The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 9:21
The death of the wicked contrary to nature. Various respects in which this is so: it is sudden; it defies all the resources of comfort and protection; it is untimely, and cuts off the young in their bloom—the children for the fathers' sin, the hope of the nation and the family. "Death will not, as an enemy lurking without, attack those only who venture out to him, but will assault the people, penetrating into all their houses, to fetch his sacrifices" (Naegelsbach, in Lunge). Why so? I.... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 9:21
Death is come up , etc. "Death," equivalent to "pestilence" (as Jeremiah 15:2 ), the most dreaded foe of a besieged population. (For the figure, comp. Joel 2:9 .) The children from without . The ideal of Zechariah is that "the streets of the city should be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof" ( Zechariah 8:5 ). But the pitiless reaper, Death, shall cut off even "the playful child from the street" (so we might render more literally). Streets, in the parallel clause,... read more