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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J E R E M I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. VII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The prophet having in God's name reproved the people for their sins,
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and given them warning of the judgments of God that were coming upon
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them, in this chapter prosecutes the same intention for their
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humiliation and awakening.
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I. He shows them the invalidity of the plea they so much relied on,
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that they had the temple of God among them and constantly attended the
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service of it, and endeavours to take them off from their confidence in
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their external privileges and performances,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:1-11">ver. 1-11</A>.
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II. He reminds them of the desolations of Shiloh, and foretels that
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such should be the desolations of Jerusalem,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:12-16">ver. 12-16</A>.
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III. He represents to the prophet their abominable idolatries, for
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which he was thus incensed against them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:17-20">ver. 17-20</A>.
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IV. He sets before the people that fundamental maxim of religion that
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"to obey is better than sacrifice"
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+15:22">1 Sam. xv. 22</A>),
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and that God would not accept the sacrifices of those that obstinately
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persisted in disobedience,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:21-28">ver. 21-28</A>.
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V. He threatens to lay the land utterly waste for their idolatry and
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impiety, and to multiply their slain as they had multiplied their sin,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:29-34">ver. 29-34</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jer7_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer7_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>A Call of Repentance.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 606.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, saying,
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2 Stand in the gate of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s house, and proclaim there
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this word, and say, Hear the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, all <I>ye of</I> Judah,
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that enter in at these gates to worship the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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3 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your
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ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this
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place.
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4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
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The temple of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, The temple of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>are</I> these.
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5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye
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throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
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6 <I>If</I> ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the
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widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk
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after other gods to your hurt:
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7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land
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that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
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8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
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9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear
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falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods
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whom ye know not;
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10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called
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by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these
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abominations?
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11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of
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robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen <I>it,</I> saith the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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12 But go ye now unto my place which <I>was</I> in Shiloh, where I
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set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the
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wickedness of my people Israel.
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13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye
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heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
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14 Therefore will I do unto <I>this</I> house, which is called by my
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name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you
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and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
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15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all
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your brethren, <I>even</I> the whole seed of Ephraim.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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These verses begin another sermon, which is continued in this and the
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two following chapters, much to the same effect with those before, to
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reason them to repentance. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. The orders given to the prophet to preach this sermon; for he had
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not only a general commission, but particular directions and
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instructions for every message he delivered. This was <I>a word</I>
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that <I>came to him from the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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We are not told when this sermon was to be preached; but are told,
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1. Where it must be preached--<I>in the gate of the Lord's house,</I>
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through which they entered into the outer court, or the <I>court of the
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people.</I> It would affront the priests, and expose the prophet to
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their rage, to have such a message as this delivered within their
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precincts; but the prophet must not fear the face of man, he cannot be
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faithful to his God if he do.
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2. To whom it must be preached--to the men of <I>Judah, that enter in
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at these gates to worship the Lord;</I> probably it was at one of three
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feasts, when all the males from all parts of the country were to appear
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before the Lord in the courts of his house, and not to <I>appear
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empty:</I> then he had many together to preach to, and that was the
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most seasonable time to admonish them not to trust to their privileges.
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Note,
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(1.) Even those that profess religion have need to be preached to as
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well as those that are without.
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(2.) It is desirable to have opportunity of preaching to many together.
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Wisdom chooses to cry <I>in the chief place of concourse,</I> and, as
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Jeremiah here, <I>in the opening of the gates,</I> the temple-gates.
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(3.) When we are going to worship God we have need to be admonished to
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<I>worship him in the spirit,</I> and <I>to have no confidence in the
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flesh,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:3">Phil. iii. 3</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. The contents and scope of the sermon itself. It is delivered in the
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name of <I>the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,</I> who commands the
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world, but covenants with his people. As creatures we are bound to
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regard the <I>Lord of hosts,</I> as Christians <I>the God of
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Israel;</I> what he said to them he says to us, and it is much the same
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with that which John Baptist said to those whom he baptized
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+3:8,9">Matt. iii. 8, 9</A>),
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<I>Bring forth fruits meet for repentance; and think not to say within
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yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.</I> The prophet here tells
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them,</P>
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<P>
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1. What were the true words of God, which they might trust to. In
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short, they might depend upon it that if they would repent and reform
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their lives, and return to God in a way of duty, he would restore and
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confirm their peace, would redress their grievances, and return to them
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in a way of mercy
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>Amend your ways and your doings.</I> This implies that there had
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been much amiss in their ways and doings, many faults and errors. But
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it is a great instance of the favour of God to them that he gives them
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liberty to amend, shows them where and how they must amend, and
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promises to accept them upon their amendment: "<I>I will cause you to
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dwell</I> quietly and peaceably <I>in this place,</I> and a stop shall
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be put to that which threatens your expulsion." Reformation is the only
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way, and a sure way to ruin. He explains himself
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:5-7"><I>v.</I> 5-7</A>),
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and tells them particularly,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) What the amendment was which he expected from them. They must
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<I>thoroughly amend;</I> in <I>making good,</I> they must <I>make good
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their ways and doings;</I> they must reform with resolution, and it
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must be a universal, constant, preserving reformation--not partial, but
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entire--not hypocritical, but sincere--not wavering, but constant. They
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must make the tree good, and so make the fruit good, must amend their
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hearts and thoughts, and so amend their ways and doings. In particular,
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[1.] They must be honest and just in all their dealings. Those that had
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power in their hands must <I>thoroughly execute judgment between a man
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and his neighbour,</I> without partiality, and according as the merits
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of the cause appeared. They must not either in judgment or in contract
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<I>oppress the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow,</I> nor
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countenance or protect those that did oppress, nor refuse to do them
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justice when they sought for it. They must <I>not shed innocent
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blood,</I> and with it defile <I>this place</I> and the land wherein
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they dwelt.
