yea, thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem
Jeremiah is wearing a wooden yoke. His message to the king, the priests and the people is one unwelcome thing: submit to Babylon. Now he turns to the gold and silver still left in the temple and the palace. It will go too. Will it ever come home?
Nebuchadnezzar had already taken part of the temple furniture. Jeremiah's word to the priests is about the rest. It is not what they wanted to hear.
Jeremiah speaks also to the priests — the men responsible for the religious life of the people. He gives them a special warning about "the vessels of the Lord's house" (27:16). Contrary to the words of the false prophets, these vessels would not be brought back from Babylon yet. Instead, the vessels still left in the temple would later be carried away too. Such a sad prospect should have brought those responsible for the worship of God to repentance. But they did not care.
The loss was not an accident of war. God had withdrawn from His own house, and He let pagan hands take the holy things.
The Lord had given Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. He had abandoned His house in Jerusalem so completely that He allowed the sacred vessels of the temple to be carried off to the land of Shinar. The sins of the kings of Judah had already profaned them.
The verse opens with a double title — the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. Earlier in the chapter, that same God makes a claim that reaches far past Judah's borders. The commentator quotes an older translation:
I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I have given it to whom it seems right to Me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant.
The same hand that made the earth is handing it over. Babylon is not winning. God is using Babylon.
The Lord calls Nebuchadnezzar "My Servant," and this book names him about forty times. God raises him up to carry out His judgment on Israel, and on other nations too... God gives him dominion; He takes it away from Israel.
It can look strange that God gives a whole paragraph to temple furniture. Judah went to Babylon in three stages, and the smallest one counted most.
The last of these three did the most damage. The temple was burnt, and very large numbers were led away captive. But the 70 years of captivity count from the first deportation — the small one, we would say. Why was this first one the important one in God's eyes? It is because of the vessels. Nebuchadnezzar had taken the vessels of the temple to Babylon, and even put them into the house of his idols. Such a thing had never happened before.
What the vessels stood for explains the weight given to them.
King Belshazzar desecrated the sacred vessels carried away to Babylon. Some of them will come back, when Cyrus gives the order, and stand in the restored temple (Ezra 1:7-11). These vessels represented the worship given to God. The prophet announced seventy years between their removal and their return, and that long gap shows how much they stood for.
Against this stood prophets who promised a quick recovery of everything. That kind of promise has a signature.
It is always a mark of false prophecies that they promise prosperity in a day of evil. When the people of God have turned away from Him, false prophets predict pleasant things. They have their glowing dreams of progress, and of the spread of the work and blessing of the Lord... A true prophet does the opposite. In a day of evil he warns that the Lord is coming to judge those who do not fear Him.
The story does not end in Babylon. Cyrus later sent the vessels home. But the restoration was real without being complete.
They counted the holy vessels and restored them, as far as was fitting, for Jehovah's house in Jerusalem. The ark — the centre, the highest in value, the nearest to the glory — was not there. Sadly, the glory itself had gone. But in the day that the salvation of Israel comes out of Zion, the glory will return, never to leave again.
- Sin — Judah's kings had profaned the holy things. God abandoned His house and let the vessels go.
- Sentence — the One who made the earth gives it to whom He pleases. He handed these lands to Nebuchadnezzar, and calls him His servant.
- Smooth words — the priests preferred prophets who promised a quick return. Promising prosperity in a day of evil marks a false message.
- Seventy years — the count starts with the deportation that took the vessels. Those vessels stood for the worship of God itself.
- Safe return — Cyrus sent the vessels back to Jerusalem, counted piece by piece. But the ark and the glory were missing. The full return still waits.
They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day of my visiting them, saith Jehovah; then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.
The chapter closes with the temple vessels still left in Jerusalem, and Jeremiah says they will all go to Babylon and stay there. Yet the verse does not end in loss: God promises to bring them back on a day He alone would set.
Part of the temple furniture had already gone north, and the popular preachers were telling everyone it would be back soon. Jeremiah's word to the king and the priests cut across that.
He urges them not to believe the lying prophets with their false, optimistic message. They promised pleasant things. Every message they spoke contradicted the Word of God... Part of the vessels from the temple had been carried away. The false prophets said these vessels would soon be returned. The Lord puts an end to this lying message, for through His prophet He makes known that the vessels still left will also be taken to Babylon.
Jeremiah aimed this warning at the priests, and it should have moved them.
Jeremiah speaks also to the priests — those in charge of religious life. He warns them in particular about "the vessels of the Lord's house" (27:16). Contrary to the words of the false prophets, these vessels would not be brought back from Babylon yet. Instead, the vessels still left in the temple would be carried away later. Such a sad prospect should have brought those responsible for the worship of God to repentance. But they did not care.
Losing bowls and basins can sound like a small matter. It was not.
Without vessels, it was impossible to bring sacrifices as prescribed. No vessels, no worship! This is the tragedy.
Taking the vessels was more than the looting of one building. It marked the start of a new era.
Three consecutive times the enemy looted the country and returned to Babylon with their captives and their treasures, including the vessels of the house of Jehovah (2 Chronicles 36:7). The departure of these vessels marks the beginning of the "time of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24). Daniel and his companions were carried away into captivity at that time.
The verse names no date. History supplies it, and the length of the wait says something about the vessels themselves.
The seventy-year captivity in Babylon begins in the year 606, as the prophet announced (25:11). After that a remnant will come back with Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple, as the first chapters of Ezra relate. The sacred vessels carried away to Babylon and desecrated by king Belshazzar will be partly brought back, in obedience to the order of Cyrus, and put in the restored temple (Ezra 1:7-11). These vessels represented the worship given to God. The seventy years between their removal and their return, announced in advance by the prophet, show their symbolic importance.
The return came through a foreign king, and it brought back less than Judah had lost.
It was not politics but Jehovah who stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, and the spirit of the leading men of the Jews as well... The holy vessels were counted and given back, as far as was fitting, for Jehovah's house in Jerusalem. The ark — the centre, the most valuable, the nearest to the glory — was not there. Sadly, the glory itself had withdrawn. But on the day when the salvation of Israel comes out of Zion, the glory will return, never to leave again.
The count of 5,400 items of gold and silver was God keeping the promise in this verse. The same writer looks past that return to one still ahead.
In all there were 5,400 vessels of gold and silver handed over to Zerubbabel to take back to Jerusalem. It all shows that God had not forgotten His people. When His appointed time came, He showed His power for them. Nor has He forgotten His promise to bring a remnant back from the great scattering among all the nations of the world. When that return comes, one greater than Zerubbabel the prince of Judah will be the leader. The Lord Jesus, the Son of David, will be their Deliverer.
- Removed. Every vessel still left would go to Babylon. The cheerful message that they were coming home soon was a lie, and the priests should have repented.
- Reason. The vessels were how Israel came to God. No vessels, no worship — so losing them struck at the worship itself.
- Reach. Their departure marked the start of the time of the Gentiles, and Daniel went into captivity in those same years.
- Return. "Until the day when I visit them" was God's own clock. Seventy years later He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, and the vessels came home counted.
- Renewal. The ark never came back, and the glory had withdrawn. So this promise still points forward to a fuller restoration under a leader greater than Zerubbabel.