JEREMIAH – CHAPTER 14

FAMINE AND INTERCESSION

Vs. 1-6: THE DESOLATION OF THE LAND

1. When seasonal rains failed to come in the Near East drought, famine and starvation came swiftly.

a. Jeremiah here relays to Judah and Jerusalem “the word of the Lord” concerning a terrible drought that is about to afflict the land, (comp. Jer 3:3; Jer 12:4; Jer 23:10).

b. The word reveals that God sometimes withheld the rain as a sign of His displeasure, and as a warning of more severe judgment to follow upon the unrepentant, (Deu 28:12; Deu 28:23-24; Amo 4:7-8).

2. Judah and Jerusalem are here pictured as in deep mourning because of such affliction; the whole land is involved.

a. Her nobles send their little ones to the cisterns for water, only to have them return with empty jars, and their heads covered as a symbol of perplexity and grief, (vs. 3; comp. 2Sa 15:30; 2Sa 19:4).

b. Observing the parched soil, her farmers cover their heads in grief and dismay, (vs. 4; comp. Joe 1:11; Joe 1:19-20).

c. The hinds deliver their calves, but abandon them because there is no grass or water by which milk may be provided for their sustenance, (vs. 5).

d. And the wild donkeys stand on the bare hills panting for air – their eyes failing them because there is no herbage, (vs. 6; comp. Job 39:5-8).

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Though the Prophet does not distinctly express that what had not yet happened was divinely revealed to him, yet it may be easily gathered that it was a prophecy with reference to what was future. Of this sterility nothing is recorded in sacred history: there is, however, no doubt but God had in an unusual manner afflicted the Jews, as previously in the days of Ahab. As then a drought was near at hand which would cause great scarcity, his purpose was to forewarn the Jews of it before the time, that they might know that the dryness did not happen by chance, but was an evidence of God’s vengeance. And we know that whenever any adversity happens, the causes of it are sought in the world, so that hardly any one regards the hand of him who smites. But when there is a year of sterility, we consult astrology, and think that it is owing to the influence of the stars: thus God’s judgment is overlooked. As then men contrive so many expedients by which they throw aside the consideration of Divine judgment, it was necessary that the Prophet should speak of the sterility mentioned here before it happened, and point it out as it were by the finger, though it was yet not made manifest.

He therefore says that the word of God came to him respecting the words of restraints (103) Though דבר, deber, signifies a thing or a business or concern, yet, what seems here to be intended is the contrast between דבר, deber, the word of God, and דברים deberim, the words of men; for he says, על דברי הבצרות ol deberi ebetserut, because the Jews, as it is usual, would have many words of different kinds among themselves respecting the sterility: when anything uncommon or unexpected happens, every one has his own opinion. But the Prophet sets up the word of Jehovah in opposition to the words of men; as though he had said, “They will inquire here and there as to the causes of the scarcity; there will yet be but one cause, and that is, God is punishing them for their wickedness.”

He calls sterility prohibitions or restraints: for though God could in an instant destroy and mar whatever has come to maturity, yet, in order to shew that all the elements are ready to obey him, he restrains the heavens whenever he pleases; and hence he says,

“

In that day the heavens will hear the earth, and the earth will hear the corn, and the corn will hear men.” (Hos 2:21)

For as this order of things is set before us, it cannot be otherwise but that, whenever we are hungry, our eyes turn to the corn and bread; but corn does not come except the earth be fruitful; and the earth cannot of itself bring forth anything, and except it derives moisture and strength from the heavens. So also, on the other hand, he says,

“

I will make for you the heaven brass and the earth iron.” (104) (Lev 26:19)

We hence see the reason for this word, prohibitions, by which the Prophet designates the dryness of the heavens and the sterility of the earth; for the earth in a manner opens to us its bowels when it brings forth food for our nourishment; and the heavens also pour forth rain, by which the earth is irrigated. So also God prohibits or restrains the heavens and the earth, and closes up his bounty, so as to prevent it to come to us. It now follows —

(103) The Septuagint express it in one,word, “ ἀζροχία — the want of rain;” the Vulgate, by words of dryness, or drought: and the Syriac, by “defect of rain.” We may take “words” here in the sense of effects; so we may render the Hebrew, “concerning the effects of restraints;” and the last word is put in the plural number because there was a twofold restraint, — that of the heavens from rain, and that of the earth from producing fruit. The “effects” of these restraints are described in the following verses. — Ed

(104) There is a little inadvertence here: “iron,” in this text, is applied to heaven, and “brass” to the earth, — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.1. Chronology of the Chapter. This and chapter 15 form one prophecy (although Lange, Keil, and others connect chapters 14 to 17, regarding them as interwoven and synchronous). From evidence of personal hardship towards Jeremiah (Jer. 15:10), most probably these prophecies were delivered during the early years of Jehoiakims reign. (See on chapter 7) Also for Contemporary Scriptures: National Affairs, Contemporaneous History, see chapter 7.

2. Natural History.Jer. 14:1. Dearth: batstsoreth, restraint, sc. of rain. Although Palestine is a very fruitful land, famine naturally followed close upon failure of rain (1 Kings 17; Josephus, Ant. xv. 9, 1) See on chapter 2 Jer. 14:16; and specially Historic Events, cf. The Land withered by Drought, p. 62. Jer. 14:2. Gates languish. (See Addenda on verse). Jer. 14:5. The hind: the female of the hart or stag:. The Ayeleth is a frequent Scripture figure suggesting gentleness (Pro. 5:19), fleetness end agility (Psa. 18:33; Hab. 3:19), delicate modesty (Son. 2:7; Son. 3:5), and in this verse, maternal affection, she being adduced as an extreme illustration of the effects of the famine on one of the most ardent creatures. Jer. 14:6. Wild asses: cf. notes on Jer. 2:24. Dragons: cf. notes on Jer. 9:11.

3. Manners and Customs. Jer. 14:3. Nobles have sent their little ones to the voters: i.e., to the tanks for holding water; pits or cisterns. (See notes on Jer. 2:13.) Covered their heads: (See on Jer. 2:37). Jer. 14:8. Wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night: i.e., that pitcheth his tent to tarry: in recognition of the custom of travellers to carry their tent with them, and in which they tarried for the night. Jer. 14:12. An oblation: i.e., meat-offering (cf. Lev. 2:1); the minchah, which was not a sacrificial offering, but was usually offered as supplementary thereto, and consisted of articles of food, or of oil.

4. Literary Criticisms.Jer. 14:1. Dearth: occurring here in the plural, , restraints, it does not necessarily imply a numerical succession of dearths, but is used idiomatically (a common form in the Heb.) for intensity and continuance. Whatever has extension of time or space is expressed by the Heb. pl. Jer. 14:2. Black unto the ground: covered by mourning even to the earth (Naeg.); they bow mourning towards the earth (Hend.). Jer. 14:3. Nobles sent their little ones: the word rendered little ones, , = to be mean, inferior, as well as little: and in this instance more correctly should be, their servants or inferiors. Jer. 14:4. Ground is chapt: lit. dismayed. Jer. 14:5. No grass: comp. with Jer. 14:6, no grass. The two words are different, (Jer. 14:5), = green-grass: , (Jer. 14:6), = under-shrubs, or bushes (Gen. 1:11, = herb). Jer. 14:8. Turneth aside to tarry for a night: ; the simple meaning of here rendered turneth aside, is to stretch out, unfod, i.e., to spread a tent: lit. to stretch (his tent) to pass the night. Jer. 14:9. A man astonied; a word which occurs only here, ; Syriac gives feeble, Vulgate, vagus; but the LXX (either mistaking the word for , or changing it) render it by , in deep sleep; but the word is by all critics traced to the Arabic dahama, to confound, take unawares, stupify, strike dumb. Jer. 14:13. Give you assured peace: lit. peace of truth, i.e., true, durable peace. Jer. 14:14. A thing of nought: , elil is probably a diminution of el, God, and signifies a small idol made of the more precious metals (Isa. 2:20; Isa. 19:3). But as the Jews habitually called idols vanity, falsehood, and the like, the word elil soon suggested a derivation from the negative particle al. not: and there are two places where it has the secondary meaning of worthlessness (Job. 13:4; Zec. 11:17). A.V. Idol shepherd. Elul (in text) may be an oracle given by an Elil.Dr. Payne Smith. Jer. 14:17. A very grievous blow: cf. notes on Jer. 10:19. Jer. 14:18. Behold them that are sick with famine: lit. the sickness, or tortures of famine,, torments. Go about into a land that they know not: Hend. = shall migrate into a land which they know not; Naeg., go into the country and know nothing; Speakers Com., go about into a land and know not; Rosen. Umbreit, wander about in the land and know not what to do; Graf. shall go as beggars into a strange land; Hitzig. they move into a land which they know not.

HOMILIES ON SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 14

Sections

Jer. 14:1-9.

PLEADING WITH GOD OVER A CALAMITOUS DEARTH.

Sections

Jer. 14:16-19.

Jehovahs refusal to allow intercession to prevail.

Sections

Jer. 14:17-22.

A piteous lament for the nations woe.

Jer. 14:1-9. PLEADING WITH GOD OVER A CALAMITOUS DEARTH

The first verse is the title to the whole chapter: it does indeed all concern the dearth, but much of it consists of the prophets prayers,not unfitly said to be The word of the Lord which came to him; for every acceptable prayer God puts into our hearts; our word that goes to Him is His word that comes to us.

I. The language of nature lamenting the calamity.

1. The people of the land were all in tears. Judah mourns; not for the sin but for the trouble, not for the withholding of Gods favour but of rain. The gates languish, those who pass through them, or assemble there are pale with want and fear. They are black unto the ground; as mourners, they sit on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem is gone up; not the cry of their prayer but of their complaint.

2. The great men of the land felt the judgment. The nobles sent, &c.; perhaps having had to part with their servants through scarcity, they had to send their own children (comp. 1Ki. 18:5-6). Rather, their inferior officers. But they returned with their vessels empty. Not ashamed for their sins but unsuccess.

3. The husbandmen suffered most severely (Jer. 14:4). The ground was so parched and hard, nothing could be done. How dependent are husbandmen upon the Divine providences!

4. The case even of the wild beasts was very pitiable (Jer. 14:5-6). Mans sins bring judgments upon the earth which make even the inferior creatures groan. The hinds, what have they done? Lovely and loving creatures; yet they were driven to act contrary to natural instincts. The wild asses cannot breathe in the parched land, so climb to highest places, and there snuff up the wind like dragons.

II. The language of grace lamenting the iniquity, and complaining to God of the calamity.

The people are not forward to pray, but the prophet prays for them, to excite them to pray for themselves.
1. Sin is humbly confessed (Jer. 14:7). Our sins are witnesses against us, and true penitents see them as such: too numerous to be concealed, for they are many: too heinous to be excused, for they are against Thee.

2. Mercy is earnestly begged. Though our iniquities testify against us, yet do Thou it for Thy names sake (Jer. 14:7). Not particularising what, leaving that to God. Our best pleas in prayer are fetched from the glory of Gods own namewe have nothing to plead in ourselves, but everything in Him. Also, Leave us not (Jer. 14:9). We should dread and deprecate Gods departure more than every loss.

3. Their relation to God is most pathetically pleaded. Their interest in Him and expectations from Him grounded thereon (Jer. 14:8-9).

(1.) They look upon Him as One they have reason to expect should deliver them in distress. He pleads, Thou art the Hope of Israel; God had encouraged His people to hope in Him. The Saviour thereof in time of truth; since God is their all-sufficient Saviour they ought to look to Him in their greatest straits. Thou art in the midst of us; we have the special tokens of Thy presence, temple, ark, oracles. We are called by Thy name: therefore, what evils we are under reflect dishonour upon Thee, as if Thou wert not able so relieve Thine own.

(2.) It, therefore, grieves them that He does not appear for their deliverance. Because He will seem (a.) Unconcerned for His own people; as a stranger in the land, who does not interest himself in its interests; as a wayfaring man, &c., instead of resting here for ever. Though God never is, yet He sometimes seems careless of His Church. Christ slept when His disciples were in a storm. (b.) Incapable of giving them relief. (Comp. Num. 14:16.) As a man astonied, at a loss what to do, or as a mighty man overpowered by others more mighty, and therefore cannot save. Either conception was an insult to the Divine perfections. It becomes us thus in prayer to be equally concerned for Gods glory. (Comp. Henry. See also Noticeable Topics to chap. 14 infra.)

Jer. 14:10-16. JEHOVAHS REFUSAL TO ALLOW INTERCESSION TO PREVAIL

See Addenda on Jer. 14:8, Intercessory Prayer; and on Jer. 14:12, Fasting offensive. Comp. Section chap. Jer. 11:14-17; also on chap. Jer. 7:16-20.

I. The Lords answer to the prophets prayer.

1. He points to the backsliding of the people, for which He now punishes them (Jer. 14:10). In the thus have they loved to wander lies a backward reference: not to the vain wanderings for water (Jer. 14:3), nor to the restless movements of the thirsty animals (Jer. 14:5-6), but to the substance of Jeremiahs prayer, in which he complained of Gods seeming alienation and indifference: thus, in like degree as Jehovah has estranged Himself from His people (Jer. 14:8-9), have they estranged themselves from their God. They loved to wander after strange gods, therefore He punishes them (Hos. 8:13).

2. He refuses the prophets prayer because He loathes the peoples soulless fastings and sacrifices (Jer. 14:11-12). They turn to Him in their need, but only in lip service and formality; their hearts are with their idols. By bringing sacrifices, these hollow-hearted hypocrites thought to give pleasure to God, and win His leniency and mercy.

3. He specifies the means by which He will destroy this backsliding people. Threefold: battle, famine, and pestilence, when their cities are besieged by the nearing foe (cf. Lev. 26:25, f.).

II. The prophet renews his endeavours to entreat Gods favour.

1. He lays stress on the fact that they had been deceived (Jer. 14:13). He offers the excuse for this people that the delusive forecastings of false prophets who promised peace had confirmed them in their infatuation.

2. But they are not excused on that account; for they gave credit to lies. (1) God had not commissioned these prophets (Jer. 14:14). The cumulation of these words, lying vision, &c., shows Gods indignation against the wicked practices of these men. (2) Their easy and willing dupes are condemned to ignominy. The lies of these false prophets flattered the sinful passions of the people, who therefore would not hear nor take to heart the word of the true prophets who preached repentance and return to God.

3. Seducers should perish with those they seduced. They should perish by sword and famine who affirmed these should not come upon the people. And with the specification of the various classes of the people upon whom judgments should fall, must be compared the account of their participation in idolatry (Jer. 7:18).Arranged from Keil.

Jer. 14:18-20. A PITEOUS LAMENT FOR THE NATIONS WOE

Thou shalt say unto them this word; but actually no word from God follows. What then? Is there a message here lost from Gods book? Nay. Jehovah bids His prophet utter his cries and prayers in the hearing of the hardened nation and pour out his tears of grief; that his pain in contemplating Judahs nearing ruin may touch and arouse them.

I. Doleful scenes. Depicted vividly by the prophet, whose shocked and appalled gaze rests, by prevision, upon them.

1. Occasions for grief. The miseries the Chaldeans would inflict are all arrayed under his eye: broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. (See Section, Jer. 10:17-25; and Homilies on Jer. 10:19-20.) In the field, the slain; in the city, the starved.

2. Profusion of tears. For one he tenderly cherishesthe virgin daughter of my people; and in whose miseries he poignantly shares. Let mine eyes run down with tears, &c. (See Homilies and Notes on Jer. 9:1, and Jer. 13:17.)

II. Painful conjectures. He lifts his eyes from the scene of stricken Judah to Judahs God, and assays to interpret Gods reason,the dreadful explanation that lay behind the appalling facts: Hast thou utterly rejected? &c. (Jer. 14:19).

1. That God had abandoned His people. It seemed incredible. Paul asked in equal amaze and shrinking, Hath God then cast away His people? (Rom. 11:1). True, Judah merited such abandonment: but is the rejection final, hopeless: utterly rejected?

2. That Zion should be loathed by Him. The word means, to throw away as worthless. And can Zion have become thus obnoxious to Jehovah? No yearning pity left in the soul of Him who had said, I remember for thy sake the kindness of thy youth, and the love of thine espousals? (See Notes and Homilies on Jer. 2:2-3.)

III. Frustrated hopes. Here the prophet expresses the peoples delusive expectations: We looked for peace, &c.

1. Flattering hopes. Easily and gladly cherished. Sinners are ready to believe in coming good.

2. False hopes. Unfounded expectations bring bitter awakenings: the delusions yield to desolations. (See Notes and Homilies on Jer. 8:16.)

IV. Penitent confessions. This is language spoken for them which should have been spoken by them (Jer. 14:20).

1. Personal transgression. Our wickedness; their own individual outrage of righteousness, violation of covenants, provocations of Divine wrath. No evading the directness of their criminality.

2. Perpetuated iniquity. The iniquity of our fathers. Not that they acknowledged their ancestors sin, they might leave that; but we acknowledge our wickedness, the iniquity of our fathers, i.e., which is the repetition of their iniquity.

3. Inexcusable wickedness. Sinned against Thee! Against a God so holy, munificent, faithful. (See Addenda on Jer. 14:20, Sin acknowledged.)

IV. Wrestling prayers. Jeremiah had been prohibited by God to pray (Jer. 14:11), but he returns to his knees in impassioned importunity and pathos.

1. He pleads that God will not alienate His heart from Judah. Afflict with Thine hand if need be, but do not shut us from Thine heart: do not abhor us.

2. He appeals to the honour and fidelity of Jehovah. The honour of His name: For Thy names sake. The honour of His temple; the throne of Thy glory, preserve that from defamation and spoliation. The honour of His promises: break not Thy covenant with us. Remember Thy word unto Thy servants, &c.

3. He casts all hope implicitly on God. No other object of worship availed for their help: Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause lain? No regard to Nature or heed of second causes would now suffice: Can the heavens give showers? Nay, God made all these things. Therefore, on Him alone and trustfully they would wait (Zec. 10:1). And this was the encouragement of their trust; not only in Gods power as Creator, but in this fact, Art not Thou He, O Lord our God? Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made both heaven and earth.

HOMILIES AND COMMENTS ON VERSES OF CHAPTER 14

Jer. 14:1. Concerning the dearth: see HISTORIC EVENTS. Cf. The land withered by drought, chap. Jer. 3:3; and Notes and Homily on Jer. 9:12.

Jer. 14:3. Theme: VAIN SEARCH FOR WATER.

For explanation of pits and no water, see Notes, Manners and Customs, Jer. 2:13 : and for General Comments, see Section Jer. 2:9-13. See also Addenda on verse.

I. Gods vital drink: water. In Gods hand to give or withhold.

1. Water, a physical necessity. Cannot exist without it. A common commodity, despised as a drink by those of vitiated taste, but nevertheless imperative for all.

2. Water, a spiritual emblem. Water of life = (a.) the Gospel of JesusIf any thirst, come to Me and drink: (b.) the sanctifying Spirit be in you a well of water: (c.) the sacred refreshingsDraw, water out of the wells of salvation. Without these none can live. Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.

II. Mans urgent thirst. The drought caused misery and mourning everywhere: Judah mourneth, gates languish (Jer. 14:2). Suggests: what appalling woe would ensue were the Gospel withdrawn from man: the Spirits sanctifying ministry recalled by Jesus; and the wells of salvation closed against the pilgrims to Zion!

1. Without drink man must perish So spiritually.

2. Unless he drink SOON he must die. Therefore the nobles bestirred themselves: as once king Ahab and his lord chamberlain Obadiah had to do (1Ki. 18:5-6): for all ranks of mankind are dependent on water for lifemust drink or die.

III. Search utterly vain. Found no water.

1. Fruitless efforts. They came to the pits, and returned with their vessels empty. So men who seek happiness, and self-justification, and peace of spirit, and eternal hopes, in dry pits.

2. Mocking sources. These pits were the nations sole suppliestheir reservoirs. Broken cisterns which hold no water. (See on chap. Jer. 2:13; specially Noticeable Topics.)

3. Desolating shame. Returned, ashamed, covered heads: sign of very great grief (2Sa. 15:30; 2Sa. 19:4). What shame and grief will cover souls who return to their Lord, never having found living water, at the great judgment! And what anguish will overwhelm those who, in the eternal world, never have a drop of water to cool their tongues!

(a.) When God withholds rain mans effort and hopes perish amid natural drought.

(b.) When the era of grace closes, water will nowhere, never be found for mans spiritual needs.

Jer. 14:3. Theme: CISTERNS AND THE FOUNTAIN. They came to the pits, and found no water.

Jeremiah describes the anxiety of the nobles for their own safety. They and their families were in imminent peril. The claims of nature were urgent and the supply doubtful. In the hour of their anguish, both children and servants were sent forth to see if perchance any water might yet remain in the natural hollows, or in the artificial dykes and cisterns. Their effort was vain, neither nature nor art responded to their cry nor rewarded their effort. Failure and disappointment made their hearts sad. They covered their heads with shame, confusion, and sorrow. It is a struggle for life, and death appeared to be gaining the victory. Their boasting was hushed, their folly was made clear, their sin was finding them out, as God declared it would. They now realised that it was a mournful and fatal error in them to forsake the Fountain of Living Waters.

[God is the Fountain. The arm of flesh, the fancies of the human brain, the energies of human life are not such as to enable man to do without God. Mans reason is a useful cistern, but fails most when most required. Gods word of promise is the fountain whence flows our hope when reasons efforts fail. Creeds are cisterns holding for practical and ready use portions of knowledge, but Christ is the Fountain in which all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found, and from whom alone they are to be obtained. Science hews out her hollows in the rock, explores the cave, descends the valley, or scales the mountain height if she may but satisfy the thirst of man, but faith, knowing that man thirsts for the living God, listens for the voice of Him who says Come unto Me and drink.]

I. Cisterns are human, the Fountain is Divine.

Human fancies, speculations, attainments, achievements, inventions, and works are insufficient. The love of God, the work of Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, the exercise of faith, these are Divine, saving, comforting.

II. Cisterns are dependent, the Fountain is self-sustaining.

Our thoughts and experiences depend on many circumstances, but God revealed, approachable, loved, obeyed, adored, is in us an ever-springing well, &c.

III. Cisterns are superficial, the Fountain deep.

Things earthly and human easily dried up, or by constant demand exhausted. Things Divine imperishable, inexhaustible. Gods love, word, glory The well is deep. The waterpot is small.

IV. Cisterns are fullest when least needed, the Fountain always full.

The Prodigal found it so. It was so at the marriage in Cana. The wine was exhausted, but Christ and His power were then best displayed.

V. Cisterns are useful only as connected with the fountain.

Solomons pools. Water-supply of our large towns. Cisterns, when rightly used, receive and cherish that which flows from the fountain. A cistern instead of, or apart from, a fountain is the work of presumption and folly, of unbelief and sin.

VI. Cisterns need to be kept in good condition as well as being connected with the fountain.

Broken cisterns can hold no water. The means of grace, the throne of grace, the obedience of faith, and all Gods methods of communicating good should be kept in proper repair, and constant use. The wretched and selfish pursuits of unbelief and sin are incapable of holding any divine blessing.

VII. Come to the Fountain. Christ is the Fountain. If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink. Come and wash. Come and drink.

APPLICATION
1. Avoid the follies of those who forsake God.
2. Know that all earthly comforts are insufficient and transient.
3. At the time of your deepest need go not to pits, but to THE FOUNTAIN.W. Whale.

Jer. 14:7. Theme: MAN PERISHES; GOD MUST WORK.

Jews in great distress by reason of drought. Every temporal calamity was viewed by them as a Divine judgment. No rain, blighted country, cattle perishing, people languishing in gates, what all this but proof of Gods displeasure?

Close analogy between temporal and spiritual: dearth on land = desolation of soul; no gracious rain = no heavenly blessing. This their case: through sin alienated God; Jer. 14:8, implying fellowship, had ceased, God withdrawn. While Jer. 14:9 suggests that in their distress God did not arise.

Desolate lot. Yet many cry, Why as a Stranger to our souls? Why lost fellowship with Thee? Where is the blessedness I knew? O Lord, Saviour of Israel, why as cannot save? Men need salvation, from sin, perils, care. The cry of perishing rises, O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do Thou it for Thy names sake.

I. A trustful prayer: O Lord, do Thou it! Whatever the prayer sought, it is clear that the prophet knew

1. God could answer it. If favour lost, He could renew. Aid needed, God could exert power. Their case could not surpass Him. Hence asked Jer. 14:9. Knew God could do it. We know nothing is too hard for the Lord. Deep misery, extreme need, great iniquity, ready to perish; yet God can do all our case requires.

2. God alone could answer that prayer. Appeal direct to Lord: do Thou it. (See Jer. 14:22). Prophet learned the vanity of every other trust, but God was Hope of Israel. He was his exclusive trust, to none other would he seek. Misery great, yet if Lord not relieve, none could. The Lord is our only source of hope or help. Look not elsewhere, though He seem to withhold.

II. A mournful confession: Our iniquities testify against us. Sad that prayer must ever open with this acknowledgment!

1. Their evil condition. Iniquities, the guilt and curse of sin was on them. Many in number; though they had received warning, and might have shunned them. Testified against themconscience reproached; pursued by them. Hearts cry out against us. Evil lives rise up in witness against us, and call for our condemnation.

2. Their ill desert. The prayer was for Gods favour, but sins were against them, menaced them. Mercy was asked, but iniquities cried out for judgment. My sins are ever before me; Our iniquities are gone up into the heavens.

3. Their stricken spirit. Prayer offered with shame and contrition. No extenuation, no excuses. Confession ought thus to be made in a spirit of deep sorrow, and humble sense of demerit. (See Addenda Jer. 14:7, Contrite Prayer.)

III. A prevailing plea: Do it, for Thy names sake.

1. Recognises the total absence of any claim to mercy. Could solicit nothing for their sakes.

2. Forgoes all allusion to mitigating circumstances. Nothing mentioned to soften their criminality and propitiate God. Just as I am.

3. Bases the hope of compassion on the Name of God. His name was The Lord merciful and gracious, &c. On the ground that Gods name declares Him forgiving and loving, ask forgiveness and love divine! For Thy names sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us, &c. In this Gospel dispensation we have the great Name of Jesus, Saviour, to plead; and whatever ye shall ask the Father, in my name, He will give it.

Theme: GODS NAME THE SINNERS PLEA.

The prophet, though forbidden to pray (Jer. 7:16; Jer. 11:14, and Jer. 14:11), could not forbear, but urged his prayers with all imaginable tenderness and compassion. Though he could find no excuse for Israel, he could find a plea in the very character of God.

I. The sinners acknowledgment.

1. The prophets confession is precisely such as befits the world at large. (Comp. Hos. 7:10; Psa. 36:1; Hos. 5:4-5.)

2. With too great reason, also, may it be adopted, even by the best of men. The world are willing slaves of sin, whilst the godly resist spiritual enemies. Yet much amiss within them: sins of commission, omission, and defect (Isa. 59:12).

II. The sinners plea. The request is not specified, but seems to be for restoration of Gods favour. This all may ask, not for what is in us, but for the sake of Gods honour, and the glory of His name.

1. His plea is open to all. His exercise of mercy is His highest glory (Deu. 9:5; Eze. 20:9; Eze. 20:14; Eze. 20:22). Even when we have provoked God to anger, we may approach Him with this plea (see Jos. 7:8-9).

2. This plea shall never be urged in vain. In Joshuas case it brought immediate success (Jos. 7:10-11). So with Moses (Exo. 32:9-14). Surely when we plead the name of Jesus! (Joh. 14:13-14).

APPLICATION
1. What should be the effect of sin upon the soul? Conviction of sin should not keep us from God, but bring us to Him: though our iniquities testify, &c. (Comp. Psa. 25:11.) Sin is a just ground for humiliation, but not for discouragement.

2. What shall surely be effectual to remove it from the soul? Prayer: penitential weeping; humble and contrite (Jer. 3:12-13; Jer. 3:25) fervent and persevering (Dan. 9:18-19); offered in dependence on Gods promised mercies in Christ Jesus (Jer. 14:20-21). God has solemnly engaged not to cast out one who comes to Him in His Sons name (Joh. 6:37).Simeon.

(See Noticeable Topic on Jer. 14:8, infra).

Jer. 14:8. Theme: GOD AND TROUBLED HUMANITY.

The troubles of Judah were overwhelming at this period. Indicated in preceding verses. Text is a patriotic wail: O Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof, &c. We have to notice two things

I. What God always is to troubled humanity.

1. He is the Hope. The Hope of Israel. Men in trouble want hope. Hope alone can buoy up amidst the surging sea of sorrow. Of all true hope God is the author. (1) He is the Inspirer of true hope. He implanted the instinct in the human soul. He calls it forth by trial, makes the spark blaze in the dark night. (2) He is the Sustainer of all true hope. Oftentimes the lamp would go out did He not feed the waning flame, and shelter it from the gust. (3) He is the Realiser of all true hope. If ever the anticipated deliverance comes, it comes from Him. The storm-tossed mariner He bringeth to the desired haven.

2. He is the Saviour. The Saviour thereof. He has a claim to this title. (1) The redemption system He has given to the world attests this. The Gospel is an infallible antidote for all the sorrows of humanity. (2) The experience of all who had attended to His directions testifies this. It is no objection to this that men are not saved. The physician may have an infallible antidote, yet if the patient partake not of it, of what value is it to him? He alone can attest the full value of a nautical chart who has sailed by it. All the shipwrecks of those who neglected it is no argument against its infallibility. Every man that has adopted Gods remedial scheme has been saved. He is the Saviour of the world.

II. What God sometimes seems to troubled humanity. A stranger and a wayfaring man in the land. A stranger in the land is one more or less unacquainted with what is local and uninterested in it. There are times when God seems to be a stranger in these respects. He seems as if He did not know what was going on; or, if He knew it, was absolutely indifferent. When does He appear as if a stranger to the good?

1. When Christlike enterprises are frustrated. When great plans of social philanthropy and evangelical propagandism break down and disappoint the hopes of piety, the good man is likely to feel that God is a stranger, that He is either ignorant of or indifferent to what is going on.

2. When the most useful men are cut down in the very zenith of their life. When the statesman with a measure for the liberties of a nation, an author with a book for the mental quickening of a whole people, a preacher with a power to attract and interest listening thousands, is struck down in a moment, the good are likely to look on and cry out to the great God, Why art Thou a stranger in the land?

3. When prosperity attends the wicked and adversity the good. This has ever been felt to be a trial. Wherefore do the wicked become rich? Asaph said, My foot well nigh slipped, when, &c. Who that sees the wicked rising to fortune and eminence, and the good sinking to penury and want, does not often exclaim within himself, Why art Thou a stranger?

4. When enormous outrages are rampant in society. Such as the crucifixion of Christ, tremendous wars, &c. At such seasons the good look up to heaven and cry, Why art Thou a stranger? Why not interpose, break the sword, and strike evil down?Homilist.

Jer. 14:7-9. Theme: JEREMIAH A WRESTLER WITH THE LORD IN PRAYER.

In this he is a second Jacob who was called Israel.

I. In what the Lord is strong against the prophet. The sin of the people. Iniquities testify against us.

II. In what the prophet is strong against the Lord. The name of the Lord. Though iniquities testify against us, do Thou it for Thy names sake.

1. In itself: Gods name compels Him to show He is not a desperate hero, a giant who cannot save (Jer. 14:9).

2. In that His name is borne by Israel: thus He is bound to show Himself as He who is in Israel (not a guest or a stranger, Jer. 14:9), and consequently the comforter and helper of Israel.Heim and Hoffman, The Major Prophets. (See Addenda on Jer. 14:8, Intercessory Prayer.)

Theme: PRAYER HAS WITHIN ITSELF ITS OWN REWARD.

The prayer of the prophet consists of confession and petition:

I. Confession. This fitly begins. It is the testimony of iniquity; and that this iniquity is against God Himself. When we are to encounter any enemy or difficulty, it is sin weakens us. Now confession weakens it,takes off the power of accusation.

II. Petition. For Thy names sake. This is the unfailing argument which abides always the same and hath always the same force. The children of God are much beholden to their troubles for clear experiences of themselves and God. Though thou art not clear in thy interest as a believer, yet plead thy interest as a sinner, which thou art sure of.Leighton, quoted in Lange.

Comments

In earnest and hearty prayer there is a conflict between the spirit and the flesh. The flesh regards the greatness of the sins (Jer. 14:7), and conceives of God as a severe Judge, who either will not help further or cannot help (Jer. 14:9). The spirit, on the other hand, adheres to the name of God (Jer. 14:7), i.e., to His promises; apprehends God by faith as his true comfort and aid, and depends upon Him.Cramer.

Ideo non vult Deus cito dare, ut discas ardentius orare.Augustine.

The name of God is the manifestation of Gods being. From Moses time, Jehovah has revealed Himself as the Redeemer and Saviour of the children of Israel and as God who is merciful and gracious, &c. (Exo. 34:6). As such, He is besought to reveal Himself now that they confess their backsliding and sin, and seek His grace. Not for the sake of His honours in the eyes of the world, lest the heathen believe He has no power to help (as Graf. holds), for all reference to the heathen nations is foreign to this connection; but He is entreated to help, not to belie the hope of His people, because Israel sets its hope on Him as Saviour in time of need (Jer. 14:9). If by withholding rain He makes His land and people to pine, then He does not reveal Himself as the Lord and owner of Judah, not as the God that dwells amidst His people, but He seems a stranger passing through the land, who sets up his tent there only to spend the night, who feels no share in the weal or woe of the dwellers therein (Hitzig). The pleader makes further appeal to Gods almighty power. It is impossible that God can let Himself look like a man at his wits end, or as a nerveless warrior, as He would seem if He should not give help to His people in their present need. The passage closes with an appeal to the relation of grace which Jehovah sustains towards His people: Yet art Thou in our midst, i.e., present to Thy people. Thy name is named upon us, i.e., Thou hast revealed Thyself to us as God of salvation: Lay us not down, i.e., let us not sink.Keil.

Leave us not; lit. lay us not down. Jeremiah evidently had in mind the magnificent words of Deu. 32:11-12.Speakers Commentary. (See Noticeable Topic, Triumphant Prayer, on Jer. 14:7-9.

Jer. 14:8-9. Theme: GODS SEEMING DISREGARD OF MAN. O hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldst Thou be as a stranger? &c.

A sore perplexity that God appears to dwell so far off and so apart from human affairs. Appalling crises come and go, dreadful occurrences transpire in the nation, in the church, in the home, in individual life, and hearts are dismayed and paralysed, yet God appears not in Providence nor manifests Himself in grace. And this seeming disregard compels to the cry, O hope of Israel, (&c.

I. It contradicts Gods character and name.

1. Hope. A name implying that Israel had learned to hope in Him when all else failed. That is the character God bears.

2. Saviour. He had saved, was THE Saviour: Beside Him there was no Saviour. And men believed him to be so.

3. Mighty man. Able to save to the uttermost. With great power He redeemed Israel from Egyptian bondage. Mighty to save. All revelation has declared God to be mans hope, mans Saviour, mans mighty Redeemer; and when God seems heedless, it covers His name with obscurity.

II. It baffles the godly soul. To Jeremiah it was painfully perplexing that the hope of Israel, and its Saviour, should act towards His people thus: as

1. A stranger. Indifferent, therefore, having no acquaintance or sympathy with Israel, no knowledge of their distresses or needs; wholly unconcerned in their forlorn and imperilled state.

2. A wayfaring man. Inconstant, therefore: passing through the land instead of as of old, Here will I dwell, for I have desired it, alienated, no longer attached to the Holy Land and Temple; about to depart.

3. A man that cannot save. Impotent, therefore: the power of His arm gone, the zeal of His heart expired.

When the godly see God thus inactive for human weal and His peoples rescue, faith trembles and the cry rises from amid terrifying gloom.

III. It leaves man in a deplorable case.

1. His condition is distressing. It is a time of trouble, and in such a time, if the Hope of Israel forsake and fail him, he has no hope.

2. His relief is urgent. Without it man will sink and perish amid trouble, which means peril. If the Saviour relieve him not, he has no helper, no salvation.

3. His sole expectation is in God. Man can turn nowhere else. These people have no other hope or Saviour, or mighty man. And, amid sore troubles, no appeal rises but to Him. If He be a wayfaring man, and depart, doom rests on them!

IV. It arouses to wrestling prayer. It drove Jeremiah to God in earnest supplication: a good result.

1. Expostulating. Why shouldst Thou be? why shouldst Thou be? He could not rest amid such contradictions. He went with boldness to the throne of grace, and entreated God to arise and help.

2. Protesting. Yet Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, although Thou art as a stranger and wayfaring man. He puts God in mind of precious facts, and bases firm arguments and appeals thereon. We are called by Thy name, help and save Thine own.

3. Entreating. Leave us not! Thou art in our midst; be not even as a wayfarer; abide with us! He would detain God. I will not let Thee go! Constrain Him, saying, Abide with us! When thus entreated, Jesus went in to tarry with them. (See Addenda on Jer. 14:8, Gods withdrawings.)

Jer. 14:9. Theme: A PRAYER FOR ALL SEASONS. Leave us not!

God sometimes hides Himself from us, as a friend withdraws when slighted, or a father when grieved.

I. Here is a prayer for all seasons. There is a time for everything, but every time is for this. This prayer should rise in

1. Times of joy. Need pillar of cloud by day. Our prosperity will ruin us if God be not with us. Uzziah fell when he was strong (2Ch. 26:16).

2. Times of adversity. 3. Times of labour. 4. Times of perplexity, &c.

II. Here is a prayer for all saints.

1. All need to pray thus. For all deserve to be abandoned.

2. All must pray thus. For all desire continuances of His presence.

3. All will pray thus. For all know the bitterness of soul consequent upon His withdrawal.

III. Here is a prayer always answered. If it come from sincere and penitential hearts.

1. Always answered, for it is according to His will. He delights to remain with His own.

2. Always answered, for it honours His name. It implies that we know and prize His presence.Sermon Framework.

Jer. 14:10. Theme: RECKLESS WANDERERS REFLECTED. Thus have they loved to wander the Lord doth not accept them, &c. [On the reference of thus have they, &c., see Homily on Section 1016, supra.] Thus means just so. Rashi suggests, in addition to those given in Section by Lange, that the point of comparison is, For as determined as I am to punish them, just so they love to continue their offence. (See Addenda on Jer. 14:10.)

I. A covenant people heedless of their privileges.

1. Having Jehovah as their God. Their conception of what their, God was to them is given in Jer. 14:7-9.

2. Having bounteous blessings. In their country, a goodly land; their social advantages, their spiritual distinctions.

3. Having assured prosperity and peace. God had covenanted their security against foes and enjoyment of unmeasured good.

Yet withal they depreciated their eminent blessings.

II. A heedless people yielding to inconstancy. They loved to wander, &c.

1. There was within them a delight in backsliding. A love of it. See Notes on chap. Jer. 2:23-25; Jer 14:31.

2. Upon their inclination to apostasy they put no restraint. They have not refrained their feet. We may have wrong dispositions, may love to wander, yet are called to control, and check, and correct our wrong desires and delights. But these surrendered themselves unrestrained, followed the devices and desires of their own hearts.

III. An inconstant people rejected from Gods favour. Therefore the Lord doth not accept them.

1. Even though the prophet pleaded for them. As he did in Jer. 14:7-9, as an intercessor, yet God refused (Jer. 14:11). (See Notes on chap. Jer. 7:16; Jer. 11:14.)

2. Even though they themselves might cry to Him (Jer. 14:12). There is a time when Gods mercy closes.

IV. A rejected people consigned to sore distress.

1. Buried memories of sin will be recalled against them. God will remember their iniquity, which He would have let remain in oblivion had they sought Him opportunely. Oh, to find all that God recollects against us arrayed for our doom!

2. Due recompense of sin will be brought upon them. He will visit their sins. Fain would He have made grace much more to abound where sin abounded. But repudiation of His goodness brings the inevitable stroke of anger: it is the wrath of the Lamb.

Jer. 14:11. See Notes and Homilies on chap. Jer. 7:16; Jer. 11:14.

Jer. 14:12. See Notes and Homilies on Jer. 2:28; and Homilies on Sections 1428; also Outlines on chap. Jer. 11:11; Jer. 11:14-15.

Theme: FASTING RENDERED OFFENSIVE. When they fast I will not hear their cry; but I will consume them, &c.

Hypocrites, void of all sincerity, yet professed to be true worshippers of God, and by external rites wished to prove themselves to be so. They profaned the name of God when they thus grossly dissembled with Him.

I. Pious demeanour is not what God desires, but faith.

1. God abominates a double and false heart, and the greater the fervour hypocrites display in external rites, the more they provoke Him.

2. Fasting is observed as giving intensity to prayer. Reverted to when there is danger, or when there appears evidence of Gods wrath, or when we are under heavy affliction.

3. They who fast professedly avow that they deprecate Gods disfavour. It is an acknowledgment of conscious guilt, and a declaration of penitence.

4. But God values not outward appearance. He regards the faith of the heart. Pretentious penitence must be specially offensive to Him.

III. Fasting is not in itself a religious duty, but a mere index to a humble spirit.

1. What is intended by fasting? (a.) That there may be greater alacrity in prayer. (b.) That it may be an evidence of humility in confessing sins. (c.) As indicative of a purpose to subdue lust.

2. What is fasting apart from these intents? (a.) A frivolous exercise. (b.) A profanation of Gods worship. (c.) It provokes Gods wrath as being a superstition by which His worship is polluted. Fastings are not only without benefit, except when prayers are added, but they incur Divine displeasure unless indicating a humble and reverent spirit.

III. No value is in fasting to merit Gods favour.

Papists seek to pacify God by fasting as by a sort of satisfaction, deem it a work of merit and a kind of expiation.

Yet though hypocrites joined prayer to their fasting they were rejected (comp. Mat. 17:21; Mar. 9:29; 1Co. 7:5). There was no sincerity in their hearts, but only an outward appearance, a mere disguise.

But God regards the heart, and only sincerity pleases Him.

IV. Mocking profanation was intolerable, and should be punished. I will consume them, &c.

1. God shows Himself armed with various kinds of punishment: sword, famine, pestilence.
2. He forewarns that they who had provoked Him should surely suffer. From the impending destructions none could deliver himself.
3. God does not disregard or reject religious signs, but when what they signify is separated from them, there is then an intolerable profanation.Arranged from Calvin: see Commentary in loc. (See Addenda on Jer. 14:12, Fasting offensive.

Jer. 14:14. Theme: ASSURED PEACE. I will give you assured peace in this place.

Hitzig and Graf. render the sentence, I will give you peace and continuance, &c.; Septuagint, truth and peace; Vulgate and Targum, true peace; Syriac, peace and security; Lit. peace of truth. Real and lasting peace, not delusive, not evanescent.

I. Human life wants it.

Sin robbed man of it. All sinned; and wicked, like troubled sea, which cannot rest. Oh, how man craves for peace!
1. Uncertainty troubles our life. Transient hours of repose come to us, but tumult rushes in. No calculating on restful days and years. Want assured peace in this uncertain world.

2. Delusions embitter our heart. We have heeded false prophets, have looked for peace, and behold trouble. Seems no reliance on any promising thing. Mocked at every turn. It is not gay and fleeting enjoyments we need, but something assured.

3. Misgivings weary our souls. Are we safe, saved? Is death nearing? Is God propitious? Have we a right to enter through the gates into the city? Tis a point I long to know, &c. The soul asks certitude, not conjecture, nor even hope, but full assurance, firm anchorage, a title clear, strong consolation, the peace of God which shall keep our hearts and minds. The cry of humanity is for assured peace, which will not elude, will never be lost.

Oh where can rest be found,

Rest for the weary soul?

II. God alone can give it. I will give you assured peace.

1. Peace is not a human commodity, but a Divine boon. Man cannot buy it of man, he must beg it of God. Priests cannot bestow it on penitents, sinners must get it direct from heaven.

2. Peace comes only to divinely-prepared hearts. It cannot dwell where sin lurks, sin unrepented or unforgiven. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. In Me ye have peace.

3. Peace is specifically the Saviours benefaction. For He only can remedy the evils, and remove the impurities which ruin mans peace. My peace I give unto youlet not your hearts be troubled.

III. Lying voices offer it. Prophecy lies.

1. False prophets preach peace still. In our churches promising it through ceremonies, confession, righteous works, &c. In pleasures scenes, assuring the gay and frivolous of satisfaction, &c.

2. Beguiled dupes are ensnared still. Won by false promises souls follow. But destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.

3. Yet assured peace is available still. May be found by all. Come unto me, all ye that labour, &c., Learn of me, and ye shall find rest to your soul.

Jer. 14:13-16. Theme: RUINOUS PROPHESYINGS.

How lone the voice which bewails the currency of religious frauds and ecclesiastical deceits! None but Jeremiahs cry of lament over his beguiled people rose to God. Lying prophets were and are more in number than the faithful witnesses and preachers of truth. The world believes a lie, because it loves not the truth: and, upon this prevalent mood of self-deception and credulity, scheming priests and plausible preachers are ready to trade, saying, Peace, peace; where there is no peace.

I. Delusive declarations. Behold the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place (Jer. 14:13).

1. This kind of preaching had early and evil origin: The serpent said, Ye shall not surely die, but your eyes shall be opened, &c. (Gen. 3:4-5).

2. Modern reproductions are rife. Priestly teaching of the saving value of sacraments, &c. Broad theology which minimises human sin and spiritual peril. A subtle Socinianism which denies mans fall or need of redemption. Annihilationism, which destroys a hereafter for the unchristian soul.

