mh_parser/vol_split/24 - Jeremiah/Chapter 8.xml

<div2 id="Jer.ix" n="ix" next="Jer.x" prev="Jer.viii" progress="30.86%" title="Chapter VIII">
<h2 id="Jer.ix-p0.1">J E R E M I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jer.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jer.ix-p1" shownumber="no">The prophet proceeds, in this chapter, both to
magnify and to justify the destruction that God was bringing upon
this people, to show how grievous it would be and yet how
righteous. I. He represents the judgments coming as so very
terrible that death should appear so as most to be dreaded and yet
should be desired, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.1-Jer.8.3" parsed="|Jer|8|1|8|3" passage="Jer 8:1-3">ver.
1-3</scripRef>. II. He aggravates the wretched stupidity and
wilfulness of this people as that which brought this ruin upon
them, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.4-Jer.8.12" parsed="|Jer|8|4|8|12" passage="Jer 8:4-12">ver. 4-12</scripRef>. III. He
describes the great confusion and consternation that the whole land
should be in upon the alarm of it, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.13-Jer.8.17" parsed="|Jer|8|13|8|17" passage="Jer 8:13-17">ver. 13-17</scripRef>. IV. The prophet is himself
deeply affected with it and lays it very much to heart, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.18-Jer.8.22" parsed="|Jer|8|18|8|22" passage="Jer 8:18-22">ver. 18-22</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jer.ix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8" parsed="|Jer|8|0|0|0" passage="Jer 8" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jer.ix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.1-Jer.8.3" parsed="|Jer|8|1|8|3" passage="Jer 8:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.ix-p1.7">
<h4 id="Jer.ix-p1.8">Indignities Threatened to the
Dead. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p1.9">b. c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.ix-p2" shownumber="no">1 At that time, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p2.1">Lord</span>, they shall bring out the bones of the
kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the
priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:   2 And they
shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of
heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after
whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they
have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they
shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.   3 And death
shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that
remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither
I have driven them, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p2.2">Lord</span>
of hosts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p3" shownumber="no">These verses might fitly have been joined
to the close of the foregoing chapter, as giving a further
description of the dreadful desolation which the army of the
Chaldeans should make in the land. It shall strangely alter the
property of death itself, and for the worse too.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p4" shownumber="no">I. Death shall not now be, as it always
used to be—the repose of the dead. When Job makes his court to the
grave it is in hope of this, that <i>there he shall rest with kings
and counsellors of the earth;</i> but now the ashes of the dead,
even of <i>kings</i> and <i>princes,</i> shall be disturbed, and
their <i>bones scattered at the grave's mouth,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.7" parsed="|Ps|141|7|0|0" passage="Ps 141:7">Ps. cxli. 7</scripRef>. It was threatened in the
close of the former chapter that the slain should be unburied; that
might be through neglect, and was not so strange; but here we find
the graves of those that were buried industriously and maliciously
opened by the victorious enemy, who either for covetousness, hoping
to find treasure in the graves, or for spite to the nation and in a
rage against it, <i>brought out the bones of the kings of Judah and
the princes.</i> The dignity of their sepulchres could not secure
them, nay, did the more expose them to be rifled; but it was base
and barbarous thus to trample upon royal dust. We will hope that
the bones of good Josiah were not disturbed, because he piously
protected the bones of the man of God when he burnt the bones of
the idolatrous priests, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.18" parsed="|2Kgs|23|18|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:18">2 Kings
xxiii. 18</scripRef>. The bones of the priests and prophets too
were digged up and thrown about. Some think the false prophets and
the idol-priests, God putting this mark of ignominy upon them: but,
if they were God's prophets and his priests, it is what the
Psalmist complains of as the fruit of the outrage of the enemies,
<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.1-Ps.79.2" parsed="|Ps|79|1|79|2" passage="Ps 79:1,2">Ps. lxxix. 1, 2</scripRef>. Nay,
those of the spiteful Chaldeans that could not reach to violate the
sepulchres of princes and priests would rather play at small game
than sit out, and therefore pulled the bones of the ordinary
<i>inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves.</i> The barbarous
nations were sometimes guilty of these absurd and inhuman triumphs
over those they had conquered, and God permitted it here, for a
mark of his displeasure against the generation of his wrath, and
for terror to those that survived. The bones, being dug out of the
graves, were spread abroad upon the face of the earth in contempt,
and to make the reproach the more spreading and lasting. They
spread them to be dried that they might carry them about in
triumph, or might make fuel of them, or make some superstitious use
of them. <i>They shall be spread before the sun</i> (for they shall
not be ashamed openly to avow the fact at noon day) and before
<i>the moon and</i> stars, even <i>all the host of heaven,</i> whom
they have made idols of, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.2" parsed="|Jer|8|2|0|0" passage="Jer 8:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>. From the mention of the <i>sun, moon, and stars,</i>
which should be the unconcerned spectators of this tragedy, the
prophet takes occasion to show how they had idolized them, and paid
those respects to them which they should have paid to God only,
that it might be observed how little they got by worshipping the
creature, for the creatures they worshipped when they were in
distress saw it, but regarded it not, nor gave them any relief, but
were rather pleased to see those abused in being vilified by whom
they had been abused in being deified. See how their respects to
their idols are enumerated, to show how we ought to behave towards
our God. 1. They <i>loved</i> them. As amiable being and bountiful
benefactors they esteemed them and delighted in them, and therefore
did all that follows. 2. They <i>served</i> them, did all they
could in honour of them, and thought nothing too much; they
conformed to all the laws of their superstition, without disputing.
