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Commentary on Jeremiah 1 verses 11–19
Here, I. God gives Jeremiah, in vision, a view of the principal errand he was to go upon, which was to foretel the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, for their sins, especially their idolatry. This was at first represented to him in a way proper to make an impression upon him, that he might have it upon his heart in all his dealings with this people.
1.He intimates to him that the people were ripening apace for ruin and that ruin was hastening apace towards them. God, having answered his objection, that he was a child, goes on to initiate him in the prophetical learning and language; and, having promised to enable him to speak intelligibly to the people, he here teaches him to understand what God says to him; for prophets must have eyes in their heads as well as tongues, must be seers as well as speakers. He therefore asks him, "Jeremiah, what seest thou? Look about thee, and observe now." And he was soon aware of what was presented to him: "I see a rod, denoting affliction and chastisement, a correcting rod hanging over us; and it is a rod of an almond-tree, which is one of the forwardest trees in the spring, is in the bud and blossom quickly, when other trees are scarcely broken out;" it flourishes, says Pliny, in the month of January, and by March has ripe fruits; hence it is called in the Hebrew, Shakedh, the hasty tree. Whether this rod that Jeremiah saw had already budded, as some think, or whether it was stripped and dry, as others think, and yet Jeremiah knew it to be of an almond-tree, as Aaron's rod was, is uncertain; but God explained it in the next words (v. 12): Thou hast well seen. God commended him that he was so observant, and so quick of apprehension, as to be aware, though it was the first vision he ever saw, that it was a rod of an almond-tree, that his mind was so composed as to be able to distinguish. Prophets have need of good eyes; and those that see well shall be commended, and not those only that speak well. "Thou hast seen a hasty tree, which signifies that I will hasten my word to perform it." Jeremiah shall prophesy that which he himself shall live to see accomplished. We have the explication of this, Eze 7:10, Eze 7:11, "The rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded, violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. The measure of Jerusalem's iniquity fills very fast; and, as if their destruction slumbered too long, they waken it, they hasten it, and I will hasten to perform what I have spoken against them."
2.He intimates to him whence the intended ruin should arise. Jeremiah is a second time asked: What seest thou? and he sees a seething-pot upon the fire (Jer 1:13), representing Jerusalem and Judah in great commotion, like boiling water, by reason of the descent which the Chaldean army made upon them; made like a fiery oven (Psa 21:9), all in a heat, wasting away as boiling water does and sensibly evaporating and growing less and less, ready to boil over, to be thrown out of their own city and land, as out of the pan into the fire, from bad to worse. Some think that those scoffers referred to this who said (Eze 11:3), This city is the cauldron, and we are the flesh. Now the mouth or face of the furnace or hearth, over which this pot boiled, was towards the north, for thence the fire and the fuel were to come that must make the pot boil thus. So the vision is explained (Jer 1:14): Out of the north an evil shall break forth, or shall be opened. It had been long designed by the justice of God, and long deserved by the sin of the people, and yet hitherto the divine patience had restrained it, and held it in, as it were; the enemies had intended it, and God had checked them; but now all restraints shall be taken off, and the evil shall break forth; the direful scene shall open, and the enemy shall come in like a flood. It shall be a universal calamity; it shall come upon all the inhabitants of the land, from the highest to the lowest, for they have all corrupted their way. Look for this storm to arise out of the north, whence fair weather usually comes, Job 37:22. When there was friendship between Hezekiah and the king of Babylon they promised themselves many advantages out of the north; but it proved quite otherwise: out of the north their trouble arose. Thence sometimes the fiercest tempests come whence we expected fair weather. This is further explained Jer 1:15, where we may observe, (1.) The raising of the army that shall invade Judah and lay it waste: I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord. All the northern crowns shall unite under Nebuchadnezzar, and join with him in this expedition. They lie dispersed, but God, who has all men's hearts in his hand, will bring them together; they lie at a distance from Judah, but God, who directs all men's steps, will call them, and they shall come, though they be ever so far off. God's summons shall be obeyed; those whom he calls shall come. When he has work to do of any kind he will find instruments to do it, though he send to the utmost parts of the earth for them. And, that the armies brought into the field may be sufficiently numerous and strong, he will call not only the kingdoms of the north, but all the families of those kingdoms, into the service; not one able-bodied man shall be left behind. (2.) The advance of this army. The commanders of the troops of the several nations shall take their post in carrying on the siege of Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. They shall set every one his throne, or seat. When a city is besieged we say, The enemy sits down before it. They shall encamp some at the entering of the gates, others against the walls round about, to cut off both the going out of the mouths and the coming in of the meat, and so to starve them.
