Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 5:1

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

1. Run ye to and fro ] The prophet challenges his hearers to find a single righteous man by a thorough and extensive search. Cp. Gen 18:23-33. The little good that was left in the land was driven out of sight by the prevailing wickedness, and exercised no appreciable effect upon it.

broad places ] the market-places and other chief places of resort.

truth ] mg. faithfulness, and so in Jer 5:3; by no means confined to truth in words. The word is the same as that rendered “faithfully,” e.g. 2Ki 12:15; 2Ki 22:7. Jeremiah lays special stress on this quality, which with him “unites in itself faithfulness towards God (constancy), towards man (integrity), towards oneself (genuineness),” Co. Cp. Hos 4:1.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The broad places – The open spaces next the gates, and other places of concourse.

A man – Or, anyone.

That executeth – That practiceth.

Truth – uprightness, probity (so in Jer 5:3).

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jer 5:1-9

Run ye . . . and see . . . if ye can find a man.

A man; or, The Divine ideal unrealised

I. The Divine idea of a man. One that executeth Judgment, that seeketh the truth. This involves–

1. A righteous working out of the Divine will so far as it is apprehended.

2. An earnest endeavour for further knowledge of the Divine will.

3. How different is the Divine ideal of a man from that which popularly prevails.

(1) The ideal of the muscular force.

(2) That of the secular–wealth.

(3) That of the intellectual–knowledge.

(4) That of the vain–show.

II. The lamentable rarity of a man.

1. A sad revelation of the moral condition of Jerusalem in the days of the prophet. Such corruption amongst a people who had such religious privileges, and in the very scene where the temple stood, shows the wonderful forbearance of God and the terrible perversity of the human heart!

2. The condition of our own age. Verily, we are a fallen people.

III. The social value of a man. And I will pardon it. For the sake of a man, God promises to pardon Jerusalem. The value of a man to society, to the race, is everywhere represented in the Bible.

1. A man is a condition on which God favours the race. Sodom and Gomorrah.

2. A man is an agent by which God improves the condition of the race. He educates, purifies, saves man by man. (Homilist.)

The sinfulness of Jerusalem

1. Deliberate and wilful perjury (Jer 5:2). So familiarised with oaths as not to care whether the matter sworn to was true or false.

2. Idolatry. Strange to see how madly this people ran after the lying vanities of the Gentiles, after they had received such manifold and undeniable proofs of the power, wisdom, and goodness of a living God, who was present with them; after so many laws enacted against idolatry, so many signal judgments inflicted on them for falling into this sin, such a hedge set about them to keep them from mingling with other nations, lest they should learn their ways.

3. Adulteries and fornications. This was a crime of a high nature, a complication of sins, and productive of so many sad consequences that death was the just punishment allotted to it.

4. Their shameful prevaricating with Gods Word, and torturing it to make it speak contrary to its genuine meaning. To this end they encouraged false prophets, who would prophesy smooth things, etc.

5. They were very unthankful to God, and insensible of His blessings conferred upon them.

6. They were very fraudulent in their dealings one with another, both in word and deed.

7. That which portended the extirpation of these Jews was, that not only all the fore cited iniquities were notorious in practice, but were moreover approved of, as it were, and settled among them by common consent.

8. This is enough to prove that it was fit for nothing but the fire, and it hath received that just recompense of reward. And the history of it is recorded for the instruction of all other cities who have the sacred Scriptures to instruct them. They may hear Jerusalem warning them, saying, Look upon me, and learn to fear God. Will ye steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, and sacrifice to the idols of your own imagination, and hope to escape the wrath of God better than I have done? Let my calamities conduce to your salvation, and put away those sins from among you which have laid me in ruinous heaps, and turned me into a monument of the Divine fury. Look upon me, and learn to fear God.

9. Those who are enemies to religion, and help to banish the fear of God out of the world, by denying the authority of His Word, or by putting a wrong sense and construction upon it, are as bad members as can be found in any society of men, because they do what they can to subvert the very foundations of truth, and deprive us of the last remedy which is left to repair the breaches of piety and virtue in a sinful world. (W. Reading, M. A.)

A man

We all know the two meanings of the word man–the one which distinguishes a human being from a beast, the other which is applied only to those who possess the highest qualities of manhood. Such are the salt of the earth, such would have been the saviours of Jerusalem. Ay, such an one was the Saviour of this world, the man Christ Jesus. A union of qualities is needed to make up a man in this high but true sense. These qualities are partly physical, partly mental, and partly spiritual. We know what false ideas are attached to manliness. It is often entirely associated with brute strength. He is a man, think many, who has the greatest strength of arm and power of body. But though beneficial, and often beautiful, this manly strength does not make the man. In some of the most splendid specimens of bodily physique you have the mind of a child and the weakness of a fool, or, still worse, the unrestrained appetites of the beast, or the desperate wickedness of a fiend. How often, too, are the views of men taken as the stamp of manhood. Too often the youthful ideal of manliness is not self-restraint, but self-indulgence, to abandon duty, to pursue pleasure, to wreck the happiness of others, to be lord of ones self, that heritage of woe–how many cherish these as the highest functions of a man! There may be other false ideals, but I wish to come to the scriptural ideal of the man who, if he could be found, would have saved the city and state of Jerusalem. What are the leading characteristics? To do justly, to seek truth. How commonplace, how stripped of the glory and pride dear to young imaginations, how possible for all to reach.

I. The first test, whether we are worthy to be called men, is the rightness of our actions, the integrity or justice of our doings. What is our conduct in life? Are we conforming ourselves to the Divine standard? Let us look at detail in right-doing in the different positions which we are called to fill. A deal of our lives is spent in our homes. There, if anywhere, we are genuine. We cannot seem to be what we are not before those who know us best, and who can read us through and through. How often there we fail to be men! The man who does justly is eminently tender, willing to enter into the feelings of others, to deal justly with them, to extend to them the sympathy of his strong nature. He is also helpful. The very presence of some men is helpful; you may not ask their advice, but to know they are near you is in itself a strength; and in the home relationships is it not the special province of the father, the husband, the son, the brother, to be helpful, to lift burdens, to smooth difficulties, to unravel the knots of this tangled existence? Do you not know homes where they who should be helpful only hinder the family life, where they are burdens and disgraces, taxing not only the family love, but wasting means all too narrow, and depriving their own kindred of their due share of lifes blessings? Such are not men, still less are they men who presume on others weakness. Many a husband shelters himself under his wifes love from the penalties of his neglect, if not of worse treatment. Many a lad, who, above all, wants to be thought manly, takes advantage of his parents fondness, and wastes their hard-earned money in riotous living, while they believe it is being usefully spent on his education or advancement in life. Such men will never save a State, will never rise to such a height of nobility that they can leaven with the true spirit of goodness and righteousness the mass around them.

II. The second test of manhood is seeking truth. Truth is, in the Old Testament, not only mental but moral, is not only intellectual knowledge, but the knowledge of God and of His will. We need in this present day men equally ready to seek truth in all spheres of knowledge–in science, in philosophy, in politics, in religion. We cannot be too earnest in seeking all light, wherever it comes from. We should remember the words of the poet: Truth is the strong thing; let mans life be true, and we should pursue our search in humility, in reverence, and in faith–above all, in regard to Divine things. That is a duty laid upon us all–to seek God, who is truth; to cleave to Him at all costs; to do His will, whatever it be. We may be mistaken as to what His will is; we may be troubled by doubts and difficulties, moral or intellectual; but we must remember that if we try to do justly we shall know the doctrine whether it be of God.

III. In doing justly, in seeking truth, you will be men because you will be followers of the man Christ Jesus. When we think of Christ as man we too often think only of His sorrow, of His persecution, of His death. True man He was in all these points, and nothing soothes us more in our time of trouble than that blessed knowledge. But I wish you to realise Him as man not only in the weakness but in the strength of humanity. I wish you to recognise in Him the ideal man, who did justly and sought truth. Think of His life, of His tenderness to His mother, of His helpfulness to His friends. Think of the ideal which He set before men. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? is His counsel to the multitude eager for the outward. Lay not up treasure upon earth is His warning to the rich and over-careful. One thing is needful is His reply to the cumbered housewife. Read these Gospels, and tell me if there ever breathed a purer, more righteous, more unselfish spirit. (J. R. Mitford Mitchell, D. D.)

The courage of the true prophet

It is difficult, says a great historian, to conceive any situation more painful than that of a great man condemned to watch the lingering agony of an exhausted country, to tend it during the alternate fits of stupefaction and raving which precede its dissolution; and to see the symptoms of vitality disappear, one by one, until nothing is left but coldness, darkness, and corruption. Such was the fate of Jeremiah. His writings are among the saddest in Scripture. He was no Elijah, no Isaiah, no John the Baptist, no Savonarola, not a man of mighty thunderings, whose strong spirit can face corrupted nations and never quail. There are some men whose courage seems to rise in proportion as they have to face insensate fury of opposition. Such was the spirit of Phocion. Have I said anything wrong then? he exclaimed, when the Athenians cheered his speech. Such was the spirit of Coriolanus. Such was the spirit of the great Scipio. Christians who believe that Christ really did mean something when He said, Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you,–Christians, a few of them, have also believed that there is a beatitude of insolence and of malediction. Heavens! what mistake have I made! was the answer of a strong governor when told that he was beginning to get popular. But Jeremiah was not naturally a man of this strong fibre. Timid, shrinking, sensitive, he was yet placed by God in the forefront of a forlorn hope, in which he was, as it were, predestined to failure and to martyrdom. In this chapter Jeremiah is striving to bring home to his people that things are not as they should be. Diogenes, in Athens, searched the streets with a lantern at noonday to find a man; Jeremiah, in Jerusalem, says that neither in its streets, nor in its broad places, can he find one man, one just, strong servant of the Lord. He thought, perhaps, that had there been such, God might pardon Jerusalem as He had once pardoned Sodom. But he could not find them. He found profession, but not sincerity; chastisement, but not amendment; remorse, but not repentance. Then he thought, I have been too much among the multitude, who are ignorant and foolish; I will go to the upper strata of society; I will get me to the great men, to the priests, the statesmen, the men of culture; they surely have had leisure to learn the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God. But the prophet was utterly disappointed; the upper thousands were worse and more helpless than the lower myriads; they had altogether broken the yoke and burst the bands, and so he adds–Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evening shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities. What was the exact idea of the threatened punishment we do not know. The general meaning is clear; the days were evil alike among high and low; there were carelessness, unbelief, self-seeking, insincerity, and, amid all, men were completely at their ease; they were quite secure that no evil could happen to them. Jeremiah thought differently; he knew that greed, falsity, unreality, corruption, cannot last. God cannot forever bear with them; men cannot forever endure their burden; they may be long-lived, but doomsday comes to them in the end. Has it not always been so? The great world empires of idolatry–what could once have seemed more secure than they were in cruel strength? Where are they now? In any age, whenever any true prophet has spoken, the world has always been thrown into violent antagonism; it denies him every quality he possesses; he may be the humblest of men, but he will assuredly be charged with pride, Whom makest thou thyself? If he be hopeful, he will be called Utopian and unpractical; if he be despondent, he will be called maudlin; if he feels strongly, he is excited and an enthusiast; if he speaks strongly, he is gushing and hysterical; in the one case he is a Samaritan, and in the other he has a devil. A sneer has been made on the very name of the prophet of whom we are speaking, and the world thinks it has effectually depreciated any warning about present evil or future peril, when it has called it a Jeremiad. Neither the world nor the Church can tolerate a prophet until they have killed him: kings cannot away with him. Ahab imprisons Micaiah, Joash kills Zechariah, Herod slays John in prison, Eudoxia banishes Chrysostom, Sigismund burns Huss. Priests hate him with still more perfect hatred; the priests of Jerusalem ridicule Isaiah; the priest Pashur put Jeremiah into the stocks; the priest Amaziah expels Amos; the priests Annas and Caiaphas slew the Lord of glory; the priest Ananias bid them smite Paul over the mouth. The true prophet, if God ever give us one again, must face all this. He, like St. Paul, must be weak and despised for Christs sake. But, besides this, he will especially have to bear the one charge which has always been brought against all prophets since the world began–that what he says is exaggerated, and that what he says is uncharitable. Doubtless, the impatient Amaziahs and the Pashurs of Jeremiahs day said, What business has this man to bring such sweeping accusations? Look at our priests, how active they are, how many services they have, how careful they are to burn exactly the two kidneys with the fat; look at the scribes, how accurate they are in counting the very letters of Scripture; look at all the eminently respectable persons who go to church and pay their tithes of mint and of anise and of cumin. And as for danger, that is all hysterical nonsense. This is not the Lords messenger; evil shall not come upon us. Yes, but it did come before Jeremiah was hurried to his death; it came as with a deluge; it came as with a thunder crash; it came as with a hurricane. On these conventional priests, on these careless aristocrats, on these money-making middle classes, on these immoral multitudes the flash fell, and the glory and freedom of Israel were hurled forever into the dust. Thousands who are not prophets might draw a very flattering picture of this age, which might be represented as nearly all that could be wished; they could point to its placid comfort, its domestic virtues, its slightly expanded egotism, and say there never was an age so respectable; they would point to all the threepenny pieces, and even to all the shillings in the plate, and say there never was an age so charitable; they would point to the endless multiplication of sermons and services, and say there never was an age so deeply religious they would point to the mushroom growth of fussy organisations, and say that the Church never was so vigorously, zealous. I fear that the truth would force the prophet to speak; he would point out the great gulf fixed between true religion and sentimental formalism; he would say that the sums that the nation dribbles in charity are in relation to its wealth no proof of our magnanimity, but the measure of our indifference; he might say that in spite of all our organisation, all the religious machinery in London is put into play on Hospital Sunday with the result of collecting some 20,000, which you will see perhaps in the paper the next day has been given in a two days sale for china and bric-a-brac. He might say that sermons and services, day after day, may perhaps only be treading into deader callosity the self-satisfaction of Pharisaic hearts; he might say that the praise of our languid virtues was the best opiate to lull our souls into indifference and let them rot asleep into the grave. (Dean Farrar.)

True manhood

We are to set before us an ideal of manly character and life, and practically to seek its realisation. Of the elements of true manhood, let us specify the following:–

I. Integrity. There are statesmen who tell us that morals have no place in politics. But the true statesman makes a conscience of politics. Again, there is perhaps a higher moral sentiment developing in business; yet one still hears of an undue advantage being taken of profiting by a mans ignorance or necessities, and that even by religious tradesmen.

II. Purity. Some men boast of foul passions as the marks of manhood. It is effeminate to be pure. Initiation into vice is the baptism of manhood. But moral determination is altering that. A total abstainer is no longer jeered at.

III. Religion. I do not mean the religion of monks, or of ecclesiastics, or of sentimentalists, but the religion of Jesus Christ, a reverent recognition of God, of holiness, of human life. Can anything be more noble than fidelity to the noblest things we know T Has the world any nobleness like the nobleness of holy character? (H. Allon, D. D.)

Right kind of men

I. In the estimation of God the true excellence of man is moral and religious.

1. A strict obedience to the Divine will as far as it is known.

2. An earnest endeavour to attain an accurate acquaintance with the Divine Word.

II. There are states of society in which men of this description are exceedingly rare.

1. They may be removed by death.

2. They may be withdrawn into concealment.

3. They may be reduced in numbers by the progress of degeneracy.

III. In the worst states of society such men are very valuable.

1. They avert Divine judgments

2. Draw down Divine blessings.

3. Promote the work of reformation. (G. Brooks.)

Wanted-A man

Philosophers in all ages have complained that human creatures are plentiful, but men are scarce. But philosophers made their ideal too high, their conception of what man ought to be too lofty. I have no sympathy with the cynic of whom history informs us, that, being ordered to summon the good men of the city before the Roman censor, proceeded immediately to the graveyard, called to the dead below, saying he knew not where to find a good man alive; or that gloomy sage, that prince of grumblers, Thomas Carlyle, who described the population of his country as consisting of so many millions, mostly fools, and who could speak in praise of no one but himself and Mrs. Carlyle, the latter deserving all the praise she got for enduring him. When anyone complains, as Diogenes did, that he has to hunt the streets with candles at noonday to find an honest man, we are apt to think that his nearest neighbour would have quite as much difficulty as himself in making the discovery. If you think there is not a ,true man living, you had better, for appearance, put off saying it until you are dead yourself. In looking for a man, look for a man with a conscience–a man who, like Longfellows honest blacksmith, can look the whole world in the face, and fear not any man. Look for a being that has a heart. A warm, loving nature is true manliness. In looking for a man, look for a magnanimous man; a broad mind, that not only observes what passes in the limited range of its own sphere, but is not afraid to look abroad; is far-sighted and not afraid of excellence in others. In your search for a man, look for a being that has a soul–the capability of solemn thought. Thousands today worship Bacchus and Venus. Their hearts are set on having a good time. Others apply themselves so intensely to their business that they find pleasure only in worshipping the mighty dollar. The man who so inordinately loves money for its own sake, and becomes insensible to all refined enjoyments, after a while ceases to be a man. Faith in Jesus Christ makes manly men. He is our model–a model containing all the elements of true manhood; a model of sympathy and love; a model of purity and uprightness. Christ-men are wanted. (M. C. Peters.)

A man

Two things, according to this text, are needed to make a man: practice and principle–principle sought out with a view to practice, practice conform to principle, and both according to what is right and true; both are morally, mutually helpful, both are necessary. You may be as strong as a lion, fleet as a deer, brave as a bulldog, beautiful as a gazelle, clever as Satan, but unless you seek the truth, and do the right first and foremost in the face of day, you have not yet come up to the mark of a man. Is that what the world says and thinks? Oh no. Its heroes, perhaps yours, are too often not the morally good, but daring adventurers, successful soldiers, lithe athletes, quick-witted speculators, fortune-making merchants, subtle-tongued declaimers, gifted writers, skilful artists, politic statesmen, wearers of titles, and so on. These are the men that too often the world takes its praises and its prizes to, heedless of character and principles, pleading its own large-mindedness in putting truthful and righteous men behind and below mere physical and intellectual power and agility. These are the favourites that the base and meaner sort go gaping after and copying, and thus it is that it often happens that real men are comparatively rare and hard to find. (J. S. Drummond.)

The value of one true man to the State

What have men and women to look to for the defence and prosperity of nations? Astute diplomatists, enlarged navies and armies, and forts and guns, scientific discoveries, commercial treaties, cultivation of art, legislative enactments? Think of these what you please. I tell you that these are not, any nor all of them, the true shields and saviours of nations; these do not form the backbone and centre of a strong body politic. It is not for these that God is sending upon us any blessing; not the providing of such that will lead Him to say, I will pardon Jerusalem and scatter the swollen storm clouds What was it then? It was a man. Goethe says no greater good can happen to a town than for several educated men thinking in the same way about what is good and true living in it. But Goethes standard is insufficient; it falls short of the Divine. The defenders and the benefactors of nations and of their fellow men are the morally and religiously good in them; men whose lives are regulated by the teachings of God; men who seek to act as Christ did are the men that are worthy, and that are looked upon by God as blessings to the nations. Ay, and even one such is a mighty pillar, and on occasion even one such may be the saviour and mainstay of the State. (J. S. Drummond.)

Make yourself a man

When President Garfield was a boy, and was asked what he would be, his reply was: Well, first of all, I must make myself a man; for, if I do not succeed in that, I shall not succeed in anything.

Godly men the preservative of society

One of the greatest services which a man can render society is to believe the truths of God sincerely, and maintain them steadfastly. It is the happiest state for a community when there exists within it a vigorous Christianity–a phalanx of strong minds, fully persuaded as to the revealings and requirements of the Most High. Like the willows by the water courses which are not only green, but whose roots, penetrating and interlacing in the soft and spongy soil, prevent it from being swept away by the rushing torrent, these men of gentle manners, but profound convictions, are the living network, the rampart of roots unnoticed and unthanked, who keep society from crumbling piecemeal into the gulf of licentiousness and atheism and crime, which is forever surging and foaming past it Like the metallic clamps and rivets, the bands and girders, which, in a region of earthquake, keep the precarious houses from tumbling to pieces, law and police magistracy are a mere mud masonry, and but for the binding power of such consciences, but for the fastening force of their convictions who believe in God, in the upheavings of mans passions, in the volcanic throes of his lust and violence, the framework of society would soon be shaken all to pieces. Like the fragments of iron in a mass of stone, which draw it towards the magnet, it is the faith which He finds in the earth, which at any period draws the earth towards its Maker, or makes a community a people near to God. (James Hamilton, D. D.)

A hero is a real man

What is it to be a hero? A hero is simply the English form of the Greek heros, which primarily meant a man, a real man, a separate and unmistakable man, as distinct from anthropos, or mankind in general. By a recognition of this very truth, that a mans distinctness as a man among men works and measures his exceptional character and capabilities, the Greeks came to call a grand man, or a great or preeminent man, a hero, as another way of saying that he was distinguished man. Dost thou know what a hero is? asks Longfellow and then gives answer, Why, a hero is as much as one should say–a hero. A hero is a man. There is heroism in all real manliness. A real man is a real hero. This it is which gives force to Carlyles question, If hero means sincere man, why may not every one of us be a hero? The answer is, that it requires character, exceptional character, to make one willing to be a man. Most men are afraid to be themselves. They shrink from being distinguished. Their preference is to conform themselves to the common standard of their sphere–to be like others, rather than to be like themselves alone. Where this feeling prevails, heroism is an impossibility. One acting on this preference cannot be distinguished. He who is unwilling to exercise and assert his character, in spite of all the world, cannot be recognised as the possessor of character. He cannot be measured apart from the common standard to which he, of choice, conforms himself. (Great Thoughts.)

Manliness

Ask a young woman what quality in a man she admires most, and the answer you are sure to get is manliness. The answer is highly creditable to the feminine taste. God also puts a great value on true manhood.

I. True manhood. Many spurious standards of manhood are met with in the world. By many young men, unfortunately, it is thought manly to be a proficient in swearing, in gambling, in drinking, in forbidden pleasure Not to toe the line in these evil customs is to be pronounced no man at all According to this breed of youth, piety is held at a considerable discount; it is not a thing for men, however it may suit parsons, Sunday school children, and old women of both sexes. Now look at the type of manhood spoken of in our text. According to our text a man is one who doeth righteousness and seeketh after the truth. Not the man of great muscularity and great physical power. Not the man who has seen much of the world, so called, which too often means a man who has worked for the wages of sin, which is death; neither of these is the true type of manhood according to Scripture. Let no one, misled by a popular confusion of ideas, dislike our text because it brings a mans own imperfect righteousness before our attention. It is most true that no measure of human righteousness can ever avail the sinner as a substitute for the righteousness of Christ by faith. A sinners heart resembles Lady Macbeths hands, stained beyond all human cleansing. We cannot and we need not by our own efforts establish a righteousness able to justify and make reconciliation for the ungodly. Yet that does not mean that we may be callous about the sovereign claims of Gods eternal laws of righteousness. It is of the essence of Christian duty and Christian manhood to love righteousness and hate wickedness. The true man is he that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth. See where the true man should be found, in the broad places, in the streets, in the thoroughfares, the market places; the spot where the struggle of daffy life is fought out. In other words, the true man is contemplated under the character of a man right in the whirl of the stream–a merchant, a craftsman, a trader. And as every varied situation in life has its own special temptations and virtues–as the virtue of the soldier is courage and his temptation faint-heartedness. There are graces and virtues that belong to the home, domestic virtues, cloister graces–gentleness, forbearance, devoutness; and these, too, form part of a true mans outfit in life. But the virtue of the marketplace is right dealing and integrity, and he who in the competition of the marketplace, in its barterings and changes, keeps his hands clean, his name honourable, his character honest, is, according to the verdict of Scripture, a true man. From these words it would appear that such men were scarce in Jeremiahs day. Are they more plentiful now? Yes, I believe they are. A dreadful state of society. Multitudes of males, but not one mare Multitudes of gentlemen, but not one honest man. Yes, surely we are better today, thank God. Yes, we all know men who would rather empty their pockets of shillings than fill their mouths with lies. And what are they? They are men. They are the saviours of society, they are the salt of the earth. But unrighteousness is still, as it ever has been, mans chiefest sin.

II. The value of true manhood. The value of true manhood is seen, not in its scarceness, but in the splendour of its reward. What is true manhoods reward? God does a wonderful thing, all because a true man or two are found in the wicked city. What is that? He forgives the wickedness of the corrupt and unfaithful city (Jer 5:7-9; Jer 5:23-31). Could it be easy for God to overlook the errors Of such a people? You think so? Easy for God Almighty, though not for us. Well, perhaps you are right. If so, why stand aloof from such a forgiving and merciful God? Let us not fail to see that here in Jeremiahs time God expresses Himself willing to pardon the wicked for the sake of the righteous few, as He undertook to do in the time of the patriarch Abraham (Gen 18:23). See, then, the nature of true manhoods rewards. God does not promise that when the true man is found He will honour and reward him. Surely in being a true man he has honours and rewards that cannot be exceeded. Jerusalem is to enjoy the reward. She is to be spared for his sake. Something like this happens in the experience of our great military heroes, our Wellingtons, our Wolseleys, our Robertses. No doubt some of these splendid captains have, at dutys call, covered the battlefield with their men and scored brilliant fighting victories that had very little meaning or importance to us as a nation But putting aside these cases–take the case of wars in which both great heroism has been shown and the cause has been worth fighting for when the great captain comes home, what does he find awaiting him: stars and stripes, treasure and titles? Ay, all that, but more than that. Not only has his heroism won all these more or less precious honours for himself, but what is better, because it concerns more people than himself, he has secured for his country a standing, a place, a position, which it may be she never enjoyed before. And that to a true man is reward more sweet and satisfying than all the poor personal honours that can be put upon his head. The worst calamity to a people is not when its trade and commerce decline, but when its supply of true men fails. Our thoughts, when we think of truest manhood, cannot help turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, that man who is our hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest. For the sake of this one Man, all our sins are freely pardoned. (H. F. Henderson, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER V

The prophet, having described the judgments impending over his

countrymen, enlarges on the corruptions which prevailed among

them. Their profession of religion was all false and

hypocritical, 1, 2.

Though corrected, they were not amended, but persisted in their

guilt, 3.

This was not the case with the low and ignorant only, 4;

but more egregiously so with those of the higher order, from

whose knowledge and opportunities better things might have been

expected, 5.

God therefore threatens them with the most cruel enemies, 6;

and appeals to themselves if they should be permitted to

practise such sins unpunished, 7-9.

He then commands their enemies to raze the walls of Jerusalem,

10;

that devoted city whose inhabitants added to all their other

sins the highest contempt of God’s word and prophets, 11-13.

Wherefore his word, in the mouth of his prophet, shall be as

fire to consume them, 14;

the Chaldean forces shall cruelly addict them, 15-17;

and farther judgments await then as the consequence of their

apostasy and idolatry, 18, 19.

The chapter closes with a most melancholy picture of the moral

condition of the Jewish people at that period which immediately

preceded the Babylonish captivity, 20-31.

NOTES ON CHAP. V

Verse 1. Broad places] Market-places, and those where there was most public resort.

If ye can find a man] A certain philosopher went through the streets of Athens with a lighted lamp in his hand; and being asked what he sought, answered, “I am seeking to find a MAN.” So in Jerusalem none was found, on the most diligent search, who acted worthy the character of a rational being.

I will pardon it.] I will spare the city for the sake of one righteous person. So at the intercession of Abraham, God would have spared Sodom if there had been ten righteous persons found in it; Ge 18:26.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Whether this begins a new sermon, or be part of the former, is neither certain nor material; but here the prophet is called upon to go up and down, and search here and there, in every part of the city, and to make a diligent inquiry in every street and place of concourse; a phrase frequently used for searching and inquiring after a thing, Dan 12:4; Amo 8:12; and it is spoken in the plural number, not restrained to Jeremiah in particular: q.d. Let who will search, they will find it even so. It implies the great scarcity of good men, that must be thus searched for. God gives leave to all the earth to look into the state of Jerusalem, by which he vindicates himself in the face of the whole world from all severity towards his people, whatever he brings upon them, and so stops the mouths of the Jews.

Seek in the broad places; even there, where usually is the greatest resort for merchants and merchandises, where men meet from all quarters.

If ye can find a man: it seems worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, for God condescends to pardon Jerusalem if there be but one righteous man found in it; there he came no lower than ten. But it will be objected, if it be understood thus individually, What must we think of Jeremiah himself, and Baruch, and Ebed-melech, and other few, who were then, no doubt, in Jerusalem?

Answ. Either he speaks of the corrupt body of the people, courtiers, priests, false prophets, not one, or scarce one among them to be found, or if any, so few as not to be discerned. A man might walk the streets of Jerusalem long enough before he could meet with any one truly religious; which universality of corruption is thus expressed in divers places, Psa 12:1,2; 14:2,3; Eze 22:30; Mic 7:1,2. Or it may be understood hyperbolically for a few.

Any that executeth judgment, i.e. among the magistracy that rightly administer justice.

That seeketh the truth, i.e. among the commonalty that deal faithfully and uprightly; it signifies, that, among them all, there are none given to it; so far from endeavouring and seeking it sincerely with their whole heart, that they are not inclined to it, but are given to oppressions, falsehoods, and deceits; they do not seek the truth.

I will pardon it; or, him; I will not destroy it for the sake of those few: the like he promiseth with reference to those five cities, Gen 18:24, &c.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. a manAs the pious Josiah,Baruch, and Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem at that time, Jeremiah musthere mean the mass of the people, the king, his counsellors, thefalse prophets, and the priests, as distinguished from the faithfulfew, whom God had openly separated from the reprobate people; amongthe latter not even one just person was to be found (Isa9:16) [CALVIN]; thegodly, moreover, were forbidden to intercede for them (Jer7:16; compare Gen 18:23;Psa 12:1; Eze 22:30).

see . . . knowlook . .. ascertain.

judgmentjustice,righteousness.

pardon itrather, her.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,…. These are the words of the Lord, not to the prophet only, but to any other, who thought fit to look into the reasons of the Lord’s dealing in a way of judgment with the people of the Jews; these he would have go through the whole city of Jerusalem, every street of it, and that backwards and forwards, not once only, but over and over again:

and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof; where there is commonly the greatest concourse of people; here he would have them look out diligently, observe and take cognizance of the persons they should meet with in such places:

if ye can find a man; that is, as the Targum adds, whose works are good, and as it is afterwards explained; for as yet the city was not desolate, so as that there was no man dwelling in it, as it was foretold it should be, Jer 4:25. It is reported o of Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher, that he lighted up a candle in the daytime, and went through the streets with it; and, being asked the reason of it, said, I seek a man; that is, a man of virtue, honour, and honesty; by which he would be understood, that such were very rare: and so it follows,

if there be any that executeth judgment; in the public courts of judicature; or in private, between man and man:

that seeketh the truth; of doctrine and worship, that seeks to speak it, and maintain it; who is true to his word, and faithful to his promises; but was not one such to be found? were there not the Prophet Jeremiah, and Baruch, and some others? the answer of Kimchi’s father is, that such were not to be found in the streets and broad places, where the direction is to seek, because such were hidden in their own houses for fear of wicked men; others think that the meaning is, that there were none to be found to make up the hedge, or stand in the gap for the land, and to intercede for them, as in Eze 22:30, and others are of opinion that the Lord speaks of men in public offices, as judges, priests, and prophets, who were grown so corrupt, as that a good man was not to be found among them: but it seems rather to design the body of the people, and the sense to be, that an upright faithful man was rare to be found; and that, could there be found but a few of that sort, the Lord would spare the city for their sake, as in the case of Sodom, Ge 18:32 and so it follows,

and I will pardon it; the city of Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it; so the Targum, Septuagint, and Arabic versions render it, “them”.

o Laert. Vit. Philosoph. l. 6. p. 350.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Causes which Called Down the Judgment Pronounced: The Total Corruption of the People. – Chr. B. Mich. has excellently summed up thus the contents of this chapter: Deus judicia sua, quae cap. IV praedixerat, justificat ostendens, se quamvis invitum, tamen non aliter posse quam punire Judaeos propter praefractam ipsorum malitiam. The train of thought in this chapter is the following: God would pardon if there were to be found in Jerusalem but one who practised righteousness and strove to keep good faith; but high and low have forsaken God and His law, and serve the false gods. This the Lord must punish (Jer 5:1-9). Judah, like Israel, disowns the Lord, and despises the words of His prophets; therefore the Lord must affirm His word by deeds of judgment (Jer 5:10-18). Because they serve the gods of strangers, He will throw them into bondage to strange peoples, that they may learn to fear Him as the Almighty God and Lord of the world, who withholds His benefits from them because their sins keep them far from Him (Jer 5:19-25); for wickedness and crime have acquired a frightful predominance (Jer 5:26-31).

Jer 5:1-2

By reason of the universal godlessness and moral corruption the Lord cannot pardon. – Jer 5:1. “Range through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek upon her thoroughfares, if ye find any, if any doth judgment, seeketh after faithfulness, and I will pardon her. Jer 5:2. And if they say, ‘As Jahveh liveth,’ then in this they swear falsely. Jer 5:3. Jahveh, are not Thine yes upon faithfulness? Thou smitest them, an they are not pained; thou consumest them, they will take no correction; they make their face harder than rock, they will not turn. Jer 5:4. And I thought, It is but the baser sort, they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jahveh, the judgment of their God. Jer 5:5. I will get me then to the great, and will speak with them, for they know the way of Jahveh, the judgment of their God; yet together have they broken the yoke, burst the bonds. Jer 5:6. Therefore a lion out of the wood smiteth them, a wolf of the deserts spoileth them, a leopard lieth in wait against their cities: every one that goeth out thence is torn in pieces; because many are their transgressions, many their backslidings. Jer 5:7. Wherefore should I pardon thee? thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. I caused them to sear, but they committed adultery, and crowd into the house of the harlot. Jer 5:8. Like well-fed horses, they are roaming about; each neigheth after the other’s wife. Jer 5:9. Shall I not punish this? saith Jahveh; or shall not my soul be avenged on such a people as this?”

The thought of Jer 5:1, that in Jerusalem there is not to be found one solitary soul who concerns himself about uprightness and sincerity, does not, though rhetorically expressed, contain any rhetorical hyperbole or exaggeration such as may have arisen from the prophet’s righteous indignation, or have been inferred from the severity of the expected judgment (Hitz.); it gives but the simple truth, as is seen when we consider that it is not Jeremiah who speaks according to the best of his judgment, but God, the searcher of hearts. Before the all-seeing eye of God no man is pure and good. They are all gone astray, and there is none that doeth good, Psa 14:2-3. And if anywhere the fear of God is the ruling principle, yet when the look falls on the mighty hosts of the wicked, even the human eye loses sight of the small company of the godly, since they are in no case to exert an influence on the moral standing of the whole mass. “If ye find any” is defined by, “if there is a worker of right;” and the doing of right or judgment is made more complete by “that seeketh faithfulness,” the doing of right or judgment is made more complete by “that seeketh faithfulness,” the doing being given as the outcome of the disposition. is not truth ( ), but sincerity and good faith. On this state of affairs, cf. Hos 4:1; Mic 7:2; Isa 64:5. The pledge that God would pardon Jerusalem if He found but one righteous man in it, recalls Abraham’s dealing with God on behalf of Sodom, Gen 18:23. In support of what has been said, it is added in Jer 5:2, that they even abuse God’s name for lying purposes; cf. Lev 19:12. Making oath by the life of Jahveh is not looked on here as a confession of faith in the Lord, giving thus as the sense, that even their worship of God was but the work of the lips, not of the heart (Ros.); but the solemn appeal to the living God for the purpose of setting the impress of truth on the face of a life, is brought forward as evidence that there is none that strives after sincerity. the antithesis forced in here by Hitz. and Graf is foreign to text and context both, viz., that between swearing by Jahveh and by the false gods, or any other indifferent name. The emphasis lies on swearing , as opposed to swearing in the way demanded by God, , Jer 4:2. , therein, i.e., yet even in this, or nevertheless.

Jer 5:3

The eye of the Lord is directed towards faithfulness, which is not to be found in Jerusalem (Jer 5:1), showing the direction toward person or thing, as in Psa 33:18, where alternates with . Hitz. is wrong in translating: are not thine eyes faithful, i.e., directed according to faithfulness; a sense quite unsuitable here, since the matter in hand is not the character or direction of the eye of God, but that on which God looks. But because God desired sincerity, and there was none in the people of Jerusalem, He has smitten them, chastised them, but they felt no pain ( from , the tone being drawn back by reason of the ‘ ); the chastisement made no impression. Thou consumedst them, exterminatedst them, i.e., “Thou hast utterly exterminated multitudes and swarms of them” (Hitz.), but they refused to receive correction; cf. Jer 2:30. They made their face harder than rock, i.e., hardened themselves by obstinately setting the divine chastisements at naught; cf. Eze 3:7-8.

Jer 5:4-5

This total want of good faith and uprightness is found not only in the lower orders of the populace, amongst the mean and ignorant rabble, but in the higher ranks of the educated. This is rhetorically put in this shape, that Jeremiah, believing that only the common people are so deeply sunk in immorality, turns to the great to speak to them, and amongst them discovers a thorough-going renunciation of the law of God. , weak, are the mean and poor of the people, who live from hand to mouth in rudeness and ignorance, their anxieties bent on food and clothing (cf. Jer 39:10; Jer 40:7). These do foolishly ( as in Num 12:11), from want of religious training. They know not the way of Jahveh, i.e., the way, the manner of life, prescribed to men by God in His word; cf. 2Ki 21:22; Psa 25:9, etc. The judgment of their God, i.e., that which God demanded as right and lawful, 2Ki 17:26, etc. The great, i.e., the wealthy, distinguished, and educated. Yet even these have broken the yoke of the law, i.e., have emancipated themselves from obedience to the law (Hitz.); cf. Jer 2:20. Therefore they must be visited with punishment.

Jer 5:6-8

This verse is neither a threatening of future punishments, nor is to be taken figuratively (lion, bear, leopard, as figures for dreadful enemies). The change from the perf. to the imperf. and tells against the future construction, showing as it does that the verbs are used aoristically of chastisements which have partly already taken place, which may be partly yet to come. And the figurative explanation of the beasts of prey by hostile peoples – found so early as the Chald. – is not in the least called for by the text; nor is it easy to reconcile it with the specification of various kinds of wild beasts. The words are a case of the threatening of the law in Lev 26:22, that God will chasten the transgressors of His law by sending beasts of prey which shall rob them of their children. Cf. with the promise, that if they keep His commandments, He will destroy the wild beasts out of the land. Cf. also the fact given in 2Ki 17:25, that God sent lions amongst the heathen colonists who had been transplanted into the depopulated kingdom of the ten tribes, lions which slew some of them, because they served not Jahveh. The true conception of the words is confirmed by Eze 14:15, when in like manner the sending of evil (ravening) beasts is mentioned as an example of God’s punishments. , smite, is a standing expression for the lion’s way of striking down his prey with his paws; cf. 1Ki 20:36. is not wolf of the evening, as Chald. Syr., Hitz. explain it, following Hab 1:8 and Zep 3:3; for is not the plural of , but of , steppe: the wolf that lives in the steppe, and thence makes its raids on inhabited spots. The reference of the words to place is suggested plainly by the parallel, the lion out of the wood. The leopard (panther) watches, i.e., lies lurking in wait against their cities, to tear those that come out. The panther is wont to lie in wait for his prey, and to spring suddenly out on it; cf. Hos 13:7. With “because many are thy transgressions,” cf. Jer 30:14.

Since these chastisements have profited nothing God cannot pardon the people. This is the meaning of the question in Jer 5:7, , wherefore should I then pardon? not, should I then pardon for this? for by itself does not stand for interrog., but is set before the pronom. demonstr. to give it the force of an interrogative adjective; cf. Ew. 326, a. The Cheth. est obsoletum adeoque genuinum (Ros.); the Keri substitutes the usual form. To justify the question with a negative answer implied, the people’s fall into idolatry is again set up before it in strong colours. Thy sons (the sons of the daughter of Zion, i.e., of the national congregation, and so the individual members of the nation; cf. Lev 19:18) have forsaken me, and swear by them that are not gods, i.e., the idols; cf. Jer 2:11. For , I caused them to swear, the old translators have , I filled them to the full, and so it is read in many codd. and edd. This reading is preferred by most of the ancient commentators, and they appeal for a parallel to Jer 5:28, and Deu 32:15 (“when Jeshurun waxed fat, he kicked”), Hos 13:6; Neh 9:25, etc., where apostasy from God is chidden as a consequence of superfluity of earthly goods. So Luther: “and now that I have filled them full, they committed adultery.” Now possibly it is just the recollection of the passages cited that has suggested the reading . The apodosis, they committed adultery, forms no antithesis to filling full. Adultery presupposes a marriage vow, or troth plighted by an oath. God caused Israel to swear fidelity when He made the covenant with it at Sinai, Ex 24. This oath Israel repeated at each renewal of the covenant, and last under Josiah: 2Ki 23:3; 2Ch 34:31. Hence we must not wholly restrict the searing to the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, nor wholly to the renewal of it under Josiah. We must refer it to both acts, or rather to the solemnity at Sinai, together with all solemn renewals of it in after times; while at the same time the reference to the renewal under Josiah, this being still fresh in memory, may have been the foremost. We must not confine the reference of to spiritual adultery (= a fall away from Jahveh into idolatry); the context, especially the next clause, and yet more unmistakeably Jer 5:8, refers to carnal uncleanness. This too was a breach of the covenant, since in taking it the people bound itself not only to be faithful to God, but to keep and follow all the laws of His covenant. That the words, crowd into the house of the harlot, i.e., go thither in crowds, are to be taken of carnal uncleanness, may be gathered from Jer 5:8: each neighs after the wife of his neighbour. Fornication is denounced as a desecration of the name of the Lord in Amo 2:7. The first clause of Jer 5:8 suggests a comparison: well-fed horses are they, i.e., they resemble such. On the lechery of horses, see on Eze 23:20. The Cheth. is partic. Hoph. of , in Aram. feed, fatten, here most suitable. The Keri would be the partic. Pu. from , the meaning of which is doubtful, given arbitrarily by Kimchi and others as armati sc. membro genitali . , too, is derived from , and given by Jerome sensu obscaeno: trahentes sc. genitalia ; but cannot come from , being the only possible form in that case. Nor does trahentes , “draught-horses” (Hitz.), give a sense at all in point for the comparison. A better view is that of those who follow Simonis, in holding it to be partic. Hiph. of , in Aethiop. oberravit, vagatus est . The participle is not to be joined with “horses” as a second qualifying word, but to be taken with , the periphrastic form being chosen to indicate the enduring chronic character of the roaming.

Jer 5:9

Such abandoned behaviour the Lord must punish.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Universal Corruption to the Age.

B. C. 608.

      1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.   2 And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.   3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.   4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.   5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.   6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.   7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.   8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.   9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

      Here is, I. A challenge to produce any one right honest man, or at least any considerable number of such, in Jerusalem, v. 1. Jerusalem had become like the old world, in which all flesh had corrupted their way. There were some perhaps who flattered themselves with hopes that there were yet many good men in Jerusalem, who would stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of God; and there might be others who boasted of its being the holy city and thought that this would save it. But God bids them search the town, and intimates that they should scarcely find a man in it who executed judgment and made conscience of what he said and did: “Look in the streets, where they make their appearance and converse together, and in the broad places, where they keep their markets; see if you can find a man, a magistrate (so some), that executes judgment, and administers justice impartially, that will put the laws in execution against vice and profaneness.” When the faithful thus cease and fail it is time to cry Woe is me! (Mic 7:1; Mic 7:2), high time to cry, Help Lord, Ps. xii. 1. “If there be here and there a man that is truly conscientious, and does at least speak the truth, yet you shall not find him in the streets and broad places; he dares not appear publicly, lest he should be abused and run down. Truth has fallen in the street (Isa. lix. 14), and is forced to seek for corners.” So pleasing would it be to God to find any such that for their sake he would pardon the city; if there were but ten righteous men in Sodom, if but one of a thousand, of ten thousand, in Jerusalem, it should be spared. See how ready God is to forgive, how swift to show mercy. But it might be said, “What do you make of those in Jerusalem that continue to make profession of religion and relation to God? Are not they men for whose sakes Jerusalem may be spared?” No, for they are not sincere in their profession (v. 2): They say, The Lord liveth, and will swear by his name only, but they swear falsely, that is, 1. They are not sincere in the profession they make of respect to God, but are false to him; they honour him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. 2. Though they appeal to God only, they make no conscience of calling him to witness to a lie. Though they do not swear by idols, they forswear themselves, which is no less an affront to God, as the God of truth, than the other is as the only true God.

      II. A complaint which the prophet makes to God of the obstinacy and wilfulness of these people. God had appealed to their eyes (v. 1); but here the prophet appeals to his eyes (v. 3): “Are not thy eyes upon the truth? Dost thou not see every man’s true character? And is not this the truth of their character, that they have made their faces harder than a rock?” Or, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward part; but where is it to be found among the men of this generation? For though they say, The Lord liveth, yet they never regard him; thou hast stricken them with one affliction after another, but they have not grieved for the affliction, they have been as stocks and stones under it, much less have they grieved for the sin by which they have brought it upon themselves. Thou hast gone further yet, hast consumed them, hast corrected them yet more severely; but they have refused to receive correction, to accommodate themselves to thy design in correcting them and to answer to it. They would not receive instruction by the correction. The have set themselves to outface the divine sentence and to outbrave the execution of it, for they have made their faces harder than a rock; they cannot change countenance, neither blush for shame nor look pale for fear, cannot be beaten back from the pursuit of their lusts, whatever check is given them; for, though often called to it, they have refused to return, and would go forward, right or wrong, as the horse into the battle.“

      III. The trial made both of rich and poor, and the bad character given of both.

      1. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. He found many that refused to return, for whom he was willing to make the best excuse their case would bear, and it was this (v. 4): “Surely, these are poor, they are foolish. They never had the advantage of a good education, nor have they wherewithal to help themselves now with the means of instruction. They are forced to work hard for their living, and have no time nor capacity for reading or hearing, so that they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgments of their God; they understand neither the way in which God by his precepts will have them to walk towards him nor the way in which he by his providence is walking towards them.” Note, (1.) Prevailing ignorance is the lamentable cause of abounding impiety and iniquity. What can one expect but works of darkness from brutish sottish people that know nothing of God and religion, but choose to sit in darkness? (2.) This is commonly a reigning sin among poor people. There are the devil’s poor as well as God’s, who, notwithstanding their poverty, might know the way of the Lord, so as to walk in it and do their duty, without being book-learned; but they are willingly ignorant, and therefore their ignorance will not be their excuse.

      2. The rich were insolent and haughty, and therefore they were wicked (v. 5): “I will get me to the great men, and see if I can find them more pliable to the word and providence of God. I will speak to them, preach at court, in hopes to make some impression upon men of polite literature. But all in vain; for, though they know the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God, yet they are too stiff to stoop to his government: These have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. They know their Master’s will, but are resolved to have their own will, to walk in the way of their heart and in the sight of their eyes. They think themselves too goodly to be controlled, too big to be corrected, even by the sovereign Lord of all himself. They are for breaking even his bands asunder, Ps. ii. 3. The poor are weak, the rich are wilful, and so neither do their duty.”

