Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 27:1
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim ] It is clear from Jer 27:3 ; Jer 27:12 ; Jer 27:20 that for Jehoiakim we must read (with mg.) Zedekiah (so Syr.). The LXX omit the verse. It is a later insertion in the text either in its present form, or more probably with Zedekiah’s name, as in ch. Jer 28:1, whence the time-heading should probably be transposed here (see above). The substitution of “Jehoiakim” may have arisen through the influence of Jer 26:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Of Jehoiakim – Really, of Zedekiah, as the Syriac reads (see Jer 27:3). In the Septuagint the verse is missing. Some scribe has confused the title of this chapter with that of Jer. 26.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXVII
Ambassadors being come from several neighbouring nations to
solicit the king of Judah to join in a confederacy against the
king of Babylon, Jeremiah is commanded to put bands and yokes
upon his neck, (the emblems of subjection and slavery,) and to
send them afterwards by those ambassadors to their respective
princes; intimating by this significant type that God had
decreed their subjection to the Babylonian empire, and that it
was their wisdom to submit. It is farther declared that all the
conquered nations shall remain in subjection to the Chaldeans
during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and those of his son and
grandson, even till the arrival of that period in which the
Babylonians shall have filled up the measure of their
iniquities; and that then the mighty Chaldean monarchy itself,
for a certain period the paramount power of the habitable
globe, shall be voted with a dreadful storm of Divine wrath,
through the violence of which it shall be dashed to pieces like
a potter’s vessel, the fragments falling into the hands of many
nations and great kings, 1-11.
Zedekiah, particularly, is admonished not to join to the revolt
against Nebuchadnezzar, and warned against trusting to the
suggestions of false prophets, 11-18.
The chapter concludes with foretelling that what still remained
of the sacred vessels of the temple should be carried to
Babylon, and not restored till after the destruction of the
Chaldean empire, 19-22.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVII
Verse 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim] It is most evident that his prophecy was delivered about the fourth year of ZEDEKIAH, and not Jehoiakim, as in the text. See Jer 28:1. Three of Kennicott’s MSS. (one in the text, a second in the margin, and the third upon a rasure) have Zedekiah; so likewise have the Syriac and the Arabic. Houbigant, Lowth, Blayney, Dahler, and others declare for this reading against that in the present text. And it is clear from the third and twelfth verses, where Zedekiah is expressly mentioned, that this is the true reading.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Here is a difficulty ariseth from this verse, which there have been various attempts to resolve, and whether any hath been fully satisfactory I doubt. It is said this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, and, Jer 27:3, the prophet is bid to send the bonds and yokes by the hand of the messengers which came to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah, who began not to reign till about eleven years after the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. To solve this difficulty,
1. Some think Jehoiakim was a common name to all the sons of Josiah, and that Zedekiah is here called Jehoiakim, but I see no foundation for that conjecture from holy writ.
2. Others think it is an error in those that copied out the prophecies, but it is dangerous to admit that.
3. Others think that the prophecy came in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, but was to be concealed until the reign of Zedekiah.
4. I had rather agree with those who think that this command came to the prophet first in the time of Jehoiakim, but was to be repeated by the prophet often, and accordingly was so until and in the time of Zedekiah; not that he always went about with bonds and yokes about his neck, but that by times lie put them on, and went about with them, as a type of that bondage which the Jews were suddenly to endure.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. JehoiakimThe prophecy thatfollows was according to this reading given in the fourth year ofJehoiakim, fifteen years before it was published in the reign ofZedekiah to whom it refers; it was thus long deposited in theprophet’s bosom, in order that by it he might be supported undertrials in his prophetic career in the interim [CALVIN].But “Zedekiah” may be the true reading. So theSyriac and Arabic Versions. Jer 27:3;Jer 27:12; Jer 28:1,confirm this; also, one of KENNICOTT’Smanuscripts. The English Version reading may haveoriginated from Jer 26:1. “Sonof Josiah” applies to Zedekiah as truly as to “Jehoiakim”or “Eliakim.” The fourth year may, in a generalsense here, as in Jer 28:1, becalled “the beginning of his reign,” as it lasted elevenyears (2Ki 24:18). It was notlong after the fourth year of his reign that he rebelled againstNebuchadnezzar (Jer 51:59;Jer 52:3; 2Ki 24:20),in violation of an oath before God (2Ch36:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah,…. This is the same date with the prophecy of the preceding chapter and some think that this verse should conclude that, as belonging to it; and by which they would reconcile a difficulty that arises here; the orders for making the yokes being given in the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign, which yet were to be sent to the messengers of the neighbouring kings that were come to Zedekiah at Jerusalem, who did not begin to reign until eleven years after this time; but the word “saying”, at the end of the verse, shows it not to belong to the preceding, but to what follows: others think it is a mistake of the copy, and that Jehoiakim is put for Zedekiah; and the Syriac and Arabic versions read Zedekiah; but he was not the son of Josiah, as this king is said to be, but his brother: others therefore think, that though the prophecy was delivered to Jeremiah, and the orders were given him to make the bonds and yokes after mentioned, at this time; yet this prophecy was concealed with him, and the orders were not executed till Zedekiah’s time; or that the prophet, in the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign, made the yokes as he was ordered, and put one on his neck, to signify the subjection of Judah to the king of Babylon, which quickly took place, about the third or fourth year of this reign; and that the rest were sent to the ambassadors of the neighbouring nations in Zedekiah’s time; which latter seems most probable:
came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying; as follows. This verse is not in the common editions of the Septuagint; but it is in the king of Spain’s Bible.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Yoke of Babylon. – In three sections, connected as to their date and their matter, Jeremiah prophesies to the nations adjoining Judah (Jer 27:2-11), to King Zedekiah (Jer 27:12-15), and to the priests and all the people (Jer 27:16-22), that God has laid on them the yoke of the king of Babylon, and that they ought to humble themselves under His almighty hand.
According to the (corrected) heading, the prophecy was given in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. If we compare Jer 28 we find the same date: “in that year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah,” more fully defined as the fourth year of his reign. Graf has made objection, that in the case of a reign of eleven years, one could not well speak of the fourth year as the beginning of the reign. But the idea of beginning is relative (cf. Gen 10:10), and does not necessarily coincide with that of the first year. The reign of Zedekiah is divided into two halves: the first period, or beginning, when he was elevated by Nebuchadnezzar, and remained subject to him, and the after or last period, when he had rebelled against his liege lord.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Nebuchadnezzar’s Victories Predicted. | B. C. 597. |
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, 3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; 4 And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; 5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. 6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. 7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. 8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. 11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
Some difficulty occurs in the date of this prophecy. This word is said to come to Jeremiah in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (v. 1), and yet the messengers, to whom he is to deliver the badges of servitude, are said (v. 3) to come to Zedekiah king of Judah, who reigned not till eleven years after the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. Some make it an error of the copy, and think that it should be read (v. 1), In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, for which some negligent scribe, having his eye on the title of the foregoing chapter, wrote Jehoiakim. And, if one would admit a mistake any where, it should be here, for Zedekiah is mentioned again (v. 12), and the next prophecy is dated the same year, and said to be in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, ch. xxviii. 1. Dr. Lightfoot solves it thus: In the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign Jeremiah is to make these bonds and yokes, and to put them upon his own neck, in token of Judah’s subjection to the king of Babylon, which began at that time; but he is to send them to the neighbouring kings afterwards in the reign of Zedekiah, of whose succession to Jehoiakim, and the ambassadors sent to him, mention is made by way of prediction.
I. Jeremiah is to prepare a sign of the general reduction of all these countries into subjection to the king of Babylon (v. 2): Make thee bonds and yokes, yokes with bonds to fasten them, that the beast may not slip his neck out of the yoke. Into these the prophet must put his own neck to make them taken notice of as a prophetic representation; for every one would enquire, What is the meaning of Jeremiah’s yokes? We find him with one on, ch. xxviii. 10. Hereby he intimated that he advised them to nothing but what he was resolved to do himself; for he was not one of those that bind heavy burdens on others, which they themselves will not touch with one of their fingers. Ministers must thus lay themselves under the weight and obligation of what they preach to others.
II. He is to send this, with a sermon annexed to it, to all the neighbouring princes; those are mentioned (v. 3) that lay next to the land of Canaan. It should seem, there was a treaty of alliance on foot between the king of Judah and all those other kings. Jerusalem was the place appointed for the treaty. Thither they all sent their plenipotentiaries; and it was agreed that they should bind themselves in a league offensive and defensive, to stand by one another, in opposition to the growing threatening greatness of the king of Babylon, and to reduce his exorbitant power. They had great confidence in their strength thus united, and were ready to call themselves the high allies; but, when the envoys were returning to their respective masters with the ratification of this treaty, Jeremiah gives each of them a yoke to carry to his master, to signify to him that he must either by consent or by compulsion become a servant to the king of Babylon, let him choose which he will. In the sermon upon this sign, 1. God asserts his own indisputable right to dispose of kingdoms as he pleases, v. 5. He is the Creator of all things; he made the earth at first, established it, and it abides: it is still the same, though one generation passes away and another comes. He still by a continued creation produces man and beast upon the ground, and it is by his great power and outstretched arm. His arm has infinite strength, though it be stretched out. Upon this account he may give and convey a property and dominion to whomsoever he pleases. As he hath graciously given the earth to the children of men in general (Ps. cxv. 16), so he give to each his share of it, be it more or less. Note, Whatever any have of the good things of this world, it is what God sees fit to give them; we ourselves should therefore be content, though we have ever so little, and not envy any their share, though they have ever so much. 2. He publishes a grant of all these countries to Nebuchadnezzar. Know all men by these presents. Sciant prsentes et futuri–Let those of the present and those of the future age know. “This is to certify to all whom it may concern that I have given all these lands, with all the wealth of them, into the hands of the king of Babylon; even the beasts of the field, whether tame or wild, have I given to him, parks and pastures; they are all his own.” Nebuchadnezzar was a proud wicked man, an idolater; and yet God, in his providence, gives him this large dominion, these vast possessions. Note, The things of this world are not the best things, for God often gives the largest share of them to bad men, that are rivals with him and rebels against him. He was a wicked man, and yet what he had he had by divine grant. Note, Dominion is not founded in grace. Those that have not any colourable title to eternal happiness may yet have a justifiable title to their temporal good things. Nebuchadnezzar is a very bad man, and yet God calls him his servant, because he employed him as an instrument of his providence for the chastising of the nations, and particularly his own people; and for his service therein he thus liberally repaid him. Those whom God makes use of shall not lose by him; much more will he be found the bountiful rewarder of all those that designedly and sincerely serve him. 3. He assures them that they should all be unavoidably brought under the dominion of the king of Babylon for a time (v. 7): All nations, all these nations and many others, shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son. His son was Evil-merodach, and his son’s son Belshazzar, in whom his kingdom ceased: then the time of reckoning with his land came, when the tables were turned, and many nations and great kings, incorporated into the empire of the Medes and Persians, served themselves of him, as before, ch. xxv. 14. Thus Adonibezek was trampled upon himself, as he had trampled on other kings. 4. He threatens those with military execution that stood out and would not submit to the king of Babylon (v. 8): That nation that will not put their neck under his yoke I will punish with sword and famine, with one judgment after another, till it is consumed by his hand. Nebuchadnezzar was very unjust and barbarous in invading the rights and liberties of his neighbours thus, and forcing them into a subjection to him; yet God had just and holy ends in permitting him to do so, to punish these nations for their idolatry and gross immoralities. Those that would not serve the God that made them were justly made to serve their enemies that sought to ruin them. 5. He shows them the vanity of all the hopes they fed themselves with, that they should preserve their liberties, Jer 27:9; Jer 27:10. These nations had their prophets too, that pretended to foretell future events by the stars, or by dreams, or enchantments; and they, to please their patrons, and because they would themselves have it so, flattered them with assurances that they should not serve the king of Babylon. Thus they designed to animate them to a vigorous resistance; and, though they had no ground for it, they hoped hereby to do them service. But he tells them that it would prove to their destruction; for by resisting they would provoke the conqueror to deal severely with them, to remove them, and drive them out into a miserable captivity, in which they should all be lost and buried in oblivion. Particular prophecies against these nations that bordered on Israel severally, the ruin of which is here foretold in the general, we shall meet with, Jer 48:1-49; Eze 25:1-17, which had the same accomplishment with this here. Note, When God judges he will overcome. 6. He puts them in a fair way to prevent their destruction by a quiet and easy submission, v. 11. The nations that will be content to serve the king of Babylon, and pay him tribute for seventy years (ten apprenticeships), those will I let remain still in their own land. Those that will bend shall not break. Perhaps the dominion of the king of Babylon may bear no harder upon them than that of their own kings had done. It is often more a point of honour than true wisdom to prefer liberty before life. It is not mentioned to the disgrace of Issachar that because he saw rest was good, and the land pleasant, that he might peaceably enjoy it, he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute (Gen 49:14; Gen 49:15), as these are here advised to do: Serve the king of Babylon and you shall till the land and dwell therein. Some would condemn this as the evidence of a mean spirit, but the prophet recommends it as that of a meek spirit, which yields to necessity, and by a quiet submission to the hardest turns of Providence makes the best of bad: it is better to do so than by struggling to make it worse.
| ——Levius fit patientia Quicquid corrigere est nefas.—-HOR. ——When we needs must bear, Enduring patience makes the burden light. |
| CREECH. |
Many might have prevented destroying providences by humbling themselves under humbling providences. It is better to take up a lighter cross in our way than to pull a heavier on our own head.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
JEREMIAH – CHAPTER 27
JEHOVAH COUNSELS JUDAH’S NEIGHBORS.
“SUBMIT TO NEBUCHADNEZZAR, AND PROSPER!”
Vs. 1-11: A PROPHET WITH A YOKE ON
1. There has been considerable controversy over whether this prophecy was received by Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoiakim or Zedekiah; whenever it came to him, it was clearly FOR the days of Zedekiah.
2. Jeremiah is commanded to make yokes for use as an Objectlesson directed at the nations surrounding Judah.
a. Envoys from these nations were assembling in Jerusalem in the hope of effecting an alliance against Babylon.
b. The yoke of wooden bars laced together by thongs, and worn around the prophet’s neck, symbolically depicted the hopeless folly of any attempt to throw off the yoke of Babylon.
c. Having arrested the attention of the ambassadors of the nations, Jeremiah was then instructed to send a message by them to their respective kings, (vs. 3-4).
3. Jehovah, the God of Israel, has created the earth and everything upon it, (Jer 10:12; Jer 51:15; Psa 146:5-6).
a. He is absolutely sovereign over His creation, (Jer 32:17; Eph 1:11).
b. By the power of His outstretched arm He gives the rule of it to whoever it seems right to Him, (Act 17:25-26).
4. It now pleases Him to give dominion into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon -who will serve His divine purpose, (vs 6-7).
a. For an appointed time all those nations are delivered into his hand, and must serve him, (Jer 21:7; Jer 22:25; comp. Eze 29:18-20).
b. The beasts of the earth will also be placed under his dominion, (Jer 28:14).
c. They will serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son and grandson, (comp. Jer 44:30; Jer 46:13).
d. Then, when they have run their appointed course, they will become the servants of “nations and kings” – the Medes and Persians, under Darius and Cyrus, (Jer 25:12; Zec 2:7-9; Isa 14:4-6).
5. In the meantime, any nation that refuses to place itself under the authority of Nebuchadnezzar will be punished with sword, famine and disease until it is destroyed, (vs. 8; Jer 38:17-19; Jer 42:15-16; Eze 17:19-21).
6. These kings are warned against listening to their own lying prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers and sorcerers who assure them that they will NEVER serve the king of Babylon, (vs. 9-10).
7. The nation that voluntarily accepts the yoke, and serves the king of Babylon, will not be uprooted, but will be permitted to remain and cultivate its own land, (vs. 11; comp. Jer 2:19; Jer 38:2; Jer 40:9-12; Jer 42:10-11).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Jeremiah prefaces this prediction by saying, that it was delivered to him at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. But this beginning, as we have said, extended to the whole of his reign while it was prosperous and entire. While, then, Jehoiakim enjoyed a quiet possession of the kingdom, Jeremiah was bidden to make known what had been committed to him, not to Jehoiakim himself, but, as we learn from the third verse, to Zedekiah who had not immediately succeeded him, but became at last king after various changes. God, then, committed this prophecy to his servant, but did not design it to be immediately promulgated. If it be asked, why God designed what he purposed to be made known to be concealed for so long a time? the answer is this, — that it was done for the sake of the Prophet himself, in order that he might with more alacrity perform his office, knowing of a certainty that no one thought that it could ever happen, and certainly the thing was incredible. (177)
God’s design then was to communicate this to his Prophet himself, that he might see afar off what no one, as I have just said, had thought could ever come to pass. This is the reason, as I think, why this prophecy was not immediately published, but was like a treasure deposited in the Prophet’s bosom, until the ripened time came. I shall defer till tomorrow the explanation of this prophecy.
(177) The manner in which Calvin accounts for this prophecy being so long kept hid is ingenious; but modern authors are not satisfied. Lightfoot says, that Jeremiah was ordered to make these yokes in Jehoiakim’s time to signify the subjection of Judah to the king of Babylon, but that he was ordered to send them to foreign kings in the reign of Zedekiah. The first verse is omitted in the Sept.; the Greek version as given by Theodoret, has “Jehoiakim,” and so the Vulg. and the Targ., but the Syr. and Arab. have “Zedekiah;” and there are three Hebrew MSS. in which the same is found. What seems most decisive is the beginning of the next chapter, where Hananiah comes forward in “the fourth year” of Zedekiah and breaks the yoke of Jeremiah. Gataker, Henry, Lowth, Scott, and Blayney, are all inclined to think that the mistake originally was that of the scribe. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.1. Chronology of the Chapter.Beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. There is authority for reading Zedekiah instead of Jehoiakim. Henderson substitutes Zedekiah, and appeals to chap. Jer. 28:1, to the statements in Jer. 27:3; Jer. 27:12 of this chap. 27, to the reading of one of Kennicotts MSS., and to the authority of the Syriac and Arabic versions. Further, Lowth, Blayney, Michaelis, Rosenmller, Dahler, Maurer, Umbriet, Ewald, Payne Smith, &c., sustain this change of names. The allusion in Jer. 27:12 indicates that Zedekiah is the king meant, for both sections of the chapter are synchronous in time and identical in meaning. Probably the reading in the E. V. may have originated from chap. Jer. 26:1. Calvin, however, takes the text as it stands, and suggests that Jeremiah kept this prophecy long secreted in his bosom ere he uttered it. If the true reading is Zedekiah then the fourth year of chap. Jer. 28:1, agrees with in the beginning of the reign of chap. Jer. 27:1, on the theory that, as Zedekiahs reign lasted eleven years, it was early in his reign when the prophecy was proclaimed: vide chronological notes to chap. 21.
For2. Contemporary Scriptures; 3. National Affairs; and 4. Contemporary History, vide chap. 21 in loc.
5. Personal Allusions.Jer. 27:3. Zedekiah: vide notes to chap. 1 in loc. Jer. 27:20, Jeconiah: vide chap. Jer. 22:24. Jer. 27:7. His son, and his sons son. Nebuchadnezzar had four successors, Evil-Merodach his son; Neriglissar the husband of Nebuchadnezzars daughter; Laborosoarehad the son of Neriglissar; and Naboned the son of Evil-Merodach. The intermediate two successors are passed over in this prophecy, and only the direct descendants, his son and sons son, are recognised.
6. Manners and Customs.Jer. 27:9. Prophets, diviners, dreamers, enchanters, sorcerers: vide on chap. Jer. 23:25. These were all sources of prognostication current among the heathen who implicitly rested in such superstitions.
7. Literary Criticisms.Jer. 27:1. The entire verse is absent from the LXX. Jer. 27:2. Bonds and yokes. are the two wooden prongs or poles of the yoke, which were fastened together by bonds, .
Jer. 27:9. The word enchanters is by some interpreters derived from cloud: cloud-makers or storm-raisers; and by others from eye, gazers at the stars and other means of taking omens of futurity.
Jer. 27:11. Serve him till it. The same Hebrew root signifies both serve and till, or cultivate. Serve ye the king of Babylon, and the land will serve you (Calvin).
TOPICAL SURVEY OF THE CHAPTER
Doubtless the five kings (Jer. 27:3) had sent ambassadors to Jerusalem to consult with Zedekiah about entering into a defensive covenant against the threatening and alarming Babylonish power. Jeremiah has to meet these messengers with plain and emphatic statements as to the sure course of events.
I. A summons to submit to the inevitable ascendancy of Babylon.
Those bonds and yokes would have to be worn (Jer. 27:2). And what God said to these five kings He said afterwards specifically also to Zedekiah (Jer. 27:12).
i. The inevitable fact. Nebuchadnezzar must be supreme, however these kings might think to resist the decree.
1. Because God was the King of kings. The Almighty, who made the earth and man and beast, had decisively given dominion over them all to the one monarch they dreaded (Jer. 27:5). And none shall stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?
2. Because Nebuchadnezzar was serving the will of the Supreme King. Unconsciously doing this, yet none the less doing it. He was Gods servant (Jer. 27:6). There was a purpose in Gods mind, and He had chosen the Babylonish king to fulfil it.
3. Because a defined period had been set for this ascendancy. The very time of his land was clearly fixed in the Divine mind; its beginning and its end (Jer. 27:7). Compare Topic: Seventy Years Captivity, chap. Jer. 25:11-12, infra, p. 471.
ii. The results of resistance. See Jer. 27:8.
1. Resistance of Gods purpose would be marked by God. He would carefully note the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar. God was watching. He keeps His eye on the conduct of kings. The Supreme Ruler looks down from heaven upon the earth to see if any will understand. Having made known His will to these kings, He will observe their action; for resistance of Gods purpose is disobedience against Him.
2. Severe punishment from God Himself would follow their disobedience. He had other agencies at His command besides the armies of Babylon, and would let loose on those who conspired against Nebuchadnezzar the sword, the famine, and the pestilence; and the destruction these should effect should be more complete, until I have consumed them.
Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth: serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling (Psa. 2:10-11).
II. Warnings against the delusive flatteries of false counsellors.
Evil teachers would not be idle at this crisis: they moved among the people boastful of a higher wisdom and a finer patriotism. Their object was to throw discredit on Jeremiah and lead the nation into a policy of resistance of Babylon.
1. Flattery assumes many forms: prophecy, divination, dreams, enchantments, sorcery (Jer. 27:9). It adopts any aspect which may beguile the heart. Evil seducers are fertile in resources.
2. Flatterers appeal to human vanity. Nothing could more foster the natural arrogance than this statement: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon. Those who would lead us to disobey Gods word always come with announcement that no penalties shall follow. The serpent said, Ye shall not surely die (Gen. 3:4).
But God here points out
a. The direful results to the people of their accepting these flattering counsels (Jer. 27:10; Jer. 27:15).
b. The merciful ameliorations which should attend their regarding Gods counsels (Jer. 27:11; Jer. 27:17).
III. Promises of preservation and restoration conditional on a wise submission.
Although Jeremiah held out no delusive hope of speedy restoration, but confronted the false prophets lying words with condemnation (Jer. 27:16-17), nevertheless he gives cheering assurances to the people if they would hear Gods word.
1. The inevitable conquest would not be disastrous. The city would not be laid waste (Jer. 27:17), and captives with sacred treasures would be safe in Babylon (Jer. 27:22).
2. The cherished symbols of their religion would be preserved. For God would keep them from destruction even in Babylon (Jer. 27:19-22). Both priests and people set store by these relics of a bygone magnificence (Payne Smith).
