Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 23:21
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
21 24. See introd. summary to section. Here we again take up the thought of Jer 23:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ran – i. e., hurried to take upon them the responsibilites of the prophetic office.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 23:21-22
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken them, yet they prophesied.
A Divine call indispensable to the success of a minister of the Gospel
I. A Divine call is necessary to warrant any man in taking upon himself the ministerial office. First, he ought to be satisfied that, in making his decision, he is not swayed by worldly motives, and should examine himself strictly as to the singleness of his aim, and earnestness of his desire, to promote Gods glory and the good of souls. But as there may exist this desire on our part, when there is no call on God s, there is a second necessary point in regard to which we must be satisfied, namely, our fitness for the work; and this is a matter which must be determined not by ourselves, but by the proper authorities of the Church. But there is still another security against error in reference to this matter; for we must, in the third place, clearly see a way open in Providence for our approach to the ministerial office; and I can conceive that, not only may a man be satisfied as to the two first points, but his way may be so hedged up, that his vocation may be as clear as if a voice were to address him from heaven upon the subject.
II. The man who intrudes into the ministerial. Office without a proper call, has no right to expect the Divine blessing upon his labours, whilst he is uncalled and unsent. There are few things more absurd and thoroughly inconsistent with every principle of propriety, than the grounds on which young men have too often been appointed to the holy ministry. How often have we known young men licensed to preach the Gospel, merely because they had attended the requisite number of years at college, and were able to undergo an examination, whilst decisive evidences of personal religion were neither sought nor given; and then ordained as ministers of Christ upon being presented to a living by a patron, who, perhaps, had little interest in the parish, and still less in the cause of vital godliness! How deplorable that a youth inexperienced in the Christian warfare should be appointed to lead the hosts of the Lord! How deplorable that a person should be ordained to rouse and watch over the souls of others, who never felt any concern for his own; that one should be appointed to deal with persons labouring under the convictions of an awakened conscience, who is altogether ignorant of the matter, and to point out the way of salvation to others when he knows it only by hearsay himself! It is only a converted and divinely-called ministry, whose labours God can be expected to own and render profitable to His Church. However profound the intellect and acute the discrimination and splendid the eloquence of a mere man-taught preacher, though he may gratify the itching ears of his audience, and excite their admiration of himself, so far as the grand ends of preaching are concerned, he is like a man beating the air.
III. Though a person may have entered into the sacred ministry without a proper call, there is here a hope held out, that if he is faithful in the discharge of ministerial duty, God may favour him with a call and render his labours at last eminently successful. It would seem from Jer 23:22, that, even though a person to enter the ministerial office from improper motives, and without a Divine call, yet, if he act according to the instructions of Gods Word, and apply it for the regulation of his own heart and conduct, and be diligent and faithful in the performance of ministerial duty, he will be caught by the truth with which he is brought into contact, and converted and commissioned by God, and made to see the Divine pleasure prospering in his hand. This is certainly a perilous experiment for any man to make, but there are undoubted instances on record of unconverted men intruding into the ministerial office from secular motives, whose presumption has been pardoned, whose souls have been converted, Whose official appointment has been recognised of God, and whose labours have ultimately been abundantly blessed. Oh, what need of intimate and very frequent communion with God, that our graces may be kept in lively exercise, that, when we mingle with our people, coming fresh from the ivory palaces, all our garments may smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; that, being constantly conversant with spiritual things, and having our affections placed upon them, an habitual solemnity may pervade our conduct, so that it may be no effort for us, wherever we go, always to bear in mind that we are the servants of the Lord Jesus. Ah, were we thus always to act, how should our private conduct illustrate and enforce our public services! (W. B. Clark.)
If they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words.
The ideal preacher
I. His mental position. If they had stood in My counsel. By Gods counsel here we understand His written Word. To stand in it implies making His Word the permanent sphere of the mind, the one great subject of study and scene of action. This mental position is–
1. Most necessary. Gods thoughts alone and not mans can spiritually and effectively help humanity, and these thoughts are only to be got at by profoundly studying the Scriptures, and thus standing in the counsel of the Lord.
