Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 23:23
[Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
23, 24. The connexion of thought has been variously explained. (i) The LXX make Jer 23:23 an affirmation, not a question. God, as universally present, can never be at a distance, and this agrees with Jer 23:24. Afterwards, the v. was made interrogative to meet the difficulty connected with the later Jewish conception, viz. that God dwelt wholly apart from men. So Gi. The connexion, however, is still somewhat obscure. (ii) Jehovah is not accessible to the first person who rashly, like you, claims intimacy, but only to one known and consecrated from his birth, “a chosen vessel” (Act 9:15). But if one is thus chosen, he must accept the office. He cannot hide himself. So Co. The contrast thus made between Jer 23:23-24 is the weak point here. (iii) These false prophets cannot hide themselves. God is omnipresent and sees through their deceptive claims. We can hardly say more than that this is perhaps the least unsatisfying of the interpretations.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
At hand – Or, near. An appeal to the omnipotence of God in demonstration of the wickedness of the prophets. His power is not limited, so that He can notice only things close to Him, but is universal.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 23:23-24
Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
God nigh at hand
God is nigh at hand for judgment: the period of judgment, therefore, need not be postponed until a remote age; every man can now bring himself within sight of the great white throne, and can determine his destiny by his spirit and by his action. God is nigh at hand for protection: He is nearer to us than we can ever be to ourselves: though the chariots of the enemy are pressing hard upon us, there is an inner circle, made up of angels and ministering spirits, guarding us with infinite defences against the attacks of the foe. God is near us for inspiration; if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God: what time we are in doubt or perplexity as to the course we should take, let us whisper our weakness into the ear of the condescending and ever-accessible Father, and by the ministry of His Spirit He will tell us what we ought to do. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The practice of Gods presence
God is a Mind having all possible perfections, and one of these is Omnipresence. The deepest thought of modern poetry is that of the Divine immanence in nature, and the best modern theology recognises it. Emerson said that Nature is too thin a veil, God is all the while breaking through. Are there not those among us who imagine that God dwells in churches, in certain consecrated places, at certain appointed times, and who rarely think that He is in their houses, unless one lies dead there and prayer is being said by, an open coffin? The Syrian enemies of the Israelites caned the God of Israel the God of the hills and not of the valleys, believing that Jehovahs presence was stationed there, as the Greeks believed that Neptune was confined to the sea. And something of this misconception lingers in us all when we think of God as being somewhere else than where we now are. Such mistakes make worship impossible. If Gods nature had any bounds, if it were limited to any portion of space, it would be defective in being. If you could conceive of God as confined to any one place, He would immediately be shorn of His glory. In order to be God, He must be everywhere in His perfection. He cannot be restrained and confined by any higher power, for there is none other equally exalted. He would not voluntarily shut Himself out from His dominions, for He would not willingly curtail His own perfections. But, it may be asked, is not God peculiarly present in heaven, in the assemblies of His saints, in the hearts of His loving children? Yes, wherever He reigns without opposition, there He manifests His completer glory. But how can God dwell in heaven, in human temples, and in the hearts of His scattered children, without being omnipresent and without being purely spiritual; that is, incorporeal? God is in my soul, if there at all, in His whole nature, and in yours also; and when you come to realise the presence of God, never think that a fragment of Him is before you. No; the whole nature of the Eternal and Infinite Jehovah, before whose presence angels hide their faces, from whose throne the heavens and the earth flee away, and in whose light in the celestial climes the sun himself dare not shine, the whole essential glory of the Lord, God Almighty, penetrates, sustains, and glorifies our lives continually. God is an infinite Mind, present here in His infinite glory, and present in whatever other part of the universe I may ever dwell. And if you say such a mode of Being as His is mysterious even to inconceivability, I gladly and reverently grant it. God is Light, and as the light of the sun fills a globe of crystal with its splendour, displacing no particle, and yet not becoming identified with that which it illuminates, so God fills all this crystalline universe with His shining presence without becoming identified with that which He glorifies. Thus a rational philosophy justifies the teaching of Gods omnipresence; but modern science throws even a more dazzling light on this sublime theme. Science, as taught to-day, presents to us four commanding facts, each one of which runs into practical religion. The first of these is the omnipresence of thought and adaptation in the universe. The doctrine of evolution, as Professor Drummond has said, has not affected, except to improve and confirm it, the old teaching that all things have been created on a plan. Now the plan is a complicated one, requiring the fitting together of many parts. It is plain that He who brings in the winter months directs the honey-bee to lay up in summertime its store of food for the season of cold, and teaches it to build of waterproof wax its six-sided cells, wherein the honey may be packed without waste of room. Mind is present, not only in the bees instinct, but in the world which supplies with its blossoms the sweetness on which the bee feeds. The second fact which science presents to us is the universality of motion. It is a mistake to speak of anything as being at rest. The universe is one blazing wheel within another blazing wheel, all rushing with inconceivable rapidity, and testifying, by the omnipresence of motion, to the omnipresence of that Mind that created and upholdeth all things, and without whose continued activity the very thought of universal motion is inconceivable and inconceivably absurd. The third fact that science presents to our attention is the universality of law. There is no caprice in the motions of the universe, but undeviating submission to intelligent regulation. But the proof of the universality of law is the proof of the omnipresence of God. Law is only the method of the Divine activity. Law is inconceivable except as the working of a willing Mind. Law, self-made and self-executed, is an absurdity, as much so as a proposition made to yonder organ that it should compose and then render the Hallelujah Chorus. So that when you extend the domain of law so as to embrace the rushing hosts of the stars, and you find law everywhere executed, you only announce the omnipresence of Him who said to Jeremiah, Am I a God at hand,. . . and not a God afar off?. . . Do I not fill heaven and earth? And the fourth fact which science presents is the omnipresence of conscience. The moral law cannot be escaped. But this law is not of human origin. It was not enacted, it is not executed by man. It existed prior to all human legislation. It is universal and infallible; and, above all, it is executed by a Power not human. God is behind it and in it: and if we can escape by no possibility from its action, then by no possibility can we escape from the presence of Him who is its Author and Executor. Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Neither heaven, nor hell, nor the uttermost part of the sea is beyond the immediate presence of Him who filleth all in all It is sometimes said that God is in the world. It is truer to say that the world is in God. In Him we and all things move and have our being, and thus the universe becomes what Sir Isaac Newton called it, The vast sensorium of Deity, with God vital and throbbing in every part. He upholds all things by the Word of His power. When the question was asked of Basil, one of the Christian Fathers, How shall we do to be serious? he answered, Mind Gods presence. How shall we avoid distraction in service? he replied, Think of Gods presence. How shall we resist temptations? Oppose to them Gods presence. This is Gods method of perfecting holiness. Enoch, the first saint, is described as one who walked with God. His faith was to him the evidence of things not seen. His loving trust made God a present reality. The Lord said unto Abraham, Walk before Me, and be thou perfect. The secret of perfection is to know Gods presence. Remember this truth when you are abroad in nature, and nature is everywhere, in your solitary room as truly as among the summer fields. This is Gods universe, in every part of which He is actively present. Behold Him in the light, as the Persian poets did, for He is there. See Him in the sun, as the makers of the Hindu Scriptures did. Breathe in His life as you breathe the morning air, for it is Gods atmosphere in which you dwell. Let every created thing be a reminder of the Infinite Father, the Eternal Spirit, who lives in all life, moves in all motion, shines in all splendour, and filleth heaven and earth. And remember this truth when you pray. It will kindle your soul to devotion, it will control rebellious thoughts, it will make prayer a real communion with a personal God. Remember this truth in the midst of sorrow. It brings to the weary and troubled heart the immediate presence of the Infinite Comforter. It brings before the mind the consolation of an omnipresent love, and the sure defence of an omnipotent hand. And remember this truth in your daily toil. God is with you, and you may build a chapel to Him in your heart and sing His praises from morning until night. But if God is everywhere, the Spirit of God, embodied in His people, should go everywhere. There can be no righteous divorce in our best lives from this sorrowing and sinning world. The Church has lived too much apart with God, in meditation and worship. Its business is to enter human life in every division of it, with the Divine Spirit of healing and help. (J. H. Barrows, D. D.)
The present God
I. The folly and sin of every form of idolatry. When Pompey, the Roman general, had conquered Jerusalem, his curiosity prompted him to enter the temple; and finding no image there of any divinity, he was filled with astonishment, and would fain have called the Jews atheists. The presence of an image seemed to him an essential part, or, at least, an important prerequisite, of Divine worship. As Pompey thought, so all pagans think; hence we term them Idolaters (from ei!dwlon, an image), because they either worship an image as God, or adore their divinities through the instrumentality of an image. This practice both reason and revelation condemn, as being exceedingly senseless, and exceedingly sinful.
II. The truth of the text should stimulate us to the cultivation of an incessantly devotional spirit. The whole universe is but one vast apartment filled with the Divine presence, and everywhere, therefore, we may be closeted with God
III. Sure consolation to the Christian, amidst the sorrows to which he is exposed. God sees every tear, hears every groan. His seeing is blended with sympathy. Like as a father pitieth his children, &c. With the exercise of sympathy is connected the putting forth of Divine power. He will either deliver us from our sorrow, or give us strength bravely to bear it.
IV. What a safeguard against the seductions of sin may those noble words prove, Shall we yield to temptation beneath the gaze of the infinitely Holy One! Shall we dare to oppose the righteous will of Him, in whom we live and have our being? Shall we dare to break the holy commands of the Divine law-giver, in whose presence we are at all times placed? (Homilist.)
The Divine perfections
There are three ways of discoursing upon the perfections of God.
1. We prove that there is a God, and that He must have these powers and qualities which we ascribe to Him.
2. Supposing that God is, and that He possesses all perfections, we explain them as far as the sublimity of the incomprehensible subject permits, and confute the wrong opinions which have been entertained concerning them.
