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 Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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 <CENTER>
 <BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J E R E M I A H.</B></FONT>
 <BR>
 <BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXVI.</FONT>
 <HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
 </CENTER>

 <FONT SIZE=-1>
 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 As in the history of the Acts of the Apostles that of their preaching
 and that of their suffering are interwoven, so it is in the account we
 have of the prophet Jeremiah; witness this chapter, where we are told,

 I. How faithfully he preached,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:1-6">ver. 1-6</A>.

 II. How spitefully he was persecuted for so doing by the priests and
 the prophets,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:7-11">ver. 7-11</A>.

 III. How bravely he stood to his doctrine, in the face of his
 persecutors,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:12-15">ver. 12-15</A>.

 IV. How wonderfully he was protected and delivered by the prudence of
 the princes and elders,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:16-19">ver. 16-19</A>.

 Though Urijah, another prophet, was about the same time put to death by
 Jehoiakim

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:20-23">ver. 20-23</A>),

 yet Jeremiah met with those that sheltered him,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:24">ver. 24</A>.</P>
 </FONT>

 <A NAME="Jer26_1"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_2"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_3"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_4"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_5"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_6"> </A>

 <A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
 <TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
 <TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jeremiah's Solemn Address.</I></FONT></TD>
 <TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 608.</TD></TR>
 <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
 </TABLE>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
 <FONT SIZE=+1>1  In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
 king of Judah came this word from the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, saying,
 &nbsp; 2  Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; Stand in the court of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s house,
 and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in
 the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto
 them; diminish not a word:
 &nbsp; 3  If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil
 way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto
 them because of the evil of their doings.
 &nbsp; 4  And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; If ye will
 not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before
 you,
 &nbsp; 5  To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I
 sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending <I>them,</I> but ye
 have not hearkened;
 &nbsp; 6  Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this
 city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
 </FONT></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 We have here the sermon that Jeremiah preached, which gave such offence
 that he was in danger of losing his life for it. It is here left upon
 record, as it were, by way of appeal to the judgment of impartial men
 in all ages, whether Jeremiah was worthy to die for delivering such a
 message as this from God, and whether his persecutors were not very
 wicked and unreasonable men.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 I. God directed him where to preach this sermon, and when, and to what
 auditory,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.

 Let not any censure Jeremiah as indiscreet in the choice of place and
 time, nor say that he might have delivered his message more privately,
 in a corner, among his friends that he could confide in, and that he
 deserved to smart for not acting more cautiously; for God gave him
 orders to preach <I>in the court of the Lord's house,</I> which was
 within the peculiar jurisdiction of his sworn enemies the priests, and
 who would therefore take themselves to be in a particular manner
 affronted. He must preach this, as it should seem, at the time of one
 of the most solemn festivals, when persons had come from all the
 <I>cities of Judah</I> to <I>worship in the Lord's house.</I> These
 worshippers, we may suppose, had a great veneration for their priests,
 would credit the character they gave of men, and be exasperated against
 those whom they defamed, and would, consequently, side with them and
 strengthen their hands against Jeremiah. But none of these things must
 move him or daunt him; in the face of all this danger he must preach
 this sermon, which, if it were not convincing, would be very provoking.
 And because the prophet might be in some temptation to palliate the
 matter, and make it better to his hearers than God had made it to him,
 to exchange an offensive expression for one more plausible, therefore
 God charges him particularly <I>not to diminish a word,</I> but to
 speak all the things, nay, <I>all the words,</I> that he had commanded
 him. Note, God's ambassadors must keep closely to their instructions,
 and not in the least vary from them, either to please men or to save
 themselves from harm. They must neither <I>add</I> nor <I>diminish,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:2">Deut. iv. 2</A>.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 II. God directed him what to preach, and it is that which could not
 give offence to any but such as were resolved to go on still in their
 trespasses.

 1. He must assure them that if they would <I>repent of their sins,</I>
 and turn from them, though they were in imminent danger of ruin and
 desolating judgments were just at the door, yet a stop should be put to
 them, and God would proceed no further in his controversy with them,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.

 This was the main thing God intended in sending him to them, to try if
 they would return from their sins, that so God might turn from his
 anger and turn away the judgments that threatened them, which he was
 not only willing, but very desirous to do, as soon as he could do it
 without prejudice to the honour of his justice and holiness. See how
 God <I>waits to be gracious,</I> waits till we are duly qualified, till
 we are fit for him to be gracious to, and in the mean time tries a
 variety of methods to bring us to be so.

