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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. V.</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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Reproof for sin and threatenings of judgment are intermixed in this
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chapter, and are set the one over against the other: judgments are
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threatened, that the reproofs of sin might be the more effectual to
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bring them to repentance; sin is discovered, that God might be
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justified in the judgments threatened.
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I. The sins they are charged with are very great:--Injustice
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:1">ver. 1</A>),
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hypocrisy in religion
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:2">ver. 2</A>),
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incorrigibleness
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:3">ver. 3</A>),
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the corruption and debauchery of both poor and rich
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:4,5">ver. 4, 5</A>),
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idolatry and adultery
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:7,8">ver. 7, 8</A>),
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treacherous departures from God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:11">ver. 11</A>),
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and impudent defiance of him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:12,13">ver. 12, 13</A>),
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and, that which is at the bottom of all this, want of the fear of God,
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notwithstanding the frequent calls given them to fear him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:20-24">ver. 20-24</A>.
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In the close of the chapter they are charged with violence and
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oppression
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:26-28">ver. 26-28</A>),
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and a combination of those to debauch the nation who should have been
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active to reform it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:30,31">
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ver. 30, 31</A>.
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II. The judgments they are threatened with are very terrible. In
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general, they shall be reckoned with,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:9,29">ver. 9, 29</A>.
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A foreign enemy shall be brought in upon them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:15-17">ver. 15-17</A>),
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shall set guards upon them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:6">ver. 6</A>),
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shall destroy their fortification
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:10">ver. 10</A>),
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shall carry them away into captivity
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:19">ver. 19</A>),
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and keep all good things from them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:25">ver. 25</A>.
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Herein the words of God's prophets shall be fulfilled,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:14">ver. 14</A>.
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But,
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III. Here is an intimation twice given that God would in the midst of
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wrath remember mercy, and not utterly destroy them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:10,18">ver. 10, 18</A>.
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This was the scope and purport of Jeremiah's preaching in the latter
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end of Josiah's reign and the beginning of Jehoiakim's; but the success
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of it did not answer expectation.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jer5_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer5_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Universal Corruption to the Age.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 608.</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 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see
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now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can
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find a man, if there be <I>any</I> that executeth judgment, that
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seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
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2 And though they say, The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> liveth; surely they swear
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falsely.
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3 O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>are</I> not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast
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stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed
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them, <I>but</I> they have refused to receive correction: they have
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made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
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4 Therefore I said, Surely these <I>are</I> poor; they are foolish:
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for they know not the way of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>nor</I> the judgment of
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their God.
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5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them;
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for they have known the way of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>and</I> the judgment of
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their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, <I>and</I> burst
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the bonds.
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6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, <I>and</I> a
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wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over
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their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in
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pieces: because their transgressions are many, <I>and</I> their
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backslidings are increased.
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7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken
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me, and sworn by <I>them that are</I> no gods: when I had fed them to
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the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves
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by troops in the harlots' houses.
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8 They were <I>as</I> fed horses in the morning: every one neighed
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after his neighbour's wife.
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9 Shall I not visit for these <I>things?</I> saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: and
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shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
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I. A challenge to produce any one right honest man, or at least any
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considerable number of such, in Jerusalem,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Jerusalem had become like the old world, in which <I>all flesh had
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corrupted their way.</I> There were some perhaps who flattered
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themselves with hopes that there were yet many good men in Jerusalem,
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who would stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of God; and there
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might be others who boasted of its being the holy city and thought that
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this would save it. But God bids them search the town, and intimates
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that they should scarcely find a man in it who executed judgment and
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made conscience of what he said and did: "Look in <I>the streets,</I>
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where they make their appearance and converse together, and in <I>the
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broad places,</I> where they keep their markets; <I>see if you can find
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a man, a magistrate</I> (so some), <I>that executes judgment,</I> and
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administers justice impartially, that will put the laws in execution
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against vice and profaneness." When the faithful thus cease and fail it
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is time to cry <I>Woe is me!</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+7:1,2">Mic. vii. 1, 2</A>),
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high time to cry, <I>Help Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+12:1">Ps. xii. 1</A>.
