Jeremias 29:4

4 in the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines: and I will utterly destroy Tyre and Sidon and all the rest of their allies: for the Lord will destroy the remaining of the islands.

Jeremias 29:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 29:4

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel
For the letter was written by the order of the Lord, was endited by him, and was sent in his name, the prophet was only his amanuensis; and the titles which the Lord here takes are worthy of notice: "the Lord of hosts": of the armies above and below, that does according to his pleasure in heaven and in earth, with whom nothing is impossible; who could easily destroy the enemies of his people, and deliver them, either immediately by his power, or mediately by means of armies on earth, whom he could assemble, and send at pleasure; or by legions of angels at his command: "the God of Israel"; their covenant God; who still continued to be so, notwithstanding their sins and transgressions, and though in captivity in a foreign land; and a good him this, to preserve them from the idolatry of the country they were in, and to observe unto them that he only was to be worshipped by them: unto all that are carried away captives:
or, "to all of the captivity"; or, "to the whole captivity" ^F18; high and low, rich and poor; this letter was an interesting one to them all: whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;
for though their sins and iniquities were the moving, meritorious, and procuring causes of their captivity; and Nebuchadnezzar and his army the instruments; yet God was the efficient cause: the Chaldeans could never have carried them captive, if the Lord had not willed it, or had not done it by them; for there is no "evil [of this kind] in a city, and the Lord hath not done it", ( Amos 3:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (hlwgh lkl) "universae migrationi", Schmidt; "omni transmigrationi", Pagninus, Montanus.

Jeremias 29:4 In-Context

2 Behold, waters come up from the north, and shall become a sweeping torrent, and it shall sweep away the land, and its fulness; the city, and them that dwell in it: and men shall cry and all that dwell in the land shall howl,

3 at the sound of his rushing, at his hoofs, and at the rattling of his chariots, at the noise of his wheels: the fathers turned not to their children because of the weakness of their hands,

4 in the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines: and I will utterly destroy Tyre and Sidon and all the rest of their allies: for the Lord will destroy the remaining of the islands.

5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ascalon is cast away, and the remnant of the Enakim.

6 How long wilt thou smite, O sword of the Lord? how long will it be ere thou art quiet? return into thy sheath, rest, and be removed.