mh_parser/vol_split/24 - Jeremiah/Chapter 14.xml

<div2 id="Jer.xv" n="xv" next="Jer.xvi" prev="Jer.xiv" progress="33.46%" title="Chapter XIV">
<h2 id="Jer.xv-p0.1">J E R E M I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jer.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jer.xv-p1" shownumber="no">This chapter was penned upon occasion of a great
drought, for want of rain. This judgment began in the latter end of
Josiah's reign, but, as it should seem, continued in the beginning
of Jehoiakim's: for less judgments are sent to give warning of
greater coming, if not prevented by repentance. This calamity was
mentioned several times before, but here, in this chapter, more
fully. Here is, I. A melancholy description of it, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.1-Jer.14.6" parsed="|Jer|14|1|14|6" passage="Jer 14:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. A prayer to God to
put an end to this calamity and to return in mercy to their land,
<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.7-Jer.14.9" parsed="|Jer|14|7|14|9" passage="Jer 14:7-9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. III. A severe
threatening that God would proceed in his controversy, because they
proceeded in their iniquity, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.10-Jer.14.12" parsed="|Jer|14|10|14|12" passage="Jer 14:10-12">ver.
10-12</scripRef>. IV. The prophet's excusing the people, by laying
the blame on their false prophets; and the doom passed both on the
deceivers and the deceived, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.13-Jer.14.16" parsed="|Jer|14|13|14|16" passage="Jer 14:13-16">ver.
13-16</scripRef>. V. Directions given to the prophet, instead of
interceding for them, to lament them; but his continuing
notwithstanding to intercede for them, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.17-Jer.14.22" parsed="|Jer|14|17|14|22" passage="Jer 14:17-22">ver. 17-22</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jer.xv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14" parsed="|Jer|14|0|0|0" passage="Jer 14" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jer.xv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.1-Jer.14.9" parsed="|Jer|14|1|14|9" passage="Jer 14:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xv-p1.8">
<h4 id="Jer.xv-p1.9">Lamentation Caused by a Great Drought;
Prayer for Mercy; Pleading with God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p1.10">b.
c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xv-p2" shownumber="no">1 The word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p2.1">Lord</span> that came to Jeremiah concerning the
dearth.   2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish;
they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone
up.   3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the
waters: they came to the pits, <i>and</i> found no water; they
returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and
confounded, and covered their heads.   4 Because the ground is
chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were
ashamed, they covered their heads.   5 Yea, the hind also
calved in the field, and forsook <i>it,</i> because there was no
grass.   6 And the wild asses did stand in the high places,
they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because
<i>there was</i> no grass.   7 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p2.2">O
Lord</span>, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou
<i>it</i> for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we
have sinned against thee.   8 O the hope of Israel, the
saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a
stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man <i>that</i> turneth
aside to tarry for a night?   9 Why shouldest thou be as a man
astonied, as a mighty man <i>that</i> cannot save? yet thou, <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p2.3">O Lord</span>, <i>art</i> in the midst of us, and
we are called by thy name; leave us not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p3" shownumber="no">The first verse is the title of the whole
chapter: it does indeed all <i>concern the dearth,</i> but much of
it consists of the prophet's prayers concerning it; yet these are
not unfitly said to be, <i>The word of the Lord which came to
him</i> concerning it, for every acceptable prayer is that which
God puts into our hearts; nothing is our word that comes to him but
what is first his word that comes from him. In these verses we
have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p4" shownumber="no">I. The language of nature lamenting the
calamity. When the heavens were as brass, and distilled no dews,
the earth was as iron, and produced no fruits; and then the grief
and confusion were universal. 1. The people of the land were all in
tears. Destroy their vines and their fig-trees and you cause all
their mirth to cease, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.11-Hos.2.12" parsed="|Hos|2|11|2|12" passage="Ho 2:11,12">Hos. ii. 11,
12</scripRef>. All their joy fails with the joy of harvest, with
that of their corn and wine. <i>Judah mourns</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.2" parsed="|Jer|14|2|0|0" passage="Jer 14:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), not for the sin, but
for the trouble—for the withholding of the rain, not for the
withdrawing of God's favour. <i>The gates thereof,</i> all that go
in and out at their gates, <i>languish,</i> look pale, and grow
feeble, for want of the necessary supports of life and for fear of
the further fatal consequences of this judgment. <i>The gates,</i>
through which supplies of corn formerly used to be brought into
their cities, now look melancholy, when, instead of that, the
inhabitants are departing through them to seek for bread in other
countries. Even those that sit in the gates languish; <i>they are
black unto the ground,</i> they go in black as mourners and sit on
the ground, as the poor beggars at the gates are <i>black in the
face</i> for want of food, <i>blacker than a coal,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.8" parsed="|Lam|4|8|0|0" passage="La 4:8">Lam. iv. 8</scripRef>. Famine is represented by a
black horse, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.5" parsed="|Rev|6|5|0|0" passage="Re 6:5">Rev. vi. 5</scripRef>. They
fall to the ground through weakness, not being able to go along the
streets. <i>The cry of Jerusalem has gone up;</i> that is, of the
citizens (for the city is <i>served by the field</i>), or of people
from all parts of the country met at Jerusalem to pray for rain; so
