_In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim_ Instead of Jehoiakim here, Dr. Waterland, Houbigant, Blaney, and many others, read _Zedekiah_, because it is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the common reading with what follows. Lowth also, in his commentary upon the place, gives it as his opi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make thee bonds and yokes_, &c. The prophets were frequently ordered to foreshow future events by actions as well as by words. Thus Isaiah was commanded to go _naked and barefoot, Isaiah 20:3_. Ezekiel, in like manner, was ordered to prophesy by signs, Ezekiel 4:1; Ezekiel 12:3; and Ezekiel 24:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar_ “God is the sole lord and proprietor of the world; and, by virtue of his absolute sovereignty and dominion, has a right to give the kingdoms of the earth to whomsoever he pleases, Daniel 4:17, and he exercises this authority by _changing... [ Continue Reading ]
_All nations shall serve him, his son, and his son's son_ His son was Evil-merodach, and his son's son Belshazzar, in whom his kingdom ended. Then the time of reckoning with his land came, when the tables were turned; and _many nations and great kings_ Incorporated in the empire of the Medes and Per... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners_ These nations, it must be observed, had their prophets as well as the Jews, or rather persons that pretended to foretel future events by consulting the stars, by dreams, and various arts of divination; and they, to please their patrons, flatter... [ Continue Reading ]
_I spake also to Zedekiah_, &c. What the prophet here says to Zedekiah has a particular weight in it, because he was made king of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar, and had taken an oath to be faithful to him, and never to resist his authority. _Why will ye die, thou and thy people?_ That is, why wilt thou wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Also I spake to the priests and to all this people_ The prophet, being God's true servant, spared none, but gave faithful warning to all sorts of persons, to take heed of being deceived by the false prophets, who undertook to foretel that the vessels of the temple, carried away in the time of Jehoi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord concerning the pillars_, &c. These were all parts of the temple, or vessels used in it: see 1 Kings 7. _And all the nobles_, &c. Concerning the persons and things which the king of Babylon carried away, see 2 Kings 24:13. _Yea, thus saith the Lord_ The prophet enlarges the divin... [ Continue Reading ]