(1) Then said the Lord unto me.—With a bold and terrible anthropomorphism, the prophet again speaks as if he heard the voice of Jehovah rejecting all intercession for the apostate people. The passage reminds us of the mention of Noah, Daniel, and Job, in Ezekiel 14:14, as “able to deliver their own souls only by their righteousness.” Here Moses (Exodus 32:11; Numbers 14:13-20) and Samuel (1Samuel 7:9; 1Samuel 12:23) are named as having been conspicuous examples of the power of the prayer of intercession.

Cast them out of my sight.—i.e., from my presence, from the courts of the Temple which they profane. That would be the answer of Jehovah, even if Moses and Samuel “stood before Him” (the phrase, as in Jeremiah 35:19, has a distinctly liturgical meaning), ministering in the Courts of the Temple.

Jer 15:1-21. God's Reply to Jeremiah's Intercessory Prayer.

1. Moses … Samuel—eminent in intercessions (Ex 32:11, 12; 1Sa 7:9; Ps 99:6).

be toward—could not be favorably inclined toward them.

out of my sight—God speaks as if the people were present before Him, along with Jeremiah.The Jews’ rejection, and judgments, especially of four kinds; the sins which procured them, Jeremiah 15:1-9. The prophet complaineth that the people curse and persecute him for these prophecies; they are threatened, and he instructed and comforted, Jeremiah 15:10-21.

We are (though in another chapter) yet in the same prophecy, or discourse betwixt God and this prophet. Jeremiah having been once denied, solicited God again, as we had it in the four last verses of the former chapter. God here replieth to that prayer; and the sum of what he saith is, that he was inexorable in their case. Though Moses, who could obtain so much of God upon their sinning, in the case of the golden calf, Exodus 32:11,14, and in the case of the people’s murmuring, Numbers 14:19,20; and Samuel, who was so prevalent with God, 1 Samuel 7:9; though these two, formerly so potent and prevalent mediators for a people with me, stood before me, waited (that is) upon me, and solicited me on the behalf of this people, yet I could not favour this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth: q.d. I am not able to abide the sight of them, and therefore let them go forth.

though Moses and Samuel stood before me; to pray before me, as the Targum; to make intercession for the people. Standing is a prayer gesture. The Jews say there is no standing but prayer, or that is meant when it is mentioned; See Gill on Matthew 6:5. Moses and Samuel were named, because they were eminent for prayer, and had success in it, for the people of Israel. Of Moses, see Exodus 32:11 and of Samuel, see 1 Samuel 7:9 and of both, Psalm 99:6. The Arabic version reads "Moses and Aaron", but wrongly. The Palmists make use of this text to prove the intercession of saints in heaven for those on earth; but the words are only a supposition, and not a fact. The meaning is, that supposing that Moses and Samuel were alive, and made intercession for the people, their prayers would not be regarded; and such a supposition, as it suggests that they were not alive, so that they did not stand before him, and make intercession for Judah; wherefore this is against, and not for, the intercession of saints in heaven:

yet my mind could not be towards this people; God could have no good will to them, no delight in them; could not be reconciled to them, or agree to it, that the favours asked for should be granted them, or that they should be continued in their own land; and therefore it was in vain for the prophet to solicit on their account; but, on the other hand, it is ordered as follows:

cast them out of my sight; or presence; as persons loathsome and abominable, not to be borne; I cannot look upon them, or have anything to say to them, in a favourable way:

and let them go forth; from my presence, from the temple, the city, and out of their own land; that is, declare that so it shall be.

(a) Meaning that if there were any man living moved with so great zeal toward the people as were these two, yet he would not grant this request, as he had determined the contrary, Eze 14:14.