Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
31. “When Amos and Isaiah attacked the priesthood of Judah, they still felt that there remained the Prophets on whom the nation could fall back. But when Jeremiah mourned for Israel, he felt that there was no reserve in Judah. And when the Priesthood closed in hostile array around him, he felt that, as far as Jerusalem was concerned, the Prophets were no supporters.” (Stanley, J. Ch., II. 441.)
bear rule ] possibly, reading a somewhat similar verbal form from the root whence Torah comes, teach, this being an important function of the priests. Cp. Jer 13:18; Eze 7:26; Hag 2:11; Mal 2:7. Du.’s rendering (from a rare root of the same consonants, meaning to scrape), “put money into their pockets,” is hardly to be accepted.
by their means ] as mg. at their hands, under their guidance, at their pleasure. So Gi. Cp. for this sense 1Ch 25:3 ; 2Ch 23:18; Ezr 3:10, “after the order of.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 31. The prophets prophesy falsely] The false prophets predict favourable things, that they may please both the princes and the people.
The priests bear rule by their means] The false prophets affording them all that their influence and power can procure, to enable them to keep their places, and feed on the riches of the Lord’s house.
And my people love to have it so] Are perfectly satisfied with this state of things, because they are permitted to continue in their sins without reproof or restraint. The prophets and the priests united to deceive and ruin the people. The prophets gave out false predictions; by their means the priests got the government of the people into their own hands; and so infatuated were the people that they willingly abandoned themselves to those blind guides, and would not hearken to the voice of any reformer. In my Old Bible the words stand thus: – Stonyng and mervailis ben made in the erthe, prophets prophecieden lesing; and prestis flappiden with joye with ther bondes, and my peple lovid siche thingis. False prophets and worldly priests have been in all ages the bane of religion, and the ruin of many souls. When profligate people stand up on behalf of profligate priests, corruption must then be at its height.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The prophets prophesy falsely; either spreading and dispersing abroad the lies of their idols, particularly Baal, Jer 2:8, or venting their lies in the name of the true God, Jer 4:10.
The priests bear rule by their means; by this means it comes to pass that the princes and priests are encouraged to do all their mischiefs, whether it were in corrupting judgment by bribes, or countenancing fraud and oppression, and hardening themselves against Gods threatenings, or whatever else; they were encouraged by the lies of the false prophets, they, and the priests, and the princes combining, and setting themselves against the true prophets of God, Jer 26:8; and thus the priests in effect take the management of all the affairs into their own hands; so the Heb. take into their hands, which intimates the authority they used in their ministry.
My people love to have it so; they are very well pleased with the flatteries and lies of the false prophets, not being able to bear the truths that were delivered them from God, Mic 2:11.
What will ye do in the end thereof? q.d. Whither do you think these things will tend? You must look for nothing but utter ruin as the fruit and effect of such doings, Mic 3:11,12; when this city, which you look upon to be perpetuated, shall be overthrown, and you utterly perish in its ruin, how miserably will you find yourselves to be deluded by your false prophets, and disappointed in your hopes! A sad aposiopesis, concerning the exterminating of the people by the Chaldeans.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. bear rule by theirmeansliterally, “according to their hands,” that is,under their guidance (1Ch 25:3).As a sample of the priests lending themselves to the deceits of thefalse prophets, to gain influence over the people, see Jer29:24-32.
love to have it so(Mic 2:11).
end thereofthe fatalissue of this sinful course when divine judgments shall come.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The prophets prophesied falsely,…. That the people would have peace and prosperity, and not be carried captive into Babylon, as Jeremiah and other true prophets of the Lord had predicted:
and the priests bear rule by their means; or rather “the princes”; for the word signifies princes as well as priests, and to the former government more properly belongs; and so Jarchi interprets it of the judges of the people, and their exactors; these governed the people according to the words of the false prophets, as the same writer explains it; they were “under” their influence and direction, they went after them, as the phrase is sometimes used; see
1Ch 25:2 or, as Kimchi understands it, the priests received gifts by their hands to pervert judgment, and they declined doing justice, according to their will. The Targum is,
“the priests helped upon their hands;”
took the false prophets, as it were, and carried them in their hands. Some render it, “the priests remove, or depart by their means” h; through their false prophesies they departed from the law, and the worship of God and his ordinances, from attending to them, and performing them in the manner appointed; in the whole it denotes great friendship, unity, and agreement between the priests, or princes, and the false prophets; they agreed together to keep the people in awe and in bondage; and what was of all the most surprising is what follows:
and my people love to have it so; both that the prophets prophesy smooth things to them, though false; and that the princes should govern as they directed:
and what will ye do in the end thereof? that these evils will bring unto; namely, the destruction of the city and nation. The meaning is, what will become of them at last? or what would they do, when this wicked government would come to an end, and they should be taken and carried captive by the Chaldeans? which would be their case; and how would they like that, who love to have things as they were, which would bring on their ruin?