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"If there be here and there a man that is truly conscientious, and does
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at least <I>speak the truth,</I> yet you shall not find him <I>in the
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streets and broad places;</I> he dares not appear publicly, lest he
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should be abused and run down. <I>Truth has fallen in the street</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+59:14">Isa. lix. 14</A>),
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and is forced to <I>seek for corners.</I>" So pleasing would it be to
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God to find any such that for their sake he would pardon the city; if
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there were but ten righteous men in Sodom, if but one of a thousand, of
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ten thousand, in Jerusalem, it should be spared. See how ready God is
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to forgive, how swift to show mercy. But it might be said, "What do you
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make of those in Jerusalem that continue to make profession of religion
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and relation to God? Are not they men for whose sakes Jerusalem may be
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spared?" No, for they are not sincere in their profession
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>They say, The Lord liveth,</I> and will swear by his name only, but
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they <I>swear falsely,</I> that is,
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1. They are not sincere in the profession they make of respect to God,
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but are false to him; they <I>honour him with their lips, but their
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hearts are far from him.</I>
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2. Though they appeal to God only, they make no conscience of calling
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him to witness to a lie. Though they do not swear by idols, they
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forswear themselves, which is no less an affront to God, as the God of
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truth, than the other is as the only true God.</P>
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<P>
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II. A complaint which the prophet makes to God of the obstinacy and
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wilfulness of these people. God had appealed to their eyes
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>);
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but here the prophet appeals to his eyes
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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"<I>Are not thy eyes upon the truth?</I> Dost thou not see every man's
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true character? And is not this the truth of their character, that
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<I>they have made their faces harder than a rock?</I>" Or, "<I>Behold,
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thou desirest truth in the inward part;</I> but where is it to be found
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among the men of this generation? For though they say, <I>The Lord
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liveth,</I> yet they never regard him; <I>thou hast stricken them</I>
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with one affliction after another, <I>but they have not grieved</I> for
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the affliction, they have been as stocks and stones under it, much less
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have they grieved for the sin by which they have brought it upon
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themselves. <I>Thou</I> hast gone further yet, <I>hast consumed
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them,</I> hast corrected them yet more severely; <I>but they have
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refused to receive correction,</I> to accommodate themselves to thy
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design in correcting them and to answer to it. They would not receive
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instruction by the correction. The have set themselves to outface the
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divine sentence and to outbrave the execution of it, for <I>they have
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made their faces harder than a rock;</I> they cannot change
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countenance, neither blush for shame nor look pale for fear, cannot be
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beaten back from the pursuit of their lusts, whatever check is given
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them; for, though often called to it, <I>they have refused to
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return,</I> and would go forward, right or wrong, as <I>the horse into
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the battle.</I>"</P>
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<P>
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III. The trial made both of rich and poor, and the bad character given
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of both.</P>
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<P>
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1. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. He found
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many that <I>refused to return,</I> for whom he was willing to make the
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best excuse their case would bear, and it was this
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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"<I>Surely, these are poor, they are foolish.</I> They never had the
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advantage of a good education, nor have they wherewithal to help
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themselves now with the means of instruction. They are forced to work
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hard for their living, and have no time nor capacity for reading or
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hearing, so that <I>they know not the way of the Lord, nor the
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judgments of their God;</I> they understand neither the way in which
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God by his precepts will have them to walk towards him nor the way in
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which he by his providence is walking towards them." Note,
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(1.) Prevailing ignorance is the lamentable cause of abounding impiety
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and iniquity. What can one expect but works of darkness from brutish
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sottish people that know nothing of God and religion, but choose to
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<I>sit in darkness?</I>
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(2.) This is commonly a reigning sin among poor people. There are the
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devil's poor as well as God's, who, notwithstanding their poverty,
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might <I>know the way of the Lord,</I> so as to walk in it and do their
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duty, without being book-learned; but they are willingly ignorant, and
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therefore their ignorance will not be their excuse.</P>
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<P>
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2. The rich were insolent and haughty, and therefore they were wicked
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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"<I>I will get me to the great men,</I> and see if I can find them more
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pliable to the word and providence of God. I will <I>speak to them,</I>
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preach at court, in hopes to make some impression upon men of polite
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literature. But all in vain; <I>for,</I> though <I>they know the way of
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the Lord and the judgment of their God,</I> yet they are too stiff to
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stoop to his government: <I>These have altogether broken the yoke and
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burst the bonds.</I> They know their Master's will, but are resolved to
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have their own will, to <I>walk in the way of their heart and in the
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sight of their eyes.</I> They think themselves too goodly to be
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controlled, too big to be corrected, even by the sovereign Lord of all
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himself. They are for breaking even <I>his bands asunder,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:3">Ps. ii. 3</A>.
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The poor are weak, the rich are wilful, and so neither do their
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duty."</P>
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<P>
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IV. Some particular sins specified, which they were notoriously guilty
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of, and which cried most loudly to heaven for vengeance. <I>Their
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transgressions</I> indeed <I>were many,</I> of many kinds and often
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repeated, <I>and their backslidings were increased;</I> they added to
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the number of them and grew more and more impudent in them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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But two sins especially were justly to be looked upon as unpardonable
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crimes:--
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1. Their spiritual whoredom, giving that honour to idols which is due
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to God only. "<I>Thy children have forsaken me,</I> to whom they were
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born and dedicated and under whom they have been brought up, <I>and</I>
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they <I>have sworn by those that are no gods,</I> have made their
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appeal to them as if they had been omniscient and their proper judges."
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This is here put for all acts of religious worship due to God only, but
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with which they had honoured their idols. <I>They have sworn to
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them</I> (so it may be read), have joined themselves to them and
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covenanted with them. Those that forsake God make a bad change for
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those that are no gods.
