The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.
Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear), saying, “Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more. Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.”
“Yet you have not listened to me,” says Yahweh; “that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”
Therefore Yahweh of Armies says: “Because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 his prophecy no doubt preceded the vision which we…
his prophecy no doubt preceded the vision which we have just explained, and which had just been presented to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim died, and when Zedekiah reigned in the place of Jeconiah; who, being the last king, was substituted for his nephew Jeconiah. But related now is the prophecy which Jeremiah was bidden to proclaim in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; and he reigned, as we shall hereafter see, eleven years. We hence conclude that his book is composed of various addresses, but that the order of time has not always been preserved. Now the sum of the whole is, that when God found that the people could not be amended and restored to a right mind by any warnings, he denounced final ruin both on the Jews and on all the neighboring nations: but why he included the heathens we shall hereafter see.
He then says, that this prophecy was committed to him in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; and he adds, that the same year was the first of King Nebuchadnezar This seems inconsistent with other places, where the third of Jehoiakim is mentioned for the fourth year; and hence a long time is allotted for the first year of Nebuchadnezar. But a solution of this is not difficult, if we consider that Nebuchadnezar suddenly returned into Chaldea to settle his affairs at home, when the report of his father’s death was brought to him; for he feared, lest in his absence a tumult should arise, as it often happened. He was therefore anxious to secure his own affairs; and having settled things at home, he brought Jehoiakim into subjection, and in the fourth year of his reign he compelled him to open his treasures, and also led away captive those whom he wished. And it was at this time that Daniel and his companions were led away into exile, and the precious vessels of the Temple were removed. As to the first year of Nebuchadnezar’s reign, he reigned first with his father; and then when he reigned alone, the beginning of a new reign is justly mentioned as the first year. Though then he was made king, yet as he did not exercise the chief power until his father’s death, it was not until that event that he was really king; this is the reason why mention is made of his first year. But we ought especially to notice what the Prophet says, — that the word came to him, not for his own sake, but that he might be the public herald of God. It now follows, —
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 9, 10 That is, in the third year accomplished and in…
That is, in the third year accomplished and in the beginning of the fourth: for though Nebuchadnezzar began to reign in the end of the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign, yet that year is not here counted, because it was almost expired, Dan. 1:1.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–11 Jer 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning…
Jer 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that [was] the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
Ver. 1. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim.] See on Jer 1:2. Above twenty years had Jeremiah spent his worthy pains upon them, illi vero ne teruntio quidem meliores facti sunt, but they were nothing the better; here, therefore, is their doom most deservedly denounced.
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That was the first year.] This first year of Nebuchadnezzar, reigning alone after his father’s death, fell out part of Jehoiakim’s third, and part of the fourth. {Dan 1:1}
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 On vv1–11 The fourth year of Jehoiakim was seven years and…
The fourth year of Jehoiakim was seven years and odd months before Jeconiah or Jehoiachin his son was carried into captivity, as appears from 2Ki 23:36; 24:8,15, and eighteen years before the taking of the city, and the more general captivity; which argueth that this prophecy is misplaced, and set after the former, whereas in order of time it was sixteen or seventeen years before it. This is said to be
the first year of Nebuchadrezzar (called by Ptolemy, Nabopolassar). It is said, Dan 1:1, that this Nebuchadrezzar came up in the third year of Jehoiakim; to which is answered, that the first year of Nebuchadrezzar’s reign must be understood of his absolute reign, which concurred partly with the third, partly with the fourth year of Jehoiakim; they say he was before a sharer in the kingly government with his father, but this was the first year that he had the name of king entirely given unto him.
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 On vv1, 8 We have here a message from God concerning all…
We have here a message from God concerning all the people of Judah (Jer 25:1), which Jeremiah delivered, in his name, unto all the people of Judah, Jer 25:2. Note, That which is of universal concern ought to be of universal cognizance. It is fit that the word which concerns all the people, as the word of God does, the word of the gospel particularly, should be divulged to all in general, and, as far as may be, addressed to each in particular. Jeremiah had been sent to the house of the king (Jer 22:1), and he took courage to deliver his message to them, probably when they had all come up to Jerusalem to worship at one of the solemn feasts; then he had them together, and it was to be hoped then, if ever, they would be well disposed to hear counsel and receive instruction.
This prophecy is dated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim and the first of Nebuchadrezzar. It was in the latter end of Jehoiakim's third year that Nebuchadrezzar began to reign by himself alone (having reigned some time before in conjunction with his father), as appears, Dan 1:1. But Jehoiakim's fourth year was begun before Nebuchadrezzar's first was completed. Now that that active, daring, martial prince began to set up for the world's master, God, by his prophet, gives notice that he is his servant, and intimates what work he intends to employ him in, that his growing greatness, which was so formidable to the nations, might not be construed as any reflection upon the power and providence of God in the government of the world. Nebuchadrezzar should not bid so fair for universal monarchy (I should have said universal tyranny) but that God had purposes of his own to serve by him, in the execution of which the world shall see the meaning of God's permitting and ordering a thing that seemed such a reflection on his sovereignty and goodness.
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Now in this message we may observe the great pains that had been taken with the people to bring them to repentance, which they are here put in mind of, as an aggravation of their sin and a justification of God in his proceedings against them.
I. Jeremiah, for his part, had been a constant preacher among them twenty-three years; he began in the thirteenth year of Josiah, who reigned thirty-one years, so that he prophesied about eighteen or nineteen years in his reign, then in the reign of Jehoahaz, and now four years of Jehoiakim's reign. Note, God keeps an account, whether we do or no, how long we have enjoyed the means of grace; and the longer we have enjoyed them the heavier will our account be if we have not improved them. These three years (these three and twenty years) have I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree. All this while, 1. God had been constant in sending messages to them, as there was occasion for them: "From that time to this very day the word of the Lord has come into me, for your use." Though they had the substance of the warning sent them already in the books of Moses, yet, because those were not duly regarded and applied, God sent to enforce them and make them more particular, that they might be without excuse. Thus God's Spirit was striving with them, as with the old world, Gen 6:3. 2. Jeremiah had been faithful and industrious in delivering those messages. He could appeal to themselves, as well as to God and his own conscience, concerning this: I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking. He had declared to them the whole counsel of God; he had taken a great deal of care and pains to discharge his thrust in such a manner as might be most likely to win and work upon them. What men are solicitous about and intent upon they rise up early to prosecute. It intimates that his head was so full of thoughts about it, and his heart so intent upon doing good, that it broke his sleep, and made him get up betimes to project which way he might take that would be most likely to do them good. He rose early, both because he would lose no time and because he would lay hold on and improve the best time to work upon them, when, if ever, they were sober and sedate. Christ came early in the morning to preach in the temple, and the people as early to hear him, Luk 21:38. Morning lectures have their advantages. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning.
II. Besides him, God had sent them other prophets, on the same errand, Jer 25:4. Of the writing prophets Micah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, were a little before him, and Zephaniah contemporary with him. But, besides those, there were many other of God's servants the prophets who preached awakening sermons, which were never published. And here God himself is said to rise early and send them, intimating how much his heart also was upon it, that this people should turn and live, and not go on and die, Eze 33:11.
III. All the messages sent them were to the purpose, and much to the same purport, Jer 25:5, Jer 25:6. 1. They all told them of their faults, their evil way, and the evil of their doings. Those were not of God's sending who flattered them as if there were nothing amiss among them. 2. They all reproved them particularly for their idolatry, as a sin that was in a special manner provoking to God, their going after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, gods that were the work of their own hands. 3. They all called on them to repent of their sins and to reform their lives. This was the burden of every song, Turn you now every one from his evil way. Note, Personal and particular reformation must be insisted on as necessary to a national deliverance: every one must turn from his own evil way. The street will not be clean unless every one sweep before his own door. 4. They all assured them that, if they did so, it would certainly be the lengthening out of their tranquillity. The mercies they enjoyed should be continued to them: "You shall dwell in the land, dwell at ease, dwell in peace, in this good land, which the Lord has given you and your fathers. Nothing but sin will turn you out of it, and that shall not if you turn from it." The judgments they feared should be prevented: Provoke me not, and I will do you no hurt. Note, We should never receive from God the evil punishment if we did not provoke him by the evil of sin. God deals fairly with us, never corrects his children without cause, nor causes grief to us unless we give offence to him.
IV. Yet all was to no purpose. They were not wrought upon to take the right and only method to turn away the wrath of God. Jeremiah was a very lively affectionate preacher, yet they hearkened not to him, Jer 25:3. The other prophets dealt faithfully with them, but neither did they hearken to them, nor incline their ear, Jer 25:4. That very particular sin which they were told, of all others, was most offensive to God, and made them obnoxious to his justice, they wilfully persisted in: You provoke me with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Note, What is a provocation to God will prove, in the end, hurt to ourselves, and we must bear the blame of it. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself.
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 On vv1–11 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the…
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah,.... Not only in the city of Jerusalem, but in the whole land of Judea. This prophecy concerns them all; their repentance and reformation, to which they are exhorted; or their invasion, desolation, and captivity, with which they are threatened. Before the prophet was sent to the king of Judah only, Jer 22:1; now to all the people:
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; in the latter part of the third, and beginning of the fourth year of his reign; see Dan 1:1;
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this was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon: in which he began to reign with his father, for he reigned two years with him; who is the Nabopolassar of Ptolemy. This was in the year of the world 3397, and before Christ 607, according to Bishop Usher (f).
(f) Annales Vet. Test. p. 119.
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 On vv1, 9, 10 Their disobedience to the prophets reproved, ver. 1-7. The…
Their disobedience to the prophets reproved, ver. 1-7. The seventy years of captivity foretold, ver. 8-11. and after that the destruction of Babylon, ver. 12-14. By a cup of wine is foreshewn the destruction of all nations, ver. 15-33. The howling of the shepherds, ver. 34-38.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 9, 10, 11 This chapter contains a summary of the judgments denounced…
CHAPTER XXV
This chapter contains a summary of the judgments denounced by
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Jeremiah against Judah, Babylon, and many other nations. It
begins with reproving the Jews for disobeying the calls of God
to repentance, 1-7;
on which account their captivity, with that of other
neighbouring nations, during seventy years, is foretold, 8-11.
At the expiration of that period, (computing from the invasion
of Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, to the
famous edict of the first year of Cyrus,) an end was to be put
to the Babylonian empire, 12-14.
All this is again declared by the emblem of that cup of wrath
which the prophet, as it should seem in a vision, tendered
to all the nations which he enumerates, 15-29.
And for farther confirmation, it is a third time repeated in a
very beautiful and elevated strain of poetry, 30-38.
The talent of diversifying the ideas, images, and language,
even when the subject is the same, or nearly so, appears no
where in such perfection as among the sacred poets.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXV
Verse 1. The word that came to Jeremiah - to the fourth year] This prophecy, we see, was delivered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the chapter that contains it is utterly out of its place. It should be between chapters xxxv. (Jer 35) and xxxvi (Jer 36).
The defeat of the Egyptians by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish, and the subsequent taking of Jerusalem, occurred in this year, viz., the fourth year of Jehoiakim.
The first year of Nebuchadrezzar] This king was associated with his father two years before the death of the latter. The Jews reckon his reign from this time, and this was the first of those two years; but the Chaldeans date the commencement of his reign two years later, viz., at the death of his father.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 11 Jer 25:1. The word that came to Jeremiah in…
Jer 25:1. The word that came to Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim — It is probable this revelation was made to the prophet in the early part of that year; for the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, and the subsequent taking of Jerusalem, are both placed in the same year: but from Jer 25:9 it appears that Nebuchadnezzar had but just entered upon his expedition when the Lord sent this word to Jeremiah, and had not yet carried into execution any of those designs for which God there says he would take and send him. The reader will observe, the fourth year of Jehoiakim was seven years and some months before Jeconiah was carried into captivity, as appears from 2Ki 23:36; 2Ki 24:8-15, and eighteen years before the taking of the city and the more general captivity; which shows that this prophecy was delivered at least six or seven years before that in the preceding chapter. That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar — That is, according to the Jewish mode of computing his reign, from the time of his being associated with his father in the empire before he set out on his Syrian expedition. But the Babylonians do not reckon his reign to have begun till two years after, upon his father’s death.
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 On vv1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11 The fourth year - See Dan 1:1 note. This…
The fourth year - See Dan 1:1 note. This invasion of Judaea, in which Daniel was carried captive to Babylon, was according to the date of the years the fourth, but according to the actual time the third, year of the Jewish king. Nebuchadnezzar was not yet fully king, but associated with his father Nabopalassar.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11 Babylon, when he was associated by Nabopolassar, three years…
Babylon, when he was associated by Nabopolassar, three years before his death, the year of the world 3397. This year Joakim was taken to be conducted to Babylon, though he was afterwards permitted to remain on very hard conditions, while the sacred vessels, Daniel, &c., were taken away, and the 70 years of captivity commenced. They ended in the first of Cyrus, the year 3468. (Usher) --- This chapter should be placed before the 24th and after the 26th. (Calmet) --- The prophets did not observe the order of time, chap. xxi. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 (Chap. 25)
9. NINTH DISCOURSE
(Chap. 25)
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With Three Historical Appendices ( chaps. 26–29)
The superscription, Jer_25:1, to which a similar one follows first in Jer_30:1, shows that the compiler of the book regarded chh. 25–29 as a connected group. The motive of this arrangement may be recognized. First, the connection of Jeremiah 27 with Jeremiah 25. is perfectly clear, the figurative discourse of the cup of wrath, which Jeremiah is to offer the heathen nations (Jer_25:15 sqq.), having a practical commentary in the yokes, which, according to Jer_27:2-12, the prophet is to send to those nations. Ch. 28 is however based directly on. Jeremiah 27, since here the false prophet Hananiah breaks the yoke, which Jeremiah, according to Jeremiah 27, had hung upon his neck, and Jeremiah replaces this wooden yoke by an iron one. In subject then these three chapters are closely connected. Ch. 29, moreover, stands in intimate topical connection with Jeremiah 27, 28, since it is directed against the false prophets, who contradicted the prophecy of Jeremiah with respect to their position in Babylon. Though Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 27-29 belong to very different periods (on which point see the particular chapters), yet their connection in fact is beyond a doubt. Ch. 26 is not indeed related to Jeremiah 25 topically, but it is chronologically, for it belongs to the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. This chapter is, however, intimately connected with the following, in that it likewise has for its subject the conflict of the true prophet with the false prophets, and with the people as favoring the latter (comp. Jer_26:7-8; Jer_26:11; Jer_26:16 with Jer_27:9; Jer_27:14; Jer_27:16). As Jeremiah 26 is thus related in subject to chh. 27-29, and in date to Jeremiah 25, it stands between them. Comp. my art on Jeremiah in Herzog, Real-Enc., VI., S. 486, 7.—The position of the group, chh. 25–29, here seems to be due primarily to chronological reasons. Ch. 25, the basis of the section, belongs to the 4th year of Jehoiakim. The main trunk of the preceding section, chh. 21–24., belongs to the beginning of the reign of this king, prior to his fourth year (comp. Introd. to the Eighth Discourse). All the portions following Jeremiah 29, belong mainly to the times of Zedekiah, or to the later period of Jehoiakim’s reign (comp. Jeremiah 36). Accordingly, Jeremiah 25. with its appendix is in the right place. It concurs with this, though without design, that with respect to its subject also this chapter is rightly placed; for its position in the middle of the book corresponds exactly to the central significance, which pertains to it in the collection of Jeremiah’s prophecies.
We first then consider Jeremiah 25, the central prophecy, by itself. It may be divided into three sections:—
1. Jer_25:1-11.—The Judgment on Judah.
2. Jer_25:12-29.—The Judgment on Judah and the kingdoms of the world.
3. Jer_25:30-38.—The Judgment of the world.
a. the central prophecy and programme (chap.25)
1. THE JUDGMENT ON JUDAH
Jer_25:1-11
1The word which came to 1Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the first year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that [the same] was the first 2year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; the which Jeremiah the prophet spake 3unto all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, this2is the three and twentieth year [these 23 years], the word of the Lord [Jehovah] hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early3and speaking, 4but ye have not hearkened. And the Lord [Jehovah] hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, 5nor inclined your ear to hear. They said [saying], Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and [ye shall] dwell4in the land that the Lord [Jehovah] hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever 6and ever: And go not after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. 7Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord [Jehovah]; that ye might 8provoke me to anger5with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth]: Because ye have not heard my 9words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord [Jehovah] and [even to]6Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these7nations round about, and will utterly destroy them,8and make them an 10astonishment and an hissing and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. 11And this whole land shall become a desolation, and an astonishment;9and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the first of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Jer_25:1), Jeremiah addresses to the whole of Judah and Jerusalem a prophecy of the following import (Jer_25:2): After Jeremiah had spoken to the people for 23 years, from the 13th year of king Josiah (Jer_25:3), after other prophets also had unceasingly held forth to the people (Jer_25:4), that in case of their conversion they would remain quietly in the land (Jer_25:5), but in case of their apostasy to idols they would experience the Lord’s anger (Jer_25:6); and finally the people not having regarded these exhortations and threatenings, it is solemnly declared (Jer_25:7-8), that the tribes of the North under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would invade the land of Judea and the neighboring nations, lay everything desolate, and render these countries tributary to the king of Babylon for seventy years (Jer_25:9-11).—The pre-eminent significance of this prophecy is clear from the following data: 1. From the special detail of the introduction, which apart from the date, is distinguished from all other introductory formulas in Jeremiah, in that in Jer_25:1-2 it lays special emphasis on the object and address of the discourse. 2. From the date in Jer_25:1. It is the first time in which a date is prefixed to a prophecy of this seer. Only general indications of time are found in the earlier prophecies, and these only rarely (Jer_3:6; Jer_14:1). We find exact chronological statements only on the entrance of the great catastrophe and the principal stages of its course; (Jer_28:1; Jer_32:1; Jer_36:1; Jer_39:1, and the following chh.). 3. Here in Jer_25:2 Jeremiah calls himself for the first time נָבִיא (comp. the Introd. to the Seventh Discourse, chh. Jer_18:20). It is as though he had renounced this title, till he could announce the beginning of the fulfilment of his minatory prophecy (comp. Deu_18:21-22). 4. The prophet casts a comprehensive glance at his whole previous ministry of 23 years, admits the fact that the people had paid no attention to his prophetic exhortations and threatenings, and announces the immediate infliction of the punitive judgment promised in such a case. Hence it is evident that he regards the present moment as forming a decisive crisis. The reason for this it is hot difficult to perceive. While Jeremiah in all his previous prophecies speaks indefinitely of the judgment as one menacing from the north, he here for the first time names Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans, as he who would inflict it, at the head of all the “nationalities of the North” (Jer_25:9). The victory of Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish (comp. Jer_46:2) and his ascension of the throne were the historic facts, in which the divinely inspired glance of the seer perceived the most important crisis in the history of the world. It was at once clear to him that the victor of Carchemish was the great divinely chosen instrument to inflict judgment on the theocracy and the other nations, and so in a certain sense to found the first universal empire. As his predictions of calamity at once attained concrete definiteness by this fact, so did his predictions of deliverance. He perceived and predicted with the same definiteness that the empire of the Chaldeans would last only 70 years, and that at the close of it would begin the redemption of the holy nation. It was hidden from him into how many stages and of what duration the fulfilment of these prophecies would be resolved. 5. In the same year Jeremiah, in obedience to the divine command, began to write out his prophecies (Jer_37:1-2). He did this, according to Jer_36:3; Jer_36:7, in the hope even at the eleventh hour of moving the hearts of the people by the total impression of his prophetic discourses, which at the same time intimates that a moment of conclusive and irrevocable decision had come.
