In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck. Then send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them a command to their masters, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “You shall tell your masters: ‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given the animals of the field to him to serve him. All the nations will serve him, his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant.
“ ‘ “ ‘It will happen that I will punish the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,’ says Yahweh, ‘with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. But as for you, don’t listen to your prophets, to your diviners, to your dreams, to your soothsayers, or to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon;” for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out, and you would perish. But the nation that brings their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, that nation I will let remain in their own land,’ says Yahweh; ‘and they will till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”
I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you. For I have not sent them,” says Yahweh, “but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Yahweh says, “Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of Yahweh’s house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you. Don’t listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a desolation? But if they are prophets, and if Yahweh’s word is with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in Yahweh’s house, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon. For Yahweh of Armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; yes, Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in Yahweh’s house, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: ‘They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will be, until the day that I visit them,’ says Yahweh; ‘then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.’ ”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 Jeremiah prefaces this prediction by saying, that it was…
Jeremiah prefaces this prediction by saying, that it was delivered to him at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. But this beginning, as we have said, extended to the whole of his reign while it was prosperous and entire. While, then, Jehoiakim enjoyed a quiet possession of the kingdom, Jeremiah was bidden to make known what had been committed to him, not to Jehoiakim himself, but, as we learn from the third verse, to Zedekiah who had not immediately succeeded him, but became at last king after various changes. God, then, committed this prophecy to his servant, but did not design it to be immediately promulgated. If it be asked, why God designed what he purposed to be made known to be concealed for so long a time? the answer is this, — that it was done for the sake of the Prophet himself, in order that he might with more alacrity perform his office, knowing of a certainty that no one thought that it could ever happen, and certainly the thing was incredible.
God’s design then was to communicate this to his Prophet himself, that he might see afar off what no one, as I have just said, had thought could ever come to pass. This is the reason, as I think, why this prophecy was not immediately published, but was like a treasure deposited in the Prophet’s bosom, until the ripened time came. I shall defer till tomorrow the explanation of this prophecy.
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, 2, 6, 7, 16, 18, 22 As touching the disposition of these prophecies, they that…
As touching the disposition of these prophecies, they that gathered them into a book, did not altogether observe the order of times, but did set some afore, which should be after, and contrary wise, which if the reader mark well it shall avoid many doubts, and make the reading much more easy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22 Jer 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of…
Jer 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Ver. 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.] By the date of this prophecy, compared with Jer 27:12; Jer 28:1, it should seem that it lay dormant for fourteen or fifteen years ere it was recited.
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 vv1–22 Here is a difficulty ariseth from this verse, which…
Here is a difficulty ariseth from this verse, which there have been various attempts to resolve, and whether any hath been fully satisfactory I doubt. It is said this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, and, Jer 27:3, the prophet is bid to send the bonds and yokes by the hand of the messengers which came to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah, who began not to reign till about eleven years after the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. To solve this difficulty,
1. Some think Jehoiakim was a common name to all the sons of Josiah, and that Zedekiah is here called Jehoiakim, but I see no foundation for that conjecture from holy writ.
Read full note →
2. Others think it is an error in those that copied out the prophecies, but it is dangerous to admit that.
3. Others think that the prophecy came in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, but was to be concealed until the reign of Zedekiah.
4. I had rather agree with those who think that this command came to the prophet first in the time of Jehoiakim, but was to be repeated by the prophet often, and accordingly was so until and in the time of Zedekiah; not that he always went about with bonds and yokes about his neck, but that by times lie put them on, and went about with them, as a type of that bondage which the Jews were suddenly to endure.
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, 12 Some difficulty occurs in the date of this prophecy.…
Some difficulty occurs in the date of this prophecy. This word is said to come to Jeremiah in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Jer 27:1), and yet the messengers, to whom he is to deliver the badges of servitude, are said (Jer 27:3) to come to Zedekiah king of Judah, who reigned not till eleven years after the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign. Some make it an error of the copy, and think that it should be read (Jer 27:1), In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, for which some negligent scribe, having his eye on the title of the foregoing chapter, wrote Jehoiakim. And, if one would admit a mistake any where, it should be here, for Zedekiah is mentioned again (Jer 27:12), and the next prophecy is dated the same year, and said to be in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, Jer 28:1. Dr. Lightfoot solves it thus: In the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign Jeremiah is to make these bonds and yokes, and to put them upon his own neck, in token of Judah's subjection to the king of Babylon, which began at that time; but he is to send them to the neighbouring kings afterwards in the reign of Zedekiah, of whose succession to Jehoiakim, and the ambassadors sent to him, mention is made by way of prediction.
I. Jeremiah is to prepare a sign of the general reduction of all these countries into subjection to the king of Babylon (Jer 27:2): Make thee bonds and yokes, yokes with bonds to fasten them, that the beast may not slip his neck out of the yoke. Into these the prophet must put his own neck to make them taken notice of as a prophetic representation; for every one would enquire, What is the meaning of Jeremiah's yokes? We find him with one on, Jer 28:10. Hereby he intimated that he advised them to nothing but what he was resolved to do himself; for he was not one of those that bind heavy burdens on others, which they themselves will not touch with one of their fingers. Ministers must thus lay themselves under the weight and obligation of what they preach to others.
Read full note →
II. He is to send this, with a sermon annexed to it, to all the neighbouring princes; those are mentioned (Jer 27:3) that lay next to the land of Canaan. It should seem, there was a treaty of alliance on foot between the king of Judah and all those other kings. Jerusalem was the place appointed for the treaty. Thither they all sent their plenipotentiaries; and it was agreed that they should bind themselves in a league offensive and defensive, to stand by one another, in opposition to the growing threatening greatness of the king of Babylon, and to reduce his exorbitant power. They had great confidence in their strength thus united, and were ready to call themselves the high allies; but, when the envoys were returning to their respective masters with the ratification of this treaty, Jeremiah gives each of them a yoke to carry to his master, to signify to him that he must either by consent or by compulsion become a servant to the king of Babylon, let him choose which he will. In the sermon upon this sign, 1. God asserts his own indisputable right to dispose of kingdoms as he pleases, Jer 27:5. He is the Creator of all things; he made the earth at first, established it, and it abides: it is still the same, though one generation passes away and another comes. He still by a continued creation produces man and beast upon the ground, and it is by his great power and outstretched arm. His arm has infinite strength, though it be stretched out. Upon this account he may give and convey a property and dominion to whomsoever he pleases. As he hath graciously given the earth to the children of men in general (Psa 115:16), so he give to each his share of it, be it more or less. Note, Whatever any have of the good things of this world, it is what God sees fit to give them; we ourselves should therefore be content, though we have ever so little, and not envy any their share, though they have ever so much. 2. He publishes a grant of all these countries to Nebuchadnezzar. Know all men by these presents. Sciant praesentes et futuri - Let those of the present and those of the future age know. "This is to certify to all whom it may concern that I have given all these lands, with all the wealth of them, into the hands of the king of Babylon; even the beasts of the field, whether tame or wild, have I given to him, parks and pastures; they are all his own." Nebuchadnezzar was a proud wicked man, an idolater; and yet God, in his providence, gives him this large dominion, these vast possessions. Note, The things of this world are not the best things, for God often gives the largest share of them to bad men, that are rivals with him and rebels against him. He was a wicked man, and yet what he had he had by divine grant. Note, Dominion is not founded in grace. Those that have not any colourable title to eternal happiness may yet have a justifiable title to their temporal good things. Nebuchadnezzar is a very bad man, and yet God calls him his servant, because he employed him as an instrument of his providence for the chastising of the nations, and particularly his own people; and for his service therein he thus liberally repaid him. Those whom God makes use of shall not lose by him; much more will he be found the bountiful rewarder of all those that designedly and sincerely serve him. 3. He assures them that they should all be unavoidably brought under the dominion of the king of Babylon for a time (Jer 27:7): All nations, all these nations and many others, shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son. His son was Evil-merodach, and his son's son Belshazzar, in whom his kingdom ceased: then the time of reckoning with his land came, when the tables were turned, and many nations and great kings, incorporated into the empire of the Medes and Persians, served themselves of him, as before, Jer 25:14. Thus Adonibezek was trampled upon himself, as he had trampled on other kings. 4. He threatens those with military execution that stood out and would not submit to the king of Babylon (Jer 27:8): That nation that will not put their neck under his yoke I will punish with sword and famine, with one judgment after another, till it is consumed by his hand. Nebuchadnezzar was very unjust and barbarous in invading the rights and liberties of his neighbours thus, and forcing them into a subjection to him; yet God had just and holy ends in permitting him to do so, to punish these nations for their idolatry and gross immoralities. Those that would not serve the God that made them were justly made to serve their enemies that sought to ruin them. 5. He shows them the vanity of all the hopes they fed themselves with, that they should preserve their liberties, Jer 27:9, Jer 27:10. These nations had their prophets too, that pretended to foretell future events by the stars, or by dreams, or enchantments; and they, to please their patrons, and because they would themselves have it so, flattered them with assurances that they should not serve the king of Babylon. Thus they designed to animate them to a vigorous resistance; and, though they had no ground for it, they hoped hereby to do them service. But he tells them that it would prove to their destruction; for by resisting they would provoke the conqueror to deal severely with them, to remove them, and drive them out into a miserable captivity, in which they should all be lost and buried in oblivion. Particular prophecies against these nations that bordered on Israel severally, the ruin of which is here foretold in the general, we shall meet with, ch. 48 and 49, and Eze. 25, which had the same accomplishment with this here. Note, When God judges he will overcome. 6. He puts them in a fair way to prevent their destruction by a quiet and easy submission, Jer 27:11. The nations that will be content to serve the king of Babylon, and pay him tribute for seventy years (ten apprenticeships), those will I let remain still in their own land. Those that will bend shall not break. Perhaps the dominion of the king of Babylon may bear no harder upon them than that of their own kings had done. It is often more a point of honour than true wisdom to prefer liberty before life. It is not mentioned to the disgrace of Issachar that because he saw rest was good, and the land pleasant, that he might peaceably enjoy it, he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute (Gen 49:14, Gen 49:15), as these are here advised to do: Serve the king of Babylon and you shall till the land and dwell therein. Some would condemn this as the evidence of a mean spirit, but the prophet recommends it as that of a meek spirit, which yields to necessity, and by a quiet submission to the hardest turns of Providence makes the best of bad: it is better to do so than by struggling to make it worse.
- Levius fit patientia
Quicquid corrigere est nefas.
- Hor.
- When we needs must bear,
Enduring patience makes the burden light.
- Creech.
Many might have prevented destroying providences by humbling themselves under humbling providences. It is better to take up a lighter cross in our way than to pull a heavier on our own head.
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 vv1–22 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the…
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah,.... This is the same date with the prophecy of the preceding chapter and some think that this verse should conclude that, as belonging to it; and by which they would reconcile a difficulty that arises here; the orders for making the yokes being given in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, which yet were to be sent to the messengers of the neighbouring kings that were come to Zedekiah at Jerusalem, who did not begin to reign until eleven years after this time; but the word "saying", at the end of the verse, shows it not to belong to the preceding, but to what follows: others think it is a mistake of the copy, and that Jehoiakim is put for Zedekiah; and the Syriac and Arabic versions read Zedekiah; but he was not the son of Josiah, as this king is said to be, but his brother: others therefore think, that though the prophecy was delivered to Jeremiah, and the orders were given him to make the bonds and yokes after mentioned, at this time; yet this prophecy was concealed with him, and the orders were not executed till Zedekiah's time; or that the prophet, in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, made the yokes as he was ordered, and put one on his neck, to signify the subjection of Judah to the king of Babylon, which quickly took place, about the third or fourth year of this reign; and that the rest were sent to the ambassadors of the neighbouring nations in Zedekiah's time; which latter seems most probable:
came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying; as follows. This verse is not in the common editions of the Septuagint; but it is in the king of Spain's Bible.
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, 2, 3, 7 The prophet sends yokes to five neighbouring kings, thereby…
The prophet sends yokes to five neighbouring kings, thereby foreshewing their subjection to Nebuchadnezzar, ver. 1-7. He exhorts them to yield, and not to believe false prophets, ver. 8- 11. The like he doth to Zedekiah, ver. 12-18. The remnant of the vessels shall be carried to Babylon, and continue there 'till the appointed time, ver. 19-22.
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, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 16, 19, 22 Ambassadors being come from several neighbouring nations to
CHAPTER XXVII
Ambassadors being come from several neighbouring nations to
Read full note →
solicit the king of Judah to join in a confederacy against the
king of Babylon, Jeremiah is commanded to put bands and yokes
upon his neck, (the emblems of subjection and slavery,) and to
send them afterwards by those ambassadors to their respective
princes; intimating by this significant type that God had
decreed their subjection to the Babylonian empire, and that it
was their wisdom to submit. It is farther declared that all the
conquered nations shall remain in subjection to the Chaldeans
during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and those of his son and
grandson, even till the arrival of that period in which the
Babylonians shall have filled up the measure of their
iniquities; and that then the mighty Chaldean monarchy itself,
for a certain period the paramount power of the habitable
globe, shall be voted with a dreadful storm of Divine wrath,
through the violence of which it shall be dashed to pieces like
a potter's vessel, the fragments falling into the hands of many
nations and great kings, 1-11.
Zedekiah, particularly, is admonished not to join to the revolt
against Nebuchadnezzar, and warned against trusting to the
suggestions of false prophets, 11-18.
The chapter concludes with foretelling that what still remained
of the sacred vessels of the temple should be carried to
Babylon, and not restored till after the destruction of the
Chaldean empire, 19-22.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII
Verse 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim] It is most evident that his prophecy was delivered about the fourth year of ZEDEKIAH, and not Jehoiakim, as in the text. See Jer 28:1. Three of Kennicott's MSS. (one in the text, a second in the margin, and the third upon a rasure) have Zedekiah; so likewise have the Syriac and the Arabic. Houbigant, Lowth, Blayney, Dahler, and others declare for this reading against that in the present text. And it is clear from the third and twelfth verses, where Zedekiah is expressly mentioned, that this is the true reading.
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, 6, 7, 9, 12, 16, 19 Jer 27:1. In the beginning of the reign of…
Jer 27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim — Instead of Jehoiakim here, Dr. Waterland, Houbigant, Blaney, and many others, read Zedekiah, because it is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the common reading with what follows. Lowth also, in his commentary upon the place, gives it as his opinion, that “the least forced way of solving the difficulty is, to say that Jehoiakim has crept into the text by the negligence of the scribes, (who might have their eyes fixed upon the beginning of the last chapter or section,) instead of Zedekiah. This emendation is confirmed by comparing this verse with the 3d, 12th, and 20th verses of this chapter, and with the beginning of the next. Such little verbal mistakes must be allowed by all impartial readers to have sometimes happened in transcribing the Holy Scriptures, as well as in other books, and may easily be corrected, by comparing the suspected reading with other parts of the sacred text, which admit of no difficulty or uncertainty.”
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, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13 Of Jehoiakim - Really, of Zedekiah, as the Syriac…
Of Jehoiakim - Really, of Zedekiah, as the Syriac reads (see Jer 27:3). In the Septuagint the verse is missing. Some scribe has confused the title of this chapter with that of Jer. 26.
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, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18, 19 Joakim. This revelation was made to the prophet in…
Joakim. This revelation was made to the prophet in the beginning of the reign of Joakim: but the bands were not sent, to the princes here named, before the reign of Sedecias, ver. 3. (Challoner) --- He wore them six or seven years. (Vatable) (Tirinus) --- But this is uncertain. Septuagint omit this title. Syriac, Arabic, &c., read "Sedecias." (Calmet) --- As far as Juda may belong to the last chapter. St. Jerome includes the whole verse. (Haydock) --- It seems to be rather a fresh prophecy, or the title may be spurious, like many in the Psalms. See chap. xxvi. 1., and xxviii. 1., and Isaias xxi. 13.
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 Jeremiah 27, 28
2. THE CONFLICT OF JEREMIAH WITH THE FALSE PROPHETS IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF ZEDEKIAH
Jeremiah 27, 28
Read full note →
Jer_27:1-22
1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim [Zedekiah], the son of Josiah, king 2of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Thus saith the 3Lord to me, Make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers 4which came to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah, king of Judah. And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth] 5the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my 6out-stretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 7my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of 8him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that1 will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord [Jehovah] with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I 9have consumed2 them by his hand. Therefore hearken not ye to your priests, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, 10which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon. For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should 11drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, those will I let remain still in their own land, 12saith the Lord; and they shall till it and dwell therein. I spake also to Zedekiah, king of Judah, according to all those words, saying, Bring your necks under 13the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.3 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of 14Babylon? Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto 15you. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, [Jehovah] yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye and the 16priests that prophesy unto you. Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah]; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold the vessels of the Lord’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. 17Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should 18this city be laid waste? But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth] that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go4 not to Babylon.
19For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in 20the city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive5 Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, 21and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord 22[Jehovah] and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; they shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
Jer_28:1-17
1And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year,6 and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the presence of the 2priests, and of all the people, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of 3Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years7will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to 4Babylon: And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
5Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the 6Lord [Jehovah]. Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: 8the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord’s house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this 7place. Nevertheless hear thou now the word that I speak in thine ears, and in the 8ears of all the people; the prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, 9and of evil, and of pestilence. 9The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.
10Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, 11and brake it.10 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the 12prophet Jeremiah went his way. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the 13prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. 14For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a, yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.
15Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. 16Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast11 thee from off the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the 17Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The two chh. 27 and 28 are so evidently parts of a whole that we do not seem to be justified in separating them. The occurrence here narrated is based entirely on Jeremiah 25. The sending of the yoke to the neighboring nations can indeed be regarded as the fulfilment of the commission received by the prophet in Jer_25:15 only in so far as it may be understood in a double sense; in the sense of proclamation and the sense of the execution of the divine sentence.—The command to acknowledge Nebuchadnezzar as a world-ruler appointed by God is supplemented by the warning not to allow the deceptive promises of the false prophets to deter them from yielding in subjection to him (Jer_27:9-22). Notwithstanding this, one of the false prophets, Hananiah, the son of Azur, dares to give the prophet of Jehovah the lie and by breaking the wooden yoke, which the latter bore on his neck, to symbolize his liberation from the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar. Thereupon Jeremiah receives the command to replace the wooden yoke by an iron one, and to predict Hananiah’s speedy death in the course of the year. Hananiah really died two months afterwards. The date of the whole occurrence is the fourth year of Zedekiah (Jer_28:1), since the statement in Jer_27:1 (beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim) is at any rate, and the other in Jer_28:1 (beginning of the reign of Zedekiah) is very probably incorrect. Further particulars on this point below.
Jer_27:1-11. In the beginning … dwell therein. There are weighty critical suspicions with respect to the first verse. In the first place the name Jehoiakim has long been a stumbling-block. How could the prophet receive a commission in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim to the ambassadors who had come to Zedekiah הַבָּאִים, (Jer_27:3)? And how could the prophet execute the same commission to Zedekiah (Jer_27:12), and say in Jer_28:1 that in the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, Hananiah contradicted his prediction? Haevernick indeed [II., 2, S. 217) says “the words הבאים וגו׳ (Jer_27:3) pertain to the compilation of the chapter,—to show how Zedekiah should fulfil that older prophecy of the time of Jehoiakim, and should behave towards the nations which were his allies.” But this would presuppose that Jeremiah received a message to ambassadors who did not come to Jerusalem till from eleven to fifteen years afterwards. Further, according to this the name of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans would have been mentioned in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, while we have demonstrated that before the battle of Carchemish, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah did not yet know that the enemies coming from the north would be the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. Add to this that the compiler must have proceeded very inconsiderately, to substitute the time of receiving the commission for that of its execution. We ought to have read in that case: In the time of Jehoiakim Jeremiah received the commission to declare the following to foreign ambassadors who should come. These ambassadors came in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah and unto them spake Jeremiah, etc. Instead of this we have: In the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign Jeremiah received the command to deliver this message to the ambassadors, who are come to Zedekiah, etc. To attribute to the supposed compiler such a violent treatment of the text is truly much worse than to assume an oversight of the copyist. It is, moreover, a wonder to me that, as far as my knowledge extends, no commentator has hit on the idea of taking הַבָּאִים in the sense of the Fut. or Fut., exacti.: who come or will have come. There is unquestionably grammatical authority for this. For the participle, which in itself has no tense, may be taken according to the connection as present, past or future. Comp. Naegelsb., Gr., § 97; Ewald, § 335, b. Compare especially the same word in Isa_27:6=temporibus futuris, Ecc_2:16, הַיָמִים הַבָאִיםdiebus venturis, etc.—Whatever we have already urged is certainly opposed to this rendering of the word, viz. 1, the improbability of the communication of a message not to be delivered for fifteen years; 2, above all the entirely unhistorical mention of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. The objections to the reading Jehoiakim are of ancient date. Jerome helps himself out of the difficulty by connecting the verse with the previous chapter. It does not disturb him that thus Jeremiah 26 begins and ends with a similar date; yet he supposes that it was this circumstance, which led the Seventy to omit the verse. The Syriac and the unprinted Arabs Oxoniensis read “Zedekiah.” Likewise the Cod. Regiomont, II. Kennicott in his Diss. super ratione text. Hebr. V. T., I., p. 503; II., p. 346, Ed.Teller, decidedly favors the view that a copyist who had forgotten that Zedekiah was also a son of Josiah was moved by Jer_26:1 to alter the name of Zedekiah into Jehoiakim. I also hold the view that Jer_26:1 affected the rendering of Jer_27:1, for as we shall see below at Jer_49:34, chapter 27 has lost its original superscription by the oversight of a diaskenast who added this verse of the prophecy against Elam as a postscript. Hence Jer_27:1 is still wanting in the LXX.; on the other hand the prophecy against Elam has in the. LXX. a superscription and a postscript, in the Hebrew text a superscription which does not correspond to the general purport, and Jeremiah 27 has obtained in the Hebrew a new beginning which was formed after Jer_26:1, while the original text of Jer_27:1, is to be sought nowhere else but in Jer_49:34 (with the omission of אֶל־עֵילָם). So Movers and Hitzig, with whom on this point I feel obliged to agree. From Jer_28:1 it is evident that by the beginning of Zedekiah’s reign we are to understand his fourth year. This appears to be entirely suitable in point of fact. For it is not to be imagined that Zedekiah undertook revolutionary projects immediately after his ascension of the throne. As to the mode of expression, “beginning” is a relative idea, and the first half of a period may be designated as the beginning, the latter half as its close. From the words Thus saith Jehovah unto thee, it is moreover apparent that from Jer_27:2 onward the prophet, communicates the words as he spoke them to the people. Comp. “saith Jehovah,” Jer_27:11 and Jer_27:16. The introductory formula in Jer_27:1 b, is then not to be referred specially to the moment of revelation, but it has this sense, that all the actions and speeches related in what follows are the result of a revelation to the prophet.
Jer_27:2. Bondsi.e. cords (Jer_2:20; Jer_5:5; Jer_30:8), not to hold together the wooden parts of the yokes, for such yokes there are none, but to fix the yoke to the body, are what Jeremiah is to prepare. So with מֹטוֹת. The word (מוּט, tottering above, crooked, broken from the branch, the bough, piece of wood) is in both these chapters used in a material sense, while עֹל always denotes the yoke in a figurative sense (Jer_27:8; Jer_27:11-12; Jer_28:2; Jer_28:4; Jer_28:11; Jer_28:14 coll. Jer_28:10 sqq.). Jeremiah is to put these yokes on his neck and send them by the messengers to their master. As certainly as the prophet should put a yoke upon his neck, and has really put it on (Jer_28:10 sqq. coll. Isa_20:2; Hos_1:2 sqq.; Eze_12:3 sqq.), so certainly should he really give the yoke to the messengers. This corresponded to oriental customs. If the messengers would not take the yoke with them, that was their affair. The four neighboring nations here mentioned (Edom, Moab, Ammon, Sidon) are named in the same order in Jer_25:1-2. Niebuhr (Ass. u. Bab., S. 211) connects this consultation with the diversion, which resulted from Nebuchadnezzar’s pretended expedition against Media after the death of Cyaxares in B. C. 594 (Vid. sup., Jer_25:26). But this connection is altogether uncertain, and we must be content to be ignorant why that epoch was considered adapted for a revolt. At all events the words of the prophet made an impression on the king. For in the same year (593) we find him on a journey to Babylon (Jer_51:59), which can have had no other object than renewed homage. When Duncker (S. 834, etc.) says the Phœnicians were then left to their fate and subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar, the first part of the statement is correct. But I doubt whether they then immediately revolted on their own account, and were again subjugated. For when Sidon (Eze_32:29) is mentioned among the nations which had fallen before the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, before the twentieth year of this king (Eze_32:17), therefore before B. C., 585, it does not seem at all necessary to assume that the Phœnicians revolted sooner than Zedekiah himself, who was moved to open revolt by Hophra, the new king of Egypt, in B. C. 589. When also after the destruction of Jerusalem (586) only Tyrus among the Phœnician cities was still to he subdued, the conquest of the rest may have well taken place immediately before the attack on Judah and Jerusalem (588). The Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites, who are mentioned in 2Ki_24:2 as Chaldean allies against Judah, appear according to our passage in their love of freedom to have momentarily forgotten their ancient enmity towards Judah, as well as their fear of the Chaldeans. But they can scarcely have revolted. According to Psa_137:7 coll. Lam_4:21-22; Eze_36:5 the Edomites were zealous co-operators at the destruction of Jerusalem.
Jer_27:5. I have made, etc. The Creator has the right to dispose of His creatures.—As seemed meet unto me. Comp. Jer_18:4.
Jer_27:6. And the beasts of the field. Nebuchadnezzar is declared universal governor de jure divino.
