mh_parser/vol_split/24 - Jeremiah/Chapter 9.xml

<div2 id="Jer.x" n="x" next="Jer.xi" prev="Jer.ix" progress="31.28%" title="Chapter IX">
<h2 id="Jer.x-p0.1">J E R E M I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jer.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jer.x-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter the prophet goes on faithfully to
reprove sin and to threaten God's judgments for it, and yet
bitterly to lament both, as one that neither rejoiced at iniquity
nor was glad at calamities. I. He here expresses his great grief
for the miseries of Judah and Jerusalem, and his detestation of
their sins, which brought those miseries upon them, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.1-Jer.9.11" parsed="|Jer|9|1|9|11" passage="Jer 9:1-11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II. He justifies God in
the greatness of the destruction brought upon them, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.9-Jer.9.16" parsed="|Jer|9|9|9|16" passage="Jer 9:9-16">ver. 9-16</scripRef>. III. He calls upon
others to bewail the woeful case of Judah and Jerusalem, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.17-Jer.9.22" parsed="|Jer|9|17|9|22" passage="Jer 9:17-22">ver. 17-22</scripRef>. IV. He shows them the
folly and vanity of trusting in their own strength or wisdom, or
the privileges of their circumcision, or any thing but God only,
<scripRef id="Jer.x-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.23-Jer.9.26" parsed="|Jer|9|23|9|26" passage="Jer 9:23-26">ver. 23-26</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jer.x-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9" parsed="|Jer|9|0|0|0" passage="Jer 9" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jer.x-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.1-Jer.9.11" parsed="|Jer|9|1|9|11" passage="Jer 9:1-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.x-p1.7">
<h4 id="Jer.x-p1.8">The Prophet's Lamentation; Wickedness of
Judah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p1.9">b. c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.x-p2" shownumber="no">1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of
the daughter of my people!   2 Oh that I had in the wilderness
a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and
go from them! for they <i>be</i> all adulterers, an assembly of
treacherous men.   3 And they bend their tongues <i>like</i>
their bow <i>for</i> lies: but they are not valiant for the truth
upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know
not me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p2.1">Lord</span>.   4
Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any
brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every
neighbour will walk with slanders.   5 And they will deceive
every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have
taught their tongue to speak lies, <i>and</i> weary themselves to
commit iniquity.   6 Thine habitation <i>is</i> in the midst
of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p2.2">Lord</span>.   7 Therefore thus saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p2.3">Lord</span> of hosts, Behold, I will melt
them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my
people?   8 Their tongue <i>is as</i> an arrow shot out; it
speaketh deceit: <i>one</i> speaketh peaceably to his neighbour
with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.   9 Shall I
not visit them for these <i>things?</i> saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p2.4">Lord</span>: shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this?   10 For the mountains will I take up a
weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a
lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass
through <i>them;</i> neither can <i>men</i> hear the voice of the
cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they
are gone.   11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, <i>and</i> a
den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate,
without an inhabitant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p3" shownumber="no">The prophet, being commissioned both to
foretel the destruction coming upon Judah and Jerusalem and to
point out the sin for which that destruction was brought upon them,
here, as elsewhere, speaks of both very feelingly: what he said of
both came from the heart, and therefore one would have thought it
would reach to the heart.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p4" shownumber="no">I. He abandons himself to sorrow in
consideration of the calamitous condition of his people, which he
sadly laments, a one that preferred Jerusalem before his chief joy
and her grievances before his chief sorrows.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p5" shownumber="no">1. He laments the slaughter of the persons,
the blood shed and the lives lost (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.1" parsed="|Jer|9|1|0|0" passage="Jer 9:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "<i>O that my head were
waters,</i> quite melted and dissolved with grief, that so <i>my
eyes</i> might be <i>fountains of tears,</i> weeping abundantly,
continually, and without intermission, still sending forth fresh
floods of tears as there still occur fresh occasions for them!" The
same word in Hebrew signifies both <i>the eye</i> and <i>a
fountain,</i> as if in this land of sorrows our eyes were designed
rather for weeping than seeing. Jeremiah wept much, and yet wished
he could weep more, that he might affect a stupid people and rouse
them to a due sense of the hand of God gone out against them. Note,
It becomes us, while we are here in this vale of tears, to conform
to the temper of the climate and to sow in tears. <i>Blessed are
those that mourn, for they shall be comforted</i> hereafter; but
let them expect that while they are here the <i>clouds will still
return after the rain.</i> While we find our hearts such fountains
of sin, it is fit that our eyes should be fountains of tears. But
Jeremiah's grief here is upon the public account: he would <i>weep
day and night,</i> not so much for the death of his own near
relations, but <i>for the slain of the daughter of his people,</i>
the multitudes of his countrymen that fell by the sword of war.