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2. Their corporal whoredom. Because they had forsaken God and served
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idols, he gave them up to vile affections; and those that dishonoured
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him were left to dishonour themselves and their own families. They
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<I>committed adultery</I> most scandalously, without sense of shame or
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fear of punishment, for they <I>assembled themselves by troops in the
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harlots' houses</I> and did not blush to be seen by one another in the
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most scandalous places. So impudent and violent was their lust, so
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impatient of check, and so eager to be gratified, that they became
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perfect beasts
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
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like high-fed horses, they <I>neighed every one after his neighbour's
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wife,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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Unbridled lusts make men <I>like natural brute beasts,</I> such
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monstrous odious things are they. And that which aggravated their sin
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was that it was the abuse of God's favours to them: <I>When they were
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fed to the full,</I> then their lusts grew thus furious. Fulness of
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bread was fuel to the fire of Sodom's lusts. <I>Sine Cerere et Bacchio
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friget Venu--Luxurious living feeds the flames of lust.</I> Fasting
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would help to tame the unruly evil that is so <I>full of deadly
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poison,</I> and bring the body into subjection.</P>
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<P>
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V. A threatening of God's wrath against them for their wickedness and
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the universal debauchery of their land.</P>
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<P>
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1. The particular judgment that is threatened,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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A foreign enemy shall break in upon them, get dominion over them, and
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shall lay waste: their country shall be as if it were overrun and
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perfectly mastered by wild beasts. This enemy shall be,
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(1.) Like <I>a lion of the forest;</I> so strong, so furious, so
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irresistible; and he <I>shall slay them.</I>
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(2.) Like <I>a wolf of the evening,</I> which comes out at night, when
|
|
he is hungry, to seek his prey, and is very fierce and ravenous; and
|
|
the noise both of the lions' roaring and of the wolves' howling is very
|
|
hideous.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Like <I>a leopard,</I> which is very swift and very cruel, and
|
|
withal careful not to miss his prey. The army of the enemy shall
|
|
<I>watch over their cities</I> so strictly as to put the inhabitants to
|
|
this sad dilemma--if they stay in, they are starved; if they stir out,
|
|
they are stabbed; <I>Every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in
|
|
pieces,</I> which intimates that in many places the enemy gave no
|
|
quarter. And all this bloody work is owing to the <I>multitude of their
|
|
transgressions.</I> It is sin that makes the great slaughter.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. An appeal to themselves concerning the equity of it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
|
|
|
|
"<I>Shall I not visit for these things?</I> Can you yourselves think
|
|
that the God whose name is <I>Jealous</I> will let such idolatries go
|
|
unpunished, or that a God of infinite purity will connive at such
|
|
abominable uncleanness?" These are things that must be reckoned for,
|
|
else the honour of God's government cannot be maintained, nor his laws
|
|
saved from contempt; but sinners will be tempted to think him
|
|
<I>altogether such a one as themselves,</I> contrary to that conviction
|
|
of their own consciences concerning the judgment of God which is
|
|
necessary to be supported, That <I>those who</I> do <I>such things are
|
|
worthy of death,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:32">Rom. i. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe, when God punishes sin, he is said to <I>visit</I> for it, or
|
|
enquire into it; for he weighs the cause before he passes sentence.
|
|
Sinners have reason to expect punishment upon the account of God's
|
|
holiness, to which sin is highly offensive, as well as upon the account
|
|
of his justice, to which it renders us obnoxious; this is intimated in
|
|
that, <I>Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?</I> It
|
|
is not only the word of God, but his soul, that takes vengeance. And he
|
|
has national judgments wherewith to take vengeance for national sins.
|
|
<I>Such nations as this</I> was cannot long go unpunished. <I>How shall
|
|
I pardon thee for this?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Not but that those who have been guilty of these sins have found mercy
|
|
with God, as to their eternal state (Manasseh himself did, though so
|
|
much accessory to the iniquity of these times); but nations, <I>as
|
|
such,</I> being rewardable and punishable only in this life, it would
|
|
not be for the glory of God to let a nation so very wicked as this pass
|
|
without some manifest tokens of his displeasure.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_19"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Divine Judgments Threatened; Divine Judgments Vindicated.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 608.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full
|
|
end: take away her battlements; for they <I>are</I> not the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s.
|
|
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt
|
|
very treacherously against me, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
12 They have belied the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and said, <I>It is</I> not he; neither
|
|
shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
|
|
13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word <I>is</I> not in
|
|
them: thus shall it be done unto them.
|
|
14 Wherefore thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of hosts, Because ye speak
|
|
this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and
|
|
this people wood, and it shall devour them.
|
|
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of
|
|
Israel, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: it <I>is</I> a mighty nation, it <I>is</I> an
|
|
ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither
|
|
understandest what they say.
|
|
16 Their quiver <I>is</I> as an open sepulchre, they <I>are</I> all
|
|
mighty men.
|
|
17 And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, <I>which</I>
|
|
thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy
|
|
flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig
|
|
trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou
|
|
trustedst, with the sword.
|
|
18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, I will not make
|
|
a full end with you.
|
|
19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore
|
|
doeth the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God all these <I>things</I> unto us? then shalt
|
|
thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange
|
|
gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land <I>that
|
|
is</I> not yours.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We may observe in these verses, as before,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The sin of this people, upon which the commission signed against
|
|
them is grounded. God disowns them and dooms them to destruction,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
But <I>is there not a cause?</I> Yes; for,
|
|
|
|
1. They have deserted the law of God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The house of Israel and the house of Judah,</I> though at variance
|
|
with one another, yet both agreed to <I>deal very treacherously against
|
|
God.</I> They forsook the worship of him, and therein violated their
|
|
covenants with him; they revolted from him, and played the hypocrite
|
|
with him.
|
|
|
|
2. They have defied the judgments of God and given the lie to his
|
|
threatenings in the mouth of his prophets,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:12,13"><I>v.</I> 12, 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
They were often told that evil would certainly come upon them; they
|
|
must expect some desolating judgment, <I>sword or famine;</I> but they
|
|
were secure and said, <I>We shall have peace, though we go on.</I> For,
|
|
|
|
(1.) They did not fear what God is. They belied him, and confronted the
|
|
dictates even of natural light concerning him; for they said, "<I>It is
|
|
not he,</I> that is, he is not such a one as we have been made to
|
|
believe he is; he does not see, or not regard, or will not require it;
|
|
and therefore <I>no evil shall come upon us.</I>" Multitudes are ruined
|
|
by being made to believe that God will not be so strict with them as
|
|
his word says he will; nay, by this artifice Satan undid us all: <I>You
|
|
shall not surely die.</I> So here: <I>Neither shall we see sword nor
|
|
famine.</I> Vain hopes of impunity are the deceitful support of all
|
|
impiety.
