Jeremiah 23
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER TWELVE
I. Facts to Master.
The occasion of the oracle addressed to king Zedekiah (Jeremiah 21:1-2).
The two ways God placed before the people (Jeremiah 21:8),
That which Jeremiah urged the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do (Jeremiah 21:9).
The identity of Shallum and his fate (Jeremiah 22:11-12).
The type of burial predicted for Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:19).
Identity of the lovers in Jeremiah 22:20-21.
Identity of Coniah and his fate (Jeremiah 22:25).
Identity of the shepherds who had scattered the flock of God (Jeremiah 23:2).
Description of the King whom God would raise Up (Jeremiah 23:5).
Three activities of the coming King (Jeremiah 23:5).
The name of the coming King (Jeremiah 23:6).
The group of leaders to whom a long sermon is addressed in chapter 23.
The two wicked cities to which God compares the inhabitants of Judah (Jeremiah 23:14).
The basic message of the false prophets (Jeremiah 23:17).
Test of the veracity of a prophet (Jeremiah 23:22).
Two metaphors depicting the Word of God (Jeremiah 23:29).
The expression which Jeremiah is no longer to use (Jeremiah 23:33-36).
That which the Lord showed Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24:1-2).
The significance of the good and bad figs (Jeremiah 24:4-10).
The date of the messages in chapter 25 (Jeremiah 25:1).
The length of time Jeremiah had thus far been preaching (Jeremiah 25:3).
The commander of the armies of the north (Jeremiah 25:9).
The length of time the nations would serve the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11).
That which would transpire after the seventy years (Jeremiah 25:12-14).
That which Jeremiah was to cause the nations to drink (Jeremiah 25:15).
II. Questions to Ponder.
Was Jeremiah a traitor in view of the counsel which he offered the people in time of war? Jeremiah 21:9.
To the reign of what king can Jeremiah 21:11 to Jeremiah 22:9 be as signed? In this passage what is (a) the exhortation, (b) the promise, (c) the warning?
What can you deduce about the reign of Jehoiakim from Jeremiah 22:13-17?
Did Jehoiachin have children? See Jeremiah 22:30; 1 Chronicles 3:17-18; and Jehoiachin tablets in Documents from Old Testament Times. pp. 84-86. In what sense would he be childless?
What is the New Exodus predicted in Jeremiah 23:8? How does it exceed the great Exodus from Egypt?
Why does Jeremiah react as he does in Jeremiah 23:9?
How were the prophets of Jerusalem worse than the prophets of Samaria? Jeremiah 23:13-14.
By what methods did the false prophets try to imitate the true prophets? Is this true today as well? see Jeremiah 23:23-32.
Why is Jeremiah told to abandon the prophetic terminology burden of the Lord? (Jeremiah 23:33-38) What good Bible terms are misused or misapplied today? Should such terms continue to be used by New Testament Christians?
Should chapter 25 be dated before or after the battle of Carchemish? See Jeremiah 25:1.
Did Jeremiah literally take a cup and pass it among the nations? (Jeremiah 25:15; Jeremiah 25:17; Jeremiah 25:28) How might this have been possible?
What peculiarity is to be found in the Septuagint version of chapter 25?
Who was the king of Sheshach? Jeremiah 25:26.
What judgment is being described in Jeremiah 25:30-38?
SPECIAL STUDY JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND THE SEVENTY YEARS PROPHECY
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have made Jeremiah’s seventy years prophecy the basis for all chronology prior to 539 B.C., the year that Babylon fell to Cyrus. They assume that the seventy years are to be counted back from 537 B.C., the date they assign to the return of the Jews in the first year of Cyrus. This yields the date 607 for the 18th (or 19th) year of Nebuchadnezzar when Jerusalem was destroyed (Jeremiah 52:29; Jeremiah 52:12). So certain are the Witnesses that their methodology is correct that they are willing to toss aside all the standard chronological works and declare that they alone have the key to Bible chronology.
It is important to note that these students accept 539 B.C. uncritically as an absolute date from which to begin their count. They never state WHY they accept 539 as a starting point or WHY 539 is an absolute date. They fail to realize that 539 was reached by the same methodology which they reject for the years prior to 539. The truly absolute years in antiquity are those in which astronomers can pin-point an eclipse of the sun. The year 539 was not such a year. It was computed by adding together the regnal years of dozens of kings, both Assyrian and Babylonian and adding them (or subtracting them as the case might be) to some absolute year. Now if this process is accepted for arriving at the year 539, why is it invalid for the years prior to 539? Since the Jehovah’s Witnesses repudiate standard chronology, they are faced with the embarrassing prospects of talking about kings who were taken off thrones before they were ever put on thrones and men dying before they were born. Though they never mention this in their books, the Witnesses are forced to redate every Egyptian, Assyrian, Hittite, and Mitannian king prior to 539. It never seems to occur to these people that their understanding of Jeremiah’s seventy year prophecy might just be faulty. Most Bible believing Christians are perfectly at home within the framework of the standard chronology which has been painstakingly established by means of astronomy, archaeology, and scientific historiography. They find the seventy years prophecy a marvelous confirmation of the word of God. They do not have to resort to manipulation of ancient history and juggling of years as do the Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the interest of truth, and with a sincere desire to aid those who want to know the plain truth, this special study is offered.
I. WHAT WAS THE SEVENTY YEARS PERIOD?
In order to ascertain the precise significance of the seventy years period it will be necessary to examine carefully each of the verses in the Old Testament which speak of this period.
When seventy years are completed for (literally, to) Babylon, I will visit you (the Israelites).
This verse shows that the seventy years is allotted to Babylon i.e., to the world dominion of the Neo-Babylon empire. NO MENTION IS MADE HERE OF ANY SEVENTY YEARS OF DESOLATION IN JERUSALEM.
NOW I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. All nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes.
Surely this passage is dealing with the seventy years. The nations will serve Nebuchadnezzar for a set period of time. At the end of that period of time, Babylon will be overthrown. Now this prophecy was given in the reign of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 27:3) and it appears that the prophet is saying that the period of service to the Babylonian king has already begun.
