XXI. (1) THE WORD WHICH CAME UNTO JEREMIAH... — There is obviously a great gap at this point in the collection of the prophet’s utterances, and we enter on a new body or group of prophecies which extends to the close of Jeremiah 33. Thus far we have had his ministry under Jehoiakim, the roll which w... [ Continue Reading ]
NEBUCHADREZZAR. — This form of the name, as might be expected in the writings of one who was personally brought into contact with the king and his officers, is more correct than that of Nebuchadnezzar, which we find elsewhere, and even in Jeremiah’s own writings (Jeremiah 34:1; Jeremiah 39:5). The... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WILL TURN BACK... — Jeremiah’s answer is far other than they looked for, and had even ventured to suggest. The judgment could no longer be averted. The hand of Jehovah was against them, and would bring the Chaldæans that were now outside the walls nearer and nearer, till they came within t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL DIE OF A GREAT PESTILENCE. — This was doubtless, as in other instances (Thuc. ii. 52), the natural consequence of the siege, but it came before the people as another proof that Jehovah had stretched out his arm against them, that they were fighting against that arm as well as against the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL SMITE THEM WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD. — The words were bold words for the prophet to utter while the king was still on the throne, and urged on by his princes to defy the power of the Chaldæan king. In Jeremiah 52:10; Jeremiah 52:24 we find their literal fulfilment.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WAY OF LIFE, AND THE WAY OF DEATH. — The words are not unlike those of Deuteronomy 11:26; Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19, but there is something like a solemn irony in their application here. They obviously present themselves, not with the wide spiritual application with which they meet us... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FALLETH TO THE CHALDEANS. — The words must have seemed to the messengers to counsel treachery and desertion, and were remembered against the prophet in the taunt of Jeremiah 37:13. They were, however, acted on by not a few (Jeremiah 39:9; Jeremiah 52:15). HIS LIFE SHALL BE UNTO HIM FOR A PREY. —... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL BURN IT WITH FIRE. — Another detail of prediction fulfilled literally in Jeremiah 52:13. Such a destruction was, of course, common enough as an incident of the capture of besieged cities, but it was not universal. Often, indeed, the conquerors sought to preserve the city and to occupy its p... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY, HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD. — The interpolated “say” is not wanted, and tends to convey the probably wrong impression that we are dealing with a new message rather than a continuation of the former one. The question whether it is such a continuation has been variously answered by different co... [ Continue Reading ]
EXECUTE JUDGMENT IN THE MORNING. — The words point to one of the chief duties of the ideal Eastern king. To rise at dawn of day, to sit in the gate and listen to the complaints of those who had been wronged, was the surest way to gain the affection of his people. It was David’s neglect of this that... [ Continue Reading ]
O INHABITANT OF THE VALLEY... — The noun, as the marginal “inhabitress” shows, is feminine; and, as in “the daughter of Zion” for Zion itself, describes the lower city of Jerusalem, Isaiah’s “valley of vision” (Isaiah 22:1; Isaiah 22:5), the Tyropœon of Josephus. The “rock of the plain” (comp. Notes... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL KINDLE A FIRE IN THE FOREST THEREOF. — The “forest” thus referred to may be either literally the woods, then covering a larger surface than in later times, at Kirjath-jearim (Psalms 132:6; 1 Samuel 7:2), or the wood of the lone wilderness of Ziph (1 Samuel 23:15), or the valley of Rephaim (2... [ Continue Reading ]