Jer_27:7. This verse is wanting in the LXX. Movers and Hitzig regard it as interpolated. Comp. on the other hand Graf, S. 348, Anm. An interpolator would certainly not have interpolated so incorrectly. For Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded only by his son Evilmerodach, who was murdered by Neriglissar, his father-in-law. He was succeeded by his son Labosoarchad, a child who was killed after a reign of nine months, to make place for Nabonnet, one of the conspirators. The latter was Babylon’s last king. On the contrary the LXX. omitted the verse because it seemed so inaccurate. The prophet does not, however, intend to be exact. The phrase “his son and his son’s son” is to denote an indefinite but brief period (Exo_20:5; Exo_34:7; Deu_5:9). The chronicler seems to refer to this passage in 2Ch_36:20.—Shall serve themselves of him. Comp. Jer_25:14. The expressions many nations, etc., remind us of Jer_50:9; Jer_50:41. When we remember that this passage originated at the same time with chh. 50 and 51, this relationship may well have its foundation in the mind of the prophet.
Jer_27:8. The nation which … that will not, etc. At first it seems natural to take the second sentence as the correction of the first: he who will not serve, or rather, he who will not voluntarily submit himself. For all, indeed, will serve. He who has to be compelled may expect the extremity of distress, while he who voluntarily submits will retain at least his land and his life. But unfortunately it is not grammatically allowable to take ו in the meaning of “or rather.” We must therefore make this distinction between “serve” and “put their neck under the yoke,” that the former refers to the nations already subject to the Babylonian dominion, the latter to the others. In warning the heathen nations of their diviners, sorcerers, etc., the prophet puts the false prophets of the Jews afterwards mentioned in the same category with them.
Jer_27:10. To remove. The consequence is represented as the object. Comp. Jer_27:15.—And that I should drive. Observe the return of the discourse from the secondary to the main form. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 99, 3,
Jer_27:15; Jer_27:22.
Jer_27:12-15. I spake also to Zedekiah … prophesy unto you. As in Jer_27:2, the prophet here and in Jer_27:16 sqq. gives an account, not of the reception, but the execution of the divine commission. Comp. Exeg. rems. on Jer_26:2.—By the sword, etc Comp. Jer_27:8.
Jer_27:16-22. Also I spake to the priests … restore them to this place. Jeremiah speaks to the king of political subjection, to the priests and the people of the vessels which were the ornaments of the temple and its worship. These vessels carried away by Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki_24:13) are according to the words of the false prophets to be brought back in a very brief period. In opposition to this Jeremiah makes the requisition on the false prophets to prove their authority by preventing through their intercession (יפגעו. Comp. Jer_7:16) the deportation of the vessels still in their possession.—The pillars (1Ki_7:15-22), sea (1Ki_7:23-26), and bases (Jer 27:27 sqq.), were the largest and heaviest vessels, which were not therefore carried away the first time. Comp. Exeg. rems. on Jer_52:17.—All the nobles. Comp. Isa_34:12; Jer_39:6; Jer_29:2; 2Ki_24:11 sqq.—The refutation of Movers’ and Hitzig’s assertion that Jer_27:16-21 are interpolated, may be seen in Graf, S. 351. He has also on pp. 344, 345 shown that the abbreviated name-ending, which prevails in chh. 27–29. (יה instead of יהי) is not to be regarded as the sign of a later date of composition.
Jer_28:1-4. And it came to pass … the yoke of the king of Babylon. In the same year, doubtless shortly after the occurrences narrated in Jeremiah 27 came Hananiah from Gibeon (a city of priests, Jos_21:17) and, therefore, probably himself a priest, in opposition to Jeremiah prophesying that in two years the Lord will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, and bring back the sacred vessels and king Jehoiachin, together with the other captives from Babylon. On the date “in the beginning” comp. Comm. on Jer_27:1. The month is mentioned on account of the statement in Jer_28:17.—The deceptive promise of Hananiah is directly opposed to what Jeremiah has said in Jer_22:26-27; Jer_27:16.
Jer_28:6-9. Then the prophet Jeremiah said … truly sent him. Jeremiah replies: would that thou wert right! But only prophecies of calamity have the presumption of truth in their favor, for they are connected with danger to their author. Prophecies of good fortune may be flattery. We must, therefore, wait for their result.—On Jer_28:9 comp. Deu_18:21-22.
Jer_28:10-11. Then Hananiah … went his way. Hananiah has the audacity to answer Jeremiah’s speech by taking the yoke from his neck and breaking it, at the same time repeating his previous prediction (Jer_28:3-4). Jeremiah goes away for the time without uttering a word in reply. On מוֹטה and עֹל comp. Exeg. rems. on Jer_27:2
Jer_28:12-17. Then the word … seventh month. After some time Jeremiah received from the Lord a double message to Hananiah: 1. By the breaking of the wooden yoke all that he has effected is that an iron one takes its place, for iron will be the yoke, which Nebuchadnezzar will put upon the nations, according to the will of God; 2. Hananiah, who misuses the name of God and has misled the people into vain confidence, is to die this year. This also came to pass, for he died two months afterwards.—Yokes of wood. The plural is generic, as was remarked on Jer_27:2. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 61, 2 d.—Yoke of iron. The prophet appears to have had Deu_28:48 in mind. On Jer_28:14 comp. Jer_27:6.—Rebellion (סרה), comp. Jer_29:32. It is=revolt, rebellion, on account of the following אל־י׳.—In the seventh month corresponds to fifth month, Jer_28:1.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer_26:3. [“See how God waits to be gracious, waits till we are duly qualified, till we are fit for Him to be gracious to, and in the meantime tries a variety of methods to bring us to be so.” Henry—S. R. A.]
2. On Jer_26:6. “Deus nulli loco præcise alligatus est ita, ut ecclesiam suam et doctrinam cœlestem inde dimovere nequeat propter hominum ingratitudinem. Vehementer igitur errant Romanenses, dum ex auctoritate urbis Romæ suæ ecclesiæ ac religionis auctoritatem evincere satagunt. Multo rectius Hieronymus in hoc memorabili dicto, quod etiam allegatur in Jure Canon. Dist. Jeremiah 19 : Non facile est stare loco Pauli et tenere gradum Petri cum Christo regnantium. Non enim Sanctorum filii sunt, qui tenent loca Sanctorum, sed qui exercent opera eorum.” Förster.
3. On Jer_26:8 sqq. “Scarcely has Jeremiah done speaking than they take him to task, and threaten his life. What does Jeremiah do? Instead of vindicating himself he says: ‘Reform your life, and hearken to the voice of the Lord, and it will be better for you,’ Jer_26:13. You do not wish me to thunder away at you; reform then and I can let it alone. This preaching was seasonable, and produced an admirable effect. The priests and elders contradicted the priests, the parrhesia [free-spokenness, Act_4:13] of the man filled them with astonishment. ‘He is not worthy of death,’ Jer_26:16. A brief illustration of the saying ‘We need not our senses lose, when our enemies accuse.’ Jeremiah has to thank his honesty for this presence of mind, his profound meditation, his constrained calling, the necessity, the ardor, which urged him to preach, for no personal inclination had any share in it. I know in more recent times a man, who has unaffectedly practised Jeremiah’s behavior, a pastor, a teacher, I might say a prophet of many thousand people. Whenever he had to vindicate himself (which happened now and then) he preached, he repeated to the commissioners the very things of which he was accused, confessed and denied not, but pressed them on their hearts, and showed aliud agendo his innocence, his mind, his steadfastness, and all at the same time so plainly that they always returned with full conviction and knew not whether they had gone forth to see a prophet or were sent to examine a culprit? ‘Never man,’ they said, ‘spake like this man.’ That cannot be counterfeited. One must be just as full of the matter, as absorbed in the subject, as pressed at heart, kindled with the same ardor in order to explain himself with the same indifference, repose and plainness, when there is a knife at his throat.” Zinzendorf.
4. On Jer_26:12 sqq. “Si injuriam deposueris penes Deum, ultor est; si damnum, restitutor est; si dolorem, medicus est; si mortem, resuscitator est.” Tertullian. [“Those that persecute God’s ministers hurt not them so much as themselves.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
5. On Jer_26:7-8; Jer_26:11; Jer_26:16. “Auctores persecutionis plerumque esse solent ii, qui in ordine ecclesiastico eminent.” Förster. “Especially are the priests and men-pleasing prophets mad with Jeremiah, for if he is right they have lied.” Diedrich.
6. On Jer_26:18 [“By this it appears that a man may be a true prophet of the Lord and yet may prophesy the destruction of Zion and Jerusalem. When we threaten secure sinners with the taking away of the Spirit of God, and declining churches with the removal of the candle-stick, we say no more than what has been said many a time, and what we have warrant from the word of God to say.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
7. On Jer_26:20 sqq. “Urias, a true prophet, preached like Jeremiah, therefore the king wished to kill him, so he fled to Egypt but could not escape. Jeremiah did not flee and was spared … Our running and anxiety are of no use. The wickedness of the world must for its judgment be displayed on God’s servants, and these must yield to it; but on whom it is to come first God has in His own hand; and we may spare ourselves all our care and flight.” Diedrich. [“Nothing more is known of Urijah than is here related; but this incident suggests that God mercifully strove with His people by the ministry of many prophets whom He sent, rising up early and sending them (Jer_26:5) whose names are written in the Book of Life and are canonized in God’s Martyrology, but do not appear in the pages of any earthly history.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
8. On Jer_26:24. “Monemur hic, Deum servis suis fidelibus subinde largiri quosdam patronos, ut Jeremiæ hic Achikamum et infra cap. 38 Ebedmelechum, Eliæ et prophetis συγχρόνοις Obadiam 1 Reg. 18, Luthero Electores Saxoniæ Fridericum sapientem, Johannem pium, Johannem-Fridericum constantem.” Förster.
9. On Jer_27:2-11. Historical times are preceded by a long series of centuries which present themselves to us as altogether obscure or only in the dubious twilight of tradition. Accredited history also comprises only a relatively small portion of the human race, for the nations which are added as ciphers to the factors of history form the majority. A universal ruler in the biblical sense is not one whose dominion actually extends over the entire globe—for there is none such—but he who represents the leader in the concert of history. This part is here given to Nebuchadnezzar. Among all the universal monarchies that represented by him appears richest in noble capacity. It is therefore compared to the golden head of the image in Daniel 2. Comp. Auberlen, der Prophet Daniel, S. 41 sqq.
10. On Jer_27:5 sqq. [“The things of the world are not the best things, for God often gives the largest share of them to bad men, that are rivals with him and rebels against him. Dominion is not founded in grace. Those that have not any colorable title to eternal happiness may yet have a justifiable title to their temporal good things.” Henry.—S. R. A.] “Great lords sit indeed on high thrones, but not firmly, for they are only God’s vassals. And when they do not please Him and act accordingly, he can easily transfer the fief to another; Dan_2:21; Dan_4:14; Dan_4:22.” Cramer.
11. On Jer_27:12. [“The conduct of Jeremiah, counselling Zedekiah and Jerusalem to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, has been represented as an act of political prudence to be imitated by Statesmen and Ecclesiastics, who are thereby justified in making large concessions of national rights and national independence in times of public emergency (Stanley, Lect. 534).
But was it not rather one of religious duty?
God had revealed to the prophet that He had given the Nation into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, ‘His servant,’ on account of their sins, and they must submit to Him as the Minister and Vicegerent of God.” Wordsworth. “Many might have prevented destroying providences by humbling themselves under humbling providences. It is better to take up a lighter cross in our way, than pull a heavier on our own head.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
12. On Jer_27:14. “It is one sign of our depraved nature that we are more ready to believe lies than the truth. For when Jeremiah and his colleagues preached, no one believed. But no sooner did the false prophet come and open their mouths, than all their discourses must be spoken directly from heaven, and what they said, must pass current on earth (Psa_73:9). But not what Jeremiah said. Take for example our mother Eve; what God said was of no account, but what the serpent said was something purely excellent.” Cramer.
13. On Jer_27:18. “True prayer is a certain sign of Godliness and a fruit of faith and the Holy Ghost, which cries in our hearts: Abba, dear Father. Therefore he who cannot or will not pray is not a good Christian.” Cramer.
14. On Jer_27:18. “If they be prophets let them supplicate the Lord. This was the great demonstration of Elias, to which Jeremiah adheres. It is infallibly the case that a false teacher has no heart for the Saviour, and goes out of His way. A heretic, who has a heart to pray (and that too in secret) is certainly not far from the truth.” Zinzendorf.
15. On Jer_27:22. [“We are apt to set our clock before God’s dial, and then to quarrel because they do not agree, but the Lord is a God of judgment, and it is fit that we should wait for Him.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
16. On Jer_28:1 sqq. “Wherever the dear lord builds His church, the devil has a chapel near by.” Cramer. This Hananiah (comp. Jer_28:2; Jer_28:11) shows us plainly what it is to lie or deceive in the name of God.
“O Lord, and must Thy glorious name
Thus be a cover to their shame?” Förster.
17. On Jer_28:6. “Amen! the Lord do so. Quite a different attitude of the prophet from the preceding. A false prophet, a miserable comforter disputes with him, brings good news and appeals to an oracle, a voice which he had perhaps heard more lately than Jeremiah. Jeremiah without getting warm about it, says I shall be heartily glad if it be so: but take care that you have understood it correctly. His opponent is encouraged and goes further, he breaks off the prophetic yoke from Jeremiah’s neck. Jeremiah, with the same indifference, which he has shown from the beginning, goes his way … I dare not speak of anything, says Paul, which Christ hath not wrought by me (Rom_15:18).” Zinzendorf.
