Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 52:24 - 52:30

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Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 52:24 - 52:30


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4. THE EXECUTION OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE AND STATEMENT OF THE NUMBER OF THE CAPTIVES

Jer_52:24-30

24And the captain of the guard [halberdiers] took Seraiah the chief priest, and 25Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door: He took also out of the city a eunuch [court officer], which had the charge [was overseer] of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king’s person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host [the scribe, the prince of the host], who mustered the people of the land; and three-score men of the people 26of the land, that were found in the midst of the city. So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.27And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land 28of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three 29thousand Jews and three and twenty: In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty and two persons: 30In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jer_52:24-27. And the captain … out of his own land. These verses differ from the corresponding verses in 2 Kings 25, with the exception of some trifling variations in language, only in the statement of a, number (seven instead of five in Jer_52:25), of which hereafter. It is related that representatives of all classes of the people, priests, officials and simple citizens had to suffer death, evidently in token that Nebuchadnezzar held not only the king but the people guilty of rebellion. At the head of those executed stands the high-priest Seraiah, who is nowhere mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. According to 1 Chron. 5:40 he was the son of Azariah and grandson of Hilkiah; according to Ezr_7:1, Ezra was descended from him.—After Seraiah is mentioned Zephaniah, doubtless the same who is mentioned in Jer_21:1; Jer_29:25; Jer_29:29; Jer_37:3 as priest simply and son of Maaseiah. Here he is called the second priest, but in 2 Kings 25. second priest only without the article. As according to 2Ki_23:4 (where as here three grades of priests are enumerated) there were several second priests, the reading of the Book of Kings is probably the correct one. Comp. Oehler in Herzog, R.-Enc. VI. S. 203, 4.—The keepers of the door [or threshold] are also mentioned in 2Ki_12:10; 2Ki_22:4; 2Ki_23:4; Jer_35:4. As only three of them are mentioned, we must regard these as the superiors of the four thousand Levitical ùֹׁòֲøִéí (1Ch_23:5). For further details consult Oehler in Herz., R.-Enc. VIII. S. 354–6.—In the second category of those executed are mentioned certain inhabitants of Jerusalem, who held offices at court, especially in the war-department. The city here seems to stand in antithesis both to the temple (Jer_52:24) and to the country (Jer_52:25 b). The one ñָøִéí (court-officer, but possibly at the same time eunuch, comp. rems. on Jer_29:2) was not the overseer, but only an overseer, etc. He was therefore one of the generals, perhaps commander of the city garrison.—And seven men. In 2 Kings 25 we read five men, whether correctly or incorrectly cannot here be decided as in Jer_52:12; Jer_52:22. The analogy of these cases however favors our text.—That were near the king’s person, literally, “that saw the king’s face,” viz. in the sense of a daily custom, is a designation of high, yea, highest position (Est_1:14; comp. Mat_18:10). These were therefore officials of high rank, and as it is not said that they were endued with military functions, they may be regarded as representatives of the civil authorities.—Scribe, the prince of the host. Scribe is not a writer in our sense. The title belongs not only, as Graf supposes, to the “people of the pen,” but is given to the highest officers of State. Comp. 2Sa_8:7; 2Sa_20:25; 2Ki_12:11; 1Ch_18:16; 1Ch_27:32. And in 2Ch_26:11 it is expressly recorded that Uzziah’s army went out “by the hand of Jeiel the scribe.” This Sopher was not the leader of the host, but chief of the war-department, minister or secretary of war. Comp. Saalschuetz, Mos. Recht. S. 63.—And threescore men. These sixty men appear as the third class of persons executed, and representatives of the country population, as is indicated by their number and the remark that they were found in the midst of the city (2Ki_25:19 “in the city”). This remark would be altogether superfluous, if the object was not to set forth that these men did not originally belong to the city.—On Riblah comp. rems. on Jer_39:5.—The words, Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his land, are found in both texts and in both places are appropriate. For in Jeremiah they form the transition to the numbering of the deported, and in 2 Kings they lead to the account of what happened in the country after the deportation. They therefore furnish no data for the solution of the question which of the two recensions is the original. Moreover, there seems to be an allusion in them to Jer_1:3.

