disgrace among all nations whither I drive them, 19. because they hearkened not to my words, is Yahveh's oracle, with which I sent my servants the prophets to them, early and diligently, but you hearkened not, is Yahveh's oracle. 20. But as for you, hear ye the word of Yahveh, all ye exiled ones, whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21. Thus says Yahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy to you deceit in my name: Behold, I deliver them up into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and he shall slay them before your eyes. 22. And men shall take a curse from them for the whole captivity of Judah, which is at Babylon, so that it shall be said: "Yahveh make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;" 23. because they committed villainy in Israel, practising adultery with their neighbours' wives, and preaching falsely in my name that which I commanded them not. I am he that knows and testifies, is Yahveh's oracle.

But

like xxiv. 9. D'л, perf. fut., I shall have driven them. л, see on xv. 4. np, see on xviii. 16. Ver. 19. Dлyow, instead of third person, because the writer of the letter falls into the phraseology usual with him (vii. 13, xxv. 3 f., etc.), after which he addresses himself more definitely to the persons concerned (ver. 20). Ver. 20. Those whom I sent away. God everywhere appears (cf. vv. 4, 7, 14) as the author of the exile. Ver. 21. Concerning the two prophets here named, of the class described ver. 8 f., nothing is known in detail. Nebuchadnezzar, see on xxi. 2, xxvii. 1. Ver. 22. As rejected Judah in general becomes a form of curse to the heathen (xxiv. 9, xxix. 18), so in particular these ringleaders do to the exiles. themselves, who (cf. the form of blessing, Gen. xlviii. 20) will wish their worst enemies the lot of these men in their mode of death. In the second & is omitted, so that kametz comes under, and hence seghol under . On burning alive as a mode of execution, see Dan. iii. 6. Since n stands in the preceding verse, the expression is perhaps not to be pressed, but means the most cruel form of death generally. Ver. 23.

, especially frequent in reference to the sin of unchastity (Gen. xxxiv. 7; Deut. xxii. 21, etc.), which was also here combined with emancipation from God's rule, as the Omniscient One well knew (xxiii. 24). DN, with virtually doubled,

24. And to Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shalt speak as follows: 25. Thus speaks Yahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Because thou hast sent a letter in thy name to the whole people which is at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying: 26. Yahveh appointed thee priest instead of the priest Jehoiada, that there might be an overseer in the house of Yahveh for every man who is insane and prophesies, and that thou mightest put him in the stocks and in the block. 27. And now, wherefore hast thou not checked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you? 28. Yea, he has even sent to us to Babylon the words: "It is for a long time; build ye houses and settle down, and plant gardens and eat their fruit." 29. Then the priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah. 30. Then the word of Yahveh came to Jeremiah, saying: 31. Announce to the whole captivity the words: Thus has Yahveh spoken con

Ges. § 64. 3. § 63. v, transposing 1, see on ii. 25. Ver. 24. The Nehelamite, from a place or family of this name. Ver. 25. In opposition to Jeremiah's letter written in God's name, Shemaiah permitted himself to write a letter of rebuke in his own name. DD refers probably to one letter (as in 2 Kings xix. 14, xx. 12), whose proper recipient was the Zephaniah addressed in ver. 26, but in which the writer also addressed himself to people and priesthood. On Zephaniah, see on xxi. 1. Ver. 26. He now held the office of chief overseer in the temple, which Pashhur still holds in xx. 1. But the letter refers to Jehoiada, the energetic high priest, who, according to 2 Kings xi. 18, instituted an overseership in the temple, after reducing things to order there, and who was thus in a sense the first overseer in God's house, and served as an example of intrepid activity to later generations. Especially, Shemaiah thinks, should such overseers restrain the foolish men, such as Jeremiah is said to be, who pretend to be prophets. y, madman, a nickname which genuine prophets had to submit to in other instances, 2 Kings ix. 11; Hos. ix. 7. In addition to stocks (xx. 2), here is a kind of neck-iron, pry (cf. Arabic zinak, neckchain). Conversely the older Rabbins in Kimchi лND=

Plainly the two things together כלי מסגר לידים = צינק מסגר לצואר

form a complete apparatus for keeping prisoners in durance. Ver. 28. by, as always in the sense: for this reason.

Ver.

cerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, whereas I had not sent him, and inspired you with deceitful confidence, 32. therefore thus says Yahveh: Behold, I visit Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; he shall have no man to dwell amidst this people, and shall not see the good which I do to my people, is Yahveh's oracle; for he has preached rebellion against Yahveh.