18. On Jer_28:10-11. “Chananias hic præbet exemplum impudentiæ Jesuwilicæ, cujus magistrum non abs re appellaveris Eumundum Campianum (1580) qui epistola quadum Theologos Angliæ provocare non erubuit, ponens inter alia verba hæc fere thrasonica: Si præstitero cœlos esse, divos esse, Christum esse, fidem esse, causam obtinui: hic non animosus ero? Occidi quidem possum, superari non possum. Pari impudentia Jesuwitas ante Colloquium Ratisbonense scriplitasse legimus: The Prædicantes should come, if they had a heart in their body, they would catch them alive: if they would bring a syllogism, which is in Bocardo, they would throw it at one’s head and say it was in Bocallo.” Förster.
19. On Jer_29:7. “Monemur hic, orandum esse pro magistratibus et non tantum iis, qui nostræ religioni addicti et veræ ecclesiæ membra, sed etiam pro iis, qui extra ecclesiam adeoque gentiles ut Nebuchadnezzar et Nero tyrannus (2Ti_2:2). Nam ex salute reipublicæ etiam salus et incolumitas ecclesiæ constat. Et Lutherus pereleganter: Politia, inquit, servit ecclesiæ, ecclesia servat politiam.” Förster. “Quod pastori hoc et ovibus.” The symbol of the Emperor Charles the Bald.
20. On Jer_29:11. “God always has compassion, and His heart breaks for us (Jer_31:20), for he exercises guardianship over His elect (Wis_4:15). And he knows how, in all that he does, to mitigate His justice with His mercy, so that we may see how richly His mercy is diffused over all His works; that even when He punishes, He straightway has mercy again according to His great goodness, and causes His mercy to be the more richly dispensed, because He knows our frame (Psa_103:14), viz., that we are flesh, a wind which passeth away and returneth not again (Psa_78:40). Cramer.
21. On Jer_29:10-11. “The waiting of the righteous has always something to depend upon, namely, the promise, and it is a duty to God to believe the promises, but an insult and dishonor to the name of the Lord when no faith is put in them. Is it not enough that ye injure men, will ye also insult the Lord my God? (Isa_7:13).” Zinzendorf.
22. On Jer_29:11. “God gives a happy ending; He also tells us beforehand, that we may honor Him by hoping; but He deals with us according to His wisdom and His righteousness, so that He chastens us as long as we need it. We cannot, therefore, do otherwise than place ourselves in His hands.” Diedrich.
23. On Jer_29:12. “Let this be firmly established among the brethren, that there is no sham about the hearing of prayer. I remember that once a great minister said across the table: My pastor wrote me that he had settled it with the dear Lord that my wife should live; I should be comforted. My wife died. Now my pastor congratulates me and says, I could now indeed see that she lived. No wonder. The Bible has a nose or wax; and gentlemen also can explain their own words. … Is it then to be in vain that the Lord Jesus has said; whatever ye ask believing that ye shall receive, shall be given unto you (Mar_11:24; Joh_16:23; Mat_7:7; Jam_4:4)? … Test it as often as it is necessary; ask however in faith, and doubt not. I know most assuredly that you will be heard. But I regard it as a matter for consideration, whether one is to ask.” Zinzendorf.
24. On Jer_29:15-16. “A heavy cross often frees us from a heavier, which would otherwise have come upon us. The best way, therefore, is to be satisfied with God’s ways, who can bring good out of evil (1Pe_4:19; Gen_50:20). ” Starke.
25. On Jer_29:24-32. “Those who seek their own consolation without God must be eternally deprived of the true consolation, which God grants to those who at this time humble themselves under Him. Those who preach false consolation confirm the resistance of men to the divine guidance and thus preach revolt, though intending to act conservatively. But in their blindness they do not see what sort of a time it is.” Diedrich.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_26:1-24. A sermon in rebuke of the corruptions of Zion. 1. Its purport (Jer_26:4-6); 2. How it is received (Jer_26:7-11); 3. How the preacher must defend himself (Jer_26:12-15); 4. What the fate of the preacher will be (a), in the most favorable case (Jer_26:16-19; Jer_26:24) (b), in the most unfavorable case (Jer_26:20-23).
2. On Jer_27:1-22. How the Lord’s servants are to treat Politics.—1. They are to point out to the people that it is the Lord who raises and overthrows the kingdoms of this world (Jer_27:2-8). 2. They are to admonish the people to do what the Lord commands (Jer_27:12-13). 3. They are to warn against those who speak their own thoughts to the people (Jer_27:9-11; Jer_27:14-17). 4. They are to admonish to prayer and intercession (Jer_27:18 sqq).
3. On Jer_28:1-17. Of false and true prophets. 1. False prophets, (a) publish on their own responsibility what the people like to hear (Jer_28:2-4); (b) boldly contradict the true word of God (Jer_28:10-11); (c) come to shame, by the non-fulfilment of their predictions (Jer_28:8-9) and by their personal destruction (Jer_28:15-17). 2. True prophets (a) proclaim faithfully the true word of God, (b) fearlessly oppose the lusts of men and the lies of the false prophets; (c) They are honored (α) by the fulfilment of their prophecies, (β) by martyrdom, i.e., honor with God and posterity.
4. On 28. [This year thou shalt die. Dwight:—A Sermon on the New Year.—S. R. A.]
5. On Jer_29:7. The best Christians the best citizens: 1. They know that the prosperity of the whole is their own prosperity (they do not, therefore, seek selfishly their own personal advantage); 2. They actually labor with all diligence for the furtherance of the common good; 3. They employ for this end the power of Christian prayer. [A. Fuller:—Christian patriotism, or the duty of religious people towards their country. Christianity a religion of peace.—S. R. A.]
6. On Jer_29:11. The thoughts of the Lord concerning us. 1. They are thoughts of peace and not of evil; 2, we must wait for their realization, for the Lord delays this, but he does not forget it.
7. On Jer_29:11. Sermon at the funeral service of the Grand Hereditary Prince of Russia, delivered by Prof. Christiani, in Dorpat, 14 April, 1865: 1. Of the thoughts of peace which the Lord has had in this death; 2. Of the fruits and effects of these thoughts of peace.
8. On Jer_29:11-14. Whereupon is our hope of peace based? 1. Objectively upon this, that the Lord Himself has thoughts of peace concerning us. 2. Subjectively on this, that we (a) call upon and seek the Lord with all our hearts, (b) patiently wait for the time of hearing.
Footnotes:
[1]Jer_27:8.—The construction here is not an anacoluthon, but הגוי ו׳ is accusative, and את אשׁר is not co-ordinate to the first אשׁר but to הגוי ו׳: as to the nation which will not serve, and as to that which will not how the neck, etc. Hence the singular יִתֵּן stands properly also in the second relative clause. The sign of the accusative stands before the second אשׁר to distinguish it as an accusative from the first, which is nominative, (comp. Ewald, § 277 d, 2, and Gen_47:21; 2 Ki. 8:31), and thus at the same time to indicate that אשׁר does not stand parallel to הגוי ו׳.
[2]Jer_27:8—עד־תמי. תמם in a transitive sense, as in Psa_64:7.
[3]Jer_27:12.—וחיו. Comp. Textual Note on Jer_25:5.
[4]Jer_27:18.—לבלתי כאו. The form באו as a perfect is abnormal. In Jer_50:5 it is to he taken as imperative. It is therefore not improbable, as Hitzig, Olshausen and Graf suppose, that we are to read לְבִלְתִּ יָבֹאוּ.
[5]Jer_27:20.—בגלותו. Comp. Exo_13:21; Isa_23:11; Psa_78:17; Olsh. § 78 c.
[6]Jer_28:1—Instead of בּשְׁנַת הרביעית as the Chethibh is to be read, the Masoretes would here have בַּשָּׁנַה ה׳ as in Jer_32:1. The reading of the Chethibh is found unimpeached by the Masoretes in Jer_46:2; Jer_51:59. Probably the Masoretes wished, here as in Jer_32:1, the same punctuation for the word occurring twice in the verse, while in Jer_46:2 and Jer_51:59, no occasion was given for such an effort at conformity. On the St. const. in this connection, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 65, 2, c.
[7]Jer_28:3.—שׁנתים ימים. On the construction comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 70, g. Comp. besides Gen_41:1; 1Sa_13:23, etc.
[8]Jer_28:6.—אָמֵן occurs besides in Jeremiah, only in Jer_11:5.
[9]Jer_28:8.—On the construction in this verse, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 88, 7; 111, 1, b, 10.
[10]Jer_28:10.—The masc. suffix in וישׁברהו refers to the idea of עֹל. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 60, 4.
[11]Jer_28:16.—The word משלחך, I cast thee off, must, as Hitzig has remarked, contain an allusion to שׁלחך, to Jer_28:15.
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 vv2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22 bonds--by which the yoke is made fast to the…
bonds--by which the yoke is made fast to the neck (Jer 5:5).
yokes--literally, the carved piece of wood attached at both ends to the two yokes on the necks of a pair of oxen, so as to connect them. Here the yoke itself. The plural is used, as he was to wear one himself, and give the others to the ambassadors; (Jer 27:3; Jer 28:10, Jer 28:12) proves that the symbolical act was in this instance (though not in others, Jer 25:15) actually done (compare Isa 20:2, &c.; Eze 12:3, Eze 12:11, Eze 12:18).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 1. Jehoiakim — A single Codex and the Syriac…
THE SUBJUGATION OF NEIGHBOURING KINGS, 1-11.
1. Jehoiakim — A single Codex and the Syriac and Arabic Versions have Zedekiah, and this is manifestly correct. (Compare Jer_27:3; Jer_27:12, and Jer_28:1.) Probably a mistake in transcription arose from confounding this caption with that of the preceding chapter.
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, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim]…
1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim] It is clear from Jer_27:3; Jer_27:12; Jer_27:20 that for Jehoiakim we must read (with mg.) Zedekiah (so Syr.). The LXX omit the verse. It is a later insertion in the text either in its present form, or more probably with Zedekiah’s name, as in ch. Jer_28:1, whence the time-heading should probably be transposed here (see above). The substitution of “Jehoiakim” may have arisen through the influence of Jer_26:1.
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, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22 (1) In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.—The…
XXVII.
(1) In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.—The mention of the name of Zedekiah as king of Judah in Jer_27:3 shows that the Hebrew text has here perpetuated an error, due probably to the transcriber or first editor of the collected prophecies. We have to think, accordingly, of the state of things which followed on the death of Jehoiakim, and the deposition and exile of Jehoiachin. The tone of the prophecy seems to indicate a time about the middle of Zedekiah’s reign. His position was that of a tributary sovereign, subject to Nebuchadnezzar. He and the neighbouring kings, who were in a like position, had not quite renounced the hope of throwing off the yoke, and asserting their independence.
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, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19 This and the two following chapters are closely connected.…
This and the two following chapters are closely connected. They all relate to the early part of the reign of Zedekiah, and contain warnings arising out of the deepening gloom of the political horizon. It must, however, be noted that there is evidently some mistake in the first verse of Jer 27, and also that the contents of Jeremiah 29 point to a somewhat earlier time than Jer 27,jer 28. (viz. the first or second year of King Zedekiah). To understand the circumstances of Jer 27, we must remember that Zedekiah had accepted the throne as the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar. (2Ki_24:17) The self-righteousness and formalism of the people, however, would not allow them to remain quiet under such a humiliation. Deuteronomy, it seemed to them, had promised success and prosperity to an obedient performance of the Law, and the priests and the prophets assured them that these conditions had been complied with. In the fourth year of Zedekiah (comp. Jer_28:1) the popular discontent was still further stimulated by the presence of ambassadors from the neighboring nations, who had come to organize a common movement against the common enemy. Jeremiah believed that he could not give more forcible expression to the Divine warnings of which he was the bearer than by a symbolic act akin to that related of Isaiah in Isa_20:2. He appeared in some public place, where the ambassadors would be sure to pass, with a yoke upon his neck, and in this strange guise delivered an impressive exhortation to the foreign visitors. It would appear as if Jeremiah"s exertions on this occasion were successful, so far as Judah was concerned; for we are informed (Jer_51:59) that, in the fourth year of his reign, Zedekiah took a journey to Babylon, doubtless to renew his oath of fidelity to the King of Babylon. It is instructive to compare this chapter as given in the Hebrew Bible with the form in which it appears in the Septuagint. We must net too hastily assume that the Greek is incorrect, but examine in each case which form gives most force and expressiveness to the prophecy.
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. The Syriac substitutes for, "Jehoiakim" "Zedekiah," to bring the passage into conformity with Jer_28:1, where the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah is expressly mentioned. But is this emendation sufficient? Can the fourth year be called the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, When that reign lasted altogether only eleven years? Is it not probable that the transcriber has inadvertently copied the heading of Jer 26, which corresponds verbally with Jer_27:1, except that "unto Jeremiah" is wanting?
Read full note →
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR Vers. 1-22. Divine judgments not to be resisted.
