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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Jeremiah II].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J E R E M I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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It is probable that this chapter was Jeremiah's first sermon after his
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ordination; and a most lively pathetic sermon it is as any we have is
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all the books of the prophets. Let him not say, "I cannot speak, for I
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am a child;" for, God having touched his mouth and put his words into
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it, none can speak better. The scope of the chapter is to show God's
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people their transgressions, even the house of Jacob their sins; it is
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all by way of reproof and conviction, that they might be brought to
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repent of their sins and so prevent the ruin that was coming upon them.
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The charge drawn up against them is very high, the aggravations are
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black, the arguments used for their conviction very close and pressing,
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and the expostulations very pungent and affecting. The sin which they
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are most particularly charged with here is idolatry, forsaking the true
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God, their own God, for other false gods. Now they are told,
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I. That this was ungrateful to God, who had been so kind to them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:1-8">ver. 1-8</A>.
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II. That it was without precedent, that a nation should change their
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god,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:9-13">ver. 9-13</A>.
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III. That hereby they had disparaged and ruined themselves,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:14-19">ver. 14-19</A>.
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IV. That they had broken their covenants and degenerated from their
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good beginnings,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:20,21">ver. 20, 21</A>.
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V. That their wickedness was too plain to be concealed and too bad to
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be excused,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:22,23,35">ver. 22, 23, 35</A>.
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VI. That they persisted witfully and obstinately in it, and were
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irreclaimable and indefatigable in their idolatries,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:24,25,33,36">ver. 24, 25, 33, 36</A>.
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VII. That they shamed themselves by their idolatry and should shortly
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be made ashamed of it when they should find their idols unable to help
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them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:26-29,37">ver. 26-29, 37</A>.
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VIII. That they had not been convinced and reformed by the rebukes of
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Providence that had been under,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:30">ver. 30</A>.
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IX. That they had put a great contempt upon God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:30,31">ver. 31, 32</A>.
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X. That with their idolatries they had mixed the most unnatural
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murders, shedding the blood of the poor innocents,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:34">ver. 34</A>.
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Those hearts were hard indeed that were untouched and unhumbled when
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their sins were thus set in order before them. O that by meditating on
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this chapter we might be brought to repent of our spiritual idolatries,
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giving that place in our souls to the world and the flesh which should
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have been reserved for God only!</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jer2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer2_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer2_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jeremiah's First Message; The Divine Goodness to Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 629.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Moreover the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came to me, saying,
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2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of
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thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in
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a land <I>that was</I> not sown.
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3 Israel <I>was</I> holiness unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>and</I> the first-fruits of
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his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come
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upon them, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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4 Hear ye the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, O house of Jacob, and all the
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families of the house of Israel:
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5 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, What iniquity have your fathers found in
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me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity,
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and are become vain?
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6 Neither said they, Where <I>is</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> that brought us up out
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of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through
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a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of
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the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through,
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and where no man dwelt?
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7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit
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thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled
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my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
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8 The priests said not, Where <I>is</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>? and they that
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handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against
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me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after <I>things
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that</I> do not profit.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
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I. A command given to Jeremiah to go and carry a message from God to
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the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He was charged in general
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+1:17"><I>ch.</I> i. 17</A>)
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to go and <I>speak to them;</I> here he is particularly charged to go
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and speak <I>this</I> to them. Note, It is good for ministers by faith
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and prayer to take out a fresh commission when they address themselves
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solemnly to any part of their work. Let a minister carefully compare
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what he has to deliver with the word of God, and see that it agrees
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with it, that he may be able to say, not only, <I>The Lord sent me,</I>
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but, He sent me to <I>speak this.</I> He must go from Anathoth, where
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he lived in a pleasant retirement, spending his time (it is likely)
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among a few friends and in the study of the law, and must make his
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appearance at Jerusalem, that noisy tumultuous city, and <I>cry in
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their ears,</I> as a man in earnest and that would be heard: "Cry
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aloud, that all may hear, and none may plead ignorance. Go close to
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them, and <I>cry in the ears</I> of those that have stopped their
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ears."</P>
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<P>
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II. The message he was commanded to deliver. He must upbraid them with
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their horrid ingratitude in forsaking a God who had been of old so kind
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to them, that this might either make them ashamed and bring them to
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repentance, or might justify God in turning his hand against them.</P>
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<P>
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1. God here puts them in mind of the favours he had of old bestowed
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upon them, when they were first formed into a people
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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"<I>I remember for thy sake,</I> and I would have thee to remember it,
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and improve the remembrance of it for thy good; I cannot forget <I>the
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kindness of thy youth and the love of thy espousals.</I>"</P>
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<P>
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(1.) This may be understood of the kindness they had for God; it was
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not such indeed as they had any reason to boast of, or to plead with
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God for favour to be shown them (for many of them were very unkind and
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provoking, and, when they did return and enquire early after God, they
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did but flatter him), yet God is pleased to mention it, and plead it
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with them; for, though it was but little love that they showed him, he
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took it kindly. When <I>they believed the Lord and his servant
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Moses,</I> when they <I>sang God's praise at the Red Sea,</I> when at
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the foot of Mount Sinai they promised, <I>All that the Lord shall say
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unto us we will do and will be obedient,</I> then was the <I>kindness
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of their youth and the love of their espousals.</I> When they seemed so
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forward for God he said, <I>Surely they are my people,</I> and will be
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faithful to me, <I>children that will not lie.</I> Note, Those that
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begin well and promise fair, but do not perform and persevere, will
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justly be upbraided with their hopeful and promising beginnings. God
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remembers the <I>kindness of our youth and the love of our
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espousals,</I> the zeal we then seemed to have for him and the
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affection wherewith we made our covenants with him, the buds and
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blossoms that never came to perfection; and it is good for us to
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remember them, that we may remember whence we have fallen, and return
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to our first love,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:4,5,Ga+4:15">Rev. ii. 4, 5; Gal. iv. 15</A>.
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In two things appeared the <I>kindness of their youth:</I>--
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[1.] That they followed the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire
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in the wilderness; and though sometimes they spoke of returning into
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Egypt, or pushing forward into Canaan, yet they did neither, but for
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forty years together <I>went after God in the wilderness,</I> and
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trusted him to provide for them, though it was <I>a land that was not
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sown.</I> This God took kindly, and took notice of it to their praise
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long after, that, though much was amiss among them, yet they never
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forsook the guidance they were under. Thus, though Christ often chid
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his disciples, yet he commended them, at parting, for continuing with
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him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+22:28">Luke xxii. 28</A>.
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It must be the strong affection of the youth, and the espousals, that
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will carry us on to follow God in a wilderness, with an implicit faith
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and an entire resignation; and it is a pity that those who have so
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followed him should ever leave him.
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[2.] That they entertained divine institutions, set up the tabernacle
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among them, and attended the service of it. Israel <I>was then holiness
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to the Lord;</I> they joined themselves to him in covenant as a
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peculiar people. Thus they began in the spirit, and God puts them in
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mind of it, that they might be ashamed of ending <I>in the
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flesh.</I></P>
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<P>
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(2.) Or it may be understood of God's kindness to them; of that he
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afterwards speaks largely. <I>When Israel was a child, then I loved
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him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+11:1">Hos. xi. 1</A>.
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He then espoused that people to himself with all the affection with
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which a <I>young man marries a virgin</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+62:5">Isaiah lxii. 5</A>),
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for the time was <I>a time of love,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:8">Ezek. xvi. 8</A>.
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[1.] God appropriated them to himself. Though they were a sinful
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people, yet, by virtue of the covenant made with them and the church
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set up among them, they were <I>holiness to the Lord,</I> dedicated to
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his honour and taken under his special tuition; they were the <I>first
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fruits of his increase,</I> the first constituted church he had in the
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world; they were the first-fruits, but the full harvest was to be
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gathered from among the Gentiles. The <I>first-fruits of the
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increase</I> were God's part of it, were offered to him, and he was
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honoured with them; so were the people of the Jews; what little
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tribute, rent, and homage, God had from the world, he had it chiefly
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from them; and it was their honour to be thus set apart for God. This
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honour have all the saints; they are the <I>first-fruits of his
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creatures,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:18">Jam. i. 18</A>.