3. They <i>walked after</i> them, strove to imitate and resemble
them, according to the characters and accounts of them they had
received, which gave rise and countenance to much of the abominable
wickedness of the heathen. 4. They <i>sought</i> them, consulted
them as oracles, appealed to them as judges, implored their favour,
and prayed to them as their benefactors. 5. They <i>worshipped</i>
them, gave them divine honour, as having a sovereign dominion over
them. Before these light of heaven, which they had courted, shall
their dead bodies be cast, and left to putrefy, and to be <i>as
dung upon the face of the earth;</i> and the sun's shining upon
them will but make them the more noisome and offensive. Whatever we
make a god of but the true God only, it will stand us in no stead
on the other side death and the grave, nor for the body, much less
for the soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p5" shownumber="no">II. Death shall now be what it never used
to be—the choice of the living, not because there appears in it
any thing delightsome; on the contrary, death never appeared in
more horrid frightful shapes than now, when they cannot promise
themselves either a comfortable death or a human burial; and yet
every thing in this world shall become so irksome, and all the
prospects so black and dismal, that <i>death shall be chosen rather
than life</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.3" parsed="|Jer|8|3|0|0" passage="Jer 8:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
not in a believing hope of happiness in the other life, but in an
utter despair of any ease in this life. The nation is now reduced
to a <i>family,</i> so small is <i>the residue of those that
remain</i> in it; and it is an <i>evil family,</i> still as bad as
ever, their hearts unhumbled and their lusts unmortified. These
<i>remain</i> alive (and that is all) in the many <i>places whither
they were driven</i> by the judgments of God, some prisoners in the
country of their enemies, others beggars in their neighbour's
country, and others fugitives and vagabonds there and in their own
country. And, though those that died died very miserably, yet those
that survived and were thus driven out should live yet more
miserably, so that they should <i>choose death rather than
life,</i> and wish a thousand times that they had fallen with those
that fell by the sword. Let this cure us of the inordinate love of
life, that the case may be such that it may become a burden and
terror, and we may be strongly tempted to <i>choose strangling</i>
and death rather.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.ix-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.4-Jer.8.12" parsed="|Jer|8|4|8|12" passage="Jer 8:4-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.ix-p5.3">
<h4 id="Jer.ix-p5.4">Full of Impenitent Sinners; Hardened
Wickedness of Judah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p5.5">b. c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.ix-p6" shownumber="no">4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p6.1">Lord</span>; Shall they fall, and not
arise? shall he turn away, and not return?   5 Why <i>then</i>
is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual
backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.   6
I hearkened and heard, <i>but</i> they spake not aright: no man
repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one
turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.  
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the
turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their
coming; but my people know not the judgment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p6.2">Lord</span>.   8 How do ye say, We <i>are</i>
wise, and the law of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p6.3">Lord</span>
<i>is</i> with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he <i>it;</i> the pen
of the scribes <i>is</i> in vain.   9 The wise <i>men</i> are
ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the
word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p6.4">Lord</span>; and what wisdom
<i>is</i> in them?   10 Therefore will I give their wives unto
others, <i>and</i> their fields to them that shall inherit
<i>them:</i> for every one from the least even unto the greatest is
given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every
one dealeth falsely.   11 For they have healed the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when <i>there
is</i> no peace.   12 Were they ashamed when they had
committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither
could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall:
in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p6.5">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p7" shownumber="no">The prophet here is instructed to set
before this people the folly of their impenitence, which was it
that brought this ruin upon them. They are here represented as the
most stupid senseless people in the world, that would not be made
wise by all the methods that Infinite Wisdom took to bring them to
themselves and their right mind, and so to prevent the ruin that
was coming upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p8" shownumber="no">I. They would not attend to the dictates of
reason. They would not act in the affairs of their souls with the
same common prudence with which they acted in other things. Sinners
would become saints if they would but show themselves men, and
religion would soon rule them if right reason might. Observe it
here. <i>Come, and let us reason together, saith the Lord</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.4-Jer.8.5" parsed="|Jer|8|4|8|5" passage="Jer 8:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>): <i>Shall
men fall and not arise?</i> If men happen to fall to the ground, to
fall into the dirt, will they not get up again as fast as they can?
