Exposition of the Whole Bible

orders: thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prifon, until the city was taken; unlefs a {mall time that he was in the dungeon of Malchiah, out

HIS chapter is taken up in giving an account of Yeremiah’s being caft into a dungeon; his deliverance from it; and private converfation with king Zedekiah. The occafion of the prophet’s being caft into a dungeon was his difcourfe to the people, which four of the princes reprefented to the king as feditious, and moved to have him put to death; and, being delivered into their hands, was put into a miry dungeon, ¥. 1, 2, 3,4, 5,6. Ebed-melech the Ethiopian hearing of his miferable cafe, reprefented it to the king, and interceded for his releafe; which being granted, with the help of thirty men, and by means of old clouts and rotten rags, let down by cords, drew him up, and placed him in the court of the prifon, ¥. 7— 13. king Zedekiab fends for Feremiah, and has a private conference with him about the ftate of affairs; when the prophet faithfully told him how things would iffue, and gave him his beft advice, y. 14——23. uporf parting the king defires the conference might be kept.a fecret from the princes, which was accordingly done, ¥. 24—27. and 7eremiah remained in the court of the prifon till the taking of Ferufalem, ¥. 28.

y¥.1. Then Shephatiah the fon of Mattan, and Gedaliah the fon of Pafbur, &c.] Of thefe two perfons we no where elfe read. Some think that Pafour, whofe fon Gedaliah was, is the fame as is mentioned, ch. xx. which is not likely, fince he was a prieft, and this fon a prince: aud Fucal the fon of Shelemiah, and Pafbur the fon of Malchiab, thefe had been fent by the king to Feremiah, to enquire of the Lord, and to pray for him and his people, ch. xxi. r. and xxxvii. 3.. all four were princes, prime-minifters of ftate, of great power and authority, and to whom the king could deny nothing, or withftand, ¥.4, 5: thefe beard the words that Feremiah had fpoken to all the people; that is, to as many of them as came to the court of the prifon to vifit him; fome out of good will, and fome out of ill will; and others out of curiofity; being defirous to know by the prophet, how things would go with them; and by which means, what he faid was fpread all over the city, and came to the ears of the above princes; and no doubt there were perfons enow officious enough to carry thefe things to them: /aying, as follows:

¥. 2. Thus faith the Lord, he that remaineth in this city, &c.] Of Ferufalem; that does not go out of it, and furrender himfelf to the Chaldeans; but continues in it fighting againft them: /hall die by the fword, by the famine, and by the peftilence, that is, by one or other of thefe: dur be that goeth forth to the Chaldeans, fhall live, thet goes out of the city, throws down his arms, delivers up himfelf to the Chaldean army, and fubmits to their mercy, fhall have quarters given him, and his life thall be fpared: for be hall have his life for a prey, and com + bly and in fafety; he thall efcape with his ‘Pe all live; or, bis foul, and it foall live";

of which he was taken again, and reftored to the court of the prifon, and there continued; fee ch. XXXvili, 6, 13, 28, life, and that fhall be preferved from the fword, famine and peftilence; and whereas it was, as it were, loft; it fhall be recovered out of the jaws of death, out of the above calamities it’ was ex: pofed to; and fo be like a prey taken out. of the hands of the mighty, and be quite fafe.

¥. 3. Thus faith the Lord, this city fhall furely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, &c.] When thofe found in it, fhould be put to the fword, or carried captive: this the. prophet declares with the greateft ceftainty; and what he had often affirmed for twenty years paft, and now {tands to it, having had frefh affurances from the Lord that fo it would be; and which he faithfully publifhed; tho’ he had received fome favours from the court, had his liberty enlarged, and was now eating the king’s bread, he was not to be bribed by thefe things to hold his peace; but the nearer the ruin of the city was, the more confident was he of its deftruction: which fball take it; or, that it may take it ° being delivered into its hands by the Lord, without whofe permiffion, the Chaldeax army could never have taken it: or, and be jball take it ®; that is, the king of Babylon.

¥. 4. Therefore the princes faid unto the king, &c.

The four princes mentioned in ¥. 1. having heard what Feremiah faid to the people, Jaid the cafe before the king, and addrefied him upon it in the following manner: we befeech thee, let this man be put to death; or, “ let this man now be put to “© death,” as the Zargum. -They {peak very difrefpectfully of the prophet, calling him ¢his man; and with great authority to the king, and not in a fubmiffive fupplicating way, as we render it, the king being in diftrefs, was in their hands; he ftood in fear of them, and could do nothing againft their will and pleafure; and they urge, that he might die inftantly; they were for taking away his life at once. The reafon they give follows: for thus he weakeneth the bands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people in {peaking Juch words to them, difpirited the foldiers who were fet for the defence of the city, fuch of them as were left, who were not taken off by the fword, famine or peftilence; fince, if what Yeremiah faid was true, all attempts to defend it muft be in vain; and the people be without any hope of being delivered out of the hands of the enemy: for this man Jecketh not the welfare of this people, but the burt, than which nothing was more falfe; for the prophet forefeeing that their lives were in danger, thro’ the fword, famine or peftilence, by Continuing in the city, advifed he to go out of it, and furrender to the Chaldeans, whereby they would be preferved.

¥.5. Then Zedekiah the king faid, bebold, be is in your hand, &c.] In your power, to do with him as you pleafe. This is either a grant of the king, allowing them to do as they thought fit, or a declaration of their power, fuppofing them to be the princes of the Sanbedrim, as Grotius thinks, to judge of a falfe prophet, and condemn him; but that they were fuch does not appear; nor does their charge of the prophet, or their procedure againft him, confirm it. The former fenfe feems beft: for the king is not he that can do any thing againft you; which is faid either in a flattering way, that fuch was their intereft in him, and fo great his regard for them, that he could not deny them any thing. So it is in the old tranflations, for the king may deny you nothing, and, the king can deny you nothing: or elfe in a complaining way, fugegefting that he was a king, and no king; that he had no power to oppofe them; they would do as they pleafed; and therefore it fignified nothing applying to him; he fhould not fay any thing againft it; he would have no concern in it; they might do as they pleafed, fince he knew they would..

y¥. 6. Then took they Feremiah, &c.| Having the king’s leave, or at leaft no prohibition from him; they went with proper attendants to the court of the prifon, and took the prophet from thence: and caft him into the dungeon of Malchiah the fon of Hammelec, that was in the court of the prifon; this was a dungeon that belonged to the prifon which Malchiah had the care of, or which belonged to his houfe, which was contiguous to the court of the-prifon. The Targum renders it, Malchiab the fon of the king; and fo the Septuagint and Arabic verfions; but it is not likely that Zedekiab fhould have a fon that was fet over a dungeon, or to whom one belonged, or fhould be called by his name: here the princes caft the prophet, in order that he fhould perifh, either with famine or fuffocation, or the noifomnefs of the place;. not caring with their own hands to take away the life of a prophet, and for fear of the people; and this being a more flow and private way of difpatching him, they chofe it; for they defigned no doubt nothing Jefs than death: and they let down Feremiah with cords; there being no fteps or ftairs to go down jnto it; fo that no body could come to him when in it, or relieve him: and in the dungeon there was ao water but mire, fo feremiak funk in the mire; up to the neck, as Fofephus * fays. Some think that it was at this time, and in this place, that Feremiab put up the petitions to the Lord, and which he heard, recorded in Lam. iii. 55, 56,57. and that zhat whole chapter was compofed by him in this time of his diftrefs.