Note, When we hear of the numbers of the slain in great battles and
sieges we ought to be much affected with the intelligence, and not
to make a light matter of it; yea, though they be not of the
daughter of our people, for, whatever people they are of, they are
of the same human nature with us, and there are so many precious
lives lost, as dear to them as ours to us, and so many precious
souls gone into eternity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p6" shownumber="no">2. He laments the desolations of the
country. This he brings in (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.10" parsed="|Jer|9|10|0|0" passage="Jer 9:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>), for impassioned mourners are not often very
methodical in their discourses: "Not only for the towns and cities,
but <i>for the mountains, will I take up a weeping and wailing"</i>
(not barren mountains, but the fruitful hills with which Judea
abounded), and for <i>the habitations of the wilderness,</i> or
rather <i>the pastures of the plain,</i> that used to be <i>clothed
with flocks</i> or <i>covered over with corn,</i> and a goodly
sight it was; but now <i>they are burnt up</i> by the Chaldean army
(which, according to the custom of war, destroyed to the custom of
war, destroyed the forage and carried off all the cattle), so that
no one dares to pass through them, for fear of meeting with some
parties of the enemy, no one cares to pass through them, every
thing looks so melancholy and frightful, no one has any business to
pass through them, for they <i>hear not the voice of the cattle</i>
there as usual, the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the
oxen, that grateful music to the owners; nay, <i>both the fowl of
the heavens</i> and the <i>beasts have fled.</i> either frightened
away by the rude noises and terrible fires which the enemies make,
or forced away because there is no subsistence for them. Note, God
has many ways of turning <i>a fruitful land into barrenness for the
wickedness of those that dwell therein;</i> and the havoc war makes
in a country cannot but be for a lamentation to all tender spirits,
for it is a tragedy which destroys the stage it is acted on.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p7" shownumber="no">II. He abandons himself to solitude, in
consideration of the scandalous character and conduct of his
people. Though he dwells in Judah where God is known, in Salem
where his tabernacle is, yet he is ready to cry out, <i>Woe is me
that I sojourn in Mesech!</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.120.5" parsed="|Ps|120|5|0|0" passage="Ps 120:5">Ps. cxx.
5</scripRef>. While all his neighbours are fleeing to the defenced
cities, and Jerusalem especially, in dread of the enemies' rage
(<scripRef id="Jer.x-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.4.5-Jer.4.6" parsed="|Jer|4|5|4|6" passage="Jer 4:5,6"><i>ch.</i> iv. 5, 6</scripRef>) he
is contriving to retire into some desert, in detestation of his
people's sin (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.2" parsed="|Jer|9|2|0|0" passage="Jer 9:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>):
"<i>O that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring
men,</i> such a lonely cottage to dwell in as they have in the
deserts of Arabia, which are uninhabited, for travellers to repose
themselves in, <i>that I might leave my people and go from
them!</i>" Not only because of the ill usage they gave him (he
would rather venture himself among the wild beasts of the desert
than among such treacherous barbarous people), but principally
because his <i>righteous soul was vexed from day to day,</i> as
Lot's was in Sodom, with the <i>wickedness of their
conversation,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.7-2Pet.2.8" parsed="|2Pet|2|7|2|8" passage="2Pe 2:7,8">2 Pet. ii. 7,
8</scripRef>. This does not imply any intention or resolution that
he had thus to retire. God had cut him out work among them, which
he must not quit for his own ease. We must not <i>go out of the
world,</i> bad as it is, before our time. If he could not reform
them, he could bear a testimony against them; if he could not do
good to many, yet he might to some. but it intimates the temptation
he was in to leave them, involves a threatening that they should be
deprived of his ministry, and especially expresses the holy
indignation he had against their abominable wickedness, which
continued notwithstanding all the pains he had taken with them to
reclaim them. It made him even weary of his life to see them
dishonouring God as they did and destroying themselves. Time was
when the place which God had chosen to put his name there was the
desire and delight of good men. David, in a wilderness, longed to
be again in the courts of God's house; but now Jeremiah, in the
courts of God's house (for there he was when he said this), wishes
himself in a wilderness. Those have made themselves very miserable
that have made God's people and ministers weary of them and willing
to get from them. Now, to justify his willingness to leave them, he
shows,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p8" shownumber="no">1. What he himself had observed among
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p9" shownumber="no">(1.) He would not think of leaving them
because they were poor and in distress, but because they were
wicked. [1.] They were filthy: <i>They are all adulterers,</i> that
is, the generality of them are, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.8" parsed="|Jer|5|8|0|0" passage="Jer 5:8"><i>ch.</i> v. 8</scripRef>. They all either practised
this sin or connived at those that did. Lewdness and uncleanness
constituted that crying sin of Sodom at which righteous Lot was
vexed in soul, and it is a sin that renders men loathsome in the
eyes of God and all good men; it makes men an abomination. [2.]
They were false. This is the sin that is most enlarged upon here.
Those that had been unfaithful to their God were so to one another,
and it was a part of their punishment as well as their sin, for
even those that love to cheat, yet hate to be cheated.
<i>First,</i> Go into their solemn meetings for the exercises of
religion, for the administration of justice, or for commerce—to
church, to court, or to the exchange—and they are <i>an assembly
of treacherous men;</i> they are so by consent, they strengthen one
another's hands in doing any thing that is perfidious. There they
will cheat deliberately and industriously, with design, with a
malicious design, for (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.3" parsed="|Jer|9|3|0|0" passage="Jer 9:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>) <i>they bend their tongues, like their bow, for
lies,</i> with a great deal of craft; their tongues are fitted for
lying, as a bow that is bent is for shooting, and are as constantly
used for that purpose. Their tongue turns as naturally to a lie as
the bow to the strong. <i>But they are not valiant for the truth
upon the earth.</i> Their tongues are like a bow strung, with which
they might do good service if they would use the art and resolution
which they are so much masters of in the cause of truth; but they
will not do so. They appear not in defence of the truths of God,
which were delivered to them by the prophets; but even those that
could not deny them to be truths were content to see them run down.