3. The captivity should terminate in their Divinely effected restoration. Until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up and restore them to this place (Jer. 27:22).
COMMENTS AND OUTLINES ON CHAPTER 27
Jer. 27:2-3. YOKES FOR THE CONFEDERATE KINGS.
Notes: The symbol was appropriate, inasmuch as their intention was to form a league to cast off from themselves the yoke of Babylon.
Jeremiah must actually have worn his yoke in public as a symbol of subjection to the king of Babylon, for Hananiah took the yoke from the prophets neck and broke it (chap. Jer. 28:10-11). Consequently we must infer that the bonds and yokes were literally given to these messengers for their royal masters.
These yokes were, in this instance (says Henderson), the collars placed on the necks of slaves to which chains were attached.
Jeremiahs task demanded much moral courage and steadfast faith in God; for his act would seem an insult to these foreign ambassadors, and a provocation to his own countrymen, who were so hopeful of resisting Nebuchadnezzars aggression by this conspiracy.
Note
i.
Unpopular tasks may have to be performed by Gods servants.
ii.
A blow struck at pride may save men from great disasters.
iii.
Faithful servants of God may have to imperil themselves in averting perils from others. Jeremiah had to bear the anger his mission incurred in endeavouring to rescue these confederating kings from their ruinous policy.
Jer. 27:5. Theme: GOD THE SUPREME LORD OF KINGS.
I. Gods all-commanding power is set in contrast with the confederated power of these puny kings. Their combination would be futile to alter events which He had ordained.
II. Gods supreme lordship is affirmed as explaining the temporary ascendancy determined for the Babylonish monarch. It was not for his merits, but for Jehovahs purposes.
III. Gods government of men is regulated by moral aims and is designed for the vindication of righteous laws. He was now employing Nebuchadnezzar to chastise pride and apostasy.
M. Henry remarks here: The things of the world are not the best things, for God often gives the largest share of them to bad men, that are rivals with Him and rebels against Him. Dominion is not founded in grace. Those who have not any colourable title to eternal happiness may yet have a justifiable title to their temporal good things.
Jer. 27:5. Theme: MEETNESS BEFORE GOD.
And have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. A principle rules the universethe absolute sovereignty of God. Evils come of acknowledging this in theory but not in practice; much loss of stabilityrepiningway wardnessdisobedience, &c.
I. God is the proprietor of all. He tells all the kings that He made all the lands and gave them all to one, because it seemeth meet to Him.
1. Mans forgetfulness of this in daily life. We live among things, all of which have an Owner higher than ourselves! We do not trace the Father in the gifts He surrounds us with.
2. The harmony of mans being requires a sense of dependence. He is not happy till he realise dependence on God. Use possessions as Gods: this gives pleasure in their use.
3. Depression results from stopping short of God. We are satisfied with nothing till we see God in it.
II. Wisdom and sovereignty go together. Unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.
1. No comfort to know we live under an absolute Sovereign. Sovereignty might be deleterious to us. But every course of action He determines on is so determined because of its true goodness: it is not arbitrary, but the purpose of deliberate wisdom.
2. God gives according to seeming fitness. Our acting on this principle often proves a mistake. We err. But God sees deeper than what seems.
III. The unerring mind of God: i.e., concerning the meetness of things. The thought of it should lead us to
1. Cultivate an adoring spirit. Avoid what the natural spirit in us would prompt to, viz., criticism and probable discontent. Cherish the song of Moses and the LambJust and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
2. Rest on Him in simple belief. With an unveiled intelligence sometimes, and sometimes in darkest nights. We are hidden in clefts of a rock when He passes by. If we want to see the reasons, or to reconcile Gods ways with our notions, we shall remain troubled to the end.
3. There is immense comfort for us in reposing in Gods law of meetness. It takes you behind all fogs and mistakes. Jesus Himself went there: Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight. It assures us that right principles are at work. It affirms that He can do for us, and give to us, and keep from us, as He knows best for us.
4. The effect of contemplating this meetness will be submission, grounded on the consciousness that there is no injustice being done us by God. And we shall submit (a) from a wise consciousness of the uselessness of contending with the mind of God; for what seems right to Him cannot be changed. We shall come to submit, too, (b) from the consciousness that all things are being arranged on deeper principles than we can investigate. We shall quiet repinings by the thought that my Father sees meet, and therefore I leave the why of it: there will be resignation.
5. So with permitted evil.
6. Equally so with the existence of some mysteriespossibly everlasting.
7. The satisfaction of the heart which recognises meetness. For so the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep our hearts and minds. Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.Constructed and condensed from Breviates by Rev. P. B. Power, M. A.
Jer. 27:5. Theme: THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.
I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.
Divine declaration of a well-attested fact, i.e., the supreme power of God and the impotency of man: e.g., Sennacherib (2Ki. 19:35-37), who had the night before been gathering up his strength like a proud tower to dash himself against the towers of Zion. When the morning dawns his 180,000 men are still there, with sword and spear and helmet and streaming banner; but these banners wave over a silent camp, the trumpet lies beside silent lipsit is a camp of death. Sword and spear are still intact, but the arms that wielded them are impotent. The destroying angel has descended at midnight and converted the Assyrian camp into a sepulchre! Also, e.g., destruction of Spanish Armada as if by miracle.
I. God as Creator. I have made the earth, &c., His prerogative to rule, to govern, and to direct.
Directing all the operations of nature to their proper end. All things hang on His will and are dependent upon Him. The starry hosts of heaven depending upon Him for their course, as well as the meanest moss or lichen on the wall for its growth. Not only every flower, but every portion of itits petals, its colour, its form, its odourare distinct witnesses to an all-wise, beneficent Creator.
II. As Creator of all, He is the Father of all.
Hence as Father, He ruleth with authority. And this authority is absolute. All men do not accept this. Sin, bold and impudent, with clenched fist, defies the Almighty, and with blasphemy from depraved souls defy Him. The FOLLY of it. God breaketh down, &c. (Job. 12:14), as an absolute Sovereign; mans part is to bow to His unchangeable decrees. Pompey boasted that with one stamp of his foot he could rouse all Italy to arms; but God by one word of His mouth can summon the inhabitants of heaven, earth, and the undiscovered worlds to His aid, or bring new creatures into being to do His will.
III. God, as a Father, ruleth also in love. Like as a father pitieth his children, even so doth the Lord pity them that fear Him. Gods love to His people is from everlasting to everlasting.
MANIFESTATIONS of His love abound in the experiences of all. It is perennial, permanent, and complete, providing not only for bodily and physical requirements, but giving to the soul that which satisfies its intensest yearnings and highest aspirations. He held back not His Son. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The cross of Christthe noonday of everlasting love, the meridian splendour of eternal mercy.A. Taylor.
Jer. 27:9. HEATHEN AUGURIES.
The enumeration of the multifarious means and methods for forecasting the future is designed to show the multitude of delusive schemes for supplying the lack of true and real divine inspiration.Keil.
Jer. 27:12. SUBMISSION TO THE DESTINED CONQUEROR.
Dean Stanley suggests that Jeremiahs counsel of Zedekiah and Jerusalem to submit to Nebuchadnezzar was, on his part, an act of political prudence to be imitated by Statesmen and Ecclesiastics, who may be wise in making large concessions of national rights in times of public emergency.
But Bishop Wordsworth urges that Jeremiahs conduct in giving these directions was a religious duty on his part, since God had revealed to him that the nation was given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, His servant, on account of their sins, and they must submit to him as the minister and viceregent of God.
M. Henry remarks: Many might have prevented destroying providences by humbling themselves under humbling providences. It is better to take up a light cross in our way than pull a heavier one on our heads.
Jer. 27:14. THE PROPHECY OF LIES. Comp. Notes, &c., on chap. Jer. 14:14.
Comments
The devil often makes Gods Name (Jer. 27:15) the plea for lies (Mat. 4:6; Mat. 7:22-23), the test by which to know false prophets.Jamieson.
As many wilfully put on nooses and wish to be deceived, we ought to notice what the prophet says here, that it is our duty to distinguish the true from the false. We see how sedulously and prudently we ought to take heed lest the devil should fascinate us by his charms, especially when the name of God is pretended. Yet it is a grievous trial, and much to be feared, when impostors creep in and boast that they are true legitimate prophets.Calvin.
It is one sign of our depraved natures that we are more ready to believe lies than the truth. For when Jeremiah and his colleagues preached, no one believed. But no sooner did the false prophets come and open their mouths, than all their discourses must be spoken directly from heaven (Psa. 72:9). E.g., our mother Eve: what God said was of no account, but what the serpent said was something purely excellent.Cramer.
Jer. 27:18. Theme: PROPHECY TESTED BY PRAYER. If they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of Hosts, &c.
A scathing test! If, if. Yes, there were two uncertainties; but both would be settled effectually by their attempting the task of intercession with God. If they made the effort to open their lips to God, it would certainly seal up their lips to men; for liars dare not pray for the success of their lies.
I. Preaching is easier than praying.
In some sense this is so even in truthful prophesying. For
1. The hearer is less searching. Man is our listener in prophesying and preaching, but in prayer we speak to God! When, therefore, we address the ear of God, our words falter if we be insincere; and we feel ourselves to be under an Eye which reads us through and through. This is not so when we only address men, who may be deceived.
2. The act is less daring. There is awfulness in an address by a sinner to God; whereas, oh the blasphemy of consciously speaking a lie direct to Him! Who would not shrink with terror? But a man, though sinfulah! though a deceiverwill not so hesitate to speak to men.
II. True preaching will be accompanied by intercession. No prophet of God will fail in pleading with God.
1. Solicitude for those to whom he prophesies will impel him also to prayer on their behalf.
2. Success as a preacher depends on earnestness in prayer.
Gods messengers will be much with Him as intercessors.
III. The twofold direction of a preachers words.
1. Words from God to men. For if they be prophets, and it is equally so with preachers, the word of the Lord will be with them. They have something to say from God to their fellows.
2. Words to God for men. Let them make intercession to the Lord.
Note
1. Being put in trust with a word from God makes us humble, dependent, and therefore prayerful.
2. Confidence in our message being true renders us fervent in pleading for its fulfilment.
3. Insincerity would not dare adventure before God with intercessions for His seal to our words, or the success of our prophesying.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
II. THE WARNING OF THE YOKE
Jer. 27:1 to Jer. 28:17
In chapters 27 and 28 Jeremiah uses an ox yoke as an object lesson to drive home his point that Judah should submit to Babylon. It was Jeremiahs position that God had given all the nations of the Near East into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar for seventy years. In spite of the bitter opposition of the political and religious leaders Jeremiah continued to forcefully assert that his pronouncements were of God. National survival demanded submission to the yoke of Babylonian world rule. In chapters 27 and 28 the warning is sounded to the foreign nations (Jer. 27:1-11), king Zedekiah (Jer. 27:12-15), the priests and people (Jer. 27:16-22) and the fake prophets (Jer. 28:1-17).
A. Instructions for the Prophet Jer. 27:1-3
TRANSLATION
(1) In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, (2) Thus says the LORD: Make for yourself thongs and yoke-bars and put them upon your neck, (3) and send them unto the king of Edom, and unto the king of Moab, and unto the king of the children of Ammon, and unto the king of Tyre, and unto the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who are coming to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah.
COMMENTS
Verse I clearly sets forth the date of the events in chapter 27 as being in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. However the remaining portion of the chapter makes very clear that these messages are to be dated in the reign of Zedekiah (see Jer. 27:3; Jer. 27:12; Jer. 27:20). As a matter of fact according to Jer. 28:1 the events of chapter 27 can be dated precisely to the fourth year of Zedekiah. How then did the name Jehoiakim get into Jer. 27:1? It is conceded by practically all scholars that the name of Jehoiakim in this verse is the error of a copyist. Some scribe as he copied the manuscript of the Book of Jeremiah was probably subconsciously influenced by the heading which appears over the preceding chapter and inadvertently wrote Jehoiakim for Zedekiah in Jer. 27:1.
It is not infrequent in prophetic books to find the Lord instructing His Prophets to do some dramatic and sensational things in order to call attention to their messages and vividly illustrate their points. Here Jeremiah is commanded by the Lord to make bands (thongs) and bars i.e., an ox yoke consisting of wooden bars held together by leather bands. He is then to put this yoke upon his neck. Jeremiah seems to have appeared in the streets of Jerusalem for several days with his yoke-bar around his neck proclaiming his message of submission to Babylon. From what is said in Jer. 27:3 it would appear that Jeremiah made at least six other yoke-bars, perhaps miniature replicas, to be sent to various kings of the region.
Ambassadors from several neighboring states had gathered in Jerusalem for a consultation with Zedekiah. Representatives from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon were present. While the purpose of the meeting is not stated, it is evident from the warning of the prophet that revolt against Babylon was being contemplated. Perhaps the envoys were attempting to persuade Zedekiah to join the revolt. Jeremiah appeared in some public place where the ambassadors would be sure to pass, with a yoke upon his neck and in this strange guise delivered an impressive exhortation to the foreign visitors. The Hebrew prophets had a great deal to say about foreign nations but only on rare occasions were their messages given directly to those foreign peoples.[237]
[237] For other possible examples Of Prophets addressing messages to foreign ambassadors see Isa. 14:28-32; Isa. 18:1-3.
It is perhaps worth noting here that Zedekiah made a trip to Babylon in this same fourth year of his reign. He either voluntarily chose to go and renew his oath of fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar or else he was summoned by the great king who heard rumors of the revolt which was being plotted in this chapter.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXVII.
(1) In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.The mention of the name of Zedekiah as king of Judah in Jer. 27:3 shows that the Hebrew text has here perpetuated an error, due probably to the transcriber or first editor of the collected prophecies. We have to think, accordingly, of the state of things which followed on the death of Jehoiakim, and the deposition and exile of Jehoiachin. The tone of the prophecy seems to indicate a time about the middle of Zedekiahs reign. His position was that of a tributary sovereign, subject to Nebuchadnezzar. He and the neighbouring kings, who were in a like position, had not quite renounced the hope of throwing off the yoke, and asserting their independence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE SUBJUGATION OF NEIGHBOURING KINGS, 1-11.
1. Jehoiakim A single Codex and the Syriac and Arabic Versions have Zedekiah, and this is manifestly correct. (Compare Jer 27:3; Jer 27:12, and Jer 28:1.) Probably a mistake in transcription arose from confounding this caption with that of the preceding chapter.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,’
The opening heading refers to the commencement of the reign of Jehoiakim. Whilst it is common practise to suggest that the name of Jehoiakim here in Jer 27:1 is a scribal error because the remainder of the chapter concerns the reign of Zedekiah, it is not necessarily so. The heading may be referring to Jer 27:2 alone, with the initial word that came being that of Jeremiah having to wear on his neck as a permanent symbol the imitation bonds and yokes described, because it was at this time that Judah had come under permanent bondage, first to Egypt and then to Babylon. This would be a continual reminder to Judah of Jeremiah’s message that their bondage was due to sin, and could over the years have become a recognised feature of the prophet. The remainder of the chapter can then be seen as describing how this symbol later came to be used in a special way when, in the reign of Zedekiah, these instruments, or copies of them, were sent to the kings of various nations.
This literal interpretation might be seen as supported by the fact that chapter 26 introduces the reign of Jehoiakim, whilst chapter 28 deals with well on into the reign of Zedekiah. Thus chapter 27 could be seen as intended to be a bridge between the two, uniting the reign of Jehoiakim with that of Zedekiah by means of the yokes made by Jeremiah, giving the account a splendid unity. It prevents disjointedness in the account.
Although not apparent from the English text this is the first mention of Jeremiah in the form recognised by English texts. Previously it has been Jeremyahu. In chapters Jer 27:1 to Jer 29:1 it is the shorter form Jeremyah, before reverting back in chapter Jer 29:27 to Jeremyahu. As this change does not occur just in headings the reason for it is not immediately apparent. It may perhaps indicate that Jer 27:1 to Jer 29:23 once existed as a separate unit concerning the yoke of the King of Babylon.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Wearing The Yoke Of Subjection And Dependence ( Jer 27:1-22 ).
At YHWH’s command Jeremiah had to wear a yoke demonstrating bondage. Per the MT text this commenced at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. This would tie in with the fact that that reign commenced in bondage to Egypt and continued in bondage to Babylon. The fact that the prophet of YHWH continually wore the yoke was an indication that the bondage was YHWH’s will. But it was when nations began to plot rebellion against Babylon that he was eventually told to send duplicates of his symbol of submission to many nations who were plotting rebellion against Babylon. All were to recognise that it was YHWH’s purpose that for the present they submit to Babylon’s yoke.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Section 2 Subsection 1 Commencing With A Speech In The Temple Jeremiah Warns Of What Is Coming And Repudiates The Promises Of The False Prophets, And While Opposed By The Hierarchy, Has His Own Status As A Prophet Recognised by Many Of The People ( Jer 26:1 to Jer 29:32 ).
The danger of dividing the prophecy up into sections and subsections, as we have done, is that we can lose something of the continuity of the prophecy. Thus while the divisions in this case are seemingly clear, the continuity must not be overlooked. What follows in Jer 26:1 to Jer 29:32 must be seen in fact as a subsequent explanation expanding on what Jeremiah has already said in chapter 25 concerning both the evil coming on Jerusalem and the seventy year period of Babylonian domination. And we now discover that this was in direct contrast with what was being currently declared by the cult prophets mentioned so prominently in chapter 23.
The whole subsection thus brings out the threat under which Judah was standing, and the direct rivalry existing between Jeremiah and his supporters, and the cult prophets, a rivalry which was caused by their deeply contrasting views about the future. It commences with the fact that the cult prophets combined with the priests in arraigning Jeremiah and seeking his death in chapter 26, something which is followed by examples of their activities and their continued opposition to Jeremiah, thus illustrating what was described in Jer 23:9-40. This section too could have been headed ‘concerning the prophets’, were it not that its tentacles reached out further.
The subsection is a unity. It commences at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim bringing out the new situation that had arisen with the death of Josiah and the advent of a new king who ‘did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH’ (2Ki 23:37), continues by showing that from that time on Jeremiah wore a yoke about his neck as an indication that Judah was no longer an independent nation, something which goes on until things are brought to a head during the reign of Zedekiah when the yoke is broken from his neck by a prophet who prophesies falsely and dies as a result. Meanwhile Jeremiah has sent duplicates of his yoke to the kings of surrounding nations who are contemplating rebellion against Babylon, to warn them against such rebellion. And the subsection closes with a letter from him to the exiles in Babylonia warning them against expecting a swift return, resulting in a return letter from a prominent prophet calling for the arraignment of Jeremiah.
The subsection itself divides up as follows:
A) ‘In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim — came this word from YHWH saying –’ (Jer 26:1). The chapter commences in the Temple with a call to repentance, which is followed by a warning that their Temple would otherwise be made like Shiloh, (which was where the original Temple/Tabernacle was destroyed by the Philistines in the days of Samuel), and their city would become a curse among the nations (compareJer 25:29; Jer 25:37). The resulting persecution of Jeremiah, especially by the priests and the cult prophets, is then described, although ameliorated by a counter-argument put forward by ‘the elders of the people of the land’ who clearly accepted Jeremiah as a genuine prophet and cited the prophecies of Micah in his support.
B) ‘In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim — came this word to Jeremiah from YHWH saying –’ (Jer 27:1). This chapter commences with Jeremiah, at the command of YHWH, starting to wear symbolic instruments of restraint on his neck as an illustration of the bondage that has come on them from Egypt and is coming at the hands of Babylon. Then during the reign of Zedekiah he is commanded to send these same instruments of bondage among the surrounding nations because of a planned rebellion against Babylon, conveying a similar message to them, that they must accept being subject nations, and warning them against listening to those who say otherwise. Meanwhile Zedekiah and Judah are given the same message together with the assurance, contrary to the teaching of the cult prophets, that rather than experiencing deliverance, what remains of the vessels of YHWH in the Temple will also be carried off to Babylon.
C) ‘And it came about in the same year at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah –’ (Jer 28:1). In this chapter the false prophets, and especially Hananiah, prophesy that within a short time subservience to Babylon will be over and Jehoiachin and his fellow exiles will return in triumph from Babylon together with all the vessels of the Temple. Jeremiah replies that it will not be so. Rather ‘all these nations’ will have to serve Babylon into the known future. He then prophesies the death of Hananiah because of his rebellion against the truth of YHWH, something which occurs within the year.
D) ‘Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the Prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, — etc. (Jer 29:1). In a letter sent to the exiles in Babylonia Jeremiah advises the exiles not to listen to false prophets but to settle down in Babylonia and make the best of a bad situation, because their exile is destined by YHWH to last for ‘seventy years’. Furthermore he emphasises the dark shadows of the future for those who are left behind, although promising that once His exiled people have been dealt with in judgment, YHWH will bring them back again to the land and cause them to acknowledge Him once again. He then prophesies against the false prophets, especially the prominent one who had put pressure on for him to be arrested.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
SECTION 2 ( Jer 26:1 to Jer 45:5 ).
Whilst the first twenty five chapters of Jeremiah have mainly been a record of his general prophecies, mostly given during the reigns of Josiah and Jehoiakim, and have been in the first person, this second section of Jeremiah (Jer 26:1 to Jer 45:5) is in the third person, includes a great deal of material about the problems that Jeremiah faced during his ministry and provides information about the opposition that he continually encountered. This use of the third person was a device regularly used by prophets so that it does not necessarily indicate that it was not directly the work of Jeremiah, although in his case we actually have good reason to think that much of it was recorded under his guidance by his amanuensis and friend, Baruch (Jer 36:4).
It can be divided up as follows:
1. Commencing With A Speech In The Temple Jeremiah Warns Of What Is Coming And Repudiates The Promises Of The False Prophets (Jer 26:1 to Jer 29:32).
2. Promises Are Given Of Eventual Restoration And Of A New Covenant Written In The Heart (Jer 30:1 to Jer 33:26).
3. YHWH’s Continuing Word of Judgment Is Given Through Jeremiah And Its Repercussions Leading Up To The Fall Of Jerusalem Are Revealed (Jer 34:1 to Jer 39:18).
4. Events Subsequent To The Fall Of Jerusalem (Jer 40:1 to Jer 45:5).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jer 27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
Jer 27:22
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Message of the Yokes
v. 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim v. 2. Thus saith the Lord to me, Make thee bonds and yokes, v. 3. and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, v. 4. and command them to say unto their masters, v. 5. I have made the earth, the man, and the beast that are upon the ground, v. 6. And now have I given all these lands, v. 7. And all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, v. 8. And it shall come to pass that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, v. 9. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, v. 10. for they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land, v. 11. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
This and the two following chapters are closely connected. They all relate to the early part of the reign of Zedekiah, and con-rain warnings arising out of the deepening gloom of the political horizon. It must, however, be noted that there is evidently some mistake in the first verse of Jer 27:1-22, and also that the contents of Jer 29:1-32 point to a somewhat earlier time than Jer 27:1-22; Jer 28:1-17 (viz. the first or second year of King Zedekiah). To understand the circumstances of Jer 27:1-22; we must remember that Zedekiah had accepted the throne as the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 24:17). The self-righteousness and formalism of the people, however, would not allow them to remain quiet under such a humiliation. Deuteronomy, it seemed to them, had promised success and prosperity to an obedient performance of the Law, and the priests and the prophets assured them that these conditions had been complied with. In the fourth year of Zedekiah (comp. Jer 28:1) the popular discontent was still further stimulated by the presence of ambassadors from the neighboring nations, who had come to organize a common movement against the common enemy. Jeremiah believed that he could not give more forcible expression to the Divine warnings of which he was the bearer than by a symbolic act akin to that related of Isaiah in Isa 20:2. He appeared in some public place, where the ambassadors would be sure to pass, with a yoke upon his neck, and in this strange guise delivered an impressive exhortation to the foreign visitors. It would appear as if Jeremiah’s exertions on this occasion were successful, so far as Judah was concerned; for we are informed (Jer 51:59) that, in the fourth year of his reign, Zedekiah took a journey to Babylon, doubtless to renew his oath of fidelity to the King of Babylon. It is instructive to compare this chapter as given in the Hebrew Bible with the form in which it appears in the Septuagint. We must net too hastily assume that the Greek is incorrect, but examine in each case which form gives most force and expressiveness to the prophecy.