      IV. Some particular sins specified, which they were notoriously guilty of, and which cried most loudly to heaven for vengeance. Their transgressions indeed were many, of many kinds and often repeated, and their backslidings were increased; they added to the number of them and grew more and more impudent in them, v. 6. But two sins especially were justly to be looked upon as unpardonable crimes:– 1. Their spiritual whoredom, giving that honour to idols which is due to God only. “Thy children have forsaken me, to whom they were born and dedicated and under whom they have been brought up, and they have sworn by those that are no gods, have made their appeal to them as if they had been omniscient and their proper judges.” This is here put for all acts of religious worship due to God only, but with which they had honoured their idols. They have sworn to them (so it may be read), have joined themselves to them and covenanted with them. Those that forsake God make a bad change for those that are no gods. 2. Their corporal whoredom. Because they had forsaken God and served idols, he gave them up to vile affections; and those that dishonoured him were left to dishonour themselves and their own families. They committed adultery most scandalously, without sense of shame or fear of punishment, for they assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses and did not blush to be seen by one another in the most scandalous places. So impudent and violent was their lust, so impatient of check, and so eager to be gratified, that they became perfect beasts (v. 8); like high-fed horses, they neighed every one after his neighbour’s wife, v. 8. Unbridled lusts make men like natural brute beasts, such monstrous odious things are they. And that which aggravated their sin was that it was the abuse of God’s favours to them: When they were fed to the full, then their lusts grew thus furious. Fulness of bread was fuel to the fire of Sodom’s lusts. Sine Cerere et Bacchio friget Venu–Luxurious living feeds the flames of lust. Fasting would help to tame the unruly evil that is so full of deadly poison, and bring the body into subjection.

      V. A threatening of God’s wrath against them for their wickedness and the universal debauchery of their land.

      1. The particular judgment that is threatened, v. 6. A foreign enemy shall break in upon them, get dominion over them, and shall lay waste: their country shall be as if it were overrun and perfectly mastered by wild beasts. This enemy shall be, (1.) Like a lion of the forest; so strong, so furious, so irresistible; and he shall slay them. (2.) Like a wolf of the evening, which comes out at night, when he is hungry, to seek his prey, and is very fierce and ravenous; and the noise both of the lions’ roaring and of the wolves’ howling is very hideous. (3.) Like a leopard, which is very swift and very cruel, and withal careful not to miss his prey. The army of the enemy shall watch over their cities so strictly as to put the inhabitants to this sad dilemma–if they stay in, they are starved; if they stir out, they are stabbed; Every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces, which intimates that in many places the enemy gave no quarter. And all this bloody work is owing to the multitude of their transgressions. It is sin that makes the great slaughter.

      2. An appeal to themselves concerning the equity of it (v. 9); “Shall I not visit for these things? Can you yourselves think that the God whose name is Jealous will let such idolatries go unpunished, or that a God of infinite purity will connive at such abominable uncleanness?” These are things that must be reckoned for, else the honour of God’s government cannot be maintained, nor his laws saved from contempt; but sinners will be tempted to think him altogether such a one as themselves, contrary to that conviction of their own consciences concerning the judgment of God which is necessary to be supported, That those who do such things are worthy of death, Rom. i. 32. Observe, when God punishes sin, he is said to visit for it, or enquire into it; for he weighs the cause before he passes sentence. Sinners have reason to expect punishment upon the account of God’s holiness, to which sin is highly offensive, as well as upon the account of his justice, to which it renders us obnoxious; this is intimated in that, Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? It is not only the word of God, but his soul, that takes vengeance. And he has national judgments wherewith to take vengeance for national sins. Such nations as this was cannot long go unpunished. How shall I pardon thee for this? v. 7. Not but that those who have been guilty of these sins have found mercy with God, as to their eternal state (Manasseh himself did, though so much accessory to the iniquity of these times); but nations, as such, being rewardable and punishable only in this life, it would not be for the glory of God to let a nation so very wicked as this pass without some manifest tokens of his displeasure.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

JEREMIAH – CHAPTER 5

THE HOPELESS SINFULLNESS OF JUDAH

Va. 1-8: NO BASIS FOR PARDON.

1. The Lord calls for a search of Jerusalem to see whether a single man may be found who earnestly endeavors to be true, and to walk justly, (vs. 1-3; comp. 2Ch 16:9).

a. He shows Himself ready to pardon the city for the sake of ONE RIGHTEOUS MAN!

b. Though there were plenty who presumptuously swore “by the life of Jehovah” (claiming Him as their God), they only perjured themselves thereby (vs. 2), for they lived as if God did not exist! (Jer 3:10; Isa 48:1; Tit 1:16).

c. The prophet discovers that the people of Jerusalem have been unmoved by divine discipline; making their faces like flint, they have refused to repent and return to the Lord with their whole hearts, (Jer 2:30; Isa 1:5; Jer 7:25-28; Jer 8:5; Eze 3:7-9).

2. He reasons within himself that this must be because the people are all poor and ignorant of Jehovah and the ordinances by which He rules, (vs. 4; Jer 4:22; Jer 8:7; Hos 4:6).

3. So, he purposes to speak with those of higher station in life; surely they will know the way of the Lord, and his claims upon them; yet, he finds that, to a man, they have broken the yoke and cast aside the principles designed to control them, (vs. 5; Mic 3:1-3; comp. Psa 2:3).

4. Because of multiplied transgressions, and ever-increasing backslidings, the Lord will send judgment upon them: the lion to slay, (Jer 4:7); the wolf to destroy, (Eze 22:27; Hab 1:7-8; Zep 3:3); and the leopard to tear, (Hos 13:7-8).

5. How can God pardon His well-fed children who have forsaken Him to honor “no-gods”-flocking to their harlot-houses; going in troops to commit adultery with their idols, (vs. 7; Jer 2:11; Gal 4:8; Jer 7:9-10; comp. Num 15:1-3).

6. Like well-fed range horses, they have, each one, neighed after their neighbor’s wife – the natural outcome of their idolatry, (vs. 8; Jer 29:23; Eze 23:11-18).

7. Why shouldn’t God visit such a people to avenge His righteous soul upon their sins? (vs. 9, 29; Jer 9:9).

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

In this verse, as in those which follow, God shews that he was not too rigid or too severe in denouncing utter ruin on his people, because their wickedness was wholly incurable, and no other mode of treating them could be found. We, indeed, know that it is often testified in Scripture, that God is patient and waits until sinners repent. Since then God everywhere extols his kindness, and promises to be merciful even to the worst if they repent, and since he of his own accord anticipates sinners, it may appear strange that he rises with so much severity against his own Church. But we know how refractory the ungodly are; and hence they hesitate not to expostulate with God, and willfully accuse him, as though he treated them with cruelty. It is then for this reason, that God now shews that he was not, as it were, at liberty to forgive the people; “Even if I would, “he says, “I could not.” He speaks, indeed, after the manner of men; but in this way, as I have said, he shews that he tried all expedients, before he had recourse to extreme severity, but that there was no remedy, on account of the desperate wickedness of the people. And this is what the words fully express.

Go round, (128) he says, through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, I pray, and know; inquire through all the cross-ways Jeremiah might have said in one sentence, “If one man be found in the city, I am ready to forgive: “but God here permits the whole world to inquire diligently and carefully what was the state of the holy city, which ever gloried in that title. But he now, as also in the next verse, speaks of Jerusalem. He had spoken also of the neighboring cities; but as the holiness of the whole land seemed then to have its seat and habitation at Jerusalem, God here addresses that city, which as yet retained some appearance of sanctity, and excelled other cities. He then says, Inquire, see, know, look, whether there is a man, etc. He allows here all men to form a judgment, as though he had said, “Let all be present, since the Jews seek to create an ill-will towards me, and complain of too much rigor, as though I treated them unhumanly; let all who wish come as judges, let them inquire, ask, make a thorough search; and when it shall be found out that there is not in it even one just man, what else can be done, but that the city must be destroyed? for what can be done to the abandoned and irreclaimable, except I execute my judgment on them?”

We now understand the Prophet’s object; for he intended here to shut the mouths of the Jews, and to expose their slanders, that they might not clamor against God or blame his judgment, as though it exceeded the limits of moderation: and he shews also, that though God was disposed to pardon, there was yet no place for pardon, and that his mercy was excluded by their untamable obstinacy, since there was not one man in Jerusalem who had any regard for uprightness.

Here, however, a question may be started, Why does Jeremiah say that no good man could be found, since he himself was at Jerusalem, and his friend Baruch, and some others, an account of whom we shall hereafter find? There were then in the city some true servants of God, and some as yet remained who had true religion, though the number was small. It appears then that the language is hyperbolical.

But we must observe, that the Prophet here speaks of the people to the exclusion of the faithful. That this may appear more evident, we must remember a passage in the eighth chapter of Isaiah,

“

Seal the law and bind the testimony for my disciples,” (Isa 8:16😉

where it appears that God saw that he sent his Prophet in vain, and that his labors were spent in vain among a people wholly irreclaimable. Hence he says, “Bind the testimony and seal the law among the disciples.” We see that God gathered as it were together the few in whom remained any seed of true religion, yea, in whose hearts any religion was found. They were not then numbered with the people. So now Jeremiah did not consider Baruch and a few others as forming a part of that reprobate people; and he speaks, as it has been stated, of the community in general; for there were some separated from the rest, not only by the secret counsel of God, but according to the judgment that had been pronounced. He hence truly declares, that there was not one just man.

We ought also to consider with whom he was then contending. On the one side were the king and his counselors, who, inflated with the promises, which they perverted, did not think it possible that the throne of David would fall.

“

This is my rest for ever — As long as the sun and moon shall be, they shall be my witnesses in heaven, that thy seed shall never fail.” (Psa 132:14; Psa 89:37.)

With such words were they armed. But as hypocrites falsely claim God’s promises, so these unprincipled men boasted that God was on their side. Jeremiah had also to fight with another party, as we shall hereafter see, that is, with a host of false prophets; for there was a greater number of them, as is ever to be found in the world. The whole priestly order was corrupt, and openly carrying on war with God; and the people were nothing better. Jeremiah then had to contend with the king and his counselors, with the false prophets, with the ungodly priests, and with the wicked people. So he says, that there was not one man among them who engaged himself in appeasing God’s wrath.

To seek judgment is the same thing as to labor for uprightness: for the word משפט, meshephet means rectitude, or equity, or the rule of acting justly. He says then, that there was no one who practiced what was just; that there was no one who sought the truth Truth, as in a verse that follows, is to be taken for integrity, honesty; as though he had said, that all were given to falsehoods and frauds and crafts. It was therefore impossible that God should have been propitious to the city; for the relative ה after ל, being of the feminine gender, cannot be otherwise applied than to Jerusalem. God then says, that he would be merciful to it, if there could be found a just man among the king’s counselors, or among the priests, or among the prophets: but they had all united together in opposition to everything just and right. It follows —

(128) Our version is, “Run ye to and fro,” which has been taken from the Septuagint- περιδρύμετε; but this is a more correct rendering. The Vulgate is “ circuite — go round;” the Syriac is the same. “Streets” were the narrow ones, the lanes; and what Calvin renders “the cross-ways,“ and our version “broad places,“ were the wide streets, or the squares. In the former the poor people lived, and in the latter the great people, the chief men of the city. The examination was to extend to all the inhabitants. First, it takes place as to the poor in the lanes, and afterwards among the higher orders in the wide streets. The whole verse might be thus rendered, —

1. Go ye round through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray, and know; Yea, seek in the broad streets; If ye can find a man, if there be any, Who doeth justice, who seeks faithfulness, Then will I spare it.

The ו after אם may be often rendered “Then;” and this passage requires it to be so rendered. “That I may pardon her” is Blayney’s version; but this hardly corresponds with the former part; “If,” and “that,” form no connection. — Ed

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

WANTEDA MAN

Jer 5:1.

THERE has been always, and there will always be, the need of a man. In the most densely populated states, among the most civilized peoples, and even with the advanced religions a man of the true genus is only too seldom found. Under the pretense of searching for one an early cynic philosopher used to walk the streets of Athens, bearing a lighted candle at broad day. It is a matter of deeper interest to nineteenth century Christians, however, that the Lords Prophet should have felt and expressed the need of a similar search through the sacred city. It may somewhat relieve the shadows cast by this text, to remember that such a search in Jerusalem would not have been wholly in vain. Things have not reached their worst estate so long as the throne doeth justly and seeketh the truth. The king reigning at this very time was that Josiah of whom the Scriptures say: He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. Baruch was living now, the amanuensis of Jeremiah and the Prophets faithful friend. Zephaniah also had his home in Jerusalem, and continued to serve his country and his God until the captivity of Babylon, when he was slain.

It would be a miserable city indeed, that could number its thousands and tens of thousands and yet be wanting a single man. Sodom itself had one who was trying to be respectable, when the destroying angels came to expunge it from the face of the earth. Elijah must have been surprised and delighted to learn that, when he imagined himself the only faithful religionist, there were seven thousand beside, and yet the earth was not in an ideal state even then. In the face of that sweet intelligence the dark fact remained that the great body of Israel were guilty of the grossest idolatry, delighting in shameful, if not nameless sins, and tempting Heavens sorest judgment. It was not merely a bad liver nor a blue Monday, that excited Elijahs complaint and gave rise alike to this speech of Jeremiahs.

When it takes a world to furnish seven thousand who have refrained from idolatry, and a leading city can count the Godly on the fingers of a single hand, then there is occasion for such a text as this, Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see not, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth. The fathers never enjoyed a monopoly of religious heroism, and at times it would seem, virtue with them came near being a lost art. I am grateful every day that God withheld my existence from the earth until this first half of the twentieth century. No previous age ever knew so many who were worthy to be called men as this day knows; men who love justice, men who seek after and delight in the truth. But for all that, the true men among the great company of those who wear the name are so contemptible a minority, were numbers considered, that the crying need of this generation is still for a man. Let us think of the great life-circles that stand in need of him.

POLITE SOCIETY IS WANTING A MAN

I employ the term Polite Society not in its rightful, but rather its more ordinary sense. I intend that class of people who feel the grave responsibility of spring and fall fashions, who are weighted down with the ponderous questions of social entertainment in winter and summer alike; that class, who labor assiduously to cultivate their heels and finger-tips, persistently neglecting the head and the heart.

1. Perhaps the first weakness of that life-circle is its mental infirmity.

One who studies its inner life a while, and then compares the emptiness found there, with the splendid outward appearance which such society presents must be forcibly reminded of sops fable. You will remember how that early father of illustrative teaching tells a tale of a certain fox that on one occasion found his way into an actors dressing room. Reynard was curious to know all about the actors possessions and so spent some time by way of prying. Among the various properties he discovered a highly finished mask. Laying hold upon it with his teeth he dragged it into the light, studied it a moment and then remarked, A very fine-looking head indeed! What a pity it is that it is entirely lacking in brains and so is of no value. That is the principle objection to much of what is called polite society today. It is all too largely composed of brainless belles and beaus, and for the sake of his blessed mind it needs a man!

2. It would also secure for that circle something more of heart, if into it could be introduced a real man. I employ heart here in the best sense. Magnanimity and soul are its synonymous terms.

I know that a certain use of that term suggests sin, all that is lustful and bad. A writer has truly said, that the human heart is corrupt and deceitful, is profoundly scriptural and sorrowfully actual. That fact is not to be denied, or mitigated, or put into false perspective. But there is another view of the heart that should never be neglected. The heart is virtues fountain when kept with all diligence. It is the heart in which genuine sympathy is born; out of which pulses the purest affection. It is the heart that feels anothers infirmity and seeks to share it; that measures anothers sorrow and asks to divide it. It is in such respects that polite society seems sadly lacking, to one who studies its habits of essential selfishness. That a good part of mankind are bending beneath loads of insupportable sorrow is of no concern to it.

That an equal number are stricken with the plague of poverty excites no compassion in the breasts of those who are its best representatives. That sickness and death is in the land is not enough to stay their frivolity for a day. Nay, not even the presence of sin in the earth, that deadliest enemy to man and God seems greatly to annoy them, but as often becomes, in this circle, the subject of jest as the occasion of sorrow or the exigency of prayer. We would hardly charge that all who move within this sphere are thus brainless and heartless, but to characterize the circle itself with lack in both is only to speak the truth.

Once possess this circle with a mind and fill its breast with a warm and tenderly sympathetic heart, akin to that which was wont to beat beneath the coarser cloth of the Nazarenes coat, and the consequence will be some more accurate reckoning of its own and others stature. At present it feels only the sense of self and contempt, and knows only the language of egotism and scorn. To listen a while at its parrot-prattle must excite ones sympathy for the poor pigmies in intellect and soul, who imagine themselves the salt of the earth, the cream of perfection, and who contemplate in semi-pity the commoner souls of sobriety and real worth.

One would think that phariseeism had gone to seed and was ready to be pulled, when one of its number walked with high head past the place where a man, fallen into the hands of thieves, robbed and beaten, lay a dying. But no, we must see that bigotry grows ranker still as he takes the other side of the road to express his superiority to, his supreme contempt for, this common sufferer, this ceremonially unclean one. If you would discover the actual animus back of such an action, follow the pharisee to the place of his devotions and hear the braggadocio of his prayer. God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are. How very modern that sounds! How many shallow souls there are in the world today who have flattered themselves, or have been flattered, by birds of their own feather, into the notion that this earth would be a dull shop indeed without them. Constant, yes, even occasional association with a true man might correct such distempered views of life, teaching them to appreciate virtue in their superiors, and making them penitently ashamed of having so long bowed before the unworthy idol of self.

But the circle of polite society is not the only one wherein this necessity is felt.

THERE IS NEED OF A MAN IN THE COMMERCIAL MARTS

It is doubtful if human history has ever known a time in which the votaries of mammon were more ardent than now. Our own beloved America is the land wherein has been reared the loftiest temples to this well-known god. Here the golden calf stands in such giant-like proportions as put Aarons production to very shame, and Israels sin is far out-done by Americas greater idolatry. The Apostle Paul seems to have had an eye upon us and our times when upon writing to Timothy he said: But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. How often now are his words being verified?

It is openly declared today that honesty and the largest financial success are divorced. If men would outstrip their fellows in the eager race to the money goal, they must lay aside the robes of uprightness, relieve themselves from truths entanglements, consent to part with a tender conscience and even trample beneath flying feet the prostrate forms of those who fall before the boots of success. The only kings that America recognizes are the men who have gained the most of her gold; the female aristocracy of these states is that class who wear her costliest jewels. This accounts largely for the alarming fact that men on every side have deliberately determined to increase terrestrial bank accounts even though they strain their credit at the celestial counter to do it.

One need not think of Wall Street, New York, or visit the Chicago Board of Trade, to be convinced that the commercial spirit today is fast setting conscience aside in its ever-growing greed of gain. His own streets will furnish him sufficient illustrations of that truth. The idea that prevailed so long ago as the founding of Rome is even more prevalent today. You may remember how it is told of the founder of that city that he marked the course of its walls by a plow drawn of oxen. Wherever he thought to put a gate he took the plow from the earth and only inserted it, after leaving sufficient space for that opening. The walls when lifted at last were reckoned as sacred because they rested over the furrow the plow had made. But the gateways, the avenues of commerce, of trade, were thought to be purely secular and unsanctified. That was a heathen notion, yet who doubts that such is the spirit of trade still?

Many professed Christians appear never to have felt the utter incongruity, the godlessness even, of doing devotions on the Sabbath, and engaging in such secularities in the six week-days as disregard honesty and dethrone the truth.

How this life-circle needs a man to come with his larger vision of life, with his keener and better logic to save its spirit of commerce from the utter degradation of the present philosophy and daily practice. This practical question is often raised: Have we not reached a state in which the character of business competition necessitates dishonesty in dealing? The answers given to this query must depend very largely on the notions we hold of a necessity. If it is a necessity that I make as much money as any of my competitors then my integrity must be thrown overboard. But that such a necessity exists with any, I am not prepared to believe. A mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Riches are not an absolute requisite to the chief end of living; not always necessary even to lifes best happiness.

Not a few people seem to hold the theory that gold will secure all the possible boons of earth, but in practical living it has been ten thousand times illustrated that money has no such beneficent power. Hell will have given birth to an angel by the time the god mammon has become the father of earths best joys. He who puts his trust in gold and silver, discarding justice and dethroning the truth, will speedily know the purport of James words: Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.

Every man to his notion of course, but in my humble judgment the first necessity is not that we be millionaires, but rather that we be men! The world may not speak of us as kings in finance, nor gape at our shrewdness in open-eyed wonder! We may go down at last to a plain coffin, be wept over by only a few heart-bereaved ones, sung about as Asleep in Jesus and then left to return the body to the dust, and the spirit to the God who gave it, and yet have left the best legacy to our loved ones.

Long time ago an old ledger was found in Edinburgh, Scotland, that dated back into the sixteenth century. It had been the property of an old Scotch merchant. Into its board back were written these words: God blis this buik and keip me and it honest.

If when we are deceased our loved ones can find such an inscription upon every ledger left behind, twere better than that our dishonest gains should make rich every cousin even to the seventh remove. How often the decease of our money kings puts the poor preacher into difficult straits! What Scripture theme shall be discussed above that richly ornamented coffin? There is the doctrine of repentance, but it is too late to discourse of that. There is the fruitful subject, Faith, but it is irrelative, since the one now dead knew no such thing while living. There is the glorious theme of Resurrection, but of that the deceased went down without hope. What shall he say? What can he say? Say nothing about the dead, since the life left nothing to be said. Assure the bereaved of Christs sympathy for their suffering and let the funeral discourse stop at that. Be careful also what you sing in that dark room, or over that misty grave, lest the words intended for comfort prove only a new occasion of sorrow. Forget Nearer My God to Thee; I turn the leaf whereon is written Asleep in Jesus, and search out something without sentiment, and hurry to the benediction, let the clods fall while saying dust to dust, and then go home sadder for the childrens riches. Is it a necessity, my friends of the commercial profession? Is it not a necessity that ye be men?

To my mind the most deplorable fact connected with this bloated notion of wealth is found in those cases where churchmen adopt the maxim of the world. Within a year past, thrice have I heard it argued by professed Christian men, that the spirit of trade is now such as makes it necessary for better men to employ the method of double dealing. Two things are argued by such a statement, when it escapes the lips of one, for whom we have something of superior respect. First, the distemper of business as it is now conducted. Second, the degradation of those who, instead of doing what they can to cure the evil, for purposes of gain fall in with its essential spirit. Wouldnt it be far better for trade, far better for self, to show ourselves men, men in whom the spirit of the Master is, by being satisfied with less of gain, whilst demanding of ourselves and others more of justice and truth? We might remain poor, as some count poverty, but we could be rich in the divinest definition of that term, illustrating the truth that Godliness with contentment is great gain.

When Prof. Finney was holding meetings in Edinburgh, he was visited by a business man who seemed thoroughly penitent and desired Mr. Finney to pray with him. When the preacher said: Lord, here is a man, who is willing to take Thee as his Lord and cast himself upon Thy care forever, there came in hearty response, Amen. When Mr. Finney continued, giving his domestic interests to Gods care and keeping, the man responded again, Amen. But when the preacher said: Lord, take this mans business and conduct it to Thine own glory the penitent was strangely silent till Mr. Finney said: Why didnt you say Amen? Because, answered the anxious soul, I dont want the Lord as a Partner in business, I prefer to carry that alone. He is not the only case on record where men have desired to begin the Christian life, and yet wished to remain still in the spirit of trade. Ah, my friends, whenever the tide of commerce is too swift for you to walk hand in hand with plodding Mr. Honesty, or side by side with steady Mr. Truth, then show yourselves men of the genuine, Christlike genus and turn the tide, or else make good your escape from the drowning wave of godless trade.

I once read a story taken from the New Outlook, Toronto, Canada, that illustrates the fact that mammon does not always triumph against manhood. The Outlook reported that in an after-dinner speech in Birmingham, Mr. Baldwin confessed that his fortune in the iron trade had melted because he could not let the family name be dishonored. He explained that most of his wealth consisted of shares of the iron trade associated with the Baldwin family name, running back to one John Baldwin at the forge in the reign of Charles II. These shares, when he took office in 1923, could have been sold for about fifteen dollars; today they are worth forty cents. He holds them now, and there is no cataclysm on earth that can bring them to more than a fraction of their former value. Instead of saving most of that loss, this English gentleman nailed his colors to the mast of the ship of British industry. It may have been bad business on our part, said Mr. Baldwin, many modern business men would say it wasI ought to have sold at the top of the market. But when you have an old name in business against which nothing has ever been said, when you know the public has come into business on the strength of that name, it is an impossibility to throw your shares on the market when you know that in all human probability the loss will fall on them, not on you.

If this is a faithful report, it carries with it a high tribute to manhood and also illustrates the fact that such a search as Jeremiah advocated would not necessarily be in vain even among men of the commercial mart.

Reverting to our text again, it has a peculiar application to the present political situation.

OFFICIALDOM IS IN SAD NEED OF A MAN

This remark, while intended to apply locally, is equally apropos to all political situations. One can look in any direction he pleases whether to the nations or the larger or lesser cities, and he instantly feels the need of a man; the need of a man in Russia to bring order out of chaos, to displace infidelity with faith, and immorality with morals, and indifference to life with an appreciation of the same; the need of a man in China to quiet the unsettled conditions, to create at least a semblance of confidence, to secure life against murderous marauders; the need of a man in Japan to direct that waking nation into right paths and to produce a civilization versus semi-paganism; the need of a man in India to solve her multiplied problems, to cement her diverse people, to shoot her darkness through with light; the need of a man in England to work out her cross-word puzzles and bring unanimity to her varied interests; the need of a man in America to lead this land to a still higher democracy, a man who should be capable of suppressing the violent and encouraging the righteous and bringing to swift and educative justice the criminal classes.

But speaking locally we need a man as the Mayor of Minneapolis. There are well nigh a dozen aspirants for that office, no one of whom brings to his contention for the same, a record so clean, courageous, and wholesome as to insure the people who may finally unite to elect him, as to secure his opponents against malfeasance in office, and as to guarantee the plain citizen against vice and violence.

The United States is an experiment in democracy. The nations of the world are watching it with interest and the present indication is that the world is destined to suffer another disappointment. Unless God shall raise up a new Joshua the future of my beautiful metropolis is not bright, and unless He shall raise up another Moses the future of America is not safe. The united prayers of believing people ought to be God send us a man.

THE WHEELS OF CHRISTS KINGDOM ARE WAITING THE MASTERFUL TOUCH OF A MAN

I sometimes question if our preaching and theology have not too far forgotten the active side of religion. It is as correct as scriptural to say that We are justified by faith, but it is equally the truth of God that Faith apart from works is barren. It is all right enough to give God all glory, and to say that He will yet redeem the world by His own might, through the Blood of His dear Son. But it is a sin to conceal our own indolence and indisposition, beneath such words, and purpose to forget the great commission which makes every saved soul an agent of redemption unto others. It is not ours to question why God decided upon this method or that in His work of subjugating the earth to the sovereignty of His Son. It is enough that we should know the important place in that work which infinite wisdom assigned to man. In very truth it should be our pride, our joy, that the wheels of that Kingdom may be hastened by the touch of the human hand.

To my mind the mighty impetus which the spread of the Gospel received in the last quarter of the 19th century was the immediate result of some greater emphasis of the thought that Gods purposes in redemption are conditioned upon the assistance of a man. The denomination that a half century before had opposed this thought, laughed at human effort as both fruitless and foolish, was dead, and almost all of its representatives rested beneath a sod which their doctrine did little indeed to sanctify.

The church of today that disregards Christs great commission, will either speedily amend its ways, or else another decade will see it tottering in weakness and needing the very Gospel which it refused to give the heathen at home and abroad.

Ezekiels vision in which he sees the hand of a man beneath the angels wing was the true prophecy of Gods ordination. We are told in that vision that those flying creatures turned not when they went; they went everyone straight forward. * * And they had the hands of a man under their wings, on their four sides.

A vision in which wheels and wings and the throne of God intermingle, the symbols of terrestrial and spiritual powers combined to the one end of giving to the earth the glad tidings of peace to men of good will.

I dont know that I have ever heard more of eloquence and truth from the same lips than escaped Dr. P. S. Hensons, when many years ago at Mechanics Hall, in Boston, he spoke of his hope for the future of Christs Kingdom. Dr. McArthur had preceded him in a speech upon the same inexhaustible theme, and had referred to modern inventions and their influence, present and eventual upon the spread of the truth. Dr. Henson said:

You are right, my Brother McArthur! But the men who gave us these inventions knew not what they were doing. Morse knew not what he was doing. Morse was doing what he did in the interest of science, but God had a higher purpose.

Gutenberg did not know what he was doing, but God knew.

Stephenson and Fulton and Cyrus Field did not know what they were about, but God knew.

Then he referred to Ezekiels vision and said: I saw an angel flying in mid-heaven, having the glorious Gospel, the everlasting Gospel, to preach. But I looked again and lo! the hand of a man; the hand of a man was under the wings, under the wings of the angel that had the everlasting Gospel. It is no use, brethren, to sing Fly abroad thou Mighty Gospel; your hand must be under the angels wing if you want the angel to fly.

Then to illustrate the power, in the hand of man, he recited that tale that Guthrie culled from history, if I remember aright. The tale of Switzerlands invasion by a dangerous enemy. Through the mountain pass that enemy came, unopposed; marching to the sound of music, with colors flying. At this approach there was not a Switzer to be seen, for they were hid in the mountain tops. There they waited, in breathless silence, each one holding in hand a mighty stone, waiting the word of command before it was sent whizzing and rebounding down the precipitous mountain side. The enemy, little suspecting the danger, dreaming not of the method of warfare the Switzers had chosen, came on in jubilant spirit. At last the voice of the commander was heard, as if God Himself had spoken out of Heaven.

In the Name of the Father; of the Son; of the Holy Ghost, let go.

Instantly there was a mighty rumbling down the mountain side, and that avalanche of stones buried that invader out of sight forever.

Brethren, I repeat, the need of Christs Kingdom today is a man, a man of prayer and yet of patience; a man of faith, yet of works; a man who has a hand for the uplifting of the angels wing, and a hand for the breaking of Satans head; a man whose hand will bring silver or service, or both, as opportunity is given; a man who is waiting only till Jesus gives the word of command to offer his best effort to bury the forces of hell out of sight forever. Who will longer withhold his hand when the wheels of Christs Kingdom are halting for the touch of a mans hand?

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.1. Chronology of the chapter. The description here of unblushing immorality and total disorganisation leads Kimchi and others to date this chapter after Josiahs times; but it is not necessary; ostentatious reform and superficial religion may be synchronous with abandoned impiety and grossest corruption. Matthew Henry boldly puts an interval of twelve years between the fourth and this chapter, two years after Josiahs death, but without argument or evidence.

2. Cotemporary Scriptures. 2Ch. 35:1-19; 2Ki. 23:1-27; Zephaniah 1-3; and, probably, Nahum and Habakkuk.

3. National History and Cotemporary History, as chap. 3.

4. Geographical References in this chapter. Jer. 5:1. Broad places of Jerusalem, open spaces just within the gates of the city, places of concourse, the markets, &c. (See on chap. Jer. 1:15). Jer. 5:22. The sand for the bound of the sea. Seas known to the sacred writers were1. Mediterranean, situate in the middle of the then known regions of the earth, separating the three great continents Europe, Asia, and Africa; 2320 miles by 1080 at extreme measurements, 5000 feet deep at Straits of Gibraltar, inhabited by over 440 different species of fish, called the Great Sea (Num. 34:6-7), Sea of the Philistines (Exo. 23:31). On its shores were situate the mightiest empires of the world, Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, Roman. Western boundary of Palestine. 2. Red Sea, a huge gulf of the Indian Ocean, interposed between Egypt and Arabia; 1400 miles by 150; area, about 180,000 square miles; depth, about 6000 feet; divided at northern end into Gulf of Suez, 190 miles by 20, and Gulf of Akabah, 112 by 15; between these gulfs lies the peninsula of Sinai. 3. Dead Sea, inland sea; believed originally to have been a huge basin in the channel which connected the Mediterranean and Red Sea; situate south-east of Palestine, 48 miles by 10 at extreme measurements, 300 square miles area, depth about 1300 feet, and the surface 1300 feet below level of the ocean. 4. Sea of Galilee, also called Sea of Tiberias, north-east of Palestine, 700 feet below level of Mediterranean, 12 miles by 6, depth about 700 feet.

How pleasant to me is thy deep blue wave, O Sea of Galilee!
For the glorious One who came to save hath often stood by thee.

5. Personal Allusions. Description of the Babylonians (Jer. 5:15). Mighty nation, called (Jer. 50:23), the hammer of the whole earth; ancient nation, the empire was founded by Nimrod soon after the Flood (Gen. 10:8; Gen. 10:10; Gen. 11:4; Gen. 11:9). Isaiah suggests (Jer. 23:13) that the Chaldeans were a younger branch of that venerable stock, yet to earliest times their origin ia traceable, when they were one of the Cushite tribes (Dr. W. Smith), a fact proved by the relics of their language, which, as a dialect of Babylonia, was retained in use as the learned language for scientific and religious literature (Dan. 1:4). Henderson states that originally they inhabited the Carduchian Mountains and the northern parts of Mesopotamia, and afterwards migrated into the Babylonian territory; whose language the Jews knew not, nor could understand, either because the Chaldee, though only a dialect of the Hebrew, was so different in its words and construction as to be foreign to a Jew, or (as Henderson suggests) because the people had retained their native Cushite tongue, probably the mother of the present Kurdish, a language totally different from any of Semitic origin, in close affinity with the Persic.

6. Natural History. Jer. 5:6. Lion (see notes on Jer. 2:15, Jer. 4:7). Wolf of the evenings; formerly abundant in Palestine, now seen occasionally: character and habits described Gen. 49:27. Inferior to lion in strength and to leopard in courage, yet if possible more rapacious and fierce (especially in the evening) than either (Hab. 1:8); generally chooses as his prey the weaker animals, lambs and kids; his depredations destructive in the extreme, for he assails not only what his ravenous hunger craves, but every living thing he meets. He dwells alone, shunning even his own species, except for occasional combined attack. Leopard shall watch over cities: predacious (Hos. 13:7); swift (Hab. 1:8); has a ferocious air, a restless eye, a cruel aspect; is very nimble in his movements, swift and subtle, gluttonous and rapacious. Homer says the leopard can never be satisfied with prey (Paxtons Natural History).

Jer. 5:17. Vines and fig-trees. Vines (notes on Jer. 2:21). Fig-trees: very abundant in Palestine (Deu. 8:8); a single tree would produce 280 lbs. of figs.

Jer. 5:24. Former and latter rain (see Critical Notes on Jer. 3:3). Weeks f harvest: seven weeks which intervened between the feasts of Passover and Pentecost (Deu. 16:9). Barley harvest began quickly after Passover; wheat, which ripens later, was reaped just before Pentecost, at which sheaves were offered (Exo. 34:22). Rain never fell during those weeks (1Sa. 12:17; Pro. 24:1; Amo. 4:7). The regularity of weather and seasons was consequent upon a special Providence and covenant promises (Deu. 11:11-14). The climate and seasons are now very uncertain; for the Providence has been alienated, and the covenant withdrawn because of sin (Deu. 11:17).

7. Manners and Customs. Jer. 5:1. Executeth judgment: see Lit. Crit. below. Jer. 5:5. Broken the yoke and burst the bonds (see notes on Jer. 2:20); implement of husbandry; three Hebrew words translated yoke, , , and : the last here. Jer. 5:10. Walls and battlements: the old wall began on the north of Jerusalem at the tower called Hippicus, and terminated at the west cloister of the Temple: its southern direction was over the pool of Siloam to the eastern cloister of the Temple. Josephus says there were sixty towers on this wall. The city was divided into the High Town on the west, and the Low Town on the east. When David acquired possession of both, he built the city round about, even from Millo round about (2Sa. 5:9); and Joab repaired the rest of the city (1Ch. 11:8), i.e., the High Town; connecting the two divisions of the city together, and surrounding the whole with fortifications (Josephus Autiq. VII. iii. 2). These walls of David were strengthened and elaborated by Solomon (1Ki. 3:1; 1Ki. 11:27). Josephus says that Solomon having repaired the walls of Jerusalem, made them much greater and stronger than they were before (Ant. VIII. ii. 1); and that the walls that encompassed Jerusalem might correspond to the dignity of the city, he both repaired them and made them higher, and built great towers upon them (Ant VIII. vi. 1). Jer. 5:16. Quiver: Layards Monuments of Nineveh represent the enormous and powerful bows carried by the Assyrian warriors. The bowmen and cavalry formed the main strength of Chaldean armies. Quiver was the case in which each soldier packed and carried his arrows, and was probably slung over the shoulder. Jer. 5:17. Impoverish thy cities: see Lit. Crit. below. Jer. 5:27. Cage full of birds: cage, , rendered in Amo. 8:1, basket, because made of wickerwork: in this birds were secured by the fowler, and the door left open as a decoy to birds which were free, who no sooner entered than the door fell.

8. Literary Criticism. Jer. 5:1. Executeth judgment: lit. doing right; no allusion here to conduct of public judicial officers, but to general behaviour of men. Seeketh the truth: not verbal, but practical truthy; i.e., integrity, good-faith, truth in actions. Jer. 5:3. Upon the truth, i.e., practical truth (as in Jer. 5:1); fidelity as opposed to falseness (Jer. 5:2) Jer. 5:4. Therefore: too vigorous a rendering; then, and. Jer. 5:6. Wolf of the evenings: , evening; , desert: the word here is a plural form . The prevailing conclusions of commentators derive this plural from, ; thus, wolf of the deserts: but Gesenius gives this plural from , evening; and De Wett, Hend., and Noyes retain wolf of the evenings. Jer. 5:7. How shall I pardon? more correctly. What reason, why should I, how can I? Though I fed them to the full: thirty-three of De Rossis MSS., the Sept., Vulg., Syriac, Arabic, Tayum, and many expositors, ancient and modern, retain this reading from the word ; appealing to Jer. 5:28 and Deu. 32:15; Hos. 13:6; Neh. 9:25, as parallels; where bountifulness of earthly enjoyments issued in apostasy. But the word should be and I made them swear: the preponderance of existing MSS. supports this pointing, and most modern commentators prefer it; i.e., God made them pledge allegiance to Himself; both originally at Sinai (Exo. 24:7), and recently during Josiahs reforms (2Ki. 23:3; 2Ch. 34:7 seq.). Jer. 5:8. Fed horses in the morning: a difficulty with the word rendered in the morning. This derives from , to rise early in the morning. Hitzig traces the word to , to draw; hence draught horses. Ewald, altering the word to , gives lustful horses. But the safer and most preferable derivation of the word is from , the Hiphil particle; to wander (Maurer, Keil, Umbriet, Speakers Com.), they rove about. Jer. 5:10. Walls and battlements: battlements is a false rendering: tendrils, i.e., of the vine (Jer. 2:21) or branches (Isa. 18:5). The walls of the vineyard are to be scaled, and while the stock of the vine is to be spared, all her tendrils are to be torn or hewn off. Jer. 5:12. It is not he, i.e., not God, who has spoken of judgments; therefore the menaces were false, wind (Jer. 5:13); or He is not, i.e., there is no God to punish as is predicted (Psa. 14:1). Jer. 5:13. Thus shall it be done unto them, or, so be it done; may the calamities they threaten come upon the prophets themselves. Jer. 5:15. A mighty nation: the word signifies perennial, as of an ever-flowing stream, or enduring, as rocks; the same word is used of both. An ancient nation. , from eternity, of immemorial antiquity. Jer. 5:17. Impoverish cities, break in pieces, batter down: with the sword, with weapons, or by force of arms. Jer. 5:28. Yet they prosper, rather, that they may prosper, viz., the fatherless. Jer. 5:31. Rule by their means: lit. at their hand; Sep. and Vulg, suggest, the priests applaud with their hands the false prophecies of peace: the Syriac, held their hands, i.e., strengthened and supported the false prophets. Rather, at or under their hands; the priests rule as the false prophets direct.

HOMILIES AND OUTLINES ON SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 5

Section

Jer. 5:1-9.

A profligate people ripe for vengeance.

Section

Jer. 5:10-19.

Forewarning despised, judgment prepared.

Section

Jer. 5:20-25.

Solemn reasons for fearing God.

Section

Jer. 5:26-31.

Spiritual criminality of most hideous form.

Jer. 5:1-9. A PROFLIGATE PEOPLE RIPE FOR VENGEANCE

The facts: not an upright or godly man could be found in Jerusalem (Jer. 5:1-2). All were spiritually incorrigible and defiant (Jer. 5:3). Excusing the poor in part, because of their spiritual ignorance, it was yet found that the rich and learned were insolently impious (Jer. 5:4-5). All this necessitated direct punishment and destruction (Jer. 5:6). God could discover no ground for pardon or pity in their case (Jer. 5:7-8). Vengeance mast fall on them (Jer. 5:9).

I. Lenient conditions of pardon (Jer. 5:1). Find a good man, and I will pardon the city! 1. Appalling corruption of society. Either: (1.) Though many esteemed themselves good and pious, God saw all to be vile. Or: (2.) If any were true and righteous he dare not openly show his religion (Isa. 59:14). 2. Easy terms of mercy. God asked ten righteous in Sodom: but would spare Jerusalem for one! (1.) How He loved and desired to spare the city. (2.) How slow to anger and of great kindness.

II. Blasphemous show of piety. Though utterly iniquitous, the profession of religion had not been abandoned (Jer. 5:2). 1. It gratified and quieted their conscience. 2. But it incensed the God of truth (Isa. 29:13; Pro. 12:22).

III. Hardened resistance of God (Jer. 5:3). Their gross irreligion was not because God had not done all He could to restrain and correct them. Yet He whose eyes are upon the truth saw only falsity. 1. God had afflicted them in mercy; but the stroke awakened no penitential response. 2. God had corrected them with severity; but they resisted the design of the Lord in thus consuming them. Instead: 3. They fortified themselves against God and His judgments. And, 4. Deliberately refused to return to Him.

IV. Prevailing social corruption (Jer. 5:4-5). 1. From the lowest grade to the highest society was godless. 2. Ignorance or knowledge altered not their case; the poor know not, &c., but the great have known the way of the Lord; yet from the least to the greatest every one was evil (chap. Jer. 6:13). The poor blindly wander, but the rich are blasphemously wilful: but so it was, all flesh had corrupted its way. What a catalogue of sins is here given! Jer. 5:1. Total absence of integrity in public life; Jer. 5:2, Hypocrisy in religion; Jer. 5:3, Incorrigible hardness of heart; Jer. 5:4, Degradation of the poor; Jer. 5:5, Debauchery of the rich; Jer. 5:7-8, Shameless idolatry and frightful immorality. Surely these had sunk to the depths of Satan.

V. Righteous punishment threatened (Jer. 5:6). I. Its nature definitely known to God; for He fixes positive consequences to sin; not merely gives the sinner up to indefinite miseries. 2. Its severity fully determined. For every one, therefore none shall elude it; torn in pieces, therefore none shall outbrave it. 3. Its justice unquestionable; because their transgressions, &c. Gods dealings even with rebels are not arbitrary or extreme: He lets each transgressor mete out his own misery by the decision of merit.

VI. An insulted God avenged (Jer. 5:9). 1. Can any challenge the justice? What are these things to which God makes appeal? (1.) Gods own children had forsaken Him (Jer. 5:7). (2.) Openly identified themselves with idols. (3.) Violated His laws. (4.) Utterly polluted the homes and the city (Jer. 5:7-8). 2. Can any suggest reasons of mercy? (1.) Should such vileness be tolerated? (Jer. 5:7-8). (2.) Ought such falsity to be connived at? (Jer. 5:1-2). (3.) Can any Divine correction avail? (Jer. 5:3). (4.) Are there any who merit to be spared? (Jer. 5:1; Jer. 5:4-5). (5.) Is the judgment heavier than is deserved? (Jer. 5:6). 3. Can any hope to evade Gods vengeance? (1.) Not by subtle devices and deception (Jer. 5:2-3). (2.) Yet by penitential pleading for pardon (Jer. 5:1). (3.) Calvary is our sole hope.

Jer. 5:10-19. FOREWARNING DESPISED: JUDGMENT PREPARED

Multitudes are ruined by fancying that God will not be so strict to punish iniquity as His Word forewarns (Jer. 5:12). This was Satans first snare laid for man (Gen. 3:4); and men easily fall into it still. Sinners are ready to deny a message to be from God which troubles them in, and would drive them from, their sins (Jer. 5:13).

I. God disowns them (Jer. 5:10). They are not the Lords (see Lit. Crit. on battlements), i.e., such vile outgrowths from the stock of David God will not regard as His people. 1. They acted deceitfully with God (Jer. 5:11). 2. They talked defiantly against God (Jer. 5:12-13), showing(1.) An absence of reverence or regard for God Himself,it is not He, rather He is not (see Lit. Crit.); (2.) Utter heedlessness of Gods Word,mere wind (Jer. 5:13); 3. They wickedly menaced Gods messenger (Jer. 5:13),Thus shall it be done, &c. This filled up the measure of their iniquity (Mat. 23:30-33). Thus had they ruthlessly broken every link that united them with the Lord, and defaced every feature which identified them with Him and His true people. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His (Rom. 8:9). I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (Mat. 7:23).

II. God dooms them. Jehovah speaks, and there is a dreadful wherefore determining His utterance; it is a deliverance of Judah to wrath. 1. The threatenings they derided shall devour them as fire (Jer. 5:14), burn within their consciences and memories,the fire never to be quenched: an inward terror at the wrath of God should consume them as wood, burning up their complacency, their fearlessness, their hopes, their delusions. 2. The foe they disregarded should waste and ruin them. (1.) Protection and defences should fail; walls scaled (Jer. 5:10), fenced cities destroyed (Jer. 5:17). (2.) A scourging a lversary should desolate them; God would bring it, for He commands nations to do His will (Jer. 5:15). (a.) Dreadful in itself (Jer. 5:15); (b.) terrible in war (Jer. 5:16); (c.) wasting the country (Jer. 5:17); (d.) destroying the cities (Jer. 5:17); (e.) implacable in slaughter (Jer. 5:6).

III. God deserts them (Jer. 5:19). As they had deserted Him. With what measure ye mete, &c. 1. Sinners dare to challenge the justice of God in their overthrow (Jer. 5:19, comp. Mat. 25:44). 2. God justifies His dealings with transgressors (Jer. 5:19); their punishment corresponds to their sin: having served strange gods wilfully, they shall serve strangers compulsorily. Yet, 3. God limits the severity of their punishment (Jer. 5:18), for His promises must be fulfilled to Judah, and His mercy must be illustrated before the world as well as His justice; and the enemy whom God employs to punish shal see that God gives not the sceptre into his hand. God is the Supreme King; His sceptre rules over mighty nations (Jer. 5:15), and is stretched over even the guiltiest sinners (Jer. 5:18), that their repentance might lead to their redemption.

Jer. 5:20-25. SOLEMN REASONS FOR FEARING THE LORD.

First: Argument from Gods government of the sea (Jer. 5:22-23). Preliminary remarks: 1. God, the author and governor of the sea, placed sand for bound of the sea. 2. God binds the sea within limits of law, by perpetual decree. 3. Gods laws are permanent in their control. 4. God is ever present in His laws and contrivances: Tremble at My presence which placed the sand, &c. 5. Gods presence in His all-pervading laws should have a restraining and reverencing influence upon men: Fear ye not me? saith the Lord, &c.

I. Gods government of the sea. 1. His government of the sea is suited to impress man with an idea of infinite power. 2. To impress man with the idea of consummate Wisdom 3. Of special goodness. Twofold: (a.) negatively, in checking the threatening invasion of the sea; (b.) affirmatively, in giving rain, &c. (Jer. 5:24). Its obedience is a matter of necessity: waves may toss themselves, but God absolutely controls. Its voice to man is, Fear Him, obey His commands, willingly bend to His will, ere He crush thee.

