Behold the treatment the faithful ministers may expect from a disobedient and gainsaying people. 1. Enraged by his rebukes, they consult how to destroy him. To cover their malice, they pretend zeal for religion, and would brand him as a false prophet. Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah, to get rid of him and his prophecies; for the law shall not perish from the priest, &c. Notwithstanding his predictions of the inflation of the temple service; of the infatuation of their counsels; and his warnings of the fasthood of their prophets; they flattered themselves their priesthood should continue, their rulers in church and state consult and secure their safety; and that they should see the fulfilment of the visions of peace with which their own prophets flattered them: therefore, said they, Come, let us smite him with the tongue; either accuse him as a lying prophet before the nighttimes, to put him to death, v. 23, or load him with reproaches, and make him contemptible in the eyes of the people: and let us not give heed to any of his words, but treat him as a deceiver, who speaks not from the Lord, but out of his own heart. Note, (1.) The wicked would in in a confederacy against the true prophets, and none forwarder to shew their malice, than the false and faithful ministers who cannot bear their just rebukes. (2.) To cloak the malice of persecutors this was the old pretence, to represent the faithful and zealous ministers as men dangerous to the state, and not to be tolerated; or as deluders and enthusiasts, and to be trampled on. (3.) They who dare not encounter the lails of men's tongues, must never think of standing up for God. (4.) Rejection of the servant is an insult on the master. Little do the revilers of Christ's ministers think, that their reproaches light not so much on them as him. 2. He lodges his appeal with God, and begs his interposition on his behalf. He prayed God to take notice of their blasphemies and reproaches, v. 19. their ingratitude and cruelty, in returning him evil for good, and thinking for his blood, when God, the searcher of hearts, knew how earnestly he had laboured, how fervently he had prayed, to avert the impending judgments from them, v. 20. Therefore in just indignation he unpreceates upon them the vengeance they had provoked; that death in every remembrance they might slide both young and old, and their widows, bereaved of husbands and children together, lament the fearful ravages they beheld; that shrieks and cries Babam Chaff etc. might fill the houths, when the enemy suddenly entering at the breach, massacred and plundered without pity or remorse: for this would be but the just retaliation for the soares they laid to murder him, which, however secret, God knew and would avenge. Their sin was now unpardonable; he that had often prayed for them, now abandons them to their ruin; not in a spirit of revenge defining their misery, but in zeal for God's glory, to see that vindicated, waiting their final overthrow, and expecting and defining God would deal with them in the time of his anger according to the denunciations which, as his prophet, he had delivered. Note, (1.) Jeremiah was a type of Jesus, thus lately reviled, ungratefully persecuted, and all his prayers returned with blasphemies. (2.) What Jeremiah spoke in the spirit of prophecy must not be pleaded as an example for our imitation. We must pray for those that persecute us, if per-adventure God may yet give them repentance. (3.) The persecutions of his prophets will find at last an avenging God, and we to them against whom those abused ministers of grace stand up to bear witness in a judgment day. 47. Elam, concerned in this prophecy, which is dated in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, is supposed not to be feeble at large, but a country nearer Judea, called Elymus, some of which inhabitants served under Bennacherib, king of Alfyria, at the siege of Jerusalem, Ife. xvii. 6. They were afterwards subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, and the kings of Babylon sometimes made it the fear of their residence, Zea. viii. 2. 2. Universal destruction is threatened. God undertakes to break their bans, and to disable the chief of their might, and then they must fall an easy prey, v. 35. By the Chaldean army they shall be disposed into the four corners of the earth, as fugitives of captivity, v. 36. Terrors shall seize them, the sword devout them, the wrath of God pursue them, and therein all evil is comprehended, v. 37. nor shall the king and princes thereof escape, but fall in the promiscuous ruin, and the conqueror shall erect his throne in Elam, which may well be called the throne of God, by whose power and gift he obtained the dominion, v. 38. 2. A gracious promise is given them of restoration, which probably under Cyrus was accomplished in a measure, but more eminently was fulfilled when, by the presching of the gospel, the Elamists, among other nations, were called unto the church, and into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, Acts ii. 9. g Task. xxv. &c. h x Kings xx. 11. &xxv. &c. &c. a火. 3. i 15. ii. 10. h 16th. 12. all the prize. k Chap. ii. 15. 19. l Iced. xiii. 14. 2 Or of the earth. Lev. xxvii. 15. m 16. 19. 15. Chap. v. 5. Am. 19. 20. 11. 6 Or spend the motherceer, a trout man to ding. &c. or against the mother, and the young men. n 1 Sam. ii. c. Am. xii. 9. 1. THEN said the LORD unto me, "Though Moïes and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be towards this people; cast them out of my light, and let them go forth. . . And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus faith the LORD, "Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. . . And I will appoint over them four kinds, faith the LORD: the sword to say, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. 4. And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth; because of Mansafeth the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. 5. For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemone thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou dost? 6. Thou hast forsaken me, faith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. 7. And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land: I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, with they return not from their ways. 8. Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the number of the young men, a spoiler at noon-day: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city. 9. She that hath born seven, languisteth: she hath given up the ghost, her son is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded, and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, faith the LORD. 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. The ruin of Jerusalem and Judah is still the burden of the prophecy, and is presbytered by the breaking of a potter's vessel. 1. In the presence of the elders, in the valley of Tophet, the approaching destruction, and the cause of it, is foretold, vers. 1—9. 2. The breaking of the vessel signified the irretrievable cause of their case, vers. 10—13. 3. The same proclamation is repeated in the temple, vers. 14, 15. 1. THUS faith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests, 2. And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the ealt-gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee: 3. And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. 4. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burnt incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5. They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6. Therefore behold, the days come, faith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter. 7. And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8. And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss, because of all the plagues thereof. 9. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straiteness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall stricken them. To awaken conviction in the hearts of a stupid people every method it tried, that they may be left at last utterly inexcusable. 1. Jeremiah is ordered down to the valley of the son of Hinnom, the place where their most shocking idolatries were committed, and the destined spot of their terrible execution. He is commanded to take an earthen pitcher, and, as witnesses of what he was about to do and say, to bring with him some of the ancients of the priests and people; for when God speaks by the means of his prophets, the greatest should not think themselves above attending their ministry. 2. God will tell him there his message, which he must proclaim about as an herald; and the purport of it is most tremendous, which all are summoned to attend, from the greatest to the least; and enough it is to make the ears of every one that heareth it to single, as thunder-Bruck with the dreadful sound. The sins charged upon them are most shocking and aggravated; a profancy from God, profanation of his temple, foul idolatry, barbarous cruelty, the inhuman sacrifice of infants to their abominable deities, yes, even the burning their sons with fire, as burnt-offerings unto Baal; sacrifices abhorred of God, and such as he never thought of, nor expected from his worshippers. For these abominations judgment is threatened proportionate to such atrocious guilt: on that very spot the wrath of God should be executed upon them, and the valley acquire a new name: no more called Tophet, from the drums that were beat to drown the cries of infants burning alive in sacrifice to Moloch, but the valley of Slaughter, from the multitudes who should there be massacred by the Chaldeans. Their counsels then should be made vain, which in that place they had taken to oppose their invaders, or to fly to their idols for relief in the day of their calamity, v. 7. There they must fall by the sword of their merciless enemies, thrifting for their blood; their carcasses ignominiously exposed, and unburred; a prey to the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the earth. Such plagues and desolation shall come upon their city and country, that astonishment at the greatness of the calamity shall mix with indignation against their sins in every pailer by: yes, to such straits should they be reduced in the siege, that famine should compel them to feed upon their dearest friends, and even their children, on their dead couples, or murdered to satisfy their raging hunger; a scene of wretchedness that makes us slander but to relate. O sin! sin! what hast thou done! Babam Chaff etc. 10. Then shall thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11. And shall say unto them, Thus faith the LORD of hosts, Even so will I break this people and this city, as our breaketh a potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again, and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. 12. Thus will I do unto this place, faith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet. 13. And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burnt incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods. 14. Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whether the LORD had sent him to prophecy, and he stood in the court of the LORD's house, and laid to all the people, 15. Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns, all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words. 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. The judgment denounced is here, 1. Confirmed by a significant sign. The earthen bottle in his hand is dashed in places on the ground, and the application of it given, that so utter and irreparable should be their destruction. The city and people should be broken like this vessel, and the spot wherever they stood be the place of execution, where so many should be slain, that graves should be wanting to bury them; yes, the city of Jerusalem should be as Tophet, and every house defiled with corpses of the slain, and rendered filthy and abominable as that detested place, because of the idolatries that had been practised therein, and the incense which on their roofs they had offered to the hosts of heaven. 