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[2.] Having espoused them, he espoused their cause, and became an
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<I>enemy to their enemies,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+23:22">Exod. xxiii. 22</A>.
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Being the <I>first-fruits of his increase, all that devoured him</I>
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(so it should be read) <I>did offend;</I> they <I>trespassed,</I> they
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contracted guilt, and evil befel them, as those were reckoned
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<I>offenders</I> that <I>devoured the first-fruits,</I> or any thing
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else that was <I>holy to the Lord,</I> that embezzled them, or
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converted them to their own use,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+5:15">Lev. v. 15</A>.
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Whoever offered any injury to the people of God did so at their peril;
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their God was ready to avenge their quarrel, and said to the proudest
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of kings, <I>Touch not my anointed,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+105:14,15,Ex+17:14">Ps. cv. 14, 15; Exod. xvii. 14</A>.
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He had in a special manner a controversy with those that attempted to
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debauch them and draw them off from being <I>holiness to the Lord;</I>
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witness his <I>quarrel with the Midianites about the matter of
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Peor,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+25:17,18">Num. xxv. 17, 18</A>.
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[3.] He <I>brought them out of Egypt</I> with a high hand and great
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terror
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:34">Deut. iv. 34</A>),
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and yet with a kind hand and great tenderness led them through a vast
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howling wilderness
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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<I>a land of deserts and pits,</I> or of <I>graves, terram
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sepulchralem--a sepulchral land,</I> where there was ground, not to
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feed them, but to bury them, where there was no good to be expected,
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for it was a <I>land of drought,</I> but all manner of evil to be
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feared, for it was <I>the shadow of death.</I> In that darksome valley
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they walked forty years; but <I>God was with them; his rod,</I> in
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Moses's hand, <I>and his staff, comforted them,</I> and even there God
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<I>prepared a table for them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+23:4,5">Ps. xxiii. 4, 5</A>),
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gave them bread out of the clouds and drink out of the rocks. It was a
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land abandoned by all mankind, as yielding neither road nor rest. It
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was no thoroughfare, for <I>no man passed through it</I>--no
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settlement, for <I>no man dwelt there.</I> For God will teach his
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people to tread untrodden paths, to dwell alone, and to be singular.
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The difficulties of the journey are thus insisted on, to magnify the
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power and goodness of God in bringing them, through all, safely to
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their journey's end at last. All God's spiritual Israel must own their
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obligations to him for a safe conduct through the wilderness of this
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world, no less dangerous to the soul than that was to the body.
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[4.] At length he settled them in Canaan
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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<I>I brought you into a plentiful country,</I> which would be the more
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acceptable after they had been for so many years in <I>a land of
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drought.</I> They did <I>eat the fruit thereof</I> and the <I>goodness
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thereof,</I> and were allowed so to do. I brought you <I>into a land of
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Carmel</I> (so the word is); Carmel was a place of extraordinary
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fruitfulness, and Canaan was as one great fruitful field,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+8:7">Deut. viii. 7</A>.
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[5.] God gave them the means of knowledge and grace, and communion with
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him; this is implied,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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They had priests that <I>handled the law,</I> read it, and expounded it
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to them; that was part of their business,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+33:8">Deut. xxxiii. 8</A>.
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They had pastors, to guide them and take care of their affairs,
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magistrates and judges; they had prophets to consult God for them and
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to make known his mind to them.</P>
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<P>
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2. He upbraids them with their horrid ingratitude, and the ill returns
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they had made him for these favours; let them all come and answer to
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this charge
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
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it is exhibited in the name of God against <I>all the families of the
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house of</I> Israel, for they can none of them plead, <I>Not
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guilty.</I>
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(1.) He challenges them to produce any instance of his being unjust and
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|
unkind to them. Though he had conferred favours upon them in some
|
|
things, yet, if in other things he had dealt hardly with them, they
|
|
would not have been altogether without excuse. He therefore puts it
|
|
fairly to them to show cause for their deserting him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>What iniquity have your fathers found in me,</I> or you either?
|
|
Have you, upon trial, found God a hard master? Have his commands put
|
|
any hardship upon you or obliged you to any thing unfit, unfair, or
|
|
unbecoming you? Have his promises put any cheats upon you, or raised
|
|
your expectations of things which you were afterwards disappointed of?
|
|
You that have renounced your covenant with God, can you say that it was
|
|
a hard bargain and that which you could not live upon? You that have
|
|
forsaken the ordinances of God, can you say that it was because they
|
|
were a wearisome service, or work that there was nothing to be got by?
|
|
No; the disappointments you have met with were owing to yourselves, not
|
|
to God. The yoke of his commandments if easy, and in the <I>keeping of
|
|
them there is great reward.</I>" Note, Those that forsake God cannot
|
|
say that he has ever given them any provocation to do so: for this we
|
|
may safely appeal to the consciences of sinners; the slothful servant
|
|
that offered such a plea as this had it overruled <I>out of his own
|
|
mouth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:22">Luke xix. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though he afflicts us, we cannot say that there is iniquity in him; he
|
|
does us no wrong. The ways of the Lord are undoubtedly equal; all the
|
|
iniquity is in our ways.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He charges them with being very unjust and unkind to him
|
|
notwithstanding.
|
|
|
|
[1.] They had quitted his service: "<I>They have gone from me,</I> nay,
|
|
they have gone <I>far from me.</I>" They studied how to estrange
|
|
themselves from God and their duty, and got as far as they could out of
|
|
the reach of his commandments and their own convictions. Those that
|
|
have deserted religion commonly set themselves at a greater distance
|
|
from it, and in a greater opposition to it, than those that never knew
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
[2.] They had quitted it for the service of idols, which was so much
|
|
the greater reproach to God and his service; they went from him, not to
|
|
better themselves, but to cheat themselves: <I>They have walked after
|
|
vanity,</I> that is, idolatry; for an idol is a vain thing; it is
|
|
<I>nothing in the world,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+8:4,De+32:21,Jer+14:22">1 Cor. viii. 4;
|
|
Deut. xxxii. 21; Jer. xiv. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Idolatrous worships are vanities,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+14:15">Acts xiv. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Idolaters are vain, for those that make idols <I>are like unto them</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+115:8">Ps. cxv. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
as much stocks and stones as the images they worship, and good for as
|
|
little.
|
|
|
|
[3.] They had with idolatry introduced all manner of wickedness. When
|
|
they entered into the good land which God gave them they defiled it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
by defiling themselves and disfitting themselves for the service of
|
|
God. It was God's land; they were but tenants to him, sojourners in it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+25:23">Lev. xxv. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was his heritage, for it was a holy land, Immanuel's land; but they
|
|
<I>made it an abomination,</I> even to God himself, who was wroth, and
|
|
greatly abhorred Israel.
|
|
|
|
[4.] Having forsaken God, though they soon found that they had changed
|
|
for the worse, yet they had no thoughts of returning to him again, nor
|
|
took any steps towards it. Neither the people nor the priests made any
|
|
enquiry after him, took any thought about their duty to him, nor
|
|
expressed any desire to recover his favour. <I>First,</I> The
|
|
<I>people</I> said not, <I>Where is the Lord?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though they were trained up in an observance of him as their God, and
|
|
had been often told that he <I>brought them out of the land of
|
|
Egypt,</I> to be a people peculiar to himself, yet they never asked
|
|
after him nor desired the <I>knowledge of his ways. Secondly,</I> The
|
|
<I>priests</I> said not, <I>Where is the Lord?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those whose office it was to attend immediately upon him were in no
|
|
concern to acquaint themselves with him, or approve themselves to him.
|
|
Those who should have instructed the people in the knowledge of God
|
|
took no care to get the knowledge of him themselves. The scribes, who
|
|
<I>handled the law,</I> did not know God nor his will, could not
|
|
expound the scriptures at all, or not aright. The pastors, who should
|
|
have kept the flock from transgressing, were themselves ringleaders in
|
|
transgression: <I>They have transgressed against me.</I> The pretenders
|
|
to prophecy prophesied by Baal, in his name, to his honour, being
|
|
backed and supported by the wicked kings to confront the Lord's
|
|
prophets. Baal's prophets joined with Baal's priests, and walked after
|
|
the <I>things which do not profit,</I> that is, after the idols which
|
|
can be no way helpful to their worshippers. See how the best characters
|
|
are usurped, and the best offices liable to corruption; and wonder not
|
|
at the sin and ruin of a people when the <I>blind</I> are <I>leaders of
|
|
the blind.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_13"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Expostulations with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 629.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and with
|
|
your children's children will I plead.
