Jeremiah 17:19

17:19-27 The prophet was to lay before the rulers and the people of Judah, the command to keep holy the sabbath day. Let them strictly observe the fourth command. If they obeyed this word, their prosperity should be restored. It is a day of rest, and must not be made a day of labour, unless in cases of necessity. Take heed, watch against the profanation of the sabbath. Let not the soul be burdened with the cares of this world on sabbath days. The streams of religion run deep or shallow, according as the banks of the sabbath are kept up or neglected. The degree of strictness with which this ordinance is observed, or the neglect shown towards it, is a good test to find the state of spiritual religion in any land. Let all; by their own example, by attention to their families, strive to check this evil, that national prosperity may be preserved, and, above all, that souls may be saved.

Jeremiah 17:19-24 . Thus saith the Lord, Go, &c. — Here we evidently have a distinct prophecy, which the prophet was commanded to deliver most probably soon, if not immediately, after the foregoing. Stand in the gate of the children of the people — By which It seems is meant the gate most frequented by the people; being that nearest the palace, where the kings of Judah held their most solemn courts of judicature, or by which they ordinarily went out of the city, and returned into it. And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah — The word of the Lord equally concerns the highest and the lowest, the greatest princes as well as the meanest subjects. Thus saith the Lord, Take heed to yourselves — The Hebrew is, Take heed to your souls, intimating that the sanctification of the sabbath is an important thing, wherein the welfare of men’s souls is concerned. Neither carry forth a burden, &c. — See notes on Nehemiah 13:15-22 . Neither do ye any work — Servile work was forbidden to be done upon their solemn festivals, Leviticus 23:8 ; Leviticus 23:35 , much more upon the sabbath days. But hallow ye the sabbath days — “The sabbath was instituted as a sign or token of God’s covenant with his people, Exodus 31:13 , and the observance of it was the distinguishing character of a Jew, whereby he declared himself to be a worshipper of the true God, who made heaven and earth, and ordained the sabbath day as a memorial of the creation.

Verses 19-27. - An exhortation to a more strict observance of the Sabbath. The reward held out is Jerusalem's continuance in all its old pomp, both temporal and spiritual, and the penalty the destruction of the city by fire. This passage stands in absolutely no connection with the preceding and the following prophecies; and we have just the same sense of suspicion in meeting with it here, in the midst of perfectly general exhortations, as in reading the parallel exhortations to Sabbath-keeping in Isaiah 56 . and 58, surrounded as they are by the moving and almost evangelical rhetoric of the second part of Isaiah. Geiger and Dr. Rowland Williams have hence been led to conjecture that this section (or part of it) was introduced into the roll of Jeremiah's prophecies to assist the reforming movement of Ezra and Nehemiah. Certainly the regard for the Sabbath, so conspicuous in the later Judaism, dates, so far as we can see, from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (see Nehemiah 13 .), though it is credible enough that the perception of the high importance of this holy day (comp. Heine's 'Prinecssin Sabbath') began to acquire greater distinctness as the other parts of the social and religions organization were seen to be fading away (comp. art. "Sabbath" in Smith's 'Bible Dictionary'). Verse 19. - In the gate of the children of the people . It is uncertain which of the gates of Jerusalem is meant, and not perfectly clear what is the meaning of the title.

Does it mean Israelites as opposed to foreigners, or laymen as distinguished from priests? Whereby the kings of Judah come in . Jeremiah appears to use the phrase "kings of Judah" in a particular sense (see on ver. 20). He may, no doubt, simply mean to say that those who are from time to time sovereigns of Judah enter by this gate. But once grant that the prophet does sometimes use the phrase in a sense of his own, and that in the very next verse, and it is very difficult to avoid interpreting it so in this passage. Jeremiah 17:19

19 . the gate of the children of the people ] (mg. the common people . See ch. Jeremiah 26:23 .) The expression is very difficult and probably corrupt. Du. suggests that the gate is one within the city and leading to the palace, thus accounting for its use by both the rulers, and those who sought an audience from them. It is better, however, to take “gate” in its ordinary application to a city gate. Peake suggests, by a slight change in MT., to read (as in Jeremiah 37:13 , Jeremiah 38:7 ) in the gate of Benjamin (on the N. side of the city). The mention of kings as using it has reference to Jeremiah 17:25 . He further suggests that “in all the gates of Jerusalem” may be a gloss. Dr. makes “the gate” to be “apparently (see Ezekiel 44:1 ; Ezekiel 44:3 b , Jeremiah 46:1 a , 2) either the outer or inner gate on the east, by which the kings of Judah entered and left the Temple.” Ch. Jeremiah 17:19-27 . An exhortation on the observance of the Sabbath This section is unconnected with the preceding, and, as it considers that the doom pronounced on Judah may be averted on condition of Sabbath observance, while the previous section has declared that that doom is inevitable, it has been placed by some, e.g. Orelli, as early as the time of Josiah’s reformation (see introd. note on Jeremiah 1:1 to Jeremiah 12:6 ), and by others (Stade, Kuenen, Gi., Du., Co.) held to be a piece belonging to the times of Ezra and Nehemiah (cp. Nehemiah 13:15-22 ). See also on Jeremiah 17:20 .

