I will do you no hurt. Jeremiah 25:6 No hurt from God B. Beddome, M.A. I. THE IMPORT OF THE PROMISE. 1. Such a promise can apply to none but the people of God. 2. The Lord's people are apt to fear He should do them hurt, and hence He kindly assures them of the contrary. We want more of that love to God which beareth all things at His hand, which believeth all good things concerning Him, and hopeth for all things from Him. 3. As God will do no hurt to them that fear Him, so neither will He suffer others to hurt them. If God does not change their hearts, He win tie their hands; or if for wise ends He suffers them to injure you in your worldly circumstances, yet your heavenly inheritance is sure, and your treasure is laid up where thieves cannot break through nor steal. 4. More is implied in the promise than is absolutely expressed; for when the Lord says He will do His people no hurt, He means that He will really do them good. All things to God's people are blessings in their own nature, or are turned into blessings for their sake; so that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies to do them ( Genesis 50:20 ; Jeremiah 24:5, 6 ; Romans 8:28 ). II. THE ASSURANCE WE HAVE THAT THIS PROMISE WILL BE FULFILLED. 1. The Lord thinks no hurt of His people, and therefore He will certainly do them no hurt. His conduct is a copy of His decrees: He worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will, and therefore where no evil is determined, no evil can take place. 2. The Lord threatens them no hurt; no penal sentence lies against them. 3. He never has done them any hurt, but good, all the days of their life. Former experience of the Divine goodness should strengthen the believer's confidence, and fortify him against present discouragements ( Judges 13:23 ; Psalm 42:6 ; Psalm 77:12 ; 2 Corinthians 1:10 ). ( B. Beddome, M.A. ) He will plead with all flesh. Jeremiah 25:31 No excuse needed for faith in God W. Birch. I. GOD PLEADS WITH MEN CHIEFLY THROUGH THE SPIRIT OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. This part of our life is a probation, like being at school; it is an apprenticeship to eternal life, a life in which we are to be journeymen and masters of the work of being good and doing good. We are learners here. Some learn their life's lesson thoroughly, and others only partially. God means us to learn; and if a man will not do God's will, he can only learn by the bitter pain of experience. There are only two ways of learning — either by doing God's will, or by disobeying it; either way will bring us to our senses at some time or other, either in this world or in that which is to come. II. CHRISTIANITY URGES THAT IF WE BE WISE EVERY ONE WILL CHOOSE THE HIGHEST AIM OF LIFE. Unless we have some great object in view, our life is a task which is hard to bear; it is like being rubbed with sandpaper, everything seeming to be in unpleasant friction with us. Yet you cannot get a polish without friction; and so the friction of daily life that vexes and torments us, is an experience which is good for us. It is one of God's means of polishing us; but it is unpleasant, like having small pebbles in one's boots. It is, however, a needful discipline. But were we humbly and lovingly to do God's will, as you would have your little child do your will, life would not be a painful task, nor would it be a state of perpetual friction. III. CHRISTIANITY ALSO TEACHES US THAT GOD IS WORTHY TO BE BOTH ESTEEMED AND LOVED. IV. CHRISTIANITY SWEETLY TEACHES US OF THE OTHER LIFE. Have you ever lived in the country, and after being away for a time felt the joy of returning home? ( W. Birch. ).

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; Jeremiah 25:1 . The word that came to Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim — It is probable this revelation was made to the prophet in the early part of that year; for the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, and the subsequent taking of Jerusalem, are both placed in the same year: but from Jeremiah 25:9 it appears that Nebuchadnezzar had but just entered upon his expedition when the Lord sent this word to Jeremiah, and had not yet carried into execution any of those designs for which God there says he would take and send him. The reader will observe, the fourth year of Jehoiakim was seven years and some months before Jeconiah was carried into captivity, as appears from 2 Kings 23:36 ; 2 Kings 24:8-15 , and eighteen years before the taking of the city and the more general captivity; which shows that this prophecy was delivered at least six or seven years before that in the preceding chapter. That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar — That is, according to the Jewish mode of computing his reign, from the time of his being associated with his father in the empire before he set out on his Syrian expedition. But the Babylonians do not reckon his reign to have begun till two years after, upon his father’s death. Jeremiah 25:2 The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Jeremiah 25:2-3 . Which Jeremiah spake to all the people of Judah — That is, the word which he spake concerned them all, and he spake it to as many of them as he met with in any public assembly at Jerusalem or elsewhere. From the thirteenth year of Josiah — In which year, as we read, Jeremiah 1:2 , Jeremiah began to prophesy; Josiah reigned thirty-one years, 2 Kings 22:1 ; so that, taking in the thirteenth year, he prophesied nineteen years during the life of Josiah, to which the four years of Jehoiakim’s reign being added, make the number twenty-three. These twenty-three years, says the prophet, I have been a preacher to you, and I have not been negligent