mh_parser/vol_split/24 - Jeremiah/Chapter 16.xml

<div2 id="Jer.xvii" n="xvii" next="Jer.xviii" prev="Jer.xvi" progress="34.38%" title="Chapter XVI">
<h2 id="Jer.xvii-p0.1">J E R E M I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jer.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jer.xvii-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter, I. The greatness of the calamity
that was coming upon the Jewish nation is illustrated by
prohibitions given to the prophet neither to set up a house of his
own (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.1-Jer.16.4" parsed="|Jer|16|1|16|4" passage="Jer 16:1-4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>) nor to go
into the house of mourning (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.5-Jer.16.7" parsed="|Jer|16|5|16|7" passage="Jer 16:5-7">ver.
5-7</scripRef>) nor into the house of feasting, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.8-Jer.16.9" parsed="|Jer|16|8|16|9" passage="Jer 16:8,9">ver. 8, 9</scripRef>. II. God is justified in these
severe proceedings against them by an account of their great
wickedness, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.10-Jer.16.13" parsed="|Jer|16|10|16|13" passage="Jer 16:10-13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>.
III. An intimation is given of mercy in reserve, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.14-Jer.16.15" parsed="|Jer|16|14|16|15" passage="Jer 16:14,15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>. IV. Some hopes are given
that the punishment of the sin should prove the reformation of the
sinners, and that they should return to God at length in a way of
duty, and so be qualified for his returns to them in a way of
favour, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.16-Jer.16.21" parsed="|Jer|16|16|16|21" passage="Jer 16:16-21">ver. 16-21</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jer.xvii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16" parsed="|Jer|16|0|0|0" passage="Jer 16" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jer.xvii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.1-Jer.16.9" parsed="|Jer|16|1|16|9" passage="Jer 16:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xvii-p1.9">
<h4 id="Jer.xvii-p1.10">Prohibitions Given to
Jeremiah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 605.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xvii-p2" shownumber="no">1 The word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p2.1">Lord</span> came also unto me, saying,   2 Thou
shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or
daughters in this place.   3 For thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p2.2">Lord</span> concerning the sons and concerning the
daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers
that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in
this land;   4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall
not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; <i>but</i> they
shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be
consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be
meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
  5 For thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p2.3">Lord</span>,
Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor
bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p2.4">Lord</span>, <i>even</i> lovingkindness
and mercies.   6 Both the great and the small shall die in
this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall <i>men</i>
lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for
them:   7 Neither shall <i>men</i> tear <i>themselves</i> for
them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall
<i>men</i> give them the cup of consolation to drink for their
father or for their mother.   8 Thou shalt not also go into
the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.  
9 For thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p2.5">Lord</span> of hosts,
the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place
in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice
of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the
bride.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p3" shownumber="no">The prophet is here for a sign to the
people. They would not regard what he said; let it be tried whether
they will regard what he <i>does.</i> In general, he must conduct
himself so, in every thing, as became one that expected to see his
country in ruins very shortly. This he foretold, but few regarded
the prediction; therefore he is to show that he is himself fully
satisfied in the truth of it. Others go on in their usual course,
but he, in the prospect of these sad times, is forbidden and
therefore forbears marriage, mourning for the dead, and mirth.
Note, Those that would convince others of and affect them with the
word of God must make it appear, even in the most self-denying
instances, that they do believe it themselves and are affected with
it. If we would rouse others out of their security, and persuade
them to sit loose to the world, we must ourselves be mortified to
present things and show that we expect the dissolution of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p4" shownumber="no">I. Jeremiah must not marry, nor think of
having a family and being a housekeeper (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.2" parsed="|Jer|16|2|0|0" passage="Jer 16:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt not take thee a
wife,</i> nor think of <i>having sons and daughters in this
place,</i> not in the land of Judah, not in Jerusalem, not in
Anathoth. The Jews, more than any people, valued themselves on
their early marriages and their numerous offspring. But Jeremiah
must live a bachelor, not so much in honour of virginity as in
diminution of it. By this it appears that it was advisable and
seasonable only in calamitous times, and times of <i>present
distress,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.26" parsed="|1Cor|7|26|0|0" passage="1Co 7:26">1 Cor. vii.
26</scripRef>. That it is so is a part of the calamity. There may
be a time when it will be said, <i>Blessed is the womb that bears
not,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.29" parsed="|Luke|23|29|0|0" passage="Lu 23:29">Luke xxiii. 29</scripRef>.
