Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 23:7
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
7. they shall no more say ] The exodus from Egypt, always hitherto quoted as the crowning manifestation of Jehovah’s favour, would be eclipsed by a yet more glorious deliverance.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7, 8. See on Jer 16:14-15. The LXX’s omission of the vv. here, and insertion of them in a wholly incongruous context after Jer 23:40, fall in with the supposition that, even if of Jeremiah’s authorship, they do not rightly belong to this place. See further on Jer 33:14-26.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jer 23:7-8
The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them.
Divine persistence
Faith, even our own trembling faith, can hold on, perhaps, to the past; it retires upon the past in order to fortify its position. There are its reserves, its supplies. It looks back, and as it looks the big words stand out, the high memories awaken, the ancient story revives again. God was a King of old. The works that were done upon earth, He did them Himself. We can believe it still. God was about in those days, long ago. Men met Him in the way. The hand of the Lord was upon me. Yes! in the past, in days long ago, we are sure of God; and this, not merely out of traditional habit, nor merely because it is far off and remote. No! it is rather because the present is never really grasped or understood in its true significance until it is past. The present disguises its inner glories in a suit of drab; it is busy with small affairs; it has no leisure to sit at Gods feet and brood. So the present is always being misjudged and misinterpreted by those it holds prisoners in its tiresome meshes. Only as it passes off into some quiet distance from us do the frivolous incidents drop away out of sight and hearing, and the superficial vulgarities fall back into insignificance, and the real heart of the mystery is felt in its work upon us. It is no glamorous illusion which gives wonder to the present as soon as it is past. Rather, it is become wonderful because it has shaken itself free from the illusion which veiled it from our eyes while it was still with us. We see it now in its actual worth as part and parcel of a continuous existence, not as an isolated accident that comes and goes. So it wins dignity and pathos and beauty. So strange–this transfiguration of the common-place by the past: an old brick wall, a garden walk, a turn of a lane–all can become sacred and mystical because of those unknown to us who once walked there before we were born. And this is right. This is their truth. And so, too, our past, as we turn to review it, is really recognised to have possessed an importance which escaped us when it was within our living grasp. We see now how momentous were the issues involved in this or that ordinary and temporary decision which we took as it came along, without anxiety or strain. There lay, we now acknowledge, the parting of the road for us. There and then our souls were indeed at stake. Our whole future turned on what we saw or did that day. A day at the time so unmarked, and dull, and unmomentous. How little we remembered God as we did it! Yet it was He, before whose eyes we were at that moment become a spectacle to men and angels, at that passing moment when we made our choice. Yes! it is no glamorous illusion that the past throws: it is the actuality of things which it discloses. The past reveals God at work in the acts of judgment by which we stand or fall under His searching light. Therefore it is that the Jew, reading out his national past, saw and found God at work everywhere in it. Jewish prophecy was concerned with the past, at least as much as with the future. The prophet looked back and read into the facts their deep inner interpretation. Old events were recognised by him for their spiritual value; now they were lifted into the light of the Divine will. When Israel came out of Egypt and the house of Jacob from among the strange people, Judah was His sanctuary and Israel His dominion. The sea saw that and fled. Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like young sheep. Not at the moment of the deliverance could Israel have sung out that clear song of recognition. The escape out of Egypt was probably sordid enough at the moment; troubled, confused, dismal. Only long afterwards, when it had been clarified by the purifying process of time, could the prophets eye pierce below the surface disarray and see the whole scene as a vivid and unthwarted drama; only after long review with vision purged could the singer pronounce that God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Backed by the strong assurance that God was with our fathers, that God brought up His people out of Egypt, Faith must make its great venture and recognise