k This was that Micah, whoſe Prophecies are part of holy Writ as appeareth by Micah xr. 1. and 3. 12. where are the very words of the Prophecy here mentioned. ! The ſubſtance of that Prophecy was the ſame yitlt this of Jeremiah,, that Zion ſhould be plowed up, and the place where the: Temple ſtood, ſhould become ſo de« tolate that Trees ſhould grow there, as in a Wood or roreſt.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death 92? did he not fear the LORD,
them o 2 Thus might we procure great evil' againft our ſouls p.
m The Interrogation here hath the force of a Negation ; that is, Hezekiah, and the Shanhedrim in his time did not go abour to call him in queſtion for his Life, nor put him to death. His Prophecy had a quite contrary effe@ on him. » It begat in him an awe and dread of that God, in whoſe Name the Prophet ſpake, and quick- ened him to apply himſelf ro God by earneſt Prayer, and the courſe he took had a very good iſſue. - o The Lord did not do what he threatned to do. p Now, jf we ſhould take a quite contrary
gies but denieth that he was a falſe Propher, or guilty of any de.
courſe, and put this Man to death, we ſhould do contrary to oo Ti24T
and beſought the | LORD » ? and the LORD repent- | Heb: | ed him of the evil whlch he had pronounced againſt f-c« fibs
4 Heb-
&
that good Prince did, and that with good: ſucceſs ) do- our ſelves no good, but procure great evil againſt our Souls ; that is againſt our ſelves both Bodies and Souls ſtriftly taken. * :
20 And there was alſo a Man that propheſfied in
the name of che LORD, Urijah the ſon of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who propheſied againſt this city ,and againſt this land, according to all the words of Jere- miah 9.
9 This is a piece of Story which we have recorded in no other part of Scripture. Some judge theſe words were the words of the iame that ſpake before, but this is not likely, for then chey had brought one inſtance for acquitting him, anorher for the condenn- ing of him. They are therefore rather to be interpreted as the
' words of ſome others, etther of the Court who were Enemies to Jeremiak, or of his Acculers, or their Council, urging a later preſi- dent, in the time of Jehoiakim the King that at this time reigned, who alſo pretended to ſpeak in the Name of the Lord, and whote Prophecy was the ſame in ſubſtance with this of Jeremiah,
21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes heard his words, the king ſought to put him to death ; but when Urijah heard ic he was afraid and fled, and went into Egyptr.
r When Jehoiakim our preſent King, and all his great Men heard of it, ( probably by the information of others ) they judged it a Capital crimez and uſed means to apprehend him, in order to the putting him.to death, upon which the Prophet being advertiſed of it, and fearing the iſſue, fled into Egypr-
22 And ſehoiakim the king ſent men into Egypt /, »amely Elnathan the ſon of Achbor?, and certain men wich him into Egypt.
{ The innocent Prophet conſidered not the King of Judah's Al- liance with the King ot Egype, ( obliging him upon demand ro de- liver up any of his Subje&s, who being charged with capirsl Crimes, ſhould flee-into his. Country for SanQtuary ) and fled rhither, bur the King ſent after him one of his grear Men ( m:nrtioned alſo Chap. 36. 12.) with ſome others to his aſſiſtance.
22 And they fer forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king, who ſlew him with the ſword, and caſt his dead body into the graves
of the + common people #.
Sens of the uy Theſe Perſons ſent by Jehoiakim, brought back the Prophet
people,
by force, he was tried and caſt, judged worthy to die, and put to death, and ignominiouſly buried, not in the Sepulchres of the Pro- phets, or any Men of Repute and Faſhion, but amongſt the vuJgar People» Which, as alſo his diligence to ſend for Ur:jah ( fled into a foraign Country to ſave his Jife ) ſhewed the great Malice of this
Prince againſt the Lord's true Prophets ; though it had bur very ill ,
effe&ts. Theſumm is ( if we take theſe words as the Speech of Fe- remisb's Enemies ) what do you tell us of what Hezekiah did, you have a later inſtance of it in our preſent King's time, the caſes of Urijah and of Jeremiah are fully parallelled. So as the caſe is a
judged caſe. : 24 Nevertheleſs w, the hand of Ahikam the ſon of
Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, that they fhould not give
him into the hand of the people, to put him to death x. w Though Feremiah's Enemies pleaded this inſtance of Ur:j@b, which had this advantage of the other, becauſe it was matter of fact done lately, and a caſe judged in this very King's Reign 5 yet the hand, that is, the power and intereſt of one Ahikem, who as appears from 2 Kings 22.12, was one of Joſiah's Counſellors, arid the Fa» cher of Gedaliah, Chap. 39.'14. who upon the taking of the City was made Governour,Chap. 40. 5» was with Jeremiah, x Soas through the good Providence of God, Jeremiah was not delivered into the hand: of the People, ſome of whom -were mutable, and malicious enough, ready to do any thing the Priefs put them upon. And the after advancement of the Son of this Ah:kam to be Governour of
Judah, may juſtly be interpreted a Reward in this Life, which in the
God gave him for his kindneſs to his Prophet. C H A P. . XXVII.
The Prophet ſundeth Tokes to frve neighbur Kings, thereby foreſhewing their have their pericds ) which was after ſeventy Tears, 7 He exhorteth them to yield, | Ch
Snbje&ion tro Nebuchadonezzar, 1 | and not to believe falſe Prophets. 8, ir. The like he doth to; Zedekiah, 12, 18. The Remnant of the Veſſels ſhall be carried ro Babylon, and continue there till the appointed rims 1 22
L the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the ſon of Joſiah king of Judah, came this word unto Jere- miah from the LORD, ſaying 4,
#s Here is a difficulty ariſeth fiom this Verſe, which there have been various attempts to reſolve, and whether any hath been fully GtisfaQtory I doubr, It is ſaid this word of the Lord came to Jere- miah in the beginning of the Reign of Fehoiakim, and Yer. 3. the Pro- phet is bid to ſend the Bonasand Tkes, by the hand of the Meſſengers which came to Hieruſalemw unto Zedekiah King of Judah, who began not to reign till abour 11 Years after the beginning of the Reign of Jehoiakim. To ſolve this difficulty, 1. Some think Jehoiakim was