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[2.] They must keep closely to the worship of the true God only:
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"<I>Neither walk after other gods;</I> do not hanker after them, nor
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hearken to those that would draw you into communion with idolaters; for
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it is, and will be, <I>to your own hurt.</I> Be not only so just to
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your God, but so wise for yourselves, as not to throw away your
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adorations upon those who are not able to help you, and thereby provoke
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him who is able to destroy you." Well, this is all that God insists
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upon.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) He tells them what the establishment is which, upon this
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amendment, they may expect from him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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"Set about such a work of reformation as this with all speed, go
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through with it, and abide by it; <I>and I will cause you to dwell in
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this place,</I> this temple; it shall continue your place of resort and
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refuge, the place of your comfortable meeting with God and one another;
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and you shall dwell <I>in the land that I gave to your fathers for ever
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and ever,</I> and it shall never be turned out either from God's house
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or from your own." It is promised that they shall still enjoy their
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civil and sacred privileges, that they shall have a comfortable
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enjoyment of them: <I>I will cause you to dwell here;</I> and those
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dwell at ease to whom God gives a settlement. They shall enjoy it by
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covenant, by virtue of the grant made of it to their fathers, not by
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providence, but by promise. They shall continue in the enjoyment of it
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without eviction or molestation; they shall not be disturbed, much less
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dispossessed, <I>for ever and ever;</I> nothing but sin could throw
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them out. An everlasting inheritance in the heavenly Canaan is hereby
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secured to all that live in godliness and honesty. And the vulgar Latin
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reads a further privilege here,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:3,7"><I>v.</I> 3, 7</A>.
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<I>Habitabo vobiscum--I will dwell with you in this place;</I> and we
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should find Canaan itself but an uncomfortable place to dwell in if God
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did not dwell with us there.</P>
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<P>
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2. What were the lying words of their own hearts, which they must not
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trust to. He cautions them against this self-deceit
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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"<I>Trust no in lying words.</I> You are told in what way, and upon
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what terms, you may be easy safe, and happy; now do not flatter
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yourselves with an opinion that you may be so on any other terms, or in
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any other way." Yet he charges them with this self-deceit arising from
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vanity
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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"<I>Behold,</I> it is plain that <I>you</I> do <I>trust in lying
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words,</I> notwithstanding what is said to you; you trust in <I>words
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that cannot profit;</I> you rely upon a plea that will stand you in no
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stead." Those that slight the words of truth, which would profit them,
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take shelter in words of falsehood, which cannot profit them. Now
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these lying words were, "<I>The temple of the Lord, the temple of the
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Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.</I> These buildings, the
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courts, the holy place, and the holy of holies, are the <I>temple of
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the Lord,</I> built by his appointment, to his glory; here he resides,
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here he is worshipped, here we meet three times a year to pay our
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homage to him as our King in his palace." This they thought was
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security enough to them to keep God and his favours from leaving them,
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God and his judgments from breaking in upon them. When the prophets
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told them how sinful they were, and how miserable they were likely to
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be, still they appealed to the temple: "How can we be either so or so,
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as long as we have that holy happy place among us?" The prophet repeats
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it because they repeated it upon all occasions. It was the cant of the
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times; it was in their mouths upon all occasions. If they heard an
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awakening sermon, if any startling piece of news was brought to them,
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they lulled themselves asleep again with this, "We cannot but do well,
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for we have <I>the temple of the Lord among us.</I>" Note, The
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privileges of a <I>form of godliness</I> are often the pride and
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confidence of those that are strangers and enemies to the power of it.
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It is common for those that are furthest from God to boast themselves
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most of their being near to the church. They are <I>haughty because of
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the holy mountain</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zep+3:11">Zeph. iii. 11</A>),
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as if God's mercy were so tied to them that they might defy his
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justice. Now to convince them what a frivolous plea this was, and what
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little stead it would stand them in,</P>
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<P>
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(1.) He shows them the gross absurdity of it in itself. If they knew
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any thing either of the <I>temple of the Lord</I> or of the <I>Lord of
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the temple,</I> they must think that to plead that, either in excuse of
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their sin against God or in arrest of God's judgment against them, was
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the most ridiculous unreasonable thing that could be.
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[1.] God is a holy God; but this plea made him the patron of sin, of
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the worst of sins, which even the light of nature condemns,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>.