¥. 7. Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, &c.] The Targum renders it, ** a fervant of king Ze- ** dekiah;” which Yarchi, and other writers following, make Zedekiah to be the Ethiopian; fo called, becaufe as an Ethiopian differs in his fkin, fo Zedekiab differed in his righteoufnefs, from the reft of his generation; and this his fervant, he, with others ", takes to be Baruch the fon of Neriah, but without any foundation; but, as Kimchi obferves, with whom Abarbinel and Ben Melech agree, had this word Ebed-melech been an appellation, the ‘ufual article would have been prefixed before the word king, as in the next claufe; and fome where or other his name would have been given; but it is a proper name, as Abimelech, and Abimelech. A fervant of the king he might be, and doubtlefs he was; and perhaps had this name given him when he became a profelyte; for fuch he feems to be, and a good man; who had a great regard to the prophet, becaufe he was one; and had more piety and humanity in him, tho’ an Ethicpian, than thofe who were J/raelites by birth: one of the euauchs which was in the king’s boufe; an officer at court; one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber. Fofepbus* fays, he was in great honour; fo the Targum renders it, “* a great man3;” a man in high office, of great authority; taking it to be a name of office, as it fometimes is; tho’ it may be underftood in a proper fenfe, of a caftrated perfon 5 for fuch there were very commonly in King’s palaces, employed in one office or another, and efpecially in the bed-chamber: now this man beard that they had put Feremiah in the dungeon; for the? the princes did it with all poffible fecrecy, it was known at court, and came to the ears of this good man; and indeed the dungeon was not far from the court; and fome have thought he might have heard the groans of Feremiab in it; however, he came to the hearing of it, and was affected with the relation of his cafe, and determined to fave him, if poffible: the king then fitting in the gate of Benjamin; the fame in which the prophet was taken, ch. xxxvii. 13. here he fat to hear and try caufes, courts of judicature being held in gates of cities; or to receive petitions; or rather it may be, to confult about the prefent ftate of affairs, what was beft to be done in defence of the city, and to annoy the befiegers; and it may be, to have a view of the enemy’s camp, and to fally out upon them; for that he was here in order to make his efcape, is not likely.

¥. 8. And Ebed-melech went forth out of the king’s houfe, &c.] As foon as he heard of the prophet’s diftrefs, he immediately went out from his apartments in the king’s palace, where he performed his office, and his bufinefs chiefly lay, or where he dwelt, to the gate of Benjamin, where the king was; and if he was here for the adminiftration of juftice, it was a proper time and place for Ebedmelech to lay the cafe of Feremiah before him: and Jpake to the king freely, boldly and intrepidly, in the prefence of his nobles: /aying; as fol-

¥.9. My Lord the king, &c.} He addrefles him as a courtier, with great reverence and fubmiffion, and yet with great boldnefs: thefe men have done evil in all that they have done to Feremiab the prophet; meaning the princes, who might be prefent, and whom he pointed at, and mentioned by name; which fhowed great courage and faith. fulnefs, as well as great zeal for, and attachment to, the prophet; to charge after this manner perfons of fuch great authority fo publickly, and to the king, whom the king himfelf ftood in fear of: he firft brings a general charge againft them, that they had done wrong in every thing they had done to the prophet; in their angry words to him; in fmiting him, and putting him in prifon in Fomathan’s houfe; and particularly in their laft inftance - of ill will to him: whom they have. cajt into the dungeon; he does not fay where, or defcribe the dungeon, becaufe well known to the king, and what a miferable place it was; and tacitly fuggeits the cruelty and inhumanity of the princes: amd he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is, for there is 20 more bread in the city; or very little; there was none to be had but with great difficulty, - as Kimchi obferves; and therefore, tho’ the king — had ordered a piece of bread to be given him daily, as long as there was any in the city; yet it a

Ch. xxxvii. Y.to—14. JE RE MIAH, 581 almoft all confumed, and the prophet being out of fight, and fo out of mind, and altogether difregarded, muft be in perifhing circumitances, and near death; and muft inevitably perifh, unlefs fome immediate care be taken of him. It may be rendered, be will die’, &c. or the fenfe is, bread being exceeding fcarce in the city, notwithitanding the king’s order, very little was given to Yeremiab, whilft he was in the court of the prifon; fo that he was half ftarved, and was a mere fkeleton then, and would have died for hunger there; wherefore it was barbarous in the princes to caft fuch a man into a dungeon. It may be rendered, be would have died for hunger in the place where he was, feeing there was no more bread in the city"; wherefore, if the princes had Jet him alone where he was, he would have died thro’ famine; and therefore acted a very wicked part in haftening his death, by throwing him into a dungeon; this is Farchi’s fenfe, with ‘which Abarbinel agrees.

y. 10. Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, &c.| Being affected with the cafe of the prophet; and repenting of the leave he had given the princes to do with him as they pleafed, gave orders, as follows: faying, take from hence thirty men with thee; from the place where the king was, the gate of Benjamjn; where very probably at this time was a garrifon of foldiers, thirty of which were ordered to be taken; or thefe were to be taken out of the king’s life-guard, he had here with him. Fo/fephus™ calls them thirty of the king’s fervants, fuch as were about the king’s perfon, or belonged to his houfhold; and fo the Syriac verfion of the next verfe fays, that Ebed-Melech took with him men of the king’s houfhold; but why thirty of them, when three or four might be thought fufficient to take up a fingle man out of a dungeon? Abarbinel thinks the dungeon was very deep, and Feremiah an old man, could not be got out but with great labour and difficulty. archi and Kimchi fay, the men were fo weakened with the famine, that fo many were. neceffary to draw out one man; but the true reafon feems rather to be, that fhould the princes, whom the king might fufpeét, or any other, attempt to hinder this order being put in execution, there might be a fufficient force to affift in it, and repel thofe that might oppofe it: and take up Feremiah the prophet before be die; the king fpeaks honourably of Feremiah, giving him his title as a prophet, and exprefies great concern for him; and orders them to haften the taking him up, left he fhould die before, which he fugegefts would give him great concern.

y.11. So Ebed-melech took the men with him, &c.] The thirty men, as the king ordered: as foon as ever he had got the grant, he immediately fet about the work, and loft no time to fave the prophet’s life: and went unto the houfe of the king under the treafury; from the gate of Benjamin he went to the king’s palace, and to a particular place under the treafury; by which ¢reafury may be meant, the treafury of garments, or the royal wardrobe, under which was a place, where cloaths worn out, or caft

‘off, were put: the Septuagint reprefent it as under ground, a cellar under the wardrobe: and took thence old caft clouts, and old rotten rags; the Syriac verfion has it, fuch as cattel were wiped and cleaned with: and let them down by cords into the dungeon jo Feremiah, for it was fo deep, that men could not reach to.put them into the hands-of the prophet; and had they been thrown in, they might have been fcattered about, and be out of his reach, who ftuck in the mire; or they would haye been in all likelihood greatly bedaubed. with the mire.,

¥.12. And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian [aid unto Jeremiah, &c.] Being come to the dungeon, and at the mouth of it, he addreffed him in.a very humane and friendly manner, and directed, him’ how to make ufe of the rags he let down for his eafe and benefit: put now thefe old caft clouts and rotten rags under thine arm-boles under the cords; the cords were firft put under his arm-holes to draw him up with, and then thefe clouts and rags were put under the cords; left they fhould cut into his flefh, at leaft hurt him, and give him pain, the whole weight of his body refting on them; and perhaps thefe parts had received fome hurt when he was let down into the dungeon with cords, when they were not fo careful of him; and therefore needed’ fome foft rags the more to be put under them at this time; all which fhows what an affection this man had for the prophet, and how tender he was of him: and Feremiah did fo; he put the rags between the cords and his arm-holes.

¥. 13. So they drew up feremiah with cords, &c.| The men that were with Ebed-melech, as many as were neceflary; he overlooking, directing, and encouraging: and took him out of the dungeon; alive, according to the king’s orders and defign, and in {pite of the prophet’s enemies: the thing fucceeded according to wifh; the Lord ordering and profpering every ftep: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prifon,; from whence he had been taken, and where he was replaced; Ebed-melech having no warrant to fet him at entire liberty; nor would it have been prudent to have folicited that, which might too much have exafperated the princes; and befides, here, according to the king’s order, bread was to be given him, as long as there was any in the city; fo that it was the moft fit and proper place for him to remain in; wherefore what ‘fo/ephus = fays, that he difmified him, and fet him free, is not true.

