Jeremiah 25:26 Komentář

The prophecy of this chapter bears date some time before those prophecies in the chapters next foregoing, for they are not placed in the exact order of time in which they were delivered. This is dated in the first year of Nebuchadrezzar, that remarkable year when the sword of the Lord began to be drawn and furbished. Here is, I. A review of the prophecies that had been delivered to Judah and Jerusalem for many years past, by Jeremiah himself and other prophets, with the little regard given to them and the little success of them (Jer 25:1-7). II. A very express threatening of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, by the king of Babylon, for their contempt of God, and their continuance in sin (Jer 25:8-11), to which is annexed a promise of their deliverance out of their captivity in Babylon, after 70 years (Jer 25:12-14). III. A prediction of the devastation of divers other nations about, by Nebuchadrezzar, represented by a "cup of fury" put into their hands (Jer 25:15-28), by a sword sent among them (Jer 25:29-33), and a desolation made among the shepherds and their flocks and pastures (Jer 25:34-38); so that we have here judgment beginning at the house of God, but not ending there.

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 25 This chapter contains a prophecy of the destruction of Judea by the king of Babylon; and also of Babylon itself, after the Jews' captivity of seventy years; and likewise of all the nations round about. The date of this prophecy is in Jer 25:1; when the prophet puts the Jews in mind of the prophecies that had been delivered unto them by himself and others, for some years past, without effect, Jer 25:2; wherefore they are threatened with the king of Babylon, that he should come against them, and strip them of all their desirable things; make their land desolate, and them captives for seventy years, Jer 25:8; at the expiration of which he in his turn shall be punished, and the land of Chaldea laid waste, and become subject to other nations and kings, Jer 25:12; and by a cup of wine given to all the nations round about, is signified the utter ruin of them, and who are particularly mentioned by name, Jer 25:15; which is confirmed by beginning with the city of Jerusalem, and the destruction of that, Jer 25:27; wherefore the prophet is bid to prophesy against them, and to declare the Lord's controversy with them, and that there should be a slaughter of them from one end of the earth to the other, Jer 25:30; upon which the shepherds, kings, and rulers of them, are called to lamentation and howling, Jer 25:34.

Therefore thou shalt say unto them,.... To the several nations before mentioned, prophesied against: thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; the Lord of armies, above and below, the Sovereign of the whole universe; but in a special and peculiar manner the God of Israel: drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more; as is sometimes the case of drunken men; they drink till they are quite intoxicated; and become drunk, and then they spew up what they have drunk; and, attempting to walk, fall, and sometimes so as never to rise more; not only break their bones, but their necks, or fall into places where they are suffocated, or in one or other, where they lose their lives. So it is signified, that these nations should drink of the cup of God's wrath and fury; or his judgments should come upon them in such a manner as that they should be obliged to part with all their riches, power, and authority; and should fall and sink into such a ruinous condition, as that they should never be able to the more to a prosperous one: because of the sword that I will send among you; by which they should be destroyed. The Targum joins this with the preceding clause, thus, "and ye shall not rise from before those that kill with the sword, whom I send among you.''

Know that it was foretold that wars would continue frequently to prevail, death and famine accumulate anxiety, health would be shattered by raging diseases and the human race be wasted by the desolation of pestilence. It was predicted that evils should be multiplied in the last times and that misfortunes should be varied and that as the day of judgment is now drawing near, the censure of an indignant God should be more and more aroused for the scourging of the human race. For these things do not happen, as your false complaining and ignorant inexperience of the truth asserts and repeats, because your gods are not worshiped by us, but because God is not worshiped by you. For since he is Lord and Ruler of the world and all things are carried on by his will and direction, nor can anything be done save what he has done or allowed to be done, certainly when those things occur that show the anger of an offended God, they happen not on account of us by whom God is worshiped, but they are called down by your sins and by what you deserve, by whom God is neither in any way sought or feared, because your vain superstitions are not forsaken, nor is the true religion known in such a way that he who is the one God over all might alone be worshiped and petitioned. Finally, listen to himself speaking with a divine voice at once instructing and warning us: “You will worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” And again, “You will have no other gods but me.” And again, “Do not go after other gods to serve them, and do not worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to destroy you.”

Consider and observe, my hearer, that if God had provided hope for Sodom and its companions, he would not have overthrown them with fire and brimstone, the sign of the last day of the world. Instead, he would have delivered them over to one of the kingdoms to be chastised. This is what was written, for instance, when Jeremiah caused the nations and kingdoms to drink the cup of wrath. Concerning each one of the cities, he said that after they shall “drink the cup, I will turn back the captivity of Elam, of Tyre, of Sidon, of the children of Ammon, and of Moab and of Edom.” Concerning each one of these kingdoms he said, “In the last days I will turn back its captivity.” Now we see that Tyre was inhabited and was opulent after it had wandered seventy years, and after it had received the reward of its harlotries and after it had committed fornication with all the kingdoms. And Tyre took the harp, and played it sweetly and multiplied its music. And also the region of Elam is inhabited and opulent. And with regard to Babylon Jeremiah said, “Babylon shall fall and shall not rise.” And look! Up to the present day it continues in desolation and will do so forever. And also about Jerusalem he said, “The virgin of Israel shall fall and shall not rise again. She is forsaken on the ground, and there is none to raise her up.” For if the prophecy is true that Jeremiah spoke about Babylon, also that about Jerusalem is true and worthy of faith. And Isaiah said to Jerusalem, “I will not again be angry with you, nor will I reprove you.” He truly will not be angry with Jerusalem ever again, nor will he reprove her forever; for that which is in desolation he will not reprove, nor will she provoke him to wrath.

