thus saith Jehovah Take heed to your souls, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, and bring nothing in through the gates of Jerusalem;
God sends Jeremiah to the gates of Jerusalem. There he must speak to kings and ordinary people about one thing: what they carry through those gates on the Sabbath day. The command sounds small, yet the whole future of the city hangs on it. Why did one day of rest carry such weight? And what is this "burden"?
The message goes out in public, at the gates where the traffic moves. One commentator hears in it the same mercy God showed to the city of Nineveh.
Yet, as in Nineveh, so in Jerusalem, God delights in goodness and mercy. A public message goes out to prince and people at the gates of the city. If they listened to the Lord and kept His Sabbath holy, all would be well with them, in joy, prosperity and thankful praise before the Lord. But if not, He would kindle a fire to devour their palaces, and nothing would put it out. How soon and how truly it came to pass!
Why hang a city's future on one day of the week? Because that day showed Israel's true condition before God.
The Sabbath the prophet is told to speak about is the measure of Israel's spiritual condition. It is the weekly reminder of Israel's covenant relationship with the Lord. When they neglected this command from God — and they always did when they drifted away from Him — that was the outward evidence that they had broken the covenant. If they truly returned to the Lord, they would show it by keeping the solemn Sabbaths, and the Lord would bless them. But they did not obey. … The Sabbath is an institution of the law connected with Israel. The letters written to the church never mention the Sabbath once, and nowhere do they tell believers to keep it.
The offer was rest, security and a nation that lasted. They turned it down, and the reason is unflattering but familiar.
One might have thought Israel would gladly welcome the prophet's words from the Lord. Those words told them to stop carrying burdens on the Sabbath day, to be at rest, and so keep the nation prosperous and lasting (Jer. 17:19-27). But people prefer activity to setting a day apart "to the Lord." When will people see that the way of lasting blessing is to honour Him first, to give Him what is due to His Name?
One writer treats the Sabbath as a shadow of the rest Christ gives, and reads the forbidden load as something heavier than goods for market.
Now look at the desperate struggle of unbelief to carry the burden of sin. God's own command about the shadow forbids it plainly, in Jeremiah 17:21: "Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day." Does not the Spirit speak this to us now? "Take care." Is not unbelief the sin that trips up every believer?… But do not doubt the power of that "precious blood which has made peace." Beware of the unbelieving heart that would doubt God's forgiveness. Reader, is the burden of sin pressing on your soul? Take it to the blood of Christ. He Himself says, "Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
In John's Gospel, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. Then He tells him to pick up the very thing this verse forbids. One writer ties that moment back to Jeremiah.
The very same Lord who said in Jeremiah 17:21, "do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day," now says, "take up your bed and walk." We see the same thing with the man born blind in John 9:6. One word would have restored his sight, but again the Lord must set the shadowy Sabbath aside.
These gates are not left in disgrace. Reading Psalm 118 alongside this chapter, one writer sees the reversal.
What a change from Jeremiah's day! In his day they did not obey; they brought burdens in through the gates on the Sabbath day. So the house became a desolation. Now kings enter in by the gates of the city and of the house, as he prophesied. Burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, incense and sacrifices of praise are there (Jer. 17:26), and the priests, the Levites, to offer them.
- Gate — God sends the warning to the city gates, to prince and people alike. His mercy meets Jerusalem at its busiest spot and offers joy and a lasting future if it will listen.
- Gauge — the Sabbath was the weekly reminder of the covenant. How Israel treated it showed where the nation stood with God.
- Burden — Israel chose activity over honouring God. One writer also sees in the forbidden load the burden of sin that unbelief keeps carrying.
- Rest — Christ calls the weary to come to Him. His blood has made peace, so you can lay the burden down.
- Gates again — one day kings will enter these same gates, and sacrifices of praise will come in where burdens once did.
and carry forth no burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do any work; but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers,
Jeremiah stands at the gates of Jerusalem with a message for princes and people alike. One day of the week now tests the nation. What people carry through those gates will show whether Judah still belongs to the Lord.
Why single out one day, and one small matter of carrying goods through the gates?
The Sabbath Jeremiah is commanded to speak of is the standard of Israel's spiritual condition. It is the weekly reminder of Israel's covenant relation with Jehovah. Whenever they neglected God's command, it was the outward evidence that they had broken the covenant. And they always neglected it as they turned away from the Lord. If they really returned to the Lord, they would show it by keeping the solemn Sabbaths. Then the Lord would bless them. But they did not obey.