|
|
|
|
(2.) They did not fear what God said. The prophets gave them fair
|
|
warning, but they turned it off with a jest: "They do but talk so,
|
|
because it is their trade; they are words of course, and words are but
|
|
wind. It is not the word of the Lord that is in them; it is only the
|
|
language of their melancholy fancy or their ill-will to their country,
|
|
because they are not preferred." Note, Impenitent sinners are not
|
|
willing to own any thing to be the word of God that makes against them,
|
|
that tends either to part them from, or disquiet them in, their sins.
|
|
They threaten the prophets: "<I>They shall become wind,</I> shall pass
|
|
away unregarded, and <I>thus shall it be done unto them;</I> what they
|
|
threaten against us we will inflict upon them. Do they frighten us with
|
|
famine? Let them be <I>fed with the bread of affliction.</I>" So
|
|
Micaiah was,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+22:27">1 Kings xxii. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Do they tell us of the sword? Let them perish by the sword,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:30"><I>ch.</I> ii. 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus their mocking and misusing God's messengers filled the measure of
|
|
their iniquity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The punishment of this people for their sin.
|
|
|
|
1. The threatenings they laughed at shall be executed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Because you speak this word</I> of contempt concerning the prophets,
|
|
and the word in their mouths, therefore God will put honour upon them
|
|
and their words, for not one iota or tittle of them shall <I>fall to
|
|
the ground,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+3:19">1 Sam. iii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here God turns to the prophet Jeremiah, who had been thus bantered, and
|
|
perhaps had been a little uneasy at it: <I>Behold, I will make my words
|
|
in thy mouth fire.</I> God owns them for his words, though men denied
|
|
them, and will as surely make them to take effect as the fire consumes
|
|
combustible material that is in its way. <I>The word shall be fire and
|
|
the people wood.</I> Sinners by sin make themselves fuel to that wrath
|
|
of God which is <I>revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
|
|
unrighteousness of men</I> in the scripture. The word of God will
|
|
certainly be too hard for those that contend with it. Those shall break
|
|
who will not bow before it.
|
|
|
|
2. The enemy they thought themselves in no danger of shall be brought
|
|
upon them. God gives them their commission
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Go you up upon her walls,</I> mount them, trample upon them, tread
|
|
them down. Walls of stone, before the divine commission, shall be but
|
|
mud walls. Having made yourselves masters of the walls, you may
|
|
<I>destroy</I> at pleasure. You may <I>take away her battlements,</I>
|
|
and leave the fenced fortified cities to lie open; for her battlements
|
|
<I>are not the Lord's</I> he does not own them and therefore will not
|
|
protect and fortify them." They were not erected in his fear, nor with
|
|
a dependence upon him; the people have trusted to them more than to
|
|
God, and therefore they are not his. When the city is filled with sin
|
|
God will not patronise the fortifications of it, and then they are
|
|
paper walls. What can defend us when he who is our defence, and the
|
|
defender of all our defences, has <I>departed from us?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+14:9">Num. xiv. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
What is not of God cannot stand, not stand long, nor stand us in any
|
|
stead. What dreadful work these invaders should make is here described
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Lo, I will bring a nation upon you, O house of Israel!</I> Note, God
|
|
has all nations at his command, does what he pleases with them and
|
|
makes what use he pleases of them. And sometimes he is pleased to make
|
|
the nations of the earth, the heathen nations, a scourge to the house
|
|
of Israel, when that has become a <I>hypocritical nation.</I> This
|
|
nation of the Chaldeans is here said to be a remote nation; it is
|
|
<I>brought upon them from afar,</I> and therefore will make the greater
|
|
spoil and the longer stay, that the soldiers may pay themselves well
|
|
for so long a march. "It is a nation that thou hast had no commerce
|
|
with, by reason of their distance, and therefore canst not expect to
|
|
find favour with." God can bring trouble upon us from places and causes
|
|
very remote. It is a <I>mighty nation,</I> that there is no making head
|
|
against, an <I>ancient nation,</I> that value themselves upon their
|
|
antiquity and will therefore be the more haughty and imperious. It is
|
|
<I>a nation whose language thou knowest not;</I> they spoke the Syriac
|
|
tongue, which the Jews at that time were not acquainted with, as
|
|
appears,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+18:26">2 Kings xviii. 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
The difference of language would make it the more difficult to treat
|
|
with them of peace. Compare this with the threatening,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:49">Deut. xxviii. 49</A>,
|
|
|
|
which it seems to have a reference to, for the law and the prophets
|
|
exactly agree. They are well armed: <I>Their quiver is as an open
|
|
sepulchre;</I> their arrows shall fly so thick, hit so sure, and wound
|
|
so deep, that they shall be reckoned to breathe nothing but death and
|
|
slaughter: they are able-bodied, all effective, <I>mighty men,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
And, when they have made themselves masters of the country, they shall
|
|
devour all before them, and reckon all their own that they can lay
|
|
their hands on,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) They shall strip the country, shall not only sustain, but surfeit,
|
|
their soldiers with the rich products of this fruitful land. "They
|
|
shall not store up (then it might possibly by retrieved), but <I>eat up
|
|
thy harvest</I> in the field <I>and thy bread</I> in the house,
|
|
<I>which thy sons and thy daughters should eat.</I>" Note, What we have
|
|
we have for our families, and it is a comfort to see our sons and
|
|
daughters eating that which we have taken care and pains for. But it is
|
|
a grievous vexation to see it devoured by strangers and enemies, to see
|
|
their camps victualled with our stores, while those that are dear to us