II. Mans revolting tendencies. 1. God has prescribed the bounds of mans actions and thoughts by befitting laws. As the sea has bounds, so there are limits to every finite being. 2. To overstep these limits is rebellion against the Great Lawgiver. 3. Man has revolted (Jer. 5:23), differing in this from the sea. (Nature protests and remonstrates against human lawlessness.) 4. Man can do what the sea can not: (a.) man has a heart, the sea has not; a will-power; (b.) this power in man has been prostituted to evil: rebellious heart. CON.: 1. God must govern heart and will by Heart and Will influences. 2. It is easier for God to rule oceans than man, because he has a rebellious heart. 3. Man, as a rebel, contrasts unfavourably with the material creation, and God notices it with painful emotion: Fear ye not Me? &c.Homilist.

Second: Argument from Gods bestowment of the harvest (Jer. 5:24-25). The history of Judah in Jeremiahs time shows His dealings with a sinful and impenitent nation, and offers awful warnings of the fate of such as resist His grace. despise His long-suffering, and harden themselves against His loving correction. 1. What befell the Jews may befall any nation whose offences against God are equally great and grievous. 2. The sins which provoked the indignation of Heaven may be learned. (a.) Idolatry and worship of false gods (Jer. 5:19). (b.) Habitual and impious perjury (Jer. 5:2). (c.) Scandalous uncleanness (Jer. 5:7). (d.) Covetous and oppressive to the poor (Jer. 5:26). (e.) Destitute of a habitual sense of Gods presence and power in the ordinary and natural dispensations of His mercy and Providence (Jer. 5:24).

I. Until the Gospel was communicated to the world, attentive observance of the dispensation of Providence was the principal means whereby Gods Spirit drew the Gentiles to Himself, and led them to piety and obedience. 1. It was the religion of Nature. Paul attested this at Lystra (Act. 14:15-17), and urged it upon the Romans (Rom. 1:19-20). 2. From Gods works alone, His being, power, mercy, may be fully and satisfactorily proved, even without the advantages of revelation: they show design; they attest a Creator, and an all-wise Author; while visible things, night and day, witness of the Most High, His greatness and His goodness. All His works appeal to us: Let us now fear the Lord.

II. Although we enjoy the full light of the glorious Gospel, we can never too closely keep in mind the fact that all things we see and enjoy are ordained by God. 1. We have less need than the heathen to learn about God from His outward and visible works; yet, 2. We are beholden to His Providence for all essential natural blessings. 3. Nothing in nature could reach maturity but for the fatherly care of God. Thus learning our total dependence on God, three consequences will follow: (1.) A perfect resignation to His will and trust in His mercy. He who has not withheld His own Son from our spiritual necessity, will not deny us anything needful to us. (2.) We must not pride ourselves in our worldly goods as if they were our own, nor set our hearts upon them as if sure of keeping them for ever. (3.) As God gives us all things, there is only one way of obtaining in this world whatever is needful and good for us, i.e., constantly make known our wants to Him in prayer.

III. From the natural events around us we may learn: 1. Diligence in our spiritual concerns, that the Word of Life may ripen in our hearts. 2. Pray that the Heavenly Sower will not pass us by in barrenness. 3. When observing the tender blade, reflect on the weakness of our advance in piety, and entreat Him who tempers all the elements to work all things together for our good. 4. When the harvest hour is nigh, let us think how short our time is, and pray that we may not be found blasted or unfruitful.Arranged from Sermon by Bishop Reginald Heber. Dated A.D. 1838.

Jer. 5:26-31. SPIRITUAL CRIMINALITY OF MOST HIDEOUS FORM

Guilt has its climax: sinners see it not as a wonder and a horror (Jer. 5:30), because they descend by gradual stages to the utmost depths of defilement, and grow accustomed to the horrible distortion of the life and affections; moreover, as they sink into the loathsome depths, their perception becomes darkened, and sensibilities grow sottish (Jer. 5:21). Else sinners would be horrified at themselves. But the spectacle of man distorted and debased is a wonderful and a horrible thing to the good and to God; wonderful, that man can sink to such depths, considering what he was and might become; horrible, that so fair a creature could become so foul, that Gods people can be rendered so hideously the children of the devil.

I. The predacious cruelty of the wicked (Jer. 5:26-27). Devoid of honourable feeling, they will wrong any one so as to advance themselves. 1. Malicious. 2. Cunning. 3. Treacherous. They who trust the wicked walk into swamps, follow a ghastly shadow, tread the ways to hell.

II. The gains of guilt and oppression (Jer. 5:27-28). Men of no conscience or restraints can prosper and aggrandise themselves more easily than the good; nor wonder: earth is their heaven; in life they have their good things; the god of this world feeds their sensual souls; but woe follows all. 1. Society accords place and power to the successful; become great. 2. Wealth is within the reach of the scheming and extortionate; waxen rich. 3. Self-indulgence and luxury become their rule; waxen fat, and shine. 4. They may be pitied who are in their power (Jer. 5:28); for avarice and oppression have rendered them heartless and selfish, dead to all sense of justice, or compassion for the suffering and injured.

III. The horrifying extremes of sin. To what it will grow. 1. The social leaders surpass all ordinary bounds of wickedness (Jer. 5:28); i.e., they cast off all restraint; fear not God, nor regard men; use their power and wealth for grossest tyranny and foulest immorality (Jer. 5:8). 2. The religious leaders beguile the people with impostures; prophets and priests combine to decoy and destroy souls. Awful when spiritual guides plot their peoples ruin! 3. The godless nation luxuriates in delusions. Enjoy the deceptions; abandon themselves to licentiousness and vileness; cast off Jehovah and make gods of their own gratifications and lusts. Such a scene is only fit for the blackness of darkness.

IV. The fearful issues of all. 1. There comes an end thereof (Jer. 5:31). 2. Sinners would then gladly do anything to escape. 3. The terrible reckoning will surely come (Jer. 5:29). God Himself will comfort them: visit them. Vengeance will break forth on such transgressors. There will be bitterness and woe at the end, without amelioration or redemption.

HOMILIES AND COMMENTS ON VERSES OF CHAPTER 5

Jer. 5:1. Theme: A CITY SAVED FOR ONE GOOD MAN.

There were good men at this time in Jerusalem: king Josiah, Baruch the scribe, Zephaniah the prophet; but the righteous were driven into seclusion by the public immorality and hostility, so that in the streets and broad places not one could be found. Note: There may be holy men praying and weeping in secret, though none in the highways: they may be forced to retreat from places of power and publicity, yet God knoweth them that are His. The prophet appeals to the people to find one good man among and of themselves. (Addenda on Jer. 5:1, Streets of Jerusalem, Seek a man.)

Great truths suggested:

I. Doom suspended while a Saviour is sought. God arrests the sword while the search is everywhere diligently prosecuted.

1. The high value of one good life: in Gods esteem; in a nations experience. Evils are thereby averted from many who neither appreciate nor recognise their benefactor. Ye are the salt of the earth. (Addenda, Jer. 5:1, One true man would avert woe.)

2. The saving mission of a holy man. One man of prayer may call down mercy on numbers: one zealous Christian may snatch hundreds as brands from the burning. The lone missionary among heathen. The earnest preacher of Jesus among a congregation. The diligent worker for Christ in society.

3. The sublime fulfilment of this in Jesus. Then there was One Man in the city. We can find a Man, for whose sake God will pardon. But as yet Christ had not come.

II. Doom necessitated because no Saviour could be found. There was not one good man to hold the gap against the foe. What a dreadful state of society; how utterly and hopelessly corrupt. Equally true in Gods sight, whose eyes are upon the truth (Jer. 5:3), that there is none righteous, no not one. Nowhere from among men could a sinless saviour be found.

1. The Christless sinners perplexity. He can discover no Saviour. The agonising devices of heathenism show this. The terror of men who have sought hope apart from the Gospel attests the same fact. The plaintive lament of the restless soul, Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! confirms the truth. There is no man, and therefore no pardon, till Jesus is found.

2. The perilous state of humanity. The sword was unsheathed against Jerusalem: wrath is declared against all mankind, for that all have sinned. The cry appropriate to all is, Lord, save, we perish! Dire and awful is the nearing doom (Jer. 5:15-16; comp. Rom. 2:9; Rev. 9:14-17).

3. The effectual resources of God. Not for Jerusalem, but for humanity, God found a Saviour. She knew not the day of her visitation (Isa. 19:16-17; Isa. 19:20; Job. 33:24). The very depths of human sin, and absence of even one true man among men, forms only the dark background to throw out into greater distinctness and beauty the perfections of Jesus (Psa. 45:2; Heb. 7:26).

Comments: The wicked world has in the pious and believing a noble treasure and defence.Lange.

See how ready God is to forgive, how swift to show mercy. So pleasing would it be to God to find any such, that for their sakes He would pardon the city; if there were but ten righteous men in Sodom, if but one of a thousand, of ten thousand in Jerusalem, it should be spared.M. Henry.

Sodom could not be destroyed while one righteous man was in it (Gen. 19:13; Gen. 19:16); and Zoar was spared by the sole worth of that same one man (Jer. 5:20-22).

Jer. 5:2. Theme: PIOUS SPEECH CLOAKING AN IMPIOUS SOUL.

Comments: Though they make an outward and fashionable profession of the name of the Lord in worshipping Him, in swearing by Him, yet it is but in falsehood and hypocrisy.Bishop Hall.

As the Lord liveth: the common form of oath among the Jews; yet this sacred oath used only to deceive and defraud.Wogan.

They swear falsely, that is (1.) They are not sincere in the profession they make to God, but are false to Him. (2.) Though they appeal to no other God, they make no conscience of calling Jehovah to witnss to a lie. They do not swear by idols, yet they forswear themselves; which is an affront to the God of truth, as swearing by idols would have been an affront to the only true God.M. Henry.

Jer. 5:3. THE VIRTUE FOR WHICH GODS EYES SEARCH. Eyes upon truth: comp. Psa. 51:6; Joh. 4:23. Eyes upon an object denote (i.) diligent inspection; nothing escapes; (ii.) delicate perception; the least is not lost to sight, though but as a grain of mustard-seed; (iii.) desirous expectation; so anxious to find the grace He loves.

Naegelsbach renders the words: Lord, thine eyes look for faith; and remarks (a.) The Lord seeks it, for He regards it. (b.) He sought by manifold chastisements to bring the people to it, but in vain. And asks, Why does God impose faith as the only condition of salvation? (i.) Because faith gives the greatest glory to God. (ii.) Because it is at the same time the easiest and most difficult exercise of the human heart. For (a.) to believe, i.e., to accept Gods grace as a free gift, every one is, and must be, able to do. (b.) He who can do it has vanquished himself at the one point, and won all.

God looks to the faith, the upright purpose of the heart, and without it the nominal fealty of an oath is an abomination.Speakers Com.

Jer. 5:3. Theme: GODS CHASTISEMENTS DESIGNED FOR MANS CONVERSION.

Here is only a complaint of the misimprovement of afflictions, yet the right use is indicated: they should have grieved for their undutifulness to God, and with relentings for sin they should have received correction; submitted to the rod as to the chastisement of a Father, without sullen murmuring or fainting; their faces should have been flushed with ingenuous shame, and washed with penitential tears: they ought immediately to have returned to God. Hence ingenuous sorrow, shame, and repentance, a submissive, corrigible temper, and a sincere conversion to God, are the designed ends of the afflictions He sends upon impenitent sinners.

The Gospel is preached, Holy Spirit communicated, to arouse consciences. When Word disregarded, conscience slighted, Spirit resisted, then our Heavenly Father uses the rod; the one end being that we turn to the Lord. Inquire, What is it to turn to the Lord?

I. Turning to the Lord presupposes a deep conviction that you have gone astray, both from way of duty and of safety. You will never leave your present course till plainly see it leads you down to chambers of death; nor turn to the Lord, till realise that your interests and duty render it urgent and necessary.

1. If God should open the eyes of the unconverted, what astonishing and unsuspected views would present themselves of your past course and present condition! That all your highest interests have been neglected. 2. You would see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. 3. The purity and strictness of Gods law, the equity and terror of its penalty. 4. Your obligations to Him as your Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer. Oh, that experience may be your teacher of the reality of these things!

II. Turning to God supposes a full conviction of the necessity of immediate response. 1. Because if you die in your present condition you will certainly be lost. 2. Because you have no time for delay. And, 3. It will wound your heart to think this work has not been done long ago. Dying men bear testimony that the present hour is the most fit season for turning to God.

III. If afflictions should prove the means of turning you to God, they will rouse you to most earnest persevering endeavours that you may truly find Him. Pray without ceasing: Behold, he prayeth! Accustom yourselves to solemn meditation; hear and read Gods Word. Seek the society of those who know the Lord. These will promote your conversion. Also, you will guard against whatever would hinder it; shun wicked courses; moderate your pursuits of the world; avoid evil company. With fear and trembling the awakened sinner would begin to work out his salvation.

IV. If afflictions should turn you to God, you would be made deeply sensible of your inability, that the Holy Spirits grace was essential to your true conversion. 1. Your endeavours avail to avoid hindrances and seek helps. 2. Yet your own heart is against you, and the disease of sin is irrecoverable but by Divine grace. Then the prayer will arise, Turn me and I shall be turned (Jer. 31:18).

V. If ever you turn to the Lord, you will realise that Christ is the only way of access to God. You will come as criminals upon the footing of grace, not merit; will renounce all your righteousness; a broken-hearted rebel. Till such, you have nothing to do with Jesus.

VI. If you are turned to God, you will experience a great change in temper and conduct. 1. Heart and mind will take a new bias; thoughts and affections towards God; aspirations towards heaven; Jesus dear to you; all things become new. Turned to God and holiness; turned from sin and its pleasures. Also, 2. Your practices will follow the inward impulse and principle of religion.

VII. If turned to the Lord, your mind will habitually retain that turn. Your religion not a transient fit, but permanent and persevering.

Application: Do you in your consciences hope you have been converted and turned to God? Does your case answer to this description? But some of you may have discovered yourselves as unconverted. Are you willing to turn to God with all your hearts? Come, and let us return to the Lord, for He hath torn &c. (Hos. 6:1).Rev. J. Davies, A.M., President of College, New Jersey, A. D. 1756.

Jer. 5:4. Theme: IGNORANCE MAY EXCUSE IRRELIGION.

I. Their sad disadvantages. 1. Poor, living in rudeness and neglect, their existence absorbed in struggles to live. 2. Foolish, ignorant and erring from lack of training and teaching. Their intellectual life wholly neglected.

II. Their spiritual deprivations. 1. Know not the way of the Lord; untaught as to the manner of life He requires, the true religion He revealed. 2. Nor the judgment of their God; that which He had pronounced right: for false prophets confused and misled them, and they followed as those who were blind. A pitiful case: spiritual dupes.

III. Their excusable deficiencies. God does not reap where He has not sown. To whom little is given, of them He asks little. He judges according to what we have, not what we have not (Num. 12:11). 1. Gods tender consideration. 2. Discriminating commiseration. (Addenda, Jer. 5:4, Ignorance and irreligion.)

Comments:
i. Prevailing ignorance is the lamentable cause of abounding impiety and iniquity. What can come from them that sit in darkness but works of darkness?
ii. This is commonly a reigning sin among poor people. There are the devils poor, as well as Gods, who might know the way of the Lord without book-learning; but they are willingly ignorant.M. Henry.

Jer. 5:5. Theme: KNOWLEDGE SHOULD ENSURE PIETY.

It is a dramatic contrast. The prophet assumes to imagine and expect that their advantages would be accompanied with appropriate religious responses: superior socially, superior spiritually. The great; i.e., the wealthy and educated, removed beyond blinding care for their daily wants; they have known, possessed the advantages of education and religious knowledge. Yet these, instructed in the law, and who ought to teach their inferiors (Mic. 3:1), have violated every precept and been defiant of God. (i.) A buse of advantages. (ii.) Proportionate guilt. (iii.) Heavier condemnation (Luk. 12:47).

I will speak unto the great men. Zinzendorf remarks: A preacher has no more miserable and ignorant hearers than the respectable. While they are spelling their way back to the cross, and are getting so far as to know how to learn that we are saved alone by the grace of the Lord Jesus; till we get them so far as to understand that the command of the New Testament is to believe, and all that morality can lug about for eighty years is gone with the word, Son, be of good courage, thy sins are forgiven thee, the ignorant would have been able to do it thrice. A teacher greatly deceives himself if he seeks among the respectable that comfort in his office which he does not meet with among the common people.Quoted in Lange.

Jer. 5:4-5. THE IGNORANCE OF THE POOR AND THE INSOLENCE OF THE GREAT.

I. The character of many of the poor as here described. Seeing them impudent in sin, and unreformed by the judgments of God, Jeremiah says, Surely these are the poor, &c.

1. Their obstinacy in sin was owing to their ignorance(1.) Of religion; the way of the Lord. (2.) Of Gods providences; the judgments of our God. Ignorance is still the source of error and sin. (a.) Men misapprehend the nature of God; presume upon His mercy. (b.) Form vague and incorrect views of the salvation of Christ; ignore that it is a doctrine according to godliness (Eph. 4:18.)

2. Their ignorance was in great measure occasioned by their poverty. (a.) This deprived them of education; uninformed as to principles and religion. (b.) All their thoughts and cares are about their worldly wants. (c.) They absent themselves from Gods house because of poor attire. (d.) They associate with persons like-circumstanced and like-minded, who encourage one another in neglect of religion; and, (e.) They thereby lose all self-respect, sin impudently and glory in their shame. Yet their ignorance was culpable; they lived in a land of light, had more advantages than the rest of the world. So with the poor in Britain, who yet live in a most stupid and lamentable ignorance as to God, their souls, and eternity.

II. The character of the great as here described. Not only men of honourable birth, large fortunes and considerable learning; but those of easy circumstances, educated, having capacity and leisure to learn Divine things.

1. They had a better knowledge of religion than the poor. Their minds cultured; kept from learning the manners of the vulgar; attained a general knowledge of the world; had some knowledge of religionits theory; they could consequently enter into the prophets reasoning and address.

2. They acted as bad as the poor, or worse. Like headstrong, refractory oxen, that struggle and break the yoke. Men should submit to the restraints of reason and conscience, to the authority and law of God. But though light was in their understandings, their wills were perverse and affections misplaced. They would not submit to prophets reproofs, offered violence to reason and conscience, broke the bands of the Lord asunder (Psa. 2:5).

3. Their conduct was chiefly owing to their greatness. (a.) Lifted up with pride, they resented admonition. (b.) They think religion is only to restrain the vulgar, not to bind those in rank. (c.) They shrink from showing reverence for God and being exact in religious observances. (d.) Worldly things have mischievous influence upon their hearts. (e.) Flattered by others, they forget or but formally pay homage to the Most High. (f.) They mind earthly things, neglecting the culture and interests of the soul.

Christ met chief opposition from the great, learned, and rich men.

Application: 1. Learn what is the most important and profitable knowledge. 2. The advantages of being placed in the middle condition of life (Pro. 30:8). 3. What an excellent charity it is to furnish the poor with the means of knowledge. Let the poor know that to be wilfully ignorant is an inexcusable crime. And the great that they have no cloak for their sin, if they allow their wealth to fortify themselves against Gods truth and calls. The rich and poor meet together at death: the small and great shall stand before the bar of Christ in judgment.Rev. Job Orton, A.D. 1775, Abstract.

Jer. 5:7. Theme: IMPOSSIBILITY OF PARDON.

Can it be? Is it in accordance with Gods dealings with man? (Comp. Isa. 1:18; Mic. 7:18.)

I. Pardon is possible to chiefest sinners.

II. Yet only on the terms of repentance and return to God.

III. But, by forsaking Him, men forsake all possibility of salvation.

When I fed them to the full, &c. (See Literary Criticisms on verse; also Addenda to chap, 5, Jer. 5:7.)

Jer. 5:9. Theme: AN OUTRAGED AND AVENGING GOD (See Literary Criticisms on Jer. 5:7, I fed them to the full.)

God had bound them in oath to allegiance; yet they violated their spiritual relationship by abandoning themselves to idols; and, in following the defiling indulgences of idolatrous orgies, they had repudiated Gods laws which they covenauted, at Sinai and under Josiahs reformation, to keep (Exo. 24:3; Exo. 24:7; 2Ki. 23:3); and thus violated the sanctity of social relationship.

I. By evil deeds of men God is outraged.

II. For evil deeds of men God will be avenged. The harlots houses are preferentially and metaphorically, if not exclusively, idol temples; but the charge glides from this religious sense, viz., spiritual inconstancy to God, into the physical sense, viz., carnal uncleanness among themselves; for prostitution formed part of idolatrous worship.

Jer. 5:10. Theme: A COMMISSION TO DESTROY.

How alien it is to the Divine heart to destroy is clear from Eze. 18:31-32; Joh. 3:16. And Zion was Gods beloved city, dear to His eye (Psalms 48). Yet, though slow to anger, averse from destroying, and tender towards Jerusalem, the edict goes forth. God summons the foe to waste and destroy the Holy City, and those who dwelt therein.

I. The scene depicted. A vineyard enclosed by walls (see Lit. Crit. on verse); the enemy scales them; his swords ruthlessly cut off branches, shoots, down to the very root-stem, but there his destructive work ends. Its meaning: Judah, a noble vine (Jer. 2:21), but its outgrowth had deteriorated, yielding now only sour and poisonous grapes (Deu. 34:2-3). All these sinful descendants of the stock of David should perish, but the race must not become extinct.

II. The destruction commanded. Judea is Gods vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7); none could enter except He permitted. But He calls the invader, and commissions him to use his weapon freely. What a lamentable case for that people! Not only had God withdrawn His carea negative calamity, but He summoned the enemy to destroya positive calamity.

III. The reservation enjoined. The wilful destroyer was not free: limits were imposed. Our enemies are not omnipotent. Gods will rules the issues of war: His mercy limits the ravages of justice. The Jews must not be exterminated; for the promise must stand (Lev. 26:44).

IV. The explanation furnished. This overthrow, this abandonment of Gods people to an imperious, impious foe, is startling,requires explanation: given, They are not the Lords. Yet they were outgrowths of the stock of David. 1. Ancestral privileges may be forfeited. 2. Descendants do not always retain the same piety which distinguished their forefathers. 3. Consequently the covenant of promise is annihilated. Every man stands out singly responsible to God; he cannot escape the punishment of his own sin by any ancestral relationships. The children of best of parents may come to ruin.

Jer. 5:11. (See chap. Jer. 3:20.) Though Judah and Israel were at variance with each other, they agreed in wronging the Lord, who had given them all the national blessings, victories and honours they ever knew. Israel had reaped the bitter fruits: O that Judah would be forewarned! Otherwise, they would be united in misery. Alike faithless, a like fate.

Jer. 5:12-13. Theme: ALIENATION, THE ROAD TO ATHEISM. They have belied the Lord, i.e., denied Him, Either: 1. Denied that God was such as Jeremiah described,a punisher of evildoers; or, 2. Denied that the coming disasters were in any sense Gods doing,He has nothing to do with it, they come apart from Him; or, 3. Denied the existence of Jehovah as God, as their God,repudiated Him, wanted to hear nothing of or from Him.

I. Moral degeneracy produces mental obscurity. Sin deadens the sensibility, excludes God from thought, until practical indifference and defiance of Him rule the life. Easy and natural, when we dislike God, to ignore Him and revolt from F is claims.

II. Mental obscurity issues in spiritual darkness. Conscience seared, past feeling, desiring not the knowledge of Gods ways, till the fool says in his heart, There is no God. And the god of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not.

Theme: OBSTINATE UNBELIEF. i. Its nature. It denies God, and therefore despises (a.) Gods Word, (b.) Gods messengers. ii. Its punishment. The tables are turned. (a.) The unbeliever, before fire, now becomes wood. (b.) The Word of God, before regarded as Wood, becomes fire.Naeg.

The Word is not in them, rather speaker is not, &c. It is not a noun, but a verb with the article instead of the possessive pronoun; so that literally it means, And he who speaketh is not in them, i.e., there is no one who speaketh in them,what the prophets say has no higher authority than themselves.Speakers Com.

Jer. 5:14. Theme: GODS METHOD OF CONFUTING UNBELIEF. (Addenda, Jer. 5:14, My words shall devour them.)

i. Withering the intellectual vanity in the unbeliever: giving to His Word a fiery penetrating power, consuming his pride, confidence, and hopes. It may be as a fire in his bones, destroying all peace, ravaging his conscience and heart with burning terrors.

ii. Fulfilling His Word upon the unbeliever: he finds out its truth by experiencing the doom it threatened: the fire of Divine anger descends upon him.

Note: Unbelief must and will be consumed with fire. Happy he in whom it is consumed in this life by Gods Word; but, failing this, it will be consumed in the life to come by Gods wrath. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all them that forget God.

Jer. 5:15-17. Theme: WRATHFUL AGENTS OF DESTRUCTION.

God can summon them: historically He has done so; prophetically He will. This day of salvation intervenes. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet 2Th. 1:7-10. In the past He used the armies of earth; in the future He will use the armies of heaven. Mighty were the Chaldeans (Jer. 5:15): He will come with mighty angels (comp. Rev. 10:1; Rev. 18:21; Psa. 103:20); agents of Divine wrath (Rev. 16:1; 2Th. 1:8; 2Ki. 20:15).

I. Unmeasured resources of Divine justice. Jews knew nothing of Chaldeans (Jer. 5:15); we cannot penetrate the unknown realms, or measure the might and terrors of Gods ministers (Mat. 26:53).

II. Pitiable insecurity of transgressors. They make defences, and trust in them (Jer. 5:17); but what can shut away affliction, death, the judgment?

III. Merciful interval of propitiation. Why forewarned? That we may flee from the wrath to come (Heb. 6:18).

Jer. 5:18. Theme: A LIMIT TO JUST JUDGMENTS. Light gleams beyond the dreadful vision. Would that a word as definite could anywhere be found to encourage hope after the great judgment of the world! How contrasted with this promise for Judah are the deliberate, multiform, and emphasized threatenings of the New Testament as to the eternal fate of the rebel soul!

Jer. 5:19. Theme: GODS EXPLANATION OF MANS SPIRITUAL MISERIES. The bewildering inquiry is ever rising, Why is humanity spiritually enslaved and banished? Why under alien tyranny? Why outlawed from the promised land? God answers all: Man makes his own misery; seeks his own enslavement; forfeits his rightful inheritance. And this, not because God has made man subject to sin, but despite Gods remedies for mans redemption from sin. He forges his own chains, and procures his own banishment.

I. Wilful self-destruction.

1. Desertion of our only Saviour. For God was Judahs Saviour (Isa. 45:21). Even as revealed in Jesus and on Calvary, men despise the Lord that bought them.

2. Deliberate enslavement to alien gods. Admitted strange gods to Jehovahs territory; then served them. This is voluntary slavery (Rom. 6:16; 2Pe. 2:19). Thou has destroyed thyself.

II. Retribution in kind. Answer them, Like as, &c. The penalty corresponds to the sin. 1. Forsaken. They having forsaken God, would be forsaken by God; left to the enemy and to exile. 2. Serve strangers. They had preferred strangers, foreign gods, and voluntarily bowed to them; they should perforce serve strangers, foreign rulers, and know the bitterness of alien tyranny. 3. In a land not theirs. They had introduced these strange gods into a land which was not theirs, but Jehovahs; they should be carried into a land not theirs, slaves into captivity.

Serve the spiritual usurper, rejecting Christ, you shall be led captive at his will into grievous exile, a land not yours, but prepared for the devil and his angels (Deu. 28:47-48).

Jer. 5:21. Theme: INDIFFERENCE. An evil ruinous to the soul: indifference to true and saving religion. How it prevails! Text exhibits it.

I. What God has done to produce pious consideration.

1. He has given powers of mind adapted to it. Eyes, to see, discern, read, &c. Ears, to hearken, messengers of truth. Understanding, to know, weigh, reflect, &c.

2. He has given us the means to answer to these powers. His Word; His servants; His providence, &c. So men are excuseless.

3. His Holy Spirit to strive, convince, &c.

II. The indifference men often exhibit.

1. The indifference of some is total, without any concern. Like stocks and stones.

2. Others are considerate only of the externals of religion. They hear and see and attend, &c., to the outward, and that only.

3. The consideration of some is only to the intellectual parts of the truth. A mental study; philosophical attention; such as they give to literature.

4. The consideration of others is occasional. Under very arousing discourses, providences, sickness, bereavements, &c.

III. The consequences of this indifference.

1. It is extreemly foolish. Moral insanity: opposite of wisdom and prudence.

2. Detrimental to the soul. Makes it blind, deaf; robbing it of spiritual food and enjoyment; degrading it.

3. Specially offensive to God. Infatuated rebellion; ingratitude.

4. Must end in the souls ruin. Now is the period of souls probation. No moral fitness without devout consideration.

Application. 1. Examine and test yourselves. 2. Seek the quickening influences of the Divine Spirit. 3. Be resolved and wise now, lest perish.Rev. Jabes Burns, D.D.

Jer. 5:20-24. Theme: PERSUASIVES TO THE FEAR OF GOD. The prophet having reproved their sin and threatened Gods judgments, is sent on another errand which he must publish in Judah,to persuade them to fear God. This would be an effectual principle in their reformation, as its absence explained their apostasy.

I. He complains of the shameful stupidity of this people. 1. Their understandings were darkened. They possessed intellectual faculties and capacities, but did not employ and improve them (Jer. 5:21). Note: We cannot judge men by the advantages and opportunities they enjoy: sit in darkness in land of light; live in sin in holy land; bad in best of places. 2. Their wills were stubborn; not submit to rules of Divine law (Jer. 5:23). Observe: The revolting heart is a rebellious one: those who withdraw from their allegiance to God do not stop there, but, by siding with Satan, take up arms against Him.

II. He ascribes this to the want of the fear of God. 1. Their being without understanding (Jer. 5:21) he accounts for by this absence of fear (Jer. 5:22). If you keep up awe of God, you would be more observant of what He says. 2. Their rebellion and revolt (Jer. 5:23) he explains likewise (Jer. 5:24). They did not encourage the fear of the Lord, hence apostasy. Because we neglect to stir up our hearts to holy awe of God, we are so apt to rebel.

III. He suggests some things proper to possess us with a holy fear of God.

1. We must fear the Lord and His greatness. (Jer. 5:22). Shall we not tremble at His presence, be afraid of affronting or trifling with Him who, in nature and providence, gives such incontestable proofs of almighty power and sovereign dominion? He keeps and manages the sea! (1.) By this we see His universal sovereignty; therefore to be had in reverence. (2.) This shows how easily He could drown the world again, by withdrawing His decree; therefore we lie continually at His mercy, and should fear to make Him our enemy. (3.) Even the unruly waves obey Him,neither revolt nor rebel; why then should our hearts? (Jer. 5:23).

2. We must fear the Lord and His goodness (Hos. 3:5). We must fear the Lord our God (Jer. 5:24), i.e., worship Him, give Him glory, and keep ourselves in His love. (1.) Because He is always doing us good. (2.) Because these blessings are consequent upon His promise (Gen. 8:22). 3. Because we have such a necessary dependence upon Him. The fruitful seasons rendered the heathen inexcusable in their contempt of Him (Act. 14:17), yet the Jews were not wrought upon to fear Him, though it appears how much it is our interest to do so.M. Henry. (Addenda, Jer. 5:22, Sand for bound of the sea.)

On the fear of God. i. Motives from without. 1. Gods displays of power (Jer. 5:22; Jer. 5:24). 2. Gods displays of grace. ii. Inner conditions. 1. That we open our eyes and ears (Jer. 5:21.) 2. That we allow ourselves to be impelled by what we see and hear (Jer. 5:23).Naeg. in Lange. (Addenda, Jer. 5:23. Revolting heart.)

Neither does Gods power move the obdurate people to the fear of Him, nor do the proofs of His love make any impression.Keil.

This is a glorious discovery of the omnipotence and majesty of God. But that men are so secure, and think not of Him who allows them to live so securely, this is indeed an insane business.Zinzendorf, quoted in Lange.

They had the power of perception, and were responsible for the exercise of itHenderson.

The sea, the mightiest of Gods works, cannot prevail, cannot break His laws, because God has not endowed it with free-will. Man, physically impotent, can prevail, because, being made in Gods image, he is free.Speakers Com.

The appeal to Gods care for man (Jer. 5:24), offers proof which addresses itself chiefly to the thoughtful; hence he says, in their heart. By the intelligent study of Gods dealings, men perceive that they are not merely acts of power, but also of love.Ibid. (Addenda, Jer. 5:22, Tremble at my presence, which made the sea.)

Jer. 5:22-24. Theme: ADORATION OF GOD IN NATURE.

This the end of all the privileges with which Israel had been crowned from one generation to another! they had a revolting and rebellious heart. And as was the heart, so the life,revolted and gone from their God and Father. There was to them no Lord of heaven and earth to fear for His power or love for His goodness.

i. The more blessings they enjoyed, the more thankful they should have been. Yet it seems that the more gracious our Heavenly Father, the more thoughtless are His children; the more boundless His love, the more resolute mans ingratitude.

ii. Having rejected God spiritually, He yet continued to manifest Himself to them in nature. They absolutely refused Him as the object of soul-homage and love; would have no God but idols, no king but their own wild will. Either He must altogether hide Himself, or reveal Himself no longer in grace, but in nature.

iii. Gratitude to God for the fruits of the seasons is a common ground on which to argue effectually even with the darkest heathen. Thus Paul at Lystra (Act. 14:15-17). No one except those who say in their hearts there is no God, doubt Gods gifts in natures bounties.

iv. The heathen are denied excuse for their ignorance and idolatry, because of the marks of Gods love and power in the world around them (Rom. 1:20-21).

v. Yet the heathen, in outward forms at least, surpassed Jews and Christians. Though they felt after God rather than reached Him, the great multitude of the heathen never denied God in His gifts. They made offerings and sacrifices in acknowledgment of harvest, and sang thanksgivings to their gods. It wanted but a little more knowledge for them to join in Davids song (Psa. 65:9-13).

vi. There was, then, great sin on the part of Israel when, even as natural men, they ignored the mercies of Gods ordinary providence, and were not softened and converted by His unmerited goodness (Jer. 5:24).

vii. A bounteous season ought to awaken love and thankfulness to God. Yet this is not the feeling of all who bear the name of Christ. Peculiar to Christians to be ashamed of confessing God as the Orderer and Giver of all things. Where heathen and Mahometans would have a manly pleasure, as a matter of course, in acknowledging the heavenly Giver, Christians falter.

viii. God is exceedingly jealous of the honour due unto His name. He plagued guilty and thankless nations. He may do the same to us (Deu. 11:13-17; Deu. 8:10-18). Bethink that this God might call a man away in the midst of his thanklessness and unbelief! What measureless woe filled the heart of the Son of God as He thought of the curse upon sin and sinners,self-condemned, by the hardness of their hearts, to the dwelling-place of the thankless and wicked!

ix. The eye is blind to God in natural wonders, and the ear deaf amid His works, because the heart has not embraced Him in the Gospel of His Son. We refuse to bless the Creator because we have no portion in the Redeemer. Come to Him before you are removed from the world of nature and of grace.Arranged from Sermons by Rev. J. Garbett. (Addenda, Jer. 5:24, God, that giveth rain.)

Jer. 5:26. Theme: WICKED PROFESSORS THE BANE OF THE CHURCH.

Men as atrociously wicked might be found among the people of Jehovah as among the worst of the Gentiles. They were guilty of overreaching and defrauding one another, and thus their houses were replenished with the gains of deceit. Thus in every age: thus now.
The Church in glory is pure, undefiled; not so on earth. No society of Christians is endued with the spirit of infallibility; hence tares grow with wheat.

I. God has a people on earth. My people (comp. Isa. 63:7-9; Rom. 9:23-26). 1. His creation (Isa. 43:21). 2. Called by Him, from darkness to light. 3. Privileged people; pardoned, regenerated, adopted. (Comp. also Rom. 2:28-29; Php. 3:3; 1Pe. 2:9)

II. In the Church there is an unhappy admixture of wicked men. This truth illustrated in Lords parablesof ten virgins, tares and wheat, net cast into sea.

Gods people are not sinless, yet not allowedly wicked (Job. 10:7; Job. 10:15). A real Christian is anxious to be right (Psa. 139:23). Yet among them wicked men are found. This applies

1. To those religious establishments whose constitution and discipline offer no restraints to the admission of such characters. The gate is not strait, but wide. Baptismal regeneration of infants necessitates a lax admission to communion, &c.

2. The description is applicable to mere hearers of the Gospel. They are among Gods people (Eze. 33:31). Gospel preached to them in vain; Holy Ghost resisted; neglect great salvation. Is not this wicked?

3. Applicable to those who have entered the Church without real conversion. Walk according to the course of this world, and are by nature children of wrath. Such in our religious assemblages. None in heaven.

(1.) Some professors are secretly wicked (Tit. 1:16; 1Ti. 5:6). As Achan in camp of Israel, Judas among the twelve, Ananias at Jerusalem, Simon Magus in Samaria, Jezebel at Thyatira: such in all churches of saints.

(2.) Some professors are deceivers; hypocrites impose on others, and also on themselves. Say The temple of the Lord are we, but are of the synagogue of Satan (Joh. 8:54; Rev. 2:2; Rev. 2:9).

4. Applicable to those wilfully inactive in the Church. They belie their profession. Where is their zeal? &c.

5. Applicable to those who interrupt the peace and harmony of the Church.

Some have entered through the gate of human excitement, of creature passion, of filthy lucre, of ambition.

III. This mixture of the wicked with the godly is a fact. Are found, &c. By whom are they discovered?

1. Frequently by themselves (1Jn. 2:19).

2. Persecution has, and so has temptation.

3. By Christians, to whom their unholy course, &c., is a grief.

4. They are found by God (Rev. 3:18; Rev. 3:22). Odious to Him.

5. Some will not be found till the day of judgment (Mat. 3:12; Mat. 13:28-30).

IV. The injurious influence of the conduct of such professors.

1. They bring reproach upon religion (Rom. 2:24).

2. The hearts of the godly are grieved and their hands weakened (Jos. 7:12; Jos. 7:25; 1Jn. 2:7; Php. 3:18).

3. The Church is in danger of being injured by them (Hos. 5:3). A little leaven will leaven the lump (1Co. 5:6-8; Gal. 5:9-10).

4. It frequently prevents accessions to the Church.

5. The guilt of such persons is highly aggravated, and their punishment will be awful. Many stripes (Isa. 5:5; Hos. 10:1; Mat. 11:21).

Application: 1. Self-examination. Lord, is it I? 2. That may be a true Church though disorderly persons are found in it. 3. How little is a mere profession of religion to be trusted in or boasted of. The goat, though folded among the sheep, is a goat still, and must finally be separated from the flock (Mat. 25:32-33).Helps for the Pulpit.

Jer. 5:26-29. Theme: DECEITS OF THE WICKED.

God retains His claim: My people. Sees the snares (Jer. 5:26) and miseries (Jer. 5:28) they endure. Estimates the evil influences to which they are exposed (Jer. 5:26), and the calamities wrought by the wicked (Jer. 5:27).

I. Wickedness forces itself into every society. The Church, the home.

1. By hypocritical pretensions. 2. For predacious ends. The wicked are active, deceptive, plotting.

II. Wickedness is intent on human ruin (Joh. 8:41; Joh. 8:44).

1. Angry at goodness. 2. Reckless in mischief. 3. Envious of happiness. 4. Greedy of gain. Alas! men are the spoilers prey.

III. Wickedness can boast appalling success (Jer. 5:27).

1. Evil devices prosper. 2. Evildoers aggrandise themselves. Fill their houses with the gains of ungodliness: alas! fill the abode of doom with decoyed and destroyed souls.

IV. Wickedness thrives by utter heartlessness (Jer. 5:28; Isa. 32:17). Even the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. 1. The man who will wrong God will not scruple to wrong his fellows. 2. Mournful when the wicked are in great power. 3. How contrasted the treatment of the poor and oppressed by Christ (Psa. 72:12-14). 4. What need to pray and work that the wickedness of the wicked may come to an end.

V. Wickedness ensures Gods sure revenge (Jer. 5:29). God will: 1. Avenge His insulted honour. 2. His outraged laws. 3. The suffering victims. 4. The spoliation of His heritage. Oh, the doom of him on whom lies the blood of murdered souls! (Addenda, Jer. 5:26, They set a trap; Jer. 5:27, Retribution in kind.)

Jer. 5:30-31. A CRY OF WARNING IN A PERIOD OF UNIVERSAL APOSTASY.

i. The condition of the people is shocking and abominable: for (a.) The leaders of the people mislead them. (b.) The people wish to be misled, ii. The consequences correspond to the guilt (comp. Jer. 5:25; Jer. 5:14; Jer. 5:16).Naeg.

My people love to have it so. It is criterion of false teaching that it lightens the yoke of Gods law, removes His fear from the conscience, and leaves man to his own nature; and with this man is only too ready to be content.Speakers Com.

The credulous confidence of the ignorant has in all ages been at the command of an interested priesthood.Hend.

It appears clear from various parts of the Old Testament, that a great number of persons pretending to prophecy arose among the Hebrews, by whom the exertions of the true prophets were greatly counteracted, and the ruin of the nation accelerated.Ibid.

Like sought, like found. The people wish to have false preachers, and get them, and a blind man leads the blind, until both fall into the ditch (Luk. 6:39).Cramer.

The fatal consequences. Consider:

i. What reckoning would be for their wickedness (Jer. 5:29). Sometimes mercy rejoices against judgment; How shall I give thee up? Here judgment is reasoning against mercy; Shall I not visit? It denotes:

1. The certainty and necessity of Gods judgments. Vengeance must come.

2. The justice and equity of Gods judgments. He appeals to the sinners own conscience. Do not such guilty abominations merit punishment.

ii. What was the direct tendency of their wickedness (Jer. 5:31), i.e.

1. What a pitch of wickedness you will come to at last! What will you do? What will this grow to? Worse and worse.

2. What a pit of destruction you will come to at last! Nothing can be expected but a deluge of wrath from God.

Note: Those who walk in bad ways would do well to consider the tendency of them both to greater sin and utter ruin.M. Henry.

Theme: THE DISMAL OUTLOOK. Text: What will you do in the end thereof? A troublesome question, ghastly in its subtle suggestiveness. Lifts veil of imagination on dark outlook. Vague horrors. There is something beyond the immediate present. That beyond is solemn and dreadful enough to dwarf the consideration of the present. Man has a future. Life goes on to stupendous issues. All things verge to a crisis. What will you do in the end thereof?

I. That wicked courses come to an end. The book of human history will close. Angel swear, Time shall be no more? The Archangels trump will sound. Every life must be reckoned.

1. The interval may be delusively pleasant.
2. Men may dream away life in heedlessness.
3. The inevitable close comes on. Death. Judgment.

II. The in the end wicked courses are calamitous. Boat in the current over the rapids. Spendthrift comes to penury. Prodigality leads to squandered health and husks.

1. The terror of a defenceless soul. What do?
2. The urgency of preparation. Do something now.

3. The value of a good hope. Need to do nothing but hide in Christ. How blessed to feel sure (2Ti. 1:12).

III. That in the calamitous end the wicked will have no refuge or plea. What will you do? Having neglected great salvation; alienated infinite love; despised and offended Jesus; lost your sole interval of escape?

1. Utter dismay (Isa. 2:19; Rev. 6:16).

2. Utterly defenceless. Deserted by all human comforters; every false hope gone; and the sinners Friend your avenging Judge. Not a plea left you to excuse or extenuate your guilt.

IV. That without a refuge or plea the end of all is irremediable ruin (Jer. 5:29). (Addenda, Jer. 5:31. What do in the end?)

1. Use the auspicious present. 2. Forsake evil and live. 3. Flee for refuge to the hope set before you in the Gospel.

NOTICEABLE TOPICS IN CHAPTER 5
Topic: HARVEST SERMON. Text: Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord: He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of harvest (Jer. 5:24).

Three lamentable habits and attitudes of thought:
1. Readiness to see the worst side of Gods natural providences. He giveth rain; untimely, insufficient, or excessive.
2. Bowing the God of nature out of all active management of His own world. A delusion to suppose weather, rains, and fine weeks of harvest are regulated by special providence. God is above such affairs: so say not, Let us fear, Lord, &c.

3. Ignoring the fact that human conduct affects Gods providential dispensations (Jer. 5:25). There is a continual administration of judgment going on in this life, admonitory of the final.

I. The benignant order of natural providences. Early rain, and latter; but rain reserved during weeks of harvest. Without early, seed not germinate; if latter not come, grain dried and withered prematurely; then ripening suns.

1. Each aspect of nature is welcomed in its season. God rolls the seasons found, and every change is beneficent and congenial. So in the ages of man: childhood lovely, youth winning, mature have grace, snowy age majestic. But these are only welcomed in their season. Snow in harvest not welcomed; ruinous. So childishness in manhood, &c. In season.

2. The certain revolution of the seasons. Every year appointed times come round. Cannot alter; cannot hasten spring, nor delay winter. So seasons of life. (1.) Seasons cannot be hurried. Youth must bear its yoke, manhood its toils; reaping and rest cannot be forestalled. Race not to swift, &c. (2.) Seasons cannot be delayed. Winter refuses to pause. Youth not long with the young: age comes on; or, what is oftener than age, death.

Let not seasons pass unused, lest weeks of harvest bring no ingathering.

II. An interval reserved for harvest ingathering. God kept these weeks from intrusion of unseasonable weather, and rain.

1. The reaping season has a fixed duration: weeks. Soon gone. Squander golden opportunity: past! What hands do, with might. All gracious seasons are brief. Therefore reapers ply with industry. Men, wise in worldly concerns, take heed that fine opportunities not squandered. Right; God sends favourable times, when, if equal to occasion, reap large gains. Make most of every good occasion in life. Special opportunities of grace: Work while day. Gather in while you may, fruits of Spirit, bounties of Divine love, blessings of redemption.

2. The work of harvest ingathering. Fields laden, swept with scythe, crops garnered. Some will complain, dissatisfied with results: so ever. Fear many will be surprised at results of life, when reap what sown. None expect a bad end or adverse judgment before God. Strange infatuation! Madness to sow to flesh and expect other than corruption. Bitter the ingathering of lost hopes and ruined joys! But glad the ingathering of the Christian; joyous the harvest.

3. The Divine law of multiplying. From handfuls come harvest. Thirty, sixty, a hundred. Heap up treasures. Sow wind, reap whirlwind. Live benignly and devoutly, receive into everlasting habitations. Same in quality, but increased in quantity. Think on this immeasurable and eternal reaping of the issues of life! Ingathering will come, for God hath reserved weeks.

III. Mans becoming response to Gods gracious bestowments. Let us now fear the Lord.

1. With discerning adoration, let us receive Gods favours. Bless the Lord, and forget not benefits. What render unto the Lord?

2. With diligent promptitude let us use the auspicious seasons God sends. Turn weeks to account; waste them not for more convenient season. Wise husbandman works eagerly to. fill his barns. Make your hearts garners of spiritual peace and joy.

3. With devoutest service let us show our fear of the Lord. The harvest-song God loves, but the harvest-fruits He requires. Lay on His altar life and love. I beseech you by mercies of Lord, present your bodies living sacrifice, &c.(Addenda, Jer. 5:24, God recognised in the harvest.)

ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 5 ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS

Jer. 5:1. Streets of Jerusalem. In ancient times the streets of Jerusalem seemed to have names. (They have none now.) Several are mentioned: East Street (2Ch. 29:4), Street of the house of God (Ezr. 10:9), Water-gate Street (Neh. 8:1; Neh. 8:3), Ephraim-Gate Street (Neh. 8:16), Bakers Street (Jer. 37:21).

The number of the streets was great (Jer. 11:13). Jeremiah makes frequent allusion to the streets of Jerusalem (Jer. 5:1; Jer. 7:17; Jer. 7:34; Jer. 9:21; Jer. 11:6; Jer. 11:13; Jer. 14:16; Jer. 33:10; Jer. 44:6; Jer. 44:9; Jer. 44:21). He was distinctively the prophet of the thoroughfares; and this because the broad places and streets were scenes of idolatry, altars and idols being erected therein.

