When
we left the prophet, in the close of the foregoing chapter, so pathetically
poring out his prayers before God, we had reason to hope that in this
chapter we should find God reconciled to the land and the prophet brought
into a quiet composed frame; but, to our great surprise, we find it much
otherwise as to both. I. Notwithstanding the prophet's prayers, God here
ratifies the sentence given against the people, and abandons them to ruin
turning a deaf ear to all the intercessions made for them, ver. 1-9. II. The
prophet himself, notwithstanding the satisfaction he had in communion with
God, still finds himself uneasy and out of temper. 1. He complains to God of
his continual struggle with his persecutors, ver. 10. 2. God assures him
that he shall be taken under special protection, though there was a general
desolation coming upon the land, ver. 11-14. 3. He appeals to God concerning
his sincerity in the discharge of his prophetic office and thinks it hard
that he should not have more of the comfort of it, ver. 15-18. 4. Fresh
security is given him that, upon condition he continue faithful, God will
continue his care of him and his favour to him, ver. 19-21. And thus, at
length, we hope he regained the possession of his own soul.
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Sentence
against Judah Confirmed; Destruction of Judah.
B. C. 606.
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1 Then said the LORD
unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could
not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let
them go forth. 2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto
thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD;
Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the
sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine;
and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. 3
And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD:
the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and
the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. 4 And I will
cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh
the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in
Jerusalem. 5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or
who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD,
thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee,
and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. 7 And I will fan
them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of
children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their
ways. 8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the
seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler
at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors
upon the city. 9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath
given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she
hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to
the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
We scarcely find any where more pathetic expressions of divine wrath against
a provoking people than we have here in these verses. The prophet had prayed
earnestly for them, and found some among them to join with him; and yet not
so much as a reprieve was gained, nor the least mitigation of the judgment;
but this answer is given to the prophet's prayers, that the decree had gone
forth, was irreversible, and would shortly be executed. Observe here,
I. What the sin was upon which this severe sentence was grounded. 1. It is
in remembrance of a former iniquity; it is because of Manasseh, for that
which he did in Jerusalem, v. 4. What that was we are told, and that
it was for it that Jerusalem was destroyed, 2 Kings xxiv. 3, 4. It was for
his idolatry, and the innocent blood which he shed, which the Lord would
not pardon. He is called the son of Hezekiah because his relation
to so good a father was a great aggravation of his sin, so far was it from
being an excuse of it. The greatest part of a generation was worn off since
Manasseh's time, yet his sin is brought into the account; as in Jerusalem's
last ruin God brought upon it all the righteous blood shed on the earth,
to show how heavy the guilt of blood will light and lie somewhere, sooner or
later, and that reprieves are not pardons. 2. It is in consideration of
their present impenitence. See how their sin is described (v. 6):
"Thou hast forsaken me, my service and thy duty to me; thou
hast gone backward into the ways of contradiction, art become the
reverse of what thou shouldst have been and of what God by his law would
have led thee forward to." See how the impenitence is described (v.
7): They return not from their ways, the ways of their own hearts,
into the ways of God's commandments again. There is mercy for those who have
turned aside if they will return; but what favour can those expect that
persist in their apostasy?
II. What the sentence is. It is such as denotes no less than an utter ruin.
1. God himself abandons and abhors them: My mind cannot be towards them.
How can it be thought that the holy God should have any remaining
complacency in those that have such a rooted antipathy to him? It is not in
a passion, but with a just and holy indignation, that he says, "Cast
them out of my sight, as that which is in the highest degree odious and
offensive, and let them go forth, for I will be troubled with them no
more."
2. He will not admit any intercession to be made for them (v. 1):
"Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, by prayer or sacrifice
to reconcile me to them, yet I could not be prevailed with to admit them
into favour." Moses and Samuel were two as great favourites of Heaven
as ever were the blessings of this earth, and were particularly famed for
the success of their mediation between God and his offending people; many a
time they would have been destroyed if Moses had not stood before him in the
breach; and to Samuel's prayers they owed their lives (1 Sam. xii. 19); yet
even their intercessions should not prevail, no, not though they were now in
a state of perfection, much less Jeremiah's who was now a man subject to
like passions as others. The putting of this as a case, Though they
should stand before me, supposes that they do not, and is an intimation
that saints in heaven are not intercessors for saints on earth. It is the
prerogative of the Eternal Word to be the only Mediator in the other
world, whatever Moses, and Samuel, and others were in this.