When we see such times at hand it is wisdom for all, especially for
prophets, to keep themselves as much as may be from being
<i>entangled with the affairs of this life</i> and encumbered with
that which, the dearer it is to them, the more it will be the
matter of their care, and fear, and grief, at such a time. The
reason here given is because the <i>fathers</i> and <i>mothers, the
sons and the daughters, shall die of grievous deaths,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.3-Jer.16.4" parsed="|Jer|16|3|16|4" passage="Jer 16:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. As for those that
have wives and children, 1. They will have such a clog upon them
that they cannot flee from those deaths. A single man may make his
escape and shift for his own safety, when he that has a wife and
children can neither find means to convey with them nor find in his
heart to go and leave them behind him. 2. They will be in continual
terror for fear of those deaths; and the more they have to lose by
them the greater will the terror and consternation be when death
appears every where in its triumphant pomp and power. 3. The death
of every child, and the aggravating circumstances of it, will be a
new death to the parent. Better have no children than have them
brought forth and bred up <i>for the murderer</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.13-Hos.9.14" parsed="|Hos|9|13|9|14" passage="Ho 9:13,14">Hos. ix. 13, 14</scripRef>), than see them
live and die in misery. Death is grievous, but some deaths are more
grievous than others, both to those that die and to their relations
that survive them; hence we read of <i>so great a death,</i>
<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.10" parsed="|2Cor|1|10|0|0" passage="2Co 1:10">2 Cor. i. 10</scripRef>. Two things
are used a little to palliate and alleviate the terror of death as
to this world, and to sugar the bitter pill—bewailing the dead and
burying them; but, to make those deaths grievous indeed, these are
denied: <i>They shall not be lamented,</i> but shall be carried
off, as if all the world were weary of them; nay, they <i>shall not
be buried,</i> but left exposed, as if they were designed to be
monuments of justice. <i>They shall be a dung upon the face of the
earth,</i> not only despicable, but detestable, as if they were
good for nothing but to manure the ground; being <i>consumed,</i>
some <i>by the sword</i> and some <i>by famine, their carcases
shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the
earth.</i> Will not any one say, "Better be without children than
live to see them come to this?" What reason have we to say,<i>All
is vanity and vexation of spirit,</i> when those creatures that we
expect to be our greatest comforts may prove not only our heaviest
cares, but our sorest crosses!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p5" shownumber="no">II. Jeremiah must not go to the house of
mourning upon occasion of the death of any of his neighbours or
relations (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.5" parsed="|Jer|16|5|0|0" passage="Jer 16:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>):
<i>Enter thou not into the house of mourning.</i> It was usual to
condole with those whose relations were dead, to <i>bemoan
them,</i> to <i>cut themselves,</i> and <i>make themselves
bald,</i> which, it seems, was commonly practised as an expression
of mourning, though forbidden by the law, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.1" parsed="|Deut|14|1|0|0" passage="De 14:1">Deut. xiv. 1</scripRef>. Nay, sometimes, in a passion of
grief, they did <i>tear themselves for them</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.6-Jer.16.7" parsed="|Jer|16|6|16|7" passage="Jer 16:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>), partly in honour of the
deceased, thus signifying that they thought there was a great loss
of them, and partly in compassion to the surviving relations, to
whom the burden will be made the lighter by their having sharers
with them in their grief. They used to mourn with them, and so
<i>to comfort them for the dead,</i> as Job's friends with him and
the Jews with Martha and Mary; and it was a friendly office to
<i>give them a cup of consolation to drink,</i> to provide cordials
for them and press them earnestly to drink of them for the support
of their spirits, give wine to those that are of heavy heart <i>for
their father or mother,</i> that it may be some comfort to them to
find that, though they have lost their parents, yet they have some
friends left that have a concern for them. Thus the usage stood,
and it was a laudable usage. It is a good work to others, as well
as of good use to ourselves, to <i>go to the house of mourning.</i>
It seems, the prophet Jeremiah had been wont to abound in good
offices of this kind, and it well became his character both as a
pious man and as a prophet; and one would think it should have made
him better beloved among his people than it should seem he was. But
now God bids him not lament the death of his friends as usual, for
1. His sorrow for the destruction of his country in general must
swallow up his sorrow for particular deaths. His tears must now be
turned into another channel; and there is occasion enough for them
all. 2. He had little reason to lament those who died now just
before the judgments entered which he saw at the door, but rather
to think those happy who were seasonable <i>taken away from the
evil to come.</i> 3. This was to be a type of what was coming, when
there should be such universal confusion that all neighbourly
friendly offices should be neglected. Men shall be in deaths so
often, and even dying daily, that they shall have no time, no room,
no heart, for the ceremonies that used to attend death. The sorrows
shall be so ponderous as not to admit relief, and every one so full
of grief for his own troubles that he shall have no thought of his
neighbours. All shall be mourners then, and no comforters; every