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste.
Again these verses do not assert that the land of Judah and Jerusalem would lie desolate for seventy years. The seventy years are THE YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE KING OF BABYLON BY ALL THE NATIONS. After the seventy years, the king of Babylon will be destroyed.
The seventy year period need not be a literal period of that length. It may be a symbolic number or round number. The use of round numbers in the Bible is not uncommon. In Genesis 15:13, for example, the figure 400 years is given for the length of the Egyptian bondage of the Israelites. This Egyptian bondage actually lasted 430 years (Exodus 12:40). It is not difficult to discover why the figure seventy years was chosen by Jeremiah for his prophecy of the LENGTH OF BABYLONIAN WORLD POWER. Seven in the Bible is a perfect number and ten appears to be the number of worldly power. So ten times seven is seventy, the complete number of years which God allotted to the dominion of Babylon. The number seventy in Jeremiah’s prophecy is symbolic and there is no reason to assume a priori that it was ever intended to be understood as seventy years to the day.
D. Daniel 9:2
In the first year of his reign (Darius, the Mede) I Daniel perceived in the books the number of years which, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
This passage simply tells us that at the end of seventy years the desolation in Palestine must cease. Jeremiah had predicted that at the end of the seventy years of Babylonian world dominion, God would destroy the king of Babylon and deliver His people from bondage (Jeremiah 29:10 f). Thus Daniel knew that shortly the Jews would be returning to rebuild the waste places of Judah since the seventy years were completed.
II. WHEN DID THE SEVENTY YEARS BEGIN?
The seventy years could not have begun before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, for this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:1). The Babylonian king took the throne in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605 B.C.). This was also the year in which he invaded the Hatti land (Syria-Palestine) and received heavy tribute from ALL the kings there.[232] In this year he besieged the city of Jerusalem, succeeded in binding Jehoiakim the king of Judah with fetters to carry him to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:6-7) but finally allowed him to remain as a Babylonian vassal of Judah (2 Kings 24:1). Apparently Jehoiakim was forced to render tribute to his new master and to send hostages to Babylon according to the custom of that time (Daniel 1:1-2).
[232] See Documents from Old Testament Times, op cit.,p. 79.
Thus the FOURTH YEAR OF JEHOIAKIM (first year of Nebuchadnezzar) was a crucial year for Judah. This was the year that brought Jerusalem, and Judah under the yoke of Babylon. It was the beginning of the service to the king of Babylon prophesied by Jeremiah.
The prophecy of the seventy years was first given in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:1). Jeremiah predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would come (Jeremiah 25:9) and he did come, that very year. This was the year that Judah and all the kingdoms of Syria-Palestine began to SERVE THE KING OF BABYLON (Jeremiah 25:11). The nations which Jeremiah had in mind are mentioned in Jeremiah 25:18-26. These nations were not all conquered nor left desolate in a year or even several years. They were gradually brought under the control of Babylon. But when did this service to the king of Babylon begin? Most of the nations mentioned came under the control of Babylon in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign when he marched victoriously in the Hatti land. The city of Ashkelon, mentioned by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:20), was in fact CAPTURED in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar.[233] Ashkelon’s service to the king of Babylon must have begun in that year not some nineteen years later as required in the chronology of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
[233] Ibid.
Jeremiah seems to indicate that he considered the desolation to have already begun in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In Jeremiah 25:18 the prophet states: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and princes, to make them a desolation, and a waste, a hissing and a curse AS AT THIS DAY. Since this prophecy was delivered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:1) what more conclusive proof is needed on the matter of when the desolations were to begin?
Generally in Bible prophecy desolation which is predicted upon a country comes on the country gradually, not all at once. Take the Babylon prophecies for instance. At the end of seventy years God promises to visit Babylon and make it an everlasting desolation (Jeremiah 25:12). But at the end of seventy years Babylon was merely captured. It did not become a desolation immediately. For some years the city thrived but during all those years Babylon was GRADUALLY becoming a complete desolation. The same applies to Jerusalem and Judah. With Nebuchadnezzar’s attack in 605 the land GRADUALLY began to become desolate. That desolation of course reached its height in 587 when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. But the desolation BEGAN in 605, the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.
The desolation which Jerusalem was to experience was to involve MORE THAN ONE KING. The plural kings and princes in Jeremiah 25:18 is important. Again this points to 605, the fourth year of Jehoiakim (first year of Nebuchadnezzar), as the beginning of the seventy year period. Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah would all be involved in the fulfillment. Even when Jehoiakim attempted to rebel against the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar sent warriors to ravish the land of Judah (2 Kings 24:1-2). How could the desolation of Jerusalem be said to involve KINGS if in fact it began in the 11th year of Zedekiah, last king of Judah, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim.
Important in this discussion is the passage found in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21,
He (Nebuchadnezzar) took into exile unto Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they were servants to him and his sons until the dominion of the kingdom of Persia (21) to fulfill (literally, to fill up) the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept its sabbaths, to fulfill (literally, to fill up) the seventy years. At the time of the destruction of Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar took additional exiles to Babylon. There they were servants to the king of Babylon. This FILLED UP the prophecy of Jeremiah. This verse does not say that the service to the king of Babylon BEGAN with the deportation after the destruction of Jerusalem. Both the Bible and secular history agree that the Jews BEGAN to serve the king of Babylon some nineteen years earlier. This service in exile was to FILL UP the seventy years prophecy of Jeremiah, i.e., to fill up the remaining years of service to the king of Babylon. The service to the king of Babylon was to last until the beginning of the dominion of the Persian empire.
This service to the king of Babylon was also to last until the land of Palestine had enjoyed its sabbaths. This is an obvious reference to Leviticus 25. The Law of Moses provided for a sabbatical year (every seventh year) in which the land went untilled. At the end of seven sabbaths of years (49 years) a year of jubilee was celebrated in which captives went free and land reverted back to the original owners. According to the standard chronology Jerusalem fell in 587 and the captives returned home to claim their land in 538, exactly 49 years. During the last part of Jeremiah’s seventy year period the land of Palestine did keep its sabbaths-seven sabbatical years of time. These 49 years of sabbath rest for the land and continued service to the king of Babylon in Babylonia, filled up the remaining portion of Jeremiah’s prophecy of seventy years of service to the king of Babylon.
