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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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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. XXXI.</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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This chapter goes on with the good words and comfortable words which we
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had in the chapter before, for the encouragement of the captives,
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assuring them that God would in due time restore them or their children
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to their own land, and make them a great and happy nation again,
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especially by sending them the Messiah, in whose kingdom and grace many
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of these promises were to have their full accomplishment.
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I. They shall be restored to peace and honour, and joy and great plenty,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:1-14">ver. 1-14</A>.
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II. Their sorrow for the loss of their children shall be at an end,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:15-17">ver. 15-17</A>.
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III. They shall repent of their sins, and God will graciously accept
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them in their repentance,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:18-20">ver. 18-20</A>.
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IV. They shall be multiplied and increased, both their children and
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their cattle, and not be cut off and diminished as they had been,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:21-30">ver. 21-30</A>.
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V. God will renew his covenant with them, and enrich it with spiritual
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blessings,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:31-34">ver. 31-34</A>.
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VI. These blessings shall be secured to theirs after them, even to the
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spiritual seed of Israel for ever,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:35-37">ver. 35-37</A>.
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VII. As an earnest of this the city of Jerusalem shall be rebuilt,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:38-40">ver. 38-40</A>.
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These exceedingly great and precious promises were firm foundations of
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hope and full fountains of joy to the poor captives; and we also may
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apply them to ourselves and mix faith with them.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jer31_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer31_9"> </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>Promises to Israel; Joyful Return from Captivity.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</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 At the same time, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, will I be the God of all
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the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
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2 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, The people <I>which were</I> left of the
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sword found grace in the wilderness; <I>even</I> Israel, when I went
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to cause him to rest.
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3 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath appeared of old unto me, <I>saying,</I> Yea, I have
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loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
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lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
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4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of
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Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt
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go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
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5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the
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planters shall plant, and shall eat <I>them</I> as common things.
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6 For there shall be a day, <I>that</I> the watchmen upon the mount
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Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God.
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7 For thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and
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shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and
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say, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
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8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather
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them from the coasts of the earth, <I>and</I> with them the blind and
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the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child
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together: a great company shall return thither.
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9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I
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lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a
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straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father
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to Israel, and Ephraim <I>is</I> my firstborn.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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God here assures his people,</P>
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<P>
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I. That he will again take them into a covenant relation to himself,
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from which they seemed to be cut off. <I>At the same time,</I> when
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God's anger breaks out against the wicked
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+30:24"><I>ch.</I> xxx. 24</A>),
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his own people shall be owned by him as the children of his love: <I>I
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will be the God</I> (that is, I will show myself to be the God) <I>of
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all the families of Israel</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),--
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not of the two tribes only, but of all the tribes,--not of the house of
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Aaron only, and the families of Levi, but of all their families; not
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only their state in general, but their particular families, and the
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interests of them, shall have the benefit of a special relation to God.
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Note, The families of good people, in their family capacity, may apply
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to God and stay themselves upon him as their God. If we and our houses
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serve the Lord, we and our houses shall be protected and blessed by
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him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+3:33">Prov. iii. 33</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. That he will do for them, in bringing them out of Babylon, as he
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had done for their fathers when he delivered them out of Egypt, and as
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he had purposed to do when he first took them to be his people.
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1. He puts them in mind of what he did for their fathers when he
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brought them out of Egypt,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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They were then, as these were, a <I>people left of the sword,</I> that
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sword of Pharaoh with which he cut off all the male children as soon as
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they were born (a bloody sword indeed they had narrowly escaped) and
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that sword with which he threatened to cut them off when he pursued
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them to the Red Sea. They were then <I>in the wilderness,</I> where
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they seemed to be lost and forgotten, as these were now in a strange
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land, and yet they found grace in God's sight, were owned and highly
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honoured by him, and blessed with wonderful instances of his peculiar
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favour, and he was at this time going <I>to cause them to rest</I> in
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Canaan. Note, When we are brought very low, and insuperable
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difficulties appear in the way of our deliverance, it is good to
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remember that it has been so with the church formerly, and yet that it
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has been raised up from its low estate and has got to Canaan through
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all the hardships of a wilderness; and God is still the same.
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2. They put him in mind of what God had done for their fathers,
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intimating that they now saw not such signs, and were ready to ask, as
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Gideon did, <I>Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us
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of?</I> It is true, <I>The Lord hath appeared of old unto me</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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in Egypt, in the wilderness, hath appeared with me and for me, hath
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been seen in his glory as my God. The years of ancient times were
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glorious years; but now it is otherwise; what good will it do us that
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he <I>appeared of old</I> to us when now he is <I>a God that hides
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himself</I> from us?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+45:15">Isa. xlv. 15</A>.
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Note, It is hard to take comfort from former smiles under present
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frowns.
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3. To this he answers with an assurance of the constancy of his love:
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<I>Yea, I have loved thee,</I> not only with an ancient love, but
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<I>with an everlasting love,</I> a love that shall never fail, however
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the comforts of it may for a time be suspended. It is <I>an everlasting
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love; therefore have I</I> extended or <I>drawn out lovingkindness unto
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thee</I> also, as well as to thy ancestors, or, <I>with lovingkindness
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have I drawn thee</I> to myself as thy God, from all the idols to which
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thou hadst turned aside. Note, It is the happiness of those who are
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through grace interested in the love of God that it is <I>an
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everlasting love</I> (from everlasting in the counsels of it, <I>to</I>
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everlasting in the continuance and consequences of it), and that
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nothing can separate them from that love. Those whom God loves with
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this love he will draw into covenant and communion with himself, by the
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influences of his Spirit upon their souls; he will <I>draw them with
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lovingkindness,</I> with the cords of a man and bands of love, than
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which no attractive can be more powerful.</P>
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<P>
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III. That he will again form them into a people, and give them a very
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joyful settlement in their own land,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:4,5"><I>v.</I> 4, 5</A>.
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Is the church of God his house, his temple? Is it now in ruins? It is
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so; but, <I>Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built.</I> Are
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they parts of this building dispersed? They shall be collected and put
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together again, each in its place. If God undertake to build them, they
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shall be built, whatever opposition may be given to it? Is
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<I>Israel</I> a beautiful <I>virgin?</I> Is she now stripped of her
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ornaments and reduced to a melancholy state? She is so; but <I>thou
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shalt again be adorned</I> and made fine, adorned <I>with thy
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tabrets,</I> or timbrels, the ornaments of thy chamber, and made merry.
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They shall resume their harps which had been hung upon the
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willow-trees, shall tune them, and shall themselves be in tune to make
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use of them. They shall be adorned with their tabrets, for now their
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mirth and music shall be seasonable; it shall be a proper time for it,
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God in his providence shall call them to it, and then it shall be an
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ornament to them; whereas tabrets, at a time of common calamity, when
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God called to mourning, were a shame to them. Or it may refer to their
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use of tabrets in the solemnizing of their religious feasts and their
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<I>going forth in dances</I> then, as the <I>daughters of Shiloh,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+21:19,21">Judg. xxi. 19, 21</A>.