some. But I fear it was rather the cry of their trouble, and the
cry of their prayer. 2. The great men of the land felt from this
judgment (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.3" parsed="|Jer|14|3|0|0" passage="Jer 14:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
<i>The nobles sent their little ones to the water,</i> perhaps
their own children, having been forced to part with their servants
because they had not wherewithal to keep them, and being willing to
train up their children, when they were little, to labour,
especially in a case of necessity, as this was. We find Ahab and
Obadiah, the king and the lord chamberlain of his household, in
their own persons, seeking for water in such a time of distress as
this was, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.5-1Kgs.18.6" parsed="|1Kgs|18|5|18|6" passage="1Ki 18:5,6">1 Kings xviii. 5,
6</scripRef>. Or, rather, <i>their meaner ones,</i> their servants
and inferior officers; these they sent to seek for water, which
there is no living without; but there was none to be found: They
<i>returned with their vessels empty;</i> the springs were dried up
when there was no rain to feed them; and then <i>they</i> (their
masters that sent them) <i>were ashamed and confounded</i> at the
disappointment. They would not be ashamed of their sins, nor
confounded at the sense of them, but were unhumbled under the
reproofs of the word, thinking their wealth and dignity set them
above repentance; but God took a course to make them ashamed of
that which they were so proud of, when they found that even on this
side hell their nobility would not purchase them a drop of water to
cool their tongue. Let our reading the account of this calamity
make us thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not by the
feeling of the calamity be taught to value it. What is most needful
is most plentiful. 3. The husbandmen felt most sensibly and
immediately from it (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.4" parsed="|Jer|14|4|0|0" passage="Jer 14:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): <i>The ploughmen were ashamed,</i> for the ground
was so parched and hard that it would not admit the plough even
when it was so <i>chapt</i> and cleft that it seemed as if it did
not need the plough. They were ashamed to be idle, for there was
nothing to be done, and therefore nothing to be expected. The
<i>sluggard, that will not plough by reason of cold,</i> is not
ashamed of his own folly; but the diligent husbandman, that cannot
plough by reason of heat, is ashamed of his own affliction. See
what an immediate dependence husbandmen have upon the divine
Providence, which therefore they should always have an eye to, for
they cannot plough nor sow in hope unless God <i>water their
furrows,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.10" parsed="|Ps|65|10|0|0" passage="Ps 65:10">Ps. lxv. 10</scripRef>.
4. The case even of the wild beasts was very pitiable, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.5-Jer.14.6" parsed="|Jer|14|5|14|6" passage="Jer 14:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. Man's sin brings
those judgments upon the earth which make even the inferior
creatures groan: and the prophet takes notice of this as a plea
with God for mercy. Judah and Jerusalem have sinned, but the hinds
and the wild asses, what have they done? The hinds are pleasant
creatures, lovely and loving, and particularly tender of their
young; and yet such is the extremity of the case that, contrary to
the instinct of their nature, they leave their young, even when
they are newly calved and most need them, to seek for grass
elsewhere; and, if they can find none, they <i>abandon</i> them,
because not able to suckle them. It grieved not the hind so much
that she had no grass herself as that she had none for her young,
which will shame those who spend that upon their lusts which they
should preserve for their families. The hind, when she has brought
forth her young, is said to have <i>cast forth her sorrows</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.10" osisRef="Bible:Job.39.3" parsed="|Job|39|3|0|0" passage="Job 39:3">Job xxxix. 3</scripRef>), and yet she
continues her cares; but, as it follows there, she soon sees the
good effect of them, for <i>her young ones</i> in a little while
<i>grow up,</i> and trouble her no more, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.11" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.4" parsed="|Jer|14|4|0|0" passage="Jer 14:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. But here the great trouble of
all is that she has nothing for them. Nay, one would be sorry even
for the <i>wild asses</i> (though they are creatures that none have
any great affection for); for, though the <i>barren land</i> is
made <i>their dwelling</i> at the best (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.12" osisRef="Bible:Job.39.5-Job.39.6" parsed="|Job|39|5|39|6" passage="Job 39:5,6">Job xxxix. 5, 6</scripRef>), yet even that is now made
too hot for them, so hot that they cannot breathe in it, but they
get to the <i>highest places</i> they can reach, where the air is
coolest, and <i>snuff up the wind like dragons,</i> like those
creatures which, being very hot, are continually panting for
breath. <i>Their eyes fail,</i> and so does their strength,
<i>because there is no grass</i> to support them. The tame ass,
that serves her owner, is welcome to <i>his crib</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p4.13" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.3" parsed="|Isa|1|3|0|0" passage="Isa 1:3">Isa. i. 3</scripRef>) and has her keeping for her
labour, when the <i>wild ass,</i> that <i>scorns the crying of the
driver,</i> is forced to <i>live upon air,</i> and is well enough
served for not serving. <i>He that will not labour, let him not
eat.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p5" shownumber="no">II. Here is the language of grace,
lamenting the iniquity, and complaining to God of the calamity. The
people are not forward to pray, but the prophet here prays for
them, and so excites them to pray for themselves, and puts words
into their mouths, which they may make use of, in hopes to speed,
<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.7-Jer.14.9" parsed="|Jer|14|7|14|9" passage="Jer 14:7-9"><i>v.</i> 7-9</scripRef>. In this
prayer, 1. Sin is humbly confessed. When we come to pray for the
preventing or removing of any judgment we must always acknowledge
that our <i>iniquities testify against us.</i> Our sins are
witnesses against us, and true penitents see them to be such. They
testify, for they are plain and evident; we cannot deny the charge.
