Yahweh says: “Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say, ‘It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,’
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh says: “Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say, ‘It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,’
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Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
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Thus saith the LORD: Yet again there shall be heard in this place, whereof ye say: It is waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 33:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 32:43 Fields will be bought in this land, about which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or animal. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’
- Jeremiah 32:36 Now therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says concerning this city, about which you say, “It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:”
- Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain These two verses are connected together, and have been…
These two verses are connected together, and have been improperly divided, for the sentence is not complete. In the first place we have, Yet shall be heard, but what? the voice of joy, etc., as we find in the following verse. Jeremiah confirms at large what he had taught respecting the return of the people, because there was need of many and strong supports, that, the faithful might proceed in their course with confidence It was indeed difficult to muster courage under so great a calamity; and had they for a short season breathing time, yet new trials constantly arising might have cast them down and laid them prostrate. There is no wonder then that the Prophet here speaks diffusely of that favor which was deemed incredible; and then the memory of it might not have always remained fixed in the hearts of the faithful, had not a repeated confirmation been given.
He again introduces God as the speaker, that the promise might have more effect. Again, he says, shall be heard in this place — even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem — the voice of joy, etc. He repeats what we noticed yesterday, that the Jews put every obstacle they could in the way of their restoration. The narrowness of our hearts, we know does in a manner exclude an entrance as to God’s favor; for being filled, nay, swollen with unbelief, we suffer not God’s grace to enter into us. So the Jews, by desponding and imagining that their calamity was incurable, and that no remedy was to be expected, rejected as far as they could the promised favor of deliverance This, then, is what the Prophet again upbraids them with, even that they said that the whole country and all the cities were destroyed, so that neither man nor beast remained. This was, indeed, the fact at that time, and the Jews had spoken correctly; but as it was said yesterday, the ungodly never feel the scourges of God without rushing headlong into despair. Then what is condenmed is this, that the Jews thought that they were to perish without any hope of deliverance. Hence the Prophet here reproves their unbelief, and at the same time exhorts them to entertain hope. But he testifies that God’s grace would surpass all their wickedness.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 33:10 Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall…
Jer 33:10 Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say [shall be] desolate without man and without beast, [even] in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
Ver. 10. Again there shall be heard in this place.] God loveth to help his people, when they are forsaken of their hopes.
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 Ye say; those of you who, though you find…
Ye say; those of you who, though you find no great difficulty to believe what I have prophesied concerning the Chaldeans’ taking this city, seeing it upon the matter already taken, yet find a difficulty to believe what I tell you about the people’s returning, and the rebuilding of it. The Lord speaketh the one as well as the other; There shall be heard again in it, &c.
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 Here is a further prediction of the happy state…
Here is a further prediction of the happy state of Judah and Jerusalem after their glorious return out of captivity, issuing gloriously at length in the kingdom of the Messiah.
I. It is promised that the people who were long in sorrow shall again be filled with joy. Every one concluded now that the country would lie for ever desolate, that no beasts would be found in the land of Judah, no inhabitant in the streets of Jerusalem, and consequently there would be nothing but universal and perpetual melancholy (Jer 33:10); but, though weeping may endure for a time, joy will return. It was threatened (Jer 7:34 and Jer 16:9) that the voice of joy and gladness should cease there; but here it is promised that they shall revive again, that the voice of joy and gladness shall be heard there, because the captivity shall be returned; for then was their mouth filled with laughter, Psa 126:1, Psa 126:2. 1. There shall be common joy there, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; marriages shall again be celebrated, as formerly, with songs, which in Babylon they had laid aside, for their harps were hung on the willow-trees. 2. There shall be religious joy there; temple-songs shall be revived, the Lord's songs, which they could not sing in a strange land. There shall be heard in their private houses, and in the cities of Judah, as well as in the temple, the voice of those that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts. Note, Nothing is more the praise and honour of a people than to have God the glory of it, the glory both of the power and of the goodness by which it is effected; they shall prise him both as the Lord of hosts and as the God who is good and whose mercy endures for ever. This, though a song of old, yet, being sung upon this fresh occasion, will be a new song. We find this literally fulfilled at their return out of Babylon, Ezr 3:11. They sang together in praising the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endures for ever. The public worship of God shall be diligently and constantly attended upon: They shall bring the sacrifice of praise to the house of the Lord. All the sacrifices were intended for the praise of God, but this seems to be meant of the spiritual sacrifices of humble adorations and joyful thanksgivings, the calves of our lips (Hos 14:2), which shall please the Lord better than an ox of bullock. The Jews say that in the days of the Messiah all sacrifices shall cease but the sacrifice of praise, and to those days this promise has a further reference.
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II. It is promised that the country, which had lain long depopulated, shall be replenished and stocked again. It was now desolate, without man and without beast; but, after their return, the pastures shall again be clothed with flocks, Psa 65:13. In all the cities of Judah and Benjamin there shall be a habitation of shepherds, Jer 33:12, Jer 33:13. This intimates, 1. The wealth of the country, after their return. It shall not be a habitation of beggars, who have nothing, but of shepherds and husbandmen, men of substance, with good stocks upon the ground they have returned to. 2. The peace of the country. It shall not be a habitation of soldiers, not shall there be tents and barracks set up to lodge them, but there shall be shepherds; tents; for they shall hear no more the alarms of war, nor shall there be any to make even the shepherds afraid. See Psa 144:13, Psa 144:14. 3. The industry of the country, and their return to their original plainness and simplicity, from which, in the corrupt ages, they had sadly degenerated. The seed of Jacob, in their beginning, gloried in this, that they were shepherds (Gen 47:3), and so they shall now be again, giving themselves wholly to that innocent employment, causing their flocks to lie down (Jer 33:12) and to pass under the hands of him that telleth them (Jer 33:13); for, though their flocks are numerous, they are not numberless, nor shall they omit to number them, that they may know if any be missing and may seek after it. Note, It is the prudence of those who have ever so much of the world to keep an account of what they have. Some think that they pass under the hand of him that telleth them that they may be tithed, Lev 27:32. Then we may take the comfort of what we have when God has had his dues out of it. Now because it seemed incredible that a people, reduced as now they were, should ever recover such a degree of peace and plenty as this, here is subjoined a general ratification of these promises (Jer 33:14): I will perform that good thing which I have promised. Though the promise may sometimes work slowly towards an accomplishment, it works surely. The days will come, though they are long in coming.
