Geremia 25:30 Commento

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.

We have, in these verses, a further description of those terrible desolations which the king of Babylon with his armies should make in all the countries and nations round about Jerusalem. In Jerusalem God had erected his temple; there were his oracles and ordinances, which the neighbouring nations should have attended to and might have received benefit by; thither they should have applied for the knowledge of God and their duty, and then they might have had reason to bless God for their neighbourhood to Jerusalem; but they, instead of that, taking all opportunities either to debauch or to disturb that holy city, when God came to reckon with Jerusalem because it learned so much of the way of the nations, he reckoned with the nations because they learned so little of the way of Jerusalem. They will soon be aware of Nebuchadrezzar's making war upon them; but the prophet is here directed to tell them that it is God himself that makes war upon them, a God with whom there is no contending. 1. The war is here proclaimed (Jer 25:30): The Lord shall roar from on high; not from Mount Zion and Jerusalem (as Joe 3:16, Amo 1:2), but from heaven, from his holy habitation there; for now Jerusalem is one of the places against which he roars. He shall mightily roar upon his habitation on earth from that above. He has been long silent, and seemed not to take notice of the wickedness of the nations; the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now he shall give a shout, as the assailants in battle do, against all the inhabitants of the earth, to whom it shall be a shout of terror, and yet a shout of joy in heaven, as theirs that tread the grapes; for, when God is reckoning with the proud enemies of his kingdom among men, there is a great voice of much people heard in heaven, saying, Hallelujah, Rev 19:1. He roars as a lion (Amo 3:4, Amo 3:8), as a lion that has forsaken his covert (Jer 25:38), and is going abroad to seek his prey, upon which he roars, that he may the more easily seize it. 2. The manifesto is here published, showing the causes and reasons why God proclaims this war (Jer 25:31): The Lord has a controversy with the nations; he has just cause to contend with them, and he will take this way of pleading with them. His quarrel with them is, in one word, for their wickedness, their contempt of him, and his authority over them and kindness to them. He will give those that are wicked to the sword. They have provoked God to anger, and thence comes all this destruction; it is because of the fierce anger of the Lord (Jer 25:37 and again Jer 25:38), the fierceness of the oppressor, or (as it might better be read) the fierceness of the oppressing sword (for the word is feminine) is because of his fierce anger; and we are sure that he is never angry without cause; but who knows the power of his anger? 3. The alarm is here given and taken: A noise will come even to the ends of the earth, so loud shall it roar, so far shall it reach, Jer 25:31. The alarm is not given by sound of trumpet, or beat of drum, but by a whirlwind, a great whirlwind, storm, or tempest, which shall be raised up from the coasts, the remote coasts of the earth, Jer 25:32. The Chaldean army shall be like a hurricane raised in the north, but thence carried on with incredible fierceness and swiftness, bearing down all before it. It is like the whirlwind out of which God answered Job, which was exceedingly terrible, Job 37:1; Job 38:1. And, when the wrath of God thus roars like a lion from heaven, no marvel if it be echoed with shrieks from earth; for who can choose but tremble when God thus speaks in displeasure? See Hos 11:10. Now the shepherds shall howl and cry, the kings, and princes, and the great ones of the earth, the principal of the flock. They used to be the most courageous and secure, but now their hearts shall fail them; they shall wallow themselves in the ashes, Jer 25:34. Seeing themselves utterly unable to make head against the enemy, and seeing their country, which they have the charge of and a concern for, inevitably ruined, they shall abandon themselves to sorrow. There shall be a voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock shall be heard, Jer 25:36. Those are great calamities indeed that strike such a terror upon the great men, and put them into this consternation. The Lord hath spoiled their pasture, in which they fed their flock, and out of which they fed themselves; the spoiling of that makes them cry-out thus. Perhaps, carrying on the metaphor of a lion roaring, it alludes to the great fright that shepherds are in when they hear a roaring lion coming towards their flocks, and find they have no way to flee (Jer 25:35) for their own safety, neither can the principal of their flock escape. The enemy will be so numerous, so furious, so sedulous, and the extent of their armies so vast, that it will be impossible to avoid falling into their hands. Note, As we cannot out-face, so we cannot out-run, the judgments of God. This is that for which the shepherds howl and cry. 4. The progress of this war is here described (Jer 25:32): Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation; as the cup goes round, every nation shall have its share and take warning by the calamities of another to repent and reform. Nay, as if this ere to be a little representation of the last and general judgment, it shall reach from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth, Jer 25:33. The day of vengeance is in his heart, and now his hand shall find out all his enemies, wherever they are, Psa 21:8. Note, When our neighbour's house is on fire it is time to be concerned for our own. When one nation is a seat of war every neighbouring nation should hear, and fear, and make its peace with God. 5. The dismal consequences of this war are here foretold: The days of slaughter and dispersions are accomplished, that is, they are fully come (Jer 25:34), the time fixed in the divine counsel for the slaughter of some and the dispersion of the rest, which will make the nations completely desolate. Multitudes shall fall by the sword of the merciless Chaldeans, so that the slain of the Lord shall be every where found: they are slain by commission from him, and are sacrificed to his justice. The slain for sin are the slain of the Lord. To complete the misery of their slaughter, they shall not be lamented in particular, so general shall the matter of lamentation be. Nay, they shall not be gathered up, nor buried, for they shall have no friends left to bury them, and the enemies shall not have so much humanity in them as to do it; and then they shall be as dung upon the earth, so vile and noisome: and it is well if, as dung manures the earth and makes it fruitful, so these horrid spectacles, which lie as monuments of divine justice, might be a means to awaken the inhabitants of the earth to learn righteousness. The effect of this war will be the desolation of the whole land that is the seat of it (Jer 25:38), one land after another. But here are two expressions more that seem to make the case in a particular manner piteous. (1.) You shall fall like a pleasant vessel, Jer 25:34. The most desirable persons among them, who most valued themselves and were most valued, who were looked upon as vessels of honour, shall fall by the sword. You shall fall as a Venice glass or a China dish, which is soon broken all to pieces. Even the tender and delicate shall share in the common calamity; the sword devours one as well as another. (2.) Even the peaceable habitations are cut down. Those that used to be quiet, and not molested, the habitations in which you have long dwelt in peace, shall now be no longer such, but cut down by the war. Or, Those who used to be quiet, and not molesting any of their neighbours, those who lived in peace, easily, and gave no provocation to any, even those shall not escape. This is one of the direful effects of war, that even those who were most harmless and inoffensive suffer hard things. Blessed be God, there is a peaceable habitation above for all the sons of peace, which is out of the reach of fire and sword.

