“Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that it will no more be said, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’
Parallel Translations
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“Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that it will no more be said, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’
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Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
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Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said: 'As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 16:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 23:7-8 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that they will no more say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’ but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.”
- Exodus 20:2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- Deuteronomy 15:15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today.
- Hosea 3:4-5 For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols. Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
- Micah 6:4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Jeremiah seems here to promise a return to the…
Jeremiah seems here to promise a return to the Jews; and so the passage is commonly expounded, as though a consolation is interposed, in which the faithful alone are concerned. But I consider the passage as mixed, that the Prophet, in part, speaks in severe terms of the dreadful exile which he foretells, and that he in part blends some consolation; but the latter subject seems to me to he indirectly referred to by the Prophet. I therefore think this to be an amplification of what he had said. This is to be kept in mind. He had said, “I will expel you from this land, and will send you to a land unknown to you and to your fathers.” Now follows a circumstance which increased the grievousness of exile: they knew how cruel was that servitude from which God had delivered their fathers. Their condition was worse than hundred deaths, when they were driven to their servile works; and also, when all justice was denied them, and when their offspring were from the womb put to death. As then they knew how cruelly their fathers had been treated by the Egyptians, the comparison he states more fully shewed what a dreadful punishment awaited them, for their redemption would be much more incredible.
We now perceive what the Prophet meant, as though he had said, “Ye know from what your fathers came forth, even from a brazen furnace, as it is said elsewhere, and as it were from the depth of death, so that that redemption ought to be remembered to the end of the world; but God will now cast you into an abyss deeper than that of Egypt from which your fathers were delivered; and when from thence he will redeem you, it will be a miracle far more wonderful to your posterity, so that it will almost extinguish, or at least obscure the memory of the first redemption: It will not then be said any more, Live does Jehovah, who brought the children of Israel from Egypt, for that Egyptian captivity was far more endurable than what this latter shall be; for ye shall be plunged as it were into the infernal regions; and when God shall rescue you from thence, it will be a work far more wonderful.” This I consider to be the real meaning of the Prophet.
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Yet his object was at the same time indirectly to give them some hope of their future redemption; but this he did not do avowedly. We ought then to regard what the Prophet had in view, even to strike the Jews, as I have said, with terror, so that they might know that there was an evil nigh at hand more grievous than what their fathers suffered in Egypt, who yet had been most cruelly oppressed. Then their former liberation would be rendered obscure and not celebrated as before, though it was nevertheless an evidence of the wonderful power of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 16:14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the…
Jer 16:14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Ver. 14. Therefore. behold.] Or, Notwithstanding, scil., these grievous threatenings and extreme desolations. Thus the Lord still remembereth his remnant, and the covenant made with them. Ministers also must comfort the precious, as well as threaten the vile and vicious. Evangelizatum, non maledictum missus es: laudo zelum, modo non desideretur mansuetudo, said Oecolampadius to Farellus in a certain epistle - Thou wert sent to preach gospel, and not law only; to pour off as well as wine into wounded consciences. I commend thy zeal, so it be tempered with "meekness of wisdom."
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That it shall no more be said,] i.e., Not so much be said: the lustre of this deliverance shall in some sort dim the lustre of that, but both must be perpetually celebrated.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Therefore; it were better translated Notwithstanding, for that is…
Therefore; it were better translated Notwithstanding, for that is manifestly the sense. God sweeteneth the dreadful threatenings preceding with a comfortable promise of their restoration.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain There is a mixture of mercy and judgment in…
There is a mixture of mercy and judgment in these verses, and it is hard to know to which to apply some of the passages here - they are so interwoven, and some seem to look as far forward as the times of the gospel.
