Jeremiah 6:6

For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount.—The words describe graphically the process of an Eastern siege as seen in the Assyrian bas-reliefs (Layard, Mon. of Nineveh, i. 73-76). Compare 2Samuel 20:15; Job 19:12; Isaiah 29:3; Ezekiel 4:2. First the neighbouring country is cleared by cutting down the trees; next, either by piling earth on these as a timber framework, or using the earth alone, a “mount” (or, in later English, a mound) was raised till it reached the level of the wall of the besieged city; and then the assault was made. The law of Israel forbade, it may be noted, this destruction, but apparently only in the case of fruit-trees (Deuteronomy 20:19-20). There is no adequate ground for the marginal rendering, “pour out the engine of shot.”

Is . . . to be visited.—Literally, is visited, in the sense of “punished,” but Hebrew usage gives to the verb so employed a gerundive force. The words admit, however, of the rendering, this is the city; it is proved that wholly oppression is in the midst of her.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 6:6-7. For thus hath the Lord of hosts said — To the Chaldeans: God would have the Jews to know, that they have not so much to do with the Chaldeans as with him; that they are his rod to scourge them for their sins. And thus God is said to hiss for, or hist, those whom he would employ in such work, Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 7:18. And he styles himself the Lord of hosts, to show that it is in vain to contend in battle with them whom he sent forth, and would be, as it were, the captain of their hosts. Hew down trees, &c. — That is, to be employed in the siege: see Deuteronomy 20:19, where the same word is used as here. Cast up a mount — Throw up one continued trench, as a mount, round about it. This is the city, &c. — The Hebrew may be literally rendered, She is a city to be visited — That is, a proper object of punishment; the reason of which follows in the next words. As a fountain casteth out her waters, &c. — A metaphor, to express how natural all manner of wickedness was to her, how full she was of it, and how incessant in it. Violence and spoil is heard in her — I hear the continual complaints of those that groan under the oppression that they suffer, being cruelly used and spoiled in her.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:1-8 Whatever methods are used, it is vain to contend with God's judgments. The more we indulge in the pleasures of this life, the more we unfit ourselves for the troubles of this life. The Chaldean army shall break in upon the land of Judah, and in a little time devour all. The day is coming, when those careless and secure in sinful ways will be visited. It is folly to trifle when we have eternal salvation to work out, and the enemies of that salvation to fight against. But they were thus eager, not that they might fulfil God's counsels, but that they might fill their own treasures; yet God thereby served his own purposes. The corrupt heart of man, in its natural state, casts out evil thoughts, just as a fountain casts out her waters. It is always flowing, yet always full. The God of mercy is loth to depart even from a provoking people, and is earnest with them, that by repentance and reformation, they may prevent things from coming to extremity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hew ye down trees - Rather, her trees: for the simple purpose of clearing the approaches.

Cast a mount - literally, pour: the earth was emptied out of the baskets, in which it was carried to the required spot upon the backs of laborers.

Wholly - Or,

"She "is the city" that is visited:

"Wholly oppression" is "in the midst of her!"

She is visited, - i. e., punished; she is ripe for punishment.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. cast—Hebrew, "pour out"; referring to the emptying of the baskets of earth to make the mound, formed of "trees" and earthwork, to overtop the city walls. The "trees" were also used to make warlike engines.

this—pointing the invaders to Jerusalem.

visited—that is, punished.

wholly oppression—or join "wholly" with "visited," that is, she is altogether (in her whole extent) to be punished [Maurer].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Said, viz. to the Chaldeans. Here God declares whence they have their commission: q.d. They come not up on their own heads: see Jeremiah 5:14,15. God would have the Jews to know that they have not so much to do with the Chaldeans as with him; that they are his rod to scourge them for their sins, Jeremiah 1:15,16. See 2 Kings 18:25. And thus God is said to hiss for such whom he will employ in such work, Isaiah 5:26 7:18. And he styles himself the Lord of hosts, to show that it is in vain to contend in battle with them, whom he sends forth, and will be, as it were, the captain of their hosts.

Hew ye down trees, Heb. a tree, collectively taken: q.d. Cut them down all as one tree, not sparing their very fruit trees, which indeed were to be spared in such a case, Deu 20:19; either such as lie in the way of your march, or all round about Jerusalem; or such as you may have need of there or elsewhere for your use, either to raise up works against the strong places, Deu 20:20, or to make other instruments of war.

Cast a mount; throw up one continued trench, as a mount round about it. See on Isaiah 37:38. Heb. pour out the engine; of that see 2 Samuel 20:15.