The style, however, has much in common with Jeremiah, though this may be asserted to be due to imitation. It is argued that the general tone of the passage, and in particular the appreciation of sacrifice ( Jeremiah 17:26 ) are not what we should expect. On the other hand “although no doubt Jeremiah speaks disparagingly of sacrifice offered by impure hands ( Jeremiah 6:19 f., Jeremiah 7:9 f., 21–26, Jeremiah 14:10-12 ), it may be questioned whether he would have rejected it when (as is the case explicitly in Jeremiah 17:26 ) it is conceived as the expression of a right heart (cp. Jeremiah 33:11 ; also Deuteronomy 12:11 ; Isaiah 56:7 ; Isaiah 60:7 ).” Dr. LOT. p. 258. At any rate, as we see from the Puritans, strong sabbatarianism need not be inconsistent with depreciation of the ceremonial side of worship. The section may be subdivided as follows. (i) Jeremiah 17:19-23 . Jehovah tells the prophet to stand at the gate and forbid carriage of goods into and out of the city or houses on the Sabbath. The day is to be hallowed as He has commanded. The people refuse obedience. (ii) Jeremiah 17:24-27 . If they will conform, then they and their rulers shall be immune and permanently secure, and offerings be brought from all the neighbouring parts of Palestine to the Temple. If not, then Jerusalem shall be overthrown.

(19) Thus said the Lord unto me . . . —We enter here on an entirely fresh series of messages, arranged probably in chronological order, but having no immediate connection with what precedes, and narrated with a much fuller account of the circumstances connected with them. This, which begins the series, would appear from Jeremiah 17:25 to have been delivered before the sins of the people had assumed the hopeless, irremediable character which is implied in the two previous chapters; and the first part of this may probably be referred therefore to the early years of the reign of Jehoiakim. In its circumstances and mode of delivery it is parallel with the discourse of Jeremiah 22:1-5 . The gate of the children of the people . . .—No gate so described is mentioned in the great topographical record of Nehemiah 3 or elsewhere, and we are therefore left to conjecture where it was. The context shows that it was a place of concourse, a gate of the Temple rather than of the city, perhaps the special gate by which the kings and people of Judah entered into the enclosure of the Temple.

The name may indicate, as in Jeremiah 26:23, that it was that “of the common people,” or “laity,” as in 2Chronicles 35:5, as dis tinguished from that used by the priests and Levites; and it would appear, from the nature of the warning proclaimed there, to have been the scene of some open desecration of the Sabbath—possibly of the sale of sheep or doves for sacrifice, like that of John 2:14; Matthew 21:12, or of the more common articles of the market, as in Nehemiah 13:15. By some writers it has been identified with the “gate of Benjamin” (Jeremiah 20:2; Jeremiah 38:7), but this would seem to have been more conspicuous as a place of judgment than of trade; nor is there any reason why it should be described by a different name here. Some, indeed. have conjectured that we should read “gate of Benjamin “instead of “gate of Beni-am,” which gives the meaning “children of the people.” It is noticeable that the message was to be delivered at the other gates as well, as being a protest against a prevalent sin.

This prophecy on the observance of the Sabbath, is the first of a series of short predictions. arranged probably in chronological order among themselves, but in other respects independent of one another. Its tone is mild, and dissuasive rather of future neglect than condemnatory of past misconduct; and it may be assigned to the commencement of Jehoiakim's reign. Its similarity to the prophecy contained in Jeremiah 22:1-5 makes it probable that they were contemporaneous. Jeremiah 17:19 The gate of the children of the people - Perhaps the principal entrance of the outer court of the temple. Very probably there was traffic there, as in our Lord's time, in doves and other requisites for sacrifice, and so the warning to keep the Sabbath was as necessary there as at the city gates.

Most think that here begins a new prophecy, and therefore this verse should have began a new chapter. The prophets were often commanded to publish such revelations as they had from God, either at the gates of the city, or the gates of the temple, Jeremiah 7:2 19:2 . It is not agreed what this particular gate was at which the kings of Judah were wont most ordinarily to come in and go out, but the prophet was also commanded to publish it in all the gates of Jerusalem, that all might take notice of it.