In the administration of justice they have not courage to stand by
an honest cause that has truth on its side, if greatness and power
be on the other side. Those that will be faithful to the truth must
be valiant for it, and not be daunted by the opposition given to
it, nor fear the face of man. <i>They are not valiant for the truth
in the land,</i> the land which has truth for the glory of it.
Truth has fallen in the land, and they dare not lend a hand to help
it up, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.14-Isa.59.15" parsed="|Isa|59|14|59|15" passage="Isa 59:14,15">Isa. lix. 14,
15</scripRef>. We must answer, another day, not only for our enmity
in opposing truth, but for our cowardice in defending it.
<i>Secondly,</i> Go into their families, and you will find they
will cheat their own brethren (<i>every brother will utterly
supplant</i>); they will trip up one another's heels if they can,
for they lie at the catch to seek all advantages against those they
hope to make a hand of. Jacob had his name from <i>supplanting;</i>
it is the word here used; they followed him in his name, but not in
his true character, <i>without guile.</i> So very false are they
that you cannot <i>trust in a brother,</i> but must stand as much
upon your guard as if you were dealing with a stranger, with a
Canaanite that has <i>balances of deceit in his hand.</i> Things
have come to an ill pass indeed when a man cannot put confidence in
his own brother. <i>Thirdly,</i> Go into company and observe both
their commerce and their conversation, and you will find there is
nothing of sincerity or common honesty among them. <i>Nec hospes ab
hospite tutus—The host and the guest are in danger from each
other.</i> The best advice a wise man can give you is <i>to take
heed every one of his neighbour,</i> nay, of his <i>friend</i> (so
some read it), of him whom he has befriended and who pretends
friendship to him. No man thinks himself bound to be either
grateful or sincere. Take them in their conversation and <i>every
neighbour will walk with slander;</i> they care not what ill they
say one of another, though ever so false; that way that the slander
goes they will go; they will <i>walk with</i> it. They will walk
about from house to house too, carrying slanders along with them,
all the ill-natured stories they can pick up or invent to make
mischief. Take them in their trading and bargaining, and <i>they
will deceive every one his neighbour,</i> will say any thing,
though they know it to be false, for their own advantage. Nay, they
will lie for lying sake, to keep their tongues in use to it, for
<i>they will not speak the truth,</i> but will tell a deliberate
lie and laugh at it when they have done.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p10" shownumber="no">(2.) That which aggravates the sin on this
false and lying generation is, [1.] That they are ingenious to sin:
<i>They have taught their tongue to speak lies,</i> implying that
through the reluctances of natural conscience they found it
difficult to bring themselves to it. Their tongue would have spoken
truth, but they <i>taught it to speak lies,</i> and by degrees have
made themselves masters of the art of lying, and have got such a
habit of it that use has made it a second nature to them. They
learnt it when they were young (for <i>the wicked are estranged
from the womb, speaking lies,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.58.3" parsed="|Ps|58|3|0|0" passage="Ps 58:3">Ps.
lviii. 3</scripRef>), and now they have grown dexterous at it. [2.]
That they are industrious to sin: <i>They weary themselves to
commit iniquity;</i> they put a force upon their consciences to
bring themselves to it; they tire out their convictions by offering
them continual violence, and they take a great deal of pains, till
they have even spent themselves in bringing about their malicious
designs. They are wearied with their sinful pursuits and yet not
weary of them. The service of sin is a perfect drudgery; men run
themselves out of breath in it, and put themselves to a great deal
of toil to damn their own souls. [3.] That they grow worse and
worse (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.3" parsed="|Jer|9|3|0|0" passage="Jer 9:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>They
proceed from evil to evil,</i> from one sin to another, from one
degree of sin to another. They began with less sins. <i>Nemo
repente fit turpissimus—No one reaches the height of vice at
once.</i> They began with equivocating and bantering, but at last
came to downright lying. And they are now proceeding to greater
sins yet, for <i>they know not me, saith the Lord;</i> and where
men have no knowledge of God, or no consideration of what they have
known of him, what good can be expected from them? Men's ignorance
of God is the cause of all their ill conduct one towards
another.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p11" shownumber="no">2. The prophet shows what God had informed
him of their wickedness, and what he had determined against
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p12" shownumber="no">(1.) God had marked their sin. He could
tell the prophet (and he speaks of it with compassion) what sort of
people they were that he had to deal with. <i>I know thy works, and
where thou dwellest,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.13" parsed="|Rev|2|13|0|0" passage="Re 2:13">Rev. ii.
13</scripRef>. So here (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.6" parsed="|Jer|9|6|0|0" passage="Jer 9:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): "<i>Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit,</i>
all about thee are addicted to it; therefore stand upon thy guard."
If <i>all men are liars,</i> it concerns us to <i>beware of
men,.</i> and to be <i>wise as serpents.</i> They are deceitful
men; therefore there is little hope of thy doing any good among
them; for, make things ever so plain, they have some trick or other
wherewith to shuffle off their convictions. This charge is enlarged
upon, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.8" parsed="|Jer|9|8|0|0" passage="Jer 9:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Their
tongue was a <i>bow bent</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.3" parsed="|Jer|9|3|0|0" passage="Jer 9:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>), plotting and preparing mischief; here it is <i>an
arrow shot out,</i> putting in execution what they had projected.
It is as a <i>slaying arrow</i> (so some readings of the original
have it); their tongue has been to many an instrument of death.
