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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 1:3

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 1:3

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

3. in the fifth month ] See ch. Jer 52:12 ff. The city had been captured in the preceding month (2Ki 25:4; 2Ki 25:8-10).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The whole period contained in this verse is no less than 40 years and 6 months, namely, 18 years under Josiah, two periods of 11 years each under Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, and 3 months under each of the omitted kings, Jehoahaz and Jeconiah.

In the fifth month – The capture of Jerusalem took place in the fourth month, but its destruction was in the fifth month (see the marginal references), the ninth day of which was subsequently kept as a fast-day Zec 7:3.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

It, viz. the word of the Lord, as Jer 1:2,

came also in the days of Jehoiakim; called at first by Josiah, Eliakim, 2Ki 23:34. Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin, whereof the former reigned before him, 2Ki 23:31, the latter succeeded, 2Ki 24:8, are conceived not to be mentioned, because they reigned but each of them three months, and therefore not considerable, the Scripture often taking little notice of a small time, as of six months: compare 2Sa 5:5, with 1Ki 2:11; see Jer 1:2.

Zedekiah; of whom read 1Ch 3:15,16.

Unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, i.e. the inhabitants of Jerusalem, namely, under Zedekiah, 2Ki 25:11, during all which time, things standing in that state and condition, Jeremiah prophesied. This doth not terminate the time of his prophecies, for he prophesied also both in Judea, and in Egypt afterwards; but only relates to what he prophesied while the city and temple were standing, the rest seeming rather to be added as a supplement, than to be reduced unto this general title of his prophecies.

In the fifth month, viz. of that present year; for though the year end not at the fifth month, yet it might end the year of Zedekiahs reign, because he might begin his reign at the fifth month of the year.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And it came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah,…. In the beginning of his reign, and in the fourth year of his reign; see Jer 25:1, no mention is made of Jehoahaz, who reigned between Josiah and Jehoiakim, because his reign was short, but three months, 2Ki 23:31, and perhaps no word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in his time, though it did before and after:

unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah; so that Jeremiah must prophesy in the land of Judea upwards of forty years; eighteen under Josiah, 2Ki 22:11, three months under Jehoahaz, 2Ki 23:31 eleven years under Jehoiakim, 2Ki 23:36, three months under Jeconiah, 2Ki 24:8, and eleven years under Zedekiah, when the city was besieged and taken, 2Ki 25:2. Josiah had three sons as kings of Judah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, under all whom Jeremiah prophesied:

even unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month: the month Ab, which answers to part of July and part of August; and it was on the ninth or tenth day of this month that the city of Jerusalem was burnt, and the people carried captive, 2Ki 25:8 the ninth of the said month is now kept by the Jews as a fast on that account.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

As to the beginning of his time and its termination, it has been briefly shewn, why he says that he had been chosen a prophet in the thirteenth year of Josiah, and that he discharged his office till the eleventh year of Zedekiah.

Now that Josiah is called the son of Amon, it is doubtful whether Josiah was properly his son. Amon began to reign in his twenty-second year, and reigned only two years. Josiah succeeded him in the eighth year of his age. If we number the years precisely, Josiah must have been born when Amon was in his sixteenth year; but it does not appear likely, that Amon was a father when he was sixteen years of age, for in this case he must have begotten a son in his fifteenth year; as the birth must have taken place nine months after. Then Josiah must have been begotten in the fifteenth year of Amon’s age. It is hence a probable conclusion, that he was a son by law and not by nature, according to what is afterwards said of Zedekiah, that he was Josiah’s son, because he was his successor, while he was, as many think, his nephew, a brother’s son. But it was a common thing to call the successors of kings their sons, who were their sons by law, and not, as I have said, by nature. It now follows-

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(3) It came also . . .The short reigns of Jehoahaz (three months) and Jehoiachin or Jeconiah (three months also) are passed over, and mention made of the more conspicuous reigns of Jehoiakim (eleven years) and Zedekiah (also eleven). Assuming Jeremiah to have been about twenty when the prophetic call came to him, he was sixty or sixty-one at the time of the captivity.

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

Jer 1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

Ver. 3. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim. ] Called at first Eliakim by his good father Josiah, from whom he degenerated, cutting Jeremiah’s roll with a penknife and burning it, Jer 36:23 at which his father’s heart would have melted. 2Ch 34:27

Unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah. ] Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim are not mentioned, because their reign was so short, hardly half a year. By this computation it appeareth that Jeremiah prophesied forty years at least. And the Holy Ghost setteth a special mark (as a reverend writer a hath well observed) upon those forty years of his prophesying, Eze 4:6 where, when the Lord summeth up the years that were between the falling away of the ten tribes and the burning of the temple, three hundred and ninety in all, and counteth them by the prophet’s lying so many days upon his left side, he bids him to lie forty days upon his right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, a day for a year. Not to signify that it was forty years above three hundred and ninety between the revolt of the ten tribes and the captivity of Judah (for it was but three hundred and ninety exactly in all), but because he would set and mark out Judah’s singular iniquity by a singular mark; for that they had forty years so pregnant instructions and admonitions by so eminent a prophet, and yet were impenitent to their own destruction.

