15“In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David. He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. This is the name by which she will be called: Yahweh our righteousness.”
17For Yahweh says: “David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.18The Levitical priests won’t lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.”
15 “In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David. He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. This is the name by which she will be called: Yahweh our righteousness.”
17 For Yahweh says: “David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.
18 The Levitical priests won’t lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.”
KJVKing James Version
15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
17 For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause a shoot of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name whereby she shall be called, the LORD is our righteousness.
17 For thus saith the LORD: There shall not be cut off unto David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18 neither shall there be cut off unto the priests the Levites a man before Me to offer burnt-offerings, and to burn meal-offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
Jeremiah 23:6(v16)In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
Jeremiah 23:5-6(v15)“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will…
Isaiah 4:2(v15)In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of…
Isaiah 11:1-5(v15)A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of…
1 Corinthians 1:30(v16)Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
Show all 55 cross-references
1 Kings 2:4(v17)Then Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in…
Isaiah 45:17(v16)Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
Psalms 89:29-37(v17)I will also make his offspring endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my…
Zechariah 3:8(v15)Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring out…
Luke 1:32-33(v17)He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign…
2 Corinthians 5:21(v16)For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Philippians 3:9(v16)and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the…
1 Chronicles 17:11-14(v17)It will happen, when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your offspring after you, who…
Psalms 72:1-5(v15)God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son. He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with…
Isaiah 53:2(v15)For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no…
Romans 11:26(v16)and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from…
Isaiah 9:7(vv15, 17)Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold…
2 Samuel 23:2-3(v15)“Yahweh’s Spirit spoke by me. His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men…
1 Kings 8:25(v17)Now therefore, may Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall…
Psalms 45:4(v15)In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds.
Psalms 45:7(v15)You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
Isaiah 32:1-2(v15)Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice. A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a…
Isaiah 42:21(v15)It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it honorable.
Isaiah 45:22(v16)“Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:24-25(v16)They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’ ” Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him…
Isaiah 56:7(v18)I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be…
Ezekiel 17:22-23(v15)“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘I will also take some of the lofty top of the cedar, and will plant it. I will crop off from the topmost of its…
Zechariah 6:12-13(v15)and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he…
John 5:22-29(v15)For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who…
Hebrews 1:8-9(v15)But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom. You have loved…
Hebrews 7:1-2(v15)For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to…
2 Peter 1:1(v16)Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our…
Revelation 19:11(v15)I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes…
Deuteronomy 18:1(v18)The priests and the Levites—all the tribe of Levi—shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh…
Deuteronomy 33:12(v16)About Benjamin he said, “The beloved of Yahweh will dwell in safety by him. He covers him all day long. He dwells between his shoulders.”
Deuteronomy 33:28(v16)Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drop down dew.
2 Samuel 7:14-16(v17)I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the…
1 Chronicles 17:27(v17)Now it has pleased you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you; for you, Yahweh, have blessed, and it…
Isaiah 61:6(v18)But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast…
Jeremiah 32:37(v16)“Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I…
Jeremiah 35:19(v17)therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jonadab the son of Rechab will not lack a man to stand before me forever.’ ”
Ezekiel 28:26(v16)They will dwell in it securely. Yes, they will build houses, plant vineyards, and will dwell securely, when I have executed judgments on…
Ezekiel 34:25-28(v16)“ ‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will dwell securely in the…
Ezekiel 43:19-27(v18)You shall give to the Levitical priests who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘a…
Ezekiel 44:9-11(v18)The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners…
Ezekiel 45:5(v18)Twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in width, shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, as a possession for…
Romans 1:21(v18)Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart…
Romans 15:16(v18)that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the…
Hebrews 13:15-16(v18)Through him, then, let’s offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his…
1 Peter 2:5(v18)You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God…
1 Peter 2:9(v18)But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
Revelation 1:6(v18)and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
2 Samuel 3:29(v17)Let it fall on the head of Joab, and on all his father’s house. Let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or who…
Ezekiel 38:8(v16)After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered…
Revelation 5:10(v18)and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth.”
55 distinct cross-references across this passage (56 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv15–18Here the Prophet shews what Paul afterwards has spoken…
Here the Prophet shews what Paul afterwards has spoken of, that all the promises of God are in Christ yea and amen, (2 Corinthians 1:20) that is, that they do not stand nor can be valid as to us, except Christ interposes to sanction or confirm them. Then the efficacy of God’s promises depends on Christ alone. And hence the Prophets, when speaking of the grace of God, come at length to Christ, for without him all the promises would vanish away. Let us also know that the Jews had been so trained as ever to flee to God’s covenant; for on the general covenant depended all particular promises. As, for instance, Jeremiah has hitherto been often prophesying of God’s mercy to the people, after having punished them for their sins; now this promise was special. How then could the Jews and the Israelites believe that they should return to their own country? This special promise could have been of no moment, except as it was an appendix of the covenant, even because God had adopted them as his people. As then the Jews knew that they had been chosen as a peculiar people, and that God was their Father, hence their faith in all the promises. Now, again, we must bear in mind, that the covenant was founded on Christ alone; for God had not only promised to Abraham that he would be a Father to his seed, but had also added an earnest or a pledge that a Redeemer would come.
We now then perceive the reason why the Prophets, when they sought to strengthen the faithful in the hope of salvation, set forth Christ, because the promises had no certainty without the general covenant. And further, as the general covenant could not stand, nor have any validity, except in Christ, this is the point to which Jeremiah now turns his attention, as we have also seen in other places, especially in the twenty-third chapter, from which he repeats this prophecy. God then had promised that his people would be restored; he had also promised that he would be so propitious to them as to preserve them in safety as his people: he now adds —
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In those days, and at that time, I will raise up, I will cause to germinate; the verb in the twenty-third chapter is הקמתי, ekamti, I will cause to rise; but here, “I will cause to germinate;” and there we read, “a righteous branch,” but here, “a branch of righteousness,” which means the same thing. But why does the Prophet now speak of the seed of David? It is not an abrupt sentence; and the reason is, because the minds of the faithful would have alwass vacillated, had not Christ been brought forward, on whom the eternal and unchangeable covenant of God was founded. But they could not have had any taste of God’s grace, had they not known that they had been gratuitously chosen by him. Adoption then was the foundation of the covenant; and then Christ was the earnest and pledge of the covenant, as well as of gratuitous adoption. Hence it was, that the Prophet, wishing to seal and confirm his prophecy, bids the faithful to look to Christ.
He says, In those days, and at that time; for, as it is said in the proverb, “Even quickness is delay when we have ardent wishes,” so now a long delay might have produced weariness iu the Israelites. That they might not, then, be carried away by too much haste, he mentions those days and that time So that if God deferred the time, that they might check themselves, he says, I will make to grow for David a righteous branch
This passage ought, no doubt, to be understood of Christ. We know that it was a common thing with the Jews, that whenever the Prophets promised to them the seed of David, to direct their attention to Christ. This was then a mode of teaching familiarly known to the Jews. The Prophets, indeed, sometimes mentioned David himself, and not his son,
“I will raise up David,” etc. (Ezekiel 34:23)
Now David was dead, and his body was reduced to dust and ashes; but under the person of David, the Prophets exhibited Christ. Then as to this passage, the Jews must shew their effrontery in a most ridiculous manner, if they make evasions and attempt to apply it otherwise than to Christ. This being the ease, were any one to ask now the Jews, how this prophecy has been fulfilled, it would be necessary for them to acknowledge Christ, or to deny faith in God, and also in Jeremiah. It is, indeed, certain that Jeremiah celebrates here the grace of deliverance especially on this account, because a Redeemer was shortly to come. For the return of the Jews to their own land, what was it? We know that they, even immediately at their restoration, were in a miserable state, though their condition then was much better than afterwards; for in after times they were cruelly treated by Antiochus and other kings of Syria: they were ever exposed to the heathens around them, so that they were harassed and plundered by them at pleasure. Then during the whole of that time which preceded the coming of Christ, God did not fulfill what he had promised by Jeremiah and his other servants. What is now their condition? Dispersed through the whole world; and they have been so for more than fifteen hundred years, since Christ arose from the dead; and we see that they pine away under their calamities, so their curse seems dreadful to all. God had, indeed, spoken by Moses, and then repeated it by his Prophets,
“Ye shall be for a hissing and for a curse to all nations.” (Deuteronomy 28:37; Jeremiah 25:18)
But that punishment was to be for a time. There is, therefore, no reason for what the Jews allege. It hence appears that they are wholly destitute of all credit, and only perversely pretend, I know not what, that there may be some show, though wholly hypocritical, in what they assert. But with regard to us, we see that the promise respecting the coming of the Messiah has not been made in vain; and we also know, that it happened, through the wonderful purpose of God, that the Jews did not enjoy full and real happiness, such as had been promised at the coming of Christ, lest they should think that what all God’s servants had promised was then accomplished: for we know how disposed men are to be satisfied with earthly things. The Jews might then have thought that their happiness was completed, had not God exercised them with many troubles, in order that they might ever look forward to the manifestation of Christ.
He calls it the Branch of righteousness, by way of contrast, because the children of David had become degenerated; and God had almost deemed them accursed, for the greatest part of the kings were destitute of God’s grace. There was, then, but one Branch of righteousness, even Christ. We further know how wide and extensive is Christ’s righteousness, for he communicates it to us. But we ought to begin with that righteousness which I have mentioned, that is, what is in opposition to the many changes which happened to the posterity of David, for things often were in a very low state. Though unto David, לדוד Ladavid, is often taken as meaning, “I will raise up the branch of David,” yet God seems here to refer to the promise which he had made to David, as God is said in many passages to have sworn to his servant David. (Psalm 89:3; 132:11)
It follows, And he shall execute judgement and justice in the land By these words a right government is denoted; for when the two words are joined tegether, justice refers to the defense of the innocent, and judgment to the punishment of iniquity; for except the wicked are restrained by the fear of the law, they would violate all order. Judgment, indeed, when by itself, means the right administration of the law; but as I have already said, justice and judgment include the protection of the good, and also the restraint of the wicked, who become not obedient willingly or of their own accord. In a word, the promise is, that the king here spoken of would be upright and just, so as to be in every way perfect, and exhibit the model of the best of kings.
