Exposition of the Whole Bible

deftroyed, and become defolaté, and none fhould inhabit it: as ye Lave beard with your ears, this muit be dire¢ted to the people only; for the princes did not hear Feremiah’s prophecy.

¥. 12. Then fpake Feremiah unto all the princes, and to all ibe people, faying, &c.] In his own defence; which, as Yerom obferves, was with prudence, humility and conftancy: the Lord fent me to prophe/y againft this boufe, and againft this city, all the words that ye have beard; he does not deny but that he had prophefied againft the city of 7erufolem and againit the temple, and that they fhould both come to ruin, unlefs the people repented and reformed; but then he urges, that he was fent by the Lord on this errand, and that every word that he had faid, and they had heard, he was ordered to fay by the Lord; and therefore what was he that he fhould withitand God? he furely was not to be blamed for doing what the Lord commanded him to do; befides, all this was threatened only in cafe they continued obftinate and impenitent; wherefore he renews his exhortations to them, in the following verfe.

¥.13. Therefore now amend your ways, and your doings, &c.] Make them good, leave your evil ways, and walk in good ways; forfake your evil works, and do good works: and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and that becaufe he is your God, as well as what his word directs to is good, and for your good: and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced againfi you; will do as men do when they repent, change their method of acting, and manner of behaviour; fo the Lord is faid to repent or turn, when he changes the method and conduét of his providence towards men, tho’ he never changes his mind or counfel.

y. 14. ds for me, bebold, I am in your hand, &c.) In their power, as they were the chief ‘court of judicature; and to whom it belonged to judge of prophets, and to acquit or condemn them, as they faw fit; wherefore he fubmits to their authority: do with me as feemeth good and meet unto you; he was not careful about it; he readily fubmitted to their pleafure, and fhould patiently endure what they thought fit to inflict upon him; it gave him no great concern, whether his life was taken from him or not; he was fatisfied he had done what he ought to do, and fhould do the fame, was it to do again; and therefore they might proceed juit as they. pleafed againft him. |

¥.15. But know ye: for: certain, that. if ye put me to death, &c.| Take this along with you, and then do as you will; that if ye take away my life on this account, you may depend upon it; nothing is more certain than this: ye shall furely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inbabitants thereof; that is, the guilt of innocent blood, which would cry for vengeance upon them that brought the accufation, and infifted upon his being brought in guilty; and upon thofe that {ar in judgment, and condemned him; and upon all the inhabitants of the city of Ferufalem, who fhould agree to the putting him. to death: for of @ truth. the Lord hath fent me unto you,to [peak all thefe words in your ears sand therefore I am no falfe prophet, and am clear of the charge brought againft me; and have faid nothing but what I had a‘ miffion and an order from the Lord for, of which you may affure yourfelves; and therefore he will avenge my blood, fhould it be fhed. on that account; fo that you will only in- ‘ereafe your guilt, and add to that great load that

EMIAH. srs" lies upon you; and will be your ritins unleis you repent and reform:

¥.16. Then faid the princes, and all the people unto the pricfts; and to the prophets, &cc.| Hearing Jeremiah’s apology for himielf, by which it appeared that he was to be juitified in what he had done, took his part, and acquitted him; and the people, who betore were on the fide of the prieits and falfe prophets; yet hearing what ‘Yeremiah had to fay for himfelf, and alfo the judgment of the princes; took his part alfo, and joined with the court in an addrefs to the priefts and prophets, who were the chief accufers, and who would fain have had him brought in guilty of death? this man is not worthy to die; or, the judgment of death is not for this man; we can’t give judgment againit him; he is not guilty of any crime detferving death; fee the note on y. 11: for be hath fpoken to us in the name of the Lord our God; not in his own name, and of his own head; but in the name of the Lord, and by his order; and therefore was not a falfe, but a true prophet: what methods they took to know this, and to make it appear to the people, is not faid; very probably the fettled chara&ter of the prophet; their long acquaintance with him, and knowledge of him; his integrity and firmnefs of mind; the plain marks of ferioufnefs and humility, and a difinterefted view, made them conclude in his favour.