3.He tells him plainly what was the procuring cause of all these judgments; it was the sin of Jerusalem and of the cities of Judah (Jer 1:16): I will pass sentence upon them (so it may be read) or give judgment against them (this sentence, this judgment) because of all their wickedness; it is this that plucks up the flood-gates and lets in this inundation of calamities. They have forsaken God and revolted from their allegiance to him, and have burnt incense to other gods, new gods, strange gods, and all false gods, pretenders, usurpers, the creatures of their own fancy, and they have worshipped the works of their own hands. Jeremiah was young, had looked but little abroad into the world, and perhaps did not know, nor could have believed, what abominable idolatries the children of his people were guilty of; but God tells him, that he might know what to level his reproofs against and what to ground his threatenings upon, and that he might himself be satisfied in the equity of the sentence which in God's name he was to pass upon them.
II. God excites and encourages Jeremiah to apply himself with all diligence and seriousness to his business. A great trust is committed to him. He is sent in God's name as a herald at arms, to proclaim war against his rebellious subjects; for God is pleased to give warning of his judgments beforehand, that sinners may be awakened to meet him by repentance, and so turn away his wrath, and that, if they do not, they may be left inexcusable. With this trust Jeremiah has a charge given him (Jer 1:17): "Thou, therefore, gird up thy loins; free thyself from all those things that would unfit thee for or hinder thee in this service; buckle to it with readiness and resolution, and be not entangled with doubts about it." He must be quick: Arise, and lose no time. He must be busy: Arise, and speak unto them in season, out of season. He must be bold: Be not dismayed at their faces, as before, Jer 1:8. In a word, he must be faithful; it is required of ambassadors that they be so.
1.In two things he must be faithful: - (1.) He must speak all that he is charged with: Speak all that I command thee. He must forget nothing as minute, or foreign, or not worth mentioning; every word of God is weighty. He must conceal nothing for fear of offending; he must alter nothing under pretence of making it more fashionable or more palatable, but, without addition or diminution, declare the whole counsel of God. (2.) He must speak to all that he is charged against; he must not whisper it in a corner to a few particular friends that will take it well, but he must appear against the kings of Judah, if they be wicked kings, and bear his testimony against the sins even of the princes thereof; for the greatest of men are not exempt from the judgments either of God's hand or of his mouth. Nay, he must not spare the priests thereof; though he himself was a priest, and was concerned to maintain the dignity of his order, yet he must not therefore flatter them in their sins. He must appear against the people of the land, though they were his own people, as far as they were against the Lord.
2.Two reasons are here given why he should do thus: - (1.) Because he had reason to fear the wrath of God if he should be false: "Be not dismayed at their faces, so as to ??desert thy office, or shrink from the duty of it, lest I confound and dismay thee before them, lest I give thee up to thy faintheartedness." Those that consult their own credit, ease, and safety, more than their work and duty, are justly left of God to themselves, and to bring upon themselves the shame of their own cowardliness. Nay, lest I reckon with thee for thy faintheartedness, and break thee to pieces; so some read it. Therefore this prophet says (Jer 17:17), Lord, be not thou a terror to me. Note, The fear of God is the best antidote against the fear of man. Let us always be afraid of offending God, who after he has killed has power to cast into hell, and then we shall be in little danger of fearing the faces of men that can but kill the body, Luk 12:4, Luk 12:5. See Neh 4:14. It is better to have all the men in the world our enemies than God our enemy. (2.) Because he had no reason to fear the wrath of men if he were faithful; for the God whom he served would protect him, and bear him out, so that they should neither sink his spirits nor drive him off from his work, should neither stop his mouth nor take away his life, till he had finished his testimony, Jer 1:18. This young stripling of a prophet is made by the power of God as an impregnable city, fortified with iron pillars and surrounded with walls of brass; he sallies out upon the enemy in reproofs and threatenings, and keeps them in awe. They set upon him on every side; the kings and princes batter him with their power, the priests thunder against him with their church-censures, and the people of the land shoot their arrows at him, even slanderous and bitter words; but he shall keep his ground and make his part good with them; he shall still be a curb upon them (Jer 1:19): They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail to destroy thee, for I am with thee to deliver thee out of their hands; nor shall they prevail to defeat the word that God sends them by Jeremiah, nor to deliver themselves; it shall take hold of them, for God is against them to destroy them. Note, Those who are sure that they have God with them (as he is if they be with him) need not, ought not, to be afraid, whoever is against them.
