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By Dr Peter Pett BA BD (Hons-London) DD
SECTION 1 continued.
Subsection 6). Lessons From The Potter and The Subsequent Persecution Of Jeremiah (18.1-20.18).
This subsection commences with the usual kind of formula, ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH --’ (18.1). Chapters 18-19 then contain two oracles from God illustrated in terms of the Potter and his handiwork, which bring out on the one hand God’s willingness to offer mercy, and on the other the judgment that is about to come on Judah because of their continuance in sin and their refusal to respond to that offer. The consequence of this for Jeremiah, in chapter 20, is severe persecution, including physical blows and harsh imprisonment. This results in him complaining to YHWH in his distress, and cursing the day of his birth.
The Lesson Of The Patient Potter (18.1-10).
In one of the most beautiful illustrations in the Old Testament YHWH illustrates His readiness ever to show mercy in the lesson of the patient potter. It is a real life parable which has a lesson for us all. In it the potter is at work on his wheel manipulating the clay in order to turn it into a fine vessel, and when the clay fails fully to respond ‘and is marred in the hand of the potter’, he does not throw it away but patiently ‘makes it again’ until it becomes what he wants it to be.
The potter represents God as the One Who act in sovereign power, and the clay represents God’s people, a clay which so often resists the work of the Potter. And the final lesson is that if men repent and seek to do good, then any evil He has purposed against them will not come about, whilst if those on Whom He intends to show favour turn back to disobedience and evil ways He will change His mind about any good that He intended to do towards them. It was a warning to ‘the house of Israel’ (Israel/Judah) of the opportunity open to them to repent, and of what would follow if they did not repent.
18.1 ‘The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,’
Once again it is emphasised that the word which Jeremiah speaks is the word of YHWH.
18.2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”
One day YHWH came to him and told him to go down to the potter’s house where He had a lesson to teach him, and a new word to speak to him. Jeremiah must have been somewhat intrigued as to what YHWH could say to him at the Potter’s house which he could not say elsewhere, but being obedient he did as he was told. It is a reminder to us that while we may well not always understand why God tells us to do certain things, it is wise to do as He requests.
The idea of YHWH as the Potter was not a new one. The germ of the idea is found in Genesis 2.7 where YHWH God shaped man from the dust of the ground. This idea was then expanded on in Job 10.8-9; 33.6 and came to full fruit in Isaiah 29.16; 45.9; 64.8, where it stresses God’s right to do what He would with His own..
18.3 ‘Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he was fashioning a work on the wheels (literally ‘the two stones’).’
So Jeremiah went down to the potter’s house and watched him at work on his ‘wheels’ as he fashioned the clay. The potter’s wheels consisted of one wheel near the ground which could be turned with the potter’s feet, which had an attached shaft going upwards to another wheel, which resulted in the upper wheel also turning in unison with the lower wheel. The clay was then put on the spinning upper wheel and shaped by the potter’s hands as it went round and round.
18.4 ‘And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.’
And as Jeremiah watched the potter at work he saw how he took the wet clay in his hands and sought to shape it on the spinning wheel. But it was soon clear to him that all was not well, for the clay was not responding to the potter’s expert hands, with the result that the vessel ended up something of a messy mass. What then did the potter do? Did he toss the clay away in disgust? No, he patiently brought the clay together again, and then refashioned it into another vessel, producing from the clay a vessel which was in accordance with his wishes.
18.5 ‘Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying,’
And it was through what Jeremiah had seen in the house of the potter that the word of YHWH came to him.
18.6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says YHWH. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
The lesson was that the Potter was YHWH, and that ‘the house of Israel’ were like the clay in the Potter’s hands. And the point was that He wanted to shape them into something that could be usable in His service. But He then goes on to stress that this will only be possible if they respond to His will.
18.7-8
The first example is of a kingdom which YHWH has determined in His sovereignty (it is the result of His sovereign word) to ‘pluck up, break down and destroy’ because of its sinfulness. Note how this connects with His words in the first part of 1.10 where Jeremiah was to be the prophetic instrument through whom He would do this. He is now therefore fulfilling His word. And the promise is that if that kingdom will begin to respond to His hands and will turn from its evil path then He will relent of the evil that He had intended to do to its people. He will ‘make them again’.
18.9-10
The second example is of a nation which He has determined to build up and plant (tying in with the last part of 1.10). And the warning is that if this nation does not respond to His nurturing, but instead does evil in His sight and is disobedient, then He will change His mind about the good that He had intended to do to them.
Both examples had a lesson for ‘the house of Israel’. Initially they had been the nation that He had intended to build up and to plant. But almost the whole nation had turned to evil ways and had been disobedient. Thus YHWH had changed His mind about the good that He had intended to do to them, and had now determined to pluck them up, break them down and destroy them, apart of course from the believing few. But He was giving the majority one last chance. If they now turned from their evil ways and once more became obedient then He would ‘make them again’ into what He wanted them to be. It was an offer of full mercy and forgiveness on the condition of repentance.
It will be noted that although God ‘changes His mind’ in both examples, it is not as a result of feeling that He has made the wrong decision, nor an indication that He is not on overall control, but is as a gracious response to man’s change of mind. By repenting (or otherwise) man can determine what action God will take towards him, because God is consistent and in His sovereignty takes note of it and shapes His plan accordingly. God thus acts consistently and sovereignly in all cases, showing mercy to the repentant and bringing judgment on the unrepentant while at the same time bringing about His will.
We see a later fulfilment of this in the words of Jesus in Matthew 21.43, ‘Truly I tell you, the Kingly Rule of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruits.’ The Kingly Rule of God would be given to the believing remnant, who would eventually become a great multitude forming God’s new people, while the remainder would be cast off.
Because Of Their Refusal To Respond To His ‘Shaping’ He Will Now ‘Shape’ Evil Against Them Unless They Now Repent. His Offer Being Turned Down God Calls On The Nations To Be Astonished Witnesses Of Their Perfidy, Something Which Will Result In Their Destruction (18.11-17).
The lesson of the Potter’s house was that YHWH had given His people every hope for the future if only they would but repent. But in view of the fact that they refuse to do so He now declares that He will apply His Pottery skills to shaping evil against them. As a consequence He calls on the nations to be a witness to their perfidy, drawing out the fact that the seemingly impossible has happened in that His people, contrary to what is to be seen as true in nature, have rejected YHWH’s spiritual provision and have turned to what is false, thus making themselves a spectacle to the nations and a target for God’s judgments.
18.11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
The word that Jeremiah was to speak was the word of YHWH to both the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to both countryside and city.
His warning was that He would use His Pottery skills to ‘shape’ evil against them. (the root of the verb is the same as that for ‘the Potter’), and to ‘think a thought’ (devise a scheme) against them, unless each of them now returned from his evil way, resulting in them amending their ways and their doings. Note the individual plea within the general demand. As always there would be a true remnant who would respond. They represented the true Israel.
18.12 “But they say, ‘It is a waste of time (‘it is hopeless’), for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart’ ”
The words put in the mouths of the people is expressing the truth of their situation in God’s eyes rather than what they actually say. They almost certainly did not see themselves as ‘stubborn in consequence of the evil of their hearts’. They probably thought rather that Jeremiah was being unreasonable.
But YHWH declares that their actual response indicates what they are really thinking, and that is that God and Jeremiah are wasting their time in trying to get them to repent. The wording is expressive, ‘it is noash’ (‘it’s no use, it is hopeless’ - see its use in 2.25; Isaiah 57.10). And it was hopeless because of the stubbornness of their evil hearts, which meant that they were not prepared to listen to God but would choose rather to walk according to their own devices. Their heels were dug in against obeying God because they were sinful and obstinate, something equally reflected in our own day.
18.13
YHWH then calls on all observers to ask among the nations whether they have ever heard of such things as the behaviour of Israel/Judah. Let them recognise that ‘the virgin of Israel’ has done a very dreadful thing. The contrast between ‘virgin’ and ‘dreadful thing’ is deliberate in order to bring out the greatness of her sin. For a virgin to lose her virginity outside of marriage in those days was a terrible thing (even though the menfolk did not feel the same about themselves). The description ‘virgin of Israel’ looks back to the period when Israel/Judah were pure in the wilderness immediately after leaving Egypt. At that stage their ways had been pure and they had not been involved in idolatry. It may well also be that in their better times, when they had at times refrained from idolatry they had actually gained a jeering reputation among their neighbours as ‘the virgin of Israel’ because of their seeming fastidiousness.
But now the virgin of Israel has done a dreadful thing, she has turned away from the true source of her spiritual life (2.12-13 - note the same shocked tone there) and has consorted with idols and their sexually depraved worship. She has lost her spiritual virginity. For a similar idea to that of Judah as ‘the virgin of Israel’ compare 2.2-3; 6.2; 14.17; Isaiah 1.8. She is being pictured in her initial purity when her whole heart was set on YHWH (Exodus 19.5-6).
18.14
Her falling away from the source of her spiritual life, her well-spring of living water, and the seeming impossibility of it actually occurring is put in vivid terms. It is to be seen as being rationally impossible, in the same way as it would be rationally impossible for the snows of the mountains of Lebanon not to provide refreshing streams down their rolling slopes. It is as unlikely as the cold waters from Mount Hermon (from afar, outside the land) failing to feed the Jordan (within the land) because (impossibly) they have dried up, or the Sudanese mountains failing to feed the Nile for the same reason.
18.15
But the shocking and dreadful thing is that that is precisely what the virgin of Israel has done. They have forgotten YHWH, the source of their spiritual life, and have gone after other supposed sources of life. They have burned incense to what is false, they have been made to stumble in their ways by the attractions of idolatry, they have left the security of the built up high road and have chosen the ancient paths, the rough by-paths which have not been upraised and are not safe. (The King’s Highway, the main trade route east of Jordan, and other similar roads, were built up so as to be a raised causeway above their surrounds).
18.16
And as a result Judah have made their land something to be astonished at because of their folly, something to be permanently hissed at (like the villain in a fairy tale), so that everyone who passes by will shake their heads in astonishment, and ask, how could they have done such a thing?
18.17
And as a consequence YHWH will bring their enemy against them like an east wind, a wind that sears and burns like the parching east wind from the desert (compare Jonah 4.8; Psalm 48.7; Isaiah 27.8). And when He does this, and they cry to Him for help as the calamity comes on them, He will turn His back on them, showing His back and not His face, in the same way as they had previously done to Him (2.27). (To have His face turned towards them would have indicated that He was there to assist them).
The People Respond In Vindictiveness To Jeremiah’s Message (18.18).
The people were not best pleased with Jeremiah’s prophecies and asked themselves whether in fact they really needed him when they were surrounded with those who could give them the good advice that they needed.
18.18 ‘Then they said, “Come, and let us scheme schemes against Jeremiah, for the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
Comparison with verse 11 demonstrates that they are indulging in tit for tat. So according to Jeremiah YHWH would ‘devise devices’ against them would He? Very well then. They will devise devices (plan strategies) against Jeremiah. For why did they need him? Did they not have the priests to expound to them the Law, the wise men to give them counsel and advice, and the prophets to bring them the word of YHWH? (An interesting depiction of the various talents seen as available in Judah, compare Ezekiel 7.26). And was it likely that their talents and knowledge would all suddenly disappear? (Compare 2.8; 8.9 for YHWH’s assessment of such people).
Their plan was to destroy Jeremiah with their words (‘with the tongue’), while at the same time refusing to listen to him (although easier said than done). They would accuse him of being a false prophet whose prophecies never came about (they asked themselves in a superior tone, had they not waited long enough?), they would spread slanders about him (compare 9.2, 4, 7), they would seek to demean him as a fanatic, and if he was not careful they would shut his mouth for good. Furthermore they would cover up their ears when he spoke. Once they had finished with him he would not know where to put himself.
Jeremiah’s Distress At Their Treatment Of Him And His Violent Reaction To It (18.19-23).
Jeremiah was naturally disturbed by this suggestion. But while recognising that Jeremiah’s subsequent response does not match up to the teaching of Jesus Christ we do have to remember that he had not had the benefit of hearing Him. We must not judge Old Testament saints by New Testament standards. Even they could not have conceived of the sacrificial love that Jesus Christ had come to bring. Indeed it is this that demonstrates the supreme moral status of Jesus Christ above all others. No one else ever dared to teach that we should love our enemies, bless those who persecute us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who use us badly. He was unique. It went against all that seemingly seemed rational.
Jeremiah had, after all, good reason for his distress and anger. He had fought for his people with YHWH, seeking to turn His wrath away from them, and he had loved them and had prayed for them even in the face of opposition and derision, yet all that they had done in return was to recompense him evil for good and dig a pit for him to fall into. In other words they had ‘fought’ with him (compare Psalm 35.1) and then they had sought by every means to bring him down, to entrap him, and then to bury him (compare Psalm 57.6).
Furthermore we must recognise that what he was asking for was what he knew that YHWH had actually already declared that He would do to them. He was not trying to persuade YHWH to go against His otherwise merciful inclinations, but was simply showing that he had become so exasperated and upset that he had finally been persuaded to agree with Him. In other words he was demonstrating that he had finally been brought to the position of admitting that YHWH had been right after all. Can we criticise a man who takes up such a position when all that he is doing is agree that YHWH should carry out what He had already declared was His will in respect of them? He is simply agreeing that he now realises just how sinful and reprobate this people are, and that there is no hope for them (as they had themselves said) and confirming that he is resigned to YHWH doing what He had already purposed because he has nothing further to say in their defence. Every sentence of his cry to YHWH is in fact paralleled by previous declarations of YHWH indicating what He intended to do. We might even say, how could Jeremiah then have asked otherwise? And yet, with the example of Jesus Christ before us, we do ask that question, because we are called on to see things differently (compare Luke 9.54-55).
18.19-20
He asks YHWH to take note of the way that the people were arguing with him and disputing his words (the word of YHWH), contending with him about every little thing; how they were recompensing him evil for good; how they had constantly sought to entrap and smother him; and how they had ignored the fact that he had stood before YHWH on their behalf and had tried to turn away His wrath from them. He had good cause to be aggrieved.
18.21
He therefore now basically admits that he has been wrong and calls on YHWH to carry out His stated purpose on the people. Let Him do His will. For the deliverance of their children to famine and the sword see, for example, 14.16, 18; 15.2. For their wives being childless see 15.8-9; 16.3-4, 6. For their wives becoming widows see 15.8. For them and their young men being slain see 11.22-23; 14.16, 18;15.2; 16.3-4, 16. This was what YHWH had already commanded him to proclaim, while warning him not to pray for them because it was too late and the people had gone beyond the mark of what was acceptable. In view of the constant antagonism that he faced he can hardly therefore be castigated for echoing what YHWH had drummed into him as being His will, an antagonism which did after all reveal that YHWH was right.
18.22
Then he prays (no doubt without thinking through fully what the actual consequence would be in terms of the cruelty involved) that the people might be taken by surprise in their houses as YHWH brought a military unit upon them, in the same way as by their traps they had sought to take him by surprise.
Here his prayer is more related to his own direct experience. These people had constantly sought to trap and ensnare him in all manner of ways, and to take him by surprise, and so he prays that they might, as YHWH has said, also find themselves similarly trapped as the enemy came upon them, so that they had to cry out in anguish and despair, and experience for themselves something of what they had made Jeremiah experience. He was asking that they reap what they had sown.
18.23
Finally he draws YHWH’s attention to the way in which they had constantly plotted against him to kill him. We see in this a mirror image of what our Lord Jesus Christ also experienced in His life on earth, as He too faced constant plots against His life (Matthew 12.14; 27.1; Mark 3.6; Luke 6.11; etc.). And we recognise that Jesus’ response was of a different kind to Jeremiah’s as He prayed, ‘Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.’ But that is precisely the point. A greater and more compassionate than Jeremiah was now here, the submissive Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52.13-53.12), the ‘Lamb as it had been slain’, in contrast with the hurt and bewildered ‘pet lamb led to the slaughter’ (11.19).
So Jeremiah prays (as YHWH has already made clear will be the situation) that He will not pardon their sins nor forgive their iniquity, but will rather allow them to be overthrown as they are dealt with by YHWH in His anger, an anger of which he himself has constantly been made aware (4.8, 26; 7.18, 20, 29; 8.19; 11.17; 12.13; 15.14; 17.4), and which earlier he had tried to avert on their behalf (verse 20). This was not, however, a prayer for their eternal condemnation, which was not an idea in Jeremiah’s mind at the time, but was a prayer that they might not be spared what was their due at that time (their overthrowing) by a sudden act of mercy. He had had enough of their behaviour towards him and towards YHWH. Let them reap what they had sown. He was thinking in the short term not the long term. So yes, we may say that he fell short of the ideal, but there are very few even today, with Jesus’ teaching echoing in their ears, who would have responded in any better way. He was essentially a prophet who was admitting that he himself had been wrong to want mercy for the people because they had gone too far, and was therefore asking YHWH to fulfil what He had made him prophesy. But we cannot, even as we say this, deny a certain level of understandable vindictiveness which he would have done better to have avoided (and would have had he been Jesus Christ)
The Lesson Of The Potter’s Vessel (19.1-15).
Jeremiah was now called on to perform a prophetic ritual through which he would vividly depict what was to happen to Judah and Jerusalem. This too was in terms of a potter. He was to buy a potter’s earthenware vessel (the word baqbuq indicates a jar with a long narrow neck and the Hebrew word is intended to sound like the gurgling of liquid as it leaves such a jar. In order to bring this out we could translate a ‘gurgle jar’) and in the presence of the elders of Judah, both priestly and lay, he was then to hurl it into the Valley of Hinnom where it would smash to pieces. The vessel represented Israel/Judah, bought by YHWH for a price when He redeemed them from Egypt, and the smashing indicated what YHWH was about to do to them, partly because of their antics in the Valley of Hinnom. He was about to hurl them away from Him and smash them in pieces.