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Our mirth is then indeed an ornament to us when we serve God and honour
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him with it. Is the joy of the city maintained by the products of the
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country? It is so; and therefore it is promised
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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<I>Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria,</I> which
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had been the head city of the kingdom of Israel, in opposition to that
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of Judah; but they shall now be united
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+37:22">Ezek. xxxvii. 22</A>),
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and there shall be such perfect peace and security that men shall apply
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themselves wholly to the improvement of their ground: <I>The planters
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shall plant,</I> not fearing the soldiers' coming to eat the fruits of
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what they had planted, or to pluck it up; but they themselves <I>shall
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eat them</I> freely, <I>as common things,</I> not forbidden fruits, not
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forbidden by the law of God (as they were till the fifth year,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+19:23-25">Lev. xix. 23-25</A>),
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not forbidden by the owners, because there shall be such plenty as to
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yield enough for all, enough for each.</P>
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<P>
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IV. That they shall have liberty and opportunity to worship God in the
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ordinances of his own appointment, and shall have both invitations and
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inclinations to do so
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>There shall be a day,</I> and a glorious day it will be, when <I>the
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watchmen upon Mount Ephraim,</I> that are set to stand sentinel there,
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to give notice of the approach of the enemy, finding that all is very
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quiet and that there is no appearance of danger, shall desire for a
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time to be discharged from their post, that they may <I>go up to
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Zion,</I> to praise God for the public peace. Or <I>the watchmen</I>
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that tend the vineyards (spoken of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)
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shall stir up themselves, and one another, and all their neighbours, to
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go and keep the solemn feasts at Jerusalem. Now this implies that the
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service of God shall be again set up in Zion, that there shall be a
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general resort to it, with much affection and mutual excitement, as in
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David's time,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+122:1">Ps. cxxii. 1</A>.
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But that which is most observable here is <I>that the watchmen of
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Ephraim</I> are forward to promote the worship of God at Jerusalem,
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whereas formerly <I>the watchman of Ephraim was hatred against the
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house of his God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:8">Hos. ix. 8</A>),
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and, in stead of inviting people to Zion, laid snares for those that
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set their faces thitherward,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+5:1">Hos. v. 1</A>.
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Note, God can make those who have been enemies to religion and the true
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worship of God to become encouragers of them and leaders in them. This
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promise was to have its full accomplishment in the days of the Messiah,
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when the gospel should be preached to all these countries, and a
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general invitation thereby given into the church of Christ, of which
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Zion was a type.</P>
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<P>
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V. That God shall have the glory and the church both the honour and
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comfort of this blessed change
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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<I>Sing with gladness for Jacob,</I> that is, let all her friends and
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well-wishers rejoice with her,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:43">Deut. xxxii. 43</A>.
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<I>Rejoice, you Gentiles with his people,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+15:10">Rom. xv. 10</A>.
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The restoration of Jacob will be taken notice of by all the neighbours,
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it will be matter of joy to them all, and they shall all join with
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Jacob in his joys, and thereby pay him respect and put a reputation
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upon him. Even <I>the chief of the nations,</I> that make the greatest
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figure, shall think it an honour to them to congratulate the
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restoration of Jacob, and shall do themselves the honour to send their
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ambassadors on that errand. <I>Publish you, praise you.</I> In
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publishing these tidings, praise the God of Israel, praise the Israel
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of God, speak honourably of both. The publishers of the gospel must
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publish it with praise, and therefore it is often spoken of in the
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<I>Psalms</I> as mingled with <I>praises,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+67:2,3,96:2,3">Ps. lxvii. 2, 3; cxvi. 2, 3</A>.
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What we either bring to others or take to ourselves the comfort of we
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must be sure to give God the praise of. <I>Praise you, and say, O Lord!
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save thy people;</I> that is, perfect their salvation, go on to save
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<I>the remnant of Israel,</I> that are yet in bondage; as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+126:3,4">Ps. cxxvi. 3, 4</A>.
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Note, When we are praising God for what he has done we must call upon
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him for the future favours which his church is in need and expectation
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of; and in praying to him we really praise him and give him glory; he
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takes it so.</P>
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<P>
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VI. That, in order to a happy settlement in their own land, they shall
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have a joyful return out of the land of their captivity and a very
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comfortable passage homeward
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>),
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and this beginning of mercy shall be to them a pledge of all the other
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blessings here promised.
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1. Though they are scattered to places far remote, yet they shall be
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brought together <I>from the north country, and from the coasts of the
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earth;</I> wherever they are, God will find them out.
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2. Though many of them are very unfit for travel, yet that shall be no
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hindrance to them: <I>The blind and the lame</I> shall come; such a
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good-will shall they have to their journey, and such a good heart upon
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it, that they shall not make their blindness and lameness an excuse for
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staying where they are. There companions will be ready to help them,
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will be <I>eyes to the blind and legs to the lame,</I> as good
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Christians ought to be to one another in their travels heavenward,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+29:15">Job xxix. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
But, above all, their God will help them; and let none plead that he is
|
|
blind who has God for his guide, or lame who has God for his strength.
|
|
<I>The women with child</I> are heavy, and it is not fit that they
|
|
should undertake such a journey, much less those <I>that travail with
|
|
child;</I> and yet, when it is to return to Zion, neither the one nor
|
|
the other shall make any difficulty of it. Note, When God calls we must
|
|
not plead any inability to come; for he that calls us will help us,
|
|
will strengthen us.
|
|
|
|
3. Though they seem to be diminished, and to have become few in
|
|
numbers, yet, when they come all together, they shall be <I>a great
|
|
company;</I> and so will God's spiritual Israel be when there shall be
|
|
a general rendezvous of them, though now they are but a little flock.
|
|
|
|
4. Though their return will be matter of joy to them, yet prayers and
|
|
tears will be both their stores and their artillery
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall come with weeping and with supplications,</I> weeping for
|
|
sin, supplication for pardon; for <I>the goodness of God</I> shall
|
|
<I>lead them to repentance;</I> and they shall weep with more
|
|
bitterness and more tenderness for sin, when they are delivered out of
|
|
their captivity, than ever they did when they were groaning under it.
|
|
Weeping and praying do well together; tears put life into prayers, and
|
|
express the liveliness of the, and prayers help to wipe away tears.
|
|
<I>With favours will I lead them</I> (so the margin reads it); in their
|
|
journey they shall be compassed with God's favours, the fruits of his
|
|
favour.
|
|
|
|
5. Though they have a perilous journey, yet they shall be safe under a
|
|
divine convoy. Is the country they pass through dry and thirsty? <I>I
|
|
will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters,</I> not the waters of
|
|
a land-flood, which fail in summer. Is it a wilderness where there is
|
|
no road, no track? <I>I will cause them t walk in a straight way,</I>
|
|
which they shall not miss. Is it a rough and rocky country? Yet <I>they
|
|
shall not stumble.</I> Note, Whithersoever God gives his people a clear
|
|
call he will either find them or make them a ready way; and while we
|
|
are following Providence we may be sure that Providence will not be
|
|
wanting to us. And, <I>lastly,</I> here is a reason given why God will
|
|
take all this care of his people: <I>For I am a Father to Israel,</I> a
|
|
Father that begat him, and therefore will maintain him, that have the
|
|
care and compassion of a father for him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+103:13">Ps. ciii. 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>and Ephraim is my first-born;</I> even <I>Ephraim,</I> who, having
|
|
gone astray from God, was <I>no more worthy to be called a son,</I>
|
|
shall yet be owned as a <I>first-born,</I> particularly dear, and heir
|
|
of a double portion of blessings. The same reason that was given for
|
|
their release out of Egypt is given for their release out of Babylon;
|
|
they are free-born and therefore must not be enslaved, are born to God
|
|
and therefore must not be the servants of men.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+4:22,23">Exod. iv. 22, 23</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Israel is my son, even my first-born; let my son go that he may
|
|
serve me.</I> If we take God for our Father, and join ourselves to
|
|
<I>the church of the first-born,</I> we may be assured that we shall
|
|
want nothing that is good for us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_17"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Restoration of Israel; Promises to Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 Hear the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, O ye nations, and declare <I>it</I> in
|
|
the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather
|
|
him, and keep him, as a shepherd <I>doth</I> his flock.
|
|
11 For the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the
|
|
hand of <I>him that was</I> stronger than he.
|
|
12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
|
|
and shall flow together to the goodness of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, for wheat,
|
|
and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of
|
|
the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they
|
|
shall not sorrow any more at all.
|
|
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men
|
|
and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and
|
|
will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
|
|
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and
|
|
my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
15 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; A voice was heard in Ramah,
|
|
lamentation, <I>and</I> bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children
|
|
refused to be comforted for her children, because they <I>were</I>
|
|
not.
