Jeremiah 18:14

“Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, [which cometh] from the rock of the field? etc.] Lebanon was a mountain on the borders of Judea, the top of which was covered in the summertime with snow, from the whiteness of which it had its name, Lebanon; as the Alps, for the same reason, which lie between France and Italy: now, the snow being dissolved by the heat, ran in flowing streams down the rocks into the field and plain, where they might be easily come at, and drank of; and would a thirsty traveller, on a summer’s day, pass by such streams as these, and not drink of them? certainly he would not leave them, but stop and drink; he must be an unwise man that should do otherwise; and yet this was…”

“Is there any man (living near it) who would leave the snow of Lebanon (that is, the cool melted snow water of Lebanon, as he presently explains), which cometh from the rock of the field (a poetical name for Lebanon, which towers aloft above the surrounding field, or comparatively plain country)? None. Yet Israel forsakes Jehovah, the living fountain close at hand, for foreign broken cisterns. Jer 17:13; Jer 2:13, accord with English Version here. MAURER translates, "Shall the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock to water (literally, 'forsake') My fields" (the whole land around being peculiarly Jehovah's)? Lebanon means the "white mountain"; so called from the perpetual snow which covers that…”

“Rather, “Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field?” The meaning probably is, “Will the snow of Lebanon fail from its rocks which tower above the land of Israel?” The appeal of the prophet is to the unchangeableness of one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena, the perpetual snow upon the upper summits of Lebanon. Shall the cold ... - literally, “shall the strange, i. e., foreign, “cool, down-flowing waters be plucked up?” The general sense is: God is Israel’s Rock, from whom the never-failing waters flow Jeremiah 2:13 : but men may and do abandon the cool waters which descend front above to seek their happiness in channels of their own digging. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Of Lebanon - Lebanon had rocks, and also fruitful valleys; snow fell upon these rocks, and upon a thaw ran down into the lower places. Reason teaches men not to forsake a greater good for a less, tho' that greater good was but a poor creature comfort, not to be compared with God. Jeremiah 18:15”

“18:14-15 The answer to these two rhetorical questions was “No.” The snow and the streams of the mountaintops of Lebanon were perennially reliable. By contrast, the Lord’s people were not so reliable. • The ancient highways represented a life of faithfulness to the covenant (6:16), while the muddy paths symbolized a life of self-serving paganism.”

“Will: Joh 6:68 the snow: etc. or, my fields for a rock, or for the snow of Lebanon? shall the running waters be forsaken for the strange cold waters? Parkhurst renders, "Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or will the issuing cold flowing waters (from that mountain namely) be exhausted?" (See Targ., LXX, and Vulg.) No more could I fail my people if they trusted in me. (Compare Jer 2:13.) Maundrell says, "The chief benefit the mountain of Lebanon serves for, is, that by its exceeding height, it proves a conservatory for abundance of snow, which thawing in the heat of summer, affords supplies of water to the rivers and fountains in the valleys below. Jeremiah 18:15”