Or, “Behold the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land: Is not Yahweh in Zion? Is not her king there? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with foreign vanities?” Their complaint, “Is there no Jehovah in Zion?” is met by God demanding of them the reason why instead of worshipping Him they have set up idols. read more
The summer - Rather, the fruit-gathering, which follows the grain-harvest. The grain has failed; the fruit-gathering has also proved unproductive; so despair seized the people when they saw opportunities for their deliverance again and again pass by, until God seemed utterly to have forgotten them. read more
Jeremiah 8:18-19. When I would comfort myself, &c. “When I would apply comfort to myself, my heart misgives me: I find great reason for my fears, and none for my hopes.” Blaney translates the verse, sorrow is upon me past my remedying; my heart within me is faint. They seem to be the words of the prophet, who had endeavoured to comfort himself in his trouble by acquiescing in the will of God; but the miseries coming on his countrymen continually occurring to his mind in all their... read more
Jeremiah 8:20. The harvest is past, &c. Here the prophet speaks again in the name of the people, or, rather, represents the people besieged in Jerusalem complaining on account of the length of the siege. Their false prophets had amused them with vain hopes of deliverance, and they had expected the Egyptians to come to their relief; but now the harvest and the summer were past, and yet there was no appearance of succour or deliverance coming to them. Jerusalem began to be besieged in the... read more
Mourning for Judah (8:18-9:22)The prophet is overcome with grief as he foresees the tragic end of the nation. The people wonder why God their King does not save them. God replies that it is because of their idolatry. They now realize that they can no longer expect his salvation (18-20). Nothing can heal Judah’s spiritual sickness now; the end has come. And nothing can heal the wounds of grief in Jeremiah’s heart as he sees his people suffer (21-22).Jeremiah is unable to express the extent of... read more
provoked . . . vanities. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 32:21 , same word). Compare Jeremiah 7:19 . graven Images. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 7:5 , same word). App-92 . read more
"The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved."We selected this verse as the title of the whole chapter. It simply means that the last opportunity for Israel to repent and turn to the Lord has already slipped away. The harvest mentioned here is the one that came in the early summer in the months of April through June. The summer's being ended is a reference to the approach of autumn and the end of the final harvest of the year. There will be nothing more for another year.... read more
Jeremiah 8:19. Behold, the voice, &c.— The prophet anticipates in his imagination the captivity of his countrymen in Babylon, a far country; and represents them there as asking with a mixture of grief and astonishment, if there was no such a Being as JEHOVAH, who presided in Sion, that he so neglected his people, and suffered them to continue in such a wretched plight. Upon this complaint of theirs God justly breaks in with a question on his part; and demands why, if they acknowledged such... read more
Jeremiah 8:20. The harvest is past— The people, besieged in Jerusalem, afflicted themselves on account of the length of the siege. "We flattered ourselves," say they, "with a speedy deliverance; the false prophets amused us with their vain predictions: behold, the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we have no appearance of succour or deliverance." The last siege of Jerusalem continued two years; and the false prophets during all that time continued to seduce the people by their frivolous... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:20
The life is more than the meat. After the subsidence of the Deluge, there was a promise given to Noah that, "while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest … summer and winter … shall not cease." Scanning the surface of the Scripture narrative, it appears as if this promise had not been kept, seeing there is a record of several notable and protracted famines; and moreover, we have only too good reason to suppose that millions in the successive ages of the world have perished from famine.... read more