|
|
16 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and
|
|
thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the
|
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
|
|
17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that thy
|
|
children shall come again to their own border.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This paragraph is much to the same purport with the last, publishing to
|
|
the world, as well as to the church, the purposes of God's love
|
|
concerning his people. This is a <I>word of the Lord</I> which the
|
|
<I>nations</I> must <I>hear,</I> for it is a prophecy of a work of the
|
|
Lord which the nations cannot but take notice of. Let them hear the
|
|
prophecy, that they may the better understand and improve the
|
|
performance; and let those that hear it themselves declare it to
|
|
others, <I>declare it in the isles afar off.</I> It will be a piece of
|
|
news that will spread all the world over. It will look very great in
|
|
history; let us see how it looks in prophecy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
It is foretold,
|
|
|
|
1. That those who are dispersed shall be brought together again from
|
|
their dispersions: <I>He that scattereth Israel will gather him;</I>
|
|
for he knows whither he scattered them and therefore where to find
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit</I>--<I>The hand that
|
|
inflicted the wound shall heal it.</I> And when he has gathered him
|
|
into one body, one fold, he will <I>keep him, as a shepherd does his
|
|
flock,</I> from being scattered again.
|
|
|
|
2. That those who are sold and alienated shall be redeemed and brought
|
|
back,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though the enemy that had got possession of him was <I>stronger than
|
|
he,</I> yet <I>the Lord,</I> who is stronger than all. <I>has redeemed
|
|
and ransomed him,</I> not by price, but by power, as of old out of the
|
|
Egyptians' hands.
|
|
|
|
3. That with their liberty they shall have plenty and joy, and God
|
|
shall be honoured and served with it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:12,13"><I>v.</I> 12, 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
When they shall have returned to their own land <I>they shall come and
|
|
sing in the high place of Zion;</I> on the top of that holy mountain
|
|
they shall sing to the praise and glory of God. We read that they did
|
|
so when the foundation of the temple was laid there; they <I>sang
|
|
together, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+3:11">Ezra iii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
They <I>shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord;</I> that is,
|
|
they shall flock in great numbers and with great forwardness and
|
|
cheerfulness, as streams of water, <I>to the goodness of the Lord,</I>
|
|
to the temple where he causes his goodness to pass before his people.
|
|
They shall come together in solemn assemblies, to <I>praise him for his
|
|
goodness,</I> and to pray for the fruits of it and the continuance of
|
|
it; they shall come to bless him for his goodness, in giving them
|
|
<I>wheat, and wine, and oil, and the young of the flock and of the
|
|
herd,</I> which, now that they have obtained their freedom, they have
|
|
an uncontested property in and the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of,
|
|
and which therefore they honour God with the first-fruits of and out of
|
|
which they bring offerings to his altar. Note, It is comfortable to
|
|
observe the goodness of the Lord in the gifts of common providence, and
|
|
even in them to taste covenant-love. Having plenty (plenty out of want
|
|
and scarcity) they shall greatly rejoice, <I>their soul shall be as a
|
|
watered garden,</I> flourishing and fruitful
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+58:11">Isa. lviii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
pleasant and fragrant, and abounding in all good things. Note, Our
|
|
souls are never valuable as gardens but when they are watered with the
|
|
dews of God's Spirit and grace. It is a precious promise which follows,
|
|
and which will not have its full accomplishment any where on this side
|
|
the height of the heavenly Zion, that <I>they shall not sorrow any more
|
|
at all;</I> for it is only in that new Jerusalem <I>that all tears
|
|
shall be wiped away,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:4">Rev. xxi. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
However, so far it was fulfilled to the returned captives that they had
|
|
not any more those causes for sorrow which they had formerly had; and
|
|
therefore
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>young men and old shall rejoice together;</I> so grave shall the
|
|
young men be in their joys as to keep company with the old men, and so
|
|
transported shall the old men be as to associate with the young.
|
|
<I>Salva res est, saltat senex--The state prospers, and the aged
|
|
dance.</I> God <I>will turn their mourning into joy,</I> their fasts
|
|
into solemn feasts,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+8:19">Zech. viii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was in the return out of Babylon that those <I>who sowed in
|
|
tears</I> were made to <I>reap in joy,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+126:5,6">Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those are comforted indeed whom God comforts, and may forget their
|
|
troubles when he <I>makes them</I> to <I>rejoice from their sorrow,</I>
|
|
not only rejoice after it, but rejoice from it their joy shall borrow
|
|
lustre from their sorrow, which shall serve as a foil to it; and the
|
|
more they think of their troubles the more they rejoice in their
|
|
deliverance.
|
|
|
|
4. That both the ministers and those they minister to shall have
|
|
abundant satisfaction in what God gives them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness;</I> there shall
|
|
be such a plenty of sacrifices brought to the altar that those who
|
|
<I>live upon the altar</I> shall live very comfortably, they and their
|
|
families shall be <I>satiated with fatness,</I> they shall have enough,
|
|
and that of the best; <I>and my people shall be satisfied with my
|
|
goodness,</I> and shall think there is enough in that to make them
|
|
happy; and so there is. God's people have an abundant satisfaction in
|
|
God's goodness, though they have but little of this world. Let them be
|
|
satisfied of God's lovingkindness, and they will be satisfied with it
|
|
and desire no more to make them happy. All this is applicable to the
|
|
spiritual blessings which the redeemed of the Lord enjoy by Jesus
|
|
Christ, infinitely more valuable than corn, and wine, and oil, and the
|
|
satisfaction of soul which they have in the enjoyment of them.
|
|
|
|
5. That those particularly who had been in sorrow for the loss of their
|
|
children who were carried into captivity should have that sorrow turned
|
|
into joy upon their return,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:15-17"><I>v.</I> 15-17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here we have,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The sad lamentation which the mothers made for the loss of their
|
|
children
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>In Ramah was there a voice heard,</I> at the time when the general
|
|
captivity was, nothing but <I>lamentation, and bitter weeping,</I> more
|
|
there than in other places, because there Nebuzaradan had the general
|
|
rendezvous of his captives, as appears,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+40:1"><I>ch.</I> xl. 1</A>,
|
|
|
|
where we find him sending Jeremiah back from Ramah. <I>Rachel</I> is
|
|
here said to <I>weep for her children.</I> The sepulchre of Rachel was
|
|
between Ramah and Bethlehem. Benjamin, one of the two tribes, and
|
|
Ephraim, head of the ten tribes, were both descendants from Rachel. She
|
|
had but two sons, the elder of whom was one for whom his father grieved
|
|
and<I>refused to be comforted</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+37:35">Gen. xxxvii. 35</A>);
|
|
|
|
the other she herself called <I>Benoni--the son of my sorrow.</I> Now
|
|
the inhabitants of Ramah did in like manner <I>grieve for their sons
|
|
and their daughters</I> that were carried away (as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+30:6">1 Sam. xxx. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
and such a voice of lamentation was there as, to speak poetically,
|
|
might even have raised Rachel out of her grave to mourn with them. The
|
|
tender parents even <I>refused to be comforted for their children,
|
|
because they were not,</I> were not with them, but were in the hands of
|
|
their enemies; they were never likely to see them any more. This is
|
|
applied by the evangelists to the great mourning that was at Bethlehem
|
|
for the murder of the infants there by Herod
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+2:17-18">Matt. ii. 17-18</A>),
|
|
|
|
and this scripture is said to be then fulfilled. They wept for them,
|
|
<I>and would not be comforted,</I> supposing the case would not admit
|
|
any ground of comfort, <I>because they were not.</I> Note, Sorrow for
|
|
the loss of children cannot but be great sorrow, especially if we so
|
|
far mistake as to think <I>they are not.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Seasonable comfort administered to them in reference hereunto,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
They are advised to moderate that sorrow, and to set bounds to it:
|
|
<I>Refrain thy voice from weeping and thy eyes from tears.</I> We are
|
|
not forbidden to mourn in such a case; allowances are made for natural
|
|
affection. But we must not suffer our sorrow to run into an extreme, to
|
|
hinder our joy in God, or take us off from our duty to him. Though we
|
|
mourn, we must not murmur, nor must we resolve, as Jacob did, to go to
|
|
the grave mourning. In order to repress inordinate grief, we must
|
|
consider that <I>there is hope in our end,</I> hope that there will be
|
|
an end (the trouble will not last always), that it will be a happy
|
|
and--the end will be peace. Note, It ought to support us under our
|
|
troubles that we have reason to hope they will end well. <I>The
|
|
righteous has hope in his death;</I> that will be the blessed period of
|
|
his grief and the blessed passage to his joys. "<I>There is hope for
|
|
thy posterity</I>" (so some read it); "though thou mayest not live to
|
|
see these glorious days thyself, there is hope that thy posterity
|
|
shall. Though one generation falls in the wilderness, the next shall
|
|
enter Canaan. Two things thou mayest comfort thyself with the hope
|
|
of:"--
|
|
|
|
[1.] "The reward of thy work:--<I>Thy</I> suffering <I>work shall be
|
|
rewarded.</I> The comforts of the deliverance shall be sufficient to
|
|
balance all the grievances of thy captivity." God makes his people
|
|
<I>glad according to the days wherein he has afflicted them,</I> and so
|
|
there is a proportion between the joys and the sorrows, as between the
|
|
reward and the work. The <I>glory to be revealed,</I> which the saints
|
|
hope for in the end, will abundantly countervail <I>the sufferings of
|
|
this present time,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:18">Rom. viii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] "The restoration of thy children: <I>They shall come again from
|
|
the land of the enemy</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
they <I>shall come again to their own border,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>There is hope</I> that children at a distance may be brought home.