The same writer notes that some critics have denied that Jeremiah wrote this section at all, and answers plainly that the message fits the prophet's whole burden.
The command comes with a promise attached. The threat follows only if they refuse.
Still, as in Nineveh, so in Jerusalem, God delights in goodness and mercy. A public message goes out to prince and people at the gates of the city. If they listened to the Lord and kept His sabbath holy, all would be well for them, in joy, in prosperity, and in thankful praise before the Lord. But if not, He would light a fire to devour their palaces, and it would not go out. How soon and truly it came to pass!
The terms were generous: stop hauling loads for one day, and the nation would stand. Israel would not have it.
You might have thought Israel would gladly welcome the prophet's words from the Lord: stop carrying burdens on the Sabbath day, be at rest, and so secure prosperity and a lasting future for the nation (Jer. 17:19-27). But they prefer activity to keeping a day holy "to the Lord." When will men see that the way of lasting blessing is to honour Him first, to give Him what is due to His Name?
The strictness runs through every Sabbath law, not just this verse. One writer asks what that severity teaches about works and salvation.
No command was more strict. No kind of work could be done on the Sabbath, not even lighting a fire. And nothing displeased Israel's God more than the pollution of His Sabbath. (Read Jer. 17:20-27, and Exodus 35:2-3.) Is there not something very striking in this ban on every kind of work on the Sabbath? Here the wages of works is death. The wages of sin is death. But if anyone works for salvation, for rest, for peace — any kind of work at all — the wages of such works will be everlasting death.
The word "burden" is where this verse reaches past ancient Jerusalem. One writer turns the command on the doubting heart, quoting verse 21 from an older translation.
Then there is the desperate struggle of unbelief to carry the burden of sin. See how plainly God forbids it in His express command in Jer. 17:21: "Thus says the Lord, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day." Does not the Spirit in this speak to us now? "Take heed." … Reader, do you have the burden of sin pressing on your soul? Oh, take it to the blood of Christ. He Himself says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
One more thing keeps the verse in its place. The Sabbath was tied to a particular people, and the prophets treat it that way.
The day was set apart and made holy from the beginning (Gen. 2). It came to Israel first in grace: the manna, the bread God sent them, did not fall on that day, and He gave a double portion to provide for it (Ex. 16). Secondly, it came as part of the law of Sinai, woven into every new and special dealing of Jehovah with them (Ex. 20), and it was a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt (Deut. 5:15). So the prophets expressly treat it as a sign of Israel's separation from all other nations to God, and of God's covenant with them (Ezek. 20:12-20; Isa. 56, 58; Jer. 17:21-27). But then, in the past, Israel, a sinful people, had the sabbath as a legal ordinance, and so it condemns them, as everything else does.
- Sign — The Sabbath came to Israel first in grace, then as law: the weekly reminder of their covenant with the Lord. Keeping it or dropping it showed their spiritual state.
- Test — What people carried through the city gates measured their obedience. The demand was small, so no one could call it too hard.
- Offer — God spoke to prince and people in mercy. Keep the day holy, and joy, prosperity and praise would follow. Refuse, and fire would take the palaces.
- Refusal — Israel could have had rest and a lasting nation. They chose activity over honouring Him first.
- Burden — The forbidden load pictures the weight of sin that unbelief still carries. Take it to Christ, who gives rest to the heavy laden.
but they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear, but hardened their neck, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.
The words spoken at the gates of Jerusalem were an offer as much as a warning. Verse 23 is God's verdict on the answer He got: no listening, no bent ear, a hardened neck. Commentators read it as a picture of chosen refusal, and they trace where such refusal ends.
Verse 23 only stings because of what stood beside it. The same message offered a blessing, and it named the alternative.
Still, as in Nineveh, so in Jerusalem, God delights in goodness and mercy. A public message goes out to prince and people at the gates of the city. If they listened to the Lord and kept His Sabbath holy, all would be well with them — joy, prosperity, and thankful praise before the Lord. But if not, He would kindle a fire to devour their palaces, and nothing would quench it. How soon and how truly it came to pass!
The command in question was not chosen at random.