¥.17. Then rofe up certain of the elders of the land, &c.| The fame with the princes; fome of the court, who rofe up as advocates for the prophet: and fpake to all the affembly of the people; to jultify the vote of the court, and to confirm the people in a good opinion of it, by giving them examples and initances of the like kind: /aying; as follows,,

¥. 18. Micah the Morafbite prophefied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, &c.| Or, Micab of Marefba, as the Targum. Marée/hab was a city of the tribe of Fudah, Fofb. xv. 44. the native place of this prophet; who appears, by the following quotation, to be the fame Micah that ftands among the minor prophets; and who is alfo fo called, and lived in the times of Hezekiah, Mic.i. 1: and fpake to all the people of fudab, very openly and publicly, and juft as Feremiah had done, ¥. 2, 7,8: faying, thus faith the Lord of bofis, Zion fall be plowed like a field, and Ferufalem foall become heaps; mount Zion, on. part of which the temple was built, and on.the other the city of David, together with the city of Ferujalem, thould be fo demolifhed, as that they might be plowed, and become.a tillage; as the Jews fay they were by Terentius, or Turnus Rufus, as they call him, after their laft deftruction by the Romans: and the mountain of the houfe, as the high places of the foreft, covered with grafs and fhrubs, and thorns and briers; even mount Moriah, on which the temple ftood, which is defigned by the houfe; and fo the Zargum calls it the houfe of the fanétuary. Now this was faying as much, againft the city and temple as Ferentiab did; and was faid in the days of a good king too, who encouraged 2 reformation, and carried it toa great.pitch. See Mic, ili. 12.

y.19. Did Hezekiah king of Fudah, and all Judah put him at all to death? &c.|] No, they did not: neither the king, by his own authority; nor the Sanbedrim, the great court of judicature, for the nation, they never fought to take away his life, nor fat in council about it; they never arraigned him, and much lefs condemned je

did he not fear the Lord, and befought the Lord?* that

is, Hezekiah; he did, as knowing that Micah was a prophet of the Lord, and fent by him; wherefore he received his prophecy with great awe and reverence, as coming from the Lord, and made his fupplications to him that he would avert the judgments threatened: aud the Lord repented of the evil which he had pronounced againft them; the king and his people, the city and the temple; and fo the threatened evil came not upon them in their days: thus might we procure great evil againft our fouls; fhould we put Feremiah to death: it is therefore much more advifeable to-do as Hezekiah did, pray unto the Lord to avert the threatened evil, or otherwife it will be worfe with us. ‘This precedent is urged to ftrengthen the decree of the council in favour of Feremiab.

¥.20. And there was alfoa man that prophefied in the name of the Lord, &c.] Thefe are not the words of the fame perfons continued; becaufe the following inftance is againft them; but of fome other perfons in the Sazbedrim, who were on the fide of the priefts and prophets; who in effect faid, why tell you us of an inftance in Hezekiah’s time, when there is fo recent an one in the prefent reign, of a man that prophefied juft as Feremiab has done, and was put to death, and fo ought he? after this manner Kimchi interprets it; and fo Farchi, who adds, that it is fo explained in an ancient book of theirs, called Siphri; tho’ fome think they are the words of the fame perfons that efpoufed the prophet’s caufe; and obferve the following in- {tance with this view; that whereas there had been one prophet of the Lord lately put to death for the fame thing, fhould they take away the life of another, it would be adding fin to fin, and bring great evil upon,their fouls; and it might be obferved, that Hezekiah prevented much evil by the {teps he took; whereas, fhould they proceed as they had begun in the prefent reign, they might expect nothing but ruin,. which they might eafily fee with their own eyes was coming upon them: others are of opinion, that this inftance is added by the pen-man of this book, either the prophet himfelf, or Baruch, to fhew the wonderful prefervation of him; that tho’ there had been very lately a perfon put to death for the very fame thing, yet he was preferved thro’ the good offices of a perfon mentioned at the clofe of the chapter; and which feems to make this account probable. ‘The name of the prophet was, Urijah, the fon of Shemaiah, of Kirjath-jearim,; which was acity of Fudah, ‘Fofo. Xviii. 14. but who he wasis not known, there being no account of him elfewhere: who prophefied againft this city, and againft this land, according to all the words of Feremiah; jatt as he had done, in much the fame words, if not altogether; fo. that their cafe was fimilar. ru