They testify against us, for our conviction, which tends to our
present shame and confusion, and our future condemnation. They
disprove and overthrow all our pleas for ourselves; and so not only
accuse us, but answer against us. If we boast of our own
excellencies, and trust to our own righteousness, our iniquities
testify against us, and prove us perverse. If we quarrel with God
as dealing unjustly or unkindly with us in afflicting us, our
iniquities testify against us that we do him wrong; "for <i>our
backslidings are many</i> and our revolts are great, whereby <i>we
have sinned against thee</i>—too numerous to be concealed, for
they are many, too heinous to be excused, for they are against
thee." 2. Mercy is earnestly begged: "<i>Though our iniquities
testify against us,</i> and against the granting of the favour
which the necessity of our case calls for, yet <i>do thou it.</i>"
They do not say particularly what they would have done; but, as
becomes penitents and beggars, they refer the matter to God: "Do
with us as thou thinkest fit," <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.15" parsed="|Judg|10|15|0|0" passage="Jdg 10:15">Judg.
x. 15</scripRef>. Not, <i>Do thou it</i> in this way or at this
time, but "<i>Do thou it for thy name's sake;</i> do that which
will be most for the glory of thy name." Note, Our best pleas in
prayer are those that are fetched from the glory of God's own name.
"Lord, do it, that thy mercy may be magnified, thy promise
fulfilled, and thy interest in the world kept up; we have nothing
to plead in ourselves, but every thing in thee." There is another
petition in this prayer, and it is a very modest one (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.9" parsed="|Jer|14|9|0|0" passage="Jer 14:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>Leave us not,</i>
withdraw not thy favour and presence." Note, We should dread and
deprecate God's departure from us more than the removal of any or
all our creature-comforts. 3. Their relation to God, their interest
in him, and their expectations from him grounded thereupon, are
most pathetically pleaded with him, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.8-Jer.14.9" parsed="|Jer|14|8|14|9" passage="Jer 14:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. (1.) They look upon him as
one they have reason to think should deliver them when they are in
distress, yea, though their iniquities testify against them; for in
him mercy has often rejoiced against judgment. The prophet, like
Moses of old, is willing to make the best he can of the case of his
people, and therefore, though he must own that they have sinned
many a great sin (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.31" parsed="|Exod|32|31|0|0" passage="Ex 32:31">Exod. xxxii.
31</scripRef>), yet he pleads, <i>Thou art the hope of Israel.</i>
God has encouraged his people to hope in him; in calling himself so
often the <i>God of Israel,</i> the <i>rock of Israel,</i> and the
<i>Holy One of Israel,</i> he has made himself the <i>hope of
Israel.</i> He has given Israel his word to hope in, and caused
them to hope in it; and there are those yet in Israel that make God
alone their hope, and expect he will be <i>their Saviour in time of
trouble,</i> and they look not for salvation in any other; "Thou
hast many a time been such, in the time of their extremity." Note,
Since God is his people's all-sufficient Saviour, they ought to
hope in him in their greatest straits; and, since he is their only
Saviour, they ought to hope in him alone. They plead likewise,
"<i>Thou art in the midst of us;</i> we have the special tokens of
thy presence with us, thy temple, thy ark, thy oracles, and <i>we
are called by the name,</i> the <i>Israel</i> of God; and therefore
we have reason to hope thou wilt not leave us; <i>we are thine,
save us.</i> Thy name is called upon us, and therefore what evils
we are under reflect dishonour upon thee, as if thou wert not able
to relieve thy own." The prophet had often told the people that
their profession of religion would not protect them from the
judgments of God; yet here he pleads it with God, as Moses,
<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.11" parsed="|Exod|32|11|0|0" passage="Ex 32:11">Exod. xxxii. 11</scripRef>. Even this
may go far as to temporal punishments with a God of mercy.