Seek, if ye can find a man. Diogenes, the cynic, having lighted a lamp, ranged the streets peering about as if searching for something. Being asked what he looked for, he answered, A man; or, as is usually recorded, An honest man! But the words in Laertius are , I seek a man. He sought not alone a man with honesty and truth in his character, but a MAN in whom all right and noble qualities were combined. He constantly reviled the society of Greece with its lack of manhood.

The host of Nola being bid to summon the good men of the town to appear before the Roman censor, gat him to the churchyard, and there called at the graves of the dead; for he knew not where to call for a good man alive.Trapp.

One true man would avert the coming woe. Ghislerus reminds us of a story which Pliny relates of King Demetrius, who retired from the city of Rhodium because he could not take it on its only accessible side without destroying some celebrated paintings of Protogenes.Lange. This one mans merits saved the city.

When the good man mends his armour,

And trims his helmets plume,

When the good wifes shuttle merrily

Goes flashing through the loom,

With weeping and with laughter

Still is the story told

How well Horatius kept the bridge.

In the brave days of old.

Lays of Ancient Rome.

Jer. 5:4. Ignorance and irreligion. Ignorance of the price of pearls makes the idiot slight them. Ignorance of the worth of diamonds makes the fool choose a pebble before them. Ignorance of the satisfaction learning affords makes the peasant despise it. So with religion.Anthony Horneck.

Jer. 5:7. When I fed them to the full, &c. Fulness in good men often breeds forgetfulness, and in bad men filthiness. Gula vestibulum luxurigluttony is the gallery that incontinency walketh through. The Israelites ate and drank, and rose up to play, scil., with their Midianitish mistresses. Fulness of bread made way to Sodoms sin. Lunatics, when the moon is declining and in the wane, are sober enough; but when full, more wild and exorbitant.Trapp.

Jer. 5:14. My words shall devour them. Though men were hard as rocks, the Word is a hammer which can break them; though as sharp as briers and thorns, the Word is a fire which can devour and torment them.Bishop Reynolds.

An infidel said, There is one thing that mars all the pleasure of my life. Indeed! replied his friend; what is that? He answered, I am afraid the Bible is true. If I could know for certain that death is an eternal sleep, my joy would be complete. But here is the thorn that stings me, the sword that pierces to my very soul: if the Bible is true, I am lost for ever.

Jer. 5:22. Tremble at my presence, which have made the sea?

Thou glorious mirror, where the Almightys form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,
Calm or convulsed,in breeze, or gale, or storm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid olime
Dark heaving, boundless, eternal, and sublime
The image of eternity, the throne Of the Invisible.

BYRON.

In contemplation of created things
By steps we may ascend to God.

MILTON.

Sand for the bound of the sea. Modern science has shown that the resisting power of sand is enormous. By the mechanical laws which govern it, the shock of a blow is distributed laterally, and produces little effect. An egg buried a few inches deep in the sand would not be broken by heavy blows falling upon the surface. And so a wave which would shatter rocks falls powerless upon sand.Dr. Payne Smith.

Jer. 5:23. Revolting heart. The forcible and true meaning of the word revolt has become obscured. It suggests affections which had been drawn back from God through dislike of His claims; then followed active resistance, rebellion.

Jer. 5:24. God recognised in the harvest. Dr. Guthrie tells us, that as a traveller in a lonely district drew near to a cottage, he heard a man exclaiming, Thanks be to God for this and Christ! So earnest was the tone of the speaker, that the traveller ventured to go in to see what the gift was that called forth such thanksgiving. It was but a crust of bread, on which the poor occupant of that cottage was about to make his mid-day meal. To the devout old man a crust and Christ was something to thank God for. How much more it behoves us, when the valleys are covered with corn, and when the fruits of the earth are safely stored in the garner, to lift up our hands and our hearts unto God, and say, Thanks be unto God for all this and Christ!Rev. R. A. Bertram.

God, that giveth rain. The vast reservoir of the ocean provided for the supply of vapour; the laws which cause these vapours to rise and float in the air; the winds which waft them to the land; the attraction there exercised upon them by trees, mountains, &c.; the currents of air moving in different directions, which, by their differences of temperature cause the vapour to condense and be deposited in drops; the laws of congelation, which store up part of the winter excess in the shape of snow and ice upon the mountains for summer use; the diversified strata of the earth, which store up another portion, causing it in some places to break forth in springs, in others keeping it out of the reach of evaporation, but available for mans use by the digging of wells: all these complicated arrangements show such a thoughtful care for the supply of one of the first necessaries of human life, that those capable of understanding them ought to say in their hearts, Let us fear the Lord.Speakers Com.

Jer. 5:26. They set a trap; they catch men.

Proud Nimrod first the bloody chase began,
A mighty hunterand his prey was man.

POPE.

Plans adopted for catching birds. 1. Trap; the usual method (Job. 18:9; Ecc. 9:12; Pro. 7:23); made of two partsa net stretched over a frame, a stick supporting it, so placed as to give way with the least touch (Amo. 3:5, gin; Psa. 69:22, trap). 2. Snare; was a cord (Job. 18:10, cf. Psa. 18:5; Psa. 116:3; Psa. 140:5) so placed as to catch a bird by the leg. 3. Decoy; (Jer. 5:26-27), a cage filled with birds, the door being kept open by stick (or cord), which suddenly closed on the entrance of any bird.

Hunting, with its snares, may remind us of that mighty hunter, Satan, and his devices. Decoys, snares for the unwary. Hence the duty of watchfulness. In vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird (Pro. 1:17).J. Comper Grey, Topics.

Jer. 5:27. Retribution in kind. They that will be rich fall into a snare (1Ti. 6:9). Thou fool! this night thy soul is required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God (Luk. 12:20-21).

Jer. 5:31, What do in the end? On that day, if all your unforgiven sins are against you; if Jesus Christ, wounded and driven back, is against you; if the Holy Ghost is against you, with whom you have striven; if the offended Lord God Almighty is against you; ah! coming as you are, into that day, you must perish. It will be too late to pray then. Even the granite rocks will fall the other way as you pray to them, Fall on us, &c.Talmage.

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

C. Causes of Coming Judgment Jer. 5:1-31

In chapter five Jeremiah discusses the various reasons why God must judge His people. The nation has been guilty of at least six terrible sins: (1) moral corruption (Jer. 5:1-6); (2) sexual impurity (Jer. 5:7-9); (3) treacherous unbelief (Jer. 5:10-18); (4) religious apostasy (Jer. 5:19-24);

(5) social injustice (Jer. 5:25-29); and (6) international deception (Jer. 5:30-31).

1. Moral corruption (Jer. 5:1-6)

TRANSLATION

(1) Roam through the streets of Jerusalem, look and find out for yourself! Seek in her broad places if you can find a man or if there is one who does justly, seeking truth, that I may forgive her. (2) And though they sware, As the LORD lives, surely they sware falsely. (3) O LORD are not Your eyes on truth? You have smitten them but they felt no pain; You consumed them, they have refused to accept instruction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They refuse to repent. (4) And as for me, I said, Surely these are poor! They are foolish for they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God. (5) I will go up unto the great ones and speak to them for they know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God. But they altogether have broken the yoke, they have burst the straps. (6) Therefore a lion from the forest shall smite them, a wolf from the desert shall plunder them, a leopard watches over their cities. Anyone who goes out from thence shall be torn because their transgressions are many, their backsliding are without number.

COMMENTS

In order to impress upon the mind of the prophet the necessity for divine judgment the Lord instructs Jeremiah to walk to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and make a personal observation of the moral condition of the city. Specifically he is to search in the broad places or marketplaces for a man, i.e., someone who was worthy to be called a man. Jeremiah was to search for a man who does what is just and right and who seeks truth or faithfulness. The Hebrew word translated truth often times refers to the faithfulness of a man in performing his duties to God and his fellowmen.[160] The prophet is looking for a man who was true to God, true to man and true to himself. But sometimes in the Old Testament this Hebrew word has a more specialized meaning. It refers to faith in the promise of God to bring a Redeemer into the world.[161] Faith in the Gospel promise sustained the Old Testament heroes.[162] It may well be that Jeremiah here is to search for a man who possessed Messianic faith.[163] Abraham prayed that Sodom be spared if there were ten righteous men. But God here goes even further. If Jeremiah can find one just man in the city who seeks truth or faith He will forgive Jerusalem and withhold the execution of His wrath.

[160] 1Ch. 9:22; 1Ch. 9:26; 1Ch. 9:31; 2Ch. 31:15; 2Ch. 31:18, etc.

[161] Hab. 2:4. Cf. Rom. 1:17.

[162] Gen. 4:1; Gen. 5:29; Gen. 49:18; 2Sa. 7:18-29; Hebrews 11.

[163] Laetsch, op. cit., p. 73.

With the zeal of Diogenes Jeremiah searched for a real man in the streets of Jerusalem. He found many who used the name of the Lord in their oaths but only to sware to that which was untrue (Jer. 5:2). To use Gods name in a solemn oath and then lie was tantamount to blasphemy against the holy name. God was looking for truth or faithfulness or faith in the hearts of men. Not finding it in the men of Judah God brought disciplinary disasters upon them. The judgments of God are sometimes rehabilitative and sometimes retributive. Here the former class of judgments is intended. God had smitten them but they felt no pain; God had almost completely destroyed them but they refused to accept the correction. With stoic determination they endured the discipline of God hardening their faces and refusing to repent (Jer. 5:3).

Jeremiah could not believe what he saw among the common people on the streets of Jerusalem and so he began to make excuses for them. These people are poor; they are uneducated in the way of the Lord; they know nothing of the judgment, i.e., religious law of their God. It is their lack of education which causes them to foolishly sin, and the hardship of their poverty has caused them to harden their hearts in unbelief (Jer. 5:4). Jeremiah was confident that he would not find a real man among the down and out; but he was not ready to relinquish his search. He decided to check on the great ones, the wealthy and cultured of the nation. They had all the advantages of education and instruction in the way of the Lord. They were literate and could read the law of God for themselves. But Jeremiah found that the up and out were worse than the down and out. Among the elite he found nothing but lawlessness and license. They had altogether broken the yoke of divine restraint (Jer. 5:5). The straps which they burst were the thongs by which the yoke was secured to the neck (cf. Isa. 58:6). These men wanted to be free from the law of God and from any divine control. They wanted to do their own thing. Thus, in the entire nation Jeremiah could not find one man who by Gods standards was a real man.[164]

[164] Following the marginal reading in the American Standard Version.

Because of the all-pervasive apostasy, God will bring judgment upon Judah: a lion from the forest, a wolf from the desert; and a leopard or panther watching over their cities (Jer. 5:6). Lions were common in the hills and valleys of Palestine. A few leopards are still to be found in the hills of Galilee. The singular words: lion, wolf, leopard, are probably to be regarded as collective singulars. These animals may be symbols of the calamity which would befall Judah. On the other hand, numerous prophecies make it clear that the land would be overrun by wild creatures after the Jews had been deported.[165]

[165] Eze. 14:16; Eze. 14:21; Lev. 26:22; Deu. 32:24; 2Ki. 17:25 ff.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

V.

(1) Run ye to and fro.The dark shades of the picture seem at first hardly to belong to the reign of Josiah, which is brought before us in 2 Kings 22, 23; 2 Chronicles 34, 35, as one of thorough reformation. It is, of course, possible that parts of the picture may have been worked up when the prophecies were rewritten under Jehoiakim (Jer. 36:32); but, on the other hand, it is equally possible that the prophet may have seen even at the time how hollow and incomplete that reformation was. The form in which he utters his conviction reminds one of the old story of the Greek sage, Diogenes, appearing in the streets of Athens with a lantern, searching for an honest man. In the thought that the pardon of the city depended on its containing some elements of good which might make reformation possible, we find an echo of Gen. 18:25; but the picture is of a state more utterly hopeless. There were not ten righteous men found in Sodom (Gen. 18:32); in Jerusalem there was not one.

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

UNIVERSAL CORRUPTION MAKES PARDON IMPOSSIBLE, Jer 5:1-10.

1. Seek a man The thought is not completed at this latter word, but is carried forward to the end of the verse. The meaning is not, “seek a man” that is, any man but, “a man” who executeth judgment and seeketh the truth. Of course, language of this kind must not be construed with servile literalness. It is simply a strong statement of prevalent corruption. And yet there were doubtless many who were still faithful to the true God, and some of these are mentioned in this book.

Broad places Such as the open spaces at the gates, at the meeting of the streets, the markets, and all places where the people congregate.

Truth As is common, especially in the Old Testament, this word has here a subjective meaning truth in character rather than truth in belief.

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

YHWH Gives His Reasons Why Jerusalem Will Not Be Pardoned And Jeremiah Makes A Vain Search For A Righteous Man ( Jer 5:1-9 ).

YHWH now vindicates His decision to bring inevitable judgment. He assures Jeremiah that if he can produce but one person in Jerusalem who does what is right and genuinely seeks truth He will pardon Jerusalem. In response Jeremiah admits that in spite of YHWH’s efforts they have all refused to respond. Then he begins his search for a righteous and true man, and finally convinced that such is not to be found among the common people he determines to look among the great men, for, he says, they surely know the way of YHWH and the Law of God. But even there he has to admit failure. As a result he recognises that it is reasonable that they be subjected to the curse of a surfeit of wild beasts (Lev 26:22).

YHWH then points out why He cannot pardon them. It is because they have forsaken Him and sworn by those who are no-gods, and as a result have indulged excessively in immoral behaviour. Consequently He is going to have to visit them in judgment because they are the very kind of people on Whom He must be avenged.

Jer 5:1

“Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,

And see now, and know,

And seek in its broad places,

If you can find a man,

If there be any who does justly,

Who seeks truth, and I will pardon her.”

YHWH challenges Jeremiah and his small group of disciples (‘you’ – plural) to search throughout Jerusalem in order to discover whether they can find one single person, either in its narrow streets or in its town squares (its broad places), who walks in righteousness and genuinely seeks truth. And He promises that if they can find just one (presumably outside of Jeremiah’s own circle of disciples) He will pardon Jerusalem. It is being made clear that things had reached a very low ebb spiritually. It was an indication of just how very few righteous people there were I Jeremiah’s day. In Elijah’s time there had been seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1Ki 19:18). How Jeremiah must have envied him so many. In Isaiah’s day there had been a small group of disciples (Isa 8:16). We can compare this with YHWH’s promise to Abraham that if he found ten righteous men in Sodom He would withhold His judgment from them (Gen 18:32). It is a firm reminder of the prevalence of sin and unbelief in the days of Jeremiah. It would take the Exile to bring some of them to their senses, and it helps to explain why YHWH had to be so severe with Judah.

Jer 5:2

“And though they say, ‘As YHWH lives’, surely they swear falsely.”

One evidence of their depravity was that they were able to swear ‘as YHWH lives’, no doubt very brazenly, while all the time they were swearing falsely and perverting justice. In other words they were treating the Name of YHWH as though He had no knowledge of what they were doing, or as if He counted for nothing.

Jer 5:3

‘O YHWH, do not your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved, you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction, they have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return.’

Jeremiah then confirmed that what YHWH set His eyes on, was also what was true, and that He was quite right in what He had said. And this had been proved with Judah by the fact that when YHWH had chastened them they were not grieved, a sign of their hardened consciences. Furthermore even when He had consumed some of their number they had refused to receive correction. In other words whatever He had done they had made their faces harder than rock, and had refused to return to Him no matter what He did.

Jer 5:4

‘Then I said, “Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they do not know the way of YHWH, nor the law of their God.”

Then Jeremiah got to thinking. Perhaps the reason why these people had not responded was because they were the ‘poor and foolish’ who did not know the way of YHWH or the Law of God. In other words that their sin and lack of response might be due to their ignorance of YHWH’s requirements.

Jer 5:5

“I will get myself to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of YHWH, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.’

So he decided that he would go to the great men, and speak to them. Surely they would know the way of YHWH and the Law of their God. But he found that with one accord they had deliberately taken off the yoke of YHWH, and had burst what they considered to be the bonds of the Law of their God. They had wanted to be free of any restraint, and had thrown off YHWH’s Lordship.

Jer 5:6

‘For which reason a lion out of the forest will slay them, a wolf of the evenings (or ‘of the plains’) will destroy them, a leopard will watch against their cities, every one who goes out from there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.’

Because of their proven hardness of heart YHWH would remove His protection from them. And this would result in an infestation of the land by wild beasts, in accordance with the curse found in Lev 26:22, which in itself would, if they did not repent, be a preliminary to invasion, subjection to the sword, terrible siege conditions and their final exclusion from the land (Lev 26:23-33). This was therefore a signal of what was to come.

Wild beasts were a constant problem in Palestine in those days, as lions, wolves and leopards roved the land, something that would be especially prevalent when conditions resulted in the land being unattended (compare 2Ki 17:25) as would often happen in turbulent times. Note how the wild beasts are to be found everywhere, in the forests (of which there were still many), in the plains (rather than ‘evenings’, as it is paralleled with ‘forests’) and lurking by the wayside. Thus because of the increase of their transgressions and backslidings (obstinacy) many would be torn by wild animals (Lev 26:22). But the wild beasts are but a prelude to other wild beasts consisting of human armies which will also hunt them down.

The Reason Why YHWH Cannot Pardon Them.

Jer 5:7

“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by those who are no gods.”

YHWH then takes up the conversation asking how He can possibly pardon them when their children have forsaken Him and instead of swearing ‘as YHWH lives’ have sworn by those who do not live and are no-gods.

Jer 5:7

-8 “When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots’ house. They were as fed horses roaming at large, every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.”

Furthermore when He had given them full stomachs they committed adultery and went ‘in troops’ to frequent the houses of prostitutes, the singular representing each harlot’s house. They were like well-fed horses, roaming around at large, neighing for their neighbour’s wife. Prostitution and rampant sex were prominent parts of Canaanite religion as the idea was that by indulging in open sex before the gods they encouraged the fertility gods to give them fertile fields. But it was strictly contrary to the Law of YHWH.

Others see ‘the harlot’s house’ as having in mind what they had made of the Temple. They had turned it from being the house of YHWH into the house of Asherah with her train of cult prostitutes

Jer 5:9

“Shall I not visit for these things?” says YHWH, ‘and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”

YHWH’s conclusion was that He had no choice but to visit them in judgment, and, with His soul stirred by their sinfulness, to be ‘avenged’ on them for their sin and unfaithfulness. Notice how this refrain is repeated again in Jer 5:29, bringing out the unity of the section, and emphasising the certainty of the judgment.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

YHWH Presents The Reasons Why The Invasion Is Necessary ( Jer 5:1-31 ).

Invasion is seen as necessary because there are no righteous people in Jerusalem, and they are full of adultery (both spiritual and physical), and have grown fat and sleek, whilst at the same time they also appear to be unaware of Who YHWH is. Furthermore, what is worse is that their prophets and priests, who should have guided them into the truth, are untrustworthy.

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

Subsection 2). YHWH’s Solemn Warning To Judah In The Days Of Josiah ( Jer 3:6 to Jer 6:30 ).

This section can be divided into four parts:

Jer 3:6 to Jer 4:2. Israel is held up as an example to Judah, both of faithlessness and of hope for the future. For because of what they had done Israel were in exile, and were ashamed of their ways, but if only they would turn to Him in their exile they would be restored. For them there was hope. It was very different with ‘treacherous Judah’. They were without shame and without repentance.

Jer 4:3-31. YHWH warns Judah that if they will not repent invasion by a fierce adversary is threatening and will undoubtedly come because of their sins, something which calls to mind the vision of a world returned to its original unformed condition, and a nation in anguish.

Jer 5:1-31. YHWH presents the reasons why the invasion is necessary. It is because there are no righteous people in Jerusalem, and they are full of adultery (both spiritual and physical), and have grown fat and sleek, whilst they also appear to be unaware of Who He is, and their prophets and priests are untrustworthy.

Jer 6:1-30. YHWH stresses the imminence of the invasion which will be violent and complete, because He has rejected His people.

YHWH now 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, thereby facing Judah up to the certainty of 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 (Jer 3:6 to Jer 6:30). Included, however, within this warning, almost as an appetiser, is a brief glimpse of the everlasting kingdom, which was being offered to Israel, when YHWH will be seated on His throne, and all His people will look to Him as Father (Jer 3:12-18). Like Hosea, Isaiah, and other prophets before him Jeremiah balances his message of doom with promises of future blessing. Whatever Israel and Judah did, he knew that God’s purposes would not fail in the end.

In the words found in Jer 3:6 to Jer 6:30 we have now come to the only passage in chapters 1-20 which is specifically said to have been a revelation given, at least in part, during the days of a particular king, and in this case it is in the days of King Josiah. This is probably intended to underline the fact that Jeremiah’s early teaching, while giving an overall coverage, includes words spoken during that reign, and it is thus of prime importance as continually stressing that even during Josiah’s reign things were not well in Judah.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Lack of Truth and Faith in Public Life

v. 1. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, searching the lanes of the city, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, in the wider streets and intersections of streets, where many people come together, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, carrying out justice and righteousness, that seeketh the truth, to possess and practice faithfulness in all intercourse with all his fellow-men, and I will pardon it, grant His pardon to the city. Jerusalem was so corrupt in those days that among all the leaders of the people, the counselors, the priests, the false prophets, not one just person was found, and therefore the attitude and the testimony of the faithful few, such as Baruch and Zephaniah, disappeared in the general depravity.

v. 2. And though they say, in a form of assurance which had become habitual with them, even as with many thoughtless people in our days, The Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely. The oath under such circumstances had no validity, it was just as insincere as their profession of the worship of Jehovah.

v. 3. O Lord, are not Thine eyes upon the truth? Does not Jehovah seek faithfulness and sincerity in all things? Is He not ever the God of truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved, they do not feel the pain, the punishment makes no impression upon them; Thou hast consumed them, destroying them as a nation, but they have refused to receive correction, to accept the Lord’s discipline; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Such is the perversity of deliberate wrong-doing that it hardens the heart of the sinner against every influence for good, producing such a degree of callousness that every effort of the Lord is vain. It is in such cases that His judgment of hardening the heart of the sinner is often enacted.

v. 4. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor, the prophet here interrupting himself to voice an objection to the Lord; they are foolish, acting foolishly on account of their ignorance; for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God. The prophet assumes that only the untaught poor are guilty of such depravity, and that a better state of affairs may be expected in the higher ranks of society.

v. 5. I will get me unto the great men, those of the so-called higher classes, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God, that is, Surely one might expect to find better knowledge among these people, considering their position. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Matters were worse here than in the so-called lower class of people; for education, wealth, and rank alone are no guarantee against wickedness. The entire class had defiantly set aside the Law of God and despised the restrictions laid down in His holy will.

v. 6. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them and a wolf of the evenings, one of those found in the great steppes and deserts, shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities, lurking for his prey nearby, the strongest, the most ravenous, and the swiftest of the beasts of prey being chosen as types to represent the formidable character of the Babylonian invaders; every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased, their acts of rebellion against God had become a great multitude. That is the feature which ever makes sin so reprehensible: it always amounts to a rebellion against God, the Father of all mankind.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Is the punishment thought too severe? Then let the moral condition of Jerusalem be inquired into. Must not such transgressions precipitate its people into ruin? There are four well-marked sections or strophes.

Jer 5:1-9

Gladly would Jehovah pardon, if his people showed but a gleam of sound morality. But they are all deaf to the warning voicethe Law of God is flagrantly violated. In particular the marriage tie, as well the typical one between man and woman as the anti-typical between the people and its God, is openly disregarded (comp. Hos 4:1; Mic 7:2; Isa 64:6, Isa 64:7; Psa 14:3).

Jer 5:1

If ye can find a man. “A man” is explained by the following clauses. It is a man whose practice and whose aims are right, of whom Jeremiah, like Diogenes with his lantern, is in search. (It is evident that the prophet speaks rhetorically, for himself and his disciples, however few, were doubtless “men” in the prophetic sense of the word.) Judgment the truth; rather, justice good faith, the primary virtues of civil society.

Jer 5:2

And though they say, The Lord liveth. Though they asseverate by the most solemn of all oaths (contrast Jer 4:1,Jer 4:2). Surely. So the Syriac. This rendering, however, involves an emendation of one letter in the text. The ordinary reading is literally therefore, but may etymologically be taken to mean “for all this,” “nevertheless.”

Jer 5:3

Are not thine eyes upon the truth? rather, surely thine eyes are upon (equivalent to thou lookest for and demandest) good faith, alluding to Jer 5:1.

Jer 5:4

Therefore I said; rather, and as for me, I said. They are foolish; rather, they act foolishly (as Num 12:11). For; rather, because. Their want of religious instruction is the cause of their faulty conduct. In fact, it was only after the return from Babylon that any popular schools were founded in Judaea, and not till shortly before the destruction of the temple that the elementary instruction attained the regularity of a system. The judgment of their God. A similar phrase occurs in Jer 8:7. “Judgment (mishpat) here (as in some other passages) has acquired a technical sense. This may be illustrated by the corresponding word in Arabic (din), which means

(1) obedience,

(2) a religion,

(3) a statute or ordinance,

(4) a system of usages, rites, and ceremonies” (Lane’s ‘Lexicon,’ s.v.).

“Judgment” is, therefore, here equivalent to “religious law,” and “law” is a preferable rendering.

Jer 5:5

The bonds are the thongs by which the yoke was secured to the neck (comp. Isa 58:6). In Jer 2:20 the word is rendered “bands.”

Jer 5:6

This verse reminds us of a famous passage in the first canto of Dante’s ‘Commedia,’ in which Dante the pilgrim is successively opposed by three wild beastsa panther, a lion, and a she-wolf. That the poet had Jeremiah in his mind cannot be doubted. The deep knowledge of the Scriptures possessed by medieval theologians (and such was Dante) may put many Protestants to shame. Curiously enough, whereas the early commentators on Dante interpret these wild beasts of vices, the moderns find historical references to nations. On the other hand, while modern expositors explain Jeremiah’s wild beasts as symbols of calamities, Rashi and St. Jerome understand them of the Chaldeans, Persians, and Greeks. A lion out of the forest. The first of a series of figures for the cruel invaders of Judah (comp. Jer 4:7). The frequent references (see also Jer 12:8; Jer 25:38; Jer 49:19; Jer 50:4) show how common the lion was in the hills and valleys of the land of Israel. A wolf of the evenings; i.e. a wolf which goes out to seek for prey in the evening. So the Peshito, Targum, Vulgate (comp. “wolves of the evening,” Hab 1:8; Zep 3:3). But there is no evidence that erebh, evening, has for its plural arabhoth, which is, in fact, the regular plural of arabah, desert. Render, therefore, a wolf of the deserts, i.e. one which has its den in the deserts, and falls upon the cultivated parts when it is hungry. Luther, “the wolf out of the desert.” A leopard; rather, a panther. The Chaldeans are compared to this animal, on account of its swiftness, in Hab 1:8.

Jer 5:7

How for this? rather, Why should I pardon thee? Thy children; i.e. (since “the daughter of Zion” is equivalent to Zion regarded as an ideal entity) the members of the Jewish people (comp. Le 19:18, “the children of thy people”). When I had fed them to the full. So Ewald, following the versions and many manuscripts. This gives a good sense, and may be supported by Jer 5:28; Deu 32:15; Hos 13:6. But the reading of the received Hebrew text, though somewhat more difficult, is yet perfectly capable of explanation; and, slight as the difference is in the reading adopted by Ewald (it involves a mere shade of pronunciation), it is not to be preferred to the received reading. Read, therefore, though -r made them to swear (allegiance), yet they committed adultery. The oath may be that of Sinai (Exo 24:1-18.), or such au oath as had been recently taken by Josiah and the people (1 Kings 23:3; 2Ch 34:31, 2Ch 34:32). The “adultery” may be taken both in a literal and in a figurative sense, and so also the “harlots’ houses” in the next clause. It is also well worthy of consideration whether the prophet may not be referring to certain matrimonial customs handed down from remote antiquity and arising from the ancient system of kinship through women (comp. Eze 22:11).

Jer 5:8

As fed horses in the morning. The rendering fed horses has considerable authority. “Lustful horses” is also possible; this represents the reading of the Hebrew margin. The following word in the Hebrew is extremely difficult. “In the morning” cannot be right, as it is against grammar; but it is not easy to furnish a substitute. Most modems render “roving about;” Furst prefers “stallions.”

Jer 5:10-18

Provoked by the open unbelief of the men of Judah, Jehovah repeats his warning of a sore judgment.

Jer 5:10

Her walls. There is a doubt about “walls,” which should, as some think, rather be vine-rows (a change of points is involved; also of shin into sinthe slightest of all changes), or shoots, or branches (comparing the Syriac). The figure would thus gain somewhat in symmetry. However, all the ancient interpreters (whose authority, overrated by some, still counts for something) explain the word as in the Authorized Version, and, as Graf remarks, in order to destroy the vines, it’ would be necessary to climb up upon the walls of the vineyard. (For the figure of the vine or the vineyard, scrap, on Jer 2:21.) Take away not the Lord’s. The Septuagint and Peshito read differently, translating “leave her foundations, for they are the Lord‘s“ (supposing the figure be taken from a building). As the text stands, it is better to change battlements into tendrils. Judah’s degenerate members are to be removed, but the vine-stock, i.e; the behooving kernel of the nation, is to be left. It is the key-note of the “remnant” which Jeremiah again strikes (see Jer 4:27).

Jer 5:12

It is not he. Understand “who speaks by the prophets” (Payne Smith). It is hardly conceivable that any of the Jews absolutely denied the existence of Jehovah. They were practical, not speculative unbelievers, like men of the world in general.

Jer 5:13

And the prophets, etc. A continuation of the speech of the unbelieving Jews. The word is not in them. The Authorized Version gives a good meaning, but it involves an interference with the points. The pointed text must be rendered, he who speaketh (through the prophets, viz. Jehovah) is not in them. Thus the Jews hurl against prophets like Jeremiah the very charge which Jeremiah himself brings against the “false prophets” in Jer 23:25-32. Thus shall it be done; rather, so be it done; i.e. may the sword and famine, with which they threaten us, fall upon them.

Jer 5:14

My words in thy mouth fire. (See on Jer 1:9, Jer 1:10.)

Jer 5:15

O house of Israel. After the captivity of the ten tribes, Judah became the sole representative of the people of Israel (scrap. Jer 2:26). A mighty nation. The Authorized Version certainly gives apart of the meaning. The Hebrew word rendered “mighty” (‘ethan), rather, “perennial,” is the epithet of rocks and mountains (Num 24:21; Mic 6:2); of a pasture (Jer 49:19); of rivers (Deu 21:4; Psa 74:15). As applied in the present instance, it seems to describe the inexhaustible resources of a young nation. Render here, ever replenished; i.e. ever drawing anew from its central fountain of strength. Does not this aptly convey the impression which a long-civilized nation (and the Jews, who have been called “rude,” were only so by comparison with the Egyptians and Assyrians) must derive from the tumultuous incursions of nomad hosts? The description-will therefore fit the Scythians; but it is not inappropriate to the Chaldeans, if we take into account the composite nature of their armies. An ancient nation; i.e. one which still occupies its primeval seat in the north (Jer 6:22), undisturbed by invaders. Whose language thou knowest not. So Isaiah of the Assyrians, “(a people) of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.” The Jews were no philologists, and were as unlikely to notice the fundamental affinity of Hebrew and Assyrian as an ancient Greek to observe the connection between his own language and the Persian. When the combatants were to each other , mercy could hardly be expected. The sequence of verses 49 and 50 in Deu 28:1-68 speaks volumes.

Jer 5:16

Their quiver. (See on Jer 4:29.) As an open sepulcher; i.e. furnished with deadly arrows, “fiery darts.” So the psalmist, of the “throat” of deceitful persecutors (Psa 5:9).

Jer 5:17

Which thy sons and thy daughters, etc.; rather, they shall eat that sons and thy daughters. In the other clauses of the verse the verb is in the singular, the subject being the hostile nation. They shall impoverish, etc.; rather, it shall batter with weapons of war (so rightly Payne Smith); kherebh, commonly rendered “sword.” is applied to any cutting instrument, such as a razor (Eze 5:1), a mason’s tool (Exo 20:25), and, as here and Eze 26:9, weapons of war in general.

Jer 5:19-29

Judah’s own obstinacy and flagrant disobedience are the causes of this sore judgment.

Jer 5:19

Like as ye have forsaken me, etc. The law of correspondence between sin and punishment pervades Old Testament prophecy (comp. Isa 5:1-30.). As the Jews served foreign gods in Jehovah’s land, they shall become the slaves of foreigners in a land which is not theirs.

Jer 5:21

Without understanding; literally, without heart. This seems at first sight inconsistent with Jer 5:23, where the people is described as having indeed a “heart,” but one hostile to Jehovah. The explanation is that a course of deliberate sin perverts a man’s moral perceptions. The prophet first of all states the result, and then the cause. So in Eze 12:2, “Which have eyes and see not,” etc.; “for they are a rebellions house.”

Jer 5:22

Fear ye not me? The Hebrew places “me” emphatically at the beginning of the sentence. By a perpetual decree. This is one of the evidences, few but sufficient, of the recognition of natural laws by the Biblical writers; of laws, however, which are but the description of the Divine mode of working, “covenants” (Jer 33:20; comp. Gen 9:18) made for man’s good, but capable of being annulled (Isa 54:10). Comp. Pro 8:29; Job 38:8-12.

Jer 5:23

A revolting and a rebellious heart. The heart is the center of the moral life virtually equivalent to “the will;” it. is “revolting” when it “turns back“ (so literally here) from God’s Law and service, and “rebellious” when it actively defies and opposes him.

Jer 5:24

That giveth rain, etc. The second appeal is to the regularity of the rains. Dr. Robinson remarks that there are not at the present day in Palestine “any particular periods of rain, or succession of showers, which might be regarded as distinct rainy seasons,” and that unless there has been some change m the climate of Palestine, the former and the latter rains seem to correspond to “the first showers of autumn, which revived the parched and thirsty earth and prepared it for the seed, and the later showers of spring, which continued to refresh and forward both the ripening crops and the vernal products of the fields” (‘Biblical Researches,’ 3.98). He reserveth unto us, etc.; literally, he keepeth for us the weeksthe statutes of harvest; i.e. the weeks which are the appointed conditions of harvest. The prophet means the seven weeks which elapsed from the second day of the Passover to the “Feast of Harvest,” or “Feast of Weeks” (Pentecost) (Exo 23:16; Exo 34:22; Deu 16:9, Deu 16:10).

Jer 5:25

Have turned away these things. “These things” are the benefits mentioned in the preceding verse (comp. Jer 3:3; Jer 12:4). Thus the judgment is not entirely future; a foretaste of it has already been given.

Jer 5:26

They lay wait, etc.; rather, they spy (literally, one spieth), as fowlers lie in wait. A trap; literally, a destroyer; i.e. an instrument of destruction (comp. Isa 54:16, where” the waster” (or destroyer) probably means the weapon referred to previously).

Jer 5:27

A cage. The Hebrew word klub is used in Amo 8:1 for a basket such as was used for fruit; it seems to be the parent of the Greek word , used in the ‘Anthology’ for a bird-cage. The root means to plait or braid; hence some sort of basket-work seems to be meant. Connecting this with the preceding verse, Hitzig seems right in inferring that the “cage” was at the same time a trap (comp. Ecc 11:1-10 :30, “Like as a partridge taken in a cage , a peculiar kind of basket], so is the heart of the proud”). Canon Tristram suggests that there is an allusion to decoy-birds, which are still much employed in Syria, and are carefully trained for their office, But this seems to go beyond the text. Deceit; i.e. the goods obtained by deceit.

Jer 5:28

They overpass the deeds of the wicked; rather, they overpass the common measure of wickedness (literally, the cases of wickedness); or, as others, they exceed in deeds of wickedness. Yet they prosper; rather, so that they (the fatherless) might prosper; or, that they (the rich) might make it to prosper.

Jer 5:29

A repetition of Jer 5:9 in the manner of a refrain.

Jer 5:30, Jer 5:31

The result of the prophet’s examination of the moral condition of the people.

Jer 5:30

A wonderful and horrible thing, etc.; rather, an appalling and horrible thins hath happened in the land. The word rendered “appalling” (or stupefying) has a peculiar force, it only occurs again in Jer 23:14, though a cognate adjective is found in Jer 18:13 (comp. on Jer 2:11).

Jer 5:31

The prophets the priests. (See on Jer 2:26.) Bear rule by their means; rather, rule at their beck. (literally, at their hands, comp. Jer 33:13; 1Ch 25:2, 1Ch 25:3; 2Ch 23:18). An example of this interference of the false prophets with the priestly office is given by Jeremiah himself. (Jer 29:24-26). My people love to have it so. Sometimes the prophets speak as if the governing classes alone were responsible for the sins and consequent calamities of their country. But Jeremiah here expressly declares that the governed were as much to blame as their governors.

HOMILETICS

Jer 5:1

Forgiveness for many through the righteousness of one.

I. GOD IS GREATLY DESIROUS TO PARDON HIS CHILDREN. The command is given to “run to and fro” and search for the one righteous man. God thus expresses his anxiety to forgive. “He waiteth to be gracious.” The first movement towards exercising pardon comes from God even before men desire it. He will lay hold of the smallest ground for forgiveness. If the one righteous man can but be found, God will forgive the city.

II. SOME RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NECESSARY AS A GROUND FOR FORGIVENESS. If the righteous man cannot be found, the condition of the city is hopeless. There is a propitiatory power in righteousness. Good men are priests, and their lives sacrifices of value for the advantage of others. The righteousness of Christ is an essential element in the atonement (Heb 10:9, Heb 10:10). It was not possible for the sin of man to be forgiven except on condition of this. Pardon is offered to men only through this (Act 13:38).

III. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH AVAILS WITH GOD MUST BE SOLID AND PRACTICAL. A vain, religious boast counts for nothing (Jer 5:2).

1. The goodness to be sought for is not devoutness of demeanor, but the exercise of justice and the effort to keep good faith.

2. This is to be looked for, not in the temple, but in the streets and lanes and places of public concourse, i.e. in daily life. The best evidences of character are to be seen in home life and conduct in business. When the domestic and commercial morality of a city is corrupt, the condition of that city is ruinous; whatever may be the assiduity and decorum with which religious observances are maintained.

IV. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ONE MAY BE EFFICACIOUS FOR THE SECURITY OF MANY. Sodom and Gomorrah would have been spared for the sake of ten righteous men (Gen 18:32). Lot was the providential means of saving Zoar (Gen 19:21). The one man Christ secures salvation for the whole world (Heb 7:24, Heb 7:25). There is much that is mysterious in the principle of Divine grace which is here revealedmuch that we cannot explain. Still, there are truths entering into it which may be discerned, e.g. injustice cannot be done by God in the smallest respect; the righteous are “the salt of the earth,” they preserve by preventing complete corruption; there is hope for the city in which but one righteous man lives, since he may be the means of leading others back to righteousnessthis principle is one on which God acts in forgiving, not in distributing bare rights; all that he requires is a safe and justifiable ground on which to exercise pardon, not a fund of merit such as could constitute a claim on his grace.

Jer 5:3

Fruitless chastisement.

I. THE PURPOSE OF CHASTISEMENT IS CORRECTION.

1. It is to lead men by outward suffering to inward grief (“they have not grieved”). No more hopeless condition can be found than pleasure or indifference in sin. The tears of penitence are the first preparations for reformation.

2. It is to lead men, through outward suffering and inward grief, to a genuine Conversion of character (God looks for a restoration of “good faith”), and to bring them back to God (“they have refused to return”). It is no end in itself, no good except as leading to a further good. It is not given in vindictive rage nor to satisfy the claims of abstract justice. Though it springs directly from the wrath of God, that wrath is based on his eternal love. Because God loves his children he must be angry when they sin. Because he desires their good he must not spare his rod (Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12). The purpose of chastisement is not so mysterious as is commonly supposed. People often exclaim vaguely, “These troubles must be sent for some good purpose.” The purpose is not all hidden. It is mainly that we may be brought nearer to God.

II. THE CORRECTION AIMED AT IN CHASTISEMENT IS NOT ALWAYS ATTAINED. A terrible delusion possesses multitudes of suffering people. They have faith enough to believe that trouble is sent for their good, but not spirituality enough to see how to use it for that end. Such people assume that it must benefit them, however they behave under it. Some suppose that if they suffer in this world they will certainly receive compensation in the next. Such ideas imply that chastisement cannot be deserved, or that the mere endurance of it is meritorious, or that, if not exactly punishment for sin, it must be a necessity to be borne now or hereafter for its own sake or to satisfy some strange will of God. But chastisement is a “means of grace,” and, like other “means of grace,” may be frustrated. We may receive this grace in vain (2Co 6:1). Consider the causes of the fruitlessness of chastisement.

1. Stoical hardness. We may be stricken, but not grieve.

2. Thoughtlessness. We may feel inward grief, but not reflect on our condition and need.

3. Pride, which suffers pangs of grief but no contrition for sin.

4. Impenitence. We may “refuse to receive correction,” harden our wills against submission, and rebel in impatience and complaining against God, instead of returning to him.

III. FRUITLESS CHASTISEMENT IS WHOLLY AN EVIL THING. Like every other grace, if abused it works injury. Sent to bless, it is converted into a curse.

1. It is wasted suffering. As such it must be reckoned as an evil. Pain in itself is not a good thing. If it works no good, natural instinct is right in regarding it as bad.

2. It leads to an aggravation of wickedness. The very abuse of it is a sin. The wrong temper in which it is received is so much more wickedness added to the long catalogue of unrepented sin. One more call from the Father is spurned by his children.

3. It leaves the heart harder than it finds it. Sorrow, if it does not soften the sufferer, will harden him, as friction, which abrades the tender skin, renders the tough skin more thick and horny.

Jer 5:12, Jer 5:13

Culpable unbelief.

The Jews are accused of unbelief as a sin. It is therefore sometimes to be regarded in this light (e.g. Heb 4:1-16.). Let us consider the characteristics of a culpable unbelief and its origin.

I. UNBELIEF IS MORALLY CULPABLE WHEN IT ARISES FROM AN EVIL HEART.

1. This unbelief must be distinguished

(1) from that of ignorance;

(2) from that of prejudice, bad education, etc.;

(3) from that of honest doubt.

2. It is recognized

(1) as residing in the will rather than in the intellecta result of wishing a thing not to be true; and

(2) as colored by custom, worldly proclivities, base passions, ill feeling against all that the highest truth is concerned with. It is practically equivalent to the willful rejection of truth. He who is blamed for this is not blamed for his opinions, but for the moral determining causes of them. We are not responsible for our beliefs, in so far as they are purely intellectual, but we are responsible for them in so far as they are formed under moral influences.

II. THE EVIL TENDENCIES TOWARDS A CULPABLE UNBELIEF ARE ABUNDANT AND POWERFUL. These are not to be found in a simple proneness to err, a natural weakness of faith, nor in the dangers accompanying daring speculation. They are to be traced in conduct and practical affairs.

1. Untruthful habits. Israel had dealt treacherously with God (Jer 5:11). We must be true to discern truth. If the eye is evil, the whole body is full of darkness. There is a close connection between those two evil things which go under the name of infidelitytreachery and unbelief, lack of faithfulness and lack of faith.

2. Resistance to the will of God. The language of the people betrays an animus, a spirit of enmity to God. “They have belied the Lord.” Nothing blinds like hatred.

3. Love of ease. The words of Jeremiah were not pleasant; be threatened terrible things. Therefore his hearers refused to accept his message. Their conduct was most illogical, since truth is not affected by our liking for itare there not many unpleasant truths?and most injurious to themselves, since it was for their own interest to give heed to the warning of approaching calamity, that foresight might mitigate the force, if it could not now prevent the falling, of the blow. Yet this conduct was most natural. It is constantly to be observed that people listen to the teachers whom they like rather than to those whom they believe to be speaking the most important truths, and accept the opinions which suit their inclinations rather than those possibly less agreeable ideas which stand on the surest foundation of fact.

4. Spiritual deadness. The Jews deny the inspiration of the prophets. To them weighty words such as those of Jeremiah are mere “wind.” So there were those who derided him who spake with the weightiest authority and “as never man spake.” Sin deadens the soul to the perception of God’s voice in nature, in the Bible, in Christ, in conscience.

Jer 5:19

Suitable retribution.

In anticipation of their astonishment at the character of the retribution that is to fall upon them the Jews are to be shown that this is fitting and rightly corresponds to their conduct.

I. THEY WHO FORSAKE GOD IN PROSPERITY WILL FEEL THE LOSS OF GOD IN ADVERSITY. According to the religious conduct in sunny days will be the condition of rest or ruin in dark days.

II. THE FALSE GODS OF PROSPERITY PROVE WORTHLESS IN ADVERSITY. Israel served heathen gods in their own laud. In their captivity they are to be slaves to strange men. The gods are then nowhere. Men make gods of wealth, pleasure, fame, etc; and find that, though these may be worshipped, they can do nothing to deliver their devotees.

III. THEY WHO THROW OFF THE SERVICE OF GOD MUST SUBMIT TO HARDER SERVICE. They think to be free, but they really are the slaves of sin (Joh 8:34). They reject the easy yoke and light burden of Christ only to find themselves bound in the galling fetters of Satan.

IV. THE ABUSE OF BLESSINGS IS NATURALLY PUNISHED BY THE LOSS OF THEM. In their own land the Jews had proved unfaithful to the God who had given it them. They are rightly punished by exile to a strange land, where they must miss his gracious government.

Jer 5:22-24

Man rebuked by nature.

Man considers himself to be “the lord of creation.” He alone of all creatures is made in the image of God. Yet there are things in nature which should put him to shame. Jeremiah indicates two of these.

I. THE DIVINE ORDER OF NATURE REBUKES THE WILFUL DISOBEDIENCE OF MAN.

1. Nature is ever obedient to the law of God.

(1) The greatest powers of nature submit to Divine ordinances. The sea, vast and mighty, is bound by his decree (Job 38:8-11).

(2) The wildest convulsions of nature do not transgress these ordinances. The waves may toss and roar, but they cannot pass the bounds that God has set them. Hurricanes, thunder-storms, earthquakes, are as subservient to law as the silent sunshine and the peaceful growth of spring.

(3) The simplest means in accordance with Divine laws are sufficient to restrain the fiercest forces of nature. God has placed the sand as a bound of the sea, and the storms are driven back from the sandy beach as surely as from the coast of iron crags.

(4) The obedience of nature to these Divine ordinances is everlasting and without exception. The sea is bound by perpetual decrees.

2. Man alone is disobedient to the Law of God. He is the great exception to the order of the universe. The wild sea never transgresses God’s decrees; man is the sole transgressor. The possibility of this strange, solitary rebellion among all the orders of God’s kingdoms of nature is explained by the constitution of man and the character of the obedience which is required by this. Nature is under necessity; man is free. Nature’s obedience is unconscious, material; man’s is deliberate, moral. He is to fear, to tremble, i.e. to obey under the influence of thoughts and feelings of reverence. Lacking these, he can be bound to the throne of God by no chains of compulsion. But how terrible to use the high endowment of liberty only to set at defiance the august decrees before which all other creatures bow unceasingly!

II. THE DIVINE BENEFICENCE OF NATURE REBUKES THE UNGRATEFUL REBELLION OF MAN.

1. The order of nature is beneficent. God gives the rain “in its season.” He keeps for men “the appointed weeks of the harvest.” The regularity and harmony of the physical world are beneficial to men. The sun never fails to rise. If it once failed, what disasters would follow! If the motion of the earth were irregular no life could continue to exist. The order of the seasons is a distinct blessing (Gen 8:22). Instead of shrinking from “the reign of law” as from a cruel tyranny, we should welcome it when we remember that the laws of nature are but the material expression of the will of God, and that will the outcome of his goodness.