The Sabbath God tells him to speak about is the standard of Israel's spiritual condition. It is the weekly reminder of Israel's covenant relationship with the LORD. If they neglected this command, that was the outward evidence that they had broken the covenant — and they always neglected it when they drifted from the Lord. If they really returned to the Lord, they would show it by keeping the solemn Sabbaths. Then the Lord would bless them. But they did not obey.
One writer asks why Israel refused an offer this good:
You might have thought Israel would gladly welcome the prophet's words from the Lord. He told them to stop carrying loads on the Sabbath day, to be at rest, and so secure national prosperity and permanence (Jer. 17:19-27). But people prefer activity to setting a day apart "to the Lord." When will people see that the way to lasting blessing is to honour Him first, to give Him what is due to His Name?
The image behind the stiffened neck comes from the farmyard.
Israel is often spoken of as a stiff-necked people (Ex. 32:9; 2 Chron. 30:8; Jer. 17:23). The image comes from the rebellious ox that stiffens its neck so the yoke will slip off. But now the Lord describes His beloved one as having a neck like the tower of David. A thousand shields hang on it. Each one is a trophy of His victory over those mighty enemies who had dared to fight against Him. What greater display of the victory of the Lord's grace could there be? Those who once worked with a stiff neck in rebellion against Him now show happy obedience to Him.
One writer argues that copying a parent's sin makes the child more guilty, not less:
If I keep on in my father's sin, I am more guilty than he is, because his sin was a warning to me. My sin is doubled. His sin should have held me back. All that it should have done to stop me now counts against me — the whole weight of what his sin was in God's sight. We are speaking of people who have light and the testimony of God. My sin grows by the exact amount of his, though he is just as responsible for what he has done.
Refusing instruction is not a matter of slow minds. Reflecting on a later refusal in the same book, one writer points to the cause:
Jeremiah is not ignorant of the reason. He says, "You deceived yourselves in your own souls." The self-will that was determined to take a certain course deceived them. Nothing warps the understanding and blocks the grasp of truth like self-will. It will not see what it does not want to see. And, as always, behind the self-will there was pride that would not admit they were wrong.
Deafness by choice does not stay where it starts. Commentators warn of a further stage beyond it.
Wilful deafness leads on to serious results. Scripture speaks of a third group. These are people who refused to hear the word of God, and so come under the terrible penalty of a judicial deafness. They closed their ears in the day God came to them, and so went past the limits of His patience. Now they are no longer allowed to hear.
- Offer — The word at the gates promised joy and prosperity to those who listened, and fire to those who refused.
- Test — The Sabbath measured Israel's covenant with God. Dropping it showed a heart that had already left Him.
- Neck — The picture is an ox stiffening against the yoke. They could obey; they braced themselves to throw obedience off.
- Inheritance — Copying the fathers' sin does not reduce guilt. A warning seen and ignored adds its own weight.
- End — Self-will refuses to see, pride refuses to admit it, and the ear that will not hear can be left unable to hear.
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, and to hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
At the city gates, Jeremiah brings God's word with a condition attached. Judah's whole future turns on one question: will they listen, and keep one day set apart for Him? The question the verse raises is why God tests a whole nation by something as small as a load carried through a gate.
Jeremiah speaks as a faithful man whose testimony the people refuse. Even so, the door is not shut.
The prophet, in the name of the people, casts himself on Jehovah... God was all his hope in the day of evil. What a picture of the state of the remnant in the last days! And what a picture, at all times, of what falls to a faithful man when the people of God will not listen to his testimony! Still, while it is called Today, God is patient. He opens the door of repentance to the people and to their king, if they have ears to hear.
God makes the offer in public, at the gates, to rulers and ordinary people alike. It sets two futures side by side.
Still, as in Nineveh, so in Jerusalem, God delights in goodness and mercy. A public message goes out to prince and people at the gates of the city. If they listened to the Lord and kept His sabbath holy, all would be well for them, in joy, prosperity, and thankful praise before the Lord. But if not, He would kindle a fire to devour their palaces, and no one would put it out. How soon and truly it came to pass!
The other nine commandments touch things any conscience can weigh. This one does not, and that is what makes it a test.
If there is any commandment of the ten that rests simply on God's claim, it is the sabbath... If someone kept only the moral commandments, that might be no more than honouring his own conscience. But suppose I bow to God's command where my own conscience says nothing apart from His word. Then it is clear that His authority is dear to me. That is what gave the sabbath law such immense force, and rightly so, to an Israelite. For this reason the sabbath, and not the other nine commandments, acted as the test. So it was the special sign between Jehovah and Israel.