one will find it enough to bear his own burden; for (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.5" parsed="|Jer|16|5|0|0" passage="Jer 16:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), "<i>I have taken away
my peace from this people,</i> put a full period to their
prosperity, deprived them of health, wealth, and quiet, and
friends, and every thing wherewith they might comfort themselves
and one another." Whatever peace we enjoy, it is God's peace; it is
his gift, and, <i>if he give quietness, who then can make
trouble?</i> But, if we make not a good use of his peace, he can
and will take it away; and where are we then? <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.29" parsed="|Job|34|29|0|0" passage="Job 34:29">Job xxxiv. 29</scripRef>. "I will take away my peace,
<i>even my loving-kindness and mercies;</i>" these shall be shut up
and restrained, which are the fresh springs from which all their
fresh streams flow, and then farewell all good. Note, Those have
cut themselves off from all true peace that have thrown themselves
out of the favour of God. All is gone when God takes away from us
his lovingkindness and his mercies. Then it follows (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.6" parsed="|Jer|16|6|0|0" passage="Jer 16:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), <i>Both the great and
the small shall die,</i> even <i>in this land,</i> the land of
Canaan, that used to be called the <i>land of the living.</i> God's
favour is our life; take away that, and <i>we die, we perish, we
all perish.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p6" shownumber="no">III. Jeremiah must not go to the house of
mirth, any more than to the house of mourning, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.8" parsed="|Jer|16|8|0|0" passage="Jer 16:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. It had been his custom, and it
was innocent enough, when any of his friends made entertainments at
their houses and invited him to them, to <i>go and sit with
them,</i> not merely to drink, but <i>to eat and to drink,</i>
soberly and cheerfully. But now he must not take that liberty, 1.
Because it was unseasonable, and inconsistent with the providences
of God in reference to that land and nation. God called aloud to
<i>weeping, and mourning, and fasting;</i> he was coming forth
against them in his judgments; and it was time for them to
<i>humble themselves;</i> and it well became the prophet who gave
them the warning to give them an example of taking the warning, and
complying with it, and so to make it appear that he did himself
believe it. Ministers ought to be examples of self-denial and
mortification, and to show themselves affected with those terrors
of the Lord with which they desire to affect others. And it becomes
all the sons of Zion to sympathize with her in her afflictions, and
not to be merry when she is perplexed, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.6.6" parsed="|Amos|6|6|0|0" passage="Am 6:6">Amos vi. 6</scripRef>. 2. Because he must thus show the
people what sad times were coming upon them. His friends wondered
that he would not meet them, as he used to do, in the house of
feasting. But he lets them know it was to intimate to them that all
their feasting would be at an end shortly (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.9" parsed="|Jer|16|9|0|0" passage="Jer 16:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>I will cause to cease the
voice of mirth.</i> You shall have nothing to feast on, nothing to
rejoice in, but be surrounded with calamities that shall mar your
mirth and cast a damp upon it." God can find ways to tame the most
jovial. "This shall be done <i>in this 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 <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.34" parsed="|Jer|7|34|0|0" passage="Jer 7:34"><i>ch.</i> vii.
34</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.xvii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.10-Jer.16.13" parsed="|Jer|16|10|16|13" passage="Jer 16:10-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xvii-p6.6">
<h4 id="Jer.xvii-p6.7">Causes of Divine Judgments. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p6.8">b. c.</span> 605.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xvii-p7" shownumber="no">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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p7.1">Lord</span> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p7.2">Lord</span> our God?   11 Then shalt thou
say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p7.3">Lord</span>, 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p8" shownumber="no">Here is, 1. An enquiry made into the
reasons why God would bring those judgments upon them (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.10" parsed="|Jer|16|10|0|0" passage="Jer 16:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <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> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.23" parsed="|Job|34|23|0|0" passage="Job 34:23">Job xxxiv. 23</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.11" parsed="|Jer|16|11|0|0" passage="Jer 16:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <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> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.18" parsed="|1Pet|1|18|0|0" passage="1Pe 1:18">1 Pet. i. 18</scripRef>.
(2.) That God reckoned with them for their own iniquities
(<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.12" parsed="|Jer|16|12|0|0" passage="Jer 16:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): "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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.13" parsed="|Jer|16|13|0|0" passage="Jer 16:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): "<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, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.17" parsed="|Deut|32|17|0|0" passage="De 32:17">Deut. xxxii.