We have already seen in 18.1-4 that the potter’s workmanship represented ‘the house of Israel’, and so the purchase of the long necked, earthen ‘gurgle-jar’ (baqbuq) represented YHWH’s ‘purchase’ of Israel/Judah out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 20.2). But unlike the other, this jar was hardened in its shape and could no longer be ‘made again’. It was what it was. Thus if judged as unsatisfactory all that remained was to smash it. It was beyond reforming. The particular reason for it being termed a ‘gurgle-jar’ is brought out in verse 7 where YHWH was to ‘gurgle out’ (baqaq) the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem into the Valley of Hinnom.
Jeremiah was then to call on the elders of the people (their authoritative tribal leaders) and the elders of the priests (elsewhere called ‘the chiefs of the priests’ (2 Chronicles 36.14) or the ‘heads of the priests’ (Nehemiah 12.7)) and take them with him to the gate that led out of the city into the Valley of Hinnom. The fact that they were willing to go with him, even though they despised him, was an indication of the awe in which he was held, and the effectiveness of his presence. They were presumably aware of his previous enactments (e.g. 13.1-7) and no doubt wanted to know what he intended to do next, especially if it related to the Valley of Hinnom which had a certain reputation. The verb ‘take’ is not in the Hebrew and we are probably intended to carry forward the ‘go’ so as to embrace these elders (i.e. ‘go with --’). But the idea is right.
The Valley of the sons of Hinnom was well known both as a rubbish dump and as a centre of Molech worship in which human sacrifices were offered (7.31). The Gate Harsith may well mean ‘the Sherd Gate’ This may have been either the Fountain Gate or the Dung Gate (see Nehemiah 3.13-15), or it may have been a small postern gate through which broken pottery (sherds) was cast into the Valley. And once Jeremiah had gathered the elders at the Sherd Gate he was to proclaim to them YHWH’s words prior to his visual display with the ‘gurgle-jar’.
19.3 “And say, Hear you the word of YHWH, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle.”
He was to call on the elders (who were seen as representatives of the kings of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem) in YHWH’s Name as YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel, and inform them that He was bringing on ‘this place’ such evil that it would make the ears of men ‘tingle’ just to hear of it. A similar expression was used in 1 Samuel 3.11 connected with a prophecy related to the destruction of the earlier Sanctuary at Shiloh, thus it contained within it a veiled warning of what was to happen to the Temple. (Compare also 2 Kings 21.12 for another use of the phrase). ‘This place’ strictly means the Valley of Hinnom/Topheth (see verse 6) but was intended also to include all Jerusalem (verses 7, 12-13).
19.4-5 “Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings to Baal, which I did not command, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind,”
The reason for YHWH’s judgment is now given. It was because they had forsaken Him, and had ‘made foreign’ the place in which they were now standing, by burning incense in it to other gods, foreign gods which they had not known previously. And He adds that they had also filled the whole of Jerusalem with the blood of innocent people, and especially that they had built ‘the high places of Baal’ in order to ‘burn their sons in the fire’ for burnt offerings to Baal, something which YHWH had not only not commanded but was also something which He would not take on His lips or even think about it because it was so horrible.
Alternately the ‘estrangement’ may signify estrangement from YHWH, but the consequence is the same for to hand it over to false gods both estranged it from YHWH and treated it as foreign.
Note the threefold progression from one increasing horror to another:
The last part of this verse together with verses 6-7 are very similar in wording to 7.31-32a. It was clearly something at the very heart of Jeremiah’s and YHWH’s condemnation of Israel/Judah.
‘Topheth’ may mean ‘the hearth’ (tephath with the vowels altered to the vowels of bosheth = shame) indicating that it was a place of burning. The high places were erected there by the people for the purpose of offering their children as human sacrifices ‘in the fire’. This is stated to be against all that YHWH had taught. It was ‘beyond His imagination’. He had of course once called Abraham to sacrifice his son, but only so that He could teach the lesson that such sacrifice was not required (Genesis 22). Topheth was in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, an ancient valley known by that name as early as the time of Joshua (Joshua 15.8; 18.16), probably after its owner. This valley was also used for the burning of refuse, something which eventually made it a symbol of God’s fiery judgment (Gehenna = ge hinnom = the valley of Hinnom). To look over the walls of Jerusalem at night at the refuse fires continually burning far below in the valley must have been an awesome sight and readily recalled God’s fiery judgment.
Here Jeremiah linked these human sacrifices with the worship of Baal (‘lord’), although in most of the Old Testament they are connected with the fierce Ammonite god named Molech (melech = king, altered to take the vowels of bosheth = shame) who was worshipped throughout the area (e.g. 2 Kings 23.10). This suggests a certain syncretism between the two gods, which may well have taken place because Molech was called ‘Lord Melech’ = Baal Melech = ‘Lord King’.
19.6 “Therefore, behold, the days come, says YHWH, that this place will no more be called Topheth, nor The Valley of the son of Hinnom, but The Valley of Slaughter.”
YHWH now warns that the day was coming when that particular valley would no longer be called Topheth, nor the valley of ben-Hinnom, but would be called the Valley of Slaughter, the idea being that it would subsequently become a graveyard for the huge number who would be slaughtered when the invasion came, and would also be the repository for many unburied corpses (see 7.32, ‘they will bury in Topheth until there is no place left for burying.’). It had been rendered unclean by the activities conducted there. It would therefore be made even more unclean as a result of the dead that it would contain.
19.7 “And I will make void (literally ‘I will pour out’ or ‘gurgle out’) the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life, and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.”
Having in mind the symbolism of the narrow-necked gurgling jar (baqbuq) YHWH declares that He will ‘pour out’ (baqaq) the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, that is, He would reveal their counsel for what it was by pouring it out on Jerusalem’s rubbish heap, and on its place of slaughter and potential graveyard. And the consequence will be that YHWH will cause the badly guided people of Judah to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life, and this will be followed by their dead bodies being given as food to the vultures and the beastly scavengers (compare 7.33), always considered the most hideous of fates.
19.8 “And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing. Every one who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues ,”
So great will be the plagues that come on Jerusalem that the city will be ‘an astonishment’ and a total spectacle to be ‘hissed at’, so that all who pass by it will be astonished and hiss because of them (compare Lamentations 2.15-16). And this will be the result of the activity of YHWH, especially as described in the next verse.
19.9 “And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, by which their enemies, and those who seek their life, will distress them.”
For in words based on YHWH’s curse as pronounced in Deuteronomy 28.53 on those who would be disobedient to His covenant, YHWH declares that He will cause His disobedient people to eat the flesh both of their sons and their daughters, and of their friends, because of the distress that will be caused to them by their enemies in the coming siege. Those who had sacrificed their sons and daughters to idols under the influence of idolatry would in a grotesque way now find themselves reaping the consequences of that behaviour, their morality having been shaped and distorted by their earlier behaviour.
The language is very bold, but it is not to be taken as really saying that YHWH will be directly responsible for the details of what will happen. The basis behind the words is rather that YHWH is taking responsibility for not stopping the approaching Babylonian siege, a siege in which conditions will become so bad, and hunger so dreadful, that the people themselves will indulge in cannibalism. But the actual working out of the invasion and the decisions and reaction of the defenders are to be seen as their own responsibility and resulting from their own choice. YHWH is by no means justifying or encouraging cannibalism.
It is often asked why God brings about such terrible things, and it is important in this regard to bring out the difference between YHWH’s direct actions where He is directly responsible for everything that happens, and His ‘causing of events’ whereby He is the mainspring while the actual detailed outworking is the result of the activity of sinful man. There is a combination of sovereignty on God’s part and free will on man’s part. God encourages men to act, He does not encourage them to sin.
19.10 “Then will you break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you,”
Having declared YHWH’s words concerning what is to happen to Judah Jeremiah is now called on to illustrate it by breaking the bottle which represents Judah in the Valley of Slaughter in front of the eyes of the elders of the people and of the priests. With our mind’s eye we can see him dramatically standing on the slope of the valley and then, in full view of the watchers, hurling the earthenware jar on to the ground, shattering it into many fragments. Many of them would have seen this as a prophetic action which was in their eyes a deliberate attempt to guarantee the occurrence of what he had prophesied. But this would not have been Jeremiah’s view. He already knew that it was going to happen. Breaking the vessel was simply to be seen from his viewpoint as an outward enactment of it so as to bring home the impact of what was going to happen.
19.11 “And you will say to them, Thus says YHWH of hosts. Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again, and they will bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.”
And having broken the bottle Jeremiah was to declare in the Name of YHWH, that YHWH would do the same thing to ‘this people and this city’. He would break them as one breaks a potter’s earthenware vessel which cannot be made whole again, in other words the disaster would be permanent and not just temporary, at least for the near future. (And while the remnant might arise from the chaos, the bottle would never again be fully restored). The result of the disaster that was coming would be that burials would take place in Topheth of such magnitude that they would be unable to find places where they could bury all who had died. The number of the dead were probably intended to be seen in terms of the number of tiny pieces into which the vessel had shattered.
19.12-13 “Thus will I do to this place, the word of YHWH, and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth, and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods.”
Jeremiah then confirms in ‘the prophetic word of YHWH’ (neum YHWH) that what He had been saying about Topheth also applied Jerusalem itself, and to the houses in Jerusalem and to the kings’ houses. For they too were defiled as a result of the fact that on their flat roofs incense had been burned to all the host of Heaven (compare Zephaniah 1.5; 2 Kings 21.3; 23.12), and because there they had poured out drink-offerings to other gods (compare 7.18). Thus they would share in the judgment coming on Topheth.
Cuneiform texts discovered at Ugarit contained instructions for offering sacrifices to astral gods on flat rooftops, and this erection of private altars on flat roof tops was apparently quite common. Strabo describes similar worship of the sun by the Nabataeans.
19.14 ‘Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where YHWH had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of YHWH’s house, and said to all the people,’
Having spoken YHWH’s words to the elders in the Valley of Hinnom Jeremiah majestically returned to the court of YHWH’s house (the Temple), and there he took his stand and spoke to all the people. His actions had probably taken place during a regular feast and there would therefore be large crowds gathered.
19.15 “Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.”
Speaking ‘in the Name of YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel’ he declared to all the people who were there what YHWH’s intentions were, and that was that He would bring on Jerusalem and on all its towns all the evil that He had pronounced against them. And this was because they had so obstinately refused to hear what He had to say. A ‘stiff neck’ indicated deliberate obstinacy and unresponsiveness.
Jeremiah’s Actions Produce A Violent Response From The Religious Authorities, Resulting In Jeremiah Prophesying What Would Happen To His Adversaries Because Of Their Behaviour (20.1-6).
The response to Jeremiah’s words was instantaneous and violent. He was arrested by the Temple authorities, physically abused and put in ‘the stocks’, an instrument probably designed to cause extreme discomfiture. Then on the next day he was brought out of the stocks and stood before the authorities, no doubt in order to be called to account. But Jeremiah was not to be intimidated by this and boldly declared to his adversaries what YHWH intended to do to them
20.1 ‘Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer (paqid nagid - superintendent nagid) in the house of YHWH, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.’
This Pashhur must be distinguished from the one in 21.1. He was clearly of high authority in the Temple, and may have been the father of the Gedaliah spoken of in 38.1 (one of the ‘princes’ (sarim) who opposed Jeremiah). ‘Immer’ may have been the name of Pashhur’s father or it may have been that of his priestly family (1 Chronicles 24.14). The term ‘nagid’ was a typically Hebrew designation and had been used of the earliest kings of Israel (regularly translated ‘prince, ruler’), especially at their anointing or special ‘appointment’ (1 Samuel 9.16; 10.1; 1 Kings 1.35 with 39; 1 Samuel 13.14; 25.30; 2 Samuel 6.21). It is used of the High Priest in 1 Chronicles 9.11; 2 Chronicles 31.13 as ‘nagid of the house of God’. Its use in the singular is, with only one exception, limited to Israelite dignitaries and its close connection either with anointing or official appointment seemingly indicated that the title was an expression of a special appointing and anointing by YHWH. (The only exception is when it was uniquely ‘borrowed’ by Ezekiel in sarcastically describing the King of Tyre as highly exalted and as an ‘anointed one’ (28.2, 14) and thus as a pseudo-nagid. Its use in Daniel 9.25, 26 was almost certainly of an Israelite anointed ‘prince’ for elsewhere he uses nagid of Israelite princes and sarim or melek of foreign rulers). It thus here indicates a leading priest in the Temple, possibly second only to the High Priest. He was probably responsible for maintaining order in the Temple which would explain why he became personally involved in Jeremiah’s case..
20.2 ‘Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks which were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of YHWH.’
This Pashhur publicly humiliated Jeremiah by ‘smiting’ him. The verb does not necessarily indicate a public beating, but may possibly include it. Indeed it may be argued that he examined Jeremiah (who was engaged in controversy with the other prophets) on the basis of Deuteronomy 25.1 and found him guilty and sentenced him to forty lashes. That would explain the mention of Jeremiah as ‘the prophet’. But however that may be it certainly does indicate at a minimum a deliberate act of violence with the intention of humiliation. It may simply have been a backhanded blow across the face intended to show the victim as in the wrong (compare what happened to Jesus at his appearance before Annas. The idea that it made Him appear to be in the wrong would explain why Jesus challenged it rather than turning the other cheek - John 18.22). Afterwards he was put in ‘the stocks’ (the same thing was done by Asa to another prophet - 2 Chronicles 16.10 where the same word is translated prioson-house). The word is a rare one and indicates some position of confinement which also probably involved physical restraint and distortion. The idea would be to subject him to considerable discomfiture. It could have been an instrument of retainment something similar to stocks or it could have been a cell providing limited space like those in the walls of a castle which were so small that the occupant was kept in a cramped position. It was seemingly continually maintained as a kind of religious punishment for it was to be found ‘in the house of YHWH’. The excuse for such treatment would be that it was for ‘bringing men to their senses’, (although usually doing the opposite). The genuine object, however, was to cow them into submission.
‘Jeremiah the Prophet’. This is the first use of the term ‘prophet’ of Jeremiah. It may have been used here in order to bring out the appalling nature of Pashhur’s behaviour (he was mistreating a prophet of YHWH!) It may possibly be a sneering appellative given by Pashhur signifying ‘or so he calls himself’. Or as mentioned above he may have been answering a charge of being a false or disruly prophet.
20.3 ‘And it came about on the next day, that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “YHWH has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.”
No doubt feeling that after a night in the stocks this ‘Jeremiah the Prophet’ would have learned his lesson Pashhur, on the following day, had him brought out from his miserable situation to be again arraigned before him. We are not told what occurred at the arraignment for what was considered as important was the use that Jeremiah made of it, for, no doubt to his horror and chagrin, Pashhur, who would have seen himself as the judge, discovered that it was as though he himself was on trial as Jeremiah pronounced judgment against him.
Jeremiah’s forthright opening words are significant. “YHWH has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.” Jeremiah was pointing out to Pashhur that whatever his parents might have called him God had now officially called him “Magor-missabib (fear is round about).” This particular phrase meaning ‘fear is round about’ was seemingly a standard saying at the time, and is used by Jeremiah a number of times . In 6.25 it indicates general uncertainty among the populace. In 20.10 it indicates Jeremiah’s own position of apprehension in the face of persecution. In 46.5 it indicates the terror of the Judean forces in the face of a rampant Egyptian army. In 49.29 it refers to the Arabians fleeing in terror from Nebuchadnezzar. It is also found in Psalm 31.13. In the Psalm it is used by the Psalmist at a time when the authorities took counsel against him and were scheming to take away his life. It was thus very appropriate in this case. The idea is therefore that Pashhur and his behaviour will be the catalyst which will result in terror of all kinds for Judah.
But we should note something further about this phrase. The idea of YHWH/God ‘calling your (his) name --’ occurs elsewhere only at times of high significance. It was used of the naming of Adam and Eve as ‘Adam’, that is as the head of the human race (Genesis 5.2). It was used of the renaming of Jacob as ‘Israel’ (Genesis 35.10). And it was used in 11.16 of the renaming of Israel as Zayith-ra‘anan-yephe-peri-to’ar (an olive tree green, beautiful and with luscious fruit). Thus we may see this naming by YHWH of Pashhur as signifying an equally important turning point in Israel/Judah’s history, although this time a negative one. That YHWH should so officially name a leading Temple official as ‘fear is round about’ was the final indication that its end was near.
20.4 “For thus says YHWH, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will behold it, and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will slay them with the sword.”
By bearing that name ‘Fear is round about’ from then on, a name given by YHWH and therefore undiscardable, Pashhur was being made ‘a terror to himself and to his friends’. From then on all who saw him would be reminded of the judgment of Jeremiah and of YHWH that was coming and would shiver in apprehension. It was a reminder that soon, within his own lifetime (and he was probably getting on) they would fall by the sword of their enemies, and Judah would be given into the hands of the King of Babylon who would carry them into exile or slay them with the sword. This is the first specific indicator in Jeremiah of who the invaders would be. It is almost certainly referring to the first full scale invasion of 597 BC in the last days of Jehoiakim when the first major deportation took place of the cream of the inhabitants.
20.5 “Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give, into the hand of their enemies, and they will make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.”
And with the people would also depart their wealth. All the riches of the city, and all its gains (mainly from trading), and all the precious things that it possessed, even all the treasures of the kings of Judah, would be given into the hands of the Babylonians who would take them ‘as a prey’ and as spoil. This had been destined from Hezekiah’s day and was only temporarily delayed by Josiah’s reforms (compare here Isaiah 39.6; 2 Kings 22.19-20). But if it was only the first major deportation that was in mind then some of the Temple treasures would be allowed to remain (for they were taken in 587 BC) and the descriptions must not be applied too strictly.
20.6 “And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity, and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there will you be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”
What was more, Pashhur himself and all his household including his family and servants, would go into captivity and would be taken to Babylon (in chains) and would die there and be buried along with all his friends. So much for the prophecies of deliverance, and the expectancy of a quick return emphasised by the false prophets (who were of course only recognised by the majority as false once their prophecies had failed). Thus Pashhur had made himself the symbol of all the terrors coming on Judah.
The ‘you’ in ‘to whom you have prophesied falsely’ probably indicates ‘you in the Temple’, referring to the Temple prophets under the Temple’s aegis rather than to Pashhur himself, with Pashhur and the priesthood taking full responsibility because they gave the prophecies their full backing. On the other hand it may be that Pashhur also claimed prophetic gifts.
