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Jer_52:12-16
Jer_52:15-16. Then Nebuzar-adan. … husbandmen.—The poor of the people, which is wanting in 2 Ki., has come here either by mistake from Jer_52:16, where it also begins the sentence, or it is to express the thought, that the poor people did not all remain behind, but were partly carried away. the latter is probably the correct view.—Multitude [work-people]. It is difficult to decide which is the correct rendering. Both suit the sense, for a remnant of workpeople might just as well be spoken of as a remnant, of the masses of the people (either in antithesis to the warriors or the population of the city). I prefer to take the word in the sense in which it undoubtedly occurs in Pro_8:30 [then was I as a workman with him], and Son_7:1.
2. On Jer_52:1-3. “From this we see why God sometimes places ungodly rulers over a country, who cast it to destruction. It is done on account of the rulers’ and the people’s sins, that they may draw down the well merited punishment, as Sirach says. On account of violence, injustice and avarice, a kingdom passes from one nation to another (Jer_10:8). So also says king Solomon. Because of the sins of a nation occur many changes of rulers, but for the sake of the people who are intelligent and reasonable, the State is prolonged (Pro_28:2).” Wurtemb. Summarien.
3. On Jer_52:4. “God allows many slight and mild punishments to come as warnings, till at last comes the finishing stroke. This is a witness to the divine long-suffering (Rom_2:4).” Cramer.
4. On Jer_52:6. “The fact that in this siege compassionate women had to kill and eat their own children (Lam_4:10) is a reminder that by bodily hunger God would punish; 1. satiation and disgust towards His holy word and soul-food; 2. the terrible offering up of children to Moloch; 3. the loose discipline of children.” Cramer.
5. On Jer_52:7. “No fortress can protect the ungodly, even though they had their nest in the clouds.” Cramer.
6. On Jer_52:8. “An example of faithless, perjured men of war. But as Zedekiah broke his oath to the king at Babylon, he was paid back in the same coin.” Cramer. “His people forsook the poor king Zedekiah on his flight and he was captured, from which we see that great men cannot depend on their body-guard; these flee in time of need, and leave their masters in the lurch. The surest and best protection is when we have the holy angels for our guard … This angelic protection is, however, to be obtained and preserved by faith and godliness, but is lost by unbelief and ungodly conduct.” Wurtemb. Summ.
7. On Jer_52:9-11. The punishment of perjury. “Ubi monemur, quod fides hosti, etiam barbaro, qualis hodie Turca, a Christianis data, mimine violanda.” Förster.
8. On Jer_52:9. sqq. “God had shown Zedekiah by Jeremiah a way in which he could escape the calamity. But because he forsook the Lord and would not follow it, the others were only leaky cisterns (Jer_2:13). For woe to the rebellious who take counsel without the Lord (Isa_30:1). This is useful for an instance against the holy by works, who reject God’s way of escaping the Devil; when they devise other ways for themselves they are caught by the Chaldeans of hell.” Cramer.
9. On Jer_52:12 sqq. “Holy places, external ceremonies and opus operatum do not avail for hypocrites … If God punished His own institution so severely, how shall human institutions remain unpunished?” Cramer.
10. On Jer_52:12. “Quale fatum, ne et nostris obtingat templis … caveamus, ne profanemus templa ulterius tum externa vel materialia, tum interna vel spiritualia in cordibus nostris, de quibus 1Co_3:16 sqq.; Jer_6:19 sqq.” Förster.
11. On Jer_52:15. “It is another work of mercy that some of Judah were preserved. For God’s grace is always to be found in His punishments.” Cramer.
12. On Jer_52:15. “He who will not serve God and his neighbor at home and in quiet, must learn to do it in a strange land in affliction and distress.” Cramer.
13. On Jer_52:24 sqq. “As teachers are often to blame for their behaviour that sin gets the upper hand in a community, it is exceedingly just when God brings such for an example into great punitive judgment (1Sa_2:27-34).” Starke.
14. On Jer_52:24. “The priests are caught and slain; 1. because they could not believe the truth for themselves; 2. because they led others astray; 3. because they appealed to the temple of the Lord; 4. because they persecuted the true prophets; 5. because they troubled the whole church of God. But he who troubleth shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be (Gal_5:10).” Cramer.
15. On Jer_52:31 sqq. “Sane omnino verisimile videtur judicio Philippi Melanchthonis in Chron. part, I fol. 33 Evilmerodachum amplexum esse doctrinam Danielis de Vero Deo, quam et pater publico edic professus est, eamque ob causam clementiam exercuisse erga regem Jechoniam.” Förster.—“Narrant Hebræi hujusmodi fabulam: Evilmerodach, qui patre suo Nabuchodonosor vivente per septem annos inter bestias, ante regnaverat, postquam ille restitutus in regno est, usque ad mortem patris cum Joakim rege Judæ in vinculis fuit; quo mortuo, quum rursus in regnum succederet, et non susciperetur a principibus, qui metuebant, ne viveret qui dicebatur extinctus, ut fidem patris mortui faceret, aperuit sepulcrum et cadaver ejus unco et funibus traxit.” Jerome on Jer_14:18-19. Josephus speaks of it as follows: “ Ἀâéëáìáñþäá÷ïò åὐèὺò ôὸí ‘ Éå÷ùíßáí ôῶí äåóìῶí ἀöåὶò ἐí ôïῖò ἀíáãêáéïôÜôïéò ößëïéò åἱ÷å … ‘ Ï ãὰñ ðáôὴñ áὐôïῦ ôὴí ðßóôéí ïὐê ἐöýëáîå ôῷ ’ Éå÷ùíßá , ðáñáäüíôé ìåôὰ ãõíáéêáῶí êáὶ ôÝêíùí êáὶ ôῆò óõããåíåßáò ὅëçò ἑêïõóßùò ἑáõôὸí ὑðὲñ ôῆò ðáôñἰäïò , ὡò ἄí ìὴ êáôáóêáöåßç ëçöèåῖóá ôῇ ðïëéïñêßᾳ .” (Antiqq., X. 11, 21.)