In the first year of Cyrus (538-537) the captives experienced their jubilee yearthey were released from their servitude and returned to their original possessions.
III. WHEN DID THE SEVENTY YEARS END?
The seventy years plainly ended with the overthrow of Babylon, not the return of the Jews as claimed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Then AFTER seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon. Babylon was punished in 539. Thus this must be the end of the seventy year period. The Jehovah’s Witnesses acknowledge that Babylon fell in 539. They claim that the seventy years began in 607. This is a period of only 68 years. How do the Witnesses explain that AFTER seventy years the king of Babylon will be punished? Was Jeremiah wrong? OR are the Jehovah’s Witnesses wrong when they insist on interpreting the seventy years literally as seventy years to the day?
When seventy years are completed FOR BABYLON, I will visit you (the Israelites). The seventy year period allotted to Babylon ended when Babylon fell in 539. It is AFTER that period is completed that God visits His people.
NOW in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom.
The proclamation of Cyrus releasing the Jews filled up the words of Jeremiah because Jeremiah had predicted that AFTER the seventy year period the Jews would be released. This verse does not indicate that the year or so between the fall of Babylon and the actual return of the Jews to Palestine was to be INCLUDED in the seventy year period as the Witnesses claim.
IV. THE SEVENTY YEARS OF INDIGNATION
In addition to Jeremiah’s prophecy of the seventy years of service to the king of Babylon there is a second, altogether different, seventy years period mentioned in Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 7:5.
How long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which You have had indignation these seventy years?
This question was asked by the angel of the Lord in a vision seen by Zechariah in the second year of Darius, 520 B.C. Jerusalem still had not been fully restored. The Temple had not even been built yet. Because the Temple of the Lord was being neglected the people were under the wrath of God. God had sent a desolation (Hebrew chorev). See Haggai 1:3-11. There was drought and crop failure. This was the seventy years of indignation which began with the destruction of the Temple and ended with the rebuilding of that same Temple in 516 B.C.
This passage alone is sufficient to prove that the Jehovah’s Witnesses chronology is completely wrong. They place the destruction of the Temple in 607. But the Temple was not rebuilt until 516, a period of NINETY-ONE YEARS. How can the Witnesses fit this seventy year period mentioned by Zechariah into their chronology?
Say to all the people of the land to the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?
Again the seventy year period since the destruction of the Temple is referred to. In this chapter the people are concerned as to whether it is any longer necessary to observe certain fast days now that the Temple was being rebuilt. For seventy years, 587-516 they had been observing fasts in the 5th and 7th month (Jeremiah 7:5) as well as in the 4th and 10th month (Jeremiah 8:19). These are not fasts required in the Law of Moses but fasts which commemorated events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem. They had a fast to bewail the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem (10th month), the breech in the walls of Jerusalem (4th month), the burning of the city (5th month), and the death of Gedaliah (7th month). Now that the Temple was being rebuilt they wanted to know whether or not they should keep these fasts.
Again let it be noted that the period from the destruction of the Temple to the rebuilding of some was seventy years, NOT NINETY-ONE YEARS AS NECESSITATED BY THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES.
V. OBJECTIONS To THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS-’ VIEW THAT JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED AND ZEDEKIAH REMOVED FROM THE THRONE IN 607 B.C.
NOTE: Page references in the following comments refer to Babylon the Great bus Eden published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
The Jehovah Witnesses have a profound misunderstanding of the means by which ancient chronology is established. On page 138 the writers assert that chronologers base their calculations on the astronomical Canon of Ptolemy whose system of astronomy has long since been exploded (p. 138). As a matter of fact the exact reigns of certain Assyrian kings can be computed on the basis of astronomical data contained in Assyrian King Lists which are contemporary with the events which they recorded. For example, an eclipse of the sun is recorded in the 9th year of the Assyrian king Ashurdan III. By means of astronomy this can be computed to have been on June 15, 763. This date is confirmed by the Canon of Ptolemy. From this date the reigns of all the Assyrian kings and neo-Babylonian kings can be computed by means of various king lists and building inscriptions. It is interesting that one of the truly absolute dates in antiquity Isaiah 853 the famous battle of Qarqar at which king Ahab was present. He is actually named in the records of king Shalmaneser III. But according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses Ahab died in 922SIXTY-NINE YEARS BEFORE HE WAS PRESENT AT THE BATTLE OF QARQAR. The misunderstanding of Jeremiah’s seventy year prophecy has thrown off the chronology of the Witnesses.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses twist the Scriptures to make them fit predetermined theories of history. On page 136-37 the Witnesses assert that there were no captives taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. In order to maintain this false position the Witnesses twist Daniel 1:1. They assert that the third year of Jehoiakim mentioned here is not the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign but the third year of his vassalship to Nebuchadnezzar.
BUT NO OTHER PLACE IN THE BIBLE OR IN THE LITERATURE OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST DID ANY KING DATE HIS REIGN ACCORDING To HIS VASSALSHIP TO A FOREIGN RULER.
Here again the Witnesses reveal their ignorance of simple facts about the ancient Near East. To any unprejudiced mind Daniel 1:1 plainly means that Nebuchadnezzar did take hostages to Babylon in the first year of his reign which was also the 3rd year of Jehoiakim by the Babylonian method of reckoning regnal years.