The day was the sign of Israel's bond with God. So the way Judah treated it measured that bond. One writer reads the passage as a gauge, not just a rule.
The Sabbath the prophet must speak about is the standard of Israel's spiritual condition. Week by week it reminded Israel of their covenant relation with Jehovah. If they neglected the divine command, that was the outward evidence that they had broken the covenant. And they always did neglect it, as they turned away from the Lord. If they came back to the Lord in truth, they would show it by keeping the solemn Sabbaths, and the Lord would bless them. But they did not obey.
The terms were generous: stop hauling loads for one day, and the nation would stand. Judah still said no.
You might have thought Israel would welcome the prophet's words from the Lord: stop carrying burdens on the Sabbath day, be at rest, and so secure national prosperity and permanence (Jer. 17:19-27). But men prefer activity to keeping a day holy "to the Lord." When will men see that the way of lasting blessing is to honour Him first, to give Him what is due to His Name?
The verse also says to do no work on the day. Why did that matter so much, and who does the day belong to now?
A sabbath of rest to Jehovah is a sign between Him and the sons of Israel for ever. It was so absolute that anyone who worked on it was to be put to death. Christianity has brought in better and higher things, and the first day, the resurrection day, is the witness to them. But for the earth and God's earthly people, the sabbath will be honoured even more in the future glories of the kingdom.
- Listen — The verse opens a door. God is patient, and offers repentance to people and king alike, if they have ears to hear.
- Public — God makes the appeal at the city gates, to prince and people together. One road leads to joy and prosperity, the other to a fire no one can put out.
- Test — The sabbath rests on God's claim alone, where conscience says nothing. Obeying it showed that His authority was dear. So this day, and not the moral commands, was the sign between Him and Israel.
- Verdict — The way Judah treated the day showed their true spiritual condition. Neglect was the visible evidence that they had broken the covenant. They chose activity over honouring Him.
- Ahead — Christians look to the resurrection day, the witness to better and higher things. The sabbath itself will be honoured more, not less, in the coming kingdom for God's earthly people.
then shall there enter in, through the gates of this city, kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and this city shall be inhabited for ever.
God sends Jeremiah to the city gates with one question for the whole nation: will you keep the sabbath day holy? The answer decides whether kings will still ride through those gates, and whether the city will stand forever.
God sends the message where the whole city passes. It carries both a promise and a threat.
All the same, as in Nineveh, so in Jerusalem, God delights in goodness and mercy. A public message goes out to prince and people at the gates of the city. If they listened to the Lord and kept His sabbath holy, all would be well for them — joy, prosperity, and thankful praise before the Lord. But if not, He would kindle a fire to devour their palaces, and it would not be quenched. How soon and how truly it came to pass!
Of all the commands God could have named, He names the sabbath. Why that one?
God commands him to speak about the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the standard of Israel's spiritual condition, because it reminds Israel every week of their covenant relationship with the LORD. If they ignored the divine command, that was the outward evidence that they had broken the covenant. And they always did ignore it when they drifted from the Lord. If they really returned to the Lord, they would show it by keeping the solemn Sabbaths, and the Lord would bless them. But they did not obey.
Another writer shows why this command tested the heart more than the obvious ones.
In various other scriptures we find the sabbath singled out and given special prominence. It is a precious link between the LORD and Israel, a seal of His covenant with them, and a powerful test of how devoted they were to Him. Anyone could recognise the moral wrong of theft and murder; only those who loved the LORD and His word would love and honour His sabbath.
God asked for one day in seven with no loads carried. In return He promised the city prosperity and permanence. Their refusal is the strange part.
One might have thought that Israel would gladly welcome the prophet's words from the Lord. His words told them to stop carrying burdens on the Sabbath day, to be at rest, and so secure national prosperity and permanence (Jer. 17:19-27). But they prefer activity to setting apart a day "to the Lord." When will people see the way of lasting blessing? It is to honour Him first, and to give Him what is due to His Name.
Jeremiah brings this promise of kings on David's throne back later in the book. There he names a different condition: justice, not the sabbath. The choice put to the royal house is the same.