|
|
Jacob had a comfortable meeting with Joseph after he had despaired of
|
|
ever seeing him. There is hope concerning children removed by death
|
|
that they shall <I>return to their own border,</I> to the happy lot
|
|
assigned them in the resurrection, a lot in the heavenly Canaan, that
|
|
border of his sanctuary. We shall see reason to repress our grief for
|
|
the death of our children that are taken into covenant with God when we
|
|
consider the hopes we have of their resurrection to eternal life. They
|
|
are not lost, but gone before.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_26"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Ephraim's Repentance and Privilege; Encouragements to the Captives.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself <I>thus;</I> Thou
|
|
hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed
|
|
<I>to the yoke:</I> turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou
|
|
<I>art</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> my God.
|
|
19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I
|
|
was instructed, I smote upon <I>my</I> thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even
|
|
confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
|
|
20 <I>Is</I> Ephraim my dear son? <I>is he</I> a pleasant child? for
|
|
since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still:
|
|
therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have
|
|
mercy upon him, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart
|
|
toward the highway, <I>even</I> the way <I>which</I> thou wentest: turn
|
|
again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
|
|
22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?
|
|
for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall
|
|
compass a man.
|
|
23 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they
|
|
shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities
|
|
thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> bless
|
|
thee, O habitation of justice, <I>and</I> mountain of holiness.
|
|
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities
|
|
thereof together, husbandmen, and they <I>that</I> go forth with
|
|
flocks.
|
|
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished
|
|
every sorrowful soul.
|
|
26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto
|
|
me.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Ephraim's repentance, and return to God. Not only Judah, but Ephraim
|
|
the ten tribes, shall be restored, and therefore shall thus be prepared
|
|
and qualified for it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+14:8">Hos. xiv. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Ephraim shall say, What have I do to any more with idols?</I>
|
|
Ephraim the people, is here spoken of as a single person to denote
|
|
their unanimity; they shall be as one man in their repentance and shall
|
|
glorify God in it with one mind and one mouth, one and all. It is
|
|
likewise thus expressed that it might be the better accommodated to
|
|
particular penitents, for whose direction and encouragement this
|
|
passage is intended. Ephraim is here brought in weeping for sin,
|
|
perhaps because Ephraim, the person from whom that tribe had its
|
|
denomination, was a man of a tender spirit, <I>mourned for his children
|
|
many days</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ch+7:21,22">1 Chron. vii. 21, 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
and sorrow for sin is compared to that <I>for an only son.</I> This
|
|
penitent is here brought in,
|
|
|
|
1. Bemoaning himself and the miseries of his present case. True
|
|
penitents do thus bemoan themselves.
|
|
|
|
2. Accusing himself, laying a load upon himself as a sinner, a great
|
|
sinner. He charges upon himself, in the first place, that sin which his
|
|
conscience told him that he was more especially guilty of at this time,
|
|
and that was impatience under correction: "<I>Thou has chastised
|
|
me;</I> I have been under the rod, and I needed it, I deserved it; I
|
|
was justly chastised, chastised <I>as a bullock,</I> who would never
|
|
have felt the goad if he had not first rebelled against the yoke." True
|
|
penitents look upon their afflictions as fatherly chastisements:
|
|
"<I>Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised;</I> that is, it was
|
|
well that I was chastised, otherwise I should have been undone; it did
|
|
me good, or at least was intended to do me good; and yet I have been
|
|
impatient under it." Or it may intimate his want of feeling under the
|
|
affliction: "<I>Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised,</I> that
|
|
was all; I was not awakened by it and quickened by it; I looked no
|
|
further than the chastisement. <I>I have been</I> under the
|
|
chastisement <I>as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke,</I> unruly and
|
|
unmanageable, kicking against the pricks, <I>like a wild bull in a
|
|
net,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+51:20">Isa. li. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is the sin he finds himself guilty of now; but
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>)
|
|
|
|
he reflects upon his former sins and looks as far back as the days of
|
|
his youth. The discovery of one sin should put us upon searching out
|
|
more; now he remembers <I>the reproach of his youth.</I> Ephraim, as a
|
|
people, reflect upon the misconduct of their ancestors when they were
|
|
first formed in a people. It is applicable to particular persons. Note,
|
|
The sin of our youth was the reproach of our youth, and we ought often
|
|
to remember it against ourselves and to bear it in a penitential sorrow
|
|
and shame.
|
|
|
|
3. He is here brought in angry at himself, having a holy indignation at
|
|
himself for his sin and folly: He <I>smote upon his thigh,</I> as the
|
|
publican upon his breast. He was even amazed at himself, and at his own
|
|
stupidity and frowardness: He <I>was ashamed, yea even confounded,</I>
|
|
could not with any confidence look up to God, nor with any comfort
|
|
reflect upon himself.
|
|
|
|
4. He is here recommending himself to the mercy and grace of God. He
|
|
finds he is bent to backslide from God, and cannot by any power of his
|
|
own keep himself close with God, much less, when he has revolted, bring
|
|
himself back to God, and therefore he prays, <I>Turn thou me and I
|
|
shall be turned,</I> which implies that unless God do turn him by his
|
|
grace he shall never be turned, but wander endlessly, that therefore he
|
|
is very desirous of converting grace, has a dependence upon it, and
|
|
doubts not but that that grace will be sufficient for him, to help him
|
|
over all the difficulties that were in the way of his return to God.