III. To crown all these blessings which God has in store for them, here is a promise of the Messiah, and of that everlasting righteousness which he should bring in (Jer 33:15, Jer 33:16), and probably this is that good thing, that great good thing, which in the latter days, days that were yet to come, God would perform, as he had promised to Judah and Israel, and to which their return out of captivity and their settlement again in their own land was preparatory. From the captivity to Christ is one of the famous periods, Mat 1:17. This promise of the Messiah we had before (Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6), and there it came in as a confirmation of the promise of the shepherds whom God would set over them, which would make one think that the promise here concerning the shepherds and their flocks, which introduces it, is to be understood figuratively. Christ is here prophesied of, 1. As a rightful King. He is a branch of righteousness, not a usurper, for he grows up unto David, descends from his loins, with whom the covenant of royalty was made, and is that seed with whom that covenant should be established, so that his title is unexceptionable. 2. As a righteous king, righteous in enacting laws, waging wars, and giving judgment, righteous in vindicating those that suffer wrong and punishing those that do wrong: He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. This may point at Zerubbabel, in the type, who governed with equity, not as Jehoiakim had done (Jer 22:17); but it has a further reference to him to whom all judgment is committed and who shall judge the world in righteousness. 3. As a king that shall protect his subjects from all injury. By him Judah shall be saved from wrath and the curse, and, being so saved, Jerusalem shall dwell safely, quiet from the fear of evil, and enjoying a holy security and serenity of mind, in a dependence upon the conduct of this prince of peace, this prince of their peace. 4. As a king that shall be praised by his subjects: "This is the name whereby they shall call him" (so the Chaldee reads it, the Syriac, and vulgar Latin); "this name of his they shall celebrate and triumph in, and by this name they shall call upon him." It may be read, more agreeably to the original, This is he who shall call her, The Lord our righteousness. As Moses's altar is called Jehovah-nissi (Exo 17:15), and Jerusalem Jehovah-shammah (Eze 48:35), intimating that they glory in Jehovah as present with them and their banner, so here the city is called The Lord our righteousness, because they glory in Jehovah as their righteousness. That which was before said to be the name of Christ (says Mr. Gataker) is here made the name of Jerusalem, the city of the Messiah, the church of Christ. He it is that imparts righteousness to her, for he is made of God to us righteousness, and she, by bearing that name, professes to have her whole righteousness, not from herself, but from him. In the Lord have I righteousness and strength, Isa 45:24. And we are made the righteousness of God in him. The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall have this name of the Messiah so much in their mouths that they shall themselves be called by it.
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John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thus saith the Lord, again there shall be heard…
Thus saith the Lord, again there shall be heard in this place,.... This is to be connected with the beginning of Jer 33:11; and what follows to be put in a parenthesis:
which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast: as in Jer 32:43; the destruction of it being now certain and inevitable; and by which such desolation would be made throughout the country, that very few men or cattle would be left:
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even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate; as they were already, the country being in the hands of the enemy, and the city almost depopulated by the sword, famine, and pestilence, and just about to be delivered up: and so
without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast; neither inhabited by man or beast; which is an hyperbolical exaggeration of the miserable condition of the city, and country; expressing the unbelief and despair of the Jews, at least of some of them, ever seeing better times: whereas, be it so, that this was or would be the case; yet here should be heard again, in the times of the Messiah, when he should appear in Judea, and his Gospel be preached there, from whence it should go into all the world, what follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 33:10-11. Again there shall be heard in this…
Jer 33:10-11. Again there shall be heard in this place which ye say shall be desolate — See note on Jer 32:43; the voice of joy and the voice of gladness — The contrary to what takes place in the times of captivity and desolation. The voice of them that shall say, Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good, &c. — We read, (Ezr 3:11,) that those who returned from captivity used this very hymn. And of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord — Such as was wont to be offered upon any great deliverance. See Lev 7:12; Psa 107:22; Psa 116:17. The Hebrew, מבאים תודה, is literally, of them that bring praise, or, thanksgiving, there being nothing for the word sacrifice. This, however, is called by St. Paul, the sacrifice of praise, even the fruit of our lips, (Heb 13:15,) to distinguish it from the oblations commanded by the law, which consisted of the fruits of the ground, or of the flock and herd. The sum of this verse is, that those who were carried into captivity should return, and, upon their return, should be in their former state as to civil transactions, marrying and giving in marriage; and, as to religion, should publicly praise the Lord with holy and spiritual joy, as they had been wont to do in the best and most prosperous times of their commonwealth, which was fulfilled, as we see, Neh 12:27-40.
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Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Which ye say shall be desolate - Of which…
Which ye say shall be desolate - Of which ye say, It is desolate ... The prophet first sees Judaea silent and desolate during the 70 years’ captivity: and then describes the two things, men and cattle, without which land is valueless.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 3. The glorious City-life of the Future
3. The glorious City-life of the Future
Jer_33:10-11
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10 Thus saith Jehovah, Again shall be heard in this place,
Of which ye say, It is desolate without man and beast—
In the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, which are desolate,
Without man, without inhabitant and without beast—
11 The voice of joy and the voice of gladness,
The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,
The voice of those who say, Praise Jehovah Zebaoth,
For Jehovah is good, for his mercy endureth forever!—
Who bring thank-offerings into the house of Jehovah.
For I will reverse the captivity of the land as at the beginning, saith Jehovah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
After, in the previous context, the restoration in general, viz. of the city and the state, had been promised on the basis of inward purification, the prophet now becomes more specific; city and country are again to be peopled and to become the theatre of joyous civil and religious life.
Jer_33:10-11. Thus saith … Jehovah. The subject of shall be heard is the voice of joy, etc., Jer_33:11.—This place is the land (comp. Jer_33:12; Jer_24:5; Jer_16:3; Jer_7:7) as is seen from the following “in the cities of Judah,” etc.—Of which ye say. Comp. Jer_32:36; Jer_32:43. Without man, etc. Comp. Jer 33:32, 43.—The voice, etc. Comp. Jer_7:34; Jer_16:9; Jer_25:10; Zec_8:4-5.—Praise Jehovah. A frequent liturgical formula of thanksgiving in the later period. Psa_106:1; Psa_107:1; Psa_118:1-3; Psa_136:1-3; Ezr_3:11; 2Ch_5:13; 2Ch_7:3, etc.—Who bring,etc. Comp. rems. on Jer_17:26; Psa_56:13.—For I will reverse,etc. Comp. rems. on Jer_29:14.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer_32:3. “An effect of anger and a procedure almost like that of Ahab with the prophet Micah. The same spirit prevails now-a-days. For without entering on an investigation, with what right or reason men are found who often in pretty general expressions in a call to repentance, borrow from the prophet all sorts of judicial threatening and point to this or that city, we cannot avoid seeing why they are always put in arrest, viz.: for this cause, ‘Why dost thou prophesy what we do not like to hear?’ When one is sure of his cause, a noble disdain of such people would be the best means to use against them. But men cannot bear a bad conscience and threatenings of all sorts together, and the fear that it may be true has the foolish effect, that they cause the bearers of such unpleasant tidings to come to a bad end, in order to affright others from coming with similar messages.” Zinzendorf.
