Глава 23

1–8. Future shepherd from the house of David. 9–22. False prophets in Jerusalem. 23–32. Dream and prophecy. 33–40. Inappropriate use of the word "burden". Jeremiah 23:1–8. The prophet proclaims woe to the rulers of the Jewish state for their misrule. But while the rulers will bear the punishment due to them, the Lord Himself will gather the scattered Jews and give them under the care of the best shepherd rulers. To be more specific, the prophet finds out that such a true shepherd of the Jews and Israelites will be the righteous descendant of David. Under him, the people will lead a righteous life and, therefore, will no longer be punished by God. Jer.23:1. Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! says the Lord. Shepherds are not only kings, but also rulers of the people appointed by kings (cf. Jer 17.20; Jer 21.12). - “The sheep of my pasture” are the flock grazing in my country and so on, the flock belonging to Jehovah (cf. Jer 13.17). Jer.23:3. And I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them back to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. Here the expulsion of the Jews is attributed to God, whereas in v. 2. it is said that the shepherds dispersed them. But in 2nd Art. the reason for God's judgment over the Jews is indicated, and in the 3rd it is indicated that the executor of the judgment itself was Jehovah. Jer.23:5. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous Branch for David, and a King will reign, and will act wisely, and will execute judgment and righteousness on earth. "The branch is righteous". This name of the Messiah is already mentioned in Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 4:2, 11:1), and in the prophet Zechariah it is taken as a completely accepted designation for Him among the Jews (Zechariah 3:8, 6:12, 13). How does this Shepherd stand in relation to the other good shepherds mentioned in v. 4? Based on Jeremiah 22:22, 17:20, 21, one can see in these many shepherds people appointed by the future righteous Shepherd, His assistants. This Branch is called righteous because justice is the first virtue of a ruler-shepherd, and the Branch of David will fully possess it. Jer.23:6. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety; and this is His name by which they will call Him: “The Lord is our justification!” The name that will be given to the Branch by the people indicates that the Messiah will bestow so many benefits on the chosen people that this latter will then openly confess his gratitude to Jehovah, who through the Messiah made His people completely righteous and, therefore, worthy of all mercies from God. Thus, the well-being of the chosen people, according to Jeremiah, does not depend on any external institution, not on the fulfillment, for example, of the ritual law, but is a matter of the sole grace of God. It is clear that here we have a prophecy of the times of New Testament justification in grace. – It should be noted that Jeremiah uses here the name of the Messiah “Jehovah is our justification” - according to Heb. Jehovah is Zidkenu, probably not without thinking about the last king of Judah, who was also called “the justification of Jehovah” - Zidkijah in Russian: Zedekiah. Jer.23:7. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when they will no longer say, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” Jer.23:8. but: “As the Lord lives, who brought forth and brought the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where I had driven them,” and they will live in their land. The prophet connects two moments: deliverance from Babylonian captivity and the coming of the Messiah. The prophets were not exactly indicated by the Spirit of God the timing of the events that were about to take place (1 Pet 1.11). Jeremiah 23:9–22. Moving on to the prophets, who could also be called shepherds of the people, Jeremiah denounces them for the fact that they, together with the priests, are leading their people to destruction. They are especially guilty of closing the eyes of the people to the danger that threatens them. However, they do not know what Jehovah’s decision regarding the Jewish people is. Therefore, there is no point in listening to these prophets! Jer.23:9. About the prophets. My heart is torn within me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, for the sake of the Lord and for the sake of His holy words, Jer.23:10. because the earth is filled with adulterers, because the earth is crying because of the curse; the pastures of the desert are dry, and their desire is evil, and their strength is unrighteousness, “Adulterers”, i.e. traitors towards Jehovah (cf. Jer 5.7). Jer.23:14. But I see something terrible in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies, supporting the hands of evildoers so that no one turns from their wickedness; they are all before Me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah. “All of them,” that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as can be seen from the following parallel expression: “its inhabitants.” Jer.23:18. For who