Jer_52:28-30. This is the people … four thousand and six hundred. This section is entirely wanting in 2 Kings. It is difficult to bring it into harmony with the other statements respecting the deportations. The differences are as follows: 1. This section speaks of three deportations, while according to the other testimonies of the Old Testament there were only two (under Jehoiakim and Zedekiah). 2. The section follows a divergent chronology, stating that the deportations took place in the seventh, eighteenth and twenty-third years of Nebuchadnezzar, while this very chapter (Jer_52:12) and 2Ki_24:12; 2Ki_25:8 name the eighth and nineteenth years of Nebuchadnezzar as the dates of the deportation, but know nothing of any in the twenty-third year of this king. 3. According to this passage three thousand and twenty-three were carried away the first time, eight hundred and thirty-two the second time, seven hundred and forty-five the third time, total four thousand six hundred, which sum is expressly given at the close of Jer_52:30. According to 2Ki_24:14-16, however, eighteen thousand souls were carried away at the first deportation alone. There are no counter-statements with regard to the other numbers, but their smallness is surprising; of this hereafter. On these points we make the following remarks: 1. By the seventh year in Jer_52:28, we are certainly to understand the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, since both the other deportations are dated in years of this monarch. 2. These statements are not necessarily erroneous, but may possibly follow another reckoning of the years, and perhaps the same as Josephus follows (Antiqq. X., 8, 6; C. Ap. I., 21), though evidently only on the basis of this passage. Comp. Niebuhr, Ass. u. Bab., S. 68 sqq. 3. Jer_52:29 mentioning the eighteenth year after Jer_52:12 has stated the nineteenth as the date of the same fact, shows that we have here another author. 4. The view of Ewald (Gesch. d. V. Isr., III., 1 S. 435) which Graf also adopts, that in Jer_52:29 we are to read ùֶׁáַò òֶùְׂøֵä , that accordingly one year before the last capture of Jerusalem three thousand and twenty-three were carried captive from the country (hence äåּãִéí ),after the capture eight hundred and thirty-two from the city (hence îִéøåּùָׁìַí , Jer_52:29), and finally five years later from the land already somewhat repopulated seven hundred and forty-five, has much in its favor, but is yet not perfectly satisfactory. For the circumstance that the difference between the eighth and nineteenth, and the seventh and eighteenth years of Nebuchadnezzar is the same, does not authorize us to supply a word òֶùְׁøֵä , fallen out after ùְׁáַò . Then, too, the deportation of the mass of the people during the war, at a time when the Egyptian army was to be feared (comp. Jer_37:5), is scarcely probable. Finally the assumption of a deportation five years after the capture of the city is pure hypothesis, for which there is no positive testimony. It is also not to be supposed that five years after the destruction, admitting the return of a few scattered individuals, an almost equally great number could be carried away as after the destruction of the capital. Would not these have rather again betaken themselves to flight? 5. Even if we grant that the strikingly small numbers of the exiles are to be judged from a specific point of view, and therefore do not necessarily imply an error, any more than the number of the years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, yet the differences between Jer_52:12; Jer_52:28 still remain, with the exceedingly obscure third deportation, as irremovable stones of stumbling, and I therefore agree with Niebuhr, when he says, “it cannot be a subject of doubt that Jer_52:28-30 in the fifty-second chapter of Jeremiah are a gloss.”

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. “Docemur hoc capite, quod comminationes divinæ rum sint de pelvi fulgura, quodque Deus pro misericordia sua infinita calamitates a se immissas mitigare plerumque soleat, si seria interveniat pœnitentia.” Förster.

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.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jer_52:1-11. The truth of the word “What a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” exhibited in the example of the Jewish State under Zedekiah.1. The seed (Jer_52:2); 2. The crop (a) the siege, (b) the famine, (c) the capture of the city and flight of the king, (d) the punishment of the king and his princes, (e) the fate of the people (Jer_52:3).

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_52:25.—In 2 Kings 25 we find äåּà for äָָéä . The former does not necessarily, as Hitzig asserts, signify “which is.” äåּà takes the place of the copula generally, without reference to time. Comp. Ewald, § 297 b.

Jer_52:25— åàú ñôø . In 2 Kings 25 äַñֹּôø , which I regard as the more correct reading.