mh_parser/vol_split/24 - Jeremiah/Chapter 19.xml

<div2 id="Jer.xx" n="xx" next="Jer.xxi" prev="Jer.xix" progress="35.72%" title="Chapter XIX">
<h2 id="Jer.xx-p0.1">J E R E M I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jer.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jer.xx-p1" shownumber="no">The same melancholy theme is the subject of this
chapter that was of those foregoing—the approaching ruin of Judah
and Jerusalem for their sins. This Jeremiah had often foretold;
here he has particularly full orders to foretel it again. I. He
must set their sins in order before them, as he had often done,
especially their idolatry, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.4-Jer.19.5" parsed="|Jer|19|4|19|5" passage="Jer 19:4,5">ver. 4,
5</scripRef>. II. He must describe the particular judgments which
were now coming apace upon them for these sins, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.6-Jer.19.9" parsed="|Jer|19|6|19|9" passage="Jer 19:6-9">ver. 6-9</scripRef>. III. He must do this in the
valley of Tophet, with great solemnity, and for some particular
reasons, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.2-Jer.19.3" parsed="|Jer|19|2|19|3" passage="Jer 19:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. IV.
He must summon a company of the elders together to be witnesses of
this, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.1" parsed="|Jer|19|1|0|0" passage="Jer 19:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. V. He must
confirm this, and endeavour to affect his hearers with it, by a
sign, which was the breaking of an earthen bottle, signifying that
they should be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.10-Jer.19.13" parsed="|Jer|19|10|19|13" passage="Jer 19:10-13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>. VI. When he had done
this in the valley of Tophet he ratified it in the court of the
temple, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.14-Jer.19.15" parsed="|Jer|19|14|19|15" passage="Jer 19:14,15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>.
Thus were all likely means tried to awaken this stupid senseless
people to repentance, that their ruin might be prevented; but all
in vain.</p>
<scripCom id="Jer.xx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19" parsed="|Jer|19|0|0|0" passage="Jer 19" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jer.xx-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.1-Jer.19.9" parsed="|Jer|19|1|19|9" passage="Jer 19:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xx-p1.9">
<h4 id="Jer.xx-p1.10">The Desolation of Jerusalem. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p1.11">b. c.</span> 600.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xx-p2" shownumber="no">1 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p2.1">Lord</span>, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and
<i>take</i> of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of
the priests;   2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of
Hinnom, which <i>is</i> by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim
there the words that I shall tell thee,   3 And say, Hear ye
the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p2.2">Lord</span>, O kings of
Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p2.3">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will
bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears
shall tingle.   4 Because they have forsaken me, and have
estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other
gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings
of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
  5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn
their sons with fire <i>for</i> burnt offerings unto Baal, which I
commanded not, nor spake <i>it,</i> neither came <i>it</i> into my
mind:   6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p2.4">Lord</span>, that this place shall no more be
called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley
of slaughter.   7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah
and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the
sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek
their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the
fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.   8 And
I will make this city desolate, and a hissing; every one that
passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the
plagues thereof.   9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of
their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat
every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness,
wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall
straiten them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p3" shownumber="no">The corruption of man having made it
necessary that <i>precept</i> should be <i>upon precept, and line
upon line</i> (so unapt are we to receive, and so very apt to let
slip, the things of God), the grace of God has provided that there
shall be, accordingly, <i>precept upon precept, and line upon
line,</i> that those who are irreclaimable may be inexcusable. For
this reason the prophet is here sent with a message to the same
purport with what he had often delivered, but with some
circumstances that might make it the more taken notice of, a thing
which ministers should study, for a little circumstance may
sometimes be a great advantage, and those that would win souls must
be wise.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p4" shownumber="no">I. He must take of the elders and chief
men, both in church and state, to be his auditors and witnesses to
what he said—<i>the ancients of the people and the ancients of the
priests,</i> the most eminent men both in the magistracy and in the
ministry, that they might be <i>faithful witnesses to record,</i>
as those <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.2" parsed="|Isa|8|2|0|0" passage="Isa 8:2">Isa. viii. 2</scripRef>. It is
strange that these great men should be at the beck of a poor
prophet, and obey his summons to attend him out of the city, they
know not whither and they knew not why. But, though the generality
of the elders were disaffected to him, yet it is likely that there
were some few among them who looked upon him as a prophet of the
Lord, and would pay this respect to the heavenly vision. Note,
Persons of rank and figure have an opportunity of honouring God, by
a diligent attendance on the ministry of the word and other divine
institutions; and they ought to think it an honour, and no
disparagement to themselves, yea, though the circumstances be mean
and despicable. It is certain that the greatest of men is less than
the least of the ordinances of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p5" shownumber="no">II. He must <i>go to the valley of the son
of Hinnom,</i> and deliver this message there; for <i>the word of
the Lord</i> is not bound to any one place; as good a sermon may be
preached in the valley of Tophet as in the gate of the temple.
