Jeremiah, Book of
Jeremiah, Book Of
Jeremiah was contemporary with Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Daniel. No one who compares them can fail to perceive that the mind of Jeremiah was of a softer and more delicate texture than that of his illustrious contemporary Ezekiel, with whose writings his are most nearly parallel. His whole history convinces us that he was by nature mild and retiring (Ewald, Propheten des Alt. Bund. p. 2), highly susceptible and sensitive, especially to sorrowful emotions, and rather inclined, as we should imagine, to shrink from danger than to brave it. Yet, with this acute perception of injury, and natural repugnance from being a man of strife, he never in the least degree shrinks from publicity; nor is he at all intimidated by reproach or insult, or even by actual punishment and threatened death, when he has the message of God to deliver.
1. The style of Jeremiah corresponds with this view of the character of his mind: though not deficient in power, it is peculiarly marked by pathos. He delights in the expression of the tender emotions, and employs all the resources of his imagination to excite corresponding feelings in his readers. He has an irresistible sympathy with the miserable, which finds utterance in the most touching descriptions of their condition.
The style of Jeremiah is marked by the peculiarities which belong to the later Hebrew and by the introduction of Aramaic forms (Eichhorn, Einleitung, 3, 122; Gesenius, Geschichte der Heb. Spreche, p. 35). It was, we imagine, on this account that Jerome complained of a certain rusticity in Jeremiah’s style. Lowth, however, says he can discover no traces of it, and regards Jeremiah as nearly equal in sublimity in many parts to Isaiah (De Sacra Poesi Heb. p. 426).
2. The canonicity of the writings of Jeremiah in general are established both by the testimony of ancient writers and by quotations and references which occur in the New Testament. Thus the son of Sirach refers to him as a prophet consecrated from the womb, and quotes from Jer 1:10 the commission with which he was intrusted (Sir 49:7). In 2Ma 2:1-8, there is a tradition respecting his hiding the tabernacle and the ark in a rock, in which he is called Jeremiah the prophet. Philo speaks of him under similar titles, as , , , and calls a passage which he quotes from Jer 3:4 an oracle (Eichhorn, Einleitung, 1, 95). Josephus refers to him by name as the prophet who predicted the evils which were coming on the city and speaks of him as the author of Lamentations ( ) which are still existing (Ant. 10, 5, 1). His writings are included. in the list of canonical books given by Melito, Origen (whose words are remarkable: ), Jerome, and the Talmud (Eichhorn, Einleitung, 3, 184). In the New Testament Jeremiah is referred to by name in Mat 2:17, where a passage is quoted from Jer 31:15, and in Mat 16:14; in Heb 8:8-12, a passage is quoted from Jer 31:31-34. There is one other place in which the name of Jeremiah occurs Mat 27:9 which has occasioned considerable difficulty, because the passage there quoted is not found in the extant writings of the prophet (see Kuinl, Com. ad loc.). Jerome affirms that he found the exact passage in a Hebrew apocryphal book (Fabricius, Codex Pseudepigraphus, 1, 1103), but there is no proof that that book was in existence before the time of Christ. It is probable that the passage intended by Matthew is Zec 11:12-13, which in part corresponds with the quotation he gives, and that the name is a gloss which has found its way into the text (see Olshausen, Commentar ber d. N. Test. 2, 493).
3. The genuineness of some portions of the book has of late been disputed by German critics. Movers, whose views have been adopted by De Wette and Hitzig, attributes Jer 10:1-16, and Jeremiah 30, 31, , 32 to the author of the concluding portion of the book of Isaiah. His fundamental argument against the last-named portion is, that the prophet Zechariah (Zec 8:7-8) quotes from Jer 31:7-8; Jer 31:33, and in Jer 31:9 speaks of the author as one who lived in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid. But there is nothing in Jer 31:7-8 of Zechariah to prove that it is intended to be a quotation from any written prophecy, much less from this portion of Jeremiah. Hence Hitzig (Jeremia, p. 230) gives up the external evidence on which Movers had relied. The internal evidence arising from the examination of particular words and phrases is so slight, especially when the authenticity of the latter portion of Isaiah is maintained, that even Ewald agrees that the chapters in question, as well as the other passage mentioned (Jer 10:1-16), are the work of Jeremiah. It seems, however, not improbable that the Chaldee of Jer 10:11 is a gloss which has crept into the text, both because it is (apparently without reason) in another language and because it seems to interrupt the progress of thought. The predictions against Babylon in Jeremiah 50, 51 are objected to by Hovers, De Wette, and others on the ground that they contain many interpolations. Ewald attributes them to some unknown prophet, who imitated the style of Jeremiah. Their authenticity is maintained by Hitzig (p. 391) and by Umbreit (p. 290-293), to whom we must refer for an answer to the objections made against them. The last chapter is generally regarded as an appendix added by some later author. It is almost verbally the same as the account in 2Ki 24:18; 2Ki 25:30, and it carries the history down to a later period, probably, than that of the death of Jeremiah. That it is not his work seems to be indicated in the last verse of Jeremiah 51. (See generally Hvernick’s Einleitung, 2, 232, etc.)