2. On Jer_32:7 sqq. “Fundatur in hoc textu locus classicus de contractibus emtionis et venditionis, quos improbant Anabaptistæ, probat Scriptura, sicut ostendunt hæc quæ jam sequuntur documenta: Pro_31:14; Mat_13:3.”Förster.
3. On Jer_32:15. “The prophet had often enough declared the land lost to the Chaldeans. Here, however, he must testify that it is not lost forever: his purchase was to restore confidence in the future to other troubled souls. Thus the most afflicted servant of God must again be the most hopeful.”—“When we are outwardly prosperous, we think no one can take our prosperity from us, and when trouble comes upon us, we again think that no one can help us. Both courses are, however, equally ungodly. Therefore God’s servants must contradict both those who are at ease, and those who are in despair. The reverse is always right. In good days humble thyself, and in bad days let thyself be exalted, for then it is a great thing to do.” Diedrich.
4. On Jer_32:9; Jer_32:16; Jer_32:24-25. “Jeremiah also contends, but as a servant of the Lord. First he obeys and afterwards speaks about it. This is a noble way, by which every teacher, who knows the Lord, may prove himself. As soon as he observes that the Lord wishes this or that, it is not the time to expostulate, but to act, not to call anything in question, but to set to work. If then any hesitation is left, or one and another scruple, it is time afterwards to consult with the Lord about it, when one has first shown obedience.” Zinzendorf. [“Though we are bound to follow God with an implicit obedience, yet we should endeavor that it may be more and more intelligent obedience. We must never dispute God’s statutes and judgments, but we may and must inquire, What mean these statutes and judgments? Deu_6:20.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
5. On Jer_32:25. Tertullian (c. Marc, L. IV., c. 40) sees in the words “Buy thee the field for money,” the prophetic passage to which Mat_27:9 refers, regarding the reading Ἰερεμίου as correct. Comp. Euseb. Demonstr. Ev., L. X., c. 4; Augustin, De consensu Evang., L. III., c. 7.
6. On Jer_32:27. To God there is no wonder [miracle]. There are wonders only on the lower stage of existence. Every higher stage is a wonder to the lower. Or is there only one stage of existence, and accordingly only one order of nature? When the North American savages cruelly murdered one of their number who had been on a visit to the Great Father in Washington, and told them of the wonders of civilization, as a demoniacally possessed liar, were they less in the right than our highly civilized savages, to whom it is a fundamental axiom, that there is no other world, but that which they can reach with their five senses? It is certainly not proved that there is a living, personal, omnipotent God. But this is not to be proved, it is to be felt from the heart. He who is born of God heareth His voice. To him also miracles cease to be aught irrational. He knows well how to distinguish between true and false miracles, but the former come to him like a voice from the higher world, in which he feels truly at home. For the stages of existence and orders of nature are not hermetically sealed towards each other, but the higher break through in order to lift the lower up to themselves.
7. On Jer_32:36 sqq. On the fulfilment of this prophecy comp. the Comm. on Jer_13:14, and the Doctrinal notes on Jer_3:18-25, No. 8. As the threatening that Israel should be dispersed among all nations from one end of the earth to the other (Deu_28:64-66) has been literally fulfilled, why should not this promise also be literally fulfilled, that they shall be collected from all lands whither the Lord has cast them out? Why cannot this people be destroyed? Why do they retain their peculiarities with such tenacity, that neither the most raging fanaticism, nor the most humane cosmopolitanism, which is much more dangerous than the former, can mingle them with other nations; so that we can follow the course of their national stream through the sea of nations, as it is said of the Rhine that its water flows unmingled through the lake of Constance? Assuredly this people must yet have a future. Only thus much is correct; that the real kernel of these prophecies is offered to us in a shell which the prophets prepared from contemporary events, but it is difficult to determine where the shell ceases and the kernel begins. Comp. Rinck, The Scripturalness of the doctrine of the Millennial reign defended against Hengstenberg. Eberfeld, 1866, S. 45 sqq.
8. On Jer_32:36 sqq. “Is the consummation of the redemptive work possible while Israel is rejected as a nation? According to the Old Testament this question must be unconditionally negatived. This knows only a temporary rejection of Israel, which at the same time has this result, that Israel does not perish as a nation, but is preserved for future restoration. Is this law aunulled since Israel despised the gracious visitation of the Messiah, the kingdom of God taken from them and given to a people which bring forth the fruits thereof? Are thus the predictions of the prophets, which treat of a glorification of Israel in the latter days, eternally abrogated on account of the nation’s sin? Or can their fulfilment be found only in a spiritual manner in the Christian church, the main trunk of which was formed by a chosen few from Israel? These questions are answered in the affirmative by Bertheau (Old Testament prophecy of Israel’s national glory in their own land. Jahrb. f. deutsche Theol., 1859 and 1860) in accordance with the older protestant theology (comp. especially Hollaz, Exam, theolog. ed. Teller, p. 1264 sqq.) as decidedly as according to our conviction they must, on the ground of Rom_1:25 sqq., be negatived. It seems to us to be irrefragably established that when the times of the world-nations are full (Luk_21:24), Israel will obey the gospel call, and thus be prepared to welcome the Messiah (Mat_23:39); that for this reason in its dispersion among the nations of the earth it has never been absorbed by them, but preserved in separate existence for its final destination, because God’s gifts of grace and calling are ἀμεταμέλητα.” Oehler in Herzog, R.-Enc., XVII., S. 658, 9.
9. On Jer_33:3. “This is the Lord’s declaration to His obedient servant Jeremiah. My dear child, He says, thou hast acted according to my will, without knowing why. Thou hast done well. But I will make it clear to thee, so that thou wilt wonder no more; I will tell thee that and yet more, so that thou wilt at last say., ‘Yes, let it be so.’ We find such connections a few times elsewhere in the Scriptures. The Lord says, ‘ How can I hide from Abraham the thing that I do!’ (Gen_18:17.) And the same Lord declares to His disciples, whence comes this inclination or predisposition to tell something new to His disciples, ‘ Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you’ (Joh_15:16). So also is it here with Jeremiah.” Zinzendorf.