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"What," says he, "<I>will you steal, murder, and commit adultery,</I>
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be guilty of the vilest immoralities, and which the common interest, as
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well as the common sense, of mankind witness against? <I>Will you swear
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falsely,</I> a crime which all nations (who with the belief of a God
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have had a veneration for an oath) have always had a horror of? Will
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<I>you burn incense to Baal,</I> a dunghill-deity, that sets up as a
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rival with the great Jehovah, and, not content with that, <I>will you
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walk after other gods</I> too, <I>whom you know not,</I> and by all
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these crimes put a daring affront upon God, both as <I>the Lord of
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hosts</I> and as the <I>God of Israel?</I> Will you exchange a God of
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whose power and goodness you have had such a long experience for gods
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of whose ability and willingness to help you you know nothing? And,
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when you have thus done the worst you can against God, will you brazen
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your faces so far as to come and <I>stand before him in this house
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which is called by his name</I> and in which his name is called
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upon--stand before him as servants waiting his commands, as supplicants
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expecting his favour? Will you act in open rebellion against him, and
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yet herd among his subjects, among the best of them? By this, it should
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seem, you think that either he does not discover or does not dislike
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your wicked practices, to imagine either of which is to put the highest
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indignity possible upon him. It is as if you should say, <I>We are
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delivered to do all these abominations.</I>" If they had not the front
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to say this, <I>totidem verbis--in so many words,</I> yet their actions
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spoke it aloud. They could not but own that God, even their own God,
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had many a time delivered them, and been a present help to them, when
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otherwise they must have perished. He, in delivering them, designed to
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reduce them to himself, and by his goodness to lead them to repentance;
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but they resolved to persist in their abominations notwithstanding. As
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soon as they were delivered (as of old in the days of the Judges) they
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<I>did evil again in the sight of the Lord,</I> which was in effect to
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say, in direct contradiction to the true intent and meaning of the
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providences which had affected them, that God had delivered them in
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order to put them again into a capacity of rebelling against him, by
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sacrificing the more profusely to their idols. Note, Those who continue
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in sin because grace has abounded, or that grace may abound, do in
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effect their idols. Note, Those who continue in sin because grace has
|
|
abounded, or that grace may abound, do in effect make Christ the
|
|
minister of sin. Some take it thus: "You present yourselves before God
|
|
with your sacrifices and sin-offerings, and then say, <I>We are
|
|
delivered,</I> we are discharged from our guilt, now it shall do us no
|
|
hurt; when all this is but to blind the world, and stop the mouth of
|
|
conscience, that you may, the more easily to yourselves and the more
|
|
plausibly before others, <I>do all these abominations.</I>"
|
|
|
|
[2.] His temple was a holy place; but this plea made it a protection to
|
|
the most unholy persons: "<I>Has this house, which is called by my
|
|
name</I> and is a standing sign of God's kingdom of sin and
|
|
Satan--<I>has this become a den of robbers in your eyes?</I> Do you
|
|
think it was built to be not only a rendezvous of, but a refuge and
|
|
shelter to, the vilest of malefactors?" No; though the horns of the
|
|
altar were a sanctuary to him that slew a man unawares, yet they were
|
|
not so to a wilful murderer, nor to one that did aught presumptuously,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+21:14,1Ki+2:29">Exod. xxi. 14; 1 Kings ii. 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that think to excuse themselves in unchristian practices with the
|
|
Christian name, and sin the more boldly and securely because there is a
|
|
sin-offering provided, do, in effect, make God's house of prayer a den
|
|
of thieves, as the priests in Christ's time,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:13">Matt. xxi. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
But could they thus impose upon God? No: <I>Behold, I have seen it,
|
|
saith the Lord,</I> have seen the real iniquity through the counterfeit
|
|
and dissembled piety. Note, Though men may deceive one another with the
|
|
appearances of devotion, yet they cannot deceive God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He shows them the insufficiency of this plea adjudged long since
|
|
in the case of Shiloh.
|
|
|
|
[1.] It is certain that Shiloh was ruined, though it had God's
|
|
sanctuary in it, when by its wickedness it profaned that sanctuary
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Go you now to my place which was in Shiloh.</I> It is probable that
|
|
the ruins of that once flourishing city were yet remaining; they might,
|
|
at least, read the history of it, which ought to affect them as if they
|
|
saw the place. There God <I>set his name at the first,</I> there the
|
|
tabernacle was set up when Israel first took possession of Canaan
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+18:1">John xviii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
and thither the tribes went up; but those that attended the service of
|
|
the tabernacle there corrupted both themselves and others, and from
|
|
them arose the <I>wickedness of his people Israel;</I> that fountain
|
|
was poisoned, and sent forth malignant streams; and what came of it?
|
|
No; God <I>forsook</I> it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:60">Ps. lxxviii. 60</A>),
|
|
|
|
sent his ark into captivity, cut off the house of Eli that presided
|
|
there; and it is very probable that the city was quite destroyed, for
|
|
we never read any more of it but as a monument of divine vengeance upon
|
|
holy places when they harbour wicked people. Note, God's judgments
|
|
upon others, who have really revolted from God while they have kept up
|
|
a profession of nearness to him, should be a warning to us not to
|
|
<I>trust in lying words.</I> It is good to consult precedents, and make
|
|
use of them. <I>Remember Lot's wife;</I> remember Shiloh and the seven
|
|
churches of Asia; and know that the ark and candlestick are moveable
|
|
things,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:5,Mt+21:43">Rev. ii. 5; Matt. xxi. 43</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] It is as certain that Shiloh's fate will be Jerusalem's doom if a
|
|
speedy and sincere repentance prevent it not. <I>First,</I> Jerusalem
|
|
was now as sinful as ever Shiloh was; that is proved by the unerring
|
|
testimony of God himself against them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>You have done all these works,</I> you cannot deny it:" and they
|
|
continued obstinate in their sin; that is proved by the testimony of
|
|
God's return and repent, <I>rising up early and speaking,</I> as one in
|
|
care, as one in earnest, as one who would lose no time in dealing with
|
|
them, nay, who would take the fittest opportunity for speaking to them
