Jer 25:11, 18, 38 | JFB | STEP | 11. seventy years — ( ). The exact number of years of Sabbaths in four hundred ninety years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity; righteous retribution for their violation of the Sabbath ( ). The seventy years probably begin from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Jerusalem was first captured, and many captives, as well as the treasures of the temple, were carried away; they end with the first year of Cyrus, who, on taking Babylon, issued an edict for the restoration of the Jews ( ). Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks are based on the seventy years of the captivity (compare ).

Jeremiah 25:11

11. seventy years— (Jer 27:7). The exact number of years of Sabbaths in four hundred ninety years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity; righteous retribution for their violation of the Sabbath (Le 26:34, 35; 2Ch 36:21). The seventy years probably begin from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Jerusalem was first captured, and many captives, as well as the treasures of the temple, were carried away; they end with the first year of Cyrus, who, on taking Babylon, issued an edict for the restoration of the Jews (Ezr 1:1). Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks are based on the seventy years of the captivity (compare Da 9:2, 24).

Jeremiah 25:18

18. Jerusalem—put first: for "judgment begins at the house of God"; they being most guilty whose religious privileges are greatest (1Pe 4:17).

kings—Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah.

as it is this day—The accomplishment of the curse had already begun under Jehoiakim. This clause, however, may have been inserted by Jeremiah at his final revision of his prophecies in Egypt.

Jeremiah 25:38

38. his covert—the temple, where heretofore, like a lion, as its defender, by the mere terror of His voice He warded off the foe; but now He leaves it a prey to the Gentiles [CALVIN].

fierceness of . . . oppressor—rather, as the Hebrew, for "oppressor" is an adjective feminine, the word "sword" is understood, which, in Jer 46:16; 50:16, is expressed (indeed, some manuscripts and the Septuagint read "sword" instead of "fierceness" here; probably interpolated from Jer 46:16), "the oppressing sword." The Hebrew for "oppressing" means also a "dove": there may be, therefore, a covert allusion to the Chaldean standard bearing a dove on it, in honor of Semiramis, the first queen, said in popular superstition to have been nourished by doves when exposed at birth, and at death to have been transformed into a dove. Her name may come from a root referring to the cooing of a dove. That bird was held sacred to the goddess Venus. Vulgate so translates "the anger of the dove."

his . . . anger—If the anger of Nebuchadnezzar cannot be evaded, how much less that of God (compare Jer 25:37)!