Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 30:9
But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
9. the Lord their God, and David their king ] For the whole expression as uniting Jehovah and the Messiah, cp. Hos 3:5, and for the Messiah spoken of elsewhere also under the name David, Eze 34:23 f., Eze 37:24 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
David their king – See Jer 23:5-6; i. e., Messiah.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King] This must refer to the times of the Messiah; and hence the Chaldee has, “They shall obey the Lord their God, veyishta meun limschicha bar David, and they shall obey the Messiah, the Son of David.” This is a very remarkable version; and shows that it was a version, not according to the letter, but according to their doctrine and their expectation. David was long since dead; and none of his descendants ever reigned over them after the Babylonish captivity, nor have they since been a regal nation. Zerubbabel, under the Persians, and the Asmoneans, can be no exception to this. They have been no nation since; they are no nation now; and it is only in the latter days that they can expect to be a nation, and that must be a Christian nation.
Christ is promised under the name of his progenitor, David, Isa 55:3-4; Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25; Ho 3:5.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Who is here meant by David is not well agreed. Some think this promise was fulfilled in the rule of Zorobabel, and those after the captivity of Babylon, of the family of David, who ruled over the Jews, though not under the style of kings; others think that Christ is intended, as in the other parallel prophecies, Eze 34:23; 37:22; Hos 3:5, and that the deliverance here promised was spiritual; and indeed unless we so understand it, it will be hard to assign a time when the promise of the former and this verse was made good, for upon the return from the captivity to the coming of Christ, and from his time to this day, other nations have served themselves upon the Jews, and they have been in perpetual servitude, first to the Persians, then to the Grecians, then to the Romans, in servitude to whom they were at the coming of Christ, and soon after miserably subdued by them, and since that time almost all nations have served themselves of the Jews. Either therefore this prophecy must be understood in a spiritual sense of the kingdom of Christ, under which the Jews that received him were made spiritually free; or else there is a time yet to come, when this ancient people of God shall be restored to a further civil liberty than they have enjoyed ever since the captivity of Babylon, and be more fully converted to Christ than they yet are; towards which sense many texts of Scripture, besides this, look; particularly Rom 11:25,26.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Instead of servingstrangers (Jer 30:8), theyshall serve the Lord, their rightful King in the theocracy (Eze21:27).
David, their kingNoking of David’s seed has held the scepter since the captivity;for Zerubbabel, though of David’s line, never claimed the title of”king.” The Son of David, Messiah, must therefore bemeant; so the Targum (compare Isa 55:3;Isa 55:4; Eze 34:23;Eze 34:24; Eze 37:24;Hos 3:5; Rom 11:25-32).He was appointed to the throne of David (Isa 9:7;Luk 1:32). He is here joined withJehovah as claiming equal allegiance. God is our “King,”only when we are subject to Christ; God rules us not immediately, butthrough His Son (Joh 5:22;Joh 5:23; Joh 5:27).