|
|
10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto
|
|
Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
|
|
11 Hath a nation changed <I>their</I> gods, which <I>are</I> yet no gods?
|
|
but my people have changed their glory for <I>that which</I> doth not
|
|
profit.
|
|
12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly
|
|
afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken
|
|
me the fountain of living waters, <I>and</I> hewed them out cisterns,
|
|
broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet, having shown their base ingratitude in forsaking God, here
|
|
shows their unparalleled fickleness and folly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I will yet plead with you.</I> Note, Before God punishes sinners he
|
|
pleads with them, to bring them to repentance. Note, further, When much
|
|
has been said of the evil of sin, still there is more to be said; when
|
|
one article of the charge is made good, there is another to be urged;
|
|
when we have said a great deal, still <I>we have yet to speak on God's
|
|
behalf,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+36:2">Job xxxvi. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that deal with sinners, for their conviction, must urge a variety
|
|
of arguments and follow their blow. God had before pleaded with their
|
|
fathers, and asked why they <I>walked after vanity</I> and became vain,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now he pleads with those who persisted in that <I>vain conversation
|
|
received by tradition from their fathers,</I> and <I>with their
|
|
children's children,</I> that is, with all that in every age tread in
|
|
their steps. Let those that forsake God know that he is willing to
|
|
argue the case fairly with them, that he may be <I>justified when he
|
|
speaks.</I> He pleads that with us which we should plead with
|
|
ourselves.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He shows that they acted contrary to the usage of all nations. Their
|
|
neighbours were more firm and faithful to their false gods than they
|
|
were to the true God. They were ambitious of being <I>like the
|
|
nations,</I> and yet in this they were unlike them. He challenges them
|
|
to produce an instance of any nation that had <I>changed their gods</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:10,11"><I>v.</I> 10, 11</A>)
|
|
|
|
or were apt to change them. Let them survey either the old records or
|
|
the present state of the isles of Chittim, Greece, and the European
|
|
islands, the countries that were more polite and learned, and of Kedar,
|
|
that lay south-east (as the other north-west from them), which were
|
|
more rude and barbarous; and they should not find an instance of a
|
|
nation that had <I>changed their gods,</I> though they had never done
|
|
them any kindness, nor could do, for <I>they were no gods.</I> Such a
|
|
veneration had they for their gods, so good an opinion of them, and
|
|
such a respect for the choice their fathers had made, that though they
|
|
were gods of wood and stone they would not change them for gods of
|
|
silver and gold, no, not for the living and true God. <I>Shall we
|
|
praise them for this? We praise them not.</I> But it may well be urged,
|
|
to the reproach of Israel, that they, who were the only people that had
|
|
no cause to change their God, were yet the only people that had changed
|
|
him. Note, Men are with difficulty brought off from that religion which
|
|
they have been brought up in, though ever so absurd and grossly false.
|
|
The zeal and constancy of idolaters should shame Christians out of
|
|
their coldness and inconstancy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He shows that they acted contrary to the dictates of common sense,
|
|
in that they not only changed (it may sometimes be our duty and wisdom
|
|
to do so), but that they changed for the worse, and made a bad bargain
|
|
for themselves.
|
|
|
|
1. They parted from a God who was their glory, who made them truly
|
|
glorious and every way put honour upon them, one whom they might with a
|
|
humble confidence glory in as theirs, who is himself a glorious God and
|
|
the glory of those whose God he is; he was particularly the glory of
|
|
his people Israel, for his glory had often appeared on their
|
|
tabernacle.
|
|
|
|
2. They closed with gods that could do them no good, gods that <I>do
|
|
not profit</I> their worshippers. Idolaters change God's glory into
|
|
shame
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:23">Rom. i. 23</A>)
|
|
|
|
and so they do their own; in dishonouring him, they disgrace and
|
|
disparage themselves, and are enemies to their own interest. Note,
|
|
Whatever those turn to who forsake God, it will never do them any good;
|
|
it will flatter them and please them, but it <I>cannot profit them.</I>
|
|
Heaven itself is here called upon to stand amazed at the sin and folly
|
|
of these apostates from God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:12,13"><I>v.</I> 12, 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Be astonished, O you heavens! at this.</I> The earth is so
|
|
universally corrupt that it will take no notice of it; but let the
|
|
heavens and heavenly bodies be astonished at it. Let the sun blush to
|
|
see such ingratitude and be afraid to shine upon such ungrateful
|
|
wretches. Those that forsook God worshipped <I>the host of heaven,</I>
|
|
the sun, moon, and stars; but these, instead of being pleased with the
|
|
adorations that were paid to them, <I>were astonished and horribly
|
|
afraid;</I> and would rather have been <I>very desolate, utterly
|
|
exhausted</I> (as the word is) and deprived of their light, than that
|
|
it should have given occasion to any to worship them. Some refer it to
|
|
the <I>angels of heaven;</I> if they rejoice at the return of souls to
|
|
God, we may suppose that they are astonished and horribly afraid at the
|
|
revolt of souls from him. The meaning is that the conduct of this
|
|
people towards God was,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Such as we may well be astonished and wonder at, that ever men,
|
|
who pretend to reason, should do a thing so very absurd.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Such as we ought to have a holy indignation at as impious, and a
|
|
high affront to our Maker, whose honour every good man is jealous for.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Such as we may tremble to think of the consequences of. What will
|
|
be in the end hereof? Be horribly afraid to think of the wrath and
|
|
curse which will be the portion of those who thus throw themselves out
|
|
of God's grace and favour. Now what is it that is to be thought of with
|
|
all this horror? It is this: "<I>My people,</I> whom I have taught and
|
|
should have ruled, <I>have committed two</I> great evils, ingratitude
|
|
and folly; they have acted contrary both to their duty and to their
|
|
interest."
|
|
|
|
[1.] They have <I>affronted their God,</I> by turning their back upon
|
|
him, as if he were not worthy their notice: "<I>They have forsaken me,
|
|
the fountain of living waters,</I> in whom they have an abundant and
|
|
constant supply of all the comfort and relief they stand in need of,
|
|
and have it freely." God is their <I>fountain of life,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+36:9">Ps. xxxvi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
There is in him an all-sufficiency of grace and strength; all our
|
|
springs are in him and our streams from him; to forsake him is, in
|
|
effect, to deny this. He has been to us a bountiful benefactor, a
|
|
<I>fountain of living waters,</I> over-flowing, ever-flowing, in the
|
|
gifts of his favour; to forsake him is to refuse to acknowledge his
|
|
kindness and to withhold that tribute of love and praise which his
|
|
kindness calls for.
|
|
|
|
[2.] They have cheated themselves, they forsook <I>their own
|
|
mercies,</I> but it was for lying vanities. They took a great deal of
|
|
pains to <I>hew themselves out cisterns,</I> to dig pits or pools in
|
|
the earth or rock which they would carry water to, or which should
|
|
receive the rain; but they proved <I>broken cisterns,</I> false at the
|
|
bottom, so that they could <I>hold no water.</I> When they came to
|
|
quench their thirst there they found nothing but mud and mire, and the
|
|
filthy sediments of a standing lake. Such idols were to their
|
|
worshippers, and such a change did those experience who turned from God
|
|
to them. If we make an idol of any creature-wealth, or pleasure, or
|
|
honour,--if we place our happiness in it, and promise ourselves the
|
|
comfort and satisfaction in it which are to be had in God only,--if we
|
|
make it our joy and love, our hope and confidence, we shall find it a
|
|
cistern, which we take a great deal of pains to hew out and fill, and
|
|
at the best it will hold but a little water, and that dead and flat,
|
|
and soon corrupting and becoming nauseous. Nay, it is a broken cistern,
|
|
that cracks and cleaves in hot weather, so that the water is lost when
|
|
we have most need of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+6:15">Job vi. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let us therefore with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord only, for
|
|
whither else <I>shall we go?</I> He has <I>the words of eternal
|
|
life.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_19"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Expostulations with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 629.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>14 <I>Is</I> Israel a servant? <I>is</I> he a home-born <I>slave?</I> why is he
|
|
spoiled?