¥. 14. Then Ledekiah the king fent_ and took Feremiah the prophet unto him, &c.| When the pfophet was taken out of the dungeon, and brought to the court of the prifon, of which the king had knowledge; he fent fome perfon or perfons to bring him to him, to have fome private converfation with him: into the third entry that is in the houfe of the Lord; what place is meant, Farchi confeffes his ignorance of, but conjectures it was the court of the J/raelites,; the outward court, and the court. of the women, being before it. Kimchi rightly takes it to be a place, thro’ which they went from the king’s houfe, to the houfe of the Lord; no doubt the fame that is called the king’s afcent, by which he went up thither, fhown to, and admired by the queen of Sheba, 1 Kings x. 5. in which there were three gates or entrances, as Dr. Lightfoot obferves ¥; the firft, the gate of the foundation; the fecond, the gate behind the guard; and the third, the gate Coponius; and here the king and the prophet had their interview: and the king faid. to Feremiah, I will afk thee a thing, or a word; a word of prophecy; or whether there was a word of prophecy from theLord, concerning him, his people, and city, and what it was; and what would be the event of the prefent fiege, whiether it would iffue well or ill: bide nothing from me; be it what it will, whether grateful or not; he had been told again and again how things would be, but ftill he was in hopes that fomething more favourable and confolatory would come from’ the Lord to him. ' ms: y¥. 15. Then Feremiah faid unto Zedekiah, &c.| Here follows the prophet’s anfwer, in which he tacitly defires to be excufed faying any thing upon this head; fince it might be attended with danger to himfelf, and be of no fervice to the king; and therefore prudently thought fit te come into, fome agreement with the king, to fecure himfelf, ‘if he infifted upon it: if J declare it unto thee, wilt thou not furely put me to death? this he might fear, from paft experience of the king’s conduct; for tho’ he might not flay him with his own -hands, or give orders to others to do it; yet he might deliver him up to the will and mercy of his princes, “as he had done before; not that the prophet was afraid to die, or was deterred thro’ fear of death from delivering the word of the Lord, and doing his work; but he thought it proper to make ufe of prudent means to preferve his life; befides, he had no exprefs order from the Lord'to fay any thing concerning this matter at this time: ava if I give thee counfel, wilt thou not bearken to me? or, thou wilt not hearken to me*; fo the Targum, Syriac, and Vulgate Latin verfions; and therefore it was to no purpofe to give him any advice; from all this, the king might eafily underftand, the prophet had nothing to fay that would be agreeable to him; however, he was very defirous to know what it was, and therefore promifés indemnity and fecurity, as follows: ¥. 16. So the king fwore fecretly unto Feremiah, &c.] The king not only gave the prophet his word, but alfo annexed to it his oath, that his life fhould be in no danger, either from him or his princes; this oath was made fecretly, both for the honour of the king, he fwearing to a fubject, and that it might not be known by the princes, and for fear of them: /aying, as the Lord liveth, that made us this foul; or thefe fouls, as the Targum: here a fuperfluous word My is ufed; which, as the Hews obferve, is one of the eight words which are written, but not read: he fwears by the living God, by whom only men fhould fwear, whenever it is neceffary; this is the proper form of an oath; the appeal is to be made to the eternal God, that knows all things, the Father of fpirits, the maker of fouls, and giver of the lives of all men, and who can take them away when he pleafes. The fenfe is, may the living God, who has made my foul and yours, and given life to us both, may he take away my foul, my life, from me, if ~ ever I make any attempt upon yours. J will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of thofe that feek thy life; he not only promifes and fwears to it, that he would not take away his life with his own hands, or give orders to take it way 3 but he would not deliver him into the hands of his princes, who he knew were implacable enemies, and- fought all opportunities and advantages againft him; but then, he makes no promife that he will take any counfel or advice that fhould be given him; as to this, he would lay himfelf under no obligation to obferve, refolying to take his own way; if he liked it, to

A Hf. Ch. xxxXvii. ¥.15—rg. follow it; if not, to reject it; he would not be bound by it. Pi oF. He ¥. 17. Then faid Feremiah unto Zedekiab, 8cc.) Being thus indemnified and fecured by the king’s word and oath, he proceeds freely to. lay. before the king the whole matter, as from the Lord: thus faith the Lord, the God of hofts, the God of T- ‘vice in his own name, but in the nanié of the above and rael, the prophet does not’ give the foll eternal Jehovah, the Lord of armies’ abov below, and who had a fpecial regard to the people of I/rael, and their welfare; and therefore it became theking to fhow the more regard ‘unto it: if thou wilt affuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, the generals of his army, whofe names are'mentioned, ch. xxxix. 3. the king not being with his army at this time, but at Rzd/b, ch. xxxix. 5. the meaning is, if he would open the gates of Ferujalem, and go forth from thence to the Chaldean atmy, and furrender himfelf and the city into the hands of the princes in it, and general officers of it, then thy foul foal live; in thy body, and not be feparated from it; or live comfortably, in peace and fafety, tho’ not in fo much fplendor and glory as he had done: and this city foall not be burnt with fire; as had been threatened; and as the Chaldeans would be provoked. to do, fhould it hold out to the laft extremity; but fhould preferve it upon a furrender: and thou fhalt'live, and thine boufe, not only himéelf, but his wives, and children, and fervants.

y. 18. But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, &c.] And furrender to. them: then fhall this city be given.into the hands of the Chaldeans; if not willingly delivered up by the king of Fudah, it fhall be forcibly taken by the king of Babylon’s army, thro’ the permiffion of God; with refpect to whom it is faid to be given unto them, even by him who has the difpofing of cities and kingdoms: and they fhall burn it with fire; as it had been often foretold it fhould, and as it accordingly was, ch. xxxix. 8: and thou foalt not efcape cut of their hand, tho’ he might hope he fhould, and would attempt to do it, yet fhould be taken; and tho’ he fhould not be flain, yet fhould never regain his liberty, or get out of their hands, when once in them; fee ch. lit. 7, 8, 9, 11.

¥. 19. And Zedekiab the king faid unto Feremiah, &c.] In anfwer to this advice he gave him, perfuading him to give up himfelf and the city into the hands of the Cha/deans: I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans; who did go out of the city, and furrendered to the Chaldeans, whom Zedekiab had cruelly ufed, or feverely threatned: def they deliver me into their bands, and they mock me; that is, left the Chaldeans thould deliver they would ever have. treated hira in fo {cornful —.

and cruel a manner, who was their prince, and a partner with them in their captivity.

y. 20. But feremiah faid, they fhall not deliver thee, &c.] To take off the above excufe, or remove that objection, the prophet affures the king, that the Chaldeans would never deliver him into the hands of the Yews; he might depend upon it; it would never be done: obey, I befeech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I {peak unto thee; the counfel he had given,him, to furrender to the Chaldeans, was not from himfelf, but from the Lord; and tho’ he had no exprefs order to give it. at! that time, yet it was what was agreeable to the will of God, and what he had exhorted the people coin the beginning of this chapter; and therefore, -fince it came from the Lord, as it ought to be at+ tended to, fo he might be affured of the divine protection, fhould he act according to it: fo it foall be well with thee, and thy foul shall live; that is, it would not only be much better with him: than he feared, but than it would be with him fhould.

he obftinately ftand out to the laft; he fhould have more refpect and honour from the king of Babylon; and. not only have-his life fpared, but enjoy more of the comforts of life; particularly the fight of his eyes, which he loft when taken. ¥. 21. But if thou refufe to go forth, &c.] Out of Ferufalem, to the Chaldean army, and fubmit to them: this is the word that the Lord bath foewed me; or the thing which fhould certainly come to pafs; the word of prophecy the Lord had fhewed to the prophet, and which he now declares to the king; who afked of him a word, was defirous to know, whether there was a word from the Lord, ' and what it was; and this it is which follows, in cafe he continued impenitent, obftinate, and difobedient.

¥. 22. And behold, all the women that are left in the king of Fudah’s houfe, &c.] That were left in the royal palace, when Fehoiakim and Feconiah were carried captives; or which were left of the famine and peftilence in Zedekiah’s houfe; or would. be left there, when he fhould flee and make his efcape; meaning his concubines, or maids of honour, and court-ladies: fhall be drought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes; who fhall ufe them as they think fit, and difpofe of them,at pleafure: and thofe women hall fay, thy friends have fet thee on, and have prevailed againft thee; or, the men of thy peace*; the falfe prophets, and the princes that hearkened to them, and promifed and flattered him with peace and profperity, thefe deceived him; they fet him on to hold out againft the Chaldeans, and not believe the prophet Feremiah, and they prevailed with him to do fo, tho’ it was againft himfelf, and his own intereft: thy feet are funk in the mire; not literally, as fome Fewifh writers fuppofe, that he got into a quagmire when he fled; tho’ there may be a hint in the expreffion, to the miry dungeon in which he fuffered the prophet to be caft; and was now got into one himfelf, in a figurative fenfe, being involved in difficulties, out of which he could not extricate himfelf: and they are turned away back, meaning either his feet, which -were diftorted, and had turned afide from the right way; or now could go on no further againft the enemy, but were obliged to turn back and flee; or elfe the men of his peace, the falfe prophets and princes, who had fed him with vain hopes of fafety, now left him, and every man fhifted for himfelf. This would be -faid. by, the women,.cither in a mournful. manner, by way of complaint; or as {coffing at the king, as a filly, foolifh man, to hearken, to fuch perfons, and fo he that.was afraid of being mocked by. the Fews, is jeered at by the women of,hishoufe...; « » '

¥. 23. So they fhall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans, &c.] Not the citizens of Ferufalem;.but, as Kimchi obferves, the Chaldeans that fhould enter the city, fhall/bring.them out to the Chaldegns. without:, orit may be rendered imperfonally;. they fhall be, brought out; not only the ladies at court, that waited, on him and his queen; as before but all his wives.and concubines, -and his children, or his fons rather; for at the taking of the city, no mention isimade of daughters;-only of fons, who were flain before his eyes, ch. xxxix. 6: and thou fhalt notrefcape out of their hand, but foalt be taken-by the handof -the king of Babylon;

not by him perfonally, for,;he was not prefent at the taking of him, but by his army; whoohaving taken him, brought him to him, and delivered’ him into his, hand, ch. xxxix. 5: aud thou fhalt caufe. this, city to be burnt with fire; or, thou shalt burn this, city with fire»; be the moral caufe of it; thro’ his fin and obftinacy, impenitence and unbelief, the burning of the city might be laid to his charge; his ‘fin was»the, caufe of it; and it was all one as if he had burnt it with his own hands. All this is faid to. work upon him, to hearken to the advice given; but all-was in vain.