<i>Valeat quantum valere potest—Let the plea avail as far as is
proper.</i> (2.) It therefore grieves them to think that he does
not appear for their deliverance; and, though they do not charge it
upon him as unrighteous, they humbly plead it with him why he
should be gracious, for the glory of his own name. For otherwise he
will seem, [1.] Unconcerned for his own people: <i>What will the
Egyptians say?</i> they will say, "Israel's hope and Saviour does
not mind them; he has become <i>as a stranger in the land,</i> that
does not at all interest himself in its interests; his temple,
which he called <i>his rest for ever,</i> is no more so, but he is
in it <i>as a wayfaring man, that turns aside to tarry but for a
night</i> in an inn, which he never enquires into the affairs of,
nor is in any care about." Though God never is, yet he sometimes
seems to be, as if he cared not what became of his church: Christ
slept when his disciples were in storm. [2.] Incapable of giving
them any relief. The enemies once said, Because the Lord <i>was not
able to bring</i> his people to Canaan, he let them <i>perish in
the wilderness</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.16" parsed="|Num|14|16|0|0" passage="Nu 14:16">Num. xiv.
16</scripRef>); so now they will say, "Either his wisdom or his
power fails him; either he is <i>as a man astonished</i> (who,
though he has the reason of a man, yet, being astonished, is quite
at a loss and at his wits' end) or as a <i>mighty man</i> who is
overpowered by such as are more mighty, and therefore <i>cannot
save;</i> though mighty, yet a man, and therefore having his power
limited." Either of these would be a most insufferable reproach to
the divine perfections; and therefore, why has the God that we are
sure <i>is in the midst of us</i> become <i>as a stranger?</i> Why
does the almighty God seem as if he were no more than a mighty man,
who, when he is astonished, though he would, yet cannot save? It
becomes us in prayer to show ourselves concerned more for God's
glory than for our own comfort. Lord, <i>what wilt thou do unto thy
great name?</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.xv-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.10-Jer.14.16" parsed="|Jer|14|10|14|16" passage="Jer 14:10-16" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xv-p5.9">
<h4 id="Jer.xv-p5.10">Divine Threatenings. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p5.11">b. c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xv-p6" shownumber="no">10 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p6.1">Lord</span> unto this people, Thus have they loved to
wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p6.2">Lord</span> doth not accept them; he will now
remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.   11 Then said
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p6.3">Lord</span> unto me, Pray not for this
people for <i>their</i> good.   12 When they fast, I will not
hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation,
I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and
by the famine, and by the pestilence.   13 Then said I, Ah,
Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p6.4">God</span>! behold, the prophets say
unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have
famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.   14
Then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p6.5">Lord</span> said unto me, The
prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I
commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a
false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit
of their heart.   15 Therefore thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p6.6">Lord</span> concerning the prophets that prophesy in my
name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not
be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be
consumed.   16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be
cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the
sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives,
nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their
wickedness upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p7" shownumber="no">The dispute between God and his prophet, in
this chapter, seems to be like that between the owner and the
dresser of the vineyard concerning the barren fig-tree, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.7" parsed="|Luke|13|7|0|0" passage="Lu 13:7">Luke xiii. 7</scripRef>. The justice of the owner
condemns it to be cut down; the clemency of the dresser intercedes
for a reprieve. Jeremiah had been earnest with God, in prayer, to
return in mercy to this people. Now here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p8" shownumber="no">I. God overrules the plea which he had
offered in their favour, and shows him that it would not hold. In
answer to it thus he says concerning <i>this people,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.10" parsed="|Jer|14|10|0|0" passage="Jer 14:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. He does not say,
concerning <i>my people,</i> for he disowns them, because they had
broken covenant with him. It is true they were <i>called by his
name,</i> and had the tokens of his presence among them; but they
had sinned, and provoked God to withdraw. This the prophet had
owned, and had hoped to obtain mercy for them, notwithstanding
this, through intercession and sacrifice; therefore God here tells
him, 1. That they were not duly qualified for a pardon. The prophet
had owned that <i>their backslidings were many;</i> and, though
they were so, yet there was hope for them if they returned. But
<i>this people</i> show no disposition at all to return; they have
wandered, and <i>they have loved to wander;</i> their backslidings