|
|
15 The young lions roared upon him, <I>and</I> yelled, and they made
|
|
his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.
|
|
16 Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the
|
|
crown of thy head.
|
|
17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast
|
|
forsaken the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God, when he led thee by the way?
|
|
18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink
|
|
the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of
|
|
Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
|
|
19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy
|
|
backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that <I>it
|
|
is</I> an evil <I>thing</I> and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
thy God, and that my fear <I>is</I> not in thee, saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> of
|
|
hosts.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet, further to evince the folly of their forsaking God, shows
|
|
them what mischiefs they had already brought upon themselves by so
|
|
doing; it had already cost them dear, for to this were owing all the
|
|
calamities their country was now groaning under, which were but an
|
|
earnest of more and greater if they repented not. See how they smarted
|
|
for their folly.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Their neighbours, who were their professed enemies, prevailed
|
|
against them, and this was owing to their sin.
|
|
|
|
1. They were enslaved and lost their liberty
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Is Israel a servant?</I> No; <I>Israel is my son, my first-born,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+4:22">Exod. iv. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
They are children; they are heirs. Nay, their extraction is noble; they
|
|
are the seed of Abraham, God's friend, and of Jacob his chosen. <I>Is
|
|
he a home-born slave?</I> No; he is not the <I>son of the
|
|
bond-woman,</I> but of the free. They were designed for dominion, not
|
|
for servitude. Every thing in their constitution carried about it the
|
|
marks of freedom and honour. <I>Why then is he spoiled</I> of his
|
|
liberty? Why is he used as a servant, as a <I>home-born slave?</I> Why
|
|
does he <I>make himself a slave</I> to his lusts, to his idols, to that
|
|
which does not profit?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
What a thing is this, that such a birthright should be sold for a mess
|
|
of pottage, such a crown profaned and laid in the dust! Why is he made
|
|
a slave to the oppressor? God provided that a Hebrew servant should be
|
|
free the seventh year, and that their slaves should be <I>of the
|
|
heathen,</I> not <I>of their brethren,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+25:44,46">Lev. xxv. 44, 46</A>.
|
|
|
|
But, notwithstanding this, the princes made slaves of their subjects,
|
|
and masters made slaves of their servants
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+34:11"><I>ch.</I> xxxiv. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
and so made their country mean and miserable, which God had made happy
|
|
and honourable. The neighbouring princes and powers broke in upon
|
|
them, and made some of them slaves even in their own country, and
|
|
perhaps sold others for slaves into foreign countries. And how came
|
|
they thus to lose their liberties? For <I>their iniquities they sold
|
|
themselves,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:1">Isa. l. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
We may apply this spiritually. Is the soul of man a <I>servant? Is it a
|
|
home-born slave?</I> No, it is not. Why then is it spoiled? It is
|
|
because it has sold its own liberty and enslaved itself to divers lusts
|
|
and passions, which is a lamentation, and should be for a lamentation.
|
|
|
|
2. They were impoverished and had lost their wealth. God brought them
|
|
into a plentiful country
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
but all their neighbours made a prey of it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Young lions roar aloud over him and yell;</I> they are a continual
|
|
terror to him. Sometimes one potent enemy, and sometimes another, and
|
|
sometimes many in confederacy, fall upon him, and triumph over him.
|
|
They carry off the fruits of his land, and make that <I>waste,</I> and
|
|
<I>burn his cities,</I> when first they have plundered them, so that
|
|
they remain <I>without inhabitant,</I> either because there are no
|
|
houses to dwell in or because those that should dwell in them are
|
|
carried into captivity.
|
|
|
|
3. They were abused, and insulted over, and beaten by every body
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
"Even <I>the children of Noph and Tahapanes,</I> despicable people, not
|
|
famed for military courage nor strength, <I>have broken the crown of
|
|
thy head,</I> or fed upon it. In all their struggles with thee they
|
|
have been too hard for thee, and thou hast always come off with a
|
|
broken head. The principal part of thy country, that which lay next
|
|
Jerusalem, has been and is a prey to them." How calamitous the
|
|
condition of Judah had been of late in the reign of Manasseh we find,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+33:11">2 Chron. xxxiii. 11</A>,
|
|
|
|
and perhaps it had not now much recovered itself.
|
|
|
|
4. All this was owing to their sin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?</I> By their sinful
|
|
confederacies with the nations, and especially their conformity to them
|
|
in their idolatrous customs and usages, they had made themselves very
|
|
mean and contemptible, as all those do that have made a profession of
|
|
religion and afterwards throw it off. Nothing now appeared of that
|
|
which, by their constitution, made them both honourable and formidable,
|
|
and therefore nobody either respected them or feared them. But this was
|
|
not all; they had provoked God to give them up into the hands of their
|
|
enemies, and to make them a scourge to them and give them success
|
|
against them; and "thus thou hast <I>procured it to thyself, in that
|
|
thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God,</I> revolted from thy allegiance
|
|
to him and so thrown thyself out of his protection; for protection and
|
|
allegiance go together." Whatever trouble we are in at any time we may
|
|
thank ourselves for it; for we bring it upon our own head by our
|
|
forsaking God: "<I>Thou hast forsaken thy God at the time that he was
|
|
leading thee by the way</I>" (so it should be read); "Then when he was
|
|
leading thee on to a happy peace and settlement, and thou wast within a
|
|
step of it, then thou forsookest him, and so didst put a bar in thy own
|
|
door."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Their neighbours, that were their pretended friends, deceived them,
|
|
distressed them, and helped them not, and this also was owing to their
|
|
sin.
|
|
|
|
1. They did in vain seek to Egypt and Assyria for help
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt?</I> When thou art under
|
|
apprehensions of danger thou art running to Egypt for help,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:1,2,31:1">Isa. xxx. 1, 2; xxxi. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thou art for <I>drinking the waters of Sihor,</I>" that is,
|
|
<I>Nilus.</I> "Thou reliest upon their multitude, and refreshest thy
|
|
self with the fair promises they make thee. At other times thou art
|
|
<I>in the way of Assyria,</I> sending or going with all speed to fetch
|
|
recruits thence, and thinkest to satisfy thyself with the <I>waters of
|
|
the river Euphrates;</I> what <I>hast thou to do</I> there? What wilt
|
|
thou get by applying to them? They shall <I>help in vain,</I> shall be
|
|
broken reeds to thee, and what thou thoughtest would be to thee as a
|
|
river will be but a broken cistern."
|
|
|
|
2. This also was because of their sin. The judgment shall unavoidably
|
|
come upon them which their sin has deserved; and then to what purpose
|
|
is it to call in help against it?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thy own wickedness shall correct thee,</I> and then it is
|
|
impossible for them to save thee; <I>know and see</I> therefore, upon
|
|
the whole matter, <I>that it is an evil thing that thou hast forsaken
|
|
God,</I> for it is that which makes thy enemies enemies indeed, and thy
|
|
friends friends in vain." Observe here,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The nature of sin; it is <I>forsaking the Lord</I> as our God; it
|
|
is the soul's alienation from him and aversion to him. Cleaving to sin
|
|
is leaving God.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The cause of sin; it is because <I>his fear is not in us.</I> It
|
|
is for want of a good principle in us, particularly for want of the
|
|
fear of God; this is at the bottom of our apostasy from him; men
|
|
forsake their duty to God because they stand in no awe of him nor have
|
|
any dread of his displeasure.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The malignity of sin; it is <I>an evil thing and a bitter.</I> Sin
|
|
is an evil thing, only evil, an evil that has no good in it, an evil
|
|
that is the root and cause of all other evil; it is evil indeed, for it
|
|
is not only the greatest contrariety to the divine nature, but the
|
|
greatest corruption of the human nature. It is <I>bitter;</I> a state
|
|
of sin is the <I>gall of bitterness,</I> and every sinful way will be
|
|
<I>bitterness in the latter end;</I> the wages of it is death, and
|
|
death is bitter.