raise upapplied to thejudges whom God raised up as deliverers of Israel outof the hand of its oppressors (Jdg 2:16;Jdg 3:9). So Christ was raisedup as the antitypical Deliverer (Psa 2:6;Luk 1:69; Act 2:30;Act 13:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But they shall serve the Lord their God,…. And him only, in a spiritual manner, in righteousness and true holiness, with reverence and godly fear; having respect to all his precepts and ordinances, and every branch of religious worship; joining themselves to Gospel churches, and worshipping along with them, before them, and in the midst of them; see Re 3:9;
and David their king; not literally, who shall be raised up from the dead, and reign over them, which Kimchi supposes possible, though he does not assert it; nor his successors called by his name, as the kings of Egypt were called Pharaohs and Ptolemies, and the Roman emperors Caesars, of which we have no instance; nor were there any kings of David’s line upon the throne of Israel after the Babylonish captivity, until the Messiah came, and who is the Person here meant; and so the Targum paraphrases it,
“and they shall hearken to, or obey, Messiah the son of David their king;”
and Kimchi owns that it may be interpreted of Messiah the son of David, whose name is called David, as it is in many prophecies,
Eze 34:23; and this prophecy is understood of the Messiah by several Jewish writers s; and in the Talmud t it is said,
“the holy blessed God will raise up unto thee another David; as it is said, “and they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them”; it is not said, “he hath raised up”, but “I will raise up”;”
and Christ is called David, not only because he is his son, but because he is his antitype. David was a type of Christ in his birth and parentage; the son of Jesse, born of mean parents, and at Bethlehem; in his outward form, ruddy and beautiful; in his inward character, a man of holiness, wisdom, and courage; in his offices of shepherd, prophet, and king; in his afflictions and sorrows, and in his wars and victories. The same Person is here meant as in the former clause, “the Lord their God”; since it is Jehovah that is here speaking; and he does not say “they shall serve me”, but “the Lord their God”; and since the same service is to be yielded to David as to the Lord their God; and who is, in his divine nature, the Lord God, and so the object of all religious worship and service; and, in his human nature, of the seed of David; and by office a King, appointed by his Father, and owned by his people, as King of saints; so the words may be rendered, “they shall serve the Lord their God, even David their King”; see Tit 2:13;
whom I will raise up unto them; which is said of him in all his offices, Jer 23:5; and is expressive of his constitution as Mediator; and includes the Father’s pitching upon him, appointing him, calling him, fitting and qualifying him, and sending him in the fulness of time, under this character, as a Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour; all which was for the good of his people; as a favour to them, for their profit and advantage: his incarnation is for them; his obedience, sufferings, and death; his righteousness, and the salvation he wrought out; he is raised up, and sent to them to bless them, with all spiritual blessings that are in him, Ac 3:26.
s R. Albo in Sepher lkkarim, l. 2. c. 28. Abarbinel in loc. & in Mashmiah Jeshuab, fol. 35. 4. t T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The former promise would have been defective had not this clause been added; for it would not be enough for men to live as they please, and to have liberty promised them, except a regular order be established. It would, indeed, be better for us to be wild beasts, and to wander in forests, than to live without government and laws; for we know how furious are the passions of men. Unless, therefore, there be some restraint, the condition of wild beasts would be better and more desirable than ours. Liberty, then, would ever bring ruin with it, were it not bridled and connected with regular government. I therefore said that this verse was added, that the Jews might know that God cared for their welfare; for he promises that nothing would be wanting to them. It is then a true and real happiness, when not only liberty is granted to us, but also when God prescribes to us a certain rule and sets up good order, that there may be no confusion. Hence Jeremiah, after having promised a return to the people into their own country, and promised also that the yoke would be shaken off from their neck, makes this addition, that having served strangers they would be now under the government of God and of their own king. Now this subjection is better than all the ruling powers of the world; that is, when God is pleased to rule over us, and undertakes the care of our safety, and performs the office of a Governor.
We hence see that the design of the Prophet was to comfort the faithful, not only with the promise of liberty, but also with this addition, that in order that nothing might be wanting to their complete happiness, God himself would rule over them. Serve, then, shall they their God The word king is added, because God designed that his people should be governed by a king, not that the king would sit in the place of God, but added as his minister. Now this was said a long time after the death of David; for David was dead many years before Jeremiah was born: nor did he live again in order that he might rule over the people; but the name of David is to be taken here for any one that might succeed him.