3. He condemns them all to one destroying judgment or other. When God casts
them out of his presence, whither shall they go forth? v. 2.
Certainly nowhere to be safe or easy, but to be met by one judgment while
they are pursued by another, till they find themselves surrounded with
mischiefs on all hands, so that they cannot escape; Such as are for death
to death. By death here is meant the pestilence (Rev. vi. 8), for it is
death without visible means. Such as are for death to death, or for
the sword to the sword; every man shall perish in that way that God has
appointed: the law that appoints the malefactor's death determines what
death he shall die. Or, He that is by his own choice for this judgment, let
him take it, or for that, let him take it, but by the one or the other they
shall all fall and none shall escape. It is a choice like that which David
was put to, and was thereby put into a great strait, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14.
Captivity is mentioned last, some think, because the sorest judgment
of all, it being both a complication and continuance of miseries. That of the
sword is again repeated (v. 3), and is made the first of another
four frightful set of destroyers, which God will appoint over them,
as officers over the soldiers, to do what they please with them. As those
that escape the sword shall be cut off by pestilence, famine, or
captivity, so those that fall by the sword shall be cut off by divine
vengeance, which pursues sinners on the other side death; there shall be dogs
to tear in the field to devour. And, if there be any that think to
outrun justice, they shall be made the most public monuments of it: They
shall be removed into all kingdoms of the earth (v. 4), like
Cain, who, that he might be made a spectacle of horror to all, became a
fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.
4. They shall fall without being relieved. Who can do any thing to help
them? for (1.) God, even their own God (so he had been) appears against
them: I will stretch out my hand against thee, which denotes a
deliberate determined stroke, which will reach far and wound deeply. I am
weary with repenting (v. 6); it is a strange expression; they had
behaved so provokingly, especially by their treacherous professions of
repentance, that they had put even infinite patience itself to the stretch.
God had often turned away his wrath when it was ready to break forth against
them; but now he will grant no more reprieves. Miserable is the case of
those who have sinned so long against God's mercy that at length they have
sinned it away. (2.) Their own country expels them, and is ready to spue
them out, as it had done the Canaanites that were before them; for so it
was threatened (Lev. xviii. 28): I will fan them with a fan in the gates
of the land, in their own gates, through which they shall be scattered,
or into the gates of the earth, into the cities of all the nations
about them, v. 7. (3.) Their own children, that should assist them
when they speak with the enemy in the gate, shall be cut off from them: I
will bereave them of children, so that they shall have little hopes that
the next generation will retrieve their affairs, for I will destroy my
people; and, when the inhabitants are slain, the land will soon be
desolate. This melancholy article is enlarged upon, v. 8, 9, where we
have, [1.] The destroyer brought upon them. When God has bloody work to do
he will find out bloody instruments to do it with. Nebuchadnezzar is here
called a spoiler at noon-day, not a thief in the night, that is
afraid of being discovered, but one that without fear shall break through
and destroy all the fences of rights and properties, and this in the face of
the sun and in defiance of its light: I have brought against the mother a
young man, a spoiler (so some read it); for Nebuchadnezzar, when he
first invaded Judah, was but a young man, in the first year of his
reign. We read it, I have brought upon them, even against the
mother of the young men, a spoiler, that is, against Jerusalem, a mother
city, that had a very numerous family of young men: or that invasion was in
a particular manner terrible to those mothers who had many sons fit for war,
who must now hazard their lives in the high places of the field, and, being
an unequal match for the enemy, would be likely to fall there, to the
inexpressible grief of their poor mothers, who had nursed them up with a
great deal of tenderness. The same God that brought the spoiler upon them caused
him to fall upon it, that is, upon the spoil delivered to him, suddenly
and by surprise; and then terrors came upon the city. the
original is very abrupt--the city and terrors. O the city! what a
consternation will it then be in! O the terrors that shall then seize
it! Then the city and terrors shall be brought together, that seemed at a
distance from each other. I will cause to fall suddenly upon her
(upon Jerusalem) a watcher and terrors; so Mr. Gataker reads it, for
the word is used for a watcher (Dan. iv. 13, 23), and the Chaldean soldiers
were called watchers, ch. iv. 16. [2.] The destruction made by this
destroyer. A dreadful slaughter is here described. First, The wives
are deprived of their husbands: Their widows are increased above the sand
of the seas, so numerous have they now grown. It was promised that the
men of Israel (for those only were numbered) should be as the sand of the
sea for multitude; but now they shall be all cut off, and their
widows shall be so. But observe, God says, They are increased to me.