|
|
|
|
(4.) The fatal consequences of sin; as it is in itself evil and bitter,
|
|
so it has a direct tendency to make us miserable: "<I>Thy own
|
|
wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove
|
|
thee,</I> not only destroy and ruin thee hereafter, but correct and
|
|
reprove thee now; they will certainly bring trouble upon thee; and
|
|
punishment will so inevitably follow the sin that the sin shall itself
|
|
be said to punish thee. Nay, the punishment, in its kind and
|
|
circumstances, shall so directly answer to the sin, that thou mayest
|
|
read the sin in the punishment; and the justice of the punishment shall
|
|
be so plain that thou shalt not have a word to say for thyself; thy own
|
|
wickedness shall convince thee and stop thy mouth for ever and thou
|
|
shalt be forced to own that <I>the Lord is righteous.</I>"
|
|
|
|
(5.) The use and application of all this: "<I>Know therefore,</I> and
|
|
see it, and repent of thy sin, that so the iniquity which is thy
|
|
correction <I>may not be thy ruin.</I>"</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Expostulations with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 629.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, <I>and</I> burst thy
|
|
bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every
|
|
high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the
|
|
harlot.
|
|
21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed:
|
|
how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange
|
|
vine unto me?
|
|
22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much
|
|
soap, <I>yet</I> thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord
|
|
G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>.
|
|
23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after
|
|
Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done:
|
|
<I>thou art</I> a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
|
|
24 A wild ass used to the wilderness, <I>that</I> snuffeth up the
|
|
wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all
|
|
they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they
|
|
shall find her.
|
|
25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from
|
|
thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved
|
|
strangers, and after them will I go.
|
|
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of
|
|
Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their
|
|
priests, and their prophets,
|
|
27 Saying to a stock, Thou <I>art</I> my father; and to a stone,
|
|
Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned <I>their</I> back
|
|
unto me, and not <I>their</I> face: but in the time of their trouble
|
|
they will say, Arise, and save us.
|
|
28 But where <I>are</I> thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them
|
|
arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for
|
|
<I>according to</I> the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
In these verses the prophet goes on with his charge against this
|
|
backsliding people. Observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The sin itself that he charges them with--idolatry, that great
|
|
provocation which they were so notoriously guilty of.
|
|
|
|
1. They frequented the places of idol-worship
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Upon every high hill and under every green tree,</I> in the high
|
|
places and the groves, such as the heathen had a foolish fondness and
|
|
veneration for, <I>thou wanderest,</I> first to one and then to
|
|
another, like one unsettled, and still uneasy and unsatisfied; but in
|
|
all <I>playing the harlot,</I>" worshipping false gods, which is
|
|
spiritual whoredom, and was commonly accompanied with corporal whoredom
|
|
too. Note, Those that leave God wander endlessly, and a vagrant lust is
|
|
insatiable.
|
|
|
|
2. They made images for themselves, and gave divine honour to them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:26,27"><I>v.</I> 26, 27</A>);
|
|
|
|
not only the common people, but even the kings and princes, who should
|
|
have restrained the people from doing ill, and the priests and
|
|
prophets, who should have taught them to do well, were themselves so
|
|
wretchedly sottish and stupid, and under the power of such a strong
|
|
delusion, as to <I>say to a stock, "Thou art my father</I> (that is,
|
|
Thou art my god, the author of my being, to whom I owe duty and on whom
|
|
I have a dependence)," and <I>to a stone,</I> to an idol made of stone,
|
|
"<I>Thou hast</I> begotten me, or <I>brought me forth;</I> therefore
|
|
protect me, provide for me, and bring me up." What greater affront
|
|
could men put upon God, who is our Father that has made us? It was a
|
|
downright disowning of their obligations to him. What greater affront
|
|
could men put upon themselves and their own reason than to acknowledge
|
|
that which is in itself absurd and impossible, and, by making stocks
|
|
and stones their parents, to make themselves no better than stocks and
|
|
stones? When these were first made the objects of worship they were
|
|
supposed to be animated by some celestial power or spirit; but by
|
|
degrees the thought of this was lost, and so vain did idolaters become
|
|
<I>in their imagination,</I> even the princes and priests themselves,
|
|
that the very idol, though made of wood and stone, was supposed to be
|
|
their father, and adored accordingly.
|
|
|
|
3. They multiplied these dunghill deities endlessly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>According to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah!</I>
|
|
When they had forsaken that God who is one, and all-sufficient for all,
|
|
|
|
(1.) They were not satisfied with any gods they had, but still desired
|
|
more, that idolatry being in this respect of the same nature with
|
|
covetousness, which is spiritual idolatry (for the more men have the
|
|
more they would have), which is a plain evidence that what men make an
|
|
idol of they find to be insufficient and unsatisfying, and that it
|
|
cannot <I>make the comers thereunto perfect.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) They could not agree in the same god. Having left the centre of
|
|
unity, they fell into endless discord; one city fancied one deity and
|
|
another another, and each was anxious to have one of its own to be near
|
|
them and to take special care of them. Thus did they in vain seek that
|
|
in many gods which is to be found in one God only.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The proof of this. No witnesses need be called; it is proved by the
|
|
notorious evidence of the facts.
|
|
|
|
1. They went about to deny it, and were ready to plead, <I>Not
|
|
guilty.</I> They pretended that they would acquit themselves from this
|
|
guilt, they <I>washed themselves with nitre,</I> and <I>took much
|
|
soap,</I> offered many things in excuse and extenuation of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
They pretended that they did not worship these as gods, but as demons,
|
|
and mediators between the immortal God and mortal men, or that it was
|
|
not divine honour that they gave them, but civil respect; thus they
|
|
sought to evade the convictions of God's word and to screen themselves
|
|
from the dread of his wrath. Nay, some of them had the impudence to
|
|
deny the thing itself; they said, <I>I am not polluted, I have not gone
|
|
after Baalim,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Because it was done secretly, and industriously concealed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+8:12">Ezek. viii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
they thought it could never be proved upon them, and they had impudence
|
|
enough to deny it. In this, as in other things, their way was like that
|
|
of <I>the adulterous woman, that says, I have done no wickedness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:20">Prov. xxx. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. Notwithstanding all their evasions, they are convicted of it and
|
|
found guilty: "<I>How canst thou</I> deny the fact, and <I>say, I have
|
|
not gone after Baalim?</I> How canst thou deny the fault, and say, <I>I
|
|
am not polluted?</I>" The prophet speaks with wonder at their
|
|
impudence: "How canst thou put on a face to say so, when it is
|
|
certain?"
|
|
|
|
(1.) "God's omniscience is a witness against thee: <I>Thy iniquity is
|
|
marked before me, saith the Lord God;</I> it is laid up and hidden, to
|
|
be produced against thee in the day of judgment, <I>sealed up among his
|
|
treasures,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:34,Job+21:19,Ho+13:12">Deut. xxxii. 34;
|
|
Job xxi. 19; Hos. xiii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
"It is <I>imprinted deeply</I> and <I>stained</I> before me;" so some
|
|
read it. "Though thou endeavour to wash it out, as murderers to get
|
|
the stain of the blood of the person slain out of their clothes, yet it
|
|
will never be got out." God's eye is upon it, and we are sure that his
|
|
judgment is according to truth.
