The prophet, c. xxxv., invites, by the divine command, the nomad Rechabites to an apartment in the temple, and offers them wine, which they refuse because their ancestor, Jonathan, the son of Rechab, had forbidden them the use of this liquor. Hereupon he shames the Jews who had deserted the divine religion of their fathers, and renews the threat of punishment.

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim c. xxxvi., Jeremiah by the direction of God dictates all his prophecies to Baruch the scribe, and in the ninth month (December) of the next year, while he was prisoner in his house, sends Baruch to read them to the people. Baruch executes his commission, and also subsequently reads the roll to the royal council. The king is informed of the subject, and commands the roll to be read in his presence. After hearing a part of it he burns it, and gives orders for the seizure of Jeremiah and Baruch, whom, however, the princes had previously advised to conceal themselves. Jeremiah dictates the whole a second time to Baruch, and predicts of Jehoiakim, that he shall have no heir to his throne, and that his dead body shall be cast out exposed to the open air, and that Jerusalem shall be taken and destroyed.

Chaps. xxxvii. xxxviii. When Nebuchadnezzar interrupts the siege of Jerusalem in order to oppose Pharaoh who is advancing, Zedekiah sends to Jeremiah, at that time not in prison, with a commission to make entreaty to God. The messengers are sent back with the answer, that Pharaoh will return to Egypt, the Chaldeans renew the siege of the city, take it, and reduce it to ashes. Upon this the prophet determines to leave Jerusalem for Anathoth, but is seized as a deserter, beaten, and imprisoned. After a considerable time he is called by Zedekiah, who privately interrogates him, and is answered that he shall fall into the hands of the Chaldeans. Upon Jeremiah's interceding for more favourable treatment, the king commands him to be removed to the court of the prison, (the guard house,) and to be allowed a daily portion, as long as the bread of the city may remain. But upon being earnestly solicited by the nobles to consent to his being put to death he acquiesces, whereupon Jeremiah is cast into a dungeon, and must have died a miserable death had not Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian eunuch of the court, obtained the king's permission to remove him. A second time the king privately inquires

respecting the result of the siege, and is advised to capitulate, as the only method of saving the city and royal family.

The portion in c. xxxix-xliv. contains an account of what took place after the conquest of Jerusalem. Zedekiah, while endeavouring to make his escape, was taken prisoner in the plains of Jericho, and brought to Riblah in Hamath, where his sons were slain in his presence, his eyes put out, and himself taken in chains to Babylon. Jerusalem and the temple were burned, the walls razed and the citizens taken to Babylonia, except a few poor people who remained. At the express command of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah was released from his chains, and received permission either to go to Babylon or to remain in the land, upon which he chose the latter. (The promise made to Ebedmelech, which properly belongs to the 38th chapter, is here introduced, xxxix. 16-18.)-Gedaliah, who had been appointed governor over the inhabitants who still remained, was murdered by Ishmael; but notwithstanding this, Jeremiah announced the divine protection to the company that had escaped, and was dwelling at Chimham near Bethlehem, provided they remained in the land. But this they refused to do, and went to Egypt, although warned by the prophet, whom they constrained to accompany them, both before they went and after they had arrived at Tahpanbes, that Nebuchadnezzar would conquer and devastate that country. After their settlement in Migdol and Pathros, and other places, Jeremiah, seeing that they still continue idolatrous, warns them earnestly to abstain from this wickedness; but they reply, that their misfortunes have arisen from intermitting the worship of the gods, whom they will no longer neglect: upon which he repeats his denunciations.

The 45th chapter, which is a declaration of comfort to Baruch, is connected with the 36th, and contains the promise, that, notwithstanding all the calamities of that period, God will preserve his life.

Chapters xlvi-li. contain prophecies against foreign nations. 1) Two respecting Egypt: the first, xlvi. 1-12, of the slaughter of the Egyptians in Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; and the second, v. 13-28, of the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, to which is appended a prediction of the return of the Hebrews.-2) Against Philistia, c. xlvii, which the Chaldeans should lay waste. This prophecy was announced by Jeremiah, before the capture of

Gaza by Pharaoh.3) Against the country of the Moabites, c. xlviii, which also should be wasted by the Chaldeans. Comp. Isa. xv. xvi. 4) Against the Ammonites, xlix. 1-6, who had occupied some cities of the Israelites.5) Against the Edomites, xlix. 7-22-The three last predictions were accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar, before he burst into Egypt although not expressly mentioned in the history. Comp. BEROSUS in JOSEPH. Ant. X. xi. 1. and Cont. Apion I. 20.6) Against Damascus, xlix. 23-27. which must have been fulfilled before the destruction of Jerusalem, when Zedekiah was brought to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in Hamath.-7) Against the Kedarenes and circumjacent Arabians, xlix. 28-33, who were pursued and plundered by Nebuchadnezzar, Comp. Isa. xxi. 11-17.-8) Against the Elamites, xlix. 34-39, who were to be dispersed but afterwards collected together.-9) Against Babylon, 1. li. It is predicted that the city shall be taken by the Medes, in one night, during a festival; that it shall gradually become wasted, and a residence for wild beasts; and at last, shall vanish from the earth, as completely as a stone cast into the Euphrates. Comp. Part I. § 17, at the end.

