Jeremias 18:14

14 Will fertilising streams fail from a rock, or snow from Libanus? will water violently impelled by the wind turn aside?

Jeremias 18:14 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 18:14

Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon, [which cometh] from the
rock of the field?
&c.] 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 what the people of the Jews did; they forsook the Lord, "the fountain of living waters"; and who, because of the plenty of good things in him, and flowing from him to them, were as streams from Lebanon; and yet they left these crystal streams for the black and muddy waters of Sihor, or idols of Egypt, ( Song of Solomon 4:15 ) ( Jeremiah 2:13 Jeremiah 2:18 ) ; or the words may be rendered, "will a man leave [what comes] from the rock of the field [for] the snow of Lebanon" ^F24? that is, will a man neglect to drink of the water that comes out of a rock in his field, pure and clear, and is near at hand, and choose to go to Mount Lebanon to drink of the snow water, which runs down the mountain, and can never be thought so clear as what comes out of the rock? surely he will not; he must act an unwise part if he does; and such a part, and worse, did the people of the Jews act, in forsaking God: [or] shall the cold flowing waters which come from another place be
forsaken?
or, "strange waters" ^F25; which come from far, from some distant rock, being conveyed in pipes, in; which they come cool, and in flowing streams, for the service of a city and its inhabitants; and who, having such a privilege, would neglect them, and drink of standing water in a pond or puddle? or, the words, as the former, may be rendered, "shall for strange frozen waters, be left flowing ones?" see Grotius.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (Nwnbl glv ydv rwum bwzeyh) "nunquid deserit aliquis [aquam manatem] de petra agri, [ut biblat] nivem Libani"; so some in Vatablus.
F25 (Myrz Mym) "aquae alienae", Schmidt, Montanus; "peregrinae", De Dieu.

Jeremias 18:14 In-Context

12 And they said, We will quit ourselves like men, for we will pursue our perverse ways, and we will perform each the lusts of his evil heart.

13 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Enquire now among the nations, who has heard such very horrible things as the virgin of Israel has done?

14 Will fertilising streams fail from a rock, or snow from Libanus? will water violently impelled by the wind turn aside?

15 For my people have forgotten me, they have offered incense in vain, and they fail in their ways, the ancient tracks, to enter upon impassable paths;

16 to make their land a desolation, and a perpetual hissing; all that go through it shall be amazed, and shall shake their heads.