What a figure Jeremiah was as he stood, obedient to the divine command, before the royal palace to deliver his God-given message! The door of mercy is still open. Let them carry out justice. Let them stop oppressing the stranger, the widows and orphans. Let them shed innocent blood no longer — then the house of David will prosper. If not, the house will become a desolation.
Judah forfeited the offer, and the fire came. But commentators point to a coming day when this same scene arrives at last: the same gates, the same throne, the same worship.
How blessed a change from Jeremiah's day, when they did not obey but brought burdens in through the gates on the Sabbath day! Then the house became a desolation. Now kings enter in by the gates of the city and of the house, as he prophesied. Burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, incense, and sacrifices of praise are there (Jer. 17:26), and the priests, the Levites, to offer them.
One writer looks ahead to who will keep that day when it returns.
The Sabbath Day will reappear on the earth in the millennium. I mean that the Jews will then keep the seventh day of the week. The prophecies are plain that the Sabbath of the Lord is yet to be observed. But by whom? By Israel, and by the Gentiles too.
- Gates opened. God stationed His prophet at the city gates with an offer, not only a warning. Listen, and joy and prosperity follow.
- Gauge given. The sabbath reminded Israel of the covenant every week. How they treated it measured the nation's true condition.
- Gauge ignored. Anyone can see that theft and murder are wrong. Only a people who loved God's word would honour His day. Israel chose activity over rest.
- Gates burned. The same message promised kings at these gates and warned of unquenchable fire on the palaces. That fire came, and it came soon.
- Gates restored. Judah lost the promise then, but the day still comes: kings entering by these gates, David's throne in Jerusalem, sacrifices of praise inside.
And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill-country, and from the south, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and oblations, and incense, and bringing thanksgiving unto the house of Jehovah.
Jeremiah 17 ends with a message preached at the gates of Jerusalem: honour the Sabbath, and the city will stand, with worshippers streaming in from every part of the land. Why would a nation turn down such an offer, and was this scene ever realised?
This verse sits inside an offer, not a forecast. One writer sets the two futures side by side.
Still, as in Nineveh, so in Jerusalem, God delights in goodness and mercy. A public message goes out to prince and people at the gates of the city. If they listened to the Lord and kept His Sabbath holy, all would be well for them, in joy, and prosperity, and thankful praise before the Lord. But if not, He would kindle a fire to devour their palaces, and no one could quench it. How soon and truly it came to pass!
The terms were light and the return was large.
One might have thought that Israel would have gladly welcomed the prophet's words from the Lord: stop carrying burdens on the Sabbath day, be at rest, and so secure national prosperity and permanence (Jer. 17:19-27). But activity wins out over setting apart a day "to the Lord." When will people see that the way of lasting blessing is to honour Him first, to give Him what is due to His Name?
The verse names region after region — Benjamin, the Shephelah (the lowlands), the hill country, the Negeb (the dry south). Every one of them is heading to the same place.
From then on Jerusalem was the one holy place on earth, the one spot to which the heart of every true Israelite turned with thoughts of worship and praise… And there, as the feasts came round, the people gathered: "Jerusalem is built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD … to give thanks to the name of the LORD." (Ps. 122:3-4.) So Jerusalem, because of the LORD's house, was the one place of blessing in the whole world. It was no small privilege to share in the assembly that gathered there from time to time in obedience to the Word.
Judah did not listen, and the house became desolate. One writer sets that day beside a coming day at the same gates.
What a blessed change from Jeremiah's day, when they did not obey, but brought in burdens through the gates on the Sabbath day! (Jer. 17:19-27; 22:1-5). Then the house became a desolation… Now kings enter in by the gates of the city and of the house, as he prophesied; and burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and sacrifices of praise are there (Jer. 17:26), and the priests, the Levites, to offer them.
Thanksgiving is the last offering the verse names. A later promise in Jeremiah lands on the same note, quoted here in an older translation.
"Thus says the Lord: again there shall be heard in this place, which you say shall be desolate… the voice of those who shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good: for his mercy endures for ever: and of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord." He had threatened to take from them the voice of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and He was now carrying that threat out. Just as surely, He promises that the sounds of joy will return to their land. He says it against all appearances, and against the dread of desolation that their guilt made only too fitting. And the joy is not only the sounds of nature, but the voice of those who speak His praise and bring the fitting sacrifice into His house.
