Jeremiah 25:34

Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(34) Howl, ye shepherds.—The idea of the flock suggested in the “habitation” or “pasture” of Jeremiah 25:30 is here expanded. The “shepherds” are, as usual, the rulers of the people (Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 22:22, et al.).

Wallow yourselves in the ashes.—The words in italics have probably been added to bring the passage into conformity with Jeremiah 6:26, but they are not needed, and the interpretation is unauthorised. Better, therefore, roll on the ground. By some interpreters the word is rendered “sprinkle yourselves.” The “principal of the flock” are the “strong ones,” i.e., the best and fattest of the rams, denoting figuratively the princes and captains of the people.

And of your dispersions.—The Hebrew text seems faulty, and a slight alteration, now generally accepted, gives, and I will scatter you.

Like a pleasant vessel.—The sudden change of metaphor is somewhat startling, as judged by our rules of rhetoric; but the poets and prophets of Israel wrote without the fear of criticism, and used each image that presented itself, if it was fit for its immediate purpose, without caring much for continuity. The thought of the scattered flock suggested the idea of a dispersion or breaking-up of another kind, even that of the “pleasant vessel” (literally, the vessel of desire, i.e., a vase made as for kingly and honourable uses), falling with a crash and shivered into fragments, which Jeremiah had presented to the people in his acted parable and spoken words in Jeremiah 19:10-11, and in Jeremiah 22:28. The LXX. translators give like the chosen rams, as if anxious to avoid the mixed metaphor, and venturing on a conjectural emendation of the text.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 25:34-35. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry — The imperative is here also put for the future: see Jeremiah 25:27. Shepherds are here the same with kings, princes, or generals. In pursuance of the same metaphor, by the principal of the flock are meant the great and rich men of each nation. Though such are wont to be the most courageous and secure, yet of these it is foretold, that their hearts should so fail them that they should howl, and cry, and wallow in ashes. Seeing themselves utterly unable to make head against the enemy, and seeing their country, which they had the charge of, and for the protection and prosperity of which they were concerned, inevitably ruined, they should abandon themselves to despair, sorrow, and lamentation. For the days of your slaughter, &c., are accomplished — The time fixed in the divine counsel for the slaughter of some, and the dispersion of the rest, is fully come. And ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel — Ye shall be utterly destroyed, as a crystal glass when it is dashed against the ground. The shepherds shall have no way to flee, &c. — The enemy will be so numerous, so furious, so sedulous, and the extent of their army so vast, that it will be impossible to avoid falling into their hands.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:30-38 The Lord has just ground of controversy with every nation and every person; and he will execute judgment on all the wicked. Who can avoid trembling when God speaks in displeasure? The days are fully come; the time fixed in the Divine counsels, which will make the nations wholly desolate. The tender and delicate shall share the common calamity. Even those who used to live in peace, and did nothing to provoke, shall not escape. Blessed be God, there is a peaceable habitation above, for all the sons of peace. The Lord will preserve his church and all believers in all changes; for nothing can separate them from his love.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Principal of the flock - i. e., noble ones.

Wallow yourselves in the ashes - Rather, roll yourselves on the ground.

For ... - Read; "for your days for being slaughtered are accomplished, and I will scatter you" (or, (dash you in pieces).

Fall like a pleasant vessel - The comparison suggests the idea of change from a thing of value into worthless fragments.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

34. shepherds—princes (Jer 22:22). Here he returns to the Jews and their rulers, using the same image as in Jer 25:30, "pasture" (see on [929]Jer 25:30).

wallow yourselves—Cover yourselves as thickly with ashes, in token of sorrow, as one who rolls in them (Jer 6:26; Eze 27:30) [Maurer].

principal—leaders. The Septuagint translates "rams," carrying out the image (compare Isa 14:9, Margin; Zec 10:3).

days of your slaughter … of … dispersions—rather, "your days for slaughter (that is, the time of your being slain), and your dispersions (not 'of your dispersions'), are accomplished (are come)."

pleasant vessel—Ye were once a precious vessel, but ye shall fall, and so be a broken vessel (see on [930]Jer 22:28). "Your past excellency shall not render you safe now. I will turn to your ignominy whatever glory I conferred on you" [Calvin].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Shepherds, and the

principal of the flock, are in this place of the same significancy, by both he means the civil rulers; so the word is used Jeremiah 22:22 23:1. These he calls aforehand to bewail their fate; for the days were now come when they should be slain and scattered. And he tells them their fall should be like the fall of a crystal glass, or some delicate tender vessel, which when it falleth breaketh in pieces, and cannot again be set together.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Howl, ye shepherds, and cry,.... The Targum is,

"howl, ye kings, and cry;''

and the rulers and governors of the nations before threatened with destruction are meant; who are here called upon to lamentation and mourning for the ruin and loss of their kingdoms; though Calvin thinks that this is an apostrophe to the Jewish nation, and the rulers of it. It is no uncommon thing in Scripture to call kings and civil magistrates shepherds; see Jeremiah 23:1;

and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock; or "roll yourselves in dust", as a token of mourning; as being in the utmost distress, and incapable of helping themselves, and redressing the grievances of their people; and therefore lie down and tumble about as in the greatest anxiety and trouble, the Targum is,