|
|
early <I>in the morning,</I> when, if ever, they were sober, and had
|
|
their thoughts free and clear; but it was all in vain. God spoke, but
|
|
they <I>heard not,</I> they heeded not, they never minded; he <I>called
|
|
them,</I> but they <I>answered not;</I> they would not come at his
|
|
call. Note, What God has spoken to us greatly aggravates what we have
|
|
done against him. <I>Secondly,</I> Jerusalem shall shortly be as
|
|
miserable as ever Shiloh was: <I>Therefore I will do unto this house as
|
|
I did to Shiloh,</I> ruin it, and lay it waste,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that tread in the steps of the wickedness of those that went
|
|
before them must expect to fall by the like judgments, for all these
|
|
things <I>happened to them for ensamples.</I> The temple at Jerusalem,
|
|
though ever so strongly built, if wickedness was found in it, would be
|
|
as unable to keep its ground and as easily conquered as even the
|
|
tabernacle in Shiloh was, when God's day of vengeance had come. "This
|
|
house" (says God) "is <I>called by my name,</I> and therefore you may
|
|
think that I should protect it; it is the house <I>in which you
|
|
trust,</I> and you think that it will protect you; this land is <I>the
|
|
place,</I> this city <I>the place, which I gave to you and your
|
|
fathers,</I> and therefore you are secure of the continuance of it, and
|
|
think that nothing can turn you out of it; but the men of Shiloh thus
|
|
flattered themselves and did but deceive themselves." He quotes another
|
|
precedent
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
the ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes, who were the seed of
|
|
Abraham, and had the covenant of circumcision, and possessed the land
|
|
which God gave to them and their fathers, and yet the idolatries threw
|
|
them out and extirpated them: "And can you think but that the same evil
|
|
courses will be as fatal to you?" Doubtless they will be so; for God is
|
|
uniform and of a piece with himself in his judicial proceedings. It is
|
|
a rule of justice, <I>ut parium par sit ratio--that in similar cases
|
|
the same judgment should proceed.</I> "You have corrupted <I>yourselves
|
|
as your brethren</I> the <I>seed of Ephraim</I> did, and have become
|
|
their brethren in iniquity, and therefore I will <I>cast you out of my
|
|
sight, as I have cast them.</I>" The interpretation here given of the
|
|
judgment makes it a terrible one indeed; the casting of them out of
|
|
their land signified God's casting them out of his sight, as if he
|
|
would never look upon them, never look after them, more. Whenever we
|
|
are cast, it is well enough, if we be kept in the love of God; but, if
|
|
we are thrown out of his favour, our case is miserable though we dwell
|
|
in our own land. This threatening, that God would make this house like
|
|
Shiloh, we shall meet with again, and find Jeremiah indicted for it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:6"><I>ch.</I> xxvi. 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Punishment Predicted.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 606.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry
|
|
nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will
|
|
not hear thee.
|
|
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in
|
|
the streets of Jerusalem?
|
|
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire,
|
|
and the women knead <I>their</I> dough, to make cakes to the queen of
|
|
heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that
|
|
they may provoke me to anger.
|
|
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: <I>do they</I> not
|
|
<I>provoke</I> themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
|
|
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>; Behold, mine anger and my
|
|
fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon
|
|
beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the
|
|
ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
God had shown them, in the foregoing verses, that the temple and the
|
|
service of it, of which they boasted and in which they trusted, should
|
|
not avail to prevent the judgment threatened. But there was another
|
|
thing which might stand them in some stead, and which yet they had no
|
|
value for, and that was the prophet's intercession for them; his
|
|
prayers would do them more good than their own pleas: now here that
|
|
support is taken from them; and their case is said indeed who have lost
|
|
their interest in the prayers of God's ministers and people.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. God here forbids the prophet to pray for them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
"The decree has gone forth, their ruin is resolved on, therefore
|
|
<I>pray not thou for this people,</I> that is, pray not for the
|
|
preventing of this judgment threatened; they have <I>sinned unto
|
|
death,</I> and therefore pray not for their life, but for the life of
|
|
their souls,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+5:16">1 John v. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
See here,
|
|
|
|
1. That God's prophets are praying men; Jeremiah foretold the
|
|
destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, and yet prayed for their
|
|
preservation, not knowing that the decree was absolute; and it is the
|
|
will of God that we <I>pray for the peace of Jerusalem.</I> Even when
|
|
we threaten sinners with damnation we must pray for their salvation,
|
|
that they may <I>turn and live.</I> Jeremiah was hated, and persecuted,
|
|
and reproached, by the children of his people, and yet he prayed for
|
|
them; for it becomes us to render good for evil.
|
|
|
|
2. That God's praying prophets have a great interest in heaven, how
|
|
little soever they have on earth. When God has determined to destroy
|
|
this people, he bespeaks the prophet not to pray for them, because he
|
|
would not have his prayers to lie (as prophets' prayers seldom did)
|
|
unanswered. God said to Moses, <I>Let me alone,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+22:10">Exod. xxii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. It is an ill omen to a people when God restrains the spirits of his
|
|
ministers and people from praying for them, and gives them to see their
|
|
case so desperate that they have no heart to speak a good word for
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
4. Those that will not regard good ministers' preaching cannot expect
|
|
any benefit by their praying. If you will not hear us when we speak
|
|
from God to you, God will not hear us when we speak to him for you.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He gives him a reason for this prohibition. Praying breath is too
|
|
precious a thing to be lost and thrown away upon a people hardened in
|
|
sin and marked for ruin.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They are resolved to persist in their rebellion against God, and
|
|
will not be turned back by the prophet's preaching. For this he appeals
|
|
to the prophet himself, and his own inspection and observation
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Seest thou not what they do</I> openly and publicly, without either
|
|
shame or fear, <I>in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
|
|
Jerusalem?</I> This intimates both that the sin was evident and could
|
|
not be denied and that the sinners were impudent and would not be
|
|
reclaimed; they committed their wickedness even in the prophet's
|
|
presence and under his eye; he saw what they did, and yet they did it,
|
|
which was an affront to his office, and to him whose officer he was,
|
|
and bade defiance to both. Now observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) What the sin is with which they are here charged--it is idolatry,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their idolatrous respects are paid to the <I>queen of heaven,</I> the
|
|
moon, either in an image or in the original, or both. They worshipped
|
|
it probably under the name of <I>Ashtaroth,</I> or some other of their
|
|
goddesses, being in love with the brightness in which they saw the moon
|
|
walk, and thinking themselves indebted to her for her benign influences
|
|
or fearing her malignant ones,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+31:26">Job xxxi. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
The worshipping of the moon was much in use among the heathen nations,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:17,19"><I>ch.</I> xliv. 17, 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Some read it the <I>frame</I> or <I>workmanship of heaven.</I> The
|
|
whole celestial globe with all its ornaments and powers was the object
|
|
of their adoration. They <I>worshipped the host of heaven,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:42">Acts vii. 42</A>.
