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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Jeremiah XVI].</TITLE>
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"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC24015.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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</TD></TR></TABLE>
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J E R E M I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XVI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter,
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I. The greatness of the calamity that was coming upon the Jewish nation
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is illustrated by prohibitions given to the prophet neither to set up a
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house of his own
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:1-4">ver. 1-4</A>)
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nor to go into the house of mourning
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:5-7">ver. 5-7</A>)
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nor into the house of feasting,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:8,9">ver. 8, 9</A>.
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II. God is justified in these severe proceedings against them by an
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account of their great wickedness,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:10-13">ver. 10-13</A>.
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III. An intimation is given of mercy in reserve,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:14,15">ver. 14, 15</A>.
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IV. Some hopes are given that the punishment of the sin should prove
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the reformation of the sinners, and that they should return to God at
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length in a way of duty, and so be qualified for his returns to them in
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a way of favour,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:16-21">ver. 16-21</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jer16_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer16_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Prohibitions Given to Jeremiah.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 605.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came also unto me, saying,
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2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons
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or daughters in this place.
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3 For thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> concerning the sons and concerning
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the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their
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mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat
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them in this land;
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4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be
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lamented; neither shall they be buried; <I>but</I> they shall be as
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dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by
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the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for
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the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
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5 For thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, Enter not into the house of
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mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken
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away my peace from this people, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>even</I>
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lovingkindness and mercies.
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6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they
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shall not be buried, neither shall <I>men</I> lament for them, nor cut
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themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
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7 Neither shall <I>men</I> tear <I>themselves</I> for them in mourning,
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to comfort them for the dead; neither shall <I>men</I> give them the
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cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
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8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit
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with them to eat and to drink.
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9 For thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold,
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I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your
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days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of
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the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The prophet is here for a sign to the people. They would not regard
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what he said; let it be tried whether they will regard what he
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<I>does.</I> In general, he must conduct himself so, in every thing, as
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became one that expected to see his country in ruins very shortly. This
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he foretold, but few regarded the prediction; therefore he is to show
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that he is himself fully satisfied in the truth of it. Others go on in
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their usual course, but he, in the prospect of these sad times, is
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forbidden and therefore forbears marriage, mourning for the dead, and
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mirth. Note, Those that would convince others of and affect them with
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the word of God must make it appear, even in the most self-denying
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instances, that they do believe it themselves and are affected with it.
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If we would rouse others out of their security, and persuade them to
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sit loose to the world, we must ourselves be mortified to present
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things and show that we expect the dissolution of them.</P>
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<P>
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I. Jeremiah must not marry, nor think of having a family and being a
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housekeeper
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Thou shalt not take thee a wife,</I> nor think of <I>having sons and
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daughters in this place,</I> not in the land of Judah, not in
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Jerusalem, not in Anathoth. The Jews, more than any people, valued
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themselves on their early marriages and their numerous offspring. But
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Jeremiah must live a bachelor, not so much in honour of virginity as in
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diminution of it. By this it appears that it was advisable and
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seasonable only in calamitous times, and times of <I>present
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distress,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+7:26">1 Cor. vii. 26</A>.
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That it is so is a part of the calamity. There may be a time when it
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will be said, <I>Blessed is the womb that bears not,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:29">Luke xxiii. 29</A>.
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When we see such times at hand it is wisdom for all, especially for
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prophets, to keep themselves as much as may be from being <I>entangled
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with the affairs of this life</I> and encumbered with that which, the
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dearer it is to them, the more it will be the matter of their care, and
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fear, and grief, at such a time. The reason here given is because the
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<I>fathers</I> and <I>mothers, the sons and the daughters, shall die of
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grievous deaths,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>.
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As for those that have wives and children,
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1. They will have such a clog upon them that they cannot flee from
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those deaths. A single man may make his escape and shift for his own
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safety, when he that has a wife and children can neither find means to
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convey with them nor find in his heart to go and leave them behind him.
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2. They will be in continual terror for fear of those deaths; and the
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more they have to lose by them the greater will the terror and
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consternation be when death appears every where in its triumphant pomp
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and power.
