Jeremiah 5:22
Fear ye not me? saith the Lord
They did not fear the Lord, and this is a reproof to them for the
want of it, which is a reproof of their ignorance and folly; for
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, ( Proverbs
9:10 ) , and where that is there is true wisdom; but, where
it is not, there is nothing but ignorance and stupidity:
will ye not tremble at my presence?
or "face"; his wrath and anger, justly resenting their carriage
to him. The Targum is,
``from before my Word;''
the essential Word, his Son: or, "will ye not be in pain?" as a
woman in travail; as Kimchi observes the word
F2
signifies:
which have placed the sand for the bound of the
sea by a perpetual
decree, that it cannot pass it.
This is a very wonderful thing in nature, that the earth and sea,
being spherical, and making one terraqueous globe, and the waters
of the sea being higher than the earth, should be so bounded and
restrained, by the power and providence of God, as not to overflow
the earth, and that by means of the sand, which is penetrable,
flexible, and movable; and yet this is set as a bound, and by the
decree of God remains firm and stable, and that for ever, so that
the sea cannot bear it down, go through it, or over it:
and
though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not
prevail;
though they roar, yet can they not pass over it;
even when the sea is the most tumultuous and raging. This is an
instance of the mighty power of God, and carries in it an argument
and reason why he should be feared; and yet such was the stupidity
of this people, that though they saw this with their eyes, the sea
and the tossings of it, and the sand set as a bound to it, and an
effectual one, and heard the roarings and ragings of the waves of
it in vain; yet they feared not the Lord that did all this; and so
showed themselves more stupid and disobedient than the sea and its
waves, which obeyed their Maker, though destitute of sense and
reason; see (
Job 26:10 ) (
38:8-11
) (
Psalms
104:6 Psalms 104:9 ) (
Proverbs 8:29
) .