Jeremiah Is So Distraught That He Berates YHWH And Points Out How Tough He Is Finding Things, And Yet He Admits That He Has To Speak Out Whether He Likes It Or Not Because YHWH’s Word Is Like A Burning Fire Within Him, And He Finishes On A Note Of Praise Because He Is Aware That YHWH Is His Support (20.7-13).
While up to this point Jeremiah had been sneered at and jeered at he had never had to suffer physical violence, having been seen as sacrosanct as a prophet of YHWH. This experience thus came to him as something of a shock (he did not realise that it was the harbinger of more to come), and makes him consider what is happening to him. In consequence he now grumbles at YHWH Whom he sees as having forced him into his present position, and points out that it is the very message of ‘violence and destruction’ that YHWH has given him that is bringing him into disrepute. Nevertheless he admits that he cannot help speaking out, even when he is thinking of not doing so, because YHWH’s word burns in him like a fire forcing him to do so.
But then in his wavering his thoughts turn on YHWH and he is encouraged as he recognises that he need not fear because YHWH is with him as One Who is mighty and terrible, One Who causes his foes to stumble so that they will be utterly put to shame, and he calls on Him avenge Himself on those who have mistreated His prophet so that he himself may see it, and ends up by praising YHWH for his deliverance from the hand of evildoers.
20.7-8 In his distress at what he has just gone through Jeremiah chides YHWH with the fact that it is YHWH Who has put pressure on him to do the things that he has done. He points out that he had not wanted to do it, but that YHWH was stronger than he was and had prevailed. As a consequence he had become a laughingstock, and was being mocked, because whenever he had spoken it had been of ‘violence and destruction’, (whilst as far as his hearers could see, nothing like that was in sight, see 17.15). Thus it was the word of YHWH that he was proclaiming which had been the reason why he was being reproached and derided all the day. Note that the final two lines should be read as continuing the thought in line 3, with lines 4 & 5 as a kind of parenthesis.
We too can find that at times people will mock us for our insistence on the fact that God will one day judge us and that that judgment may be imminent. And when we do so, and feel that possibly we might be wise to desist, we should remember that, even though he was jeered at, Jeremiah’s words came true, and when they did how the people must have wished that they had listened.
The word translated ‘persuaded’ can also mean ‘seduced, deceived or entrapped into doing something’, thus it may be that he is claiming to some extent to have been misled, or even entrapped, into making himself a laughingstock. Compare its use in Exodus 22.16; Ezekiel 14.9; Judges 16.5; 1 Kings 22.20.
20.9 And yet Jeremiah admitted that he had not been able to help speaking up, because whenever he determined that he would not do so, and that he would no longer speak in YHWH’s Name, possibly because he had felt that it was hopeless, he had discovered that a fire was burning within him, shut up in his bones (a Hebraism for his inner self), so that not only did he grow tired of resisting it but in fact found himself completely unable not to speak (compare Paul in 1 Corinthians 9.16).
Our problem, of course, is mainly that we do not have such a fire within us, and we thus take advantage of the fact and simply refrain from speaking. But that is a sign that we have not come to know God or His word in the way that Jeremiah had. If we had we also would be unable to hold ourselves back from speaking.
20.10 The first two lines are a quotation from Psalm 31.13 describing the behaviour of those who plotted against him and planned his death. He had been constantly aware of those who had defamed him and surrounded him with terror so that ‘terror was on every side’ for him as well (magor-missabib - ‘fear is round about’; compare verse 3). Even the men of his peace (courteous acquaintances, that is, those more moderate people who had always in the past greeted him with the words ‘peace be with you’) had in the end yielded to popular opinion and had agreed that if others denounced him they would do so as well. They had not felt able to stand out against the swell that was against him.
Meanwhile those who had been constantly on the watch for his fall (compare Psalm 35.15 ‘in my fall they rejoiced’; 38.17, ‘I am ready to fall’) said hopefully, ‘perhaps he will be ‘persuaded’ (entrapped and seduced) into saying something wrong’. (The belief was that a false prophet was so because he was deceived and seduced by YHWH into uttering false prophecies - 1 Kings 22.21-23). Their hope was that they could goad Jeremiah into saying something foolish by which he could be condemned with the result that they would be able to prevail against him and take their revenge on him. (When he later publicly supported Babylon they probably clapped their hands in evil delight).
20.11 As so often in prayer when the soul is facing seemingly insoluble problems, light suddenly breaks through and Jeremiah immediately feels encouraged as he contemplates YHWH. Why is he talking so foolishly when he knows that YHWH is with him (compare 1.19) and that YHWH is the Mighty and Terrible One? In the light of what He is his persecutors (the terrible ones of 15.21) no longer seem terrible. Rather it is they who will stumble and not prevail, for they will be utterly put to shame because they have not dealt wisely (by listening to the word of YHWH), a shame which will result in everlasting dishonour which will never be forgotten, it will be remembered by all future generations (compare Daniel 12.2 which takes the idea even further).
20.12 His rise from despondency continues as he cries to YHWH of Hosts, the One Who tries the righteous and sees men’s hearts and minds, to let him finally see His vengeance on them because he has revealed his case to Him.
20.13 “Sing to YHWH,
And he finishes his prayer on a note of general praise, typical of the Psalms (compare for example Psalm 6.9-10; 7.17; 18.49-50; 22.22 ff; 57.9-11; 59.6-17; 66.20), as he calls on men to sing to YHWH and to praise Him, because he has delivered the soul of the needy (in this case himself) from the hands of evildoers.
Jeremiah Curses The Day Of His Birth (20-14-18).
This passage closes off the section with a heart rending call by Jeremiah that the day of his birth be cursed, along with all who assisted in ensuring his survival, on the grounds that it would have been better for him to have been left in the womb than ever to have seen daylight. It is clear from what he says that even more shame must have been heaped on him to such an extent that it has become almost unbearable. It sums up how arduous he was finding his ministry to be. He has almost reached the end of his tether.
It is a reminder that those who serve God in dark times do not come off lightly. They simply have to persevere whatever happens. (compare Hebrews 11.36-38). This cry from the heart may have been part of his reflections during his painful night in the stocks, vividly remembered as he looked back on it, or he may have prayed it when in hiding from Jehoiakim after his book had been cut to pieces (36.23), or he may even have written it when, having written down many of his prophecies up to this point, and seeing a grim future ahead, he felt the burden of them piercing his soul, especially if his body was still suffering the consequences of the time spent in the stocks. But whenever it occurred he has chosen it as providing a fitting conclusion to this first section of his book with all its ups and downs, in order to bring home that his ministry was not without agony. As he had stated, he would carry on prophesying because it was forced upon him, but let none think that he was enjoying it.
20.14-18 Familiar with the scenes which regularly took place on the birth of a newborn son, Jeremiah pictures his own birth in those terms and curses the very day. His mother would have been thrilled and would have blessed the day, as would her relatives, while the good news would have been speedily carried by a messenger to the waiting father, resulting in great gladness of heart. But Jeremiah calls for the day now to lose its blessedness, and for a curse to come upon it.
Indeed so bitter are his feelings about that day that he calls for the man who bore the news of his birth to be like Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities which YHWH overthrew (Genesis 19.29), something which YHWH, he points out, carried through without any thought of retraction. So Jeremiah says, let Him now show the same constancy in destroying the messenger who bore the news of his birth. The reference to the crying of lamentation in the morning, followed by the shouting at noontide as the invaders break in, indicates that he expects it to happen when his prophecies are fulfilled in the overthrow of the city (compare 6.4; 15.8; 18.22; 9.17-22). And the man was to experience this fate because he had failed to show mercy in preventing the birth of Jeremiah. Better far, he claims, would it have been if he had died in his mother’s womb, the only sign of his presence then being a distended stomach, rather than coming forth into life where it would involve such shame and trouble.
We must not take the curse as intended too seriously. Jeremiah was well aware that to curse his father and mother would have been a heinous offence and so he was looking for substitutes. But he would not really have expected anyone genuinely to accept the thought that God would punish a man for allowing a baby to be born normally (the opposite position being that He would have blessed him had he murdered the young Jeremiah). He is rather using the idea in order to express the depths of his grief.
With these words ends the series of more general undated prophecies of Jeremiah, and it is noteworthy that from this point onwards we hear no more complaints from him, in spite of all that he will later go through. Having come struggling through his own Gethsemane he becomes a man of steel.
Subsection 7). Words Concerning Various Kings (21.1-24.10).
This subsection proceeds in logical sequence although not chronologically, and will centre on three special themes, firstly on the fact that all hope for Judah in the short term has now gone, secondly that the promises of the false prophets suggesting that any of the current sons of David will be restored to the throne are invalid, and thirdly that while final blessing ‘in coming days’ will truly be at the hands of a son of David, it is meanwhile to be stressed that that ‘son of David’ will not be one of the current regime.
The subsection commences by making clear that prior to the future coming of the exalted son of David the doom of Jerusalem under the present sons of David is certain and will unquestionably happen (echoes of Isaiah). Neither Zedekiah nor any of his current relations (Jehoahaz who had been taken to Egypt and Jehoiachin who had been taken to Babylon) are therefore to be seen as the hope of Judah/Israel.
The whole subsection may be summarised as follows:
It will be noted that the opening and closing passages form an inclusio based on the guaranteed fate of Jerusalem under Zedekiah. The inadequacy of the sons of David is paralleled by the inadequacy of the prophets (and priests). Central is the promise of the coming Son of David Who will introduce righteousness.
The question may well be asked, however, as to why Zedekiah is mentioned first rather than in the sequence in which the sons of David reigned, namely Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah. One clear answer to that question lies in the fact that Zedekiah was never sole ruler of Judah. When he died Jehoiachin was still in fact seen as king of Judah. Jeremiah is thus bringing out that Zedekiah was not even under consideration as the hope of Israel. He was a ‘bad fig’ (chapter 24). Furthermore to have placed Zedekiah after Jehoiachin would have been to ignore royal protocol and to suggest openly that Jehoiachin’s reign was over, something which would have caused great dissatisfaction in Judah.
There are in fact four reasons for putting the prophecy about Zedekiah first (quite apart from the coincidence of the name Pashhur):
So in the initial chapter of this subsection the justification for Jeremiah having had to endure such affliction as was described in the previous chapter will first be made clear, for it confirms that such arduous continuing prophecy was necessary in the face of what was to be the future. Furthermore it describes the final ‘smashing of the vessel’ as portrayed in chapter 19, demonstrating that that came to fulfilment, and confirms the certainty of final Babylonian victory as previously asserted to an earlier Pashhur in chapter 20. Thus there were good reasons for putting 21.1-10, which is so clearly out of order chronologically, immediately after chapters 19 & 20 connecting with what has gone before.
However, having initially emphasised the certainty of the doom that was coming on Zedekiah and Jerusalem the passage then goes back in time at 21.11 to YHWH’s open offer of repentance to the one of the house of David (21.12) who sat on the throne of David (22.2) if only he, as king of Judah, would turn round in his ways, execute justice and fulfil the covenant (21.12; 22.3), although even then it was with grave doubts about Judah’s willingness to repent. It is reasonable to see in this an open offer to all the sons of David who came to the throne during Jeremiah’s ministry, and indeed may have been specifically presented to each one by Jeremiah on his accession. In 22.3 the same offer is repeated and accompanied by a promise of the certain triumph of the royal house (22.4) if only they will respond, but it is again followed by a warning of the consequences if they would not.
Following that Jeremiah then sets out to demolish the false hopes offered to the people by the false prophets. He makes clear that Shallum (Jehoahaz), appointed by the people as Josiah’s heir-apparent as the son of David, will not be returning from Egypt where he had been taken by Pharaoh Necho (22.10-12; compare 2 Kings 23.31-35), and castigates the one who had been appointed in his place (Jehoiakim), because he did not follow in the ways of his father (22.15-16) and especially because he was crushing the people by his expansive building plans, with no intention of paying for the work that was done (22.13-17). For him there would only be an ignominious death (22.19). And finally he emphasises that they were not to look for the return of their reigning king Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah) from Babylon (22.20-30; compare 2 Kings 24.8-17), who, as we have seen above, was still officially looked on as king both in Babylon (he is described as King Yaukin in Babylonian ration lists) and in Judah. Jeremiah is making clear that while it was true (as earlier prophets had underlined) that Israel’s future hopes did remain with the house of David, and that they would also one day celebrate their deliverance from the north country, it would nevertheless only be after they had first been exiled (23.1-8), and it would not be by the false shepherds (rulers) who had wrecked the morals of Judah, and certainly not by someone from the house of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) (22.30). He then roundly turns on the prophets who were offering precisely those false hopes and completely disposes of them (23.9-40). Following that in chapter 24 he confirms that Judah’s future hopes do not rest with Zedekiah and his ilk, for while it was true that one day the good figs (those who will repent among the exiles) would return to the land, and be built and planted, and God will again be their God, they will not include the bad figs who were running Judah in the days of Zedekiah, who as already described in 15.4 would be tossed about among all the kingdoms of the earth because of their evil, and who according to 21.1-10 would undoubtedly suffer great devastation and be exiled. Thus 21.1-10 and 24.1-10 form an inclusio for the subsection, a subsection which both demonstrates that there was no point in looking to the current sons of David, and emphasises that one day there would be a son of David who would fulfil all their hopes.
Up to this point most of Jeremiah’s prophecies have not been openly attached to specific situations (3.6 being a partial exception), but it will be noted that from this point onwards in the narrative there is an undoubted change of approach. Whereas previously time references have been vague and almost non-existent, with the result that we cannot always be sure in whose reign they took place, Jeremiah now addresses his words to various kings, usually by name, and as we have seen the first example is Zedekiah who was the ‘king’ of Judah at the time when Jerusalem was taken for the second time and emptied of its inhabitants at the same time as the Temple was destroyed. This took place in 587 BC. By its very nature it could not have been a part of Jeremiah’s initial writing down of his earlier prophecies, for that was in the days of Jehoiakim, so that this part of chapters 2-25 must have been updated by him later. Furthermore from this point on Jeremiah will openly and constantly urge submission to the King of Babylon by name and title (although compare the first mention in 20.4). On the other hand it will be noted that the subsection has been opened by the same formula as that used previously (contrast the marked change in formula in chapters 26-29) and this would appear to suggest therefore that these chapters are intended as a kind of appendix to chapters 1-20, illustrating them historically and confirming their message and its fulfilment.
To summarise. The subsection opens with the familiar words, ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH --’ (21.1). It then goes on to deal with Jeremiah’s response to an appeal from King Zedekiah concerning Judah’s hopes for the future in which he warns that it is YHWH’s purpose that Judah be subject to Babylon and that Judah’s doom is sealed. Meanwhile he warns that there is no hope of the restoration of Shallum (Jehoahaz) the son of Josiah or of Jehoiachin (Coniah), the son of Jehoiakim who had been carried off to Babylon.
He castigates the false shepherds (rulers) of Judah who have brought Judah to this position, but promises that one day YHWH will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a king Who will reign and prosper, and execute righteousness and justice. He will be called ‘YHWH our righteousness’. He then castigates the prophets. For the present Judah’s sinful condition is seen as such that all that Judah can expect is everlasting reproach and shame. The subsection then closes with the parable of the good and bad figs, the good representing the righteous remnant in exile (part of the cream of the population exiled to Babylon (2 Kings 24.15-16) who were experiencing the ministry of Ezekiel) who will one day return, the bad the people who have been left in Judah to await sword, pestilence, famine and exile. Destitute of experienced leadership, and under a weak king-regent, they were unstable and too inexperienced to govern well, carrying Judah forward inexorably to its worst moment.
Zedekiah Appeals To Jeremiah As A Last Resort, Only To Learn That There Is No Hope Of Intervention By YHWH Whose Will Is Being Done (21.1-10).
As we have seen these verses form an inclusio along with 24.1-10 in order to emphasise that this subsection concludes the Section of Jeremiah which contains his general prophecies with a guarantee of their fulfilment. Zedekiah is the last of the royal house of David (even if he was Nebuchadrezzar’s appointee) who will reign in the land until after the Exile is over. The events described occurred in the very last days of the siege of Jerusalem, with Nebuchadnezzar pressing at the gates, at a time when all could see that the promises of the false prophets had failed and that in Jerusalem only Jeremiah and his circle had prophesied truly. In their desperation the king and his people still clung on to the hope that YHWH would once more intervene and deliver Jerusalem as He had done in the days of Isaiah and Hezekiah, and it was to that end that Zedekiah called on Jeremiah. YHWH was seen as their last hope.
But Jeremiah had no hope to offer. The message that he returned to Zedekiah was that it was too late, and that YHWH’s purpose on Jerusalem must be fulfilled. The potter’s vessel (19.1-10) would be smashed. YHWH would in fact be fighting on the side of Babylon, and Jerusalem must be destroyed. Those therefore who had any sense would surrender to the Babylonians before it was too late.
21.1 ‘The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,’
This passage contains YHWH’s response when Zedekiah during the last throes of the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC sent his ministers to Jeremiah to intercede for them before YHWH. Pashhur the son of Malchijah was a different Pashhur from the one mentioned in 20.1 who was the son of Immer (and who would have been carried off to Babylon after the earlier siege of 597 BC). He was one of those who had called for Jeremiah to be imprisoned because of his prophecies (38.1-4), and was probably the king’s chief minister. He was no friend of Jeremiah. He is not said to have been a priest, and both his own name and his father’s were apparently fairly common names. Zephaniah was a priest and appears to have been more neutral as appears from the fact that he read to Jeremiah the prophetic letter which was being circulated by Shemaiah the Nehelamite (29.29), and was not included within YHWH’s condemnation of Shemaiah. He is nowhere mentioned as one of Jeremiah’s adversaries. He was the second priest after the High Priest (52.24), probably holding the same position as that previously held by Pashhur the son of Immer, and he had previously been sent to Jeremiah when his intercession was being sought by Zedekiah at the time when the Egyptians had temporarily caused a raising of the siege (37.3). He was later handed over to Nebuchadrezzar at Riblah along with the High Priest (2 Kings 25.18).
21.2 “Enquire, I pray you, of YHWH for us, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps YHWH will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.”