Now, as God had made a covenant with David, and promised that there would be always one of his posterity to sit on his throne, hence the Prophet here, in mentioning David, refers to all the kings until Christ: and yet no one after that time succeeded him, for the kingdom was abolished before the death of Jeremiah; and when the people returned into their own country there was no regal power, for Zerubbabel obtained only a precarious dignity, and by degrees that royal progeny vanished away; and though there were seventy chosen from the seed of David, yet there was no scepter, no crown, no throne. It is therefore necessary to apply this prophecy to Christ; for the crown was broken and trodden under foot, as Ezekiel says, until the lawful king came. He intimated that there was no king to be for a long time, when he said,
“
Cast down, cast down, cast down the crown.” (Eze 21:27)
He therefore commanded the name of a king to be abolished, together with all its symbols, and that not for a short time but for ages, even until he came forth who had a just right to the crown or the royal diadem. We hence see that this passage cannot be otherwise explained than by referring to Christ, and that he is called David, as the Jews were always wont to call him before Christ appeared in the world; for they called the Messiah, whom they expected, the Son of David. We now understand the meaning of the Prophet.
But we may hence gather a very useful doctrine, even this, — that nothing is better for us than to be in subjection to God; for our liberty would become that of wild beasts were God to allow us to live according to our own humor and inclinations. Liberty, then, will ever be destructive to us, until God undertakes the care of us, and prepares and forms us, that we may bear his yoke. Hence, when we obey God, we possess true and real happiness. When, therefore, we pray, let us learn not to separate these two things which ought necessarily to be joined together, even that God would deliver us from the tyranny of the ungodly, and also that he would himself rule over us. And this doctrine is suitable to our time: for if God were now only to break down the tyranny of the Pope and deliver his own people, and suffer them to wander here and there, so as to allow every one to follow his own will as his law, how dreadful would be the confusion! It is better that the devil should rule men under any sort of government, than that they should be set free without any law, without any restraint. Our time, indeed, sufficiently proves, that these two things have not, without reason, been joined together; that is, that God would become the liberator of his people, so as to shake off the yoke of miserable bondage and to break their chains, and also that he would be a king to govern his people.
But we ought also carefully to notice what follows, — that God would not otherwise govern his Church than by a king. He designed to give an instance, or a prelude, of this very thing under the Law, when he chose David and his posterity. But to us especially belongs this promise; for the Jews, through their ingratitude, did not taste of the fruit of this promise: God deprived them of this invaluable benefit, which they might justly and with certainty have expected. As the favor which they have lost has now been transferred to us, what Jeremiah teaches here, as I have said, properly belongs to us; that is, that God is not our king except we obey Christ, whom he has set over us, and by whom he would have us to be governed. Whosoever, then, boast that they willingly bear the yoke of God, and at the same time reject the yoke of Christ, are condemned by this very prophecy; for it is not God’s will to rule uninterveniently, so to speak, his Church; but his will is that Christ, called here David, should be king; unless, indeed, we accuse Jeremiah of stating an untruth, we must apply the word David to the person of Christ. Since it is so, God then will not otherwise rule over us than by Christ, even to the end of the world; we must obey him and render him service.
He adds, Whom I will raise up It was also the office and work of God to raise up Christ, according to what is said in the second Psalm,
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I have anointed my King.”
We must always come to the fountain of God’s mercy, if we would enjoy the blessings of Christ, according to what is said,
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God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.”