 2. He must, on the other hand, assure them that if they continued
 obstinate to all the calls God gave them, and would persist in their
 disobedience, it would certainly end in the ruin of their city and
 temple,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:4-6"><I>v.</I> 4-6</A>.

 (1.) That which God required of them was that they should be observant
 of what he had said to them, both by the written word and by his
 ministers, that they should <I>walk in all his law which he set before
 them,</I> the law of Moses and the ordinances and commandments of it,
 and that they should <I>hearken to the words of his servants the
 prophets,</I> who pressed nothing upon them but what was agreeable to
 the law of Moses, which was <I>set before them</I> as a touchstone to
 try the spirits by; and by this they were distinguished from the false
 prophets, who drew them from the law, instead of drawing them to it.
 The law was what God himself set before them. The prophets were his own
 servants, and were immediately sent by him to them, and sent with a
 great deal of care and concern, <I>rising early to send them,</I> lest
 they should come too late, when their prejudices had got possession and
 become invincible. They had hitherto been deaf both to the law and to
 the prophets: <I>You have not hearkened.</I> All he expects now is that
 at length they should heed what he said, and make his word their
 rule--a reasonable demand.

 (2.) That which is threatened in case of refusal is that this city, and
 the temple in it, shall fare as their predecessors did, Shiloh and the
 tabernacle there, for a like refusal to walk in God's law and hearken
 to his prophets, then when the present dispensation of prophecy just
 began in Samuel. Now could a sentence be expressed more
 unexceptionably? Is it not a rule of justice <I>ut parium par sit
 ratio--that those whose cases are the same be dealt with alike?</I> If
 Jerusalem be like Shiloh in respect of sin, why should it not be like
 Shiloh in respect of punishment? Can any other be expected? This was
 not the first time he had given them warning to this effect; see

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:12-14"><I>ch.</I> vii. 12-14</A>.

 When the temple, which was the glory of Jerusalem, was destroyed, the
 city was thereby <I>made a curse;</I> for the temple was that which
 made it a blessing. <I>If the salt lose</I> that <I>savour, it is
 thenceforth good for nothing.</I> It shall be <I>a curse,</I> that is,
 it shall be the pattern of a curse; if a man would curse any city, he
 would say, <I>God make it like Jerusalem!</I> Note, Those that will not
 be subject to the commands of God make themselves subject to the curse
 of God.</P>

 <A NAME="Jer26_7"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_8"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_9"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_10"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_11"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_12"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_13"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_14"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_15"> </A>

 <A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
 <TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
 <TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jeremiah Prosecuted for His Preaching; Jeremiah's Defence.</I></FONT></TD>
 <TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 608.</TD></TR>
 <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
 </TABLE>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
 <FONT SIZE=+1>7  So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard
 Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
 &nbsp; 8  Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of
 speaking all that the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> had commanded <I>him</I> to speak unto all
 the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people
 took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
 &nbsp; 9  Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, saying,
 This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate
 without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against
 Jeremiah in the house of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
 &nbsp; 10  When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came
 up from the king's house unto the house of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and sat down
 in the entry of the new gate of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s <I>house.</I>
 &nbsp; 11  Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and
 to all the people, saying, This man <I>is</I> worthy to die; for he
 hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your
 ears.
 &nbsp; 12  Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the
 people, saying, The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> sent me to prophesy against this house
 and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
 &nbsp; 13  Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the
 voice of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> your God; and the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will repent him of the
 evil that he hath pronounced against you.
 &nbsp; 14  As for me, behold, I <I>am</I> in your hand: do with me as
 seemeth good and meet unto you.
 &nbsp; 15  But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye
 shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this
 city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
 hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
 </FONT></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 One would have hoped that such a sermon as that in the

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:1-6">foregoing verses</A>,

 so plain and practical, so rational and pathetic, and delivered in
 God's name, would work upon even this people, especially meeting them
 now at their devotions, and would prevail with them to repent and
 reform; but, instead of awakening their convictions, it did but
 exasperate their corruptions, as appears by this account of the effect
 of it.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 I. Jeremiah is charged with it as a crime that he had preached such a
 sermon, and is apprehended for it as a criminal. The <I>priests,</I>
 and <I>false prophets,</I> and <I>people, heard him speak these
 words,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.

 They had patience, it seems, to hear him out, did not disturb him when
 he was preaching, nor give him any interruption till he had <I>made an
 end of speaking all that the Lord commanded him to speak,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.