Jer_25:1-2. The word … saying. Why the fourth year of Jehoiakim is the right moment for this important prophecy is clear from the additional clause: the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had this year become king by the death of his father. As this circumstance is emphasized, it is highly probable that Jeremiah received the impulse to this prophetic discourse on the news of Nebuchadnezzar’s accession. There is no contradiction in this to our previous designation of the battle of Carchemish as the occasion. The news of his father’s death must have come to Nebuchadnezzar soon after that victory. The prophet mentions here merely the ascent of the throne, because he might presuppose that it was enough to mention the later fact to remind also of the earlier and not less important one. With respect to the chronological date, the statement of our passage that Jehoiakim’s fourth year was the first of Nebuchadnezzar agrees with the statements in 2Ki_24:12; 2Ki_25:8; Jer_52:12; Jer_32:1. It is generally admitted that this year was B.C., 605 or 604. Comp. Hofmann, ägypt. u. israelit, Zeitrechnung, S. 54; Bunsen, Bible-work, I. S., 211, 310; Niebuhr, Ass. u. Babel, S. 371; Duncker, Gesch. d. Altesth 1, S. 825, 3 te Aufl [“The precise dates of the events of this period cannot be determined. Dr. Pusey (p. 309) supposes that Josiah died in the spring of B. C, 609 Jehoahaz or Shallum, reigned three months. Then Jehoiakim’s reign would have begun in the summer of 609, and his fourth year would have begun in the summer of B. C., 606.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]—The native form of the name נְבוּבַדְרֶאצַּר appears on the Babylonian monuments to have been Nabu-kudu-ur-uzur, or Nabu-kudurr-usur [or Nabu-kudari-utsur] (Oppert, Exp. en. Mesop., T. II., p. 259 sqq.). From this the various transformations are derived. Comp. Niebuhr, Ass. u. Bab., S. 41.—On the meaning of name comp. Scheuchzer in the Zeitschrift d. morgenl. Gesselsch. Bd., XVI., S. 487, and Rösch. in the same Journal, Bd. XV., S. 505. [Rawlinson, Herodotus I., p. 511–16. Ancient Monarchies, III., pp. 489, 528. Smith’s Bible Dict., s. v.—S. R. A.]
Jer_25:3-4. From the thirteenth year … to hear. Josiah, according to 2Ki_22:1, reigned 31 years. According to Jer_1:2 also Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry began in his 13th year. He had therefore labored 18 years [or 19 years, according to Pusey and Wordsworth] under Josiah and four under Jehoiakim, and was then, especially if we reckon in the three months of Jehoahaz, in the 23d year of his ministry.—The words from but ye have not to to hear (Jer_25:4) are, on account of the following saying, which belongs to sending, to be regarded as a parenthesis.
Jer_25:5-7. Saying, Turn ye … to your own hurt.—Turn ye now. Comp. Jer_18:11; Jer_35:15.—In the land. Comp. Exo_20:12; Deu_5:16.—For ever and ever is to be regarded as depending on turn, for the consolation consists, not in God’s having appointed the land for an everlasting habitation, but in that it will be really such.—And provoke me not, etc., and I will do you no hurt, are sentences which express a purpose paratactically: comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 109, 2.—On the subject-matter comp. Jer_7:6-7.
Jer_25:8-11. Therefore thus saith … seventy years. These verses contain the consequence necessarily resulting from the premises.—All the families of the north. A reference to the announcement often repealed since the commencement of his prophetic ministry, and now again appearing in the form which it had in Jer_1:15, viz., that the enemy coming from the north is designated as “all the families of the north,” an expression which is evidently not to be taken literally, but as the designation of an extended empire—And [even to] Nebuchadnezzar. [Comp. Textual Notes]. Previously northern nations only were spoken of, here we learn that they are first to be brought to the king of the Chaldeans and then (of course under his command) into the land. Since this explanation is grammatically possible, I give the reading in the text the preference, as the more difficult. Hitzig and Graf indeed maintain that the name of Nebuchadnezzar was inserted afterwards. Hitzig finds the mention of this name so altogether “frank” that he sees in it “a glossation of the gloss in Jer_25:12,” and an impertinence, after the indefinite phrase “a horde from midnight” purposely left that name to be guessed. Graf, however, finds the mention of the name in no way compatible with the construction, for neither וְאֵל (which he makes dependent on שׁלח) nor אֵל nor וְאֵת gives a satisfactory sense, the last because then Nebuchadnezzar would appear only as “supplementary.” The latter objection disappears of itself in our explanation. Hitzig’s arguments, however, emanate too evidently from the objection which he has to any special and exactly fulfilled prophecy, to need serious refutation. We say: after the victory at Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar’s mission and its result were so fully made out to the prophet that there could be neither indistinctness nor hesitation with respect to the mention of his name.—The Lord calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant (עבדי, Jer_25:9) as in Jer_27:6; Jer_43:10, the performer of His commands. He is to come with his hosts “over all these nations round about.”—The voice of the bridegroom, etc. Comp. Jer_7:34; Jer_16:9.—[The millstones and the light of the candle. “The one the sound of those who prepare daily food by grinding the hand-mill, see Exo_11:5 and Mat_24:41; the other the evidence of domestic habitation. Both emblems are combined in the Apocalypse (Jer_18:22-23.”—Wordsworth. Comp. also Thomson, The Land and the Book, II., 275.—S. R. A.].
Jer_25:11. This whole land. Since the prophet, from Jer_25:9 onward, has in view not only Judah but all the neighboring nations, “this land” is to be referred not only to Palestine but to the whole of the territory inhabited by those nations.—And these nations shall serve. Hitzig was the first to cast doubt on the genuineness of these words. De Wette (Einl. S. 330) and Graf (S. 322, 326) concur with him. On the other hand compare especially Haevernick, (Einl. II., 2, S. 225 sqq.).—What appears especially to offend Hitzig is the circumstance that the seventy years here would prove to be right within two years, nay, that if Darius the Mede is an historical personage, they would prove so exactly. “Such coincidence of history with prophecy would be a surprising accident; or else Jeremiah knew beforehand the number of years, which the dependence on Babylon would last.” To this may be added the point, which Graf renders prominent, that a prediction of destruction addressed to Babylon at the same moment when it is described as a power divinely commissioned to execute judgment, is somewhat unsuitable and improbable. So the seventy years here and in Jer_25:12 are regarded as an interpolation and vaticinium ex eventu, which does not very well agree with the statement, that it is transposed hither from Jer_29:10, which passage is acknowledged to be genuine. For even if the sending of the letter in Jeremiah 29 occurred a decennium later, the promise of a liberation after seventy years, contained in Jer_25:10, is not by a hair less than Jer_25:11-12, either a genuine prophecy or a statement which happened to prove true. For the difference of ten years, in view of the many possibilities of longer or shorter periods is not so important that a general agreement may not be spoken of. We can of course enter into no controversy here with those who deny altogether any core knowledge of future things on the basis of divine revelation, but if any is offended that the prophet here mentions a definite number, let him consider that without this definiteness the prediction would cease to be a prophecy in the true sense. That the dominion of the Chaldeans would not stretch in infinitum does not need to be prophesied. The chief source of consolation for Israel also is contained in this definite number. (Comp. Dan_9:2). [“Thus a safeguard was provided against the dangers to which God’s captive people, Israel, were exposed in Babylonia, from the seductions of Chaldean idolatry; and a hope of restoration to their own land was cherished in their heart till the time of their chastisement was past.”—Wordsworth.—S. R. A.] “Prophetic analogy” also is not wanting for him, who in Gen_15:13-16 and Dan_9:24-26 sees anything but vaticinium ex eventu. Whoever finally maintains that this was not the right moment to pronounce a prophecy of the overthrow of Babylon mistakes both the nature of that historical event and the meaning and object of prophecy. We have already seen that the Babylonian empire was determined by the victory at Carchemish, and was not this a suitable moment to present a prophetic programme of the divine world-policy? Or should merely the subjection of Judah and other nations be spoken of and not the judgment upon Babylon? Let it be observed that in Jeremiah 25 the prophet presents three stages of the divine judgment; the judgment on Judah, on the nations forming the Babylonian empire, and finally on all the nations of the earth. In this general view of the divine judgments that on Babylon could not of course be omitted, if the prophet was not to give a false representation. Observe, moreover, that the prophet speaks of the overthrow of Babylon only in brief hints. He says of it only so much as is necessary on the one hand for the completeness of the picture, and on the other hand in order not to encourage Israel to obstinate resistance, while not altogether dispiriting them. For this reason almost all the minatory predictions conclude with a consolatory outlook. (Comp. Jer_3:12 sqq.; Jer_10:23 sqq.; Jer_12:14 sqq.; Jer_23:3 sqq.; yea, even the prophecies against the heathen nations, Jer_46:26; Jer_48:47; Jer_49:6; Jer_49:39). There is then no reason, why the second half of Jer_25:11 should be declared spurious. On the contrary, the words, like the related ones in Jer_27:7, are entirely in place.—As concerns the numbering of the seventy years thus much is certain, that Jeremiah would say: In seventy years from this time Babylon will be visited. For, as shown above, he has placed the date, contrary to his former custom, at the head of the chapter, simply because this fourth year of Jehoiakim is at the same time the year of the battle of Carchemish and the first of Nebuchadnezzar, and because Nebuchadnezzar’s victory and accession to the throne were the symptoms of a crisis in universal history, which germinally included all the other successes of the Chaldean king. From the moment when Jeremiah received the news of the victory at Carchemish, it was for him decided that Nebuchadnezzar would exercise universal dominion and that Judah, as well as the rest of the nations, would be subject to him; in Jer_27:6 indeed he represents this, by his categorical נָתַתִּי, as accomplished, though in reality it was still waiting fulfilment. Hence also in Jer_29:10 he does not alter the number, though this prophecy is of a later date. The seventy years have become to him a fixed measure of time, which at any rate has its point of commencement in that fourth year of Jehoiakim. Its final point is less clear. (Comp. on the different modes of reckoning, Rosenmueller on Jer_25:11 and the literature there quoted). If we take the year of the battle of Carchemish as the beginning of the Chaldean empire, this corresponds best to the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. As that first fact germinally involved the captivity, so did the second the deliverance therefrom. The dates are, as is well known, not yet determined with certainty. According to the reckoning approved by most, the battle of Carchemish took place in the year B. C. 605–4, the conquest of Babylon in the year 538. Between these two dates lies a period of sixty-seven years. [The Canon of Ptolemy, confirmed by Rawlinson, makes the reigns of Babylonian kings from Nebuchadnezzar to the end of Belshazzar cover sixty-six years. Comp. Cowlesad loc.—S. R. A.]. Aside from the possibility that a more exact agreement might result on more accurate knowledge, this number may suffice as a round sum. Comp. Niebuhr. Assur u. Babel, S. 7. [“These seventy years begin with B. C. 606, the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, when he made his first attack on Jerusalem, and end with the capture of Babylon in the first year of Cyrus, and the restoration of the Jews, B. C. 536. Comp. Davison, on Prophecy, p. 225; Pusey, on Daniel, p. 267, who justly condemns the theory of some, who allege that seventy years is here either a mere approximative number or a symbolical one, signifying a long time.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
Footnotes:
[1]Jer_25:1.—On עַל, which is twice used here as synonymous with אֵל Comp. rems. on Jer_10:1.
[2]Jer_25:3.—On the adverbial use of זֶה. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 79, 2 [Gesen. Gr., § 100, 2 e.].
[3]Jer_25:3.—אַשְׁכֵים is possibly an Aramaism (comp. Olsh. § 191, g; 255, b), and is possibly on account of the rarer וּ in the final syllable (הַשׁכֵים found only in Jer_44:4, and Pro_27:14), as an addition to אדבר, written purposely as 1 Pers. Imperf.; yet more probably it is a mere oversight and, therefore, according to the Keri, and related passages (Jer_7:13; Jeremiah 25; Jer_11:7; Jer_25:4; Jer_26:5; Jer_29:19; Jer_32:33; Jer_35:14-15; Jer_44:4), to be read הַשְׁכֵּים.
[4]Jer_25:5.—וּשְׁבוּ. On the construction, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 90, 2.
[5]Jer_25:7.—הכעסוני. The Chethibh must be pronounced הִבְעִסוּנִי, as in Jer_8:19, but does not suit the connection. The Keri הַכְעִסֵני is according to the analogy of Jer_7:18; Jer_32:29; 2Ch_34:25 coll. Jer_11:17; Jer_32:32; Jer_44:3; Jer_44:8; 1Ki_14:9; 1Ki_16:2. It seems to me more probable that תַּכְעִסוּנִי is the true reading, since this form might pass more easily into הכעסוני, and is moreover recommended by the shortly preceding תכעיסו (Jer_25:6), but was not preferred by the Masoretes, because the Inf. הַכְעִים after ל, or לְמַעַז is alone used in this sense and connection. The prophet seems, moreover, to have Deu_31:29 in view. Comp. Jer_32:30; Jer_7:6.
[6]Jer_25:9.—ואל. It is certainly easy, with the Vulgate and Chald. (the Syr. is doubtful), and some MSS. to read וְאֶת, or at least, as is also done by some MSS. to omit ו before אֵל. But there is no necessity for this. For וְאֶל is by no means without sense, and may be justified grammatically. It must not then be rendered as depending on שֹׁלח. For then the intermediate sentence, ולקחתי, etc. is intolerably harsh. But אֵל depends on לָקַּחְתִּי. Then ו before אֵל=and indeed, as not seldom in Jeremiah (Jer_6:2; Jer_17:10; Jer_19:12. Comp. besides Gen_4:4; 2Sa_13:20; Isa_57:11; Amo_3:11; Amo_4:10; Psa_68:10). אֵל is used here as ex. gr., in Lev_18:18 in the sentence ואשָּׁח אֵל־אֲחֹתָהּ לֹא תִקָּח thou shalt not take a wife to her sister. Comp. Eze_44:7; Lam_3:41. Even in the verse of the present 26th chapter we find אֵל in this sense: all the kings of the north, the near and far, אִישׁ אֶל־אָחִיו, that is, one to the other = one with another. The prophet therefore says: behold, I send and take (or fetch) all the families of the North, and indeed to Nebuchadnezzar.
[7]Jer_25:9.—The pronoun האלה stands δεικτικῶς; we must suppose a corresponding gesture of the hand.
[8]Jer_25:9.—והחרכתיכ. The word is found frequently in the books of Deut. and Joshua (ex. gr., Deu_2:34; Deu_3:6; Deu_7:2; Deu_20:17, etc.; Jos_8:26; Jos_10:28; Jos_10:35; Jos_10:40, etc.), in Jeremiah, elsewhere only in Jer_50:21; Jer_50:26; Jer_51:3.
[9]Jer_25:11.—לשׁמה וגו׳. Comp. Jer_25:11-12; Jer_25:18; Jer_18:16; Jer_19:8; Jer_29:18; Jer_49:13, etc.
2. THE JUDGMENT ON JUDAH AND THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD
Jer_25:12-29
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished,10 that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,11 saith the Lord [Jehovah], for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. 13And I will bring upon that land all my words, which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all 14the nations. For [of them, even these] many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also [exact service]: and I will recompense them according to 15their deeds and according to the works of their own hands. For thus saith [hath said] the Lord [Jehovah the] God of Israel unto me, Take the wine-cup [the cup of the wine] of this fury at my hand, and cause [give] all the nations, to whom I 16send thee, to drink [of] it. And they shall drink and be moved [stagger] and be mad [stunned], because of the sword that I will send among them.
17Then took I the cup at the Lord’s [Jehovah’s] hand, and made all the nations 18to drink, unto whom the Lord [Jehovah] had sent me: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them 12a desolation,19an astonishment, an hissing and a curse; as it is this day; Pharaoh, king of 20Egypt, and his servants and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled [allied]13people and all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines and Ashkelon [Askalon] and Azzah [Gaza] and Ekron and the 21[whole] remnant of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab and the children of Ammon,—22and all the kings of Tyrus and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles 23[coast land] which are beyond the sea, Dedan and Tema and Buz and all that are 24in the utmost corners [cut short the hair], and all the kings of Arabia, and all the 25kings of the mingled people, that dwell in the desert, and all the kings of Zimri 26and all the kings of Elam and all the kings of the Medes [Media], and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world,14 which are upon the face of the earth:—and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27Therefore [And] thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zsbaoth], the God of Israel, Drink ye and be drunken and spue 15 and fall 28and rise no more, because of the word which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them. Thus saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth]: Ye shall certainly [and 29must] drink. For, lo, I begin to bring [do] evil on the city which is called by [bears] my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Leaving aside Jer_25:12-14 for the present, let us first take into view (he relation of Jer_25:15-29 to the foregoing context. The prophet has been prophesying the judgment on Judah and the neighboring nations, to be executed by Nebuchadnezzar (“all these nations round about,” Jer_25:9). In Jer_25:11 b he had intimated that the supremacy of Babylon over these will come to an end after 70 years. He had thus erected the bridge by which to pass to the prediction of a second and more comprehensive stage of divine judgment, viz., that it will also involve Babylon itself. How is this conceivable? Jer_25:15-29 explain this. The Lord purposes to hold judgment over all the nations of the then known world, which also represent the aggregate of the subsequent Babylonian empire. He will begin with Judah. On this and the nations, only hinted at before in Jer_25:9 sqq., but enumerated in Jer_25:19 sqq., and several others, which cannot be numbered among those meant in Jer_25:9 (comp. Jer_25:25-26), Babylon will itself be an instrument of execution. Was it however to be itself spared? Was it better than the nations subjugated by it? No, it will only drink the cup of wrath last. For if the chosen people is not spared, no other nation can expect that its offence (עֲוֹנָם, Jer_25:12) will remain unrecompensed. We see that this passage presupposes the previous one, being its necessary supplement. For while in the first part, neighboring nations beside Judah are mentioned without being particularly designated, the second part gives a complete and orderly catalogue of nations, beginning with Judah and ending with Babylon, thus presenting a considerably extended circle before our eyes. While, however, in the second part, objects of punitive judgment only (and Babylon indeed as such) are mentioned, we learn from the first that Babylon will be the executor of the Divine will on the whole series of nations mentioned before it (Jer_25:18-26 a).