I. God will certainly execute judgment upon them for their idolatries. Let them expect it, for the decree has gone forth. 1. God sees all their sins, though they commit them ever so secretly and palliate them ever so artfully (Jer 16:17): My eyes are upon all their ways. They have not their eye upon God, have no regard to him, stand in no awe of him; but he has his eye upon them; neither they nor their sins are hidden from his face, from his eyes. Note, None of the sins of sinners either can be concealed from God or shall be overlooked by him, Pro 5:21; Job 34:21; Psa 90:8. 2. God is highly displeased, particularly at their idolatries, Jer 16:18. As his omniscience convicts them, so his justice condemns them: I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, not double to what it deserves, but double to what they expect and to what I have done formerly. Or I will recompense it abundantly; they shall now pay for their long reprieve and the divine patience they have abused. The sin for which God has a controversy with them is their having defiled God's land with their idolatries, and not only alienated that which he was entitled to as his inheritance, but polluted that which he dwelt in with delight as his inheritance, and made it offensive to him with the carcases of their detestable things, the gods themselves which they worshipped, the images of which, though they were of gold and silver, were as loathsome to God as the putrid carcases of men or beasts are to us. Idols are carcases of detestable things. God hates them, and so should we. Or he might refer to the sacrifices which they offered to these idols, with which the land was filled; for they had high places in all the coasts and corners of it. This was the sin which, above any other, incensed God against them. 3. He will find out and raise up instruments of his wrath, that shall cast them out of their land, according to the sentence passed upon them (Jer 16:16): I will send for many fishers and many hunters - the Chaldean army, that shall have many ways of ensnaring and destroying them, by fraud as fishers, by force as hunters. They shall find them out wherever they are, and shall chase and closely pursue them, to their ruin. They shall discover them wherever they are hid, in hills or mountains, or holes of the rocks, and shall drive them out. God has various ways of prosecuting a people with his judgments that avoid the convictions of his word. He has men at command fit for his purpose; he has them within call, and can send for them when he pleases. 4. Their bondage in Babylon shall be sorer and much more grievous than that in Egypt, their task-masters more cruel, and their lives made more bitter. This is implied in the promise (Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15), that their deliverance out of Babylon shall be more illustrious in itself, and more welcome to them, than that out of Egypt. Their slavery in Egypt came upon them gradually and almost insensibly; that in Babylon came upon them at once and with all the aggravating circumstances of terror. In Egypt they had a Goshen of their own, but none such in Babylon. In Egypt they were used as servants that were useful, in Babylon as captives that had been hateful. 5. They shall be warned, and God shall be glorified, by these judgments brought upon them. These judgments have a voice, and speak aloud, (1.) Instruction to them. When God chastens them he teaches them. By this rod God expostulates with them (Jer 16:20): "Shall a man make gods to himself? Will any man be so perfectly void of all reason and consideration as to think that a god of his own making can stand him in any stead? Will you ever again be such fools as you have been, to make to yourselves gods which are no gods, when you have a God whom you may call your own, who made you, and is himself the true and living God?" (2.) Honour to God; for he will be known by the judgments which he executes. He will first recompense their iniquity (Jer 16:18), and then he will this once (Jer 16:21) - this once for all, not by many interruptions of their peace, but this one desolation and destruction of it. "For this once, and no more, I will cause them to know my hand, the length and weight of my punishing hand, how far it can reach and how deeply it can wound. And they shall know that my name is Jehovah, a God with whom there is no contending, who gives being to threatenings and puts life into them as well as promises."
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II. Yet he has mercy in store for them, intimations of which come in here for the encouragement of the prophet himself and of those few among them that tremble at God's word. It was said, with an air of severity (Jer 16:13), that God would banish them into a strange land; but, that thereby they might not be driven to despair, there follow immediately words of comfort.
1. The days will come, the joyful days, when the same hand that dispersed them shall gather them again, Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15. They are cast out, but they are not cast off, they are not cast away. They shall be brought up from the land of the north, the land of their captivity, where they are held with a strong hand, and from all the lands whither they are driven, and where they seemed to be lost and buried in the crowd; nay, I will bring them again into their own land, and settle them there. As he foregoing threatenings agreed with what was written in this law, so does this promise. Yet will I not cast them away, Lev 26:44. Thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, Deu 30:4. And the following words (Jer 16:16) may be understood as a promise; God will send for fishers and hunters, the Medes and Persians, that shall find them out in the countries where they are scattered, and send them back to their own land; or Zerubbabel, and others of their own nation, who should fish them out and hunt after them, to persuade them to return; or whatever instruments the Spirit of God made use of to stir up their spirits to go up, which at first they were backward to do. They began to nestle in Babylon; but, as an eagle stirs up her nest and flutters over her young, so God did by them, Zac 2:7.
2. Their deliverance out of Babylon should, upon some accounts, be more illustrious and memorable than their deliverance out of Egypt was. Both were the Lord's doing and marvellous in their eyes; both were proofs that the Lord liveth and were to be kept in everlasting remembrance, to his honour, as the living God; but the fresh mercy shall be so surprising, so welcome, that it shall even abolish the memory of the former. Not but that new mercies should put us in mind of old ones, and give us occasion to renew our thanksgivings for them; yet because we are tempted to think that the former days were better than these, and to ask, Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? as if God's arm had waxed short, and to cry up the age of miracles above the later ages, when mercies are wrought in a way of common providence, therefore we are allowed here comparatively to forget the bringing of Israel out of Egypt as a deliverance outdone by that out of Babylon. That was done by might and power, this by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, Zac 4:6. In this there was more of pardoning mercy (the most glorious branch of divine mercy) than in that; for their captivity in Babylon had more in it of the punishment of sin than their bondage in Egypt; and therefore that which comforts Zion in her deliverance out of Babylon is this, that her iniquity is pardoned, Isa 40:2. Note, God glorifies himself, and we must glorify him, in those mercies that have no miracles in them, as well as in those that have. And, though the favours of God to our fathers must not be forgotten, yet those to ourselves in our own day we must especially give thanks for.
