However, repentance was not present (18:12), so Jeremiah's shattered jar
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 17:11 the partridge. This referred to a sand grouse that invaded and brooded over a nest not its own, but was forced to leave before the eggs hatched. It depicted a person who unjustly took possession of things he had no right to take and couldn't enjoy the benefits, despite all the effort.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 17:14–18 Jeremiah voiced the prayerful cry that God would deliver him from his enemies (v. 14). Surrounded by ungodly people (vv. 1–6, 11, 13), he showed qualities of godliness: 1) God was his praise (v. 14); 2) he had a shepherd's heart to follow God (v. 16); 3) he was a man of prayer open to God's examination (v. 16); 4) God was his hope (v. 17); and 5) he trusted God's delivering faithfulness even in judgment (v. 18).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 17:21–24 Sabbath day. Not only had the Jews failed to observe Sabbath days, but also the required Sabbath year of rest for the land (Lev. 25:1–7) was regularly violated. God had warned that such disobedience would bring judgment (Lev. 26:34–35, 43; 2 Chron. 36:20–21). The 70-year captivity was correlated to the 490 years from Saul to the captivity, which included 70 Sabbath years. When the Jews were restored from captivity, special stress was placed on Sabbath faithfulness (cf. Neh. 13:19).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 17:25–27 For obedience, God would assure the dynasty of David perpetual rule in Jerusalem, safety for the city, and worship at the temple (vv. 25–26). Continued disobedience would meet with destruction of the city (v. 27).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:1–20:18 A close link exists between ch. 17 and chs. 18– 20. Destruction is in view (ch. 17), but repentance can yet prevent that (18:7–8). However, repentance was not present (18:12), so Jeremiah's shattered jar illustrated God's dashing Israel in judgment (ch. 19). Then the rejection spirit (cf. 19:15) led to persecution against God's mouthpiece (ch. 20).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:2–6 potter's house. God sent Jeremiah to a potter, who gave him an illustration by shaping a vessel. The prophet secured a vessel and used it for his own illustration (19:1ff.). Jeremiah watched the potter at his wheel. The soft clay became misshapen, but the potter shaped it back into a good vessel. God will so do with Judah if she repents.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:8–10 Though he had announced impending judgment, the "spoiled" nation can be restored as a good vessel by God, who will hold off
the judgment (vv. 8, 11). By contrast, if the nation followed sin, he would not bring the blessing desired (vv. 9–10).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:12 That is in vain! Jeremiah brought them to the point where they actually stated their condition honestly. The prophet's threats were useless because they were so far gone—abandoned to their sins and the penalty. All hypocrisy was abandoned in favor of honesty, without repentance. Repentance was not in Israel (as v. 18; 19:15). This explains a seeming paradox, that Israel can repent and avert judgment, yet Jeremiah is not to pray for Israel (7:16; 11:14). It would do no good to pray for their change since they steeled themselves against any change.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:13 virgin Israel. It enhanced their guilt that Israel was the virgin whom God had chosen (cf. 2 Kings 19:21).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:14 snow of Lebanon . . . cold flowing streams. No reasonable man would forsake such for "the crags of Sirion," perhaps a poetic term for Mount Lebanon, from which the high mountain streams flowed. Yet Israel forsook God, the fountain of living waters, for broken foreign cisterns (cf. 2:13).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:18 plots against Jeremiah. Plans to indict the prophet with their "tongues" and then to slay him (v. 23) were based on the premise that his message of doom was not true. The business of the priests, the wise, and the prophets continued as usual since God made them lasting institutions (cf. Lev. 6:18; 10:11).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:19–23 Hear me. This is one of many examples of prayer aligning with God's will as Jeremiah prays for God's work of judgment to be done (vv. 11, 15–17).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 18:22 dug a pit. Cf. 38:6.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 19:1 elders of the people . . . the elders of the priests. These were chosen to be credible witnesses of the symbolic action with the "earthenware flask," so no one could plead ignorance of the prophesy. The 72 elders who made up the Sanhedrin were partly from the "priests" and the other tribes ("people").
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 19:2 Valley of the Son of Hinnom. See note on 19:6.