But we must always observe the contrast between the other descendants of David and Christ. For the Jews had seen the saddest spectacles in the posterity of David: many of them were apostates, and perverted the worship of God; others raged against the Prophets and all good men, and were also full of avarice and rapacity, and given to all kinds of lusts. Since, then, their kings had debased themselves with so many crimes, there is here promised a king who would so discharge his office as to be owned as the true minister of God.
It is, at the same time, necessary to bear in mind the character of Christ’s kingdom. It is, we know, spiritual; but it is set forth under the image or form of an earthly and civil government; for whenever the Prophets speak of Christ’s kingdom, they set before us an earthly form, because spiritual truth, without any metaphor, could not have been sufficiently understood by a rude people in their childhood. There is no wonder, then, that the Prophets, wishing to accommodate their words to the capacity of the Jews, should so speak of Christ’s kingdom as to portray it before them as an earthly and civil government. But it is necessary for us to consider what sort of kingdom it is. As, then, it is spiritual, the justice and judgment of which the Prophet speaks, do not belong only to civil and external order, but rather to that rectitude by which it comes that men are reformed according to God’s image, which is in righteousness and truth. Christ then is said to reign over us in justice and judgment, not only because he keeps us by laws within the range of our duty, and defends the good and the innocent, and represses the audacity of the wicked; but because he rules us by his Spirit. And of the Spirit we know what Christ himself declares, “The Spirit shall convince the world of righteousness and judgment,” etc. (John 16:8) Hence we must come to spiritual jurisdiction, if we wish to understand what that righteousness is which is here mentioned: of the same kind also is the judgment that is added. It afterwards follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv15, 16, 18That is, I will send the Messiah, which shall…
That is, I will send the Messiah, which shall come of the house of David, of whom this prophecy is meant, as testify all the Jews, and that which is written, Jer. 23:5.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv15–18Jer 33:15 In those days, and at that time,…
Jer 33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
Ver. 15. I will cause the branch of righteousness.] See the same, Jer 23:5. The sweet promise concerning Christ can never be too often repeated. The Greek and German versions have that clause here also as there, "And a king shall reign and prosper, or understand."
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv15–18Whatsoever the Jews and some others say, the
Whatsoever the Jews and some others say, the
Branch of righteousness here spoken of can be meant of no other but Christ, who is called a Branch out of the stem of Jesse, Isa 11:1; the Branch of the Lord, Isa 4:2; a righteous Branch, Jer 23:5. (See the notes on those places.) Zorobabel, though descended from David, cannot be meant here, but the same who is thus called in all those parallel texts, of whom yet Zorobabel (being a good man, and descended from the family of David) may be allowed to have been a type; but this text far more concerneth Christ, as he in whom all the promises are founded, and in whom they are all yea and Amen. The kings they had hitherto had of the line of David were most of them unrighteous men, but God promiseth that after the captivity they should have a Branch of David that should execute judgment and righteousness in the land, for the protection and government of those that feared him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v17Three of God's covenants, that of royalty with David…
Three of God's covenants, that of royalty with David and his seed, that of the priesthood with Aaron and his seed, and that of Peculiarity with Abraham and his seed, seemed to be all broken and lost while the captivity lasted; but it is here promised that, notwithstanding that interruption and discontinuance for a time, they shall all three take place again, and the true intents and meaning of them all shall be abundantly answered in the New Testament blessings, typified by those conferred on the Jews after their return out of captivity.
I. The covenant of royalty shall be secured and the promises of it shall have their full accomplishment in the kingdom of Christ, the Son of David, Jer 33:17. The throne of Israel was overturned in the captivity; the crown had fallen from their head; there was not a man to sit on the throne of Israel; Jeconiah was written childless. After their return the house of David made a figure again; but it in the Messiah that this promise is performed that David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of Israel, and that David shall have always a son to reign upon his throne. For as long as the man Christ Jesus sits on the right hand of the throne of God, rules the world, and rules it for the good of the church, to which he is a quickening head, and glorified head over all things, as long as he is King upon the holy hill of Zion, David does not want a successor, nor is the covenant with him broken. When the first-begotten was brought into the world it was declared concerning him, The Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33. For the confirmation of this it is promised, 1. That the covenant with David shall be as firm as the ordinances of heaven, to the stability of which that of God's promise is compared, Jer 31:35, Jer 31:36. There is a covenant of nature, by which the common course of providence is settled and on which it is founded, here called a covenant of the day and the night (Jer 33:20, Jer 33:25), because this is one of the articles of it, That there shall be day and night in their season, according to the distinction put between them in the creation, when God divided between the light and the darkness, and established their mutual succession, and a government to each, that the sun should rule by day and the moon and stars by night (Gen 1:4, Gen 1:5, Gen 1:16), which establishment was renewed after the flood (Gen 8:22), and has continued ever since, Psa 19:2. The morning and the evening have both of them their regular outgoings (Psa 65:8); the day-spring knows its place, knows its time, and keeps both, so do the shadows of the evening; and, while the world stands, this course shall not be altered, this covenant shall not be broken. The ordinances of heaven and earth (of this communication between heaven and earth, the dominion of these ordinances of heaven upon the earth), which God has appointed (Jer 33:25; compare Job 38:33), shall never be disappointed. Thus firm shall the covenant of redemption be with the Redeemer - God's servant, but David our King, Jer 33:21. This intimates that Christ shall have a church on earth to the world's end; he shall see a seed in which he shall prolong his days till time and day shall be no more. Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and when the end cometh, and not till then, it shall be delivered up to God, even the Father. But it intimates that the condition of it in this world shall be intermixed and counterchanged, prosperity and adversity succeeding each other, as light and darkness, day and night. But this is plainly taught us, that, as sure as we may be that, though the sun will set tonight, it will rise again tomorrow morning, whether we live to see it or no, so sure we may be that, though the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world may for a time be clouded and eclipsed by corruptions and persecutions, yet it will shine forth again, and recover its lustre, in the time appointed. 2. That the seed of David shall be as numerous as the host of heaven, that is, the spiritual seed of the Messiah, that shall be born to him by the efficacy of his gospel and his Spirit working with it. From the womb of the morning he shall have the dew of their youth, to be his willing people, Psa 110:3. Christ's seed are not, as David's were, his successors, but his subjects; yet the day is coming when they also shall reign with him (Jer 33:22): As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, so will I multiply the seed of David, so that there shall be no danger of the kingdom's being extinct, or extirpated, for want of heirs. The children are numerous; and, if children, then heirs.
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II. The covenant of priesthood shall be secured, and the promises of that also shall have their full accomplishment. This seemed likewise to be forgotten during the captivity, when there was no altar, no temple service, for the priests to attend upon; but this also shall revive. It did so; immediately upon their coming back to Jerusalem there were priests and Levites ready to offer burnt-offerings and to do sacrifice continually (Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:3), as is here promised, Jer 33:18. But that priesthood soon grew corrupt; the covenant of Levi was profaned (as appears Mal 2:8), and in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans it came to a final period. We must therefore look elsewhere for the performance of this word, that the covenant with the Levites, the priests, God's ministers, shall be as firm, and last as long, as the covenant with the day and the night. And we find it abundantly performed, 1. In the priesthood of Christ, which supersedes that of Aaron, and is the substance of that shadow. While that great high priest of our profession is always appearing in the presence of God for us, presenting the virtue of his blood by which he made atonement in the incense of his intercession, it may truly be said that the Levites do not want a man before God to offer continually, Heb 7:3, Heb 7:17. He is a priest for ever. The covenant of the priesthood is called a covenant of peace (Num 25:12), of life and peace, Mal 2:5. Now we are sure that this covenant is not broken, nor in the least weakened, while Jesus Christ is himself our life and our peace. This covenant of priesthood is here again and again joined with that of royalty, for Christ is a priest upon his throne, as Melchizedek. 2. In a settled gospel ministry. While there are faithful ministers to preside in religious assemblies, and to offer up the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, the priests, the Levites, do not want successors, and such as have obtained a more excellent ministry. The apostle makes those that preach the gospel to come in the room of those that served at the altar, Co1 9:13, Co1 9:14. 3. In all true believers, who are a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood (Pe1 2:5, Pe1 2:9), who are made to our God kings and priests (Rev 1:6); they offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, and themselves, in the first place, living sacrifices. Of these Levites this promise must be understood (Jer 33:22), that they shall be as numerous as the sand of the sea, the same that is promised concerning Israel in general (Gen 22:17); for all God's spiritual Israel are spiritual priests, Rev 5:9, Rev 5:10; Rev 7:9, Rev 7:15.
