David, it still retained its right and power. Instead
of [Hebrew: hqimvti], the more suitable [Hebrew: acmiH] is here used,
because the reference to Jehoiakim does not take place in this passage,
as it did in the previous one. Instead of Israel, which is found there,
we have here Jerusalem, because it was just the restoration of
Jerusalem, which it was so difficult for the faithful to believe, after
its destruction had been described in ver. 4 ff. For the same reason,
the Prophet here assigns the same name to Jerusalem which he did there
to the Sprout of David. The same city, which as yet is groaning under
the wrath of God, shall, in future, be endowed with righteousness by
the Lord.

Ver. 17. "_For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut of from
David a man sitting upon the throne of the house of Israel._"

The connection with what precedes is pertinently brought out by
_Calvin_: "The Prophet had spoken of the restoration of the Church;
that doctrine he now confirms by promising, that both the kingly and
priestly office should be perpetual; and it was just these two things
which constituted the salvation of the people. For, without a king,
they were just like a cut-off tree, or a mutilated body; without a
priest they were in a state of dispersion. For the priest was the
mediator between God and the people, but the king represented the
person of God." The expression [Hebrew: la ikrt], "there shall not be
cut off," &c., is a simple repetition of the promise to David, in [Pg
464] that form in which it had been quoted by David himself, shortly
before his death, in his address to Solomon, 1 Kings ii. 4, and
afterwards twice by Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 25, ix. 5. It does not
designate an uninterrupted succession, but forms the contrast only to a
breaking off for ever. This appears even from the circumstance that, in
the fundamental promise, God reserves to himself the punishment of the
apostate members of the Davidic house, and that in Jeremiah the
announcement of its utter abasement is so frequently repeated.

Ver. 18, "_And to the Levitical priests there shall not be cut off
before me a man, offering burnt-offerings, and kindling meat-offerings,
and doing sacrifice all days._"

In order rightly to understand these words, it is necessary to go back
to their cause; for it is from the grief only that the comfort receives
its explanation. The Prophet has here not by any means to do with
members of the tribe of Levi mour