|
|
|
|
The homage they should have paid to their Prince they paid to the
|
|
statues that beautified the frontispiece of his palace; they worshipped
|
|
the creatures instead of him that made them, the servants instead of
|
|
him that commands them, and the gifts instead of him that gave them.
|
|
<I>With the queen of heaven</I> they worshipped <I>other gods,</I>
|
|
images of things not only in <I>heaven above, but in earth beneath, and
|
|
in the waters under the earth;</I> for those that forsake the true God
|
|
wander endlessly after false ones. To these deities of their own making
|
|
they offer <I>cakes</I> for meat-offerings, and <I>pour out
|
|
drink-offerings,</I> as if they had their meat and drink from them and
|
|
were obliged to make to them their acknowledgments: and see how busy
|
|
they are, and how every hand is employed in the service of these idols,
|
|
according as they used to be employed in their domestic services.
|
|
<I>The children</I> were sent to <I>gather wood; the fathers kindled
|
|
the fire</I> to heat the oven, being of the poorer sort that could not
|
|
afford to keep servants to do it, yet they would rather do it
|
|
themselves than it should be undone; <I>the women kneaded the dough</I>
|
|
with their own hands, for perhaps, though they had servants to do it,
|
|
they took a pride in showing their zeal for their idols by doing it
|
|
themselves. Let us be instructed, even by this bad example, in the
|
|
service of our God.
|
|
|
|
[1.] Let us <I>honour him with our substance,</I> as those that have
|
|
our subsistence from him, and eat and drink to the glory of him from
|
|
whom we have our meat and drink.
|
|
|
|
[2.] Let us not decline the hardest services, nor disdain to stoop to
|
|
the meanest, by which God may be honoured; for none shall <I>kindle a
|
|
fire on God's altar for nought.</I> Let us think it an honour to be
|
|
employed in any work for God.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Let us bring up our children in the acts of devotion; let them, as
|
|
they are capable, be employed in doing something towards the keeping up
|
|
of religious exercises.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) What is the direct tendency of this sin: "It is <I>that they may
|
|
provoke me to anger;</I> they cannot design any thing else in it. But
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>do they provoke me to anger?</I> Is it because I am hard to be
|
|
pleased, or easily provoked? Or am I to bear the blame of the
|
|
resentment? No; it is their own doing; they may thank themselves, and
|
|
they alone shall bear it." <I>Is it against God that they provoke him
|
|
to wrath?</I> Is he the worse for it? Does it do him any real damage?
|
|
No; is <I>it not against themselves,</I> to the <I>confusion of their
|
|
own faces?</I> It is malice against God, but it is impotent malice; it
|
|
cannot hurt him: nay, it is foolish malice; it will hurt themselves.
|
|
They show their spite against God, but they do the spite to themselves.
|
|
Canst thou think any other than that a people, thus desperately set
|
|
upon their own ruin, should be abandoned?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. God is resolved to proceed in his judgments against them, and will
|
|
not be turned back by the prophet's prayers
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thus saith the Lord God,</I> and what he saith he will not unsay,
|
|
nor can all the world gainsay it; hear it therefore, and tremble.
|
|
"<I>Behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this
|
|
place,</I> as the flood of waters was upon the old world or the shower
|
|
of fire and brimstone upon Sodom; since they will anger me, let them
|
|
see what will come of it." They shall soon find,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That there is no escaping this deluge of fire, either by flying
|
|
from it or fencing against it; it shall be poured out on <I>this
|
|
place,</I> though it be a holy place, the Lord's house. It shall reach
|
|
both <I>man and beast,</I> like the plagues of Egypt, and, like some of
|
|
them, shall destroy the <I>trees of the field and the fruit of the
|
|
ground,</I> which they had designed and <I>prepared for Baal,</I> and
|
|
of which they had made <I>cakes to the queen of heaven.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) There is no extinguishing it: <I>It shall burn and shall not be
|
|
quenched;</I> prayers and tears shall then avail nothing. When <I>his
|
|
wrath is kindled but a little,</I> much more when it is kindled to such
|
|
a degree, there shall be no quenching it. God's wrath is that fire
|
|
unquenchable which eternity itself will not see the period of.
|
|
<I>Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Obedience Better than Sacrifice.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 606.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>21 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your
|
|
burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
|
|
22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the
|
|
day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning
|
|
burnt offerings or sacrifices:
|
|
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and
|
|
I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all
|
|
the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
|
|
24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked
|
|
in the counsels <I>and</I> in the imagination of their evil heart, and
|
|
went backward, and not forward.
|
|
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land
|
|
of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants
|
|
the prophets, daily rising up early and sending <I>them:</I>
|
|
26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but
|
|
hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
|
|
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but
|
|
they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them;
|
|
but they will not answer thee.
|
|
28 But thou shalt say unto them, This <I>is</I> a nation that
|
|
obeyeth not the voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> their God, nor receiveth
|
|
correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
God, having shown the people that the temple would not protect them
|
|
while they polluted it with their wickedness, here shows them that
|
|
their sacrifices would not atone for them, nor be accepted, while they
|
|
went on in disobedience. See with what contempt he here speaks of their
|
|
ceremonial service
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>).
