Teks -- Jeremiah 4:23 (NET)

4:23 “I looked at the land and saw that it was an empty wasteland. I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Jer 4:23 - I beheld

I Jeremiah saw this in a vision.

Wesley: Jer 4:23 - It

The land was squalid, and ruined, like the first chaos, for which reason possibly he calls Judah the earth, in allusion to Gen 1:2.

Wesley: Jer 4:23 - The heavens

He seems to proceed in his metaphor of the chaos. Every thing above and below seemed to be wrapped up in dismal blackness.

JFB: Jer 4:23

Graphic picture of the utter desolation about to visit Palestine. "I beheld, and lo!" four times solemnly repeated, heightens the awful effect of the scene (compare Isa 24:19; Isa 34:11).

JFB: Jer 4:23 - without form and void

Reduced to the primeval chaos (Gen 1:2).

Clarke: Jer 4:23 - I beheld the earth, (the land), and lo it was without form and void

I beheld the earth, (the land), and lo it was without form and void - תהו ובהו tohu vabohu ; the very words used in Genesis to denote the formless state of the chaotic mass before God had brought it into order.

Calvin: Jer 4:23 - NO PHRASE

The Prophet in this passage enlarges in a language highly metaphorical on the terror of God’s vengeance, that he might rouse the Jews, who were stupid and careless: nor is the repetition in vain, when he says four times, that he looked. He might have spoken of the earth, heaven, men, and fertile places in one sentence: but it is the same as though he had turned his eyes to four different quarters, and said, that wherever he looked, there appeared to him dreadful tokens of God’s wrath, and which threatened the Jews with utter ruin. Nor is it a wonder that the Prophet is so vehement; for we know that men would have heedlessly received all threatenings, except they were violently roused. And this mode of teaching ought to be well known to us; for all in any degree acquainted with the writings of the prophets, must know that they especially pursued this course, in order to rouse hypocrites, and the despisers of God, who, with a stiff neck and a hardened heart, were not moved by any apprehension of punishment. But this passage is remarkable above most others: we ought therefore to consider the import of the Prophet’s words.

He says first, that he looked on the earth, and that it was תהו , teu, and בהו , beu. He employs the very words which Moses adopted in his history of the creation; for before any order was introduced, he says that the earth was תהו , teu, and בהו , beu, that is, waste and unformed chaos; and it had no beauty pleasing to the eye. ¹¹⁹ It is the same as though He had said, that the order, which had been so beautifully arranged, had now disappeared through God’s wrath, and that there was nothing but confusion everywhere. Thus he amplifies the atrocity of their sins; as though he had said, that men had become so fallen, that they had changed the whole form of the world, and blended heaven and earth together, so that now there was no distinction between things. As to the heavens, he says, that there was no light in them: he intimates that the light of the sun, moon, and stars, was in a manner extinguished, because men were unworthy to enjoy such a kindness from God; and as though the sun and moon were ashamed to be witnesses of so many sins and vices.

We now then apprehend what Jeremiah chiefly means in the first verse: He says, that he looked on the earth, and that nothing appeared in it but dreadful chaos and waste, there being no form nor beauty; for the Jews had by their sins subverted the order of nature and the creation of God. And he says, that he looked on the heavens, and that they had no light; for the Jews had deserved to be deprived of that benefit which God had designed the sun and the moon to convey: and it is indeed a singular instance of God’s kindness, that he has made such noble objects to be of such service to us. The Prophet, in short, means that such awful tokens of God’s wrath appeared in heaven and on earth, as though the whole world had been thrown into confusion. This mode of speaking often occurs in the other prophets, especially in Joe 2:2. Though the words are hyperbolical, yet they do not exceed what is suitable, if we take to the account the extreme insensibility of men: for except God arms heaven and earth, and shews himself ready to take away all the blessings with which he favors mankind, they will, as we have lately said, laugh to scorn all his threatenings.

Defender: Jer 4:23 - the earth

The word translated "earth" (Hebrew eretz) is commonly translated "land," depending upon context. It is translated "land" in Jer 4:5 for example (Jer 4:7, Jer 4:20, Jer 4:27), obviously referring to the land of Judah. It should be translated "land" in this verse also, in consistency with the whole context of the chapter.