3. Their deliverance out of captivity shall be accompanied with a blessed reformation, and they shall return effectually cured of their inclination to idolatry, which will complete their deliverance and make it a mercy indeed. They had defiled their own land with their detestable things, Jer 16:18. But, when they have smarted for so doing, they shall come and humble themselves before God, Jer 16:19-21. (1.) They shall be brought to acknowledge that their God only is God indeed, for he is a God in need - "My strength to support and comfort me, my fortress to protect and shelter me, and my refuge to whom I may flee in the day of affliction." Note, Need drives many to God who had set themselves at a distance from him. Those that slighted him in the day of their prosperity will be glad to flee to him in the day of their affliction. (2.) They shall be quickened to return to him by the conversion of the Gentiles: The Gentiles shall come to thee from the ends of the earth; and therefore shall not we come? Or, "The Jews, who had by their idolatries made themselves as Gentiles (so I rather understand it), shall come to thee by repentance and reformation, shall return to their duty and allegiance, even from the ends of the earth, from all the countries whither they were driven." The prophet comforts himself with the hope of this, and in a transport of joy returns to God the notice he had given him of it: "O Lord! my strength and my fortress, I am now easy, since thou hast given me a prospect of multitudes that shall come to thee from the ends of the earth, both of Jewish converts and of Gentile proselytes." Note, Those that are brought to God themselves cannot but rejoice greatly to see others coming to him, coming back to him. (3.) They shall acknowledge the folly of their ancestors, which it becomes them to do, when they were smarting for the sins of their ancestors: "Surely our fathers have inherited, not the satisfaction they promised themselves and their children, but lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. We are now sensible that our fathers were cheated in their idolatrous worship; it did not prove what it promised, and therefore what have we to do any more with it?" Note, It were well if the disappointment which some have met with in the service of sin, and the pernicious consequences of it to them, might prevail to deter others from treading in their steps. (4.) They shall reason themselves out of their idolatry; and that reformation is likely to be sincere and durable which results from a rational conviction of the gross absurdity there is in sin. They shall argue thus with themselves (and it is well argued), Should a man be such a fool, so perfectly void of the reason of a man, as to make gods to himself, the creatures of his own fancy, the work of his own hands, when they are really no gods? Jer 16:20. Can a man be so besotted, so perfectly lost to human understanding, as to expect any divine blessing or favour from that which pretends to no divinity but what it first received from him? (5.) They shall herein give honour to God, and make it to appear that they know both his hand in his providence and his name in his word, and that they are brought to know his name by what they are made to know of his hand, Jer 16:21. This once, now at length, they shall be made to know that which they would not be brought to know by all the pains the prophets took with them. Note, So stupid are we that nothing less than the mighty hand of divine grace, known experimentally, can make us know rightly the name of God as it is revealed to us.
4. Their deliverance out of captivity shall be a type and figure of this great salvation to be wrought out by the Messiah, who shall gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. And this is that which so far outshines the deliverance out of Egypt as even to eclipse the lustre of it, and make it even to be forgotten. To this some apply that of the many fishers and hunters, the preachers of the gospel, who were fishers of men, to enclose souls with the gospel net, to find them out in every mountain and hill, and secure them for Christ. Then the Gentiles came to God, some from the ends of the earth, and turned to the worship of him from the service of dumb idols.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But the Lord liveth,.... Or they shall swear by…
But the Lord liveth,.... Or they shall swear by the living Lord; or declare his power, as the Targum: "that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north"; that is, from Babylon, which lay north of Judea. The Jews (d) gather from hence, that the land of Israel was higher than all other lands, because it is said, that "brought up", or "caused to ascend"; as out of the land of Egypt as before, so out of all other lands. The meaning is, that the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity was a greater blessing and mercy than the deliverance out of Egypt; the hardships they endured in Babylon being in some respects greater than those they endured in Egypt; and especially the favour being recent, and fresh upon their mind, it would swallow up the remembrance of the former mercy; that would be comparatively forgotten, and not be so frequent and common in the mouths of men; so great would be the sense of this deliverance; wherefore this prophecy both expresses the grievousness of their captivity in Babylon, as exceeding their bondage in Egypt, and the greatness of their salvation from it; when they should be not only brought out of Babylon, but also
from all the lands whither he had driven them; from Egypt, Media, and Persia, and other places: or, "whither they were driven": by the kings of the earth, as Kimchi interprets it; though it is certain the Lord's hand was in it; it was according to his will, and by his providence, that they were scattered about among the nations:
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and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers; which had its accomplishment at their return from the Babylonish captivity; and will be more fully accomplished in the latter day, when the Jews shalt be converted, and return to their own land. Kimchi says this refers to the days of the Messiah, and the gathering of the captives; and some following passages manifestly belong to Gospel times. So Jarchi and Abarbinel understand this and the following of the days of the Messiah.
