The second division of Jeremiah begins with chapter 26, and is distinguished by its taking up special circumstances rather than the general proof of the iniquity of the Jews and of the nations which brought them all into a state of subjugation to Nebuchadnezzar.
In what follows, we find the moral ground in details. "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah came this word from Jehovah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah." Josiah was the one in whose reign the reformation which we have noticed before took place. The reform awakened a transient hope in pious minds of a permanent change Godward in the people, but this was a delusive hope. Indeed, we are never to entertain such hopes.
Once declension has set in, there may be temporary recovery and blessing, and there may even be deepening blessing as evil deepens. The light vouchsafed of God to faithful individuals may become more and more bright, as lights in a dark place. But once evil pervades the mass of those who bear the name of the Lord, it only corrupts as a leaven more and more. Man cannot stay its progress, and God Himself does not take away the leaven. God permits the evil to develop in intensity and presumption in order that His judgment may become necessary, and felt to be so by those who have the secret of the Lord.
When the hearts of the pious are bowed under the prevailing evil, they are led like Jeremiah into the greater desire for their own souls and for their own separateness from evil, and, on the other hand, they cry to God much more earnestly for their nation than if things went on with outward fairness and decorum. Thus, a double good is effected. The sons of God learn to hate evil with a deep and holy hatred, and, on the other hand, they distrust themselves and look away from the earth to the Lord for help and deliverance. These two effects especially are wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God in a day of evil.
The great crisis in the national history brought before us is in the days of Jehoiakim, and it could not have occurred sooner. Under Josiah, there was an outward restraint of evil. The piety of the king affected the nation and brought a blessing upon it from God, but when his son Jehoiakim was on the throne, there was no moral ground found among the people for the favor of God.
Hence, " Thus saith Jehovah; Stand in the court of Jehovah's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word: if so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings " (26:2, 3).
This is a fresh commission in a modified sense given to the prophet. Jeremiah had, as we saw in chapter 1, already received his great call. Now, in the beginning of the second division of the Book, he again addressed the people, and admonished them against diminishing a single word of what God had to say by him.
"Thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah; If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah" (verses 4-7).
We find after this warning a division occurred among the people. Some heeded the words of Jeremiah and defended him (verses 17-24); others hardened themselves against him and sought his life, the priests being the most violent. " Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die" (verse 8).
They were indignant that the prophet should pronounce ruin upon the holy temple of Jehovah. It seemed to them as if his warnings of judgment were an impeachment of Jehovah's blessing upon the nation and of His choice of Israel to be His people. Did not his words prove that Jeremiah had less confidence and less faith in Jehovah than they?
"When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of Jehovah, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house. Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die" (verses 10-11). The princes of Judah showed more conscience than the people or the priests or the prophets. The priests influenced the people, as is habitually the case, and the princes, being men of more independence of mind and less influenced by the feelings of the masses, were to some extent impressed by the weight and solemnity of the prophet's warnings.
So Jeremiah speaks to all the princes and to all the people. He does not now remonstrate with the priests and the prophets; they were thoroughly hardened and sold to evil; but he does appeal to the princes on the one hand and to the people on the other, who, after all, were simple. And he says, "Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house." He did not prophesy out of personal feeling. He was not prompted by private animosity. Surely they did not think that Jeremiah would take pleasure in the destruction of his own city and the sanctuary of Jehovah.
"Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Jehovah your God; and Jehovah will repent Him of the evil that He hath pronounced against you." Jeremiah's prophecies are more conditional than any other, save only that of Jonah. Indeed, they are more conditionally expressed than even Jonah's. Jonah did not put forward a condition; "If you repent, God will spare Nineveh." But Jeremiah does state the condition; "If you repent, Jehovah will repent of what He means to do."
But the reason why Jeremiah's prophecies are more conditional is that, more than any of the other prophets, he alludes to the impending judgment of Israel and the nations by Nebuchadnezzar. And as this judgment was but a temporal one, a condition is attached to the prophecy. When the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the judgment that He will execute form the prominent topic before the mind of the Holy Ghost, no conditions of repentance are expressed. There God has distinctly before Him the consummation of the frightful apostasy of man-of the Jews, of the Gentiles, and, we can now add, of Christendom. Therefore inasmuch as the measure of the wickedness to be judged is certain, so the coming of the Lord to judge that wickedness is also certain. It is a fixed event, and so far as I know, this coming in judgment is never stated conditionally. There is no warning, such as, "If you repent, the Lord will not come." It would in fact be a kind of dishonor to the Lord Jesus.