In repudiating the scientific chronology prior to 539 the Witnesses make no attempt to point out where the reasoning of the historians has gone astray (p. 372). Now there is nothing wrong with suggesting that every chronologer outside the Witnesses-’ sect is wrong. But it would only seem fair that anyone who would make such a suggestion would indicate where everyone else went wrong in their thinking. THIS THE WITNESSES NEVER BOTHER TO DO. It is known from Babylonian records that Nebuchadnezzar reigned 43 years, his son Amel-Marduk reigned two years. The next king reigned 4 years, his son three months and Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, seventeen years. This totals 66+ years. BUT THE WITNESSES MAKE THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE LAST FOR 85 YEARS. Where do these additional years fit in? Was there some king who reigned for 20 years about whom the cuneiform sources, the Bible, the classical historians, and Jewish tradition knew nothing? What king that reigned 20 years could have been COMPLETELY forgotten? Did any of the five kings mentioned above reign more than the time assigned to them by the historians? If so, which one? The Witnesses are silent. Not one shred of proof is offered. The Witnesses ASSUME (without evidence) that the Hebrew word translated desolation means without inhabitant. They further ASSUME that when the Jews made their hasty exit to Egypt following the death of Gedaliah that ALL the people left the country. Judah was left without inhabitant (pp. 163, 64).
Now these ASSUMPTIONS are hard to reconcile with the plain statement of Jer 52:30 which records a deportation of Jews to Babylon FIVE YEARS AFTER JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED. But here again the Witnesses twist the evidence. They assert without a shred of proof that these were not taken off the land of Judah but were captured when Nebuchadnezzar made nations that bordered on the desolated land of Judah drink of the bitter potion of being violently conquered (p. 167). Any unprejudiced mind can see here an effort to MAKE the Bible say what one WANTS it to say. Jeremiah 52:28-30 records three deportations of the Jews, the first two of which were off the land of Judah. By what rule of interpretation is one to assume that the third deportation mentioned here was not off the land of Judah?
Conclusion
There are in the Bible TWO SEVENTY YEAR periods. The first of these was prophesied by Jeremiah in 605 and began in that year. It lasted until 539, the year in which the Neo-Babylonian Empire came to an end. The prophet uses a symbolic number to represent the period of Babylonian domination. The second seventy year period began with the destruction of the Temple (587) and lasted until the rebuilding of the Temple (516). The Jehovah’s Witnesses declare that there were 2,520 years in the times of the Gentiles. (Your will be done On Earth, p. 104). Adding these years to 607 they arrive at the year 1914 for the beginning of the reign of Christ. But since the Witnesses are wrong about the date of the fall of Jerusalem, then THE WITNESSES MUST BE WRONG ABOUT THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES ENDING IN 1914.
Now since the Witnesses have been using both 607 and 1914 as foundation stones in their system of prophetic interpretation, and since they are WRONG on both dates, one certainly has ground for suspicion that their whole system of prophetic interpretation is questionable.
Jeremiah 23:1-8
D. The Promise of an Ideal Ruler Jeremiah 23:1-8
TRANSLATION
(1) How sad it is that shepherds are destroying and scattering the flock of My pasture! (oracle of the LORD). (2) Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are caring for My people; you have scattered My flock and driven them away, and you have not visited them; behold, I am about to visit upon you the evil of your deeds. (3) Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have driven them and I will cause them to return to their pasture; and they shall be fruitful and multiply. (4) And I will raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not fear anymore nor shall they be terrified, nor shall they be lacking (oracle of the LORD). (5) Behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when I will raise up for David a righteous Shoot and He shall reign as king and he shall act wisely and execute justice and righteousness in the land. (6) In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely; and this is His name which He will be called, The LORD our Righteousness. (7) Therefore behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when they will no longer say, As the LORD lives who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, (8) but, As the LORD lives who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I have driven them. Then they shall dwell in their land.
COMMENTS
It is a sad situation which the prophet is describing in Jeremiah 23:1. The shepherds, the national leaders (cf. Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 10:21), are responsible for the impending destruction of the flock which God has committed into their care. Under the leadership of these unscrupulous men the people of the land had strayed from the paths of fidelity to God. Not only did these leaders set the wrong example for the people, they also condoned and encouraged the violence and corruption which was rampant in the land. These leaders had not visited the flock of God. Therefore God is about to visit these corrupt leaders (Jeremiah 23:2). The Hebrew word translated visit has a wide variety of meanings. It may mean to attend to, to visit, muster, appoint, pay attention to, etc. The word can be used in a positive or a negative sense. One can visit for the purpose of aiding or helping, or one can visit for the purpose of judging or punishing. The verb is used in both senses in Jeremiah 23:2. The spiritual leaders of Judah did not visit the flock, i.e., they did not care for or aid them or pay attention to them. Therefore God will visit on them their evil deeds, i.e., God will punish them for their wickedness. This type of word play is common in the prophetic books. By pointing the finger of blame at the national leaders Jeremiah does not mean to excuse the populace from any responsibility for the condition of the nation. The people are guilty for having tolerated and followed their wicked leaders.
The corrupt shepherds who governed Judah were responsible for the impending national deportation and dispersement. But sometime in the future the Good Shepherd would again assemble His flock. Only a remnant, a small portion, of those who were carried away into captivity would ever return. Apparently the majority would be lost during the period of exile. God will gather His people from the various landsEgypt, Assyria, Babylonwhere He had scattered them. Upon returning to their homeland the remnant of Judah will be made fruitful and they will multiply (Jeremiah 23:3).[223] After their return God will raise up for His people a new kind of ruler. The wicked shepherds took care of themselves and not the flock; but the new shepherds will have the interest of the people at heart. The old shepherds had left the flock of God exposed to the ravishes of wild beasts (cf. Ezekiel 34:8); under the new shepherds the flock will contentedly graze without fear. Not one of them will be lacking or missing due to any neglect on the part of the new shepherds (Jeremiah 23:4). Who are the new shepherds of whom Jeremiah speaks? Some contend that he is referring to leaders like Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah whom God raised up to care for the remnant of Judah following the return from Babylon. Others think the prediction is Messianic and points to those leaders who serve under the glorious Ruler who appears in the following verse. As is frequently the case in prophecy prophecies of restoration blend in with prophecies of the Messiah and His kingdom.
[223] Compare Ezekiel 34:12-15.
The word behold indicates that a noteworthy announcement is about to be made. Jeremiah uses the formula behold days are coming sixteen times to introduce messages of reassurance. After the days of humiliation at the hands of Babylon, God will raise up an ideal King to rule over the land. This ruler is of course none other than the long-awaited Messiah. Jeremiah 23:5-6 are of such importance that nearly every phrase is deserving of comment. The following information can be gleaned from these verses concerning the coming Messiah.
