Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 25:18
[To wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as [it is] this day;
18. The list which follows is one which has evidently been expanded. The LXX omit “all the kings of the land of Uz” ( Jer 25:20), “all the kings of Arabia” [or (see note there) “all the kings of the mingled people”] ( Jer 25:24), and “all the kings of Zimri” ( Jer 25:25). Gi. and Co. accordingly consider that this phrase marks additions throughout. It will also be observed that in Jer 25:20 Philistia is virtually enumerated (“Ashkelon, etc.”) twice. In Jer 25:18 Co. would omit all after “Judah,” and put Pharaoh at the head of the list to be displaced afterwards by a scribe jealous for the precedence of his country even in a list of this character!
We may perceive a certain system (south to north) in the enumeration. After Jerusalem and Judah the prophet takes in order the furthest south (Egypt), south-east (Uz), south-west (Philistines), east (Edom, etc.), west (Tyre, etc.), east and northwards (Dedan, etc. to the Medes), and finally the north far and near ( Jer 25:26).
kings ] For the suspicious character of the use of the pl. see end of introd. note on Jer 19:3-9.
and a curse ] not in LXX, and probably introduced here from Jer 24:9.
as it is this day ] absent from LXX, and evidently added after b.c. 586 in the time of the exile.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
As it is this day – Words omitted by the Septuagint, and probably added by Jeremiah after the murder of Gedaliah had completed the ruin of the land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Judgment usually beginneth at the house of God, 1Pe 4:17. God hath more known them and done them more good than other people, therefore their sins are higher provocations, and they are less excusable. By the kings here mentioned are to be understood Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah; these princes with their people God threatens to punish to astonishment, and so as men should mock at them, and curse them; which expressions we have before met with in the same cause. But here ariseth a doubt how the prophet saith,
as it is this day, whereas this prophecy, Jer 25:1, was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, but Jerusalem was not made such a desolation till the eleventh year of Zedekiah, which was eighteen years after. Some think that though the thing were yet to come, yet the prophet speaketh of it as past, because of the certainty of it, which is but what is ordinary in the prophetical writings. Others think that these words were added after the captivity of Jeremiah, writing over his former prophecies. Others from these words judge that this part of the chapter was a prophecy at some other time following what was in the beginning of this chapter. Others think that he adds these words because the carrying into captivity was at this time begun, though not completed until the eleventh year of Zedekiah.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. Jerusalemput first: for”judgment begins at the house of God”; they being mostguilty whose religious privileges are greatest (1Pe4:17).
kingsJehoiakim,Jeconiah, and Zedekiah.
as it is this dayTheaccomplishment of the curse had already begun under Jehoiakim. Thisclause, however, may have been inserted by Jeremiah at his finalrevision of his prophecies in Egypt.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[To wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah,…. Which are mentioned first, because God’s judgments began with them, as they usually do with the house of God, 1Pe 4:17; and even now began; for this very year, in which this prophecy was delivered, Nebuchadnezzar came up and besieged Jerusalem, and carried away some captives, Da 1:1; this was the beginning of what afterwards were more fully executed:
and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof: the Kings Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, with those of their families, the princes of the blood, and their nobles:
to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; to strip them of their crowns and kingdom, of their wealth, and riches, and honour, and bring them into slavery and bondage; so that they became an astonishment to some, to see the change that was made in them; and were hissed stand cursed by others:
(as [it is] this day); which is added, either because of the certainty of it, or because it began to take, place this very year; though more fully in Jeconiah’s time, and still more in Zedekiah’s; or rather this clause might be added by Jeremiah after the captivity; or by Baruch, or by Ezra, or whoever collected his prophecies, and put them into one volume, as Jer 52:1 seems to be added by another hand.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He begins with Jerusalem, as it is said elsewhere that judgment would begin at God’s house. (1Pe 4:17.) And there is nothing opposed to this in the context of the passage; for though he had promised to the children of God a happy end to the evils which they were shortly to endure, he nevertheless enumerates here all the nations on whom God had bidden him to denounce judgments. In this catalogue the Church obtains the first place; for though God be the judge of the whole world, he yet justly begins with his own Church, and that especially for two reasons — for as the father of a family watches over his children and servants, and if there be anything wrong, his solicitude is particularly manifested; so God, as he dwells in his Church, cannot do otherwise than chastise it for its faults; — and then, we know that they are less excusable, who, having been taught the will of God, do yet go on indulging their own lusts, (Luk 12:47😉 for they cannot plead ignorance. Hence is fulfilled what Christ declares, that those servants shall be more grievously beaten, who, knowing their masters will, yet obstinately disregard it. There is, then, a twofold fault in the members of the Church; and no comparison can be made between them and the unbelieving who are in thick darkness. Since God shines in his Church and shews the way, as Moses says,
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Behold I set before you the way of life and of death; I therefore call heaven and earth to witness that there is no excuse for you. (Deu 30:15.)
