Jeremiah 17:26

Jer 17:26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.

Ver. 26. And they shall come.] All the solemnity of the temple shall continue, with the exaltation of all the neighbourhood. When the high priests would so work that day like to beg the body, seal the sepulchre, and set the watch on the Sabbath - called, by an irony, the day that followed the day of the preparation {Mat 27:62} - they forfeited all.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17:26 If the people repented, the Lord’s blessings would extend to the towns of Judah and Benjamin. • The western foothills stretched north and south between the coastal plain of the Mediterranean Sea and the hill country, where Jerusalem rested. • The Negev was the desert that stretched from Beersheba southward to the Gulf of Aqaba. People from all these areas would come with their offerings to worship the Lord in his Temple.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

plain mountains . . . south-- (Jos 15:1-4). The southern border had extended to the river of Egypt, but was now much curtailed by Egyptian invasions (Ch2 35:20; Ch2 36:3-4). The Hebrew for "south" means dry; the arid desert south of Judea is meant. The enumeration of all the parts of Judea, city, country, plain, hill, and desert, implies that no longer shall there be aught wanting of the integrity of the Jewish land (Zac 7:7).

sacrifices--As in Jer 17:22, one constituent of Judea's prosperity is mentioned, namely, its kings on David's throne, the pledge of God being its guardian; so in this verse another constituent, namely, its priests, a pledge of God being propitious to it (Psa 107:22).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Here he mentions the second part of the blessing; for the whole people would be preserved safe in the possession of their kingdom and priesthood, as in both the favor of God appeared; for both the king and the priest were types of Christ. For as by the priesthood they knew that God was propitious to them, they being reconciled to him by sacrifices, and as by the kingdom they knew that God was the protector and guardian of their safety, so these two things constituted a real and complete happiness. Hence the Prophet, having mentioned one of these things, now proceeds to the other, —

They shall come from the cities of Judah ad from the whole circuit of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from other places, to offer sacrifices in the Temple. Sacrifices of themselves could not indeed serve the people; but Jeremiah assumed this principle, — that reconciliation was not in vain promised to the people by the sacrifices; for sins were really atoned, and Godas it were came forth to gather a people for himself. It was the same as though God said, that he would by all means be gracious to them, if only they observed the Sabbath, that is, if they with a pure heart devoted themselves to his service. The country, as I have said, was in a great measure laid waste; but the Prophet, after having spoken of the city, now adds, that all Judea would become inhabited, for from thence they would ascend to the Temple to offer sacrifices. After having mentioned the whole circuit, he names the land of Benjamin, the half tribe of whom, as it is well known, had continued in the faith, and had not separated from the family of David; indeed a part of the city was in the tribe of Benjamin.

He afterwards adds, the plain and the mountains, as though he had said, God’s worshippers would come from all the neighboring region to celebrate the feasts and to offer sacrifices as usual.

At last he mentions burnt-offering, sacrifice, and oblation, מנחה, meneche; the three principal offerings. But Jeremiah wished to shew briefiy that God would cause religion to flourish and prevail among them as before. But after having spoken of the external worship, he then refers to the end, They shall bring, he says, confession, or praise, תודה, tude, into the Temple. Here by one word Jeremiah includes the chief thing in sacrifices, as we may learn from Psalm 50:14, 23; where it is said,

“sacrifice praise unto God.”

God there rejects the sacrifices which were offered by the Jews without a right motive: he then shews what he required, commanding them to sacrifice praise. So now Jeremiah teaches us that the design of all sacrifices was to celebrate the name of God, that is, that the Jews might profess that they owed all things to him, that they received their life and their safcty freely from him. in short, they were thereby to testify their gratitude before God. So at this day this truth remains the same, though the types have been abolished: we do not offer calves or oxen or rams, but the sacrifice of praise, by confessing and proclaiming his benefits and blessings, according to what the Apostle says in Hebrews 13:15. But what ought to prevail among us apart from types, was formerly accompanied with types; and yet this truth was observed by the Jews in common with us, — that while they offered their sacrifices under the Law, they were to testify their gratitude by visible symbols. Let us proceed —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(26) They shall come . . .—The verse has a special interest (1) as a topographical description of the country about Jerusalem, and (2) as a summary of the chief forms of sacrifice under the Mosaic Law. (1) The “plain” (Shephelah) is the lowland country of Philistia, stretching to the Mediterranean; the “mountain” the hill-country of Judah; the “south” (Negeb) the region lying to the south of Hebron, and including Beersheba (comp. Jos_15:21; Jos_15:28). Each name, though descriptive in meaning, was used in almost as definite a sense as that in which we speak of the “Campagna” of Rome or the “Weald” of Kent. (2) The list includes the “burnt offerings,” in which the flesh of the victim was consumed entirely on the altar; the “sacrifices,” in which the flesh of the victim was eaten partly by the priest and partly by the worshipper; the “meat offerings,” which were of meal and salt, not of flesh, and were always accompanied by incense (Lev_2:1); and, lastly, praise—the word “sacrifice” not being found in the Hebrew—the utterance of prayer and psalm, which the Psalmist had named as more acceptable than the flesh of bulls and goats (Psa_50:14).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

