15. Ibid. xxv. 4 &xxvi. 33. Gen xixii. xx 7 Chap. xxiii. 14. Prov. v. 21. 15. ¶ Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon: 16. Know that thus saith the LORD, of the king that siteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; 17. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will send upon them, the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile s' figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 18. And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach among all the nations, whither I have driven them: 19. Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early, and sending them, but ye would not hear, saith the LORD. 20. ¶ I fear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maafeiah, which prophely a lie unto you in my name, Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall stay them before your eyes. 22. ¶ And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah, which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roiled in the fire. 23. Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them, even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD. Though there were some gracious souls among the captives, yet were there many who paid no regard to the words of Jeremiah, but hearkened to the false prophets, and received them as sent from God; and boasted they needed not look to Judea for advice, when they had prophets of their own in Babylon, on whom they might depend. To these therefore the prophet addresses himself, 1. He warns them of the fasthood of the declarations of their prophets. They flattered the people with a speedy return to Judea; when, so far from it, the residue of those who were left in Jerusalem were doomed to the most grievous devastations by famine, pestilence, and the sword; and the few who survived, should be scattered into all kingdoms, and made the objects of derision, scorn, and deterlation in every place, like vile figs unfit to be eaten, and call as refuse on the dreadful; and this because of their impenitence and rejection of the repeated and earnest warnings which God, by his prophets, had vouchshed them, as had been threatened before, they saw. Note, (1.) They who flatter sinners with hopes contrary to God's word, are infallibly false prophets. (2.) When men make themselves vile by their sins, God, in just judgment, will make them viter in their sufferings. 2. He denounces judgment on two of the false prophets, Ahab and Zedekiah; whose abominable lives, as well as atrocious lies, called for vengeance. They were horrible adulterers, and yet dared to take God's name in their lips, and pretend he had sent them, when they knew he never commanded them; and under the cloak of profound hypocrisy practised every villany. But though men might not discover their wickedness, God fear, and will recompense them according to their deeds. Detected probably in some seditious practices, the king of Babylon would seize them, and burn them alive before their eyes for a terror to others. A catastrophe so dreadful, that when any would wish the heaviest curse on their enemies, they should not be able to conceive a worse imprecation, than the Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roiled in the fire. Note, (1.) They who live in the practice of lewdness and adultery, and the like villany themselves, must needs bely their pretensions to a mission from God, and will have no boldness to exhake the like practices in others. (2.) Secret as men's sins may be committed, the day is near when no darkness or shadow of death shall hide the workers of iniquity. (3.) Though wicked prophets and wicked men may escape the judgments of God in this life, there is a fire kindled for them where they must burn eternally, and none shall quench it. 15f. On Genesis. 2 Kings xxv. 12. 24. ¶ That shall thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, 25. Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and so * Zephaniah the son of Maafeiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26. The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldst put him in prison and in the thacke. 27. Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you? 28. For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long, build ye houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 29. And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. 30. ¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, 31. Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD, concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie: 32. Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, * neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD, because he hath taught I rebellion against the LORD. Whatever effect Jeremiah's letter had upon the people, we are not to wonder if the false prophets, whose sins he so faithfully rebuked, were exasperated. We have here, 1. The endeavours of all by one of them to get Jeremiah severely punished. His name is Shemaiah, the Nehelamite, or the dreamer; one of those lying prophets who deceived the people, and, in revenge for the reproach contained in Jeremiah's letter, by the return of the messengers probably who had brought in he writes in his own name, without containing his brethren, to the people in general, and to Zephaniah in particular, who seems to have been in some chief Bation in the temple, well knowing that the church rulers bore no good will to the reforming prophets. He suggests to him the necessity of exerting the authority with which he was unveiled. The Lord hath made thee priest, instead of Jehoiada the priest. Either he would infatuate, that he was, in zeal for God's glory, such another; or rather Jehoiada might be another name of Seriaah the high priest, whose sagan or deputy he might be, or in some other chief office in the temple, see chap. iii. 24. He therefore, with the priests his brethren, should take cognizance of every enthusiastic fellow, who is mad, and maketh himself a prophet. Such ill names do God's faithful ministers often bear, and to such incident reproaches are they exposed, as if intruders into the sacred service, disturbed in mind, or under diabolical profession. That thou shouldst put him in prison, and in the thacke, both to expose and punish such delinquents, of which number he assures Jeremiah to be, and blames Zephaniah for not proceeding against him as a false prophet, v. 27: the proof of which he supposes would be no longer doubted, when he repeated but one line of Jeremiah's letter, that This captivity is long, and that instead of hoping for a speedy restoration, the captives should settle themselves peaceably in Babylon, v. 