We shall, indeed, find in Christ whatever is necessary for our salvation; but whence have we Christ, except from the infinite goodness of God? When he pitied us, he designed to save us by his only begotten Son. Salvation then is laid up for us in Christ, and is not to be sought anywhere else: but we ought, ever to remember that this salvation flows from the mercy of God, so that Christ is to be viewed as a testimony and a pledge of God’s paternal favor towards us. This is the reason why the Prophet expressly adds, that God would raise up a king to rule over his people. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) David their king . . .The name of the old hero-king appears as that of the new representative of the house who is to restore the kingdom. There is to be a second David for Israel, a true king answering to the ideal which he imperfectly represented. Zerubbabel, in whom some interpreters have seen the fulfilment of Jeremiahs words, was, in his measure, another partial representative of such a king (Hag. 2:21-23). The same mode of speech appears in Hos. 3:5, Isa. Leviticus , 4, and was probably deliberately reproduced by Jeremiah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. David their king The divine David the Messiah the antetypal David.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 30:9. They shall serve the Lordand David In this place, in Eze 34:23-24 and in Hos 3:5. David signifies the Messiah. The Targum uses the word Messiah in this very passage, instead of David; and the Talmud, Sanhed. 11: sect. 36 proves from Ezekiel that David is the name of the Messiah; which Kimchi likewise, asserts. The prophets above cited lived long after David; and yet they prophesy of a future king, who is indeed the Messiah in the judgment of all the Jews of note, but called by the name of David, because represented in and by David: for the name of David was not communicated to the Messiah as being the son of David, for then Solomon, or some other of David’s race, would have been called by his name also; but, none of his children being called so, except the Messiah, it may be concluded that the name was not appropriated to him, in respect of his descent from David, but for being typified in David; and so, as is usual, to make the resemblance more plain between the type and the ante-type, the Messiah is described under the name of the person representing him; as David is on the other hand termed the Son of God, the first-born, from bearing the person of the Messiah, who was truly called so. When the Messiah, therefore, is called David, and the son of Jesse, it is because he was typified in David: when he is spoken of as the son of David, or under the name and description of Solomon, it is upon the presumption that Christ was signified in the son of David, so solemnly promised to him by Nathan. We may likewise observe, that persons resembling others in qualities, office, or actions, are described in the prophets by the name of those whom they resemble. The Messiah is promised to come, by the name of David; and yet no Jew ever expected that David should return to the earth bodily, or the Messiah be the person of David. Zadok the high-priest and his sons in David’s time, 1Ch 6:31; 1Ch 6:49 are recorded by the name of Aaron and his sons, because they succeeded in Aaron’s office, and performed the functions of the high-priesthood. Nay, Elijah himself is called Phinehas by the Jews, because they both resembled each other in their zeal. See Bishop Chandler’s Defence. We cannot have a stronger instance of the fallacy of the human judgment, than that a man of Grotius’s learning and discernment should sit down to shew that Zerubbabel is meant by David in this place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
Ver. 9. But they shall serve the Lord their God. ] “Without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their lives.” Luk 1:74-75 Joh 8:12 ; Joh 8:31-36 , Rom 8:1-4
And David their king,
Whom I will raise up to them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
David their king. This is yet future. Compare Ezekiel, Jeremiah’s contemporary (Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24; Eze 37:24, Eze 37:25. Isa 55:3. Hos 3:5) for seven years (484-477). See App-77.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 55:3-5, Eze 34:23, Eze 37:23-25, Hos 3:5, Luk 1:69, Act 2:30, Act 13:34
Reciprocal: 2Sa 22:51 – seed Neh 3:5 – put not Psa 89:3 – made Isa 37:35 – and for Isa 55:4 – a leader Eze 37:24 – David Joe 2:21 – Fear Amo 9:11 – raise Zec 9:9 – behold Luk 1:71 – we
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 30:9. When the captivity is ended they, the people of God, will no longer give their services to Babylon, but will give them to the Lord their God, David shall be their king is a leap of over 500 years, from the close of the captivity to the beginning of the kingdom of Christ in Acts 2. This is not the first nor will it be the last instance where the prophets pass from fleshly to spiritual Israel in their predictions. The new or spiritual Israel is frequently spoken of as that of David. It Is fitting that it should he so done, for David was the first man of the tribe of Judah to sit on the throne of fleshly Israel, and the reign never left that tribe as long as the nation had a kingdom. And through respect for the righteousness of David, the Lord promised him with an oath that when the time arrived for the reign of spiritual Israel, its king would he a lineal descendant of this great man and hence One of the tribe of Judali. This was carried out according to Heb 7:14, Some of the passages that connect, the reign of Christ with David are Psa 89:3; Isa 55:3; Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24; Luk 1:69; Act 2:30; Acts 13; Acts 23.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and {g} David their king, whom I will raise up to them.
(g) That is, Messiah who would come of the stock of David according to the flesh and would be the true pastor, Eze 34:23 who is set forth and his kingdom would be everlasting in the person of David, Hos 3:5 .