Jeremiah 23:33

And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. WHEN THIS PEOPLE ... SHALL ASK THEE ... WHAT IS THE BURDEN? - play on the double sense of the Hebrew [ masaa' (H4853)] - an oracle and a burden. They scoffingly ask, Has he got any new burden (burdensome oracle; for all his prophecies are disasters) to announce? (Malachi 1:1.) Jeremiah indignantly repeats their own question, Do you ask What burden? This, then it is, "I will forsake you." My word is burdensome in your eyes, and you long to be rid of it. You shall get your wish. There will be no more prophecy; I will forsake you, and that will be a far worse burden to you....

It appears sufficiently evident from this passage, — that the contumacy of the Jews was so great, that they sought from every quarter some excuse for their insensibility, as though they could with impunity despise God when they rejected his word. For the devil by his artifice fascinates the reprobate, when he renders God’s word either hateful or contemptible; and whenever he can exasperate their minds, so that they hear not God’s word except with disdain and bitterness, he gains fully his object. The Jews, then, were led into such a state of mind, that they regarded God’s word with hatred; and they were thus alienated from all docility and from every care for religion. In short, the prophets, as it is well known, everywhere employ the word משא, _mesha, _which means a burden. Now, a burden means a prophecy, which terrifies the despisers of God by threatening them with vengeance. As, then,...

33-40 Those are miserable indeed who are forsaken and forgotten of God; and men's jesting at God's judgments will not baffle them. God had taken Israel to be a people near to him, but they shall now be cast out of his presence. It is a mark of great and daring impiety for men to jest with the words of God. Every idle and profane word will add to the sinner's burden in the day of judgment, when everlasting shame will be his portion....

Verse Jeremiah 23:33. _WHAT_ IS _THE BURDEN OF THE LORD?_] The word משא _massa,_ here used, signifies _burden, oracle, prophetic discourse_; and is used by almost every prophet. But the persons in the text appear to have been _mockers_. "Where is this _burden_ of the Lord?"-"What is the _burden_ now?" To this insolent question the prophet answers in the following verses. _I WILL EVEN FORSAKE YOU_] I will punish the prophet, the priest and the people, that speak thus, Jeremiah 23:34. Here are _burdens_....

BURDEN - Here a prophecy, either (1) as being something weighty: or (2) a something said aloud. Isaiah brought the word into general use: Jeremiah never used it, though his predictions were all of impending evil. The false prophets, however, applied it in derision to Jeremiah’s prophecies, playing upon its double sense, and so turning solemn realities into mockery (see Jeremiah 23:34). WHAT BURDEN? - Or, according to another reading, Ye are the burden. I WILL EVEN FORSAKE YOU - Rather, and I will cast you away. From the idea of a burden the thought naturally arises of refusing to bear it, and throwing it off....

EXPOSITION The first eight verses form the necessary conclusion of the group of discourses summarized in Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 22:1. Like Isaiah, our prophet follows up denunciation with consolation, and will have the mind rest on the sure promises of God for the Messianic future. A part of the people has been already scattered abroad. In Jeremiah 24:8, "those who dwell in the land of Egypt" are a section no less important than "those who remain in this land;" and the Babylonian Captivity is an event only too certain to take place (comp. Jeremiah 24:8). Unhappy Judah! for though not free from responsibility, it

AND WHEN THIS PEOPLE, OR A PROPHET, OR A PRIEST, SHALL ASK THEE,.... Any of the people, who were grown very profane; or any of the false prophets, who encouraged them in their irreligion and impiety; or any of the priests, who were in combination with them against the true prophets of the Lord; when any of these, in a scoffing jeering manner, should ask the Prophet Jeremiah, SAYING, WHAT [IS] THE BURDEN OF THE LORD? or prophesy in the name of the Lord, as the Targum; and because some of the prophecies are called "burdens", see Isaiah 13:1; hence, by way of derision, they called every one so; and because many of these, though not all, were predictions of judgments and calamities that were to come on men; therefore they accounted all that the true prophets brought from the Lord as such, and sneering asked, what bad news do you bring now? what calamities are now to befall us? a

CHAPTER 23:9-40 Condemnation of the False Prophets _ 1. Jeremiah's lament on account of the false prophets (Jeremiah 23:9) _ 2. The condemnation of these prophets (Jeremiah 23:15) 3. Forgotten and forsaken (Jeremiah 23:33) Jeremiah 23:9. The prophet is overwhelmed because of the wicked prophets, because in the LORD's house wickedness was found. The false prophets of Samaria had led the people into idolatry and the prophets of Judah were guilty of all kinds of immoralities. Like priests, like people; they all became unto the Lord as Sodom, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem like Go

THE PROPHETS. Jeremiah is overcome by the stern message given him to deliver. The evil of the land is encouraged by prophet and priest (Jeremiah 6:13), even the Temple being dishonoured (2 Kings 21:5); for this they shall be thrust down a dark and slippery way (Jeremiah 23:9). The immorality of the southern prophets is worse than was the false religion of the northern (Jeremiah 23:13). Hence their punishment (Jeremiah 23:15; cf. Jeremiah 9:15). They inspire

WHAT BURDEN? Septuagint, Vulgate, and Rashi, read "Ye yourselves are the burden". Compare Jeremiah 23:36. FORSAKE. reject....