Jer 27:1
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. The Syriao substitutes for, “Jehoiakim” “Zedekiah,” to bring the passage into conformity with Jer 28:1, where the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah is expressly mentioned. But is this emendation sufficient? Can the fourth year be called the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah,” When that reign lasted altogether only eleven years? Is it not probable that the transcriber has inadvertently copied the heading of Jer 26:1-24, which corresponds verbally with Jer 27:1, except that “unto Jeremiah” is wanting?
Jer 27:2
Make thee bends and yokes; rather, bands and poles; i.e. the bands which secured the two pieces of wood placed respectively above and beneath the neck of the ox, so forming a yoke. Hence, in Le Jer 26:13, we find the phrase, “the poles [Authorized Version wrongly, ‘the bands’] of your yoke.” It is clear from Jer 28:10 that this account is to be taken literally.
Jer 27:3
And send them, etc. The letter of the text certainly suggests that Jeremiah actually delivered a separate yoke to each of the five ambassadors. Some commentators, however, finding such an act almost incredible, suppose the statement to be allegorical, and the “sending of the yoke” to mean the declaration of the subjection of the nations to Nebuchadnezzar which follows, somewhat as in Jer 25:15 the “causing all the nations to drink “means the utterance of a prophecy of woe to the various peoples concerned. But we can hardly pronounce upon this passage by itself. We have to consider whether a whole group of similar statements is or is not to be taken literally. It may be enough to instance Jer 13:1-7. Which come; rather, which are come.
Jer 27:5, Jer 27:6
Jehovah is the Creator and Proprietor of the earth and all that is therein. Therefore he can give any part of it to whomsoever he will. Therefore, Jeremiah being his trustworthy prophet, the kings are called upon to take notice that Jehovah has transferred their kingdoms to Nebuchadnezzar. Observe, in Jeremiah 27-29. the form employed is not “Nebuchadnezzar,” but “Nebuchadnezzar” (so also Jer 34:1; Jer 39:5). (See on Jer 21:7.)
Jer 27:6
My servant (see on Jer 25:9). The Beasts of the field; i.e. the wild beasts. This last feature indicates the unlimited character of Nebuchadnezzar’s power.
Jer 27:7
Him, and his son, and his son’s son. This is intelligible only if the seventy years predicted by Jeremiah in Jer 25:11, Jer 25:12, Jer 29:10, are a round number. Nebuchadnezzar died in B.C. 561, and was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach, who, after two years, was put to death by Neriglissar. In B.C. 555 Laberosoarchod (?) became king, but after nine months a usurper belonging to another family, Nabonedus or Nabunita, ascended the throne, which he occupied till B.C. 538, the year of the fall of Babylon. “Seventy years,” taken literally, only brings us to B.C. 555, seventeen years short of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. Until the very time of his land come; rather, until the time of his own land come. Nebuchadnezzar cannot ensure his realm against captivity. Shall serve themselves of him (For the meaning of the phrase, see on Jer 25:14.)
Jer 27:9
Your dreamers; rather, your dreams. So in Jer 29:8 the “dreams” of the people are expressly distinguished from the utterances of the prophets and soothsayers. In our passage the “dreamers” are appropriately mentioned between the “diviners” and the “enchanters,” because the skill of the soothsayers partly lay in the interpretation of dreams (comp. Gen 41:8; Dan 2:2).
Jer 27:10
To remove you far; or, more distinctly, that I may remove you far. So Isa 6:12, “(Until) Jehovah have removed men afar off.” The deportation policy of the Assyrians and Babylonians was overruled by God for his own deep purposes.
Jer 27:11
The nations that bring their neck, etc. The Hebrew has, “The nation that shall bring its neck,” etc.
Jer 27:12-15
But the warnings of Jeremiah were not confined, far from it, to the neighboring kings. Zedekiah had received a precisely similar message. Bring your necks. The plural is used, for Zedekiah was but an individual among a number of much more vigorous personalities (comp. on Jer 22:2).
Jer 27:16-22
The warning to the priests and to the rest of the people. The last four verses of this section appear in a much shortened form in the Septuagint, and it must be admitted that the description is singularly lengthy. It is, therefore, quite conceivable that this is one of the cases in which the Hebrew text has been disfigured by willful interpolation. On the other hand, it is also possible that the description was filled out by an editor, e.g. by Baruch, conscientiously for the benefit of later readers.
Jer 27:16
The vessels of the Lord’s house; i.e. the golden vessels which Solomon had made, and which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away (l Kings 7:48-50; 2Ki 24:13). Now shortly. These words are wanting in the Septuagint, and, considering that the Greek is also without the prediction in Jer 27:22, that the vessels of the temple and of the palace should be brought back in the day of visitation (which seems inconsistent with Jer 52:17), the question arises whether the words “now shortly” here are not due to a hasty copyist.
Jer 27:18
But if they be prophets, etc. The “false prophets,” so Jeremiah declares, have neglected one of the principal functions of a prophet, viz. intercessory prayer (comp. on Jer 7:16). Seeing that a part of the sacred vessels had been carried to Babylon, ell true prophets ought to intercede with Jehovah that those still left might be spared. The end was that the remaining vessels were carried off on the capture of Jerusalem (2Ki 25:13).
Jer 27:19
This and the two following verses are thus given in the Septuagint: “For thus saith the Lord and the rest of the vessels which the king of Babylon took not, when he carried Jeconiah captive from Jerusalem; they shall come to Babylon, saith the Lord.” This shortened form throws a light on the fact of the absence of “now shortly” in Jer 27:16 (see note). The pillars, etc.; i.e. the two bronze pillars called Jachin and Boaz (1Ki 7:21). The sea; i.e. the molten “sea,” or basin (1Ki 7:23). The bases (1Ki 7:27).
HOMILETICS
Jer 27:5
The rights of the Creator.
This address on the rights of the Creator is made to heathen men because God has rights over all men, and because they who cannot yet understand his higher character may be able to recognize his natural rights.
I. THE FOUNDATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CREATOR.
1. They rest on the fact that all things that exist were created. It is a fundamental axiom of science that everything that has a beginning must have a cause. The universal testimony of experience is against the notion that existences could spring forth spontaneously from nothing, or that organisms could come of themselves from a lawless chaos. The theory of an endless chain of causation is illogical. If this is regarded as cyclic we have nothing to account for the motion of the whole cycle. The notion is parallel to that of a wheel revolving because the several parts of the circumference press on those which are before thema mechanical absurdity. If, however, the chain is regarded as infinitely long, we have another absurdity. Since it is made up of finite links each of which is no perfect cause in itself, we have not solved the question, we have only driven it buck to the infinite distance. It is the grand lesson of the first chapter of the Book of Genesiswhatever we may think of the details of that chapterthat it comes to our rescue with the assertion of a personal Creator, the only doctrine that will fit the requirements of the case.
2. The rights of the Creator rest on the fact that all things were created by his energy. We do not know what subordinate agencies God may employ. But in any case the fundamental power must be his. He cannot delegate powers of creation in the sense of investing any beings with them without any dependence on his power. The power must be God’s, though the channel through which it flows may be some lower agency. The doctrine of evolution would not touch this fact. The important question is not as to the method of creation, but as to the originating power. This lies behind the question of design. It is the question of primitive causation. Whether with successive sudden emergencies or through gradual development, it is equally true that God has created the world by his great power and by his outstretched hand.
II. THE NATURE OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CREATOR. They are absolute. We know nothing like them among men. A man is supposed to have a right to dispose of the work of his own hands. But his work is not creation, if he has built a house he has not made the ground on which it stands, nor the stone and wood of which it is constructed. But by Divine creation we understand not merely building up the materials of the universe into new forms, but the original making of these materials and the determination of the laws of nature. From this fact comes the right of God to dispose of his creation as he thinks fit, to give the world and its contents to whomsoever he pleases. But in admitting this we are saying that he will do that which is best for the world itself. For God is just and good and merciful. He will please to do that which is right, and that which will bless his creatures. God exercises his rights through his will. If creation reveals the rights, Christ reveals the will. Through this higher revelation we see reasons for acquiescing in God’s exercise of sovereignty, not with mere resignation to the inevitable, nor even only with dutiful yielding to recognized law and authority, but with thankful submission to the care of a merciful Father. Thus we see that the exercise of God’s rights is limited by his character; limited by his justice, so that he can never dispose of things arbitrarily or cruelly; limited by his love, so that he will dispose of them so as to secure the welfare of his children. This is a consideration of the first importance. The neglect of it has led to the interpretation of such words as those of our text so as to represent God as an arbitrary, capricious Sovereign, who may be feared and must be submitted to, but cannot be loved or freely adored.
Jer 27:6, Jer 27:7
God’s disposal of man’s possessions.
I. GOD HAS A RIGHT TO DISPOSE OF MAN‘S POSSESSIONS. He made them, and they are always his, only lent to be withdrawn or transferred when he wills. If the Lord gave, he has a right to take away (Job 1:21). If he takes much, we should be thankful for what he leavesfor this even we have no claim. Nations should feel that God has rights over them. Their liberties are subject to his government, their territory to his disposal.
II. GOD DOES DISPOSE OF MAN‘S POSSESSIONS. He exercises his right. He is no roi faineant. God does not reserve his interference for the last Day of Judgment. He is always working among the nations. In a national disaster we should recognize the hand of Providence; so should we in the advent of national glory. God does not only overthrow; he appoints, prospers, gladdens.
III. GOD DOES NOT ALWAYS GIVE THE GREATEST POWER TO THE BEST MEN. Nebuchadnezzar was a bad man; yet God gave him the largest dominion in the world. We may believe that he was best suited for the work that was required of him. His mission was to be a scourge of the nations. An angel would find himself ill at ease in such a work. In appointing a hangman we do not expect to get the most high-souled person in the kingdom for the post. God can overrule the evil nature of bad men and make it serve some good end, as we can employ the refuse of one factory as useful materials in another.
IV. GOD DOES NOT ALWAYS GIVE THE MOST ABUNDANT POSSESSIONS TO THE BEST MEN. We see bad men enriched, good men pauperized. Goodness seems on the whole to be favorable to temporal prosperity, but with innumerable exceptions. Therefore we must conclude that God does not value earthly prosperity so highly as we value it. He regards it as subordinate to higher interests.
V. GOD‘S DISPOSAL OF MAN‘S POSSESSIONS DOES NOT HINDER THE FREE EXERCISE OF MAN‘S POWERS. God gave Nebuchadnezzar his powers, but the king put these forth of his own will. By his daring, his energy, the use of his resources, he won his brilliant victories and conquered his vast dominions. God works through our work. He gives to the diligent.
VI. GOD‘S DISPOSAL OF MAN‘S POSSESSIONS DOES NOT LIMIT MAN‘S RESPONSIBILITY. It Nebuchadnezzar got his territory by violence and rapacity, he was not the less guilty because God assigned it to him. For he was responsible for his own actions and their motives, irrespective of any unknown design that God might work out through them. We cannot throw the blame of our misconduct on the providence of God. He overrules the issue of our actions, but he does not fetter or force the choice of our wills.
Jer 27:11
The duty of non-resistance.
Again and again in various forms Jeremiah recurs to the advice of submission to Nebuchadnezzar. In the present instance he addresses it to representatives of foreign nations, and urges it as politic, while to the Jews he was more anxious to show that it was in accordance with God’s will. Viewed from various standpoints there were several grounds for non-resistance.
I. THE WELL OF GOD. This was the highest reason. It could not be fully appreciated by the heathen; yet even they were reminded that the Creator was the supreme disposer of the destiny of nations. The condition of the Jews, however, was peculiar. They were living under a theocracy. The prophets were the ministry of the Divine King. Their utterances were revelations of law for the government of the people. To resist Nebuchadnezzar in opposition to these utterances was to rebel against the decree of the supreme Sovereign of the nation. We do not stand in the same outward circumstances. But we should learn that the first thought in public as well as in private affairs should be as to what is right, what is God’s will; and all considerations of glory etc; should be subordinate to this. We cannot learn God’s will from oracular teachers but we can ascertain it from a devout study of revelation, prayer, and honest thought
II. SOUND POLICY. Events proved that Jeremiah was politically as well as morally right. Religious duty lies nearer to useful policy than either fanatic dreamers or worldly statesmen are able to see. History shows that all resistance to the mighty flood of the Babylonian invasion was futile. Timely submission alone could secure a mitigation of its violence. It is foolish for a nation to flourish empty notions of glory above considerations for the welfare of the people. The loyal statesman will care less for the fame of a great name, or the splendor of brilliant achievements, than for the peaceful prosperity of his fellow-countrymen. The first interest of a nation is this peaceful prosperity. There may be times when to maintain it self-defense becomes a duty. But when self-defense cannot secure it, when it is rather hindered than helped by resistance, it is foolish to resist for the sake of mere pride.
III. WHOLESOME MORAL GOOD. The Jews were taught that the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar was sent by God as a chastisement for sin. To submit to it was to submit to profitable correction. In the end the nation might hope to be the better for it. We have no right to complain of troubles which our own misconduct has brought upon us. We may” count it all joy” that we have fallen into tribulation if this works our higher and lasting good. Temporal distress should be patiently borne in the prospect of eternal blessedness, material adversity calmly endured when this is the menus of securing inward spiritual good.
Jer 27:18
Prophecy tested by prayer.
I. IT IS THE DUTY OF A PROPHET TO PRAY. He should be spiritually what the priest can only be ceremonially, the mediator between man and God. Mediation has two sides. It implies the work of the intercessor as well as that of the prophetthe speaking to God for men as well the speaking to men for God. The former work, however, is in more danger of falling into neglect. It is more spiritual, it requires more humility, it gains less credit from men. But no prophet can even discharge his mission to men aright unless he is also a man of prayer. God reveals himself to those who seek him. Revelations from Heaven are vouchsafed to those who live in communion with Heaven.
II. INSPIRATION IS REQUISITE FOR PRAYER AS WELL AS FOR PROPHECY, The true prophet is the inspired man; he also has the first requisite for prayer. We need inspiration for prayer to bring us into sympathy with God. Prayer is more than asking for the satisfaction of our wantsit is communion with God; and communion implies sympathy. Like the bird which soars aloft because its wings rest on the surrounding air, we can only rise heavenwards as we bear ourselves up through an atmosphere of heavenly thought. Without the breath of God’s Spirit in us we cannot withdraw from the world and attain to the vivid consciousness of spiritual things. For prayer involves the rising above our common, our ordinary life. Thus we may understand the mission of the Spirit as an intercessor. Christ intercedes for us with God. The Holy Spirit intercedes for God in us, helping our infirmities, teaching us what we should pray for, and how to pray, and breathing into us yearnings deep and unutterable (Rom 8:26).
III. DIVINELY INSPIRED PRAYER WILL BE REASONABLE AND ACCORDING TO GOD‘S WILL. If the prophets were inspired they would not ask for the impossible; they would not pray for that which they knew was contrary to God’s will; they would not utter prayers of greed and pride. Inspiration does not make a man irrational; on the contrary, it makes him see facts as they are. If these prophets were inspired they would see the folly of asking back the lost vessels. Inspiration is concerned with the present and the future. It is foolish to waste time in lamenting the irretrievable. Let us see that we preserve what still remains with us, and secure what is best for the future. It is absurd to be boasting of great things when we cannot secure small ones. If the prophets could not protect the vessels in Jerusalem, much less could they recover those which had been already removed to Babylon. They might be uttering great prayers about the lost treasure; but while they made no prevailing prayer to secure the treasure still in hand they only exposed their own incompetence.
IV. PRAYER AND ITS RESULTS ARE TESTS OF A MAN‘S SPIRITUAL CONDITION. If it can be said of a person, “Behold, he prayeth!” we may know much of him. Prayer is the barometer that rises or falls with the changing tore of the spiritual atmosphere. When we “restrain prayer” this is a sad sign that our better life is failing. It is useless to boast of spiritual attainments such as those of the professional prophets; these are nothing but delusions if the prayer-test reveals a condition of spiritual deadness, the results of prayer are a further test. We cannot say that a particular prayer is not acceptable to God because it does not bring us the particular thing we seek, since we are always making foolish requests, and God mercifully deals with us according to his wise and good will rather than according to the letter of our language. Still, if no answer is ever received to prayer, something must be wrong. Either all our prayers are mistaken, which shows we could not be receiving the help of God’s inspiration; or our spiritual condition is one of separation from God, in which condition no prayer could be answered. If not in every detail, yet in the main, religious experience may be tested by the facts of life. The prophet must find his prediction confirmed by history. The man of prayer must show some fruits of his devotion.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR
Jer 27:1-22
Divine judgments not to be resisted.
A conference of ambassadors from neighboring nations had been held at Zedekiah’s court to consider plans of revolt against Nebuchadnezzar. The king himself and a patriotic party were bent upon resistance. This movement Jeremiah checked at its very outset by his symbolical warning.
I. GOD IS RULER OF ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH. He made them, and controls their destinies. Of the earth he says, “I have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.” His control over human interests, possessions, and destinies is absolute and unlimited.
II. EVEN THE UNGODLY MAY BE INSTRUMENTS OF HIS PURPOSES. “Nebuchadnezzar, my servant,”a remarkable title when applied to a heathen prince. The character of the authorities, the agents, and the instrumentalities by which we are opposed is not in itself a reason for resisting them if they are evidently of Divine appointment. In such a case we should be fighting against God. Moral evil is ever to be resisted and witnessed against, but that which God appoints must be acknowledged and submitted to.
III. IN SUCH CASES CIRCUMSTANCES WILL CLEARLY SHOW WHETHER THE APPOINTMENT IS OF GOD OR NOT, AND NOW WE MUST BE GUIDED IN OUR CONDUCT. The advice of the prophet is not to be interpreted as an expression of mere political prudence. It was the moral significance of Nebuchadnezzar’s supremacy to which he appealed. In default of revelation our own conscience and common sense must be our guides.
1. In cases of unmistakable Divine dispensations the law of submission is clearly taught. Of this class is the rule of submission to the powers that be; of cheerful contentment with one’s lot in life, so far as it seems beyond our own legitimate control or to be providentially arranged.
2. The ordinary miscellaneous trials and difficulties of life are not to be regarded in this way. Where there is not witness of conscience enjoining submission, energetic effort must be made. The Bible is no book of fatalism. It inculcates self-help, manly fortitude, and believing, intelligent enterprise.
IV. GUIDANCE AND INSTRUCTION MAY BE GRANTED TO MEN EVEN WHILST UNDER DIVINE DISCIPLE.
1. Injunctions. To be punished does not mean to be cast off; quite the contrary. And therefore, if there be any gracious purpose in the dispensation, it is well that it should be explained. False prophets have foretold favorable turns of fortune with mischievous effect. These must be contradicted, and their tendency expend. The Bible is full of instruction to the perplexed in all ages, and the Spirit of God still speaks to the hearts of his children.
2. Signs. Sometimes these will be of one kind, sometimes of another. Here a crucial test was proposed, viz. the challenge to the false prophets to bring back the vessels of the temple from Babylon. If God heard their prayer, then it would appear that their advice was sound. Signs will never be wanting to those who earnestly seek to know God’s will
3. These are to be sought through prayer and waiting upon God.M.
Jer 27:18
Prophets tested by prayer.
I. BY THIS THEIR DISPOSITION WAS DISCOVERED. Prayer is one of the most vital indications of the presence of spiritual life. It is only by constant devotion and spiritual intercourse with God that any one can be truly acquainted with him or know his will. The taunt of the prophet is to the effect that they are not over addicted to this practice, but prefer to indulge in political trifling and bombast. They had no pleasure in the exercises of true piety; and it might be were even afraid directly to invoke Jehovah. It was the neglect of the latter by themselves and their idolatrous followers which had entailed the present evils upon Judah. The prophet points out, therefore, the true method of discovering the will of God, and of restoring, not only the vessels to the temple, but the exiles to their land.
II. THEIR PRETENSIONS WOULD BE TESTED BY THE EFFICACY OF THEIR INTERCESSION. This is the most disinterested form of prayer. By betaking themselves to it, instead of prophesying lies, they would do real service to the nation. Because he who can effectually intercede:
1. Is a source of blessing to all who are about him. He has true sympathy and insight, and can bring down forgiveness even upon the undeserving. The grandest promises of Holy Scripture are encouragements to this practice.
2. Is thereby acknowledged and accepted by God. As Elijah provoked with a similar challenge the prophets of Baal, so Jeremiah taunts his enemies with their spiritual impotency. The restoration of the vessels under the circumstances would be nothing short of a miracle, and supernatural aid would be required. He alone is truly great who can prevail with God. And the greatest of the prophets is he who makes intercession for mankind according to the Divine will.M.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Jer 27:1-11
Jehovah’s consideration towards some neighbors of Israel.
I. GOD FORESEES THE NATURAL PROBABILITY OF A STRUGGLE. Nebuchadnezzar and his hosts are not to drop from the clouds on the land of Jehovah’s people whom Jehovah has now doomed. These hosts come from a distant land, and have many intervening lands to pass through; and how can they pass through in any but a destroying, impoverishing fashion? If the King of Babylon is to reach Jerusalem, the lands here mentioned must assuredly suffer from him scarcely less than Judah itself. And naturally they will prepare to meet him. Alliances will be formed; resources will be accumulated; the greatest strain will be put on every one in order to make the defense successful. These attacked people cannot assume that, because Babylon is such a mighty power, it is folly to think of resisting it. Thus they seem to have sent to Zedekiah, hoping to make a confederation strong enough to drive the invader back.
II. NATURAL AS THE STRUGGLE MIGHT BE, IT WAS DOOMED TO CERTAIN FAILURE. Doomed, not because it was the strength of many against the weakness of few, but because God’s great purposes required that any scheme of defense should be a failure. If the defenders had become as the invaders in point of strength, and the invaders as the defenders, this apparently decisive exchange of resources would have left the result unaffected.