(Verse 26.) To each one against his brother, and to all the kingdoms of the earth that are above its surface. In order not to make it long to enumerate all the regions of the Eastern provinces in detail, he generally placed all the kingdoms of the earth that are mentioned in that land. And that which he said against his brother is implied: I gave them a full measure to make them all rage, vomit, go mad, and fight with each other in mutual battles. And what he brought: And King Sesach will drink after them; and though it is not found in the Septuagint, it has this meaning: All, he says, will be subject to the Babylonian empire, and it will subject everything to its power, so that all the nations that the previous passage mentioned will serve and drink from its cup. Thus, in the vision against Babylon, it is written: Babylon, the golden cup, that intoxicates the whole earth. (Jeremiah 51:7) And finally, the king of Babylon will drink this potion, offered to him by the charioteer of the chariot, consisting of camels and donkeys, Cyrus the king of the Medes and Persians. However, someone who has at least a small knowledge of the Hebrew language will not struggle greatly to understand how Babylon, which is called Babel in Hebrew (), is also understood as Sesach (). Just as in our case the Greek alphabet is read in order up to the last letter, that is, Alpha, Beta, and so on up to Omega: and again for the memory of children we are accustomed to reverse the order of reading and mix the first letters with the last, so that we say Alpha, O, Beta, Psi: similarly among the Hebrews the first is Aleph, the second Beth, the third Ghimel, and so on up to the twenty-second, and the last letter is Thau, with the penultimate being Sin. Therefore, we read Aleph, Thau, Beth, Sin. And when we come to the middle, Lamed, the letter Chaph appears: and as, if we read correctly, we read Babel: thus, with the order changed, we read Sesach. However, the vowel letters are not placed between Beth and Beth, and Lamed, according to the language of the Hebrew tongue in this name. And I think it was wisely hidden by the holy Prophet, so as not to openly provoke the madness of those who were besieging Jerusalem, and were about to take possession of it very soon. We read that the Apostle also acted against the Roman Empire, writing about the Antichrist: 'Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time,' the Antichrist is understood. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2:3-8). He who holds it, shows the Roman empire: for unless this be destroyed, taken out of the way, according to the prophecy of Daniel, the antichrist will not come. But if he had wished to state it openly, he would have aroused foolish persecution against the Christians and the Church, which was then just beginning. We have spoken on this chapter at greater length than the brevity of the Commentaries allows, because it is not found in their codices, the Greeks and Latins perhaps despising it. But what profit will it be when the very Prophet himself says concerning these things which follow in this country: How is Sechach taken, and how is the renowned city of the whole earth captured? How is Babylon become a wonder among the nations? Allegorical interpreters refer this whole place to all the nations which the devil has made drunk with the most bitter cup of sins. And this very man himself will also drink torments and tortures, of whom the Apostle writes: Whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the spirit of his mouth (II Thess. 2:8). And in another place it says: The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26). This is the power of being able to transfer the words of different nations under their etymologies, and to adapt individual vices to individual names.

PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY YEARS CAPTIVITY; AND AFTER THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON, AND OF ALL THE NATIONS THAT OPPRESSED THE JEWS. (Jer. 25:1-38) fourth year of Jehoiakim--called the third year in Dan 1:1. But probably Jehoiakim was set on the throne by Pharaoh-necho on his return from Carchemish about July, whereas Nebuchadnezzar mounted the throne January 21, 604 B.C.; so that Nebuchadnezzar's first year was partly the third, partly the fourth, of Jehoiakim's. Here first Jeremiah gives specific dates. Nebuchadnezzar had previously entered Judea in the reign of his father Nabopolassar.

Sheshach--Babylon; as the parallelism in Jer 51:41 proves. In the Cabalistic system (called Athbash, the first Hebrew letter in the alphabet being expressed by the last) Sheshach would exactly answer to Babel. Jeremiah may have used this system (as perhaps in Jer 51:41) for concealment at the time of this prediction, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, while Nebuchadnezzar was before Jerusalem. In Jer 51:41 there can be no concealment, as Babylon is expressly mentioned. MICHAELIS more simply explains the term "brazen-gated" (compare Isa 45:2); others, "the house of a prince." Rather, it comes from the Babylonian goddess, Shach, by reduplication of the first letter; from her Misael was named Meshach by the Babylonians. The term Shace was applied to a festival at Babylon, alluded to in Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57; Isa 21:5. It was during this feast that Cyrus took Babylon [HERODOTUS, 1]. Thus Jeremiah mystically denotes the time of its capture by this term [GLASSIUS].