Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 17:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER XVII

This chapter begins with setting forth the very strong bias

which the people of Judah had to idolatry, with the fatal

consequences, 1-4.

The happiness of the man that trusted in Jehovah is then

beautifully contrasted with the opposite character, 5-8.

God alone knows the deceitfulness and wretchedness of the heart

of man, 9, 10.

The comparison of a bird's hatching the eggs of another of a

different species, which will soon forsake her, is highly

expressive of the vanity of ill-acquired riches, which often

disappoint the owner, 11.

The prophet continues the same subject in his own person,

appeals to God for his sincerity, and prays that the evil

intended him by his enemies may revert on their own heads,

12-18.

The remaining part of the chapter is a distinct prophecy

relating to the due observance of the Sabbath, enforced both by

promises and threatenings, 19-27.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVII

Verse Jeremiah 17:1. The sin of Judah — Idolatry.

Is written with a pen of iron — It is deeply and indelibly written in their heart, and shall be as indelibly written in their punishment. Writing with the point of a diamond must refer to glass, or some vitrified substance, as it is distinguished here from engraving with a steel burine, or graver. Their altars show what the deities are which they worship. There may be reference here to the different methods of recording events in those days: -

1. A pen or stile of iron, for engraving on lead or wood.

2. A point of a diamond, for writing on vitreous substances.

3. Writing on tables of brass or copper.

4. Writing on the horns of the altars the names of the deities worshipped there. This is probable.

In several parts of India, and all through Ceylon, an iron or steel pen is used universally; with these the natives form the letters by incisions on the outer rind of the palm leaf. Books written in this way are very durable. This pen is broad at the top, has a very fine sharp point, and is sharp at one side as a knife, to shave and prepare the palm leaf. A pen of this description now lies before me.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Wrong attitudes and their outcome (17:1-13)

Baal worship has become so much a part of the people’s everyday lives that God sees it as engraved on their hearts. It is so widely practised in Judah that it cannot be removed from the land unless the people themselves are removed (17:1-4). Those who ignore God and trust in themselves are likened to a useless stunted bush that tries to grow in barren ground. Those who trust in God are likened to a healthy green tree that flourishes in well-watered fertile soil (5-8).
Because of the deceitfulness of the human heart, people may not understand their own actions and motives. Only God knows the hidden attitudes of their hearts, and he treats people accordingly (9-10). Those who gain riches by dishonest methods are also deceiving themselves. They will one day lose their riches, just as a bird that hatches eggs stolen from another bird’s nest will lose the young birds when they grow and fly away (11). The only security in life is with the eternal God, whose presence is symbolized in the temple. But even the temple will not save those who turn away from him. The nation’s hope is in a person, not a building (12-13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; whilst their children remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees upon the high hills. O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures for a spoil, and the high places, because of sin throughout all thy borders. And thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause them to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in my anger which shall burn forever."

There are imperfections in the Hebrew text here which have made it difficult for scholars to determine the exact translation; but the broad thrust of the passage is clear enough.

"Pen of iron… point of a diamond" There are two things stressed here, (1) the permanence of the record of sin, and (2) the hardness of the heart of the people, the implication being that only a diamond-pointed stylus would be able to inscribe anything on the hearts of the Israelites!

"What is thus engraved upon the heart, though covered and closed for a time, can never be erased, but will be produced in evidence when the books are opened."Matthew Henry's Commentary, p. 517.

"Your altars… their altars" There is uncertainty regarding which altars are meant by the first of these expressions. Some prefer to view them as the same as the pagan altars mentioned next; but Keil and Cheyne both pointed out that there were two altars in the temple and construed the first reference as pertaining to the true altars.

The broad meaning of the whole passage is clear enough. Back in Jeremiah 16:10, the people demanded to know, "What is our iniquity, and what is our sin?" God answered their query there; but he did so again here. He indicted them with a charge of their heartless apostasy and proved it, pointing out that they had no excuse, and that, "They could plead no extenuating circumstances of their crime that could either arrest the judgment or result in the mitigation of the deserved punishment."Ibid.

"Their children remember… their Asherim" "These were wooden pillars, or monuments, set up in honor of Ashteroth, or Astarte."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 467. Not much is known of these objects; but it is believed that many of them, at least, were phallic symbols. This writer saw more than a hundred of these in all sizes up to eight or ten feet tall in Japan in 1952. Such devices were used in the cultic worship of the fertility gods and goddesses of ancient Canaan, a pagan practice to which the Jews proved to be quite vulnerable.

