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| 1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. |
Pastors that destroy – A self-constituted "clergy" lording it over God's heritage, taking spoils, honors, reverence, titles, from their flocks. R1895:6
Sheep of my pasture – Characteristics of sheep are meekness, docility, lack of self-confidence, and obedience to the shepherd--traits which we should manifest. R5491:4
True sheep respond quickly to the shepherd's call and watch for his guidance. R5491:4
A fitting emblem of the kind of characters the Heavenly Father is seeking. R5491:4
Let us, as good sheep, not stray from the green pastures and pure waters. R5491:4
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| 2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. |
Scattered my flock – To feed the flock is the Lord's province. The chosen elder may be the instrument through whom the Great Shepherd sends his own their "meat in due season." F283
Elders need first to watch themselves lest they assume authority and honors belonging to the Chief Shepherd. F283
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| 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. |
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| 4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. |
Shall feed them – The Shepherd has been feeding us wonderfully. R633:4
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| 5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. |
The days come – In due time God's Kingdom, founded on equity and justice, must fill the entire earth. R1213:5*
A righteous Branch – Solomon's royal branch is the high branch of the Davidic line. This must be abased and a low branch exalted. R468:4*
Exalting Nathan's line, not Solomon's. E133
The prophets foretold that Messiah was to be the son of Jesse and of David; and the glorified Jesus himself declares, "I am the root and the offspring of David." (Rev. 22:16) R944:1*
Christ was the Root of David's family, as well as the Branch. (Isa. 11:10) R1063:1*
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| 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. |
His name whereby he – The Body of the great Prophet, Priest and King, the Church, will be part of the Everlasting Father. T102
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS – Jehovah--Tsidkenu, our Righteousness of Jehovah. The Church is to share this title. (Jer. 33:16) E42; T102; R3970:5, R4831:2, R4913:3
"That we might be made the righteousness of God through him." (2 Cor. 5:21) R4913:3
The righteous one imparts righteous life--the power which embodies righteous words in righteous deeds. R1323:1*
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| 7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; |
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| 8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. |
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| 9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. |
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| 10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. |
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| 11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. |
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| 12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. |
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| 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. |
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| 14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. |
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| 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. |
Water of gall – Bitter poison-water, the poison of bitter error, the doctrine of devils, mingled with the pure water of life, the truth of God's Word. C158
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| 16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. |
Prophets – False teachers. R1715:4
Heads and pastors of worldly organizations, claiming the name of Christ yet refusing his headship, leading and control, and the teachings of his Word. R365:4
Of their own heart – There are many such false teachers who are ambitious to declare the visions of their own heart. R1715:4
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| 17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. |
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| 18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
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| 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. |
A whirlwind – When God lets go his restraint on the "powers of the air" (Eph. 2:2), the evil spirits, these symbolic winds will produce a great cataclysm, sweeping everything before it. R5470:1, R5863:6
Symbol of the time of trouble. D528
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| 20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. |
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| 21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. |
Not sent these prophets – "There were false teachers also among the people." (2 Pet. 2:1) R265:4, R365:4
See also comments on Jer. 23:16
Yet they prophesied – By an inspiration, or power, in them, almost like the real prophets of God. These were the counterfeits. R265:4
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| 22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. |
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| 23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? |
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| 24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. |
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| 25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. |
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| 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; |
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| 27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. |
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| 28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. |
That hath a dream – An imagination. SM671:1; OV411:T, CR343:3
Possibly caused by indigestion or inspired by evil spirits. R3277:6
When a man does not see a thing himself he is very apt to conclude that nobody else sees it. HG353:2
If a dream corroborates a plain statement of the Word it may be used as we would use a type, to illustrate but not to teach a doctrine. R3971:6
"If they speak not in harmony with the Word of God, it is because there is no light in them." (Isa. 8:20) R3278:1
Tell a dream – Many are teaching their own or their forefathers' imaginings; which the faithful are obliged to contradict as unscriptural. OV158:4; R2400:3
He that hath my word – The Lord's Word, his revelation, his inspired testimony, is to be put far above all dreams of our own and of others. R3971:6
All are authorized to teach his Word who know his Word. CR343:3
People are awakening to the difference between dreams and realities and are wanting something more substantial. R3757:3
Let him speak – With the Gospel itself went the right and the authority to declare it. R2966:4
If we hold back for fear of man we would be sharing in the sin of adding to the Scriptures. OV411:T, SM671:1
My word faithfully – Not uncertainly, doubtfully; but as the oracles of God. R1882:6
Not human speculations, philosophies and fanciful dreams. R3726:6, R2400:2, R3945:1
All authority to speak in the name of God must come from him. OV158:4; R2966:4
God's Book makes no division of his people into clergy and laity. HG617:4
Let him speak only my Word faithfully. R1633:5
In as kind a manner as possible, but not shunning to declare the "whole counsel of God." (Acts 20:26,27) SM404:2
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| 29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? |
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| 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. |
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| 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. |
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| 32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. |
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| 33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. |
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| 34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. |
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| 35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? |
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| 36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. |
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| 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? |
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| 38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; |
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| 39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: |
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| 40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. |
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