¥.21. And when Fehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, 8cc.| Kither his courtiers, or his foldiers, or both: and all the princes heard his words, the words. of the prophet Urijah; not with their Own ears very probably, but from the report of others: the king fought to put him to deaths as being a meflenger of bad tidings, tending to'dif- | pirit his fubjects, and allay the joy of his own mind upon his advancement to the throne: Sut when Urijah heard it, be was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt, which fome underftand as a piece of prudence in him; but rather it was the effect of pufillanimity and cowardice: it feems to fhew want of faith and confidence in the Lord; and the fear of man, which brings a fnare; and befides, it was no piece of prudence to go to Egypt, whatever it was to flee; fince there was fuch an alliance between the kings of Egypt and ‘Fudab; and the latter, tho’ a dependent on the former, yet the king of Egypt would eafily gratify him in delivering up a fubject of his, and a perfon of fuch a character..

¥.22. And Feboiakim fent men into Egypt, &e.] To feek for him; and to ‘require the delivery of him upon being found: namely, Elnathan the for of Achbor; the father of this man very probably is the fame we read of in Fofiah’s time, 2 Kings xxii. 12,14. who is called Addon in 2 Chron. xxxivi 20 7 and certain men with him into Egypt; to afitt him in taking him, whofe names are not mentioned; Elnathan’s is as being the principal, and to fix an eternal infamy upon him.:

¥.23. And they fet forth Urijah out of Egypt,

&c.] Having found him, they feized him, and brought him away, with the leave of the king of Egypt; which, no doubt, was eafily obtained: and brought him to feboiakim the king, who flew him with the fword, very probably with his own-hand; or however it was done by his order, and in his prefence, moft likely: and caft bis dead body into the graves of the common people, either where they were buried in heaps promifcuoufly, as fome think; or in the common burying ground; and not where perfons of diftinétion were laid, as prophets, and: others *5 this he did to reflect difhonour upon the prophet. et yy. 24. Neverthele/s, the hand of Abikam the | jon.

of Shaphan was with Feremiah, 8c.) Tho” this inftance was urged as a precedent to go by, being lately done; or tho’ the king’s cruelty had beer fo lately exercifed in fuch‘a manner; yet this man, who had ‘been one of ¥o/ah’s courtiers and counfellors, 2 Kings xxii. 12. ftood by Feremiab, and ufed all his power, authority and influence-in_ his favour: that they fhould not xive him into the band of the people, to put him to death, that the Sanbedrim fhould not; who, by the laft precedent mentioned, might feem inclined to it; but this great man, having. feveral brothers, as well as’ other friends, that paid a regard to his arguments and folicitations; he prevailed upon them not to give leave to the people to put him to death, who appear to have been very fickle and mutable’ at firft they joined with the priefts and falfe prophets againt Feremiah to accufe him; but upon pot 3 ment and vote of the ptinces, on hearing the caule, they changed their fentiments, and were for th prophet againft the priéfts; and now, very pro bably, upon the inftance of Urijah being’ giv a precedent, they altered their minds again; a were for putting him’to death, could they have obtained leave of the court;*and which o nly ht kam’s intereft prevented) 9%" 9) 2a rronyty: 5 f Te vec £67 RAS 0 ate i huatiiy cold ya Sane Thst ino iivw + sts Og TRAY oe of isn, god? or Bhs Brae Sthea ya

FATIIS chapter contains a prophecy of the fub-; jection of the king of Yudab, with five neighbouring kings, to the king of Babylon; fignified by bonds and yokes on the prophet’s neck, which they are exhorted patiently to bear, as being moft for their good; and not to give heed to falfe prophets, who would perfuade them to the contrary. Ihe date of the prophecy is in ¥. 1. the order to make the yokes, and fend them to the feveral neighbouring princes by their meffengers at Ferufalem, ¥. 2, 3. what they fhould fay to their mafters from the God of J/rael, who is defcribed from his power in the creation of the earth, and the difpofal of it, ¥. 4,5. as that he had given all their lands into the hand of the king of Badylon, whom they fhould ferve, or it would be worfe for them, ¥. 6, 7, 8. and therefore fhould not hearken to their prophets, who prophefied lies; if they did, it would be to their hurt; whereas, if they quietly fubmitted, they would dwell in their own land, ¥. 9,10, 11. particularly Zedekiah king of Fudab is exhorted to fubmit; and both he, and the priefts, and the people are advifed not to hearken to the falfe prophets, ¥. 12, 13, 14, 15. patticularly as to what they faid concerning the fpeedy return of the veffels of the temple, which were carried away to Babylon; but might affure themfelves they fhould remain there; and the reft alfo fhould be taken, and not returned until the end of the feventy years, W. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

