Jeremiah 23:1

JEREMIAH 23

PROPHECY OF CHRIST AND A DENUNCIATION OF FALSE PROPHETS

By far the most important thing in this chapter is the glorious prophecy of Jesus Christ in Jeremiah 23:5-6. Beginning in Jeremiah 23:9 and extending to the end of the chapter is a lengthy discourse against the false prophets

The location of this chapter is significant. Jeremiah had just concluded the chapter in which he had severely denounced the sins of the terminal kings of Judah, with the exception of Zedekiah, during whose reign this chapter was evidently written. Since he was the reigning monarch, it is not surprising that his name does not occur here. Ash noted that scholars generally agree in dating this chapter in the reign of Zedekiah.[1] However some believe that it was possible that the prophecy of Messiah came before Zedekiah came to the throne, and that this probably influenced Zedekiah in the choice of a throne name so closely resembling the glorious title, "The Lord Our Righteousness" mentioned in 5:6. Zedekiah means "The Lord is righteous."

This whole chapter is "A prophetic vision which viewed the Jews as already in a state of dispersion, which they were suffering as a punishment for the reckless conduct of their shepherds (rulers)."[2]

Jeremiah 23:1-4

"Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith Jehovah. Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people; ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith Jehovah. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply. And I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith Jehovah."

"Shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep ..." (Jeremiah 23:1). "Whither I have driven them ..." (Jeremiah 23:3). Throughout the Bible the same action is often attributed to multiple sources. Here the sheep were scattered by the false shepherds, but God also states that he had scattered them. "The same act may be referred to man or to God, according to the light in which we regard it."[3] Judicial hardening, for example, is done by God, and by Satan, and by men themselves. In the New Testament the crucifixion of Christ is said to have been done by (1) God; (2) by Christ; (3) by Satan; (4) by the Jews; (5) by the Romans, etc.

"The remnant of my flock out of all the countries ... and will bring them to their fold ..." (Jeremiah 23:3). This is a prophecy of the return of the righteous remnant from Babylon to Canaan, which in time, of course, duly came to pass; but there are two things that forbid the limitation of this prophecy to the physical return of a relatively few Jews from Baylonian captivity. These are: (1) the very limited number who returned, not from all the countries, but from Babylon only, and (2) the proximity of the passage to the glorious prophecy of the Messiah in the same breath. The fulfillment of this prophecy in its fuller significance occurred not in the pitiful remnant that returned from Babylon, but in the glorious ingathering into the fold of God of both Jews and Gentiles alike in the kingdom of Christ. As Cheyne expressed it, "To be in Christ is to be in the true Canaan."[4]

"I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them, and they shall fear no more ..." (Jeremiah 23:4) Barnes and others find this to be, "A prophecy of the post-exilic leaders such as Nehemiah, Ezra, the Maccabees, etc."[5] But this is by no means a satisfactory explanation of the prophecy. It is impossible to believe that during all the wars and dislocations of the inter-testamental period the people of God did not "fear any more." There are most certainly overtones of the kingdom of heaven in the prophecy here.

"The remnant of my flock ..." (Jeremiah 23:3). The doctrine of a righteous remnant appears extensively in the Old Testament. It is found in Isaiah 1:9; 37:4; Micah 4:7; 7:18, and in Jeremiah here, and in Jeremiah 24 and Jeremiah 40-44. One of the sons of Isaiah was named, "A remnant shall return," being in fact a double prophecy, not merely of the captivity, but also of the return to Palestine of a small remnant. The name of that son was Shear-Jashub, (Isaiah 7:3; 10:21). Until there is proof that Isaiah did not live until after the exile, the critics will never establish their false allegation that the doctrine of a remnant did not exist prior to the exile.

"Nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking ..." (Jeremiah 23:4) Harrison thought that these words meant that, "None of them shall go astray, because responsible shepherds shall lead them and attend to their welfare."[6] If that is indeed what the passage means, it is further proof that only in Messianic times may the fulfillment be expected. Certainly in the long ages prior to the coming of Messiah, the Old Israel became more sinful than ever, sinking into the utter rigidity of God's judicial hardening; and those official "shepherds" of the people, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians were revealed as the false shepherds of Zechariah, and who engineered the crucifixion of the Son of God Himself. No, we cannot find the fulfillment of the promise of those noble shepherds of Jeremiah 23:4 anywhere in ancient Israel. Also, alas, there were many religious communities during the reign of Messiah which still suffered from the fatal leadership of evil shepherds.