Jeremiah 22:7

7 I will send people to destroy you. They will have their own weapons. They will cut down your finest cedar trees and throw them on a fire.

Jeremiah 22:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 22:7

And I will prepare destroyers against thee
The Chaldeans, men of savage dispositions, bent upon the destruction of their neighbours; and who had already destroyed many nations, and so fit instruments for such service, as after mentioned; and who yet did not come merely of themselves, but were moved and directed to it by the powerful and all wise providence of God, in consequence of a previous preparation and appointment of them by the Lord in his counsels and purposes. It is, in the original text, "I will sanctify destroyers" {c}; and not only intends a purpose and design; but suggests, that what they should do by his will and order would be consistent with his holiness and justice; and also that being prepared and ready, they might quickly expect a visit from them: everyone with his weapons;
of war, or slaughter weapons, as in ( Ezekiel 9:2 ) ; or, "a man and his weapons" ^F4; not a single man only, as Nebuchadnezzar, but him and his army; everyone of the destroyers prepared with proper instruments to do execution: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast [them] into the fire;
the sons of the king, the princes of the blood, the nobles of the land, and other persons of rank and distinction, comparable to the tall cedars of Lebanon; so the Targum,

``and they shall slay the beauty of thy mighty ones, as the trees of a forest are cut down, and cast into the fire;''

or else the stately palaces of the king and his nobles, and other beautiful buildings, which were lined and ceiled with cedar, are here meant; and which the Chaldeans burnt with fire, ( Jeremiah 52:13 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (ytvdqw) "sanctificabo", V. L. Montanus, Cocceius.
F4 (wylkw vya) "virum et arma ejus", Vulg. Lat. Vatablus; "virum et instrumenta ejus", Montanus, Cocceius.

Jeremiah 22:7 In-Context

5 But if you don't do what I say, I will take an oath on myself," declares the LORD, "that this palace will become a pile of rubble.

6 "This is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah: This palace is like Gilead to me, like the top of Lebanon. I will certainly turn it into a desert, into cities that no one lives in.

7 I will send people to destroy you. They will have their own weapons. They will cut down your finest cedar trees and throw them on a fire.

8 "People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other, 'Why has the LORD done this to this important city?'

9 The answer will be: 'They rejected the promise of the LORD their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.'"