Christ preached on a mountain and out of a ship. This valley lay
partly on the south side of Jerusalem, but the prophet's way to it
was <i>by the entry on the east gate—the sun gate</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.2" parsed="|Jer|19|2|0|0" passage="Jer 19:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), so some render it, and
suppose it to look not towards the sun-rising, but the noon
sun—<i>the potter's gate,</i> so some. This sermon must be
preached in that place, in <i>the valley of the son of Hinnom,</i>
1. Because there they had been guilty of the vilest of their
idolatries, the sacrificing of their children to Moloch, a horrid
piece of impiety, which the sight of the place might serve to
remind them of and upbraid them with. 2. Because there they should
feel the sorest of their calamities; there the greatest slaughter
should be made among them; and, it being the common sink of the
city, let them look upon it and see what a miserable spectacle this
magnificent city would be when it should be all like the valley of
Tophet. God bids him go thither, <i>and proclaim there the words
that I shall tell thee,</i> when thou comest thither; whereby it
appears (as Mr. Gataker well observed) that God's messages were
frequently not revealed to the prophets before the very instant of
time wherein they were to deliver them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p6" shownumber="no">III. He must give general notice of a
general ruin now shortly coming upon Judah and Jerusalem, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.3" parsed="|Jer|19|3|0|0" passage="Jer 19:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He must, as those that
make proclamation, begin with an <i>Oyes: Hear you the word of the
Lord,</i> though it be a terrible word, for you may thank
yourselves if it be so. Both rulers and ruled must attend to it, at
their peril; the <i>kings of Judah,</i> the king and his sons, the
king and his princes and privy-counsellors, must hear the word of
the King of kings, for, high as they are, he is above them. The
<i>inhabitants of Jerusalem</i> also must hear what God has to say
to them. Both princes and people have contributed to the national
guilt and must concur in the national repentance, or they will both
share in the national ruin. Let them all know that <i>the Lord of
hosts,</i> who is therefore able to do what he threatens, though he
is <i>the God of Israel,</i> nay, because he is so, will therefore
punish them in the first place for their iniquities (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.2" parsed="|Amos|3|2|0|0" passage="Am 3:2">Amos iii. 2</scripRef>): <i>He will bring evil
upon this place</i> (upon <i>Judah and Jerusalem</i>) so
surprising, and so dreadful, that <i>whosoever hears</i> it, <i>his
ears shall tingle;</i> whosoever hears the prediction of it, hears
the report and representation of it, it shall make such an
impression of terror upon him that he shall still think he hears it
sounding in his ears and shall not be able to get it out of his
mind. The ruin of Eli's house is thus described (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.11" parsed="|1Sam|3|11|0|0" passage="1Sa 3:11">1 Sam. iii. 11</scripRef>), and of Jerusalem, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.21.12" parsed="|2Kgs|21|12|0|0" passage="2Ki 21:12">2 Kings xxi. 12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p7" shownumber="no">IV. He must plainly tell them what their
sins were for which God had this controversy with them, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.4-Jer.19.5" parsed="|Jer|19|4|19|5" passage="Jer 19:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. They are charged
with apostasy from God (<i>They have forsaken me</i>) and abuse of
the privileges of the visible church, and which they had been
dignified—<i>They have estranged this place.</i> Jerusalem (the
holy city), the temple (the holy house), which was designed for the
honour of God and the support of his kingdom among men, they had
alienated from those purposes, and (as some render the word)
<i>they had strangely abused.</i> They had so polluted both with
their wickedness that God had disowned both, and abandoned them to
ruin. He charges them with an affection for and the adoration of
false <i>gods,</i> such as <i>neither they nor their fathers have
known,</i> such as never had recommended themselves to their belief
and esteem by any acts of power or goodness done for them or their
ancestors, as that God had abundantly done whom they forsook; yet
they took them at a venture for their gods; nay, being fond of
change and novelty, they liked them the better for their being
upstarts, and new fashions in religion were as grateful to their
fancies as in other things. They also stand charged with murder,
wilful murder, from malice prepense: <i>They have filled this place
with the blood of innocents.</i> It was Manasseh's sin (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.24.4" parsed="|2Kgs|24|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 24:4">2 Kings xxiv. 4</scripRef>), <i>which the Lord
would not pardon.</i> Nay, as if idolatry and murder, committed
separately, were not bad enough and affront enough to God and man,
they have put them together, have consolidated them into one
complicated crime, that of burning their children in the fire to
Baal (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.5" parsed="|Jer|19|5|0|0" passage="Jer 19:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), which
