Hananiah, the false prophet, A. M. 3409. JEREMIAH. I speak in thine ears, and in | neck of the prophet Jeremiah,) 8 The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. a 9 The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him. 10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. 11 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. C 12 Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet, (after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the a Deut. xviii. 22.- b Ch. xxvii. 2. - Ch. xxvii. 7. d Deut. xxviii. 48. Ch. xxvii. 4, 7. Verse 6. Amen; the Lord do so] O that it might be according to thy word! May the people find this to be true! Verse 8. The prophets that have been before me] Namely, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and others; all of whom denounced similar evils against a corrupt people. Verse 9. When the word of the prophet shall come to pass] Here is the criterion. He is a true prophet who specifies things that he says shall happen, and also fixes the time of the event; and the things do happen, and in that time. saying, is struck dead. A. M. 3409. B. C. 595. Ol. XLVI. 2. Anno Tarquini Prisci, R. Roman., 22. 13 Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. 14 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also. 15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD. 17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. nezzar's yoke being broken, this captivity shall be more severe than the preceding. All these nations shall have a yoke of iron on their neck. He shall subdue them, and take all their property, even the beasts of the field. Verse 15. Hear now, Hananiah; the Lord hath not sent thee] This was a bold speech in the presence of those priests and people who were prejudiced in favour of this false prophet, who prophesied to them smooth things. In such cases men wish to be deceived. Verse 16. This year thou shalt die] By this shall the people know who is the true prophet. Thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord, and God will cut thee off; and this shall take place, not within seventy years, or two years, but in this very year, and within two months from this time. Verse 17. So Hananiah-died the same year in the seventh month.] The prophecy was delivered in the fifth month (ver. 1), and Hananiah died in the You say that Nebuchadnezzar shall not overthrow this city; and that in two years from this time, not only the sacred vessels already taken away shall be restored, but also that Jeconiah and all the Jewish captives shall be restored, and the Babylonish yoke broken, see verses 2, 3, 4. Now I say that Nebuchadnezzar will come this year, and destroy this city, and lead away the rest of the people into cap-seventh month. And thus God, in mercy, gave him tivity, and the rest of the sacred vessels; and that there will be no restoration of any kind till seventy years from this time. Verse 10. Then Hananiah-took the yoke-and brake it.] He endeavoured by this symbolical act to persuade them of the truth of his prediction. Verse 13. Yokes of iron.] Instead of Nebuchad about two months, in which he might prepare to meet his Judge. Here, then, the true prophet was demonstrated, and the false prophet detected. The death of Hananiah, thus predicted, was God's seal to the words of his prophet; and must have gained his other predictions great credit among the people. Jeremiah's letter to CHAP. XXIX. CHAPTER XXIX. the captives in Babylon. This chapter contains the substance of two letters sent by the prophet to the captives in Babylon. In the first he recommends to them patience and composure under their present circumstances, which were to endure for seventy years, 1-14; in which, however, they should fare better than their brethren who remained behind, 15-19. But, finding little credit given to this message, on account of the suggestions of the false prophets, Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who flattered them with the hopes of a speedy end to their captivity, he sends a second, in which he denounces heavy judgments against those false prophets that deceived them, 20-23; as he did afterwards against Shemaiah the Nehelamite, who had sent a letter of complaint against Jeremiah, in consequence of his message, 24—32. A. M. cir. 3407. B. C. cir. 597. OL. cir. XLV. 4. cir, annum 20. NOW a A. M. cir. 3407. Ol. cir. XLV. 4. R. Roman., cir. annum 20. OW these are the words of 6 Take ye wives, and beget B. C. cir. 597. the letter that Jeremiah sons and daughters; and take the prophet sent from Jerusalem wives for your sons, and give unto the residue of the elders your daughters to husbands, which were carried away captives, and to the that they may bear sons and daughters; that priests, and to the prophets, and to all the ye may be increased there, and not diminpeople whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried ished. away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; b 2 (After that Jeconiah the king and the queen, and the ‘eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem ;) 3 By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying, 4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Ezra x. 14.