Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 25:11

And this whole land shall be a desolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

11. and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon ] LXX have, “and they shall be servants among the heathen,” thus omitting “these,” and “the king of Babylon,” and probably indicating the original form of the Hebrew, which, however, they render inaccurately, as the construction of the verb here gives the sense not serve, but make to serve. The meaning is that “the families of the north” shall bring the Jews and the other nations into bondage.

seventy years ] the approximate length of the Jewish captivity in Babylon as is clearly shewn by Jer 29:10. It will have to be reckoned, not from the deportation of Jehoiachin’s time (2Ki 24:14-16), but from (604 b.c.) the 4th year of Jehoiakim to (537 b.c.) the return. It is quite sufficient to make an approximation to the number seventy. The Jewish love for round numbers and especially for one so significant in symbolism, as having for its elements seven and ten, would cause the number seventy to their ears when used in such a connexion to stand for any number not differing by much from that amount.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Seventy years – The duration of the Babylonian empire was really a little short of this period. But the 70 years are usually calculated down to the time when the Jews were permitted to return to their country (compare Jer 29:10).

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 11. Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.] As this prophecy was delivered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and in the first of Nebuchadnezzar, and began to be accomplished in the same year, (for then Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judea, and took Jerusalem,) seventy years from this time will reach down to the first year of Cyrus, when he made his proclamation for the restoration of the Jews, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. See the note on Isa 13:19, where the subject is farther considered in relation to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and the city of Babylon.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This prophecy is a famous prophecy in regard of its fixing the particular space of time in which the Jews abode in the captivity of Babylon, viz.

seventy years. When they determined we are plainly enough told, Ezr 1:1, in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, but when they commenced is more disputed; for we read of three carryings into that captivity: the one in the third and fourth year of Jehoiakim, when it should seem that Nebuchadrezzar only carried away some few persons to be bred in his court, amongst whom were Daniel and the three children, Dan 1:1,2, &c.; a second seven years after, in Jeconiahs time, 2Ki 24:15,16; the last and most general eleven years after, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah: it seemeth most probable that the seventy years must be reckoned from the second; for Jeremiah, Jer 29:1, &c., writing to those then in captivity, tells them, that when seventy years should be accomplished, God would bring them back. This is confirmed by Ezekiel, Eze 40:1, where the fourteenth year after the taking of the city is expressly said to be the twenty-fifth year of their captivity.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. seventy years (Jer27:7). The exact number of years of Sabbaths in four hundredninety years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity;righteous retribution for their violation of the Sabbath (Lev 26:34;Lev 26:35; 2Ch 36:21).The seventy years probably begin from the fourth year of Jehoiakim,when Jerusalem was first captured, and many captives, as well as thetreasures of the temple, were carried away; they end with the firstyear of Cyrus, who, on taking Babylon, issued an edict for therestoration of the Jews (Ezr 1:1).Daniel’s seventy prophetic weeks are based on the seventyyears of the captivity (compare Dan 9:2;Dan 9:24).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And this whole land shall be a desolation,…. Not only the city of Jerusalem, but all Judea, without inhabitants, or very few, and shall be uncultivated, and become barren and unfruitful:

[and] an astonishment; to all other nations, and to all persons that pass through, beholding the desolations of it:

and other nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years; both the Jews, and other nations of Egypt, reckoning from the date of this prophecy, the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, when Daniel and others were carried captive, Da 1:1; to the first year of Cyrus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The land of Judah shall be made waste and desolate, and these peoples shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. The time indicated appertains to both clauses. “This land” is not, with Ng., to be referred to the countries inhabited by all the peoples mentioned in Jer 25:9, but, as in Jer 25:9, to be understood of the land of Judah; and “all these peoples” are those who dwelt around Judah. The meaning is unquestionably, that Judah and the countries of the adjoining peoples shall lie waste, and that Judah and these peoples shall serve the king of Babylon; but the thought is so distributed amongst the parallel members of the verse, that the desolation is predicated of Judah only, the serving only of the peoples – it being necessary to complete each of the parallel members from the other.

The term of seventy years mentioned is not a so-called round number, but a chronologically exact prediction of the duration of Chaldean supremacy over Judah. So the number is understood in 2Ch 36:21-22; so too by the prophet Daniel, when, Dan 9:2, in the first year of the Median king Darius, he took note of the seventy years which God, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, would accomplish for the desolation of Jerusalem. The seventy years may be reckoned chronologically. From the 4th year of Jehoiakim, i.e., 606 b.c., till the 1st year of the sole supremacy of Cyrus over Babylon, i.e., 536 b.c., gives a period of 70 years. This number is arrived at by means of the dates given by profane authors as well as those of the historians of Scripture. Nebuchadnezzar reigned 43 years, his son Evil-Merodach 2 years, Neriglissor 4 years, Labrosoarchad (according to Berosus) 9 months, and Naboned 17 years (43 + 2 + 4 + 17 years and 9 months are 66 years and 9 months). Add to this 1 year – that namely which elapsed between the time when Jerusalem was first taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and the death of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar’s accession – add further the 2 years of the reign of Darius the Mede (see on Dan 6:1), and we have 69 3/4 years. With this the biblical accounts also agree. Of Jehoiakim’s reign these give 7 years (from his 4th till his 11th year), for Jehoiachin’s 3 months, for the captivity of Jehoiachin in Babylon until the accession of Evil-Merodach 37 years (see 2Ki 25:27, according to which Evil-Merodach, when he became king, set Jehoiachin at liberty on the 27th day of the 12th months, in the 37th year after he had been carried away). Thus, till the beginning of Evil-Merodach’s reign, we would have 44 years and 3 months to reckon, thence till the fall of the Babylonian empire 23 years and 9 months, and 2 years of Darius the Mede, i.e., in all 70 years complete. – But although this number corresponds so exactly with history, it is less its arithmetical value that is of account in Jeremiah; it is rather its symbolical significance as the number of perfection for God’s works. This significance lies in the contrast of seven, as the characteristic number for works of God, with ten, the number that marks earthly completeness; and hereby prophecy makes good its distinguishing character as contrasted with soothsaying, or the prediction of contingent matters. The symbolical value of the number comes clearly out in the following verses, where the fall of Babylon is announced to come in seventy years, although it took place two years earlier.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Here the Prophet mentions the restriction of which I have spoken, and thus he mitigates the severity of their punishment. It is, then, a kind of correction; not that he changes anything, but only by this sort of correction he explains what he before meant by perpetual desolations.

