Jeremiah 19:5 Komentář

The same melancholy theme is the subject of this chapter that was of those foregoing - the approaching ruin of Judah and Jerusalem for their sins. This Jeremiah had often foretold; here he has particularly full orders to foretel it again. I. He must set their sins in order before them, as he had often done, especially their idolatry (Jer 19:4, Jer 19:5). II. He must describe the particular judgments which were now coming apace upon them for these sins (Jer 19:6-9). III. He must do this in the valley of Tophet, with great solemnity, and for some particular reasons (Jer 19:2, Jer 19:3). IV. He must summon a company of the elders together to be witnesses of this (Jer 19:1). V. He must confirm this, and endeavour to affect his hearers with it, by a sign, which was the breaking of an earthen bottle, signifying that they should be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel (Jer 19:10-13). VI. When he had done this in the valley of Tophet he ratified it in the court of the temple (Jer 19:14, Jer 19:15). Thus were all likely means tried to awaken this stupid senseless people to repentance, that their ruin might be prevented; but all in vain.

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 19 In this chapter is foreshadowed, represented, and confirmed, the destruction of Jerusalem, by the breaking of a potter's vessel the prophet had in his hand; and by the place where he was bid to do this, and did it. The order for it, and the witnesses of it, and the place where it was done, are declared in Jer 19:1; the proclamation there of Jerusalem's ruin is made, Jer 19:3; the cause of it, their apostasy, idolatry, and shedding of innocent blood, Jer 19:4; the great slaughter of them by the sword and famine, Jer 19:6; and how easy, and irresistible, and irrecoverable, their destruction would be, are signified by the breaking of the bottle, Jer 19:10, when Jerusalem for its idolatry would become as defiled a place as Tophet, where the prophet was, Jer 19:12; from whence he came to the temple, and there repeated the proclamation of the evil that should come upon that city, and all the towns around it, Jer 19:14.

They have also built the high places of Baal,.... Or, they have even built, &c. and so the words explain what is before suggested of their idolatry; these were the temples in which they placed his image, and the altars on which they sacrificed to him; as follows: to burn their sons with fire, for burnt offerings unto Baal; the same idol that is sometimes called Moloch, the names being much of the same signification; the one signifying a "lord" or "master"; the other a king; and to the idol under each name they burned their children with fire, and offered them as burnt offerings unto it; which was a most cruel and barbarous way of sacrificing. Some think they only caused them to pass through two fires; but the text is express for it, that they burnt them with fire, and made burnt offerings of them, as they did with slain beasts. It seems very likely that they did both: which I commanded not; in my law, as the Targum adds; and which was intimation enough to avoid it; though this was not all, he expressly forbad it, Lev 20:2; nor spake it, neither came it into my mind; and it is marvellous it should ever enter into the heart of man; none but Satan himself could ever have devised such a way of worship.

(Verses 4-6.) Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring calamity (or evil) upon this place, such that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle, because they have forsaken me and have made this place a foreign land, and have burned incense in it to foreign gods, whom they and their fathers and the kings of Judah did not know. And they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something that I did not command (or think), nor did it come into my mind. And certain individuals foolishly refer this place to the heavenly Jerusalem. Lest we always remind, it suffices to have said this only: that this kind of explanation is to be avoided, indeed it is heresy, which clearly subverts and attempts to introduce certain deceits to the Churches of Christ. But there is no doubt that they placed the idol Baal in the Temple of God, whether in the shrine that was in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where the grove of Baal and his altar were located, on which they sacrificed and burned their children. What the Lord neither thought nor spoke, nor did they ascend into his heart. Not that God does not know the future, but because he says that he chooses not to know unworthy things, according to the words of the Gospel: Depart from me, workers of iniquity, I do not know you (Luke 13:27). For the Lord knows those who are his (2 Timothy). And, Whoever is ignorant, let him be ignorant (1 Corinthians 14:38). Or certainly in a human way, and these things must be understood about God, as well as others. But every heretic forsakes God and makes room for the dwelling of God, whom he has defiled by his deceit and offers sacrifices to foreign gods, whom neither he nor his fathers knew, namely the Apostles and apostolic men; but the kings of Judah, that is, the patriarchs of heretics, fill the place of God once with the blood of deceivers and the innocent. For unless he is foolish and simple, he is not quickly overthrown. And they build high places for Baal, while claiming to debate lofty matters. And they burn their sons as an offering to idols, whom they have begotten in their heresy. The Lord says that he is unaware of all these things and that they have never entered his mind.

THE DESOLATION OF THE JEWS FOR THEIR SINS FORETOLD IN THE VALLEY OF HINNOM; THE SYMBOL OF BREAKING A BOTTLE. (Jer 19:1-15) bottle--Hebrew, bakuk, so called from the gurgling sound which it makes when being emptied. ancients--elders. As witnesses of the symbolic action (Jer 19:10; Isa 8:1-2), that the Jews might not afterwards plead ignorance of the prophecy. The seventy-two elders, composing the Sanhedrim, or Great Council, were taken partly from "the priests," partly from the other tribes, that is, "the people," the former presiding over spiritual matters, the latter over civil; the seventy-two represented the whole people.

commanded not--nay, more, I commanded the opposite (Lev 18:21; see Jer 7:31-32).