(d) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 87. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Notwithstanding - God sweetens the dreadful threatenings preceding, with…
Notwithstanding - God sweetens the dreadful threatenings preceding, with a comfortable promise of their restoration.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. The Lord liveth, that brought up] See…
Verse 14. The Lord liveth, that brought up] See Isa 43:18.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 16:14-15. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the…
Jer 16:14-15. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, &c. — The particle לכןseems to be very improperly rendered therefore here. It evidently sometimes signifies notwithstanding, or nevertheless; see note on Isa 30:18, and sometimes, yet surely, as Jer 5:2, of this prophecy; which sense agrees well with the scope of this place, and connects this verse with the words foregoing. And so it seems it should be rendered, Jer 30:16; Jer 32:36. Blaney, however, thinks that both in this verse and in all these passages, as also Jer 23:7, and Hos 2:14, it more properly signifies, after this. Accordingly, he translates this clause, after this, behold the days come, saith Jehovah, &c., observing, “that this notice of a future restoration was here inserted on purpose to guard the people, during their exile, from falling into idolatry through despair, by letting them see they had still a prospect of recovering God’s wonted favour and protection.” To which may be added, that he probably intended also, in thus sweetening the dreadful threatenings preceding with this comfortable promise, to prevent such as were pious among them, or should be brought to repentance by these terrible calamities, from being swallowed up of overmuch sorrow. It shall no more be said, &c. — The bringing of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage shall not be so much spoken of and celebrated as their deliverance from their captivity in Babylon. In fact, the latter was in several respects more remarkable than the former. Their deliverance from the power of the king of Egypt was extorted from him by terrifying miracles, which scarcely brought him to a compliance; but their deliverance from their captivity in Babylon was voluntarily granted them by Cyrus, a far greater king than the king of Egypt, and attended by a decree extremely honourable to them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain These two verses, by promising a deliverance greater than…
These two verses, by promising a deliverance greater than that from Egypt, implied also a chastisement more terrible than the bondage in the iron furnace there. Instead of their being placed in one land, there was to be a scattering into the north and many other countries, followed finally by a restoration.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Therefore--So severe shall be the Jews' bondage that their…
Therefore--So severe shall be the Jews' bondage that their deliverance from it shall be a greater benefit than that out of Egypt. The consolation is incidental here; the prominent thought is the severity of their punishment, so great that their rescue from it will be greater than that from Egypt [CALVIN]; so the context, Jer 16:13, Jer 16:17-18, proves (Jer 23:7-8; Isa 43:18).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14, 15. From the land of the north —…
14, 15. From the land of the north — A ray of light falls suddenly on the darkness, but only to make it more intense and awful. For the greatness of the deliverance measures the greatness of the calamity. A redemption which shall so rise up as to shut off from view even the birth deliverances of the nation implies an impending evil the memory of which would displace that of the Egyptian bondage.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14, 15. See introd. summary to section. These two…
14, 15. See introd. summary to section. These two verses, recurring as they do in a suitable context as Jer_23:7 f., must be considered to be here, at all events, an importation. “The context on both sides relates to Judah’s approaching exile, and Jer_16:16-18 continue the line of thought of Jer_16:10-13.” Dr. In LXX they are found, quite incongruously, after Jer_23:40 instead of in the earlier position in that ch.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14, 15) Behold, the days come . . .—Judgment…
(14, 15) Behold, the days come . . .—Judgment and mercy are tempered in the promise. Here the former is predominant. Afterwards, in Jer_23:5-8, where it is connected with the hope of a personal Deliverer, the latter gains the ascendant. As yet the main thought is that the Egyptian bondage shall be as a light thing compared with that which the people will endure in the “land of the north,” i.e., in that of the Chaldæans; so that, when they return, their minds will turn to their deliverance from it, rather than to the Exodus from Egypt, as an example of the mercy and might of Jehovah. Then once again, and in a yet higher degree, it should be seen that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 14, 15. The text of these verses occurs…
Vers. 14, 15. The text of these verses occurs in a more characteristic form and in a bettor connection in Jer_23:7, Jer_23:8. The connection here would be improved by in sorting the passage before Ver. 18; and as displacements are not unfamiliar phenomena in manuscripts, this would not be a violent act. The difficulty is not m the therefore introducing the promise, which frequently occurs in prophecies immediately after threatenings, (e.g. Isa_10:23, Isa_10:24) as if to say, "Things being in such a miserable plight, your God will interpose to help you;" but in the position of Ver. 18. How can the prophet say, "And first I will recompense their iniquity double," when Vers. 16, 17 contain a description of this very double recompense?
Vers. 14, 15. The greatest gratitude for the latest blessings.