2. What he now spake in the presence of the ancients, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, he reports solemnly in the courts of the Lord's house before all the people, that if they continue impenitent, they may be at least inexcusable. All the denunciations of wrath God had spoken by Jeremiah were now ready to be executed on Jerusalem and all her towns, because they have hardened their mists, that they might not hear my words; obstinately persisting in their iniquities, and dead to all admonition. Note, (1.) Ministers must deliver their own souls, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear. (2.) They who harden their hearts against God's warnings, must perish without remedy. (3.) In the day of judgment the damned will only have themselves to blame, and the sense of their wilfulness will aggravate their misery. —11. We have here, 1. The prophet's earnest application to God, appealing to him who feareth the heart for his integrity, and intreating the fulfilment of his promises. (1.) He prays: O Lord, thou knowest my innocence, my suffering, and the malice of my enemies; remember me for good, and evils me with thy salvation, and revenge me of my persecutors. Perhaps this was his infirmity; or he desired it for God's glory, in which name he had spoken: take me not away in thy long-suffering; give me my life for a prey, when they are cut off; or leave me not to their power and malice. He acknowledges that to the long-suffering of God he must owe it; the bulk, in the ingour of justice, being obnoxious to God's wrath. Knew, acknowledge and make it evident to my enemies, by thy interposition on my behalf, that for thy fake I have suffered rebuke, because of his fidelity in discharging his office; and when this is really the cafe, we may confidently expel God will plead our quarrel, and vindicate our integrity from all the revilings of men. (2.) He pleads the diligence he used in executing his commitition, the delight he took in God's word, and his carefulness to keep himself from every sinful compliance with them. The words were found, and I did not them, as a hungry man his food this ears were attentive to drink in what God delivered to him; he carefully thought over and digested the words in his mind, and his heart thrilled upon them: thy word was sent me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: either he hoped the terrible threatening he brought would move the people to repentance; or the gracious affluence that God would support him encouraged him; or, above all, amidst the dark judgments the promise of the incarnation of the Messiah, and his great salvation, which misgled therewith, revived and comforted his soul. For I am called by thy name, O Lord of hoffs, which he delighted in as his greatell honour, though others perhaps turned it to his reproach. I sat out in the assembly of matters, partaking with them in their sins, or by likeness perceiving at their wickedness; or until when that male mercy, levily being unconscionable with the forlousness of his character, and the melancholy muffage he bore; and rejoiced me, even partaking of any lawful recreation, which the dreadful evils he behold approaching would not suffer him to tithe. I sat alone, meditating on his muffage, and mourning over the people, because of thy hand, which he saw lighting down upon the nation in vengeance; or because of the spirit of prophecy which he felt; for thou hast filled me with imagination; either the indignation of the people against him, or his displeasure against them for their impenitence, or a sense of the heavy wrath of God ready to overtake them. Note, (1.) The word of God is the foregest repaid to the believer's soul, and thinner he derives his most revirving draughts of confidante. (2.) When we have work to do for God, we must not only forsake what is in itself sinful, but forego what to others might be innocent. (3.) There is a holy indignation without sin, when ministers grieve over the hastiness of men's hearts. (3.) He expounds with God: it seems with something of a mourning spirit: why is thy pain perpetual? which he suffered for the people's sake in his own mind, or from their ill stage. Why is my wound incurable, which refused to be healed? there appearsing no hopes of a change for the better, or may end of their reproaches. With them he altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail? fearing him in their hands, though he had promised to deliver him, chap. i. 19. and giving his enemies occasion to reproach his confidence? No. God will not suffer him to be thus condemned, nor any that put their truth in him. Therefore. Vol. II. 2. God enforces his prayer. He had expressed some discredit and impatience; therefore, says God, if thou wilt return, ashamed of this impatience, and humbly concluding it, then I will bring the again to peace of conscience, and the exercise of the missity with which God had entrusted him; and thou shalt stand before me, established in his office as a prophet: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, speaking comfort to God's people and terror to the impatient, thou shalt be as my mouth, employed in God's mouth to the people. Let them return unto thee, in remitance and obedience to thy word; but return not thou unto them, giving way in the truth, keeping back a syllable of the themning to be denounced against them, or making any compliance with them: and then, if he appeared himself thus faithful, God would fulfil to him his promise, chap. i. 18. making him a broken mull, against which all the efforts of the princes should be vain and impatient: God's patience should comfort, his power happort him, and save him from his foes, however many or mighty, v. 20, 21. Note, (1.) If we would return to the enjoyment of comfort, we must be restored to the right spirit from which we have departed. (2.) They who minister before God must carefully divide the word of truth, giving to the faithful their portion of comfort, and to the ungodly faithful warnings of their danger. (3.) When we approve ourselves faithful, we shall be supported against all opposition; God's strength shall be made perfect in our weakness, and all our terrible foes shall be compelled to lick the dull. Ver. 14. 4. Heb. Dn. 10. 1. IN the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Judah king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2. Thus faith the LORD to me, Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, 3. And feud them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyur, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; 4. And command them to say unto their masters, Thus faith the LORD of hofts, the God of Israel, thus shall ye say unto your masters, 5. I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power, and by my outfreshed arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed more unto me. 6. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon; my servant, and the bezzles of the field have I given him also to serve him. 7. And all nations shall serve him and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come, and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. 8. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, faith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have conformed them by his hand. 9. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your s dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not. 10. Vol. II. serve the king of Babylon: 16. For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. 11. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, faith the LORD, and they shall till it, and dwell therein. The date of this prophecy is in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim; then probably the yokes were made in token of Judah's subjection, which soon began, though only sent to the neighbouring nations several years after, in the reign of Zedekiah, when the time of their captivity drew nearer. 1. The sign given is the making bonds and yokes, and the putting one on his own neck, in token of the bondage to which the people should be delivered; and this he wore many years, as appears chap. xxviii. 1—10. 2. He is commanded to find one of these to all the neighbouring nations, v. 3. by the hand of the messengers who came to Jerusalem to congratulate Zedekiah on his accession, or to make a lague with him to oppose the growing power of the king of Babylon, and, in case of invasion, to unite their forces. A vain design which God had determined to disappoint; and therefore they are enjoined to sell their antlers from God, when they delivered the prophetic symbol of their captivity, that the Lord of hofts, at whose back are the means of heaven and earth; the God of Israel, in a covenant of peculiar grace, the great Creator of all, and who therefore had an absolute right to dispose of all the creatures of his hand, v. 5. had given these lands, with all their produce, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his servant, raised up to be his minister of wrath, v. 6. and under his dominion they must continue, and under his son, and his son's son, he chap. xxv. 14. till the seventy years should be completed, during which the captivity should last, and then other majestic kings and nations should destroy this monarchy, and raise another on its name, v. 7. Resilience to the divine decree would but aggravate their misery, and expose them to more horrid defeatism, and divorce kinds of death, v. 8. nor must they give heed to their diviners and sorcerers, who should flatter them with lying hopes, which would infallibly disap point them, and, by encouraging them to refill, exasperate their conquerors more fearfully to destroy them, v. 9. 10. which those who patiently submitted and surrendered themselves should find favour in the sight of their enemies, and be suffered quietly to remain under tribute, and not be carried away captive into a strange land. Note, (1.) The earth is the Lord's, and he doth as pleas him with it, and none have reason to murmur against his disposal of his own. (2.) The wicked frequently enjoy the greatest share of this world's good. (3.) To struggle against God's providence is to kick against the pricks; for when he judges he will overcome. (4.) Patience will alleviate the burthens which perversences but aggravates. 12. I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13. "Why will you die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?" 14. Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. 15. For I have not sent them, faith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name, that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you. 16. Also I spake to the priests, and to all this people, saying, Thus faith the LORD, Hearken not to the words of your prophets, that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold the vessels of the LORD's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. 17. Hearken not unto them, serve the king of Babylon and live: wherefore should this city be laid waft? 18. But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hofts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. 19. For thus faith the LORD of hofts, concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea; and concerning the bales, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city. 20. Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles Before Christ 19. 20. Ver. 14. Such plain-dealing as Jeremiah used in the foregoing chapter, our might reply for yea, if it did not convince and humble men, would provide and confiscate them, and so it did; for here we find, 1. Jeremiah persecuted by Paltus, for preaching that sermon, vers. 1, 2. 2. Paltus threatened for so doing, and the word which Jeremiah had preached confirmed, vers. 3—6. 3. Jeremiah complaining to God concerning the ill visage he had met with force he began to be a prophet, vers. 7—10. encouraging himself to God, and lodging his appeal with him, vers. 11—13, and yet provably carving the day of his birth, vers. 14—18. by which it appears he had said Babam Chord a great relief to have a gracious God, into whose compassionate bosom we can pour out our complains. 6. He rejoices in the confidence, that God will hear and grant his requets. Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord; the few faithful in Zion are called upon to join in his thanksghrings, for he hath delivered the sault, or life of the poor, from the hand of evil dams; he means himself, now rescued from the hands of Pashon; or, since he can by faith embrace God's promise, he exults in the performance of them as equally sure as if already fulfilled. Nor, They who trust on God, and are sincere before him, may rejoice always in the confidence that he will never leave nor forsake them. 14. ¶ 1. Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. 15. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is born unto thee, making him very glad. 16. And let that man be as the cities: which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear: the cry in the morning, and the shooting at noon-ride: 17. Because he saw me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb is he always great with me. 18. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame? Dire is the change between the notes of praise wherewith the former verses closed, and the melancholy sounds which here fucceed. Some have supposed, that this is here recorded as the humbling acknowledgment of what pasied in his mind, during his confinement in the stocks, from which sad prevalence of impatience he was now recovered, but remembers to his shame how ill he had borne it. He utters imprecations, 1. On the day of his birth, that ushered him into a world of misery. Instend of celebrating its return with joy, he regards it as ominous, and brands it with a curse. 2. On the messenger who carried the tidings to his father, and made him glad with the news that a son was born; he wishes that he might be destroyed as the inhabitants of Sodom, and be in perpetual terrors, as in the agonies of death, from some invading son: an imprecation shockingly sever and unthatly able. Into such unbecoming extravagances may passion, when prevailing, transport even good men, and leave them derp eaute to repeat their rashinels. 3. He wishes the messenger of his birth had been his mursever, as his mother's womb never resmailed from its burden; which must have been highly criminal to the one, and a perpetual and intolerable pain to the other: wishes unnatural, as they were wicked and wilful. 4. He expeditates with God Why came I for his act of my mother's womb? as if God had done him injustice in bringing him into the world, that my days should be consumed with shame, exposed to a continued series of insult, derssion, and contempt; and herein he shewed much, very much of human infirmity, so weak are the best of men when left to themselves. Let it serve to warn us against such a hasty spirit; that it is not only highly criminal before God, but makes us appear absurd and brusish, and must expose us to just censure from men. Dire is the change between the notes of praiſe wherewith the former verſes closed, and the melancholy ſounds which here fucceed. Some have ſuppoſed, that this is here recorded as the humbling acknowledgment of what paſied in his mind, during his confinement in the ſtocks, from which ſad prevalence of impatience he was now recovered, but remembers to his ſhame how ill he had borne it. He utters imprecations, 1. On the day of his birth, that ushered him into a world of misery. Inſtend of celebrating its return with joy, he regards it as ominous, and brands it with a curſe. 2. On the meſſenger who carried the tidings to his father, and made him glad with the news that a ſon was born; he wiſhes that he might be deſtroyed as the inhabitants of Sodom, and be in perpetual terrors, as in the agonies of death, from ſome invading ſon: an imprecation ſhockingly ſever and unthatly able. Into ſuch unbecoming extravagances may paſſion, when prevailing, tranſport even good men, and leave them derp eaute to repeat their raſhinels. 