III. The covenant of peculiarity likewise shall be secured and the promises of that covenant shall have their full accomplishment in the gospel Israel. Observe, 1. How this covenant was looked upon as broken during the captivity, Jer 33:24. God asks the prophet, "Hast though not heard, and dost thou not consider, what this people have spoken?" either the enemies of Israel, who triumphed in the extirpation of a people that had made such a noise in the world, or the unbelieving Israelites themselves, "this people among whom thou dwellest;" they have broken covenant with God, and then quarrel with him as if he had not dealt faithfully with them. The two families which the Lord hath chosen, Israel and Judah, whereas they were but one when he chose them, he hath even cast them off. "Thus have they despised my people, that is, despised the privilege of being my people as if it were a privilege of no value at all." The neighbouring nations despised them as now no more a nation, but the ruins of a nation, and looked upon all their honour as laid in the dust; but, 2. See how firm the covenant stands notwithstanding, as firm as that with day and night; sooner will God suffer day and night to cease then he will cast away the seed of Jacob. This cannot refer to the seed of Jacob according to the flesh, for they are cast away, but to the Christian church, in which all these promises were to be lodged, as appears by the apostle's discourse, Rom 11:1, etc. Christ is that seed of David that is to be perpetual dictator to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and, as this people shall never want such a king, so this king shall never want such a people. Christianity shall continue in the dominion of Christ, and the subjection of Christians to him, till day and night come to an end. And, as a pledge of this, that promise is again repeated, I will cause their captivity to return; and, having brought them back, I will have mercy on them. To whom this promise refers appears Gal 6:16, where all that walk according to the gospel rule are made to be the Israel of God, on whom peace and mercy shall be.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv15–18In those days, and at that time,.... In those…
In those days, and at that time,.... In those very selfsame days before spoken of; in those days to come, and which were hastening on; in the fulness of time, agreed on between Jehovah and his Son; the appointed, fixed, determined time:
will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; not Zerubbabel, but the Messiah; who is not only a branch of David's family, and therefore said to grow up unto him, being of his seed, his son, and offspring; but a Branch of righteousness, or a righteous Branch; perfectly righteous in himself, and the author of righteousness unto others; which cannot be said of Zerubbabel, or of any other branch springing from David but the Messiah; and of him the Targum interprets it, paraphrasing it thus,
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"the Messiah of righteousness;''
and Kimchi's note is,
"this is the King Messiah;''
and so it is by other Jewish writers (x) interpreted of him:
and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land; judgment upon the blind Pharisees given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; and upon the world, and the prince of it, who was cast out by him; and though he came not at first to judge the world and all the individuals of it, as he will do at his second coming; yet all judgment, rule, and government of his church, is committed to him by his Father; and he is on the throne to order and establish it with judgment, and to overrule all things for the good of it, and his own and his Father's glory: and he has "wrought" out an everlasting "righteousness", agreeably to law and justice, for the justification of his people; for which reason he and they have the name in Jer 33:16.
(x) Abarbinel, Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. 40. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv15–18The branch - The kings they had hitherto had…
The branch - The kings they had hitherto had of the line of David, were most of them unrighteous men, but God promises that after the captivity, they should have a branch of David who would execute judgment and righteousness in the land, for the protection and government of those that feared him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv16, 18Verse 16. And this is the name wherewith she…
Verse 16. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.] See what has been said on Jer 23:6, (See Clarke on Jer 23:6,) which is generally supposed to be a strictly parallel passage: but they are very different, and I doubt whether they mean exactly the same thing. As to our translation here, it is ignorant, and almost impious; it says that Jerusalem, for that is the antecedent, shall be called The Lord our Righteousness. The pronoun לה lah, which is translated her, is the masculine affix, in the Chaldaic form, which frequently occurs; and Dr. Blayney translates, "And this is He whom Jehovah shall call our righteousness," or Justification. Perhaps there is a sense which these words will bear far more congenial to the scope of the place. I will give the original, as before: וזה אשר יקרא לה יהוה צדקנו vezeh asher yikra lah, Yehovah tsidkenu, "And this one who shall call to her is the Lord our Justification;" that is, the salvation of the Jews shall take place when Jesus Christ is proclaimed to them as their Justifier, and they receive him as such.
Instead of לה lah, her or him, Chaldaice, the Vulgate, Chaldee, and Syriac have read לו lo, him, less ambiguously; and this reading is supported by one or two MSS. This emendation renders the passage here more conformable to that in Jer 23:6; but if the translation above be admitted, all embarrassment is gone.
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One of my own MSS. has לה loh, with the masculine points, and no mappik on the ה he; and for tsidkenu has צדקינו tsidkeynu, the contracted plural form, our righteousness: but this may be a mistake. The passages in this and the twenty-third chapter were not, I am satisfied, intended to express the same thing. I suppose that above refers to the preaching or proclaiming Christ crucified to the Jews, when the time shall arrive in which they shall be incorporated with the Gentile Church. Dahler translates this as he did that in Jer 23:6, which is a perfect oversight: but paraphrastic renderings are too often introduced by this learned foreigner.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v17Jer 33:17-18. For thus saith the Lord, David shall…
Jer 33:17-18. For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man, &c. — It is very evident that the prophecies in these verses were not fulfilled in the Jews after the Babylonish captivity; for, from that time to the coming of Christ, David was without a successor of his family sitting upon the throne of Judah or Israel. Nor have they been fulfilled in them since, for, from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans to the present time, they have neither had a king nor a regular priesthood belonging to their nation. There can therefore be no doubt that Jeremiah here foretels the kingdom of the Messiah, and the priesthood, or ministry rather, to be established by him, by which a pure and spiritual oblation should be offered in every place where a church should be formed for him, (see Mal 1:11,) and not at Jerusalem and in Judea only. “As the Jewish priesthood, in the family of Aaron, is extinct, and hath been exercised neither in Jerusalem nor in any other place for seventeen centuries, it follows,” says Calmet, “that these promises can respect only the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ, exercised by himself, and by his ministers, in the Christian Church from the beginning, and which shall continue to the end of time.” Nor is it unusual for God in the Old Testament to express promises relating to, and to be fulfilled under, the gospel, by terms proper to the Old Testament. See Isa 19:19; Isa 56:7; Isa 66:23. And as the prophets often describe the Christian worship by representations taken from the temple service, so the apostles prove the rights and privileges belonging to the ministers of the gospel from the prerogatives given to the Jewish priesthood. See Rom 15:16; 1Co 9:13-14.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17Compare the marginal reference. When the good word was…
Compare the marginal reference. When the good word was spoken, the name Yahweh our Righteousness was given to the righteous Sprout: here it is given to Jerusalem, i. e., to the Church, because it is her business mediately to work on earth that righteousness which Christ works absolutely. Compare Eph 1:23.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv15–18Bud, or orient, Christ, (Calmet) of whom Zorobabel was…
Bud, or orient, Christ, (Calmet) of whom Zorobabel was a figure. (Theodoret) All cannot be verified of the latter, ver. 16. (Calmet) --- The Jews themselves explain this of the Messias. (Calov.) --- It evidently refer to him, as he was born of David, whose posterity should continue till Christ, the founder of an eternal kingdom. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv15–18Repeated from Jer 23:5.
Repeated from Jer 23:5.
the land--the Holy Land: Israel and Judah (Jer 23:6).
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17CHRIST THE BRANCH — THE FULFILMENT OF BOTH THE…
CHRIST THE BRANCH — THE FULFILMENT OF BOTH THE KINGLY AND THE PRIESTLY IDEAS, Jer_33:15-18.
15, 16. These verses are substantially a repetition of Jer_23:5-6, with several changes, most of which, however, are of no real significance. But in one important feature this passage is different. It is here stated that the city shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness. This suggests the real oneness between the personal life-source, the Messiah, and the channel through which this life flows forth to the nations.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17, 1815, 16. See notes on Jer_23:5 f. For the…
15, 16. See notes on Jer_23:5 f. For the name applied (Jer_33:6) not to the king but to the city cp. Eze_48:35.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv16–18(16) This is the name wherewith she shall be…
(16) This is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.—It will be noticed that, while this reproduces the language of Jer_23:6, it does so with a remarkable difference. There the title, “The Lord our Righteousness,” is given to the future King, and the passage has accordingly been used as a proof of the full divinity of the Christ, who is that King. Here it is given to the city, and, so given, can only mean that that name will be, as it were, the motto and watchword of her being. She will be a city marked by a righteousness which will be the gift of Jehovah; He will inscribe that name on her banners, and. grave it on her portals. It is obvious that this throws light on the meaning of the title as applied to the King.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv15–18The Branch of righteousness; rather, the Plant of righteousness.…
The Branch of righteousness; rather, the Plant of righteousness. (see on Jer_23:5)
"The Branch of righteousness.
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If these words were intended by the prophet to refer to a succession of kings the promise they contain is nevertheless fulfilled in one, and one only, Jesus Christ. The glory of redeemed Israel is to find its consummation in the restoration of the throne of David with righteous government. The true glory of redemption is seen in the righteous rule of Christ. Much of what is taught here is similar to the suggestions of a former passage. (Jer_23:5) But the verse before us has also some lessons of its own, viz.
I CHRIST IS A BRANCH (OR SPROUT) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. He is of the stock of David, preserving the tradition and inheriting the rights of the royal family. But he is far above the old kings in character as well as in nature. Jeremiah repeatedly insisted on a fact that is only too apparent in the historical books of the Old Testament the fact that the ruin of Israel was largely due to the bad conduct of her kings. Christ is the one perfectly righteous King. This righteousness of Christ is of great significance.
1. It secures and justifies his position. There is no reason to depose him as there was to depose many of the ancient kings.
2. It gives him great claims for honour and obedience from his subjects. Such a king deserves loyal service.
3. It gives worth to his sacrifice. Christ is a Priest as well as a King the Melchisedec of the New Testament. When he intercedes for the world, and so redeems to himself "a people of acquisition", (1Pe_2:9) his righteousness affords weight to his pleading.
4. It makes his example to be of supreme authority. As the righteous King he is the type of what the righteous subject should be. A further inference, drawn by the prophet himself, is worth more extended notice.
II CHRIST MAINTAINS A RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT. Under a personal rule the character of the administration is an exact reflex of the character of the monarch. We see in the history of the Jews how bad conduct in the kings meant iniquitous treatment of the subjects. Christ, the righteous King, will necessarily rule righteously. From this fact certain important consequences flow.
1. Negatively, Christ will abolish the injustice under which many of his people suffer. It may be necessary that the process shall be slow. But it must be accomplished in the golden future. Meanwhile it is a consolation for the wronged to feel that even now they are not unfairly dealt with by their great Master; and surely to the Christian Christ"s behaviour should be far more important than anything the world may do.