|
|
|
|
(2.) "Thy own conscience is a witness against thee. <I>See thy way in
|
|
the valley</I>" (they had worshipped idols, not only on the high hills,
|
|
but in the valleys,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+57:5,6">Isa. lvii. 5, 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
in the <I>valley over-against Beth-peor</I> (so some), where they
|
|
worshipped Baal-peor
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+34:6,Nu+25:3">Deut. xxxiv. 6, Num. xxv. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
as if the prophet looked as far back as the <I>iniquity of Peor;</I>
|
|
but, if it mean any particular valley, surely it is the <I>valley of
|
|
the son of Hinnom,</I> for that was the place where they sacrificed
|
|
their children to Moloch and which therefore witnessed against them
|
|
more than any other: "look into that valley, and thou canst not but
|
|
<I>know what thou hast done.</I>"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The aggravations of this sin with which they are charged, which
|
|
made it exceedingly sinful.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. God had done great things for them, and yet they revolted from him
|
|
and rebelled against him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Of old time I have broken thy yoke and burst thy bonds;</I> this
|
|
refers to the bringing of them out of the <I>land of Egypt</I> and the
|
|
<I>house of bondage,</I> which they would not remember
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
but God did; for, when he told them that they should have no other gods
|
|
before him, he prefixed this as a reason: <I>I am the Lord thy God that
|
|
brought thee out of the land of Egypt!</I> These bonds of theirs which
|
|
God had loosed should have bound them for ever to him; but they had
|
|
ungratefully broken the bonds of duty to that God who had broken the
|
|
bonds of their slavery.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They had promised fair, but had not made good their promise:
|
|
"<I>Thou saidst, I will not transgress;</I> then, when the mercy of thy
|
|
deliverance was fresh, thou wast so sensible of it that thou wast
|
|
willing to lay thyself under the most sacred ties to continue faithful
|
|
to thy God and never to forsake him." Then they said, <I>Nay, but we
|
|
will serve the Lord,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+24:21">Josh. xxiv. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
How often have we said that we <I>would not transgress,</I> we would
|
|
not offend any more, and yet we have <I>started aside, like a deceitful
|
|
bow,</I> and repeated and multiplied our transgressions!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. They had wretchedly degenerated from what they were when God first
|
|
formed them into a people
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>).
|
|
|
|
<I>I had planted thee a noble vine.</I> The constitution of their
|
|
government both in church and state was excellent, their laws were
|
|
righteous, and all the ordinances instructive and very significant; and
|
|
a generation of good men there was among them when they first settled
|
|
in Canaan. <I>Israel served the Lord,</I> and kept close to him <I>all
|
|
the days of Joshua, and the elders that out-lived Joshua,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+24:31">Josh. xxiv. 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
They were then <I>wholly a right seed,</I> likely to replenish the
|
|
vineyard they were planted in with choice vines. But it proved
|
|
otherwise; they very next generation <I>knew not the Lord, nor the
|
|
works which he had done</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+2:10">Judg. ii. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
and so they were worse and worse till they became <I>the degenerate
|
|
plants of a strange vine.</I> They were now the reverse of what they
|
|
were at first. Their constitution was quite broken, and there was
|
|
nothing in them of that good which one might have expected from a
|
|
people so happily formed, nothing of the purity and piety of their
|
|
ancestors. <I>Their vine is as the vine of Sodom,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:32">Deut. xxxii. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
This may fitly be applied to the nature of man; it was planted by its
|
|
great author <I>a noble vine,</I> a <I>right seed</I> (God made man
|
|
upright); but it is so universally corrupt that it has become the
|
|
<I>degenerate plant of a strange vine,</I> that <I>bears gall and
|
|
wormwood,</I> and it is so to God, it is highly distasteful and
|
|
offensive to him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. They were violent and eager in the pursuit of their idolatries,
|
|
doted on their idols, and were fond of new ones, and they would not be
|
|
restrained form them either by the word of God or by his providence, so
|
|
strong was the <I>impetus</I> with which they were carried out after
|
|
this sin. They are here compared to a <I>swift dromedary traversing her
|
|
ways,</I> a female of that species of creatures hunting about for a
|
|
male
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, to the same purport, <I>a wild ass used to the wilderness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
not tamed by labour, and therefore very wanton, <I>snuffing up the wind
|
|
at her pleasure</I> when she comes near the he-ass, and on such an
|
|
<I>occasion who can turn her away?</I> Who can hinder her from that
|
|
which she lusts after? <I>Those that seek her</I> then <I>will not
|
|
weary themselves for her,</I> for they know it is to no purpose; but
|
|
will have a little patience till she is big with young, till that month
|
|
comes which is the last of <I>the months that she fulfils</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+39:2">Job xxxix. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
when she is heavy and unwieldy, and then <I>they shall find her,</I>
|
|
and she cannot out-run them. Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Eager lust is a brutish thing, and those that will not be turned
|
|
away from the gratifying and indulging of it by reason, and conscience,
|
|
and honour, are to be reckoned as brute-beasts and no better, such as
|
|
were born, and still are, <I>like the wild ass's colt;</I> let them not
|
|
be looked upon as rational creatures.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Idolatry is strangely intoxicating, and those that are addicted to
|
|
it will with great difficulty be cured of it. That lust is as
|
|
headstrong as any.
|
|
|
|
(3.) There are some so violently set upon the prosecution of their
|
|
lusts that it is to no purpose to attempt to give check to them: those
|
|
that do so weary themselves in vain. <I>Ephraim is joined to idols; let
|
|
him alone.</I>
|
|
|
|
(4.) The time will come when the most fierce will be tamed and the most
|
|
wanton will be manageable; when distress and anguish come upon them,
|
|
then their ears will be open to discipline, that is the month in which
|
|
you may find them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+141:5,6">Ps. cxli. 5, 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. They were obstinate in their sin, and, as they could not be
|
|
restrained, so they would not be reformed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Fair warning given them of the ruin that this wicked course of
|
|
life would certainly bring them to at last, with a caution therefore
|
|
not to persist in it, but to break off from it. He would certainly
|
|
bring them into a miserable captivity, when their feet should be
|
|
unshod, and they should be forced to travel barefoot, and when they
|
|
would be denied fair water by their oppressors, so that their throat
|
|
should be dried with thirst; this will be in the end hereof. Those that
|
|
affect strange gods, and strange ways of worship, will justly be made
|
|
prisoners to a strange king in a strange land. "Take up in time
|
|
therefore; thy running after thy idols will run the <I>shoes off thy
|
|
feet,</I> and thy panting after them will bring thy throat to thirst;
|
|
withhold therefore thy foot from these violent pursuits, and thy throat
|
|
from these violent desires." One would think that it should effectually
|
|
check us in the career of sin to consider what it will bring us to at
|
|
last.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Their rejecting this fair warning. They said to those that would
|
|
have persuaded them to repent and reform, "<I>There is no hope; no,</I>
|
|
never expect to work upon us, or prevail with us to cast away our
|
|
idols, for <I>we have loved strangers, and after them we will go;</I>
|
|
we are resolved we will, and therefore trouble not yourselves nor us
|
|
any more with your admonitions; it is to no purpose. There is no hope
|
|
that we should ever break the corrupt habit and disposition we have
|
|
got, and therefore we may as well yield to it as go about to get the
|
|
mastery of it." Note, Their case is very miserable who have brought
|
|
themselves to such a pass that their corruptions triumph over their
|
|
convictions; they know they should reform, but own they cannot, and
|
|
therefore resolve they will not. But, as we must not despair of the
|
|
mercy of God, but believe that sufficient for the pardon of our sins,
|
|
though ever so heinous, if we repent and sue for that mercy, so neither
|
|
must we despair of the grace of God, but believe that able to subdue
|
|
our corruptions, though ever so strong, if we pray for and improve that
|
|
grace. A man must never say <I>There is no hope,</I> as long as he is
|
|
on this side hell.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
6. They had shamed themselves by their sin, in putting confidence in
|
|
that which would certainly deceive them in the day of their distress,
|
|
and putting him away that would have helped them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:26-28"><I>v.</I> 26-28</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>As the thief is ashamed</I> when, notwithstanding all his arts and
|
|
tricks to conceal his theft, he is found, and brought to punishment,
|
|
<I>so are the house of Israel ashamed,</I> not with a penitent shame
|
|
for the sin they had been guilty of, but with a penal shame for the
|
|
disappointment they met with in that sin. They will be ashamed when
|
|
they find,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That they are forced to cry to the God whom they had put contempt
|
|
upon. In their prosperity they had turned the back to God and not the
|
|
face; they had slighted him, acted as if they had forgotten him, or did
|
|
what they could to forget him, would not look towards him, but looked
|
|
another way; they went from him as fast and as far as they could; but
|
|
in the time of their trouble they will find no satisfaction but in
|
|
applying to him; then <I>they will say, Arise, and save us.</I> Their
|
|
fathers had many a time taken this shame to themselves
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+3:9,4:3,10:10">Judg. iii. 9, iv. 3, x. 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
yet they would not be persuaded to cleave to God, that they might come
|
|
to him in their trouble with the more confidence.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That they have no relief from the gods they have made their court
|
|
to. They will be ashamed when they perceive that the gods they have
|
|
made cannot serve them, and that the God who made them will not serve
|
|
them. To bring them to this shame, if so be they might hereby be
|
|
brought to repentance, they are here sent <I>to the gods whom they
|
|
served,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:14">Judg. x. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
They cried to God, <I>Arise, and save us.</I> God says of the idols,
|
|
"<I>Let them arise, and save thee,</I> for thou hast no reason to
|
|
expect that I should Let them arise, if they can, from the places where
|
|
they are fixed; let them try whether they can save thee: but thou wilt
|
|
be ashamed when thou findest that they can do thee no good, for, though
|
|
thou hadst a god for every city, yet <I>thy cities are burnt without
|
|
inhabitant,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus it is the folly of sinners to please themselves with that which
|
|
will certainly be their grief, and pride themselves in that which will
|
|
certainly be their shame.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_32"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_33"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_34"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_35"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_36"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer2_37"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Expostulations with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 629.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed
|
|
against me, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no
|
|
correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a
|
|
destroying lion.