Jer_25:12-14. And it shall come to pass … their own hands. The following reasons favor the unauthenticity, not only of Jer_25:12, but of the two following verses. 1. The whole passage, Jer_25:12-14, is directed against Babylon. Now it has been already intimated in Jer_25:11, and will likewise be below in Jer_25:20, that Babylon herself will not be spared from the judgment of the Lord. But how briefly and obscurely are these intimations given! If Sheshach is really to be explained by the Atbash, and in this form to be regarded as a genuine word of Jeremiah’s, this mysterious name would certainly be suitable for the purpose of speaking obscurely of the destruction of Babylon at this moment. And there was reason for this. For the Jews were so little disposed in accordance with the will of Jehovah, to subject themselves to the Babylonian king, that all needed to be avoided, which would confirm them in this obstinacy. Is it then, in view of this, credible that the prophet, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, after the battle of Carchemish, spoke in so detailed and emphatic a manner of the destruction of Babylon, as is done in Jer_25:12-14? I think not. 2. Jer_25:12-13 presuppose the existence of the prophecy against Babylon (chh. 50, 51) For (a) the expression שִׁמְמוֹת עוֹלָם, perpetual desolations, is an evident quotation from this prophecy. It not only occurs exclusively in this prophecy (Jer_51:26; Jer_51:62, and besides only as שִׁמֲמוֹת עוֹלָם, Eze_35:9), but in Jer_51:62 it is significantly treated in a certain measure as its pith and token, so that the employment of this expression in the text is to be regarded as an intentional reference to chh. 50, 51. (b). The words “and I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book,” in Jer_25:13, point likewise with all possible definiteness to the prophecy against Babylon as one in existence. Now since this, according to Jer_51:59 was first, composed in the fourth year of Zedekiah, it is thus already shown that Jer_25:12-13, so far as they presuppose the prophecy against Babylon, cannot possibly have been written in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. 3. The second half of Jer_25:13 presupposes also the existence of the other prophecies against the nations, and this too as one Sepher. Now though most of these prophecies are certainly older than the battle of Carchemish (comp. on Jer_46:2 and the Introd. to chh. 46–51.), it is yet evident from the opposition in which the second half of Jer_25:13 stands to the first, that here that Sepher against the nations is meant, which contains the prophecy against Babylon. This Sepher however cannot, as we have said, have been in existence before the fourth year of Zedekiah. We might assume that Jeremiah himself, after the completion of the Sepher against the nations, subjoined here the words of Jer_25:13. The striking addition “which Jeremiah hath prophesied,” etc., is however opposed to this. For is it credible that Jeremiah himself put these words in the mouth of the Lord? Every one will feel that these words offend not only against rhetorical concinnity, but against religious feeling. 4. The demonstrative הַזֶּה, this, afterהַסֵּפֶרthe book, evidently presupposes that he who wrote it regarded the present passage, i.e., Jeremiah 25, as belonging to the Sepher against the nations. For in any other case the demonstrative would be incorrect. Now it may certainly be proved that the prophecies against the nations must once have stood in immediate connection with Jeremiah 25. The LXX. still has it in this place, so that, omitting Jer_25:14, the prophecy against Elam (Jer_49:34; Jer_49:39, Heb.) follows directly on Jer_25:13. Then the others come in the following order: against Egypt (Jeremiah 46), against Babylon (chh. 50. and 51.), against Philistia, Tyrus and Sidon (Jer_47:1-7), against Edom (Jer_49:7-22), against Ammon (Jer_49:1-5), against Kedar (Jer_49:28-33), against Damascus (Jer_49:23-27), against Moab (Jeremiah 48). Then follows Jer_25:15-38 as a comprehensive conclusion. This arrangement is certainly, as regards the order of sequence, not the original one, but it still bears, as a whole, unmistakable traces of the original connection. In and of itself indeed the circumstance that the LXX. brings the Sepher against the nations into connection with Jeremiah 25, inserting it between Jer_25:13; Jer_25:15 of this chapter, is not of any great weight, for it might be due to pure arbitrariness on the part of the translator. But there is another circumstance, which evidently cannot have sprung from arbitrariness, and hence lends great importance to that connection. The prophecy against Elam has in the LXX. a superscription (τὰ Αἰλάμ) and a postscript. This postscript is however nothing else but the first verse of Jeremiah 27, which is wanting in the LXX. For the details concerning this see Jer_27:1, Jer_49:34 and the Introd. to chh. 46-51. It is hence plain that the prophecies against the nations must once have bad their place directly before Jer_27:1, and that the prophecy against Elam must have formed their conclusion. Chap. 25 however was reckoned as part of the immediately following Sepher against the nations. Therefore the author could say with perfect correctness of Jer_25:13 : in this book. Thus then Jer_25:13 was inserted in the text at a time, when. the Sepher against the nations had its place immediately after this chapter, as a whole, which included it. It is not probable, for the reason adduced above, that the prophet himself inserted it. As to Jer_25:14 finally, the first half is taken almost verbally from Jer_27:7, and in such wise that the perfect עָבְדוּ, shall serve, which is incorrect here though it corresponds perfectly with the context there, is retained. In Jer_27:7וְעָבְדוּ is used quite regularly in the sense of the future, after the preceding statement of time עַד־בֹּא עֵת אַרְצוֹ. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 84, o. In the present passage, however, none of the conditions are fulfilled on which the rendering of the perfect as future depends, while the perfect or present signification contradicts the context throughout. The second half of the verse, which Hitzig regards as the genuine supplement of Jer_25:11, strongly reminds us of Jer_50:29; Jer_51:24. On according to the works of their own hands, comp. Jer_25:6-7. In itself then the passage contains nothing which Jeremiah might not have written. But it is clear that if the preceding sentences are to be critically suspected this single little sentence is all the less able to maintain its position, as standing isolated it would disturb the connection. In conclusion we give a brief synopsis of the different critical views respecting this passage, omitting those which consider it wholly original, or only subsequently supplied by Jeremiah 1. Jer_25:11 b–14 inauthentic (Graf). 2. Jer_25:11 b–14 a inauthentic (Hitzig). 3. Jer_25:12-14 a later addition (Naegelsbach). 4. Jer_25:13 b-14, inauthentic (Berthold). 5. Jer_25:13 b, inauthentic (Venema, Schnurrer). 6. Jer_25:13, the words אשר נבא י׳ על־כל־ה׳, inauthentic (Hensler).
Jer_25:15-16. For thus saith … will send among them.—For introduces the proof of the sentence pronounced in Jer_25:12, that even Babylon, called according to Jer_25:9-11 to universal dominion, will be punished in its time. It might seem strange that in the same breath, as it were, conquest and destruction are predicted of the Babylonians. The prophet explains how this will be in the following verses, to Jer_25:26. He says that all the nations will have to empty the cup of wrath, but Babylon last. In this it is implied that Babylon will first be the instrument of accomplishing the judgment on the other nations, but at last will itself be subject to judgment. Those who declare Jer_25:11 b–14 and Jer_25:26 b to be unauthentic, act therefore with perfect consistency. But it is wrong to reject a thought here, which is one of the foundation pillars of Jeremiah’s prophecy (comp. especially Jer_51:20-24), without which it must be regarded as partial, and which ought least of all to be wanting here in the prophet’s great programme.—The figure of the “cup of fury” and “cup of trembling” is frequent in the Scriptures: Isa_51:17; Isa_51:22; Hab_2:16; Jer_49:12; Jer_51:7; Lam_4:21; Eze_23:31 sqq.; Psa_60:5; Psa_75:9. The drinking of the cup is emblematic of suffering punishment, the effect of the drinking, intoxication and reeling, is the emblem of shattered forces and of lost hold and self-command.—I send thee. The sending is to be regarded in general as merely imaginary. Comp. Jer_1:10. It was afterwards, at any rate, partially real. Comp. Jer_27:2 sqq. It is evident from הזאת ו׳ and especially from Jer_25:17 that the prophet describes an inward experience.—Because of the sword. Observe the transition from the figurative to the ordinary mode of speech.
Jer_25:17-18. Then took I … this day. The prophet begins with Jerusalem. Why he does so is seen from Jer_25:29. We may conclude from this that the entire Sepher against the nations (chh. 46–51) followed this present prophecy.—The kings thereof. The plural here, since Nebuchadnezzar, as is well known, caused three Jewish kings in succession to feel his supremacy, may be taken in the proper sense. It may also however be the general plural and in what follows, when the number of the conquered kings could neither be known to the prophet, nor is any check possible on our part, the plural must be taken as general. Comp. rems. on Jer_19:3.—To make them a desolation. Comp. Jer_25:9; Jer_25:11; Jer_24:9; Jer_42:18; Jer_44:8; Jer_44:22; Jer_49:13.—As it is this day. The explanations "truly and certainly,” or “as it is impending,” or “as we have begun to experience,” are grammatically impossible. The LXX. omit these words. They are at any rate a later addition, whether by the prophet or some other can scarcely be decided. Comp. Jer_11:5; Jer_32:20; Jer_44:6; Jer_44:22-23.
Jer_25:19-21. Pharaoh . . . children of Ammon. In this enumeration of the nations the prophet evidently proceeds in general from South to North, beginning with Egypt and concluding with the kings of the North (Jer_25:26). From Egypt he goes up to the South-West (Philistia), and South-East (Uz), then to the East (Edom, Moab, Ammon), and West (Phœnicia), of the holy land. With Phœnicia are connected the islands of the remote West, whereupon the prophet leaps over to the far East (Arabian nations), in order to get by the North-East (Elam, Media), to the North (Jer_25:26), when his view loses itself in the remote distance.—Mingled people. As to Egypt in particular we know exactly what Jeremiah understands by עֵרֵב which he attributes to this country. They are without doubt foreign mercenaries (Jer_46:21); primarily those Jonians, Carians and Phœnicians whom Psammetichus took into his service, and to whom he afterwards assigned residences in Egypt (Herod. II., 152, 154; Duncker, Gesch. d. Alterth. 3 le Aufl. I., S. 922);—-but then also strangers from other nations, which Jeremiah (Jer_46:9) and Ezekiel (Jer_30:5) mention.—The case appears to be different with the mingled people in Jer_25:24, of which below.—The land of Uz. (ארץ העוץ). The passages of the Old Testament where Uz is mentioned are Gen_10:23; Gen_22:21; Gen_36:28; Job_1:1; Lam_4:21, and the present, passage.—Delitzsch (Herz. R.-Enc., VI. S. 142) remarks that we can still say nothing more definite with respect to the situation of this country than that, as we are told in the addition at the close of the book of Job in the LXX., it lay ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁρίοις τῆς Ἰδουμαίας καὶ Ἀραβίας. This is favored by the present passage, which includes the country in its catalogue directly after Egypt and before Philistia, (the latter corresponding to the South-eastern border-land), but especially by Lam_4:21 (daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz), and the origin of Eliphaz in Teman (Job_2:11), which is an Edomite city (according to Jer_49:7). Uz is not thus identified with Edom, in which case alone Graf’s remark that Uz needed not to be specially mentioned together with Edom, would be justified. Comp. however the articles on Uz and Esau by Dr. Sprenger in the Journal of the Germ. Oriental Society (Zeitsch d. d.-Morgenl. Gesell., 1863, S. 373), who seeks to prove the identity of Uz and Esau from Oriental sources.—In opposition to Fries (Stud. u. Krit., 1854, 2) Delitzsch correctly remarks that he seeks for the country too far to the North, (in the province of El-Tellul, west of the Hauran mountains).—The Philistines, etc. Of the five cities of the Philistines Gath only is wanting (Jos_13:3; 1Sa_6:17). It was deprived of its walls by Uzziah (2Ch_26:6) and lost its importance (comp. Amo_6:2). For the same reason it seems to be passed over in Amo_1:6 sqq.; Zep_2:4; Zec_9:5 sqq. Comp. Köhlea on the last passage.—Why Jeremiah speaks only of a “remnant of Ashdod” is explained by history. Psammetichus had after a siege of 29 years taken the city and destroyed it. (Herod. II. 157). [Rawlinson, Herodotus, II. p. 242.—S. R. A.]
Jer_25:22-24. And all the kings of Tyrus . . . that dwell in the desert.—Kings of the isles (האי). The singular only in Isa_20:6; Isa_23:2; Isa_23:6; Jer_47:4. All sea-washed land, whether continent or island, is called אִי. Here the collective אִי, as elsewhere the plural אִיִּים (Isa_40:15; Isa_41:1; Isa_41:5; Isa_42:4; Isa_42:10, etc.), denotes not merely the continental Phœnician colonies, but all the coast-lands, and thus also the islands of the Mediterranean.—In Jer_25:23-24 Arabian races are enumerated, which in opposition to אִי and in relation to Edom, Moab and Amman, represent the remote east.—Dedan (דדן), comp Gen_10:7; 1Ch_1:9 with Gen_25:3; 1Ch_1:32 coll. Isa_21:13; Eze_25:13; Eze_27:15; Eze_27:20; Eze_38:13; Jer_49:8. Both the statements of Genesis as to their derivation, and the geographical statements as to the position of their country, lead to a double Dedan; a southern situated on the Persian gulf, and a northern bordering on Edom. It has been sought to connect the two by the supposition of colonization. Comp. Arnold in Herzog, R.-Enc., I. S. 462.—Tema, (תימא), comp. Gen_25:15; 1Ch_1:30; Job_6:19; Isa_21:14. This name is also borne by two different localities. The biblical Tema is “the most northern of all Arabian places,” the second chief place in Djöf, three days journey from the territory of Damascus. Comp. Herz. R.-Enc., XV., S. 706 [Ritter, Erdkunde, XII. 159; XIII. 384, etc.].—Buz (בוז), is mentioned in Gen_22:21 as a son of Nachor and brother of Uz. Elihu (Job_32:2) is a Buzite. It is at all events an Arabic tribe, but no further particulars are known. Comp. Winer, R.-W.-B., s. v., Buz.—All in the utmost corners (קצוצי־פאה). comp. Comm. on Jer_9:25; Jer_49:32.—Arabia (ערב). It is well known that this word, which occurs first in Isaiah (Jer_13:20; Jer_21:13) designates, not the whole of the now so-called Arabia, but only a part bordering on Palestine (Gesenius supposes the territory of the Ishmaelites. Comp. Thes., pp. 1066 and 1441; coll. Gen_25:18). So also the mingled people that dwell in the desert designates Arabian peoples, of which we know nothing further. The expression all the kings of Arabia, occurs besides only in 1Ki_10:15, where it is said that Solomon received 666 talents of gold beside what he had of the merchantmen and all the kings of the mixed peoples [Eng. Vers. Arabia] and the governors of the country. Comp. Keil on the passage.—The עֶרֶב of this passage and the book of Kings, were probably mixed states of various tribes, which for the sake of protection were tributary to some neighboring power. Such little unions seem to have been formed in the Arabian desert near the borders of Palestine, of which, however, the remembrance was lost in a comparatively brief period. The author of the book of Chronicles, at least, did not know what he was to understand by the מַלְכֵי עֶרֻב (1Ki_10:15). He therefore wrote for it simply עֲרָב מַלְכֵי (2Ch_9:14). As to the fulfilment of these prophecies respecting the Arabian tribes, we are left, in the absence of all positive statements, to conjectures. Comp. Niebuhr. Ass. u. Babel., S. 209, 10; Duncker, Gesch. d. Alterth., I. S. 827, and what is subsequently remarked on Jer_25:26 a.
