Years ago, I awoke one Saturday morning with a terrible pain in my gut, low on the right side. Knowing my body fairly well, I told Judy, my wife, that I had appendicitis. When she replied me that I needed to go to the hospital – our doctor’s office was closed. I told her that I couldn’t do that because I had my usual Sunday responsibilities the next day. There was no one who could cover for me. I promised that if the ladies of the church insisted I go to the hospital, I would go – on Monday morning. Well, there was female conspiracy that Lord’s Day, so on Monday I presented myself at the local hospital. It wasn’t long until I was being wheeled into the surgery. As I went into that operating room, other than the fact that I had been gassed, it wasn’t with any happy anticipation. I had no fear, but I could think of a great many things I would rather to be doing. It was just something which had to be done. I had limited options.
In a similar fashion I enter another room this evening. It’s not with joy or a lot of confidence. In fact you might say that I’m being carried in on the gurney of these verses. It’s not that I really want to enter this room. I have no choice. If we are going to be thorough, I have to address this prophecy of Jeremy.
What is the cause of my trepidation?
“Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.” The name “Jeremy” is the Greek New Testament equivalent for the Old Testament prophet “Jeremiah.” Any doubt of that should dissolve away when we look back at Matthew 2:16. “Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.” Matthew makes an unmistakable reference to Jeremiah 31:15. “Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” Once again, a prophecy, spoken 600 years, earlier was fulfilled during the days of the Jesus Christ. The authenticity and veracity of the Word of God can not honestly be denied. It is a miraculous book. Easily we establish that the New Testament “Jeremy” is the Old Testament “Jeremiah.”
Many of you have some sort of reference Bible – mine is a Thompson Chain, KJV, published by Kirkbride. Some of you might have a Nelson, a Zondervan or one of the lesser-known publishers. And in some cases either down the center of the page, or along the sides some editor has printed his notes or other scriptures related to Matthew 27:9. Some have a note explaining that “Jeremy” is “Jeremiah.” Without actually looking, I can just about guarantee that if you have any scripture references, they will mention Zechariah 11:12 – but not any chapter or verse from the Book of Jeremiah. Furthermore, if you were one the three people in history to have memorized Jeremiah, you would not be able to remember or recite a verse out of that book which speaks about buying this potter’s field.
In Zechariah 11 we have a graphic picture of Jehovah and Israel – Christ and those priests if you like. Zechariah, representing the Lord, has been acting as the shepherd of His people. But the flock as been misbehaving so badly that the shepherd says that he is quitting and demands the wages which he is due. The people, the flock, have so much contempt for him that they show it by valuing him at thirty shekels, the price of a slave. Jehovah says to the shepherd, “Fling it to the potter, the glorious price at which I was priced by them.” Then Zechariah adds, “I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” There is little doubt that the scripture in Matthew is a reference to Zechariah 11:13.
And that fact is sometimes used to declare that there are mistakes in the Bible – errors and even lies. It would be easy for me just to skip over these verses and hurry on to Jesus’ trial before Pilate. But I can’t ignore this pain in my gut which forces me into the operating room once again.
Even worse than the potential problem are some of the suggested solutions to this problem.
J.C. Ryle, in his “Expository Thoughts on the Gospels,” cites some of the ideas of other men. Some, he says, think Matthew just said,“Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet…” These people have the idea that some later transcriber unthinkingly inserted the name “Jeremy.” To prove the point, he says that some of the earliest versions of the Bible – Syriac and Persian versions simply say, “the prophet” without trying to identify him. He says that another idea is that Matthew wrote “Zechariah,” but some later transcriber foolishly made the mistake of switching names. He says that the explanation of Augustine, the Catholic, was that it was Matthew who made the blunder. Ryle himself said, “I offer no opinion on these solutions of the difficulty. A question of his sort, which has puzzled so many interpreters, is not likely to get settled at this period of the world. I can only say (that if Augustine and these others) are correct, we must give up the inspiration of the Scriptures altogether. If writers of the Bible could make blinders like this, we never know where we are in quoting a text. To use such an argument is putting a sword into the hands of Arians and Socinians, which they know well how to use. Once give up the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures and we stand on quickstand.” I will add, if we give up the divine promise of the preservation of the Word of God, again we loose everything.