It should be remembered that the sacred text here is damaged and that some questions remain about exact translations. As Thompson said, "It seems clear that we have here a reference to the prevalence of Canaanite worship with its altars, sacred poles, and other paraphernalia of the cult, a clear rejection of the sole sovereignty of God."J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 418.

"Jeremiah 17:2-3 are difficult and can be rendered metrically (that is, as poetry) only by forcing."Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), p. 117. This is a good place to observe that much of the "poetry" in some renditions of Old Testament books is obtained in the same manner. Also, there is the dictum of some of the critics that Jeremiah could not have written both prose and poetry, resulting in their denial of one or the other as authentic Jeremiahic prophecies. To be sure, there is no sense at all in such a dictum. The application of such a foolish rule would deny that Sir Walter Scott wrote The Lay of the Last Minstrel, or The Lady of the Lake, since he was also the author of Rob Roy, and The Talisman, being also the greatest prose writer of a thousand years!

"O my mountain in the field" "This is a reference to Jerusalem; and `the field' signifies the surrounding country."W. Harvey Jellie, Jeremiah, in Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary (New York: Funk and Wagnalls Company), p. 362.

"Thy substance and all thy treasures for a spoil" Again on Jeremiah 17:3-4 the scholars warn of an impaired text; but it is a mistake to make too much of it. "Despite specific problems, the overall idea is that sinfulness would cost Judah their wealth, their homeland, and their freedom."Anthony L. Ash, Psalms (Abilene, Texas: A.C.U. Press, 1987), p. 152.

"Thou shalt discontinue from the heritage that I gave thee" Barnes tells us that the verb `discontinue' as used here, "Is the term for letting the land rest (Exodus 23:11), and of releasing creditors (Deuteronomy 15:2) in the sabbatical year."B., p. 192. The same author noted that:

As Judah had not kept those sabbatical years which God commanded, during her captivity, she would be forced to leave off tillage of the ground until the land had had its rest.

"Thou, even of thyself, shall discontinue" "The meaning of the expression `even of thyself' may mean `through thyself,' that is, `through your own fault.' "Ibid.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

This section Jeremiah 17:1-4 is inseparably connected with the preceding. Judah’s sin had been described Jeremiah 16:19 as one of which the very Gentiles will become ashamed. and for which she will shortly be punished by, an intervention of God’s hand more marked than anything in her previous history. Jeremiah now dwells upon the indelible nature of her sin.

A pen of iron - i. e., an iron chisel for cutting inscriptions upon tables of stone.

The point of a diamond - The ancients were well acquainted with the cutting powers of the diamond.

Altars - Not Yahweh’s one altar, but the many altars which the Jews had set up to Baalim Jeremiah 11:13. Though Josiah had purged the land of these, yet in the eleven years of Jehoiakim’s reign they had multiplied again, and were the external proofs of Judah’s idolatry, as the table of her heart was the internal witness.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

The Prophet teaches us here in other words what we have often already seen, — that the Jews in vain sought refuges, for their sin had so much accumulated that it was very apparent. It indeed often happens, that men fall; but God, who is ever inclined to mercy, forgives them; and they are also often led astray through levity, and thus their sins are not engraven on their hearts. But Jeremiah says, that nothing remained for that nation but to be entirely swept away, because their iniquity was past recovery. Had they been lightly besprinkled with vices, there might have been still a remedy for them; but when their iniquities were engraven on their hearts, on their marrow and bones, what more remained for them? He had said before,

“Can the Ethiop change his skin?” (Jeremiah 13:23)

though the Ethiop may change his skin, and also the panther, yet thou art still like thyself. They had so completely imbibed a contempt for God, and also perverseness, that they could not by any means be restored to a right mind. We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet in this passage.

He says that the sin of Judah was written with an iron pen, with the point of adamant; as though he had said, “They are not only slightly imbued with iniquity, for then there might be some healing; but iniquity is engraven on their inmost feelings, as though one had graven it with adamant or with an iron pen.” It hence appears, that they were wholly unworthy of pardon, as they were in no way capable of receiving mercy, how much soever God might have been inclined to receive them into favor; for their obstinacy had closed the way of salvation; nor could they apply to themselves the promises, for they require repentance in sinners.