3. Supposing that they to whom we address ourselves have just and honourable notions of all Gods perfections, and confining ourselves chiefly to practical truths, we show the effects which such a belief and such knowledge ought to produce, and endeavour to excite in them a behaviour suitable to their faith.
I. Gods omnipresence, unlisted knowledge, and irresistible power.
1. God is present everywhere. A proof of this may be taken from the creation. The world is plainly the offspring of one great and wise mind, which produced it, and disposed all its parts in that beautiful order in which they continue, and gave them those regular motions which they preserve, and by which they are preserved. Now God must of necessity be present with the things that He made and governs.
2. He is present everywhere in knowledge. This perfection is united with the former: for, if God be everywhere, everything must be known to Him.
3. God is also present everywhere in power. He is the only independent being, He is before all things, He made all things, He upholds and governs all things; from Him all powers are derived, and therefore nothing is able to resist or defeat His will
II. What effects the fore-mentioned truths should produce in us.
1. We should endeavour to resemble God in these perfections, and in the manner in which He exerciseth them.
2. This consideration should deter us from sin.
3. This consideration should teach us humility. Pride is a very unfit companion for poverty and dependence; and vain men should remember that they receive all from God, and that they can acquire and preserve neither strength nor skill unless by His blessing, by His appointment or permission.
4. A particular encouragement to reliance and contentment, to faith and hope. (J. Jortin, D. D.)
The omnipresence of God
I. The doctrine of gods omnipresence. The omnipresence of which the Bible teaches us that God is possessed, is that attribute by which He is present everywhere, equally, at all times, in the possession of all His perfections.
1. The uniformity of the operations of nature, and of the moral principles by which the universe is governed,–everywhere that we are able to trace them,–leads us to conclude that the same God is everywhere present, as the Ruler and Disposer of all.
2. The possession of this attribute is necessary to the perfection of His other attributes, and the want of this would destroy the analogy and resemblance that otherwise exists between them.
3. The declarations of Scripture regarding the omnipresence of God are both plain and numerous: Job 11:7-9; Act 7:27-28; Psa 139:7-11; 1Ki 8:27; Amo 9:2-3; Jer 23:23-24; Mat 18:20; Mat 28:20.
II. The practical aspects of the doctrine of Gods omnipresence.
1. God is everywhere present, as the Preserver and Governor of all.
2. God is everywhere present as the object of religious worship,
3. God is everywhere present as the inspector of our conduct.
4. God is always present as the helper and Saviour of His people. In the time of duty he will give them strength to perform, in the time of trial strength to resist, and in the Period of trouble strength to endure. (W. Dickson.)
The Divine omnipresence
Few things in nature but are mysterious to us. Outward appearances we know, but when we attempt to inquire into the causes of things, we find our researches quickly at an end. Our sensations give us no intelligence of the essence of those material objects which produce them, nor, indeed, immediately of their existence itself: and though we have an inward consciousness of our own existence, our perceptions, and volitions, yet what the intimate nature is of that self-consciousness, we cannot understand. Least of all can we form any adequate notion of the Supreme Being himself. By reflecting on ourselves, on the constitution of our nature, with its various tendencies, affections, passions, and operations, and by considering external objects as perceived by our senses, we are led to a persuasion of His being, power, wisdom, and goodness. By this method of inquiry we are also convinced that God is intimately present with us, and with all beings in the universe: yet still it is only by the means of sensible effects that we attain to this conviction. The Divine nature and attributes themselves, the inward principle of the Almightys various operations, no man hath seen at any time, nor can see. Hence it follows, and we find it so in experience, that the Perfections of God which are the most clearly manifested, and immediately exercised in His works, are the best understood by us. We have much more distinct apprehensions of power, wisdom, and goodness, than of self-existence and infinity. With regard, therefore, to those attributes which it is hardest for us to conceive, we shall still think and speak of them the most usefully, when, as far as it can be done, we consider them in relation to the works of God. God is from all eternity: He consequently exists without any cause; He therefore necessarily is, and it is impossible that He should not be. But it is certain that absolute necessity of existence excludes all relation to any one place more than another: for He who is, by necessity of nature, must be everywhere, for the same reason that He is anywhere; because if He could be absent from any one place, He might be absent also from any other place, and so could have no necessary existence. To necessity of existence all points of space are alike; and, therefore, it is equally necessary in them all. This argument is held to be irrefragable: but there is another, at once more obvious and more convincing. We see, in this vast creation, a power everywhere exerted in pursuing a design that is perfectly uniform and consistent: we see it exerted at all times, and in all places; the same intentions are, by the same energy, advanced from age to age. Now, wherever this power is exerted, there is God; in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath. But if we know that He fills heaven and earth, we know that there can be no difficulty in supposing that He is present in all imaginable worlds, and in all imaginable space. In this kind of reasoning, from obvious and manifest appearances, the mind rests perfectly satisfied. And thus we conceive, that as in man there is one individual conscious self, that sees, hears, feels, and determines for the whole body; so in the universe (but in a manner infinitely more perfect) there is one conscious intelligent nature, which pervades the entire system, at once perceiving in every place, and presiding over all To every good mind this must be a joyful reflection. It is a noted observation, that in the company of one whom we esteem and love, we are sensible of a pleasure which seems to communicate itself to all objects around us. And why should not all nature appear to us delightful, as it is everywhere the seat of the Divine presence; the seat of that presence which contains the perfection of grandeur and of beauty? God is here; and should not everything rejoice as in His presence? So the rising sun displays his beams, and the skies are filled with day; a thousand beautiful objects open to the eye, nature smiles on every hand, and the world appears a grand and delightful theatre. To look on the beauty of opening flowers, gradually growing up to all their pride, is certainly pleasant, even to a superficial observer; but to discern the Creators hand which adorns them in a manner so delightful, and to consider them as the contrivance of the eternal Mind, eloquently displaying His intention to please the children of men, this shows them in a very different, and in a much nobler light. Even the most formidable appearances in nature, considered in this view, become easy to the imagination. If the thunders and the lightnings of heaven are conceived as having the Deity presiding in them; if the wild tempests and the tumultuous ocean are His servants, constantly under His eye, ever executing His pleasure, and having all their force measured by Him; they cease then to be terrible, for they discover a power which must be always tempered with kindness, and directed by love. (A. MacDonald.)
The omnipresence of God
I. Infinite knowledge. If a being is perfectly acquainted with me–if he knows all I do, and all I say, and all I think–he is, in an eminent sense, present with me. In this sense God is everywhere present; there is nothing hidden, nothing concealed from Him.
II. Direct, constant, and universal agency. Wherever a being immediately operates, there He is present. When God created the world out of nothing, He was present at its production: but the same power is requisite to sustain, as to create, the universe. If we imagine the lights of heaven to exist and move, and the processes of nature to be carried on by the laws of this Creator, yet let it be remembered, that there is no binding power in law; it is only the ordinary rule by which creative energy and power sustains the world, and the works He has formed. Thus it is with Gods power in the laws of nature, not simply by ordination or by appointment, but by a perpetual impartation of mighty energy, which, if for a moment withheld, the world would cease to be. And He is not only employed in preserving His works, but, as far as our knowledge extends, He is perpetually calling new beings into existence and terminating the present condition of others. Both are perpetually passing the opposite barriers of life–entering into existence, and passing out of it: but neither event transpires without the immediate presence of God.
III. The accomplishment of his purposes. The world was created for His glory: but if on its production he had retired from it, only sustaining it in being, we might have seen His power in creation; but His wisdom, His might, His goodness in the works of providence, would not have been displayed. But He governs the world which He has made, and His supremacy is so complete that nothing happens without His permission; and every purpose of the Eternal Mind will he fully and perfectly accomplished. The purpose of the Lord shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure. To accomplish these objects He must be everywhere present; not only acquainted with external events, but with the thoughts and the intents of the human heart.
1. The grandeur and the incomprehensibility of Jehovah.
2. The nature of all true religion. All religion is founded on correct views of the Deity; it is the state, the habit of mind, which accords with our relation to God and His perfections. If, therefore, God be a Spirit, and by reason of His spiritual nature is everywhere present, then He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth; that is, in sincerity and with the heart.
3. Religion is a habit of mind. It consists not in isolated acts of worship; not in our regular attendance on the Sabbath in the house of prayer: but the conviction that God seeth us at all times should make us religious in all places.
4. Our subject is full of consolation to the good man. Oh, it is a delightful and cheering thought, that my heavenly Father is never absent from me.
5. However forgotten and contemned may be the doctrine of Gods omnipresence, it is an awful truth to ungodly men. (S. Summers.)
The omnipresence of God
1. The proofs of it. It is implied in the idea of an unoriginated Being, that there can be nothing to limit Him. Were His existence determined to one place, rather than to another, it must have been so determined by some prior cause; and, consequently, He could not have been the first cause.
2. That necessity by which the Deity exists, can have no relation to one place more than to another. It must be the same everywhere that it is anywhere. The infinity itself of space is nothing but the infinity of the Divine nature.
II. The manner of it.
1. God is to be conceived as present with us in all we think, as well as in all we do. The motives of our actions, our most secret views and purposes, and the inmost recesses of our hearts, lie naked before Him.
2. He is present with us by His influence. His hand is always working to preserve us, and to keep up the springs of life and motion within us.
3. He is present with us by His sense. We feel Him in every effort we make, in every breath we draw, and in every object that gives us either pain or pleasure.
4. It follows, from hence, that He is present with us in a manner in which no other being can be present with us. It is a presence more real, more close, more intimate, and more necessary.
III. The practical improvment of this subject.
1. Since God is equally present everywhere, we ought not to imagine that our worship of Him can be more acceptable in one place than in another.
2. Since God is the only being that is present with us in the manner I have described, there can he no other being who is the proper object of our prayers.
3. The consideration of the constant and intimate presence of the Deity with us, ought to encourage us in our addresses to Him. He is our benevolent parent, and therefore no pious wish of our hearts, no virtuous breathings of our minds, no desire of bliss that can be directed to Him, can escape His notice, or fail of being properly attended to.
