PREFACE TO THE ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM. 557 ing this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it A.C. 595. into the midst of Euphrates: 64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. SECTION X. General Introduction to the Narrative of the Destruction of the 2 CHRONICLES XXXVI. VER. 11-22. 11 ¶ Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he o2 Kings began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. 13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. 14 ¶ Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them * by his messengers, rising up + betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: xxiv. 18. Jer. lii. 1, &c. p Jer. xxv. 3, *Heb. by the carefully. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no re- Heb. healmedy. ing. 590. xxv. &c. 17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the 21, house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. A. C. 588. *Heb. the re the sword. г 20 And * them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and mainder from his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: r Jer. xxv. 9, 21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as Ler. xxvi. long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. 12. & xxix. 10. 34, 35, 43. 590. t Jer. xxxix. 1. & lii. 4. 588. 590. u 2 Kings xv. 2 KINGS XXV. ver. 1, 2. 1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Ñebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. 2 And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. SECTION XI. Approach of the Chaldean Army. Capture of Zedekiah and the JEREMIAH XXXIX. VER. 1. 1 In the "ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the 1-4. ch. lii. tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. 4-7. x 2 Kings xxiv. 17. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10. ch. xxii. 24. JEREMIAH XXXVII. VER. 1-5. X 1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he Heb. by the spake + by the prophet Jeremiah. hand of the prophet. 3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us. 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison 12. 12 In the arrangement of the circumstances which took place at Jerusalem between the approach of the Chaldean army, and the eventual capture of the city, I have been principally guided by the accurate and learned Prideaux. The contents of Jer. xxxix. ver. 1. sufficiently shew that this verse may be rightly placed first, as introductory to the whole account. As Jeremiah was put into prison the first time, chap. xxxvii. 4. while the Chaldeans were besieging the city, that is, at the beginning of the tenth year, and before the army of Pharaoh JEREMIAH XXXIV. VER. 1—11. 1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, A.C.590. y when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, y 2 Kings and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and xxv. 1, &c. all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, 2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: Heb. the ch. lii. 4. dominion of his hand. 3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt z ch. xxxii. 4. surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes mouth shall shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and the shall + Heb. his speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Ba- speak to thy bylon. 4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: 5 But thou shalt die in peace and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD. 6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah 13. Hophra came from Egypt, it is evident that this part of the chapter precedes in historical order both the account of his imprisonment, and the delivery of the prophecy, (Jer. xxxiv. 1-6.) which is supposed to have occasioned his confinement. Blayney, and other commentators differ from Prideaux; and think the prediction contained in the twenty-first chapter was the cause of the prophet's punishment. Both these chapters announce the burning of the city, and the captivity of Zedekiah: but in Jer. xxxiv. 1. we read the prediction was delivered on the commencement of the siege, by immediate inspiration, without any application from the king; while Nebuchadnezzar was still engaged in fighting against the cities of Judah, and had perhaps just reached Jerusalem. The latter prediction, (chap. xxi.) on the contrary, was spoken in reply to the message from the king, sent by Pashur and Zephaniah, after his imprisonment : and in it Jeremiah recapitulates his first prediction, with some additional denunciations; upon which he is more strictly confined in the dungeon of Malchaiah. 13 After the Jews discovered that all their cities were taken but Lachish and Azekah, terrified at these losses, and apprehensive of the siege then ready to be mouth. A. C. 590. a Ex. xxi. 2. 589. 8¶ This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; a 9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. 10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go. SECTION XII. Imprisonment of Jeremiah. JEREMIAH XXXII 14. 1 Jeremiah, being imprisoned by Zedekiah for his prophecy, 6 buyeth Hanameel's field. 13 Baruch must preserve the evidences, as tokens of the people's return. 16 Jeremiah in his prayer complaineth to God. 26 God confirmeth the captivity for their sins, 36 and promiseth a gracious return. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the laid to Jerusalem, they made a shew of returning to God, and of observing his laws, (see ver. 9.) They enter into a solemn covenant with God, and immediately issue a proclamation "that every man should let his manservant and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew, or a Hebrewess, go free," Deut. xv. 12. This covenant, however, was broken as soon as the Jews considered themselves relieved from danger by the Chaldean army retiring from Jerusalem. 14 The place and date of these chapters are assigned in chap. xxxii. ver. 2. By purchasing the field at Anathoth, on the prospect of not being able, under the present circumstances of the city, to take possession of the land, Jeremiah confirmed to the people his own firm belief in the truth of all the predictions which he had been commanded of God to utter to his brethren. This purchase prefigured, that although Judah and Jerusalem should be laid waste, and the inhabitants led into captivity, yet a day would come when there should be a general restoration, the land flourish again, possessions bought and sold, as in former times, and the lands enjoyed by their rightful owners, ver. 36. to the end. In the xxxiüird chapter God reveals his gracious purpose of healing the wounds of Jerusalem. He foretells the land, whose desolation they now deplore, shall be filled again with the voice of them "that shall bring the sacrifice of praise," and "shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down." He promises them a kingdom in which a branch of the house of David shall rule in righteousness; and declares his covenant with David, and the priesthood of the sons of Levi, to be as lasting as the covenant of day and night; and, to remove the reproach cast on Israel and Judah, God renews his protes tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the A.C. 580. eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2 For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusa lem and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the bch. xxxiv. 2. king of Babylon, and he shall take it ; 4 And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of cch. xxxiv. 3 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; 5 And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper. 6¶ And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me saying, 7 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. 8 So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, 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 the LORD. 9 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. d Lev. xxv. 24. Ruth iv. 4. * Or, seven shekels and ten 10 And I + subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and pieces of siltook witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. † Heb. wrote ver. in the book. tations of infallibly restoring the seed of Jacob, and of appointing the seed of David to rule over them for ever. From the Babylonish captivity to the coming of Christ, David was without a successor of his family sitting upon the throne of Judah or Israel. And from the destruction of Jerusalem to the present time, the Jews have had neither a king nor a regular priesthood. It is evident, therefore, the time is not yet arrived for the actual accomplishment of this prophecy; it remains to be fulfilled in those days when Israel and Judah shall be restored under Christ, THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Admitting this, and that all the families of Israel shall again be re-established in their own possessions, what improbability is there, that the two families of David, and Levi, may actually revert also to the ancient privileges, subject only to the supreme authority of the Messiah, and continue to enjoy them, as is here expressly declared, in uninterrupted succession, to the end of the world. Blayney, notes on Jeremiah, p. 222.-Prideaux's Connection. |