Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_600_p.lzh/5_693.TXT

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quiet prince; one of a peaceable disposition, that did
not love war, or persecution of good men; and so a fit
person for Zedekiah to send upon an embassy of peace;
and for Jeremiah to employ in such service as he did;
for, had he been a hot and haughty prince, he would
have despised his orders and commands. Some render
it, prince of Menuchah {}; taking it to be the proper
name of a place of which he was governor; thought to
be thd same with Manahath, 1 Chron. viii. 6. The
Targum and Septuagint version call him the prince of
girls: one by whom such were introduced into the
king's presence that brought treasure, gifts, or presents
to him, as Jarchi interprets it; according to Kimchi,
he was the king's familiar favourite, with whom he
used to converse and delight himself when he was at
rest and at leisure from business. Some take him to be
the lord of the bedchamber, or lord-chamberlain; and
others lord chief justice of peace. The first sense
seems most agreeable.
Ver. 60. So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that
should come upon Babylon, &c.] The evil of punish-
ment predicted and threatened: this he delivered, not
bv word of mouth to Seraiah to relate when he came to
Babylon; but he wrote it in a book for him reread; and
he wrote it himself; Baruch, his amanuensis, not being
now with him: even all these words that are written
against Babylon; in this and the preceding chapter:
this book written by Jeremiah was a copy of them.
Ver. 61. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, &c.3 At the
time he delivered the copy to him: when thou comest
to Babylon; or art come to Babylon, to the city of Ba-
bylon, and to the captive Jews there: and shall see
them; the captives; or rather the great and populous
city of Babylon, its high walls, gates, and towers, whose
destruction is foretold in this book, and which might
seem incredible. Abarbinel interprets it of his look-
ing into the book given him; which he thinks was not
to be opened and looked into till he came to Babylon:
and shall read all these words; not before the king of
Babylon and his princes, and yet not privately to him-
self; but in some proper place, in the presence of the
captive Jews, or the chief of them, convened for that
purpose.
Ver. 62. Then shall thou say, 0 Lord, &c.] Acknow-
ledging this prophecy to be of God; believing the ac-
complishment of it; and praying over it, and for it,
like a good man, as doubtless he was: thou hast spoken
against this place; the city of Babylon, where Seraiah
is now supposed to be: to cut it off, that none shah re-
main in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be deso-
late for ever; this is the substance of the whole pro-
phecy, that the destruction of Babylon should be an
utter and a perpetual one; and which is expressed in
the same words that are here used, oh. 1.3, 13, 26, 40.
Ver. 63. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end
of reading this book, &c.] To the captive Jews; and
having also said the above words by way of prayer and
approbation: that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast
it into the midst of Euphrates; a river by which Baby-
lon was situated. The book, being read, was to be
rolled up again, and then a stone tied to it, and cast
into the middle of the river, where the waters were
deepest, and from whence it could not be taken up;
and this was a sign confirming the above prophecy;
compare. with this what was done by a mighty angel
concerning mystical Babylon, in which there is an al-
lusion to this, Rev. xviii. 2l.
Vet. 64. And thou shall say, &c.] Not only use the
above sign and ceremony, but explain the meaning of
it to those of his friends who might accompany him;
and what he said was in the name of the Lord, as the
form and manner in which the following words are de-
livered shew: thus shall Babylon sink, and shah not
rise from the evil that I will bring upon her; as this
book, with the stone bound to it, does, and shall no
more rise than that can; the evil of punishment
brought on Babylon will sink her to such a degree, that
she will never be able to bear up under it; but be so
depressed by it as never to rise to her former state and
grandeur any more: and they shall be weary; the inha-
bitants of it, and have no strength to resist their
enemies; or, rather, shall be so weak as not to be
able to stand up under the weight and pressure
upon them, but shall sink under it; or shall weary
themselves in vain to preserve their city from ruin,
or restore it when ruined; see ver. 58. Thus far
are the words of Jeremiah; that is, concerning the
destruction of Babylon, as is said concerning Moab,
ch. xlviii. 47. for what Maimonides {m} says, that though
Jeremiah lived some time after, yet ceased to prophesy;
or that, when he had finished his prophecy concerning
Babylon, he prophesied no more, is not true; for it is
certain that many of his prophecies were delivered out
after the date of this, though this is recorded last: or
the sense may be, thus far are the prophetic words of
Jeremiah; and so the Targum, "hitherto is the pro-
" phecy of the words of Jeremiah ;" what follows in
the next chapter being historical; for there is no ne-
cessity to conclude from hence that that was wrote
by any other hand; either, as many have thought,
by Ezra; or by the men of the great synagogue, as
Abarbinel.

C H A P. LII.

THIs chapter contains the history of the besieging, II
taking, and destroying of Jerusalem; the moving cause
of it, the wicked reign of Zedekiah, vet. 1, 2, & the
instruments of it, the king of Babylon and his army, [
which besieged and took it, ver. 4, 5, 6, 7. into whose
hands the king of Judah, his sons, and. the princes of
Judah, fell; and were very barbarously and cruelly
used by them, ver. 8, 9, 10, 11. Then follows an ac-
count of the burning of the temple, the king's palace,
and the houses in Jerusalem, and the breaking down of
the walls of it, ver. l2, 13, 14. and of those that were
carried captive,. and of those that were left in the land

{l} \^hxwnm rv\^ princeps Menuchae, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{m} Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 45. Vid. Kimchi in loc.