Jeremiah 26:8

26:7-15 The priests and prophets charged Jeremiah as deserving death, and bore false witness against him. The elders of Israel came to inquire into this matter. Jeremiah declares that the Lord sent him to prophesy thus. As long as ministers keep close to the word they have from God, they need not fear. And those are very unjust who complain of ministers for preaching of hell and damnation; for it is from a desire to bring them to heaven and salvation. Jeremiah warns them of their danger if they go on against him. All men may know, that to hurt, or put to death, or to show hatred to their faithful reprovers, will hasten and increase their own punishment.

Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking,.... For they let him alone till he had done, either out of reverence of him as a priest and prophet; or they were awed by a secret influence on their minds that they might not disturb him: all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people; he did as he was ordered, kept back nothing, not fearing the resentment of the people, but fearing God: that the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, took him; the priests and the prophets were the leading men in this action; they stirred up the people against him, and through their instigation he was seized and laid hold on: saying, thou shall surely die; signifying that they would bring a charge against him, which they were able to support, and which by the law would be death; unless they meant in the manner of zealots to put him to death themselves, without judge or jury; and which they would have put in execution, had not the princes of the land, or the great sanhedrim, heard of it; and therefore to prevent it came to the temple, as is afterwards related.

Jeremiah 26:8-10 . The priests and prophets took him, &c. — As a disturber of the government, and a discourager of the people from defending their country against the enemy, in prophesying that the temple and city of Jerusalem should become a desolation. When the princes of Judah heard these things — That is, the king’s counsellors, or chief officers of the state, who were also members of the great court of the sanhedrim, first instituted Numbers 11:16 , and revived by Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 19:8 . They came and sat in the entry of the gate, &c. — This was built by Jotham, as we read 2 Kings 13:35. The intelligent reader will observe a great similarity between the conduct of these priests and false prophets toward Jeremiah, and that of the priests, the scribes, and Pharisees toward Jesus Christ, of whom Jeremiah was a type: see particularly Mark 14:58 ; Matthew 26:61 .

Verse 8. - Had made an end of speaking . They allowed Jeremiah to finish his discourse (of which we have here only the briefest summary), either from a lingering reverence for his person and office, or to obtain fuller materials for an accusation (comp. the trial of Stephen, Acts 6:12-14 ). All the people . The "people" appear to have been always under some constraint. As long as the priests and prophets were alone, they dominated the unofficial classes, but when the princes appeared (ver. 11), the new influence proved superior. In ver. 16 princes and people together go over to the side of Jeremiah. Thou shalt surely die . Death was the legal penalty both for blasphemy ( Leviticus 24:16 ) and for presuming to prophesy without having received a prophetic revelation ( Deuteronomy 18:20 ). Jeremiah's declaration ran so entirely counter to the prejudices of his hearers that he may well have been accused of both these sins, or crimes. True, Isaiah and Amos had already predicted the destruction of Jerusalem ( Isaiah 5:5, 6 ; Isaiah 6:11 ; Amos 2:4, 5 ; Amos 6:1, 2 ); but it may have been contended that the timely repentance of Judah under Hezekiah and Josiah had effectually cancelled the threatened doom, and though Isaiah 64:10, 11 evidently refers to a time later than Josiah, and represents the ruin of Jerusalem as practically certain, it would seem that the prophetic book ( Isaiah 40-66 .) to which this belongs (to say the least) was not generally known. Jeremiah 26:8

8 . Thou shalt surely die ] That prophet who spoke without God’s command was according to Deuteronomy 18:20 to be put to death. The charge against Jeremiah then was of this nature, and the alleged proof, that it was impossible in the nature of things that such a calamity could be allowed to happen to the people of God.

(8) Thou shalt surely die. —Better, as expressing the Hebrew emphasis of reduplication, Thou shalt die the death. The phrase is the same as in Genesis 2:17 . The threat of the men of Anathoth ( Jeremiah 11:21 ) is repeated by the priests and prophets of Jerusalem. They look on Jeremiah as one who has incurred the condemnation of Deuteronomy 18:20 .

Jeremiah 26 is a narrative of the danger to which Jeremiah was exposed by reason of the prophecy contained in Jeremiah 7 and should be read in connection with it. Jeremiah 26:4-6 contain a summary of the prediction contained in Jeremiah 7 , and that again is but an outline of what was a long address.

8. priests—The captain (or prefect) of the temple had the power of apprehending offenders in the temple with the sanction of the priests. prophets—the false prophets. The charge against Jeremiah was that of uttering falsehood in Jehovah's name, an act punishable with death (De 18:20). His prophecy against the temple and city (Jer 26:11) might speciously be represented as contradicting God's own words (Ps 132:14). Compare the similar charge against Stephen (Ac 6:13, 14).

The behaviour of the priests, prophets, and princes of the people towards Jeremiah on account of this discourse. - Jeremiah 26:7-9 . When the priests and prophets and all the people present in the temple had heard this discourse, they laid hold of Jeremiah, saying, "Thou must die. Wherefore prophesiest thou in the name of Jahveh, saying, Like Shiloh shall this house become, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Jahveh." This last remark is not so to be understood, when compared with Jeremiah 26:7 and Jeremiah 26:8 , as that all the people who, according to Jeremiah 26:7 , had been hearing the discourse, and, according to Jeremiah 26:8 , had with the priests and prophets laid hold on Jeremiah, gathered themselves to him now. It means, that after one part of the people present had, along with the priests and prophets, laid hold on him, the whole people gathered around him. "All the people," Jeremiah 26:9 , is accordingly to be distinguished from "all the people," Jeremiah 26:8 ; and the word כּל, all, must not be pressed, in both cases meaning simply a great many. When it is thus taken, there is no reason for following Hitz., and deleting "all the people" in Jeremiah 26:8 as a gloss. Jeremiah's special opponents were the priests and prophets after their own hearts. But to them there adhered many from among the people; and these it is that are meant by "all the people," Jeremiah 26:8 .

But since these partisans of the priests and pseudo-prophets had no independent power of their own to pass judgment, and since, after Jeremiah was laid hold of, all the rest of the people then in the temple gathered around him, it happens that in Jeremiah 26:11 the priests and prophets are opposed to "all the people," and are mentioned as being alone the accusers of Jeremiah. - When the princes of Judah heard what had occurred, they repaired from the king's house (the palace) to the temple, and seated themselves in the entry of the new gate of Jahve, sc. to investigate and decide the case. The new gate was, according to Jeremiah 36:10 , by the upper, i.e., inner court, and is doubtless the same that Jotham caused to be built ( 2 Kings 15:35 ); but whether it was identical with the upper gate of Benjamin, Jeremiah 20:2 , cannot be decided. The princes of Judah, since they came up into the temple from the palace, are the judicial officers who were at that time about the palace. the judges were chosen from among the heads of the people; cf. my Bibl. Archol. ii.149