¥.24. Then {aid Ledekiah to Feremiah, &c.] Not: a word fignifying ‘his approbation of the counfel given him, or that he intended to take it; his filence fhewed the reverfe: Jet no man know of thefe words, that had paffed between them; of the con— ference and converfation they had had together, at leaft not the particulars of it; the thing itfelf was known, as appears. by what+follows,,that the-king and prophet had been difcourfing together; but what they talked of, hedefires might be concealed, pretending the prophet’s good, tho’ it was his own honour and fafety he fought: and thou fhalt not die; as he had promifed he fhould not, and had fworn to it; but fuggelts by this, that if he difclofed the converfation,. he fhould look upon himfelf free from his word and oath; fo that this carried fomething menacing init: or it may be rendered, that thou die not‘; intimating, that if the princes fhould come to the knowledge of what he had faid, of the advice he had given, they would furely put.him to death; and therefore for his own fafety, he defires the whole may,be kept a fecret.

y. 25. But if the princes bear that I have talked to thee, &c.}] Which the king fufpected they would; and could hardly think, but fome body or other would fee him and the prophet talking together; who would be officious enough to go and acquaint the princes with it, tho’ he, had endeavoured. to be as private as poffible; however, to provide againft the worft, he inftructs Feremiah what to fay to them, fhould they hear of their being together: and they come unto thee; as he did not doubt but they would, as foon as ever they had notice of it: and fay unto thee, declare unto us now what thou baft faid unto the king; hide it not from us, ond we will not put thee to death, alfo what ihe king

Said * WHA AWN combures igne, faid unto thee, the king’ knew how inquifitive they would -be, and fift the prophet to the bottom, to know both what the prophet faid to the king, about the ftate of affairs réfpecting the Chaldeans, and the furrender of the city to them, which they fuppofed to be the fubject of the difcourfe; and what were the king’s thoughts about it, and his determinations concerning it; and in order to’make the prophet eafy, and more free and open, to tell the whole matter, he fuggefts, they would promife him his life fhould not be taken away.

y. 26. Then thou fhalt fay unto them, &c.| Here the king puts words into the prophet’s mouth, what he fhould fay to the princes, to put them off from inquiring further, and fo keep the matter a fecret: I prefented my fupplication before the king; or caufed it to fall*; delivered it in an humble and fubmiffive manner: that he would not caufe me to veturn to Fonathan’s boufé to die there; this he had intreated of the king before, ch. xxxvii. 20. and now, no doubt, renewed his requeft, having this fair opportunity with the king alone to do it; ‘or,.

however, it is highly probable he did it upon this hint of the king. This fhows how much the king ftood’in fear of his princes in this time of his diftrefs; and that he had only the name of a king, and had not courage and refolution enough to act of himfelf, according to the dictates of his’ mind; yea, that he feared men more than he feared the Lord.

¥. 27. Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and afked him, &c.] After he had parted with the king, and was come back to the court of the prifon; as foon as the princes had been informed of

Sip HIS chapter gives an account of the taking of Ferufalem by the Chaldeans, according to the feveral prophecies of Jeremiah concerning. it. The time of taking it, and by whom, after a fiege of eighteen months, ¥. 1,2, 3. feveral things relating to king Zedekiah; his flight; the taking of him; the bringing him to the king of Babylon, and his fentence on him; the execution of that fentence, flaying his fons and nobles, putting out his eyes, and carrying him in chains to Babylon, y. 4, 5,6, 7. the deftruction of the city is defcribed, by burning the houfes in it; breaking down its walls; carrying the people captive, all, except a few poor perfons left in the land, ¥. 8, 9, 10. the prefervation of Feremiah, according to the king of Ba- éylon’s orders by his princes; and the committing him to the care of Gedaliab, the governor of the poor Fews, #. 11, 12, 13, 14. and the chapter is concluded with a promife of the protection of Ebedmelech, made by the Lord before the taking of the city, while the prophet was in prifon; and which, no doubt, had its accomplifhment, ¥. 15, 16, #7, 18

_ ¥. 1. Inthe ninth year of Zedekiab king of Judah, in the tenth month, &c.| The month Tebet, which anf{wers to part of our December, and part of Fanuory; fo that it was in the winter-feafon the fiege of Ferufalem began: came Nebuchadrezzar king of the interview between’ the king and the prophet} which foon came to their ears, they came in 4 body to-him, to the court of the prifon, where he was, and afked him of what pafled between himi and the king: and be told them according to all thefe words that the king had commanded; whathe told them, no doubt, -was truth; tho’ he did not telf them all the truth; which he was not obliged to do, having no command from God, and bein forbid by the king: a they left off peaking wi him, or, were filent from bim*, went away filent; not’ being able to difprove what he had faid) or object unto it, and finding they could get nothing more out of him: for the matter was not perceived } or, was not heard‘; tho’ there were perfons that faw the king and the prophet together, yet no body heard any thing that paffed between them; and therefore Yeremy could not be confronted ia what:he had faid,\or be charged with concealing any thing.

y. 28. So Feremiah abode in the court of the prifon,y:&c.] Where he was ordered to’ be by the king, before he was caft into the dungeon, and where*he was replaced by Ebed-melech,; and which was now confirmed by the king, and here he con+ tinued: until the day that Ferufalem was taken; but how long it was from his converfation with the king, to the taking of the city, is not certain:, and be was there when Ferufalem was taken; as appears from ch. xxxix. 14. Kimchi conneéts this with the beginning of the next chapter; and fo the Targum, rendering it, ‘* and it came to pafs ‘“* when Yerufalem was taken;” namely, what is related in the following chapter.

Babylon, and all bis army againft Ferufalem, and they befieged it, provoked by Zedekiah’s breaking covenant with him, and rebelling againft him, who had fet him upon the throne, in the reom of his nephew; fo that here was a mixture of perfidy and ingratitude, which he was determined to revenge; and being impatient of it, came at fuch an unfeafonable time of the year for a long march and a fiege. The king of Babylon came in perfon at firft; but having begun the fiege, and given proper orders to his generals for the carrying of it on, and fuppofing it would be a long one, retired to Riblab in Syria, either for pleafure or for bufinefs. The time of beginning the fiege, exactly agrees with the account in 2 Kings xxv. 1. only there it is more particular, expreffing the day of the month, which was the tenth of it; and fo in ch. lii. 4. The reafon of inferting the account of the fiege, and taking of the city, in this place, is both to fhow the exact accomplifhment of Fere~ - miab’s prophecies about it, and to lead on to fome facts and predictions that followed it. y. 2. And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, &c.] The month Tammuz, which anfwers to part of June, and part of Fuly: the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up; Or taken by ftorm; the walls of it were broken by _ engines and battering-rams, fo that the Chaldeans could enter it, and take it. This was juft a fw; and