2. Most ennobling. The man who lives in the Scriptures will have an elevation of spirit, a nobility of nature, a dignity of bearing that will give him power over the minds of men.
II. His grand work, Caused My people to hear My words.
1. This is the most difficult work. Mans spiritual ears are so sealed by carnality, worldliness, and sin, that they will not listen Notwithstanding, this is the preachers work.
2. This is the most urgent work. The words of the Lord are a mans only light, hope, and salvation.
III. His true test. They should have turned their hearers from their evil ways, &c.
1. Conversion from evil is the great want of mankind.
2. Conversion from evil is the great tendency of Gods Word. (Homilist.)
Gods ministers must deal faithfully with men
Ministers should not be merely like dials on watches, or milestones on the road, but like clocks and larums, to sound the alarm to sinners. Aaron wore bells as well as pomegranates, and the prophets were commanded to lift up their voices like a trumpet. A sleeping sentinel may be the loss of the city. (Bishop Hall.)
The effectiveness of faithful dealings with the wicked
Dr. Pierson said, that at the funeral of a man who had been very generous but ungodly and dissipated, he felt unwilling to say anything that would be untrue to his convictions, and accordingly spoke to the business men, who were there in large numbers, of the folly of neglecting the soul even for the sake of worldly profit. One of them cursed and swore that he would provide in his will that he (Mr. Pierson) should never officiate at his funeral. Shortly after, he was smitten of an incurable disease, and for months he lingered in great agony, and died. He sent for Mr. Pierson, and begged him to pray for and with him. He also wrote him a letter in which he said, Be always honest and true with men; tell them the truth, and even those who at the time may take offence, will afterwards stand by you and approve your cause. When he came to look into the hereafter, he wanted no shallow quicksand of flattering falsehood on which to rest his feet.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran] Not to save souls, but to profit themselves.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.] They never received the word at my mouth; yet they went, publishing their own deceits, and pretending them to be revelations from God. The churches which have legal emoluments are ever in danger of being overrun and ruined by worldly and self-interested priests.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
21. sent . . . spoken“sent”refers to the primary call: “spoken” to thesubsequent charges given to be executed. A call is required,not only external, on the part of men, but also internal from God,that one should undertake a pastor’s office [CALVIN].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran,…. They might be sent of men, and be encouraged by them; but they were not sent of God: it is not only necessary that men employed in religious affairs should have an external call, in an orderly way, from the church of God; but also an internal call from the Lord himself; he qualifying them with gifts, putting his word into their mouths, and inclining their hearts to publish it; see Heb 5:4; but these false prophets had no mission nor commission from the Lord, nor were they sent on any errand, or with any message from him; and
yet they ran; showed great diligence and zeal, and made haste to tell the people what the Lord had never said to them, but what were the warm imaginations of their own heads and hearts; they ran a race or course of ministry, but it was not good, as in Jer 23:10. The Targum adds,
“to do evil:”
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied; wherefore what they prophesied was not the word of the Lord, but what they themselves devised; and so was what was false, as the Targum adds: it is a sad character of men when they speak in public neither by the will of God, nor according to the word of God.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet again warns the Jews not to be perverted by the flatteries of false teachers, and not to disregard the threatenings of God. We have already said that the minds of the people were then lulled asleep by false teachers, who promised them impunity. And there is no evil worse than when false teachers, under the name of God, flatter us, and drive away every fear and concern for our souls. This evil prevailed among the ancient people, as it does also at this day. Indeed the greater part of the world have ever sought flatterers, and when God sees that men thus indulge themselves, and in a manner seek for themselves snares, he gives loose reins to Satan and his ministers, that they may deceive those miserable men who thus wilfully seek to be deceived. The object, then, of Jeremiah was to remind the people often, that all flatteries were nothing but the wiles of Satan, or some deadly poison which stupified all their senses. For when one gives a person poison, which extinguishes the senses of the body and the faculties of the mind, it is all over with the miserable being who has been thus drugged. We see a similar thing done by false teachers, who soothe miserable sinners and promise peace to them, as we saw in our last lecture. As, then, it was difficult to awaken men out of this stupor, which became, as it were, innate in them, and as Satan always employs the same intrigues, it was necessary for the holy Prophet to urge his doctrine more and more.