4. A reverential fear should continually possess us, since God is always with us.
5. The presence of God with us should deter us from sin.
6. The presence of God with us should support us in the performance of our duty, and quicken us in a virtuous course.
7. The consideration of Gods presence with us should encourage and comfort us under every pain and trouble. A present Deity is a present friend, and a present helper in every time of need. (R. Price, D. D.)
The omnipresence of God
If you were cast out of your country a thousand miles off, you are not out of Gods precinct; His arm is there to cherish the good, as well as to drag out the wicked; it is the same God, the same presence in every country, as well as the same sun, moon, and stars; and were not God everywhere, yet He would not be meaner than His creature, the sun in the firmament, which visits every part of the habitable world in twenty-four hours. (S. Charnock.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. Am I a God at hand, – and not a God afar off?] You act as if you thought I could not see you! Am I not omnipresent? Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? Jer 23:24.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Atheism is generally the foundation of ill life. Men say God sees them not, the Almighty doth not regard. them. By a God at hand many understand heaven: Do you think that my eyes are limited like yours, that I cannot see their practices, though far off from me; that is, from the place of my glorious residence? Others interpret the particle with respect to time: Am I a God of yesterday, like the idols? Am not I the Ancient of days, the eternal God, whose majesty and omniscience you ought to have taken notice of?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. Let not the false prophetsfancy that their devices (Jer23:25) are unknown to Me. Are ye so ignorant as to suppose that Ican only see things near Me, namely, things in heaven, and notearthly things as being too remote?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[Am] I a God at hand, saith the Lord,…. Or “near” f; that is, in heaven; and only sees, and hears, and observes persons and things there, being near unto him:
and not a God afar off? that sees, and hears, and takes notice of persons and things at a distance, even on earth. The meaning is, that he certainly was; and that persons and things on earth were as much under his cognizance and notice, as persons and things in heaven; which was quite contrary to the notions of these atheistical prophets and people; who, like Heathens, thought that God did not concern himself about persons and things on earth. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, without the interrogative, “I am a God near, saith the Lord, and not afar off”. The meaning is, that God is alike near in one place as in another; which is a very great truth; and a very comfortable one it is to the people of God, to whom he is near in all places, and at all times; he is a present help in time of trouble; he is near them, to hear their cries, and grant their requests; he is near to give them assistance in a time of need, and to deliver them out of all their troubles; to afford them his gracious presence, and to indulge them with communion with himself; to communicate all good things to them; to speak comfortably to them; to take them by the hand, and lead them in the way everlasting: he is at their right hand to uphold them with his, and to strengthen them with strength in their souls; to advise and counsel, and direct them; to rebuke their enemies, and save them from them that condemn them; and indeed there are no people like them, who have God so nigh unto them, in all things they call upon him for, De 4:7; and though he may seem at times to be afar off, and stand at a distance from them; when he hides his face; withdraws his gracious influences; does not appear at once for their relief in distress; but suffers them to he afflicted in one way or another; yet in reality he is not; but is nigh unto them when they call upon him: and this truth is as uncomfortable and dreadful to wicked men, who cannot go from his spirit, or flee from his presence; which is everywhere, in heaven and hell, in the earth and seas, even in the uttermost parts of them; there his eye is upon them, and his right hand can reach them: he is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. The Targum is,
“I God have created the world from the beginning, saith the Lord; and I God will renew the world for the righteous;”
see 2Pe 3:13; and some interpret the words of time, as well as of place; as if the sense was this, am I a God of late date, as the gods of the Heathens are? no, I am not: am I not a God from eternity who was before the world was, and the Creator of it, which they are not? verily I am: but the former sense is best, and most agreeable with the context, and what follows.
f “e propinquo”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “vel propinquus”, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Vs. 23-32: THE FALSE PROPHETS CANNOT HIDE THEIR FRAUDULENCE
1. Can these wretched hirelings imagine that their wickedness is hidden from the eyes of Him who is the God of the whole earth? (vs. 23-24; Jer 49:10; Isa 29:15-16).
a. Filling heaven and earth (1Ki 8:27; Psalms 139; Isa 66:1), He is no localized deity, with limited power.
b. Nor can He be deceived – though men may consider Him “far off,” (Psa 113:4-9; 1Co 4:5).
2. He hears the lies of those who claim to speak on the basis of revelatory visions and dreams, (vs. 25, 28, 32; comp. Jer 8:6-7; Jer 14:14; Jer 29:8-9).
NOTE: There were times when God DID employ visions and dreams to convey His word, (Heb 1:1; Gen 38:5-10; Num 12:6; 1Sa 28:6; Joe 2:28; Mat 1:20; etc.); those being related by THESE Prophets are condemned because they are contrary to the word of Jehovah!
3. Though the hearers of these false prophets might have been impressed by their mysticism, it was but a delusion – a message of lying deceit, out of the prophets’ own hearts, (vs. 26; comp. 1Ti 4:12). .
4. The Lord says that these prophets meant to cause His people to forget His name (attributes, character and authority) – as their fathers had forgotten it through their lusting after Baal, (vs. 27; Deu 13:1-3; comp. Jer 29:8-9; Jdg 3:7-8; Jdg 8:33-35).
5. The prophets were free to tell their dreams, if they wished, but those who speak in the name of the Lord must be faithful to HIS word, (vs. 28-29).
a. There is as much difference between the dreams of a prophet and the word of God as between straw and grain, (comp. 1Co 3:12-13); in the grain one may find true nourishment, but not in the straw.
b. God’s word is also likened unto a devouring “fire” (Jer 5:14; comp. tech. Jer 1:4-6); and to a hammer that is able to crush hearts that have been hardened through repeated rebellion, (vs. 29; 2Co 10:3-5; Heb 4:12).
6. The Lord is against those prophets who allow themselves to be agents of the real enemy – stealing the words of Jeremiah (the true prophet) from their brethren, lest they hear and submit themselves to God’s plan (vs. 30; comp. Mat 13:19).
7. The Lord is against those lying prophets who boastfully. proclaim their vain dreams as the word of Jehovah – thus, causing
God’s people to err, (vs. 31-32).
a. The Lord has not sent them, nor commanded them to speak in His name.
b. Nor do they profit His people IN ANY WAY!
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here he especially shakes off from hypocrites their self-delusions; for they were torpid in their vices, because they thought that they could in a manner blind the eyes of God. They did not indeed say so; but the heedless security of men would, never be so great as it is, were they to believe that nothing is hid from God, but that he penetrates into the inmost recesses of the heart, that he discerns between the thoughts and the feelings, and leaves not unobserved the very marrow. If, then, this truth were fixed in the hearts of all, they would certainly obey God with more reverence, and also dread his threatenings.
As, then, they are so heedlessly torpid, it follows, that they imagine God as not having a clear sight, who sees only things nigh him, like one who has a deficient vision, who can see what is near at hand, but not what is far off. Such is what hypocrites dream God to be, who after the manner of men either connives at things, or is blind, or at least does not clearly see but what is near at hand. We now understand the design of the Prophet in saying, that Jehovah is God afar off as well as near at hand.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
3. The methods of the false prophets (Jer. 23:23-32)
TRANSLATION
(23) Am I a God near at hand (oracle of the LORD), and not a God far off? (24) Can a man hide himself in secret places that I am not able to see him (oracle of the LORD)? Do not I fill the heavens and the earth (oracle of the LORD)? (25) I have heard that which the prophets who have been prophesying lies in My name have said: I have dreamed! I have dreamed! (26) How long? Do the prophets who prophesy falsehood and are prophets of the deceit of their own heart think, do they plan to make My people forget MY name with their dreams which they relate each one to his neighbor as their fathers forgot MY name because of Baal? (28) The prophet who has a dream, let him relate a dream; and the one who has My word let him speak My word faithfully. What does straw have to do with wheat (oracle of the LORD)? (29) Is not My word like fire (oracle of the LORD) and like a hammer that shatters rock? (30) Therefore behold, I am against the prophets (oracle of the LORD) that steal My words everyone from his neighbor. (31) Behold, I am against You, O prophets (oracle of the LORD), who take their tongue and say, Oracle. (32) Behold, I am against the prophets of lying dreams (oracle of the LORD) who narrate them and cause My people to err with their lies and their recklessness when I did not send them nor did I command them nor will they profit this people at all (oracle of the LORD).
COMMENTS
In a series of three rhetorical questions Jeremiah presents deep theological truth. (1) Am I a God near at hand and not a God far off? (Jer. 23:23). This question brings out the thought of Gods transcendence. Unlike the pagan gods the Lord is not restricted to one place at a time. He was not confined to a temple or shrine. He dwells afar off where no man can approach Him, let alone manipulate Him. (2) Can a man hide himself in secret places that I cannot see him? This second question brings out the thought of Gods omniscience. Gods vision and knowledge embrace all things happening on the earth. The remote past and the distant future are equally known to Him. (3) Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? (Jer. 23:24). This question points to the fact that God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. Three times in Jer. 23:23-24 the phrase oracle of the Lord occurs. This transcendent, omniscience, omnipresent God is the Lord, Yahweh, the great I Am who is unlimited by space and time. The false prophets have not escaped the notice of God. He has heard the lies which they have been prophesying in His name. These prophets boasted of their dreams as though the mere claim to having received revelation was sufficient to prove that they were prophets of God (Jer. 23:25).
