Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 27:4

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;

Jer 27:4-5

I have made the earth.

God and the earth

I. God is the creator of all earthly things: The man and the beast that are upon the ground. The earth is not eternal, net the production of chance, not the work of many Gods. It has one Maker. This agrees with all true science.

II. God is the sovereign disposes of all earthly things. Have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. He might have built it and left it uninhabited, or He might have populated it with other creatures than those who tenant it now. He has given what He thinks fit of it to individuals, tribes, and nations. (Homilist.)

The earth made by God

I have in my house a little sheet of paper on which there is a faint, pale, and not particularly skilful representation of a hyacinth It is not half as beautiful as many other pictures I have, but I regard it as the most exquisite of them all My mother painted it; and I never see it that I do not think that her hand rested on it, and that her thought was concerned in its execution. Now, suppose you had such a conception of God that you never saw a flower, a tree, a cloud, or any natural object, that you did not instantly think, My Father made it, what a natural world would this become to you! How beautiful would the earth seem to you! And how would you find that nature was a revelation of God, speaking as plainly as His written Word! And if you are alone, in solitude, without company, desolate in your circumstances, it is because you have not that inner sense of the Divine love and care which it is your privilege to have, and which you ought to have. (H. W. Beecher.)

Have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.

Meetness before God

I. God is the proprietor of all.

1. Mans forgetfulness of this in daily life.

2. The harmony of mans being requires a sense of dependence.

3. Depression results from stopping short of God.

II. Wisdom and sovereignity go together.

1. No comfort to know we live under an absolute sovereign.

2. God gives not according to seeming fitness. He sees deeper than what seems.

III. The unerring mind of God.

1. Cultivate an adoring spirit.

2. Rest on Him in simple belief.

3. Repose in Gods law of meetness. (P. B. Power, M. A.)

The Divine distribution of the earth amongst men

I. In it He exercises absolute right. The earth, with all its minerals, fruits, productions, and countless tenants, is His. If He gives a thousand acres to one man and denies a yard to another, it is not for us to complain.

II. In it He acts according to His own free choice alone. He gives it not on the ground of merit to any man, for now He gave it to Nebuchadnezzar, one of the worst of men. The only principle in the distribution is His own sovereignty. What seemeth meet to a Being of Infinite wisdom and goodness must be the wisest and the most benevolent. Here let us hush all our murmurings, here let us repose the utmost confidence. Conclusion–The subject teaches us how we should hold that portion of the earth we possess, however small or great it may be.

1. With profound humility. What we possess is a gift, not a right. We are temporary trustees, not proprietors. He who holds the most should be the most humble, for he has the most to account for.

2. With practical thanksgiving. This indeed is all the rent that the Supreme Landlord requires from us, thanksgiving and praise.

3. With a solemn sense of our responsibility. It is given to us not for our own gratification and self-aggrandisement, but for the good of the race and the glory of God.

4. With a conscious dependence on His will. We are all tenants at will. We know not the moment when He shall see fit to eject us from His land. (Homilist.)

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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

The Lord of hosts, who hath therefore a power over all the creatures; who though he be in a special sense

the God of Israel, yet his dominion is extended to your masters countries, as well as unto Israel.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And command them to say unto their masters,…. The prophet is sent with authority, and ordered to speak in a very high strain, having his orders from the King of kings and Lord of lords; a greater master than those messengers had; and to enjoin them to tell their several masters in his master’s name; as follows:

thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; who, though in a peculiar manner the God of Israel, yet was Lord of the whole world, and had all the armies of heaven and earth at his command, to enforce his power and authority; wherefore what he says ought to be attended to:

thus shall ye say to your masters; deliver to them the following words of the great Jehovah.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Though the Prophet was bidden to command the ambassadors to say to the kings by whom they had been sent, Thus saith Jehovah, of hosts, (178) they yet might have refused to do so, and that with indignation: “What! Are we come here to be ambassadors to thee? and who indeed art thou who commandest us? besides, dost thou think that we are so mad as to threaten for thy sake, our kings and masters, and to declare to them what thou biddest, that they are shortly to become the servants of the Chaldean king?” The ambassadors then might have thus treated the holy Prophet with derision and laughter: but, as we have said, the whole was done for the sake of Zedekiah and the people, in order that the Prophet might dissipate that vain splendor and pomp, by which he saw that Zedekiah and all the Jews were deceived; for they thought that they had as it were high and large mountains to be set in opposition to the Chaldean king and his army: “On what part can they assail us, since the king of Tyrus is on our side, and also the king of Sidon, the king of Moab, and the king of Ammon? these rule widely, and their cities are impregnable.” Thus, then, the Jews were convinced that they would be exempt from every trouble and molestation; but in order that they might not deceive themselves with that vain display, Jeremiah said,

“

Declare, ye ambassadors, to your masters what God has spoken, even that ye must submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

And a visible symbol was added in order to confirm the prediction: the Prophet was bidden to put a yoke on his neck, or yokes, for he speaks in the plural number. מוט muth, means a pole, a yoke, a transverse piece of wood: and no doubt he applied some pieces of wood to his neck, like the yoke laid on oxen; and then he tied this yoke or crossbar; for יסר, isar, means to bind or tie, and so מוסרות, musarut, are bands; מוסר, musar, also means sometimes a girdle; but here it is to be taken for bands or ligaments. It was a sad spectacle to see on the neck of Jeremiah, when he went forth, the symbol of the bondage of all kings and nations: he was as it were in the place of all a captive before the time: but when God laid a yoke on the Jews and on all other nations, Jeremiah was then a free man; for though he bore this mark of bondage, he yet expected God’s judgment with a resigned mind, while others disregarded it. But this confirmation rendered them more inexcusable, as the case is, when God, to strengthen faith, adds sacraments or other helps to his word, by which means he impresses us the more, for he thus teaches not only our ears, but also our eyes and all our senses: when God thus omits nothing that may tend to strengthen our faith in his word, a heavier condemnation awaits us, if such signs avail not.

We then perceive the reason why the Prophet applied to his neck the symbol of future bondage: were there any teachable among the people, to see such a sign with their eyes must have been useful to them. But as the greater part had hardened themselves in their obstinacy, what ought to have done them good, by humbling them in time before God, so as to anticipate his judgment, had no other effect but to render their punishment more grievous.

(178) The fourth verse in our version is not correct, “And command them to say to their masters,” it ought to be, “And command them as to their masters (or lords,) saying,” — for the Hebrew will not admit of such a transposition. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

B. Instructions for the Foreign Ambassadors Jer. 27:4-11

TRANSLATION

(4) Command them to say to their lords: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus say unto your lords: I have made the earth, and the men and beasts which are upon the face of the earth by My great strength and by My outstretched arm and I can give it to whoever is appropriate in My eyes. (6) Therefore I have given all of these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon My servant and even the beasts of the field I have given to him to serve him. (7) All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until also the time of his land comes when many nations and great kings shall impose servitude upon him. (8) And it shall come to pass that the nation or kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with sword, famine and pestilence (oracle of the LORD) until I have consumed them by his hand. (9) But as for you, do not hearken unto your prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers and sorcerers, who repeatedly say unto you, Do not serve the king of Babylon. (10) For they are prophesying a lie to you which will only serve to remove you from your land; for I will drive you out and you will perish. (11) And the nation which causes its neck to come into the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will cause to remain upon its land (oracle of the LORD) and they will till it and dwell in it.

COMMENTS

Jeremiah, the ambassador of the King of the universe, urges the ambassadors of the neighboring lands to carry a message back to their respective kings. Basically the message drives home the point that the God of Judah is not a local deity who controls only the territory in which His worshipers dwell. He is not a god; He is God! He exercises His sovereign pleasure over all nations of the earth. Jeremiah makes four points in this message to the nations.
He points out the basis of Gods sovereign decrees (Jer. 27:5). Gods right to direct the affairs of men is grounded in the fact that He is creator of the world and all that is in it. The God of creation is also the God of history. Because He is Creator, God may do with His creation whatsoever seems good to Him. He may, if He so chooses, appoint an overseer, a superintendent, a governor over His world. God need not consult with the children of men to see when and if He should take such action. He simply exercises His prerogative as Creator and appoints the one who seems right to Him.

Jeremiah announces Gods sovereign will with regard to the world of the early sixth century before Christ (Jer. 27:6-7). God has given all the lands of the Fertile Crescent into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Even the beasts of the field have been brought under his jurisdiction. All nations are to serve him (Jer. 27:6). Thus decrees the Great King! Nebuchadnezzar is here again called My servant (cf. Jer. 25:9). The idea that the beasts of the field are to serve the king of Babylon is most likely an idiom expressing the all-embracing extent and unlimited power of Nebuchadnezzars dominion (cf. Jer. 28:14; Dan. 2:38).

As if to temper somewhat the divine decree which he has just announced Jeremiah hastens to add that the supremacy of Babylon will not be permanent. All nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land (Jer. 27:7). In other passages Jeremiah has indicated that the duration of the Babylonian world empire would be seventy years. Here he is probably saying the same thing in different words. It is unlikely that Jeremiah had in mind three specific kings.[238] Rather he seems to be saying that the nations would serve Babylon for a long time but not forever.[239] The time of his own land would refer to the time when Babylon would become subservient to another power. God Almighty has predetermined the duration of the Babylonian empire. Babylon is nothing more than a tool in His hands which is discarded when God no longer has need of it. At the end of the appointed time many nations and great kings shall enslave him. After the appointed time of world supremacy Babylon would become subservient to other nations. This prophecy was fulfilled when Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.

[238] The successive sovereigns of Babylon were: Nebuchadnezzar, 44 years; Evil Merodach, 2 years; Neriglissor, 4 years; and Nabonidus, 17 years.

[239] Deu. 4:25; Deu. 6:2 use an equivalent expression in the general sense of a long time.

The prophet warns those nations which refuse to submit to Gods sovereign decrees (Jer. 27:8-10). God will severely punish the nations which refuse to submit to the yoke of Babylon. God would use Nebuchadnezzar as the agent of His wrath to bring the sword against those nations which were in rebellion against the will of the Almighty. Famine and pestilence usually accompanied war in antiquity (Jer. 27:8).

A further warning appears in Jer. 27:9-10. The foreign ambassadors are warned not to listen to those other voices which were counseling revolt against Babylon. Five classes of prognosticators are singled out: prophets, diviners, dreams (or perhaps dreamers), soothsayers and sorcerers. Exact distinctions between each of these classes is impossible. It is interesting though that Jeremiah here recognizes the existence of prophet-like individuals among the foreign nations. The closest parallels to the Biblical prophets yet discovered are to be found at Mari in the eighteenth century B.C.

Those who were advocating rebellion against Babylon and pretending that such advice came from the deity were lying (Jer. 27:10). The phrase to remove you far from your land does not indicate purpose but result. That is to say, it was not the purpose of these false prophets, diviners and soothsayers to cause their peoples to go into captivity. Far from it! They were ultra patriots who could not conceive of the deity appointing a foreign ruler over their land. But the consequence of their lying words would be the destruction of their lands and the exile of their peoples.

Following the warning, there is a promise to those who submit to Gods sovereign decrees (Jer. 27:11). Those nations which humbly and obediently submitted their neck to the yoke of Babylon would be allowed by God to remain in their own land. Thus it has always been that people who submit to the will of the Almighty have a peace which the world cannot know.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(4) Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.As addressed to the outlying heathen nations, who were not His worshippers, the proclamation of the message, as coming from Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel, had a special force, which we hardly appreciate as we read the English. They, with their hosts of earth, were setting themselves against the Lord of the hosts alike of heaven and of earth.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

4. Command them to say unto their masters, etc. Here is a specimen of a missionary message of the olden time. God causes his prophet to deliver a message in which his universal creatorship, his unity, and his supremacy are most plainly asserted. He brings to view his universal providence, extending not only to his own chosen people but to all the nations. He intimates that even Nebuchadnezzar, the eminent representative heathen king, rules by the appointment of God, and that his own divine resources would be brought to bear to perpetuate his authority. And yet he does not close without the intimation that Babylon, in its turn, shall become subject.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 27:4 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;

Ver. 4. Go, tell your masters. ] But they would not be warned, and were therefore ruined. So true is that of an ancient, Divinum consilium, dam devitatur, impletur: humana sapicuria, dum reluctatur, comprehendirut.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)