Unto the carrying away of Jerusalem. ] He thought, belike, when he prefixed this title, that he should have prophesied no more, when once Jerusalem was carried captive; but it proved otherwise, for he prophesied after that in Egypt; Jer 44:24 yet not forty years also after the captivity, as the Jews have fabled. Nor is it so certain that for that prophecy he was slain by Pharaohophra (whom Herodotus b calleth Apryes, and saith he was a very proud prince), as some have reported.

a Lightfoot’s Harmony: Chron. of Old Test.

b Lib. ii. in fine.

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

It came also in the days. See note on Gen 14:1.

the fifth month. The month that Jerusalem was destroyed (Jer 52:12; 2Ki 25:3, 2Ki 25:8). After that, Jeremiah continued in the Land (Jer 40:1; Jer 42:7); and, later, in Egypt (chs Jer 43:44).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

fifth month

i.e. August.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

It came also: Jer 25:1-3, Jer 26:1-24, Jer 35:1 – Jer 36:32, 2Ki 24:1-9, 2Ch 36:5-8

unto the end: Jer 21:1 – Jer 22:30, Jer 28:1 – Jer 29:32, Jer 34:1-22, 37:1-39:18, 52:1-34; 2Ki 24:17-20, 2Ki 25:1-30, 2Ch 36:11-21

in the fifth: Jer 52:12, Jer 52:15, 2Ki 25:8, Zec 7:5, Zec 8:19

Reciprocal: 2Ki 23:36 – Jehoiakim 2Ch 34:8 – the eighteenth Jer 36:2 – from the day Jer 36:7 – and will Mat 1:10 – Josias

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 1:3. The preceding verse states the time when Jeremiah began to write, this one gives the date when he completed his work on the book that bears his name. The books of the Bible were thus not composed all at any one sitting, but many of them were written just as the Lord would have something more he wished the writer to record. For instance, we have just seen that Jeremiah began to write In the 13th year of Josiah and concluded his writing In the 11th year of Zedekiah. But the work was not continuous through that period for this verse also tells us he wrote some in the days of Jehoiakim, another king of Judah who followed Josiah. It Is interesting to note that the close of Jeremiah’s writing came at the same time the city was taken into hands by the Babylonians and the people taken off into captivity. That fact doubtless will account, for the termination of his writings; not that he personally was taken out of the land. But there will he more information on this subject before the end of the book.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 1:3. It came also Namely, the word of the Lord, as Jer 1:2; in the days of Jehoiakim Called at first by Josiah, Eliakim, 2Ki 23:34. It must be observed, that Jehoahaz, who reigned before him, (2 Kings 28:8,) and Jehoiakim, who succeeded him, are not mentioned here, because each of them reigned only three months, and could hardly be said to be established in the government. Unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah The meaning is, that he prophesied not only during the reigns of Josiah and Jehoiakim, but also during the whole reign of Zedekiah, which was eleven years: unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive That great event of which he had so often prophesied. He continued, indeed, to prophesy after that, (Jer 40:1,) but the computation of the time is here made to end with that event, because it was the accomplishment of many of his predictions: and from the thirteenth year of Josiah to the captivity was just forty years. It is observed from Dr. Lightfoot, that as Moses was forty years a teacher of the Israelites in the wilderness, till they entered into their own land; Jeremiah was so long a teacher in their own land before they were sent into the wilderness of the heathen: and he thinks that therefore a special mark is set upon the last forty years of the iniquity of Judah, which Ezekiel bore forty days, a day for a year, because, during all that time, they had Jeremiah prophesying among them, which was a great aggravation of their impenitency.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the {e} son of Josiah king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth {f} month.

(e) Meaning the nephew of Josiah: for Jehoahaz was his father, who reigned but three months, and therefore is not mentioned, nor is Jehoiakim that reigned no longer.

(f) Of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, who was also called Mattaniah, and at this time the Jews were carried away into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Jeremiah also received prophecies from the Lord during the reign of King Jehoiakim (609-598 B.C.), and until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah (597-586 B.C.)-namely, 586 B.C.-even until the exile of the residents of Jerusalem began in the fifth month of 586 B.C. The writer evidently omitted Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin from this list of kings because their reigns each lasted only three months, in 609 and 598-597 B.C. respectively.

"There is particular significance in the reference to the deportation (galut) of Jerusalem. This event was the climax to Jeremiah’s preaching and a demonstration of his authenticity as a genuine prophet of Yahweh, for in that event the basic thrust of his prophecy was fulfilled." [Note: Thompson, p. 141.]

We know from elsewhere in the book that Jeremiah also prophesied after the fall of Jerusalem (cf. chs. 40-44). So the dates in this verse fix the period of Jeremiah’s main ministry and set it in a historical context.

"We only begin to understand the power of Jeremiah’s book if we grasp something of the chaos of his world." [Note: Craigie, p. 5.]

This preface sets the stage for what follows.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)