|
|
are perishing for want of it: this also is according to the curse of
|
|
the law,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:33">Deut. xxviii. 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
"<I>They shall eat up thy flocks and herds,</I> out of which thou hast
|
|
taken sacrifices for thy idols; they shall not leave thee the fruit of
|
|
<I>thy vines and fig-trees.</I>"
|
|
|
|
(2.) They shall starve the towns: "They <I>shall impoverish thy fenced
|
|
cities</I>" (and what fence is there against poverty, when it comes
|
|
like an armed man?), "those cities <I>wherein thou trustedst</I> to be
|
|
a protection to the country." Note, It is just with God to impoverish
|
|
that which we make our confidence. They shall impoverish them <I>with
|
|
the sword,</I> cutting off all provisions from coming to them and
|
|
intercepting trade and commerce, which will impoverish even fenced
|
|
cities.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. An intimation of the tender compassion God has yet for them. The
|
|
enemy is commissioned to destroy and lay waste, but must not <I>make a
|
|
full end,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though they make a great slaughter, yet some must be left to live;
|
|
though they make a great spoil, yet something must be left to live
|
|
upon, for God has said it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>)
|
|
|
|
with a <I>non obstante--a nevertheless</I> to the present desolation:
|
|
"Even <I>in those days,</I> dismal as they are, <I>I will not make a
|
|
full end with you;</I>" and, if God will not, the enemy shall not. God
|
|
has mercy in store for his people, and therefore will set bounds to
|
|
this desolating judgment. <I>Hitherto it shall come, and no
|
|
further.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The justification of God in these proceedings against them. As he
|
|
will appear to be gracious in not making a full end with them, so he
|
|
will appear to be righteous in coming so near it, and will have it
|
|
acknowledged that he has done them no wrong,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. A reason demanded, insolently demanded, by the people for these
|
|
judgments. They <I>will say "Wherefore doth the Lord our God do all
|
|
this unto us?</I> What provocation have we given him, or what quarrel
|
|
has he with us?" As if against such a sinful nation there did not
|
|
appear cause enough of action. Note, Unhumbled hearts are ready to
|
|
charge God with injustice in their afflictions, and pretend they have
|
|
to seek for the cause of them when it is written in the forehead of
|
|
them. But,
|
|
|
|
2. Here is a reason immediately assigned. The prophet is instructed
|
|
what answer to give them; for God <I>will be justified when he
|
|
speaks,</I> though he speaks with ever so much terror. He must tell
|
|
them that God does this against them for what they have done against
|
|
him, and that they may, if they please, read their sin in their
|
|
punishment. Do not they know very well that they have <I>forsaken
|
|
God,</I> and therefore can they think it strange if he has forsaken
|
|
them? Have they forgotten how often they <I>served gods in their own
|
|
land,</I> that good land, in the abundance of the fruits of which they
|
|
ought to have served God with gladness of heart? and therefore is it
|
|
not just with God to make them <I>serve strangers</I> in a strange
|
|
land, where they can call nothing their own, as he has threatened to
|
|
do?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:47,48">Deut. xxviii. 47, 48</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that are fond of strangers, to strangers let them go.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_24"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Expostulation with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 608.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah,
|
|
saying,
|
|
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding;
|
|
which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
|
|
22 Fear ye not me? saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: will ye not tremble at my
|
|
presence, which have placed the sand <I>for</I> the bound of the sea
|
|
by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the
|
|
waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though
|
|
they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
|
|
23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart;
|
|
they are revolted and gone.
|
|
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his
|
|
season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet, having reproved them for sin and threatened the judgments
|
|
of God against them, is here sent to them again upon another errand,
|
|
which he must <I>publish in Judah;</I> the purport of it is to persuade
|
|
them to fear God, which would be an effectual principle of their
|
|
reformation, as the want of that fear had been at the bottom of their
|
|
apostasy.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He complains of the shameful stupidity of this people, and their
|
|
bent to backslide from God, speaking as if he knew not what course to
|
|
take with them. For,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Their understandings were darkened and unapt to admit the rays of
|
|
the divine light: They are a <I>foolish people and without
|
|
understanding;</I> they apprehend not the mind of God, though ever so
|
|
plainly declared to them by the written word, by his prophets, and by
|
|
his providence
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They have eyes, but they see not, ears, but they hear not,</I> like
|
|
the idols which they made and worshipped,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+115:5,6,8">Ps. cxv. 5, 6, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
One would have thought that they took notice of things, but really they
|
|
did not; they had intellectual faculties and capacities, but they did
|
|
not employ and improve them as they ought. Herein they disappointed
|
|
the expectations of all their neighbours, who, observing what excellent
|
|
means of knowledge they had, concluded, <I>Surely they are a wise and
|
|
an understanding people</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:6">Deut. iv. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet really they are a <I>foolish people and without
|
|
understanding.</I> Note, We cannot judge of men by the advantages and
|
|
opportunities they enjoy: there are those that sit in darkness in a
|
|
land of light, that live in sin even in a holy land, that are bad in
|
|
the best places.