They <i>speak peaceably to their neighbours,</i> against whom they
are at the same time <i>lying in wait;</i> as Joab kissed Abner
when he was about to kill him, and Cain, that he might not be
suspected of any ill design, <i>talked with his brother,</i> freely
and familiarly. Note, Fair words, when they are not attended with
good intentions, are despicable, but, when they are intended as a
cloak and cover for wicked intentions they are abominable. While
they did all this injury to one another they put a great contempt
upon God: "Not only they <i>know not me,</i> but (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.6" parsed="|Jer|9|6|0|0" passage="Jer 9:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) <i>through deceit,</i>
through the delusions of the false prophets, <i>they refuse to know
me;</i> they are so cheated into a good opinion of their own ways,
the ways of their own heart, that they desire not the knowledge of
my ways." Or, "They are so wedded to this sinful course which they
are in, and so bewitched with that, and its gains, that they will
by no means admit the <i>knowledge of God,</i> because that would
be a check upon them in their sins." This is the ruin of sinners:
they might be taught the good knowledge of the Lord and they will
not learn it; and where no knowledge of God is, what good can be
expected? <scripRef id="Jer.x-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.1" parsed="|Hos|4|1|0|0" passage="Ho 4:1">Hos. iv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p13" shownumber="no">(2.) He had marked them for ruin, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.7 Bible:Jer.9.9 Bible:Jer.9.11" parsed="|Jer|9|7|0|0;|Jer|9|9|0|0;|Jer|9|11|0|0" passage="Jer 9:7,9,11"><i>v.</i> 7, 9, 11</scripRef>. Those that
will not know God as their lawgiver shall be made to know him as
their judge. God determines here to bring his judgments upon them,
for the refining of some and the ruining of the rest. [1.] Some
shall be refined (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.7" parsed="|Jer|9|7|0|0" passage="Jer 9:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>): "Because they are thus corrupt, <i>behold I will
melt them and try them,</i> will bring them into trouble and see
what that will do towards bringing them to repentance, whether the
furnace of affliction will purify them from their dross, and
whether, when they are melted, they will be new-cast in a better
mould." He will make trial of less afflictions before he brings
upon them utter destruction; for he <i>desires not the death of
sinners.</i> They shall not be <i>rejected as reprobate silver</i>
till <i>the founder has melted in vain,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.29-Jer.6.30" parsed="|Jer|6|29|6|30" passage="Jer 6:29,30"><i>ch.</i> vi. 29, 30</scripRef>. <i>For how shall I
do for the daughter of my people?</i> He speaks as one consulting
with himself what to do with them that might be for the best, and
as one that could not find in his heart to cast them off and give
them up to ruin till he had first tried all means likely to bring
them to repentance. Or, "<i>How else shall I do for them?</i> They
have grown so very corrupt that there is no other way with them but
to put them into the furnace; what other course can I take with
them? <scripRef id="Jer.x-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.4-Isa.5.5" parsed="|Isa|5|4|5|5" passage="Isa 5:4,5">Isa. v. 4, 5</scripRef>. It is
<i>the daughter of my people,</i> and I must do something to
vindicate my own honour, which will be reflected upon if I connive
at their wickedness. I must do something to reduce and reform
them." A parent corrects his own children because they are his own.
Note, When God afflicts his people, it is with a gracious design to
mollify and reform them; it is but when need is and when he knows
it is the best method he can use. [2.] The rest shall be ruined
(<scripRef id="Jer.x-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.9" parsed="|Jer|9|9|0|0" passage="Jer 9:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Shall I
not visit for these things?</i> Fraud and falsehood are sins which
God hates and which he will reckon for. "<i>Shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this,</i> that is so universally
corrupt, and, by its impudence in sin, even dares and defies divine
vengeance? The sentence is passed, the decree has gone forth
(<scripRef id="Jer.x-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.11" parsed="|Jer|9|11|0|0" passage="Jer 9:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>I will
make Jerusalem heaps</i> of rubbish, and lay it in such ruins that
it shall be fit for nothing but to be <i>a den of dragons;</i> and
<i>the cities of Judah</i> shall be <i>a desolation.</i>" God makes
them so, for he gives the enemy warrant and power to do it: but why
is the holy city made a heap? The answer is ready, Because it has
become an unholy one?</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.x-p13.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.12-Jer.9.22" parsed="|Jer|9|12|9|22" passage="Jer 9:12-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.x-p13.8">
<h4 id="Jer.x-p13.9">Punishment Predicted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p13.10">b. c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.x-p14" shownumber="no">12 Who <i>is</i> the wise man, that may
understand this? and <i>who is he</i> to whom the mouth of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p14.1">Lord</span> hath spoken, that he may
declare it, for what the land perisheth <i>and</i> is burned up
like a wilderness, that none passeth through?   13 And the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p14.2">Lord</span> saith, Because they have
forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my
voice, neither walked therein;   14 But have walked after the
imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their
fathers taught them:   15 Therefore thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p14.3">Lord</span> of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold,
I will feed them, <i>even</i> this people, with wormwood, and give
them water of gall to drink.   16 I will scatter them also
among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known:
and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
  17 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p14.4">Lord</span> of
hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may
come; and send for cunning <i>women,</i> that they may come:  
18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our
eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
  19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we
spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the
land, because our dwellings have cast <i>us</i> out.   20 Yet
hear the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p14.5">Lord</span>, O ye
women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach
your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.
