| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Jeremiah
Chapter Nineteen
Jeremiah 19
Chapter Contents
By the type of breaking an earthen vessel
Jeremiah is to
predict the destruction of Judah.
Commentary on Jeremiah 19:1-9
(Read Jeremiah 19:1-9)
The prophet must give notice of ruin coming upon Judah
and Jerusalem. Both rulers and ruled must attend to it. That place which
holiness made the joy of the whole earth
sin made the reproach and shame of
the whole earth. There is no fleeing from God's justice
but by fleeing to his
mercy.
Commentary on Jeremiah 19:10-15
(Read Jeremiah 19:10-15)
The potter's vessel
after it is hardened
can never be
pieced again when it is broken. And as the bottle was broken
so shall Judah
and Jerusalem be broken by the Chaldeans. No human hand can repair it; but if
they return to the Lord he will heal. As they filled Tophet with the slain
sacrificed to their idols
so will God fill the whole city with the slain that
shall fall as sacrifices to his justice. Whatever men may think
God will appear
as terrible against sin and sinners as the Scriptures state; nor shall the
unbelief of men make his promise or his threatenings of no effect. The
obstinacy of sinners in sinful ways
is their own fault; if they are deaf to
the word of God
it is because they have stopped their ears. We have need to
pray that God
by his grace
would deliver us from hardness of heart
and
contempt of his word and commandments.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jeremiah》
Jeremiah 19
Verse 4
[4]
Because they have forsaken me
and have estranged this place
and have burned
incense in it unto other gods
whom neither they nor their fathers have known
nor the kings of Judah
and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
This place —
Either this city
or this valley
which they had turned to an use quite
contrary to the end for which God gave it them.
Verse 5
[5] They have built also the high places of Baal
to burn their sons with fire
for burnt offerings unto Baal
which I commanded not
nor spake it
neither
came it into my mind:
To burn —
This and the following verse
contain another great sin of this people
with
the punishment which God proportions to it. The sin in the general was
idolatry
but a most barbarous species of it
mentioned also chap. 7:31; 32:35
where it is said
they made their sons
and their daughters pass thro' the fire to Molech; the place where they did it
is called Tophet
verse 19:6
of which also mention is made
Isaiah 30:33. Baal and Molech
signify the same
thing; Baal signifies a Lord
Molech a King. Both Baal and Molech seem common
names to all idols.
Verse 7
[7] And
I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will
cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies
and by the hands of them
that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls
of the heaven
and for the beasts of the earth.
In this place — In
this place
among others
I will make void all the counsels that the men of
Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
have taken to escape my righteous
judgments.
Verse 12
[12] Thus
will I do unto this place
saith the LORD
and to the inhabitants thereof
and
even make this city as Tophet:
As Tophet —
That is
a place of slaughter and burials.
Verse 14
[14] Then came Jeremiah from Tophet
whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy;
and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people
Then —
Jeremiah had now dispatched the errand upon which God had sent him to Tophet
coming back by God's direction
he stands in the court
which was common to all
people
where the most might hear.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Jeremiah》
19 Chapter 19
Verses 1-15
──《The Biblical Illustrator》
19 Chapter 19
INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 19
In
this chapter is foreshadowed
represented
and confirmed
the destruction of
Jerusalem
by the breaking of a potter's vessel the prophet had in his hand;
and by the place where he was bid to do this
and did it. The order for it
and
the witnesses of it
and the place where it was done
are declared in Jeremiah 19:1; the
proclamation there of Jerusalem's ruin is made
Jeremiah 19:3; the
cause of it
their apostasy
idolatry
and shedding of innocent blood
Jeremiah 19:4; the
great slaughter of them by the sword and famine
Jeremiah 19:6; and
how easy
and irresistible
and irrecoverable
their destruction would be
are
signified by the breaking of the bottle
Jeremiah 19:10
when Jerusalem for its idolatry would become as defiled a place as Tophet
where the prophet was
Jeremiah 19:12;
from whence he came to the temple
and there repeated the proclamation of the
evil that should come upon that city
and all the towns around it
Jeremiah 19:14.