They are not such fools as to lie still when they are down. Shall
<i>a man turn aside</i> out of the right way? Yes, the most careful
traveller may miss his way; but then, as soon as he is aware of it,
<i>will he not return?</i> Yes, certainly he will, with all speed,
and will thank him that showed him his mistake. Thus men do in
other things. <i>Why then has this people of Jerusalem slidden back
by a perpetual backsliding?</i> Why do not they, when they have
fallen into sin, hasten to get up again by repentance? Why do not
they, when they see they have missed their way, correct their error
and reform? No man in his wits will go on in a way that he knows
will never bring him to his journey's end; <i>why then has this
people slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?</i> See the nature
of sin—it is a <i>backsliding</i> it is going back from the right
way, not only into a by-path, but into a contrary path, back from
the way that leads to life to that which leads to utter
destruction. And this backsliding, if almighty grace do not
interpose to prevent it, will be a perpetual backsliding. The
sinner not only wanders endlessly, but proceeds end-ways towards
ruin. The same subtlety of the tempter that brings men to sin holds
them fast in it, and they contribute to their own captivity:
<i>They hold fast deceit.</i> Sin is a great cheat, and they
<i>hold it fast;</i> they love it dearly, and resolve to stick to
it, and baffle all the methods God takes to separate between them
and their sins. The excuses they make for their sins are deceits,
and so are all their hopes of impunity; yet they hold fast these,
and will not be undeceived, and therefore <i>they refuse to
return.</i> Note, There is some deceit or other which those hold
fast that go on wilfully in sinful ways, some <i>lie in their right
hand,</i> by which they keep hold of their sins.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p9" shownumber="no">II. They would not attend to the dictates
of conscience, which is our reason reflecting upon ourselves and
our own actions, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.6" parsed="|Jer|8|6|0|0" passage="Jer 8:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. Observe, 1. What expectations there were from them,
that they would bethink themselves: <i>I hearkened and heard.</i>
The prophet listened to see what effect his preaching had upon
them; God himself listened, as one that desires not the death of
sinners, that would have been glad to hear any thing that promised
repentance, that would certainly have heard it if there had been
any thing said of that tendency, and would soon have answered it
with comfort, as he did David when he said, <i>I will confess,</i>
<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.5" parsed="|Ps|32|5|0|0" passage="Ps 32:5">Ps. xxxii. 5</scripRef>. God <i>looks
upon men</i> when they have done amiss (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.27" parsed="|Job|33|27|0|0" passage="Job 33:27">Job xxxiii. 27</scripRef>), to see what they will do
next; he <i>hearkens and hears.</i> 2. How these expectations were
disappointed: <i>They spoke not aright,</i> as I thought they would
have done. They did not only not <i>do right,</i> but not so much
as <i>speak right;</i> God could not get a good word from them,
nothing on which to ground any favour to them or hopes concerning
them. There was <i>none of them</i> that <i>spoke aright,</i> none
that <i>repented him of his wickedness.</i> those that have sinned
then, and then only, speak aright when they speak of repenting; and
it is sad when those that have made so much work for repentance do
not say a word of repenting. Not only did God not find any
repenting of the national wickedness, which might have helped to
empty the measure of public guilt, but none repented of that
particular wickedness which he knew himself guilty of. (1.) They
did not so much as take the first step towards repentance; they did
not so much as say, <i>What have I done?</i> There was no motion
towards it, not the least sign or token of it. Note, True
repentance beings in a serious and impartial inquiry into
ourselves, <i>what have we done,</i> arising from a conviction that
we have done amiss. (2.) They were so far from repenting of their
sins that they went on resolutely in their sins: <i>Every one
turned to his course,</i> his wicked course, that course of sin
which he had chosen and accustomed himself to, <i>as the horse
rushes into the battle,</i> eager upon action, and scorning to be
curbed. How the horse rushes into the battle is elegantly
described, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.39.21" parsed="|Job|39|21|0|0" passage="Job 39:21">Job xxxix. 21</scripRef>,
&amp;c. <i>He mocks at fear and is not affrighted.</i> Thus the
daring sinner laughs at the threatenings of the word as bugbears,