Though the husbands were cut off by the sword of his justice, their poor
widows were gathered in the arms of his mercy, who has taken it among the
titles of his honour to be the God of the widows. Widows are said to
be taken into the number, the number of those whom God has a
particular compassion and concern for. Secondly, The parents are
deprived of their children: She that has borne seven sons, whom she
expected to be the support and joy of her age, now languishes, when
she has seen them all cut off by the sword in one day, who had been many
years her burden and care. She that had many children has waxed feeble,
1 Sam. ii. 5. See what uncertain comforts children are; and let us therefore
rejoice in them as though we rejoiced not. When the children are
slain the mother gives up the ghost, for her life was bound up in
theirs: Her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she is bereaved
of all her comforts just when she thought herself in the midst of the
enjoyment of them. She is now ashamed and confounded to think how
proud she was of her sons, how fond of them, and how much she promised
herself from them. Some understand, by this languishing mother, Jerusalem
lamenting the death of her inhabitants as passionately as ever poor mother
bewailed her children. Many are cut off already, and the residue of them,
who have yet escaped, and, as was hoped, were reserved to be the seed of
another generation, even these will I deliver to the sword before their
enemies (as the condemned malefactor is delivered to the sheriff to be
executed), saith the Lord, the Judge of heaven and earth, who, we are
sure, herein judges according to truth, though the judgment seem severe.
5. They shall fall without being pitied (v. 5): "For who
shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? When thy God has cast thee out
of his sight, and his compassions fail and are shut up from thee,
neither thy enemies nor thy friends shall have any compassion for thee. They
shall have no sympathy with thee; they shall not bemoan thee nor be
sorry for thee; they shall have no concern for thee, shall not go a step out
of their way to ask how thou dost." For, (1.) Their friends, who
were expected to do these friendly offices, were all involved with them in
the calamities, and had enough to do to bemoan themselves. (2.) It was plain
to all their neighbours that they had brought all this misery upon
themselves by their obstinacy in sin, and that they might easily have
prevented it by repentance and reformation, which they were often in vain
called to; and therefore who can pity them? O Israel! thou hast destroyed
thyself. Those will perish for ever unpitied that might have been saved
upon such easy terms and would not. (3.) God will thus complete their
misery. He will set their acquaintance, as he did Job's at a distance from
them; and his hand, his righteous hand, is to be acknowledged in all the
unkindnesses of our friends, as well as in all the injuries done us by our
foes.
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The
Prophet's Complaint; The Prophet Assured of His Safety.
B. C. 606.
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10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne
me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have
neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every
one of them doth curse me. 11 The LORD
said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the
enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of
affliction. 12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the
steel? 13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the
spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy
borders. 14 And I will make thee to pass with thine
enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in
mine anger, which shall burn upon you.
Jeremiah has now returned from his public work and retired into his closet;
what passed between him and his God there we have an account of in these and
the following verses, which he published afterwards, to affect the people
with the weight and importance of his messages to them. Here is,
I. The complaint which the prophet makes to God of the many discouragements
he met with in his work, v. 10.