But as only an earthly instrument was to be employed in this case to inflict the judgments, we can well understand the Lord saying, "If you repent, I will not send this Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to beat you down." This is the reason, as it appears to me, why this feature appears more in Jeremiah than elsewhere. Moreover, while it is entirely wrong to apply Jeremiah's prophecies exclusively to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, it remains true that the historical Nebuchadnezzar is more prominent in this Book than anywhere else in scripture.
"Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die; for he hath spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God. Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest " (verses 16-18). What happened to Micah? Did they treat him as a traitor? Was Micah judged to die? Not so.
Now this instance from Hezekiah's reign was the more striking and emphatic because Micah 12) had prophesied of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple in the days of a good king. Surely, therefore, his prophecy was more surprising than Jeremiah's prediction of the same thing in the days of a bad king. The defense, therefore, of the prophet was complete. "Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear Jehovah, and besought Jehovah, and Jehovah repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls" (verse 19).
Then the case of Micah was followed by another. Urijah, the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who in the name of Jehovah, prophesied against the city of Jerusalem and the land of Judah. " And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt; and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt. And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. Nevertheless, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death" (verses 21-24). Thus, while there was the greatest danger that Jeremiah would suffer martyrdom as Urijah had done, the Lord watched over him. It was an honor to Urijah to die, but it was a mercy to Judah that Jeremiah was not put to death.
Chapter 27 opens thus: " In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel " (verses 1 to 4).
This instruction came to Jeremiah in the days of Zedekiah, as verse 3 states. Jehoiakim, in the first verse, has no doubt been mistakenly inserted by copyists for Zedekiah. This suggestion is no impeachment of scripture, but God does not work miracles to keep scribes right or printers right. They may easily misread the original, particularly in the matter of a name or a date.
In this instance, the scripture itself makes plain the mistake, because, undoubtedly Jehoiakim and Zedekiah did not reign together. Zedekiah was after Jehoiakim. Then verse 3 says, "By the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah "; so that Zedekiah was reigning at the time of the prophecy of the bonds and the yokes. It follows that chapter 26 was in the days of Jehoiakim, but chapter 27 in the days of Zedekiah.
A fresh message is sent on this occasion to the nations commanding them to take the yoke of submission to the king of Babylon. The foreign messengers or ambassadors are to carry the word to their respective lords, "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemeth meet unto Me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him" (verses 4-6).
It is plain that Jehovah is speaking in a peremptory way. In the days of Zedekiah, there is no word of repentance nor of Jehovah's repenting. His word to Judah and the nations becomes absolute, speaking as Creator and Governor. Jeremiah warns that divine judgment would fall, not only upon Zedekiah king of Judah but upon the Ammonites and Moabites and the surrounding nations. All are to be given into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar to be under the yoke of bondage to him. God had granted them time to repent, but they had not used the opportunity. It was now too late, and they must all wear the Babylonian yokes and bonds.
The opening verse of chapter 28 confirms what has been said about the date in the previous chapter. Both events were in the reign of Zedekiah. "And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of Jehovah, in the presence of the priests, and of all the people."
At this time the iniquity and enmity of the false prophets become more manifest than ever. Hananiah resents in the strongest way Jeremiah's prediction. He prophesied in the name of Jehovah, "Within two full years will I bring again into this place" from Babylon all the vessels of the temple. This was the false witness of restoration that Hananiah bore in the presence of Jeremiah, who in answer only said, "Amen, Jehovah do so" (verse 6). Hananiah predicted that Judah's yoke under Nebuchadnezzar would in two full years be broken. Jeremiah with great meekness says, "Amen, Jehovah do so." If such was His will, the true prophet was content.
Hananiah gave a sign with his false prophecy, taking the yoke from off Jeremiah's neck, breaking it and saying, "Thus saith Jehovah, Even so, will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations"; but Jeremiah went his way without any reply (verse 2). This self-restraint is a great lesson for us; the servant of the Lord shall not strive. The same man, Jeremiah, who had been like a brazen wall, who had resisted kings and prophets and priests to the face, now refuses to contend with the prophet Hananiah.
The reason for his conduct is plain. Jeremiah did remonstrate, and warn while there was a hope of repentance or when long-suffering grace called for it, but where there was no conscience at work, where there was a false pretense of the name of the Lord, he simply goes his way. He leaves God to judge between prophet and prophet. If Jeremiah was true, Hananiah was false.