2. Positively, Christ will maintain the right, and effectually rebuke the wrong within his kingdom; he is a King as well as a Saviour, and a righteous King executing judgment. Mild and gentle, he is yet holy and firm. The Christian who would enjoy the favour of his Master must win his approval by loyal obedience and pure living. Christ is no lax and careless Monarch. It would be ill for his Church if he were so.
3. Christ will lead his people into righteousness. He rules in righteousness, not only to execute justice, but to make his people righteous. This is the highest idea of righteous government. How do we stand in relation to this righteous kingship of Christ? Are we submitting to it for our own improvement and his glory? Are we ignoring, or resisting, or dishonouring it only to bring a judgment from the righteous God upon our heads. Let the careless remember that the Saviour is a King and a Judge.
Vers. 15, 16. Vide on Jer_23:5, 6 M.
The righteous Scion of David.
Here is a great leading prediction, which enables us to interpret as to the time and mode in which the rest of the glorious predictions connected with it were to be fulfilled. We know full well who this righteous Scion was, and when we lock at his work, we can translate all the figurative language into spiritual realities. We no longer go looking for Israel and Jerusalem in any mere local way, and the vineyards and corn lands and pastures of the restored people of God we understand to be only feeble indications of the spiritual satisfactions coming through Christ. Note
I THE ORIGIN OF THIS RIGHTEOUS SCION. He springs from David. According to the flesh, he is connected with a name suggestive of past days of prosperity and glory. David himself is emphatically to be reckoned as a righteous stock. That he fell into grievous backslidings is not to be denied; but we know his aspirations, his sighings and strugglings after conformity with the Law of God.
II THE IMPLIED CONTRAST WITH OTHER SCIONS WHO WERE NOT RIGHTEOUS. Scions of unrighteousness had already sprung up, had their day, and done their mischief. Their position made their character and doings peculiarly pernicious. With a disposition to act unjustly and unrighteously, they had power to act over a very large area. So we should over contrast Christ with the men of large powers who have widely influenced the world, and yet have influenced it for evil, because their powers have been directed by selfishness and error. There can be no doubt that a son of David means here one who will act as a king; and that reminds us how many kings have been tyrants, looking on those under them as merely so much convenient material, by which they might effect their plans. The exiled people, thinking of their restoration, would have to include the thought of king in the complete ideal; and surely this would bring very distinctly before them the evil some of their kings had wrought in the past.
III THE COMING SCION IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Righteousness is emphasized as his great quality. It is needed in a king above all things that he should be just. He must not be an Ahab stealing Naboth"s vineyard. Being in a fiercer light than other men, he must be unusually careful as to the aspect of his actions. Love is not mentioned here as a quality of this Scion, not because it is not needed, but because righteousness is the great quality that, for the comfort of Jeremiah"s auditors, needed to be emphasized. Nevertheless, it is well for us to remember that this Scion of David secures righteousness, because he ever acts from a loving heart. 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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v15This is the name wherewith she shall be called,…
Jer_33:15-16
This is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.
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The justified Church
It is no slip of the pen--She shall be called: it is no mistranslation, or unguarded statement, as might be imagined. It is a deliberate name, based on a great and an everlasting principle; and it is just as true, she shall be called the Lord our Righteousness, as it is true that He, that is, Christ, shall be called the Lord our Righteousness. Why? Because there is a spiritual and yet real identity between Christ and this redeemed and believing throng. He and they are one in time, and will continue one in eternity. Nay, so completely is the Church knit to its Head, that it is said she is the fulness of Christ; as if Christ were not complete in heaven, complete in His mediatorial glory, complete in His happiness, until there be added to Him those He has ransomed by His blood, prepared by His Spirit, and at last brought, as the fruits of His grace, to the triumphs of His throne. You will also recollect, that in Scripture, the relationship that subsists between Christ and His Church, is represented as being the relationship which subsists between the husband and the wife. Her responsibilities He has assumed Himself, that they may be absorbed, and disappear before His Cross. It is thus, that a transfer, an exchange, takes place between Christ and His Church--by concentrating all her responsibility on Him; He being answerable for her sins, answerable for her defects, answerable to a perfect law and to a holy God; and she receiving from Him that glorious and everlasting name, which is the Open Sesame at the gates of heaven, and which shall he heard loudest in the songs and hallelujahs of the ransomed around the throne. Whatever name, I would observe next, is given in Scripture to anything, is a reality. Therefore, when it is said, This is the name by which she, the Church, shall be called, it does not imply that it is the investiture of that Church with a mere empty and evanescent honour, but the stamp, the imprimatur of an everlasting and indelible reality; so that the Church, in herself all rags, is made in Christ the Righteousness of God. In discussing the subject matter of this name, I would lay before you the following facts, in order to show you the absolute necessity of our being called, or being made, the Lord our Righteousness, before we can ever expect to see God in happiness. Let me observe, then, there has been, is now, and ever will be, what is called a law. The law of God is just to God Himself what the sunbeam is to the sun--what the rivulet is to the fountain--what the effect is to the cause--what the blossom or the leaf is to the stem or the root. Gods law is indestructible,--the everlasting stereotype, which can no more be destroyed than the Eternal Himself can be dethroned from the supremacy of the universe. Setting out, then, with the postulate, that there is, and must be, such a thing as Gods moral law,--the language of which is, Do, and live,--Do not, and die,--we proceed, in the second place, to notice, that every member of this justified Church, with every child of Adam, has broken and violated that law. The next inquiry is, How can man be saved, and this law retain its unbending and awful strictness? Shall the whole race perish? for the whole race have broken Gods law. Blessed be God, His love and mercy would not suffer this. If not, shall Gods holy law be abrogated and annulled in whole or in part! His justice, His truth, His holiness cannot suffer that. Here, then, is the question, which no earthly OEdipus can solve; the labyrinth, which no human wisdom can unthread. Ancient philosophers, who saw dim and shadowy the attributes of the Eternal, even they were perplexed with difficulty here; and Socrates himself admitted, that it was extremely difficult to see how God could possibly receive to heaven them that His holiness must see to be sinful. Having thus noticed the impossibility of finding anything that could meet our case, let me ask again, Shall God be unjust, in order that sinners may be saved; or shall God be unmerciful, and this, in order that His law may remain just? God so loved us, that He would not let us perish; and yet God is so just, that He would not let His law be violated; how then can it be, how shall it be, that God shall remain infinitely just, infinitely holy, infinitely true, and yet that His love shall rush forth, and fill mens souls with its fulness, and the wide world with the multiplication of its trophies? The answer is given, This is the name by which He (Christ) shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness; and this is the name by which she (the Church) shall be called, through an interest in Him, the Lord our Righteousness. By that atonement which Christ consummated on the Cross, and in virtue of that righteousness which Christ achieved by His life, it now comes to pass, that God may be just whilst He justifies the ungodly that believe. This righteousness of Christ, which constitutes the only title of the believer, is called in Scripture by various names. It is called the righteousness of Christ, because He perfected and consummated it. It is called the righteousness of God, because He devised it, and it is His mode of justifying the sinner. It is called the righteousness of faith, because faith receives it; and it is also called our righteousness, because it is made ours by the free and sovereign gift of God.
1. Let me now observe of this righteousness that it is a perfect righteousness. When Christ exclaimed on the Cross, in the language partly of agony, and partly of triumph, It is finished, He announced in these accents that that moment there was provided a perfect robe, of perfect and of spotless beauty, for every sinner under heaven, who would put forth the hand of faith, and appropriate it without money and without price.
2. This righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Death shall not tarnish it, the grave shall not corrupt it, the wear and tear of life shall not destroy it.
3. This righteousness is ours, to the exclusion of all other whatever. Christ says to the queen on the throne, and to the meanest beggar by the wayside, Ye must both be saved by putting on the same perfect righteousness, or ye must be lost for ever.
4. This righteousness is ours by imputation. Our sins were transferred to Him, and He endured the consequences of them; His righteousness is transferred to us, and we realise the fruits of it.
5. This righteousness is received by faith, and by faith alone. There are three things to be noticed; first, the spring; secondly, the water; and thirdly, the pipe that conveys the water. The spring, in this instance, is the love of God; the element, that justifies us, is the righteousness of Jesus; and faith is the channel, or the conduit, by which that righteousness is conveyed to us and made ours. It is the mere medium, not the merit; it is the mere hand that receives; and in no sense has it any part or share of the merit or glory.
6. I would observe of this righteousness that it insures, wherever it is, everlasting glory. Whom He justifies, He glorifies. Where He begins, He finishes; what He commences by grace, that He consummates and creams in glory. The Churchs glory, derived from her Lord, is the righteousness of Christ; her beauty is that moral and spiritual beauty, which derived from heaven, defies the assaults of earth and hell, making its heirs the meet companions of Christ at heavens high festival.
7. This Church, thus justified in the righteousness of Christ, is, in the next place, free from all condemnation. All things minister peace and blessedness to her who is at friendship with God, and identified with Jesus. For this is the name by which she shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness.
8. This way of salvation excludes all boasting. Just because man is saved wholly through grace--wholly through the righteousness of another, and his very name is the name of another, therefore, this redeemed, elect, ransomed Church will east her crown before the throne of God and of the Lamb, and say, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, &c.
9. I observe that this mode of justification does not make void the law of God. Nay, says the apostle, we rather establish the law. You have in this fact clear and decisive evidence that it is the elevation of the Cross that makes all the moralities rise and cling and coil around it, and bloom and blossom. The Gospel alone in fact can give true and high-toned morality.
10. This righteousness is that alone in which we may glory. There is nothing but the Gospel that is worth glorying in. There is a moth in the fairest robe--there is a worm in the goodliest cedar--there is disease in the healthiest frame and rust on the purest gold. None of these things can satisfy mens souls with happiness. There is no glorying but in the righteousness of Christ, that is bright, pure, enduring, the prolific source of all that is good. (J. Gumming, D. D.)
