Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 16:21
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name [is] The LORD.
21. Gi. considers this v. to be late, as being in the style of the second Is. (cp. Isa 42:6) and Ezek. (Eze 36:23).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This once – Whether we consider the greatness of the national disgrace and suffering caused by it, or its effect upon the mind of the Jews, the burning of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, followed by the captivity of the people at Babylon, stands out as the greatest manifestation of Gods hand in all His dealings with them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Therefore, behold, I will this once] I will not now change my purpose. They shall be visited and carried into captivity; nothing shall prevent this: and they shall know that my name is JEHOVAH. Since they would not receive the abundance of my mercies, they shall know what the true God can do in the way of judgment.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Because all the goodness and mercy that I have showed them will not learn them to know me, my power and might, I will once for all make them to understand it by the dreadful strokes of my vengeance. They shall know that my name is Jehovah; that I am not such a one as their idols, but one who have my being from myself, and give life and being to all other things, and have all might and power in my hand, and can do whatsoever I please; and one that will make good whatsoever I have spoken, whether in a way of promise or threatening.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. ThereforeIn order thatall may be turned from idols to Jehovah, He will now give awful proofof His divine power in the judgments He will inflict.
this onceIf thepunishments I have heretofore inflicted have not been severeenough to teach them.
my name . . . LordJehovah(Ps 83:18): God’sincommunicable name, to apply which to idols would be blasphemy.Keeping His threats and promises (Ex6:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know,…. Or, “at this time”, as the Targum; when the Gentiles shall be convinced of the idolatry they have been brought up in, and of the vanity and falsehood of their idols; they shall be made to know the true God, God in Christ, Christ himself, whom to know is life eternal, and to know the way of life and salvation by him; and all this through the ministry of the Gospel that should be brought among them, the Spirit of God accompanying it; by means of which they should come to Christ from the ends of the earth, before predicted.
I will cause them to know my hand and my might; to experience the power and efficacy of his grace in conversion; quickening their dead souls, softening their hard hearts, taking away the stony heart, and giving a heart of flesh; and making them willing in the day of his power to be saved by Christ, and to serve him; to relinquish their idols, and turn to and worship the living God in spirit and in truth: though most understand this not as a promise of grace to the Gentiles, but as a threatening of punishment to the idolatrous Jews; that because of their idolatry they should once for all, or by this one and grievous calamity, captivity in Babylon, be made to know what they could not be brought to know by all the instructions and warnings of the prophets; they should now feel the weight of the Lord’s hand, the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his wrath; and so the Targum,
“I will show them my vengeance and the stroke of my power.”
And they shall know that my name is the Lord; the Jehovah, the self-existent Being, the Being of beings, the everlasting and unchangeable I AM; who is able to make good his promises, or perform his threatenings; a name incommunicable to creatures, which do not belong to the idols of the Gentiles, is peculiar to the true God, who is the most High in all the earth; see Ps 83:18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet again threatens the Jews, because their impiety was inexcusable, especially when attended with so great an obstinacy, he therefore says that God was already present as a judge: Behold I, he says — the demonstrative particle shews the near approach of vengeance — I will shew at this time: the words are emphatical, for God indirectly intimates that the Babylonian exile would be an extraordinary event, far exceeding every other which had preceded it. At this time, he says — that is, if ye have hitherto been tardy and insensible, or, if the punishments I have already inflicted have not been sufficiently severe — I will at this time shew to them my hand and my power; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah (169)
This way of speaking often occurs in Scripture; but God here, no doubt, reproves the false sentiments with which the Jews were imbued, and by which they were led astray from true religion — for they had devised for themselves many gods; hence he says, They shall know that my name is Jehovah, that is, that my name is sacred, and ought not to be given to others. But at the same time he intimates that he would shew to them his power by destroying them, which they had refused to acknowledge in the preservation promised to them. They would indeed have ever found the God of Abraham to be the same, had they not deprived themselves of his favor. As then they had wandered after their own delusions and inventions, God says now, I will shew to them my hand, that is, for their ruin; and they shall now know for their own misery what they had refused to acknowledge for their own safety — that I am the only true God.