h So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, for. 62. I.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Let us now see what was this monstrous thing which the Prophet here refers to, and which he abhorred. The prophets, he says, prophesy falsely It was no doubt enough to make all astonished, when these impostors assumed the name of prophets at Jerusalem, where God had chosen his habitation and his sanctuary: how great and how base a profanation was it of God’s name? There were indeed at that time impostors everywhere, who boasted that they were God’s prophets, who in many places passed as oracles the delusions of Satan; but to see the ministers of the devil in the very sanctuary of God, (which was then the only one in the world,) even in the very city where he had, as it has been said, his habitation and dwelling, was a monstrous thing, which ought to have made all men astonished. It is indeed a detestable thing under the Papacy, when monks and similar unprincipled men ascend the pulpit, and there most shamefully pretend that they are the true prophets of God, and faithful teachers; but still it would be doubly monstrous, were any among us to corrupt pure doctrine with their errors and infect the people with their superstitions. It was not then without reason that Jeremiah introduced his subject by saying, that it was an astonishing thing and hardly to be conceived, when prophets prophesied falsely
He then adds, Priests receive into their hands; so some render the words: but there may be a twofold meaning. Sampson is said in Jud 14:9, to have received into his hands honey from the lion, and the same verb is found there: but as it means also to rule, to govern, the exposition most suitable to this place is, — that the priests ruled by the means of the false prophets. At the same time, if any one takes the other view, — that the priests received into their hands, that is, that they gathered and accumulated gifts from all quarters, the meaning would not be unsuitable. (158)
However this may be, the Prophet evidently shews that there was a mutual collusion between the false prophets and the priests. The false prophets, he says, deceive the people by their flatteries, and what do the priests? It was their duty to oppose them: they receive, he says, into their hands; that is, they are satisfied, for they see that these fallacies bring gain to them, and therefore they easily assent to what is taught by the false prophets. The same thing is to be seen at this day under the Papacy: the monks flatter the people and prop up the whole system of Popery; and hence these unprincipled men call themselves the chariots of the Pope; for the Pope is carried as it were on four wheels — the four mendicant orders. And this they boast, when they wish to shew what adepts they are in lying. The Pope then is carried by the four wheels of the mendicants. We see how he has honored and daily honors these mendicants with privileges, and why? Because they prop up his tyranny. Such was at that time the state of the people; the priests took their prey, and the false prophets snatched also a part of it, like these hungry dogs at this day; who yet do not act so oppressively as the Pope: they lick as it were his seat, like dogs; while he and his mitered bishops devour the fattest spoils. The meaning then, that they received into their hands, is not unsuitable.
But when we consider the main drift of the passage, it is more in harmony with it to say, that the priests ruled by their means; for without the false prophets they could not have retained their influence over the people; they must have been repudiated by them all. Since then they ruled by their means, there was a mutual collusion between them.
He then adds, And my people have wished it to be so The common people, no doubt, exculpated themselves, as they do at this day, who hold forth this excuse as their shield, “O, we are not learned, we have never been in school, and what can we do but to follow our bishops?” Thus, then, at this day, the lower orders, the multitude, seek to cast off every blame from themselves. But the Prophet says here, that the people loved to have things so. And, doubtless, we shall find that to be ever true which is said in Deu 13:3, that when false prophets come, it is for the purpose of trying God’s people, whether they from the heart love God. It is then his object to try our religion, whenever he gives loose reins to impostors and false prophets: for every one who truly loves God will be preserved by his Spirit from being led away by such deceivers. When, therefore, ignorant men are deluded, it is certain that they are justly punished for their neglect and contempt of God, because they have not been sufficiently attentive to his service; yea, because they have wished for impostors, according to what has been also often said by the monks, “The world wishes to be deceived, let it be deceived in the name of the devil.” These impostors have become so shameless, as to boast that they are the ministers of Satan to deceive men. However, that common saying has been found true; for the world is never deceived except with its own consent, and willingly; for those who are the most ignorant close their eyes against clear light, and shun God as much as they can, and seek to hide themselves in darkness, according to what Christ says,
“
Whosoever committeth sin hateth the light.” (Joh 3:20)
The Prophet adds in the last place, And what will ye do at last, or at the end of it? Some omit the pronoun ה, he; and others apply it to the false prophets and the priests; but the Prophet, I have no doubt, refers to Jerusalem, What will ye do at the end of it? For we know that as Jerusalem had been founded by God’s hand, and while it had him as its protector and guardian, it was safe; but this was a false confidence, when they despised God and gloried in their wickedness. What, then, he says, will ye do at the end of it? as though he had said, “You deceive yourselves, if you think that this city will be perpetual; for its overthrow is nigh at hand: what then will ye do, when the city itself shall bc destroyed, except that you shall be all destroyed together with it?” (159)
(158) The Septuagint and the Vulgate have, “And the priests have applauded with their own hands;” and the Targum, “ And the priests have helped their hands.” Both mean the same thing, though the words are different: and Blayney gives the same meaning, “And the priests have concurred with them.” Horsley says that the words literally are, “And the priests go down according to their hands;” that is, he adds, “the priests go which way their bands permit; i.e., the priests are directed by them.” Though the points lead us to regard ירדו as future from רדה, to bear rule; yet the context requires it to be in the past tense, as the previous verb is so, and that which follows: and therefore it must be ירד, to come down, to descend. When followed by על, as here, the preposition never means “according to,“ as Horsley renders it, but ever, upon, toward or against, and mostly “upon.” See Exo 9:19; Num 11:9; Psa 7:16; Psa 72:6. Therefore the literal rendering is this, —
And the priests have descended upon their hands.