Christ, the perfection of righteousness
Matthew Arnold, one of the prominent leaders of modern Agnosticism, thus speaks of Christ in his Literature and Dogma: Christ came to reveal what righteousness really is . . . Nothing will do except righteousness; and no other conception of righteousness will do except Christs conception of it; His method and secret. And in another part of the same book he writes: For our race, as we see it now, and as ourselves we form a part of it, the true God is and must be perfect. (Great Thoughts.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v15In those days
In those days
See "Davidic Covenant" (See Scofield "2Sa 7:16"). "Kingdom (O.T.)" Gen 1:26. See Scofield "Zec 12:8". "Kingdom (N.T.)"; Luk 1:31-33; 1Co 15:28.
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Branch
(See Scofield "Isa 4:2").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v17A man from David's line will never be lacking
A man from David's line will never be lacking
"There will always be a man from David's line"
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A man from David's line
a male descendant of King David
to sit on the throne of the house of Israel
The throne is a metonym for the king. AT: "to be king over the house of Israel" (See: Metonymy)
the house of Israel
The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house. In this case it refers to the kingdom of Israel. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 3:18. AT: "Israel" or "the kingdom of Israel" (See: Metonymy)
nor will a man from the Levitical priests be lacking before me to raise burnt offerings
"and there will always be a man from the Levitical priests to raise burnt offerings"
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv16–1833:16 The Lord Is Our Righteousness: Hebrew Yahweh Tsidqenu;…
33:16 The Lord Is Our Righteousness: Hebrew Yahweh Tsidqenu; see 23:5-6, where this title is given to the Messiah. This name was a reversal of Zedekiah’s name (Tsidqiyyahu, “Righteous is the Lord”). Zedekiah did not live up to his name, but the Messiah would do so.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv15–18 Here the Prophet shews what Paul afterwards has spoken…
Here the Prophet shews what Paul afterwards has spoken of, that all the promises of God are in Christ yea and amen, (2 Corinthians 1:20) that is, that they do not stand nor can be valid as to us, except Christ interposes to sanction or confirm them. Then the efficacy of God’s promises depends on Christ alone. And hence the Prophets, when speaking of the grace of God, come at length to Christ, for without him all the promises would vanish away. Let us also know that the Jews had been so trained as ever to flee to God’s covenant; for on the general covenant depended all particular promises. As, for instance, Jeremiah has hitherto been often prophesying of God’s mercy to the people, after having punished them for their sins; now this promise was special. How then could the Jews and the Israelites believe that they should return to their own country? This special promise could have been of no moment, except as it was an appendix of the covenant, even because God had adopted them as his people. As then the Jews knew that they had been chosen as a peculiar people, and that God was their Father, hence their faith in all the promises. Now, again, we must bear in mind, that the covenant was founded on Christ alone; for God had not only promised to Abraham that he would be a Father to his seed, but had also added an earnest or a pledge that a Redeemer would come.
We now then perceive the reason why the Prophets, when they sought to strengthen the faithful in the hope of salvation, set forth Christ, because the promises had no certainty without the general covenant. And further, as the general covenant could not stand, nor have any validity, except in Christ, this is the point to which Jeremiah now turns his attention, as we have also seen in other places, especially in the twenty-third chapter, from which he repeats this prophecy. God then had promised that his people would be restored; he had also promised that he would be so propitious to them as to preserve them in safety as his people: he now adds —
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In those days, and at that time, I will raise up, I will cause to germinate; the verb in the twenty-third chapter is הקמתי, ekamti, I will cause to rise; but here, “I will cause to germinate;” and there we read, “a righteous branch,” but here, “a branch of righteousness,” which means the same thing. But why does the Prophet now speak of the seed of David? It is not an abrupt sentence; and the reason is, because the minds of the faithful would have alwass vacillated, had not Christ been brought forward, on whom the eternal and unchangeable covenant of God was founded. But they could not have had any taste of God’s grace, had they not known that they had been gratuitously chosen by him. Adoption then was the foundation of the covenant; and then Christ was the earnest and pledge of the covenant, as well as of gratuitous adoption. Hence it was, that the Prophet, wishing to seal and confirm his prophecy, bids the faithful to look to Christ.
He says, In those days, and at that time; for, as it is said in the proverb, “Even quickness is delay when we have ardent wishes,” so now a long delay might have produced weariness iu the Israelites. That they might not, then, be carried away by too much haste, he mentions those days and that time So that if God deferred the time, that they might check themselves, he says, I will make to grow for David a righteous branch
This passage ought, no doubt, to be understood of Christ. We know that it was a common thing with the Jews, that whenever the Prophets promised to them the seed of David, to direct their attention to Christ. This was then a mode of teaching familiarly known to the Jews. The Prophets, indeed, sometimes mentioned David himself, and not his son,
“I will raise up David,” etc. (Ezekiel 34:23)
Now David was dead, and his body was reduced to dust and ashes; but under the person of David, the Prophets exhibited Christ. Then as to this passage, the Jews must shew their effrontery in a most ridiculous manner, if they make evasions and attempt to apply it otherwise than to Christ. This being the ease, were any one to ask now the Jews, how this prophecy has been fulfilled, it would be necessary for them to acknowledge Christ, or to deny faith in God, and also in Jeremiah. It is, indeed, certain that Jeremiah celebrates here the grace of deliverance especially on this account, because a Redeemer was shortly to come. For the return of the Jews to their own land, what was it? We know that they, even immediately at their restoration, were in a miserable state, though their condition then was much better than afterwards; for in after times they were cruelly treated by Antiochus and other kings of Syria: they were ever exposed to the heathens around them, so that they were harassed and plundered by them at pleasure. Then during the whole of that time which preceded the coming of Christ, God did not fulfill what he had promised by Jeremiah and his other servants. What is now their condition? Dispersed through the whole world; and they have been so for more than fifteen hundred years, since Christ arose from the dead; and we see that they pine away under their calamities, so their curse seems dreadful to all. God had, indeed, spoken by Moses, and then repeated it by his Prophets,
“Ye shall be for a hissing and for a curse to all nations.” (Deuteronomy 28:37; Jeremiah 25:18)
But that punishment was to be for a time. There is, therefore, no reason for what the Jews allege. It hence appears that they are wholly destitute of all credit, and only perversely pretend, I know not what, that there may be some show, though wholly hypocritical, in what they assert. But with regard to us, we see that the promise respecting the coming of the Messiah has not been made in vain; and we also know, that it happened, through the wonderful purpose of God, that the Jews did not enjoy full and real happiness, such as had been promised at the coming of Christ, lest they should think that what all God’s servants had promised was then accomplished: for we know how disposed men are to be satisfied with earthly things. The Jews might then have thought that their happiness was completed, had not God exercised them with many troubles, in order that they might ever look forward to the manifestation of Christ.
He calls it the Branch of righteousness, by way of contrast, because the children of David had become degenerated; and God had almost deemed them accursed, for the greatest part of the kings were destitute of God’s grace. There was, then, but one Branch of righteousness, even Christ. We further know how wide and extensive is Christ’s righteousness, for he communicates it to us. But we ought to begin with that righteousness which I have mentioned, that is, what is in opposition to the many changes which happened to the posterity of David, for things often were in a very low state. Though unto David, לדוד Ladavid, is often taken as meaning, “I will raise up the branch of David,” yet God seems here to refer to the promise which he had made to David, as God is said in many passages to have sworn to his servant David. (Psalm 89:3; 132:11)
It follows, And he shall execute judgement and justice in the land By these words a right government is denoted; for when the two words are joined tegether, justice refers to the defense of the innocent, and judgment to the punishment of iniquity; for except the wicked are restrained by the fear of the law, they would violate all order. Judgment, indeed, when by itself, means the right administration of the law; but as I have already said, justice and judgment include the protection of the good, and also the restraint of the wicked, who become not obedient willingly or of their own accord. In a word, the promise is, that the king here spoken of would be upright and just, so as to be in every way perfect, and exhibit the model of the best of kings.
But we must always observe the contrast between the other descendants of David and Christ. For the Jews had seen the saddest spectacles in the posterity of David: many of them were apostates, and perverted the worship of God; others raged against the Prophets and all good men, and were also full of avarice and rapacity, and given to all kinds of lusts. Since, then, their kings had debased themselves with so many crimes, there is here promised a king who would so discharge his office as to be owned as the true minister of God.
It is, at the same time, necessary to bear in mind the character of Christ’s kingdom. It is, we know, spiritual; but it is set forth under the image or form of an earthly and civil government; for whenever the Prophets speak of Christ’s kingdom, they set before us an earthly form, because spiritual truth, without any metaphor, could not have been sufficiently understood by a rude people in their childhood. There is no wonder, then, that the Prophets, wishing to accommodate their words to the capacity of the Jews, should so speak of Christ’s kingdom as to portray it before them as an earthly and civil government. But it is necessary for us to consider what sort of kingdom it is. As, then, it is spiritual, the justice and judgment of which the Prophet speaks, do not belong only to civil and external order, but rather to that rectitude by which it comes that men are reformed according to God’s image, which is in righteousness and truth. Christ then is said to reign over us in justice and judgment, not only because he keeps us by laws within the range of our duty, and defends the good and the innocent, and represses the audacity of the wicked; but because he rules us by his Spirit. And of the Spirit we know what Christ himself declares, “The Spirit shall convince the world of righteousness and judgment,” etc. (John 16:8) Hence we must come to spiritual jurisdiction, if we wish to understand what that righteousness is which is here mentioned: of the same kind also is the judgment that is added. It afterwards follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 18 That is, I will send the Messiah, which shall…
That is, I will send the Messiah, which shall come of the house of David, of whom this prophecy is meant, as testify all the Jews, and that which is written, Jer. 23:5.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–18 Jer 33:15 In those days, and at that time,…
Jer 33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
Ver. 15. I will cause the branch of righteousness.] See the same, Jer 23:5. The sweet promise concerning Christ can never be too often repeated. The Greek and German versions have that clause here also as there, "And a king shall reign and prosper, or understand."