1. He met with a great deal of contradiction and opposition. He was a man
of strife and contention to the whole land (so it might be read, rather
than to the whole earth, for his business lay only in that land);
both city and country quarrelled with him, and set themselves against him,
and said and did all they could to thwart him. He was a peaceable man, gave
no provocation to any, nor was apt to resent the provocations given him, and
yet a man of strife, not a man striving, but a man striven with; he
was for peace, but, when he spoke, they were for war. And, whatever they
pretended, that which was the real cause of their quarrels with him was his
faithfulness to God and to their souls. He showed them their sins that were
working their ruin, and put them into a way to prevent that ruin, which was
the greatest kindness he could do them; and yet this was it for which they
were incensed against him and looked upon him as their enemy. Even the
prince of peace himself was thus a man of strife, a sign spoken against,
continually enduring the contradiction of sinners against himself.
And the gospel of peace brings division, even to fire and sword, Matt. x.
34, 35; Luke xii. 49, 51. Now this made Jeremiah very uneasy, even to a
degree of impatience. He cried out, Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast
borne me, as if it were his mother's fault that she bore him, and he had
better never have been born than be born to such an uncomfortable life; nay,
he is angry that she had borne him a man of strife, as if he had been
fatally determined to this by the stars that were in the ascendant at his
birth. If he had any meaning of this kind, doubtless it was very much his
infirmity; we rather hope it was intended for no more than a pathetic
lamentation of his own case. Note, (1.) Even those who are most quiet and
peaceable, if they serve God faithfully, are often made men of strife. We
can but follow peace; we have the making only of one side of the
bargain, and therefore can but, as much as in us lies, live peaceably.
(2.) It is very uncomfortable to those who are of a peaceable disposition to
live among those who are continually picking quarrels with them. (3.) Yet,
if we cannot live so peaceably as we desire with our neighbours, we must not
be so disturbed at it as thereby to lose the repose of our own minds and put
ourselves upon the fret.
2. He met with a great deal of contempt, contumely, and reproach. They every
one of them cursed him; they branded him as a turbulent factious man, as an
incendiary and a sower of discord and sedition. They ought to have blessed
him, and to have blessed God for him; but they had arrived at such a pitch
of enmity against God and his word that for his sake they cursed his
messenger, spoke ill of him, wished ill to him, did all they could to make
him odious. They all did so; he had scarcely one friend in Judah or
Jerusalem that would give him a good word. Note, It is often the lot of the
best of men to have the worst of characters ascribed to them. So
persecuted they the prophets. But one would be apt to suspect that
surely Jeremiah had given them some provocation, else he could not have lost
himself thus: no, not the least: I have neither lent money nor
borrowed money, have been neither creditor nor debtor; for so general is
the signification of the words here. (1.) It is implied here that those who
deal much in the business of this world are often involved thereby in strife
and contention; meum et tuum--mine and thine are the great
make-bates; lenders and borrowers sue and are sued, and great dealers often
get a great deal of ill-will. (2.) it was an instance of Jeremiah's great
prudence, and it is written for our learning, that, being called to be a
prophet, he entangled not himself in the affairs of this life, but
kept clear from them, that he might apply the more closely to the business
of his profession and might not give the least shadow of suspicion that he
aimed at secular advantages in it nor any occasion to his neighbours to
contend with him. He put out no money, for he was no usurer, nor
indeed had he any money to lend: he took up no money, for he was no
purchaser, no merchant, no spendthrift. He was perfectly dead to this world
and the things of it: a very little served to keep him, and we find (ch.
