Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_500_p.lzh/5_541.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-11 | 7KB | 128 lines

reckoned by others; by Spanhemius, from the first of
Nebuchadnezzar, or fourth of Jehoiakim, to the de-
struction of the city under Zedekiah, nineteen years;
thence to the death of Nebuchadnezzar, twenty-four;
then Evil-merodach, two; then the reign of Neriglissar,
including some months of Laborosoarchod, five; then
theyears of Nabonadius, or Belshazzar, seventeen; and
from his death, or the taking of Babylon, to the death
of Darius the Mede, two years; which make sixty-
nine, exclusive of the tirst of' Cyrus; and comes to
much the same as the former. By James Alting thus;
from the eighteenth yearof Nebuchadnezzar, complete,
to his death, twenty-six years; Evil-merodach,
twenty-three; Belshazzar, three; Darius the Mede,
eighteen, after the destruction of the Babylonish em-
pire; which seems very wrong; better, by Dr. Light-
foot, thus; Nebuchadnezzar, forty-five current; Evil-
rnerodach, twenty-three; and Belshazzar, three h. So
the Jewish chronicle i: I will punish the king of Baby-
lon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity;
the king for his tyranny, and the nation for their
idolatry; and both for these and other sins they were
guilty of; for, tho. ugh they did the will of God in
carrying the Jews captive, they no doubt in their usage
of them exceeded their commission, and were justly
punishable for their iniquities. This is not to be un-
derstood of the present king of Babylon, Nebuchad-
nezzar; but of Nabonadius, or Belshazzar, whom the
Lord punished by Cyrus; who appears to have been
a very wicked man, and in the excess of riot, pro-
fanlag the vessels of the temple the night he was slain,
Dan. v. 1, 2, 30: and the land of the Chaldeans; and
will make it perpetual desolations; even as other nations
had been made bv them, ver. 9.
Ver. 13. And I will bring upon that land all my words
which I have pronounced against it, &c.] By his pro-
phets, and particularly by Jeremiah, as follows; for
not one word that is spoken by the Lord, either in a
way of promise or threatening, shall fail; his truth,
power, and faithfulness, are engaged to accomplish
all: even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah
hath prophesied against all the nations; the Egyptians,
Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, Arabians, Persians,
and also the Babylonfans, in oh. xlvi. xlvii. xlviii. xlix.
1. if. which prophecies, in the Greek version, imme-
diately follow here, though in a confased manner;
where some have thought they might be more regularly
placed than as they are in the Hebrew copies, at the
end of the book; but of this there seems to be no
absolute necessity.
Ver. 14. For many nations and great kings shall serve
themselves of them also, &c.] Take their cities, seize
upon the kingdoms, spoil them of their wealth and
riches, and bring them into servitude to them: these
many nations, which should and did do all this, were
the Medes and Persians, and those that were subject
to them, or were their allies and auxiliaries in this ex-
pedition; and the great Icings were Cyrus and Darius,
and those that were confederate with them: and I will
recompence them according to their deeds, and according
to the worlcs of their own hands; as they have done to
others, it shall be done to them; as they have served
themselves of other nations, other nations shall serve
themselves of them; as they have cruelly used others,
they shall be used with cruelty themselves; and as
they have made other countries desolate, their land
shall become desolate also; not only their tyranny and
cruelty, but all their other sins, shall receive a just
recompense of reward.
Ver. 15. For thus saith the Lord God of lsrael unto
me, &c.] The prophet: take the wine-cup of this fury
at my hand; iu a vision the Lord appeared to Jere
miah with a cup of wine in his hand, which he bid
him take of him. It is usual in Scripture for the judg-
ments of God on men to be signified by a cup of hot
and intoxicating liquor, Isa. If. 17, 22. Jer. xlix.
particularly in Psal. lxxv. 8. to which reference may
be had; as John seems to refer to the passage here in
Rev. xiv. 10. and xvi. 19. called a cup, because they
are in measure, and but small in comparison of what
will be inflicted in the world to come; and a cup of
fury, because they proceed from the wrath of God,
stirred up by the sins of men. Jarchi interprets this
cup of the prophecy of vengeance, which the Lord de-
livered to Jeremiah; and not amiss: and cause all the
nations to whom I send thee to drink it; prophesy unto
them what wrath and ruin shall come upon them.
Ver. 16. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be
mad, &c.] The judgments foretold sha{l come upon
them, whether they will or no; which will have such
effects upon them, as intoxicating liquor has on
drunken persons; make them shake and tremble, and
reel to and fro, and toss and tumble about, and behave
like madmen: because of the sword that I will send
among them; this explains what is meant by the wine-
cup of fury, the sword of a foreign enemy that shall
enter among them and destroy; and which would
make them tremble, and be at their wits' end, like
drunken and mad men.
Ver. 17. Then toolc I the cup at the Lord's hand, &c.]
In a visionary way, and did as he commanded,, and
prophesied as he directed him. The prophet was
obedient to the heavenly vision, as became him: and
made all the nations to drink, unto whom, the Lord had
sent me; not that he travelled through the several na-
tions with a cup in his hand, as-an emblem of what
wrath would come upon them, and they should drink
deep of; but this was done in vision, and also in pro-
phecy; the prophet publishing the will of God, de-
nouncing his judgments upon the nations, and declaring
to them what would befall them.
Ver. 18. To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah,
&c.] Which are mentioned first, because God's judg-
ments began with them, as they usually do with the
house of' God, 1 Pet. iv. 17. and evcn now beg-an; for
this very year, in which this prophecy was delivered,
Nebuchadnezzar came up and besieged Jerusalem, and
carried away some captives, Dan. i. 1. this was tim
beginning of what afterwards were more fully exe-
cuted: and the kings thereof, and the princes thcreof :
the Kings Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, with
those of their families, the princes of the blood, and
the:,r nobles: to make thent a desolations, an astonishment,
an hissing, and a curse; to strip them of their crowns

{h} Vid. Witsii Exercitat. 11. in Miscel. Sacr. tom. 2. p. 282, 283.
{i} Seder Olam Rabba, c.28. p. 81.