Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 34:8-22

Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · Matthew Henry · CC0 1.0 Universal

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 had released into their services again.

Those who think to cheat God by dissembled repentance and partial reformation, put the greatest cheat upon their own souls. This shows that liberty to sin, is really only liberty to have the sorest judgments.

It is just with God to disappoint expectations of mercy, when we disappoint the expectations of duty. And when reformation springs only from terror, it is seldom lasting. Solemn vows thus entered into, profane the ordinances of God; and the most forward to bind themselves by appeals to God, are commonly most ready 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.

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 34:1-22EXPOSITION This chapter must be taken in connection with Jeremiah 35:1-19. The whole section consists of three passages, introduced with a superscription in the same form, but otherwise unrelated. It serves to finish of…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryTransient Reformation; The Servants Re-enslaved. (b. c. 589.)TRANSIENT REFORMATION; THE SERVANTS RE-ENSLAVED. (B. C. 589.) We have here another prophecy upon a particular occasion, the history of which we must take notice of, as necessary to give light to the prophecy. I. When Je…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 34:8-11Superficial repentance. In liberating their slaves under the influence of terror, and reclaiming them when the cause of alarm had disappeared, the Jews afford a striking instance of superficial repentance. This must be…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 34:8-22Playing fast and loose with God. See the history. Under fear occasioned by the prophet's earnest appeals and the obvious fact that the judgment of God was drawing near—for the Chaldeans were at the gates—the king and hi…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 34:8-22False obedience. An incident of the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. At the first alarm the liberation of the Hebrew slaves was declared and solemnly ratified, according to the sabbatic law, which had long sunk into…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 34:8A covenant. The scene of this "covenant" was the temple (Jeremiah 34:15, Jeremiah 34:18). Solemn agreements of this kind were not uncommon. To proclaim liberty unto them. The phrase, a very peculiar one, is taken from t…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 34:8-22A right act done in a wrong spirit. I. CONSIDER THE ACT ITSELF. It was emphatically a right act in itself. It did not become right or necessary merely by becoming a covenanted thing. It was an act that meant the attainm…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Jeremiah 34:9Should serve himself of them; literally, should work through them; i.e. "should employ them for forced labour;" as in Jeremiah 25:13.Joseph S. Exell and contributors