Jeremiah 23:1-3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 23:1-8

I. Here is a word of terror to the negligent shepherds. The day is at hand when God will reckon with them concerning the trust and charge committed to them: Woe be to the pastors (to the rulers, both in church and state) who should be to those they are set over as pastors to lead them, feed them, protect them, and take care of them. They are not owners of the sheep. God here calls them the sheep of my pasture, whom I am interested in, and have provided good pasture for. Woe be to those... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 23:1

Woe be unto the pastors ,.... Or, "O ye shepherds" or "governors", as the Targum; the civil rulers and magistrates, kings and princes of the land of Israel; since ecclesiastical rulers, the priests and prophets, are mentioned as distinct from them in Jeremiah 23:9 ; whose business it was to rule and guide, protect and defend, the people: but, instead of that, they were such that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord God ; set them bad examples, led them into... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 23:2

Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel ,.... The covenant God of that people, who are Called his sheep, and the sheep of his pasture; having made a covenant with their fathers, and provided a good pasture for them, the land of Israel, where they enjoyed all blessings, civil and religious, and appointed persons over them to feed them; but these did not do their duty, and therefore the Lord was against them, as follows: against the pastors that feed my people ; whose office it was to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 23:3

And I will gather the remnant of my flock, out of all countries ,.... Such of them as did not perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence, or died not in captivity, and chose not to remain in the kingdom where they were; for all did not return upon the edict of Cyrus: though some think this is to be understood of the gathering of God's elect, the remnant according to the election of grace, the children of God that were scattered abroad, by the sufferings and death of Christ, the Shiloh, to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 23:1

Wo be unto the pastors - There shall a curse fall on the kings, princes, priests, and prophets; who, by their vicious conduct and example, have brought desolation upon the people. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 23:2

Ye have scattered my flock - The bad government both in Church and State was a principal cause of the people's profligacy. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 23:1

Verse 1 Here the Prophet promises the restoration of the Church; but he reminds hypocrites that there was no reason for them on that account to flatter themselves, especially the king, his councillors, and the priests. Then this prophecy is a mixture of promises and threatenings, for God promises that he would be propitious to the miserable Jews, after having chastised them, so that the seed of Abraham might not be entirely cut off: he yet deprives hypocrites of vain confidence, so that they... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 23:2

Verse 2 He afterwards adds, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, to the pastors who feed my people In the same sense he calls them now his people, as he had called them before the flock of his pastures. They had alienated themselves from God, and he had already by his own decree repudiated them; and God might in one respect have deemed them aliens; and yet in respect of the covenant he acknowledged them as his own; and hence he calls them his people He now then confirms what we have already... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 23:3

Verse 3 It then follows, And I will gather my flock. As they had driven the people away, so God promises that it would be his care to gather them. And yet he ascribes to himself what he had imputed to them — that he had driven away his flock, but in a different sense; the pastors had scattered the flock, not only by their sloth, but also by their cruelty, for they became rapacious wolves; but God had punished the people, for they all had fully deserved such a scattering. We hence see that the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 23:1

Woe be unto the pastors , etc.! This "woe" is a pendant to the" woe" upon Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 22:13 . The original form of the verse shows the strong feeling with which the prophet both wrote and spoke: "Woe I shepherds who destroy," etc. By "shepherds" Jeremiah means rather the civil than the spiritual authorities, especially the kings— ποιμένες λαῶν , as Homer calls them. This is, in fact, the general Old Testament application of the term (see on Jeremiah 2:8 ). That destroy ;... read more

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