(Verse 15, 16.) For behold, I will gather all the families of the kingdoms of the North, says the Lord, and they shall come and each one shall set their throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and over all its surrounding walls, and over all the cities of Judah. And I will speak my judgments with them concerning all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and worshiped foreign gods and bowed down to the work of their own hands. Without a doubt, many nations and the kings of each nation were subjected to the Babylonian king, who, besieging Jerusalem, placed their thrones and tents around it, so that none of those who were closed in could escape. And not only Jerusalem, but also all the cities of Judah were surrounded by a similar siege. And when, he says, the city has been captured, then I will speak to them that my judgments were right, and that each one received what they deserved: not for the other vices to which human nature is subject, but especially for idolatry, by which they deserted me and worshipped the works of their own hands. Some interpret this passage in a positive way, namely that those who have been refined in the bronze furnace and purified through torments will afterwards become princes of Jerusalem; and after the Lord has shown compassion to them, then he will rebuke them because, when he deserted them, they worshipped idols. But this is a violent and wicked interpretation: so that an ignorant handler does not commit slander.
A saint is different from a sinner, not because he or she is not tempted in the same way but because he or she is not defeated even by a great assault, while the other is overcome even by a slight temptation. The strength of any good person would not, as we said, be worthy of praise, if the victory was gained without being tempted. Most certainly there is no room for victory where there is no struggle and conflict. “Blessed is the one who endures trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” According to the apostle Paul also, “power is made perfect” not in ease and delights but “in weakness.” “And behold,” says he, “I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
He emphasizes the justice of what has been done by adding, “I shall pronounce my judgment against them because of all their wickedness in forsaking me. They sacrificed to foreign gods and worshiped the works of their hands.” What could be more foolish than this kind of godlessness? What could be more righteous than retribution? Consider that they, for their part, forsook their own maker and turned things of their own making into gods. He, by contrast, after demonstrating his patient mercy for such a long time, finally deprived them of his characteristic grace. Once deprived of it, they became enslaved to unholy people.
The blessed Jeremiah also saw a boiling pot tilted away from the north. So he means that Manasseh will recover its own land, Ephraim regain its former power and Judah be renamed king of all, whereas the Moabites will be subject to them, observing their invincible strength—and not only they but also Edomites and foreigners.
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SUMMARY
Jeremiah 1:15 delivers a profound and chilling prophetic declaration of God's impending judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem. It unveils the divine orchestration of foreign powers as instruments of His wrath, vividly portraying the comprehensive nature of the coming invasion from the north. This verse details how these "families of the kingdoms" will not only besiege Jerusalem but will establish their authority at its very gates, extending their conquest to all the cities of Judah, signaling a complete overthrow of the nation's sovereignty and ushering in a profound period of devastation.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 1:15 is rich in Symbolism. The "kingdoms of the north" symbolize the instrument of God's judgment, specifically the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which would indeed come from that geographical direction. The act of setting "thrones at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem" is highly symbolic, representing the complete overthrow of Judah's sovereignty, its legal and judicial systems, and its national identity. It is an image of profound Humiliation and subjugation, where the very seats of native authority are usurped by foreign invaders. The repeated emphasis on "all the families," "every one his throne," "all the walls," and "all the cities" employs Hyperbole or Emphasis to underscore the comprehensive and overwhelming nature of the impending devastation, leaving no doubt about the totality of the judgment. The entire verse functions as a Divine Oracle, a direct pronouncement from God ("saith the LORD"), lending it ultimate authority and certainty and highlighting God's active involvement in human history.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 1:15 profoundly illustrates God's absolute sovereignty over human history and the nations. It reveals that even seemingly independent geopolitical movements are ultimately under the control of Yahweh, who raises up and casts down kingdoms according to His righteous purposes. This verse underscores the severe consequences of covenant unfaithfulness, demonstrating that God's patience has limits and His warnings are not idle threats. The judgment, though delivered through human agents, is fundamentally divine, serving as a disciplinary act to call His people back to Himself or to purify a remnant. It also highlights the theme of divine justice, where the Lord uses the very nations that Judah had often sought alliances with (rather than trusting God) as instruments of their chastisement. This serves as a timeless reminder that true security and prosperity lie in obedience and faithfulness to God, not in political maneuvering or idolatrous practices.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 1:15 calls us to a sober reflection on the nature of God's sovereignty, justice, and the gravity of disobedience. In a world often perceived as chaotic or driven solely by human ambition, this verse reminds us that God remains firmly on His throne, orchestrating even the rise and fall of nations to accomplish His divine will. For us today, it serves as a powerful warning: just as ancient Judah faced consequences for persistent rebellion against God's covenant, so too do individuals and nations face the ramifications of turning away from His truth. This should prompt us to examine our own lives and societies, asking if we are truly living in faithful obedience to God's revealed will. Furthermore, it encourages a posture of trust, knowing that even amidst global turmoil or personal trials, God is not absent or powerless, but actively working, often through unexpected means, to bring about His purposes. This understanding can bring peace amidst uncertainty, knowing that the God who "calls" nations is the same God who cares for His people and ultimately works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (see Romans 8:28).
