Jeremiah 29:32

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 29:32. He shall not have a man to dwell among his people, &c. — None of his posterity shall remain to see my people restored to their own land again. See Jeremiah 29:11. Because he hath taught rebellion — Or, prevarication, as Blaney translates סרה, observing, “It properly signifies a declining, or turning aside from the straight path, the path of truth and right. Here, and Jeremiah 28:16, it means the presumption of uttering, as a revelation from God, what the man who uttered it knew to be not so.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:20-32 Jeremiah foretells judgments upon the false prophets, who deceived the Jews in Babylon. Lying was bad; lying to the people of the Lord, to delude them into a false hope, was worse; but pretending to rest their own lies upon the God of truth, was worst of all. They flattered others in their sins, because they could not reprove them without condemning themselves. The most secret sins are known to God; and there is a day coming when he will bring to light all the hidden works of darkness. Shemaiah urges the priests to persecute Jeremiah. Their hearts are wretchedly hardened who justify doing mischief by having power to do it. They were in a miserable thraldom for mocking the messengers of the Lord, and misusing his prophets; yet in their distress they trespass still more against the Lord. Afflictions will not of themselves cure men of their sins, unless the grace of God works with them. Those who slight the blessings, deserve to lose the benefit of God's word, like Shemaiah. The accusations against many active Christians in all ages, amount to no more than this, that they earnestly counsel men to attend to their true interest and duties, and to wait for the performance of God's promises in his appointed way.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This captivity is long - Rather, It is long. God's anger, their punishment, the exile, the time necessary for their repentance - all is long to men who will never live to see their country again.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

32. not … a man to dwell—(De 28:18).

not … behold the good—As he despised the lawful time and wished to return before the time God had expressly announced, in just retribution he should not share in the restoration from Babylon at all.

rebellion—going against God's revealed will as to the time (Jer 28:16).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: punishments of this life ordinarily are extended to the children of sinful parents, for the parents’ sake, who are punished in their children, being res parentum, a considerable part of their parents’ goods and portion. He shall not have a man to dwell among this people; he and his whole posterity shall be rooted out;

neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people; and neither he nor they shall live to the time of my people’s return from the captivity of Babylon.

Because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord; because by the falsehoods which he hath taught he hath been an instrument to make people disobey the commands of God. We had the same clause Jeremiah 28:16, and such a kind of threatening we find Amos 7:17, denounced by that prophet against Amaziah the priest of Beth-el, forbidding him to prophesy at Beth-el, because it was the king’s court and chapel. To obstruct the revelation of God’s will to people, or to publish what is contrary to it, to seduce people from believing it, or yielding obedience, are both crimes that have been and will be of fatal consequence to them and their families who are so hardy as to incur the guilt of them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore thus saith the Lord,.... Because he prophesied without being sent of God, and prophesied lies, by which the people were deceived:

behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed; not him only, but his posterity also: thus God sometimes visits the sins of parents on their children, they being, as it were, a part of themselves, and oftentimes partners with them in their iniquities:

he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; either at Babylon, or at Jerusalem, whither he had promised a speedy return:

neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord; by returning them, after seventy years captivity, to their own land, and to the enjoyment of all their privileges, civil and religious:

because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord; or, "a departure (n) from him"; taught men to revolt from him, and not give heed to his prophets; to disbelieve what he said by them, concerning their continuance in Babylon; which is called a rebellion against him; and being so heinous a crime, deserved the punishment denounced on him and his; rebels and their offspring are punished among men.

(n) "apostasiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "recessionem", Schmidt.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man {p} to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.

(p) He and his seed will be destroyed so that none of them would see the blessing of this deliverance.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

32. therefore thus saith the Lord] For the construction see note on Jeremiah 29:24-32.

he shall not … the good] But Shemaiah could no more than Jeremiah himself hope to see the far distant day of return. Thus the LXX reading is to be preferred, “there shall not be a man of them” (i.e. of his descendants) “in the midst of you to see the good.”

because he … Lord] absent from LXX as in Jeremiah 28:16 (see note there). Here they have instead the words “They shall not see,” originally no doubt a marg gloss on the “behold” earlier in the v.

Jeremiah 29:32

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In consequence of this, Jeremiah received from the Lord the commission to predict to Shemaiah his punishment at the hand of God, and to send the prediction to all that are in Babylon in banishment. With Jeremiah 29:31, cf. Jeremiah 28:15. The punishment is this: Shemaiah shall have no posterity among his people, i.e., of his children none shall be left amongst the people, nor shall he see, i.e., experience, have any share in the blessings which the Lord will yet bestow upon His people. The extinction of his race and his own exclusion from the privilege of seeing the day of Israel's redemption are the punishment that is to fall on him for his rebellion against the commandment of the Lord. With 'כּי סרה cf. Jeremiah 28:16.