To be visited; God is said to visit sometimes in mercy, Ge 1 24 Zep 2:7, and sometimes in judgment, as here, and Jeremiah 5:9 23:2. They are ripe for it, Ezekiel 7:10-12; see 1 Thessalonians 2:16; and it is decreed against them, and ready to come upon them, chap, 23:12 Hosea 9:7. All attempts have failed, and now there is no remedy. She is wholly oppression; in the abstract, she doth nothing but oppress; there are found in her all kinds of oppression and injustice; a synecdoche for all other cruelties, 2 Kings 24:3,4 Eze 7:23; even in that city which was once full of judgment, and righteousness lodged in it, Isaiah 1:21, swallowed up with oppression.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For thus hath the Lord of hosts said,.... To the Chaldeans; for as it was the Lord that brought them out of their own country, and directed them to Jerusalem, and ordered them to prepare war against it; so they were as an army under his command, and he it was that ordered them to do this, and that, and the other thing: the whole affair was of the Lord, and the Jews had more to fear from him, who is the Lord of armies, than from the army of the Chaldeans; for, as they could do nothing without his divine permission, so, having that, there was a certainty of succeeding:

hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: in the Hebrew text it is, "pour out a mount" (q); the reason of which is, because there were a ditch or ditches about the city; and into these they poured in stones, and dirt, and trees, and pieces of wood, and so filled them up, and cast up a mount, on which they could raise their batteries, and demolish the walls and houses; hence mention is made of hewing down of trees, in order to cast the mount; for these were to be cut down, not so much to make battering rams, and other instruments of war, as to fill up the ditch, and raise the mount, so that the walls might be more easily battered and scaled: though some (r) interpret it of taking precise, fixed, determined counsel, about the war, and the manner of carrying it:

this is the city to be visited; or punished; not only that deserves to be so visited, but which would certainly be visited, and that immediately; its punishment was not far off; vengeance would soon be taken on it, and that for its sins: and so the Targum,

"this is the city whose sins are visited;''

as it follows:

she is wholly oppression in the midst of her; there were nothing but oppression and oppressors in her; not only full of oppressors, but oppression itself. This is instanced in for all kind of wickedness; the meaning is, that she was a sink of sin, and very wickedness itself.

(q) "fundite aggerem", V. L. Munster, Tigurine version; "fundite vallum", Schmidt. (r) "decidite, vel decernite consilium". So Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 628.

Geneva Study Bible

For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. Hew ye down trees] See Deuteronomy 20:20.

trees] mg. her (the city’s) trees.

cast up a mount] Earth was carried in baskets, and poured in a heap, until it was on a level with the walls. The assault was then made. Cp. 2 Kings 19:32; Isaiah 29:3; also Herodotus (I. 162), describing the campaign of Harpagus, a general of Cyrus, in Ionia.

the city to be visited] The expression comes in awkwardly, and MT. is very possibly corrupt. The LXX (reading differently two letters of the Hebrew verb, and so making it lit. the lie), renders, probably rightly, and with the support of Aquila’s Greek Version, O false city!

6–8. The Scythians would not make their approaches to the city in this fashion, while the absence of metre makes us hesitate to take the passage as inserted by the prophet in Jehoiakim’s time, when the Chaldaeans were the enemy expected. Hence it may be of later date.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Hew ye down trees; rather, her trees. Hewing down trees was an ordinary feature of Assyrian and Babylonian expeditions. Thus, Assurnacirpal "caused the forests of all (his enemies) to fall" ('Records of the Past,' 3:40, 77), and Shalmaneser calls himself "the trampler on the heads of mountains and all forests "(Ibid. p. 83; comp. p. 90). The timber was partly required for their palaces and fleets, but also, as the context here suggests, for warlike operations. "Trees," as Professor Rawlinson remarks, "were sometimes cut down and built into the mound" (see next note); they would also be used for the "bulwarks" or siege instruments spoken of in Deuteronomy 20:20. Cast a mount; literally, pour a mount (or "bank," as it is elsewhere rendered), with reference to the emptying of the baskets of earth required for building up the "mount" (mound). Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:10) says of the Chaldeans, "He laugheth at every stronghold, and heapeth up earth, and taketh it" (comp, also 2 Samuel 20:15; Isaiah 37:33). The intention of the mound was not so much to bring the besiegers on a level with the top of the walls as to enable them to work the battering-rams to better advantage (Rawlinson, 'Ancient Monarchies,' 1:472). She is wholly oppression, etc.; rather, she is the city that is punished; wholly oppression is in the midst of her. Jeremiah 6:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The description passes from figure to reality, and the enemies appear before us as speaking, inciting one another to the combat, encouraging one another to storm the city. To sanctify a war, i.e., prepare themselves for the war by religious consecration, inasmuch as the war was undertaken under commission from God, and because the departure of the army, like the combat itself, was consecrated by sacrifice and other religious ceremonies; see on Joel 3:9. עלה, to go up against a place as an enemy, not, go up upon, in which case the object, them (the city or walls), could not be omitted. It is plainly the storming or capture of the town that is meant by the going up; hence we may understand what follows: and we will destroy her palaces. We have a rousing call to go up at noon or in clear daylight, joined with "woe to us," a cry of disappointment that they will not be able to gain their ends so soon, not indeed till night; in these we see the great eagerness with which they carry on the assault. יום פּנה, the day turns itself, declines towards its end; cf. Psalm 90:9. The enemies act under a commission from God, who has imposed on them the labour of the siege, in order to punish Jerusalem for her sins. Jahveh is here most fittingly called the God of hosts; for as God of the world, obeyed by the armies of heaven, He commands the kings of the earth to chastise His people. Hew wood, i.e., fell trees for making the siege works, cf. Deuteronomy 20:20, both for raising the attacking ramparts,