|
|
|
|
"<I>Put your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices;</I> go on in them as
|
|
long as you please; add one sort of sacrifice to another; turn your
|
|
<I>burnt-offerings</I> (which were to be wholly burnt to the honour of
|
|
God) into <I>peace-offerings</I>" (which the offerer himself had a
|
|
considerable share of), "that you may <I>eat flesh,</I> for that is all
|
|
the good you are likely to have from your sacrifices, a good meal's
|
|
meat or two; but expect not any other benefit by them while you live at
|
|
this loose rate. <I>Keep your sacrifices to yourselves</I>" (so some
|
|
understand it); "let them be served up at your own table, for they are
|
|
no way acceptable at God's altars." For the opening of this,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He shows them that obedience was the only thing he required of them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:22,23"><I>v.</I> 22, 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
He appeals to the original contract, by which they were first formed
|
|
into a people, when they were brought out of Egypt. God made them a
|
|
<I>kingdom of priests</I> to himself, not that he might be regaled with
|
|
their sacrifices, as the devils, whom the heathen worshipped, which are
|
|
represented as eating with pleasure the fat of their sacrifices and
|
|
drinking the wine of their drink-offerings,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:38">Deut. xxxii. 38</A>.
|
|
|
|
No: <I>Will God eat the flesh of bulls?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+50:13">Ps. l. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>I spoke not to your fathers concerning burnt-offerings or
|
|
sacrifices,</I> not of them <I>at first.</I> The precepts of the moral
|
|
law were given before the ceremonial institutions; and those came
|
|
afterwards, as trials of their obedience and assistances to their
|
|
repentance and faith. The Levitical law begins thus: <I>If any man of
|
|
you will bring an offering,</I> he must do so and so
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+1:2,2:1">Lev. i. 2, ii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
as if it were intended rather to regulate sacrifice than to require it.
|
|
But that which God commanded, which he bound them to by his supreme
|
|
authority and which he insisted upon as the condition of the covenant,
|
|
was, <I>Obey my voice;</I> see
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+15:26">Exod. xv. 26</A>,
|
|
|
|
where this was the statute and the ordinance by which God proved them:
|
|
<I>Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God.</I> The
|
|
condition of their being God's peculiar people was this
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+19:5">Exod. xix. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>If you will obey my voice indeed.</I> "Make conscience of the duties
|
|
of natural religion, observe positive institutions from a principle of
|
|
obedience, and then <I>I will be your God and you shall be my
|
|
people,</I>" which is the greatest honour, happiness, and satisfaction,
|
|
that any of the children of men are capable of. "Let your conversation
|
|
be regular, and in every thing study to comply with the will and word
|
|
of God; <I>walk</I> within the bounds that I have set you, and <I>in
|
|
all the ways that I have commanded you,</I> and then you may assure
|
|
yourselves that <I>it shall be well with you.</I>" The demand here is
|
|
very reasonable, that we should be directed by Infinite Wisdom to that
|
|
which is fit, that he that made us should command us, and that he
|
|
should give us law who gives us our being and all the supports of it;
|
|
and the promise is very encouraging: Let God's will be your rule and
|
|
his favour shall be your felicity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He shows them that disobedience was the only thing for which he had
|
|
a quarrel with them. <I>He would not reprove them for their
|
|
sacrifices,</I> for the omission of them; they had been <I>continually
|
|
before him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+50:8">Ps. l. 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
with them they hoped to bribe God, and purchase a license to go on in
|
|
sin. That therefore which God had all along laid to their charge was
|
|
breaking his commandments in the course of their conversation, while
|
|
they observed them, in some instances, in the course of their devotion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:24,25"><I>v.</I> 24, 25</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.
|
|
|
|
1. They set up their own will in competition with the will of God:
|
|
<I>They hearkened not</I> to God and to his law; they never heeded
|
|
that; it was to them as if it had never been given or were of no force;
|
|
they <I>inclined not their ear</I> to attend to it, much less their
|
|
hearts to comply with it. But they would have their own way, would do
|
|
as they chose, and not as they were bidden. <I>Their own counsels</I>
|
|
were their guide, and not the dictates of divine wisdom; that shall be
|
|
lawful and good with them which they think so, though the word of God
|
|
says quite contrary. <I>The imagination of their evil heart,</I> the
|
|
appetites and passions of it, shall be a law to them, and they will
|
|
walk in the way of it, and in the sight of their eyes.
|
|
|
|
2. If they began well, yet they did not proceed, but soon flew off.
|
|
They <I>went backward,</I> when they talked of making a captain, and
|
|
returning to Egypt again, and would not go forward under God's conduct.
|
|
They promised fair: <I>All that the Lord shall say unto us we well
|
|
do;</I> and, if they would but have kept in that good mind, all would
|
|
have been well; but, instead of going on in the way of duty, they drew
|
|
back into the way of sin, and were worse than ever.
|
|
|
|
3. When God sent to them by word of mouth to put them in mind of the
|
|
written word, which was the business of the prophets, it was all one;
|
|
still they were disobedient. God had servants of his among them in
|
|
every age, <I>since they came out of Egypt unto this day,</I> some or
|
|
other to tell them of their faults and put them in mind of their duty,
|
|
whom he <I>rose up early to send</I> (as before,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
as men rise up early to call servants to their work; but they were as
|
|
deaf to the prophets as they were to the law
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Yet they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear.</I> This had been
|
|
their way and manner all along; they were of the same stubborn
|
|
refractory disposition with those that went before them; it had all
|
|
along been the genius of the nation, and an evil genius it was, that
|
|
continually haunted them till it ruined them at last.