26. Cp. for this kind of enumeration Jer_32:44, Jer_33:13.

the land of Benjamin] lying north of Judah.

the lowland] the low hills and flat valley-land stretching down towards the Philistine plain on the W. and S.W. of Judah.

the mountains] the loftier part S. of Jerusalem in the neighbourhood of Hebron.

the South] See on Jer_13:19. The cities in these three districts are enumerated in Joshua , 15, viz. 33–44; 48–60; 21–32.

burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and oblations, and frankincense] Three sorts of offerings are here mentioned, two bloody and one unbloody. The “oblations” (mg. “meal offerings”) consisted of flour and oil, and had (Lev_2:1) frankincense (see on Jer_6:20) strewn upon them.

sacrifices of thanksgiving] thanksgiving. The word “sacrifices,” omitted here and in Jer_33:11, is supplied in the directions given in Lev_7:12.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they shall come from the cities of Judah,.... That is, men shall come from all parts of the land of Judea to the city of Jerusalem, and to the temple; especially at the times of their solemn feasts, three times a year, as the law directed:

and from the places about Jerusalem; and from all the towns and villages adjacent to it, such as Bethany and Bethphage, and many others:

and from the land of Benjamin; which tribe continued with the tribe of Judah when the rest revolted, and was now with it, and still would continue with it, and join with it in religious worship, were they careful to observe what the Lord commanded them:

and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south; these respect the several parts of the land of Judah, which, the Jews (i) say, was divided into three parts, the mountain, plain or champaign country, and the valley: the "plain" was that part where Lydda and other cities were; the "mountain" is the same with the hill country of Judea, Luk 1:39; and the "south" the southern part of the land, that which is called the wilderness of Judea, of which see Jos 15:20. The above Jewish writers say (k), that from Bethhoron to Emmaus was the mountain or hill country; from Emmaus to Lydda the plain; and from Lydda to the sea the valley; now, from all these places should persons come to the temple:

bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, and meat offerings and incense; sacrifices and offerings of all sorts, according to the law; hereby signifying, that if the sabbath was observed, as it would go well with the kings and princes of Judah, they would keep a splendid court, and have a numerous retinue, so it would be well with the priests that served at the altar; sacrifices would be brought to them; of which they would have their part, as well as God have glory by an obedience to his laws; and, besides these, other sacrifices would also be brought, as follows:

and bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of the Lord; thank offerings for mercies received and deliverances wrought, as well as sacrifices for sins committed; and this was one sort of the peace offerings, Lev 7:11.

(i) Misna Sheviith, c 9. sect. 2. (k) Hieros. Sheviith, foI. 38. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sacrifices. Hebrew mincha, (Haydock) "offerings" of flour, wine, &c. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The sum of all these three verses is, that if they would sanctify the Lord’s sabbath, they should either continue in, or be restored unto, their ancient, civil, and ecclesiastical order, they should have kings and princes in their former order and splendour, and men should come from all parts of the country bringing their usual sacrifices and offerings to the temple, and those of all sorts. Some think this promise is to be understood synecdochically, one principal part of the law of God, and such a one as was in their power to obey, being put for the whole law of God. Those who desire to be satisfied in the niceties as to the terms and places here mentioned, may find satisfaction in the English Annotations upon this verse. The general sense is no more than that both their city and their temple, their civil and ecclesiastical state, should continue and flourish in that order wherein it was.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. They shall come — An answering description of religious grandeur and prosperity. The specifications are such as give completeness to the picture. As to offerings, the two great classes are mentioned, namely, bloody — burnt offerings and sacrifices, and unbloody — meat offerings and incense. As to localities, we have cities of Judah, places about Jerusalem, land of Benjamin, the plain, the mountains, and the south — showing the universal participation of the people.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Parallel passage for the catalogue of the districts of Judah, Jer_32:44. Three divisions are mentioned.

(1) The neighborhood of Jerusalem (including the "cities of Judah");

(2) the land of Benjamin, i.e. the northern part of the kingdom; and

(3) the tribe of Judah, with its three subdivisions the Shefela or lowland country by the Mediterranean Sea, the hill country, and the Negeb or "dry" south country. (comp. Jos_15:21-62) The sacrifices are described with equal explicitness; they fall into two classes, the bloody (burnt offerings and other sacrifices) and the unbloody. (the vegetable offering or minkhah, and the incense which was strewed upon the min-khah, Lev_2:1) And bringing sacrifices of praise. This was, no doubt, the title of a particular variety of sacrifices; (Lev_7:12 Lev_22:29) here, however, it seems as if all the preceding sacrifices were summed up under this designation. St. Paul says, "In everything give thanks;" and this seems to have been the prophet"s ideal of the sacrifices of the future.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will light a fire in its gates

"I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire"

it cannot be put out

This can be stated in active form. AT: "people cannot put it out" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

kingdom of Judah

Jerusalem

Benjamin

Negev

burnt offering

sacrifice

frankincense

house

gate

fire

consume

stronghold

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.