and runs violently upon the instruments of death and slaughter, and
nothing will be restrained from him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p10" shownumber="no">III. They would not attend to the dictates
of providence, nor understand the voice of God in them, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.7" parsed="|Jer|8|7|0|0" passage="Jer 8:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. It is an instance of
their sottishness that, though they are God's people, and therefore
should readily understand his mind upon every intimation of it, yet
they <i>know not the judgment of the Lord;</i> they apprehend not
the meaning either of a mercy or an affliction, not how to
accommodate themselves to either, nor to answer God's intention in
either. They know not how to improve the seasons of grave that God
affords them when he sends them his prophets, nor how to make use
of the rebukes they are under when <i>his voice cries in the
city.</i> They <i>discern not the signs of the times</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.16.3" parsed="|Matt|16|3|0|0" passage="Mt 16:3">Matt. xvi. 3</scripRef>), nor are aware how God
is dealing with them. They know not that way of duty which God had
prescribed them, though it be written both in their hearts and in
their books. 2. It is an aggravation of their sottishness that
there is so much sagacity in the inferior creatures. <i>The stork
in the heaven knows her appointed times</i> of coming and
continuing; so do other season-birds, <i>the turtle, the crane, and
the swallow.</i> These by a natural instinct change their quarters,
as the temper of the air alters; they come when the spring comes,
and go, we know not whither, when the winter approaches, probably
into warmer climates, as some birds come with winter and go when
that is over.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p11" shownumber="no">IV. They would not attend to the dictates
of the written word. They say, <i>We are wise;</i> but <i>how</i>
can they say so? <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.8" parsed="|Jer|8|8|0|0" passage="Jer 8:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. With what face can they pretend to any thing of
wisdom, when they do not understand themselves so well as the
brute-creatures? Why, truly, they think they are wise because
<i>the law of the Lord is with them,</i> the book of the law and
the interpreters of it; and their neighbours, for the same reason,
conclude they are wise, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.6" parsed="|Deut|4|6|0|0" passage="De 4:6">Deut. iv.
6</scripRef>. But their pretensions are groundless for all this:
<i>Lo, certainly in vain made he it;</i> surely never any people
had Bibles to so little purpose as they have. They might as well
have been without the law, unless they had made a better use of it.
God has indeed made it able to make men wise to salvation, but as
to them it is made so in vain, for they are never the wiser for it:
<i>The pen of the scribes,</i> of those that first wrote the law
and of those that now write expositions of it, <i>is in vain.</i>
Both the favour of their God and the labour of their scribes are
lost upon them; they receive the grace of God therein in vain.
Note, There are many that enjoy abundance of the means of grace,
that have great plenty of Bibles and ministers, but they have them
in vain; they do not answer the end of their having them. But it
might be said, They have some wise men among them, to whom the law
and the pen of the scribes are not in vain. To this it is answered
(<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.9" parsed="|Jer|8|9|0|0" passage="Jer 8:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>The wise
men are ashamed,</i> that is, they have reasons to be so, that they
have not made a better use of their wisdom, and lived more up to
it. <i>They are confounded and taken;</i> all their wisdom has not
served to keep them from those courses that tend to their ruin.
They are taken in the same snares that others of their neighbours,
who have not pretended to so much wisdom, are taken in, and filled
with the same confusion. Those that have more knowledge than
others, and yet do no better than others for their own souls, have
reason to be ashamed. They talk of their wisdom, but, <i>Lo, they
have rejected the word of the Lord;</i> they would not be governed
by it, would not follow its direction, would not do what they knew;
<i>and</i> then <i>what wisdom is in them?</i> None to any purpose;
none that will be found to their praise at the great day, how much
soever it is found to their pride now. The pretenders to wisdom,
who said, "<i>We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us,</i>"
were the priests and the false prophets; with them the prophet here
deals plainly. 1. He threatens the judgments of God against them.