in my work, but, like men that rise early in the morning to despatch their business, I have been attentive and laborious in the discharge of my prophetic office. Jeremiah 25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. Jeremiah 25:4 And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them ; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. Jeremiah 25:4-7 . And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants, &c. — Nor am I the only prophet whom the Lord hath sent you, and whom you have neglected and despised. God hath sent you many more, and you have despised as many as he hath sent. This contempt of the Lord’s messengers is made the proximate cause of God’s wrath coming upon this people, till there was no remedy, 2 Chronicles 36:16 . They said, Turn ye again now, &c. — The substance, both of their and my sermons, hath been to persuade you to abandon those sinful courses, wherein you have lived, and which you might have amended, by virtue of that grace which God did not deny you. We have not differed in our doctrine, to the practice of which you have also been encouraged, both by them and me, with an assurance from God, that, if you obeyed it, you should enjoy this good land which the Lord promised, and gave to you and your fathers, and which you have now possessed for many ages. And go not after other gods — Though the Jews were guilty of many other sins, yet their most heinous sin was idolatry, as it was a direct renouncing of God’s authority, who had, by so many miracles of mercy, set them apart for himself and his own service, and had bestowed so many signal privileges and blessings upon them. And provoke me not with the works of your hands — By worshipping, as gods, the images which your own hands have made, or with any works which are contrary to my law. And I will do you no hurt — You shall yet enjoy your own land and prosper. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me — Ye heard me, and other the Lord’s prophets, thus speaking to you, but you have not obeyed; that ye might provoke me, &c. — As if you had disobeyed with a design to incense me against you; to your own hurt — For the sinful actions of men do not affect or injure me, but are to the hurt of those who do them. Jeremiah 25:5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever: Jeremiah 25:6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. Jeremiah 25:7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Jeremiah 25:8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, Jeremiah 25:8-9 . Therefore, because ye have not heard — That is, because ye have not hearkened to, nor obeyed my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, &c. — All those kings whose territories lie northward of Judea, and particularly Nebuchadnezzar, who, in this work, shall be my servant; and will bring them against this land, &c. — I will lead, as commander in chief, them and their armies up against this people; and I will deprive you of all hopes of safety from your alliances with other nations, for the king of Babylon shall first subdue them. See 2 Kings 24:7 . And will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment — Will make these countries, and their inhabitants, the objects of men’s scorn and reproach. See note on Jeremiah 24:9 . And a perpetual desolation — It is often observed, that the Hebrew word ???? , here rendered perpetual, does not always imply eternity, or perpetuity, in a strict sense; but is sometimes taken for such a duration as had a remarkable period to conclude it. Thus it is said of a servant, in a certain case, Exodus 21:6 , That he shall serve his master for ever — Which the Jews interpret as meaning, “till the next jubilee.” So here the sense of the word is to be restrained to the period of seventy years, mentioned Jeremiah 25:11 . Jeremiah 25:9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Jeremiah 25:10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. Jeremiah 25:10 . Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, &c. — See the note on Jeremiah 7:34 ; Jeremiah 16:9 . The sound of the millstones and the light of the candle — There shall be no longer any marks of trade carried on, even respecting the common necessaries of life, such as the grinding of corn; and there will be no use of candles, where the inhabitants are dispersed and destroyed; nor will there be occasion for such illuminations as are usual on festival solemnities, in the time of general desolation, Jeremiah 25:11 . See the like expressions used, Revelation 18:22 ; where we may observe that St. John exactly follows the Hebrew text; whereas the LXX., in this place, instead of the sound of the millstones, read ????? ????? , the smell of ointment. From which, and several other places of the New Testament, it appears that the apostles and evangelists did not implicitly follow the Greek translation, but only when they thought it consistent with the original text. See Lowth. Mr. Harmer has an excellent observation on this place, which the reader will be glad to see. “The time for grinding their corn is in the morning; which consideration makes the prophet’s selecting the noise of millstones, and the lighting up of candles, as circumstances belonging to inhabited places, appear in a view which no commentators, that I have examined, have taken any notice of. I am indebted to Sir John Chardin’s MS. for the knowledge of this fact. It informs us that ‘in the East they grind their corn at break of day; and that when one goes out in a morning, he hears everywhere the noise of the mill, and that it is the noise that often awakens people.’ It has been commonly known that they bake every day; and that they usually grind their corn as they want it; but this passage informs us, that it is the first work done in a morning, as well as that this grinding of their mills makes a considerable noise, and attracts every ear; and as the lighting up of candles begins the evening, there is an agreeable contrast observable in these words, I will take from thee, &c., the sound of millstones and the light of the candle. And their whole land shall be a desolation — Gloomy shall be the silence of the morning, melancholy the shadows of the evening; no cheerful noise to animate the one, no enlivening ray to soften the gloom of the other. Desolation shall every where reign. A land may abound with habitations, and furnish an agreeable abode, where the voice of mirth is not heard; none of the songs, the music, and the dances of nuptial solemnities; but in the East, where no millstones are heard in the morning, no light seen in the evening, it must be a dreary dismal solitude.” — Chap. 4. obs. 4. See also chap. 3. obs. 18. Jeremiah 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Jeremiah 25:11 . These nations shall serve the king of Babylon — That is, Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, collectively considered; seventy years — “This period of the nation’s servitude must be computed from the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, in the same year that this prophecy was given, when Nebuchadnezzar reduced the neighbouring nations of Syria and Palestine, as well as Jerusalem, under his subjection. This was near two years before the heathen chronologers in general begin his reign, his father being still living. After his father’s death, according to Ptolemy’s canon, he reigned forty-three years; Ilverodamus, or Evil-merodach, his son two, Neriglissar four, and Nabonadius, supposed to be Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, seventeen; to which, if we add two years of Darius the Mede, who is said, Daniel 9:1 , to have been made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, we shall find the nations to have continued all that time, nearly seventy years, in subjection, more or less, to the king of Babylon. But after the accession of Cyrus, who put an end to the Babylonish monarchy, the nations could serve the king of Babylon no longer, because there was no longer a king of Babylon to serve; for the kings of Persia were never called kings of Babylon; but Babylon became itself a subject and dependant province, under a subordinate governor, and began from that instant to experience, in some degree, those divine visitations which terminated at length in what is so justly called, in the next verse, perpetual desolations.” — Blaney. See notes on Jeremiah 29:10 ; and Ezra 1:1 . Jeremiah 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. Jeremiah 25:12-14 . When seventy years are accomplished, I will punish the king of Babylon — “God often punishes the persons whom he makes instruments of his vengeance upon others for those very things which they did by his appointment, because their intention was merely to carry on their own ambitious and cruel purposes, and not at all to fulfil God’s will, or advance his glory. So that the evil they did was altogether their own, and the good that was brought out of it was to be ascribed solely to God.” — Lowth. See notes on Isaiah 10:5-7 . And that nation for their iniquity — For their pride, ambition, luxury, tyranny, and cruelty, as well as for their various idolatries, which, after Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, and the miracles wrought by the God of Israel, in favour of Shadrach and his companions, not to mention the testimony borne to the true religion by many other pious Jews, were greatly aggravated, and without all excuse. And the land of the Chaldeans, and make it perpetual desolations — Chaldee was not reduced to desolation immediately upon the taking of Babylon, and the conquest of the country by the Medes and Persians, but its power was then broken, and the sources of its prosperity greatly diminished, and by degrees the country was turned into a solitude. Of the steps whereby this was effected, see notes on Isaiah 13:19-22 , and Jeremiah 50:40 . All that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all nations — Those prophecies are meant which are to be found all together from chap. 46. to chap. 51. inclusively; and which the LXX. have introduced in this place. For many nations, &c., shall serve themselves of them also — Namely, the nations and kings who were confederates with Cyrus. Houbigant renders the clause, For powerful people, and mighty kings, shall reduce even those nations to servitude, and so, &c. And Blaney to nearly the same sense, thus: For of them, even of these, shall many nations and great kings exact service; and I will render, &c. Jeremiah 25:13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. Jeremiah 25:14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands. Jeremiah 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. Jeremiah 25:15-16 . Thus saith the Lord, Take the wine-cup of this fury, &c. — “Those circumstances which constitute the good and evil of human life are often represented in Scripture as the ingredients of a cup, which God, as master of a feast, mixes up, and distributes to the several guests as he thinks fit. Hence, when our Saviour asks James and John, whether they were able to drink of the cup which he was to drink of, he means, whether they had resolution and patience to undergo the like sufferings as his Father had allotted for him. And in the like sense he prays, If it be possible let this cup pass from me. Accordingly, by this image of the wine-cup of God’s wrath, we