2. This beneficence of nature shows all sin to be a mark of ingratitude. God smiles on us in nature (Mat 5:45). How then can we, while blessed by the very sunshine of that smile, rise up in revolt against him? If the grandeur and splendid harmony of nature do not awe us, shall not its gentleness and kindliness attract us to loyal obedience to him who is at once the Fountain of law and the Father of mercies?

Jer 5:30, Jer 5:31

The most appalling condition to which a nation can sink.

After enumerating the sins of his people in ever-darkening series, the prophet at length reaches a form of evil worse than all others, at the sight of which he starts back with an exclamation of horror; this is corruption at the very fountain of instruction and worship, and the willing acquiescence in it by the nation.

I. CONSIDER THE FEARFUL NATURE OF THIS EVIL.

1. False prophecy. The prophet should be the highest oracle of truth. If he utters lies, knowledge is corrupted at its source. The guilt of such conduct is exceptionally great, because

(1) it is a sin against light;

(2) it is a prostitution of the highest powers to the basest ends; and

(3) it is a cause of widespread ruin to those who follow these “blind leaders of the blind.”

2. Subservient priesthood. The priests were at the beck of the false prophets. These men had not the excuse of the prophets. The prophets represented a progressive religion, a religion of inward lights, a religion in which new departures were expected, and therefore one in which the excuse of honest though mistaken enthusiasm might be urged in defense of a lapse into error. But the priests were the custodians of a rigid ritual defined by a written Law. They were put in trust, and their apostasy was a deliberate act of unfaithfulness. The Christian teacher, though free from the letter of the Law, and gifted with the spiritual freedom of prophecy, is put in trust with the gospel (1Ti 1:11). If he, while retaining the influence and emoluments of his office, consciously forsakes the guidance of the New Testament for the fascinations of groundless speculation, he too is guilty of unfaithfulness; and if he knows the speculation to be false, but accepts it out of deference to its popularity, he is guilty of base treason like that of the commander of a fortress who surrenders to the enemy from sheer cowardice.

3. Popular acquiescence in these evils. “My people love to have it so.” This is pleasing, since

(1) the false prophets flatter and prophesy smooth things, while the true prophets like Jeremiah must often rebuke and denounce judgments; and

(2) the priests are satisfied with an unspiritual religion, ritual without morality, perhaps even immorality in religion. But this fact completes the terrible depravity of the nation. The people cannot plead ignorance nor compulsory obedience. The willing followers of corrupt religious leaders must share their guilt; nay, they are responsible for the aggravation of it by fostering with applause that which would die out if neglected.

II. CONSIDER THE FINAL RESULT OF THIS EVIL. “And what will ye do in the end thereof?” It was characteristic of the false prophets that they aimed only at immediate popularity, and thought only of the present, while the true prophets were concerned with the future. But the future wilt some day be the present. Is it not best to inquire what this is becoming while yet there is time to modify it?

1. Consider the moral results of this depravity, the corruption of conscience, the falsifying of the nature of those who live in falsehood, the destruction of all spiritual life in those who lower spiritual functions before the claims of worldly convenience.

2. Consider the penal results of this depravity. Can this of all evils go unpunished? (See verse 29.)

HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR

Jer 5:1

A wicked city spared for the sake of one saint.

The challenge is very bold and striking. It proves how thoroughly the prophet, as taught by the Spirit, had read the national corruption. At the same time it furnishes a gauge of the long, suffering mercy of God, and the influence for good of one true man. Jerusalem, the chief city, is chosen as representing what is best and most influential in the nation; and its streets and lanes as the haunts of the multitude, the merchants, the artisans, and common people, who would represent the general public morality. It is as if he had said, “In practical life, amid the miscellaneous throng, seek for the just and honorable man.” What light this throws upon

I. THE EXTENT OF CORRUPTION POSSIBLE IN HUMAN NATURE! The Jewish metropolis had been highly favored. The priesthood had its head-quarters there. The chief messages of the prophets had been delivered in its precincts. It was the center of influence, national spirit, and intelligence. Yet the effect of all this was morally and spiritually rotten. Worse even than Sodom and Gomorrah in actual spiritual condition, as certainly it would be far less tolerable for it than for them in the day of judgment. Ideally it was the city of the saints and of heavenly peace and order; actually its temple was a den of thieves, and its streets the scenes of universal dishonesty, godlessness, and corruption. As has been said of a certain metropolis of Christendom, it would appear to have been the case that “the more churches the less religion.” Allowing it to be a rhetorical exaggeration, it was nevertheless a terrible statement to be able to make. But the great cities of the modern world have filled with a like despair the minds of the wisest thinkers. The measure of man’s possible degeneration and depravity who can fix?

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS! The spectacle of Abraham praying for the cities of the plain is most impressive. But may it not be paralleled by the unconscious influence of good men? Even accepting the statement as a challenge, was it not a great thing to say that one man by his holiness could have saved the city? Suppose there had been such a man. One can imagine what would have been his sorrow at the universal evil, and his feeling of helplessness and uselessness amid the prevalent irreligion. Yet would his presence there be no light matter, no vain thing. Though he knew it not, he would have been the savior of the peopleimmediately from the judgment of God, possibly in the future from the sin that was destroying it. The value, therefore, of individual influence in spiritual matters is incalculable; and no Christian can say that he is of no use. Godward the prayer of the faithful may soar in constant intercession and mediation; manward his character and works are a constant testimony to the unbeliever.

III. THE INFINITENESS OF GOD‘S LONG–SUFFERING LOVE. The presence of one good man in the wicked city would have been an appeal to God‘s justice that could not he despised. He could not “destroy the righteous with the wicked.” But far more would it have been an appeal to his love. The hope of the future would have been wrapped up in that solitary saint. In him grace would find a secret sanctuary, and the forces of salvation a vantage-point from which to sally forth to the rescue of perishing souls and the work of national, yea, of world-wide, regeneration. The judgments of God are not inflicted arbitrarily or in haste. He has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Any reasonable excuse for merciful intervention or delay is welcome. Countless acts of mercy and forgiveness, countless opportunities for repentance, have occurred ere the uplifted axe has dealt its terrible stroke. Learn, then, from this that:

1. The life as the prayer of a righteous man availeth much with God.

2. That God will save us if we will only let him; and

3. He will begin his work of salvation from the least, and tarry it on even to the greatest.

IV. THE REASONABLENESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF VICARIOUS SUFFERING THROUGH CHRIST.M.

Jer 5:3

What God requires of man.

“O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth?” This is better rendered, “O Lord, look not thine eyes for fidelity?” Faith is the grand requirement. It is the condition of communion between man and God, and man and man. Scripture lays stress on this. Faith cannot be a mere logical abstraction or a condition beyond the reach of man. It must be practicalwithin the power of the will, and such as may be reasonably looked for in all. “Fidelity,” the Old Testament equivalent for the New Testament “faith,” has its expression in reality, honesty, thoroughness. These are the marks of the man God delights to honor, and they are the obligation of all (cf. Mic 6:8).

I. ITS SIMPLICITY, REASONABLENESS, AND NECESSITY OF IT. God could not ask for less than man demands of his fellow, and society requires for its stability and advancement. It is obviously independent of the accidents of culture, fortune, or position; and for any solid understanding between God and man, absolutely indispensable. We are God’s stewards, servants, representatives, etc. Having this, we have all; wanting this, all our other acquirements are vain.

II. THE SCARCITY OF IT. A little while ago we read that not a just man could be found in all Jerusalem. Here it is said that even in the most sacred oath there is false swearing. The want of this quality, rather than its presence, strikes the inquirer. This it is that gives rise to wars, jealousies, selfishness, sin in all its forms.

III. THE REASON FOR ITS ABSENCE IN MOST MEN. Because men are sinners, alienated from the life of God and unconscious of his claims. The carnal nature is unable of itself even to be real, to be truly honest, or to discharge faithfully and completely the most ordinary duties. A supernatural aid is required. A Savior must die. Through him the soul must be united with God in a true love and holy understanding. The better nature thus awakened, the trust and confidence and love thus created must be reinforced by the Spirit. How terrible the thoughts, “Thou God seest me!” “Be not deceived: God is not mocked!” “His eyes are as a flame of fire!” “The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword,” etc.! Who shall deceive that all-seeing One? The eyes of Jehovah, reading the secrets of the soul, look for fidelity, for faith.M.

Jer 5:18

Sparing mercy.

The judgments described as about to be inflicted are very fearful, but they were amply deserved. The wickedness of the people was such as to justify their complete destruction. Yet they were spared ere they were totally extinct! Why this unlooked-for restraint?

I. IT HAS CHARACTERIZED ALL GOD‘S JUDGMENTS OF MANKIND ON EARTH. The Fall, the Flood, the Exodus, etc; the sparing of the remnant of Benjamin, etc.

II. THERE IS BUT ONE EXPLANATION FOR IT. It is the possibility of some turning to him truly in the first instance; and, secondly, through them, of the race being saved in the future. God has never utterly cut off even the most sinful. Love, and not. mere vengeance, behaves in this way.

1. Has he not spared us?

2. He has never abandoned his purpose of saving “the whole world.”M.

Jer 5:22

God’s power in restraining the forces of nature.

An old, yet ever new, illustration of his power. The tiny grains of sand, the “Portland Beach” of shingle or pebbles, is enough to bold back the mighty ocean. It is but one of many impressive illustrations of his restraining power and goodness.

I. IT IS CALCULATED TO INSPIRE REVERENCE AND LOVE.

II. OUR HELPLESS DEPENDENCE UPON HIM IS THUS SHOWN.

III. THE POWER OF GOD IN THE SPHERE OF MORAL INFLUENCE AND SAVING GRACE as thereby suggested.

“‘Thus far and no further,’ when addressed
To the wild waves, or wilder human breast,
Implies authority that never can,
And never ought to be the lot of man.”

It is God’s prerogative. Let us not defy him or arrogate to ourselves that which is his. Let us rather yield ourselves to his gracious dealings and fatherly purpose.M.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Jer 5:1

Can a righteous man be found in Jerusalem?

God’s warnings still go on concerning the same thingthe deeply seated, the deeply destructive wickedness of the people. But though the same subject has to be spoken of, there is no monotony in the treatment of it. It can be looked at from fresh points of view, and put into fresh lights. A careful reading of Jer 4:1-31. will show how many different things can be said concerning wickedness; and now, with Jer 5:1, the reproaches and appeals still continue. Note

I. THE INDIVIDUALIZING ASPECT OF THE APPEAL. The nation and Jerusalem and the leaders in it have all been referred to; but as long as there are generalities and nothing more individuals will think they can get away from blame under cover of them. Here, then, is a bold challenge which fastens up in a corner every dweller in Jerusalem. The challenge, of course, is not to be taken literally. The true state of things may be known, and known very distinctly, without any running to and fro at all. Let every one take a glance at those whom he knows, and then come home to a candid inquiry concerning the life within his own breast. It is an easy thing to blame others, to throw the fault of disaster upon those who occupy prominent positions. Followers are to blame as well as leaders. The iniquity of Jerusalem, deep, turbid, incessant as the stream of it is, is made of many contributions which, individually considered, may seem very slight. A few men in every age are called to toil for the removal of evils of which, personally, they are not guilty; but every one has the opportunity of improving the world, by doing his best to keep his own heart right. Others are to blame, and there are times when they must be faced, blamed, and resisted; but there is given a daily need, duty, and opportunity to do in cur own hearts what no one else can do for us.

III. HOW COMPREHENSIVE AND CONFIDENT THE CHALLENGE IS. It amounts to this, that there cannot be found in all Jerusalem one man who is just in all his dealings, and a seeker after truth. Not one. Must we, then, take this literally? The answer is, No, and Yes. It would have been strange if Jerusalem had become so utterly bad a place that every soul within it was perverted from the ways of right and truth. There must have been some men desiring and striving to live a right life. We bear in mind what God said to Elijah when Elijah said, in the despair and bitterness of his heart, that only he was left to serve God. Not so by any means; the searching God, who counts hearts where fallible men can only Count heads, told his prophet there were still seven thousand with knees unbowed to Baal. And did not Jeremiah discover from his own experience that there were some on Jehovah’s side (Jer 26:24; Jer 39:15-18)? But they were not enough to exert a leavening and recovering influence. And yet the very men whom we may call good and just and true, seeing something of the right, and trying to do it as far as they saw, would have drawn back in confusion and self-distrust if they had been asked, in a direct way and so that the question could not be evaded, “Do you answer this description?’ “Are you doers of justice and seekers after truth?” In trying to answer such a question, would not the moments of unfaithfulness and hesitation come to mind-the occasions when they were tempted to escape from loss and pain by some convenient Compromise? It will never do for us to congratulate ourselves on being a great deal better than others so long as we come short of what God wants us to be.

III. The thing to be specially considered is, how THIS ACCUSATION APPLES TO THE GREAT MASS OF THE PEOPLE. Many would have said, cynically enough, “Justice and truth are no concern of ours.” These are words that sound very well in general statements; but directly the attempt is made to bring them close to the individual, it is alleged that they do not apply, or else there is the name and not the thing. Things are called just which are not just, and true which are utterly false. Let men of noble minds talk of justice and truth, and only too many are found to allege that such speaking is but cant and hypocrisy. When Jesus said to Pilate that he came into the world to bear witness to the truth, Pilate answered him with the question, “What has truth got to do with the matter?” Men want to get on, to get rich, to get known, to live easily, to satisfy the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life; and the claims of justice and truth would make sad havoc with such purposes. Those who have learned from Christ that justice and truth are great necessities of life, necessities in a far higher sense than food and clothing, have often to notice, with great pain and concern, the number of those who do not seem to have any conception of what it is really to do justice and seek after truth. They do not comprehend the objects which God and Christ set before them any more than a blind man comprehends colors. Why, then, blame them? it may be asked. The blame is that they will not come to Christ that they may have sight. To Christians the power and disposition are given to do justice. The spirit is put in them to seek for truth as those who seek for hid treasures, and those who seek with such a zeal and impulse can never seek in vain.Y.

Jer 5:3-6

Chastisement thwarted by universal stubbornness.

I. THE FACT THAT GOD‘S CHASTISEMENTS ARE THWARTED. The chastisements are evidently indicated as severe, and the reason of the severity is hinted in the [preliminary question. God is looking for truth, looking for it in the midst of oaths broken and despised. He looks for faithfulness in all the ways in which it can be shown, There must be correspondence between promises and performances; there must be stability of character; the character must be such that men will be the same out of sight as in sight, working as ever in the Great Taskmaster’s eye. Moreover, God cannot be put off by the most plausible appearance of fidelity; he knows always whether the heart is steadfast in its affection and zeal. And thus seeing all this insincerity among his people, this carelessness about truth, he chastises them to make them feel their wrong, attend to his will, and alter their deceiving ways so as to correspond with it. They are told beforehand what is coming, and the very instrument of chastisement is displayed before them. They had no ground for saying, “Suffering came upon us, and we knew not why it came.” We know that Jeremiah’s words must have been very pungent and irritating, and the irritating element was just this, that he persistently spoke of conquest, desolation, and exile as lying in the immediate future for his fellow-country. men. And here Jeremiah, with the prophet’s melancholy privilege, sets forth the future as present. The stroke has fallen; the suffering, the loss, the humiliation, is keen; but there is no understanding in the mind, and no sign of repentance and return. Their faces are harder than the rock. If some sculptor could put into a marble face all that outwardly marks the stubborn mind that would be the expression of Israel now towards Jehovah. No subdued look in the eye; no irrepressible quivering of the lips preliminary to saying, “Father, I have sinned and am no more worthy to be called thy son” (Jer 3:4).

II. THE REASON WHICH THE PROPHET ADVANCES FOR THIS STUBBORNNESS. Remember what we have said alreadyand let it be said again, for it is essential to a right understanding of the passagethat the purpose of the chastisement was distinctly set forth beforehand. The people had not to grope in the dark as to the reason of their suffering. There was no room for disputing, if only Jeremiah were accepted as indeed a prophet of Jehovah. And to Jeremiah himself the intention of the chastisement was, of course, plain by the very clearest light. And, since it is natural for us to suspect that what is plain to us should be plain to others, Jeremiah could see only one reason for this distressing want of recipiency. Those who are so stubborn he thinks can be but a part of Israel, the poor and foolish, the degraded, brutalized residuum of the nation. Thus Jeremiah illustrates, by this interposed conjecture of his, a very common and perilous tendency among thinking men. We may not be unwillingindeed, we may only be too eagerto admit the degradation of a large part of mankind, and their stolid indifference to all that is noble, refined, and truly humane. But then, on the other hand, there is an excessive exaltation of the natural man. Genius, intellect, success in research and discovery, such as that of a Newton and a Faradaythese are glorified beyond their due. It is forgotten that while men have natural powers whereby they can climb very high, they must come to God in humility and ask for wings of faith if they are to discover the highest kind of truth, the truth to which man must soar rather than climb. Jeremiah reckons that what he certainly cannot find in some he will assuredly find in others. He will turn away from the ignorant rabble, and go to the men of substance, the men with responsibility, such, doubtless, as the king and the princes, the priests and the prophets. But he goes only to fail only to discover that the wise men of this world are as little disposed to attend to the preaching of the prophet as Paul afterwards discovered them to be to the preaching of the apostle.

III. And so we come to THE REAL REASON OF THE STUBBORNESS. It is something which lies in universal sinful human nature, apart from any special defects or special excellences. The stubbornness may sometimes suddenly vanish where we should expect it to continue, and where we should expect it to vanish it may not only continue but become to all appearance invincible. The heart of unbelief is found in every rank. The experience of Jesus would seem to have been that the poor and the foolish, as Jeremiah would have classified them, were more ready to turn to him than the great. An excellent commentary on the passage we have been considering is to be found in the first and second chapters of Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians.Y.

Jer 5:10

The vineyard spoiled because of the degenerate branches.

I. Look AT THE FIGURE WHICH UNDERLIES THIS EXHORTATION. We find in other parts of Scripture passages curiously rich in illustration of the emphatic exhortation here. Turn to Isa 5:1-7 : here is presented to us the picture of a vineyard protected by a fence against marauders and wild beasts, planted with the choicest vine, and tilled in the most complete and careful manner. But when the vineyard, in spite of all care, only yields wild grapes, then the hedge and the wall are taken away and the cultivated land lapses into wilderness. Psa 80:1-19. contains a very similar passage, save that it is the language of appeal from a suffering people instead of a warning from a disappointed God. God is described as having cast out the heathen to make room for the vine which he had brought from Egypt. And in the land where he planted it, it grew downwards and upwards and outwards, spreading far and wide. “Why then,” say the people, “hast thou broken down her hedges, so that all which pass by the way do pluck her? The bear out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.” Once again, there is a very striking passage in Pro 24:30, Pro 24:31. The wise man passes the vineyard of the man void of understanding, and finds it full of thorns and nettles, and the stone wall thereof broken down. Hence the vineyard, with its need of a strong wall kept in good repair, comes before us almost as distinctly as if it were a familiar sight.

II. CONSIDER NOW THE EXHORTATION ITSELF. The wall round this vineyard of God, even this vineyard which he so plainly set apart and has cared for so much, is to be broken down. We have not far to seek for the reason. The branches of the vine are not Jehovah’s. “I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” (Jer 2:21). The wall is not yet in such case as that round the vineyard of the man void of understanding. It has not dropped to pieces through sloth. Its fate, it may be said, is even worse, for it has to come down by an act of judgment. Protection is a mockery and reproach when the thing protected fails to reward the care that has been lavished upon it. God breaks down the fence that he may make a clear way for the removing of the branches. The branches, one may say, are fixed in a true vine and draw nourishment from good soil; yet wild, sour, deluding, discreditable grapes are all the result. The branches, therefore, are to go, but only the branches. A full end is not to be made. The trunk, the roots, still stay. For indeed a word has, by-and-by, to be spoken by Jesus, concerning the vine and the branches, and the branches which are to abjure in the vine that they may bring forth fruit. God will destroy all profitless connection with himself. If men avail themselves of the strength and opportunity which he gives to bring forth fruit, not such as will glorify him, but such as suits the perverted taste of men, then all the branches on which such fruit comes must be unsparingly cut away. And what a thought that fruit which men so much value is after all in God’s sight, which gives the true estimation, a sour and worthless thing!Y.

Jer 5:14

Those who call the word of Jehovah a lie.

It has Been a common folly, in connection with all the revelations which God has made at sundry times and in divers manners, to despise the authority of the messengers. Noah, Moses, David, and many others up to Jesus himself, could tell, along with Jeremiah, the same essential experience of contempt, rejection, and persecution. It is not for God to use those outward pomps and recommendations on which men count so much. A message unwelcome in itself is easily made of no repute when the messenger is devoid of outward state. Outward show, as every age can tell, counts for a great deal. Perhaps the visit of the Queen of Sheba would have been made far less of if she had not been a queen, or had come without the barbaric treasures which she spread forth in such great abundance. Simple lovers of truth, when their station happens to be obscure, are not much remarked. Here then was Jeremiah, asserting that he had come with a message from the Lord of the utmost moment, and he is rejected with the brusque intimation that his message is a lie and he himself an impostor. And this rejection is all the more noticeable because the words of the prophet must surely have had a strange impressiveness. None of the prophets could have spoken in the routine fashion of a herald announcing the proclamation which many times, perhaps, he has announced before. They must all, at least in the judgment of a few, have spoken with authority and not as the scribes. And Jeremiah at all events must have stood before the people, having every channel of outward expression filled from the sad experiences and emotions of his own inward life. The sorrows of which he spoke were as sorrows that he saw rising before his mind’s eye in all the horrors of their reality. The words, as he says in Jer 20:9, were often words that he tried to keep back, but that which was as a burning fire shut up in his bones must break out at last. And therefore, when the words did come, they were charged with a force of personal conviction and brotherly entreaty which in itself ought to have been enough to arrest attention. Moreover, sword and famine, future calamities with all their aggravations, were not the only things of which the prophet spoke. He had to deal with an actual present as well as a foreshadowed future. The present in which he and his audience lived teemed with idolatry, perjury, fraud, and oppression. These things were not lies. It was no lie to point to the manifest seed that Israel was sowing, and surely there was nothing more really reasonable than that there should be a reaping according to the sowing. At this height of rejection, then, God steps in to vindicate and honor his faithful servant. It is a melancholy kind of distinction, but a distinction nevertheless. His words were not only true words, but most terribly near to their fulfillment. It was not that Jeremiah himself was an agent in destroying, but his words became so immediately true, there was such a rapid production and concentration of the agents of destruction, as to make it quite proper to say that these words of the prophet were as consuming fire. But a few years, and many of these despisers found that the alleged lies were only too painfully true. It is not over lapsing centuries that we have to look for the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s gloomy prediction. Isaiah long before had sounded the note of warning, and now the peril is close at hand. It was inevitable that Jeremiah should speak with an urgency and excitement absent from the messages of his great predecessor. As the time of chastisement drew nearer, the warnings had to be louder, more disturbing, possibly more continuous. The mariner setting out on his voyage may be warned of some special danger lying in his track; but the adviser, while he may speak very earnestly, will not speak as does the man who, when the helmsman is close upon the danger, shouts to him, with utmost excitement and agitation, at once to change his course. God gave to Jeremiah this melancholy satisfaction, that while he had been, to his heart’s deepest sorrow, a messenger of woe, he had yet been approved, on the surest evidence, as a messenger of truth.Y.

Jer 5:22

A lesson from the raging sea.

I. WE OBSERVE GOD FIXING LIMITS WITHIN WHICH HIS CREATURES EXERCISE THEIR POWER. Jehovah speaks here of the sea in particular, but just because it happens to be an excellent representative, for the purpose in view, of the rest of his creation. We may notice God’s boundaries in many places and at different seasons, and surely it must often strike thoughtful minds, as they walk by the mighty deep, that there is, in the arrangement of sea and land, an exquisite illustration of the unfailing wisdom of God. Here is this vast mass of water, covering the surface of the globe, ever in motion and yet ever keeping its place. The true state of the case is even more wonderful than that which was presented to Jeremiah. To him the earth was a flat expanse, and the beach would have the aspect of an embankment which really kept the water back. We, aided by the discoveries of science, know that the real limiting forces of the sea work in a much more mysterious manner. But, of course, the fundamental truth is the same. There must be a great and loving intelligence at work, keeping the waters within their appointed bounds.

II. OBSERVE THE COMPARISON WHICH IS MADE BETWEEN DISOBEDIENT MAN AND THE SEA IN A STATE OF STORM. The sea easily gets a kind of personality, and the sea in a storm is very like a proud man chafing against the barriers, which confine him, and trying to break them down. More than that, when God looks down into human society, underneath the (to us) often calm surface, he must see little else than stormy agitation, one human billow dashing against another, each individual in his self-assertion contributing to make a general disturbance, and a disturbance which apparently will not soon have an end. And yet the sea, with all its fury and roar and threatening, with all the destruction it may work out in its own sphere, is powerless to overwhelm the solid land. In the strength of their confidence, men would build large cities close to the ocean-brink and inhabit them without fear. They will go down and look at the tempest in its utmost fury, sure that they are safe. A few yards make all the difference between the agony of deadly peril and perfect ease of mind. The more furious the storm is, the grander it makes the sight without in any wise diminishing the feeling of safety.

III. HENCE THERE IS INDICATED THE FOLLY OF ALL HUMAN OPPOSITION TO GOD. The storm rises; it may destroy many ships and lives; but in due time the calm returns and the great features of the scene appear the same. The land is still there. And so men may chafe against the commandments and purposes of God, and may go on without intervals of calm, even exceeding the sea in the continuity of their violence. But what does all the strife avail? The boundaries are fixed. If in that which is natural God has taken so much care in the line between sea and land, is it not certain that he will take equal care in that which is spiritual? God’s work continues on the solid land, away from all disturbance of his foes. Nay, more, looking at the figure here from the Christian point of view, we see that even within what seems its own sphere, the raging of the sea can soon be stopped. Let us think of Jesus quelling the waves, and we shall feel that the greatest storms of opposition and persecution are entirely in the hands of God. How long these storms may rage and what they may do entirely depend on the purpose which he wishes them to subserve.Y.

Jer 5:26-29

The worst kind of wickedness found among the people of Jehovah.

God’s people are well acquainted with the voice of those scorners who speak as if hypocrisy was the invariable accompaniment of a religious profession. They do discover, it must be admitted, far more frequently than they ought to discover, that religious profession is a mere pretence; and thereupon they never forget the few well-established instances which are a ground, in season and out of season, for a sweeping charge of hypocrisy. But such people, unfortunately for themselves, are not readers of the Scriptures; else they would discover that God does not wait for outside malevolent critics to make the most of the hypocrisies to be found amongst his people. God not only sees and laments this peculiarly odious form of wickedness, but is exceedingly plain in his description and terribly severe in his denunciation. In this matter outsiders cannot tell God’s people anything they do not know already. Note

I. THAT WHICH OUGHT TO BE FOUND AMONGST GOD‘S PEOPLE. This is just the thing which makes the whole discovery so inexpressibly sadthat this wickedness is found where there should have been found a character diametrically opposite. It is the scene of the wickedness that indescribably aggravates the wickedness itself. That a good man, a really good man, should be found in a den of thieves is impossible. Vain would it be for him to continue there and yet plead his uprightness. A den of thieves does actually give character to every one who willingly inhabits it, and so, passing from the bad to the good, a certain high reputation must attach to every one who openly ranks himself among the people of God. It was not because these Israelites dwelt in a certain territory or were descendants from certain ancestors that they were reckoned the people of God. There was a covenant, the terms of which were to be taught to every generation and diligently observed by it. And this covenant emphatically required that these people should live among themselves an upright, brotherly, loving life. Without this, worship was vain; indeed, without this, worship, in the true sense, was impossible. In the home, union was to be preserved by subordination and purity; and in society, by the safety of life and property to the individual. God’s people are “the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand,” and it is manifest that, in the right order of things, a sheep’s clothing should cover a sheep and not a wolf.

II. THAT WHICH ACTUALLY IS FOUND. Wicked men are found where none but the devout, the upright, and the gentle ought to be. Further, this wickedness is so marked off by bold and indignant expressions that every one guilty of it may know Jehovah’s eye to be upon him. For such a man there lies no way of escape among vague generalities. He cannot get off by alleging, with apparent seriousness, that, while there are undoubtedly deceivers among the people of God, he at all events is not to be numbered amongst them. If a man is behaving himself after the fashion here described, he certainly must know it. With regard to certain actions, the nature of them may come out so openly that it is easy to effect the consequent exclusion and separation of the offender from the people of God. But there yet remain many wickednesses, the worst of wickednesses, which a man may go on committing and yet keep his name written in the human record of those who profess service to God. He may even make his very position a vantage-ground for the laying of his snares and the perfecting of his wiles. He may be able so to conceal his hand and his purpose as to deceive even his victims, who, instead of arguing that because there is great wickedness the doer of it must be a bad man, begin at the other end and say that a maker of long prayers cannot possibly be bad; he may be driven to the infliction of a painful blow, but, that must be reckoned his calamity rather than his fault. Now, the descriptions in this passage make it evident that God sees into all the doings of such men. And at this particular time these men had become very successful, and we must infer very influential. Wherever money is heaped up it makes influence. And even though such oppressors were not numerous, their very position gave them power. But over against them, with all their power, all their wealth, all their pretensions, there is that God who marks every tear and groan and writhing of the oppressed. This passage is but one out of many in which God shows his hatred to all injustice. Some of the so-called friends of humanity, who are never tired of asserting their friendship and pressing their claims, make one of their great claims to be in this, that they oppose all acknowledgment of God. Depend upon it, God is the true Friend of humanity; he first, and afterwards are those whom he inspires with his own indignation against wrong, and endows with the strength, patience, resolution, and all Divine resources needed to destroy it. What wonder is it that God should speak of vengeance against such a nation as permits and extenuates the monstrous evils denounced in this passage?Y.

Jer 5:30, Jer 5:31

Mutual helpers in wrong-doing.

I. THE TEMPTATIONS HERE SET FORTH. Three classes are mentionedthe prophet, the priest, and the people in general. Each class plays only too well its iniquitous and deplorable part, just because of the strong assistance which it gains from the attitude of the others. Each class acts as tempter in its turn, and that none the less effectually because it may do it unconsciously. Each one also tempts because he is tempted, and one hardly knows where the malign influence begins save by remembering the words of James, “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.” The prophet, however, is here put first, and this can hardly be without reason. On him there did indeed lie a peculiar burden of responsibility. The prophets here mentioned, we may take it, were not false prophets, although they spoke falsely. The false prophet was he who pretended to be a prophet, although God never sent him; and of such there were doubtless some in the land at this very time. But the horrible thing here was that men whom God had set apart to speak the truth used the prophetic office to tell convenient lies, such as seemed to afford security and profit. Jonah, in his cowardice fleeing from duty, is an illustration of what many other prophets must have done, only they went further and never came back to truth and peace. We know how men in all ages have sold the heritage of faculty which God has given them to the service of lying and darkness. Instead of fighting where their hearts ought to have been, among the soldiers for truth and liberty, they have become mercenaries under despots. These prophets on whom Jehovah had put his hand had allowed themselves to be filled with fear and greed and schemes for worldly success, instead of with the Spirit of Jehovah. They went not with what was true, but with what was acceptable. How much higher the faithful prophets should stand in our esteem when we consider the temptations they resisted, the pains they suffered, the pious heroism which marked their sometimes long career! Imagine what the consequences would have been if the apostles had altered and trimmed the gospel. Then there were the priests. “The priests bear rule by their means.” The allusion may be to the hands of the prophets, but perhaps a better meaning is to take it that the prophet sinned in his way, and the priest again in his way. The prophet’s great instrument of service was his mouth, and with this he prophesied falsely. The priest’s great instrument of service was his hand, and this he used to get superstitious deference to his privileges, instead of for the purpose of presenting, with his whole heart, offering and atonement for the people. In addition to this, there may have been, and very likely was, a corrupt understanding between priest and prophet. Then both priest and prophet had in their eyes the great mass of the people. God himself looked down on this unfaithfulness of the great officials with a warmth of indignation that would soon burst into flame, but the people regarded it all with a very different feeling. They “loved to have it so.” When a true prophet came, speaking truth, his message was so hateful and humiliating that they denied his office. “Surely the man who speaks such things cannot be a prophet; a madman he may be, or a fanatic, or a disloyal man whose Israelite form hides a foreign heart; anything you like, but not a prophet.” But when the prophet comes speaking lies, looking into the faces of his audience for all that he has to put into their ears, then his office will be approved. And so with the priest. If he makes it clear that burnt offerings and all sacrifices are nothing without repentance and reform, he will be thought very little of. He must let the people sin and sin as much as they like. They will cram the temple area with multitudes of flocks and herds to take the effect of sin away, if only they may go on sinning. What God had given to teach the dreadful malignity of sin, these priests had turned into an agency for making it seem a mere trifle.

II. THERE WAS ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY OF REBUKE AND REMONSTRANCE. The people were not obliged to accept these priests and prophets on their own ipse dixit. It was not because a man came forth with his “Thus saith the Lord” that he was to be followed. Anybody can say, “Thus saith the Lord.” The devil attempted persuasions of this sort when he came to Jesus in the wilderness. There must be a strict searching into what is said. One purpose for which God used prophets and priests was as a test of those whom they had to do with. God wishes to know the extent of our regard for the truth, and he has not left us helpless in discovering that truth with the almost certainty. There is always something to appeal to. Every true prophet with his “Thus saith the Lord” had behind him a Law and testimony, already written and indisputably valid, to which he could point. Each prophet as he came along was more firmly tied to the truth, because he had behind him so many who had already spoken, and whom he must not contradict. So the apostles could be checked in speaking lies or inventions, because an appeal was possible to what Jesus had said in the flesh. There were twelve men with one message, and only as long as the message was one were people bound to receive it. And happily, if a difference had arisen, there was always the means of testing which speaker was right. “No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed.” As things stand today, it is perfectly clear that we can test every one professing to be a messenger of Divine truth; we can test him effectually. We are not left unprovided amid modern imposture, knavery, and delusion.Y.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Jer 5:1

True manhood.

Without any introduction, let us plunge at once into our subject, which is True manhood. It opens broadly before us in the suggestions which both this verse and the chapter from which it is taken contain. And first of all we will note

I. THE DIVINE DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION OF IT. It consists in executing judgment and seeking the truth. The Lord asks importunately that “a man” may be found, and then he defines and describes what he means by “a man,” in the words, “one that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth.” Such’ is his description of true manhood. So, then, the true man is he to whom truththat which is right, that which is in accordance with the will of Godis the all-important thing. The habit of his mind, the purpose of his life, is to discover this truthto know what is right. And when what professes to be truth comes before him, he weighs it in the balance of conscience, tests how it tallies with the mind and will of God; and according to its agreement thereto he approves or disapproves, he gives his judgment. And then, when his judgment is formed, his mind made up, as we say, he does not linger in the outer courts of mere approbation, but he presses on into the very sanctuary, the holy of holies, of corresponding actionhe “executeth judgment.” Having sought, seen, approved the right, he does it; not once now and then, but habitually. Such is the man after God’s own heart, such the Divine description of what manhood really is. And now observe:

1. How complete a definition this is! For what form of goodness or excellence is there that this does not include? Whatever is right for a man to do or be comes under this description. Our well-known word, “virtue,” will help us here; for what is virtue but simply that which becomes, which properly belongs to the idea of, the vir, the grand old Roman name for man regarded in his higher nature, as contrasted with the lower idea of man in regard to those qualities which he possesses in common with the brutes around him? Man spoken of as merely the human creature was designated by another word; but man as intelligent and moral, man in his nobler being, they designated by that word vir, from which our word” virtue” comes. Therefore” this word ‘ virtue’ corresponds as closely as possible with our word ‘manliness.’ They are equivalent terms. Then, if we know what virtue is, we know what true manhood is. It includes all moral excellence whatsoever. It is the fruit, the certain fruit, of a man’s seeking the truth, and then, when he has found it and conscience tells him that he has found it, of his straightway practically putting it into action, embodying it in word and deed. It is the product of the three highest faculties God has given to manintellect, conscience, will therefore must embrace all that belongs and is becoming to the vir, the man, and must exclude all that is contrary thereto.”

2. And how catholic a description it is! In it “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, male nor female, bond nor free;” there is neitherthat is, neither exclusivelyBuddhist, Mohammedan, Christian, Jew; neither Romanist, Eastern, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, nor any other sect nor creed whatsoever. For “God is no respecter of persons,” but, as St. Peter said to Cornelius, “In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him.” Thus catholic, thus all-embracing, is this Divine description of a true man. God’s chosen ones consist of all the good.

3. But how condemnatory of the world’s standards! Before what tinsel imitations of the true manhood does the world bow down! How many glorify physical strengththe Samsonian type of man! And indeed the possession of a physical frame capable of much toil, much endurance, that shrinks not from hardships, and laughs at bold and daring enterprises before which other men quail; a body well organized, its varied functions all working powerfully and smoothly like the several parts of a perfectly adjusted machine;that is a great gift of God. But to make a man’s physical qualities the measure of his manhood, that cannot be worthily thought of for one moment. And so, too, if we take intellectual distinctionthat, though far nobler than the physical, will fall before the high claim of the Divine ideal. And as for secular distinctionthat greatness which consists in what a man has, wealth, rank, power, rather than what he is,that claim will not stand for one moment. The world may, does, fall down before these things, and before the last it absolutely grovels; but in the high courts of God’s judgment they go for nothing at all. And at that bar not a little that has the world’s free license as consistent with manhood is frowned upon and utterly condemned. No; right, truth, virtue, all that is in harmony with God’s will,this is what the man after God’s mind seeks, finds, and habitually does.

4. And how commendatory to the conscience is this Divine definition of manhood! Put it before any thoughtful man, and at once he confesses it worthy of God to set forth and blessed for man to seek after. Here the excellent of the earth in all ages and in all lands have found a common meeting-place, and, when unbiased conscience has spoken, have come to a cordial embrace.

5. But how Christ-compelling is this Divine description of true manhood! For he who sets himself to embody it, and really enters on the glorious endeavor, will speedily find that he wants a model, a motive, and a might which assuredly he cannot find in the world around him. A model; for mere abstract descriptions help but little. What can the most brilliant word-painting do to enable you to realize what a lovely landscape is like? It can do something, but not very much. But let the gifted artist draw the scene, let him in beautiful picture portray it, and how much more vividly we realize it then! The mechanician must have his model to work from if he is to do successful work. And so, would we realize the description God has given us of a true man, we also must have our model. But there is only One who is flawless and altogether perfectthe Lord Jesus Christ. Patriarchs, prophets, psalmists, apostles, saints, even the most worthy, are none of them perfect; for we have to modify here, correct there, and absolutely reject elsewhere. It is, therefore, to the life of our blessed Lord and Master that this Divine description of manhood forces me would I find the one example I may safely, always, and everywhere copy. But I want a motive also; for when I begin my great endeavor I find it no holiday task. It brings no worldly gain, it wins no human applause. My natural bent and bias are utterly against it. Ease and comfort are ever crying, “Spare thyself.” Companions on the road are few, and not all of them to my liking, and the way is narrow and rough and steep. What, then, can alone spur me on and constrain me by a compulsion I cannot resist? What but a sense of Christ’s great love, and the supreme solicitude to “be accepted of him,” which flows therefrom? There is absolutely no other motive which will serve for the whole way. Some will take me a part of the way, and others a further part, but all will fail long ere the true end is reached. Therefore am I again driven to Christ, that, as he is my Model, so he may be my Motive too. But he must also be my Might.’ The power to endure, the strength, to, toil, the daily grace for daily need,whence can it come but from him who has said, Because I live, ye shall live also?” True manhood, real virtue, is therefore an impossible thing apart from Christ. More or less stunted and distorted forms of it there may be, but the Divine ideal, never. May he help us to remember this. Thus, then, complete, catholic, condemnatory of the world’s standards, commendatory to the conscience, compelling resort to Christ, is this Divine manhood of which our text tells. But note

II. THE DIVINE DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISMAY AT NOT FINDING IT WHERE IT MAY SO JUSTLY HAVE SEEN EXPECTED. Observe the words of our text, how they challenge the most thorough search everywhere, implying that the Lord himself had made such searchhe whose eyes (Jer 5:3) “are upon the truth,” who is keen-visioned to discover his own in the densest crowd or in the most obscure abode. But now he challenges any to make a like search. Let them run to and fro in the by-streets, in the broad ways, in market-places, in all parts where men congregate; let them in every such place see, know, seek, if they can find even one true man. And the challenge is made not in scorn nor in anger, but in disappointment and dismay. For where, if not amongst God’s own professed people, and in the center of their worship, Jerusalem; where, if not there, could such as God sought be found? But not even there were they; there were “none righteous; no, not one.” But what was found this whole chapter plainly declares. There was horrible wickednesswickedness which only such appalling images as the seventh and eighth verses of this chapter could fitly describe. And this not amongst the ignorant poor only, but amongst the great, the well instructed also (Jer 5:4, Jer 5:5). And where there was a form of religion the power was wanting, as the second verse tells. They might use devout words, but the Lord, whose eyes were on the truth (Jer 5:3), knew how hollow that profession was. So that there was not one man such as God desired. And, though willing to spare, God was forced to punish (Jer 5:9). This and much more of a like sort prevails all through the chapter. But the contemplation of it fills the Divine mind with disappointment and dismay. It is deep distress to him that he cannot find what he so much desires to find. Are we quite sure that the like question might not be asked in our day? Is the Divine ideal of manhood so constantly realized? Is there not very much to make a devout heart fear lest a like search might lead to a too much like result? Let us remember what it is God looks for in us. Not that which the world thinks so much of, but this manhood; and he mourns when he finds it not. And let it be our prayer that more and more we may be men according to his mind. Note next

III. THE DIVINE DEMONSTRATION OF THE DELIGHT AND JOY HE HAS IN IT. He says if there be but one such man, he will spare Jerusalem for his sake. Such is the meaning of the last clause of this verse. What higher proof (save one which we will note anon) could he give of his estimate of this manhood? He gave large proof when he told Abraham that if there were ten righteous in Sodom he would spare the city for their sakes. And he is continually doing the like of what he here said he would do. He is continually blessing the Bad for the sake of the good. “Ye are the salt of the earth,” said our Lord to his disciples, implying thereby that, but for his people, the world would go to corruption. “For the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened”the days, he meant, of Jerusalem’s destruction, which were then, as in Jeremiah’s time, swiftly drawing on. And how often we read of bad and wicked descendants and successors on the throne of David, who for his sake were dealt with far other than they deserved! And today, how many godless children of pious parents are for like reason dealt with in like manner! The Church might well, did she choose, challenge the world to say where it would be without the Church. The impious sneer at, persecute, and despise the godly; but were it not for those they so shamefully use, theirs would be a short shrift and a quick going down into hell. And let all who are living godly in Christ Jesus be cheered by knowing that, though persecuted by the world, they are yet most precious in the Lord’s sight. Now finally note

IV. THE SUPREME DEMONSTRATION GOD HAS GIVEN OF HIS DELIGHT AND JOY IN IT. We turn to the gospel for this, and it enables us to reply to the Divine challenge to “find a man;” for we have found him “of whom Moses and the prophets did write”the man Christ Jesus. He has answered to the Divine description, and for his sake not a city have beenleaving the people still the slaves of sin; but the beginning, of a new life, in which we shall grow more and more into the fullness of the stature of the perfect man, the Divine ideal embodied in Christ Jesus. But such is the Divine delight in this Man that, for his sake, he pardons whosoever believeth on him. God hath laid help for us “on One who is mighty” to save. Let us, then, go and put in our claim, confessing our deep need of pardon, but pleading God’s own promise, that for the sake of this Manhis own “beloved Son in whom he is well pleased”he should pardon us. And the answer will come back, “Go in peace; be of good cheer: thy sins be forgiven thee.”C.

Jer 5:3

An unfailing appeal,

“O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth?” Text uttered in protest against the pretence and hypocrisy everywhere prevailing in the prophet’s day. But the appeal is vindicated whatever we understand by “the truth.” Consider it in regard

I. TO THE TRUTH AS SPOKEN BY GOD, IN HIS WORKS AND IN HIS WORD. See this in the constancy and invariability of the order of nature. The reign of law is because “the eyes of the Lord are ever,” etc. See it in the fulfillment of ancient prophecies, especially those which concern our Lord Jesus Christ; and we are to believe it in regard to those many promises of God, the fulfillment of which yet waits.

II. TO THE TRUTH WRITTENto try and test thereby all our teachings and beliefs. See our Lord, in the temptation, how his eyes were ever on the truth. Hence his “It is written” foiled the tempter again and again. “To the Law and to the testimony,” etc. The Bereansand their example is held up as noblesearched the Scriptures daily, to see if the teachings they heard “were so;” so, that is, as the apostles affirmed.

III. TO THE TRUTH IMPLANTEDto encourage and avenge it. His grace implants truth in the character, and leads to its being acted out in the life. Now, the eyes of the Lord are ever upon such men. As he hates the hypocrites, so he loves the sincere, the “Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile.” His eyes rest on them ever with delight. His Spirit cheers and encourages them amid all outward distress and persecution. His hand will verily avenge them as his own elect, in his own good time

IV. TO THE TRUTH INCARNATEto behold and bless all those who are in him. I am the Truth,” said the Lord Jesus. How we love to attract the attention and to enjoy the smile of recognition and approval on the part of those who are greater than ourselves in this world! Would we come under the notice and smile of the Lord God, we must come to him upon whom his eyes are ever resting with delight, even to his well-beloved Son, the Truth incarnate. Until we are “in him” we are in the cold shade, and without hope or help. In him the eyes of the Lord are on us as they are on him, and “he makes his face to shine upon us.”C.

Jer 5:3

The sorrow of sorrows.

“Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved,” etc.

I. TO BE STRICKEN OF GOD AND AFFLICTED IS IN ITSELF VERY PAINFUL TO CONTEMPLATE. When such sorrow comes it is:

1. To teach the servant of God how to sympathize with and succor other troubled ones.

2. To loosen them from the clinging bands of this world.

3. Because such sorrow is the inevitable pain and distress attendant upon that glorious contest for “the prize of our high calling,” for which contest our Father, out of love to us and because of his joy in us, and knowing that we shall win it, has entered us. Still, notwithstanding these facts and others like them, the afflictions of the righteous are painful indeed.

II. BUT SORROW IS YET MORE SORROWFUL WHEN IT IS SELF–CAUSED. Such was the sorrow of many of those whose tears and lamentations we read of in ScriptureDavid, Peter, Esau. “It was my own fault:” this is the reflection which calls into dread life and activity “the worm that dieth not.” But still, when, as with the contrite hearts, Manasseh, David, Peter, etc; of whom Scripture tells, their sorrow is of a godly sort, then, sad as it is, its result makes it blessed.

III. BUT THERE IS A SORROW OF SORROWS, AND IT IS TOLD OF HERE. It is when, as this verse tells, God sends his corrections and sore afflictions upon men, and yet they are none the better for them, but even worse. Pharaoh is the great illustration of this deepest sorrow. It is not all who can say, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy Word.” But of too many that word is true which says, “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar yet will not his foolishness depart from him” (cf. Rev 16:10; Act 26:14).

1. But what is the cause of these failures on the part of God‘s chastisements? They are such as these:

(1) Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily.

(2) The fearful force of the desire after the evil object overwhelms and bears down all thought of the punishment that must follow.

(3) The assigning of the affliction that comes to other causes than the true one. To this day the Jews do not see that their rejection of the Lord Jesus was the reason of God’s rejection of them, nor that it is his blood which is upon them and their children.