¥.3. Aud all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, &c.| Into the city; a breach being made in the walls, to take pofieffion of it: and fat in the middle gate, according to Farchi, this was a gate of the temple; the gate Nicanor, the eaftern gate, which was between the gate of the court of the women, and the gate of the temple; who obferves, that their Rabdins fay, the middle gate was the gate in which the wife men made their decrees and conftitutions: fo that in the place of judgment, wickednefs was there; as in Eccl, iii. 16. and Fo ephus * fays, that the city was taken in the middle of the night, when the enemies generals went into the temple; but rather, according to Kimchi, it was one of the gates of the city of Yeru/alem, according to Abarbinel, Ferufalem had three walls, and this was the gate of the middle wall; but others take it to be the gate in the middle wall, between the upper and lower city; perhaps it is the fame called the fecond gate, Zepb.i. 10. and might be the chief and principal gate where thefe princes placed their feats in triumph as victors, and fo fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, ch. i. 15. tho’ they might have another reafon for it, their own fafety; here they fat till the city was well fearched and cleared, left there fhould be any ambufh laid for them, and cut them off as they entered. The names of fome of them were as follow, Nergal-/barezer, according to Kimchi, thefe are two names of two diftiné&t perfons; but generally thought to be one name of the fame perfon, fo ‘Fofephus, who calls him Nergelearus. he firft part of the name Nergal, was the name of an idol with the Cu/bites, 2 Kings xix. 30. and it was ufual with the heathens to give the names of their idols to their kings, princes, and great men. The other part, Sharezer, is a name of one of Sennacherib’s fons; and feems to be an Affyrian name, Jf, xxxvii. 38. The next is called Samgar-nebo; tho’, according to Hillerus*, this is a fur-name of the former, to diftinguifh him from another Nergal-/harezer, after-mentioned, taken from his office: this name fignifying, the ftriét keeper of Nebo, the temple of the idol Nedo; fee J/ xlvi.1. The next is Sarfechim-rabjaris; for thefe are not two names of different perfons, but of the fame perfon, The firft is his proper name, which fignifies the prince of the Scythians: the other his name of office, and fignifies the chief eunuch, or the chief of the eunuchs. ‘The laft name is Nergal-/harezer-rabmag, thefe names. belong to the fame perfon, who is called from his office Rabmag, the chief magician, or the chief of the magicians, to diftinguifh him from the other Nergal-/harezer, before-mentioned: thefe, with all the refidue of the princes of the king of Babylon, entered the city, and took it. Poth y. 4. And it came to pafs that when Zedekiah the king of Fudah faw them and all the men of war, &c.] That is, when Zedekiah and his foldiers faw the princes and generals of the Chaldean army en-_ ter the city thro’ a breach made in the wall, and take poffeffion of the middle-gate; which they might fee from fome high tower where they were for fafety, and to make their obfervation of the enemy: then they fled; finding they were not able to keep their pofts, and refift the enemy: aad went forth out of the city by night; it being the middle of the night, as before obferved out ot Fo/epbus, that the city was taken; and they took the advantage of the darknefs of the night to make their efcape: this they chofe rather to do, than to furrender to the Chaldeans, and lie at their mercy: and they went by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt tke two walls; which lay either between the wall of the city, and the outworks, as fome; or between the old wall, and the new one Hezekiah built, 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. as others; or rather between the wall of the city, and the wall of the king’s garden; this being.a private way, they took it. The Yews have a fable, and which is related both by Yarchi and Kimchi; that there was a cave or vault under ground, from the king’s houfe to the plains of Yericho, and by this way the king went that he might not be feen; but God prepared a hind, which the Chaldean army faw, and purfued, and which went into the cave, and they after it; and when they were at the mouth of the cave, they faw Zedekiah coming out of it, and took him: and he went out the way of the plain; on the fouth-fide of the city, which led to Fericho; and on which fide the king’s garden was; not that he went alone, but his wives, and children, and princes, and men of war with him; fee ch. lii. 7. ¥.5. But the Chaldean army purfued after them, &cc.] Being informed of the flight of them, by thofe who furrendered to them, as Yo/ephus fays; or not finding the king, his family, nobles and guards at the palace, where they expected them; and knowing which way they muft take, purfued after them; not the whole army, only a part of it; for fome muft remain at Feru/alem to demolith the city, and take the fpoil of it: and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Fericho, not far from it, as Fofephus fays; and who alfo obferves, that when his friends and generals faw the enemy near, they left him, and fhifted for themfelves, and only a few were with him when overtook: and when they had taken him, they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblab in the land of Hamath, which is generally thought to be Autioch in Syria; whither he had retired from the fiege of Ferufalem, having left it to his generals, to recreate himfelf in this pleafant place, as it feems it was; or that he might be nearer his own kingdom, if any troubles fhould arife in it during his abfence; however, here he was, and here the army brought Zedekiah to him, and thofe they took with him; which muft be very agreeable to the king of Babylon, to have this perfidious and ungrateful prince in his power: where he gave judgment upon him, or paffed fentence on him, which was to have his eyes put out: or, /pake judgments with him’, he feverely chid him, and upbraided him for the in- Jury he had done him; the perfidy he had been guilty of, in breaking his oath and covenant. So Fofephus fays, “ after he came to him, Nebuchad- “* nezzar began to call him a wicked man, and a ** covenant-breaker, unmindful of promifes he had ‘«’ made to preferve the country for him; he reproached him with ingratitude, in receiving the kingdom from him he had taken from Feboiachim, and given to him, who had ufed his power againft the giver; but, fays he, the great ** God that hates thy manners, has put thee into ** our hands,”. ¥. 6,

¥.6. Then the king of Babylon flew the fons of fell to him, that fell to the Chaldean army, during

Zedekiah in Riblab before his eyes, &c.] Not with his own hands, but gave orders to do it: thefe muft be very young, at leaft fome of them; fince the fiege of the city; and thofe that betook themfelves to. Nebuzaradan, and voluntarily furrendered themfelves to him afterwards: with the reft of the

Zedekiah at this time was but thirty-two years of people that remained, in other cities in the land of age. This muft bea dreadful fpectacle for him to behold; and the confideration muft be cutting, that it was owing to his own obftinacy, in not taking the advice of the prophet Yeremiab, to furrender to the Chaldeans, whereby he and his family would have been faved, ch. xxxviii. 17: alfo the king of Babylon flew all the nobles of Fudah; who did not come over to the Chaldean army, and furrender themfelves; fuch who advifed the king to ftand out to the laft, and who fled, and were taken with him; as many of them as fell into the hands of the king of Babylon. ‘archi fays, thofe were the Saubedrim, who loofed Zedekiah from his oath to Nebuchadnezzar.

¥. 7. Moreover he put out Zedekiak’s eyes, &c.] By what means is not certain; however, hereby the prophecy of Yeremiah was fulfilled, that his eyes fhould fee the king of Babylon, as they did, before they were put out, and that he fhould not die by the fword, ch. xxxiv. 3, 4. and alfo the prophecy of Lxekiel, ch. xii. 13. that he fhould be brought to Badylon, and yet fhould not fee it; for his eyes were put out before he was carried there: a full proof this of the prefcience of God; of his fore-knowledge of future and contingent events; of the truth and certainty of prophecy, and of the authority of divine revelation: and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon, with two brafs or iron chains, or fetters, for both his legs; and thus bound he was carried to Babylon, where he remained to the day of his death.

¥.8. And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s bouje, &c.] His palace: this was a month after the city was taken, as appears from ch. lii. 12, 13: and the houfes of the people with fire, the houfes of the common people, as diftinét from the king’s houfe, and the houfes of the great men, ch. lii. 13. tho’ Farchi interprets it, of the fynagogues. It is in the original text in the fingular number, she houfe of the people; which Abarbinel underftands of the temple, called, not the houfe of God, he haying departed from it; but the houfé of the people, a den of thieves; according to Adrichomius *, there was an houfe in Ferufalem called the houfe of the vulgar, or common people, where public feafts and fports were kept; but the former fenfe feems bet: and broke down the walls of Ferufalem; demolifhed all the fortifications of it, and entirely difmantled it, that it might be no more a city of force and ftrength, as it had been.