II. Repudiated preachers. I sent them not, neither have I commended them, neither spake unto them (Jer. 14:14).

1. Pleasant preaching may be in Gods esteem lies. The people liked it, but Jehovah denounced it.

2. Plausible prophets do not always have authority for their messages. Because a preacher teaches what men want to hear, and flock to learn, he does not on that account possess Divine warrant. Popularity is not a seal of authority. Indeed the truth most unwelcome, and the preacher most deserted, may have the highest sanction. Who hath believed our report, &c. Jeremiah was now deserted for these plausible prophets: yet who preached Divine truth?

III. Deceptions disclosed. They prophesy unto you a false vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their hearts (Jer. 14:14).

Thus are these delusive teachings disowned by God, they have no origin in Him, neither in prayerful contemplation of His Word, neither in any spiritual illumination: they are traced to the dark caverns of a deceitful heart.

1. Visions and divinations may have a bad origin. A preacher may be clear and clever in his presentation of doctrine, but his visions may be false, and his divination a deceit. Does he prophesy in My name?

2. It is possible for the human heart to suggest falsehood. Yes; the heart may forge a deceit, and thus impose upon the prophet himself; and the fancy or theory he has framed within himself may so enamour him that he may come to believe it true and authoritative. Then he will in turn impose upon heedless hearers, who desire a thing of nought rather than the serious message of God.

IV. Retributive ruin.

1. On deceivers (Jer. 14:15). The very evils from which they decoyed mens just fears should come upon themselves. Forbearing to warn men of the coming sword (see Ezekiel 33), that sword should smite the faithless watchman himself.

2. On the deceived (Jer. 14:16). Who were willingly beguiled (comp. Jer. 5:31. see supra, Jer. 14:10). Men still turn their ears from the truth, and are turned into fables. But they do not escape the threatenings of the truth because they believe a lie. Self-deception is self-ruin.

Comments

Although preachers lead their hearers astray, yet the hearers are not thus excused. But when they allow themselves to be led astray, the blind and those who guide them fall together into the ditch (Luk. 6:39).Cramer.

The false prophets are thus described as deceiving the people in three ways(1) by asserting that they had seen a vision; (2) by using conjuring tricks; (3) by professing to consult these small idols [Elil; see Lit. Crit. on thing of naught], in the same way that they divined by the Teraphim (Comp. Zec. 10:2, where these three modes of divination occur again, only the Teraphim takes the place of the Elilim. Probably they were much the same). All these three methods the prophet declares to be the deceit of their heart, i.e., not self-deceit, but a fraud suggested by their heart or mind, i.e., a wilful and intentional fraud.Speakers Com.

To Hitzig it seems surprising that, in describing the punishment which is to fall on seducers and seduced, there should not be severer judgment, in words at least, levelled against the seducers as being those involved in deeper guilt; whereas the very contrary is the case in the Hebrew text. But it was necessary to set before the people the terrors of this judgment in all their horror, in order not to fail of effect.Keil.

Jer. 14:17. Let mine eyes run down with tears, &c. See Homilies on Chaps. Jer. 9:1, Jer. 13:17, supra.

The virgin daughter of my people, see on Chap. Jer. 8:21, &c. In Oriental households virgins are carefully secluded and guarded; so had God watched over and protected Judah.

Broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow, see on Chap. Jer. 10:19.

Those cities are called virgins which never came into a conquerors hands. In the same sense the prophet here calls Jerusalem a virgin, because she had been hitherto under Gods immediate protection, and preserved by Him from all attempts of her enemies (Comp. Amo. 5:2). The dissolution of a government or body politic, is called a breach, by way of allusion to the breaking or disjointing of the limbs of a human body (see Chap. Jer. 8:21, Lam. 2:13).W. Lowth.

Jer. 14:18. Theme: THE WOES OF WAR.

I. Scenes on the field of battle. If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword.

II. Miseries within the besieged city. If I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! Yes, and heart sick with grief over sons, husbands, and fathers, slain.

III. Captives carried into alien scenes. Yea, both the prophet and the priest [even those, and therefore the people, whom the conqueror would be less likely to leave] go about into a land that they know not. By the rivers of Babylon we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

Note on go about into a land that they know not. These words are variously rendered (See Lit. Crit. on verse), and variously interpreted. Graf and Keil suggest for go about the meaning beg their way. A. V. in margin gives make merchandise. But Rosenmller and Umbreit give the interpretation that these prophets and priests move to and fro, go over their own desolated country (Judea) baffled and bewildered and impotent; they wander about it, the land, and know not what to do. But the simplest meaning is, they go into exile in a strange land.

Jer. 14:19. Theme: PATRIOTIC PRAYERS IRREPRESSIBLE.

See Addenda on Jer. 14:19, Wrestling prayers. Jehovah had prohibited Jeremiahs intercession for His people (Jer. 14:11); had wholly discouraged all propitiation by His people (Jer. 14:12). What then? nothing could be done by man for them, nor aught by themselves for themselves. It is in bold desperation that the prophet now besieges God on the plea of His gracious interest in, and covenant relationship to, Judah. Can it be that there is no healing even in Jehovah for the virgin daughter on whom has fallen a very grievous blow (Jer. 14:17).

*** For homiletic arrangement of this and following verses, see section, Jer. 14:17-22, supra. Also Homily on chap. Jer. 8:15.

I. Agonising inquiries addressed to God. Is there no room for hope, no place left for Judah and Zion within Divine pity? Are we abandoned to our miseries without any alleviation available; smitten by Thee, yet no healing procurable, none possible?

II. Desolated hopes arrayed before God.

1. Our expectations misled us. Illprepared for such a reverse of our hopes and desires.

2. Our desolation amazes us. There is no good; not one solace or respite shows itself, blank misery. Behold trouble! It rises upon our gaze, and we are terrified!

III. Astonishment expressed at the severity of God.

1. After so much grace from God. Judah cherished; Zion long beloved.

2. After frequent healings by God.

For oft He had smitten and then bound up.

3. Now utterly loathed and abandoned. Yet God can be severe. It will amaze those who calculated upon His love, and trifled with it.

Jer. 14:20. Theme: SIN ACKNOWLEDGED.

To a right acknowledgment of our iniquity, and in order that sin may be pardoned, there are required three things

I. Contrition. Iniquity truly and duly deplored. A poignant sense of the evil of sin in itself, and our evil state in having committed sin. A real grief for the wrong we have done God, and the woe we have merited on ourselves.

II. Confession. Which should be unfeigned, self-abhorrent, lamentable, specific, unreserved. The heart should utter itself in our words, and deep shame should fill our souls as we prostrate ourselves before the most Holy God.

III. Conversion. Repentance should issue in reformation. Forsaking the sin we acknowledge and lament, we should hereafter live a righteous, sober, and godly life. Bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Moved by gratitude to God for being ready to forgive, and constrained by love to the Atoning Mediator by whose redemption we may escape both guilt and its penalty, our afterlife should be humble, obedient, devoted, and holy. See Addenda on Jer. 14:20, Sin acknowledged. Comp. Homily on chap. Jer. 3:25.

Note.The and is not in the Hebrew, and corrupts the sense. National sin is the sin of the fathers perpetuated generation after generation by the children. When thus successive opportunities for repentance had been rejectedfor each generation had its own probationthe nation is ripe for chastisement.Speakers Com.

Theme: DREADING GODS ABHORRENCE. Do not abhor us, for Thy names sake.

The occasion of the prayer (Jer. 14:2-6). Prayer for removal of calamity (Jer. 14:7-9). Though visited with judgment and threatened, the false prophets preached peace (Jer. 14:13-14). The prophet, however, continued to plead with God.

I. The petition.

1. These words imply that it is possible for creatures once the objects of Divine favour to become the objects of Divine displeasure.

2. The solicitude of the prophet indicated how real and near those Divine judgments were. He was commanded not to pray that the threatened judgment should not be inflicted, but was assured the sword and famine should overtake them (Jer. 14:15). Where impiety and irreligion prevail among a people favoured with religious advantages, Divine abhorrence will certainly express itself in punishment.

3. There is nothing which godly men more vehemently dread and deprecate than that God should abhor and reject a people once distinguished by His favour and by religious privileges. Jeremiah knew his people must be scattered, but he dreaded nothing so much as their being utterly cast off. Against this he prayed, Do not abhor us, Lord, &c.

II. The argument used as enforcing his petition.

Do not abhor us, for thy names sake. This argument has been used with the Most High before. When God thinks to destroy the children of Israel, Moses pleaded what God had done for them (Exo. 32:11-13). Joshua also pleaded, What wilt Thou do for Thy great Name? (Jos. 8:9). Should the Egyptians say, &c. &c. This argument Jeremiah used to support his petition. God had made a covenant with His servant Jacobif, then, Jacob had been abhorred so as to be utterly cast offhow could that economy be maintained? Remember, break not Thy covenant with us, for Thy names sake.

Gods name is His character, including all the glorious perfections that encompass it. Some of the perfections, considered apart from others, would cause only fear when our guilt as individuals or the guilt of communities is realised. If the prophet had dwelt only upon the holiness justice, and power of God when he considered the guilt of his country, he would have had no encouragement to pray; and if we dwelt only upon some attributes, we shall be more likely to sink into despair than to be encouraged with hope. But there are other perfections in the divine attributes, such as boundless mercy, unparalleled love, infinite wisdom, and inviolable faithfulness.

This argument may be used in prayer under personal distress, and under general calamity either endured or apprehended.

1. Under personal distress, to be considered as coming from guilt or from particular trouble, and in both cases can the name of God furnish us with a suitable or a powerful argument in prayer.

(1.) We may use it under a sense of guilt, either when first convinced of sin or when we may have wounded our conscience. A life spent without the fear of God, in open disaffection to and rebellion against Him, calls forvengeance. The glory of God requires that He should resist such impiety and manifest His displeasure against it. He might justly abhor us and utterly reject us. But His name affords us a plea. God is Love, He delighteth in mercy. He is the Lord God merciful and gracious. This is in perfect harmony with the perfections of God.

2. The believer may adopt it under particular trouble and the tribulations through which he may pass. The covenant of grace affords encouragement to use it. If thy children forsake my law, &c. &c. Do not abhor us. If Thou art pleased to chastise us, cast us not offlet all Thy glorious perfections of mercy, pardon, wisdom, and faithfulness be displayed in supporting, sanctifying, and in over-ruling all things for our good. Do not abhor us, for Thy names sake, &c.

(2.) This argument may be used by the righteous under general calamities; calamities experienced or apprehended.

1. Under national trouble. Such were the circumstances under which the prophet presented the prayer. A dearth was experiencedthe swarm of the Chaldeans was threatened. He prayed that the sheep might not be abandoned. Do not abhor us.

Under national calamity the name of God affords encouragement for prayer. The godly at such times, when they can see that prevailing iniquity calls for vengeance, though professing submission, yet find the name of God a plea.

2. This plea may be used by the godly when apprehensive of spiritual judgments upon spiritual account.

There is nothing more offensive to God than a lukewarm spirit. I would that thou wert either cold or hot, &c. Now where lukewarmness prevails, the Spirit of God will be grieved and be withdrawn; the prayer is then most important, Do not abhor, &c., Take not Thy Holy Spirit, &c.

3. It is a plea that may be used in reference to churches at large. How much is there in Christendom to be deplored! How much that is religious only in name! How little Christian charity among different denominations! Though it is admitted that efforts are made to do good by churches of different denominations, and upon these efforts God has smiled, yet these evils must be offensive to Him who prayed that His Church might be kept from the evil that was in the world; and we may fear the expression of Divine displeasure until they are removed.

We learn from the subject that the proper plea to be used in all our prayers is the name of God. His mercy and grace displayed as harmonising with holiness and justice through the mediation of Jesus Christ. In our own name, as a ground of righteousness, we can never be accepted.

If God hears and answers prayer, it must be in a way that will be for His glory. And though in some measure His glory may require judgment, yet if the prayer is offered in reliance upon the mediation of Christ, the mercy and faithfulness of God assure us of acceptance. Mercy and truth meet togetherrighteousness and peace, &c.

And that prayer for others should be incessant. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.Anon.

Jer. 14:21. Theme: THE ULTIMATE ARGUMENT WITH GOD FOR MERCY. See Addenda on Jer. 14:21. Do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory. Nothing may be found to extenuate mans spiritual criminality, so heinous may be his sin, as was Judahs. Nothing acceptable or propitiatory may exist in his self-mortifications and oblations (Jer. 14:12). His guilt and insincerity may even justify Gods refusal of intercession on his behalf (Jer. 14:11). Yet there remain the highest arguments still by which to plead with God, viz., His NAME, His HONOUR, and His COVENANT.

I. Explanation of the language.

1. Gods name: it was a pledge of pardon (Exo. 34:6). But more, Gods name was identified with His people; hence what befell them would reflect credit or discredit on God. If Thou dost abhor us, Thy name as the God of Israel will be forfeit.

2. Gods honour: disgrace not the throne of Thy glory. Jerusalem, or the Temple wherein God dwelt there (chap. Jer. 3:17), was Gods glorious throne: if He suffered it to fall into the hands of heathen conquerors, it would be disgraced, and Gods glory dishonoured.

3. Gods covenant: He had chosen the race of Abraham, had pledged to David a lasting throne, had promised that Messiah should come of Judah. Though they, the guilty people, merited abhorrence, yet for the covenants sake, spare them, that the Word of God may stand.

II. Application of the argument.

Jeremiah turns from the peoples evil state and deserts, and appeals to Gods attributes.
1. That Gods name is a tower of defence for the guiltiest. Not only may the righteous run into it and be safe, but sinners may plead it as a basis of hope, as an argument for mercy (see Jer. 14:7). Though nothing else can be found on which to rest prayer for Divine pity, yet God, who is the Father of mercies, the God of our salvation, and whom the only begotten Son has declared as the God who so loved the world, may be entreated for His names sake to spare sinners, even the chief.

2. That Gods glory is involved in His administration of mercy. He would disgrace His throne did He allow the enemy to triumph and despoil His temple. If Satan vanquishes the Church, or wrests a sinner from the grace of Christ, the High Majesty of Heaven is dishonoured. True, we may merit abandonment, as did profane Jerusalem, yet let not the enemy prevailwhere sin abounds, grace shall much more abound!

3. That Gods covenant outlives mans disloyalty. Man may violate his part in that covenant: yet shall the Righteous and Gracious God therefore break His word? No! Mans falsity cannot obliterate Gods graciousness. The infinitely pitiful Jehovah, who keepeth covenants and never faileth, will still remember His promises. He has assured of salvation even to the uttermost, pledged Himself in nowise to cast out; and on that covenant we may ever rest. Calvin remarks, God did, according to the common apprehension of men, abolish the covenant by which the Jews thought Him to be bound to them; and yet He remained true; for His truth shone forth at length from darkness, after the time of exile was completed. (See Noticeable Topic on Jer. 14:21. Gods covenant an argument in prayer.)

Jer. 14:22. Theme: THE LONE HOPE OF MAN IN MISERY.

The misery was from the dearth (Jer. 14:1-6); the dearth was consequent upon Judahs iniquity (Jer. 14:7). And that iniquity consisted largely in Gods people turning from Him to the vanities of the Gentiles.

I. To choose others for God is to court hopeless misery. Not one of these vanities of the Gentiles could alleviate the calamities which had come upon them through their desertion of Jehovah.

1. Sin will entail appalling disaster.

2. In disaster we shall need help and deliverance.

3. Deliverance cannot come from the vanities for which we have surrendered God.

Therefore we create for ourselves a desolate future.

II. No secondary causes can suffice us in calamity. Showers do indeed fall from the heavens, but it is God who gives them.

1. Behind all sources of comfort God dwells.

2. If He be alienated He dries up these sources of comfort.

3. Hence to look to these sources and ignore the Divine spring is to ensure mocking disappointment. (Comp. chaps. Jer. 2:12-13, Jer. 3:23.)

III. God Himself is mans true need. Read the wordsArt Thou not Jehovah our God?

1. Our one only Saviour (Isa. 45:21-25).

2. The Creator of all the channels of comfort. Thou hast made all these thingsthe heavens with their showers.

3. The hope of man in the day of his distress.

For He who hath torn can heal; He who hath impoverished with drought can replenish with luxury. Ye shall receive of the Lords hand double for all your sins.

IV. The attitude of a troubled soul. Therefore we will wait upon Thee.

1. Humbly: for sin lies at the root of mans distress.

2. Patiently: for after long rejection of God we must wait His time for relief.

3. Trustfully: for grace will not be denied any lowly suppliant; and faith will win the blessing sought.

See Addenda on verse. Mans lone hope.

NOTICEABLE TOPICS IN CHAPTER 14
Topic: CONCERNING THE DEARTH (Jer. 14:1-9).

See Addenda on Jer. 14:1. The events here recorded most probably gave occasion for the fast referred to in chap, Jer. 36:9. A more true description of an Oriental drought in its leading circumstances and effects we have never yet seen. We proceed to show from the words of the prophet the dire effects of the drought, and by constant inference the folly of forsaking God.

I. The effects of drought upon inanimate creation.

1. The pits were empty. Some of these were natural hollows in the hard rocks and in the caves where evaporation was less speedy. Others were dykes and cisterns, the works of man. But neither nature nor art could afford supplies when God dealt with them in His judgments.

2. The ground was chapt. Kitto says, After long drought in the East, particularly where the soil is rich and hard, the ground splits into wide and deep fissures. These are earths wounds for mans sin. Mute mouths crying to Heaven for pity. The lips of earth suffering, waiting for a drop of water to relieve the torment of an awful thirst.

3. There was no grass. The world is complex, man is complex,God is complex. In complex systems harmony is essential to life,discord is ruin. The shower can do nothing good without the sun. The sun can only scorch if the rainfall not. Earth can produce no fruit unless both sun and shower combine to aid. The sun cannot say to the dewdrop, I have no need of thee, &c.

II. The effects of drought upon the animal creation.

1. The hind calved in the field and forsook it. The fact that the hind was in the field proves that pasture had failed on the higher lands. It was not unusual for the hind to drop her calf by reason of fright or grief (Psa. 29:9). The maternal instinct in these creatures being strong, it was very unusual for them to forsake their young, and can only be accounted for by the entire failure of the mother to obtain food or drink.

2. The wild asses were in intense agony on account of hunger. These creatures were capable of great endurance, and needed but little to sustain life. The language of Jer. 14:6 shows to what a desperate condition even such hardy creatures had been reduced.

III. The effects of drought upon the human creation.

1. The husbandmen were ashamed. The earth they had cultivated had brought forth no fruit, and they were unable to alter its condition. As they looked upon the hard, chapt, barren earth, they covered their heads in shame and grief.

2. The people generally were languishing. Jer. 14:2 shows that places of public resort were scenes of sadness. Their drooping condition found expression in one general cry of anguish.

3. The nobles were threatened with death through thirst. They sent servants and children in search of water, but they returned with empty pitchers.

The hot blood stands in each glassy eye;
And, Water, O God! is the only cry.

Their tongues are parched and rough, and cling to the roofs of their mouths; their lips are black and shrivelled, and their eyeballs red with heat, and sometimes a dimness comes over them which makes them stagger with faintness. There is not one in all that multitude who probably would not have given all he possessed in the world, and parted even with a limb, for one cool draught of water.Kitto.

Twas thirst! twas maddening thirst alone,
That wrung my spirits inmost groan.
Hunger is bitter, but the worst
Of human pangsthe most accursed
Of wants fell scorpionsis THIRST.Cook.

IV. The effects of drought on the devout heart of Jeremiah.

1. He regarded it as a chastisement for sin. The sin of forsaking God and trusting in idols who are unable to deliver. We have sinned. Our iniquities testify against us.

2. He regarded God as their only hope. All hope in Israel was gone, and his only plea wasFor Thy names sake.

3. He earnestly prayed for mercy. That God would abide with them and not leave them That God would remove the trouble. His prayer was vain, since it was unaccompanied by the repentance of the people.

Application:
1. In forsaking God, they forsook the fountain.
2. Earths broken cisterns cannot be a substitute for the Divine.
3. Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.

W. Whale.

Topic; GODS WITHDRAWINGS FROM HIS PEOPLE, AND THEIR EXERCISE UNDER THEM (Jer. 14:8).

See Addenda, Jer. 14:8. Gods withdrawals. Prophet laments the grievous drought and want of rain, as a token of Gods withdrawing His presence. He deprecates Gods judgments, and especially that terrible oneGod lost to His Church and people: Why shouldst Thou be a stranger, &c. Consider

I. When it may be said God withdraws, and behaves as a stranger to His people.

1. When He withholds His wonted acts of kindness to them. Sees them in trouble and comes not to their relief. Of this the Church complains (Isa. 63:15). See also complaint of Gideon (Jdg. 6:13).

2. When He threatens to remove from them the signs and symbols of His presencethe Word and Sacraments; when He permits their enemies to combine and carry on their plans for that purpose (Lam. 5:9).

3. When, though continuing the ordinances and sacraments, the Lord renders them profitless (Mal. 2:2). When ministers are straitened in preaching and the people in hearing, when all is cold and dead.

4. When the Divine providences are adverse. Outward mercies denied them, temporal calamities allowed. So when Zions captivity was prolonged (Isa. 49:14).

5. When He denies them access to Himself. Breaks off His wonted correspondence with them. They seek Him in private and public ordinances, but cannot find Him. Jobs language is theirs (Job. 23:3). Also Jeremiahs (Lam. 3:8).

II. The reasons why the Lord deals thus with His people. Infinite goodness cannot take delight in thus afflicting. There must be a cause. In general, sin is the cause (Isa. 59:2). As

1. When they fall into gross sin and bring reproach upon religion (Isa. 1:13-14). Or, as Davids case (2Sa. 12:14; comp. Psa. 51:11).

2. When they become earthly minded. Prefer pleasure of sense (Isa. 57:17). The Gergesenes preferred their swine to Christ; then He turned His back and departed from their coast (Mat. 7:28).

3. When they become slothful and formal in duty. Do not stir themselves up to seek Gods face (Isa. 64:7; Son. 3:1).

4. When they neglect or slight the Mediator, by whom we have access to God; either by not looking to Him for strength to perform our duties, or by making a Saviour of our duties, and so putting them in the place of Christ.

5. When they sin under, or after, great afflictions. Though these were appointed to reclaim them (Isa. 57:17).

6. When they do not cherish and entertain the influences of the Holy Spirit (Son. 5:2-3; Son. 5:6-7).

7. When they grow hardened and impenitent under provocation. No due sense of their own sins, nor of the sins of the land they lived in (Hos. 5:15).

III. When it may be said we are properly exercised under such a painful dispensation.

1. When we are truly sensible of our loss, and that our sin is the cause of it. Mourn after the Lord, as Israel in the days of Samuel (1Sa. 7:2).

2. When we place all our happiness in Gods favour and presence. Every comfort regarded as empty without God, regarding Him as the Hope of Israel, and our only desire (Psa. 73:25).

3. When we engage all the powers of our souls to seek after God (Psa. 119:10). For God takes particular notice of those who do (Jer. 30:21).

4. When we diligently embrace every opportunity for finding an absent God, and use every appointed means (Son. 3:2).

5. When we wrestle with Him in prayer to return. Use every argument, as here the prophet did. He pleads (a) The glory of His name: for Thy names sake. (b) Their helpless state without Him: Oh, the hope, &c. (c) His former kindness to them: the Saviour in time of trouble. (d) His power: Why shouldst Thou, &c. (Jer. 14:9). (e) The outward symbols of His presence: Thou art in our midst. (f) The covenant relation: we are called by Thy name.

6. When we are not satisfied with the best means, unless we find God in them. David was not content with the tabernacle, ark, sacrifices, passover; but, in midst of all, cried for God (Psa. 84:2).

IV. Whence it is that the Lord, being as a stranger to His people, occasions them so much concern.

1. Because of the incomparable happiness arising from the enjoyment of His presence. All blessedness comes with His presence, and when He withdraws we may cry out with Micah (Jdg. 18:24).

2. Because of the sad effects attending the loss of His presence. Great darkness (Lam. 3:2), much deadness (Joh. 11:21), disability for duty (Psa. 87:4; Psa. 40:12; Joh. 15:5), barrenness (Joh. 15:6), exposure to danger and enemies (Num. 14:9), distress when remembering former blessings (Psa. 77:3), melancholy thoughts of death and judgment (Psa. 23:4), the fear of being entirely rejected (Psa. 77:9-10; Psa. 119:8).

Infer:
(1.) There are but few true seekers of God among us. Many are troubled for other trifling losses, but few can say with David (Psa. 30:7).

(2.) The misery of those who are far from God now, and may be deprived of His presence for ever (Psa. 73:27). Ungodly men desire not His presence (Job. 21:14). Their choice will be their punishment (Mat. 25:41).

(3.) The sad case of those whom God forsakes, never to return againas with Saul (1Sa. 16:14). The Lord preserve us from this great woe, and grant us enjoyment of His presence here and in heaven!Hannum.

Topic: TRIUMPHANT PRAYER (Jer. 14:7-9).

See Addenda on Jer. 14:8. Intercessory Prayer. Expositors have differed as to whether the drought which forms the basis of this prayer was a literal one, or is the prophets way of putting the sore calamities that had fallen on Israel. But throughout Scripture, the metaphor of the rain that cometh down from heaven and watereth the earth is the symbol for Gods Divine gift of His Spirit; and the picture of a dry and thirsty land where no water is is the appropriate sign of the soul and the Church void of the Divine presence.

I. The mysterious contradiction between the ideal of Israel and the actual condition of things. Recur to the historical event upon which this text is based, The Lord thy God giveth thee a good land; a land full of brooks and water, rivers and depths (Deu. 8:9); and the fulfilment is thisa land full of misery for want of the thing promised! So also. the ancient charter of Israels existence was that God should dwell in the midst of them: but things are as if the perennial presence promised had been changed into visits, short and far between (Jer. 14:8). Two ideas conveyed: the brief transitory visits, with long dreary stretches of absence between them; and the indiference of the visitant, as a man who pitches his tent for a night, caring little for the people among whom he tarries the while. More: instead of the perpetual energy of the Divine aid promised to Israel, it looks as if Thou art a mighty man astonied, &c.a Samson with his locks shorn.

The IDEAL was: Perpetual gifts, perpetual presence, perpetual energy.

The REALITY is: Parched places, fitful visitations, and a paralysis, as it would appear, of all the ancient might. And what was Gods ideal for us, His Church? Lo, I am with you alway, &c. Ye are the light of the world, salt of the earth. It sounds like irony rather than a promise! What is the Church? The Church at home does not keep pace numerically with the increase of population, while heathenism remains scarcely touchedall unconquered! Why shouldst Thou be as a mighty man that cannot save?

II. Our low and evil condition should lead to earnest inquiry as to its cause.

Prophet asks, Why shouldst Thou leave us?
1. The reason is not in any variableness of that unalterable, uniform, ever-present, ever-full, Divine gift of Gods Spirit to His Church. We do not believe in an arbitrary sovereignty. The great reservoir is always full. If there be any changes in the fulness of our possession of the Divine Spirit, the fault lies wholly within the region of the mutable and the human, and not at all in the region of the perennial and the Divine.

2. The reason is not in the failure of adaptation in Gods Word and ordinances for the great work they had to do.

3. The fault lies here only: O LORD, OUR INIQUITIES TESTIFY AGAINST US, &c. We have to prayerfully, patiently, and honestly search after this cause, and not to look to possible variations and improvements in order and machinery, &c., but to recognise this as being the one sole cause that hinders,the slackness of our own hold on Christs hand, and the feebleness and imperfection of our spiritual life (Jer. 14:7).

III. This consciousness of our evil condition and knowledge of the cause lead on to lowly penitence and confession. We err in being more ready, when awakened to a sense of wrong, to originate new methods of work, to begin with new zeal to gather in the outcasts into the fold; instead of beginning with ourselves, deepening our own Christian character, purifying our own hearts, and getting more of the life of God into our own spirits. Begin with lowly abasement at His footstool. Let us see that we are right in our own inmost hearts. To our knees and to confessions! Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, &c. (Joe. 2:15-17).

IV. The triumphant confidence of believing prayer.

1. Look at the substance of his petition. Do Thou it for Thy names sake: leave us not. He does not prescribe what should be done, nor ask that calamity be taken away, but simply for the continual Divine presence and power.

2. Look at these pleas with God as grounds of confidence for ourselves. (a) The name: all the ancient manifestations of Thy character. Thy memorial with all generations. (b) Israels hope: the confidence of the Church is fixed upon Thee; and Thou who hast given us Thy name hast become our hope. (c) The perennial and essential relationship of God to His Church: we belong to Thee, and Thou hast not ceased Thy care for us!

Lowly repentance should rise to the triumph of believing hope. The expectation is the precursor of the gift, and the prayer is the guarantee of the acceptance (Jer. 14:20-22); for with that prayer on our lips, be sure that the old answer will come to us, I will pour rivers of water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.A. MLaren, B.A., Christian World Pulpit.

Theme: GODS COVENANT AN ARGUMENT IN PRAYER. Text: Remember, break not Thy covenant with us.

Suggestions: A covenant between God and man can be only an accommodating expression, since man cannot be regarded as properly qualified to make an agreement with Jehovah, being essentially unreliable and impotent. Strictly speaking, such a covenant is quite unconditional, and amounts to a promise (Gal. 3:15 sq.), where and are used almost as synonyms) or act of mere favour (Psa. 89:28, where stands in parallelism with ) on Gods part. Thus, the assurance given by God after the flood that a like judgment should not be repeated, and that the recurrence of the seasons, and of day and night, should not cease, is called a covenant (Genesis 9. Jer. 33:20). Generally, however, the form of a covenant is maintained by the benefits which God engages to bestow, being made by Him dependent upon the fulfilment of certain conditions which He imposes on man. Thus, the covenant with Abraham was conditioned by circumcision (Act. 7:8), the omission of which was declared tantamount to a breach of the covenant (Genesis 17); the covenant with the priesthood, by zeal for God, His honour and service (Num. 25:12-13; Mal. 2:4-5); the covenant of Sinai, by the observance of the ten commandments (Exo. 34:27-28). This last-mentioned covenant, which was renewed at different periods of Jewish history (Deuteronomy 29; Joshua 24; 2 Chronicles 15, 23, 29, 34; Ezra 10; Nehemiah 9, 10) is one of the two principal covenants between God and man, distinguished as Old and New (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-13). Compare Kitto.

I. That God should make a covenant with man is an act of unmerited grace.
II. That man should fail to keep the covenant accords with all human history.
III. That failure on mans part justifies God in withdrawing His covenanted goodness.
IV. Nevertheless, that a gracious covenant made by God, who knows our waywardness, might stand though man proved faithless.
V. Therefore, that God may be entreated to keep His part in a covenant even with a faithless people who have forfeited all right to His grace.

ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 14: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS

Jer. 14:1. CONCERNING THE DEARTH. A terrible drought had fallen upon the land; and the prophets picture of it is, if one might say so, like some of Dantes in its realism, its tenderness, and in its terror. In the presence of a common calamity, all distinctions of class have vanished, and the nobles send their little ones to the water, and they come back with empty vessels and drooping heads, instead of with the gladness that used to be heard in the place of drawing of water. Far afield the ploughmen are standing among the cracked furrows gazing with despair at the brown chapped earth, and out in the field the very dumb creatures are sharing in the common sorrow, and the imperious loss of self-preservation overpowers and crushes the maternal instincts. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. And on every hill top, where cooler air might be found, the once untamable wild asses are standing with open nostrils panting for air, their filmy eyes failing them, gazing for the rain that will not come.MLaren.

Jer. 14:2. THE GATES THEREOF LANGUISH. The gates of cities, being places of public resort, where courts of justice were held, and other common business transacted, seem here to be put for the persons that meet there; as when we say, The court is in mourning, we mean the persons that attend the court or the kings palace. So in this passage we are to understand that all the persons who appear in public are dejected, and put on black or mourning on account of the national distress.Dr. Blayney.

Or, that they look black and ghastly, and cast themselves down upon the ground out of grief and despair (comp. Jer. 8:21; Jer. 13:18).W. Louth.

As the gates were the usual place of concourse, the misery of the people would there show itself most plainly.Speakers Com.

Jer. 14:3. CAME TO THE PITS AND FOUND NO WATER. Jerusalem was supplied with water by two lakes or pools, called the Upper Pool and the Lower Pool (see Isa. 7:3; Isa. 22:9), whence the water was conveyed into cisterns [here rendered pits] for the use of the city.W. Louth.

Jer. 14:6. SNUFFED UP THE WIND. Asses, in defect of water, can continue long by drawing in the air; as Aristotle likewise testifieth of the goats of Cephalonia, that they drink not for divers days together, but instead thereof gape and suck in the fresh air.Trapp.

Jer. 14:7. CONTRITE PRAYER.

All powerful is the penitential sigh
Of true contrition. Like the placid wreaths
Of incense wafted from the righteous shrine,
Where Abel ministerd, to the blest seat
Of mercy, an accepted sacrifice,
Humiliations conscious plaint ascend.

Hayes.

Jer. 14:8. INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

A good mans prayers

Will from the deepest dungeon climb to heavens height,
And bring a blessing down.

Joanna Baillie.

Temporal blessings Heaven doth often share
Unto the wicked, at the good mans prayer.

Quarles.

But that from us aught should ascend to Heaven
So prevalent as to concern the mind
Of God high blest, or to incline His will,
Hard to belief may seem; yet this will prayer.

Milton.

A STRANGER IN THE LAND. As none but citizens in old time had any political rights or privileges, a sojourner, however long might be his stay, naturally took little interest in the country where not choice but necessity had made him fix his dwelling.Speakers Com.

Jer. 14:9. GODS WITHDRAWALS FROM HIS PEOPLE. God does not always frown, lest we should be cast into despair; He does not always smile, lest we should be careless and presume.Owen.

A fathers frowns are but the graver countenance of love.Cowper.

I know, as night and shadow are good for flowers, and moonlight and dews are better than continual sun, so is Christs absence of special use, and it hath some nourishing virtue in it, and giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and furnishes a fair occasion for faith to put forth her hand and lay hold on what she seeth not.Rutherford.

God sometimes hides Himself that we may cling the closer to Him and hang the faster upon Him. By withdrawing from His people, He prevents His people withdrawing from Him; and so by an affliction He prevents sin; for God to withdraw from me is but my affliction, but for me to withdraw from God, that is my sin; and, therefore, it were better for me that God should withdraw from me a thousand times than that I should once withdraw from God (Heb. 10:38-39).Brooks.

Jer. 14:10. THEY LOVE TO WANDER.

I have not kept Thy word,

And yet Thou biddest me to taste Thy love;
Shaming my faithless heart that ere could rove

From Thee, O gracious Lord.
Shame wraps my heart around

Like morning gloom upon the mountains spread;
Indignant memory, avenger dread,

Deepens each restless wound.

Thomas W. Webb.

Jer. 14:12. FASTING OFFENSIVE.

When thou a fast wouldst keep,
Make not thy homage cheap

By publishing its signs to every eye;

But let it be between
Thyself and the Unseen;

So shall it gain acceptance from on high.

Barton.

Is this a fastto keep

The larder lean, and clean

From fat of veals and sheep?
Is it to quit the dish

Of flesh, yet still to fill

The platter high with fish?
Is it to fast an hour,

Or ragged go, or show

A downcast look and sour?
No! tis a fast to dole

Thy sheaf of wheat, and meat

Unto the hungry soul.
it is to fast from strife,

From old debate, and hate

To circumcise thy life.
To show a heart grief-rent;

To starve thy sinnot bin

And thats to keep thy Lent.

Herrick.

Jer. 14:13. ASSURED PEACE. Peace Is not a compromise with circumstances. It is a Divine reality in the heart. Righteousness is restholiness is peacerectitude with God, arising through trust in the atonement of God the Son, means tranquillity deep and unchanging as the peace of God which passeth understanding!Joseph Parker, D.D.

Far, far away the roar of passion dieth,

And loving thoughts rise calm and peacefully;

And no rude storm, how fierce soeer it flieth,

Disturbs that deeper rest, O Lord, in Thee.

H. B. Stowe.

Jer. 14:19. WRESTLING PRAYERS. If thy suit be not honest, never begin it: if it be, never leave it.Trapp.

Jer. 14:20. SIN ACKNOWLEDGED. Many people can mourn for a body from which a soul is departed, but they cannot mourn over a soul whom God has deserted. Alas! what is a spot in the face to a stab in the heart? Inward diseases are least visible and yet most fatal. A man may die of a plague though his spots never appear.Secker.

CONTRITION NECESSARY. Take the cold iron, and attempt to weld it, if you can, into a certain shape. How fruitless the effort! Lay it on the anvil, seize the blacksmiths hammer with all your might, let blow after blow fall on it, and you shall have done nothing; but put it in the fire, let it be softened and made malleable, then lay it on the anvil, and each stroke shall have a mighty effect, so that you may mould it into any shape you may desire. So take your heart, not cold as it is, but put it into the furnace; let it be molten, and after that it can be fashioned into the image of Jesus Christ.Spurgeon.

CONVERSION. A Scotch lassie was converted under the preaching of With-field. She was asked if her heart were changed, and replied, Something, I know, is changed; it may be the world, it may be my heart; there is a great change somewhere, I am sure; for everything is different from what it once was.

I need a cleansing change within:
My life must once again begin;
New hope I need, and youth renewed,
And more than human fortitude;
New faith, new love, and strength to cast
Away the fetters of the past.

Hartley Coleridge.

Jer. 14:21. DO NOT DISGRACE THE THRONE OF THY GLORY. The Romans held the extinction of the vestal fire a sign of the destruction of their city, be the cause thereof what it will. We may well think the same of the loss of Gods ordinances, which therefore we must deprecate, as here, with all our might; for as Bodin said well of obtaining, so likewise of retaining, religion, Non disputationibus sed rogationibus, &c.: the business will be the better effected by requests than by disputes. Pray, therefore, for the peace of Jerusalem, yea, take no nay. Deus ipse qui nullis contra se viribus superare potest, precious vincitur (Jerome). The invincible God is overcome by the power of prayer.Trapp.

Jer. 14:22. MANS LONE HOPE. Our hope is not hung upon such an untwisted thread as I imagine so, or It is likely; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity: our salvation is fastened with Gods own hand and Christs own strength to the strong stake of Gods unchangeable nature.Rutherford.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER TEN

NATIONAL DISTRESS AND PROPHETIC DISCOURAGEMENT

Jer. 14:1 to Jer. 17:27

Sometime during the ministry of Jeremiah a terrible drought or series of droughts (the Hebrew word is plural) struck Palestine (Jer. 14:1). This national crisis forms the background of most if not all of the materials in chapters 1417. No date for the drought is given. But since in these chapters Judahs punishment is still future and since no reference is made to the deportation of Jehoiachin in 597 B.C. it is likely that these events transpired in the reign of Jehoiaklm. Droughts were not uncommon in Old Testament Palestine and numerous references to them occur in the Scriptures,[200] In the Book of Deuteronomy the Lord threatens to use drought as one of the disciplinary disasters which He will bring upon His people if they are unfaithful to Him (Deu. 11:10-17; Deu. 28:23-24). Growing out of this crisis is a personal crisisthe second onein the ministry of Jeremiah. Chapter 17 contains a series of utterances more appropriately called Jeremiahs sayings than Jeremiahs sermons. Perhaps these sayings were excerpts from the preaching which Jeremiah did during the drought.

[200] Gen. 12:10; Gen. 26:1; Gen. 42:1-2; Rth. 1:1; 2Sa. 21:1; 1Ki. 8:37

I. PROPHETIC INTERCESSION Jer. 14:1 to Jer. 15:9

One of the hallmarks of a prophet is that he prayed on behalf of his people. During the time of the terrible drought (Jer. 14:1-6) Jeremiah prayed three times for his countrymen (Jer. 14:7-9; Jer. 14:13; Jer. 14:19-22). Three times God rejected the petition of his prophet, the third time emphatically so (Jer. 14:10-12; Jer. 14:14-18; Jer. 15:1-9). Jeremiah was to learn through this frustrating effort that intercessory prayer without prior repentance on the part of the sinners is futile and useless.

A, The Description of the Drought Jer. 14:1-6

TRANSLATION

(1) The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah concerning the matters of the drought. (2) Judah mourns; her gates languish. They make themselves black to the ground and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. (3) And their nobles have sent their inferiors for water. They have come to the pits, and have not found water; their vessels return empty; they are ashamed and dejected, they cover their heads. (4) Because of the ground which is dismayedfor there is no rain in the landthe ploughmen are bewildered, they cover their head. (5) For even the doe in the field gives birth and forsakes her kid because there is no grass. (6) And the wild asses stand on the bare hills, they gasp for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no grass.

COMMENTS

Whether or not Jer. 14:2-6 are to be considered a part of Jeremiahs prayer or a background to it is not clear. In either case these verses are a masterful description of the national plight created by the drought. This is Hebrew poetry of the first rank.

In Jer. 14:2 Jeremiah pictures the whole nation engaged in lamentation. Even the gates of cities are said to be participating, perhaps bemoaning the absence of those who formerly had assembled there to transact business. By heaping dust upon themselves both the people and their garments became black. This blackening of oneself was one of the customary signs of mourning in antiquity.[201] The nobles would send their inferiors (liter ally, their little ones) to the cisterns for water but they would return with empty vessels. Ashamed, dejected these servants would return to their master with heads covered as a sign of deepest mourning[202] (Jer. 14:3). The farmers are as confused as the nobles. The ground can no longer fulfill its function of producing fruit because of the absence of rain (Jer. 14:4). Even the wild animals are suffering in the drought. The tender doe is starving. Her natural affection for her young is forgotten as she desperately seeks food for herself (Jer. 14:5). The rough wild ass, accustomed to the harsh realities of desert life, desperately sniffs the air in an attempt to pick up the scent of water. Finally with no water and no food the animal languishes and dies (Jer. 14:6).

[201] See 2Sa. 13:19; 2Sa. 21:10; Job. 2:12; Lamentation Jer. 2:10.

[202] 2Sa. 15:30; 2Sa. 19:4; Est. 6:12.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

XIV.

(1) Concerning the dearth.Literally, on the word or tidings of the drought. This is clearly the opening of a new discourse, which continues to Jer. 17:18; but as no special calamity of this kind is mentioned in the historical account of Jeremiahs life, its date cannot be fixed with certainty. As Jer. 15:15 -implies that he had already suffered scorn or persecution for his prophetic work, we may reasonably assume some period not earlier than the reign of Jehoiakim.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

THE DROUGHT, Jer 14:1-6.

1. The word of the Lord The title, not only of the section immediately following, but of the whole four chapters to chap. 18.

Dearth Better, drought. The original word is in the plural, either to express emphasis or to indicate a succession of droughts.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Depths Of The Series Of Droughts ( Jer 14:1-6 ).

The plural for ‘droughts’ suggests that there had been a series of droughts, probably over a number of years. Such droughts did occur in Canaan from time to time and their effects could be devastating. In the days of Joseph there had been one lasting for seven years, which had caused the move to Egypt. In the days of David there was one that lasted for three years ‘year after year’ (2Sa 21:1) which caused great distress. In the days of Elijah there was one that lasted for three and a half years (1 Kings 17-18). Thus while, thankfully, comparatively rare, such severe droughts were not unknown.

Jer 14:1

‘The word of YHWH which came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.’

We are not told whether this word comes before the periods of the droughts, thus acting as a prophecy of their coming (as with Elijah – 1Ki 17:1), or whether it came when the series of droughts were already in process with the emphasis being on the depth of the droughts and the lesson that follows.

Unlike Egypt with the Nile, and Mesopotamia with its great rivers, Judah and the surrounding countries very much depended on the rains for its water (and therefore on the God of Heaven – Lev 26:4; Deu 8:7; Deu 11:11; Deu 28:12). When the rains were normal water was reasonably plentiful, but when the rains were sparse then the land suffered. Thus a period of two or three years when water was really scarce could bring the land to its knees. Reserves would soon be used up, cisterns would be drunk dry and the land would soon become barren. Water would be at a premium. That was the situation being described here.

Jer 14:2

‘Judah mourns,

And its gates languish,

They sit in black on the ground,

And the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.’

Jeremiah draws a vivid picture of the feelings of the population as they saw their land withering around them and struggled to find sufficient water for their families, while the hot sun continued to beat down. Judah was in mourning. Those who sat in the gates, the elders responsible for the cities and towns, were anxious and troubled. They had clothed themselves in black as a sign of their distress, whilst from the whole of Jerusalem a plaintive cry went up, ‘for pity’s sake send us rain’.

Jer 14:3

‘And their nobles send their lowly ones to the waters,

They come to the cisterns, and find no water,

They return with their vessels empty,

They are put to shame and confounded, and cover their heads.’

Even the large and wealthy households were without water. They sent their servants to their large cisterns, but they found no water there, and came back with their vessels empty, ashamed and confounded, and with their heads covered as a sign of their distress. This covering of their heads as a sign of distress is also mentioned in 2Sa 15:30; 2Sa 19:5.

We are reminded here of Ahab’s exhaustive and in depth searching of the land of Israel for sources of water during the great drought in the days of Elijah, when he had led one search party, and his chief minister the other. See 1Ki 18:5-6.

Jer 14:4

‘Because of the ground which is cracked,

In that no rain has been in the land,

The ploughmen are put to shame,

They cover their heads.’

