Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

JEREMIAH - CHAPTER 25

THE WRATH OF GOD UPON ALL

NATIONS’

1. This prophecy, spoken to Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, is specifically dated (605 B.C.) as being given during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign in Jerusalem, (vs. 1-2; 2 Kings 24:1; 2 Chronicles 36:4-6).

a. This was the same year that Nebuchadnezzar succeeded his father, Nabapolassar, on the throne in Babylon, (comp. Jeremiah 32:1).

b. It was also in this year that Jeremiah dictated his messages to Baruch, (Jeremiah 36:4; Jeremiah 36:32).

c. The apparent conflict between the year involved (comp. Daniel 1:1) is resolved if one realizes that Daniel follows the Babylonian method of reckoning - where the year of accession was followed by the FIRST year of the king’ actual reign.

2. For 23 years Jeremiah has proclaimed the word of the Lord to the people of Judah - calling upon them to return to the covenant­ purpose to which their fathers had pledged their loyalty; but, they have persistently refused to receive the Message of Jehovah through the mouth of His chosen instrument, (vs. 1, 3; comp. Jeremiah 18:11; Jeremiah 36:2; Jeremiah 7:25; Jeremiah 11:7).

a. Jeremiah had begun to prophecy during the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign, (2 Chronicles 34:1-3; 2 Chronicles 34:8).

b. Four years have passed since Josiah was slain in the battle of Carchemish.

3. Numerous other prophets have been sent - urging Judah to abandon the worship of other gods, and to return to Jehovah - and with similar results, (vs. 4-5; Jeremiah 26:4-6; Jeremiah 4:1-2; Jeremiah 35:15; Isaiah 55:6-7; Ezekiel 18:30; comp. Jonah 3:8-10).

4. Though they should have, long ago, learned the exorbitant cost of rebellion, the people of Judah seemed determined to provoke the anger of Jehovah, (vs. 6-7; Jeremiah 7:19; Jeremiah 32:30-33; comp. 2 Kings 17:17; 2 Kings 21:12-15).

a. From ancient times they have been forbidden to bow before foreign gods, (Deuteronomy 6:14; Deuteronomy 8:19; 2 Kings 17:34-36).

b. By "the works of your hands" He obviously includes the making of idols as objects of adoration and worship!

c. But, Judah has refused to heed the word of Jehovah. 5. Jeremiah is teaching that uncomplaining submission to the judgments of God is Man’s surest hope for the future.

Vs. 8-14: BABYLON, THE INSTRUMENT AND OBJECT OF DIVINE JUDGMENT

1. Because they have rejected the word of Jehovah of hosts, He will send Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, against Judah and all the nations round about her, (vs. 8-9).

a. "Nebuchadnezzar ... my servant" is the instrument of God’s judgment, (Jeremiah 27:6; Jeremiah 43:10; Jeremiah 27:6-7).

b. Babylon, as Assyria before her, consisted of a coalition of nations here designated by "all the families of the north," (vs. 9a; Jeremiah 1:15; Jeremiah 6:22-23).

c. Judah and her neighbors will be utterly crushed - made an astonishment, a hissing and perpetual desolation, (vs. 9c, 18; comp. 1 Kings 9:7-9).

2. The desolation of these lands is described in verses 10-11, (the ordinary sound of daily activities being silenced); it will last for 70 years while they serve the king of Babylon, (Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 16:9; Isaiah 24:8-11).

a. For 490 years the nation has refused to observe the sabbatical years - not permitting the ground to lie fallow, (comp. Daniel 9:2).

b. During this 70 years the land will get its rest!

3. When the 70 years are fulfilled, the Lord will punish Babylon -both the king and people - because of their iniquity, (vs. 12, 14; Jeremiah 29:10­-14).

a. The land of the Chaldeans will then be made desolate, (vs. 12; Jeremiah 50:1-3; Jeremiah 50:13; Jeremiah 51:2; Jeremiah 51:6; Isaiah 13:19-20).

b. The Lord will bring upon Babylon all that He has pronounced against it through Jeremiah, the prophet, (vs. 13) - "the book" being that destroyed by Jehoiakim, (Jeremiah 36:21-24).

c. They will be recompensed according to their own deeds, (Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:24; Jeremiah 51:56) - being enslaved to the kings and nations, (vs. 14; Jeremiah 27:6­7; 50:9; 51:27-30).

4. Judah, therefore, is to understand that God’s judgments are carefully measured; turning from their sin, they must patiently await the completion of His wise plan.

