เยเรมีย์ 25:15 วิจารณ์

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.

Under the similitude of a cup going round, which all the company must drink of, is here represented the universal desolation that was now coming upon that part of the world which Nebuchadrezzar, who just now began to reign and act, was to be the instrument of, and which should at length recoil upon his own country. The cup in the vision is to be a sword in the accomplishment of it: so it is explained, Jer 25:16. It is the sword that I will send among them, the sword of war, that should be irresistibly strong and implacably cruel. I. As to the circumstances of this judgment, observe, 1. Whence this destroying sword should come - from the hand of God. It is the sword of the Lord (Jer 47:6), bathed in heaven, Isa 34:5. Wicked men are made use of as his sword, Psa 17:13. It is the wine-cup of his fury. It is the just anger of God that sends this judgment. The nations have provoked him by their sins, and they must fall under the tokens of his wrath. These are compared to some intoxicating liquor, which they shall be forced to drink of, as, formerly, condemned malefactors were sometimes executed by being compelled to drink poison. The wicked are said to drink the wrath of the Almighty, Job 21:20; Rev 14:10. Their share of troubles in his world is represented by the dregs of a cup of red wine full of mixture, Psa 75:8. See Psa 11:6. The wrath of God in this world is but as a cup, in comparison of the full streams of it in the other world. 2. By whose hand it should be sent to them - by the hand of Jeremiah as the judge set over the nations (Jer 1:10), to pass his sentence upon them, and by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar as the executioner. What a much greater figure then does the poor prophet make than what the potent prince makes, if we look upon their relation to God, though in the eye of the world it was the reverse of it! Jeremiah must take the cup at God's hand, and compel the nations to drink it. He foretells no hurt to them but what God appoints him to foretell; and what is foretold by a divine authority will certainly be fulfilled by a divine power. 3. On whom it should be sent - on all the nations within the verge of Israel's acquaintance and the lines of their communication. Jeremiah took the cup, and made all the nations to drink of it, that is, he prophesied concerning each of the nations here mentioned that they should share in this great desolation that was coming. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah are put first (Jer 25:18); for judgment begins at the house of God (Pe1 4:17), at the sanctuary, Eze 9:6. Whether Nebuchadrezzar had his eye principally upon Jerusalem and Judah in this expedition or no does not appear; probably he had; for it was as considerable as any of the nations here mentioned. However God had his eye principally to them. And this part of the prophecy was already begun to be accomplished; this is denoted by that melancholy parenthesis (as it is this day), for in the fourth year of Jehoiakim things had come into a very bad posture, and all the foundations were out of course. Pharaoh king of Egypt comes next, because the Jews trusted to that broken reed (v. 19); the remains of them fled to Egypt, and there Jeremiah particularly foretold the destruction of that country, Jer 43:10, Jer 43:11. All the other nations that bordered upon Canaan must pledge Jerusalem in this bitter cup, this cup of trembling. The mingled people, the Arabians (so some), some rovers of divers nations that lived by rapine (so others); the kings of the land of Uz, joined to the country of the Edomites. The Philistines had been vexatious to Israel, but now their cities and their lords become a prey to this mighty conqueror. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, are places well known to border upon Israel; the Isles beyond, or beside, the sea, are supposed to be those parts of Phoenicia and Syria that lay upon the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Dedan and the other countries mentioned (Jer 25:23, Jer 25:24) seem to have lain upon the confines of Idumea and Arabia the desert. Those of Elam are the Persians, with whom the Medes are joined, now looked upon as inconsiderable and yet afterwards able to make reprisals upon Babylon for themselves and all their neighbours. The kings of the north, that lay nearer to Babylon, and others that lay at some distance, will be sure to be seized on and made a prey of by the victorious sword of Nebuchadrezzar. Nay, he shall push on his victories with such incredible fury and success that all the kingdoms of the world that were then and there known should become sacrifices to his ambition. Thus Alexander is said to have conquered the world, and the Roman empire is called the world, Luk 2:1. Or it may be taken as reading the doom of all the kingdoms of the earth; one time or other, they shall feel the dreadful effects of war. The world has been, and will be, a great cockpit, while men's lusts war as they do in their members, Jam 4:1. But, that the conquerors may see their fate with the conquered, it concludes, The king of Sheshach shall drink after them, that is, the king of Babylon himself, who has given his neighbours all this trouble and vexation, shall at length have it return upon his own head. That by Sheshach is meant Babylon is plain from Jer 51:41; but whether it was another name of the same city or the name of another city of the same kingdom is uncertain. Babylon's ruin was foretold, Jer 25:12, Jer 25:13. Upon this prophecy of its being the author of the ruin of so many nations it is very fitly repeated here again. 4. What should be the effect of it. The desolations which the sword should make in all these kingdoms are represented by the consequences of excessive drinking (Jer 25:16): They shall drink, and be moved, and be mad. They shall be drunken, and spue, and fall and rise no more, Jer 25:27. Now this may serve, (1.) To make us loathe the sin of drunkenness, that the consequences of it are made use of to set forth a most woeful and miserable condition. Drunkenness deprives men, for the present, of the use of their reason, makes them mad. It takes from them likewise that which, next to reason, is the most valuable blessing, and that is health; it makes them sick, and endangers the bones and the life. Men in drink often fall and rise no more; it is a sin that is its own punishment. How wretchedly are those intoxicated and besotted that suffer themselves at any time to be intoxicated, especially to be by the frequent commission of the sin besotted with wine or strong drink! (2.) To make us dread the judgments of war. When God sends the sword upon a nation, with warrant to make it desolate, it soon becomes like a drunken man, filled with confusion at the alarms of war, put into a hurry; its counsellors mad, and at their wits' end, staggering in all the measures they take, all the motions they make, sick at heart with continual vexation, vomiting up the riches they have greedily swallowed down (Job 20:15), falling down before the enemy, and as unable to get up again, or do any thing to help themselves, as a man dead drunk is, Hab 2:16. 5. The undoubted certainty of it, with the reason given for it, Jer 25:28, Jer 25:29. They will refuse to take the cup at thy hand; not only they will be loth that the judgment should come, but they will be loth to believe that ever it will come; they will not give credit to the prediction of so despicable a man as Jeremiah. But he must tell them that it is the word of the Lord of hosts, he hath said it; and it is in vain for them to struggle with Omnipotence: You shall certainly drink. And he must give them this reason, It is a time of visitation, it is a reckoning day, and Jerusalem has been called to an account already: I begin to bring evil on the city that is called by my name; its relation to me will not exempt it from punishment, and should you be utterly unpunished? No; If this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If those who have some good in them smart so severely for the evil that is found in them, can those expect to escape who have worse evils, and no good, found among them? If Jerusalem be punished for learning idolatry of the nations, shall not the nations be punished, of whom they learned it? No doubt they shall: I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, for they have helped to debauch the inhabitants of Jerusalem. II. Upon this whole matter we may observe, 1. That there is a God that judges in the earth, to whom all the nations of the earth are accountable, and by whose judgment they must abide. 2. That God can easily bring to ruin the greatest nations, the most numerous and powerful, and such as have been most secure. 3. That those who have been vexatious and mischievous to the people of God will be reckoned with for it at last. Many of these nations had in their turns given disturbance to Israel, but now comes destruction on them. The year of the redeemer will come, even the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. 4. That the burden of the word of the Lord will at last become the burden of his judgments. Isaiah had prophesied long since against most of these nations (ch. 13, etc.) and now at length all his prophecies will have their complete fulfilling. 5. That those who are ambitious of power and dominion commonly become the troublers of the earth and the plagues of their generation. Nebuchadrezzar was so proud of his might that he had no sense of right. These are the men that turn the world upside down, and yet expect to be admired and adored. Alexander thought himself a great prince when others thought him no better than a great pirate. 6. That the greatest pomp and power in this world are of very uncertain continuance. Before Nebuchadrezzar's greater force kings themselves must yield and become captives.