Jer_25:25-26. And all the kings of Zimri … drink after them. The LXX. omits the kings of Zimri. Aquila has Ζαμρί (Montfaucon, p. 221); Vulg, Zambre (Zambri); Syr. Samron; Theodoret, Ζαμβρή. He says παρὰ τῳ Ἑβραίῳ καὶ τῷ Σύρῳ Ζεμβρὰν εὑρήκαμεν. τὴς δὲ χετούρας οὕτος υἱός. Accordingly most expositors have taken Zimri (the name does not occur elsewhere as a gentilicium) for the nation descended from Simran (Gen_25:2). But where this nation is to be sought for is very uncertain. To think of the Ethiopic Zimiris (Plin, Hist. Nat., 36, 16, 25), or the Σεμβρῖται (Strabo, 17:1, 786) is forbidden by the connection.—Zabra also, the urbs regia between Mecca and Medina, of which Gesenius reminds us (Thes., p. 421), will not suit. Winer (R.-W.-B., II., p. 465, 3d Ed.), mentions Zimara on the upper Euphrates in Lesser Armenia, and the city of the same name in Greater Armenia, and Zimura in Asia. Comp. Ruetschi, in Herz. R.-Enc. XIV., S. 409.—None of these views are satisfactory. The matter must remain in suspeuso.—Elam, the Medes (עלם ,מרי). These two are also mentioned together in Isa_21:2. As to Elam, it appears in the primæval period as an independent country with its own princes (Gen_14:1; Gen_14:9). It is maintained by many that Elam includes Persia, and therefore in the older period, stands for what was known in later times as פָרַֹם (comp. Drechsler, on Isa_21:2), but this is denied by others (comp. Vaihinger, Herz. R.-Enc., III. S. 747). As to its position this much is certain, that it lay to the east of the Tigris, and, moreover, of its mouths. But the greatest uncertainty prevails with respect to its boundaries and extent. Comp. Vaihinger, with Kiepert’s Atlas of the Ancient World, and M. Niebuhr, Ass. u. Babel., S. 384.—Media, situated to the north of Elam, forms the transition to the kingdoms of the north, of which Jeremiah mentions none by name. He speaks only of the near and the distant (comp. Jer_48:24). In chh. 50 and 51 “ an assembly of great nations from the north country,” is mentioned as the executors of the destined punishment on Babylon (Jer_50:3; Jer_50:9; Jer_50:41, Jer_51:48). Some are then called by name to accomplish this,—Ararat, Minni, Ashchenaz (Jer_51:27), and Media [the Medes], (Jer_51:28). From this we see that the Medes are reckoned among the northern nations, which does not contradict the present passage and might well be bo, for Media extends certainly from the northeast to the north of Babylon.—One with another. Comp. rems. on Jer_25:9.—As to the fulfilment of this prophecy, thus much only is ascertained with certainty, that Nebuchadnezzar subjugated the lands west of the Tigris down to Egypt and the borders of Lydia. Whether he also subjugated the lands lying east, or the Median kingdom, is disputed. Niebuhr (Ass. u. Bab.) maintains that Nebuchadnezzar held his kingdom as a fief of Media, but without paying tribute. But after the death of Cyaxares, he ended victoriously a great war with Media (Ib., S. 211 sqq). Duncker, on the other hand (I., S. 798, 844, etc.), combats both the dependence of Babylon on Media, and the victory over it. This controversy is of no importance for us. The prophet does not mean to say that God had given to Nebuchadnezzar all the five parts of the world, with all the beasts therein (Jer_27:6), and the men, for an actual possession, nor can this be maintained for all the lands here expressly mentioned by name. After the victory at Carchemish and Nebuchadnezzar’s accession to the throne, the prophet recognizes this star, which has ascended the political horizon, as the sun which is to shine over all. In the grand prophetic view of history which rests on the essential and regards the collateral as non-existent), since there has been any history at all, one nation always stands at the head of all the rest. This nation is that which rules the world, i.e., which dominates all the other nations, if not really, ideally or de jure, and is the representative worldly kingdom in antithesis to the kingdom of God. This is the sense of this passage, and of the later one, Jer_27:5 sqq. It may then well be said that this passage (Jer_25:15-26) involves two judicial acts; one by which the Chaldean empire is founded, and a second by which it is judged (Jer_25:26 b).—The king of Sheshach (ומלך שׁשׁך) It seems indubitable from the context here and from Jer_51:41, where the two ideas correspond in the parallelism, that Sheshach is Babylon, and this is acknowledged by all the expositors. Marsham is the only exception, who takes שֵׁשַׁךְ as equivalent to שׁוּשַׁן (Shushan). Comp. Ges. Thes., p. 1486. But we are very much in the dark as to the origin, the etymology and the meaning of the word. It is easily understood that Jeremiah here used a word for Babylon which somewhat veiled the idea. He may have done this for the sake of his countrymen. For the object of his prophecy requires that the impression of terror, which the name of Babylon must have made on their minds, should not be weakened. Hence with the exception of chh. 50, 51, he says nothing against Babylon, and these chapters, as is clear from the mode of publication, were intended much more for the future than for the present. That regard for the Chaldeans was his motive for such concealment, I do not believe. It might be said that he was afraid, as indeed many, Jerome at their head, have supposed. Jeremiah, however, surely feared the Chaldeans no more than his own countrymen. What other motive he had for concealing the name of Babylon from the Chaldeans, we cannot conceive. What had the Chaldeans to do with him? If they received information of the prophecy, yet it was not written for them. In the only passage where שֵׁשַׁךְ occurs besides this (Jer_51:44), the need of change has evidently occasioned the expression. Jeremiah namely, in connection with chh. 50 and 51, never uses the word Babylon in the two parallel members of a verse, except Jer_51:49, where the antithesis requires it. Elsewhere he uses as parallel with Babylon either Chaldeans (Jer_50:8; Jer_50:35; Jer_50:45; Jer_51:24; Jer_51:35; Jer_51:54), or land of Babylon, (Jer_51:29), or a figurative expression like hammer (פַטישׁ, Jer_50:23), or heart of my insurgents (לֵב־קָמַי, Jer_51:1). He also twice uses instead of Babylon figurative expressions, as in Jer_51:21. In Jer_51:41 the name of Babylon occurs in the second clause. Accordingly it is quite in order that this name should not be used in the first clause of the sentence. Instead of it we have two synonymous expressions, of which one “the praise of the whole earth” is evidently of a figurative nature. The other is our שֵׁשַׁךְ. We see then that Jeremiah uses this expression in the one case for concealment, in the other for variety. Whence did he obtain it? Is it to be explained by the Atbash? Is it a species of Cabbalistic Temura or anagram which is either simple [ex. gr.מַלְאָבִ׳, Exo_23:23 = מִיבָאֵל), or elaborate? The latter consists in turning the Alphabet round and beginning at the end (ת for א, שׁ for ב, etc., hence Atbash), or in the middle (ל for א, מ for ב, hence Albam). Comp. Buxtorf, Lex. Chald., p. 248. 9; Herzog, R.-Enc., 7:205 [Gesenius denies that the Atbash was in use in Jeremiah’s time, and Hitzig accordingly attributes the anagram to a later period, when fear of Babylon furnished a motive for its use.—S. R. A.].—Has Jeremiah really made use here of such a play upon words? Many maintain this. It is said, if a prophet can make alphabetically arranged songs, he can make use of the Atbash. It may be that the two things are related, and hence I will not dispute the possibility. But I make this admission unwillingly and would rather say, with many of the elder theologians (ex. gr., Selden, De Diis Syr. Synt., II., Cap. 13): vix risum hic fortasse teneas. As regards the signification of the word, it is certainly most natural to think of the radixשָׁשַׁךְ, coll. שָׁחַח, שׁוּחַ, שָׁבַב, שָׁקַע שִָׁבַן (Isa. 41:64), and thence derive the meaning demissio, submersio, sinking down (Hengstenberg), humbling (Graf). Hengstenberg remarks in opposition to my view (in Jer. u. Bab., S. 131), that the reason of its use is rhetorical, the prophet wishing to deprive of their terror the names Babylon and Casdim, which had a most terrible sound in the Israelitish ear, pointing by a slight alteration at the ruin hidden behind the greatness of Babylon; to which it may be replied, that these names were certainly not of terrible sound at the moment when destruction was being predicted to their bearers. This is however the case in Jer_25:26, and in chh. 50 and 51. And why should Babylon be mentioned so frequently as the instrument of Israel’s chastisement, without the “fearful sound” of the name being mitigated by the pleasant שֵׁשַׁךְ? The meaning “demissio, submersio” does not appear to suit at all in Jer_51:41. For there it stands parallel with “praise of the whole earth.” Others, therefore, have interpreted the name otherwise: Chr. D. Michaelis, urbs bellatrix from the Arabic shaka = fortitudinem in bello ostendit; J. D. Michaelisχαλκόπυλον, from the Arabic sakka = ferro obduxit portam; Bohlen, atrium regis, from an analogy in modern Persian. But all this is dubious. I believe that the whole matter must be left still in suspenso. Perhaps the Assyrian Babylonian monuments will throw light on it. At least Rödiger (in Ges. Thes., p. 2486), refers to a discovery which Rawlinson has made (comp. Journal of the Asiat. Soc., XII., p. 478) according to which שֵׁשַׁךְ was the name of a Babylonian deity. I have not been able anywhere to find a confirmation of this, statement [“Sir H. Rawlinson has observed that the name of the moon-god, which was identical, or nearly so, with that of the city of Abraham, Ur (or Hur), might have been read in one of the ancient dialects of Babylon as Shishaki, and that consequently a possible explanation is thus obtained of the Sheshach of Scripture,(Rawlinson’s Herodotus, I., p. 616). Sheshach may stand for Ur, Ur itself, the old capital, being taken (as Babel the new capital was constantly) to represent the country.” Smith’s Bible Dictionary.—S. R. A.].
Jer_25:27-29. Therefore thou shalt say…the Lord of hosts. These verses, containing the figure of the cup, express the immutability of the divine counsel.—Which is called by my name. Jer_25:29. Comp. Comm. on Jer_25:18; Jer_7:10.—Ye shall not be unpunished. Comp. Jer_49:12, after which passage ours is formed.
Footnotes:
[10]Jer_25:12.—Hitzig would find an intimation of spuriousness in the reading כמלאות. These forms are certainly prevalent in the later writings, but there are also instances of them in the earlier. Comp. Jdg_8:1; Psa_25:7; Mic_1:5; Jer_15:13, etc. Comp. besides Olsh., § S. 299, 344; 534.—The LXX. translates Jer_25:12, ἐκδικησω τὸ ε͂̔θνος ἓκεινο καὶ θἡσομαι αὐτοὺς εἰς ἀφανισμὸν αἰώνιον, thus omitting על מלך ב׳ and נאס־י׳ to סשׂדים. But such an omission in the LXX. has no authority. The position of נאס־י׳ (Hitzig finds it, as in Jer_25:9, too far back in the sentence) has nothing objectionable in it, if we consider that a double more remote object is connected with אפקד by means of the preposition על. Comp. Jer_5:15; Jer_13:11; Jer_16:5, etc.
[11]Jer_25:12.—ועל־הגוי ההוא. הוא is perfectly regular here (comp. Naegelsb. Gr., §79, 3), as a pronoun referring to something more remote in opposition to what is said δεικτκῶς, הגוים האלה, הארץ הזאת, Jer_25:9; Jer_25:11. There is no rule, as Movers supposes, why את־עונם should not be separated from אפקד by נאם י׳. There is good reason for the subsequent position of ועל־ארץ כשׂרים, in that guilt cannot be ascribed to the land as to the king and the people. The use of אֹתו finally is explained thus, that the prophet does not refer it to ארץ only (though this also is of common gender), but also to גוֹי, as in Jer_25:9 also he refers וְשַׂמְתִּים לְשַׁמָּה וגו׳ to the preceding גוֹיִם and הָאָרֶץ. These reasons would not therefore determine me to believe in the unauthenticity of Jer_25:12. But there are other reasons, which afford important testimony against the authenticity not only of this verse, but of the two following verses. Comp. Exegetical Notes.
[12]Jer_25:18.—אֹתָם is construed like וֹתוֹ in Jer_25:12, and the suffixes of the verbs in Jer_25:9 b.
[13]Jer_25:20.—ואת כל־הערב. The expression is found also in Exo_12:38, where it is said that רב ערב went with the Israelites out of Egypt; Neh_13:3 (in both these places punctuated עִוֵב), where it is said that after hearing the Torah they separated from themselves כל־ערב; Jer_50:37, where it is predicted that the sword will come also אשׁר מתוך בבל אל כל־הערב; Eze_30:5, where in a prophecy against Egypt, among those who are to perish by the sword, together with Cush, Phut, etc., כל־הערב is mentioned. In all these places the meaning is easily perceived. They are συμμικτοί, i.e. strangers who are mingled with a nation as μέτοικοι, allies, vassals, mercenaries. This meaning corresponds exactly to the root עָוַב, which m Chald. and Syr. denotes miscere, in Hebrew however is found only in the subst. עֵוֶב, the woof in weaving (Lev_13:48-59), and in Hithpael הִתְעָרֵב (to mix one’s self in anything, Pro_14:10, to enter into company with any one, Psa_106:35; Pro_20:19; Pro_24:21; in the marriage relation, Ezr_9:2) only reveals this meaning.
[14]Jer_25:20.—כל־הממלבות ארץ. The artic**e before ממלבות is contrary to rule (comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 71, 5), and therefore Graf supposes, with reference to Jer_15:4; Jer_24:9, etc., and not incorrectly, that הארץ, which is besides superfluous, has crept in by mistake.
[15]Jer_25:27.—קיו, ἅπ. λεγ. It is the other form of קוא (Lev_18:28). Comp. קיא. Isa_28:8, etc.
3. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD
Jer_25:30-38
30 But do thou prophesy against them all these words,
And say unto them:
Jehovah roareth from on high,16
And utters his voice from his holy habitation:
He roareth against his pasture;
With a clear cry, like the vintagers, he answers the inhabitants of the land.
31 Tumult reacheth to the extremity of the earth,
For Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations; 17
He pleadeth18 with all flesh:
The godless—he giveth them a prey to the sword, saith Jehovah.
32 Thus saith Jehovah Zebaoth:
Behold, evil goeth forth from nation to nation,
And a great tempest riseth from the ends of the earth.
33 And the slain of Jehovah shall on that day lie
From one end of the earth to the other end of the earth;
They shall not be lamented nor gathered nor buried;
They shall become dung on the face of the earth.
34 Howl, O ye shepherds and cry aloud,
And wallow, ye strong ones of the flock:
For your days for slaughter are accomplished;19
And I scatter you,20 that ye shall fall like an elegant vessel.
35 And the refuge shall vanish from the shepherds,
And deliverance from the strong ones of the flock.
36 Hark! Crying of the shepherds and howling21 of the strong ones of the flock;
For Jehovah devastates their pasture.
37 The fields of peace are desolated22 before the fury of Jehovah’s anger.
38 He hath quitted, like a lion, his covert,
For their land is become waste before the fury of the destroyer,23
And before the fury of his anger.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
While in the previous section a long series of nations was adduced by name as the object of judgments, in such wise, however, that the enumeration ended indefinitely (Jer_25:26), in what follows no nation is mentioned by name, but the limits of the territory to be reached by the judgment are strictly defined in the words all the inhabitants of the earth (Jer_25:30), all flesh (Jer_25:31), from one end, etc. (Jer_25:33). From this it follows that the prophet here beholds the judicial act of God in its last and highest stage. After having, in Jer_25:1-11, described the judgment of the kingdom of God in the world, in Jer_25:12-29 the judgment of the kingdom of the world (i.e. that kingdom which represents the culminating point of history), he now describes the world-judgment, i.e. the judgment of all nations of the earth absolutely, without regard to their greater or less historical importance. We thus perceive here the same appearance, which not rarely occurs elsewhere (comp. ex. gr.Joe_1:15; Joe_2:1-2 coll. Jer_3:4 sqq.; Isa_13:9 sqq.; Zep_1:2-18; Matthew 24), viz., that single temporal acts of divine judgment are designated as types and preludes of the last and highest judgment.—The passage includes four sections: 1. Jer_25:30-31, prediction of the judgment in general, declaration as to who is the judge, from whence the judge proceeds, how far the judgment will extend; 2. Jer_25:32-33, more special description of that which the judge does; the storm rolls from nation to nation, till the whole surface of the earth is covered with the slain; 3. Jer_25:34-35, address to the judged; they are to howl and wallow, for the day of slaughter is come and there is no possibility of escaping it; 4 Jer_25:36-38, the judgment is in course of execution, the cry of the oppressed is heard;—afterwards all becomes quiet, the lion has desolated the land.
Jer_25:30-31. But do thou prophesy … saith Jehovah. The person of Jehovah is evidently presented in these two verses as the judge. His appearance is described in its terribleness, as at the conclusion of His judicial acts.—But do thou prophesy. With these words the Lord, having dismissed those who protest against the cup (Jer_25:28-29), turns to the prophet, in order to put into his mouth, not a more moderate, but on the contrary a more emphatic threatening of judgment. We see that the prophet plainly wishes to represent the judgment as proceeding from the upper sanctuary. He was the more obliged to do this as the earthly sanctuary was itself to be an object of the judgment. Comp. his pasture, directly afterwards. The roaring is immediately explained by the synonymous utters his voice, which in Old Testament usage is frequently a designation of the thunder (Psa_18:1; Psa_29:3 sqq.; Psa_46:7; Psa_68:34; Joe_2:11).—Against his pasture. The holy land, of course including Jerusalem and the temple. Here, as in Jer_25:18 coll. מחל Jer_25:29, the prophet names these sacred places first. On נוה, pasture, comp. Jer_10:25; Psa_79:7; Exo_15:13.—With a clear cry, etc. Nature in uproar! Thunder, lightning and tempest ! The thunder roars, the tempest howls, hisses, whistles. This is the הֵידָר the hillo, heigh-ho, of the vintager (comp. הֹלּוּלִים, Jdg_9:27), who, however, here wades in human blood instead of the blood of the grape; for in the words like the treaders, an allusion has, doubtless correctly, been found to the comparison of a bloody conqueror with a treader of the wine-press. חידר is found also in Jer_48:33; Jer_51:14; Isa_16:9-10, and everywhere in a sense similar to that of this passage.—He answers. Comp. Jer_51:14; Ps. 32:18; 119:172.—Tumult reacheth, etc. Description of the whole tumult and its extent.—For Jehovah, etc. The Lord disputes not with individuals but with all. Therefore the noise is so fearful.—To the sword. Comp. Jer_15:9.
Jer_25:32-33. Thus saith Jehovah Zebaoth … face of the earth. The person of the judge retires; what He does is brought into the foreground and is described as proceeding from the ends of the earth, from nation to nation, a destructive tempest (Jer_25:32), especially as a universal dying, in consequence of which the earth will be full of unburied corpses (Jer_25:33).—Goeth forth. Comp. Jer_9:2; Jer_23:19.—Ariseth. Comp. Jer_6:22.—Pleadeth, etc. Comp. Isa_66:16.—Shall not be lamented, etc. A quotation from Jer_8:2; Jer_16:4. Observe, moreover, the Old Testament coloring of this description. The prophet’s gaze remains fixed on the earth. Comp., on the other hand, Mat_24:30 sqq.; Jer_25:31 sqq.; 1Th_4:16 sqq.
Jer_25:34-35. Howl … strong ones of the flock. The prophet turns to the judged themselves, chiefly to the shepherds and the strong ones of the flock. Since the judgment of the world appears generally in Holy Scripture as the overthrow of worldly empires by the kingdom of God (comp. Psa_2:8 sqq.; Psa_110:1 sqq.; Dan_2:44; Dan_7:27; 1Co_15:24 sqq.; Heb_12:26 sqq.; Rev_11:15), by which it is proved that the first shall be last, and the last first, and that God has chosen the foolish and weak things of the world to confound the strong;—we have here to understand by the shepherds and strong ones of the flock primarily the kings and princes (comp. “the kings thereof,” etc., Jer_25:18), as the most eminent bearers and representatives of worldly power. Still a limitation and an extension are in place; a limitation, in so far that by shepherds are most usually meant the kings of kings, i.e. the rulers of the world in general, here primarily Babylon,—an extension, in so far as the strong ones of the flock doubtless denote all that is great, strong and glorious in the world. Comp. Deu_32:15; Psa_22:13; Jer_50:11; Eze_39:17 sqq.—Wallow. Wallowing in dust and ashes is also elsewhere an expression of anxious supplication in the greatest distress. Comp. Jer_6:26; Mic_1:10; Eze_27:30.
Jer_25:36-38. Hark … his anger. The prophet describes here both the judgment in its sourse (Jer_25:36) and the appearance of the earth after its accomplishment. The cry of the mighty and the strong is heard, for the Lord is devastating their pasturage. Here also only the shepherds and the strong ones of the flock, the fat rams, the strong steers, the wild stallions, are mentioned, for the Lord has chosen the weak ones of the world.—The fields of peace, the pastures hitherto peaceful.—Before the fury. Comp. Jer_4:26.—Like a lion. Comp. Hos_5:14; Psa_10:9.—For their land, etc. We might perhaps expect therefore. But then the following reason before the fury, etc., would be dragging tautology. The sentence with כִּי simply explains the figure used:—because the land, in consequence of the divine anger, is devastated by the sword, it may be said that it looks like a pasturage visited by a lion.
Footnotes:
[16]Jer_25:30.—יהוה ממרום ישׁאג. These words to קולו are a quotation from Joel 4:16; Amo_1:2, only that instead of מציון there, we have ממרום, and ממעון קדשׁו instead of מירושלים.
[17]Jer_25:31.—רים, with בְּ, as in Gen_31:36; Jdg_6:32; Hos_2:4.
[18]Jer_25:31.—נשׁפט (to have a suit at law, litigare. Comp. Jer_2:25) with לְ here only.
[19]Jer_25:34.—כי מלאו וגו׳ The construction (constr. prægnans. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 7) is as in Gen_25:24.
