1
For spelling see note, page 4
2
Cf. Preface.
3
We know little of Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns. In 2 Kings xxiv. 1 we are told that Nebuchadnezzar "came up" in the days of Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. It is not clear whether Nebuchadnezzar "came up" immediately after the battle of
1
For spelling see note, page 4
2
Cf. Preface.
3
We know little of Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns. In 2 Kings xxiv. 1 we are told that Nebuchadnezzar "came up" in the days of Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. It is not clear whether Nebuchadnezzar "came up" immediately after the battle of Carchemish, or at a later time after his return to Babylon. In either case the impression made by his hasty departure from Syria would be the same. Cf. Cheyne,
4
xi. 19.
5
xvi. 2.
6
2 Kings xxiii. 30-32.
7
Cf. xxii. 26.
8
xxii. 10-12.
9
Ezek. xix. 3, 4.
10
The expression is curious; it usually means all the cities of Judah, except Jerusalem; the LXX. reading varies between "all the Jews" and "all Judah."
11
See especially the exposition of chaps. vii. – x., which are often supposed to be a reproduction of Jeremiah's utterance on this occasion.
12
The Hebrew apparently implies that the discourse was a repetition of former prophecies.
13
vii. 12-14. Even if chaps. vii. – x. are not a report of Jeremiah's discourse on this occasion, the few lines in xxvi. are evidently a mere summary, and vii. will best indicate the substance of his utterance. The verses quoted occur towards the beginning of vii. – x., but from the emphatic reference to Shiloh in the brief abstract in xxvi., Jeremiah must have dwelt on this topic, and the fact that the outburst followed his conclusion suggests that he reserved this subject for his peroration.
14
v. 31.
15
Acts xxi. 27-30.
16
2 Kings xv. 35.
17
Mark xiv. 58.
18
Acts vi. 13, 14, vii. 48.
19
2 Kings xviii. 4, xxiii.; Isa. xxxvi. 7.
20
vii. 4.
21
Micah iii. 12. As the quotation exactly agrees with the verse in our extant Book of Micah, we may suppose that the elders were acquainted with his prophecies in writing.
22
Psalm xxxi. 13-15, 18, 19. The Psalm is sometimes ascribed to Jeremiah, because it can be so readily applied to this incident. The reader will recognise his characteristic phrase "Terror on every side" (Magor-missabib).
23
This incident cannot be part of the speech of the elders; it would only have told against the point they were trying to make. The various phases – prophesy, persecution, flight, capture, and execution – must have taken some time, and can scarcely have preceded Jeremiah's utterance "at the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim."
24
Assuming his sympathy with Deuteronomy.
25
2 Tim. iv. 3.
26
See Cheyne, Giesebrecht, Orelli, etc.
27
R.V. "against." The Hebrew is ambiguous.
28
So Septuagint. The Hebrew text has Israel, which is a less accurate description of the prophecies, and is less relevant to this particular occasion.
29
30
Cf. Chap. V. on "Baruch."
31
Verses 5-8 seem to be a brief alternative account to 9-26.
32
1 Chron. xx. i.
33
34
xxvi. 2.
35
So Cheyne; the Hebrew does not make it clear whether the title "scribe" refers to the father or the son. Giesebrecht understands it of Shaphan, who appears as scribe in 2 Kings xxii. 8. He points out that in verse 20 Elishama is called the scribe, but we cannot assume that the title was limited to a single officer of state.
36
Cf. xxvi. 10.
37
Isa. lviii. 3-8.
38
Micah vi. 6-8.
39
So Orelli,
40
Hebrew text "to Baruch," which LXX. omits.
41
In verse 18 the word "with ink" is not in the LXX., and may be an accidental repetition of the similar word for "his mouth."
42
The A.V. and R.V. "all the words" is misleading: it should rather be "everything"; the princes did not recite all the contents of the roll.
43
The English tenses "cut," "cast," are ambiguous, but the Hebrew implies that the "cutting" and "casting on the fire" were repeated again and again.
44
One is called Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech (A.V.), or "the king's son" (R.V.); if the latter is correct we must understand merely a prince of the blood-royal and not a son of Jehoiakim, who was only thirty.
45
For verses 29-31 see Chap. VI., where they are dealt with in connection with xxii. 13-19.
46
The supposition that Jeremiah had written notes of previous prophecies is not an impossible one, but it is a pure conjecture.
47
Cf. Orelli,
48
Num. vi. 2.
49
xix. 94.
50
Scott,
51
The term "house of the Rechabites" in verse 2 means "family" or "clan," and does not refer to a building.
52
Eight Jeremiahs occur in O.T.
53
Literally "sons of Hanan."
54
Jeremiah, according to this view, had no interview with the Rechabites, but made an imaginary incident a text for his discourse.
55
ii. 10, 11.
56
Matt. xi. 21, 22.
57
