Jeremiah 16:20 Komentář

In this chapter, I. The greatness of the calamity that was coming upon the Jewish nation is illustrated by prohibitions given to the prophet neither to set up a house of his own (Jer 16:1-4) nor to go into the house of mourning (Jer 16:5-7) nor into the house of feasting (Jer 16:8, Jer 16:9). II. God is justified in these severe proceedings against them by an account of their great wickedness (Jer 16:10-13). III. An intimation is given of mercy in reserve (Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15). IV. Some hopes are given that the punishment of the sin should prove the reformation of the sinners, and that they should return to God at length in a way of duty, and so be qualified for his returns to them in a way of favour (Jer 16:16-21).

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 16 In this chapter the ruin and destruction of the Jews is set forth, and confirmed by the prophet's being forbid to be merry, or to go into the house of feasting or mourning, with the reasons thereof; also the sins of the people, the cause of it, are pointed at; and afterwards a promise of their restoration is made; and the chapter is concluded with a prayer of the prophet, pressing his faith in the divine protection, and in the calling of the Gentiles. After the preface or introduction, Jer 16:1, the prophet is forbid to take a wife, or have any children, with the reason of it; because that parents and children would die of grievous deaths unlamented, and not be buried, Jer 16:2 and he is also forbid to go into the house of mourning, because peace, lovingkindness, and mercy, were taken from the people, and both great and small would die, and no lamentation be made for them, nor have any burial also, Jer 16:5, nor might he go into the house of feasting, because the voice of joy and gladness would cease out of the land, Jer 16:8, and upon the people's inquiring the reason of all this, the prophet is bid to tell them, that it was for their forsaking the Lord and his worship, and for their idolatrous practices; of which they were more guilty than their forefathers, and therefore would be cast out of the land, and carried captive into a strange country, Jer 16:10 but, after all this, they should be restored again to their own land, and have a greater deliverance than that out of Egypt, as they themselves would own, Jer 16:14 but before this would be, fishers and hunters should be sent to distress them, and all because of their iniquities, which God's eye was upon, and would recompense, Jer 16:16, and the chapter is closed with the prophet's prayer, in which he expresses his faith in the Lord, and in the conversion of the Gentiles, who would be convinced of their idolatry, and made to know the power and name of the Lord, Jer 16:19.

Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know,.... Or, "at this time", as the Targum; when the Gentiles shall be convinced of the idolatry they have been brought up in, and of the vanity and falsehood of their idols; they shall be made to know the true God, God in Christ, Christ himself, whom to know is life eternal, and to know the way of life and salvation by him; and all this through the ministry of the Gospel that should be brought among them, the Spirit of God accompanying it; by means of which they should come to Christ from the ends of the earth, before predicted. I will cause them to know my hand and my might; to experience the power and efficacy of his grace in conversion; quickening their dead souls, softening their hard hearts, taking away the stony heart, and giving a heart of flesh; and making them willing in the day of his power to be saved by Christ, and to serve him; to relinquish their idols, and turn to and worship the living God in spirit and in truth: though most understand this not as a promise of grace to the Gentiles, but as a threatening of punishment to the idolatrous Jews; that because of their idolatry they should once for all, or by this one and grievous calamity, captivity in Babylon, be made to know what they could not be brought to know by all the instructions and warnings of the prophets; they should now feel the weight of the Lord's hand, the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his wrath; and so the Targum, "I will show them my vengeance and the stroke of my power.'' And they shall know that my name is the Lord; the Jehovah, the self-existent Being, the Being of beings, the everlasting and unchangeable I AM; who is able to make good his promises, or perform his threatenings; a name incommunicable to creatures, which do not belong to the idols of the Gentiles, is peculiar to the true God, who is the most High in all the earth; see Psa 83:18. Next: Jeremiah Chapter 17

“If a person will make gods for himself.” Not only do people make gods for themselves from statues, but you will also find people making gods for themselves from their imaginations. Such people can imagine another god and creator of the world other than the divine plan of the world recorded by the Spirit, other than the true world. These all have made gods for themselves, and they have worshiped the works of the hands. So, too, I believe is the case either among the Greeks, who generate opinions, so to speak, of this philosophy or that, or among the heretics, the first who generate opinions. These have made idols for themselves and figments of the soul, and by turning to them they worship the works of their hands, since they accept as truth their own fabrications.

(Verse 20) To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: Truly, our fathers have possessed a lie, vanity that has not profited them. Septuagint: To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and say: How have our fathers possessed false idols, and there is no profit in them? After Israel was expelled and carried away by fishermen and hunters, a multitude of nations is subsequently called to faith and confesses that their fathers were involved in prior error. But those who say, 'How did our fathers possess false idols, in which there is no utility?' confess that the things they pass by are true, and supported by every defense. Does a man make gods for himself when they are not gods themselves? And this is what the nations, who came to the Savior from the ends of the earth, speak, or rather are called, as they expose both their own ignorance and that of their ancestors, because they thought that gods were made by man, when it is actually men who make gods.

Hermes Trismegistus lamented these vain, deceptive, pernicious, sacrilegious things because he foresaw that the time was coming when they would be abolished. He was as impudent in his grief as imprudent in his prophecy, since the Holy Spirit had made no revelation to him as to the holy prophets who exultantly proclaimed their inspired visions: “Shall a person make gods to himself, and they are not gods?” And again: “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more.” It is relevant to recall that holy Isaiah uttered a particular prophecy concerning Egypt: “And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof” and the rest.

Although Hermes calls these idols gods, he nevertheless admits that they were made by people whose example we should not follow, and thus, willy-nilly, he proves that these idols should not be worshiped by people who are unlike the people who made them, that is, by wise, believing and religious people. Moreover, he implies that the fabricators brought on themselves the guilt of reckoning as gods things that are not gods. Very true is that prophecy: “Shall a person make gods to himself, and they are not gods?” This, then, is what Hermes means by fabricated gods. Such gods, made and adored by such people, are but evil spirits imprisoned by magic in idols and bound there by the chains of their own passions.

CONTINUATION OF THE PREVIOUS PROPHECY. (Jer. 16:1-21) in this place--in Judea. The direction to remain single was (whether literally obeyed, or only in prophetic vision) to symbolize the coming calamities of the Jews (Eze 24:15-27) as so severe that the single state would be then (contrary to the ordinary course of things) preferable to the married (compare Co1 7:8, Co1 7:26, Co1 7:29; Mat 24:19; Luk 23:29).

indignant protest of Jeremiah against idols. and they (are) no gods-- (Jer 2:11; Isa 37:19; Gal 4:8). "They" refers to the idols. A man (a creature himself) making God is a contradiction in terms. Vulgate takes "they" thus: "Shall man make gods, though men themselves are not gods?"