have been their choice and their pleasure, which should have been
their shame and pain, and therefore they will be their ruin. They
cannot expect God should take up his rest with them when they take
such delight in going astray from him after their idols. It is not
through necessity or inadvertency that they wander, but they love
to wander. Sinners are wanderers from God; their wanderings forfeit
God's favour, but it is their loving to wander that quite cuts them
off from it. They were told what their wanderings would come to
that one sin would hurry them on to another, and all to ruin; and
yet they have not taken warning and <i>refrained their feet.</i> So
far were they from returning to their God that neither his prophets
nor his judgments could prevail upon them to give themselves the
least check in a sinful pursuit. This is that for which God is now
reckoning with them. When he denies them rain from heaven he is
<i>remembering their iniquity</i> and <i>visiting their sin;</i>
that is it for which their <i>fruitful land</i> is thus <i>turned
into barrenness.</i> 2. That they had no reason to expect that the
God they had rejected should accept them; no, not though they
betook themselves to fasting and prayer and put themselves to the
expense of burnt-offerings and sacrifice: <i>The Lord doth not
accept them,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.10" parsed="|Jer|14|10|0|0" passage="Jer 14:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. <i>He takes no pleasure in them</i> (so the word
is); for what pleasure can the holy God take in those that take
pleasure in his rivals, in any service, in any society, rather than
his? "<i>When they fast</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.12" parsed="|Jer|14|12|0|0" passage="Jer 14:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), which is a proper expression
of repentance and reformation,—<i>when they offer a burnt offering
and an oblation,</i> which was designed to be an expression of
faith in a Mediator,—though their prayers be thus enforced, and
offered up in those vehicles that used to be acceptable, yet,
because they do not proceed from humble, penitent, and renewed
hearts, but still they <i>love to wander,</i> therefore <i>I will
not hear their cry,</i> be it ever so loud; <i>nor will I accept
them,</i> neither their persons nor their performances." It had
been long since declared, <i>The sacrifice of the wicked is an
abomination to the Lord;</i> and those only are <i>accepted</i>
that <i>do well,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.7" parsed="|Gen|4|7|0|0" passage="Ge 4:7">Gen. iv.
7</scripRef>. 3. That they had forfeited all benefit by the
prophet's prayers for them because they had not regarded his
preaching to them. This is the meaning of that repeated prohibition
given to the prophet (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.11" parsed="|Jer|14|11|0|0" passage="Jer 14:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>): <i>Pray not thou for this people for their
good,</i> as before, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.15 Bible:Jer.11.14" parsed="|Jer|7|15|0|0;|Jer|11|14|0|0" passage="Jer 7:15,11:14"><i>ch.</i>
vii. 15; xi. 14</scripRef>. This did not forbid him thus to express
his <i>good-will</i> to them (Moses continued to intercede for
Israel after God had said, <i>Let me alone,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.10" parsed="|Exod|32|10|0|0" passage="Ex 32:10">Exod. xxxii. 10</scripRef>), but it forbade them to
expect any good effect from it as long as they <i>turned away their
ear from hearing the law.</i> Thus was the doom of the impenitent
ratified, as that of Saul's rejection was by that word to Samuel,
<i>When wilt thou cease to mourn for Saul?</i> It therefore follows
(<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.12" parsed="|Jer|14|12|0|0" passage="Jer 14:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), <i>I will
consume them,</i> not only by this famine, but by the further sore
judgments of sword and pestilence; for God has many arrows in his
quiver, and those that will not be convinced and reclaimed by one
shall be consumed by another.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p9" shownumber="no">II. The prophet offers another plea in
excuse for the people's obstinacy, and it is but an excuse, but he
was willing to say whatever their case would bear; it is this, That
the prophets, who pretended a commission from heaven, imposed upon
them, and flattered them with assurances of peace though they went
on in their sinful way, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.13" parsed="|Jer|14|13|0|0" passage="Jer 14:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. He speaks of it with lamentation: "<i>Ah! Lord
God,</i> the poor people seem willing to take notice of what comes
in thy name, and there are those who in thy name tell them that
they <i>shall not see the sword nor famine;</i> and they say it as
from thee, with all the gravity and confidence of prophets: <i>I
will</i> continue you <i>in this place,</i> and will <i>give you
assured peace</i> here, peace of truth. I tell them the contrary;
but I am one against many, and every one is apt to credit that
which makes for them; therefore, Lord, pity and spare them, for
<i>their leaders cause them to err.</i>" This excuse would have
been of some weight if they had not had warning given them, before,
of false prophets, and rules by which to distinguish them; so that
if they were deceived it was entirely their own fault. But this
teaches us, as far as we can with truth, to make the best of bad,
and judge as charitably of others as their case will bear.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p10" shownumber="no">III. God not only overrules this plea, but