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3. The death of every child, and the aggravating circumstances of it,
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will be a new death to the parent. Better have no children than have
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them brought forth and bred up <I>for the murderer</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:13,14">Hos. ix. 13, 14</A>),
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than see them live and die in misery. Death is grievous, but some
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deaths are more grievous than others, both to those that die and to
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their relations that survive them; hence we read of <I>so great a
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death,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+1:10">2 Cor. i. 10</A>.
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Two things are used a little to palliate and alleviate the terror of
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death as to this world, and to sugar the bitter pill--bewailing the
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dead and burying them; but, to make those deaths grievous indeed, these
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are denied: <I>They shall not be lamented,</I> but shall be carried
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off, as if all the world were weary of them; nay, they <I>shall not be
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buried,</I> but left exposed, as if they were designed to be monuments
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of justice. <I>They shall be a dung upon the face of the earth,</I>
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not only despicable, but detestable, as if they were good for nothing
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but to manure the ground; being <I>consumed,</I> some <I>by the
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sword</I> and some <I>by famine, their carcases shall be meat for the
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fowls of heaven and the beasts of the earth.</I> Will not any one say,
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"Better be without children than live to see them come to this?" What
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reason have we to say,<I>All is vanity and vexation of spirit,</I> when
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those creatures that we expect to be our greatest comforts may prove
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not only our heaviest cares, but our sorest crosses!</P>
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<P>
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II. Jeremiah must not go to the house of mourning upon occasion of the
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death of any of his neighbours or relations
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>Enter thou not into the house of mourning.</I> It was usual to
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condole with those whose relations were dead, to <I>bemoan them,</I> to
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<I>cut themselves,</I> and <I>make themselves bald,</I> which, it
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seems, was commonly practised as an expression of mourning, though
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forbidden by the law,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+14:1">Deut. xiv. 1</A>.
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Nay, sometimes, in a passion of grief, they did <I>tear themselves for
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them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>),
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partly in honour of the deceased, thus signifying that they thought
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there was a great loss of them, and partly in compassion to the
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surviving relations, to whom the burden will be made the lighter by
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their having sharers with them in their grief. They used to mourn with
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them, and so <I>to comfort them for the dead,</I> as Job's friends with
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him and the Jews with Martha and Mary; and it was a friendly office to
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<I>give them a cup of consolation to drink,</I> to provide cordials for
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them and press them earnestly to drink of them for the support of their
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spirits, give wine to those that are of heavy heart <I>for their father
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or mother,</I> that it may be some comfort to them to find that, though
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they have lost their parents, yet they have some friends left that have
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a concern for them. Thus the usage stood, and it was a laudable usage.
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It is a good work to others, as well as of good use to ourselves, to
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<I>go to the house of mourning.</I> It seems, the prophet Jeremiah had
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been wont to abound in good offices of this kind, and it well became
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his character both as a pious man and as a prophet; and one would think
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it should have made him better beloved among his people than it should
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seem he was. But now God bids him not lament the death of his friends
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as usual, for
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1. His sorrow for the destruction of his country in general must
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swallow up his sorrow for particular deaths. His tears must now be
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turned into another channel; and there is occasion enough for them all.
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2. He had little reason to lament those who died now just before the
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judgments entered which he saw at the door, but rather to think those
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happy who were seasonable <I>taken away from the evil to come.</I>
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3. This was to be a type of what was coming, when there should be such
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universal confusion that all neighbourly friendly offices should be
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neglected. Men shall be in deaths so often, and even dying daily, that
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they shall have no time, no room, no heart, for the ceremonies that
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used to attend death. The sorrows shall be so ponderous as not to admit
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relief, and every one so full of grief for his own troubles that he
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shall have no thought of his neighbours. All shall be mourners then,
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and no comforters; every one will find it enough to bear his own
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burden; for
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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"<I>I have taken away my peace from this people,</I> put a full period
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to their prosperity, deprived them of health, wealth, and quiet, and
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friends, and every thing wherewith they might comfort themselves and
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one another." Whatever peace we enjoy, it is God's peace; it is his
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gift, and, <I>if he give quietness, who then can make trouble?</I> But,
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if we make not a good use of his peace, he can and will take it away;
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and where are we then?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+34:29">Job xxxiv. 29</A>.