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The circumstances of the Jews are illustrative of those of all of us in the fact that we all have occasion to feel most thankful for the most recent gifts of God"s goodness. The reasons for this are manifold, viz.
I THE LATEST BLESSINGS ARE MOST THOROUGHLY APPRECIATED. A present impression is stronger than a memory. Even if the good things we are now enjoying are not equal to those we formerly possessed, the immediate good we derive from them is greater than that which we derive from a mere recollection of better times. Thanksgiving tends to become formal and conventional the empty repetition of phrases which had a deep signification when they were the spontaneous response of the soul to fresh tokens of God"s love, but which have become almost meaningless after the occasion for them has fallen into the past. To be real, gratitude must refer to the real mercies which we are now enjoying.
II THE LATEST BLESSINGS ARE ADDITIONAL PROOFS OF THE GOODNESS OF GOD. We should "sing a new song" as we see new manifestations of Divine love. We have more to be thankful for when we have received two gifts than we had when we were only possessors of one of them. God is constantly adding to the vast pile of his favors to us. The latest stands highest, is so to speak, mounted on all that precede; and therefore this calls for the strongest expression of gratitude. Inasmuch as the longer we live the more we have to be thankful for, so also the more deeply should our hearts be stirred with gratitude. The restoration of the Jews is an additional mercy following that of the Exodus. One such stupendous deliverance should call forth never-failing songs of praise, but a second should intensify the volume of those songs.
III THE LATEST BLESSINGS ARE ALSO THE GREATEST. The restoration is referred to as containing grander blessings than those of the Exodus. Gratitude should be proportionate to favors. This is often not the case, because the best things are least appreciated. Their merits are not superficial nor discernible at first. The spiritual blessings are the highest; yet to unspiritual men they are the least valued. Thus the chief elements of the Messianic promises of restoration were spiritual, and therefore not so acceptable to the mass of the people as the material blessings promised to the Jews in the first possession of the "land flowing with milk and honey." We are too ready to complain of the present and regret the lost past, ungratefully selecting the troubles of our own time for notice and ignoring its bright features, while we forget the hardships of the past and remember only its last pleasant features, like the Jews, who forgot the rigors of the slavery from which they had escaped, but remembered with regret the flesh-pots of Egypt. (Exo_16:3) The Bible favors no sentimental regrets for "the good old times;" it teaches us that God"s goodness is increasingly manifest. The latter times are better than the former, the Gospel age than the Old Testament era, the later years of Christendom than the earlier. The best is not yet revealed. The songs of the future should be sweeter than those of the past, since God has greater mercies in store for us than any we have yet enjoyed. Already God has favored us more highly than our fathers. We need not search the musty annals of antiquity for proofs of the goodness of God. This is a present goodness, and the richest fruits of it are the latest.
IV THE LATEST BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN IN SPITE OF OUR GREATEST ILL DESERT. We have added to the tale of our sins while God has been adding to the tale of his mercies. As his goodness has increased with many, their sin has also increased. The Egyptian bondage overtook the innocent; the Babylonian captivity was a punishment to the guilty. Deliverance from the latter was an act of forgiving mercy. It was a proof of God"s forbearance that he continued to be gracious, and of his pardoning love that he forgave the sinful people. Our greatest reason for praise is in God"s latest mercy of redemption, restoring us after our falls into sin.
Vers. 14, 15. The old deliverance forgotten in the new.
I THE GREATER AND MORE INVETERATE THE TRANSGRESSION, THE GREATER WILL BE THE PUNISHMENT. It was not to be supposed that the past judgments of God, however great, were all that he could or would do. He has many ways of bringing transgressors to their senses; and it is impossible to conceive a limit to his power of imposing penalty. His stern, uncompromising attitude to sin has been witnessed to by many an awful judgment and destruction, even where previous calamities might seem to have exhausted his anger or his invention.
II THE PROMISE OF GOD APPEARS SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENTS OF HIS JUDGMENTS. Even in the way in which it is threatened there is encouragement and hope. It will be an awful experience, but God will redeem his people. So in the beginning of the curse our first parents received an anticipatory evangel. The failures of God"s people in social and political experiment were the occasion of the most glorious predictions of Messianic times. This shows the real purpose of God"s threatenings. They are intended to produce repentance, and yet there is reality enough in them if that repentance be not forthcoming. Fear is appealed to, but freedom of choice is preserved, and spiritual power called into responsible action.
