Jeremiah 22:7 Kommentar

Upon occasion of the message sent in the foregoing chapter to the house of the king, we have here recorded some sermons which Jeremiah preached at court, in some preceding reigns, that it might appear they had had fair warning long before that fatal sentence was pronounced upon them, and were put in a way to prevent it. Here is, I. A message sent to the royal family, as it should seem in the reign of Jehoiakim, relating partly to Jehoahaz, who was carried away captive into Egypt, and partly to Jehoiakim, who succeeded him and was now upon the throne. The king and princes are exhorted to execute judgment, and are assured that, if they did so, the royal family should flourish, but otherwise it should be ruined (Jer 22:1-9). Jehoahaz, called here Shallum, is lamented (Jer 22:10-12). Jehoiakim is reproved and threatened (Jer 22:13-19). II. Another message sent them in the reign of Jehoiachin (alias, Jeconiah) the son of Jehoiakim. He is charged with an obstinate refusal to hear, and is threatened with destruction, and it is foretold that in him Solomon's house should fail (Jer 22:20-30).

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 22 This chapter is a prophecy of what should befall the sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz or Shallum; Jehoiakim and Jeconiah. It begins with an exhortation to the then reigning prince, Jehoiakim, his family and court, to do justice, relieve the oppressed, and refrain from doing injury to any; with a promise of prosperity upon so doing, Jer 22:1; but, on the contrary behaviour, the king's family, however precious they had been in the sight of the Lord, should be destroyed, by persons described as fit for such work, which would occasion others to inquire the cause of such destruction; when it would be told them, it was for their apostasy from the Lord, their breaking covenant with him, and their idolatry, Jer 22:5; then of Shallum, who was then carried captive, it is predicted that he should never return more, which was matter of greater lamentation than the death of his father Josiah, Jer 22:10; next Jehoiakim, the present king on the throne, is reproved, and a woe denounced upon him for his injustice, luxury, covetousness, rapine, and murders, Jer 22:13; and it is particularly threatened that he should die unlamented, and have no burial, Jer 22:18; and then the people of the land are called upon to mourning and lamentation, their kings one after another being carried captive, Jer 22:20; also Jeconiah the king's son, and who succeeded him, is threatened with rejection from the Lord, and a delivery of him up into the hand of the king of Babylon, with exile in a strange country, and death there, and that without children; so that Solomon's line should cease in him, Jer 22:24.

And I will prepare destroyers against thee,.... The Chaldeans, men of savage dispositions, bent upon the destruction of their neighbours; and who had already destroyed many nations, and so fit instruments for such service, as after mentioned; and who yet did not come merely of themselves, but were moved and directed to it by the powerful and all wise providence of God, in consequence of a previous preparation and appointment of them by the Lord in his counsels and purposes. It is, in the original text, "I will sanctify destroyers" (c); and not only intends a purpose and design; but suggests, that what they should do by his will and order would be consistent with his holiness and justice; and also that being prepared and ready, they might quickly expect a visit from them: everyone with his weapons; of war, or slaughter weapons, as in Eze 9:2; or, "a man and his weapons" (d); not a single man only, as Nebuchadnezzar, but him and his army; everyone of the destroyers prepared with proper instruments to do execution: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire; the sons of the king, the princes of the blood, the nobles of the land, and other persons of rank and distinction, comparable to the tall cedars of Lebanon; so the Targum, "and they shall slay the beauty of thy mighty ones, as the trees of a forest are cut down, and cast into the fire;'' or else the stately palaces of the king and his nobles, and other beautiful buildings, which were lined and ceiled with cedar, are here meant; and which the Chaldeans burnt with fire, Jer 52:13. (c) "sanctificabo", V. L. Montanus, Cocceius. (d) "virum et arma ejus", Vulg. Lat. Vatablus; "virum et instrumenta ejus", Montanus, Cocceius.