Verse 1
Thus saith the Lord
go and get a potter's earthen bottle
.... From the
potter's house
where he had lately been; and where he had been shown
in an
emblematic way
what God would do in a short time with the Jews; and which is
here further illustrated by this emblem: or
"go and get"
or
"buy
a bottle of the potter
an earthen one"F11וקנית בקבק יוצר
חרש "emas
vel emito oenophorum a figulo
testaceum"
Munster
Tigurine version. So Kimchi and Ben Melech. ; so
Kimchi; called in Hebrew "bakbuk"
from the gurgling of the liquor
poured into it
or out of it
or drank out of it
which makes a sound like this
wordF12Vid. Stockium
p. 150. :
and take of the ancients of the people
and of the ancients
of the priests; the word "take" is rightly supplied by our
translators
as it is by the Targum
the Septuagint
Syriac
and Arabic
versions; for these words are not to be connected with the former
as in the
Vulgate Latin version; as if the prophet was to get or buy the earthen bottle
of the elders of the people
and of the priests; but those who were the
greatest and principal men of the city
and of which the Jewish sanhedrim
consisted
were to be taken by the prophet to be witnesses of what were said
and done
to see the bottle broke
and hear what Jeremiah from the Lord had to
say; who
from their years
it might be reasonably thought
would seriously
attend to those things
and would report them to the people to great advantage;
and the Lord
who sent the prophet to them
no doubt inclined their hearts to
go along with him; who
otherwise
in all probability
would have refused; and
perhaps would have charged him with impertinence and boldness
and would have
rejected his motion with contempt
as foolish or mad.
Verse 2
And go forth into the valley of the son of Hinnom
.... To whom
it formerly belonged
and so it was called as early as Joshua's time
Joshua 15:8; from
the faith and abomination of the place
and the shocking torments here
exercised
"hell"
from hence
in the New Testament
is called
"Gehenna": here the prophet with the elders were to go
for reasons
after mentioned; because here their cruel idolatries were committed
and
Jerusalem was to be made like unto it for pollution and bloodshed:
which is by the entry of the east gate; the way to it
out of Jerusalem lay through the east gate of the city. The Targum calls it
"the dung gate"; through which the filth of the city was carried out
and laid near it
and where lay the potter's sherds; hence some render it the
"potsherd" gateF13שער החרסית "portae fictilis"
Munster
Pagninus. ; or
rather it should be the potter's gate; for that reason
because the potter's
field and house lay near it
from whence the prophet had his earthen bottle;
others call it the "sun gate"F14"Portae solaris"
Montanus
Piscator
Cocceius; so Ben Melech
and Stockius
p. 389.
because it
lay to the sun rising; but seeing the valley of Hinnom was to the south of
Jerusalem
this seems rather to be the south gate; and a proper situation this
was for the potters to dry and harden their pots. The Septuagint
Syriac
and
Arabic versions
leave it untranslated
and call it the gate Harsith or
Hadsith:
and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee; for as yet it
was not made known to him what he should do with his bottle
or say to the
elders
until he came to the place he was ordered to.
Verse 3
And say
hear ye the word of the Lord
O kings of Judah
.... The king
and his queen; or the king and his sons; or the king and his princes
and
nobles; for there was but one king reigning at a time in Judah
and the present
king was Zedekiah; see Jeremiah 21:1;
and inhabitants of Jerusalem; the elders of which
and
of the priests
were now before him; to whom he said the following things
that
they might tell them to the persons mentioned:
thus saith the Lord of hosts
the God of Israel; who is able
to do whatsoever he pleases in the armies of the heavens
and among the inhabitants
of the earth
and will do so among his own people
notwithstanding his being
the God of Israel:
behold
I will bring evil upon this place; the evil of
punishment for the evil of sin; such as the sword
famine
and captivity;
meaning not on that spot of ground where the prophet with the elders were
but
upon the city of Jerusalem
and on all the land of Judea:
the which whosoever heareth
his ears shall tingle; it shall be
astonishing and surprising to him; it shall even stun him; he shall stand as
one thunderstruck or be so affected with it as a man is at a violent clap of
thunder
or at some exceeding vehement sound
which leaves such an impression
upon him
and continues with him
that he cannot get rid of it; but seems to be
continually sounding in his ears
and they even echo and ring with it; see 1 Samuel 3:11. The
phrase denotes the greatness of the calamity
and the surprise which the bare
report of it would bring with it.