was the most insolent defiance to all the laws both of natural and
revealed religion that ever mankind was guilty of; and by it they
openly declared that they loved their new gods better than ever
they loved the true God, though they were such cruel task-masters
that they required human sacrifices (inhuman I should call them),
which the Lord Jehovah, whose all lives and souls are, never
demanded from his worshippers; he never <i>spoke</i> of such a
thing, nor <i>came it into his mind.</i> See <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.31" parsed="|Jer|7|31|0|0" passage="Jer 7:31"><i>ch.</i> vii. 31</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p8" shownumber="no">V. He must endeavour to affect them with
the greatness of the desolation that was coming upon them. He must
tell them (as he had done before, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.32" parsed="|Jer|7|32|0|0" passage="Jer 7:32"><i>ch.</i> vii. 32</scripRef>) that this <i>valley of
the son of Hinnom</i> shall acquire a new name, <i>the valley of
slaughter</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.6" parsed="|Jer|19|6|0|0" passage="Jer 19:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>), for (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.7" parsed="|Jer|19|7|0|0" passage="Jer 19:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>) multitudes shall <i>fall</i> there <i>by the
sword,</i> when either they sally out upon the besiegers and are
repulsed or attempt to make their escape and are seized:
<i>They</i> shall <i>fall before their enemies,</i> who not only
endeavour to make themselves masters of their houses and estates,
but have such an implacable enmity to them that they <i>seek their
lives;</i> they thirst after their blood, and, when they are dead,
will not allow a cartel for the burying of the slain, but <i>their
carcases</i> shall <i>be meat for the fowls of the heaven and
beasts of the earth.</i> What a dismal place will the valley of
Tophet be then! And as for those that remain within the city, and
will not capitulate with the besiegers, they shall perish for want
of food, when first they have eaten <i>the flesh of their sons and
daughters,</i> and dearest <i>friends,</i> through the
<i>straitness wherewith their enemies shall straiten them,</i>
<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.9" parsed="|Jer|19|9|0|0" passage="Jer 19:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. This was
threatened in the law as an instance of the extremity to which the
judgments of God should reduce them (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.29 Bible:Deut.28.53" parsed="|Lev|26|29|0|0;|Deut|28|53|0|0" passage="Le 26:29,De 28:53">Lev. xxvi. 29, Deut. xxviii. 53</scripRef>) and
was accomplished, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.10" parsed="|Lam|4|10|0|0" passage="La 4:10">Lam. iv.
10</scripRef>. And, <i>lastly,</i> the whole <i>city</i> shall be
<i>desolate,</i> the houses laid in ashes, the inhabitants slain or
taken prisoners; there shall be no resort to it, nor any thing in
it but what looks rueful and horrid; so that <i>every one that
passes by shall be astonished</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.8" parsed="|Jer|19|8|0|0" passage="Jer 19:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), as he had said before,
<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.16" parsed="|Jer|18|16|0|0" passage="Jer 18:16"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 16</scripRef>. That
place which holiness had made <i>the joy of the whole earth</i> sin
had made the reproach and shame of the whole earth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p9" shownumber="no">VI. He must assure them that all their
attempts to prevent and avoid this ruin, so long as they continued
impenitent and unreformed, would be fruitless and vain (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.7" parsed="|Jer|19|7|0|0" passage="Jer 19:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>I will make void the
counsel of Judah and Jerusalem</i> (of the princes and senators of
Judah and Jerusalem) <i>in this place,</i> in the royal palace,
which lay on the south side of the city, not far from the place
where the prophet now stood. Note, There is no fleeing from God's
justice but by fleeing to his mercy. Those that will not make good
God's counsel, by humbling themselves under his mighty hand, shall
find that God will make void their counsel and blast their
projects, which they think ever so well concerted for their own
preservation. There is <i>no counsel</i> or strength <i>against the
Lord.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.xx-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.10-Jer.19.15" parsed="|Jer|19|10|19|15" passage="Jer 19:10-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xx-p9.3">
<h4 id="Jer.xx-p9.4">The Desolation of Jerusalem. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p9.5">b. c.</span> 600.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xx-p10" shownumber="no">10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight
of the men that go with thee,   11 And shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p10.1">Lord</span> of hosts; Even
so will I break this people and this city, as <i>one</i> breaketh a
potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall
bury <i>them</i> in Tophet, till <i>there be</i> no place to bury.