He then adds, It is graven on the table of their heart; as though he had said, that they were so addicted to iniquity, that all their inward parts bore the impressions of it. It hence follows that the Jews were so proved to be guilty, that they in vain contrived evasions, for their own conscience condemned them. At the same time, I consider the Prophet as speaking not only of guilt, but also of sin itself, and of their propensity to evil. He means then that the Jews had not only sinned and transgressed God’s law in a way not common, but that they were also so given up to wickedness as to delight in the iniquity that was graven on their hearts. He calls by a metaphor the affections or feelings the tables of the heart: For he compares the heart to tables; as writing appears when cut in stone or brass, so when a sinful impression is made on the hearts of men, iniquity itself may be said to be graven on the tables of the heart.

He afterwards adds, And on the horns of your altars. He had spoken of the heart, he now proceeds farther, — that there appeared openly an evidence of hidden iniquity. Had he spoken only of their hearts, the Jews might have objected and said, “How canst thou penetrate into our hearts? Art thou God, to examine and try our inward emotions?” But the Prophet adds, that their iniquity was sufficiently known by their altars. He at the same time intimates, that they in vain alleged the name of religion; for under that pretense they especially sinned against God; for they had vitiated his pure worship. And to confirm this very thing he adds —

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 17 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond ( Jeremiah 17:1 ):

Interesting that they were using diamonds for pens in those days, isn't it? Diamonds set in iron.

it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills. O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders. And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever. Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD ( Jeremiah 17:1-5 ).

And so God pronounces the curse upon those that would trust in an alliance in Egypt to deliver them from this Babylonian invasion. "Cursed be the man who puts his trust in man, and makes the flesh his arm, who has departed from the Lord." That is, from trusting in the Lord.

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited ( Jeremiah 17:6 ).

In contrast to the, "Cursed be the man."

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is ( Jeremiah 17:7 ).

Or is the Lord.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not worry in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit ( Jeremiah 17:8 ).

So the cursing upon those that would trust in man, in the arm of flesh and not the Lord, but the blessing upon those that would trust in the Lord. Those who trust in man and the arm of flesh will be dried, withered, dead, uninhabited. Those that trust in the Lord will be like a tree planted by the waters that doesn't even know when summer comes because of the freshness that it draws out from that water.

Now verse Jeremiah 17:9 :

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ( Jeremiah 17:9 )

God's talking about your heart and my heart. Socrates cried, "Man, know thyself." But who really does know himself? The scripture says, "Thou, O Lord, searches the heart and the reins." God knows my heart better than I know it. God knows what deception is there. And it is easy for us to become deceived. It's easy for us to follow a vain philosophy. It's easy for us to take that adage, "The end justifies the means." And so our means become perverse, crooked.

Paul the apostle talks about those who say, "Well, our lies bring glory to God so God shouldn't judge us for lying." Or those who would say, "Well, if I sin I'm only proving that God is telling the truth when He said all have sinned. So how can God judge me for proving Him to be speaking the truth? I'm only helping prove the truth of God's Word so God really can't judge me because I'm only proving what He said is true." And Paul speaks out against the perversity of such kind of logic and how God will judge all.

Now there are those who in the name of the Lord are doing crooked and perverse things. And if you talk to them about it, challenge them, they would be shocked. They would be disturbed. "My, brother! You know, you're judging me." The Bible says judge righteous judgment. I think that we've been put off a long time because we are afraid of people saying, "Well, you're judging, you know." The Bible says, "By their fruits ye shall know them" ( Matthew 7:16 ). And it is wrong to use deceit and lies and gimmicks to try to extract funds from the people of God in order to support your program. I don't care how righteous or good your program may be.

My wife told me not to get into this tonight. It's right here in the scripture. It just came along. I just... I cannot understand men advertising their fasting and prayer when Jesus said, "When you fast, anoint your face. Wash yourself that you might look cheerful and all. That you don't appear unto men to fast. And your Father which sees in secret, He'll reward you. And when you pray, don't go out on the street corner, but go into your closet and shut the door." And when some guy sends letters out all over the country saying, "I'm going to spend some time fasting and praying, send me your requests with your fifty dollar check because I want to pray for you, too," something's wrong. Desperately wrong.

