Jeremiah 27:9

Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: HEARKEN NOT YE - the Jews especially, for whom the address to the rest was intended. ENCHANTERS - augurs (Calvin), [ `onªneeykem (H6049)] from a root [ `ayin (H5869)], the eyes - i:e., lookers at the stars and other means of taking omens of futurity; one who holds the eyes spell-bound with fascination; or another root, a fixed time [ `ownaah (H5772)], observers of times; forbidden in the law (Levitic...

As Jeremiah had declared to the king, as well as to the citizens, that they could not escape the punishment that was at hand, he now shakes off from them that vain confidence, which was as an obstacle in the way, so that they were not touched by threatenings, nor received wholesome warnings. For the false prophets deceived them by their flatteries, and promised that all things would happen prosperously to them. As then the Prophet saw that the ears both of the king and of the people were closed against him, so that he could do little or nothing by exhorting and threatening them, he added what he deemed necessary, even that all the things which the false prophets vainly said were altogether fallacious. He therefore said, _Hear ye not your prophets and your diviners; _for קסם, _kosam, _is to divine; then he adds, _your dreamers; _in the fourth place, _your augurs; _in the fifth place, _you...

1-11 Jeremiah is to prepare a sign that all the neighbouring countries would be made subject to the king of Babylon. God asserts his right to dispose of kingdoms as he pleases. Whatever any have of the good things of this world, it is what God sees fit to give; we should therefore be content. The things of this world are not the best things, for the Lord often gives the largest share to bad men. Dominion is not founded in grace. Those who will not serve the God who made them, shall justly be made to serve their enemies that seek to ruin them. Jeremiah urges them to prevent their destruction, by submission. A meek spirit, by quiet submission to the hardest turns of providence, makes the best of what is bad. Many persons may escape destroying providences, by submitting to humbling providences. It is better to take up a light cross in our way, than to pull a heavier on our own heads. The p...

Verse Jeremiah 27:9. _THEREFORE HEARKEN NOT YE TO YOUR PROPHETS_] Who pretend to have a revelation from heaven. _NOR TO YOUR DIVINERS_] קסמיכם _kosemeychem_, from קסם _kasam,_ to _presage_ or _prognosticate_. Persons who _guessed_ at futurity by certain signs in the animate or inanimate creation. _NOR TO YOUR DREAMERS_] חלמתיכם _chalomotheychem_, from חלם _chalam_, to _break in pieces_; hence _chalom, a dream_, because it consists of _broken fragments_. Dream-interpreters, who, from these _broken shreds_ patch up a meaning by their own interpolations. _NOR TO YOUR ENCHANTERS_] ענניכם _oneneychem_, from ענן _anan,_ _a cloud_-cloud-mongers. Diviners by the flight, colour, density, rarity, and shape of clouds....

DREAMERS - literally, as in the margin. People dream dreams for themselves, and go to diviners to ask the explanation of them....

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;

THEREFORE HEARKEN NOT YE TO YOUR PROPHETS,.... False prophets, as the Targum. These words are not directed to the Jews, but are a continuation of what the messengers of the nations should say to their masters from the God of Israel, by the mouth of his prophet; for they had their prophets as well as the Jews; as the prophets of Baal, and others: NOR TO YOUR DIVINERS; or soothsayers; such an one as was Balaam: NOR TO YOUR DREAMERS; or "dreams"; such as they had themselves, and laid great stress upon; or to those who pretended to interpret them to them: NOR TO YOUR ENCHANTERS; or stargazers; astrologers, who pretended by the position of the stars to foretell what would come to pass: NOR TO YOUR SORCERERS; or wizards, or necromancers; who, by unlawful methods, pretended to acquire knowledge of future things: WHICH SPEAK UNTO YOU, SAYING, YE SHALL NOT SERVE THE KING OF BABYLON; mea

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

JEREMIAH 27-29. Certain linguistic peculiarities (_e.g._ the incorrect spelling, Nebuchadnezzar) suggest that these three Chapter s may have circulated as a separate pamphlet, _e.g._ in Babylon. They deal with the rebuke of false hopes concerning a speedy return from exile. JEREMIAH 27:1. THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST BABYLON. Probably in 593 (note correction by _mg._ of Jeremiah 27:1; the more definite date of Jeremiah 28:1 seems to belong here) Jeremiah is told to make and wear a yoke (as symbol of submission to Babylon; _cf._ 1 Kings 22:11, and the note on...

DIVINERS, &C. These were their heathen guides. ENCHANTERS. observers of the clouds. SORCERERS. These were mediums and necromancers....