- The promised Messiah is to be the descendant of David.[224] Through the prophet Nathan, God had promised David that his progeny would sit forever on the throne of Israel (2 Samuel 7).
[224] Cf. Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 11:1; Micah 5:2.
-
The Messiah is called in the standard English version a branch. However the Hebrew word is never used of a twig or individual branch of a tree. Rather the idea is a sprout or shoot which grows directly out of the ground. The title shoot is here applied unmistakably to the Messiah for the first time. In Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12 shoot becomes a proper name for the Messiah.
-
The Messianic Shoot is raised up by direct action of God. This was necessary because the old stock of David was worn out, incapable of reproducing from itself a mighty tree.
-
The Messiah will be a righteous Shoot. All other descendants of David had to confess their sins and ask divine forgiveness. The Messiah would be sinless (Isaiah 53:9). He did not become righteous; he was righteous (Isaiah 53:11).
-
The Messiah shall reign as king. Jeremiah looks forward here to the rule of a second David. That the reign of Christ has already begun is the clear testimony of the New Testament.[225]
[225] See Hebrews 1:3-13; Hebrews 10:12-13; Revelation 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Acts 2:19-34.
-
He shall deal wisely. The same Hebrew verb could be translated he shall prosper. But in the light of Isa 11:2 probably the former translation is preferable. The Messiah will have the insight and the intelligence to bring God’s plan of salvation to a successful completion. He will rule His kingdom in such a way as to bring joy, happiness and well-being to all His subjects.
-
The Messiah will execute justice and righteousness. This sums up the function of the ideal ruler (cf. 11 Samuel Jeremiah 8:15). He is able to create or establish a new norm, a new standard, a new righteousness.[226]
[226] Seven times Jeremiah uses the Hebrew verb meaning do or make with the word for justice. Thus the Messiah creates or makes justice and righteousness.
-
Israel and Judah will be reunited under the rule of the Messiah. Ezekiel held out a similar hope (Ezekiel 37:19). The salvation and deliverance spoken of in Jeremiah 23:6 are spiritual blessings. Reunited Judah and Israel never regained political independence except for one brief period under the Hasmonean rulers in the second century before Christ.
-
The Messiah shall bear the name The LORD our Righteousness. In Jeremiah 33:16 Jeremiah gives this same name to the city of Jerusalem. Laetsch has pointed out the unique manner in which this name is introduced here. The Lord does not merely say: His name is or shall be (as is said of AbrahamGen 17:5 b); nor does he say: Call His name (as in the case of IshmaelGen 16:11; Genesis 16:13); nor yet does he say: This shall he be called (as is used of JerusalemJer 33:16). The phraseology used here is unique in the entire Old Testament: And this is His name which one shall call Him. According to Laetsch two facts are underscored by this construction:
(1) The name given the Messiah here is not a mere label or tag. Rather it designates the very nature or essence of the Messiah. He IS righteousness! (2) God desires that mankind should refer to the Messiah by the title here given, Yahweh, our Righteousness.
In Jeremiah 23:7-8 the prophet moves back from the distant Messianic future to the more immediate future. Using essentially the language of Jer 16:14 f. Jeremiah speaks once again of the return from Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah never wavered on this proposition: God would bring a remnant of His people home from Babylon. This return from Babylon would overshadow the Exodus from Egypt. The promise is introduced by the word therefore. One noted expositor has suggested that whenever one sees in Scripture a therefore he ought to try to discover what it is there for. The suggestion here is that God lets His people return to their homeland as a preparation for the coming of the great Messianic savior of whom Jeremiah has been speaking in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Since the Exodus from Egypt was foundational to the establishment of the old covenant and to all the theology of the Old Testament, it is no small matter for Jeremiah to state that the New Exodus from Babylon will supersede that earlier event in importance. Only when the Exodus from Babylon is seen as foundational to the establishment of the New Covenant is such a comparison justified.
Jeremiah 23:9-15
E. The Condemnation of False Prophets Jeremiah 23:9-40
The heading over Jeremiah 23:9 reads against the prophets. In this section of the book which deals with national leaders past, present and future a section concerning the prophets is to be expected. The question is, what prophets are addressed in this oracle? Jeremiah is not referring to the prophets of Baal (see Jeremiah 23:13; Jeremiah 23:27), nor is he referring to the so called sons of the prophets who are always described as true prophets of the Lord. As a matter of fact there is no positive proof that the institution known as the sons of the prophets which was founded by Elijah and Elisha was still in existence. The prophets against whom Jeremiah speaks out are men who were purporting to speak in the name of the Lord when they had received no revelation from Him. They are akin to those self-serving court prophets which appear in 1Kings 22 as part of the court of Ahab. These pseudo prophets apparently enjoyed a large measure of popular support in the days of Jeremiah probably because they tickled the ears of the people with the kind of preaching which they craved. These men were perhaps the greatest hindrance to the effective proclamation of the revealed word of God. That there existed a mutual antagonism between the true messenger of God and these charlatans is evident in the passages where they are mentioned.[227] Jeremiah lashed out against them throughout his ministry. Here he points out the menace of false prophets (Jeremiah 23:9-15) and analyzes their message (Jeremiah 23:16-22) and their methods (Jeremiah 23:23-32). Finally he blasts them for the way they caused the people to mock the true messenger of God (Jeremiah 23:33-40).
[227] See Jeremiah 5:30 f; Jeremiah 14:13-18; Jeremiah 26:7-16; Jeremiah 28:1-17; Jeremiah 29:30-32; Jeremiah 37:18-21.
