16 But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against his people, and there was no remedy.
They have denied Jehovah, and say, He is not; and evil shall not come upon us, nor shall we see sword nor famine; and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and without remedy.
And the men who held him mocked him, beating [him]; and covering him up, asked him saying, Prophesy, who is it that struck thee?
For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why dost thou prophesy and say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one regarded; and ye have rejected all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh in your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as sudden destruction, and your calamity cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you: -- then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me early, and shall not find me. Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah; they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their way, and be filled with their own devices.
{An instruction: of Asaph.} Why, O God, hast thou cast off for ever? [why] doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for *I* work a work in your days, a work which ye will in no wise believe if one declare it to you.
and others underwent trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, and of bonds and imprisonment.
And when they heard [of the] resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and some said, We will hear thee again also concerning this.
With profane jesters for bread, they have gnashed their teeth against me.
And the soldiers also made game of him, coming up offering him vinegar,
for he shall be delivered up to the nations, and shall be mocked, and insulted, and spit upon.
And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and mocked him.
Hear another parable: There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country. But when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his bondmen to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. And the husbandmen took his bondmen, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other bondmen more than the first, and they did to them in like manner. And at last he sent to them his son, saying, They will have respect for my son. But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what shall he do to those husbandmen? They say to him, He will miserably destroy those evil [men], and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens; for thus have they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the guard, and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
Now therefore be ye not scorners, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord Jehovah of hosts a consumption, and [one] determined, upon the whole land.
{A Psalm of Asaph.} O God, the nations are come into thine inheritance: thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowl of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth: Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury [them]. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision to them that are round about us. How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou be angry for ever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 36
We have here,
2Ch 36:1-10
The destruction of Judah and Jerusalem is here coming on by degrees. God so ordered it to show that he has no pleasure in the ruin of sinners, but had rather they would turn and live, and therefore gives them both time and inducement to repent and waits to be gracious. The history of these reigns was more largely recorded in the last three chapters of the second of Kings.
2Ch 36:11-21
We have here an account of the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. Abraham, God's friend, was called out of that country, from Ur of the Chaldees, when God took him into covenant and communion with himself; and now his degenerate seed were carried into that country again, to signify that they had forfeited all that kindness wherewith they had been regarded for the father's sake, and the benefit of that covenant into which he was called; all was now undone again. Here we have,
2Ch 36:22-23
These last two verses of this book have a double aspect.