 So far they dealt more fairly with him than some of the persecutors of
 God's ministers have done; they let him say all he had to say, and yet
 perhaps with a bad design, in hopes to have something worse yet to lay
 to his charge; but, having no worse, this shall suffice to ground an
 indictment upon: He hath said, <I>This house shall be like Shiloh,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.

 See how unfair they are in representing his words. He had said, in
 God's name, <I>If you will not hearken to me, then will I make this
 house like Shiloh;</I> but they leave out God's hand in the desolation
 (<I>I will make</I> it so) and their own hand in it in not hearkening
 to the voice of God, and charge it upon him that he <I>blasphemed this
 holy place,</I> the crime charged both on our Lord Jesus and on
 Stephen: He said, <I>This house shall be like Shiloh.</I> Well might he
 complain, as David does

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+56:5">Ps. lvi. 5</A>),

 <I>Every day they wrest my words;</I> and we must not think it strange
 if we, and what we say and do, be thus misrepresented. When the
 accusation was so weakly grounded, no marvel that the sentence passed
 upon it was unjust: <I>Thou shalt surely die.</I> What he had said
 agreed with what God had said when he took possession of the temple

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+9:6-8">1 Kings ix. 6-8</A>),

 <I>If you shall at all turn from following after me, then this house
 shall be</I> abandoned; and yet he is condemned to die for saying it.
 It is not out of any concern for the honour of the temple that they
 appear thus warm, but because they are resolved not to part with their
 sins, in which they flatter themselves with a conceit that the
 <I>temple of the Lord</I> will protect them; therefore, right or wrong,
 <I>Thou shalt surely die.</I> This outcry of the priests and prophets
 raised the mob, and <I>all the people were gathered together against
 Jeremiah</I> in a popular tumult, ready to pull him to pieces, were
 <I>gathered about him</I> (so some read it); they flocked together,
 some crying one thing and some another. <I>The people</I> that were at
 first present were hot against him

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),

 but their clamours drew more together, only to see what the matter
 was.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 II. He is arraigned and indicted for it before the highest court of
 judicature they had. Here,

 1. The <I>princes of Judah</I> were his judges,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.

 Those that filled the thrones of judgment, <I>the thrones of the house
 of David,</I> the elders of Israel, they, hearing of this tumult in the
 temple, <I>came up from the king's house,</I> where they usually sat
 near the court, <I>to the house of the Lord,</I> to enquire into this
 matter, and to see that nothing was done disorderly. They <I>sat down
 in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house,</I> and held a court,
 as it were, by a special commission of <I>Oyer and Terminer.</I>

 2. The <I>priests and prophets</I> were his prosecutors and accusers,
 and were violently set against him. They appealed to <I>the
 princes,</I> and <I>to all the people,</I> to the court and the jury,
 whether <I>this man</I> were not <I>worthy to die,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.

 The corrupt priests and counterfeit prophets have always been the most
 bitter enemies of the prophets of the Lord; they had ends of their own
 to serve, which they thought such preaching as this would be an
 obstruction to. When Jeremiah prophesied in the house of the king
 concerning the fall of the royal family

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+22:1"><I>ch.</I> xxii. 1</A>,

 &c.), the court, though very corrupt, bore it patiently, and we do not
 find that they persecuted him for it; but when he comes into the
 <I>house of the Lord,</I> and touches the copyhold of the priests, and
 contradicts the lies and flatteries of the false prophets, then he is
 adjudged <I>worthy to die.</I> For the prophets <I>prophesied
 falsely,</I> and the <I>priests bore rule by their means,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:31"><I>ch.</I> v. 31</A>.

 Observe, When Jeremiah is indicted before the princes the stress of his
 accusation is laid upon what he said concerning the city, because they
 thought the princes would be most concerned about that. But concerning
 the words spoken they appeal to the people, "<I>You have heard</I> what
 he hath said; let it be given in evidence."</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 III. Jeremiah makes his defence before the princes and the people. He
 does not go about to deny the words, nor to diminish aught from them;
 what he has said he will stand to, though it cost him his life; he owns
 that he had prophesied against <I>this house</I> and <I>this city,</I>
 but,

 1. He asserts that he did this by good authority, not maliciously nor
 seditiously, not out of any ill-will to his country nor any
 disaffection to the government in church or state, but, <I>The Lord
 sent me</I> to prophesy thus: so he begins his apology

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),

 and so he concludes it, for this is that which he resolves to abide by
 as sufficient to bear him out

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):

 <I>Of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all these
 words.</I> As long as ministers keep closely to the instructions they
 have from heaven they need not fear the opposition they may meet with
 from hell or earth. He pleads that he is but a messenger, and, if he
 faithfully deliver his message, he must bear no blame; but he is a
 messenger from the Lord, to whom they were accountable as well as he,
 and therefore might demand regard. If he speak but what God appointed
 him to speak, he is under the divine protection, and whatever affront
 they offer to the ambassador will be resented by the Prince that sent
 him.