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+17:14"><I>ch.</I> xvii. 14</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Heal me and I shall be healed.</I> God works with power, can make
|
|
the unwilling willing; if he undertake the conversion of a soul, it
|
|
will be converted.
|
|
|
|
5. He is here pleasing himself with the experience he had of the
|
|
blessed effect of divine grace: <I>Surely after that I was turned I
|
|
repented.</I> Note, All the pious workings of our heart towards God are
|
|
the fruit and consequence of the powerful working of his grace in us.
|
|
And observe, He was <I>turned,</I> he was <I>instructed,</I> his will
|
|
was bowed to the will of God, by the right in forming of his judgment
|
|
concerning the truths of God. Note, The way God takes of converting
|
|
souls to himself is by opening the eyes of their understandings, and
|
|
all good follows thereupon: <I>After that I was instructed</I> I
|
|
yielded, <I>I smote upon my thigh.</I> When sinners come to a right
|
|
knowledge they will come to a right way. Ephraim was chastised, and
|
|
that did not produce the desired effect, it went no further: <I>I was
|
|
chastised,</I> and that was all. But, when the instructions of God's
|
|
Spirit accompanied the corrections of his providence, then the work was
|
|
done, then he <I>smote upon his thigh,</I> was so humbled for sin as to
|
|
have no more to do with it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. God's compassion on Ephraim and the kind reception he finds with
|
|
God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. God owns him for a child and a prodigal: <I>Is Ephraim my dear son?
|
|
Is he a pleasant child?</I> Thus when Ephraim bemoans himself God
|
|
bemoans him, as <I>one whom his mother comforts,</I> though she had
|
|
chidden him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+66:13">Isa. lxvi. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Is</I> this <I>Ephraim my dear son? Is</I> this that <I>pleasant
|
|
child?</I> Is it he that is thus sad in spirit and that complains so
|
|
bitterly? So it is like that of Saul
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+26:17">1 Sam. xxvi. 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Is this thy voice, my son David?</I> Or, as it is sometimes
|
|
supplied, <I>Is not Ephraim my dear son? Is he not a pleasant
|
|
child?</I> Yes, now he is, now he repents and returns. Note, Those that
|
|
have been undutiful backsliding children, if they sincerely return and
|
|
repent, however they have been under the chastisement of the rod, shall
|
|
be accepted of God as dear and pleasant children. Ephraim had afflicted
|
|
himself, but God thus heals him--had abased himself, but God thus
|
|
honours him; as the returning prodigal who thought himself no more
|
|
worthy to be <I>called a son,</I> yet, by his father, had the <I>best
|
|
robe</I> put on him and <I>a ring on his hand.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. He relents towards him, and speaks of him with a great deal of
|
|
tender compassion: <I>Since I spoke against him,</I> by the
|
|
threatenings of the word and the rebukes of providence, <I>I do
|
|
earnestly remember him still,</I> my thoughts towards him are thoughts
|
|
of peace. Note, When God afflicts his people, yet he does not forget
|
|
them; when he casts them out of their land, yet he does not cast them
|
|
out of sight, nor out of mind. Even then when God is speaking against
|
|
us, yet he is acting for us, and designing our good in all; and this is
|
|
our comfort in our affliction, that<I>the Lord thinks upon us,</I>
|
|
though we have forgotten him. <I>I remember him still,</I> and
|
|
therefore <I>my bowels are troubled for him,</I> as Joseph's yearned
|
|
towards his brethren, even when he <I>spoke roughly</I> to them. When
|
|
Israel's afflictions extorted a penitent confession and submission it
|
|
is said that his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:16">Judg. x. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
for he always afflicts with the greatest tenderness. It was God's
|
|
compassion that mitigated Ephraim's punishment: <I>My heart is turned
|
|
within me</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+11:8,9">Hos. xi. 8, 9</A>);
|
|
|
|
and now the same compassion accepted Ephraim's repentance. Ephraim had
|
|
pleaded
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou art the Lord my God,</I> therefore to thee will I return,
|
|
therefore on thy mercy and grace I will depend; and God shows that it
|
|
was a valid plea and prevailing, for he makes it appear both that he is
|
|
God and not man and that he is <I>his God.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. He resolves to do him good: <I>I will surely have mercy upon him,
|
|
saith the Lord,</I> Note, God has mercy in store, rich mercy, sure
|
|
mercy, suitable mercy, for all that insincerity seek him and submit to
|
|
him; and the more we are afflicted for sin the better prepared we are
|
|
for the comforts of that mercy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Gracious excitements and encouragements given to the people of God
|
|
in Babylon to prepare for their return to their own land. Let them not
|
|
tremble and lose their spirits; let them not trifle and lose their
|
|
time; but with a firm resolution and a close application address
|
|
themselves to their journey,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. They must think of nothing but of coming back to their own country,
|
|
out of which they had been driven: "<I>Turn again, O virgin of
|
|
Israel!</I> a virgin to be again espoused to thy God; <I>turn again to
|
|
these thy cities;</I> though they are laid waste and in ruins, they are
|
|
<I>thy cities,</I> which thy God gave thee, and therefore <I>turn
|
|
again</I> to them." They must be content in Babylon no longer than till
|
|
they had liberty to return to Zion.
|
|
|
|
2. They must return the same way that they went, that the remembrance
|
|
of the sorrows which attended them, or which their fathers had told
|
|
them of, in such and such places upon the road, the sight of which
|
|
would, by a local memory, put them in mind of them, might make them the
|
|
more thankful for their deliverance. Those that have departed from God
|
|
into the bondage of sin must return by the way in which they went
|
|
astray, to the duties they neglected, must <I>do their first works.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. They must engage themselves and all that is within them in this
|
|
affair: <I>Set thy heart towards the highway;</I> bring thy mind to it;
|
|
consider thy duty, the interest, and go about it with a good-will.
|
|
Note, The way from Babylon to Zion, from the bondage of sin to the
|
|
glorious liberty of God's children, is a highway; it is right, it is
|
|
plain, it is safe, it is well-tracked
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+35:8">Isa. xxxv. 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
yet none are likely to walk in it, unless they <I>set their hearts
|
|
towards it.</I>
|
|
|
|
4. They must furnish themselves with all needful accommodations for the
|
|
journey: <I>Set thee up way-marks,</I> and <I>make thee high heaps</I>
|
|
or <I>pillars;</I> send before to have such set up in all places where
|
|
there is any danger of missing the road. Let those that go first, and
|
|
are best acquainted with the way, set up such directions for those that
|
|
follow.
|
|
|
|
5. They must compose themselves for their journey: <I>How long will
|
|
thou go about, O backsliding daughter?</I> Let not their minds
|
|
fluctuate, or be uncertain about it, but resolve upon it; let them not
|
|
distract themselves with care and fear; let them not seek about to
|
|
creatures for assistance, not hurry hither and thither in courting
|
|
them, which had often been an instance of their backsliding from God;
|
|
but let them cast themselves upon God, and then let their minds be
|
|
fixed.
|
|
|
|
6. They are encouraged to do this by an assurance God gives them that
|
|
he would <I>create a new thing</I> (strange and surprising) <I>in the
|
|
earth</I> (in that land), <I>a woman shall compass a man.</I> The
|
|
church of God, that is weak and feeble as a woman, altogether unapt for
|
|
military employments and of a timorous spirit
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:6">Isa. liv. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
shall surround, besiege, and prevail against a mighty man. The church
|
|
is compared to a woman,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+12:1">Rev. xii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
And, whereas we find <I>armies compassing the camp of the saints</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+20:9">Rev. xx. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
now the camp of the saints shall compass them. Many good interpreters
|
|
understand this <I>new thing</I> created in that land to be the
|
|
incarnation of Christ, which God an eye to in bringing them back to
|
|
that land, and which had sometimes been given them for a sign,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+7:14,9:6">Isa. vii. 14; ix. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>A woman,</I> the virgin Mary, enclosed in her womb <I>the Mighty
|
|
One;</I> for so <I>Geber,</I> the word here used, signifies; and God is
|
|
called <I>Gibbor, the Mighty God</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+32:18"><I>ch.</I> xxxii. 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
as also is Christ in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+9:6">Isa. ix. 6</A>,
|
|
|
|
where his incarnation is spoken of, as it is supposed to be here. He
|
|
is <I>El-Gibbor,</I> the <I>mighty God.</I> Let this assure them that
|
|
God would not cast off this people, for that blessing was to be among
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:8">Isa. lxv. 8</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. A comfortable prospect given them of a happy settlement in their
|
|
own land again.