|
|
|
|
2. Their wills were stubborn and unapt to submit to the rules of the
|
|
divine law
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>This people has a revolting and a rebellious heart;</I> and no
|
|
wonder when they were <I>foolish and without understanding,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+82:5">Ps. lxxxii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nay, it is the corrupt bias of the will that bribes and besots the
|
|
understanding: none so blind as those that will not see. The character
|
|
of this people is the true character of all people by nature, till the
|
|
grace of God has wrought a change. We are <I>foolish,</I> slow of
|
|
understanding, and apt to mistake and forget; yet that is not the
|
|
worst. We have <I>a revolting and a rebellious heart,</I> a carnal
|
|
mind, that is enmity against God, and is not in subjection to his law,
|
|
not only revolting from him by a rooted aversion to that which is good,
|
|
but rebellious against him by a strong inclination to that which is
|
|
evil. Observe, The revolting heart is a rebellious one: those that
|
|
withdraw from their allegiance to God do not stop there, but by siding
|
|
in with sin and Satan take up arms against him. <I>They have revolted
|
|
and gone.</I> The revolting heart will produce a revolting life.
|
|
<I>They are gone,</I> and they <I>will go</I> (so it may be read); now
|
|
<I>nothing will be restrained from them,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:6">Gen. xi. 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He ascribed this to the want of the fear of God. When he observes
|
|
them to be without understanding he asks, "<I>Fear you not me, saith
|
|
the Lord, and will you not tremble at my presence?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
If you would but keep up an awe of God, you would be more observant of
|
|
what he says to you: and, did you but understand your own interest
|
|
better, you would be more under the commanding rule of God's fear."
|
|
When he observes that <I>they have revolted and gone</I> he adds this,
|
|
as the root and cause of their apostasy
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Neither say they in their hearts, Let us now fear the Lord our
|
|
God.</I> Therefore so many bad thoughts come into their mind, and hurry
|
|
them to that which is evil, because they will not admit and entertain
|
|
good thoughts, and particularly not this good thought, <I>Let us now
|
|
fear the Lord our God.</I> It is true it is God's work to put his fear
|
|
into our hearts; but it is our work to stir up ourselves to fear him,
|
|
and to fasten upon those considerations which are proper to affect us
|
|
with a holy awe of him; and it is because we do not do this that our
|
|
hearts are so destitute of his fear as they are, and so apt to revolt
|
|
and rebel.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. He suggests some of those things which are proper to possess us
|
|
with a holy fear of God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. We must fear the Lord and his greatness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Upon this account he demands our fear: <I>Shall we not tremble at his
|
|
presence,</I> and not be afraid of affronting him, or trifling with
|
|
him, who in the kingdom of nature and providence gives such
|
|
incontestable proofs of his almighty power and sovereign dominion? Here
|
|
is one instance given of very many that might be given: he keeps the
|
|
sea within compass. Though the tides flow with a mighty strength twice
|
|
every day, and if they should flow on awhile would drown the world,
|
|
though in a storm the billows rise high and dash to the shore with
|
|
incredible force and fury, yet they are under check, they return, they
|
|
retire, and no harm is done. <I>This is the Lord's doing,</I> and, if
|
|
it were not common, it would be <I>marvellous in our eyes.</I> He has
|
|
<I>placed the sand for the bound of the sea,</I> not only for a
|
|
<I>meer-stone,</I> to mark out how far it may come and where it must
|
|
stop, but as a <I>mound,</I> or fence, to put a stop to it. A wall of
|
|
sand shall be as effectual as a wall of brass to check the flowing
|
|
waves, when God is pleased to make it so; nay, that is chosen rather,
|
|
to teach us that a <I>soft answer,</I> like the soft sand, <I>turns
|
|
away wrath,</I> and quiets a foaming rage, when <I>grievous words,</I>
|
|
like hard rocks, do but exasperate, and make <I>the waters cast
|
|
forth</I> so much the more <I>mire and dirt.</I> This bound is placed
|
|
<I>by a perpetual decree,</I> by an ordinance <I>of antiquity</I> (so
|
|
some read it), and then it sends us as far back as to the creation of
|
|
the world, when God divided between the sea and dry land, and fixed
|
|
marches between them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:9,10">Gen. i. 9, 10</A>
|
|
|
|
(which is elegantly described,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+104:6-26">Ps. civ. 6</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c., and
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:8-41">Job xxxviii. 8</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.), or to the period of Noah's flood, when God promised that he would
|
|
never drown the world again,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+9:11">Gen. ix. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
An ordinance of <I>perpetuity</I>--so our translation takes it. It is a
|
|
<I>perpetual decree;</I> it has had its effect all along to this day
|
|
and shall still continue till day and night come to an end. This
|
|
<I>perpetual decree</I> the waters of the sea <I>cannot pass over</I>
|
|
nor break through. <I>Though the waves thereof toss themselves,</I> as
|
|
the <I>troubled sea</I> does <I>when it cannot rest,</I> yet <I>can
|
|
they not prevail; though they roar</I> and rage as if they were vexed
|
|
at the check given them, <I>yet can they not pass over.</I> Now this is
|
|
a good reason why we should fear God; for,
|
|
|
|
(1.) By this we see that he is a God of almighty power and universal
|
|
sovereignty, and therefore to be feared and had in reverence.
