Jeremiah 27:2-3

Make thee bonds and yokes, &c. The prophets were frequently ordered to foreshow future events by actions as well as by words. Thus Isaiah was commanded to go naked and barefoot, Isaiah 20:3. Ezekiel, in like manner, was ordered to prophesy by signs, Ezekiel 4:1; Ezekiel 12:3; and Ezekiel 24:17. In making these yokes, putting them upon his neck, and fastening them on with bands, Jeremiah was intended to be a type both to his own people, and also to the people afterward mentioned, that they should be brought under subjection to the king of Babylon. And send them to the king of Edom, &c. These nations were near to the Jews, and their princes had their ambassadors resident at Jerusalem. They were also some of those countries which God had declared that he had given into the hand of the king of Babylon: see Jeremiah 25:21; Jeremiah 25:24. By the hand of the messengers, &c. The business of these messengers seems to have been, to engage Zedekiah to join in a league with the nations from which they came, against the king of Babylon.