that the God who was alive and active in the past is the same God to-day and for ever. This drab and dismal present which rings men ruefully round with its noisy bustle, with its troublesome futilities, holds in it urgent and supreme the living energies of God. When it has dropped away from them into the past they will see and know it. How disastrous, then, to cry out, when it is too late, Surely God was in this place and I knew it not. Why not wake up at once, in the very heart of stony and forlorn Bethel, and see now the golden stairs laid between heaven and earth? Here is the prophets task, to declare that what God did once, He may yet do again. If He brought up His people out of Egypt, He can yet deliver them out; of captivity in Babylon. Ah! that is the difficult, the impossible thing to believe. That is when and where the ordinary temper of faith collapses and recoils and surrenders. Egypt! They can see it all, feel it all Gods arm was outstretched to save, and He spake; and His great presence went out to them; and His voice was heard like the voice of a trumpet, exceeding loud. But Babylon, where they now lie in captivity! How hard and grim those iron walls of fact which hold the people fast! How relentless the immense pressure of its tyranny! Day follows day, and all days are the same; and the night comes following the day; and no watchman can tell them any news; and no cry shatters the night! Nor even are the people gathered in Babylon. They are not assembled and compact, as once in Egypt, ready to move altogether if the opportunity ever came. No; they are now hopelessly divided–scattered to the four winds; lost in detachments amid a crowd of swarming cities. Nothing can happen; there is no sign; they see not their tokens. Heaven above them is as brass, and the earth as iron. No God appears. Well enough in Egypt! We would have gone out with Moses then with willing feet; but we see no Moses now. Things are too strong for us; they shut us in. We listen, and no voice answers. It is different now; it can never be again as it once was. So we can fancy what these poor, faint souls to whom Jeremiah is writing must have murmured. As if Egypt had not looked just as hard and just as motionless to those who first heard the summons of Moses; as if it had not all been as grimly incredible then. And therefore, that same chill of despair that now overshadows them beside the willows of Babylon need not prevent another day like that of Moses arising as glorious as in Egypt. Another prophetic epoch will be known and named for ever. So the prophet announces. Once again the faith which is strong enough to face and defy the repellent facts of the present shall see its God rise as of old. We ourselves are sorely aware of conflict between our faith as it gazes back at the past, and our faith as it faces the shill and staggering present. We who can yet hold on to our belief in what happened long ago, find no heart to declare this might happen again to-day. God might be seen as visibly at work; Jesus Christ might be heard calling us with as clear a voice as that which fell on the ears of fishermen washing their nets by Galilean waters. The present wears so horribly material an appearance, and it looks so absurdly remote from Spirit and from God. There is no God here, we cry; Christ cannot be alive no angels sing here of peace and goodwill. So everything about us asserts with might and main; it defies us to say our creed in front of it without laughing or without breaking down in sobs. Yes; but was not the present always what it feels to us to-day? Did it not always look as hard and commonplace and godless? The inn at Bethlehem was as noisy and regardless as Fleet Street to-day. The people felt life then as commonplace an affair as it seems to us on Ludgate Hill to-day. The past witnesses through all its long centuries to the actual reality of the living deed done by God in our midst. Again and again in dark days those who believed it to be true have dared to realise it in their own present day afresh, and have found it answer to their appeals. There was a revival, as we say, a revival in the present of what was once for all asserted in the past. As God who had delivered men from Egypt verified Himself anew in the God who can deliver out of captivity, so Christ who rose and lived has quickened a new generation sunk in its sloth; has named a new epoch, has brought in a new day; and men have started from their sleep to find that it was true what they had always dimly believed, Christ is alive, Christ is at work here on earth; the impossible can happen; the incredible change can stir and can transform; it is all true. It shall no more be said merely that God liveth who once raised Jesus from the dead; but God liveth–our own God–who still raises in Jesus Christ those who were dead in trespasses and sins into newness