33

am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

33-40. The eternal disgrace of false Prophets and Priests.

And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith 34 the LORD. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even 35 punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD 36 spoken? And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no

brings together, for purposes of political or religious animosity, parties themselves most alien to each other, was the great body of the Sacerdotal, and even of the Prophetic order. There were those who directly lent themselves to magical rites... who recited the old prophetic phrases, often careless of what they meant." Stanley's F. Ch. II. 438.

32. therefore] or simply and.

33-40. THE ETERNAL DISGRACE OF FALSE PROPHETS AND

33.

PRIESTS.

What is the burden] The word burden, meaning in the prophets a saying of weight concerning some approaching trouble, would be used jestingly by such persons as are here described. "What new prophecy hast thou for us to hear? At any rate we will warrant it to be a mournful one."

What burden?] If the Heb. reading of which this is a translation be the right one, these two words are repeated by the prophet from the question, in order that he may reply in the words that follow (keeping up the thought of burden), "I will even forsake you, or rather, I will even cast you away (disburthen myself of you)." It is very possible however that we should read Ye are the burden, in which case the words that follow have even more point. This reading is obtained merely by a different division of the words in the Heb., and does not involve any change of letters.

35. For the future the actual utterances of the Lord are alone to be sought.

answered] when the people have sought counsel.

spoken] without such enquiries.

36. the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more] "The very name of the 'burden of the Lord,' which had summed up the burning

more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What 37 hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? But sith ye say, The burden of the LORD; there- 38 fore thus saith the LORD; Because you say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; therefore behold, 39 I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach 40 upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

CHAP. XXIV. 1—10. The two baskets of Figs.

The LORD shewed me, and behold, two baskets of figs 24

thoughts of Amos and Isaiah, was to be discontinued altogether." Stanley's J. Ch. II. 445.

every man's word shall be his burden] every man's burden shall be his (use of the) word. He who has jokingly enquired after the 'burden of the Lord' shall find that those lightly spoken words of his are in very deed the heaviest load to bear.

perverted] used jestingly, twisted from their solemn purpose.

38. sith] if. See also note on xv. 7.

39. will utterly forget you] The Heb. may also be rendered, will assuredly take you up (make you a burden). In either case there is certainly a play on the word for burden, which cannot be reproduced in English.

forsake] cast away. This saves us from the necessity of supplying with the Eng. Vers. 'and cast you' in the clause that follows. and cast you out of] from.

1.

CHAP. XXIV. 1-10. THE TWO BASKETS OF FIGS.

The Lord shewed me] This section of the message sent to Zedekiah (see notes on xxi. 1) is limited in its reference to the circumstances of that king's own reign.

two baskets of figs] The meaning of the vision is given with sufficient clearness in the subsequent verses. It was probably directed against a feeling which somewhat naturally arose in the minds of the people who had not been carried away in Jehoiakim's captivity, and who might contrast themselves favourably with those who had been thus removed. To them God here says that the real contrast is exactly the reverse of that which they suppose. Of the good and evil figs, the latter represent such as have failed to draw any improvement from the fate which has overtaken their brethren, while those who have been carried off to Babylon

2

were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be 3 eaten, they were so bad. Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, 4 they are so evil. Again the word of the LORD came unto 5 me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place

shall yet be the subjects of God's love and grace. "With the exiles there are indeed some of the choicest spirits of the nation; Ezekiel, and Daniel (Dan. i. 1) with his three companions." Stanley's 7. Ch. II. 459. Both the baskets contained fruit that had been gathered, and whose ripening time was therefore over, but here their likeness ceased. So both classes of the people, the exiles and those who for the time remained, had had their period of probation, but with results that on the whole differed essentially.

were set] set.

Nebuchadrezzar] See note on xxi. 2.

Jeconiah] See note on xxii. 24.

carpenters] workmen.

2. the figs that are first ripe] The proper time for gathering figs in Palestine is in August. Certain kinds of trees, however, bear twice in the year, in which case the first crop, ripening in June, are esteemed a special delicacy. See Hos. ix. 10; Mic. vii. 1; Nah. iii. 12.

naughty] The word "in modern usage is almost confined to the nursery, but in its original sense it is frequent in old writers.