2. But without question such sorrows are the most lamentable of all; for:

(1) they reveal the virulence, the deep-seated character, and the dread hold which sin has gained;

(2) they necessitate and foretell yet more severe judgments from God;

(3) they cast most sad doubt on the question whether such persons will ever be saved at all.

CONCLUSION. Is sorrow resting upon us? Then:

1. Rest not until you have found out its cause. “Show me wherefore thou contendst with me” should be our appeal.

2. Let the possibility that your sorrows may leave you unblessed, that God’s purpose and intent may be lost upon you, send you to the throne of grace with importunate prayer that so it may not be with you.C.

Jer 5:3-5

The rich and the poor meet together.

They do so. IN MOST MOURNFUL WAYS.

1. In their common exposure to sorrow and death.

2. In their yet more mournful subjection to the bondage of moral evil, both alike leagued together in rebellion against God (cf. text). From which learn:

(1) No circumstances alone will shut out sin.

(2) If one condition of life has its moral disadvantages, so has another.

(3) That this does not affirm that all are on one level in this respect. They are not so; they who have knowledge and have been taught God’s truth may and will justly be expected to compare favorably in conduct and character with those not so privileged.

(4) That the terribleness of the might of sin is seen in the fact that it leaps over the fences and safeguards of happy circumstances and abundant knowledge, as easily as it finds entrance where there are no such fences at all. But the mournfulness of this meeting of the rich and poor leads us to look out for and rejoice in other and more happy ones. And there are such. Note, therefore

II. THE BLESSED MEETINGS OF THE RICH AND THE POOR.

1. In their common possession of a moral and spiritual nature. Those great capacities whereby “a man is so much better than a sheep” are the property of rich and poor aliketo love and be loved; to search out knowledge, to worship, trust, and delight in God. Man is God’s jewel, whether it be set in all fit and beautiful surroundings or whether by some malign cause it have fallen into the mud. By its nature, not its surroundings, are we to judge of it.

2. In Christ. “He was rich he for our sakes became poor”thus forever uniting the two together. He was, whilst on earth, at the same time both rich and poor, having at his command more than the vastest resources of the rich, and yet day-by-day sharing the lot of the poor. He was the Son of man, the Head and Representative of all menof humanity at large.

3. At the cross. The common malady craves and finds the common medicine. The sorrows of the contrite heart are those of no class at all, but are the experience of rich and poor alike; and the cross alone can soothe them, and thither therefore they alike come. These all are clothed in the robe made white in the blood of the Lamb.

4. In the everlasting kingdom of our God. There the barriers of caste and class, which here seem so fixed that they can never be moved, will be broken down, and character alone will determine whether we shall stand high up or low down on the steps of the eternal throne. The love of God in Christ will be the great uniting bond, and, as that rules and governs us, so will our companionship and our condition be ordered. There the rich shall be rid of the many hindrances of their lot, which make it so “hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God;” and there the poor shall have said farewell forever to all the privation and painful toil of earth. The tears of all shall flow no more. Then let us learn:

(1) To cherish sympathy with all our brethren. The poor with the rich, and they with the poor. It is equally difficult but equally obligatory on each.

(2) To be eager in telling to the poor of this gospel of the meeting of the rich and the poor.

(3) To come to Christ and to his cross, and to abide there, that the Spirit of him who was the Friend and Savior of all may dwell in us more and more.C.

Jer 5:4

The moral disadvantages of the poor.

Jeremiah recognizes and refers to these disadvantages as a well-known fact, and he tells, how he expected to find in them an explanation of the deplorable wickedness with which Jerusalem was filled. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor,” etc. We note

I. THAT THESE ARE THE REAL EVILS OF THE LOT OF THE POOR. At once all manner of other distresses which attend poverty arise to our minds, and therefore we would observe:

1. That we do not deny that their physical and social disadvantages are also evils. To be ill fed, ill housed, ill clothed, as so many of the poor are,who can make light of a lot like theirs? Therefore:

2. Still less do we deny our duty to relieve their physical evils to the utmost of our power.

3. But we do deny that these are their chief evils. For:

(1) Many of these are more than counterbalanced by what is so commonly found amongst the rich. Dr. Channing says, “When I compare together different classes as existing at this moment in the civilized world, I cannot think the difference between the rich and the poor in regard to mere physical suffering so great as is sometimes imagined. That some of the indigent among us die of scanty food is undoubtedly true, but vastly more in this community die from eating too much than from eating too little, vastly more from excess than starvation. So as to clothing: many shiver from want of defenses against the cold; but there is vastly more suffering among the rich from absurd and criminal modes of dress, which fashion has sanctioned, than among the poor from deficiency of raiment. Our daughters are oftener brought to their grave by their rich attire than our beggars by their nakedness. So the poor are often overworked; but they suffer less than many among the rich, who have no work to do, no interesting object to fill up life, to satisfy the infinite cravings of man for action. According to our present modes of education, how many of our daughters are victims of ennuia misery unknown to the poor, and more intolerable than the weariness of excessive toil! The idle young man, spending the day in exhibiting his person in the street, ought not to excite the envy of the overtasked poor; and this cumberer of the ground is found exclusively among the rich.”

(2) And their intellectual disadvantages are nearly as great an evil as those that belong to their outward lot. “Knowledge is power,” but to be without knowledge is to lack the power to lighten, to elevate, to refine, to cheer, and in ways manifold to ameliorate our lot in life. Therefore to lack knowledge and education deserves to be looked upon with even more compassion than the lack of physical comforts. But still, the chief evil of poverty is its moral disadvantage. Now

II. THESE MORAL DISADVANTAGES OF THE POOR ARE SUCH AS ARISE FROM:

1. The difficulty of maintaining self-respect. All the world seems agreed to regard the poor as the “lower orders,” and to confine the term “respectable” to those who have enough and to spare. And when poverty necessitates the receiving, and yet more the asking, of charity, how hard it is then to maintain that erect moral bearing, that spirit of independence, which is so essential to the formation of all true, worthy moral character 1

2. The almost impossibility of mental culture. How can the man who has to continue at prolonged and laborious bodily toil from morn to night, day after day all his life long, and only then can earn scarce sufficient to provide for his actual bodily necessities, be expected to be other than rough, rude, illiterate, and contented to be so? What mockery it seems to talk of mental cultivation to a man like that! But shut off from such cultivation, how utterly is the door closed upon him which leads to so much that would cheer and brighten his whole life, and would lift him up in the scale of moral being!

3. The risk to all moral delicacy and refinement which their crowded and wretched habitations involve. If men are obliged to herd like cattle, only less comfortably than they, how can “a man be better than a sheep” in such case?

4. The temptation to envy and sullen discontent at their beholding what seems to them the so much brighter tot of the well-to-do. The patience of the poor beneath the awful injustices and hardships which arise from the unequal distribution of wealth is a marvel. Especially, too, when they have daily to endure the supercilious and half-scornful treatment which the possession of wealth almost invariably begets towards those who have it not.

5. The hard struggle which faith in God and his goodness cannot but have amid the hardships of poverty. It is true that men would be far happier if they were better men, but it is also true that vast numbers of men would be better if they were only happier. When our children are happy they are good; it is unhappiness makes them cross and wrong. There is no more heartbreaking fact to a thoughtful and compassionate mind than this, that the-blessing of faith in God and the love of God, which the poor most of all need, is for them the hardest of all to win and keep.

6. The dread temptation to sensual indulgence which the hardships of their lot expose them to. Can we wonder that these men rush to the gin-shop, the tavern, and there in strong drink forget for a while the miseries of their common life? It is a piteous fact that it is the most wretched of the poor who- drink most desperately. (Let the reader turn to Dr. Channing’s sermon on ‘Ministry for the Poor,’ to see many of these points worked out.) Such are the real evils of the lot of the poor, beside which their outward hardships are small in comparison.

III. FROM ALL THIS WE LEARN WHY WE SHOULD COMPASSIONATE THEIR LOT, AND WHAT IN IT WE SHOULD CHIEFLY ENDEAVOR TO RELIEVE. When their moral disadvantages move our compassion, as they should and as they did our Lord’s, we shall strive most of all to counteract and remove them. How shall we do this? We reply, After the manner of our Lord. Chiefly by ministering to their souls. He went about everywhere preaching and teaching. The very greatest kindness that can be done to a poor man is to bring him to Christ, to get him by God’s grace thoroughly converted. That will lift him up and bless him every way. It will not despise secondary means. Our Lord fed the poor, healed them, ministered to their temporal relief frequently. But he did not do this indiscriminately. They were by no means his chief works. That chief work was a ministry to their souls. And so those who copy his example will not despise secondary meanscharity, wise sanitary laws, education. But all these will be put in the second place, not in point of time and attention, but in esteem and worth. They will be counted only as aids to what is far better than themselves. It may be that the Church has not availed herself of these aids as she should, but has left them to the care of the State more than she should. Still, it is ever those who are most intent on the moral well-being of the poor who are found to the front in all schemes for their physical and social well-being. So that the excellence of our Lord’s method is that, whilst it aims at the highest good, it more than any other seeks to promote and indeed secures as a help to that highest, the lower and temporal good of those to whom it ministers. And it has a rich reward. “Blessed are ye poor,” said our Lord, “rich in faith and heirs,” etc. Not a few of the greatest saints, the martyrs, the heroes of the faith, have been drawn from the ranks of the poor. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ has come to them, and straightway they have been as it were transformed. They have risen up above the low levels of their old lifeso mean, sordid, foul, godless oftentimesand have come to be like the Lord himself. And today, how perpetually may we see amid the godly poor all the disadvantages of their lot which we have enumerated above, completely overcome! They reverence conscience; they envy not the rich; they cultivate and rejoice in the purest and tenderest home affections; though ignorant of most of human learning, they have the fear of God and the knowledge of his Word, and so are wise with a wisdom before which mere human wisdom dwindles into insignificance. They keep themselves from all vice, they love and trust God with a simplicity of utter trust and calm confidence, beautiful and blessed even to contemplate-how much more to possess! “Blessed are ye poor!” Thus, then, after the manner of our Lord, would we strive to meet and overcome the moral disadvantages of the poor.C.

Jer 5:7

How men curse their blessings,

“When I had fed them to the full,” etc.

I. GOD DOES THIS AT TIMES. Cf. Gen 3:17, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” etc.; Hag 1:11, etc. And whenever he makes our good and pleasant things the means of our punishment. Hezekiah’s riches and prosperity were the lure which drew upon him the oppressing Assyrians. And so the body which, when possessed of all its faculties and in health, ministers so much good to man, God, in judgment upon the man’s sin, may for the sake of the sinful soul cause that disease, pain, impotence, may curse it. And the mind alsothat may become a den of malignant, impure, profane thoughts.

II. BUT MEN DO THIS FAR MORE FREQUENTLY. The noblest physical gifts may be shattered, wrecked, by sins against the body. The mindcapable of such high service and a channel of such vast blessingmen may, do, pollute, corrupt, and pervert and so curse their blessings. The moral naturethis a great gift of God, the power to judge, choose, resolve; but see how soon man cursed that and turned his blessing into a curse. The gifts of providence are also abused in the same way (cf. text). The home. Oh, what joy comes to men through the blessings that were designed to be forever associated with that word! But how often men, by self-indulgence, neglect, evil example, utter failure in parental duty, turn the blessing of home into a curse! And even the gospel of Christ itselfGod’s unspeakable gift-men may make the knowledge of it to be “a savor of death unto death” for themselves. “This Child is set for the fall of many in Israel,” said Simeon of our Lord.

III. BUT IT IS A CRIME WHICH GOD CANNOT AWAY WITH. “How shall I pardon thee for this?” etc. “Shall I not visit,” etc.?(Hag 1:9). Cf. parable of fruitless fig tree” Cut it down,” etc.; the talents”Take from him the talent,” etc. And the human conscience everywhere assents to this judgment of God. We judge in like manner ourselves. We feel that such are without excuse. Let us, then, consider our blessings, and ask ourselves, “What are we doing with them? how are we using them?” Let it be our daily prayer and endeavor that we fall not into this great sin.

IV. GOD‘S WAY IS TO TURN OUR CURSES INTO BLESSINGS, (Cf. Neh 13:2.)

1. He has done so even with sin. What curse could be greater? Yet, by the redemption there is in Christ, even that is so made subject that now

“We may rise on stepping-stones
Of our dead selves to higher things.”

2. And he has done so with sorrow. Grief had been for ages going about the world, a sad-robed, somber, and ever-tearful guest in whatever house she took up her temporary abode: and there was no house she did not visit. But since the Lord Jesus became the “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” she, in virtue of that acquaintance, has changed her very nature, and the curse is turned into a blessing. She ministers help to the soul, in releasing it from the bonds of this evil world and in uplifting it towards its true Father and home in heaven.

3. And so with death. Its sting-is taken away. To them who are in Christ he is rather a friend than a foe, for he it is who opens the door of our prison-house and lets the soul go free and rise to that place

“Where loyal hearts and true

Stand ever in the light,

All rapture through and through,

In God’s most holy sight.”

C.

Jer 5:10

Battlements not the Lord’s.

Jeremiah is telling of the defenses of Judah and Jerusalem. In the approaching invasion they should fall and prove utterly worthless; for, by reason of the people’s sin, that blessing of the Lord which had made their battlements impregnable hitherto was withdrawn, and so, the people being no longer the Lord’s, their defenses were not either, and so were no defenses at all. But often those who are not under the Divine displeasurenations, Churches, individualsare found relying on defenses that are not Divine, thinking to find shelter and safety within battlements that are not the Lord’s; and when such is the case the Lord would ever have such battlements taken away. The course of his providence not seldom makes plain his displeasure in these things; for they get torn down and destroyed hopelessly if they who trust in them are not wise in time, and themselves take them away. There are many references in Scripture to such battlements. They are spoken of either as “walls daubed with untempered mortar,” or as “broken cisterns which hold no water,” or, more plainly, as “refuges of lies,” or as “a house built upon the sand,” or as the building upon the foundation of “wood, hay, stubble.” Such are some of the parallels to the truth taught in the text. But take some illustrations of this erecting of and trusting in battlements not the Lord’s.

I. IT HAS BEEN SEEN IN THE DEFENSE OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. Nothing in the world is so precious, so essential to the world, as the Church of Christ, and he has promised to preserve it unto the end. But men have often tried to plant, maintain, and spread it in anything but Divine ways; e.g. when:

1. They have relied on the secular arm. They have done so, and with what consequences let the present state of Christendom tell. When will men trust the glorious inherent power of the faith of Christ, and throw to the winds those carnal weapons which she wields only to her own wounding? When will she hear the voice of God saying, concerning such battlements, “Take them away; they are not the Lord’s?”

2. Organization is another of these very questionable defenses. That it has its use, and is capable of much and valued service, he would be a fool who should deny. But the peril is lest the artificial and merely human supports which organization supplies should be allowed to serve instead of that Divine life which alone is the true defense of any Church. Church arrangements which necessitate that when that life is wanting everything shall collapse about such a Church, that it shall cease to be and not present the mere simulacrum of what it is not,it is a question if this be not a better order than one which, by means of its elaborate organization, keeps up the show of Church life when the reality is not there.

3. And the same may be said of all those adventitious aids to the Church of Christ upon which men are apt so much to rely. Wealth, social position, learning, eloquence, numbers, gifts, and other such advantages,let a Church place her trust in any of these, and the command of the text will go forth at once. But the true defense of a Church is the life that is in her, the manifest godliness of her members; that is a battlement which is the Lord’s, and which none can take away.

II. IT HAS BEEN SEEN IN THE DEFENSE OF THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH, The faith of the Church is, without doubt, most precious; and it is our duty to contend earnestly for it. But men have sought to guard and defend it in wrong ways.

1. Persecution has been tried.

2. Demanding subscription to fixed creeds. There may be and are good reasons for demanding such subscription, but it cannot be said that such subscription has kept the faith one and entire in all the members of the Church. Probably there is more unity of belief in those Churches which demand no such subscription than in those who do.

3. Relying mostly on the intellectual defenses of the faith. There are such, many, varied, cogent, clear, invaluable, but they may be all read and mastered, and the citadel of the heart be not won. But the true battlement, of the faith is in the fact that it commends itself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. Let conscience be awakened and then the faith presented, and the fitness of the faith to the needs and teachings of conscience are visible at once.

III. IT IS CONTINUALLY SEEN IN MEN‘S CONDUCT IN REGARD TO THEIR OWN PERSONAL SALVATION. What else is:

1. Trust in sacraments? They are, without doubt, means of grace to the believer in Christthe experience of myriads of saints attests that; but he who looks to them as a viaticum that will open a way to heaven for the vilest, surely that is a refuge of lies.

2. Reliance on human priests? This reliance is by no means Confined to the Church of Rome. Deep seated in men’s mind is the idea that ministers of religion can really help the soul in its great needs. Much of sending for ministers in cases where death is anticipated is based on this false belief.

3. Trust in such poor righteousness as we can offer to God; what can it do?

4. Resting on an imagined leniency in God, which will prevent his carrying out the threatenings of his holy Law as he has said he would? How many soothe and still all disquiet of conscience by such false confidence as this!a confidence which the facts of life, apart from the Word of God, utterly shatter and show to be false. But the true defense of the soul is Christ; that battlement is the Lord’s, yea, is the Lord himself, and he will keep that which is committed to him even unto the great day.C.

Jer 5:24

The silken fetter.

In Jer 5:22 the prophet has spoken of the soft, unstable sand holding in and beating back the mighty surgings of the sea; but here he tells of what would seem a still more unlikely thing, that the goodness of God should lead men to fear him. He selects that prominent proof of God’s goodness, the giving of the rains and the harvest, as a type of all, and he takes for granted that men ought to have found in this goodness of God an argument for his fear. Now we remark

I. THAT THIS IS AN UNUSUAL ARGUMENT. We could understand other attributes of God being appealed to as grounds for fearing himhis majesty, his power, his justice, his wrathbut his goodness seems to call for almost every other feeling than that of fear. Joy, gratitude, benevolence, praise, but not fear. We delight ourselves in his goodness, we bask in it as in the blessed warmth of the sun, but we never fear it, or see in it a reason for such regard of God. And it is certain that this expectation of the prophet, that God’s goodness should lead us to his fear, was not based on any supposition or belief that there was aught of fearfulness about the goodness of God. Of the devil’s goodness when he turns himself into an angel of light, when he quotes Scripture, as he did at our Lord’s temptation, and when he pours honey into our cup,of his goodness we may be afraid. It is but a mask. And of some men‘s goodness we may be afraidmen who are “false as the smooth, deceitful sea,” “adders’ poison under their lips;” they betray with a kiss. And men were wont to fear the goodness of the gods they worshipped. They imagined they would be jealous if they saw a man prospering overmuch. Hence to appease them men would inflict loss and injury on themselves. See the story of Polycrates. Nor either because there is aught of fatality attached to the goodness of God. It is not as the beautiful flush on the countenance, which, lovely as it may appear, is a mark of doom clearly discernible to the experienced eye. For no such reasons as these are we to fear God and his goodness. Nevertheless

II. GOD‘S GOODNESS IS A PROPER REASON FOR A HOLY FEAR.

1. For it reveals a Being so far removed above all our conceptions of human goodness, One who stands on so infinitely higher a level of moral excellency, that a sacred awe fills our soul as we contemplate what God is and what his love is, especially his love to us in Christ. “There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.”

“Oh, how I fear thee, living God,

With deepest, tenderest fears,

And worship thee with humble hope

And penitential tears!”

2. And because God’s goodness reveals the intensity and depth of his love, and therefore reveals a corresponding wrath against all who outrage that love. The gentlest mother yearning with affection for her children,let those little ones be wronged, what a fury will she become towards the wrong-doer, and all because her love is so great! And so, “according to God’s love, so is his wrath.” There is no wrath like that “of the Lamb.”

3. And because God’s goodness in its temporal manifestations is but granted for a while. He reserves his right to recall it when he will. Hence if riches, or any other form of earthly good and present earthly joy,if these increase, set not your heart upon them. It is terrible to have all our peace of heart and mind, all the joy of our life, identified with and dependent upon what one day God may recall. Every channel of God’s goodness thus becomes a possible channel of deep suffering and distress. If, then, your delight in the gift have not led you to the love and trust of the Giver, what comfort will you have when the gift is withdrawn? What an argument this for the comment of our text! 4. Remember, again, the depraved nature which we carry about with us, which ever seeks to pervert to evil what God gives us for our good. “Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked.” Prosperity is a sore temptation, before which many a man falls. God’s gifts are the material out of which many build a screen, a wall which shuts them off from God. 5. And because God’s goodness heightens our responsibility. How stern the word, “Cut it down; why cumbereth?” etc. Goodness and love and care had been thrown away upon it. If God, then, have pleaded with us by his love, as we know he has, what if our hearts be still estranged from him? “He that from God’s mercy gathers no argument for his fear, may conclude thus muchthat there is indeed forgiveness with God, but no forgiveness for him” (South). Then let us ask

“Lord, let thy fear within us dwell,

Thy love our footsteps guide;

That love shall all vain love expel,

That fear all fear beside.”

C.

Jer 5:24

God’s gifts of the rains and the harvest.

“The Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us,” etc. To a country so liable to drought as Palestine, the regular, periodic rainfall was of the utmost importance. If they had not the former rainthat which came first after seed-timethe seed would not germinate in the soil; and if, when near the harvest, the rain did not come again, there would be no full corn in the ear: it would not swell out and mature in any way to the husbandman’s content. “Hence the people of those lands speak of the weather and the crops with a more immediate reference to God than is usual with us. It is said that the common expressions of the peasantry are such as much impress travelers with their apparently devout recognition of the Almighty’s agency.” A lady and her party were one day traversing, under the conduct of their Arab guide, the fertile plains west of the Carmel range. “Rain began to fall in torrents. Mohammed, our groom,” so the lady tells, “threw a large Arab cloak over me, saying, ‘May Allah preserve you, O lady, while he is blessing the fields!'” “Blessing the fields,”what a beautiful synonym for the rain! But it indicates the constant dependence of those lands on these rains, and the people’s sense of the high value of this gift of God. The husbandman relies entirely upon the early and the latter rain, and if these do not fall copiously in their season famine will ensue. Therefore, when wishing to point out some signal mark of the Lord’s favor to his people, the prophet selects this, that he “giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season,” etc. The prophet knew that every heart would assent and own the goodness of the Lord herein. Probably he was more sure of it there and then than he would be here and now. We have got so mystified with the modern doctrines of “the order of nature” and “the uniformity of natural law,” that we have come to regard the universe almost as a great machine, the regular working of which excites no surprise, and demands and obtains still less gratitude. But all this is very sad. Happy they who, in the coming round of the seasons, the fall of the rain and the blessed harvest, are both able and glad to confess, “It is the Lord, who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth forever.” But let this verse not so much suggest the literal facts here commemorated by the prophet, as those other and higher spiritual facts which they resemble and suggest. The three blessed gifts of God in the natural world here spoken of, tell of gifts like to them in the spiritual world. And first they remind us of

I. THOSE PERSONS WHO ARE SO HAPPY AS TO REALIZE ALL THE THREE: the two rainsboth the former and the latterand the harvest. Now, there are many such, God be praised for them! In their own religious life they know what God’s blessing of the former rain is. There was such vivid realization of the love of Christ, such hatred of sin, such sweet sensitiveness of conscience, such free intercourse with God in prayer, such bright onlooks into the glory to be revealed, such ready delight in worship and in work, such prompt siding with the will of Godin a word, such enjoyment of him, that it is still, and will ever be, a delightful retrospect.

“What peaceful hours we then enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!”

“That was the early rain. The seed had just been sown, and the Master, to make it take deeper root, and to make it spring up faster into the green blade, gave them the sacred shower of his loving presence. And then there came afterwards the fatter rain. For such is needed even in the holiest Christian’s life. The early excitement, the power of novelty, which is a power in the religious life as in all other, wore off, as it is its nature to do. Many weary leagues of life’s pilgrimage had to be traversed, many disappointments to be met with, many trials to be endured, many temptationssubtle, strange, stronghad to be met and overcome, and they left the soul weary and exhausted. And, but for the blessed latter rain, the strength and vigor of the Divine life in the soul would have died down. But then there came, brought about in one way and another, the second baptism of the Holy Ghost. And, by means of that, separate acts of obedience crystallized into blessed habits, which made their discharge prompt, easy, and effective. The power of prayer became more marked, the knowledge and experience of the truth of God’s Word deepened. The unseen and eternal came out of the mist and vagueness of former years into clear, well-defined reality, so that the seeing him who is invisible came to be a daily vision; and the walk with God grew to be constant, delightful, and more intimate each day. And so the harvest of peace with God, of holy calm, of settled obedience, and of loyal, happy service, was daily reaped. And in the case of those who have passed into the skies, the harvest of glory has been reaped also, or rather is being reaped, the joy of which is ever-during with the eternal life of the soul. So again and again has it been in the experience of the Christian life. And likewise has it been also in the work and service rendered to Christ. That, too, in many an instance, has had its former rain of blessing. It was begun in Christ and for Christ. Tokens of the Lord’s presence were not wanting even at the very outset. Sinners were converted, believers were edified, souls were saved, as the result of the early toil in the Master’s vineyard. The sermons may have been juvenile, unskilled in mere sermonic art, but they had the Divine power with them. The teaching given to the scholars in the class may have been sadly unscientific, and wanting in symmetry and system; but Jesus was commended to the children, and his love so spoken of that they listened, were touched, were persuaded, were saved. And then years after the latter rain came. For a long while the work went on in a quiet, almost monotonous way. There appeared no stir, no great impression made. But he who gave the early rain now sent the latter also. And a new outpouring of the Spirit’s influence was given. And again and increasingly the Word was spoken with power; the influence of Christ’s servant told with all the added strength that life-long consecration to that work gave to it, and many a soul confessed the might of that ministry which Christ enabled him to discharge. And a blessed harvest was reaped, day after day, week by week; the sickle of the Word seemed never so keen, the hand that wielded it never so vigorous, the sheaves never so large, until the reaper was called away to join in the glad festivities of the eternal harvest-home. Yes, so it has been again and again. And, would we have it so with ourselves,and would we not? let it not be forgotten that the realization of these blessingsthe early and the latter rain, and the harvestin our work depends upon our personal realization of them in our own souls. The soul not alive in and for God can never accomplish much in his work and service. We must “take heed to ourselves” would we successfully take heed to our work, and be the means of salvation to others. Yes, let us remember this. But be encouraged by remembering also that it is God‘s way and wont to send this threefold blessing. This verse speaks of his giving these great gifts as his customary habit. It is not an exceptional or strange thing with him, but that which we may, and even should, look for. May he help us so to do, and then give us our heart’s desire! But next consider

II. THOSE LESS HAPPY ONES WHO REALIZE ONLY TWO OUT OF THESE THREE GIFTS OF GOD. They have had the early and the latter rains, but the harvest they have not yet rejoiced in. There are such experiences, both in the Christian life and in Christian work. The men were truly converted to God at the first, and they have in after years felt the power of his Spirit again and again; but that harvest of settled peace and joy, that power habitually to walk with God in the comfort of his love, and in prompt, joyful obedience to his will, has not come to them. And they grieve over it much. And yet more is this delay of the harvest often known in the sphere of Christian work. The whole Christian Church mourns today over this delay of harvest. The early rain of the Pentecostal day fell refreshingly upon them; and since then there have been spring-tides of Divine influence, copious outpourings’ of the Spirit of God, latter rains in deed and in truth. But the harvestwhere is that? Where is the world, or even one entire nation, won for God? The boundaries of the kingdom of Satan do not seem much diminished, nor those of the kingdom of God much enlarged. And so, too, individual Churches have, in like manner, been blessed with early and latter rains, but the harvest of their work has not come. They can tell you of times in their history when there seemed a general movement Godwards; when the people met for prayer in unwonted numbers and with unwonted fervor. Their early history may have been one of difficulty and struggle, but these were overborne by a glorious awakening, a girding of them with power, by the Spirit of the Lord manifestly setting up his standard in their midst. “And the Lord added to them daily such as should be saved.” And in more recent years they have had like and even larger experiences of his glorious presence. But yet the harvest is not reaped. Not only is the neighborhood around hem still for the most part as it was, untouched, unimpressed by the power of the gospel, but many who gather with them Sunday by Sunday, and in their week-day assemblies, are yet unconverted and unsaved. Where is the harvest? Why does it not come? “How long, O Lord, how long?” these servants of God continually cry to him. And so, too, with the individual worker for Christ. He, too, can look back on a time when he began his holy labor, whether in more prominent or more obscure place it matters not; but there was given to him the early, and since then there has been the latter, rain. But he looks round his class, his family, his school, his congregation, and oh, what a scant portion of the field is as yet even begun to be garnered for Christ! How powerless his words seem to fall on many of them! How unanswered his prayers on their behalf still seem to be! Now, what are we to say to all this? Well, these three things we may surely say: First, that God reserves the weeks of harvest. He has appointed them, but the day of their coming he has reserved in his own power. The husbandman must have long patience; the growth and development of the holy seed is an orderly, and is generally a slow, process. All God’s greatest works are slow. Science is ever teaching us this. What ages upon ages do the geologist and the astronomer demand for the processes of which they tell! How our little chronologies dwindle into insignificance besides those vast periods which they have conclusively shown to have been occupied by the Creator in perfecting those phenomena of which their several sciences take account! And, in the far greater and more difficult work of the moral and spiritual regeneration of human souls, shall we be impatient if God do not begin, continue, and end it all in the short space of our little lives? Surely this is to be unreasonable, is improper, is wrong. But remember, too, that the harvest itself is a long process. They are “weeks of harvest.” The ingathering has begun when only one sheaf in a field has been reaped. The Lord Jesus said, “The fields are white already unto harvest,” when he held in his hand only one solitary ripe ear of corn, the conversion of the woman of Samaria. Hence we may possibly be mourning that the harvest has not come, when in fact it has actually begun. Why, my brother, it began in you from the first hour that you were converted to God. He was cutting the bonds that bound you to this world when he first called you to himself; and all the varied means by which he is separating you from the world is but the reaping continually going on; and when the sickle of death comes and cuts down this bodily life of yours, it will be but the last stroke of the reaper that tells that the harvest for you is finished at last. And so with your work. The harvest is begun. That child’s heart you won for Christ here, that soul that was brought to Jesus through the Word preached by you there, those others gathered to the Redeemer’s feet elsewhere,what were these blessed facts but the beginning of the harvest, a beginning that is to go on? You are not strong enough to reap all the Lord’s field; be content that he lets you reap a part. Other workmen are to enter in where you may not, and to their arm shall fall the sheaves that you may not gather. So say not any more, “The harvest is delayed.” Why, you are actually engaged in it now. You are not a mere sower, but you are a reaper too. And remember the full harvest shall be reaped. He is the Lord of it, and will not let it waste; by one means or another it shall all be gathered in. This is what we have to say to you who mourn at the harvest’s delay.

III. But there are others less happy still. THOSE WHO CAN CLAIM TO HAVE REALIZED ONLY ONE OF THESE THREE GIFTS OF GOD. The harvest is not theirs, nor both the former and the latter rains, but only one of them. Now, this one may be only the former rain. In their religious life they were blessed with this; the wonted happy results followed; but since then there has been a standstill, and those observing them are, as St. Paul was in reference to the Galatians,” in doubt” about them, and sorrowfully ask the question, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you?” Their goodness has been “like the morning cloud and the early dew”it has gone away. And so also in much of religious work. At the beginning there was a zeal and fervor and force which promised great things, but it all soon died down. They had no staying power, and because all was not accomplished in one vigorous rush and charge, and because the difficulties that had to be overcome presented a more stubborn and obstinate front than was anticipated, those who went forth to do battle with them became discouraged and soon turned back. In these cases, both in the life and the work, though there was the former rain, the latter has not as yet fallen. Now where, as is often the case, this has been owing to neglect of those Divine aids which God has placed within our powerthe blessed aids of prayer, watchfulness, and the diligent Use of grace already giventhen not pity but censure must be awarded to those of whom we speak. “They have not because they asked not;” or if they asked they “asked amiss.” Ah, what a sad amount of such asking amiss there ever is!asking as a substitute for working, instead of as an aid and encouragement thereto; asking, but with motives marred by selfishness, strife, and many forms of that “regarding iniquity in the heart,” which ever bars the coming of the needed answer. And so there have been decline and decay, and a fresh fall of the heavenly rain is indeed wanted. Oh, do these words apply to any of us, either in regard to our stunted life or our ineffectual work? It may be so. But, thank God, such sad facts are not always the cause. God may be pleased, notwithstanding that his servants wait upon him for the outpouring of his Spirit they so much desire, to delay his answer. The rains of God have their season, and he best knows what and when that season is. His purpose is to stir you up to yet more earnest prayer, to greater energy of spiritual endeavor. All the night through did Jacob wrestle with the angel, ere he won the glorious name of Israel. Not till after so long and so arduous a struggle that his physical strength gave way, the sinew of his thigh shrank, and he seemed reduced to utter powerlessness;not till then was the victory won. If, therefore, any of us, in cur own religious life or work, are still waiting in prayer and watching thereunto, but yet the desired answer has not come, regard it not as denial, but only as a delay sent to test and try your faiththat faith more precious in the sight of God than gold and silver, and which when tested shall come forth triumphant, to the praise and glory of his grace. But there are those who have the latter rain only. Is it not so with all those instances of late repentance, of eleventh-hour turning to God? Such coming to God at the last does now and then occur, and the promise of our Lord, “Whosoever cometh unto me I will,” etc; is made good. Such have the latter rain, but they can hardly be said ever to have known the former. And so, too, with those who all their lifetime have been subject to bondage, have walked in darkness and have seen no light,to these tried children of God light often comes at eventide; they have the latter rain, but not the former. And it is so also in many departments of Christian work. Take the long and painful history of many of our missions. For how many years, amid how many discouragements, from deaths, desertions, disease, and the like, have the pioneers of those missions toiled on as the missionaries in Central Africa, so repeatedly deprived by death of one and another of their little band, are yet doing! The early rain has never come, but the latter we are sure they and all such shall have. Oh, how they deserve and demand our sympathy and our earnest prayers! Shame will it be on the Church at home if these be withheld. But we believe they are not and will not be. These are, however, a third class less blessed than those who have both the former and latter rain, and still less than those who have added on the crown and consummation of all their toilthe joyous harvest. But far, far more blessed are they than that other and last class of whom also we are reminded.

IV. THOSE WHO HAVE NEITHER OF THESE BLESSINGSNEITHER FORMER NOR LATTER RAIN, NOR HARVEST. The profession of the Christian life may be made, and one or other form of Christian work may be undertaken, but all manner of motives, all manner of reasons, save the alone right and true one, may account for such facts. The religion and the work may alike be hollow, formal, insincere; a life and a work on which neither the former nor the latter rains of God’s Spirit will ever come, and the only harvest which shall be reaped will be one of” shame and everlasting contempt.” There is no Diane life in the man’s soul, and therefore none in his work either. No more pitiful spectacle can any contemplate than this, and from being examples of it may God in his mercy deliver us all. But there is no need of this. The Lord our God is wont to give “rain, both the former and the latter, in Iris season,” and to reserve unto us the appointed weeks of harvest. This is his declared will. Why, then, should we be without his blessing? Oh, let every one resolve that if importunity of prayer can for Christ’s sake win it, we will know the joy of both the former and the latter rain, and will anticipate and look out for the appointed weeks of harvest. You who have had both the former and the latter rain, be ready for the reaper’s work. You who have had but the former rain, plead mightily for the latter too; and you who have had neither, whether in your own life or in your work, remember the fault is your own, but resolve in the strength of God’s grace that it shall be so no more. Turn in him your Lord and Savior, who came that you might have life, and might have it more abundantly, and beseech him to give you what you must have or die. And so for you and for us all we would pray

“Diffuse, O God, those copious showers,

That earth its fruit may yield,

And change this barren wilderness

To Carmel’s flowery field.”

C.

Jer 5:27, Jer 5:28

The devil’s lure.

“Their houses are full of deceit, therefore they are become great,” etc.

I. SEVERAL OF THESE LURES ARE NAMED HERE.

1. Wealth: “They are waxen rich.”

2. Luxury: “They are waxen fat, they shine.”

3. Impunity: “They overpass they judge not yet they prosper.”

4. Success: “They prosper.”

II. AND THE LIKE LURES ARE HELD OUT STILL. Satan is ever seeking, and with sad success, in seduce men by such and similar snares.

III. IT IS WHAT WE MIGHT EXPECT. For that Satan should in this manner tempt men is in keeping with his constant method of parodying and travestying all the good works of God. What virtue, what Christian grace, is there that he does not caricature-modesty by servility, prudence by meanness, generosity by careless waste, etc.? And so here, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich,” and hence Satan sets to work to devise a blessing of his which also shall make richand this is his great lure.

IV. AND THIS LURE IS MADE THE MORE ATTRACTIVE BY THE FACT THAT GOD OFTEN SUFFERS HIS SERVANTS TO FALL INTO GREAT DISTRESS. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous;” “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” For God desires that we shall love him for himself, yea, when our earthly interests even plead against him. Such trial of on; faith is exceeding precious in his sight.

V. OUR DUTY AND DEFENSE, THEREFORE, IS:

1. To look right on beyond the present reward, even to “the end.”

2. To expose to others the treachery of these apparent rewards.

3. To pray for and cherish the spirit of Nehemiah, who said, “So did not I, because of the fear of God.”

4. To yield our heart and soul up to the better attraction of Christ and his cross, until we come to say of him, “Thou art mine exceeding joy.'”C.

Jer 5:31

A wonderful and horrible thing indeed.

Consider

I. IN WHAT IT CONSISTED.

1. “The prophets prophesy falsely.” The prophets were not mere predicters of future events, but the utterers of God’s willthose who spoke forth, as the very word “prophet” denotes, the hitherto undeclared mind of God. For this purpose they were specially selected, trained, privileged, commissioned. Hence every inducement that could possibly bear on them to lead them to be faithful to their high charge and trust was theirs: love of their country; approval of their own conscience; the fear of God; the sure, if not present, reward of their fidelity which they would receive from God. But yet they prophesied falsely. We could have understood:

(1) Their hesitation in the discharge of their duty. See how Jeremiah himself shrank from it, so stern and arduous was it. It was no light matter to be a prophet in those days.

(2) Their silence even. Fear may have rendered them dumb, or hopelessness of doing any good may have silenced them. But that they should prophesy falselythey from whom fidelity at all costs might have been looked forthat was “a wonderful and horrible,” etc. The fountains of truth were poisoned, the helm of the ship was in the hands of those who would steer her on to the rocks. The light that was in Israel was darkened, therefore how great was their darkness! What force such a fact as this lends to the urgency with which:

(a) God‘s prophetshis ministers today are suchshould take heed to themselves and to their doctrine; and

(b) God‘s people should remember in fervent prayer those on whom so high and solemn a charge is laid.

2. “The priests bear rule by their means.” The priests were the more familiar ministers of religion. They were a permanent order, not raised up for special occasions, and they came into contact with men continually. They were supposed “to keep knowledge.” They had all the traditions of their order, all the memories of their history and of God’s favor to them. They were independent of the prophets, but were much bound to the people for their sympathy and support. But whilst independent of the prophets, they were greatly assisted by them in furthering the service of God. And they also had means of knowing the truth. They were able to try the spirits, whether they were of God. Hence they might have known the falsity of the false prophets. And they ought to have exposed it. But instead they combined with them, accepted the aid of their falsehood, and bore rule by their means. For, corrupt as the people were, they would speedily have discovered the wickedness of the priests had not the prophets sided with them. Now the poison spreads. The priests, coming into contact with all the people, propagate the falsehood of the prophets, shelter themselves behind their authority, and deceive those who trusted in them. Yes, it is “a wonderful and horrible,” etc. It is in the power of some to originate falsehood: this the prophets did. It is in the power of others to spread that falsehood abroad: this the priests did. Leagued together, the people who trusted them were in evil case indeed. But there was a further element of sorrow to be yet added.

3. The people loved to have it so.

(1) This showed that:

(a) conscience was dead or drugged;

(b) all perception of their true wisdom was gone;

(c) there was no remedy but the fire of the judgment of God.

(2) It is explained by probable facts that:

(a) the poison was disguised;

(b) large license was allowed.

(3) It reveals the awfully contagious nature of moral evil. The dread possibilities of national corruption, against which we are bound to watch and pray.

II. THE QUESTION IT GIVES RISE TO: “What will ye do in the end thereof?” That is, to what lengths will they go when their wickedness has full hold upon them? to what depths of degradation will they fall? to what resources will they turn when God’s judgments come? The sadness of the question lies in the impossibility of satisfactorily answering it. It leads us to the brink of an abyss, at which we can only shudder and pray that none of us may fall therein.

CONCLUSION.

1. Thank God that such prophets and priests are the exception to the rule.

2. That when such exceptions are met with, God has provided a remedy against themin his infallible Word; in his Spirit, leading us into all truth.

3. Try all that human ministers say by these tests.

4. Seeing how much depends upon them, and what power for good or ill they cannot but have, pray with all importunity-that God send only faithful men into his ministry, and preserve in their fidelity those who are there already.C.

HOMILIES BY J. WAITE

Jer 5:20-24

Nature’s witness against blind eyes and rebellious hearts.

Three forms of evil are rebuked here.

I. THE DULNESS OF SPIRITUAL SENSIBILITY THAT FAILS TO DISCERN THE DIVINE MEANING OF NATURE. Israel and Judah are addressed as a “foolish people, without understanding,” etc. Their crimes and sorrows sprang in great part out of their blindness and thoughtlessness (Isa 1:3; Isa 5:12, Isa 5:13). They would not use even the powers of spiritual discernment they possessed. They perceived not the Divine presence in natural thingsthe sounding shore, the revolving seasonsso as to bow with adoring reverence before it. Few things are stranger or sadder than the insensibility of the spirits of men to the Divine in nature. “They have eyes, but do not see” the “invisible things” of the Great Creator “through the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” They must be startled into the recognition of the present God. When some event out of the ordinary course occurs, they stand in awe before it, but in the familiar round of nature they find nothing Divine. We are all more or less open to this charge. The earthquake, the lightning flash, the hurricane, set us thinking of the majesty of him who wields such mighty forces at his will; but we forget the still more marvelous exercise of power that maintains the silent harmony of the spheres, holds the due balance of earth and sea, chases away the darkness of the night by the gently spreading dawn of every new morning, brings the grass blades and the flowers up out of the cold sod, ripens the fruit upon the trees, and changes the green carpet of the springing corn into the golden glory of the harvest. Of course it cannot be expected that any incident in the familiar daily round of nature should produce precisely the same effect on us as some new and startling phenomenon. The glory of the setting sun, that we have gazed upon a thousand times before, must needs be less to us in this respect than that of some flaming meteor that bursts suddenly upon the darkness and is gone. But it is deeply significant of the dullness of our spiritual sensibility that we can gaze so often on the world of wonders around us without being solemnly impressed with the presence of the living God.

II. THE SELF–WILL THAT SPURNS THE DIVINE CONTROL. A contrast is here drawn between the subjection of the great sea to the laws God’s will has imposed on it, and the bounds his hand has drawn around it, and the insubordination of the rebellious spirit of man. It is a grand expression of Divine power in the material realm that the sea-shore presents. We are impressed with the majestic force of the rolling tide, but, after all, there is something still more wonderful in the solid strength of the belt of sand that resists and restrains it. (Even as the moral strength of a man is seen not so much in the ungoverned fury of his passions, as in the calm resolution that controls them.) The sea is subject to restraint; not so the wayward spirit of man. The sea, in its wildest raging, obeys the laws that are imposed on it, and “its own appointed limits keeps;” but the rebellious heart of man defies all authority other than its own impulses. How deep the mystery of this difference between material and spiritual forces! How awful the prerogative of a being on whom God has conferred a moral freedom like his own! He will never violate that freedom in any of his dealings with us; that were to destroy the very nature he has given. But in proportion to the dignity of the self-determining power, so dreadful must be the penalty of abusing it.

III. THE INGRATITUDE THAT YIELDS NO RETURN OF LOVE FOR THE DIVINE BENEFICENCE. It was an aggravation of the guilt of Israel that they were as unmoved by the perpetual manifestation of the goodness of God as they were by the revelations of his power. Even that did not lead them to repentance or teach them to fear him. Few evidences of the thoughtful goodness of God have been more conspicuous through all the ages than the beneficent round of the seasons. In spite of all the wickedness of man’s ways, “he left not himself without witness, in that he did good,” etc. (Act 14:17). The appeal this great fact makes to the consciences and hearts of men is specially forcible as bearing on those whose calling is to be fellow-workers with God in developing the harvests of the earth. “Labor is a sublime necessity,” not as a mere “necessity,” but because of its moral meaning and moral uses. And of all physical labor, the husbandry of the earth is most rich in moral associations, as educating men to lowly dependence on God, and grateful devotion to him in response to his fatherly providence and long-suffering grace.

LearnAs all Divine manifestations speak to us alike of infinite power and infinite beneficence, so the result in us should be the blended affections of fear and love.W.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Jer 5:1. Run ye to and fro This is a continuation of the preceding discourse, wherein the Almighty justifies the severities of the judgments denounced in the former chapter. The expressions are strong, but not to be taken precisely in the letter; signifying only the extreme degeneracy of the times, and the great want of justice and piety in Jerusalem: instead of pardon it, we should read, pardon her.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

II. Demonstration of the justice of the judgments by the enumeration of their causes

(Jer 5:1-31)

The prophet enumerates these by first denouncing the universal corruption, especially in reference to the want of . Jer 5:1-6 he shows that truth and faith have entirely disappeared from public life; Jer 5:7-9 that is wanting in conjugal relations; Jer 5:10-18 that none of this is any longer found in the sense of faith in God; Jer 5:19-24 he describes the idolatry resulting from unbelief; Jer 5:25-29 the deception and rude violence connected therewith; Jer 5:30-31 finally he comprises all in a brief survey, in which the main points of this sad condition are set forth. The section contains six strophes of unequal length.

1. Universal want of truth and faith in public life

Jer 5:1-6

1Run through the lanes of Jerusalem and see,

And ascertain and search in her streets,
Whether ye find one, whether there be one,
Who doeth right and asketh after truth
And I will pardon her.

2And though they say As Jehovah liveth,

Even thus they swear falsely.

3Jehovah, thine eyes, look they not for fidelity?

Thou hast smitten them, but it pained them not.
Thou destroyedst them,they refused to receive correction;
They made their faces harder than a rock,
They refused to return.

4And I said: These are only the poor!

They are stultified!1

For they know not the way of Jehovah,
The judgment of their God.

5I will go2 to the great and speak with them,

For they know the way of Jehovah,
The judgment of their God.
Yet they have broken the yoke among them,
They have torn asunder the cords.

6Therefore the lion from the forest slayeth them,

The wolf of the deserts3 rendeth them,4

The leopard lurks by their cities;
Every one who goes out is torn in pieces;
For many are their misdeeds, great their apostasies.5

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jer 5:1. Run through the lanes I will pardon her. This verse contains the theme not merely of this strophe, but in a certain degree of the whole chapter. For the statements here of the universality of the corruption apply not only to the moral deficiency which is denounced in this strophe, but to all the sins of the people afterward enumerated. And in the second place the lack of honesty is the root of all the rest.Run through, comp. Amo 8:12; Zec 4:10.her streets, comp. Gen 18:23 sqq.righttruth. Since the prophet uses these two words in conjunction with each other, since in Jer 5:2 the unreliableness of the oath sworn in Jerusalem forms the contrast to the truth demanded, since further this moral deficiency is first designated as the most striking, manifesting itself in all the lanes and streets of the city, this being followed in the ensuing strophes by the more special sins against truth, we must understand the former word of right, justice (comp. Gen 18:19; Exo 23:6; Job 8:3) as the basis of all trade and intercourse, the guarantee of all security of life and property, but the latter as truth and faith, without which no public life can exist. The asker after truth cannot be he, who seeks it in others, for why should he in such a deficiency? but one who seeks it for its own sake, that he may have it and practise it himself.