A conference of ambassadors from neighboring nations had been held at Zedekiah"s court to consider plans of revolt against Nebuchadnezzar. The king himself and a patriotic party were bent upon resistance. This movement Jeremiah checked at its very outset by his symbolical warning.
I GOD IS RULER OF ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH. He made them, and controls their destinies. Of the earth he says, "I have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me." His control over human interests, possessions, and destinies is absolute and unlimited.
II EVEN THE UNGODLY MAY BE INSTRUMENTS OF HIS PURPOSES. "Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, a remarkable title when applied to a heathen prince. The character of the authorities, the agents, and the instrumentalities by which we are opposed is not in itself a reason for resisting them if they are evidently of Divine appointment. In such a case we should be fighting against God. Moral evil is ever to be resisted and witnessed against, but that which God appoints must be acknowledged and submitted to.
III IN SUCH CASES CIRCUMSTANCES WILL CLEARLY SHOW WHETHER THE APPOINTMENT IS OF GOD OR NOT, AND NOW WE MUST BE GUIDED IN OUR CONDUCT. The advice of the prophet is not to be interpreted as an expression of mere political prudence. It was the moral significance of Nebuchadnezzar"s supremacy to which he appealed. In default of revelation our own conscience and common sense must be our guides.
1. In cases of unmistakable Divine dispensations the law of submission is clearly taught. Of this class is the rule of submission to the powers that be; of cheerful contentment with one"s lot in life, so far as it seems beyond our own legitimate control or to be providentially arranged.
2. The ordinary miscellaneous trials and difficulties of life are not to be regarded in this way. Where there is not witness of conscience enjoining submission, energetic effort must be made. The Bible is no book of fatalism. It inculcates self-help, manly fortitude, and believing, intelligent enterprise.
IV GUIDANCE AND INSTRUCTION MAY BE GRANTED TO MEN EVEN WHILST UNDER DIVINE DISCIPLE.
1. Injunctions. To be punished does not mean to be cast off; quite the contrary. And therefore, if there be any gracious purpose in the dispensation, it is well that it should be explained. False prophets have foretold favorable turns of fortune with mischievous effect. These must be contradicted, and their tendency expend. The Bible is full of instruction to the perplexed in all ages, and the Spirit of God still speaks to the hearts of his children.
2. Signs. Sometimes these will be of one kind, sometimes of another. Here a crucial test was proposed, viz. the challenge to the false prophets to bring back the vessels of the temple from Babylon. If God heard their prayer, then it would appear that their advice was sound. Signs will never be wanting to those who earnestly seek to know God"s will
3. These are to be sought through prayer and waiting upon God. M.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1-11. Jehovah"s consideration towards some neighbors of Israel.
I GOD FORESEES THE NATURAL PROBABILITY OF A STRUGGLE. Nebuchadnezzar and his hosts are not to drop from the clouds on the land of Jehovah"s people whom Jehovah has now doomed. These hosts come from a distant land, and have many intervening lands to pass through; and how can they pass through in any but a destroying, impoverishing fashion? If the King of Babylon is to reach Jerusalem, the lands here mentioned must assuredly suffer from him scarcely less than Judah itself. And naturally they will prepare to meet him. Alliances will be formed; resources will be accumulated; the greatest strain will be put on every one in order to make the defense successful. These attacked people cannot assume that, because Babylon is such a mighty power, it is folly to think of resisting it. Thus they seem to have sent to Zedekiah, hoping to make a confederation strong enough to drive the invader back.
II NATURAL AS THE STRUGGLE MIGHT BE, IT WAS DOOMED TO CERTAIN FAILURE. Doomed, not because it was the strength of many against the weakness of few, but because God"s great purposes required that any scheme of defense should be a failure. If the defenders had become as the invaders in point of strength, and the invaders as the defenders, this apparently decisive exchange of resources would have left the result unaffected.
III The struggle, therefore, being vain beyond all doubt, THE TRUE WISDOM WAS NOT EVEN TO ATTEMPT IT. These nations, persevering in a vain struggle, were only committing self-slaughter. If the issue had been in any way uncertain, self-respect would have said "fight." But the issue was clear; and to make it clear and impressive by some visible symbol, God commands his prophet to send these yokes to the kings of the nations by their messengers. When the yoke is seen on the neck of the ox laboring at the plough or drawing the wagon, that yoke signifies, not only submission, but a submission that is inevitable. The ox is made for the service of man, and although when young it may rebel and defy for a while, it must submit at last. The superior intelligence and the ordained master cannot but conquer. And what the ox is in the hands of man, that every nation, even the strongest and bravest, is in the bands of God. Babylon, conqueror and spoiler as it was, was no more free from God"s yoke than any of the nations it defeated. It is quite compatible with the carrying out of God"s great purpose that there should be the most striking disparities in the temporal conditions of both individuals and nations. That Babylon should be the victor and these other nations the vanquished, was in his eyes a matter of very secondary moment. He cannot recognize, as a state of things to obtain even a modified permanence, that any nation should have the right to any particular territory. Men count it a great matter that they can show a title, as they call it, to a piece of land. This simply means that for the purposes of present society it is better for one particular person to have the piece of land than any one else. But wars and revolutions make short work of these so-called rights of property. The Lord has given the earth in trust to the human race, and one division he puts here and snottier there, cue man here and another there. From the throne where Jehovah sits in his righteousness, human patriotism and mere territorial pride are esteemed as nothing more than the feelings of ignorant children. We also, as taught of God, must become less interested in the traditions and rivalries of the kingdoms of earth, and more interested in that great procedure of God by which the whole earth will become a part of the kingdom of heaven. 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 v4 I have made the earth.
Jer_27:4-5
I have made the earth.
Read full note →
God and the earth
I. God is the creator of all earthly things: The man and the beast that are upon the ground. The earth is not eternal, net the production of chance, not the work of many Gods. It has one Maker. This agrees with all true science.
II. God is the sovereign disposes of all earthly things. Have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. He might have built it and left it uninhabited, or He might have populated it with other creatures than those who tenant it now. He has given what He thinks fit of it to individuals, tribes, and nations. (Homilist.)
The earth made by God
I have in my house a little sheet of paper on which there is a faint, pale, and not particularly skilful representation of a hyacinth It is not half as beautiful as many other pictures I have, but I regard it as the most exquisite of them all My mother painted it; and I never see it that I do not think that her hand rested on it, and that her thought was concerned in its execution. Now, suppose you had such a conception of God that you never saw a flower, a tree, a cloud, or any natural object, that you did not instantly think, My Father made it, what a natural world would this become to you! How beautiful would the earth seem to you! And how would you find that nature was a revelation of God, speaking as plainly as His written Word! And if you are alone, in solitude, without company, desolate in your circumstances, it is because you have not that inner sense of the Divine love and care which it is your privilege to have, and which you ought to have. (H. W. Beecher.)
Have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.
Meetness before God
I. God is the proprietor of all.
1. Mans forgetfulness of this in daily life.
2. The harmony of mans being requires a sense of dependence.
3. Depression results from stopping short of God.
II. Wisdom and sovereignity go together.
1. No comfort to know we live under an absolute sovereign.
2. God gives not according to seeming fitness. He sees deeper than what seems.
III. The unerring mind of God.
1. Cultivate an adoring spirit.
2. Rest on Him in simple belief.
3. Repose in Gods law of meetness. (P. B. Power, M. A.)
The Divine distribution of the earth amongst men
I. In it He exercises absolute right. The earth, with all its minerals, fruits, productions, and countless tenants, is His. If He gives a thousand acres to one man and denies a yard to another, it is not for us to complain.
II. In it He acts according to His own free choice alone. He gives it not on the ground of merit to any man, for now He gave it to Nebuchadnezzar, one of the worst of men. The only principle in the distribution is His own sovereignty. What seemeth meet to a Being of Infinite wisdom and goodness must be the wisest and the most benevolent. Here let us hush all our murmurings, here let us repose the utmost confidence. Conclusion--The subject teaches us how we should hold that portion of the earth we possess, however small or great it may be.
1. With profound humility. What we possess is a gift, not a right. We are temporary trustees, not proprietors. He who holds the most should be the most humble, for he has the most to account for.
2. With practical thanksgiving. This indeed is all the rent that the Supreme Landlord requires from us, thanksgiving and praise.
3. With a solemn sense of our responsibility. It is given to us not for our own gratification and self-aggrandisement, but for the good of the race and the glory of God.
4. With a conscious dependence on His will. We are all tenants at will. We know not the moment when He shall see fit to eject us from His land. (Homilist.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Jeremiah 27, Jeremiah 28
CHAPTER IX
HANANIAH
Read full note →
Jeremiah 27, Jeremiah 28
"Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie."- Jer_28:15
THE most conspicuous point at issue between Jeremiah and his opponents was political rather than ecclesiastical. Jeremiah was anxious that Zedekiah should keep faith with Nebuchadnezzar, and not involve Judah in useless misery by another hopeless revolt. The prophets preached the popular doctrine of an imminent Divine intervention to deliver Judah from her oppressors. They devoted themselves to the easy task of fanning patriotic enthusiasm, till the Jews were ready for any enterprise, however reckless.
During the opening years of the new reign, Nebuchadnezzars recent capture of Jerusalem and the consequent wholesale deportation were fresh in mens minds; fear of the Chaldeans together with the influence of Jeremiah kept the government from any overt act of rebellion. According Jer_51:59, the king even paid a visit to Babylon, to do homage to his suzerain.
It was probably in the fourth year of his reign that the tributary Syrian states began to prepare for a united revolt against Babylon. The Assyrian and Chaldean annals constantly mention such combinations, which were formed and broken up and reformed with as much ease and variety as patterns in a kaleidoscope. On the present occasion the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon sent their ambassadors to Jerusalem to arange with Zedekiah for concerted action. But there were more important persons to deal with in that city than Zedekiah. Doubtless the princes of Judah welcomed the opportunity for a new revolt. But before the negotiations were very far advanced, Jeremiah heard what was going on. By Divine command, he made "bands and bars," i.e., yokes, for himself and for the ambassadors of the allies, or possibly for them to carry home to their masters. They received their answer not from Zedekiah, but from the true King of Israel, Jehovah Himself. They had come to solicit armed assistance to deliver them from Babylon; they were sent back with yokes to wear as a symbol of their entire and helpless subjection to Nebuchadnezzar. This was the word of Jehovah:-
"The nation and the kingdom that will not put its neck beneath the yoke of the king of Babylon
That nation will I visit with sword and famine and pestilence until I consume them by his hand."
The allied kings had been encouraged to revolt by oracles similar to those uttered by the Jewish prophets in the name of Jehovah; but:-
"As for you, hearken not to your prophets, diviners, dreams, soothsayers and sorcerers,
When they speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.
They prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land;
That I should drive you out, and that you should perish.
But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him,
That nation will I maintain in their own land (it is the utterance of Jehovah), and they shall till it and dwell in it."
When he had sent his message to the foreign envoys, Jeremiah addressed an almost identical admonition to his own king. He bids him submit to the Chaldean yoke, under the same penalties for disobedience-sword, pestilence, and famine for himself and his people. He warns him also against delusive promises of the prophets, especially in the matter of the sacred vessels.
The popular doctrine of the inviolable sanctity of the Temple had sustained a severe shock when Nebuchadnezzar carried off the sacred vessels to Babylon. It was inconceivable that Jehovah would patiently submit to so gross an indignity. In ancient days the Ark had plagued its Philistine captors till they were only too thankful to be rid of it. Later on a graphic narrative in the Book of Daniel told with what swift vengeance God punished Belshazzar for his profane use of these very vessels. So now patriotic prophets were convinced that the golden candlestick, the bowls and chargers of gold and silver, would soon return in triumph, like the Ark of old; and their return would be the symbol of the final deliverance of Judah from Babylon. Naturally the priests above all others would welcome such a prophecy, and would industriously disseminate it. But Jeremiah spake to the priests and all this people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah:-
"Hearken not unto the words of your prophets, which prophesy unto you.
Behold, the vessels of the house of Jehovah
Shall be brought back from Babylon now speedily:
For they prophesy a lie unto you."
How could Jehovah grant triumphant deliverance to a carnally minded people who would not understand His Revelation, and did not discern any essential difference between Him and Moloch and Baal?
"Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation?"
Possibly, however, even now, the Divine compassion might have spared Jerusalem the agony and shame of her final siege and captivity. God would not at once restore what was lost, but He might spare what was still left. Jeremiah could not endorse the glowing promises of the prophets, but he would unite with them to intercede for mercy upon the remnant of Israel.
"If they are prophets and the word of Jehovah is with them,
Let them intercede with Jehovah Sabaoth,
That the rest of the vessels of the Temple the Palace,
And the City may not go to Babylon."
The God of Israel was yet ready to welcome any beginning of true repentance. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, He would meet His people when they were on the way back to Him. Any stirring of filial penitence would win an instant and gracious response.
