Jeremiah 20:5

Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. ALL THE STRENGTH OF THIS CITY - i:e., all its resources. LABOURS - fruits of labour, gain, wealth....

He goes on with the same subject, but amplifies what he had said in order to confirm it. At the same time there is no doubt but that Pashur was more exasperated when he heard these grievous threatenings; but it was right thus to inflame more and more the fury of all the ungodly. Though, then, they may a hundred times raise a clamor, we must not desist from freely and boldly declaring the truth. This is the reason why the Prophet now more fully describes the future calamity of the city. _I will give up, _he says, the whole strength _of this city, _etc. This word “strength” is sometimes taken metaphorically for riches or wealth. Then _the whole strength, _or substance, _of this city and all its labor will I give up, _etc. This second clause is still more grievous, for what had been acquired with great labor was to be given to plunder; for when any one becomes rich without labor, that is, w...

1-6 Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this, Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a man not only in distress, but in despair; not only in danger, but in fear on every side. The wicked are in great fear where no fear is, for God can make the most daring sinner a terror to himself. And those who will not hear of their faults from God's prophets, shall be made to hear them from their consciences. Miserable is the man thus made a terror to himself. His friends shall fail him. God lets him live miserably, that he may be a monument of Divine justice....

ALL THE STRENGTH - “All the stores.” THE LABORS - The gains of the citizens....

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 20:1 The continuation of the preceding narrative. PASHUR THE SON OF TRAINER. This man belonged to the sixteenth of the sacerdotal families or classes (1 Chronicles 24:14). Another of the same name is referred to in Jeremiah 21:1 (see note). The one here mentioned was "chief overseer" (there were several inferior overseers, 2 Chronicles 31:13); the eminence of the position appears from the fact that Zephaniah, Pashur's successor (Jeremiah 29:26), is s

MOREOVER, I WILL DELIVER ALL THE STRENGTH OF THIS CITY,.... The fortifications of it; its towers, as the Syriac version; the riches of it, as the Targum; all its magazines and stores, in which its strength lay: AND ALL THE LABOURS THEREOF; all the fruit of their labours; all their wealth and riches got by labour; all their goods in trade; all their manufactures and merchandise: AND ALL THE PRECIOUS THINGS THEREOF; all their plate and jewels, the rich furniture of their houses, and whatsoever was laid up in their treasures as rare and valuable: AND ALL THE TREASURES OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH WILL I GIVE INTO THE HAND OF THEIR ENEMIES; which they in successive reigns had been laying up in store for years together; see Isaiah 39:6; WHICH SHALL SPOIL THEM, AND TAKE THEM, AND CARRY THEM TO BABYLON; make a prey of them, seize

CHAPTER 20 Pashur.-Jeremiah's Perplexity and Complaint _ 1. Pashur and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:1) _ 2. Jeremiah's great perplexity and complaint (Jeremiah 20:7) Jeremiah 20:1. A great scene now follows the message in connection with the broken bottle. The great Pashur, the chief governor in the house of the LORD had heard of the message. He smites Jeremiah and puts him in the stocks, which must have been some form of cruel torture by which the victim was rendered helpless, besides being exposed to the vulgarity of the people who passed by and would taunt him. In this position Jeremiah remained all night before the high gate of Benjamin. In the morning he was released. He then speaks a

JEREMIAH 19:1 TO JEREMIAH 20:6. THE EARTHENWARE FLASK; JEREMIAH IN THE STOCKS. This section seems to be editorially grouped with the last because of the further reference to pottery; the original prophecy may have been expanded in Jeremiah 19:3 by a later writer. It seems more natural to date these incidents after the Temple-sermon (Jeremiah 19:7) rather than before it; in either case, in the early years of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah is to take representatives of Judah to the Valley of Hinnom (Jeremiah 7:31), by the gate of potsherds (_mg.; i.e._ wh

STRENGTH. power, or might. Hebrew. _hasen._ Not the same word as in Jeremiah 20:7. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Effect), for the wealth acquired by strength....

MOREOVER, I WILL DELIVER, &C.— It will, I think, tend much to illustrate this passage, and the corresponding conduct of the Babylonian monarch, related Exodus 24:12 if I here cite the words of a celebrated modern historian, who describes the similar behaviour of those Barbarians, the Moguls or Tartars, who under Zingis overran and conquered Asia, to their captives, in the following manner:—"The inhabitants, who had submitted to their discretion, were ordered to evacuate their houses, and to assemble in some plain adjacent to the city, where a division was made of the vanquished of three parts. The first class consisted of _the soldiers of the garrison, and of the young men capable of bearing arms;_ and their fate was instantly decided; they were either inlisted among the Moguls, or they were massacred on the spot by the troops, who, with pointed spears and bended bows, had forme