Bible Commentaries

1-29. Judah is warned to submit to Babylon.

1. For Jehoiakim read 'Zedekiah': see Jeremiah 27:3, Jeremiah 27:12, Jeremiah 27:20. The former word may be a copyist's accidental repetition of Jeremiah 26:1.

2. It is plain from Jeremiah 28:10 that Jeremiah actually wore a yoke in public.

3. Messengers] These ambassadors had come to Jerusalem probably with the view of forming an alliance against Babylon. This, however, was not accomplished, as Zedekiah was compelled to go to Babylon and swear allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 51:59).

6. My servant] see on Jeremiah 25:9.

7. Him, and his son, and his son's son] meaning simply that there was to be no speedy riddance. In point of fact, Nebuchadnezzar had three successors, Evil-Merodach, Neriglissar, and Nabonidus, in whose seventeenth year Babylon was taken by Cyrus. The very time] the appointed end.

Great kings] Persia and Media became masters of Babylon.

9-11. Rebellion will entail exile. Therefore let them submit.

16. The vessels, etc.] Some had been taken in Jehoiachin's reign (2 Kings 24:13). The rest were destined to follow (2 Kings 25:13). They were given back by Cyrus (Ezra 1:7).

19. The sea] in which the priests washed their hands and feet before sacrificing (1 Kings 7:23.). The bases] the supports of the ten lavers (1 Kings 7:27.).

Jeremiah's Sixteenth Prophecy (Reign of Zedekiah, Earlier Part). The Babylonian Yoke

Babylon had already shown its power. Jehoiakim and the chief of the people had been carried captive. Zedekiah was king only on sufferance. The neighbouring nations were under those circumstances willing to make common cause with the Jews against Nebuchadnezzar, many of whom, however, refused to realise the gravity of the danger. In these chs., therefore, Jeremiah sets himself to show that the power of Babylon would be permanent and irresistible. He addresses on this subject (Jeremiah 27:1-11) the neighbouring nations, (Jeremiah 27:12-15) Zedekiah, (Jeremiah 27:16-22) the priests and prophets, (Jeremiah 28) the false prophets, (Jeremiah 29) the exiles in Babylon.