God now says that he did not send the Prophets, and yet they ran For this objection might have appeared sufficient against Jeremiah, — that he was alone, and that the other prophets were many in number. It is, indeed, the dictate of common sense, that we ought to believe a hundred persons rather than one. Jeremiah, then, was alone, and there was a great number of false prophets; and the prophetic name was common to them all. It was therefore necessary to meet this objection, which was calculated to render God’s faithful servant contemptible. Hence he mentions the difference between the false teachers with whom he contended and himself, as though he had said, “I indeed am alone, but sent by God; and I am thoroughly convinced of my legitimate calling, and am also ready to prove that I bring no inventions of my own brain; let not, then, a false comparison of one man with a great multitude deceive you. For the question here is not of men or of their authority, but what we ought to inquire is, who sends them? If God be the author of my mission, then I, though alone, am superior to the whole world; and if they have not been called by God, though they were a hundredfold more than they are, yet all that they boast of means nothing, for in God alone we ought to believe.” We now see the design of the Prophet in saying that the prophets ran, but were not sent, that they prophesied, but had received no commands from God.
Now this passage especially teaches us that no one is worthy of being heard except he be a true minister of God. But there are two things necessary to prove a person to be such — a divine call, and faithfulness and integrity. Whosoever, then, thrusts in himself, however he may pretend a prophetic name, may be safely rejected, for God claims the right of being heard to himself alone. Yet a simple and naked call is not sufficient; but he who is called must also faithfully labor for his God; and both these things are intimated here, for he says that the prophets ran, though they were not sent, and that they prophesied, though they were without any command from God. I indeed allow that the same thing is here repeated, according to common usage, in Hebrew, in different words; yet the stronger expression is found in the second clause, for to send belongs properly to the call, and to command to the execution of the office. For God in the first place chose his prophets, and committed to them the office of teaching, and then he commanded them what to say, and dictated to them as it were his message, that they might not bring forward anything devised by themselves, but be only his heralds, as it has appeared elsewhere. (101)
We hence learn also that our ears ought not to be open to impostors, who boldly pretend the name of God, but that we ought to distinguish between true and false teachers; for Jeremiah does not here speak to a few men, but he addresses the whole people. And what he designed to shew was, that they in vain sought to escape under the pretense of ignorance, who were not attentive to sound doctrine; for except they designedly neglected God and his word, they might have known whom to believe. It hence follows that frivolous is the excuse which many consider at this day to be as it were their sacred asylum; for they plead in their own behalf they have been deceived by false teachers. But we ought to see and to inquire whether God has sent them, and whether they teach as coming from his school, and bring anything but what they have received from his mouth.
I shall not here speak at large of God’s call; but if any one wishes for a very short definition, let him take the following: There is a twofold call; one is internal and the other belongs to order, and may, therefore, be called external or ecclesiastical. But the external call is never legitimate, except it be preceded by the internal; for it does not belong to us to create prophets, or apostles, or pastors, as this is the special work of the Holy Spirit. Though then one be called and chosen by men a hundred times, he cannot yet be deemed a legitimate minister, except he has been called by God; for there are peculiar endowments required for the prophetic, the apostolic, and the pastoral office, which are not in the power or at the will of men. We hence see that the hidden call of God is ever necessary, in order that any one may become a prophet, or an apostle, or a pastor. But the second call belongs to order; for God will have all things carried on by us orderly and without confusion. (1Co 14:40.) Hence has arisen the custom of electing. But it often happens that the call of God is sufficient, especially for a time. For when there is no Church, there is no remedy for the evil, except God raises up extraordinary teachers. Then the ordinary call, of which we now speak, depends on a well-ordered state of things. Wherever there is a Church of God, it has its own laws, it has a certain rule of discipline: there no one should thrust in himself, so as to exercise the prophetic or the pastoral office, though he equaled all the angels in sanctity. But when there is no Church, God raises up teachers in an unusual way, who are not chosen by men; for such a thing cannot be done, where no Church is formed.