III. The struggle, therefore, being vain beyond all doubt, THE TRUE WISDOM WAS NOT EVEN TO ATTEMPT IT. These nations, persevering in a vain struggle, were only committing self-slaughter. If the issue had been in any way uncertain, self-respect would have said “fight.” But the issue was clear; and to make it clear and impressive by some visible symbol, God commands his prophet to send these yokes to the kings of the nations by their messengers. When the yoke is seen on the neck of the ox laboring at the plough or drawing the wagon, that yoke signifies, not only submission, but a submission that is inevitable. The ox is made for the service of man, and although when young it may rebel and defy for a while, it must submit at last. The superior intelligence and the ordained master cannot but conquer. And what the ox is in the hands of man, that every nation, even the strongest and bravest, is in the bands of God. Babylon, conqueror and spoiler as it was, was no more free from God’s yoke than any of the nations it defeated. It is quite compatible with the carrying out of God’s great purpose that there should be the most striking disparities in the temporal conditions of both individuals and nations. That Babylon should be the victor and these other nations the vanquished, was in his eyes a matter of very secondary moment. He cannot recognize, as a state of things to obtain even a modified permanence, that any nation should have the right to any particular territory. Men count it a great matter that they can show a title, as they call it, to a piece of land. This simply means that for the purposes of present society it is better for one particular person to have the piece of land than any one else. But wars and revolutions make short work of these so-called rights of property. The Lord has given the earth in trust to the human race, and one division he puts here and snottier there, cue man here and another there. From the throne where Jehovah sits in his righteousness, human patriotism and mere territorial pride are esteemed as nothing more than the feelings of ignorant children. We also, as taught of God, must become less interested in the traditions and rivalries of the kingdoms of earth, and more interested in that great procedure of God by which the whole earth will become a part of the kingdom of heaven.Y.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Jer 27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim Of Zedekiah. Houbigant. There can be no doubt from the 3rd, 12th, and 20th verses, that our reading is an error. See particularly chap. Jer 28:1.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. THE CONFLICT OF JEREMIAH WITH THE FALSE PROPHETS IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF ZEDEKIAH
Jeremiah 27, 28
Jer 27:1-22
1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim [Zedekiah], the son of Josiah, king 2of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Thus saith the 3Lord to me, Make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers 4which came to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah, king of Judah. And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth] 5the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my 6out-stretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 7my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his sons son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of 8him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that1 will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord [Jehovah] with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I 9have consumed2 them by his hand. Therefore hearken not ye to your priests, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, 10which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon. For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should 11drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, those will I let remain still in their own land, 12saith the Lord; and they shall till it and dwell therein. I spake also to Zedekiah, king of Judah, according to all those words, saying, Bring your necks under 13the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.3 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of 14Babylon? Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto 15you. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, [Jehovah] yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye and the 16priests that prophesy unto you. Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah]; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold the vessels of the Lords house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. 17Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should 18this city be laid waste? But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth] that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go4 not to Babylon.
19For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in 20the city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive5 Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, 21and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord 22[Jehovah] and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; they shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
Jer 28:1-17
1And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year,6 and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the presence of the 2priests, and of all the people, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of 3Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years7will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lords house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to 4Babylon: And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
5Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the 6Lord [Jehovah]. Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: 8the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lords house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this 7place. Nevertheless hear thou now the word that I speak in thine ears, and in the 8ears of all the people; the prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, 9and of evil, and of pestilence. 9The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.
10Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiahs neck, 11and brake it.10 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the 12prophet Jeremiah went his way. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the 13prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. 14For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a, yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.
15Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. 16Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will cast11 thee from off the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the 17Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The two chh. 27 and 28 are so evidently parts of a whole that we do not seem to be justified in separating them. The occurrence here narrated is based entirely on Jeremiah 25. The sending of the yoke to the neighboring nations can indeed be regarded as the fulfilment of the commission received by the prophet in Jer 25:15 only in so far as it may be understood in a double sense; in the sense of proclamation and the sense of the execution of the divine sentence.The command to acknowledge Nebuchadnezzar as a world-ruler appointed by God is supplemented by the warning not to allow the deceptive promises of the false prophets to deter them from yielding in subjection to him (Jer 27:9-22). Notwithstanding this, one of the false prophets, Hananiah, the son of Azur, dares to give the prophet of Jehovah the lie and by breaking the wooden yoke, which the latter bore on his neck, to symbolize his liberation from the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar. Thereupon Jeremiah receives the command to replace the wooden yoke by an iron one, and to predict Hananiahs speedy death in the course of the year. Hananiah really died two months afterwards. The date of the whole occurrence is the fourth year of Zedekiah (Jer 28:1), since the statement in Jer 27:1 (beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim) is at any rate, and the other in Jer 28:1 (beginning of the reign of Zedekiah) is very probably incorrect. Further particulars on this point below.
Jer 27:1-11. In the beginning dwell therein. There are weighty critical suspicions with respect to the first verse. In the first place the name Jehoiakim has long been a stumbling-block. How could the prophet receive a commission in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim to the ambassadors who had come to Zedekiah , (Jer 27:3)? And how could the prophet execute the same commission to Zedekiah (Jer 27:12), and say in Jer 28:1 that in the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, Hananiah contradicted his prediction? Haevernick indeed [II., 2, S. 217) says the words (Jer 27:3) pertain to the compilation of the chapter,to show how Zedekiah should fulfil that older prophecy of the time of Jehoiakim, and should behave towards the nations which were his allies. But this would presuppose that Jeremiah received a message to ambassadors who did not come to Jerusalem till from eleven to fifteen years afterwards. Further, according to this the name of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans would have been mentioned in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, while we have demonstrated that before the battle of Carchemish, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah did not yet know that the enemies coming from the north would be the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. Add to this that the compiler must have proceeded very inconsiderately, to substitute the time of receiving the commission for that of its execution. We ought to have read in that case: In the time of Jehoiakim Jeremiah received the commission to declare the following to foreign ambassadors who should come. These ambassadors came in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah and unto them spake Jeremiah, etc. Instead of this we have: In the beginning of Jehoiakims reign Jeremiah received the command to deliver this message to the ambassadors, who are come to Zedekiah, etc. To attribute to the supposed compiler such a violent treatment of the text is truly much worse than to assume an oversight of the copyist. It is, moreover, a wonder to me that, as far as my knowledge extends, no commentator has hit on the idea of taking in the sense of the Fut. or Fut., exacti.: who come or will have come. There is unquestionably grammatical authority for this. For the participle, which in itself has no tense, may be taken according to the connection as present, past or future. Comp. Naegelsb., Gr., 97; Ewald, 335, b. Compare especially the same word in Isa 27:6=temporibus futuris, Ecc 2:16, diebus venturis, etc.Whatever we have already urged is certainly opposed to this rendering of the word, viz. 1, the improbability of the communication of a message not to be delivered for fifteen years; 2, above all the entirely unhistorical mention of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. The objections to the reading Jehoiakim are of ancient date. Jerome helps himself out of the difficulty by connecting the verse with the previous chapter. It does not disturb him that thus Jeremiah 26 begins and ends with a similar date; yet he supposes that it was this circumstance, which led the Seventy to omit the verse. The Syriac and the unprinted Arabs Oxoniensis read Zedekiah. Likewise the Cod. Regiomont, II. Kennicott in his Diss. super ratione text. Hebr. V. T., I., p. 503; II., p. 346, Ed.Teller, decidedly favors the view that a copyist who had forgotten that Zedekiah was also a son of Josiah was moved by Jer 26:1 to alter the name of Zedekiah into Jehoiakim. I also hold the view that Jer 26:1 affected the rendering of Jer 27:1, for as we shall see below at Jer 49:34, chapter 27 has lost its original superscription by the oversight of a diaskenast who added this verse of the prophecy against Elam as a postscript. Hence Jer 27:1 is still wanting in the LXX.; on the other hand the prophecy against Elam has in the. LXX. a superscription and a postscript, in the Hebrew text a superscription which does not correspond to the general purport, and Jeremiah 27 has obtained in the Hebrew a new beginning which was formed after Jer 26:1, while the original text of Jer 27:1, is to be sought nowhere else but in Jer 49:34 (with the omission of ). So Movers and Hitzig, with whom on this point I feel obliged to agree. From Jer 28:1 it is evident that by the beginning of Zedekiahs reign we are to understand his fourth year. This appears to be entirely suitable in point of fact. For it is not to be imagined that Zedekiah undertook revolutionary projects immediately after his ascension of the throne. As to the mode of expression, beginning is a relative idea, and the first half of a period may be designated as the beginning, the latter half as its close. From the words Thus saith Jehovah unto thee, it is moreover apparent that from Jer 27:2 onward the prophet, communicates the words as he spoke them to the people. Comp. saith Jehovah, Jer 27:11 and Jer 27:16. The introductory formula in Jer 27:1 b, is then not to be referred specially to the moment of revelation, but it has this sense, that all the actions and speeches related in what follows are the result of a revelation to the prophet.
Jer 27:2. Bondsi.e. cords (Jer 2:20; Jer 5:5; Jer 30:8), not to hold together the wooden parts of the yokes, for such yokes there are none, but to fix the yoke to the body, are what Jeremiah is to prepare. So with . The word (, tottering above, crooked, broken from the branch, the bough, piece of wood) is in both these chapters used in a material sense, while always denotes the yoke in a figurative sense (Jer 27:8; Jer 27:11-12; Jer 28:2; Jer 28:4; Jer 28:11; Jer 28:14 coll. Jer 28:10 sqq.). Jeremiah is to put these yokes on his neck and send them by the messengers to their master. As certainly as the prophet should put a yoke upon his neck, and has really put it on (Jer 28:10 sqq. coll. Isa 20:2; Hos 1:2 sqq.; Eze 12:3 sqq.), so certainly should he really give the yoke to the messengers. This corresponded to oriental customs. If the messengers would not take the yoke with them, that was their affair. The four neighboring nations here mentioned (Edom, Moab, Ammon, Sidon) are named in the same order in Jer 25:1-2. Niebuhr (Ass. u. Bab., S. 211) connects this consultation with the diversion, which resulted from Nebuchadnezzars pretended expedition against Media after the death of Cyaxares in B. C. 594 (Vid. sup., Jer 25:26). But this connection is altogether uncertain, and we must be content to be ignorant why that epoch was considered adapted for a revolt. At all events the words of the prophet made an impression on the king. For in the same year (593) we find him on a journey to Babylon (Jer 51:59), which can have had no other object than renewed homage. When Duncker (S. 834, etc.) says the Phnicians were then left to their fate and subjugated by Nebuchadnezzar, the first part of the statement is correct. But I doubt whether they then immediately revolted on their own account, and were again subjugated. For when Sidon (Eze 32:29) is mentioned among the nations which had fallen before the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, before the twentieth year of this king (Eze 32:17), therefore before B. C., 585, it does not seem at all necessary to assume that the Phnicians revolted sooner than Zedekiah himself, who was moved to open revolt by Hophra, the new king of Egypt, in B. C. 589. When also after the destruction of Jerusalem (586) only Tyrus among the Phnician cities was still to he subdued, the conquest of the rest may have well taken place immediately before the attack on Judah and Jerusalem (588). The Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites, who are mentioned in 2Ki 24:2 as Chaldean allies against Judah, appear according to our passage in their love of freedom to have momentarily forgotten their ancient enmity towards Judah, as well as their fear of the Chaldeans. But they can scarcely have revolted. According to Psa 137:7 coll. Lam 4:21-22; Eze 36:5 the Edomites were zealous co-operators at the destruction of Jerusalem.
Jer 27:5. I have made, etc. The Creator has the right to dispose of His creatures.As seemed meet unto me. Comp. Jer 18:4.
Jer 27:6. And the beasts of the field. Nebuchadnezzar is declared universal governor de jure divino.
Jer 27:7. This verse is wanting in the LXX. Movers and Hitzig regard it as interpolated. Comp. on the other hand Graf, S. 348, Anm. An interpolator would certainly not have interpolated so incorrectly. For Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded only by his son Evilmerodach, who was murdered by Neriglissar, his father-in-law. He was succeeded by his son Labosoarchad, a child who was killed after a reign of nine months, to make place for Nabonnet, one of the conspirators. The latter was Babylons last king. On the contrary the LXX. omitted the verse because it seemed so inaccurate. The prophet does not, however, intend to be exact. The phrase his son and his sons son is to denote an indefinite but brief period (Exo 20:5; Exo 34:7; Deu 5:9). The chronicler seems to refer to this passage in 2Ch 36:20.Shall serve themselves of him. Comp. Jer 25:14. The expressions many nations, etc., remind us of Jer 50:9; Jer 50:41. When we remember that this passage originated at the same time with chh. 50 and 51, this relationship may well have its foundation in the mind of the prophet.
Jer 27:8. The nation which that will not, etc. At first it seems natural to take the second sentence as the correction of the first: he who will not serve, or rather, he who will not voluntarily submit himself. For all, indeed, will serve. He who has to be compelled may expect the extremity of distress, while he who voluntarily submits will retain at least his land and his life. But unfortunately it is not grammatically allowable to take in the meaning of or rather. We must therefore make this distinction between serve and put their neck under the yoke, that the former refers to the nations already subject to the Babylonian dominion, the latter to the others. In warning the heathen nations of their diviners, sorcerers, etc., the prophet puts the false prophets of the Jews afterwards mentioned in the same category with them.
Jer 27:10. To remove. The consequence is represented as the object. Comp. Jer 27:15.And that I should drive. Observe the return of the discourse from the secondary to the main form. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 99, 3,
Jer 27:15; Jer 27:22.
Jer 27:12-15. I spake also to Zedekiah prophesy unto you. As in Jer 27:2, the prophet here and in Jer 27:16 sqq. gives an account, not of the reception, but the execution of the divine commission. Comp. Exeg. rems. on Jer 26:2.By the sword, etc Comp. Jer 27:8.
Jer 27:16-22. Also I spake to the priests restore them to this place. Jeremiah speaks to the king of political subjection, to the priests and the people of the vessels which were the ornaments of the temple and its worship. These vessels carried away by Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 24:13) are according to the words of the false prophets to be brought back in a very brief period. In opposition to this Jeremiah makes the requisition on the false prophets to prove their authority by preventing through their intercession (. Comp. Jer 7:16) the deportation of the vessels still in their possession.The pillars (1Ki 7:15-22), sea (1Ki 7:23-26), and bases (Jer 27:27 sqq.), were the largest and heaviest vessels, which were not therefore carried away the first time. Comp. Exeg. rems. on Jer 52:17.All the nobles. Comp. Isa 34:12; Jer 39:6; Jer 29:2; 2Ki 24:11 sqq.The refutation of Movers and Hitzigs assertion that Jer 27:16-21 are interpolated, may be seen in Graf, S. 351. He has also on pp. 344, 345 shown that the abbreviated name-ending, which prevails in chh. 2729. ( instead of ) is not to be regarded as the sign of a later date of composition.
Jer 28:1-4. And it came to pass the yoke of the king of Babylon. In the same year, doubtless shortly after the occurrences narrated in Jeremiah 27 came Hananiah from Gibeon (a city of priests, Jos 21:17) and, therefore, probably himself a priest, in opposition to Jeremiah prophesying that in two years the Lord will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, and bring back the sacred vessels and king Jehoiachin, together with the other captives from Babylon. On the date in the beginning comp. Comm. on Jer 27:1. The month is mentioned on account of the statement in Jer 28:17.The deceptive promise of Hananiah is directly opposed to what Jeremiah has said in Jer 22:26-27; Jer 27:16.
Jer 28:6-9. Then the prophet Jeremiah said truly sent him. Jeremiah replies: would that thou wert right! But only prophecies of calamity have the presumption of truth in their favor, for they are connected with danger to their author. Prophecies of good fortune may be flattery. We must, therefore, wait for their result.On Jer 28:9 comp. Deu 18:21-22.
Jer 28:10-11. Then Hananiah went his way. Hananiah has the audacity to answer Jeremiahs speech by taking the yoke from his neck and breaking it, at the same time repeating his previous prediction (Jer 28:3-4). Jeremiah goes away for the time without uttering a word in reply. On and comp. Exeg. rems. on Jer 27:2
Jer 28:12-17. Then the word seventh month. After some time Jeremiah received from the Lord a double message to Hananiah: 1. By the breaking of the wooden yoke all that he has effected is that an iron one takes its place, for iron will be the yoke, which Nebuchadnezzar will put upon the nations, according to the will of God; 2. Hananiah, who misuses the name of God and has misled the people into vain confidence, is to die this year. This also came to pass, for he died two months afterwards.Yokes of wood. The plural is generic, as was remarked on Jer 27:2. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 61, 2 d.Yoke of iron. The prophet appears to have had Deu 28:48 in mind. On Jer 28:14 comp. Jer 27:6.Rebellion (), comp. Jer 29:32. It is=revolt, rebellion, on account of the following .In the seventh month corresponds to fifth month, Jer 28:1.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer 26:3. [See how God waits to be gracious, waits till we are duly qualified, till we are fit for Him to be gracious to, and in the meantime tries a variety of methods to bring us to be so. HenryS. R. A.]
2. On Jer 26:6. Deus nulli loco prcise alligatus est ita, ut ecclesiam suam et doctrinam clestem inde dimovere nequeat propter hominum ingratitudinem. Vehementer igitur errant Romanenses, dum ex auctoritate urbis Rom su ecclesi ac religionis auctoritatem evincere satagunt. Multo rectius Hieronymus in hoc memorabili dicto, quod etiam allegatur in Jure Canon. Dist. Jeremiah 19 : Non facile est stare loco Pauli et tenere gradum Petri cum Christo regnantium. Non enim Sanctorum filii sunt, qui tenent loca Sanctorum, sed qui exercent opera eorum. Frster.
3. On Jer 26:8 sqq. Scarcely has Jeremiah done speaking than they take him to task, and threaten his life. What does Jeremiah do? Instead of vindicating himself he says: Reform your life, and hearken to the voice of the Lord, and it will be better for you, Jer 26:13. You do not wish me to thunder away at you; reform then and I can let it alone. This preaching was seasonable, and produced an admirable effect. The priests and elders contradicted the priests, the parrhesia [free-spokenness, Act 4:13] of the man filled them with astonishment. He is not worthy of death, Jer 26:16. A brief illustration of the saying We need not our senses lose, when our enemies accuse. Jeremiah has to thank his honesty for this presence of mind, his profound meditation, his constrained calling, the necessity, the ardor, which urged him to preach, for no personal inclination had any share in it. I know in more recent times a man, who has unaffectedly practised Jeremiahs behavior, a pastor, a teacher, I might say a prophet of many thousand people. Whenever he had to vindicate himself (which happened now and then) he preached, he repeated to the commissioners the very things of which he was accused, confessed and denied not, but pressed them on their hearts, and showed aliud agendo his innocence, his mind, his steadfastness, and all at the same time so plainly that they always returned with full conviction and knew not whether they had gone forth to see a prophet or were sent to examine a culprit? Never man, they said, spake like this man. That cannot be counterfeited. One must be just as full of the matter, as absorbed in the subject, as pressed at heart, kindled with the same ardor in order to explain himself with the same indifference, repose and plainness, when there is a knife at his throat. Zinzendorf.
4. On Jer 26:12 sqq. Si injuriam deposueris penes Deum, ultor est; si damnum, restitutor est; si dolorem, medicus est; si mortem, resuscitator est. Tertullian. [Those that persecute Gods ministers hurt not them so much as themselves. Henry.S. R. A.]
5. On Jer 26:7-8; Jer 26:11; Jer 26:16. Auctores persecutionis plerumque esse solent ii, qui in ordine ecclesiastico eminent. Frster. Especially are the priests and men-pleasing prophets mad with Jeremiah, for if he is right they have lied. Diedrich.
6. On Jer 26:18 [By this it appears that a man may be a true prophet of the Lord and yet may prophesy the destruction of Zion and Jerusalem. When we threaten secure sinners with the taking away of the Spirit of God, and declining churches with the removal of the candle-stick, we say no more than what has been said many a time, and what we have warrant from the word of God to say. Henry.S. R. A.]
7. On Jer 26:20 sqq. Urias, a true prophet, preached like Jeremiah, therefore the king wished to kill him, so he fled to Egypt but could not escape. Jeremiah did not flee and was spared Our running and anxiety are of no use. The wickedness of the world must for its judgment be displayed on Gods servants, and these must yield to it; but on whom it is to come first God has in His own hand; and we may spare ourselves all our care and flight. Diedrich. [Nothing more is known of Urijah than is here related; but this incident suggests that God mercifully strove with His people by the ministry of many prophets whom He sent, rising up early and sending them (Jer 26:5) whose names are written in the Book of Life and are canonized in Gods Martyrology, but do not appear in the pages of any earthly history. Wordsworth.S. R. A.]
8. On Jer 26:24. Monemur hic, Deum servis suis fidelibus subinde largiri quosdam patronos, ut Jeremi hic Achikamum et infra cap. 38 Ebedmelechum, Eli et prophetis Obadiam 1 Reg. 18, Luthero Electores Saxoni Fridericum sapientem, Johannem pium, Johannem-Fridericum constantem. Frster.
9. On Jer 27:2-11. Historical times are preceded by a long series of centuries which present themselves to us as altogether obscure or only in the dubious twilight of tradition. Accredited history also comprises only a relatively small portion of the human race, for the nations which are added as ciphers to the factors of history form the majority. A universal ruler in the biblical sense is not one whose dominion actually extends over the entire globefor there is none suchbut he who represents the leader in the concert of history. This part is here given to Nebuchadnezzar. Among all the universal monarchies that represented by him appears richest in noble capacity. It is therefore compared to the golden head of the image in Daniel 2. Comp. Auberlen, der Prophet Daniel, S. 41 sqq.
10. On Jer 27:5 sqq. [The things of the world are not the best things, for God often gives the largest share of them to bad men, that are rivals with him and rebels against him. Dominion is not founded in grace. Those that have not any colorable title to eternal happiness may yet have a justifiable title to their temporal good things. Henry.S. R. A.] Great lords sit indeed on high thrones, but not firmly, for they are only Gods vassals. And when they do not please Him and act accordingly, he can easily transfer the fief to another; Dan 2:21; Dan 4:14; Dan 4:22. Cramer.
11. On Jer 27:12. [The conduct of Jeremiah, counselling Zedekiah and Jerusalem to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, has been represented as an act of political prudence to be imitated by Statesmen and Ecclesiastics, who are thereby justified in making large concessions of national rights and national independence in times of public emergency (Stanley, Lect. 534).
But was it not rather one of religious duty?
God had revealed to the prophet that He had given the Nation into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, His servant, on account of their sins, and they must submit to Him as the Minister and Vicegerent of God. Wordsworth. Many might have prevented destroying providences by humbling themselves under humbling providences. It is better to take up a lighter cross in our way, than pull a heavier on our own head. Henry.S. R. A.]
12. On Jer 27:14. It is one sign of our depraved nature that we are more ready to believe lies than the truth. For when Jeremiah and his colleagues preached, no one believed. But no sooner did the false prophet come and open their mouths, than all their discourses must be spoken directly from heaven, and what they said, must pass current on earth (Psa 73:9). But not what Jeremiah said. Take for example our mother Eve; what God said was of no account, but what the serpent said was something purely excellent. Cramer.
13. On Jer 27:18. True prayer is a certain sign of Godliness and a fruit of faith and the Holy Ghost, which cries in our hearts: Abba, dear Father. Therefore he who cannot or will not pray is not a good Christian. Cramer.
14. On Jer 27:18. If they be prophets let them supplicate the Lord. This was the great demonstration of Elias, to which Jeremiah adheres. It is infallibly the case that a false teacher has no heart for the Saviour, and goes out of His way. A heretic, who has a heart to pray (and that too in secret) is certainly not far from the truth. Zinzendorf.
15. On Jer 27:22. [We are apt to set our clock before Gods dial, and then to quarrel because they do not agree, but the Lord is a God of judgment, and it is fit that we should wait for Him. Henry.S. R. A.]
16. On Jer 28:1 sqq. Wherever the dear lord builds His church, the devil has a chapel near by. Cramer. This Hananiah (comp. Jer 28:2; Jer 28:11) shows us plainly what it is to lie or deceive in the name of God.
O Lord, and must Thy glorious name
Thus be a cover to their shame? Frster.
17. On Jer 28:6. Amen! the Lord do so. Quite a different attitude of the prophet from the preceding. A false prophet, a miserable comforter disputes with him, brings good news and appeals to an oracle, a voice which he had perhaps heard more lately than Jeremiah. Jeremiah without getting warm about it, says I shall be heartily glad if it be so: but take care that you have understood it correctly. His opponent is encouraged and goes further, he breaks off the prophetic yoke from Jeremiahs neck. Jeremiah, with the same indifference, which he has shown from the beginning, goes his way I dare not speak of anything, says Paul, which Christ hath not wrought by me (Rom 15:18). Zinzendorf.