An idiomatic expression, which seems to mean, that the priests assisted the prophets, according to what is expressed by the Targum. “ Hand” signify labor, efforts; the priests joined their efforts to those of the prophets. To “concur with them” is too feeble: the line may be rendered, —
And the priests have aided them.
—
Ed.
(159) The “it” refers rather to the “strange and horrible thing” which had been done in the land, —
But what will ye do at the end of it?
That is, when this dreadful thing shall come to an end, when the prophets, encouraged by the priests and approved by the people, shall be found liars, what then shall you do? The Septuagint render the last words by “ μετὰ ταῦτα — after these things,“ referring evidently to the particulars just mentioned, the acts of the prophets, priests, and people: but the same thing is meant. Then in the next chapter he reminds them of the approaching destruction, which the false prophets denied. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(31) Prophesy falsely.Literally, with a lie, so in Jer. 20:6; Jer. 29:9.
Bear rule by their means.Better, move at their hands, i.e., according to their direction (as in 1Ch. 25:2; 2Ch. 23:18. The Vulg. and LXX. translate The priests applauded with their hands. So taken, the words of Jeremiah make the priests follow the prophets, not the prophets the instruments of the priests. In Isa. 9:15 the prophets are as the tail, the basest element in the nation.
My people love to have it . . .The words imply more than an acquiescence in evil, and describe an ethical condition like that of Rom. 1:32. The final question implies that the people were running into a destruction which they would nave no power to avert.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. Bear rule by their means Rather, under their lead. The passage is not free from difficulty, as is shown by the various interpretations which have been given. One of the original words is ambiguous as to its root-form. It may be from the root , to go down, or , to rule.
Nagelsbach prefers the former, and so translates go down upon their hands. Keil, Noyes, and others, prefer the latter, and translate rule upon their hands, that is, according to their guidance.
Love to have it so The saddest count in the indictment! The crimes committed are chargeable, not upon the agents alone, but also upon those who in their hearts consent.
The end That is, the judgment. Can you turn it away or escape from it?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 5:31. The prophets prophesy falsely Instead of, The priests bear rule by their means, Houbigant and others render it, And the priests give them their hands; that is to say, approve, applaud, and unite with them in the same false and destructive measures; both priests and prophets agreeing to speak pleasing things to the people, in order to support their own interest and authority: The consequence of which must be, a total corruption of manners, and so utter ruin to the state.
REFLECTIONS.1st, God will ever be justified in his judgments: and when he visits, verily there is a cause.
We have here,
1. The many and aggravated sins of the Jews.
[1.] All truth and honestly were banished. Search Jerusalem throughout, in all the places of concourse, and neither a magistrate could be found upright, nor a man faithful, such an universal corruption was spread through all ranks and degrees. To spare Sodom, ten righteous were required: to spare Jerusalem, one it seems would have sufficed, and is not found; at least no such was to be met in the places of public resort, where, if a few remained, they dared not appear.
[2.] They were false-hearted hypocrites. Some, indeed, made profession of religion, and pretended a regard for truth; but they were perjured, and faithless in all their vows of fidelity to God, whose eye was upon them, and from whom they could not be concealed. Note; (1.) Perjury is a crying sin, and there is an avenging God who heals. (2.) They who are insincere in their professions of godliness, are more guilty than the openly abandoned.
[3.] They were obstinately hardened. All God’s visitations produced no humiliation: they neither grieved for the sins which provoked him, nor sought to answer the end of his corrections; but daringly braved the divine vengeance, as neither ashamed of their wickedness, nor afraid of the punishment, and insolently refused to return. Note; When judgments have no effect, and men grow impudent in sin, their case appears desperate.
[4.] They were shamefully ignorant. They knew not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. They understood neither his word, the manner of his worship, nor the designs of his providences. But the prophet was willing to hope that these were foolish, because poor, and might have less opportunities of improvement: yet he found the case no way mended with the rich. Note; (1.) Prevailing ignorance of the things of God cannot but be accompanied with abounding iniquity. (2.) Though high attainments of knowledge may not be in their power, all truths needful to salvation the poorest may learn: so that they are without excuse: for wilful ignorance is wilful sin.
[5.] The great had utterly cast off the divine government. Among the princes, the priests, and the elders, at least, he might expect wisdom and piety, and that they would pay attention to his word. But just the reverse: whatever their knowledge was, their practice was avowed ungodliness; breaking the yoke, and bursting the bonds of God’s commands. Note; In a corrupted state, the higher men’s stations are, we may expect to find in them the greater abominations.
[6.] Their idolatries were infamous. Forsaking God, they paid their worship to stocks and stones, and swore by them that were no gods. Well might he therefore say, How shall I pardon thee for this?