|
|
|
|
1. They shall have an interest in the esteem and good-will of all their
|
|
neighbours, who will give them a good word and put up a good prayer for
|
|
them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>As yet</I> or rather <I>yet again</I> (though Judah and Jerusalem
|
|
have long been an astonishment and a hissing), <I>this speech shall be
|
|
used,</I> as it was formerly, <I>concerning the land of Judah and the
|
|
cities thereof, The Lord bless you, O habitation of justice and
|
|
mountain of holiness!</I> This intimates that they shall return much
|
|
reformed and every way better; and this reformation shall be so
|
|
conspicuous that all about them shall take notice of it. The
|
|
<I>cities,</I> that used to be nests of pirates, shall be
|
|
<I>habitations of justice;</I> the <I>mountain of Israel</I> (so the
|
|
whole land is called,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:54">Ps. lxxviii. 54</A>),
|
|
|
|
and especially Mount Zion, shall be a <I>mountain of holiness.</I>
|
|
Observe, Justice towards men, and holiness towards God, must go
|
|
together. Godliness and honesty are what God has joined, and let no
|
|
man think to put them asunder, not to make one to atone for the want of
|
|
the other. It is well with a people when they come out of trouble thus
|
|
refined, and it is a sure presage of further happiness. And we may
|
|
with great comfort pray for the blessing of God upon those houses that
|
|
are <I>habitations of justice,</I> those cities and countries that are
|
|
<I>mountains of holiness.</I> There the Lord will undoubtedly
|
|
<I>command the blessing.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. There shall be great plenty of all good things among them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:24,25"><I>v.</I> 24, 25</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>There shall dwell in Judah itself,</I> even in it, though it has now
|
|
long lain waste, both husbandmen and shepherds, the two ancient and
|
|
honourable employments of Cain and Abel,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:2">Gen. iv. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is comfortable dwelling in a <I>habitation of justice</I> and a
|
|
<I>mountain of holiness.</I> "And the husbandmen and shepherds shall
|
|
eat of the fruit of their labours; for I have <I>satiated the weary and
|
|
sorrowful soul;</I>" that is, those that came weary from their journey,
|
|
and have been long sorrowful in their captivity, shall now enjoy great
|
|
plenty. This is applicable to the spiritual blessings God has in store
|
|
for all true penitents, for all that are just and holy; they shall be
|
|
abundantly satisfied with divine graces and comforts. In the love and
|
|
favour of God the weary soul shall find rest and the sorrowful soul
|
|
joy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. The prophet tells us what pleasure the discovery of this brought to
|
|
his mind,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
The foresights God had given him sometimes of the calamities of Judah
|
|
and Jerusalem were exceedingly painful to him (as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+4:19"><I>ch.</I> iv. 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
but these views were pleasant ones, though at a distance. "<I>Upon
|
|
this I awaked,</I> overcome with joy, which burst the fetters of sleep;
|
|
and I reflected upon my dream, and it was such as had made <I>my sleep
|
|
sweet to me;</I> I was refreshed, as men are with quiet sleep." Those
|
|
may sleep sweetly that lie down and rise up in the favour of God and in
|
|
communion with him. Nor is any prospect in this world more pleasing to
|
|
good men, and good ministers, than that of the flourishing state of the
|
|
church of God. What can we see with more satisfaction than <I>the good
|
|
of Jerusalem, all the days of our life, and peace upon Israel?</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_32"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_33"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Jer31_34"> </A>
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|
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<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God's Covenant Renewed.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</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>27 Behold, the days come, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that I will sow the
|
|
house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and
|
|
with the seed of beast.
|
|
28 And it shall come to pass, <I>that</I> like as I have watched
|
|
over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and
|
|
to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build,
|
|
and to plant, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten
|
|
a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
|
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30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that
|
|
eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
|
|
31 Behold, the days come, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that I will make a
|
|
new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
|
|
Judah:
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|
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
|
|
in the day <I>that</I> I took them by the hand to bring them out of
|
|
the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was
|
|
a husband unto them, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>:
|
|
33 But this <I>shall be</I> the covenant that I will make with the
|
|
house of Israel; After those days, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, I will put my
|
|
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will
|
|
be their God, and they shall be my people.
|
|
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and
|
|
every man his brother, saying, Know the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: for they shall all
|
|
know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith
|
|
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
|
|
their sin no more.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet, having found his sleep sweet, made so by the revelations
|
|
of divine grace, sets himself to sleep again, in hopes of further
|
|
discoveries, and is not disappointed; for it is here further
|
|
promised,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. That the people of God shall become both numerous and prosperous.
|
|
Israel and Judah shall be replenished both with men and cattle, as if
|
|
they were sown with the seed of both,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
They shall increase and multiply like a field sown with corn; and this
|
|
is the product of God's blessing
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
for whom God blessed, to them he said, <I>Be fruitful.</I> This should
|
|
be a type of the wonderful increase of the gospel-church. God will
|
|
build them, and plant them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
He <I>will watch over them</I> to do them good; no opportunity shall be
|
|
lost that may further their prosperity. Every thing for a long time had
|
|
turned so much against them, and all occurrences did so transpire to
|
|
ruin them, that it seemed as if God had <I>watched over them to pluck
|
|
up and to throw down;</I> but now every thing that falls out shall
|
|
happily fall in to strengthen and advance their interests. God will be
|
|
as ready to comfort those that repent of their sins, and are humbled
|
|
for them, as he is to punish those that continue in love with their
|
|
sins, and are hardened in them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. That they shall be reckoned with no further for the sins of their
|
|
fathers
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:29,30"><I>v.</I> 29, 30</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall say no more</I> (they shall have no more occasion to say)
|
|
that <I>God visits the iniquity of the parents upon the children,</I>
|
|
which God had done in the captivity, for the sins of their ancestors
|
|
came into the account against them, particularly those of Manasseh:
|
|
this they had complained of as a hardship. Other scriptures justify God
|
|
in this method of proceeding, and our Saviour tells the wicked Jews in
|
|
his days that they should smart for their fathers' sins, because they
|
|
persisted in them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:35,36">Matt. xxiii. 35, 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
But it is here promised that this severe dispensation with them should
|
|
now be brought to an end, that God would proceed no further in his
|
|
controversy with them for their fathers' sins, but remember for them
|
|
his covenant with their fathers and do them good according to that
|
|
covenant: <I>They shall no more</I> complain, as they have done, that
|
|
<I>the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set
|
|
on edge</I> (which speaks something of an absurdity, and is an
|
|
invidious reflection upon God's proceedings), but <I>every one shall
|
|
die for his own iniquity</I> still; though God will cease to punish
|
|
them in their national capacity, yet he will still reckon with
|
|
particular persons that provoke him. Note, Public salvations will give
|
|
no impunity, no security, to private sinners: still every man that
|
|
<I>eats the sour grapes</I> shall have his <I>teeth set on edge.</I>
|
|
Note, Those that eat forbidden fruit, how tempting soever it looks,
|
|
will find it a <I>sour grape,</I> and it will <I>set their teeth on
|
|
edge;</I> sooner or later they will feel from it and reflect upon it
|
|
with bitterness. There is as direct a tendency in sin to make a man
|
|
uneasy as there is in sour grapes to set the teeth on edge.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. That God will renew his covenant with them, so that all these
|
|
blessings they shall have, not by providence only, but by promise, and
|
|
thereby they shall be both sweetened and secured. But this covenant
|
|
refers to gospel times, the latter days that <I>shall come;</I> for of
|
|
gospel grace the apostle understands it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+8:8,9">Heb. viii. 8, 9</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.), where this whole passage is quoted as a summary of the covenant
|
|
of grace made with believers in Jesus Christ. Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. Who the persons are with whom this covenant is made--<I>with the
|
|
house of Israel and Judah,</I> with the gospel church, <I>the Israel of
|
|
God</I> on which <I>peace shall be</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+6:16">Gal. vi. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
with the spiritual seed of believing Abraham and praying Jacob. Judah
|
|
and Israel had been two separate kingdoms, but were united after their
|
|
return, in the joint favours God bestowed upon them; so Jews and
|
|
Gentiles were in the gospel church and covenant.