are to understand those dreadful judgments which an incensed God was about to inflict on the objects of his displeasure. And Jeremiah the prophet, who announced them, is considered as acting the part of a cup-bearer, carrying the cup round to those who were appointed to drink of it; the effects of which were to appear in the intoxication, that is, the terror and astonishment, the confusion and desolation, that should prevail among them.” — Blaney. See notes on Psalm 11:6 ; Psalm 75:8 ; Isaiah 51:21 . Jeremiah 25:16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Jeremiah 25:17 Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: Jeremiah 25:17 . Then took I the cup — It is not to be imagined that Jeremiah went round in person to all the nations and kings here enumerated, with a cup of wine in his hand, but, doubtless, what is here related passed in a vision, in which it was represented to his view. This, either by writing, or by some special messenger, he communicated to the several kings and nations to which God ordered him to publish it. Or, he himself actually did what is figuratively designed, that is, he publicly announced the judgments of God severally against them, as we find in the chapters mentioned in the note on Jeremiah 25:13 . Jeremiah 25:18 To wit , Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; Jeremiah 25:18-21 . To wit, Jerusalem and the cities thereof — The Jews are mentioned first, because Jeremiah, as well as the rest of the prophets, was in the first place sent to them, and they were to have the greatest share in the judgments denounced. As it is this day — This clause speaks of the desolation of Judah and Jerusalem; when all that Jeremiah had foretold against them was fulfilled; and therefore must have been added either by Baruch, his amanuensis, or else by Ezra: or whoever it was that collected Jeremiah’s prophecies into one volume, who, it is likely, added the fifty- second chapter. Pharaoh king of Egypt — Whose army Nebuchadnezzar overcame before he took Jerusalem. And all the mingled people — Or, intermingled, as Blaney translates ???? , joining the expression with the preceding verse, and understanding thereby all the foreigners resident in Egypt, who had, by intermarriages, formed connections with the Egyptians. St. Jerome takes the word in the same sense. Our translators, however, seem to have understood by it a mixture of several nations, dwelling either upon the coasts of the Mediterranean, or of the Red sea. And all the kings of the land of Uz — This was the country of Job; but concerning its situation different opinions are entertained. It was most probably on the confines of Idumea, if not a part of it. The daughter of Edom is said to dwell in the land of Uz, Lamentations 4:21 : see note on Job 1:1 . Those who were leaders, or governors of different tribes or families, seem to have had the name of kings: they are now called emirs. And all the kings of the Philistines — The princes of the different districts, or cities, into which Philistia was divided, namely, Ashkelon and Azzah, &c. And the remnant of Ashdod — Or Azotus, which had been very much ruined by two sieges in which it was taken, the one by Tartan, the Assyrian general, mentioned Isaiah 20:1 ; the other by Psammitichus, king of Egypt, who retook it after the longest siege that had even been known in those times: Herodot. lib. 2. c. 157. The prophecy respecting the Philistines is contained in chap. 47. Edom — Or rather, And Edom — As the LXX., Syr., and Vul. read, with seven MSS. For the prophecies concerning Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites, see chap. 48. and Jeremiah 49:1-22 . Jeremiah 25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; Jeremiah 25:20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Jeremiah 25:21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, Jeremiah 25:22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, Jeremiah 25:22-24 . And all the kings of Tyrus and Zidon — The nobles, or chief men of each city, seem to be meant by kings here, for neither of these cities had more than one king. And the kings of the isles, which are beyond the sea — Cyprus, &c., which Nebuchadnezzar subjected. Or, as the Hebrew, ??? ???? ??? , is rendered in the margin, The region by the sea-side. For that ?? , rendered isle in the text, does not always signify an island, properly so called, is manifest from many passages. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz — A person called Dedan was descended from Abraham by Keturah, Genesis 25:3 . Probably he founded the city Dedan; which, however, in process of time, seems to have been annexed to Edom: see Jeremiah 49:8 ; Ezekiel 25:13 . Tema was one of the sons of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15 , and a city, or district, called after him, was situate near the mountains which separate Arabia from Chaldea. — An. Univ. Hist., vol. 7. p. 230, fol. Buz was the brother of Uz, Genesis 22:21 , and settled most probably, in his neighbourhood. Elihu, the wisest of Job’s friends, was a Buzite, Job 32:2 . And all that are in the utmost corners — Or, all that have the coast insulated, as Blaney translates it: see note on Jeremiah 9:26 . These, he supposes, to be the inhabitants of the peninsula of Arabia, especially those situate toward the bottom, or narrow part of it. And all the kings of Arabia — “The whole country to which we give the general name of Arabia seems to have been thrown, in Scripture, into two great divisions, one of which is called properly ???? , Arabah, the other ??? , Kedem, according to their respective situations; Arabah, signifying the west, as Kedem does the east. Each of these had their