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who are the "families of the kingdoms of the north" mentioned in this verse?
Answer: While the verse does not name them explicitly, the historical context and subsequent events in Jeremiah's prophecy clearly identify the "kingdoms of the north" as the burgeoning Neo-Babylonian Empire, led by King Nebuchadnezzar. This powerful empire rose to prominence after the decline of Assyria and would become the primary instrument of God's judgment against Judah, ultimately leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile. The phrase "families of the kingdoms" likely refers to the various allied nations and tribal groups that comprised the vast Babylonian military force, indicating a comprehensive and diverse invading army.
What is the significance of the invaders setting "their throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem"?
Answer: In ancient Near Eastern cities, the city gates were far more than mere entrances. They were the central hub of civic life, serving as places for legal proceedings, judicial rulings, commercial transactions, and public assemblies. Elders, judges, and kings would hold court there. Therefore, for invaders to "set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem" was a deeply symbolic act signifying not just military conquest, but the complete overthrow of Judah's sovereignty, its legal system, and its self-governance. It represented a profound act of public humiliation and the establishment of foreign authority over every aspect of Jerusalem's life, demonstrating that the city's defenses and its very identity were utterly subjugated. This imagery is a powerful depiction of total defeat and the imposition of foreign rule, as seen in the eventual fall of Jerusalem to Babylon.
Does this verse imply that God directly causes evil or uses wicked nations for His purposes?
Answer: This verse, along with many others in Scripture (e.g., Isaiah 10:5-7), affirms God's absolute sovereignty over all nations and human history. It teaches that God can and does use nations, even those that are wicked or do not acknowledge Him, as instruments to accomplish His divine purposes, including judgment. This does not mean God condones their wickedness or is the author of evil. Rather, He is able to providentially direct their actions, which may stem from their own sinful desires, to serve His ultimate righteous ends. In this case, Babylon's ambition and military might were harnessed by God to bring about His just judgment on Judah for its persistent idolatry and rebellion, while Babylon itself would later face its own judgment for its pride and cruelty (e.g., Jeremiah 50-51).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Jeremiah 1:15, with its stark prophecy of judgment from the north, finds its ultimate Christ-centered fulfillment not in the physical destruction of Jerusalem as an end in itself, but in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, who perfectly embodies God's justice and mercy. While the "kingdoms of the north" brought temporal judgment upon unfaithful Judah, Christ's coming ushered in a spiritual judgment, revealing the true nature of sin and the need for salvation. He is the ultimate King, whose "throne" is not set at the gates of a physical city for judgment, but established eternally in heaven, from which He exercises universal dominion (e.g., Matthew 28:18). The judgment prophesied in Jeremiah foreshadows the greater judgment that Christ, as the Son of Man, will execute at the end of time, where every knee will bow before His throne (e.g., Philippians 2:9-11). However, for those who believe, Christ's coming also represents the ultimate deliverance from the spiritual "kingdoms of the north"—the powers of sin and death. Through His atoning sacrifice on the cross, Jesus bore the judgment that was due to humanity, offering a new covenant where forgiveness and reconciliation are possible (e.g., Hebrews 8:6-13). Thus, the terrifying imagery of foreign thrones at Jerusalem's gates is ultimately superseded by the glorious reality of Christ's eternal, saving reign, where His people find refuge and true justice under His perfect and merciful rule (e.g., Revelation 22:3).