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"I will take away my peace, <I>even my loving-kindness and
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mercies;</I>" these shall be shut up and restrained, which are the
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fresh springs from which all their fresh streams flow, and then
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farewell all good. Note, Those have cut themselves off from all true
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peace that have thrown themselves out of the favour of God. All is gone
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when God takes away from us his lovingkindness and his mercies. Then it
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follows
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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<I>Both the great and the small shall die,</I> even <I>in this
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land,</I> the land of Canaan, that used to be called the <I>land of the
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living.</I> God's favour is our life; take away that, and <I>we die, we
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perish, we all perish.</I></P>
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<P>
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III. Jeremiah must not go to the house of mirth, any more than to the
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house of mourning,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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It had been his custom, and it was innocent enough, when any of his
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friends made entertainments at their houses and invited him to them, to
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<I>go and sit with them,</I> not merely to drink, but <I>to eat and to
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drink,</I> soberly and cheerfully. But now he must not take that
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liberty,
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1. Because it was unseasonable, and inconsistent with the providences
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of God in reference to that land and nation. God called aloud to
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<I>weeping, and mourning, and fasting;</I> he was coming forth against
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them in his judgments; and it was time for them to <I>humble
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themselves;</I> and it well became the prophet who gave them the
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warning to give them an example of taking the warning, and complying
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with it, and so to make it appear that he did himself believe it.
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Ministers ought to be examples of self-denial and mortification, and to
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show themselves affected with those terrors of the Lord with which they
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desire to affect others. And it becomes all the sons of Zion to
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sympathize with her in her afflictions, and not to be merry when she is
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perplexed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Am+6:6">Amos vi. 6</A>.
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2. Because he must thus show the people what sad times were coming upon
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them. His friends wondered that he would not meet them, as he used to
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do, in the house of feasting. But he lets them know it was to intimate
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to them that all their feasting would be at an end shortly
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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"<I>I will cause to cease the voice of mirth.</I> You shall have
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nothing to feast on, nothing to rejoice in, but be surrounded with
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calamities that shall mar your mirth and cast a damp upon it." God can
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find ways to tame the most jovial. "This shall be done <I>in this
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place,</I> in Jerusalem, that used to be the <I>joyous city</I> and
|
||
|
thought her joys were all secure to her. It shall be done <I>in your
|
||
|
eyes,</I> in your sight, to be a vexation to you, who now look so
|
||
|
haughty and so merry. It shall be done <I>in your days;</I> you
|
||
|
yourselves shall live to see it." The voice of praise they had made to
|
||
|
cease by their iniquities and idolatries, and therefore justly God made
|
||
|
to cease among them <I>the voice of mirth and gladness.</I> The voice
|
||
|
of God's prophets was not heard, was not heeded, among them, and
|
||
|
therefore no longer shall <I>the voice of the bridegroom and of the
|
||
|
bride,</I> of the songs that used to grace the nuptials, be heard among
|
||
|
them. See
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:34"><I>ch.</I> vii. 34</A>.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_10"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_11"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_12"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_13"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Causes of Divine Judgments.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 605.</TD></TR>
|
||
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people
|
||
|
all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the
|
||
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> pronounced all this great evil against us? or what <I>is</I> our
|
||
|
iniquity? or what <I>is</I> our sin that we have committed against the
|
||
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God?