  12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p10.2">Lord</span>, and to the inhabitants thereof, and
<i>even</i> make this city as Tophet:   13 And the houses of
Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled
as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs
they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have
poured out drink offerings unto other gods.   14 Then came
Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p10.3">Lord</span> had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in
the court of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p10.4">Lord</span>'s house; and
said to all the people,   15 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xx-p10.5">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will
bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I
have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks,
that they might not hear my words.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p11" shownumber="no">The message of wrath delivered in the
<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.1-Jer.19.9" parsed="|Jer|19|1|19|9" passage="Jer 19:1-9">foregoing verses</scripRef> is here
enforced, that it might gain credit, two ways:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p12" shownumber="no">I. By a visible sign. The prophet was to
take along with him an <i>earthen bottle</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.1" parsed="|Jer|19|1|0|0" passage="Jer 19:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), and, when he had delivered his
message, he was to <i>break the bottle</i> to pieces (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.10" parsed="|Jer|19|10|0|0" passage="Jer 19:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), and the same that
were auditors of the sermon must be spectators of the sign. He had
compared this people, in the chapter before, to the potter's clay,
which is easily marred in the making. But some might say, "It is
past that with us; we have been made and hardened long since." "And
what though you be," says he, "the potter's vessel is as soon
broken in the hand of any man as the vessel while it is soft clay
is marred in the potter's hand, and its case is, in this respect,
much worse, that the vessel while it is soft clay, though it be
marred, may be moulded again, but, after it is hardened, when it is
broken it can never be pieced again." Perhaps what they see will
affect them more than what they only hear talk of; that is the
intention of sacramental signs, and teaching by symbols was
anciently used. In the explication of this sign he must inculcate
what he had before said, with a further reference to the place
where this was done, in the valley of Tophet. 1. As the bottle was
easily, irresistibly, and irrecoverably broken by the Chaldean
army, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.11" parsed="|Jer|19|11|0|0" passage="Jer 19:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. They
depended much upon the firmness of their constitution, and the
fixedness of their courage, which they thought hardened them like a
vessel of brass; but the prophet shows that all that did but harden
them like a vessel of earth, which, though hard, is brittle and
sooner broken than that which is not so hard. Though they were made
vessels of honour, still they were vessels of earth, and so they
shall be made to know if they dishonour God and themselves, and
serve not the purposes for which they were made. It is God himself,
who made them, that resolves to unmake them: <i>I will break this
people and this city,</i> dash them in pieces like <i>a potter's
vessel;</i> the doom of the heathen (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.9 Bible:Rev.2.27" parsed="|Ps|2|9|0|0;|Rev|2|27|0|0" passage="Ps 2:9,Re 2:27">Ps. ii. 9, Rev. ii. 27</scripRef>), but now
Jerusalem's doom, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.14" parsed="|Isa|30|14|0|0" passage="Isa 30:14">Isa. xxx.
14</scripRef>. <i>A potter's vessel,</i> when once broken,
<i>cannot be made whole again, cannot be cured,</i> so the word is.