Verse 4
Because they have forsaken me
.... My worship
as the
Targum; they had apostatized from God
relinquished his service
neglected and
despised his word and ordinances
and left the religion they had been brought
up in
and was agreeable to the will of God. This
with what follows
contain
reasons of the Lord's threatening them to bring evil upon them
as before:
and have estranged this place; or made a strange place
of it
so that it could scarcely be known to be the same
nor would the Lord
own it as his; meaning either the city of Jerusalem
to which the prophet was
near
and could point to it; or the temple
which was in sight
and which they
had strangely abused
by offering strange sacrifices to strange gods; or the valley
of Hinnom
the spot he was upon
and which they had alienated from its original
use:
and have burnt incense in it unto other gods; to strange
gods
the gods of the Gentiles; and this they did both in the city of Jerusalem
and in the temple
and very probably in the valley of Hinnom
where they
sacrificed their children: gods
whom neither they nor their fathers have known
nor the kings of
Judah; of whose wisdom
power
and goodness
neither they nor their
fathers before them
nor any of their kings
had had any instance; and whose
help and assistance
in times of danger and difficulty
they had had no
experience of; and
till now
neither they nor their ancestors had ever owned
them
or acknowledged them; nor scarce had heard of their names; nor any of
their pious kings
as David
Asa
Jehoshaphat
Hezekiah
and Josiah:
and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; young
children that were sacrificed here to idols
as they were in the valley of
Hinnom
which seems to be the place principally intended; so that they were not
only guilty of idolatry
but of murder; and of the murder of innocent
creatures
and even
of their own babes; which was shocking and unheard of
cruelty!
Verse 5
They have also built the high places of Baal
.... Or
they
have even built
&c. and so the words explain what is before suggested of
their idolatry; these were the temples in which they placed his image
and the
altars on which they sacrificed to him; as follows:
to burn their sons with fire
for burnt offerings unto Baal; the same idol
that is sometimes called Moloch
the names being much of the same
signification; the one signifying a "lord" or "master"; the
other a king; and to the idol under each name they burned their children with
fire
and offered them as burnt offerings unto it; which was a most cruel and
barbarous way of sacrificing. Some think they only caused them to pass through
two fires; but the text is express for it
that they burnt them with fire
and
made burnt offerings of them
as they did with slain beasts. It seems very
likely that they did both:
which I commanded not; in my law
as the Targum
adds; and which was intimation enough to avoid it; though this was not all
he
expressly forbad it
Leviticus 20:2;
nor spake it
neither came it into my mind; and it is
marvellous it should ever enter into the heart of man; none but Satan himself
could ever have devised such a way of worship.
Verse 6
Therefore
behold
the days come
saith the Lord
.... Or
"are coming"F15ימים באים "dies (sunt) venientes"
Montanus
Schmidt.
; a little while and it will come to pass
what follows; to which a
"behold" is prefixed
as calling for attention and admiration
as well
as to assure of the certain performance of it:
that this place shall no more be called Tophet: as it had
been
from the beating of drums in it
that the cries and shrieks of infants
burnt in the fire might not be heard by their parents:
nor the valley of the son of Hinnom; which was its name in
the times of Joshua
and long before it was called Tophet; but now it should
have neither names:
but the valley of slaughter; or
"of the
slain"
as the Targum; from the multitude of those that should be killed
here
at the siege and taking of Jerusalem; or that should be brought hither to
be buried; see Jeremiah 19:11 and
See Gill on Jeremiah 7:32.