Their families and estates shall be ruined (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.10" parsed="|Jer|8|10|0|0" passage="Jer 8:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>Their wives shall be given
to others,</i> when they are taken captives, <i>and their
fields</i> shall be taken from them by their victorious enemy and
shall be given <i>to those that shall inherit them,</i> not only
strip them for once, but take possession of them as their own and
acquire a property in them as their own and acquire a property in
them, which they shall transmit to their posterity. And (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.12" parsed="|Jer|8|12|0|0" passage="Jer 8:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), notwithstanding all
their pretensions to wisdom and sanctity, <i>they shall fall among
those that fall;</i> for, <i>if the blind lead the blind, both
shall fall together into the ditch. In the time of their
visitation,</i> when the wickedness of the land comes to be
enquired into, it will be found that they have contributed to it
more than any, and therefore <i>they shall be</i> sure to be
<i>cast down</i> and cast out. 2. He gives a reason for these
judgments (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.10-Jer.8.12" parsed="|Jer|8|10|8|12" passage="Jer 8:10-12"><i>v.</i>
10-12</scripRef>), even the same account of their badness which we
meet with before (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.13-Jer.6.15" parsed="|Jer|6|13|6|15" passage="Jer 6:13-15"><i>ch.</i> vi.
13-15</scripRef>), where it was opened at large. (1.) They were
greedy of the wealth of this world, which is bad enough in any, but
worst in prophets and priests, who should be best acquainted with
another world and therefore should be most dead to this. But these,
<i>from the least to the greatest,</i> were <i>given to
covetousness.</i> The <i>priests teach for hire</i> and the
<i>prophets divine for money,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Mic.3.11" parsed="|Mic|3|11|0|0" passage="Mic 3:11">Mic.
iii. 11</scripRef>. (2.) They made no conscience of speaking truth,
no, not when they spoke as priests and prophets: <i>Every one deals
falsely,</i> looks one way and rows another. There is no such thing
as sincerity among them. (3.) They flattered people in their sins,
and so flattered them into destruction. They pretended to be the
physicians of the state, but knew not how to apply proper remedies
to its growing maladies; they <i>healed them slightly,</i> killed
the patient with palliative cures, silencing their fears and
complaints with, "<i>Peace, peace,</i> all is well, and there is no
danger," when the God of heaven was proceeding in his controversy
with them, so that there could be no peace to them. (4.) When it
was made to appear how basely they prevaricated <i>they</i> were
not at all ashamed of it, but rather gloried in it, (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p11.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.12" parsed="|Jer|8|12|0|0" passage="Jer 8:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>They could not
blush,</i> so perfectly lost were they to all sense of virtue and
honour. When they were convicted of the grossest forgeries they
would justify what they had done, and laugh at those whom they had
imposed upon. Such as these were ripe for ruin.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.ix-p11.10" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.13-Jer.8.22" parsed="|Jer|8|13|8|22" passage="Jer 8:13-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.ix-p11.11">
<h4 id="Jer.ix-p11.12">Destruction Threatened for Sin; Despair of
Sinners in Trouble; The Prophet's Lamentation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p11.13">b.
c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.ix-p12" shownumber="no">13 I will surely consume them, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p12.1">Lord</span>: <i>there shall be</i> no grapes on
the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and
<i>the things that</i> I have given them shall pass away from them.
  14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us
enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p12.2">Lord</span> our God hath put us to silence,
and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p12.3">Lord</span>.   15 We looked for
peace, but no good <i>came; and</i> for a time of health, and
behold trouble!   16 The snorting of his horses was heard from
Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his
strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all
that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.   17
For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which
<i>will</i> not <i>be</i> charmed, and they shall bite you, saith
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p12.4">Lord</span>.   18 <i>When</i> I
would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart <i>is</i> faint in
me.   19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my
people because of them that dwell in a far country: <i>Is</i> not
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.ix-p12.5">Lord</span> in Zion? <i>is</i> not her
king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven
images, <i>and</i> with strange vanities?   20 The harvest is
past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.   21 For the
hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black;
astonishment hath taken hold on me.   22 <i>Is there</i> no
balm in Gilead; <i>is there</i> no physician there? why then is not
the health of the daughter of my people recovered?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p13" shownumber="no">In these verses we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p14" shownumber="no">I. God threatening the destruction of a
sinful people. He has borne long with them, but they are still more
and more provoking, and therefore now their ruin is resolved on:
<i>I will surely consume them (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.13" parsed="|Jer|8|13|0|0" passage="Jer 8:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), consuming I will consume
them,</i> not only surely, but utterly, consume them, will follow
them with one judgment after another, till they are quite consumed;
it is a <i>consumption determined,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.23" parsed="|Isa|10|23|0|0" passage="Isa 10:23">Isa. x. 23</scripRef>. 1. They shall be quite stripped
of all their comforts (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.13" parsed="|Jer|8|13|0|0" passage="Jer 8:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>There shall be no grapes on the vine.</i> Some
understand this as intimating their sin; God came looking for
grapes from this vineyard, seeking fruit upon this fig-tree, but he
<i>found none</i> (as <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.2 Bible:Luke.13.6" parsed="|Isa|5|2|0|0;|Luke|13|6|0|0" passage="Isa 5:2,Lu 13:6">Isa. v.