The ruin of Jerusalem shall be an utter ruin; no hand can repair it
but his that broke it; and if they return to him, though he has
torn, he will heal. 2. This was done in Tophet, to signify two
things:—(1.) That Tophet should be the receptacle of the slain:
<i>They shall bury in Tophet till there be no place to bury</i> any
more there; they shall jostle for room to lay their dead, and a
very little room will then serve those who, while they lived,
<i>laid house to house and field to field.</i> Those that would be
<i>placed alone in the midst of the earth</i> while they were above
ground, and obliged all about them to keep their distance, must lie
with the multitude when they are underground, for there are
innumerable before them. (2.) That Tophet should be a resemblance
of the whole city (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.12" parsed="|Jer|19|12|0|0" passage="Jer 19:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): <i>I will make this city as Tophet.</i> As they had
filled the valley of Tophet with the slain which they sacrificed to
their idols, so God will fill the whole city with the slain that
shall fall as sacrifices to the justice of God. We read (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.10" parsed="|2Kgs|23|10|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:10">2 Kings xxiii. 10</scripRef>) of Josiah's
defiling Tophet, because it had been abused to idolatry, which he
did (as should seem, <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.14" parsed="|Jer|19|14|0|0" passage="Jer 19:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>) by <i>filling it with the bones of men;</i> and,
whatever it was before, thenceforward it was looked upon as a
detestable place. Dead carcases, and other filth of the city, were
carried thither, and a fire was continually kept there for the
burning of it. This was the posture of that valley when Jeremiah
was sent thither to prophesy; and so execrable a place was it
looked upon to be that, in the language of our Saviour's time, hell
was called, in allusion to it, <i>Gehenna, the valley of
Hinnom.</i> "Now" (says God) "since that blessed reformation, when
Tophet was defiled, did not proceed as it ought to have done, nor
prove a thorough reformation, but though the idols in Tophet were
abolished and made odious those in Jerusalem remained, therefore
will I do with the city as Josiah did by Tophet, fill it with the
bodies of men, and make it a heap of rubbish." Even <i>the houses
of Jerusalem, and</i> those <i>of the kings of Judah,</i> the royal
palaces not excepted, <i>shall be defiled as the place of
Tophet</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.13" parsed="|Jer|19|13|0|0" passage="Jer 19:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>),
and for the same reason, because of the idolatries that have been
committed there; since they will not defile them by a reformation,
God will defile them by a destruction, <i>because</i> upon the
<i>roofs of their houses they have burnt incense unto the host of
heaven.</i> The flat roofs of their houses were sometimes used by
devout people as convenient places for prayer (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.9" parsed="|Acts|10|9|0|0" passage="Ac 10:9">Acts x. 9</scripRef>), and by idolaters they were used as
high places, on which they sacrificed to strange gods, especially
to <i>the host of heaven,</i> the sun, moon, and stars, that there
they might be so much nearer to them and have a clearer and fuller
view of them. We read of those that <i>worshipped the host of
heaven upon the house-tops</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.11" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.1.5" parsed="|Zeph|1|5|0|0" passage="Zep 1:5">Zeph.
i. 5</scripRef>), and of <i>altars on the top of the upper chamber
of Ahaz,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p12.12" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.12" parsed="|2Kgs|23|12|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:12">2 Kings xxiii.
12</scripRef>. This sin upon the house-tops brought a curse into
the house, which consumed it, and made it a dunghill like
Tophet.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xx-p13" shownumber="no">II. By a solemn recognition and
ratification of what he had said <i>in the court of the Lord's
house,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xx-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.19.14-Jer.19.15" parsed="|Jer|19|14|19|15" passage="Jer 19:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14,
15</scripRef>. The prophet returned from Tophet to the temple,
which stood upon the hill over that valley, and there confirmed,
and probably repeated, what he had said in the valley of Tophet,
for the benefit of those who had not heard it; what he had said he
would stand to. Here, as often before, he both assures them of
judgments coming upon them and assigns the cause of them, which was
their sin. Both these are here put together in a little compass,
with a reference to all that had gone before. 1. The accomplishment
of the prophecies is here the judgment threatened. The people
flattered themselves with a conceit that God would be better than
his word, that the threatening was but to frighten them and keep
them in awe a little; but the prophet tells them that they deceive
themselves if they think so: <i>For thus saith the Lord of
hosts,</i> who is able to make his words good, <i>I will bring upon
this city, and upon all her towns,</i> all the smaller cities that
belong to Jerusalem the metropolis, <i>all the evil that I have
pronounced against it.</i> Note, Whatever men may think to the
contrary, the executions of Providence will fully answer the
predictions of the word, and God will appear as terrible against
sin and sinners as the scripture makes him; nor shall the unbelief
of men make either his promises or his threatenings of no effect or
of less effect than they were thought to be of. 2. The contempt of
the prophecies is here the sin charged upon them, as the procuring
cause of this judgment. It is <i>because they have hardened their
necks,</i> and would not bow and bend them to the yoke of God's
commands, would <i>not hear my words,</i> that is, would not heed
them and yield obedience to them. Note, The obstinacy of sinners in
their sinful ways is altogether their own fault; if their necks are
hardened, it is their own act and deed, they have hardened them; if
they are deaf to the word of God, it is because they have stopped
their own ears. We have need therefore to pray that God, by his
grace, would deliver us <i>from hardness of heart and contempt of
his word and commandments.</i></p>
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