"The heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" But God declares, "I the Lord search the heart. I try the reins." That is, the motivations. "Even to give every man according to his ways." Now Jesus tells us that we are to be careful that we don't do our righteousness before men to be seen of men because we have our reward. Now Jesus plainly warns us about that. There is a way that I can do my righteousness so that people see me and they say, "Oh my, isn't he spiritual?" And we've got to watch out for this, because it is such a deceiving, terrible thing. My old pride and my old flesh wants people to think that I am a spiritual man of God. I like people when I walk by to whisper, "Oh, isn't he spiritual? Oh." My flesh just really enjoys that. And so it's easy for me to get little spiritual affectations that my mind isn't really necessarily upon God. As I stand there, you lift your head upward and close your eyes because that looks more spiritual. I wonder if people are seeing me now. Surely they'll know I'm very spiritual. I hope they're watching. And then if you go up on your tiptoes it even looks a little more, you know, spiritual. But my mind, what am I thinking? Am I thinking, "I hope they're watching. I hope they see. I hope they notice. I hope they realize how spiritual I am." God said, "Look, I'm searching the heart. I'm trying the motives."

Now the Bible tells us that one day all of our works are going to be judged by fire. And much of what we have done is going to go poof! It's going to go up in smoke. "Wait a minute, Lord, did I not prophesy in Thy name? Didn't I work miracles in Your name? Didn't I heal the sick in Your name? Lord!"

I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins ( Jeremiah 17:10 ),

All of your works are wood, hay and stubble. They were done to be seen of men. They were done for your own glory and to spread abroad your own name. You named your chapels and your universities and all after your own name. Sad. Sad. What a day of awakening it's going to be.

"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." Now David realizing this, realizing that he didn't even know his own heart because of the deceitfulness of the heart, said, "Thou O Lord hast searched me and You know me. You know my thoughts in their origin. Such knowledge," he said, "is too great for me. I cannot attain it" ( Psalms 139:1 , Psalms 139:6 ). I cannot really attain the true knowledge of myself. But then he said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be some way of wickedness in me, and lead me in Your way eternal" ( Psalms 139:23-24 ).

Now the man who understands and knows that his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked is the man who will join David's prayer and say, "O God, You search my heart. You know. You try me. And God, if there's something there that is wrong, is displeasing to You, reveal it to me, Lord." I don't want to be deceived. I don't want to be deceiving myself. I don't want to stand before God and suddenly find all that I've done wiped out in a puff of smoke as the fire consumes all of that work of wood, hay and stubble. Jesus said, "You've not chosen Me, but I've chosen you, and ordained you, that you should be My disciples, that you should bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain" ( John 15:16 ). That's what I want, remaining fruit. So God help us. He's searching our hearts. He tries the rein. And He's going

to give to every man according to his ways ( Jeremiah 17:10 )

What's in my heart? Why did I do it? That's what's going to be judged. God is going to give to him

according to the fruit of his doings. As the partridge sits on eggs, and doesn't hatch them; so is he that gets riches, and not by right ( Jeremiah 17:10-11 ),

But by wrong means. He is accumulating wealth.

he shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end he shall be a fool. A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary ( Jeremiah 17:11-12 ).

That place of our sanctuary is God's glorious high throne.

O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters ( Jeremiah 17:13 ).

Takes us back to the first cry of God against Israel in that they have committed two evils: "They have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns that can hold no water" ( Jeremiah 2:13 ).

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now. As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee ( Jeremiah 17:14-16 ).

He's not rejoicing in the things that he is saying.

Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil. Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction ( Jeremiah 17:17-18 ).

Now the Lord spoke to him concerning the gates where the king went in and went out, and He said, "Now go down to the gate and when the king comes in give him this message."

Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I have commanded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear ( Jeremiah 17:19-23 ),

Now that is, their fathers obeyed not. "I told your fathers not to do this," God is saying, "but they didn't obey Me. Neither did they incline their ear."

but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein; Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever ( Jeremiah 17:23-25 ).

God is still holding out the opportunity of salvation and hope to them. Even at this late stage of their backsliding. Even when the judgment is hanging over their head. Even when Babylon is marching to destroy this place. God is still holding out to them a hope. "Just turn to Me, just obey Me, and the gates here, the kings and the princes will be passing through forever. You'll never be destroyed or put out of the land." God's mercies just are so extensive. They're right up until the moment a person dies. God extends His mercy. Oh, how merciful is our God!

And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD ( Jeremiah 17:26 ).

It can happen. It can happen to you. Just turn back to Me. Just obey My commandments.