2, Luke xiii. 6</scripRef>); nay, they had not so much as leaves,
<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.19" parsed="|Matt|21|19|0|0" passage="Mt 21:19">Matt. xxi. 19</scripRef>. But it is
rather to be understood of God's judgments upon them, and may be
meant literally—The enemy shall seize the fruits of the earth,
shall pluck the grapes and figs for themselves and beat down the
very leaves with them; or, rather, figuratively—They shall be
deprived of all their comforts and shall have nothing left them
wherewith to <i>make glad their hearts.</i> It is expounded in the
last clause: <i>The things that I have given them shall pass away
from them.</i> Note, God's gifts are upon condition, and revocable
upon non-performance of the condition. Mercies abused are
forfeited, and it is just with God to take the forfeiture. 2. They
shall be set upon by all manner of grievances, and surrounded with
calamities (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.17" parsed="|Jer|8|17|0|0" passage="Jer 8:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>):
<i>I will send serpents among you,</i> the Chaldean army, fiery
serpents, flying serpents, cockatrices; these shall bite them with
their venomous teeth, give them wounds that shall be mortal; and
they <i>shall not be charmed,</i> as some serpents used to be, with
music. These are serpents of another nature, that are not so
wrought upon, or they are as <i>the deaf adder, that stops her ear,
and will not hear the voice of the charmer.</i> The enemies are so
intent upon making slaughter that it will be to no purpose to
accost them gently, or offer any thing to pacify them, or mollify
them, or to bring them to a better temper. No peace with God,
therefore none with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p15" shownumber="no">II. The people sinking into despair under
the pressure of those calamities. Those that were void of fear
(when the trouble was at a distance) and set it at defiance, are
void of hope now that it breaks in upon them, and have no heart
either to make head against it or to bear up under it, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.14" parsed="|Jer|8|14|0|0" passage="Jer 8:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. They cannot think
themselves safe in the open villages: <i>Why do we sit still
here?</i> Let us <i>assemble, and go</i> into a body <i>into the
defenced cities.</i> Though they could expect no other than to be
surely cut off there at last, yet not so soon as in the country,
and therefore, "<i>Let us go, and be silent there;</i> let us
attempt nothing, nor so much as make a complaint; for to what
purpose?" It is not a submissive, but a sullen silence, that they
here condemn themselves to. Those that are most jovial in their
prosperity commonly despond most, and are most melancholy, in
trouble. Now observe what it is that sinks them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p16" shownumber="no">1. They are sensible that God is angry with
them: "<i>The Lord our God has put us to silence,</i> has struck us
with astonishment, and <i>given us water of gall to drink,</i>
which is both bitter and stupifying, or intoxicating. <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.3" parsed="|Ps|60|3|0|0" passage="Ps 60:3">Ps. lx. 3</scripRef>, <i>Thou hast made us to
drink the wine of astonishment.</i> We had better sit still than
rise up and fall; better say nothing than say nothing to the
purpose. To what purpose is it to contend with our fate when God
himself has become our enemy and fights against us? <i>Because we
have sinned against the Lord,</i> therefore we are brought to the
plunge." This may be taken as the language, (1.) Of their
indignation. They seem to quarrel with God as if he had dealt
hardly with them in putting them to silence, not permitting them to
speak for themselves, and then telling them that it was because
they had sinned against him. Thus men's foolishness <i>perverts
their way, and</i> then <i>their hearts fret against the Lord.</i>
Or rather, (2.) Of their convictions. At length they begin to see
the hand of God lifted up against them, and stretched out in the
calamities under which they are now groaning, and to own that they
have provoked him to contend with them. Note, Sooner or later God
will bring the most obstinate to acknowledge both his providence
and his justice in all the troubles they are brought into, to see
and say both that it is his hand and that he is righteous.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p17" shownumber="no">2. They are sensible that the enemy is
likely to be too hard for them, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.16" parsed="|Jer|8|16|0|0" passage="Jer 8:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. They are soon apprehensive that
it is to no purpose to make head against such a mighty force; they
and their people are quite dispirited; and, when the courage of a
nation is gone, their numbers will stand them in little stead.