[7.] They gave full scope to their bestial lusts, abused the plenty which God bestowed, to pamper their bodies; and, having made provision for the flesh, so impudent and barefaced were they in their indulgences, that in troops they assembled in the harlots’ houses; and added adultery to their other crimes, to fill up the measure of their iniquities. Note; They who would keep from grosser pollutions must bridle their appetites, and shun idleness. If the fuel be prepared, the fire will quickly kindle.
2. Their destruction is threatened by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. As a lion, resistless in strength; as an evening wolf, fierce with hunger; and as a leopard, watching, darts on his prey; so irresistible, ravening, and swift, shall he come to execute God’s judgments, to besiege their cities, and rend in pieces those who either come forth to oppose him, or seek to escape: and this because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
3. God appeals to them for the justice of this procedure. Shall I not visit for these things? The honour of his government, as well as the holiness of his nature, requires that inquisition should be made, and judgment pass upon such offenders. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? His punitive justice is essential to his nature; and national sins call for national judgments.
2nd, The prophet still further prosecutes his subject. We have,
1. The provocations that they have given. Israel and Judah, alike rebellious, have treacherously departed from God’s ways and worship, fearless of God’s warnings, yea, daring to give the lie to his word in the mouth of his prophets, and vainly promising themselves peace and plenty: as if the threatenings which the prophets denounced were melancholy fancies in their own imaginations, and would prove but as a puff of wind; and as if their own false prophets were rather to be regarded, retorting their denunciations upon them; thus shall it be done unto them, or let it be done, giving orders to punish the true prophets with the famine and the sword, for presuming to predict such judgments against them. Note; (1.) It is at the bottom of the sinner’s presumption and security, that he does not believe God to be so holy as his word declares, and flatters himself there are some reserves of mercy in contradiction to his justice, or that his faithful servants are too severe, and misrepresent his word. (2.) Many now scoff at the preaching of God’s prophets as folly, and treat them as visionary enthusiasts, who will shortly find, that what they despise as fictions, and as contrived to frighten the minds of the superstitious, are fearful realities.
2. The punishment threatened for their impenitence. That word of God’s prophets which they had despised should fearfully be fulfilled: as fire it should burn, and they be fuel to the flame. Those proud battlements, on which they relied, deserted of God their only sure defence, shall be easily thrown down by the besieging foe. From far, a mighty nation, an ancient nation, to whom they were utter strangers, marches at God’s command against them; their arrows devouring as the grave, and their warriors so mighty that they cannot stand before them. Their country shall be foraged, wasted, and plundered; their corn and cattle seized, and themselves and children left to pine with hunger; their cities ruined, and their garrisons slain with the sword. Note; (1.) God will make sinners know at last whose word shall stand, his or theirs. (2.) Vain are all our confidences, when God hath forsaken us. (3.) The God of Hosts hath all nations at his beck, and soon can make one sinful nation a scourge to its neighbour.
3. In wrath God remembers mercy. For the sake of the faithful few, a full end shall not be made of this sinful nation. Note; When God gives a commission to the sword, he prescribes the bounds; hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther.
4. God’s justice will appear in his judgments. Many of them, quarrelling with their punishment, would charge God foolishly; and, as if undeserving of this treatment, expostulate with him thereupon: Wherefore doeth the Lord our God (to whom they hypocritically pleaded relation) all these things unto us? The reason is obvious, and the uprightness of his procedure clear; then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, my worship and service, and served strange Gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers, the Chaldeans, in a land that is not yours: and this was a most just retaliation. Note; (1.) It is a sure sign of an un-humbled heart, when we murmur against and find fault with the severity of our corrections. (2.) They who make themselves servants of sin shall, sooner or later, be made sick of the service.
3rdly, When the prophet had to do with a people so obstinate and perverse, he had need cry aloud and spare not. He charges them,
1. With their stupidity and sottishness. They neither used their ears to attend to God’s word, nor their eyes to contemplate his works; but, as if blind and deaf, continued void of understanding. Note; None so blind as those who will not see, or deaf as they who refuse to hear; and none so criminal as those who, in the midst of means and mercies, choose darkness rather than light.
2. They were destitute of God’s fear, notwithstanding the displays of majesty and mercy which they beheld and experienced. They saw the raging seas arise, and threaten to raise another deluge; yet, by his mighty power shut up as with gates of adamant, the proud waves are stayed, and their limits fixed by a perpetual decree; and Fear ye not me? saith the Lord; will ye not tremble at my presence? Surely this must prove them more senseless, perverse, and disobedient, than these foaming billows. Yet, if his majesty moved them not, his mercy should engage them to fear the Lord and his goodness; who, with such constant providential care, causeth the rain to descend, the former and the latter rain in his season, as would be most conducive to produce a plenteous harvest, which he graciously bestowed upon them. Yet so ungrateful and insensible were they, that all this kindness wrought not on their obdurate souls, nor engaged them to say in their hearts, Let us now fear the Lord our God. Note; (1.) If the fear of the Lord be not in our hearts, neither the works of his power, nor the wonders of his providence will affect us: yet will they leave us inexcusable. (2.) Where the fear of God is not, there must be confusion and every evil work.
