behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation. Sermons
I. THE CONTRAST WITH OTHER SERVANTS. Observe the mention, in ver. 4, of those very different servants of God, the prophets (so mentioned elsewhere). God had sent many of them and many times, and hardly any attention had been paid to them. Higher motives had been appealed to in vain. Considerations of duty and prudence were thrown to the winds. And now the mighty king Nebuchadnezzar comes, with a very different sort of force - not looking at all like a servant of God; and yet he is just as much the servant of God as is any of the prophets. Indeed, king of a great people though he was, his rank in the service of God was not so high as that of the prophets. He appears in this place as nothing more than the final executioner of justice. II. NONETHELESS EFFICIENT A SERVANT BECAUSE THE SERVICE WAS RENDERED UNCONSCIOUSLY. Nebuchadnezzar, despot as he was, would have been very wrathful if he had known exactly how he appeared in the sight of God. He had certain purposes of his own, and he succeeded in effecting them; but the very energy with which he worked for himself only made him to render his service to God more complete. And may it not be happening in the world, a great deal more frequently than we think, that the very success of selfish and domineering men is being so handled by God as all the more to serve his purposes? III. THE LIMITATIONS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S SERVICE. The service, with all its completeness, was only within certain limits. It does not require much intelligence to destroy what is destructible. But if there is to be a building-up work for God, then there must be a conscious, voluntary, and devoted service. Israel was meant to be a servant of God in the fullest and noblest sense of the word. It had been instructed in the will of God and borne with patiently in many failures to obey that will. Hence the description of Nebuchadnezzar as a servant is an implied rebuke of those who had refused to be servants. Note the great contrast found in the New Testament, where Christ's apostles, at the beginning of their Epistles, hasten to proclaim themselves as the servants of God. - Y.
I will do you no hurt. 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.) People Amon, Babylonians, Buz, Dedan, Elam, Jehoiakim, Jeremiah, Josiah, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, Pharaoh, Tema, Zidon, ZimriPlaces Ammon, Arabia, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Babylon, Buz, Dedan, Edom, Egypt, Ekron, Elam, Gaza, Jerusalem, Media, Moab, Sidon, Tema, Tyre, Uz, ZimriTopics Affirmation, Age-during, Appointed, Astonishment, Babylon, Behold, Bring, Cause, Complete, Completely, Declares, Desolation, Desolations, Destroy, Destruction, Devoted, Everlasting, Families, Fear, Hissing, Horror, Inhabitants, Nations, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuchadrez'zar, North, Object, Peoples, Perpetual, Reproach, Round, Ruin, Says, Scorn, Sending, Servant, Surprise, Surrounding, Thereof, Tribes, Utterly, Waste, WastesOutline 1. Jeremiah, reproving the Jews' disobedience to the prophets,8. foretells the seventy years' captivity; 12. and after that, the destruction of Babylon. 15. Under the type of a cup of wine he foreshows the destruction of all nations. 34. The howling of the shepherds. Dictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 25:9 5219 authority, human institutions Library Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology. (Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two … Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Appendix 2 Extracts from the Babylon Talmud The Man and the Book. The Cavils of the Pharisees Concerning Purification, and the Teaching of the Lord Concerning Purity - the Traditions Concerning Hand-Washing' and Vows. ' The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire Ci. Foretelling his Passion. Rebuking Ambition. Jeremiah Links Jeremiah 25:9 NIVJeremiah 25:9 NLT Jeremiah 25:9 ESV Jeremiah 25:9 NASB Jeremiah 25:9 KJV Jeremiah 25:9 Bible Apps Jeremiah 25:9 Parallel Jeremiah 25:9 Biblia Paralela Jeremiah 25:9 Chinese Bible Jeremiah 25:9 French Bible Jeremiah 25:9 German Bible Jeremiah 25:9 Commentaries Bible Hub |