  21 For death is come up into our windows, <i>and</i> is
entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without,
<i>and</i> the young men from the streets.   22 Speak, Thus
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p14.6">Lord</span>, Even the carcases of
men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful
after the harvestman, and none shall gather <i>them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p15" shownumber="no">Two things the prophet designs, in these
verses, with reference to the approaching destruction of Judah and
Jerusalem:—1. To convince people of the justice of God in it,
that they had by sin brought it upon themselves and that therefore
they had no reason to quarrel with God, who did them no wrong at
all, but a great deal of reason to fall out with their sins, which
did them all this mischief. 2. To affect people with the greatness
of the desolation that was coming, and the miserable effects of it,
that by a terrible prospect of it they might be awakened to
repentance and reformation, which was the only way to prevent it,
or, at least, mitigate their own share in it. This being
designed,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p16" shownumber="no">I. He calls for the thinking men, by them
to show people the equity of God's proceedings, though they seemed
harsh and severe (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.12" parsed="|Jer|9|12|0|0" passage="Jer 9:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): "<i>Who,</i> where, <i>is the wise man,</i> or the
prophet, <i>to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken?</i> You
boast of your wisdom, and of the prophets you have among you;
produce me any one that has but the free use of human reason or any
acquaintance with divine revelation, and he will soon understand
this himself, and it will be so clear to him that he will be ready
to declare it to others, that there is a just ground of God's
controversy with this people." Do these wise men enquire, <i>For
what does the land perish?</i> What is the matter, that such a
change is made with this land? It used to be a land that God cared
for, and he had his eyes upon it for good (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.12" parsed="|Deut|11|12|0|0" passage="De 11:12">Deut. xi. 12</scripRef>), but it is now a land that he
has forsaken and that his face is against. It used to flourish as
the garden of the Lord and to be replenished with inhabitants; but
now it is burnt up like a wilderness, that <i>none passeth
through</i> it, much less cares to settle in it. It was supposed,
long ago, that it would be asked, when it came to this,
<i>Wherefore has the Lord done thus unto this land? What means the
heat of this great anger?</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.24" parsed="|Deut|29|24|0|0" passage="De 29:24">Deut.
xxix. 24</scripRef>), to which question God here gives a full
answer, before which all flesh must be silent. He produces out of
the record,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p17" shownumber="no">1. The indictment preferred and proved
against them, upon which they had been found guilty, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.13-Jer.9.14" parsed="|Jer|9|13|9|14" passage="Jer 9:13,14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. It is charged
upon them, and it cannot be denied, (1.) That they have revolted
from their allegiance to their rightful Sovereign.
<i>Therefore</i> God has <i>forsaken their land,</i> and justly,
because they have <i>forsaken his law,</i> which he had so plainly,
so fully, so frequently <i>set before them,</i> and had not
observed his orders, not <i>obeyed his voice,</i> nor <i>walked
in</i> the ways that he had appointed. Here their wickedness began,
in the omission of their duty to their God and a contempt of his
authority. But it did not end here. It is further charged upon
them, (2.) That they have entered themselves into the service of
pretenders and usurpers, have not only withdrawn themselves from
their obedience to their prince, but have taken up arms against
him. For, [1.] They have acted according to the dictates of their
own lusts, have set up their own will, the wills of the flesh, and
the carnal mind, in competition with, and contradiction to the will
of God: <i>They have walked after the imagination of their own
hearts;</i> they would do as they pleased, whatever God and
conscience said to the contrary. [2.] They have worshipped the
creatures of their own fancy, the work of their own hands,
according to the tradition received from their fathers: <i>They
have walked after Baalim:</i> the word is plural; they had many
Baals, Baal-peor and Baal-berith, the Baal of this place and the
Baal of the other place; for they had <i>lords many,</i> which
<i>their fathers taught them</i> to worship, but which the God of
their fathers had again and again forbidden. This was it for which
<i>the land perished.</i> The King of kings never makes war thus
upon his own subjects but when they treacherously depart from him
and rebel against him, and it has become necessary by this means to
chastise their rebellion and reduce them to their allegiance; and
they themselves shall at length acknowledge that he is just in all
that is brought upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p18" shownumber="no">2. The judgment given upon this indictment,
the sentence upon the convicted rebels, which must now be executed,
for it was righteous and nothing could be moved in arrest of it:
<i>The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, hath said it</i>
(<scripRef id="Jer.x-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.15-Jer.9.16" parsed="|Jer|9|15|9|16" passage="Jer 9:15,16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>), and
who can reverse it? (1.) That all their comforts at home shall be
poisoned and embittered to them: <i>I will feed this people with
wormwood</i> (or rather with <i>wolf's-bane,</i> for it signifies a
herb that is not wholesome, as wormwood is though it be bitter, but
some herb that is both nauseous and noxious), <i>and</i> I will
<i>give them water of gall</i> (or <i>juice of hemlock</i> or some
other herb that is poisonous) <i>to drink.</i> Every thing about
them, till it comes to their very meat and drink, shall be a terror
and torment to them. God will <i>curse their blessings,</i>
<scripRef id="Jer.x-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.2" parsed="|Mal|2|2|0|0" passage="Mal 2:2">Mal. ii. 2</scripRef>. (2.) That their
dispersion abroad shall be their destruction (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.16" parsed="|Jer|9|16|0|0" passage="Jer 9:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>I will scatter them among
the heathen.</i> They were corrupted and debauched by their
intimacy with the heathen, with whom they <i>mingled</i> and
<i>learned their works;</i> and now they shall lose themselves,
where they lost their virtue, <i>among the heathen.</i> They set up
gods which <i>neither they nor their fathers had known,</i> strange
gods, new gods (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.17" parsed="|Deut|32|17|0|0" passage="De 32:17">Deut. xxxii.
