Jeremiah 25
CHAPTER 25
Jeremiah 25:1-38 . PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY YEARS CAPTIVITY; AND AFTER THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON, AND OF ALL THE NATIONS THAT OPPRESSED THE JEWS.
1. fourth year of Jehoiakim--called the third year in Daniel 1:1 . But probably Jehoiakim was set on the throne by Pharaoh-necho on his return from Carchemish about July, whereas Nebuchadnezzar mounted the throne January 21, 604 B.C,; so that Nebuchadnezzar's first year was partly the third, partly the fourth, of Jehoiakim's. Here first Jeremiah gives specific dates. Nebuchadnezzar had previously entered Judea in the reign of his father Nabopolassar.
3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah, in which Jeremiah began to prophesy ( Jeremiah 1:1 ), to the end of Josiah's reign, was nineteen years ( 2 Kings 22:1 ) of Jehoahaz' reign, with the not quite complete four years of Jehoiakim ( Jeremiah 25:1 ), added to the nineteen years, make up twenty-three years in all.
to Urijah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, &c. It aggravates their sin, that God sent not merely one but many messengers, and those messengers, prophets; and, that during all those years specified, Jeremiah and his fellow prophets spared no effort, late and early.5. Turn . . . dwell--In Hebrew there is expressed by sameness of sounds the correspondence between their turning to God and God's turning to them to permit them to dwell in their land: Shubu . . . shebu, "Return" . . . so shall ye "remain."
every one from . . . evil--Each must separately repent and turn from his own sin. None is excepted, lest they should think their guilt extenuated because the evil is general.
6. He instances one sin, idolatry, as representative of all their sins; as nothing is dearer to God than a pure worship of Himself.
7. Though ye provoke Me to anger ( Deuteronomy 32:21 ), yet it is not I, but yourselves, whom ye thereby hurt ( Proverbs 8:36 , 20:2 ).
The Medes and other northern peoples, confederate with Babylon, are included with the Chaldeans.my servant--My agent for punishing ( Jeremiah 27:6 , 43:10 ; compare Jeremiah 40:2 ). Compare Isaiah 44:28 ; Cyrus, "My shepherd." God makes even unbelievers unconsciously to fulfil His designs. A reproof to the Jews, who boasted that they were the servants of God; yet a heathen king is to be more the servant of God than they, and that as the agent of their punishment.
10. ( Jeremiah 7:34 , Revelation 18:23 ). The land shall be so desolated that even in the houses left standing there shall be no inhabitant; a terrible stillness shall prevail; no sound of the hand-mill (two circular stones, one above the other, for grinding corn, worked by two women, Exodus 11:5 , Matthew 24:41 ; in daily use in every house, and therefore forbidden to be taken in pledge, Deuteronomy 24:6 ); no night-light, so universal in the East that the poorest house has it, burning all night.
candle--lamp ( Job 21:17 , 18:6 ).
11. seventy years--( Jeremiah 27:7 ). The exact number of years of Sabbaths in four hundred ninety years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity; righteous retribution for their violation of the Sabbath ( Leviticus 26:34 Leviticus 26:35 , 2 Chronicles 36:21 ). The seventy years probably begin from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Jerusalem was first captured, and many captives, as well as the treasures of the temple, were carried away; they end with the first year of Cyrus, who, on taking Babylon, issued an edict for the restoration of the Jews ( Ezra 1:1 ). Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks are based on the seventy years of the captivity (compare Daniel 9:2 Daniel 9:24 ).