Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Jeremiah 16:7
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Neither shall men tear themselves, etc.] Either their flesh, or their clothes: or, “stretch out”f336; that is, their hands, and clap them together, and wring them, as persons in great distress do: or “divide”, or “break”, or “deal unto them”f337; that is, bread, as at their funeral feasts. Thus the Septuagint version, neither shall bread be broken in their mourning; and to the same sense the Targum; so the word is used in (<236307>Isaiah 63:7), a practice that obtained among the Heathens; (see <052614>Deuteronomy 26:14) and now with the Jews, as it seems: which they did for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; they used to carry or send food to the surviving relations, and went and ate with them, in order to comfort them for the loss of their friends; but this now would not be done, not because an Heathenish custom, but because they would have no heart nor leisure for it: (see <262417>Ezekiel 24:17). Neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother: not give them a cup of good liquor to comfort and cheer their spirits, overwhelmed with sorrow, on account of the death of a father or mother; which was wont to be done, but now should be omitted; the calamity would be so great, and so universal, that there would be none to do such offices as these; (see <203106>Proverbs 31:6,7).
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