Jeremiah 25

"\nThe word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah,.... Not only in the city of Jerusalem, but in the whole land of Judea. This prophecy concerns them all; their repentance and reformation, to which they are exhorted; or their invasion, desolation, and captivity, with which they are threatened. Before the prophet was sent to the king of Judah only, Jer 22:1; now to all the people:\n\nin the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; in the latter part of the third, and beginning of the fourth year of his reign; see Da 1:1;\n\nthis [was] the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon: in which he began to reign with his father, for he reigned two years with him; who is the Nabopolassar of Ptolemy. This was in the year of the world 3397, and before Christ 607, according to Bishop Usher {f}.\n\n{f} Annales Vet. Test. p. 119.\n\n\n\n "

CHAPTER 25Jer 25:1-38. Prophecy of the Seventy Years' Captivity; and after That the Destruction of Babylon, and of All the Nations That Oppressed the Jews.1. fourth year of Jehoiakim—called the third year in Da 1:1. But probably Jehoiakim was set on the throne by Pharaoh-necho on his return from Carchemish about July, whereas Nebuchadnezzar mounted the throne January 21, 604 B.C.; so that Nebuchadnezzar's first year was partly the third, partly the fourth, of Jehoiakim's. Here first Jeremiah gives specific dates. Nebuchadnezzar had previously entered Judea in the reign of his father Nabopolassar.

25:1-7 The call to turn from evil ways to the worship and service of God, and for sinners to trust in Christ, and partake of his salvation, concerns all men. God keeps an account how long we possess the means of grace; and the longer we have them, the heavier will our account be if we have not improved them. Rising early, points out the earnest desire that this people should turn and live. Personal and particular reformation must be insisted on as necessary to a national deliverance; and every one must turn from his own evil way. Yet all was to no purpose. They would not take the right and only method to turn away the wrath of God.

"\nThe which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah,.... Perhaps at one of the three feasts, at which all the males appeared in Jerusalem; for it cannot be thought that he went up and down throughout all parts of the land to deliver this prophecy, but to as many of them as he found in Jerusalem in any place, at any time; and none so likely as what is mentioned:\n\nand to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: to whom he had an opportunity of speaking frequently:\n\nsaying; as follows:\n\n\n "

3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah, in which Jeremiah began to prophesy (Jer 1:1), to the end of Josiah's reign, was nineteen years (2Ki 22:1); the three months 2 Kings 23. 31) of Jehoahaz' reign, with the not quite complete four years of Jehoiakim (Jer 25:1), added to the nineteen years, make up twenty-three years in all.

"\nFrom the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day,.... The year in which Jeremiah began to prophesy, Jer 1:2;\n\n(that [is], the three and twentieth year); for Josiah reigned one and thirty years; so that Jeremiah prophesied nineteen years in his reign; and now it was the fourth of Jehoiakim's, which make twenty three years; so long the prophet had been prophesying to this people:\n\nthe word of the Lord hath come unto me; from time to time, during that space of twenty three years; and which he diligently, constantly, and faithfully delivered unto them; as follows:\n\nand I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking: as soon as ever he had a word from the Lord, he brought it to them, and took the most proper and seasonable time to inculcate it to them; in the morning, and after, he had had a vision or dream in the night from the Lord;\n\nbut ye have not hearkened; they took no notice of it; turned a deaf ear to it; however, did not obey or act as they were directed and exhorted to.\n\n\n\n "

"\nAnd the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets,.... Not only him, but many others, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and others:\n\nrising early and sending [them]; not only the prophet, but the Lord himself is said to rise early, and send his prophets to them; which denotes his great care and concern for this people for their good; see Jer 7:25;\n\nbut ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear; which is an aggravation of their sin; that whereas they had one prophet after another sent to them, and sent by the Lord himself; he rising early, and sending them; and they rising early, being sent to do their message; and yet were not hearkened and attended to.\n\n\n "

"\nThey said,.... The prophets: this was the substance of their discourses and prophecies, what follows:\n\nturn ye again now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings; repent of sins, and reform from them; particularly their idolatries, to which they were prone, and are after mentioned:\n\nand dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you to your fathers for ever and ever; that is, the land of Canaan, which was given to them, and their fathers before them, by the Lord, for an everlasting inheritance, provided they behaved towards him aright; for they held the possession of it by their obedience to his law; and now, notwithstanding all that they had done, or had been threatened with; yet, if they repented and reformed, they should still dwell in the land, and enjoy it, and all the blessings and privileges of it.\n\n\n "

5. Turn … dwell—In Hebrew there is expressed by sameness of sounds the correspondence between their turning to God and God's turning to them to permit them to dwell in their land: Shubu … shebu, "Return" … so shall ye "remain."every one from … evil—Each must separately repent and turn from his own sin. None is excepted, lest they should think their guilt extenuated because the evil is general.