Those offerings were pointing forward, and that shapes worship now.
Israel of old brought up their burnt offerings to the house of God. The priest offered them to rise from the altar as fragrant sacrifices to God, for they pointed on to the one perfect offering of Christ. But now, through Christ the risen One, we offer the sacrifice of praise "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."
- Offer — At the city gates God set the terms: keep His day holy, and joy, prosperity and thankful praise follow. Refuse, and fire takes the palaces.
- Refusal — Judah chose activity over honouring God first, and lost the stability the offer held out.
- Centre — Region after region heads for one city, because the Lord's house made Jerusalem the one place of blessing on earth.
- Exchange — Burdens once came through those gates and left the house desolate. Offerings and praise will come through them instead.
- Praise — Israel's offerings pointed on to the one perfect offering of Christ, and through Him we bring the sacrifice of praise now.
But if ye will not hearken unto me, to hallow the sabbath day and not to bear a burden and enter in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
Jeremiah stands at the city gates with a message that hangs on one condition. This verse is the hard half of it, and it raises two questions: why did a day of rest carry the weight of a nation's survival, and did the fire ever fall?
The threat is not the whole message. God first held out blessing, and He did it openly — to rulers and ordinary people alike.
Still, as in Nineveh, so in Jerusalem, God delights in goodness and mercy. A public message goes out to prince and people at the gates of the city. If they listened to the Lord and kept His Sabbath holy, all would be well for them in joy, prosperity, and thankful praise before the Lord. But if not, He would kindle a fire to devour their palaces, and it would not be put out. How soon and truly it came to pass!
Loading goods through the gates on the seventh day looks like a small business matter. God made it the test of something much larger.
The Sabbath the prophet is commanded to speak about is the standard of Israel's spiritual condition. It is the reminder, week by week, of Israel's covenant relationship with the Lord. When they neglected God's command, as they always did when they drifted from Him, that was the outward evidence that they had broken the covenant. If their return to the Lord was real, they would show it by keeping the solemn Sabbaths, and the Lord would bless them. But they did not obey.
The command asked them to stop, not to do more. The refusal exposes what the heart wants.
You would think Israel would have welcomed the prophet's words from the Lord with joy. He told them to stop carrying burdens on the Sabbath day, to rest, and so to secure lasting national prosperity (Jer. 17:19-27). But people prefer activity to setting a day apart "to the Lord." When will men see that the way to lasting blessing is to honour Him first, to give Him what is due to His Name?
Kelly said it came to pass soon. Here is the event he meant.
When Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and his armies came against Jerusalem and besieged it. They "burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and… broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around" (2 Kings 25:1-10). This was God's judgment being carried out. He had foretold it long before, and delayed it long in His patience.
The book does not leave Jerusalem's gates in ashes. One writer sets that ruin beside a very different scene at the same gates.
What a blessed change from Jeremiah's day, when they did not obey, but brought burdens in through the gates on the Sabbath day! (Jer. 17:19-27; 22:1-5.) Then the house became a desolation. Now kings enter in by the gates of the city and of the house, as he prophesied. Burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, incense, and sacrifices of praise are there (Jer. 17:26), and the priests, the Levites, to offer them.
Commentators differ over how far this passage reaches. One writer carries the command's strictness over to the question of how a person is saved.
No command was more strict. No one was to do any kind of work on the Sabbath, not even light a fire. Nothing displeased Israel's God more than the polluting of His Sabbath. (Read Jer. 17:20-27 and Exodus 35:2-3.)… Can anything be so wicked before God, or so cruel to one's own soul, as to bring in some other gospel of works for salvation? That is to deny the gospel of the grace of God.
Others mark a boundary: "the Sabbath has nothing to do with the Church, nor has the Church anything to do with the Sabbath. The Sabbath is an institution of the law in connection with Israel" (Gaebelein).
- Gate — God spoke in public, at the city gates, to princes and people alike. Judgment came only after an open offer of mercy.
- Test — The Sabbath measured Israel's true condition. It reminded them, week by week, of their covenant with God.
- Choice — God asked them to stop and rest. They chose activity instead, and missed the road to lasting blessing: honouring Him first.
- Fire — God foretold it long before and held it back long. Then Babylon burned the houses and palaces of Jerusalem.
- Reopened — The story does not end in ash. Kings enter those same gates again, and offerings of praise come in with them.