18. On Jer 28:10-11. Chananias hic prbet exemplum impudenti Jesuwilic, cujus magistrum non abs re appellaveris Eumundum Campianum (1580) qui epistola quadum Theologos Angli provocare non erubuit, ponens inter alia verba hc fere thrasonica: Si prstitero clos esse, divos esse, Christum esse, fidem esse, causam obtinui: hic non animosus ero? Occidi quidem possum, superari non possum. Pari impudentia Jesuwitas ante Colloquium Ratisbonense scriplitasse legimus: The Prdicantes should come, if they had a heart in their body, they would catch them alive: if they would bring a syllogism, which is in Bocardo, they would throw it at ones head and say it was in Bocallo. Frster.
19. On Jer 29:7. Monemur hic, orandum esse pro magistratibus et non tantum iis, qui nostr religioni addicti et ver ecclesi membra, sed etiam pro iis, qui extra ecclesiam adeoque gentiles ut Nebuchadnezzar et Nero tyrannus (2Ti 2:2). Nam ex salute reipublic etiam salus et incolumitas ecclesi constat. Et Lutherus pereleganter: Politia, inquit, servit ecclesi, ecclesia servat politiam. Frster. Quod pastori hoc et ovibus. The symbol of the Emperor Charles the Bald.
20. On Jer 29:11. God always has compassion, and His heart breaks for us (Jer 31:20), for he exercises guardianship over His elect (Wis 4:15). And he knows how, in all that he does, to mitigate His justice with His mercy, so that we may see how richly His mercy is diffused over all His works; that even when He punishes, He straightway has mercy again according to His great goodness, and causes His mercy to be the more richly dispensed, because He knows our frame (Psa 103:14), viz., that we are flesh, a wind which passeth away and returneth not again (Psa 78:40). Cramer.
21. On Jer 29:10-11. The waiting of the righteous has always something to depend upon, namely, the promise, and it is a duty to God to believe the promises, but an insult and dishonor to the name of the Lord when no faith is put in them. Is it not enough that ye injure men, will ye also insult the Lord my God? (Isa 7:13). Zinzendorf.
22. On Jer 29:11. God gives a happy ending; He also tells us beforehand, that we may honor Him by hoping; but He deals with us according to His wisdom and His righteousness, so that He chastens us as long as we need it. We cannot, therefore, do otherwise than place ourselves in His hands. Diedrich.
23. On Jer 29:12. Let this be firmly established among the brethren, that there is no sham about the hearing of prayer. I remember that once a great minister said across the table: My pastor wrote me that he had settled it with the dear Lord that my wife should live; I should be comforted. My wife died. Now my pastor congratulates me and says, I could now indeed see that she lived. No wonder. The Bible has a nose or wax; and gentlemen also can explain their own words. Is it then to be in vain that the Lord Jesus has said; whatever ye ask believing that ye shall receive, shall be given unto you (Mar 11:24; Joh 16:23; Mat 7:7; Jam 4:4)? Test it as often as it is necessary; ask however in faith, and doubt not. I know most assuredly that you will be heard. But I regard it as a matter for consideration, whether one is to ask. Zinzendorf.
24. On Jer 29:15-16. A heavy cross often frees us from a heavier, which would otherwise have come upon us. The best way, therefore, is to be satisfied with Gods ways, who can bring good out of evil (1Pe 4:19; Gen 50:20). Starke.
25. On Jer 29:24-32. Those who seek their own consolation without God must be eternally deprived of the true consolation, which God grants to those who at this time humble themselves under Him. Those who preach false consolation confirm the resistance of men to the divine guidance and thus preach revolt, though intending to act conservatively. But in their blindness they do not see what sort of a time it is. Diedrich.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer 26:1-24. A sermon in rebuke of the corruptions of Zion. 1. Its purport (Jer 26:4-6); 2. How it is received (Jer 26:7-11); 3. How the preacher must defend himself (Jer 26:12-15); 4. What the fate of the preacher will be (a), in the most favorable case (Jer 26:16-19; Jer 26:24) (b), in the most unfavorable case (Jer 26:20-23).
2. On Jer 27:1-22. How the Lords servants are to treat Politics.1. They are to point out to the people that it is the Lord who raises and overthrows the kingdoms of this world (Jer 27:2-8). 2. They are to admonish the people to do what the Lord commands (Jer 27:12-13). 3. They are to warn against those who speak their own thoughts to the people (Jer 27:9-11; Jer 27:14-17). 4. They are to admonish to prayer and intercession (Jer 27:18 sqq).
3. On Jer 28:1-17. Of false and true prophets. 1. False prophets, (a) publish on their own responsibility what the people like to hear (Jer 28:2-4); (b) boldly contradict the true word of God (Jer 28:10-11); (c) come to shame, by the non-fulfilment of their predictions (Jer 28:8-9) and by their personal destruction (Jer 28:15-17). 2. True prophets (a) proclaim faithfully the true word of God, (b) fearlessly oppose the lusts of men and the lies of the false prophets; (c) They are honored () by the fulfilment of their prophecies, () by martyrdom, i.e., honor with God and posterity.
4. On 28. [This year thou shalt die. Dwight:A Sermon on the New Year.S. R. A.]
5. On Jer 29:7. The best Christians the best citizens: 1. They know that the prosperity of the whole is their own prosperity (they do not, therefore, seek selfishly their own personal advantage); 2. They actually labor with all diligence for the furtherance of the common good; 3. They employ for this end the power of Christian prayer. [A. Fuller:Christian patriotism, or the duty of religious people towards their country. Christianity a religion of peace.S. R. A.]
6. On Jer 29:11. The thoughts of the Lord concerning us. 1. They are thoughts of peace and not of evil; 2, we must wait for their realization, for the Lord delays this, but he does not forget it.
7. On Jer 29:11. Sermon at the funeral service of the Grand Hereditary Prince of Russia, delivered by Prof. Christiani, in Dorpat, 14 April, 1865: 1. Of the thoughts of peace which the Lord has had in this death; 2. Of the fruits and effects of these thoughts of peace.
8. On Jer 29:11-14. Whereupon is our hope of peace based? 1. Objectively upon this, that the Lord Himself has thoughts of peace concerning us. 2. Subjectively on this, that we (a) call upon and seek the Lord with all our hearts, (b) patiently wait for the time of hearing.
Footnotes:
[1]Jer 27:8.The construction here is not an anacoluthon, but is accusative, and is not co-ordinate to the first but to : as to the nation which will not serve, and as to that which will not how the neck, etc. Hence the singular stands properly also in the second relative clause. The sign of the accusative stands before the second to distinguish it as an accusative from the first, which is nominative, (comp. Ewald, 277 d, 2, and Gen 47:21; 2 Ki. 8:31), and thus at the same time to indicate that does not stand parallel to .
[2]Jer 27:8. in a transitive sense, as in Psa 64:7.
[3]Jer 27:12.. Comp. Textual Note on Jer 25:5.
[4]Jer 27:18. . The form as a perfect is abnormal. In Jer 50:5 it is to he taken as imperative. It is therefore not improbable, as Hitzig, Olshausen and Graf suppose, that we are to read .
[5]Jer 27:20.. Comp. Exo 13:21; Isa 23:11; Psa 78:17; Olsh. 78 c.
[6]Jer 28:1Instead of as the Chethibh is to be read, the Masoretes would here have as in Jer 32:1. The reading of the Chethibh is found unimpeached by the Masoretes in Jer 46:2; Jer 51:59. Probably the Masoretes wished, here as in Jer 32:1, the same punctuation for the word occurring twice in the verse, while in Jer 46:2 and Jer 51:59, no occasion was given for such an effort at conformity. On the St. const. in this connection, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 65, 2, c.
[7]Jer 28:3. . On the construction comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 70, g. Comp. besides Gen 41:1; 1Sa 13:23, etc.
[8]Jer 28:6. occurs besides in Jeremiah, only in Jer 11:5.
[9]Jer 28:8.On the construction in this verse, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 88, 7; 111, 1, b, 10.
[10]Jer 28:10.The masc. suffix in refers to the idea of . Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 60, 4.
[11]Jer 28:16.The word , I cast thee off, must, as Hitzig has remarked, contain an allusion to , to Jer 28:15.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
Jeremiah in this Chapter is addressing the other nations around, at the command of God, to tell them of their shortly being subject to the King of Babylon. Towards the close of the Chapter, the Prophet admonisheth the King of Judah to the same.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The time of this prophecy is noted, but it should seem, that though the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah then, he did pot deliver it till a considerable space after, for Jekoiakim’s reign at the beginning, was many years before Zedekiah. But the doctrine is the same. Let the Reader observe from what is here said, how the Lord governeth all nations: and that it is by him Kings reign; and princes decree justice. Sweet and consolatory thought to the believer in Jesus! Pro 8:15 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
IX
THE PROPHECIES OF JEREMIAH IN THE REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH
Jer 21
We have here the prophecies of Jeremiah, during the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of the Jewish people. These prophecies are to be found as indicated at the head of this chapter. They are not all the prophecies that Jeremiah uttered or that were written during this reign, but they are the prophecies that he uttered relative to that period and bearing upon the events of that reign. During Zedekiah’s reign he also wrote the messianic prophecy that we shall discuss in the next chapter.
When Jehoiakim burned the roll of his prophecies, he commanded his officers to go and take Jeremiah and Baruch. The Lord hid them or they would have lost their lives as Uriah had. Jeremiah and Baruch remained in hiding during the remainder of Jehoiakim’s wicked reign, four or five years. The latter part of this reign, as given in our books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, was a troublous time. Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. That king stirred up bands of the Moabites and the Edomites to come and trouble his kingdom. His cities were besieged and he himself was slain and his body cast forth as refuse outside the walls of the city. His son, Jehoiachin, succeeded him to the throne. Jehoiachin was quite young, some authorities say eight years, other authorities, eighteen years of age. His mother reigned with him, and was probably the power behind the throne. Jehoiachin continued the rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, and the result was that in a little over three months, that great king buried his hosts against Jerusalem and besieged the holy city. Jehoiachin, acting on good and wise advice, surrendered the city, and so he himself with his queen mother and the royal family were deported. Nebuchadnezzar, convinced that he was not a safe man to have upon the throne, had him and his royal family taken to Babylon and confined there. On the succession of “Evil Merodac” to the throne he was given a certain amount of liberty.
About 597 B.C. something over 7,000 of the best blood of Jerusalem, including the princes, the nobles, and the elders, with their wives, their slaves, and the most valuable and choice vessels of the Temple were carried away to Babylon. Ezekiel was carried away with them and began his prophecy in the fifth year of this captivity.
We can readily see that the removal of 7,000 of the best people from Jerusalem, such a thinning of the people, would give an opportunity to the many that were left. These nobles, princes, and elders, who were left in Jerusalem, were congratulating themselves that they were much better than those unfortunates who were carried off into exile. Such a conclusion would be perfectly natural. They were saying, “Those who had to go away and suffer such hardships are bad and so are suffering for their sins. We are left here in peace and so the Lord is with us.” That resulted in pride, and was a very foolish state of mind for this people. Jeremiah knows that destruction is awaiting them, if they continue in their ways of wickedness.
The theme of Jer 24 is Jeremiah’s comparison between those in exile and those left behind. Note the following points:
1. The vision (Jer 24:1-3 ). Jeremiah is shown in a vision two baskets of figs, set before the Temple of the Lord. He goes on to explain the occasion and the time when this occurred. The description is found in verse Jer 24:2 : “One basket of very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.” Jer 24:3 continues the description, as given to Jehovah by the prophet.
2. The fate of the good figs (Jer 24:4-7 ). “Like these good figs so will I regard the captives of Judah.” Those in exile are the ones referred to, and so he says he will take care of them: “I will bring them again into this land: I will set mine eyes upon them for good.”
3. The fate of the bad figs (Jer 24:8-10 ). These bad figs were the people living in Jerusalem, those who were puffed up, regarding themselves better than others because they were so fortunate as to escape deportation. “These bad figs are so bad that they cannot be eaten. So will I give up Zedekiah and the kings of Judah, and his princes and the residue of Jerusalem and those that remain in this land and them that dwell in the land of Egypt. I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all the places whither I shall drive them.”
Naturally the effect of that kind of preaching upon the people of Jerusalem was not very gratifying. Jeremiah did not make friends very fast by that kind of comparison and application. But he was a true prophet. He preached God’s truth, whether welcome or not.
The theme of Jeremiah’s 27-29 is Jeremiah’s exhortation to submit to the yoke of Babylon. This prophecy occurred during the first or second year of the reign of Zedekiah, who had been put upon the throne by Nebuchadnezzar as his vassal. The date is about 596 B.C., certainly within two years after the exile under Jehoiachin. There was a movement among the various small nations surrounding Judah, a sort of revival of their political interests. The kings and the princes of these sections had conceived the idea that they could league together and revolt against Babylon. The kings of these various nations had sent their ambassadors to Zedekiah at Jerusalem to form a league, or a conspiracy, by which they could throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was but a weakling, a mere tool in the hands of his chief princes. He had a certain reverence for Jeremiah and therefore he consulted him about it. But he feared the princes. He wanted to do right, but being a weak king, he was led to ruin and destruction by bad advice. He was afraid of Jeremiah, afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, afraid of his princes, and afraid of the prophets. To such a man all these nations came for consultation. They held their convention in Jerusalem, and to such a conference Jeremiah came as adviser. He advised that they all submit to Babylon.
Now, in Jer 27:1 there is an interpretation. It says, “In the reign of Jehoiachin,” and it should be, “The reign of Zedekiah.” Compare Jer 27:12 . Somehow that mistake has crept into the text. Jeremiah is commanded to make a yoke. He sets the yoke upon the heads of these ambassadors as a symbol. It is something like his symbolic action with the girdle. He puts the yoke on the heads of these envoys of Moab, Tyre, and the rest; also Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and gives his message. It is in verse Jer 27:6 : “And now have I given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, my servant. The beasts of the field I have given him also.” Verse Jer 27:7 : “And all the nations shall serve him and his sons’ sons till the time of his own land come.” Then destruction shall come upon him: Verse Jer 27:8 : “And it shall come to pass that the nation and the kingdom that shall not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith Jehovah, with the sword and with famine and with pestilence till I have consumed them by his hand.” Then he throws out this warning: Don’t listen to the preaching of your prophets for they are false. They have not the word of God. Listen to me and submit. No better advice was ever given to a king. Jeremiah was a man who had divine wisdom and gave advice that would have saved the people. He was called to be the savior of his country, and to be the prophet of the nations, the nations mentioned here. He would have saved them all, if they had listened to him.
We have some specific advice of the prophet to Zedekiah, the king, in Jer 27:12-15 . Notice what he says: “And I spake to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live.” But this advice to Zedekiah was to a weakling. He was respectful to the prophet, but afraid of his princes.
In Jer 27:16 he says, “I spake to the priests and the people, saying, Thus [He warns them against these false prophets, which had doubtless been inciting this revolt among the nations by prophesying that they could succeed.] . . . Serve the king of Babylon and live.” These prophets are prophesying a lie unto you. Why should this land become a desolation? These prophets had been preaching to the people that this exile would soon be over; that they would soon bring back the beautiful vessels of the Temple. This was fine talk to the people, for they wanted those vessels back. That suited the people fine, and the prophets knew it, so they just preached what the people wanted. These vessels will not come back. Just wait a little while and see if their prophecies come true. Thus saith the Lord concerning you: You shall be carried to Babylon and you shall be there until the day that I visit that land. Not only are these vessels not coming back, but you are going into exile also. Now, that was not a popular kind of talk, but it was divine wisdom.
A conflict with Hananiah, the false prophet, is described in Jer 28 . Here was a strange incident. We have a conflict between two men, able men, influential men, men of high position and rank; one a false prophet, the other a true prophet. Externally both are good men. Hananiah was the son of a prophet, of the priestly line. Doubtless this Hananiah had been hired by the enemies of Jeremiah to counteract his influence with the people. They hired this man to make the people believe that these vessels would come back. So Hananiah comes forward. He stands in the gate of the Temple and thus addresses the people: “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon; within two full years I will bring into this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, took away from this place. I will bring back Jehoiachin and the royal family within two years and everything will be restored within that two years.”
Now, that was delightful preaching. That was just what the people wanted. But there was Jeremiah and he had to be reckoned with. Hananiah had all the marks of truth in him. Jeremiah seems to have wavered. He treats this man with all the courtesy of a gentleman. He stands there and listens to his message. He stood with the people that stood in the house of the Lord. When Hananiah had finished he said: “Amen: the Lord do so; may it be as you have said.” Jeremiah would have been glad if it had been true. He was patriotic and loyal. Nothing would have rejoiced him more than for this to have happened. “Oh, that it might be so!”
But in Jer 28:7-8 he says, “Nevertheless hear thou this that I speak unto thee. The prophets that spake in the olden time prophesied against many countries and against many kingdoms.” What did he mean by that? That the prophets who were true prophets prophesied destruction; that the punishment was coming. He means to say that the criterion by which one could determine a true prophet was that he prophesied evil. Now this man Hananiah was a false optimist. The true prophet sees the evil as well as the good. So by that process of reasoning he proved that Hananiah was a false prophet. He prophesied only good, hence he could not be a true prophet. I have prophesied evil and therefore I am in line with the tried and true prophets. How did the people like that?
We may well suppose that the majority of them did not like it. When Hananiah saw that the tide was coming his way, that the people were with him, he seized the yoke that Jeremiah was wearing before the people and smashed it to pieces. This is what he says: “Even so will I break the yoke of the king of Babylon before two full years end.” That was a bold stroke. Jeremiah was silenced for the time. But he did not give it up entirely; he went his way and talked to Jehovah about it. God gave him his answer. In Jer 28:13 we have it: “Go, tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast broken the bars of wood; but thou hast made in their stead bars of iron.” This kingdom shall be suddenly destroyed, as for Hananiah the Lord said, “Thou makest this people to trust in a lie. . . Behold, I will send thee away from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken rebellion against Jehovah.” And Hananiah died the same year in the seventh month, two months after this incident.
An account of a letter of Jeremiah to the exiles is found in Jer 29 . Zedekiah was the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar and in order to assure him that he was true he sent two messengers to him. Their names are given in Jer 29:3 . These two messengers took letters from Zedekiah to the king in Babylon. Jeremiah took occasion to send a letter by these messengers to the exiles in Babylon. False prophets were over there, too.
They had been predicting that they would soon return to their own land. So Jeremiah sent them a letter, the substance of which is to be found from Jer 29:4 on to the end of the chapter. This we will discuss briefly. He advised the people to settle down, to marry, to be true to the king of Babylon and after seventy years, that is, about two generations, God’s will concerning the king of Babylon would be accomplished, and then they should return to their own place. In Jer 29:13 we have a beautiful statement: “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” In Jer 29:21-22 we have this statement regarding two false prophets in Babylon, Ahab and Zedekiah, who were prophesying the destruction of Babylon and the immediate return. Word of this comes to the ears of Nebuchadnezzar. That king was not a man to be trifled with. Here were two exiles stirring up an insurrection in his realm. Jeremiah says, “He roasted them in the fire.” He tried to do the same thing with the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was not an uncommon thing for a man to burn people to death then. That was the fate of these two false prophets.
But we come to another incident in Jer 29:24 . There was one Shemaiah who sent letters from Babylon to the princes and guardians of the Temple about Jeremiah, and said that this man, this Jeremiah ought not to be at large. Verse Jer 29:26 : “Every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in the stocks. . . Now therefore, why hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh himself a prophet to you, for as much as he hath sent unto us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long,” and thus and so. Then the men of the Temple read the letter to Jeremiah, and he responds, verse Jer 29:32 : “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he behold the good that I will do unto my people, saith Jehovah, because he hath spoken rebellion against Jehovah.”
Jeremiah’s advice to Zedekiah during the siege is given in Jer 21 . This chapter is very much out of chronological order. This weak king is still in the hands of his princes, who are trying to throw off the yoke of Babylon. They have been all this time expecting help from Egypt. PharaohNecho who had slain Josiah, king of Judah, had been succeeded by Pharaoh-Hophra. He had overthrown his adversaries at home and was now ready for Asia. There was an Egyptian party in Jerusalem and they soon had their plans ready for Zedekiah. They proposed to form an alliance with this Pharaoh against Nebuchadnezzar. This they did against the advice of Jeremiah. The outcome of the matter was that Nebuchadnezzar swept down upon Judah and Jerusalem to subdue them.
Zedekiah sent an anxious message to Jeremiah inquiring if there was any message from the Lord. His answer was brief. He simply told him that the Lord would not save the city as he did when Isaiah was the prophet. But he says in verse Jer 21:5 : “I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm even in anger and in wrath and in great indignation, and I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beasts and they shall die of great pestilence.” This siege was to end in the downfall of the city. In Jer 21:8 he says, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by famine and by the pestilence, but he that goeth out and falleth away to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live and his life shall be unto him for a prey.”
The incidents of the siege are described in Jer 34 . Under the preaching of Jeremiah and the stress and strain of the siege, the people’s consciences were awakened and they gave heed to the law of Moses and made a covenant that they would liberate all the slaves according to the law of Moses, which said that when a Hebrew became a slave to another that he should be such only six years. That is recorded in the law as found in Exo 21:2 and Deu 15:12 . That law was given by Moses. They usually neglected it, but they did it now while there was pressure on them, but as soon as the pressure was removed they went back to their old ways again, Jer 34:11 : “But afterward, they turned and caused the servants and handmaidens, whom they had caused to go free to return and brought them into subjection for servants and handmaidens.” This occurred while Pharaoh-Hophra was coming up to Jerusalem to relieve the city. Nebuchadnezzar defeated him and drove him back. When the pressure was removed their conscience grew calloused again. Jeremiah broke out in great bitterness against this, Jer 34:17 : “You granted liberty, then you took it back. I proclaim to you a liberty to the sword and to famine. I will make you to be a curse among the nations of the earth.” In spite of all the solemnity with which you made the covenant you broke it. I will cause the Chaldeans to return to the city and make it without inhabitants.
The effect of Jeremiah’s preaching is recorded in Jeremiah 37-39. Jeremiah’s forty years and more of preaching had verily been in vain. The people would not heed. There seemed to be a fixedness in their perverseness. They evidently hardened their hearts to go after idols. There is a saying, “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.” It was so with these people. They were mad after idolatry. The siege had now been on more than a year. It lasted eighteen months altogether, accompanied with all the horrors of a siege. These events are recorded in Jeremiah 37-39. We take them up in order:
Jer 37:2 : “Neither he, nor the people of the land, hearkened unto the words of the Lord.” This general statement is followed by the details:
Zedekiah was a weakling. He wanted to do what Jeremiah said, and if he had been stronger he would have done so. So he sent for him and asked his advice. He says, Jer 37:3 : “Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.” Jeremiah answered him, Jer 37:7 : “Behold, Pharaoh’s army that is come forth to help you shall return into their own land; the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city. They shall take it and burn it with fire.”
At the time the siege was raised and the Chaldeans went to meet the Egyptians, many people broke out of the city. Jeremiah was one of them. He started to go to his home at Anathoth to take charge of a certain piece of property he had bought, verse Jer 37:12 : “Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem at the gate of Benjamin.” He came in collision with the captain of the ward whose name was Irijah and he said to Jeremiah, “Thou goeth to the Chaldeans; thou art falling away to the Chaldeans.” Many others were doing the same thing and nothing was said about it, but these people now had a chance to get in a blow at Jeremiah, because he had been stoutly counseling the people to surrender to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah said, “I do not fall away to the Chaldeans.” Irijah did not believe him, but seized him and brought him before the princes, “and the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan, the scribe.” This is the second time Jeremiah had been arrested, but the first time he was imprisoned.