Verse 7
And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this
place
.... The counsel which they took in this place and agreed to
in
offering their sons and daughters to idols; and which they took with these
idols and their priests
from whom they expected assistance and relief; and all
their schemes and projects for their deliverance; these were all made to spear
to be mere empty things
as empty as the earthen bottle he had in his hand
to
which there is an allusion; there being an elegant paronomasia between the wordF16בקבק & ובקתי. here used and
that:
and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies: such as
sallied out from the city
or attempted to make their escape:
and by the hands of them that seek their lives; and so would
not spare them
when they fell into them:
and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the
heaven
and for the beasts of the earth: signifying that they
should have no burial
but their slain bodies should lie upon the earth
and be
fed upon by fowls and beasts.
Verse 8
And I will make this city desolate
and an hissing
.... An
hissing to its enemies; an hissing because desolate; when its walls should be
broken down
its houses burnt with fire
and its inhabitants put to the sword
or carried captive:
everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished
and hiss; surprised to
see the desolations of it; that a city once so famous and flourishing should be
reduced to such a miserable condition; and yet hiss by way of detestation and
abhorrence of it
and for joy at its ruin:
because of all the plagues thereof: by which it was brought
to desolation
as the sword
famine
burning
and captivity.
Verse 9
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons
and the
flesh of their daughters
.... For want of food; the famine should be so great and
pressing. Jeremiah
that foretells this
was a witness of it
and has left it
on record
Lamentations 4:10;
and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend. The Targum
interprets it
the goods or substance of his neighbour; which is sometimes the
sense of eating the flesh of another; but as it is to be taken in a literal
sense
in the preceding clause
so in this: so it should be
in the siege and straitness
wherewith their enemies
and they
that seek their lives
shall straiten them; the siege of Jerusalem
should be so close
that no provision could be got in to the relief of the
inhabitants; which obliged them to take the shocking methods before mentioned.
Jerom observes
that though this was fulfilled at the Babylonish captivity
yet
more fully when Jerusalem was besieged by Vespasian and Titus
and in the times
of Hadrian. JosephusF17De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 4. gives us a
most shocking relation of a woman eating her own son.
Verse 10
Then shall thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go
with thee. The earthen bottle he was bid to get of the potter
Jeremiah 19:1; this
he is ordered to break in pieces before the eyes of the ancients of and of the
priests that went with him out Jerusalem to Tophet
as an emblem of the easy
sure
and utter destruction of Jerusalem; for nothing is more easily broken
than an earthen vessel; and so easily was Jerusalem destroyed by the Chaldean
army; nor can an earthen pot resist any force that is used against it; nor
could the inhabitants of Jerusalem withstand the force of Nebuchadnezzar's
army; and an earthen vessel once broken cannot be put together again; a new one
must be made; which was the case both of the city and temple; and which
upon
the return from the captivity
were not repaired
but rebuilt.
Verse 11
And shalt say unto them
thus saith the Lord of hosts
.... Of armies
above and below; and so able to execute what he here threatens:
even so will I break this people and this city: the people
the inhabitants of this city
and that itself
by the sword
famine
burning
and captivity:
as one breaketh a potter's vessel
that cannot be made
whole again; or "healed"F18לחרפה
"sanari"
Montanus; "curari"
Pagninus
Junius &
Tremellius. ; a potter's vessel
upon the wheel
such an one as the prophet had
seen
and to which the Jews are compared
Jeremiah 18:3;
being marred
may be restored and put into another form and shape; but one that
is dried and hardened
when broke
can never be put together again; so a
vessel
of gold
silver
and brass
when broke
may be made whole again; but an
earthen vessel never can; a fit emblem therefore this to represent utter and
irrecoverable ruin; see Isaiah 30:14. Jerom
here again observes
that this is clearly spoken
not of the Babylonish
but of
the Roman captivity; after the former the city was rebuilt
and the people
returned to Judea
and restored to former plenty; but since the latter
under
Vespasian
Titus
and Hadrian
the ruins of Jerusalem remain
and will till the
conversion of the Jews:
and they shall bury them in Tophet
till there be no
place to bury: where there should be such great numbers slain; or whither such
multitudes of the slain should be brought out of the city to be buried there
that at length there would not be room enough to receive the dead into it; or
as the Syriac version renders it
"and in Tophet they shall bury
for want
of a place to bury" in; in such a filthy
abominable
and accursed place
shall their carcasses lie
where they were guilty of idolatry
and sacrificed
their innocent babes
there being no other place to inter them in: an emblem
this of their souls suffering in hell the vengeance of eternal fire.
