10 and I, lo, I am dwelling in Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who are come in unto us, and ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruit, and oil, and put in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.'
and all the Jews from all the places whither they have been driven, turn back and enter the land of Judah, unto Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and they gather wine and summer fruit -- very much.
Joshua son of Nun, who is standing before thee, he goeth in thither; him strengthen thou; for he doth cause Israel to inherit.
therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Of Jonadab son of Rechab one standing before me is not cut off all the days.'
And of the poor people, who have nothing, hath Nebuzar-Adan, chief of the executioners, left in the land of Judah, and he giveth to them vineyards and fields on the same day.
And David hath passed on a little from the top, and lo, Ziba, servant of Mephibosheth -- to meet him, and a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves, and a hundred bunches of raisins, and a hundred `of' summer-fruit, and a bottle of wine.
Hast thou seen a man speedy in his business? Before kings he doth station himself, He stations not himself before obscure men!
My wo `is' to me, for I have been As gatherings of summer-fruit, As gleanings of harvest, There is no cluster to eat, The first-ripe fruit desired hath my soul.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 40
Commentary on Jeremiah 40 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 40
We have attended Jerusalem's funeral pile, and have taken our leave of the captives that were carried to Babylon, not expecting to hear any more of them in this book: perhaps we may in Ezekiel; and we must in this and the four following chapters observe the story of those few Jews that were left to remain in the land after their brethren were carried away, and it is a very melancholy story; for, though at first there were some hopeful prospects of their well-doing, they soon appeared as obstinate in sin as ever, unhumbled and unreformed, till, all the rest of the judgments threatened in Deu. 28 being brought upon them, that which in the last verse of that dreadful chapter completes the threatenings was accomplished, "The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again.' In this chapter we have,
Jer 40:1-6
The title of this part of the book, which begins the chapter, seems misapplied (The word which came to Jeremiah), for here is nothing of prophecy in this chapter, but it is to be referred to ch. 42:7, where we have a message that God sent by Jeremiah to the captains and the people that remained. The story between is only to introduce that prophecy and show the occasion of it, that it may be the better understood, and Jeremiah, being himself concerned in the story, was the better able to give an account of it.
In these verses we have Jeremiah's adhering, by the advice of Nebuzar-adan, to Gedaliah. It should seem that Jeremiah was very honourably fetched out of the court of the prison by the king of Babylon's princes (ch. 39:13, 14), but afterwards, being found among the people in the city, when orders were given to the inferior officers to bind all they found that were of any fashion, in order to their being carried captives to Babylon, he, through ignorance and mistake, was bound among the rest and hurried away. Poor man! he seems to have been born to hardship and abuse-man of sorrows indeed! But when the captives were brought manacled to Ramah, not far off, where a council of war, or court-martial, was held for giving orders concerning them, Jeremiah was soon distinguished from the rest, and, by special order of the court, was discharged.
Jer 40:7-16
We have in these verses,