y¥.1. In the beginning of the reign of Seboiakim the fon of Fofiah king of Fudah, &c.| This is the fame date with the prophecy of the preceding chapter; and fome think that this verfe fhould conclude that, as belonging to it; and by which they would reconcile a difficulty that arifes here; the orders for making the yokes being given in the beginning of Feboiakim’s reign, which yet were to be fent to the meflengers of the neighbouring kings that were come to Zedekiab at ‘ferufalem, who did

- not begin to reign until eleven years after this time;

but the word /aying, at the end of the verfe, fhews it not to belong to the preceding, but to what fol- Jows: others think it is a miftake of the copy, and that Feboiakim is put for Zedekiah, and the Syriac and Arabic verfions read, Zedekiah; but he was not the fon of e/ah, as this king is faid to be, but his brother: others therefore think, that tho’ the prophecy. was delivered to ‘feremiah, and the orders were given him to make the bonds and yokes after-mentioned, at this time; yet this prophecy was concealed with him, and the.orders were not executed till Zedekiah’s time, or that the prophet, in the beginning of Feboiakim’s reign, made the yokes as he was ordered, and put one on his neck, to fignify the fubjection of Fudab to the king of Babylon, which quickly took place, about the third or fourth year of this reign; and that the reft were fent to the embaffadors ot the neighbouring nations in Zedekiab’s time; which latter feems moft probable: came this word unto Feremiah from the Lord, faying; as follows. This verfe is not in the common editions of the Septuagint; but it is in the king of Spain’s Bible.

¥.2. Thus faith the Lord to me, make thee bonds The yokes were made of wood, VOL, a+ N’al7.

as appears from ch. xxviii. 13. and the bonds were {trings or thongs, which bound the yoke together, that it might not flip off the neck, on which it was put: and put them upon thy neck; not all of them together, but one after another, at different times; and this was very fignificant; for the prophet being feen abroad with a yoke upon his neck, it would be natural to enquire the meaning of it; when they would be told, it was to fignify the fubjection of Fudab, and fo of other nations, to the king of Babylon; and that he did wear at times fuch a yoke, even fifteen years after, in the fourth of Zedekiah’s reign, appears from ch. xxviii. 1; 0.

¥. 3. And fend them to the king of Edom; and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites; and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon; &c.] All neighbouring kings and ftates, to whom the wine-cup of God’s wrath was to be fent, and they made to drink of it, ch. xxv. 21,22. and againft whom ‘eremiah afterwards prophefies: dy the hand of the mefengers which come to Ferufalem unto Ledekiah king of Judah; who were fent by their mafters, either to congratulate Zedckiab upon his acceffion to the throne; of to enter into a league with him againit the king of Badylon, and fhake off his yoke; or to refide at his court, as embaffadors of nations at peace and in alliance ufually do; and it may be for all thofe purpofes. The yokes therefore are ordered to be fent to them, as being the moft proper and eafy way and method of conveying them, with the meaning of them, to their refpective matters.

¥. 4. And command them to fay unto their mafters, &c.] The prophet is fent with authority, and ordered to fpeak in a very high ftrain, having his orders from the King of kings and Lord of lords; a greater mafter than thofe meffengers had; and to injoin them to tell their feveral mafters in his mafter’s name; as follows: thus faith the Lord of bofis, the God of Irael; who, tho’ in a peculiar manner the God of J/rael, yet was Lord of the whole world, and had all the armies of heaven and earth at his command, to enforce his power and authority; wherefore, what he fays ought to be attended to: thus fhall ye fay to your majlers; deliver to them the following words of the great Jehovah.