The sending by Zedekiah of his prime minister and the ‘second Priest’ is similar to the sending of an important deputation to Isaiah by Hezekiah in a comparable situation (2 Kings 19.2; Isaiah 37.2), something Zedekiah may well have had in mind. In that case it had resulted in a remarkable deliverance for Jerusalem, and Zedekiah clearly hoped for the same. But the difference lay in the fact that Hezekiah was held in greater regard by YHWH than Zedekiah, and had previously paid greater heed to His prophet, while the people as a whole were at that time not so steeped in idolatry and the Temple itself had recently been purified. Conditions were very different now. But in such a crisis where else could he turn?
Zedekiah’s request was that Jeremiah as the one whose prophecies had proved correct would ‘enquire’ on their behalf of YHWH, with the hope that YHWH ‘will deal with us according to all His wondrous works’ and would be the Saviour of Israel/Judah as in the past. The expression ‘that he (Nebuchadrezzar) may go up from us’ simply signifies ‘that he may raise the siege’.
This is the first mention by name of Nebuchadrezzar (of which Nebuchadnezzar was an acceptable variant, although it has been argued by some that it was a deliberate changing of the name by writers in order to signify ‘Nabu protects the mule’. Such alterations were quite common. Compare the changing of Eshbaal (man of Baal) to Ishbosheth (man of shame). The name is a transliteration of Nabu-kudurri-usur, which probably means something like, ‘Nabu has protected the succession rites’. He succeeded Nabopolassar who died not long after Nebuchadrezzar’s great victory over the Egyptians in c. 605 BC. It was following that that he had initially subjugated Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoiakim. When Jehoiakim later withheld tribute, encouraged by Egypt, Nebuchadrezzar had besieged Jerusalem which yielded to him in 597 BC when Jehoiakim was replaced on the throne by Jehoiachin. That was when Jehoiachin was carried off to Babylon, with Zedekiah being appointed to the throne by Nebuchadrezzar. But now Zedekiah had also rebelled, encouraged by Egypt but against the advice of Jeremiah, which was why Nebuchadrezzar was once more at the gates of Jerusalem.
21.3 ‘Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus shall you say to Zedekiah,”
We are not told whether Jeremiah did ‘enquire of YHWH’, but we do learn that he had a very definite message for Zedekiah from YHWH, which he now sent through the illustrious messengers. It was a message of ‘no hope’, in accordance with what he had earlier made clear in his prophecies.
21.4 “Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.”
YHWH’s sad message was that not only would He not help them but that, rather than making them strong in the use of their weapons (see Psalm 18.34), He would in fact turn their own weapons against them, or at least render them useless, so that they would not be successful in the defence of the city (there is perhaps a hint here of conflicts within the city as arguments arose as to whether they should surrender or not). It is made clear that at this stage Nebuchadrezzar and his Chaldean (Babylonian) army were actually outside the walls, besieging the city and seeking to break them down.
Alternately if we connect ‘outside the walls’ with ‘with which you fight against the Babylonians’, as many insist is necessary, the idea is that those who were manning the outer defences outside the huge walls would have to retreat back into the city within the safety of the walls along with their weapons.
21.5 “And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation.”
Indeed YHWH declared that He Himself would be fighting against Jerusalem with all His power and might, ‘with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm’ (compare for this description 27.5; 32.21; Deuteronomy 4.34; 5.15; 26.8; Psalm 136.12). For His ‘anger (root - heavy breathing) and wrath (root - heat) and great indignation (root - bitterness)’ were levelled at Jerusalem. The three words are very expressive,
21.6 “And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They will die of a great pestilence.”
Initially His anger would be revealed by ‘a great pestilence’ within the city, striking at the defenders and smiting both man and beast. In a besieged city, short of water and food, and weakened by starvation (compare 19.9 and see the vivid picture in 2 Kings 6.25-30), disease was a common problem, and to lose their beasts who provided milk was a catastrophe. But here it was to be exacerbated.
21.7 “And afterward, says YHWH, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and he will smite them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy.”
And then once starvation and pestilence had done their worst it would all prove in vain, for the end would come. Those who remained after the pestilence, and the famine, and the sword would be delivered into ‘the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, and of their enemies, and of those who sought their lives’. There would be great slaughter, and he would not ‘spare them or have pity or show mercy’ because they had not surrendered. Note the threefold repetitions emphasising the completeness of the devastation.
21.8 “And you shall say to this people, Thus says YHWH, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
These words are a deliberate ironic parallel with Moses’ words in Deuteronomy 30.15, 19, ‘behold I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil’, but it will be noted that there is no mention of ‘good’. Here it was literally a stark choice between living and dying. He was not offering a life of well-being, but simply the stark possibility of survival for those who would surrender to the Chaldeans before it was too late. For them there would then be a life of poverty or exile. But at least they would be alive (39.9; 52.15 tell us that some took the opportunity to ‘fall away’).
We must not underestimate Jeremiah’s courage in saying all this. While he was simply bringing out the hopelessness of the situation because of what YHWH had said, he could have been seen as actually recommending desertion in the face of the enemy, and hardening himself against offering hope.
21.9 “He who remains in this city will die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he will live, and his life will be to him for a prey.”
For the truth was that he had no hope to offer. The time for hope was past. As with Pharaoh in Egypt in the time of Moses they had hardened their hearts too often. Thus the only hope of anyone for survival would lie in deserting the city and going over to the besieging Chaldeans. Only those who did this would live, seizing their lives as though they had hunted them down with great difficulty and taken them as a prey (this phrase is typically Jeremaic, see 38.2; 39.18; 45.5). All the remainder would die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence. If there were dissensions in the city it could be that the alternative had actually been on offer that those who wished to do so could surrender to the Babylonians, for the less people left in the city the more food and water for those who remained. The Babylonians on the other hand would offer less severe terms to deserters both because they would see them as ‘friendly’ and because it would mean less defenders in the city and could cause a lack of morale there.
21.10 “For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good, the word of YHWH, it will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”
YHWH then finalises His message of doom by emphasising that He has set His face against the city for evil and not for good. This was the prophetic and certain ‘word of YHWH’. It would thus be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, who would burn it with fire. Burning with fire was a regular end for cities which had constantly rebelled, and which did not surrender immediately. It was literally fulfilled (52.13).
A General Plea To The House Of David Not To Be Presumptious But To Exercise Justice and Mercy If They Would Escape Judgment (21.11-14).
Jeremiah now makes a general plea to ‘the house of David’ to cease being presumptious and to fulfil its responsibilities as the house of David with regards to justice and fair play, (an idea which will be continued in 22.1-4). Had it done so the present troubles could have been avoided. This new emphasis on ‘the house of David’ (verse 12) and ‘the throne of David’ (22.2, 4, 29) demonstrates that he is seeking to establish the standard of righteous kingship which alone could have safeguarded the house of Josiah from its fate. It was because no representative of the house of David could be found who fitted his description that Shallum (Jehoahaz) would be left in Egypt and Jehoiachin (Coniah) would be left in Babylon, while Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were seen as totally unworthy. That was why in the end Jerusalem’s fate would come upon it. It would be because the house of David had failed in its responsibility. And, as we have seen earlier, this was because YHWH would fill them with drunkenness along with the priests, prophets and inhabitants of Jerusalem (13.13). On the other hand had they responded to YHWH by obeying the covenant, especially as focused in restraining themselves from trade on the Sabbath Day, which might also have affected the numbers attending the Temple for idolatrous worship, the house of David would have gone forward in triumph and have been established for ever (17.25). This emphasis on the house of David, and what was required of it, is preparing the way for the fact that one day a representative of the house of David called ‘the righteous Branch (or Shoot)’ would arise who would rule righteously and truly (23.5). It is, however, stressed that the Righteous Branch (or Shoot) will not be a direct descendant of Jehoiachin. (Compare how Immanuel was not to be a direct descendant of Ahaz, being born of a virgin - Isaiah 7.14 - there also spoken to ‘the house of David’ - Isaiah 7.2, 13). His coming will only occur ‘in coming days’ after the Exile.
21.11 “And touching the house of the king of Judah, hear you the word of YHWH,”
Note that this word is spoken to the whole house of Josiah, ‘the house of the King of Judah’, and not to just one member of it. It is a word for all of them from YHWH.
Some see this as a continuation of the words spoken to Zedekiah, but the plea here would in that case come too late because the house of Zedekiah was doomed and his fate was sealed. Others see it for that reason as spoken to the house of Jehoiakim. But in seeing it as spoken to all the house of Josiah we include all, and have an explanation as to why no name is given. We should note in this regard that before being replaced each member had had their opportunity to consider their ways, however short, but sufficient to be seen as having ‘done evil in the eyes of YHWH’ (2 Kings 23.32, 37; 24.9, 19).
21.12 “O house of David, thus says YHWH, Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
The general plea is to ‘the house of David’ and it was that they should fulfil the requirements of that house and faithfully execute justice, and deliver the oppressed, with the warning that if they failed to do so YHWH’s wrath would go forth like an unquenchable fire, because of the evil of their doings. Jehoiakim had palpably failed to do so, as had Zedekiah, whilst Jehoahaz (Shallum) and Jehoiachin (Coniah) had seemingly equally clearly demonstrated their intentions as soon as they had received the throne, thus also disqualifying themselves.
‘Execute judgment in the morning’ indicates the action of a king who is diligent in respect of justice, who rises early before the heat of the day in order to hear cases and listen to the pleas and complaints of his people before the heat of the day rendered it impossible. This was something that even David had grown lax in, which had resulted in Absalom taking advantage of it (2 Samuel 15.2-4). It was by doing this that Solomon had established his reputation for wisdom (1 Kings 3.28). It was the sign of a righteous king, and will be what the righteous Branch will do (23.5). The deliverance of the oppressed and the ensuring of fair justice for all were parallel requirements. The implication is that had the house of David done this there would have been no problems from Babylon, for then they would have been powerful in their own right (22.4). The following expression of YHWH’s severe anger (which was shortly to be fulfilled) demonstrates how crucial YHWH saw it to be.
21.13 “Behold, I am against you, O inhabitress of the valley, and of the rock of the plain, the word of YHWH, you who say, ‘Who will come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?’ ”
The truth was that instead of Jerusalem having become a bastion of justice and fairplay it had, under the successors to Josiah, become the home of presumption and arrogance with the people having the sense that they could do what they liked without having to face the consequences. They were so certain of their inviolability that they dismissed the possibility that Jerusalem could be taken. Such a statement would have been somewhat shaken by the events of 597 BC when Jerusalem had had to surrender to Nebuchadrezzar, but once things continued reasonably smoothly they could soon have rationalised themselves into thinking that after all he had not ‘taken it’. They had simply re-negotiated their vassalship. Certainly, as we saw in verse 2, Zedekiah still hoped for inviolability.
The application of these words to Jerusalem rests on the use of the feminine ‘inhabitress’ signifying the daughter of Zion. The description depicts the twofold level of Jerusalem with the upper citadel being situated on the ‘rock of the plain’, the level part of the mountain on which it was built (compare the ‘rock of the field’ in 18.14 which referred to the higher part of Mount Lebanon), with the remainder of Jerusalem being built on the lower slopes in ‘the Valley’ (the part occupied by Judah and Benjamin when the upper citadel had been occupied by the Jebusites). And it was because of this highly defensible position, combined with a superstitious faith in YHWH, that they argued that no one could come down against them or enter their habitations.
Alternately it is suggested that the picture is of Jerusalem with its citadel on the rock rising above the surrounding ‘plain’, nevertheless being in a valley because it was surrounded by mountains higher than itself (Psalm 125.2 - which would be why the enemy ‘came down’ against them). This would explain the enemy ‘coming down’. But either way Jerusalem is indicated.
21.14 “And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, the word of YHWH, and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will devour all that is round about her.”
However their arguments would all have been very well if they had judged righteously, delivered the oppressed, and walked in obedience to the covenant. But the arguments did not stand up when they perpetrated injustice, themselves were the cause of oppression, and had forsaken the covenant. In other words the fruit of their doings had cancelled out their inviolability. Thus they could be sure that YHWH, rather than defending them, would punish them in accordance with their behaviour. And this was the sure and certain ‘word of YHWH’ (neum YHWH). For He would kindle a fire in her forest, and would devour all that was round about her, leaving her totally desolate.
The reference to forest may have been because at that stage (unlike later) Jerusalem was surrounded by forest so that its conflagration would have destroyed Jerusalem, or may indicate ‘the house of the forest of Lebanon’, the description of part of the king’s palace which was built of so many tall cedars that it was called by the name and contained his treasures (1 Kings 7.2; 10.17, 21), or may be seeing the great houses of Jerusalem as like a forest of trees (many would be constructed partly using oak or cedar). Some compare 22.6 where Jerusalem is (according to them) described as ‘the head of Lebanon’, that is, is as though covered with trees.
The One Who Sits On The Throne Of David Is Called On To Ensure Justice And Freedom From Oppression For His People, Something Which If Accomplished Will Result In His Triumph, But Accompanied By The Warning Of The Consequences If He Does Not (22.1-9).
Once again we have a general vague reference to the son of David, this time as ‘the one who sits on the throne of David’. We are thus presumably to see that it applies to all the sons of David to whom Jeremiah will refer, and this is especially so as at the end of this chapter he refers to Shallum/Jehoahaz, the one who succeeded directly after Josiah, as being in recent memory. We do not therefore have to ask which son of David of the house of Josiah he is intending to refer to. The answer is ‘all of them’.
22.1 “Thus says YHWH, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,”
Jeremiah probably took this trip to each of the sons of David in their palaces as they ascended the throne, first Jehoahaz, then Jehoiakim, then Jehoiachin and then Zedekiah, although he probably did not receive an effusive welcome from any of them. But he was ‘going down’ to the king’s house, presumably from the Temple, to speak the word of YHWH so that his own feelings had to be ignored. It was necessary that each should receive their warning. It will in fact be noted that some of the ideas are paralleled in 1.12 (see 22.3), and some of them in 17.25 (see 22.4). They were thus repeated more than once.
22.2 “And say, Hear the word of YHWH, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.”
These words are typical of what we might expect from a prophet of YHWH giving a coronation speech or as an official exhortation soon afterwards. They call on the one who, as king of Judah, has now taken the throne of David and will be sitting on it, that is, will continue ruling from it from then on, along with his courtiers and his people, to listen to the word of YHWH. Their failure to respond adequately to his words was probably the first step in their designation as ‘those who had done evil in the eyes of YHWH’, that is, as having no intention of commencing reforms. ‘These gates’ probably refers to the gates of the palace complex.
22.3 “Thus says YHWH, deliver you justice and righteousness, and save him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, and do no wrong, do no violence, to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
His initial words are very similar to the opening exhortation in 21.13. The representative of the house of David is called on by YHWH to ‘deliver (ensure the carrying out of) justice and righteousness to his people during his reign, and to save/deliver the one who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor’. The word used here for delivering justice is a different one from that in 21.13. In 21.13 it was a technical legal word requiring justice in the king’s court, here it is a more general word seeking justice and righteousness at all times. Furthermore he is to avoid all wrong, and is especially to prevent violent treatment of resident aliens, and those without parents or husbands, who because they had no one else to defend them were always of great concern to YHWH. It was always the sign of a great king that he was concerned for and took an interest in the weak and helpless, and one example of this is the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon a thousand years before, a king who was powerful enough to be able to show concern for the defenceless with no influence. Finally the son of David was to prevent the spilling of innocent blood. This would include both the innocent victims offered to Molech, and the faithful worshippers of YHWH who would be a target of the rich and powerful. When a king’s rule was not firm and just, people began to take the law into their on hands.
22.4 “For if you do this thing indeed, then will there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.”
And if they did walk in accordance with YHWH’s instructions then the dynasty of David would continue, and it would continue in splendour. The idea is not that they will enter the palace or the Temple literally sitting on a portable throne, riding in a chariot, and astride a horse, but that the king will enter the palace or the Temple as one who, along with his courtiers and people, can do all three whenever he chooses because they are so plentiful, because of the affluence and strength of the country. On the other hand there may have been partly in mind a great cavalcade of chariots and horsemen sweeping in splendid procession in through the gates of the palace into the large palace complex. The ‘gates of this house’ may in this case refer either to the king’s palace or to the Temple.
22.5 “But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, the word of YHWH, that this house will become a desolation.”
A warning is then given in a most solemn way (YHWH swears by Himself, because He has no greater to swear by) of what the consequence will be of not hearing and responding to YHWH’s words. The consequence will be that ‘this house (either the palace or the Temple) will become a desolation’. The fact that the destruction of the Temple was an important factor to Jeremiah may suggest that that is what is in mind here. For the idea of YHWH ‘swearing by Himself’ compare 49.13; 51.14; Genesis 22.16; Isaiah 45.23; Amos 6.8.
22.6 “For thus says YHWH concerning the house of the king of Judah,
YHWH then declares concerning the kings of Judah that, ‘You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon.’ Gilead was a very fruitful place and the oaks of Bashan in Gilead famous for their strength and growth. The head of Lebanon would probably be the mountain top covered with cedars. Thus YHWH is declaring how splendid the son of David and his people are in His sight. He treasures each one and looks for great things from them. He expects them to be fruitful. Thus ‘if they do these things’ (verse 4) then He will watch over them and protect them as a treasured possession, and they will be fruitful. But in contrast, if they do not hear His words, He will make them into a wilderness, and the cities of his kingdom will be bared of inhabitants. They will become ghost towns.
22.7 Indeed He will raise up a holy war against them. He will ‘sanctify’ destroyers against them, those who are set apart by Him for the purpose of carrying out His judgment (compare Isaiah 13.3). They will arrive fully armed, and they will cut down his choice cedars and cast them into the fire. All at the behest of YHWH. ‘His choice cedars’ may refer to the house of the forest of Lebanon with its multitude of cedar supports, together with his other cedar palaces, or may have in mind his courtiers and his mighty men seen as proud cedars, or indeed both. The thought is that all that is best will be lost.
22.8 “And many nations will pass by this city,
That ‘his choice cedars’ certainly includes his palaces and the many large buildings in the city comes out in the aftermath, for many nations will pass by the ruined city and will say to each other, “Why has YHWH done this to this great city?”. Compare for this Deuteronomy 29.24-26.
