INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 23 This chapter contains threatenings to the Jewish governors, and to their priests and prophets, on account of their manifold sins; intermixed with gracious promises to the Lord's people, and particularly with a famous promise of the Messiah. The pastors or governors of Is... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE BE UNTO THE PASTORS,.... Or, "O ye shepherds" or "governors", as the Targum; the civil rulers and magistrates, kings and princes of the land of Israel; since ecclesiastical rulers, the priests and prophets, are mentioned as distinct from them in Jeremiah 23:9; whose business it was to rule and g... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL,.... The covenant God of that people, who are Called his sheep, and the sheep of his pasture; having made a covenant with their fathers, and provided a good pasture for them, the land of Israel, where they enjoyed all blessings, civil and religious, and ap... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL GATHER THE REMNANT OF MY FLOCK, OUT OF ALL COUNTRIES,.... Such of them as did not perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence, or died not in captivity, and chose not to remain in the kingdom where they were; for all did not return upon the edict of Cyrus: though some think this is to be... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SET SHEPHERDS OVER THEM, WHICH SHALL FEED THEM,.... Good shepherds, rulers and governors, that shall rule them with wholesome laws, and protect and defend them; such as Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and others, after the captivity: or Christian kings and princes, when the Gospel came to be publis... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD,.... Or, "are coming" d; and will soon be here, a few days, months, and years more; so it was usual with the prophets to represent the coming of Christ as near at hand, to comfort the saints, and keep up their faith and expectation of him, and especially the lat... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIS DAYS JUDAH SHALL BE SAVED,.... In the days of the Messiah, the righteous Branch, and reigning prosperous King, not only the people of the Jews, God's elect among them, but all that truly embrace him, and confess him, as Judah's name signifies, shall be saved from all their sins; from the law,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD,.... Or, "are coming" i; and will begin to take place in a little time, even upon the Jews' return from Babylon; and reached to the times of Christ, to which they have a special regard; and include the whole Gospel dispensation, even the latter day gl... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT, THE LORD LIVETH,.... Or they shall swear by the living God; or declare the power of the Lord, as the Targum, in their redemption by the Messiah: 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: which resp... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE HEART WITHIN ME IS BROKEN BECAUSE OF THE PROPHETS,.... The false prophets, as the Targum rightly interprets it. The Vulgate Latin version renders it, "to the prophets"; and makes a stop there; which agrees with the original l; so that it may be considered as the title of what follows; it being... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LAND IS FULL OF ADULTERERS,.... Of such as were guilty of corporeal adultery, and of spiritual adultery, which is idolatry. Now, though in this, and in the following verses, the prophet describes the men of his generation, both ecclesiastics and laics; yet also so as to have regard to the Je... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BOTH PROPHET AND PRIEST ARE PROFANE,.... Being guilty of the afore mentioned sins. The Targum is, "the scribe and the priest;'' and such were the scribes and priests in the time of our Lord; they played "the hypocrite" q, as some render the word here; and are often charged with the sin of hypo... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE THEIR WAY SHALL BE UNTO THEM AS SLIPPERY [WAYS] IN THE DARKNESS,.... Their course of life may fitly be compared, and in the issue will prove to be like to a man's walking in a dark night without any lamp or lantern to light him, and in a slippery way, scarce able to stand upon his legs, an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HAVE SEEN FOLLY IN THE PROPHETS OF SAMARIA,.... The ten tribes of Israel, among whom, in Ahab's time there were many false prophets, Baal's prophets, even four hundred and fifty; whose "folly" the Lord had formerly taken notice of; even their idolatry and impiety for giving into which the ten... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SEEN ALSO IN THE PROPHETS OF JERUSALEM AN HORRIBLE THING,.... Or "but", or "so have I seen", c. as before observed even in the prophets of Jerusalem, where the temple was, and where the pure worship of God was professed to be observed, and that now, at the present time; as he had formerly see... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS CONCERNING THE PROPHETS,.... Concerning the false prophets, as the Targum; their sin is before declared, and now their punishment: BEHOLD, I WILL FEED THEM WITH WORMWOOD; with some bitter affliction and calamity; so the Targum, "behold, I will bring upon them... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, HEARKEN NOT UNTO THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS THAT PROPHESY UNTO YOU,.... Do not hear them; stop your ears at what they say; give no credit to them. The Targum is, "do not receive the words of the false prophets that prophesy unto you:'' THEY MAKE YOU VAIN; they filled t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAY STILL UNTO THEM THAT DESPISE ME,.... That despised the word, worship, and ordinances of the Lord; with such mockers and scoffers at religion, such abandoned creatures, they associated themselves; finding that their prophecies and doctrines met with approbation and success among them. The Se... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHO HATH STOOD IN THE COUNSEL OF THE LORD,.... These are either the words of the Prophet Jeremiah; signifying that none of the false prophets were of God's privy council, or were acquainted with his secrets, that they could tell the people they should have peace, and no evil come upon them; this... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, A WHIRLWIND OF THE LORD IS GONE FORTH IN FURY,.... Or, "behold, a whirlwind of the Lord, of the fury is gone forth" b; which latter clause explains the former; and, hews, that by "the whirlwind of the Lord" is meant his "fury" or "wrath"; which, like a whirlwind, would come suddenly, and at... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ANGER OF THE LORD SHALL NOT RETURN,.... Having a commission from him, and being sent forth on an errand to do business for him, it shall not return to him, without having done it; as a servant sent by his master does not return till he has finished what he was sent about: UNTIL HE HAVE EXECUTED... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE NOT SENT THESE PROPHETS, YET THEY RAN,.... They might be sent of men, and be encouraged by them; but they were not sent of God: it is not only necessary that men employed in religious affairs should have an external call, in an orderly way, from the church of God; but also an internal call fr... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF THEY HAD STOOD IN MY COUNSEL,.... As they boasted they did; or, as they reproached the true prophets, and charged them with vanity and arrogance, in talking as if they had; had this been truly their case, as it was that of the prophets of the Lord: AND HAD CAUSED MY PEOPLE TO HEAR MY WORDS;... [ Continue Reading ]
