XXIX. (1) THESE ARE THE WORDS. — The prophecy in this chapter was addressed to those whom we may describe as the first of the Babylonian exiles who had been carried into captivity with Jeconiah (see Note on Jeremiah 35:2). Among these also, probably in connection with the projects which we have trac... [ Continue Reading ]
THE QUEEN. — This was probably the queen-mother, Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan (2 Kings 24:8). The name probably indicates a connection with the Elnathan the son of Achbor, of Jeremiah 26:22, but we cannot assert with any confidence the identity of the one with the other. THE CARPENTERS, AND T... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE HAND OF ELASAH... — The names of the messengers are of some interest. Elasah, the son of Shaphan, was the brother of Jeremiah’s protector. Ahikam (Jeremiah 26:24). Gemariah (to be distinguished from his namesake the son of Shaphan in Jeremiah 36:12) was probably the son of Hilkiah, the high-p... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS... — We have here the nearest parallel in the Old Testament to the Epistles which make up so large a portion of the New, the very text of a written letter sent to those with whom the teacher was no longer able to hold personal communication. It obviously furnished the ty... [ Continue Reading ]
BUILD YE HOUSES, AND DWELL IN THEM. — The command had a two-fold bearing. It counselled a patient acceptance of the present state of things. It announced, as the next verse does yet more emphatically, that their exile would last for at least two generations. It indicates, also, the comparative lenie... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SEEK THE PEACE OF THE CITY... — This was, we may believe, the hardest command of all. To refrain from all curses and imprecations, even from such as came from the lips of those who hung their harps on the willows by the waters of Babylon (Psalms 137), to pray for the peace and prosperity of the... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT YOUR PROPHETS AND YOUR DIVINERS... — The words are significant as showing that the same agencies which were counteracting the prophet’s teaching in Jerusalem were at work also in Babylon. There, too, “prophets and diviners,” whom the Lord had not sent, were prophesying of a speedy deliveranc... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I KNOW THE THOUGHTS... — The word used for “_saith_ the Lord” implies that the gracious promise came to the prophet’s soul as an oracle from heaven. In the “thoughts” of God there is, perhaps, a reference to what had been said before of the Babylonian exiles in Jeremiah 24:6. TO GIVE YOU AN EXPE... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALL YE CALL UPON ME... — The words need no comment, but they cannot be passed over without dwelling on the infinite tenderness which they manifest in the prophet’s soul, the reflex of a like tenderness in the mind of God, from whom he gives the message. It is the anticipation of the like mess... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL TURN AWAY YOUR CAPTIVITY... — On the substance and fulfilment of the prediction, see Notes on Jeremiah 23:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE YE HAVE SAID, THE LORD HATH RAISED US UP PROPHETS... — The words point to the boast of some of the exiles, that they, too, had the guidance of prophets whom, as in Jeremiah 29:20; Jeremiah 29:24, they were inclined to follow in preference to Jeremiah. In answer to that boast, he emphasises t... [ Continue Reading ]
AHAB THE SON OF KOLAIAH... — We know nothing, beyond what is here recorded, of either of these prophets. They would seem to have been the leaders of the party of revolt, and to have been conspicuous, like their brethren at Jerusalem (Jeremiah 23:14), for base and profligate lives. The record of the... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THEM SHALL BE TAKEN UP A CURSE... — We note the characteristic tendency of Hebrew thought to fix on individual cases of highest blessedness, as in Ruth 4:11, or of deepest shame, as here, and to bring them into formulae of blessing and of cursing.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY HAVE COMMITTED VILLANY... — The Hebrew noun is almost always used for sins of impurity. It is more commonly rendered “folly” (comp. Genesis 34:7; Deuteronomy 22:21; Judges 19:23). The English word “villainy” is used definitely with this meaning by Bishop Hall (_Sat. i._ 9). EVEN I KNOW,... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SHALT THOU ALSO SPEAK TO SHEMAIAH THE NEHELAMITE. — It is clear that this section (Jeremiah 29:24) is of the nature of a fragment attached to the Epistle to Babylon on account of its associations with it, but not forming part of it. It gives, in fact (as Jeremiah 29:28 shows), the sequence of e... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THOU HAST SENT LETTERS IN THY name... — The letters were probably sent through the envoys named in Jeremiah 29:3 on their return from Babylon. Their object was to urge Zephaniah, who appears in 2 Kings 25:18 as the _Sagan,_ or second priest, to exercise his authority to restrain Jeremiah fro... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH MADE THEE PRIEST IN THE STEAD OF JEHOIADA... — The priest so named had apparently been deposed, as not favouring the stringent policy of the party of revolt. As _Sagan,_ it was probably his special duty to maintain order in the Temple, and punish pretenders to the gift of prophecy, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS CAPTIVITY IS LONG... — As the italics show, there is no word corresponding to “captivity” in the Hebrew, and some commentators render the words, _It is far off_... as though Jeremiah had counted on the distance of Babylon as enabling him to write the letter with impunity, or possibly in all the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ZEPHANIAH THE PRIEST... — The fact thus related agrees with what has been said as to the character of Zephaniah. He does not act as Shemaiah wished him. At the most he only uses the letters as a threat, possibly to put the prophet on his guard against the machinations of his enemies, possibly al... [ Continue Reading ]
SEND TO ALL THEM OF THE CAPTIVITY. — The words imply something in the nature of another epistle to the exiles, sent, probably, like the previous one, by the hands of envoys from one government to the other. We have no record of the fulfilment of the prediction but its insertion implies its fulfilmen... [ Continue Reading ]