28. Also, (1.) They who will be faithful to men's souls, must expect often to be treated as deceivers or madness. (2.) Church power hath been often employed in tormenting her best friends. (3.) The accusations generally brought against the ministers of zeal are by their adversaries looked upon to carry evidence uncontrollable of their enthusiasm and delusion; yet when their words and preaching are calmly considered and examined, they contain nothing but the true sayings of God. 2. Shemaiah's doom is read. Zephaniah read the letter in the ears of Jeremiah; either privately out of kindness, to warn him of his enemies; for when known they are more easily guarded against; or to acquaint him with the charge before he proceeded to judgment upon the case. And God gives Jeremiah an answer, which he is commanded to send to all those of the captivity, that they might be warned against the impostor, and mark his punishment for daring to pretend a divine mission, and teaching rebellion against the Lord, by dissuading the people from paying regard to his prophets. Shemaiah shall not only perish himself, but his family be utterly cut off, his name be buried in oblivion, and none of his race ever see or taste of the goodness God hath still in store for his people. Note, None perish under such aggravated guilt as those false practices, to whose hands God will require the souls they have deceived and flattered to their ruin. When the measure of a nation's iniquities are full, then vengeance to the uttermost will overtake them, and all interception for them it vain. 1. The decree is gone forth; terrible, irreversible. The greatest favourites of heaven, the mightiest men in prayer, if they were again upon earth, could avail nothing. They are abandoned to their fate, and deemed to destruction, v. 1. And if, when their ruin was told them, they should tauntingly say, Whither shall we go forth? the answer is ready. According to the divine decree, some should die by the sword, by settlement, by famine, and their carcasses unburied, v. 3. be food for dogs and the fowls of heaven, and the remnant go into a miserable captivity, v. 4. not a friend shall remain to pity their deplorable case, or to testify the least concern for them, v. 5. God's patience is at an end; his hand stretched out to destroy them without fearing, v. 6. and they shall be dispersed as chaff before the sun: a spoiler at noon-day, Nebuchadnezzar, with the Chaldean army, shall come upon them openly, suddenly condemn their men of war, increase the number of their widows, v. 8. and leave the mothers childless, robbed of those darlings which were as the light of their eyes; ashamed, confounded, and deprived of that support on which they trusted; part shall be then with the famine, and the residue fall by the sword of the enemy, when Jerusalem shall be taken. Nate, (1.) God's Spirit will not always thrive, nor his patience wait for sinners: when their day of grace is trifled away, the day of recompense will overtake them. (2.) When the Lord begins, he will make an end. Let us fear to provoke his indignation, lest repentance should come too late. 2. The cause of these judgments is their sins, just and present: for God never smites without cause. Their former iniquities under Mansafeth, son of Hezekiah, his idolatry, murders, and abominations, aggravated by the confederation how horribly he had degenerated from his pious father's ways, cried for vengeance; and the measure of the sins of that proverbial was filled by the impeniteness of the present. They forbid God, went backward, upholster from his commands and ways and worship, and, notwithstanding all the methods he had used to reclaim them both by his ministers and his providences, they returned not from their ways. And when sinners perish in their wickedness, and refuse to hearken, they may be assured eternal perdition will be the consequence. BabamChad fear. a Job. ii. 1. &c. Chap. 10. 14. c Chap. vi. 5 Or seems the enemy for that c Chap. xii. 3. c Chap. xii. c Deut. xxix. 11. 10. ¶ "Wo is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man of thrift, and a man of contention to the whole earth: I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me. 11. The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant, verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil, and in the time of affliction. 12. Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 13. 'Thy substance and thy treasures will give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. 14. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies, into a land which thou knowest not: for 'a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you. Jeremiah, returned from his public ministry, in private here pours out his complaints unto God. 1. He bewails his unhappy case; persecuted and reviled by his ungrateful countrymen; and this not without some appearance of impatience, as if angry with his mother for having born him: so hard it is, under great provocations, to keep the heart quiet. He complains he was a man of thrift: not contentious in his own spirit; but abused for his faithfulness, and every occasion taken to quarrel with him, though he had given them not the least cause: he had neither lent on usury, nor borrowed; had not entangled himself with secular affairs, but given himself up wholly to the work of his ministry; was engaged in no transactions and trade that could give occasion to debate, or afford matter for litigious suits at law: yet they cursed him; treated him with contempt or with abhorrence, pouring out curfew upon him for the fidelity he shewed in delivering the messages he received from God. Nate, (1.) It is the lot of the faithful ministers of God to meet with the basest usage, and the most ungrateful return for their labours. (2.) The gospel teaches us to follow peace with all men; yet, through the perverseness of the world, too commonly it happens, that when we speak to them of peace they make them ready to battle. (3.) Desirable as it is to live in friendship and quiet with those around us, it must never be purchased by base compliances, or flattering them in their sins. (4.) Ministers of God must not renange themselves with the affairs of this world; the care of men's souls ought wholly to engross their time and thoughts. 2. The Lord in mercy answers him with gracious assurances of his protection: Verily it shall be well with thy remnant. The words are in form of an oath, assuring him of God's blessing during the residue of his days: whatever became of the people, he should be preserved. Those very enemies, that were the rod of God's indignation to his countrymen, should shew him kindness and favour, as was fulfilled chap. xxxix. 