'A naughty fellow, a seditious fellow; he maketh trouble and rebellion in the realm; he lacketh discretion.' Latimer, Sermons, p. 240.

'So shines a good deed in a naughty world.'

SHAKESPEARE, Merch. of Ven. V. 1.”

Eastwood and Wright's Bible Word-Book.

"The bad figs may have been such either from having decayed and thus been reduced to a rotten condition, or as being the fruit of the sycamore, which contains a bitter juice." See Tristram's Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 399.

5. so will I acknowledge] As one looks with pleasure on good fruit, so will I look upon.

into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will 6 set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the 7 LORD and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so 8 evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: and I will deliver them to be removed into all 9 the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

for their good] belongs to 'acknowledge,' not to 'have sent.' This is shewn by such passages as ver. 6, chap. xxi. 10; Neh. v. 19; Amos

ix. 4.

6. eyes] eye.

7. a heart to know me] The last verse announced their restoration to their land. The building and planting there spoken of are shewn to mean more than such a restoration. They shall be restored in a spiritual sense also, purified in heart by their adversity.

for] or, when.

8. them that dwell in the land of Egypt] This may have reference only to Jews who accompanied Jehoahaz when he was carried off by Pharaoh-nechoh (2 Kings xxiii. 34), or may indicate to us that others during the subsequent reigns also took refuge there, as being a kingdom opposed to the Babylonian power.

9. to be removed] for dismay. See note on xv. 4, where the same Heb. word is rendered a terror. The verse is the substance of Deut.

xxviii. 25, 37:

10. The fresh captivity shall be preceded by the same horrors as before. Those who are represented by the evil figs were thus, still dwelling in the land, to be wasted by famine, pestilence and sword, while, notwithstanding the return of many from Babylon, the nation should thenceforward have its representatives living in exile throughout 'the kingdoms,' to be 'a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse.'

25

CHAP. XXV. 1-7. The long-continued Disobedience of the

People.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchad2 rezzar king of Babylon; the which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabi3 tants of Jerusalem, saying, From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD

CHAP. XXV. 1-7. THE LONG-CONTINUED DISOBEDIENCE OF THE PEOPLE.

1. The word that came] The reply of the prophet to Zedekiah's message, comprised in the last four chapters, has come to an end. Accordingly we here return to a prophecy delivered during the time of Jehoiakim. It extends throughout the chapter. The latter part of ver. 13 however ("even all that...all the nations") is obviously an addition made on the occasion of its being added, perhaps by the prophet himself, perhaps by Baruch, to the collection of his prophecies. The object of this prophecy is to point out (i) the cause of the coming overthrow of Judah (verses 1—7), (ii) Babylon's victory and subsequent ruin (8-14), (iii) the wine-cup of God's fury to be drunk by all nations from Egypt to the Eastern kingdoms [Elam, Media and Babylon (15— 29)], (iv) the judgment to come upon all peoples of the earth (30-38). in the fourth year] Up to this period of Jeremiah's life we have not any prophecy so closely dated as the present. Compare chap. iii. 6 and xxvi. I ("In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim"). The addition of the year of Nebuchadrezzar serves to mark still more forcibly the fact that it was a turning-point in history (see Introduction, chap. I. § 12). The prophecy seems to have been delivered about 605 B.C., between the news of the victory of Nebuchadrezzar at Carchemish and the arrival of the Chaldaean army under the walls of Jerusalem. The main objects of the prophet were to point out the sins of the past, and to give advice for the future. That advice was to accept the result of the battle of Carchemish, to yield to Babylon as the power which God had appointed to bear rule over Palestine and the other kingdoms for the next seventy years, and to seek comfort at the same time from the knowledge that the enemy, whose authority the king and many of his people were so reluctant to recognise, would have his day and then in his turn perish, while brighter fortunes should dawn upon the people of God.

2. spake unto all the people] Thus we see that the time had not yet arrived, when Jeremiah was unable through fears for his life to go into any public place. See chap. xxxvi. 1, 5, 26.

3. the three and twentieth year] Josiah reigned thirty-one years, and it was in the thirteenth year of that king (chap. i. 2) that Jeremiah was