the doors be shut ever so fast, death steals upon us. It enters the palaces of princes and great men, though stately, strongly built, and guarded. No are those more safe that are abroad; death cuts off even the children from without, and the young men from the streets. Hearken to the wor of the Lord, and mourn with godly sorrow. This alone can bring tru comfort; and it can turn the heaviest afflictions into preciou mercies.
Jer. 9:23-26 In this world of sin and sorrow, ending soon in death an judgement, how foolish for men to glory in their knowledge, health strength, riches, or in any thing which leaves them under the dominio of sin and the wrath of God! and of which an account must hereafter be rendered; it will but increase their misery. Those are the true Israe who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have n confidence in the flesh. Let us prize the distinction which comes from God, and will last for ever. Let us seek it diligently _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew כה3541 אמר559 יהוה3068 אל413 דרך1870 הגוים1471 אל408 תלמדו3925 ומאתות226 השׁמים8064 אל408 תחתו2865 כי3588 יחתו2865 הגוים1471 מהמה׃1992