Here let us first learn that it was wholly a diabolical madness, when men dared to devise for themselves a god; for had they regarded their own beginning and their own end, doubtless they could not have betrayed so much presumption and audacity as to invent a god for themselves. If this only came to the mind of an idolater, “What art thou? whence is thine origin? where goest thou, and what end awaits thee?” all his false imaginations would have instantly fallen to the ground; he would no longer think of forming a god for himself, nor of worshipping anything he might invent. How then does it happen that men proceed to such a madness as to devise gods for themselves, according to their own fancies, except that they know not themselves? It is then no wonder that men are blind in seeking God, when they do not consider nor examine themselves. It hence follows that God cannot be rightly worshipped except men are made humble. And humility is the best preparation for faith, that there may be a submission to the word of God. Idolaters do indeed pretend some kind of humility, but they afterwards involve themselves in such stupidity, that they are unwining to make any enquiry, so as to make any difference between light and darkness. But true humility leads us to seek God in his word.
But when the Prophet asks this question, “Shall man make a god for himself?” he does not mean, that either the Egyptians or the Assyrians were so ignorant as to think that they could give divinity to wood or stone; but that whatever men dared to invent for themselves as to divine worship, was nothing else but the creation of a god. As soon then as we allow ourselves the liberty to worship God in this or in that way, or to imagine God to be such and such a being, we create gods for ourselves. And as to that point where he says, They shall know that my name is Jehovah, we must observe, that what is his own is taken away from God, except we acquiesce in him alone, so as to allow no other divinities to creep in and to be received; for God does not retain his own right or his own glory, except he be regarded as the only true God. Now follows —
(169) As the captivity and the restoration of the people are expressly referred to in the previous verses, it seems necessary to connect here the display of God’s power with both these events. The restoration was as remarkable an instance of divine interposition as the captivity, if not more so. And the future effect on the people’s mind, their preservation from idolatry, is to be ascribed to the power manifested in their restoration as well as in their captivity. “Therefore,” at the beginning of the verse, seems to be an inference from what has been said of the captivity and the restoration; and this accounts for the repetition of making known to them his power: God first made known his power in driving them to captivity, and, secondly, in restoring them, —
Therefore, behold I make known to them, at this time, And I will make known to them My hand and my power; And they shall know that my name is Jehovah.
The Septuagint is as follows, —
Therefore, behold I will manifest to them at this time my hand, And I will make known to them my power; And they shall know that my name is the Lord.
To remove the word “hand” to the first line has no MS. in its favor; but it shews that they thought that the two verbs had a similar objective case, and the conjunction “and” is supplied before the second verb, as it is also in the Syriac and Arabic.
It is probable that by the “hand” is meant the infliction of punishment, and is rendered “vengeance” in the Targum; and that by “power” or strength is intended what God manifested in the restoration of the people. The combined influence of both was to make them to know that God was really Jehovah, the only supreme, ever the same, true and faithful, without any change. How remarkably has this prophecy been accomplished! The Jews have ever since acknowledged Jehovah as the only true God. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) I will this once cause them to know . . .The warning comes with all the emphasis of iteration, this once. As in a way without a parallel, once for all, they should learn that the name of the God they had rejected was Jehovah, the Eternal (Exo. 3:14), unchangeable in His righteousness. The thought is parallel to that of Eze. 12:15.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. This once There is here most significant and portentous emphasis. The intimation is, that they were on the eve of such a signal display of God’s power as to compel, even from the heathen, the confession that his name is Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 16:21. I will this once cause them to know Instead of this once, Houbigant reads by this turn, or change; “that is,” says he, “after the Jews are rendered unworthy to be called the people of God:” for the Gentiles were then to be called to the faith of the Gospel, when the Jews were rejected. To know my hand and my might, signifies, “my vengeance and power, shewn in the destruction of their idolatry.”
REFLECTIONS.1st, Example is often more effectual than precept. He who was sent to warn others of the destruction of the land, must by his conduct shew his assured conviction of the truth of what he preached. They who are urging men to look to the eternal world, must shew their own hearts fixed upon it, by their holy self-denial and deadness to every thing on earth. Three things are forbidden the prophet, and the reasons for these prohibitions subjoined.
