Before I formed thee in the
belly, i.e. womb, Isa.
46:3. Having spoken before of the time of his call, ver. 4, he now speaks of
the manner of it. I knew thee, i.e.
approved and appointed thee, as a fit minister for this work. Words of
knowledge among the Hebrews note affection, as hath been formerly noted. I sanctified thee, viz. not with saving
grace, though that need not to be excluded; but accordingly I prepared and
ordained thee for this public service; and thus with Paul, Gal. 1:15, where
both are expressed. See the like use of the word Isa. 13:3. He speaks thus to
Jeremiah, not to the other prophets, because he stood in need of greater and
more direct encouragement than they, both in respect of the tenderness of his
years, and also of those insuperable difficulties which in those most
degenerate and corrupt times he must unavoidably encounter with, which might
cause him to decline the work, (Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, 3 vols.
[New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853], 2:491)