[20]Jer_25:34.—ותפוצותיכם. The Masoretes would have this word pronounced וּתֶפוֹצוֹתִיכֶם. Many MSS. and Edd. however read וּתִפוּצוֹתֶיכֶם. So also Aquila, Theod., Symm. (οι̇ σκὸρπισμοὶ ὑμῶν); Jerome, dissipationes vestræ [A. V.: your dispersions]. Now whether we connect this idea with the foregoing context (“your days are accomplished and your scatterings,” as Rashi, Ewald in his Crit. Gr., S. 186, Maurer, Umbreit read), or with the following (“and as to your scatterings—,” as Kimchi and others; “and your scatterings will take place,” as Chr. B. Michaelis), the construction is still artificial or faulty and the sense feeble. The Masoretes would have the form regarded as a verb. But since תְּפוצוֹתִיכֶם is a monstrous form, Hitzig and Graf would read וּתְפִיצוֹתִיכֶמ as Hiph., with strengthened ת, like תֶּֽחֱרָה, Jer_12:5; Jer_22:15 coll. תרגל Hos_11:3. The ת has given occasion to regard the form as a substantive; since, however, there are no substantives of the form תפוצות ,תקימה has been made from תפיצות. I also adopt this view. As to the meaning of the word, however, I hold that of “scattering” to be correct. For 1. the Hiph. occurs only in this sense, never that of breaking; 2. breaking in relation to the preceding context would be tautological, while it is very suitable to say that a part of the flock shall be slaughtered, another part scattered, but in such wise that the scattered also shall be overthrown and broken, like fine delicate vessels (כלי המדה Hos_13:15; 2Ch_32:27; 2Ch_36:10; Neh_2:10; Dan_11:8); 3. The mention of the מָנוֹם and of the פָלֵיטָה Jer_25:35 (comp. פליט, the escaped) applies better to scattered fugitives than to broken vessels.
[21]Jer_25:36.—On the form וִילְלַת comp. Olsh., § 39 b; 78 e.
[22]Jer_25:37.—Since there is no utterance transporting the reader to the future, ונדמו is to be taken either as præterite or present (comp. Comm. on Jer_18:4; Jer_19:4-5). The latter is to be preferred, since) נדמו is evidently parallel to שׁדד, which expresses the present (Jer_25:36). The participle נדמים should be taken as præterite. (Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 96, 2).
[23]Jer_25:38.—יונה [destroyer, from וָנָה, to be violent] does not occur elsewhere as an independent substantive. It stands objectively after חֶרֶב, Jer_46:16; Jer_50:16, after עִיר, Zep_3:1. More frequently it is not found. On the other hand, חרון stands only before אַף י׳. The word does not occur in any other connection. The hypothesis of Hitzig, Ewald, Graf is therefore well-founded, that with the LXX. and Chald. we are to read חֶרֶב הַיוֹנָה.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer_25:3-7. “ God is a long-suffering God, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but that he may turn and live, Eze_33:11. Therefore He gives the first world 120 years time for repentance, Gen_6:3. Lot preaches to Sodom and Gomorrah more than twenty-five years, Gen_13:13; Gen_19:14. Christ preaches repentance three and a half years, the apostles forty years, before the destruction of Jerusalem. But dost thou not know that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Rom_2:4.” Cramer.
2. How is it that those to whom the Lord has chiefly revealed His goodness and truth and whom He has made the bearers and medium of His promises; how is it, we ask, that it is just these men who are the most hardened in impenitence? The people of Nineveh, says the Lord, in Mat_12:41, will rise at the last judgment with this generation and will condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold a greater than Jonah is here. And He cries. Woe to Chorazin and Bethsaida, for had such mighty works been done in Tyre and Sidon as were done in them, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And in like manner He says to Capernaum, which was exalted to heaven, that it shall be brought down to hell, for if such mighty works had been done in Sodom it would have remained to this day (Mat_11:21-23). The key is contained in the words “temple of Jehovah, temple of Jehovah,” Jer_7:4. Israel does not hear the “if” in the words of his calling and election. They regard themselves as chosen unconditionally, and on this account as better than all others, being such as need no repentance. Thus grace has become, a snare to them, and so it is to all who use their privileges as a lever of their wickedness. (1Pe_2:16). [The election to gracious privileges not being necessarily election to eternal life.—S. R. A.]
3. [“Nebuchadnezzar my servant. It is remarkable that the Holy Spirit gives to Nebuchadnezzar by Jeremiah (Jer_25:9; Jer_27:6; Jer_43:10) the same title that Isaiah gives even to the Messiah Himself: namely, ‘My Servant.’ And inasmuch as the Chaldean king was appointed and empowered by God to conquer the nations, such as Ammon, Edom, Moab (which were types of the enemies of Christ and His Church,) we need not scruple to say that in these victories He foreshadowed the conquests of Christ, who made Himself a servant to do His Father’s will.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
4. On Jer_25:12. “Deus uti consuevit impiorum opera quoad malum pœnæ. Malum vero culpæ minime prodit, sed eos ipsos propter illud gravissime punit, præsertim si modum excesserint (Zec_1:15). Solet istud illustrari apposita similitudine a virga, quam pater in castiganda sobole usurpat, usurpatum vero mox in ignem conjicit” Förster.
5. On Jer_25:12. “Verbum Domini est veracissimum tum in comminationibus, de quibus hic et 2 Reg. Jer_10:16, tum in promissionibus, de quibus Ps. 23:14. Unde scite Augustinus (de Civ. D. 22, 3); ‘venient hæc quoque sicut ista venerunt; idem enim Deus utraque promisit, utraque ventura esse prædixit.’—Per quod quia peccat, per idem punitur et ipse.” Förster.
6. On Jer_25:29. “Verissimum est illud Clementis Alexandrini: proximus Deo plenissimus flagellis (the nearer God, the nearer trouble, the better Christian, the greater the cross: it meets him first who is nearest to God). Contra vero Bernhardus: Qui hic non in laboribus hominum, illic erunt in laboribus dæmonum,” Försteb.
7. On Jer_25:30 sqq. “The strict judgment of God sounds much stronger and clearer than we can bear. Hence the 600,000 men were so terrified when they heard the voice of God, that they said: let not God speak with us, lest we die (Exo_20:19). It is well that we do not refuse to hear, or stop our ears against the sweet sound of God’s voice in the sacred office of the preacher, because we can have it (Psa_95:8), or the time will come, when we shall be obliged to hear its awful roaring, which God forbid. For when the lion roars, who shall not be afraid? (Amo_3:8.)” Cramer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The entire chapter treats of the divine judgments and affords occasion to speak of them (in a series of sermons) in various relations. We can thus speak, I. of the judicial acts of God according to the conditions of their manifestation They are (1) required by the sins of men (Jer_25:5-6); (2) deferred by the love of God (Jer_25:5-6); (3) driven to accomplishment by the impenitence of mankind (Jer_25:7 sqq.).—II. Of the judicial acts of God according to the stages of their manifestation. (1) The preliminary, (a) in the life of individuals, (b) in the life of nations. God judges continually here below both single individuals and entire nations (Jer_25:9-29). (2) The final judgment; (a) in so far as it has already begun (Jer_25:9-11; Jer_25:29 coll. 1Pe_4:17; Matthew 24.). The theocracy in its outer relations is already judged; in this sense the universal judgment has begun at the house of God; (b) in so far as it is still future (single empires have already been destroyed, as well as single men, but the judgment of the world as a whole is still impending, Jer_25:30 sqq.).—III. The judicial acts of God differently represented in the Old and New Testaments. (1) In the Old Testament they are (a) represented in figures (Jer_25:30-31 sqq., 38). (b) limited to the earth (Jer_25:30; Jer_25:33); (2) In the New Testament they are represented (a) in their full super terrestrial reality, (b) as extended over heaven and earth. (Comp. in contrast to this passage Matthew 25; 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4; 2 Peter 3).—IV. The judicial acts of God differently felt, according to the different inward conditions of men—(1) As destruction on the part of the godless (Jer_25:7 sqq.); (2) As deliverance on the part of the pious (Jer_25:11-12).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 From the thirteenth year of Josiah, in which Jeremiah…
From the thirteenth year of Josiah, in which Jeremiah began to prophesy (Jer 1:1), to the end of Josiah's reign, was nineteen years (Kg2 22:1) of Jehoahaz' reign, with the not quite complete four years of Jehoiakim (Jer 25:1), added to the nineteen years, make up twenty-three years in all.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11 INTRODUCTORY, Jer_25:1-3.
INTRODUCTORY, Jer_25:1-3.
1. This chapter is dated with unusual exactness, not only the year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, but also that of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, being specified. Other examples of dates similarly complete are Jer_26:1; Jer_28:1; Jer_32:1; Jer_39:1, etc. The mention of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon marks the overshadowing influence of this great eastern power. Fourth year of Jehoiakim, etc. — In Dan_1:1, the third year of Jehoiakim is identified with the first year of Nebuchadnezzar. The explanation of this discrepancy — which is so slight as to be really a confirmation — is, that the fourth year of Jehoiakim was but partly coincident with the first year of Nebuchadrezzar. Hales, in his Chronology, makes Jehoiakim’s reign commence July, 607 B.C., and Nebuchadrezzar’s in January, 604 B.C. It hence appears that the prophecy dates in that memorable year which was the turning point in the history of the East. The decisive battle of Carchemish established the ascendency of Babylonian Syria and Palestine, and sealed the fate of the Jewish nation. Immediately thereafter Jerusalem was taken, and her principal inhabitants carried away captive. Shortly after this capture of Jerusalem, by the death of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded to the throne, January, 604 B.C. Thus is the general date of this prophecy most memorable; marking the battle of Carchemish, the capture of Jerusalem, the beginning of the seventy years’ captivity, the accession of Nebuchadnezzar to the Babylonian throne, and the permanent ascendency of the power of the Euphrates over that of the Nile: for never again does Egypt resume her old place among the great nations of the earth.
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 1. in the fourth year] In the earlier part…
1. in the fourth year] In the earlier part of the Book we have not any prophecy so closely dated as the present Cp. ch. Jer_3:6 and Jer_26:1 (“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim”). The addition of the year of Nebuchadrezzar marks more forcibly the fact that it was a turning-point in history (see Introduction, p. xvi.). The prophecy was delivered about 604 b.c., after the arrival of the news of the victory of Nebuchadrezzar at Carchemish. The main objects of the prophet were to point out the sins of the past, and to give advice for the future. That advice was to accept the result of the battle of Carchemish, and to yield to Babylon as the power which God had appointed to bear rule over Palestine and the other kingdoms for the next seventy years.
the same was … Babylon] The LXX omit: probably a gloss.
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 On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 (1) In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son…
XXV.
(1) In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah.—We are carried back in the present arrangement of Jeremiah’s prophecies to a much earlier period than that of the preceding chapter. It is the fourth (in Dan_1:1, the third) year of the reign of Jehoiakim, who had been made king by Pharaoh-nechoh after his defeat of Josiah and capture of Jerusalem. Since the prophet had been called to his work, B.C. 629, a great revolution had been brought about in the relations of the colossal monarchies of the East. Nineveh had fallen (B.C. 606) under the attacks of Cyaxares the Mede, and Nabopolassar the Chaldaean. Nebuchadnezzar, the son of the latter, though his father did not die till the following year, was practically clothed with supreme authority, and had defeated Pharaoh-nechoh at Carchemish, on the banks of the Euphrates, in B.C. 605. The form of the name used here, Nebuchadrezzar, corresponds with the Assyrian, Nabu-kudu-ur-uzur. (Jer_46:1; 2Ki_23:29; 2Ch_35:20.) He was now the master of the East, and it was given to Jeremiah to discern the bearings of the new situation on the future destinies of Judah, and to see that the wisdom of its rulers would be to accept the position of tributary rulers under the great conqueror instead of rashly seeking either to assert their independence or to trust to the support of Egypt, crushed as she was by the defeat at Carchemish. The clear vision of the prophet saw in the Chaldaean king the servant of Jehovah—in modern phrase, the instrument of the designs of the Providence which orders the events of history—and he became, from that moment, the unwelcome preacher of the truth—that the independence of Judah had passed away, and that nothing but evil could follow from fanatical attempts, or secret intrigues and alliances, aiming at resistance.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 This chapter may be illustrated by a comparison of…
This chapter may be illustrated by a comparison of it with Jer 46. There Jeremiah exults ever the destruction of a nation (Egypt) which was one of the chief enemies of God"s people, and on hearing or reading the inspired eloquence of the prophet the heart of a Jew could not but be moved with the liveliest sympathy. But it is another strain which meets us in this chapter, and one which to a Jew would certainly neutralize the favorable feelings which prophecies like that referred to must have awakened. Here Jeremiah announces that the last moment of grace for Judah is past, and the time for judgment come. The long-suffering of Jehovah has been exhausted; the fall of the commonwealth cannot any longer be delayed. Such was the strange destiny of the prophet; he was sent to "pull down" and "to build," but the destructive element (as Jer_1:10 suggests) was largely predominant. Specially predominant is it in this important chapter, in which the prophet begins to fulfill the mission to the heathen with which twenty-three years ago he had been entrusted. One by one, "all the nations" directly or indirectly connected with Israel are called up to hear their punishment. There is no indulgence, no respite; only a gleam of hope in the promised final destruction of the tyrant-city Babylon (vers. 12-14). The prophecy falls naturally into three parts, vers. 15-29 forming the center. The date assigned to this chapter in the first verso is remarkable; it is the fatal year of the battle of Carchemish, which brought Syria and Palestine within the grasp of Babylon.
The first year of Nebuchadnezzar. (comp. 2Ki_24:12 2Ki_25:8 Jer_32:1)
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Vers. 1-7. A melancholy review of twenty-three years of work.
I THE CHARACTER OF THE WORKER. A three and twenty years" experience furnishes a good test of character. So long a time is quite sufficient to eliminate the accidents of passion and temporary enthusiasm, and to bring to light the general principles of a man"s conduct. These constitute his character; they reveal the true features of him. We should not judge a man by his latest action, perhaps a hasty and quite uncharacteristic one; to be fair, not to say charitable, we should consider the whole course of his life. To know ourselves we must look back on the years of our lives, and not pass a superficial judgment on our present mood. The character of Jeremiah, revealed by the test of twenty-three years of work under the most harassing circumstances, is worth our reverent study. Consider the salient points in it:
1. Fidelity. All this time he was working as God"s servant, in opposition to the spirit of the age, provoking enmity, calumny, haired. The bearer of a message which it must have been a pain for him to deliver, a message of denunciation and menace, Jeremiah boldly declared it and adhered to it, in spite of every inducement to follow the fashion of the prophets of flattery. We meet with men who are proud of representing the spirit of their age. Nothing is easier. Nothing is more simple than to be an echo, a reflection, a mouthpiece to the general voice. The difficulty is to utter a contrary voice, not out of stubbornness, or a spirit of willful antagonism, but out of calm fidelity to duty. This is the task of the great.
2. Perseverance. For three and twenty years Jeremiah had persisted in his unpopular course. We know that he continued equally staunch for many more years. Here is the great test. It is possible to be an Elijah, and stand alone facing the howling multitude of priests and slaves of Baal in one supreme moment of conflict and speedy triumph, and yet after this to flee to the wilderness, and to feel unequal to the task of constant fidelity, in season and out of season, through long dreary years, without the excitement of a dramatic scene of heroism, worn and fretted by incessant, petty, spiteful enmity. Yet this was the experience of Jeremiah.
3. Earnestness. "I have spoken," he says, "rising early and speaking." The prophet is not a passive martyr, nor a mere confessor who dares to speak out his conviction when it is directly challenged. He goes forth on a mission urging his message upon men. He is a model preacher. He is no perfunctory official droning through a dreary task, no mere professional preacher, honestly discharging his work, but with little interest in it, like a hired pleader. His heart is with his work. He has an end in view, and he sets himself with all his might to accomplish it. In all this the prophet reveals to us the long-suffering and earnest desire of God to deliver his children. All this while God was inspiring Jeremiah, as he had inspired a succession of prophets, to rouse and urge the people to repentance.
II THE RESULTS OF THE WORK. Apparent failure. "Ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear." It would seem that all this labor, earnestness, persistence, and fidelity had been so much wasted work.
1. The preacher must not be blamed for apparent fruitlessness. No greater mistake can be made than that of judging a man by the manifest effect of his work. The most popular preacher is not necessarily the most faithful servant of God. The unpopularity and seeming failure of a preacher is not in itself a reason for condemning him. No fault can be found with the preaching of Jeremiah, yet it was not successful. Christ spake as never man spake, and "the Pharisees derided him." He was popular for a season, but ultimately "all men forsook him." The most important truths may be the least popular.
2. The preacher must not be too confident in expecting time to reveal the fruits of his work. Twenty-three years made no such revelation to Jeremiah. A faithful man may toil on through the long night of a whole lifetime of difficulty, and die without seeing the results of his labor. It is well to be prepared for this possibility.
3. The responsibility of rightly receiving a Divine message rests with the hearers. We are always lecturing the preachers. "Take heed how ye speak." These words are not in the Bible. Christ was more anxious about the hearers. "Take heed how ye hear." Of course the preacher has his high responsibilities, but so have the hearers. The poorest sermon of a good man who is trying to expound Divine truth may contain something of profit to a devout listener, who is more anxious to receive the good in it than to pass a barren criticism on its defects; for if the messenger is sadly wanting, and his language and thought as poor as possible, the message which he handles so badly is not the less God"s truth. But if the preaching of a Jeremiah, of a Christ even, is unheeded, what qualities in the preacher can command success with an unsympathizing audience?
4. Still no good work ultimately fails. Jeremiah did not speak for nothing. His message bore good fruit with many of the captives perhaps with Daniel. Preserved to our time, it has been a blessing to generations.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR Vers. 1-7. Messages recapitulated.
I CAREFUL REMINDER OF THE EXTENT OF HIS MINISTRY. (Vers. 1-3)
1. The moral value of this is great. It is no vague indictment, but one made out with all accuracy and conscientiousness. We ought to take note of the extent of our privileges and opportunities, for we shall have to give an exact account of them all.
2. Its evidential value is equally great. The date of the prediction is thus fixed, and history becomes a long verification of his prophetic truth.
II ASSERTION OF HIS OWN AND OF GOD"S DILIGENCE AND FAITHFULNESS. (Vers. 3-6)
1. God has been diligent. He has "risen up early." The welfare of his people is of intense interest to him. The delays of his dispensations are only seeming. No earnestness on the part of the creature can ever anticipate or outrun his love or readiness to provide.
2. His servant the prophet was so also. It was God"s Spirit in him that they heard. He was obedient to the heavenly Spirit, and announced its messages as they were received.
