Clarke Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary in 8 Volumes: Volume 7, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5183-2133-7
Verlag: Krill Press
Format: EPUB
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E-Book, Englisch, 306 Seiten

Adam Clarke was a 19th century British Methodist best known for his scholarly commentaries on the Bible, a multi-volume, comprehensive work.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Clarke, Adam

Leseproben

INTRODUCTION
.................. THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, SON OF Hilkiah, was of the sacerdotal race, and a native of Anathoth, a village in the tribe of Benjamin, within a few miles of Jerusalem, which had been appointed for the use of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, Joshua 21:18. He was called to the prophetic office when very young; probably when he was fourteen years of age, and in the thirteenth of the reign of Josiah, A.M. 3375, B.C. 629. He continued to prophesy till after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, which took place A.M. 3416; and it is supposed that about two years after he died in Egypt. Thus it appears that he discharged the arduous duties of the prophetic office for upwards of forty years. Being very young when called to the prophetic office, he endeavored to excuse himself on account of his youth and incapacity for the work; but, being overruled by the Divine authority, he undertook the task, and performed it with matchless zeal and fidelity in the midst of a most crooked and perverse people, by whom he was continually persecuted, and whom he boldly reproved, often at the hazard of his life. His attachment to his country was strong and fervent; he foresaw by the light of prophecy the ruin that was coming upon it. He might have made terms with the enemy, and not only saved his life, but have gained ease and plenty; but he chose rather to continue with his people, and take his part in all the disasters that befell them. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar having made Gedaliah governor of Judea, the fractious Jews rose up against him, and put him to death; they then escaped to Tahpanhes in Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them; who, continuing to testify against their wickedness and idolatry, at length fell a victim to his faithfulness: they filled up the measure of their iniquity, as tradition reports, by stoning the prophet to death. God marked this murderous outrage by his peculiar displeasure; for in a few years after they were almost all miserably destroyed by the Chaldean armies which had invaded Egypt; and even this destruction had been foretold by the prophet himself, chap. 44: “They were consumed by the sword and by the famine until there was an end of them, a small remnant only escaping,” ver. 14, 27, 28. The pitch of desperate wickedness to which the Jews had arrived previously to their captivity was truly astonishing. They had exhausted all the means that infinite mercy, associated with infinite justice, could employ for the salvation of sinners; and they became in consequence desperately wicked; no wonder, therefore, that wrath fell upon them to the uttermost. It seems that their hardness and darkness had proceeded to such lengths that they abandoned themselves to all the abominations of idolatry to avenge themselves on God, because he would not bear with their continual profligacy. Were ever people more highly favored, more desperately ungrateful, or more signally punished! What a lesson is their history to the nations of the earth, and especially to those who have been favored with the light of revelation! I should have entered into a particular discussion relative to the history of those times mentioned by this prophet, had they not passed already in review in the Books of Kings and Chronicles; in which much of the historical parts of this prophet has been anticipated; and to which, in order to avoid repetition, I must refer my readers. What is farther necessary to be added will be found in the following notes. As a writer, the character of Jeremiah has been well drawn by Bishop Lowth. On comparing him with Isaiah, the learned prelate says: “Jeremiah is by no means wanting either in elegance or sublimity; although, generally speaking, inferior to Isaiah in both. St. Jerome has objected to him a certain rusticity in his diction; of which, I must confess, I do not discover the smallest trace. His thoughts, indeed, are somewhat less elevated, and he is commonly more large and diffuse in his sentences; but the reason of this may be, that he is mostly taken up with the gentler passions of grief and pity, for the expressing of which he has a peculiar talent. This is most