3. He wiſhes the meſſenger of his birth had been his murſever, as his mother's womb never reſmailed from its burden; which muſt have been highly criminal to the one, and a perpetual and intolerable pain to the other: wiſhes unnatural, as they were wicked and wilful. 4. He expeditates with God Why came I for his act of my mother's womb? as if God had done him injustice in bringing him into the world, that my days ſhould be conſumed with ſhame, expoſed to a continued ſeries of inſult, derſſion, and contempt; and herein he ſhewed much, very much of human infirmity, ſo weak are the beſt of men when left to themſelves. Let it ſerve to warn us againſt ſuch a haſty ſpirit; that it is not only highly criminal before God, but makes us appear abſurd and bruſiſh, and muſt expose us to juſt cenſure from men. CHAP. XXI. This chapter contains some warnings that in the preceding reigns God had given the kings of Judah. 1. A message is sent to the royal family, as it should form, in the reign of Jehoiakim, relating partly to Jehoiakim, who was carried away captive into Egypt, and partly to Jehoiakim who succeeded him, and was now upon the throne. The king and princes are coherent to execute judgment, and are aforesaid that if they did so, the royal family should flourish, but otherwise it should be restored, ver. 1—10. Jehoiakim is lamented, ver. 10—12. Jehoiakim is repressed, ver. 13—19. 2. Another message sent them to the reign of Jehoiakim. He is charged with an infirmity refuted to bear, threatened with defractions, and it is foretold that in him Solomon's body should fail, ver. 20—30. 1. THUS faith the LORD, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word. 2. And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that fittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates; 3. Thus faith the LORD, 4. Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4. For if ye do this thing indeed, 5. then shall there enter in by the gates of this house, kings fitting, 6. upon the throne of David, riding in chariots, and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. 5. But if ye will not bear these words, 6. I hear by myself, faith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. 6. For thus faith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah, Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. 7. And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, 9. Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city? 9. Then they shall answer, 10. Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. Kings are God's vicegerents, accountable to him for their conduct; and when they abide the power wherewith they are entrusted, or neglect the duties of their station, may expect his rebukes. Jeremiah is here sent to the king of Judah Jehoiakim, the successor of David, and fitting on his throne, but grievously degenerated from his virtues. He and his servants are summoned to attend. 1. Their duty is set before them. To administer judgment with impartiality, to vindicate the oppressed and injured; to do so Vol. II. wrong themselves, nor permit others to do it with impunity; to protect the stranger, the fatherless, and widow; and shed no innocent blood, either by lawless violence, or under the cloak of justice. Very opposite to which had hitherto been their conduct, v. 17. 2. This would secure their prosperity, and entail a blessing upon their posterity; preserving long the crown of Judah to the royal race of David, and enabling them to live in splendor, answerable to their high dignity, v. 4. 3. On the contrary, if they perished in their disobedience, by an oath, to make the sentence more awful and tremendous, God swears to make the house of the king of Judah a desolation, and that his kingdom should be involved in his ruin. Though thou art Gilead unto me, and the Lord of Lebanon, full of riches, and strongly fortified, yet such ravages should be made in the land, that it should be wholly depopulated, and its fertile plains become an howling wilderness: nor should infirmers be wanting to execute the threatened vengeance; I will prepare, or facultify destroyers, raise them up, and give them a commission of most righteous judgment. In consequence of which, they shall at efully cut down and destroy the mighty men of Judah, as the cedars fall before the axe of the hewer, and are cast into the fire. With astonishment the neighbouring nations behold the defractions, and enquire into the cause, that a people once so favoured of God, should now be so abandoned; and the answer is ready, because they have apoplained from God's worship, and sunk into foul idolatry. Note, They who forsake God, are justly forsaken of him. 10. ¶ Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him, but weep fore for him? that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor for his native country. 11. For thus faith the LORD touching Shallum the Son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place, He shall not return thither any more: 12. But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more. 13. ¶ Wo unto him: that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that uleth his neighbours service without wages, and goeth him not for his work: 14. That faith, I will build me a wide house, and I large chambers, and cuteth him out windows, and it is cled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15. Shalt though reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? 16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy, then it was well with him: was not this to know me? faith the LORD. 17. But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence to do it. 18. Therefore thus faith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the Son of Josiah king of Judah, They shall not lament for him, lying, 19. Ah my brother, or, ah sister: they shall not lament for him, lying, Ah lord, or ah his glory. 19. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. 1. THE word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that 1. Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard, had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in 2 chains among all that were carried away captive unto Babylon. 3. And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place. 4. Now the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he hath said, 5. because ye have finned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you. 6. And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which 7 were upon thine hand: if it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will 8 look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go. 8. Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, 9. whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wherefore it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go. 10. Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwell with him among the people that were left in the land. The chapter begins with, The word which came to Jeremiah, not that this chapter contains any prophecy, but it is a general title to all the following part of this book. The rendezvous of the captives, it seems, was appointed to be at Ramah, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Thither, among others, Jeremiah was led, chased with the roh, probably through mistake of some inferior officer; who, after he had been discharged, chap. xxxiv. 14. finding him at large, and not knowing the exemption granted him, joined him with his countrymen. But Nebuzar-adan, on the review of the captives, immediately discovered, unbound, and discharged him with the greatest respect and kindness. 1. Nebuzar-adan, though a heathen, could not but acknowledge the truth of Jeremiah's mission and prophesies now so exactly fulfilled; and, to the shame of those who rejected his warning, addresses the captives, reminding them of their fate and disobedience to the prophet's voice, which had provoked God's wrath, and brought this righteous judgment upon them. 2. He gives him his choice. Either to go to Babylon with him, and be treated with all kindness, and provided for to his heart's will; or if he had rather flay in his native country, he was at his full liberty to chuse his abode, and perhaps to raise possession of what estate in the country he pleaded, the whole being at the disposal of the conquerors. Note, They who sacrifice all for God, even in this life are often found no losers by their fidelity to him. 3. Jeremiah appearing, it should seem, irresolute where to fix, Nebuzar-adan advised him to join Gedaliah, a prince of Judah, who seems early to have followed the prophet's advice, and fallen to the Chaldeans; and now as a reward was made governor of the land: yet he would not prescribe to him, but left the matter to his own consideration, having supplied him with victuals, which, in the exhaustion of the country, were necessary for his present subsistence, and made him a handsome present besides; a noble influence of generosity in a heathen officer towards a holy prophet. With his advice Jeremiah complied, and joined Gedaliah at Mizpah, rather chusing to sustain the hardships he might be exposed to in God's heritage, among his poor people, than dwell in affluence in the land of the heathen. c. Kings xx. 12. 7. 8. Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, were they and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon; 8. Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ithmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Sernaish the son of Lanhumeth, and the sons of Ephal the Netophaehle, and Jeremiah the son of a Muschahle, they and their men. 9. And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 10. As for me, Behold, I will dwell at Mirpah 9 to serve the Chaldeans which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine, and summer-fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken. 11. Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan; 12. Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer-fruits very much. 13. Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, 14. And said unto him, Dail thou certainly know that 15. Beall the king of the Ammonites hath sent 16. Ithmael the son of Nethaniah 17 to say thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not. 18. Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah fiercely, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will say Ithmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he say thee, that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be fastened, and the remnant of Judah perish? 19. But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, 'Thou shalt not do this thing, for thou speaketh a fallacy of Ithmael.' A scene of more complicated villainy and unprovoked barbarity can hardly be found than is here recorded. 1. Gedaliah is affaffinated. Disobjections of Ithmael, and the princes with him, who came with a pretence of paying a visit of Swendolyn, he kindly and generously entertained them; when, at a signal given, Ithmael, and the rest of the conspirators, suddenly rose on Gedaliah and flew him; nor sheathed their swords till they had in cold blood massacred all the men, both Jews and Chaldeans, which were in Mizpah. And to this they seem to have been infligated by their revenge, because Gedaliah and the Jews had fallen to the Chaldeans; or by their envy, because Ithmael, of the feed royal, and the princes, could not bear to see Gedaliah preferred before them. Such horrid work do the Satanical tempers of fallen sinners make, when left without restraint. 2. Not content with all the blood they had shed, their wanton cruelty forks now objects. Fourfoure men from Shechem, Samaria, and Shiloh, wholly ignorant of what had puffed, were on their way to the temple at Jerusalem, with deepest signs of expensive woe to lament its desolations; and prelons, if but on the ruined altar, their oblamors; to draw to them was the very dull thereof. These, with hypocritical tears, Ithmael went forth to meet, that he might decoy them to Mizpah, under pretence of an invitation from Gedaliah, as if he was yet alive; v. 6. and they, unsuspicious of his design, went with him into the Tou. II. might of the city, where they were instantly flain, and their bodies cast into one pit with those who fell with Gedaliah. This pit was dug by Ala, where he fortified Mizpah against Basha, 1 Kings xi. 22. Ten men only escaped, by pleading the treasures they had concealed in the field; and covetoufnees prevailing over cruelty, they permitted them to live to discover them. Whilst we read such scenes of horror, what reason have we to bless God for his refraining grace upon the hearts and hands of wicked men: but for this the world would be an Aeeldama, a field of blood. 3. The bloody work being done, Ithmael attempts to secure the plunder and the prisoners, the king's daughters, and others, by a retreat to Basha, king of the Ammonites, who seems to have infligated him to perpetrate this horrid deed. 11. ¶ But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with them, heard of all the evil that Ithmael the son of Nethaniah had done, 12. Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ithmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 13. Now it came to pafs, that when all the people which were with Ithmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad. 14. So all the people that Ithmael had carried away captive from Mizpah, cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah. 15. But Ithmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites. 16. Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ithmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah (after that he had flain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam) ever mighty men of war, and the women and the children, and the eunuchs whom he had brought again from Gibeon. 