4. Much difficulty has arisen with respect to the writings of Jeremiah from the apparent disorder in which they stand in our present copies, and from the many disagreements between the Hebrew text and that found in the Septuagint version, and many conjectures have been hazarded respecting the occasion of this disorder. The following are the principal diversities between the two texts:
(a.) The chapters containing prophecies against foreign nations are placed in a different part of the book and the prophecies themselves arranged in a different order, as in the following table:
(b.) Various passages which exist in the Hebrew are not found in the Greek copies (e.g. Jer 27:19-22; Jer 33:14-26; Jer 39:4-14; Jer 48:45-47). Besides these discrepancies, there are numerous omissions and frequent variations of single words and phrases (Movers, De utriusque Vaticiniorum Jeremioe recensionis indole et origine, p. 8-32). To explain these diversities, recourse has been had to the hypothesis of a double recension, a hypothesis which, with various modifications, is held by most modern critics (Movers, ut supra; De Wette, Lehrbuch der Hist.-Crit. Einleit. in d. Alt. Test. p. 303; Ewald, Propheten des Alt. Bund. 2, 23; Keil, Einleit. p. 300 sq.; Wichelhaus, De Jeremioe vers. Alex. Hal. 1847).
Various attempts have been made to account for the present (apparently) disordered arrangement of Jeremiah’s predictions. Rejecting those that proceed upon the assumption of accident (Blayney, Notes, p. 3) or the caprice of an amanuensis (Eichhorn, Einl. 3, 134), we notice that of Ewald (with which Umbreit substantially agrees, Praktisch. Comment. ber den Jeremia, p. 27), who finds that various portions are prefaced by the same formula, The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Jer 7:2; Jer 11:1; Jer 18:1; Jer 21:1; Jer 25:1; Jer 30:1; Jer 32:1; Jer 34:1; Jer 34:8; Jer 35:1; Jer 40:1; Jer 44:1), or by the very similar expression, The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah (Jer 14:1; Jer 46:1; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34). The notices of time distinctly mark some other divisions which are more or less historical (Jer 26:1; Jer 27:1; Jer 36:1; Jer 37:1). Two other portions are in themselves sufficiently distinct without such indication (Jer 29:1; Jer 45:1), while the general introduction to the book serves for the section contained in Jeremiah 1. There are left two sections (Jeremiah 2, 3), the former of which has only the shorter introduction, which generally designates the commencement of a strophe; while the latter, as it now stands, seems to be imperfect, having as an introduction merely the word saying. Thus the book is divided into twenty-three separate and independent sections, which, in the poetical parts, are again divided into strophes of from seven to nine verses, frequently distinguished by such a phrase as The Lord said also unto me. These separate sections are arranged by Ewald so as to form five distinct books:
I. The introduction, Jeremiah 1.
II. Reproofs of the sins of the Jews, Jeremiah 2-24, consisting of seven sections, viz.
1. Jeremiah 2;
2. Jeremiah 3-6; Jeremiah 3. Jeremiah 7-10; Jeremiah
4. Jeremiah 11-13; Jeremiah
5. Jeremiah 14-17, 18; Jeremiah
6. Jer 17:19-20; Jeremiah
7. Jeremiah 21-24.
III. A general review of all nations, the heathen as well as the people of Israel, consisting of two sections:
1. Jeremiah 46-49 (in which he thinks have been transposed);
2. Jeremiah 25,
and a historical appendix of three sections:
1. Jeremiah 26;
2. Jeremiah 27;
3. Jeremiah 28, 29.
IV. Two sections picturing the hopes of brighter times:
1. Jeremiah 30, 31;
2. Jeremiah 32, 33;
to which, as in the last book, is added a historical appendix in three sections
1. Jer 34:1-7;
2. Jer 34:8-22;
3. Jeremiah 35.
V. The conclusion, in two sections; 1. Jeremiah 36; Jeremiah 2. Jeremiah 45. All this, he supposes, was arranged in Palestine during the short interval of rest between the taking of the city and the departure of Jeremiah with the remnant of the Jews to Egypt. In Egypt, after some interval, Jeremiah added three sections, viz. Jeremiah 37, 39, 40-43, , 44. At the same time, probably, he added, Jeremiah 46, 13-26, to the previous prophecy respecting Egypt, and, perhaps, made some additions to other parts previously written.
For a purely topical analysis of the book, see Dr. Davidson, in Horne’s Introd. new ed. 2, 870 sq. The exact chronological position of some of the prophecies is exceedingly difficult to determine. The principal predictions relating to the Messiah are found in Jer 23:1-8; Jeremiah 30:31-40; Jer 33:14-26 (Hengstenberg’s Christologie, 3, 495-619).
5. The following are the special exegetical works on the whole of Jeremiah’s prophecies, to a few of the most important of which we prefix an asterisk [*]: Origen, Homilioe (in Opp. 3, 125); also Selecta (ibid. 3, 287); Ephraem Syrus, Explanatio (Syriac and Lat. in Opp. 5, 98); Jerome, In Jeremiah (in Opp. 4, 833); Theodoret, Interpretatio (Greek, in Opp. 2, 1); Rabanus Maurus, Commentarii (in Opp.); Rupertus Tuitiensis, In Hierem. (in. Opp. 1, 466); Thomas Aquinas, Commentarii (in Opp. 2);. Melancthon, Argumentum (in Opp. 2); Arama, , etc. [includ. Isaiah] (Ven. 1608, 4to; also in Frankfrter’s Rabb. Bible); Zuingle, Complanatio (Tiguri, 1531, fol.; also in Opp. 3); (OEcolampadius, Commentarii [includ. Lam.] (Argent. 1533, 4to); Bugenhagen, Adnotationes (Vitemb. 1546, 4to); De Castro, Commentarius [includ. Lam. and Baruch] (Par. 1559, Mogunt. 1616, fol.); Zichemius, Enarrationes (Colon. 1559, 8vo); Pintus, Commentarius [includ. Isaiah and Lam.] (Lugdun. 1561, 1584, 1590, Salmant. 1581, fol.); Calvin, Proelectiones (Genev. 1563, 1576, 1589, fol.; in French, ib. 1565, fol.; trans. in English by Owen, Edinburgh, 1850, 5 vols. 8vo); Strigel, Conciones (Lips. 1566, 8vo); Selnecker, Auslegung (Lpz. 1566, 4to); Bullinger, Conciones (Tigurini, 1575, folio);. Taillepied, Commentarius (Par. 1583, 4to); Heilbrunner, Quoestiones (Lauing. 1586, 8vo); Capella, Commentaria: (Tarracon. 1586, 4to); Figuiero, Paraphrasis (Lugdun. 1596, 8vo); Brenz, Commentaria (in Opp. 4); Broughton, Commentarius [includ. Lam.] (Geneva, 1606, 4to); Polan, Commentarius [includ. Lam.] (Basil. 1608, 8vo) Sanctius, Commentarius [includ. Lam.] (Lugdun. 1618, fol.); A Lapide, In Jerem. etc. (Antw. 1621. fol.); Ghisler, Commentarius (Lugd. 1633, 3 vols. fol.); De Beira, Considerationes (Olyssip. 1633, fol.); Hulsemann, Commentarius [includ. Lam.] (Rudolphop. 1663, Lips. 1696, 4to); Forster, Commentarius (Vitemb. 1672, 1699, 4to); Alting, Commentarius (Amst. 1688, folio; also in Opp. 1, 649); *Seb. Schmidt, Commentarius (Argent. 1685, Fr. ad M. 1697, 1705, 2 vols. 4to); De Sacy, Explication (in French, Paris, 1691, 12mo); Noordbeek, Vitligginge (Franck. 1701, 4to); *Lowth, Commentary [includ. Lam.] (Lond. 1718, 4to; also in the Commentary of Patrick, etc.); Petersen, Zeugniss (Francf. 1719, 4to); Rapel, Predigten (Lunenb. 1720, 1755, 2 vols. 4to); Ittig, Predigten (Dresden, 1722, 4to); Michaelis, Observationes [on parts, includ. Lam.] (Gotting. 