1. He must not marry, nor have a family. Not as if a life of celibacy were, in an abstract view, either enjoined or desirable; but because of the distress coming upon the land, which would make a family a burden, and occasion the bitterest anguish from the grievous deaths of those so near and dear to him. For God was about to pour down his judgments; to send forth death in all its terrors, armed with the famine, pestilence, and sword; and to cover the earth with carcases so numerous, that there should not be graves to receive them, nor any to lament over or to bury them.
2. He must not go to the house of mourning. With friendly sympathy he had, no doubt, been wont to weep with those that wept; but now he must abstain, and shew no usual expression of grief for his nearest friend or relation, because either the dead were removed from the evils to come, or rather as a sign to the living of the greatness of the approaching calamities; when death would make such terrible devastation, that even the great should lie unburied on the ground, and none be left to shew the last kind office to the corpse, or to mourn over it. God having removed his peace from the land, a consumption utter and universal is decreed against it.
3. He must not go to the house of feasting. He had been accustomed, no doubt, to join with his friends when they made an entertainment, and innocently to partake of their repast; but this was now unseasonable; and when he foresaw the terrible wrath of God impending, he wanted by his own conduct to awaken their concern. The voice of mirth and bridal songs were about to cease, and no voice to be heard but the shrieks of the miserable and the groans of the dying.
2nd, We have,
1. The insolent and unhumbled challenge which this hardened people should make, beholding his conduct and hearing his warnings. They would ask, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? as if they had never given him any provocation: or, What is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? They pretend a claim to God, as their God, and would deny the charge which the prophet continued to lay against them; so blind, hardened, and obstinate, are sinners in the error of their ways; and, instead of justifying God in his judgments, quarrel with his visitations as unjust or severe.
2. The prophet has his answer given him, and enough to silence their presumption. Their fathers’ iniquities, backslidings, disobedience, and idolatries, were great and shameful; but their own far exceeded: instead of being warned by the judgment which they suffered, or being led to repentance by God’s patience, they had grown worse and worse, filling up what was lacking of the wickedness of their predecessors; more perversely set on their own evil ways, and more resolutely hardened against all the rebukes of God’s prophets; therefore no wonder that, as the just punishment of their iniquities, God would cast them out of that good land which they had defiled, send them far off into a miserable captivity, make that idolatry which had been their sin their grievous punishment, and withdraw from them every token of favour which might alleviate their miseries.
3rdly, In judgment God still remembers mercy.
1. He gives them hopes that a glorious day of deliverance should come, so much greater than that of their redemption from Egypt, that in a measure it should obliterate the mention of it. And this was primarily fulfilled in the recovery of the Jews from Babylon, and the countries of the north, whither they had been carried away captives, and may have reference to that more glorious expected event, when the Lord shall call them into his church from their present dispersion.
2. Before he shewed them this favour, he would severely visit their iniquities. As fishes taken in an evil net, and beasts in the hunter’s snare, so would God give them up to the Chaldeans to be taken and destroyed, who should pursue them into all their lurking-places, and drag them into captivity. Their evil ways, however secret, were not hid from God’s eye: he marked their impious rites and abominable idolatries, the carcases of their detestable things, offered to their idols, so many, and so universally practised through the land, that they filled God’s inheritance with their horrid profanations. For this, therefore, he threatens to recompense their sin double; not beyond what it deserved, but double above all other visitations that he had brought upon them, or much more than they feared or apprehended. Note; (1.) No darkness can hide the sinner from God’s eye. (2.) Flight is in vain when he pursues: no cave, no mountain can then conceal the guilty from his judgment.
3. The prophet is comforted, not only in the prospect that the punishment of his people, however severe, would have an end, but also with the foresight of the conversion of the Gentiles; O Lord, my strength and my fortress, who had hitherto supported him amidst all his infirmities, and against all his enemies; and my refuge in the day of affliction, who would preserve him amidst all the approaching evils: the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth; either when the Jews returned from Babylon, and many proselytes came up with them; or when the Gospel was preached, and the Gentiles became obedient to the faith, renouncing the idols of their fathers, convinced of their vanity and unprofitableness, and astonished at their absurdity, that any could think those to be gods which were the workmanship of their own hands, wood or stone. But now God will cause them to know better, making them, by his divine grace, acquainted with his own glorious perfections as the only living Jehovah, with the Gospel of his dear Son, and the way of life and salvation attainable through the Redeemer.