But if you will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched ( Jeremiah 17:27 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The indictment against Judah for her deeply ingrained sins was written permanently on the people’s hearts (cf. Job 19:24). It stood etched there and, also figuratively, on their most prominent places of worship, the pagan altars throughout the land. Sins engraved on the heart pictures the chief characteristic that marked the inner life of the people, which was indelible sin. When Yahweh had given Israel the covenant at Mount Sinai, He inscribed it on tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12; Exodus 31:18). But now, what was authoritative for the people was sin, that they had inscribed on tablets of flesh.

Rather than blood, on the horns of the brazen altar in the temple courtyard, testifying to the people’s commitment to Him, the Lord saw their sins staining the horns of their pagan altars (cf. Jeremiah 7:21-26; Amos 4:4-5). The brazen altar was a place of sacrifice where their sins could be removed, but the horns of their altars had become places of sacrilege where their sins stood recorded.

". . . the people’s heart has guilt not only written all over it but etched into it, engraved . . . beyond erasure." [Note: Kidner, p. 71.]

In the future, God promised to write His law on His people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34), but until then their sins were what marked their hearts. Then He would remember their sins no more, but now they remained recorded and unforgiven.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Judah’s indelible sin and sin’s deceitfulness 17:1-18

The next five sections (Jeremiah 17:1-18) continue the theme of Judah’s guilt from the previous chapter. These pericopes have obvious connections with one another, but they were evidently originally separate prophecies. Jeremiah 17:1-4 are particularly ironic.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron,.... Or an iron tool, such as engravers use in working on hard matter:

[and] with the point of a diamond; such as glaziers use in cutting their glass; though this is not the word used for a diamond in

Exodus 28:18, this word is elsewhere translated an adamant, Ezekiel 3:9. Bothart h takes it to be the smiris, which jewellers use in polishing their gems. Jarchi makes mention of a Midrash, or exposition, which explains the iron pen of Jeremiah, and the point of the adamant, or diamond, of Ezekiel, because of what is said of them, Jeremiah 1:18. Kimchi thinks the word "shamir", rendered "diamond", is expressive of the subject matter on which their sin is said to be written, and not of the instrument with which; and then it is to be read thus,

"the sin of Judah is written with an iron pen (with an iron claw, or nail, of which mention is made in some Jewish writings) upon "shamir", or an adamant stone;''

which is no other than their stony heart, as it follows:

it is graven upon the table of their heart; where it is so fixed that it cannot be rooted out, and will never be forgotten by them, but always remembered and desired; for which they have the strongest affections, having a place, and having made deep impressions there: or this may denote the evidence of it in their own consciences, which bore witness to it, and which they could not deny:

and upon the horns of your altars; on which the names of their idols were engraven or inscribed, Acts 17:23, so that their idolatry was notorious; their consciences within, and their altars without, were testimonies of it and besides, the blood of the sacrifices was poured upon the horns of the altar, Leviticus 4:7 and which, as it was done at the offering of sacrifices appointed of God, so very probably at the offering of sacrifices to idols, and which made their sin notorious; yea, even all the sacrifices of the ceremonial law were a standing testimony of their being sinners, and carried in them a confession of sin, and that they were deserving of death, and so were a handwriting against them; for there is no need to limit the sin of Judah here to idolatry, but it may include all their sins; and so the Targum expresses it in the plural number,

"the sins of Judah;''

though, if any particular sin is intended, it seems to be idolatry, by what follows.

h Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 6. c. 11, col. 842. of which stone, see Dioseorides, Hesychius, & Stephanus in ib.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;   2 Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.   3 O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.   4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.

      The people had asked (Jeremiah 16:10; Jeremiah 16:10), What is our iniquity, and what is our sin? as if they could not be charged with any thing worth speaking of, for which God should enter into judgment with them; their challenge was answered there, but here we have a further reply to it, in which,