This, then, is the second reason why God first visits the sins of the faithful, or of those who are counted faithful.
There is also what appertains to an example: God chastises his own children lest he should seem by his indulgence to favor or countenance what is wicked and sinful. But this third reason is in a manner accidental; and therefore I wished to state it apart from the two other reasons. When, therefore, God so severely treats his own Church, the unbelieving ought to draw this conclusion, that if this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? (Luk 23:31.)
But the two things which I have before mentioned ought to be deemed by us as sufficient reasons why God, while suspending his vengeance as to the reprobate, punishes the elect as well as all those who profess themselves to be members of his Church. We now understand why Jeremiah mentions first the holy city, and then all the cities of Judah, the kings also and the princes; for God had with open bosom invited them to himself, but they had, as it were, from determined wickedness, provoked his wrath by despising both his Law and his Prophets.
He afterwards adds, to make them a waste, or a solitude. This was a grievous denunciation, no doubt, and we shall hereafter see that most became enraged against the holy man, and in their fury endeavored to destroy him; yet he with all intrepid mind fully declared what God had commanded him. He adds, an astonishment, and in the third place, an hissing, even that they would become detestable to all; for hissing intimates contempt, reproach, and detestation. In the fourth place he mentions a curse. We have already said what the Prophet meant by this word, even that the Jews would become in this respect a proverb, so that when one cursed another, he would use this form, “May God destroy thee as he destroyed the Jews.”
It is then added, as at this day The Prophet refers, no doubt, to the time of the city’s destruction. God had indeed even then begun to consume the people; but we shall hereafter see that the minds of the greater part were still very haughty: so that they often raised their crests and looked for a new state of things, and depended on aid from the Egyptians. But the Prophet here mentions what was not yet completed, and as it were by the finger, points out the day as having already come in which the city was to be destroyed and the temple burnt up. This, then, refers to the certainty of what he predicted. Some think that it was written after Jeremiah had been led into exile; but this conjecture has nothing to support it. (138) It seems to me enough to suppose that his object was to rouse the Jews from their security, and to shew that in a short time all that he predicted would be accomplished, and that they were no more to doubt of this than if the calamity was now before their eyes. It follows, —
(138) Blayney assents to this conjecture, and not without some reason: he considers that God’s words are broken off at the end of Jer 25:16, and are not resumed till the latter part of Jer 25:26, where God again continues his words thus, “and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.” All the intermediate verses he includes in a parenthesis, and regards them as written either by Baruch or by the Prophet himself after the destruction of Jerusalem, when his prophecies were compiled: and this accounts for the words, “as at this day.” But Gateker rejects this view, and considers this prophecy to have been announced after the Chaldean irruption in the third or fourth year of Jehoiakim, referred to in Dan 1:1. The devastation then produced was great, and finally completed in the reign of Zedekiah. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) As it is this day.The words are not in the LXX., and may probably have been added after the prediction had received its fulfilment in the final capture of Jerusalem and the desolation of the country. Here, as before in Jer. 25:13, we trace the hand of a transcriber. It will be noted that the prophet begins with the judgment about to fall on his own people, and then passes on from the house of God (1Pe. 4:17) to those that are without.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Jerusalem Mentioned first, as being most important, and perhaps, too, most guilty.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 25:18 [To wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as [it is] this day;
Ver. 18. To wit, in Jerusalem. ] Judgment beginneth at God’s house 1Pe 4:17 See Trapp on “ 1Pe 4:17 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 25:41 “ Sed si in Hierosolymis maneat scrutinium, quid fiet in Babylone? saith an ancient.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jerusalem. Comes first (Compare Jer 25:29), because of 1Pe 4:17. Amo 3:2.
and. So some codices, with five early printed editions, Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. Others omit this “and”.