|
||
|
11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have
|
||
|
forsaken me, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and have walked after other gods,
|
||
|
and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken
|
||
|
me, and have not kept my law;
|
||
|
12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye
|
||
|
walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they
|
||
|
may not hearken unto me:
|
||
|
13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that
|
||
|
ye know not, <I>neither</I> ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye
|
||
|
serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
Here is,
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. An enquiry made into the reasons why God would bring those judgments
|
||
|
upon them
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>When thou shalt show this people all these words,</I> the words of
|
||
|
this curse, they will say unto thee, <I>Wherefore has the Lord
|
||
|
pronounced all this great evil against us?</I> One would hope that
|
||
|
there were some among them that asked this question with a humble
|
||
|
penitent heart, desiring to know what was the sin for which God
|
||
|
contended with them, that they might cast it away and prevent the
|
||
|
judgment: "Show us the Jonah that raises the storm and we will throw it
|
||
|
overboard." But it seems here to be the language of those who
|
||
|
quarrelled at the word of God, and challenged him to show what they had
|
||
|
done which might deserve so severe a punishment: "<I>What is our
|
||
|
iniquity? Or what is our sin?</I> What crime have we even been guilty
|
||
|
of, proportionable to such a sentence?" Instead of humbling and
|
||
|
condemning themselves, they stand upon their own justification and
|
||
|
insinuate that God did them wrong in pronouncing this evil against
|
||
|
them, that he <I>laid upon them more than was right,</I> and that they
|
||
|
had reason to <I>enter into judgment with God,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+34:23">Job xxxiv. 23</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Note, It is amazing to see how hardly sinners are brought to justify
|
||
|
God and judge themselves when they are in trouble, and to own the
|
||
|
iniquity and the sin that have procured them the trouble.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. A plain and full answer given to this enquiry. Do they ask the
|
||
|
prophet why, and for what reason, God is thus angry with them? He shall
|
||
|
not stop their mouths by telling them that they may be sure there is a
|
||
|
sufficient reason, the righteous God is never <I>angry without
|
||
|
cause,</I> without good cause; but he must tell them particularly what
|
||
|
is the cause, that they may be convinced and humbled, or at least that
|
||
|
God may be justified. Let them know then,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) That God visited upon them the iniquities of their fathers
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>Your fathers have forsaken me, and have not kept my law.</I> They
|
||
|
shook off divine institutions and grew weary of them (they thought them
|
||
|
too plain, too mean), and then they <I>walked after other gods,</I>
|
||
|
whose worship was more gay and pompous; and, being fond of variety and
|
||
|
novelty, they <I>served them and worshipped them;</I> and this was the
|
||
|
sin which God had said, in the second commandment, he would <I>visit
|
||
|
upon their children,</I> who kept up these idolatrous usages, because
|
||
|
they received them <I>by tradition from their fathers,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:18">1 Pet. i. 18</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) That God reckoned with them for their own iniquities
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
"You have made your fathers' sin your own, and have become obnoxious to
|
||
|
the punishment which in their days was deferred, for <I>you have done
|
||
|
worse than your fathers.</I>" If they had made a good use of their
|
||
|
fathers' reprieve, and had been led by the patience of God to
|
||
|
repentance, they would have fared the better for it and the judgment
|
||
|
would have been prevented, the reprieve turned into a national pardon;
|
||
|
but, making an ill use of it, and being hardened by it in their sins,
|
||
|
they fared the worse for it, and, the reprieve having expired, an
|
||
|
addition was made to the sentence and it was executed with the more
|
||
|
severity. They were more impudent and obstinate in sin than their
|
||
|
fathers, <I>walked every one after the imagination of his own
|
||
|
heart,</I> made that their guide and rule and were resolved to follow
|
||
|
that, on purpose <I>that they might not hearken to God</I> and his
|
||
|
prophets. They designedly suffered their own lusts and passions to be
|
||
|
noisy, that they might drown the voice of their consciences. No wonder
|
||
|
then that God has taken up this resolution concerning them
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
"<I>I will cast you out of this land,</I> this land of light, this
|
||
|
valley of vision. Since you will not hearken to me, you shall not hear
|
||
|
me; you shall be hurried away, not into a neighbouring country which
|
||
|
you have formerly had some acquaintance and correspondence with, but
|
||
|
into a far country, <I>a land that you know not, neither you nor your
|
||
|
fathers,</I> in which you have no interest, nor can expect to meet with
|
||
|
any comfortable society, to be an allay to your misery." Justly were
|
||
|
those banished into a strange land who doted upon strange gods, which
|
||
|
neither they nor their fathers knew,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:17">Deut. xxxii. 17</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Two things would make their case there very miserable, and both of them
|
||
|
relate to the soul, the better part; the greatest calamities of their
|
||
|
captivity were those which affected that and debarred that from its
|
||
|
bliss.
