Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 26:4
And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
4. my law ] See on Jer 8:8. Here the reference, as the following clause indicates, is to the doctrinal rather than the ritual teaching.
I have set before you ] See on Jer 9:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 4. If ye will not hearken] This and several of the following verses are nearly the same with those in Jer 7:13, &c., where see the notes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A course of actions in Scripture is ordinarily called a way; in which sense we often read of
the way of the Lord, the way of the wicked, the way of the righteous, & c.; and a motion in this course is usually called walking, Psa 1:1; Eze 18:9, and applied both to God and men. To walk in Gods laws is expounded by hearkening unto them, or (as in other places) by observing, keeping, and doing them. God is said to have set his laws before them, both in respect of their first promulgation to them at Sinai, and writing them in tables; and the daily expositions and urging of them upon their practice by his servants the prophets, as it followeth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And thou shalt say unto them,…. What follows is the substance of the prophecy, and the sum of the sermon or discourse he was sent to deliver, without diminishing a word of it:
thus saith the Lord, if ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law which I have set before you; first by Moses, by whose hands it was given to their fathers; and by the prophets, the interpreters of it to them; before whom it was set as a way for them to walk in, and a rule to walk by; a directory for them in their lives and conversations; and which continues to be so, as it is set before us Christians by our King and Lawgiver Jesus Christ; though not to obtain righteousness and life by the works of it; which should not be sought for, nor are attainable thereby.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet now briefly includes what he had been teaching, what he had been commanded to declare to the people. No doubt he spoke to them more at large; but he deemed it enough to shew in a few words what had been committed to him. And the sum of it was, that except the Jews so hearkend as to walk in God’s Law, and were submissive to the prophets, final ruin was nigh the Temple and the city. This is the meaning: but it may be useful to consider every particular.
By these words, Except ye hearken to me, to walk in my law, God intimates, that he mainly requires obedience, and esteems nothing as much, according to what he says, that it is better than all sacrifices. (1Sa 15:22.) This subject was largely treated in the seventh chapter, where he said,
“
Did I command your fathers when they came out of Egypt to offer sacrifices to me? this only I required, even to hear my voice.” (Jer 7:22)
We hence see, that the only way of living piously, justly, holily, and uprightly, is to allow ourselves to be ruled by the Lord. This is one thing. Then what follows is worthy of being noticed, To walk in my law God here testifies that his will is not ambiguous or doubtful, for he has prescribed what is right in his law. Were God then to descend a hundred times from heaven, he would bring nothing but this message, that he has spoken what is necessary to be known, and that his Law is the most perfect wisdom. Had he said only, “Hear me,” men might have still evaded and avowed themselves ready to learn. God therefore does here silence hypocrites, and says that he required nothing else but to follow his Law. And for the same purpose he adds what follows, which I have set before you: for this kind of speaking intimates that the doctrine of the Law was by no means obscure or doubtful, as Moses said,
“
I this day call heaven and earth to witness, that I have set life and death before your eyes.” (Deu 30:19)
And in another place he said,
“
Say not, Who shall ascend above the clouds? or, Who shall descend into the abyss? or, Who shall pass beyond the sea? The word is in thy heart and in thy mouth,” (Deu 30:12; Rom 10:6)
as though he had said, “God has deprived you of every excuse, for there is no reason for doubting, since he has spoken so familiarly to you, and has explained everything necessary to be known.”