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15–18 Whatsoever the Jews and some others say, the
Whatsoever the Jews and some others say, the
Branch of righteousness here spoken of can be meant of no other but Christ, who is called a Branch out of the stem of Jesse, Isa 11:1; the Branch of the Lord, Isa 4:2; a righteous Branch, Jer 23:5. (See the notes on those places.) Zorobabel, though descended from David, cannot be meant here, but the same who is thus called in all those parallel texts, of whom yet Zorobabel (being a good man, and descended from the family of David) may be allowed to have been a type; but this text far more concerneth Christ, as he in whom all the promises are founded, and in whom they are all yea and Amen. The kings they had hitherto had of the line of David were most of them unrighteous men, but God promiseth that after the captivity they should have a Branch of David that should execute judgment and righteousness in the land, for the protection and government of those that feared him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v17 Three of God's covenants, that of royalty with David…
Three of God's covenants, that of royalty with David and his seed, that of the priesthood with Aaron and his seed, and that of Peculiarity with Abraham and his seed, seemed to be all broken and lost while the captivity lasted; but it is here promised that, notwithstanding that interruption and discontinuance for a time, they shall all three take place again, and the true intents and meaning of them all shall be abundantly answered in the New Testament blessings, typified by those conferred on the Jews after their return out of captivity.
I. The covenant of royalty shall be secured and the promises of it shall have their full accomplishment in the kingdom of Christ, the Son of David, Jer 33:17. The throne of Israel was overturned in the captivity; the crown had fallen from their head; there was not a man to sit on the throne of Israel; Jeconiah was written childless. After their return the house of David made a figure again; but it in the Messiah that this promise is performed that David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of Israel, and that David shall have always a son to reign upon his throne. For as long as the man Christ Jesus sits on the right hand of the throne of God, rules the world, and rules it for the good of the church, to which he is a quickening head, and glorified head over all things, as long as he is King upon the holy hill of Zion, David does not want a successor, nor is the covenant with him broken. When the first-begotten was brought into the world it was declared concerning him, The Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33. For the confirmation of this it is promised, 1. That the covenant with David shall be as firm as the ordinances of heaven, to the stability of which that of God's promise is compared, Jer 31:35, Jer 31:36. There is a covenant of nature, by which the common course of providence is settled and on which it is founded, here called a covenant of the day and the night (Jer 33:20, Jer 33:25), because this is one of the articles of it, That there shall be day and night in their season, according to the distinction put between them in the creation, when God divided between the light and the darkness, and established their mutual succession, and a government to each, that the sun should rule by day and the moon and stars by night (Gen 1:4, Gen 1:5, Gen 1:16), which establishment was renewed after the flood (Gen 8:22), and has continued ever since, Psa 19:2. The morning and the evening have both of them their regular outgoings (Psa 65:8); the day-spring knows its place, knows its time, and keeps both, so do the shadows of the evening; and, while the world stands, this course shall not be altered, this covenant shall not be broken. The ordinances of heaven and earth (of this communication between heaven and earth, the dominion of these ordinances of heaven upon the earth), which God has appointed (Jer 33:25; compare Job 38:33), shall never be disappointed. Thus firm shall the covenant of redemption be with the Redeemer - God's servant, but David our King, Jer 33:21. This intimates that Christ shall have a church on earth to the world's end; he shall see a seed in which he shall prolong his days till time and day shall be no more. Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and when the end cometh, and not till then, it shall be delivered up to God, even the Father. But it intimates that the condition of it in this world shall be intermixed and counterchanged, prosperity and adversity succeeding each other, as light and darkness, day and night. But this is plainly taught us, that, as sure as we may be that, though the sun will set tonight, it will rise again tomorrow morning, whether we live to see it or no, so sure we may be that, though the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world may for a time be clouded and eclipsed by corruptions and persecutions, yet it will shine forth again, and recover its lustre, in the time appointed. 2. That the seed of David shall be as numerous as the host of heaven, that is, the spiritual seed of the Messiah, that shall be born to him by the efficacy of his gospel and his Spirit working with it. From the womb of the morning he shall have the dew of their youth, to be his willing people, Psa 110:3. Christ's seed are not, as David's were, his successors, but his subjects; yet the day is coming when they also shall reign with him (Jer 33:22): As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, so will I multiply the seed of David, so that there shall be no danger of the kingdom's being extinct, or extirpated, for want of heirs. The children are numerous; and, if children, then heirs.
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II. The covenant of priesthood shall be secured, and the promises of that also shall have their full accomplishment. This seemed likewise to be forgotten during the captivity, when there was no altar, no temple service, for the priests to attend upon; but this also shall revive. It did so; immediately upon their coming back to Jerusalem there were priests and Levites ready to offer burnt-offerings and to do sacrifice continually (Ezr 3:2, Ezr 3:3), as is here promised, Jer 33:18. But that priesthood soon grew corrupt; the covenant of Levi was profaned (as appears Mal 2:8), and in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans it came to a final period. We must therefore look elsewhere for the performance of this word, that the covenant with the Levites, the priests, God's ministers, shall be as firm, and last as long, as the covenant with the day and the night. And we find it abundantly performed, 1. In the priesthood of Christ, which supersedes that of Aaron, and is the substance of that shadow. While that great high priest of our profession is always appearing in the presence of God for us, presenting the virtue of his blood by which he made atonement in the incense of his intercession, it may truly be said that the Levites do not want a man before God to offer continually, Heb 7:3, Heb 7:17. He is a priest for ever. The covenant of the priesthood is called a covenant of peace (Num 25:12), of life and peace, Mal 2:5. Now we are sure that this covenant is not broken, nor in the least weakened, while Jesus Christ is himself our life and our peace. This covenant of priesthood is here again and again joined with that of royalty, for Christ is a priest upon his throne, as Melchizedek. 2. In a settled gospel ministry. While there are faithful ministers to preside in religious assemblies, and to offer up the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise, the priests, the Levites, do not want successors, and such as have obtained a more excellent ministry. The apostle makes those that preach the gospel to come in the room of those that served at the altar, Co1 9:13, Co1 9:14. 3. In all true believers, who are a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood (Pe1 2:5, Pe1 2:9), who are made to our God kings and priests (Rev 1:6); they offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, and themselves, in the first place, living sacrifices. Of these Levites this promise must be understood (Jer 33:22), that they shall be as numerous as the sand of the sea, the same that is promised concerning Israel in general (Gen 22:17); for all God's spiritual Israel are spiritual priests, Rev 5:9, Rev 5:10; Rev 7:9, Rev 7:15.
III. The covenant of peculiarity likewise shall be secured and the promises of that covenant shall have their full accomplishment in the gospel Israel. Observe, 1. How this covenant was looked upon as broken during the captivity, Jer 33:24. God asks the prophet, "Hast though not heard, and dost thou not consider, what this people have spoken?" either the enemies of Israel, who triumphed in the extirpation of a people that had made such a noise in the world, or the unbelieving Israelites themselves, "this people among whom thou dwellest;" they have broken covenant with God, and then quarrel with him as if he had not dealt faithfully with them. The two families which the Lord hath chosen, Israel and Judah, whereas they were but one when he chose them, he hath even cast them off. "Thus have they despised my people, that is, despised the privilege of being my people as if it were a privilege of no value at all." The neighbouring nations despised them as now no more a nation, but the ruins of a nation, and looked upon all their honour as laid in the dust; but, 2. See how firm the covenant stands notwithstanding, as firm as that with day and night; sooner will God suffer day and night to cease then he will cast away the seed of Jacob. This cannot refer to the seed of Jacob according to the flesh, for they are cast away, but to the Christian church, in which all these promises were to be lodged, as appears by the apostle's discourse, Rom 11:1, etc. Christ is that seed of David that is to be perpetual dictator to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and, as this people shall never want such a king, so this king shall never want such a people. Christianity shall continue in the dominion of Christ, and the subjection of Christians to him, till day and night come to an end. And, as a pledge of this, that promise is again repeated, I will cause their captivity to return; and, having brought them back, I will have mercy on them. To whom this promise refers appears Gal 6:16, where all that walk according to the gospel rule are made to be the Israel of God, on whom peace and mercy shall be.
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 vv15–18 In those days, and at that time,.... In those…
In those days, and at that time,.... In those very selfsame days before spoken of; in those days to come, and which were hastening on; in the fulness of time, agreed on between Jehovah and his Son; the appointed, fixed, determined time:
will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; not Zerubbabel, but the Messiah; who is not only a branch of David's family, and therefore said to grow up unto him, being of his seed, his son, and offspring; but a Branch of righteousness, or a righteous Branch; perfectly righteous in himself, and the author of righteousness unto others; which cannot be said of Zerubbabel, or of any other branch springing from David but the Messiah; and of him the Targum interprets it, paraphrasing it thus,
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"the Messiah of righteousness;''
and Kimchi's note is,
"this is the King Messiah;''
and so it is by other Jewish writers (x) interpreted of him:
and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land; judgment upon the blind Pharisees given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; and upon the world, and the prince of it, who was cast out by him; and though he came not at first to judge the world and all the individuals of it, as he will do at his second coming; yet all judgment, rule, and government of his church, is committed to him by his Father; and he is on the throne to order and establish it with judgment, and to overrule all things for the good of it, and his own and his Father's glory: and he has "wrought" out an everlasting "righteousness", agreeably to law and justice, for the justification of his people; for which reason he and they have the name in Jer 33:16.
(x) Abarbinel, Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. 40. 2.
