Jeremiah 23:1. See introd. summary to section. We should have expected, as the natural sequel to the three preceding passages, a direct reference to the reign of Zedekiah. Probably we may attribute the absence of it to Jeremiah's unwillingness to attack one whom he recognised as merely a weak tool i... [ Continue Reading ]
_the shepherds_ See on Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 22:22, and for the figure of sheep cp. Psalms 74:1; Psalms 95:7; Psalms 100:3; Ezekiel 34:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
_feed_ Heb. _shepherd._Cp. Jeremiah 3:15. _scattered_ by exile, voluntary or forced, in Egypt or Babylon. _driven them away_ the opposite of that which is an Eastern shepherd's duty, viz. to go before his flock, leading them to pasture or fold (Isaiah 40:11; John 10:3 f.). _visited … visit upon_... [ Continue Reading ]
_folds_ rather, "homestead," as Dr. Cp. Jeremiah 10:25; Jeremiah 25:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
_shepherds_ The picture is probably that of righteous rulers, such as princes and judges, placed in authority under the ideal king. Cp. Isaiah 1:26; Isaiah 32:1. _lacking_ missing, like sheep which in the absence of the shepherd have become the prey of wild beasts.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the days come_ The phrase (first occurring in Amos 4:2), according to Jeremiah's employment of it (cp. Jeremiah 23:7; Jeremiah 30:3; Jeremiah 31:27; Jeremiah 31:31; Jeremiah 31:38; Jeremiah 33:14), implies a special call to note the announcement thus introduced. In spite of the troubles which are n... [ Continue Reading ]
Du. and others reject these _vv_., which are also viewed with suspicion by Co. The use of the term "the Shoot" for the Messiah by Zechariah (Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12) shews that in his time it was an established expression, and therefore might naturally be employed as early as pre-exilic times... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel shall dwell safely_ Cp. Deuteronomy 33:28. The Northern Tribes as well as Judah shall be restored, and form one kingdom. _he shall be called_ The Messiah's work shall be indicated by the name that He is to bear. _The Lord is our righteousness_ as indicating the ideal righteousness which is... [ Continue Reading ]
_they shall no more say_ The exodus from Egypt, always hitherto quoted as the crowning manifestation of Jehovah's favour, would be eclipsed by a yet more glorious deliverance.... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Jeremiah 16:14-15. The LXX's omission of the _vv_. here, and insertion of them in a wholly incongruous context after Jeremiah 23:40, fall in with the supposition that, even if of Jeremiah's authorship, they do not rightly belong to this place. See further on Jeremiah 33:14-26.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his holy words_ the words which He in the holiness of His nature had put forth concerning the wicked doings of the false prophets.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah 23:9-40. Condemnation of the prophets Following on the prophecies relating to successive kings of Judah, we have a section dealing with the iniquities of a class who also grievously misled the nation. The passage doubtless contains much that is genuine, but, from the diffuseness of style,... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the two clauses containing the words "the land," the first is probably a corruption of the second, as accidentally repeated by a copyist, or as a gloss on a blurred text, suggested perhaps by Jeremiah 23:14. It is not found in LXX, while Gi. would further omit "the pastures … dried up." _adulter... [ Continue Reading ]
_in my house have I found their wickedness_ Cp. Jeremiah 6:13, and see 2 Kings 21:5; 2 Kings 23:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
The figure is of men forced onwards by a pursuing foe, while they can neither see their way nor keep their footing. Cp. Psalms 35:6. _driven on_ lit. _thrust_. Cp. for the expression Proverbs 14:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
_folly_ lit. that which is tasteless, insipid (cp. cognate substantive in Job 6:6 rendered "that which hath no savour"), hence moral unsavouriness, unseemliness. _prophets of Samaria_ They were simply idolaters, who made no secret of their belief or practice. The prophets of Jerusalem on the other... [ Continue Reading ]
_all of them_ the prophets and their hearers alike. _thereof_ of Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I will.…_ identical with words in Jeremiah 9:15, where see notes. Here it may be originally a marginal note by a copyist, reminiscent of that passage. _wormwood_ Cp. Deuteronomy 29:18; Proverbs 5:4; Lamentations 3:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
_teach you vanity_ deceive you with vain hopes, speak peace to those who are going on still in wicked courses. Cp. next _v_. This is a test whereby the false may be distinguished from the true prophet. _of their own heart_ imagined by themselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to section.... [ Continue Reading ]
_that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye_ The mg. is supported by Syr., and is to be preferred, involving only a change of vowels. The MT. for "hath said" is an expression which does not elsewhere introduce the words of the Lord. _stubbornness_ See Jeremiah 3:17. _No evil shall come upon you_ Cp.... [ Continue Reading ]
_who hath stood, etc_.] not meaning that Jeremiah himself had not been admitted to the council of Jehovah, but, as the context sufficiently shews, that this had been denied to the false prophets. Cp. Jeremiah 23:16. Duhm, making the whole passage (see above) to be a 2nd cent. b.c. insertion, holds t... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to section. These _vv_. agree substantially with Jeremiah 30:23 f., and are probably introduced here from that passage. They have no apparent connexion with the preceding or following _vv_., and may have been inserted here as a declaration of Jehovah's real purpose as opposed to... [ Continue Reading ]
_the latter days_ a prophetic phrase denoting the final period of the history so far as the speaker's perspective reaches; e.g. Israel's return to God after adversity (so the parallel passage Jeremiah 30:24; cp. Deuteronomy 4:30). We find the expression again, Jeremiah 48:47; Jeremiah 49:39. _under... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to section. Here we again take up the thought of Jeremiah 23:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_my council_ See Jeremiah 23:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
The connexion of thought has been variously explained. (i) The LXX make Jeremiah 23:23 an affirmation, not a question. God, as universally present, can never be at a distance, and this agrees with Jeremiah 23:24. Afterwards, the _v_. was made interrogative to meet the difficulty connected with the l... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have dreamed, I have dreamed_ These were the words with which they caught the ear of the crowd, and so gained a sure hearing for their pretended revelations. But another kind of test was needed (see Introd. pp. xxxii. f.), and this the false prophets failed to supply.... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to section.... [ Continue Reading ]
The opening words are evidently corrupt. Co. accepts Du."s suggestion to substitute (by a not violent change in MT.) a _third_"I have dreamed" (cp. Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 22:29) for "How long," and for "shall this be … prophets" to read (by a different division of words) "Will the heart of the proph... [ Continue Reading ]
_to forget my name_ not literally, but to forget the essential character of Him who bears the name. So their fathers confused Baal with Jehovah. See on Jeremiah 2:23. The nature of the sin was the same. _every man to his neighbour one to another_, each prophet to those who will listen.... [ Continue Reading ]
Mere dreams and the truth of God are to be kept asunder. _What is the straw to the wheat?_ God's word contains nourishment and life. Other words are but as straw.... [ Continue Reading ]
This _v_. supplies a further test of a genuine prophetic utterance, viz. penetration and power. _like as fire_ Cp. Jeremiah 5:14 and note there. The conception is that "of the prophetic word as endowed with God's living energy and securing its own fulfilment" (Peake).... [ Continue Reading ]
_steal my words_ They have themselves no revelation to impart, and therefore proclaim as their own that which has been said by the really inspired.... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to section.... [ Continue Reading ]
_use_ The tongue is all of which they can avail themselves. There is no first-hand knowledge behind it. _He saith_ This phrase, borrowed from the true prophets, will, they expect, help their sayings to pass as genuine. By the side of the Party of the Nobles "perhaps opposed to them, perhaps allied... [ Continue Reading ]
_vain boasting_ The Hebrew root, which is rather rare, denotes in the cognate languages impudent boldness.... [ Continue Reading ]
_say unto them, What burden!_ mg. (less well) _tell them what the burden is_, but mg. also suggests that we read, with LXX and Vulg., _Ye are the burden_. The change requires only a different division of the consonants in MT. and has general support.... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to section. The original word means either a burden or a prophetic utterance. It would appear that those hostile to Jeremiah had taken to apply the word derisively to the prophet's utterances as being indeed _burdensome_. "What new prophecy hast thou for us to hear? At any rate w... [ Continue Reading ]
_every man's own word shall be his burden_ mg. _is his burden, and ye pervert, etc_. Either (_a_) he who has jokingly enquired after the "burden of the Lord" shall find that those lightly spoken words of his are in very deed the heaviest load to bear, or (_b_) (rendering for "shall be" _is_) no alle... [ Continue Reading ]
_But if ye say … of the Lord_ LXX omit.... [ Continue Reading ]
_utterly forget you_ The alternative in mg. _lift you up_, as rendering the Hebrew verb from which "burden" is derived, is clearly right, that substantive being the key-word of the passage, and the two verbs being very similar. So LXX, Syr., Vulg. The difficulty which we feel now in understanding wh... [ Continue Reading ]