11, 12. Nate, (1.) They who are faithful to God, he will be careful of them. He hath in his hands the hearts of all men, and can raise us up friends where we least expected them. (2.) The zealous ministers of God have often found protection from those who shew no concern about religion, when bitterly persecuted by the false professors of it. 3. God threatens his enemies with ruin. Shall iron break the northern iron? Either the Jews should not be able to hurt him, who had been let, chap. i. 18. as an iron pillar against them; or rather, all their efforts to resist the northern army of the Chaldeans should be ufeless; these disbursers and treasures shall fall an easy prey; in shameful captivity they should be led to Babylon; and the heavy wrath of God purifier them; and this the just punishment of their sins, aggravated and universal in all their borders, the corruption of their manners being general, and spread from one end of the land to the other. 15. ¶ In this chapter, (1.) The greatness of the Jesus calamity is illustrated We have here, 1. The insolent and unhumbled challenge this hardened people should make, beholding his conduct and hearing his warnings. They would ask, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? as if they had never given him any provocation: or, What is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? They pretend a claim to God, as their God, and would deny the charge the prophet continued to lay against them; so blind, hardened, and oblivious, are sinners in the error of their ways; and, instead of jublishing God in his judgments, quarrel with his visitations as unjust or severe. 2. The prophet has his answer given him, and enough to silence their presumption. Their fathers iniquities, backfinding, disobedience, and idolatries, were great and shameful, v. 11, but their own far exceeded: instead of being warned by the judgments they suffered, or being led to repentance by God's patience, they had grown worse and worse, killing up what was lacking of the wickedness of their predecessors; more perversely set on their own evil ways, and more resolutely hardened against all the rebukes of God's prophets, v. 12. therefore no wonder that, as the just punishment of their iniquities, God would call them out of that good land which they had defiled, send them far off into a miserable captivity, make that inlatry which had been their far than grievous punishment, and withdraw from them every token of favour that might alleviate their miseries. 14. ¶ Therefore behold, the "days come, faith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: 15. But, The LORD liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and "I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. 16. ¶ Behold, I will send for many fathers, faith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17. For "mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face; neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. 18. And first I will recompensate their iniquity, and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcasses of their dreadable and abominable things. 19. O LORD, "my strength and my fortress, and "my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited their vanity, and things wherein they'll go profit. 20. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and "they are no gods? 21. Therefore behold, I will this conceivable them to know, I will cause them to know mine dead, and my might, and they shall know that "my name is the LORD. In judgment God still remembers mercy. 1. He gives them hopes that a glorious day of disillusionment should come, so much greater than that of their redemption from Egypt, that in a medium it should deliberate the mention of it, v. 14, 15. And this was primarily fulfilled in the recovery of the Jews from Babylon, and the countries of the north whither they had been carried away captives, and may have reference to that more glorious expected event, when the Lord shall call them into his church from their perfect disposition. 2. Before he shewed them this favour he would severely visit their iniquities. As fallen taken in an evil out, and beads in the hunter's feare, so would God give them up to the Chaldeans to be taken and destroyed, who should purse them into all their lurking places, and drag them into captivity, v. 16. Their evil ways, however severe, were not hid from God's eye: he marked their impious rites and abominable idolatries, the carcasses of their dreadful things, offered to their idols, so many, and so universally practised through the land, that they had filled God's inheritance with their horrid professions. For this therefore he threatens to recompete their sin double; not beyond what it deserved, but double above all other visitations he had brought upon them, or much more than they feared or apprehended. Note, (1.) No darkness can hide the sinner from God's eye. (2.) Right is in vain when he parloes: no cave, no mountain, can then conceal the guilty from his judgment. 3. The prophet is comforted not only in the prospect that the punishment of his people, however severe, would have an end, but also with the forefight of the conversion of the Gentiles: O Lord, my strength and ferrety, who had hitherto supported him amidst all his infirmities, and against all his enemies; and my refuge in the day of affliction, who would perforce him amidst all the approaching evils: the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth; either when the Jews returned from Babylon, and many proskytes come up with them; or when the gospel was preached, and the Gentiles became obedient to the faith, renouncing the idols of their fathers, convinced of their vanity and unprofitableness, v. 19. and astonished at their absurdity, who ever could think those to be gods which were the workmanship of their own hands, wood or floor, v. 20. But now God will cause them to know better, making them, by his efficacious grace, acquainted with his own glorious perfections as the only living Jehovah, with the gospel of his dear Son, and the way of life and salvation attainable through the Redeemer. Some chuse rather to understand all this of the Jews, called Gentiles, because of their imitation of their sins, and now quitting with blame their idolatries, and returning to the one living and true God. Note, (1.) They who make God their refuge shall find support under the heaviest afflictions. (2.) When the sinner, convinced and ashamed of his folly, begins bitterly to reflect upon himself, then God will again relieve him to his favour, and make him know once more the wonders of his grace.