as it is this day. Probably added by Jeremiah when this prophecy had been fulfilled.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jerusalem: Jer 1:10, Jer 19:3-9, Jer 21:6-10, Psa 60:3, Isa 51:17-22, Eze 9:5-8, Dan 9:12, Amo 2:5, Amo 3:2, 1Pe 4:17
to make: Jer 25:9, Jer 25:11, Jer 24:9, Jos 6:18, 2Ki 22:19
as it: Jer 44:22, 1Ki 8:24, Ezr 9:7, Neh 9:36
Reciprocal: Lev 26:32 – And I Deu 28:46 – a sign 2Ch 29:8 – to astonishment Psa 79:4 – become Isa 40:23 – General Jer 9:11 – desolate Jer 19:8 – General Jer 25:33 – the slain Jer 26:6 – a curse Jer 51:25 – which destroyest Jer 51:37 – become Lam 2:15 – they Eze 15:6 – General Eze 29:2 – against all Eze 30:7 – General Dan 9:2 – the desolations Amo 1:7 – a fire Zep 3:6 – cut Zec 8:13 – a curse
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 25:18. This cup of God’s wrath contained enough to serve all who were deserving of it. So the first drink was taken by Judah with her capital of Jerusalem. That drink was to be realized when the Babylonians took possession of the city and led the people away into captivity.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 25:18-21. To wit, Jerusalem and the cities thereof The Jews are mentioned first, because Jeremiah, as well as the rest of the prophets, was in the first place sent to them, and they were to have the greatest share in the judgments denounced. As it is this day This clause speaks of the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem; when all that Jeremiah had foretold against them was fulfilled; and therefore must have been added either by Baruch, his amanuensis, or else by Ezra: or whoever it was that collected Jeremiahs prophecies into one volume, who, it is likely, added the fifty- second chapter. Pharaoh king of Egypt Whose army Nebuchadnezzar overcame before he took Jerusalem. And all the mingled people Or, intermingled, as Blaney translates , joining the expression with the preceding verse, and understanding thereby all the foreigners resident in Egypt, who had, by intermarriages, formed connections with the Egyptians. St. Jerome takes the word in the same sense. Our translators, however, seem to have understood by it a mixture of several nations, dwelling either upon the coasts of the Mediterranean, or of the Red sea. And all the kings of the land of Uz This was the country of Job; but concerning its situation different opinions are entertained. It was most probably on the confines of Idumea, if not a part of it. The daughter of Edom is said to dwell in the land of Uz, Lam 4:21 : see note on Job 1:1. Those who were leaders, or governors of different tribes or families, seem to have had the name of kings: they are now called emirs. And all the kings of the Philistines The princes of the different districts, or cities, into which Philistia was divided, namely, Ashkelon and Azzah, &c. And the remnant of Ashdod Or Azotus, which had been very much ruined by two sieges in which it was taken, the one by Tartan, the Assyrian general, mentioned Isa 20:1; the other by Psammitichus, king of Egypt, who retook it after the longest siege that had even been known in those times: Herodot. lib. 2. c. 157. The prophecy respecting the Philistines is contained in chap. 47. Edom Or rather, And Edom As the LXX., Syr., and Vul. read, with seven MSS. For the prophecies concerning Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites, see chap. 48. and Jer 49:1-22.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:18 [That is], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and her kings, and her princes, to make them a desolation, an horror, an hissing, and a curse; {n} as [it is] this day;
(n) For now it begins and will so continue till it is accomplished.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jeremiah sent messages of judgment to Jerusalem and Judah, Egypt, the land of Uz (to the east, Job 1:1), Philistia, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon and their colonies in the Mediterranean, the desert areas of Dedan and Tema (both southeast of Edom), Buz (possibly in northern Arabia), some desert Arab tribes and nations, Zimri (perhaps between Arabia and Persia), Elam and Media (east of the Tigris River), other nations farther north and everywhere else, and Babylon. The name "Sheshach" (Jer 25:26) is apparently a code name for Babylon that the writer may have used when writing under Babylonian scrutiny. [Note: See Feinberg, p. 535. The same code, called atbash, occurs in 51:1 and 41 (cf. 1 Peter 5:13). For further explanation of this code, see Dyer, "Jeremiah," p. 1162.] Babylon conquered all these other nations.