|
|
|
|
4. Their practice and character were still the same. They are worse,
|
|
and not better, <I>than their fathers.</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Jeremiah can himself witness against them that they were
|
|
disobedient, or he shall soon find it so
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou shalt speak all these words to them,</I> shalt particularly
|
|
charge them with disobedience and obstinacy. But even that will not
|
|
work upon them: <I>They will not hearken to thee,</I> nor heed thee.
|
|
Thou shalt go, and <I>call to them</I> with all the plainness and
|
|
earnestness imaginable, but<I> they will not answer thee;</I> they will
|
|
either give thee no answer at all or not an obedient answer; they will
|
|
not come at thy call."
|
|
|
|
(2.) He must therefore own that they deserved the character of a
|
|
disobedient people, that were ripe for destruction, and must go to them
|
|
and tell them so to their faces
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Say unto them, This is a nation that obeys not the voice of the
|
|
Lord their God.</I> They are notorious for their obstinacy; they
|
|
sacrifice to the Lord as their God, but they will not be ruled by him
|
|
as their God; they will not receive either the instruction of his word
|
|
or the correction of his rod; they will not be reclaimed or reformed by
|
|
either. <I>Truth has perished</I> among them; they cannot receive it;
|
|
they will not submit to it nor be governed by it. They will not speak
|
|
truth; there is no believing a word they say, for it is <I>cut off from
|
|
their mouth,</I> and lying comes in the room of it. They are false both
|
|
to God and man."</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_32"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_33"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer7_34"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Desolation of Judah.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 606.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>29 Cut off thine hair, <I>O Jerusalem,</I> and cast <I>it</I> away, and
|
|
take up a lamentation on high places; for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath rejected
|
|
and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
|
|
30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith
|
|
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: they have set their abominations in the house which is
|
|
called by my name, to pollute it.
|
|
31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which <I>is</I> in
|
|
the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their
|
|
daughters in the fire; which I commanded <I>them</I> not, neither came
|
|
it into my heart.
|
|
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that it
|
|
shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of
|
|
Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in
|
|
Tophet, till there be no place.
|
|
33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls
|
|
of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall
|
|
fray <I>them</I> away.
|
|
34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and
|
|
from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice
|
|
of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the
|
|
bride: for the land shall be desolate.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. A loud call to weeping and mourning. Jerusalem, that had been a
|
|
joyous city, the joy of the whole earth, must now <I>take up a
|
|
lamentation on high places</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
the high places where they had served their idols; there must they now
|
|
bemoan their misery. In token both of sorrow and slavery, Jerusalem
|
|
must now <I>cut off her hair and cast it away;</I> the word is peculiar
|
|
to the hair of the Nazarites, which was the badge and token of their
|
|
dedication to God, and it is called <I>their crown.</I> Jerusalem had
|
|
been a city which was a Nazarite to God, but now must <I>cut off her
|
|
hair,</I> must be profaned, degraded, and separated from God, as she
|
|
had been separated to him. It is time for those that have lost their
|
|
holiness to lay aside their joy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Just cause given for this great lamentation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The sin of Jerusalem appears here very heinous, nowhere worse, or
|
|
more exceedingly sinful
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>The children of Judah</I>" (God's profession people, that <I>came
|
|
forth out of the waters of Judah,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+48:1">Isa. xlviii. 1</A>)
|
|
|
|
"<I>have done evil in my sight,</I> under my eye, in my presence; they
|
|
have affronted me to my face, which very much aggravates the affront:"
|
|
or, "They have done that which they know to be <I>evil in my sight,</I>
|
|
and in the highest degree offensive to me." Idolatry was the sin which
|
|
was above all other sins evil in God's sight. Now here are two things
|
|
charged upon them in their idolatry, which were very provoking:
|
|
|
|
(1.) That they were very impudent in it towards God and set him at
|
|
defiance: <I>They have set their abominations</I> (their abominable
|
|
idols and the altars erected to them) <I>in the house that is called by
|
|
my name,</I> in the very courts of the temple, <I>to pollute it</I>
|
|
(Manasseh did so,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+21:7,23:12">2 Kings xxi. 7, xxiii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
as if they thought God would connive at it, or cared not though he was
|
|
ever so much displeased with it, or as if they would reconcile heaven
|
|
and hell, God and Baal. The heart is the place which God has chosen to
|
|
<I>put his name there;</I> if sin have the innermost and uppermost
|
|
place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord, and therefore he
|
|
resents nothing more than <I>setting up idols in the heart,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:4">Ezek. xiv. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That they were very barbarous in it towards their own children,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
They have particularly <I>built the high places of Tophet,</I> where
|
|
the image of Moloch was set up, <I>in the valley of the son of
|
|
Hinnom,</I> adjoining to Jerusalem; and there <I>they burnt their sons
|
|
and their daughters in the fire,</I> burnt them alive, killed them, and
|
|
killed them in the most cruel manner imaginable, to honour or appease
|
|
those idols that were devils and not gods. This was surely the greatest
|
|
instance that ever was of the power of Satan in the children of
|
|
disobedience, and of the degeneracy and corruption of the human nature.
|
|
One would willingly hope that there were not many instances of such a
|
|
barbarous idolatry; but it is amazing that there should be any, that
|
|
men could be so perfectly void of natural affection as to do a thing so
|
|
inhuman as to burn little innocent children, and their own too, that
|
|
they should be so perfectly void of natural religion as to think it
|
|
lawful to do this, nay, to think it acceptable. Surely it was in a way
|
|
of righteous judgment, because they had changed the glory of God into
|
|
the similitude of a beast, that God gave them up to such vile
|
|
affections that changed them into worse than beasts. God says of this
|
|
that it was <I>what he commanded them not, neither cam it into his
|
|
heart,</I> which is not meant of his not commanding them thus to
|
|
worship Moloch (this he had expressly <I>forbidden</I> them), but he
|
|
had never commanded that his worshippers should be at such an expense,
|
|
nor put such a force upon their natural affection, in honouring him; it
|
|
never came into his heart to have children offered to him, yet they had
|
|
forsaken his service for the service of such gods as, by commanding
|
|
this, showed themselves to be indeed enemies to mankind.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. That speaks
|
|
misery enough in general
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.</I>
|
|
Sin makes those the generation of God's wrath that had ben the
|
|
generation of his love. And God will reject and quite forsake those who
|
|
have thus made themselves <I>vessels of wrath fitted to
|
|
destruction.</I> He will disown them for his. "Verily, I say unto you,
|
|
I know you not." And he will give them up to the terrors of their own
|
|
guilt, and leave them in those hands.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Death shall triumph over them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:32,33"><I>v.</I> 32, 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
Sin reigns unto death; for that is the wages of it, the end of those
|
|
things. <I>Tophet,</I> the valley adjoining to Jerusalem, <I>shall be
|
|
called the valley of slaughter,</I> for there multitudes shall be
|
|
slain, when, in their sallies out of the city and their attempts to
|
|
escape, they fall into the hands of the besiegers. Or it shall be
|
|
called <I>the valley of slaughtered ones,</I> because thither the
|
|
corpses of those that are slain shall be brought to be buried, all
|
|
other burying places being full; and there they shall bury <I>until
|
|
there be no more place</I> to make a grave. This intimates the
|
|
multitude of those that shall die by the sword, pestilence, and famine.
|
|
Death shall ride on prosperously, with dreadful pomp and power,
|
|
<I>conquering and to conquer. The slain of the Lord shall be many.</I>
|
|
This valley of Tophet was a place where the citizens of Jerusalem
|
|
walked to take the air; but it shall now be spoiled for that use, for
|
|
it shall be so full of graves that there shall be no walking there,
|
|
because of the danger of contracting a ceremonial pollution by the
|
|
touch of a grave. There it was that they sacrificed some of their
|
|
children, and dedicated others to Moloch, and there they should fall as
|
|
victims to divine justice. Tophet had formerly been the burying place,
|
|
or burning place, of the dead bodies of the besiegers, when the
|
|
Assyrian army was routed by an angel; and for this it was <I>ordained
|
|
of old,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:33">Isa. xxx. 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
But they having forgotten this mercy, and made it the place of their
|
|
sin, God will now turn it into a burying place for the besieged. In
|
|
allusion to this valley, hell is in the New Testament called
|
|
<I>Gehenna--the valley of Hinnom,</I> for there were buried both the
|
|
invading Assyrians and the revolting Jews; so hell is a receptacle
|
|
after death both for infidels and hypocrites, the open enemies of God's
|
|
church and its treacherous friends; it is <I>the congregation of the
|
|
dead;</I> it is prepared for the <I>generation of God's wrath.</I> But
|
|
so great shall that slaughter be that even the spacious valley of
|
|
Tophet shall not be able to contain the slain; and at length there
|
|
shall not be enough left alive to bury the dead, so that <I>the
|
|
carcases of the people shall be meat</I> for the birds and beasts of
|
|
prey, that shall feed upon them like carrion, and none shall have the
|
|
concern or courage to frighten them away, as Rizpah did from the dead
|
|
bodies of Saul's sons,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+28:26">2 Sam. xxviii. 26</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Thy carcase shall be meat to the fowls and beasts, and no man shall
|
|
drive them away.</I> Thus do the law and the prophets agree, and the
|
|
execution with both. The decent burying of the dead is a piece of
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humanity, in remembrance of what the dead body has been--the tabernacle
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of a reasonable soul. Nay, it is a piece of divinity, in expectation
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of what the dead body shall be at the resurrection. The want of it has
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sometimes been an instance of the rage of men against God's witnesses,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+11:9">Rev. xi. 9</A>.
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Here it is threatened as an instance of the wrath of God against his
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enemies, and is an intimation that <I>evil pursues sinners</I> even
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after death.
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(2.) Joy shall depart from them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>):
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<I>Then will I cause to cease the voice of mirth.</I> God had
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<I>called</I> by his prophets, and by less judgments, <I>to weeping and
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mourning;</I> but they walked contrary to him, and would hear of
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nothing but joy and gladness,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+22:12,13">Isa. xxii. 12, 13</A>.
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And what came of it? Now God <I>called to lamentation</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
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and he made his call effectual, leaving them neither cause nor heart
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|
for joy and gladness. Those that will not weep shall weep; those that
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|
will not by the grace of God be cured of their vain mirth shall by the
|
|
justice of God be deprived of all mirth; for <I>when God judges he will
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|
overcome.</I> It is threatened here that there shall be nothing to
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|
rejoice in. There shall be none of the joy of weddings; no mirth, for
|
|
there shall be no marriages. The comforts of life shall be abandoned,
|
|
and all care to keep up mankind upon earth cast off; there shall be
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|
none of <I>the voice of the bridegroom and</I> the <I>bride,</I> no
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|
music, no nuptial songs. Nor shall there be any more of the joy of the
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|
harvest, <I>for the land shall be desolate,</I> uncultivated and
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|
unimproved. Both <I>the cities of Judah and the streets of
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|
Jerusalem</I> shall look thus melancholy; and when they thus look about
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|
them, and see no cause to rejoice, no marvel if they retire into
|
|
themselves and find no heart to rejoice. Note, God can soon mar the
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mirth of the most jovial, and make it to cease, which is a reason why
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we should always rejoice with trembling, be merry and wise.</P>
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