Verse 12
Thus will I do unto this place
saith the Lord
and to the
inhabitants thereof
.... To the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants
as was done to
the earthen bottle
and as before threatened:
and even
or also
make this city as Tophet; as full of slaughtered
men and women as that had been of the blood of innocent children; and as
filthy
abominable
and execrable a place as that; and to lose its name
as
that is foretold it should
Jeremiah 19:6; and
as Jerusalem did
after the desolation of it by Hadrian
as Jerom observes; for
what was built upon the spot afterwards was by the emperor called Aelia
after
his own name.
Verse 13
And the houses of Jerusalem
.... Where the common
people dwelt:
and the houses of the kings of Judah; the palaces
of the king
princes
and nobles of Judah
one as well as another:
shall be defiled os Tophet; as that was defiled with
the bodies and bones of the slain
and with the faith of the city brought unto
it; so the houses of great and small
high and low
should be defiled with the
carcasses of the slain that should lie unburied there; their houses should be
their graves
and they buried in the ruins of them: or
"the houses of
Jerusalem
and the houses of the kings of Judah
which are defiled"F19הטמאים "quae pollutae sunt"
Gataker.
with the
idolatries after mentioned
shall be as Tophet
places of slaughter:
because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burnt incense
to all the host of heaven; the roofs of houses with the Jews were built
flat; and
as they sometimes used them for prayer to the God of heaven
as
Peter did
Acts 10:9;
idolaters used them to burn incense on to the sun
moon
and stars; to which
they were nearer
and of which they could have a clearer view upon the house
tops
and therefore chose them for this purpose; and so common was this sort of
idolatry
that it was practised upon most
if not all
the houses in Jerusalem;
see Zephaniah 1:5;
and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods; besides the
God of Israel; to Baal
and other Heathen deities.
Verse 14
Then came Jeremiah from Tophet
.... When he had broke
his earthen bottle
and delivered his prophecy before the elders of the people
and priests: or
"from that Tophet"F20מהתפת.
whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and whither
he went and prophesied
according to his command; but now returned from thence
it being no doubt signified to him
in some manner or other
that it was the
will of God he should;
and he stood in the court of the Lord's house
and said to all the
people; this was the court of the temple
called the outward court
or
the court of the Israelites
where all the people met; for into other courts
they might not enter; here the prophet placed himself
on purpose to deliver
his prophecy to all the people; even the same as he had delivered at Tophet to
the ancients of the people and the priests; but lest they should not faithfully
represent it to the people
and that they might not be without it
he delivers
it openly and publicly to them all
in the following words; which both declare
their punishment
and the cause of it.
Verse 15
Thus saith the Lord of hosts
the God of Israel
.... See Gill
on Jeremiah 19:3;
behold
I will bring upon this city
and upon all her towns: the city of
Jerusalem
and all the cities and towns near it
even all the cities and towns
in Judea; of which Jerusalem was the metropolis
and therefore called hers:
all the evil that I have pronounced against it; or decreed
against it
as the Targum; all that he had purposed
and all that he had
threatened
or spoke of by the Prophet Jeremiah
or any other of his prophets;
for whatever he has said he will do
and whatsoever he has solved upon
and
declared he will do
he assuredly brings to pass:
because they have hardened their necks
that they might not hear
my words; they turned their backs upon him
pulled away the shoulder
stopped their ears that they might not hear what was said by the prophets from
the Lord; they neither inclined their ears to hearken to
nor bowed their necks
to receive the yoke of his precepts; but
on the contrary
were
as was their
general character
a stiffnecked people
and uncircumcised in heart and ears
obstinate and disobedient; and this was the cause of their ruin
by which it
appeared to be just and righteous.
──《John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible》