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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J E R E M I A H.
CHAP. XXVI.
As in the history of the Acts of the Apostles that of their preaching
and that of their suffering are interwoven, so it is in the account we
have of the prophet Jeremiah; witness this chapter, where we are told,
I. How faithfully he preached,
II. How spitefully he was persecuted for so doing by the priests and
the prophets,
III. How bravely he stood to his doctrine, in the face of his
persecutors,
IV. How wonderfully he was protected and delivered by the prudence of
the princes and elders,
Though Urijah, another prophet, was about the same time put to death by
Jehoiakim
(ver. 20-23),
yet Jeremiah met with those that sheltered him,
| Jeremiah’s Solemn Address. | B. C. 608. |
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1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD‘s house,
and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in
the LORD‘s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto
them; diminish not a word:
3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil
way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto
them because of the evil of their doings.
4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will
not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before
you,
5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I
sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye
have not hearkened;
6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this
city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
We have here the sermon that Jeremiah preached, which gave such offence
that he was in danger of losing his life for it. It is here left upon
record, as it were, by way of appeal to the judgment of impartial men
in all ages, whether Jeremiah was worthy to die for delivering such a
message as this from God, and whether his persecutors were not very
wicked and unreasonable men.
I. God directed him where to preach this sermon, and when, and to what
auditory,
v. 2.
Let not any censure Jeremiah as indiscreet in the choice of place and
time, nor say that he might have delivered his message more privately,
in a corner, among his friends that he could confide in, and that he
deserved to smart for not acting more cautiously; for God gave him
orders to preach in the court of the Lord’s house, which was
within the peculiar jurisdiction of his sworn enemies the priests, and
who would therefore take themselves to be in a particular manner
affronted. He must preach this, as it should seem, at the time of one
of the most solemn festivals, when persons had come from all the
cities of Judah to worship in the Lord’s house. These
worshippers, we may suppose, had a great veneration for their priests,
would credit the character they gave of men, and be exasperated against
those whom they defamed, and would, consequently, side with them and
strengthen their hands against Jeremiah. But none of these things must
move him or daunt him; in the face of all this danger he must preach
this sermon, which, if it were not convincing, would be very provoking.
And because the prophet might be in some temptation to palliate the
matter, and make it better to his hearers than God had made it to him,
to exchange an offensive expression for one more plausible, therefore
God charges him particularly not to diminish a word, but to
speak all the things, nay, all the words, that he had commanded
him. Note, God’s ambassadors must keep closely to their instructions,
and not in the least vary from them, either to please men or to save
themselves from harm. They must neither add nor diminish,
Deut. iv. 2.
II. God directed him what to preach, and it is that which could not
give offence to any but such as were resolved to go on still in their
trespasses.
1. He must assure them that if they would repent of their sins,
and turn from them, though they were in imminent danger of ruin and
desolating judgments were just at the door, yet a stop should be put to
them, and God would proceed no further in his controversy with them,
v. 3.
This was the main thing God intended in sending him to them, to try if
they would return from their sins, that so God might turn from his
anger and turn away the judgments that threatened them, which he was
not only willing, but very desirous to do, as soon as he could do it
without prejudice to the honour of his justice and holiness. See how
God waits to be gracious, waits till we are duly qualified, till
we are fit for him to be gracious to, and in the mean time tries a
variety of methods to bring us to be so.
2. He must, on the other hand, assure them that if they continued
obstinate to all the calls God gave them, and would persist in their
disobedience, it would certainly end in the ruin of their city and
temple,
(1.) That which God required of them was that they should be observant
of what he had said to them, both by the written word and by his
ministers, that they should walk in all his law which he set before
them, the law of Moses and the ordinances and commandments of it,
and that they should hearken to the words of his servants the
prophets, who pressed nothing upon them but what was agreeable to
the law of Moses, which was set before them as a touchstone to
try the spirits by; and by this they were distinguished from the false
prophets, who drew them from the law, instead of drawing them to it.
The law was what God himself set before them. The prophets were his own
servants, and were immediately sent by him to them, and sent with a
great deal of care and concern, rising early to send them, lest
they should come too late, when their prejudices had got possession and
become invincible. They had hitherto been deaf both to the law and to
the prophets: You have not hearkened. All he expects now is that
at length they should heed what he said, and make his word their
rule–a reasonable demand.
(2.) That which is threatened in case of refusal is that this city, and
the temple in it, shall fare as their predecessors did, Shiloh and the
tabernacle there, for a like refusal to walk in God’s law and hearken
to his prophets, then when the present dispensation of prophecy just
began in Samuel. Now could a sentence be expressed more
unexceptionably? Is it not a rule of justice ut parium par sit
ratio–that those whose cases are the same be dealt with alike? If
Jerusalem be like Shiloh in respect of sin, why should it not be like
Shiloh in respect of punishment? Can any other be expected? This was
not the first time he had given them warning to this effect; see
When the temple, which was the glory of Jerusalem, was destroyed, the
city was thereby made a curse; for the temple was that which
made it a blessing. If the salt lose that savour, it is
thenceforth good for nothing. It shall be a curse, that is,
it shall be the pattern of a curse; if a man would curse any city, he
would say, God make it like Jerusalem! Note, Those that will not
be subject to the commands of God make themselves subject to the curse
of God.
| Jeremiah Prosecuted for His Preaching; Jeremiah’s Defence. | B. C. 608. |
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7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard
Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of
speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all
the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people
took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying,
This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate
without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against
Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came
up from the king’s house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down
in the entry of the new gate of the LORD‘s house.
11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and
to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he
hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your
ears.
12 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the
people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house
and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the
voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the
evil that he hath pronounced against you.
14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as
seemeth good and meet unto you.
15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye
shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this
city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD
hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
One would have hoped that such a sermon as that in the
so plain and practical, so rational and pathetic, and delivered in
God’s name, would work upon even this people, especially meeting them
now at their devotions, and would prevail with them to repent and
reform; but, instead of awakening their convictions, it did but
exasperate their corruptions, as appears by this account of the effect
of it.
I. Jeremiah is charged with it as a crime that he had preached such a
sermon, and is apprehended for it as a criminal. The priests,
and false prophets, and people, heard him speak these
words,
v. 7.
They had patience, it seems, to hear him out, did not disturb him when
he was preaching, nor give him any interruption till he had made an
end of speaking all that the Lord commanded him to speak,
v. 8.
So far they dealt more fairly with him than some of the persecutors of
God’s ministers have done; they let him say all he had to say, and yet
perhaps with a bad design, in hopes to have something worse yet to lay
to his charge; but, having no worse, this shall suffice to ground an
indictment upon: He hath said, This house shall be like Shiloh,
v. 9.
See how unfair they are in representing his words. He had said, in
God’s name, If you will not hearken to me, then will I make this
house like Shiloh; but they leave out God’s hand in the desolation
(I will make it so) and their own hand in it in not hearkening
to the voice of God, and charge it upon him that he blasphemed this
holy place, the crime charged both on our Lord Jesus and on
Stephen: He said, This house shall be like Shiloh. Well might he
complain, as David does
(Ps. lvi. 5),
Every day they wrest my words; and we must not think it strange
if we, and what we say and do, be thus misrepresented. When the
accusation was so weakly grounded, no marvel that the sentence passed
upon it was unjust: Thou shalt surely die. What he had said
agreed with what God had said when he took possession of the temple
If you shall at all turn from following after me, then this house
shall be abandoned; and yet he is condemned to die for saying it.
It is not out of any concern for the honour of the temple that they
appear thus warm, but because they are resolved not to part with their
sins, in which they flatter themselves with a conceit that the
temple of the Lord will protect them; therefore, right or wrong,
Thou shalt surely die. This outcry of the priests and prophets
raised the mob, and all the people were gathered together against
Jeremiah in a popular tumult, ready to pull him to pieces, were
gathered about him (so some read it); they flocked together,
some crying one thing and some another. The people that were at
first present were hot against him
(v. 8),
but their clamours drew more together, only to see what the matter
was.
II. He is arraigned and indicted for it before the highest court of
judicature they had. Here,
1. The princes of Judah were his judges,
Those that filled the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house
of David, the elders of Israel, they, hearing of this tumult in the
temple, came up from the king’s house, where they usually sat
near the court, to the house of the Lord, to enquire into this
matter, and to see that nothing was done disorderly. They sat down
in the entry of the new gate of the Lord’s house, and held a court,
as it were, by a special commission of Oyer and Terminer.
2. The priests and prophets were his prosecutors and accusers,
and were violently set against him. They appealed to the
princes, and to all the people, to the court and the jury,
whether this man were not worthy to die,
v. 11.
The corrupt priests and counterfeit prophets have always been the most
bitter enemies of the prophets of the Lord; they had ends of their own
to serve, which they thought such preaching as this would be an
obstruction to. When Jeremiah prophesied in the house of the king
concerning the fall of the royal family
&c.), the court, though very corrupt, bore it patiently, and we do not
find that they persecuted him for it; but when he comes into the
house of the Lord, and touches the copyhold of the priests, and
contradicts the lies and flatteries of the false prophets, then he is
adjudged worthy to die. For the prophets prophesied
falsely, and the priests bore rule by their means,
ch. v. 31.
Observe, When Jeremiah is indicted before the princes the stress of his
accusation is laid upon what he said concerning the city, because they
thought the princes would be most concerned about that. But concerning
the words spoken they appeal to the people, “You have heard what
he hath said; let it be given in evidence.”
III. Jeremiah makes his defence before the princes and the people. He
does not go about to deny the words, nor to diminish aught from them;
what he has said he will stand to, though it cost him his life; he owns
that he had prophesied against this house and this city,
but,
1. He asserts that he did this by good authority, not maliciously nor
seditiously, not out of any ill-will to his country nor any
disaffection to the government in church or state, but, The Lord
sent me to prophesy thus: so he begins his apology
(v. 12),
and so he concludes it, for this is that which he resolves to abide by
as sufficient to bear him out
(v. 15):
Of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all these
words. As long as ministers keep closely to the instructions they
have from heaven they need not fear the opposition they may meet with
from hell or earth. He pleads that he is but a messenger, and, if he
faithfully deliver his message, he must bear no blame; but he is a
messenger from the Lord, to whom they were accountable as well as he,
and therefore might demand regard. If he speak but what God appointed
him to speak, he is under the divine protection, and whatever affront
they offer to the ambassador will be resented by the Prince that sent
him.
2. He shows them that he did it with a good design, and that it was
their fault if they did not make a good use of it. It was said, not by
way of fatal sentence, but of fair warning; if they would take the
warning, they might prevent the execution of the sentence,
Shall I take it ill of a man that tells me of my danger, while I have
an opportunity of avoiding it, and not rather return him thanks for it,
as the greatest kindness he could do me? “I have indeed (says
Jeremiah) prophesied against this city; but, if you will now
amend your ways and your doings, the threatened ruin shall be
prevented, which was the thing I aimed at in giving you the warning.”
Those are very unjust who complain of ministers for preaching hell and
damnation, when it is only to keep them from that place of torment and
to bring them to heaven and salvation.
3. He therefore warns them of their danger if they proceed against him
(v. 14):
“As for me, the matter is not great what become of me;
behold, I am in your hand; you know I am; I neither have any
power, nor can make any interest, to oppose you, nor is it so much my
concern to save my own life: do with me as seems meet unto you;
if I be led to the slaughter, it shall be as a lamb.” Note, It becomes
God’s ministers, that are warm in preaching, to be calm in suffering
and to behave submissively to the powers that are over them, though
they be persecuting powers. But, for themselves, he tells them that it
is at their peril if they put him to death: You shall surely bring
innocent blood upon yourselves,
v. 15.
They might think that killing the prophet would help to defeat the
prophecy, but they would prove wretchedly deceived; it would but add to
their guilt and aggravate their ruin. Their own consciences could not
but tell them that, if Jeremiah was (as certainly he was) sent of God
to bring them this message, it was at their utmost peril if they
treated him for it as a malefactor. Those that persecute God’s
ministers hurt not them so much as themselves.
| Jeremiah’s Acquittal; Jeremiah’s Deliverance. | B. C. 608. |
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16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests
and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath
spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to
all the assembly of the people, saying,
18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king
of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus
saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and
Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as
the high places of a forest.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to
death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the
LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against
them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the
LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied
against this city and against this land according to all the
words of Jeremiah:
21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and
all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to
death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and
went into Egypt;
22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely,
Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into
Egypt.