III THE MERCIFUL POWER OF GOD WILL BE MORE GLORIOUSLY MANIFESTED IN EVERY NEW CALAMITY WHICH HIS PEOPLE BRING UPON THEMSELVES. The captivity of which the prophet speaks will but give occasion for a grand deliverance, in comparison with which the Exodus from Egypt will sink into insignificance. The judgments of God, however great they may appear, are limited with the strictest exactness, and are within his control. There is reason, therefore, to expect his interference whenever the folly or unbelief of his people imperils his cause. He will preserve a people to praise him, and raise up a generation to call him blessed. So with the backslider from gospel privileges and obligations. He whom Christ has washed in his blood will not be suffered wholly to pass into spiritual death. Grander exhibitions of the Divine grace and power will be afforded. The good Shepherd will go over the dark mountains to recover the wanderer. Those who have been entangled again in the yoke of bondage will be redelivered if they but turn with new obedience and faith to their Savior. They will be saved, if" as by fire. M.
Vers. 14, 15. Great mercies the forerunners of greater still.
At first reading of these verses their truth is hardly apparent to the ordinary reader of the Bible. The deliverance from Egypt was so magnificent an event, accompanied by such manifestations of the Divine glory, that the quiet return of but a comparatively few of the exiles from Babylon pales into insignificance. Hence it is the latter event that seems not worthy to be spoken of in comparison with the former, and not the former in comparison with the latter. The second temple was so greatly inferior to the first that old men who had seen the first wept when they thought of those glories which to the second were quite unattainable; and so the return from Babylon seems to fall far short in glory of the redemption from Egypt. But these verses affirm that the glory of the return from Babylon was to be far the greater. Now, how could this be? It may be said:
1. That in this return there was a display of the moral power of God rather than his physical might. That which was needed to bring this about was the exercise of the Divine power on men"s hearts rather than any material force. It was by mighty miracles that Israel was brought out of Egypt; it was by the action of God"s Spirit on his people"s hearts that those who returned from Babylon were induced so to do. For their lot was happy, prosperous, peaceful, so far as this world was concerned. The Books of Esther, Nehemiah, and Daniel show this. Hence it was a strong religious yearning that led to the return of those who returned. The mass of the nation were content to remain, and did remain, and formed "those of the Dispersion," of whom in so many ways we hear in after ages. Hence, as Zechariah says, (Zec_4:6) it was "not by might, nor by power, but," etc.
2. Then, also, in this return there was a display of Gods pardoning love. Israel was a forgiven people. They had received at the Lord"s hand double for all their sins. But God is ever more glorified in the display of pardoning love than in any manifestations of mere power.
3. And there was in it such a fulfillment of prophecy, such a demonstration of the overruling power of God in and through all the movements of different nations and ages, as proclaimed God"s glory more than power alone could ever do. For these reasons the return of the exiles was a more glorious event than the deliverance from Egypt.
4. And this will be seen yet more if we take the verses as pointing on to the ultimate restoration of Israel. Zechariah (Zec 13 and Zec 14) speaks of this, as do many other Scriptures. It was the "hope of Israel" of which Paul told, and he places it in connection with the second advent and the resurrection.
5. And still more if we understand by Israel the spiritual Israel, and regard all these promises as predicting the triumph of the Church. Thus regarded, the deliverance from Egypt was by comparison a very little thing. But when that great triumph comes, where shall we be? God grant that it be amongst those whom on that day he will confess before his Father and the holy angels. But this notable instance in which past mercies promise greater ones to come is only one out of many more. Apply the principle declared
I TO THE CHURCH AT LARGE. What mercies in the past, what deliverances, the Church has enjoyed: from persecutors, "grievous wolves" superstition, infidelity, etc.! But all these are to be regarded as pledges of yet greater ones when they shall be needed.
II TO INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THAT CHURCH. Who of us cannot recount, in the course of our lives, temporal deliverances: from sickness, poverty, perplexity, sorrow, death, etc.? We are to take them all as reasons to anticipate greater things still, more to follow. And especially spiritual deliverances: from living on in disregard of God, from the power of the world, temptation, sorrow. But there are greater ones still. The Church in its full redemption shall prove the truth of this, and so shall separate members of the Church. All shall confess that the Lord hath "kept the good wine until now.
CONCLUSION.
1. Be not dismayed at the troubles of the present; do not think God"s grace is exhausted.
2. See to it that you share in the first deliverance that from guilt and sin. Unless we have known the first, we cannot know the second and greater that final deliverance from all guilt, all sin, all sorrow, all death, in the presence of God forever. C.
Vers. 14, 15. Two great recollections.