<i>The snorting of the horses was heard from Dan,</i> that is, the
report of the formidable strength of their cavalry was soon carried
all the nation over and every body <i>trembled at the sound of the
neighing of his steeds;</i> for <i>they have devoured the land and
all that is in the city;</i> both town and country are laid waste
before them, not only the wealth, but the inhabitants, of both,
<i>those that dwell therein.</i> Note, When God appears against us,
every thing else that is against us appears very formidable;
whereas, if he be for us, every thing appears very despicable,
<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.3" parsed="|Rom|8|3|0|0" passage="Ro 8:3">Rom. viii. 3</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p18" shownumber="no">3. They are disappointed in their
expectations of deliverance out of their troubles, as they had been
surprised when their troubles came upon them; and this double
disappointment very much aggravated their calamity. (1.) The
trouble came when they little expected it (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.15" parsed="|Jer|8|15|0|0" passage="Jer 8:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>We looked for peace,</i>
the continuance of our peace, <i>but no good came,</i> no good news
from abroad; we looked <i>for a time of health</i> and prosperity
to our nation, but, <i>behold, trouble,</i> the alarms of war; for,
as it follows (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.16" parsed="|Jer|8|16|0|0" passage="Jer 8:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>), <i>the noise of the</i> enemies' <i>horses was
heard from Dan.</i> Their false prophets had cried <i>Peace,
peace,</i> to them, which made it the more terrible when the scene
of war opened on a sudden. This complaint will occur again,
<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.19" parsed="|Jer|14|19|0|0" passage="Jer 14:19"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 19</scripRef>. (2.)
The deliverance did not come when they had long expected it
(<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.20" parsed="|Jer|8|20|0|0" passage="Jer 8:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>The
harvest is past, the summer is ended;</i> that is, there is a great
deal of time gone. Harvest and summer are parts of the year, and
when they are gone the year draws towards a conclusion; so the
meaning is, "One year passes after another, one campaign after
another, and yet our affairs are in as bad a posture as ever they
were; no relief comes, nor is any thing done towards it: <i>We are
not saved.</i>" Nay, there is a great deal of opportunity lost, the
season of action is over and slipped, the summer and harvest are
gone, and a cold and melancholy winter succeeds. Note, The
salvation of God's church and people often goes on very slowly, and
God keeps his people long in the expectation of it, for wise and
holy ends. Nay, they stand in their own light, and put a bar in
their own door, and are not saved because they are not ready for
salvation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p19" shownumber="no">4. They are deceived in those things which
were their confidence and which they thought would have secured
their peace to them (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.19" parsed="|Jer|8|19|0|0" passage="Jer 8:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>): <i>The daughter of my people</i> cries, cries
aloud, <i>because of those that dwell in a far country,</i> because
of the foreign enemy that invades them, that comes from a far
country to take possession of ours; this occasions the cry; and
what is the cry? It is this: <i>Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her
king in her?</i> These were the two things that they had all along
buoyed up themselves with and depended upon, (1.) That they had
among them the temple of God, and the tokens of his special
presence with them. The common cant was, "<i>Is not the Lord in
Zion?</i> What danger then need we fear?" And they held by this
when the trouble was breaking in upon them. "Surely we shall do
well enough, for have we not God among us?" But, when it grew to an
extremity, it was an aggravation of their misery that they had thus
flattered themselves. (2.) That they had the throne of the house of
David. As they had a temple, so they had a monarchy, <i>jure
divino—by divine right: Is not Zion's king in her?</i> And will
not Zion's God protect Zion's king and his kingdom? Surely he will;
but why does he not? "What" (say they) "has Zion neither a God nor
a king to stand by her and help her, that she is thus run down and
likely to be ruined?" This outcry of theirs reflects upon God, as
if his power and promise were broken or weakened; and therefore he
returns an answer to it immediately: <i>Why have they provoked me
to anger with their graven images?</i> They quarrel with God as if
he had dealt unkindly by them in forsaking them, whereas they by
their idolatry had driven him from them; they have withdrawn from
their allegiance to him, and so have thrown themselves out of this
protection. They <i>fret themselves, and curse their king and their
God</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.21" parsed="|Isa|8|21|0|0" passage="Isa 8:21">Isa. viii. 21</scripRef>),
when it is their own sin that <i>separates between them and God</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.2" parsed="|Isa|59|2|0|0" passage="Isa 59:2">Isa. lix. 2</scripRef>); they
<i>feared not the Lord,</i> and then <i>what can a king do for
them?</i> <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Hos.10.3" parsed="|Hos|10|3|0|0" passage="Ho 10:3">Hos. x. 3</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.ix-p20" shownumber="no">III. We have here the prophet himself
bewailing the calamity and ruin of his people; for there were more
of the lamentations of Jeremiah than those we find in the book that
bears that title. Observe here, 1. How great his griefs were. He
was an eyewitness of the desolations of his country, and saw those
things which by the spirit of prophecy he had foreseen. In the
foresight, much more in the sight, of them, he cries out, "<i>My
heart is faint in me,</i> I sink, I die away at the consideration
of it, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.18" parsed="|Jer|8|18|0|0" passage="Jer 8:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
<i>When I would comfort myself against my sorrow,</i> I do but
labour in vain; nay, every attempt to alleviate the grief does but
aggravate it." It is our wisdom and duty, under mournful events, to
do what we can to <i>comfort ourselves against our sorrow,</i> by
suggesting to ourselves such considerations as are proper to allay
the grief and balance the grievance. But sometimes the sorrow is
such that the more it is repressed the more strongly it recoils.