 2. He shows them that he did it with a good design, and that it was
 their fault if they did not make a good use of it. It was said, not by
 way of fatal sentence, but of fair warning; if they would take the
 warning, they might prevent the execution of the sentence,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.

 Shall I take it ill of a man that tells me of my danger, while I have
 an opportunity of avoiding it, and not rather return him thanks for it,
 as the greatest kindness he could do me? "<I>I have</I> indeed (says
 Jeremiah) prophesied <I>against this city;</I> but, <I>if you will now
 amend your ways and your doings,</I> the threatened ruin shall be
 prevented, which was the thing I aimed at in giving you the warning."
 Those are very unjust who complain of ministers for preaching hell and
 damnation, when it is only to keep them from that place of torment and
 to bring them to heaven and salvation.

 3. He therefore warns them of their danger if they proceed against him

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):

 "<I>As for me,</I> the matter is not great what become of me;
 <I>behold, I am in your hand;</I> you know I am; I neither have any
 power, nor can make any interest, to oppose you, nor is it so much my
 concern to save my own life: <I>do with me as seems meet unto you;</I>
 if I be led to the slaughter, it shall be as a lamb." Note, It becomes
 God's ministers, that are warm in preaching, to be calm in suffering
 and to behave submissively to the powers that are over them, though
 they be persecuting powers. But, for themselves, he tells them that it
 is at their peril if they put him to death: <I>You shall surely bring
 innocent blood upon yourselves,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:15">
 <I>v.</I> 15</A>.

 They might think that killing the prophet would help to defeat the
 prophecy, but they would prove wretchedly deceived; it would but add to
 their guilt and aggravate their ruin. Their own consciences could not
 but tell them that, if Jeremiah was (as certainly he was) sent of God
 to bring them this message, it was at their utmost peril if they
 treated him for it as a malefactor. Those that persecute God's
 ministers hurt not them so much as themselves.</P>

 <A NAME="Jer26_16"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_17"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_18"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_19"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_20"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_21"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_22"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_23"> </A>
 <A NAME="Jer26_24"> </A>

 <A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
 <TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
 <TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jeremiah's Acquittal; Jeremiah's Deliverance.</I></FONT></TD>
 <TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 608.</TD></TR>
 <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
 </TABLE>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
 <FONT SIZE=+1>16  Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests
 and to the prophets; This man <I>is</I> not worthy to die: for he hath
 spoken to us in the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God.
 &nbsp; 17  Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to
 all the assembly of the people, saying,
 &nbsp; 18  Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king
 of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus
 saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts; Zion shall be plowed <I>like</I> a field, and
 Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as
 the high places of a forest.
 &nbsp; 19  Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to
 death? did he not fear the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and besought the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and the
 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against
 them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
 &nbsp; 20  And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the
 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied
 against this city and against this land according to all the
 words of Jeremiah:
 &nbsp; 21  And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and
 all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to
 death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and
 went into Egypt;
 &nbsp; 22  And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, <I>namely,</I>
 Elnathan the son of Achbor, and <I>certain</I> men with him into
 Egypt.
 &nbsp; 23  And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him
 unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast
 his dead body into the graves of the common people.
 &nbsp; 24  Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with
 Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the
 people to put him to death.
 </FONT></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 Here is,

 I. The acquitting of Jeremiah from the charge exhibited against him. He
 had indeed spoken the words as they were laid in the indictment, but
 they are not looked upon to be seditious or treasonable, ill-intended
 or of any bad tendency, and therefore the court and country agree to
 find him not guilty. The priests and prophets, notwithstanding his
 rational plea for himself, continued to demand judgment against him;
 but the princes, and all the people, are clear in it that <I>this man
 is not worthy to die</I>

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);

 for (say they) <I>he hath spoken to us,</I> not of himself, but <I>in
 the name of the Lord our God.</I> And are they willing to own that he
 did indeed speak to them <I>in the name of the Lord</I> and that that
 Lord is their God? Why then did they not amend their ways and doings,
 and take the method he prescribed to prevent the ruin of their country?
 If they say, His prophecy is <I>from heaven,</I> it may justly be
 asked, <I>Why did you not then believe him?</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:25">Matt. xxi. 25</A>.