xvi. 2) that he had neither wife nor children to keep. And yet, (3.) Though
he behaved thus discreetly, and so as one would think should have gained him
universal esteem, yet he lay under a general odium, through the iniquity of
the times. Blessed be God, bad as things are with us, they are not so bad
but that there are those with whom virtue has its praise; yet let not those
who behave most prudently think it strange if they have not the respect and
esteem they deserve. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
II. The answer which God gave to this complaint. Though there was in it a
mixture of passion and infirmity, yet God graciously took cognizance of it,
because it was for his sake that the prophet suffered reproach. In
this answer, 1. God assures him that he should weather the storm and be made
easy at last, v. 11. Though his neighbours quarrelled with him for
what he did in the discharge of his office, yet God accepted him and
promised to stand by him. It is in the original expressed in the form of an
oath: "If I take not care of thee, let me never be counted
faithful; verily it shall go well with thy remnant, with the
remainder of thy life" (for so the word signifies); "the residue
of thy days shall be more comfortable to thee than those hitherto have
been." Thy end shall be good; so the Chaldee reads it. Note, It
is a great and sufficient support to the people of God that, how troublesome
soever their way may be, it shall be well with them in their latter end, Ps.
xxxvii. 37. They have still a remnant, a residue, something
behind and left in reserve, which will be sufficient to counterbalance all
their grievances, and the hope of it may serve to make them easy. It should
seem that Jeremiah, besides the vexation that his people gave him, was
uneasy at the apprehension he had of sharing largely in the public judgments
which he foresaw coming; and, though he mentioned not this, God replied to
his thought of it, as to Moses, Exod. iv. 19. Jeremiah thought, "If my
friends are thus abusive to me, what will my enemies be?" And God had
thought fit to awaken in him an expectation of this kind, ch. xii. 5.
But here he quiets his mind with this promise: "Verily I will cause
the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil, when all about thee
shall be laid waste." Note, God has all men's hearts in his hand, and
can turn those to favour his servants whom they were most afraid of. And the
prophets of the Lord have often met with fairer and better treatment among
open enemies than among those that call themselves his people. When we see
trouble coming, and it looks very threatening, let us not despair, but hope
in God, because it may prove better than we expect. This promise was
accomplished when Nebuchadnezzar, having taken the city, charged the captain
of the guard to be kind to Jeremiah, and let him have every thing he had a
mind to, ch. xxxix. 11, 12. The following words, Shall iron break
the northern iron, and the steel, or brass? (v. 12), being
compared with the promise of God made to Jeremiah (ch. i. 18), that
he would make him an iron pillar and brazen walls, seem
intended for his comfort. They were continually clashing with him, and were
rough and hard as iron; but Jeremiah, being armed with power and courage
from on high, is as northern iron, which is naturally stronger, and as
steel, which is hardened by art; and therefore they shall not prevail
against him; compare this with Ezek. ii. 6; iii. 8, 9. He might the better
bear their quarrelling with him when he was sure of the victory. 2. God
assures him that his enemies and persecutors should be lost in the storm,
should be ruined at last, and that therein the word of God in his mouth
should be accomplished and he proved a true prophet, v. 13, 14. God
here turns his speech from the prophet to the people. To them also v.
12 may be applied: Shall iron break the northern iron, and the steel?
Shall their courage and strength, and the most hardly and vigorous of their
efforts, be able to contest either with the counsel of God or with the army
of the Chaldeans, which are as inflexible, as invincible, as the northern
iron and steel. Let them therefore hear their doom: Thy substance and thy
treasure will I give to the spoil, and that without price; the
spoilers shall have it gratis; it shall be to them a cheap and easy
prey. Observe, The prophet was poor; he neither lent nor borrowed; he had
nothing to lose, neither substance. nor treasure, and
therefore the enemy will treat him well, Cantabit vacuus coram latrone
viator--The traveller that has no property about him will congratulate
himself when accosted by a robber. But the people that had great estates
in money and land would be slain for what they had, or the enemy, finding
they had much, would use them hardly, to make them confess more. And it is
their own iniquity that herein corrects them: It is for all thy sins,
even in all thy borders. All parts of the country, even those which lay
most remote, had contributed to the national guilt, and all shall now be
brought to account. Let not one tribe lay the blame upon another, but each
take shame to itself: It is for all thy sins in all thy borders. Thus
shall they stay at home till they see their estates ruined, and then they
shall be carried into captivity, to spend the sad remains of a miserable
life in slavery: "I will make thee to pass with thy enemies, who
shall lead thee in triumph into a land that thou knowest not, and
therefore canst expect to find no comfort in it." All this is the fruit
of God's wrath: "It is a fire kindled in my anger, which shall burn
upon you, and, if not extinguished in time, will burn eternally."