Jer 5:2. And though they say swear falsely. There may have been many different kinds of swearing in use (comp. Mat 5:34 sqq.). The formula was at any rate regarded as the most sacred and binding. But even the oath thus made was broken.. The passages which are adduced for the meaning nevertheless, yet (Isa 7:14; Isa 10:24; Isa 27:9) are uncertain. We must therefore retain the original meaning (in reference to such a condition, this being the case)=even thus. The expression of identity;an oath by Jehovah and a false oath are with them the same thing.

Jer 5:3. Jehovah, thine eyes refused to return. The explanation of Hitzig (are not thine eyes true, reliable, do they not see correctly? Psa 17:2) does not suit the connection. What ground would the prophet have for opposing such a supposition, as that the Lord had erred? It is evidently declared that the Lord seeks truth, in contrast with the declaration in Jer 5:1 that among the Israelites none asks after truth. After in Jer 5:2 he had shown by a striking example, to what a degree truth and faith were lacking in this people, he shows in Jer 5:3 how contrary this was to the will of the Lord. For (a) the Lord seeks , (as to the sense comp. Psa 53:3; as to the construction the here is used after a verb of motion to be supplied, as it frequently is, after such actual verbs, instead of where the idea not of into but of up to is to be expressed: 1Sa 10:26; 2Sa 19:9; Rth 1:8, etc.); (b) the Lord has sought by severe and manifold chastisements to bring the people to , but in vain. Comp. Jer 2:29 sqq. From which it is clear how the Lord regarded this quality. It is on this account that this idea stands at the head of this section, as its fundamental thought, as will also be seen in the ensuing explanation of the single strophes.In they refused to return we have the fundamental thought of the entire discourse (see on Jer 3:1 sqq.)

Jer 5:4. And I said: these are only the poor the judgment of their God. The prophet interrupts his address to the people by communicating an objection which he himself made to the Lord. It is thus presupposed that the prophet was not at the moment of speaking first made acquainted with the judgment of the Lord concerning the moral condition of the people, as contained in Jer 5:1-3, but that he was previously aware of the divine purpose, so that he had time to go and make investigations among the higher circles of the people, the result of which he presents in Jer 5:5. These are only the poor; poor is the subject, these is the predicate: it is only the poor to which the previous description applies.

Jer 5:5. I will go to the great torn asunder the cords.With them. Comp. Jer 1:16; Jer 2:35; Jer 4:12.Yet they. The particle stands here also in a restrictive sense. It is as though the prophet would say: I also really went; only the success did not meet my expectation, they had, etc. Comp. Deu 18:20; 1Sa 29:9.The great were the worst. They had burst all bands asunder. Comp. Jer 2:20.

Jer 5:6. Therefore the lion great their apostasies. The prophetic perfectthe prophet beholds the future as though it were past. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 84, g.The wolf of the deserts. There are two explanations of this. 1. The Chald., Vulg., Syr., after Hab 1:8; Zep 3:3 render the evening-wolf (coll. Psa 104:20). To this is opposed (a) the parallelism with from the forest, (b) the plural; since this never occurs elsewhere as the plural of , nor is it at all here in place. Therefore most commentators take (2) as the plural of , the steppe, desert: the desert-wolf.For many, comp. Jer 30:13-14.On the subject-matter comp. Exo 26:22.

Footnotes:

[1]Jer 5:4. from used only in Niphal. Num 12:11; Isa 19:13; 50:36. The meaning is to become , fools, to be stultified, to act foolishly.

[2]Jer 5:5. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr 112, 5b

[3]Jer 5:5. [De Wette, *Henderson, Noyes render: an evening-wolf; Blayney has: a wolf of the plains.S. R. A.]

[4]Jer 5:6. for (Pro 11:3, Keri). Comp. Ewald, 251, c.; Olshausen, 243, a. [Green, Gr. 141, 1.].

[5]Jer 5:6.[Blayney, Noyes, Henderson render: their apostasies (rebellions) are increased.S. R. A.]

2. Their infidelity in marriage, in marriage with Jehovah as in human marriages

Jer 5:7-9

7What reason6 have I to pardon7 thee?

Thy children leave me and swear by that which is no God.
And I bound them in allegiance,8

But they committed adultery
And rushed9 into the harlots house.

8Fat stallions,10 dissolute are they;

Every one neighs after his neighbours wife.

9Should I not punish such as these? saith Jehovah;

Or should not my soul avenge itself on a people like this?

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. What reason into the harlots house. This strophe is an exact parallel to the preceding. As the beginning of the first strophe (Jer 5:1) presupposes a request for forgiveness, so does Jer 5:7. There it was: when you find one, who asks after truth, I will pardon. Here it is: How can I pardon? Thy children have forsaken me. There the chief reason for not pardoning was the lack of truth in public life. Here, indeed, the word is not mentioned, but the substance is the same, only in a different, more restricted sphere. The breach of conjugal fidelity, first in a theocratic and then in a human sense, is also a proof of the lack of fidelity. As finally Jer 5:6 ends with a threatening of punishment, so does Jer 5:7. The three, 79, thus form a whole, complete in themselves, a tableau after the usual type of the strophes of this prophet.and swore, etc., corresponds exactly to Jer 5:2. There their breach of fidelity was rebuked, because they swore falsely by Jehovah,here, because they swore by those who were no gods (comp. Jer 2:11; Deu 32:17; Deu 32:21).And I bound them, etc. I believe that the difficulty in this sentence is solved if we transpose the paratactic mode of speech into the syntactic: and although I had allowed them to swear (had bound them by oath and allegiance) yet they committed adultery. The form of the word does not contradict this view, as Graf supposes. We must not, however, think that this allowing to swear refers to the restoration of the Jehovah-cultus, effected by Josiahs reformation. For although that reformation, begun in the 12th year of Josiah, and ended in the 18th (2Ch 34:3; 2Ch 34:8), as frequently remarked, did not result in an honest return, yet it is not to be supposed that Jeremiah, during the period to which this discourse certainly belongs, had to complain of public idolatry. In saying thy children have forsaken me and sworn by no gods the prophet has in view not the events of that period, but of the whole past history of the people. In the course of this history, from the Exodus onward, it often enough happened that the people fell into idolatry, and were received again by the Lord into covenant with Him. Comp. e. g., the repeated apostasies in the wilderness (Exodus 32; Numbers 25), and the renewal of the covenant, in Arboth Moab (Deu 29:1); further, the continuance of the idolatrous cult, even after the capture of the Holy Land, and the repetition of the covenant, under Joshua (Jos 24:13, sqq). With reference to this and other facts of the past (e. g., 1 Samuel 7; 1 Kings 18): Jeremiah may well say: thy children forsook me and I let them swear, and they committed adultery, etc., which according to our syntactic mode of expression is equivalent to: although after their apostasy, to guard against another, I bound them by oath and allegiance, yet still again they committed adultery. Comp on this paratactic mode of expression the remarks on Jer 3:8 and NaegelsbachGr. 111, 1, Anm. This explanation combines these advantages, that (a) it is supported by the more difficult and critically, more secure reading,(b) it agrees with the grammar, and (c) with the connection. For in the latter respect it is clear that the prophet very suitably opposes the idol-oaths to the Jehovah-oath, and thus develops a chain of proofs of the faithfulness of God, and the unfaithfulness of the people, which place the latter in the clearest light.Rush into the harlots house. That these words have a double sense, passing imperceptibly from the religious to the physical sphere of thought, is evident from a comparison of what precedes and follows. The justification of this mode of expression is found in the well known mingling of unchastity with the idolatrous nature-worship. Comp. Herzog, Real-Enc., Artt. Astarte and Baal [Smith, Dict. I., 123, 145].The harlots houses are accordingly, if not exclusively yet preferentially the idol-temples, so far as these were at the same time places of spiritual and carnal adultery. Comp. Herzog I. 199.

Jer 5:9. Should I not punish such a people as this. This verse is repeated, Jer 5:29 and Jer 9:8. As already remarked, its contents denote the conclusion of a strophe.

Footnotes:

[6]Jer 5:7. can only mean grammatically: in reference to what? why? [Green, Gr., 75, 2.] comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 17, 3; 53, 1; Ewald, 326, a Olshausen, 222, e. [Green, 231, 4 a].

[7]Jer 5:7. (for which the Keri has as in Jer 5:1) certainly did not, as Hitzig supposes, arise from , but the ancient form (Rosenm.) us retained as being the more solemn (Neumann). Comp. Olsh. 238, a. Anm. [Green, Gr., 125. 1].

[8]Jer 5:7. . Many Codices and Editions, as given by De Rossi, read . By far the majority of the translators and commentators follow this reading: LXX., Vulg., Chald., Syr., Arab., Jerome, Theodoret, Raschi, Kimchi, Luther, Calvin, Bugenhagen, Oecolamp., Frster, Seb. Schmidt, Muenster, Grotius, Venema, the English Bible, J. D. Michaelis, Rosenmueller, Ewald, Umbreit, Meier. The former reading is adopted, after the example of some of the Rabbins, only by Zwingli, Ch. B. Michaelis, Gaab (=earnest petition, adjuvare,) Hitzig (divine assistance in human marriage) Maurer, Neumann (and I made them swear; namely, falsely=a judgment of obduracy. Jer 6:9), Graf. [Blayney, Noyes and Henderson follows the former. Henderson: though I supplied them abundantly.S. R. A.]

[9]Jer 5:7. for which the LXX. and Codd. 578, 575 read, according to De Rossi , , diversabantur is used as in Mic. 4:14 in the sense of: to penetrate sharply, to rush in, which comes easily from the radical meaning incidere. [Others render: gather.]

[10]Jer 5:8.Chethibh , Keri the former Hoph. from , the latter Pual from . Neither of these roots occurs in Hebrew. The form of the Keri can be brought only by a wide and circuitous process to afford a tolerable meaning: is regarded as the primitive root of (to weigh, hence ); the part. Pual would then=weighed:it is however taken as=provided with ponderibus (strong genitals), probe vasati.It is simpler to retain the Chethibh. from which , cibus, alimentum (Gen 45:23; 1Ch 11:23) has also in the dialects the sense of nourish (comp. Dan 4:9), are therefore well-nourished, fat horses. The word is perhaps chosen in allusion to has been variously explained (= by the Rabbins; , trahentes, i.e., genitalia, emissarii, by Jerome, the Chald., etc.: Ewald reads which according to the Arabic is said to denote lewd, etc.). The simplest derivation is that from which indeed does not occur in Hebrew, but yet seems assured by the dialects and by in the sense to err, to rove (Jer 2:23). So most of the recent commentators.

3. The Treachery of Unbelief

Jer 5:10-18

10Scale her walls11 and destroy,

But make not utterly an end of her!
Hew off her branches,
For they are not Jehovahs.

11For they have been faithless towards me,

House of Israel and house of Judah, saith Jehovah.

12They have denied Jehovah, and said:

He is notand calamity will not come upon us;
Nor sword and famine shall we behold.

13And the prophets are become wind

And the word is not in them:
So will it happen to them.12

14Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts:

Because ye speak this word,
Behold, I make my word fire in thy mouth,
And this people wood, and it shall devour them.

15Behold, I bring upon you a people from afar,

O house of Israel, saith Jehovah.
A mighty nation it is, an ancient nation it is,
A nation whose language thou knowest not,
And understandest not what it speaketh.

16Its quiver is like an open sepulchre,

They are all heroes

17And it devours thy harvest and thy bread.

They devour thy sons and thy daughters,
It devours thy sheep and thy cattle;
It devours thy vine and thy fig-tree,
It destroys thy fortified cities,
In which thou trustest, with the sword.

18But even in these days, saith Jehovah,

I will not make an utter end of you.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

That these verses form a strophe is seen not only from the unity of the contents, but also from the concordance of the commencement and the close. The whole strophe is only a picture in detail of the brief sketch in Jer 5:10 a, destroy, but not utterly.It is further evident that the fundamental thought of the strophe depends on Jer 5:1; that the people are wanting in is clear from the fact that they deny Jehovah, and consequently do not believe the word of His prophets.

Jer 5:10. Scale her walls for they are not Jehovahs. The image of a vine in an unwalled vineyard suggests the expression.The phrase for they are not Jehovahs involves the idea of depravation. Comp. Jer 2:21.

Jer 5:11. For they have been faithless toward me saith Jehovah. The threatening of punishment repeated in a new form follows the fundamental declaration Israel has been faithless towards the Lord. The prophet says this of both kingdoms, though the kingdom of Israel was no longer in existence. We see that he still has always in view the entire past history of the people. Comp. the remarks on at Jer 5:7.Faithless (comp. Jer 3:7 sqq.) is evidently in antithesis to truth, Jer 5:1; Jer 5:3. It is a word of general signification, and would not in itself afford a new, specific element. It is therefore more particularly defined in what follows.

Jer 5:12. They have denied Jehovah shall we behold. It is here declared that they injured the truth in such a manner by their faithlessness, that they virtually denied the existence of Jehovah.have denied, Jos 24:27; Isa 59:13. Comp. Pro 30:9. The sense of this is explained unmistakably by He is not. If Jehovah is not, there is no possibility of a judgment to be effected by Him.

Jer 5:13. And the prophets so will it happen to them. It is the necessary consequence of Jehovahs non-existence that the word prophesied in His name is regarded as nothing, or as wind. When it is said, the prophets are become wind, the reference is of course not to their persons, bat only to their prophetic ministry: qua prophets they will prove to be mere windbags. might certainly be rendered as a finite verb (comp. Hos 1:2) and the article with the signification of Nota relationis (Gen 21:3; Isa 56:3; Jos 10:24; 1Ch 26:28; 1Ch 29:17; Ewald, 331 b;Naegelsb. Gr., 71, 5, Anm. 3). [GreensGr. 245, 5 b.] The sense would then be: he who speaks is not in them, that is, what they say, they say entirely of themselves. But might also be a nominal form (ad f.) although this does not occur elsewhere. (Vid.Fuerst, s. v.). The meaning would then be: the speaker, the prophetic spirit. The LXX.: . Both are grammatically possible, the sense in both cases being the same.So will it happen to them. As they threaten us, so may it happen to themselves; let their empty threatening fall back upon themselves.

Jer 5:14. Therefore thus saith Jehovah and it shall devour them. Provoked by the bold declaration of unbelief in the word of the prophet, Jer 5:12-13, the Lord here puts in the mouth of His prophet an emphatic repetition of the denunciatory prophecy, which from Jer 1:13 onwards forms the focus of his prophetic announcement for the proximate future. Because Israel will not believe the word of the prophet, this word is to be equipped with the highest energy of a real active force. Comp Jer 1:9-10.The sudden change of person in in thy mouth should not offend. Comp. Jer 5:19, and Naegelsb. Gr., 101, 2 Anm.

Jer 5:15-17. Behold I bring upon you with the sword. This passage has its root in Deu 28:49 sqq. Comp. Isa 5:26; Hab 1:6; Amo 6:14; Vid.Kueper., S. 12, etc.from afar. Comp. Jer 4:16.House of Israel is here used as a common name, Jer 2:26; Jer 3:20-21; Jer 3:23; Jer 4:1, etc.The prophet heaps all the predicates on the people appointed to inflict the punishment which might cause them to appear terrible in the highest degree to the Israelites; they are coming from a distance, all sympathetic disposition to spare is therefore distant from their hearts; they are an ancient people ( of streams = unconquerable, ever-flowing, Deu 21:4; Psa 74:15,of rocks, mountains, mountain-fastnesses = firmly founded, immovable, Num 24:21; Mic 6:2; Jer 49:19designates firmly-rooted, impregnable power; designates ancient nobility and the hard-hearted and ruthless pride called forth by it); further, they speak a foreign, unintelligible language (from Deu 28:49): their quiver is on account of its form compared with an open gravethat the quiver has not a receptive but an aggressive relation may have bean overlooked by the poet.All the necessaries of life will be devoured by the enemy (the devouring of the children seems to be based on a reminiscence of Deu 28:53, where, however, it is said, that the Israelites will devour the flesh of their own children. Comp. Kueper, S. 12, 13;moreover the prophet may have taken in the more general sense, (comp. Jer 10:25);the fortified cities, in which Israel trusted (Deu 28:52) shall be destroyed (Mal 1:4) with the power of the sword (sword as in the phrase fire and sword being employed for warlike implements generally, comp. Lev 26:6).What people it is which is called to accomplish this, the prophet is not yet aware. Comp. the remarks above on Jer 1:13 sqq. If he had known the name of the people, why should he not have mentioned it? To think of the Scythians because they once made an incursion through Palestine, and because there is a Scythopolis in the valley of the Jordan (comp. Herzog, Real. Enc. XIV. S. 170), is absurd. We can at most suppose that the prophet borrowed from the Scythian invasion some tints for the coloring of his picture. Moreover the whole description applies also to the Babylonians. These especially, according to Genesis 10, 11, might be regarded as an ancient people, even if we assume from Isa 23:13 that the Chaldeans were a younger branch grafted into the old stock. [Henderson:The antiquity ascribed to the invaders has special respect to the Chaldeans, a nation originally inhabiting the Carduchian mountains and the northern parts of Mesopotamia, but who had immigrated into the Babylonian territory, where they had a settlement allotted them; and being, like all mountaineers, distinguished for their bravery, doubtless composed the most formidable part of the invading army. See my comment on Isa 23:13. From its being affirmed that the Jews would not understand the language of this people, it follows that after they left their original abodes, they must have retained their native tongue, which was in all probability the mother of the present Kurdish,a language totally different from any of Semitic origin, but showing much affinity with the ancient Persic.S. R. A.]

Jer 5:18. But even in those days an utter end of you. Comp. Jer 4:27 and Jer 5:10, and the remarks on the latter passage.Make an end is decidedly connected with the accusative, Nah 1:8; Neh 9:31;with Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28decidedly with =with in this passage;when it occurs elsewhere: Jer 30:11; Jer 46:28; Eze 11:13; Eze 20:17; Zep 1:18; it is uncertain whether is a Nota Accus. or a preposition.

Footnotes:

[11]Jer 5:10. (not to be confounded with , waves, Eze 27:25) occurs here only. denotes the idea of walls in general, as in Hemistich 2, of the walls of a vineyard (comp. Isaiah 5). A wall is elsewhere Pl. , which moreover occurs only in Job 24:11. The Plural is formed like from , from , from (comp. Olsh. 151, Anm.) with is not, as Hitzig asserts, to mount on something. The idea of the preposition is most variously modified by the connection, so that it denotes into (1Ki 12:18; 2Ki 19:28; Jer 48:18); upon (Deu 5:5) through, over (Eze 13:5) etc To read with E. Meier is therefore unnecessary and already forbidden by .

[12]Jer 5:13.[This sentence is left out in the LXX. the Syriac and the Arabic, but retained by the Vulg.: Hc ergo evenient illisThese things shall therefore come to them. This meaning the original will hardly bear. The reference seems to be to the prophets becoming wind, being so proved by the event. Note by Eng. Ed. of Calvin.S. R. A.]

4. Infidelity from blindness of heart and ingratitude

Jer 5:19-24

19And it shall come to pass, when ye say:

For what cause doth Jehovah our God all these things to us?
So shalt thou say to them:
As ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land,
So shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

20Announce it in the house of Jacob,

And publish it in Judah:

21Now hear it, ye people, foolish and without understanding,

Who have eyes and see not, ears and hear not!

22Will ye still not fear me? saith Jehovah,

Or will ye not tremble before me,
Who have placed the sand for a boundary to the sea,
As an everlasting barrier, which it will not pass?
And though they rage, they can do nothing,
And though they roar, its waves, they come not over it!

23But this people have an apostate and rebellious heart;

They have revolted and are gone.

24And say not in their hearts:

We will fear Jehovah, our God,
Who giveth rain, the early and the latter rain in its season,
Who secureth to us the weeks as harvest-tide.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The main object of this section (chap. 5) is to present before the people the causes of this punitive judgment, as is especially evident in the beginning of this strophe. For the question (Jer 5:19): Why doth the Lord all this to us? would then refer to the whole, if Jer 5:14-17? did not present the principal object in the prophetic perspective. This question is therefore only a turn, in order to proceed to the main purpose of the section from another side. As, however, according to Jer 5:1-3, the lack of is the chief cause of the judgment, so also in this strophe it is only a new species of this which is adduced: apostasy to the idols in consequence of mad blindness, which recognizes not Jehovah as the Almighty Creator, and hence denies Him the thanks which are due to Him as the Author of the most precious gifts of nature. The strophe falls into two parts: 1. Cause of the punitive judgment, Jer 5:19 (forsaking of Jehovah and idolatry); 2. Cause of this forsaking a double one: (a) being without heart (Jer 5:20-22); (b) an apostate and rebellious heart (Jer 5:23-24).

Jer 5:19. And it shall come to pass that is not yours.On the change of the person () vide supra, on Jer 5:14.

Jer 5:20-21. Announce it in the house of Jacob ears and hear not.House of Jacob frequently designates the whole people (e. g., in Num 23:7; Deu 32:9; Jer 10:25; Amo 6:7), but here, as elsewhere (e. g.Isa 9:7; Isa 17:4; Mic 1:5), the kingdom of Israel, partly for the sake of the antithesis to Judah, partly on account of Jer 5:11; Jer 5:15. This in reality exists no longer as such, but ideally it is still ever present to the spirit of the prophet, and indeed with the more justice since its constituent parts were still in existence, though as membra disjecta. Observe that in chap. 3. Jeremiah sharply and emphatically distinguishes Israel and Judah, because he is speaking of the past and the distant future; in Jeremiah 4 he uses in Jer 5:1 the conjoint appellation, but in what follows, having the present in view he turns to Judah and Jerusalem only (Jer 5:3-6; Jer 5:10-11; Jer 5:14; Jer 5:16; Jer 5:31); in Jeremiah 5 he still addresses Jerusalem in Jer 5:1, but in what follows (Jer 5:11; Jer 5:15) the entirety of the people is more prominent in his mind, quite naturally, since he has to present the causes of the judgment predicted by him, which carry him back into the remote past. He could not then possibly restrict what he says in Jer 5:21 sqq. to Judah, for it all applies with equal force to IsraelFoolish and without understanding. Comp. Jer 4:22; Hos 7:11. Have eyes, etc. Comp. Deu 29:3; Isa 6:9-10; Eze 12:2. The apostasy of the people is here explained by their spiritual blindness and dulness generally, and this appears to have come upon them, because notwithstanding the grand displays of His power they had witnessed, they feared not the Lord.

Jer 5:22. Will ye still not fear me they come not over it. From the connection the prophet cannot intend an exhortation, but only the confirmation of a fact. It is thus not so much: Will ye not fear me then? as: Ye fear me not therefore.The wide ocean with the immense body of its waves is an emblem of the wildest and most irresistible force of nature. And yet the Lord is strong enough to control this violence. Comp. Job 38:8-11; Psa 33:7; Pro 8:29. [The sea is also an emblem of the world, and its waves of the turbulence of the nations, which are yet under divine control. Comp. Psa 93:3-4. Hengstenberg on Joh 6:16-21.S. R. A.]They rage, comp. Jer 46:7-8; 2Sa 22:8; Psa 18:8; subjectits waves.Can do nothing. Comp. Jer 3:5; Jer 20:11; Isa 16:12; Job 31:23 Jer 5:23. But this people are gone. How can a people be impelled by the greatness of Gods works to fear Him, who are not moved to such fear by His goodness? He whom the love of God wins not, is not won by His omnipotence, for the former is the stronger. The connection is therefore this, that Jer 5:23-24 introduce a new element of their unfaithful disposition, which has at the same time a causal relation to that which was previously mentioned in Jer 5:21-22. The Vau in is adversative: I ask, Will ye still not fear? but to this question I can obtain no satisfactory answer, because this people is both apostate and rebellious.These last named predicates are stronger than those in Jer 5:21, for those were negative, while these are positive. They are not only insensible and dull, but positively hostile. They can notand what is worsethey will not. There is no occasion in the text to take and are gone as forming a climax (comp. Jdg 4:24; Gen 3:8). It rather corresponds to have revolted as its positive side: they break loose from the Lord and go away into the unmeasured distance, whithersoever their heart impels them.

Jer 5:24. And say not in their hearts as harvest-tide.We will fear [Let us fearHenderson] corresponds to the not fear me, Jer 5:22 : neither the grandeur nor the kindness of Gods works move them to fear Jehovah.The rain is an emblem of blessing. Comp. Jer 3:3. is the general term, as we may perceive from Lev 26:4 ( ). The double Vau before (early rain, October to December) and (the latter rain, in the spring, before the harvest) is disjunctive=etet. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr. 110, 3. The Masoretes, not understanding this, would strike out the first Vau, but unnecessarily.Secureth. The fruit-fulness of the year depends on the regularity of the rainy seasons. Comp. Deu 11:14; 1Sa 12:17-18 : Raumer, Palst. 4 Aufl. S. 90[Vid.Lightfoot, XII. p. 71].The weeks as harvest-tide are the seven weeks of harvest from Easter to Whitsuntide [Passover to Pentecost] (Exo 23:16; Exo 34:22; Num 28:26; Deu 16:9-10; Deu 16:16). They are called thus because the beginning and the close of the (principal) harvest was determined by the two festivals as by fixed boundary-lines. The (harvest-tide) correspond to the (everlasting barrier), Jer 5:22.

5. Infidelity as deceit and violence

Jer 5:25-29

25Your transgressions hindered such things,

Your sins withheld the good from you.

26For godless [men] are found among my people;

They lurk, like fowlers crouch;
They set traps, they catch men.

27As a cage is full of birds

So are their houses full of unrighteous wealth.
Therefrom they are become great and rich.

28They are fat, they shine, they overflow with iniquities:

In justice they settle not the affairs of the orphan, and prosecute them;
And the rights of the poor they procure not.

29Should I not punish such, saith Jehovah,

Should not my soul avenge itself on a nation like this?

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jer 5:25 is closely connected with the previous strophe, but in such wise that it evidently does not belong to it, but conducts to a new passage. It involves in a certain measure a contradiction to the preceding. While in Jer 5:24 it was declared: they say not, let us fear the Lord, who gives us rain, etc., it is here said that Jehovah had not given them rain because of the sins of the people. And these sins are now so specified in what follows, that we see the prophet would confirm by new facts the fundamental thought of the section that has departed from Israel. Moreover the end here reverts to the beginning. For when he here speaks of the ruling of the , and of the unrighteousness of those in power it is evident that the phrase any one doing right or seeking truth, in Jer 5:1, is hovering before his mind. Jer 5:29 shows by its identity with Jer 5:9, that it is the conclusion of the strophe, and thus in its structure this strophe entirely resembles that in Jer 5:7-9, which likewise begins and ends with a reference to the divine judgment.

Jer 5:25. Your transgressions from you. Comp. Jer 3:3; Jer 4:18. When the prophet here, as in Jer 3:3, refers to the withholding of the rain as past, he certainly had definite facts in view (e. g., 1 Kings 17; Amos 4 sqq.) and would intimate that the Lord not merely will punish, but already has punished, by which a guarantee is afforded of the infliction of the expected judgment.

Jer 5:26. For godless men are found they catch men. is to be regarded as impersonal: it is lurked. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 101, 2. . Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 95, 2. [GreensGr., 139, 2.S. R. A.] ( Pro 10:25)., destroyer generally (Exo 12:13; Ezek. 21:36), here specially, on account of , destructive snares.

Jer 5:27. As a cage is full of birds become great and rich. is evidently the antithesis of . At the same time the word is to be taken as abstr. pro concr.=res fraude part, as Psa 105:4; Ecc 2:19; comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 59, 1. From riches gained by deceit, is developed violent injustice.

Jer 5:28-29. They are fat nation like this. Being fat is not all: luxury produces lust, it runs over like a seething pot, and that with iniquities [matters of wickedness: Henderson] ( involving the ideas of res and verbum) which are afterwards enumerated. is construed as a verb of fulness with the accusative, like , Joel 4:18. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 69, 2, a.They settle not. Comp. Psa 10:18; Psa 43:2; Gen 30:5; Jer 22:16.and prosecute them, might certainly be rendered grammatically=that they prosper [Henderson]. But then the plural is strange and the sense is flat. Therefore it is better to regard it as the positive side of settle not = and they carry them through.

Jer 5:29, comp. Jer 5:9.

6. Comprehensive conclusion

Jer 5:30-31

30Fear and horror have happened in the land;

31The prophets prophesy falsely,

And the priests rule by their hand,13

And my people love to have it so:
But what will they do when the end of the song comes?

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

These verses express the result of the examination instituted by the prophet into the moral condition of the people, viz., that it was horribly bad in all ranks of life. While Jer 5:30 has reference to the entire section, Jer 5:31 refers especially to Jer 5:4-5.

Jer 5:30. Fear in the land.Fear. Comp. Deu 28:37; 2Ki 22:19; Jer 19:8; Jer 25:9, etc.horror, a horrible thing, Jer 23:14. Comp. Jer 18:13; Hos 6:10.

Jer 5:31. The prophets when the end of the song comes. The prophets are first mentioned as the medium of all knowledge which determines to action. Comp. Jer 20:6; Jer 29:9. The priests ought to have been a corrective to the misleading of the prophets, comp. Mal 2:7; Eze 7:26. Instead of this they made profit by them. or apart from its local signification, is a priestly terminus technicus, which means ad latus= under inspection, by appointment (1Ch 6:16; 1Ch 25:2-3; 1Ch 25:6; 2Ch 17:15; 2Ch 17:17; 2Ch 23:18; 2Ch 29:27; Ezr 3:10). So here. For an instance of such corrupting influence exercised by the prophets on the priests, see Jer 29:24-32.The corruption of the priests and prophets should in the last instance be rebuked by the sound sense of the people. But no. The people love to have it so. They do not cause a reaction but co-operate.When the end of the song comes, or in reference to its end. The fem. suff. must be regarded as mental (Jer 5:20, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 60, 6 b) and to be referred in general to the totality of the condition described by the prophet. The sense is: What will you do when the present condition enters upon its last stage of development, or as we say, when the end of the song comes? Comp. Isa 10:3; Hos 9:5. [Lightfoot, XII. p. 550.S. R. A.]

Footnotes:

[13]Jer 5:31.[The LXX. and the Vulgate have And the priests have applauded with their own hands, and the Targum And the priests have blessed their hands. Both mean the same thing [?] though the words are different; and Blayney [and Boothroyd] gives the same meaning. And the priests have concurred with them. Horsley says the words literally are And the priests go down according to their hands; that is, he adds, the priests go which way their hands permit, i. e., the priests are directed by them.When followed by as here, the preposition never means according to, as Horsley renders it, but ever, upon, toward or against, and mostly upon. See Exo 9:9; Num 4:9; Psa 7:10; Psa 72:6. Therefore the literal rendering is this. And the priests have descended upon their hands. An idiomatic expression, which seems to mean, that the priests assisted the prophets, according to what is expressed by the Targum, etc. Note by Eng. ed. of Calvin, I. p. 309.S. R. A.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Jer 5:1. The wicked world has in the pious and believing a noble treasure and defence (Gen 18:32); Lange.Even Zoar is preserved for the sake of Lot, (Gen 19:20 sqq.)Comp. Isa 37:35.Ghislerus reminds us of a story which Pliny relates (vol. 35 cap. 10) of King Demetrius, who retired from the city of Rhodium, because he could not take it on its only accessible side without destroying some celebrated paintings of Protogenes.

2. Zinzendorf here relates (S. 198) a story of M. Joh. Christoph Schwedler, ob. 1730. Once when in the church at Wiese (Silesia) they were singing before the communion I will say to thee Farewell, at the words Thy sinful, wicked living, pleases me not at all, such an Elias-like zeal seized upon him, that raising his voice above the organ and the choral of a thousand voices, he cried out in tones of thunder, For Gods sake what are you singing? What does not please you? The Lord Jesus does not please you. To him ye must say: Thou pleasest us not, then you would speak the truth; but you do say, the world.When now all, convicted by their consciences, sat there in grief and tears, and few knew how this happened to them, he said: Now, if it be thus as it should be, let him to whomsoever your sinful life has become offensive, confess it in the name of the Lord, whereupon this verse was wept rather than sung.

3. On Jer 5:3. Origen says in his sixth homily, of which the text is Jer 5:3-5, If now thou wilt that the beams of Gods eye rest upon thee, embrace the virtues. So will it be with thee according to this the eyes of the Lord look for faith. And if thou art such an one that the eyes of the Lord shine upon thee, then wilt thou say, the light of thy countenance rose upon us, O Lord, Psa 4:7.He asks for returns and that too in cash. This is the fund to which he applies and on which he depends. Words, are of no value to him. But just this is the complaint: Faith is rare among the children of men (Psa 12:2); it is not every mans possession, as it is there said. In these days preachers might exclaim with Isaiah: who believes? (Isa 53:1). And Abraham pleads with the Lord for Sodom on condition of five righteous persons being found in it (Genesis 18). Zinzendorf.Ecce verbera desuper et flagella non desunt, et trepidatio nulla, nulla formido est. Quid si non intercederet rebus humanis vel ista censura? Cyprian, ad Demetrianum.Haud grave est plagis affici, sed plaga meliorem non fieri gravissimum est. Gregor. Nazianz.

4. On Jer 5:4-5. A preacher has no more miserable and ignorant hearers than the respectable. While they are spelling their way back to the cross, and are getting so far as to know how to learn that we are saved alone by the grace of the Lord Jesus, till we get them so far as to understand that the command of the New Test. is to believe, and all that morality can lug about for eighty years is gone with a word: Son, be of good courage, thy sins are forgiven thee,the ignorant would have been able to do it thrice. Enough has been said to show that a teacher greatly deceives himself, if he seeks among the respectable that comfort in his office, which he does not meet with among the common people. Zinzendorf, S. 12, 13. Comp. S. 65, 66; 1Co 1:26-27.

5. On Jer 5:13. Yes, the prophets are gossips. How does this sound and whence comes the saying? It sounds somewhat distinguished, and a teacher may draw it upon himself. Almost the whole body has incurred this, that they are reckoned with afterwards, and because after their discourse one has been able to do away with it by head work, he has finally come to the conclusion: the pastors are gossips; and the precious treasure of the public testimony is much calumniated. Whoever is grieved on account of the teachers, let him reflect that this arises not so much from the fault of the hearers as of the teachers. I will assure him: As soon as the words of the Lord become fire in his mouth, the hearers become wood, and criticism is at an end, and feeling comes and savor comes, be it unto life or unto death. From that time the preacher is in earnest, and laughter is forbidden by the hearers themselves. Zinzendorf, S. 13, 14.

6. On Jer 5:15 sqq. The prophet takes his direction from Gods unchangeable calendar, as it was composed by Moses: Deu 28:49. Therefore he could well prognosticate how it would terminate with his disobedient people. It is of use, that we diligently peruse such an ever-enduring calendar, and ever have it before our eyes. For it is more certain than all other prognostications can be. Cramer.

7. On Jer 5:21-22. Hear, ye mad people, that have no understanding! Will ye not fear me? This is a glorious discovery of the omnipotence and majesty of God. If, however, men see one, they see all; but they have no ears to hear until the whole is changed. But that men are so secure and think not of Him who allows them to live so securely, this is indeed an insane business. Zinzendorf, S. 202.

8. On Jer 5:24. O man, as often as thou put-test bread into thy mouth, reflect, that God by this means of nourishment would bring thee to Himself. Cling not also to carnal bread, but let thy immortal soul be satisfied by God. Starke.

9. [On Jer 5:26. This passage is worthy of special note: for Gods paternal favor does not so continually shine forth in our daily sustenance, but that many clouds intercept our view. Hence it is, that ungodly men think that the years are now barren, and then fruitful through mere chance. We indeed see nothing so regulated in every respect in the world, that the goodness of God can be seen without clouds and obstructions: but we do not consider whence this confusion proceeds, even because we obstruct Gods access to us, so that His beneficence does not reach us. We throw heaven and earth into confusion by our sins. For were we in right order as to our obedience to God, doubtless all the elements would be conformable, and we should thus observe in the world an angelic harmony. But as our lusts tumultuate against God, as we stir up war daily, and provoke Him by our pride, perverseness and obstinacy, it must needs be that all things, above and below, should be in disorder, that the heavens should at one time appear cloudy, and that continuous rains should at another time destroy the produce of the earth, and that nothing should be unmixed and unstained in the world. This confusion then, in all the elements, is to be ascribed to our sins: and this is what is meant by the prophet. Though indeed the reproof was then addressed to the Jews, we may yet gather hence a lesson of general instruction. Calvin.S. R. A.]

10. On Jer 5:28. Zinzendorf remarks on the words and they prosper that the chief cause of the condemnation of the rich man (Luk 6:19 sqq.) was that he was prospered in all things in this world. He consequently received his good things in this life and fared sumptuously every day. Comp. Psa 37:35; Luk 6:25; Jam 5:1 sqq.

11. On Jer 5:28. It would be better for one to have the Turkish emperor with all his army for an enemy than a poor widow with her fatherless orphans. For the widows tears are water which rises above all the mountains and then falls again and washes away all her enemies into hell. Luther. Comp. Wisd. 35:1821.

12. On Jer 5:31. My people like it so. Like sought, like found. The people wish to have false preachers and get them, and a blind man leads the blind until both fall into the ditch, Luk 6:39. Cramer.How will it be at last? We finally become as accustomed to disorder as disorderly people, and the more everything goes to ruin, the less concerned are we. There is, perhaps, however, still an uncompromising servant or old friend of our Father, who is constantly repeating the little word to us: How will it be? How will it end at last? This is the peculiar office of the teacher, and nobody likes to hear him. Zinzendorf, S. 203.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jer 5:3. Lord, thine eyes look for faith. Why does God impose faith as the only condition of salvation? 1. Because faith gives the greatest glory to God. 2. Because it is at the same time the easiest and most difficult exercise of the human heart. For (a) to believe, i. e., to accept Gods grace as a free gift, every one is, and must be, able to do. (b) He who can do it, has vanquished himself at the one point and won all.

2. [On Jer 5:4. All sin proceeds from some misapprehension of God. (1) Skeptical humor as to Gods particular Providence, and inspection over all events. (2) Disbelief that He is concerned about the moral good or evil actions of men. (3) Abuse of the doctrine of Gods foreordination, and (4) of His mercy. But (1) Gods mercy will not interfere with His justice. (2) The execution will be no less severe than the threatening. (3) God will not accept less than He requires in the Gospel. Dr. S. Clarke.S. R. A.]

3. On Jer 5:11. Obstinate unbelief. 1. Its nature: it denies God and therefore despises (a) Gods word, (b) those who proclaim it. 2. Its punishment: the tables are turned; (a) the unbeliever, before fire, now becomes wood, (b) the word of God, before regarded as wood, becomes fire.

4. On Jer 5:19. Why doth the Lord our God all these things to us? Three answers to this one question: 1. Joh 13:7, What I do, thou knowest not now, etc. 2. Mat 20:15, Is it not lawful for me to do what I will? etc. 3. Jam 1:12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, etc. Florey, 1863.

5. On Jer 5:21; Jer 5:24. Of the fear of God. 1. Motives from without, (a) Gods displays of power, (b) His displays of grace. 2. Inner conditions: (a) That we open our eyes and ears, (b) that we allow ourselves to be impelled by that which we see and hear.

6. On Jer 5:24. (Harvest [Thanksgiving] sermon). The harvest-blessing: 1. From whom it comes. 2. To whom it leads.

7. On Jer 5:24. It is the Lord who faithfully guards the harvest forces. This truth calls for 1. humility and trust in the sowing of earthly seed; 2. confidence in working in this world; 3. hope in the interment of bodies in the earth. V. d. Trenk. Gesetz und Zeugniss (Law and Testimony), Apr. 1860, S. 226.

8. On Jer 5:24. The call which the present years harvest makes on the hearts of men. It is, Fear the Lord. For I, without Him all labor and toil is in vain; 2. He does not allow Himself to be interfered with in His government; 3. He gives and blesses without respect to our deserts and in spite of our sins. Florey, 1863.

9. On Jer 5:30-31. A cry of warning in a period of universal apostasy. 1. The condition of the people is shocking and abominable, for (a) the leaders of the people misguide them, (b) the people wish to be misled. 2. The consequences correspond to the guilt (comp. Jer 5:25; Jer 5:14 sqq., Jer 5:6).

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

CONTENTS

The same subject is prosecuted through this Chapter, as formed the contents of the former. Here is the call of God upon a degenerate people, joined with gracious promises and invitations of mercy.

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

If we read these verses with a gospel comment, the amount of them will be similar to what the Apostle made on one of the Psalms of David. See Psa 14:2-3 ; Rom 3:10-26 . But Reader! cannot you and I find a man that hath executed righteousness and judgment in the earth? Is there not one man in this our spiritual Sodom, to stand in the gap, and turn away the wrath of heaven? Pause. What think ye of Christ? Oh! thou whose name is Wonderful! Yea blessed Jesus, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, and all thy father’s children bow down before thee. Gen 49:8 ; Gen 18:22 to the end. Isa 9:6 ; Hos 2:16 .

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

Jer 5:1

To feel and to bring out the force of this verse stress must be laid upon the word man. The text tells us what a man is; how rare a man is; how valuable a man is.

I. The man that is to be sought out according to the direction in this verse is a person that executeth judgment, and that seeketh the truth. A man, then, is first of all one that does what is light and just from principle, uniformly, and towards all.

Further, a man is one who not only does what is right, but he has in his heart a love of truth. We are told that he ‘seeketh the truth’. In doing what he believes to be equitable and just, he has a conscious desire that his views of equity and justice should be according to truth, and that of course is the truth as it is before God, which ought to reign supreme and through all the relationships and the intercourse of intelligent and responsible beings. When on the coronation of Edward VI. there were brought to be carried before him, according to custom, the sharp sword of justice, the pointless sword of mercy, and the two-handed sword of state, he called for the Bible also. ‘That,’ said he, ‘is the sword of the Spirit, by which we all ought to be governed who use these others for the safety of the people by the law’s appointment; it is from that that we obtain all our power, and goodness, and grace, and salvation, and whatever we have of Divine strength.’

II. Notice the value of a true man. God says in this verse, ‘If ye can find a man,’ a man of this character, ‘in Jerusalem, I will pardon it,’ pardon Jerusalem. What forbearance is there in God, how unwilling is He to destroy. When a man or a community violates truth and justice, he is exposed, they are exposed to the evil consequences. Each of us has an independent responsibility and must give an account of himself to God, but at the same time we are linked with others, we contribute to the general tone of society, we act along with it and as component parts, we have each a share in the aggregate responsibility, the praise or blame, the good or evil that belongs to the whole.

III. One last thing is thought of a centre of trust, a shield of defence, before which God would lower the sword’s point. What was that? What have men and women to look to for the defence and prosperity of nations? It was a map. Goethe says no greater good can happen to a town than for several educated men thinking in the same way about what is good and true living in it. But Goethe’s standard is insufficient; it falls short of the Divine. The defenders and the benefactors of nations and of their fellow-men are the morally and religiously good in them; men whose lives are regulated by the teachings of God; men who seek to act as Christ did are the men that are worthy, and that are looked upon by God as blessings to the nation. Even one such is a mighty pillar, and on occasion even one such may be the Saviour and mainstay of the State.

Can we ever forget that in regard to the salvation of the world, and of our own souls, we owe everything to the ONE MAN, Christ Jesus, and that it is for His sake alone that we can obtain blessing, and salvation, and pardon!

R. J. Drummond, British Weekly Pulpit, vol. II. p. 81.

References. V. 1. J. Mitford Mitchell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxvii. 1890, p. 117. C. Jerdan, Pastures of Tender Grass, p. 130. W. Reading, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 469. J. Smith, “A Man,” Sermons, vol. ii. p. 270. ”The Courage of the True Prophet,” Archdeacon Farrar in Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii. p. 161. “Christian Manliness,” (i.) “Right Doing,” Momerie’s Origin of Evil and Other Sermons, p. 197, and (ii.) “Right Thinking,” Origin of Evil and Other Sermons, p. 209, and (iii.) “The Value of Manliness,” Origin of Evil and Other Sermons, p. 222. Wythe, Pulpit Analyst, vol. v. p. 294; and see an admirable outline, “True Manhood,” by S. Conway, in Pulpit Commentary, “Jeremiah,” vol. i. p. 128. For the history see Geikie’s Hours With the Bible, vol. v. p. 165, etc V. 1-6 and 10-31. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvi. No. 2660. V. 2. C. Kingsley, Sermons on Natural Subjects, p. 199.

God’s Dealings with Men

Jer 5:3

It may well be a source of comfort and strength to a man to know that God’s eyes are upon the truth, upon the present reality, and not on mere appearance. Let all men know that God sees things precisely as they are. In the present instance He saw unreality, faithlessness, untruthfulness. And when He smote them, they did not really respond by sorrow for their misdeeds, whatever outward show they may have made. They forgot that, while man looketh on the outward appearance, the Lord looketh on the heart

I. The Gracious End God ever has in View in Afflicting Men. It is that they may return to Him by the path of grief for their sin and of amendment of life. The treading of this path is absolutely necessary for the sinner’s return, and it is cast up by the fatherly chastisements of God.

II. But Man has the Power of Frustrating the Gracious End of God. When stricken, he is not grieved. In many ways, consciously or unconsciously, he can frustrate God’s gracious purpose on his behalf. For example:

a. By tracing all his sufferings merely to secondary causes. They bring no message from God to his soul; they merely speak of a fellow-man’s injustice, or a weak constitution, or some mistake he himself has made in his plans and calculations, etc.

b. By a mere stoical endurance rather than a childlike acquiescence. The child’s feelings are acute while he says, ‘Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Thy sight’. To drill and school oneself to bear pain of body or spirit without flinching is not to submit to God, but to bow to fate. This will never lead anyone to ‘return ‘to God.

c. By simple delay in returning to God by repentance and faith. A man may feel and recognize the calls and chastenings of God; but by simple delaying to comply with the message contained in those chastenings, this feeling gets gradually dulled.

‘Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.’

References. V. 3. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii. No. 1585; vol. xlv. No. 2655. V. 10. W. M. Punshon, Take Away Her Battlements, Sermons, p. 453. Phillips Brooks, The Law of Growth, p. 80. Prebendary Grier, The Church of the People, p. 163. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i. No. 38, V. 12. R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xli. 1892, p. 12. V. 22, 23. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv. No. 220. V. 23-25. II. Hensley Henson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxi. 1907, p. 113. V. 24. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No. 880. “Plain Sermons” by contributors to the Tracts for the Times, vol. viii. p. 185. V. 30, 31. R. W. Hiley, A Year’s Sermons, vol. ii. p. 160. H. Hensley Henson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxx. 1906, p. 161. A. G. Mortimer, The Church’s Lessons for the Christian Year, part iv. p. 243. V. 31. “Plain Sermons” by contributors to the Tracts for the Times, vol. x. p. 258. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah, p. 257. VI. 2. J. Parker, Studies in Texts, vol. i. p. 187. VI. 14. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. No. 301. C. Silvester Horne, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxviii. 1890, p. 45. F. Ferguson, Peace With God p. 23. T. Chalmers, Sermons Preached in the Tron Church, Glasgow, p. 447.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

God’s Judgment of Self-will

Jer 5:21-24

The tone in which God expostulates with Israel, and the figures by which he represents the kind of punishment which he will bring upon them, are really startling. The house of Jacob and all the families of Israel are charged with having forgotten God; priest and lawyer, pastor and prophet, had turned from the true testimony; they had become unto God as the degenerate plant of a strange vine; they had said to a rock, Thou art my father, and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth. The threatened retribution was very terrible: they were made to feel that it was an evil and a bitter thing to sin against the Lord their God; they were to encounter the lion from the thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles; the enemy was to come up as clouds, and his chariots as a whirlwind, with horses swifter than eagles, a wolf of the evening was to spoil them, and a leopard was to watch over their cities; God’s word was to be as fire, and the people were to be as wool before it. This is how the case stands as presented by the prophet Jeremiah. The text is part of a message which was to be declared in the house of Jacob and published in Israel. It shows that three results were produced by self-assertion against the rule of God; will the same cause produce the same effect? Has any change occurred in the nature of God, or in the constitution of man, to warrant a rupture of the original relations subsisting between God and men? Let us see the results of self-will as shown in the text, and compare them with the testimony of our own consciousness and experience.

