Jeremiah 28:8

The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) The prophets that have been before me and before thee . . .—The appeal to the past is of the nature of an inductive argument. The older prophets whose names were held in honour had not spoken smooth things. They had not prophesied of peace; war, pestilence, and famine had been the burden of their predictions. And there was, therefore, an antecedent probability in favour of one who spoke in the same tone now, rather than of those who held out flattering hopes of peace and victory. The onus probandi in such a conflict of claims lay with the latter, not the former. Prophecies like those of Elijah (1Kings 17:1; 1Kings 21:21-24), Micaiah (1Kings 22:17), Elisha (2Kings 8:1), Joel (Joel 1:1-20), Hosea (Hosea 2:11-12), Amos (Amos 1-4), Micah (Micah 3:12), Isaiah (Isaiah 2-6), were probably in Jeremiah’s thoughts.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:1-9 Hananiah spoke a false prophecy. Here is not a word of good counsel urging the Jews to repent and return to God. He promises temporal mercies, in God's name, but makes no mention of the spiritual mercies which God always promised with earthly blessings. This was not the first time Jeremiah had prayed for the people, though he prophesied against them. He appeals to the event, to prove Hananiah's falsehood. The prophet who spake only of peace and prosperity, without adding that they must not by wilful sin stop God's favours, will be proved a false prophet. Those who do not declare the alarming as well as the encouraging parts of God's word, and call men to repentance, and faith, and holiness, tread in the steps of the false prophets. The gospel of Christ encourages men to do works meet for repentance, but gives no encouragement to continue in sin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jeremiah's own wishes concurred with Hananiah's prediction, but asserts that that prediction was at variance with the language of the older prophets.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. prophets … before me—Hosea, Joel, Amos, and others.

evil—a few manuscripts, read "famine," which is more usually associated with the specification of war and pestilence (Jer 15:2; 18:21; 27:8, 13). But evil here includes all the calamities flowing from war, not merely famine, but also desolation, &c. Evil, being the more difficult reading, is less likely to be the interpolated one than famine, which probably originated in copying the parallel passages.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That is, Thou and I are not the first prophets that have foretold to countries and nations the great judgments of God coming upon them,

war, evil, pestilence: by evil, some think is to be understood famine, but it is not much material.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The prophets that have been before me, and before thee of old,.... Such as Isaiah, Hoses, Joel, Amos, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and others: these

prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms; as Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Ethiopia, Moab, &c. as Isaiah particularly did:

of war, and of evil, and of pestilence; by evil some think is meant famine, because that usually goes along with the other mentioned, and there being but one letter in which the words for evil and famine differ; and now the prophets that prophesied of these were sent of God, were the true prophets of the Lord; and therefore this ought not to be objected to the prejudice of Jeremiah, that his prophecies were of this sort: yea, if they should not come to pass, yet a man is not to be counted a false prophet, because such things are threatened in case nations do not repent of their sins and reform, which they may do; and then the evils threatened are prevented, as in the case of the Ninevites.

Geneva Study Bible

The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old {f} prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

(f) Meaning, that the prophets that denounced war or peace were tried either true or false by the success of their prophecies, even though God makes to come to pass sometimes that which the false prophet speaks to try the faith of his, De 13:3.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Jeremiah 28:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jeremiah's reply. - First Jeremiah admits that the fulfilment of this prediction would be desirable (Jeremiah 28:6), but then reminds his opponent that all the prophets of the Lord up till this time have prophesied of war and calamity (Jeremiah 28:7 and Jeremiah 28:8). So that if a prophet, in opposition to these witnesses of God, predicts nothing but peace and safety, then nothing short of the fulfilment of his prediction can make good his claim to be a true prophet (Jeremiah 28:9). - Jeremiah's answer is to this effect: Jeremiah 28:6. "Amen (i.e., yea), may Jahveh so do! may Jahveh perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jahveh's house and all the captives from Babylon into this place. Jeremiah 28:7. Only hear now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people. Jeremiah 28:8. The prophets that were before me and before thee from of old, they prophesied concerning many lands and great kingdoms, of war, and of trouble, and of pestilence. Jeremiah 28:9. The prophet that prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet cometh to pass, shall be known as the prophet that Jahveh hath truly sent. - As to אמן, yea, see on Jeremiah 11:5. The scope of this assent is straightway defined in "may Jahveh so do." But in order that the hearers may not misunderstand his assent, Jeremiah proceeds to show that hitherto only threatening predictions have carried with them the presumption of their being true prophecies, inasmuch as it is these alone that have been in harmony with the predictions of all previous prophets. ויּנּבאוּ (Jeremiah 28:8) is explained by the fact that "the prophets" with the accompany relative clause is made to precede absolute-wise. In the same absolute manner the clause "the prophet...peace" is disposed so that after the verb יוּדע the word הנּביא is repeated. For לרעה many MSS have לרעב; manifestly an adaptation to passages like Jeremiah 14:12; Jeremiah 21:9; Jeremiah 24:10; Jeremiah 27:8, Jeremiah 27:13; Jeremiah 29:17., where sword, famine, and pestilence are mentioned together as three modes of visitation by God; whereas only the general word רעה seems in place here, when mentioned alongside of "war." For this very reason Hitz. rejects רעב as being the least difficult reading, while Ew. takes it under his protection on account of the parallel passages, not considering that the train of thought is different there. - The truth expressed in Jeremiah 28:9 is based on the Mosaic law concerning prophecy, Deuteronomy 18:21., where the fulfilment of the prediction is given as the test of true, God-inspired prophecy.