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.

A noise shall come up even to the ends of the earth,.... Wars, and rumours of wars, everywhere, till the cup has gone round, and all nations have drank of it, and have felt the power of divine wrath for their sins: for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; will enter into a judicial process with them; will litigate the point with them, and try it openly; that it may be seen who is in the right, and who in the wrong: he will plead with all flesh; or enter into judgment with them, as Kimchi; or reprove them in judgment, as Jarchi; he will be too many for them; he will carry his case, overcome them in judgment, and reprove and condemn them. Or the words may be rendered, "he will be judged by all flesh" (s); he will submit it to the judgment of the whole world, if it is not a righteous thing in him to do what he is about to do, and will do; he will make it clear and manifest that he does nothing unjustly, but all according to the strict rules of justice and equity: he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord; to be destroyed by it, and none but them; and seeing they are such that deserve it, he is not to be charged with unrighteousness in so doing. (s) "judicium subibit ipse cum omni carne", Tigurine version.

(Verse 30, 31.) And you shall prophesy to them all these words, and you shall say to them: The Lord will roar from on high (or give a response), and from His holy habitation He will utter His voice. He roars loudly over His glorious place (or responds to His place), His shout resounds like those who trample the earth. The sound (or destruction) reaches to the ends (or above) of the earth: for the Lord has a judgment with the nations: He shall judge all flesh: I have given the wicked (or I gave the wicked) to the sword, says the Lord. First, let us say that the truth of the interpretation is evident. You will prophesy to all nations, he says, and you will declare that the Lord roars from on high, that is, he gives a clear sign of his anger; according to what is written: The lion will roar, and who will not fear? The Lord has spoken, and who will not prophesy? And from his holy dwelling he will make his voice heard, to terrify all who hear it. He will roar over his sanctuary, that is, over the Temple. And when he roars like those treading the winepress, a loud noise will be sung, and during the pouring out of the mutual blood, a mournful song will be chanted: which Symmachus calls a conclusion; Aquila, a remedy. The sound of this singing and song will reach to the ends of the earth, because the judgment of the Lord is with the nations. But if the judgment of the Lord is with the nations, then the merits of the nations are different (Hosea 4). To explain that passage, as some want: Whoever does not believe is already judged (John 3:18). Indeed, he is judged because he did not believe; but those who do not believe among themselves will be subjected to different punishments. He himself is judged with all flesh, so that no one may leave uninjudged. But the ungodly, that is, those who do not believe in the Lord, are handed over to eternal sword. Allegorical interpreters according to the Septuagint explain this passage in such a way that they interpret the Lord's open threat in a positive manner. The Lord, they say, will give a response from on high to those whom he intends to save. And from His holy place He will give His voice, and He will answer with His word in His place. But they, like reapers full of fruit, will respond to His message: Destruction will come upon all the inhabitants of the earth, not upon the whole earth, but upon a part of the earth, namely those who do not believe. Judgment will be among the nations, and He will judge with all flesh. But the wicked will be delivered by the sword.

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.

roar--image from a destructive lion (Isa 42:13; Joe 3:16). upon his habitation--rather, "His pasturage"; keeping up the image of a lion roaring against the flock in the pasture. The roar was first to go forth over Judea wherein were "the sheep of His pasture" (Psa 100:3), and thence into heathen lands. shout . . . tread . . . grapes-- (Jer 48:33; Isa 16:9-10).