- 2 Kings xxv. 21. 2 Kings xxiv. 12, &c. Ch. xxii. 26. xxvii. 4. d Or, chamberlains. | Ver. 28.- - Ezra vi. 10. 1 Mac. xii. 11. 1 Tim. ii. 2. NOTES ON CHAP. XXIX. Verse 1. Now these are the words of the letter] This transaction took place in the first or second year of Zedekiah. It appears that the prophet had been informed that the Jews who had already been carried into captivity had, through the instigations of false prophets, been led to believe that they were to be brought out of their captivity speedily. Jeremiah, fearing that this delusion might induce them to take some hasty steps, ill comporting with their present state, wrote a letter to them, which he entrusted to an embassy which Zedekiah had sent on some political concerns to Nebuchadnezzar. The letter was directed to the elders, priests, prophets, and people who had been carried away captives to Babylon. Verse 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts] This was the commencement of the letter. Verse 5. Build ye houses] Prepare for a long con 7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. 9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. 10 For thus saith the LORD, That after k seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. Ch. xiv. 14. xxiii. 21. xxvii. 14, 15. Eph. v. 6. Ver. 31. Heb. in a lie.- -k 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21, 22. Ezra i. 1. Ch. xxv. 12. xxvii. 22. Dan, ix. 2. tinuance in your present captivity. Provide yourselves with the necessaries of life, and multiply in the land, that ye may become a powerful people. Verse 7. Seek the peace of the city] Endeavour to promote, as far as you can, the prosperity of the places in which ye sojourn. Let no disaffection appear in word or act. Nothing can be more reasonable than this. Wherever a man lives and has his nourishment and support, that is his country as long as he resides in it. If things go well with that country, his interest is promoted by the general prosperity, he lives at comparative ease, and has the necessaries of life cheaper; and unless he is in a state of cruel servitude, which does not appear to have been the case with those Israelites to whom the prophet writes (those of the first captivity), they must be nearly, if not altogether, in as good a state as if they had been in the country that gave them Judgments denounced A. M. cir. 3407. expected end. JEREMIAH. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an unto you. against false prophets. A. M. cir. 3407. B. C. cir. 597. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 20. 17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like "vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be 'a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: 19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not 15 Because ye have said, The LORD hath hear, saith the LORD. raised us up prophets in Babylon ; 16 Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; a Heb. end and expectation.- b Dan. ix. 3, &c. xxvi. 39, 40, &c. Deut. xxx. 1, &c.— d Ch. e Deut. iv. 7. Ps. xxxii. 6. xlvi. 1. Isai. lv. 6.xxiii. 3, 8. xxx. 3. xxxii. 37.- 8 Ch. xxiv, 10. Lc Lev. xxiv. 7. f Ch. h Ch. 20 Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which xxiv. 8. i Deut. xxviii. 25. 2 Chron. xxix. 8. Ch. xv. 4. xxiv. 9. xxxiv. 17.--k Heb. for a curse. Ch. xxvi. 6. Ch. xlii. 18.- m Ch. xxv. 4. xxxii. 33. ver. 10-13. birth. And in this case they were much better off provided, 5. They sought him with their whole heart, than their brethren now in Judea, who had to contend with famine and war, and scarcely any thing before them but God's curse and extermination. Verse 8. Neither hearken to your dreams] Rather, dreamers; for it appears there was a class of such persons, who not only had acquired a facility of dreaming themselves, but who undertook to interpret the dreams of others. Verse 10. For thus saith the Lord] It has been supposed that a very serious transposition of verses has taken place here; and it has been proposed to read after ver. 9 the sixteenth to the nineteenth inclusive; then the tenth, and on to the fourteenth inclusive; then the twentieth, the fifteenth, the twenty-first, and the rest regularly to the end, That after seventy years be accomplished] 55 lephi meloth, "at the mouth of the accomplishment," or "fill to the mouth." Seventy years is the measure which must be filled;-fill this to the brim;-complete this measure, and then you shall be visited and released. The whole seventy must be completed; expect no enlargement before that time. Verse 11. Thoughts of peace] Here God gives them to understand, 1. That his love was moved towards them. 2. That he would perform his good word, his promises often repeated, to them. 3. That for the fulfilment of these they must pray, seek, and search. 