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5_606.TXT
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that this roll was the book of the Lamentations, called
by them Megallah, or roll.
Ver. 3. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all
the all which I purple to do unto the, &c.] Not
that there was any uncertainty in God as to the know.
ledge of future events, any more than a change in his
pareses: he had parposed to bring evil upon them,
which purpose would not be disannulled; and he knew
that the Jews would not hearken to the prediction of
it, or be concerned about it, and repent of their sins,
and reform; but this method he was pleased to take, as
being, humanly speaking, a probable one to awaken
their attention, and which would leave them inexcusa-
ble: that they may return every man from his evil way;
repent of it, and reform: that I may forgive thdr ini-
quity and their sin; by not inflicting on them the pu-
nishment and ruin threatened: where repentance is,
remission of sin is likewise, and both are the gifts of
divine grace, when spiritual and evangelical.
Ver. 4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Ne-
Tash, &.c] One of his disciples, and whom he had be-
fore made use of in the purchase of a field of his uncle's
son, and to whom he gave the evidence of the pur-
chase, ch. xxxii. 12. he was probably a better penman
than the prophet, or a quicker writer; however, he
thought proper, for quicker dispatch, to make use
of him as his amanuensis: and Baruch wrote from the
mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which
he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book; it seems
that Jeremiah had not committed any of his prophe-
cies to writing; and yet it cannot be thought that by
the mere strength of memory he could repeat every
discourse and prophecy he had delivered ill the space
of two-and-twenty years; wherefore it must be con-
cluded, that that same spirit, which first dictated
the prophecies to him, brought them fresh to Iris me-
mory; so that he could readily repeat them to Ba-
ruch, who took them down in writing on a roll of
parchment.
Ver. 5. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I
am shut up, &c.] In prison, according to Jarchi; but
this is not likely, for then there would have been no
occasion for an order to take him, yet. 26. Grotius
thinks he was obliged by the king's order to stay at
home; possibly he might be restrained by the spirit of
God, or had not freedom in his own mind to go
abroad; there might be a restraint, an impulse upon
his spirit, by the Spirit of God. Some think he was
under some legal pollution, which made him unfit to
go into the temple: for it follows: I cannot go into the
house of the Lord: labouring either under some bodily
infirmity, or ceremonial defilement, or was forbidden
by the king. What was the true cause is not certain;
but so it was, that either he was discharged, or dis-
abled, or disqualified, from going into the house of
God.
Vet. 6. Therefore go thou, and read in the ro1l, which
thou hast written from my month, &c.] The roll being
finished, Baruch is ordered to read it, which was the
end of writing it: and since the prophet could not
go himself, he sends another in his room, to read the
words of the Lord in the ears of the people, in the
Lord's house, upon the fasting day; the day of atone-
ment; the great fast, which was on the tenth
day of the seventh month, in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim; and so a different time of reading from
that in yet. 9. This was a very proper time to
read it in, when the people were fasting and humbling
themselves before the Lord; though some think this
was a fast proclaimed by Jehoiakim, to avert the venge-
ance threatened by the Chaldean army: and also Short
shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out
of their cities; to keep the feast of tabernacles; as they
did five days after the fast, or day of atonement; and
this seems to be the second reading of the roll enjoined.
Vet. 7- It may be they will present their supplication
before the Lord, &c.] Or, perhaps their supplication
will fall °; they will present it in an humble manner
before him; alluding to the prostration of their bodies,
and dejection of their countenances, in prayer: and
will return every man from his evil way; not only pray
for mercy, but repent of sin, and reform; without
which mercy is not to be expected:for great is the
anger and fury that the Lord hath pronounced against
this people; a very sore judgment, no less than the
utter destruction of their city, temple, and nation.
Ver. 8. And Baruch the son of Neriah did according'
to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, &c.]
Here follows Baruch's .obedience to the prophet's
commands; which he considered no doubt as the will
of the Lord, who directed the prophet to give the
orders he did; and which he punctually observed, in
all respects, as to things, time, and place: reading in
the book the words of the Lord in the Lord' s house; the
prophecies of Jeremiah, which came from the Lord,
and which he had transcribed into a book from the
mouth of the prophet; these he read before the people
in the temple, a first, if not a second time, before the
reading of it recorded in the following verses.
Vet. 9. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Je-
hoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth
month, &c.] This was a different time of reading the
book from the former, enjoined by the prophet, and
performed by Baruch, vet. 6, 8. that was on the tenth
day of the seventh month, in the fourth year of Jehoia-
kim; this was in the fifth year of Iris reign, and in the
ninth month of the year, a year and two months after
the former, as it should seem; but Jehoiakim's fifth
year beginning in the seventh month after the day of
atonement, this ninth month is to be reckoned not
from the beginning of his fifth year, but from the be-
ginning of the ecclesiastical year in the spring; so that
this was but two months after the former reading:
that they proclaimed a .fast before the Lord: this was
not an ordinary fast, or a common annual one of di-
vine appointment, which came-in course, but an ex-
traordinary one, upon some particular occasion. Some
think it was on account of the dearth, drought, and
famine in the land, ch. xiv. 1. and others, which seems
most likely, take it to be on account of the calamity
threatened the nation by the Chaldean army. This
fast was not in course, but was pt'oclaimed by the
order of the king and Iris council; and it may be at
the request of the people, at least they ,-greed and con-
{o} \^Mtnxt lpt ylwa\^ forte vel fortasse cadet deprecatio sorum,
Piscator, Schmidt. So Pagninus, Montanus, &c.