22.9 And the answer will come that it was because they had forsaken the covenant of YHWH their God, and because they had worshipped other gods and had served them. The questioners will acknowledge the uniqueness of YHWH as the One Who demands that He alone should be worshipped, for had such a question been asked of any other nation’s city this would not have been the answer, for as long as their own ritual was satisfactorily maintained, such gods would not have minded their worshippers also worshipping other gods. Indeed they would (theoretically) have expected it. Thus the questioners are seen to be more believing that Judah.
So the emphasis once again is on the importance of their genuinely observing the covenant, and on the importance of their not worshipping other gods and ‘serving’ them, that is, maintaining their ritual requirements. That was also the significance of observing the Sabbath in 17.19-27.
The Inadequacy Of All The Current Sons Of David To Deliver Judah (22.10-30).
Having dealt with Zedekiah, Nebuchadrezzar’a appointee, in the opening passage of the subsection, and having shown that in his day he was rejected by YHWH, Jeremiah now deals with the remaining three possible ‘sons of David’, those genuinely appointed by the people and their princes. There appears to have been some excitement in the air as hopes were placed, first in the absent Jehoahaz (Shallum) in Egypt, and then in Jehoiachin in Babylon, to say nothing of Jehoiakim who was for a time on the throne. Could one of these be the expected son of David who would deliver his people from the Babylonians? Such expectation might help to explain what spurred on Jehoiakim’s mad rebellion at the instigation of Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt. Jeremiah, however, dismisses them one by one.
The Inadequacy of Jehoahaz (22.10-12).
When Josiah was killed seeking to prevent the Egyptians from going to the aid of the Assyrians, the Egyptians were for a while rampant, controlling the whole area as far as Carchemish, and from there Pharaoh Necoh sent for Jehoahaz, whose other name was Shallum (1 Chronicles 3.15), in order that he might submit to Egypt and pay tribute. But as far as Pharaoh was concerned Judah had proved themselves to be hostile and thus Jehoahaz was then despatched to Egypt as a hostage, while Jehoiakim, a far less able man, was appointed king. Jehoahaz was the youngest son of Josiah, and the initial choice of him as king by the elders of Judah suggests that he was seen as the most capable of the brothers to cope with a difficult time. We may understand then that there may have been those who, while he was in Egypt, began to give him the equivalent of Messiahship status, and to look for his return, possibly at the head of an Egyptian army.
Jeremiah puts the shutters down on such an idea straight away. This would appear to have been not too long after Josiah’s death, for he calls on his compatriots not to weep for ‘the dead’ (Josiah), but to weep for the one who has gone away and will never return (Jehoahaz).
22.10 Jeremiah’s message is straightforward. Josiah is dead and the weeping for him must now be seen as over. For what they should now be weeping bitterly for is the missing Jehoahaz. And the reason why they should weep bitterly for him is because he has gone away and will never return to his native country, leaving the country in the unworthy hands of Jehoiakim..
22.11-12 ‘For thus says YHWH touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place,
For this was what YHWH had told him ‘concerning Shallum’. Shallum was apparently his given name at birth (1 Chronicles 3.15) while Jehoahaz was probably his throne name. But Shallum had ‘gone forth out of this place’ to parley with Pharaoh at Carchemish (he would have had little choice in the matter). And there he was made a captive and carried off to Egypt as a hostage. And it is confirmed again, this time by YHWH, that he would die in Egypt and see his native land no more. Thus any hopes that people had in him should be forgotten.
The Inadequacy of Jehoiakim (22.13-19).
With Jehoahaz out of the way as a prospect hopes may have turned on Jehoiakim, whom Pharaoh had made king in place of his brother, having changed his name from Eliakim (thus demonstrating his authority over him). But Jeremiah makes quite clear that he is not YHWH’s chosen one. Indeed he is castigated for building great palaces for himself and draining the nations resources at time of great need, without properly paying his workers, and for neglecting the good of the realm. Thus he declares that his reign was so unjust that he would die unlamented and come to a fool’s end.
By his great building schemes Jehoiakim might well have been trying to ape Solomon or Pharaoh (or both). Inadequate men often bolster themselves up with grandiose schemes. But all that he in fact did was divide even more an already divided country, impoverish that country and make the common people bitter.
22.13-14 It appears that having become king Jehoiakim, totally ignoring the country’s needs, (they had just paid heavy tribute to Egypt), set about building himself a magnificent palace, calling on Israelite levies and treating them as slaves without paying them (he probably did not have the money). All that they would receive for their labours would be meagre rations. Indeed Jeremiah sees his actions as despicable in every way. The palace was extravagant and ostentatious, it was built of dishonestly obtained labour, and it would seem that he behaved despicably throughout. ‘Builds his house in unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice’ may signify that he also obtained the materials required for the project by confiscating them, although it may be the ‘penny-pinching’ on wages that may be in mind The whole affair was unworthy of a king, and at such a time was unforgivable.
Note the emphasis on its luxuriousness. It was a wider than usual palace (a wide house) with a large top storey (spacious chambers). That would be the part which would be most difficult to build and would demand the most work expended on it of a precarious nature. Furthermore it was built with excessively large windows which would be covered with lattice work, and one possible reason may have been so that he could display himself to the people. The word translated ‘cuts himself out’ actually indicates ‘dilating, expanding’. It is used of a woman dilating her eyes by the use of make-up (antimony), thus indicating eye-catching windows. It was then panelled with expensive cedar and painted with a red pigment, similar to that used on great houses in Egypt. Jehoiakim clearly thought only of himself and not of his kingdom.
22.15 Jeremiah was so incensed that he sardonically asked him whether he really thought that he could rule a country simply because he was an ostentatious and self-satisfied builder. Let him consider the modesty of his father, Josiah. He lived a modest life, eating and drinking and ensuring justice and righteousness, the good life extolled by the writer of Ecclesiastes 2.24. And as a result it was well with him. Furthermore he was careful to give justice to the poor and the needy, something that added to his wellbeing under YHWH. And this was a king who lived in prosperous times, had no tribute to pay, at least in the second half of his life, and ruled over a country of large proportions having annexed part of what had been Northern Israel (he carried out reform at Bethel). But he had not sought to build himself a huge palace. Did not this prove that he truly knew YHWH and knew what would please Him?
22.17 What a contrast with Jehoiakim. His eyes were not set on ruling his country diligently, but only on building up profits and wealth, and on using violence to obtain his ends, and on oppressing the weak, and on generally crushing the people. And these were the very things that he had done. He was in complete contrast to his father. ‘Shedding innocent blood’ was a phrase probably intended to link him with Manasseh (see 2 Kings 21.16; 24.4).
Incidentally we might look at Jehoiakim and Zedekiah and ask how such a good father could have had such unworthy sons? And the answer must probably lie in the method of their upbringing. They would be brought up by their respective mothers with their servants and have very little contact with Josiah until they grew older, by which time it was too late to do anything about it. It was one of the problems with having a number of wives.
22.18-19 “Therefore thus says YHWH concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
YHWH thus passed His verdict on Jehoiakim. He would not be lamented on his death, not even by his siblings. There would be no feelings of friendliness towards him. They would not look at each other and say, ‘Ah, brother’, and ‘Ah, sister’. Nor would his courtier and advisers look at each other and say, ‘Ah, lord’, and ‘Ah, his glory.’ They would be glad to get rid of him and not consider that he had any glory. And in the end he would have an ignominious burial similar to that of an ass which would be dragged out beyond the gates of Jerusalem and cast out for the scavengers to finish off (the description is of the ignominious ass’s burial and may not specifically be intended to literally reflect what happened to Jehoiakim). 36.30 does, however, confirm that ‘his dead body will be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.’
We do not know where he died or how he was buried. Even the writer of Kings who usually gives burial details is silent on the subject. He merely says that ‘he rested with his fathers’ (2 Kings 24.6) which was not the same thing as being buried with his fathers (compare 2 Kings 15.38; 16.20; 1 Kings 16.28) and simply indicates that he died. Nor does it necessarily mean that he had a peaceful death, for the same phrase was used of Ahab who died in battle (1 Kings 22.40). It is clear that it was at one stage Nebuchadrezzar’s intention to carry him off in chains to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36.6), but it is never said that he did so. Having possibly handed himself over to Nebuchadrezzar so that his son could negotiate satisfactory peace terms, (if so possibly his only good act), that is the last that we know of him, in which case he may have been executed and his body tossed outside the city walls for the defenders to gaze at. Alternately he may have been killed battling with the troops that preceded Nebuchadrezzar and his body similarly dealt with, or murdered by his own people and his body tossed over the wall over so as to assuage Nebuchadrezzar’s anger. Whichever way it was he was certainly not God’s chosen one.
The Inadequacy Of Jehoiachin (Jechoniah, Coniah) (22.20-30).
Finally Jeremiah brings out the unsuitability of Jehoiachin (Jechoniah), Jehoiakim’s son, to be the promised coming son of David who would deliver Judah/Israel. Jehoiachin may well have ruled alongside his father since he was eight (2 Chronicles 36.9) and he was only eighteen when he came to the throne as sole king in the most difficult of circumstances (2 Kings 24.8-17). Jerusalem was at that stage surrounded by the besieging armies of Nebuchadrezzar against whom his father had rebelled, and his father had either just sacrificed himself, or been sacrificed by others, in order to gain terms from Nebuchadrezzar. Jehoiachin was therefore left to enter into peace negotiations, probably assisted by the queen mother Nehushta (2 Kings 24.8). In Judah the queen mother was politically powerful (note her mention as an important personage in 2 Kings 24.12).
When people are in desperate circumstances it is easy for hopes to be raised, and it is easy to see why Jehoiachin’s succession was seen as a possible beacon of hope to a people who were almost without hope. Perhaps YHWH would now step in and miraculously deal with the Babylonian army, as he had with the Assyrian army in the days of Hezekiah and Isaiah. Perhaps a satisfactory deal could be made with Nebuchadrezzar. And possibly in the future Jehoiachin would prove to be the expected Saviour of the land. Certainly later, when he was in Babylon, great expectations would be raised concerning him by false prophets who claimed to speaking in YHWH’s Name, who would claim that within two years Nebuchadrezzar’s yoke would be broken and Jehoiachin would be returning in triumph to Judah bringing with him the Temple treasures and all the exiles. See 28.3-4.
But YHWH seeks here through Jeremiah to dampen all those hopes and to make clear to them that at present Judah was without hope and that Jehoiachin was not ‘the coming son of David’ for whom they were hoping. No son of Jehoiachin would prosper sitting on the throne of David. From that point of view it was as though he was childless (22.30).
While we may feel sorry for Jehoiachin we must remember that the verdict on him in Kings was that from the beginning he ‘did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH’, continuing to favour syncretistic religion, participating in idolatry and continuing the ways of his father. Furthermore he had presumably refused to respond to Jeremiah’s pleading (and possibly his coronation address as described above). Had he responded to Jeremiah with his whole heart who knows what might have happened?
22.20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry,
Lebanon was to the north west of Judah, and Bashan to the north east. Abarim was a mountain range to the south east in the Dead Sea area (incorporating Mount Nebo). See Numbers 27.12; 33.47; Deuteronomy 32.49. The people of Judah and Jerusalem were therefore called on to cry vainly for assistance from these mountains to their erstwhile allies (lovers - see Ezekiel 23.9), who however no longer existed as possible helpers against Babylon. They had all been desolated and pacified. (Others see the criers as looking inwards over the kingdom). Judah therefore stood alone. It may be significant that no mention is made of the south east, for Egypt was the one country still able to hold out against Babylon, and it is possible that there were still vain hopes among some people of Egyptian intervention.
22.21 YHWH reminds them that when they had had periods of prosperity over the centuries (note the plural ‘prosperities’) He had constantly spoken to them. But their reply had been that ‘I will not hear’. That had been their way right from the beginning, that they had refused to hear His voice. It was indeed why these troubles had come upon them, and why there could now be no hope for them.
22.22 As a consequence of their disobedience and rebellion their shepherds (rulers) would all be shepherded by the wind (or ‘spirit’), along with any former allies, into captivity. The idea of the wind (ruach) may have been in order to indicate how little would be required for it to happen. All that would be needed was a puff of wind (or the wind of fortune) blowing them like so much chaff. Alternately a storm wind may have been in mind. For the translation ‘spirit’ indicating a general ‘spirit’ engendered by YHWH compare Isaiah 19.14; 28.6; 29.10; 63.14; Zechariah 6.8. There was no hope for them to look forward to. All that now awaited them was to be shamed and confounded because of their wickedness.
Here ‘their lovers’ would appear to refer to their influential leaders, priests and prophets whose ways they had loved to follow.
And indeed within three short months of Jehoiachin coming to the throne he, and the queen mother, and all the important people in the land would be carried away to Babylon (29.1-2; 2 Kings 24.10-16), never to return.
22.23 The ‘inhabitant of Lebanon’ being appealed to could be Jehoiachin, whose palace included the House of the Forest of Lebanon with its great cedar pillars, and itself contained much cedar all through (22.14-15). But he was to be commiserated with, for soon, instead of luxuriating in his palace, he would be suffering pangs like a woman in childbirth (popularly the most severe pain known). Alternately it could signify the whole of Jerusalem in terms of the houses of cedar of their leaders.
22.24 But false hopes were not to be clung to, for even had YHWH seen Jehoiachin (Coniah) as His own signet ring on His right hand (which in fact He did not) it would not have prevented him being plucked from his nest of cedars and despatched to Babylon. A signet ring was a treasured possession and was never removed from the finger, thus demonstrating YHWH’s determination. It was the equivalent o a man’s signature and was used to seal important documents and letters. It represented a man’s very being (see Esther 8.8; Haggai 2.23). But even had Jehoiachin been as important as that to YHWH he would still have been removed.
The name Coniah was probably Jehoiachin’s given name at birth (see also 22.28; 37.1). In 1 Chronicles 3.16-17 it was given as Je-coniah (Coniah with YHWH’s Name attached). See also 24.1; 27.20; etc. Jehoiachin was presumably his throne name. (It is an indication of the mercy of YHWH that Jehoiachin’s grandson Zerubbabel (1 Chronicles 4.19) would in fact be the equivalent of the signet ring on God’s right hand - see Haggai 2.23).
22.25 Jehoiachin was warned that he was to be given into the hands of those who, by continuing to besiege Jerusalem, were seeking his life, the hands of those of whom he was, with good reason, afraid. There was thus to be no miraculous deliverance. He would be given into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).
22.26-27 “And I will cast you out,
Indeed Jehoiachin, together with the queen mother, would be cast out of the land, into another country which was not his native land (into Babylon), and there he would die, along with all who went into captivity with him. Though their souls would long to return to their native land (literally ‘to which they were lifting up their souls), they would not return. They would all die in exile (whatever the false prophets were saying).
22.28 We may see these questions as either asked by the people, or as asked rhetorically by Jeremiah. In the former case they are questioning whether Jeremiah can be right. Is Coniah (Jehoiachin) really a despised broken vessel, one that is of no use? Is he really a vessel in which no one delights? Why should he and his seed be cast out into a land which they do not know? They are wanting proof and clarification. (This would explain the strength of Jeremiah’s reply in 22.29).
If, however, the questions are being asked by Jeremiah we may see the answers expected as ‘yes’. As in chapter 19 he is a despised broken vessel, unwanted and unusable, and therefore of no use to anyone. YHWH has tested him and found him wanting. And that is why he and his seed are to be cast out into a land which they do not know.
22.29 The threefold appeal to the earth is powerful and rare. It expresses intensity of feeling. Compare 7.4; Isaiah 6.3. Let the earth (as emphasised in contrast with the heavens) hear the word of YHWH. It was clearly indicating that it was important that the earth wake up and recognise the truth that Heaven already knows. For what YHWH has said is that the genealogical recorders on earth are to write Jehoiachin down as childless, for while he may have children they will not inherit. Neither he nor they will prosper and as a result they will not sit on the throne of David and rule in Judah. Judah must not look in this direction for the coming son of David.
In fact Jehoiachin would be carried to Babylon and imprisoned. But he did continue to be seen as king of Judah (Ezekiel dates his writing from the years of his captivity and refers to him as king - Ezekiel 1.2), and when Nebuchadrezzar died Evil-Merodach would release him from prison and treat him with honour (2 Kings 25.27-30), whilst retaining him in Babylon. Interestingly the reference to his allowance of food is confirmed archeologically for ration tablets found near the Ishtar Gate in Babylon refer to ‘Yaukin, king of the land of Yahud’.
The Promise Of The Coming Son Of David Who Will Triumph And Rule Wisely (23.1-8).
Having disabused the people’s minds about the likelihood of any of their current kings being the anticipated deliverer of the house of David, Jeremiah now promises that one day such a figure will come, but he only does it after he has first given his verdict on the present ‘shepherds’ (rulers) of Israel who are responsible for the fact that the flock has been or will be scattered among the nations. A ‘woe’ is declared on them and they are revealed to be worthless. They will thus be visited in judgment for their failure. But then the remnant of the flock will be restored to the land and will have good shepherds placed over them, and the days are coming when there will be raised up from David a righteous Branch (or Shoot) who will rule wisely and exercise justice and righteousness. He will be called ‘YHWH our righteousness’. And in that day men will no longer speak of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, but of Israel’s deliverance, both from the north country, and from wherever they have been driven. And they will once again dwell in their own land.
Initially, of course, this was fulfilled in the return after the exile and the establishment of the Jews in Palestine under Zerubabbel, and this in readiness for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Who was indeed YHWH our righteousness, and Who established His Kingly Rule over all who responded to Him. Comparison should be made with Ezekiel 34.1-31 and Ezekiel 37.21-28 which contain parallel ideas leading up to the coming Son of David.
The Failure of the Worthless Shepherds (23.1-2).
YHWH passes His verdict on the false rulers who have failed His people. Note the dual double repetition of ‘the word of YHWH’ in verses 1-4 indicating the seriousness of His words, two referring to His judgments, and two to His restorative activity.
23.1 A woe is declared on the rulers who have destroyed and scattered, and are destroying and scattering, (literally ‘the destroying and scattering ones of’) the sheep of YHWH’s pasture, the people of the land. And this is the ‘sure and certain word of YHWH’. Such ‘woes’ are a common prophetic way of describing a situation which God will visit in judgment (see 22.13; Isaiah 3.9-11; 5.8-25; 10.1 etc; Ezekiel 13.3; 34.2; Micah 2.1). In contrast YHWH is depicted as the true Shepherd of His people (‘the sheep of My pasture’, ‘My flock’ (verse 2)). He had appointed under-shepherds, but they had failed.
23.2 ‘Therefore thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people,
But YHWH will call these under-shepherds to account. For whereas they should have been feeding His people they have in fact scattered them and driven them away, and have failed to care for them and watch over them (to ‘visit’ them). And because of that YHWH will ‘visit’ on the under-shepherds the evil of their doings. (Note the play in words on the term ‘visit’). And this is the sure and certain ‘word of YHWH’.
The scattering of His people was widespread in Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Elam, etc. See Isaiah 11.11. But when the land was open and available many would return.
YHWH Will In The Future Restore The Remnant Of His Flock From Exile And They Will Be Fruitful And Multiply, And He Will Set Up True Shepherds Over Them (23.3-4).
It is made clear here that exiles will return from all parts, and will establish a well populated country. There is no good reason for doubting that this did happen, for by the time of Jesus both Galilee and Judaea were well populated. Our knowledge is limited to those of whom records were kept, but our knowledge of the inter-testamental years is very sparse.
23.3 For when the time comes YHWH will gather the remnant of His flock out of all the countries where he has driven them (note, however, that it is only the remnant. Not all will come, and many will be no more), and He will bring them again to the land of their inheritance and there they will be fruitful and multiply. Note here that while in verse 2 it was the faithless under-shepherds who had driven them away, here YHWH claims Himself to have driven them away. We have here the human and divine sides of history. Man brings evil on a city, but ‘can evil come on a city and YHWH has not done it?’ (Amos 3.6). Human history and God’s divine plan and purpose march on side by side. All the evil is on man’s side, but the working out of the situation is God’s.
(Thus in Isaiah 10.5, 7, 12,15 YHWH makes clear that He had made use of the Assyrians but was not responsible for the fact that they had gone too far).
Because of the limited records that we have we can think in terms of the restoration as only being from Babylon, but that was only the beginning. The outworking of history indicates that once they were free to do so many also came from other parts where they had been exiled. And the fact that they were fruitful and multiplied is brought out when we consider the constituents of the land in the days of our Lord Jesus Christ. By His day the land was well populated and at peace, and they had come from many places.
23.4 And YHWH would set up reliable shepherds over them who would feed them, and they would no more be fearful and dismayed, nor would they be lacking in care and attention. We have only a glimpse of such shepherds in Zerubabbel, Ezra, Nehemiah, the Maccabees, and so on. These were recognised as ‘good’ shepherds who cared for the sheep and turned them from idols. And this too was guaranteed by the prophetic ‘word of YHWH’.
The Coming Son Of David (23.5-6)
The fact is now brought out that one day a Son of David would arise from the house of David who would restore His people’s fortunes and establish the everlasting Kingly Rule of God. It is a regular promise in Scripture, commencing with the promises made to David in 2 Samuel 7.12-13, 16 and confirmed, for example, in 30.9; 33.15-17; Isaiah 9.5-6; 11.1-4; 16.5; 55.3; Ezekiel 34.1-31; 37.21-28; Hosea 3.5; Amos 9.11.
23.5 Following the restoration promised by YHWH will be the coming days when He will raise up to David a righteous Branch (or Shoot), a Branch of righteousness (33.15), a Branch which will grow out of his roots (Isaiah 11.1), in other words a sprouting from the shoot, we might say ‘a chip off the old block’ although emphasising the derivation of the one from the other, and He will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land (compare Isaiah 11.2-4; 9.5-6), precisely what the current kings had failed to do (22.2-4). And this too was the guaranteed ‘word of YHWH’. Note that the ‘word of YHWH’ has guaranteed the whole process.
There was an initial fulfilment of this in Zerubabbel, ‘Behold the man whose name is The Branch, (the one who has sprouted from the stock of David), and he will grow up out of his place, and he will build the temple of the Lord’ (Zechariah 6.12), but it was only as a shadow of what was coming. It awaited its final fulfilment in our Lord Jesus Christ Who was not only the Branch, but also the whole Vine from which other branches would grow (John 15.1-6). He came and established the Kingly Rule of God in justice and righteousness (Luke 1.32-33, 69; 2.11), and appointed twelve men to sit on the thrones of the house of David (Psalm 122.4-5) ruling as servants over His people (Matthew 19.28-29). He was a greater than David (Mark 12.35-37), and His Kingly Rule was not directly of this world (John 18.37), for He ruled over a people not an area of land (Acts 2.36; Matthew 28.18-20).
The Coming Salvation Of His People (23.6-8).
And when this son of David came Judah would be delivered and Israel would dwell in safety. They would be free and independent under His rule. This was partly fulfilled in Jesus’ establishment of His ‘congregation’ (Matthew 16.18; 21.43; compare John 15.1-6) who would be the heavy laden who would find rest and ease to their souls (Matthew 11.28-30) and ‘the glorious liberty of the children of God’ (Romans 8.21). But it would only find its complete fulfilment in the eternal kingdom.
And ‘He will be called YHWH our Righteousness (Tsidkenu)’. For He will be made unto them Wisdom from God, even Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption (1 Corinthians 1,30). He will clothe them with the garments of salvation and cover them with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61.10). He will be their Saviour (Luke 2.11; Acts 5.31; 2 Timothy 1.10). And it will be both an accounted righteousness (Genesis 15.6) and an imparted righteousness. Both have always been necessary for those who would serve God. That was why sacrifices and offerings were provided, and the Law was to be written in their hearts (31.33).
23.6 The picture here is of Judah and Israel as a free and independent people ruled over by their king who will Himself be righteous and will instil into them the righteousness of God. It will finally be fulfilled in the everlasting kingdom. But we may see a partial fulfilment now. As is made clear in Isaiah (45.8; 46.13; 51.5-6, 8; 59.17) the concepts of righteousness and salvation go hand in hand, there could be no salvation without righteousness, and there could be no righteousness without salvation, for to be truly His they must have righteousness imputed to them (Genesis 15.6) and righteousness imparted to them, and thereby they would be saved and would dwell in safety and at peace with God.
There is a play here on the name of Zedekiah which actually means ‘YHWH is righteous’. And the point being made is that unlike Zedekiah He will be truly righteous, and truly a producer of righteousness. He will be what Zedekiah should have been. It may be that Zedekiah chose this name as his throne name precisely because of Jeremiah’s prophecy, or it may be that Nebuchadrezzar had a sense of humour.
23.7-8 ‘Therefore, behold, the days are coming, the word of YHWH, that they will no more say, “As YHWH lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but, “As YHWH lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.” And they will dwell in their own land.”
Compare 16.14-15. This was prophesied more than once. Thus while the coming Exile appeared to be, and was, a catastrophe they were in the hands of the living God, and from it He would produce a new deliverance which would be so wonderful that they would no longer hark back to the deliverance from Egypt, but would look back to their deliverance from exile in all the countries to which they had been driven. And they would dwell again in their own land. And it was on such a deliverance that the Jews looked back in the time of Jesus. But in Jesus Christ the vision would extend outwards and He would become a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42.6-7; 49.6; 60.1-3) as well as the glory of His people Israel (Luke 2.32; Isaiah 60.1). And the final fulfilment awaits the everlasting kingdom when Abraham and all God’s people will finally receive the land for which they were looking (Hebrews.11.10-14).
Jeremiah’s Diatribe Against The Prophets, Headed As ‘Concerning The Prophets’ (23.9-40).
Having set right the vision of the future, Jeremiah now turns on those who had been distorting that vision in one way or another, the prophetic guild. Like the current ‘sons of David’ they too were inadequate. These were men who claimed to speak ‘the word of YHWH’ in the Name of YHWH in His very house (the Temple), but spoke all manner of falsehood and ungodliness in that Name. It was not that they did not conceive of themselves as genuine. Indeed we will soon learn of at least two who were prepared to die horrible deaths at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar because of their prophecies of his coming downfall (29.21-22), but we also learn at the same time learn that they spoke lies and their lives were dishonourable (29.23).
It is immediately made apparent how difficult Jeremiah is finding his task to be (verse 9). In order partly to understand that we have to appreciate two things, and the first is the ‘holiness’ seen as connected with ‘prophets’. In spite of the boldness of various prophets through the ages in the face of arrogant kings of Israel/Judah the number who were actually killed by the authorities were comparatively few. We see them coming boldly into the presence of the most of evil kings and walking away unscathed (it was not Ahab who sought to kill Elijah, but Jezebel, who was not rooted in Yahwism). And the reason why this was so was because they were seen as relatively sacrosanct as ‘the prophets of YHWH’. It was considered that to attack them would be to directly attack YHWH. Like the vessels in the sanctuary they were ‘holy, set apart to YHWH’ and therefore untouchable except by those appointed by YHWH.
In our own day we see Jeremiah’s opponents as ‘false prophets’, but we must remember that to the people of Jeremiah’s day they were ‘the prophets of YHWH’ to whom they went for ‘a word from YHWH’, and it was Jeremiah who was questionable.. The other prophets were seen as YHWH’s mouthpiece and totally untouchable. They were ‘holy’, that is they directly represented YHWH, and therefore to attack them was to attack YHWH. Even kings walked warily when they dealt with such men. Thus when Jeremiah took them on he knew that he was taking his whole life and reputation in his hands with this spirited attack upon them. And that is why he saw his words spoken against the prophets as especially ‘holy’. To deal with such ‘holy’ men required special holiness.
His invective can be divided up into four subsections in which there is an intermingling of Jeremiah’s prophetic words with the actual words of YHWH:
1). Jeremiah Explains How Difficult He Is Finding It To Proclaim YHWH’s Holy Words Against The Prophets And Outlines The Consequences Of Their Prophesying On The Land. YHWH Himself Then Declares What The Consequences Will Be On The Prophets Themselves (23.9-12).
Jeremiah’s diatribe against the prophets commences with an expression of the effect that what he is being called on to do is having on him. The ‘holy words’ that YHWH has given him to say against the prophets have affected him deeply, for he is only too well aware of who it is that the people put their trust in, and of what the people’s view of them is as those who are ‘holy to YHWH’. He knows that he is taking on the very people whom the people see as revealing to them YHWH’s mind, and must publicly declare them to be ungodly, profane and polluted, and the impression that we gain is that he himself did also see them as having a kind of ‘holiness’ which was why he needed ‘holy words’ with which to combat them.
23.9 The passage opens in an unusual way with a heading, ‘concerning the prophets’ demonstrating the importance that Jeremiah placed on this particular passage. Compare the later ‘concerning Egypt’ (46.2), ‘concerning Moab’ (48.1) and so on of other nations. In other words the guild of prophets were seen as on a parallel with great nations. Such was their importance.
The heading then introduces a long diatribe against these prophets, one which commences with an expression demonstrating Jeremiah’s concerns and how vividly and deeply they were affecting him. The conversation will, however, very quickly be taken over by YHWH speaking through him.
Jeremiah begins by describing the effect on him of both YHWH and of ‘His holy words’ which he has to pronounce. The burden imposed on him by them seemingly constantly oppressed him, and clearly affected him deeply. He was not finding the ministry to which he was called easy. There may have been a number of reasons for this, but in context the main reason was undoubtedly that of the problem of having to deal with the ‘holiness’ of the prophets, something about which he may well have been uncertain. (We can compare how difficult we may ourselves find it to distinguish between those who truly have the Holy Spirit and those who simply make great claims about it, fearful lest we cause despite to the Holy Spirit). But along with that were a number of related reasons:
So concern about the ‘holiness’ of his opponents, awareness of the curse on the land, and anguish at the people’s spiritual condition would all, in a sensitive and essentially loving man, have contributed to his distress. Indeed had they not done so he would hardly have been a suitable person to carry YHWH’s ‘burden’.
Thus we learn that these factors disturb his mind and will (‘heart’) and cause his inner self to shake, (the bones were seen as representing men’s inner self), with the result that he senses himself as behaving like a drunken man, reeling under the words that he has to proclaim. But he is not drunk with wine, he is rather filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5.18), not however in order to sing (even though he would sometimes do that when he worshipped in the Temple) but in order that he might convey YHWH’s message.
It may also partly be because he contrasts ‘the holy words’ which he himself has received from YHWH with their supposed ‘holy’ words, and shudders as he does so. That would have added to his distress as he thought of the way in which it would be seen by the people as both sets of adversaries claiming to wield ‘holy words’. It gave him a new sense of what his ‘holy words’ involved, the very truth of YHWH, and he longed that the people might appreciate the fact. Indeed he may have found it difficult that the prophets even dared to speak such words in the face of the holy words of YHWH. He probably saw their attempts as the equivalent of blasphemy, because they were downgrading the word of God, were interfering in a sphere into which they had no right to enter, and were uttering things that they had no right to say.
23.10-11 He points out that it is in fact because of these ‘holy’ prophets with their ‘holy words’ that the land is full of adultery, something which they were quite happy to recommend under the guise of religious ritual. This was their kind of ‘holiness’, consorting with ‘holy’ prostitutes. The adultery would have been spiritual, indicating a seeking after idols as ‘lovers’, as well as physical in that the very worship encouraged perverted sex (compare 29.23), or indeed both for the two went together. Everywhere people were copulating in the high places as they burned incense to Baal. And it is because of the curse which this behaviour has produced that ‘the land mourns because of the curse’ which is on it (in accordance with Deuteronomy 29.23-24; Isaiah 24.6-7; Amos 4.7-9), something which results in the pastures of the grazing lands being dried up (the ‘wilderness’ was where they grazed their cattle and sheep as opposed to the arable land on which they grew their crops). Furthermore the course that they recommended was evil (their course is evil) and what they put their strength and efforts and great influence into bringing about was not right (their might was not right). And that was because both priests and prophets were ‘profane’, that is, irreligious, polluted and godless, having been led astray by false teaching. Note in this regard the combination of prophets and priests, those who professed an inspired ‘word’ from YHWH, and those who supposedly expounded the Law. In the face of this what hope was there for the people? And it should be noted that YHWH Himself testifies to their wickedness as revealed in their activities in the Temple, and does it ‘by His sure and certain word’. This wickedness again included not only their idolatrous worship, but also the perverted sex with cult prostitutes, and the sex between worshippers, all aimed at persuading the gods to make the land fertile, something which had manifestly failed, together with their acceptance without protest of injustice and oppression. The prophets meanwhile no doubt kept a look out for the best looking girls, using their exalted office as a means of influencing them in their favour. A similar position is taken today by modern servants of idolatry, singers, sports personalities and the like, and even some religious personalities. They will all share the fate of these prophets.
23.12 “For which reason their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness,
But the consequences for these prophets will be that they will find themselves walking in slippery places in the darkness, and being driven on and falling in them, because YHWH was bringing about their downfall. The idea would be a familiar one with them. Many a man’s body had been discovered when morning came because in seeking to descend slippery slopes in the darkness he had fallen to his death (compare Psalm 35.5-6; 73.2; Isaiah 8.22), and many would have experienced such dangers for themselves, and the awfulness, having slipped, of falling into darkness. But in that case, unlike here, they had not been driven on by YHWH. Here it is different. For it was YHWH’s intention to bring evil on them and visit them with His judgment in ‘the year of their visitation’ which is coming. And this is the sure and certain word of YHWH.
2). YHWH Calumniates The False Prophets And Questions What They Teach, Explaining What The Results Of Their Prophesying Will Be, And Emphasising That They Were Not Sent Or Enlightened By Him (23.13-22).
Jeremiah now compares the prophets of Judah with the prophets who had brought doom on Israel, people who had no doubt become a byword in Judah as evidence of prophets who could go astray. And he sees little to choose between them. They walk in the same evil ways, and encourage others to do so as well, with the result that instead of converting the people from wickedness they make them worse. Indeed they were making them like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, the two cities which were destroyed by YHWH for their extreme wickedness in the time of Abraham (Genesis 18-19), and were now synonymous with evil.
As a result YHWH will feed them with a bitter diet, because that is precisely the consequence of the type of teaching that they provide, a teaching which certainly does not come from Him but is simply a vision from their own hearts. They proclaim ‘peace and wellbeing’, and promise to those who are stubborn in heart that ‘no evil will come on them’. But they can only do this because, whatever they may profess, they have not stood in the council of YHWH. Had they done so they would have known that a tempest was coming forth which would burst on their heads, as a result of the anger of YHWH, a tempest which would not cease until all that He purposes has been brought about. They may not at present understand this, but eventually they will understand it perfectly because it will have happened to them. And that is why if they had genuinely stood in His council they would rather be seeking to turn the people to YHWH’s word and away from evil, because they would have known.
23.13-14 “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria,
All agreed that there had been folly in the prophets of Samaria. Those prophets had supported the folly of their priests who had set up images in their temples, and they had had their own priesthood, and their own feasts, and had indulged in a syncretistic Yahwism which included consorting with Baal and Asherah and other gods and goddesses. Thus it had come as no surprise to Judah that YHWH should brand them as fools and punish them. Their view would be that they had deserved it for having forsaken Temple worship and having deserted the son of David. But, they would have thought, surely it was different in Judah. There they had the one Temple, and the legitimate priesthood, and regularly celebrated the feasts established by Moses, and while it was certainly necessary for them to admit that they had modernised it a little by the introduction of novelties such as nature gods in order to satisfy everyone, all in all they were confident that they gave YHWH what they thought He wanted, daily sacrifices, offerings of incense, and priestly recognition. What more could any God want?
But Jeremiah soon disillusions them. That was precisely Jeremiah’s point, that he had seen ‘a horrible thing’ in Jerusalem, the place which should especially have been kept free from all taint. While it may be that the folly of their prophets was not outwardly like that of Israel, it was just as real underneath. It was revealed in their spiritual and physical adultery, their willingness to countenance the worship of ‘Baal (Lord) YHWH’ and Asherah, the way that they deceived the people with lies under the guise of prophecy, and the way in which they prophesied in support of influential and powerful men, in order that they might achieve their ends, ‘strengthening the hands of evildoers’. And the result was that none returned from their wickedness because instead of making them feel guilty and repentant, the false prophets were encouraging them in their sins. Thus no one was returning from his wickedness to YHWH. And the consequence was that He saw them as being as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah, which was not on the whole a good thing if one thought of what had happened to them.
Indeed as we have seen earlier, YHWH considered that they were doubly guilty because they had failed to take notice of the warning given as a result of what had happened to their northern cousins (3.6-10).
23.15 ‘Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts concerning the prophets:
And it was because from these ‘prophets of Jerusalem’ (as contrasted and compared with the ‘prophets of Samaria’) had gone forward ungodliness into all the land, that YHWH of the hosts of Heaven and earth had decreed concerning these prophets that they should feed on wormwood and drink of gall (compare 9.15), in other words would experience bitter things.
Both wormwood and gall had the same characteristic, that they were very bitter, and even poisonous, and both regularly symbolised awful judgment (see for the wormwood varieties of plant Amos 5.7; 6.12; Proverbs 5.4; Lamentation 3.15. For the gall plant see 8.14; Hosea 10.14; Deuteronomy 29.18; Amos 6.12; Lamentations 3.19). Drinking gall probably has in mind an extract from the colocynth gourd fruit.
23.16 ‘Thus says YHWH of hosts,
So through Jeremiah YHWH now called on His people to turn their backs on these false prophets and not to listen to them, because their preaching was empty and was useless, and because their visions came from their own hearts and not out of the mouth of YHWH. But He would have known that He was talking to a brick wall because the people were smug in what they saw as their perfect acceptability. And meanwhile Jeremiah must have been feeling it very deeply, especially when the people attacked him for being unfair to the false prophets.
Note the characteristics of a false prophet:
23.17 And these prophets were continually proclaiming to the very people who demonstrated by their injustice and oppression that they despised YHWH, that they would have peace and well-being. And to those who stubbornly refused to obey YHWH’s covenant they were giving the assurance that ‘No evil will come on you’. How foolish they were. For had they really seen into YHWH’s mind they would have known that the very opposite was true. However, the people enjoyed their message for it coincided with their own thinking that they were perfectly satisfactory to God and could carry on doing just what they wanted.
There is an interesting hint in the verb ‘they say’ of the difference in their activity from that of genuine prophets. It is a different word from that used of when YHWH’s prophets speak, perhaps suggesting that these prophets speak glibly on their own initiative. They speak from their own wisdom and not from the wisdom of YHWH.
23.18 YHWH now lays down His challenge. Which of them had stood in the Heavenly Council as His ways were being unveiled? Which of them had really perceived and heard His word? Which of them had taken note of His word and heard it? And the answer was none of them (apart of course from Jeremiah), for had they done so they would have seen things very differently.
The ‘Heavenly council’ in Hebrew thought consisted of YHWH’s court in the heavenlies where He was surrounded by holy beings. It was a council from which only true prophets could obtain the facts without distortion. See 1 Kings 22.19; Job 1-2; 15.8; Psalms 82.1; 89.6-7; Isaiah 6.1-8; Amos 3.7.
23.19 And what had been the verdict of this Heavenly Council? It had been that the wrath of YHWH would come forth like a great tempest (a tempest of YHWH), yes like a whirling tempest, and it would burst on the all the heads of the wicked. Thus the Heavenly Council had come to a very different decision from that propounded by the false prophets. It had seen a picture of the world being turned upside down because of what was coming on it.
23.20 And when that tempest began it would not cease until it had run its course. The anger of YHWH would go forth and not return until He had performed the intents of His heart, that is until what He had purposed had been fulfilled. And in later days they would understand it perfectly for they would have experienced it for themselves, and they would have begun to think through the truth of what he was saying (which was why Jeremiah’s prophecies were preserved). ‘The latter days’ simply means ‘later days’, the latter days of their own experience when all that had been warned about had actually happened and they were in exile. In other words their theological graduation would be as a result of having experienced God’s judgment, not from listening to the prophets.
YHWH Rejects The Testimony Of The False Jerusalem Prophets And Reveals Himself As The All-knowing One), Condemning The Temple Prophets As False Dreamers Who Cause The People To Err. They Are In Direct Contrast With Those Who Have The True Word Of YHWH Which Is Like A Fire And A Hammer Which Breaks Rock In Pieces (23.25-32).
YHWH now stresses that He had not sent these prophets and that their words were not to be seen as coming from Him. And He wants all to know that He is not out of touch with things but is perfectly well aware of what they were teaching. After all He fills Heaven and earth. His verdict is therefore that they are teachers of lies and false dreams and He wants everyone to know that He is against them. And He stresses that this is in contrast with the true prophets who have been sent by Him and do receive their word from YHWH and whose word is therefore like a fire and a sledgehammer bringing about His purpose.
23.21-22 YHWH wants the people to know that these prophets are running as though they had an urgent message from Him when in fact He had given them no message. They are giving a false impression. And they are ‘prophesying’ even though He had not spoken to them. For the truth was that had they genuinely entered into His Council and listened and heard His words they would have been causing the people to hear those words, and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil doing. This is finally the test of a true prophet, that he causes men’s lives to be changed in accordance with the word of God and the teaching of the Law.
23.23-24 Let no one think that God was far off and not aware of what was going on. For He is a God Who is at hand (and that is the sure word of YHWH) and not One afar off (so the answer to the question was expected to be YES). Thus no one can hide in a secret place (behind a refuge of lies - see Isaiah 28.7, 15, 17) preventing YHWH from seeing him. This too is the sure word of YHWH. For after all YHWH fills Heaven and earth. Nothing can be hidden from Him. And this too is the sure word of YHWH. Note the threefold repetition of ‘the word of YHWH’ guaranteeing that absolute certainty of what He is saying. The point is that YHWH knew the whole truth about all prophets. Their dreams were not a mystery to Him. And He was therefore able to declare which were true and which were false.
For the idea of God as far off and out of sight compare Psalm 10.11; 73.11; 94.7. It is what foolish men think. How different is the truth, that all things are unbared and open to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do (Hebrews 4.13). Compare Genesis 16.13; Psalm 32.6-7; 73.23-26; 139.1-2, 7-12; Amos 9.2-4.
Alternately we may see the question as asking whether God was just a local God (a God at hand who could thus be dodged), rather than being a transcendent God, unrestricted in what He could see and inhabiting eternity (‘a God afar off’ likes the High and Lofty One Who inhabits Eternity, compare Isaiah 57.15) so that He can look down and observe everything that happens (Psalm 53.2).
23.25” I have heard what the prophets have said,
And so let no one be deceived. YHWH is fully aware of what the supposed prophets have said, and knows that they have prophesied lies on the basis of their dreams. Note the sarcastic picture of the prophet who arrives declaring sombrely and mysteriously, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed’, trying to give the impression that he has received some great message, when it is in fact a mixture of drugs and wishful thinking.
Dreams were the means by which most lesser prophets received their ‘illumination’ (see Numbers 12.6). And they could contain genuine messages from God. But those who had many dreams and made a great fuss about it should be treated with suspicion. It appears that these prophets were constantly having dreams, and then laying great emphasis on them. It is typical of mankind to prefer dreams to the sure word of God. Such dreams give the impression of being more exciting and pander to what people want to hear, and contribute to the desire to discover certainty in an uncertain word.
23.26-27 YHWH then asks ‘how long?’ That is, how long can this be allowed to go on (or ‘how long will they go on doing this?’). What follows is then asking, can this be allowed to continue? Will they really be allowed to go on having this dependence on dreams which causes them to prophesy their lies? In other words how long can they be allowed to go on dreaming, deceiving themselves in their own hearts, with the intent of making His people forget His Name and follow after Baal? For that is what they are doing. By their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour they are making them forget YHWH’s Name for that of Baal, just as their fathers did.
23.28 He then differentiates the dreamers from the true prophets. Let the prophet who dreams tell his dream. And let the prophet who truly has His word, speak that word faithfully. After all when it comes to choosing who would prefer straw to wheat? This is the sure word of YHWH.
The point is that had the people been honest in their hearts they would have known which was true. They would have discerned wheat from straw. But of course the truth was they did not want to discern. The straw was more comfortable.
And that is why even today God allows truth and error to be proclaimed side by side, because those who have the anointing of God will soon discern truth from falsehood. See the similar argument in 1 John 2.18-29.
23.29-30 For the true word of God does not need dreams to support it. It is like a fire which burns into men’s very souls removing what is false (the stubble). It is like a sledgehammer which smashes what is hardened so that it is open to truth, and humbles men before God.
23.30-32 YHWH now three times emphasises that He is against the cult prophets, firstly because their words are second hand borrowing based on common wisdom, secondly because they use their tongues (which is all that their words are based on) freely and then say, ‘YHWH says’ (as though it was the word of YHWH), and thirdly because they have (‘prophesy’) lying dreams, and then tell them to the people, causing them to err as a result of their lies and vain boasting. Thus not only are they making a false claim to be prophets of YHWH when it is all really a sham, but by it they are leading people astray. For the fact is that on the one hand YHWH has neither sent them nor commanded them, and on the other the words that they speak have no profit in them for the people in any way.
Note the careful construction of the verses with the thrice repeated ‘behold I am against the prophets’ as He builds up His case concerning them that they are plagiarists, vain talkers and lying dreamers, and the three fold ‘the word of YHWH’ (neum YHWH) as He underpins the fact, then followed by a fourth.
It will be noted that in this clear indictment of the false prophets their methods are sarcastically reviewed. They either borrow their ideas from the common wisdom (their neighbours), or they simply invent them on their tongues, or they base them on induced dreams. YHWH’s inspiration does not come into it. (The prophets would have claimed otherwise because, like Balaam in Numbers 22-24, they thought that they could enter into the secrets of YHWH by drug induced experiences).
Both Jeremiah And The False Prophets Are Forbidden to Use The Phrase, ‘The Burden Of YHWH’ (23.33-40).
God now puts a blanket ban on speaking of a ‘burden’ from YHWH. This is not just arguing about a technicality (as some have strangely suggested), but is rather indicating that the time for ‘burdens’ from YHWH has passed because the future is now decided. The future is no longer ‘if’ but ‘when’. Thus no prophet must now speak of having a burden about the future. They should rather recognise that YHWH’s fixed and determined will was being done. And this was the case even for Jeremiah. This brings out the fact that the purpose of a prophet’s ‘burden’ (massa - Isaiah 13.1 etc; Nahum 1.1; Habakkuk 1.1) was in order to bring encouragement from YHWH to God’s people in respect of the future in difficult times. It had the aim of providing emotional and spiritual support for them. But once given that there was no further hope or comfort to be offered to them, then for any one of them to pretend to have a ‘burden’ would be deceptive. From now on therefore for either Jeremiah or the other prophets to claim to have a burden from YHWH would be to mislead the people into thinking that there was still hope, when there was in fact none. Furthermore for the false prophets to continue using the idea of the burden of YHWH would be a further insult to YHWH, for He did not give them oracles. Thus to suggest otherwise could only result in their everlasting destruction.
23.33 In a remarkable statement (compare that of His telling Jeremiah not to pray for the people) YHWH now declares that there will at this time be no more ‘burdens’ (oracles) from YHWH, for a burden suggests that YHWH has a concern for His people whereas at present His only desire is to be disburdened of them. Thus if any of the people, or a prophet, or a priest, come to Jeremiah asking, ‘What is the burden of YHWH?’ (What message of comfort does He have for us?), he must immediately reply, ‘What burden? My intention is to cast you off (disburden Myself of you).’ In other words he is to indicate that He no longer has any words of hope for them, and will not therefore give a prophetic ‘burden’.
23.34 In the same way if either prophet, priest or people claim to have a ‘burden’ from YHWH they will be opening them and their households to punishment for making a false and blasphemous claim.
23.35-36 So from now on no one must speak of ‘burdens from YHWH’ (impressions laid on them by YHWH acting on His own account). Rather they must use lesser phrases like, ‘has YHWH answered’ or ‘has YHWH spoken’ which indicate attempts to find out what He has to say, without giving the impression that the man is a specially chosen messenger of YHWH. In other words the idea of a burden from YHWH must no longer be considered, for YHWH was giving no more such burdens to His prophets so that any such statement would be a lie. For, He adds sarcastically, otherwise every man will see his own words as ‘a burden from YHWH’ because he perverts the words of the living God. So-called ‘burdens from YHWH’ will be unacceptable because they will simply be perversions of the words of the living God, that is, of ‘YHWH Lord of the hosts of Heaven and earth Who is our God’.
Some see ‘For every man’s own word will be his burden’ as a play on words signifying, not that he will (wrongly) see his own words as a genuine prophetic burden, but that he will find them to be a burden which bows him down.
23.37-40 And the same applied to the prophets. People must not ask them whether they have received ‘a burden from YHWH’, suggesting that they might be genuine prophets who had been particularly and unilaterally impressed by YHWH with a message of hope. They must rather ask, ‘Has YHWH answered you?’ or ‘Has YHWH spoken?’ (That is, have you been able to get in touch with Him?). But if any prophet, or even anyone at all, claims to have received a burden from YHWH (giving the impression that YHWH Himself has sovereignly impressed on them His message) in disobedience to YHWH’s strict command, then YHWH will forget them (dismiss them from His reckoning) and cast them off, together with their city, away from His presence. It will bring on them everlasting reproach, and perpetual and unforgettable shame. Note how they will be involving their city (Jerusalem) in their destruction. No man is an island.
We can compare with this idea of prophets being brought to account Zechariah 13.2-6, even though a different test is used. Compare also Deuteronomy 13 and 18.20-22. Prophets had to be strictly controlled in what they claimed precisely because of their ability to lead men astray.
The Two Baskets of Figs - Zedekiah And Jerusalem Are Fated To Destruction And Exile (24.1-10).
The subsection opened with a report concerning the future of Zedekiah and Jerusalem, and it now closes with the same, the two forming an inclusio for the subsection. Jeremiah is shown two baskets of figs by YHWH, one containing good figs and the other bad figs. The good figs represent the cream of the people who had been carried off to Babylon (including Daniel and Ezekiel among others). The bad figs represent Zedekiah and those who had remained behind in Jerusalem. The good figs would one day be restored to the land and built up there, and would once again become His people with Him being their God. But the bad figs would be gathered up by Nebuchadrezzar and scattered among the kingdoms to become a reproach wherever they were found, and prior to that would first suffer sword, famine and pestilence. In other words for Zedekiah and his ilk there was to be no future.
24.1 ‘YHWH showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of YHWH, after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.’
The chapter commences with YHWH showing Jeremiah two baskets of figs which had been set before the Temple of YHWH, indicating either that they were being brought before YHWH for Him to pass judgment on them, or that they were an offering to YHWH, either as a firstfruit or a tithe (a remnant). Compare Amos 8.1-2. This took place after Nebuchadrezzar had carried Jehoiachin, together with the princes of Judah (the tribal and clan leaders) and the cream of the people away to Babylon (2 K. 24:10-17).
The inclusion of craftsmen of all kinds was an indication that these exiles were more than hostages. Nebuchadrezzar was stripping Jerusalem of all who could have contributed to its being built up again into a strong city, and at the same time assuring himself of a constant stream of craftsmen for his own building projects. Many would in fact settle in Babylon and not want to return.
24.2 ‘One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe, and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.’
Of the baskets of figs one contained very good figs, like first ripe figs (signifying the very best, compare Isaiah 28.4; Hosea 9.10). and one contained very bad figs, which were so bad that they could not be stomached. This may suggest that they had been brought before YHWH to be tested, or it may be saying that what Jerusalem is now offering to YHWH is fruit that has gone off, in contrast with what it had previously offered, fruit which had potential.
24.3 ‘Then YHWH said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”
YHWH then asked what Jeremiah saw, and Jeremiah described the two baskets of figs, indicating that one basket contained very good figs and the other very bad figs, so bad that they could not be stomached. (The repetition is made in order to emphasise the important facts). We do not know whether the baskets were simply seen in vision, or whether they were baskets of firstfruits or summer fruits brought as an offering to YWHW which He used to bring an object lesson to Jeremiah (compare the widow’s two mites in Mark 13.41-44). If the latter it may have been intended to indicate two different attitudes revealed by the offerings, with some bringing their very best (like Abel) and others treating YHWH with contempt by bringing rubbish because they did not want to ‘waste’ good fruit..
24.4-5 ‘And the word of YHWH came to me, saying, “Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.”
YHWH then revealed to him that the good figs represented the captives from Judah who had been ‘sent by Him’ out of ‘this place’ (Judah and Jerusalem) into the land of the Chaldeans, and that He now intended to ‘regard’ them as good (even though on the whole they were not) and had therefore done it with their ‘good’ in mind. This was why He regarded them as being like the good figs. (They were at that stage at least partially responding to Ezekiel’s ministry, no doubt helped by the fact that Daniel was governor of Babylonia).
24.6 “For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land, and I will build them, and not pull them down, and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.”
For YHWH assured Jeremiah that He intended good towards these people, and had ‘set His eyes on them for good’, and would therefore eventually bring them back again to the land of Judah, and rather than pulling them down, would build them, and instead of plucking them up, would plant them. Compare for these ideas 1.10; 12.14-17; 18.7-9; 31.27-28. In other words as a result of His sovereign activity they would be restored to the land and would begin to prosper and be established.
24.7 “And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am YHWH, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.”
And what was more He would give them a heart to know Him, and to really appreciate that He really was YHWH, so that they would be His people and He would be their God (compare 31.33-34; Hosea 2.23). There would be a full restoration of the covenant, and they would return to Him with their whole heart. And as we know from later records this was on the whole what happened. They became established in the land once again and did experience revival a number of times, so that at times they did genuinely respond to God with all their hearts. This then resulted finally in their being prepared by John the Baptist for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, with continually among them a strong godly remnant (consider all those mentioned in respect of the birth of Jesus). It finally came into full fruition in the true company of believers after Pentecost.