17. And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of Chimbam, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt. 18. ¶ Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ithmael the son of Nethaniah had flain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land. A sudden gleam of unexpected prosperity prepares but for the last stroke, which should ruin the miserable remnant which was left. 1. Under Gedaliah's government, notwithstanding the late desolations, things seemed to wear a promising aspect. The captains of the forces, who had not been able to throw themselves into the city during the siege, and had forked in some retreat; or rather had escaped with the flattered remains of the soldiery, when Zedekiah was taken, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah; and as he had, it seems, full power left him from the king of Babylon to receive all who quietly subscribed, he gave them a solemn oath of protection on condition of their fidelity, and assures them, that their fears were groundless of being delivered up to the Chaldeans, because they had been in arms against them; but if they now lived peaceably, they might live comfortably. He himself would reside at Mizpah, and thanked all the matters of tribute to be paid the Chaldeans; or to stand before them, to surrender for them if any enquire was made after them; to convey to them any orders, and render homage on their behalf, which they had nothing to do but to occupy the land, to gather the vintage, the summer-fruits, and oil, lay up their winter's fours, and enjoy the plenty God and once more restored to them. The rapture of this peaceable re-establishment of the government, under so good a man as Gedaliah, soon reached the neighbouring nations, and defies a vast concourse of Jews, who had taken refuge there, to return and submit to the Chaldean government, to that the country was again replenished with inhabitants, and they gathered wine and summer-fruits very much. Thus once more they began to take God's goodness, if that at last might lead them to repentance. 2. A dark scheme appears framed to interrupt and destroy this short-lived prosperity. Johanan, one of the captains who had resorted, got intelligence of a plot contrived by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, the hereditary enemy of the Jews, and to be executed by Ithmael, who had undertaken to dispatch Gedaliah, envious probably at his advancement, and thinking himself, as of the lead royal, more fit to rule. Of this Johanan informed the governor; and to prevent the threatened mischief, offered privately to dispatch Ithmael; but Gedaliah, being a man of integrity himself, would not entertain a suspicion of Ithmael as capable of so hate a deed, but rejects the intelligence as false, and forbids him to proceed a step farther in the affair. Note, (1.) Charity beepeth all things, thinketh no evil; and they who are conscious of their own simplicity, believe others gulletess as themselves. (2.) No obligations can bind the lordships of ambition; such men would mount the throne over the corpses of those to whom they are even indebted for the very power of destroying them. (3.) It would be highly dangerous to kill by way of prevention; in such a case, no man's life would be safe from a malicious tongue. (4.) Though it were failed to be suspicious, yet, when advertised of our danger, it were wise to be on our guard. Behold, Chap. xxxiv. 10. 7. Mat. 7. Read below. 1. 1. 1. CHAP. It is a very magical fury that is related in this chapter, and flows, that evil purlous sinners. The black cloud that was gathering in the foregoing chapter, here herfs in a dreadful form. 1. Gedailah and all that were with him are herbarm, the fain is Ithmael, ver. 1—3. 2. A pit is filled with their dead bodies, ver. 9. 3. Some devout men that were going to Jerusalem are drawn in, and fain by Ithmael, ver. 4—7. Only ten of them escaped, ver. 8. 4. They that escaped the sword, are taken prisoners by Ithmael, and carried off towards the country of the Ammonites, ver. 10. 5. By the conduct of Yohanan, though the death of the fain is not revamped, yet the prisoners are recovered, and he now becomes their commander in chief, ver. 11—16. 6. His project is to carry them into the land of Egypt, ver. 17, 18. 1. NOW it came to pafs in the seventh month, 1. that Ithmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Eishama of the feed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah. 2. Then arose Ithmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and 3. soon Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and flew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. 4. Ithmael also flew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war. 5. And it came to pafs the second day after he had flain Gedaliah, and no man knew it. 6. That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourfoure men having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD. 7. And Ithmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, 8. weeping all along as he went: and it came to pafs as he met them, he laid unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 9. And it was so when they came into the midst of the city, that Ithmael the son of Nethaniah flew them, 10. and call them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him. 11. But ten men were found among them that said unto Ithmael, slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbars, and flew them not among their brethren. 12. Now the pit wherein Ithmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men (whom he had flain because of Gedaliah) was it, which Asa the king had made for fear of Basha king of Israel; and Ithmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were flain. 13. Then Ithmael carried away captive all the residue of the people, that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, and Ithmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites. Kings are not too high for God to humble, nor for his prophets to reprove. We have here the sad doom of two read, who reigned successively in Judah, the sons of good Josiah, from whose steps they shamefully departed. 1. Shallum, the same as Jehoahae, the immediate successor of Josiah, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 1. After a short reign of three months, see 2 Kings xxiii. 34. he was carried captive into Egypt, and from thence he must, by the divine decree, never return, but die in ignominy. Him therefore the people are called upon to beware, and rather weep over the captive son, than bedew with their tears the corpse of his pious father, who was at rest, and removed from beholding the evil to come. Note, Dying saints may be justly envied, which living sinners are to be pitied. 2. Jehoiakim, his successor, has not a more favourable judgment. His five were great, and though he now sat on the throne, the prophet faithfully dares to rebuke him. Proud, and affeeling to rival the greatness of his most illustrious predecessors, during the most flourishing state of their kingdom: tho' himself no better than a viceroy, first to the king of Egypt, and then to the Babylonish monarch, he was building or enlarging his palace, in the most magnificent taste, and with the most expensive decorations; and as the revenues of his kingdom probably were insufficient, he became tyrannical and oppressive, extorting money from his subjects, or constraining them to serve and supply him with materials, without paying them for their labour. Sour, and self-confident; he promised himself many long years to enjoy his house of cedar, and that his pomp would M m Julius Christ 1st. 1. Chron. xxx. 11. 2. Kings xxx. 24. book. xx. Ver. 18. 3. See, no. 19. Decr. xxv. 14, 15. Vol. II. 16. Nah. ii. 9. 4. See, e. 9. 5. Nah. Through and. 6. Pl. xxxiii. 8. No. do. 10. 7. Post. xvi. 16. 8. Or learn 9. 1 Kings xii. 10. Fullfied xiv. 1. Chron. xxxv. 6. A deed so atrocious could not be long concealed; and no sooner doth the report of it reach Johanan, than, fored with indignation, he collected all the forces he could muster, pursued the fugitives, and overtook them at the pool of Gibeon, which though not the direct road, they might have taken to prevent a pursuit, or get the treasures of the men whose lives they had spared; thus oftentimes we see men's covetoufnees their destruction. No sooner had Johanan and his troops appeared, than those with Ithmael immediately deferred him, and with difficulty he himself, with eight of the affaffins, escaped to the land of Ammon: perhaps now unwelcome guilty, when stripped of that plunder the king of Ammon hoped to share. Johanan with his forces, and those he had recovered, either through his own fiery spirit, or the just judgment of God upon the people, that would give them no rest till they were utterly consumed, resolved hereupon to depart into Egypt; either hoping that under the Egyptian government they should enjoy greater safety, or, as was pretended, fearing the Chaldeans would punish them for the death of Gedaliah; though in fact they might rather have expected commendation from them, as his avengers. The resolution however being taken, they left Mizpah, and pitched in the habitation of Chimbam (so called, probably, as being given by David to that son of Barzilai) near Bethlehem, in the way that led to Egypt, ready to fly thither if any danger threatened them. Note, Men's unbelieving fears often plunge them into the very miseries they dread. 7. 4 Cent. viii. 6. Hag. ii. 25. 8 1 Kings note, 13. 7 Heb. Let up their much Wong. xivii. 5. Hal. xx. 8. 20. ¶ Go up to Lebanon, and cry, and lift up thy voice to Bafsan, and cry from the passages: for all? thy lovers are destroyed. 21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou faldst, I will not hear: this hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. 22. The wind shall eat up all? thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity, surely then shall thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. 23. O? inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious thalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail? 24. If I live, faith the LORD, though? Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were: the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence. 25. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whoof face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born, and there shall ye die. 27. But to the land whereunto they? desire to return, thither shall they not return. 28. Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he? a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? 29. O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. 30. Thus faith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, fitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. We have line upon line, and warning upon warning, yet all insufficient to alarm a stupid people. 1. Their misery and distress are painted in lively colours. When their enemies were advancing, they are experienced as running to the mountain-tops, and calling out for help to the neighbouring nations; but in vain; for all thy lover are destroyed, and none willing to shew them the least kindness in the day of their calamity. They had been deaf to the warnings of the prophets, from the day they came out of Egypt, and disobedient to the voice of God; vain of their prosperity, and confident they should never be removed. But now their desolation approaches, when they should be confounded and abhorred for all their unorthodox; as destitute of holy within, as of assistance from without, because the wind shall eat up all thy pastors, the governors in church and state, kings, nobles, priests, and prophets, as weak to refill the Chaldean holds, as sultides to oppode the furious whirlwind. Though lofty in pride as Lebanon, and dwelling in houses, called with cedar, these would be no security, but be food for the devouring flames; whilst from their enemies they might expect to find no favour, in the day when their despot anguilla should seize them, as the pains of a traveling woman, v. 22. The words, How gracious shall thou be, may be rendered, What proper will thou find? and untanam the degenerates of their case, which seems most agreeable to the context; though they may also be interpreted of the effects their judgments should have upon them, when their distresses should drive them in penitence to God, and they should find mercy with him in the land of their captivity. Note, (1.) Prosperity is a dangerous state: they who live at safe too often cure not to attend the warnings of God. (2.) Creature-dependence will fail in the day of calamity. (3.) It is well for us, if what we suffer brings us at last in pangs of real repentance to God. 2. Their king's judgment is pronounced. He is called Coniah, instead of Tsunnah, in contempt. His name is thorned, intimating that his reign should be cut short, and his regal honour depart from him. Doomed to a miserable fervitude, God threatens to give him up into the hands of the king of Babylon, whom he feared, and who fought his life, with his mother and family, v. 28. and pining as vain for the land of their nativity, they should long drip their ignominious chain, and die in the place of their captivity. His pious fathers had been as a figure on God's right hand; to dear to him, and extend by him, as the ring that bears the picture, or is the gift, of the person we love: but his ill conduct had sold him out of favour, and therefore God in high displeasure threatens he will pluck him thence, and abandon him to ruin: and this his determination is irrevocable, confirmed with no oath: If I don, faith the Lord, who, since he can swear by no greater, favors by himself, v. 24. Note, (1.) They are seldom for ever whom God abandons. (2.) The greatest must not be too confident: they know not what strange calamities may await them. 3. All who behold this monarch faffes would exceedly say, Is this Coniah, a despised broken idol? Yes: so despicable in her crown, who late was idolized. Is he a eagle colorant to so plagier? he that was late the people's darling, is now disengaged, and cast by as a broken vessel; led, with all that permitted to him, into a strange land, there to suffer the punishment of his iniquities. 