3. They were obstinately rebellious, and revolted from God: their hearts were apostate from him: and not for a season merely, but they went on in one continued course of iniquity, daily widening the breach, and filling up the measure of their iniquities. Note; Such rebels are we all by nature; so foolish, fearless, and revolted: at enmity against God, and hating the restraints of his law, till he by his grace open our eyes, and we return in true penitence to him, and he put his fear in our hearts, and reduce them to the obedience of Christ.
4thly, We have,
1. The miseries which their sins had already brought upon them: Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. The heavens had been shut, the earth unfruitful, the seasons unkindly, and their harvests had failed. Note; Lesser visitations, slighted, prepare the way for heavier judgments.
2. Their provocations continued as bad as ever, yea, grew worse and worse. Their general character was wickedness, and that the more aggravated as being in profession God’s people. They were deceitful, treacherous, oppressive, covetous. They laid snares to entrap and destroy those who any ways interfered with their interests, or were become the objects of their resentment for reproving them for their sins. As a cage with birds set for a decoy, which is filled with those that are caught, so are their houses filled with the gain of fraud and deceit. Thus they become great, and, indulging their appetite out of their ill-gotten wealth, wax fat and shine. They overpass the deeds of the wicked, are worse than the heathens around them; or, though pretending to religion, they exceed in iniquity the most abandoned profligates. In vain the fatherless and needy cry for their assistance, to vindicate them from oppression, or relieve them from their distresses; their ears are deaf to their cry; neither as advocates for them, nor as magistrates, do they regard right or justice; and yet, astonishing to tell! they prosper. Yet surely they fatten but for the slaughter. But, above all other crimes, a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land, enough to make the ears of every one that heareth it to tingle, and be amazed at the pitch of impiety to which they are arrived: The prophets prophesy falsely, see lying divinations, and visions of peace for this devoted people; and, far from being discountenanced, the priests, or princes as the word signifies also, espouse them, and oppose them against the true prophets as the tools of their ambition, that they may bear rule by their means, supporting themselves by a combination in iniquity; and my people, who should have espoused his cause against such a confederacy of iniquity, love to have it so; were well enough pleased with such priests as flattered them in their vices, and prophesied smooth things; and with rulers who took no care to execute the laws which should have restrained them. Note; (1.) An honest man, in this wicked world, is in great danger of being a prey; for, unable to speak lies and act deceitfully, he often cannot deal on even terms. (2.) We are here frequently struck with the view of prosperous wickedness: but let us not be staggered: mark the end of those men. (3.) Sin is a horrible thing; we need startle at it. (4.) They who pretend a commission from God, yet by their lies contradict his revealed word, are the most dangerous deceivers.
3. The consequences of there iniquities would be fatal. God will visit for their sins: his justice requires that condign punishment be executed on such offenders; and what will ye do in the end thereof? What a state of misery and despair would they be driven to, when their country should be conquered, and themselves captives in Babylon? Note; An end will come of the longest life of prosperous wickedness; and it is an awful consideration, what sinners will then do when they shall fall into the hands of the living God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! seek and take relief from the sad relation of things in this Chapter, in what it holds forth of the general, yea, universal corruption of men and things both of prophet, priest, and people: in the view of Him, who is indeed the Holy One, the Lord our righteousness. Behold! thy God and Father hath said, that if a man can be found that seeketh the truth and executeth judgment the Lord will pardon the iniquity of his people. Go then my soul, go to thy God and Father in Christ Jesus, and tell him that Jehovah himself first found Him, and thou hast found One also, who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens! Tell him (for thy God and Father loveth to hear of Him and his dear name) that he is all this and more, and not only so in himself, but so to all his people. Then plead both Jesus’s righteousness, blood, and sacrifice, as the sure means of thy acceptance, and the Father’s own authority in appointing the same: and this will be to find pardon ; mercy, and peace, in the rich salvation by Jesus Christ. Oh! the blessedness of being found in him, who is one with us, and who was made sin and a curse for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And while my soul thou findest relief from the sins and trespasses, both within thee and without thee, in such views of the Lord Jesus; see to it, that thou art humbled to the dust, under a sense of the crying sins of Zion all around thee. Surely, never did Zion lay lower, than in the present hour! Never was Zion in more desolate and languishing circumstances! Oh! that the Lord would take to himself his own great name and power, and go forth, as a mighty man, and stir up jealousy like a man of war. Precious Jesus! the cause is thine, the work is thine, and the glory thine. Oh! then, go forth conquering and to conquer, and turn the hearts of the father’s to the children, and the children to the father’s: yea, let all the people praise thee, O Lord, that thou mayest never visit in indignation, nor take vengeance of such a nation as this. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
Ver. 31. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule. ] The chief priests bearing rule in the causes and consciences of the people, had suborned their abettor’s ambitious prophets, who applauded their greatness for preferment, teaching the people to doat on the titles of Moses’ chair, high priests, the temple of the Lord, &c., as if there were not many a goodly box in the apothecary’s shop without one drachm of any drug therein. Such false prophets were those Pharisees, factors for the priests with their corban; Mat 15:5 and such also for the Pope are the Jesuits and seculars, which differ only as hot and cold poison, both destructive to the state.