10. On Jer_33:6. Healing, restoration, joy and permanent prosperity are promised by the prophet to Jerusalem at a time when all seemed lost, and it seemed impossible to regain them. How desolate must it have then appeared in Jerusalem when one house after another was thrown down to furnish means of defence! How wildly raged the tumult of war, and how comfortless was the condition of the city shut in by the enemy and completely cut off from the rest of the country! To the mind of him, who then thought of Jerusalem in the future, pictures of destruction alone presented themselves. Jeremiah, however, whose sight was sharpened by the divine anointing, sees beyond the present abomination of desolation in the far distant future pictures of peace and, moreover, of everlasting peace, such as no eye has ever seen, nor hath it entered into the heart of man. There was the patience and faith of the saints (Rev_13:10). ‘Impossible’ is a word, which does not occur in God’s language.
11. On Jer_33:8. “After the stubborn race has been partly annihilated and partly humbled, God will turn the captivity of the nation, as a whole. Israel cannot perish eternally. God will purify the people from their sins, by forgiveness, the only way in which men can be really freed from sin. Grace and forgiveness are the only ground on which we stand as Christians. This seems nothing to the world, and yet it is more than heaven and earth.” Diedrich.
12. On Jer_33:7-13. “An important doctrine meets us in these words, that it is not the gifts of God which we should seek to apprehend, but the love of God which is manifested in that He imputes not our sin to us. Otherwise we treat the Divine benefits like the fishes which swallow the hook with the bait.” Heim and Hofmann. The major prophets expounded for edification, 1839, S. 509.
13. On Jer_33:14-17. “All God’s promises are at the same time fulfilled by the true man, the Son of Man, the pure sprout of David. He will be a King, in whom we have perfect protection from all destructive agencies, for He will help us from sin, procuring and executing on earth justice and righteousness for all mankind. As we all together inherited sin and death from Adam, so Jesus by His righteousness has brought justification of life for all men, if we would now only take it with joy. Jerusalem will itself bear the King’s name, as he was called in Jer_23:6 : Jehovah our Righteousness, i. e., that Jehovah bestows on us the righteousness, which is the bond, which at the same time unites us to the citizens of His celestial city.” Diedrich.
14. On Jer_33:15-16. [The Lord our righteousness. “This is to be explained by the union of the Church with Christ (see Rom_12:4-5; 1Co_10:17; 1Co_12:12; Eph_1:22; Eph_4:12; Eph_4:15-16; Eph_4:25; Eph_6:23; Col_1:18; Col_1:24) so that what belongs to Him is communicated to her (Calvin, Piscator, Muenster).—Thus, by virtue of her mystical union with Christ, and by the imputation of His merits, and the infusion of His Spirit, the Name of the Church may be said to be ‘ The Lord our righteousness;’ she hides herself in Him, and is seen by God as in Him; she is clothed with Christ the Sun of righteousness (see Rev_12:1) and is accepted in the Beloved (Eph_1:6).” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
15. On Jer_33:17. [“When the First-begotten was brought into the world it was declared concerning Him, The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David, Luk_1:32.” Henry.—S.R. A.]
16. On Jer_33:13-22. [“Four words, each of them full of meaning, comprise the conceptions which we attribute to the Paradisaical state. They are these: Innocence, Love, Rural Life. Piety; and it is towards these conditions of earthly happiness that the human mind reverts, as often as it turns, sickened and disappointed, from the pursuit of whatever else it may have ever labored to acquire. The innocence we here think of is not virtue recovered, that has passed through its season of trial, but it is Moral Perfectness, darkened by no thought or knowledge of the contrary. This Paradisaical love is conjugal fondness, free from sensuous taint. This Rural Life is the constant flow of summer days, spent in gardens and afield, exempt from our exacted toil. This piety of Paradise is the grateful approach of the finite being to the Infinite,—a correspondence that is neither clouded, nor is apprehensive of a cloud.” Isaac Taylor, Spirit of Hebrew Poetry.—S. R. A.]
17. On Jer_33:19-22. [“The richest promises are confirmed by the strongest assurances.” Cowles.—S. R. A.] “As God’s arrangements in nature do not fail, still less can His word fail in His kingdom of grace, and all His word refers to the divine Son of David and His eternal kingdom of grace. Yea, the whole innumerable Israel, Abraham’s spiritual posterity, shall become Davids and Levites, i. e., priests and kings, as was designed even at the beginning of Israel. (Exo_19:6; 1Pe_2:9; Rev_5:6).” Diedrich.
18. On Jer_33:18-22. [Wordsworth rejects Hengstenberg’s explanation that these words are to be applied to all Christians indiscriminately, and approves of the argument derived by the ancient Christian fathers from the passage in favor of the threefold order of ministers in the Christian church. He adds “The Gospel of Christ and the Church of Christ possess the spiritual essence of whatever was commanded in the Levitical dispensations. Whatever was local and personal in those dispensations has passed away. The Tabernacle, the Temple, their Sacrifices, their Sabbaths, their Annual Festivals, their threefold Ministry, all these have been spiritualized in the Gospel. Sinai is perpetuated in Zion. The glory of the Law has been absorbed into that of the Gospel. See Psa_68:17, the great Pentecostal Psalm.”—S. R. A.]
19. On Jer_33:23-26. “In the first place they will not be warned, and afterwards they will not be comforted. The true prophet however announces death to sinners according to the law, but afterwards grace for renovation and for life. Despair is blasphemy. God’s kingdom stands and will be perfected, but the fainthearted will not enter it. God answers: so long as heaven and earth are preserved by Me, it is for the sake of My kingdom, and as a pledge that it will not fail. Israel or, what is the same thing, David’s seed shall be a royal seed, and the captivity which the people must now endure is transient. It is however impossible for the worldly to comprehend this, who persist in carnal repose as though no God could punish them, and again in affliction are so despondent, as though there were no God to help them any more.” Diedrich. [“Deep security commonly ends in deep despair; whereas those that keep up a holy fear at all times have a good hope to support themselves in the worst of times.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_32:16. [“Before Jeremiah went to prayer he delivered the deeds that concerned his new purchase to Baruch, which may intimate to us, that when we are going to worship God we should get our minds as clear as may be from the cares and encumbrances of this world.—Note, Prayer is the salve of every sore.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
2. On Jer_32:17-25. The Divine promises our best consolation in every affliction. 1. There are promises of Divine help for every kind of distress in human life. 2. These promises often sound very wonderful (Jer_32:24-25). 3. Their fulfilment on the part of God is guaranteed by the perfection of the Divine nature (Jer_32:17-19). 4. Their fulfilment is on our part conditioned by faith.