¥. 5. I have made the earth, the man and the beaft that are upon the ground, &c.| The earth was made by him on the firft day, and man and beaft on the fixth day, of the creation; the earth is {till fupported in its being, and man and beaft are continued on it in fucceffion: this is mentioned to fhew his right and authority to difpofe of the earth, and all in it, at his pleafure; which is founded on his creation and fuftentation of it, and all creatures in it: which was, and is, as he fays, dy my great power, and by my out-ftretched army for nothing lefs could have created the original chaos out of nothing, and brought that into form and order, and produced out of it fuch creatures as man and beaft; and nothing lefs than that could continue it in being, and a fucceffion of creatures on it: and have given it unto whom it feemed meet unto me; fome part of it to one, and fome to another; and more to one, than to another; but to none according to their merit, but according to his own fovereign will and pleafure; fee Pf. cxv. 16.

Zidon, and Fudea: into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my fervent, whom God ufed as an inftrument in correcting and chaftizing the nations; and who obeyed his will, tho’ he knew it not; nor did what he did in obedience to it; and yet had the honour of being called his fervant, and of being rewarded with a very large empire; which was owing, not fo much to his prowefs and vajour, wifdom and management, as to the providence of God; who delivered the above kingdoms, with others, into his hands, as being the fole pro- rietor and fovereign difpofer of them: and the teats of the field have I given him alfo to ferve him; either to bring him, and his armies, and his carriages of provifions for them, and warlike {ftores, for the invafion and taking the above countries; or the cattel found there, which belonged to thefe countries, and the inhabitants thereof, which would fall into his hands with them.

y¥..7. And all nations fhall ferve him, 8cc.| That is, all thofe, all above-mentioned; tho’ there were others alfo that were tributary to him, but not every nation under heaven: wud his fon, and bis jon’s fon; their {cripture-names were Evil-merodach and Belazzar, jer. lii. 31, Dan. v. 1. and by Ptolemy, in his canon, are called [/carudamus and Nabonadius; between whom he places Niricaffola/- farus, or Nerigliffarus; who was not a fon of Evilmerodach, but his fifter’s hufband. A fon of his fucceeded him, called Laborofoarchod; who, reigning but nine months, is not placed in the canon; agreeable to which is the account of Berofus"; by whom the immediate fon of Nebuchadnezzar is named Evil-maradouchus; or Evil-malaurouchus, as in Eufebius *; who, after he had reigned two years, was flain by Nerégliffoor, or Nerigifar, as in the above writer, his fifter’s hufband; who, after he had enjoyed the kingdom four years, died, and left it to his fon, whom he calls Chabaeffoarachus, or Laborofoarchados, as before, who reigned but nine months; and then Nadonnidus fucceeded, the name he gives him who was conquered by Cyrus in the feventeenth year of his reign; and not very different is the account of Nebuchadnezzar’s fucceffors, and the names of them, as given by /bydenys, out of Megafthenes *; according to whom, Evil-malaurouchus, the fon of Nebuchadnezzar, was his fucceffor; then Nerigiiffar, his fifter’s hufband, who left a fon called Labaffoarafcus; and after him Nabannidochus, in whofe times Cyrus took Babylon; and who appears to be ‘the fame with Bel/bazzar, the grandfon of Nebuchadnezzar, fo that the fcripture is very juft and accurate in mentioning thefe two only, as the fon, and fon’s fon of Nebuchadnezzar, whom the nations fhould ferve; for in the laft of thefe ended the Badylonifh monarchy: until the very time of bis land come; or, that it/elf; alfo he himfelf* or, alfo of bimjelf, as the Vulgate Latin verfion. The Zargum is, “ until the time of the ** deftruction of his land come, alfo of himfelf;” there was a time fixed for his life, and fo long the nations were to ferve, and did ferve him perfon- reign; and when the feventy years captivity of the. Jews was up: and then many nations and great kings

¥.6. And now I have given all thefe lands, &c.] foall ferve themfelves of him, and his kingdom;

fubdue it, and make it tributary to them. ‘This was accomplifhed by the Medes and Perfians, with Darius and Cyrus at the head of them, and other nations and kings, allies and auxiliaries to them, and affociates with them; fee ch.xxv.14. The Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, and many nations and great kings foall ferve him; fo the Targum; which falls in with the former part of the verfe; wherefore the other fenfe is beft.