Some choose rather to understand all this of the Jews, called Gentiles, because of their imitation of their sins, and now quitting with shame their idolatries, and returning to the one living and true God. Note; (1.) They who make God their refuge shall find support under the heaviest afflictions. (2.) When the sinner, convinced and ashamed of his folly, begins bitterly to reflect upon himself, then God will again restore him to his favour, and make him know once more the wonders of his grace.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
My soul! gather from the Lord’s precept, to his servant the Prophet; not to marry, nor mingle with the nations of the captivity; how much it concerns thee, to sit aloof, and as much detached as possible, from all persons, and all things, which might have a tendency to draw thine affections from the Lord! Remember, that thy Maker is thine husband. And doth he not say to thee, as to the Church of old, thou shalt abide for me many days: thou shalt not play the harlot: and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. Precious Lord Jesus! blessed be thou, for thine infinite condescension. Oh! give me grace ever to keep it in view, and to call to mind; wherever I am, or however engaged, amidst the Babylons of this wilderness-state, that my indigence, Jesus neither overlooks, nor despiseth; but will keep me during the captivity, and at length bring me out of more than the Egyptian bondage. Neither in the house of mourning, or of feasting, would I lose sight of my Lord! And oh! grant, that I may constantly have the grace of faith in thee; that the peace in Jesus way be never lost sight of, no not for a moment. But oh! let my constant song in this house of my pilgrimage, be, the Lord liveth that hath brought the souls of his people, from the north, and from all lands whither they had been driven; and now brought them into the liberty, wherewith Jesus makes them free. Yea, they shall dwell in their own land, even Emmanuel’s land, forever. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name [is] The LORD.
Ver. 21. I will for this once. ] And “this once” shall stand for all. Affliction shall not rise up the second time. Nah 1:9
And I will make them to know.
My hand and my might,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 16:21
21Therefore behold, I am going to make them know
This time I will make them know
My power and My might;
And they shall know that My name is the LORD.
Jer 16:20 Notice YHWH will make the nations
1. know His power
2. know His might
3. know His name
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
My name. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 3:15; Exo 15:3). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The Lord
Or, JEHOVAH. Psa 83:18.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I will this: Exo 9:14-18, Exo 14:4, Psa 9:16, Eze 6:7, Eze 24:24, Eze 24:27, Eze 25:14
and they: Jer 33:2, Exo 15:3, Psa 83:18, Isa 43:3, Amo 5:8
The Lord: or, JEHOVAH
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 16:21. This once means that once for all the people of Judah will be convinced that one Being only has the right to be called Lord (ruler). The verse also agrees with the truth that Gods people never again practiced idolatry after the captivity. See the historical confirmation of this at Isa 1:25 in Vol. 3 of this Commentary. The Jewish nation has done many unwise things and it did the wickedest of deeds In killing the Messiah, but it never backslid Into idolatry and to this very day they as a people are strict believers in the idea of only one true God.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 16:21. Therefore I will this once Or, as may be rendered, at this time, as the same expression is rendered, 2Sa 17:7. Cause them to know my hand and my might, &c. The time alluded to is undoubtedly that when the gospel was to be preached to, and embraced by, the Gentiles; when God promises that he would make such a display of his mighty power as should amply convince them of the truth of his existence and divinity. They shall know that my name is JEHOVAH A name which implies absolute and necessary existence, the real source and origin of all perfection; and they shall know it by the blessings which shall, from my providence, be derived to them. Blaney.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once {l} cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name [is] JEHOVAH.
(l) They will once again feel my power and mercy for their deliverance that they may learn to worship me.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord announced that in the future, when the nations sought Him out, He would convince them of His power and might, that they might know that Yahweh is the only true God (cf. Eze 36:22-23). He did not explain how He would do that here, but later revelation tells us that Messiah’s second advent will involve such a demonstration of power that multitudes of people will turn to the Lord (Zec 12:10).