The question here is whether or not dreams in the Old Testament were a legitimate mode of divine communication. In Deu. 13:1 a fake prophet is described as a dreamer of dreams. God did at times reveal His will through dreams (Gen. 15:12; Gen. 20:3; Gen. 31:24; Gen. 37:5). In Num. 12:6 God is said to make himself known to prophets by visions and dreams. Joe. 2:28 predicts that in the Messianic age the old men will dream dreams. It is interesting however that between Num. 12:6 which refers to the very early period of Israels history and Joe. 2:28 which refers to the distant Messianic age scarcely anything is said of dreams as a medium of revelation to prophets. Often times prophets received communications from God in the night but these are called visions and not dreams (2Sa. 7:14; 2Sa. 7:17; Zec. 4:1). While dreams were not then an illegitimate method of receiving divine revelation, as a matter of fact those who were true prophets rarely received revelation in that particular manner. The present passage seems to discredit the false prophets on the grounds that they claimed to receive divine revelation through dreams. Furthermore the fact that the prophets permitted what God had forbidden in His word stamped their dreams as products of their own heart (cf. Deu. 13:1-3).
Jer. 23:26-27 are difficult to translate. Two questions are asked in these verses. The first question is quite general: How long? How much longer will these men continue their deception and falsehood. The second question is more penetrating, probing the possible motives of the false prophets. Is it their purpose to cause the people to forget the name of God and all that His name stands for? Error and false teaching lead men away from the Lord. As these prophets peddled their pernicious platitudes from door to door (lit., each man to his neighbor) they were sabotaging the true faith. False doctrine is as dangerous as idolatry. Jeremiahs generation was in as much danger of being deceived by a false theology as their fathers who had been deceived by Baal worship (Jer. 23:27). There is nothing wrong with these men relating their dreams. But when they do so they should make it very clear that they are relating only a dream and nothing more. They should not pretend that these dreams are divine revelations. Chaff and wheat, the word of God and the dreams of men, must be kept separate. That which is worthless should never be allowed to contaminate in the least that which is pure. A preacher who presents personal views and opinions and theories from the pulpit as if they are the word of God is no better than the false prophets with whom Jeremiah struggled. Those who preach the word of God must speak it faithfully, honestly, forthrightly (Jer. 23:28). When this is done the word of God has dynamic power to accomplish the purpose of God. The word of God is like fire: It burns the conscience, purifies the life, illuminates the mind, energizes the will, warms the heart, fuses the fellowship, and consumes the ungodly. Gods message for Jeremiahs day was a message of judgment, crushing like a hammer (Jer. 23:29). What a contrast between the feeble falsehoods of the pseudo prophets and the dramatic truth of the pure word of. God!
Three times in Jer. 23:30-32 God declares that He is against the false prophets. His opposition to them is threefold. (1) They have stolen the words of God from their neighbors i.e., another prophet who had received a genuine revelation from God. What elements of truth may have been in the message of the false prophet were stolen. No doubt these men carefully scrutinized the sermons of Jeremiah and tried to imitate his style and technique. Perhaps to a certain extent they even copied the content of his message. (2) They used the official prophetic formulas to give their utterances the aura of truth. They used the word oracle, a technical term used by a prophet whenever God put words in his mouth. The false prophets were palming off their own delusions by adopting the same forms as the true prophets used (Jer. 23:31). (3) God opposes these prophets because they are causing the people to err. The major trouble with false teachers is that they always gain a following. The people of Judah believed the lying dreams related to them by the false prophets. How presumptuous, how arrogant, how boastful of these men to claim to speak the word of God when in fact they had nothing more to share with their countrymen than their own wishful thinking. Such men are of no value at all to a nation (Jer. 23:32).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(23) Am I a God at hand . . .?This and the two questions that follow are essentially the same in thought. The false prophets acted as if God were far away out of their sight (Psa. 10:11; Psa. 73:11; Psa. 94:7), not knowing or caring what men did, as if their affairs, as it has been epigrammatically said, came under a colonial department. The true prophet feels that He is equally near, equally God, in all places alike. Familiar as the word omnipresence is to usso familiar as almost to have lost its powerthe fact, when we realise it, is as awful now as it was when it presented itself to the souls of Patriarch, Psalmist, or Prophet. (Gen. 16:13; Psa. 32:6-7; Psa. 73:23-26; Psa. 139:7-12; Amo. 9:2-4; Job. 11:8-9.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. A God at hand Am I one whose knowledge and power are hedged in by the limitations of time and space? Am I one from whom anything, even the most secret, can be hid, and hence be ignorant of the lying predictions of these prophecy-mongers?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 23:23. Am I a God at hand, &c. This verse is well explained by the next: “Do you think that I regard heavenly things only, and not those of the earth?on the contrary, I fill both heaven and earth; each of them alike subject to my providence and care.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
C. THE CRIMINAL MINGLING OF MANS WORD AND GODS WORD
Jer 23:23-32
23Am I a God at hand? saith Jehovah,
And not a God at a distance?23
24If a man conceal himself in a hiding place,
Shall I not see him? saith Jehovah.
Am I not he, who filleth heaven and earth? saith Jehovah.
25I have heard what the prophets say,
Who prophesy falsely in my name;
I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26How long still is the fire in the heart of the prophets,
Who prophesy falsehood,
The prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27Who make the endeavor24 to cause my people
To forget25 my name by their dreams,
Which they relate one to another,
As their fathers forgot my name through Baal.
28Let the prophet, to whom a dream came, relate the dream,
Let him to whom my word came, relate my word truly.26
What has the straw to do with the grain? saith Jehovah.
29Is not my word just like the fire? saith Jehovah,
And like the hammer, which breaketh rocks in pieces?
30Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah,
Who steal my words one from another!
31Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah,
Who take their tongue and pronounce oracles.27
32Behold, I am against them, who prophesy false dreams, saith Jehovah,
And relate them and lead my people astray,
By their falsehood and by their boasting.28
I had not sent them nor commissioned them,
They can also be of no profit to this people, saith Jehovah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
As though the exalted (Jer 23:23) and omniscient God, who fills heaven and earth would know nothing of it (Jer 23:24), the false prophets dared to give forth their dreams as the word of God (Jer 23:25). How long will this unreason, which is at the same time deception and self-deception, last? (Jer 23:26). How long will they seek by their dreams to bring Jehovah into oblivion among the people, as their fathers forgot Him for Baal? (Jer 23:27). With this is associated a second mischief, that they give out the dream not as their dream, but as Jehovahs word is to be proclaimed as such, connect this with their productions, though they have no more relation than the straw has to the grain (Jer 23:28), or to the fire, or the rock-crushing hammer (Jer 23:29). Hence the prophet finally formulates a triple charge against the prophets: 1. They steal Gods words (Jer 23:31); 2. They ape the form of genuine prophecy; 3. They lead the people astray by their lying dreams.
Jer 23:23-24. Am I a God saith Jehovah. The audacity of the false prophets, who did not fear to cover themselves with the name of Jehovah, is founded on the delusion that He was not in a condition to perceive their presumption. They regard the Lord as a God, who is only able to behold that which is near, i.e. can overlook only a limited domain. In opposition to this the Lord calls Himself , i. e. a God who takes note of that which occurs even in the remotest distance, who from His throne in heaven overlooks also the earth, because as filling heaven and earth He is present in both. Comp. Amo 9:2-4; Job 11:8-9; Psa 139:7-12.
Jer 23:25. I have heard dreamed. This is the main charge, the sin which stands first in view of the omnipresent and omniscient God. Dreams were in themselves an acknowledged and legitimate medium of divine revelation. Comp. Num 12:6; 1Sa 28:6; 1Sa 28:15; Joe 3:1; Dan 7:1. But they occupy a low stage among the forms of divine communication. Comp. Knobel, Proph. d. Hebr., I., S. 174 sqq. Herzog, Real-Enc., XVI., S. 297 ff.; Delitzsch, Psychologie, Kap. IV., 14.These false prophets always speak only of their dreams as the media of their divine illumination. Of course ! For the dream is most withdrawn from the control of other men. Nothing is easier than to say, Last night I dreamed this or that. Who can refute it? The prophets thus make an immoderate and in itself suspicious use of dreams. They are dreamers, and it is remarkable that in Deu 13:1; Deu 13:3, by which there a false prophet is always meant, is regularly distinguished also as , a dreamer of dreams. [Although it pleased God to reveal Himself sometimes in dreams to His faithful people of old, yet when false prophets arose, who opposed the true, such revelations were rare. We have no instance of them in Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or other prophets who were opposed by false prophets. Wordsworth.S. R. A.]
Jer 23:26-27. How long through Baal. By how long the Lord makes known that the conduct of these prophets, which is more particularly described in these two verses, is intolerable to Him. Great difficulty is caused by . The ancient translations coolly omit the and make it otherwise convenient to themselves. Vulg. and Chald.: usque quo istud est in corde, etc. LXX.: , etc. Syr.: quousque erunt in ore falsorum prophetarum prophetic fals?The interpretations which adhere to the text are three: 1. The question is asked by a double interrogative and , which, however, amounts to this that the latter is quite superfluous. Hitzig appeals indeed to Jer 48:27 and Mic 6:10. But in neither of these places is there a double interrogative. Besides the subject is wanting, and the thought: How long have they still the material for dreams? is certainly strange. 2. and are rendered according to the construction , Gen 9:20. Comp. Ewald, 298 b, Naegelsb. Gr., 95, g, Anm. Thus Ewald and Meier. But apart from this that both ignore the interrogative He, the construction with is without a precedent, forced and feeble in sense, for it seems as though the Lord expected an alteration in these prophets, though He had previously represented them as incurably corrupt (comp. Jer 23:11; Jer 23:14), and according to Jer 23:27, expects nothing from them but the endeavor to bring Him into forgetfulness among the people. Is the thought suitable in this connection: How long do the prophets purpose to be false prophets? (Meier). 3. The interpretation is most satisfactory which was first offered by Ludwig de Dieu and adopted by Seb. Schmidt, Chr. B. Michaelis, Rosen mueller, Umbreit, Graf and others, according to which is to be rendered as an independent sentence (=how long still will this last?) to be taken as = have in mind? and , Jer 23:27, to be regarded as a resumption of the question interrupted by the words following : have in mind the prophets, who . think they, to make my people forget? Although this interpretation gives a sense which is tolerably satisfactory, it is opposed by the grammatical difficulty, that should stand after as a recapitulation of the subject, which could not be absent after the interruption and the removal thereby effected of the proper subject. If then this interpretation also is not perfectly satisfactory, it is natural to suppose that the test is faulty. Should we not read instead of Jeremiah had above, Jer 20:9, compared the irresistible impulse to proclaim the word of the Lord, to a fire burning in his heart. Could not he who loves to quote himself, and who knows how to wield the weapon of irony against his opponents, in order to set forth incisively the difference between the true and false prophets, ironically presuppose in the latter what, as he well knew, was possessed only by the true prophets? He, staggering under the burden of persecution, had said (Jer 20:9): I will not speak any more in His name, but he was obliged to do so. Those who ought not compelled themselves to prophesy in the name of Jehovah. Did then such a fire burn also in their hearts? And if so, how long will it continue? Every one is summoned by these questions to make the comparison, but every one will also be obliged to confess that the miserable little flame of human egotism is not to be compared with the high and noble flame of divine inspiration, which burned in the prophets breast.The prophets of the deceit, etc. They deceive others, after and because they have deceived themselves. Comp. Jer 14:14; Eze 13:2.Cause to forget. On the subject-matter comp. Jer 2:32; Jer 3:21; Jer 13:25; Jer 18:15; Jer 50:6.One to another. Not every one to his colleagues, but every one to his fellow. For they have corrupted the people by their lies. Comp. ver 32; Jer 14:13 sqq.; Jer 23:14 sqq.; Jer 50:6.Through Baal. Comp. Jer 2:8. It is apparent that these false prophets did not prophesy in the name of an idol, but in the name of Jehovah, hut they proclaimed in His name not His word but the deceit of their own heart.
