Jeremiah 9:26

Jer 9:26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all [that are] in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all [these] nations [are] uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised in the heart.

Ver. 26. That are in the utmost corners.] Heb., Praecisos in lateribus, polled by the corner; {a} which was the Arabian fashion, saith Herodotus. See Jer 49:32.

For all these nations are uncircumcised,] scil., In heart, though circumcised in the flesh, as now also the Turks are.

{a} Tempora circumradunt.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:26 The Egyptians lived to the southwest on both sides of the Nile River. The Edomites lived to the south and southeast of Judah. The Ammonites lived east of the Jordan River. The Moabites lived east of the Dead Sea. These nations practiced circumcision but had uncircumcised hearts because all of them worshiped many false deities.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Egypt--put first to degrade Judah, who, though in privileges above the Gentiles, by unfaithfulness sank below them . . . Egypt, too, was the power in which the Jews were so prone to trust, and by whose instigation they, as well as the other peoples specified, revolted from Babylon.

in the utmost corners--rather, "having the hair shaven (or clipped) in angles," that is, having the beard on the cheek narrowed or cut: a Canaanitish custom, forbidden to the Israelites (Lev 19:27; Lev 21:5). The Arabs are hereby referred to (compare Jer 25:23; Jer 49:32), as the words in apposition show, "that dwell in the wilderness."

uncircumcised . . . uncircumcised in the heart--The addition of "in the heart" in Israel's case marks its greater guilt in proportion to its greater privileges, as compared with the rest.

Next: Jeremiah Chapter 10

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 26. All that are in the utmost corners] כל קצוצי פאה col ketsutsey pheah. These words have been variously understood. The Vulgate translates: Omnes qui attonsi sunt in comam; "All who have their hair cut short." The Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic have understood it nearly in the same way; and so our margin. Others think that the insular or peninsular situation of the people is referred to. Dr. Blayney thinks the Arabians are meant, who dwelt in the great desert, between Mesopotamia and Palestine. I really think our marginal reading should be preferred, as expressing the sense of all the ancient Versions.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

However this may be, the Prophet here denounces ruin, not only on the Jews, but also on the Egyptians and on other neighboring nations; but he yet speaks to his own people, for his word was not destined for the Egyptians, nor for the Idumeans and the Moabites. But as the Jews were wont to have recourse to the Egyptians, when any danger arose from the Assyrians and Chaldeans, the Prophet here connects the Egyptians with the Jews, and for the same reason, the other nations. We indeed know that the Idumeans and the Moabites were most hostile enemies to the Jews; but as the state of things changed, they were at one time their enemies, at another their friends; and when they saw that the Chaldeans extended their power, they saw also that they were exposed to plunder, and hence it happened that they willingly helped the Jews. Since then the Hebrews hoped that their neighbors on every side would aid them, the Prophet says that a visitation was nigh them all: and hence is confirmed what I have already said; for he distinguishes not the Jews from the Egyptians and other nations; but, on the contrary, as they had made alliances with them, he intends to unite them in one body: I will visit, he says, the circumcised with the uncircumcision For the Jews did not bear in mind that God was the protector of their safety, and that they had been set apart by him from other nations. He names the circumcised together with the uncircumcision, because the Egyptians, the Idumeans, the Ammonites, and the Moabites, were deemed circumcised on account of the covenant they had made with the Jews; and the Jews were deemed uncircumcised, because they had forsaken God, and thus profarted themselves.

It is indeed true that the Idumeans were circumcised, for they were the descendants of Esau, and had no doubt retained this external symbol; but their circumcision was altogether a mockery, as Esau had departed from the Church of God. The circumcision of the elect people was in itself efficacious; but as they had alike fallen into superstitions, they were like the uncircumcised, according to what Paul says, — that the letter of the circumcision, that is, the external rite, was nothing. We hence see that there is no common propriety in the Prophet’s words, when he denounces vengeance on the Jews as well as on the Egyptians, and names the circumcised with the uneircumcision; for the latter had uncircumcision, the former circumcision, and thus they had blended profane and sacred things together, so that there was nothing pure or uncorrupted: and hence he mentions Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, and Moab We have before stated why he enumerated all these nations; he did so, because they expected help from one another, so that they all despised God.

He afterwards adds, And all the extreme ones in a corner The word קף, kots, means the end; hence they take קצוצים, kotsutsim, here for extremities: and פאה pae, signifies a corner, and an end. We might then, if propriety of language would bear it, render the words thus, “the cornered in the corner.” But the meaning is by no means ambiguous, which is, that though the Moabites and others had hidden recesses, they could not be exempt from the calamity. God’s vengeance shall come, says Jeremiah, into their farthest corners, where they think that they dwell in safety. And what follows is explanatory, the inhabitants of the wilderness, or, those who dwell in the wilderness. He thus shews what he meant by קצוצי פאה kotsutsi pae, the extremities, of the corner. For when people inhabit remote places, they regard themselves on that account safer, being secure in their hiding — places: this confidence the Prophet derides; and he says that punishment would reach them also.