Here once again we come upon the evangelical element in Jeremiah"s prophecies; and once again we have to notice that, when this element does appear, it makes up for its infrequency by the brilliance and emphasis of the prediction. The prophet has just been compelled to speak of domestic suffering, national exile, and the withdrawal for a season of Divine favor. These necessary judgments must be magnified and stated in all their severity; not one of them can be omitted; the cup poured out by Jehovah must be drunk to its last drop. But when all these experiences are over, terrible and yet full of discipline, a glorious future remains. The manner of the prophecy is full of encouragement, and not least in this, that there is such a sudden turning from the deepest darkness to the brightness of noon. We have to consider
I THE INDICATION OF WHAT HAD BEES ONE OF THE MOST CUSTOMARY FORMS OF OATH HITHERTO. On important occasions, when a promise had to be made or an assertion verified, it was the Israelite"s habit to make a solemn appeal to the living Jehovah. "As Jehovah liveth" was the general formula, to be combined with more particular references, agreeing with the occasion, as to what this living Jehovah had done in the past. The reference might be to something that had happened in the experience of the individual, and probably still more frequently to greater events in the larger experience of the nation. To give such an appeal all possible solemnity it was needful to think of Jehovah in the most magnifying way; and what could magnify him more than a recollection of the great deliverance from Egypt, which he had wrought out for Israel? That deliverance gave Israel its great chance of service and glory as the people of God. Up to that time a nation of helpless slaves and sufferers helpless, that is, for anything they could do they nevertheless became in a very few days a nation of free men, travelling towards a land of their own. And all this was by direct Divine intervention; and not only was it a great deliverance in itself, but all the circumstances made it doubly memorable. The narrative of what had been done needed no embellishments to grave it indelibly on the memory of each generation. Moreover, Jehovah himself had made provision for the continued recollection of the deliverance by the institution of the Passover. tie wished it to be remembered. We may well conclude that such a form of oath as appealed to him in his character as the Deliverer of Israel from Egyptian bondage, was peculiarly agreeable; it being always presumed, of course, that the oath was uttered sincerely.
II THE INDICATION OF HOW THIS VENERATED OATH WAS TO BE SUPERSEDED. Probably at the time of the deliverance from Egypt many Israelites may have said to themselves, "Nothing can ever happen in the history of our nation more memorable than this. Whatever Our vicissitudes, whatever our perils, we cannot be more in need of Jehovah"s intervention than we have lately been." But when either nations or individuals speak thus, it is in utter ignorance of how deep and terrible human need may become. There was a worse bondage than that of Egypt; it came with no external inconveniences, it was invisible to the outward eye, and, worst of all, it was heedlessly accepted by the bondman himself. The Israelites had fallen into the bodily slavery of Egypt by no fault of their own; there was no point at which it was possible for them to stop the process. But the spiritual enslavement to idols and to every sort of consequent evil came by their own act. They had stooped to the yoke. It is a greater thing that has to be done now, so far as the result to the Israelite is concerned, than was done when he was taken out of Egypt. Then he was delivered from Pharaoh and his host a simple matter comparatively, for the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea did all that needed to be done. But now the Israelite has to be delivered from himself. There has to be some sort of change within him, and this we may well believe was brought about by the exile in Babylon. It is not enough to say that, after a time of exile, God brought them back to Jerusalem. The mere transport from one place to another would have been no whit more memorable than the deliverance from Egypt. Surely there must have been a state of heart in the returning generation which made them very different from the generation going away into captivity seventy years before. That they came back to a true, spiritual, steadfast service of Jehovah is not to be supposed; but neither would they come back to the old idolatry. The sin into which they were hereafter to fail was a formal service of the true God, mere ceremonialism and Pharisaism, not apostasy to idols. The great effect of the exile in Babylon was deliverance from formal idolatry, evidently a matter to be more celebrated than the deliverance, centuries before, from bondage in Egypt. But in the future beyond there was something greater still to be looked for. There was a possibility of yet another form of oath, if Jesus had not recommended his disciples to dispense with all additions to the simple, veracious "Yes" and "No." Israel needed to be delivered, not only from formal connection with false gods, but from a mere formal connection with the true God. The Lord lives, who brought Israel out of Egypt. The Lord lives, who further delivered Israel from temptation to fabricate idols and grovel before them in licentiousness and cruelty. And we may also add that the Lord lives, who makes individuals of every nation his children by the accepted indwelling of his Spirit; makes them partakers of the Divine nature, with all the glorious consequences thereof. Further, we may say that Jesus lives, who made the blind to see and who raised the dead. But it is a still greater thing to say, Jesus lives, who died to restore men to his Father, and rose again to bring life and immortality to light. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I will bring them again into their land that…
Jer_16:14-15
I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
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Larger providences