- The menace of the fake Prophets (Jeremiah 23:9-15)
TRANSLATION
(9) Against the prophets. My heart is broken with in me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunk man, and like a strong man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of His holy words. (10) For the land is full of adulterers; for the earth mourns because of a curse; the pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course is evil, and their strength is not right; (11) for both the prophets and the priests are profane; yea in My house I have found their wickedness (oracle of the LORD). (12) Therefore their way shall become to them as slippery places in deep darkness. They shall be pushed forward and fall on it; for I shall bring against them calamity, the year of their visitation (oracle of the LORD). (13) In the prophets of Samaria I saw unseemliness; they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err. (14) But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen an astonishing thing: committing adultery, walking in lies; and they have strengthened the hands of the evil ones, with the result that no one turns from his evil. They are all to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. (15) Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I am about to feed them wormwood and cause them to drink poison water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out to all the land.
COMMENTS
Jeremiah did not fit the stereotype of the hell-fire and damnation preacher. As he contemplated the guilt of his people and their impending destruction his heart is broken, his bones shake in terror. He loses all self-control and becomes in that respect like a man who is intoxicated. Four reasons for the grief and distress of the prophet are given. (1) Jeremiah is upset because of the Lord and His word (Jeremiah 23:9). The knowledge that God is about to bring judgment upon the wicked and sinful people of Judah has caused the prophet much grief and no little perplexity. (2) Jeremiah is grief-stricken because of the sinfulness of the masses. The land is full of adultery. Both literal and spiritual adultery is doubtlessly meant. The course of the people, their way of life, that which they pursue is only evil. They use their might for that which is not right i.e., crookedness. (3) The condition of the land brings the prophet much distress. The land is under the curse of God because of the sin of its inhabitants. The curse here is that with which God punishes the wicked.[228] The earth mourns because it is unable to bring forth its produce. The pastures have dried up (Jeremiah 23:10). This passage may well date to the time of the drought mentioned in Jeremiah 14:1. (4) But the greatest burden to the heart of Jeremiah was the condition of the spiritual leaders of the land. Both the priests and the prophets were profane, unholy, disobedient to the commands of God. In the very Temple of God evidence of their wickedness could be found (Jeremiah 23:11). Just exactly what wickedness Jeremiah is referring to here is uncertain. Ezekiel tells of the totemistic worship of figures of animals in the inner chambers and of women weeping for the nature god Tammuz in the courts of the Temple (Ezekiel 8:10-14). These pagan practices could not have been going on without the active cooperation of the priests. The false prophets were probably preaching their perversions of the word of God in the Temple precincts. Being both priest and prophet, Jeremiah was keenly aware of the guilt of the men who occupied both of these offices.
[228] See Zechariah 5:3; Daniel 9:11; Isaiah 24:6; Leviticus 26:14 ff.; Deuteronomy 28:16 ff.
Up to this point the false prophets had pursued their evil course with assurance; but now God will make their way slippery and dangerous as they plunge forward into the darkness of sin. The imagery here is comparable to that of Jer 13:16 and Psalms 35:6. By circumstances and by Satan these wicked men are driven forward to ever more treacherous ground until they finally will fall to their destruction. Their year of visitation i.e., time of their punishment, will overtake them (Jeremiah 23:12).
In the eyes of God the prophets of Judah were more wicked than the prophets of Samaria. Those Baal prophets of the north had been found to be unseemly (lit., unsalted, tasteless). They had caused God’s people in the north to err (Jeremiah 23:13). But the prophets of Judah were far worse. By professing themselves to be spokesmen for God they were in effect putting God’s stamp of approval upon the most terrible deeds. They themselves were immoral and unscrupulous and furthermore through their false prophecies they strengthened the hands of those who engaged in evil practices. They did not preach repentance or judgment and consequently no man turned away from his evil deeds. By constantly preaching peace and prosperity these prophets had succeeded in turning Judah into a virtual Sodom (Jeremiah 23:14). From the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness had spread throughout the land. Good prophets may not have much of an impact upon society. But let reports of evil conduct on the part of clergymen spread throughout the land and every sinner will use it as an excuse to commit even greater evils. These prophets who preached such a disastrous message and set such a terrible example will be forced to partake of the wormwood and the gall, bitter poisonous plants which here symbolize divine judgment (Jeremiah 23:15). In Jeremiah 9:15 this same expression was used in reference to the judgment upon the people of the land. Here the preachers are depicted as suffering the same fate as the people to whom they preached. There is no exemption for the clergy when it comes to divine judgment!
Jeremiah 23:16-22
- The message of the fake prophets (Jeremiah 23:16-22)
TRANSLATION
(16) Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not hearken to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are causing you to become vain! They speak a vision of their heart and not from the mouth of the LORD. (17) They say continually to those who despise Me, The LORD has said: You shall have peace; and to all who walk in the stubbornness of their heart they have said: Calamity shall not come upon you. (18) For who has stood in the secret council of the LORD that he might see and hear His word?[229] Who has paid attention to His word and heard it? (19) Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in fury, a whirlwind; it shall whirl upon the heads of the wicked. (20) The anger of the LORD shall not be turned back until He has accomplished and performed the plans of His heart. In the end of the days you will fully understand it. (21) I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran! I have not spoken unto them, yet they prophesied! (22) If they had stood in My council, then they would have caused My people to hear My words, and they would have caused them to turn from their wicked way, and from the evil of their deeds.
[229] His word may also be read My word. The ancient versions are divided on the translation. Actually it makes little difference which reading is adopted.
COMMENTS
The prophets of Judah are bolstering the false hopes of the people with false prophecies. Jeremiah calls for the people to repudiate these deceivers. Their prophecies did not come from the mouth of the Lord but from the vain imaginations of their own hearts. Giving heed to such empty prophecies would only cause the people to act in a vain and foolhardy way (Jeremiah 23:16). The false prophets were continually grinding out their pious platitudes. The Hebrew uses a grammatical device to emphasize the ceaseless flow of words which were pouring forth from these pseudo prophets. To the hardened and rebellious sinners of Judah these men were giving assurance that all would be well. The Lord has said, You shall have peace. No calamity will befall you! The expression the Lord has spoken nowhere else in the Old Testament introduces a revelation from the Lord. If this was the formula by which these false prophets actually introduced their supposed oracles, then it differed from those formulas used by Jeremiah and the other prophets whose books have been preserved in Scripture.