condemns both the blind leaders and the blind followers to fall
together into the ditch. 1. God disowns the flatteries (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.14" parsed="|Jer|14|14|0|0" passage="Jer 14:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>They prophesy lies
in my name.</i> They had no commission from God to prophesy at all:
<i>I neither sent them, nor commanded them, nor spoke unto
them.</i> They never were employed to go on any errand at all from
God; he never made himself known to them, much less by them to the
people; never any word of the Lord came to them, no call, no
warrant, no instruction, much less did he send them on this errand,
to rock them asleep in security. No; men may flatter themselves,
and Satan may flatter them, but God never does. It is <i>a false
vision, and a thing of nought.</i> Note, What is false and
groundless is vain and worthless. The vision that is not true, be
it ever so pleasing, is good for nothing; it is the <i>deceit of
their heart,</i> a spider's web spun out of their own bowels, and
in it they think to shelter themselves, but it will be swept away
in a moment and prove a great cheat. Those that oppose their own
thoughts of God's word (God indeed says so, but they think
otherwise) walk in the <i>deceit of their heart,</i> and it will be
their ruin. 2. He passes sentence upon the flatterers, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.15" parsed="|Jer|14|15|0|0" passage="Jer 14:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. As for the prophets,
who put this abuse upon the people by telling them they shall have
peace, and this affront upon God by telling them so in God's name,
let them know that they shall have no peace themselves. They shall
fall first by those very judgments which they have flattered others
with the hopes of an exemption from. They undertook to warrant
people that <i>sword and famine</i> should <i>not be in the
land;</i> but it shall soon appear how little their warrants are
good for, when they themselves shall be cut off by sword and
famine. How should they secure others or foretel peace to them when
they cannot secure themselves, nor have such a foresight of their
own calamities as to get out of the way of them? Note, The sorest
punishment await those who promise sinners impunity in their sinful
ways. 3. He lays the flattered under the same doom: The <i>people
to whom they prophesy lies,</i> and who willingly suffer themselves
to be thus imposed upon, <i>shall die by sword and famine,</i>
<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.16" parsed="|Jer|14|16|0|0" passage="Jer 14:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Note, The
unbelief of the deceived, with all the falsehood of the deceivers,
shall not make the divine threatenings of no effect; sword and
famine will come, whatever they say to the contrary; and those will
be least safe that are most secure. Impenitent sinners will not
escape the damnation of hell by saying that they can never believe
there is such a thing, but will feel what they will not fear. It is
threatened that this people shall not only fall by <i>sword and
famine,</i> but that they shall be as it were hanged up in chains,
as monuments of that divine justice which they set at defiance;
their bodies shall be <i>cast out,</i> even <i>in the streets of
Jerusalem,</i> which of all places, one would think, should be kept
clear from such nuisances: there they shall lie unburied; their
nearest relations, who should do them that last office of love,
being so poor that they cannot afford it, or so weakened with
hunger that they are not able to attend it, or so overwhelmed with
grief that they have no heart to it, or so destitute of natural
affection that they will not pay them so much respect. Thus will
God <i>pour their wickedness upon them,</i> that is, the punishment
of their wickedness; the full vials of God's wrath shall be poured
upon them, to which they have made themselves obnoxious. Note, When
sinners are overwhelmed with trouble they must in it see their own
wickedness poured upon them. This refers to the wickedness both of
the false prophets and of the people; the blind lead the blind, and
both fall together into the ditch, where they will be miserable
comforters one to another.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.xv-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.17-Jer.14.22" parsed="|Jer|14|17|14|22" passage="Jer 14:17-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xv-p10.5">
<h4 id="Jer.xv-p10.6">The Prophet's Intercession. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p10.7">b. c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xv-p11" shownumber="no">17 Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them;
Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not
cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great
breach, with a very grievous blow.   18 If I go forth into the
field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into
the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the
prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
  19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed
Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and <i>there is</i> no healing for
us? we looked for peace, and <i>there is</i> no good; and for the
time of healing, and behold trouble!   20 We acknowledge,
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p11.1">O Lord</span>, our wickedness, <i>and</i>
the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
  21 Do not abhor <i>us,</i> for thy name's sake, do not
disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant
with us.   22 Are there <i>any</i> among the vanities of the
Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers?
<i>art</i> not thou he, O <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xv-p11.2">Lord</span> our
God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these
<i>things.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p12" shownumber="no">The present deplorable state of Judah and
Jerusalem is here made the matter of the prophet's lamentation
(<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.17-Jer.14.18" parsed="|Jer|14|17|14|18" passage="Jer 14:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>) and
the occasion of his prayer and intercession for them (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.19" parsed="|Jer|14|19|0|0" passage="Jer 14:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), and I am willing to
hope that the latter, as well as the former, was by divine
direction, and that these words (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.17" parsed="|Jer|14|17|0|0" passage="Jer 14:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), <i>Thus shalt thou say unto
them</i> (or <i>concerning them,</i> or <i>in their hearing</i>),
refer to the intercession, as well as to the lamentation, and then
it amounts to a revocation of the directions given to the prophet
not to pray for them, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.11" parsed="|Jer|14|11|0|0" passage="Jer 14:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>. However, it is plain, by the prayers we find in
these verses, that the prophet did not understand it as a
prohibition, but only as a discouragement, like that <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.16" parsed="|1John|5|16|0|0" passage="1Jo 5:16">1 John v. 16</scripRef>, <i>I do not say he
shall pray for that.</i> Here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p13" shownumber="no">I. The prophet stands weeping over the
ruins of his country; God directs him to do so, that, showing
himself affected, he might, if possible, affect them with the
foresight of the calamities that were coming upon them. Jeremiah
must say it not only to himself, but to them too: <i>Let my eyes
run down with tears,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.17" parsed="|Jer|14|17|0|0" passage="Jer 14:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>. Thus he must signify to them that he certainly
foresaw <i>the sword</i> coming, and another sort of famine, more
grievous even than this which they were now groaning under; this
was in the country for want of rain, that would be in the city
through the straitness of the siege. The prophet speaks as if he
already saw the miseries attending the descent which the Chaldeans
made upon them: <i>The virgin daughter of my people,</i> that is as
dear to me as a daughter to her father, <i>is broken with a great
breach, with a very grievous blow,</i> much greater and more
grievous than any she has yet sustained; for (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.18" parsed="|Jer|14|18|0|0" passage="Jer 14:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>) <i>in the field</i> multitudes
lie dead that were <i>slain by the sword,</i> and in the city
multitudes lie dying for want of food. Doleful spectacles! "<i>The
prophets and the priests,</i> the false prophets that flattered
them with their lies and the wicked priests that persecuted the
true prophets, are now expelled their country, and <i>go about</i>
either as prisoners and captives, whithersoever their conquerors
lead them, or as fugitives and vagabonds, wherever they can find
shelter and relief, <i>in a land that they know not.</i>" Some
understand this of the true prophets, Ezekiel and Daniel, that were
carried to Babylon with the rest. The prophet's eyes must run down
<i>with tears day and night,</i> in prospect of this, that the
people might be convinced, not only that this woeful day would
infallibly come, and would be a very woeful day indeed, but that he
was far from desiring it, and would as gladly have brought them
messages of peace as their false prophets, if he might have had
warrant from heaven to do it. Note, Because God, though he inflicts
death on sinners, yet delights not in it, it becomes his ministers,
though in his name they pronounce the death of sinners, yet sadly
to lament it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p14" shownumber="no">II. He stands up to make intercession for
them; for who knows but God will yet return and repent? While there
is life there is hope, and room for prayer. And, though there were
many among them who neither prayed themselves nor valued the
prophet's prayers, yet there were some who were better affected,
would join with him in his devotions, and set the seal of their
<i>Amen</i> to them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p15" shownumber="no">1. He humbly expostulates with God
concerning the present deplorableness of their case, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.19" parsed="|Jer|14|19|0|0" passage="Jer 14:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. It was very sad, for,
(1.) Their expectations from their God failed them; they thought he
had avouched Judah to be his, but now, it seems, he has <i>utterly
rejected</i> it, and cast it off, will not own any relation to it
nor concern for it. They thought Zion was the beloved of his soul,
was his rest for ever; but now <i>his soul</i> even <i>loathes
Zion,</i> loathes even the services there performed, for the sake
of the sins there committed. (2.) Then no marvel that all their
other expectations failed them: <i>They were smitten,</i> and their
wounds were multiplied, but there was <i>no healing</i> for them;
they <i>looked for peace,</i> because after a storm there usually
comes a calm and fair weather, after a long fit of wet; but
<i>there was no good,</i> things went still worse and worse. They
looked for a <i>healing time,</i> but could not gain so much as a
<i>breathing time. "Behold, trouble</i> at the door, by which we
hoped peace would enter. And is it so then? <i>Hast thou</i> indeed
<i>rejected Judah?</i> Justly thou mightest. <i>Hath thy soul
loathed Zion?</i> We deserve it should. But wilt thou not at length
in wrath remember mercy?"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p16" shownumber="no">2. He makes a penitent confession of sin,
speaking that language which they all should have spoken, though
but few did (<scripRef id="Jer.xv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.20" parsed="|Jer|14|20|0|0" passage="Jer 14:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>): "<i>We acknowledge our wickedness,</i> the
abounding wickedness of our land <i>and the iniquity of our
fathers,</i> which we have imitated, and therefore justly smart
for. <i>We know, we acknowledge,</i> that <i>we have sinned against
thee,</i> and therefore thou art just in all that is brought upon
us; but, because we confess our sins, we hope to find thee faithful
and just in forgiving our sins."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p17" shownumber="no">3. He deprecates God's displeasure, and by
faith appeals to his honour and promise, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.21" parsed="|Jer|14|21|0|0" passage="Jer 14:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. His petition is, "<i>Do not
abhor us;</i> though thou afflict us, <i>do not abhor us;</i>
though thy hand by turned <i>against</i> us, let not thy heart be
so, nor let thy mind be alienated from us." They own God might
justly abhor them, they had rendered themselves odious in his eyes;
yet, when they pray, <i>Do not abhor us,</i> they mean, "Receive us
into favour again. <i>Let not thy soul loathe Zion,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.19" parsed="|Jer|14|19|0|0" passage="Jer 14:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Let not our incense be
an abomination." They appeal, (1.) To the honour of God, the honour
of his scriptures, by which he has made himself known—his
<i>word,</i> which he has <i>magnified above all his name: "Do not
abhor us, for thy name's sake,</i> that the name of thine by which
we are called and which we call upon." The honour of his sanctuary
is pleaded: "Lord, do not abhor us, for that will <i>disgrace the
throne of thy glory</i>" (the temple, which is called <i>a glorious
high throne from the beginning,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.12" parsed="|Jer|17|12|0|0" passage="Jer 17:12"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 12</scripRef>); let not that which has
been the <i>joy of the whole earth</i> be made a <i>hissing</i> and
an <i>astonishment.</i> We deserve to have disgrace put upon us,
but let it not be so as to reflect upon thyself; let not the
desolations of the temple give occasion to the heathen to reproach
him that used to be worshipped there, as if he could not, or would
not, protect it, or as if the gods of the Chaldeans had been too
hard for him. Note, Good men lay the credit of religion, and its
profession in the world, nearer their hearts than any private
interest or concern of their own; and those are powerful pleas in
prayer which are fetched thence and great supports to faith. We may
be sure that God will not <i>disgrace the throne of his glory</i>
on earth; nor will he eclipse the glory of his throne by one
providence without soon making it shine forth, and more brightly
than before, by another. God will be no loser in his honour at the
long-run. (2.) To the promise of God; of this they are humbly bold
to put him in mind: <i>Remember thy covenant with us, and break
not</i> that covenant. Not that they had any distrust of his
fidelity, or that they thought he needed to be put in mind of his
promise to them, but what he had said he would plead with himself
they take the liberty to plead with him. <i>Then will I remember my
covenant,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.42" parsed="|Lev|26|42|0|0" passage="Le 26:42">Lev. xxvi.
42</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xv-p18" shownumber="no">4. He professes a dependence upon God for
the mercy of rain, which they were now in want of, <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.22" parsed="|Jer|14|22|0|0" passage="Jer 14:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. If they have forfeited
their interest in him as their God in covenant, yet they will not
let go their hold on him as the God of nature. (1.) They will never
make application to the idols of the heathen, for that would be
foolish and fruitless: <i>Are there any among the vanities of the
Gentiles that can cause rain?</i> No; in a time of great drought in
Israel, Baal, though all Israel presented their prayers to him in
the days of Ahab, could not relieve them; it was that God only who
<i>answered by fire</i> that could answer <i>by water</i> too. (2.)
They will not terminate their regards in second causes, nor expect
supply from nature only: <i>Can the heavens give showers?</i> No,
not without orders from the God of heaven; for it is he that has
the key of the clouds, that <i>opens the bottles of heaven</i> and
<i>waters the earth from his chambers.</i> But, (3.) All their
expectation therefore is from him and their confidence in him:
"<i>Art not thou he, O Lord our God!</i> from whom we may expect
succour and to whom we must apply? Art thou not he that <i>causest
rain</i> and <i>givest showers?</i> For <i>thou hast made all these
things;</i> thou gavest them being, and therefore thou givest them
law and hast them all at thy command; thou madest that moisture in
nature which is in a constant circulation to serve the intentions
of Providence, and thou directest it, and makest what use thou
pleasest of it; <i>therefore we will wait upon thee,</i> and upon
thee only; we will <i>ask of the Lord rain,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xv-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.10.1" parsed="|Zech|10|1|0|0" passage="Zec 10:1">Zech. x. 1</scripRef>. We will trust in him to give it
to us in due time, and be willing to tarry his time; it is fit that
we should, and it will not be in vain to do so." Note, The
sovereignty of God should engage, and his all-sufficiency
encourage, our attendance on him and our expectations from him at
all times.</p>
</div></div2>