He says, The whole land shall be a waste and an astonishment, or as some render it, “a desolation.” The word שמם, indeed, means to lay desolate, and also to astonish; but as he had lately used the word in the sense of astonishment, I see no reason for changing its meaning here, especially as it is connected with חרבה, charebe. But as to the drift of the passage, there is not much difference whether we say, the land shall be a desolation, or an astonishment; for it was to be a solitude — reduced to a desolation or a wilderness. (132)

And serve shall these nations the king of Babylon seventy years, there the Prophet concludes his prophecy concerning the future calamity of the people, even that the land would be reduced to a solitude, so as to render every one passing through it astonished, or that it was to become a horrid spectacle on account of its desolation. And that a time of seventy years was fixed, it was a testimony of God’s paternal kindness towards his people, not indiscriminately towards the whole multitude, but towards the remnant of whom he had spoken elsewhere. Then the Prophet means, that however grievously the Jews had sinned, yet God would execute only a temporary punishment; for after seventy years, as we shall see, he would restore them to their own country, and repair what they had lost, even the inhabitation of the promised land, the holy city, and the Temple. And this is more fully expressed in the next verse.

(132) As the first word means waste or desolation, and means nothing else, and as the second word means astonishment as well as desolation, the rendering of our version, and of Calvin, must be right. As it is commonly the case, their order is here inverted, being different from the order in which they are found in verse ninth. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(11) Shall serve the king of Babylon seventy-years.This is the first mention of the duration of the captivity. The seventy years are commonly reckoned from B.C. 606, the date of the deportation of Jehoiakim and his princes, to B.C. 536, when the decree for the return of the exiles was issued by Cyrus. In 2Ch. 36:21 the number is connected with the land enjoying her Sabbaths, as though the long desolation came as a retribution for the peoples neglect of the law of the Sabbatical year, and, perhaps, also for their non-observance of the weekly Sabbaths. (Isa. 56:4; Jer. 17:21-22.) For the apportionment of the reigns of the Babylonian kings that made up the seventy years, see the Chronological Table in the Introduction. Symbolically the number, as the multiple of seven and ten, represents the highest measure of completeness (comp. Mat. 18:22).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. Seventy years Used not as a round number, nor primarily for its symbolical import, but with chronological exactness. The accuracy of this number is attested by both sacred and profane chronology. It begins with the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 606 B.C., and extends to the first year of Cyrus, 536 B.C. The whole period of the Babylonian empire after the fall of Nineveh was about sixty-seven years. Add the two years of Darius the Mede, (Dan 6:1,) and we have about sixty-nine years for the captivity before the accession of Cyrus, near the beginning of whose reign came the decree of release and restoration. See an excellent resume of the chronological data in Keil’s Commentary.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 25:11. Seventy years Not only the captivity and restoration of the two tribes were foretold, but the precise time of that captivity and restoration was also prefixed and determined by our prophet. This prophesy was delivered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; and this same year it began to be put in execution; for Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judaea, besieged and took Jerusalem, and made Jehoiakim his subject and tributary; transported the finest children of the royal family and of the nobility to Babylon, to be bred up there for eunuchs and slaves in his palace, and also carried away the vessels of the house of the Lord, and put them in the temple of his god at Babylon. Seventy years from this time will bring us down to the first year of Cyrus, when he made his proclamation for the restoration of the Jews, and for the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem. This computation of the seventy years appears to be the truest and most agreeable to Scripture. But if we fix the commencement of these seventy years at the time when Jerusalem was burned and destroyed, their conclusion will fall about the time when Darius issued his decree for rebuilding the temple, after the work had been stopped and suspended; or, if we fix their commencement at the time when Nebuzar-adan carried away the remainder of the people, and completed the desolation of the land, their conclusion will fall about the time when the temple was finished and dedicated, and the first passover solemnized in it. So that, as Dean Prideaux observes, taking it which way you will, and at what stage you please, the prophesy of Jeremiah will be fully and exactly completed concerning this matter. It may be said to have been accomplished at three different times, and in three different manners; and, therefore, possibly all might have been intended, though the first, without doubt, was the principal subject of the prophesy. See Bishop Newton’s Dissertations, vol. 1: p. 201.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Ver. 11. And this land shall be a desolation – seventy years.] Which commenced at the deportation of Jeconiah. 2Ki 24:8 Jer 29:1-3 Eze 4:1 ; Eze 33:21 Avignon in France, was the residence of the Pope for seventy years, which time the Romans yet remember, till this day, by the name of the Babylonian captivity. a Luther, when he first began to stir against the Pope, wrote a book bearing title De captivitate Babylonica, which when Bugenhagius, a Pomeranian divine, first read, he pronounced it to be the most heretical piece that ever was written, but afterwards, having better considered the contents of it, he retracted his former censure; he told his colleagues that all the world besides was in deep darkness, and that Luther alone was in the light and in the right, and him he would follow. So he did, and drew many more with him. b

a Heyl. Cosm., fol. 188.

b Scult Annal.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)