Jeremiah 21:14

But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it. I WILL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO THE FRUIT OF YOUR DOINGS - (; Isaiah 3:10). FOREST THEREOF - namely, of your city, taken from . "Forest" refers to the dense mass of houses built of cedar, etc., from Lebanon, and "burned with fire" by Nebuzaradan at the taking of the city (; ; ). Rema...

But God, on the contrary, says, _Behold I will _come _to thee, _or_against thee, _and _will visit _thee. There is, indeed, a change of number; for he says, _I will visit you, _for he had begun by saying, “Ye who say,” האמרים, _eamrim. I will visit upon you, _he says, _the fruit of your doings; _that is, “I will deal with you according to what you have done, as your works deserve.” Merit is to be taken for reward. Then God threatens that he would render to the Jews what they merited, because they had not ceased to provoke his wrath. He adds, lastly, _I will kindle a fire in its forest _Some take “forest” metaphorically for the neighboring towns; but this seems foreign to the Prophet’s meaning. I do not, indeed, deny but that there is a metaphor in the words; but then the word forest is not to be applied to towns and villages, but to the buildings of the city itself, according to a mode o...

11-14 The wickedness of the king and his family was the worse because of their relation to David. They were urged to act with justice, at once, lest the Lord's anger should be unquenchable. If God be for us, who can be against us? But if he be against us, who can do any thing for us?...

Verse Jeremiah 21:14. _I WILL KINDLE A FIRE IN THE FOREST THEREOF_] I will send destruction into its _centre_, that shall spread to every part of the _circumference_, and so consume the whole. The beginning of the _thirty-fourth_ chapter should follow here. See the arrangement on Jeremiah 21:1....

THE FOREST - This suggested to the Jew the idea of everything grand and stately....

EXPOSITION The chapter falls into three parts, two of which seem to be in some sort of connection, while the third is isolated. First comes a warning to the messengers of Zedekiah of the unfortunate issue of the rebellion against Babylon; this is followed by a counsel to the people to give up their futile resistance, and "fall away" to the Chaldeans. The last four verses contain an exhortation to the "house of David" to fulfill their high duties with greater conscientiousness, for fear of the judgment which had already begun to take effect when the former part of this chapter was written. Compare Zedekiah's embassy to Jeremiah with that of Hezekiah to Isaiah on a similar emergency (Isaiah 37:2). JEREMIAH 21:1 PASHUR. A different Pashur from the one

BUT I WILL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO THE FRUIT OF YOUR DOINGS, SAITH THE LORD,.... The situation of their city, and the strength of its fortifications, however sufficient they might be thought to keep out an enemy from annoying them; yet it was impossible to hinder the Lord's coming among them, as he here threatens to do; and "visit" them, as the word signifies, in a way of wrath and justice, according to the demerit of their sins, expressed by "the fruit of their doings"; their punishment was the reward of their unrighteousness, the effect of their sinful practices; and, though this was dreadful and terrible, they could not but own it was just and equitable: AND I WILL KINDLE A FIRE IN THE FOREST THEREOF; not in the forest of Lebanon, but in the city of Jerusalem; whose houses stood as thick as trees in a forest, and which many of them, at least the most stately, might be built or ceile...

CHAPTER 21 The Prophetic Warning _ 1. Zedekiah's inquiry (Jeremiah 21:1) _ 2. Jehovah's answer through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 21:3) Jeremiah 21:1. It has been said that this chapter is historically misplaced and therefore must be considered an evidence of the composite authorship of this book. The Spirit of God for some reason unknown to us has put it in this place. Zedekiah sent unto Jeremiah Pashur (a different one from the Pashur in the preceding chapter) to inquire as to Nebuchadrezzar, the King of Babylon. This is of course Nebuchadnezzar. The form of his name found in Jeremiah is derived more correctly from the Babylonian, which is “Nabukudurri-usur.” Here the great king is mentio

KINDLE. FIRE, &C. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 32:22). App-92. THE FOREST THEREOF. her forest. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for the timber from Lebanon used in the buildings. IT SHALL DEVOUR. Fulfilled in Jeremiah 52:13....

See introd. note to section. The fragment is a very obscure one. It may be connected with Jeremiah 22:8 f. It was evidently held by the compiler who placed it here to refer to Jerusalem. But that city is not in a "valley", nor is it upon a "rock" rising out of a tableland "plain." Neither can a foe be said to "come down" upon it. Dr. suggests that, as the word rendered "plain" is commonly used of the tableland upon which the principal cities of Moab lay (see Jeremiah 48:8; Jeremiah 48:21), it is possible that the _v_. was originally written with reference to some other city....