Jer 23:28-29. Let the prophet rocks in pieces. The Lord does not object if the prophets relate their own dreams as such. But they are not to mix them with the true word of God, and on the ground of this mingling utter them as a divine revelation. As the dreams are to be related as such, so also the real revelation of God is to be handed down purely, i.e. without addition or subtraction. It is clear that the connection requires this meaning for . Comp. Jer 2:21; Pro 11:18. A mixture of the two elements is just as unsuitable as a mingling of empty straw with grain. The straw cannot be used with the grain, nor the grain with the straw. This comparison, and the following one of the hammer and who steal, Jer 23:30, shows that Jeremiah here, i e. from Jer 23:25, has in view not the presentation of the products of human, subjectivity as the products of divine objectivity, but the mingling of the two elements. He censures the former in Jer 23:25-27. As merchants often sell wholly sham goods, or those which are partly sham and partly genuine, as genuine, so do these prophets. Both are certainly .Is not my word like a fire?etc. A point in the comparison with straw is further developed. The straw is not only false ware, when found (as chopped straw) among the bread-corn, but simply as straw it has no strength, and is useless for defence or offence. So is also the word of the false prophets. In opposition to this, Gods word is like the all-conquering fire (comp. Son 8:6-7), or like the hammer crushing the hardest rock (Heb 4:12; Ecc 12:11). How despicable does the word of the pseudo-prophets appear in these comparisons and what a disgraceful mesalliance do they cause by their mingling! I do not think that the prevalent minatory and punitive import of the genuine prophecies was meant, for the Gospel is the most intensive force (1Co 1:18-24; 1Co 2:4; Rom 1:16).
Jer 23:30-32. Therefore behold saith Jehovah. These three similarly opening verses recapitulate the main thoughts of the section in reverse order, in such wise also, that a point latent in the foregoing context (Jer 23:31), is now plainly set forth. Jer 23:30 evidently corresponds to Jer 23:28. They steal the genuine words of God, not directly every one from his colleague (Jer 23:27), but every one from his fellow as he pleases, thus in part at first hand from true prophets, in part at second band from false prophets, or wheresoever they can find them. Unmixed falsehood betrays itself too easily and is insipid. But falsehood mingled with truth is powerful, error, and the beauty of truth serves as an ornamental covering to its deformity. The second Behold, etc., Jer 23:31, corresponds to who prophesy falsely in my name, Jer 23:25-26. For thereby it is implicitly declared that they proclaimed, their lies in the same form as the true prophets, as oracles of Jehovah. But how cheaply they hold these? All they needed was to set their tongues to work. How dear on the other hand did Jeremiah account the honor of being Jehovahs true prophet! Comp. Jer 20:7-9.The third Behold, etc., corresponds to vers 2527, the import of which it plainly repeats.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer 21:2. King Zedekiah sends word to Jeremiah, that the Lord is to do according to all His miracles, that Nebuchadnezzar may withdraw. A demand rather cavalierly made in such evil circumstances. But the noble are so unfortunate! It is indeed as though it only depended on them to arrange matters with God; as if He were only waiting for them, as if it were a point of honor not to be over-hasty, but first to await a little extremity . It is a very necessary observance for a servant of the Lord, that he try his superiors, whether there is any trace remaining in them of having been once baptized, well brought up and instructed in the fear of the Lord. If he observe anything of this kind, he must insist upon it and especially not allow them to deal too familiarly with the Judge of all the earth, but plainly demonstrate to them their insufficiency and nothingness, if they measure themselves by Him. Though Zedekiah had spoken so superficially, Jeremiah answered him without hesitation, definitely and positively, and accustomed him to a different manner of dealing with the Lord. Zinzendorf. When the ungodly desire Gods help, they commonly appeal not to His saving power to heal them, but to His miraculous power to save them, while they persist in their impenitence. Starke.
2. On Jer 21:8. It is pure grace on the part of God, when He leaves to man the choice between the good and the evil; not that it is permitted him to choose the evil, but that he may choose freely the good, which he is under obligation to do, Deu 30:19. Starke. God lays before us the way of life and the way of death. The way of life is however always contrary to human reason, and that on which it sees merely death and shame. If thou wilt save thyself thou must leave the false Jerusalem, fallen under the judgment, and seek thy life where there seems to be only death. He who would save his life must lose it, and he who devotes it for the sake of the truth will save it. Diedrich.
3. On Jer 21:11-14. To be such a king is to be an abomination to the Lord, and severe judgment will follow. God appoints magistrates for His service and for the use of men; he who only seeks his own enjoyment in office, is lost. Jerusalem, situated on rocks in the midst of a plain, looks secure; but against God neither rocks avail nor aught else. The fire will break out even in them, and consume all around, together with the forest of cedar-houses in the city. The corruption is seated within, and therefore proceeds from within outwards, so that nothing of the former stock can remain. What shall a government do which no longer bears the sword of justice? What shall a church do which is no longer founded on Gods truth as its only power? Diedrich. Comp. moreover on the whole of Jeremiah 24. the extended moral reflections of Cyrillus Alex. . . Lib. I.
4. On Jer 22:1. Jeremiah is to deliver a sermon at court, in which he reminds the king of his office of magistrate, in which he is to administer justice to every man. Cramer.
It was no easy task for Jeremiah to go into the lions den and deliver such an uncourtly message to him. We are reminded of the prophet Jonah. But Jeremiah did not flee as he did.
5. On Jer 22:1-3. [But we ought the more carefully to notice this passage, that we may learn to strengthen ourselves against bad examples, lest the impiety of men should overturn our faith; when we see in Gods church things in such disorder, that those who glory in the name of God are become like robbers, we must beware lest we become on this account alienated from true religion. We must, indeed, desert such monsters, but we must take care lest Gods word, through mens wickedness, should lose its value in our esteem. We ought then to remember the admonition of Christ, to hear the Scribes and Pharisees who sat in Moses seat (Mat 23:2). Calvin.S. R. A.]
6. On Jer 22:10. [Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied. And so dismal perhaps the prospect of the times may be, that tears even for a Josiah, even for a Jesus, must be restrained, that they may be reserved for ourselves and our children (Luk 23:28). Henry.S. R. A.]
Nequaquam gentilis plangendus est atque Judus, qui in ecclesia non fuerunt et simul mortui sunt, de quibus Salvator dicit: dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos suos (Mat 8:22). Sed eos plange, qui per scelera atque peccata egrediuntur de ecclesia et nolunt ultra reverti ad earn damnatione vitiorum. Hieron. Epist. 46 ad Rusticam. Nolite flere mortuum, sed plorate raptorem avarum, pecuni sitientem et inexplebilem auri cupidinem. Cur mortuos inutiliter ploramus? Eos ploremus, qui in melius mutari possunt. Basilius Seleucensis. Comp. Basil, Magn. Homil. 4 de Gratiarum actione post dimid.Ghislerus.
7. On Jer 22:6-9. God does not spare even the authorities. For though He has said that they are gods, when they do not rightly administer their office they must die like men (Psa 82:6) No cedars are too high for God, no splendor too mighty; He can destroy all at once, and overturn, and overturn, and overturn. Eze 21:27, Cramer.
Another passage from which it is seen how perverse and unjustifiable is the illusion that Gods election is a surety against His anger, and a permit to any wilfulness. The individual representatives of the objects of divine election should never forget that God can march over their carcases, and the ruins of their glory, to the fulfilment of His promise, and that He can rebuild on a higher stage, what He has destroyed on a lower. Comp. remarks on Jer 22:24.
8. On Jer 22:13-19. It is blasphemy to imagine that God will be frre et compagnon to all princes as such, and that He has a predilection for them as of His own kind. Does He not say to his majesty the king of Judah, with whom, in respect of the eminence of his dynasty and throne no other prince of earth could compare, that he should be buried like an ass, dragged and cast out before the gates of Jerusalem? This Jehoiakim was however an aristocrat, a heartless, selfish tyrant, who for his own pleasure trampled divine and human rights under foot. If such things were done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
He who builds his house with other peoples property, collects stones for his grave. Cramer.
