Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 23:40
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Verse 40. I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you] And this reproach of having rebelled against so good a God, and rejected so powerful a Saviour, follows them to this day through all their dispersions, in every part of the habitable earth. The word of the Lord cannot fail.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And you shall be a reproach, and that not for a few days, but for ever; and a penal shame, which neither you nor those that see or hear of it shall forget. See such expressions Jer 20:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
40. not be forgottenIf wetranslate Jer 23:39 as EnglishVersion, the antithesis is, though I forget you, yourshame shall not be forgotten.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you,…. Which was a just retaliation for reproaching, vilifying, and bantering his word: they who had been honoured so much and so long as the people of God, and their city counted the glory of the earth; yet now both they and that should be the byword of the people, and had in the utmost contempt, and that for ever, or at least a long time, even for a series of ages; which has been their case ever since their destruction by the Romans, and still is; for this cannot be restrained to the short captivity of seventy years in Babylon; though this reproach began then, and they never recovered their former honour and glory;
and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten; the same thing in different words, to heighten their disgrace, and confirm the perpetuity of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
What is here contained is, that though the Jews justly gloried for a time in being the peculiar people of God, yet this would avail them nothing, as they had divested themselves of that honor in which they had excelled, by the abnegation of true religion. Here then the Prophet strips the Jews of that foolish boasting with which they were inflated when they said that they were the people of God, and threatens that God having taken away their glory would make them lie under perpetual shame.
We at the same time know, that such threatenings are to be restricted as to time, they extend only to the coming of Christ; for the Church of God could not have been doomed to eternal reproach. But as to hypocrites, as there was no repentance, so they never obtained pardon; but God delivered his own from eternal reproach when Christ the Redeemer appeared; yet these words are to be understood as rightly addressed to the ungodly despisers of God. Now follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
REFLECTIONS
READER! while this Chapter in the awful close of it, holds forth most powerful instructions concerning true and false teachers in the Church of God; and which are in themselves enough to call forth the most awakened attention to all that are concerned in the ministry of God’s word: let us pray over this part with earnestness, that the Lord may commission what is here said to their solemn conviction. But let you and I dwell with delight on the former part of this most blessed Chapter, in which we find so much said, and so blessedly said, concerning Him, who is the Lord our Righteousness. Let us look stedfastly and steadily to him, who comes home thus recommended to us, under this endearing character, and let us not lose sight of Him, until that we have so looked, and so loved, and so believed, unto salvation, as to know, that he is indeed the Lord our Righteousness.
Reader! You and I cannot but know, that we both need a righteousness: for without holiness no man can see the Lord. And as we have not this holiness in ourselves, it is high time that we should seek it in another. And this righteousness is nowhere to be found but in Christ. Now if you and I are taught, savingly taught of God the Holy Ghost, who Christ is, and what he hath wrought, that he who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; then shall we indeed know Him, and call Him, by this glorious name, the Lord our Righteousness. Let us beg of God the Spirit, to be our teacher, and to bring home Christ to our hearts in all his loveliness, suitableness, and all-sufficiency. Let us seek with earnestness that unspeakable blessing, to know that He is made of God to us wisdom, and righteousness; sanctification and redemption, that all our glorying may be in the Lord. Then shall we have that blessed soul experience, which is spoken of by the Prophet, and both our life and conversation will be the same. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all that believe in him shall never be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 23:40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Ver. 40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you. ] Contempt of the Word is such an enraging sin that God cannot easily satisfy himself in saying what he will do to such as are guilty of it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
everlasting . . . perpetual. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Whole), for a part of time = life long. Limited here by the promised Restoration.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 20:11, Jer 24:9, Jer 42:18, Jer 44:8-12, Deu 28:37, Eze 5:14, Eze 5:15, Dan 9:16, Dan 12:2, Hos 4:7
Reciprocal: Psa 78:66 – he put Jer 23:33 – I Eze 16:52 – bear thine
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 23:40. The captivity was not to last for ever, for the return from it was predicted many times, but the shame of it was destined to he remembered by future generations. This has been verified by the history of the Jews down to our own times.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Yahweh would also curse these false prophets with the eventual reproach of the people and their consequent shame forever. People would always remember them as false prophets. This was only fitting since they had made the people forget the Lord (Jer 23:27). The people might forget the Lord, but they would never forget the coming judgment.
"The whole argument comes to us as rather complex, probably because the pun is developed in such a sustained manner. The two senses of massa’, ’prophetic utterance’ and ’burden,’ and the verb nasa’ occur a number of times. The massa’ of Yahweh is that the people are a massa’." [Note: Thompson, p. 506. Harrison, Jeremiah and . . ., pp. 122-23, wrote a helpful contrast between true and false prophets that is suggestive for contemporary life and ministry.]