¥.8. And it fhall come to pals, that the nation and kingdom which will not ferve the fame Nebuchadnexzar the king of Babylon, &c.} Will not upon his approaching to them, ‘invading and befieging them, fubmit and become tributary to him, as is more fully expreffed in the next claufe: and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, or voluntarily become fubje@ to him, and pay a tax he fhall impofe upon them. This refers to, and explains the fymbol of, Feremiah’s making and wearing yokes, ¥.2: that nation will I punifh, faith the Lord, with the fword, and with the famine, and with the peftilence; with one judgment after another; fome will perifh by the iword of the enemy, fallying out upon them, or endeavouring to make their efcape; others by famine, their provifions being fpent thro’ the length of the fiege; and others by peftilence, or the plague, by — the immediate hand of God: until I have confumed them by bis hand, Nebuchadnezzar’s; by means of him; by his fword, and {trait befieging them; or, into his band; and fo the Zargum, * until I haye ‘* delivered them into his hand;” having confumed multitudes by the fword, famine and peftilence, will deliver the reft into his hands to be carried captive by him.

¥.9. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, &c.] Falfe prophets, as the -Targum. Thefe words are not directed to the Yews, but are a continuation of what the meflengers of the nations fhould fay to their mafters from the God of Jrael, by the mouth of his prophet; for they had their prophets as well as the ews; as the prophets of Baal, and others: nor to yaur diviners; or foothfayers; fuch an one as was Balaam:. nor to your dreamers; or dreams; fuch as they had themfelves, and laid great ftrefs upon; or to thofe who pretended to interpret them to them: wor to your inchanters; or ftar-gazers; aftrologers, who pretended by the pofition of the ftars to foretel what would come to pafs: nor to your forcerers, or wizards, or necromancers; who, by unlawful methods, pretended to acquire knowledge of future things: which fpeak unto you, faying, ye foall not Jerve the king of Babylon, meaning either, that they ought not to become tributary to him; or they fhould not be brought into fubjection by him < and io were ftirred up to oppofe him, and not fubmit to him. ind y.10. For they prophefy a lie unto you, 8c.] That which was vain and falfe, and proved fo; tho’ they might not know it was when delivered = to remove you far from your land; not that they defigned it by their prophecies, but fo it was eventually; for, ftanding it out againft Nebuchadnezzar, encouraged by the lies and dreams of their prophets, he, in procefs of time, took them, and. ce ally; and there was a time fixed for the continuance of his monarchy, in his fon, and fon’s fon; when it was to end, as it did, in Beloaxzar’s | carried them captive into Babylon; whereas, had they furrendered at once, they might have continued in their own land, paying a tax or tribute to the king of Babylon: and that I fhould drive you out, and ye fhould perifp,; drive them out of their own land, and {fo perifh in a foreign land: God is faid to do that which his fervant or inftrument did, being provoked by the fin and difobedience of the people, hearkening to their lying prophets, and not to him.

y¥. 11. But the nations that bring their neck under ibe yoke of the king of Babylon, and ferve him, &c.

That at once, and readily fubmit unto him, and pay him tribute: ¢ho/e will I let remain fill in their own land, faith the Lord, undifturbed by any other enemy; peaceably dwelling in their own habitations; following their occupations and bufinefs of life; and enjoying their fubftance and eftates, only paying the tax impofed on them: and they fhall till at, and dwell therein, manure and cultivate it, and gather and eat the fruit of it, and continue to do fo, they and their pofterity after them.

v.12. I fpake alfo to Zedekiah king of Fudab, &c.] At the fame time that he delivered the above meflage from the-Lord to the embaffadors of feveral nations, who were then refidents in Zedekiah’s court, or however in Ferufalem: according to all thefe words; the fame things, and much in the fame language, he faid to the king of Fudah, as to the meffengers of the nations: /ayimg; as follows: dring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, you, O king, your nobles, and your people. Zedekiah was fet upon the throne by the king of Babylon, was a tributary to him, and had took an oath to be faithful to him; and yet was now meditating rebellion againft, him; and was confulting and entring into a confederacy with the neighbouring nations to throw off the yoke, and be independent on him: wherefore the fenfe of this advice muft be to bring themfelves, he and his people, to a chearful fubmisfion to it, and a patient bearing it, and nGt attempt to fhake it off: and ferve him, and bis people, and live; the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, by faithfully paying the tribute, and acknowledging fubjeétion to him; and fo /ve in their own land, enjoying all other civil and religious privileges.

