Jeremiah 24:10

And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) The sword, the famine, and the pestilence.—The three forms of suffering are grouped together, as in Jeremiah 14:12 and Ezekiel 14:21. The two latter followed almost inevitably in the wake of the first.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:1-10 Good and bad figs represent the Jews in captivity, and those who remain in their own land. - The prophet saw two baskets of figs set before the temple, as offerings of first-fruits. The figs in one basket were very good, those in the other basket very bad. What creature viler than a wicked man? and what more valuable than a godly man? This vision was to raise the spirits of those gone into captivity, by assuring them of a happy return; and to humble and awaken the proud and secure spirits of those yet in Jerusalem, by assuring them of a miserable captivity. The good figs represents the pious captives. We cannot determine as to God's love or hatred by what is before us. Early suffering sometimes proves for the best. The sooner the child is corrected, the better effect the correction is likely to have. Even this captivity was for their good; and God's intentions never are in vain. By afflictions they were convinced of sin, humbled under the hand of God, weaned from the world, taught to pray, and turned from sins, particularly from idolatry. God promises that he will own them in captivity. The Lord will own those who are his, in all conditions. God assures them of his protection in trouble, and a glorious deliverance in due time. When our troubles are sanctified to us, we may be sure that they will end well. They shall return to him with their whole heart. Thus they should have liberty to own him for their God, to pray to him, and expect blessings from him. The bad figs were Zedekiah and those of his party yet in the land. These should be removed for their hurt, and forsaken of all mankind. God has many judgments, and those that escape one, may expect another, till they are brought to repent. Doubtless, this prophecy had its fulfilment in that age; but the Spirit of prophecy may here look forward to the dispersion of the unbelieving Jews, in all the nations of the earth. Let those who desire blessings from the Lord, beg that he will give them a heart to know him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That dwell in the land of Egypt - Neither those carried captive with Jehoahaz into Egypt, nor those who fled there, are to share in these blessings. The new life of the Jewish nation is to be the work only of the exiles in Babylon.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. removed, &c.—(Jer 15:4). Calvin translates, "I will give them up to agitation, in all," &c.; This verse quotes the curse (De 28:25, 37). Compare Jer 29:18, 22; Ps 44:13, 14.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Many of them shall not live to be carried into captivity, but shall die miserably in their own land, if not by the enemies’ sword, yet by the famine and the pestilence, which two things ordinarily attend long sieges. By one of these three sore judgments of God they shall be consumed out of the land, and shall not hold it by the title of God’s gift of it

to their fathers. No gifts of God, except those of special grace, are perpetuities; but either given quamdiu bene se gesserint, so long as men behave themselves well in the use of them; or durante bene placito, during God’s good will and pleasure.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,

among them,.... Meaning not in other lands, where they should be driven, but while in their own land, by which many should perish; and the rest that escaped these dreadful judgments should be carried captive. The Targum is,

"I will send those that kill with the sword, &c.''

till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers; so that none of them should be left there to inhabit it, which is now their case; and it is an aggravation of their calamity and punishment, that they are no more the inhabitants of that good land, which was God's gift to them, and to their fathers before them.

Geneva Study Bible

And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. The fresh captivity shall be preceded by the same horrors as before (see on Jeremiah 15:2). Those who are represented by the evil figs were thus, still dwelling in the land, to be wasted by famine, pestilence, and sword, while the nation should thenceforward have representatives living in disgrace and exile throughout “the kingdoms.”

Jeremiah 24:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

And as one deals with the bad uneatable figs, i.e., throws them away, so will the Lord deliver up to ignominious ruin Zedekiah with his princes and the remainder of the people, both those still staying in the land and those living in Egypt. This, the fate awaiting them, is more fully described in Jeremiah 24:9 and Jeremiah 24:10. In Jeremiah 24:8 the "yea, thus saith," is inserted into the sentence by way of repetition of the "thus saith," Jeremiah 24:5. כּן is resumed and expanded by וּנתתּים in Jeremiah 24:9. The "princes" are Zedekiah's courtiers. Those in Egypt are they who during the war had fled thither to hide themselves from judgment. From the beginning of Jeremiah 24:9 to הארץ is verbally the same as Jeremiah 15:4, save that לרעה is added to make more marked the contrast to לטובּהּ, Jeremiah 24:5 - the evil, namely, that is done to them. Hitz., Ew., Umbr., Gr., following the lxx, delete this word, but without due cause. The further description of the ill-usage in "for a reproach," etc., is based on Deuteronomy 28:37; and is intensified by the addition of "and for an object of cursing," to show that in their case the curse there recorded will be fulfilled. From the last words, according to which disgrace will light on them in all the lands they are driven into, it appears that captivity will fall to the lot of such as are yet to be found in the land. But captivity involves new hostile invasions, and a repeated siege and capture of Jerusalem; during which many will perish by sword, famine, and plague. Thus and by deportation they shall be utterly rooted out of the land of their fathers. Cf. Jeremiah 29:17., where Jeremiah repeats the main idea of this threatening.