He was perfectly sure that he was true himself. He allows, therefore, the word and the act of Hananiah to be before the consciences of the men of Judah, without adding a word of his own. He would have weakened his former testimony, if he had said one single word more.
Jeremiah even wished that Hananiah's prophecy of immediate deliverance from the yoke of Babylon might be true; but there had been no repentance in Judah. It is always a mark of false prophecies that in a day of evil they promised prosperity. When the people of God have departed from Him, false prophets prophesy smooth things. They have their glowing dreams of progress and of the extension of the work and blessing of the Lord. The coming of great things and pleasant things is their invariable testimony. A true prophet, on the contrary, in the day of evil warns of the coming of the Lord to judge the ungodly. This is what Jeremiah did. But Hananiah held out the welcome prospect that a general deliverance from servitude to the king of Babylon was close at hand.
But afterward God gave Jeremiah a word to say to Hananiah. "Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also. Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith Jehovah; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against Jehovah. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month" (verses 13-17). It was a solemn public vindication of the truth of Jeremiah's prophecies and the falsity and deceit of Hananiah's.
In chapter 29 the prophet sent a letter unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captive to Babylon in the time of Jeconiah the king of Judah (2 Kings 24:12-1612And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. 13And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. 14And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. 15And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. (2 Kings 24:12‑16)). And the word of Jehovah of hosts commanded them to submit implicitly to Nebuchadnezzar. They were not only not to rebel, but they were to obey. They were no longer Jews under the direct government of God in their own land, but they were to recognize the authority of the Gentile king whom God had now set over them because of their sins.
The captives were in a new political relationship. They required special direction from God, for undoubtedly the Jewish spirit would have strongly resented the notion of a Gentile ruling over them. They would have been always plotting in Babylon how to put an end to this miserable captivity unless God had expressed His mind. But the part of faith, when God sends a chastening, is to bow to it, not to fight against it. If the Lord does anything because of a wrong on our part, faith in Him does not consist in making light of the thing or in making light of the chastening, but in accepting with meekness the chastening and in confessing the wrong.
This subjection to their exile was what Jeremiah impressed upon the Jews in Babylon. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters" (verses 4-6). There was to be nothing morbid in their habits. They were to take from God all the circumstances. They were happily to trust in the Lord, but to do so as captives to Nebuchadnezzar. Nay, they were even to seek the good and peace of Babylon. "Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto Jehovah for it."
Now souls not really bowing to God are always morbid, murmuring in their affliction, and avoiding the common duties of life. The pious do not shut their eyes to what is painful, nor are they insensible in their adversity. There would be no piety in ignoring the truth of things, but feeling the affliction, they seek grace from God to take the hardship from His hand with all patience.
"For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in My name: I have not sent them, saith Jehovah. For thus saith Jehovah," instead of Hananiah's two years, "that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith Jehovah: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive " (verses 8-14).
This predicted return from captivity was, no doubt, accomplished in a measure when the return took place under Cyrus, the king of Persia, although the terms of the prophecy go beyond that, but still there was an accomplishment at that time. Then Jehovah speaks concerning those Jews still remaining in Jerusalem under Zedekiah: "Know that thus saith Jehovah of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence." This is not a promise of the return from Babylon under a son of David. The son of David was to suffer chastisement still more. There had been already a son of David carried into captivity. There was another son of David still reigning in Jerusalem, and the pestilence and the sword were doomed to fall upon him.
But chapter 30 contains Jehovah's prophecy of the final restoration of His people at the end. "The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. For, lo, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith Jehovah, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it" (30:1-7).
It is impossible to say that this promised restoration of both Israel and Judah has been accomplished. The peculiarity of this unparalleled time of suffering is that although it is the worst time of sorrow that Israel will have ever known, out of that time they shall have salvation. "It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (verse 7). Such trouble with accompanying deliverance for Israel and Jacob has never been the case from Jeremiah's day to this. The Maccabean successes over their enemies were as nothing when compared with this prophecy. We also have a prediction of them in Daniel 11. There is a history of them in Josephus and in the Apocrypha, but Scripture does not deign to give any account of the Maccabean successes.
When the Roman power came into the ascendant, Israel and Judah were not saved. Pompey captured Jerusalem; and afterward Titus not only captured but destroyed the city, and the Jews were scattered again.
