Out of the house of bondmen. Egypt had been a "house of bondmen" to their fathers ( Exodus 13:3 ; Deuteronomy 6:12 , and elsewhere); let them not make the holy city thus grievous to those who were equally with themselves children of Jehovah's redeemed ones. read more
At the end of seven years, etc. This is the literal rendering, but the sense, as is clear from the parallel passage in Deuteronomy 15:12 , and indeed from the next clause of this very verse, is "in the seventh ( not, the eighth) year." read more
Ye were now turned; or, ye returned (the primary meaning is simply "to turn;" hence read more
I proclaim a liberty for you. Judah is henceforth to be "lord of himself—that heritage of woe;" or rather, he is to become the slave of Sword, Pestilence, and Famine. The "liberty" now proclaimed does not profit Judah, who so much desires it. I will make you to be removed; rather, I will make you a shuddering (as Jeremiah 15:4 ). read more
Liberal punishment for illiberal conduct. The Jews will not set free their enslaved fellow citizens; God therefore liberates sword, pestilence, and famine upon them. If they are illiberal in their conduct, God will not be stinted in his punishment of them. I. THE EVILS OF LIFE ARE UNDER THE RESTRAINT OF GOD . They appear to be uncontrolled, but they are really God's slaves. He holds in the hounds of retribution with his leash. They would fain tear their victim. But... read more
Slavery. "Ye have not hearkened unto me," etc. The Jews had become shamefully guilty of this sin of enslaving their brethren. They who had once been slaves themselves, but redeemed by God; they whose whole Law was a protest against it in its real forms of permanence and cruelty; they who were on no higher level than those they enslaved, all being on the same equality with God, members of the same race, worshippers of the same God;—the slavery they were now practising was abhorrent indeed.... read more
When they out the calf in twain, etc. This clause should be translated differently, and placed, for clearness, in a parenthesis ( the calf which they cut in twain, and between the parts of which they passed ) . The division of the calf might, in fact, be called in Hebrew either "the covenant" or "the token of the covenant" (comp. Genesis 17:10 , Genesis 17:11 ). It was a solemn assurance that he who should transgress God's Law should share the same fate as the victim. The same idea... read more
And their dead bodies, etc. One of Jeremiah's repetitions (see Jeremiah 7:33 ). read more
And Zedekiah … and his princes. Graf infers from the separate mention of the king and his princes that these had themselves been unfaithful to the covenant. But the threat in this verse seems merely intended to enforce the preceding one by specializing the most prominent sufferers. Parallel passage: Jeremiah 21:7 . Which are gone up from you (see Jeremiah 37:5 ). read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 34:8-22
A right act done in a wrong spirit. I. CONSIDER THE ACT ITSELF . It was emphatically a right act in itself. It did not become right or necessary merely by becoming a covenanted thing. It was an act that meant the attainment of liberty to a very considerable number of people who were not their own masters. God is always on the side of liberty, for only to the free individual is full opportunity given of serving God. And yet this must be said with qualification. External liberty is... read more