17</scripRef>); and now God will put them among neighbours whom
<i>neither they nor their fathers have known,</i> whom they can
claim no acquaintance with, and therefore can expect no favour
from. And yet, though they are scattered so as that they will not
know where to find one another. God will know where to find them
all out (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.8" parsed="|Ps|21|8|0|0" passage="Ps 21:8">Ps. xxi. 8</scripRef>) with
that evil which still pursues impenitent sinners: <i>I will send a
sword after them,</i> some killing judgment or other, <i>till I
have consumed them;</i> for when God judges he will overcome, when
he pursues he will overtake. And now we see for what the land
perishes; all this desolation is the desert of their deeds and the
performance of God's words.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p19" shownumber="no">II. He calls for the mourning women, and
engages them, with the arts they practise to affect people and move
their passions, to lament these sad calamities that had come or
were coming upon them, that the nation might be alarmed to prepare
for them: <i>The Lord of hosts</i> himself <i>says, Call for the
mourning women, that they may come,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.17" parsed="|Jer|9|17|0|0" passage="Jer 9:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. the scope of this is to show
how very woeful and lamentable the condition of this people was
likely to be. 1. Here is work for the counterfeit mourners: <i>Send
for cunning women,</i> that know how to compose mournful ditties,
or at least to sing them in mournful tunes and accents, and
therefore are made use of at funerals to supply the want of true
mourners. Let these <i>take up a wailing</i> for us, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.18" parsed="|Jer|9|18|0|0" passage="Jer 9:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. The deaths and funerals
were so many that people wept for them till they <i>had no power to
weep,</i> as those, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.30.4" parsed="|1Sam|30|4|0|0" passage="1Sa 30:4">1 Sam. xxx.
4</scripRef>. Let those therefore do it now whose trade it is. Or,
rather, it intimates the extreme sottishness and stupidity of the
people, that laid not to heart the judgments they were under, nor,
even when there was so much blood shed, could find in their hearts
to shed a tear. <i>They cry not when God binds them,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.36.13" parsed="|Job|36|13|0|0" passage="Job 36:13">Job xxxvi. 13</scripRef>. God sent his mourning
prophets to them, to call them to weeping and mourning, but his
word in their mouths did not work upon their faith; rather
therefore than they shall go laughing to their ruin, let the
mourning women come, and try to work upon their fancy, <i>that
their eyes may</i> at length <i>run down with tears, and their
eyelids gush out with waters.</i> First or last, sinners must be
weepers. 2. Here is work for the real mourners. (1.) There is that
which is a lamentation. The present scene is very tragical
(<scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.19" parsed="|Jer|9|19|0|0" passage="Jer 9:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>A voice
of wailing is heard out of Zion.</i> Some make this to be the song
of the mourning women: it is rather an echo to it, returned by
those whose affections were moved by their wailings. In Zion the
voice of joy and praise used to be heard, while the people kept
closely to God. But sin has altered the note; it is now the
<i>voice of lamentation.</i> It should seem to be the voice of
those who fled from all parts of the country to the castle of Zion
for protection. Instead of rejoicing that they had got safely
thither, they lamented that they were forced to seek for shelter
there: "<i>How are we spoiled!</i> How are we stripped of all our
possessions! <i>We are greatly confounded,</i> ashamed of ourselves
and our poverty;" for that is it that they complain of, that is it
that they blush at the thoughts of, rather than of their sin: <i>We
are confounded</i> because <i>we have forsaken the land</i> (forced
so to do by the enemy), not because we <i>have</i> forsaken the
Lord, being drawn aside of <i>our own lust and enticed—because our
dwellings have cast us out,</i> not because our God has cast us
off. Thus unhumbled hearts lament their calamity, but not their
iniquity, the procuring cause of it. (2.) There is more still to
come which shall be for a lamentation. Things are bad, but they are
likely to be worse. Those whose land has <i>spued them out</i> (as
it did their predecessors the Canaanites, and justly, because they
trod in their steps, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.28" parsed="|Lev|18|28|0|0" passage="Le 18:28">Lev. xviii.
28</scripRef>) complain that they are driven into the city, but,
after a while, those of the city, and they with them, shall be
forced thence too: <i>Yet hear the word of the Lord;</i> he has
something more to say to you (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.7" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.20" parsed="|Jer|9|20|0|0" passage="Jer 9:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>); let <i>the women</i> hear it,
whose tender spirits are apt to receive the impressions of grief
and fear, for the men will not heed it, will not give it a patient
hearing. The prophets will be glad to preach to a congregation of
women that <i>tremble at God's word. Let your ear receive the word
of God's mouth,</i> and bid it welcome, though it be a word of
terror. Let the women <i>teach their daughters wailing;</i> this
intimates that the trouble shall last long, grief shall be entailed
upon the generation to come. Young people are apt to love mirth,
and expect mirth, and are disposed to be gay and airy; but let the
elder women teach the younger to be serious, tell them what a vale
of tears they must expect to find this world, and train them up
among the mourners in Zion, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.8" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.4-Titus.2.5" parsed="|Titus|2|4|2|5" passage="Tit 2:4,5">Tit. ii.
