Jeremiah 27:7

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 all nations shall serve him,.... That is, all those, all above mentioned; though there were others also that were tributary to him, but not every nation under heaven: and his son, and his son's son; their Scripture names were Evilmerodach and Belshazzar, Jeremiah 52:31; and by Ptolemy, in his canon, are called Iloarudamus and Nabonadius; between whom he places Niricassolassarus, or Neriglissarus; who was not a son of Evilmerodach, but his sister's husband.

A son of his succeeded him, called Laborosoarchod; who, reigning but nine months, is not placed in the canon; agreeably to which is the account of Berosus (h); by whom the immediate son of Nebuchadnezzar is named Evilmaradouchus; or Evilmalaurouchus, as in Eusebius (i); who, after he had reigned two years, was slain by Neriglissoor, or Neriglissar, as in the above writer, his sister's husband; who, after he had enjoyed the kingdom four years, died, and left it to his son, whom he calls Chabaessoarachus, or Laborosoarchados, as before, who reigned but nine months; and then Nabonnidus succeeded, the name he gives him who was conquered by Cyrus in the seventeenth year of his reign; and not very different is the account of Nebuchadnezzar's successors, and the names of them, as given by Abydenus, out of Megasthenes (k); according to whom, Evilmalaurouchus, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, was his successor; then Neriglissar, his sister's husband, who left a son called Labassoarascus; and after him Nabannidochus, in whose times Cyrus took Babylon; and who appears to be the same with Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar; so that the Scripture is very just and accurate in mentioning these two only as the son, and son's son of Nebuchadnezzar, whom the nations should serve; for in the last of these ended the Babylonish monarchy: until the very time of his land come; or that "itself; also he himself" (l) or, "also of himself", as the Vulgate Latin version.

Jeremiah 27:7-8 . All nations shall serve him, his son, and his son’s son — His son was Evil-merodach, and his son’s son Belshazzar, in whom his kingdom ended. Then the time of reckoning with his land came, when the tables were turned; and many nations and great kings — Incorporated in the empire of the Medes and Persians, served themselves of him. The nation, &c., that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon — That will not submit to that servitude, represented by the yoke, mentioned Jeremiah 27:2-3 ; will I punish with the sword, &c. — With one judgment after another, until they are wasted and ruined. Nebuchadnezzar was very unjust and barbarous in invading the rights and liberties of his neighbours, and forcing them into a subjection to him; yet God had just and holy ends in view in permitting it, namely, to punish those nations for their idolatry and gross immoralities. They that would not serve the God that made and preserved them, were justly made to serve their enemies that sought to ruin them.

Verse 7. - Him, and his son, and his son's son . This is intelligible only if the seventy years predicted by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 25:11, 12, 29 :10, are a round number. Nebuchadnezzar died in B.C. 561 , and was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach, who, after two years, was put to death by Neriglissar. In B.C. 555 Laberosoarchod (?) became king, but after nine months a usurper belonging to another family, Nabonedus or Nabunita, ascended the throne, which he occupied till B.C. 538 , the year of the fall of Babylon. "Seventy years," taken literally, only brings us to B.C. 555 , seventeen years short of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. Until the very time of his land come ; rather, until the time of his own land come. Nebuchadnezzar cannot ensure his realm against captivity. Shall serve themselves of him (For the meaning of the phrase, see on Jeremiah 25:14.) Jeremiah 27:7

7 . him, and his son, and his son’s son ] If this prophecy be meant to be taken literally, it will signify that the power of Babylon would last for two generations of rulers after Nebuchadnezzar. According to profane history however it was more prolonged. Evil-Merodach ( Amil-Marduk, man or servant of Marduk the chief Babylonian divinity), son and successor to Nebuchadnezzar (b.c. 561), reigned two years, or two years and a few months, according to the tablets dated in his reign. He was killed in a rebellion led by his sister’s husband, Neriglissar (Nergal-Sharezer), who in three or four years was succeeded by a young son Laborosoarchod, murdered after a nine months’ reign. Thus, unless the v . merely means that for the Jews or other nations there was to be no speedy riddance of Babylon, as the false prophets taught, it is at variance with history. It is possible that this fact may be the cause of its omission by LXX, but a view much to be preferred is that the apparently definite fixing of a termination to the power of Babylon, an announcement quite out of harmony with the context (cp. end of note on Jeremiah 25:11 ), stamps it as a gloss.

As Co. ( Heb. p. 70) says “The idea that the dominion of the Chaldæns is to be merely transitory … is decidedly inappropriate in this place, where it is much more to the interest of the prophet to depict the power of Nebuchadnezzar as terribly as possible.” the time of his own land come ] As he acted, so shall he in like manner suffer. many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him ] See on Jeremiah 25:14 .

And all nations shall serve him, and his {d} son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land shall come: and then many nations and great kings shall {e} bring him into subjection. (d) Meaning, Evilmerodach and his son Belshazzar. (e) They will bring him and his kingdom in subjection as in Jer 25:14.

(7) And his son, and his son’s son. —The words may have had the meaning that this was to be the farthest limit of Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty, as defined by the “seventy years” of Jeremiah 25:11 . The use of the phrase, however, in Exodus 34:7 , Deuteronomy 4:25 , points rather to an undefined prolongation, subject only to the fact that there was an appointed limit. Historically we may note the fact that Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil-merodach ( Jeremiah 52:31 ); he by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar, and he by Nabouahid and his son Belshazzar. (See Introduction. ) Shall serve themselves of him.—Better, shall make him to serve. It lies in the nature of the case that the pronoun refers to the King of Babylon for the time being. The confederacy of nations which shall overthrow the Babylonian monarchy, Medes and others, is described more fully in Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:27-28. The words were clearly meant to point both ways. They warn the nations not to resist the Chaldæan king then. They warn the king not to think that he is founding a dynasty of long duration. The whole verse is wanting in the LXX., perhaps because they imagined that the “son’s son” of Jeremiah 27:7 was inconsistent with the facts of history, as they read them.

All nations shall serve him; that is, all these nations; and some think that it is expressed in the article used here demonstratively, though not so taken notice of by our translators. And his son, and his son’s son ; and Evil-merodach his son, who succeeded him, Jeremiah 52:31 , and Belshazzar his grandchild, Daniel 4:1,11 . Until the period of his kingdom shall come, (for nations have their periods,) which was after seventy years , according to Jeremiah 29:10 , during which years some say four princes ruled in Babylon, the Scripture mentions but three. After that he shall himself be conquered, as it came to pass in Belshazzar’s time, Daniel 5:30 , Darius the emperor of the Medes taking his kingdom.

7. son … son's son—(2Ch 36:20). Nebuchadnezzar had four successors—Evil-merodach, his son; Neriglissar, husband of Nebuchadnezzar's daughter; his son, Labosodarchod; and Naboned (with whom his son, Belshazzar, was joint king), son of Evil-merodach. But Neriglissar and Labosodarchod were not in the direct male line; so that the prophecy held good to "his son and his son's son," and the intermediate two are omitted. time of his land—that is, of its subjugation or its being "visited" in wrath (Jer 27:22; Jer 25:12; 29:10; 50:27; Da 5:26). serve themselves of him—make him their servant (Jer 25:14; Isa 13:22). So "his day" for the destined day of his calamity (Job 18:20).