      I. The indictment is fully proved upon the prisoners, both the fact and the fault; their sin is too plain to be denied and too bad to be excused, and they have nothing to plead either in extenuation of the crime or in arrest and mitigation of the judgment. 1. They cannot plead, Not guilty, for their sins are upon record in the book of God's omniscience and their own conscience; nay, and they are obvious to the eye and observation of the world, Jeremiah 17:1; Jeremiah 17:2. They are written before God in the most legible and indelible characters, and sealed among his treasures, never to be forgotten, Deuteronomy 32:34. They are written there with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond; what is so written will not be worn out by time, but is, as Job speaks, graven in the rock for ever. Note, The sin of sinners is never forgotten till it is forgiven. It is ever before God, till by repentance it comes to be ever before us. It is graven upon the table of their heart; their own consciences witness against them, and are instead of a thousand witnesses. What is graven on the heart, though it may be covered and closed up for a time, yet, being graven, it cannot be erased, but will be produced in evidence when the books shall be opened. Nay, we need not appeal to the tables of the heart, perhaps they will not own the convictions of their consciences. We need go no further, for proof of the charge, than the horns of their altars, on which the blood of their idolatrous sacrifices was sprinkled, and perhaps the names of the idols to whose honour they were erected were inscribed. Their neighbours will witness against them, and all the creatures they have abused by using them in the service of their lusts. To complete the evidence, their own children shall be witnesses against them; they will tell truth when their fathers dissemble and prevaricate; they remember the altars and the groves to which their parents took them when they were little, Jeremiah 17:2; Jeremiah 17:2. It appears that they were full of them, and acquainted with them betimes, they talked of them so frequently, so familiarly, and with so much delight. 2. They cannot plead that they repent, or are brought to a better mind. No, as the guilt of their sin is undeniable, so their inclination to sin is invincible and incurable. In this sense many understand Jeremiah 17:1; Jeremiah 17:2. Their sin is deeply engraven as with a pen of iron in the tables of their hearts. They have a rooted affection to it; it is woven into their very nature; their sin is dear to them, as that is dear to us of which we say, It is engraven on our hearts. The bias of their minds is still as strong as ever towards their idols, and they are not wrought upon either by the word or rod of God to forget them and abate their affection to them. It is written upon the horns of their altars, for they have given up their names to their idols and resolve to abide by what they have done; they have bound themselves, as with cords, to the horns of their altars. And Jeremiah 17:2; Jeremiah 17:2 may be read fully to this sense: As they remember their children, so remember they their altars and their groves; they are as fond of them and take as much pleasure in them as men do in their own children, and are as loth to part with them; they will live and die with their idols, and can no more forget them than a woman can forget her sucking child.

      II. The indictment being thus fully proved, the judgment is affirmed and the sentence ratified, Jeremiah 17:3; Jeremiah 17:4. Forasmuch as they are thus wedded to their sins, and will not part with them, 1. They shall be made to part with their treasures, and those shall be given into the hands of strangers. Jerusalem is God's mountain in the field; it was built on a hill in the midst of a plain. All the treasures of that wealthy city will God give to the spoil. Or, My mountains with the fields, thy wealth and all thy treasures will I expose to spoil; both the products of the country and the stores of the city shall be seized by the Chaldeans. Justly are men stripped of that which they have served their idols with and have made the food and the fuel of their lusts. My mountain (so the whole land was, Psalms 78:54; Deuteronomy 11:11) you have turned into your high places for sin, have worshipped your idols upon the high hills (Jeremiah 17:2; Jeremiah 17:2), and now they shall be give for a spoil in all your borders. What we make for a sin God will make for a spoil; for what comfort can we expect in that wherewith God is dishonoured? 2. They shall be made to part with their inheritance, and shall be carried captives into a strange land (Jeremiah 17:4; Jeremiah 17:4): Thou, even thyself (or thou thyself and those that are in thee, all the inhabitants), shall discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee. God owns that it was their heritage, and that he gave it to them; they had an unquestionable title to it, which was an aggravation of their folly in throwing themselves out of the possession of it. It is through thyself (so some read it), through thy own default, that thou art disseised. Thou shalt discontinue, or intermit, the occupation of thy land. The law appointed them to let their land rest (it is the word here used) one year in seven, Exodus 23:11. They did not observe that law, and now God would compel them to let it rest (the land shall enjoy her sabbaths,Leviticus 26:34); and yet it shall be not rest to them; they shall serve their enemies in a land they know not. Observe, (1.) Sin works a discontinuance of our comforts and deprives us of the enjoyment of that which God has given us. Yet, (2.) A discontinuance of the possession is not a defeasance of the right, but it is intimated that upon their repentance they shall recover possession again. For the present, you have kindled a fire in my anger, which burns so fiercely that it seems as if it would burn for ever; and so it will unless you repent, for it is the anger of an everlasting God fastening upon the immortal souls, and who knows the power of that anger?