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.

For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me,.... The prophet: take the wine cup of this fury at my hand; in a vision the Lord appeared to Jeremiah with a cup of wine in his hand, which he bid him take of him. It is usual in Scripture for the judgments of God on men to be signified by a cup of hot and intoxicating liquor, Isa 51:17; particularly in Psa 75:8; to which reference may be had; as John seems to refer to the passage here in Rev 14:10; called a cup, because they are in measure, and but small in comparison of what will be inflicted in the world to come; and a cup of "fury", because they proceed from the wrath of God, stirred up by the sins of men. Jarchi interprets this cup of the prophecy of vengeance, which the Lord delivered to Jeremiah; and not amiss: and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it; prophesy unto them what wrath and ruin shall come upon them.

In the same way in which physicians apply remedies to the sick, in order that by careful treatment they may recover their health, God so deals toward those who have lapsed and fallen into sin, is proved by this, that the cup of God's fury is ordered, through the agency of the prophet Jeremiah, to be offered to all nations, that they may drink it, and be in a state of madness and vomit it forth. In doing which, God threatens them, saying that if anyone refuses to drink, he shall not be cleansed. By this certainly it is understood that the fury of God's vengeance is profitable for the purgation of souls.

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 15 and following) For thus says the Lord God of Israel to me (Vulgate adds 'of hosts, and is silent to me'): take the cup of wine of fury (or strong drink) from my hand, and give it to all the nations to which I send you, and they shall drink it, and become intoxicated (Vulgate says 'disorderly') (or vomit); and they shall become mad because of the sword that I will send among them. And I took the cup from the hand of the Lord, and gave it to all the nations to which the Lord sent me. The drinking of the cup, and the cup of wine, whether unmixed or mixed, which is called ἀκράτου in Greek, is an indication of the Lord's furious wrath, so that all nations who have waged war against God's people may drink from the cup of the Lord's fury, about which Isaiah writes against Jerusalem: 'You have drunk the cup of fury, the chalice of ruin, and have drained it out, therefore arise' (Isa. 51:17). This cup, however, is drunk by all nations so that they may vomit and become insane. That which a certain corrupt interpreter takes in a good sense: so that, like a cathartic potion, it compels whatever bile and phlegm and harmful humor is in the chest to exit and restores its original health. It also takes the Savior for Jeremiah, in that he offered himself to all nations to which he was sent, so that they would abandon idolatry and devote themselves to the worship of God. The following will show that this is contrary to Holy Scripture. For they are offered not for remedy, as he wishes, but for punishment, deservedly served in a bitter cup.