The king called for Jeremiah and asked him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” “No,” said Jeremiah, “The only word is this: Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” Then he pleads for himself: “Cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan, the scribe, lest I perish there.” Zedekiah, the king, was kindly disposed toward him. He gave him some liberty. He remained in the court of the guard six months or more, guarded by the king.
Then the princes put him in the dungeon. These princes were the real cause of the fall of Jerusalem. They hated Jeremiah. They had been treating with Egypt, and he had advised against them; his counsel had weakened many of the people in their loyalty to the plans of the princes; so they hated him, and now that they had him in their hands they wreaked their vengeance on him. Verse Jer 37:4 : “Then the princes said to the king, Let this man we pray thee be put to death, forasmuch as he hath weakened the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people.”
That the king was a weakling is shown in verse Jer 37:5 : “Then Zedekiah, the king, said, Behold he is in your hands; do as you will, for the king is one that can do nothing against you.” There was a certain Justification for these princes who saw only the military aspect of it. If any man had done as did Jeremiah, in connection with the siege of Richmond or Vicksburg, he would have been promptly dealt with as a traitor. So they took Jeremiah and threw him into a deep cistern, or pit. It had no water in it, but it was deep with mud and he sank down into that, and they left him thinking that would be the last of him. At last, they thought, his tongue was silenced. But he was rescued by a slave, an Ethiopian, named Ebedmelech. He felt kindly toward Jeremiah, so he went to the king and the king gave him liberty to rescue him (Jer 38:7-13 ).
Another audience with the king is allowed Jeremiah (Jer 38:14-28 ). This is Jeremiah’s last audience with Zedekiah. Verse Jer 38:17 : “If thou go forth to the king of Babylon thou shalt live, and the people.” He could yet save the city. Then the king told him not to tell anybody about the interview. If there had been a man on the throne, he would have saved the city. Then follows an account of the capture of the city and its destruction (Jer 39:1-10 ). A careful reading of this passage will be sufficient.
Jeremiah was saved by the command of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He had heard about Jeremiah and his services, how he had counseled the people to surrender, and spared his life; told them to take good care of him and let him do as he would.
The prophecy in Jer 39:15-18 is concerning Ebed-melech, the slave who had saved Jeremiah’s life. It is beautiful to see how Jeremiah remembered this man. He writes down in the word of God what should be his reward, thus: “I will surely save thee, saith Jehovah.”
Jerusalem is now a smoking ruin, and the people are scattered far and wide. The nobles and the princes are slain before the king, and his own sons are slaughtered before his own eyes. Zedekiah’s eyes are put out and he is carried captive to Babylon. If he had only followed the advice of Jeremiah, all would have been well. The position of a prophet in the state is supreme; it is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon any man.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the theme of this chapter of this INTERPRETATION and what the historical setting?
2. What is the theme of Jer 24 and how is it presented? Explain fully.
3. What is the theme of Jeremiah 27-29 and what the general condition in Judah and the surrounding nations at this time?
4. How do you explain the name “Jehoiachim” in Jer 27:1 , what the symbolic action of the prophet here and what its meaning? (Jer 27:1-11 .)
5. What is the specific advice of the prophet to Zedekiah, the king, in Jer 27:12-15 ?
6. What is his advice to the priests and the people and how does he meet the prophecies of the false prophets?
7. Give an account of the conflict between Hananiah and Jeremiah (Jer 28 ).
8. Give an account of the letter of Jeremiah to the exiles (Jer 29 ).
9. What is Jeremiah’s advice to Zedekiah during the siege? (Jer 21 .)
10. What are the incidents of the siege? (Jer 34 .)
11. What is the effect of Jeremiah’s preaching and how are the people characterized? (Jeremiah 37-39.)
12. What is the general statement of this in Jer 37:1-2 ?
13. Give an account of the king’s request of Jeremiah and his response (Jer 37:3-10 ).
14. Give an account of Jeremiah’s second arrest and first imprisonment (Jer 37:11-15 ).
15. Give an account of his deliverance from the prison (Jer 37:16-21 ).
16. What was next done with him and what the particulars (Jer 38:4-6 )?
17. How did he escape and what the particulars?
18. Give an account of Jeremiah’s last audience with the king (Jer 38:14-28 ).
19. Give an account of the capture of the city and its destruction (Jer 39:1-10 ).
20. How was Jeremiah saved and what the particulars? (Jer 39:11-14 .)
21. What is the prophecy in Jer 39:15-18 ?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Jer 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Ver. 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. ] By the date of this prophecy, compared with Jer 27:12 ; Jer 28:1 , it should seem that it lay dormant for fourteen or fifteen years ere it was recited.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah Chapter 27
It is well known that an error has crept into the text of the prefatory verse. The reader has only to compare verses 3 and 12, with 19, 20, to make this clear and certain. For “Jehoiakim” in verse 1 read “Zedekiah”.
The occasion of this word from Jehovah to Jeremiah was an effort at a coalition of the king of Judah with the kings that surrounded the land to throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. Vain thought! God had for an appointed term given him a dominion unlimited in title: if limited in fact, it was only that he did not push with his arms yet farther. Rebellious thought! for the God who gave the king of Babylon this large place of authority was avowedly chastising His own people whose evil refused all remedy. Now when God is judging sin, the only suited feeling of man is repentance in dust and ashes with submission of heart to His ways. Therefore was the prophet to say “Thus saith the Lord to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.” (Ver. 2-8.)
The mourning prophet was called to a course, unspeakably bold and presumptuous in the eyes of his countrymen – how much more in the eyes of the ambassadors and the foreign powers! But God does not abate His sovereign will, nor hide the claims of His glory, because His people degrade themselves and put His name to open shame. And what a rebuke, especially to Judah and the guilty son of David, to hear “the God of Israel” proclaim Nebuchadnezzar as “His servant,” not only to the Jews but to their Gentile neighbours! The divine grant too was as minute as it was extensive: “the beasts of the field” did Jehovah give to serve him, as well as “all these lands.” But Babylon’s supremacy was measured. It was no purpose of mercy; it was but a sovereign disposition in providence, and as the accomplishment of the needed chastisement of Judah and the nations. This over, many nations and great kings should serve themselves of the Babylonian king after the third generation, as surely as all nations should serve him meanwhile. But serve they must till then on pain of God’s punishment with His sore plaques.
Observe that the conduct of faith at such a time exposed the prophet (and those who needed the word of the Lord) to the charge both of indifference to their country’s honour and liberty, and of proud insubjection to the powers that ruled over Palestine and the kingdoms round about. This is not the least of the trials of a sensitive spirit. Observe, further, that the path of faith is inseparable from the actual message of God that applied to the then condition of His people. It was worse than useless to imitate what was of God for the days of Moses, of Joshua, of David, or even of Hezekiah. Faith is ever taught of God, and understands His present testimony and dealings. Always a true principle, this is verified now pre-eminently in the Christian. He has the mind of Christ, and is responsible to gather by the Holy Spirit from the perfect revelation of God what is for our guidance as each conjuncture arises. There is no need for which God has not provided in His word; but the Spirit alone can apply it aright, acting in us to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Appearances may be against the faithful as much now as in the days of Jeremiah. Our business is to do God’s will and to diffuse the witness of His truth, spite of every adversary.
“Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.” (Ver. 9-11.) To be stiff-necked and refuse the word of divine warning is the sure road to the fulfilment of His word in our own misery and destruction. To obey is better than sacrifice in the worst of times as much as in the best. But the prophets of men prophesy what suits their masters’ wishes and their own immediate interests, and only hasten the evil against which they promise a security as hollow as it is loud.
But the prophet perseveres and warns first Zedekiah the king, then the priests and all the people. “I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you. Also I spake to the priests and all this people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste? But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, which Nebuchadnezzer king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; yea, thus saith the lord of hosts, the God of Israel., concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; they shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.” (Ver. 12-22.) In presence of sin, the flesh holds out fair hopes and immediate pleasure; but the Spirit always insists on that subjection to God’s sentence on sin, which cannot but be repulsive to nature but ensures His blessing both now and evermore. Pride goes before a fall; and a refractory spirit paves the way for yet deeper humiliation.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 27:1-7
1In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying- 2thus says the LORD to me-Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck, 3and send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, 5I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. 6Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him. 7All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.
Jer 27:1 Zedekiah Most manuscripts of the MT have Jehoiakim (JPSOA). However, the Peshitta (Syriac) and the Arabic, along with three Hebrew MSS, have Zedekiah because of:
1. Jer 27:3; Jer 27:12; Jer 28:1
2. the internal setting of the chapter fits Zedekiah better
3. the LXX omitted the verse
The date must be after 597 B.C., possibly 594 B.C., because an account in the Babylonian Chronicles tells us of the attempted coalition between small western states against Nebuchadnezzar II (cf. Jer 27:3).
Jeremiah Jeremiah’s name (, i.e., Jer 26:7) is spelled differently in Hebrew (), reason unknown. Several names in the OT are spelled differently, examples are Joshua, Nebuchadnezzar.
Jer 27:3 bonds and yokes This refers to oxen yokes (BDB 557). How many Jeremiah made is uncertain, whether one for himself or one for each ambassador. They symbolized servitude (cf. Jer 27:8; Deu 28:48). Probably the Hebrew them of Jer 27:3 refers to a message, not a yoke.
by the messengers This refers to the officials sent by the surrounding nations who were trying to encourage Zedekiah to resist Babylon, along with them.
Jer 27:5 This is the theological assertion that YHWH is the God of creation (cf. Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3). Jer 27:5-6 also assert His sovereignty over all nations (cf. Deu 32:8; Job 12:23; Act 17:26).
by My great power and by My outstretched arm This is a repeated anthropomorphic (see Special Topic at Jer 1:9) theme.
1. YHWH’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, Deu 4:34; Deu 5:15; Deu 6:21; Deu 9:29
2. YHWH as creator, 2Ki 19:15; Jer 27:5; Jer 32:17
I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight This phrase also refers to Cyrus II, King of Persia (cf. Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1-7), but here to Nebuchadnezzar II (cf. Jer 28:14). YHWH is in control of history!
The VERB (BDB 678, KB 733) is used four times in Jer 27:5-8. The emphasis is not on the power of human kings, but on YHWH’s control of nations and events for His redemptive purposes!
Jer 27:6 My servant This is a honorific title used of (1) the Messiah (cf. Isa 52:13) and (2) Nebuchadnezzar II (cf. Jer 25:9; Jer 43:10). God is in control of history, men, nations, and even Satan, who may all be used to accomplish His redemptive purposes!
The footnote of the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 545, is very helpful as it outlines the different usages of the title My Servant.
1. a servant of God as a prophet, cf. Num 12:7-8; Neh 1:7; Dan 9:11
a. Moses
b. Daniel, cf. Dan 9:17
2. a servant of God as a military leader (i.e., Joshua), cf. Jos 24:29; Jdg 2:8
3. a servant of God as King (i.e., David), cf. 2Sa 7:5; 2Sa 7:8; Psalms 18, 36; Eze 34:24; Eze 37:24
4. a servant of God as administrator
a. Nehemiah, cf. Neh 1:6
b. Zerubbabel, cf. Hag 2:23
5. all Israel (or Jacob), cf. Isa 42:1; Isa 42:19; Isa 43:10; Isa 44:1; Isa 44:21; Isa 49:3; Eze 28:25; Eze 37:25
6. the remnant of Israel, cf. Isa 41:8-10
7. a godly individual, cf. Job 1:8; Job 2:3; Job 42:8
8. unbelieving rulers who serve YHWH’s purposes
a. Cyrus, Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1
b. Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 25:9; Jer 27:6; Jer 43:10
also the wild animals of the field to serve him This is a strange phrase. It apparently relates to Jer 27:5, where it is a way of referring to creation. Here it is used in a series of statements (cf. Jer 28:14).
1. creation given, Jer 27:5
2. lands given, Jer 27:6
3. animals given, Jer 27:6
4. nations given, Jer 27:7
to serve him This VERB (BDB 712, KB 773, here used of Nebuchadnezzar) is used eleven times in this chapter.
1. Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT, Jer 27:6
2. Qal PERFECT, Jer 27:7(twice),11(twice)
3. Qal IMPERFECT, Jer 27:8-9; Jer 27:13-14
4. Qal IMPERATIVE, Jer 27:12; Jer 27:17
Jer 27:7 him, and his son, and his grandson The LXX omits grandson. Historically the throne was seized from Nebuchadnezzar’s son by a relative. Remember, modern westerners turn Hebrew prophecy into historical narrative. This phrase is a literary way of asserting Babylon’s domination for a period of time (i.e., 70 years, cf. Jer 25:11).
Also notice that as YHWH used Nebuchadnezzar to punish His unrepentant people, the day is coming when YHWH will use Cyrus to judge Babylon for her sins (cf. Jer 25:12; chapters 50-51; Isa 14:4-6).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Jeremiah’s Eighteenth Prophecy (see book comments for Jeremiah).
Given in reign of Jehoiakim to Jeremiah. Declared, after thirteen years, in fourth year of Zedekiah: i.e. in 485. Compare Jer 26:12. Jeremiah 27 and Jeremiah 28 were written by Jeremiah, or at his dictation. Compare “me”, Jer 27:2; Jer 28:1. Some codices, with Syriac, read “Zedekiah”, as in Jer 26:3 and Jer 26:12.
In the beginning. The Massorah (App-30) notes the fact that this expression occurs three times at the commencement of a verse (Gen 1:1. Gen 26:1; Gen 27:1).
came. At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim; but it referred to a future time, as shown in Jer 27:12.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 27
Now Jeremiah goes on to declare that,
In the beginning ( Jer 27:1 )
He’s speaking this to the king Zedekiah.
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck ( Jer 27:1-2 ),
So Jeremiah made this wooden yoke and he put it over his neck. A yoke like they put over an ox, and it was a sign of servitude. So he put this yoke over his neck and walked around every place he went. Here he had this old yoke over his neck, and people are saying, “What in the world have you got on your neck there? What is that yoke? Why are you wearing that thing for?” He said, “So is the Lord going to bring Israel into bondage because of their iniquities. God’s going to lead us into captivity because of our sin.” And so it was something that sparked a question in the minds of the people, but gave to Jeremiah the opportunity to share with them the word of the Lord. Now he said…
So he made a bunch of these little yokes. One that he put on his own neck, but others that he sent to the various kings that surrounded Judah. Now at this particular time they were preparing to rebel against Babylon. And they were planning a confederacy that they might get Edom, Moab and the king of Tyre and Sidon that they might all join together against Babylon in hopes of breaking the yoke of Babylon from them. And so God says, “Now make a little yoke for each of these kings and send it to them with a message.”
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I have given it unto whom it seemed right unto me ( Jer 27:4-5 ).
Now God is here declaring His sovereignty, really, over His creation. “I’ve created the earth. I’ve created man. I have created kingdoms and I have set upon the kingdoms those whom I will. Those who seem good to Me.” Now it is interesting that at this point the Babylonian kingdom had arisen to world dominance. It was a world-dominating empire. And Nebuchadnezzar who God had placed upon the throne of Babylon was boasting of the greatness of the Babylonian kingdom. “Is this not the great Babylon,” he said, “that I have built?” And a voice came from heaven and said, “The watchers have been watching you, boy, and you’re in big trouble.” And so he came to Daniel and said, “What does it mean?” He said, “Look, you walk carefully. You are in big trouble. Don’t let your heart be lifted up with pride, but walk softly before God.”
You see, he had had this dream. He had seen in the dream this great image. Daniel interpreted the dream as to represent the kingdoms that would rule over the earth. “You, Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold. But your kingdom is going to fall to an inferior kingdom, the chest of silver, the Medo-Persian. Which will fall to the Grecian Empire, the stomach of brass. Which will fall to the Roman Empire, the legs of iron. Which will fall to the Grecian Empire, the stomach of brass, the legs of iron, the Roman Empire and the feet of iron and clay with the ten toes.” Now Nebuchadnezzar made a proclamation, “Be it known there is no God in all the earth like the God of Daniel who is able to reveal dreams,” and all this kind of stuff. And then he turns right around and defies the dream. For he had built in the plains of Dura a huge image, ninety feet tall, of all gold. This was a statement of Nebuchadnezzar.
The statement is, “The Babylonian kingdom will never fall. It’s not going to be replaced by the chest of silver and by the stomach of brass and legs of iron. Babylon will live forever.” And he ordered that at the sound of the music, everybody bow down and worship this image that he has set up in the plains of Dura to dedicate themselves to this concept–Babylon will last forever. So he is defying the plain revelation of God. So you know the story of the three Hebrew children who refused to bow and were cast in the burning fiery furnace without any harm. After they came out of the fire he said, “There’s no God… I, Nebuchadnezzar, make a proclamation–there is no God in all the earth like the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who is able to deliver from the burning fiery furnace.” But then he was still filled with pride. “Is this not the great Babylon that I have made?” And, of course, then the angel speaks to him and tells him, “Hey, the watchers have been watching you.” The watchers from heaven.
Boy, did you know that there’s watchers in heaven watching you? And so he was in great fear and for a year he walked carefully. He was very careful. But after a year he was walking through his gardens and looking at these beautiful hanging gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. “Is this not the great Babylon that I have built?” The voice said, “That’s it. You’ve had it.” Pow! Something snapped. He went insane. He began to go out in the fields and eat grass with the oxen. He lived like a wild man. His hair grew like feathers and his nails like claws. And he had a period of insanity for seven seasons until he would acknowledge that the God of heaven rules and reigns over the kingdoms of man and sets on the thrones those whom He will. He was brought to the acknowledgment God reigns. He came out of this period of insanity. “And I, Nebuchadnezzar, make a proclamation: No God in all the earth like the God of heaven Who establishes the kingdoms who He desires and sets upon the thrones those whom He would. And those He will exalt He can exalt and those He wants to bring down He can bring down. I command that all men worship this God.”
Now he came to this acknowledgment. It is interesting that here in Jeremiah we have the very same thing that is being declared. That God gives in authority those whom He would. He raises up the powers that He would. And so God has raised up Babylon. So it is foolish for you, little kings, to think of rebelling against Babylon. God has raised it up as His instrument. God has raised up the Babylonian kingdom.
And now [God says] I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant ( Jer 27:6 );
I’ve done it. God is the One that raised up Nebuchadnezzar. God is the One that set him on the throne. Nebuchadnezzar came to realize this in time. But here we find the same acknowledgment in the book of Jeremiah before the experience that Nebuchadnezzar had, recorded in the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar, my servant,
and the beasts of the field have I given also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son ( Jer 27:6-7 ),
Interesting. He goes down to his grandson, and his grandson was Belshazzar. And it was during the time of Belshazzar’s reign that the kingdom of Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian Empire. So God carried it. His son, Nabonidus , took over after him and then his grandson Belshazzar and during his reign Babylon fell. So I’ve given it to him and to his son and to his son’s son. Here God accurately predicts really the time of the Babylonian fall.
until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him ( Jer 27:7 ).
So a multiplicity of nations, the Medes and the Persians will join together and destroy him. And so here’s interesting prophecy long before the actual fact took place.
And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand ( Jer 27:8 ).
So if you seek to rebel, then you’ll be destroyed. God said, “I’m the One that has set this fellow up. I’m the One that’s given him the kingdom. I’m the One that’s given him your kingdoms. And if you fight against it, you’re only going to be destroyed.” And that is so true. Fighting against the will or the work of God only destroys you.
Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, You will not serve the king of Babylon ( Jer 27:9 ):
Don’t listen to these men.
For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and that you should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein ( Jer 27:10-11 ).
Now if you’ll just submit then you won’t be carried off captive. You’ll be able to remain right in your land. You won’t be destroyed but you can stay right where you are and farm your own ground and all. All you have to do is pay tribute to him, but I’ve given all of you to serve him now.
And so it was, because Judah sought to fight against him Judah was destroyed and carried away to Babylon. Whereas these other kings who hearkened to the voice of Jeremiah, in submitting to Babylon were able to remain in their own lands and till their own territories.
So he said, Jeremiah speaking,
So I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live ( Jer 27:12 ).
Just surrender. Don’t try to fight. Don’t rebel. Just surrender to him and live.
For why will ye die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, You will not serve the king of Babylon: for they are prophesying a lie unto you ( Jer 27:13-14 ).
Now we’ll be coming to Habakkuk a while later down the road, another prophet. Habakkuk was prophesying and about this same period as was Jeremiah. And Habakkuk begins his little book by praying unto the Lord and he says, “O Lord, please don’t show me anything else. I can’t take it. God, this whole system is going down the tubes and You’re not doing anything about it. There’s all kinds of corruption in government. There are all kinds of bribery and evil men are reigning. And God, things are getting worse and please, I would just rather not even have an insight into what’s going on because I can’t take it anymore, Lord. To see all of these things happening and You’re not doing anything about it.” And God said to Habakkuk, “Habakkuk, I am doing something about it. But if I told you what I was doing, you wouldn’t believe Me.” Habakkuk said, “Well, try me, Lord.”
And the Lord said, “I am preparing the king of Babylon and he is going to come with his bands and he’s going to take this land captive.” “God, You can’t do that. We’re evil, sure. I recognize that. But man, they’re even worse than we are. Now why would You use a nation that is worse than we are to punish us?” God said, “I told you you wouldn’t believe it.” But Habakkuk’s problem was the method that God was going to use to bring judgment. By using another nation that was even more evil than they were. But God used them as His instrument of judgment.
You say, “Well that doesn’t sound quite right that God would use a more evil nation.” For instance, would God use Russia to bring judgment upon the United States? Quite possibly. He would be following a pattern that He has used in times past. But why would God use an atheistic country that doesn’t even acknowledge God to punish a country that is a Christian nation? Wait a minute. You see, knowledge brings responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required. To sin against knowledge is worse than to sin in ignorance. To him that knoweth to do right and does it not, that’s sin. “He that knew the will of God and yet did not the will of God will be beaten with many stripes. Yet he who did things that were worthy of many stripes, because he did not know the will of the Master will be beaten with few. For unto whom much is given, much is required” ( Luk 12:47-48 ). And God in the past has used wicked nations as an instrument of judgment against His people who have turned their back upon God.
The United States does not have any real security apart from God and apart from a commitment to God. The world in which we live today is a very insecure world. The present position of the United States is an extremely insecure position. General Lewis Walt, four-star Marine general, wrote a book, The Eleventh Hour. It was published last year. In which he warns of the tremendous peril that the United States presently faces as the result of Russia’s tremendous military strength. General Keegan, I have a speech of his in my office in which he again warns the tremendous peril that the United States is facing at this time because of Russia’s military superiority. General Rogers, the supreme allied commander in Europe, in a Reader’s Digest article last December, warns of the great peril that we are facing at the present time, again pointing out the military weakness of the United States in ratio to Russia.
And each of these generals, Walt, Keegan, Rogers, have pointed to the year 1982 as the crisis year in the history of America. Henry Kissinger has been saying the same thing, that we are facing a tremendous crisis. The Pentagon this week asked for 1.5 trillion dollars over the next five years for military budgets in order that we might begin to close the gap of the disparity that exists between Russia’s power and ours. These men are worried. These men are concerned. General Lewis Walt in the preface of his book The Eleventh Hour said, “I’ve never sent…” He said, “I’ve always had one unbreakable rule and that is I’ve never sent the Marines into battle until I first of all told them the truth as I knew it.” He said, “That’s what I want to do in this book.” He says, “The truth is this: you and your family are facing the greatest peril at this time than any other time in the history of the United States. For whether you live or die, it’s right now being determined by the leaders of the Kremlin. And if they should choose tomorrow that you and your family should die, there’s nothing we can do to stop them.” And he goes on in the book and warns of the peril that faces the United States at this time.