|
|
|
|
2. What is the nature of this covenant in general: it is a <I>new
|
|
covenant</I> and <I>not according to the covenant made with them when
|
|
they came out of Egypt;</I> not as if that made with them at Mount
|
|
Sinai were a covenant of nature and innocency, such as was made with
|
|
Adam in the day he was created; no, that was, for substance, a covenant
|
|
of grace, but it was a dark dispensation of that covenant in comparison
|
|
with this in gospel times. Sinners were saved by that covenant upon
|
|
their repentance, and faith in a Messiah to come, whose blood,
|
|
confirming that covenant, was typified by that of the legal sacrifices,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+24:7,8">Exod. xxiv. 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Yet this may upon many accounts be called new, in comparison with that;
|
|
the ordinances and promises are more spiritual and heavenly, and the
|
|
discoveries much more clear. That covenant God made with them when he
|
|
<I>took them by the hand,</I> as they had been blind, or lame, or weak,
|
|
<I>to lead them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant they
|
|
broke.</I> Observe, It was God that made this covenant, but it was the
|
|
people that broke it; for our salvation is of God, but our sin and ruin
|
|
are of ourselves. It was an aggravation of their breach of it that God
|
|
<I>was a husband to them,</I> that he had espoused them to himself; it
|
|
was a marriage-covenant that was between him and them, which they broke
|
|
by idolatry, that spiritual adultery. It is a great aggravation of our
|
|
treacherous departures from God that he has been a husband to us, a
|
|
loving, tender, careful husband, faithful to us, and yet we false to
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
3. What are the particular articles of his covenant. They all contain
|
|
spiritual blessings; not, "I will give them the land of Canaan and a
|
|
numerous issue," but, "I will give them pardon, and peace, and grace,
|
|
good heads and good hearts." He promises,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That he will incline them to their duty; <I>I will put my law in
|
|
their inward part and write it in their heart;</I> not, I will give
|
|
them a new law (as Mr. Gataker well observes), for Christ <I>came not
|
|
to destroy the law, but to fulfil it;</I> but the law shall be written
|
|
in their hearts by the finger of the Spirit as formerly it was written
|
|
in the tables of stone. God writes his law in the hearts of all
|
|
believers, makes it ready and familiar to them, at hand when they have
|
|
occasion to use it, as that which is <I>written in the heart,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+3:3">Prov. iii. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
He makes them in care to observe it, for that which we are solicitous
|
|
about is said to lie near our hearts. He works in them a disposition to
|
|
obedience, a conformity of thought and affection to the rules of the
|
|
divine law, as that of the copy to the original. This is here promised,
|
|
and ought to be prayed for, that our duty may be done conscientiously
|
|
and with delight.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That he will take them into relation to himself: <I>I will be
|
|
their God,</I> a God all-sufficient to them, <I>and they shall be my
|
|
people,</I> a loyal obedient people to me. God's being to us a God is
|
|
the summary of all happiness; heaven itself is no more,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:16,Re+21:3">Heb. xi. 16; Rev. xxi. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Our being to him a people may be taken either as the condition on our
|
|
part (those and those only shall have God to be to them a God that are
|
|
truly willing to engage themselves to be to him a people) or as a
|
|
further branch of the promise that God will by his grace make us his
|
|
people, a <I>willing people, in the day of his power;</I> and, whoever
|
|
are his people, it is his grace that makes them so.
|
|
|
|
(3.) That there shall be an abundance of the knowledge of God among all
|
|
sorts of people, and this will have an influence upon all good: for
|
|
those that rightly know God's name will seek him, and serve him, and
|
|
put their trust in him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>All shall know me;</I> all shall be welcome to the knowledge of God
|
|
and shall have the means of that knowledge; <I>his ways shall be known
|
|
upon earth,</I> whereas, for many ages, <I>in Judah only was God
|
|
known.</I> Many more shall know God than did in the Old Testament
|
|
times, which among the Gentiles were times of ignorance, the true God
|
|
being to them an unknown God. The things of God shall in gospel times
|
|
be made more plain and intelligible, and level to the capacities of the
|
|
meanest, than they were while Moses had a <I>veil upon his face.</I>
|
|
There shall be such a general knowledge of God that there shall not be
|
|
so much need as had formerly been of teaching. Some take it as a
|
|
hyperbolical expression (and the dulness of the Jews needed such
|
|
expressions to awaken them), designed only to show that the knowledge
|
|
of God in gospel times should vastly exceed that knowledge of him which
|
|
they had under the law. Or perhaps it intimates that in gospel times
|
|
there shall be such great plenty of public preaching, statedly and
|
|
constantly, by men authorized and appointed to <I>preach the word in
|
|
season and out of season,</I> much beyond what was under the law, that
|
|
there shall be less need than there was then of fraternal teaching, by
|
|
a neighbour and a brother. The priests preached but now and then, and
|
|
in the temple, and to a few in comparison; but now all shall or may
|
|
know God by frequenting the assemblies of Christians, wherein, through
|
|
all parts of the church, the good knowledge of God shall be taught.
|
|
Some give this sense of it (Mr. Gataker mentions it), That many shall
|
|
have such clearness of understanding in the things of God that they may
|
|
seem rather to have been taught by some immediate irradiation than by
|
|
any means of instruction. In short, the things of God shall by the
|
|
gospel of Christ be brought to a clearer light than ever
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+1:10">2 Tim. i. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the people of God shall by the grace of Christ be brought to a
|
|
clearer sight of those things than ever,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+1:17,18">Eph. i. 17, 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
(4.) That, in order to all these blessings, sin shall be pardoned.
|
|
This is made the reason of all the rest: <I>For I will forgive their
|
|
iniquity,</I> will not impute that to them, nor deal with them
|
|
according to the desert of that, <I>will forgive</I> and forget: <I>I
|
|
will remember their sin no more.</I> It is sin that keeps good things
|
|
from us, that stops the current of God's favours; let sin betaken away
|
|
by pardoning mercy, and the obstruction is removed, and divine grace
|
|
runs down like a river, like a mighty stream.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_35"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_36"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_37"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_38"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_39"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer31_40"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Evangelical Promises; The Rebuilding of Jerusalem.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>35 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, which giveth the sun for a light by
|
|
day, <I>and</I> the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a
|
|
light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof
|
|
roar; The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts <I>is</I> his name:
|
|
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
|
|
<I>then</I> the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation
|
|
before me for ever.
|
|
37 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; If heaven above can be measured, and
|
|
the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also
|
|
cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,
|
|
saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
38 Behold, the days come, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that the city shall
|
|
be built to the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of
|
|
the corner.