And it was not only the lowly servants who had to cover their heads in distress. The ground was cracked (literally ‘was struck with terror, dismayed’), there was no rain on it, and the ploughmen thus ploughed in vain, also ashamed because they were producing no food for their dependants, and they too were covering their heads in distress. There was distress throughout the land in both town and countryside.

Jer 14:5

‘Yes, the hind also in the field calves,

And forsakes her young, because there is no grass.

The droughts were such that even the hinds, famous for their motherly instinct, abandoned their new born calves because there was no grass, and therefore no milk for their calves.

Jer 14:6

‘And the wild asses stand on the bare heights,

They pant for air like jackals,

Their eyes fail,

Because there is no vegetation.’

And it was no better in the wild. The wild asses standing on the heights in the burning sun were desperate for air and panted as though they were jackals (we would say, like a dog). In the burning sun they were becoming dehydrated, weak and feeble, with their sight failing, because there was no vegetation (although the idea may simply be that ‘their eyes failed’ because there was nothing to see).

Thus the whole land was affected and the situation was becoming desperate. All their efforts to make the gods concerned about their problems had failed and so at last they began again to think about YHWH.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Lesson of The Great Droughts ( Jer 14:1-10 ).

As a preliminary warning of what is coming YHWH sends a great drought on Judah with the result that the cisterns are empty, the springs are dry, the pastures are bare and the ground is parched and cracked. Of course according to their then current theology it was Baal who should have ensured the supplies of rain as a result of their ritual antics before him, for he was the god of rain and storm, but they recognise that he had failed them, and that in such circumstances there was only one final port of call and that was to YHWH. So recognising it for what it was, a judgment from YHWH because of their sins (compare Lev 26:19 ff; Deu 11:17; Deu 28:23), the people cry to Him in a well rehearsed ritual only to discover that this time He has no intention of responding because He is sick of their wandering. In view of His past mercies it is an unexpected warning shot across their bows. Like so many they had always been confident that in the last analysis they would be able to persuade YHWH to help them even if they had rather neglected the covenant. Had He not done so in the past time and again? Now was the time for them to be pulled up short and to learn that even YHWH’s patience had its limits.

The passage divides up into three parts, the first revealing the depths of the droughts (Jer 14:1-6), the second reflecting their response in supposed penitence (Jer 14:7-9), and the third indicating YHWH’s negative counter-response (Jer 14:10).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

SECTION 1. An Overall Description Of Jeremiah’s Teaching Given In A Series Of Accumulated, Mainly Undated, Prophecies, Concluding With Jeremiah’s Own Summary Of His Ministry ( Jer 2:4 to Jer 25:38 ).

From this point onwards up to chapter 25 we have a new major section (a section in which MT and LXX are mainly similar) which records the overall teaching of Jeremiah, probably given mainly during the reigns of Josiah (Jer 3:6) and Jehoiakim, although leading up to the days of Zedekiah (Jer 21:1). While there are good reasons for not seeing these chapters as containing a series of specific discourses as some have suggested, nevertheless they can safely be seen as giving a general overall view of Jeremiah’s teaching over that period, and as having on the whole been put together earlier rather than later. The whole commences with the statement, ‘Hear you the word of YHWH O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel, thus says YHWH —.’ It is therefore directed to Israel as a whole, mainly as now contained in the land of Judah to which many northerners had fled for refuge. We may divide up the main subsections as follows, based partly on content, and partly on the opening introductory phrases:

1. ‘Hear you the word of YHWH, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel —’ (Jer 2:4). YHWH commences by presenting His complaint against Israel/Judah because they have failed to continue to respond to the love and faithfulness that He had demonstrated to them in the wilderness and in the years that followed, resulting by their fervent addiction to idolatry in their losing the water of life in exchange for empty cisterns. It ends with a plea for them to turn back to Him like an unfaithful wife returning to her husband. This would appear to be mainly his initial teaching in his earliest days, indicating even at that stage how far, in spite of Josiah’s reformation, the people as a whole were from truly obeying the covenant, but it also appears to contain teaching given in the days of Jehoiakim, for which see commentary (Jer 2:4 to Jer 3:5).

2. ‘Moreover YHWH said to me in the days of King Josiah –’ (Jer 3:6). This section follows up on section 1 with later teaching given in the days of Josiah, and some apparently in the days of Jehoiakim. He gives a solemn warning to Judah based on what had happened to the northern tribes (‘the ten tribes’) as a result of their behaviour towards YHWH, facing Judah up to the certainty of similar coming judgment if they do not amend their ways, a judgment that would come in the form of a ravaged land and exile for its people. This is, however, intermingled with a promise of final blessing and further pleas for them to return to YHWH, for that in the end is YHWH’s overall purpose. But the subsection at this time ends under a threat of soon coming judgment (Jer 3:6 to Jer 6:30).

3. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 7:1). In this subsection Jeremiah admonishes the people about the false confidence that they have in the inviolability of the Temple, and in their sacrificial ritual, and warned that like Shiloh they could be destroyed. He accompanies his words with warnings that if they continued in their present disobedience, Judah would be dispersed and the country would be despoiled (Jer 7:1 to Jer 8:3). He therefore chides the people for their obstinacy in the face of all attempts at reformation (Jer 8:4 to Jer 9:21), and seeks to demonstrate to them what the path of true wisdom is, that they understand and know YHWH in His covenant love, justice and righteousness. In a fourfold comparison he then vividly brings out the folly of idolatry when contrasted with the greatness of YHWH. The section ends with the people knowing that they must be chastised, but hoping that YHWH’s full wrath will rather be poured out on their oppressors (Jer 9:22 to Jer 10:25).

4. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 11:1). He now deprecates their disloyalty to the covenant, and demonstrates from examples the total corruption of the people, revealing that as a consequence their doom is irrevocably determined (Jer 11:1 to Jer 12:17). The section closes with a symbolic action which reveals the certainty of their expulsion from the land (13).

5. ‘The word that came from YHWH to Jeremiah –’ (Jer 14:1). “The word concerning the drought,” gives illustrative evidence confirming that the impending judgment of Judah cannot be turned aside by any prayers or entreaties, and that because of their sins Judah will be driven into exile. A promise of hope for the future when they will be restored to the land is, however, once more incorporated (Jer 16:14-15) although only with a view to stressing the general judgment (Jer 14:1 to Jer 17:4). The passage then closes with general explanations of what is at the root of the problem, and lays out cursings and blessings and demonstrates the way by which punishment might be avoided by a full response to the covenant as evidenced by observing the Sabbath (Jer 17:5-27).

6. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 18:1). Chapters 18-19 then contain two oracles from God illustrated in terms of the Potter and his handiwork, which bring out on the one hand God’s willingness to offer mercy, and on the other the judgment that is about to come on Judah because of their continuance in sin and their refusal to respond to that offer. The consequence of this for Jeremiah, in chapter 20, is severe persecution, including physical blows and harsh imprisonment. This results in him complaining to YHWH in his distress, and cursing the day of his birth.

7. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH –’ (Jer 21:1). This subsection, which is a kind of appendix to what has gone before, finally confirming the hopelessness of Jerusalem’s situation under Zedekiah. In response to an appeal from King Zedekiah concerning Judah’s hopes for the future Jeremiah warns that it is YHWH’s purpose that Judah be subject to Babylon (Jer 21:1-10). Meanwhile, having sent out a general call to the house of David to rule righteously and deal with oppression, he has stressed that no hope was to be nurtured of the restoration of either Shallum, the son of Josiah who had been carried off to Egypt, nor of Jehoiachin (Coniah), the son of Jehoiakim who had been carried off to Babylon. In fact no direct heir of Jehoiachin would sit upon the throne. And the reason that this was so was because all the current sons of David had refused to respond to his call to rule with justice and to stamp down on oppression. What had been required was to put right what was wrong in Judah, and reign in accordance with the requirements of the covenant. In this had lain any hope for the continuation of the Davidic monarchy. But because they had refused to do so only judgment could await them. Note in all this the emphasis on the monarchy as ‘sons of David’ (Jer 21:12; Jer 22:2-3). This is preparatory to the mention of the coming glorious son of David Who would one day come and reign in righteousness (Jer 23:3-8).

Jeremiah then heartily castigates the false shepherds of Judah who have brought Judah to the position that they are in and explains that for the present Judah’s sinful condition is such that all that they can expect is everlasting reproach and shame (Jer 23:9 ff). The subsection then closes (chapter 24) with the parable of the good and bad figs, the good representing the righteous remnant in exile who will one day return, the bad the people who have been left in Judah to await sword, pestilence, famine and exile.

8. ‘The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah –’ (Jer 25:1). This subsection contains Jeremiah’s own summary, given to the people in a sermon, describing what has gone before during the previous twenty three years of his ministry. It is also in preparation for what is to follow. He warns them that because they have not listened to YHWH’s voice the land must suffer for ‘seventy years’ in subjection to Babylon, and goes on to bring out that YHWH’s wrath will subsequently be visited on Babylon, and not only on them, but on ‘the whole world’. For YHWH will be dealing with the nations in judgment, something which will be expanded on in chapters 46-51. There is at this stage no mention of restoration, (except as hinted at in the seventy year limit to Babylon’s supremacy), and the chapter closes with a picture of the final desolation which is to come on Judah as a consequence of YHWH’s anger.

While the opening phrase ‘the word that came from YHWH to Jeremiah’ will appear again in Jer 30:1; Jer 32:1; Jer 34:8; Jer 35:1; Jer 40:1 it will only be after the sequence has been broken by other introductory phrases which link the word of YHWH with the activities of a particular king (e.g. Jer 25:1; Jer 26:1; Jer 27:1; Jer 28:1) where in each case the message that follows is limited in length. See also Jer 29:1 which introduces a letter from Jeremiah to the early exiles in Babylon. Looking at chapter 25 as the concluding chapter to the first part, this confirms a new approach from Jer 26:1 onwards, (apparent also in its content), while at the same time demonstrating that the prophecy must be seen as an overall unity.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Section 5. The Word Concerning The Droughts: The Certainty Of Exile For Judah ( Jer 14:1 to Jer 17:27 ).

The new section is again introduced by the words ‘The word of YHWH which came to Jeremiah –’ (Jer 14:1) although in slightly altered form (literally ‘that which came, the word of YHWH, to Jeremiah’). “The word concerning the droughts” gives illustrative evidence confirming that the impending judgment of Judah cannot be turned aside by any prayers or entreaties, and that because of their sins Judah will be driven into exile, although a promise of hope for the future when they will be restored to the land is also incorporated (Jer 16:14-15), but this only with a view to stressing the general judgment (Jer 14:1 to Jer 17:4). The passage then closes with general explanations of what is at the root of the problem, and lays out cursings and blessings and demonstrates the way by which punishment might be avoided by a full response to the covenant as evidenced in the observance of the Sabbath (Jer 17:5-27).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Prophet Intercedes for the First Time

v. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth, the various periods of drought which Jehovah sent in order to call His people to repentance, this form of punishment being expressly threatened in the curses which the Lord attached to His proclamation of the Law. Cf Lev 26:19-20; Deu 11:17; Deu 28:23.

v. 2. Judah mourneth, the entire nation being plunged in grief, and the gates thereof languish, the people who usually assembled in this public meeting-place being in trouble; they are black unto the ground, as a token of deep sorrow, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up, as the people give expression to their bitterness of heart.

v. 3. And their nobles, the mighty ones, the rulers of the nation, have sent their little ones, either their own servants or the common people generally, to the waters; they came to the pits, the cisterns for collecting rain-water, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty, the last drops of the precious fluid having disappeared; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads, in an excess of sorrow and grief.

v. 4. Because the ground is ed, literally, “dismayed,” joining the people of Judah in their attitude of horror, for there was no rain in the earth, so that apprehension and consternation seized the soil; the plowmen were ashamed, because they could not till the land, they covered their heads, in the same feeling of humiliation which took hold of every animate and inanimate thing.

v. 5. Yea, the hind also calved in the field and forsook it, abandoning her offspring, although noted for her affection toward her young, because there was no grass, no green thing to sustain life.

v. 6. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, the bare hills most exposed to the wind, they snuffed up the wind like dragons, like jackals, eagerly seeking a breath of cooling air; their eyes did fail, unable to find so much as one blade of green grass, because there was no grass.

v. 7. O Lord, so the prophet now makes his appeal for his countrymen, though our iniquities testify against us, serving as a most serious obstacle to the assistance and salvation of the Lord, do Thou it for Thy name’s sake, relieving the distress of the terrible drought in order to bring honor upon Himself; for our backslidings are many, thus preventing His interposing in their behalf so far as they were concerned; we have sinned against Thee, whence they must throw themselves entirely upon His mercy.

v. 8. O the Hope of Israel, He who was properly the One in whom all true children of Israel trusted, since His covenant with them stood secure, the Savior thereof in time of trouble, as He had so often proved Himself, why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land, who has no interest in its welfare, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? pitching his tent for only a very short period of time and feeling no sympathy for the inhabitants. Surely the Lord and Owner of Israel would not act in this manner!

v. 9. Why shouldest Thou be as a man astonied, taken by surprise and therefore unable to lift His hand, stunned by a sudden calamity, as a mighty man that cannot save? having become weak and helpless in an unexpected extremity. Yet Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, namely, in His Sanctuary, which He had established at Jerusalem, and we are called by Thy name, bearing the name of Jehovah’s people; leave us not! Thus Jeremiah turned to the God who had revealed Himself as the God of salvation, pleading in behalf of a people that had become guilty of rebellion against their one Source of help.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

This chapter must be read in connection with the following one. They describe chiefly Jeremiah’s twofold attempt at intercession (see verses 7-9 and 19-22)a tender and appealing attempt indeed. The terrible sufferings of the people during a drought went to the prophet’s heart. He even ventured, when repelled the first time, to intercede anew, on the ground of the covenant, but in vain. On receiving (Jer 15:2-9) a revelation of the bitter fate in store for his people, he bursts out into a heartrending complaint that his own destiny should throw him into such a whirlpool of strife. His Lord at once corrects and consoles him (Jer 15:10-21). There are doubts, however, about the connection of these latter versesThe date of the drought is not stated; but as the punishment of Judah is described as future, and no reference is made to the captivity of Jehoiachin, we shall probably be right in setting it during the reign of Jehoiakim.

Jer 14:1

The dearth; rather, the drought, or, more literally, the droughts, the plural being used to indicate the length of time the drought lasted.

Jer 14:2

The tenses in the following description should be perfects and presents; the Authorized Version, by its inconsistency, destroys the unity of the picture. The gates thereof; i.e. the people assembled there. They are black unto the ground. “To be black,” in Hebrew, is “to be dressed in mourning” (so e.g. Psa 35:14, “I bowed down in black”). Here we must understand the same verb which is expressed in the psalm, “They bowed down in mourning attire to the ground.” “Black,” however, is not to be taken literally; it means rather “squalid, unwashed” (of garments).

Jer 14:3

Their noblesi.e. the upper classes of Judah and Jerusalemhave sent their little ones; rather, their mean ones; i.e. their servants, or perhaps (as Naegelsbach and Payne Smith) simply, “the common people;” it was not a matter concerning the rich alone. To the pits; i.e. to the cisterns. Covered their heads; a sign of the deepest mourning (2Sa 15:30; 2Sa 19:4; Est 6:12).

Jer 14:4

The ground is chapt. Perhaps: but it is more obvious to render, is dismayed, according to the usual meaning of the word. Words which properly belong to human beings are often, by a “poetic fallacy,” applied to inanimate objects (as in Jer 14:2). In the earth; rather, in the land.

Jer 14:5

Even the animals starve. Yea, the hind also. The hind, contrary to that intense natural affection for which she was famous among the ancients, abandons her young.

Jer 14:6

The wild asses in the high places; rather, on the bare heights. “The wild asses,” says a traveler cited by Rosenmller,” are especially fond of treeless mountains.” Like dragons; render rather, like jackals (as Jer 9:11; Jer 10:22). The allusion is to the way jackals hold their head as they howl. We are told that even the keen eyes of the wild asses fail, because there was [is] no grass; rather, herbage. They grow dim first with seeking it so long in vain, and then from lack of nourishment.

Jer 14:7

The intercession of Jeremiah begins. Do thou it; a pregnant expression, equivalent to “act gloriously” (as Psa 22:31; Isa 44:23); For thy name’s sake. Jehovah s” Name pledges him to be merciful to his people, and not to make a full end of them, even when they have offended (comp.” Our Redeemer was thy name from of old” Isa 63:16).

Jer 14:8

How pathetic a supplication! Jehovah will surely not be as a stranger in the landthe strangers, or” sojourners,” like the , enjoyed no civic rights, and consequently had no interest in the highest concerns of the state, and as a wayfaring man that turneth asideor perhaps, pitcketh his tent; for the traveler in Palestine doubtless carried his tent with him then as nowto tarry for a night. With the latter figure compare the beautiful comparison of the hope of the ungodly to “the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day” (Wis. 5:14).

Jer 14:9

As a man astonished; rather (comparing the Arabic dahama), as one struck dumb. But Dr. Payne Smith, with much reason, is more than half inclined to follow the Septuagint reading, equivalent to “as one in a deep sleep.” Leave us not; literally, lay us not down; as if a burden of which the bearer is tired.

Jer 14:10-16

The answer of Jehovah.

Jer 14:10

Thus have they loved to wander, therefore the Lord doth not accept them; i.e. with such pertinacity have they been set upon “wandering” (roving lawlessly about), that the Lord hath no more pleasure in them. “Therefore,” is, literally, and. “Thus,” or “so,” is used in the same sense as in 1Ki 10:12, which runs literally, ” there came not so [abundantly] among timber.” The particle of comparison has given much occupation to the commentators (see Payne Smith’s note), but the above view is at once simple and suitable to the context; for Jeremiah has already admitted that “our backslidings are multiplied” (verse 7). The Lord doth not, etc. (to the end of the verse), is quoted verbatim from Hos 8:13. Jeremiah puts conspicuous honor on the older inspired writers; he has no craving for originality. Nearly all has been said already; what he has to do is chiefly to adapt and to apply, He will now remember, etc. The emphasis is on “now” Nothing is more remarkable in the prophets than the stress laid on the unerring justness of the time chosen for Divine interpositions. When the iniquity is fully ripe, it as it were attracts the punishment, which till then is laid up in store (comp. Gen 15:16; Isa 18:5; Isa 33:10).

Jer 14:11

Pray not for this people. So in Jer 7:16 (on which see note); Jer 11:14.

Jer 14:12

Their cry. The word is very forcible; it is the shriek in which an unsophisticated man gives vent to his pain and grief. An oblation. It is the vegetable offering (Authorized Version, “meat offering;” Luther, “speisopfer”) which is referred to in the so-called minkhah (literally, gift). Though sometimes offered separately, it regularly accompanied a burnt offering. I will not accept them. Dr. Payne Smith tries to soften the rejection of these worshippers by the remark that “there is a time when the most genuine repentance avails nothing to avert the temporal consequences of sin.” But the analogy of other similar passages (e.g. Isa 1:15) warrants the view of Keil that the ground of the rejection of the worship is its heartless formalism and insincerity, which was equally a bar to Jehovah’s favor and the prophet’s intercession.

Jer 14:13

“Pleading with Providence, the good prophet lays the blame on ill teaching, but the stern answer (Jer 14:14), admitting the plea as true, rejects it as inadequate (Jer 14:14), and denounces sorrows which (Jer 14:17-22) the prophet passionately deprecates” (Rowland Williams). Ah, Lord God! rather, Alas! O Lord Jehovah (see on Jer 1:6). The prophets say unto them. The greater part of the prophetic order had not kept pace with its more spiritual members (Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.). They still traded on those natural gifts of divination (Mic 3:6) which were, no doubt, where genuine, of Divine origin, but which, even then, needed to be supple-merited and controlled by a special impulse from the Spirit of holiness. Jeremiah, however, declares, on the authority of a revelation, that these prophets did not divine by any God-given faculty, but “the deceit of their own heart” (Verse 14). The Deuteronomic Torah, discovered after a period of concealment at the outset of Jeremiah’s ministry, energetically forbids the practice of the art of divination (Deu 18:10).

Jer 14:14

A thing of naught. The word, however, is collective, and means all the various futile means adopted for prying into the future.

Jer 14:16

I will pour their wickedness; i.e. the fruits of their wickedness (comp. Jer 2:19, “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee”).

Jer 14:17-21

The prophet’s grief, and second intercession.

Jer 14:17

Therefore thou shalt say, etc. There is something strange and contrary to verisimilitude in the prefixing of this formula, not to a Divine revelation, but to a mere expression of the pained human feelings of the prophet. It is possible that the editor of Jeremiah’s prophecies thought the paragraph which begins here needed something to link it with the preceding passage, and selected his formula rather unsuitably. Let mine eyes run down, etc. (comp. Jer 13:27). Jeremiah’s tender compassion shows itself in his choice of the expression, the virgin daughter of my people, just as we feel an added bitterness in the premature death of a cherished maiden.

Jer 14:18

A picture of the state of things after the capture of Jerusalem: the slain without, the famine-stricken within. The latter are described allusively as “sicknesses of famine” (so literally). As a peculiarly striking evidence of the downfall of greatness, it is added that even prophet and priest have to go about into a land that they know not. The verb used here can obviously not have its ordinary sense of going about for purposes of traffic. Aramaic usage suggests, however, a suitable meaning; what the prophet sketches before us is a company of these ex-grandees “begging their way” into an unknown land.

Jer 14:19

We looked for peace, etc.; a repetition of Jer 8:15.

Jer 14:20

Our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers. There is a mysterious connection between the sin of the past and of the present. So in another prophet we read, “Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together [will I requite].”

Jer 14:21

The throne of thy glory; i.e. the temple (Jer 17:12; Eze 43:7), or Jerusalem (Jer 3:17). It is the same conception where Jehovah is said to “dwell between” [or, ‘sit upon’] “the cherubim” (Isa 37:16; Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1).

Jer 14:22

None of the vanities, or false gods (Jer 3:17), of the heathen can deliver us in this our strait (want of rain). “Rainmakers” is still a common name of soothsayers among savage nations. Thou alone art God, and our God; or, in Jeremiah’s phrase (not, Art not thou he, etc.? but) Art thou not Jehovah our God? and the ground of the appeal follows, Jehovah is the Maker of all these things; i.e. all the heavenly phenomena, especially the clouds and the rain.

HOMILETICS

Jer 14:1-6

A plague of drought.

I. A PLAGUE OF DROUGHT IS AN INSTANCE OF A NATURAL CALAMITY OCCASIONING GREAT DISTRESS. Jeremiah gives a vivid picture of the trouble such a plague causes. Men of all classes, from the noble to the ploughman, suffer under it; the animal world is driven from its natural instincts; universal desolation and agony prevail. Yet this is all natural. It is not the result of war nor of any human interference; it is a natural calamity. Nature is not always placid and pleasing. She has her frowns, her storms, her droughts. The world is not a. waste, howling wilderness; but neither is it a garden of Eden. Thorns spring up among the wheat. Even away from the perpetual deserts fertile fields are occasionally parched and withered. We must expect a mixed experience in human life, as we meet with it in nature. Showers of blessing are not always failing. There come also periods of dearth, seasons of natural distress.

II. A PLAGUE OF DROUGHT IS AM EXAMPLE OF ONE FORM OF THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN. Though the drought is natural, it is not, therefore, to be separated from all relation to human and moral affairs. God rules Nature through her laws when he does not supersede them. In his government of men God may overrule natural events to the execution of his decrees. When such a calamity as a plague of drought falls upon a land, it is well to ask whether there are no national sins for which it is sent as chastisement. Sometimes the calamities of nature are the direct result of human conduct. Thus Palestine now suffers from lack of water, partly because the felling of trees has diminished the rainfall, and partly because what rain there is is quickly drained off for want of proper irrigation arrangements. Still, we must not assume that every natural calamity is sent for the punishment of sin. This is but one among many Divine purposes. Wholesome discipline, ulterior advantages, the avoiding of worse though unseen calamities, etc; may enter into the Divine reasons for permitting the trouble. Such calamities should make us examine ourselves, not humiliate ourselves without thought and clear conviction of conscience.

III. A PLAGUE OF DROUGHT IN NATURE SHOULD SUGGEST THE POSSIBILITY OF SPIRITUAL DROUGHT. Outward things are symbolical of inward experiences. There is a drought of the soulwhen the soul is not partaking of the “water of life,” and it is the most fearful kind of drought. Yet, while the physical calamity excites all attention and occasions universal distress, this calamity is often unheeded. But the effects of it are not the less destructive. The soil becomes barren, unfruitful; the heavenly graces within, the instincts of Christian charity, are lost; the spiritual vision fails. It is unnatural not to feel thirst in a season of drought. The soul that is in this condition will first come to itself with a feeling of deep distress, a pain of inward, longing, a panting and thirsting after God (Psa 63:1).

IV. A PLAGUE OF DROUGHT SHOULD MAKE US MORE THANKFUL FOR THE COMMON BLESSINGS OF DAILY LIFE. The commonest blessings are the most valuable. The first necessary of life is air, and air is the most abundant thing in nature. The next most important requirement is water, and water is usually exceedingly plentiful. Gold and diamonds are rare, but these can easily be spared. This very fact, which is a result of God’s providential care, induces an ungrateful neglect. We take without thought that which we are always receiving. We must lose it to appreciate it. In sickness we prize health; in thirst we value water. It would be more wise and grateful to acknowledge God’s blessings while we have them, instead of requiring him to take them from us to teach us their worth.

Jer 14:7

A plea for mercy in spite of grout.

I. WE CAN ONLY PLEAD FOR GOD‘S MERCY AFTER A FRANK ADMISSION OF OUR OWN GUILT. The common habit of people is to take the opposite courseto excuse themselves, extenuate their faults, or ignore, or even deny them. But this is vain before God, and while persisted in it shuts the door against forgiveness. God can only forgive sin that is confessed, can only have mercy on the humble and penitent. This confession must be frank and full. Such a confession is contained in the prayer of Jeremiah.

1. Personal guilt is admitted”our iniquities.”

2. The shame of increasing guilt is admitted”our backslidings.” If we feel we are better than we once were, we excuse our present imperfection on the ground that it is at least an improvement on the past. It requires a genuine penitence to admit that we have been growing worse.

3. Sin is seen to be an offence against God”We have sinned against thee.” It is not a mere fault in ourselves; it is a direct act of warfare with Heaven. David said this (Psa 51:4); so did the prodigal son (Luk 15:18).

4. Sin is recognized as abundant“ Our backslidings are many.” It is vain to confess some sins whilst denying others, or to attempt to represent them as leas numerous than they really are. This keeping back of part of the confession mars the whole of it.

5. Guilt is acknowledged to be open before God” Our sins testify.”

6. It is seen to be a bar to our claim of simple rightthey testify “against us.” Condemnation, therefore, may justly follow the plain evidence of guilt. Our own sins are witnesses to oppose any plea we may found on our personal deserts.

II. OUR OWN GUILT, WHEN FRANKLY ADMITTED, IS NO HINDRANCE TO THE MERCY OF GOD. The only hindrance is impenitence. The ground of God’s mercy is not our desert, but Iris goodness. If there is anything in us which predisposes him to be gracious, this is not our worth, but our want. The more wretched the condition to which our sin has brought us, the more urgent the call to his pity. The one plea is” for his Name’s sake.”

1. For the sake of God’s character. His Name expresses what he is. His highest name is “Love.” By this name we plead for mercy. Because of what he is, because of his inherent goodness, love, and pity, we implore his help.

2. For the sake of God’s honor. He has promised to have mercy on the penitent (e.g. Deu 30:1-10). Thus he has pledged his Name, bound himself by his own certain faithfulness.

3. For the sake of God’s glory. His highest glory is his goodness. When he delivers his children his own Name is glorified. Redemption honors God more than creation. The song of the redeemed at the end of the world will be more sweet and more noble than the song of the sons of the morning at the dawn of creation. As Christians we see these truths more clearly revealed in Christ. He is the “Word” incarnate, the “Name,” the highest manifestation of the character of God, the fulfillment of his greatest promises, the expression of his brightest glory. For us to pray “for Christ’s sake” is the same as praying “for God’s Name’s sake.”

Jer 14:8, Jer 14:9

The Hope of Israel a stranger in the land.

I. GOD IS THE HOPE AND SAVIOR OF HIS PEOPLE.

1. God is the Hope.

(1) He inspires hope;

(2) in him is the ground for the realization of hope;

(3) our highest hope is for the possession and enjoyment of God himself;

(4) this hope is justifiable in the people of God.

He is the Hope of Israel, truly the Hope of the spiritual Israel.

2. God is the Savior in trouble. He is remembered in trouble if he is forgotten in prosperity. In our greatest need he is found nearest to us. Though he does not always prevent us from falling into trouble, he is always ready to help us when we are in. There is to us no more important character of God than that of the Savior, since, as “man is born to trouble,” we all need a Savior, and he alone can deliver from the great sorrows and sins of life.

II. GOD MAY BE WITH US AS A STRANGER.

1. He may be with us and unknownlike the stranger who passes through a country unrecognized. He was received by Abraham as a stranger (Gen 18:2). Hagar and Jacob failed at first to discern his presence. Christ was treated as an unknown stranger by the two disciples journeying to Emmaus.

2. He may be with us but for a seasonlike the traveler who sojourns for a night and is gone the next morning. We may receive temporary visitations of God without enjoying his abiding presence, casual glimpses of the Divine instead of a constant walking with God, the light of Heaven falling now and again on our path while earthly clouds fling long stretches of dreary shadow over the most of it.

3. He may be with us without having communion with usas a stranger, not as a companionas the traveler who pitches his tent in our land, not as the guest whom we welcome to our hearth. Thus God may be near to us without our receiving him into our hearts as our great Friend.

4. He may be with us without acting for our goodlike a mighty man slumbering. So he may see our need and yet we may not be saved.

III. IT IS MOST SAD THAT GOD SHOULD BE WITH US AS A STRANGER.

1. It is sad because the blessings of his presence are then not received.

(1) He must be known if we are to benefit by his aid.

(2) We need his constant presence for constant distresses.

(3) God helps by inward grace, which must come through close personal communion.

(4) We need the active aid of God, not the mere fact of his presence.

2. It is sad because it is a violation of our natural relations with God. God is our Father. Shall our Father be but as a stranger passing through our midst? He is changeless in his eternal love to us. We are bound to him by close and perpetual obligations, and we are in great and constant need of him. How, then, do we ever find ourselves in this unnatural condition? The cause is in us (Jer 14:10). Great sin cherished in impenitence severs us from God, and makes it necessary that he should depart from us. God is a stranger when with us,

(1) because we are too earthly minded to discern his presence, and too occupied with worldly things to think of it;

(2) because we do not open our hearts to receive him in inward companionship; and

(3) because we do not seek and trust his help in our need (Rom 10:21).

Jer 14:13-16

False prophets.

I. OFFICIAL TEACHERS MAY BE FALSE TEACHERS. The false prophets belonged to the recognized order of prophets. No rank in the Church confers infallibility. Popes have been heretics. The authority of a teacher must be sought in his message, not in his office. It is our duty to try the spirits by their correspondence with known revelation (1Jn 4:2), by the fruits of their lives and doctrines (Mat 7:16), and by the standard of our own conscience (2Co 4:2).

II. PREACHING WHICH IS NOT INSPIRED BY THE DIVINE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS IS LIKELY BE FALSE. The prophet may have a piercing intellect and a towering imagination. Yet he will err if he be blinded by unholiness and excluded from the revelations of spiritual communion. He speaks only out of his own heart; but the heart is “deceitful above all things.” Attempts are constantly made to evolve religious truth out of the inner consciousness of the thinker. No idle dreams are more delusive, since

(1) men have not the materials out of which to build a theology of their own;

(2) they have not the faculties capable of using those materialssin perverts the spiritual vision, prejudice and self-interest distort views of truth.

III. CONSCIOUSLY TEACHING FALSE IDEAS OF RELIGION IS A HEINOUS CRIME. It is using the Name of God in vain (Jer 14:14). It is abusing the trust of a high office for low purposes. It is likely to involve many in the toils of a fatal deception. It is easy to prophesy smooth thingseasy thus to gain a vulgar popularity. But if this is done at the expense of truth, it is an awful sin. All Christian teachers should beware of the temptation to degrade their mission by aiming at pleasing their hearers instead of faithfully proclaiming the will of God.

IV. FALSE TEACHING IN RELIGION WILL BE PUNISHED BY FATAL RESULTS. It ought to be clear to everybody that the first question concerning any teaching is whether it is true. Yet this question is often ignored. The prophet is eloquent; the doctrine is pleasing; the prediction is inviting. But what of all that if it is false? The prophecy will be punished when truth is revealed by facts. Then the false prophet will suffer by the fulfillment in himself of the prophecy he denied, and the people by the coming of the evil day they were too ready to hear discredited.

Jer 14:20

Jer 15:1

Prayer for mercy rejected.

I. THE PRAYER IS BASED ON URGENT PLEAS.

1. A complete confession of sin. (Jer 15:20.) It is acknowledged as hereditary, bug as also personal. Therefore all claims must rest on Divine considerations, since no ground for prayer can be found in anything human.

2. The plea of the Name of God. This is a plea all men can urge. The character, the honor, and the glory of God are suggested by his Name. For the sake of what he is, and the glory that his mercy will reflect, we may plead for pardon. By his love we beg for his forgiveness.

3. The plea of disgrace to the throne of God‘s glory. This is a more special plea. The temple was the house of God, wherein his glory was manifested. To destroy it was to put an end to the manifestation of Divine glory associated with it. God’s glory is reflected on his Church. If the Church is humiliated, disgrace falls on the throne of God’s glory. Yet, note, it is only the throne that is directly disgraced, not the glory itself. The tarnished mirror can no longer reflect the radiance of the sun; this is a discredit to the mirror, but not directly to the sun, since there is no diminution of the sun’s brightness. Still, indirectly, dishonor is done to the original source of glory. The sun is less admired if its light is less reflected. God is less honored if his glory is less manifested.

4. Plea of the Divine covenant. This is the most special plea. God has made promises. To the fulfillment of these his faithfulness is bound. He has made a covenant with his own people. They who have accepted the covenant plead its special claims. The Christian has not only the universal mercy of God to trust in; he has the special promises of the gospel, the assurance of the privileges of God’s restored Children.

II. NEVERTHELESS THE PRAYER IS REJECTED.

1. Intercession is useless for those who will not repent and seek mercy for themselves. The prayer was that of the prophet on behalf of his impenitent countrymen. The intercession of good men is recognized as powerful. Their character adds weight to their intercession (Jas 5:16). But not only must Jeremiah’s prayer be rejected, even Moses the founder of the nation and Samuel the father of the prophets could not prevail in the present case. The intercession of one greater than Moses, of Christ himself, will not save those who are obstinately hardened against returning to God.

2. The Name of God includes reference to his justice as wall as his mercy. For his Name’s sake he must vindicate the fight. The one-sided view of God which excludes all reference to his wrath is dishonoring. Even a man who can never feel righteous indignation is weak and imperfect. For a judge to acquit all criminals would be fatal to justice.

3. The throne of God‘s glory is more dishonored by sin than by external disaster. The Jews feared discredit to the temple in its desecration by the heathen. It was more desecrated by their corrupt practices in it. To make the temple a den of thieves is more dishonoring than to overthrow it so as not to leave one stone upon another. The sins of Christ’s Church are more dishonoring to his Name than her sufferings, her willing subservience to the spirit of the world more humiliating than her apparent lowly condition when trampled under the feet of persecutors. The pure martyred Church is a glory to Christ, the corrupt prosperous Church a shame to his Name.

4. God‘s covenant has human conditions. He condescends to bind himself to bless us so long as we fulfill our obligations to submit to him. Disobedience breaks the covenant. The faithless Christian cannot urge the pleas of the privileges of the gospel

Jer 14:22

Prayer for rain.

I. OBJECTIONS TO PRAYER FOR RAIN.

1. The universality of law. It seems to have been vaguely imagined till recently that the weather was not subject to laws of nature in the same strict form in which most material things are thus bound. But this surmise was simply based on ignorance. Recently more indications of law have been discovered, and we see the dawn of a meteorological science. How, then, can we expect God to change the weather in response to our prayers?

2. The limitations of knowledge. We really do not know what weather is best. What is good for one place is bad for another. The effects of rain and of drought are so far-reaching that it seems vain for us to judge what is best regarding them. But God knows all and is infinitely wise. Why should we not trust to his unerring discretion?

3. The goodness of God. If God is well disposed to his creatures, will he not give them what is for their good? Why, then, even if it were possible for the weather to be affected by our prayer, and if we were wise enough to know what was best for the world, should it be necessary for us to pray about the weather, as if God needed to be urged to govern the world for our benefit?

II. REASONS IN FAVOR OF PRAYER FOR RAIN.

1. The control of God over the laws of nature. God is not the slave of his own legislation. Without changing his laws, he can act through them, as men who cannot alter the laws of nature can still alter the facts of nature by their use of those laws. Moreover, are there no spiritual laws? Yet, without violating the principles of the constitution of the spiritual universe, we believe that God can answer prayer for spiritual blessings.

2. The conditional character of prayer. The limitation to our knowledge makes it necessary for us to pray on the condition that God will only answer our requests so far as they agree with his wise and righteous will. Prayer for rain, of all prayers, must not be an absolute demand, but a submissive and humble request, accompanied by the desire that not our will but God’s be done. We have no right to dictate to God in prayer, and wisdom would not desire such a right. But there need be no limit to the greatness of the objects of prayer when the right condition of trust in God’s higher will is observed.

3. The fact that prayer alters our condition before God. It may be wise and right for God to do after our prayer what it would not be well for him to do without it. The very prayer may be a link in a chain of causation. Drought may be sent to us, as it was to Judah, with a Divine purpose concerning our conduct. A change in our conduct will then modify the action of that purpose. Prayer may be the best indication of such a change. We have distinct promises that we may receive, when we seek them in prayer, blessings which are withheld so long as we abstain from asking for them (Mat 7:7, Mat 7:8).

HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR

Jer 14:7, Jer 14:9

A prayer for God’s people in time of his judgments.

The prophet’s words, as he intuitively places himself in the position of those who are about to be afflicted. Not, therefore, to be regarded as an ideal prayer, but a true representation of the spiritual state of those who are conscious of their sin and their need of salvation. They explain the lack of apparent answer to prayer, and truthfully interpret the spiritual condition of the awakened sinner.

I. PRAYER IS AN INDEX OF THE SPIRITUAL STATE. Here we have the oscillation between fear and hope, doubt and faith, vividly portrayed. There is a flitting to and fro of the soul between the extremes of dejection and of confidence. All real prayer ought thus faithfully to represent the mind of the petitioner. It is a laying bare of secret thoughts and moral convictions; an unconscious as well as a conscious confession. Whilst it may be said that a man’s inner being is revealed in his prayer, he is not to be judged by it by his fellow men. It is only God who can truly understand the indications which it affords, and only he who has a right to interpret them. There is a rising, a falling, and a rising again in the course of the prayer. It is the Name of God which serves as a reminder and spiritual confirmation.

II. PRAYER IS A SPIRITUAL EXERCISE AND A MEANS OF GRACE. There is evident in this utterance a wrestling with unbelief. Memories of evil crowd upon the soul and seem to darken the horizon. The sinful nation confesses that in itself there is no hope, but as that conviction is arrived at, another asserts itself, namely, that God is the Hope of Israel, and that in his name or character there is the promise and potency of restoration. It is in spiritual transitions like these that the soul is lost and found again. Temptation is anticipated and overcome, sin is cast away, and God is throned in the heart, It is better to make such honest discovery of ourselves to God, even in our weakness and lack of faith, than that we should carry these into the conduct of life. It is in these transitions of despair and hope reaching to and resting in restored faith and settled purpose of righteousness, that the overcoming of the world is already accomplished.

III. THE PRAYER THAT SEEMS TO BE REJECTED NOW MAY YET PROVE A CONDITION OF ACCEPTANCE. Had Israel herself really adopted the words of this her representative mediator, she would have escaped the awful abyss that yawned before her, but she knew not the day of her opportunity. By slow stages of recovery, marked by many relapses, was she to climb to the great truth from which she had fallen, that the Name of God was her salvation and hope. So it is that many a prayer uttered without apparent answer supplies in itself a spiritual condition of ultimate blessing. Its answer is really begun in the change of attitude assumed, and the spiritual truth laid hold of. By-and-by irresolution and uncertainty will give place to faith, and the windows of heaven will be opened.M.

Jer 14:19, Jer 14:22

Prayer a fruit of chastisement.

There is a deeper and more spiritual gone in this utterance. The heart of Israel is conceived of as having been searched and revealed. Repentance is felt, and confession made. The true source of peace and help is sought after; and the false ones which have been tested are rejected.

I. IS THE DISCIPLINE AND JUDGMENTS OF LIFE GOD TEACHES MEN HOW TO PRAY. Thereby they learn in a stern school their own sinfulness; the misery and desolation of the soul that is alienated from the life of God and exposed to his wrath and curse; the incapacity of earthly things to deliver or console, and the power of God to forgive and to save. It is in this estimate of themselves and their resources that the foundation is laid for real spiritual desire. When sin has been felt and acknowledged, a relation is established between the soul and God which is immediately recognized in its claims.

II. THE SPIRIT WHICH IS THUS PRODUCED IS ALONE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD. There are many prayers which evidently ought not to be, and with due regard to the needs of the sinner and the honor of his heavenly Father could not be, answered. The chief end of prayer is not gained in the obtaining of the objects that are asked for, but in the gradual assumption of a right relation to God and acknowledgment of his character and authority. Thus it is that some prayers sound like wails of despair, whilst others are full of the breathings of resignation, obedience, faith, and love. It is with this filial tone that true prayer begins. And it is only when we have learned that “whom he loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth,” that we are able to adapt it. “Thy will be clone” is the burden of every Christ-taught prayer, as it is the outcome of all true spiritual discipline.M.

Jer 14:21

Invoking the honor of God.

Not along ago this phrase,” Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory,” was employed in prayer by a convert in a certain religious meeting. Shortly after a letter was sent to the papers, inveighing against the “pro-faulty” of the idea; in apparently complete ignorance of its scriptural origin and warrant. Often the language of humility may conceal a conception of real arrogance, and so, on the other hand, the most daring appeals to the promises, the character, and the honor of God may have their root in the profoundest reverence and faith. It is high ground go take, simply because no other ground is available.

I. AS SINNERS HAVE NO REASON FOR MERCY IN THEMSELVES, THEY MUST APPEAL TO GOD. Mere pity would be inadmissible as a motive to which to appeal. There is no ground of acceptance in the sinner himself, and consequently there remains only that course of action which will illustrate and glorify the character of God. That God had chosen Israel as his servant, and Jerusalem as the seat and center of the theocracy, are the only reasons that are valid in approaching him for mercy. Any course of action which would fail to give due respect to the attributes of his character or the purposes of his grace in the world is already forbidden when it is stated. God has been at pains to pledge himself to the ultimate salvation of men. His Name is itself a promise that no compromise shall be entered into or ineffectual means of salvation adopted. Therefore the necessity of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. In him the justice of God is honored, and his Name revealed in the hearts of men. It is only as the gospel is perceived as the offspring of the purest, highest motives on the part of God that it can call into existence corresponding motives in the sinner himself.

II. To THE SAINT THE HONOR OF GOD SHOULD EVER BE OF MORE ACCOUNT THAN HIS OWN WELFARE. “For Christ’s sake” is a formula in which much of this feeling is implicitly expressed. The exigencies of God’s kingdom, the furtherance of his purposes of love and grace, the recognition of the principles of righteousness, are essential to a true Christian life as to true prayer. And the keenest susceptibility should be felt to any conduct on the part of God’s servants which would seem to injure his cause in the world or to misrepresent his character.

III. GOD‘S NAME IS PLEDGED TO AND BOUND UP WITH THE SALVATION OF MEN. It seems a daring and wondrous plea to urge in the presence of him with whom we have to do; but it is the only one which we can truly offer, and it is of infinite avail. If we accept Christ as representing the honor and righteousness of God, are we not assured that every prayer truly offered in his name shall be answered? The welfare and usefulness of God’s servants are guaranteed by such a consideration, and we cannot offer it too often or insist upon it with too great earnestness.M.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Jer 14:1-9

Thankfulness through contrast: a harvest sermon.

These verses are a terrible picture of drought and famine. Our thankfulness for what God has done for us in the bounteous harvest he has given may be called forth the more by considering the contrast with our happy lot which these verses present. Contrast is a great teacher. It is the black board on which the teacher’s white markings are more clearly seen, the dark background of the sky on the face of which the stars shine out the more. Now, this chapter is all concerning, not a bountiful harvest, but a dread famine. We cannot determine the date of this famine, but it appears to have been one of those premonitory judgments of God sent to teach his sinful people wisdom, so that the more terrible judgments of the future years might not be needed. “A terrible drought had fallen upon the land, and the prophet’s picture of it is like some of Dante’s in its realism, its pathos, and in its terror. In the presence of a common calamity all distinctions of class have vanished, and the nobles send their little ones to the wells, and they come back with empty vessels and drooping heads, instead of with the gladness that used to be heard in the places of drawing water. Far afield the ploughmen are standing among the cracked furrows, gazing with despair at the brown chapped earth, and out in the field the very dumb creatures are sharing in the common sorrow. And the imperious law of self-preservation overpowers and crushes the maternal instincts. ‘Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.’ And on every hill-top, where cooler air might be found, the once untameable wild asses are standing with open nostrils, punting for air, their filmy eyes failing them, gazing for the rain that will not come. It is a true descriptionso they say who know what drought in Eastern lands is and does. How it distressed the earth, the beasts, and man, is all vividly portrayed.” The pits, some of them natural hollows in the hard rock and in caves, where evaporation was less speedy; others of them dykes and cisterns, the works of man;but all alike were empty. The ground was split by reason of the long drought into wide and deep fissures; earth’s wounds for man’s sin, mute mouths crying to Heaven for pity, the lips of earth suffering, waiting for a drop of water to relieve the torment of its awful thirst. And not the land only, but the dumb brutes were involved in the common woe. The hind, driven down from her high places into the fields in search of the grass that has disappeared from the lofty heights, meets with disappointment here also, and in her agony of hunger and thirst forgot and forsook her young, whom she, above most other of the beasts of the field, was wont to care for and cherish tenderly; and the hardy wild asses (Jer 14:6) found their hunger even greater than they could bear, and punted in terror and distress. And man-all ranks and ages were smitten, the people generally were languishing. The gates of the cities and other chief places of concourse were “black unto the ground,” with the sad, colored garments of the mourners who bent prostrate there; and one long, loud, bitter cry went up from the whole city of God. But what a contrast is our condition to theirs! See it in the aspects of the fields ere harvest was gathered in. In the gifts of all nurturing powers from heavenrain, dew, and fountains of water. In the abundance provided for man and beast, and in the contentment and peace of the herds of the field. In the glad congratulations of all classes in the land, from the laborer to the noble, because of what God has given. The whole nation rejoices, a cry not of sorrow but of gladness goes up from the homes of the rich and poor, high and low alike. And this contrast is seen also in the thoughts of God prompted by the two events. “The dearth” made the people think that God was as a stranger in the land, one who knew nothing of them or their need. If we felt concerning our distresses that God was as a stranger to us, they would be much harder to bear. But so Judah and Jerusalem thought. Nor was this the worst thought; for if God knew how they were suffering, and yet no help came, did not a yet darker surmise seem warranted? Was it not as if he were “as a wayfaring man that but turned aside to tarry for the night,” and who therefore, having no interest in the place or the people, would care but little for them? This was a terrible thought indeed. If our mind be haunted with the dread thought that God looks on unmoved at our affliction, and cares not for our distresswhat, then, can we do? But so they thought. The sun rose and set, the stars looked down upon them just as they had done at other times; but there was no heart of love in their calm, unmoved gaze; and so it seemed there was no heart in God, and that he, unmoved by their appeal, left them to perish. Or could it be that, after all their boasting in him as mighty to save, One mightier than he had arisen and overpowered him; that he was “as one astounded, as a mighty man that cannot save?” Was there some cruel fate which, after all, was ruling over their destinies, and so preventing the mighty One, of whom their fathers told, from coming to their help as in the days of old? Such dark and terrible thoughts float about the minds of men in the hour of dire distress such as this dearth had brought upon them. And so all hope was quenched, the voice of prayer was stifled, their hearts died down in complete despair. The dearth in itself was bad enough, causing bodily agony beyond all description, but its horrors were heightened and awfully intensified by the dark thoughts about God to which their distress gave rise. But in all this, what a contrast does our happier lot present? The thoughts of God which the harvest he has given prompt are the very opposite of those which, as we have seen, haunted the minds of those who suffered under the dearth. Not as a stranger ignorant of us and our wants does God appear, but as One who “knoweth that we have need of all these things,” and who openeth his hand and filleth us with good. And still less as a wayfaring man, and who therefore has no concern nor care for land or people. Every golden ear of corn has been a tongue as well, and has told eloquently though silently of our Father’s care. The wide-stretching fields of corn have been filled with these myriad witnesses to his love, and have stood up in their serried ranks, to give the lie to the unbelieving heart, that would harbor hard thoughts of God. As all with one consent yield to the summer breeze, so with like oneness of consent, do they attest his unfailing goodness and his never-ceasing care. And they proclaim him, too, as the Hope of his people, and their Savior indeed. He is no “mighty man that cannot save.” For all the treasures of the field, created, preserved, and ripened for our use, in spite of all adverse influences which threatened them, all show that he is mighty to save. His hand held in check every hostile power, every destructive storm, every killing frost, every blighting mildew, every creeping caterpillar, and all else that would have robbed us of the corn he has given. Oh, what a gospel do the fields preach! And how differently God might have dealt with us! For whilst there is so vast a contrast between our harvest and that dearth of which these verses tell, there has been no such contrast between our conduct and that which brought upon Judah the calamity from which they suffered. Have we not reason to make the same confession which was made concerning them?” O Lord our iniquities testify against us,” etc. (Jer 14:7). What, gratitude then, does such long-suffering love call for from us? Let, then, our harvest lead us to do that which Judah’s dearth led the prophet to doto turn to God, and confess him as our Hope and our Savior in time of trouble. In this way he is again, standing at our doors and knocking for admission. The “miracle of the loaves is done over again for our comfort and help. We have “the joy of harvest,” let him have it also in gathering us into the garner of his faithful souls for time and for eternity.C.

Jer 14:7-9

An absent God deplored.

The dearth told of in foregoing verses and the misery caused thereby led to the conviction that God had abandoned his people. In these verses and throughout this section down to Jer 15:9 we find the prophet pleading with God to return. In these verses we are shown

I. THE CAUSES WHICH HAD BROUGHT ABOUT THE DIVINE WITHDRAWAL FROM THEM. Their “iniquities,” “backslidings,” “sins” (Jer 15:7). Nothing else has such power; sin only can shut out God, but it always will and does.

II. THE HAPPY MEMORIES WHICH MADE IT SO BITTER. God had revealed himself to them in such endearing manner. He had been ever “the Hope of Israel.” He had inspired, maintained, and justified that hope again and again. And he had become the Hope of Israel through having shown himself so perpetually “the Savior thereof in the time of trouble.” The memory of God’s servants was stored with recollections of such deliverances, national and individual, from troubles temporal and spiritual; vouchsafed, too, not because of Israel’s deserving, but out of God’s pure bounty. Now, it was these happy memories which made God’s present dealings with them so terrible to bear.

III. THE SAD CONTRAST BETWEEN THE DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS NOW AND OF OLD. We have seen what he had been to Israel, but now, the prophet complains, he is to them very far from what he was then. He is “as a stranger,” “a wayfaring man,” as one “taken by surprise,” as one strong but yet unable to help. Their enemies would taunt them with the reproach that either God was as a stranger, and therefore did not care for them; or, if they denied that, then it must be that there was a stronger than he, who had taken him by surprise and prevented his rendering help to his afflicted people. Either he would not or he could noton one of the horns of this dilemma they by the force of their present circumstances were thrown. And there can be no doubt that the great mystery of life, its sins and sorrows, do often force perplexed and troubled minds perilously near to one or other of these ‘conclusions, which nevertheless faith affirms to be alike false, and will never admit for one moment.

IV. THE SOURCES OF HOPE UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE THESE. They are:

1. The Name of God. This the prophet pleads (Jer 15:7). He confesses that all their own conduct is altogether against them. They can have no hope in themselves. But the Name of God remains to be urged in his pleading, and therefore it is this Name that he does urge. “Do thou it for thy Name’s sake.” Here is a fact which cannot change. When driven out of all hope in ourselves by reason of our sins, we may yet hope in God, and plead the grace and goodness that are evermore in him.

2. The presence of his appointed ordinances and his chosen dwelling-place in their midst. This is the meaning of Jer 15:9, “Yet thou art in the midst of us,” The temple, the altar, the sacrifice, the priests, the ark, were all there; the appointed channels of communication between God and his people. And so long as we may go unto his footstool, and the throne of grace is open to us, there is hope in that. God will come to us again in the way of his holy and appointed ordinances, if we will go along that way to seek him.

3. They were the objects of history. We are called by thy Name.” Israel was so. God had chosen them at the first. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him.” And it is because of that undying love of God, they who for their sins have lost his presence may yet win it back again.

V. THE PRESENT DUTY. Prayer. The prophet betook himself hereto. “Leave us not,” he cries (Jer 15:9). And nothing barred the success of this prayer but that the people for whom he prayed had no heart in it. God stood ready to forgive and restore. The prophet’s prayer was fully answered on the part of God. But those for whom he prayed were not ready, and so their judgment went on. But for ourselves, if we deplore an absent God, let us betake ourselves to these potent arms of all-prevailing prayer, and God shall ere long be again known to us as of old as our Hope and our Savior in time of trouble.C.

Jer 14:13-16

False teachers no adequate excuse for evil conduct.

No doubt the people to whom Jeremiah was sent had been encouraged in their ungodliness by the faithlessness and sin of their prophets. Blind guides were leading the blind, and with the inevitable result. And here Jeremiah pleads, as an excuse for his people’s sin, that they had been thus misled. But God refuses to admit the plea. Now, on this, note

I. FALSE TEACHING IS SOME EXCUSE FOR EVIL CONDUCT. The deepest instincts of our hearts affirm this. Our Lord himself does so, when he says, “He that knew not his Lord’s will and did it not, shall be beaten with few stripes.” But this word of his, whilst it allows that lack of teaching is some excuse, denies that it is sufficient (cf. Joh 19:11). St. Paul also says, concerning the heathen nations, “The time of this ignorance God winked at.”

II. BUT IT IS NOT AN ADEQUATE EXCUSE. For:

1. The taught are the creators almost as much as the creatures of their teachers. The people who clamor for smooth things to be prophesied to them will find such prophets forthcoming. Ahab’s prophets all of them but Micaiahwere such. It is true, “like priest, like people;” but it is also true, “like people, like priest.” The demand creates the supply. The pastors of the Church are the product of the Church, almost as much as the Church is the product of the pastors. What a worldly Church wants it will have, for the woe both of itself and its pastors alike.

2. They have a sure test by which to try all their teachers. “To the Law and to the testimony,” etc. Conscience also is ever on the side of God, and is prompt to condemn all teaching that leads to sin. The Holy Spirit likewise pleads in men’s hearts for God. And the faithful words of those in whom God’s Spirit dwells. None, therefore, are shut up to any human teachers.

3. And where evil teachers have been followed, it has been in spite of the protest which these other higher and surer guides have uttered, or would have uttered had they been suffered so to do.

III. BUT IF IT BE ILL FOR THE TAUGHT, IT IS YET MORE ILL FOR THE TEACHERS. “His blood will I require at the watchman’s hands.” The most awful of our Lord’s denunciations were addressed to such evil teachers (cf. the oft-repeated, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” cf. Verse 14, etc.).

CONCLUSION.
1. Let those who are taught by any human teachers test what they receive by the Word of God. Be as the Bereans (Act 17:1).

2. Let those who teach watch anxiously and prayerfully against the temptation to conform their teachings to the likings of their hearers rather than to their needs. Let them remember that the causes of error and false teaching are much more moral than they are intellectual.

3. Let teachers and taught alike sit daily at his feet who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”C.

Jer 14:17-22

The distracting power of great distress.

The prophet seems blinded by his tears. The distress portrayed here is terrible indeed, and the prophet so realized it that his mind appears to have reeled beneath his apprehensions of the coming calamities. Hence he falls into utterances which can only be regarded, however pardonable and comprehensible under his piteous circumstances (cf. Jer 14:18), as exaggerated, and in many respects, as all such utterances are, incorrect. Every sentence in Jer 14:19, etc; is open to grave question. It would be dreadful if they were not. Note-

I. THE PROPHET‘S EXPOSTULATIONS, (Jer 14:19.) Now, God did not “utterly reject Judah,” nor did “his soul loathe Zion.” It was his love for his people that determined him at all costs to purge them from their evil.

II. HIS COMPLAINTS. (Jer 14:19.) He complains that they had been disappointed and implies that God was the cause why their expectations had failed. They had no right to look for peace, being what they were.

III. HIS CONFESSIONS. Nothing could be more appropriate or more sure to gain the mercy of God than such confession as this, if it were indeed sincere and general on the part of those who had sinned. But this it was not; it was because they would not repent, would not return unto the Lord, that therefore his wrath arose against them until there was no remedy.

IV. HIS ENTREATIES. (Jer 14:21.) God never “abhorred” his people but only their sins; and that God should be thought to “disgrace” the throne of his glory can only be explained on the grounds we have stated. Nor either is it God’s way to “break his covenant.”

V. HIS PLEAS. (Jer 14:22.) Here the prophet pleads truly. There was no hope in any heathen deity, but in God alone. And had the people indeed “waited” upon God, matters had gone more happily with them. But this was just what they did not do. Now, concerning all such utterances as these:

1. Bear with them. God did so. He rebuked not his servant, though that servant had spoken unadvisedly concerning him.

2. Be very slow to believe them. Cf. Naomi, and her false forebodings of fear. How ill she thought God would deal with her! How gracious, in fact, that dealing was I And St. Paul assures us that “God hath not cast off his people.” “All Israel shall be saved.” Let us wait on and wait for God.

3. Be ashamed if by our sin we have caused such distress. Jeremiah had not sinned, but he mourns as if the sin were his own. Beholding the sorrow our sin causes to those who love us will, if we be not utterly hardened, arouse shame, sorrow, and contrition in our own hearts. 4. If those who know most of the mind of God tremble for us, have we not reason to tremble for ourselves?C.

Jer 14:21

A dreadful apprehension.

That God should “abhor“ us. Such apprehension filled the prophet’s mind, as it has other minds.

I. BUT THIS GOD NEVER DOES. He is our Father; he so loved us as to give Christ for us. It is impossible, therefore, let our apprehensions be what they may, that he can abhor us.

II. BUT HE MAY SEEM TO.

1. No one will think thus of God by reason only of temporal calamities. These have again and again come and do come to God’s servants, but produce no such distressing thought as this (cf. Psa 22:1-31; “He hath not despised nor abhorred,” etc.).

2. Nor will spiritual distress alone cause it. There may be loss of comfort in God; no enjoyment in prayer or worship. Sin may again reassert its mastery, and fill the soul with sorrow. Doubts may insinuate themselves into the soul. But none of these will of themselves lead to the thought that God abhors us.

3. They may do so, however, if the presence of sorrow, temporal or spiritual, be so severe as to throw the mind off its balance. (Cf. former homily.) Despair has for a while under such circumstances wrought this harm, and that in the holiest minds. Even our blessed Lord knew somewhat of this awful experience (cf. the agony in the garden, and the cry on the cross, “My God, my God,” etc.). Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah here, and others have been instances. Cowper the poet also, and the not infrequent cases of religious melancholy leading either to settled gloom or even suicide. The tenderest pity and compassion are to be felt for such.

4. Persistent disobedience and repeated backsliding are the chief causes of this apprehension. When the world, the flesh, and the devil fill the heart, especially the heart which has once been cleansed, then “the last state of that man is worse than the first” (cf. Saul, Judas, Ahithophel). Yes; such sin has power to turn the sun into darkness and the moon into blood, and to make the very stars fall from heaven. God becomes the horror of the soul, and men will “make their bed in hell” if but they may flee from his dreadful presence.

III. THE GREAT DESTROYER OF THIS DREAD. It is suggested by the prophet’s own words: “Abhor us not, for thy Name‘s sake.” This is the antidote of all such fearful dread. The Name of God, i.e. that by which he has made himself known. And what has been the verdict of all the witness concerning God, which his words and works and ways have borne, but this, that he is plenteous in mercy to all that call upon himto all that call upon him in truth? He is the “God of all grace.” And if Israel of old had proof of this, how much more have we in Christ! Behold God in him; he is the Name of God to us men. Then, where this dread apprehension exists, let Christ be preached, meditated upon, sought in prayer, confessed with the lip, served and followed in the life, waited on continually, and soon this dread shall pass away.C.

HOMILIES BY J. WAITE

Jer 14:14

Lying prophets.

Every divinely inspired prophet of the olden times was emphatically a “seer,” gifted with the power of looking, as other men could not, into the inmost heart of thingspassing events, natural laws, Divine providencesso as to discern their deeper meaning. The past, the present, and the future all came under his survey, inasmuch as he had to do mainly with those absolute and universal truths which are in no way subject to the conditions of time. As the prophet is called a seer, so the subject of his prophecy is often called a” vision.” It is remarkable how large a proportion of the prophetic revelations of the Old Testament were of a pictorial, symbolic character (see Num 24:4; 1Ki 22:17; Isa 6:1; Eze 37:1 :10; Hab 2:1), and even when they were otherwise, similar phraseology is often used to indicate the prophet’s extraordinary power of moral and spiritual insight. But this passage speaks of false prophetsmen who assumed the prophetic function when not divinely called to it, mere pretenders to the prophetic gift. Ezekiel calls them the “foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing” (Eze 13:3). Every age has had some such misleading witnesses. Christ warned the people against them in his day (Mat 7:15; Mat 24:24). St. John spoke of their uprising as a characteristic of the “last time” (1Jn 2:18; 1Jn 4:1). Our own age is certainly no exception. Men may not claim Divine inspiration in the old prophetic sense, but never were there bolder claims to deep spiritual insight, never such adventurous flights into the realms of mystery, never so many dogmatic remedies for the intellectual restlessness or the moral diseases of human nature. Note, here

I. THAT FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND OF SPEECH WHICH WOULD SEEM TO BE A FIXED PRINCIPLE OF DIVINE GOVERNMENT. There was nothing to prevent the false prophets from speaking; the people were only forbidden to listen to them. Though it be nothing but a vision of their own diseased fancy, a conceit of their own distempered brain, that men have to deliver, they are allowed to deliver it. Better so, that the false should come out to the light of day, confronting the truth, rather than that it should be suppressed by an external force that may at another time be enlisted on its side. The truth has nothing to fear from public conflict with error and all its forces. A marvelous change, as regards the openness of the conflict, has taken place since the days when Milton wrote his ‘Areopagitica’ and Jeremy Taylor his ‘Liberty of Prophesying.’ No doubt it is full of danger to the weak and wavering, to those whose mental eagerness is not tempered by humility and whose hearts are not “established with grace.” But this is God’s way of leading the world on to fuller, clearer light. And is it not in harmony with his whole moral administration of human affairs? He puts awful, destructive powers into men’s hands, and he holds each one responsible for the way in which he wields them. There are boundless possibilities of evil around us all, moral as well as physical, and our case would be sad indeed if there were not equal and still greater possibilities of good. It is well that the false prophets should tell out their “dreams,” if only that the light of God may expose their emptiness and the breath of God may scatter them.

II. THE NEED OF A SURE CRITERION OF JUDGMENT. How shall we discern between the false and the true? These supposed prophetic utterances of old were subjected to certain tests.

1. Their verity. If they were falsified by the facts of history or the inner consciousness of the people, they could not be of God.

2. Harmony with Divine Law. They must be favorable to the cause of virtue and morality; could not promise prosperity apart from repentance, or cry, “Peace, peace,” when there was “no peace.”

3. The personal character of the teacher. The messengers of a holy God must needs be themselves holy. The quality of their message would be reflected in their own life. The same principles hold good now. Such an essential connection exists between truth in thought and truth of feeling, character, life, that every form of doctrine must be judged by its moral influence, both on the teacher and the taught. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Moreover, Christianity refers us to a testing principle of still higher quality and completer efficacythe presence of the Spirit of truth and grace in our own souls. “He that is spiritual,” etc. (1Co 2:15). “Ye have an unction from the Holy One,” etc. (1Jn 2:20, 1Jn 2:21). There is no safeguard against error but this Divine faculty. As regards an external standard, the Scriptures of eternal truth are the touchstone. “To the Law and to the testimony,” etc. (Isa 8:20). The voice, the Law, the life of God in your own soul, is a touchstone of still more delicate quality and ready application. If what you read or hear wilt not bear this test, it is but the “dream” of a false prophet, “the deceit of his own heart,” and no true “burden of the Lord.”

III. GOD‘S SURE VINDICATION OF THE CAUSE OF HIS OWN TRUTH, WHATEVER FORCES MAY ASSAIL IT. (See Verses 15, 16.) The ministry of the true prophets was a marvelous revelation of the Divine power that sustained them and verified their words. They were seldom called to. do battle with the false prophets on their own ground, directly to assail their errors by argument and disproof. They were simply called to proclaim the truth, leaving it with God to make it victorious. The apostles of Christ dealt with the abounding theoretical and practical evils of their day on very much the same principle. The thing that is false gains its influence over men’s minds by reason of its resemblance to the true. The counterfeit circulates because it seems like the real coin. There is no way in which we can so effectually rebuke it as by setting forth the glory of that of which it is the perversion or the mocking shadow. In the full, clear light and the spreading power of the truth error must, sooner or later, wither and die. Let us have faith in the triumphant force of God’s own Word. “What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord,” etc. (Jer 23:28, Jer 23:29). We may well trust in the ultimate victory of that which is the product of infinite wisdom, and is backed by all the resources of omnipotence.W.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Jer 14:1-6

The miseries produced by lack of water.

I. THE BITTER CONSCIOUSNESS THAT AN IMPERATIVE NEED CANNOT BE SATISFIED. Well might there be mourning, languishing, and crying. When we are speaking of need, one of the first questions to be asked is whether the need is natural or artificial. An artificial need, by continued self-indulgence, may come to be very keenly felt; and yet, when circumstances arise which prevent the satisfying of the need, the artificiality of it is clearly seen. But a natural need, when the supplies are stopped, soon shows how clamorous it can become, how productive of unendurable pain. These Israelites had been multiplying artificial needs. They thought they needed visible images, to he richly adorned and constantly worshipped. They thought they needed large external possessions, and so the land became full of covetousness. Rich men tried to increase their riches, and poor men wanted, above all things, to get out of their poverty. But all the while the difference between natural and artificial need was forgotten. The natural needs went on being satisfied, because God, who gives rain from heaven, was long-suffering; and the supply came so habitually that the people did not reckon how there was a hand upon the fountain of the waters which could seal them up in a moment. But now, no sooner is the supply stopped than there is deep and inconceivable misery. The idolater will go on living, even if you take his images away; a rich man need not die because he is stripped of his possessions; but what shall one do who cannot get water to drink? The unendurable pain of Dives in Hades came not from the lost wealth and splendor of earth, but because he could not get the least drop of water to cool his tongue.

II. THE VANITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES. Jerusalem now abounds in pools and cisterns, and the probability is that in the time of Jeremiah there was a similar abundance, both within and without the city. Great cities have always had to see to the providing of water, according to their judgment of what was necessary. A due supply of water is one of the most important charges that can be entrusted to any municipality. The authorities of Jerusalem may have done their best according to their lights; but they had forgotten that the most they could do was to provide receptacles for the Divine bounty. They had hewn cisterns without considering that a time might come when there would be no water to put into the cisterns. That time has come, and where is now the wisdom of the wise and the strength of the mighty? Men may flatter themselves that they rule on earth; but it is very plain that the spaces above, where the clouds gather and whence the rains descend, are beyond their control.

III. THE NULLIFYING OF HUMAN INDUSTRY. The work of the ploughman is in vain. God requires man to work and study in order to get the fruits of the earth; but it is only too easy for him in all his work and study to forget God. tie who expects a harvest will not omit ploughing, sowing, irrigatingwithout these works expectation would be idiotic-but he may very easily omit faith in God. He may neglect the bestowment of the firstfruits, and all that service of God which the fruits of the earth give us strength to render. Well may such a one be ashamed when the ground is chapped and there is no rain in the earth. This is the sign of his own folly in attending to certain secondary requisites and forgetting the one requisite most important of all. When it is so required, God can feed thousands without any sowing and reaping at all; but no man is allowed to reckon that his sowing will assuredly be followed by reaping. He may sow wheat bountifully, only to reap thorns bountifully, because he has forgotten God (Jer 12:13). If the sowing is in prayer and humility, in gratitude for the past and reasonable expectation for the future, then the sower will have no need to be ashamed. Whatever other things God’s servants may lack, God will put the true, abiding glory upon them.

IV. THE LINKING OF MAN WITH THE BRUTE CREATION IN A COMMON SUFFERING, The hinds and the wild asses suffer, and doubtless they were prominent representatives of many other classes of the brute creation. A common thirst not only brings down the noble to the level of the mean man, but man in general to the level of the brute. It is well that we should have plain reminders, such as cannot be escaped, of the links that bind us to the lower creation. We cannot, at present at all events, get above some of the wants of the brute, although certainly it cannot rise to some of ours; but it is just the wants of the brute that seem to be the only wants many feel. They have enough if they can eat, drink, and be merry.Y.

Jer 14:7-9

An appeal out of the depths of separation from God.

I. THE APPEAL OF THOSE WHO ADMIT THAT IN THEMSELVES THEY HAVE NO CLAIM UPON GOD. They have no record of faithful service to present; no array of good deeds goes before them to plead for acceptance and approval. It is all the other way. Their iniquities testify against them; they have backslidden; they have sinned against Jehovah; at least, so they say. There is the appearance of having come to themselves. It might seem as if the prodigal nation, so long spending its substance in riotous living, had been brought to a full stop and a place for repentance amid the privations of a waterless land. Why, indeed, should there be any suspicion as to a genuine confession of great iniquities, a genuine and swift submission to Jehovah? Notice that the confession is correct enough as far as the mere words are concerned. But after all, these words were not unlike the statements extorted by the pains of the Inquisition. Confessions and professions have been made by tortured men in their agonies which had no value as genuine utterances of the heart. It is needless to say that, as far as purpose is concerned, no resemblance is to be found between Jehovah depriving Judah of its water and Rome torturing heretics to make them recant. There may be different purposes where there are similar results. This cry of the people showed the severity with which they had been smitten; it did not of necessity show the state of their hearts. All that they said was true; their iniquities did testify against them; they were apostates; they had sinned against Jehovah. Only when we look at past confessions of the like sort, we see how little they meant (Num 14:40; Num 21:7; Jdg 10:10; 1Sa 7:6). It was the parched tongue and not the broken heart that made them speak. And therefore it is that their appeal has to be met with a refusal. Earnestly as they cried, the cessation of chastisement would not have been followed by the renewal of a true obedience.

II. THE APPEAL OF THOSE WHO HAVE BECOME CONSCIOUS OF THEIR OWN HELPLESSNESS APART FROM JEHOVAH. They want water, and there is no way of getting it apart from the mercy of an all-powerful God. The very way in which they speak shows how vain they feel all resources to be save one. But if other resources had been possible, assuredly they would have tried them. They come to God’s door, not because it is the right one, but because it is the only one left to try. So passengers begin to think of God and eternity when the captain says the tempest-beaten ship cannot be saved. So sick people send for a minister of religion when the doctor says the disease is mortal. So the doomed criminal makes a fashion of giving all his attention to the chaplain when the plea for mitigation is rejected. What a humiliating position men take in making an appearance of coming to God only when they can get nowhere else! What wonder is it that, under such circumstances, they fail to get a right relation established between God and themselves! Prayers in such circumstances, whatever the language employed, may prove no more than the incoherent shriek of despair, a cry without any real turning to God, without any real trust in him.

III. THE APPEAL OF THOSE WHO CAN CALL TO MIND GOD‘S CHARACTER AS ALREADY REVEALED. The description of God in his deeds and disposition had ample warrant from the history of his past dealings. He had been in the midst of his people, ” the Hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of trouble,” as a mighty man showing himself able to save in the greatest danger. He who now fastened up the clouds and the springs had given waters in the wilderness. He who now made the earth fruitless had given manna which needed neither sowing nor reaping. Jehovah had been behind all the visible agents towards deliverance, victory, and possession of the promised inheritance. His tabernacle had been in the midst of his people, and his glory in the midst of his tabernacle. How easy it is to remember, when necessary, that which, when convenient, it seems just as easy to forget! The clouds of heaven and the mountains in whose secret depths he had wrought at the water-springs had been suffered to hide God; but now that his gracious works are vanished for a while, men suddenly and painfully miss the worker. They can flatter him whom they have not even despised, but rather simply ignored. When the cisterns are empty, when the land is chapped, when there is no water anywhere for man and beast, then they can talk effusively concerning “the Hope of Israel, and the Savior thereof in time of trouble.” What self-accusation is implied in this appeal! It was not in ignorance of Jehovah’s claims that they had sinned against him. His past dealings were known and could be recollected under stress of need. If God could speak to Jeremiah as one familiar with the deeds of Moses and Samuel (Jer 15:1), then we may be sure the God connected with those deeds was also known in his historical manifestationsknown to some extent at least to the great bulk of the people.

IV. THE APPEAL OF THOSE WHO HAVE BECOME KEENLY SENSITIVE TO GOD‘S SEPARATION FROM THEM. This is set forth by two figures. He has become as a stranger in the land, as a wayfarer pitching his tent for the night. The people profess to wonder why it is so, and yet they need not wonder. He who has been in their midst because, first of all, he has gathered them around him as the recipients of measureless privileges, finds rivals raised on every high place and in every grove. His special commands are shut out from influence on the conduct of daily life. His messenger is scorned by rulers and conspired against by his own kinsfolk. What is all this but to become even worse than a stranger? A stranger may advance through successive grades of acquaintanceship into bosom affection and trust; but if he who is and ought to remain the center gets pushed out little by little, even beyond the circumference, what force is there potent and exact enough to bring the former relation back? God had told these people how to treat the stranger, but instead of attending to his commands they had ended by making God himself a stranger. Needless, then, was it to ask the question, “Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land?” As well might the ebbing sea ask the rock round which it rolled at flood, why it had forsaken it. Jehovah had remained the same in truth, in love, and in purpose. It was the people who had failed, and flowed further and further away from him. They talked of him as a mere wanderer among them, whereas they were the real wanderers, wandering in heart, drifting about from one temporary satisfaction to another (Exo 22:21; Le Exo 19:9, Exo 19:10, 33; Mat 25:35; Heb 13:2).Y.

Jer 14:10-12

The severities of Jehovah-sword, famine, and pestilence.

I. THE OCCASION OF THESE SEVERITIES. This occasion is stated in Jer 14:10. The people have spoken of Jehovah as a stranger and traveler, which way of speaking gives opportunity for asserting that it is they who are the real wanderers, straying from Jehovah’s highway of righteousness and appointed service; and not only have they strayed, but they have loved to stray. The making of a straight path for Jehovah has been very hard and exacting, and the first voice of temptation to turn into an easier road has been listened to. And even now, out of the midst of their agonies, their cry has no repentance in it. They wish God to come into their midst and protect and comfort them, forgetting that if he is to be really in their midst they must turn from their iniquities. They must show clear signs of forsaking their sins before he can relax his severities. Dreadful as this experience of a waterless land is, they must look for the exciting cause of it in themselves. A disobedient child, suffering punishment at the hands of his parent, while he knows that one cause of his pain is the chastising instrument, knows also that it is a cause which only operates because of the wrong that he himself has done. If we would only give due attention, it is within oar own power to keep the worst pains out of life.

II. VAIN DEFENCES AGAINST THE SEVERITIES.

1. The intercession of good men. Jehovah says once again to his prophet, “Pray not for this people for their good.” Jeremiah himself, naturally and commendably enough, is prompted to cry on their behalf. But doubtless they themselves also urge the prophet’s intercession.

2. Fasting. Outward and visible humiliation; such attire and such attitudes assumed as were congruous with the cry of Verses 7-9. All this was easy enough without any humbling or chastening of the heart. Fasting is too often followed by feasting. For a little while the fleshly comforts of life are superstitiously put aside; but there is the full purpose of resuming them, and making up for lost time.

3. Burnt offerings and oblations. The people insulted Jehovah by heaping before him the carcasses of slain beasts. An idol was best served, according to the teaching of its priests, by those who made the largest offerings at its shrine. All these doings only emphasized the disobedience of the people. They were very diligent in giving what Jehovah did not want, vainly thinking it might stand in place of what he imperatively required. When God asks us for repentance and obedience, it is the merest trifling both with his expectations and our interests to bring some unusual demonstration of will-worship. Let quality, not quantity, be the first thing. A little of the right is better than the utmost profession of the wrong. A little of the right, firmly rooted, will increase and strengthen with wonderful rapidity.

III. THE SHAPE OF THE SEVERITIES. Sword, famine, and pestilence are coming; coming, plainly set forth as the consuming agents of Jehovah. When Jehovah makes men his sword, it is vain to contend against them. The history of God’s people had often shown how a few could be victorious and a multitude vanquished. It is he who can put strength into the arm that wields the sword or take that strength away. These invading armies were, of course, not conscious that Jehovah was wielding them in this way. They had their own selfish aims, which God could subordinate and mould toward his own ends. It is the worst of blasphemy for the leader of an army to talk as if he were going on God’s errands. Attila was not the scourge of God because he said so, though God may have used him in ways beyond Attila’s power to conceive. Famine. Here was a destroyer which there was no guarding against. The sword could at least be drawn against the sword, however vain the result. But who could stop a general famine? And even supposing a few rich man could store up grain for a while, there was a third foe in reservethe pestilence. David had his choice as to which of the three dread agents he would prefer; but here they all come together. God has a variety of weapons, and his enemies cannot evade them all. How wise men would be if, instead of vainly trying to shut out alike Divine Law and penalty, they would at once and forever take up the attitude of entire submission to God! Then they would be defended indeed. By sword, famine, and pestilence, these rich men of Judah and Jerusalem were forever separated from their ill-gotten gains. But “who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Assuredly not famine or sword,” says the apostle; nor pestilence either, he would have added, if he had thought of it. We may he persuaded that nothing has power to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The mischief is that we reject the protections of that love and all other benefits flowing from it.Y.

Jer 14:13-16

The peculiar doom of the false prophets.

I. THE SIN OF THE PROPHETS. That they are found liars is, comparatively speaking, a small part of their offence. Their lie is productive of so much that adds to the peril of the positionso much that is peculiarly insulting to Jehovah. Their sin and the punishment of it were not unlike the sin and punishment of Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira were smitten, not because they had lied, but because they had lied against the Holy Ghost. So with these false prophets here; they prophesied falsely; but that in itself might not have brought a peculiar doom upon them. The offence lay in this, that the false prophecy came at a time when it was peculiarly obnoxious to Jehovah. It was not a distant danger that these false prophets made light of, but one close to the door. The prophet’s difficulties, arising from the natural disposition of his auditors, were already great enough. No false prophet was needed to come in with his contradiction. It must also be remembered that there was a peculiarly insulting sin in that these men told their lies as prophets. What a dreadful thing for a man to go forth with “Thus saith Jehovah” in his mouth, when the words are the deceit of his own heart! This expression, “the deceit of their heart,” seems to suggest the possibility that in some instances these false prophets were not deliberate liars, but were themselves deluded by a fanatical exaggeration of patriotism. Nevertheless, even so, the sin was none the less, for the spirits of the prophets were subject to the prophets. We had need be very sure that we are duly commissioned when we undertake to speak in the Name of God, else we may land ourselves in most humiliating exposures, and come to a most admonitory end. Thus we come to notice

II. HOW THE SIN OF THESE PROPHETS WAS MADE CLEAR. Jeremiah said one thing, the false prophets said the direct contrary, and at the time there seemed no means of vindicating the true prophet beyond all chance of cavil. Doubtless those who were rightly disposed did listen and believe. Their very disposition was in itself a touchstone by which to discriminate between the false and the true; while those disposed to reject could make anything serve for an excuse. The important thing to notice is that the occasion of this great sin was seized upon to predict in due time a terrible, an indisputable, revelation of the sin. Thus an opportunity came for adding detail and emphasis to the prophecy already given. What could not be made plain at the moment would be made abundantly plain hereafter. Sword and famine were not only certain, they were near; coming within the lives of these living men, who would see these very false prophets die by the sword and famine which they had sneered at as impossible. Those who during life had told so many inexpressibly mischievous falsehoods with their lips, were made the instruments, their own will not being at all consulted, of uttering most impressive truth in their death. God and his truth and his true prophets and faithful witnesses can wait. Time is increasingly on the side of all truth, while false prophets are condemned out of their own mouths.

III. THE DECEIVED AUDITORS SUFFER JUST AS MUCH AS THE DECEIVING SPEAKERS. The people were not at liberty to plead contradictions in the messages as a ground for continued inaction in the matter of repentance. Such a plea was certain to be seized on, but, while it might help to drug the conscience, it availed nothing to lighten the judgments which Jehovah was bringing on his unfaithful people. That God who is to be reckoned true, though such reckoning makes every man a liar, has assuredly not left himself without ample witness. False prophets can be tested at once by the heart of each individual to whom they appeal, although their exposure before the whole universe may not come for many ages. God gives us for our own sakes the present means of guarding against them. As to his Name and glory, we may be sure he will vindicate them in his own time and way.Y.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Jer 14:1. The word of the Lordconcerning the dearth The drought. Taylor observes, that the chapters of this prophet, from 3: to 21: lie in regular order as to time. There is a date, chap. Jer 3:6. In the days of Josiah, without mentioning the year of his reign, which, however, shews that that chapter was delivered in some part of his reign; and whereas a severe drought is mentioned in several of these chapters, this shews that they are to be laid together in the same year or years in which the drought continued; all the rest to the 21st may follow in order of time, and all might be delivered in the last years of king Josiah. See Dr. Lightfoot, and Taylor’s Script. Div. p. 341. Houbigant is of opinion, that this drought happened at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, before the Chaldeans besieged Jerusalem.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

THE FIFTH DISCOURSE

(Jer 14:1 to Jer 17:18)

A fearful drought gives the prophet occasion to offer a hearty and touching intercession for his people. The twice-repeated decisive refusal of his petition, based on the revolt of the people (Jer 15:10 coll. Jer 3:3) compels him to take into view his own situation, rendered exceedingly dangerous in consequence of his prophetic ministry, and then also to present before the people the sad prospect, that from the present calamity which is not spoken of after Jer 14:22, there is no hope of escape, but that far worse, even a fearful punitive judgment ending in captivity, is impending.

As to the lime of composition no data are furnished by the mention of the drought (comp. rems. on Jer 14:1). That it was before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and therefore before the decisive turning point in the history of the theocracy and in Jeremiahs prophecies, is evident from the circumstance, already urged, that nowhere in the discourse is the enemy mentioned as known. Twice only and in passages critically suspicious, are the northern iron (Jer 15:12) and the north country as the place of exile (Jer 16:15) mentioned. On the other hand there are many traces that the discourse cannot have originated long before the fourth year of Jehoiakim or the discourse preserved in Jeremiah 25. The prophet, when he delivered this discourse, must have been a long time in office. For the hatred against him has become as much deeper as more general (Jer 15:10 sqq.): he is mocked, because the fulfilment of his prophecy is so long delayed (Jer 17:15): he moreover complains of the endless duration of his sufferings (Jer 15:18), while on the other hand he represents to the Lord that he has obtained universal recognition as a prophet of Jehovah (Jer 15:16). The command not to take a wife (Jer 16:2) further indicates that the prophet, who at his calling was only a (Jer 1:6-7) has in the meantime reached a mature age. The words this once also (Jer 16:21) seem to indicate that the great catastrophe was very near. It is also seen that this discourse must belong to the same period as Jeremiah 13 Comp. the introduction to the fourth discourse.

The attempts to ascribe different parts of the discourse to different periods (comp. Graf, S. 208, 9) are rendered abortive by the fact that it is a well-compacted whole, as will be seen from the following table of contents.

FIRST MAIN DIVISION

The Twice Repeated Intercession Of The Prophet Concerning The Drought, And Its Twice Repeated Rejection

Jer 14:1 to Jer 15:9

1. The first petition, Jer 14:1-9.

2. The first refusal, Jer 14:10-18.

3. The second petition, Jer 14:19-22.

4. The second refusal, Jer 15:1-4.

5. Further portrayal of the sad fate which is impending over the thus rejected nation, Jer 15:5-9.

SECOND MAIN DIVISION

The Consequences Of Refusal With Respect To The Person Of The Prophet And Instruction Concerning His Further Course

Jer 15:10 to Jer 16:9

1. Complaint and petition of the prophet on account of the consequences of the refusal with respect to his own person, Jer 15:10-18.

2. Tranquilizing and consolatory answer of the Lord, Jer 15:19-21.

3. Instructions how the servant of the Lord should conduct himself among the people on whom the judgment has fallen, Jer 16:1-9.

THIRD MAIN DIVISION

Reason Of The Rejection And Announcement Of The Captivity

Jer 16:10 to Jer 21:9

1. Idolatry is the cause of the removal into exile, Jer 16:10-15.

2. More particular description of the removal announced in Jer 16:13, Jer 16:16-18.

3. Refutation of the objection (Jer 16:10) that the people had committed no sin by their idolatry, Jer 16:19-21.

4. Refutation of the objection (Jer 16:10) that the people generally had not served idols, Jer 17:1-4.

CONCLUSION.

Jer 12:5-17

1. Retrospective glance at the deep roots of the corruption, Jer 17:5-13.

2. Petition of the prophet for the safety of his person and the honor of his official ministrations, Jer 17:14-18.

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FIRST MAIN DIVISION

The Twice Repeated Intercession Of The Prophet Concerning The Drought, And Its Twice Repeated Rejection (Jer 14:1 to Jer 15:9.)

14

1. The first petition

Jer 14:1-9

11 The word which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought1:

2Judah mourns and her gates are in trouble,

Covered by mourning2 even to the earth;

And the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

3And their mighty ones have sent their mean ones3 for water.

They came to the cisterns, found no water;
Returned with their vessels empty.
Ashamed and confounded are they and cover their heads.

4On account of the ground, which is dismayed, because there was no rain in the land,

The husbandmen are ashamed and cover their heads.

5For the hind also in the field has brought forth

Andforsaken,4 for there is no green thing there.

6And the wild asses stand on the high places,

They gasp for air like the jackals.
Their eyes have failed, for there is no herb there.

7Though our sins testify against us, O Jehovah,

Acts 5 for thine own names sake;

For many are our apostasies, against thee have we sinned.

😯 thou Hope of Israel, his deliverer in distress;

Why wilt thou be as a stranger in the land,
Or as a traveller who pitches (his tent) for the night?

9Why wilt thou be as a man taken by surprise,6

As a warrior who can give no help?
Yet thou art in our midst, O Jehovah!
And we bear thy name; forsake us not!7

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

A fearful drought prevails in the land. Proceeding from the whole to the particulars, from the higher to the lower, the prophet shows how the whole of Judah and Jerusalem mourns (Jer 14:2), how the rulers of the people send out their subjects in vain for water (Jer 14:3), how the husbandmen also in like distress stand in like consternation. Passing to the beasts he describes how the terrible thirst conquers even the maternal feeling of the hind (Jer 14:6) and how the wild asses seek the heights in order to obtain some mitigation at least from stronger currents of air (Jer 14:6). To this the prophet attaches a hearty prayer that the Lord will not have regard only to the acknowledged sins of Israel, but for the sake of His own glory (Jer 14:7), will no longer act towards His people as a stranger, who will not help (Jer 14:8), or as one who has become powerless and cannot help (Jer 14:9 a), but as one who is near, their shield and Father, and who accordingly will not forsake His people (Jer 14:9 b).

Jer 14:1. The word which drought. Contraction of two sentences into one, the predicate of the main sentence having been attracted by the subordinate sentence and become its predicate, so that the subject of the subordinate sentence becomes the predicate. Comp. the same construction Jer 46:1; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34.Most commentators following the example of Jerome understand this of a future drought, which they believe to be intimated in 2Ki 25:3. The connection is, however, opposed to deferring the drought to the future, as well as that the historical accounts contain no data for the determination of any real time.

Jer 14:2-4. Judah mourns cover their heads.Gates = those assembled in the gates. Comp. Isa 3:26; Isa 14:31; Rth 3:11.In dark, mourning-attire they seat themselves on the ground. Isa 3:26; Jer 8:21; Psa 35:14.The cry of Jerusalem goes up, in contrast to covered to the earth.They do not send their private servants, but as it is a matter of general interest, mean, common people generally., dismayed, is a relative sentence (comp. Isa 51:1 Naegelsb. Gr., 80, 6, 1). , dismayed, forms a climax with ashamed (comp. Fuerst, H. W. B. s. v.) and can therefore be used of impersonal objects like the latter. Comp. Jer 51:47; Isa 24:23; Joe 1:10.The husbandmen are ashamed, etc. Comp. Joe 1:11.

Jer 14:5-6. For the hind also no herb there. It is not necessary to take [with Hitzig and Henderson.S. R. A.] in the insecure sense of Yea. It is causal: what is said of the distress of the men is confirmed by the distress of the beasts.Forsaken. The hind is celebrated by the ancients for her tender maternal affection (Bochart, Hieroz, P. I., L. III., Cap. 17) to which may be added, that she is said to bring forth with difficulty (comp. Psa 29:9; Job 39:1).Like the jackals. Hitzig and Graf suppose that jackals cannot be meant here, but that must stand for (comp. Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2) = sea monsters. But I do not see why the open, panting wolf jaws (the jackal like the wolf belongs to the canine species) should not serve for a comparison in a case like the present. Comp. Jer 2:24.Their eyes have failed. Comp. Job 11:20; Lam 2:11. [Henderson:The wild asses betake themselves to the heights in order to discover some supply. They are very sharp-sighted, and travellers in the desert often avail themselves of their appearance, knowing that there must be herbage and water in the vicinity.S. R. A.]