|
|
31 O generation, see ye the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>. Have I been a
|
|
wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my
|
|
people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
|
|
32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, <I>or</I> a bride her attire?
|
|
yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
|
|
33 Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou
|
|
also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
|
|
34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the
|
|
poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon
|
|
all these.
|
|
35 Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger
|
|
shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou
|
|
sayest, I have not sinned.
|
|
36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also
|
|
shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
|
|
37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon
|
|
thine head: for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath rejected thy confidences, and thou
|
|
shalt not prosper in them.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet here goes on in the same strain, aiming to bring a sinful
|
|
people to repentance, that their destruction might be prevented.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He avers the truth of the charge. It was evident beyond
|
|
contradiction; it was the greatest absurdity imaginable in them to
|
|
think of denying it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Wherefore will you plead with me,</I> and put me upon the proof of
|
|
it, or wherefore will you go about to plead any thing in excuse of the
|
|
crime or to obtain a mitigation of the sentence? Your plea will
|
|
certainly be overruled, and judgment given against you: you know <I>you
|
|
have all transgressed,</I> one as well as another; why then to you
|
|
<I>quarrel with me</I> for contending with you?"</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He heightens it from the consideration both of their
|
|
incorrigibleness and of their ingratitude.
|
|
|
|
1. They had not been wrought upon by the judgments of God which they
|
|
had been under
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>In vain have I smitten your children,</I> that is, the children or
|
|
people of Judah. They had been under divine rebukes of many kinds. God
|
|
therein designed to bring them to repentance; but it was <I>in
|
|
vain.</I> They did not answer God's end in afflicting them; their
|
|
consciences were not awakened, nor their hearts softened and humbled,
|
|
nor were they driven to seek unto God; <I>they received no
|
|
instruction</I> by the <I>correction,</I> were not made the better by
|
|
it; and it is a great loss thus to lose an affliction. They <I>did not
|
|
receive,</I> they did not submit to, or comply with, the correction,
|
|
but their hearts fretted against the Lord, and so they were <I>smitten
|
|
in vain.</I> Even <I>the children,</I> the <I>young people,</I> among
|
|
them (so it may be taken), were <I>smitten in vain;</I> they were so
|
|
soon prejudiced against repentance that they were as untractable as the
|
|
old ones that had been long <I>accustomed to do evil.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. They had not been wrought upon by the word of God which he had sent
|
|
them in the mouth of his servants the prophets; nay, they had killed
|
|
the messengers for the sake of the message: "<I>Your own sword has
|
|
devoured your prophets like a destroying lion;</I> you have put them to
|
|
death for their faithfulness with as much rage and fury, and with as
|
|
much greediness and pleasure, as a lion devours his prey." Their
|
|
prophets, who were their greatest blessings, were treated by them as if
|
|
they had been the plagues of their generation, and this was their
|
|
measure-filling sin,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+36:16">2 Chron. xxxvi. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
They <I>killed their own prophets,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+2:15">1 Thess. ii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. They had not been wrought upon by the favours God had bestowed upon
|
|
them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>O generation!</I>" (he does not call them, as he might, <I>O
|
|
faithless</I> and <I>perverse</I> generation! <I>O generation of
|
|
vipers!</I> but speaks gently, O you men of this generation!) "<I>see
|
|
the word of the Lord,</I> do not only hear it, but consider it
|
|
diligently, apply your minds closely to it." As we are bidden to
|
|
<I>hear the rod</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:9">Micah vi. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
for that has its voice, so we are bidden to <I>see the word,</I> for
|
|
that has its visions, its views. It intimates that what is here said is
|
|
plain and undeniable; you may see it to be very evident; it is written
|
|
as with a sun-beam, so that he that runs may read it: <I>Have I been a
|
|
wilderness to Israel, a land of darkness.</I> Note, None of those who
|
|
have had any dealings with God ever had reason to complain of him as
|
|
<I>a wilderness</I> or a <I>land of darkness.</I> He has blessed us
|
|
with the fruits of the earth, and therefore we cannot say that he has
|
|
been a wilderness to us, a dry and barren land, that (as Mr. Gataker
|
|
expresses it) he has held us to <I>hard meat,</I> as cattle fed upon
|
|
the common. No; his sheep have been led into green pastures. He has
|
|
also blessed us with the lights of heaven, and has not withheld them,
|
|
so that we cannot say, He has been to us a land of darkness. He has
|
|
caused his sun to shine, as well as his rain to fall, upon the evil and
|
|
unthankful. Or the meaning is, in general, that the service of God has
|
|
not been to any either an unpleasant or an unprofitable service. God
|
|
sometimes has led his people <I>through a wilderness</I> and a <I>land
|
|
of darkness,</I> but he himself was then to them all that which they
|
|
needed; he so fed them with manna, and led them by a pillar of fire,
|
|
that it was to them a fruitful field and a land of light. The world is,
|
|
to those who make it their home and their portion, a wilderness and a
|
|
land of darkness, vanity and vexation of spirit; but those that dwell
|
|
in God have the <I>lines fallen to them in pleasant places.</I>
|
|
|
|
4. Instead of being wrought upon by these, they had grown intolerably
|
|
insolent and imperious. They say, <I>We are lords; we will come no more
|
|
unto thee.</I> Now that they had become a potent kingdom, or thought
|
|
themselves such, they set up for themselves, and shook off their
|
|
dependence upon God. This is the language of presumptuous sinners, and
|
|
it is not only very impious and profane, but very unreasonable and
|
|
foolish.
|
|
|
|
(1.) It is absurd for us who are subjects to say, <I>We are lords</I>
|
|
(that is, <I>rulers</I>) and we will come no more to <I>God</I> to
|
|
receive commands form him; for, as he is King of old, so he is King for
|
|
ever, and we can never pretend to be from under his authority.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It is absurd for us who are beggars to say, <I>We are lords,</I>
|
|
that is, We are rich, and we will come no more to God, to receive
|
|
favours from him, as if we could live without him and need not be
|
|
beholden to him. God justly takes it ill when those to whom he has
|
|
been a bountiful benefactor care not either for hearing from him or
|
|
speaking to him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. He lays the blame of all their wickedness upon their forgetting
|
|
God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They have forgotten me;</I> they have industriously banished the
|
|
thoughts of God out of their minds, jostled those thoughts out with
|
|
thoughts of their idols, and avoided all those things that would put
|
|
them in mind of God.
|
|
|
|
1. Though they were his own people, in covenant with him and professing
|
|
relation to him, and had the tokens of his presence in the midst of
|
|
them and of his favour to them, yet they forgot him.
|
|
|
|
2. They had long neglected him, <I>days without number,</I> time out
|
|
of mind, as we say. They had not for a great while entertained any
|
|
serious thoughts of him; so that they seem quite to have forgotten him,
|
|
and resolved never to remember him again. How many days of our lives
|
|
have passed without suitable remembrance of God! Who can number those
|
|
empty days?
|
|
|
|
3. They had not had such a regard and affection to him as young ladies
|
|
generally have to their fine clothes: <I>Can a maid forget her
|
|
ornaments or a bride her attire?</I> No; their hearts are upon them;
|
|
they value them so much, and themselves upon them, that they are ever
|
|
and anon thinking and speaking of them. When they are to appear in
|
|
public they do not forget any of <I>their ornaments,</I> but put every
|
|
one in its place, as they are described,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+3:18">Isa. iii. 18</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c. And <I>yet my people have forgotten me.</I> It is sad that any
|
|
should be more in love with their fine clothes than with their God, and
|
|
should rather leave their religion behind them, or part with that, than
|
|
leave any of their ornaments behind them, or part with them. Is not
|
|
God our ornament? Is he not <I>a crown of glory</I> and a <I>diadem of
|
|
beauty</I> to his people? Did we look upon him to be so, and upon our
|
|
religion as an <I>ornament of grace to our head</I> and <I>chains about
|
|
our neck</I>
|
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:9">Prov. i. 9</A>),
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we should be as mindful of them as ever any maid was of her ornaments,
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or a bride of her attire, we should be as careful to preserve them and
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as fond to appear in them.</P>
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<P>
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IV. He shows them what a bad influence their sins had had upon others.