By means of two rhetorical questions Jeremiah denies the authority of the false prophets and at the same time implicitly affirms his own inspiration. Who has stood in the council of the Lord that he might see and hear His word? The answer is obvious. Corrupt men like the false prophets could never have stood in the presence of God. Amos asserted, Surely the Lord will do nothing unless he reveals His secret counsel (same word used by Jeremiah) unto His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). David declared that God extends His secret counsel to the pious (Psalms 25:14). Sometimes the prophets had visions in which they saw the Lord in consultation with His trusted servants (Isaiah 6:1; 1 Kings 22:19). Eliphaz asked Job, Were you listening in the council of God? (Job 15:8). The picture here is of the heavenly council chambers. True prophets are privy to the decisions of God relating to the children of men. This is another way of saying that the prophet receives direct revelation from God. The second rhetorical question of Jer 23:18 points to another way in which man can ascertain the will of God. Who has paid attention to His word and heard it? When one gives heed to the word of God as revealed in Scripture, he too can learn the will of God. The false prophets had not been privileged to stand in the secret council of God nor had they paid heed to His written word.
The message which Jeremiah brought in the name of God was quite different from that which the false prophets brought. God’s judgment is already approaching like a whirlwind. It will literally dance around upon the head of the wicked. The hurricane of divine wrath is upon them (Jeremiah 23:19). Nothing will turn back God’s wrath. Attempting to thwart the plans of God by human means is as foolish as trying to tame a tornado at the height of its fury. Though the people may not presently be able to understand the plans and purposes of God, someday they will understand it all. At that time they will realize that they have been justly punished for their sins against God and man (Jeremiah 23:20). The term end of days has been explained in three ways. (I) Some think that the end of days refers to the consummation of the world. The idea would then be that at the end of the age, possibly after the second coming of Christ, men will be able to understand clearly all of God’s dealing with men. It cannot be sustained from the usage of this term in the Old Testament that it refers to the end of the world. (2) Others think that end of days refers to the Messianic age as in Jeremiah 48:47; Jeremiah 49:39; Isaiah 2:2; Hosea 3:5. The idea would then be that God’s dealing with Israel would be placed in proper perspective when the Messiah comes. (3) A third view is that the term end of days simply means in future days. Cheyne points to an Assyrian inscription where precisely the same phrase is used in the general sense of future time. It is the view of this writer that end of days refers to the New Testament age.
In Jeremiah 23:17-20 Jeremiah emphasizes the point that the message of the false prophets is diametrically opposed to true revelation. God had not sent these prophets yet they eagerly ran to assume their prophetic office. God had not spoken to them yet they had the audacity to prophesy in His name (Jeremiah 23:21). As further proof that these men were deceivers Jeremiah points out that their preaching was not designed to effect any moral change. Their message has no rebuke for sin and no appeal for reformation. Therefore these men cannot be true prophets of the Lord! If they truly had stood in the secret council of God they would be diligently laboring to turn people from their evil ways (Jeremiah 23:22).
Jeremiah 23:23-32
- The methods of the false prophets (Jeremiah 23:23-32)
TRANSLATION
(23) Am I a God near at hand (oracle of the LORD), and not a God far off? (24) Can a man hide himself in secret places that I am not able to see him (oracle of the LORD)? Do not I fill the heavens and the earth (oracle of the LORD)? (25) I have heard that which the prophets who have been prophesying lies in My name have said: I have dreamed! I have dreamed! (26) How long? Do the prophets who prophesy falsehood and are prophets of the deceit of their own heart think, do they plan to make My people forget MY name with their dreams which they relate each one to his neighbor as their fathers forgot MY name because of Baal? (28) The prophet who has a dream, let him relate a dream; and the one who has My word let him speak My word faithfully. What does straw have to do with wheat (oracle of the LORD)? (29) Is not My word like fire (oracle of the LORD) and like a hammer that shatters rock? (30) Therefore behold, I am against the prophets (oracle of the LORD) that steal My words everyone from his neighbor. (31) Behold, I am against You, O prophets (oracle of the LORD), who take their tongue and say, Oracle. (32) Behold, I am against the prophets of lying dreams (oracle of the LORD) who narrate them and cause My people to err with their lies and their recklessness when I did not send them nor did I command them nor will they profit this people at all (oracle of the LORD).
COMMENTS
In a series of three rhetorical questions Jeremiah presents deep theological truth. (1) Am I a God near at hand and not a God far off? (Jeremiah 23:23). This question brings out the thought of God’s transcendence. Unlike the pagan gods the Lord is not restricted to one place at a time. He was not confined to a temple or shrine. He dwells afar off where no man can approach Him, let alone manipulate Him. (2) Can a man hide himself in secret places that I cannot see him? This second question brings out the thought of God’s omniscience. God’s vision and knowledge embrace all things happening on the earth. The remote past and the distant future are equally known to Him. (3) Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? (Jeremiah 23:24). This question points to the fact that God is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. Three times in Jeremiah 23:23-24 the phrase oracle of the Lord occurs. This transcendent, omniscience, omnipresent God is the Lord, Yahweh, the great I Am who is unlimited by space and time. The false prophets have not escaped the notice of God. He has heard the lies which they have been prophesying in His name. These prophets boasted of their dreams as though the mere claim to having received revelation was sufficient to prove that they were prophets of God (Jeremiah 23:25).
The question here is whether or not dreams in the Old Testament were a legitimate mode of divine communication. In Deuteronomy 13:1 a fake prophet is described as a dreamer of dreams. God did at times reveal His will through dreams (Genesis 15:12; Genesis 20:3; Genesis 31:24; Genesis 37:5). In Numbers 12:6 God is said to make himself known to prophets by visions and dreams. Joe 2:28 predicts that in the Messianic age the old men will dream dreams. It is interesting however that between Numbers 12:6 which refers to the very early period of Israel’s history and Joe 2:28 which refers to the distant Messianic age scarcely anything is said of dreams as a medium of revelation to prophets. Often times prophets received communications from God in the night but these are called visions and not dreams (2 Samuel 7:14; 2 Samuel 7:17; Zechariah 4:1). While dreams were not then an illegitimate method of receiving divine revelation, as a matter of fact those who were true prophets rarely received revelation in that particular manner. The present passage seems to discredit the false prophets on the grounds that they claimed to receive divine revelation through dreams. Furthermore the fact that the prophets permitted what God had forbidden in His word stamped their dreams as products of their own heart (cf. Deuteronomy 13:1-3).