17</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.xvii-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.14-Jer.16.21" parsed="|Jer|16|14|16|21" passage="Jer 16:14-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xvii-p8.9">
<h4 id="Jer.xvii-p8.10">Judgment and Mercy; Restoration of the Jews;
Deliverance from Babylon. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p8.11">b.
c.</span> 605.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xvii-p9" shownumber="no">14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p9.1">Lord</span>, that it shall no more be said,
The <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p9.2">Lord</span> liveth, that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;   15 But, The
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p9.3">Lord</span> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p9.4">Lord</span>, 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p9.5">O Lord</span>, 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xvii-p9.6">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p10" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p11" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.17" parsed="|Jer|16|17|0|0" passage="Jer 16:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): <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, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.21 Bible:Job.34.21 Bible:Ps.90.8" parsed="|Prov|5|21|0|0;|Job|34|21|0|0;|Ps|90|8|0|0" passage="Pr 5:21,Job 34:21,Ps 90:8">Prov. v. 21; Job xxxiv. 21; Ps.
xc. 8</scripRef>. 2. God is highly displeased, particularly at
their idolatries, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.18" parsed="|Jer|16|18|0|0" passage="Jer 16:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.16" parsed="|Jer|16|16|0|0" passage="Jer 16:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.14-Jer.16.15" parsed="|Jer|16|14|16|15" passage="Jer 16:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14,
15</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.20" parsed="|Jer|16|20|0|0" passage="Jer 16:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): "<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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.18" parsed="|Jer|16|18|0|0" passage="Jer 16:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>), and then he will <i>this once</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.21" parsed="|Jer|16|21|0|0" passage="Jer 16:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>)—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 class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p12" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.13" parsed="|Jer|16|13|0|0" passage="Jer 16:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p13" shownumber="no">1. <i>The days will come,</i> the joyful
days, when the same hand that dispersed them shall gather them
again, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.14-Jer.16.15" parsed="|Jer|16|14|16|15" passage="Jer 16:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14,
15</scripRef>. They are cast out, but they are not cast off, they
are not cast away. They shall be <i>brought up from the land of the
north,</i> the land of their captivity, where they are held with a
strong hand, <i>and from all the lands whither they are driven,</i>
and where they seemed to be lost and buried in the crowd; nay, <i>I
will bring them again into their own land,</i> and settle them
there. As he foregoing threatenings agreed with what was written in
this law, so does this promise. <i>Yet will I not cast them
away,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.44" parsed="|Lev|26|44|0|0" passage="Le 26:44">Lev. xxvi. 44</scripRef>.
<i>Thence will the Lord thy God gather thee,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.4" parsed="|Deut|30|4|0|0" passage="De 30:4">Deut. xxx. 4</scripRef>. And the following words
(<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.16" parsed="|Jer|16|16|0|0" passage="Jer 16:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) may be
understood as a promise; God will send for fishers and hunters, the
Medes and Persians, that shall find them out in the countries where
they are scattered, and send them back to their own land; or
Zerubbabel, and others of their own nation, who should fish them
out and hunt after them, to persuade them to return; or whatever
instruments the Spirit of God made use of to <i>stir up their
spirits to go up,</i> which at first they were backward to do. They
began to nestle in Babylon; but, <i>as an eagle stirs up her nest
and flutters over her young,</i> so God did by them, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Zech.2.7" parsed="|Zech|2|7|0|0" passage="Zec 2:7">Zech. ii. 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p14" shownumber="no">2. Their deliverance out of Babylon should,
upon some accounts, be more illustrious and memorable than their
deliverance out of Egypt was. Both were the Lord's doing and
marvellous in their eyes; both were proofs that the Lord liveth and
were to be kept in everlasting remembrance, to his honour, as the
living God; but the fresh mercy shall be so surprising, so welcome,
that it shall even abolish the memory of the former. Not but that
new mercies should put us in mind of old ones, and give us occasion
to renew our thanksgivings for them; yet because we are tempted to
think that the former days were better than these, and to ask,
<i>Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of?</i> as if
God's <i>arm</i> had <i>waxed short,</i> and to cry up the age of
miracles above the later ages, when mercies are wrought in a way of
common providence, therefore we are allowed here comparatively to
forget the bringing of Israel out of Egypt as a deliverance outdone
by that out of Babylon. That was done <i>by might and power,</i>
this <i>by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.6" parsed="|Zech|4|6|0|0" passage="Zec 4:6">Zech. iv. 6</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.2" parsed="|Isa|40|2|0|0" passage="Isa 40:2">Isa.
xl. 2</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p15" shownumber="no">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>
<scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.18" parsed="|Jer|16|18|0|0" passage="Jer 16:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. But, when
they have smarted for so doing, they shall come and humble
themselves before God, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.19-Jer.16.21" parsed="|Jer|16|19|16|21" passage="Jer 16:19-21"><i>v.</i>
19-21</scripRef>. (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> <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.20" parsed="|Jer|16|20|0|0" passage="Jer 16:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Jer.xvii-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.16.21" parsed="|Jer|16|21|0|0" passage="Jer 16:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. <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 class="indent" id="Jer.xvii-p16" shownumber="no">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>
</div></div2>