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The
Prophet's Humble Appeal to God; God's Answer to Jeremiah's Address.
B. C. 606.
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15 O LORD,
thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors;
take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have
suffered rebuke. 16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them;
and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am
called by thy name, O LORD
God of hosts. 17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor
rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with
indignation. 18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound
incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto
me as a liar, and as waters that fail? 19
Therefore thus saith the LORD,
If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand
before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be
as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.
20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they
shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am
with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem
thee out of the hand of the terrible.
Here, as before, we have,
I. The prophet's humble address to God, containing a representation both of
his integrity and of the hardships he underwent notwithstanding. It is a
matter of comfort to us that, whatever ails us, we have a God to go to,
before whom we may spread our case and to whose omniscience we may appeal,
as the prophet here, "O Lord! thou knowest; thou knowest my
sincerity, which men are resolved they will not acknowledge; thou knowest my
distress, which men disdain to take notice of." Observe here,
1. What it is that the prophet prays for, v. 15. (1.) That God would
consider his case and be mindful of him: "O Lord! remember me;
think upon me for good." (2.) That God would communicate strength and
comfort to him: "Visit me; not only remember me, but let me know
that thou rememberest me, that thou art nigh unto me." (3.) That he
would appear for him against those that did him wrong: Revenge me of my
persecutors, or rather, Vindicate me from my persecutors; give
judgment against them, and let that judgment be executed so far as is
necessary for my vindication and to compel them to acknowledge that they
have done me wrong. Further than this a good man will not desire that God
should avenge him. Let something be done to convince the world that
(whatever blasphemers say to the contrary) Jeremiah is a righteous man and
the God whom he serves is a righteous God. (4.) That he would yet spare him
and continue him in the land of the living: "Take me not away by
a sudden stroke, but in thy long-suffering lengthen out my
days." The best men will own themselves so obnoxious to God's wrath
that they are indebted to his patience for the continuance of their lives.
Or, "While thou exercisest long-suffering towards my persecutors, let
not them prevail to take me away." Though in a passion he complained of
his birth (v. 10), yet he desires here that his death might not be
hastened; for life is sweet to nature, and the life of a useful man is so to
grace. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.
2. What it is that he pleads with God for mercy and relief against his
enemies, persecutors, and slanderers.
(1.) That God's honour was interested in this case: Know, and make it
known, that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Those that lay
themselves open to reproach by their own fault and folly have great reason
to bear it patiently, but no reason to expect that God should appear for
them. But if it is for doing well that we suffer ill, and for righteousness'
sake that we have all manner of evil said against us, we may hope that God
will vindicate our honour with his own. To the same purport (v. 16), I
am called by thy name, O Lord of hosts! It was for that reason that his
enemies hated him, and therefore for that reason he promised himself that
God would own him and stand by him.
(2.) That the word of God, which he was employed to preach to others, he had
experienced the power and pleasure of in his own soul, and therefore had the
graces of the Spirit to qualify him for the divine favour, as well as his
gifts. We find some rejected of God who yet could say, Lord, we have
prophesied in thy name. But Jeremiah could say more (v. 16):
"Thy words were found, found by me" (he searched the
scripture, diligently studied the law, and found that in it which was
reviving to him: if we seek we shall find), "found for me"
(the words which he was to deliver to others were laid ready to his hand,
were brought to him by inspiration), "and I did not only taste
them, but eat them, received them entirely, conversed with them
intimately; they were welcome to me, as food to one that is hungry; I
entertained them, digested them, turned them in succum et sanguinem--into
blood and spirits, and was myself delivered into the mould of those
truths which I was to deliver to others." The prophet was told to eat
the roll, Ezek. ii. 8; Rev. x. 9. I did eat it--that is, as it
follows, it was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, nothing
could be more agreeable. Understand it, [1.] Of the message itself which he
was to deliver. Though he was to foretel the ruin of his country, which was
dear to him, and in the ruin of which he could not but have a deep share,
yet all natural affections were swallowed up in zeal for God's glory, and
even these messages of wrath, being divine messages, were a satisfaction to
him. He also rejoiced, at first, in hope that the people would take warning
and prevent the judgment. Or, [2.] Of the commission he received to deliver
this message. Though the work he was called to was not attended with any
secular advantages, but, on the contrary, exposed him to contempt and
persecution, yet, because it put him in a way to serve God and do good, he
took pleasure in it, was glad to be so employed, and it was his meat and
drink to do the will of him that sent him, John iv. 34. Or, [3.] Of the
promise God gave him that he would assist and own him in his work (ch.
