_The word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time_ See note on Jeremiah 32:2. Jeremiah being forced out of the temple, God follows him to the prison, and there reveals his mind to him once and again. The wickedness of the Jews in persecuting the prophet could not make God's promises of no eff... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof_ That is, as many interpreters understand it, of the city of Jerusalem, a figure of that church spoken of before: see Jeremiah 32:36; Jeremiah 32:44, compared with the 4th, 6th, and 9th verses of this chapter. Blaney, however, renders the clause, _Thus saith J... [ Continue Reading ]
_Call unto me, and I will answer thee_ An expression manifesting God's favour and loving kindness; that he was ready to comply with the first intimations of his servant's desires. Compare Jeremiah 29:12. God, by thus directing his discourse to Jeremiah, not only signified his kindness toward him, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord concerning the houses of this city_ Not excepting those _of the kings of Judah, thrown down by the mounts_ Namely, by the battering engines placed upon the mounts, which were raised against the walls of the city; _and by the sword_ By the violence of war. The Hebrew word general... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I will bring it health and cure_ The latter part of this verse expounds the former: for, by _health and cure_, the prophet means _peace and truth_, or, _stability._ Blaney renders it, _I will make it_, namely, the city or state _perfectly sound and whole._ The disturbed and calamitous state... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it shall be to me a praise and an honour_ Jerusalem thus rebuilt, and Judah thus re-established, shall be to my glory _before all the nations._ In other words, it is foretold here that God's especial providence over the Jews, in restoring their city and temple, and re-establishing them in their... [ Continue Reading ]
_Again there shall be heard in this place which ye say shall be desolate_ See note on Jeremiah 32:43; _the voice of joy and the voice of gladness_ The contrary to what takes place in the times of captivity and desolation. _The voice of them that shall say, Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good_,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Again in this place shall be a habitation for shepherds_, &c. See Jeremiah 50:19; Isaiah 65:10. In those places which were desolate, without man and beast, there should be flocks and herds of sheep and goats, which the shepherds should take care of as in former times. _And in the cities of Judah sh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, the days come that I will perform that good thing,_ &c. The Lord's word is not _yea_ and _nay:_ he cannot lie, or repent. There shall come a time when he will verify every good word which he hath spoken to, or concerning, his people. _In those days will I cause the Branch of righteousness t... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man_, &c. It is very evident that the prophecies in these verses were not fulfilled in the Jews after the Babylonish captivity; for, from that time to the coming of Christ, David was without a successor of his family sitting upon the throne of Judah... [ Continue Reading ]
_If you can break my covenant of the day and of the night_ Called the _ordinances_ of the day and night, Jeremiah 31:35. _Then may also my covenant be broken with David and with the Levites_ A promise this, that the kingdom of Christ and a Christian ministry shall continue in the church to the end o... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the host of heaven cannot be numbered_, &c. The former promise respected the stability, this the enlargement of the church, the members of which are here termed _the seed of David_, as they are elsewhere often called _the seed of Abraham_, being the imitators of the faith of Abraham and David. O... [ Continue Reading ]
_The two families which the Lord hath chosen_ “It is plain from Jeremiah 33:26,” says Blaney,” that the two families here meant are those of Jacob and David, though some have supposed the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, others the royal and sacerdotal families of David and Levi, to be intended.” _... [ Continue Reading ]