|
|
|
|
(2.) This shows us how easily he could drown the world again and how
|
|
much we continually lie at his mercy, and therefore we should be afraid
|
|
of making him our enemy.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Even the unruly waves of the sea observe his decree and retreat at
|
|
his check, and shall not we then? Why are our hearts revolting and
|
|
rebellious, when the sea neither revolts nor rebels?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. We must fear the Lord and his goodness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+3:5">Hos. iii. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
The instances of this, as of the former, are fetched from God's common
|
|
providence,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
We must <I>fear the Lord our God,</I> that is, we must worship him, and
|
|
give him glory, and be always in care to keep ourselves in his love,
|
|
because he is continually doing us good: he gives us both <I>the former
|
|
and the latter rain,</I> the former a little after seed-time, the
|
|
latter a little before harvest, and both <I>in their season;</I> and by
|
|
this means <I>he reserves to us the appointed weeks of harvest.</I>
|
|
Harvest is reckoned by weeks, because in a few weeks enough is gathered
|
|
to serve for sustenance the year round. The weeks of the harvest are
|
|
appointed us by the promise of God, that <I>seed-time and harvest shall
|
|
not fail.</I> And in performance of that promise they are reserved to
|
|
us by the divine providence, otherwise we should come short of them. In
|
|
harvest mercies therefore God is to be acknowledged, his power, and
|
|
goodness, and faithfulness, for they all come from him. And it is good
|
|
reason why we should fear him, that we may keep ourselves in his love,
|
|
because we have such a necessary dependence upon him. The fruitful
|
|
seasons were witnesses for God, even to the heathen world, sufficient
|
|
to leave them inexcusable in their contempt of him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+14:17">Acts xiv. 17</A>);
|
|
|
|
and yet the Jews, who had the written word to explain their testimony
|
|
by, were not wrought upon to fear the Lord, though it appears how much
|
|
it is our interest to do so.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Jer5_31"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Expostulation with Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 608.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>25 Your iniquities have turned away these <I>things,</I> and your
|
|
sins have withholden good <I>things</I> from you.
|
|
26 For among my people are found wicked <I>men:</I> they lay wait,
|
|
as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
|
|
27 As a cage is full of birds, so <I>are</I> their houses full of
|
|
deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
|
|
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds
|
|
of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the
|
|
fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they
|
|
not judge.
|
|
29 Shall I not visit for these <I>things?</I> saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>: shall
|
|
not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
|
|
30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
|
|
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by
|
|
their means; and my people love <I>to have it</I> so: and what will ye
|
|
do in the end thereof?
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here,
|
|
|
|
I. The prophet shows them what mischief their sins had done them: They
|
|
<I>have turned away these things</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>),
|
|
|
|
the <I>former and the latter rain,</I> which they used to have <I>in
|
|
due season</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
but which had of late been withheld
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+3:3"><I>ch.</I> iii. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
by reason of which the appointed weeks of harvest had sometimes
|
|
disappointed them. "It is <I>your sin</I> that <I>has withholden good
|
|
from you,</I> when God was ready to bestow it upon you." Note, It is
|
|
sin that stops the current of God's favour to us, and deprives us of
|
|
the blessings we used to receive. It is that which makes the heavens as
|
|
brass and the earth as iron.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He shows them how great their sins were, how heinous and provoking.
|
|
When they had forsaken the worship of the true God, even moral honesty
|
|
was lost among them: <I>Among my people are found wicked men</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
some of the worst of men, and so much the worse they were for being
|
|
found among God's people.
|
|
|
|
1. They were spiteful and malicious. Such are properly <I>wicked
|
|
men,</I> men that delight in doing mischief. They were <I>found</I>
|
|
(that is, caught) in the very act of their wickedness. As hunters or
|
|
fowlers lay snares for their game, so did they <I>lie in wait</I> to
|
|
<I>catch men,</I> and made a sport of it, and took as much pleasure in
|
|
it as if they had been entrapping beasts or birds. They contrives ways
|
|
of doing mischief to good people (whom they hated for their goodness),
|
|
especially to those that faithfully reproved them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+29:21">Isa. xxix. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
or to those that stood in the way of their preferment or whom they
|
|
supposed to have affronted them or done them a diskindness, or to those
|
|
whose estates they coveted; so Jezebel ensnared Naboth for his
|
|
vineyard. Nay, they did mischief for mischief's sake.
|
|
|
|
2. They were false and treacherous
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>As a cage,</I> or <I>coop,</I> is <I>full of birds,</I> and of food
|
|
for them to fatten them for the table, so are <I>their houses full of
|
|
deceit,</I> of wealth obtained by fraudulent practices or of arts and
|
|
methods of defrauding. All the business of their families is done with
|
|
deceit; whoever deals with them, they will cheat him if they can, which
|
|
is easily done by those who make no conscience of what they say and do.