John A. Broadus notes another suggestion – that Matthew was quoting some apocryphal book of Jeremiah – one which no longer exists. But if there was such an apocryphal book, then it is worthless as a true prophecy of God anyway. Then he cites the even more silly idea that Jeremiah was the true author of the Book of Zechariah. Some say that the last four chapters of Zechariah were actually written by Jeremiah. Then another explanation was that Zechariah was quoting something said but not recorded by Jeremiah.
John Gill adds another man’s solution to this question. What if Zechariah had two names with the second being “Jeremiah.” Just as some people knew Jesus’ disciple by the name “Peter,” others insisted on calling him “Simon.” Some people liked the name “Zechariah,” but Matthew chose to call him “Jeremiah.” Talk about confusing – two Jeremiahs without any other differentiating marks or remarks between them? Gill also quotes some Jewish authorities who suggested that the spirit of Jeremiah rested upon Zechariah. I don’t know about you, but none of these help me in the slightest.
Are there any logical or definitive solutions to this conundrum?
I am not sure that there are, but consider a couple of things. First, Jeremiah does have a lengthy relationship to a potter – although he didn’t buy the man’s field. Jeremiah 18 – “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” Jeremiah certainly did use a potter in his prophecy about Israel.
And then secondly, Jeremiah did buy a field. Jeremiah eventually had a reputation for gloom and doom – “repent for the end of the world is nigh.” But Jeremiah had never said that the end of the world had come or that Israel was at that time entering the Great and final Tribulation. Not only was there hope for Israel, but there was the promise of God. So in Jeremiah 32, with Nebuchadnezzar at Israel’s doorstep, and with Jeremiah in the king’s dungeon, God instructed his prophet to buy the property of his uncle in their home town of Anathoth. The point was that the upcoming Babylonian captivity was temporary and by the grace of God Israel would once again return to their ancestral home. “And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.” Obviously, these references to potters and fields have nothing directly to do with Matthew 27. So we’re right back to where we began.
There is another explanation – a possible solution – to which both Gill and Broadus refer. I don’t have a great deal of confidence in it, but it is plausible. Gill says, “But what seems best to solve this difficulty, is, that the order of the books of the Old Testament is not the same now, as it was formerly: the sacred writings were divided, by the Jews, into three parts: the first was called the law, which contains the five books of Moses; the second, the prophets, which contains the former and the latter prophets; the former prophets began at Joshua, and the latter at Jeremy; the third was called … the Hagiographa, the holy writings, which began with the book of Psalms.” He says, sometimes Genesis is described as “the Law” – when really there aren’t any laws in it. Genesis is simply in the division of the Jewish scriptures called “the law.” And Proverbs or Ecclesiastes are sometimes called “the Psalms” because they fall into that grouping of the Hagiographa. “For the same reason, beginning at Jeremy, might be called by his name; hence a passage, standing in the prophecy of Zechariah, who was one of the latter prophets, might be
justly cited, under the name of Jeremy. ” Is that plausible? Is that the explanation for our little dilemma? I’m not sure that it is.
Maybe John Broadus is closest to the truth. “If not quite content with any of these explanations, we had better leave the question as it stands, remembering how slight an unknown circumstance might solve it in a moment, and how many a once celebrated difficulty has been cleared upon the gradual progress of Biblical knowledge.” In other words, perhaps some archeological discovery, or something else, made tomorrow might take away all our current questions. Don’t worry about this apparent discrepancy – because we have plausible explanations and tomorrow we may have something really definitive.
For us, the most important thing to remember is that the Word of God is true. EVERY word of God is true – it is verbally inspired. And if one statement within the pages of the Bible cannot be trusted, then we have absolutely nothing on which to stand or in which to trust. It is not a sin or even a problem to say, I don’t have an answer to this question. This is not the only scripture for which I don’t have an adequate explanation. Our job is simply to trust the Lord to tell us the truth, and if He should answer our questions in His good time, then we will be thankful. One of these days, when we are glorified and ensconced in Heaven, we will have the answers to all these sorts of questions. Until then, just as in salvation itself, we trust in the Lord.