So that while there have been many times of trouble for the Jews, there has never yet been an unparalleled trouble, after which they were saved. All the times of trouble that they have gone through on any large scale so far have only ended in further troubles. Things have always gone against the Jew, with the single exception, as I have said, of the Maccabean risings, the results of which were very small indeed, when compared with the terms of this prophecy.
"For it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him (Jacob)." Why, strangers have been serving themselves of Jacob up to this hour! The Jews have never yet obtained their national independence-never.
"But they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them" (verse 9). This will be the days of the Messiah: "Jehovah their God, and David their king." It is certain the prophecy applies to the Jewish people as a whole undivided nation. The prophecy, therefore, is unfulfilled.
In the rest of chapter 30 there are moral appeals to the captives in Babylon. They were to take courage from Jehovah's comforting word, and not to be dismayed. "For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith Jehovah; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. Thus saith Jehovah; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap"; that is, after her destruction Jerusalem will be builded again; "and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them" (verses 17-21); whereas generally the case was usually the very contrary; the governor himself proceeded from the conquering power. And Jehovah added, "Ye shall be My people and I will be your God," showing the restoration would be not merely revival as a nation, but also communion with God in worship and service.
So in chapter 31, this new relationship to God is made very distinct. "At the same time, saith Jehovah, will I be the God of all the families of Israel." There is to be a complete restoration of the scattered and dispersed tribes not of Judah only but of Israel: "all the families of Israel." Nothing can be more distinct. "Thus saith Jehovah, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest."
Then in a very beautiful manner this chapter delineates the mighty intervention of God. He "will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together" (verse 8). It is a complete deliverance, so that even the suffering and the sick will be brought safely back by God's command and care. He will ensure their safe entrance into the holy land. The recovery of the nations is to be, therefore, complete. If any persons were likely to be left behind when Israel is being gathered, it would, of course, be the sick and helpless, such as here described; but no, all are brought back. Jehovah will forget none.
Further, Israel will not return with vainglory and pride, as if their own arm had delivered them. Their salvation in that day will not be due to the influence of money or to diplomacy, or to anything of man. "They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them." It will be a real work of God in them and for them. A work of repentance in their souls will accompany their restoration. "For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn" (verse 9).
In this chapter occurs the well-known scripture which is applied to Herod's destruction of the innocents, as they are called, at Bethlehem. "Thus saith Jehovah; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children because they were not" (verse 15). It is beautiful to see that the Holy Spirit (Matt. 2:17, 1817Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. (Matthew 2:17‑18)) applies to that event the passage about sorrow but not that about joy. Here is what follows: "Thus saith Jehovah; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith Jehovah; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy" (verse 16).
Now the evangelist did not quote this verse. He only referred to what was fulfilled. There was bitter sorrow then, even in the birthplace of royalty. Deep anguish was in the place where there ought to have been the greatest joy. The birth of the Messiah ought to have been the signal for universal joy in the land of Israel. And there would have been if there had been faith in God and His promise, but there was not. Moreover, since the state of the people was one of shameful unbelief so there was an Edomite usurper on the throne. Hence violence and deceit ruled in the land, and Rachel wept for her children and could not be comforted because they were not. So the Holy Spirit applied the first part of the prophecy, but there He stops. When the entire prophecy is fulfilled, there will be sorrow again in the land, great sorrow, but there will also be joy. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." "And there is hope in thine end, saith Jehovah, that thy children shall come again to their own border" (verse 17).
Then comes the repentance of Ephraim. "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus"; and the Lord shows that this work of contrition which undoubtedly begins in their souls is carried on to its end." Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth " (verse, 19).
The Lord shows His feeling of love for the repentant one. "Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore My bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah. Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities" (verses 20, 21). It is the final return of Israel to their own land after long wandering. "How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man" (verse 22).
It has been common among the Fathers as well as the divines that have followed them to apply this passage to the birth of the Lord of the Virgin Mary, but the prophecy has not the smallest reference to it. A woman compassing a man is not at all the same thing as the Virgin compassing and bearing a son. Compassing a man has no reference whatever to the birth of a child. The meaning is that a woman who is regarded as the weakest of the human race should overcome even the strongest man. The term for man here implies a man of might. He is expressly not an ordinary man but a hero, a man of might; and, contrary to the ordinary course of nature, the weak woman overthrows the powerful man.