of life for evermore. Why not? Why not now? The old creed is being battered by ruthless attacks on its past records, and there is only one triumphant answer–a revival of its ancient efficacy in full swing here and now. Christ, we feel, may have once raised a dead world into life, but He cannot do it again. Are we going to acquiesce in that? Are we going to try to keep our faith, and yet confine it to a day long dead? If Christ cannot do it now, then He never did it. If we resign the present to its godlessness, then we shall not long retain our belief in God in the past. No; we have but one obligation: to rally first on the past, and in its strength to dare the present. Why should not we take our belief in Jesus Christ as seriously to-day, and let it be done again? Oh, for this outrush of a great revival! We have lingered and languished so long is not the moment near for some reaction from our spiritual lethargy? The night has been so prolonged, there must surely be a streak of dawn. (H. S. Holland, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. The Lord liveth which brought up] See Clarke on Jer 16:14; “Jer 16:15“.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
7, 8. Repeated from Jer 16:14;Jer 16:15. The prophet said thesame things often, in order that his sayings might make the moreimpression. The same promise as in Jer 23:3;Jer 23:4. The wide dispersion ofthe Jews at the Babylonish captivity prefigures their present widerdispersion (Isa 11:11; Joe 3:6).Their second deliverance is to exceed far the former one from Egypt.But the deliverance from Babylon was inferior to that from Egypt inrespect to the miracles performed and the numbers delivered. Thefinal deliverance under Messiah must, therefore, be meant, of whichthat from Babylon was the earnest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,…. Or, “are coming” i; and will begin to take place in a little time, even upon the Jews’ return from Babylon; and reached to the times of Christ, to which they have a special regard; and include the whole Gospel dispensation, even the latter day glory, when the Jews shall return to, and dwell in, their own land; as Jer 23:8; shows:
that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth: the people of Israel in particular, or the Lord’s people in general, shall no more swear by the living God, described as follows; or, as the Targum, declare no more the power of God, in the instance next mentioned, they had been used to do:
which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: which, though a wonderful deliverance, and never to be forgotten; yet not to be named with the redemption and salvation wrought out by Christ the Lord our righteousness; that being a deliverance from far greater and more powerful enemies, and from the far greater bondage of sin, Satan, and the law; nor with the restoration of the Jews in the latter day, which will be a most wonderful and amazing event, Ro 11:15.
i “dies venientes”, Montanus, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet, after having spoken of the Redeemer who was to be sent, now sets forth in high terms that great favor of God, and says that it would be so remarkable and glorious, that the former redemption would be nothing to the greatness and excellency of this. When the children of Israel were brought up out of Egypt, God, we know, testified his power by many miracles, in order that this favor towards his people might appear the more illustrious; and rightly did the Prophets exhort and encourage the faithful to entertain good hope by calling to their minds what was then done. But our Prophet enhances the second redemption by this comparison, that hereafter the kindness of God, with which he favored his people when he delivered them from the bondage of Egypt, would not be remembered, but that something more remarkable would be done, so that all would talk of it, and that all would proclaim the immense benefit, which God would confer on them in delivering them from their exile in Babylon. (84)
He then says that the days would come in which it would not be said, Live does Jehovah, who brought his people from Egypt, but who brought his people from the land of the North (85) Yet he does not mean that the memory of God’s favor towards the Israelites, when he brought them from Egypt, was to be abolished; but he reasons here from the less to the greater, as though he had said that it was an evidence of God’s favor that could not be sufficiently praised, when he delivered his people from the land of Egypt, that if it were taken by itself, it was worthy of being for ever remembered; but that when compared with the second deliverance it would appear almost as nothing. The meaning is, that the second redemption would be so much more remarkable than the first, that it would obscure the remembrance of it, though it would not obliterate it.
