Jeremiah 18:14

14. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon… from the rock of the field? etc. Two questions arise on this passage: How shall it be translated, and how interpreted?

I. Two translations have been proposed which are worthy of notice:

1 . That of Noyes, after Michaelis, Rosenmuller, Neumann, Maurer, and others: Shall the snow from the rock of Lebanon (snow of Lebanon from the rock) forsake my fields? 1) But in this the phrase, “from the rock,” is harsh and unmeaning. It adds nothing to the sense, and is, certainly, a clumsy expression for “rock of Lebanon.” 2) It mentions Lebanon as the source of the water supply of Palestine, while, in other passages, the sea is so mentioned.

2 . That of Keil and Nagelsbach: Will the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field? This is the simplest and most strictly grammatical rendering, and is clearly to be preferred.

II. Two interpretations of this last translation have been given.

1 . By “the rock of the field” Mount Zion is meant. In favour of this may be considered: 1) Mount Zion is so called in Jeremiah 17:3, while in Jeremiah 21:13, the kindred phrase, “rock of the plain,” is applied to it.

2) In Psalms 133:3, the “dew of Hermon,” the conspicuous and representative mountain of the Lebanon group is spoken of as “descending upon the mountains of Zion.” 3) The structure of the sentence clearly forbids us to identify the “rock of the field” with Lebanon. But, as bearing against this view, we should note: 1) The application of this phrase to Mount Zion, in another passage, is not conclusive as to its meaning here, though it does create an affirmative presumption. 2) The bold figure in Psalms 133:0, in which the dew of Hermon is said to come down upon the mountains of Zion, is no sufficient justification of the assumption that there was supposed to be a connexion between the snow of Lebanon and the springs of Jerusalem. If such a notion as this prevailed, either among the many or the few, we ought to find some notice of it in other places. 3) The word “Lebanon” in this place, is rather an appellative than the name of a locality: As the Lebanon snow, etc. The same remark also applies to the passage above alluded to, in which the “dew of Hermon” is mentioned.

2 . By the phrase “rock of the field,” Lebanon is meant. 1) This is the natural interpretation. The snow of Lebanon is the snow that rests on Lebanon, and gives it its name Lebanon= white mountain and it can leave only the place where it is. Hence, the “rock of the field” is “Lebanon.” 2) This being the natural view, it is in order now to note that no considerations such as are mentioned above bear with conclusive force against it and in favour of any other. 3) This gives a sense at once intelligible and impressive. Just as appeal was once made to the bow in the heavens, which was not a symbol but only a sign of God’s covenant, so here “the prophet appeals to the unchangeableness of one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena the perpetual snow on the summits of Lebanon” as a fit token of man’s unchanging faithfulness to God, the source of all gracious supply. 4) This view is strongly confirmed by the remainder of the verse, with which it is in perfect harmony.

Or shall the cold flowing waters, etc.? Literally, shall the strange, cool, trickling waters be plucked up? (dried up?) By “strange” waters are meant those that come from afar, whose sources are hidden a phrase seemingly appropriate to the wealth of springs in Lebanon. The epithet “cold” is also suggestive of these. The general idea is that of faithfulness or constancy. The cool, perennial mountain springs, that seem to flow forth from an unwasting fulness, stand in vivid contrast with the deceitful brooks which are so characteristic of Palestine, and which have already been referred to as a symbol of idolatrous trusts. No fitter emblem of the ever-flowing stream of God’s bounty can be found in the range of material nature than the strange, cool, trickling waters of the Lebanon springs.

Thus do both members of this difficult verse blend in a most appropriate and expressive symbolism. The “rock of the field” points to the Rock of eternity. The sublime vision of perpetual snow resting on its summit symbolizes that glory which the Eternal as a garment wears. And that equally characteristic feature, the mountain stream, whose waters flow on ever conscious of their distant snowy fountains, is happily expressive of the never-failing stream of the divine beneficence. The appeal is to the constancy of these. Is not nature true in her friendships? Does she not stand always visible and always faithful? Do not her streams of beneficent supply pour forth unceasingly? Even so is God to his people; but they turn away from him to follow after vanity, and “make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing.”