(Note: Agger ex terra lignisque attollitur contra murum, de quo tela jactantur. Veget. de re milit. iv. 15.)

and for the entire apparatus necessary for storming the town. עצה is not a collective form from עץ, like דּגה from דּג; but the ה is a suffix in spite of the omission of the Mappik, which is given by but a few of the codd., eastern and western, for we know that Mappik is sometimes omitted, e.g., Numbers 15:28, Numbers 15:31; cf. Ew. 247, d. We are encouraged to take it so by Deuteronomy 20:19, where עצה are the trees in the vicinity of the town, of which only the fruit trees were to be spared in case of siege, while those which did not bear eatable fruit were to be made use of for the purposes of the siege. And thus we must here, too, read עצה, and refer the suffix to the next noun (Jerusalem). On "pile up a rampart," cf. 2 Samuel 20:5; Ezekiel 4:2, etc. הפקד is used as passive of Kal, and impersonally. The connection with העיר is to be taken like חנה in Isaiah 29:1 : the city where it is punished, or perhaps like Psalm 59:6, the relative being supplied: that is punished. כּלּהּ is not to be joined, contrary to the accents, with הפקד (Ven., J. D. Mich.), a connection which, even if it were legitimate, would give but a feeble thought. It belongs to what follows, "she is wholly oppression in her midst," i.e., on all sides in her there is oppression. This is expanded in Jeremiah 6:7. lxx and Jerome have taken הקיר from קרר, and translate: like as a cistern keeps its water cool (ψύχει, frigidam facit), so she keeps her wickedness cool. Hitz. has pronounced in favour of this interpretation, but changes "keep cool" into "keep fresh," and understands the metaphor thus: they take good care that their wickedness does not stagnate or become impaired by disuse. But it would be a strange metaphor to put "keep wickedness cool," for "maintain it in strength and vigour." We therefore, along with Luth. and most commentators, prefer the rabbinical interpretation: as a well makes its water to gush out, etc.; for there is no sufficient force in the objection that מקור from קוּר, dig, is not a spring but a well, that הקיר has still less the force of making to gush forth, and that בּור wholly excludes the idea of causing to spring out. The first assertion is refuted by Jeremiah 2:13, מקור, fountain of living water; whence it is clear that the word does mean a well fed by a spring. It is true, indeed, that the word בּור, a later way of writing בּאר (cf. 1 Chronicles 11:17. 22 with 2 Samuel 23:15. 20), means usually, a pit, a cistern dug out; but this form is not substantially different from בּאר, well, puteus, which is used for בּור in Psalm 55:24 and Psalm 69:16. Accordingly, this latter form can undoubtedly stand with the force of בּאר, as has been admitted by the Masoretes when they substituted for it בּאר; cf. the Arab. bi'run. The noun מקור puts beyond doubt the legitimacy of giving to הקיר, from קוּר, to dig a well, the signification of making water to gush forth.

The form הקרה is indeed referable to קרר, but only shows, as is otherwise well known, that no very strict line of demarcation can be drawn between the forms of verbs 'עע and 'הקיר ;עו, again, is formed regularly from קוּר. Violence and spoiling; cf. Jeremiah 20:8, and Amos 3:10; Habakkuk 1:3. "Before my face," before mine eyes, corresponds to "is heard," as wounds and smitings are the consequences of violence. On that head, cf. Psalm 55:10-12.