¥.9. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of thé guard, &c.] The Targum is, “* the captain of thofe that ** kill;” of the foldiers, of the militia. Some render it, the captain of the cooks; others, of the butchers; but no doubt it was a military office he bore; he was captain of the forces that were left in Ferufalem, after the other part went in purfuit of the king and thofe with him; or the captain;

of a company, being fent by the king of Babylon to execute a commiffion of his: the fame carried away into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, that were left of the peftilence, famine and {word; and who were found in it, when it was taken: and thofe that fell away, that

Fudab,. a ¥.10. But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people which had nothing in the land of Fudab, &c.| Becaufe they would have been of no fervice to the Chaldeans, but a burden to them; and becaufe they had nothing to fear from them; they had no arms to rebel againft them, nor money to purchafe any; and becaufe it would be to their intereft to have the land manured, and not lie wafte, that they might have fome tribute from it: and gave them vineyards and Jiclds at the fame time, as their own property, to drefs and cultivate, and receive the advantage of them; tho’ very probably a tax was laid upon them; or they were to pay tribute to the king of Babylon, or however, contribute out of them to the fupport of the government that was placed over them; and this was a happy incident in their favour; here was a ftrange change of circumftances with them; tho’ the nation in general was in di- {trefs;, they who before had nothing, are now proprietors of vineyards and fields, when the former owners were carried captive: there might be much of the juitice of God confpicuous in this affair;

{uch who had been opprefied, and ill ufed by the:

rich, are now retaliated with their poffeffions. The Targum is, ** and he appointed them to work in *¢ the fields and in the vineyards in that day.”

y. 11. Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Feremiah. to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, &c.] Of whom he had heard, by one or another of his generals or officers; who» had been informed by thofe Yews that deferted to them, that Yeremiah had prophefied of the taking of the city by the Chaldeans; had advifed the people to fall off to them; and had even exhorted the king and princes to furrender up the city, and themfelves, unto them; and that he had fuffered much on this account; wherefore the Lord put it into the heart of this monarch, otherwife not at all difpofed to the prophets of the Lord, to fhew regard to him; and therefore when he fent Nebuzaradan upon an expedition to Ferufalem, he gave him a particular charge concerning Yeremiab: Jaying, as follows:

¥. 12. Take him, and look well to him, &c.| Take him out of prifon; take him under your immediate care; receive him kindly, and ufe him humanely; provide every thing neceffary for him, and let him not want for any thing: or, fet thine eyes upon bim™; look pleafantly at him, and let him be always under your view and infpection; treat him not with neglect and contempt, but fee to it that nothing is wanting to him: end do him no harm; no injury to his perfon, by beating, imprifoning or ftarving him; nor fuffer any to be done to him, by the common foldiers, or by his own people: but do unto him even as be foall fay unto thee; let him have whatever he afks for: this was great favour from an heathen prince indeed, and more than he met with frorn his own countrymen.

y¥.13. So Nebuzaradan captain of the guard fent, &c.] ‘When he -was come to Ferufalem, one '

1 SMW 34 prafectus coquorum; fo fome in Vatablus; magifter laniorum, ow sy) agit 3 tuos pone fuper eum, Vulg. Lat. Vatab the firft things he did, was, he fent a meffenger or ameflengers to the court of the prifon where Yeremuah was, to bring him from thence; and this he did. not alone, but with the reft of the princes, who had the fame charge, and were joined in the commiffion with him: two of them are mentioned by name, Nebufhajbban-rabforis and Nergal-jharezerrabmeg; the latter of thefe is manifeftly one of the princes that firft entered Feru/alem, at the taking of it, ¥. 3. and perhaps the former is the fame with Sarfechim-rabjaris, as Fitilerus” thinks, mentioned at the fame time, who might have two names; unlefs we fuppofe there were two perfons in the fame office: ad all the king of Babylon’s princes; fo that great honour was done to the prophet, to have them all charged with this commiffion from the king; and to be fent unto, and for, by them) all.

¥.14. Even they fent and took Feremiah out of the court of the prifon, &c.) Where he was, when| Ferufalem was taken, ch. xxxviii. 28. and where he) remained until this order came: and committed bim | yinto Gedaliah the fou of Abikam the fon of Shaphan, the father of this perfon feems to be the fame who iaved Feremiah from being delivered into the hand of the people, to be put to death by them, in Ze- | boiakim’s reign, ch. xxvi. 24. and he himfelf was. doubtlefs a prince. of Fudab, that deferted to the Chaldeans during the fiege, and was in efteem with them, and appointed a governor over thofe that were left in the land: now what is here recorded, was not done immediately after Feremiah was taken out of the court of the prifon; for however it was, whether thro’ the multiplicity of bufinefs, or the neglect of inferior officers, who did not attend to the charge the captain of the guard gave them concerning Jeremiah; tho” he was taken out of prifon, he was bound in chains, and carried among the captives to Ramah; where, very probably, Nebuzaradan \ooking over his prifoners, to his’ great {urprife finds the prophet among them; when he releafed him, and, after fome difcourfe with him, fent him to Gedaliah; fee ch. xl. 1—5: that he yhould carry him home, or, to the houfe®, either to the houfe of Gedaliah, as Kimchi, or rather, to the houfe of Feremiah in Anathoth: fo be dwelt among the people; that were left in the land, being at full liberty.

y¥.15. Now the word of the Lord came unto Feremiah while he was fout up in the court of the prifon, &c.] This prophecy was before the taking of the city, and after the prophet had been took out of the dungeon by Eded-melech, tho’ here inferted after the city was taken; and that to fhew the great regard the Lord has to fuch who fhew favour to his prophets; for tho’ we have no account of the accomplifhment of this prophecy, there is no doubt to be made of it; and that Eded-melech was faved from the general deftruétion, as is here predicted: faying, as follows:

y¥. 16. Go, and {peak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, &c.] Not that the prophet was to go, or could go, out of prifon, to deliver this mefiage to Hbedmelech; but that he fhould, as he had opportunity, acquaint him with it; either by writing to him, or by word of mouth, when he fhould vifit him;

for no doubt he fometimes did, having fo great 4 refpect for the prophet: /aying, thus faith the Lord of hofts, the God of Ifrael, whomt Ebed-melech, tho? an Lthiopian, ferved; being a profelyte, and a good man; and therefore would liften unto, and believe what came from, ‘him: debold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not-for good; meaning the prophecies delivered out by Feremiab; which Lbed-melech was no ftranger to, thefe fhould be accomplifhed snot what promifed good, on condition. of repentance and amendment; but what threatened evil'to the city, and the inhabitants of it, even the deftruGtion of them: and they thall de accomplifhed in that day before thee, fignifying, that he fhould live till then, and his enemies would not be able to take away his life; and that he fhould fee with his eyes, all that was predicted, accomplifhed; and he himéelf fafe amidft all this.

¥. 17. But I will deliver thee in that day, Jaith the Lord, 8c.) As from the famine and_peftilence, fo from the fword of the Chaldeans, and from all. the evil that fhall come upon the tity in the day of its deftruction: and thou fhalt not be given into the band of the man of whom thou art afraid, for tho’ he was-a ‘bold and intrepid man, as appears by his charging the princes and primeminifters of ftate, with having done evil to the prophet, and that’ in the prefence of the king; yet at times he was not without his fedrs, which is the cafe of the beft of men; and whereas he knew the courtiers owed hima grudge, for the freedom he took with their characters before the king, and for his friendfhip to ‘feremiah, he might fear they would feek to do him a mifchief, and contrive his ruin, in fome way or another; but here he is affured he fhould not be given into their hands; or rather, as Yarchi, into the hands of the Chaldeans; for, as he believed in the Lord and his prophet, fo he knew that all that was predicted would certainly come to pafs, and that the city, with the king, his nobles, and the inhabitants of it, would fall into the hands of the Chaldeans; he might tremble at the righteous judgments of God, and fear that he himfelf would become a prey unto them, but here he is affured of the contrary.

y. 18. For I will furely deliver thee, &c.] Or, in delivering will deliver thee, this is a repetition and confirmation of what is promifed in the preceding verfe, and more fully explains it: and thou foalt not fall by the fword, by the fword of the Chaldeans, when the city fhould be taken, as: he feared he fhould: dut thy life fhall be for a prey unto thee; fhall be fafe; be like a prey taken out of the hand of the mighty, and be enjoyed beyond expectation, having been given up for loft; and therefore matter of the greater joy, fuch as is expreffed at the taking of fpoils: decaufe thou haft put thy truft in me, faith the Lord.’ ‘The Targum is, in my word, what he had done in ferving the prophet, and other good actions, fprung from a principle of faith and confidence in the Lord; and this the Lord had a refpect unto; without which works are not right; and without which it is impoffible to pleafe God with them; and which, faith may be, and be true, where fears are.

a WA HIS chapter treats of the releafe of ‘fereremiab, and the care taken of him; of the gathering of the princes and people of the Fews to Gedaliah, appointed their governor, difperfed about Yudea, and other countries; and of a confpiracy againft him, of which information was given him. The releafe of Feremiah, where, and by whom, ¥. 1, 2, 3, 4. the liberty granted him to go to Babylon, or ftay in Judea, as he thought fit; and if he chofe the latter, is advifed to go to Gedaliah appointed governor, or where he would; and is difmiffed with food, and a reward, ¥. 4, 5, 6. upon which he went and dwelt with Gedaliah, y¥.7. to whom alfo the captains of the difperfed forces joined themfelves, to whom he fwore, and bid them be of good cheer; and exhorted them to ferve the Chaldeans, which he urged from the profit of it to them, and by his: own example,

¥. 8,9, 10. and to whom alfo gathered the Jews in other countries, ¥. 11, 12. by the captains he is informed of a confpiracy again{t his life, and one of them offers to deftroy the confpirator, which Gedaliab would not agree to, difbelieving the information, ¥. 13, 14, 15, 16.