This subject deserves, indeed, to be much more diffusely treated; but as I am not wont to digress unto particular points, it is enough for me to state what the present passage requires, which seems to be this, — that none ought to be acknowledged as God’s servants and teachers in the Church, except those who have been sent by God, and to whom he has, as it were, stretched forth his hand and given them their commission. But as the internal call of God cannot be surely known by us, we ought to see and ascertain whether he who speaks is the organ or instrument of the Holy Spirit. For whosoever brings forward his own figments and devises, is unworthy of being attended to. Hence, let him who speaks shew really that he is God’s ambassador; but how can he shew this? By speaking from the mouth of God himself; that is, let him not bring anything of his own, but faithfully deliver, as from hand to hand, what he has received from God. But as there might be still some perplexity on the subject, it follows —
(101) The order here is according to the usual style of the prophets; the most visible act is mentioned first — the prophets ran without being sent; then the previous act is referred to, — God never spoke to them, and yet they prophesied. They ran as though God had communicated something to them; but God neither spoke to them nor sent them. They had neither a mission nor a message from God. In the following verse, consistently still with the style of Scripture, the order is reversed. The message is first referred to, and then the mission. They had no message, because they never “stood” or were present in God’s council; and then they did not go forth for the purpose of turning the people from their evil way. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Yet they ran.The image is that of messengers who rush eagerly, as from the kings council-chamber, on their self-appointed mission, without waiting for the command of the Master in whose name they profess to come. (Comp. the question, Who will go for us? in Isa. 6:8.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21, 22. These false prophets ran as if with a message from the Almighty. They hurried with indecent levity to assume those grave responsibilities. Had they been really of God they would have turned them (the people) from their evil way. No man going on God’s errand need meet with failure or defeat. The test of “fruit,” when rightly applied, is an infallible one.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 23:21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
Ver. 21. I have not sent these prophets. ] Who I have duped you into the mouth of destruction, as that old Bethelite did the young prophet into the mouth of the lion.
Yet they ran.
a Tom. Oper. iv., fol. 18 A.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I have not, &c. Compare Jer 23:32; Jer 14:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 23:32, Jer 14:14, Jer 27:15, Jer 28:15, Jer 29:9, Jer 29:31, Isa 6:8, Joh 20:21, Act 13:4, Rom 10:15
Reciprocal: Jdg 18:6 – Go in peace 2Ch 18:10 – Thus Jer 14:18 – yea Jer 23:16 – a vision Jer 27:14 – they Jer 29:8 – Let Jer 29:23 – and have Eze 22:28 – Thus saith the Lord Mat 24:5 – in Mar 13:6 – many Joh 10:1 – He
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 23:21. These false prophets were acting solely as their own minds dictated and thus were on their own responsibility with no regard for the Lord,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 23:21-22. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran They were always ready to bring you pleasing tidings as from me, though I had given them no commission so to do, or revealed any thing to them. But if they had stood in my counsel Been made acquainted by me with my will and pleasure; and had caused my people to hear my words And not their own conceits and inventions; then they should have turned therefrom their evil way This was the design of all Gods messages by his prophets, and therefore all true prophets made this their principal aim. And the giving encouragement to men to continue in their sinful courses, or in a state of carnal security, is often mentioned as a mark of a false prophet.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord had not sent the false prophets or given them messages, but they had claimed to bring prophecies from Him to the people.
"As an analogy in modern terms we could compare the speculations of journalists over some matter of government which is being decided behind closed doors, with the actual announcement entrusted to a spokesman from the conclave itself." [Note: Kidner, p. 91.]