John Trapp on Jeremiah 38:1

CHAP. XXXVIII.

Ver. 1. THen Shephatiah] Here was aliud ex alio malum, one affliction on the neck of another. Matters mend with us as ſowr Ale doth in ſummer, ſaid Biſhop Ridley once, when he was priſoner. Poor Jeremy might well have ſaid ſo, if ever any, as appeareth by this Chapter, where we find him in a worſe hole then was that of Jonathan: but his extremity was Gods opportunity.

Shephathiah the ſon of Mattan, and Gedaliah, &c.] Theſe four Princes here named to their eternal infamy, were no ſmall men, as appeareth in that the King was not he that could do any thing againſt them, ver. 5. The grandees of the world are greateſt enemies (uſually) to the truth. Little they had to ſay againſt his doctrines; they quarrel with his affection, as a perturber of the publike place, ver. 4. Ahab charged the like crime upon Elias: the Jews upon Chriſt, and afterwards upon Paul: the Heathen perſecutors upon the primitive Chriſtians: the hereticks ſtill upon the Orthodox, that they were ſeditious, Antimonarchical, &c.