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

<div2 id="Jer.xxv" n="xxv" next="Jer.xxvi" prev="Jer.xxiv" progress="37.75%" title="Chapter XXIV">
<h2 id="Jer.xxv-p0.1">J E R E M I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jer.xxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jer.xxv-p1" shownumber="no">In the close of the foregoing chapter we had a
general prediction of the utter ruin of Jerusalem, that it should
be forsaken and forgotten, which, whatever effect it had upon
others, we have reason to think made the prophet himself very
melancholy. Now, in this chapter, God encourages him, by showing
him that, though the desolation seemed to be universal, yet all
were not equally involved in it, but God knew how to distinguish,
how to separate, between the precious and the vile. Some had gone
into captivity already with Jeconiah; over them Jeremiah lamented,
but God tells him that it should turn to their good. Others yet
remained hardened in their sins, against whom Jeremiah had a just
indignation; but those, God tells him, should go into captivity,
and it should prove to their hurt. To inform the prophet of this,
and affect him with it, here is, I. A vision of two baskets of
figs, one very good and the other very bad, <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.1-Jer.24.3" parsed="|Jer|24|1|24|3" passage="Jer 24:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. The explication of this
vision, applying the good figs to those that were already sent into
captivity for their good (<scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.4-Jer.24.7" parsed="|Jer|24|4|24|7" passage="Jer 24:4-7">ver.
4-7</scripRef>), the bad figs to those that should hereafter be
sent into captivity for their hurt, <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.8-Jer.24.10" parsed="|Jer|24|8|24|10" passage="Jer 24:8-10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jer.xxv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24" parsed="|Jer|24|0|0|0" passage="Jer 24" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jer.xxv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.1-Jer.24.10" parsed="|Jer|24|1|24|10" passage="Jer 24:1-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.xxv-p1.6">
<h4 id="Jer.xxv-p1.7">Vision of the Good and Bad Figs; Promises
and Threatenings. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p1.8">b. c.</span> 599.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.xxv-p2" shownumber="no">1 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p2.1">Lord</span> shewed
me, and, behold, two baskets of figs <i>were</i> set before the
temple of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p2.2">Lord</span>, after that
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah
the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with
the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to
Babylon.   2 One basket <i>had</i> very good figs, <i>even</i>
like the figs <i>that are</i> first ripe: and the other basket
<i>had</i> very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were
so bad.   3 Then said the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p2.3">Lord</span>
unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good
figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten,
they are so evil.   4 Again the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p2.4">Lord</span> came unto me, saying,   5 Thus saith
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p2.5">Lord</span>, the God of Israel; Like
these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away
captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land
of the Chaldeans for <i>their</i> good.   6 For I will set
mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this
land: and I will build them, and not pull <i>them</i> down; and I
will plant them, and not pluck <i>them</i> up.   7 And I will
give them a heart to know me, that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p2.6">Lord</span>: and they shall be my people, and I will be
their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
  8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so
evil; surely thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.xxv-p2.7">Lord</span>, So
will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the
residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell
in the land of Egypt:   9 And I will deliver them to be
removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for <i>their</i> hurt,
<i>to be</i> a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all
places whither I shall drive them.   10 And I will send the
sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be
consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their
fathers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p3" shownumber="no">This short chapter helps us to put a very
comfortable construction upon a great many long ones, by showing us
that the same providence which to some is a <i>savour of death unto
