_Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD._ Ver. 1. _Woe to the pastors,_] _i.e., _ To the rulers and chieftains, whether in the State or Church; woe to the wicked of both sorts; and why? _ They destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture._] So he ca... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. Ver. 2. _Against the pastors._] Impostors, rather. _ That feed my... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. Ver. 3. _And I will gather the remnant of my flock._] I will bring them back from Babylon, but especially from out of this pr... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. Ver. 4. _And I will set up shepherds over them._] "Pastors after mine own heart," such as were Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jehoshua the high prie... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Ver. 5. _I will raise to David a righteous branch._] Who shall raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close... [ Continue Reading ]
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this [is] his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Ver. 6. _This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness._] Jehovah Tsidkenu. _a_ This is a most mellifluous and sweet name of our... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; Ver. 7. _Therefore, behold the days come._] See Jeremiah 16:14 .... [ Continue Reading ]
But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. Ver. 8. _But the Lord liveth._] See Jeremiah 16:15 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. Ver. 9. _My heart within me is broken._] _Utitur exordiolo pathetico et tragico prorsus._ Being... [ Continue Reading ]
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force [is] not right. Ver. 10. _For the land is full of adulterers._] It is even become a great brothel house, as sometimes Cyprus w... [ Continue Reading ]
For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. Ver. 11. _For both prophet and priest are profane._] What wonder, therefore, that the people were so? I have read of a woman, who, living in professed doubt of the Godhead, after better illumina... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery [ways] in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, [even] the year of their visitation, saith the LORD._ Ver. 12. _As slippery ways in the darkness._] They shall fall without fail, for they shall ne... [ Continue Reading ]
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. Ver. 13. _And I have seen folly._] Heb., Insalsity. Folly is as unpleasant to the intelligent as unsavoury meat is to him that tasteth it. _ They prophesied in Baal, and caused my people... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah._ Ver. 14. _I have seen al... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land._ Ver. 15. _I will feed them with wormwood,_] _a_ _i.e., _ I will slay them... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, [and] not out of the mouth of the LORD._ Ver. 16. _Hearken not unto the words of the prophets._] Stop your ears to their enchantments, and se... [ Continue Reading ]
They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. Ver. 17. _They say still to them that despise me._] They promise security to the impenitent, and flatter p... [ Continue Reading ]
For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard [it]? Ver. 18. _For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord?_] _Quis praeter nos?_ so Piscator. Who hath, if we have not? say those false prophets, as if they were so many ang... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. Ver. 19. _Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord,_] _q.d., _ Though these flatterers make all fair weather before you, yet assure yourselves the tempest of God's wrath, s... [ Continue Reading ]
The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. Ver. 20. _In the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly._] All too late ye shall subscribe to the truth of these threats, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. Ver. 21. _I have not sent these prophets._] Who I have duped you into the mouth of destruction, as that old Bethelite did the young prophet into the mouth of the lion. _ Yet they ran._] They have from me n... [ Continue Reading ]
But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Ver. 22. _But if they had stood in my counsel, &c._] As they vainly vaunt they do, Jer 23:18 and that they know more of my mind t... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 23:23 [Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Ver. 23. _Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off?_] See I not what is done on earth, which seemeth further from me? or think ye that you live out of the reach of my rod because remote from heaven, the habitation of my... [ Continue Reading ]
_Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD._ Ver. 24. _Can any man hide himself in secret places?_] Hide he may God from himself, but not himself from God; though atheists are apt to think (as they say the struthio... [ Continue Reading ]
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. Ver. 25. _I have dreamed, I have dreamed,_] _i.e., _ I have a prophetic revelation in a dream. Such lying prophets were the ancient and modern enthusiasts and high attainers. Messalanian here... [ Continue Reading ]
How long shall [this] be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, [they are] prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Ver. 26. _How long shall this be in the hearts? &c., _] _q.d., _ Will they never give over lying to the Holy Ghost, Act 5:3 and flying against the light (of their own... [ Continue Reading ]
Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. Ver. 27. _Which think to cause my people to forget my name._] To drive them to atheism, which sometimes creepeth in at the back door of a re... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What [is] the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Ver. 28. _The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream._] Or, Let him tell it as a dream, and not as a divine revelation, making... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 23:29 [Is] not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer [that] breaketh the rock in pieces? Ver. 29. _Is not my word like a fire?_] As it is like solid wheat, wholesome food; 1Ti 6:3 so it is no less like fire, that most active element, called πυρ, because it is pure, sait... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Ver. 30. _Behold, I am against those prophets._] Heb., Behold, I against, by an angry _aposiopesis._ _a_ That steal my word every one from his neighbour.] That filch it, either by hidi... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Ver. 31. _That use their tongues._] Or, Abuse them rather, to smoothing and soothing up people in their sins: _lenificant linguas, id est, blando sermone alliciunt plebem,_ they flatter and collogue; or... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, I [am] against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. Ver. 32. _That cause my people to... [ Continue Reading ]
And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What [is] the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. Ver. 33. _What is the burden of the Lord?_] _Ironicum interrogandi genus:_ thus they profanely asked by w... [ Continue Reading ]
And [as for] the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. Ver. 34. _That shall say, The burden of the Lord._] _Nempe per ludibrium,_ in contempt and derision. See 2 Chronicles 36:16 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? Ver. 35. _Thus shall ye say._] God sets them a form, who otherwise knew not how to lisp out a syllable of sober language. _Loquamur verba Scripturae,_ Let us spea... [ Continue Reading ]
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. Ver. 36. For every man's word shall be his burden.] That jeer of his afore mentioned shall lie heavy upon him, and cost him... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? Ver. 37. _Thus shalt thou say to the prophet._] See on Jeremiah 23:35 .... [ Continue Reading ]
But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; Ver. 38. _But since ye say, The burden of the Lord._] Since ye accuse me as unmerciful, my Word as a... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, [and cast you] out of my presence: Ver. 39. _Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you._] _I nunc ergo, lude pasquillis et putidis dicteriis,_ saith one. Go thy... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. Ver. 40. _And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you._] Contempt of the Word is such an enraging sin that God cannot easily satisfy himself in saying what he will do to such as are guilty... [ Continue Reading ]