This may sometimes be the case of very good men, as of the prophet
here, whose soul refused to be comforted and fainted at the
cordial, <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.77.2-Ps.77.3" parsed="|Ps|77|2|77|3" passage="Ps 77:2,3">Ps. lxxvii. 2, 3</scripRef>.
He tells us (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.21" parsed="|Jer|8|21|0|0" passage="Jer 8:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>)
what was the matter: "It is <i>for the hurt of the daughter of my
people</i> that <i>I am</i> thus <i>hurt;</i> it is for their sin,
and the miseries they have brought upon themselves by it; it is for
this that <i>I am black,</i> that I look black, that I go in black
as mourners do, and that <i>astonishment has taken hold on me,</i>
so that I know not what to do nor which way to turn." Note, The
miseries of our country ought to be very much the grief of our
souls. A gracious spirit will be a public spirit, a tender spirit,
a mourning spirit. It becomes us to lament the miseries of our
fellow-creatures, much more to lay to heart the calamities of our
country, and especially of the church of God, to <i>grieve for the
affliction of Joseph.</i> Jeremiah had prophesied the destruction
of Jerusalem, and, though the truth of his prophecy was questioned,
yet he did not rejoice in the proof of the truth of his prophecy
was questioned, yet he did not rejoice in the proof of the truth of
it by the accomplishment of it, preferring the welfare of his
country before his own reputation. If Jerusalem had repented and
been spared, he would have been far from fretting as Jonah did.
Jeremiah had many enemies in Judah and Jerusalem, that hated, and
reproached, and persecuted him; and in the judgments brought upon
them God reckoned with them for it and pleaded his prophet's cause;
yet he was far from rejoicing in it, so truly did he forgive his
enemies and desire that God would forgive them. 2. How small his
hopes were (<scripRef id="Jer.ix-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.22" parsed="|Jer|8|22|0|0" passage="Jer 8:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>):
"<i>Is there no balm in Gilead</i>—no medicine proper for a sick
and dying kingdom? <i>Is there no physician there</i>—no skilful
faithful hand to apply the medicine?" He looks upon the case to be
deplorable and past relief. There is no balm in Gilead that can
cure the disease of sin, no physician there that can restore the
health of a nation quite overrun by such a foreign army as that of
the Chaldeans. The desolations made are irreparable, and the
disease has presently come to such a height that there is no
checking it. Or <scripRef id="Jer.ix-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.22" parsed="|Jer|8|22|0|0" passage="Jer 8:22">this verse</scripRef>
may be understood as laying all the blame of the incurableness of
their disease upon themselves; and so the question must be answered
affirmatively: <i>Is there no balm in Gilead—no physician
there?</i> Yes, certainly there is; God is able to help and heal
them, there is a sufficiency in him to redress all their
grievances. Gilead was a place in their own land, not far off. They
had among themselves God's law and his prophets, with the help of
which they might have been brought to repentance, and their ruin
might have been prevented. They had princes and priests, whose
business it was to reform the nation and redress their grievances.
What could have been done more than had been done for their
recovery? <i>Why then was not</i> their health restored? Certainly
it was not owing to God, but to themselves; it was not for want of
balm and a physician, but because they would not admit the
application nor submit to the methods of cure. The physician and
physic were both ready, but the patient was wilful and irregular,
would not be tied to rules, but must be humoured. Note, If sinners
die of their wounds, their blood is upon their own heads. The blood
of Christ is balm in Gilead, his Spirit is the physician there,
both sufficient, all-sufficient, so that they might have been
healed, but would not.</p>
</div></div2>