We can scarcely suppose that this appeal by Jeremiah to his brother prophets was merely sarcastic and denunciatory. Passing circumstances may have brought Jeremiah into friendly intercourse with some of his opponents; personal contact may have begotten something of mutual kindliness; and hence there arose a transient gleam of hope that reconciliation and cooperation might still be possible. But it was soon evident that the "patriotic" party would not renounce their vain dreams: Judah must drink the cup of wrath to the dregs: the pillars, the sea, the bases, the rest of the vessels left in Jerusalem must also be carried to Babylon, and remain there till Jehovah should visit the Jews and bring them back and restore them to their own land.
Thus did Jeremiah meet the attempt of the government to organise a Syrian revolt against Babylon, and thus did he give the lie to the promises of Divine blessing made by the prophets. In the face of his utterances, it was difficult to maintain the popular enthusiasm necessary to a successful revolt. In order to neutralise, if possible, the impression made by Jeremiah, the government put forward one of their prophetic supporters to deliver a counter blast. The place and the occasion were similar to those chosen by Jeremiah for his own address to the people and for Baruchs reading of the roll-the court of the Temple where the priests and "all the people" were assembled. Jeremiah himself was there. Possibly it was a feast day. The incident came to be regarded as of special importance, and a distinct heading is attached to it, specifying its exact date, "in the same year" as the incidents of the previous chapter-"in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month."
On such an occasion, Jeremiahs opponents would select as their representative some striking personality, a man of high reputation for ability and personal character. Such a man, apparently, they found in Hananiah ben Azzur of Gibeon. Let us consider for a moment this mouthpiece and champion of a great political and ecclesiastical party, we might almost say of a National government and a National Church. He is never mentioned except in chapter 28, but what we read here is sufficiently characteristic, and receives much light from the other literature of the period. As Gibeon is assigned to the priests in Jos_21:17, it has been conjectured that, like Jeremiah himself, Hananiah was a priest. The special stress laid on the sacred vessels would be in accordance with this theory.
In our last chapter we expounded Jeremiahs description of his prophetic contemporaries, as self-important and time serving, guilty of plagiarism and cant. Now from this dim, inarticulate crowd of professional prophets an individual steps for a moment into the light of history and speaks with clearness and emphasis. Let us gaze at him, and hear what he has to say.
If we could have been present at this scene immediately after a careful study of chapter 27, even the appearance of Hananiah would have caused us a shock of surprise-such as is sometimes experienced by a devout student of Protestant literature on being introduced to a live Jesuit, or by some budding secularist when he first makes the personal acquaintance of a curate. We might possibly have discerned something commonplace, some lack of depth and force in the man whose faith was merely conventional; but we should have expected to read, "liar and hypocrite" in every line of his countenance, and we should have seen nothing of the sort. Conscious of the enthusiastic support of his fellow countrymen and especially of his own order, charged-as he believed-with a message of promise for Jerusalem, Hananiahs face and bearing, as he came forward to address his sympathetic audience, betrayed nothing unworthy of the high calling of a prophet. His words had the true prophetic ring, he spoke with assured authority:-
"Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel,
I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon."
His special object was to remove the unfavourable impression caused by Jeremiahs contradiction of the promise concerning the sacred vessels. Like Jeremiah, he meets this denial in the strongest and most convincing fashion. He does not argue-he reiterates the promise in a more definite form and with more emphatic asseveration. Like Jonah at Nineveh, he ventures to fix an exact date in the immediate future for the fulfilment of the prophecy. "Yet forty days," said Jonah, but the next day he had to swallow his own words; and Hananiahs prophetic chronology met with no better fate:-
"Within two full years will I bring again to this place all the vessels of the Temple, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away."
The full significance of this promise is shown by the further addition:-
"And I will bring again to this place the king of Judah, Jeconiah ben Jehoiakim, and all the captives of Judah that went to Babylon (it is the utterance of Jehovah); for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon."
This bold challenge was promptly met:-
"The prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people that stood in the Temple." Not "the true prophet" and "the false prophet," not "the man of God" and "the impostor," but simply "the prophet Jeremiah" and "the prophet Hananiah." The audience discerned no obvious difference of status or authority between the two-if anything the advantage lay with Hananiah; they watched the scene as a modern churchman might regard a discussion between ritualistic and evangelical bishops at a Church Congress, only Hananiah was their ideal of a "good churchman." The true parallel is not debates between atheists and the Christian Evidence Society, or between missionaries and Brahmins, but controversies like those between Arius and Athanasius, Jerome and Rufinus, Cyril and Chrysostom.
These prophets, however, display a courtesy and self-restraint that have, for the most part, been absent from Christian polemics.
"Jeremiah the prophet said, Amen: may Jehovah bring it to pass; may He establish the words of thy prophecy, by bringing back again from Babylon unto this place both the vessels of the Temple and all the captives."
With that entire sincerity which is the most consummate tact, Jeremiah avows his sympathy with his opponents patriotic aspirations, and recognises that they were worthy of Hebrew prophets. But patriotic aspirations were not a sufficient reason for claiming Divine authority for a cheap optimism. Jeremiahs reflection upon the past had led him to an entirely opposite philosophy of history. Behind Hananiahs words lay the claim that the religious traditions of Israel and the teaching of former prophets guaranteed the inviolability of the Temple and the Holy City. Jeremiah appealed to their authority for his message of doom:-
"The ancient prophets who were our predecessors prophesied war and calamity and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms."
It was also a mark of the true prophet that he should be the herald of disaster. The prophetical books of the Old Testament Canon fully confirm this startling and unwelcome statement. Their main burden is the ruin and misery that await Israel and its neighbours. The presumption therefore was in favour of the prophet of evil, and against the prophet of good. Jeremiah does not, of course, deny that there had been, and might yet be, prophets of good. Indeed every prophet, he himself included, announced some Divine promise, but:-
"The prophet which prophesieth of peace shall be known as truly sent of Jehovah when his prophecy is fulfilled."
It seemed a fair reply to Hananiahs challenge. His prophecy of the return of the sacred vessels and the exiles within two years was intended to encourage Judah and its allies to persist in revolt. They would be at once victorious, and recover all and more than all which they had lost. Under such circumstances Jeremiahs criterion of "prophecies of peace" was eminently practical. "You are promised these blessings within two years: very well do not run the terrible risks of a rebellion: keep quiet and see if the two years bring the fulfilment of this prophecy it is not long to wait." Hananiah might fairly have replied that this fulfilment depended on Judahs faith and loyalty to the Divine promise; and their faith and loyalty would be best shown by rebelling against their oppressors. Jehovah promised Canaan to the Hebrews of the Exodus, but their carcases mouldered in the desert because they had not courage enough to attack formidable enemies. "Let us not." Hananiah might have said. "imitate their cowardice, and thus share alike their unbelief and its penalty."
Neither Jeremiahs premises nor his conclusions would commend his words to the audience, and he probably weakened his position by leaving the high ground of authority and descending to argument. Hananiah at any rate did not follow his example: he adheres to his former method, and reiterates with renewed emphasis the promise which his adversary has contradicted. Following Jeremiah in his use of the parable in action, so common with Hebrew prophets, he turned the symbol of the yoke against its author. As Zedekiah ben Chenaanah made him horns of iron and prophesied to Ahab and Jehoshaphat, "Thus saith Jehovah, With these shalt thou push the Syrians until thou have consumed them," {1Ki_22:11} so now Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiahs neck and broke it before the assembled people and said:-
"Thus saith Jehovah, Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within two full years."
Naturally the promise is "for all nations"-not for Judah only, but for the other allies.
"And the prophet Jeremiah went his way." For the moment Hananiah had triumphed; he had had the last word. and Jeremiah was silenced. A public debate before a partisan audience was not likely to issue in victory for the truth. The situation may have even shaken his faith in himself and his message: he may have been staggered for a moment by Hananiahs apparent earnestness and conviction. He could not but remember that the gloomy predictions of Isaiahs earlier ministry had been followed by the glorious deliverance from Sennacherib. Possibly some similar sequel was to follow his own denunciations. He betook himself anew to fellowship with God, and awaited a fresh mandate from Jehovah.
"Then the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah. Go and tell Hananiah: Thou hast broken wooden yokes; thou shalt make iron yokes in their stead. For thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the necks of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon."
We are not told how long Jeremiah had to wait for this new message, or under what circumstances it was delivered to Hananiah. Its symbolism is obvious. When Jeremiah sent the yokes to the ambassadors of the allies and exhorted Zedekiah to bring his neck under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, they were required to accept the comparatively tolerable servitude of tributaries. Their impatience of this minor evil would expose them to the iron yoke of ruin and captivity.
Thus the prophet of evil received new Divine assurance of the abiding truth of his message and of the reality of his own inspiration. The same revelation convinced him that his opponent was either an impostor or woefully deluded:-
"Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto the prophet Hananiah, Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I will cast thee away from off the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die, because thou hast preached rebellion against Jehovah."
By a judgment not unmixed with mercy, Hananiah was not left to be convicted of error or imposture, when the "two full years" should have elapsed, and his glowing promises be seen to utterly fail. He also was "taken away from the evil to come."
"So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month"-i.e., about two months after this incident. Such personal judgments were most frequent in the case of kings, but were not confined to them. Isaiah {Jer_22:15-25} left on record prophecies concerning the appointment to the treasurership of Shebna and Eliakim; and elsewhere Jeremiah himself pronounces the doom of Pashhur ben Immer, the governor of the Temple; but the conclusion of this incident reminds us most forcibly of the speedy execution of the apostolic sentence upon Ananias and Sapphira.
The subjects of this and the preceding chapter raise some of the most important questions as to authority in religion. On the one hand, on the subjective side, how may a man be assured of the truth of his own religious convictions; on the other hand, on the objective side, how is the hearer to decide between conflicting claims on his faith and obedience?
The former question is raised as to the personal convictions of the two prophets. We have ventured to assume that, however erring and culpable Hananiah may have been, he yet had an honest faith in his own inspiration and in the truth of his own prophecies. The conscious impostor, unhappily, is not unknown either in ancient or modern Churches; but we should not look for edification from the study of this branch of morbid spiritual pathology. There were doubtless Jewish counterparts to "Mr. Sludge the Medium" and to the more subtle and plausible "Bishop Blougram"; but Hananiah was of a different type. The evident respect felt for him by the people, Jeremiahs almost deferential courtesy and temporary hesitation as to his rivals Divine mission, do not suggest deliberate hypocrisy. Hananiahs "lie" was a falsehood in fact but not in intention. The Divine message "Jehovah hath not sent thee" was felt by Jeremiah to be no mere exposure of what Hananiah had known all along, but to be a revelation to his adversary as well as to himself.
The sweeping condemnation of the prophets in chapter 23, does not exclude the possibility of Hananiahs honesty, any more than our Lords denunciation of the Pharisees as "devourers of widows houses" necessarily includes Gamaliel. In critical times, upright, earnest men do not always espouse what subsequent ages hold to have been the cause of truth. Sir Thomas More and Erasmus remained in the communion which Luther renounced: Hampden and Falkland found themselves in opposite camps. If such men erred in their choice between right and wrong, we may often feel anxious as to our own decisions. When we find ourselves in opposition to earnest and devoted men, we may well pause to consider which is Jeremiah and which Hananiah.
The point at issue between these two prophets was exceedingly simple and practical-whether Jehovah approved of the proposed revolt and would reward it with success. Theological questions were only indirectly and remotely involved. Yet, in face of his opponents persistent asseverations, Jeremiah-perhaps the greatest of the prophets-went his way in silence to obtain fresh Divine confirmation of his message. And the man who hesitated was right.
Two lessons immediately follow: one as to practice; the other as to principle. It often happens that earnest servants of God find themselves at variance, not on simple practical questions, but on the history and criticism of the remote past, or on abstruse points of transcendental theology. Before any one ventures to denounce his adversary as a teacher of deadly error, let him, like Jeremiah, seek, in humble and prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit, a Divine mandate for such denunciation.
But again Jeremiah was willing to reconsider his position, not merely because he himself might have been mistaken, but because altered circumstances might have opened the way for a change in Gods dealings. It was a bare possibility, but we have seen elsewhere that Jeremiah represents God as willing to make a gracious response to the first movement of compunction. Prophecy was the declaration of His will, and that will was not arbitrary, but at every moment and at every point exactly adapted to conditions with which it had to deal. Its principles were unchangeable and eternal; but prophecy was chiefly an application of these principles to existing circumstances. The true prophet always realised that his words were for men as they were-when he addressed them. Any moment might bring a change which would abrogate or modify the old teaching, and require and receive a new message. Like Jonah, he might have to proclaim ruin one day and deliverance the next. A physician, even after the most careful diagnosis, may have to recognise unsuspected symptoms which lead him to cancel his prescription and write a new one. The sickening and healing of the soul involve changes equally unexpected. The Bible does not teach that inspiration, any more than science, has only one treatment for each and every spiritual condition and contingency. The true prophets message is always a word in season.
We turn next to the objective question: How is the hearer to decide between conflicting claims on his faith and obedience? We say the right was with Jeremiah; but how were the Jews to know that? They were addressed by two prophets, or, as we might say, two accredited ecclesiastics of the national Church; each with apparent earnestness and sincerity claimed to speak in the name of Jehovah and of the ancient faith of Israel, and each flatly contradicted the other on an immediate practical question, on which hung their individual fortunes and the destinies of their country. What were the Jews to do? Which were they to believe? It is the standing difficulty of all appeals to external authority. You inquire of this supposed Divine oracle and there issues from it a babel of discordant voices, and each demands that you shall unhesitatingly submit to its dictate on peril of eternal damnation; and some have the audacity to claim obedience, because their teaching is "quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus."
One simple and practical test is indeed suggested-the prophet of evil is more likely to be truly inspired than the prophet of good; but Jeremiah naturally does not claim that this is an invariable test. Nor can he have meant that you can always believe prophecies of evil without any hesitation, but that you are to put no faith in promises until they are fulfilled. Yet it is not difficult to discern the truth underlying Jeremiahs words. The prophet whose words are unpalatable to his hearers is more likely to have a true inspiration than the man who kindles their fancy with glowing pictures of an imminent millennium. The divine message to a congregation of country squires is more likely to be an exhortation to be just to their tenants than a sermon on the duty of the labourer to his betters. A true prophet addressing an audience of working men would perhaps deal with the abuses of trades unions rather than with the sins of capitalists.
But this principle, which is necessarily of limited application, does not go far to solve the great question of authority in religion, on which Jeremiah gives us no further help.
There is, however, one obvious moral. No system of external authority, whatever pains may be taken to secure authentic legitimacy, can altogether release the individual from the responsibility of private judgment. Unreserved faith in the idea of a Catholic Church is quite consistent with much hesitation between the Anglican, Roman, and Greek communions; and the most devoted Catholic may be called upon to choose between rival antipopes.
Ultimately the inspired teacher is only discerned by the inspired hearer: it is the answer of the conscience that authenticates the divine message.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter.—“Beginning of…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter.—“Beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.” There is authority for reading “Zedekiah” instead of “Jehoiakim.” Henderson substitutes “Zedekiah,” and appeals to chap. Jer_28:1, to the statements in Jer_27:3; Jer_27:12 of this chap. 27, to the reading of one of Kennicott’s MSS., and to the authority of the Syriac and Arabic versions. Further, Lowth, Blayney, Michaelis, Rosenmüller, Dahler, Maurer, Umbriet, Ewald, Payne Smith, &c., sustain this change of names. The allusion in Jer_27:12 indicates that Zedekiah is the king meant, for both sections of the chapter are synchronous in time and identical in meaning. Probably the reading in the E. V. may have originated from chap. Jer_26:1. Calvin, however, takes the text as it stands, and suggests that Jeremiah kept this prophecy long secreted in his bosom ere he uttered it. If the true reading is “Zedekiah” then “the fourth year” of chap. Jer_28:1, agrees with “in the beginning of the reign” of chap. Jer_27:1, on the theory that, as Zedekiah’s reign lasted eleven years, it was early in his reign when the prophecy was proclaimed: vide chronological notes to chap. 21.
For—2. Contemporary Scriptures; 3. National Affairs; and 4. Contemporary History, vide chap. 21 in loc.
Read full note →
5. Personal Allusions.—Jer_27:3. “Zedekiah”: vide notes to chap. 1 in loc. Jer_27:20, “Jeconiah:” vide chap. Jer_22:24. Jer_27:7. “His son, and his son’s son.” Nebuchadnezzar had four successors, Evil-Merodach his son; Neriglissar the husband of Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter; Laborosoarehad the son of Neriglissar; and Naboned the son of Evil-Merodach. The intermediate two successors are passed over in this prophecy, and only the direct descendants, “his son and son’s son,” are recognised.
6. Manners and Customs.—Jer_27:9. “Prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, sorcerers:” vide on chap. Jer_23:25. These were all sources of prognostication current among the heathen who implicitly rested in such superstitions.
7. Literary Criticisms.—Jer_27:1. The entire verse is absent from the LXX. Jer_27:2. “Bonds and yokes.” מֹטוֹת are the two wooden prongs or poles of the “yoke,” which were fastened together by “bonds,” מוֹסֵרוֹת.
Jer_27:9. The word “enchanters” is by some interpreters derived from עָנָן cloud: cloud-makers or storm-raisers; and by others from עַיִן eye, gazers at the stars and other means of taking omens of futurity.
Jer_27:11. “Serve him … till it.” The same Hebrew root signifies both “serve” and “till,” or cultivate. Serve ye the king of Babylon, and the land will serve you (Calvin).
TOPICAL SURVEY OF THE CHAPTER
Doubtless the five kings (Jer_27:3) had sent ambassadors to Jerusalem to consult with Zedekiah about entering into a defensive covenant against the threatening and alarming Babylonish power. Jeremiah has to meet these messengers with plain and emphatic statements as to the sure course of events.
I. A summons to submit to the inevitable ascendancy of Babylon.
Those “bonds and yokes” would have to be worn (Jer_27:2). And what God said to these five kings He said afterwards specifically also to Zedekiah (Jer_27:12).
i. The inevitable fact. Nebuchadnezzar must be supreme, however these kings might think to resist the decree.
1. Because God was the King of kings. The Almighty, who made “the earth and man and beast,” had decisively “given” dominion over them all to the one monarch they dreaded (Jer_27:5). And “none shall stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?”
2. Because Nebuchadnezzar was serving the will of the Supreme King. Unconsciously doing this, yet none the less doing it. He was God’s “servant” (Jer_27:6). There was a purpose in God’s mind, and He had chosen the Babylonish king to fulfil it.
3. Because a defined period had been set for this ascendancy. The “very time of his land” was clearly fixed in the Divine mind; its beginning and its end (Jer_27:7). Compare Topic: “Seventy Years’ Captivity,” chap. Jer_25:11-12, infra, p. 471.
ii. The results of resistance. See Jer_27:8.
1. Resistance of God’s purpose would be marked by God. He would carefully note “the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar.” God was watching. He keeps His eye on the conduct of kings. The Supreme Ruler “looks down from heaven upon the earth to see if any will understand.” Having made known His will to these kings, He will observe their action; for resistance of God’s purpose is disobedience against Him.
2. Severe punishment from God Himself would follow their disobedience. He had other agencies at His command besides the armies of Babylon, and would let loose on those who conspired against Nebuchadnezzar “the sword, the famine, and the pestilence;” and the destruction these should effect should be more complete, “until I have consumed them.”
“Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth: serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psa_2:10-11).
II. Warnings against the delusive flatteries of false counsellors.
Evil teachers would not be idle at this crisis: they moved among the people boastful of a higher wisdom and a finer patriotism. Their object was to throw discredit on Jeremiah and lead the nation into a policy of resistance of Babylon.
1. Flattery assumes many forms: prophecy, divination, dreams, enchantments, sorcery (Jer_27:9). It adopts any aspect which may beguile the heart. “Evil seducers” are fertile in resources.
2. Flatterers appeal to human vanity. Nothing could more foster the natural arrogance than this statement: “Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.” Those who would lead us to disobey God’s word always come with announcement that no penalties shall follow. “The serpent said, Ye shall not surely die” (Gen_3:4).
But God here points out—
a. The direful results to the people of their accepting these flattering counsels (Jer_27:10; Jer_27:15).
b. The merciful ameliorations which should attend their regarding God’s counsels (Jer_27:11; Jer_27:17).
III. Promises of preservation and restoration conditional on a wise submission.
Although Jeremiah held out no delusive hope of speedy restoration, but confronted the false prophets’ lying words with condemnation (Jer_27:16-17), nevertheless he gives cheering assurances to the people if they would hear God’s word.
1. The inevitable conquest would not be disastrous. The “city” would not “be laid waste” (Jer_27:17), and captives with sacred treasures would be safe in Babylon (Jer_27:22).
2. The cherished symbols of their religion would be preserved. For God would keep them from destruction even in Babylon (Jer_27:19-22). “Both priests and people set store by these relics of a bygone magnificence” (Payne Smith).
3. The captivity should terminate in their Divinely effected restoration. “Until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up and restore them to this place” (Jer_27:22).
COMMENTS AND OUTLINES ON CHAPTER 27
Jer_27:2-3. YOKES FOR THE CONFEDERATE KINGS.
Notes: The symbol was appropriate, inasmuch as their intention was to form a league to cast off from themselves the “yoke” of Babylon.
Jeremiah must actually have worn his yoke in public as a symbol of subjection to the king of Babylon, for Hananiah took the yoke from the prophet’s neck and broke it (chap. Jer_28:10-11). Consequently we must infer that the bonds and yokes were literally given to these “messengers” for their royal masters.
These “yokes” were, in this instance (says Henderson), the collars placed on the necks of slaves to which chains were attached.
Jeremiah’s task demanded much moral courage and steadfast faith in God; for his act would seem an insult to these foreign ambassadors, and a provocation to his own countrymen, who were so hopeful of resisting Nebuchadnezzar’s aggression by this conspiracy.
Note—
i. Unpopular tasks may have to be performed by God’s servants.
ii. A blow struck at pride may save men from great disasters.
iii. Faithful servants of God may have to imperil themselves in averting perils from others. Jeremiah had to bear the anger his mission incurred in endeavouring to rescue these confederating kings from their ruinous policy.
Jer_27:5. Theme: GOD THE SUPREME LORD OF KINGS.
I. God’s all-commanding power is set in contrast with the confederated power of these puny kings. Their combination would be futile to alter events which He had ordained.
II. God’s supreme lordship is affirmed as explaining the temporary ascendancy determined for the Babylonish monarch. It was not for his merits, but for Jehovah’s purposes.
III. God’s government of men is regulated by moral aims and is designed for the vindication of righteous laws. He was now employing Nebuchadnezzar to chastise pride and apostasy.
M. Henry remarks here: “The things of the world are not the best things, for God often gives the largest share of them to bad men, that are rivals with Him and rebels against Him. Dominion is not founded in grace. Those who have not any colourable title to eternal happiness may yet have a justifiable title to their temporal good things.”
Jer_27:5. Theme: MEETNESS BEFORE GOD.
“And have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.” A principle rules the universe—the absolute sovereignty of God. Evils come of acknowledging this in theory but not in practice; much loss of stability—repining—way wardness—disobedience, &c.
I. God is the proprietor of all. He tells all the kings that He made all the lands and gave them all to one, because “it seemeth meet to Him.”
1. Man’s forgetfulness of this in daily life. We live among things, all of which have an Owner higher than ourselves! We do not trace the Father in the gifts He surrounds us with.
2. The harmony of man’s being requires a sense of dependence. He is not happy till he realise dependence on God. Use possessions as God’s: this gives pleasure in their use.
3. Depression results from stopping short of God. We are satisfied with nothing till we see God in it.
II. Wisdom and sovereignty go together. “Unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.”
1. No comfort to know we live under an absolute Sovereign. Sovereignty might be deleterious to us. But every course of action He determines on is so determined because of its true goodness: it is not arbitrary, but the purpose of deliberate wisdom.
2. God gives according to seeming fitness. Our acting on this principle often proves a mistake. We err. But God sees deeper than what seems.
III. The unerring mind of God: i.e., concerning “the meetness of things.” The thought of it should lead us to—
1. Cultivate an adoring spirit. Avoid what the natural spirit in us would prompt to, viz., criticism and probable discontent. Cherish the song of Moses and the Lamb—“Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.”
2. Rest on Him in simple belief. With an unveiled intelligence sometimes, and sometimes in darkest nights. We are hidden in clefts of a rock when He passes by. If we want to see the reasons, or to reconcile God’s ways with our notions, we shall remain troubled to the end.
3. There is immense comfort for us in reposing in God’s law of “meetness.” It takes you behind all fogs and mistakes. Jesus Himself went there: “Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight.” It assures us that right principles are at work. It affirms that He can do for us, and give to us, and keep from us, as He knows best for us.
4. The effect of contemplating this “meetness” will be submission, grounded on the consciousness that there is no injustice being done us by God. And we shall submit (a) from a wise consciousness of the uselessness of contending with the mind of God; for what seems right to Him cannot be changed. We shall come to submit, too, (b) from the consciousness that all things are being arranged on deeper principles than we can investigate. We shall quiet repinings by the thought that my Father sees meet, and therefore I leave the why of it: there will be resignation.
5. So with permitted evil.
6. Equally so with the existence of some mysteries—possibly everlasting.
7. The satisfaction of the heart which recognises “meetness.” For so “the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep our hearts and minds.” “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”—Constructed and condensed from “Breviates” by Rev. P. B. Power, M. A.
Jer_27:5. Theme: THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.
“I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.”
Divine declaration of a well-attested fact, i.e., the supreme power of God and the impotency of man: e.g., Sennacherib (2Ki_19:35-37), “who had the night before been gathering up his strength like a proud tower to dash himself against the towers of Zion. When the morning dawns his 180,000 men are still there, with sword and spear and helmet and streaming banner; but these banners wave over a silent camp, the trumpet lies beside silent lips—it is a camp of death. Sword and spear are still intact, but the arms that wielded them are impotent. The destroying angel has descended at midnight and converted the Assyrian camp into a sepulchre!” Also, e.g., destruction of Spanish Armada as if by miracle.