Such is the idea of the phrase. The true force of "compass" is not only to oppose or resist but even to defeat all the man's strength. And so God will cause this woman, who is clearly a figure of the backsliding daughter of Israel in her great weakness, to be an overcomer. Though she is in the very weakest state and all the might of the man is against her, she will nevertheless compass the man and be victorious.
There will be in the coming time a complete change for Israel in the manner of what we know in our blessed Lord Himself. We often sing in one of our hymns, "By weakness and defeat, He won the meed and crown," so in that day the Lord will reproduce His own victory in His people. "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." The woman is the symbol of the nation in their weakness, and the compassing a man is their victory over all human resources brought to bear against them.
This view gives a very simple meaning to this symbolic sentence, without forcing a reference to the virgin birth of Christ. Indeed Jeremiah does not make any distinct reference to the Messiah's birth. He predicts the Messiah as a king reigning. He does not look at His birth, His life, His death, or His cross, but at the nation of Israel, and at the Lord Jesus in His national relationship to them as their King, as "David their king."
Now this special line in their ministry gives great symmetry to the prophets. There is always great propriety in the various prophecies. The prophets do not all bring in the Messiah in the same way. Isaiah is the most comprehensive of all the prophets, and brings in the Messiah in every way. Some of them only foretell the Messiah as a sufferer, and others as a glorious conqueror. One may show Him in both aspects, but usually some present Him in one way and some in another. There is always a relation between the particular scope of the prophecy and the manner in which Christ is introduced in it.
The effect of this assurance of coming blessing for his people upon the prophet's mind was that his sleep was sweet unto him (verse 26). He was refreshed by the knowledge that God will work for His people in the time of their greatest weakness and bring about such happy results. The prophecy that follows is in entire accordance with this intimation.
"Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build, and to plant, saith Jehovah. In those days they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt" (verses 27-32).
The new covenant will not be of the same nature as the old one. This contrast between them completely refutes one of the standing objections of modern Judaism. One of the most celebrated Rabbis, a Spanish Jew, called Erobeo, reasons at great length and with considerable acuteness as if there could be nothing but the law of Moses which will remain the invariable standard of Israel and nothing else.
Now it is very evident that in this passage we have the prophet who completely rejects such a thought and who shows that there is to be a vast change of covenant relationship. It will be no dishonor to the law of Moses that God will establish a new covenant under the Messiah; in fact Moses himself predicted it. He foretold that the Lord God was to raise up a prophet like unto himself, but although like unto him, superior to him (Deut. 28:15, 1815But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: (Deuteronomy 28:15)
18Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. (Deuteronomy 28:18)). There would be no superiority in this prophet if he did not introduce a new state of things, that is, the new covenant. Moses brought in the old covenant. Christ will bring in the new covenant.
I do not say we, Christians, have got the new covenant itself, but we have got the blood of the new covenant. We have that on which the new covenant is founded. The new covenant itself supposes the land of Israel blessed and the house of Israel delivered, but neither the one nor the other has become true yet. The new covenant supposes certain spiritual blessings, namely, the law of God written in the heart and our sins forgiven. These spiritual parts of the new covenant we have received now, along with other blessings peculiar to Christianity, namely, the presence of the Holy Ghost and union with Christ in heaven which the Jews will not have.
But nothing can be more evident than that this prophecy refutes the Jew when he imagines that it is a dishonor to the law for God to bring in anything better than what was enjoyed in the days of Moses. In this passage the marked contrast between the two covenants is most clearly shown, and the special features of the new. "This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith Jehovah, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah: for they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (verses 33, 34). These two verses apply to the Christian just as much as they will to the Jew, but what follows does not apply to Christians, nor to the Jews now, for they are not a nation. "Thus saith Jehovah, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; Jehovah of hosts is His name: if those ordinances depart from before Me, saith Jehovah, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever " (verses 35, 36)
To show that this prophecy is not to be understood merely in an allegorical way, but literally, the prophet says, "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the city shall be built to Jehovah from the tower of Hanameel unto the gate of the corner" (verse 38). This is not the city in the heavens, whose maker and builder is God. It is not the New Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from God, because there is no tower of Hanameel there. There is no such thing as measuring the corner there. "And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath" (verse 39). They are the old localities and gates of the city of Jerusalem; and God will renew them in the day that is coming.