¥. 1. The word which came to Feremiah from the Lord, &c.] The word of prophecy, as the Zargum; but there being no prophecy in this and the following chapter, only a narration of facts, this is generally referred to what came ten days after, and which begins ch. xlii. 7. fo Farchi and Kimchi, all between being included in a parenthefis, or a relation of facts preparatory to lead on to it; tho’ Abarbinel takes it to be a general title to all hiftories and prophecies in this book from henceforward, to the end of it. ‘archi and Kimchi make mention of a Midra/b, which refers it to the fpecial word of the Lord to Jeremiah to go to Gedaliah, y. 5. interpreting that paflage as the words of the Lord, and not of Nebuzaradan; but Abarbinel’s fenfe feems beft. The time of this prophecy was after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah; which was a city in the land of Benjamin near Gibeon, feven miles trom Fevufalem, as Ferom *{fays; here Nebuzaradan had his rendezvous, whither he brought his captives as they fell into his’ hands, among whom were Feremiah: when he had taken him; out of the court of the prifon, and out of Yerufalem, and brought him to Ramah: bound in chains, among all them that were carried away captive of Ferufalem and Judah, that were carried away captive unto Babylon, how it came to pafs is not certain, but fo it was; that, tho’ by the orders of Nebuzaradan and the princes, agreeable to the command of the king of Babylon, Feremiah was taken out of the court of the prifon, yet was not fet free; but without the knowledge of Nebuzaradan, and thro’ the inadvertency of inferior officers, he was taken and bound, and with other prifoners brought to Ramah, in order to. be tranfported to Babylon, which lay in the way to it; for Ramab was to the north of Ferufalem, as Babylon was: thefe, chains were for the hands, or what we-call hand-cuffs, as Kimchi, Abarbinel, and Ben Melech obferve, and as appears from

¥.2. And the captain of the guard took Feremiah, &c.] When he muftered his prifoners, to his great furprife he found the prophet among them, whom he took out from them, and fet him free; tho’ before he difmiffed him, he had the following converfation with him: and {aid unto him, the Lord thy God bath pronounced this evil on this place; the city of Ferufalem, from whence the prophet, and the reft of the captives were juft brought, and which now lay in ruins; the houfes burnt; the walls broken down; and the inhabitants {poiled and carried captive. This was the evil which the Lord, he fays, had decreed, as the Targum renders it; had purpofed to bring upon it; and which he had declared and pronounced by the mouth of Jeremiah, whofe Lord God he was, being his prophet, and a worfhipper of him: this Nebuzaradan was apprifed of by the Fews that deferted to the Chaldeans; and particularly, as is probable, by Gedaliab.

¥.3. Now the Lord hath brought it, and done according as he bath faid, &c.] As he: purpofed, fo it came to pafs; as he foretold by his prophet, fo it was brought about by his providence. This heathen captain acknowledges the hand of the Lord in all this; and fuggefts, that his mafter, the king of Babylon, himfelf, and the reft of the generals, were only inftruments the Lord made ufe of; which is very pioufly, as well as wifely faid; and more is here acknowledged by him, than by the Fews themfelves; who were not willing to believe that God had determined evil againft shi or would bring it on them; at leaft, this they did not care to believe and own before, whatever they did now; he goes on to obferve the caufe of all this: decaufe ye have finned againft the Lord, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you; meaning not ‘eremiah particularly, but his countrymen; and perhaps he might turn himfelf to, and addrefs the captives that were before him. Here he vindicates the juftice of God; and afcribes the ruin of this people, not to the valour of Nesuchadnezzar and his captains; nor to the ftrength, and courage, and {fkilfulnefs of his army; or to any righteoufnefs and merits of the king of Babylon; or to the juftnefs of his caufe; but to the fins of the people.

¥. 4. And now behold, I loofe thee this day from the chains which were upon:thine bands, &c¢.) Or rather, ave; for when he faid thefe words, it is highly probable they were on him, tho’ now ordered to be taken off; thefe were not what were put upon him by the Fews, when in the court of the prifon; for rather, his legs, than his hands, would have had fetters on them there; but what were put upon him by the Chaldeans, when he fell into their hands; tho’ inadvertently done by the inferior officers, and without, the knowledge of the princes, or of this captain, who loofed them; with thefe he came manacled to Ramah, with the reft of the captives, but now were loofed in the fight of them: if it feem good unto thee to come with _ me unto Babylon, come, and I will look well unto thee; or, I will fet mine eyes upon thee“; as the king of Babylon had ordered him to do, ch. xxxix. 12. would favour him, protect him, prvi) for him, and. vfe him in the moft kind and. genetous manner: dut if it feem ill unto thee to come with me to Babylon, forbear, if it was not agreeable to him to leave his native country,, and to go into Babylon, he would not urge it, but leave him:to his liberty; yea, would advile him to continue where he was, and not take one-ftep out of it: debold, all the land is before thee;, the land of Fudea; which was at the difpofal. of the king of Babylon; and. Feremiab has, a-grant from him by his officer, to, fettle where he pleafed:: whither it feemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go; he left him to take his own way, and do as he thought fit; and this agrees with his majter’s orders to him, ch. XXXIX,! 12.

¥. 5: Now while be was not yet gone back, he faid, go back aljo to Gedaliah, &c.| Thefe words, by different verfions, are made difficult to be underftood, both whofe words they are, and of whom they are fpoken. archi makes them to be words of God,, and, the fenfe this, ‘* and by all this, he “* (Jeremiah) had no mind to return;.and God “ {aid to him, go back to Gedaliab.” According to the Tangum, they are the words of Nebuzaradan, which paraphrafes them thus: ‘‘ if thou wilt not < return (that is, with him to Badyloy, or rather “© to Ferufalem, or, belt. to his own. native: place) “¢ or if thou wilt not dwell (that is, in this -place) * go back to Gédeliah.” But of whom they are fpoken, interpreters differ. Some fay of Zedekiah, as Cocteius; while he (Zedekiah), does not return, that is, to, ferufalem; which, pofibly he might, tho” as yet not determined by the king of Badylon, in the mean while is bid to go to Gedaliah, appointed governor. Others of Gedales thus, while he (Geda- Hiab) does not return, but ftays at Aizpah, go ta him thither. Tho’ it feems beft to underftand it of Jeremiah, who having had leave from the captain, did not immediately fet out any where; but feeming to be at a lofs which way to go, Nebuzaradan gives him his advice; that feeing he did not care to go to Babylon, that he would go to Gedaliah, the fon of Abikam, the fon of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over all the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; this was one of the princes of Fudab, who during the fiege went over to the Chaldeans, and who was in great efteem with them; and being, no doubt, recommended to the king of Babylon by his generals, he made him governor of the land wnder him: or go wherever it feemeth convenient unto thee to go; tho’ he gave him his advice, he did not prefs it, but left him at full liberty to take his own way, and go into what part of the land he-pleafed, and fettle in it: /o the captain of the guard gave him vittuals, and a reward, and let him go; the prophet was juft come out of prifon, and deftitute of the neceffaries of life, and the land was laid wafte by the enemy; and therefore he could not have fubfifted without a fupply, which was liberally given by the captain; not only food for prefent refrefhment, and fufficient for his journey, which way foever he took, but a prefent of money, or cloaths, or both; which was very kind ufage of a prophet, by an heathen officer.

¥. 6. Then went Jeremiah to Gedaliah the fon of Abikam to, Mizpab, &¢.) A city in the tribe of Benjamin, not tar front Remathon, which, as Fo- Jephus fays, was about forty furlongs from ferufalem. ‘Feremiah took the captain’s advice, tho’ it might have becn Berter with him; had he gone along with him to Babylon; but he chofe rather to dwell im his.own land, and fuffer affliction with the people of God, than to dwell at eafe in a fo- feign and idolatrous land: and dwelt with him

among the people that were left in the ladd; among

the poor people that Nebuzeradan left, who dwelt oa at Mizpab, or at. dnathoth, and lived as they id.)