What will ye do?
a Aposiopesis de extremo tam deploratae politiae exterminio.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah
A QUESTION FOR THE BEGINNING
Jer 5:31
I find that I preached to the young from this text just thirty years since-nearly a generation ago. How few of my then congregation are here to-night! how changed they and I are! and how much nearer the close we have drifted! How many of the young men and women of that evening have gone to meet the end, and how many of them have wrecked their lives because they would not face and answer this question!
Ah, dear young friends, if I could bring some of the living and some of the dead, and set them to witness here instead of me, they would burn in on you, as my poor words never can do, the insanity of living without a satisfactory and sufficient reply to the question of my text, ‘What will ye do in the end?’
In its original application these words referred to a condition of religious and moral corruption in which a whole nation was involved. The men that should have spoken for God were ‘prophesying lies.’ The priests connived at profitable falsehoods because by these their rule was confirmed. And the deluded populace, as is always the case, preferred smooth falsehoods to stern truths. So the prophet turns round indignantly, and asks what can be the end of such a welter and carnival of vice and immorality, and beseeches his contemporaries to mend their ways by bethinking themselves of what their course led to.
But we may dismiss the immediate application of the words for the sake of looking at the general principle which underlies them. It is a very familiar and well-worn one. It is simply this, that a large part of the wise conduct of life depends on grave consideration of consequences. It is a sharp-pointed question, that pricks many a bubble, and brings much wisdom down into the category of folly. There would be less misery in the world, and fewer fair young lives cast away upon grim rocks, if the question of my text were oftener asked and answered.
I. I note, first, that here is a question which every wise man will ask himself.
But whilst all that is true, and many deductions must be made from the principle which I have laid down, that the consideration of circumstances is a good guide in life, yet there are regions in which the question comes home with direct and illuminating force. Let me just illustrate one or two of these.
Take the lower application of the question to nearer ends in life. Now this awful life that we live is so strangely concatenated of causes and effects, and each little deed drags after it such a train of eternal and ever-widening consequences, that a man must be an idiot if he never looks an inch beyond his nose to see the bearing of his actions. I believe that, in the long-run, and in the general, condition is the result of character and of conduct; and that, whatsoever deductions may be necessary, yet, speaking generally, and for the most part, men are the architects of their own condition, and that they make the houses that they dwell in to fit the convolutions of the body that dwells within them. And, that being so, it being certain that ‘whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,’ and that no deed, be it ever so small, be it ever so evanescent, be it ever so entirely confined within our own inward nature, and never travelling out into visibility in what men call actions-that every one of such produces an eternal, though it may be an all but imperceptible effect, upon ourselves; oh, surely there can be nothing more ridiculous than that a man should refrain from forecasting the issue of his conduct, and saying to himself? ‘What am I to do in the end?’
If you would only do that in regard to hosts of things in your daily life you could not be the men and women that you are. If the lazy student would only bring clearly before his mind the examination-room, and the unanswerable paper, and the bitter mortification when the pass-list comes out and his name is not there, he would not trifle and dawdle and seek all manner of diversions as he does, but he would bind himself to his desk and his task. If the young man who begins to tamper with purity, and in the midst of the temptations of a great city to gratify the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh, because he is away from the shelter of his father’s house, and the rebuke of his mother’s purity, could see, as the older of us have seen, men with their bones full of the iniquity of their youth, or drifted away from the city to die, down in the country like a rat in a hole, do you think the temptations of the streets and low places of amusement would not be stripped of their fascination? If the man beginning to drink were to say to himself, ‘What am I to do in the end?’ when the craving becomes physical, and volition is suspended, and anything is sacrificed in order to still the domineering devil within, do you think he would begin? I do not believe that all sin comes from ignorance, but sure I am that if the sinful man saw what the end is he would, in nine cases out of ten, be held back. ‘What will ye do in the end?’ Use that question, dear friends, as the Ithuriel spear which will touch the squatting tempter at your ear, and there will start up, in its own shape, the fiend.
But the main application that I would ask you to make of the words of my text is in reference to the final end, the passing from life. Death, the end, is likewise Death, the beginning. If it were an absolute end, as coarse infidelity pretends to believe it is, then, of course, such a question as my text would have no kind of relevance. ‘What will ye do in the end?’ ‘Nothing! for I shall be nothing. I shall just go back to the nonentity that I was. I do not need to trouble myself.’ Ah, but Janus has two faces, one turned to the present and one to the future. His temple has two gates, one which admits from this lower level, and one, at the back, which launches us out on to the higher level. The end is a beginning, and the beginning is retribution. The end of sowing is the beginning of harvest. The man finishes his work and commences to live on his wages. The brewing is over, and the drinking of the brewst commences.
And so, brother, ‘What will ye do in the end-which is not an end, but which is a beginning? ‘Surely every wise man will take that question into consideration. Surely, if it be true that we all of us are silently drifting to that one little gateway through which we have to pass one by one, and then find ourselves in a region all full of consequences of the present, he has a good claim to be counted a prince of fools who ‘jumps the life to come,’ and, in all his calculations of consequences, which he applies wisely and prudently to the trifles of the present, forgets to ask himself, ‘And, after all that is done, what shall I do then?’ You remember the question in the old ballad:
“‘What good came of it at last?’ . . .