Further, the prophet speaks of "the whole valley of the dead bodies." Surely no one is so insane as to suppose that there is a valley of dead bodies in the New Jerusalem. "And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto Jehovah; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever" (verse 40). The truth is that the idea is so unfounded that there is the danger in our saying too much about it, of giving the impression that one was merely trying to make the scheme ridiculous.
In chapter 32, this prophecy of the new covenant is followed up by a very striking incident in which the prophet's faith in his own prediction is tested. The Lord allows His servants to be tested constantly. If the Lord gives us to witness to some great truth we shall have to prove our own faith in that truth. Jeremiah was put to such a test in the following circumstances. "The word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house" (verses 1, 2).
The prophet was in a very bad case himself, and so was the city. Jerusalem was besieged and certain to be taken by the king of Babylon. Jeremiah was not only in danger from the Chaldeans but he was imprisoned in the city; that is, he was in double sorrow. He was in sorrow from the Jews even more than from the Gentiles.
Such a time one would suppose was most unsuitable for the transaction of business, but the transaction then undertaken was one eminently of faith, specially demanding the prophet's utmost confidence in the testimony that God had raised him up to bear. Accordingly, he purchased the field of Hanameel.
But at this very time, Jeremiah had given a striking word and a very serious one concerning the king. "And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes; and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith Jehovah: though he fight with the Chaldeans ye shall not prosper" (verses 4, 5).
The capture of the city was imminent, but Jeremiah said, "The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanameel, the son of Shallum thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth." What a time to buy a field! The city certain to be taken, the prophet himself in prison! There was no escape, according to his own word, from the Babylonian army, and, further, there was no escape from the hostile power of those that ruled in Jerusalem, for his testimony was dead against their pride and their false patriotism.
Yet, at such a juncture Jeremiah's uncle asked him to buy a field. What! when they were about to be all swept out of the land and carried into captivity! Should he then buy a field? What could be the ground for such a transaction? But it was Jehovah Who bade him do it. The purchase was a testimony of the greatest value, showing that in spite of the desolation, in spite of the destruction of the city, Jeremiah believed that the Jews would return to their possessions, and that land would still be cultivated and houses built there.
It is recorded in Roman history that at the time when the Gauls were encamped around Rome, the very land on which the Gauls had raised their tents was bought and sold, and this was considered one of the greatest proofs of confidence in the future destinies of Rome that this was done. There is no event, perhaps, in history, like it. I do not recollect that in any siege of any other place, except in this case of Rome, there ever was such a transaction.
But there is a weighty difference between the two events. The Roman magnified that deed and recorded it in his history as a proof of his iron will. They knew right well that there was more toughness in the Roman than in the Gaul, and although the Gaul might gain some little advantage for a time the Roman iron would prove stronger than the Gallic fire. They knew right well that although the Gauls might be impetuous and might gain the victory for the day, Rome would rise again and would repel them and trample them under her feet. And so it was.
But how different was the spirit of Jeremiah! He was a sufferer from his own people, himself owning that the hand of God was stretched out against Jerusalem. Nevertheless, he, on the simple faith of God's word and not having the smallest confidence in his own power, and there being no display of confidence in Zedekiah or the people of the Jews, acted in this calm and striking fashion in the face of the overpowering weight of the Chaldean power that was raised up of God to trample down the proud and rebellious city of Jerusalem.
But Jeremiah bought the field of his uncle according to the provisions of the law of the Lord. He bought it because he had confidence in the restoration of Israel—not only the final restoration but the partial one after the lapse of seventy years. It seems to me, therefore, that we have a beautiful answer to the pride of Rome in the faith of Jeremiah.
"So Hanameel, mine uncle's son, came to me in the court of the prison, according to the word of Jehovah, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah" (verse 8). Jehovah had first told the prophet to buy the field, and then Hanameel came to offer his field for sale.
"And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open" (verses 9-11). All was done according to the custom of the law. The open document was for consultation. The sealed one was that on which all depended; it was the incontestable proof. There is often a similar practice in a family now. A will is deposited in Doctors' Commons, as we say, and there it always abides. It cannot be touched. It must not be removed. It is the legal evidence on which all turns. But, besides that, the family have a copy made by their solicitor for reference in case of any question regarding the distribution of the property.
And then according to the word of the Lord, Jeremiah committed the evidence of purchase to Baruch to preserve as a witness that property would be again possessed in the land. " And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land" (verses 13-15).