32. He shall have no man dwelling, i.e. no posterity belonging to him in the nation, and also shall not himself see a change for the better, because he spoke rebellion (see on xxviii. 16), i.e. counselled disobedience against God.

EXPOSITION.

First letter,

Contents of ch. xxix. Two letters to Babylon. vv. 1-23. a. Exhortation to the exiles to settle quickly in the place of banishment until the hour of deliverance, vv. 1-14. b. Fate of those left in Jerusalem, vv. 15-19. c. Rebuke of two false prophets, vv. 20-23. Second letter: Oracle respecting Shemaiah, vv. 24–32.

First of all, the chapter speaks of a letter to Babylon, closely akin in matter to chs. xxvii., xxviii., exhorting in like manner to calm submission to the foreign rule, and warning against prophets who excited hopes of speedy deliverance. Only this time the exhortation is directed to the body of exiles in Babylon, who were also inflamed by such lying prophetvoices; and specific condemnation is pronounced on two false prophets dwelling there. According to vv. 1 f. and 5 f., this letter was composed not long after the removal of Jehoiachin and his companions in suffering, when those carried away had not yet given up hope of a speedy return. It is perhaps to

be placed in the first or second year of Zedekiah's reign; in the fourth year, to which chs. xxvii., xxviii. belong, this king himself was in Babylon; on the other hand, in a year previous to that one he probably sent thither the embassy mentioned in ver. 3, which gave opportunity for forwarding Jeremiah's

letter. Thus the letter, which is perhaps given us literally in the form in which it went to Babylon, was probably written not long before the vision related in ch. xxiv. and referred to in xxix. 17. This letter extends up to ver. 23.

From the close of the chapter it is clear that an important member of the body of exiles was so enraged by Jeremiah's letter, that he sent a letter to Jerusalem (perhaps by the same ambassadors), exhorting the temple-overseer to do his duty against this fanatic, who pollutes the temple. To this the appended oracle (vv. 24-32) refers, which was likewise to be sent in writing to those dwelling in Babylon (ver. 31), so that the chapter shows how the prophet continued to exert influence on that colony as on the home-land.

Vv. 4-7 exhorts the exiles, who were looking for a speedy change in things and a return to the fatherland, to renounce such hopes for ever and to prepare in God's name and under His blessing for a longer stay in the place of exile; instead of imagining that the misfortunes coming on Babylon would be their salvation, they are to pray for this country, since their weal and woe will be bound up with it for generations to come. The prophets who tell them a different story lie, ver. 8 f. Yet, as vv. 10-14 comfortingly remind us, God has by no means forgotten them, but holds to His redeeming plan (which according to ch. xxiv. is to be realized in this very colony at Babylon), and will carry it out when the seventy years' period of that empire is fulfilled. But if they appeal

to the prophets who have arisen in the strange land (ver. 15), who set before them the prospect of a speedy return, let them know that, on the contrary, judgment awaits even the remnant of the people left at Jerusalem in return for their disobedience to the word of the Lord. Next, in ver. 20 ff., sentence is pronounced on two false prophets belonging to the Babylonian colony. God will not protect them as He does His genuine prophets, but, on the contrary, give them into the hand of His servant Nebuchadnezzar, who will put these agitators to death

in such a way that their name will excite horror, and their fate be imprecated on a man's worst enemies. They merit such punishment as reckless transgressors of God's laws, whose conduct is as vicious as their language is godless. Nothing is said of the fulfilment of this oracle; but, as in similar cases (see ver. 32), the fulfilment may be certainly inferred from the careful preservation of the prophecy.

Yet a third member of the body of captives is the object of a penal oracle, Shemaiah, who replied to the above letter of Jeremiah by a similar one to the temple-overseer, exhorting him to such violent measures as Pashhur had already attempted (ch. xx.). This Shemaiah did not claim to be a prophet, but wrote in his own name, plainly as an influential man, perhaps one of the elders referred to in ver. 1; but he presumed to rebuke the Spirit of God. What the Spirit of God said he would have suppressed by law and authority, whilst yielding implicit faith to the spirit of error—a not uncommon perverseness! The punishment assigned him for this, in keeping with the degree of guilt, is not so severe as in ver. 22; still it was a heavy one for every Israelite, whose chief anxiety was that his name and memory should not be rooted out from the people of God.

P.