Vs. 15-29: THE CUP OF DIVINE WRATH TO BE SHARED

1. Jeremiah is commanded of the Lord to take from His hand the wine cup of His wrath, (vs. 15-16).

a. He is to take the cup to the nations that the Lord will indicate -causing them to drink of it, (vs. 15; comp. Jeremiah 51:7).

b. The choice as to whether they will drink it is not theirs; they WILL DRINK of it in helpless bewilderment, (vs. 16a; comp. Jeremiah 13:13; Psalms 75:7-8; Jeremiah 51:39; Ezekiel 23:34).

c. They will stagger under the blow of the sword that the Lord will send against them in the day of His indignation and wrath.

2. So, Jeremiah took the cup from the hand of the Lord and caused all those nations, to whom he was sent, to taste its bitter dregs, (vs. 17-26). Just how Jeremiah went about revealing this message of divine indignation, to all nations, is not revealed; it is sufficient for us to know that he fulfilled the divinely-appointed task.

a. Judgment was to begin with God’s own people: Jerusalem and Judea, with her kings and princes; the effect would be waste, horror, hissing and a curse, (vs. 18; Psalms 60:3; Isaiah 51:17).

b. Judgment would also fall upon Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with his princes, servants and people - the nation on which Judah leaned, rather than trust in Jehovah, (vs. 19; comp. Jeremiah 46:2-28).

c. The cup is to be passed to every kingdom and nation upon the face of the earth, (vs. 20-26a).

d. After the others have drunken of the fury of God’s wrath, it must also be drunken by the king of Sheshach-Babylon (vs. 26, 27; Jeremiah 51:1; Jeremiah 51:41-44; Habakkuk 2:15-16).

1) Jehovah is Lord and Judge of ALL nations -irrespective of whether they acknowledge His lordship.

2) He deals justly with men and nations; all are guilty of sin, and without excuse before Him, (Romans 1:20; Romans 3:19; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23).

3. None will be permitted to refuse the cup; they will surely drink of it; none may escape the divine judgment appointed them because of their sins, (vs. 27-29; comp. Isaiah 63:3; Jeremiah 49:12).

a. If God’s judgment BEGINS with the city that is called by His name (1 Kings 8:43), it is vain for others to imagine that THEY can escape it! (vs. 29a; Jeremiah 13:3; Isaiah 10:12-14; comp. Ezekiel 9:5-10; 1 Peter 4:17).

b. The sword of justice has been summoned against all the inhabitants of the earth, (vs. 29b, 31; Isaiah 66:15-16).

Vs. 30-38: A ROARING LION AND RAGING TEMPEST

1. The voice of the Lord will roar from His holy habitation to the ends of the earth; it will, first, be against His own fold, homestead or pasture -figures for Judah, (vs. 30-31).

a. It is the shout of the warrior. going to battle, (comp. Jeremiah 51:14; Zephaniah 3:8; Joel 3:9-21; Revelation 19:11-21).

b. Even if the translators are right in their insertion of the words "the grapes" (vs. 30), the joyous shout of Him Who treads the winepress alone is the laughter of mockery toward those whose folly is finally being exposed and punished, (Proverbs 1:24-32; Psalms 2:4-5; Isaiah 63:3-4).

2. Because of the Lord’s judicial prosecution of His case against sinful nations, the crash of battle will be heard to the ends of the earth, as He reads the indictment of righteous judgment upon all flesh, (vs. 30b, ­31).

3. In another figure, punishment is seen coming upon all nations in a swirling tornado that arises from the uttermost corners of the earth.

a. The slain of the Lord, in that day, will reach to the ends of the earth.

b. Since there is no one left to mourn, or to gather and bury them, their carcasses will be left to fertilize the ground, (comp. Ezekiel 38­-39; Revelation 14:19-20; Revelation 19:17-20).

4. Special attention is called (vs. 34-38) to the faithless "shepherds" who have acted in their own selfish interests - forgetting the welfare of the flock, and the word of God.

a. The day for their judgment has arrived; nor will they be spared for their howling cries.

b. Like a roaring lion, the Lord has left His covert, to execute the fierceness of His righteous indignation upon these leaders of the flock!

c. Their lands are desolated, and they will fall like choice rams in the day of slaughter.

5. The ultimate fulfillment of this far-reaching prophecy still awaits the future; the overthrow of Gentile world-power, and the divine purging, cleansing and restoration of Edenic order, is necessary before there can be a NEW BEGINNING under Him who is the KING OF THE AGES!