Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 29:13
And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
That is, sincerely, as Psa 119:2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. (Lev 26:40-42;Lev 26:44; Lev 26:45).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And ye shall seek me, and find [me],…. When persons seek the Lord aright, they always find him; a God hearing prayer; a God in Christ; bestowing favours upon them; granting them his presence; indulging them in communion with him; and favouring them with fresh supplies of his grace, and everything needful for them; every mercy, temporal and spiritual; that is, when they seek him in Christ, who is the only way to the Father, under the guidance and influence of the blessed Spirit; in the exercise of faith upon him and his promises; with fervency of spirit and ardour of mind; with diligence and importunity; with earnest desires and strong affections; and, as follows, with all sincerity of soul:
when ye shall search for me with all your heart; which, as Calvin rightly observes, does not design perfection, but integrity and sincerity; when they draw nigh with a true heart, and call upon him in truth, and search for him with eagerness, with a hearty desire to find him, as men search for gold, and silver, and hid treasure.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He confirms in other words the same thing; and yet the repetition, as we said yesterday, is not useless; for as the Jews perversely despised all threatenings, so it was difficult for them to receive any taste of God’s goodness from his promises. This then is the reason why the Prophet employs many words on this subject. By the word seek, he means prayers and supplications, as mentioned in the last verse. And Christ also, exhorting his disciples to pray, says, “Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.” There is no doubt but that he speaks there of prayer; he yet adopted various modes of speaking, derived from the common habits of men. But to seek, when we feel the need of God’s grace, is nothing else than to pray. Hence the Prophet says, ye shall seek me and ye shall find me And though he addresses here the Israelites, yet this doctrine ought to be extended to the whole Church; for God testifies that he will be propitious to all who flee to him.
But as hypocrites are abundantly noisy, and seem to surpass the very saints in the ardor of their zeal, when the external profession is only regarded, the Prophet adds, Because (217) ye shall seek me with your whole heart There is no doubt but that the Jews groaned a thousand times every year when oppressed by the Chaldeans; for they had to bear all kind of reproaches, and then they had nothing safe or secure. They were therefore under the necessity, except they were harder than iron, to offer some prayers. But God shews that the seasonable time would not come, until their prayers proceeded from a right feeling; this he means by the whole heart. It is indeed certain that men never turn to God with their whole heart, nor is the whole heart ever so much engaged in prayer as it ought to be; but the Prophet sets the whole heart in opposition to a double heart. Perfection, then, is not what is to be understood here, which can never be found in men, but integrity or sincerity.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet’s words, — that the Jews, when they began in earnest to flee to God, would find him propitious, provided only they did this in sincerity of heart and not in dissimulation; and also that this would not take place soon, for their hardness and obstinacy were greater than that they could be brought to repent in a short time. Therefore God reminds them that there was need of many evils, so that they might at length turn and divest themselves of that perverseness to which they had wholly surrendered themselves.
Now the whole of this, as I have already observed, ought to be applied to the benefit of the Church; for this promise is to be extended to all the godly, — that when they call on God in their miseries, he will hear them. And Jeremiah seems to have taken this sentence from Isaiah,
“
As soon as thou callest on me, I will hear thee; before thou speakest, I will stretch forth my hand.” (Isa 58:9)
And this circumstance also ought to be noticed, that the Prophet addressed the Jews who were miserably oppressed. Let us then know that this sentence is rightly addressed to those in distress, who seem to have God against them and displeased with them; and this is the seasonable time which is mentioned by David in Psa 32:6.
This passage also teaches us, that it is no wonder that the Lord doubles his scourges and does not immediately pardon us, because we are not so ready to bend as to return to him on the first day. He is therefore constrained by our perverseness to chastise us for a longer time; and yet this promise is still to be held valid, that if we even late repent, God will be still propitious to us, only that the reprobate are not under this pretext to indulge in their vices; for we see that profane men trifle with God, and wickedly abuse his paternal indulgence. Let the sinner then beware lest he should lay up for himself a store of vengeance, if he waits till the end of life. But there is still a hope set before those who have been long torpid in their sins, that if they at length come, though late, they shall still come in time, for God will hear them. But the exception ought to be carefully observed, that God will not be intreated, except he is sought with the whole heart, that is, in sincerity. So there is no reason for us to wonder that his ears are often closed to our prayers, because we only pretend to seek him, and that we are endued with no sincerity appears from our life. It now follows, —
(217) The כי here is rendered “when” in our version, and in the ancient versions, except the Sept., where it is; ὅτι, “for,” or because. The most usual meaning of the particle is “because;” and it may be so rendered here; for sincerity may be justly assigned as a reason why prayers are heard, without the implication of any merit. Indeed, in the very nature of things, prayer without sincerity cannot possibly be accepted.
In our version the meaning of the two verbs is reversed; the first ought rather to be rendered as meaning “to search for,” and the latter to “seek.” With the first is connected “finding,” and this implies searching, and the verb בקש means sometimes to search for what is lost. The verse should be, — “And ye shall search for me and ye shall find me, because ye shall seek me with all your heart.” To seek God means to seek his favor. They would search for him whom they had, as it were, lost, and they would find him because they would seek his favor with all sincerity; it would not be for a mercenary purpose, but for the sake of enjoying God’s favor. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Ver. 13. When ye shall search for me with all your heart. ] Not with a piece of your heart only, as do partialists and double minded men, qui in parabola ovis capras quaerunt. who search for a nanny goat instaed of sheep. Johannes Groppcrus, of Colen, refused a cardinalship, but forsook the gospel. So Luther did not, who, when he was offered to be cardinal if he would be quiet, replied, No, not if I might be Pope. a
a Sleidan.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ye shall seek Me. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 4:29; Deu 30:2).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
ye shall: Lev 26:40-45, Deu 4:29-31, Deu 30:1-20, 1Ki 8:47-50, 2Ch 6:37-39, Psa 91:15, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Hos 5:15, Hos 6:1-3, Amo 5:4-6, Zep 2:1-3, Luk 11:9, Luk 11:10
with: Jer 3:10, Jer 24:7, Deu 30:2, Deu 30:10, 1Ki 2:4, 2Ki 23:3, 2Ch 22:9, 2Ch 31:21, Psa 119:2, Psa 119:10, Psa 119:58, Psa 119:69, Psa 119:145, Joe 2:12, Act 8:37
Reciprocal: Jdg 3:15 – cried unto 2Ki 23:25 – that turned 1Ch 16:10 – let the heart 1Ch 28:9 – if thou seek 2Ch 15:12 – seek 2Ch 33:13 – he was entreated Ezr 8:23 – besought Psa 3:4 – I cried Psa 9:10 – hast Psa 27:4 – seek Psa 27:8 – Thy Psa 65:2 – thou Psa 145:18 – call upon Ecc 9:10 – thy hand Son 3:4 – but Isa 45:19 – Seek Isa 58:9 – shalt thou Zep 2:3 – Seek ye Mat 7:7 – and it Mar 10:48 – but Luk 18:39 – but Act 9:11 – for Rom 8:27 – according Rom 12:12 – continuing Heb 11:6 – diligently Jam 1:5 – let Jam 5:16 – The effectual 1Jo 3:22 – whatsoever 1Jo 5:14 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 29:13. However, even when it is God’s will that his people be released, their prayer for divine favor must be offered with sincere hearLs,
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all {f} your heart.
(f) When your oppression will be great, and your afflictions cause you to repent your disobedience and also when the seventy years of your captivity will be expired, 2Ch 36:22, Ezr 1:1, Jer 25:12, Dan 9:2 .