The pouring out of the cup—and that a cup of pure or unmixed wine (which is called akratos in Greek)—is a sign of the Lord’s wrath so that all the nations who have waged war against the people of God will drink from the cup of the wrath of the Lord. Also, Isaiah writes concerning this cup against Jerusalem, “You have drunk and emptied the drinking cup of wrath, the cup of destruction; therefore, arise!” But that cup is being drunk by all nations so that they can vomit and be maddened. To be sure, an unsound interpretation understands this cup in a good sense, so that like a purgative it forces out whatever bile or phlegm or noxious humor is in the chest and restores pristine health. This interpretation understands the Savior instead of Jeremiah as the one who would make all the nations drink it, to whom also he was sent, so that when they had rejected idolatry they might dedicate themselves to the worship of God. But the words that follow will show that this is contrary to the Holy Scripture, for they are made to drink of the cup of pure wine not as a remedy (as this interpretation wants to understand it) but as a punishment.

He gives the name drinking cup to punishment, as also in another psalm, "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup of wine, full of a strong mixture," and a little later, "all the sinners of the earth will drink it." This drinking cup blessed Jeremiah was ordered to offer to the nations.

And he calls God's punishment the "cup of unmixed wine." … By "drinking" and "vomiting" Jeremiah implies they have had enough, and in their "raving," he alludes to the terrible nature of their punishment. Then the prophet further relates how Jerusalem and the cities that paid tribute to it, along with their kings and rulers, were made to drink this cup.

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.

wine cup--Compare Jer 13:12-13, as to this image, to express stupefying judgments; also Jer 49:12; Jer 51:7. Jeremiah often embodies the imagery of Isaiah in his prophecies (Lam 4:21; Isa 51:17-22; Rev 16:19; Rev 18:6). The wine cup was not literally given by Jeremiah to the representatives of the different nations; but only in symbolical vision.

The cup of God's fury. - Jer 25:15. "For thus hath Jahveh, the God of Israel, said to me: Take this cup of the wine of fury at my hand, and give it to drink to all the peoples to whom I send thee, Jer 25:16. That they may drink, and reel, and be mad, because of the sword that I send amongst them. Jer 25:17. And I took the cup at the hand of Jahveh, and made all the peoples drink it to whom Jahveh had sent me: Jer 25:18. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and her kings, her princes, to make them a desolation and an astonishment, an hissing and a curse, as it is this day; Jer 25:19. Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; Jer 25:20. And all the mixed races and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Jer 25:21. Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon; Jer 25:22. All the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands beyond the sea; Jer 25:23. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all with the corners of their hair polled; Jer 25:24. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed races that dwell in the wilderness; Jer 25:25. All the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; Jer 25:26. And all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Jer 25:27. And say to them: Thus hath Jahveh, the God of Israel, said: Drink and be drunken, and spue, and fall and rise not up again, because of the sword which I send among you. Jer 25:28. And if it be that they refuse to take the cup out of thine hand to drink, then say to them: Thus hath Jahveh of hosts said: Drink ye shall. Jer 25:29. For, behold, on the city upon which my name is named I begin to bring evil, and ye think to go unpunished? Ye shall not go unpunished; for I call the sword against all inhabitants of the earth, saith Jahveh of hosts." To illustrate more fully the threatening against Judah and all peoples, Jer 25:9., the judgment the Lord is about to execute on all the world is set forth under the similitude of a flagon filled with wrath, which the prophet is to hand to all the kings and peoples, one after another, and which he does give them to drink. The symbolical action imposed upon the prophet and, acc. to Jer 25:17, performed by him, serves to give emphasis to the threatening, and is therefore introduced by כּי; of which Graf erroneously affirms that it conveys a meaning only when Jer 25:11-14 are omitted. Giving the peoples to drink of the cup of wrath is a figure not uncommon with the prophets for divine chastisements to be inflicted; cf. Jer 49:12; Jer 51:7; Isa 51:17, Isa 51:22; Eze 23:31., Hab 2:15; Psa 60:5; Psa 75:9, etc. The cup of wine which is wrath (fury). החמּה is an explanatory apposition to "wine." The wine with which the cup is filled is the wrath of God. הזּאת belongs to כּוּס, which is fem., cf. Eze 23:32, Eze 23:34; Lam 4:21, whereas אותו belongs to the wine which is wrath. In Jer 25:16, where the purpose with which the cup of wrath is to be presented is given, figure is exchanged for fact: they shall reel and become mad because of the sword which the Lord sends amidst them. To reel, sway to and fro, like drunken men. התהלל, demean oneself insanely, be mad. The sword as a weapon of war stands often for war, and the thought is: war with its horrors will stupefy the peoples, so that they perish helpless and powerless.