"cover your heads with ashes, ye mighty of the people;''

meaning those who were in the highest posts of honour and profit; the chief as to authority and power, riches and wealth;

for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; the time is come when they who were the fat of the flock, and were nourished up for slaughter, should be slain. The allusion to shepherds and sheep is still kept up; and such who should escape that, should be scattered up and down the world, as a flock of sheep is by the wolf, or any other beast of prey, when some are seized and devoured, and others dispersed; and this was not the case of the Jews only, but of other nations in their turn;

and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel; a vessel of worth and value, and so desirable; as vessels of glass, of gems, or of earth, as of Venice glass, of alabaster, of China; which when they fall and are broken, become useless, and are irreparable; signifying hereby, that their desirableness and excellency would not secure them from destruction, and that their ruin would be irretrievable.

Geneva Study Bible

Howl, {z} ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye chief of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a {a} pleasant vessel.

(z) You that are chief rulers, and governors.

(a) Which are most easily broken.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

34. wallow yourselves in ashes] rather, sprinkle yourselves. See on Jeremiah 6:26. The words “in ashes” are added in E.VV. only because they occur in the Hebrew of the other passage.

principal of the flock] not equivalent to “shepherds,” but rather, chief among the sheep, i.e. wealthy ones of the people, whose rank and riches avail nothing now.

and I will break you in pieces] mg. (less well) and I will disperse you. Aq. Symm. Theod. Vulg. read, and your dispersions. The Hebrew is difficult in point of grammar.

like a pleasant vessel] By altering one Hebrew consonant, we can render with LXX like choice rams. But the reading “rams” might easily arise through the influence of “principal of the flock” just before, and to this we may add that the figure of a vessel in such a connexion has been already used by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 22:28). Cp. also 2 Chronicles 32:27; 2 Chronicles 36:10; Hosea 13:15; Nahum 2:9.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 34. - Wallow yourselves in the ashes. Supply rather, in the dust (comp. Micah 1:10), as more suitable to the figure (see on Jeremiah 6:26). The shepherds, and the principal (or, noble ones) of the flock, are, of course, merely different forms of expression for the rulers. The days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; rather, your days for being slaughtered are fulfilled; and I will scatter you (or, dash you in pieces). This is the reading of an old and valuable manuscript at St. Petersburg, and is partly favored by the pointing; it is adopted by most modern critics, the form in the text being ungrammatical. Pleasant; or, precious (comp. Daniel 11:8, Authorized Version). Compare the figure in Jeremiah 22:28. Jeremiah 25:34

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

No rank is spared. This is intimated in the summons to howl and lament addressed to the shepherds, i.e., the kings and rulers on earth (cf. Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 22:22, etc.), and to the lordly or glorious of the flock, i.e., to the illustrious, powerful, and wealthy. With "sprinkle you," cf. Jeremiah 6:26. Your days are full or filled for the slaughter, i.e., the days of your life are full, so that ye shall be slain; cf. Lamentations 4:18. וּתפוצותיכם is obscure and hard to explain. It is so read by the Masora, while many codd. and editt. have וּתפוּצותיכם. According to this latter form, Jerome, Rashi, Kimchi, lately Maur. and Umbr., hold the word for a substantive: your dispersions. But whether we connect this with what precedes or what follows, we fail to obtain a fitting sense from it. Your days are full and your dispersions, for: the time is come when ye shall be slain and dispersed, cannot be maintained, because "dispersions" is not in keeping with "are full." Again: as regards your dispersions, ye shall fall, would give a good meaning, only if "your dispersions" meant: the flock dispersed by the fault of the shepherds; and with this the second pers. "ye shall fall" does not agree. The sig. of fatness given by Ew. to the word is wholly arbitrary. Hitz., Gr. and Ng. take the word to be a Tiphil (like תהרה, Jeremiah 12:5; Jeremiah 22:15), and read תּפיצותיכם, I scatter you. This gives a suitable sense; and there is no valid reason for attaching to the word, as Hitz. and Gr. do, the force of פּצץ or נפץ, smite in pieces. The thought, that one part of the flock shall be slain, the other scattered, seems quite apt; so also is that which follows, that they are scattered shall fall and break like precious, i.e., fine, ornamental vases. Hence there was no occasion for Ew.'s conjectural emendation, כּכרי, like precious lambs. Nor does the lxx rendering: ἥωσπερ οἱ κριοὶ οἱ ἐκλεκτοί, give it any support; for כּרים does not mean rams, but lambs. The similar comparison of Jechoniah to a worthless vessel (22:28) tells in favour of the reading in the text (Graf). - In Jeremiah 25:35 the threatening is made more woeful by the thought, that the shepherds shall find no refuge, and that no escape will be open to the sheep.