While it was quite true that because of the abominations of the men of Judah, Jehovah would give them over as captives to the king of Babylon, at the same time Jehovah says, "Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good" (verses 37-40). This is an additional word of the Lord about the new covenant; it will be an everlasting one; He will never turn away from His people.
We know that the Jews have never yet inherited their land according to the new covenant, still less according to the everlasting covenant. They are to inherit under both titles; the new covenant to distinguish it from anything that ever was before, the everlasting covenant to show that the new covenant will never be put out of date, or grow obsolete, but will always be effectual and valid for their possession and their blessing.
It has been asked whether these title deeds of Jeremiah's purchase will ever be recovered. But I cannot say. I should think they have perished long ago; still there is nothing too hard for the Lord. I am sure, however, the sense of them will never perish, and I have sometimes thought that they would yet come to light.
Jehovah will yet pour out His heart of grace upon His people. "Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul. For thus saith Jehovah, Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith Jehovah" (verses 41-44).
It may be noticed that unbelief shows itself in two ways that are exactly in contrast with faith. Before the threatened evil or judgment comes from the hand of the Lord men do not believe it. They are always hoping for a deliverance where there is no deliverance, for peace where there is no peace. This is the first effect of unbelief—a fighting against Jehovah's chastening. When the chastening comes, then they are all plunged into despair: then they think all is over with the people and that there never will be any blessing from the hand of the Lord. Now faith, on the contrary, believes the judgment before it comes, but believes in the goodness of the Lord and that mercy shall rejoice against judgment.
In chapter 33, the Spirit of God unfolds further this certainty of blessing for the people from the hand of the Lord. Not only will Judah and Israel return from captivity, and buy and sell and build and plant and be a nation restored, but Jehovah says, "I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have transgressed against Me; and it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth" (verses 8, 9).
"Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness. For thus saith Jehovah, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel" (verses 14-17).
This prophecy plainly foretells the full restoration of the religious polity as well as the civil rule under the Messiah. The nation will have royalty in the line of David, and priesthood in the line of Aaron the Levite. Then Jehovah gives them the pledge that He will no more break this covenant with Israel than His covenant of day and night. "Thus saith Jehovah, If My covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them " (verses 25, 26).
In chapter 34, a comforting word is addressed to Zedekiah, apparently because of his kindness towards the prophet. He was an evil ruler, but he was not without kindly feeling. Many a bad man whose conscience towards God is not utterly silenced has a great deal of natural feeling. He has the sense that a thing is wrong, but he has no force to do the right. He sees what is right and values the man that says what is right, but has no spiritual power to carry him in the path of what is right.
Now Zedekiah was this kind of man. There were worse kings than he, and he showed some disposition to listen to the prophet. Nevertheless, Zedekiah brought on the crisis of judgment for Jerusalem and his people. It is not the most daring man that does the worst deed. Weakness may be guilty where there is no looking to God for strength. And such was the case with Zedekiah. But the Lord showed him mercy, because, I think, of what he had done to His servant Jeremiah. "Thou shalt not die by the sword, but thou shalt die in peace." How gracious is Jehovah! He tempered the judgment which fell upon Zedekiah because of a certain relenting in the heart of the king towards His prophet. The kindly act is not forgotten by God.
In chapter 35, the obedience of the Rechabites is set before the men of Judah to make them feel that some men, at least, showed more reverence for an earthly father than Israel showed for God Himself. The Rechabites were a certain class of Arabs—Bedouins of the desert, as we say—who were true to the requisition of their father. He had bound them neither to build houses nor to drink wine, and these men had carried out the will of their father for a long time.
Now when the Rechabites sought refuge in Jerusalem because of Nebuchadnezzar, their fidelity to their father's request is used as a solemn condemnation of the disobedience of the children of Judah. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were bidden to accept instruction from the sight of these Rechabites who even in the time of the impending siege would not depart from the regulations of their father. They might have pleaded the circumstances as an excuse for disobeying at that time, but they remained faithful to their fathers. "And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you: therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me forever" (verses 18, 19). And I have no doubt that the Lord is preserving a portion of this very race to this day.
Chapter 36 shows a very different king. Jehoiakim had been an evil ruler, but bolder and more obstinate than Zedekiah. And what brought out Jehoiakim's iniquity was the roll that the prophet wrote. "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day that I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah which He had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of Jehovah: therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that Jehovah hath pronounced against this people" (verses 2-7).
Baruch did so. "And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people that came back from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah" (verses 9, 10).