He then adds, For all the nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart By saying, that all nations were uncircumcised, he doubtless includes the Israelites, and thus by way of reproach he takes away from the chosen people their peculiar distinction; as though he had said, that Israel was so mixed with the nations, that they only made a part of them: the Jews would have otherwise denied, that they deserved to be classed with the Gentiles; but the Prophet deprives them of every excuse, and says that they were but one nation, having no difference: All these nations then are uncircumcised And so ה He, before גוים guim, nations, may be taken as a demonstrative pronoun, and not a relative, “All these nations.” He had spoken not only of the Egyptians and the Idumeans and of other neighboring nations, but had also mentioned Judah. He then says, “All these nations are uncircumcised:” and as I have already said, he condemns Israel, because they differed nothing from the nations, though God had consecrated them to himself; for there was an entire mingling, which made them all equal.

But as some objection might still be alleged, he says, the Jews are uncircumcised in heart He had indeed already included them in the nations; but it was necessary to insist more on this point, for circumcision might have been pleaded by them. Hence the Prophet says, that though they had the visible symbol in the flesh, they were yet uncircumcised in heart, and ought therefore to be classed with the nations. We see how sharply he reproves them: though he separates them from other nations, he yet shews that they justly deserved to be numbered with them; for God cares not for the external symbol, but regards the chief thing, the circumcision of the heart.

It is a common thing with Moses and the Prophets to call an unrenewed heart, uncircumcision, and to say that the people are uncircumcised in heart: for circumcision, while an evidence of free salvation in Christ, at the same time initiated the Jews into the worship and service of God, and proved the necessity of a new life; it was in short a sign both of repentance and of faith. When, therefore, the Jews presented only the sign, they were justly derided by Moses and the prophets; for they seemed as though they sought to pacify God by a thing of nought, without regarding the end. The same is the case now when we boast of baptism alone, and are at the same time destitute of repentance and faith: our boasting is absurd and ridiculous. And hence Paul calls the external rite, when the sign is separated from its reality and substance, the letter of the circumcision; and on the other hand he calls that the true circumcision, which is in secret and in the spirit. We may also say the same of baptism, — that the literal baptism avails hypocrites nothing, for they receive only the naked sign: and therefore we must come to the spirit of baptism, to the thing itself; for the interior power is renovation, when our old man is crucified in us, and when we rise again with Christ into newness of life.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(26) Egypt, and Judah . . .—The nations enumerated were all alike, the Egyptians certainly (Herod. ii. 36, 37), and the others, as belonging to the same race as Judah, probably, in the fact of circumcision, and are apparently brought together not without some touch of scornful humour. How could Israel pride itself in that which it had in common with some of the nations that it most abhorred. The later Idumaeans seem to have abandoned the practice till it was forced upon them by John Hyrcanus (Joseph., Ant. xi. 9, 15:7). Jerome (in loc.) affirms that the nations named practised circumcision in his time, and its adoption by Islam indicates its prevalence among the Arabs in that of Mahomet.

All that are in the utmost corners.—Better, all that have the corners (of their temples) shorn. The epithet, like our “cross-eared” or “round-head,” was obviously one of scorn, and was applied (as again in Jer_25:23; Jer_49:32) to a wild Arabian tribe who, as described by Herodotus (3:8), shaved their temples and let their hair grow long behind. The “wilderness” is the Arabian desert to the east of Palestine, inhabited by the Ishmaelites and other kindred races. As if to complete the contempt which he pours on circumcision, the prophet speaks of the barbarous people, whose customs were specially forbidden to Israel (Lev_19:27), as in this respect standing on the same level with Israel. If circumcision by itself were enough to secure immunity from judgment, they too, as practising a rite analogous though not identical, might claim it.

All these nations are uncircumcised.—The English Version makes the prophet say exactly the opposite of what he really said. All the heathen (not “these nations”) are in God’s sight as uncircumcised, whether they practise the outward rite or not—and the state of Israel was not a whit better than theirs, for she too was uncircumcised in heart. Once again Jeremiah is the forerunner of St. Paul’s Rom_2:25-29. It may be noted that the same nations are enumerated afterwards as coming under Nebuchadnezzar’s conquests (Jer_25:23).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab,.... Places and people among which the Jews were dispersed, and whose punishment is predicted in Jeremiah chapters forty six through forty nine, and whose countries are now under the dominion of the Turks: (h).

