Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 6. We will drink no wine] The reason is given above. Their whole religious and political institution consisted in obedience to three simple precepts, each of which has an appropriate spiritual meaning:- 1. Ye shall drink no wine] Ye shall preserve your bodies in temperance, shall use nothing that would deprive you of the exercise of your sober reason at any time; lest in such a time ye should do what might be prejudicial to yourselves, injurious to your neighbour, or dishonourable to your God.
2. Neither shall ye build house] Ye shall not become residents in any place; ye shall not court earthly possessions; ye shall live free from ambition and from envy, that ye may be free from contention and strife.
3. But-ye shall dwell in tents] Ye shall imitate your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs, who dwelt in tents, being strangers and pilgrims upon earth, looking for a heavenly country, and being determined to have nothing here that would indispose their minds towards that place of endless rest, or prevent them from passing through temporal things so as not to lose those that are eternal.
There must necessarily be more in these injunctions than meets the eye in the letter of this account.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- Zedekiah's death at Babylon foretold. (Jer. 34:1-7) The Jews reprove for compelling their poor brethren to return to unlawful bondage. (Jer 34:8-22)
Jer. 34:1-7 Zedekiah is told that the city shall be taken, and that he shall die a captive, but he shall die a natural death. It is better to live and die penitent in a prison, than to live and die impenitent in palace.
Jer. 34:8-22 A Jew should not be held in servitude above seven years This law they and their fathers had broken. And when there was some hope that the siege was raised, they forced the servants they ha released into their services again. Those who think to cheat God be dissembled repentance and partial reformation, put the greatest chea upon their own souls. This shows that liberty to sin, is really onl liberty to have the sorest judgments. It is just with God to disappoin expectations of mercy, when we disappoint the expectations of duty. An when reformation springs only from terror, it is seldom lasting. Solem vows thus entered into, profane the ordinances of God; and the mos forward to bind themselves by appeals to God, are commonly most read to break them. Let us look to our hearts, that our repentance may be real, and take care that the law of God regulates our conduct _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew ויאמרו559 לא3808 נשׁתה8354 יין3196 כי3588 יונדב3122 בן1121 רכב7394 אבינו1 צוה6680 עלינו5921 לאמר559 לא3808 תשׁתו8354 יין3196 אתם859 ובניכם1121 עד5704 עולם׃5769
