Jeremiah 27

Jer 27:1-22.

THE

FUTILITY OF

RESISTING

NEBUCHADNEZZAR

ILLUSTRATED TO THE

AMBASSADORS OF THE

KINGS,

DESIRING TO

HAVE THE

KING OF

JUDAH

CONFEDERATE WITH

THEM, UNDER THE

TYPE OF

YOKES.

JEREMIAH

EXHORTS

THEM AND

ZEDEKIAH TO

YIELD.

1. Jehoiakim--The prophecy that follows was according to this

reading given in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, fifteen years before it

was published in the reign of Zedekiah to whom it refers; it was thus

long deposited in the prophet's bosom, in order that by it he might be

supported under trials in his prophetic career in the interim

[CALVIN].

But "Zedekiah" may be the true reading. So the Syriac and

Arabic Versions.

Jer 27:3, 12;

Jer 28:1,

confirm this; also, one of KENNICOTT'S

manuscripts. The English Version reading may have

originated from

Jer 26:1.

"Son of Josiah" applies to Zedekiah as truly as to "Jehoiakim" or

"Eliakim." The fourth year may, in a general sense here, as in

Jer 28:1,

be called "the beginning of his reign," as it lasted eleven years

(2Ki 24:18).

It was not long after the fourth year of his reign that he rebelled

against Nebuchadnezzar

(Jer 51:59; 52:3;

2Ki 24:20),

in violation of an oath before God

(2Ch 36:13).

2. bonds--by which the yoke is made fast to the neck

(Jer 5:5).

yokes--literally, the carved piece of wood attached at both ends to

the two yokes on the necks of a pair of oxen, so as to connect them.

Here the yoke itself. The plural is used, as he was to wear one

himself, and give the others to the ambassadors;

(Jer 27:3; 28:10, 12)

proves that the symbolical act was in this instance (though not in

others,

Jer 25:15)

actually done (compare

Isa 20:2,

&c.; Eze 12:3, 11, 18).

3. And send them to the king of Edom, &c.--Appropriate symbol, as

these ambassadors had come to Jerusalem to consult as to shaking off the

yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. According to PHERECYDES in

CLEMENT OF

ALEXANDRIA

[Miscellanies, 567], Idanthura, king of the Scythians, intimated to

Darius, who had crossed the Danube, that he would lead an army against

him, by sending him, instead of a letter,

a mouse, a frog, a bird, an arrow, and a plough. The task assigned

to Jeremiah required great faith, as it was sure to provoke alike his

own countrymen and the foreign ambassadors and their kings, by a seeming

insult, at the very time that all were full of confident hopes grounded

on the confederacy.

5. God here, as elsewhere, connects with the symbol doctrine, which

is as it were its soul, without which it would be not only cold and

frivolous, but even dead

[CALVIN]. God's mention of His supreme power

is in order to refute the pride of those who rely on their own power

(Isa 45:12).

given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me--

(Ps 115:15, 16;

Da 4:17, 25, 32).

Not for his merits, but of My own sole good pleasure [ESTIUS].

6. beasts of the field--not merely the horses to carry his Chaldean

soldiers, and oxen to draw his provisions

[GROTIUS]; not merely the

deserts, mountains, and woods, the haunts of wild beasts, implying his

unlimited extent of empire

[ESTIUS]; but the beasts themselves by a

mysterious instinct of nature. A reproof to men that they did not

recognize God's will, which the very beasts acknowledged (compare

Isa 1:3).

As the beasts are to submit to Christ, the Restorer of the dominion

over nature, lost by the first Adam (compare

Ge 1:28; 2:19, 20;

Ps 8:6-8),

so they were appointed to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, the representative

of the world power and prefigurer of Antichrist; this universal power

was suffered to be held by him to show the unfitness of any to wield it

"until He come whose right it is"

(Eze 21:27).

7. son . . . son's son--

(2Ch 36:20).

Nebuchadnezzar had four successors--Evil-merodach, his

son; Neriglissar, husband of Nebuchadnezzar's daughter; his son,

Labosodarchod; and Naboned (with whom his son, Belshazzar, was joint

king), son of Evil-merodach. But Neriglissar and Labosodarchod

were not in the direct male line; so that the prophecy held good

to "his son and his son's son," and the intermediate two are omitted.

time of his land--that is, of its subjugation or its being "visited"

in wrath

(Jer 27:22;

Jer 25:12; 29:10; 50:27;

Da 5:26).

serve themselves of him--make him their servant

(Jer 25:14;

Isa 13:22).

So "his day" for the destined day of his calamity

(Job 18:20).

8. until I have consumed them by his hand--until by these consuming

visitations I have brought them under his power.

9. ye--the Jews especially, for whom the address to the rest was

intended.

enchanters--augurs

[CALVIN], from a root, the "eyes," that is, lookers

at the stars and other means of taking omens of futurity; or another

root, a "fixed time," observers of times: forbidden in the law

(Le 19:26;

De 18:10, 11, 14).

10. to remove you--expressing the event which would result. The

very thing they profess by their enchantments to avert, they are by them

bringing on you. Better to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, and remain in your

land, than to rebel, and be removed from it.

11. serve . . . till it--The same Hebrew root expresses "serve"

and "till," or "cultivate." Serve ye the king of Babylon, and the

land will serve you [CALVIN].

12. I spake also--translate, "And I spake," &c. Special application

of the subject to Zedekiah.

13. Why . . . die--by running on your own ruin in resisting

Nebuchadnezzar after this warning

(Eze 18:31).

14. lie--

(Jer 14:14).

15. in my name--The devil often makes God's name the plea for

lies

(Mt 4:6; 7:22, 23;

Jer 27:15-20,

the test whereby to know false prophets).

16. The "vessels" had been carried away to Babylon in the reign of

Jeconiah

(2Ki 24:13);

also previously in that of Jehoiakim

(2Ch 36:5-7).

18. at Jerusalem--that is, in other houses containing such vessels,

besides the house of God and the king's palace. Nebuzara-dan, captain

of the guard under Nebuchadnezzar, carried all away

(2Ki 25:13-17;

2Ch 36:18).

The more costly vessels had been previously removed in the reigns of

Jehoiakim and Jeconiah.

19.

(Jer 52:17, 20, 21).

22. until . . . I visit them--in wrath by Cyrus

(Jer 32:5).

In seventy years from the first carrying away of captives in

Jehoiachin's reign

(Jer 29:10;

2Ch 36:21).

restore them--by the hand of Cyrus

(Ezr 1:7).

(Ezr 7:19).