Then Micaiah, who had listened, went down in to the king's house, where all the princes were sitting in the scribe's chamber, and declared to them all the words he had heard. Then the princes sent to Baruch for the roll, and being afraid at what they heard, they proposed to tell the king. "And they went into the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king" (verses 20, 21). The poor king showed his utter unbelief. His way of getting rid of the judgment was by destroying the roll. " And it came to pass that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth " (verse 23). This was an act of daring impiety before God; futile and perfect folly, but not the less sin.
The result was that Jehovah told Jeremiah to take "another roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Thus saith Jehovah; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them" (verses 28-31).
The old roll was repeated with many like words, and more were added according to the invariable way of God. Unbelief never hinders but rather accomplishes the judgments of God. It may add to them but it never diminishes them.
Chapter 37 describes the vain efforts of Zedekiah and his nobles to escape from the Chaldean. This description is continued in chapter 38, where we also read of Jeremiah sunk into a dungeon, and only through Zedekiah's kindness was he kept from death. But in that wicked house there was one that feared the Lord, and he was Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian, who showed compassion for the prophet in the dungeon and did much for his rescue.
Chapter 39 shows us the capture of Jerusalem and the flight of Zedekiah. The king, however, was caught, and (what he dreaded most of all) was brought before the Chaldean conqueror. He was carried ignominiously to Babylon, his eyes put out and himself bound in chains Jeremiah contrariwise was cared for by the king of Babylon. And Ebed-melech was not forgotten.
In chapters 40 to 44 we have the anarchy and moral disorder that prevailed among the Jews who were left behind in the land or its vicinity when the mass of their brethren had been carried captive to Babylon. Jeremiah becomes their helper, ministering to them the word of Jehovah, but finds among them the greatest unbelief. This obduracy of heart was most sorrowful and heart-breaking to the prophet. Their unbelief in Jehovah previously had brought the crisis of destruction upon Jerusalem. But now even the little remnant, the poor left in the land among whom Jeremiah remained, were full of jealousy, full of their own plans, full of treason, full of deceit and violence. God was not really in their thoughts.
All these things fill the prophet's heart with sorrow. To escape the wrath of the king of Babylon many flee into Egypt where they practice its idolatries. The doings of their various leaders are recounted, Gedaliah and Ishmael, and then Johanan, one only of them having the least care for the people of God, the others served themselves.
The prophet announced what would fall upon the Jews who tried to escape by going down into Egypt. He showed them that there they would only incur trouble from the hands of Nebuchadnezzar still more. Had they remained quietly in the land subject to the authority of the Chaldean king whom God had placed over them, they would have been preserved. But they, choosing human policy, thought it was safer to go down into Egypt, whereas it proved to be the contrary. Nebuchadnezzar pursued the Egyptians and punished these unbelieving Jews in that land.
In chapter 45 the word which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch, his amanuensis, is now brought before us. The great lesson for Baruch was that in a day of judgment the proper feeling for a saint and servant of God is an absence of self-seeking. "Seekest though great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh" (14:5). Lowliness of mind always becomes the saint, but in an evil day, it is the only safety. Humility is always morally right, but it is also the only thing that preserves from judgment. I am speaking now not of God's final judgment, but of that which is executed in this world. Now it seems to me plain that Baruch had not learned this lesson. He had now to learn it. This was the word of the prophet to him at an earlier date—the fourth year of Jehoiakim.
In chapter 46 we have the denunciation of Egypt where these foolish Jews had fled for security, and the further denunciation of Philistia in chapter 47. Then again of Moab (chapter 48): because all these countries were places to which the Jews looked for security. In chapter 49 the judgment of the Ammonites is given with Damascus and others, even Elam. Elam differs from the rest in being at a considerable distance from Jerusalem, while the others were comparatively near.
These nations were all to fall under the power of Nebuchadnezzar; but some of them are to be restored in the latter day. Among these nations will be Elam, Egypt, Moab and Ammon, but not Philistia, not Damascus, not Hazor, and above all not Babylon, whose destruction is brought before us in chapters 1 and 2 in great detail.
The whole prophecy of Jeremiah closes with an inspired appendix (chapter 52), probably by the editor, containing a brief historical account of Zedekiah's reign up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon. The final incident (verses 31-34) records the clemency shown by Evilmerodach, the king of Babylon, to Jehoiakim king of Judah in the thirty-seventh year of his captivity.