Jeremiah 23:26-27 are difficult to translate. Two questions are asked in these verses. The first question is quite general: How long? How much longer will these men continue their deception and falsehood. The second question is more penetrating, probing the possible motives of the false prophets. Is it their purpose to cause the people to forget the name of God and all that His name stands for? Error and false teaching lead men away from the Lord. As these prophets peddled their pernicious platitudes from door to door (lit., each man to his neighbor) they were sabotaging the true faith. False doctrine is as dangerous as idolatry. Jeremiah’s generation was in as much danger of being deceived by a false theology as their fathers who had been deceived by Baal worship (Jeremiah 23:27). There is nothing wrong with these men relating their dreams. But when they do so they should make it very clear that they are relating only a dream and nothing more. They should not pretend that these dreams are divine revelations. Chaff and wheat, the word of God and the dreams of men, must be kept separate. That which is worthless should never be allowed to contaminate in the least that which is pure. A preacher who presents personal views and opinions and theories from the pulpit as if they are the word of God is no better than the false prophets with whom Jeremiah struggled. Those who preach the word of God must speak it faithfully, honestly, forthrightly (Jeremiah 23:28). When this is done the word of God has dynamic power to accomplish the purpose of God. The word of God is like fire: It burns the conscience, purifies the life, illuminates the mind, energizes the will, warms the heart, fuses the fellowship, and consumes the ungodly. God’s message for Jeremiah’s day was a message of judgment, crushing like a hammer (Jeremiah 23:29). What a contrast between the feeble falsehoods of the pseudo prophets and the dramatic truth of the pure word of. God!
Three times in Jeremiah 23:30-32 God declares that He is against the false prophets. His opposition to them is threefold. (1) They have stolen the words of God from their neighbors i.e., another prophet who had received a genuine revelation from God. What elements of truth may have been in the message of the false prophet were stolen. No doubt these men carefully scrutinized the sermons of Jeremiah and tried to imitate his style and technique. Perhaps to a certain extent they even copied the content of his message. (2) They used the official prophetic formulas to give their utterances the aura of truth. They used the word oracle, a technical term used by a prophet whenever God put words in his mouth. The false prophets were palming off their own delusions by adopting the same forms as the true prophets used (Jeremiah 23:31). (3) God opposes these prophets because they are causing the people to err. The major trouble with false teachers is that they always gain a following. The people of Judah believed the lying dreams related to them by the false prophets. How presumptuous, how arrogant, how boastful of these men to claim to speak the word of God when in fact they had nothing more to share with their countrymen than their own wishful thinking. Such men are of no value at all to a nation (Jeremiah 23:32).
Jeremiah 23:33-40
- The mockery of the false prophets (Jeremiah 23:33-40)
TRANSLATION
(33) And when this people or the prophet or the priest shall ask you, What is the burden of the LORD? Then you shall say unto them, You are the burden and I will cast you off (oracle of the LORD). (34) And the prophet and the priest and the people who continuously say, The burden of the LORD, I will punish that man and his house. So shall each one say unto his neighbor and unto his brother, What is the answer of the LORD? and, What is the word of the LORD? (36) The burden of the LORD You shall not mention any more, for the burden to every man shall be his word; for you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of host our God. (37) Thus you shall say unto the prophet: What has the LORD answered and what has the LORD said? and if You say, Burden of the LORD, then thus says the LORD: Because you have said this word, Burden of the LORD, when I sent unto you saying, Do not say, Burden of the LORD, therefore behold, I will completely forget you and I will remove you and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers from before My face. (40) And I will make you eternal reproach and an eternal shame which shall not be forgotten.
COMMENTS
The people of Judah and their religious leaders constantly mocked Jeremiah by asking him, What is the burden of the Lord? The word burden in Hebrew can mean a heavy object or it can mean a weighty utterance. The apostates of Judah regarded every message from God as a heavy and wearisome burden. Wherever they would meet Jeremiah they would with a sneer ask the man of God, What new BURDEN do you have for us, you prophet of doom? The next time that question is put to him Jeremiah is instructed to say: You are the burden! This reading of the Hebrew is based on a slightly different division and vocalization of the consonants and is supported by the Septuagint and the Vulgate. An alternative translation is proposed by Keil: With reference to your question, What burden? I will unload you.
Since the term burden had been so misused by the people and their religious leaders Jeremiah is commanded to use it no longer in his prophetic utterances. Whoever continues to mockingly use the term burden will be punished by God (Jeremiah 23:34). If a person in the future wished to inquire concerning the word of the Lord he should adopt new terminology. He should ask, What is the answer or What is the word of the Lord? (Jeremiah 23:35). Apparently Jeremiah felt it was better to adopt a new phrase than to run the risk of misunderstanding or, even worse, profanity. Those who persist in using the term burden will find that their own words will be a burden which will crush them to the ground. By peddling their sugar-coated lies as being a burden from the Lord these prophets were not only guilty of mockery they were also guilty of perverting the word of God (Jeremiah 23:36).
After issuing his warning concerning the use of the term burden Jeremiah turns to the false prophets and challenges them with a question: What message do you have from the Lord? (Jeremiah 23:37). If in their reply these deceivers use the forbidden term burden Jeremiah is to pronounce sentence over them. God will utterly forget them and remove them from His presence, i.e., cause them to go into captivity (Jeremiah 23:38-39). The Hebrew here is very interesting. The word rendered in English utterly forget sounds very much like the forbidden word massa (burden). No doubt the prophet intended this as a pun or play on words. The scoffers and deceivers who made a reproach out of the word of God would themselves become an object of shame and reproach (Jeremiah 23:40). It is not hard to imagine the contempt with which these professing prophets were treated after their predictions of peace and prosperity failed to materialize.