16. On Jer_52:31 sqq. “Ceterum potest hoc exemplo, quod Jechonias rex dignitati suæ in exilio Babylonico restitutus, refutari exceptio Judæorum contra vaticinium Jacobi (Gen_49:10) de Messia jamdudum exhibito, postquam per Romanos sceptrum de Juda ablatum, id quod ôåêìÞñéïí Messiæ jamjam nascituri esse debuit.” Förster.
17. On Jer_52:31 sqq. “No one should despair in misfortune, for the right hand of the Highest can change all (Psa_77:10) and Christ rules even in the midst of His enemies (Psa_110:2). For His are the praise, the glory and the power from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.” Cramer.
2. On Jer_52:12-20. The rejection of Judah appears at first sight a contradiction. For Jerusalem is the holy city (Mat_4:5; Neh_11:1; Neh_11:18), the city of God (Psa_46:5; Psa_48:2; Psa_48:9; Psa_78:3); the temple is the house of Jehovah (Jer_7:2. etc.); God’s service rests on divine authority (Ex. chh. 25–27, 30, 31). But God cannot contradict Himself. We have, therefore, to show “the unity of the divine thoughts in the choice and rejection of Jerusalem.” 1. The rejection was a conditional one (Jer_7:3 sqq). Hence notwithstanding the election the rejection involved nothing contradictory, but was a necessary consequence of the unfulfilled condition.—2. The election remains (a) objectively notwithstanding the rejection; it is (b) subjectively brought to its realization by the rejection; the latter as a means of discipline operating to produce the disposition, from which alone thefulfillment of this condition can proceed. Comp. rems. on Jer_32:41, p. 288.
3. On Jer_52:24-27. “That great lords sometimes make an example of gross miscreants, promotes righteousness, only it must not be done on the innocent, or with such severity that there is no proportion between the crime and its punishment (Jos_7:25).” Starke.
4. On Jer_52:31-34. The deliverance of Jehoiachin. 1. It shows us that the Lord can help (a) out of great distress (grievous imprisonment of thirty-seven years), (b) in a glorious manner. 2. It admonishes us (a) to steadfast patience, (b) to believing hope, Psalms 13 [“It was a prelude and pledge of the liberation and exaltation of the Jewish Nation, when it had been humbled and purified by the discipline of suffering; and of its return to its own land; and a joyful pre-announcement of that far more glorious future restoration which the prophets in the Old Testament, and the Apostles in the New foretell—of Israel to God in Christ; to whom, with the Father and Holt Ghost, be ascribed all honor, glory, dominion, adoration and praise, now and forever. Amen.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.].
Footnotes:
Jer_52:12.—For òָîַã ìְáִּðֵé , of which words the former owes its punctuation to the erroneous connection with éִøåּùָìַí (hence also áִּé× ), 2 Kings reads òֶáֶã as a correction, and éø× without áִּé . He ought doubtless to read òֹîֵã . Comp. Jer_35:19; Jdg_20:28.
Jer_52:13.—Before ðָãåֹì the article is wanting in 2 Ki. according to rule. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 82, 6. But the construct state of áֵּéú is surprising in both cases. Probably it read originally, as Hitzig supposes. ëַּéִú âַãåֹì . A mistake (comp. the áֵּéú twice before) caused áֵּéú , from which came áַּéú äַðָãåֹì . This can be taken only in the sense of rhetorical emphasis, äַâָּãåֹì being collective for “the great” (2Ki_4:8; 2Ki_5:1). Then certainly the constr. state is perfectly normal, but, in 2 Ki. the traces of an older form of the text are to be recognized. Before çåֹîֹú Jer_52:14 is wanting in 2 Ki. the certainly unnecessary ëֹּì , before øַáÎè× however the grammatically necessary àֵú .
Jer_52:15.—Instead of éֶúֶøÎäָîåֹï , 2 Ki. has äֶäָîåֹï . The word àîåï must have seemed obscure even to the authors of the text of 2 Kings 25. and Jeremiah 39, the one rendering it as above, the other by äָòָí çַðִּùְׁàָøִéí . In Pro_8:30 àָîåֹï and in Son_7:1 àָîִï certainly has the sense of work-man, and accordingly we may take the word here as a collective designation of the äָøָùׁ and îַñְâֵø , whose deportation is spoken of in Jer_24:1 and Jer_29:2. Thus Hitzig, Graf, Meier, Keil, on the other hand, appeals to Jer_39:9. But this passage, as well as 2Ki_25:11, proves only that to both authors the word àָîåֹï appeared strange. Whether they interpreted it correctly is another question. If it should be alleged that it is a word appertaining only to a higher style, we reply that it would not be an easy alteration from äַîåֹï .
Jer_52:16.—Instead of îִãַּìּåֹú 2 Ki. has îִãַּìַּú . This also betrays the hand of the corrector, since ãַּìּåֹú does not occur elsewhere either as plural or singular (Ewald, §165, c). It is the plural of ãַּìָּä (Jer_40:7; 2Ki_24:14; 2Ki_25:12)=tenuitates, insignificances.
Jer_52:16.—The name Nebuzar-adan appeared superfluous to the author of 2 Kings 25., having been mentioned in Jer_52:12. The word éֹâְáִéí , which does not occur elsewhere, he altered into ðָáִéí (from âåּáּ , fodit, aravit). Comp. remarks on Jer_39:10.