And hereby is confuted the impious blasphemy of the Papists, who impudently assert that not only the Law is obscure, but also the Gospel. And Paul also loudly declares, that the Gospel is not obscure except to those who perish, and who have a veil over their hearts, being visited with judicial blindness. But as to the Law, in which there is no such plainness as in the Gospel, we see what Jeremiah affirms here, that it was set before the eyes of all, that they might learn from it what pleased God, and what was just and right.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
2. A stirring message (Jer. 26:4-6)
Jeremiahs sermon in the courtyard of the Temple must have been quite a bombshell! It stirred a hornets nest of opposition. Doubtlessly in Jer. 26:4-6 only a brief summary of the sermon preached on this occasion has been preserved. Had the entire message been recorded it would probably have included a stinging indictment for injustice, hypocrisy and rebellion against God. No doubt it included threats of the enemy from the north which would devastate the land. The summary which has been preserved here contains two points of emphasis. First, there is an oblique call for repentance (Jer. 26:4-5). Jeremiah is here threatening the people that if they do not do certain things they will be punished. This is tantamount to calling upon the people to act in certain ways. Basically Jeremiah is calling upon them to hearken to the Lord. This involves two distinct responses on the part of the people. First they must listen to the voice of God as it was recorded in the ancient law of Moses. While he frequently condemned formalism and ritualism Jeremiah never minimized the importance of obedience to the written law of God. Second, the people must listen to the contemporary spokesmen of God, the prophets. The people thus far had failed to give credence to the words of Gods servants even though He had persistently sent them unto the nation (Jer. 26:5).
In no uncertain terms Jeremiah spells out the consequences of impenitence in this Temple sermon (Jer. 26:6). Two distinct threats are contained here in the summary of his message. First, God threatens to make this house, i.e., the Temple, like Shiloh. The shrine at Shiloh had been destroyed centuries before, apparently by the Philistine invasion during the judgeship of Eli (1Sa. 4:10-11). A persistent delusion in the days of Jeremiah was that God would never allow His sanctuary to be destroyed by any foreign enemy. The prophet here marshals the facts of history to support his contention that no spot was too sacred to be decimated when God pours out His wrath upon a sinful people. The second threat in Jer. 26:6 concerns the city. God would make it a curse among the nations of the earth. That is to say, God would so destroy Jerusalem that when anyone wished a pronounce a curse on a city he would say, May such and such a city become like Jerusalem!
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(4, 5) To walk in my law, which I have set before you.The words present more vividly than in the parallels of Jer. 7:25; Jer. 25:4 the relation of the Law as the groundwork of the teaching of the Prophets, their office being that of preachers and expounders, making men feel that the commandment was exceeding broad. The Law and the Prophets are already coupled together, as in Mat. 5:17; Mat. 22:40, as making up Gods revelation of His will to Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 26:4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
Ver. 4. If ye will not hearken unto me. ] A conditional menace, the contrary promise whereunto see Jer 26:13 . And this was the sum of all Jeremiah’s sermons.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
If ye will not hearken. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:14. Deu 28:15). App-92.
My law. Reference to Pentateuch (Ex. 20).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
If: Lev 26:14-46, Deu 28:15-68, Deu 29:18-28, Deu 31:16-18, Deu 31:20, Deu 32:15-25, Jos 23:15, Jos 23:16, 1Ki 9:6, 2Ch 7:19, 2Ch 7:20, Neh 9:26-30, Isa 1:20, Isa 42:23-25
which: Jer 44:10, Deu 4:8, Deu 4:44, Deu 11:32, Heb 6:18
Reciprocal: 2Ki 17:13 – keep Neh 10:29 – to walk Jer 17:27 – ye will Hos 9:17 – because
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 26:4. The words if ye will not hearken should he understood in the sense of since ye did not hearken.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jeremiah’s message was basically this: If the people continued to refuse to listen to the Lord through His prophets, and to disobey the Mosaic Covenant, He would destroy the temple and Jerusalem. The temple would suffer complete destruction as the town of Shiloh had, and Jerusalem would become a curse, namely, an object of ridicule and an example of horrible suffering (cf. Gen 12:3). Making the temple like Shiloh would involve three things: desecration of the sanctuary, removal of the holy furniture, and withdrawal of Yahweh’s name. [Note: Pamela J. Scalise, Jeremiah 26-52, p. 16. This commentary appears under Keown, Scalise, and Smothers in the bibliography.] The Philistines evidently destroyed the town of Shiloh about 1104 B.C. during the battle of Aphek (cf. Jer 7:12; Jer 7:14; 1 Samuel 4).