You say, “Well, yeah, but God, that isn’t fair.” I am praying that God will bring our nation to its knees. I’m praying that God will stir us as a nation to return to God, because right now we dare not to trust in our military abilities. They are inferior to Russia’s. We must put our hope and our trust in God if we’re going to survive. That is the only hope the United States right now has. Our strength is not in our military might. Our strength is and must be in the Lord. So Jeremiah brought the message in order that the people might turn to God, in order that God might breathe a sigh of relief and say, “All right, don’t have to destroy.” And God is sounding out a message to the United States today. And it is getting much the response that Jeremiah’s message got.
The political cartoonists are having great time with it. The Daily Pilot today, junky thing, had this political cartoon of this Bible and a snake coming out of the bottom of the Bible marked “Moral Majority” and it takes a big bite out of the constitutional rights as though the moral majority were trying to violate our constitutional rights. It’s just hogwash. But the thing that upsets me is that there are people stupid enough to believe that. People don’t think for themselves. And there are people stupid enough to think that the moral majority is a threat to our constitutional rights. And they’re trying to say, “Oh, you know, trying to make America theocracy.” No, we’re only trying to make America a decent place for our children to grow up and our grandchildren to grow up.
I would like my little granddaughter to be able to walk down the street without the fear of her being assaulted and raped and molested. I would like to see some moral decency and moral purity again in this nation. I’d like to be able to send them to the store without them having to see all kinds of magazines and newspaper stands and so forth with nudity all over the place. God, can’t we keep their minds pure at least for a while? Must we put pollution all around? Can’t decent people have the right to live decently? Does constitutional freedom mean that we have to expose everybody to the filth and the pollution of perverted minds? I hope not. Or I’m for changing the Constitution and establishing some basis for morality rather than the nothingness and the vacuum that is being created by the humanists today.
Jeremiah was warning the nation Israel. Conditions existed then in Israel that can exist today in the United States and there’s such a parallel here. Israel was known as God’s nation, the people of God, but they had turned from God. They were filled with immorality. The priests and the prophets were false shepherds and they were leading the people astray. They were bringing the messages of comfort and they were ridiculing the prophets of God who were warning the people of the judgment that was to come. And they were saying, “Oh, they are just a bunch of doomsday prophets,” and making light and fun of the issues. So he wrote, so he spoke to Zedekiah and he said, “Hearken not to those prophets saying that you’re not going to serve the king of Babylon, because that’s a lie.”
For I have not sent them, saith the LORD ( Jer 27:15 ).
Verse Jer 27:15 , chapter 27:
yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you, and the prophets that prophesy unto you. Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that are prophesying unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they are prophesying a lie unto you ( Jer 27:15-16 ).
These prophets are going around saying, “Thus saith the Lord. Oh, the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar took, the golden vessels, they’re soon going to be brought back. They’ll be sitting here in place again, thus saith the Lord.” And Jeremiah says, “Don’t listen to that. That’s a lie.”
Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: for why should this city be destroyed? But if they are true prophets, and the word of the LORD be with them, then let them now make intercession unto the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left here in the house of God, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, are not also carried away to Babylon. For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning this brass sea ( Jer 27:17-19 ),
That was made by Solomon that sat there, the big brass sea that was on the twelve oxen and so forth where the priests bathed.
and concerning the bases, and concerning the remaining of the vessels that are in this city, Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all of the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; yes, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are remaining in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; They also will be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; and then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place ( Jer 27:19-22 ).
So hey, the false prophets are coming along and saying, “Ah, the vessels will soon be brought back.” That’s a lie. The vessels that are here, those that haven’t been taken away, will soon be taken away. They’ll be taken away also. Don’t believe their lies. If they’re really prophets, let them intercede that the rest that hasn’t been taken away won’t be carried away.
Well, when Nebuchadnezzar came back, it was proved that Jeremiah was the true prophet. He took the brass, the pillars and all of the rest of the valuables that were left in the city and carried them away captive to Babylon. They did not return until the time of Nehemiah who received orders from the king Artaxerxes to come back and restore and rebuild. Ezra, during that period, they brought back the treasures. And the king says, “Now take back all these treasures to the house of your Lord.” And Ezra was embarrassed, because man, he had so much gold and silver and precious metals that he was fearful because the area between there and Jerusalem was full of bandits and everything else. We got all this treasure. But he was embarrassed to ask the king for a guard of soldiers to go with him because he’d been telling them how great his God was. “Now the God that we serve, He rules everything.” And now he’s really in a pickle because he’s got all of this vast treasure and he’s worrying now about getting it back there safely after he’d been bragging about God so much. But he said, “We put our trust in the Lord and we started out.” And, of course, the Lord brought them safely in. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Jer 27:1-3
Jer 27:1-3
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah to me: Make thee bonds and bars, and put them upon thy neck; and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers that come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;
Jer 27:1 here places the events of this chapter in the accession year of Jehoiachim; but it is evident from Jer 27:3 that Zedekiah was the king during the events of this chapter. What we have here is some kind of an error; and scholars usually agree that some ancient copyist accidentally copied the first verse of the preceding chapter. The Revised Standard Version is evidently correct, which gives the verse thus: “In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, etc.”
Such errors are quite rare; and it is fortunate that the subsequent verses of the chapter enable the necessary correction to be made.
Make thee bonds and bars…
(Jer 27:2). These are the elements of an ancient ox yoke which consisted of two pieces of wood, one to be place above the neck of the animal, and the other to placed under it, with both pieces held together by thongs of leather.
And put them upon thy neck…
(Jer 27:2). An ox yoke was for two animals; and thus this contraption made quite a cumbersome and uncomfortable piece of wearing apparel for Jeremiah. He must have exhibited a startling spectacle at the court of’ the king.
Send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon…
(Jer 27:3). These were the neighboring kingdoms of Judah; and the presence of representatives from these kingdoms at this time in Judah was due to the political intrigue going on at that time against Babylon. There was a strong party in Judah who still regarded Jehoiachin as the rightful king of Judah and who hoped for his speedy return. The king of Babylon about the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign had encountered some opposition at home; and the vassal kingdoms, including Judah, were trying to form a coalition against Babylon with the hope of regaining their independence. Jeremiah was divinely inspired to oppose such a foolish maneuver.
Send them…
(Jer 27:3). This indicates that five such yokes were to be made, not counting the one Jeremiah was wearing, and these were indeed sent to each of the five kings mentioned. Some dispute this; but we cannot interpret them as meaning only one yoke! After all, it would not be much harder to make six yokes than it would to make only one. If, as some say, only the messages were sent to the kings, the import of the instruction would have been the same either way.
THE WARNING OF THE YOKE
Jer 27:1 to Jer 28:17
In chapters 27 and 28 Jeremiah uses an ox yoke as an object lesson to drive home his point that Judah should submit to Babylon. It was Jeremiahs position that God had given all the nations of the Near East into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar for seventy years. In spite of the bitter opposition of the political and religious leaders Jeremiah continued to forcefully assert that his pronouncements were of God. National survival demanded submission to the yoke of Babylonian world rule. In chapters 27 and 28 the warning is sounded to the foreign nations (Jer 27:1-11), king Zedekiah (Jer 27:12-15), the priests and people (Jer 27:16-22) and the fake prophets (Jer 28:1-17).
Instructions for the Prophet Jer 27:1-3
Jer 27:1 clearly sets forth the date of the events in chapter 27 as being in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. However the remaining portion of the chapter makes very clear that these messages are to be dated in the reign of Zedekiah (see Jer 27:3; Jer 27:12; Jer 27:20). As a matter of fact according to Jer 28:1 the events of chapter 27 can be dated precisely to the fourth year of Zedekiah. How then did the name Jehoiakim get into Jer 27:1? It is conceded by practically all scholars that the name of Jehoiakim in this verse is the error of a copyist. Some scribe as he copied the manuscript of the Book of Jeremiah was probably subconsciously influenced by the heading which appears over the preceding chapter and inadvertently wrote Jehoiakim for Zedekiah in Jer 27:1.
It is not infrequent in prophetic books to find the Lord instructing His Prophets to do some dramatic and sensational things in order to call attention to their messages and vividly illustrate their points. Here Jeremiah is commanded by the Lord to make bands (thongs) and bars i.e., an ox yoke consisting of wooden bars held together by leather bands. He is then to put this yoke upon his neck. Jeremiah seems to have appeared in the streets of Jerusalem for several days with his yoke-bar around his neck proclaiming his message of submission to Babylon. From what is said in Jer 27:3 it would appear that Jeremiah made at least six other yoke-bars, perhaps miniature replicas, to be sent to various kings of the region.
Ambassadors from several neighboring states had gathered in Jerusalem for a consultation with Zedekiah. Representatives from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon were present. While the purpose of the meeting is not stated, it is evident from the warning of the prophet that revolt against Babylon was being contemplated. Perhaps the envoys were attempting to persuade Zedekiah to join the revolt. Jeremiah appeared in some public place where the ambassadors would be sure to pass, with a yoke upon his neck and in this strange guise delivered an impressive exhortation to the foreign visitors. The Hebrew prophets had a great deal to say about foreign nations but only on rare occasions were their messages given directly to those foreign peoples. For other possible examples Of Prophets addressing messages to foreign ambassadors see Isa 14:28-32; Isa 18:1-3.
It is perhaps worth noting here that Zedekiah made a trip to Babylon in this same fourth year of his reign. He either voluntarily chose to go and renew his oath of fidelity to Nebuchadnezzar or else he was summoned by the great king who heard rumors of the revolt which was being plotted in this chapter.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Having thus repeated the vision and prophecies of the earlier times, Jeremiah again addressed himself directly to Zedekiah. There can be no doubt that the marginal reading of 27:l must be adopted, and the word “Zedekiah”
substituted for “Jehoiakim.” Having shown by his vision of the baskets of figs what was determined against Judah in the way of punishment, through Babylon, the prophet now announced Jehovah’s attitude in this matter. He was charged to make bands and bars. Evidently one of these the prophet wore himself, while the rest were sent to the messengers.
These messengers represented a confederacy of kings formed to resist Nebuchadnezzar. The prophet declared that all such attempts would be useless. Jehovah was absolutely supreme in governing the world, and had given the lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Those who refused to submit to him would be punished in other ways, but still by the direct act of Jehovah. Jeremiah warned these messengers therefore to pay no attention to their prophets, nor any who told them that they should not serve the king of Babylon. The divine fiat had gone forth, and the only way of escape from suffering was to bend the neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon. Those who would do so would be allowed to remain in their own land.
After this address to the messengers of all the kings, the prophet directed his attention especially to Zedekiah, urging him to submit to the king of Babylon. Again he earnestly warned Zedekiah against listening to the false prophets who were declaring that the threatened invasion and victory of Nebuchadnezzar would never occur. He suggested this test to the prophets, that they make intercession to the Lord of hosts that the vessels of Jehovah should not go to Babylon. It was an ironical suggestion, as is evidenced by the fact that he immediately declared that the word of Jehovah had irrevocably gone forth that these things should be carried into Babylon and remain there until Jehovah visited them and restored them to their own place.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Ungrateful Forgetfulness
Jer 2:1-8; Jer 26:1-24; Jer 27:1-22; Jer 28:1-17; Jer 29:1-32; Jer 30:1-24; Jer 31:1-40; Jer 32:1-44
God regarded Israel as His bride, who had responded to His love, or as a vineyard and cornfield which were expected to yield their first fruits in response to the careful cultivation of the owner. Why had they failed to respond? For the answer let us question our own hearts. What marvels of perversity and disappointment we are! Who can understand or fathom the reason of our poor response to the yearning love of Christ! The heathen, in their punctilious devotion and lavish sacrifices at their idol-shrines, may well shame us. The root of the evil is disclosed in Jer 2:31. We like to be lords, to assume and hold the mastery of our lives. But God has been anything but a wilderness to us. He has given us ornaments, and we owe to His grace the garments of righteousness which He has put on us. In return we have forgotten Him days without number, Jer 2:32. Let us ask Him to call us back-nay more, to draw us by the chains of love.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BONDS AND YOKES
(Chaps. 27, 28)
Chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight are intimately connected. Both alike treat of the general subject of passive submission to the Babylonian yoke.
Strange as it may seem to those not conversant with the ways of GOD with man on earth as outlined in the Scriptures, it was He Himself who had raised up Nebuchadrezzar and had given His people and the Gentile nations into his hand. This, and the failure on man’s part (especially that of the “head of gold,” (Dan 2:38) as the Chaldean monarch was declared to be), will all be found fully detailed in the book of Daniel.
It was for Israel and Judah to own GOD’s righteousness in thus causing the dominion to pass from David’s house, because of their sin, and to be given to the stranger. This, Zedekiah, as we have seen, did not do; and from the present position it would appear that he and the kings of the surrounding nations, Edom, Moab, Ammon, etc., had attempted an organized coalition against the king of Babylon. Jeremiah is therefore commissioned to warn Zedekiah and his allies of the futility of any such attempt.
It was in the early part of the reign of Zedekiah then, Judah’s last king, that Jeremiah was bidden to make bonds and yokes and put them first upon his own neck, then send them for a testimony to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyrus, and Zidon, by the hand of their own ambassadors, who had come to Jerusalem to confer with the Hebrew ruler (Jer 27:2-3).
Not only was he to give to each the symbolic bonds and yokes, but he was to give them the explanation likewise:
“And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say unto your masters: I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him” (Jer 27:4-7).
Resistance for the present is but folly, and worse than useless. The king of Babylon was the servant of the Lord, though he wist it not. He could but act by divine permission, and it was the will of GOD to use him as the scourge to punish the people with whom He had a controversy. That purpose achieved, his power should be broken; but till then no might could stand against his victorious armies. The nation refusing to put the neck under his yoke would incur greater punishment, in the way of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they should be utterly consumed (Jer 27:8).
They were warned against giving heed to charlatans parading as prophets and diviners, as also dreamers, enchanters, and sorcerers, who abounded among the heathen. Such, as a rule, give the message which they know is most likely to be received with favor; but when they spoke, saying, “Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon,” they were prophesying a lie, and only the more drawing down the vengeance of GOD upon those believing and acting upon their prognostications. If the nations would submit to the yoke, they should be permitted to remain in their own lands as tributaries to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 27:9-11).
To Zedekiah also a personal warning and entreaty was given. He was urged not to rise in rebellion, but to bend his neck to the yoke, thus saving himself and the people. In his court also were false prophets, who predicted the success of his effort to throw off subjection to Babylon, but the Lord had not sent them. They were prophesying lies in His name (Jer 27:12-15).
To the priests and the people a similar address is directed. The pseudo-prophets had declared, “Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon.” (Jer 27:16) This was utterly false; and he pleads with the people not to be deceived.
“If,” he says, “they be prophets, and if the Word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon” (Jer 27:16-18).
For the Lord had made known to him that not only should there be no present recovery of the sacred utensils now in Babylon, but the brazen pillars and the sea, with all the vessels hitherto allowed to remain in Jerusalem, “which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem,” should soon be carried away also and kept in the city of their captivity until the day appointed for His visitation, when He would bring them up and restore them to the holy city (Jer 27:19-22).
The record of their restoration is given in Ezr 1:7-11.
In His own time the word of the Lord was literally fulfilled, while the testimony of the false prophets was proven to be a lie, as the next incident shows.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
CHAPTER 27
The Optimism of the False Prophets Contradicted
1. The call of Nebuchadnezzar to be the servant of God (Jer 27:1-11)
2. The call to submit and to serve the king of Babylon (Jer 27:12-22)
Jer 27:1-11. It was in the earlier part of the reign of Zedekiah (Jehoiakim in Jer 27:1 is a clerical error, see Jer 27:3 and Jer 27:12) that Jeremiah is commanded to make bonds and yokes to put them on his neck; then he was to send them to the surrounding nations by the ambassadors at the court of Zedekiah. The verses which follow are of much importance and interest. God speaks as Creator, and in His sovereignty He appoints Nebuchadnezzar as head over the nations and over the beasts of the field, also over the fowls of heaven Dan 2:38, not permanently, but for a time. God appointed a new form of government, because Jerusalem had failed, and the theocratic government as vested in the house of David was to pass away. An imperial head is chosen by the Lord from among the Gentiles. He constitutes Nebuchadnezzar His servant; with him and his rule begin the times of the Gentiles. He is the golden head in the dream-image he saw, which young Daniel interpreted by Divine revelation. The times of the Gentiles are fully revealed in Daniels great prophecies. The predicted end of these times are not passed into history; we are still living in the times of the Gentiles. They end with the second, visible coming of Christ, when Gentile world-dominion, as it started with Nebuchadnezzar, will end, and the kingdom of heaven begins.
This fact–that God has committed power in this world to a man–is very remarkable. In the case of Israel, man had been tried on the ground of obedience to God, and had not been able to possess the blessing that should have resulted from it. Now God abandons this direct government of the world (while still the sovereign Lord above); and, casting off Israel whom He had chosen out from the nations, grouping the latter around the elect people and His own throne in Israel, He subjects the world to one head, and committing power unto man, He places him under a new trial, to prove whether he will own the God who gave him power, and make those happy who are subjected to him. when he can do whatever he will in this world.
Whoever refuses now the new governmental order will be punished by the Lord; the nations that put their neck under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, to serve him, will remain in their land.
Jer 27:12-22. He speaks to the king and to the priests and calls them to submit to the new government established with Nebuchadnezzar. He urges them not to believe the lying prophets with their false, optimistic message, who promised smooth things. Every message they uttered, contradicted the Word of God. It is the same in Christendom today. The rationalistic critics have a message of unscriptural optimism concerning the conditions of this age, which contradicts everything made known in the prophetic Word. Part of the vessels from the temple had been carried away. The false prophets said that these vessels would shortly be returned. The Lord dispels this lying message, for He reveals through His prophet that the remaining vessels shall also be taken to Babylon.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 3409, bc 595
the beginning: Jer 27:3, Jer 27:12, Jer 27:19, Jer 27:20, Jer 26:1, Jer 28:1
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 27:1. Jehoiakims original name was Eliakim but it was changed to this other name by the king of Egypt who had taken a hand in the affairs of Jerusalem (2Ki 23:31-35). Jehoahaz was the natural successor of his father Josiah, but he was displeasing to God who suffered the king of Egypt to take this temporary control and place his brother Jehoiakim (Eliakim) on the throne. It was in the first year of his reign that Jeremiah received the message from God that is in this chapter. It was about the time when the king of Babylon was coming up to Jerusalem to form a sort of alliance with the king of Judah. God knew that could not be permanent and that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, would take control over Judah and other lesser kingdoms near. It was Gods will that all nations be subject to the king of Babylon that he might form the first of the four world empires later spoken of by Daniel (Dan 2:36-40; Dan 5:17-19). It was best therefore for the nations to submit peaceably to Babylon and the present message from God to Jeremiah was on that subject.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
MORE MESSAGES FOR ZEDEKIAH
In some respects the most important chapter here is the first, which deals with Babylons supremacy, and reveals the beginning of the times of the Gentiles, or the fulness of the Gentiles (Rom 11:25). The term refers to the period when Israel, because of her disobedience to God, has forfeited her place of power in the earth and is scattered among the nations. It begins when God transfers this power to the Gentiles as represented by Babylon, and continues until Christ comes a second time for the deliverance of Israel from the Gentiles at the end of this age. The occasion of the transfer is set forth here.
Babylon is increasing in power, and threatening the smaller nations standing in the way of her mastery of the Mediterranean. These by their ambassadors are now in conclave in Jerusalem, presided over by Zedekiah, meditating the means of defense or opposition to the common enemy. God seizes the occasion to send the prophet to them with a revelation of His will in the premises (Jer 27:1-11).
Verse one speaks of it as in Jehoiakims reign, but the context shows that it is an error.
With what symbolic action does the prophet introduce his message (Jer 27:2-3)? What nations are represented in the conclave? What is the divine declaration he makes (Jer 27:6-7)? What penalty is attached to the failure to comply with Gods will (Jer 27:8)? What promises to submission (Jer 27:11)? What special message is vouchsafed to the king of Judah (Jer 27:12-15)? What other classes in Judah are addressed (Jer 27:16-18)?
When God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant (Jer 27:6), it does not mean that the king knows and consciously desires to please Him, but only that, like the king of Assyria before him, he is being used for the time being to execute Gods purposes of chastisement on His people.
Chapter 28 gives a flesh illustration of the persecution Jeremiah endured from the enemies of the truth. Read carefully it will explain itself. May its warnings and encouragements not be lost upon us.
Chapter 29 recalls the earlier one on the good and bad figs. To the good figs the prophet sends this letter (Jer 29:1), that is to the earlier captives (Jer 29:2), who are to return after seventy years as the others are not (Jer 29:10-14). To what evil teaching were they exposed in the land of their captivity (Jer 29:8-9; Jer 29:15-19)? What were the names of the false prophets (Jer 29:21-23)? What man tried to stir up evil against Jeremiah by a letter (Jer 29:24-29)? What punishment would befall him (Jer 29:30-32)?
Chapters 30 and 31 speak again of the future redemption of Israel. What command comes to the prophet touching this testimony, and why (Jer 30:1-3)? What language shows that the end of the age is in mind (Jer 30:7-9)? Have these words yet been fulfilled in Israels history? Compare also Jer 30:18-24, and indeed the whole of the next chapter.
Chapters 32 and 33 cover the same ground as the preceding chapters, except that they are more picturesque because of the real estate transaction they record. What was the period, and what was the prophet enduring at the time, and why (Jer 32:1-5)? What is he called upon to do (Jer 32:6-8)? What care is taken about this purchase (Jer 32:9-15)? What shows his surprise and ignorance of its meaning (Jer 32:16-25)? What question does God put to the prophet (Jer 32:26-27)? Does this demand on the prophet to purchase the field indicate any change of Gods mind concerning Judah and Babylon (Jer 32:28-35)? What does it indicate for the future, however (Jer 32:36-44)? Point out at least ten reasons to show that all of these last verses point to the future. The theme is continued into the next chapter, and the Messiah once more referred to as the cause of the restoration and blessing (Jer 33:15-16). What name is given Him? What corresponding name is to be given Judah in that day?
Chapter 34 is self-explanatory. A special offense on the part of the leaders brings renewal of the prophecy of judgment.
QUESTIONS
1. What chapter in this lesson is the most important, and why?
2. What is the meaning of, the time of the Gentiles?
3. Look up that phrase or its equivalent in your concordance.
4. Describe the occasion of chapter 27.
5. In whose reign did this take place?
6. Why is Nebuchadnezzar called Gods servant?
7. Tell the story of chapter 28 in your own language.
8. Name the chapter containing the type of the good and bad figs.
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Jer 27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim Instead of Jehoiakim here, Dr. Waterland, Houbigant, Blaney, and many others, read Zedekiah, because it is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the common reading with what follows. Lowth also, in his commentary upon the place, gives it as his opinion, that the least forced way of solving the difficulty is, to say that Jehoiakim has crept into the text by the negligence of the scribes, (who might have their eyes fixed upon the beginning of the last chapter or section,) instead of Zedekiah. This emendation is confirmed by comparing this verse with the 3d, 12th, and 20th verses of this chapter, and with the beginning of the next. Such little verbal mistakes must be allowed by all impartial readers to have sometimes happened in transcribing the Holy Scriptures, as well as in other books, and may easily be corrected, by comparing the suspected reading with other parts of the sacred text, which admit of no difficulty or uncertainty.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. In the twelfth verse it is added, I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah. These occurrences induce some critics to believe that Jehoiakim has been mis-written for Zedekiah.
