Jeremiah 47:7

Jer 47:7 How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it.

Ver. 7. How can it be quiet?] Heb., How shalt thou be quiet? Here the prophet quieteth himself howsoever by a humble submission to his holy will, who had put the sword in commission. God’s will is the rule of right, neither can force or entreaty prevail aught against it in this world, much less in the world to come, where each one must hold him to his doom, which is irreversible.

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.

47:7 The punishment would not end soon, because the judge had declared his judgment and his mission had to be accomplished: Ashkelon . . . must be destroyed.

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

Meaning, that it is not possible that the wicked should by any means escape or stay the Lord, when he will take vengeance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jeremiah, from addressing the sword in the second person, turns to his hearers and speaks of it in the third person.

Lord . . . given it a charge-- (Eze 14:17).

the sea-shore--the strip of land between the mountains and Mediterranean, held by the Philistines: "their valley" (see on Jer 47:5).

there hath he appointed it-- (Mic 6:9). There hath He ordered it to rage.

It had taken part with the Chaldeans against Judea (Kg2 24:2). Fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, when also he attacked Egypt (Jer 43:8-13) and Ammon (Jer 49:1-6). [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10:9,7]. Jeremiah in this prophecy uses that of Isa. 15:1-16:14, amplifying and adapting it to his purpose under inspiration, at the same time confirming its divine authority. Isaiah, however, in his prophecy refers to the devastation of Moab by the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser; Jeremiah refers to that by Nebuchadnezzar.

Next: Jeremiah Chapter 48

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 7. How can it be quiet] This is the answer of the Sword. I am the officer of God's judgments, and he has given me a commission against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore; all the coast where the Philistines have their territories. The measure of their iniquities is full; and these God hath appointed this sword to ravage. The Philistines were ever the implacable enemies of the Jews, and the basest and worst of all idolaters. On these accounts the sword of the Lord had its commission against them; and it did its office most fearfully and effectually by the hand of the Chaldeans.

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

Some take it, ה, he, as meaning the land itself; but as it immediately follows, against Ashkelon and against the seashore, it is better to explain it as above.

By the sea-shore some understand Joppa; but it is probable that the Prophet includes the whole coast, and that he thus still speaks of Tyre, and Sidon, and Gaza, though he names Ashkelon, which was a little distant from the sea. When, therefor, God commanded his sword against Ashkelon and all the cities which were by the sea-shore, the execution of his judgement could not be prevented in that region. He further adds, he hath commanded it; but it is in a solemn manner, and hence I have rendered the words, he hath called it to witness, or protested it. He then intimates that God had not simply given his sword a command to commit slaughters through the whole land, but bound his sword, as it were, by solemn protest; as though he had said, that this decree could not be revoked, because Godwill not only command his sword to execute his vengeance, but will also give it a solemn command, and bind it, as it were, by an oath, never to cease from its work until the whole people, and all the cities, and the whole land, should be destroyed together.

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.

(7) Against the sea shore.—In the “sea shore,” as in Eze_25:16, we have the term specially appropriate to the territory of the Philistines.

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

7. How canst thou] rather, with LXX, Syr., Vulg. How can it.… So correct “thee” by mg. it, the sea shore, the Philistine and Phoenician coast.

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.

How can it be quiet,.... There is no reason to believe it will, nor can it be expected that it should; to stop it is impossible, and to request that it might be stopped is in vain:

seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the seashore? for it had a commission from the Lord to destroy the inhabitants of Ashkelon, and other places, which lay still more towards the sea, as Joppa and Jamne; and indeed all Palestine lay on the coast of the Mediterranean sea:

there hath he appointed it; by an irreversible decree of his, in righteousness to punish the inhabitants of these places for their sins.

Next: Jeremiah Chapter 48

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

Some make the words of the 6th verse to be the words of the Philistines in their mourning and cutting themselves, crying to God to stop the sword drawn against them, and to return it again into its scabbard: others make them the words of the prophet, lamenting the havoc which he by the eye of the prophecy saw was like to be made amongst the Philistines by the Chaldeans (for good men are affected with the miseries even of the worst of men).

The latter verse must be expounded according to the former; for if the words of the former verse be understood as the words of the Philistines, those of this verse must be understood as the words of the prophet putting them out of hopes of the sword’s stopping, because what it did was by commission from God, which it must execute. If the words of the former verse be to be understood as the prophet’s words, the words of this verse are either the prophet’s words correcting himself, and concluding that this sword could not be quiet, because it was edged by God himself, who had given it his commission, which it must execute; or the words of God, letting the prophet know that he had given this sword its commission, and therefore it could not stop till Ashkelon and the people on the sea-shore were destroyed by it.

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

7. How can it, etc. — A reply to the question asked in Jer_47:6. Jehovah hath given “the sword” a commission, and it cannot be quiet until the commission be fulfilled.

Sea shore — A suitable designation of Philistia.

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

The seashore. So Ezekiel speaks of "the remnant of the seashore", (Eze_25:16) referring to Philistia.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Ver. 7. The sword that cannot be quiet.

This chapter tells of another of the Gentile nations on whom the judgment of God was to come. These nations all lay in the march of the Babylonian armies, and were one after another overthrown. Philistia is represented as asking of the sword of the Lord, when it will be quiet, and the answer is, "How can it be quiet, when," etc.? (ver. 7). It reminds

I OF THE SWORD OF CONSCIENCE. The Lord hath given it a charge, and, though we may blunt it, we cannot perfectly quiet it (cf. Macbeth, Judas, and other conscience-haunted men).

II OF THE SWORD OF SCRIPTURE. "The Word of the Lord is not bound. How men have sought to sheathe it in the scabbard, to hide and hold it there, so that they may go on unchecked in their own ways! But it has leapt forth in spite of them; and, in spite of pagan, Roman, and other persecutions, has asserted its supreme might.

III OF THE SWORD OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT AGAINST SIN. Sin and sorrow are eternally married, and can never be put asunder. Where one is the other is never far off, and never will be in this world or the next. But for every believer Christ has offered his own heart as a sheath for it. For such that sword is sheathed therein, and will be quiet there forever. C. "When Christ gave up the ghost The Law was satisfied; And now to its most rigorous claims I answer, "Jesus died.

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

How - God lets the prophet know that he had given this sword its commission, and therefore it could not stop 'till Ashkelon and the people on the sea-shore were destroyed by it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.