¥.13. Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the ford, by the famine, and by the peftilence? &cc.

Thro’ a blockade of the Chaldean army, which would invade their land, and befiege their city, upon a refufal to be fubject to their yoke: as the Lord bath fpoken againft the nation that will not ferve the king of Babylon? as the Lord has threatened, fhall be the cafe of any and every one of the above nations that fhould refufe to be tributary to him; of which, no doubt, Zedekiah and his court had been apprifed; fee ¥. 8.

y. 14. Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets, &c.] ‘The falfe prophets, as the Targum; {uch bad kings always had about them, to whom they liftened, and which often proved of bad confequence to them: that /peak unto you, faying; as follows: ye fhall not ferve the king of Babylon; ye ought not to do it, but caft off his yoke; to which if ye do not willingly fubmit, he'll never be able to force you to it: for they prophefy a lie unto you; and therefore fhould not be hearkened to, particularly when they promife fafety from the king of Babylon.

¥.15. For I have not fent them, faith the Lord, > &e.] See ch. xxiii. 21: yet they prophefy a lie in

519, my name; to deliver out a lie was a very wicked thing, finful in them, and fatal to others; but to make ufe of the name of the Lord, and cover it with that, and back it with his authority, was much more wicked and abominable: that I might drive you out, and that ye might perifo, being driven out of their own land, perifi in another; which, tho’ the falfe prophets did not intend by their prophefying, yet fuch would be, and was the iffue, of it: ye, and the prophets that prophely unto you, for it would end in the ruin and deftruétion of them both 5 both of the falfe prophets, as the Targum here again calls them, and thofe that liftened to their prophecies; both would fall into the fame ditch.

¥.16. Alfol fpake to the priefts, and to all this people, faying, &c.] From the court he went to the temple, and fpoke to the priefts that were miniftring there, and to all the people that were affembled for divine worfhip; either at the ordinary time of it, or at fome one of the folemn feafts: this was a proper time and place to meet with the people and the priefts; which latter efpecially had a concern in what he had to fay concerning the veffels of the temple: thus faith the Lord, bearken not to the words of your prophets that prophefy unto you; your falfe prophets, as the Targum: faying; as follows: behold, the veffels of the Lord’s houfe foall now fhortly be brought again from Babylon; which were carried thither, both in the times of Fehoiakim, and of Feconiah, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 7, 10: thefe the falfe prophets gave. out would in a fhort time be returned; that the king of Babylon, either willingly and of his own accord, or being prefied or forced to it, would fend them back; fo little. reafon had they to fear an invafion from him, or. captivity by him: for they prophefy a lie unto yous that which is falfe, and will never be accomplifhed, at leaft in any fhort time.

y.17. Hearken not unto them, &c.|] The falfé prophets: ferve the king of Babylon, and live; pay homage and tribute to him; which is the way to live in your own land, and enjoy the benefits Gf that, and of the temple-worfhip; which if not, you will be utterly deprived of: wherefore fhould this city be laid wafte? as it certainly will, thould you rebel again{t the king of Badylon; and as it was in a few years after, when they did.

¥. 18. But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, &c.| The true prophets of the Lord, are fent by him, and have his word put into them: let them now make interceffion to the Lord of bofts; ule their intereft with him, as they muft have one, if they are true prophets; let them pray unto him, who doubtlefs will hear them; and this will be acting in character, for prophets ought to be praying perfons; and this will turn to fome good account: that the veffels which are left in the boufe of the Lord, and in the boufe of the king of Fudah, and at Ferufalem, go not to Babylon; inftead of prophefying about the return of what are gone, let them pray for the prefervation and continuance of what are left, that they don’t go alfo,; of which there was great danger, yea certainty, in cafe of non-fubmiffion to, and rebellion againft, the king of Babylon: there were fome veflels of the fanctuary which yet remained, as well as others in the king’s palace, and in the houfes of the noble and rich men in Ferufalem; for the keeping of which, they would do well to fhew a proper concern, and make ufe of proper means; and nothing more effectual than prayer to God; and next to that, fubmiffion to the Chaldean yoke.

