The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 542

time for judgment come. Tho long-suffering words e.re omitted by the Septuagint. My of J ehovo.h he.a boon oxhe.ustcd ; the fo.11 of aenant. Generally to be a " servant" or the commonweo.lth co.nnot 1my longer be Jehovah or of any aupposed deity is to bo a worahipper. Thus Daniel is calle,l by delnyod. Such we.a the stro.nge destiny of Do.rius, "servant of the Ii ving God" ( Dan. the prophet; ho wo.s sent to "pull down" vi. 20), o.nd thus Abdallah, "servant of o.nd " to build,'' but the destructive element Allo.h," has become a favourite surname of (o.s eh. i. 10 suggests) wo.s le.rgoly predomi- the followers of Mohammed. In the Book ne.nt. Specio.lly predomino.nt is it in this of Jeremiah itself (:ux. 10: xlvi. 27, 28), and in Ezekiel (xxxvii. 25). "my ser- importnnt che.ptor, in which the prophet ve.nt" is the form in which J ehovab e.d- begins to fulfil the mission to the heo.then dresees his chosen people; and in the second with which twenty-three years e.go he he.d part of Isaiah the Sllff'ering Messiah is so been entrusted. One by one, "o.11 the styled. Here, however, a foreign king is ne.tions" directly or indirectly connected thus entitled. How is this to be explained? Cyrus, no doubt, in Isa. xliv. 28, xlv. 1, is with Isre.cl e.re co.lled up to hear their called " my shepherd" e.nd "my e.nointed punishment. There ie no indulgence, no one ; " but then Cyrus, in the view of the reapite ; only e. glee.m of hope in the prophet, was a genuine though unconscious promised fine.I destruction of the tyrant- worahipper of the true God (Isa. xii. 25), city Babylon (vere. 12-14). The prophecy wherell8 Nebuche.drezzar was known to be a polytheist e.nd an idolater. We must, there- falls naturally into three parts, vers. 15-29 fore, take" eerve.nt" to be applied to Nebn- forming the centre. The date assigned to cbadrezzar in e. lower sense than to the other this chapter in the first verse is romo.rke.ble: bee.rers of the title. The Hebrew 'ebhed, it is the fate.I yee.r of the battle of Car- in fact, may be either "slave" in something ohemish, which brought Syria and Palestine approe.ching to the terrible modern sense, or in the sense in which Eliezer was one (i.e. within the grasp of Babylon. little lesa the.n a son, e.nd e. possible heir, Ver.1.-The first year of Hebnohe.drezzar Gen. xxiv. 2; Go.I. iv. 1), e.nd which is atill (comp. 2 Kings xxiv. 12; xxv. 8; eh. Iii. in full force in Axe.hie.. An astonishment 12; xxxii 1). (see on eh. ii. 11). An b.iuing (comp. eh. Ver. 8.-J'rom the thirteenth year; etc.; xviii. 16; xix. 8). alluding to the chronological ete.tement in Ver. 10.-The sound of the mill■tone■. eh. i. 2. The three and twentieth year ; Modern tre.vel eno.bles us (so conservntive is counting nineteen years under Josiah and the East) to realize the full force of this four under Jehoiachin, o.nd including tbe image. The bo.nd-mill is composed of two three months of Jehoo.baz. stones. AB a rule, "two women (comp. Matt. Vere, 4,5.-(0omp. eh. vii. 25; xi. 7; xxxv, xxiv. 41) sit o.t it fo.cing ee.ch other; both 15.) They said j literally, saying. The pro- he.ve hold of the handle by which the upper phet mento.lly resumes the sto.tement of ver. is turned round on the 'nether' millstone. 4, "He ho.th sent hie servo.nte the prophets." 'fho one whose right he.nd is disengaged Turn ye; rather, return ye, conversion being throws in the groin as occasion requires, the return of the sinner to his natural home. through the hole in the upper atone" (Dr. Ver. 9.-The families of the north (comp. Thomson). "The lo.hour,'' reme.rks Dr. eh, i. 15, note). And Nebnohadrezzar the Robinson, "is evidently hard ; and the king of Babylon, my servant. This is the gro.ling sound of the mill iJ henrd o.t a dis- rendering of the To.rgum, the Syrio.c, e.nd to.nce, indicating (like our coffee-mills) lho the Vulgnto, nnd corresponds with the reo.d- presence of a family nnd of household lifo " ing of o. fow extant mnnuecripte. 'fhe re- (' Biblico.l Reseo.rches,' ii. 181). Acl<l to this ceived text, however, roe.de, "and unto the light of the oandle (or rather, lamp), nrnl Nelrncho.drezzo.r," etc. Neither reo.ding is we IULve two of tho most universally cho.- sutisfoctory. Tho lo.ttcr ono is intolerably ructcristic signs of domestic life. No family he.rsh; tho former mnkce Nobuche.drczzo.r o. could dispense with tho bond-mill, nllll, ns more adjunct of tho tribes of the north. In the sermon on tho mount implies, tho tho other po.sso.gee, moreover.where this king poorest household bo.d its "lo.mp" (ll[ntt. v. is Rolomnly entitled "my servo.nt," the ole.use 15-the poverty of the family is indicated id the most prominent one in the sentence by tho vo.rious uses to which tho lamp-stand (see eh. xxvii. G ; xliii. 10). The words in wo.s applied). Comp. this verse with the imi- question ho.vo e. sort of fe.mily resemblance tation in Ilev. xviii. 22, 23. to the glosses which moot us occo.siono.lly Ver. 11.-Shall ■ene the king of Babylon both in the form of the Hebrew text repre- seventy years. Widely different opinions sented by the Masaorotio recension, o.nd e.re hold as to the meo.ning of this prophecy. those by the principo.l o.noient versions. The The most probe.ble view is tho.t "seventy"  550 TUE IlOOK 01<' 'l'HE PROPHET JEimMIAH. [en. xxv. 1-,H:J.