Jeremiah 27:6

27:1-11 Jeremiah is to prepare a sign that all the neighbouring countries would be made subject to the king of Babylon. God asserts his right to dispose of kingdoms as he pleases. Whatever any have of the good things of this world, it is what God sees fit to give; we should therefore be content. The things of this world are not the best things, for the Lord often gives the largest share to bad men. Dominion is not founded in grace. Those who will not serve the God who made them, shall justly be made to serve their enemies that seek to ruin them. Jeremiah urges them to prevent their destruction, by submission. A meek spirit, by quiet submission to the hardest turns of providence, makes the best of what is bad. Many persons may escape destroying providences, by submitting to humbling providences. It is better to take up a light cross in our way, than to pull a heavier on our own heads. The poor in spirit, the meek and humble, enjoy comfort, and avoid many miseries to which the high-spirited are exposed. It must, in all cases, be our interest to obey God's will.

And now I have given all these lands,.... Before mentioned; of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Zidon, and Judea: into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; whom God used as an instrument in correcting and chastising the nations; and who obeyed his will, though he knew it not; nor did what he did in obedience to it; and yet had the honour of being called his servant, and of being rewarded with a very large empire; which was owing, not so much to his prowess and valour, wisdom and management, as to the providence of God; who delivered the above kingdoms, with others, into his hands, as being the sole proprietor and sovereign disposer of them: and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him; either to bring him, and his armies, and his carriages of provisions for them, and warlike stores, for the invasion and taking the above countries; or the cattle found there, which belonged to these countries, and the inhabitants thereof, which would fall into his hands with them.

Jeremiah 27:6 . I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar — “God is the sole lord and proprietor of the world; and, by virtue of his absolute sovereignty and dominion, has a right to give the kingdoms of the earth to whomsoever he pleases, Daniel 4:17 , and he exercises this authority by changing times and seasons, by removing kings, and setting up kings, Daniel 2:21 . The king of Babylon, my servant — One whom I have made use of as an instrument to execute my purposes in inflicting punishment on many nations: see note on Jeremiah 25:9 . And the beasts of the field have I given him — This is a hyperbolical way of speaking, to signify the most ample authority and dominion.

6 . all these lands ] Gi. omits “these,” as inserted with a view to the countries just mentioned. The LXX has simply “the earth,” which is probably (Co. says “undoubtedly”) right (Du. hesitates). Subsequent scruples as to attributing a world-wide dominion to the king of Babylon induced MT. and various versions to modify the statement. the king of Babylon, my servant ] See on Jeremiah 25:9 . and the beasts of the field ] Cp. Jeremiah 28:14 ; Daniel 2:38 .

(6) Nebuchadnezzar . . . my servant. —See Note on Jeremiah 25:9 for the title thus given. The special stress laid on “the beasts of the field” is, perhaps, connected with the resistance of the nations to the levies made by the Babylonian officers upon their horses and cattle, or their claim to use the land they had subdued, after the manner which we see depicted on Assyrian sculptures, as a hunting-ground. Compare especially the account of Tiglath-Pileser I.’s hunting expedition in Records of the Past, xi. , p. 9.

By the former words God gave the prophet authority to assert his dominion, and right to dispose of all creatures; by these he authorizeth him to reveal his will, concerning the disposal of the lands of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, viz. that he had disposed of them to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, whom he calleth his servant, because he did the work which he would have him to do; though, as God said of the Assyrian, Isaiah 10:7 , he meaned not so, he had nothing less in his thoughts than to obey any command of God; wicked men being God’s servants, as the hawk is the prudent falconer’s servant, who maketh use of the ravenous quality of the hawk to get game for him. Twice more at least we find Nebuchadnezzar thus called, Jeremiah 25:9 43:10 . God further adds that the beasts should serve him, by which he either means that the cattle which were in the possession of the men of those nations should also come into his power; or that God had also given the horses, and oxen, and other beasts which he should use in his wars for carriages, or conveniency to him, so as they should be really serviceable to him in his conquests of those countries.

6. beasts of the field—not merely the horses to carry his Chaldean soldiers, and oxen to draw his provisions [Grotius]; not merely the deserts, mountains, and woods, the haunts of wild beasts, implying his unlimited extent of empire [Estius]; but the beasts themselves by a mysterious instinct of nature. A reproof to men that they did not recognize God's will, which the very beasts acknowledged (compare Isa 1:3). As the beasts are to submit to Christ, the Restorer of the dominion over nature, lost by the first Adam (compare Ge 1:28; 2:19, 20; Ps 8:6-8), so they were appointed to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, the representative of the world power and prefigurer of Antichrist; this universal power was suffered to be held by him to show the unfitness of any to wield it "until He come whose right it is" (Eze 21:27).

The yoke of the king of Babylon upon the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. - Jeremiah 27:2 . "Thus said Jahveh to me: Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, Jeremiah 27:3 . And send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers that are come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Jeremiah 27:4 . And command them to say unto their masters, Thus hath Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, said: Thus shall ye say unto your masters: Jeremiah 27:5 . I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched hand, and give it to whom it seemeth meet unto me. Jeremiah 27:6 . And how have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. Jeremiah 27:7 . And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his land come, and many nations and great kings serve themselves of him. Jeremiah 27:8 . And the people and the kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put its neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon, with sword, with famine, and with pestilence I will visit that people, until I have made an end of them by his hand. Jeremiah 27:9 .

And ye, hearken not to your prophets, and your soothsayers, and to your dreams, to your enchanters and your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon. Jeremiah 27:10 . For they prophesy a lie unto you, that I should remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and ye should perish. Jeremiah 27:11 . But the people that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and will serve him, that will I let remain in its land, saith Jahveh, to till it and to dwell therein." The yoke Jeremiah is to make and lay on his neck is a plain emblem of the Babylonian yoke the nations are to bear. The words "bonds and yokes" denote together one yoke. מטות are the two wooden beams or poles of the yoke, which were fastened together by means of the מוסרות, bonds, ropes, so that the yoke might be laid on the beast's neck; cf. Leviticus 26:13. That Jeremiah really put such a yoke on his neck and wore it, we see from Jeremiah 28:10, Jeremiah 28:12, where a false prophet breaks it for him. He is to send the yoke to the kings of Edom, Moab, etc., by means of envoys of those kings, who were come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah. And since Jeremiah laid a yoke on his own neck, and so carried out the commanded symbolical action in objective reality, there is no reason to doubt that he made yokes for the five kings named and gave them to their respective envoys. Chr. B.