subdivisions; the first, comprehending that which geographers have distinguished by the name of Arabia Petræa, and also, perhaps, those parts along the western coast of the Red sea bordering upon Egypt. The other part, called Kedem, comprehended Arabia Felix, and Arabia Deserta; the former of which the Scripture seems to have distinguished by the name of ????? ??? , those that have their coast insulated, mentioned in the preceding verse; and the latter in this verse, by the mingled race of those that dwell in the desert, meaning such as inhabited the great desert country, lying between Mesopotamia and Palestine. These may have been so called from the manner of inhabiting the desert promiscuously and in common, without any fixed property or abode, settling, for a time, where they found pasture, and then removing with their flocks to another place; or, from their being made up of people of different descents.” — Blaney. Jeremiah 25:23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, Jeremiah 25:24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, Jeremiah 25:25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, Jeremiah 25:25-26 . All the kings of Zimri — Those descended from Zimran, one of Abraham’s sons, by Keturah; all of whom he sent to settle in the east country, Genesis 25:2 ; Genesis 25:6 . It is probable that these descendants of Zimran were the same that Pliny mentions among the inhabitants of Arabia, by the name of Zamareni. And all the kings of Elam — Namely, of Persia. And all the kings of the Medes — Who were descended from Madai, the son of Japhet. The Medes and Persians were commonly confederates and partakers of the same prosperity or adversity. And all the kings of the north far and near — “By the kings of the north that were near, the kings of Syria are probably meant: see Jeremiah 49:23 . Those that were afar off may mean the Hyrcanians and Bactrians, who are reckoned in Xenophon’s Cyropœdia, lib. 1., among them that were subjected or oppressed by the king of Babylon, and perhaps others besides of the neighbouring nations that were compelled to submit to the Babylonian yoke. All these lay to the north of Judea, and at a great distance.” And all the kingdoms of the world, &c. — It is justly observed by Blaney, that this must be understood with a limitation to that part of the continent with which the Jews had some correspondence, or acquaintance; just as ???? ? ????????? stands for the whole Roman empire, Luke 2:1 . “The ambition of a prince like Nebuchadnezzar, who aimed at universal monarchy, could not but occasion great confusion and distress, both among those who felt, and among those who dreaded, the power of his arms.” And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them — Here the speech of Jehovah is resumed, which was broken off at the end of Jeremiah 25:16 . That Sheshach means Babylon, appears clearly from Jeremiah 51:41 . “But, among the reasons that have been assigned for this name,” says Blaney,” I have met with none that I think satisfactory. ????? , signifies to subside, and sink down; and may perhaps allude to the low situation of Babylon, which did not derive its strength from being built, like many other great cities, upon the heights of a rock, but stood upon a large flat, or plain, cowering, as it were, amidst the waters that surrounded it, and by which it was rendered in some parts inaccessible to an enemy.” Jeremiah 25:26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Jeremiah 25:27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. Jeremiah 25:27-29 . Drink ye and be drunken — The imperative is here put for the future: see the like mode of speaking, Isaiah 2:9 ; Isaiah 6:9 ; Isaiah 23:16 . The cup being metaphorically put for calamity, to be drunken with it, and fall, &c., must signify extreme calamity, or destruction. If they refuse to take the cup, &c. — “If they either do not believe thy threatenings, or disregard them, as thinking themselves sufficiently provided against any hostile invasion, thou shalt let them know that the judgments denounced against them are God’s irreversible decree,” which shall certainly be executed, and that it will be in vain for them to hope to escape the threatened ruin. For lo, I bring evil on the city called by my name, &c. — “Judgment often begins at the house of God, for the correction of his people, and to be a warning to others; but the heaviest strokes of it are reserved for the ungodly:” see Lowth, and Jeremiah 49:12 ; 1 Peter 4:17-18 . And should ye be utterly unpunished? — No: if this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If they that have some good in them smart so severely for the evil that is found in them, can they expect to escape that have worse evils and no good found among them? If Jerusalem be punished for learning idolatry of the nations, shall not the nations be punished of whom they learned it? No doubt they shall; for, says the Lord, I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth — For they have helped to corrupt the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. Jeremiah 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. Jeremiah 25:30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes , against all the inhabitants of the earth. Jeremiah 25:30-33 . The Lord shall roar from on high — Shall manifest his anger from heaven. God speaks by his judgments, and those, when they are very terrible, may be fitly compared to the roaring of a lion, which strikes a consternation into those that hear it. He shall mightily roar upon his habitation — He shall pronounce and execute a terrible judgment upon his temple, the place on earth which he hath chosen for his residence: see 1 Kings 8:29 . He shall give a shout as they that tread the grapes — That is, He shall utter his voice before his army, as Joel expresses it, Joel 2:11 . Like a leader or general, he shall encourage them to give the onset upon their enemies, which is usually performed with a shout, as great as that which the treaders of grapes use at the time of the vintage. A noise shall come to the ends of the earth — The report of these calamities and confusions shall reach the most distant countries. For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations — God enters into judgment with men for their impieties, as being so many injuries to his honour, for which he demands satisfaction, Hosea 4:1 ; Micah 6:2 . He will plead with all flesh — Namely, with fire and sword, as Isaiah expresses it, Isaiah 66:16 . He will give the wicked to the sword — His quarrel with men is for their wickedness, for their contempt of him, of his authority over them, and kindness to them. They have provoked him to anger, and thence comes all this destruction. Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation — As the cup of God’s wrath goes round, every nation shall have its share, and take its turn, because one doth not take warning, by the calamities of another, to repent and reform. A great whirlwind shall be raised up, &c. — The Chaldean army shall come like a hurricane, raised in the north, and thence carried forward with incredible fierceness and swiftness, bearing down all before it. God’s vengeance is often compared to a whirlwind, and is here said to come from the coasts, or sides of the earth, because Chaldea was, at that time, thought to be one of the most remote regions. And the slain of the Lord, &c. — Multitudes shall fall by the sword of the merciless Chaldeans, so that the dead shall be everywhere found, here termed, the slain of the Lord, because slain by commission from him, and sacrificed to his justice. They shall not be lamented — They shall fall in such great numbers that the usual funeral rites and lamentations shall not be paid them, and many of them will lie unburied. Jeremiah 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 25:32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. Jeremiah 25:33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. Jeremiah 25:34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes , ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. Jeremiah 25:34-35 . Howl, ye shepherds, and cry — The imperative is here also put for the future: see Jeremiah 25:27 . Shepherds are here the same with kings, princes, or generals. In pursuance of the same metaphor, by the principal of the flock are meant the great and rich men of each nation. Though such are wont to be the most courageous and secure, yet of these it is foretold, that their hearts should so fail them that they should howl, and cry, and wallow in ashes. Seeing themselves utterly unable to make head against the enemy, and seeing their country, which they had the charge of, and for the protection and prosperity of which they were concerned, inevitably ruined, they should abandon themselves to despair, sorrow, and lamentation. For the days of your slaughter, &c., are accomplished — The time fixed in the divine counsel for the slaughter of some, and the dispersion of the rest, is fully come. And ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel — Ye shall be utterly destroyed, as a crystal glass when it is dashed against the ground. The shepherds shall have no way to flee, &c. — The enemy will be so numerous, so furious, so sedulous, and the extent of their army so vast, that it will be impossible to avoid falling into their hands. Jeremiah 25:35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. Jeremiah 25:36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard : for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture. Jeremiah 25:36-38 . A voice of the cry of the shepherds — Those are great calamities indeed that strike such a terror upon great men, and put them into this mighty consternation. For the Lord hath spoiled their pasture — In which they fed their flock, and out of which they fed themselves; the spoiling of this makes them cry out thus. Carrying on the metaphor of a lion roaring, the prophet alludes to the great fright into which shepherds are put when they hear a roaring lion

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; Jeremiah 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. CHAPTER XVI JEHOVAH AND THE NATIONS Jeremiah 25:15-38 "Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations."- Jeremiah 25:31 As the son of a king only learns very gradually that his father’s authority and activity extend beyond the family and the household, so Israel in its childhood thought of Jehovah as exclusively concerned with itself. Such ideas as omnipotence and universal Providence did not exist; therefore they could not be denied; and the limitations of the national faith were not essentially inconsistent with later Revelation. But when we reach the period of recorded prophecy we find that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the prophets had begun to recognise Jehovah’s dominion over surrounding peoples. There was, as yet, no deliberate and formal doctrine of omnipotence, but, as Israel became involved in the fortunes first of one foreign power and then of another, the prophets asserted that the doings of these heathen states were overruled by the God of Israel. The idea of Jehovah’s Lordship of the Nations enlarged with the extension of international relations, as our conception of the God of Nature has expanded with the successive discoveries of science. Hence, for