|
||
|
|
||
|
[1.] "It is the happiness of the soul to be employed in the service of
|
||
|
God; but <I>there shall you serve other gods day and night;</I> that
|
||
|
is, you shall be in continual temptation to serve them and perhaps
|
||
|
compelled to do it by your cruel task-masters; and, when you are forced
|
||
|
to worship idols, you will be as sick of such worship as ever you were
|
||
|
fond of it when it was forbidden you by your godly kings." See how God
|
||
|
often makes men's sin their punishment, and <I>fills the backslider in
|
||
|
heart with his own ways.</I> "You shall have no public worship at all
|
||
|
but the worship of idols, and then you will think with regret how you
|
||
|
slighted the worship of the true God."
|
||
|
|
||
|
[2.] "It is the happiness of the soul to have some tokens of the
|
||
|
lovingkindness of God, but you shall go to a strange land, <I>where I
|
||
|
will not show you favour.</I>" If they had had God's favour, that would
|
||
|
have made even the land of their captivity a pleasant land; but, if
|
||
|
they lie under his wrath, the yoke of their oppression will be
|
||
|
intolerable to them.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_14"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_15"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_16"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_17"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_18"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_19"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_20"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="Jer16_21"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Judgment and Mercy; Restoration of the Jews; Deliverance from Babylon.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TD VALIGN=BOTTOM ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 605.</TD></TR>
|
||
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that it
|
||
|
shall no more be said, The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> liveth, that brought up the
|
||
|
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
|
||
|
15 But, The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> liveth, that brought up the children of Israel
|
||
|
from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had
|
||
|
driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I
|
||
|
gave unto their fathers.
|
||
|
16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and
|
||
|
they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and
|
||
|
they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill,
|
||
|
and out of the holes of the rocks.
|
||
|
17 For mine eyes <I>are</I> upon all their ways: they are not hid
|
||
|
from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
|
||
|
18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin
|
||
|
double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine
|
||
|
inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable
|
||
|
things.
|
||
|
19 O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the
|
||
|
day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the
|
||
|
ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have
|
||
|
inherited lies, vanity, and <I>things</I> wherein <I>there is</I> no
|
||
|
profit.
|
||
|
20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they <I>are</I> no gods?
|
||
|
21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I
|
||
|
will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall
|
||
|
know that my name <I>is</I> The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
There is a mixture of mercy and judgment in these verses, and it is
|
||
|
hard to know to which to apply some of the passages here--they are so
|
||
|
interwoven, and some seem to look as far forward as the times of the
|
||
|
gospel.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. God will certainly execute judgment upon them for their idolatries.
|
||
|
Let them expect it, for the decree has gone forth.