4, 5</scripRef>. Let <i>every one teach her neighbour
lamentation;</i> this intimates that the trouble shall spread far,
shall go from house to house. People shall not need to sympathize
with their friends; they shall all have cause enough to mourn for
themselves. Note, Those that are themselves affected with the
terrors of the Lord should endeavour to affect others with them.
The judgment here threatened is made to look terrible. [1.]
Multitudes shall be slain, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.21" parsed="|Jer|9|21|0|0" passage="Jer 9:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>. Death shall ride in triumph, and there shall be no
escaping his arrests when he comes with commission, neither within
doors nor without. Not within doors, for let the doors be shut ever
so fast, let them be ever so firmly locked and bolted, <i>death
comes up into our windows,</i> like a thief in the night; it steals
upon us ere we are aware. Nor does it thus boldly attack the
cottages only, but it has <i>entered into our palaces,</i> the
palaces of our princes and great men, though ever so stately, ever
so strongly built and guarded. Note, No palaces can keep out death.
Nor are those more safe that are abroad; death <i>cuts off</i> even
<i>the children from without and the young men from the
streets.</i> The children who might have been spared by the enemy
in pity, because they had never been hurtful to them, and the young
men who might have been spared in policy, because capable of being
serviceable to them, shall fall together by the sword. It is usual
now, even in the severest military executions, to put none to the

sword but those that are found in arms; but then
even the boys and girls playing in the streets were sacrificed to
the fury of the conqueror. [2.] Those that are slain shall be left
unburied (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.10" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.22" parsed="|Jer|9|22|0|0" passage="Jer 9:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>):
<i>Speak, Thus saith the Lord</i> (for the confirmation and
aggravation of what was before said), <i>Even the carcases of men
shall fall as dung,</i> neglected, and left to be offensive to the
smell, as dung is. Common humanity obliges the survivors to bury
the dead, even for their own sake; but here such numbers shall be
slain, and those so dispersed all the country over, that it shall
be an endless thing to bury them all, nor shall there be hands
enough to do it, nor shall the conquerors permit it, and those that
should do it shall be overwhelmed with grief, so that they shall
have no heart to do it. The dead bodies even of the fairest and
strongest, when they have lain awhile, become dung, such vile
bodies have we. And here such multitudes shall fall that their
bodies shall lie as thick as heaps of dung <i>in the furrows of the
field,</i> and no more notice shall be taken of them than of the
<i>handfuls</i> which <i>the harvestman</i> drops for the gleaners,
for <i>none shall gather them,</i> but they shall remain in sight,
monuments of divine vengeance, that the eye of the impenitent
survivors may affect their heart. <i>Slay them not,</i> bury them
not, <i>lest my people forget,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p19.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.59.11" parsed="|Ps|59|11|0|0" passage="Ps 59:11">Ps.
lix. 11</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jer.x-p19.12" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.23-Jer.9.26" parsed="|Jer|9|23|9|26" passage="Jer 9:23-26" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jer.x-p19.13">
<h4 id="Jer.x-p19.14">Punishment Predicted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p19.15">b. c.</span> 606.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jer.x-p20" shownumber="no">23 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p20.1">Lord</span>, Let not the wise <i>man</i> glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty <i>man</i> glory in his might, let
not the rich <i>man</i> glory in his riches:   24 But let him
that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me,
that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p20.2">Lord</span> which
exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:
for in these <i>things</i> I delight, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p20.3">Lord</span>.   25 Behold, the days come, saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Jer.x-p20.4">Lord</span>, that I will punish all <i>them
which are</i> circumcised with the uncircumcised;   26 Egypt,
and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all
<i>that are</i> in the utmost corners, that dwell in the
wilderness: for all <i>these</i> nations <i>are</i> uncircumcised,
and all the house of Israel <i>are</i> uncircumcised in the
heart.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p21" shownumber="no">The prophet had been endeavouring to
possess this people with a holy fear of God and his judgments, to
convince them both of sin and wrath; but still they had recourse to
some sorry subterfuge or other, under which to shelter themselves
from the conviction and with which to excuse themselves in the
obstinacy and carelessness. He therefore sets himself here to drive
them from these refuges of lies and to show them the insufficiency
of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p22" shownumber="no">I. When they were told how inevitable the
judgment would be they pleaded the defence of their politics and
powers, which, with the help of their wealth and treasure, they
thought made their city impregnable. In answer to this he shows
them the folly of trusting to and boasting of all these stays,
while they have not a God in covenant to stay themselves upon,
<scripRef id="Jer.x-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.23-Jer.9.24" parsed="|Jer|9|23|9|24" passage="Jer 9:23,24"><i>v.</i> 23, 24</scripRef>. Here
he shows, 1. What we may not depend upon in a day of distress:
<i>Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,</i> as if with the
help of that he could outwit or countermine the enemy, or in the
greatest extremity find out some evasion or other; for a man's
wisdom may fail him when he needs it most, and he may fail him when
he needs it most, and he may be taken in his own craftiness.