death</i> may by the grace and blessing of God be made to others a
<i>savour of life unto life;</i> and that, though God's people
share with others in the same calamity, yet it is not the same to
them that it is to others, but is designed for their good and shall
issue in their good; to them it is a correcting rod in the hand of
a tender Father, while to others it is an avenging sword in the
hand of a righteous Judge. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p4" shownumber="no">I. The date of this sermon. It was after, a
little after, Jeconiah's captivity, <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.1" parsed="|Jer|24|1|0|0" passage="Jer 24:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Jeconiah was himself a
<i>despised broken vessel,</i> but with him were carried away some
very valuable persons, Ezekiel for one (<scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.1.12" parsed="|Ezek|1|12|0|0" passage="Eze 1:12">Ezek. i. 12</scripRef>); many of the <i>princes of
Judah</i> then went into captivity, Daniel and his fellows were
carried off a little before; of the people only <i>the carpenters
and the smiths</i> were forced away, either because the Chaldeans
needed some ingenious men of those trades (they had a great plenty
of astrologers and stargazers, but a great scarcity of smiths and
carpenters) or because the Jews would severely feel the loss of
them, and would, for want of them, be unable to fortify their
cities and furnish themselves with weapons of war. Now, it should
seem, there were many good people carried away in that captivity,
which the pious prophet laid much to heart, while there were those
that triumphed in it, and insulted over those to whose lot it fell
to go into captivity. Note, We must not conclude concerning the
first and greatest sufferers that they were the worst and greatest
sinners; for perhaps it may appear quite otherwise, as it did
here.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p5" shownumber="no">II. The vision by which this distinction of
the captives was represented to the prophet's mind. He saw <i>two
baskets of figs, set before the temple,</i> there ready to be
offered as first-fruits to the honour of God. Perhaps the priests,
being remiss in their duty, were not ready to receive them and
dispose of them according to the law, and therefore Jeremiah sees
them standing <i>before the temple.</i> But that which was the
significancy of the vision was that the figs in one basket were
extraordinarily good, those in the other basket extremely bad. The
children of men are all as the fruits of the fig-tree, capable of
being made serviceable to God and man (<scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.9.11" parsed="|Judg|9|11|0|0" passage="Jdg 9:11">Judg. ix. 11</scripRef>); but some are as good figs,
than which nothing is more pleasant, others as damaged rotten figs,
than which nothing is more nauseous. What creature viler than a
wicked man, and what more valuable than a godly man! The good figs
were like those that are first ripe, which are most acceptable
(<scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.1" parsed="|Mic|7|1|0|0" passage="Mic 7:1">Mic. vii. 1</scripRef>) and most
prized when newly come into season. The bad figs are such as could
<i>not be eaten, they were so evil;</i> they could not answer the
end of their creation, were neither pleasant nor good for food; and
what then were they good for? If God has no honour from men, nor
their generation any service, they are even like the bad figs, that
cannot be eaten, that will not answer any good purpose. <i>If the
salt have lost its savour, it is thenceforth</i> fit for nothing
but <i>the dunghill.</i> Of the persons that are presented to the
Lord at the door of his tabernacle, some are sincere, and they are
very good; others dissemble with God, and they are very bad.
Sinners are the worst of men, hypocrites the worst of sinners.
<i>Corruptio optimi est pessima—That which is best becomes, when
corrupted, the worst.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p6" shownumber="no">III. The exposition and application of this
vision. God intended by it to raise the dejected spirit of those
that had gone into captivity, by assuring them of a happy return,
and to humble and awaken the proud and secure spirits of those who
continued yet in Jerusalem, by assuring them of a miserable
captivity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p7" shownumber="no">1. Here is the moral of the good figs, that
were very good, the first ripe. These represented the pious
captives, that seemed first ripe for ruin, for they went first into
captivity, but should prove first ripe for mercy, and their
captivity should help to ripen them; these are pleasing to God, as
good figs are to us, and shall be carefully preserved for use. Now
observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p8" shownumber="no">(1.) Those that were already carried into
captivity were the good figs that God would own. This shows, [1.]
That we cannot determine of God's love or hatred <i>by all that is
before us.</i> When God's judgments are abroad those are not always
the worst that are first seized by them. [2.] That early suffering
sometimes proves for the best to us. The sooner the child is
corrected the better effect the correction is likely to have. Those
that went first into captivity were as the son whom the <i>father
loves, and chastens betimes,</i> chastens while there is hope; and
it did well. But those that staid behind were like a child long
<i>left to himself,</i> who, when afterwards corrected, is
stubborn, and made worse by it, <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.37" parsed="|Lam|3|37|0|0" passage="La 3:37">Lam.
iii. 27</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p9" shownumber="no">(2.) God owns their captivity to be his
doing. Whoever were the instruments of it, he ordered and directed
it (<scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.5" parsed="|Jer|24|5|0|0" passage="Jer 24:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>I have
sent them out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.</i> It
is God that puts his gold into the furnace, to be tried; his hand
is, in a special manner, to be eyed in the afflictions of good
people. The judge orders the malefactor into the hand of an
executioner, but the father corrects the child with his own
hand.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p10" shownumber="no">(3.) Even this disgraceful uncomfortable
captivity God intended for their benefit; and we are sure that his
intentions are never frustrated: <i>I have sent them into the land
of the Chaldeans for their good.</i> It seemed to be every way for
their hurt, not only as it was the ruin of their estates, honours,
and liberties, separated them from their relations and friends, and
put them under the power of their enemies and oppressors, but as it
sunk their spirits, discouraged their faith, deprived them of the
benefit of God's oracles and ordinances, and exposed them to
temptations; and yet it was designed for their good, and proved so,
in the issue, as to many of them. <i>Out of the eater came forth
meat.</i> By their afflictions they were convinced of sin, humbled
under the hand of God, weaned from the world, made serious, taught
to pray, and turned from their iniquity; particularly they were
cured of their inclination to idolatry; and thus it was <i>good for
them that they were afflicted,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.67 Bible:Ps.119.71" parsed="|Ps|119|67|0|0;|Ps|119|71|0|0" passage="Ps 119:67,71">Ps. cxix. 67, 71</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p11" shownumber="no">(4.) God promises them that he will own
them in their captivity. Though they seem abandoned, they shall be
acknowledged; the scornful relations they left behind will scarcely
own them, or their kindred to them, but God says, <i>I will
acknowledge them.</i> Note, <i>The Lord knows those that are
his,</i> and will own them in all conditions; nakedness and sword
shall not separate them from his love.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p12" shownumber="no">(5.) God assures them of his protection in
their trouble, and a glorious deliverance out of it in due time,
<scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.6" parsed="|Jer|24|6|0|0" passage="Jer 24:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Being sent
into captivity <i>for their good,</i> they shall not be lost there;
but it shall be with them as it is with gold which the refiner puts
into the furnace. [1.] He has his eye upon it while it is there,
and it is a careful eye, to see that it sustain no damage: "<i>I
will set my eyes upon them for good,</i> to order every thing for
the best, that all the circumstances of the affliction may concur
to the answering of the great intention of it." [2.] He will be
sure to take it out of the furnace again as soon as the work
designed upon it is done: <i>I will bring them again to this
land.</i> They were sent abroad for improvement awhile, under a
severe discipline; but they shall be fetched back, when they have
gone through their trial there, to their Father's house. [3.] He
will fashion his gold when he has refined it, will make it a vessel
of honour fit for his use; so, when God has brought them back from
their trial, he <i>will build them</i> and make them a habitation
for himself, will <i>plant them</i> and make them a vineyard for
himself. Their captivity was to square the rough stones and make
them fit for his building, to prune up the young trees and make
them fit for his planting.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p13" shownumber="no">(6.) He engages to prepare them for these
temporal mercies which he designed for them by bestowing spiritual
mercies upon them, <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.7" parsed="|Jer|24|7|0|0" passage="Jer 24:7"><i>v.</i>7</scripRef>. It is this that will make their
captivity be for their good; this shall be both the improvement of
their affliction and their qualification for deliverance. When our
troubles are sanctified to us, then we may be sure that they will
end well. Now that which is promised is, [1.] That they should be
better acquainted with God; they should learn more of God by his
providences in Babylon than they had learned by all his oracles and
ordinances in Jerusalem, thanks to divine grace, for, if that had
not wrought mightily upon them in Babylon, they would for ever have
forgotten God. It is here promised, <i>I will give them,</i> not so
much a head to know me, but <i>a heart to know me,</i> for the
right knowledge of God consists not in notion and speculation, but
in the convictions of the practical judgment directing and
governing the will and affections. <i>A good understanding have all
those that do his commandments,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.111.10" parsed="|Ps|111|10|0|0" passage="Ps 111:10">Ps. cxi. 10</scripRef>. Where God gives a sincere
desire and inclination to know him he will give that knowledge. It
is God himself that gives a heart to know him, else we should
perish for ever in our ignorance. [2.] That they should be entirely
converted to God, to his will as their rule, his service as their
business, and his glory as their end: <i>They shall return to me
with their whole heart.</i> God himself undertakes for them that
they shall; and, if he turn us, we shall be turned. This follows
upon the former; for those that have a heart to know God aright
will not only turn to him, but turn with their whole heart; for
those that are either obstinate in their rebellion, or hypocritical
in their religion, may truly be said to be ignorant of God. [3.]
