Jeremiah 17:20

Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; Delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim, who undid the good effected by Josiah's reformation, especially as to the observance of the Sabbath (Eichorn). STAND IN THE GATE OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PEOPLE - the gate next the king's palace, called the gate of David, and the gate of the people, from its being the principal thoroughfare: now the Jaffa gate. It is probably the same as "the gate of the fountain" at the foot of Zion, near which were the king's garden and pool (; ; ;...

He then adds, _Thou shalt say to them, Hear the word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and let all the people hear, and let all the citizens of Jerusalem _hear, _who enter in at these gates_. The Prophet was commanded to begin with the king himself, who ought to have repressed so great a licentiousness. It was therefore an intolerable indifference in the king silently to bear this contempt of religion, especially in a matter so easy and so evident; for he could not have pretended that he was unacquainted with it: it was indeed the same as though the Jews intended to triumph against God, and to shew that his law was deemed of no value. Hence the profanation of the Sabbath was a proof of their shamelessness, as they thereby shewed that they cared nothing either for God or for his law. We shall hereafter see how great that wickedness was; but; I shall defer the subject, as I cannot now discuss...

19-27 The prophet was to lay before the rulers and the people of Judah, the command to keep holy the sabbath day. Let them strictly observe the fourth command. If they obeyed this word, their prosperity should be restored. It is a day of rest, and must not be made a day of labour, unless in cases of necessity. Take heed, watch against the profanation of the sabbath. Let not the soul be burdened with the cares of this world on sabbath days. The streams of religion run deep or shallow, according as the banks of the sabbath are kept up or neglected. The degree of strictness with which this ordinance is observed, or the neglect shown towards it, is a good test to find the state of spiritual religion in any land. Let all; by their own example, by attention to their families, strive to check this evil, that national prosperity may be preserved, and, above all, that souls may be saved....

Verse Jeremiah 17:20. _YE KINGS OF JUDAH, AND ALL JUDAH_] This last clause is wanting in eight of _Kennicott's_ and _De Rossi's_ MSS., in the _Arabic_, and some copies of the _Septuagint_....

This prophecy on the observance of the Sabbath, is the first of a series of short predictions. arranged probably in chronological order among themselves, but in other respects independent of one another. Its tone is mild, and dissuasive rather of future neglect than condemnatory of past misconduct; and it may be assigned to the commencement of Jehoiakim’s reign. Its similarity to the prophecy contained in Jeremiah 22:1 makes it probable that they were contemporaneous. Jeremiah 17:19 THE GATE OF THE CHILDREN OF THE PEOPLE - Perhaps the principal entrance of the outer court of the temple. Very probably there was traffic there, as in our Lord’s time, in doves and other requisites for sacrifice, and so the warning to keep the Sabba

EXPOSITION Jeremiah 17:1 are closely connected with the preceding chapter. We have just been pointed to the striking contrast between the conduct of the heathen and that of the backsliding men of Judah. The inspired orator's indignation swells as he thinks of the inveterateness and indelibleness of Judah's sin. Then he passes to a subject immediately suggested by the policy of the court, viz. the true source of safety in dangerous times. Trust in man brings a curse; trust in Jehovah a blessing (Jeremiah 17:5). From this portion of the prophecy we can venture to fix the date of the whole. Jeremiah 17:11 is, in fact, a shorter form of the denunciation in...

AND SAY UNTO THEM, HEAR YE THE WORD OF THE LORD,.... Concerning the sanctification of the sabbath; for this was not of human, but of divine institution: YE KINGS OF JUDAH; which must be understood either, as Kimchi thinks, of the then present king and his sons, so called because they would reign after him; for, there was but one king at a time; and who, perhaps, at this time, was Josiah: or else the king and his nobles, the princes of the land, are meant: AND ALL JUDAH AND ALL THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM, THAT ENTER IN BY THESE GATES; the people in the several parts of the land of Judea, that came to Jerusalem either for trade and merchandise, or for worship, and all that dwelt in the metropolis; for the business the prophet had to charge them with concerned them all....

CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Judah's sin (Jeremiah 17:1) _ 2. The curse and the blessing (Jeremiah 17:5) 3. The worship of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:12) 4. Concerning the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:19) Jeremiah 17:1. The sin of Judah was idolatry, engraven with a pen of iron, the point of a diamond, upon their heart (from whence it proceeded) and upon the horns of their altars. They had destroyed but a few years before the asherim (translated groves, a kind of sacred post), and now their children turned back to t

THE SABBATH DAY. The general tone and emphasis of this paragraph, which makes a particular ceremonial ordinance the condition of permanent survival, relate it rather to the period of Nehemiah 13:15 than to that of Jeremiah. The prophecy is uttered in the gate (Jeremiah 7:2)_,_ because of the Sabbath traffic through it; nothing is known of this particular gate. In Jeremiah 17:21 and Jeremiah 17:25 read as _mg.;_ omit and princes in Jeremiah 17:25;...

Jeremiah 17:19-27. An exhortation on the observance of the Sabbath This section is unconnected with the preceding, and, as it considers that the doom pronounced on Judah may be averted on condition of Sabbath observance, while the previous section has declared that that doom is inevitable, it has been placed by some, e.g. Orelli, as early as the time of Josiah's reformation (see introd. note on Jeremiah 1:1 to Jeremiah 12:6), and by others (Stade, Kuenen, Gi., Du., Co.) held to be a piece belonging to the times of Ezra and Nehemiah (cp. Nehemiah 13:15-22). See also on...