Jeremiah 34:18

18 'I will give the men who have 1transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they 2cut the calf in two and passed between its parts -

Jeremiah 34:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 34:18

And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant,
&c.] The covenant the king, princes, and all the people made, to let their servants go free, is called the Lord's covenant, because made in his name, in his presence, and before him as a witness; and very probably the calf that was cut in pieces on this occasion, after mentioned, was sacrificed to him, which made him a party concerned; unless this is to be understood of the covenant of God in general made with Israel on Mount Sinai; and so is distinct from the other covenant, which may be more especially designed in the next clause: which have not performed the words of the covenant made before me;
did not perform what they promised to do in the presence of the Lord, as in ( Jeremiah 34:15 ) ; when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof;
which was a rite or custom used in making and confirming covenants; a calf, or some other creature, were cut in pieces, and the parts laid in order, and the covenantees passed between these parts; signifying thereby, that if they did not fulfil the engagements they entered into, they imprecated to be cut to pieces as that creature was. Some footsteps of this practice are to be seen as early as the times of Abraham, ( Genesis 15:9 Genesis 15:10 Genesis 15:17 ) ; upon which place Jarchi observes, that it was the way of making a covenant to divide a beast, and pass between the parts of it; and this custom obtained among the Chaldeans, Greeks, and Romans; or what was very similar to it. Cyril F21 says this custom was by the Chaldeans, who might take it from Abraham. A people called Molotti had something of this kind among them: for they confirmed the covenants they swore to by cutting oxen into little pieces F23; and Homer seems to have a respect to such a practice when he says that the priest, after he had prayed to Apollo, slew the sacrifice, and flayed it, and cut it in pieces, making duplicates F24, alike to one another. Cicero F25 is thought to have the same custom in view; and likewise Virgil F26, when he speaks of the covenant made between Romulus and Tatius king of the Sabines, whom he represents as standing armed before the altar of Jupiter, holding caps, and joining in covenant by killing a swine, and cutting it in pieces; in like manner Livy F1 describes the covenant made between the Romans and Albanians, when the herald at arms, reciting the conditions, called aloud

``"hear, O Jupiter"''
if the Roman people first fail in observing these,
``strike them as I now strike this hog; and so much the more, as thou art more able and mighty;''
which being said, he struck it with a flint stone; hence the phrase, "ferire foedus", to strike or make a covenant; and, in allusion to the above custom, making a covenant is commonly called, in the Old Testament, "cutting a covenant". Some versions, as the Syriac interpreter, render it, "I will make the men as the calf they cut in twain" they shall be cut in pieces as that is; see ( Matthew 24:51 ) .
FOOTNOTES:

F21 Contra Julian, l. 10. apud Grotium in Gen. xv. 17.
F23 Zenobius apud 10.
F24 (mhrouv t'exetamon) ------ (diptuca poihsantev, ep' autwn d' wmoyethsan) . Iliad 1. v. 461, 462.
F25 De Inventione, l. 2. sect. 20.
F26 "Armati Jovis ante aram, paterasque tenentes Stabant, et caesa jungebant foedera porea". Aeneid. l. 8.
F1 Hist. l. 1. p. 14.

Jeremiah 34:18 In-Context

16 "Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants."'
17 "Therefore thus says the LORD , 'You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,' declares the LORD , 'to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 'I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts -
19 the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf -
20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Deuteronomy 17:2; Hosea 6:7; Hosea 8:1; Romans 2:8
  • 2. Genesis 15:10
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