The 52d chapter comprises an account of the destruction of Jerusalem, in almost verbal coincidence with II Kings xxiv. 18-xxv. 30. There are nevertheless some discrepancies, among which lii. 28-30, is the most considerable.]

The principal points of these prophecies are the following.

I. The overthrow of the kingdom of Judah, the burning of Jerusalem, the carrying away of the citizens, and their return after seventy years of captivity, xxv. 11, 12. xxix. 10., the re-establishment of the government and of Jerusalem, the perseverance of the Hebrews in religion, their happiness, the period of the Maccabees, the conquest of the neighbouring nations by the successors of the Maccabees, and the coming of the great son of David, the Messiah.

II. The overthrow of all the neighbouring kingdoms by Nebuchadnezzar.

III. The destruction of Babylon, with all the circumstances which followed that event through a long series of ages.

IV. Many predictions of proximate events, but which are accurately defined, as xxii. 18. 19. xxxvi. 30.

§ 135. Style of Jeremiah.

The language of Jeremiah is simple, or to use the word of Jerome, Præf. in Jerem., rustic,[a] intermixed with Chaldee words, forms, ideas, and expressions. Thus he adds, in imitation of the Aramæans, the feminine Jod to the second person feminine of the first aorist, as ♫ ii. 33. xiii. 31., p iii. 4. Comp. iii. 5. iv. 19. xxii. 23. xxxi. 21. He uses also the feminine pronouns, thou, iv. 30, and the feminine suffix in ny xi. 15. Aramæan forms

:"T

:

TT

xiii. 19 ; also הגלתה for הגלת ii. 36, and תאזלי for תזלי also occur, as

.26 .iv הנה הכרמל המדבר not be found, as

the article as the Aramæan emphatic state, where otherwise it should Other expressions are to

T:.- " :-

be met with, which, though not properly Aramæan, are yet modern. Some words are frequently repeated, especially p, and even some ideas in the same words. The style of Jeremiah only occasionally breathes a poetic vehemence, but is soft and easy. In the prophecies against foreign nations, where the author has borrowed much of the very language of the more ancient prophets, the composition is somewhat more elevated.[b]

46

[a) Yet Lowтa, de Sac. Рoes. Heb. Prælect. XXI. p. 283, says, Hieronymus nescio quam sermonis rusticitatem ei objicere videtur, cujus equidem fateor nulla me deprehendisse vestigia." He then proceeds to characterize his style as follows: "His sentiments, it is true, are not always the most elevated, nor are his periods neat and compact; but these are faults common to those writers, whose principal aim is to excite the gentler affections, and to call forth the tear of sympathy and sorrow. This is frequently instanced in the prophecies of this author, and most of all in the beginning of the book, which is chiefly poetical. The middle of it is almost entirely historical. The latter part, again, consisting of the last six chapters, is altogether poetical." GREGORY'S Trans. p. 291. Boston, 1815. Tr.]

[6) Comp. the laboured article of EICHHORN on this subject, Einleit. 536. Melancholy, tender sensibility, and somewhat of the verbosity of grief, are the distinguishing characteristics of Jeremiah's style. His mournful anticipations of calamities are the most pleasing, while his threatenings partake more of a high poetic strain, and his admonitions almost assume the character of simple prose. Tr.]

§ 136. Order of the Prophecies.

Regard to the order of time in which the prophecies of Jeremiah were delivered is very little observed in the arrangement of them. When he was commanded in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, (c. xxxvi.) to commit the prophecies in the first thirty-five chapters to writing, he seems to have dictated them in the order in which they came to his recollection. But this supposition will not solve the whole difficulty, as this part contains prophecies belonging to the time of Zedekiah. The same want of chronological order appears also in the following chapters. The reason of this confusion has not yet been sa tisfactorily explained; probably it arose from some incidental disor der into which the prophecies written on separate small rolls, had fallen soon after the time of the prophet. [a]

(a) So EICHH. Th. IV. S. 167. f., but DE WETTE, Einleit. § 218, anm. a) contends that c. xxxvi. 28. proves that a great part, at least, of the prophecies of Jeremiah were written on a single roll.

The following table of the dates of the prophecies is from Jahn's German work, (with which Eichhorn agrees,) with a single addition from De Wette.

§ 137. Jeremiah according to the Alexandrine Version.

The order of the prophecies from c. xxv. 15. to the end of the book is entirely different in the Alexandrine version from that of the Hebrew text; for those against the Gentiles, which in the latter occupy the last place, c. xlvi-li., are found in the former after xxv. 14,