And this passage deserves to be especially noticed, for we hence learn how much we ought to value that redemption which we have obtained through the only-begotten Son of God. And hence, also, it follows that we are more bound to God than the Fathers under the Law, as he has dealt far more bountifully with us, and has put forth his power more fully and effectually in our behalf. We further learn, that the Prophet does not in this prophecy include a few years only, but the whole kingdom of Christ and its whole progress. He indeed speaks of the return of the people to their own country, and this ought to be allowed, though Christians have been too rigid in this respect; for passing by the whole intermediate time between the return of the people and the coming of Christ, they have too violently turned the prophecies to spiritual redemption. There is no doubt but that the Prophet makes a beginning with the free return of the people from captivity; but, as I have said, Christ’s redemption is not to be separated from this, otherwise the accomplishment of the promise would not appear to us, for a small portion only returned to their own land. We also know that they were harassed with many and continual troubles, so that their condition was always miserable, for nothing is worse than a state of disquietude. We know further, that they were spoiled, and that often, and were also reduced to a state of bondage. We know how cruelly they were treated at one time by the Egyptians, and at another by the kings of Syria. Then more was promised by Jeremiah than what God has really performed, except we include in this prophecy the kingdom of Christ. But as God so restored his Church by the hand of Cyrus, that it might be a kind of prelude to a future and perfect redemption, it is no wonder that the prophets, whenever they spoke of the people’s return and of the end of their exile, should look forward to Christ and to his spiritual kingdom.
We now, then, see the design of the Prophet, when he says that the days would come in which their first redemption would not be spoken of by the people, as a remarkable or as the chief evidence of God’s favor and power, as their second redemption would far exceed it.
As to the formula or manner of speaking, Live does Jehovah, we know that the ancients used such words in making a solemn oath, and whenever they sought to animate themselves with hope under adversities. Whenever, then, they found themselves so pressed down that they had no other escape from evil than through God’s favor, they usually said that the God who had formerly been the Redeemer of his people still lived, and that there was no diminution of his power, so that he could ten times, or a hundred times, or a thousand times, if necessary, bring help to his Church and to every member of it.
(84) It is a fact worthy of being observed, that what God effected in the course of his providence was more remarkable, and is represented as more astonishing, than what he did by means of many and wonderful miracles: the secret working of his providence on the minds of men is more wonderful and effects greater things than his power when put forth to reverse the course of nature. Though he performs no miracles now, yet he works in a way more wonderful than if he did. We cannot but see this if we notice the course of events with enlightened eyes. — Ed.
(85) The verse begins with לכן, rendered “therefore,” or, “on this account,” by the Vulg., the Syr., and by our own version; but, “after this,” by Blayney, and “moreover,” by Gataker. It might be rendered “surely,” or doubtless, as it is by Venema, —
Surely, behold the days are coming, saith Jehovah, When they shall no more say, Jehovah lives, etc.
It is better to render the ו, “when,” than “that,” as in our version. The Sept. and Vulg, render it “and,” which gives no meaning in either language. Calvin follows the Syr., and gives the sense, “in which.” — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) The days come, saith the Lord.See Notes on Jer. 16:14-15, of which the words are almost verbally a reproduction. There, however, stress is laid chiefly on the fact of the exile, here on that of the restoration. The LXX. version omits them here, but inserts them, where they are obviously out of place, at the end of the chapter. It was fitting that they should be repeated here, as connecting the hope that had before been general with the personal reign of the Branch of the house of David.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7, 8. Repetition of Jer 16:14-15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 23:7-8. Therefore, behold, &c. See ch. Jer 16:14. “One proverb shall give way to another, when the greater deliverance shall put the less out of remembrance. This wonderful work of God, in restoring the Jewish nation after their dispersion in every part of the world, will so far exceed the miracles which he wrought in their deliverance out of Egypt, that the latter will not deserve to be mentioned with the former.” St. Paul calls this restoration of the Jews life from the dead, Rom 11:15 that is, it would be a miracle as surprising as if a dead body was restored again to life. See Bishop Chandler’s Defence.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
In consequence of this great salvation, when the Lord Jesus is come, and hath fully finished it, the former deliverance from Egypt, which was but a type of it, shall then be done away, as the shadow is lost in the substance. Both the deliverance of the Church from Egypt, and the deliverance from Babylon were types of Jesus’s deliverance from worse than Egyptian and Babylonian bondage. They were temporary, but this an eternal freedom. In allusion to this the Church is represented as singing, Rev 18:2 , etc.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 23:7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Ver. 7. Therefore, behold the days come. ] See Jer 16:14 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 23:7-8
7Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.