i. 8); he was satisfied in that, and depended upon it, and therefore hoped
it should not fail him.
(3.) That he had applied himself to the duty of his office with all possible
gravity, seriousness, and self-denial, though he had had of late but little
satisfaction in it, v. 17. [1.] It was his comfort that he had given
up himself wholly to the business of his office and had done nothing either
to divert himself from it or disfit himself for it. He kept no unsuitable
company, denied himself the use even of lawful recreations, abstained from
every thing that looked like levity, lest thereby he should make himself
mean and less regarded. He sat alone, spent a great deal of time in
his closet, because of the hand of the Lord that was strong upon him
to carry him on his work, Ezek. iii. 14. "For thou hast filled me
with indignation, with such messages of wrath against this people as
have made me always pensive." Note, It will be a comfort to God's
ministers, when men despise them, if they have the testimony of their
consciences for them that they have not by any vain foolish behaviour made
themselves despicable, that they have been dead not only to the wealth of
the world, as this prophet was (v. 10), but to the pleasures of it
too, as here. But, [2.] It is his complaint that he had had but little
pleasure in his work. It was at first the rejoicing of his heart, but of
late it had made him melancholy, so that he had no heart to sit in the
meeting of those that make merry. He cared not for company, for indeed
no company cared for him. He sat alone, fretting at the people's
obstinacy and the little success of his labours among them. This filled him
with a holy indignation. Note, It is the folly and infirmity of some
good people that they lose much of the pleasantness of their religion by the
fretfulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which they humour and
indulge, instead of mortifying it.
(4.) He throws himself upon God's pity and promise in a very passionate
expostulation (v. 18): "Why is my pain perpetual, and
nothing done to ease it? Why are the wounds which my enemies are continually
giving both to my peace and to my reputation incurable, and nothing done to
retrieve either my comfort or my credit? I once little thought that I should
be thus neglected; will the God that has promised me his presence be to
me as a liar, the God on whom I depend to be me as waters that fail?"
We are willing to make the best we can of it, and to take it as an appeal,
[1.] To the mercy of God: "I know he will not let the pain of his
servant be perpetual, but he will ease it, will not let his wound be
incurable, but he will heal it; and therefore I will not despair." [2.]
To his faithfulness: "Wilt thou be to me as a liar? No; I know
thou wilt not. God is not a man that he should lie. The fountain of life
will never be to his people as waters that fail."
II. God's gracious answer to this address, v. 19-21. Though the
prophet betrayed much human frailty in his address, yet God vouchsafed to
answer him with good words and comfortable words; for he knows our frame.
Observe,
1. What God here requires of him as the condition of the further favours he
designed him. Jeremiah had done and suffered much for God, yet God is no
debtor to him, but he is still upon his good behaviour. God will own him.