9. On Jer 22:14. [It was a proof of luxury when men began to indulge in superfluities. In old times the windows were small; for use only was regarded by frugal men; but afterwards a sort of madness possessed the minds of many, so that they sought to be suspended as it were in the air. And hence they began to have wider windows. The thing in itself, as I have said, is not what God condemns; but we must ever remember, that men never go to excesses in external things, except when their hearts are infected with pride, so that they do not regard what is useful, what is becoming, but are carried away by fondness for excess. Calvin.S. R. A.]
10. On Jer 22:15. God may grant the great lords a preference in eating and drinking and the splendor of royal courts, but it is not His will that these be regarded as the main things, but that true religion, right and justice must have the precedence;this is the Lords work. But cursed is he who does the Lords work remissly. Jer 48:10. Cramer.
11. On Jer 22:17. Description of haughty, proud, magnificent, merciless and tyrannical lords and rulers, who are accomplices of thieves. Cramer.
12. On Jer 22:19. [God would have burial a proof to distinguish us from brute animals even after death, as we in life excel them, and as our condition is much nobler than that of the brute creation. Burial is also a pledge as it were of immortality; for when mans body is laid hid in the earth, it is as it were a mirror of a future life. Since then burial is an evidence of Gods grace and favor towards mankind, it is on the other hand a sign of a curse, when burial is denied. Calvin.S. R. A.]
13. On Jer 22:24. Great lords often imagine that they not only sit in the bosom of God, but that they are a pearl in His crown; or as the prophet says here, Gods signet-ring. Therefore, it is impossible that they should not succeed in their designs. But God looks not on the person of the princes, and knows the magnificent no more than the poor. Job 34:19. Cramer.
14. On Jer 22:28. [What is idolized will, first or last, be despised and broken, what is unjustly honored will be justly contemned, and rivals with God will be the scorn of man. Whatever we idolize we shall be disappointed in, and then shall despise. Henry.S. R. A.]
The compliment is a very poor one for a king, who thinks somewhat of himself, and to whom it in a certain measure pertains that he be honored.But here it is the word of the Lord, and in consideration of these words it is declared in 2Ch 36:12, to be evil on the part of Zedekiah, that he did not humble himself before Jeremiah. Teachers must be much on their guard against assuming such purely prophetic, that is, extraordinary acts. It cost the servants of the Lord many a death, who were obliged thus to employ themselves, and when it is easy for one to ape it without a divine calling he thus betrays his frivolity and incompetence, if not his pride and delusion. Zinzendorf.
15. On Jer 22:28-30. Irenus (Adv. Hr. 3:30) uses this passage to prove that the Lord could not have been Josephs natural son, for otherwise he would have fallen under the curse of this passage, and appear as one not entitled to dominion (qui eum dicunt ex Joseph generatum et in eo habere spem, abdicatos se faciunt a regno, sub maledictione et increpatione decidentes, qu erga Jechoniam et in semen ejus est). Basil the Great (Epist. ad Amphilochium) endeavors to show that this passage, with its declaration that none of Jeconiahs descendants should sit on Davids throne, is not in contradiction to the prophecy of Jacob (Gen 49:10), that a ruler should not be lacking from Judah, till He came for whom the nations were hoping. Basil distinguishes in this relation between dominion and royal dignity.The former continued, the latter ceased, and this period of, so to speak, latent royalty, was the bridge to the present, in which Christ rules in an invisible manner, but yet in real power and glory as royal priest, and at the same time represents Himself as the fulfilment of the hope of the nations. In like manner John of Damascus concludes that according to this passage there could be no prospect of the fulfilment of the promise in Gen 49:10, if Mary had not virgineo modo borne the scion of David, who however was not to occupy the visible throne of David. (Orat. II. in Nativ. B. Mari p. med.)Ambrose finally (Comment. in Ev. Luc. L. III. cap. ult.) raises the question how Jeremiah could say, that ex semine Jechoni neminem regnaturum esse, since Christ was of the seed of Jeconiah and reigned? He answers: Illic (Jer 22:30) futuros ex semine Jechoni posteros non negatur et ideo de semine ejus est Christus (comp. Mat 1:11), et quod regnavit Christus, non contra prophetiam est, non enim seculari honore regnavit, nee in Jechoni sedibus sedit, sed regnavit in sede David. Ghislerus.
16. On Jer 23:2. Nonnulli prsmles gregis quosdam pro peccato a communione ceiciunt, ut pniteant, sed quali sorte vivere debeant ad melius exhortando non visitant. Quibus congrue increpans sermo divinus comminatur: pastores, qui pascunt populum meum, vos dispersistis gregem meum, ejecistis et non visitastis eum. Isidor. Hisp. de summo bono she LL. sentt. Cap. 46. Ghislerus.
17. On Jer 23:5-6. Eusebius (Dem. Ev. VII. 9) remarks that Christ among all the descendants of David is the only one, who rules over the whole earth, and everywhere not only preaches justice and righteousness by His doctrine but is Himself also the author of the rising [of the Sun] of righteousness for all, according to Psa 72:7 : , (LXX.) Cyril of Alex. (Glaphyr. in Gen. I. p. 133) explains as justitia Dei, in so far as we are made righteous in Him, not for the sake of the works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His great mercy. Rom 3:24; Tit 3:5.
18. On Jer 23:6. [If we regard God in Himself, He is indeed righteous, but not our righteousness. If we desire to have God as our righteousness, we must seek Christ; for this cannot be found except in Him. Paul says that He has been given or made to us righteousness,for what end? that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. (1Co 1:30). Since, then, Christ is made our righteousness, and we are counted the righteousness of God in Him, we hence learn how properly and fitly it has been said that He would be Jehovah, not only that the power of His divinity might defend us, but also that we might become righteous in Him, for He is not only righteous for Himself, but He is our righteousness. Calvin. See also a long note in Wordsworth, to show that Jehovah our Righteousness refers to Christ;S. R. A.]
The character of a true church is when the Lytrum, the ransom-money of Jesus Christ, is known and valued by all, and when they have written this secret, foolish and absolutely inscrutable to reason, in the heart with the finger of the living God: that Jesus by His blood has taken away the sins of the world. O let it neer escape my thought, at what a price my soul was bought. This is the evening and morning prayer of every church, which is a true sister from above. Zinzendorf.
19. On Jer 23:5-8. The return under Ezra was also a fulfilment of this promise, but inferior and preliminary: not all came, and those who did come brought their sins back with them. They were still under the Law and had to wait for Righteousness; still in their return they had a pledge that the Messiah was yet to come and prepare the true city of peace. Now, however, all has been long fulfilled and we can enjoy it perfectly, if we have the mind for it. We have now a country of which no tyrant can rob us; our walk and citizenship is in heaven. We have been delivered from all our suffering, when we sit down at the feet of Jesus to hear His word. Then there is a power of resurrection within us, So that we can fly with our souls beyond the world and laugh at all our foes. For Christ has made us righteous by His daily forgiveness, so that we may also bring ourselves daily into heaven. Yea verily, the kingdom of heaven is come very nigh unto us! Jeremiah then longed to see and hear this more nearly, and now we can have it. Diedrich.
20. On Jer 23:9. Great love renders Gods servant so ardent, that he deals powerful blows on the seducers. He does not think that he has struck a wasps nest and embittered his life here forever, for he has a higher life and gives the lower one willingly for love. Yet all the world will hold him for an incorrigible and mad enthusiast, who spares no one. He says himself that he is as it were drunk with God and His word, when he on the other hand contemplates the country. Diedrich.
21. On Jer 23:11. They are rogues. They know how to find subterfuges, and I would like to see him who accuses a false and unfaithful teacher, and manages his own case so that he does not himself come into the dilemma. Zinzendorf.
22. On Jer 23:13-14. In the prophets of Samaria I see folly. This is the character which the Lord gives to error, false religion, heterodoxy. But in the prophets of Jerusalem I find abomination. This is the description of the or thodox, when they apply their doctrine, so that either the wicked are strengthened or no one is converted. Zinzendorf.
23. On Jer 23:15. From the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy goes forth into all the land. This is the natural consequence of the superiority, which the consistories, academies, ministers, etc., have and in due measure ought to have, that when they become corrupt they communicate their corruption to the whole region, and it is apparent in the whole land what sort of theologians sit at the helm. Zinzendorf.
24. On Jer 23:16. Listen not to the words of the prophets, they deceive you. Luther says (Altenb. Tom. II. p. 330): But a Christian has so much power that he may and ought to come forward even among Christians and teach, where he sees that the teacher himself is wanting, etc.; and The hearers altogether have the right to judge and decide concerning all doctrine. Therefore the priests and liveried Christians have snatched this office to themselves; because, if this office remained in the church, the aforesaid could retain nothing for their own. (Altenb. Tom. II. p. 508).The exercise of this right on the part of members of the church has its difficulties. May not misunderstanding, ignorance, even wickedness cause this to be a heavy and unjust pressure on the ministers of the word, and thus mediately tend to the injury of the church? Certainly. Still it is better for the church to exercise this right than not to do so. The former is a sign of spiritual life, the latter of spiritual death. It will be easier to find a corrective for some extravagances than to save a church become religiously indifferent from the fate of Laodicea (Rev 3:16).
25. On Jer 23:16. [But here a question may be raised, How can the common people understand that some speak from Gods mouth, and that others propound their own glosses? I answer, That the doctrine of the Law was then sufficient to guide the minds of the people, provided they closed not their eyes; and if the Law was sufficient at that time, God does now most surely give us a clearer light by His prophets, and especially by His Gospel. CalvinS. R. A.]
26. On Jer 23:17. The pastors, who are welcome and gladly seen at a rich mans table, wish him in fact long life, good health, and all prosperity. What they wish they prophesy. This is not unnatural; but he who is softened by it is ill-advised. Zinzendorf.
27. On Jer 23:21. [There is a twofold call; one is internal, 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. 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 raise up extraordinary teachers. Calvin.S. R. A.]