|
|
Herein <I>they overpass the deed of the wicked,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that act by deceit, with a colour of law and justice, do more
|
|
mischief perhaps than those wicked men
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>)
|
|
|
|
that carry all before them by open force and violence; or they are
|
|
worse than the heathen themselves, yea, the worst of them. And (would
|
|
you think it?) they prosper in these wicked courses and therefore their
|
|
hearts are hardened in them. They are greedy of the world, because they
|
|
find it flows in upon them, and they stick not at any wickedness in
|
|
pursuit of it, because they find that it is so far from hindering their
|
|
prosperity that it furthers it: <I>They have become great</I> in the
|
|
world; <I>they have waxen rich,</I> and thrive upon it. They have
|
|
wherewithal to make provision for the flesh to fulfill all the lusts of
|
|
it, to which they are very indulgent, so that <I>they have waxen
|
|
fat</I> with living at ease and bathing themselves in all the delights
|
|
of sense. They are sleek and smooth: <I>The shine;</I> they look fair
|
|
and gay; every body admires them. And they <I>pass by matters of
|
|
evil</I> (so some read the following words); they escape the evils
|
|
which one would expect their sins should bring upon them; <I>they are
|
|
not in trouble as other men,</I> much less as we might expect bad men,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:5">Ps. lxxiii. 5</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.
|
|
|
|
3. When they had grown great, and had got power in their hands, they
|
|
did not do that good with it which they ought to have done: <I>They
|
|
judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, and the right of the
|
|
needy.</I> The fatherless are often needy, always need assistance and
|
|
advice, and advantage is taken of their helpless condition to do them
|
|
an injury. Who should succour them then but the great and rich? What
|
|
have men wealth for but to do good with it? But these would take no
|
|
cognizance of any such distressed cases: they had not so much sense of
|
|
justice, or compassion for the injured; or, if they did concern
|
|
themselves in the cause, it was not to do right, but to protect those
|
|
that did wrong. And <I>yet they prosper</I> still; <I>God layeth not
|
|
folly to them.</I> Certainly then the things of this world are not the
|
|
best things, for often-times the worst men have the most of them; yet
|
|
we are not to think that, because they prosper, God allows of their
|
|
practices. No; <I>though sentence against</I> their <I>evil works be
|
|
not executed speedily,</I> it will be executed.
|
|
|
|
4. There was a general corruption of all orders and degrees of men
|
|
among them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:30,31"><I>v.</I> 30, 31</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land.</I> The
|
|
degeneracy of such a people, so privileged and advanced, was a
|
|
wonderful thing, and to be viewed with amazement. How could they ever
|
|
break through so many obligations? It was a horrible thing, a thing to
|
|
be detested and the consequences of it dreaded. To frighten ourselves
|
|
from sin, let us call it a horrible thing. What was the matter? In
|
|
short, this:
|
|
|
|
(1.) The leaders misled the people: <I>The prophets prophesy
|
|
falsely,</I> counterfeit a commission from heaven when they are factors
|
|
for hell. Religion is never more dangerously attacked than under
|
|
colour and pretence of divine revelation. But why did not the priests,
|
|
who had power in their hands for that purpose, restrain these false
|
|
prophets? Alas! instead of doing that they made use of them as the
|
|
tools of their ambition and tyranny: <I>The priests bear rule by their
|
|
means;</I> they supported themselves in their grandeur and wealth,
|
|
their laziness and luxury, their impositions and oppressions, by the
|
|
help of the false prophets and their interest in the people. Thus they
|
|
were in a combination against every thing that was good, and
|
|
strengthened one another's hands in evil.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The people were well enough pleased to be so misled: "They are
|
|
<I>my people,</I>" says God, "and should have stood up for me, and
|
|
borne their testimony against the wickedness of their priests and
|
|
prophets; but they <I>love to have it so.</I>" If the priests and
|
|
prophets will let them alone in their sins, they will give them no
|
|
disturbance in theirs. They love to be ridden with a loose rein, and
|
|
like those rulers very well that will not restrain their lusts and
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those teachers that will not reprove them.</P>
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<P>
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III. He shows them how fatal the consequences of this would certainly
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be. Let them consider,</P>
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<P>
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1. What the reckoning would be for their wickedness
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>):
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<I>Shall not I visit for these things?</I> as before,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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Sometimes mercy rejoices against judgment: <I>How shall I give thee up,
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Ephraim?</I> Here, judgment is reasoning against mercy: <I>Shall I not
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visit?</I> We are sure that Infinite Wisdom knows how to accommodate
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the matter between them. The manner of expression is very emphatic, and
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denotes,
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(1.) The certainty and necessity of God's judgments: <I>Shall not my
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soul be avenged?</I> Yes, without doubt, vengeance will come, it must
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come, if the sinner repent not.
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(2.) The justice and equity of God's judgments; he appeals to the
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sinner's own conscience, Do not those deserve to be punished that have
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been guilty of such abominations? Shall he not be avenged on <I>such a
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nation,</I> such a wicked provoking nation as this?</P>
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<P>
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2. What the direct tendency of their wickedness was: <I>What will you
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do in the end thereof?</I> That is,
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(1.) "What a pitch of wickedness will you come to at last! <I>What will
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|
you do?</I> What will you not do that is base and wicked. What will
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|
this grow to? You will certainly grow worse and worse, till you have
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|
filled up the measure of your iniquity."
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(2.) "What a pit of destruction will you come to at last! When things
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are brought to such a pass as this, nothing can be expected from you
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but a deluge of sin, so nothing can be expected from God but a deluge
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of wrath; and what will you do when that shall come?" Note, Those that
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walk in bad ways would do well to consider the tendency of them both to
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greater sin and utter ruin. An end will come; the end of a wicked life
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will come, when it will be all called over again, and without doubt
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will be bitterness in the latter end.</P>
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