Potsherd Gate. The gate of "broken pottery" was on the south wall of Jerusalem where the potters formed pottery for use in the temple nearby.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 19:6 Topheth. Hebrew uses the word toph for "drum." This was another name for the Valley of Hinnom, an east-west valley at the south end of Jerusalem where, when children were burned in sacrifice to idols (cf. vv. 4–5), drums were beaten to drown their cries. Rubbish from Jerusalem was dumped there and continually burned. The place became a symbol for the burning fires of hell, called Gehenna (Matt. 5:22). Cf. Jer. 7:30–32 and Isa. 30:33. It was to become a place of massacre.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 19:9 eat the flesh. Desperate for food during a long siege, some would resort to cannibalism, eating family members and friends (Lam. 4:10).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 19:10 Cf. v. 1.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 19:13 defiled. Their houses were desecrated by idolatrous worship. offered to . . . host of heaven. Refers to worship of the sun, planets, and stars from flat housetops (cf. 32:29; 2 Kings 23:11–12; Zeph. 1:5).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:1 Pashhur. The meaning is either "ease," or "deliverance is round about," both in contrast to the new name God assigns him in v. 3. He was one of several men so named (cf. 21:1; 38:1). Immer. He was one of the original "governors of the sanctuary" (cf. 1 Chron. 24:14). chief officer. He was not the high priest, but the chief official in charge of temple police, who were to maintain order.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:2 beat Jeremiah. He or others acting on his authority, delivered 40 lashes (see Deut. 25:3) to the prophet. put him in the stocks. Hands, feet, and neck were fastened in holes, bending the body to a distorted posture, causing excruciating pain. upper Benjamin Gate. The northern gate of the upper temple court.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:3 Terror On Every Side. "Terror on every side" is the fitting name that the Lord reckons for the leader. The details of that terror are in vv. 4, 6 (cf. 6:25).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:4 Babylon. This was Jeremiah's direct identification of the conqueror who would come out of the "north" (1:13), from "a distant land" (4:16).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:8 derision all day long. In vv. 7–18, Jeremiah prayerfully lamented the ridicule he was experiencing because of God's role for his life. His feelings wavered between quitting (v. 9a), being encouraged (vv. 9c, 11), petitioning for help (v. 12), praise (v. 13), and waves of depression (vv. 14– 18; cf. 11:18–23; 15:10, 15–18).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:9 I will not . . . speak any more. A surge of dejection swept over Jeremiah, making him long to say no more. But he was compelled inside (cf. Job 32:18–19; Ps. 39:3; Acts 18:5; 1 Cor. 9:16–17) because he did not want his enemies to see him fail (Jer. 20:10), he felt the powerful presence of the Lord (v. 11), and he remembered God's previous deliverances (v. 13).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:14 Cursed be the day. Another tide of depression engulfed the prophet, perhaps when he was in the painful stocks (v. 2). His words are like Job's (Job 3:3, 10–11).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:15 Cursed be the man. The servant of God fell into sinful despair, and he questioned the wisdom and purpose of God, for which he
should have been thankful.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 20:16 the cities . . . the Lord overthrew. Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:25).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:1 King Zedekiah. Cf. 2 Kings 24:17–25:7 for details of his reign c. 597–586 B.C. Pashhur. This priest was different from the man by this name in Jer. 20:1–6. Cf. 38:1.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:2 making war against us. This was during the last siege by Babylon (v. 4), c. 587/86 B.C., resulting in the third deportation of Jews. Zedekiah hoped for God's intervention, such as Hezekiah received against Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35–36).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:4 turn back the weapons. The Jews were already fighting the invaders by going outside the walls of the city to battle them on the hillsides and in the valleys as they approached. However, they would soon be driven back into the city where the enemy would collect all their weapons and execute many with those very weapons.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:5 I myself will fight. God used an invader as his judging instrument (v. 7). The Jews have not only the Babylonians as their enemy, but God.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:7 strike them . . . sword. This was the fate of Zedekiah's son and many nobles. Zedekiah died of grief (cf. 34:4; 2 Kings 25:6– 8).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:8–9 life and . . . death. Since a persistent lack of repentance had led to the conquest, Jeremiah urged the Jews to submit and surrender to the besieger so as to be treated as captives of war and live rather than be killed.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:12 O house of David! The royal family and all connected were called to enact justice and righteousness promptly ("morning"). There was still time for them to escape the destruction if there was repentance.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:13 O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain. Jerusalem personified, situated among rocks, hills, and valleys.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 21:14 I will punish. During the siege Jerusalem will be burned (v. 10), as will the land in general.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:2, 4 throne of David. Refers to the Davidic Covenant of 2 Sam. 7:3–17, in which God promised David that his heirs will rule over Israel.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:6 Gilead . . . Lebanon. The beautiful high mountains of the land.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:7 cut down . . . choicest cedars. This could primarily refer to the palaces and great houses built from such timber (cf. Song 1:17).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:10 dead. Probably a reference to Josiah, who died before the destruction (2 Kings 22:20; Isa. 57:1). Dying saints are to be envied, living sinners pitied. When Josiah died, and on each anniversary of his death, there was open public weeping in which Jeremiah participated (2 Chron. 35:24– 25).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:11–12 Shallum. This is another name for King Jehoahaz (three-month reign, 609 B.C., 2 Kings 23:31) the fourth son of Josiah (cf. 1 Chron. 3:15). It was given to him in irony, because the people called him Shalom ("peace"), but Shallum means "retribution."
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:13–17 Woe to him. This message indicted Jehoahaz (vv. 13–14, 17), who was unlike his father, the good king, Josiah (vv. 15–16).
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:18–19 Jehoiakim. Ruling from 609 to 598 B.C., he was also wicked in taxing the people (2 Kings 23:35) and making them build his splendid palace without pay, violating God's law in Lev. 19:13 and Deut. 24:14– 15 (cf. Mic. 3:10; Hab. 2:9; James 5:4). He was slain in Babylon's second siege and his corpse dishonored, being left like a dead donkey on the ground for scavengers to feed on.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:20 Go up to Lebanon. Sinners dwelling in the northwest in Lebanon's cedar land and others to the northeast beyond the Sea of Galilee in Bashan will suffer in the invasion. The entirety of the land will come under judgment as Abarim in the southeast.
JEREMIAH—NOTE ON 22:24–26 Coniah. A short form of Jeconiah, perhaps used in contempt, who was also called Jehoiachin. He ruled only three months and 10