Jeremiah 40

The prophet proclaims the tenor of God’s covenant with the Jews, and then denounceth a curse against those who break it: at the end of the chapter, he threatens evil to. his neighbours at Anathoth, who had conspired hte destruction. Ver.-2. JlIEAR ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men ofJudah, &c] That is, Hear, ye men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, the words of the covenant I made with your fathers: and do thou, Jeremiah, lay the tenor of it before them. (Compare ver. 6.) Dr. Lightfoot, in his Harmony of the Old Testament, is of opinion, that the prophet puts tho people in mind of the renewal of this covenant lately made in the time of Josiah, (2 Kings xxiii. 3.) that I do unto it J] These surprising effects of my goodness shall produce an astonishment like that which arises from fear. (Compare Psal. exxxix. 14. Isa. lx. 5.) Jeremiah is directed by Nebuzar-adan to repair to Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had made governor of - the land, and to whom the dispersed Jews from all parts repair. Jobanan informs the governor of IshmacFs con- > spiracy, but is not believed.

Jeremiah 40:1

JL HE wordwhich came to Jeremiah from theLord. This relates to the prophecy set down xlii. 7. which was occasioned by the story that here follows, concerning Ishmael’s conspiracy against Gedaliah. After that Nebuzar-adan — had let him go from Ramah, &c] He was taken out of the court of the prison, (see xxxix. 14.) and earned with the other captives as far as Ramah, a town not far from Jerusalem. (See Judg. xix. [Ver. 5. Now, while he was not yet gone back, he said.] The words in the Hebrew are very perplexed, and by the different translations of the ancient interpreters, one might guess that some Hebrew copies had a different reading from the present. The Vulgar Latin reads, And come not along with me; as if he read, in the Hebrew, imance for odenu. Some of the ancient Greek copies read, Before I go away, go back thou to Gedaliah. The Chaldee seems to interpret it to the plainest sense, If thou wilt not abide [here],0o back to Gedaliah: understanding the verb,-yashiib, as if it were derived from yashab, to abide. Words of a like sound having often a promiscuous signification. See the note on xxiii. 39.] Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.] This Gedaliah was a person of a considerable family, for interest and authority. (See the note on xxvi. 24.). So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.] This kind usage was shewed to the prophet, by the particular order of Nebuchadnezzar. (See xxxix. 11,12.) Vcr. 6. TJien went Jeremiah to Gedaliah— to Mizpah.] A town in the confines of Judah and Benjamin, (see Josh. xv. 38. xviii. 26.) where Gedaliah kept his residence, being a place of note in the times of the judges, (see Judg. xx. 1. 1 Sam.-vii. 5, 6.) and afterward rebuilt by king Asa, (1 Kings xv. 22.)

Jeremiah 40:3

Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the ivords of this covenant. It is a way of speaking usual in Scripture, to denounce God’s judgments in the form of imprecation: so the apostle pronounces an excommunication, by saying, Let him be accursed, or anathema, (Gal. i. 8. 1 Cor. xvi. 22.) To the same sense, St. Paul saith of Alexander the coppersmith, Tlie Lord reward him according to his works, (2 Tim. iv. 14.) Thus the imprecations we meet with in several Psalms, are to be understood as so many predictions, or denunciations, of God’s judgments. Accordingly, St. Peter, speaking of the hundred and ninth-Psalm, saith, That in it the Holy Ghost spake before [or prophesied] by the mouth of David concerning Judas, (Acts i. 16.)

Jeremiah 40:7

Now, when all the captains of the forces ivhich were in the fields, even they and their men heard 9 &c. By the taking of Jerusalem, the Chaldeans made a complete conquest of Judea: whereupon the Jewish army with its commanders fled, (see xxxix. 4.) and dispersed themselves into several parts of the country: but upon the news of Gedaliab’s being appointed governor of the land, they repaired all to him.

Jeremiah 40:8

Tlie Netophathite. Of Netophah, a town mentioned Ezra ii. 22. Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite.] Descended from Maachah, Caleb’s concubine, (1 Chron. ii.48.) The same person is called Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, xlii. 1. Vcr. 9. Fear not to serve the Chaldeans.] The same advice Jeremiah had formerly given the Jews. (Seexxvii. 11. xxix. 7.) 4P2

Jeremiah 40:10

Which ye say shall be desolate, &c. See the note onxxxii.43.

Jeremiah 40:11

Tlie voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, &c. The contrary to which is threatened in tho times of captivity and desolation. (See xvi. 9.) The voice of them that shall say, Praise ye the. Lord — for the Lord is good, for his mercy endurethfor ever.] We read that those who returned from captivity used this very hymn, Ezraiii. 11. And of them that bring the sacrifice of praise unto the house of the Lord.] Such as was offered upon any great deliverance. (SeeLev.vii. 12. Psal. cvii. 22. cxvi.17.) The word here used signifies praise and thanksgiving in general; and is used for those choirs or companies who made a solemn thanksgiving procession upon the dedication of the new wall at Jerusalem, (Nehcm. xii. 31. 38. 40.) This is called by St. Paul the sacrifice of praise, even the fruit of our lips, Heb. xiii. 15. to distinguish it from the oblations commanded by the law, whicti consisted of the fruits of the ground, or of the flock and herd. [Kimchi observes ijpon the place, that none but eucharistical sacrifices shall be in use in the times of the Messias.] For I will cause their captivity to return, as at the first.] Sec xxx. 20, 21.