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. God sees all their sins, though they commit them ever so secretly
|
||
|
and palliate them ever so artfully
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>My eyes are upon all their ways.</I> They have not their eye upon
|
||
|
God, have no regard to him, stand in no awe of him; but he has his eye
|
||
|
upon them; neither they nor their sins are <I>hidden from his face,
|
||
|
from his eyes.</I> Note, None of the sins of sinners either can be
|
||
|
concealed from God or shall be overlooked by him,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+5:21,Job+34:21,Ps+90:8">Prov. v. 21; Job xxxiv. 21; Ps. xc. 8</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. God is highly displeased, particularly at their idolatries,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
As his omniscience convicts them, so his justice condemns them: <I>I
|
||
|
will recompense their iniquity and their sin double,</I> not double to
|
||
|
what it deserves, but double to what they expect and to what I have
|
||
|
done formerly. Or I will recompense it <I>abundantly;</I> they shall
|
||
|
now pay for their long reprieve and the divine patience they have
|
||
|
abused. The sin for which God has a controversy with them is their
|
||
|
having <I>defiled God's land</I> with their idolatries, and not only
|
||
|
alienated that which he was entitled to as his inheritance, but
|
||
|
polluted that which he dwelt in with delight as his inheritance, and
|
||
|
made it offensive to him <I>with the carcases of their detestable
|
||
|
things,</I> the gods themselves which they worshipped, the images of
|
||
|
which, though they were of gold and silver, were as loathsome to God as
|
||
|
the putrid carcases of men or beasts are to us. Idols are <I>carcases
|
||
|
of detestable things.</I> God hates them, and so should we. Or he might
|
||
|
refer to the sacrifices which they offered to these idols, with which
|
||
|
<I>the land was filled;</I> for they had high places in all the coasts
|
||
|
and corners of it. This was the sin which, above any other, incensed
|
||
|
God against them.
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. He will find out and raise up instruments of his wrath, that shall
|
||
|
<I>cast them out of their land,</I> according to the sentence passed
|
||
|
upon them
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>I will send for many fishers and many hunters</I>--the Chaldean
|
||
|
army, that shall have many ways of ensnaring and destroying them, by
|
||
|
fraud as fishers, by force as hunters. They shall find them out
|
||
|
wherever they are, and shall chase and closely pursue them, to their
|
||
|
ruin. They shall discover them wherever they are hid, in <I>hills</I>
|
||
|
or <I>mountains,</I> or <I>holes of the rocks,</I> and shall drive them
|
||
|
out. God has various ways of prosecuting a people with his judgments
|
||
|
that avoid the convictions of his word. He has men at command fit for
|
||
|
his purpose; he has them within call, and can send for them when he
|
||
|
pleases.
|
||
|
|
||
|
4. Their bondage in Babylon shall be sorer and much more grievous than
|
||
|
that in Egypt, their task-masters more cruel, and their lives made more
|
||
|
bitter. This is implied in the promise
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
that their deliverance out of Babylon shall be more illustrious in
|
||
|
itself, and more welcome to them, than that out of Egypt. Their slavery
|
||
|
in Egypt came upon them gradually and almost insensibly; that in
|
||
|
Babylon came upon them at once and with all the aggravating
|
||
|
circumstances of terror. In Egypt they had a Goshen of their own, but
|
||
|
none such in Babylon. In Egypt they were used as servants that were
|
||
|
useful, in Babylon as captives that had been hateful.
|
||
|
|
||
|
5. They shall be warned, and God shall be glorified, by these judgments
|
||
|
brought upon them. These judgments have a voice, and speak aloud,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) Instruction to them. When God chastens them he teaches them. By
|
||
|
this rod God expostulates with them
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
"<I>Shall a man make gods to himself?</I> Will any man be so perfectly
|
||
|
void of all reason and consideration as to think that a god of his own
|
||
|
making can stand him in any stead? Will you ever again be such fools as
|
||
|
you have been, to make to yourselves gods which are no gods, when you
|
||
|
have a God whom you may call your own, who made you, and is himself the
|
||
|
true and living God?"
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) Honour to God; for he will be known by the judgments which he
|
||
|
executes. He will first recompense their iniquity
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and then he will <I>this once</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>)--
|
||
|
|
||
|
this once for all, not by many interruptions of their peace, but this
|
||
|
one desolation and destruction of it. "For <I>this once,</I> and no
|
||
|
more, <I>I will cause them to know my hand,</I> the length and weight
|
||
|
of my punishing hand, how far it can reach and how deeply it can wound.
|
||
|
<I>And they shall know that my name is Jehovah,</I> a God with whom
|
||
|
there is no contending, who gives being to threatenings and puts life
|
||
|
into them as well as promises."</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. Yet he has mercy in store for them, intimations of which come in
|
||
|
here for the encouragement of the prophet himself and of those few
|
||
|
among them that tremble at God's word. It was said, with an air of
|
||
|
severity
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
that God would banish them into a strange land; but, that thereby they
|
||
|
might not be driven to despair, there follow immediately words of
|
||
|
comfort.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. <I>The days will come,</I> the joyful days, when the same hand that
|
||
|
dispersed them shall gather them again,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>.