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 vv15–18 The branch - The kings they had hitherto had…
The branch - The kings they had hitherto had of the line of David, were most of them unrighteous men, but God promises that after the captivity, they should have a branch of David who would execute judgment and righteousness in the land, for the protection and government of those that feared him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 Verse 16. And this is the name wherewith she…
Verse 16. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.] See what has been said on Jer 23:6, (See Clarke on Jer 23:6,) which is generally supposed to be a strictly parallel passage: but they are very different, and I doubt whether they mean exactly the same thing. As to our translation here, it is ignorant, and almost impious; it says that Jerusalem, for that is the antecedent, shall be called The Lord our Righteousness. The pronoun לה lah, which is translated her, is the masculine affix, in the Chaldaic form, which frequently occurs; and Dr. Blayney translates, "And this is He whom Jehovah shall call our righteousness," or Justification. Perhaps there is a sense which these words will bear far more congenial to the scope of the place. I will give the original, as before: וזה אשר יקרא לה יהוה צדקנו vezeh asher yikra lah, Yehovah tsidkenu, "And this one who shall call to her is the Lord our Justification;" that is, the salvation of the Jews shall take place when Jesus Christ is proclaimed to them as their Justifier, and they receive him as such.
Instead of לה lah, her or him, Chaldaice, the Vulgate, Chaldee, and Syriac have read לו lo, him, less ambiguously; and this reading is supported by one or two MSS. This emendation renders the passage here more conformable to that in Jer 23:6; but if the translation above be admitted, all embarrassment is gone.
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One of my own MSS. has לה loh, with the masculine points, and no mappik on the ה he; and for tsidkenu has צדקינו tsidkeynu, the contracted plural form, our righteousness: but this may be a mistake. The passages in this and the twenty-third chapter were not, I am satisfied, intended to express the same thing. I suppose that above refers to the preaching or proclaiming Christ crucified to the Jews, when the time shall arrive in which they shall be incorporated with the Gentile Church. Dahler translates this as he did that in Jer 23:6, which is a perfect oversight: but paraphrastic renderings are too often introduced by this learned foreigner.
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 v17 Jer 33:17-18. For thus saith the Lord, David shall…
Jer 33:17-18. For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man, &c. — It is very evident that the prophecies in these verses were not fulfilled in the Jews after the Babylonish captivity; for, from that time to the coming of Christ, David was without a successor of his family sitting upon the throne of Judah or Israel. Nor have they been fulfilled in them since, for, from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans to the present time, they have neither had a king nor a regular priesthood belonging to their nation. There can therefore be no doubt that Jeremiah here foretels the kingdom of the Messiah, and the priesthood, or ministry rather, to be established by him, by which a pure and spiritual oblation should be offered in every place where a church should be formed for him, (see Mal 1:11,) and not at Jerusalem and in Judea only. “As the Jewish priesthood, in the family of Aaron, is extinct, and hath been exercised neither in Jerusalem nor in any other place for seventeen centuries, it follows,” says Calmet, “that these promises can respect only the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ, exercised by himself, and by his ministers, in the Christian Church from the beginning, and which shall continue to the end of time.” Nor is it unusual for God in the Old Testament to express promises relating to, and to be fulfilled under, the gospel, by terms proper to the Old Testament. See Isa 19:19; Isa 56:7; Isa 66:23. And as the prophets often describe the Christian worship by representations taken from the temple service, so the apostles prove the rights and privileges belonging to the ministers of the gospel from the prerogatives given to the Jewish priesthood. See Rom 15:16; 1Co 9:13-14.
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 vv15, 17 Compare the marginal reference. When the good word was…
Compare the marginal reference. When the good word was spoken, the name Yahweh our Righteousness was given to the righteous Sprout: here it is given to Jerusalem, i. e., to the Church, because it is her business mediately to work on earth that righteousness which Christ works absolutely. Compare Eph 1:23.
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Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv15–18 Bud, or orient, Christ, (Calmet) of whom Zorobabel was…
Bud, or orient, Christ, (Calmet) of whom Zorobabel was a figure. (Theodoret) All cannot be verified of the latter, ver. 16. (Calmet) --- The Jews themselves explain this of the Messias. (Calov.) --- It evidently refer to him, as he was born of David, whose posterity should continue till Christ, the founder of an eternal kingdom. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv15–18 Repeated from Jer 23:5.
Repeated from Jer 23:5.
the land--the Holy Land: Israel and Judah (Jer 23:6).
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 vv15, 17 CHRIST THE BRANCH — THE FULFILMENT OF BOTH THE…
CHRIST THE BRANCH — THE FULFILMENT OF BOTH THE KINGLY AND THE PRIESTLY IDEAS, Jer_33:15-18.
15, 16. These verses are substantially a repetition of Jer_23:5-6, with several changes, most of which, however, are of no real significance. But in one important feature this passage is different. It is here stated that the city shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness. This suggests the real oneness between the personal life-source, the Messiah, and the channel through which this life flows forth to the nations.
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 vv15, 17, 18 15, 16. See notes on Jer_23:5 f. For the…
15, 16. See notes on Jer_23:5 f. For the name applied (Jer_33:6) not to the king but to the city cp. Eze_48:35.
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 vv16–18 (16) This is the name wherewith she shall be…
(16) This is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.—It will be noticed that, while this reproduces the language of Jer_23:6, it does so with a remarkable difference. There the title, “The Lord our Righteousness,” is given to the future King, and the passage has accordingly been used as a proof of the full divinity of the Christ, who is that King. Here it is given to the city, and, so given, can only mean that that name will be, as it were, the motto and watchword of her being. She will be a city marked by a righteousness which will be the gift of Jehovah; He will inscribe that name on her banners, and. grave it on her portals. It is obvious that this throws light on the meaning of the title as applied to the King.
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 vv15–18 The Branch of righteousness; rather, the Plant of righteousness.…
The Branch of righteousness; rather, the Plant of righteousness. (see on Jer_23:5)
"The Branch of righteousness.
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If these words were intended by the prophet to refer to a succession of kings the promise they contain is nevertheless fulfilled in one, and one only, Jesus Christ. The glory of redeemed Israel is to find its consummation in the restoration of the throne of David with righteous government. The true glory of redemption is seen in the righteous rule of Christ. Much of what is taught here is similar to the suggestions of a former passage. (Jer_23:5) But the verse before us has also some lessons of its own, viz.
I CHRIST IS A BRANCH (OR SPROUT) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. He is of the stock of David, preserving the tradition and inheriting the rights of the royal family. But he is far above the old kings in character as well as in nature. Jeremiah repeatedly insisted on a fact that is only too apparent in the historical books of the Old Testament the fact that the ruin of Israel was largely due to the bad conduct of her kings. Christ is the one perfectly righteous King. This righteousness of Christ is of great significance.
1. It secures and justifies his position. There is no reason to depose him as there was to depose many of the ancient kings.
2. It gives him great claims for honour and obedience from his subjects. Such a king deserves loyal service.
3. It gives worth to his sacrifice. Christ is a Priest as well as a King the Melchisedec of the New Testament. When he intercedes for the world, and so redeems to himself "a people of acquisition", (1Pe_2:9) his righteousness affords weight to his pleading.
4. It makes his example to be of supreme authority. As the righteous King he is the type of what the righteous subject should be. A further inference, drawn by the prophet himself, is worth more extended notice.
II CHRIST MAINTAINS A RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT. Under a personal rule the character of the administration is an exact reflex of the character of the monarch. We see in the history of the Jews how bad conduct in the kings meant iniquitous treatment of the subjects. Christ, the righteous King, will necessarily rule righteously. From this fact certain important consequences flow.
1. Negatively, Christ will abolish the injustice under which many of his people suffer. It may be necessary that the process shall be slow. But it must be accomplished in the golden future. Meanwhile it is a consolation for the wronged to feel that even now they are not unfairly dealt with by their great Master; and surely to the Christian Christ"s behaviour should be far more important than anything the world may do.
2. Positively, Christ will maintain the right, and effectually rebuke the wrong within his kingdom; he is a King as well as a Saviour, and a righteous King executing judgment. Mild and gentle, he is yet holy and firm. The Christian who would enjoy the favour of his Master must win his approval by loyal obedience and pure living. Christ is no lax and careless Monarch. It would be ill for his Church if he were so.
3. Christ will lead his people into righteousness. He rules in righteousness, not only to execute justice, but to make his people righteous. This is the highest idea of righteous government. How do we stand in relation to this righteous kingship of Christ? Are we submitting to it for our own improvement and his glory? Are we ignoring, or resisting, or dishonouring it only to bring a judgment from the righteous God upon our heads. Let the careless remember that the Saviour is a King and a Judge.
Vers. 15, 16. Vide on Jer_23:5, 6 M.
The righteous Scion of David.
Here is a great leading prediction, which enables us to interpret as to the time and mode in which the rest of the glorious predictions connected with it were to be fulfilled. We know full well who this righteous Scion was, and when we lock at his work, we can translate all the figurative language into spiritual realities. We no longer go looking for Israel and Jerusalem in any mere local way, and the vineyards and corn lands and pastures of the restored people of God we understand to be only feeble indications of the spiritual satisfactions coming through Christ. Note
I THE ORIGIN OF THIS RIGHTEOUS SCION. He springs from David. According to the flesh, he is connected with a name suggestive of past days of prosperity and glory. David himself is emphatically to be reckoned as a righteous stock. That he fell into grievous backslidings is not to be denied; but we know his aspirations, his sighings and strugglings after conformity with the Law of God.
