XXVIII. (1) AND IT CAME TO PASS THE SAME YEAR... — The chapter stands in immediate sequence with that which precedes and confirms the conclusion that the name Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 27:1 is simply a transcriber’s mistake. Of the Hananiah who appears as the most prominent of the prophet’s adversaries,... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE BROKEN THE YOKE... — The word is obviously used with special reference to the symbol which Jeremiah had made so conspicuous (Jeremiah 27:2). With something, it may be, of ironical repetition, he reproduces the very formula with which the true prophet had begun his message. He, too, can speak... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHIN TWO FULL YEARS. — Literally, _two years of days._ Hananiah, not deterred by the previous warnings of Jeremiah, becomes bolder in the definiteness of his prediction. The conspiracy of Judah and the neighbouring states against Nebuchadnezzar was clearly ripening, and he looked on its success as... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL BRING AGAIN TO THIS PLACE JECONIAH THE SON OF JEHOIAKIM... — We get here A new glimpse into the nature of the anti-Chaldæan confederacy. Zedekiah was to be deposed as too submissive to Nebuchadnezzar, and the young Jeconiah was to be brought back from his prison at Babylon, and re-establi... [ Continue Reading ]
AMEN, THE LORD DO SO. — It is impossible to mistake the tone of keen, incisive irony with which the words were spoken. The speaker could, without falsehood, echo the wish as far as it was a wish, but he knew that it was a wish for the impossible. The whole condition of things would have to be altere... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHETS THAT HAVE BEEN BEFORE ME AND BEFORE THEE... — The appeal to the past is of the nature of an inductive argument. The older prophets whose names were held in honour had not spoken smooth things. They had not prophesied of peace; war, pestilence, and famine had been the burden of their pre... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHET WHICH PROPHESIETH OF PEACE. — “Peace,” with its Hebrew associations, includes all forms of national prosperity, and is therefore contrasted with famine and pestilence, not less than with war. The obvious reference to the test of a prophet’s work, as described in Deuteronomy 18:22, shows,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HANANIAH THE PROPHET TOOK THE YOKE... — We are reminded of the conduct of Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, in 1 Kings 22:24. Personal violence, as has been the case in some Christian controversies, takes the place of further debate. The hateful symbols of servitude should not be allowed to outra... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE WORD OF THE LORD... — The narrative suggests the thought of a time of silent suffering and of prayer, to which the “word of the Lord” came as an answer. And that word declared, keeping to the same symbolism as before, that all attempts at resistance to the power which was for the time the s... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE GIVEN HIM THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD ALSO. — On the significance of this addition see Note on Jeremiah 27:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR NOW, HANANIAH... — The narrative leaves the time and place of the interview uncertain, but suggests an interval of some days between it and the scene in the Temple court just narrated. In the strength of the “word of the Lord” which had come to him, the prophet can now tell his rival that he is... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL CAST THEE... — Literally, _I send thee._ The verb is the same as in the preceding verse, and is repeated with an emphatic irony. THIS YEAR THOU SHALT DIE... — The punishment is announced, with time given for repentance. In part, perhaps, the threat may have tended to work out its own fulfilm... [ Continue Reading ]