Jeremiah 34:16

Jer 34:16 But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

Ver. 16. But ye turned.] Exprobrat recidivum Iudaeorum scelus, qui scilicet primam virtutem turpiter deluserint et violarint. He upbraideth them, and deservedly, with their apostasy and perjury. Peter also thundereth against such. {2Pe 2:1-22}

And polluted my name,] scil., By the violation of your solemn vow; so doth every profligate professor and ungirt Christian.

Whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure.] Liberty is a desirable and delectable commodity. Those that live in Turkey, Persia, yea, or but in France, &c., esteem it so.

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.

polluted my name--by violating your oath (Exo 20:7).

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

Verse 16. Ye - polluted my name] Had made the covenant in my name, calling me to witness it; now ye have dishonoured my name, by breaking that covenant, and acting contrary to my law.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Prophet expostulates here with the Jews, as we said in the last Lecture, with regard to their perjury; for they had made in a solemn manner a covenant in the Temple of God, to set free their servants according to what the law prescribed. There would have been no need of such a ceremony, had they observed what they learnt from the Law; but neither they nor their fathers observed the equity prescribed to them by God. Hence there was a necessity for a new promise, sanctioned by sacrifice. The Prophet commended them for obeying God’s command. But he now shews, that they were the more inexcusable, because they soon after returned to their old ways. But ye turned, he says, that is, they soon repented of the obedience they had promised to render to God. Their promptitude was worthy of praise, when they promised that they would willingly obey; but by doing this in bad faith, they treated God with mockery.

He adds that God’s name was polluted We hence learn that whenever we misuse God’s name, it is a kind of sacrilege; for nothing is deemed more precious by God than truth; yea, as he himself is truth, and is so called, (John 14:6) there is nothing more adverse to his nature than falsehood. It is then an intolerable profanation of God’s name whenever it is falsely appealed to; and thus perjury is allied with sacrilege. God’s name is indeed polluted in other ways than by perjury, that is, when God’s name is taken in vain rashly, thoughtlessly, and without reverence. But the most heinous pollution of it is, when the truth is changed into a lie. This passage then contains a useful doctrine, which teaches us to act faithfully, especially when God’s name is interposed.

He afterwards adds, Ye have remanded every one his servant and every one his maid, whom ye have set free, etc. The crime was doubled by this circumstance, — that they had emancipated their servants, and then remanded them. For had they not dissembled, their obstinacy could by no means have been tolerated; but their rebellion became still more base, when they had pretended to obey God, and it became shortly known that they had perfidiously promised liberty to their servants. He says that they were set free to their own soul, that is, to their own will; for we call men free when it is in their power to choose what they please, for when they are under the power of another, they have no will, no choice of their own. And indignity is increased, when servants who have been made free are afterwards deprived of so great a privilege; for nothing is more desirable than liberty, as even heathens have declared. He adds that this was done by force, Ye have made them subject The verb כבש cabesh, means to subject and to oppress. The Prophet then shews, that those who had been made free, were not willing to return to their miserable condition, and that they were not constrained to submit to the yoke in any other way than by tyranny. It hence appears that their masters not only employed deceit, but also cruel and tyrannical violence; so that to perjury they added inhumanity, which more increased their crime. It now follows, —

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.

(16) But ye turned and polluted my name . . .—The second verb is the same as that translated “profane the name of the Lord” in Lev_19:12, in close connexion with the sin of swearing falsely. The sin of which the princes and rich men had been guilty was not merely an act of injustice. They had broken the third commandment as well as the eighth, and were accordingly guilty of sacrilege.

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

16. at their pleasure] lit. according to their soul. See on Jer_22:27.

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.

But ye turned and polluted my name,.... Changed their minds, and turned from their resolutions they had entered into, and the good ways they were walking in, and returned to their former evil practices; and so polluted the name of God by taking it in vain, and breaking the covenant they had agreed to:

and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at pleasure: or, "according to their soul" (s); according to their souls' desire, what was very agreeable and acceptable to them, and gave them a real pleasure; which did not last long, since they caused them

to return to their former service and bondage under them:

and brought them into subjection: forced them to come back to their houses, and into their service, and be subject to them, and obey their commands as formerly:

to be unto you for servants and for handmaids; to do the business of such, as they had done before.

(s) "in animam suam", Pagninus, Montanus; "secundum animam eorum", Piscator; "ad desideriurn suum", Junius & Tremellius.

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

And set. Hebrew, "to their own soul," to do as they pleased. (Haydock)

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).

You again licked up your vomit, and profaned my name, swearing by it to do that which you have not done, and forced your servants, though dismissed, to return again unto their former bondage and subjection to you.

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