3. On Jer_32:18-19. Harvest [Thanksgiving-day] Sermon. “To what should our admiration of the power and grace of God in the present harvest lead us? 1. To thank God. 2. To trust all to Him, that He has promised us. 3. To obey His voice.” Jentsch., Gesetz and Zeugniss, 1853.
4. On Jer_32:19. “The very serious and important truth, the eyes of the Lord are open to all the paths of the children of men. This should 1, shake us and awake us from our security, if some of our ways are sinful and such as the Lord must certainly disapprove; 2, humble us, if we are indeed under the discipline of God’s Spirit, and yet turn to our own self made courses, and have not yet allowed a fixed and sure heart to be imparted to us; 3, be for our comfort and encouragement, when we are often led in dark and difficult paths.” J. M. Mueller, Zeugnisse v. Christo. [Witnesses to Christ]. Neues Predigtbuch., Stuttgart, 1866, S. 757.
5. On Jer_32:19. [“The greatness of God’s wisdom and the abundance of His power. Proved from His nature. Rem. 1. God hath the power of making the deepest affliction of His children produce their highest happiness. 2. The contrivances of tyrants to oppress the church procure its establishment. 3. The triumphs of Satan turn to the destruction of his empire.” Saurin.—S. R. A.]
6. On Jer_32:39. Wedding-sermon, “The promise which the Lord gives to God-fearing couples. 1. One heart. 2. One way. 3. One blessing, which shall extend to their children.” Florey, 1862.
7. On Jer_32:40. Wedding-sermon. The nature and fruit of a true marriage. 1. Its nature: it is a covenant which a man and a woman conclude in the Lord, and with the Lord (put My fear in their hearts;—not depart from Me;—everlasting covenant). 2. Its fruit: good from the Lord without ceasing.
8. On Jer_32:40. [“Teachers may put good things into our heads, but it is God only that can put them into our hearts, that can work in us both to will and to do.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
9. On Jer_32:39-41. “The greatest and dearest of all the promises of God to a marriage in the highest degree happy and delightful.” G. Conr. Rieger.
10. On Jer_32:40-41. Baptismal Sermon. “The gracious promises of God, which He gives to a child of man in holy baptism.” Florey, 1862.
11. On Jer_32:42. “ In communion of suffering of pious Christians is also a blessed fellowship of consolation, since 1, when we as Christians bear with one another, we can also with each other and by each other obtain composure with respect to whatever has befallen us; 2, our heart is revived by what remains, viz., love on earth and hope in heaven; 3, we become strong for whatever duty is laid upon us, viz., labor and courage.” Florey, 1863.
12. On Jer_33:1. [“No confinement can deprive God’s people of His presence; no locks or bars can shut out His gracious visits, nay, oftentimes as their afflictions abound their consolations much more abound, and they have the most reviving communications of His favor then when the world frowns on them. Paul’s sweetest Epistles were those that bare date out of a prison.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
13. On Jer_33:6. “ The disease of our times is no other than a rebellious spirit, and the cause of this is no other than a want of reverence for God and His law.” Discourse on the Birth-day of the king by Deacon Hauber in Tübingen. Palmer, Ev Casualreden, 2te Folge, 1, 1850.
14. On Jer_33:14-16. “Jesus Christ a King. 1. From what a noble royal stock did He proceed! (Raised by God, descending from David, both by His deity and humanity heir of the throne). 2. How well has He exercised His rule with judgment and righteousness (He Himself is the Lord, who is our righteousness). 3. How far does His dominion extend! (From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth). 4. How safely does His people dwell by His help in peace !” Naumann, in Gesetz u. Zeugn., 1860, March.
15. On Jer_33:14-16. “Who is He announced to-day? 1. The long promised—with reference to His historical appearance. 2. The Son of David and at the same time God’s Son—this is His personal significance. 3. The Lord, who is our righteousness—this relates to His holy office and work.” Anacker, in Gesetz u. Zeugn., 1860, March.
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 ye say . . . desolate-- (Jer 32:43).
ye say . . . desolate-- (Jer 32:43).
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 10. In this place — In this land —…
10. In this place — In this land — Judea.
Which ye say shall be desolate — Rather, of which ye say it is desolate.
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 10–13. See introd. summary to the section. The genuineness…
10–13. See introd. summary to the section. The genuineness of these vv. may be regarded as questionable; although the fact that the overthrow of Jerusalem is a thing of the past and the land is waste does not prove it to be non-Jeremianic, as the prophet survived the final disaster. The form of the doxology (Jer_33:11), we may note, differs distinctly from that of post-exilic times.
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 (10) Again there shall be heard in this place.—The…
(10) Again there shall be heard in this place.—The promise of restoration is repeated with a more local distinctness. “This place” is probably, as in Jer_42:18, Jerusalem. The “streets” are, more strictly, the “open places,” the “bazaars,” or even the “outskirts” of the city, which were deserted during the progress of the siege. Now they were waste and silent. The time would come when they would once again re-echo with the sounds of jubilant exultation.
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 In this place; i.e. "in this land," as in…
In this place; i.e. "in this land," as in Jer_7:7 and elsewhere. Shall be desolate; rather, is desolate.
Vers. 10-13. Town and country life.
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In describing the happy future of Israel after the restoration Jeremiah draws a pair of idyllic pictures of town and country life. Both the city of Jerusalem and the outlying regions were so depopulated and wasted by the Chaldean invasion that it was difficult to believe the sun of prosperity would ever shine on them again. But under the providence of God there is a wonderful recuperative power in the human world as well as in the natural. It is remarkable how soon the battlefield with its hideous relics becomes a flowery meadow. The rapid revival of the French nation after the war of 1870 was an astonishment to Europe. This may be accounted for partly on natural principles, since war rarely touches the permanent resources of a country; if it drains the stream, it does not stanch the fountainhead. The capital of a country is always being consumed and remade in peaceful times, so that the destruction of it in war is not so great a calamity as might appear at first sight. But a true revival of prosperity depends on higher causes. A nation is only really prosperous when its people are advancing in moral tone, when there is a Divine root to their recovery. This is implied in the description of restored Israel. Let us consider the two pictures of the restoration.