Thus epochs are made; thus new dates are introduced into human history; thus the less is merged in the greater; the little judgment is lost in the great judgment, and the mercy that once appeared to be so great seems to be quite small compared with the greater mercy that has healed and blessed our life. This is the music, and this is the meaning of the passage. What is experience worth? It is worth exactly what we make of it; it will not follow us, and insist upon being looked at and estimated and applied; it is, so to say, either a negative or a positive possession; we can make it either, according to the exercise of our will and inclination. How often we vow not to forget our experience; yet it is stolen from us in the night time, and we awake in the morning empty-handed, empty-minded, beggared to the uttermost point of destitution. We write our vows in water; who can make any impression on the ocean? whole fleets have passed over the sea, not a track is left behind where the waves were sundered; they roll together again, as if with emulous energy they seek to obliterate the transient mark of the intrusive ships. It is so with ourselves. Let no man think he has sounded the whole depth of Gods providence in this matter of punishment or of benediction and blessing. History has recorded nothing yet; history is getting its pen ready for the real registration of Divine ministry in human affairs. No judgment has yet befallen the world worth naming, compared with the judgment that may at any moment be revealed. Do not mock God; do not defy Him or tempt Him: what you have had is but the sting of a whip; He could smite you with a thong of scorpions. Rather say, God pity us, God spare us; remember that we are but dust; a wind that cometh for a little time and then passeth away: smite us not in Thine hot anger, O loving One; in wrath remember mercy. We do not know what plagues God could send upon the earth. Be not presumptuous against the Divine government; do not say, God cannot do this, or send down that judgment; if He forbear, it is because His mercy restrains, not because His judgment is impotent. By a natural accommodation of the passage, we may be led into quite another line of thinking and illustration: Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said . . . but; and between these words we may put in our own experience, and our own commentaries upon life and destiny. Thus: Behold, the days come that it shall no more be said that we have a Creator, but we have a Redeemer. Men shall not talk about creation. There are some men who are content to talk about one infinitesimal speck of creation; they have not learned the higher philosophy, the fuller wisdom, the riper, vaster law. They are gathering what they can with their hands; they are first the admirers, secondly the devotees, and thirdly the victims of the microscope. They have made an idol of that piece of glazed brass; they who mock the heathen for worshipping ivory and stone and tree and sun, may perhaps be creating a little idol of their own. Behold, the days come when men shall no longer talk about the body, but about the soul. It is time we had done with physiology. If we have not mastered the body, what poor scholars we have been! And yet how far men are from having mastered it in the sense of being able to heal it! Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when men shall no more talk about human deliverance, or deliverance from human extremity, but they shall talk about liberation from diabolic captivity; they shall say they have been loosed from their sins, they have been disimprisoned and set at liberty as to the dominion of their passions and desires and appetences; they shall speak about the higher emancipation, and everywhere men shall be eloquent about the Deliverer who drew the soul from Egyptian and Chaldean tyranny, and gave it liberty and joy in the Holy Ghost. The whole subject of human speech shall be changed; men shall not talk about Egypt, but about Canaan; they shall not talk about the law, but about the higher law; they shall not talk about the outward, but about the inward. Thus dates are introduced into human history. The time will come when men will not speak about being born, but about being born again. Your birthday was your deathday,--or only the other aspect of it. Date your born-again day from the beginning, the morning of your immortality. Drop the lower theme, seize the higher; dismiss the noise, and entreat the music to take full possession of your nature. Behold, the day is come, saith the Lord, when men shall no longer talk about prayer, but about praise. The old prayer days will be over; they were needful as part of our experience and education, but the time will come when prayer will be lost in praise; the time will come when work will be so easy as to have in it the throb and joy of music; the time will come when it will be easy to live, for life will carry no burden, and know the strain of no care; the days of anxiety will be ended, solicitude will be a forgotten word, and the companionship of God and His angels shall constitute our heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Gods care over His people
A crew of explorers penetrate far within the Arctic circles in search of other expeditions that had gone before them--gone and never returned. Failing to find the missing men, and yet unwilling to abandon hope, they leave supplies of food carefully covered with stones, on some prominent headlands, with the necessary intimations graven for safety on plates of brass. If the original adventurers survive, and on their homeward journey, faint, yet pursuing, fall in with these treasures, at once hidden and revealed, the food, when found, will seem to those famished men the smaller blessing. The proof which the food supplies that their country cares for them is sweeter than the food. So the proof that God cares for us is placed beyond a doubt; the unspeakable gift of His Son to be our Saviour should melt any dark suspicion to the contrary from our hearts. (W. Arnot.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 The word "behold" here alerts us to pay attention…
behold
The word "behold" here alerts us to pay attention to the surprising information that follows.
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this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
when it will no longer be said
This can be stated in active form. AT: "when people will no longer say" (See: Active or Passive)
As Yahweh lives
"As surely as Yahweh is alive." The people use this expression to show that what they say next is certainly true. This is a way of making a solemn promise. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 4:2. AT: "I solemnly swear" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Yahweh
declare
life
Israel
Egypt
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 16:14-18 Jeremiah’s message was two-pronged: Judgment does not erase…
16:14-18 Jeremiah’s message was two-pronged: Judgment does not erase eventual hope (16:14-15), but neither does hope cancel out the certainty of judgment (16:16-18).
16:14-15 The Lord planned to bring his people back from exile to the Promised Land, an event that would be on par with the exodus from Egypt (see Ezra 1–6). The Exodus was the primary event in Israel’s history that had demonstrated the reality and power of the one true God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.