"But do thou prophesy to them all these words, and say unto them: Jahveh will roar from on high, and from His holy habitation let His voice resound; He will roar against His pasture, raise a shout like treaders of grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth. Jer 25:31. Noise reacheth to the end of the earth, for controversy hath Jahveh with the nations; contend will He with all flesh; the wicked He gives to the sword, is the saying of Jahveh. Jer 25:32. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts: Behold, evil goeth forth from nation to nation, and (a) great storm shall raise itself from the utmost coasts of the earth. Jer 25:33. And the slain of Jahveh shall lie on that day from one end of the earth unto the other, shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried; for dung shall they be upon the ground. Jer 25:34. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry! and sprinkle you (with ashes), ye lordliest of the flock! For your days are filled for the slaughter; and I scatter you so that ye shall fall like a precious vessel. Jer 25:35. Lost is flight to the shepherds, and escape to the lordliest of the flock. Jer 25:36. Hark! Crying of the shepherds and howling of the lordliest of the flock; for Jahveh layeth waste their pasture. Jer 25:37. Desolated are the pastures of peace because of the heat of Jahveh's anger. Jer 25:38. He hath forsaken like a young lion his covert; for their land is become a desert, because of the oppressing sword, and because of the heath of His anger." In this passage the emblem of the cup of the Lord's anger (Jer 25:25-29) is explained by a description of the dreadful judgment God is to inflict on all the inhabitants of the earth. This is not the judgment on the world at large as distinguished from that proclaimed in Jer 25:15-29 against the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world, as Ng. supposes. It is the nature of this same judgment that is here discussed, not regard being here paid to the successive steps of its fulfilment. Jer 25:30 and Jer 25:31 are only a further expansion of the second half of Jer 25:29. "All these words" refers to what follows. The clause"Jahveh will roar" to "let His voice resound" is a reminiscence from Joe 3:16 and Amo 1:2; but instead of "out of Zion and out of Jerusalem" in those passages, we have here "from on high," i.e., heaven, and out of His holy habitation (in heaven), because the judgment is not to fall on the heathen only, but on the theocracy in a special manner, and on the earthly sanctuary, the temple itself, so that it can come only from heaven or the upper sanctuary. Jahveh will roar like a lion against His pasture (the pasture or meadow where His flock feeds, cf. Jer 10:25); a name for the holy land, including Jerusalem and the temple; not: the world subject to Him (Ew.). 'הידד , He will answer Hedad like treaders of grapes; i.e., raise a shout as they do. Answer; inasmuch as the shout or wary-cry of Jahveh is the answer to the words and deeds of the wicked. Grammatically הידד is accus. and object to the verb: Hedad he gives as answer. The word is from הדד, crash, and signifies the loud cry with which those that tread grapes keep time in the alternate raising and thrusting of the feet. Ew. is accordingly correct, though far from happy, in rendering the word "tramping-song;" see on Isa 16:9. As to the figure of the treader of grapes, cf. Isa 63:3. Jer 25:31 שׁאון is the din of war, the noise of great armies, cf. Isa 17:12., etc. For the Lord conducts a controversy, a cause at law, with the nations, with all flesh, i.e., with all mankind; cf. Jer 2:9, Jer 2:35. - הרשׁעים is for the sake of emphasis put first and resumed again in the suffix to נתנם. "Give to the sword" as in Jer 15:9. Jer 25:32-33 As a fierce storm (cf. Jer 23:19) rises from the ends of the earth on