But, (1.) He must recover his temper, and be reconciled to his work, and
friends with it again, and not quarrel with it any more as he had done. He
must return, must shake off these distrustful discontented thoughts
and passions, and not give way to them, must regain the peaceable possession
and enjoyment of himself, and resolve to be easy. Note, When we have stepped
aside into any disagreeable frame or way our care must be to return and
compose ourselves into a right temper of mind again; and then we may
expect God will help us, if thus we endeavour to help ourselves. (2.) He
must resolve to be faithful in his work, for he could not expect the divine
protection any longer than he did approve himself so. Though there was no
cause at all to charge Jeremiah with unfaithfulness, and God knew his heart
to be sincere, yet God saw fit to give him this caution. Those that do their
duty must not take it ill to be told their duty. In two things he must be
faithful:-- [1.] He must distinguish between some and others of those he
preached to: Thou must take forth the precious from the vile. The
righteous are the precious be they ever so mean and poor; the wicked are the
vile be they ever so rich and great. In our congregations these are mixed,
wheat and chaff in the same floor; we cannot distinguish them by name, but
we must by character, and must give to each a portion, speaking comfort to
precious saints and terror to vile sinners, neither making the heart of
the righteous sad nor strengthening the hands of the wicked
(Ezek. xiii. 22), but rightly dividing the word of truth. Ministers
must take those whom they see to be precious into their bosoms, and not sit
alone as Jeremiah did, but keep up conversation with those they may do
good to and get good by. [2.] He must closely adhere to his instructions,
and not in the least vary from them: Let them return to thee, but return
not thou to them, that is, he must do the utmost he can, in his
preaching, to bring people up to the mind of God; he must tell them they
must, at their peril, comply with that. Those that had flown off from him,
that did not like the terms upon which God's favour was offered to them,
"Let them return to thee, and, upon second thoughts, come up to
the terms and strike the bargain; but do not thou return to them, do
not compliment them, nor comply with them, nor think to make the matter
easier to them than the word of God has made it." Men's hearts and
lives must come up to God's law and comply with that, for God's law will
never come down to them nor comply with them.
2. What God here promises to him upon the performance of these conditions.
If he approve himself well, (1.) God will tranquilize his mind and pacify
the present tumult of his spirits: If thou return, I will bring thee
again, will restore thy soul, as Ps. xxiii. 3. The best and
strongest saints, if at any time they have gone aside out of the right way,
and are determined to return, need the grace of God to bring them again.
(2.) God will employ him in his service as a prophet, whose work, even in
those bad times, had comfort and honour enough in it to be its own wages:
"Thou shalt stand before me, to receive instructions from me, as
a servant from his master; and thou shalt be as my mouth to deliver
my messages to the people, as an ambassador is the mouth of the prince that
sends him." Note, Faithful ministers are God's mouth to us; they are so
to look upon themselves, and to speak God's mind and as becomes the
oracles of God; and we are so to look upon them, and to hear God
speaking to us by them. Observe, If thou keep close to thy instructions, thou
shalt be as my mouth, not otherwise; so far, and no further, God will
stand by ministers, as they go by the written word. "Thou shalt be
as my mouth, that is, what thou sayest shall be made good, as if I
myself had said it." See Isa. xliv. 26; 1 Sam. iii. 19. (3.) He shall
have strength and courage to face the many difficulties he meets with in his
work, and his spirit shall not fail again as now it does (v. 20):
"I will make thee unto this people as a fenced brazen wall,
which the storm batters and beats violently upon, but cannot shake. Return
not thou to them by any sinful compliances, and then trust thy God to
arm thee by his grace with holy resolutions. Be not cowardly, and God will
make thee daring." He had complained that he was made a man of
strife. "Expect to be so (says God); they will fight against
thee, they will still continue their opposition, but they shall not
prevail against thee to drive thee off from thy work nor to cut thee off
from the land of the living." (4.) He shall have God for his protector
and mighty deliverer: I am with thee to save thee. Those that have
God with them have a Saviour with them who has wisdom and strength enough to
deal with the most formidable enemy; and those that are with God, and
faithful to him, he will deliver (v. 21) either from trouble or
through it. They may perhaps fall into the hand of the wicked, and
they may appear terrible to them, but God will rescue them out of their
hands. They shall not be able to kill them till they have finished their
testimony; they shall not prevent their happiness. God will so deliver them
as to preserve them to his heavenly kingdom (2 Tim. iv. 18), and that
is deliverance enough. There are many things that appear very frightful that
yet do not prove at all hurtful to a good man.
