Verse 19
He had preached to the people without realizing that some of them were plotting his death. He was as unaware of their intention as a lamb going to its slaughter (cf. Isaiah 53:7; Acts 8:32; 1 Peter 2:21). They planned to get rid of him, the tree, as well as his messages, the fruit, so all memory of Jeremiah would end. [Note: Keil, 1:218, believed this was a proverbial or figurative saying.] This would be a tragedy since the existence of descendants demonstrated God’s blessings on one’s life under the Old Covenant.
"It will be recalled that Anathoth was the home of the priestly house of Abiathar, a friend of David. The house was deposed by Solomon, who supplanted it with the house of Zadok. Anathothites resented Jeremiah’s favoring the deposition of the sanctuaries other than Jerusalem. This seemed to them like siding with Zadok against their own ancestor Abiathar. Furthermore, being priests, they doubtless hated his castigation of empty priestly ritual." [Note: Feinberg, p. 456.]
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