has stood in the council of the Lord and seen and heard His word? Who listened to His word and heard? This verse is better translated as follows: “whoever stands in the council of Jehovah (as, for example, the prophet Isaiah at his calling, see Isaiah 6) sees (all) and hears His word. The one who listens to His word allows others to hear (the following...).” – Then verse 19 will indicate the content of the word heard from God. Jer.23:19. Behold, the storm of the Lord is coming with fury, a terrible storm, and will fall on the head of the wicked. Jer.23:20. The wrath of the Lord will not be turned away until He has accomplished and fulfilled the purposes of His heart; in the days to come you will understand this clearly. A true prophet now cannot predict anything joyful for the Jewish people, but only one sad thing. – “In the following days” is more correct: when the end comes, when the Last Judgment begins to take place on the Jews, only then will the short-sighted prophets understand their mistake. Jeremiah 23:23–32. The Lord, who knows everything, also knows how the prophets deceive the people with statements about the revelations of God that allegedly happened to them in a dream. Their dreams, says Jehovah, cannot in any way compare with actual Divine revelation. In the same way, the prophets of Jerusalem do not act well, falsely applying the ancient prophecies of the true prophets to the present state of affairs. Jer.23:23. Am I God only near, says the Lord, and not God far away? Jer.23:24. Can a person hide in a secret place where I cannot see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says the Lord. God is currently far from the corrupt Jews, but nevertheless He sees clearly everything that is happening in Jerusalem from afar. He hears what the prophets say there. Jer.23:27. Do they think to bring My people to forget My name through their dreams, which they tell to each other, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? The Name of God, that is, the true revelation of the Being of God. This revelation is given in the law and the words of the true prophets. Jer.23:28. The prophet who saw a dream, let him tell it as a dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What does chaff have in common with pure grain? says the Lord. A dream is far from the same as a real revelation from God, because even if another dream is sent from God, as, for example, to Jacob, then on the other hand people are capable of taking simple dreams - the play of their own imagination - as a revelation from God. Jer.23:29. Is not My word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer breaking a rock? At this time, the true word of God must breathe wrath and proclaim destruction to Jerusalem. Jeremiah 23:30. Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal My words from one another. Jer.23:31. Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who act with their tongues and say, “He said.” The false prophets of Jerusalem borrowed, for example, from Isaiah his comforting prophecies (chapters VII and VIII), which were spoken under completely different circumstances and did not mean the time of the fall of the kingdom of Judah. Others themselves invent prophecies, and still others present their dreams as direct divine revelations. Jeremiah 23:33–40. The prophet condemns the attitude of the people to the word of the true prophet. Since Jeremiah was forced to proclaim, for the most part, a bitter future to the people, the people formed such an opinion about the prophet that he could not proclaim anything other than grave misfortune (in Hebrew massa). Therefore, every time the prophet Jeremiah appeared, the people, dissatisfied with his prophecies, asked him mockingly, what new massa or grave misfortune (in Russian translation - burden) he would now announce? The Prophet therefore teaches not to use this ancient designation of prophecy at all - massa, but to ask directly: what did the Lord say? Jeremiah 23:33. If this people, or a prophet, or a priest, asks you, “What is the burden of the Lord?”, then say to them, “What is the burden? I will leave you, says the Lord.” "Burden" - in Hebrew. massa, - from the verb. nassa. Heb. the word originally means: a saying, a solemnly pronounced speech. Sometimes among the ancient prophets it also meant threatening speech, containing something difficult for the listeners to whom the speech was addressed. Hence the second meaning of the word: burden, heaviness. - “What burden?” - more correctly: “you yourself are a burden and I will throw you off.” The Lord is like a man who is tired of carrying a burden that is too heavy and wants to give it up. The people of Israel were such a burden for the Lord. Special notes. Art. 1–9 were spoken under King Zedekiah, to whom a clear allusion is made in verse 6. Art. 10–19 - probably occurred during the reign of Joachim, as can be seen from the mention in the 10th art. about drought (cf. Jer 12.4 and ch. Jer 14.1). Further exhortations contained in this chapter could have been spoken in the time of Zedekiah. You might be interested in: