Jeremiah 22 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word - This is supposed by Dahler to have been published in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah.

And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates: O king of Judah - thou, and thy servants - His ministers are here addressed, as chiefly governing the nation; and who had counselled Zedekiah to rebel.

Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon - Perhaps in allusion, says Dahler, to the oaks of Gilead, and the cedars of Mount Lebanon, of which the palace was constructed. Lebanon was the highest mountain in Israel, and Gilead the richest and most fertile part of the country; and were, therefore, proper emblems of the reigning family. Though thou art the richest and most powerful, I, who raised thee up, can bring thee down and make thee a wilderness.

And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. They shall cut down thy choice cedars - The destruction of the country is expressed under the symbol of the destruction of a fine forest; a multitude of fellers come against it, each with his axe; and, there being no resistance, every tree is soon felled to the earth. "These destroyers," God says, "I have prepared, קדשתי kiddashti, I have sanctified - consecrated, to this work. They have their commission from me."

And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city? Many nations shall pass - These words seem borrowed from Deuteronomy 29:22, etc.

Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. Weep ye not for the dead - Josiah, dead in consequence of the wound he had received at Megiddo, in a battle with Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt; but he died in peace with God.

But weep sore for him that goeth away - Namely, Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, called below Shallum, whom Pharaoh-necho had carried captive into Egypt from which it was prophesied he should never return, 2 Kings 23:30-34. He was called Shallum before he ascended the throne, and Jehoahaz afterwards; so his brother Eliakim changed his name to Jehoiakim, and Mattaniah to Zedekiah.

For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:

But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; Wo unto him that buildeth his house - These evils, charged against Jehoiakim, are nowhere else circumstantially related. We learn from 2 Kings 23:35-37, that he taxed his subjects heavily, to give to Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt: "He exacted the silver and gold of the people of the land, and did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." The mode of taxation is here intimated; he took the wages of the hirelings, and caused the people to work without wages in his own buildings, etc.

That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? Shalt thou reign, etc - Dost thou think thou art a great king, because thou dwellest in a splendid palace?

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! - These words were no doubt the burden of some funeral dirge. Alas! a brother, who was our lord or governor, is gone. Alas, our sister! his Queen, who has lost her glory in losing her husband. הדה hodah is feminine, and must refer to the glory of the queen.

The mournings in the east, and lamentations for the dead, are loud, vehement, and distressing. For a child or a parent grief is expressed in a variety of impassioned sentences, each ending with a burden like that in the text, "Ah my child!" "Ah my mother!" as the prophet in this place: הוי אחי hoi achi, "Ah my brother!" הוי אחות hoi achoth, "Ah sister!" הוי אדון hoi adon, "Ah lord!" הוי הדה hoi hodah "Ah the glory." Mr. Ward, in his Manners and Customs of the Hindoos, gives two examples of lamentation; one of a mother for the death of her son, one of a daughter for her departed mother. "When a woman," says he, "is overwhelmed with grief for the death of her child, she utters her grief in some such language as the following: -

Ah, my Hureedas, where is he gone? - 'Ah my child, my child!'

My golden image, Hureedas, who has taken? - 'Ah my child, my child!'

I nourished and reared him, where is he gone? - 'Ah my child, my child!'

Take me with thee. - 'Ah my child, my child!'

He played round me like a golden top. - 'Ah my child, my child!'

Like his face I never saw one. - 'Ah my child, my child!'

The infant continually cried, Ma Ma! - 'Ah my child, my child!'

Ah my child, crying, Ma! come into my lap. - 'Ah my child, my child!'

Who shall now drink milk? - 'Ah my child, my child!'

Who shall now stay in my lap? - 'Ah my child, my child!'

Our support is gone! - 'Ah my child, my child!'

"The lamentations for a mother are in some such strains as these: -

Mother! where is she gone? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'

You are gone, but what have you left for me? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'

Whom shall I now call mother, mother? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'

Where shall I find such a mother? - 'Ah my mother, my mother!'"

From the above we may conclude that the funeral lamentations, to which the prophet refers, generally ended in this way, in each of the verses or interrogatories.

There is another intimation of this ancient and universal custom in 1 Kings 13:30, where the old prophet, who had deceived the man of God, and who was afterwards slain by a lion, is represented as mourning over him, and saying, הוי אחי hoi achi, "Alas, my brother!" this being the burden of the lamentation which he had used on this occasion. Similar instances may be seen in other places, Jeremiah 30:7; Ezekiel 6:11; Joel 1:15; and particularly Amos 5:16, Amos 5:17, and Revelation 18:10-19.

He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. With the burial of an ass - Cast out, and left unburied, or buried without any funeral solemnities, and without such lamentations as the above.

Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed. Go up to Lebanon - Probably Anti-Libanus, which, together with Bashan and Abarim, which we here translate passages, were on the way by which the captives should be led out of their own country.

I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity - In all states and circumstances I warned thee by my prophets; and thou wilt only be ashamed of thy conduct when thou shalt be stripped of all thy excellencies, and reduced to poverty and disgrace, Jeremiah 22:22.

The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. The wind shall eat up all thy pastors - A blast from God's mouth shall carry off thy kings, princes, prophets, and priests.

O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! How gracious shalt thou be - A strong irony.

As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; Though Coniah - Called Jeconiah, probably on ascending the throne. See on Jeremiah 22:10 (note).

The signet upon my right hand - The most precious seal, ring, or armlet. Though dearer to me than the most splendid gem to its possessor.

And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. I will cast thee out, and thy mother - See all this fulfilled, 2 Kings 24:12, 2 Kings 24:13. All were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into captivity together.

But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? - These are probably the exclamations of the people, when they heard those solemn denunciations against their king and their country.

O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. O earth - These are the words of the prophet in reply: O land! unhappy land! desolated land! Hear the judgment of the Lord!

Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. Write ye this man childless - Though he had seven sons, 1 Chronicles 3:17, yet having no successor, he is to be entered on the genealogical tables as one without children for none of his posterity ever sat on the throne of David.

Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].