(V. 6,-8.) Because this is what the Lord says about the house (or to the house) of the king of Judah, Gilead, you are to me the head (or the beginning) of Lebanon. If I do not make you a desolation, cities uninhabitable. And I will consecrate (or build) upon you the one who kills men, and his weapons: and they will cut down your chosen cedars, and throw (or send) them into fire, and many nations will pass through this city, and each one will say to his neighbor: Why did the Lord do such to this great city? And they will answer, because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped foreign gods, and served them. Scripture mentions the land of Gilead, which was possessed by half the tribe of Manasseh, beyond the Jordan. On this mountain, Jacob pursued Laban as he fled, and the mountain received the name σωρὸς, which means heap of testimony, because there Jacob and Laban swore an oath, gathering a heap of stones (Genesis 31). But the head, or beginning, of Mount Lebanon, which is entirely composed of cedars, is mentioned next by David when he sings: And the Lord will shake the cedars of Lebanon (Psalm 29:5). And elsewhere: I have seen the wicked exalted, and raised up like the cedars of Lebanon (Psalm 36:35). And in Zechariah we read: Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let the fire consume your cedars (Zechariah 11:1). Therefore, in this present passage, because he was speaking to the royal house, he metaphorically speaks to the Temple, or to the house of the tribe of Judah, either because it itself is on high, or because all the remedies for sins were sought from the Temple and the Sanctuary. Therefore, the same prophet also mentions: Is there no balm in Gilead, or physician there? Why then has there been no healing for the daughter of my people? (Jeremiah 8:21). He threatens therefore the royal household, the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple, which he calls the head of Lebanon, that it shall be reduced to a deserted state along with all its cities, not by the power of the Babylonian king, but by the command of the Lord, who says: I will sanctify over you a destroyer. But Nabuchodonosor is called holy, and all his army, because he carries out the judgement of God. And he will cut down, he says, your chosen cedars: the powerful and the leaders of the city; and they will throw them into the fire, so that the devouring flame consumes everything. And when everything has been destroyed, many nations will pass through the city and the Temple, which they were previously not allowed to enter; and each person will speak to their neighbor, asking why the Lord has caused such a sudden and great destruction to the famous and great city. And those who are questioned will respond and explain the causes of the ruination, saying: because they have forsaken the covenant of their Lord God, and have worshiped idols instead of God. Let the royal house of our city and its princes listen to this, and let the high cedars, which reach up to the heavens, also listen. They speak with arrogance: who will not see? Let them be consumed quickly by the flame of the Lord if they refuse to comply with His commandments. But there is another sanctification (or rather sacrifice) of the murderer and his weapons; and another of the priests and those who serve the Lord.

EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE; JUDGMENT ON SHALLUM, JEHOIAKIM, AND CONIAH. (Jer. 22:1-30) Go down--The temple (where Jeremiah had been prophesying) was higher than the king's palace on Mount Zion (Jer 36:10, Jer 36:12; Ch2 23:20). Hence the phrase, "Go down." the king of Judah--perhaps including each of the four successive kings, to whom it was consecutively addressed, here brought together in one picture: Shallum, Jer 22:11; Jehoiakim, Jer 22:13-18; Jeconiah, Jer 22:24; Zedekiah, the address to whom (Jer 21:1, Jer 21:11-12) suggests notice of the rest.

prepare--literally, "sanctify," or solemnly set apart for a particular work (compare Isa 13:3). thy choice cedars-- (Isa 37:24). Thy palaces built of choice cedars (Sol 1:17).

Rebuke of the Ungodly Kings Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin, and Promise of a Righteous Branch of David. - This discourse begins with an exhortation to the king, his servants, and the people to do right and justice, and to eschew all unrighteousness, and with the warning, that in case of the contrary the royal palace will be reduced to ruins and Jerusalem destroyed by fire. After touching briefly on the fate of Jehoahaz, who has been deported to Egypt (Jer 22:10-12), the discourse turns against Jehoiakim, rebukes his tyranny, in that he builds his house with unrighteousness and schemes only bloodshed and violence, and threatens him with ignominious ruin (Jer 22:13-19). Then, after a threatening against Jerusalem (Jer 22:20-23), it deals with Jechoniah, who is told he shall be carried to Babylon never to return, and without any descendant to sit on his throne (Jer 22:24-30). Next, after an outcry of grief at the wicked shepherds, follows the promise that the Lord will gather the remnant of His flock out of all the lands whither they have been driven, that He will restore them to their fields and multiply them, and that He will raise up to them a good shepherd in the righteous branch of David (Jer 23:1-8). - According to Jer 21:1, Jeremiah spoke these words in the house of the king of Judah; whence we see that in this passage we have not merely ideas and scraps of addresses gathered together, such as had been on various occasions orally delivered by the prophet. It further appears from Jer 22:10 and Jer 22:13-17, that the portion of the discourse addressed to Jehoiakim was uttered in the first year of his reign; and from Jer 22:24, where Jechoniah is addressed as king, that the utterance concerning him belongs to the short period (only three months long) of his reign. But the utterance concerning Jechoniah is joined with that concerning Jehoiakim on account of the close relationship in matter between them. The exhortation and warning against injustice, forming the introduction, as regards it contents, fits very well into the time of Jehoiakim (cf. Jer 22:17 with Jer 22:3). The promise with which the discourse concludes was apparently not spoken till the time of Jechoniah, shortly before his being taken to Babylon. So that we have here the discourses of Jeremiah belonging to the times of Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin respectively, joined into one continuous whole.