‘Nay, that I cannot tell,’ quoth he;
But ‘twas a famous victory.’”
II. So, secondly, mark, here is a question which a great many of us never think about.
‘What will ye do in the end?’ Why! half of us put away that question with the thought in our minds, if not expressed, at least most operative, ‘There is not going to be any end; and it is always going to be just like what it is to-day.’ Did you ever think that there is no good ground for being sure that the sun will rise to-morrow; that it rose for the first time once; that there will come a day when it will rise for the last time? The uniformity of Nature may be a postulate, but you cannot find any logical basis for it. Or, to come down from heights of that sort, have you ever laid to heart, brother, that the only unchangeable thing in this world is change, and the only thing certain, that there is no continuance of anything; and that, therefore, you and I are bound, if we are wise, to look that fact in the face, and not to allow ourselves to be befooled by the difficulty of imagining that things will ever be different from what they are? Oh! many of us- I was going to say most of men, I do not know that it would be an exaggeration-are like the careless inhabitants of some of those sunny, volcanic isles in the Eastern Ocean, where Nature is prodigally luxuriant and all things are fair, but every fifty years or so there comes a roar and the island shakes, and half of it, perhaps, is overwhelmed, and the lava flows down and destroys gleaming houses and smiling fields, and heaven is darkened with ashes, and then everything goes on as before, and people live as if it was never going to happen again, though every morning, when they go out, they see the cone towering above their houses, and the thin column of smoke, pale against the blue sky.
It is not altogether sinful or bad that we should live, to some extent, under the illusion of a fixity and a perpetuity which has no real existence, for it helps to concentrate effort and to consolidate habit, and to make life possible. But for men to live, as so many of us do, never thinking of what is more certain than anything else about us, that we shall slide out of this world, and find ourselves in another, is surely not the part of wisdom.
Another reason why so many of us shirk this question is the lamentable want of the habit of living by principle and reflection. Most men never see their life steadily, and see it whole. They live from hand to mouth, they are driven this way and that way; they adapt means to ends In regard to business or the like, but in the formation of their character, and in the moulding of their whole being, crowds of them live a purely mechanical, instinctive, unreflective life. There is nothing more deplorable than the small extent to which reflection and volition really shape the lives of the bulk of mankind. Most of us take our cue from our circumstances, letting them dominate us. They tell us that in Nature there is such a thing as protective mimicry, as it is called-animals having the power-some of them to a much larger extent than others-of changing their hues in order to match the gravel of the stream in which they swim or the leaves of the trees on which they feed. That is like what a great many of us do. Put us into a place where certain forms of frivolity or vice are common, and we go in for them. Take us away from these and we change our hue to something a little whiter. But all through we never know what it is to put forth a good solid force of resistance and to say, ‘No! I will not!’ or, what is sometimes quite as hard to say, ‘Yes! though,’ as Luther said in his strong way, ‘there were as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the housetops, I will!’ If people would live more by reflection and by the power of a resisting will, this question of my text would come oftener to them.
And there is another cause that I must touch on for one moment, why so many people neglect this question, and that is because they are uneasily conscious that they durst not face it. I know of no stranger power than that by which men can ignore unwelcome questions; and I know of nothing more tragical than the fact that they choose to exercise the power. What would you think of a man who never took stock because he knew that he was insolvent, and yet did not want to know it? And what do you think of yourselves if, knowing that the thought of passing into that solemn eternity is anything but a cheering one, and that you have to pass thither, you never turn your head to look at it? Ah, brother, if it be true that this question of my text is unpleasant to you to hear put, be sure that that is the strongest reason why you should put it.
III. Thirdly, here is a question especially directed to you young folk.
And it is so because, with your buoyancy, with your necessarily limited experience, with the small accumulation of results that you have already in your possession, and with the tendencies of your age to live rather by impulse than by reflection, you are specially tempted to forget the solemn significance of this interrogation. And it is a question especially for you, because you have special advantages in the matter of putting it. We older people are all fixed and fossils, as you are very fond of telling us. The iron has cooled and gone into rigid shapes with us. It is all fluent with you. You may become pretty nearly what you like. I do not mean in regard to circumstances: other considerations come in to determine these; but circumstances are second, character is first; and I do say, in regard to character, you young folk have all but infinite possibilities before you; and, I repeat, may become almost anything that you set yourselves to be. You have no long, weary trail of failures behind you, depressing and seeming to bring an entail of like failure with them for the future. You have not yet acquired habits-those awful things that may be our worst foes or our best friends-you have not yet acquired habits that almost smother the power of reform and change. You have, perhaps, years before you in which you may practise the lessons of wisdom and self-restraint which this question fairly fronted would bring. And so I lay it on your hearts, dear young friends. I have little hope of the old people. I do not despair of any, God forbid! but the fact remains that the most of the men who have done anything for God and the world worth doing have been under the influence of Christian principle in their early days. And from fifteen to one or two and twenty is the period in which you get the set which, in all likelihood, you will retain through eternity. So, ‘What will ye do in the end?’ Answer the question whilst yet it is possible to answer it, with a stretch of years before you in which you may work out the conclusions to which the answer brings.