Jer 14:7-9. Though our sins forsake us not!Act for Thy names sake (comp. Jer 14:21) i. e., though we cannot ask that thou shouldest interpose actively for our sake, yet do it in behalf of Thine own glory, which is pledged partly for the sake of the election, partly for the sake of Thy renown among other nations. Comp. Num 14:13-16; Deu 5:28-29; Eze 20:14; Psa 109:21.Pitches (his tent). Hitzig supposes, that the traveller does not trouble himself with a tent. But traveller () is collective, (comp. , the caravans). These certainly take tents with them. I do not think therefore that is = to deviate from the way, to turn in (for the night). In this sense is elsewhere always used. (Gen 19:2; Jdg 4:18; Jdg 15:19, etc.) I supply with the elder commentators , his tent (comp. Gen 12:8).Yet thou art in our midst (comp. Jer 10:21) i. e., thou art constantly and permanently with us (antithetic to Jer 14:8).We bear thy name, we are called the people of Jehovah. Comp. Exo 5:3; Deu 28:10, coll. Jer 7:10.

Footnotes:

[1]Jer 14:1. may be the plural of Jer 17:8, which undoubtedly signifies drought, in case Psa 9:10; Psa 10:1 is to be otherwise rendered. Comp. from . The plural does not necessarily imply many things, as Graf supposes. In Hebrew all things which have extension in time or space (comp. , etc. Naegelsb. Gr., 61, 2, c) may be in the plural. The word means a drought, which extends through a plurality of moments (perhaps also of points of space). [Hitzig: The plural stands here ad dasignandam diuturnam continuationem siccitatis, Ch. B. Mich.S. R. A.]

[2]Jer 14:2 Const. prgnans. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 112, 7.

[3]Jer 14:3.The form is found here only, and Jer 48:4 in the Chethibh. Elsewhere .

[4]Jer 14:5., comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 92, 2, a; Exo 8:11; Gen 41:43; Jer 32:33; Jer 32:44.

[5]Jer 14:7.On comp. rems. on Jer 18:23.

[6]Jer 14:9. . , since Schultens, is by most commentators derived from the Arabic (dahama = to fall upon,

[7]Jer 14:9. literally ne deponas, dejicias nos (comp. Num 19:9). From this are developed the meanings relinquere (Gen 42:33) and deserere.

2. THE FIRST REFUSAL

Jer 14:10-18

10Thus saith Jehovah to this people:

They loved so to wander, their feet they restrained not;
Jehovah moreover hath no pleasure in them;
Now he will remember their guilt and visit their sin.

11Then said Jehovah unto me:

Pray not on behalf of this people for good.

12Though they fast, I hearken not to their cry,

And though they offer holocausts and oblations, I have no pleasure in them:
But by the sword, by hunger and pestilence I consume them

13And I said:

Ah, Lord Jehovah! Behold the prophets say to them,
Ye will not see the sword, and famine will not come to you,
For I will give you assured peace in this place.

14And Jehovah said unto me:

The prophets prophesy falsehood in my name,
I have not sent them nor commissioned them,
Nor have I spoken to them;
False vision and divination and nothingness
And the deceit8 of their heart they prophesy to you.

15Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets,

Who prophesy in my name though I have not sent them,
And who say, There shall be no sword or famine in this land:
By the sword and by famine shall these prophets perish.

16And the people to whom they prophesy

Shall lie cast out in the streets of Jerusalem,
By reason of the famine and the sword.
And will have none to bury them,
Them, their wives, their sons and their daughters:
And I pour out over them their wickedness.

17And thou shalt say to them this word:

Mine eyes shall flow with tears day and night and cease not,
For the virgin daughter of my people9 is stricken with a grievous stroke,

With a wound very incurable.

18If I go forth into the field, behold! the slain with the sword,

If I return to the city, behold! the tortures10 of famine!

For even prophet and priest go into the country and know nothing.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The Lord answers the prophets petition, that in the description of the thirst-stricken beasts he only describes the conduct of the idolatrous people and has thus himself shown the reason why the Lord must punish them (Jer 14:10). Therefore he (the prophet) may cease his intercession (Jer 14:11), and the people their ceremonies, for their destruction by famine, sword and pestilence is determined upon (Jer 14:12). Thereupon the prophet ventures to interpose in behalf of the people from another side. He calls attention to the fact that the prophets have sustained the people in their errors by false promises (Jer 14:13). Upon this the Lord declares them to be false prophets (Jer 14:14), and pronounces their destruction (Jer 14:15). Moreover the same destruction is impending over the people who believe in them (Jer 14:16), from which it is seen that the prophet has accomplished nothing by his intervention. The wound is incurable (Jer 14:17); everywhere in the country, as he wanders hither and thither, the prophet meets with death in its most terrible forms. He learns that neither prophet nor priest is any longer in a condition to propitiate the Lord, or avert the calamity from the people (Jer 14:18).

Jer 14:10. Thus saith Jehovah their sin. The commentators mistake the connection of this verse with the preceding, when they overlook, that in , thus, the Lord refers to the description of the animals tormented with thirst (Jer 14:5-6), and finds in it a description of the passionate, ungovernable lust of the people for idolatry, the true, final cause of the ruin now come upon Israel. As the hind, impelled by her desire for refreshment, abandons her newly born young in order to seek for food, so Israel forsakes the Lord in order to satisfy his lust for idolatry. As the wild-ass runs to the high places, in order there, with wide-open jaws, to drink in at least a cooler breath of air, so Israel pants for idols. We are justified in this interpretation the rather as the prophet has previously used essentially the same emblems of idolatry. In Jer 2:24 he compared idolatrous Israel with the wild-ass, who (there indeed in the heat of sexual impulse) gasps for breath (comp. Jer 14:6). Wandering () is there also censured in the people, as a symptom of their lust for idols, as in those who cannot restrain the foot (comp. Jer 2:25). In Jer 14:10 a, then there is a statement of the reason, why He is compelled to refuse, as He does in Jer 14:10 b, the petition of the prophet (Jer 14:7 sqq.). This second half of the verse is moreover taken verbatim from Hos 8:13; Hos 9:9.

Jer 14:11-12. Then said Jehovah I consume them. To this denial the Lord adds by way of climax as before (Jer 7:16) a prohibition of further intercession, at the same time announcing that the people also will accomplish nothing by the ceremonies of divine worship, which train of thought we found also in Jer 11:14 sqq.For good. Comp. Deu 28:11; Deu 30:9; Jer 21:10; Jer 24:5-6.

Jer 14:13-16. And I said pour out over them their wickedness.Assured peace [lit., peace of truth]. Comp. right seed, Jer 2:21. So here genuine, lasting, secure prosperity. Comp. Isa 39:8; Jer 33:6. In general comp. Jer 6:14; Jer 4:10.Divination () is used here in a bad sense, as almost always, comp. Num 23:23; 1Sa 15:23; Eze 13:6; Eze 13:23, etc.With the description, cast out in the streets, comp. Jer 8:2; Jer 16:4; Jer 25:33.I will pour out, etc. Comp. Jer 2:19; Hos 9:15.

Jer 14:17-18. And thou shalt say to them know nothing. The formula in Jer 14:17 never introduces greater sections. It occurs verbatim as here only in Jer 13:12. Here certainly at the beginning of a strophe. But there is nothing in the tenor of the words to prevent their being used wherever a definite single word is to be marked. Comp. Jer 28:7.Let mine eyes, etc. As before (Jer 8:23; Jer 13:17), the prophet here expresses the thought that nothing but weeping is left for him.Stroke, etc. Comp. Jer 10:19; Jer 30:12.For even prophet, etc. The prophet evidently wishes to say, that he has looked about everywhere, both in the country and the city, but has found only symptoms of irretrievable destruction. This moreover was not only his conclusion, for all the priests and prophets who, like him, had gone into the country, had also learned that there was nothing more to be done, so that it must be said of them: , i. e. non sapiunt (comp. Psa 73:22; Job 34:2), they know nothing. occurs only in Gen 34:10; Gen 34:21; Gen 42:34, as a finite verb, is contrasted in these passages with the Accusative and signifies at any rate not simply to go directly out, but (after the manner of business-people) to go hither and thither (commeare, ). Here then at any rate we must suppose a journeying directed to several points. The explained by Jerusalems being considered as the central point from which they went now this way now that way. The omission of the article before is not uncommon (comp. on Jer 3:2)

Footnotes:

[8]Jer 14:14.The forms and here only, everywhere else , .

[9]Jer 14:17. . Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 64, 4; Isa 37:22.

[10]Jer 14:18., sufferings, torments. Comp. Jer 16:4; Deu 29:21; Psa 103:3; 2Ch 21:19.

3. THE SECOND PETITION

Jer 14:19-22

19Hast thou utterly rejected Judah, or has thy soul disgust at Zion?

Why then hast thou smitten us and there is no cure for us?
We hoped for peace but there came nothing good;
For a time of healing, and behold terror!

20We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness,

The guilt of our fathers, that we have sinned against thee.

21Reject us not for thy names sake;

Disgrace not the throne of thy glory;
Hold in remembrance, break not thy covenant with us.

22Are there then among the vain deities of the heathen rain dispensers?

Or will the heaven [itself] give rain?
Art not thou He, Jehovah, our God?
And our hope because thou hast made all these things?

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The prophet is not easily turned from his intercession. He here begins again the second time. He asks the Lord why He has rejected Judah and Zion (Jer 14:19). He then adduces three reasons why this cannot be. 1. Israel acknowledges his sins (Jer 14:20); 2. Jehovah must help for His own glory and for the sake of the covenant (Jer 14:21); 3. There is no other dispenser of rain and of blessing than He (Jer 14:22).

Jer 14:19. Hast thou utterly terror. repetition from Jer 8:15.

Jer 14:20; Jer 14:22. We acknowledge made all these things. As in Jer 14:7, so also here (Jer 14:20), the prophet supports his petition on the confession of sin. Therefore he likewise adds, as in Jer 14:7, an appeal to the Lords own honor. Hence he further strengthens his appeal by urging (a) that Zions destruction would disgrace the throne of the Lord Himself, in so far as Zion in part is the throne of the Lord, and in part conceals Him in its midst (comp. on Jer 17:12); (b) he reminds the Lord of the covenant made with Israel, which is to be kept, not to be broken. Comp. Jer 11:1 sqq.; Lev 26:11-12, which passage seems to have been in the prophets mind.From Jer 14:22 we perceive plainly the connection with the first petition, Jer 14:1 sqq.Art not thou He? is never a simple copula, not even in Eccles. (comp. Jer 1:17 with Jer 2:13). Here it is demonstrative, i. e. referring to the previously mentioned idea of rain-dispenser. Thou alone art He, who art at the same time our God and the object of our hope. God alone is the rain-dispenser, for He has made all things. Comp. Job 5:10; Job 38:25-26.For thou hast made is the basis of Thou art he;our God, etc., is therefore a parenthesis. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 80, 3.[Henderson: From the commencement of Jer 14:19 to the end of the chapter the people are introduced as doing what the prophet was forbidden to do on their behalf.S. R. A.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Jer 14:7. Medicina erranti confessio, qua de re Psa 32:3-4 et Ambrosius eleganter: Confessio verecunda suffragatur Deo, et pnam, quam defensione vitare non possumus, pudore revelamus (lib. de Joseph., c. 36), et alibi idem: Cessat vindicta divina, si confessio prcurat humana. Etsi enim confessio non est causa meritoria remissionis peccatorum, est tamen necessarium quoddam antecedens. Frster.

2. In earnest and hearty prayer there is a conflict between the spirit and the flesh. The flesh regards the greatness of the sins, and conceives of God as a severe Judge and morose being, who either will not help further or cannot. The spirit, on the other hand, adheres to the name of God, i. e., to His promise; he apprehends God by faith as his true comfort and aid, and depends upon Him. Cramer.

3. On Jer 14:9 a. Ideo non vult Deus cito dare, ut discas ardentius orare. Augustine.

4. On Jer 14:9 b. Quia in baptismo nomen Domini, i. e., totius SS. et individu Trinitatis super nos quoque invocatum est, eo et ipso nos in fdus Dei recepti sumus et inde populus Dei salutamur. Frster.

5. On Jer 14:10. So long as the sinner remains unchanged and uncontrite God cannot remove the punishment of the sin (Jer 26:13). Starke.Quotidie crescit pna, quia quotidie crescit et culpa. Augustine.

6. On Jer 14:11-12. [We further gather from this passage that fasting is not in itself a religious duty or exercise, but that it refers to another end. Except then they who fast have a regard to what is thereby intendedthat there may be a greater alacrity in prayerthat it may be an evidence of humility in confessing their sins,and that they may also strive to subdue all their lusts;except these things be regarded, fasting becomes a frivolous exercise, nay, a profanation of Gods worship, it being only superstitious. We hence see that fastings are not only without benefit except when prayers are added, and those objects which I have stated are regarded, but that they provoke the wrath of God as all superstitions do, for His worship is polluted. Calvin.S. R. A.] Unbelief is a mortal sin, so that by it the good is turned into evil. For fasting or praying is good; but when the man who does it has no faith it becomes sin (Psa 109:7). Cramer.

7. On Jer 14:14. He who would be a preacher must have a regular appointment. In like form for all parts of divine worship we must have Gods word and command for our support. If we have it not all is lost. Cramer.

8. On Jer 14:14 (I have not sent them). This does not come at all into the account now-a-days; and I do not know, whether to such a preacher, let him have obtained his office as he may, in preaching, absolution, marrying and exorcising, or on any other occasion, when he appeals to his calling before the congregation or against the devil, the thought once occurs, whether he is truly sent by God. Thus the example of the sons of Sceva (Act 19:14; Act 19:16) is no longer considered, and it appears that the devil is not yet disposed by such frightful occurrences to interrupt the atheistical carelessness of the teachers. Zinzendorf.

9. On Jer 14:15. The example of Pashur and others shortly afterwards confirms this discourse. This is an important point. One should however, with that modesty and prudence, which Dr. Wiesmann (Prof. of Theol. in Tbingen), who seems called of God to be a writer of church history, in his Introd. in Memorabilia histori sacr N. T. (1731 and 1745) which I could wish were in the hands of all teachers, repeatedly recommends, have regard to this also, when so-called judgments on the wicked are spoken of, that when the Lord in His wisdom and omnipotence exercises justice on such transgressors by temporal judgments, these are often a blessing to them and the yet remaining means of their salvation. It is related that a certain clergyman in a Saxon village, about the year 1730, felt such a judgment upon himself and his careless ministry, and after happy and humble preparation on a usual day of fasting and prayer, presented himself before his church as an example, and exercised on himself what is called church discipline, whereupon he is said to have fallen down dead with the words,

My sin is deep and very great,
And fills my heart with grief.
O for thy agony and death,
Grant me, I pray, relief.
He is no doubt more blessed, and his remembrance more honorable, than thousands of others, who are praised by their colleagues in funeral discourses as faithful pastors, and at the same time, or already before, are condemned in the first but invisible judgment as dumb dogs, wolves or hirelings. Zinzendorf.

10. On Jer 14:16. Although preachers lead their hearers astray, yet the hearers are not thus excused. But when they allow themselves to be led astray, the blind and those who guide them fall together into the ditch (Luk 6:39). Cramer. [When sinners are overwhelmed with trouble, they must in it see their own wickedness poured upon them. This refers to the wickedness both of the false prophets and the people; the blind lead the blind, and both fall together into the ditch, where they will be miserable comforters one to another. Henry.S. R. A.]

11. On Jer 14:19. Chrysostom refers to Rom 11:1 sqq., where the answer to the prophets question is to be found.

12. On Jer 14:21. Satan has his seat here and there (Rev 2:13). I should like to know why the Saviour may not also have His cathedral. Assuredly He has, and where one stands He knows how to maintain it, and to preserve the honor of the academy. Zinzendorf.

[Good men lay the credit of religion, and its profession in the world, nearer their hearts than any private interest or concern of their own; and those are powerful pleas in prayer which are fetched from thence, and great supports to faith. We may be sure that God will not disgrace the throne of His glory, on earth; nor will He eclipse the glory of His throne by one providence, without soon making it shine forth, and more brightly than before, by another. God will be no loser in His honor in the long run. Henry.S. R. A.]

13. On Jer 14:22. Testimony to the omnipotence of God, for His are both counsel and deed (Pro 8:14). Use it for consolation in every distress and for the true apodictica [demonstration] of all articles of Christian faith, however impossible they may appear. Cramer.[The sovereignty of God should engage, and His all-sufficiency encourage, our attendance on Him, and our expectations from Him, at all times. Henry.Hence may be learned a useful doctrinethat there is no reason why punishments, which are signs of Gods wrath, should discourage us so as to prevent us from venturing to seek pardon from Him; but on the contrary a form of prayer is here prescribed for us; for if we are convinced that we have been chastised by Gods hand, we are on this very account encouraged to hope for salvation; for it belongs to Him who wounds to heal, and to Him who kills to restore to life. Calvin.S. R. A.]

14. On Jer 15:1. On the part of the Catholics it is maintained that hoc loco refellitur hreticorum error orationes defunctorum sanctorum nihil prodesse vivis. Contrarium enim potius ex hisce arguendum suggeritur, nempe istiusmodi sanctorum mortuorum orationes et fieri coram Deo solere pro viventibus, et quando viventes ipsi non posuerint ex semet obicem, illas esse iis maxime proficuas. Ghisl. Tom. II. p. 296). To this it is replied on the part of the Protestants. 1. Enuntiatio isthc plane est hypothetica. 2. Eo tantum spectat, ut si Moses et Samuel in vivis adhuc essent, adeoque in his terris pro populo preces interponerent suas, perinde ut ille, Exodus 32. hic vero 1 Samuel 7. (Frster, S. 86). He also adds two testimonies of the fathers against the invocation of saints. One from Augustine, who (contra Maximin., L. 1), calls such invocation sacrilegium, the other from Epiphanius who (Hres 2) names it an error seductorum, and adds non sanctos colimus, sed sanctorum dominum.That the intercession of the living for each other is effective, Cramer testifies, saying Intercession is powerful, and is not without fruit, when he who prays and he for whom he prays are of like spirit. Comp. Rom 15:30; 2Co 1:11; Eph 6:18-19; 1Ti 2:1-2; 1Jn 5:16. [To the same effect also Calvin and Henry.S. R. A.]

15. On Jer 15:4 b. Scilicet in vulgus manant exempla regentum, utque ducum lituos, sic mores castra sequuntur.Non sic inflectere sensus humanos edicta valent ut vita regentum.Qualis rex talis grex. Frster.

16. God keeps an exact protocol [register] of sins, and visits them to the third and fourth generation. Cramer. [See what uncertain comforts children are; and let us therefore rejoice in them as though we rejoiced not. Henry.S. R. A]

17. On Jer 15:5. When God abandons us we are abandoned also by the holy angels, and all creatures. For as at court when two eyes are turned away the whole court turns away; so when the Lord turns away all His hosts turn away also. Cramer.

18. On Jer 15:7. God as a faithful husbandman has all kinds of instruments for cleaning His grain. He has two kinds of besoms and two kinds of winnowing-fan. With one He cleanses, winnows the grain and sweeps the floor, so that the chaff may be separated from the good wheat. This is done by the Fatherly cross. But if this does not avail He takes in hand the besom of destruction. Cramer.

19. On Jer 15:10. The witnesses of Jesus have the name among others of being hard and rough people, from whom they cannot escape without quarreling. It is not only a reproach which Ahab and such like make to Elijah, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? (1Ki 19:17). But even true-hearted people like Obadiah do not thoroughly trust to them; every one has the thought, if they would only behave more gently it would be just as well and make less noise. Meanwhile the poor Elijah is sitting there, knowing not what to do; a Jeremiah laments the day of his birth why am I then such a monster? Why such an apple of discord? What manner have I? How do I speak? For when I speak, they are for war (Psa 120:7). He does not at once remember that they called the master Beelzebub, and persecuted all the prophets before him; that his greatest sin is that he cares for the interests of Jesus in opposition to Satan. Zinzendorf. [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. Henry.S. R. A.]

20. On Jer 15:10 b. (I have neither lent nor borrowed at usury). My dear Jeremiah! Thou mightest have done that; that is according to the custom of the country, there would be no such noise about that. There is no instance of a preacher being persecuted because he cared for his household. But to take payment in such natural products as human souls, that is ground of distrust, that is going too far, that thou carriest too high, and thou must be more remiss therein, otherwise all will rise up against thee; thou wilt be suspended, removed, imprisoned or in some way made an end of, for that is pure disorder and innovation, that smacks of spiritual revolutionary movements. Zinzendorf.

21. On Jer 15:15 a. (Thou knowest that for thy sake I have suffered reproach). This is the only thing that a servant of the Lamb of God should care for, that he does indeed suffer not the least in that he has disguised and disfigured the doctrine of God and his Saviour. It might be wished that no servant of the Lord, especially in small cities and villages, would now and then make a quarrel to relieve the tedium, which will occupy the half of his life, and of which it may be said in the end: vinco vel vincor, semper ego maculor. Zinzendorf.

22. On Jer 15:16. The sovereign sign of a little flock depending on Christ is such a hearty, spiritual tender disposition towards the Holy Scriptures, that they find no greater pleasure than in their simple but heart-searching truths. I, poor child, if I but look into the Bible, am happy for several hours after. I know not what misery I could not alleviate at once with a little Scripture. Zinzendorf. [On Jer 17:17. 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 humor and indulge instead of mortifying it. Henry.S. R. A.]

23. On Jer 15:19, a. (And thou shalt stand before me: [Luther: thou shalt remain my preacher]) Hear ye this, ye servants of the Lord! Ye may be suspended, removed, lose your income and your office, suffer loss of house and home, but ye will again be preachers. This is the word of promise. * * * And if one is dismissed from twelve places, and again gets a new place, he is a preacher to thirteen congregations. For in all the preceding his innocence, his cross, his faith preach more powerfully than if he himself were there. Zinzendorf.

Note.On this it may be remarked that in order to be the mouth of the Lord it is not necessary to have a church.

24. On Jer 15:19 b. (Before thou return to them) We can get no better comfort than this, that our faithful Lord Himself assures us against ourselves. I will make thee so steady, so discreet, so well-founded, so immovable, that, hard as the human heart is, and dead and opposed, yet it will be rather possible that they all yield to thee, than that thou shouldest be feeble or slack and go over to them. Zinzendorf.

25. On Jer 15:20. A preacher must be like a bone, outwardly hard, inwardly full of marrow. Frster. [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 do good to, and get good by. Henry.S. R. A.]

26. On Jer 16:2. It is well-known that in no condition is celibacy attended by so many evils as in that of the clergy and that this condition entails in a certain measure a present necessity of marrying. For if any one needs a helpmeet to be by his side, it is the man who must be sacrificed to so many different men of all classes. But all this must be arranged according to circumstances. Ye preachers! Is it made out that ye marry only for Jesus? that you have the church alone as your object? and that you subject yourselves to all the hardships of this condition with its tribulations only for the profit of many? First, then, examine maturely in your offices, whether there is no word of the Lord, whether circumstances do not show, whether there is not an exception from the rule in your case, that you are to take no wife; whether Paul does not call to you in spirit, I would that thou wert as I. May it not sometimes be said? Take no wife at this time or at this place! or Take not another! How does the matter look on closer examination? The rather, as it is known to the servants of Christ to be no hyperbolical speech, when it is said, The minister has slain his thousands, but the ministers wife her ten thousands. He that loves anything more than Christ is not worthy of Him. If it cannot be cured endure it. But see to it the more, that those who have wives be as those who have them not (1Co 7:29). Lead your wife in prayer diligently and plainly, as Moses with Zipporah (Exo 4:25, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me). If they would not have you dead they must leave you your Lord. I know not when anything was so pleasing to me as when I saw a certain ministers wife weeping sorely from apprehension that her husband would not endure a certain trial. She saw clearly that he would retain his charge, but she feared the Saviour would make it hard to him.Zinzendorf.

27. On Jer 16:2. Ridiculi sunt Papicol, qui ex hoc typo articulum religionis su de clibatu saceraotum exstruere conantur. Nam. 1. tota hc res fuit typica. Typica autem et symbolica theologia non est argumentativa juxta axioma Thom. 2. Non simpliciter interdicitur conjugium prophet in omni loco, sed tantum in hoc loco. Frster.

28. On Jer 16:7. This passage (as also Isa 58:7) is used by the Lutheran theologians to prove that panem frangere may be equivalent to panem distribuere, as also Luther translates: They will not distribute bread among them. This is admitted by the Reformed, who, however, remark that it does not follow from this that frangere et distribuere also in Sacramento quipollere, quod esset a particulari ad particulare argumentari. Comp. Turretin., Inst. Theol. Elencht. Tom. III., p. 499.

29. On Jer 16:8. When people are desperately bad and will not be told so, they must be regarded as heathen and publicans (Mat 17:18; Tit 3:10; 1Co 5:9). Cramer.

30. On Jer 16:19. The calling of the heathen is very consolatory. For as children are rejoiced at heart when they see that their parents are greatly honored and obtain renown and praise in all lands, so do all true children of God rejoice when they see that Gods name is honored and His glory more widely extended. Cramer.This passage is one of those which predict the extension of the true religion among all nations, and are therefore significant as giving impulse and comfort in the work of missions. Comp. Deu 32:21; Hos. 2:1, 25; Joe 3:5; Isa 49:6; Isa 65:1; Rom 10:12 sqq.

31. On Jer 16:21. Nothing can be learned from God without God. God instructs the people by His mouth and His hand, verbis et verberibus. Cramer.

32. On Jer 17:1. Scripta est et fides tua, scripta est et culpa tua, sicut Jeremias dixit: scripta est Juda culpa tua graphio ferreo et ungue adamantino. Et scripta est, inquit, in pectore et in corde tuo. Ibi igitur culpa est ubi gratia; sed culpa graphio scribitur, gratia spiritu designatur. Ambros. de Sp. s. III. 2.

33. On Jer 17:1. The devil is Gods ape. For when he sees that God by the writing of His prophets and apostles propagates His works and wonders to posterity, he sets his own pulpiteers to work, who labor with still greater zeal, and write not only with pens and ink, but also with diamonds, that such false religion may have the greater respect and not go down. Cramer.

34. On Jer 17:5.

O man in human help and favor
Trust not, for all is vanity,
The curse is on it,happy he,
Who trusts alone in Christ the Saviour.
[When water is blended with fire, both perish; so when one seeks in part to trust in God and in part to trust in men, it is the same as though he wished to mix heaven and earth together, and to throw all things into confusion. It is then to confound the order of nature, when men imagine that they have two objects of trust, and ascribe half their salvation to God and the other half to themselves or to other men. Calvin.S. R. A.]

35. On Jer 17:5. A teacher is commanded to be the first to honor the authorities, to pray for them and be subject to them as Gods servants But since the authorities, in all which pertains to the concerns of the soul, have part only as members, there is great occasion for this cursed dependence on flesh when one from the hope of good personal protection gives up the work of the Lord to the powers of the earth. It is true the church is to have foster-parents who are kings. But nevertheless neither kings nor princes are its tutelar deities, much less lords and commanders of the church, but one is our Master, one our Judge, one our King, the Crucified. Zinzendorf.

36. On Jer 17:5. Reformed theologians, ex. gr., Lambertus Danus (ob. 1596) have applied this passage in the sense of Joh 6:63, in their controversies against the Lutheran doctrine of the Supper. But as Calvin declared, it is not the flesh of Christ, but only earthly flesh and that per contemtum which is here spoken of Comp. Frster, S. 97.

37. On Jer 17:7. Blessed are those teachers, who have betaken themselves, to His protection, who once promised His Church, that even the gates of hell should not prevail against it Who has ever been put to shame who trusted in Him? Zinzendorf.

38. On Jer 17:9. This is a spiritual anatomy of the heart. Examples: Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33.); Hezekiah (38:39); the children of Israel (Numbers 14.). Alii sumus dum ltamur et omnia in vita nobis secundo vento succedunt; alii vero in temporibus calamitosis, ubi quid prter sententiam acciderit. Comp. Ser. Jer 11:27. (MS. note in my copy of Cramers Bibel).

39. On Jer 17:9. . This applies with respect to ourselves and others. For the defiant it avails as an extinguisher (Rom 12:3); but the despairing may be reassured by it (1Jn 3:19-20).

40. On Jer 17:14. (Thou art my praise) When a teacher confines himself to the praise of the cross and lets all other matters of praise go, which might adorn a theologian of these times, and adheres immovably to this: I am determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ the crucified (1Co 2:2),amid all the shame of His cross He is victorious over the rest. Zinzendorf.

41. On Jer 17:16. (That which I have preached was right before thee). It is not difficult to know in these times what is right before the Lord. There is His word; he who adheres to this strictly, knows in thesi that he is right In all this it is the teachers chief maxim, not to make use of the application without need, but to make the truth so plain in his public discourse, that the hearers must necessarily make the application to themselves. Thus saying, thou reproachest us also, said the lawyer (Luk 11:45). Others went away convicted in their consciences. Zinzendorf.

42. On Jer 17:17. That is a period which straitens the hearts of witnesses, when their rock, their protection, their consolation, their trust is a terror to them. But under this we must bow and faithfully endure, and we shall have a peaceable fruit of righteousness. Discipline always ends gloriously. Zinzendorf.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

On Jer 14:7-9. Jeremiah a second Israel, who wrestles with the Lord in prayer. 1. In what the Lord is strong against the prophet: the sin of the people. 2. In what the prophet is strong against the Lord: the Name of the Lord (a) in itself. This compels him to show that He is not a desperate hero, or giant, who cannot help; (b) in that His name is borne by Israel. Thus the Lord is bound to show Himself as He who is in Israel (not a guest or stranger), and consequently the Comforter and Helper of Israel.Heim und Hoffmann, The Major Prophets (Winnenden, 1839). As Daniel (Jer 9:6) prayed, We have sinned and committed iniquity, etc., so Jeremiah took his share in the sin and guilt of his people.This is true penitence, when one no longer wishes to contend with God in tribulation, but confesses his sin and condemnation, when he sees that if God should treat us according to our misdeeds, He could find no ground for grace. But for His names sake He can show us favor. He Himself is the cause of the forgiveness of sin.Calwer Handbuch [Manual]. Notwithstanding the ungodliness of the people the prophet may still say, Thou art among us, because the temple of the Lord and His word were still in the land, and the pious have never all died out. [On Jer 14:7-9. Prayer hath within itself its own reward. The prayer of the prophet consists of confession and petition. 1. Confession fitly begins. It is the testimony of iniquity, and that this iniquity is against God. When we are to encounter any enemy or difficulty, it is sin weakens us. Now confession weakens it, takes off the power of accusation, etc. 2. Petition: For Thy names sake. This is the unfailing argument which abides always the same and hath always the same force. The children of God are much beholden to their troubles for clear experiences of themselves and God. Though thou art not clear in thy interest as a believer, yet plead thy interest as a sinner, which thou art sure of. Leighton.S. R. A.]

2. On Jer 14:13-16. Against false prophets. 1. They tell the world what it likes to hear (Jer 17:13); 2. The Lord denies them (Jer 17:14); 3. The Lord punishes them (Jer 17:15); 4. The Lord also punishes those who allow themselves to be deceived by them (Jer 17:16).Tb. Bibelw.: To enter the preachers office without divine calling, what an abomination is that! But mark this, ye hirelings! the sentence of condemnation is already pronounced over you (Jer 23:21; Mat 7:15).Osiander Bibl.: God avenges the deception of false teachers most severely, if not in this world in the next (Act 13:10-11).Starke: God punishes both deceivers and deceived, the latter cannot then lay all the guilt on the former (Jer 27:45).

3. On Jer 14:19-22. The churchs distress and consolation. 1. The distress is (a) outward (Jer 17:19), (b) inward (Jer 17:20, the reason of the outward, confession). 2. The consolation (a). The Lords Name, [] It is called and is One (Jer 17:22): [] His glory and that of the church (throne of glory) are one; (b) the Lords covenant (Jer 17:21).What in the present circumstances should be our position towards God? 1. The divine providence, in which we are at present: 2. Our confession, which we make before God: 3. Our petition, which we should address to Him. Voelter in Palmers Ev. Casual-Reden. [Occasional Discourses], 4th Ed., 1865.

4. On Jer 15:16. Sermon on a Reformation or Bible-Anniversary. The candlestick of the Gospel has been rejected by more than one church. We therefore pray: Preserve to us Thy word (Ps. 109:43). 1. Why we thus pray (Thy Word is our hearts joy and comfort); 2. Why we hope to be heard (for we are named by Thy name).

5. On Jer 15:19. Caspari (Installation-sermon at Munich, Adv., 1855). These words treat; 1, of the firm endurance; 2, of the holy zeal; 3, of the joyful confidence, with which a preacher of God must come to an evangelical church.

6. Homilies of Origen are extant on Jer 15:5-6; (Hom. XII., Ed. Lommatzsch); Jer 15:10-19 (Hom. XIV.); Jer 15:10; Jer 17:5 (Hom. XV.). [On Jer 15:20. I. Gods qualification to be an overseer of the church. The metaphor of a wall implies, (1) courage, (2) innocence and integrity, (3) authority. II. The opposition a church-governor will be sure to meet with, (1) by seditious preaching and praying, (2) by railing and libels; (3) perhaps by open force. III. The issue and success of such opposition (they shall not prevail). South.S. R. A.]

7. On Jer 16:19-21. Missionary Sermon. The true knowledge of God. 1. It is to be had in Christianity (Jer 17:19, a). 2. It will also make its way to the heathen, for (a) It is Gods will that they should be instructed (Jer 17:21); (b) they are ready to be instructed (Jer 17:19 b. 20).

8. On Jer 17:5-8. The blessing of faith and the curse of unbelief (comp. Ebal und Gerizim). 1. Why does the curse come upon the unbeliever? (He departs in his heart from the Lord). 2. Wherein this curse consists (Jer 17:6). 3. Why must blessing be the portion of the believer? (Jer 17:7). 4. Wherein this blessing consists (Jer 17:8).

9. On Jer 17:5-8, and Jer 18:7-10. Schleiermacher (Sermon on 28 Mar., 1813, in Berlin): We regard the great change (brought about by the events of the period) on the side of our worthiness before God. 1. What in this respect is its peculiar import and true nature. 2. To what we must then feel ourselves summoned.

10. On Jer 17:9-10. The human heart and its Judges 1. The antithesis in the human heart. 2. The impossibility of fathoming it with human eyes. 3. The omniscient God alone sees through it; and 4, judges it with justice. [The heart is deceitfulit always has some trick or other by which to shuffle off conviction. Henry.It is extremely difficult for sinners to know their hearts. I. What is implied in their knowing their own hearts. 1. It implies a knowledge of their selfishness. 2. Of their desperate incurable wickedness. 3. Of their extreme deceitfulness. II. Why it is so extremely difficult for them to know their own hearts. 1. They are unwilling to know them. 2. Because of the deceitfulness of sin. They love or hate, as they appear friendly or unfriendly to them: (a) God, (b) Christ, (c) good men, (d) one another, (e) the world, (f) their own hearts, (g) the means of grace, (h) their convictions, (i) heavenImprovement. The only way to know the heart is to inquire whether it loves God or not, etc. 2. Saints can more easily ascertain their true character than sinners Song of Solomon 3. All changes in life are trials of the heart, etc., etc. Emmons.I. The human heart exhibits great fraud and treachery. 1. We are changeable by that connection which the soul has with the body. 2. By its connection with external objects by our senses. 3. By its love of novelty and variety. 4. By its hasty resolutions. 5. By its self-love. II. Its excessive malice is seen in history and experience. III. Its deep dissimulation and hypocrisy render it inscrutable. Inferences: 1. We should entertain a sober diffidence of ourselves. 2. We should not be surprised when men use us ill or disappoint us. 3. We should take care and give good principles and a good example to those young persons under our guidance. 4. We should be ready to confess our offences to God. 5. We should bear in mind that we are under the inspection of one who searcheth the hearts, etc. Jortin.See also two Sermons by Jer. Taylor.S. R. A.].

11. Rud. Kgel (Court and Cathedral preacher at Berlin, 1865). Sermon on Jer 17:9; Jer 17:19, and Heb 13:9 : Two pictures: 1, the unregenerate; 2, the regenerate heart.

12. On Jer 17:12-13. Sermon for the dedication of a church, the anniversary of the Reformation, or on Whitsunday. The church of the Lord. 1. What it is in itself (place of sanctuary, throne of divine glory, house of Him, who is Israels hope). 2. What it will be (it will ever remain firm, Mat 16:18): 3. What they find who forsake it (Jer 17:19).

13. On Jer 17:14-18. Cry for help of a preacher tempted on account of the truth. 1. The temptation (Jer 17:15). 2. The demonstration of innocence (Jer 17:16). 3. The cry for help, (a) negative (Jer 17:17-18), (b) positive (Jer 17:19). [On Jer 17:14. The penitents prayer. 1. The words express an earnest desire for salvation. 2. He applies to Almighty God for it. 3. Through the medium of prayer. 4. With confidence that he will be heard. Dr. A. Thomson of Edinburgh.S. R. A.].

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

It should seem that the Prophet’s preaching, and his types, were followed by a famine. He takes notice of it in this Chapter, and mourns over it. The Lord is not intreated to remove it. Lying prophets deceive the people concerning it.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

We have here an account of the famine, which by the parallel history took place in the reign of Jehoiakim; probably just before the captivity. Jeremiah had mourned for the good king Josiah; see 2Ch 35:25 and in the succeeding reign, it is supposed, that this famine followed. The Prophet appears to have lamented it in his Lam 2 . The Lord not unfrequently sends after his word, afflictions; that both may under his grace, operate together.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jeremiah’s Questions

Jeremiah 13-14

The Book of Jeremiah is full of questions. They are questions indicative of bewilderment, amazement, ignorance, hopefulness; they stand often in place of that silence which is more eloquent than speech, as if the prophet would tempt the Lord himself into reply by asking questions. Thus we tempt little children, and thus we would tempt the wisest scholars with whom we come into momentary contact, and thus adoringly would we seek to lure God into audible speech.

“Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” ( Jer 13:20 ).

Let this stand as an inquiry from God himself. The prophet often personates God: sometimes it is almost impossible to tell who is speaking, whether it is God, or whether it is the prophet speaking in the divine name; but we can always tell by its quality and by its music whence the question comes. “What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?” Here is a flock that is being inquired about, not a flock only, but a beautiful flock. The question comes into our family life, and asks us where all the children are, those lovely children, that banished the silence of the house and made it ring with music. They were fair, they were charming, they were affectionate; what a sweet, merry little fellowship they made! where are they? The parent ought to be able to give some answer to that inquiry. Have they been spoiled into evil, flattered into self-idolatry, neglected into atheism? Have they been over-instructed, over-disciplined, wholly overborne, so that the will has not been only broken but shattered? Where are they? Are children likely to grow up of themselves? Flowers do not, fruits do not, horses do not. There is more man in a horse than there is horse. Will children turn out to be saints and psalmists and preachers by your enjoying yourselves and letting them go their own way? Nature does not submit to that philosophy of life; she says: “You must watch me mother Nature; you must be up in the morning almost as early as I am, and you must begin your training whilst the dew is upon me, or I will uproot your flowers and set a weed where every one of them grew.” Oh, the cruelty of kindness! the madness of neglect! A good example should be supported by good instruction. He is no shepherd, but a tyrant, who does not co-operate with his children, lure them, fascinate them, and give them sacred instruction without appearing to do so, and who when offering religious privileges offers them as if offering coronation, yea, and all heaven.

The question enters also into our Church life, saying to every pastor, “Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” not large, perhaps, but so expectant, so sympathetic, so co-operative. It is possible for preachers to be always in their places, and yet always out of them. What the flock wants is pastoral preaching. The difficulty is to overcome the temptation to preach to somebody who is not there. There is another difficulty almost impossible to escape, and that is to preach to the one man rather than to all souls the one man being the critic, the intolerable man, who does not understand human nature, who is cursed with a competence, and cursed by knowing so many books as to their title-pages. The preacher will be ruined by that man, unless that man is ruined by the preacher; a great controversy, though not always patent to the public eye, must take place, and the preacher must oust the critic. The people must have pastoral prayer, prayer often all tears, always trembling with sympathy, always indicative of the open eye that sees human life in its most tragic features and relations. The preacher must always know himself to be set for the healing and nurture of men. In every congregation there are the brokenhearted, those who are shattered in fortune, feeble in health, spiritually-minded; women who have great home cares; souls that cannot thrive on criticism; lives that need all nourishment and comfort and loving sympathy. The pastor who so recognises his duty and conducts his function will be able to tell where the flock is, the beautiful flock, the sheep and the lambs; he will carry the lambs in his bosom. Preaching of that sort will never need any foolish assistance in gathering together a flock. Men soon know the physicians who can heal broken hearts. It is marvellous how the poor and the weary and the sad come to know that somewhere there is a man who has the divine touch, the shepherd’s voice, the pastoral enthusiasm. Let it be known by father, mother, preacher, king, queen, that the time will come when the question will be asked, “Where is the flock, the beautiful flock?” Nor will it be sufficient to return a vague and multitudinous reply. The Lord knows every one of his flock. You cannot offer him thirty-nine instead of forty; you cannot persuade him to look upon the flock as a whole, a moving crowd; he counts while he looks, he numbers all his flock, and each passes under the rod. We must be careful for the individual. There is an abundance of public benevolence; a wonderful desire to preside at public meetings, and a shameful disregard of the one little crushed life, the one half-sobbed intercession, which asks for pity, which begs for bread.

Question follows question in this prophet: “And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me?” ( Jer 13:22 ), thou wilt assume the role of the hypocrite, thou wilt talk for talking’ sake; for thou knowest right well that God’s judgments come upon human sin. The Lord never punishes for the sake of punishing. It is not to test the quality of his rod, but to develop the character of man, that God smites any living creature. When he drowned the world, he first drowned his own heart in tears. He suffered more than you suffered when he took the one little ewe lamb away from you because you were turning it into an idol or a temptation. In all our affliction he is afflicted.

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” ( Jer 13:23 ). There is no pathos in that inquiry. Perhaps there is a little cadence of satire; there may be some hint of mockery. It is a moral inquiry, ending in this conclusion “Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Man cannot do a little of each, and do both with indifference or reluctance, and have the good set down to him as a positive virtue. Habit becomes second nature, according to the assurance of the proverb. There is a use in evil; it is easy to get into the skill of evildoing; verily we seem to the manner born; it is easier to do wrong than to do right. That, however, is but a partial view, because when proper discipline has been undergone it becomes impossible to do evil. How is it that men do go astray? Why is not one child born that stands up and says, “I will never budge, I will be inflexible in virtue, heroic in suffering, valiant in testimony: I will be the man the ages have been sighing and groaning for.” Where is that child? If we speak of original sin we are mocked. We dare scarcely mention the name of Adam, though mystery of mysteries we have a doctrine of heredity. This doctrine as now understood seems to go no farther back than the grandfather. That is a poor heredity, and laying tremendous responsibility upon that venerable gentleman. What has he done to be the fountain and origin of heredity? he never heard the word; he would need to have it explained to him if he returned to these earthly schools. If we once acknowledge the doctrine of heredity, then there is no Adam, though he were born millions of ages ago, who can escape the responsibility of being the first. We do nothing with this doctrine but aggravate the responsibilities of our own immediate ancestors. The larger doctrine takes in all humanity. There I will stand by the doctrine of heredity. It is a historical fact; it is a philosophy; it is a science by itself; it deserves the devoutest, calmest study: but the doctrine of heredity must not be terminated at a certain point, it must cover the whole ground, otherwise it is partial, whimsical, fanciful, and misleading. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin?” That question ought to be answerable. “Or the leopard his spots?” There ought to be no difficulty about that inquiry. The prophet means by these interrogations that sooner shall these miracles be wrought than that habitual evil shall turn to the ways of light and wisdom and pureness. Then, is it impossible? With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. That is the open door. We must be born again. It is easy to sneer at the doctrine, to call it ancient, and to regard it as metaphysical; but it does take place in every advancing life, and sometimes when we even disown the name we accept the process. We are not to be limited by human definitions. We do not go to some great theologian to tell us the meaning of regeneration; we go into our own experience, and through that we read the divine word, and by the reciprocal action of the divine word and the human consciousness we begin to see what is meant by the Ethiopian changing his skin and the leopard his spots, what is meant by rejuvenation, the offcasting of the old man, and the blooming of the new life, the regenerated soul. This cannot be explained in words, it can be felt in the heart.

“Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?” ( Jer 13:27 ).

“O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?” ( Jer 14:8 ).

Here we reach a deeper pathos. The prophet is conscious of the absence of God. A great change has taken place in the divine relation to Jeremiah and to the world. He who once came to reside, to abide, now called in like a wayfaring man, and passed on. What does the pilgrim care for the politics of the city? He came but yesternight, tomorrow he will be gone; he cannot entangle himself with the politics, or the social life, or the family life of the city; he says, I can tarry but a night, I may not unsandal my feet, and my staff I had better have in my hand whilst I sleep a little; I must be up with the dawn. Why art thou as a pilgrim, a wayfaring man, one who can turn aside but to tarry for a night? Almighty One, gracious One, thou didst live with us once; thou wert as part of us, our very home lift depended upon thee, we breathed the atmosphere of thy fellowship, and now we hardly ever see thee; thou dost come sandalled, thou dost come with the staff in thine hand, thou dost scarcely ask a question, or express a sympathy, or disclose a solicitude; thou art no sooner here than gone. O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, our hearts ache when we think of thee coming as a stranger thou once a friend!

“Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us?” ( Jer 14:19 ).

The Lord had told the prophet it was useless to pray for the offender, but the prophet scarcely believed it. It is hard for those who know God to believe that he will resort to judgment. Jonah said: “I knew thou wouldst not destroy Nineveh, I knew I was on a fool’s errand; I knew thy mercy, thy love, thy pity; I had been calling, In forty days Nineveh should be destroyed, and I knew that if Nineveh but whimpered thou wouldst humiliate me and spare the city.” So it is, the individual must go down, the personal consciousness must be rebuked; the city must be saved, the man must be redeemed, and the redeeming God will presently talk to the complaining prophet, and mayhap reconcile him.

“Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers?” ( Jer 14:22 ).

Remember it was a time of dearth. The question turned upon the presence of grass; there was no grass, and therefore the hind calved in the field and forsook its own offspring, that it might abate its own hunger, seeking grass in some far-away place. Natural instincts were subdued and overcome, and the helpless offspring was left in helplessness, that the poor dying mother, hunger smitten, might find a mouthful of green herbage somewhere. And the ground was dust; the ploughmen were ashamed, they resorted to that last sign of Oriental desperation and grief, to cover their heads, because there was no rain, no grass; and now the prophet asks, “Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles than can cause rain?” What can the idols do? If they can give rain, let them give it now. Can the heavens themselves give showers the blue heavens that look so kind can they of themselves and as it were by their own motion pour a baptism of water upon the earth? No. This is the act of the living God, the providence of the redeeming Father, the miracle of love. Thus we are driven in various ways to pray. You never know what a man is religiously, until he has been well tried, hungry a long time, and had no water to drink, until his tongue is as a burning sting in his mouth, until it hardens like metal, and if he can then move his lips you may find the coward trying to pray.

Prayer

Almighty God, thou art always asking for the absent. Thou canst not be satisfied because many are in thy banqueting-house; every vacant seat troubles thine heart: God is love. Thou art always saying, If ye will return, I will receive you. Yea, thou dost say more I will receive you graciously and love you freely. The hospitality of God is boundless. Once we were as sheep going astray, but now we have returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, by the grace of God. Wondrous grace! all-including love! Behold, the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever. By the grace of God we are what we are, still bad, imperfect, unwise, yet having some sense of the invisible, the eternal, the divine; having some sense of the sinfulness of sin, and some hatred of the abominable thing, and some desire to throw our arms around the Cross and cry our hearts out for very shame and penitence. This is thy doing. We love the agony; it is a blessed pain; this is woe which is the beginning of joy; this is godly sorrow which worketh repentance not to be repented of, the liberty of full access to God, the liberty of pardon. May we know it more and more, and pass through all paroxysms and rendings of life into the infinite calm. There is no other way. Every kingdom worth having is entered by a strait gate and a narrow road. This is thine appointment, and it is good, for we have experienced it in all lower things. That which comes easily goes easily. Behold, our agony of heart is in the pledge of our sonship, and is the assurance that thou art going to do great things. When all the discipline is done, when all the piercing and beating and moulding shall be accomplished, when all the firing shall be over, when the poor furnace shall cool down because there is no more dross to burn, then we shall thank thee for every pang; our memory shall treasure somewhat of the pains we bore, and we shall bless God that having come out of great tribulation we can never know it any more. We have done wickedly, we have excited our fears, we have misused our faculties, we have shown genius in crime, yea, inspiration in wickedness. God pity the lives that repent; the Lord weep over our tears himself, and so sweeten them. We come with these petitions. We know how great they are, how large is our request: but what are they compared with thine infinity! Amen

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

VII

THE BROKEN COVENANT OF JUDAH AND GOD’S DECREE TO PUNISH

Jeremiah 11-17

These prophecies were doubtless uttered during the reign of Jehoiakim, sometime between 608 and 603 B.C. They were written first by Baruch, as dictated by Jeremiah in 604 B.C., but cut to pieces and burned by Jehoiakim and then rewritten 603 B.C. They are also a report of Jeremiah’s preaching during the reign of this king, Jehoiakim.

The first two chapters (Jeremiah 11-12) deal with the broken covenant; Jer 13 , with the rotten girdle and the lessons drawn from it; the Jeremiah 14-15 set forth the prophecies relating to the drought that came upon the country at that time; Jer 16 gives the story of Jeremiah’s personal life and the lessons to be derived from it; Jer 17 deals with the impending evils that are threatened upon Jerusalem and exhorts them to keep the sabbath. This is the general outline of these chapters.

The occasion for the utterance of the prophecies of Jeremiah 11-12 was a lapse of the people from the reformation under Josiah into the sins under Jehoiakim. Under that wicked king they broke the covenant that they made with good King Josiah, and lapsed into idolatry again. In the opening words of chapter II the prophet pleads with them to remember their covenant and to suffer no backsliding. That was the real occasion. There had been a great reformation under Josiah; they had broken their covenant in going back into idolatry and the prophet pleads with them to remember their covenant so recently made. We know that Jeremiah helped Josiah and we also know that he preached during the reign of Jehoiakim.

He says, “The word of Jehovah came unto me saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God.”

We find almost these identical words in Deu 27:16-26 .

Jeremiah receives those words from the Lord and, like a true Israelite, he replies, Jer 11:5 , “Amen, O Jehovah.” That expression reminds us of the scene that was enacted soon after Israel entered Palestine when the nation was gathered together and the law was read, the blessings and curses, and the people all answered each time, “Amen.” Over and over again this is repeated. Here he hears the words of the covenant as uttered to him by Jehovah, and he answers, “Amen.” He answered for the people of Judah and Jerusalem, that is, he answered, “Amen,” and he wanted them to answer likewise. But they did not.

The charge against the people in Jer 11:6-8 is that of a violation of the covenant. He says, Jer 11:6 : “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them. For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.” In these three mighty words Jeremiah sums up the substance of the great covenant made at Sinai: “Obey my voice.” “Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.”

The people are charged with a conspiracy against the Lord, Jer 11:9-13 : “And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers.” This statement shows the occasion of this prophecy. The people had had an understanding about this, and had agreed among themselves that they would not do as Josiah had commanded them to do; they would not worship Jehovah. Jeremiah calls that a conspiracy against God. They forsook Jehovah and made a covenant with other gods. The breaking of one covenant means the entering into another covenant with other gods.

The doom of the nation is indicated in the fact that Jeremiah is forbidden to pray for them Jer 11:14 : “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me because of their trouble.” The nation is doomed. We have here a full description of the doom that is to come upon this nation, the details of which we need to study very carefully. Jer 11:15 presents a great difficulty for the textual critics. There are three ways it may be rendered: “What hath my beloved to do in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness?” The Septuagint renders this as in the margin: “Why hath my beloved wrought abominations in my house? Shall vows and holy flesh take away from thee thy wickedness, or shalt thou escape by these?” Ball, in the “Expositor’s Bible” renders it, “What hast my beloved to do in mine house? Shall her many altars and holy flesh take away her sin from her?” The text, as we have it, is obscure. We will pass it with the reminder that the general subject of the section is that the nation is doomed and woes are pronounced against her; that Judah cannot be saved by her formal religion.

The result was a plot against Jeremiah, who was commanded to stop prophesying or lose his life. This was the first crisis in Jeremiah’s life. He returned from Jerusalem to Anathoth and found that there was a conspiracy, a plot against him among his own friends. He must stop preaching or lose his life. This is how he puts it, Jer 11:18-20 : “And Jehovah gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then thou showedst me their doings. But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me.” That expression reminds us of Jesus’ words when he was plotted against and killed. He means to say, “I was Just doing my duty; I knew not that they were plotting against me; I knew not that they devised devices against me.” This is what they devised, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.” After that discovery the prophet commits his case to Jehovah for vengeance. This shows that he had risen to a high plane of abiding faith. Jeremiah says, “I shall see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my cause.” The next three verses (Jer 11:21-23 ) contain the record of what Jehovah said regarding the manner in which these wicked conspirators should be punished: that their sons and daughters should perish.

The prophet raises a question in Jer 12:1-4 and Jehovah answers it in Jer 12:5-6 . We studied this passage in the chapter on “The Personal Life of Jeremiah.” I will not go into details here. The occasion of this marvelous passage was the plot against Jeremiah. He saw that these men who plotted to destroy him were living in plenty and prospered while he suffered. So he raised the great question as to why it is possible for the wicked to prosper and the righteous to suffer. Then he received his answer: “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?” That means, If you are going to give up before this little opposition that is but a trifle, what will you do when the great test and the real crisis comes?

The captivity is described. Here the prophet pictures these evils as having already taken place, Jer 12:7-13 : “I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest; . . . Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? . . . Then go and assemble all the beasts of the field and come upon her to devour her.” Then he accuses the shepherds of destroying the vineyard: “They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. . . They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns.” They must perish. In this we have a bare outline of the judgment to come. This is doubtless the substance of the sermons he preached.

Judah’s evil neighbors are referred to in Jer 12:14-17 . This doubtless means Edom, Ammon, and the enemies on the south. They harassed Judah in the time of Jehoiakim. What about these evil neighbors? Well, he says, “I will pluck them up from off their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah; and after I pluck them up I will return and have compassion on them as I will have on Judah.” That reminds us of the magnificent prophecy of Isaiah: “All the nations shall come up to Jerusalem to worship; all the peoples shall flow to Mount Zion, for the word of Jehovah shall go forth from Zion.”

In Jer 13:1-7 the prophet employs a symbolic action, and the interpretation of it is found in Jer 13:8-11 . By a command of Jehovah he buys a beautiful girdle, a common element of clothing in the East, and wears it for a time. Then the Lord commands him to take it and go to the river Euphrates and hide it in the cleft of a rock. He does so, and after many days the Lord said to him, “Go thou to the river Euphrates and take the girdle which I commanded thee to hide there. And I did so and went and digged up the girdle and behold it was marred and good for nothing.” Now, that was an object lesson to the people. Thus he says, Jer 13:11 : “For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah that they might be unto me for a people, but they would not hear.” That is a remarkable figure. The Lord chose the people of Judah and Israel as a man chooses a girdle and wears it about him. Judah had been a girdle for Jehovah, and he desired that they remain as a beautiful girdle forever, but they would not.

The prophet uses another symbol, that of a bottle, Jer 13:12-14 : “Every bottle shall be filled with wine: . . . Do not we know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? Behold I will fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness.” That bottle is a symbol of drunkenness, the drunkenness that is come upon the people. The symbol means that they shall be destroyed, as drunken men are destroyed.

There is an exhortation in Jer 13:15-17 , a command to the queen mother in Jer 13:18-19 , a curse announced in Jer 13:20-27 , and a great text in Jer 13:23 . In verse Jer 13:16 : “Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains,” is one of the most beautiful figures in all the Scriptures. That is like Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep. In Jer 13:18 , he speaks thus: “Say thus to the king and queen mother.” He probably refers to the wife of Josiah, whose son, Jehoiachim, sat upon the throne. He said to the queen mother and the king, “Humble yourselves.” Then he addresses the shepherds and the princes: “Where is the flock that I gave you, the beautiful flock?” Where is it, thou king, and queen mother, and ye princes and prophets? Where is my beautiful flock that I gave you to care for? Then comes that classic passage: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Thus Jeremiah reaches the conclusion that man has to be changed before he can obey the word of God, and he cannot change himself.

A drought is pictured in Jer 14:1-6 . A drought in that land was terrible: “Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty.” That is a pathetic picture. We can almost see those children in their thirst and distress.

We have the prophet’s plea for the people in Jer 14:7-9 and Jehovah’s reply in Jer 14:10-12 . Here we have Jeremiah’s first intercession and its answer, Jer 14:7-17 . See how he pleads in verse Jer 14:7 : “Work thou for thy name’s sake, O Jehovah; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee, O thou hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man affrighted, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O Jehovah, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.” Sinners treat God as if he were a stranger, a sojourner, a man who is helpless to save. In verse Jer 14:11 : “Plead not for this people.” That is the answer to his prayer. “Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry. . . I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.” So it is possible for people to go so far that God himself must give them up.

Jeremiah assails the priests and the prophets (Jer 14:13-22 ). He says (Jer 14:13 ), “The prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, nor the famine.” Then the Lord said unto him, “These prophets are) liars. They shall perish. These people that believe them shall perish, too. There is no hope for them.” But he will not give up. He begs God to spare the city and the people. Verse Jer 14:19 : “Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? . . . Why hast thou smitten us, and is there no healing for us?” Thus he speaks for the people out of his heart: “We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness . . . we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy names sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory.” It is said of Joseph Parker, the great preacher of London, that upon one occasion he prayed, “O Lord, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory.” Some of his stiff-backed hearers received a distinct shock when they heard it. One Presbyterian brother said, “Blasphemy!” but Dr. Parker was simply quoting Jeremiah. That shows that some preachers do not know everything in the Bible. “Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory,” that is, “do not disgrace Judah and Zion,” but he did; they were destroyed.

The impending danger is described in Jer 15:1-9 . We cannot go into detail here. It is not necessary. Read the passage. One point, verse Jer 15:9 : “Her sun is gone down while it was yet day.” That is another classical expression. Note also, verse Jer 15:1 : “Though Moses and Samuel plead for these people I could not save them.” Moses pleaded for the people when they broke the covenant at Sinai. He begged God to blot him out of the book rather than destroy the people. God did hear him and saved them. Samuel was a man of much prayer. Samuel saved Israel by his prayers in the time of Eli. “Though these mighty men of prayer, Moses and Samuel, were to pray to me I would not save these people.” How far can people wander away? There is a limit to God’s grace and mercy.

There are several thoughts in the paragraphs of Jer 15:10-21 . The prophet complains again and receives a reply. We had this in the chapter on “The Life and Character of Jeremiah,” and will not go into details here. It is sufficient to say that God answered him and maintained that the doom of the people was inevitable. Now we have the prophet’s last pleadings with God (Jer 15:15-21 ). We also studied this in the same chapter. Study carefully the text.

Then came the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah (Jer 16:1-9 ). We discussed that in a former chapter. Sufficient to say that he is commanded not to marry, not to have a family, not to mingle with merrymakers, not to have the joys or pleasures of social and family life. He is to be separated, a living example of warning to the people, for destruction is coming. No Jew would refuse to marry or have a family if there were not sufficient reasons for it.

Some questions are raised by the people in Jer 16:10-13 , viz: “Why are these calamities to come? What are the iniquities that we have done?” The answer is that they have forsaken Jehovah and walked after other gods.

There is a comparison in Jer 16:14-21 . The punishment of the captivity shall be most severe and terrible, therefore their return to their own land shall be even more wonderful than the deliverance from Egypt: “The day shall come that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt.” That fact would sink into insignificance in the face of the evils that were to be when Israel was scattered, and when God would gather them again from among the nations; that would be more wonderful than bringing them up out of the land of Egypt. The deliverance would be great because the punishment would be so terrible.

The nature of Judah’s sin and punishment is indicated in Jer 17:1-4 . Their sins are deep and indelible and therefore their punishment is severe: “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, graven on their hearts and on the horns of their altars.” Spurgeon, in a sermon on this text, discussed how sin can be graven into the human heart and cannot be erased by human power. It is written with a pen of iron, written in the very soul and nature. No stronger figure could be used to show the permanent effects of sin. As a result, punishment is certain.

A striking contrast is found in Jer 17:5-11 . Faith in man leads to destruction; faith in God leads to security. Verse Jer 17:5 : “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.” In Jer 17:7-8 , we have the substance of Psa 1 : “Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah . . . he shall be as a tree planted by the waters; he shall not fear when the heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green; he shall not be careful in the year of drought, but his tree shall continue yielding fruit.” Jer 17:9 is one of the profoundest descriptions of the human heart to be found in the Scriptures. It came to Jeremiah out of his experience.

The import of Jer 17:12-18 is that Jehovah is a sure source of strength. Few remarks are needed on this passage. Jeremiah’s faith in God shines very brightly here. Some expressions are very rich and suggestive, such as Jer 17:12-14 ; Jer 17:17 .

The prophecy of Jer 17:19-27 is a prophecy concerning the keeping of the sabbath. This was the great problem of Nehemiah. He had to meet it, and here it is in Jeremiah’s day also: “Go, stand in the gate and say unto the people, Ye shall bear no burdens on the sabbath day.” Verse Jer 17:25 : “Then shall there enter into this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, . . . The men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall remain forever,” this is, if they keep the sabbath day. Then the text shows how the nations will come upon them if they do not keep the sabbath day: “If you will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day and not to bear burdens and enter into the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” This is one of the most significant passages on the sabbath question in all the Bible. This paragraph furnishes the basis for God’s chastisement in the Babylonian captivity. It is specifically stated that this captivity was the penalty for the disregard of the sabbath law.

QUESTIONS

1. What the date of this group of prophecies?

2. Give a general outline of the group of chapters.

3. What the occasion of the prophecies of Jeremiah 11-12?

4. What the reply of the prophet to the words of Jehovah in Jer 11:1-5 and what the application?

5. What the charge against the people in Jer 11:6-8 ?

6. What the charge against the people in Jer 11:8-13 and what the result?

7. How is the doom of the nation indicated (Jer 11:14-17 ) and what the difficulties of the text?

8. What the result as it pertained to the prophet, how did he meet it and what Jehovah’s responses? (Jer 11:18-23 .)

9. What question does the prophet raise in Jer 12:1-4 and what Jehovah’s reply in Jer 12:5-6 ?

10. How is the captivity described in Jer 12:7-13 ?

11. Who Judah’s “evil neighbors” referred to in Jer 12:14-17 , what the threat against them and what hope held out to them?

12. What the symbolic action of Jer 13:1-7 , and what its interpretation (Jer 13:8-11 )?

13. What other symbol used by the prophet here (Jer 13:12-14 ) and what its interpretation?

14. What the exhortation in Jer 13:15-17 , what command to the queen mother in Jer 13:18-19 , what curse announced in Jer 13:20-27 , and what great text in Jer 13:23 ?

15. Describe the drought as pictured in Jer 14:1-6 .

16. What the prophet’s plea for the people in Jer 14:7-9 and what Jehovah’s reply in Jer 14:10-12 ?

17. What Jeremiah’s complaint and Jehovah’s reply in Jer 14:13-22 ?

18. Describe the impending danger (Jer 15:1-9 ).

19. What the thoughts in the paragraphs of Jer 15:10-21 ?

20. What the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah in Jer 16:1-9 , and what its lesson?

21. What questions are raised by the people in Jer 16:10-13 , and what the reply?

22. What the comparison in Jer 16:14-21 and what great hope is therein expressed?

23. How is the nature of Judah’s sin and punishment indicated in Jer 17:1-4 ?

24. What contrast in Jer 17:5-11 and in what other scripture do we find the same thought?

25. What the import of Jer 17:12-18 , and what suggestive passages in this paragraph?

26. What the prophecy of Jer 17:19-27 and what can you Bay of its importance?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jer 14:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.

Ver. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. ] De rebus retentionum – that is, concerning the drought or dearth by restraint of necessary rain and moisture – unde frugum raritas, annonae caritas, fames, from which the shortage of grain made the year’s produce expensive, resulting in famine; whereupon followed a famine, as there doth also a “famine of the Word,” where the divine influences are restrained. Junius rendereth it, Super verbis cohibitionum, concerning the words of cohibitions; that is, saith he, concerning the prayers made by the prophet and other good people for the diverting of God’s judgments, publicly denounced.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jeremiah Chapter 14

This section opens with a graphic picture of the pressure of death on the Jews and Jerusalem, which filled the land with mourning and levelled the great and small, man and beast, in common privation and suffering. (Ver. 1-6.) This draws out the prophet in touching intercession. “O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.” (Ver. 7-9.)

But was it possible for Jehovah, whatever His mercy, to accept the degradation of His name at the hands of His own favoured people? “Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the Lord doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.” (Ver. 10.) How solemn when Jehovah says to His servant “Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry: and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.” (Ver. 11, 12.) This to one who loved the people of God was in every way a trial: what was it to Him who loves as only God can love? Yet it remains true, and there are times when the principle applies, and faith is bound to find it out and act on it, whatever the reproach of uncharitableness. Such a reproach, that costs nothing, gratifies the flesh, and buys the favour of those with whom God has a controversy. But thy favour of the guilty people is dearly bought, at the expense of His approval and glory.

Nevertheless, Jeremiah spreads before the Lord that which misled the people most and was the chief source of difficulty to himself. “Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.” The false prophets must be the first to fall by the very ill from which they promised the people exemption, and the people must learn the folly of heeding man’s promises by their own righteous ruin.

The rest of the chapter (ver. 17-22) is an outpouring of sorrow; for indeed the desolation was without and within, and both the prophet and the priest helped it on for the sake of selfish advantage, fattening on the corruption of God’s people. What could Jeremiah do but bewail? This was not forbidden. It was an awful thing for a godly Jew to think of – the rupture of Israel’s bond with Jehovah, the loss of their distinctive place as His people on earth. “Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us. and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble! We acknowledge, O lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art thou not he, O lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou has made all these things.” (Ver. 19-22.)

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 14:1

1That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah in regard to the drought:

Jer 14:1 That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah This is a rather unusual phrase found in Jer 46:1; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34. It is an assertion of revelation.

drought This is literally droughts (cf. NKJV, JPSOA). We learn from Lev 26:19-20; Deu 11:17; Deu 28:23-24 (the opposite of Jer 28:12) that drought was one of the covenant curses if the people of God did not fulfill their obligations. Throughout the OT drought is used as a way to force the people of God to depend on Him. The problem here was they thought Ba’al worship was insuring the rains (cf. Jer 5:24).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Jeremiah’s Tenth Prophecy (see book comments for Jeremiah).

The word, &c. = That which proved to be the word of Jehovah. Not the usual phrase in the Hebrew.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

the dearth. Hebrew “the restraints” : the holding back of rain, put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for the famine caused by it. One of thirteen recorded famines. See Gen 12:10. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 28:23, Deu 28:24). App-92. Before the first siege (497 BC), or before the third siege (480 BC). See App-83.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 14

The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the deaRuth ( Jer 14:1 ).

For a drought filled the land.

Judah mourns, and the gates languish; they are black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the water holes: they came to the water holes, and found no water; so they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and they covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, but it forsook the calf, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass. O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee ( Jer 14:2-7 ).

So the message that God gave to Jeremiah concerning the drought. And then he prays:

O the hope of Israel, the saving thereof in time of trouble, why should you be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should you be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; don’t leave us ( Jer 14:8-9 ).

So Jeremiah continues to intercede though God told him not to.

Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good ( Jer 14:10-11 ).

Jeremiah just prayed. God said, “Don’t pray to Me for their good.”

When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offerings and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets are saying unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets are prophesying lies in my name: I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak unto them: they are prophesying unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their hearts. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed ( Jer 14:12-15 ).

It’s a terrible thing to speak in the name of the Lord your own opinions, thoughts or ideas. It’s all right to speak your own opinions, thoughts and ideas as your own opinions, thoughts and ideas. Now Paul the apostle was careful to make a distinction. In writing he said, “Now I don’t have a word from the Lord on this, but this is my opinion on this subject.” And that’s good. You can express your opinion. There’s nothing wrong with expressing your opinion. It’s just when you express your opinion in the name of the Lord that it becomes wrong, because then when it doesn’t work out, then you make God to be a liar or God to be made a fool. So there are a lot of people that are speaking in the name of the Lord things that are not really of the Lord, things that aren’t really scriptural. Things that are really anti-scriptural. In fact, much like these prophets. “Everything is going to be great. Everybody is going to prosper. Everybody’s just going to be healed and everybody should be prospering and God wants you all to go out and purchase new Mercedes and you’ll be blessed and prosperous now. Peace, peace, prosperity.” God said, “They’re not prophesying from Me.” For God said, “They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” ( 2Ti 3:12 ). If any man suffers according to the will of God. These false prophets, some of them are now saying if Jesus only had enough faith He wouldn’t have had to suffer the cross. Oh, what blasphemy. And God will deal with them.

And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them ( Jer 14:16 ),

The bodies, they’ll die and they’ll just throw them out in the street. It’s a horrible thing in some places in the world today. People are dying and there’s really no one. They just put the body out in the street and they sweep them up like dust in the morning. Tragic. Person dies; you don’t have enough strength. You just put the body out in the street and let someone else carry it off.

Therefore thou shalt say this word to them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day ( Jer 14:17 ),

The weeping prophet.

and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold those that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not ( Jer 14:17-18 ).

So he questions God.

Have you utterly rejected Judah? does your soul loathe Zion? why have you smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold there is trouble! We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? ( Jer 14:19-22 )

Here’s this great drought. People are dropping off like flies. They’re dying all over the place because of the famine and all. Are there any of these vanities of the Gentiles or the gods that the Gentiles worship, the pagan gods, that can cause rain?

or can the heavens give showers? Art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things ( Jer 14:22 ).

He continues this message on the drought. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

In some respects, Jeremiah is one of the greatest of the ancient prophets, for he had most sorrowful task to perform. He had not to deliver a message full of Evangelical comfort, like that of Isaiah; nor had he gorgeous visions of coming kingdoms, as Ezekiel had; but he was the Cassandra of ibis age. Jeremiah spoke the truth, yet few believed him; his life was spent in sighing over a wicked people who rejected and despised him. He bore a heavy burden upon his heart, and tears continually bedewed his Cheeks, so that he was rightly called the weeping prophet. This chapter gives us an illustration of the style in which he used to pray.

Jer 14:1. The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.

There had been no rain, so the crops had failed, and there was a famine in the land. Jeremiah describes that famine in striking poetic imagery.

Jer 14:2-6. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

The distress in the land was so great that the city gates, where, in more prosperous times, business transactions took place, and meetings of the people were held, were deserted. There was nothing that could be done while the nation was in such sorrow, and a great cry of agony went up from the capital of the country: The cry of Jerusalem is gone up. The highest in the land sent their children to hunt even for a little water to drink; they went to the cisterns where some might have been expected to remain, but they found none: they returned with their vessels empty; they were as ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. The covering of the head was the sign of sorrow. You remember how, in the day of his distress, David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered; and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. The ground had been reduced, by the drought, to such a state of hardness that it was useless to plough it, for there was no hope of any harvest coming. Even the wild creatures of the field shared the general suffering. The hind, which is reckoned by the Orientals to be the fondest of its young, forsook its fawn, and left it to perish, because there was no food. And the wild asses, which are able to endure thirst better than other creatures can and are always quick to perceive water if there is any to be found, tried in vain to scent it anywhere. They snuffed up the wind like dragons,like cobras, or serpents, or jackals, as the word may be variously rendered, but they snuffed in vain; and their eyes became like coals in their head: they did fail, because there was no grass. What then? Why, the prophet turns to prayer as the only means of obtaining relief

Jer 14:7. O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy names sake:

Thou canst not do it because of any merit of ours.

Jer 14:7-9. For our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou O LORD, art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

Can you not almost hear the good man praying? Notice how he begs the Lord not to be to the land like a mere stranger who passes through it, and cares nothing for it. Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Then he pleads with the Lord, Why shouldest thou be as a man strong, but stunned?for that is the meaning of the expression he usesBe not thou as a mighty man astounded or stunned, who cannot save us; let it not be thought or said that we have come to such a pass that even thou canst not help us. This was grand pleading on the prophets part, and he followed it up by mentioning the close connection that existed between Israel and God. Yet thou, O Jehovah, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; and then pleaded, leave us not. It was a grand prayer; yet, at first, this was the only answer that Jeremiah received to it:

Jer 14:10-11. Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.

You may pray, if you like to do so, for a plague to come upon them as a chastisement for their sins, but do not pray for any blessing for them.

Jer 14:12. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

After being long provoked, God at last determines that he will punish the rebellious nation, and he seems, as it were, to put Jeremiah on one side, now the day of my vengeance has come, and I will show no more mercy to them. Now note what Jeremiah does even after the Lord has said to him, Pray not for this people for their good.

Jer 14:13. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shalt not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

He says, Lord, have pity on the people, for they are misled by their prophets. Peradventure, if these false prophets had not thus deceived them, and puffed them up, they would not have been so hardened in their sin. He tried to make some excuse for them, but the Lord would not yield to his pleading.

Jer 14:14-15. Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerned the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

God says, Yes, I will deal with the false prophets; it is true that they have misled the people, and I will punish them for their deception; but I will not excuse the people even on that ground.

Jer 14:16. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.

That seems to be a hard answer to Jeremiahs pleading; what is the prophet to do now? God gives him another message to deliver to the people:

Jer 14:17-18. Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. If I go forth into the field, then behold! the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.

So God told Jeremiah that he might go and tell the people that he would weep continually for them. The faithful and sympathetic prophet was to be allowed constantly to shed tears on their behalf, and to feel great distress of soul because everywhere he saw signs of the heavy hand of God resting upon the guilty people. If they went outside the city, the Chaldeans slew them with the sword; and if they stopped inside, they perished by famine; or those that died not were carried away captive into a land that they knew not. What is Jeremiah to do in such a case as this? He is told that he must not pray for the people, and God seems determined to smite them. What can love do when even the gates of prayer are ordered to be closed? Notice how, after he is told that he must not pray, he edges his way up towards the throne of grace and, at last, he does what he is told not to do. He begins thus:

Jer 14:19. Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? Why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

That is not exactly praying, but it is very like it. Jeremiah is asking the Lord whether he can really have cast off his people.

Jer 14:20. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.

He has advanced a step farther now, to the confession of sin. If that is not really prayer, it always goes with it. It is the background of prayer, so we shall soon have some other touches in the picture.

Jer 14:21. Do not abhor us for thy names sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.

Now he is getting actually to praying; he cannot help himself. He is told that he must not pray, but he feels that he must; he loves the people so much that he must plead for them.

Jer 14:22. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain! Or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? Therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

O splendid perseverance of importunity,strong resolve of a forbidden intercession! Thou, O Lord our God, tellest us not to pray, but we cannot restrain our supplication: Therefore we will wait upon thee. God help us all to wait upon him! We are not so discouraged from praying as he was who spoke these words, so there is still more reason why we should say to the Lord, Therefore we will wait upon thee.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Jer 14:1-6

Jer 14:1-6

THE EVENTS OF THE GREAT DROUGHT

The efforts of scholars to date this prophecy are somewhat amusing. Cook placed it “in the early years of the reign of Jehoiachim”; Robinson placed it vaguely in “the reign of Jehoiachim”; still others have opted for the closing years of Jehoiachim’s reign; and some have omitted dating it altogether! “Without chronological references it is difficult to date passages like this; even references to invasions and exile are not conclusive, because there were three invasions of Judah and as many deportations.” A great drought is featured in this chapter; but there were many droughts in that part of the world; and there is nothing here that distinguishes this particular drought from others.

Some have even tried to break up the chapter into various units, assigning a different date to each; but, as Keil noted, “Such efforts have proved to be a complete failure.”

As we have frequently noted, the “exact date” of any or all of these prophecies is of very little importance. The general facts are well known.

It is clear enough that the occasion of this chapter was a terrible drought that fell upon Judaea.

A practical outline of the chapter is: (1) a description of the drought (Jer 14:1-6); (2) Jeremiah’s prayers for God’s help (Jer 14:7-9); (3) God’s refusal to aid the apostate nation (Jer 14:10-12); (4) Jeremiah’s plea that the false prophets are to blame (Jer 14:13-15); (5) the doom of the false prophets and the people (Jer 14:16-18); (6) Jeremiah’s continual plea to God (Jer 14:19-22).

Jer 14:1-6

THE GREAT DROUGHT

The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are put to shame and confounded, and cover their heads. Because of the ground which is cracked, for that no rain hath been in the land, the plowmen are put to shame, they cover their heads. Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh [her young], because there is no grass. And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah…

(Jer 14:1). This is the title of the whole chapter and through Jer 15:4, all of which deals with the same subject.

They all sit in black upon the ground…

(Jer 14:2). The custom of wearing black as a token of grief or mourning was known then and might be even much older than those times. In addition to their dress and humble posture sitting upon the ground; the people are here represented as raising a mighty cry to God in heaven for relief. Throughout their history, the Jews had persistently called upon God when their troubles came upon them. Their nobles send their little ones to the waters … (Jer 14:3). The word rendered little ones here is peculiar to Jeremiah, a very rare word. Most modern scholars insist that it means servants, inferiors, or employees, or the common people. However, some of the older commentators believed the reference is to little children, implying that, Due to the drought, the servants no longer attended their lords; it was ‘everyone for himself’; and the lords of the society were required to employ their own children to fetch water.

Either interpretation shows the seriousness of the water shortage.

Cisterns…

(Jer 14:3).This word has the same meaning today; and for ages, such reservoirs have been used for storing water during the times of rain against anticipated shortages. The tragedy here was simply that the supply was exhausted.

They cover their heads…

(Jer 14:3). This was a sign of mourning, indicating the same thing as the black clothing did in Jer 14:1.

The plowmen are put to shame…

(Jer 14:4). Thompson rendered the word ‘plowmen’ in this clause as ‘farmers’; but we fail to see any great advantage of the change. We have never known a plowman who was not a farmer. Robinson made it tillers of the ground; but that also falls short of being an improvement.

The devastating nature of this drought is seen in the fact that all living things were affected by it: (1) human beings of all classes, (2) nobles, (3) servants, (4) children, (5) farmers, (6) wild animals, (7) even the ground was cracked, (8) the grass had all died, and (9) there were not even any twigs upon which the wild ass could live.

Yea, the hind calved, and forsook her offspring…

(Jer 14:5). The word ‘hind’ is an Old English word for the female of the red deer; And this animal was regarded by the ancients as tenderly caring for her young. F10 The reason why the calf was abandoned here was the inability of the mother to produce milk due to the shortage of grass.

“The glazed condition of the eyes of the wild ass gives us the picture of eyes that are practically motionless because the death of the animal is near.” F11

Sometime during the ministry of Jeremiah a terrible drought or series of droughts (the Hebrew word is plural) struck Palestine (Jer 14:1). This national crisis forms the background of most if not all of the materials in chapters 14-17. No date for the drought is given. But since in these chapters Judahs punishment is still future and since no reference is made to the deportation of Jehoiachin in 597 B.C. it is likely that these events transpired in the reign of Jehoiaklm. Droughts were not uncommon in Old Testament Palestine and numerous references to them occur in the Scriptures,[200] In the Book of Deuteronomy the Lord threatens to use drought as one of the disciplinary disasters which He will bring upon His people if they are unfaithful to Him (Deu 11:10-17; Deu 28:23-24). Growing out of this crisis is a personal crisis-the second one-in the ministry of Jeremiah. Chapter 17 contains a series of utterances more appropriately called Jeremiahs sayings than Jeremiahs sermons. Perhaps these sayings were excerpts from the preaching which Jeremiah did during the drought.

[200] Gen 12:10; Gen 26:1; Gen 42:1-2; Rth 1:1; 2Sa 21:1; 1Ki 8:37

I. PROPHETIC INTERCESSION Jer 14:1 to Jer 15:9

One of the hallmarks of a prophet is that he prayed on behalf of his people. During the time of the terrible drought (Jer 14:1-6) Jeremiah prayed three times for his countrymen (Jer 14:7-9; Jer 14:13; Jer 14:19-22). Three times God rejected the petition of his prophet, the third time emphatically so (Jer 14:10-12; Jer 14:14-18; Jer 15:1-9). Jeremiah was to learn through this frustrating effort that intercessory prayer without prior repentance on the part of the sinners is futile and useless.

The Description of the Drought Jer 14:1-6

Whether or not Jer 14:2-6 are to be considered a part of Jeremiahs prayer or a background to it is not clear. In either case these verses are a masterful description of the national plight created by the drought. This is Hebrew poetry of the first rank.

In Jer 14:2 Jeremiah pictures the whole nation engaged in lamentation. Even the gates of cities are said to be participating, perhaps bemoaning the absence of those who formerly had assembled there to transact business. By heaping dust upon themselves both the people and their garments became black. This blackening of oneself was one of the customary signs of mourning in antiquity. See 2Sa 13:19; 2Sa 21:10; Job 2:12; Lamentation Jer 2:10. The nobles would send their inferiors (liter ally, their little ones) to the cisterns for water but they would return with empty vessels. Ashamed, dejected these servants would return to their master with heads covered as a sign of deepest mourning (Jer 14:3). See 2Sa 15:30; 2Sa 19:4; Est 6:12. The farmers are as confused as the nobles. The ground can no longer fulfill its function of producing fruit because of the absence of rain (Jer 14:4). Even the wild animals are suffering in the drought. The tender doe is starving. Her natural affection for her young is forgotten as she desperately seeks food for herself (Jer 14:5). The rough wild ass, accustomed to the harsh realities of desert life, desperately sniffs the air in an attempt to pick up the scent of water. Finally with no water and no food the animal languishes and dies (Jer 14:6).

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

We now come to the second division of the Book, that containing the account of the prophet’s ministry. This falls into three sections: prophecies before the fall of Jerusalem (14-39), prophecies after the fall of Jerusalem (40-45), and prophecies concerning the nations (46-51).

The first series of messages declares God’s determination to punish (14-17). This consists of a parable (14:l-6), an account of a controversy between the prophet and Jehovah (14:7-IS), and the new charge delivered to the prophet (16, 17). The opening parable is a graphic picture of drought. The high and the low alike are affected. The whole ground is barren, and all animal life is suffering.

After the word concerning the drought we have the account of a remarkable controversy between Jeremiah and Jehovah. In language full of stately dignity the prophet appealed to Jehovah not to persecute His people. This appeal was answered by solemn refusal. Because of the persistent wandering of the people the prophet was commanded not to pray for them, Jehovah declaring that He would not hear them. The prophet then pleaded that the prophets had declared that they should be preserved from evil. To this Jehovah replied that they had lied. Though speaking in His name, they had not been sent by Him, and therefore they would be consumed by sword and famine. Likewise the people to whom they had prophesied must be punished.

Again Jeremiah appealed, inquiring if God had utterly forsaken His people, making confession of sin, and beseeching God’s pity on the people for His own name’s sake.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

CHAPTER SEVEN

FAMINE – TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL

(Chaps. 14, 15)

Of old, when the Lord “led Jacob like a flock,” and brought the people of His love out of the cruel bondage of Egypt, He set before them blessing and cursing, life and death, good and evil. Earthly prosperity and honor were to accompany fidelity to GOD. No foe could harm, no drought afflict, no famine or sickness decimate Israel, so long as they were careful to obey the word of the Lord and walk according to His statutes. On the other hand, all these sore trials should certainly follow in the wake of indifference to GOD and rebellion against His Word.

It is therefore quite in harmony with His ways that we find the people of Judah in great distress for lack of food and water.

The real famine was within. The outward misery was but the reflection of the moral state. Deeply touching, and highly poetical too, is the seer’s description of the desolation wrought in the land:

“Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass” (Jer 14:2-6).

The language is most pathetic, the condition of the people heartrending. The children cried, with parched tongue and fever-cracked lips, for drink; but there was no water to be had.

They went in vain, at the behest of the hopeless nobles, to the dry wells. There was no refreshment there. All farming operations were at a standstill. No rain meant no crops and no food. The very beasts of the field shared in the general desolation. The hind, tenderest of animals, forsook her offspring “because there was no grass;” (Jer 14:5) the eyes of the wild asses failed as they looked for a few spears of herbage.

There was no yearly overflowing river for Canaan. “It was a land that drank water of the rain of heaven;” a land that the Lord watched over continually. He it was who gave refreshing showers in abundance, or who withheld according to the state of His people.

The river of Mizraim might flow on unceasingly, and flood its valley year by year, let the condition of the Egyptians be as it would, but it was otherwise in the land of the Lord. And we may learn from this to-day. Men of the world are often allowed to prosper despite utter ungodliness. Alas, they are lifted up on high to fall more terribly in the end!

On the other hand, the children of GOD are under His special care, and “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (or disciplineth) (Heb 12:6) for their eternal good. The sheep of CHRIST have not wool so thick but that if they wander from the Shepherd’s side they feel every cold blast of this world. A Christian out of communion must pass under the rod.

To Israel it was said, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore will I punish you for your iniquities.” (Amo 3:2) The principle is the same for us now.

In the next three verses Jeremiah again takes the place of the mediator, and tenderly pleads for those who were called by the name of the Lord. He acknowledges their sin as his own. It is “our iniquities,” “our backslidings,” and “we have sinned.” Merit he does not plead; but “for Thy name’s sake” is his cry. (Jer 14:7)

O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest Thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by Thy name; leave us not” (Jer 14:8-9).

The grief of the prophet, and yet his implicit faith in the Lord, alike stir the soul. He who would have delighted to show mercy to His people had become as a visiting stranger, so far as their realization of His presence was concerned. In the rejected One, however, is the only “hope of Israel.” (Jer 14:8)

He had not actually withdrawn Himself. The Shekinah was still in the temple. His abode “in the midst” (Jer 14:9) of them though unrecognized and unsought by the mass.

His answer is, “Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the Lord doth not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins” (Jer 14:10). It was impossible that the Holy One could go on with iniquity. Judgment must begin at the house of GOD. He loved them too much to let them take their own way with impunity. So He says, “Pray not for this people for their good.” (Jer 14:11)

In the New Testament we read, “There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” (1Jn 5:16). If chastisement is despised, and the Spirit of grace insulted, there comes a time when it is too late for supplication or entreaty. As a last act of GOD’s holy government, the erring one is cut off, and the case left for the Judgment Seat of CHRIST.

– We have examples of this in Ananias and Sapphira, both of them cut off in their transgression.

– So with some in the Corinthian assembly that dishonored the Lord at His table in the memorial Supper. The Holy Spirit says, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1Co 11:30)

– And so it was with Israel in the case before us.

It was too late for grace alone to be exercised. They must know to the full the government of GOD. Neither fasting nor offerings would be of any avail to turn aside the sword, the famine, and the pestilence (Jer 14:12).

Jeremiah, however, continues to plead; and now on the ground that the people had been misled by false prophets, who had spoken smooth things, and thus led their hearers to suppose that sin was a light thing. For answer, the Lord tells him these evil teachers shall bear their judgment, and be consumed with the rest; but this cannot free their followers, who delighted in them because of their own wicked desires. “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch!” (Mat 15:14)

In these verses what a solemn picture we have of Christendom as we know it!

Satan’s ministers turning their hearers away from the truth unto fables! Wolves in sheep’s clothing posing as servants of CHRIST, yet shaking the confidence of the simple in the truth and authority of the Scriptures, ridiculing and assailing the great and holy truths of the atonement and the eternal judgment awaiting those who trample underfoot the blood of CHRIST! But alas, the listeners will fall in the doom of the preachers! Wanting smooth things, they refuse the truth when presented to them, and cling to deceivers from sheer love of sin. Together they shall “perish in the gainsaying of Core” (Jud 1:11).

The pathos of the balance of the chapter is beyond description. The prophet, broken-hearted, is inconsolable. He forms one of a trio, with Moses and Paul, who could all alike be cut off themselves if their people might but be saved.

The famine and the sword were doing their deadly work in city and field, and there was no healing. So stirred is his soul that he cannot but continue his agonized intercession: “Do not abhor us, for Thy name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory: remember, break not Thy covenant with us” (Jer 14:21).

It is like Joshua’s cry of old, “The Egyptians will hear of it.”

But when the people of GOD dishonor Him by their lives, He will not spare needed discipline, even though the uncircumcised glory over Him. Better that “the cause of Christ” be disgraced before the world than that His people be permitted to go on in sin. GOD will vindicate His name in His own way and time.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

II. THE PROPHETS MINISTRY BEFORE THE FALL OF JERUSALEM, THE PROPHECIES OF JUDGMENT AND RESTORATION, THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF JEREMIAH, HIS FAITHFULNESS AND His SUFFERING

CHAPTER 14

The Great Drought, the Sword, the Famine, and the Pestilence

1. The description of the drought (Jer 14:1-6)

2. The prophets priestly intercession (Jer 14:7-9)

3. The answer (Jer 14:10-18)

4. The renewed prayer (Jer 14:19-22)

Jer 14:1-6. The vivid description of the great drought is given in these verses. The little ones sent forth for water returned empty handed. It is the picture of distress.

Jer 14:7-9. And now the prophets voice as intercessor is heard. Like Daniel (chapter 9), in his great prayer Jeremiah acknowledges the nations sin as his own. But he trusts in the Lord and knows that He is the hope of Israel, the Saviour. Blessed statements of faith which came from His lips: Thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us–we are called by Thy Name–leave us not (Jer 14:9) ! The Saviour and hope of Israel has surely not given up His people, though judgment had to do its work.

Jer 14:10-18. They wandered away from Him, saith the Lord in answering Jeremiah. Their iniquities will be remembered and their sins visited. This is the demand of a righteous God. He is not going to hear their cry; the sword of the famine and the pestilence will consume them. Jeremiah tells the Lord about the message of the false prophets. They had promised peace, just as the false teachers in Christendom do today. But they prophesied lies in His name; He had not sent them, nor commanded them nor had He spoken to them.