Ahithophel was befooled, and counsellors are often <i>led away
spoiled.</i> But, if a man's policies fail him, yet surely he may
gain his point by might and dint of courage. No: <i>Let not the
strong man glory in his strength,</i> for the battle is not always
to the strong. David the stripling proves too hard for Goliath the
giant. All human force is nothing without God, worse than nothing
against him. But may not the <i>rich man's wealth be his strong
city?</i> (money answers all things) No: <i>Let not the rich man
glory in his riches,</i> for they may prove so far from sheltering
him that they may expose him and make him the fairer mark. Let not
the people boast of the <i>wise men, and mighty men, and rich
men</i> that they have among them, as if they could make their part
good against the Chaldeans because they have wise men to advise
concerning the war, mighty men to fight their battles, and rich men
to bear the charges of the war. Let not particular persons think to
escape the common calamity by their wisdom, might, or money; for
all these will prove but <i>vain things for safety.</i> 2. He shows
what we may depend upon in a day of distress. (1.) Our only comfort
in trouble will be that we have done our duty. Those that
<i>refused to know God</i> (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.6" parsed="|Jer|9|6|0|0" passage="Jer 9:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>) will boast in vain of their wisdom and wealth; but
those that <i>know God,</i> intelligently, that <i>understand</i>
aright <i>that he is the Lord,</i> that have not only right
apprehensions concerning his nature, and attributes, and relations
to man, but receive and retain the impressions of them, may
<i>glory in this</i> it will be their rejoicing in the day of evil.
(2.) Our only confidence in trouble will be that, having through
grace in some measure done our duty, we shall find God a God
all-sufficient to us. We may <i>glory in this,</i> that, wherever
we are, we have an acquaintance with an interest in a God that
<i>exercises lovingkindness, and judgment, and righteousness in the
earth,</i> that is not only just to all his creatures and will do
no wrong to any of them, but kind to all his children and will
protect them and provide for them. <i>For in these things I
delight.</i> God delights to show kindness and to execute judgment
himself, and is pleased with those who herein are <i>followers of
him as dear children.</i> Those that have such knowledge of the
glory of God as to be changed into the same image, and to partake
of his holiness, find it to be their perfection and glory; and the
God they thus faithfully conform to they may cheerfully confide in,
in their greatest straits. But the prophet intimates that the
generality of this people took no care about this. Their wisdom,
and might, and riches, were their joy and hope, which would end in
grief and despair. But those few among them that had the knowledge
of God might please themselves with it, and boast themselves of it;
it would stand them in better stead than <i>thousands of gold and
silver.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jer.x-p23" shownumber="no">II. When they were told how provoking their
sins were to God they vainly pleaded the covenant of their
circumcision. They were undoubtedly the people of God; as they had
the temple of the Lord in their city, so they had the mark of his
children in their flesh. "It is true that Chaldean army has laid
such and such nations waste, because they were uncircumcised, and
therefore not under the protection of the divine providence, as we
are." To this the prophet answers, That the days of visitation were
now at hand, in which God would punish all wicked people, without
making any distinction between the circumcised and uncircumcised,
<scripRef id="Jer.x-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.25-Jer.9.26" parsed="|Jer|9|25|9|26" passage="Jer 9:25,26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>. They
had by sin profaned the crown of their peculiarity, and lived in
common with the uncircumcised nations, and so had forfeited the
benefit of that peculiarity and must expect to fare never the
better for it. God will <i>punish the circumcised with the
uncircumcised.</i> As the ignorance of the uncircumcised shall not
excuse their wickedness, so neither shall the privileges of the
circumcised excuse theirs, but they shall be punished together.
Note, The Judge of all the earth is impartial, and none shall fare
the better at his bar for any external advantages, but he will
render to every man, circumcised or uncircumcised, according to his
works. The condemnation of impenitent sinners that are baptized
will be as sure as, nay, and more severe than, that of impenitent
sinners that are unbaptized. It would affect one to find here Judah
industriously put between Egypt and Edom, as standing upon a level
with them and under the same doom, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.26" parsed="|Jer|9|26|0|0" passage="Jer 9:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. These nations were forbidden a
share in the Jews' privileges (<scripRef id="Jer.x-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.3" parsed="|Deut|23|3|0|0" passage="De 23:3">Deut.
xxiii. 3</scripRef>); but the Jews are here told that they shall
share in their punishments. Those <i>in the utmost corners, that
dwell in the wilderness,</i> are supposed to be the Kedarenes and
those of the kingdoms of Hazor, as appears by comparing <scripRef id="Jer.x-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.49.28-Jer.49.32" parsed="|Jer|49|28|49|32" passage="Jer 49:28-32"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 28-32</scripRef>. Some
think they are so called because they dwelt as it were in a corner
of the world, others because they had <i>the hair of their head
polled into corners.</i> However that was, they were of those
nations that were uncircumcised in flesh, and the Jews are ranked
with them and are as near to ruin for their sins as they; for
<i>all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart:</i> they
have the sign, but not the thing signified, <scripRef id="Jer.x-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.4.4" parsed="|Jer|4|4|0|0" passage="Jer 4:4"><i>ch.</i> iv. 4</scripRef>. They are heathens in their
hearts, strangers to God, and enemies in their minds by wicked
works. Their hearts are disposed to idols, as the hearts of the
uncircumcised Gentiles are. Note, The seals of the covenant, though
they dignify us, and lay us under obligations, will not save us,
unless the temper of our minds and the tenour of our lives agree
with the covenant. That only is circumcision, and that baptism,
which is <i>of the heart,</i> <scripRef id="Jer.x-p23.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.28-Rom.2.29" parsed="|Rom|2|28|2|29" passage="Ro 2:28,29">Rom.
ii. 28, 29</scripRef>.</p>
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