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The sins of God's professing people harden and encourage those about
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them in their evil ways, especially when they appear forward and
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ringleaders in sin
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>):
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<I>Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love?</I> There is an allusion
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here to the practice of lewd women who strive to recommend themselves
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|
by their ogling looks and gay dress, as Jezebel, who <I>painted her
|
|
face and tired her head.</I> Thus had they courted their neighbours
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|
into sinful confederacies with them and communion in their idolatries,
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|
and had <I>taught the wicked ones their ways,</I> their ways of mixing
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|
God's institutions with their idolatrous customs and usages, which was
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|
a great profanation of that which was sacred and made the ways of their
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|
idolatry worse than that of others. Those have a great deal to answer
|
|
for who, by their fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
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|
make wicked ones more wicked than otherwise they would be.</P>
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|
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<P>
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V. He charges them with the guilt of murder added to the guilt of their
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idolatry
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>):
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<I>Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls,</I> the
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life-blood <I>of the poor innocents,</I> which cried to heaven, and for
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|
which God was now <I>making inquisition.</I> The reference is to the
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children that were offered in sacrifice to Moloch; or it may be taken
|
|
more generally for all the <I>innocent blood</I> which Manasseh shed,
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|
and with which he had <I>filled Jerusalem</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+21:16">2 Kings xxi. 16</A>),
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the <I>righteous blood,</I> especially the blood of the prophets and
|
|
others that witnessed against their impieties. This blood was found
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|
<I>not by secret search,</I> not <I>by diggings</I> (so the word is),
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|
but <I>upon all these;</I> it was above ground. This intimates that the
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|
guilt of this kind which they had contracted was certain and evident,
|
|
not doubtful or which would bear a dispute; and that it was avowed and
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|
barefaced, and which they had not so much sense either of shame or fear
|
|
as to endeavour to conceal, which was a great aggravation of it.</P>
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<P>
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VI. He overrules their plea of, <I>Not guilty.</I> Though this matter
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|
be so plain, yet thou sayest, <I>Because I am innocent, surely his
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|
anger shall turn from me;</I> and again, <I>Thou sayest, I have not
|
|
sinned</I>
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>);
|
|
|
|
therefore <I>I will plead with thee,</I> and will convince thee of thy
|
|
mistake. Because they deny the charge, and stand upon their own
|
|
justification, therefore God will join issue with them and plead with
|
|
them, both by his word and by his rod. Those shall be made to know how
|
|
much they deceive themselves,
|
|
|
|
1. Who say that they have not offended God, that they are innocent,
|
|
though they have been guilty of the grossest enormities.
|
|
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|
2. Who expect that God will be reconciled to them though they do not
|
|
repent and reform. They own that they had been under the tokens of
|
|
God's anger, but they think that it was causeless, and that they by
|
|
pleading innocency had proved it to be so, and therefore they conclude
|
|
that God will immediately let fall his action and <I>his anger shall be
|
|
turned from them.</I> This is very provoking, and God will plead with
|
|
them, and convince them that his anger is just, for they have sinned,
|
|
and he will never cease his controversy till they, instead of
|
|
justifying themselves thus, humble, and judge, and condemn
|
|
themselves.</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
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|
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|
VII. He upbraids them with the shameful disappointments they met with,
|
|
in making creatures their confidence, while they made God their enemy,
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:36,37"><I>v.</I> 36, 37</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was a piece of spiritual idolatry they were often guilty of that
|
|
they trusted in <I>an arm of flesh</I> and their hearts therein
|
|
<I>departed from the Lord.</I> Now here he shows them the folly of it.
|
|
|
|
1. They were restless, and unsatisfied in the choice of their
|
|
confidences: "<I>Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way?</I>
|
|
Doubtless it is because thou meetest not with that in those thou didst
|
|
confide in which thou promisedst thyself." Those that make God their
|
|
hope, and walk in a continual dependence upon him, need not <I>gad
|
|
about to change their way;</I> for their souls may return to him, and
|
|
repose in him, as their rest: but those that trust in creatures will be
|
|
perpetually uneasy, like Noah's dove, that found no rest for the sole
|
|
of her foot. Every thing they trust to fails them, and then they think
|
|
to change for the better, but they will be still disappointed. They
|
|
first trusted to Assyria, and, when that proved a broken reed, they
|
|
depended upon Egypt, and that proved no better. Creatures being vanity,
|
|
they will be vexation of spirit to all those that put their confidence
|
|
in them; they <I>gad about, seeking rest</I> and finding none.
|
|
|
|
2. They were quite disappointed in the confidences they made choice of;
|
|
so the prophet tells them they should be: <I>Thou shalt be ashamed of
|
|
Egypt,</I> which thou now trustest in, as formerly <I>thou wast of
|
|
Assyria, who distressed them and helped them not,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+28:20">2 Chron. xxviii. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Jews were a peculiar people in their profession of religion, and
|
|
for that reason none of the neighbouring nations cared for them, nor
|
|
could heartily love them; and yet the Jews were still courting them,
|
|
and confiding in them, and were well enough served when deceived by
|
|
them. See what will come of it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:37"><I>v.</I> 37</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Thou shalt go forth from him,</I> thy ambassadors or envoys shall
|
|
return from Egypt <I>re infectâ--disappointed,</I> and therefore
|
|
<I>with their hands upon their heads,</I> lamenting the desperate
|
|
condition of their people. Or, <I>Thou shalt go forth hence,</I> that
|
|
is, into captivity in a strange land, <I>with thy hands upon thy
|
|
head,</I> holding it because it aches (<I>ubi dolor ibi digitus--where
|
|
the pain is the finger will be applied</I>), or as people ashamed, for
|
|
Tamar, in the height of her confusion, <I>laid her hand on her
|
|
head,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+13:19">2 Sam. xiii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
"And Egypt, that thou reliest on, shall not be able to prevent it nor
|
|
to rescue thee out of captivity." Those that will not lay their hand on
|
|
their heart in godly sorrow, which works life, shall be made to lay
|
|
their hand on their head in the sorrow of the world, which works death.
|
|
And no wonder that Egypt cannot help them, when God will not, If the
|
|
Lord do not help thee, whence should I? The Egyptians are broken
|
|
reeds, for <I>the Lord has rejected thy confidences;</I> he will not
|
|
make use of them for thy relief, will neither so far honour them, nor
|
|
so far give countenance to thy confidence in them, as to appoint them to
|
|
be the instruments of any good to thee, and therefore <I>thou shalt not
|
|
prosper in them;</I> they shall not stand thee in any stead nor give
|
|
thee any satisfaction. As <I>there is no counsel or wisdom</I> that can
|
|
prevail against the Lord, so there is none that can prevail without
|
|
him. Some read it, <I>The Lord has rejected thee for thy
|
|
confidences;</I> because thou hast dealt so unfaithfully with him as to
|
|
trust in his creatures, nay, in his enemies when thou shouldst have
|
|
trusted in him only, he has abandoned thee to that destruction from
|
|
which thou thoughtest thus to shelter thyself; and then thou <I>canst
|
|
not prosper,</I> for none ever either hardened himself against God or
|
|
estranged himself from God and prospered.</P>
|
|
|
|
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