Jer 14:19-22. What soul stirring petitions these are. It is not the impenitent nation which speaks, but the prophet is pleading in the place of the people and for them.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

dearth

The significance of a drought at this time was very great. It was one of the signs predicted in the Palestinian Covenant Deu 28:23; Deu 28:24 and already fulfilled in part in the reign of Ahab. 1Ki 17:1, etc. As that sign had been followed, even though after a long interval, by the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom, it should have been received by Judah as a most solemn warning.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

am 3399, bc 605

The word: This discourse is supposed to have been delivered after the fourth year of Jehoiakim. The Hebrew batzaroth rendered dearth, signifies restraint, that is, “when the heaven is shut up that there is no rain;” which Houbigant thinks happened early in the reign of Zedekiah.

the dearth: Heb. the words of the dearths, or restraints, Jer 17:8

Reciprocal: Gen 12:10 – was a Gen 41:55 – famished Gen 47:13 – so that Lev 26:19 – make Deu 11:17 – shut up Deu 28:23 – General Jos 15:57 – Timnah Rth 1:1 – a famine 2Sa 21:1 – a famine 2Sa 21:14 – God 1Ki 8:35 – heaven 2Ki 4:38 – a dearth 2Ch 6:26 – if they pray Hag 1:10 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 14:1. The Lord was ready for the prophet to add some more to his book, and this time the subject was the dearth that was soon to come on the land. Such a form of punishment had been threatened many years before (Deu 11:17; Deuteronomy 3 Chron. 7:13). The people became guilty of the very sin for which that kind of punishment was predicted.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 14:1. The word of the Lord concerning the dearth Hebrew, , respecting the matters of the restraints, that is, the drought, when the showers were restrained, or, as Moses and Solomon express it, when the heaven was shut up, and there was no rain. See Deu 11:17; 1Ki 7:35. Thus the LXX., , concerning the want of rain. So also the Chaldee and Syriac versions: and thus our translators understand the word, Jer 17:8, rendering it, not dearth, as here, but drought: a calamity which, however, produced a dearth or famine, similar, it seems, to that in the time of Elijah. At what precise time this great drought took place, we are not informed in the records of history: nor whether it be the same with that of which an intimation is given chap Jer 3:3, where see the note. That it was a calamity very incident to the land of Israel, and applied as a punishment of sin, appears from many parts of the Old Testament. The effects of it are described in the next five verses in very elegant and moving language, and afterward earnestly deprecated.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 14:3. They found no water. The latter rain had been denied, as in Jer 3:3; and as Moses had foretold. Deu 11:17; Deu 28:23. Jeremiah, as is the duty of all ministers, improved this event of terror and affliction.

Jer 14:6. The wild asses did stand in the high places. See on Job 6:5. They snuffed the wind like dragons, when parched with heat. Elian, by dragons, understands the larger species of serpents.

Jer 14:7. Though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it. The meaning of this text, which seems obscure from its brevity, is, that our conscience and our conduct testify against us; the prayer therefore implies that God would answer the accusations by forgiving our sins, for his names sake.

Jer 14:8. Oh the Hope of Israel, called, Luk 2:25, the Consolation of Israel; the Messiah for whom the faithful waited, which in figure, says Menochius, agrees with Christ; yea, and literally so. The fathers, having this Hope, served God day and night. The prophet is afflicted to find that he who had promised to make the mercyseat his throne, and Israel his dwelling, should be as a stranger in the land, little concerned for its welfare; and when they prayed to him, that he should be as a man astounded. Thou oughtest to be as a mighty man, the captain of the host; yea, the prince of thy people.

Jer 14:9. Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied? Astonished, as the printers have latterly inserted. The LXX read, as a man asleep. But the original, nidham, which occurs only here, designates a man astounded, or paralysed with fear at our wickedness, and unmoved by the most piercing cries.

Jer 14:12. I will consume themby the pestilence. This scourge is fourteen times threatened by Jeremiah, and ten times by Ezekiel. The pestilence, it would seem, followed the famine. Ezekiel says, the sword is without, the famine and pestilence within: Eze 7:15.

Jer 14:15. By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. As in Gehazis case, they shall be punished in kind; the one with leprosy, the other with the sword, which they had said should never come. And what death can be more terrific than that of a lying prophet?

Jer 14:18. The prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. That is, say most critics, into Babylon, in despair and anguish of mind. Blaney understands this text of their going about the city trafficking with their lying prophecies, as the Judaizing teachers afterwards did. 2Co 4:2, 2Pe 2:3. But the prophecy indicates rather that those false prophets should hawk their wares in captivity, to get a bitter morsel of bread.

REFLECTIONS.

The dearth mentioned here, occasioned by a drought, happened, as is supposed, in the latter part of Jehoiakims reign, or early in the reign of Zedekiah. Notwithstanding the long and sore oppression of Judah by the king of Egypt, and of Chaldea, the country produced plenty of food. And the people, now degenerate, consoled their calamities by idolatrous feasts; by dancing and drunkenness, and by closing the scene in dregs of wickedness too horrible for a name. Hence it became both wise and gracious in the economy of providence to withhold the resources of their sin. Conformably to the divine pleasure, the clouds gave no rain. The green and smiling aspects of nature withered under the solar heat; and the distant hills, instead of finishing the cheering shades of landscape, appeared as black forests in a mourning hue. The husbandman was appalled at the sight of his field. The nobility, accustomed to servants, sent their stoutest sons to the brooks and wells, but they returned with empty vessels. The loving hind, forgetful of her fawn; and the wild ass, snuffing the wind for vegetable fragrance, fled the country to escape death. All the people were wise who took the alarm and followed. How terrible are the horrors of famine: and how much more terrible when they are accompanied with reproaches of conscience, and alarms of greater punishments about to follow.

Jeremiah, unable to move his country, felt his own heart moved with the tenderest pity for the people. And though the Lord had twice before forbidden him to pray for the good of the nation, yet he ventured to plead again, and to utter all the feelings of his soul with a fervour scarcely less eloquent than when Moses prayed for Israel after they had worshipped the calf. He confesses their sin, associating himself with the guilty, and pleads all the endearing titles of grace in which God stood related to his people. Oh the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, who has often wrought marvels for Israel; why shouldest thou, in this evil day, take no part in our calamities. Why shouldest thou seek to haste away as a stranger, and be deaf to cries and prayers offered with a broken heart?

Though Jeremiah could not move the Lord to send rain, yet he moved the Lord to defend his conduct, on the ground that Judah was incorrigible. The prayer of a righteous man cannot be utterly in vain; he was determined therefore still farther to remember and visit their iniquity. Yes, when the gracious rod fails of effect, the sword of the enemy must complete the punishment.

The false prophets, aiding the peoples depravity, were a leading cause of Judahs contumacy. Contradicting Jeremiah, they forged prophecies that neither famine nor sword should afflict the church. Thus Satan was permitted to imitate the Messiah, and infatuate a base people by strong delusion.

The punishment of those prophets corresponded with their crime. They fell by famine, or were pierced by the sword, and without exception. And who would share his morsel with a confounded prophet, who had obstinately prophesied of peace and plenty. They would be the scorn and derision of men. So shall all hypocrites be confounded in the day of the Lord.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 14:1 to Jer 15:9. The Drought in Judah, and Jeremiahs consequent Intercession.The date of this disaster is unknown, but some year in the latter half of Jehoiakims reign is most probable. The effects of the drought are graphically described in Jer 14:2-6. The personified gates represent the people who gather at them in mourning attire and attitude (sit in black upon the ground; cf. Jer 8:21, Jer 13:18). The empty pits are dried-up storage cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13). Men cover their heads because of grief (2Sa 15:30). The first clause of Jer 14:4 (to chapt) is best emended, with Duhm, after LXX, The tillers of the ground are dismayed (cf. mg.). The eyes of the wild asses fail through fruitless search for herbage (cf. Lam 4:17). In Jer 14:7-9, the prophet confesses the peoples sin, but appeals to Yahwehs honour (Jer 14:7), and His ownership of Israel (Jer 14:9; cf. Jer 7:10), as a reason for His permanent presence and effective help. In Jer 14:10-18, Yahweh replies that His aloofness corresponds (even so) to the peoples abandonment of Him (Jer 14:10 b as Hos 8:13), and announces evil as the only answer to their sacrifice; to which Jeremiah objects (Jer 14:13) that the people have been misled by the prophets (Jer 23:9 ff.) who promised peace. Yahweh, disowning these prophets (Jer 14:14), announces their doom as well as that of the people, and Jeremiah is bidden to lament the horrors that are coming on Judah through invasion and its consequences. In Jer 14:19-22, Jeremiah continues the dialogue with a further confession on behalf of the people, and with an appeal to the ties that bind Yahweh to Israel (Jer 14:21 mg.); Yahweh alone can remove the terrors of this drought. In Jer 15:1-9, Yahweh replies that even such pleaders as Moses (Num 14:13-20) and Samuel (1Sa 7:9) would not turn Him from His purpose; let the people go forth to pestilence (death, Jer 15:2), sword, famine, and captivity; let them be an object of consternation (for tossed to and fro, Jer 15:4) to all, because of the heathenism of Manasseh (2Ki 21:11 ff.). It is Jerusalem that has rejected Yahweh (thou, Jer 15:6, emphatic), and therefore is winnowed with a fork. The coming destruction is described (Jer 15:8) as widespread and unexpected (at noonday, as in Jer 6:4); even the (happy) mother of seven (1Sa 2:5) utterly collapses.

Jer 14:3. Read both mgg.

Jer 14:14. divination, and a thing of nought: read, with Driver, a worthless divination by omission of one letter.

Jer 14:18 b is difficult and obscure; for go about we should perhaps render go begging, or, with second mg. alternative, simply journey

Jer 14:21. the throne of thy glory: Jerusalem, as containing the Temple; cf. Jer 17:12.

Jer 14:22. vanities: i.e. gods.

Jer 15:7. fanned with a fan: i.e. winnowed; cf. Jer 4:11, Isa 30:24, Mat 3:12. The Eastern threshing-floor is described in Thomson, The Land and the Book, pp. 538ff.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

14:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the {a} dearth.

(a) Which came for lack of rain as in Jer 14:4 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

A lament during drought 14:1-16

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

A message came to Jeremiah from Yahweh concerning some droughts (Heb. plural) that overtook Judah. Droughts were a punishment for covenant violation in Israel (cf. Lev 26:18-19; Deu 28:23-24). This pericope begins with an unusual introductory statement, which occurs again in Jer 46:1; Jer 47:1; and Jer 49:34.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER IX

THE DROUGHT AND ITS MORAL IMPLICATIONS

Jer 14:1-22; Jer 15:1-21 (17?)

VARIOUS opinions have been expressed about the division of these chapters. They have been cut up into short sections, supposed to be more or less independent of each other; and they have been regarded as constituting a well-organised whole, at least so far as the eighteenth verse of chapter 17. The truth may lie between these extremes. Chapters 14, 15 certainly hang together; for in them the prophet represents himself as twice interceding with Iahvah on behalf of the people, and twice receiving a refusal of his petition, {Jer 14:1-22; Jer 15:1-4} the latter reply being sterner and more decisive than the first. The occasion was a long period of drought, involving much privation for man and beast. The connection between the parts of this first portion of the discourse is clear enough. The prophet prays for his people, and God answers that He has rejected them, and that intercession is futile. Thereupon, Jeremiah throws the blame of the national sins upon the false prophets; and the answer is that both the people and their false guides will perish. The prophet then soliloquises upon his own hard fate as a herald of evil tidings, and receives directions for his own personal guidance in this crisis of affairs. {Jer 15:10-21; Jer 16:1-9} There is a pause, but no real break, at the end of chapter 15. The next chapter resumes the subject of directions personally affecting the prophet himself; and the discourse is then continuous so far as Jer 17:18, although, naturally enough, it is broken here and there by pauses of considerable duration, marking transitions of thought, and progress in the argument. The heading of the entire piece is marked in the original by a peculiar inversion of terms, which meets us again, Jer 46:1; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34, but which, in spite of this recurrence, wears a rather suspicious look. We might render it thus: “What fell as a word of Iahvah to Jeremiah, on account of the droughts” (the plural is intensive, or it signifies the long continuance of the trouble-as if one rainless period followed upon another). Whether or not the singular order of the words be authentic, the recurrence at Jer 17:8 of the remarkable term for “drought” (Hebrews baccoreth of which baccaroth here is plur.) favours the view that that chapter is an integral portion of the present discourse. The exordium {Jer 14:1-9} is a poetical sketch of the miseries of man and beast, closing with a beautiful prayer. It has been said that this is not “a word of Iahvah to Jeremiah,” but rather the reverse. If we stick to the letter, this no doubt is the case; but, as we have seen in former discourses, the phrase “Iahvahs word” meant in prophetic use very much more than a direct message from God, or a prediction uttered at the Divine instigation. Here, as elsewhere, the prophet evidently regards the course of his own religious reflection as guided by Him who “fashioneth the hearts of men,” and “knoweth their thoughts long before”; and if the question had suggested itself, he would certainly have referred his own poetic powers-the tenderness of his pity, the vividness of his apprehension, the force of his passion, -to the inspiration of the Lord who had called and consecrated him from the birth, to speak in His Name.

There lies at the heart of many of us a feeling, which has lurked there, more or less without our cognisance, ever since the childish days when the Old Testament was read at the mothers knee, and explained and understood in a manner proportioned to the faculties of childhood. When we hear the phrase “The Lord spake,” we instinctively think, if we think at all, of an actual voice knocking sensibly at the door of the outward ear. It was not so; nor did the sacred writer mean it so. A knowledge of Hebrew idiom-the modes of expression usual and possible in that ancient speech-assures us that this Statement, so startlingly direct in its unadorned simplicity, was the accepted mode of conveying a meaning which we, in our more complex and artificial idioms, would convey by the use of a multitude of words, in terms far more abstract, in language destitute of all that colour of life and reality which stamps the idiom of the Bible. It is as though the Divine lay farther off from us moderns; as though the marvellous progress of all that new knowledge of the measureless magnitude of the world, of the power and complexity of its machinery, of the surpassing subtlety and the matchless perfection of its laws and processes, had become an impassable barrier, at least an impenetrable veil, between our minds and God. We have lost the sense of His nearness, of His immediacy, so to speak; because we have gained, and are ever intensifying, a sense of the nearness of the world with which He environs us. Hence, when we speak of Him, we naturally cast about either for poetical phrases and figures, which must always be more or less vague and undefined, or for highly abstract expressions, which may suggest scientific exactness, but are, in truth, scholastic formulae, dry as the dust of the desert, untouched by the breath of life; and even if they affirm a Person, destitute of all those living characters by which we instinctively and without effort recognise Personality. We make only a conventional use of the language of the sacred writers, of the prophets and prophetic historians, of the psalmists, and the legalists, of the Old Testament; the language which is the native expression of a peculiar intensity of religious faith, realising the Unseen as the Actual and, in truth, the only Real.

“Judah mourneth and the gates thereof languish,

They are clad in black down to the ground;

And the cry of Jerusalem hath gone up.

And their nobles have sent their lesser folk for water;

They have been to the pits, and found no water:

Their vessels have come back empty;

Ashamed and confounded, they have covered their heads.”

“Because the ground is chapt, for there hath not been rain in the land,

The ploughmen are ashamed, they have covered their heads.

For even the hind in the field hath yeaned and forsaken her fawn,

For there is no grass.

And the wild asses stand on the bare fells

They snuff the wind like jackals

Their eyes fall, for there is no pasturage.”

“If our sins have answered against us,

Iahweh, act for Thine own Name sake;

For our relapses are many:

Against Thee have we trespassed.”

“Hope of Israel, that savest him in time of trouble,

Wherefore wilt Thou be as a stranger in the land,

And as a traveller that leaveth the road but for the night?

Wherefore wilt Thou be as a man oerpowered with sleep,

As a warrior that cannot rescue?”

“Sith Thou art in our midst, O Iahvah,

And Thy Name upon us hath been called;

Cast us not down!”

How beautiful both plaint and prayer! The simple description of the effects of the drought is as lifelike and impressive as a good picture. The whole country is stricken; the city gates, the place of common resort, where the citizens meet for business and for conversation, are gloomy with knots of mourners robed in black from head to foot, or, as the Hebrew may also imply, sitting on the ground, in the garb and posture of desolation. {Lam 2:10; Lam 3:28} The magnates of Jerusalem send out their retainers to find water; and we see them returning with empty vessels, their heads muffled in their cloaks, in sign of grief at the failure of their errand. {1Ki 18:5-6} The parched ground everywhere gapes with fissures; the yeomen go about with covered heads in deepest dejection. The distress is universal, and affects not man only, but the brute creation. Even the gentle hind, that proverb of maternal tenderness, is driven by sorest need to forsake the fruit of her hard travail; her starved dugs are dry, and she flies from her helpless offspring. The wild asses of the desert, fleet, beautiful, and keen-eyed creatures, scan the withered landscape from the naked cliffs, and snuff the wind, like jackals scenting prey; but neither sight nor smell suggests relief. There is no moisture in the air, no glimpse of pasture in the wide sultry land.

The prayer is a humble confession of sin, an unreserved admission that the woes of man evince the righteousness of God. Unlike certain modern poets, who bewail the sorrows of the world as the mere infliction of a harsh and arbitrary and inevitable Destiny, Jeremiah makes no doubt that human sufferings are due to the working of Divine justice. “Our sins have answered against our pleas at Thy judgment seat; our relapses are many; against Thee have we trespassed,” against Thee, the sovereign Disposer of events, the Source of all that happens and all that is. If this be so, what plea is left? None, but that appeal to the Name of Iahvah, with which the prayer begins and ends. “Act for Thine own Name sake.” “Thy Name upon us hath been called.” Act for Thine own honour, that is, for the honour of Mercy, Compassion, Truth, Goodness; which Thou hast revealed Thyself to be, and which are parts of Thy glorious Name. {Exo 34:6} Pity the wretched, and pardon the guilty: for so will Thy glory increase amongst men; so will man learn that the relentings of love are diviner affections than the ruthlessness of wrath and the cravings of vengeance.

There is also a touching appeal to the past. The very name by which Israel was sometimes designated as “the people of Iahvah,” just as Moab was known by the name of its god as “the people of Chemosh,” {Num 21:29} is alleged as proof that the nation has an interest in the compassion of Him whose name it bears; and it is implied that, since the world knows Israel as Iahvahs people, it will not be for Iahvahs honour that this people should be suffered to perish in their sins. Israel had thus, from the outset of its history, been associated and identified with Iahvah; however ill the true nature of the tie has been understood, however unworthily the relation has been conceived by the popular mind, however little the obligations involved in the call of their fathers have been recognised and appreciated. God must be true, though man be false. There is no weakness, no caprice, no vacillation in God. In bygone “times of trouble” the “Hope of Israel” had saved Israel over and over again; it was a truth admitted by all-even by the prophets enemies. Surely then He will save His people once again, and vindicate His Name of Saviour. Surely He who has dwelt in their midst so many changeful centuries, will not now behold their trouble with the lukewarm feeling of an alien dwelling amongst them for a time, but unconnected with them by ties of blood and kin and common country; or with the indifference of the traveller who is but coldly affected by the calamities of a place where he has only lodged one night. Surely the entire past shows that it would be utterly inconsistent for Iahvah to appear now as a man so buried in sleep that He cannot be roused to save His friends from imminent destruction. {cf. 1Ki 18:27, St. Mar 4:38} He who had borne Israel and carried him as a tender nursling all the days of old (Isa 63:9) could hardly without changing His own unchangeable Name, His character and purposes, cast down His people and forsake them at last.

Such is the drift of the prophets first prayer. To this apparently unanswerable argument his religious meditation upon the present distress has brought him. But presently the thought returns with added force, with a sense of utmost certitude, with a conviction that it is Iahvahs Word, that the people have wrought out their own affliction, that misery is the hire of sin.

“Thus hath Iahvah said of this people:

Even so have they loved to wander,

Their feet they have not refrained;

And as for Iahvah, He accepteth them not”;

“He now remembereth their guilt,

And visiteth their trespasses.

And Iahvah said unto me,

Intercede thou not for this people for good!

If they fast, I will not hearken unto their cry;

And if they offer whole offering and oblation,

I will not accept their persons;

But by the sword, the famine, and the plague, will I consume them.”

“And I said, Ah, Lord Iahvah!

Behold the prophets say to them,

Ye shall not see sword,

And famine shall not befall you

For peace and permanence will I give you in this place.”

“And Iahvah said unto me:

Falsehood it is that the prophets prophesy in My Name.

I sent them not, and I charged them not, and I spake not unto them.

A vision of falsehood and jugglery and nothingness, and the guile of their own heart,

They, for their part, prophesy you.”

“Therefore thus said Iahvah:

Concerning the prophets who prophesy in My Name, albeit I sent them not,

And of themselves say

Sword and famine there shall not be in this land;

By the sword and by the famine shall those prophets be fordone.

And the people to whom they prophesy shall lie thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem,

Because of the famine and the sword,

With none to bury them,”-

“Themselves, their wives, and their sons and their daughters:

And I will pour upon them their own evil.

And thou shalt say unto them this word:

Let mine eyes run down with tears, night and day,

And let them not tire;

For with mighty breach is broken

The virgin daughter of my people-

With a very grievous blow.

If I go forth into the field,

Then behold! the slain of the sword;

And if I enter the city,

Then behold! the pinings of famine:

For both prophet and priest go trafficking about the land,

And understand not.”

It has been supposed that this whole section is misplaced, and that it would properly follow the close of chapter 13. The supposition is due to a misapprehension of the force of the pregnant particle which introduces the reply of Iahvah to the prophets intercession. “Even so have they loved to wander”; even so, as is naturally implied by the severity of the punishment of which thou complainest. The dearth is prolonged; the distress is widespread and grievous. So prolonged, so grievous, so universal, has been their rebellion against Me. The penalty corresponds to the offence. It is really “their own evil” that is being poured out upon their guilty heads (Jer 14:16; cf. Jer 4:18). Iahvah cannot accept them in their sin; the long drought is a token that their guilt is before His mind, unrepented, unatoned. Neither the supplications of another, nor their own fasts and sacrifices, avail to avert the visitation. So long as the disposition of the heart remains unaltered; so long as man hates, not his darling sins, but the penalties they entail, it is idle to seek to propitiate Heaven by such means as these. And not only so. The droughts are but a foretaste of worse evils to come; “by the sword, the famine, and the plague will I consume them.” The condition is understood, If they repent and amend not. This is implied by the prophets seeking to palliate the national guilt, as he proceeds to do, by the suggestion that the people are more sinned against than sinning, deluded as they are by false prophets; as also by the renewal of his intercession (Jer 14:19). Had he been aware in his inmost heart that an irreversible sentence had gone forth against his people, would he have been likely to think either excuses or intercessions availing? Indeed, however absolute the threats of the prophetic preachers may sound, they must, as a rule, be qualified by this limitation, which, whether expressed or not, is inseparable from the object of their discourses, which was the moral amendment of those who heard them.

Of the “false,” that is, the common run of prophets, who were in league with the venal priesthood of the time, and no less worldly and self-seeking than their allies, we note that, as usual, they foretell what the people wishes to hear; “Peace (Prosperity), and Permanence,” is the burden of their oracles. They knew that invectives against prevailing vices, and denunciations of national follies, and forecasts of approaching ruin, were unlikely means of winning popularity and a substantial harvest of offerings. At the same time, like other false teachers, they knew how to veil their errors under the mask of truth; or rather, they were themselves deluded by their own greed, and blinded by their covetousness to the plain teaching of events. They might base their doctrine of “Peace and Permanence in this place!” upon those utterances of the great Isaiah, which had been so signally verified in the lifetime of the seer himself; but their keen pursuit of selfish ends, their moral degradation, caused them to shut their eyes to everything else in his teachings, and, like his contemporaries, they “regarded not the work of Iahvah, nor the operation of His hand.” Jeremiah accuses them of “lying visions”; visions, as he explains, which were the outcome of magical ceremonies, by aid of which, perhaps, they partially deluded themselves, before deluding others, but which were none the less, “things of naught,” devoid of all substance, and mere fictions of a deceitful and self-deceiving mind (Jer 14:14). He expressly declares that they have no mission: in other words, their action is not due to the overpowering sense of a higher call, but is inspired by purely ulterior considerations of worldly gain and policy. They prophesy to order; to the order of man, not of God. If they visit the country districts, it is with no spiritual end in view; priest and prophet alike make a trade of their sacred profession, and, immersed in their sordid pursuits, have no eye for truth, and no perception of the dangers hovering over their country. Their misconduct and misdirection of affairs are certain to bring destruction upon themselves and upon those whom they mislead. War and its attendant famine will devour them all.

But the day of grace being past, nothing is left for the prophet himself but to bewail the ruin of his people (Jer 14:17). He will betake himself to weeping, since praying and preaching are vain. The words which announce this resolve may portray a sorrowful experience, or they may depict the future as though it were already present (Jer 14:17-18). The latter interpretation would suit Jer 14:17, but hardly the following verse, with its references to “going forth into the field,” and “entering into the city.” The way in which these specific actions are mentioned seems to imply some present or recent calamity; and there is apparently no reason why we may not suppose that the passage was written at the disastrous close of the reign of Josiah, in the troublous interval of three months, when Jehoahaz was nominal king in Jerusalem, but the Egyptian arms were probably ravaging the country, and striking terror into the hearts of the people. In such a time of confusion and bloodshed, tillage would be neglected, and famine would naturally follow; and these evils would be greatly aggravated by drought. The only other period which suits is the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim; but the former seems rather to be indicated by Jer 15:6-9.

Heartbroken at the sight of the miseries of his country, the prophet once more approaches the eternal throne. His despairing mood is not so deep and dark as to drown his faith in God. He refuses to believe the utter rejection of Judah, the revocation of the covenant. (The measure is Pentameter).

“Hast Thou indeed cast off Judah?

Hath Thy soul revolted from Sion?

Why hast Thou smitten us past healing?

Waiting for peace, and no good came,

For a time of healing, and behold terror!”

“We know, Iahvah, our wickedness, our fathers guilt;

For we have trespassed toward Thee.

Scorn Thou not, for Thy Name sake

Disgrace not Thy glorious throne!

Remember, break not, Thy covenant with us!”

“Are there, in sooth, among the

Nothings of the nations senders of rain?

And is it the heavens that bestow the showers?

Is it not Thou, Iahvah our God?

And we wait for Thee,

For Thou it was that madest the world.”

To all this the Divine answer is stern and decisive. “And Iahvah said unto me: If Moses and Samuel were to stand” (pleading) “before Me, My mind would not be towards this people: send them away from before Me” (dismiss them from My Presence), “that they may go forth!” After ages remembered Jeremiah as a mighty intercessor, and the brave Maccabeus could see him in his dream as a grey-haired man “exceeding glorious” and “of a wonderful and excellent majesty” who “prayed much for the people and for the holy city” (2Ma 15:14). And the beauty of the prayers which lie like scattered pearls of faith and love among the prophets soliloquies is evident at a glance. But here Jeremiah himself is conscious that his prayers are unavailing; and that the office to which God has called him is rather that of pronouncing judgment than of interceding for mercy. Even a Moses or a Samuel, the mighty intercessors of the old heroic times, whose pleadings had been irresistible with God, would now plead in vain Exo 17:11 sqq., Exo 32:11 sqq.; Num 14:13 sqq. for Moses; 1Sa 7:9 sqq., 1Sa 12:16 sqq.; Psa 99:6; Sir 46:16 sqq. for Samuel. The day of grace has gone, and the day of doom is come. His sad function is to “send them away” or “let them go” from Iahvahs Presence; to pronounce the decree of their banishment from the holy land where His temple is, and where they have been wont to “see His face.” The main part of his commission was “to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to overthrow” (Jer 1:10). “And if they say unto thee, Whither are we to go forth? Thou shalt say uno them, thus hath Iahvah said: They that belong to the Death” (i.e., the Plague; as the Black Death was spoken of in mediaeval Europe) “to death; and they that belong to the Sword, to the sword; and they that belong to the Famine, to famine: and they that belong to Captivity, to captivity!” The people were to “go forth” out of their own land, which was, as it were, the Presence chamber of Iahvah, just as they had at the outset of their history gone forth out of Egypt, to take possession of it. The words convey a sentence of exile, though they do not indicate the place of banishment. The menace of woe is as general in its terms as that lurid passage of the Book of the Law upon which it appears to be founded. {Deu 28:21-26} The time for the accomplishment of those terrible threatenings “is nigh, even at the doors.”

On the other hand, Ezekiels “four sore judgments” {Eze 14:21} were suggested by this passage of Jeremiah.

The prophet avoids naming the actual destination of the captive people, because captivity is only one element in their punishment. The horrors of war-sieges and slaughters and pestilence and famine-must come first. In what follows, the intensity of these horrors is realised in a single touch. The slain are left unburied, a prey to the birds and beasts. The elaborate care of the ancients in the provision of honourable resting places for the dead is a measure of the extremity, thus indicated. In accordance with the feeling of his age, the prophet ranks the dogs and vultures and hyenas that drag and disfigure and devour the corpses of the slain, as three “kinds” of evil equally appalling with the sword that slays. The same feeling led our Spenser to write:

“To spoil the dead of weed

Is sacrilege, and doth all sins exceed.”

And the destruction of Moab is decreed by the earlier prophet Amos, “because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime,” thus violating a law universally recognised as binding upon the conscience of nations. {Amo 2:1} Cf. also Gen 23:1-20.

Thus death itself was not to be a sufficient expiation for the inveterate guilt of the nation. Judgment was to pursue them even after death. But the prophets vision does not penetrate beyond this present scene. With the visible world, so far as he is aware, the punishment terminated. He gives no hint here, nor elsewhere, of any further penalties awaiting individual sinners in the unseen world. The scope of his prophecy indeed is almost purely national, and limited to the present life. It is one of the recognized conditions of Old Testament religious thought.

And the ruin of the people is the retribution reserved for what Manasseh did in Jerusalem. To the prophet, as to the author of the book of Kings, who wrote doubtless under the influence of his words, the guilt contracted by Judah trader that wicked king was unpardonable But it would convey a false impression if we left the matter here: for the whole course of his after preaching-his exhortations and promises, as well as his threats-prove that Jeremiah did not suppose that the nation could not be saved by genuine repentance and permanent amendment. What he intends rather to affirm is that the sins of the fathers will be visited upon children who are partakers of their sins. It is the doctrine of St. Mat 23:29 sqq.; a doctrine which is not merely a theological opinion, but a matter of historical observation.

“And I will set over them four kinds-It is an oracle of Iahvah-the sword to slay, and the dogs to hale, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy. And I will make them a sport for all the realms of earth; on account of Manasseh ben Hezekiah king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem!-the mention of that magical name touches another chord in the prophets soul; and the fierce tones of his oracle of doom change into a dirge-like strain of pity without hope.

“For who will have compassion on Thee, O Jerusalem? And who will yield thee comfort? And who will turn aside to ask of thy welfare? Twas thou that rejectedst Me (it is Iahvahs word); Backward wouldst thou wend: So I stretched forth My hand against thee and destroyed thee; I wearied of relenting. And I winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I bereaved, I undid My people: Yet they returned not from their own ways. His widows outnumbered before Me the sand of seas: I brought them against the Mother of Warriors a harrier at high noon; I threw upon her suddenly anguish and horrors. She that had borne seven sons did pine away; She breathed out her soul. Her sun did set, while it yet was day; He blushed and paled. But their remnant will I give to the sword Before their foes: (It is Iahvahs word).”

The fate of Jerusalem would strike the nations dumb with horror; it would not inspire pity, for man would recognise that it was absolutely just. Or perhaps the thought rather is, In proving false to Me, thou wert false to thine only friend: Me thou hast estranged by thy faithlessness; and from the envious rivals, who beset thee on every side, thou canst expect nothing but rejoicing at thy downfall. {Psa 136:1-26; Lam 2:15-17; Oba 1:10 sqq.} The peculiar solitariness of Israel among the nations {Num 23:9} aggravated the anguish of her overthrow.

In what follows, the dreadful past appears as a prophecy of the yet more terrible future. The poet-seers pathetic monody moralises the lost battle of Megiddo-that fatal day when the sun of Judah set in what seemed the high day of her prosperity, and all the glory and the promise of good king Josiah vanished like a dream in sudden darkness. Men might think-doubtless Jeremiah thought, in the first moments of despair, when the news of that overwhelming disaster was brought to Jerusalem, with the corpse of the good king, the dead hope of the nation-that this crushing blow was proof that Iahvah had rejected His people, in the exercise of a sovereign caprice, and without reference to their own attitude towards Him. But, says or chants the prophet, in solemn rhythmic utterance,

“Twas thou that rejectedst Me;

Backward wouldst thou wend:

So I stretched forth My hand against thee, and wrought thee hurt;

I wearied of relenting.”

The cup of national iniquity was full, and its baleful contents overflowed in a devastating flood. “In the gates of the land”-the point on the northwest frontier where the armies met-Iahvah doomed to fall from those who were to survive, as the winnowing fan separates the chaff from the wheat in the threshing floor. There He “bereaved” the nation of their dearest hope, “the breath of their nostrils, the Lords Anointed”; {Lam 4:20} there He multiplied their widows. And after the lost battle He brought the victor in hot haste against the “Mother” of the fallen warriors, the ill-fated city, Jerusalem, to wreak vengeance upon her for her ill-timed opposition. But, for all this bitter fruit of their evil doings, the people “turned not back from their own ways”; and therefore the strophe of lamentation closes with a threat of utter extermination: “Their remnant”-the poor survival of these fierce storms” Their remnant will I give to the sword before their foes.”

If the thirteenth and fourteenth verses be not a mere interpolation in this chapter, {see Jer 17:3-4} their proper place would seem to be here, as continuing and amplifying the sentence upon the residue of the people. The text is unquestionably corrupt, and must be amended by help of the other passage, where it is partially repeated. The twelfth verse may be read thus:

“Thy wealth and thy treasures will I make a prey,

For the sin of thine high places in all thy borders.”

Then the fourteenth verse follows, naturally enough, with an announcement of the Exile:

“And I will enthral thee to thy foes

In a land thou knowest not:

For a fire is kindled in Mine anger,

That shall burn for evermore!”

The prophet has now fulfilled his function of judge by pronouncing upon his people the extreme penalty of the law. His strong perception of the national guilt and of the righteousness of God has left him no choice in the matter. But how little this duty of condemnation accorded with his own individual feeling as a man and a citizen is clear from the passionate outbreak of the succeeding strophe.

“Woes me, my mother,” he exclaims, “that thou barest me,

A man of strife and a man of contention to all the country!

Neither lender nor borrower have I been;

Yet all of them do curse me.”

A desperately bitter tone, evincing the anguish of a man wounded to the heart by the sense of fruitless endeavour and unjust hatred. He had done his utmost to save his country, and his reward was universal detestation. His innocence and integrity were requited with the odium of the pitiless creditor who enslaves his helpless victim, and appropriates his all; or the fraudulent borrower who repays a too ready confidence with ruin.

The next two verses answer this burst of grief and despair:

“Said Iahvah, Thine oppression shall be for good;

I will make the foe thy suppliant in time of evil and in time of distress.

Can one break iron,

Iron from the north, and brass?”

In other words, faith counsels patience, and assures the prophet that all things work together for good to them that love God. The wrongs and bitter treatment which he now endures will only enchance his triumph when the truth of his testimony is at last confirmed by events, and they who now scoff at his message come humbly to beseech his prayers. The closing lines refer, with grave irony, to that unflinching firmness, that inflexible resolution, which, as a messenger of God, he was called upon to maintain. He is reminded of what he had undertaken at the outset of his career, and of the Divine Word which made him “a pillar of iron and walls of brass against all the land”. {Jer 1:18} Is it possible that the pillar of iron can be broken, and the walls of brass beaten down by the present assault?

There is a pause, and then the prophet vehemently pleads his own cause with Iahvah. Smarting with the sense of personal wrong, he urges that his suffering is for the Lords own sake; that consciousness of the Divine calling has dominated his entire life, ever since his dedication to the prophetic office; and that the honour of Iahvah requires his vindication upon his heartless and hardened adversaries.

Thou knowest, Iahvah!

Remember me, and visit me, and avenge me on my persecutors.

Take me not away in thy long suffering;

Regard my bearing of reproach for Thee.

Thy words were found and I did eat them,

And it became to me a joy and mine hearts gladness;

For I was called by Thy Name, O Iahvah, God of Sabaoth!

I sate not in the gathering of the mirthful, nor rejoiced;

Because of Thine hand I sate solitary,

For with indignation Thou didst fill me.

“Why hath my pain become perpetual,

And my stroke malignant, incurable?

Wilt Thou indeed become to me like a delusive stream,

Like waters which are not lasting?”

The pregnant expression, “Thou knowest, Iahvah!” does not refer specially to anything that has been already said; but rather lays the whole case before God in a single word. The Thou is emphatic; Thou, Who knowest all things, knowest my heinous wrongs: Thou knowest and seest it all, though the whole world beside be blind with passion and self-regard and sin. {Psa 10:11-14} Thou knowest how pressing is my need; therefore “Take me not away in Thy long suffering”: sacrifice not the life of Thy servant to the claims of forbearance with his enemies and Thine. The petition shows how great was the peril in which the prophet perceived himself to stand: he believes that if God delay to strike down his adversaries, that longsuffering will be fatal to his own life.

The strength of his case is that he is persecuted because he is faithful; he bears reproach for God. He has not abused his high calling for the sake of worldly advantage; he has not prostituted the name of prophet to the vile ends of pleasing the people, and satisfying personal covetousness. He has not feigned smooth prophecies, misleading his hearers with flattering falsehood; but he has considered the privilege of being called a prophet of Iahvah as in itself an all-sufficient reward; and when the Divine Word came to him, he has eagerly received, and fed his inmost soul upon that spiritual aliment, which was at once his sustenance and his deepest joy. Other joys, for the Lords sake, he has abjured. He has withdrawn himself even from harmless mirth, that in silence and solitude he might listen intently to the inward Voice, and reflect with indignant sorrow upon the revelation of his peoples corruption. “Because of Thine Hand”-under Thy influence; conscious of the impulse and operation of thy informing Spirit; -“I sate solitary; for with indignation Thou didst fill me.” The man whose eye has caught a glimpse of eternal Truth, is apt to be dissatisfied with the shows of things; and the lighthearted merriment of the world rings hollow upon the ear that listens for the Voice of God. And the revelation of sin-the discovery of all that ghastly evil which lurks beneath the surface of smooth society-the appalling vision of the grim skeleton hiding its noisome decay behind the mask of smiles and gaiety; the perception of the hideous incongruity of revelling over a grave; has driven others, besides Jeremiah, to retire into themselves, and to avoid a world from whose evil they revolted, and whose foreseen destruction they deplored.

The whole passage is an assertion of the prophets integrity and consistency, with which, it is suggested, that the failure which has attended his efforts, and the serious peril in which he stands, are morally inconsistent, and paradoxical in view of the Divine disposal of events. Here, in fact, as elsewhere, Jeremiah has freely opened his heart, and allowed us to see the whole process of his spiritual conflict in the agony of his moments of doubt and despair. It is an argument of his own perfect sincerity; and, at the same time, it enables us to assimilate the lesson of his experience, and to profit by the heavenly guidance he received, far more effectually than if he had left us ignorant of the painful struggles at the cost of which that guidance was won.

The seeming injustice or indifference of Providence is a problem which recurs to thoughtful minds in all generations of men.

“O, goddes cruel, that governe

This world with byndyng of your word eterne

What governance is in youre prescience

That gilteles tormenteth innocence?

Alas! I see a serpent or a theif,

That many a trewe man hath doon mescheif,

Gon at his large, and wher him luste may turne;

But I moste be in prisoun.”

That such apparent anomalies are but a passing trial, from which persistent faith will emerge victorious in the present life, is the general answer of the Old Testament to the doubts which they suggest. The only sufficient explanation was reserved, to be revealed by Him, who, in the fulness of time, “brought life and immortality to light.”

The thought which restored the failing confidence and courage of Jeremiah was the reflection that such complaints were unworthy of one called to be a spokesman for the Highest; that the supposition of the possibility of the Fountain of Living Waters failing like a winter torrent, that runs dry in the summer heats, was an act of unfaithfulness that merited reproof; and that the true God could not fail to protect His messenger, and to secure the triumph of truth in the end.

To this Iahvah said thus:

If thou come again, I will make thee again to stand before Me;

And if thou utter that is precious rather than that is vile,

As My mouth shalt thou become:

They shall return unto thee,

But Thou shalt not return unto them.

“And I will make thee to this people an embattled wall of brass;

And they shall fight against thee, but not overcome thee,

For I will be with thee to help thee and to save thee;

It is Iahvahs word.

And I will save thee out of the grasp of the wicked,

And will ransom thee out of the hand of the terrible.”

In the former strophe, the inspired poet set forth the claims of the psychic man, and poured out his heart before God. Now he recognises a Word of God in the protest of his better feeling. He sees that where he remains true to himself, he will also stand near to his God. Hence springs the hope, which he cannot renounce, that God will protect His accepted servant in the execution of the Divine commands. Thus the discords are resolved; and the prophets spirit attains to peace, after struggling through the storm.

It was an outcome of earnest prayer, of an unreserved exposure of his inmost heart before God. What a marvel it is-that instinct of prayer. To think that a being whose visible life has its beginning and its end, a being who manifestly shares possession of this earth with the brute creation, and breathes the same air, and partakes of the same elements with them for the sustenance of his body; who is organised upon the same general plan as they, has the same principal members discharging the same essential functions in the economy of his bodily system; a being who is born and eats and drinks and sleeps and dies like all other animals; -that this being and this being only of all the multitudinous kinds of animated creatures, should have and exercise a faculty of looking off and above the visible which appears to be the sole realm of actual existence, and of holding communion with the Unseen! That, following what seems to be an original impulse of his nature, he should stand in greater awe of this Invisible than any power that is palpable to sense; should seek to win its favour, crave its help in times of pain and conflict and peril; should professedly live, not according to the bent of common nature and the appetites inseparable from his bodily structure, but according to the will and guidance of that Unseen Power! Surely there is here a consummate marvel. And the wonder of it does not diminish when it is remembered that this instinct of turning to an unseen Guide and Arbiter of events is not peculiar to any particular section of the human race. Wide and manifold as are the differences which characterise and divide the families of man, all races possess in common the apprehension of the Unseen and the instinct of prayer. The oldest records of humanity bear witness to its primitive activity, and whatever is known of human history combines with what is known of the character and workings of the human mind to teach us that as prayer has never been unknown, so it is never likely to become obsolete. May we not recognise in this great fact of human nature a sure index of a great corresponding truth? Can we avoid taking it as a clear token of the reality of revelation; as a kind of immediate and spontaneous evidence on the part of nature that there is and always has been in this lower world some positive knowledge of that which far transcends it, some real apprehension of the mystery that enfolds the universe? a knowledge and an apprehension which, however imperfect and fragmentary, however fitful and fluctuating, however blurred in outline and lost in infinite shadow, is yet incomparably more and better than none at all. Are we not, in short, morally driven upon the conviction that this powerful instinct of our nature is neither blind nor aimless; that its Object is a true, substantive Being; and that this Being has discovered, and yet discovers, some precious glimpses of Himself and His essential character to the spirit of mortal man? It must be so, unless we admit that the souls dearest desires are a mocking illusion, that her aspirations towards a truth and a goodness of superhuman perfection are moonshine and madness. It cannot be nothingness that avails to evoke the deepest and purest emotions of our nature; not mere vacuity and chaos, wearing the semblance of an azure heaven. It is not into a measureless waste of outer darkness that we reach forth trembling hands.

Surely the spirit of denial is the spirit that fell from heaven, and the best and highest of mans thoughts aim at and affirm something positive, something that is, and the soul thirsts after God, the Living God.

We hear much in these days of our physical nature. The microscopic investigations of science leave nothing unexamined, nothing unexplored, so far as the visible organism is concerned. Rays from many distinct sources converge to throw an ever-increasing light upon the mysteries of our bodily constitution. In all this, science presents to the devout mind a valuable subsidiary revelation of the power and goodness of the Creator. But science cannot advance alone one step beyond the things of time and sense; her facts belong exclusively to the. material order of existence; her cognition is limited to the various modes and conditions of force that constitute the realm of sight and touch; she cannot climb above these to a higher plane of being. And small blame it is to science that she thus lacks the power of overstepping her natural boundaries. The evil begins when the men of science venture, in her much-abused name, to ignore and deny realities not amenable to scientific tests, and immeasurably transcending all merely physical standards and methods.

Neither the natural history nor the physiology of man, nor both together, are competent to give a complete account of his marvellous and many-sided being. Yet some thinkers appear to imagine that when a place has been assigned him in the animal kingdom, and his close relationship to forms below him in the scale of life has been demonstrated: when every tissue and structure has been analysed, and every organ described and its function ascertained; then the last word has been spoken, and the subject exhausted. Those unique and distinguishing faculties by which all this amazing work of observation, comparison, reasoning, has been accomplished, appear either to be left out of the account altogether, or to be handled with a meagre inadequacy of treatment that contrasts in the strongest manner with the fulness and the elaboration which mark the other discussion. And the more this physical aspect of our composite nature is emphasised; the more urgently it is insisted that, somehow or other, all that is in man and all that comes of man may be explained on the assumption that he is the natural climax of the animal creation, a kind of educated and glorified brute-that and nothing more; -the harder it becomes to give any rational account of those facts of his nature which are commonly recognised as spiritual, and among them of this instinct of prayer and its Object.

Under these discouraging circumstances, men are fatally prone to seek escape from their self-involved dilemma by a hardy denial of what their methods have failed to discover and their favourite theories to explain. The soul and God are treated as mere metaphysical expressions, or as popular designations of the unknown causes of phenomena; and prayer is declared to be an act of foolish superstition which persons of culture have long since outgrown. Sad and strange this result is; but it is also the natural outcome of an initial error, which is none the less real because unperceived. Men “seek the living among the dead”; they expect to find the soul by post mortem examination, or to see God by help of an improved telescope. They fail and are disappointed, though they have little right to be so, for “spiritual things are discerned spiritually,” and not otherwise.