 Note, It is a pity that those who are so far convinced of the divine
 original of gospel preaching as to protect it from the malice of others
 do not submit to the power and influence of it themselves.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 II. A precedent quoted to justify them in acquitting Jeremiah. Some of
 the <I>elders of the land,</I> either the princes before mentioned or
 the more intelligent men of the people, stood up, and put the assembly
 in mind of a former case, as is usual with us in giving judgment; for
 the wisdom of our predecessors is a direction to us. The case referred
 to is that of Micah. We have extant the book of his prophecy among the
 minor prophets.

 1. Was it thought strange that Jeremiah prophesied against this city
 and the temple? Micah did so before him, even in the reign of Hezekiah,
 that reign of reformation,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.

 Micah said it as publicly as Jeremiah had now spoken to the same
 purport, <I>Zion shall be ploughed like a field,</I> the building shall
 be all destroyed, so that nothing shall hinder but it may be ploughed;
 <I>Jerusalem shall become heaps</I> of ruins, and <I>the mountain of
 the house</I> on which the temple is built shall be <I>as the high
 places of the forest,</I> overrun with briers and thorns. That prophet
 not only spoke this, but wrote it, and left it on record; we find it,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+3:12">Mic. iii. 12</A>.

 By this it appears that a man may be, as Micah was, a true prophet of
 the Lord, and yet may prophesy the destruction of Zion and Jerusalem.
 When we threaten secure sinners with the taking away of the Spirit of
 God and the kingdom of God from them, and declining churches with the
 removal of the candlestick, we say no more than what has been said many
 a time, and what we have warrant from the word of God to say.

 2. Was it thought fit by the princes to justify Jeremiah in what he
 had done? It was what Hezekiah did before them in a like case. Did
 Hezekiah, and the people of Judah (that is, the representatives of the
 people, the commons in parliament), did they complain of Micah the
 prophet? Did they impeach him, or make an act to silence him and put
 him to death? No; on the contrary, they took the warning he gave them.
 Hezekiah, that renowned prince, of blessed memory, set a good example
 before his successors, for he <I>feared the Lord</I>

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),

 as Noah, who, being <I>warned of God of things not seen as yet,</I> was
 <I>moved with fear.</I> Micah's preaching drove him to his knees; he
 <I>besought the Lord</I> to turn away the judgment threatened and to be
 reconciled to them, and he found it was not in vain to do so, for
 <I>the Lord repented him of the evil</I> and returned in mercy to them;
 he sent an angel, who routed the army of the Assyrians, that threatened
 to plough <I>Zion like a field.</I> Hezekiah got good by the preaching,
 and then you may be sure he would do no harm to the preacher. These
 elders conclude that it would be of dangerous consequence to the state
 if they should gratify the importunity of the priests and prophets in
 putting Jeremiah to death: <I>Thus might we procure great evil against
 our souls.</I> Note, It is good to deter ourselves from sin with the
 consideration of the mischief we shall certainly do to ourselves by it
 and the irreparable damage it will be to our own souls.</P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 III. Here is an instance of another prophet that was put to death by
 Jehoiakim for prophesying as Jeremiah had done,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>,

 &c. Some make this to be urged by the prosecutors, as a case that
 favoured the prosecution, a modern case, in which speaking such words
 as Jeremiah had spoken was adjudged treason. Others think that the
 elders, who were advocates for Jeremiah, alleged this to show that thus
 they might <I>procure great evil against their souls,</I> for it would
 be adding sin to sin. Jehoiakim, the present king, had slain one
 prophet already; let them not fill up the measure by slaying another.
 Hezekiah, who protected Micah, prospered; but did Jehoiakim prosper who
 slew Urijah? No; they all saw the contrary. As good examples, and the
 good consequences of them, should encourage us in that which is good,
 so the examples of bad men, and the bad consequences of them, should
 deter us from that which is evil. But some good interpreters take this
 narrative from the historian that penned the book, Jeremiah himself, or
 Baruch, who, to make Jeremiah's deliverance by means of the princes the
 more wonderful, takes notice of this that happened about the same time;
 for both were in the reign of Jehoiakim, and this <I>in the beginning
 of his reign,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.