IV. And that leads me to say, last of all, and but a word, that here is a question which Jesus Christ alone enables a man to answer with calm confidence.
‘What will ye do in the end?’ If I am trusting to Him; if I have brought my poor, weak nature and sinful soul to Him, and cast them upon His merciful sacrifice and mighty intercession and life-giving Spirit, then I can say: ‘As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness.’ Ay, and what about those who do not take Him for their Prince and their Saviour? ‘What will ye do in the end?’ When life’s illusions are over, when all its bubbles are burst, when conscience awakes, and when you stand to give an account of yourself to God, ‘What will ye do in the end’ which is a beginning? ‘Can thy heart endure and thy hand be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee?’ Oh brother, do not turn away from that Christ who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending! If you will cleave to Him, then you may let the years and weeks slip away without regret; and whether the close be far off or near, death will be robbed of all its terrors, and the future so filled with blessedness, that of you the wise man’s paradox will be true: ‘Better is the end of a thing than the beginning, and the day of death than the day of birth.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
by their means. Prophets were raised up when the priests failed in their duty. Now they had become in accord with them. Compare Jer 23:25, Jer 23:26. Eze 13:6, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
prophets: Jer 14:14, Jer 23:25, Jer 23:26, Lam 2:14, Eze 13:6, Mic 3:11, Mat 7:15-17, 2Co 11:13-15, 2Pe 2:1, 2Pe 2:2
bear rule: or, take into their hands
my people: Isa 30:10, Isa 30:11, Mic 2:6, Mic 2:11, Joh 3:19-21, 2Th 2:9-11, 2Ti 4:3, 2Ti 4:4
and what: Jer 4:30, Jer 4:31, Jer 22:22, Jer 22:23, Deu 32:29, Isa 10:3, Isa 20:6, Isa 33:14, Lam 1:9, Eze 22:14, Zep 2:2, Zep 2:3
Reciprocal: Gen 19:4 – all Num 1:53 – there be 1Ki 13:18 – But 1Ki 14:16 – who did sin 1Ki 22:6 – Go up Psa 73:17 – then Pro 5:11 – thou Pro 17:4 – General Pro 23:32 – At Pro 25:8 – what Isa 1:5 – the whole Isa 3:12 – lead thee Isa 5:18 – draw Isa 9:15 – the prophet Isa 17:11 – the harvest Isa 28:9 – shall he teach Isa 28:15 – we have made Isa 43:27 – and thy Isa 47:7 – so that Isa 59:14 – General Jer 2:8 – priests Jer 2:13 – For my Jer 4:9 – and the priests Jer 5:12 – have belied Jer 6:13 – and Jer 7:8 – ye trust Jer 8:10 – from the prophet Jer 10:21 – the pastors Jer 11:9 – General Jer 12:4 – He Jer 13:21 – wilt Jer 14:13 – behold Jer 14:16 – the people Jer 14:18 – go about Jer 20:6 – thy friends Jer 23:9 – because Jer 23:11 – both Jer 23:14 – in the Jer 26:7 – General Jer 29:8 – your dreams Lam 2:20 – shall the priest Lam 4:13 – the sins Eze 7:2 – An end Eze 13:2 – prophesy against Eze 13:10 – others Eze 13:16 – see visions Eze 22:25 – a conspiracy Eze 22:29 – people Hos 4:9 – like people Hos 6:10 – General Hos 7:3 – General Hos 9:5 – what Hos 9:10 – and their Amo 8:2 – the end Mic 3:4 – Then Zep 3:4 – light Mal 1:6 – O priests Mat 15:14 – And if Luk 6:26 – so Luk 10:31 – priest Luk 16:3 – What 2Co 2:17 – which 2Co 11:15 – whose 1Pe 4:7 – the end 1Jo 4:1 – believe not 1Jo 4:5 – and Rev 22:15 – whosoever
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 5:31. The citizens of the nation are put in three classes, the -prophets, priests and people. The duty of the first is to teach the law of the Lord, that of the second to bear rule or execute that teaching, and the third to be regulated in their conduct by the leadership of the others. But the principle of responsibility is never confined to any one person or group of persons. This verse is very fundamental in its portrayal of God’s requirement of his servants. The degree of responsibility is not always the same, but no one can bear that which belongs to another. (See Gal 6:5.) The leaders (prophets and priests) were chiefly to blame for the evils of the nation and hence are usually condemned in especially severe language. But the common people also were at fault because they agreed to the corrupt leadership. A man does not have to take active part in a sinful practice to share in its guilt. This verse and the one in Rom 1:32 reveals the truth of Gods law on the subject. If a man is merely favorable towards the wicked teaching and practices of another it makes him a partaker of those evils.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
5:31 The {u} prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in its end?
(u) Meaning that there could be nothing but disorder, where the ministers were wicked and corrupt.