evident in the Lamentations, where those passions altogether predominate; but it is often visible also in his Prophecies; in the former part of the book more especially, which is principally poetical. The middle parts are for the most part historical; but the last part, consisting of six chapters, is entirely poetical; and contains several oracles distinctly marked, in which this prophet falls very little short of the loftiest style of Isaiah.” It has often been remarked, that although several of the prophecies in this book have their dates distinctly noted, and most of the rest may be ascertained from collateral evidence; yet there is a strange disorder in the arrangement. “There is,” says Dr. Blayney, “a preposterous jumbling together of the prophecies of the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah in the seventeen chapters which follow the twentieth, according to the Hebrew copies; so that, without any apparent reason, many of the latter reigns precede those of the former; and in the same reign, the last delivered are put first, and the first, last.” In order to prevent the confusion arising from this, Dr. Blayney has transposed the chapters where he thought it needful, without altering the numerals as they stand in our common Bibles. This defect has been noticed, and attempts made to remedy it, by others. Dr. John George Dahler, Professor of Theology in the Protestant seminary of Strasburg, has just now published the first volume of a work, entitled, JEREMIE, traduit sur le Texte original, accompagne de Notes Explicatives, Historiques, et Critiques, 8vo., (antedated) Strasboury, 1824. After a preface, and very judicious historical introduction, consisting, the first of twenty-two, the second of thirty-six pages, the text and notes follow. The poetical parts of the text are translated in the hemistich manner, as the original appears in the best copies; and the whole is divided into sections; each of which is introduced with judicious observations relative to time, place, circumstances, and the matter contained in that section. The discourses or prophecies delivered under a particular reign, are all produced under that reign in their chronological order. A table of this arrangement I shall here introduce, and refer to the use of it afterwards: TABLE I Prophecies under Josiah Chap. 1:1-19. 4, 5, 6:30. 3:1-3:5. 3:6-4:4. 17:19-27. 47:1-7. Under Jehoiakim Chap. 7:1.-9:25. 26:1-24. 46:2-12. 10:1-16. 14:1.-15:21. 16:1.-17:18. 18:1-23. 19:1-20:13. 20:14-18. 23:9-40. 35:1-19. 25:1-38. 36:1-32. 45:1-5. 12:14-17. 10:17-25. Under Jeconiah Chap. 13:1-27. Under Zedekiah Chap. 23:1-22:8. 11:1-17. 11:18-12:13. 24:1-10. 29:1-32. 27:1-28:17. 49:34-39. 51:59-64. 21:1-14. 34:1-7. 37:1-10. 34:8-22. 37:11-21. 38:1-28. 39:15-18. 32:1-44. 33:1-26. 39:1-10. After the destruction of Jerusalem Chap. 39:11-14. 40:1-41:18. 42:1-43:7. 30:1-31:40 Prophecies delivered in Egypt Chap. 43:8-13. 44:1-30. 46:13-28. Prophecies relative to strange nations Chap. 46:1, and 49:14. 48:1-47. 49:7-22. 49:23-27. 49:28-33. 50:1-51:58-64. Historical Appendix Chap. 52:1-34. The kings under whom Jeremiah prophesied succeeded each other in the following order: 1. Josiah; 2. Jehoahaz; 3. Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah; 4. Jehoiakim; 5. Zedekiah. To render the transpositions evident which have taken place in these prophetical discourses, we have only to look at those which bear the date of their delivery. TABLE II Chap. 1:1. Delivered the thirteenth year of Josiah. 3:6. Under Josiah. 21:1. Under Zedekiah. 24:1. After the carrying away of Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim. 25:1. The fourth year of Jehoiakim. 26:1. The beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. 28:1. The beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. 29:1. After the carrying away of Jeconiah. 32:1. The tenth year of Zedekiah. 34:1. (Under Zedekiah) during the siege of Jerusalem. 34:8. (Under Zedekiah) when he had obliged his subjects to give liberty to the Israelites whom they had reduced to slavery. 35:1. Under Jehoiakim. 36:1. Under Jehoiakim. 37:1. Under Zedekiah during the siege of Jerusalem. 37:11. Under Zedekiah. 38:1. Under Zedekiah. 39:15. Under Zedekiah while Jeremiah was in prison. 45:1. The fourth year of Jehoiakim. 46:2. The fourth year of Jehoiakim. 49:34. In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. 51:59. The fourth year of Zedekiah. Taking into consideration the order of the reigns, a child may perceive that the above prophecies are not in the order of the times of their delivery; and that the sheets or skins on which the text of that MS. was written, from which the present copies have derived their origin, have been pitifully interchanged, huddled and tacked...