Jeremiah 29:17

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. VILE FIGS - Hebrew [sho`ar], 'horrible,' or nauseous, from a root [shaa`ar] to regard with loathing (see ; )....

He says, _I will pursue them with the sword, and famine, and pestilence _The surrender of Jeconiah, as we have elsewhere seen, was voluntary; he was therefore more kindly received by the king of Babylon. At length the city was attacked, and as the siege was long, there was more rage felt against the king and the whole people, for the Chaldeans had been wearied by their obstinacy. Hence it was, that they dealt more severely with them. But nothing happened except through the just vengeance of God; for though they exasperated the Chaldeans, there is no doubt but that God blinded their minds so that they procured for themselves a heavier judgment. It was, then, a punishment inflicted on them by God; and hence rightly does Jeremiah testify that God was the author of those calamities, for the Chaldeans, as we have seen elsewhere, were only ministers and executioners of God’s vengeance; _Jehova...

8-19 Let men beware how they call those prophets whom they choose after their own fancies, and how they consider their fancies and dreams to be revelations from God. False prophets flatter people in their sins, because they love to be flattered; and they speak smoothly to their prophets, that their prophets may speak smoothly to them. God promises that they should return after seventy years were accomplished. By this it appears, that the seventy years of the captivity are not to be reckoned from the last captivity, but the first. It will be the bringing to pass of God's good word to them. This shall form God's purposes. We often do not know our own minds, but the Lord is never at an uncertainty. We are sometimes ready to fear that God's designs are all against us; but as to his own people, even that which seems evil, is for good. He will give them, not the expectations of their fears, o...

Verse Jeremiah 29:17. _BEHOLD, I WILL SEND UPON THEM THE SWORD_] Do not envy the state of _Zedekiah_ who sits on the throne of David, nor that of the _people_ who are now in the land whence ye have been carried captive, (Jeremiah 29:16,) for "I will send the sword, the pestilence, and the famine upon them;" and afterwards shall cause them to be carried into a miserable captivity _in all nations_, (Jeremiah 29:18;) but _ye_ see the worst of _your own_ case, and you have God's promise of enlargement when the proper time is come. The reader will not forget that the prophet is addressing the captives in Babylon....

These verses are not in the Septuagint. But the text of the Septuagint is here throughout so brief and confused as to be explicable only on the supposition, that it represents what was left behind in Egypt when Jeremiah died, copied probably with extreme haste, and with no opportunity of careful collation afterward. On the other hand the Hebrew text represents no hurried transcript, but the original manuscript, and is especially trustworthy in the case of these letters sent to Babylon (see also Jeremiah 51), because the originals of them would be available for collation with the text preserved by Jeremiah himself. The verses were probably intended to allay excitement in Babylon consequent upon the knowledge that the representatives of various kings were assembled at that very time at Jerusalem to form a coalition against Babylon...

EXPOSITION Despised and rejected at home, Jeremiah turned his thoughts to those distant brethren in captivity, whom he had already likened to "good figs, very good" (Jeremiah 24:3, Jeremiah 24:5). He had heard with sorrow that they could not readily submit to their altered circumstances; Judah, with its consecrated associations, was still too near to them in spirit. Probably a rumor of the expected confederacy (Jeremiah 27:3) had troubled their minds, and the discontent was increased by the pernicious discourses of prophets and sooth sayers similar to that Hananiah of whom we have just heard. Two of these in particular are mentioned, and a terrible fate is held out to them. The appendix (verses 24-32) de

THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, BEHOLD, I WILL SEND UPON THEM THE SWORD,.... The sword of the Chaldeans, by which many of them should fall, as they did. The Targum is, "I will send upon them those that kill with the sword:'' who, though they were prompted to come against the Jews, through a natural and ambitious desire of conquering and plundering, yet were sent of God; nor would they have come, had he not willed and suffered it: THE FAMINE AND THE PESTILENCE; to destroy others that escaped the sword; both these raged while Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans: AND WILL MAKE THEM LIKE VILE FIGS, THAT CANNOT BE EATEN, THEY ARE SO EVIL; to which they are compared, Jeremiah 24:8. The sense is, that as they had made themselves wicked and corrupt, like naughty and rotten figs, so the Lord would deal with them as men do with such,

JEREMIAH 29. THE FUTURE OF THE EXILES IN BABYLON (_c_. 595). Jeremiah sends a letter by royal messengers to tell the exiles in Babylon to settle down there for a lengthy stay, and not to be deceived by those who say otherwise (Jeremiah 29:1). After seventy years (see on Jeremiah 25:11), they shall be restored in accordance with Yahweh's declared purpose (Jeremiah 24:4) and goodwill (Jeremiah 29:1). At this point, an insertion seems to have been made in the original letter. Most of 14 (after I will be found of you) is rightly omitted in LXX; the reference to all the nations does not suit the destination of this particula

I WILL SEND... THE SWORD, &C. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 26:25; Leviticus 26:26). THE FAMINE. Some codices, with three early printed editions (one in margin), Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate, read "and famine", thus completing the Figure of speech _Polysyndeton_. VILE FIGS. worthless figs. See Jeremiah 24:2....

The impending fate of Zedekiah and his people. Cp. Jeremiah 24:8-10....