Jer 27:2-3. Make thee bonds and yokesand send them to the king of Moab, &c. There were at this time in Jerusalem ambassadors from those kings, soliciting Zedekiah to join them in a league against the king of Babylon. On this league the cunning Hananiah seems to have grounded his prediction in the next chapter.
Jer 27:9. Hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners. This passage is levelled entirely against the false prophets, who practised those detestible arts. We find two words applied to divination. nichaish, he divined. Gen 44:5; Gen 44:15. Wot ye not, said Joseph, that such a man as I could certainly divine? But Jeremiah uses the word kesem, which is understood in an ill sense, like that which Balaam practised against the Israelites. Num 23:23. And which Moses prohibited. Deu 18:10. Samuel also says, rebellion is as the sin of divination. Therefore the false prophets are accused of lying divinations. Jer 14:14. Eze 13:6. The dreamers, the enchanters, the sorcerers, or evilworkers, are the same characters using different arts. All the surrounding nations had their prophets, their learned scribes and diviners, enchanters and sorcerers. Many among the Jews got a wretched pittance of bread by divinations. St. Jude notices these with the epithet of filthy dreamers.
REFLECTIONS.
We here find the holy prophet hard at work again, diversifying his ministry by signs, fighting with nations, and splendidly foretelling Nebuchadnezzars conquests, to save his country in the hopeless struggle. We see, on the other hand, the villainous efforts of the false prophets, who consulted their present interests by following the popular voice. The ministry of the one contributed to ruin their country, while that of the faithful prophet tended to save it. Alas, alas, for the court preachers who go with the times, instead of maintaining the rights of God, amidst all the fluctuations of time. When the Lord put the necks of oriental nations under the yoke of the king of Babylon he reminds them that he himself was the only ruler, the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. This is consolation to the church, that he who scourges has but a limited commission. Zion has yet a final appeal to that bar which shall redress all her wrongs.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jeremiah 27-29. Certain linguistic peculiarities (e.g. the incorrect spelling, Nebuchadnezzar) suggest that these three chapters may have circulated as a separate pamphlet, e.g. in Babylon. They deal with the rebuke of false hopes concerning a speedy return from exile.
Jer 27:1-11. The Conspiracy against Babylon.Probably in 593 (note correction by mg. of Jer 27:1; the more definite date of Jer 28:1 seems to belong here) Jeremiah is told to make and wear a yoke (as symbol of submission to Babylon; cf. 1Ki 22:11, and the note on Jer 13:1 ff.). He is to send an interpretative message by the representatives of the five kings who are seeking the alliance of Zedekiah in a conspiracy against Babylon. Yahweh, the Creator of all, has given all into the power of the Babylonian king. Those who will not bear the yoke willingly shall be given into his hand after much suffering. They are not to be deceived by false guides. On Jeremiahs characteristic policy of submission to Babylon, and its consequences to himself, see Introduction, 2.
Jer 27:3. Omit them, with the LXX of Lucian; according to Jer 28:10, Jeremiah is still wearing the yoke himself.
Jer 27:6. the beasts of the field, etc.: the words simply emphasize the absolute sovereignty of the Babylonian king; cf. Dan 2:38.
Jer 27:7 (omitted by LXX) limits the Babylonian tenure of power to two more generations; it is probably, like Jer 25:12-14, a later addition.
Jer 27:8. consumed . . . by: should probably be emended into given into.
Jer 27:9. dreams: read dreamers with VSS.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
27:1 In the beginning of the reign of {a} Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
(a) Concerning the disposition of these prophecies, they who gathered them into a book, did not altogether observe the order of times, but saw some before, which should be after, and contrary wise which if the reader mark well it will avoid many doubts and make the reading much easier.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jeremiah’s warning to the foreign messengers 27:1-11
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah received a message from the Lord toward the beginning of King Zedekiah’s reign. The Jews sometimes divided periods of time into halves: the beginning half and the end half. Thus the writer probably meant that this prophecy came in the first half of Zedekiah’s reign (cf. Jer 28:1). [Note: E. Henderson, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, p. 171.] The first verse of chapter 28 locates the time of this prophecy more exactly, namely, in the king’s fourth year (594 or 593 B.C.).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER IX
HANANIAH
Jer 27:1-22, Jer 28:1-17
“Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.”- Jer 28:15
THE most conspicuous point at issue between Jeremiah and his opponents was political rather than ecclesiastical. Jeremiah was anxious that Zedekiah should keep faith with Nebuchadnezzar, and not involve Judah in useless misery by another hopeless revolt. The prophets preached the popular doctrine of an imminent Divine intervention to deliver Judah from her oppressors. They devoted themselves to the easy task of fanning patriotic enthusiasm, till the Jews were ready for any enterprise, however reckless.
During the opening years of the new reign, Nebuchadnezzars recent capture of Jerusalem and the consequent wholesale deportation were fresh in mens minds; fear of the Chaldeans together with the influence of Jeremiah kept the government from any overt act of rebellion. According Jer 51:59, the king even paid a visit to Babylon, to do homage to his suzerain.
It was probably in the fourth year of his reign that the tributary Syrian states began to prepare for a united revolt against Babylon. The Assyrian and Chaldean annals constantly mention such combinations, which were formed and broken up and reformed with as much ease and variety as patterns in a kaleidoscope. On the present occasion the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon sent their ambassadors to Jerusalem to arange with Zedekiah for concerted action. But there were more important persons to deal with in that city than Zedekiah. Doubtless the princes of Judah welcomed the opportunity for a new revolt. But before the negotiations were very far advanced, Jeremiah heard what was going on. By Divine command, he made “bands and bars,” i.e., yokes, for himself and for the ambassadors of the allies, or possibly for them to carry home to their masters. They received their answer not from Zedekiah, but from the true King of Israel, Jehovah Himself. They had come to solicit armed assistance to deliver them from Babylon; they were sent back with yokes to wear as a symbol of their entire and helpless subjection to Nebuchadnezzar. This was the word of Jehovah:-
“The nation and the kingdom that will not put its neck beneath the yoke of the king of Babylon
That nation will I visit with sword and famine and pestilence until I consume them by his hand.”
The allied kings had been encouraged to revolt by oracles similar to those uttered by the Jewish prophets in the name of Jehovah; but:-
“As for you, hearken not to your prophets, diviners, dreams, soothsayers and sorcerers,
When they speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.
They prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land;
That I should drive you out, and that you should perish.
But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him,
That nation will I maintain in their own land (it is the utterance of Jehovah), and they shall till it and dwell in it.”
When he had sent his message to the foreign envoys, Jeremiah addressed an almost identical admonition to his own king. He bids him submit to the Chaldean yoke, under the same penalties for disobedience-sword, pestilence, and famine for himself and his people. He warns him also against delusive promises of the prophets, especially in the matter of the sacred vessels.
The popular doctrine of the inviolable sanctity of the Temple had sustained a severe shock when Nebuchadnezzar carried off the sacred vessels to Babylon. It was inconceivable that Jehovah would patiently submit to so gross an indignity. In ancient days the Ark had plagued its Philistine captors till they were only too thankful to be rid of it. Later on a graphic narrative in the Book of Daniel told with what swift vengeance God punished Belshazzar for his profane use of these very vessels. So now patriotic prophets were convinced that the golden candlestick, the bowls and chargers of gold and silver, would soon return in triumph, like the Ark of old; and their return would be the symbol of the final deliverance of Judah from Babylon. Naturally the priests above all others would welcome such a prophecy, and would industriously disseminate it. But Jeremiah spake to the priests and all this people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah:-
“Hearken not unto the words of your prophets, which prophesy unto you.
Behold, the vessels of the house of Jehovah
Shall be brought back from Babylon now speedily:
For they prophesy a lie unto you.”
How could Jehovah grant triumphant deliverance to a carnally minded people who would not understand His Revelation, and did not discern any essential difference between Him and Moloch and Baal?
“Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation?”
Possibly, however, even now, the Divine compassion might have spared Jerusalem the agony and shame of her final siege and captivity. God would not at once restore what was lost, but He might spare what was still left. Jeremiah could not endorse the glowing promises of the prophets, but he would unite with them to intercede for mercy upon the remnant of Israel.
“If they are prophets and the word of Jehovah is with them,
Let them intercede with Jehovah Sabaoth,
That the rest of the vessels of the Temple the Palace,
And the City may not go to Babylon.”
The God of Israel was yet ready to welcome any beginning of true repentance. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, He would meet His people when they were on the way back to Him. Any stirring of filial penitence would win an instant and gracious response.
We can scarcely suppose that this appeal by Jeremiah to his brother prophets was merely sarcastic and denunciatory. Passing circumstances may have brought Jeremiah into friendly intercourse with some of his opponents; personal contact may have begotten something of mutual kindliness; and hence there arose a transient gleam of hope that reconciliation and cooperation might still be possible. But it was soon evident that the “patriotic” party would not renounce their vain dreams: Judah must drink the cup of wrath to the dregs: the pillars, the sea, the bases, the rest of the vessels left in Jerusalem must also be carried to Babylon, and remain there till Jehovah should visit the Jews and bring them back and restore them to their own land.
Thus did Jeremiah meet the attempt of the government to organise a Syrian revolt against Babylon, and thus did he give the lie to the promises of Divine blessing made by the prophets. In the face of his utterances, it was difficult to maintain the popular enthusiasm necessary to a successful revolt. In order to neutralise, if possible, the impression made by Jeremiah, the government put forward one of their prophetic supporters to deliver a counter blast. The place and the occasion were similar to those chosen by Jeremiah for his own address to the people and for Baruchs reading of the roll-the court of the Temple where the priests and “all the people” were assembled. Jeremiah himself was there. Possibly it was a feast day. The incident came to be regarded as of special importance, and a distinct heading is attached to it, specifying its exact date, “in the same year” as the incidents of the previous chapter-“in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month.”
On such an occasion, Jeremiahs opponents would select as their representative some striking personality, a man of high reputation for ability and personal character. Such a man, apparently, they found in Hananiah ben Azzur of Gibeon. Let us consider for a moment this mouthpiece and champion of a great political and ecclesiastical party, we might almost say of a National government and a National Church. He is never mentioned except in chapter 28, but what we read here is sufficiently characteristic, and receives much light from the other literature of the period. As Gibeon is assigned to the priests in Jos 21:17, it has been conjectured that, like Jeremiah himself, Hananiah was a priest. The special stress laid on the sacred vessels would be in accordance with this theory.
In our last chapter we expounded Jeremiahs description of his prophetic contemporaries, as self-important and time serving, guilty of plagiarism and cant. Now from this dim, inarticulate crowd of professional prophets an individual steps for a moment into the light of history and speaks with clearness and emphasis. Let us gaze at him, and hear what he has to say.
If we could have been present at this scene immediately after a careful study of chapter 27, even the appearance of Hananiah would have caused us a shock of surprise-such as is sometimes experienced by a devout student of Protestant literature on being introduced to a live Jesuit, or by some budding secularist when he first makes the personal acquaintance of a curate. We might possibly have discerned something commonplace, some lack of depth and force in the man whose faith was merely conventional; but we should have expected to read, “liar and hypocrite” in every line of his countenance, and we should have seen nothing of the sort. Conscious of the enthusiastic support of his fellow countrymen and especially of his own order, charged-as he believed-with a message of promise for Jerusalem, Hananiahs face and bearing, as he came forward to address his sympathetic audience, betrayed nothing unworthy of the high calling of a prophet. His words had the true prophetic ring, he spoke with assured authority:-
“Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel,
I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
His special object was to remove the unfavourable impression caused by Jeremiahs contradiction of the promise concerning the sacred vessels. Like Jeremiah, he meets this denial in the strongest and most convincing fashion. He does not argue-he reiterates the promise in a more definite form and with more emphatic asseveration. Like Jonah at Nineveh, he ventures to fix an exact date in the immediate future for the fulfilment of the prophecy. “Yet forty days,” said Jonah, but the next day he had to swallow his own words; and Hananiahs prophetic chronology met with no better fate:-
“Within two full years will I bring again to this place all the vessels of the Temple, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away.”
The full significance of this promise is shown by the further addition:-
“And I will bring again to this place the king of Judah, Jeconiah ben Jehoiakim, and all the captives of Judah that went to Babylon (it is the utterance of Jehovah); for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
This bold challenge was promptly met:-
“The prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people that stood in the Temple.” Not “the true prophet” and “the false prophet,” not “the man of God” and “the impostor,” but simply “the prophet Jeremiah” and “the prophet Hananiah.” The audience discerned no obvious difference of status or authority between the two-if anything the advantage lay with Hananiah; they watched the scene as a modern churchman might regard a discussion between ritualistic and evangelical bishops at a Church Congress, only Hananiah was their ideal of a “good churchman.” The true parallel is not debates between atheists and the Christian Evidence Society, or between missionaries and Brahmins, but controversies like those between Arius and Athanasius, Jerome and Rufinus, Cyril and Chrysostom.
These prophets, however, display a courtesy and self-restraint that have, for the most part, been absent from Christian polemics.
“Jeremiah the prophet said, Amen: may Jehovah bring it to pass; may He establish the words of thy prophecy, by bringing back again from Babylon unto this place both the vessels of the Temple and all the captives.”
With that entire sincerity which is the most consummate tact, Jeremiah avows his sympathy with his opponents patriotic aspirations, and recognises that they were worthy of Hebrew prophets. But patriotic aspirations were not a sufficient reason for claiming Divine authority for a cheap optimism. Jeremiahs reflection upon the past had led him to an entirely opposite philosophy of history. Behind Hananiahs words lay the claim that the religious traditions of Israel and the teaching of former prophets guaranteed the inviolability of the Temple and the Holy City. Jeremiah appealed to their authority for his message of doom:-
“The ancient prophets who were our predecessors prophesied war and calamity and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.”
It was also a mark of the true prophet that he should be the herald of disaster. The prophetical books of the Old Testament Canon fully confirm this startling and unwelcome statement. Their main burden is the ruin and misery that await Israel and its neighbours. The presumption therefore was in favour of the prophet of evil, and against the prophet of good. Jeremiah does not, of course, deny that there had been, and might yet be, prophets of good. Indeed every prophet, he himself included, announced some Divine promise, but:-
“The prophet which prophesieth of peace shall be known as truly sent of Jehovah when his prophecy is fulfilled.”
It seemed a fair reply to Hananiahs challenge. His prophecy of the return of the sacred vessels and the exiles within two years was intended to encourage Judah and its allies to persist in revolt. They would be at once victorious, and recover all and more than all which they had lost. Under such circumstances Jeremiahs criterion of “prophecies of peace” was eminently practical. “You are promised these blessings within two years: very well do not run the terrible risks of a rebellion: keep quiet and see if the two years bring the fulfilment of this prophecy it is not long to wait.” Hananiah might fairly have replied that this fulfilment depended on Judahs faith and loyalty to the Divine promise; and their faith and loyalty would be best shown by rebelling against their oppressors. Jehovah promised Canaan to the Hebrews of the Exodus, but their carcases mouldered in the desert because they had not courage enough to attack formidable enemies. “Let us not.” Hananiah might have said. “imitate their cowardice, and thus share alike their unbelief and its penalty.”
Neither Jeremiahs premises nor his conclusions would commend his words to the audience, and he probably weakened his position by leaving the high ground of authority and descending to argument. Hananiah at any rate did not follow his example: he adheres to his former method, and reiterates with renewed emphasis the promise which his adversary has contradicted. Following Jeremiah in his use of the parable in action, so common with Hebrew prophets, he turned the symbol of the yoke against its author. As Zedekiah ben Chenaanah made him horns of iron and prophesied to Ahab and Jehoshaphat, “Thus saith Jehovah, With these shalt thou push the Syrians until thou have consumed them,” {1Ki 22:11} so now Hananiah took the yoke off Jeremiahs neck and broke it before the assembled people and said:-
“Thus saith Jehovah, Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within two full years.”
Naturally the promise is “for all nations”-not for Judah only, but for the other allies.
“And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.” For the moment Hananiah had triumphed; he had had the last word. and Jeremiah was silenced. A public debate before a partisan audience was not likely to issue in victory for the truth. The situation may have even shaken his faith in himself and his message: he may have been staggered for a moment by Hananiahs apparent earnestness and conviction. He could not but remember that the gloomy predictions of Isaiahs earlier ministry had been followed by the glorious deliverance from Sennacherib. Possibly some similar sequel was to follow his own denunciations. He betook himself anew to fellowship with God, and awaited a fresh mandate from Jehovah.
“Then the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah. Go and tell Hananiah: Thou hast broken wooden yokes; thou shalt make iron yokes in their stead. For thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the necks of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
We are not told how long Jeremiah had to wait for this new message, or under what circumstances it was delivered to Hananiah. Its symbolism is obvious. When Jeremiah sent the yokes to the ambassadors of the allies and exhorted Zedekiah to bring his neck under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, they were required to accept the comparatively tolerable servitude of tributaries. Their impatience of this minor evil would expose them to the iron yoke of ruin and captivity.
Thus the prophet of evil received new Divine assurance of the abiding truth of his message and of the reality of his own inspiration. The same revelation convinced him that his opponent was either an impostor or woefully deluded:-
“Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto the prophet Hananiah, Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I will cast thee away from off the face of the earth; this year thou shalt die, because thou hast preached rebellion against Jehovah.”
By a judgment not unmixed with mercy, Hananiah was not left to be convicted of error or imposture, when the “two full years” should have elapsed, and his glowing promises be seen to utterly fail. He also was “taken away from the evil to come.”
“So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month”-i.e., about two months after this incident. Such personal judgments were most frequent in the case of kings, but were not confined to them. Isaiah {Jer 22:15-25} left on record prophecies concerning the appointment to the treasurership of Shebna and Eliakim; and elsewhere Jeremiah himself pronounces the doom of Pashhur ben Immer, the governor of the Temple; but the conclusion of this incident reminds us most forcibly of the speedy execution of the apostolic sentence upon Ananias and Sapphira.
The subjects of this and the preceding chapter raise some of the most important questions as to authority in religion. On the one hand, on the subjective side, how may a man be assured of the truth of his own religious convictions; on the other hand, on the objective side, how is the hearer to decide between conflicting claims on his faith and obedience?
The former question is raised as to the personal convictions of the two prophets. We have ventured to assume that, however erring and culpable Hananiah may have been, he yet had an honest faith in his own inspiration and in the truth of his own prophecies. The conscious impostor, unhappily, is not unknown either in ancient or modern Churches; but we should not look for edification from the study of this branch of morbid spiritual pathology. There were doubtless Jewish counterparts to “Mr. Sludge the Medium” and to the more subtle and plausible “Bishop Blougram”; but Hananiah was of a different type. The evident respect felt for him by the people, Jeremiahs almost deferential courtesy and temporary hesitation as to his rivals Divine mission, do not suggest deliberate hypocrisy. Hananiahs “lie” was a falsehood in fact but not in intention. The Divine message “Jehovah hath not sent thee” was felt by Jeremiah to be no mere exposure of what Hananiah had known all along, but to be a revelation to his adversary as well as to himself.
The sweeping condemnation of the prophets in chapter 23, does not exclude the possibility of Hananiahs honesty, any more than our Lords denunciation of the Pharisees as “devourers of widows houses” necessarily includes Gamaliel. In critical times, upright, earnest men do not always espouse what subsequent ages hold to have been the cause of truth. Sir Thomas More and Erasmus remained in the communion which Luther renounced: Hampden and Falkland found themselves in opposite camps. If such men erred in their choice between right and wrong, we may often feel anxious as to our own decisions. When we find ourselves in opposition to earnest and devoted men, we may well pause to consider which is Jeremiah and which Hananiah.
The point at issue between these two prophets was exceedingly simple and practical-whether Jehovah approved of the proposed revolt and would reward it with success. Theological questions were only indirectly and remotely involved. Yet, in face of his opponents persistent asseverations, Jeremiah-perhaps the greatest of the prophets-went his way in silence to obtain fresh Divine confirmation of his message. And the man who hesitated was right.
Two lessons immediately follow: one as to practice; the other as to principle. It often happens that earnest servants of God find themselves at variance, not on simple practical questions, but on the history and criticism of the remote past, or on abstruse points of transcendental theology. Before any one ventures to denounce his adversary as a teacher of deadly error, let him, like Jeremiah, seek, in humble and prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit, a Divine mandate for such denunciation.
But again Jeremiah was willing to reconsider his position, not merely because he himself might have been mistaken, but because altered circumstances might have opened the way for a change in Gods dealings. It was a bare possibility, but we have seen elsewhere that Jeremiah represents God as willing to make a gracious response to the first movement of compunction. Prophecy was the declaration of His will, and that will was not arbitrary, but at every moment and at every point exactly adapted to conditions with which it had to deal. Its principles were unchangeable and eternal; but prophecy was chiefly an application of these principles to existing circumstances. The true prophet always realised that his words were for men as they were-when he addressed them. Any moment might bring a change which would abrogate or modify the old teaching, and require and receive a new message. Like Jonah, he might have to proclaim ruin one day and deliverance the next. A physician, even after the most careful diagnosis, may have to recognise unsuspected symptoms which lead him to cancel his prescription and write a new one. The sickening and healing of the soul involve changes equally unexpected. The Bible does not teach that inspiration, any more than science, has only one treatment for each and every spiritual condition and contingency. The true prophets message is always a word in season.
We turn next to the objective question: How is the hearer to decide between conflicting claims on his faith and obedience? We say the right was with Jeremiah; but how were the Jews to know that? They were addressed by two prophets, or, as we might say, two accredited ecclesiastics of the national Church; each with apparent earnestness and sincerity claimed to speak in the name of Jehovah and of the ancient faith of Israel, and each flatly contradicted the other on an immediate practical question, on which hung their individual fortunes and the destinies of their country. What were the Jews to do? Which were they to believe? It is the standing difficulty of all appeals to external authority. You inquire of this supposed Divine oracle and there issues from it a babel of discordant voices, and each demands that you shall unhesitatingly submit to its dictate on peril of eternal damnation; and some have the audacity to claim obedience, because their teaching is “quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus.”
One simple and practical test is indeed suggested-the prophet of evil is more likely to be truly inspired than the prophet of good; but Jeremiah naturally does not claim that this is an invariable test. Nor can he have meant that you can always believe prophecies of evil without any hesitation, but that you are to put no faith in promises until they are fulfilled. Yet it is not difficult to discern the truth underlying Jeremiahs words. The prophet whose words are unpalatable to his hearers is more likely to have a true inspiration than the man who kindles their fancy with glowing pictures of an imminent millennium. The divine message to a congregation of country squires is more likely to be an exhortation to be just to their tenants than a sermon on the duty of the labourer to his betters. A true prophet addressing an audience of working men would perhaps deal with the abuses of trades unions rather than with the sins of capitalists.
But this principle, which is necessarily of limited application, does not go far to solve the great question of authority in religion, on which Jeremiah gives us no further help.
There is, however, one obvious moral. No system of external authority, whatever pains may be taken to secure authentic legitimacy, can altogether release the individual from the responsibility of private judgment. Unreserved faith in the idea of a Catholic Church is quite consistent with much hesitation between the Anglican, Roman, and Greek communions; and the most devoted Catholic may be called upon to choose between rival antipopes.
Ultimately the inspired teacher is only discerned by the inspired hearer: it is the answer of the conscience that authenticates the divine message.