I TOWN LIFE. In the happy city described by Jeremiah there is a repopulation of the deserted streets. What a melancholy sight is a city in ruins, silent and solitary! The very suggestion of life and bustle increases the gloom of the unnatural stillness that haunts the place. The first step towards restoration is to bring back the inhabitants. The strength of a nation resides ultimately in its population. No empire has yet been ruined through over population; many, from Rome downwards, by the decay of population. There was a great economic truth in the Hebrew estimate of the value of a thickly inhabited country. In the city we see this concentrated. That is a human world in itself. If man is a social being, if cooperation and sympathy are good things, there we may look for true advancing prosperity. But the congregation of human beings in a city aggravates the evils of life when these are not restrained. In the city disease, misery, vice, and crime find their victims. The saddest sight in modern civilization(?) is the wretched condition of the back slums of the greatest cities of Europe, and the moral state of too much of the remainder. Men do not find prosperity and happiness by merely crowding together. In Jeremiah"s picture of the new Jerusalem there is no room for those ugly scenes that Victor Hugo and Dickens make familiar in their representations of Paris and London. There is joy. There is worship. There is sacrifice and devotion to God. When the temple is the true centre of the city, when religion presides over her commerce and her pleasure, then, and then only, can true happiness be enjoyed by the citizens.
II COUNTRY LIFE. Jeremiah paints a companion picture of country life with skilful adaptation of parallels and contrasts. The scene is pastoral. Prosperity is witnessed in quiet industry and growing wealth of flocks and herds. Such a life is no more idle than that of the city often less so, and it is more calm. The stimulus of competition and the aid of cooperation are lost, but the reflections of solitude are gained; communion with nature takes the place of communion with man. This may be an ideal state of happiness to him who knows how to enjoy it. Both forms of life will be blessed when rightly followed; neither when abused. Dr. Johnson showed his wisdom in appreciating the merits of town life, but Cowper had good reasons for preferring the country. Country life has its vices, its ignorance, narrowness, and brutality, its poverty and lonely distresses. This also needs a higher life to keep it pure and happy. The Christian may find good in whichever condition his lot is cast, since God can bless both to him.
Vers. 10-18. Paradise lost and regained.
I THE PICTURE OF A PARADISE LOST. This is given in ver. 10. The land desolate; the flocks and herds all gone; no human being to be seen; the cities laid waste. Now, this meager outline would recall to the mind of the Jews the blessed days when the land teemed with inhabitants; when the cities were numerous, wealthy, populous, and strong; when the hills and dales of their countryside were covered over with flocks; and when, in the glad prosperity of all, the very fields were said "to shout for joy and also sing" (Psalm 65). But all that is past; desolation reigns, the lands stripped, the cities burnt with fire, and the people slain or in exile; the whole land desolate of both man and beast.
II PARADISE REGAINED. Such is the bright, joyous picture set forth in these verses (11-18). Its elements are:
1. Righteousness. Not mere innocence, as in Eden, but virtue tested and triumphant, and so issuing in a settled righteousness. This must be the basis of all truly blessed life. The people must be all righteous. This secured by him who is called "the righteous Branch, the Lord our Righteousness.
2. Love. (See ver. 11) The joyous picture of the gladness of the bridegroom and the bride. And that companionship which is the most blessed in the world, and that love which is deepest and purest of all, are fitly taken as the symbol of that love which shall constitute the home of God"s redeemed more than a paradise regained.
3. Worship. (Ver. 11) The picture of the temple service has risen up before the prophet"s mind. He hears the glad chant, the loud response of the people, "Praise the Lord." He sees the altar fire and the priests and sacrifices, and by this representation he teaches us that worship is part of the blessedness that is to be.
4. Healthful and universal employ. (Vers. 12, 13) It has often been said, "God made the country, man made the town; and the saying may be read truly or falsely, as each one wills. For he who says there is nought of God in the city speaks as falsely as he who says there is only God in the country. But there can be no doubt that the highest, purest, and most healthful forms of life are connected with the country. "Four words, each of them full of meaning, comprise the conceptions which we attribute to the paradisaical state. They are these innocence, love, rural life, piety; and it is towards these conditions of earthly happiness that the human mind reverts, as often as it turns, sickened and disappointed, from the pursuit of whatever else it may have ever laboured to acquire. The innocence we here think of is not virtue recovered, but it is moral perfectness, darkened by no thought or knowledge of the contrary. This paradisaical love is conjugal fondness, free from sensuous taint. This rural life is the constant flow of summer days, spent in garden and field, exempt from our exacted toil. This piety of paradise is the grateful approach of the finite to the Infinite a correspondence that is neither clouded nor apprehensive of a cloud" (Isaac Taylor). Now, in these verses, when the prophet would set forth the blessed life that the restored people should enjoy, he draws a picture, not of city, but of country life; not of hard exacting toil, but of healthful, peaceful occupation the pastoral life of a quiet, beautiful land. It is a symbol of all healthful employ, and such employ shall be a further feature in the blessedness that is to be. Therefore, "Sursum corda!" a righteous, loving, worshipful, and healthful life awaits the sons of men "for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them," saith the Lord. C.
Vers. 10, 11. The mournful stillness of the present, and the gladsome voices of the future.
I THE PRESENT STILLNESS. What makes it so painful? Not all stillness is painful; indeed, stillness is often very grateful, a thing to be sought, a timely refuge for those who are stunned and confused by the clamours of the world. The stillness of night is pleasant after the noise of day. The stillness of the mountain and the wilderness seems more still when one has come from the city"s bustle. There is even something suggestive of escape into everlasting peace when one looks at the stillness of death as contrasted with all the power of sound in the previous life. But the stillness here is painful, because it does not come in any normal way; it is stillness where there ought to be sound sounds of traffic, sounds of friendly intercourse, sounds of children playing, sounds of worship. To come into the individual life, it is the silence of the dumb, the silence of that which was made to speak, intended to speak, and can only be silent because of some inexplicable interference with natural constitution. Dumbness ought not to be, and so the state of things here represented, when in the houses and streets of Jerusalem there was sound neither of man nor beast, was one which ought not to have been. There was no occasion for it in the very constitution of things. It came by man"s own bringing of it. The present silence had been preceded by many voices that ought never to have been heard voices of threatening, voices of greedy demand, voices of revenge, voices of complaint and of indignant appeal against injustice.
II THE VOICES OF THE FUTURE. The sounds of life are to flow back into the now desolate streets, but they are to be the sounds of a different kind of life. Sounds springing from righteousness within and from a principle of obedience to Jehovah. Sounds that come from a universally satisfied people. Not sounds of joy and gladness in palaces, and sounds of privation and despair in hovels; but sunshine falling everywhere, and everywhere the hearts of the people ready to break forth into song. In the eleventh verse there is first of all the general indication of gladness. Every one is full of healthy life, which, as a matter of course, breaks forth into joyful manifestation. Then, as a very significant illustration, there is the gladness of the bridegroom and the bride. This signifies a stable society, a hopeful prospect, the joys of home life. Probably there was no joy so demonstrative as that connected with wedding festivities. Then the joy of religion comes in to crown and conclude all. Praise to Jehovah for his goodness and his enduring mercy, and offerings of thanksgiving in his house. If joy of this kind had been absent, the other joy would not long have lasted. From what God sends down into our lives as causes of abiding joy, we must send back to him responses of intelligent and heartfelt praise. 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 The voice of Joy, and the voice of gladness.
Jer_33:10-13
The voice of Joy, and the voice of gladness.
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Joy after desolation
We are called upon to realise the fullest meaning of desolation. Think of a forsaken city, think of being afraid of the sound of your own footfall! Even in that desolation there comes an overpowering sense of society, as if the air were full of sprites, ghostly presences. What s singular sense there is too of trespass, encroachment, of being where you have no right to be--as if you were intruding upon the sanctuary of the dead--as if you were cutting to the life some spiritual ministry, conducting itself mysteriously but not without some beneficent purpose. You have broken in upon those invisible ones who are watching their dead; you want to escape from the solitude--in one sense it is too sacred for you, wholly too solemn; you would seek the society of your kind, for other society is uncongenial, unknown, and is felt to be a criticism intolerable, a judgment overwhelming. Yet if you do not fasten your attention upon the possibilities of desolation, darkness, forsakenness, loneliness, how can you appreciate what is to follow? May we not then hasten to inquire what is to follow? Can God work miracles here? It is just here that He works His grandest miracles; it is when all light dies out that He comes forth in His glory; it is when we say, There is no more road, the rock shuts us out, our progress is stayed,--it is then that a path suddenly opens in rocky places, and footprints disclose themselves for the comfort and inspiration of the lone traveller. Notice how exactly Gods miracles fit human circumstances. They overflow them, but they first fill all their cavities and all the opportunities which they create and present. Thus God displaces darkness by light; thus God does not drive away the silence with noise but with music: it is no battering of rude violence that brings back human intercourse into plains that have been swept with human desolation; it is a festival, a banquet, a wedding scene, and already the forsaken valley vibrates as if under the clash of wedding bells. What was the quality of the joy that was wrought? It was profoundly religious. The voices that were uplifted were to say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. There are times when men must praise the Lord. The heart leads the judgment; the uppermost feeling, elevated and sanctified, tells the whole man what to do, uses the understanding as one might use some inferior creature to help him in carrying out the purposes of life. What is this highest faculty, what is this mysterious power, that takes to itself understanding, imagination, conscience, will, and all elements of energy? It is religious emotion; not sentimentalised and frittered away into mere vapour, but high, intelligent, noble feeling, glowing, passionate enthusiasm, a consecration without break or flaw or self-questioning, a wholeness of consent and devotion to the supreme purpose of life. When this desolation is banished, when this wedding feast is held, by what picture is the safety of the people represented? By a very tender one. We had in England shepherds who long ago spoke of taking care of their flocks under the idiom of telling their tale counting the flock one by one. There shall be no hurrying, crowding into the fold, but one shall follow another, and each shall be looked at in its singularity; there shall be nothing tumultuous, indiscriminate, promiscuous; every process of providence is conducted critically, individually, minutely: so there is no hope for a man getting into the fold without the Shepherd seeing him; every sheep of the flock has to pass under the hand of him that telleth his tale. Until we realise the personality of the Divine supervision we shall flounder in darkness and our prayers will be mere evaporations, bringing back no answer, no blessing, no pledge from heaven. This is the picture presented by the prophet. Not one tittle of this providential order has been changed; the whole mystery of human life is to be found within its few lines. Consider what desolation good men have been called upon to realise. Never let us shut our eyes to the suffering aspect of human life. On the contrary, let us dwell upon it with attentive solicitude, that we may wonder, and learn to pray and trust. Say nought to the mocker, for he is not worth heeding, but say to the poor suffering heart itself, Wait: joy cometh in the morning: it is very sore now; the wind is very high, the darkness is very dense; our best plant poor heart! is to sit down and simply wait for God: He will come we cannot tell when, in the early part of the night, or not until the crowing of the cock, but come He will; it hath pleased Him to keep the times and seasons wholly to Himself, without revelation to narrow human intellects; let us then wait, and there is a way of waiting that amounts to prayer: poor heart! we have no words, we could not pray in terms, because we should be mocked by the echo of our own voice, but there is a way of sitting still that by its heroic patience wins the battle. Consider what changes have been wrought in human experience. You thought you could never sing again when that last tremendous blow was dealt upon your life, yet you are singing more cheerfully now than you ever sung in any day of your history; you thought when you lost commercial position that you never really could look up again, for your heart was overpowered, and behold, whilst you were talking such folly, a light struck upon your path, and a voice called you to still more strenuous endeavour, and to-day you who saw nothing before you but the asylum of poverty are adding field to field and house to house. You have been raised again from the very dead, you have forgotten your desolation, and you are now sitting like guests invited by heavens own King at heavens great banqueting table. Hold on; the end will judge all things. Hope stead lastly in God; prayer is sweetest in the darkness; when there seems to be no road over which to travel up to heaven, then it works its miracles, it finds a pathway in the night-cloud. What is the joy that is depicted in this text? It is religious joy. The joy created by religion is intelligent. It is not a bubble on the stream, it has reason behind it; it is strengthened and uplifted, supported and dignified, by logic, fact, reality. Religious joy is healthy. It is not spurious gladness, it is the natural expression of the highest emotions. Religious joy is permanent. It does not come for a moment, and vanish away as if it were afraid of life and afraid of living in this cold earth-clime; it abides with men. Let us know by way of application that there is only one real deliverance from desolateness. That is a Divine deliverance. Let us flee then to the living God; let us be forced to prayer. (J. Parker, D. D.)
And of them that shall bring the sacrifice Of praise.
In what sense praise is a sacrifice
If I wanted to use, which I do not, mere theological technicalities, I should talk about the difference between sacrifices of propitiation and sacrifices of thanksgiving. But let us put these well-worn phrases on one side, as far as we can, for a moment. Here, then, is the fact that all the world over, and in the Mosaic ritual, there was expressed a double consciousness--one, that there was, somehow or other, a black dam between the worshipper and his Deity, which needed to be swept sway; and the other, that when that barrier was removed there could be an uninterrupted flow of thanksgiving and of service. So on one altar was laid a bleeding victim, and on another were spread the flowers of the field, the fruits of the earth, all things gracious, lovely, fair, and sweet, as expressions of the thankfulness of the reconciled worshippers. One set of sacrifices expressed the consciousness of sin; the other expressed the joyful recognition of its removal. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Thanksgiving unstinted
The sacrifice is thanksgiving. Then there will be no reluctance because duty is heavy. There will be no grudging because requirements are great. There will be no avoiding of the obligations of the Christian life, and rendering as small a percentage by way of dividend as the Creditor up in the heavens will accept. If the offering is a thank-offering, then it will be given gladly. The grateful heart does not hold the scales like the scrupulous retail dealer, afraid of putting the thousandth part of an ounce more in than will be accepted.
Give all thou canst--high heaven rejects the love
Of nicely calculated less or more.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Praise to Christ should be spontaneous and unrestrained
If there is in us any deep, real, abiding, life-shaping thankfulness for the gift of Jesus Christ, it is impossible that our tongues should cleave to the roof of our mouths, and that we should be contented to live in silence. Loving hearts must speak. What would you think of a husband that never felt any impulse to tell his wife that she was dear to him; a mother that never found it needful to unpack her heart of its tenderness, even in perhaps inarticulate croonings over the little child that she pressed to her heart? It seems to me that a dumb Christian, a man that is thankful for Christs sacrifice, and never feels the need to say so, is as great an anomaly as either of these I have described. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Glory of the Future
The Glory of the Future
v. 10. Thus saith the Lord, Again there shall be heard in this place, which, ye say, shall be desolate without man and without beast, 32:43, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the invaders having already spread ruin along their entire line of march,
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v. 11. the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, expressions setting forth the happiness of a people living in peace and security, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endureth forever, the words of Psa 136:1, which were actually used by the Jews at the time of the restoration, Ezr 3:11; and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, reversing it, so that it no longer exists, as at the first, saith the Lord, so that the people of Judah would again be His free people, as He had intended it from the beginning.
v. 12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, many of which were, or were to be, heaps of ruins, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down, as under conditions of the utmost peace and security.
v. 13. In the cities of the mountains, the mountainous region of Judah, toward the north and northeast, in the cities of the vale, the plains or lowlands toward the Mediterranean Sea, and in the cities of the south, the semiarid region bordering on Arabia and the Sinaitic Peninsula, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the very detailed enumeration serving to lay stress on the completeness of the fulfillment, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the Lord, for faithful shepherds kept a very careful count of the sheep entrusted to them. The words thus imply that a most watchful and provident care would again be exercised with regard to the believers.
v. 14. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, this being the standing formula for introducing statements pertaining to Messianic conditions, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah, to those who were members of His people in truth, for His Church in the Old Testament is continued in the congregation or communion of saints in the New.
v. 15. In those days and at that time, in the Messianic era, will I cause the Branch of Righteousness, the name applied to the Messiah also by Isaiah and Zechariah, to grow up unto David, for Christ was born of the seed of David, and it was He who earned, and is the representative of, the true righteousness, that which is valid in the sight of God; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land, as the true King of His people.
v. 16. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, the name in either case designating the Church of the Lord, His chosen people in the true sense of the term; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness, the city, as representing the congregation of the Lord, being united with Him by virtue of the mystical union, so that, whatsoever belongs to the Head, belongs also to the members. The Church draws all her righteousness from Christ and is a representative of His righteousness, hence His attributes may be transferred to her.
v. 17. For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man, his family would never lack a representative, to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. In other words, the kingdom of Christ was to be an eternal kingdom.
v. 18. Neither shall the priests, the Levites, the members of the tribe of Levi, want a man before Me, there would never be a time when there would be no priest, namely, in the highest sense, spoken of the person of the Messiah, to offer burnt offering’s and to kindle meat-offerings and to do sacrifice continually. Christ’s one sacrifice has an eternal effect, and all external forms of worship are but types of His perfect offering.
v. 19. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying,
v. 20. Thus saith the Lord, If ye can break My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, that the order of nature, as established by Him, would be overthrown,
v. 21. then may also My covenant be broken with David, My servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, 2Sa 7:12-29, and with the Levites the priests, My ministers. The Lord would break His promise, neither to David nor to His servants in the office of the ministry. He would give them all the blessings of the Messianic era in full.
v. 22. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David, My servant, and the Levites that minister unto Me, in either case their spiritual children, the believers of all times, for of them it is rightly said that Christ has made them to be kings and priests before God and His Father.
v. 23. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
v. 24. Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, namely, Israel and Judah, as representing His Church of all times, He hath even cast them off? This was the statement made by some of the reprobate Jews in order to ridicule the true believers. Thus they have despised My people that they should be no more a nation before them, that is, before their eyes, according to their opinion. The Lord reproves this notion with great sternness.
v. 25. Thus saith the Lord, If My covenant be not with day and night, Gen 8:22, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, if He has not established the laws of nature,
v. 26. then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, His spiritual children, and David, My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, namely, those who are their children and descendants in spirit; for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. All this was fulfilled and is being fulfilled in the kingdom of Christ, where those who have been redeemed from the bondage of Satan rejoice in the fullness of the grace given them by virtue of the Messiah’s vicarious sacrifice.
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 It is desolate, a place with neither man nor…
It is desolate, a place with neither man nor beast," in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate having neither man nor beast
These two phrases share similar meanings and emphasize that Judah has become desolate. (See: Parallelism)
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the house of Yahweh
the temple in Jerusalem
I will restore the fortunes of the land
The word "land" is a metonym for the people who live on the land. AT: "I will again cause things to go well for the people who live on the land" or "I will cause the people who live on the land to live well again" See how similar words are translated in Jeremiah 29:14. (See: Metonymy)
to what they were before
This refers to the time before the exile to Babylon. This can be made explicit. AT: "to what they were before I sent the Israelites into exile in Babylon" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
desolate
beast
Jerusalem
joy
bridegroom
bride
sacrifice
house of God
Yahweh of hosts
good
covenant faithfulness
restore
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 33:10-11 Although seventy years of exile would come first,…
33:10-11 Although seventy years of exile would come first, the Lord’s curse (7:34) would be reversed (25:10-12). Singing would be a hallmark of the restored worship (Ps 136:1). This prediction was fulfilled in 538–536 BC when worship in Jerusalem was restored and the foundations of the Second Temple were laid (Ezra 3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.