III THE PERSISTENT UNBELIEF AND DISOBEDIENCE OF THE NATION DENOUNCED. (Vers. 3-7) There is something very impressive in the repeated "Ye have not hearkened." It defines and characterizes the guilt of the apostate. There was not even the beginning of serious attention (vers. 5, 6); and their indifference had become systematic and habitual. What wonder that God should have been provoked to wrath? And this is the sinner"s position today. It would be impossible to fathom the depths of our depravity by nature, or to trace it to its ultimate issues.
IV THE SPIRIT AND SUBSTANCE OF THE MESSAGE IS REPEATED. How great is the long-suffering of God! The unbelief of the people had been marvelous, considering the signs which had been given. Another opportunity, however, was afforded ere the catastrophe should take place. No details of the teaching are entered into, but great plainness of speech is used. The emphasis is upon essentials and permanent principles. The "spirit of prophecy" is intensely moral; and this is why the "testimony of Jesus" represents it. It is the grand resultant of all the forces working through ancient prophecy, and casts its revealing light backward upon the prophetic page. These repentances so often urged but never forthcoming, these "returns" and obediences which were to crown with blessing and surround with Divine favor, are only possible through his Spirit. The future of the world, as of every individual and nation, is inextricably associated with the cause of righteousness, and therefore with. the gospel. M.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1-7. A twenty-three years" ministry.
Here we get a statement, brief but not at all uncertain, of what had been done in the prophetic way during twenty-three years. Three parties are concerned in this statement:
(1) God;
(2) the prophet;
(3) the people.
I GOD. Nebuchadnezzar, who is to act as the servant of God (ver. 9) in the great overthrowing work, has just come to his throne, and is unconsciously preparing for that to which God had appointed him. Hence it was fitting that, just at this crisis, God should point back over the past and show how very much he had done to bring about a different result. Not that this comprehensive view was likely at the eleventh hour to make any change in Israel itself; but it is well that it should stand recorded in the history. It is well that we who come after should be made to see clearly how continuously God protested against the wickedness of his people. Jeremiah himself, out of his own experience, speaks as a witness of what had been going on for twenty-three years; and he knew further that he was only one out of many agents by whom God had been doing the same kind of work.
II THE PROPHET. Not Jeremiah peculiarly, but Jeremiah as representative of all the faithful prophets; those to whom he here refers as having been engaged in the same kind of service. He brings against the people a serious charge of persistent neglect; but it also involves a serious confession with respect to himself. A serious confession, but not a shameful one. Though his long ministry has not had the desired end, it is by no means a failure. For twenty-three years the work has been laid upon him of denouncing national apostasy and individual transgression, in all the varieties of it. The substance of this long ministry is written down and the spirit of the ministry made evident. We know the things he spoke of, and how he spoke of them; the enemies he made, the sufferings he endured, the pangs with which his heart was torn. In his ministry he gave himself, without stint. Nor does his work stand alone. He was not the first to exhort to repentance. He succeeded men who had been as faithful as himself, and engaged as long a time in the service of God. And yet, after so many remonstrances, the nation remains stubborn in its apostasy, infatuated as ever in its rapid descent to ruin. Hence we learn how chary we should be in talking of unsuccessful ministries. No ministry, whatever its other results may be, can be unsuccessful in the sight of God, if only there is unshaken fidelity to him. It is fidelity that he rewards, not obvious results. In spite of all the husbandman"s care, digging about the tree and dunging it, it may yield no fruit; but the fidelity of the husbandman deserves a reward all the same. Industry cannot overcome the bad elements in what is given him to cultivate. All who have to engage in preaching and prophesying duties must learn the lesson, that more is needed for success than mere perseverance. Perseverance is like the dropping water which wears away the stone; but what is here required, is that the stone should be changed as to its nature, not worn away. If Jeremiah had been able to prophesy twenty-three centuries, instead of twenty-three years, the result would have been the same. All he could do was to reiterate, in the ears of the people, the necessity of repentance. It is in the light of a passage like this that we learn more of what Jesus meant when he said he came to fulfill the prophets. It was his not only to accomplish their predictions, but do what they could not possibly do by all their appeals turn the hearts of the disobedient to God. Compare the barren ministry of Jeremiah, prophet of Jehovah, with the fruitful ministry of Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ. Yet Paul did not speak one whit more earnestly concerning righteousness and repentance and submission to God. The difference lay in this, that Paul was not only a preacher, but when he preached there was a subduing and renewing Spirit.
III THE PEOPLE. This is a serious charge brought against them, that one man had been in their midst for all these years, with one message, never varying and never slackening, and yet that they had paid, as a nation, not the slightest heed to it. When Nebuchadnezzar did come, there was no chance for them to say that they had not received proper warning. They could not blame Jeremiah. Their very persecution of him was a witness against themselves. Thus there is a warning to those who are hearers of the gospel with all the voices with which it is addressed to them. It is not outside of themselves they must look for explanations of why the truths of the gospel have found no lodgment in their hearts. The cause is within. How many have been listening to the news of Jesus Christ for many more years even than twenty-three, and every year seems to bring a lessening probability that they will treat the message as having a practical concern for themselves! 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 On v6 I will do you no hurt.
Jer_25:6
I will do you no hurt.
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No hurt from God
I. The import of the promise.
1. Such a promise can apply to none but the people of God.
2. The Lords people are apt to fear He should do them hurt, and hence He kindly assures them of the contrary. We want more of that love to God which beareth all things at His hand, which believeth all good things concerning Him, and hopeth for all things from Him.
3. As God will do no hurt to them that fear Him, so neither will He suffer others to hurt them. If God does not change their hearts, He win tie their hands; or if for wise ends He suffers them to injure you in your worldly circumstances, yet your heavenly inheritance is sure, and your treasure is laid up where thieves cannot break through nor steal.
4. More is implied in the promise than is absolutely expressed; for when the Lord says He will do His people no hurt, He means that He will really do them good. All things to Gods people are blessings in their own nature, or are turned into blessings for their sake; so that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies to do them (Gen_50:20; Jer_24:5-6; Rom_8:28).
II. The assurance we have that this promise will be fulfilled.
1. The Lord thinks no hurt of His people, and therefore He will certainly do them no hurt. His conduct is a copy of His decrees: He worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will, and therefore where no evil is determined, no evil can take place.
2. The Lord threatens them no hurt; no penal sentence lies against them.
3. He never has done them any hurt, but good, all the days of their life. Former experience of the Divine goodness should strengthen the believers confidence, and fortify him against present discouragements (Jdg_13:23; Psa_42:6; Psa_77:12; 2Co_1:10). (B. Beddome, M.A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter: “Fourth…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter: “Fourth year of Jehoiakim” (Jer_25:1). It is stated the third year in Dan_1:1; but Hales (“Sacred Chron.”) shows that Jehoiakim was made king by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt in July B.C. 607; whereas Nebuchadnezzar mounted the throne January 21, B.C. 604: and thus Nebuchadnezzar’s first year included parts of both the third and fourth of Jehoiakim. In the Chaldean cylinders [placing all chronology back by twenty-two years] these dates are B.C. 590 for Jehoiakim’s accession, and B.C. 586 for Nebuchadnezzar’s. Cf. notes in loc. to chapters 7 and 10. This chapter formed part of Jehoiakim’s roll (cf. chap, Jer_36:29).
2. Contemporary Scriptures.—Daniel 1; Jeremiah 36; 2Ki_24:1-2; 2Ch_36:5-7.
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3. National Affairs.—Cf. notes in loc. to chapters 7 and 10. This date formed a momentous crisis in the history of the kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, having defeated Pharaoh Necho at Charchemish, came, in pursuit of the Egyptian fugitives, to Judah; took Jerusalem, made Jehoiakim vassal-king, and carried the best life of the nation away into Babylon—thus beginning the seventy years’ Babylonian captivity, which Jeremiah in Jer_25:11 foretells. For twenty-three years Jeremiah had now been God’s prophet in Judah, calling his nation to repentance and reformation. Jeremiah was, during this “fourth year of Jehoiakim,” amid his most energetic labours, persuading Jehoiakim from reliance upon Egypt, and counselling, both as a matter of policy and of religious duty, allegiance with Babylon. This incensed the king against Jeremiah, and led him angrily to burn the roll.
4. Contemporaneous History.—Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, being old and decrepit, entrusted to his son, Nebuchadnezzar, the war against Pharaoh Necho, who had penetrated to the very Euphrates in lust of empire. He won supremacy over his Egyptian rival by a victorious and decisive war at Charchemish. Cf. notes in loc., chapters 7 and 10. “The mingled people:” Ionian and Carian settlers in Egypt, to whom Psammetichus had given territory.
5. Geographical References.—Jer_25:20. “Uz:” lying between Egypt and the states of the Mediterranean, north of Arabia-Petrea, between the sea and Idumea. (Not the Uz of Job_1:1.) In this geographical survey, after reference to Pharaoh of Egypt, first we have mentioned “the races of Arabia and Philistia that bordered on Egypt to the east and west (Jer_25:20); then the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites to the east (Jer_25:21); the Phoeniciana, with their colonies, to the west (Jer_25:22); next the Arabian tribes of the desert, extending eastward from Palestine to the Euphrates (Jer_25:23-24); then the Elamites and Medes in the distant east (Jer_25:25); the near and distant kings of the North; and last of all the king of Babylon (Jer_25:26).”—Kiel. Jer_25:20. “Azzah:” i.e., Gaza. “The remnant of Ashdod:” this is one of those pregnant sentences which none but a contemporary writer could have used. Psammetichus, after a siege of twenty-nine years, had captured and destroyed Ashdod, excepting only a feeble remnant (Herod, 2:157).—Payne Smith. [Gath is not mentioned, for it was destroyed in the same war.] Jer_25:22. “The isles:” properly the coastland (sing.), or the maritime regions of the Mediterranean, where the Phœnicians had planted colonies. Jer_25:23. “Dedan:” North Arabia (Gen_25:3-4). “Tema and Buz:” tribes north of Arabia (Job_32:2). “All that are in the utmost corners:” see note on Jer_9:26. The tribe of Kedar. Jer_25:24. “Mingled people that dwell in the desert:” tribes of Cusbite origin, such as Kenites. By intermarriage these tribes had become of mixed blood. Jer_25:25. “Zimri:” unmentioned elsewhere. Zimran was the eldest son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen_25:2). This was probably a district east of the Arabian desert towards Persia. Ptolemy mentions a Zabra between Mecca and Medina. “Elam:” west of Persia, but used in Scripture for Persia generally. Jer_25:26. “Sheshach” (cf. chap. Jer_51:41), Babylon. See Lit. Crit. on word below.
6. Personal Allusions.—Jer_25:1. “Jehoiakim and Josiah:” see notes on chapter 1. “Nebuchadrezzar:” notes on Jer_21:2. Jer_25:3. “Amon king of Judah:” son of Manasseh, fifteenth king of Judah, and father of Josiah. For his character see Zep_1:4; Zep_3:3-4; Zep_3:11.
7. Natural History.—Jer_25:34. “Principal of the flock” (also in Jer_25:35): means the best and fattest of the sheep. Jer_25:38. “Forsaken his covert as the lion:” i.e., ventures forth in quest of prey.
8. Manners and Customs.—Jer_25:10. “Voice of mirth, and of the bride:” cf. notes in loc. on Jer_7:34, Jer_16:9. “Sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle:” i.e., the day’s industries, and the evening social fellowships after the day’s toils are over. See Addenda on Jer_25:10. Jer_25:15. “Take the wine-cup:” the metaphor of an intoxicating cup is commonly used in Scripture to denote affliction or misery. Cf. Isa_51:17-22; Jer_49:12; Jer_51:7; Lam_4:21, &c. Jer_25:30. “Give a shout, as they that tread the grapes:” as the vintagers trampled the grapes they raised a loud song or cry.
9. Literary Criticisms.—General remark: the text of this chapter is disfigured by numerous interpolations, some of which are absent from the Septuagint. Thus, from Jer_25:9 disappear the words, “saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant.” In Jer_25:11, instead of “shall serve the king of Babylon,” the Septuagint reads. “serve among the nations.” From Jer_25:12 are omitted the words, “the king of Babylon” and “and the land of the Chaldeans.” From Jer_25:13 are omitted the gloss “which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.” In Jer_25:26, “and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them” are left out in the Septuagint. All these interpolations were doubtless inserted by a copyist from the later prophecies of Jeremiah, chapters 50 and 51.
Jer_25:26. “Sheshach:” this is a cypher form of the word Babylon, and is done thus:—The alphabet letters are reversed in order, and instead of the proper letter of the word being used, its number from the beginning of the alphabet is counted, and then the same number-letter reckoned from the end of the alphabet is inserted in its place. Thus, ב is the second letter from the beginning; so ש is the second letter from the end of the alphabet; and ל is the twelfth from the beginning, while כ is the twelfth from the end. Babylon is in Hebrew, BABEL; but, instead, the letters are altered into SHESHACH. This is the Cabalistic system. Michaelis, however, explains the term as meaning “brazen-gated” (cf. Isa_45:2); others suggest “house of a prince;” Glassius argues that it comes from the Babylonian goddess Sach, by reduplication of the first letter. From this goddess Misael’s name was altered to Me-shach. Further, the term Shace was applied to a Babylonish festival alluded to in chap. Jer_51:39; Jer_51:57; Isa_21:5. It was during this feast that Cyrus took Babylon (Herod. i). Thus Jeremiah mystically denoted the time of its capture by this term.
Jer_25:30. “Mightily roar upon his habitation.” נָוֶה means both habitation and pasture; and the text better reads, “roar mightily over his pasturage.” Jer_25:37. “Peaceable habitations.” Here, as in Jer_25:30, habitation should be pastures.
HOMILETIC SURVEY OF CHAPTER 25
THE MANIFOLD JUDGMENTS OF GOD
The chapter distributes itself into sections thus:—Judah’s captivity (Jer_25:3-11); Babylon’s fall (vers,. 12–14); The wine-cup of fury for the nations (Jer_25:15-29); Tribulations throughout the world (Jer_25:30-38).
Glancing over the whole chapter, we are impressed with the theme of the Divine dispensations of judgment in relation to individuals, nations, and the whole world. Lange suggests the following: We can speak of—
I. The judicial acts of God according to the conditions of their manifestations. They are—
1. Required by the sins of men (Jer_25:5-6).
2. Deferred by the love of God (Jer_25:5-6).
3. Driven to accomplishment by the impenitence of mankind (Jer_25:7, seq.).
II. The judicial acts of God according to the stages of their manifestation.
1. This applies to current preliminary judgments. (1.) In the life of individuals. (2.) In the life of nations. God judges continually here below, both single individuals and entire nations (Jer_25:9-29).
2. It applies to the final judgment. (1.) In so far as it has already begun (Jer_25:9-11; Jer_25:29; 1Pe_4:17; Matthew 24). The theocracy in its outer relations is already judged; in this sense the universal “judgment has begun at the house of God.” (2.) In so far as it is still future. Single empires have already been destroyed, as well as single men; but the judgment of the world as a whole is still impending (Jer_25:30, seq.).
III. The judicial acts of God differently represented in the Old and New Testaments.
1. In the Old Testament they are—(1.) Represented in figures (Jer_25:30-31, seq. 38). (2.) Limited to the earth (Jer_25:30; Jer_25:33).
In the New Testament they are represented—(1.) In their full super-terrestrial reality. (2.) As extended over heaven and earth. (Comp., in contrast to this passage, Matthew 25; 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4; 2 Peter 3).
IV. The judicial acts of God differently felt according to the inward conditions of men.
1. As destruction on the part of the godless (Jer_25:7, seq.).
2. As deliverance on the part of the pious (Jer_25:11-12).
TOPICAL SURVEY OF CHAPTER 25 HOMILETICALLY ARRANGED
Topic: PROPHETS AND THEIR MISSION. (Jer_25:1-7; Jer_25:13; Jer_25:15; Jer_25:30.)
“The word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them” (Jer_25:3-4).
This is the first place in the book where Jeremiah speaks of himself as “the prophet” (Jer_25:2). He here records the term of his labours (Jer_25:3), and alludes to the changes which had come upon his nation during his mission among them.
I. A survey of prophetic work.
1. His vast and manifold audience (Jer_25:2). 2. The lengthened period of his ministry (Jer_25:3). Nineteen years under Josiah, three months under Jehoahaz, four years under Jehoiakim.
II. A testimony to prophetic fervour.
1. His own persevering activity (Jer_25:2 : “For three and twenty years, rising early and speaking”). 2. A succession of Divine messengers (Jer_25:3), so that the messages and expostulations of prophets were never silenced.
III. A statement of prophetic authority.
1. He prophesied only because commissioned by God. “The word of the Lord came,” &c. (Jer_25:3). Comp. also Jer_25:15; Jer_30:2. The prophets were divinely constrained to their work and witness (Jer_25:4).
IV. A summary of prophetic teaching.
1. A call to reformation (Jer_25:5). 2. A promise of a goodly heritage (Jer_25:5). 3. A warning against impiety (Jer_25:6). 4. An exhibition of the consequences of sin: “do you hurt” (Jer_25:6); “provoke Me to anger” (Jer_25:7). 5. Predictions of judgment (Jer_25:15; Jer_25:30).
V. An indication of the variety characterising prophetic labours.
1. Preaching (Jer_25:1-7). 2. Writing (Jer_25:13). 3. Visiting (Jer_25:15). 4. Denouncing (Jer_25:30).
VI. A protest against prophetic rejection.
1. The people had persistently refused to hear prophetic messages (Jer_25:3-4; Jer_25:8). 2. They had shown no inclination towards the messages God sent (Jer_25:4). Comp. Addenda on Jer_25:4 : “Jehovah hath sent to you all the prophets.”
His had not been an easy ministry; comp. Jer_15:15-21; Jer_20:14-18. But he was now firmly established as a prophet, and had become “unto the people a fenced brazen wall” (comp. Jer_1:18; Jer_6:27; Jer_15:20). But, alas! how little had his nation benefited! Repudiating such a messenger of God, and for so long, their sin was the greater, and their doom righteously severe.
Topic: NEBUCHADREZZAR, GOD’S SERVANT. (Jer_25:9.)
The bestowment of this title by Jehovah is both rare and significant. It is given in the Old Testament Scriptures emphatically to three persons: first to Moses (Deu_34:5; Jos_1:2), as the Leader and Lawgiver of his people; to Nebuchadrezzar (Jer_25:9; Jer_27:6; Jer_43:10), as the Punisher, yet Preserver, of Judah; and to MESSIAH (Isa_52:13; Isa_53:11), as the Redeemer and King of Israel. Note: Cyrus is called by a similar name (Isa_44:28; Isa_45:1), as the Liberator and Restorer of the exiled people. See Addenda, Jer_25:9. “Nebuchadrezzar, My servant.”