the most part, the prophets devote special attention to the concerns of Gentile peoples. Hosea, Micah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are partial exceptions. Some of the minor prophets have for their main subject the doom of a heathen empire. Jonah and Nahum deal with Nineveh, Habakkuk with Chaldea, and Edom is specially honoured by being almost the sole object of the denunciations of Obadiah. Daniel also deals with the fate of the kingdoms of the world, but in the Apocalyptic fashion of the Pseudepigrapha. Jewish criticism rightly declined to recognise this book as prophetic, and relegated it to the latest collection of canonical scriptures. Each of the other prophetical books contains a longer or shorter series of utterances concerning the neighbours of Israel, its friends and foes, its enemies and allies. The fashion was apparently set by Amos, who shows God’s judgment upon Damascus, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. This list suggests the range of the prophet’s religious interest in the Gentiles. Assyria and Egypt were, for the present, beyond the sphere of Revelation, just as China and India were to the average Protestant of the seventeenth century. When we come to the Book of Isaiah, the horizon widens in every direction. Jehovah is concerned with Egypt and Ethiopia, Assyria and Babylon. In very short books like Joel and Zephaniah we could not expect exhaustive treatment of this subject. Yet even these prophets deal with the fortunes of the Gentiles: Joel, variously held one of the latest or one of the earliest of canonical books, pronounces a Divine judgment on Tyre and Sidon and the Philistines, on Egypt and Edom; and Zephaniah, an elder contemporary of Jeremiah, devotes sections to the Philistines, Moab and Ammon, Ethiopia and Assyria. The fall of Nineveh revolutionised the international system of the East. The judgment on Asshur was accomplished, and her name disappears from these catalogues of doom. In other particulars Jeremiah, as well as Ezekiel, follows closely in the footsteps of his predecessors. He deals, like them, with the group of Syrian and Palestinian states-Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Damascus He dwells with repeated emphasis on Egypt, and Arabia is represented by Kedar and Hazor. In one section the prophet travels into what must have seemed to his contemporaries the very far East, as far as Elam. On the other hand, he is comparatively silent about Tyre, in which Joel, Amos, the Book of Isaiah, and above all Ezekiel display a lively interest. Nebuchadnezzar’s campaigns were directed against Tyre as much as against Jerusalem; and Ezekiel, living in Chaldea, would have attention forcibly directed to the Phoenician capital, at a time when Jeremiah was absorbed in the fortunes of Zion. But in the passage which we have chosen as the subject for this introduction to the prophecies of the nations, Jeremiah takes a somewhat wider range:- "Thus saith unto me Jehovah, the God of Israel: Take at My hand this cup of the wine of fury, And make all the nations, to whom I send thee, drink it. They shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad Because of the sword that I will send among them." First and foremost of these nations, preeminent in punishment as in privilege, stand "Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with its kings and princes." This bad eminence is a necessary application of the principle laid down by Amos 3:2 :- "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities." But as Jeremiah says later on, addressing the Gentile nations, - "I begin to work evil at the city which is called by My name. Should ye go scot free? Ye shall not go scot free." And the prophet puts the cup of God’s fury to their lips also, and amongst them, Egypt, the bete noir of Hebrew seers, is most conspicuously marked out for destruction: "Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants and princes and all his people, and all the mixed population of Egypt." Then follows, in epic fashion, a catalogue of "all the nations" as Jeremiah knew them: "All the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines; Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of their colonies beyond the sea; Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all that have the corners of their hair polled, and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed populations that dwell in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes." Jeremiah’s definite geographical information is apparently exhausted, but he adds by way of summary and conclusion: "And all the kings of the north, far and near, one after the other; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth." There is one notable omission in the list. Nebuchadnezzar, the servant of Jehovah, { Jeremiah 25:9 } was the Divinely appointed scourge of Judah and its neighbours and allies. Elsewhere { Jeremiah 27:8 } the nations are exhorted to submit to him, and here apparently Chaldea is exempted from the general doom, just as Ezekiel passes no formal sentence on Babylon. It is true that "all the kingdoms of the earth" would naturally include Babylon, possibly were even intended to do so. But the Jews were not long content with so veiled a reference to their conquerors and oppressors. Some patriotic scribe added the explanatory note, "And the king of Sheshach ( i.e., Babylon) shall drink after them." Sheshach is obtained from Babel by the cipher ‘Athbash , according to which an alphabet is written out and a reversed alphabet written out underneath it, and the letters of the lower row used for those of the upper and vice versa . The use of cypher seems to indicate