28. On Jer 23:22. If I knew that my teacher was a most abominable miscreant, personally, and in heart the worst enemy of God in his parish; so long as, for any reason, he preaches, expounds, develops, inculcates the word of God; even though he should betray here and there in his expressions, that this word was not dwelling in him; if only he does not ex professo at one time throw down what at another time he teaches of good and true quasi aliud agendo: I assure you before the Lord that I should fear to censure his preaching. Zinzendorf.
29. On Jer 23:23. Gods essential attribute is Omnipresence. For He is higher than heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? Longer than the earth and broader than the sea (Job 4:8). And He is not far from every one of us (Act 17:27). Cramer.We often think God is quite far from us, when He is yet near to us, has us in His arms, presses us to His heart and kisses us. Luther. When we think the Sun of righteousness, Jesus, is not risen, and is still behind the mountain, and will not come to us, He is yet nearest to us. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. (Psa 34:19) Deus et omni et nullo loco Cuncta Deus replens molem se fundit in omnem. MS. notes to my copy of Cramers Bibel. Si vis peccare, O homo, qure tibi locum, ubi Deus non videat. Augustine.
30. On Jer 23:28. [When any one rejects the wheat because it is covered with chaff, and who will pity him who says that he has indeed wheat on his floor, but that it is mixed with chaff, and therefore not fit for food? If we be negligent, and think that it is a sufficient excuse for despising the Word of God, because Satan brings in his fallacies, we shall perish in our sloth like him who neglects to cleanse his wheat that he might turn it to bread. Calvin.S. R. A.]
He who cannot restrain his mouth or his ink let him expectorate. But let him say openly and honestly that they are his own dreams, which he preaches. The false prophets certainly know that mere falsehood is empty straw. They therefore always mingle some of the genuine word of God amongst it. An unavailing mixture! It is in this mingling that Satans highest art is displayed, so that he at the same time furthers his own work and testifies against himself. Comp. Genesis 3
31. On Jer 23:29. Gods word is the highest reality, life and power, while the dreams of the false prophets are pretence, death and weakness. Gods word is therefore compared to a fire which burns, warms, and enlightens, so that it burns up the hardest flint, melts the thickest ice, illuminates the deepest obscurities. It is compared further to a hammer which crushes the hardest rocks into sand.He who mingles Gods wheat among his straw, will find that the wheat will become fire and burn up the straw (1Co 3:12-15). He Who handles the word of the Lord purely, let him not despair if he sees before him hearts of adamant (Zec 7:12). He who seeks peace is not ashamed to bow beneath the hammer of the word. For the destructive power of the word applies to that in us which is opposed to God, while the God-related elements are loosed and set free by those very crushing blows.He, however, to whom the peace of God is an object of derision, may feed on the straw of this world. But how will it be when finally the day comes that God will come upon him with fire and hammer? What then remains to him as the result of his straw-diet, which is in a condition to withstand the blows of the hammer and the fire?
Help, Lord, against Thy scornful foes,
Who seek our souls to lead astray;
Whose mockeries at mortal woes
Will end in terrible dismay!
Grant that Thy holy word may root
Deep in our hearts, and richer fruit
May ever bear to endless day.
Gods word converts, all other doctrine befools. Luther.
32. On Jer 23:29. Gods word in general is like a fire: the more it is urged the more widely and brightly it extends. God has caused His word to be proclaimed to the world as a matter, which they can dispense with as little as fire. Fire often smoulders long in secret before it breaks out, thus the power of the divine word operates in its time. Gods word can make people as warm as if glowing coals lay upon them; it shines as brightly upon them, as if a lamp were held under their eyes; it tells every one the truth and purifies from all vices. He who deals evilly with Gods word burns himself by it, he who opposes it is consumed by it. But the word of God is as little to blame as a lamp or a fire when an unskilful person is burned by it. Yet it happens that often it will not be suffered in the world, then there is fire in all the streets. That is the unhappy fire of persecution, which is kindled incidentally in the world by the preaching of the Gospel. Jos. Conr. Schaller, Pastor at Cautendorf, Sermons on the Gospels, 1742.
33. On Jer 23:30. Teachers and preachers are not to steal their sermons from other books, but take them from the Bible, and testify that which they speak from their inward experience (Joh 3:11). False teachers steal Gods word, inventing a foreign meaning for it, and using this for the palliation of their errors. StarkeHinc illi at auctions, who can obtain this or that good book, this or that manuscript? Here they are thus declared to be plagiarios; and they are necessarily so because they are not taught of God. But I would rather they would steal from true men of God than from each other.Zinzendorf.
34. On Jer 23:33-40. When the word of God becomes intolerable to men, then men in their turn become intolerable to our Lord God; yea, they are no more than inutile pondus terr, which the land can no more bear, therefore they must be winnowed out, Jer 15:17. Cramer.
35. On Jer 24:5-7. He who willingly and readily resigns himself to the will of God even to the cross, may escape misfortune. But he who opposes himself to the hand of God cannot escape. Cramer.The captives are dearest to God. By the first greater affliction He prepares their souls for repentance and radical conversion, so that He has in them again His people and inheritance. O the gracious God, that He allows even those who on account of sin must be so deeply degraded and rendered slaves, even in such humiliation to be His people! The captives are forgiven their opposition to God; they are separated from the number of nations existing in the world, politically they are dead and banished to the interior. Now, God will show them what His love can do; they shall return, and in true nearness to God be His true Israel. Diedrich.
36. On Jer 24:7. [Since He affirms that He would give them a heart to understand, we hence learn that men are by nature blind, and also that when they are blinded by the devil they cannot return to the right way, and that they cannot be otherwise capable of light than by having God to illuminate them by His Spirit. This passage also shows, that we cannot really turn to God until we acknowledge Him to be the Judge; for until the sinner sets himself before Gods tribunal he will never be touched with the feeling of true repentance. Though God rules the whole world. He yet declares that He is the God of the Church; and the faithful whom He has adopted He favors with this high distinction, that they are His people; and He does this that they may be persuaded that there is safety in Him, according to what is said by Habakkuk, Thou art our God, we shall not die (Hab 1:12). And of this sentence Christ Himself is the best interpreter, when He says, that He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Luk 20:38). Calvin.S. R. A.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer 21:8. This text may be used on all occasions when an important decision is to be made or on the entrance on a new section of life, as, e. g., at synods, diets, New Years, beginning of the church-year, at confirmations, weddings, installations, etc. What the present day demands and promises: I. It demands from us an important choice. II. It promises us, according as we choose, life or death.
2. On Jer 22:2-9. In how far the divine election is conditional and unconditional. I. It is conditional with respect to individual elected men, places, things. For 1, these become partakers of the salvation promised by the election only by behaviour well-pleasing to God; 2, if they behave in a manner displeasing to God, the election does not protect them from destruction. II. The election is unconditional with respect to the eternal ideas lying at the foundation of the single appearances, and their absolute realizations.
3. On Jer 22:24. [Payson:The punishment of the impenitent inevitable and justifiable. I. To mention some awful instances in which God has verified this declaration: (a), the apostate angels; (b) our first parents; (c) destruction of mankind by the flood; (d) the children of Israel; (e) Moses, David, the disobedient prophet, Christ. II. Some of the reasons for such a declaration. Not a disposition to give pain or desire for revenge. It is the nature and tendency of sin to produce misery.S. R. A.]
4. On Jer 23:5-6. The Son of David. What the prophet declares of Him is fourfold: 1. He will Himself be righteous; 2. He will rule well as king and execute judgment and righteousness; 3. He will be our righteousness; 4. Under Him shall Judah be helped and Israel dwell safely.
5. On Jer 23:14. [Lathrop: The horrible guilt of those who strengthen the hands of the wicked. 1. All sin is horrible in its nature. 2. This is to oppose the government of the Almighty. 3. It directly tends to the misery of mankind. 4. It supports the cause of the Evil Spirit. 5. It is to become partakers of their sins. 6. It is horrible as directly contrary to the command of God, and marked with His peculiar abhorrence.S. R. A.]
6. On Jer 23:23-24. The Omnipresence of God. 1. What it means. God is everywhere present, (a). He fills heaven and earth; (b) there is no removal from Him in space; (c) nothing is hidden from Him. 2. There is in this for us (a) a glorious consolation, (b) an earnest admonition. [Charnock, Jortin, and Wesley have sermons on this text, all of very similar outline. The following are Jortins practical conclusions; This doctrine 1. Should lead us to seek to resemble Gods perfections 2. Should deter us from sin. 3. Should teach us humility. 4. Should encourage us to reliance and contentment, to faith and hope.S. R. A.]
7. On Jer 23:29-30. Gods Word and mans word. 1. The former is life and power (wheat, fire, hammer). The latter pretence and weakness (dream, straw). 2. The two are not to be mixed with each other. [Cecil: This shows 1. The vanity of all human imaginations in religion, (a). What do they afford to man? (b). How much do they hinder? 2. The energy of spiritual truth. Let us entreat God that our estimate may be practical.S. R. A.]
8. On Jer 24:1-10. The good and bad figs an emblem of humanity well-pleasing and displeasing to God. 1. The prisoners and broken-hearted are, like the good figs, well-pleasing to God. For (a) they know the Lord and turn to Him; (b) He is their God and they are His people. 2. Those who dwell proudly and securely are displeasing to God, like the bad figs. For (a) they live on in foolish blindness; (b) they challenge the judgment of God.
Footnotes:
[23]Jer 23:23 :On the construction, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 63, 4 e.
[24]Jer 23:27. in apposition to in Jer 23:26.
[25]Jer 23:27., Hiphil, here only.
[26]Jer 23:28., Accus. adverb. Comp. Jer 10:10; Naegelsb. Gr., 70, k.
[27]Jer 23:31.. Of the whole verb, besides this single form, we find only .
[28]Jer 23:32. is . The meaning (comp. Jdg 9:1; Zep 3:4; Gen 49:4=insolentia, impudent boasting.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Jer 23:23 [Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Ver. 23. Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off? ] See I not what is done on earth, which seemeth further from me? or think ye that you live out of the reach of my rod because remote from heaven, the habitation of my holiness and of my glory?