Jer 23:7 As the LORD lives See note at Jer 22:24.
Jer 23:8 who brought up and led back As YHWH’s power and grace were seen in the Exodus, so too, in the return from exile!
from the north land Assyria and Babylon were to the east of Palestine, but the only land route was from/to the north (i.e., basically following the Euphrates River). This is due to the large desert between Palestine and the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (i.e., Mesopotamia).
where I had driven them God is in control of history. Assyria and Babylon were merely His tools of judgment (cf. Isa 10:5).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the days come. Compare Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15.
Which brought up, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Ex. Jer 12:15, &c). App-92.
children = sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 23:3, Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15, Jer 31:31-34, Isa 43:18, Isa 43:19
Reciprocal: Isa 11:11 – set his hand Isa 46:9 – the former Jer 30:3 – the days Mic 7:15 – General Heb 8:8 – the days
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 23:7-8. These verses are identical with ch. Ill: 14, 15 and the reader is referred to that place for the comments.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 23:7-8. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord Here the prophet proceeds to fore-tel one very important, although remote, consequence of Gods raising up the righteous branch to David, namely, the great salvation which should thereby come to the Jews in the latter days of their state, which should be so illustrious as far to outshine their deliverance out of Egypt. That they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, &c. These words we had before, Jer 16:14-15, where see the note. But here the passage seems to point more plainly than it did there to the days of the Messiah, and to compare, not so much the two deliverances themselves, giving the preference to the latter, as the two states to which the church should grow after those deliverances. About four hundred and eighty years after they were come out of Egypt, Solomons temple was built, 1Ki 6:1; and at that time that nation, which was so wonderfully brought out of Egypt, was gradually arrived to its height. And four hundred and ninety years (seventy weeks) after they came out of Babylon, Messiah the Prince set up the gospel temple, which was the greatest glory of that nation that was so wonderfully brought out of Babylon: see Dan 9:24-25. Now the spiritual glory of the second period of that nation, especially as transferred to the gospel church, is much more admirable and illustrious than all the temporal glory of the first period of it, in the days of Solomon; for that was no glory, compared with the glory which excelleth. Add to this, the prophet, it seems, also foretels a second gathering of the Jews from their dispersions, namely, one that should take place after the coming of the Messiah, and the ruin of their city and country by the Romans, and therefore yet future. Now this work of God, whenever it shall be effected, including, as it undoubtedly will, their conversion to Christianity, and perhaps, also, their restoration to their own land, will assuredly appear so wonderful as greatly to outshine every former deliverance wrought for that people, and therefore may well put every other out of remembrance. St. Paul calls this restoration of them, life from the dead, (Rom 9:25,) meaning that it would be a miracle as surprising as the resurrection of a multitude of dead bodies.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The {f} LORD liveth, who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
(f) Read Jer 16:14 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In those coming days (cf. Jer 23:5), people would no longer talk about the mighty deliverance that Yahweh gave His people when He brought them out of Egypt into the Promised Land (cf. Jer 16:14-15). Instead they would talk about the greater deliverance that He gave them when He brought them out of many countries (cf. Jer 23:3; Jer 16:14-18) into the Promised Land (cf. Isaiah 11; Ezekiel 34; Ezekiel 37). Again, the promises are clearly eschatological. This will happen at Jesus Christ’s second coming when He subdues His earthly enemies and re-gathers the Jews to their land. [Note: See Kaiser, pp. 108-10.] Amillennialists see the fulfillment happening in the return from exile and in the first advent of Christ. [Note: Thompson, p. 492, for example, referred to 2 Kings 17:6 as evidence that the exiles went into many countries, but that verse describes cities and lands within the larger territory of Assyria and, later, Babylonia.]
The section Jer 21:1 to Jer 23:8 dealt primarily with oracles against kings. Now the subject becomes the false prophets in Jerusalem (Jer 23:9-40).