24.8 “And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus says YHWH, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt,”
But with the bad, inedible figs it was to be a very different story. They represented Zedekiah and his clique, together with others both in Jerusalem and in Egypt, who would be ‘given up’ because they were unacceptable. They would not be a part of the restoration. Notice that Egypt was seen to have done them no good.
We know very little about settlers in Egypt from Judah around this time, but Egypt had always regularly welcomed refugees from Canaan (they considered that they had a paternal interest in it seeing it as basically their colony), and the Egyptians employed Jewish mercenaries. Thus refugees who were pro-Egyptian sympathisers from both Israel and Judah would probably have fled there at various times during the regular invasions that took place from the north and have found a welcome there. Some would also have gone there with Jehoahaz who would certainly have been accompanied by courtiers and servants in 609 B.C. (2 Kings 23.34). And other refugees would probably have followed when Jehoiakim became Nebuchadrezzar's vassal around 603 BC, and then when Nebuchadrezzar invaded Judah in 598/7 BC.
24.9 “I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.”
And these bad figs would be ‘tossed to and fro’ among all the kingdoms of the world (compare 15.4; 29.17-18), with nowhere to call their home, becoming recipients of bad treatment (evil) and as well as becoming a reproach, a living illustration, a taunt and a curse in all the places where YHWH drove them (compare Leviticus 26.36; Deuteronomy 28.37, 65-67; Isaiah 43.28). So even those in Egypt would not find safety or full acceptance. This is in fact a good general overall description of the history of the Jews in general because of their insularity.
24.10 “And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they are consumed from off the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.”
But meanwhile he would send among them His judgments, sword, famine and pestilence (compare 14.12; Ezekiel 14.21), until they were finally consumed off the land which YHWH had given to them and their fathers, a privilege which they had abused. Thus the final fate of those remaining in Judah under Zedekiah was fixed, and it was not a hopeful one. The future would demonstrate what a motley lot they were.
Subsection 8). Jeremiah Summarises His Ministry Before The People And After Declaring What Is To Come On Judah Proclaims The Judgment Of YHWH That Is Coming On All Nations (25.1-38).
This final subsection of Section 1 commences with ‘The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah --’ (25.1), and contains Jeremiah’s own brief summary, given to the people in a sermon, describing what has gone before during the previous twenty three years of his ministry. It [provides a suitable conclusion to the whole Section but is also in preparation for what is to follow. He warns them that because they have not listened to YHWH’s voice the land must suffer for ‘seventy years’ in subjection to Babylon, but he then goes on to bring out that YHWH’s wrath will subsequently be visited on Babylon, and not only on them, but on ‘the whole world’. For YHWH will be dealing with all the nations in judgment, something which will be expanded on in chapters 46-51. There is at this stage no mention of restoration, (except as hinted at in the seventy year limit to Babylon’s supremacy), and the chapter closes with a picture of the final desolation which is to come on Judah as a consequence of YHWH’s anger.
25.1 ‘The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,)’
This is the first oracle to be so accurately dated, and it indicates that the oracle came to Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim which was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar. Thus it was around 604 BC. Egypt were now licking their wounds after Carchemish and Hamath, and Jehoakim would have had to submit to Nebuchadrezzar and would be paying tribute. It was no doubt in the light of this that Jeremiah came to the feast and spoke these words.
Daniel dates it in the third year of Jehoiakim but that was because he was excluding the accession year according to Babylonian practise (the ‘first year’ always being the second year because the accession year was only a partial year.). Jeremiah was including the accession year.
25.2 ‘Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,’
The fact that the words were spoken to ‘all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ suggests it was at a festal occasion when all the people had gathered to the Central Sanctuary.
Jeremiah’s Warning To The People Concerning Their Future (25.3-11).
25.3 ‘From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these three and twenty years, the word of YHWH has come to me, and I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you have not listened.’
He pointed out to them that he had now been engaged in his ministry for twenty three years, diligently (‘rising up early’ - a typical Jeremaism) bringing to them the word of YHWH. But he points out that they had not listened.
25.4 ‘And YHWH has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, (but you have not listened, nor bent your ear to hear,)’
Indeed YHWH had previously been diligent (rising up early) in sending many prophets among them who had been equally diligent and had proclaimed His word to them. But they had not listened to them either.
25.5 ‘Saying, “Return you now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land which YHWH has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even for evermore,’
So he now with great patience calls on them, as the previous prophets had called on them (compare 2 Kings 17.12-14), again to return from their evil ways, and from the evil of their doings (for they needed to be right in both their behaviour and their attitude) if they wished to dwell ‘for evermore’ in the land which YHWH had of old given to their fathers.
25.6 ‘And do not go after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no hurt.”
For YHWH’s promise was that if they did not go after other gods to worship and serve them, and did not provoke Him to anger by breaking the requirements of the covenant, then He would bring no harm upon them. This was still in the stage when repentance was seen as possible, and was looked for.
‘The work of your hands’ may indicate the idols that they had made, or it may be pointing to their general behaviour, or indeed both.
25.7 “Yet you have not listened to me, the word of YHWH, that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”
But YHWH now charges them with the fact that they had not listened to any of the prophets, and had also certainly not listened to Jeremiah. And therefore they had not listened to Him. This was the sure ‘word of YHWH’. And the consequence was that they had provoked Him to anger by what they had been doing, and especially by their idolatry, in such a way as would bring hurt upon them.
25.8-9 ‘Therefore thus says YHWH of hosts, “Because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, the word of YHWH, and I will send to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.”
And He warns them that because of their failure to listen to the prophets and to hear His word, He would now summon the people of the countries to the north, including ‘My servant’ Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and would bring them all against both their land, and also the land of neighbouring countries, to destroy them and make them a spectacle in the eyes of all. Note that the warning is to the whole neighbourhood. Judah would be one of many.
In Isaiah 44.18; 45.1 YHWH had called Cyrus ‘My shepherd’ and ‘My anointed’. Here He calls Nebuchadrezzar ‘My servant (see also 27.6; 43.10). In both cases it was because they were adopted by Him as His instruments in carrying out His purposes. It did not indicate that they had become believers. And Nebuchadrezzar would come at the head of a coalition of different nations, for in the fight against Assyria the Medes and the Scythians, together with a number of other allies, had been involved.
25.10 “Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.”
The devastating effect of the invasion is described. All festivities and activities, the things for which men lived, will come to a halt. There would be no more festal occasions with their mirth and gladness, there would no more be bridegrooms and brides enjoying their wedding celebrations, and even the maids who ground the corn during the day would be affected. The mill stones would cease operating, and the lamps at night would not be lit, for there would be no grain and no oil, and no one to tend to them. Life as they had always known it would have ground to a halt.
25.11 “And this whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
This description has in mind a land made so desolate that people who pass through look at it with open mouths, hardly able to believe what they are seeing. And the length of time during which these nations would have to serve the king of Babylon was ‘seventy years’ (see also 29.10), that is, the normal lifetime of a man from cradle to the grave. Like most numbers in the Old Testament it was to be taken as a round number, and not applied too strictly. This especially applies to a number incorporating ‘seven’ which in all countries was seen as an indicator of ‘divine completeness’. It was a general indicator.
Various attempts have been made to delineate the seventy years in mind more exactly, although in our view unnecessarily:
The purpose of the seventy years according to 2 Chronicles 36.21 was so that the land could ‘enjoy its sabbaths’, which may be an indication that the seventh Sabbatical year during which no crops were to be sown (Exodus 23.10-11) had on the whole been ignored in Judah and Israel, or may simply be a symbolic indictor of a period of ‘rest’.
Babylon Herself Will Eventually Be Subject To YHWH’s Judgment (25.12-14).
25.12 “And it will come about, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, the word of YHWH, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it desolate for ever.”
But once the ‘seventy years’, the period determined by God, was over, the then king of Babylon, together with the whole nation of Babylon would be punished because of their iniquity. And this was the sure word of YHWH. So like the Assyrians before them, having been the ‘rod of YHWH’s anger’ (Isaiah 10.5), they would be punished because they themselves were utterly sinful. And eventually the whole land of the Chaldeans would be made desolate into the distant future. It would nevermore attain its former glory. As with much prophecy the timing for the last part (‘I will make it desolate for ever’) is vague (it will happen some time). It is the fact that is important.
That the mighty Babylonian empire would only last for around seventy years must have seemed inconceivable at the time to anyone who had no divine help in understanding the situation. The Assyrian empire had lasted far longer. But Jeremiah was to be proved correct.
25.13 “And I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, (even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations).”
The doom of Babylon had been already proclaimed by Isaiah long before (e.g. Isaiah 13-14), because of its arrogant pride. To Isaiah Babylon had symbolised the world in rebellion against God from the time of Babel onwards and he had prophesied its utter ruin. The note in brackets, referring to prophecies of Jeremiah made around this time (the fourth year of Jehoiakim; 45.1) and later recorded in his book (e.g. chapter 50), was probably added by his amanuensis. (LXX actually introduces chapters 46-51 around this point).
25.14 “For many nations and great kings will make bondmen of them, even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.”
For Babylon also would be caught up in the tide of history and many great nations and great kings would arise and would bring Babylonia into bondage, commencing with Cyrus the Persian who would later be followed by Alexander the Great. Babylon too would be recompensed for their behaviour and doings, and also for their idolatry (compare Isaiah 47.11-15).
All The Nations Will Be Made To Drink From The Cup Of YHWH’s Wrath Against Sin And Idolatry (25.15-29).
In these remarkable words the destinies of all nations are seen as in YHWH’s hands. And their destiny is to be drunk and to reel about as a result of YHWH’s wrath (antipathy against sin). None will escape. It is also an interesting summary of the nations of the area as seen by Jeremiah. The command to take the cup and make the nations drink it, and its fulfilment, is, of course, symbolic of Jeremiah pronouncing judgment against those nations. His words would have the effect of bringing what he spoke of about.
25.15 ‘For thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.”
The visitation of God’s wrath (His antipathy against sin) is often seen in terms of drinking wine from a cup. It was a fitting picture of nations reeling at the disasters that came on them. It was the cup from which our Lord Himself would drink. See 13.12-14; 49.12; 51.7; Job 21.20; Psalm 60:3; 75.8; Isaiah 51.17, 21-22; Lamentations 4.21; Ezekiel 23.31-34; Obadiah 1.16; Habakkuk 2.16; Zechariah 12.2; Mark 10.39; 14.36; Luke 22.42; John 18.11; Revelation 14.8, 10; 16.19; 18.6). Jeremiah would take the cup and male the nations drink of it by proclaiming YHWH’s words.
25.16 “ And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
The cup is defined in terms of the sword at work among them in the hands of other nations. The reeling to and fro and being mad is an apt picture of the effects of war at the hands of a powerful conqueror.
25.17 “Then I took the cup at YHWH’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom YHWH had sent me,”
We have no way of knowing whether Jeremiah used any prophetic symbolism in this act of making the nations drink of the cup of the wrath of God. He may have done it in vision, or by symbolically offering wine to visiting ambassadors who would arrive in Jerusalem when plots were afoot to rebel against Babylonian rule (although this would be a little pointless unless it was accompanied with an explanation), or it may simply have been by proclaiming YHWH’s word ‘into the air’ (verse 27) in the way in which the prophets often made denunciations against enemies (e.g. 6.18-19).
25.18 “Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;
The first to drink are Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, along with their kings (the king and his co-regents, or alternatively successive kings) and princes. And it would result in their being desolated and becoming a spectacle to all nations, a cause for astonishment and hissing and a curse. Compare 18.16. The words ‘as at this day’ indicate that the words were written down after their fulfilment.
25.19-22 “Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;”
The list commences with Judah’s nearest neighbours, commencing with the most powerful. It is comprehensive in scope covering not only the kings and their peoples, but also any who had come to dwell among them (‘all the mingled people’). Once mentioned of Egypt it is assumed for the remainder in the mention of their kings.
Egypt and Uz (a part of Edom, possibly mentioned because at this time seen as under the control of Egypt) were to the south, Philistia with its principal cities to the west, Edom, Moab and Ammon to the south east and the east, and Tyre and Sidon to the north west. The isle which was beyond the sea may have been Cyprus. The description of Ashdod demonstrated how it had suffered at the hands of Egypt under Psammeticus who had subjected it to a 29 year siege..
25.23-24 “Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off; and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people who dwell in the wilderness;”
The description then goes beyond the nearest neighbours to those more distant, in the south east, the Arab cities in Arabia, whose distinctive hair style is described (it was always seen as indicative of idolatry), and all the varied tribes which occupied the desert.
25.25-26 “And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.”
Zimri is unknown but was seemingly within the same area as the Elamites and the Medes to the north east. ‘All the kings of the north far and near’ is comprehensive, and any nation omitted is swept up in the description of ‘all the kingdoms of the (known) world, which are on the face of the earth’ which indicates those beyond Judah’s usual purview.
Finally Sheshach (Babylon) would drink after them. Sheshach is written in ‘code’ with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet reversed. Thus for Aleph Taw would be written, for Beth SHin would be written, for Gimel Resh would be written, and so on. Thus SheSHaCH signifies BaBeL. The purpose was probably not in order to hide the name from the uninitiated (the Babylonian spies were not stupid and such codes were well known) but in order to indicate that the world would be turned upside down.
25.27 “And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, Drink you, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.”
The picture of the drunkard drinking, and becoming more and more drunk, and vomiting, and then collapsing in a state of total inebriation is vividly descriptive of the confusion irrationality and effects of warfare. Notice that it is YHWH of the hosts of Heaven and earth, the God of Israel, Who is personally sending this sword among them.
25.28 “And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you will say to them, Thus says YHWH of hosts, You shall surely drink.”
And that is why they have no choice but to drink. They cannot demur. They have no option. For YHWH of Hosts has determined that they will drink. There is an unashamed emphasis on the total sovereignty of YHWH as controller of all the hosts of men, all men’s armies.
25.29 “For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says YHWH of hosts.”
And this had necessarily to be so because if YHWH was beginning to work evil on ‘the city which was called by His Name’ (Jerusalem) because they had followed the ways of the nations, how could the nations whose ways they had followed go unpunished? It would not be so, for YHWH of hosts was calling for the sword to come upon them.
‘The city which is called by My Name.’ This is an unusual phrase occurring elsewhere only in Daniel 9.18-19. Usually it is ‘the house which is called by My Name’ (7.10, 11, 14, 30). But see 2 Kings 21.4, 7; 23.27. It was the place where YHWH had chosen to set His Name.
YHWH Will Roar From Heaven And The Earth Will Face Its Judgment (25.30-38).
What is coming on the world is pictured in terms of ‘universal’ catastrophe, as so often in the prophets. The idea is that the world will be turned upside down. But the nations described, and the context of the prophecy, make clear that this is not intended as eschatological but as practical. It was the world of Jeremiah’s own day that was to be affected. On the other hand it can also be seen as a reminder that man’s sinfulness is always such that it can only bring on him God’s future judgment from which none will be excluded. In that sense therefore it can be seen as eschatological. It is a principle of creation. ‘The soul who sins will die’. The significance of eschatological judgment lies in the fact that the hope of mankind is not be placed in the expectation of the world getting better, but awaits the coming of a Deliverer Who will restore all things, especially the hearts of men.
25.30 “Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and say to them,
The initial picture is of YHWH roaring from ‘on High’ and speaking from His holy habitation, which in parallel with ‘on High’ must indicate Heaven. God is acting from above. The roaring is that of the Divine Lion as He comes to His pasture, here seen as the whole world, in order to attack the shepherds and seize the sheep (verses 34-36). For such roaring we can compare Joel 3.16; Amos 1.2. And like ‘the treaders’ He will cry out in enthusiastic vigour as He treads the grapes (compare 48.33;16.9-10). The treading of grapes represents His bringing judgment on the people, compare Isaiah 63.2-6; Revelation 14.14-15. And this will ‘on all the inhabitants of the (known) earth’. The whole area will be in turmoil.
25.31 The noise is the noise of approaching armies (4.29; 11.16; 47.3; 50.46) and it comes from distant places, because YHWH is, as it were, bringing the nations to court to face up to His charges and there He will enter into judgment with all flesh, and will give the wicked to the sword. And this is the sure word of YHWH.
25.32-33 The local judgment is seen in terms of the eschatological judgment, for the one merges into the other. Nation after nation will experience ‘evil’ from YHWH as the enemy armies arrive, and those armies will be like a great tempest raised up from the furthest points on earth (as known at that time). And those who are slaughtered in battle or as a result of invading armies will in fact be ‘the slain of YHWH’ for it is He Who is bringing their judgment on them. The slaughter will be so great that there will be none left to lament, none left to gather the bodies, none left to bury the dead (compare 8.2; 16.4; Ezekiel 39.12). They will simply lie like pats of cow dung on the face of the ground.
25.34-35 The picture turns back to the Divine Lion as He attacks the shepherds responsible for the flocks (the shepherds who have devastated His people - 12.10-11). The shepherds (rulers of the nations) are to wail and cry, and the king is to wallow in ashes in grief, because the day of slaughter has come on them and on the flock, and the day when they will be scattered has come. They will ‘fall like a fine, ornamental vessel’. We should compare here how Jehoiachin was seen as a broken vessel (22.18) while Judah itself was also depicted in those terms, being broken in the Valley of Slaughter (19.10). Nor will there be anywhere for the shepherds to flee, nor for their leader to escape. Death will be a certainty for all.
The alternative ‘choice rams’ instead of ‘fine vessel’ is not strictly correct as the word means ‘lambs’. In view of the relevance of a broken vessel to the wider context it is preferable to retain it.
25.36-38 The cries and wailings of the rulers of the nations will be everywhere as YHWH the Divine Lion lays waste their pasture, slaughtering the sheep, resulting in an eerie silence from the folds which had previously been so at peace. And it would be because of the severe anger of YHWH. For like a lion on the hunt for prey He has left His covert, and by means of foreign armies is turning their lands into spectacles which astonish all who see them (compare 18.16), as a result of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, a consequence of the fierce anger of YHWH. The picture is of total war.
And so this Section in which the sins of Judah have been underlined and openly declared, and the certainty of judgment has been revealed, ends in a picture of universal catastrophe. Compare 4.23-28. Such is the consequence of rebellion against God.
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