4. That he would hearken, and they should find him; Verse 14. I will gather you from all the nations] A quotation from Deut. xxx. 3, and see also Deut. iv. 7. Verse 15. Because ye have said] The Septuagint very properly insert this verse between the twentieth and the twenty-first, and thus the connexion here is not disturbed, and the connexion below completed. Verse 17. Behold, I will send upon them the sword] Do not envy the state of Zedekiah who sits on the throne of David, nor that of the people who are now in the land whence ye have been carried captive (ver. 16), for "I will send the sword, the pestilence, and the famine upon them;" and afterwards shall cause them to be carried into a miserable captivity in all nations (ver. 18); but ye see the worst of your own case, and you have God's promise of enlargement when the proper time is come. The reader will not forget that the prophet is addressing the captives in Babylon. Verse 20. Hear ye therefore the word] Dr. Blayney thinks there were two letters written by the prophet to the captives in Babylon, and that the first ends with this verse. That having heard, on the return of the embassy (Elasan and Gemariah, whom Zedekiah had sent to Babylon, and to whom the prophet entrusted the above letter, ver. 3), that the captives had not received his advices favourably, because they were deceived by false prophets among them, who 4. M. cir. 3407. prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes; Shemaiah the Nehelamite. every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest "put him in prison, and in the stocks. A. M. cir. 3407. B. C. cir. 597. Ol. cir. XLV. 4. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir, annum 20. 27 Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you? 28 For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, 31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, 24 Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, 26 The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be 'officers in the house of the LORD, for * See Gen. xlviii. 20. Isai. lxv. 15. Ch. xxiii. 14.- -d Or, dreamer.Ch. xxi. 1. Ch. xx. 1.promised them a speedier deliverance, he therefore wrote a second letter, beginning with the fifteenth and going on with the twenty-first, &c., in which he denounces God's judgments on three of the chief of those, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah. b Dan. iii 6. e2 Kings xxv. 18. -5 2 Kings ix. 11. Acts xxvi. verse, Verse 21. He shall slay them before your eyes.] Nebuchadnezzar would be led by political reasons to punish these pretended prophets, as their predictions tended to make his Israelitish subjects uneasy and disaffected, and might excite them to rebellion. He therefore slew them; two of them, it appears, he barnt alive, viz., Ahab and Zedekiah, who are supposed by the rabbins to be the two elders who endeaSoured to seduce Susanna, see ver. 23. Burning alite was a Chaldean punishment, Dan. iii. 6, and Amos ii. 1. From them other nations borrowed it. Verse 23. Have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives] This is supposed to refer to the case of Susanna. See above. Verse 24. Speak to Shemaiah] Zephaniah was the second priest, sagan, or chief priest's deputy, and Seraiah, high priest, when Jerusalem was taken. See chap. ii. 24. Shemaiah directs his letter to the former, and tells him that God had appointed him to k the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie : 32 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people: neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; 'because he hath taught " rebellion against the LORD. 24.- h Ch. xx. 2.-i Ver. 5.xxviii. 16.- m Heb. revolt. m supply the place of the high priest, who was probably then absent. His name was either Azariah or Seraiah his son, but called Jehoiada from the remarkable zeal and courage of that pontiff. See the passages in the margin.-Dodd. After the taking of Jerusalem, Zephaniah was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah; see chap. xxxvii. 3. The history of Jehoiada may be seen 2 Kings xi. 3, &c. Verse 26. For every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet] Mad, vanɔ meshugga, in ecstatic rapture; such as appeared in the prophets, whether true or false, when under the influence, the one of God, the other of a demon. See 2 Kings ix. 11; Hos. ix. 7. Verse 32. I will punish Shemaiah] 1. He shall have no posterity to succeed him. 2. His family, i. e., relations, &c., shall not be found among those whom I shall bring back from captivity. 3. Nor shall he himself see the good that I shall do for my people. And all this shall come upon him and his because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord. He excited the people to reject Jeremiah, and to receive the lying words of the false prophets; and these led them to rebel. Gracious promises JEREMIAH. of restoration. CHAPTER XXX. This and the following chapter must relate to a still future restoration of the posterity of Jacob from their several dispersions, as no deliverance hitherto afforded them comes up to the terms of it; for, after the return from Babylon, they were again enslaved by the Greeks and Romans, contrary to the prediction in the eighth verse; in every papistical country they have laboured under great civil disabilities, and in some of them have been horribly persecuted; upon the ancient people has this mystic Babylon very heavily laid her yoke; and in no place in the world are they at present their own masters; so that this prophecy remains to be fulfilled in the reign of David, i. e., the Messiah; the type, according to the general structure of the prophetical writings, being put for the antitype. The prophecy opens by an easy transition from the temporal deliverance spoken of before, and describes the mighty revolutions that shall precede the restoration of the descendants of Israel, 1--9, who are encouraged to trust in the promises of God, 10, 11. They are, however, to expect corrections; which shall have a happy issue in a future period, 12—17. The great blessings of Messiah's reign are enumerated, 18-22; and the wicked and impenitent declared to have no share in them, 23, 24. 2 Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. 3 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: b and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. f e 7 Alas! for that day is great, g SO that none is like it it is even the time of Jacob's trou 4 And these are the words that the LORD ble; but he shall be saved out of it. a Ver. 18. Ch. xxxii. 44. Ezek. xxxix. 25. Amos ix. 14, 15. b Ch. xvi. 15.- - Or, there is fear, and not peace. NOTES ON CHAP. XXX. Verse 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord] This prophecy was delivered about a year after the taking of Jerusalem; so Dahler. Dr. Blayney supposes it and the following chapter to refer to the future restoration of both Jews and Israelites in the times of the gospel; though also touching at the restoration from the Babylonish captivity, at the end of seventy years. Supposing these two chapters to be penned after the taking of Jerusalem, which appears the most natural, they will refer to the same events, one captivity shadowing forth another, and one restoration being the type or pledge of the second. Verse 2. Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.] The book here recommended I believe to be the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters; for among the Hebrews any portion of writing, in which the subject was finished, however small, was termed sepher, a воOK, a treatise or discourse. Verse 3. The days come] First, After the conclusion of the seventy years. Secondly, Under the Messiah. That I will bring again the captivity of Israel] The ten tribes, led captive by the king of Assyria, and dispersed among the nations. d Heb. a male. -e Ch. iv. 31. vi. 24.- f Joel ii. 11, 31. Amos v. 18. Zeph. i. 14, &c.- -s Dan. xii, 1. And Judah] The people carried into Babylon at two different times; first, under Jeconiah, and, secondly, under Zedekiah, by Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 5. We have heard a voice of trembling] This may refer to the state and feelings of the people during the war which Cyrus carried on against the Babylonians. Trembling and terror would no doubt affect them, and put an end to peace and all prosperity; as they could not tell what would be the issue of the struggle, and whether their state would be better or worse should their present masters fall in the conflict. This is well described in the next verse, where men are represented as being, through pain and anguish, like women in travail. See the same comparison Isai. xiii. 6—8. Verse 7. Alas! for that day is great] When the Medes and Persians, with all their forces, shall come on the Chaldeans, it will be the day of Jacob's troubletrial, dismay, and uncertainty; but he shall be delivered out of it—the Chaldean empire shall fall, but the Jews shall be delivered by Cyrus. Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the Romans, but the Israel of God shall be delivered from its ruin. Not one that had embraced Christianity perished in the sackage of that city. |