and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness; who dwelt in the desert of Arabia; these, according to Kimchi, were the Kedarenes, and the kingdoms of Hazor, a people that dwelt in the utmost corners, whom Nebuchadnezzar smote, as Jeremiah foretold, Jer 49:28. Jarchi's note is,

"them that are cut off in a corner of the wilderness;''

that live by themselves, and have no communication with other people; were at the greatest distance, and secure; dwelt alone, and had neither gates nor bars, as is said of the same people, Jer 49:31. The Septuagint version is, "upon everyone that shaves what is about his face, that dwells in the wilderness"; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions; to which agrees the Targum,

"upon all that round the corners of the head, that dwell in habitations in the wilderness,''

The Arabians used to shave the extreme hairs of the head round about, as the forehead, temples, and behind the ears, which are the corners of the head; so Herodotus (i) reports of them, who seem to be meant here; though some think the Jews are intended, to whom this was forbidden, Lev 19:27,

for all these nations are uncircumcised; in the flesh; though they were not punished on this account, because it was not commanded them, as Kimchi observes; but is mentioned to show that the Jews were no better than they, though circumcised, and that they should be punished together:

and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart; had not the circumcision made without hands; or were not circumcised in heart, to love the Lord, fear and serve him; the foreskin of their flesh taken off availed not so long as that on their heart remained, and they were stupid, impenitent, and disobedient.

(h) Written about 1750. Editor. (i) In Thalia, vel l. 3. c. 8.

Next: Jeremiah Chapter 10

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

All that are in the utmost corners - Really, all who have the corners of their hair shorn. The people meant are those Arabs who cut the hair close upon the forehead and temples, but let it grow long behind. See Lev 19:27.

For all these nations are uncircumcised - Or, “for all the pagan are uncircumcised.” circumcision probably prevailed partially in the pagan mysteries as a sign of special sanctity, but to the Jews alone it represented their covenant-relation to God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Egypt. the uncircumcised shall be punished as well as Juda, if they transgress. Only the Jewish nation properly observed the right of circumcision generally, or at first. Others imitated them, but with various ceremonies. (Calmet, Diss.) (Ezechiel xxxi. 18., and Judith xiv. 6.) --- Hyrcan obliged the Idumeans to receive circumcision. (Josephus, Antiquities xiii. 17.) --- Round. The Arabs, &c., Leviticus xix. 27. (Calmet) --- Heart. All then became guilty, Romans ii. 25. (Menochius) --- Neither these nations nor Juda was circumcised in heart, and of course were hypocrites. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In the utmost corners: some refer this to the place of their habitation, as in corners, and remote parts of the wilderness, as it were separated from other nations, and therefore might think themselves furthest remote from danger; but some rather choose to refer it to their manners, as in cutting the corners of their hair, which was forbidden the Jews, Lev 19:27. The like description in Jer 25:23.

Uncircumcised in the heart: see the foregoing verse. God regards not the outward sign, but principally respects the circumcision of the heart. Here ends that sermon that began at Jer. vii.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. Egypt… Judah, etc. — Many commentators, and among them Ewald and Nagelsbach, understand from this passage that all the peoples enumerated practised the rite of circumcision. But there is not sufficient historical proof of this; indeed there is positive evidence to the contrary. For instance. Josephus (Ant., Jer_13:9; Jer_13:1) tells how John Hyrcanus offered the Edomites the alternative of circumcision, which they accepted. We conclude, then, that the statement, all these nations are uncircumcised, means all nations besides Israel, and that the word “these,” which the translators have inserted, should be thrown out.

All that are in the utmost corners — Rather, all who have the corners of their hair shorn. The allusion is to certain Arabian tribes who were accustomed to crop the edges of the beard, and to cut off the hair from the temples, a practice forbidden to the Israelites. Lev_19:27.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All that are in the utmost corners; rather, all that are corner-clipped; i.e. that have the hair cut off about the ears and temples. Herodotus tells us, speaking of the Arabs, "Their practice is to cut the hair in a ring, away from the temples"; (Jer_3:8) and among the representatives of various nations, colored figures of whom are given in the tomb of Rameses III, we find some with a square place shaved just above the temples. The hair below this shaven place was allowed to grow long, and then plaited into a leek. It is to such customs that Jeremiah alludes here and in Jer_25:23 Jer_49:32. A prohibition is directed against them in the Levitical Law. (Lev_19:27 Lev_21:5) For all these nations are uncircumcised; rather, all the nations, etc. Another obscure expression. Does it mean (taken together with the following clause), "The Gentile peoples are uncircumcised in the flesh, and the people of Israel is equally so in heart?" But this does not agree with facts (see above, on Ver. 25). It is safer, therefore, to assume that "uncircumcised" is equivalent to "circumcised in uncircumcision" (Ver. 25). The next clause will then simply give the most conspicuous instance of this unspiritual obedience to a mere form.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.