I. God as Creator. “I have made the earth,” &c., His prerogative to rule, to govern, and to direct.
Directing all the operations of nature to their proper end. All things hang on His will and are dependent upon Him. The starry hosts of heaven depending upon Him for their course, as well as the meanest moss or lichen on the wall for its growth. Not only every flower, but every portion of it—its petals, its colour, its form, its odour—are distinct witnesses to an all-wise, beneficent Creator.
II. As Creator of all, He is the Father of all.
Hence as Father, He ruleth with authority. And this authority is absolute. All men do not accept this. Sin, bold and impudent, with clenched fist, defies the Almighty, and with blasphemy from depraved souls defy Him. The FOLLY of it. God “breaketh down,” &c. (Job_12:14), as an absolute Sovereign; man’s part is to bow to His unchangeable decrees. Pompey boasted that with one stamp of his foot he could rouse all Italy to arms; but God by one word of His mouth can summon the inhabitants of heaven, earth, and the undiscovered worlds to His aid, or bring new creatures into being to do His will.
III. God, as a Father, ruleth also in love. “Like as a father pitieth his children, even so doth the Lord pity them that fear Him.” God’s love to His people is from everlasting to everlasting.
MANIFESTATIONS of His love abound in the experiences of all. It is perennial, permanent, and complete, providing not only for bodily and physical requirements, but giving to the soul that which satisfies its intensest yearnings and highest aspirations. He held back not His Son. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The cross of Christ—the noonday of everlasting love, the meridian splendour of eternal mercy.—A. Taylor.
Jer_27:9. HEATHEN AUGURIES.
“The enumeration of the multifarious means and methods for forecasting the future is designed to show the multitude of delusive schemes for supplying the lack of true and real divine inspiration.”—Keil.
Jer_27:12. SUBMISSION TO THE DESTINED CONQUEROR.
Dean Stanley suggests that Jeremiah’s counsel of Zedekiah and Jerusalem to submit to Nebuchadnezzar was, on his part, an act of political prudence to be imitated by Statesmen and Ecclesiastics, who may be wise in making large concessions of national rights in times of public emergency.
But Bishop Wordsworth urges that Jeremiah’s conduct in giving these directions was a religious duty on his part, since God had revealed to him that the nation was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, “His servant,” on account of their sins, and they must submit to him as the minister and viceregent of God.
M. Henry remarks: “Many might have prevented destroying providences by humbling themselves under humbling providences. It is better to take up a light cross in our way than pull a heavier one on our heads.”
Jer_27:14. THE PROPHECY OF LIES. Comp. Notes, &c., on chap. Jer_14:14.
Comments—
“The devil often makes God’s Name (Jer_27:15) the plea for lies (Mat_4:6; Mat_7:22-23), the test by which to know false prophets.”—Jamieson.
“As many wilfully put on nooses and wish to be deceived, we ought to notice what the prophet says here, that it is our duty to distinguish the true from the false.… We see how sedulously and prudently we ought to take heed lest the devil should fascinate us by his charms, especially when the name of God is pretended.… Yet it is a grievous trial, and much to be feared, when impostors creep in and boast that they are true legitimate prophets.”—Calvin.
“It is one sign of our depraved natures that we are more ready to believe lies than the truth. For when Jeremiah and his colleagues preached, no one believed. But no sooner did the false prophets come and open their mouths, than all their discourses must be spoken directly from heaven (Psa_72:9). E.g., our mother Eve: what God said was of no account, but what the serpent said was something purely excellent.”—Cramer.
Jer_27:18. Theme: PROPHECY TESTED BY PRAYER. “If they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of Hosts,” &c.
A scathing test! “If,” “if.” Yes, there were two uncertainties; but both would be settled effectually by their attempting the task of intercession with God. If they made the effort to open their lips to God, it would certainly seal up their lips to men; for liars dare not pray for the success of their lies.
I. Preaching is easier than praying.
In some sense this is so even in truthful prophesying. For—
1. The hearer is less searching. Man is our listener in prophesying and preaching, but in prayer we speak to God! When, therefore, we address the ear of God, our words falter if we be insincere; and we feel ourselves to be under an Eye which reads us through and through. This is not so when we only address men, who may be deceived.
2. The act is less daring. There is awfulness in an address by a sinner to God; whereas, oh the blasphemy of consciously speaking a lie direct to Him! Who would not shrink with terror? But a man, though sinful—ah! though a deceiver—will not so hesitate to speak to men.
II. True preaching will be accompanied by intercession. No prophet of God will fail in pleading with God.
1. Solicitude for those to whom he prophesies will impel him also to prayer on their behalf.
2. Success as a preacher depends on earnestness in prayer.
God’s messengers will be much with Him as intercessors.
III. The twofold direction of a preacher’s words.
1. Words from God to men. For “if they be prophets,” and it is equally so with preachers, “the word of the Lord will be with them.” They have something to say from God to their fellows.
2. Words to God for men. “Let them make intercession to the Lord.”
Note—
1. Being put in trust with a word from God makes us humble, dependent, and therefore prayerful.
2. Confidence in our message being true renders us fervent in pleading for its fulfilment.
3. Insincerity would not dare adventure before God with intercessions for His seal to our words, or the success of our prophesying.
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 Sixteenth Prophecy (Reign of Zedekiah, Earlier Part). The…
Jeremiah's Sixteenth Prophecy (Reign of Zedekiah, Earlier Part). The Babylonian Yoke
Babylon had already shown its power. Jehoiakim and the chief of the people had been carried captive. Zedekiah was king only on sufferance. The neighbouring nations were under those circumstances willing to make common cause with the Jews against Nebuchadnezzar, many of whom, however, refused to realise the gravity of the danger. In these chs., therefore, Jeremiah sets himself to show that the power of Babylon would be permanent and irresistible. He addresses on this subject (Jer_27:1-11) the neighbouring nations, (Jer_27:12-15) Zedekiah, (Jer_27:16-22) the priests and prophets, (Jeremiah 28) the false prophets, (Jeremiah 29) the exiles in Babylon.
Read full note →
1-29. Judah is warned to submit to Babylon.
1. For Jehoiakim read 'Zedekiah': see Jer_27:3, Jer_27:12, Jer_27:20. The former word may be a copyist's accidental repetition of Jer_26:1.
2. It is plain from Jer_28:10 that Jeremiah actually wore a yoke in public.
3. Messengers] These ambassadors had come to Jerusalem probably with the view of forming an alliance against Babylon. This, however, was not accomplished, as Zedekiah was compelled to go to Babylon and swear allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer_51:59).
6. My servant] see on Jer_25:9.
7. Him, and his son, and his son's son] meaning simply that there was to be no speedy riddance. In point of fact, Nebuchadnezzar had three successors, Evil-Merodach, Neriglissar, and Nabonidus, in whose seventeenth year Babylon was taken by Cyrus. The very time] the appointed end.
Great kings] Persia and Media became masters of Babylon.
9-11. Rebellion will entail exile. Therefore let them submit.
16. The vessels, etc.] Some had been taken in Jehoiachin's reign (2Ki_24:13). The rest were destined to follow (2Ki_25:13). They were given back by Cyrus (Ezr_1:7).
19. The sea] in which the priests washed their hands and feet before sacrificing (1Ki_7:23.). The bases] the supports of the ten lavers (1Ki_7:27.).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 The Optimism of the False Prophets Contradicted
CHAPTER 27
The Optimism of the False Prophets Contradicted
Read full note →
1. The call of Nebuchadnezzar to be the servant of God (Jer 27:1-11)
2. The call to submit and to serve the king of Babylon (Jer 27:12-22)
Jer 27:1-11. It was in the earlier part of the reign of Zedekiah (Jehoiakim in Jer 27:1 is a clerical error, see Jer 27:3 and Jer 27:12) that Jeremiah is commanded to make bonds and yokes to put them on his neck; then he was to send them to the surrounding nations by the ambassadors at the court of Zedekiah. The verses which follow are of much importance and interest. God speaks as Creator, and in His sovereignty He appoints Nebuchadnezzar as head over the nations and over the beasts of the field, also over the fowls of heaven Dan 2:38, not permanently, but for a time. God appointed a new form of government, because Jerusalem had failed, and the theocratic government as vested in the house of David was to pass away. An imperial head is chosen by the Lord from among the Gentiles. He constitutes Nebuchadnezzar His servant; with him and his rule begin the times of the Gentiles. He is the golden head in the dream-image he saw, which young Daniel interpreted by Divine revelation. The times of the Gentiles are fully revealed in Daniel’s great prophecies. The predicted end of these times are not passed into history; we are still living in the times of the Gentiles. They end with the second, visible coming of Christ, when Gentile world-dominion, as it started with Nebuchadnezzar, will end, and the kingdom of heaven begins.
This fact--that God has committed power in this world to a man--is very remarkable. In the case of Israel, man had been tried on the ground of obedience to God, and had not been able to possess the blessing that should have resulted from it. Now God abandons this direct government of the world (while still the sovereign Lord above); and, casting off Israel whom He had chosen out from the nations, grouping the latter around the elect people and His own throne in Israel, He subjects the world to one head, and committing power unto man, He places him under a new trial, to prove whether he will own the God who gave him power, and make those happy who are subjected to him. when he can do whatever he will in this world.
Whoever refuses now the new governmental order will be punished by the Lord; the nations that put their neck under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, to serve him, will remain in their land.
Jer 27:12-22. He speaks to the king and to the priests and calls them to submit to the new government established with Nebuchadnezzar. He urges them not to believe the lying prophets with their false, optimistic message, who promised smooth things. Every message they uttered, contradicted the Word of God. It is the same in Christendom today. The rationalistic critics have a message of unscriptural optimism concerning the conditions of this age, which contradicts everything made known in the prophetic Word. Part of the vessels from the temple had been carried away. The false prophets said that these vessels would shortly be returned. The Lord dispels this lying message, for He reveals through His prophet that the remaining vessels shall also be taken to Babylon.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 12 The Message of the Yokes
The Message of the Yokes
v. 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (rather, of Zedekiah), the son of Josiah, king of Judah, about 609 B. C. came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
Read full note →
v. 2. Thus saith the Lord to me, Make thee bonds and yokes, the yokes being held in place on the neck by strong cords or thongs, and put them upon thy neck, retaining the one for himself,
v. 3. and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, all the smaller nations round about Palestine, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah, king of Judah, ambassadors who were trying to cement the alliance between Judah and their own nations, in order to shake off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar;
v. 4. and command them to say unto their masters, the rulers of the nations which they represented, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters:
v. 5. I have made the earth, the man, and the beast that are upon the ground, calling them into being by an act of His will, as the King of the universe, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, symbol of irresistible might, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me, not on the basis of any one’s merits, but according to His good pleasure.
v. 6. And now have I given all these lands, the various countries enumerated above, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant, who, in this instance, carried out the Lord’s will; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him, so that his authority and power is practically unlimited.
v. 7. And all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, three generations being represented in the dynasty of Babylonian emperors, in a total of five rulers, until the very time of his land come, when Babylon would, in turn, be conquered by another nation; and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him, be impressed into service to Nebuchadnezzar and his successors.
v. 8. And it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, willingly submitting to his power, accepting his overlordship, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, the dreaded exterminators of nations, until I have consumed them by his hand, Nebuchadnezzar being the instrument of the Lord in this instance.
v. 9. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, the self-appointed leaders of this class, nor to your diviners, those who insisted that they could uncover the future, nor to your dreamers, literally, "your dreams," to show the vanity of such a reliance, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, the last two classes making use of witchcraft to deceive the people, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon,
v. 10. for they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land, that being their object in making deliberate misstatements, and that I should drive you out, for refusing to obey His injunction to submit to the Chaldean king, and ye should perish.
v. 11. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord, not subjecting them to the disgrace of deportation; and they shall till it and dwell therein. The Oriental despots were satisfied if nations would but accept their sovereignty and pay their tribute-money, resorting to sterner measures only when a nation stubbornly refused to submit. It is ever thus that misfortune and destruction comes upon those who follow the guidance of false prophets.
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, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21 things that keep a person from moving freely
fetters
things that keep a person from moving freely
Read full note →
Then send them out
This seems to mean that Jeremiah was to send a set of fetters and yoke to each king listed. But some versions of the Bible translate this as "Then send out messages."
Send them by the hand of those kings' ambassadors who ... Judah
The hand is a synecdoche for the person. AT: "Have those kings' ambassadors, who ... Judah, take them" (See: Synecdoche)
Give commands to them for their masters
Jeremiah was instructed to give a set of chains and yoke to each ambassador and a message for each king regarding the chains and yoke.
Yahweh of hosts ... says this
Jeremiah often uses these words to introduce an important message from Yahweh. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 6:6.
translationWords
reign
Jehoiakim
Josiah
king
kingdom of Judah
word
Jeremiah
Yahweh
yoke
send
Edom
Moab
people group
Ammon
Tyre
Sidon
hand
ambassador
Jerusalem
Zedekiah
command
lord
Yahweh of hosts
God
Israel
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, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 16, 18, 20, 22 27:1-22 The Lord ordered Jeremiah to send messages to…
27:1-22 The Lord ordered Jeremiah to send messages to the ambassadors from nearby countries to announce the Lord’s judgment upon them. He was to illustrate his message by wearing a wooden yoke. This event took place in 594–593 BC (see 28:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.