“ Iupiter est quodcunque rides, quocunque moveris. ”
– Lucan.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 23:23-24
23Am I a God who is near, declares the LORD,
And not a God far off?
24Can a man hide himself in hiding places
So I do not see him? declares the LORD.
Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? declares the Lord.
Jer 23:23-24 Notice the three rhetorical questions. The first and third expect a yes answer and the second a no answer.
This brief strophe is a self-affirmation of YHWH’s
1. personal presence with His people
2. desire for fellowship
3. active participation in His people’s lives
4. His presence throughout creation (cf. 1Ki 8:27; Psa 139:7-16; Isa 66:1)
This expresses YHWH’s immanence! He is the Holy One of Israel, but He is also Father (cf. Isa 57:15).
Some see this brief strophe as YHWH’s way of denying that He is just one of many local deities (see Special Topic: MONOTHEISM ). See chapter 15, God’s Nearness and Distance. . . in Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, second ed., pp. 327-345.
Am I . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
and not, &c. Figure of speech Pleonasm, for emphasis.
Jer 23:23-27
Jer 23:23-27
Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah. I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.
Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off…
(Jer 23:23) This is a warning to the false prophets that they cannot hide from God. He is not like some localized deity whom it is easy to avoid; he is inescapable, the immanent, transcendent, ubiquitous, omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal God; and he has heard all the lies of the false prophets.
That think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams…
(Jer 23:27). There are two things of importance here. Note that the false prophets are enemies of God and that they have a purpose, that of causing the people to forget even the name of God. There is nothing innocent about such men, whether in the days of Jeremiah or at the present time.
Forget my name by their dreams…
(Jer 23:27). The superstition that attaches importance to dreams keeps God as entirely out of men’s minds as does absolute idolatry. It is true that God, of old times, did speak to some men in dreams; but he has now spoken unto us through his Son (Heb 1:2). This, of course, forbids our paying any attention whatever to dreams; and, if this is true of dreams, which indeed at one time were utilized by God in bringing messages to men, how much more is it mandatory that men pay no attention whatever to phrenology, palmistry, the signs of the Zodiac, etc., etc., which were never utilized by God in such a manner!
Jer 23:28-32
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? saith Jehovah. Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith Jehovah, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at all, saith Jehovah.
Let him tell a dream…
(Jer 23:28). This means, ‘let him tell a dream for what it is, merely a dream, and not the Word of God.’
What is the wheat to the straw…
(Jer 23:28). This compares the words of the false prophets to the straw or the chaff, and the Word of God to the wheat.
Is not my word like a fire…
(Jer 23:29)? This beautiful metaphor of the Word of God reminds us of Heb 4:12, The Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Henderson identified three classes of false teachers here: (1) Those who pervert the true Word of God; (2) those who are word merchants, attractive, glib talkers, whose words have a pleasing sound but actually have no solid meaning; and (3) those who specialize in dreams!
3. The methods of the false prophets (Jer 23:23-32)
In a series of three rhetorical questions Jeremiah presents deep theological truth. (1) Am I a God near at hand and not a God far off? (Jer 23:23). This question brings out the thought of Gods transcendence. Unlike the pagan gods the Lord is not restricted to one place at a time. He was not confined to a temple or shrine. He dwells afar off where no man can approach Him, let alone manipulate Him. (2) Can a man hide himself in secret places that I cannot see him? This second question brings out the thought of Gods omniscience. Gods vision and knowledge embrace all things happening on the earth. The remote past and the distant future are equally known to Him. (3) Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? (Jer 23:24). This question points to the fact that God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. Three times in Jer 23:23-24 the phrase oracle of the Lord occurs. This transcendent, omniscience, omnipresent God is the Lord, Yahweh, the great I Am who is unlimited by space and time. The false prophets have not escaped the notice of God. He has heard the lies which they have been prophesying in His name. These prophets boasted of their dreams as though the mere claim to having received revelation was sufficient to prove that they were prophets of God (Jer 23:25).
The question here is whether or not dreams in the Old Testament were a legitimate mode of divine communication. In Deu 13:1 a fake prophet is described as a dreamer of dreams. God did at times reveal His will through dreams (Gen 15:12; Gen 20:3; Gen 31:24; Gen 37:5). In Num 12:6 God is said to make himself known to prophets by visions and dreams. Joe 2:28 predicts that in the Messianic age the old men will dream dreams. It is interesting however that between Num 12:6 which refers to the very early period of Israels history and Joe 2:28 which refers to the distant Messianic age scarcely anything is said of dreams as a medium of revelation to prophets. Often times prophets received communications from God in the night but these are called visions and not dreams (2Sa 7:14; 2Sa 7:17; Zec 4:1). While dreams were not then an illegitimate method of receiving divine revelation, as a matter of fact those who were true prophets rarely received revelation in that particular manner. The present passage seems to discredit the false prophets on the grounds that they claimed to receive divine revelation through dreams. Furthermore the fact that the prophets permitted what God had forbidden in His word stamped their dreams as products of their own heart (cf. Deu 13:1-3).
Jer 23:26-27 are difficult to translate. Two questions are asked in these verses. The first question is quite general: How long? How much longer will these men continue their deception and falsehood. The second question is more penetrating, probing the possible motives of the false prophets. Is it their purpose to cause the people to forget the name of God and all that His name stands for? Error and false teaching lead men away from the Lord. As these prophets peddled their pernicious platitudes from door to door (lit., each man to his neighbor) they were sabotaging the true faith. False doctrine is as dangerous as idolatry. Jeremiahs generation was in as much danger of being deceived by a false theology as their fathers who had been deceived by Baal worship (Jer 23:27). There is nothing wrong with these men relating their dreams. But when they do so they should make it very clear that they are relating only a dream and nothing more. They should not pretend that these dreams are divine revelations. Chaff and wheat, the word of God and the dreams of men, must be kept separate. That which is worthless should never be allowed to contaminate in the least that which is pure. A preacher who presents personal views and opinions and theories from the pulpit as if they are the word of God is no better than the false prophets with whom Jeremiah struggled. Those who preach the word of God must speak it faithfully, honestly, forthrightly (Jer 23:28). When this is done the word of God has dynamic power to accomplish the purpose of God. The word of God is like fire: It burns the conscience, purifies the life, illuminates the mind, energizes the will, warms the heart, fuses the fellowship, and consumes the ungodly. Gods message for Jeremiahs day was a message of judgment, crushing like a hammer (Jer 23:29). What a contrast between the feeble falsehoods of the pseudo prophets and the dramatic truth of the pure word of. God!
Three times in Jer 23:30-32 God declares that He is against the false prophets. His opposition to them is threefold. (1) They have stolen the words of God from their neighbors i.e., another prophet who had received a genuine revelation from God. What elements of truth may have been in the message of the false prophet were stolen. No doubt these men carefully scrutinized the sermons of Jeremiah and tried to imitate his style and technique. Perhaps to a certain extent they even copied the content of his message. (2) They used the official prophetic formulas to give their utterances the aura of truth. They used the word oracle, a technical term used by a prophet whenever God put words in his mouth. The false prophets were palming off their own delusions by adopting the same forms as the true prophets used (Jer 23:31). (3) God opposes these prophets because they are causing the people to err. The major trouble with false teachers is that they always gain a following. The people of Judah believed the lying dreams related to them by the false prophets. How presumptuous, how arrogant, how boastful of these men to claim to speak the word of God when in fact they had nothing more to share with their countrymen than their own wishful thinking. Such men are of no value at all to a nation (Jer 23:32).
1Ki 20:23, 1Ki 20:28, Psa 113:5, Psa 139:1-10, Eze 20:32-35, Jon 1:3, Jon 1:4
Reciprocal: Gen 11:5 – General Exo 20:18 – they removed 2Ki 6:12 – telleth 2Ki 19:27 – I know Psa 33:13 – beholdeth Psa 94:9 – hear Psa 139:7 – General Isa 37:28 – I know Jer 29:23 – even I Amo 9:3 – hide Act 17:27 – he be
Verse 23. At hand and afar off are the contrasting terms of this verse and represent the attitude the false teachers maintained toward God. In other words, they seemed to think that if God were near them they would need to watch their step,” but since he was afar off it would not matter so much. The thought offered for their pondering is that God is not so far away that he does not know what they are doing, and will bring upon them the chastisement their conduct deserves.
Jer 23:23-24. Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off? Do these false prophets imagine that I am only a God in some particular places, and that I cannot see or know things done privately, or at a distance from the place where they suppose me to be? Do they think to impose upon me, or vent their own dreams in my name, and I not discover them? As if either distance or secrecy could place any thing out of the reach of my power and knowledge. Atheism, or ignorance of God, is generally the foundation of a wicked life. Men think God does not see, or does not regard them and their actions, and will not call them to an account for them, and therefore they go on in their trespasses. By a God at hand, some understand, in heaven: as if he had said, Do you think my eyes are limited like yours, so that I cannot see mens practices though at a distance from the place of my peculiar and glorious residence? Others interpret the particle with respect to time; Am I a god of yesterday, like the idols? Am not I the Ancient of days? the eternal God, of whose majesty, omniscience, and omnipresence you ought to have been sensible? Can any hide himself in secret places Can any man hide his projects or intentions, his thoughts or desires, his words or works, that I shall not see them? Surely not. No arts or concealments can hide any mans practices or even the counsels of his heart from the eye of God, nor in any respect deceive his judgment of them. Do not I fill heaven and earth, namely, by my essential presence, as well as by my universal providence? Am I not continually present, and continually active through all parts of the universe? As I am above all, so I am through all, and in all, Eph 4:6.
23:23 [Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God {s} afar off?
(s) Do I not see your falsehood, however you cloak it, and wherever you commit it?
Evidently some of the false prophets were stressing the immanency of God but disregarding His transcendence. They were saying that He was with His people and would protect them, but they were not saying that He was also holy and must judge sin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)