John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 1

The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah

This is the general title of the whole book, and includes all his discourses, sermons, and prophecies; and designs not his own words, but the words of the Lord, which were put into his mouth, and he delivered under divine inspiration. The Septuagint version renders it, "the word of God": and the Arabic version, "the word of the Lord": the Targum, "the words of the prophecy of Jeremiah;" who is described by his descent and parentage, "the son of Hilkiah".

The Arabic version calls him Selkiah. This was not Hilkiah the high priest, who in the days of Josiah found the book of the law, (2 Kings 22:8) as Kimchi's father and Abarbinel think, and so Clemens of Alexandria ^F14 ; since he is not said to be a high priest, or of the high priests, but of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin;

though the Targum paraphrases the words to the other sense, "of the heads of the ward of priests, of the amarcalin, or governors which were in Jerusalem, a man that took his inheritance in Anathoth, in the land of the tribe of Benjamin;" nor is Jeremiah mentioned among the posterity of Hilkiah the high priest in (1 Chronicles 6:13 1 Chronicles 6:14) , besides, Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth, must be of the family of Ithamar; the last of which family that was high priest was Abiathar, who had fields in Anathoth, (1 Kings 2:26) , and so could be no other than a common priest; for Hilkiah the high priest was of the family of Phinehas; for, from the times of that Abiathar to the Babylonish captivity, there was no high priest but of that family.

The Jews say that Jeremiah descended by his mother's side from Rahab the harlot ^F15 . Anathoth was a city in the tribe of Benjamin, as is here said, and belonged to the priests, (Joshua 21:18) , it lay north of Jerusalem about three miles from it, according to Jerom ^F16 and others; but, according to Josephus ^F17 , it was but twenty furlongs from it, that is, two and a half miles.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Stromat. l. 1. p. 328.
• F15: T. Bab. Megilia, fol. 14. 2. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 59. 3. Jarchi in loc.
• F16: Comment. in Hieremiam, I. 1. fol. 121. H. tom. 5. & I. 2. fol. 135. F. & I. 6. fol. 161. C. Isidor. Hispalens. de Vit. & Mort. Sanct. c. 38.
• F17: Antiqu. I. 10. c. 7. sect. 3. Ed. Hudson.

To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah This was the beginning of the prophecy of Jeremiah, so that he prophesied long after Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah; for this king was the son of Amon king of Judah, which Amon was the son of Manasseh.

The Septuagint and Arabic versions wrongly call him Amos; and Jeremiah began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of his reign.

This was in the twenty first of Josiah's age, for he began to reign when he was eight years old, and he reigned eighteen years after, for he reigned in all thirty one years; and it was five years after this that the book of the law was found by Hilkiah the high priest, (2 Kings 22:3) .

And it came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah In the beginning of his reign, and in the fourth year of his reign; see (Jeremiah 25:1) (26:1) (27:1) (35:1) (36:1) . No mention is made of Jehoahaz, who reigned between Josiah and Jehoiakim, because his reign was short, but three months, (2 Kings 23:31) , and perhaps no word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in his time, though it did before and after.

to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah; so that Jeremiah must prophesy in the land of Judea upwards of forty years; eighteen under Josiah, (2 Kings 22:11) , three months under Jehoahaz, (2 Kings 23:31) eleven years under Jehoiakim, (2 Kings 23:36) , three months under Jeconiah, (2 Kings 24:8) , and eleven years under Zedekiah, when the city was besieged and taken, (2 Kings 25:2 2 Kings 25:3) .

Josiah had three sons as kings of Judah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, under all whom Jeremiah prophesied: even to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

The month Ab, which answers to part of July and part of August; and it was on the ninth or tenth day of this month that the city of Jerusalem was burnt, and the people carried captive, (2 Kings 25:8 2 Kings 25:9) (Jeremiah 52:12Jeremiah 52:13) . The ninth of this month is now kept by the Jews as a fast on that account.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying. Not in the days of Jehoiakim, but in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, (Jeremiah 1:2). The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read, "to him".

Before I formed you in the belly I knew you Not merely by his omniscience, so he knows all men before their conception and birth; but with such a knowledge as had special love and affection joined with it; in which sense the Lord knows them that are his, as he does not others, and predestinates them unto eternal life; and which is not only before their formation in the womb, but before the foundation of the world, even from all eternity.

The forming of the human foetus is God's act, and a curious piece of workmanship it is; see (Psalms 139:15Psalms 139:16) . And before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; not by infusing holiness into him, but by separating him in his eternal purposes and decrees to the office of a prophet before he was born, and even before the world began;

just as the Apostle Paul was separated to the Gospel of God, (Romans 1:1) , for it follows, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations; not to the Israelites only, who Jarchi thinks are so called, because they now followed the usages and customs of the nations; but to the Gentiles, against whom be was sent to prophesy, (Jeremiah 46:1) as Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and Chaldeans. This ordination of him to be a prophet was not done in time, but in eternity, in the mind and thought of God; he was foreordained to this office before the foundation of the world, of which a declaration was made unto him when he was now called unto it; to which he makes answer.