I. A discredited and astonishing appointment. Facts seemed to refute the idea that Nebuchadnezzar was to be commissioned and empowered to conquer the nations and possess the heritage of Israel. Egypt had been the Great Power. Pharaoh Necho it was who had slain Josiah, and had established his authority between Egypt and the Euphrates (2Ki_24:7). And now Nineveh was captured by him, the Assyrian empire had fallen, and Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, was infirm and old. Jehoiakim, their own king, was a vassal of Pharaoh. All these facts seemed to declare that Egypt under Pharaoh, and not Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, was destined to be the supreme arbiter and ruler of nations.
But—1. God purposed otherwise; and “none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou?”
2. God was preparing another, who was merely a young military leader, and was hitherto unknown—Nebuchadnezzar. “Things despised God hath chosen; and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.” That very year in which Nabopolassar died, Nebuchadnezzar, his son, succeeded to the throne, and began a series of brilliant victories which raised him to the highest position among the potentates of the earth.
II. An unchallengeable temporary supremacy. To this person, whom God would “send for and take,” should be given victory over Egyptian arms (at Char-chemish), dominion over the mighty realm of Egypt, over the destinies of God’s own people, and over all neighbouring nations. Jer_25:9 declares that (1) God will gather together all the northern nations; (2) place them under Nebuchadnezzar as sovereign and general; (3) bring them against Judah.
The period of this ascendancy is definitely limited; but it is equally definitely determined; nothing can prolong, nor can shorten it.
1. God’s omnipotence decides national and individual ascendancy. “He raiseth up one, and putteth down another.” Powerful nations are weak indeed in His all-powerful hands; while weakest forces can be made “mighty through God.”
2. God’s omnipotence is thus to be honoured in human affairs. Because Nebuchadnezzar failed to revere God’s power as higher than his own, and indeed the source of his own, therefore he was degraded. (See Dan_4:22; Dan_4:25; Dan_4:29-37; also Dan_5:18-23.)
III. A minister of God’s righteous judgments (Jer_25:9; Jer_25:11).
1. Specially employed by Jehovah for punishing wrong. Guilt in Judah and the nations had to be scourged, and God used him for this.
2. Unconsciously employed by Jehovah for ends he did not appreciate. Himself no worshipper of Jehovah, no willing “servant” of the Divine Master, he yet did God’s behest effectually. “He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him;” “Men are Thy hand.”
IV. A guardian of the covenant nation.
1. Judah was to be chastised for its idolatry, yet preserved from destruction. Captivity effected both ends.
2. Judah was to fulfil Divine prophecies and vindicate God’s faithfulness to His covenants before the world. Prophecy had for ages threatened captivity as the penalty of idolatry; therefore it came. Yet prophecy had as emphatically guaranteed that God’s people should be restored to and repossess their land; therefore their exile was made safe to them, and really preserved them intact as a nation, while it also disciplined their heart and prepared them for return to Canaan.
God has His own methods of effecting His plans; yet His plans cannot fail. By ways and agencies we should not select He works our “good” (chap. Jer_24:6). Over all the powers and projects of man He sways, and does according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth.
(a.) It is well to be reconciled to so great a God. (b.) We are safe in the covenant care of so faithful a God. (c.) It is hopeless to resist the purposes of so omnipotent a God.
Topic: SEVENTY YEARS’ CAPTIVITY. (Jer_25:11-12.)
Rationalistic criticism is, of course, offended by this specification beforehand of the term of Babylon’s ascendancy and of the Jewish captivity. The period “seventy years” must have been interpolated after the captivity was over and the time known! says Hitzig. “Such coincidence of history with prophecy would be a surprising accident,” says Hitzig again. Graf thinks that the prediction of Babylon’s destruction, at the very time when it is described as a power divinely commissioned to execute judgment, is somewhat unsuitable and improbable.
To this the reply may be: 1. As the Babylonish ascendancy began with the year of this prophecy, the fourth of Jehoiakim’s reign, this was a suitable time for predicting the term of its continuance. 2. As God’s judgments on the nations were now being passed before the prophet’s vision, beginning with Jerusalem and comprehending all the earth, Babylon could not reasonably be omitted. 3. Since the future of Judah in captivity was so bound up with the future of Babylon, the prediction of the term of exile was naturally accompanied with this prediction of Babylon’s fall. 4. Inasmuch also as the Jewish captivity now began, it was needful—in order to save the exiles from despair, to encourage their submission to expatriation, to sustain their faith in God, and thus to keep alive a religious life in their souls—to show beforehand the limit of the term of discipline.
I. The historic reckoning of this period. These “seventy years” began with “the fourth year of Jehoiakim and the first of Nebuchadrezzar” (Jer_25:1), when he first captured Jerusalem, i.e., B.C. 606. They end with the capture of Babylon in the first year of Cyrus, and the restoration of the Jews, B.C. 536 (Ezr_1:1). About the filling up of those years in Babylonish history there seems some slight difficulty. Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-four years; his son Evil-Merodach, two years; Neriglissar, who murdered Evil-Merodach (the Nergal-Sharezer mentioned in Jer_39:3-13), Nebuchadnezzar’s son-in-law, four years; his infant son, Laborosoarchad, nine months, he being then murdered; Nabonedus, seventeen years. To these sixty-seven years and nine months may, however, be added the necessary interval until the Jews were really in repossession of their country, which may fully account for the literal “seventy years.”
II. The theocratic purpose of this captivity.
1. The assignment of His people to captivity was intended by God—(a) to punish their apostasy from Him; (b) to restore their fidelity to Him; (c) to enlighten them concerning the true and only God, in distinction from the revolting forms of idolatry and the consequent degradations they would witness in Babylon (chap. Jer_24:5-7).
2. The limitation of the term of His people’s captivity was intended by God—(a) to declare that the committal of Judah to Nebuchadnezzar was not an abdication of His claim to them and control over their destiny; (b) to vindicate His power over the mighty monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar, His “servant,” whom He had exalted to carry out the Divine plans; (c) to foster the hope of restoration in the hearts of His people, and thus dispose them to accept the chastisement and renew their faith in Jehovah. They would only “hang their harps on the willows,” not cast them away in despair.
III. The supernatural termination of Babylon’s power.
1. The empire rose and ended within the predetermined period of “seventy years.” A short-lived wonder; and apparently called into existence only for the temporary expatriation, and therefore preservation, of Judah. Within the term of Judah’s exile, Babylon rose and fell. Babylonia and the captivity were synchronous: commenced simultaneously, closed simultaneously. This suggests the vast importance Judah assumed in God’s esteem. For her He created Babylon! Nebuchadnezzar was “His servant” to punish and preserve her.
2. The precision with which God limited Babylon’s ascendancy sublimely vindicates God’s supremacy as the Governor of nations. “The mighty monarchy of Chaldea was under the control of the God of Israel, and He who made it flow like a stormy ocean, and overwhelm the nations with its flood, could say to its proud waves, Hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther.”—Wordsworth.
3. The predicted overthrow of Babylon was a judgment by God upon the lust of empire. Although the Chaldeans were a Divine instrument for punishing the Jews, they knew it not, but merely gratified their cruel passions and impious greed of power, thereby contracting guilt which in its turn called for punishment (Jer_25:12). Under Cyrus’ command the allied Medes and Persians, after a long and difficult siege, captured Babylon, B.C. 538; and Darius the Mede assumed the throne. “The empire of Babylon,” says Dr. Payne Smith, “was practically the work of one man. After Nebuchadnezzar’s death it continued for a few years, during which its history is a series of murders and usurpations, and then it fell for ever, and its ruins form its only lasting memorial. Contrast with this the promise to Judah in chap. Jer_4:27.”
Topic: PROPHECY VINDICATED IN BABYLON’S FALL. “And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it” (Jer_25:13)
The fall of Babylon proves the truth of prophecy, and prophecy proved attests the Divine inspiration of prophets. Isaiah and Jeremiah predicted events which befell mighty empires; they must, therefore, have been moved by the Omniscient Spirit. Man himself “knoweth not what a day may bring forth;” how shall he foresee the fate of cities and destiny of nations, and at a time when nothing could indicate such events? Consider—
I. God minutely declared His prophetic purpose against Babylon. “My words which I have pronounced against it.”
1. He pronounced the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians (Isa_21:2; Jer_51:11). History fulfilled this; for under the command of Cyrus, who was announced a hundred years before he was born, Babylon was besieged by the united forces of the Medes and Persians.
2. God declared that the river of Babylon should be dried up (Isa_44:27; Jer_50:38). This river was two furlongs broad, and more than twelve feet deep; and was thought to be a surer fortification than the city’s massive walls. Prophecy was strikingly fulfilled; for Cyrus turned the course of the Euphrates and drained the channel, so that his soldiers crossed and entered the city.
3. Further, Jehovah proclaimed that Babylon should become a desolation. So complete should this desolation be that the Arabian would not be able even to pitch his tent on the site (Isa_13:20). All this came to pass. One part of the country was overflowed by the river which Cyrus diverted, making the land a boggy marsh, which became so overrun with serpents and venomous creatures that not even the wild Arab could dwell near it.
Comparing history with prophecy, in every minute particular God’s “words which He pronounced against” Babylon are seen to be startlingly verified.
II. When God denounces a city or nation, His decision is not arbitrary, but is justified by some foreseen fact. He foresees Babylon’s idolatry, iniquity, and impious pride, and therefore determined its destruction. Hence this overthrow was not the result of caprice or arbitrariness on God’s part; but sin was the cause of Babylon’s fall. Sin saps the foundation of cities and empires.
III. When, because of iniquity, God determines the destruction of a city or empire, nothing can save it. If ever a city appeared impregnable, it was Babylon. Its walls, says one writer, “were above 300 feet high, 87 feet broad, and 48 miles in compass.” In addition, the river Euphrates appeared an insuperable barrier to an enemy entering the city. Yet, notwithstanding its mighty wall with its hundred gates of solid brass, notwithstanding its wide and deep river, Babylon was taken, according to the word of the Lord.
Men talk of impregnability—the impregnability of walls, forts, and bulwarks. But only what God defends is impregnable, and nothing can stand when God determines its fall. Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre and Sidon, all illustrate this—the power of God to fulfil His counsel. “Hath He said, and shall He not do it?”
IV. The fidelity of God, in the execution of His threatened judgments, is presumptive proof that He will fulfil all His gracious promises. Hath He more delight in punishing the wicked than in blessing the righteous? Nay; He is “slow to anger,” but He is also “not slack concerning His promises.” Sure in the fulfilment of His threatenings, certainly “all His promises are Yea and Amen.”
V. Divine threatenings have in some cases been recalled, but there are no instances where Divine promises have not been fulfilled. The sins which incurred the threatenings have been repented of, as with Nineveh, and so the stroke has been turned aside. But all God’s promises spring from His grace and love. And, while man’s sin may cease, and so the judgment be escaped, God’s “love never faileth,” therefore the promises can never be recalled. Promises may be delayed, but Divine love and faithfulness are guarantees that what He has promised He will assuredly perform.—Arranged from Rev. D. Pledge’s “Walks with Jeremiah.”
Topic: THE WINE-CUP OF WRATH. (Jer_25:15-29.)
A bold image, and not infrequently used by the sacred writers (comp. Psa_75:8, Isa_51:22, Lam_4:21, Rev_16:19, &c.). Dr. Adam Clarke points out that Plato has a similar idea: “Suppose,” says Plato, “God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear, so that the more any one should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of everything both present and future; and, at last, though the most courageous of men, should become totally possessed by fear” (De Leg. 1, near the end). Homer also (Iliad 24:527–533) places two vessels at the disposal of Jupiter, one of good, the other of evil, in which potions are ready for men to drink:—
“Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood:
The source of evil one, and one of good;
From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,
Blessings to these, to those distributes ills;
To most he mingles both: the wretch decreed
To taste the bad unmixed, is cursed indeed;
Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,
He wanders outcast both of earth and heaven.”—Pope.
Henry, in general, suggests the following:—“The cup in the vision is to be a sword in the accomplishment of it (Jer_25:16). (1.) The just anger of God sends His judgment (Jer_25:15; comp. Job_21:20, Rev_14:10). The wrath of God in this world is but a “cup,” contrasted with the full streams of it hereafter. (2.) By human hands the judgment was to be executed. Jeremiah enforces the cup (Jer_25:17); Nebuchadnezzar wields the sword. (3.) On whom the judgment should fall: all the nations within the verge of Israel’s acquaintance. (4.) The certainly and irresistibleness of the coming judgment (Jer_25:28-29). They will not only be loath to take the cup, but will refuse to believe the judgment will ever come; but God will see to it that they drink it.” Suggestions:—
(i.) There is a God who judges in the earth, to whom all nations are accountable, and by whose judgments they must abide.
(ii.) God can easily bring to ruin the greatest nations—the most numerous, powerful, and secure.
(iii.) Those who have maltreated God’s people will be certainly reckoned with for their deeds. The year of recompense will come on all who have vexed and afflicted Israel.
(iv.) The predictions of God’s prophets will in due time assuredly be accomplished. Isaiah had long before this prophesied of these nations (chap. 13, &c.), and now at length these predictions will have complete fulfilling.
(v.) Those who are ambitious of power and dominion commonly become the plagues of their generation. Nebuchadnezzar was so proud of his might that he became lost to the sense of right.
(vi.) The greatest pomp and power of this world are of very uncertain continuance. Before Nebuchadnezzar’s greater force kings themselves must yield and become captives. (See Addenda on Jer_25:15 : THE WINE-CUP OF FURY.)
Topic: “SHESHACH:” BABYLON REVERSED; BABYLON’S FATE. (Jer_25:26.)
I. The term “Sheshach” was a disguised name for magnificent Babylon.
1. There was a prudential reason at this crisis for concealment of the reference of this prediction. This prophecy of Babylon’s overthrow was one sure to become known to the Chaldeans, and then might have incensed them against the captives. The mention of “the king of Babylon” and “the land of the Chaldeans” in Jer_25:12, was doubtless a later insertion into the text, and has no place in the Septuagint (See Lit. Crit., supra.) But this hidden reference would not be understood by the captors, though well known in its reference by the captives. Consequently there was no severity shown in Chaldea, either to Jeremiah (chap. Jer_39:11), nor those of his nation who favoured surrender to Chaldea rather than to Egypt.
2. There was much ingenuity shown in the literary method of concealment. (See Lit. Crit., supra, on the inverted letters which are here used for Babel.) Also (and we may accept the further idea), since Shace was the name of the festival which would be held at the very hour of Babylon’s overthrow, the name would indicate to the exiles not only the city’s fall, but the actual season of the year when the event should transpire. Yet the Chaldeans themselves would decipher no meaning in this mysterious term. Nevertheless this dexterous use of the peculiarly Chaldean syllable “Shach” (as in Me-shach), would suffice to connect the name with the city in the hour of its fall, when the prediction was pointed out by the Hebrews to their Babylonish captors.
II. The term “Sheshach” became a significant watchword among the Jewish exiles.
1. Its meaning was to them a gracious prophecy. Among the exiles it became a pledge of deliverance. It counselled patience, animated hope, and sustained faith. It led them to refuse to “sing the Lord’s songs in a strange land,” yet to preserve their silenced and suspended harps for future use. It disarmed all inducements to fall into Chaldean idolatry, for it reminded them that as their Jerusalem had fallen because of her apostasy to idols, so would Babylon: for Jehovah was a jealous. God and His glory He would not give to others.
2. Its suggestiveness informed them of the issues of the final siege. When the Medes and Persians arrived at the walls of Babylon and laid siege, the Chaldeans were proudly scornful of their demands to surrender, and trusted to the strength of their walls, the splendour of their fortifications, the resources of their city, and contemned the daring foe! But Judah “knew the time of her visitation,” and “Sheshach” became the watchword which sufficed to interpret the meaning of the siege and forecast the issues thereof. When Cyrus was at the gates of Babylon, the festival Shace was being held, and both king and people had abandoned themselves to idolatrous carousals. While they besotted themselves, the exiles, on the other hand, would eagerly scan “the signs of the times,” praying to the God of Israel for the fulfilment of their ardent hopes, that the “set time to favour Zion might come,” and “Sheshach” would be whispered among them as indicating their confidence as to the nearness of the end. (See Addenda on Jer_25:26 : THE KING OF SHESHACH SHALL DRINK.)
III. The term “Sheshach,” then, held a definite prediction of the city’s fall. 1. In the inversion of the letters (“Sheshach” for “Babel”) there was signified the inverted fortunes of the city. It would come to pass that the pride of Babel would be reversed; all its glory should be changed, and its lofty name be covered with discredit.
2. This final overthrow of the conqueror and captor was required in order to vindicate God’s righteousness. “If Judah was to be punished, and Chaldea be invested with universal empire, was it,” asks Dr. Payne Smith, “because the Chaldeans were more approved by God in religion and morals than the Jews? No. They were simply God’s scourge, made fit to be so by the vigour of one man; and at his death punishment will befall them also for their own sins; and in little more than twenty years after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, their empire will cease for ever. They existed only to do the base office of an executioner, and, that done, they will be laid aside.”
Topic: GOD’S CONTROVERSY WITH HUMANITY. “A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord” (Jer_25:31).
Universal disturbance is predicted. It would come in this instance through the military aggressions and devastations of Nebuchadnezzar, who would march over the nations in irresistible conquests. But behind Nebuchadnezzar’s armies Jehovah would stand, vindicating the laws which those nations had violated, and punishing the wicked with the sword. (See Addenda on Jer_25:28-29.)
(i.) In world-wide commotions we must recognise the direct action of the Lord God. “When judgments are abroad” there is evidence that God has arisen to “shake terribly the earth” (Isa_2:19).
(a.) These universal commotions occur not by haphazard. (b.) Natural agencies [as now Nebuchadnezzar’s armies] are supernatural instrumentalities. (c.) There is a purpose and a providence in such vast and solemn commotions. (d.) Reverently yield to these “pleadings” of God whenever they occur.
(ii.) Great crises occur when God places humanity in arraignment. He may send out war over the earth, or pestilence, or fruitless seasons, or paralysis of industries; but in human history there do periodically occur such grave epochs when God manifestly enters into controversy with His creatures.
(a.) Wrong, which is in the world, seems at definite periods to culminate. Iniquity gets into the ascendant everywhere, and requires a mighty shaking and shattering to be cast down again into shame and defeat. (b.) God calls humanity to answer for its wrongdoing. He has His own manifold ways of doing this—war, disaster, &c. (c.) Judgments sweep over the earth in stern protestations. Calamities are God’s proclamations of displeasure.
A controversy implies that wrong exists which God will have set right.
I. There is just cause why God should come into controversy with humanity.
1. He has given us natural revelation, yet we have misused it (Rom_1:17-20).
2. He has made Himself and His will known in human history, yet we have ignored Him (Pro_1:24-25).
3. He has sent His messengers to the world, yet we have repudiated them (comp. Jer_25:4 with Mat_21:35, &c.; Jer_23:34, to the end).
4. He sought to reconcile humanity to Himself, yet we have refused His grace (comp. 2Co_5:19 with Heb_2:3; Heb_10:28).
II. Human history has been interrupted by epochs in which God has pleaded with all flesh.
1. Recall to thought the black dates which have become marked on all national records. Not a nation has been without them; times of awful solemnity and sorrow.
2. Grave crises have also come upon many nations simultaneously. International calamities and wars and plagues, by which countries and peoples have been plunged into common distress and amaze.
3. Over the whole habitable world great controversies have gone forth from God. What was the ancient Flood, what the first preaching of the Cross, what the Reformation, what those modern evangelistic and revival movements, but occasions when God “pleaded with all flesh”?
III. A delinquent world will assuredly be brought to judgment by Jehovah.
1. It is an eternal law and necessity that wickedness shall be rebuked and punished (comp. 2Pe_2:4-6).
2. It is predetermined that the lives of men shall be brought before the throne of God for judgment (Act_17:31).
Application.—(a.) God now “pleads” with us for our reconciliation and salvation. (b.) His “controversy” will be the more dreadful with us if, by rejecting His grace, we compel Him to “plead” with us in judgment. (See Addenda on Jer_25:30.)
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 25: NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Jer_25:1. “THE FOURTH YEAR OF JEHOIAKIM.” This date was the turning-point in Oriental history. The armies of Egypt and Babylon met in deadly and decisive battle at Charchemish, and God gave the ascendancy to Nebuchadnezzar. Immediately after this battle, and probably before Nebuchadnezzar and his victorious army appeared in Palestine, Jeremiah delivered this prophecy, which foretells the greatness of the Babylonish empire, mentions the countries over which it is to extend, and the exact term of its duration. During this year Jeremiah had, in vain, been seeking, with the wisdom of a statesman and the fervour of a patriot, to detach Jehoiakim from Egypt and induce him to accept Nebuchadnezzar’s supremacy. This led Jehoiakim—a year later—both to burn the prophet’s roll (comp. chap. Jer_36:32), to endeavour to slay the prophet (ibid. 26), and thereby to silence all further Divine messages to him, till, at the close of his reign, the Chaldeans were marching upon Jerusalem.—Comp. Speaker’s Commentary.
Jer_25:4. “JEHOVAH HATH SENT TO YOU ALL HIS PROPHETS.” God is a long-suffering God, who desireth not the death of a sinner; therefore He gives the first world one hundred and twenty years’ time for repentance (Gen_6:3). Lot preaches to Sodom and Gomorrah more than twenty-five years (Gen_13:13; Gen_29:14). Christ preaches repentance three and a half years, and the Apostles forty years, before the destruction of Jerusalem. But dost thou not know that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?—Cramer.
Jer_25:5. “TURN YE EVERY ONE FROM HIS EVIL WAY.” Each must separately repent and turn from his own sin. None is excepted, lest they should think their own guilt extenuated because the evil is general.—Jamieson.
Jer_25:9. “NEBUCHADNEZZAR, MY SERVANT.” This title, so remarkable in the Old Testament as the especial epithet, first of Moses, and then of the Messiah, is thrice given to Nebuchadnezzar, and marks the greatness of the commission intrusted to him.—Payne Smith.
The Jews boasted that they were the servants of Jehovah. Yet a heathen king is here called God’s servant, as being more His servant than they were, and as serving God in destroying them!
Jer_25:10. “SOUND OF THE MILLSTONES.” As a household morning employment, all the mills of a town would be heard together, since the custom was for only enough corn for the day’s need to be ground at a time. The labour was severe.
“LIGHT OF THE CANDLE,” i.e., night-light. These are so common in use in the East that the poorest burn candles all through the night.
Payne Smith suggest beautifully that the “sound of the millstones” was the sign of the preparation of the daily meal, and that the “light of the candle” was the sign of the assembling of the family after the labours of the day were over.
Jer_25:15. THE WINE-CUP OF FURY. A “cup” is often in Scripture put for affliction, and “wine” for extreme confusion and wrath. Here the figure indicates stupifying judgments (comp. chaps. Jer_49:12; Jer_51:7.) We need not suppose, with Michaelis, that Jeremiah actually offered a winecup to the ambassadors of the nations assembled at Jerusalem. “Make them drink,” i.e., by denunciations of their sins and prediction of their doom.
Jer_25:26. “THE KING OF SHESHACH SHALL DRINK.” “Belshazzar, the bezzling king of Babylon, whilst he is quaffing in the vessels of God’s house to the honour of Shat (Shesac, id est poculum lœtitiœ aut vanitatis, vel sericum tuum), the Babylonian goddess, whence those feast days were called σακέαι ἡμέραι, being like the Roman Saturnalia. Antichrist also, who hath troubled all the kingdoms of the earth, shall himself perish, together with his Babylon the great, which hath made the nations drunk with the wine of her fornications.”—Trapp.
Jer_25:28. “YE SHALL CERTAINLY DRINK.” No effort of theirs to escape the destruction will avail.
“If they either do not believe thy threatenings, or else disregard them, as thinking themselves sufficiently provided against hostile invasion, you shall let them know that the judgments denounced against them are God’s irreversible decree.”—Lowth.
“The destruction of the heathen nations was fixed and certain. Of this they might be assured by the fact that the Jews, who were Jehovah’s peculiar people, were not spared.”—Henderson.
Jer_25:29. “I BEGIN TO BRING EVIL ON THE CITY WHICH IS CALLED BY MY NAME.” “If God spares not the city in which He has chosen a temple for Himself, and designed His name to be invoked, how can He spare aliens to whom He has never made any promise, as He regarded them as strangers? If, then, the green tree is consumed, how can the dry remain safe? This is the import of the passage. The Apostle uses the same argument in other words; for after having said that judgment would begin at God’s house, he immediately shows how dreadful the vengeance of God would be upon His open enemies (1Pe_4:17).… It is better for us that God should begin with us, as at length the wicked shall in their turn be destroyed; and that we should endure temporal evils, that God may at length raise us up to the enjoyment of His paternal favour. And for this reason Paul also says that it is a demonstration of the just judgment of God when the faithful are exposed to many evils (2Th_1:4-5).”—Calvin.
Jer_25:30. “THE LORD SHALL ROAR.” In highly poetic language the judgment of the Gentiles is described. Jehovah has risen like a lion from his covert, and at His roaring the whole world is filled with terror and confusion. Sheep and shepherds roll on the ground in consternation, but cannot escape; for, like a storm wind, judgment stalks abroad, and the slain of the land cover the ground from one end of the earth unto the other, and lie unwept and without burial.—Payne Smith.
The roar was first to go forth over Judea, wherein were “the sheep of His pasture” (Psa_100:3), and thence into heathen lands.
“HE WILL MIGHTILY ROAR.” Pliny reporteth of the lioness, that she bringeth forth her whelps dead, and so they remain for the space of three days, until the lion, coming near to the den where they lay, lifteth up his voice and roareth so fiercely that they presently revive and rise. The “Lion of the tribe of Judah” will roar to like purpose at the last day; and doth afore, when He pleaseth, roar terribly upon His enemies, to their utter amazement (Joe_3:16; Amo_1:2; Amo_3:8).—Trapp.
“The strict judgment of God sounds much stronger and clearer than we can bear. Hence the six hundred thousand men were so terrified when they heard the voice of God, that they said, ‘Let not God speak with us lest we die’ (Exo_20:19). It is well that we do not refuse to hear, or stop our ears against the sweet sound of God’s voice in the sacred office of the preacher, because we can have it (Psa_95:8); or the time will come when we shall be obliged to hear its awful roaring, which God forbid. For when the lion roars, who shall not be afraid? (Amo_3:8.)”—Cramer.
Jer_25:37. Theme: PEACEABLE HABITATIONS OVERTHROWN. “The peaceable habitations are cut down, because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
I. Wrath destroys the peacefulness of any habitation into which it enters, be it (a) a home; (b) the heart; (c) a church.
II. Divine displeasure, if provoked, will drive us into homeless desolation.
(a.) All refuges will fail to shelter us. (b.) Pleasant scenes are wrecked if God be angry. (c.) “Peaceable habitations” require, for their very existence, that we be “at peace with God.”
III. Peace and safety are possible to those who live in God’s love. All others will be homeless in the evil day. But sudden destruction shall not come upon them. Their souls shall dwell in peace, always secure and at rest.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Jeremiah's Fourteenth Prophecy (Reign of Jehoiakim). The Wine Cup…
Jeremiah's Fourteenth Prophecy (Reign of Jehoiakim). The Wine Cup of God's Fury
We have here the first closely dated prophecy, taking us back from Zedekih's reign to the fourth year of Jehoiakim, between the news of the victory of Nebuchadnezzar over Pharaoh-Necho and the Egyptians at Carchemish (605 b.c.) and the arrival of the Chaldean army under the walls of Jerusalem. The prophet advises submission to Babylon as God's agent, but promises its overthrow at the end. of the seventy years' captivity which impends. He announces the judgment that shall descend on the nations.
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1-7. The people's prolonged waywardness.
3. The three and twentieth year] of Jeremiah's prophetic ministry.
7. The works of your hands] i.e. your idols.
8-14. Babylon's victory and subsequent overthrow.
9. Families of the north] the races near the Tigris and Euphrates. My servant] God's agent in carrying out His purposes of chastisement.
11. Seventy years] for the definite number cp. Jer_29:10. The Jewish love for round numbers would lead them to consider the number seventy used in such a connexion as standing for any approximation to that amount. The captivity seems to have been, in fact, for somewhat less than seventy years.
Immediately upon Jer_25:13 there come in the Septuagint (Greek) version of this book the prophecies against foreign nations, which in the English (following the Hebrew) stand at the end (Jeremiah 46-51).
14. Of them] viz. of the Chaldeans. As they have done to the people of God, so shall it be done to them.
15-29. The wine cup of God's fury to be drunk by the nations.
15. Wine cup] representing disaster, so often in OT.: cp. Jer_49:12; Jer_51:7.
16. Be moved] RV 'reel to and fro.'
17. Then took I the cup] not, however, in a literal sense, the cup being itself only figurative.
18. As it is this day] a later insertion by Jeremiah or another as comment on the fulfilment.
20. The mingled people] those who had attached themselves to a nation without being connected with it by blood. Uz] Job's country near Idumea (Lam_4:21). Ashkelon, etc.] the chief cities of Philistia. Azzah] RV 'Gaza.'
22. Isles] RV 'isle,' RM 'coastland,' a phrase denoting generally the region W. of Palestine, with special reference to the Grecian Archipelago.
23. For Dedan see on Jer_49:8. Tema and Buz (to which Elihu belonged, Job_32:2) were neighbouring Arabian tribes. Utmost corners] see on Jer_9:26.
25. Zimri] quite unknown.
26. Sheshach] Sheshach stands in all probability for Babel (or Babylon). The Jews had a species of cypher writing, the form of which consisted in substituting the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet for the first, the last but one for the second, and so on. Omitting vowels, we find that thus Sh, Sh, Ch will represent B, B, L: cp. Jer_51:41, where Sheshach and Babylon stand in parallel clauses. Another instance of the cypher is in Jer_51:1, where the Heb. for 'in the midst of them that rise up against me' becomes, when thus transmuted, 'Casdim,' i.e. Chaldeans.
30-38. Judgment shall come upon all the peoples of the earth.
30. Upon his habitation] RV 'against His fold,' i.e. His people.
31. Plead] in a legal sense, judge.
32. Coasts] RV 'uttermost parts.'
34. Shepherds] i.e. rulers. Like a pleasant vessel] fair but fragile.
37. Habitations are cut down] RV 'folds are brought to silence.'
38. As the lion] The Lord is gone forth in wrath to lay waste.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v11 seventy years
seventy years
Cf. Lev 26:33-35; 2Ch 36:21; Dan 9:2 The 70 years may be reckoned to begin with the first deportation of Judah to Babylon. 2Ki 24:10-15. B.C. 604 according to the Assyrian Eponym Canon, or B.C. 606 according to Ussher; or from the final deportation; 2Ki 25:1-30; 2Ch 36:17-20; Jer 39:8-10. B.C. 586 (Assyr. Ep. Canon), or B.C. 588 (Ussher). In the first case the 70 years extend to the decree of Cyrus for the return Ezr 1:1-3 B.C. (Assyr. Ep. Canon), or B.C. 536 (Ussher). In the second case the 70 years terminate B.C. 516 (Assyr.Ep. Canon) with the completion of the temple. The latter is more probable reckoning in the light of Dan 9:25.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 The Seventy Years’ Captivity and the Judgment of the…
CHAPTER 25
The Seventy Years’ Captivity and the Judgment of the Nations
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1. The retrospect (Jer 25:1-7)
2. The seventy years’ captivity announced (Jer 25:8-11)
3. The punishment of Babylon and its king (Jer 25:12-14)
4. The wine-cup of fury for the nations (Jer 25:15-29)
5. The day of the LORD and wrath of God (Jer 25:30-38)
Jer 25:1-7. The prophet in the fourth year of Jehoiakim addresses the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The fourth year of Jehoiakim was also the first year of Nebuchadrezzar. In this eventful year the battle of Carchemish was fought and Nebuchadrezzar defeated Egypt. The supremacy of Babylon had been insured. At this critical time the prophet gives a retrospect of his ministry among them. From the thirteenth year of Josiah he had spoken to them, but they had not heard. The Lord sent other servants, too, but they did not hear. He puts before them their stubbornness and how they provoked the Lord to anger.
Jer 25:8-11. And now the solemn verdict is announced. The northern power is coming against this land, headed by King Nebuchadrezzar, who is here called for the first time by the Lord, “My servant.” All mirth and joy will be taken from them; the whole land shall be a desolation, and they shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
Jer 25:12-14. When the seventy years are ended the Babylonian nation and its king (Belshazar) would be punished for their iniquity. All that is written in this book of Jeremiah, concerning Babylon is to be accomplished (including the final desolation). Daniel in Babylon, when he read the book of Jeremiah, dwelt perhaps on this passage, and turned to the Lord in that remarkable prayer recorded in the ninth chapter of the book which bears his name.
Jer 25:15-29. While the Lord thus judged Jerusalem, should the other nations go unpunished? And He answers, “Ye shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts” (Jer 25:29). This prophecy is most remarkable. It predicts a world war. All nations shall drink and be moved and be mad because of the sword. It includes all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth (Jer 25:26). Have we not seen something like this during the past, most horrible war of history? And may this not be the prelude to the day of the Lord, when these nations will have to face the judge and judgment?
Jer 25:30-38. The Yom Jehovah, the day of the LORD, is now announced by the prophet. It is that great future day ushered in by the visible and glorious manifestation of the Lord. All the prophets speak of that day as the day of consummation and glory. It is equally prominent in the New Testament Mat 24:30; 2Th 1:7-12; 2Pe 3:7-18; Rev 19:11-21, etc. Jeremiah beholds Him coming from above, with a shout, not the shout with which He calls His own together 1Th 4:17, but the shout of judging wrath. He will plead with all flesh. The slain of the Lord shall be many. The howling of the shepherds, the false leaders, because their end is come, concludes this great vision.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Judgment on Judah
The Judgment on Judah
v. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the year 606 B. C. the date being determined so exactly because it marked the final turning-point in the history of Judah as well as for the nations of the entire Orient, since Nebuchadnezzar at that time took charge of the Babylonian armies as king in fact, if not in name, although his aged father, Nabopolassar, was still living, defeated Pharaoh-Nechoh at Carchemish on the Euphrates, overran Canaan, took Jerusalem, and made Jehoiakim his vassal;
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v. 2. the which, namely, the word of prophecy transmitted to him from the Lord, Jeremiah, the prophet, spake unto all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
v. 3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, who reigned from approximately 641 to 610 B. C. even unto this day, that is, the three and twentieth year, in other words, for twenty-three years, the word of the Lord hath come unto me, his public ministry having begun approximately in the year 629 B. C. and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, devoting himself with all zeal and earnestness to his work; but ye have not hearkened, the same accusation being made here which he had been obliged to bring against them time and again.
v. 4. And the Lord hath sent unto you all His servants, the prophets, for Zephaniah and Habakkuk and the prophetess Huldah had also been active during this period, rising early and sending them, eagerly concerned about their welfare; but ye have not hearkened nor inclined your ear to hear, they had paid not the slightest attention, they had completely ignored His message.
v. 5. They said, literally, "saying," the word referring either to Jeremiah alone or to all the prophets, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, from his wicked manner of living, and from the evil of your doings, their wickedness finding its expression in all the acts of their life, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers forever and ever, with the intention that they should always possess it;
v. 6. and go not after other gods to serve them and to worship them, in the idolatry which they had practiced so flagrantly and shamelessly, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands, chiefly their idolatrous sacrifices, and I will do you no hurt, for all the prophets had told them time and again that their conduct would bring God’s punishment upon them.
v. 7. Yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands, as the natural consequence of their obstinate disobedience, to your own hurt.
v. 8. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, whose sublime authority is unquestioned, Because ye have not heard My words,
v. 9. behold, I will send and take all the families of the North, saith the Lord, all the nations which were allies to the Chaldeans, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant, who is so designated in this case because in this campaign he carried out the plans of the Lord, and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof and against all these nations round about, whom Judah had so often chosen as allies, and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and an hissing and perpetual desolations, so that onlookers would be filled with horror, which, however, would quickly be changed to a sneer of satisfaction and malice as the former fruitful fields were gradually converted into a wilderness.
v. 10. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, of loud rejoicing, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, whose incessant grinding noise indicated a happy household in the Orient, and the light of the candle, even the poorest house in the East having an open oil-lamp with a linen or cotton wick burning all night. Cf Isa 24:7.
v. 11. And this whole land shall be a desolation, the territory not only of Judah, but of the surrounding nations as well, and an astonishment, a source of amazement to all beholders; and these nations, Judah and its neighbors, shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years, which, beginning with 606 B. C. was the length of the period during which the supremacy of Babylon was unquestioned. The exactness with which every detail of the prophecy is set forth is no more remarkable than the literal fulfillment of the Lord’s prediction.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 10 This is the word that came to Jeremiah
This is the word that came to Jeremiah
It is implied that the word that came to Jeremiah was from Yahweh. This idiom is used to introduce a special message from God. See how you translated a similar phrase in Jeremiah 7:1. AT: "This is the message that Yahweh gave to Jeremiah" or "This is the message that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah" (See: Idiom)
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the fourth ... the first
(See: Ordinal Numbers)
translationWords
word
Jeremiah
people group
kingdom of Judah
year
Jehoiakim
Josiah
king
Nebuchadnezzar
Babylon
prophet
preach
Jerusalem
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11 25:1-14 The Lord had long been patient with Jerusalem’s…
25:1-14 The Lord had long been patient with Jerusalem’s rebellion and refusal to listen, but now the time for judgment was at hand.
25:1 One of the first acts of Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar was to force Judah’s king Jehoiakim to confess loyalty to him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.