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They are cast out, but they are not cast off, they are not cast away.
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They shall be <I>brought up from the land of the north,</I> the land of
|
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their captivity, where they are held with a strong hand, <I>and from
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all the lands whither they are driven,</I> and where they seemed to be
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|
lost and buried in the crowd; nay, <I>I will bring them again into
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their own land,</I> and settle them there. As he foregoing threatenings
|
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agreed with what was written in this law, so does this promise. <I>Yet
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will I not cast them away,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:44">Lev. xxvi. 44</A>.
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<I>Thence will the Lord thy God gather thee,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+30:4">Deut. xxx. 4</A>.
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And the following words
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)
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may be understood as a promise; God will send for fishers and hunters,
|
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the Medes and Persians, that shall find them out in the countries where
|
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they are scattered, and send them back to their own land; or
|
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Zerubbabel, and others of their own nation, who should fish them out
|
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and hunt after them, to persuade them to return; or whatever
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instruments the Spirit of God made use of to <I>stir up their spirits
|
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to go up,</I> which at first they were backward to do. They began to
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nestle in Babylon; but, <I>as an eagle stirs up her nest and flutters
|
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|
over her young,</I> so God did by them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+2:7">Zech. ii. 7</A>.</P>
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|
<P>
|
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|
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|
2. Their deliverance out of Babylon should, upon some accounts, be more
|
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|
illustrious and memorable than their deliverance out of Egypt was. Both
|
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|
were the Lord's doing and marvellous in their eyes; both were proofs
|
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|
that the Lord liveth and were to be kept in everlasting remembrance, to
|
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|
his honour, as the living God; but the fresh mercy shall be so
|
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|
surprising, so welcome, that it shall even abolish the memory of the
|
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|
former. Not but that new mercies should put us in mind of old ones, and
|
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|
give us occasion to renew our thanksgivings for them; yet because we
|
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|
are tempted to think that the former days were better than these, and
|
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|
to ask, <I>Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of?</I>
|
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|
as if God's <I>arm</I> had <I>waxed short,</I> and to cry up the age of
|
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|
miracles above the later ages, when mercies are wrought in a way of
|
||
|
common providence, therefore we are allowed here comparatively to
|
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|
forget the bringing of Israel out of Egypt as a deliverance outdone by
|
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|
that out of Babylon. That was done <I>by might and power,</I> this
|
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|
<I>by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts,</I>
|
||
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+4:6">Zech. iv. 6</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In this there was more of pardoning mercy (the most glorious branch of
|
||
|
divine mercy) than in that; for their captivity in Babylon had more in
|
||
|
it of the punishment of sin than their bondage in Egypt; and therefore
|
||
|
that which comforts Zion in her deliverance out of Babylon is this,
|
||
|
that <I>her iniquity is pardoned,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+40:2">Isa. xl. 2</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Note, God glorifies himself, and we must glorify him, in those mercies
|
||
|
that have no miracles in them, as well as in those that have. And,
|
||
|
though the favours of God to our fathers must not be forgotten, yet
|
||
|
those to ourselves in our own day we must especially give thanks
|
||
|
for.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. Their deliverance out of captivity shall be accompanied with a
|
||
|
blessed reformation, and they shall return effectually cured of their
|
||
|
inclination to idolatry, which will complete their deliverance and make
|
||
|
it a mercy indeed. They had defiled their own land with their
|
||
|
<I>detestable things,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
But, when they have smarted for so doing, they shall come and humble
|
||
|
themselves before God,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:19-21"><I>v.</I> 19-21</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) They shall be brought to acknowledge that their God only is God
|
||
|
indeed, for he is a God in need--<I>"My strength</I> to support and
|
||
|
comfort me, <I>my fortress</I> to protect and shelter me, <I>and my
|
||
|
refuge</I> to whom I may flee <I>in the day of affliction.</I>" Note,
|
||
|
Need drives many to God who had set themselves at a distance from him.
