Jeremiah 27:13

Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? WHY WILL YE DIE - by running on your own ruin in resisting Nebuchadnezzar after this warning ()....

Here is a threatening added; for all means were used not only to invite the Jews, but also to stimulate them to repent. The Prophet offered them pardon, if they quietly submitted to be chastised by God. It was to be their life, he said, when the Lord punished them according to his will. As they could not be sufficiently moved by this kindness, he now adds, “See ye to it, for except ye receive the life offered to you, you must inevitably perish. Therefore thou, Zedekiah, wilt precipitate thyself with all thy people into eternal destruction, if ye continue to be perverse and obstinate against God.” We hence see that nothing was left undone by the Prophet to bend the Jews to obedience and to lead them to repentance. By speaking of the _sword, famine, and pestilence, _he intimates that there would be no end, until they were consumed by God’s vengeance, except they suffered themselves, as we...

12-18 Jeremiah persuades the king of Judah to surrender to the king of Babylon. Is it their wisdom to submit to the heavy iron yoke of a cruel tyrant, that they may secure their lives; and is it not much more our wisdom to submit to the pleasant and easy yoke of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, that we may secure our souls? It were well if sinners would be afraid of the destruction threatened against all who will not have Christ to reign over them. Why should they die the second death, infinitely worse than that by sword and famine, when they may submit and live? And those who encourage sinners to go on in sinful ways, will perish with them....

Verse Jeremiah 27:13. _WHY WILL YE DIE_] If ye resist the king of Babylon, to whom I have given a commission against you, ye shall be destroyed by the sword and by famine; but if ye submit, ye shall escape all these evils....

Zedekiah was restless under the Babylonian yoke, and the false prophets found only too ready a hearing from him. He is addressed in the plural because his feelings were fully shared by the mass of the officers of state and by the people....

EXPOSITION This and the two following chapters are closely connected. They all relate to the early part of the reign of Zedekiah, and con-rain warnings arising out of the deepening gloom of the political horizon. It must, however, be noted that there is evidently some mistake in the first verse of Jeremiah 27:1, and also that the contents of Jeremiah 29:1 point to a somewhat earlier time than Jeremiah 27:1; Jeremiah 28:1 (viz. the first or second year of King Zedekiah). To understand the circumstances of Jeremiah 27:1;

WHY WILL YE DIE, THOU AND THY PEOPLE, THE SWORD, BY THE FAMINE, AND BY THE PESTILENCE,.... Through a blockade of the Chaldean army, which would invade their land, and besiege their city, upon a refusal to be subject to their yoke: AS THE LORD HATH SPOKEN AGAINST THE NATION THAT WILL NOT SERVE THE KING OF BABYLON? as the Lord has threatened shall be the case of any and everyone of the above nations that should refuse to be tributary to him; of which, no doubt, Zedekiah and his court had been apprized; see Jeremiah 27:8....

CHAPTER 27 The Optimism of the False Prophets Contradicted _ 1. The call of Nebuchadnezzar to be the servant of God (Jeremiah 27:1) _ 2. The call to submit and to serve the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:12) Jeremiah 27:1. It was in the earlier part of the reign of Zedekiah (Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 27:1 is a clerical error, see Jeremiah 27:3 and Jeremiah 27:12) that Jeremiah is commanded to make bonds and yokes to put them

THE WARNING TO ZEDEKIAH. Jeremiah also warns Zedekiah to the same effect (Jeremiah 27:12), and tells priests and people not to believe the prophets who promise an early return of the Temple vessels. Let the prophets rather pray that the vessels left by the Babylonians be not also carried off; for Yahweh intends to remove these also, that they may remain in Babylon until His appointed time. This warning was apparently successful; Zedekiah did not revolt until four or five years later. In order to quell the suspicions excited by the embassies of Jeremiah 27:3, he may have made the journey to Babylon mentioned in Jeremiah 51:59....

WHY... ? Figure of speech _Asterismos._ BY. Some codices, with Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and by", thus completing the Figure of speech _Polysyndeton._ Compare Jeremiah 27:8. AS. according as....