Jeremiah 19:14 Kommentar

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.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... See Gill on Jer 19:3; behold, I will bring upon this city, and upon all her towns: the city of Jerusalem, and all the cities and towns near it, even all the cities and towns in Judea; of which Jerusalem was the metropolis, and therefore called hers: all the evil that I have pronounced against it; or decreed against it, as the Targum; all that he had purposed, and all that he had threatened, or spoke of by the Prophet Jeremiah, or any other of his prophets; for whatever he has said he will do, and whatsoever he has solved upon, and declared he will do, he assuredly brings to pass: because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words; they turned their backs upon him, pulled away the shoulder, stopped their ears that they might not hear what was said by the prophets from the Lord; they neither inclined their ears to hearken to, nor bowed their necks to receive the yoke of his precepts; but, on the contrary, were, as was their general character, a stiffnecked people, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, obstinate and disobedient; and this was the cause of their ruin, by which it appeared to be just and righteous. Next: Jeremiah Chapter 20

(Verse 14, 15) But Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the house of the Lord and said to all the people: This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear my words. After breaking a jar or a small bottle in the presence of the elders of the people in Topheth, which Jeremiah had brought with him, he prophesied the words of the Lord to crush the people and the city of Jerusalem. Then he returned and stood in the court of the house of the Lord and spoke to the whole multitude that had not gone to Topheth, warning them that the Lord would bring upon the city of Jerusalem and all its towns all the evil that he had spoken against it. And lest we should think the sentence cruel, he gives the reasons why he will bring evil upon them. 'Because,' he says, 'they have hardened their neck, that they might not hear my words: nor have they done penance for their many wickednesses, desiring to do penance.'

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.

court of the Lord's house--near Tophet; the largest court, under the open air, where was the greatest crowd (Ch2 20:5).

The Prophet Jeremiah and the Temple-Warden Pashur. - Jer 19:14. When Jeremiah, having performed the divine command, returned from Tophet to the city, he went into the court of the house of God and spoke to the people assembled there, v. 15: "Thus hath said Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I bring upon this city, and all its cities, all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they stiffened their necks not to hear my words." "All the people" is the people present in the court of the temple as distinguished from the men who had accompanied Jeremiah into the valley of Benhinnom (Jer 19:10). מבי, the א having dropped off, as in Jer 39:16; Kg1 21:21, Kg1 21:29; Sa2 5:2, and often. "All its cities" are the towns that belonged to Jerusalem, were subject to it (Jer 34:1); in other words, the cities of Judah, Jer 1:15; Jer 9:10, etc. All the evil that I have pronounced against it, not merely in the valley of Benhinnom (Jer 19:3-13), but generally up till this time, by the mouth of Jeremiah. If we limit the reference of this view to the prophecy in Tophet, we must assume, with Ng., that Jeremiah repeated the substance of it here; and besides, that prophecy is not in keeping with "all its cities," inasmuch as it (Jer 19:3-13) deals with Jerusalem alone. Apparently Jeremiah must have said more than is written in the verse, and described the evil somewhat more closely; so that the new matter spoken by him here consists in the "Behold I bring," etc., i.e., in his forewarning them of the speedy fulfilment of the threatenings against Jerusalem and Judah, as was the case with the prophecy in the valley of Benhinnom, which also, Jer 19:3, begins with הנני מביא. On "they stiffened their necks," etc., cf. Jer 17:23; Jer 7:26.