1743, 4to); Burscher, Erluterung (Leipzig, 1756, 8vo); Venema, Commnentarius (Leov. 1765, 2 vols. 4to); *Blayney, Notes includ. Lam.] (Oxf. 1784, 4to; 3d ed. Lond. 1836, 8vo); Schnurrer, Observationes [on parts] (Tub. 1793-4, 4 pts. 4to; also in Velthusen et cet. Commment. 2-4); Leiste, Observationes [on parts] (Gotting. 1794, 8vo, and also in Pott. et cet. Comment. 2); Spohn, Notoe (Lips. 1794-1824. 2 vols. 8vo); Volborth, Anmerkungen (Celle, 1795, 8vo); Uhrich, De Vatib. sacris (Dresden, 1797, 4to); Schulz, Scholia (Norimburg, 1797, 8vo); Hensler, Bemerkungen [on parts] (Lpz. 1805, 8vo); Dereser, Erklrung [includ. Lam. and Baruch] (F. ad M. 1809, 8vo); Shalom-Kohen, Uebersetzung [with Hebrew commentary] (Frth, 1810, 8vo); *Horsley, Notes [including Lam.] (in Bibl. Crit. 2,1); Gaab, Erklrung [on parts] (Tb. 1824, 8vo); Roorda, Conmmentaria [on parts] (Groning. 1824, 8vo); *Dahler, Notes (in French, Strasb. 1825-30, 2 vols. 8vo); *Rosenmller, Scholia [including Lam.] (Lips. 1826-7, 2 vols. 8vo); Movers, Recensiones Jerem. (Hamb. 1827, 8vo); Knobel, De Jerem. Chaldaizante (Vratislav. 1831, 4to); Kper, Jeremioe interpres (Berlin, 1837, 8vo); *Hitzig, Erklrung (Leipzig, 1841, 8vo); *Umbreit, Commentar (Hamb. 1842, 8vo); *Henderson, Commentary [includ. Lam.] (London, 1851, 12mo); Neumann, Auslegung [including Lam.] (Lpz. 1856, 8vo); Graf, Erklrung (Lpz. 1862, 2 vols. 8vo); Cowles, Notes (N. York, 1869, 12mo). SEE PROPHETS.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Jeremiah, Book of
consists of twenty-three separate and independent sections, arranged in five books. I. The introduction, ch. 1. II. Reproofs of the sins of the Jews, consisting of seven sections, (1.) ch. 2; (2.) ch. 3-6; (3.) ch. 7-10; (4.) ch. 11-13; (5.) ch. 14-17:18; (6.) ch. 17:19-ch. 20; (7.) ch. 21-24. III. A general review of all nations, in two sections, (1.) ch. 46-49; (2.) ch. 25; with an historical appendix of three sections, (1.) ch. 26; (2.) ch. 27; (3.) ch. 28, 29. IV. Two sections picturing the hopes of better times, (1.) ch. 30, 31; (2.) ch. 32,33; to which is added an historical appendix in three sections, (1.) ch. 34:1-7; (2.) ch. 34:8-22; (3.) ch. 35. V. The conclusion, in two sections, (1.) ch. 36; (2.) ch. 45.
In Egypt, after an interval, Jeremiah is supposed to have added three sections, viz., ch. 37-39; 40-43; and 44.
The principal Messianic prophecies are found in 23:1-8; 31:31-40; and 33:14-26.
Jeremiah’s prophecies are noted for the frequent repetitions found in them of the same words and phrases and imagery. They cover the period of about 30 years. They are not recorded in the order of time. When and under what circumstances this book assumed its present form we know not.
The LXX. Version of this book is, in its arrangement and in other particulars, singularly at variance with the original. The LXX. omits 10:6-8; 27:19-22; 29:16-20; 33:14-26; 39:4-13; 52:2, 3, 15, 28-30, etc. About 2,700 words in all of the original are omitted. These omissions, etc., are capricious and arbitrary, and render the version unreliable.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Jeremiah, Book of
[Jeremi’ah]
This prophecy commenced in the thirteenth year of Josiah, B.C. 629, and extended beyond the destruction of Jerusalem. The great captivity was in B.C. 599, when Zedekiah was left in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and Jerusalem was not destroyed until B.C. 588, eleven years after. Great efforts were made by the prophet to bring Zedekiah to the fear of the Lord. What especially marks the spirit of the prophet personally is sorrow . It was a grief to him to see Judah departing from Jehovah, and to be obliged to predict the judgement of God upon them, the people he loved; added to which he actually suffered from the hand of those whom he sought to help. A similar sorrow is seen in the Lord Jesus respecting Jerusalem, and in Paul respecting the church. In some instances Jeremiah’s parables were acted , so as the more forcibly to impress the careless people. The prophecies are not arranged chronologically, but there is doubtless a divine reason why that order is not followed. In the LXX the order of the chapters differs widely from that in the Hebrew and the A.V., but it is not known what led to the difference. The LXX appears to have been made from a faulty copy, or the text was misunderstood by the translators, for there are many deviations from the Hebrew. The phrase ‘the Lord saith’ is omitted sixty-four times, with other omissions – in all about one-eighth of the whole.
Jer. 1. Jeremiah is established in his office, to which he had been sanctified from his birth as prophet to the nations, Israel having been set in the midst of the Gentiles as the direct centre of God’s government in the earth. He was in great fear, but was assured of God’s presence. He saw a rod of an almond tree (which is the first tree to blossom) signifying that God would hasten to perform what He said. The prophet also saw a seething pot, and its face towards the north, answering to Chaldea.
Jer. 2 – Jer. 6. This section is an appeal to Jerusalem, with exhortations to repentance, and warnings as to what had befallen Israel. It was given in the days of Josiah, when there had been a reformation, but they had not turned to God with the whole heart: backsliding Israel had justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Jer 3:6; Jer 3:11.
Jer. 7 – Jer. 10. This section is respecting the temple. The people boasted of possessing the temple, but there was insincerity and idolatry. Touching exhortations are made, and judgements declared.
Jer. 11 – Jer. 12. The responsibility of the people is pressed: they had entered into covenant with God, yet they had gone into idolatry, so that the Lord asks, “What hath my beloved [people] to do in mine house?” Judgement must follow; but here and there future blessings are spoken of. There is deep grief that judgements are needed. Jer 12:14 shows the prophet’s office against the nations – “mine evil neighbours.”
Jer. 13. The destruction of the pride of Jerusalem is foretold under the figure of a marred girdle which Jeremiah had buried, the great sorrow being that though as a girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, the Lord had caused all Israel to cleave to Him for His glory, yet they had left Him: compare Luk 19:41 [Some objectors consider it very improbable that Jeremiah would be told to go from Jerusalem to the Euphrates to hide the girdle, and then again to fetch it back. Some judge it to have been a vision only, and others that Ephrath (that is Bethlehem) is meant instead of the Euphrates. Jeremiah may however have gone but once, and it would have been a striking lesson of obedience to Jehovah to go such a long distance on such an errand.] The parable of the bottles of wine follows, with exhortations to repent of the abominations.
Jer. 14, Jer. 15. A grievous famine occurred: the Lord would not be interceded with for them, yet Jeremiah takes up the sin of the people, and acknowledges it; but the answer (Jer. 15) is terrible. The false prophets were no excuse: they were utterly rejected. Jeremiah, though he loved the people, was hated by them. He had stood before the people for the Lord, who now identified him with the remnant. It should be well with them. Meanwhile Jehovah’s words were the joy of his heart. Jehovah would deliver him.
Jer. 16, Jer. 17. The prophet is told to take no wife: the children of the place should only come to death: compare Mat 12:46; Mat 12:50. God would drive them out of the land, but there was mercy in store for the future. The prophet was mocked by the people: he had to call them to the observance of the Sabbath.
Jer. 18 – Jer. 20. God was the potter and the people were the clay: He could do as He pleased with them, or with any nation – either pull down or build up; but they determined to walk after their own devices. He would fulfil His word concerning them. The people laid plots against Jeremiah: he was put in the stocks, and smitten by Pashur, upon whom a doom was denounced. Jeremiah bemoaned his lot.
Jer. 21: – Jer. 24. When Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem, Zedekiah sent to the prophet to know whether the Lord would appear for them. Jeremiah had to utter the dreadful news that God would Himself fight against them. To the people it was said that if they would surrender to the king of Babylon they should live; if not, they should die. They were exhorted to repentance, and the prophecies against Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Coniah are detailed. Woe to the shepherds, but there was a day of blessing coming, when the true Son of David, the righteous Branch and King, should reign and prosper. A lamentation was made against the false prophets. The people carried away with Jeconiah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar are compared to good figs; but those left in the land under Zedekiah to bad ones.
Jer. 25 gives a summary of God’s judgements by Nebuchadnezzar, with a seventy years’ captivity for Judah: then Babylon and all the nations that surrounded Palestine should come under God’s judgements, but judgement begins with the city called by God’s name.
Jer. 26. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah exhorted to repentance, but the priests and prophets demanded his death. The princes however protected him, and the elders reminded the people that Hezekiah did not put Micah to death. To this it was apparently responded that Jehoiakim had put the prophet Urijah to death. Ahikam however shielded Jeremiah.
Jer. 27. Most probably the name Jehoiakim in Jer 27:1 should be Zedekiah; but it may be that the prophecy was given to Jeremiah in the days of Jehoiakim though not related till the days of Zedekiah. The king is exhorted to submit to the king of Babylon.
Jer. 28. Hananiah prophesies falsely, and is opposed by Jeremiah, who foretells his death.
Jer. 29. Jeremiah wrote to the captives in Babylon, urging them to make themselves homes there, and God would bring them back at the end of the seventy years. The false prophets are condemned.
Jer. 30, Jer. 31. The captives should surely return; but these chapters apply to the future, and this restoration will be after the ‘time of Jacob’s trouble,’ a tribulation such as has never been cf. Mat 24; Mark 13. The new covenant blessings concern both Judah and Israel. God will appear for them, and the restoration will be full and complete with universal blessing.
Jer. 32, Jer. 33. Jeremiah was put in prison by Zedekiah, but he bought a field in token of his assurance of the captives’ return. In Jer. 33 the prophecy goes on to the future, when the Lord Jesus will appear as the Branch of righteousness, and the successor of David. Jer 33:15.
Jer. 34. All who had Hebrew bondservants had made a covenant with Zedekiah, and had set them free, but afterwards they again made bondmen of them. This is denounced by Jeremiah and its punishment foretold.
Jer. 35. The faithfulness of the Rechabites is held up as a worthy example: God would bless them and their posterity.
Jer. 36. Jeremiah caused Baruch to write his prophecy against Jerusalem in a roll. On this being read to king Jehoiakim he burnt it, and sought to arrest the prophet and Baruch; but God hid them. Another roll was obtained and the prophecies re-written.
Jer. 37 – Jer. 39. The taking of Jerusalem was at hand. Jeremiah was about to leave the city, but was arrested, beaten, and put into prison. Zedekiah gave him some relief; but on foretelling the fall of the city he was put into a dungeon, where he sank in the mire. He was delivered by Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, on whom a blessing was pronounced. The city was taken. Zedekiah was captured by the Chaldeans; his sons were slain before his eyes, and he himself was blinded and taken to Babylon. Jeremiah was protected by Nebuchadnezzar.
Jer. 40 – Jer. 45. These chapters give the history of the remnant left in the land under Gedaliah, Jeremiah being with them. Gedaliah was murdered by Ishmael, sent by the king of the Ammonites, and the people were carried away. They were however rescued by Johanan, and Jeremiah was requested to inquire of God for them, the people promising obedience. God bade them abide in the land; but they, refusing to obey, went into Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them. There they persistently practised idolatry, though warned by Jeremiah. The end of Jeremiah is not recorded.
Jer. 46 – Jer. 51. Judgements are pronounced against the various nations that had been in contact with Israel. God had used some of them as His instruments; but their pride, malice, and cruelty had afterwards to be punished. Judgements were to fall upon Egypt, the Philistines, Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Elam, and Babylon. The prophecy against Babylon was written in a book, and given to Seraiah, ‘a quiet prince,’ to carry to Babylon, to be read there; then he was to bind a stone to the book and cast it into the Euphrates. Babylon was to be desolate for ever.
Babylon has a special place in the prophecy of Jeremiah: Israel and Judah had been unfaithful, and the government of the world was entrusted to Babylon; but Babylon failed and its destruction was the setting free of Judah to return to their land. This was a sort of type of the judgement of the last empire in a future day when Israel will be fully restored and blessed. This is foreshadowed in some places, as in Jer 50:17-20, which speaks of both Judah and Israel being pardoned. Jer. 51: closes with “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.”
Jer. 52 is historical and nearly the same as 2Ki 24:18 – 2Ki 25:30.
The prophet’s name occurs in the N.T. in Mat 2:17; Mat 16:14; Mat 27:9 under the forms of JEREMIAS and JEREMY.