Defender: Jer 4:23 - without form, and void

Because this phrase, "without form, and void," is applied to the primeval earth in Gen 1:2, many who advocate the "gap theory," hoping to accommodate the long evolutionary ages in Genesis between the first two verses of the Bible, have used this verse as a "proof text" for a hypothetical pre-Edenic cataclysm which destroyed the original creation of Gen 1:1. The gap theory, however, is indefensible both geologically and theologically (see notes on Gen 1:2). The context here, both before and after (Jer 4:16, Jer 4:31), make it clear that the whole chapter is describing the coming destruction of Judah, not a prehistoric cataclysm destroying the primeval world."

TSK: Jer 4:23 - the earth // the heavens

the earth : Jer 9:10; Gen 1:2; Isa 24:19-23; Rev 20:11

the heavens : Isa 5:30, Isa 13:10; Eze 32:7, Eze 32:8; Joe 2:10,Joe 2:30,Joe 2:31, Joe 3:15, Joe 3:16; Amo 8:9; Mat 24:29, Mat 24:35; Mar 13:24, Mar 13:25; Luk 21:25, Luk 21:26; Act 2:19, Act 2:20

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Jer 4:23 - I beheld // idea // It was without form and void // They had no light

I beheld either I Jeremiah saw all this in a vision, or I fancied and framed such an

idea of it in my mind; it seems to be impressed upon my thoughts graphically, as in a map, in such a rueful manner; for in this and the three following verses he doth, as one transported with sorrow, elegantly and hyperbolically describe the phaenomenon , face or appearance of it.

It was without form and void the land was so squalid and so ruined, that he fancieth it to be like the first chaos, for which reason possibly he calls Judea the earth, in allusion to Gen 1:2 ; and herein implying that Judah’ s sins were such, that they had even overturned the course of nature, being laid waste and desolate, not of inhabitants only, but of all things that might tend either to ornament or use, without men, without houses, without fruits, without beasts or birds for food or service, Jer 4:25,26 .

They had no light some say being obnubilated and darkened by the abundance of smoke that would ascend from the desolating fires of towns and cities, Isa 9:18,19 , of which you may read in the history of this breaking in of the Chaldeans. But he seems to proceed rather in his metaphor of the chaos, it being an expression whereby the Scripture doth set forth the saddest desolations, Isa 13:9 , &c.; Eze 32:7 , &c.; Joe 2:10,30,31 ; every thing above and below seemed to be in a mournful posture, wrapt up in dismal blackness.

Haydock: Jer 4:23 - Void

Void. Hebrew, " Thohu and bohu, " like chaos, Genesis i. 2. (Haydock)

Gill: Jer 4:23 - I beheld the earth // and, lo, it was without form, and void // and the heavens, and they had no light

I beheld the earth,.... The land of Judea, not the whole world; and this the prophet says, either in spirit, as Jerom; or in prophecy, as Kimchi; or in a visionary way; for these are not the words of God continued, as Cocceius, but of the prophet; who, by a prophetic spirit, describes the dreadful destruction of the Jewish nation, as follows:

and, lo, it was without form, and void; as the first earth or chaos was, before it was brought into form and order; the same words, "tohu" and "bohu", are used here, as in Gen 1:2, the land of Judea now was, in the prophet's view of it, like the first earth, when darkness covered it; no grass sprung out of it, not a tree to be seen in it, and neither man nor beast as yet upon it, but all an undigested mass, and in the utmost wild disorder and confusion; and this may denote not only the natural, but the political, and ecclesiastical, disorder of the Jewish nation and state:

and the heavens, and they had no light; that were over the land of Judea;

"their lights did not shine,''

as the Targum paraphrases it; that is, the sun, moon, and stars, which were darkened by the smoke of the burning of Jerusalem; or which withdrew their light, as blushing at, and being ashamed of, the iniquities of his people, and who were unworthy of enjoying the light of them; and which this phrase may denote.