|
||
|
Those that slighted him in the day of their prosperity will be glad to
|
||
|
flee to him in the day of their affliction.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) They shall be quickened to return to him by the conversion of the
|
||
|
Gentiles: <I>The Gentiles shall come to thee from the ends of the
|
||
|
earth;</I> and therefore shall not we come? Or, "The Jews, who had by
|
||
|
their idolatries made themselves as Gentiles (so I rather understand
|
||
|
it), <I>shall come to thee</I> by repentance and reformation, shall
|
||
|
return to their duty and allegiance, even <I>from the ends of the
|
||
|
earth,</I> from all the countries whither they were driven." The
|
||
|
prophet comforts himself with the hope of this, and in a transport of
|
||
|
joy returns to God the notice he had given him of it: "<I>O Lord! my
|
||
|
strength and my fortress,</I> I am now easy, since thou hast given me a
|
||
|
prospect of multitudes that shall <I>come to thee from the ends of the
|
||
|
earth,</I> both of Jewish converts and of Gentile proselytes." Note,
|
||
|
Those that are brought to God themselves cannot but rejoice greatly to
|
||
|
see others coming to him, coming back to him.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) They shall acknowledge the folly of their ancestors, which it
|
||
|
becomes them to do, when they were smarting for the sins of their
|
||
|
ancestors: "<I>Surely our fathers have inherited,</I> not the
|
||
|
satisfaction they promised themselves and their children, but <I>lies,
|
||
|
vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.</I> We are now sensible
|
||
|
that our fathers were cheated in their idolatrous worship; it did not
|
||
|
prove what it promised, and therefore what have we to do any more with
|
||
|
it?" Note, It were well if the disappointment which some have met with
|
||
|
in the service of sin, and the pernicious consequences of it to them,
|
||
|
might prevail to deter others from treading in their steps.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(4.) They shall reason themselves out of their idolatry; and that
|
||
|
reformation is likely to be sincere and durable which results from a
|
||
|
rational conviction of the gross absurdity there is in sin. They shall
|
||
|
argue thus with themselves (and it is well argued), <I>Should a man</I>
|
||
|
be such a fool, so perfectly void of the reason of a man, as to <I>make
|
||
|
gods to himself,</I> the creatures of his own fancy, the work of his
|
||
|
own hands, when they are really <I>no gods?</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Can a man be so besotted, so perfectly lost to human understanding, as
|
||
|
to expect any divine blessing or favour from that which pretends to no
|
||
|
divinity but what it first received from him?
|
||
|
|
||
|
(5.) They shall herein give honour to God, and make it to appear that
|
||
|
they know both his hand in his providence and his name in his word, and
|
||
|
that they are brought to know his name by what they are made to know of
|
||
|
his hand,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+16:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
<I>This once,</I> now at length, they shall be made to know that which
|
||
|
they would not be brought to know by all the pains the prophets took
|
||
|
with them. Note, So stupid are we that nothing less than the mighty
|
||
|
hand of divine grace, known experimentally, can make us know rightly
|
||
|
the name of God as it is revealed to us.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
4. Their deliverance out of captivity shall be a type and figure of
|
||
|
this great salvation to be wrought out by the Messiah, who shall
|
||
|
<I>gather together in one the children of God that were scattered
|
||
|
abroad.</I> And this is that which so far outshines the deliverance out
|
||
|
of Egypt as even to eclipse the lustre of it, and make it even to be
|
||
|
forgotten. To this some apply that of the <I>many fishers</I> and
|
||
|
<I>hunters,</I> the preachers of the gospel, who were <I>fishers of
|
||
|
men,</I> to enclose souls with the gospel net, to find them out <I>in
|
||
|
every mountain</I> and <I>hill,</I> and secure them for Christ. Then
|
||
|
the Gentiles came to God, some <I>from the ends of the earth,</I> and
|
||
|
turned to the worship of him from the service of dumb idols.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
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