Jeremiah 40:12

Again in this place—shall be a habitation for shepherds, causing their flocks to lie down. Compare 1. 19. Isa. lxv. 10. -

Jeremiah 40:13

In the cities of the mountains, &c. See the note, on xvii. 2G. • Shall the flocks pass again under the hand of him that telleth than?] That is, of their shepherds, who number their qattle by striking every one with their rod, as it comes out of the fold. (See Lev. xxvii. 32.) •

Jeremiah 40:14

Behold, the day is come — that I will perform that good thing which I have promised. Or, good word, as it is in the original; (compare xxix. 10. Zech. i. 13.) i. e. those gracious promises which relate to the gospel-state, and are called the good word of God, Heb. vi. 5. •

Jeremiah 40:15

In thosedays — willlcausetheBranch of righteous ness to grow unto David, &c.* See the notes upon xxiii. 5, 6. Ver. 1G. And this is the name icherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.] The name which properly belongs to the Messias (see xxiii. 6.) shall be given to Jerusalem, that is, to the church; to betoken that it is in a peculiar manner dedicated to him, he having chosen it for the place of his residence; (compare Ezck. xlviii. 35.) and that all the righteousness of the faithful, both their justification and sanctification, is derived from him. This seems to be the genuine sense of the words, as may appear to any that will compare the original phrase here, Yikkare lah, with Isa. lxii. 4. 12. where it is said of Zion, the person only being changed, Thou shalt be called Ilephzi-bah, and Sought out. Nor is there any greater impropriety in giving the name of Jehovah to a city, than in calling an altar Je- Jiovah-nissi, (Exod.xvii. 15.) and Jehovah-shalom, (Judg. vi. 24.) in token that the Lord was author of those mercies, of whiph the said altars were designed to be inonumenL So the servants of God arc described in the Revelation, as having his name written upon their forehead, (Rev. iii. 12. xiv. 1.) But several interpreters, particularly Huetius, (Demonstr. Evang. prop. vii. cap. 16.) and our learned Bishop Pearson, in the notes upon his Exposition of the Creed, p. 165. render the words thus, He that shall call Iter [to be his peculiar people] is the Lord our righteousness..

David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel. The promise of perpetuity made to David’s kingdom shall be fulfilled in Christ, whose kingdom shall have no end. (See 2 Sam. vii. 16. Psal. lxxxix. 29. 36. Luke i. 32, 33.).

Neither shall the priests, the Levites, want aman to stand before me, to offer burnt-offerings, &c. This, as it may be applied to the Christian church, imports that there shall never want a succession of men set apart to God’s service, to perform the public offices of religion. As the prophets often describe the Christian worship, by representations taken from the temple-service, and speak of the one as succeeding the other; (see the notes on Isa. xix. 19. lvi. 7. lxvi. 23.) so the apostles prove the rights and privileges belonging to the ministers of the gospel, from the prerogatives given to the Jewish priesthood. (See Rom. xv. 16. 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14.) The phrase to stand before me, is explained in the note upon xv. 1.

If you can break my covenant of the day, and —of the night, &c. . Called the ordinances of the day and night, xxxi. 35, 36.

" Tlieri may also my covenant be broken with David my servant — and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. The words contain a promise, that the kingdom and priesthood shall always continue in the church. For as Christ’s kingdom shall have no end, so the saints that shall reign with Christ in glory shall he priests unto God* (Compare Isa. lxvi. 22. Rev. xx. 6.)

As the host of heaven cannot benumbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David, &c. This relates to the promise made to Abraham, of multiplying his seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore: (Gen. xxii. 17.) which promise was fulfilled in his posterity, (Deut. x. 22. 1 Kings iv. 20.) And the text here affirms, that the same promise shall again be made good in aftertimes, and especially in the true Israelites, the spiritual seed of Abraham. (See Rom. iv. 16, 17.) * If we consider the literal sense of this promise, as it was fulfilled, when the Jews first peopled the land of Canaan; it is matter of wonder to reflect upon the vast numbers of inhabitants who dwelt in Judea, a country not above a hundred and sixty miles in length, and about a hundred and twenty in breadth, if we take in all the country on the other side of Jordan, to the borders of Arabia; and yet, in David’s time, there were reckoned above fifteen hundred thousand fighting men, (1 Chron. xxi. 3.) And afterward, in Jehoshaphat’s time, it appears from the muster-roll, that the soldiers in the kingdom of Judah only amounted to eleven hundred thousand. (Sec 2 Chron. xvii. 14, &e.)

TJie two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off. By the two families arc meant the tribes or families of Judah and Levi, mentioned ver. 22. (Compare Zech. xii. 12, 13.) The words arc spoken by those who thought the Jews ^vould never be restored to their former condition, or again enjoy their ancient government in church and state. [The expression may more probably