II THE IMPLIED CONTRAST WITH OTHER SCIONS WHO WERE NOT RIGHTEOUS. Scions of unrighteousness had already sprung up, had their day, and done their mischief. Their position made their character and doings peculiarly pernicious. With a disposition to act unjustly and unrighteously, they had power to act over a very large area. So we should over contrast Christ with the men of large powers who have widely influenced the world, and yet have influenced it for evil, because their powers have been directed by selfishness and error. There can be no doubt that a son of David means here one who will act as a king; and that reminds us how many kings have been tyrants, looking on those under them as merely so much convenient material, by which they might effect their plans. The exiled people, thinking of their restoration, would have to include the thought of king in the complete ideal; and surely this would bring very distinctly before them the evil some of their kings had wrought in the past.
III THE COMING SCION IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Righteousness is emphasized as his great quality. It is needed in a king above all things that he should be just. He must not be an Ahab stealing Naboth"s vineyard. Being in a fiercer light than other men, he must be unusually careful as to the aspect of his actions. Love is not mentioned here as a quality of this Scion, not because it is not needed, but because righteousness is the great quality that, for the comfort of Jeremiah"s auditors, needed to be emphasized. Nevertheless, it is well for us to remember that this Scion of David secures righteousness, because he ever acts from a loving heart. 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 v15 This is the name wherewith she shall be called,…
Jer_33:15-16
This is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.
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The justified Church
It is no slip of the pen--She shall be called: it is no mistranslation, or unguarded statement, as might be imagined. It is a deliberate name, based on a great and an everlasting principle; and it is just as true, she shall be called the Lord our Righteousness, as it is true that He, that is, Christ, shall be called the Lord our Righteousness. Why? Because there is a spiritual and yet real identity between Christ and this redeemed and believing throng. He and they are one in time, and will continue one in eternity. Nay, so completely is the Church knit to its Head, that it is said she is the fulness of Christ; as if Christ were not complete in heaven, complete in His mediatorial glory, complete in His happiness, until there be added to Him those He has ransomed by His blood, prepared by His Spirit, and at last brought, as the fruits of His grace, to the triumphs of His throne. You will also recollect, that in Scripture, the relationship that subsists between Christ and His Church, is represented as being the relationship which subsists between the husband and the wife. Her responsibilities He has assumed Himself, that they may be absorbed, and disappear before His Cross. It is thus, that a transfer, an exchange, takes place between Christ and His Church--by concentrating all her responsibility on Him; He being answerable for her sins, answerable for her defects, answerable to a perfect law and to a holy God; and she receiving from Him that glorious and everlasting name, which is the Open Sesame at the gates of heaven, and which shall he heard loudest in the songs and hallelujahs of the ransomed around the throne. Whatever name, I would observe next, is given in Scripture to anything, is a reality. Therefore, when it is said, This is the name by which she, the Church, shall be called, it does not imply that it is the investiture of that Church with a mere empty and evanescent honour, but the stamp, the imprimatur of an everlasting and indelible reality; so that the Church, in herself all rags, is made in Christ the Righteousness of God. In discussing the subject matter of this name, I would lay before you the following facts, in order to show you the absolute necessity of our being called, or being made, the Lord our Righteousness, before we can ever expect to see God in happiness. Let me observe, then, there has been, is now, and ever will be, what is called a law. The law of God is just to God Himself what the sunbeam is to the sun--what the rivulet is to the fountain--what the effect is to the cause--what the blossom or the leaf is to the stem or the root. Gods law is indestructible,--the everlasting stereotype, which can no more be destroyed than the Eternal Himself can be dethroned from the supremacy of the universe. Setting out, then, with the postulate, that there is, and must be, such a thing as Gods moral law,--the language of which is, Do, and live,--Do not, and die,--we proceed, in the second place, to notice, that every member of this justified Church, with every child of Adam, has broken and violated that law. The next inquiry is, How can man be saved, and this law retain its unbending and awful strictness? Shall the whole race perish? for the whole race have broken Gods law. Blessed be God, His love and mercy would not suffer this. If not, shall Gods holy law be abrogated and annulled in whole or in part! His justice, His truth, His holiness cannot suffer that. Here, then, is the question, which no earthly OEdipus can solve; the labyrinth, which no human wisdom can unthread. Ancient philosophers, who saw dim and shadowy the attributes of the Eternal, even they were perplexed with difficulty here; and Socrates himself admitted, that it was extremely difficult to see how God could possibly receive to heaven them that His holiness must see to be sinful. Having thus noticed the impossibility of finding anything that could meet our case, let me ask again, Shall God be unjust, in order that sinners may be saved; or shall God be unmerciful, and this, in order that His law may remain just? God so loved us, that He would not let us perish; and yet God is so just, that He would not let His law be violated; how then can it be, how shall it be, that God shall remain infinitely just, infinitely holy, infinitely true, and yet that His love shall rush forth, and fill mens souls with its fulness, and the wide world with the multiplication of its trophies? The answer is given, This is the name by which He (Christ) shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness; and this is the name by which she (the Church) shall be called, through an interest in Him, the Lord our Righteousness. By that atonement which Christ consummated on the Cross, and in virtue of that righteousness which Christ achieved by His life, it now comes to pass, that God may be just whilst He justifies the ungodly that believe. This righteousness of Christ, which constitutes the only title of the believer, is called in Scripture by various names. It is called the righteousness of Christ, because He perfected and consummated it. It is called the righteousness of God, because He devised it, and it is His mode of justifying the sinner. It is called the righteousness of faith, because faith receives it; and it is also called our righteousness, because it is made ours by the free and sovereign gift of God.
1. Let me now observe of this righteousness that it is a perfect righteousness. When Christ exclaimed on the Cross, in the language partly of agony, and partly of triumph, It is finished, He announced in these accents that that moment there was provided a perfect robe, of perfect and of spotless beauty, for every sinner under heaven, who would put forth the hand of faith, and appropriate it without money and without price.
2. This righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Death shall not tarnish it, the grave shall not corrupt it, the wear and tear of life shall not destroy it.
3. This righteousness is ours, to the exclusion of all other whatever. Christ says to the queen on the throne, and to the meanest beggar by the wayside, Ye must both be saved by putting on the same perfect righteousness, or ye must be lost for ever.
4. This righteousness is ours by imputation. Our sins were transferred to Him, and He endured the consequences of them; His righteousness is transferred to us, and we realise the fruits of it.
5. This righteousness is received by faith, and by faith alone. There are three things to be noticed; first, the spring; secondly, the water; and thirdly, the pipe that conveys the water. The spring, in this instance, is the love of God; the element, that justifies us, is the righteousness of Jesus; and faith is the channel, or the conduit, by which that righteousness is conveyed to us and made ours. It is the mere medium, not the merit; it is the mere hand that receives; and in no sense has it any part or share of the merit or glory.
6. I would observe of this righteousness that it insures, wherever it is, everlasting glory. Whom He justifies, He glorifies. Where He begins, He finishes; what He commences by grace, that He consummates and creams in glory. The Churchs glory, derived from her Lord, is the righteousness of Christ; her beauty is that moral and spiritual beauty, which derived from heaven, defies the assaults of earth and hell, making its heirs the meet companions of Christ at heavens high festival.
7. This Church, thus justified in the righteousness of Christ, is, in the next place, free from all condemnation. All things minister peace and blessedness to her who is at friendship with God, and identified with Jesus. For this is the name by which she shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness.
8. This way of salvation excludes all boasting. Just because man is saved wholly through grace--wholly through the righteousness of another, and his very name is the name of another, therefore, this redeemed, elect, ransomed Church will east her crown before the throne of God and of the Lamb, and say, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, &c.
9. I observe that this mode of justification does not make void the law of God. Nay, says the apostle, we rather establish the law. You have in this fact clear and decisive evidence that it is the elevation of the Cross that makes all the moralities rise and cling and coil around it, and bloom and blossom. The Gospel alone in fact can give true and high-toned morality.
10. This righteousness is that alone in which we may glory. There is nothing but the Gospel that is worth glorying in. There is a moth in the fairest robe--there is a worm in the goodliest cedar--there is disease in the healthiest frame and rust on the purest gold. None of these things can satisfy mens souls with happiness. There is no glorying but in the righteousness of Christ, that is bright, pure, enduring, the prolific source of all that is good. (J. Gumming, D. D.)
Christ, the perfection of righteousness
Matthew Arnold, one of the prominent leaders of modern Agnosticism, thus speaks of Christ in his Literature and Dogma: Christ came to reveal what righteousness really is . . . Nothing will do except righteousness; and no other conception of righteousness will do except Christs conception of it; His method and secret. And in another part of the same book he writes: For our race, as we see it now, and as ourselves we form a part of it, the true God is and must be perfect. (Great Thoughts.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v15 In those days
In those days
See "Davidic Covenant" (See Scofield "2Sa 7:16"). "Kingdom (O.T.)" Gen 1:26. See Scofield "Zec 12:8". "Kingdom (N.T.)"; Luk 1:31-33; 1Co 15:28.
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Branch
(See Scofield "Isa 4:2").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v17 A man from David's line will never be lacking
A man from David's line will never be lacking
"There will always be a man from David's line"
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A man from David's line
a male descendant of King David
to sit on the throne of the house of Israel
The throne is a metonym for the king. AT: "to be king over the house of Israel" (See: Metonymy)
the house of Israel
The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house. In this case it refers to the kingdom of Israel. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 3:18. AT: "Israel" or "the kingdom of Israel" (See: Metonymy)
nor will a man from the Levitical priests be lacking before me to raise burnt offerings
"and there will always be a man from the Levitical priests to raise burnt offerings"
raise burnt offerings
"offer burnt offerings"
translationWords
throne
house
Levi
priest
raise
burnt offering
grain offering
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 vv16–18 33:16 The Lord Is Our Righteousness: Hebrew Yahweh Tsidqenu;…
33:16 The Lord Is Our Righteousness: Hebrew Yahweh Tsidqenu; see 23:5-6, where this title is given to the Messiah. This name was a reversal of Zedekiah’s name (Tsidqiyyahu, “Righteous is the Lord”). Zedekiah did not live up to his name, but the Messiah would do so.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.