[AM] I A GOD AT HAND, SAITH THE LORD,.... Or "near" f; that is, in heaven; and only sees, and hears, and observes persons and things there, being near unto him: AND NOT A GOD AFAR OFF? that sees, and hears, and takes notice of persons and things at a distance, even on earth. The meaning is, that he... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN ANY HIDE HIMSELF IN SECRET PLACES THAT I SHALL NOT SEE HIM? SAITH THE LORD,.... If a man should hide himself in the most secret and hidden places of the earth, and do his works in the most private manner, so that no human eye can see him, he cannot hide himself or his actions from the Lord, who... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE HEARD WHAT THE PROPHETS SAID, THAT PROPHESY LIES IN MY NAME,.... Or, "I hear what the prophets say" g, c. though they thought God was at a distance from them, in the highest heavens, and neither saw, nor heard, nor took any notice of what was done on earth, they were greatly mistaken he heard... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG SHALL THIS BE IN THE HEART OF THE PROPHETS THAT PROPHESY LIES?.... To invent such lies, and deceive the people, and turn them away from God; agreeably to the preceding and following verses: this shows that this was not through ignorance and inadvertence; it was a meditated and studied thing... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH THINK TO CAUSE MY PEOPLE TO FORGET MY NAME,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "my law". The word and worship of God; from which men are drawn off by false teachers, and are in a fair way to be brought to atheism, and to forget that there is a God; for when once men are turned f... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHET THAT HATH A DREAM, LET HIM TELL A DREAM,.... These words are directed not to a true prophet of the Lord, that has a dream from him, or something communicated to him in a dream by the Lord, which he is to deliver as such; but to a false prophet, that says he has dreamed; and if he has dre... [ Continue Reading ]
[IS] NOT MY WORD LIKE AS A FIRE? SAITH THE LORD,.... The legal part of it is as fire; it is called a "fiery law", Deuteronomy 33:2; like fire, it is quick and piercing, and penetrating into the hearts and consciences of men; and works wrath there, and raises a fearful expectation of fiery indignatio... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, BEHOLD, I [AM] AGAINST THE PROPHETS, SAITH THE LORD,.... The false prophets, with whom the Lord was displeased; he set himself against them, and was determined to bring wrath and ruin on them. So the Targum, "therefore, behold, I send my fury against the false prophets;'' THAT STEAL MY... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I [AM] AGAINST THE PROPHETS, SAITH THE LORD,.... Not another sort of prophets distinct from the former, or those that follow; but the same under another character, and against whom he was, and set his face on another occasion; THAT USE THEIR TONGUES; at their pleasure, their lips being thei... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I [AM] AGAINST THEM THAT PROPHESY FALSE DREAMS, SAITH THE LORD,.... And not true ones, such as the Lord spoke in to his prophets, and which they communicated from him to his people; see Numbers 12:6; AND DO TELL THEM, AND CAUSE MY PEOPLE TO ERR BY THEIR LIES, AND BY THEIR LIGHTNESS; by the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THIS PEOPLE, OR A PROPHET, OR A PRIEST, SHALL ASK THEE,.... Any of the people, who were grown very profane; or any of the false prophets, who encouraged them in their irreligion and impiety; or any of the priests, who were in combination with them against the true prophets of the Lord; when... [ Continue Reading ]
AND [AS FOR] THE PROPHET, AND THE PRIEST, AND THE PEOPLE,.... Be they one or the other, or all of them; no regard will be had to their character and office, rank and dignity: THAT SHALL SAY, THE BURDEN OF THE LORD; using that phrase in a bantering and ludicrous manner: I WILL EVEN PUNISH THAT MAN... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SHALL YE SAY EVERYONE TO HIS NEIGHBOUR, AND EVERYONE TO HIS BROTHER,.... When conferring about religious things, and the word of God in particular; when any inquiry is made of another, whether any message from the Lord by his prophets? or what is it? that it should not be put in such deriding a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE BURDEN OF THE LORD SHALL BE MENTIONED NO MORE,.... Or the word of the Lord under that name, speaking of it in a ludicrous and scoffing manner: FOR EVERY MAN'S WORD SHALL BE HIS BURDEN; every flout, scoff, and jeer of his, at the word of God, shall fall heavily upon him, with weight upon his... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SHALL THOU SAY TO THE PROPHET,.... To Jeremiah, or any true prophet of the Lord; after the following manner should everyone address him, that made any inquiry of the will of the Lord by him: WHAT HATH THE LORD ANSWERED THEE? AND WHAT HATH THE LORD SPOKEN? this is repeated from Jeremiah 23:35;... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SINCE YE SAY, THE BURDEN OF THE LORD,.... Seeing, notwithstanding all prohibitions of it, and directions to the contrary, they still persisted to call prophecy by this name, and that in a jocose and bantering way, and asked for it, and what it was, in a scoffing manner: THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, BEHOLD, I, EVEN I, WILL UTTERLY FORGET YOU,.... That is, so behave towards them, as though they were entirely out of his sight and mind; show no affection to them; take no care of them; bestow no favours upon them; and no more have them under his protection. In the word here used, and ren... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL BRING AN EVERLASTING REPROACH UPON YOU,.... Which was a just retaliation for reproaching, vilifying, and bantering his word: they who had been honoured so much and so long as the people of God, and their city counted the glory of the earth; yet now both they and that should be the byword... [ Continue Reading ]