 Observe,

 1. Urijah's prophecy. It was <I>against this city, and this land,
 according to all the words of Jeremiah.</I> The prophets of the Lord
 agreed in their testimony, and one would have thought that out of the
 mouth of so many witnesses the word would be regarded.

 2. The prosecution of him for it,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.

 Jehoiakim and his courtiers were exasperated against him, and <I>sought
 to put him to death;</I> in this wicked design the king himself was
 principally concerned.

 3. His absconding thereupon: <I>When he heard</I> that the king had
 become his enemy, and sought his life, <I>he was afraid, and fled, and
 went in to Egypt.</I> This was certainly his fault, and an effect of
 the weakness of his faith, and it sped accordingly. He distrusted God,
 and his power to protect him and bear him out; he was too much under
 the power of that <I>fear of man</I> which <I>brings a snare.</I> It
 looked as if he durst not stand to what he had said or was ashamed of
 his Master. It was especially unbecoming him to flee <I>into Egypt,</I>
 and so in effect to abandon the land of Israel and to throw himself
 quite out of the way of being useful. Note, There are many that have
 much grace, but they have little courage, that are very honest, but
 withal very timorous.

 4. His execution notwithstanding. Jehoiakim's malice, one would think,
 might have contented itself with his banishment, and it might suffice
 to have driven him out of the country; but those are
 <I>bloodthirsty</I> that <I>hate the upright,</I>

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+29:10">Prov. xxix. 10</A>.

 It was the life, that precious life, that he hunted after, and nothing
 else would satisfy him. So implacable is his revenge that he sends a
 party of soldiers into Egypt, some hundreds of miles, and they bring
 him back by force of arms. It would not sufficiently gratify him to
 have him slain in Egypt, but he must feed his eyes with the bloody
 spectacle. They <I>brought him to Jehoiakim,</I> and he <I>slew him
 with the sword,</I> for aught I know with his own hands. Yet neither
 did this satisfy his insatiable malice, but he loads the dead body of
 the good man with infamy, would not allow it the decent respects
 usually and justly paid to the remains of men of distinction, but cast
 it into <I>the graves of the common people,</I> as if he had not been a
 prophet of the Lord; thus was the <I>shield of Saul vilely cast away,
 as though he had not been anointed with oil.</I> Thus Jehoiakim hoped
 both to ruin his reputation with the people, that no heed might be
 given to his predictions, and to deter others from prophesying in like
 manner; but in vain; Jeremiah says the same. There is no contending
 with the word of God. Herod thought he had gained his point when he had
 cut off John Baptist's head, but found himself deceived when, soon
 after, he heard of Jesus Christ, and said, in a fright, <I>This is John
 the Baptist.</I></P>

 <P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

 IV. Here is Jeremiah's deliverance. Though Urijah was lately put to
 death, and persecutors, when they have tasted the blood of saints, are
 apt to thirst after more (as Herod,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+12:2,3">Acts xii. 2, 3</A>),

 yet God wonderfully preserved Jeremiah, though he did not flee, as
 Urijah did, but stood his ground. Ordinary ministers may use ordinary
 means, provided they be lawful ones, for their own preservation; but
 those that had an extraordinary protection. God raised up a friend for
 Jeremiah, whose hand was with him; he took him by the hand in a
 friendly way, encouraged him, assisted him, appeared for him. It was
 <I>Ahikam the son of Shaphan,</I> one that was a minister of state in
 Josiah's time; we read of him,

 <A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+22:12">2 Kings xxii. 12</A>.

 Some think Gedaliah was the son of this Ahikam. He had a great
 interest, it should seem, among the princes, and he used it in favour
 of Jeremiah, to prevent the further designs of the priests and prophets
 against him, who would have had him turned over <I>into the hand of the
 people,</I> not those people

 (<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+26:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)

 that had adjudged him innocent, but the rude and insolent mob, whom
 they could persuade by their cursed insinuations not only to cry,
 <I>Crucify him, crucify him,</I> but to <I>stone him to death</I> in a
 popular tumult; for perhaps Jehoiakim had been so reproached by his own
 conscience for slaying Urijah that they despaired of making him the
 tool of their malice. Note, God can, when he pleases, raise up great
 men to patronize good men; and it is an encouragement to us to trust
 him in the way of duty that he has all men's hearts in his hands.</P>

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