the horizon, so will evil burst forth and seize on one nation after another. Those slain by Jahveh will then lie, unmourned and unburied, from one end of the earth to the other; cf. Jer 8:2; Jer 16:4. With "slain of Jahveh," cf. Isa 66:16. Jahveh slays them by the sword in war. Jer 25:34-35 No rank is spared. This is intimated in the summons to howl and lament addressed to the shepherds, i.e., the kings and rulers on earth (cf. Jer 10:21; Jer 22:22, etc.), and to the lordly or glorious of the flock, i.e., to the illustrious, powerful, and wealthy. With "sprinkle you," cf. Jer 6:26. Your days are full or filled for the slaughter, i.e., the days of your life are full, so that ye shall be slain; cf. Lam 4:18. וּתפוצותיכם is obscure and hard to explain. It is so read by the Masora, while many codd. and editt. have וּתפוּצותיכם. According to this latter form, Jerome, Rashi, Kimchi, lately Maur. and Umbr., hold the word for a substantive: your dispersions. But whether we connect this with what precedes or what follows, we fail to obtain a fitting sense from it. Your days are full and your dispersions, for: the time is come when ye shall be slain and dispersed, cannot be maintained, because "dispersions" is not in keeping with "are full." Again: as regards your dispersions, ye shall fall, would give a good meaning, only if "your dispersions" meant: the flock dispersed by the fault of the shepherds; and with this the second pers. "ye shall fall" does not agree. The sig. of fatness given by Ew. to the word is wholly arbitrary. Hitz., Gr. and Ng. take the word to be a Tiphil (like תהרה, Jer 12:5; Jer 22:15), and read תּפיצותיכם, I scatter you. This gives a suitable sense; and there is no valid reason for attaching to the word, as Hitz. and Gr. do, the force of פּצץ or נפץ, smite in pieces. The thought, that one part of the flock shall be slain, the other scattered, seems quite apt; so also is that which follows, that they are scattered shall fall and break like precious, i.e., fine, ornamental vases. Hence there was no occasion for Ew.'s conjectural emendation, כּכרי, like precious lambs. Nor does the lxx rendering: ἥωσπερ οἱ κριοὶ οἱ ἐκλεκτοί, give it any support; for כּרים does not mean rams, but lambs. The similar comparison of Jechoniah to a worthless vessel (22:28) tells in favour of the reading in the text (Graf). - In Jer 25:35 the threatening is made more woeful by the thought, that the shepherds shall find no refuge, and that no escape will be open to the sheep. Jer 25:36-38 The prophet is already hearing in spirit the lamentation to which in Jer 25:34 he has called them, because Jahveh has laid waste the pastures of the shepherds and their flocks, and destroyed the peaceful meadows by the heat of His anger. - In Jer 25:38, finally, the discourse is rounded off by a repetition and expansion of the thought with which the description of the judgment was begun in Jer 25:30. As a young lion forsakes his covert to seek for prey, so Jahveh has gone forth out of His heavenly habitation to hold judgment on the people; for their (the shepherds') land becomes a desert. The perff. are prophetic. כּי has grounding force. The desolation of the land gives proof that the Lord has arisen to do judgment. חרון היּונה seems strange, since the adjective היּונה never occurs independently, but only in connection with חרב (Jer 46:16; Jer 50:16, and with עיר, Zac 3:1). חרון, again, is regularly joined with 'אף י, and only three times besides with a suffix referring to Jahveh (Exo 15:7; Psa 2:5; Eze 7:14). In this we find justification for the conjecture of Hitz., Ew., Gr., etc., that we should read with the lxx and Chald. חרב . The article with the adj. after the subst. without one, here and in Jer 46:16; Jer 50:16, is to be explained by the looseness of connection between the participle and its noun; cf. Ew. ֗335, a.