that the note was added in Chaldea during the Exile, when it was not safe to circulate documents which openly denounced Babylon. Jeremiah’s enumeration of the peoples and rulers of his world is naturally more detailed and more exhaustive than the list of the nations against which he prophesied. It includes the Phoenician states, details the Philistine cities, associates with Elam the neighbouring nations of Zimri and the Medes, and substitutes for Kedar and Hazor Arabia and a number of semi-Arab states, Uz, Dedan, Tema, and Buz. Thus Jeremiah’s world is the district constantly shown in Scripture atlases in a map comprising the scenes of Old Testament history, Egypt, Arabia, and Western Asia, south of a line from the northeast corner of the Mediterranean to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and west of a line from the latter point to the northern end of the Persian Gulf. How much of history has been crowded into this narrow area! Here science, art, and literature won those primitive triumphs which no subsequent achievements could surpass or even equal. Here, perhaps for the first time, men tasted the Dead Sea apples of civilisation, and learnt how little accumulated wealth and national splendour can do for the welfare of the masses. Here was Eden, where God walked in the cool of the day to commune with man; and here also were many Mount Moriahs, where man gave his firstborn for his transgression, the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul, and no angel voice stayed his hand. And now glance at any modern map and see for how little Jeremiah’s world counts among the great Powers of the nineteenth century. Egypt indeed is a bone of contention between European states, but how often does a daily paper remind its readers of the existence of Syria or Mesopotamia? We may apply to this ancient world the title that Byron gave to Rome, "Lone mother of dead empires," and call it:- "The desert, where we steer Stumbling o’er recollections." It is said that Scipio’s exultation over the fall of Carthage was marred by forebodings that Time had a like destiny in store for Rome. Where Cromwell might have quoted a text from the Bible, the Roman soldier applied to his native city the Homeric lines:- "Troy shall sink in fire, And Priam’s city with himself expire." The epitaphs of ancient civilisations are no mere matters of archaeology; like the inscriptions on common graves, they carry a Memento mori for their successors. But to return from epitaphs to prophecy: in the list which we have just given, the kings of many of the nations are required to drink the cup of wrath, and the section concludes with a universal judgment upon the princes and rulers of this ancient world under the familiar figure of shepherds, supplemented here by another, that of the "principal of the flock," or, as we should say, "bellwethers." Jehovah would break out upon them to rend and scatter like a lion from his covert. Therefore:- "Howl, ye shepherds, and cry! Roll yourselves in the dust, ye bellwethers! The time has fully come for you to be slaughtered. I will cast you down with a crash, like a vase of porcelain. Ruin hath overtaken the refuge of the shepherds, And the way of escape of the bellwethers." Thus Jeremiah announces the coming ruin of an ancient world, with all its states and sovereigns, and we have seen that the prediction has been amply fulfilled. We can only notice two other points with regard to this section. First, then, we have no right to accuse the prophet of speaking from a narrow national standpoint. His words are not the expression of the Jewish adversus omnes alios hostile odium ; if they were, we should not hear so much of Judah’s sin and Judah’s punishment. He applied to heathen states as he did to his own the divine standard of national righteousness, and they too were found wanting. All history confirms Jeremiah’s judgment. This brings us to our second point. Christian thinkers have been engrossed in the evidential aspect of these national catastrophes. They served to fulfil prophecy, and therefore the squalor of Egypt and the ruins of Assyria today have seemed to make our way of salvation more safe and certain. But God did not merely sacrifice these holocausts of men and nations to the perennial craving of feeble faith for signs. Their fate must of necessity illustrate His justice and wisdom and love. Jeremiah tells us plainly that Judah and its neighbours had filled up the measure of their iniquity before they were called upon to drink the cup of wrath; national sin justifies God’s judgments. Yet these very facts of the moral failure and decadence of human societies perplex and startle us. Individuals grow old and feeble and die, but saints and heroes do not become slaves of vice and sin in their last days. The glory of their prime is not buried in a dishonoured grave. Nay rather, when all else fails, the beauty of holiness grows more pure and radiant. But of what nation could we say:- "Let me die the death of the righteous, Let my last end be like his"? Apparently the collective conscience is a plant of very slow growth; and hitherto no society has been worthy to endure honourably or even to perish nobly. In Christendom itself the ideals of common action are still avowedly meaner than those of individual conduct. International and collective morality is still in its infancy, and as a matter of habit and system modern states are often wantonly cruel and unjust towards obscure individuals and helpless minorities. Yet surely it shall not always be so; the daily prayer of countless millions for the coming of the Kingdom of God cannot remain unanswered. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.