Here the Prophet proceeds with the remaining part of the narrative. He says that the _whole people _obstinately persevered in their wicked design, so that he effected nothing by his warning and protest. Now this stupidity of the people was monstrous; for they had found out by experience the fidelity... [ Continue Reading ]
Now he says, that when he had _finished speaking to the whole people, as God had commanded, then John the son of Kareah, and Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, _being the first among them, spoke against him. As to Azariah, we cannot know with any certainty what he was. But we have here in John the son of... [ Continue Reading ]
They afterwards throw the blame on Baruch, who had been the Prophet’s faithful servant. As they could not find out any reason why Jeremiah should speak falsely, they turned their fury against Baruch. They did not then spare Jeremiah for honor’s sake, but as they had no reason whatever to speak evil... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet had sufficiently shewn that John the son of Kareah and the rest had not in good faith inquired of the Prophet what the will of God was; for when they saw that God’s counsel did not harmonize with their wicked and foolish desire, they rose up against the Prophet. But he now more clearly c... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet now gives us a narrative of what he had briefly touched upon. He then says that John and the rest of the leaders took the remnant of the people, who were there alive, and those who had returned from various countries; for many had become fugitives among the Moabites and the Idumeans, whe... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet also mentions particularly who they were; they were men and _women and children _Some render the last word “puberty,” which I do not approve, since Scripture speaks thus of children. Then John and his associates took _childhood, _or children; and he adds, _the daughters of the king _We h... [ Continue Reading ]
At last he adds, _all the souls which _had been left by _Nebuzaradan with Gedaliah, with Jeremiah, and with Baruch _This had not been expressed elsewhere, that is, that Jeremiah and Baruch were joined with Gedaliah as rulers over the remnant of the people. But it was not the design of Jeremiah to re... [ Continue Reading ]
This passage shews that the Prophet was by force drawn away with others, so that he became an exile in Egypt contrary to his own wishes; for he did not go there of his own accord, inasmuch as we have seen how strictly he forbade them all to go down to Egypt. He was, however, compelled to go there, a... [ Continue Reading ]
He was then commanded to take _great stones, _and to _hide _them in _the clay, _or cement, _in a brick-kiln, _that is, in a kiln where bricks were burnt, or in a place where they were usually made, or where materials were taken to form them. And this place was not far from the palace of the king in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I, _—_the _particle demonstrative and the pronoun are both emphatical, הנני, _enni; Behold, I send, _he says, _to bring Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones _We now understand the drift of the whole, even that these stones were thrown into... [ Continue Reading ]
He confirms the former verse by what he says here and in the two following verses to the end of the chapter. As Egypt had cities well fortified and deemed impregnable, the Jews never thought that the Chaldeans could so easily penetrate into them. For, first, that country is situated in a plain; and,... [ Continue Reading ]
He goes on with the same subject; and he ascribes to God the kindling of the fire, that the Jews might know that the war would be conducted by a divine power, and that Nebuchadnezzar would not come except through God’s providence. For though, as it has been said, he had his own reasons, yet God, by... [ Continue Reading ]
WE stated yesterday why Jeremiah spoke especially of the temples of the gods, even that the Jews might understand that nothing would escape destruction: for even the cruel-est enemies have usually withheld their hands from the temples of gods. If sanctity and religion would not preserve the temples,... [ Continue Reading ]