¥. 1g. For thus faith the Lord of hofts, concern- lof Irael, concerning the veffels that remain in the

Sug the pillars, &c.] The pillars of brafs that ftood in the temple; the one called Boaz, and the other Fachin, 1 Kings vii. 15, 21: and concerning the fea, the fea of molten brafs, which ftood upon twelve oxen, 1 Kings vii. 23, 25: and concerning the bafes; the ten bafes, which alfo were made of brafs, 1 Kings vii. 27—37: and concerning the refidue of. the veffels that remain in this city, in the king’s palace, and in the houfes of the noblemen, and of the rich and wealthy inhabitants of Ferufalem.

y¥. 20. Which Nebuchadnezzar king. of Babylon took not, &c.] For he feems only to have taken the vefiéls of gold, and left the veflels of brafs, as the above were; fee 2 Kings xxiv. 13: when he carried away captive Feconiah the fon of Feboiakim king of Fudah, from Ferufalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of ‘fudah and Ferufalem;, of which fee 2 Kings xxiv. 12—16.

y. 21. Yea, thus faith the Lord of hofts, the God

HIS chapter relates a falfe prophecy of Hananiah, who broke off thé yoke from Yerewmiah;, but in return, the people are threatened with an iron yoke, and he with death; which came to pafs. The time, place, and fubftance of his prophecy, are in ¥. 1, 2, 3, 4. Jeremiah’s anfwer to it, ¥. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Hananiah breaks Feremiah’s yoke, and explains the meaning of it to the people, ¥. 10, 11. Jeremiah prophelies that iron yokes fhould be given inftead of wooden ones, ¥. 12, 13, 14. and foretels the death of the falfe prophet, MLS, Abate

¥. 1. And it came to pafs the fame year, &c.] That the prophet was bid to make yokes and bonds, and fend them to the neighbouring kings, whofe embaffladors were in Zedekiah’s court; and when he fpoke the things related in the preceding chapter to Zedekiah, the priefts, and people: iz the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of ‘fudab; perhaps in the firft year of his reign: in the fourth year, and in the fifth month; not in the fourth year of Zedekich’s reign, tho’ the Septuagint and Arabic verfions fo render it; fince his reign was but eleven years in all, and therefore the fourth could not be called with fo much propriety the beginning of his reign: tho’ according to Zarchi, it was the fourth of Zedekiah’s reign, the fame year in which he paid a vifit to the king of Badylon, ch. li. 59. and was not only confirmed in his kingdom by him, but, according to the fame writer, had it enlarged, and was made king over five neighbouring kings; and fo this, though the fourth of his reign over udah, was the firft of his enlarged dominions: but rather this was the fourth year of the fabbatical year, or the fourth after the feventh year’s reft of the land, as Kimchi obferves; which was the firft of Zedekiah’s reign, who reigned eleven years, and the temple was deftroyed at the end of a fabbatical year; in which he is followed by many, tho’ there is nothing in the text or context that directs to it. Some divide Zedekiah’s reign into three parts, the beginning, and middle, and end; and {o what was done within the firft four boufe of the Lerd, &c.] Which are mentioned in ¥. 19. together with others: and in the boufe of the king of Fudab, and of Ferufalem, fee ¥. 18. ¥. 22. They fhall be carried to Babylon, 8c.) As they were; and of which, with othets, there is a particular account in 2 Kings xxv. 13—17: and there foall they be until the day that I vifit them, the Chaldeans in a way of wrath, and the Jews in a way of grace and favour; which was at the end of the feventy years captivity; and fo lon the veffels of the fanétuary continued there; for we read of them as in ufe the very night that Belhazzar was flain, and Babylon taken, Dan. v. 2,30: then will I bring them up, and reftore them to this place; which was fulfilled, when the Lord ftirred up the fpirit of Cyrus king of Perfia, to give leave to the ews to return to their own land, and rebuild their temple; and at the fame time delivered into the hands of She/bbazzar, prince of Judah, the veffels of the temple, Hzra i. 1, 7.