4. The earth is summoned to mark his judgment: either the people of Judea in particular, or of the world in general; or, as if the God under their feet would be more attentive than the hardened hearts of the men of that generation, it is called upon to hear the solemn sentence. Thus faith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; after a short reign of three months, he spent his whole life in captivity in Babylon: for no man of his seed shall prosper, fitting on the throne of Daniel, and ruling any more in Judah. In him ended the race of Judah's kings, and probably the line of Solomon was now extinct, Salathud being supposed his adopted boy, to whom his pretensions were bequeathed, and, though accounted his son, Mat. i. 12. was a descendant of Nathan, and the son of Nuri, Luke iii. 27. In this chapter the prophet, in God's name, deals out his repressive and threatening, 1. Among the covetous pastors of the people, ver. 1, 2. yet God promises to take care of the seed, ver. 3—8. 2. Among the wicked prophets and priests, whoof ill character is here given at large, for which they must expect to be punished, ver. 9—32. 3. Among the profane people, who ridiculed God's prophets, ver. 33—40. 1. WO be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastors, faith the LORD. 2. Therefore thou 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, faith the LORD. 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 fields, and they shall be fruitful and increase. 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, faith the LORD. 5. ¶ Behold, the days come, faith 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. 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 RIGHT SENSIBLES. 7. Therefore behold, the days come, faith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: 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 the countries whither I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land. The prophet's message is a roll full of woes against a wicked nation, utterly corrupt both in its head and members. 1. He pronounces a vow on the papers of Israel, their rulers in church and state, whose duty it was to have fed and protected the flock of God committed to their charge, but who had not only neglected to visit, and take care of the things, but had scattered and destroyed them by oppression and covetousness; by their bad examples leading them into sin, and thereby bringing ruin upon them; for these evils God would visit them with righteous judgment. Note, They who have the rule over men's persons, and especially those who have the case of men's souls entrusted with them, should remember the awful charge, and what a solemn account they must use day make. 2. He promises to take care of the flock they neglected. (1.) He will bring the scattered captives to their own land again, under the conduct of the Shepherds Zernubbabel, Walensub, and others, raided up by his providence, men faithful in their office, under whose government they should increase in numbers, build again the walle places of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, enjoy peace and prosperity, and no spoiler be permitted to devour them. Some suppose this refers to gospel-timers, when the elect of God should be gathered into his church; when under the ministry of the apostles and preachers the Bony of Christ should be fed with the rich doctrines of grace; filled with that divine faith which calfeth out fear, and not one of the redeemed be ever suffered to perish, Joke z. a. b. (2.) God bids them expect with confidence the coming of the promised Messiah. Behold, the days come, Saith the Lord, swiftly advancing, and surely approaching, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, by which name the Messiah is preferred, Joc. iv. 2. Zesh. iii. 8. A branch, because of his mean appearance, and the weakness of his incarnation; a righteous branch, perfectly so himself, and the author of all righteousness to others; and raised unto David, unto whom God had promised that from him the Messiah should descend; and a long shall reign and employ; for mean as his appearance was, has thrown was higher than the kings of the earth, established from eternity, continuing to eternity. The kingdom he came to erect among men is an everlasting kingdom; victory and prosperity marked all his steps, the powers of sin and Satan were broken, and peace, love, and joy diffused in the hearts of all his redeemed people; and he shall execute judgment and justice in the earth, governing his people in righteousness, and executing judgment on their enemies. In his days Judah, the cholem of God, Saith he saved with an everlasting salvation; and Israel, the spiritual Israel, shall dwell safely; delivered from the power of Satan, the scars of guilt, the prevalence of corruption, enjoying the present favour of a covenant God, and expecting a real eternal in the heavens; and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord, Jehovah, our Rightowheath; by his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, he hath brought in an everlasting righteousness, and all who by faith apprehend him, are made partakers of it; God imposes it to them, and repasts them at compleat in him. A righteousness this, infinitely transcending all the righteousness of men or angels, as being the righteousness of Jehovah; and therefore, whoever make Jesus their refuge, and this righteousness their plea, can never enter into condemnation, but are entitled to the favour of God here, and to the inheritance of glory hereafter. 3. The greatness of this salvation would so far obscure all the former deliverances God had wrought for his people, even their wondrous redemption from Egypt, that they should no more be mentioned. And this must refer, not merely to their return from Babylon, but to their conversion under the preaching of the gospel, when multitudes were turned to the Lord, and may have yet a farther respect to the latter days, when the fulness of the Gentiles being come in, all Israel shall be saved, and literally be gathered, as many learned men suppose, to dwell in their own land, which hath never been the case with the ten tribes, since their first dispersion. 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. 10. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. 11. For both prophet and priest are profane, yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, faith the LORD. 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, faith the LORD. 13. And I have seen I folly in the prophets of Samaria, they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they doommit adultery, and walk in lies: they flaming him also the hands of evil levers, that none doth restore from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15. Therefore thus faith 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 I profaneness gone forth into all the land. 16. Thus faith the LORD of hosts, Hearless 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. 17. They say full unto them that despite 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. 18. For who hath found in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word and heard it? 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. 20. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and all he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 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. 23. Am I a God at hand, faith the LORD, and not a God atar off? 24. Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? faith the LORD: do not I fill heaven and earth? faith the LORD. 25. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 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; 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. 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? faith the LORD. 29. Is not my word like as a fire? faith the LORD: and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30. Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, faith the LORD, that steal my words, every one from his neighbour. 31. Behold, I am against the prophets, faith the LORD, that I die their tongues, and say, He faith. 32. Behold, I am against them that prophesy falls dreams, faith 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, faith the LORD. kedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 13. Therefore thus faith 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 I profaneness gone forth into all the land. 16. Thus faith the LORD of hosts, Hearless 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. 17. They say full unto them that despite 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. 18. For who hath found in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word and heard it? 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. 20. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and all he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 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. 23. Am I a God at hand, faith the LORD, and not a God atar off? 24. Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? faith the LORD: do not I fill heaven and earth? faith the LORD. 25. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 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; 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. 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? faith the LORD. 29. Is not my word like as a fire? faith the LORD: and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30. Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, faith the LORD, that steal my words, every one from his neighbour. 31. Behold, I am against the prophets, faith the LORD, that I die their tongues, and say, He faith. 32. Behold, I am against them that prophesy falls dreams, faith 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, faith the LORD. When God comes to visit, none will suffer feverer vengeance than those whose duty it was to have stood in the gap against the growing evils; but who safely joined in the general defection, and hardened and encouraged sinners by their smooth prophecies and ill examples. Against these the prophet is sent to denounce God's wrath. 1. He appears deeply affected with what he saw, and the fearful message he was about to deliver. My heart within me is broken with grief, because of the wickedness he beheld, and the ruin ready to retire; all my heart flaks with horror; I am as a drunken man, at a loss what to say or do; so confounded was he with the abominations he saw, because of the Lord, whose name was so dishonoured, and because of the words of his holiness, profanely abused by those who pretended to inspiration from him; or because of the dire judgments, which in righteous wrath he was sent to denounce against them. Note, A true prophet grieves for the dishonour cast on God by men's wickedness, whilst he trembles at their approaching doom. 2. He declares the dreadful state of the whole land. Full of adulterers, corpses, and spoils; full of sinners, perjured or profane, who having cast off the scar of God, made no conscience of an oath. For these things God had begun to visit them; the land returned already with drought, the pollutes failed, and famine devoured them; and yet, hardened in him, their course is evil, they attend not to these warnings of God, but not to the same excess of evil, and will not be restrained; and their lives is not right; their power and influence was exerted, not to suppress, but to encourage iniquity; or their wisdom is not right, full of rapine and injustice, as well as adultery and profaneness. No marvel such a people are devoted to ruin. 3. They Baker-Clark 3. They who should have refrained them, are the ringleaders in his. For both prophets and priests are profess in their conversation and their lives; or play the hypocrisy, pretending zeal for religion, and with the cloak of piety covering the brisk abominations: yes, in my house, where most peculiarly God required purity, have I found their wickedness, faith the Lord, defying the sacred place with their false doctrines, their flagrant immaturities, or idolatry, 1 Sam. xi. 22. The prophets of Israel had been bad, very bad, God had seen their wickedness and folly; prophesying in the name of Baal, and causing the people to err by their words, and debauching them by their ill examples: but had as the prophets of Samaria had been, the prophets of Jerusalem have equalled, yes, exceeded them in their abominations. Hearable to tell even in the face of God's temple they commit adultery, and wait in lies, reporting lying visions, making false pretenses to prophecy, and turning the people from God to idols; hardening sinners in iniquity, crying peace, to lull their consciences asleep in fatal security, profaning God's name to vouch for their lies, v. 17. and by their wicked deeds encouraging and emboldening others to sin. Nate, (1.) No guilt so aggravated as theirs, who have not only their own blood, but the blood of soft souls lying upon them. (2.) Nothing so embolden and hardens sinners, as when their teachers give them an occasion of offence by their ungodly convertations. 4. An awful threatening is pronounced against them. God regarded them as the inhabitants of Sudan and Gomorrah, their guilt to great, and crying to heaven for vengeance: and swift it descends; the Lord will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation. The time is fixed, the judgment ready to seize them, this property was shall lead them into horrible darkness, they shall not be able to foresee nor avoid the ruin that approaches, but be driven by irresistible violence, captivated by Satan and their own lusts, and full therein from the depths of sin into the depths of misery, but into a miserable slavery, or perishing with famine and the sword, v. 12. The bitterest and most poisonous cup of affliction, wormwood and gall, or the juice of broiled, a cup of trembling, is mingled for them, to punish them for their horrid profaneness, the contagion of which had spread over the land. Nothing being so dangerously infectious, and so fatally destructive, as the example of a debauched and abandoned ministry. 5. God cautions the people to pay no regard to the lying suggestions of these false prophets, v. 16. They make you vain, bother you up in false hopes, speak the fancies of their own corrupted hearts, not the visions of inspiration, v. 17. They cry peace to the wicked, to whom God hath said there is no peace; and promise them impunity when vengeance is ready to light upon them, v. 17. Infiniting and contradicting the prophets of the Lord, who affirmed God's wrath was ready to be revealed, they ridiculed their pretensions to prophesy; or boathing themselves of God's counsel, they vaunted their knowledge of his word and will, i. who were so deep in his secrets as they? v. 18. therefore, as the most effectual method of conviction, God will arise, I should, a wherriber of the Lord is gone forfeit to levy; the executors of his judgments, the Chaldeans, with restless violence are halting to destroy; men a gracious suburban, of shall fail grievously on the head of the wicked, both on the deceived and the deceivers, but especially on the wicked prophets; nor depart from them till it hath answered God's decree and purpose, and extirpated them from the land; and conviction will come too late, when the sentence begins to be executed; they shall then see what they will not now believe, v. 20. Or, in the latter days, may refer to the times of the gospel, or the final conviction of the Jews, when they shall consider all their past visitations, and be convinced and turned unto the Lord; tho' the former feeble seems preferable, as more agreeable to the context. God, by these his judgments, made it evident, that he had not first these prophets, yet they ran without any commission from him, self-ordained, and pretending to prophesy when he had never taught them, but they palmed on the people the effusions of their corrupted hearts for his inspiration, v. 21. and this was proved also from the effects of their ministry; for had they been sent of God, as they pretended, they would have made his word the standard of their preaching; and, as the blessed effect of their labours, would have beheld the conversion of men's souls turned by their preaching from the evil of their ways; the very reverber of which was evident, v. 22. Nate, (1.) We need be often cautioned against false prophets, they are in every day more numerous than the true; and by authority and numbers seek to call on them the brand of fasthood, but by their fruits ye shall know them. (2.) No man may take on him the office of the ministry who is not called of God, and moved by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They who profess the truth, and yet are conscious of the fasthood of such declarations, God will not only disown, but fearfully punish. (3.) They who go forth in God's name, and pretend to labour for him, yet for no effect of their ministry, and no one soul brought to a sense of sin and the knowledge of reconciliation by them, may justly suspect their doctrine is false, and themselves deluded. 6. God expositions with them on their folly and wickedness. Do they think to deceive him by their lies? Can he, like man, a worm, only see the objects near him; and because afar off in heaven, is he unable to defecy what paffes have before, and in the hearts of men? Vain hope? to think of imposing on Omniscience, and evading his eye, who blush heaven and earth with his presence. The darkest recettes of the globe, or the darkest devices of the human mind, are all naked and open to him; for there is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where any of the workers of wickedness can hide themselves, v. 24. He heard and law what these false prophets thought and spoke, he detected their impositions and lying dreams, which they reported as divine inspirations; and severely upholds them with their hardened effrontery. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Will they never have done with their lies? Or the words may be read, How long will they go on thus? Is there any thing in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? No; their mind and conscience is defiled; yes, they are prophet of the deceit of their own hearts, deceiving and being deceived, given up to their delusions to believe their own lie; and with most malignant intentions striving to debauch the minds of God's people to affection and idolatry, as their fathers, by Baal's prophets, had been induced before them, v. 27. Nate, (1.) A sense of God's all-feeing eye is the great preservative from evil. (2.) They who would call off God's people, by pretenses of new revelation, from the worship he hath prescribed, and the obedience he hath enjoined, evidently prove the fasthood of their pretensions. 7. The prophet, in God's name, lays down the criterion to judge the false prophets and the true. He that hath a dream, let him tell his dream, and the event will prove whether it comes from God: or this is addressed to the false prophets, warning them not to call it a vision from God, but report what they dream as a dream. And he that hath my word, a real and experimental knowledge of it, let him speak my word faithfully, without keeping back a title, however offensive on dangerous it may be to bear testimony to the truth. What is the chief to the wheat, faith the Lord? As different as these are, so different is the word of truth from the vain imaginations of the false prophets: the one nutritive, substantial, wrighty; the other light, vain, and delusive. Is not my word his fire, faith the Lord? its operations quick, piercing, kindling a fire of conviction in the sinner's conscience; a fire of trial, separating the precious from the vile; a fire of love in the hearts of the faithful; and like a hammer that breatch the rock in pieces? breaking the rocky heart of fallen man with deep contrition, and leading it to Chief; or flamping the hardened sinner to powder, denouncing upon him the vengeance of eternal punishment. So effectual and mighty was the word in the mouth of the true prophets, which the preaching of the false prophets neither communicated light nor heat, was accompanied with no power, nor produced the least good effects on the people. 8. God changes them with other notorious crimes. They shall my word, every one from his neighbour, either the words of the true prophets, which they introduced the better to infirmate their fasthoods, as if mimicking their language, they also partook of their inspiration: or they prejudiced the people against them, and prevented them from paying regard to their admonitions and warnings. They use their tongues, and say, He faith, pretending a divine commission, and taking the name of God in their mouths in vain; or they breach their tongue, prophesy what will please and flatter men in their sins, and dare and God's sanction to their lies. They prophesy false dreams, impeding the reverber of their own brain for inspiration, and cause the people to err by their lies and by their lightness; their false doctrines and evil examples encourage sinners in their wickedness, and for these things God threatens them with his vengeance. Behold, I am against the prophet; these times he repeats it, to show the certainty and terrificness of the wrath they had provoked. He disowns the least connection with them; I feel them not, neither commanded them; they were lying boarers, who had no commission from him; therefore they shall not press this people at all, but, the very reverber, shall bring down delusion on their heads as well as their own. Nate, None do more irreparable mischief in the church of God, than they who, pretending to be preachers of the truth, advance the doctrines of error, and beguile unstable souls. 33. ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt thou say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, faith the LORD. 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. 35. Thou shalt ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 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. God. 37. Thus shall thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 38. But fish ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thou saith the LORD, Because you say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD: 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 call you out of my presence. 40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. It is evil indeed with any nation, when the most awful words of God are foothold, and made the object of ridicule. 1. The fin here charged on the false prophets, priests, and people, is their horrid profanesses. Instead of humbly enquiring concerning God's mind and will, v. 35. they footholdly repeated the prophet's words, and consequently conquered, What is the burden of the Lord? mocking the phrases, as a cant term, because the true prophets often made use of it, and despising the judgments which this word usually imported, perverting, than the words of the living God, of the Lord of heirs our God, concerning his power, and inflicting his majesty; and though warned to desist, they persevered in their iminous derision, v. 38. Nate, (1.) It hath been the common effort of the wicked in all ages, to make God's word the butt of their wit; and by torturing some expression to a ludicrous meaning, to turn the warnings of his ministers into contempt. (2.) As long ago as Jeremiah, the burden of the Lord afforded matter of derision; he was one of those preachers of hell and damnation which the men of that generation mocked at. Let such sinners then mock on, and fill up the measure of their iniquities. (3.) Wicked prophets and false preachers are usually chief in this transgression, and the great accusers and revilers of the faithful; but that damnation they deride slumbereth not. 2. God declares his full purpose, consignly to punish such profanesses, v. 34. Every man's word shall be his burden, lay on him a load of guilt that, if unrepented of, shall sink his foul into the depths of hell. Behold, I, even I, that living God, against whom such wretches dare open their iminous lips, will utterly forget and forsake you, and give you up to your terrible doom, without one kind remembrance to alleviate your misery. The city God had given them and their fathers, should be a prey for the Chaldean army, and they be led into a miserable captivity; nor should their shame and disgrace come to an end. For a long while the whole nation should suffer the marks of his fierce displeasure, which to this day lies upon them, and the impetient among them be sentenced to everlasting shame and contempt in the day of final recompense and perdition of ungodly men. Nate, (1.) However men may mock at God's word, it will be seen at last whose word shall stand, his or theirs. (2.) The damnation sinners despise, shall shortly and terribly come upon them, and their laugh of derision be turned into everlasting weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. In the most desisting judgments God knows how to separate the precious from the vile. We have here, 1. A vision of true subjects of figs, we very good, and the other very bad, vers. 1, 2, 3. 2. The explication of this vision, applying the good figs to those that were already sent into captivity for their good, vers. 4—7. The bad figs to those that should hereafter be sent into captivity for their hurt, vers. 8, 9, 10. 1. Yes, I, I said, for indeed. 1. THE LORD shewed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and Smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3. Then said the LORD unto me, What doth thou, Jeremiah? and I said, Figs: the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 4. Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5. Thus saith the LORD the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. 6. For I will VOL. II. set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land, and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. 8. And as they will figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil: (Surely that saith the LORD) so will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt. 9. And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a cause and a curle in all places whither I shall drive them. 10. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they be confirmed from off the land, that I gave unto them and to their fathers. Though in general the prophet's word was rejected by the people, yet there were some who heard it, and to whom it was a favour of life unto life. And tho' the nation's iniquities now being full, they fell into the promiscuous ruin, yet even in their captivity God will take care of them, and make even this most addictive providence work for their good. 1. The date of the vision is in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, when Nebuchadnezzar had carried away Jeconiah the king, and the princes of Judah, captives to Babylon, and with them the carpenters and Smiths; either in employ them in his own works, or to deprive the captive land of their assistance in making fortifications and weapons of war. 2. The vision itself consisted of two baskets of figs, placed before the temple; the one, vile and refute, that could not be eaten; the other, very good, v. 2, 3. The explication of which the Lord gives him, v. 5. (1.) The good figs were the captives gone into Babylon: their God promises to regard, to each their captivity to issue for their good; those who were faithful should be improved in the furnace of assitization, and those who were otherwise still then, should be, by grace, wrought upon and led to repentance by the visitation. In consequence of which, the eyes of his favour should be upon them, they should be again restored and firmly established in their own land; and, better than all temporal good, the Lord engages to enrich them with enlarged spiritual understanding, and to bellow on them the hell of bleflings; I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, by experience of his power, grace, and love exerted eminently for them, and exercised richly towards them; and they shall be my people, enjoying his protection, and taken into covenant with him, and I will be their God, their helper and defender, their portion, their exceeding great reward; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart, in simplicity and sincerity, ashamed of their backsliding, and unfeignedly penitent. Nate, (1.) The ways of providence are mysterious; when seemed the greatest assitization, proves often in its issue the most substantial bleflings. (2.) God's hand is to be acknowledged in all our sufferings; whatever instruments are employed, we must say, I became drunk, and opened not my mouth, for it was thy doing. (3.) If ever we come to the true knowledge of God, it would be wholly the gift of his grace; for without this, we can know nothing as we ought to know. (4.) Whatever our sins and backsliding have been, whenever God gives us a heart to return unto him, we may be assured his arms are still open to receive us. (5.) God says, I will, and ye shall, for the honor and backslider are worse than merely passive, they are reluctant; yea, the carnal mind is enmity against God; unless God therefore over-ruled our perversion and conquered our obituary, we never should be his people, nor he our God. (2.) The evil figs represented the remnant which were left in Jerusalem under Zedekiah, who, tho' they stood before the temple, yet were much worse than their brethren that had gone into captivity, for not the greatest sinners are always the first to suffer; God permits them to stand to fill up the measure of their iniquities, whilst he corrects his dear children with the scourges of paternal love: but their judgment advances; surely, thus saith the Lord, the decree is gone forth, and the execution of it sure; Zedekiah and his princes, with the residue of Jerusalem, are devoted to destruction; nor should they, who fled to Egypt for shelter, be exempted, since shelter the judgments of God should follow them. The sword, the famine, the pestilence, shall consume them; and those who survive, be doomed to a miserable sinnery, worse than death; destined into all lands for their hurt, where they should have no intercourse to administer friendly confidation to each other; and hardened, instead of repentant under their sufferings, their yoke should be made heavy, and their persons despicable and odious; they should be a reproach, a proverb, a cause, and a curle in all places whither God would drive them; and this seems to have a reference, not only to their desolations under Nebuchadnezzar, but also to Look forward to their last more terrible destruction by the Romans; and the truth of the predilection appears verified this day in that unhappy people, who live under the evident curbs of God, and the contempt of all nations whither they are scattered. This prophecy bears date some time before these prophecies in the foregoing chapters, for they are not placed in the court order of time in which they were delivered. Here is, 1. A review of the prophecies that had been delivered to Judah and Jerusalem for many years last past, with the little success of them, ver. 1—7. 2. The depreciation of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, threatened for their contempt of God and their continuance in sin, ver. 8—11. To which it annexed, a promise of their deliverance out of captivity, after seventy years, ver. 12, 13, 14. 3. A prediction of the deterioration of divers other nations by Nebuchadnezzar, represented by a cup of fury put into their hands, ver. 15—28. By a fourth sent among them, ver. 29—33. And a defolation made among the Shepherds, and their funds and pofheres, ver. 34—38. 1. THE word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the fifth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. 2. The which Jeremiah the prophet Spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day (that is the three and twentieth year) the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye have not hearkened. 4. And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending dem, but ye have not hearkened, not inclined your ear to hear. 5. They said, "Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and" dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers, for ever and ever: 6. And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands, and I will do you no hurt. 7. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, faith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own hurt. This prophecy bears date in the fifth year of the reign of Nebuchadrezzar, and the fourth of Jehoiakim; and it is directed to the people in general, probably when assembled at Jerusalem on one of the three annual feasts. If the princes will not hear, perhaps the people may, at least it will leave both inexcusable. 1. The prophet reminds them how long and how earnestly God had been exhorting them, by his mindless and odious, to turn from the evil of their ways. Three and twenty years he had preached, from the 13th of Josiah, to the 4th of Jehoiakim, rising early, and speaking diligently, constantly, faithfully, whilst Micah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, had just preceded him, and Zephaniah was his contemporary; besides many others whom God in mercy had sent to warn them, unwilling they should perish, and accompanied his admonitions with the most precious promises. They are plainly told of their sins, and exhorted to repent of them; if they would return from their financial delatries, and from all their other evil works, then God's shrewsings should not light upon them, but they should long and peaceably enjoy their good land. Now, (1.) God will remember against the sinner all the means of grace he hath abuted, as his greatest condemnation in the day of judgment. (2.) They who are sent on God's messages, need be earnest and diligent in delivering them, that they may at least be free from the blood of all men. (3.) God doth not strike without warning; but if we will not hear, we must perish. 2. The prophet upbraids them with their impenitence and hardness of heart. They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear; they would not so much as pay a moment's attention to the message, their heart was so averse to it; they resolved to abide in their sins and provocations, let the consequence be never so much to their hurt; and thus, as all impenitent sinners do, destroyed themselves. 8. Therefore thus faith the LORD of hosts, Because ye have not heard my words, 9. Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, faith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon: my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment and an hissing, and perpetual defolations. 10. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bride, groom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. 11. And this whole land shall be a defolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12. And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, faith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual defolations. 13. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. 14. For many nations and a great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands. The judgment is pronounced on the rebellious people of Judah, and their destroyers shall not go unpunished. 1. Judah shall be destroyed by the king of Babylon, God's servant in this behalf to execute vengeance on this devoted nation. Around his standard the families of the north are summoned, his victorious army marches, and defolation marks their way; Judea falls, and all her neighbours, so far from affording her assistance, are involved in the general ruin; and so terrible the ravages, that they shall be an astonishment and an hissing, and perpetual defolations during seventy years their miseries should last, the voice of joy be never heard in the city, no unptial songs, no sound of mirth, no possidion should be left, no candle burn in it, but melancholy silence reign; the land uncultivated, destitute of inhabitants, and forge with the bosom of destruction. Now, (1.) They who will not be ruled by God's word, must be ruined. (2.) God often uses wicked instruments to chaffle his own people; and they are made to do his work, when meaning only to aggrandize themselves. 2. Babylon, the destroyer of others, shall herfell also, after seventy years, be destroyed for her iniquity, her tyranny, pride, and cruelty to God's Israel; and the land of the Chaldeans shall be made perpetual defolations, when all the evil pronounced by Jeremiah, chap. xli—ii. shall come upon them; and as she hath served herfell of other nations, fashduring and plundering them, God will recompense her in kind, and raise up many nations and great kings, the Medes, Persians, and their allies, to lay her waft, and enrich themselves with her spoils. Commentators differ in the date from whence these seventy years commence; some begin with the first of Nebuchadnezzar, others not till the captivity of Jehoiachim, eight years after. Certain however it is, it was accomplished in his season; nor shall one jot or tittle ever pass from God's word, until the whole be fulfilled. 15. For thus faith the LORD God of Israel unto me, Take the wine-cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be made, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17. Then took the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: 18. To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a defolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse, (as it is this day) 19. Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people, 20. And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Aczah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, 21. Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon. 22. And all the kings of Tyros, and all the kings of Zofon, and the kings of the Isles which are beyond the sea. 23. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, 24. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert. 25. And all the kings of Zimu, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Medes. 26. And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Shehach shall drink after them. 27. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send of Judah and Jerusalem: 21. Yea, thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and of Jerusalem, 22. They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, faith the LORD: then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place. Jerusalem was now tributary to the king of Babylon, but Zedekiah was meditating rebellion, and his false prophets encouraging him with hopes of success; but the consequences would be the completion of the nation's ruin. 1. He addresses the king of Judah with earnestness, beseeching him, for his own and his people's sake, patiently to submit and live, since all revolt against the king of Babylon would certainly prove fatal in the issue, and expose them to all the mixtures of a siege and the massacre of a city taken by them, v. 13, notwithstanding the lies of the false prophets, who flattered him and the people to that ruin, and would themselves fall under the judgment, v. 14, 15. Note, (1) Rebellion against God will be attended with still more fearful consequences: how much better is it to know our necks to the easy wake of Christ, and love? (2) They who embolden sinners in their evil ways shall perish with them, the deceived and the deceiver together. 2. He gives the priests and people the same warning as he had given to their king, v. 17: admonishing them of the folly of beakening to the false prophets; your prophets be calls them, because they choke their lying visions, and loved to have it so. They told them that they should be successful in their revolt, v. 14, and that the king of Babylon would soon be willing to purchase peace from them by the restoration of the sacred vessels which had been carried to Babylon, v. 18, but, alas! they were only pushing them to the precipice of destruction, bringing on the utter ruin of their city, and the demolition of the temple; when, as Nebuchadnezzar had before taken the vessels of gold, a king's war, 1. 1—15. So far would he be from reshaping them, that all the other vessels, with the pillars, sea, and bales of brash, should follow them into Babylon, v. 19, 20. Better therefore, far better were it, that they should become intercessors with God to prevent the impending judgments, and preserve what was left, than flatter them with the delusive hopes of the restoration of what had been carried away. Note, (1) True prophets will be advocates before God in prayer for those to whom they preach. They who maintain no communion with God can have no commission from him. (2) The general ruin of sinners arises from false hopes, with which their lying and lazy teachers flatter them, who cry peace when there is no peace. 3. The prophecy concludes with a gleam of hope amidst the darkness of this long captivity. Though the vessels of the Lord's house, and of the houses of the kings and princes of Judah, should be thus carried to Babylon, they should not be left, but safely laid up against the time appointed of God, when, after the seventy years were fulfilled, they should again be restored; which was marvellously fulfilled by Cyrus, Exor. i. 7. Note, (1) In wrath God still remembers mercy. (2) If the time of the church's distress be long, we may not despair; the vision is far an appointed time, at the end it shall speak: blessed are all they that wait for it. As in the history of the Acts of the Apostles, that of their preaching and that of their suffering is interwoven, so it is in the account we have of the prophet Jeremiah; witness this chapter, where we are told, (1.) How faithfully he preached, ver. 1—8. (2.) How faithfully he was perfected for it doing, ver. 7—11. (3.) How bravely he stood to his doctrine in the face of his perfectness, ver. 12—15. (4.) How unmiserably he was protected by the prudence of the princes, ver. 16—19. And the Urtish, another prophet, was about the same time put to death by Jehoiakim, ver. 20—23. yet he escaped, ver. 24. 1. IN the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word from the LORD, saying, 2. Thus faith the LORD, Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; 'diminish not a word: 3. If to be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may 'repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them, because of the evil of their doings. 4. And thou shalt say unto them, Thus faith the LORD, If ye will not hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have set before you, 5. To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, 'whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them (but ye have not hearkened) 6. Then will I make this house like 'Shiloh, and will make this city a curle to all the nations of the earth. They who would be faithful to God, in the discharge of their ministry, must set their faces like a stint, and be above the fear of man. 1. Jeremiah is sent into the courts of the Lord's house, whither, on one of their solemn faults, the people of the land were assembled out of the cities of Judah, and there, in the midst of that great congregation, he must deliver his postage: and, itself their greatness, their multitude, or their known enmity against fuch Robert Chath God. 6. In ending, him beginning. v. Acts ex. Example is often more effectual than precept. He, who was sent to warn others of the destruction of the land, must by his conduct shew his afflicted conviction of the truth of what he preached. They, who are urging men to look to the eternal world, must shew their own hearts fixed upon it, by their holy full-denial and destined to every thing on earth. These things are forbidden the prophet, and the reasons for these prohibitions subjoined. 1. He must not marry, nor have a family. Not as if a life of celibacy were entended or desirable, but because of the distress coming upon the land, which would make a family a burden, and occasion the bitterest ungodly foes: the grievous deaths of those so near and dear to him. For God was about to pour down his judgments, to send forebulants in all its terrors, armed with the famine, obedience, and faward; and to cover the earth with carcades to numerous, that there should not be graves to receive them, nor any to lament over or to bury them. K k 2. He a Chap. xv. b Chap. xxv. 23. c Pl. Iode. d Chap. xii. e 8. 6. 6. 6. f 9. 6. 6. 6. g 10. 6. 6. 6. h 11. 6. 6. 6. i 12. 6. 6. 6. j 13. 6. 6. 6. k 14. 6. 6. 6. l 15. 6. 6. 6. m 16. 6. 6. 6. n 17. 6. 6. 6. o 18. 6. 6. 6. p 19. 6. 6. 6. q 20. 6. 6. r 21. 6. 6. 6. s 22. 6. 6. 6. t 23. 6. 6. 6. u 24. 6. 6. 6. The date of this prophecy is in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim; then probably the yokes were made in token of Judah's subjection, which soon began, though only sent to the neighbouring nations several years after, in the reign of Zedekiah, when the time of their captivity drew nearer. 1. The sign given is the making bonds and yokes, and the putting one on his own neck, in token of the bondage to which the people should be delivered; and this he wore many years, as appears chap. xxviii. 1—10. 2. He is commanded to find one of these to all the neighbouring nations, v. 3. by the hand of the messengers who came to Jerusalem to congratulate Zedekiah on his accession, or to make a lague with him to oppose the growing power of the king of Babylon, and, in case of invasion, to unite their forces. A vain design which God had determined to disappoint; and therefore they are enjoined to sell their antlers from God, when they delivered the prophetic symbol of their captivity, that the Lord of hofts, at whose back are the means of heaven and earth; the God of Israel, in a covenant of peculiar grace, the great Creator of all, and who therefore had an absolute right to dispose of all the creatures of his hand, v. 5. had given these lands, with all their produce, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his servant, raised up to be his minister of wrath, v. 6. and under his dominion they must continue, and under his son, and his son's son, he chap. xxv. 14. till the seventy years should be completed, during which the captivity should last, and then other majestic kings and nations should destroy this monarchy, and raise another on its name, v. 7. Resilience to the divine decree would but aggravate their misery, and expose them to more horrid defeatism, and divorce kinds of death, v. 8. nor must they give heed to their diviners and sorcerers, who should flatter them with lying hopes, which would infallibly disap point them, and, by encouraging them to refill, exasperate their conquerors more fearfully to destroy them, v. 9. 10. which those who patiently submitted and surrendered themselves should find favour in the sight of their enemies, and be suffered quietly to remain under tribute, and not be carried away captive into a strange land. Note, (1.) The earth is the Lord's, and he doth as pleas him with it, and none have reason to murmur against his disposal of his own. (2.) The wicked frequently enjoy the greatest share of this world's good. (3.) To struggle against God's providence is to kick against the pricks; for when he judges he will overcome. (4.) Patience will alleviate the burthens which perversences but aggravates. 12. I spake also † to Zedekiah king of Judah, according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13. "Why will you die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?" 14. Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for † they prophesy a lie unto you. 15. For I have not sent them, faith the LORD, yet they prophesy † a lie in my name, that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you. 16. Also I spake to the priests, and to all this people, saying, Thus faith the LORD, Hearken not to the words of your prophets, that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold † the vessels of the LORD's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. 17. Hearken not unto them, serve the king of Babylon and live: wherefore should this city be laid waft? 18. But † if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hofts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. 19. † For thus faith the LORD of hofts, † concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea; and concerning the bales, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city. 20. Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away † captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the † nobles Before Christ 19. 20. † Ver. 14. Chap. xxii. 21. Lem. ii. Chap. xxiii. 1. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Ver. 10. Chap. xx. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. † Heb. 16. † 17. 18. 19. Chap. xxviii. 3. † Ver. 9. † See Gen. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. † Chap. 20. † 21. 22. 23. † 24. Kings xxv. 14. 15. Chap. xxv. † Heb. 16. † 17. 18. 19. † 18. 19. 20. —11. We have here, 1. The prophet's earnest application to God, appealing to him who feareth the heart for his integrity, and intreating the fulfilment of his promises. (1.) He prays: O Lord, thou knowest my innocence, my suffering, and the malice of my enemies; remember me for good, and evils me with thy salvation, and revenge me of my persecutors. Perhaps this was his infirmity; or he desired it for God's glory, in which name he had spoken: take me not away in thy long-suffering; give me my life for a prey, when they are cut off; or leave me not to their power and malice. He acknowledges that to the long-suffering of God he must owe it; the bulk, in the ingour of justice, being obnoxious to God's wrath. Knew, acknowledge and make it evident to my enemies, by thy interposition on my behalf, that for thy fake I have suffered rebuke, because of his fidelity in discharging his office; and when this is really the cafe, we may confidently expel God will plead our quarrel, and vindicate our integrity from all the revilings of men. (2.) He pleads the diligence he used in executing his commitition, the delight he took in God's word, and his carefulness to keep himself from every sinful compliance with them. The words were found, and I did not them, as a hungry man his food this ears were attentive to drink in what God delivered to him; he carefully thought over and digested the words in his mind, and his heart thrilled upon them: thy word was sent me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: either he hoped the terrible threatening he brought would move the people to repentance; or the gracious affluence that God would support him encouraged him; or, above all, amidst the dark judgments the promise of the incarnation of the Messiah, and his great salvation, which misgled therewith, revived and comforted his soul. For I am called by thy name, O Lord of hoffs, which he delighted in as his greatell honour, though others perhaps turned it to his reproach. I sat out in the assembly of matters, partaking with them in their sins, or by likeness perceiving at their wickedness; or until when that male mercy, levily being unconscionable with the forlousness of his character, and the melancholy muffage he bore; and rejoiced me, even partaking of any lawful recreation, which the dreadful evils he behold approaching would not suffer him to tithe. I sat alone, meditating on his muffage, and mourning over the people, because of thy hand, which he saw lighting down upon the nation in vengeance; or because of the spirit of prophecy which he felt; for thou hast filled me with imagination; either the indignation of the people against him, or his displeasure against them for their impenitence, or a sense of the heavy wrath of God ready to overtake them. Note, (1.) The word of God is the foregest repaid to the believer's soul, and thinner he derives his most revirving draughts of confidante. (2.) When we have work to do for God, we must not only forsake what is in itself sinful, but forego what to others might be innocent. (3.) There is a holy indignation without sin, when ministers grieve over the hastiness of men's hearts. (3.) He expounds with God: it seems with something of a mourning spirit: why is thy pain perpetual? which he suffered for the people's sake in his own mind, or from their ill stage. Why is my wound incurable, which refused to be healed? there appearsing no hopes of a change for the better, or may end of their reproaches. With them he altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail? fearing him in their hands, though he had promised to deliver him, chap. i. 19. and giving his enemies occasion to reproach his confidence? No. God will not suffer him to be thus condemned, nor any that put their truth in him. Therefore. Vol. II. 2. God enforces his prayer. He had expressed some discredit and impatience; therefore, says God, if thou wilt return, ashamed of this impatience, and humbly concluding it, then I will bring the again to peace of conscience, and the exercise of the missity with which God had entrusted him; and thou shalt stand before me, established in his office as a prophet: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, speaking comfort to God's people and terror to the impatient, thou shalt be as my mouth, employed in God's mouth to the people. Let them return unto thee, in remitance and obedience to thy word; but return not thou unto them, giving way in the truth, keeping back a syllable of the themning to be denounced against them, or making any compliance with them: and then, if he appeared himself thus faithful, God would fulfil to him his promise, chap. i. 18. making him a broken mull, against which all the efforts of the princes should be vain and impatient: God's patience should comfort, his power happort him, and save him from his foes, however many or mighty, v. 20, 21. Note, (1.) If we would return to the enjoyment of comfort, we must be restored to the right spirit from which we have departed. (2.) They who minister before God must carefully divide the word of truth, giving to the faithful their portion of comfort, and to the ungodly faithful warnings of their danger. (3.) When we approve ourselves faithful, we shall be supported against all opposition; God's strength shall be made perfect in our weakness, and all our terrible foes shall be compelled to lick the dull. CHAP. XVI. In this chapter, (1.) The greatness of the Jesus calamity is illustrated by prohibitions given to the prophet, neither to set up a house of his own, ver. 1—4. nor to go into the house of mourning, ver. 5, 6, 7, nor into the house of feasting, ver. 8, 9. (2.) God is satisfied in these severe proceedings against them, by an account of their great muchalness, ver. 10—12. (3.) An intimation to prove of mercy in reserve, ver. 14, 15. But, (4.) They must first insert severely, ver. 16—18. (5.) The prophet prays for and expresses his faith in the conversion of the Gentiles, ver. 19—21. 1. THE word of the LORD came also unto me, faying, 2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shall thou have sons nor daughters in this place. 3. For thus faith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land, 4. 'They shall die of grievous deaths,' they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried: but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth, and they shall be confirmed by the sword, and by famine, and their carcades shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beaths of the earth. 5. For thus faith the LORD, 'Enter not into the house of your mourning, neither go to lament, nor bemore them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, faith the LORD, reas loving-kindness and merdes. 6. Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor 'cut themselves, nor 'make themselves bald for them. 7. Neither shall men I fear themselves for them in mourning to comfort them for the dead, neither shall men 'give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8. Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to fix with them to eat and to drink. 9. For thus faith the LORD of hoffs, the God of Israel, Behold, 'I will cause to excite out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.