That thus they should be again taken into covenant with God, as
much to their comfort as ever: <i>They shall be my people, and I
will be their God.</i> God will own them, as formerly, for his
people, in the discoveries of himself to them, in his acceptance of
their services, and in his gracious appearances on their behalf;
and they shall have liberty to own him for their God in their
prayers to him and their expectations from him. Note, Those that
have backslidden from God, if they do in sincerity return to him,
are admitted as freely as any to all the privileges and comforts of
the everlasting covenant, which is herein well-ordered, that every
transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of covenant,
and that afflictions are not only consistent with, but flowing
from, covenant-love.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p14" shownumber="no">2. Here is the moral of the bad figs.
<i>Zedekiah and his princes</i> and partizans <i>yet remain in the
land,</i> proud and secure enough, <scripRef id="Jer.xxv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.11.3" parsed="|Ezek|11|3|0|0" passage="Eze 11:3">Ezek. xi. 3</scripRef>. Many had fled into Egypt for
shelter, and they thought they had shifted well for themselves and
their own safety, and boasted that though therein they had gone
contrary to the command of God yet they had acted prudently for
themselves. Now as to both these, that looked so scornfully upon
those that had gone into captivity, it is here threatened, (1.)
That, whereas those who were already carried away were settled in
one country, where they had the comfort of one another's society,
though in captivity, these should be dispersed <i>and removed into
all the kingdoms of the earth,</i> where they should have no joy
one of another. (2.) That, whereas those were carried captives for
their good, these should be removed into all countries <i>for their
hurt.</i> Their afflictions should be so far from humbling them
that they should harden them, not bring them nearer to God, but set
them at a greater distance from him. (3.) That, whereas those
should have the honour of being owned of God in their troubles,
these should have the shame of being abandoned by all mankind:
<i>In all places whither I shall drive them they shall be a
reproach and a proverb.</i> "Such a one is as false and proud as a
Jew"—"Such a one is as poor and miserable as a Jew." All their
neighbours shall make a jest of them, and of the calamities brought
upon them. (4.) That, whereas those should <i>return to their own
land,</i> never to see it more, and it shall be of no avail to them
to plead that it was the land God gave to their fathers, for they
had it from God, and he gave it to them upon condition of their
obedience. (5.) That, whereas those were reserved for better times,
these were reserved for worse; wherever they are removed <i>the
sword, and famine, and pestilence,</i> shall be sent after them,
shall soon overtake them, and, coming with commission so to do,
shall overcome them. God has variety of judgments wherewith to
prosecute those that fly from justice; and those that have escaped
one may expect another, till they are brought to repent and
reform.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.xxv-p15" shownumber="no">Doubtless this prophecy had its
accomplishment in the men of that generation yet, because we read
not of any such remarkable difference between those of Jeconiah's
captivity and those of Zedekiah's, it is probable that this has a
typical reference to the last destruction of the Jews by the
Romans, in which those of them that believed were taken care of,
but those that continued obstinate in unbelief were driven into all
countries for <i>a taunt and a curse,</i> and so they remain to
this day.</p>
</div></div2>