¥. 7. Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields; 8c.] Not the captains of the king of Badylon’s forces, but the captains of the king of Fudab’s forces; who either during the fiege had lurked in the fields and villages; not daring to fall upon the Chaldean army, or attempt to raife the fiege; or rather, who fled with Zedekiah from. Ferufalem, whem the city was taken, and who deferted him; when he was apprehended, and fhifted for themfelves, and were difperfed about in the country, where they continued for fome little time: but when they and their men; their fervants, or rather the common foldiers that were under them: heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the fon of Abikam governor in the land; his viceroy, or deputy-governor in the land of Judea; being a prince of confiderable note among the~ Jews, and in high favour with the king of Babylon: and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive unto Babylon; even as many men, women, children, and poor, as were left in the land; and not carried captive; thefe were all committed to the care of this prince; to rule over and govern them; to keep them in fubjection to the king of Babylon; to employ them in cultivating the land, from whence fome profit might arife to the conqueror and new proprietor x..8. Then they came to Gedaliab to Mizpab, &c.} Waving heard that the Chaldean army was gone, and fo were in no fear of that; and alfo that Gedaliah was made deputy-governor, one of their own nation, a pious, prudent, good man, a man of ingenuity, mildnefs, and integrity, under whofe government they might expect to live comfortably; and which was much preferable to captivity in a foreign country, tho’ tributary to Bady-. lon: even Ifhmael the fon of Nethaniah; who was of the feed royal, ch. xli. 1: and Fohanan and Fonathan the fons of Kareab; two brothers, but who they were, or their father, is not known; no men tion being made of them, but in this ftory: and Seraiah the fon of Tanhumeth; who he was, is alfo uncertain: and the fons of Epbai the Netopbathite; fo called from Netophah, a city of the tribe of Fudab near Bethlebem, and are mentioned together, Ezra ii: 22. Neb. vii. 26. the Netophathites inhabited feveral villages, 1 Chron. ix. 16: mention is made in the A4G/nic ‘ writings, of artichokes and olives this place was famous for: and Fezaniah the fon of a Maachathite; a family fo called from Maacha; Caleb’s concubine, 1 Chron. ii. 48: they and their men; thefe generals, and the forces under their command,

¥. 9: And Gedaliah, the fon of Abikam; the fon of Shaphan, fware unto them, and to their men, &c.} They might exprefs their fears, that fhould they continue with Gedaliah, as they were inclined to do, could they be fafe; that feeing they had encouraged Zedekiah to hold out the fiege to the lait againtt thé Chaldeans, and theytfhould hear where they were, would demand them, and they fhould be taken and delivered up, into their hands;: upon which Gedeiah not only promifes them: fafety, but fwears to them, that they fhould live fafely with him, and never be delivered;up to: the'Chaldeans, in’all other neighbouring countries, befides Mead, Ammon, and Edom; fome fleeing one way, and, fome another, which lay neareft*to their borders, or where they thought themfelves fafeft » when they beard that the king of Babylon bad left a vemnant of Fudab; a few of their brethren, to cultivate and that he would undertake to indemnify them, and preferve them::. faying, fear not. to ferve the Chaldeans; as if it was an evil to do it; or as if their yoke was hard and intolerable; or as if it would be unprofitable,.and*turn to no: account; or they-fhould be. alwayszin danger of their lives: dwell in the land, and ferve. the king of Babylon, and it fhall be well. with.you;.fettle in the land, and don’t rove about from place to place like fugitives » nor go out of the land through fear of the king of Babylon, but; continue in it, and live in fubjeétion to. him, and. depend.upon it» you «will live comfortably and fafely.

¥. 10. As for me, 1 will dwell at Mizpab, to ferve the Chaldeans that come. unto us, 8cc.| Here he urges his own example, as before their welfare, to engage them to dwell.in the land, and ferve the Chaldeans; this was what he had determined to do, and had fixed upon Mizpch, ‘a frontiertown, and in the way to.Babylon, as a proper feat of refidence for him, as a governor under the king of Badbylen:.to ferve the Chaldeans, or, to fiand before them"; that fhould come to him as mefiengers from the king of Babylon, to receive: tribute, or bring orders to him;: all) which he-would take care of, as well as be an advocate for the Jews, and plead on their behalf, for favours to be beitowed on them; and particularly for thefe gene: rals and their forces, that they might be pardoned, and dwell {ately in the land: -he fuggefts, that they need not trouble themfelves about thefe things, all the land, and repeople it: and that be had fet over them Gedaliah, the fon of Ahikam, the fon of Sha~ phan; whom, they knew to be a wife and go man; thefe were engaging motives’'to them, to return’ to their own land, being more defitable to live in than any other, could they enjoy peace and fafety; and to dwell with their brethren, | their own countrymen, and. of the fame religion with them, was more eligible, than to dwell in’ foreign — idolatrous countries; and -efpecially, fince there was a government eftablifhed to’ proteét and de-— fend them, and‘that in the hands of fo worthy aprince as Gedaliah. ar yv. 12. Even all the Fews returned from all places whither they were driven, &c.] Thro” fear of the Chaldean army; they came all of them from the feveral countries before-mentioned; fo that here was like to be a happy fettlement, and a flourifhing commonwealth again; here being princes and generals, foldiers and common people, in large numbers, that were returned and coalefced under the ~ government of Gedalich: and came to the land of Fudab,'to Gedaliab unto Mizpah; they came out of the feveral countries where they had been for fome time, and entered the land of Fudab; but did not take up their abode any where, till they had prefented themfelves to the governor, and put themfelves under his protection; promifing, no doubt, to regard him as fuch, and to be tributary to the Chaldeans; being affured by him, as the generals and their forces before, that all would be affairs of this kind he would take upon himfelf to tranfact; fo that they would, have nothing to fear, nor any thing to do, but as follows: but ye, gather ye wine, and fummer-fruits, and cil, that*is,

‘grapes to make wine of, and olives to make oil of, and fummer-fruits,.fuch as figs and apples. The Targum interprets it. lumps of figs; and fo

Ferchi; tor fruits of trees. are meant, and not fruits of the earth, as corn and wheat; for both barley and wheat-harvefts were over before this stime; the city being taken sin Fu/y, and a month after that, Nebuzaradan came and carried off the captives, and Jeft the poor with Gedaliab, appointed governor.

fummer. And put them in your veffels; cafks, bottles, and: fuch like veffels, fuitable to the things mentioned, and which were in common ufe, in order to be laid up for winter; and as they ufed to do in times of peace, not fearing any enemy

It may be rendered, autumnal its”; for th d fienifie fruits”; tor the word fignifies autumn, as well as well with them, giving them free liberty to fettle in the cities and villages to which they belonged; and accordingly they fet out from Mizpab, and went to their refpective habitations they had abandoned: and gathered wine and fummer-fruits very much, fee on ¥. 10. the people of the land being carried captive; and the Cha/dean army not having ravaged thefe parts, or however had left an abundance of fruits, which thefe people at their return found, and gathered. ' y. 13. Moreover, -Fohanan the fon of Kareah, &c.] Who feems to be the principal captain next to I/-mael, againft whom an information is brought, and fo not prefent; this captain is here only men- or that had been in the fields, and probably might rator: thefe came to Gedaliah to Mizpah they had tioned by name, and before next to Ybmael: and _ all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, — be there again; fee y. 7. that is, the reft of them, — befides ‘obanan mentioned, and J/hmael the confpi-

.to come and take them from them: and dwell in your cities which ye have taken; not by: force of arms, or as they pleafed; but which they had held in poffeffion formerly as the: inheritances of their families, and which they had lately re-affumed, or might however enter upon the quiet 'poffeffion of.

¥- 11. Likewife, when all the Fews that were in Moab, &c.| Who had fled thither, and to the places after-mentioned, when the king of Babylon firft invaded. the land, and where they had:continued unto this time: and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries;

been with him before, and being fatisfied by him of the fafety they would be in, in the fervice of ° — the Chaldeans, under him, either returned to the fields from whence they came, or went to thofe — cities and villages he directed them to; ‘but like — honeft and faithful men, knowing there was a confpiracy againit his life, came in a body to in | form him of it, for the greater certainty of it; as judging he would be more ready ‘to give heed unto it, than if only a fingle perfon had informed him | of it, as well as to fhow their affection and to him. Sag v inde, Tou ERE ePRNeE ©