|
|
39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it
|
|
upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
|
|
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes,
|
|
and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of
|
|
the horse gate toward the east, <I>shall be</I> holy unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; it
|
|
shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Glorious things have been spoken in the
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:1-34">foregoing verses</A>
|
|
|
|
concerning the gospel church, which that epocha of the Jewish church
|
|
that was to commence at the return from captivity would at length
|
|
terminate in, and which all those promises were to have their full
|
|
accomplishment in. But may we depend upon these promises? Yes, we have
|
|
here a ratification of them, and the utmost assurance imaginable given
|
|
of the perpetuity of the blessings contained in them. The great thing
|
|
here secured to us is that while the world stands God will have a
|
|
church in it, which, though sometimes it may be brought very low, shall
|
|
yet be raised again, and its interests re-established; it is <I>built
|
|
upon a rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.</I>
|
|
Now here are two things offered for the confirmation of our faith in
|
|
this matter--the building of the world and the rebuilding of
|
|
Jerusalem.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The building of the world, and the firmness and lastingness of that
|
|
building, are evidences of the power and faithfulness of that God who
|
|
has undertaken the establishment of his church. <I>He that built all
|
|
things</I> at first <I>is God</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+3:4">Heb. iii. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the same is he that makes all things now. The constancy of the
|
|
glories of the kingdom of nature may encourage us to depend upon the
|
|
divine promise for the continuance of the glories of the kingdom of
|
|
grace, for <I>this is as the waters of Noah,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:9">Isa. liv. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let us observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The glories of the kingdom of nature, and infer thence how happy
|
|
those are that have this God, the God of nature, to be their God for
|
|
ever and ever. Take notice,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Of the steady and regular motion of the heavenly bodies, which God
|
|
is the first mover and supreme director of: <I>He gives the sun for a
|
|
light by day</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>),
|
|
|
|
not only made it at first to be so, but still gives it to be so; for
|
|
the light and heat, and all the influences of the sun, continually
|
|
depend upon its great Creator. He gives <I>the ordinances of the moon
|
|
and stars for a light by night;</I> their motions are called
|
|
<I>ordinances</I> both because they are regular and by rule and because
|
|
they are determined and under rule. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:31-33">Job xxxviii. 31-33</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Take notice of the government of the sea, and the check that is
|
|
given to its proud billows: <I>The Lord of hosts divides the sea,</I>
|
|
or (as some read it) <I>settles the sea, when the waves thereof roar
|
|
(divide et impera--divide and rule</I>); when it is most tossed God
|
|
keeps it within compass
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:22">Jer. v. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
and soon quiets it and makes it calm again. The power of God is to be
|
|
magnified by us, not only in maintaining the regular motions of the
|
|
heavens, but in controlling the irregular motions of the seas.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Take notice of the vastness of the heavens and the unmeasurable
|
|
extent of the firmament; he must needs be a great God who manages such
|
|
a great world as this is; the <I>heavens above cannot be measured</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:37"><I>v.</I> 37</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet God fills them.
|
|
|
|
(4.) Take notice of the mysteriousness even of that part of the
|
|
creation in which our lot is cast and which we are most conversant
|
|
with. <I>The foundations of the earth cannot be searched out
|
|
beneath,</I> for the Creator <I>hangs the earth upon nothing</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+26:7">Job xxvi. 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
and we <I>know not how the foundations thereof are fastened,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:6">Job xxxviii. 6</A>.
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(5.) Take notice of the immovable stedfastness of all these
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>):
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<I>These ordinances cannot depart from before God;</I> he has all the
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hosts of heaven and earth continually under his eye and all the motions
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of both; he has established them, and they abide, <I>abide according to
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his ordinance, for all are his servants,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:90,91">Ps. cxix. 90, 91</A>.
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The heavens are often clouded, and the sun and moon often eclipsed, the
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earth may quake and the sea be tossed, but they all keep their place,
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are moved, but not removed. Herein we must acknowledge the power,
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goodness, and faithfulness of the Creator.</P>
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<P>
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2. The securities of the kingdom of grace inferred hence: we may be
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confident of this very thing that <I>the seed of Israel shall not cease
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from being a nation,</I> for the spiritual Israel, the gospel church,
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shall be <I>a holy nation, a peculiar people,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:9">1 Pet. ii. 9</A>.
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When Israel according to the flesh is no longer a nation the
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<I>children of the promise are counted for the seed</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+9:8">Rom. ix. 8</A>)
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and God <I>will not cast off all the seed of Israel,</I> no, not <I>for
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all that they have done,</I> though they have done very wickedly,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:37"><I>v.</I> 37</A>.
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He justly might cast them off, but he will not. Though he cast them out
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from their land, and cast them down for a time, yet he will not cast
|
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them off. Some of them he casts off, but not all; to this the apostle
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|
seems to refer
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:1">Rom. xi. 1</A>),
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<I>Hath God cast away his people? God forbid</I> that we should think
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so! For
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>)
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<I>at this time there is a remnant,</I> enough to save the credit of
|
|
the promise that God <I>will not cast off all the seed of Israel,</I>
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|
though many among them throw away themselves by unbelief. Now we may be
|
|
assisted in the belief of this by considering,
|
|
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|
(1.) That the God that has undertaken the preservation of the church is
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|
a God of almighty power, who <I>upholds all things by his</I> almighty
|
|
<I>word. Our help stands in his name who made heaven and earth,</I> and
|
|
therefore can do any thing.
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(2.) That God would not take all this care of the world but that he
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|
designs to have some glory to himself out of it; and how shall he have
|
|
it but by securing to himself a church in it, a people that <I>shall be
|
|
to him for a name and a praise?</I>
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(3.) That if the order of the creation therefore continues firm because
|
|
it was well-fixed at first, and is not altered because it needs no
|
|
alteration, the method of grace shall for the same reason continue
|
|
invariable, as it was a first well settled.
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|
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(4.) That he who has promised to preserve a church for himself has
|
|
approved himself faithful to the word which he has spoken concerning
|
|
the stability of the world. He that is true to his covenant with Noah
|
|
and his sons, because he established it for an <I>everlasting
|
|
covenant</I>
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+9:9,16">Gen. ix. 9, 16</A>),
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will not, we may be sure, be false to his covenant with Abraham and his
|
|
seed, his spiritual seed, for that also is an <I>everlasting
|
|
covenant.</I> Even that which they have done amiss, though they have
|
|
done much, shall not prevail to defeat the gracious intentions of the
|
|
covenant. See
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:30">Ps. lxxxix. 30</A>,
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|
&c.</P>
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|
<P>
|
|
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|
II. The rebuilding of Jerusalem which was now in ruins, and the
|
|
enlargement and establishment of that, shall be an earnest of these
|
|
great things that God will do for the gospel church, the <I>heavenly
|
|
Jerusalem,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:38-40"><I>v.</I> 38-40</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The days will come,</I> though they may be long in coming, when,
|
|
|
|
1. Jerusalem shall be entirely built again, as large as ever it was;
|
|
the dimensions are here exactly described by the places through which
|
|
the circumference passed, and no doubt the wall which Nehemiah built,
|
|
and which, the more punctually to fulfil the prophecy, began about the
|
|
<I>tower of Hananeel,</I> here mentioned
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+3:1">Neh. iii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
enclosed as much ground as is here intended, though we cannot certainly
|
|
determine the places here called <I>the gate of the corner, the hill
|
|
Gareb,</I> &c.
|
|
|
|
2. When built it shall be consecrated to God and to his service. It
|
|
<I>shall be built to the Lord</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+31:38"><I>v.</I> 38</A>),
|
|
|
|
and even the suburbs and fields adjacent <I>shall be holy unto the
|
|
Lord.</I> It shall not be polluted with idols as formerly, but God
|
|
shall be praised and honoured there; the whole city shall be as it were
|
|
one temple, one holy place, as the new Jerusalem is, which
|
|
<I>therefore</I> has no temple, because it is all temple.
|
|
|
|
3. Being thus built by virtue of the promise of God, <I>it shall not be
|
|
plucked up, nor thrown down, any more for ever;</I> that is, it shall
|
|
continue very long, the time of the new city from the return to its
|
|
last destruction being fully as long as that of the old from David to
|
|
the captivity. But this promise was to have its full accomplishment in
|
|
the gospel church, which, as it is the spiritual Israel, and therefore
|
|
God will not cast it off, so it is the holy city, and therefore all the
|
|
powers of men <I>shall not pluck it up, nor throw it down.</I> It may
|
|
lie waste for a time, as Jerusalem did, but shall recover itself, shall
|
|
weather the storm and gain its point, <I>and the gates of hell shall
|
|
not prevail against it.</I></P>
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