23 And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him
unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast
his dead body into the graves of the common people.
24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with
Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the
people to put him to death.
Here is,
I. The acquitting of Jeremiah from the charge exhibited against him. He
had indeed spoken the words as they were laid in the indictment, but
they are not looked upon to be seditious or treasonable, ill-intended
or of any bad tendency, and therefore the court and country agree to
find him not guilty. The priests and prophets, notwithstanding his
rational plea for himself, continued to demand judgment against him;
but the princes, and all the people, are clear in it that this man
is not worthy to die
(v. 16);
for (say they) he hath spoken to us, not of himself, but in
the name of the Lord our God. And are they willing to own that he
did indeed speak to them in the name of the Lord and that that
Lord is their God? Why then did they not amend their ways and doings,
and take the method he prescribed to prevent the ruin of their country?
If they say, His prophecy is from heaven, it may justly be
asked, Why did you not then believe him?
Matt. xxi. 25.
Note, It is a pity that those who are so far convinced of the divine
original of gospel preaching as to protect it from the malice of others
do not submit to the power and influence of it themselves.
II. A precedent quoted to justify them in acquitting Jeremiah. Some of
the elders of the land, either the princes before mentioned or
the more intelligent men of the people, stood up, and put the assembly
in mind of a former case, as is usual with us in giving judgment; for
the wisdom of our predecessors is a direction to us. The case referred
to is that of Micah. We have extant the book of his prophecy among the
minor prophets.
1. Was it thought strange that Jeremiah prophesied against this city
and the temple? Micah did so before him, even in the reign of Hezekiah,
that reign of reformation,
Micah said it as publicly as Jeremiah had now spoken to the same
purport, Zion shall be ploughed like a field, the building shall
be all destroyed, so that nothing shall hinder but it may be ploughed;
Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of
the house on which the temple is built shall be as the high
places of the forest, overrun with briers and thorns. That prophet
not only spoke this, but wrote it, and left it on record; we find it,
By this it appears that a man may be, as Micah was, a true prophet of
the Lord, and yet may prophesy the destruction of Zion and Jerusalem.
When we threaten secure sinners with the taking away of the Spirit of
God and the kingdom of God from them, and declining churches with the
removal of the candlestick, we say no more than what has been said many
a time, and what we have warrant from the word of God to say.
2. Was it thought fit by the princes to justify Jeremiah in what he
had done? It was what Hezekiah did before them in a like case. Did
Hezekiah, and the people of Judah (that is, the representatives of the
people, the commons in parliament), did they complain of Micah the
prophet? Did they impeach him, or make an act to silence him and put
him to death? No; on the contrary, they took the warning he gave them.
Hezekiah, that renowned prince, of blessed memory, set a good example
before his successors, for he feared the Lord
(v. 19),
as Noah, who, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, was
moved with fear. Micah’s preaching drove him to his knees; he
besought the Lord to turn away the judgment threatened and to be
reconciled to them, and he found it was not in vain to do so, for
the Lord repented him of the evil and returned in mercy to them;
he sent an angel, who routed the army of the Assyrians, that threatened
to plough Zion like a field. Hezekiah got good by the preaching,
and then you may be sure he would do no harm to the preacher. These
elders conclude that it would be of dangerous consequence to the state
if they should gratify the importunity of the priests and prophets in
putting Jeremiah to death: Thus might we procure great evil against
our souls. Note, It is good to deter ourselves from sin with the
consideration of the mischief we shall certainly do to ourselves by it
and the irreparable damage it will be to our own souls.
III. Here is an instance of another prophet that was put to death by
Jehoiakim for prophesying as Jeremiah had done,
&c. Some make this to be urged by the prosecutors, as a case that
favoured the prosecution, a modern case, in which speaking such words
as Jeremiah had spoken was adjudged treason. Others think that the
elders, who were advocates for Jeremiah, alleged this to show that thus
they might procure great evil against their souls, for it would
be adding sin to sin. Jehoiakim, the present king, had slain one
prophet already; let them not fill up the measure by slaying another.
Hezekiah, who protected Micah, prospered; but did Jehoiakim prosper who
slew Urijah? No; they all saw the contrary. As good examples, and the
good consequences of them, should encourage us in that which is good,
so the examples of bad men, and the bad consequences of them, should
deter us from that which is evil. But some good interpreters take this
narrative from the historian that penned the book, Jeremiah himself, or
Baruch, who, to make Jeremiah’s deliverance by means of the princes the
more wonderful, takes notice of this that happened about the same time;
for both were in the reign of Jehoiakim, and this in the beginning
of his reign,
v. 1.
Observe,
1. Urijah’s prophecy. It was against this city, and this land,
according to all the words of Jeremiah. The prophets of the Lord
agreed in their testimony, and one would have thought that out of the
mouth of so many witnesses the word would be regarded.
2. The prosecution of him for it,
Jehoiakim and his courtiers were exasperated against him, and sought
to put him to death; in this wicked design the king himself was
principally concerned.
3. His absconding thereupon: When he heard that the king had
become his enemy, and sought his life, he was afraid, and fled, and
went in to Egypt. This was certainly his fault, and an effect of
the weakness of his faith, and it sped accordingly. He distrusted God,
and his power to protect him and bear him out; he was too much under
the power of that fear of man which brings a snare. It
looked as if he durst not stand to what he had said or was ashamed of
his Master. It was especially unbecoming him to flee into Egypt,
and so in effect to abandon the land of Israel and to throw himself
quite out of the way of being useful. Note, There are many that have
much grace, but they have little courage, that are very honest, but
withal very timorous.
4. His execution notwithstanding. Jehoiakim’s malice, one would think,
might have contented itself with his banishment, and it might suffice
to have driven him out of the country; but those are
bloodthirsty that hate the upright,
Prov. xxix. 10.
It was the life, that precious life, that he hunted after, and nothing
else would satisfy him. So implacable is his revenge that he sends a
party of soldiers into Egypt, some hundreds of miles, and they bring
him back by force of arms. It would not sufficiently gratify him to
have him slain in Egypt, but he must feed his eyes with the bloody
spectacle. They brought him to Jehoiakim, and he slew him
with the sword, for aught I know with his own hands. Yet neither
did this satisfy his insatiable malice, but he loads the dead body of
the good man with infamy, would not allow it the decent respects
usually and justly paid to the remains of men of distinction, but cast
it into the graves of the common people, as if he had not been a
prophet of the Lord; thus was the shield of Saul vilely cast away,
as though he had not been anointed with oil. Thus Jehoiakim hoped
both to ruin his reputation with the people, that no heed might be
given to his predictions, and to deter others from prophesying in like
manner; but in vain; Jeremiah says the same. There is no contending
with the word of God. Herod thought he had gained his point when he had
cut off John Baptist’s head, but found himself deceived when, soon
after, he heard of Jesus Christ, and said, in a fright, This is John
the Baptist.
IV. Here is Jeremiah’s deliverance. Though Urijah was lately put to
death, and persecutors, when they have tasted the blood of saints, are
apt to thirst after more (as Herod,
yet God wonderfully preserved Jeremiah, though he did not flee, as
Urijah did, but stood his ground. Ordinary ministers may use ordinary
means, provided they be lawful ones, for their own preservation; but
those that had an extraordinary protection. God raised up a friend for
Jeremiah, whose hand was with him; he took him by the hand in a
friendly way, encouraged him, assisted him, appeared for him. It was
Ahikam the son of Shaphan, one that was a minister of state in
Josiah’s time; we read of him,
Some think Gedaliah was the son of this Ahikam. He had a great
interest, it should seem, among the princes, and he used it in favour
of Jeremiah, to prevent the further designs of the priests and prophets
against him, who would have had him turned over into the hand of the
people, not those people
(v. 16)
that had adjudged him innocent, but the rude and insolent mob, whom
they could persuade by their cursed insinuations not only to cry,
Crucify him, crucify him, but to stone him to death in a
popular tumult; for perhaps Jehoiakim had been so reproached by his own
conscience for slaying Urijah that they despaired of making him the
tool of their malice. Note, God can, when he pleases, raise up great
men to patronize good men; and it is an encouragement to us to trust
him in the way of duty that he has all men’s hearts in his hands.
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