10 Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You shall have peace;' whereas the sword reaches to the heart."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Some so understand this passage as though the Prophet brought forward what was said by the people; for all the most wicked, when oppressed by God's hand, usually cast the blame on him, and in their complaints contend and dispute with him. Hence they think that the Prophet here, not in his own person, but in that of the whole people, speaks thus: "O Lord, what can this be? thou surely hast deceived us." Others give somewhat a looser explanation, that the Prophet here indirectly expostulates with God, because he had suffered the false prophets to flatter the people so as to stupefy the minds of all. But a different meaning is what I approve of: the Prophet, I think, tauntingly exposes those false adulations, by which the prophets had caused the ruin of the miserable Jews, by promising them God's forgiveness, and by ever announcing favorable predictions. God no doubt rendered the Jews their just reward, when he suffered them to be deceived by impostors: we, indeed, know that the world is ever afflicted with this disease, -- that they seek flatteries, as God upbraids them by Micah: "Ye seek prophets who promise to you an abundant harvest, an abundant vintage." (Micah 2:11) Since, then, the Jews wished their vices to be spared, and not only disliked their faithful and severe reprovers, but also hated them, they had deserved to be thus dealt with: it was God's will that many impostors should assume the prophetic name. Thus it happened, that the Jews thought that their peaceable condition would be perpetual; and this, as I have said, is usual with hypocrites. Now the Prophet, in a biting strain, exposes here these deceptions, and says, Ah, ah, Jehovah! surely thou hast deceived this people: for the Prophet does not speak in the person of the people, nor does he complain, that God permitted so much liberty to false prophets; but he derides these impostors as well as the people. And further, as they were all deaf, he turns to God, as though he had said, "Behold, Lord, worthy of this reward are they, who have sought flatteries, and have not attended to the holy warnings of thy servants: as, then, no kind of correction was what they could endure, let them now begin to learn that they have been deceived by others rather than by thee." [1] We then see that the Prophet ridicules that stupidity in which the Jews had been so long asleep; and the simple meaning is, that he turned to God: I have said, O Lord Jehovah, surely thou hast deceived this people. "Surely" is to be taken in an ironical sense; that is, "It now really appears that they have been deceived; but by whom? They wish, indeed, to throw the blame on thee; but they are justly chargeable with foolish credulity, so that they, whom the false prophets have deceived, have been rightly dealt with." What they said was, Peace shall be to you This never came from the mouth of God; for Jeremiah daily thundered and threatened approaching ruin; for he was like a celestial herald, who filled every place with terror; but he was not heard: and at the same time the Jews praised the false prophets, who soothed them with various promises. We hence perceive, that God had not spoken peace to them; but that the Jews, not only willingly, but with avidity, laid hold on those things by which the false prophets sought to gratify them. He afterwards adds, And reached has the sword unto the soul; that is, "Yet we are now destroyed by fatal evils." The Prophet here indirectly sets before them those delusive flatteries with which the Jews pleased themselves, and shews that they would at length really find how falsely they pretended the name of God. It follows --
1 - There are various expositions of this verse: but the simpler and the plainer mode would be to take 'mr as a noun, word, speech, saying, with an auxiliary verb, which is commonly omitted in Hebrew. The connection with the foregoing would be obvious and natural, -- And the saying will be, "Alas! Lord Jehovah, Surely, deceiving thou hast deceived This people and Jerusalem, By saying, Peace shall be to you;' And reach does the sword even to the soul." This would be the language of such as believed the false prophets, and considered them as sent by God. But Lowth, Henry, Venema, Scott, and others, take this view, -- that God had permitted or suffered the people to be deceived by the false prophets. It is said that this verb in Hiphil, as the case is here, has sometimes this meaning, and Lowth refers, as instances, to Isaiah 63:17, and also to Psalm 119:10; Proverbs 10:3. But the sentiment of the passage in this case would not be very suitable: for, according to this view, the cause of the Prophet's grief is, that God had suffered the people to be deceived. "It shall be said," in the next verse, seems to be put in contrast with this "saying." Instead of what would be commonly said of the people, God reminds them of what he would cause to be said and effected. -- Ed.
Ah, Lord God! - Alas! my Lord Yahweh: an expression of disapproval on Jeremiah's part. Jeremiah had constantly to struggle against the misgivings of his own melancholy nature, but he never let them prevent him from doing his duty. See the introduction of Jeremiah.
Ye shall have peace - These words are generally referred to the false prophets; they rather refer to real prophecies of future blessedness promised to the Jews. Jeremiah could not reconcile the doom he was now commanded to pronounce, either with his previous prophecy, or with what he read in the writings of his predecessors. Time only could solve the difficulty. Upon the struggles of the prophets to understand their own predictions see 1-Peter 1:10-11.
Unto the soul - The sword has reached the life. i. e., has inflicted a mortal wound.
Ah, Lord God! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people - The Targum paraphrases this verse thus: "And I said, Receive my supplication, O Lord God; for, behold, the false prophets deceive this people and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace." The prophet could not reconcile this devastation of the country with the promises already made; and he appears to ask the question, Hast thou not then deceived this people in saying there shall be peace, i.e., prosperity?
Whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul - That is, the life; the people being generally destroyed.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly (h) deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; though the sword reacheth to the soul.
(h) By the false prophets who promised peace and tranquillity: and thus you have punished their rebellious stubbornness by causing them to hearken to lies who would not believe your truth, (1-Kings 22:23; Ezekiel 14:9; 2-Thessalonians 2:11).
Then said I, ah, Lord God!.... Expressing great sorrow and concern: this "ah" is by way of lamentation. The Targum interprets it as a petition,
"and I said, receive my prayer, O Lord God:''
surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem: what the false prophets did, that God is said to do, because he suffered them to deceive the people; see 1-Kings 22:20. The Targum ascribes the deception to the false prophets, and not to God,
"surely behold the false prophets deceive this people, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem;''
or this may be ironically said, because the false prophets pretended to speak in the name of the Lord; wherefore Jeremiah says, "surely thou hast greatly deceived", &c. "saying, ye shall have peace"; as the false prophets did, Jeremiah 6:14,
whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul; takes away the life, many are slain by it; so the Targum,
"and now behold the sword killeth among the people;''
great slaughter is made by it. L'Empereur (w) observes that the word here used signifies, in the Arabic language, to educate or bring up; and then the sense is,
"ah, Lord, thou hast brought up this people with great tenderness, and promised them all manner of happiness; but now thou thunderest out threatenings of calamities of all sorts, and death itself; and assigned a place for the sword to enter into their very souls;''
so the Arabic word used in the version of Acts 22:2.
(w) Not. ad Mosis Kimchi, p. 186.
thou hast . . . deceived--God, having even the false prophets in His hands, is here said to do that which for inscrutable purposes He permits them to do (Exodus 9:12; 2-Thessalonians 2:11; compare Jeremiah 8:15; which passage shows that the dupes of error were self-prepared for it, and that God's predestination did not destroy their moral freedom as voluntary agents). The false prophets foretold "peace," and the Jews believed them; God overruled this to His purposes (Jeremiah 5:12; Jeremiah 14:13; Ezekiel 14:9).
soul--rather, "reacheth to the life."
"Then said I, Ah, Lord Jahveh, truly Thou hast deceived this people and Jerusalem in saying, Peace shall be to you, and the sword is reaching unto the soul." This verse is to be taken as a sign addressed to God by Jeremiah when he heard the announcement of the judgment about to fall on Judah, contained in Jeremiah 4:5-9. The Chald. has well paraphrased ואמר thus: et dixi: suscipe deprecationem meam, Jahveh, Deus. but Hensler and Ew. wish to have ואמר changed to ואמר, "so that they say," quite unnecessarily, and indeed unsuitably, since השּׁאת, thou hast deceived, is out of place either in the mouth of the people or of the lying prophets. That the word quoted, "Peace shall be to you," is the saying of the false prophets, may be gathered from the context, and this is directly supported by Jeremiah 14:13; Jeremiah 23:17. The deception of the people by such discourse from the false prophets is referred back to God: "Lord, Thou hast deceived," inasmuch as God not only permits these lying spirits to appear and work, but has ordained them and brought them forth for the hardening of the people's heart; as He once caused the spirit of prophecy to inspire as a lying spirit the prophets of Ahab, so that by promises of victory they prevailed upon him to march to that war in which, as a punishment for his godlessness, he was to perish; 1-Kings 22:20-23. Umbr. takes the words less correctly as spoken in the name of the people, to whom the unexpected turn affairs had now taken seemed a deception on the part of God; and this, although it was by itself it had been deceived, through its revolt from God. For it is not the people's opinion that Jeremiah expresses, but a truth concerning which his wish is that the people may learn to recognise it, and so come to reflect and repent before it be too late. On the use of the perf. consec. ונגעה, see Ew. 342, b. As to the fact, cf. Jeremiah 5:18, Psalm 69:2.
Deceived - Hast suffered them to be deceived by their false prophets. Whereas - To persuade them it should be well with them, when the sword is at the door, not only ready to take away the comforts of life, but even life itself.
*More commentary available at chapter level.