In speculating on the reason of this lamentable issue, we must not forget that there is such a thing as an unpurified intellect as well as a corrupt and unregenerate heart. Sin is not restricted to the affections of the lower nature; it has also invaded the realm of thought and reason. The very pursuit of knowledge, noble and elevating as it is commonly esteemed, is not without its dangers of self-delusion and sin. Wherever the love of self is paramount, wherever the object really sought is the delight, the satisfaction, the indulgence of self, no matter in which of the many departments of human life and action, there is sin. It is certain that the intellectual consciousness has its own peculiar pleasures, and those of the keenest and most transporting character; certain that the incessant pursuit of such pleasures may come to absorb the entire energies of a man, so that no room is left for the culture of humility or love or worship. Everything is sacrificed to what is called the pursuit of truth, but is in sober fact a passionate prosecution of private pleasure. It is not truth that is so highly valued; it is the keen excitement of the race, and not seldom the plaudits of the spectators when the goal is won. Such a career may be as thoroughly selfish and sinful and alienated from God as a career of common wickedness. And thus employed or enthralled, no intellectual gifts, however splendid, can bring a man to the discernment of spiritual truth. Not self-pleasing and foolish vanity and arrogant self-assertion, but a self-renouncing humility, an inward purity from idols of every kind, a reverence of truth as divine, are indispensable conditions of the perception of things spiritual.

The representation which is often given is a mere travesty. Believers in God do not want to alter His laws by their prayers-neither His laws physical, nor His laws moral and spiritual. It is their chief desire to be brought into submission or perfect obedience to the sum of His laws. They ask their Father in heaven to lead and teach them, to supply their wants in His own way, because He is their Father; because “It is He that made us, and His we are.” Surely, a reasonable request, and grounded in reason.

To a plain man, seeking for arguments to justify prayer may well seem like seeking a justification of breathing or eating and drinking and sleeping, or any other natural function. Our Lord never does anything of the kind, because His teaching takes for granted the ultimate prevalence of common sense, in spite of all the subtleties and airspun perplexities in which a speculative mind delights to lose itself. So long as man has other wants than those which he can himself supply, prayer will be their natural expression.

If there be a spiritual as distinct from a material world, the difficulty to the ordinary mind is not to conceive of their contact but of their absolute isolation from each other. This is surely the inevitable result of our own individual experience, of the intimate though not indissoluble union of body and spirit in every living person.

How, it may be asked, can we really think of his Maker being cut off from man, or man from his Maker? God were not God, if He left man to himself. But not only are His wisdom, justice, and love manifested forth in the beneficent arrangements of the world in which we find ourselves; not only is He “kind to the unjust and the unthankful.” In pain and loss lie quickens our sense of Himself. {cf. Jer 14:19-22} Even in the first moments of angry surprise and revolt, that sense is quickened; we rebel, not against an inanimate world or an impersonal law, but against a Living and Personal Being, whom we acknowledge as the Arbiter of our destinies, and whose wisdom and love and power we affect for the time to question, but cannot really gainsay. The whole of our experience tends to this end-to the continual rousing of our spiritual consciousness. There is no interference, no isolated and capricious interposition or interruption of order within or without us. Within and without us, His Will is always energising, always manifesting forth His Being, encouraging our confidence, demanding our obedience and homage.

Thus prayer has its Divine as well as its human side; it is the Holy Spirit drawing the soul, as well as the soul drawing nigh unto God. The case is like the action and reaction of the magnet and the steel. And so prayer is not a foolish act of unauthorised presumption, not a rash effort to approach unapproachable and absolutely isolated Majesty. Whenever man truly prays, his Divine King has already extended the sceptre of His mercy, and bidden him speak.

Jer 16:1-21; Jer 17:1-27

After the renewal of the promise there is a natural pause, marked by the formula with which the present section opens. When the prophet had recovered his firmness, through the inspired and inspiring reflections which took possession of his soul after he had laid bare his inmost heart before God (Jer 15:20-21), he was in a position to receive further guidance from above. What now lies before us is the direction, which came to him as certainly Divine, for the regulation of his own future behaviour as the chosen minister of Iahvah at this crisis in the history of his people. “And there fell a word of Iahvah unto me, saying: Thou shalt not take thee a wife: that thou get not sons and daughters in this place.” Such a prohibition reveals, with the utmost possible clearness and emphasis, the gravity of the existing situation. It implies that the “peace and permanence,” so glibly predicted by Jeremiahs opponents, will never more be known by that sinful generation. “This place,” the holy place which Iahvah had “chosen, to establish His name there,” as the Book of the Law so often describes it; “this place,” which had been inviolable to the fierce hosts of the Assyrian in the time of Isaiah, {Isa 37:33} was now no more a sure refuge, but doomed to utter and speedy destruction. To beget sons and daughters there was to prepare more victims for the tooth of famine, and the pangs of pestilence, and the devouring sword of a merciless conqueror. It was to fatten the soil with unburied carcases, and to spread a hideous banquet for birds and beasts of prey. Children and parents were doomed to perish together; and Iahvahs witness was to keep himself unencumbered by the sweet cares of husband and father, that he might be wholly free for his solemn duties of menace and warning, and be ready for every emergency.

For thus hath Iahvah said:

Concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place,

And concerning their mothers that bear them,

And concerning their fathers that beget them, in this land:

By deaths of agony shall they die;

“They shall not be mourned nor buried;

For dung on the face of the ground shall they serve;

And by the sword and by the famine shall they be for done:

And their carcase shall serve for food

To the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the earth.” {Jer 16:3-4}

The “deaths of agony” seem to indicate the pestilence, which always ensued upon the scarcity and vile quality of food, and the confinement of multitudes within the narrow bounds of a besieged city (see Josephus well known account of the last siege of Jerusalem).

The attitude of solitary watchfulness and strict separation, which the prophet thus perceived to be required by circumstances, was calculated to be a warning of the utmost significance, among a people who attached the highest importance to marriage and the permanence of the family.

It proclaimed more loudly than words could do, the prophets absolute conviction that offspring was no pledge of permanence; that universal death was hanging over a condemned nation. But not only this. It marks a point of progress in the prophets spiritual life. The crisis, through which we have seen him pass, has purged his mental vision. He no longer repines at his dark lot; no longer half envies the false prophets, who may win the popular love by pleasing oracles of peace and well-being; no longer complains of the Divine Will, which has laid such a burden upon him. He sees now that his part is to refuse even natural and innocent pleasures for the Lords sake; to foresee calamity and ruin; to denounce unceasingly the sin he sees around him; to sacrifice a tender and affectionate heart to a life of rigid asceticism; and he manfully accepts his part. He knows that he stands alone-the last fortress of truth in a world of falsehood; and that for truth it becomes a man to surrender his all.

That which follows tends to complete the prophets social isolation. He is to give no sign of sympathy in the common joys and sorrows of his kind.

For thus hath Iahvah said:

Enter thou not into the house of mourning,

Nor go to lament, nor comfort thou them:

For I have taken away My friendship from this people (Tis Iahvahs utterance!)

The lovingkindness and the compassion;

And old and young shall die in this land,

They shall not be buried, and men shall not wail for them;

Nor shall a man cut himself, nor make himself bald, for them:

Neither shall men deal out bread to them in mourning,

To comfort a man over the dead;

Nor shall they give them to drink the cup of consolation,

Over a mans father and over his mother.

“And the house of feasting thou shalt not enter,

To sit with them to eat and to drink.

For thus hath Iahvah Sabaoth, the God of Israel, said:

Lo, I am about to make to cease from this place,

Before your own eyes and in your own days,

Voice of mirth and voice of gladness,

The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.”

Acting as prophet, that is, as one whose public actions were symbolical of a Divine intent, Jeremiah is henceforth to stand aloof, on occasions when natural feeling would suggest participation in the outward life of his friends and acquaintance. He is to quell the inward stirrings of affection and sympathy, and to abstain from playing his part in those demonstrative lamentations over the dead, which the immemorial custom and sentiment of his country regarded as obligatory; and this, in order to signify unmistakably that what thus appeared to be the state of his own feelings, was really the aspect under which God would shortly appear to a nation perishing in its guilt. “Enter not into the house of mourning for I have taken away My friendship from this people, the lovingkindness and the compassion.” An estranged and alienated God would view the coming catastrophe with the cold indifference of exact justice. And the consequence of the Divine aversion would be a calamity so overwhelming that the dead would be left without those rites of burial which the feeling and conscience of all races of mankind have always been careful to perform. There should be no burial, much less ceremonial lamentation, and those more serious modes of evincing grief by disfigurement of the person, which, like tearing the hair and rending the garments, are natural tokens of the first distraction of bereavement. Not for wife or child, {me: Gen 23:3} nor for father or mother should the funeral feast be held; for mens hearts would grow hard at the daily spectacle of death, and at last there would be no survivors.

In like manner, the prophet is forbidden to enter as guest “the house of feasting.” He is not to be seen at the marriage feast, -that occasion of highest rejoicing, the very type and example of innocent and holy mirth; to testify by his abstention that the day of judgment was swiftly approaching, which would desolate all homes, and silence for evermore all sounds of joy and gladness in the ruined city. And it is expressly added that the blow will fall “before your own eyes and in your own days”; showing that the hour of doom was very near, and would no more be delayed.

In all this, it is noticeable that the Divine answer appears to bear special reference to the peculiar terms of the prophets complaint. In depairing tones he had cried, {Jer 15:10} “Woes me, my mother, that thou didst bear me!” and now he is himself warned not to take a wife and seek the blessing of children. The outward connection here may be: “Let it not be that thy children speak of thee, as thou hast spoken of thy mother!” But the inner link of thought may rather be this, that the prophets temporary unfaithfulness evinced in his outcry against God and his lament that ever he was born is punished by the denial to him of the joys of fatherhood-a penalty which would be severe to a loving, yearning nature like his, but which was doubtless necessary to the purification of his spirit from all worldly taint, and to the discipline of his natural impatience and tendency to repine under the hand of God. His punishment, like that of Moses, may appear disproportionate to his offence; but Gods dealings with man are not regulated by any mechanical calculation of less and more, but by His perfect knowledge of the needs of the case; and it is often in truest mercy that His hand strike hard. “As gold in the furnace doth He try them”; and the purest metal comes out of the hottest fire.

Further, it is not the least prominent, but the leading part of a mans nature that most requires this heavenly discipline, if the best is to be made of it that can be made. The strongest element, that which is most characteristic of the person, that which constitutes his individuality, is the chosen field of Divine influence and operation; for here lies the greatest need. In Jeremiah this master element was an almost feminine tenderness; a warmly affectionate disposition, craving the love and sympathy of his fellows, and recoiling almost in agony from the spectacle of pain and suffering. And therefore it was that the Divine discipline was specially applied to this element in the prophets personality. In him, as in all other men, the good was mingled with evil, which, if not purged away, might spread until it spoiled his whole nature. It is not virtue to indulge our own bent, merely because it pleases us to do so; nor is the exercise of affection any great matter to an affectionate nature. The involved strain of selfishness must be separated, if any naturally good gift is to be elevated to moral worth, to become acceptable in the sight of God. And so it was precisely here, in his most susceptible point, that the sword of trial pierced the prophet through. He was saved from all hazard of becoming satisfied with the love of wife and children, and forgetting in that earthly satisfaction the love of his God. He was saved from absorption in the pleasures of friendly intercourse with neighbours, from passing his days in an agreeable round of social amenities; at a time when ruin was impending over his country, and well-nigh ready to fall. And the means which God chose for the accomplishment of this result were precisely those of which the prophet had complained; {Jer 15:17} his social isolation, which though in part a matter of choice, was partly forced upon him by the irritation and ill will of his acquaintance. It is now declared that this trial is to continue. The Lord does not necessarily remove a trouble when entreated to do it. He manifests His love by giving strength to bear it, until the work of chastening be perfected.

An interruption is now supposed, such as may often have occurred in the course of Jeremiahs public utterances. The audience demands to know why all this evil is ordained to fall upon them. “What is our guilt and what our trespass, that we have trespassed against Iahvah our God?” The answer is a twofold accusation. Their fathers were faithless to Iahvah, and they have outdone their fathers sin; and the penalty will be expulsion and a foreign servitude.

“Because your fathers forsook Me (It is Iahvahs word!)

And went after other gods, and served them, and bowed down to them,

And Me they forsook, and My teaching they observed not:

And ye yourselves (or, as for you) have done worse than your fathers;

And lo, ye walk each after the stubbornness of his evil heart,

So as not to hearken unto Me.

Therefore will I hurl you from off this land,

On to the land that ye and your fathers knew not;

And ye may serve there other gods, day and night,

Since I will not grant you grace.”

The damning sin laid to Israels charge is idolatry, with all the moral consequences involved in that prime transgression. That is to say, the offence consisted not barely in recognising and honouring the gods of the nations along with their own God, though that were fault enough, as an act of treason against the sole majesty of Heaven; but it was aggravated enormously by the moral declension and depravity which accompanied this apostasy. They and their fathers forsook Iahvah “and kept not His teaching”; a reference to the Book of the Law, considered not only as a collection of ritual and ceremonial precepts for the regulation of external religion, but as a guide of life and conduct. And there had been a progress in evil; the nation had gone from bad to worse with fearful rapidity: so that now it could be said of the existing generation that it paid no heed at all to the monitions which Iahvah uttered by the mouth of His prophet, but walked simply in stubborn self-will and the indulgence of every corrupt inclination. And here too, as in so many other cases, the sin is to be its own punishment. The Book of the Law had declared that revolt from Iahvah should be punished by enforced service of strange gods in a strange land; {Deu 4:28; Deu 28:36; Deu 28:64} and Jeremiah repeats this threat, with the addition of a tone of ironical concession: there, in your bitter banishment, you may have your wish to the full; you may serve the foreign gods, and that without intermission (implying that the service would be a slavery).

The whole theory of Divine punishment is implicit in these few words of the prophet. They who sin persistently against light and knowledge are at last given over to their own hearts lust, to do as they please, without the gracious check of Gods inward voice. And then there comes a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, and take evil for good and good for evil, and hold themselves innocent before God, when their guilt has reached its climax; so that, like Jeremiahs hearers, if their evil be denounced, they can ask in astonishment: “What is our iniquity? or what is our trespass?”

They are so ripe in sin that they retain no knowledge of it as sin, but hold it virtue.

“And they, so perfect is their misery,

Not once perceive their foul disfigurement,

But boast themselves more comely than before.”

And not only do we find in this passage a striking instance of judicial blindness as the penalty of sin. We may see also in the penalty predicted for the Jews a plain analogy to the doctrine that the permanence of the sinful state in a life to come is the penalty of sin in the present life. “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still!” and know himself to be what he is.

The prophets dark horizon is here apparently lit up for a moment by a gleam of hope. The fourteenth and fifteenth verses (Jer 16:14-15), however, with their beautiful promise of restoration, really belong to another oracle, whose prevailing tones are quite different from the present gloomy forecast of retribution. {Jer 23:7 sqq.} Here they interrupt the sense, and make a cleavage in the connection of thought, which can only be bridged over artificially, by the suggestion that the import of the two verses is primarily not consolatory but minatory; that is to say, that they threaten Exile rather than promise Return; a mode of understanding the two verses which does manifest violence to the whole form of expression, and, above all, to their obvious force in the original passage from which they have been transferred hither. Probably some transcriber of the text wrote them in the margin of his copy, by way of palliating the otherwise unbroken gloom of this oracle of coming woe. Then, at some later time, another copyist, supposing the marginal note indicated an omission, incorporated the two verses in his transcription of the text, where they have remained ever since. {See on Jer 23:7-8}

After plainly announcing in the language of Deuteronomy the expulsion of Judah from the land which they had desecrated by idolatry, the prophet develops the idea in his own poetic fashion; representing the punishment as universal, and insisting that it is a punishment, and not an unmerited misfortune.

“Lo, I am about to send many fishers (It is Iahvahs word!)

And they shall fish them;

And afterwards will I send many hunters,

And they shall hunt them,

From off every mountain,

And from off every hill,

And out of the clefts of the rocks.”

Like silly fish, crowding helplessly one over another into the net, when the fated moment arrives, Judah will fall an easy prey to the destroyer. And “afterwards,” to ensure completeness, those who have survived this first disaster will be hunted like wild beasts, out of all the dens and caves in the mountains, the Adullams and Engedis, where they have found a refuge from the invader.

There is clearly reference to two distinct visitations of wrath, the latter more deadly than the former; else why the use of the emphatic note of time “afterwards”? If we understand by the “fishing” of the country the so-called first captivity, the carrying away of the boy-king Jehoiachin and his mother and his nobles and ten thousand principal citizens, by Nebuchadrezzar to Babylon; {2Ki 24:10 sqq.} and by the “hunting” the final catastrophe in the time of Zedekiah; we get, as we shall see, a probable explanation of a difficult expression in the eighteenth verse, which cannot otherwise be satisfactorily accounted for. The next words (Jer 16:17) refute an assumption, implied in the popular demand to know wherein the guilt of the nation consists, that Iahvah is not really cognisant of their acts of apostasy.

For Mine eyes are upon all their ways,

They are not hidden away from before My face

Nor is their guilt kept secret from before Mine eyes.

The verse is thus an indirect reply to the questions of Jer 16:10; questions which in some mouths might indicate that unconsciousness of guilt which is the token of sin finished and perfected; in others, the presence of that unbelief which doubts whether God can, or at least whether He does regard human conduct. But “He that planted the ear, can He not hear? He that formed the eye, can He not see?”. {Psa 94:9} It is really an utterly irrational thought, that sight, and hearing, and the higher faculties of reflection and consciousness, had their origin in a blind and deaf a senseless and unconscious source such as inorganic matter, whether we consider it in the atom or in the enormous mass of an embryo system of stars.

The measure of the penalty is now assigned.

“And I will repay first the double of their guilt and their trespass

For that they profaned My land with the carcases of their loathly offerings,

And their abominations filled Mine heritage.”

“I will repay first.” The term “first,” which has occasioned much perplexity to expositors, means “the first time,” {Gen 38:28; Dan 11:29} and refers, if I am not mistaken, to the first great blow, the captivity of Jehoiachin, of which I spoke just now; an occasion which is designated again (Jer 16:21), by the expression “this once” or rather “at this time.” And when it is said “I will repay the double of their guilt and of their trespass,” we are to understand that the Divine justice is not satisfied with half measures; the punishment of sin is proportioned to the offence, and the cup of self-entailed misery has to be drained to the dregs. Even penitence does not abolish the physical and temporal consequences of sin; in ourselves and in others whom we have influenced they continue-a terrible and ineffaceable record of the past. The ancient law required that the man who had wronged his neighbour by theft or fraud should restore double; {Exo 22:4; Exo 22:7; Exo 22:9} and thus this expression would appear to denote that the impending chastisement would be in strict accordance with the recognised rule of law and justice, and that Judah must repay to the Lord in suffering the legal equivalent for her offence. In a like strain, towards the end of the Exile, the great prophet of the captivity comforts Jerusalem with the announcement that “her hard service is accomplished, her punishment is held sufficient; for she hath received of Iahvahs hand twofold for all her trespasses”. {Isa 40:2} The Divine severity is, in fact, truest mercy. Only thus does mankind learn to realise “the exceeding sinfulness of sin,” only as Judah learned the heinousness of desecrating the Holy Land with “loathly offerings” to the vile Nature gods, and with the symbols in wood and stone of the cruel and obscene deities of Canaan; viz. by the fearful issue of transgression, the lesson of a calamitous experience, confirming the forecasts of its inspired prophets.

Iahvah my strength and my stronghold and my refuge in the day of distress!

Unto Thee the very heathen will come from the ends of the earth, and will say:

Mere fraud did oar fathers receive as their own,

Mere breath, and beings among whom is no helper.

Should man make him gods,

When such things are not gods?

“Therefore, behold I am about to let them know-

And this time will I let them know My hand and My might,

And they shall know that my name is Iahvah!”

In the opening words Jeremiah passionately recoils from the very mention of the hateful idols, the loathly creations, the lifeless “carcases,” which his people have put in the place of the Living God. An overmastering access of faith lifts him off the low ground where these dead things lie in their helplessness, and bears him in spirit to Iahvah, the really and eternally existing, Who is his “strength and stronghold and refuge in the day of distress.” From this height he takes an eagle glance into the dim future, and discerns-O marvel of victorious faith!-that the very heathen, who have never so much as known the Name of Iahvah. must one day be brought to acknowledge the impotence of their hereditary gods, and the sole deity of the Mighty One of Jacob. He enjoys a glimpse of Isaiahs and Micahs glorious vision of the latter days, when “the mountain of the Lords House shall be exalted as chief of mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it.”

In the light of this revelation, the sin and folly of Israel in dishonouring the One only God, by associating Him with idols and their symbols, becomes glaringly visible. The very heathen (the term is emphatic by position), will at last grope their way out of the night of traditional ignorance, and will own the absurdity of manufactured gods. Israel, on the other hand, has for centuries sinned against knowledge and reason. They had “Moses and the prophets”; yet they hated warning and despised reproof. They resisted the Divine teachings, because they loved to walk in their own ways, after the imaginings of their own evil hearts. And so they soon fell into that strange blindness. which suffered them to see no sin in giving companions to Iahvah, and neglecting His severer worship for the sensuous rites of Canaan.

A rude awakening awaits them. Once more will Iahvah interpose to save them from their infatuation. “This time” they shall be taught to know the nothingness of idols, not by the voice of prophetic pleadings, not by the fervid teachings of the Book of the Law, but by the sword of the enemy, by the rapine and ruin, in which the resistless might of Iahvah will be manifested against His rebellious people. Then, when the warnings which they have ridiculed find fearful accomplishment, then will they know that the name of the One God is IAHVAH-He Who alone was and is and shall be for evermore. In the shock of overthrow, in the sorrows of captivity, they will realise the enormity of assimilating the Supreme Source of events, the Fountain of all being and power, to the miserable phantoms of a darkened and perverted imagination.

Jer 17:1-18. Jeremiah, speaking for God, returns to the affirmation of Judahs guiltiness. He has answered the popular question (Jer 16:10), so far as it implied that it was no mortal sin to associate the worship of alien gods with the worship of Iahvah. He now proceeds to answer it with an indignant contradiction, so far as it suggested that Judah was no longer guilty of the grossest forms of idolatry.

Jer 17:1-2. “The trespass of Judah,” he affirms, “is written with pen of iron, with point of adamant; Graven upon the tablet of their heart, And upon the horns of their altars: Even as their sons remember their altars, And their sacred poles by the evergreen trees, Upon the high hills.”

Jer 17:3-4. O My mountain in the field! Thy wealth and all thy treasures will I give for a spoil, For the trespass of thine high places in all thy borders. And thou shalt drop thine hand from thy demesne which I gave thee; And I will enslave thee to thine enemies, In the land that thou knowest not; For a fire have ye kindled in Mine anger; It shall burn for evermore.”

It is clear from the first strophe that the outward forms of idolatry were no longer openly practised in the country. Where otherwise would be the point of affirming that the national sin was “written with pen of iron, and point of adamant”-that it was “graven upon the tablet of the peoples heart?” Where would be the point of alluding to the childrens memory of the altars and sacred poles, which were the visible adjuncts of idolatry? Plainly it is implied that the hideous rites, which sometimes involved the sacrifice of children, are a thing of the past; yet not of the distant past, for the young of the present generation remember them; those terrible scenes are burnt in upon their memories, as a haunting recollection which can no more be effaced, than the guilt contracted by their parents as agents in those abhorrent rites can be done away. The indelible characters of sin are graven deeply upon their hearts; no need for a prophet to remind them of facts to which their own consciences, their own inward sense of outraged affections, and of nature sacrificed to a dark and bloody superstition, bears irrefragable witness. Rivers of water cannot cleanse the stain of innocent blood from their polluted altars. The crimes of the past are unatoned for, and beyond reach of atonement; they cry to heaven for vengeance, and the vengeance will surely fall. {Jer 15:4}

Hitzig rather prosaically remarks that Josiah had destroyed the altars. But the stains of which the poet-seer speaks are not palpable to sense; he contemplates unseen realities.

“Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood

Clean from my hand?

No, this my hand will rather

The multitudinous seas incarnadine,

Making the green one red.”

The second strophe declares the nature of the punishment. The tender, yearning, hopeless love of the cry with which Iahvah resigns His earthly seat to profanation and plunder and red-handed ruin, enhances the awful impression wrought by the slow, deliberate enunciation of the details of the sentence-the utter spoliation of temple and palaces; the accumulated hordes of generations-all that represented the wealth and culture and glory of the time-carried away forever; the enforced surrender of home and country; the harsh servitude to strangers in a far off land.

It is difficult to fix the date of this short lyrical outpouring, if it be assumed, with Hitzig, that it is an independent whole. He refers it to the year B.C. 602, after Jehoiakim had revolted from Babylon-“a proceeding which made a future captivity well nigh certain, and made it plain that the sin of Judah remained still to be punished.” Moreover, the preceding year (B.C. 603) was what was known to the Law as a Year of Release or Remission (shenath shemittah); and the phrase “thou shalt drop thine hand,” i.e., “loose thine hold of” the land, {Jer 17:4} appears to allude to the peculiar usages of that year, in which the debtor was released from his obligations, and the corn lands and vineyards were allowed to lie fallow. The Year of Release was also called the Year of Rest; {shenath shabbathon, Lev 25:5} and both in the present passage of Jeremiah, and in the book of Leviticus, the time to be spent by the Jews in exile is regarded as a period of rest for the desolate land, which would then “make good her sabbaths”. {Lev 26:34-35; Lev 26:43} The Chronicler indeed seems to refer to this very phrase of Jeremiah; at all events, nothing else is to be found in the extant works of the prophet with which his language corresponds. {2Ch 36:21}

If the rendering of the second verse, which we find in both our English versions, and which I have adopted above, be correct, there arises an obvious objection to the date assigned by Hitzig; and the same objection lies against the view of Naegelsbach, who translates:

“As their children remember their altars,

And their images of Baal by (i.e., at the sight of) the green trees, by the high hills.”

For in what sense could this have been written “not long before the fourth year of Jehoiakim,” which is the date suggested by this commentator for the whole group of chapters, Jer 14:1-22; Jer 15:1-21; Jer 16:1-21; Jer 17:1-27; Jer 18:1-23? The entire reign of Josiah had intervened between the atrocities of Manasseh and this period; and it is not easy to suppose that any sacrifice of children had occurred in the three months reign of Jehoahaz, or in the early years of Jehoiakim. Had it been so, Jeremiah, who denounces the latter king severely enough, would certainly have placed the horrible fact in the forefront of his invective; and instead of specifying Manasseh as the king whose offences Iahvah would not pardon, would have thus branded Jehoiakim, his own contemporary. This difficulty appears to be avoided by Hitzig, who explains the passage thus: “When they (the Jews) think of their children, they remember, and cannot but remember, the altars to whose horns the blood of their immolated children cleaves. In the same way, by a green tree on the hills, i.e., when they come upon any such, their Asherim are brought to mind, which were trees of that sort.” And since it is perhaps possible to translate the Hebrew as this suggests, “When they remember their sons, their altars, and their sacred poles, by” (i.e., by means of) “the evergreen trees” (collective term) “upon the high hills,” and this translation agrees well with the statement that the sin of Judah is “graven upon the tablet of their heart,” his view deserves further consideration. The same objection, however, presses again, though with somewhat diminished force. For if the date of the section be 602, the eighth year of Jehoiakim, more than forty years must have elapsed between the time of Manassehs bloody rites and the utterance of this oracle. Would many who were parents then, and surrendered their children for sacrifice, be still living at the supposed date? And if not, where is the appropriateness of the words “When they remember their sons, their altars, and their Asherim?”

There seems no way out of the difficulty, but either to date the piece much earlier, assigning it, e.g., to the time of the prophets earnest preaching in connection with the reforming movement of Josiah, when the living generation would certainly remember the human sacrifices under Manasseh; or else to construe the passage in a very different sense, as follows. The first verse declares that the sin of Judah is graven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of their altars. The pronouns evidently show that it is the guilt of the nation, not of a particular generation, that is asserted. The subsequent words agree with this view. The expression, “Their sons” is to be understood in the same way as the expressions “their heart,” “their altars.” It is equivalent to the “sons of Judah” (bene Jehudah), and means simply the people of Judah, as now existing, the present generation. Now it does not appear that image worship and the cultus of the high places revived after their abolition by Josiah. Accordingly, the symbols of impure worship mentioned in this passage are not high places and images, but altars and Asherim, i.e., the wooden poles which were the emblems of the reproductive principle of Nature. What the passage therefore intends to say would seem to be this: “The guilt of the nation remains, so long as its children are mindful of their altars and Asherim erected beside the evergreen trees on the high hills”; i.e., so long as they remain attached to the modified idolatry of the day.

The general force of the words remains the same, whether they accuse the existing generation of serving sun pillars (macceboth) and sacred poles (asherim), or merely of hankering after the old, forbidden rites. For so long as the popular heart was wedded to the former superstitions, it could not be said that any external abolition of idolatry was a sufficient proof of national repentance. The longing to indulge in sin is sin; and sinful it is not to hate sin. The guilt of the nation remained, therefore, and would remain, until blotted out by the tears of a genuine repentance towards Iahvah.

But understood thus, the passage suits the time of Jehoiachin, as well as any other period.

“Why,” asks Naegelsbach, “should not Moloch have been the terror of the Israelitish children, when there was such real and sad ground for it, as is wanting in other bugbears which terrify the children of the present day?” To this we may reply,

(1) Moloch is not mentioned at all, but simply altars and, asherim;

(2) would the word “remember” be appropriate in this case?

The beautiful strophes which follow (Jer 17:5-13) are not obviously connected with the preceding text. They wear a look of self-completeness, which suggests that here and in many other places Jeremiah has left us, not whole discourses, written down substantially in the form in which they were delivered, but rather his more finished fragments; pieces which being more rhythmical in form, and more striking in thought, had imprinted themselves more deeply upon his memory.

Thus hath Iahvah said:

Cursed is the man that trusteth in human kind,

And maketh flesh his arm,

And whose heart swerveth from Iahvah!

And he shall become like a leafless tree in the desert,

And shall not see when good cometh;

And shall dwell in parched places in the steppe,

A salt land and uninhabited.

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in Iahvah,

And whose trust Iahvah becometh!

And he shall become like a tree planted by water,

That spreadeth its roots by a stream,

And is not afraid when heat cometh,

And its leaf is evergreen;

And in the year of drought it feareth not,

Nor leaveth off from making fruit.”

The form of the thought expressed in these two octostichs, the curse and the blessing, may have been suggested by the curses and blessings of that Book of the Law of which Jeremiah had been so faithful an interpreter; {Deu 27:15-26; Deu 28:1-20} while both the thought and the form of the second stanza are imitated by the anonymous poet of the first psalm.

The mention of “the year of drought” in the penultimate line may be taken, perhaps, as a link of connection between this brief section and the whole of what precedes it so far as chapter 14, which is headed “Concerning the droughts.” If, however, the group of chapters thus marked out really constitute a single discourse, as Naegelsbach assumes, one can only say that the style is episodical rather than continuous; that the prophet has often recorded detached thoughts, worked up to a certain degree of literary form, but hanging together as loosely as pearls on a string. Indeed, unless we suppose that he had kept full notes of his discourses and soliloquies, or that, like certain professional lecturers of our own day, he had been in the habit of indefinitely repeating to different audiences the same carefully elaborated compositions, it is difficult to understand how he would be able without the aid of a special miracle, to write down in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the numerous utterances of the previous three and twenty years. Neither of these suppositions appears probable. But if the prophet wrote from memory, so long after the original delivery of many of his utterances, the looseness of internal connection, which marks so much of his book, is readily understood.

The internal evidence of the fragment before us, so far as any such is traceable, appears to point to the same period as what precedes, the time immediately subsequent to the death of Jehoiakim. The curse pronounced upon trusting in man may be an allusion to that kings confidence in the Egyptian alliance, which probably induced him to revolt from Nebuchadrezzar, and so precipitate the final catastrophe of his country. He owed his throne to the Pharaohs appointment, {2Ki 23:34} and may perhaps have regarded this as an additional reason for defection from Babylon. But the chastisement of Egypt preceded that of Judah; and when the day came for the latter, the king of Egypt durst no longer go to the help of his too trustful allies. {2Ki 24:7} Jehoiakim had died, but his son and successor was carried captive to Babylon. In the brief interval between those two events, the prophet may have penned these two stanzas, contrasting the issues of confidence in man and confidence in God. On the other hand, they may also be referred to some time not long before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when that king, egged on by Egypt, was meditating rebellion against his suzerain; an act of which the fatal consequences might easily be foreseen by any thoughtful observer, who was not blinded by fanatical passion and prejudice, and which might itself be regarded as an index of the kindling of Divine wrath against the country.

“Deep is the heart above all things else:

And sore diseased it is: who can know it?

I, Iahvah, search the heart, I try the reins,

And that, to give to a man according to his own ways,

According to the fruit of his own doings.”

“A partridge that gathereth young which are not hers,

Is he that maketh wealth not by right.

In the middle of his days it will leave him,

And in his end he shall prove a fool.”

“A throne of glory, a high seat from of old,

Is the place of our sanctuary.

Hope of Israel, Iahvah!

All that leave Thee shall be ashamed;

Mine apostates shall be written in earth;

For they left the Well of Living Waters, even Iahvah.”

“Heal Thou me, Iahvah, and I shall be healed,

Save Thou me, and I shall be saved,

For Thou art my praise.”

“Lo, they say unto me,

Where is the Word of Iahvah?

Prithee, let it come!

Yet I, I hasted not from being a shepherd after Thee,

And woeful day I desired not-

Thou knowest;

The issue of my lips, before Thy face it fell.”

“Become not a terror to me!

Thou art my refuge in the day of evil.

Let my pursuers be ashamed, and let not me be ashamed!

Let them be dismayed, and let not me be dismayed;

Let Thou come upon them a day of evil,

And doubly with breaking break Thou them!”

In the first of these stanzas, the word “heart” is the connecting link with the previous reflections. The curse and the blessing had there been pronounced not upon any outward and visible distinctions, but upon a certain inward bent and spirit. He is called accursed, whose confidence is placed in changeable, perishable man, and “whose heart swerveth from Iahvah.” And he is blessed, who pins his faith to nothing visible; who looks for help and stay not to the seen, which is temporal, but to the Unseen, which is eternal.

The thought now occurs that this matter of inward trust, being a matter of the heart, and not merely of the outward bearing, is a hidden matter, a secret which baffles all ordinary judgment. Who shall take upon him to say whether this or that man, this or that prince confided or not confided in Iahvah? The human heart is a sea, whose depths are beyond human search; or it is a shifty Proteus, transforming itself from moment to moment under the pressure of changing circumstances, at the magic touch of impulse, under the spell of new perceptions and new phases of its world. And besides, its very life is tainted with a subtle disease, whose hereditary influence is ever interfering with the will and affections, ever tampering with the conscience and the judgment, and making difficult a clear perception, much more a wise decision. Nay, where so many motives press, so many plausible suggestions of good, so many palliations of evil, present themselves upon the eve of action; when the colours of good and evil mingle and gleam together in such rich profusion before the dazzled sight that the mind is bewildered by the confused medley of appearances, and wholly at a loss to discern and disentangle them one from another; is it wonderful, if in such a case the heart should take refuge in the comfortable illusion of self-deceit, and seek, with too great success, to persuade itself into contentment with something which it calls not positive evil but merely a less sublime good?

It is not for man, who cannot see the heart, to pronounce upon the degree of his fellows guilt. All sins, all crimes, are in this respect relative to the intensity of passion, the force of circumstances, the nature of surroundings, the comparative stress of temptation. Murder and adultery are absolute crimes in the eye of human law, and subject as such to fixed penalties; but the Unseen Judge takes cognisance of a thousand considerations, which, though they abolish not the exceeding sinfulness of these hideous results of a depraved nature, yet modify to a vast extent the degree of guilt evinced in particular cases by the same outward acts. In the sight of God a life socially correct may be stained with a deeper dye than that of profligacy or bloodshed; and nothing so glaringly shows the folly of inquiring what is the unpardonable sin as the reflection that any sin whatever may become such in an individual case.

Before God, human justice is often the liveliest injustice. And how many flagrant wrongs, how many monstrous acts of cruelty and oppression, how many wicked frauds and perjuries, how many of those vile deeds of seduction and corruption, which are, in truth, the murder of immortal souls; how many of those fearful sins, which make a sorrow-laden hell beneath the smiling surface of this pleasure-wooing world, are left unheeded, unavenged by any earthly tribunal! But all these things are noted in the eternal record of Him who searches the heart, and penetrates mans inmost being, not from a motive of mere curiosity, but with fixed intent to award a righteous recompense for all choice and all conduct.

The calamities which marked the last years of Jehoiakim, and his ignominious end, were a signal instance of Divine retribution. Here that kings lawless avarice is branded as not only wicked, but foolish. He is compared to the partridge, which gathers and hatches the eggs of other birds, only to be deserted at once by her stolen brood. “In the middle of his days, it shall leave him” (or “it may leave him,” for in Hebrew one form has to do duty for both shades of meaning). The uncertainty of possession, the certainty of absolute surrender within a few short years, this is the point which demonstrates the unreason of making riches the chief end of ones earthly activity. “Truly man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain: he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them.” It is the point which is put with such terrible force in the parable of the Rich Fool. “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for thyself for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” “And the Lord said unto him, Thou fool! this night shall thy soul be required of thee.”

The covetousness, oppression, and bloodthirstiness of Jehoiakim are condemned in a striking prophecy, {Jer 22:13-19} which we shall have to consider hereafter. A vivid light is thrown upon the words, “In the middle of his days it shall leave him,” by the fact recorded in Kings, {2Ki 23:36} that he died in the thirty-sixth year of his age; when, that is, he had fulfilled but half of the threescore years and ten allotted to the ordinary life of man. We are reminded of that other psalm which declares that “bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.” {Psa 55:23}

Apart indeed from all consideration of the future, and apart from all reference to that loyalty to the Unseen Ruler which is mans inevitable duty, a life devoted to Mammon is essentially irrational. The man is mostly a “fool”-that is, one who fails to understand his own nature, one who has not attained to even a tolerable working hypothesis as to the needs of life, and the way to win a due share of happiness; -who has not discovered that

“riches have their proper stint

In the contented mind, not mint”;

and that

“those who have the itch

Of craving more, are never rich”;

and who has missed all apprehension of the grand secret that

“Wealth cannot make a life, but love.”

From the vanity of earthly thrones, whether of Egypt or of Judah, thrones whose glory is transitory, and whose power to help and succour is so ill-assured, the prophet lifts his eyes to the one throne whose glory is everlasting, and whose power and permanence are an eternal refuge.

“Thou Throne of Glory,

High Seat from of old,

Place of our Sanctuary,

Hope of Israel, Iahvah!

All who leave Thee blush for shame:

Mine apostates are written in earth;

For they have forsaken the Well of Living Water, even Iahvah!”

It is his concluding reflection upon the unblest, unhonoured end of the apostate Jehoiakim. If Isaiah could speak of Shebna as a “throne of glory,” i.e., the honoured support and mainstay of his family, there seems no reason why Lahvah might not be so addressed, as the supporting power and sovereign of the world.

The terms “Throne of Glory” “Place of our Sanctuary” seem to be used much as we use the expressions, “the Crown.” “the Court,” “the Throne,” when we mean the actual ruler with whom these things are associated. And when the prophet declares “Mine apostates are written in earth,” he asserts that oblivion is the portion of those of his people, high or low, who forsake Iahvah for another god. Their names are not written in the Book of Exo 32:32; Psa 69:28, but in the sand whence they are soon effaced. The prophets do not attempt to expose

“The sweet strange mystery

Of what beyond these things may lie.”

They do not in express terms promise eternal life to the individual believer.

But how often do their words imply that comfortable doctrine! They who forsake Iahvah must perish, for there is neither permanence nor stay apart from IAHVAH, whose very Name denotes “He who Is,” the sole Principle of Being and Fountain of Life. If they-nations and persons-who revolt from Him must die, the implication, the truth necessary to complete this affirmation, is that they who trust in Him, and make Him their arm, will live; for union with Him is eternal life.

In this Fountain of Living Water Jeremiah now seeks healing for himself. The malady that afflicts him is the apparent failure of his oracles. He suffers as a prophet whose word seems idle to the multitude. He is hurt with their scorn, and wounded to the heart with their scoffing. On all sides men press the mocking question, “Where is the word of Iahvah? Prithee, let it come to pass!” His threats of national overthrow had not been speedily realised; and men made a mock of the delays of Divine mercy. Conscious of his own integrity, and keenly sensitive to the ridicule of his triumphant adversaries, and scarcely able to endure longer his intolerable position, he pours out a prayer for healing and help. “Heal me,” he cries, “and I shall be healed, Save me and I shall be saved” (really and truly saved, as the form of the Hebrew verb implies); “for Thou art my praise,” my boast and nay glory, as the Book of the Law affirms. {Deu 10:21} I have not trusted in man, but in God; and if this my sole glory be taken away, if events prove me a false prophet, as my friends allege, applying the very test of the sacred Law, {Deu 18:21 sq.} then shall I be of all men most forsaken and forlorn. The bitterness of his woe is intensified by the consciousness that he has not thrust himself without call into the prophetic office, like the false prophets whose aim was to traffic in sacred things; {Jer 14:14-15} for then the consciousness of guilt might have made the punishment more tolerable, and the facts would have justified the jeers of his persecutors. But the case was far otherwise. He had been most unwilling to assume the function of prophet; and it was only in obedience to the stress of repeated calls that he had yielded. “But as for me,” he protests, “I hasted not from being a shepherd to follow Thee.” It would seem, if this be the correct, as it certainly is the simplest rendering of his words, that, at the time when he first became aware of his true vocation, the young prophet was engaged in tending the flocks that grazed in the priestly pasture grounds of Anathoth. In that case, we are reminded of David, who was summoned from the sheepfold to camp and court, and of Amos, the prophet herdsman of Tekoa. But the Hebrew term translated “from being a shepherd” is probably a disguise of some other original expression; and it would involve no very violent change to read “I made no haste to follow after Thee fully” or “entirely” {Deu 1:36} a reading which is partially supported by the oldest version. Or it may have been better, as involving a mere change in the punctuation, to amend the text thus: “But as for me, I made no haste, in following Thee,” more literally, “in accompanying Thee”. {Jdg 14:20} This, however, is a point of textual criticism, which leaves the general sense the same in any case.

When the prophet adds: “and the ill day I desired not,” some think that he means the day when he surrendered to the Divine calling, and accepted his mission. But it seems to suit the context better, if we understand by the “ill day” the day of wrath whose coming was the burden of his preaching; the day referred to in the taunts of his enemies, when they asked, “Where is the word of Iahvah?” adding with biting sarcasm: “Prithee, let it come to pass.” They sneered at Jeremiah as one who seized every occasion to predict evil, as one who longed to witness the ruin of his country. The utter injustice of the charge, in view of the frequent cries of anguish which interrupt his melancholy forecasts, is no proof that it was not made. In all ages, Gods representatives have been called upon to endure false accusations. Hence the prophet appeals from mans unrighteous judgment to God the Searcher of hearts. “Thou knowest; the utterance of my lips” {Deu 23:24} “before Thy face it fell”: as if to say, No word of mine, spoken in Thy name, was a figment of my own fancy, uttered for my own purposes, without regard of Thee. I have always spoken as in Thy presence, or rather, in Thy presence. Thou, who hearest all, didst hear each utterance of mine; and therefore knowest that all I said was truthful and honest and in perfect accord with my commission.

If only we who, like Jeremiah, are called upon to speak for God, could always remember that every word we say is uttered in that Presence, what a sense of responsibility would lie upon us; with what labour and prayers should we not make our preparation! Too often alas! it is to be feared that our perception of the presence of man banishes all sense of any higher presence; and the anticipation of a fallible and frivolous criticism makes us forget for the time the judgment of God. And yet “by our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned.”

In continuing his prayer, Jeremiah adds the remarkable petition, “Become not Thou to me a cause of dismay!” He prays to be delivered from that overwhelming perplexity, which threatens to swallow him up, unless God should verify by events that which His own Spirit has prompted him to utter. He prays that Iahvah, his only “refuge in the day of evil,” will not bemock him with vain expectations; will not falsify His own guidance; will not suffer His messenger to be “ashamed,” disappointed and put to the blush by the failure of his predictions. And then once again, in the spirit of his time, he implores vengeance upon his unbelieving and cruel persecutors: “Let them be ashamed,” disappointed in their expectation of immunity, “let them be dismayed,” crushed in spirit and utterly overcome by the fulfilment of his dark presages of evil. “Let Thou come upon them a day of evil, And doubly with breaking break Thou them!” This indeed asks no more than that what has been spoken before in the way of prophecy-“I will repay the double of their guilt and their trespass” {Jer 16:18} -may be forthwith accomplished. And the provocation was, beyond all question, immense. The hatred that burned in the taunt “where is the word of Iahvah? Prithee, let it come to pass!” was doubtless of like kind with that which at a later stage of Jewish history expressed itself in the words “He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him!” “If He be the Son of God, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on Him!”

And how much fierce hostility that one term “my pursuers” may cover, it is easy to infer from the narratives of the prophets evil experience in chapters 20, 26, and 38. But allowing for all this, we can at best only affirm that the prophets imprecations on his foes are natural and human; we cannot pretend that they are evangelical and Christ-like. Besides, the latter would be a gratuitous anachronism, which no intelligent interpreter of Scripture is called upon to perpetrate. It is neither necessary to the proper vindication of the prophets writings as truly inspired of God, nor helpful to a right conception of the method of revelation.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary