XXIII. (1) WOE BE UNTO THE PASTORS... — The message that follows in Jeremiah 23:1 comes as a natural sequel to that of Jeremiah 22. The unfaithful shepherds who had been there denounced are contrasted with those, more faithful to their trust, whom Jehovah will raise up. As before, in Jeremiah 2:8 an... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE SCATTERED MY FLOCK. — The charge was true literally as well as spiritually. The dispersion of the people in Egypt, Assyria, and Chaldæa was the result of the neglect, the tyranny, the feebleness of their rulers. They had been led, not as the Eastern shepherd leads (John 10:4), but “driven” —... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THEIR FOLDS. — Better, _habitations,_ or _pastures._ There was hope, as in Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 6:13, for the “remnant” of the people, though the sentence on their rulers, as such, was final and irreversible.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SET UP SHEPHERDS... — The words imply, in one sense, a return to the theocracy, the breaking off the hereditary succession of the house of David, and the giving of power to those who, like Ezra and Nehemiah, and, later on in history, the Maccabees, were called to rule because they had the cap... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME. — The words point to an undefined, far-off future, following on the provisional order implied in Jeremiah 23:4, when the kingdom should once more rest in one of the house of David. A RIGHTEOUS BRANCH. — The idea is the same, though the word is different (here _Zemach,_ and the... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDAH SHALL BE SAVED, AND ISRAEL SHALL DWELL SAFELY. — The true King shall reign over a re-united people. The Ten Tribes of the Northern Kingdom, as well as the two of the Southern, should find in Him deliverance and peace. WHEREBY HE SHALL BE CALLED. — Literally, _whereby one shall call him,_ the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD. — See Notes on Jeremiah 16:14, of which the words are almost verbally a reproduction. There, however, stress is laid chiefly on the fact of the exile, here on that of the restoration. The LXX. version omits them here, but inserts them, where they are obviously out of p... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE HEART WITHIN ME IS BROKEN... — The abrupt transition shows that we are entering on an entirely new section. In the Hebrew order and punctuation of the words this is shown still more clearly — _Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me_ — the first words being the superscription and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAND IS FULL OF ADULTERERS. — The context shows that the words must be taken literally, and not of the spiritual adultery of the worship of other Gods. The false prophets and their followers were personally profligates, like those of 2 Peter 2:14. (Comp. Jeremiah 5:7; Jeremiah 29:23.) BECAUSE O... [ Continue Reading ]
IN MY HOUSE HAVE I FOUND THEIR WICKEDNESS. — Prophet and priest are joined, as before (Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10), as playing into each other’s hands. It seems probable, from Jeremiah 32:34, that the sins of Ahaz and Manasseh had been repeated under Jehoiakim, and that the worship... [ Continue Reading ]
SLIPPERY WAYS... DARKNESS... DRIVEN ON. — The words and the thoughts flow in upon the prophet’s mind from Isaiah 8:22; Psalms 35:5. THE YEAR OF THEIR VISITATION. — The prophet returns to his characteristic word for the time appointed by the Divine Judge for chastisement. (Comp. Jeremiah 8:12; Jerem... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SEEN FOLLY... — Literally, as in Job 6:6, _that which is unsavoury_ — _i.e., insipid,_ and so, ethically, _foolish._ The guilt of the prophets of Samaria cannot be passed over, but it is noticed, as in Jeremiah 3:6, only in order to compare it with the darker evils of those of Judah and Jerus... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY COMMIT ADULTERY, AND WALK IN LIES... — The union of the claim to prophesy in the name of Jehovah with these flagrant breaches of His law was more hateful in the prophet’s eyes even than the open recognition of Baal. In the terrible language of Isaiah (Isaiah 1:10), prophets and people had becom... [ Continue Reading ]
WORMWOOD... WATER OF GALL. — See Notes on Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 9:15. PROFANENESS. — The root-meaning of the Hebrew word is that of “veiling,” hence that of simulated holiness, or, as in the margin, “hypocrisy;” but the associations of the word attached to it the further sense of the hypocrisy th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY MAKE YOU VAIN. — i.e., _they befool, deceive you._ As the next verse shows, they filled the people with vain hopes of peace. This was then, as always, the crucial test between the true prophet and the false. The one roused the conscience, caused pain and anger by his reproofs; the other soothed... [ Continue Reading ]
IMAGINATION. — As before (Jeremiah 3:17 and elsewhere), _stubbornness._ The tendency of all that the false prophets uttered was to confirm the people in their sins, not to lead them to repentance. It is noticeable that the Hebrew verb for “hath _said_” is not the same as the received formula of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE COUNSEL. — Better, perhaps, _the council,_ the “assembly” of chosen friends with whom a man shares his secret plans. So in Jeremiah 6:11; Jeremiah 15:17; Psalms 89:7, “assembly.” Could any of the false prophets say that they had thus been called as into the privy council of Jehovah? (Comp. Amos... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, A WHIRLWIND... — Better, _Behold, the storm of Jehovah, wrath is gone forth, a whirling storm, upon the heads of the wicked shall it whirl down._ The word translated “whirlwind” is properly more generic in its meaning (“tempest” in Isaiah 29:6). and gets its specific force here from the asso... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL NOT RETURN..._ — i.e.,_ shall not _turn back_ from its purpose. Men should look back on it in the “latter days” — literally, _the end of the days_ (Genesis 49:1; Numbers 24:14; Deuteronomy 4:30; Deuteronomy 31:29), _i.e.,_ in the then distant future of the exile and the return — and should see... [ Continue Reading ]
YET THEY RAN. — The image is that of messengers who rush eagerly, as from the king’s council-chamber, on their self-appointed mission, without waiting for the command of the Master in whose name they profess to come. (Comp. the question, “Who will go for us?_”_ in Isaiah 6:8.)... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEY HAD STOOD IN MY COUNSEL. — Better, as before, _council._ The test of the true mission is seen in results. Are the people better or worse for the prophet’s work? What are the fruits of his teaching? (Comp. Matthew 7:20.) The question meets us, Is this always a test? Was Jeremiah’s own work su... [ Continue Reading ]
AM I A GOD AT HAND...? — This and the two questions that follow are essentially the same in thought. The false prophets acted as if God were far away out of their sight (Psalms 10:11; Psalms 73:11; Psalms 94:7), not knowing or caring what men did, as if their affairs, as it has been epigrammatically... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DREAMED... — The words point to the form of the claim commonly made by the false prophets. Dreams took their place among the recognised channels of divine revelation (Genesis 40:8; Genesis 41:16; Joel 2:28; Daniel 7:1), but their frequent misuse by the false prophets brought them into discred... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG SHALL THIS BE...? — The Hebrew text gives a double interrogative: _How long? Is it in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, prophets of the deceit of their own hearts? Do they think to cause my people_...? A conjectural alteration of the text gives “How long is the fire in the heart... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THEIR FATHERS HAVE FORGOTTEN... — The two evils of open idolatry and of false claims to prophecy stood, the prophet seems to say, on the same footing. The misuse of the name of Jehovah by the false prophets was as bad as the older worship of Baal and the prophesying in his name. (Comp. Jeremiah 2... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIM TELL A DREAM. — The point of the words lies in the contrast between the real and the counterfeit revelation. Let the dreamer tell his dream as such, let the prophet speak the word of Jehovah truly, and then it will be seen that the one is as the chaff and stubble, and the other as the wheat... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOT MY WORD LIKE AS A FIRE?... — The prophet speaks out of the depths of his own experience. The true prophetic word burns in the heart of a man, and will not be restrained (Jeremiah 5:14; Jeremiah 20:9; Psalms 39:3), and when uttered it consumes the evil, and purifies the good. It will burn up t... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT STEAL MY WORDS... — Another note of the counterfeit prophet is found in the want of any living personal originality. The oracles of the dreamers were patchworks of plagiarism, and they borrowed, not as men might do legitimately, and as Jeremiah himself did, from the words of the great teachers... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT USE THEIR TONGUES, AND SAY, HE SAITH. — Literally, _that take their tongues._ There is no adequate evidence for the marginal rendering “that smooth their tongues.” The scornful phrase indicates the absence of a true inspiration. These false prophets plan their schemes, and take their tongue as... [ Continue Reading ]
FALSE DREAMS. — The words may mean either actual dreams, which have nothing answering to them in the world of facts, or dreams which are not really such, but simply, as in Jeremiah 23:31, the form in which the deceiver seeks to work out his plans. BY THEIR LIGHTNESS. — The Hebrew word is the same in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BURDEN OF THE LORD. — The English expresses the literal meaning of the word, “something lifted up, or borne.” It passed, however, as the English equivalent has done, through many shades of meaning, and became, in the language of the prophets, one of the received terms for a solemn, emphatic utte... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT SHALL SAY, THE BURDEN OF THE LORD. — The language thus put into the mouths of the false prophets is not that of derision, but of boastful assumption. It is for that the boaster will, in due time, be punished.... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SHALL YE SAY... — The words are a protest against the high-sounding phrase, “This is the burden, the oracle of Jehovah.” This, with which the false prophets covered their teachings of lies, the prophet rejects, and he calls men back to the simpler terms, which were less open to abuse. The true... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BURDEN OF THE LORD SHALL YE MENTION NO MORE... — The misused term was no longer to be applied to the messages of Jehovah. If men continued to apply it to the words of their own heart, they would find it a “burden” in another sense (the prophet plays once more on the etymology of the word) too he... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SHALT THOU SAY TO THE PROPHET... — The verse repeats Jeremiah 23:35, with the one difference that men are to use this, the simpler form of language, when they come to the prophet, as well as when they are speaking one to another. The affectation of big words was equally out of place in either c... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SINCE YE SAY. — Better, _if ye say. _... [ Continue Reading ]
I, EVEN I, WILL UTTERLY FORGET YOU... — A very slight alteration in a single letter of the Hebrew verb gives a rendering which was followed by the LXX. and Vulgate, and is adopted by many modern commentators, and connects it with the root of the word translated “burden” — _I will take you up as a bu... [ Continue Reading ]