(1) Self-will in relation to the divine government destroys the natural capacities and faculties of man. “Foolish people, without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.” How different this description to the original portraiture of man! Foolish, blind, deaf such is man when he has turned his back upon God, and taken life into his own hands. The fine gold becomes dim, the great power is laid in the dust. It would seem as if all the faculties of our nature were dependent for continuance upon their religious use; moral paralysis is equivalent to intellectual stagnation; not to pray is to die. Is it not much the same as if a flower should be shut out from the light and dew? The soul is, so to speak, withdrawn from the source of its being cut off from the fountain of life, and allowed to exhaust its little resources, to languish in loneliness, and to die of hunger. The gifts of God are daily; our bread is a morning mercy; our sleep is an evening benediction. If, then, we leave God, how soon does our poverty come as an armed man, and our want as one that travaileth! We shall most clearly see how the natural faculties of man are impaired, and indeed destroyed, by irreligion, by considering that the same truth holds good in the ordinary business of life, separation from God means folly, blindness, and general incapacity, even in earthly things. Take the case of our daily bread, and see how the doctrine is sustained. Certain means are divinely appointed to secure given results: the earth is to be cultivated; the seed is to be sown; the influences of the atmosphere are to be unobstructed. This is the religious, the divinely appointed method of obtaining the common bread of life. Mark that it is God’s method, and therefore, without straining language, may be termed the religious method. Whatever is right is religious, whatever is rightly religious is of God. What is agriculture but a branch of natural theology? Bread is to the body what truth is to the soul, and God’s method is as essential in the one case as in the other. But suppose that self-will should prevail in the natural as it does in the moral sphere, what would be the result? Let any man set aside God’s plan of obtaining daily bread, and call upon his own genius to supply it; let the earth remain uncultivated; let the seed remain unsown: can it be doubted that the insane man would soon be taught by famine what he would not learn from reason or infer from revelation? Self-will in that particular department would soon work its own cure, because man feels more the importance of the body than the soul: he has inverted original relations and become a practical materialist. For the lower life, the life dependent upon the products of the earth, man must be religious; even the atheist in name becomes a deist in practice when he puts the plough into the ground. He will not confess it; to his own consciousness even he will not own that ploughing is a religious act; but in point of fact it is: the process of growing corn is a permanent protest against the self-will and self-idolatry of man, and a continual assertion of the benign and omnipotent sovereignty of God.

There is no violence in transferring the argument from the body to the soul: on the contrary, such transference would seem to be a logical necessity; for if God is essential to the inferior, is he not essential to the superior? If man cannot do the less, how can he do the greater? If by taking thought he cannot add one cubit to his stature, how can he, apart from God, nourish and strengthen his soul, and so train himself to the perfectness of moral manhood? The inquiry founded upon natural experience and justified by the common instincts of men, necessitates, if man would be faithful to himself, further inquiry as to spiritual theology, and challenges contradiction of the statement, that a people of “a revolting and a rebellious heart” soon prove themselves to be foolish, blind, and deaf. A man who would not eat bread because he could not make his own will dominant through every detail of the process of germination would be pitied or despised; yet men who cannot by their own will or power make one grain of corn for the support of the body are often found resenting God’s offers of enlightenment and guidance of the soul! What wonder that God should call upon the heavens to be astonished and the earth to be horribly afraid! And what wonder, repelled and dishonoured as he is, that he should say: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will fend a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” Think of God sending a famine upon the soul, of minds pining and dying because divine messages have been withdrawn! We know what the effect would be if God were to withhold the dew, or to trouble the air with a plague, or to avert the beams of the sun: the garden would be a desert, the fruitful field a sandy plain, the wind a bearer of death, summer a stormy night, and life itself a cruel variation of death, so penetrating, so boundless is the influence of God in nature. Is it conceivable that the withdrawment of God’s influence would be less disastrous upon the spirit of man? The question is pressed upon the attention of those who, while cheer-fully acknowledging God’s presence and work in nature, are less willing to recognise the entire dependence of the soul upon the Holy Ghost.

The point which is before us is, that self-will, usurping divine functions, impairs and destroys the natural faculties of man, makes him foolish, blind, deaf. He may be shrewd in worldly affairs, sagacious in ordinary speculation, but so far as the great universe is concerned he is deaf, blind, foolish; he who might have soared in a light above the brightness of the sun, grovels like an insect upon the earth. A right idea of God is held to be a powerful instrument in the development of the human intellect. Naturally and obviously so: it is the primal idea, it is the very germ of life; in the most inclusive sense we live and move and have our being in God. Out of God there is no true being; the spasm, the convulsion, which is mistaken for existence is an impious sarcasm upon life. There is everything in deep and intelligent religious conviction to evoke the latent energies of the spiritual nature; it carries the spirit from particulars to universals, from detailed accidents to fundamental principles, it transfigures all outward nature into a splendid symbol of God, it overpasses the narrow limits of time and draws lessons from eternity, it pours a gladdening light upon the darkness of the grave, it promises magnificent possibilities of service in the endless day of the better world. Such conviction never calls any man downward, never gives him a degrading view of human nature, never vexes the soul with reproaches about its littleness, but ever teaches that so long as the soul grows according to God’s law, it moves towards “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

(2) Another point, related though varied, is, self-will in relation to the divine government plunges the soul into irreverence:

“Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? ( Jer 5:22 ).

Turn from the sea to the sun. God’s remonstrance is continued against the creed of Sight. “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place?… Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof?… By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?… Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” Here we come again to realise the impotence of self-will. We cannot control the morning; no star hears our voice; the light is not a suitor in our court. What then? We are to draw spiritual lessons from these natural facts, and to say with the Psalmist, “The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.” It is surely a most suggestive consideration that there are in nature limits to man’s will, boundaries which enclose his power. As a mere matter of fact, he cannot escape them: he may turn sullen, he may fret and vex his soul, yet nature remains as a perpetual testimony of God’s wisdom and power. The sea lifts up its voice for God, the sun is bright with his glory, the moon and the stars are fixed by his ordinance. From all this, is it possible to resist the conclusion that man, who is limited in nature, cannot have all power in thought? But the mournful fact is recognised that, though man is limited in his relations to nature, he can look at her wonders without any religious concern; he can traverse the sea without fearing God; he can make a mere convenience of the sun, and pass through the seasons without prayer or praise. This is the natural working of self-will. It turns the heart in upon itself. It is blind to beauty, it is deaf to music. It says, If I cannot be sovereign, I will not be dependent. It is quite clear that self-will and veneration are incompatible; it is as clear that sin is the outward expression of self-will, and that nothing will restore the soul to its proper relations to God but that which attacks and destroys the sinful spirit. So long as man is morally wrong, he cannot understand the deepest teachings of the outward world; he will not worship as he walks by the sea, he will not sing to God, however bright the light of morning. An appeal to human experience would verify the doctrine of revelation, for all men must have felt how self-esteem has lowered veneration, and how self-satisfaction has undervalued or ignored the works of God. The self-idolatrous man has eyes that see not, ears that hear not, a heart that does not understand; by his very ambition he has laid himself in the dust; his building with one hand has been thrown down by the other; thinking himself to be God, he has been placed among the beasts of the field; he has been poisoned by the incense of his own vanity. This is the way in which retributive law works. If a man will obstinately and defiantly persist in committing trespass, he must be the victim of his own presumption, for sentence of death is pronounced against him who, unbidden, attempts to ascend the mount of God.

A mind destitute of veneration is deprived of holy stimulus. Nature is darkened, revelation is sealed, history is withdrawn. The soul sits amidst its own ruins, and in its insanity mistakes the part for the whole. The fire of religion is extinguished, and in its ashes the noblest capabilities of manhood are buried. Self-will having destroyed the natural faculties of man and plunged the soul into irreverence, it is not to be wondered at that

(3) Self-will dissociates the gifts of nature from the Giver.

“Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest” ( Jer 5:24 ).

When God is deposed from his spiritual sovereignty of the individual life, his practical exclusion from material nature is a necessary consequence. Revolted man will accept the rain because he cannot live without it, but the Giver will not be so much as named; the corn will be gathered, but those who bear the sheaves will have no harvest-hymn for God. How rapid, tumultuous, fatal, is the course of moral revolt! The purpose of God was evidently to have his name identified with the common mercies of life, that our very bread and water might remind us constantly of his gentle and liberal care. He was not to be confined to purely spiritual contemplation, to be the subject of the soul’s dream when lost in high reverie, or to be thought of as a Being far off, enclosed within the circle of the planets, or throned in the unapproachable palaces of an undiscovered universe: he desires to be seen spreading our table in the wilderness, causing the earth to bring forth and bud for our benefit, turning our weary feet towards the water-springs, and nourishing us in the time of weakness; verily, “he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” “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.” Men may eat unblessed bread, and be bodily the stronger for it, but it is a sore and lasting reproach to the soul. The course of moral revolt ends in this, ends in the deposition of God and in the worship of self. Man ploughs, sows, reaps, and considers all the influences which co-operate in the production of results as mere features of inanimate nature, existing and working apart altogether from intelligent or moral will. The universe becomes a stupendous machine; they who get good crops have used the machine skilfully, and they whose fields are fruitless have misunderstood or misapplied the machine. The universe was designed to be the temple, the very covering, of God; but the worship of self has wrought a bad transfiguration upon it, and now the thief, the unclean beast, and the lying prophet prevail on every hand.

The demoralisation of man may have a mischievous effect upon nature itself. We sometimes speak of a bad harvest: what if behind it there has been a bad life? When the soul has deadened itself in relation to God, when it has become foolish, blind, and deaf, God’s only opportunity of asserting his sovereignty may be through a physical medium. Where doctrine fails plague may succeed. Where the Holy Ghost has been grieved and quenched, the blight may fall upon the wheatfield and the vineyard; where love has been mocked, the sword may prevail. Again and again physical retribution has followed moral disorder. “For thus the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black;” “your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you;” “be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” Here, then, is one phase of the law of retribution physical chastisement of moral evil. The same law operates in the common walks of life. The parent, the employer, the magistrate, all adopt it; the body is made to suffer for the soul; and, in the divine government, a harvest thanklessly received may be exchanged for unfruitfulness and death. Why should men complain, when they do precisely the same thing in their own sphere? When the child sins, physical punishment is awarded; when the citizen breaks the law, bodily imprisonment or material loss is the consequence, why, then, should impious and unreasoning wonder be excited when for the sins of men God shuts up the rain, or sends a plague upon the days of harvest? When the heart is right towards God, God will not withhold his blessing from the earth: “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee: then shall the earth yield her increase.” Physical blessing will follow spiritual worship; no good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly. “If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; then will I give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”

In the light of these statements we have a double view of the unity of the moral and material systems of government. One view is from the human side: when man sins, commits a trespass in the spiritual region, he finds the result of his sin in the physical department, the reflection of his spiritual misrule is seen in dried fountains and fruitless fields, in devastating storms and fatal plagues; the universe takes up arms in defence of law. Another view is from the divine side. God shows favour upon the earth for reasons derived from the spiritual character of the people, and demonstrates the superiority of the soul over the body by making its condition the measure of his material benefactions. How terrific, how hopeless, then, is the condition of the sinner! He finds God in all places; the system of government is one; the Judge is everywhere, filling heaven and making earth his footstool, walking upon the wings of the wind, clothing himself with light as with a garment! Poor and short must be the dominion of self-will if it cannot be broken by the gentle persuasion of God’s love, it will be subdued by the withdrawment of temporal mercies; for there can be but one God, and his dominion must be absolute and permanent.

Prayer

Almighty God, we are afraid of thy power: by terrible things in righteousness dost thou work amongst the nations of the earth: our God is a consuming fire. Yet are we not afraid of thy mercy; we come to it as to a sure refuge; because thy compassions fail not, therefore are we not consumed. God be merciful unto us sinners! Thou didst not send thy Son to destroy men’s lives, but to save them; thou hast no pleasure in the death of the wicked; thou dost cry unto those who leave thee, saying, Turn ye, turn ye! why will ye die? Thy Son, when he came near the city, wept over it, and said he would have gathered it together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings; but the rude city would not, and stoned the prophets, and killed the Saviour. Yet dost thou spare us marvellously: thy forbearance is to us a daily astonishment. Thou dost not bring down thy power upon us or we should die, but with all patience and gentleness thou dost continue thy ministry amongst us, if haply some poor soul may turn again and begin to pray. But thy spirit will not always strive with men: is there not an appointed hour when mercy shall cease to be? is it not fixed in thy decrees that thy Gospel shall be withdrawn, and no longer with music of heaven beseech and importune the souls of men? We bless thee that the Cross is still standing amongst us, that the Saviour’s name is still proclaimed with the unction of gratitude, and with the energy of conviction. We bless God that we are upon praying-ground. We would, in the Name that opens heaven, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Spare us yet a little longer! Spare the tree another year! Thou delightest to spare; thou hast no joy in anger: thou art the Creator; thou wouldst not be the destroyer. May we look to thy love as our refuge! In thy compassion and thy tender pity oh spare us, that we may even yet utter our prayers and tell thee how brokenhearted we are, that we have not kept thy statutes or walked in the way of thy commandments. Show us thy love in Christ; reveal the mystery of the Cross, and may we answer it with the tears of our hearts, and with the obedience of our lives. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

V

THE IMPEACHMENT, CALL, AND JUDGMENT

Jeremiah 2-6

This chapter is a discussion of the prophecies of Jeremiah during the reign of Josiah, chapters 2-6. They are abstracts from Jeremiah’s sermons, preached sometime between 626 B.C. and 608 B.C., eighteen years of his public ministry. Here we have the essential points of his discourses for that time, the best parts of the prophecies which he had uttered during that long period. Josiah was one of the best kings that Israel ever had. There are no sins recorded against him. The most complete reformation ever enacted in the nation was wrought under his direction. But it was an external reformation. It is true that he destroyed all the idols, all the high places and stopped the idolatrous worship throughout the entire realm, but he did not change the hearts of the people. “The serpent of idolatry was scorched but not killed.” The renovation was not deep enough; it was a reformation only. We cannot enforce religion by statutory law, legal authority, or royal mandate. It is a matter of the heart. During those years and following, the prophet Jeremiah was at work. His keen prophetic and penetrating mind was able to see deeper than Josiah. He perceived that the reformation and the revolution were external. He knew that many of the people, in fact, most of them, had never really repented. He knew that the nation was still inclined to idolatry, and ready to lapse into heathen worship; yea, he knew that as soon as the pressure was removed, the nation would fall back into the old life of wickedness and idol worship.

Now, the subject matter of these five chapters is this: Israel’s history one long apostasy which would bring on her inevitable destruction. For eighteen years Jeremiah sought to drill that into the people’s minds and hearts and produce the needed reformation which alone could save. Let us see how he went to work; how he brought this truth before them; how he appealed to them; what arguments he used; what threats he uttered against them, if possible to turn them from idolatry and bring them back to the true worship of Jehovah.

The subject of Jer 2 is this: Israel’s history a continual defection to idolatry. He is dealing with all Israel. He makes no distinction between Northern and Southern Israel. He is talking here to the whole race. He reviews their history, that is, their religious history and their present condition.

He has a very beautiful statement here in Jer 2:1-3 , picturing the former fulness of Israel. He says, “The word of Jehovah came unto me saying, Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto Jehovah.” Thus he introduces his arraignment with this reference to their former fidelity. Israel started out faithful and true. Hosea pictures her as a faithful bride. She was faithful and true at first. Israel was true to God, and God was true to Israel. Now that is the same picture here and it may be that he got it from Hosea. The relation between the nation and God was fidelity and love. It was the “honeymoon” of the nation’s life. That is how she started.

Since then Israel’s history has been one of repeated acts of unfaithfulness to her God. The prophet seeks to drive it home to their very hearts by a series of questions. We have this question in Jer 2:4-8 : “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone from me?” Was it because they had found unrighteousness in God? Had they found Jehovah untrue? Had they discovered unfaithfulness in him? We might ask the backslider today, “Is it because there is something wrong with God that you turn from him?” There is a great sermon in that. He shows next that the leaders turned from him: “I brought you up into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof.” I was kind to you; I gave you no occasion to turn from me; I never forsook you and left you in need; I cared for you. Still you and your leaders turned from me. “I brought you up into a land of plenty, to eat the fruit thereof; but when ye entered ye defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. . . . They that handle the law knew me not; the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.”

A serious question is raised in Jer 2:9-13 : Has any other nation changed gods but you? “Pass over to the isles of Kittim and see; send unto Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there hath been found such a thing.” Kittim here refers to the island of Cyprus and the isles of Greece. Go there and see if they have ever changed their gods. Has it ever been done in the world except as you have done it? Hath a nation changed its gods? “But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.” Do you know of any nation in history that has ever done such a thing? These Hebrews had changed their God? Why had they done so? What reason could they give? Jeremiah says, You Israelites have changed to other gods, and in that you are an exception to the nations of the earth. The strange thing about it, too, is that you have changed from your true God to those that are not gods. “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Here we have for the first time in the history of religion, a statement that the idols of the nations are not gods. Verse 13 is one of the most beautiful passages in all the Bible. God is a fountain of living waters. That sounds like the words of Jesus to the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well. Idolatry is pictured as cisterns that are broken; that cannot hold water. He means to say that every other form of religion but the worship of Jehovah is a false religion; there is no saving truth in it; it is dry; it will not hold water; it is man made. That is a true description of all false religions. Some scientists and men who study religions deny this; they say that there is a certain amount of truth in other religions as well as in Christianity. Well, so there is some truth in every one, but not saving truth. All other religions are man-made cisterns that will not hold water. This is one of the most suggestive texts in all the Bible, as to the comparative value of the religion of Jehovah and other religions; as to the value of Christianity as compared with heathen religions.

He says, in Jer 2:14-17 : “Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave?” Is he such that he must become a prey? “The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled.” Now it is only the slave in the household that is whipped to make him do his duty. Is that the case with Israel? Must he be whipped like a slave to compel him to do his duty? to obey Jehovah? Other nations have whipped him, they have chastised him, “They have broken the crown of his head.” Was Israel but a slave to be thus whipped and beaten? Is there no manhood in the nation? What a powerful appeal to national pride and honor is this? He raises another question in verses Jeremiah 18-19: “Now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?” What business have you turning from Jehovah to make alliances and seek help from Egypt? What business have you to be turning to Assyria for aid? We have seen that one of the causes of the destruction of both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms was that they made alliances with Egypt rather than trust in Jehovah. It was an evil thing that they should turn from Jehovah to seek aid from human strength.

Other questions are raised in Jer 2:20-25 . He says, Jer 2:21-22 : “I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine?” That reminds one of Isa 5 . Here he is saying that they were bad to the heart: “Though thou wash thee with soap, with lye, yet is thine iniquity marked,” or ingrained, “before me.” In Jer 2:23-25 we see Israel trying to condone her sin. She has tried to make out that she has not done wickedly. Now can you say you have not been faithless? You are like the wild ass in the wilderness, snuffing up the wind in her desire who can turn her away? They, like an animal, were running hither and thither, wild with passion, raving with desire for other gods, crazed with eagerness for idolatry. It is not a very elegant figure, but a highly suggestive one.

Then the question of Jer 2:26-28 is, Why don’t you go to your idols in the time of trouble? As a thief is ashamed when found out, so is the house of Israel; priests, princes, and king, that say to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou art my mother. Now why do you come to me in trouble? Why don’t you let your gods help you? This passage tingles with sarcasm. It is a very striking arraignment, showing the helplessness of heathenism.

In Jer 2:22 he presents the impossibility of improving the internal nature by external applications. This is true because:

1. Of the nature of the operation. Wash and paint are applied only to the external.

2. They do not affect the diseased will.

3. They do not free one from fascinating and enslaving pleasure.

4. They do not affect a morbid appetite which increases with indulgence.

5. They have no power to break habit.

6. They cannot remove the blindness of the understanding.

7. They cannot purify a drugged conscience.

If this be true then why should we preach? Because:

1. There is a law that condemns and a gospel that liberates from the bondage of the law;

2. The only hope of a change lies in driving one from the conviction that he can change himself.

The following poem contains the whole story: O Endless Misery I labor still, but still in vain; The stains of sin I see Are woaded all, or dyed in grain, There’s not a blot will stir a jot, For all that I can do; There is no hope in fuller’s soap Though I add nitre, too. I many ways have tried; Have often soaked it in cold fears; And when a time I spied, Poured upon it scalding tears; Have rinsed and rubbed and scraped and scrubbed And turned it up and down; Yet can I not wash out one spot; It’s rather fouler grown. Can there no help be had? Lord, thou art holy, thou art pure: Mine heart is not so bad, So foul, but thou canst cleanse it sure; Speak, blessed Lord; wilt thou afford Me means to make it clean? I know thou wilt; thy blood was spilt; Should it run still in vain?

A sinner released from hell would repeat his sins.

There are yet other questions propounded in Jer 2:29-37 : Why do you plead with me when all the while you transgress against me? I have smitten you; I have smitten your children but they are incorrigible; they will not be corrected. You have killed the prophets that were sent unto you. Why then will you still plead with me? Why do you have anything to do with me? Go after those gods that you have made for yourselves.

Jer 2:31 : “O generation . . . have I been a wilderness unto Israel, or a land of thick darkness?” Now that is a question full of suggestion. You have turned away from me. Is it because my religion and my services have been like living in a wilderness where there is no light, no love, no joy, no food? Have I never been a blessing? Is that the reason you have left me? How suggestive! Many people think the services of God are like a wilderness. O Backslider, have God and his services been as a wilderness to you, that you have strayed away? You have not been a faithful bride. “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number. How trimmest thou thy way to seek love!” Just like a married woman fixing up to make love to a man that is not her husband. See her as she adorns herself to look attractive that she may win favor of strange men. Now that is the picture here. “Why gaddest thou about?” This is the only place in the Bible where that word, “gad,” occurs.

Jehovah shows his love and faithfulness to Israel in spite of her sins (Jer 3:1-5 ). Though Judah has been faithless, there is a prospect of a better future for her: If a man put away his wife, can she return to him? No, “Yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.” I will take you back in spite of all. See what you have been doing; you have been like a watcher in the wilderness, watching for false gods and religions to come along that you might adopt them. They have betrayed you. “Wilt thou not now cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?”

A special lesson by Jehovah is given to Judah (Jer 3:6-18 ). This is a contrast, unfavorable to Judah (Jer 3:6-10 ). Judah had taken no warning from the downfall of the Northern Kingdom. Notice especially Jer 3:10 : “And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.” Now that gives us some idea of the opinion of Jeremiah in relation to Josiah, the great king, in his work of reform. Josiah had touched only the outside of the matter. Judah was no better than Northern Israel, but rather worse. Her improvement was only feigned.

Note the comparison in Jer 3:11-13 . The promise was to Northern Israel first. In that promise was blessing on condition of return. Jer 3:12 : “Go, and proclaim these words toward the north. . . . I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah.” These blessings are going to come when Judah repents, Jer 3:18 : “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers.” Observe that the blessing is to come when Judah and Israel walk together; when they are united again. By that statement he shows that Northern Israel was not more steeped in iniquity than Southern Israel. The Messiah’s advent is coming and Judah will come in with Israel.

Jehovah holds out hope of Judah in Jer 3:19-22 : “But I said, How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land. . . . Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, saith the Lord. . . . Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.”

The prophet bases his hope for Israel on the fact that the perverted nation shall confess its sin Jer 3:23-25 , especially Jer 3:24 : “The shameful thing [the thing ye have been worshiping, Baal] hath devoured the labor of our fathers. . . . for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers.” Now that is a great confession. The prophet presumes to speak for the people by way of prediction that they will do this someday. He still has hope for Israel.

Jehovah makes a proposition to Israel in Jer 4:1-4 , that he will bless them if they will return: “If thou wilt return to me, and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed.” But the change must be thorough (Jer 4:3-4 ) a very suggestive passage: “Thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground.” Finney, in his great book on revivals, has several sermons on this text. He says that every revival of religion ought to begin with preaching on this text. The fallow ground must be broken up. “Fallow ground” stands for two things: First, undeveloped possibilities; and, second, unused powers. The ground must be both broken up and sown with right kind of seed. “Sow not among thorns.” Every revival of religion has that object in view. Put the weeds and briers out and put the unused talents and powers to work. Sow the seed of righteousness and benevolence where the weeds of sin and waywardness have been. If we are going to be Christians, let us be wholehearted ones. Break up the fallow ground by putting sin out and service in. All this means that the change must be complete.

The following is a digest of the coming judgment of Jer 4:5-6:30 . In this description of the coming judgment he pictures it as advancing from the North. He had in mind the coming Babylonian invasion. Note these items:

1. They are told to get themselves to the fortified cities, Jer 4:5-10 : “Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. . . . flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north.”

2. It is coming even to Jerusalem herself (Jer 4:11-18 ). Jeremiah now speaks of the invasion as a hot, withering blast from the desert. He sees the foe coming as a swift cloud; the watchers are at hand; he hears the snorting of their horses; he sees them enclose the cities.

3. The anguish of the prophet. Here we have the suffering of this magnificent patriot, Jer 4:19 : “My vitals, my vitals!”

4. The devastation is pictured Jer 4:23-26 : “The earth was waste and void.” The same expression is used in Genesis (Jer 1:2 ). The heavens had no light. The mountains trembled, the cities were broken down. The whole land was devastated. All this is a vision of the destruction to come.

5. The destruction is almost complete (Jer 4:27-31 ). Notice verse Jer 4:27 : “I will not make a full end.” There is a remnant to be left, the root, the stock, not the entire people. It is not to be utter destruction.

6. This is merited, for all are corrupt (Jer 5:1-9 ). Here is a striking statement: “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see if you can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly.” He means to say, You cannot find a true man in the whole city. There was not one manly man in Jerusalem. This reminds us of Diogenes, going through the streets of Athens with a lantern looking for a man. In Sodom there were not to be found ten righteous men, only one, and he was a poor specimen. So it is here in Jerusalem. All are corrupt. Verse Jer 4:5 : “I will get me unto the great men,” the leaders. But he finds that they were corrupt, too.

7. Jer 4:10-19 is a picture of the disaster. They are not to make a full end, but disaster is to come, Jer 5:16-17 : “Their quiver is an open sepulchre, . . . they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; . . . they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy city.” But remember they shall not make a full end. There shall be a remnant. The cause of all this is the corruption of the people (Jer 4:20-29 ). Both people and prophets are evil. He repeats these warnings and messages over and over again. He describes the moral condition of the people. A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land, Jer 5:30-31 : “The prophets prophesy falsely.” The preachers are deceiving the people. And the worst thing about it is that the people like to have it so.

8. The foe is still nearer. The capital is invested and must be prepared, for the enemy plans to storm it; another vivid picture, Jer 6:1-8 : “Flee for safety, ye men of Jerusalem.” Flee to Tekoa, flee to the wilderness, for evil is coming from the north. A great destruction is coming. Thus he goes on with his awful picture of the destruction hastening upon the city. The enemy says, We will take it by storm, at full noon; no, it is past noon; the shadows begin to decline; let us go up at night; let us take it by a night attack.

9. The doom is certain and fixed (Jer 4:9-21 ). Note Jer 4:14 : “They have slightly healed the hurt of my people, saying, Peace, peace; where there is no peace.” We are indebted to Jeremiah for that oft-quoted sentence. It is classic. Spurgeon preached a great sermon on that passage. His theme was a blast against false peace. Jer 4:16 : “Stand ye in the way and see, and ask for the old paths.” There has been many a sermon preached from that text, on the subject, “The Old Paths.”

10. In Jer 4:22-26 is a full description of the enemy. Note the minuteness of it, Jer 4:23 : “They have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; they ride upon horses; they are against the daughter of Zion.”

11. There is another picture of the nation. In Jer 6:28-30 : “They are as grievous revolters.” “Going about with slanders, they are brass and iron. . . . They are refuse silver, fit only to be thrown out in the street. As silver amalgamates with other metals and loses its value, so these people by amalgamated religion become refuse to be tossed aside into the dump pile of rubbish. This is a magnificent passage. It sums up what Jeremiah preached and taught for eighteen years.

QUESTIONS

1. When were these prophecies uttered and what the conditions under which they were spoken?

2. What is the subject matter of these chapters and what the general content?

3. What is the subject of Jer 2 and to whom addressed?

4. What is the picture of Jer 2:1-3 ?

5. What, in general, Israel’s history after the first love, what question raised in Jer 2:4-8 , and what the charge here brought against the leaders?

6. What question is raised in Jer 2:9-13 , what two sins charged against Israel and how illustrated?

7. What are the questions of Jer 2:14-19 and what their application?

8. What tare he other questions raised in Jer 2:20-25 , and what the application of each, respectively?

9. What is the question of Jer 2:26-28 and what its application?

10. What is the import of Jer 2:22 ?

11. If this be true, then why should we preach?

12. Can you recite from memory the poem based on Jer 2:22 ?

13. What are the questions propounded in Jer 2:29-37 and what are their application?

14. How does Jehovah show his love and faithfulness to Israel in spite of her sins (Jer 3:1-5 )?

15. What special lesson by Jehovah is given to Judah and what the result?

16. What hope does Jehovah hold out to Judah in Jer 3:19-22 ?

17. On what does the prophet base his hope for Israel and how is it signified?

18. What proposition does Jehovah make to Israel in Jer 4:1-4 and of what homiletic value is this section?

19. Give a digest of the coming judgment of Jer 4:5-6:30 .

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

Jer 5:1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Ver. 1. Run to and fro. ] Spatiamini, scrutamini. Go as many of you as ye please; the verbs are plural.

In the streets of Jerusalem. ] Where it was strange there should be such a rarity of righteous ones. But “the faithful city was now become a harlot.” Isa 1:21 Like as Rome is at this day.

“ Tota est iam Roma lupanar. ”

“Now all Rome isa brothel.”

She had a Mancinel, a Savonarola, and some few other Jeremiahs, to tell her her own; but she soon took an order with them. The primitive Christians called heathens pagans; because country people, living in pagis – that is, in hamlets and villages – were heathenish for most part, after that cities were converted, and had many good people in them; but Jerusalem here afforded not any one hardly.

If you can find a man, ] i.e., A godly, a zealous man. For homines permulti, viri perpauci, saith Herodotus: a there is a great paucity of good people. Diogenes is said to have sought for a good man in Athens with a lantern and candle at noonday. And once, when he had made an O yes in the market place, crying out, ‘ A , Hear, O ye men; and thereupon company came about him to hear what the matter was, he rated them away again with this speech, A , , I called for men, and not for varlets. Job was a man, every inch of him. See Trapp on “ Job 1:1 “ So was Moses, that “man of God”; Daniel, that “man of desires”; John Baptist, “than whom there arose not a greater among all that were born of woman”; Paul, that little man but who did great exploits; Athanasius and Luther who stood out against all the world, and prevailed. b But “not many” such; blessed be God that any such. Cicero observeth that scarce in an age was born a good poet. And Seneca saith, such as Clodius was, we have enough: but such as Cato are hard to be found. The host of Nola being bid to summon the good men of the town to appear before the Roman censor, got him to the churchyard, and there called at the graves of the dead: for he knew not where to call for a good man alive. c God himself sought for a man that might stand up in the gap, but met not with any such one. Eze 22:30

And I will pardon it. ] Sodom’s sins cried loud to God for vengeance; so did now Jerusalem’s. But had there been but a voice or two more of righteous and religious persons there, their prayers had outcried them. A few birds of song are shriller than many crocitating birds of prey.

a In Polyh.

b Calvinus erat vir admirabilis. Ipsa a quo posset virtutem discere virtus.

c Guevara.

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

Jeremiah Chapter 5

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 5:1-3

1Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,

And look now and take note.

And seek in her open squares,

If you can find a man,

If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth,

Then I will pardon her.

2And although they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’

Surely they swear falsely.

3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?

You have smitten them,

But they did not weaken;

You have consumed them,

But they refused to take correction.

They have made their faces harder than rock;

They have refused to repent.

Jer 5:1 Notice the commands in Jer 5:1 as Jeremiah is instructed to search for one righteous person (obviously, besides himself).

1. roam to and fro – BDB 1001, KB 1439, Polel IMPERATIVE

2. look – BDB 906, KB 1157, Qal IMPERATIVE

3. take note – BDB 393, KB 390, IMPERATIVE

4. seek – BDB 134, KB 152, Piel IMPERATIVE

This theme of no righteous person among the covenant people is repeated several times in the OT (cf. Isa 59:16; Isa 63:5; Eze 22:30). How shocking!

Remember this is poetry, not historical narrative. It is figurative, hyperbolic language to describe the prevalent sin of Judah! There were faithful individuals (i.e., Josiah, his advisers, Jeremiah, Baruch, etc.).

who does justice; who seeks truth This is the kind of faithful follower mentioned in Jer 4:1-2. The if. . .then. . . of both passages is a literary way to heighten the lack of such a person, who should not have been the exception but the rule for Israel/Judah, who had the benefits of

1. the Patriarchs

2. the promises

3. the covenant

4. the leaders (Moses, Joshua, David, Hezekiah, Josiah, etc.)

5. the prophets

6. YHWH’s revelation of Himself and His will

Then I will pardon her This VERB (BDB 699, KB 757) is a Qal IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense.

Notice one righteous person brings pardon to the whole (i.e., city or nation). This is surely hyperbole (cf. Gen 18:26; Gen 18:32), but it does show

1. the sin of Judah

2. the heart of YHWH

The LXX adds, says the LORD, which clarifies who the speaker is. It is often difficult to know who is speaking to whom.

This Hebrew concept of corporality can also be seen in Joshua 7 and 2Ch 7:14. One can affect the whole for the better or worse! Jesus affected the whole positively (cf. Rom 5:12-21), as Adam did negatively (cf. Genesis 3).

Jer 5:2 As the LORD lives Judeans used God’s name flippantly (in violation of Exo 20:7; Lev 19:12), but denied His lordship by their lives (cf. Isa 29:13). This phrase is a play on YHWH, which is from the Hebrew VERB to be (cf. Exo 3:14). See Special Topic: NAMES FOR DEITY .

Jer 5:3 Because YHWH could not find a faithful person, this verse, in a series of parallel lines, describes what He will do (all PERFECTS).

1. You have smitten them but they refused to be sickened

2. You consumed them but they refused to take correction

3. You made their faces harder than rock but they refused to repent (cf. Jer 5:5 e,f)

Since repentance (see Special Topic at Jer 2:22) was no longer a real option, only judgment remained!

Just a note about the second VERB in #1 above. It could come from two possible Hebrew roots.

1. – BDB 317, KB 316, to be weak or to be sick

2. – BDB 296, KB 297, to feel anguish

truth This Hebrew term denotes faithfulness (BDB 53, cf. Jer 5:1 e; Hab 2:4). See Special Topic: Amen . Truth is more than accurate facts. It is a godly, faithful lifestyle.

their faces harder than rock Harder (Piel PERFECT, BDB 304, KB 302) is often used metaphorically of people hardening their hearts (cf. Exo 8:15; Eze 3:7-9). The context confirms this play on word meaning. The Judeans refused (Piel PERFECT, BDB 549, KB 540) to repent (Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT, BDB 996, KB 1427).

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

streets = out places, or outskirts.

broad places = market, or open places of concourse.

if ye can find. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 18:26, &c). Points to reign of Jehoiakim rather than that of Josiah.

I will pardon. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 18:24-32). App-92.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 5

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places, if you can find a man, if there be any that is executing judgment, and that is seeking truth; and I will pardon it ( Jer 5:1 ).

If you can find one man. You remember when the angels were going down to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham said, “Hey, Lord, shall not the God of the earth be fair? Would you destroy the righteous with the people? What if there are fifty righteous people in that city?” The Lord said, “I’ll spare for fifty righteous.” “Well, Lord, what if there’s forty? What if there’s thirty? What if there’s twenty? What if there’s ten?” Lord said, “I’ll spare for ten.” Now God is saying of Jerusalem, “Just search. Search through the whole city. Find one man, one man that is seeking to execute judgment, that is seeking the truth.”

And though they say, The LORD liveth; they swear falsely ( Jer 5:2 ).

People were still mouthing the right words, but it wasn’t coming from their hearts. “The Lord liveth,” a popular phrase in those days. “Oh, the Lord liveth.”

You remember when Elisha healed Naaman of his leprosy, the Syrian general, and he tried to give Naaman a lot of reward. A lot of silver and changes of clothes and so forth because he was healed. And Elisha said, “Aw, keep your stuff. I don’t want any of it. I don’t need it. You keep it.” Well, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, saw all the loot. He thought, “Oh man, if I could have just a little bit of that, I could buy a field and I could plant a vineyard and I could have servants and I could plant some olive trees. Man, I could retire. That would be nice.” So as Naaman was going back, he got on his little donkey and he headed out after him. And they said to Naaman, “Hey, looks like someone’s chasing us.” They said, “Let’s stop and see who it is. It looks like the servant of the prophet.” And so as old Gehazi came up on his little donkey, he said, “Everything okay?” “Oh yeah, everything’s okay, except that my master Elisha had some sudden company come in, some young men and they needed some help. So he said he’ll take just a little bit of your silver and a few changes of garments and so forth.” So Naaman gladly gave him the stuff and he got back and his donkey went back and he hid all this stuff. Came whistling in, you know, and the prophet said, “As the Lord liveth.” You see it was a common term, spiritual term-it signified that you had it going spiritually. “As the Lord liveth, where have you been?” “As the Lord liveth, I haven’t been anywhere.” You see, all of the deceit and lying, but he was couching it in spiritual terms in order to sort of deceive.

And I’m afraid that many times people do couch themselves in spiritual terms for the purpose of deceiving. “Right on, brother! Praise the Lord! Bless God, man,” you know. And we use this spiritual jargon to deceive, and so Gehazi, “As the Lord liveth, I didn’t go anywhere.” “Wait a minute,” and then the prophet began to read his mind. “Is this the time to buy fields and to plant vineyards and olive trees and to hire servants?” That’s just what he was thinking, you see. He said, “Did not my heart go with you when you chased after that man and took those things? And now because of that, the leprosy that was upon him is going to come upon you.” And the guy turned white with leprosy and went out from the sight of the prophet. But yet he was using the spiritual. And God says, “Hey, they used the term, ‘As the Lord liveth’, but in that day, though they say, ‘The Lord liveth,’ surely they swear falsely.”

Jeremiah responds,

O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased. How shall I pardon thee for this? [God cries] thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one was neighing after his neighbor’s wife. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’S. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see the sword nor famine ( Jer 5:3-12 ):

And it won’t happen here.

And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither understand what they say. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and daughters should be eating: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your figs: and they shall impoverish your cities, wherein you have trusted, with the sword. Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you ( Jer 5:13-18 ).

God promises He’s not going to cut the people off completely.

For it shall come to pass, when you will say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things against us? then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Hear now this, O foolish people, you that are without understanding; which have eyes, but you see not; which have ears, but you hear not: Do you not fear me? saith the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, for I have placed the sand for the boundaries of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass over it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves against it, and they roar, they can not prevail. But this people has revolted and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone away. Neither say any of them in their heart, Let us now reverence the LORD our God, who gives us the rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you ( Jer 5:19-25 ).

Oh, the good things that God wants to do for you but He is hindered because of your sins. Jude says, “Keep yourself in the love of God” ( Jud 1:21 ). What does he mean? He means to keep yourself in the place where God can do all of the good things He wants to do for you because He loves you. It doesn’t mean keep yourself so sweet and beautiful that God can’t help but love you. Because God’s love for you is uncaused. It’s in His nature. God loves you good or bad. That’s just God’s nature. But because God loves you He wants to bless you. He wants to do good things for you. But as with Judah, your sins have withheld the good things from you. Those good things God wants to do for you.

For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets a trap; and they set a trap for men to catch then. As a cage is full of birds, so are the houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and they have become very rich. They have become fat, they shine: they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, and yet they prosper; and the right of the needy they do not take care of. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on a nation like this? A [awesome] wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land ( Jer 5:26-30 );

Wonderful in the sense that it causes wonder and amazement. “An amazing and horrible thing is committed in the land.”

For the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests are bearing rule by their wealth; and my people love to have it that way: and what will you do in the end of such things? ( Jer 5:31 )

You see, there’s corruption. Those that are ruling are ruling corruptly. But the people love it that way. They’ll vote for them at the next election. Every election amazes me. When I see the people that are elected into office, those kind of things absolutely. Well, as God said, you can’t believe it. It’s awesome; it’s horrible. The priests are bearing rule by their own wealth, but the people love to have it that way. Rather than being shocked and arising in righteous indignation, people just seem to go along with it and love to have it that way. I can’t understand it. And God Himself couldn’t understand it. God speaks of it. It’s just, how can you believe it? How can you understand it? It’s just horrible.

But as we read Jeremiah, the real value of Jeremiah comes as you see a nation that is about to die and you observe the symptoms of that nation and the disease that has brought its death. And it will help you to understand very much as you look at the nation in which we live today and what’s happening.

Shall we pray.

Lord, help us that we shall not go the way of the world. God, that we would stand for righteousness, for truth, for justice. Oh God, help us that we would not turn away from Thee or that we would draw away from Thee in any wise to worship our own idols and the things of our flesh. But O God, may Thy love fill our hearts that our songs might be unto Thee day by day. That we will be praising Thee and worshipping You and thinking about You, Lord, through the day as our love for Thee increases and grows. Help us, Lord, not to wane in our devotion. Help us, Lord, that our love will not grow cold. Keep us from that lukewarm state lest You spew us out of Your mouth. In Jesus’ name, Lord. Amen.

May the Lord bless and give you a beautiful week. May His hand be upon your life and may the flame of love really begin to burn in your hearts towards God, that this will be a week in which you’re really in tune, in harmony with Him. And that love and commitment is restored and it’s just a glorious week of thinking of Him, worshipping Him, serving Him, loving Him. May God be pleased with you by your commitment and devotion to Him. In Jesus’ name. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Jer 5:1. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

It was a very wonderful offer, on the part of God, to forgive the inhabitants of the whole city of Jerusalem for the sake of one man; and it was all the more remarkable because he gave them time to make a thorough search to see whether such a person could be found: if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth. Into what a horrible state of guilt must the Jewish capital have fallen when there was not one man, even among the magistrates or the priests, who cared for that which was just and true. May God prevent London and England from becoming like Jerusalem and Judah! May truth and righteousness flourish in our land!

Jer 5:2. And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

Even those who assumed an appearance of being religious, and who said, Jehovah liveth,even they were false swearers. To what a terribly sad state had the age come when its very religion was a lie, and its professedly holy things were thoroughly rotten!

Jer 5:3. O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth?

If there be any truthful man anywhere, God sees him. His eyes are upon him, he regards him with attentive delight, and he will take care of him with the utmost vigilance. But what was the real character of these people?

Listen.

Jer 5:3. Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Nothing could make them act rightly; whatever God did with them, they still persisted in their iniquity.

Jer 5:4-5. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God:

But he found no improvement among them; they were even worse than the poor and ignorant, for he goes on to say,

Jer 5:5-6. But these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings, are increased.

Now let us continue our reading at verse 10, where we shall see that both the house of Israel and the house of Judah had turned aside from the Lord their God.

This exposition consisted of readings from Jer 5:1-6; Jer 5:10-31; and Rev 22:1-7.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Jer 5:1-6

Jer 5:1-3

A SAD PORTRAYAL OF UNRELIEVED APOSTASY OF JUDAH

One would find it difficult to exaggerate the extent of Judah’s wickedness. Halley gave a summary of the chapter thus: Not a single righteous person was found in the whole kingdom; there was promiscuous sexual indulgence of all the people whose behavior was compared to that of animals; the people openly scoffed at the prophetic warnings; they were continually engaged in deceit, oppression, and robbery; they were contented with wholesale corruption in both their religion and their government.

Cheyne divided the chapter into only four major divisions; but we shall break it down into smaller units.

Jer 5:1-3

THE SEARCH FOR AN HONEST MAN

“Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh truth; and I will pardon her. And though they say, As Jehovah liveth; surely they swear falsely. O Jehovah, do not thine eyes look upon truth? thou hast stricken them, but they were not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.”

We may exclaim with horror over Jeremiah’s inability to find an honest man in Jerusalem; but as McGee said, “Today you would probably have the same difficulty in Los Angeles or your own town!

Henderson proposed a solution to this difficulty, pointing out that:

“It is beyond dispute that there did live in Jerusalem at the time of the prophet such good men as Josiah, Baruch, and Zephaniah … therefore we may suppose (1) either that the search was confined to certain classes of people (the magistrates, for example), or (2) that the pious had withdrawn into hiding or retirement.

We do not believe any such explanation is necessary. The language here is evidently hyperbole, a figure of speech in which there is a deliberate exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis. Such figures abound throughout the Bible. A New Testament example is Mat 3:5, “Then went out Jerusalem and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan; and they were baptized of him in Jordan!” This is hyperbole, because Luk 7:30 declares that the Pharisees and lawyers were not baptized. Making full allowance for this, however, cannot conceal the terrible state of Jewish morals at that time, shortly before the fall of the nation to Babylon.

Some have suggested that the words here are the words of Jeremiah and not the words of Jehovah, “But such a distinction is merely academic; because Jeremiah was not preaching his own thoughts, but the word of Jehovah.

The purpose of these verses has been described as “a theodicy,” that being, of course, an explanation of why the just and merciful God must, on occasion, severely punish and destroy sinful men. These verses fully explain why it was necessary to bring suffering and death upon God’s people. It was all because of the terrible wickedness of the people.

It is of interest that the search for an honest man, recounted here, came centuries before the behavior of Diogenes, the fourth century cynic, who is supposed to have gone about with a lantern in broad open daylight, “looking for an honest man!

“I will pardon her …” (Jer 5:1). God promised Abraham to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if ten righteous persons could be found; but here he even went beyond that, showing his great love and affection for the Chosen People.

“Run to and fro through the streets …” (Jer 5:1). “The verb here is plural; and this direction is addressed to the whole city.

“They swear falsely …” (Jer 5:2). “This does not refer to a judicial oath, but means that their professions of faith in Jehovah were insincere.

In spite of repeated punishments by the Lord and his constant pleading with them to return to him, the people continued in stubborn rebellion.

Jer 5:4-6

“Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God: I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, and the justice of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.”

Among other things, these verses suggest that the initial search for the honest man had not indeed included a search of the whole population, but that it was somewhat partial, hence the decision here to search among the higher echelons of society; but the results were no better.

“Once Judah had abandoned Jehovah and acknowledged some other sovereignty, it was inevitable that the curses of the covenant would follow. It was natural, therefore, that Jeremiah in this passage should have mentioned their failure to worship the Lord sincerely. As Thompson accurately noted, `Moral and religious evils are finally inseparable since they stem from a common cause.

“They have broken the yoke … burst the bonds …” (Jer 5:5). “The bonds were the fastenings by which the yoke was securely fixed upon the neck of the animal.” The meaning of the verse is simply that the well educated, “great men” were just as wicked as the remainder of the population.

“The lion, the wolf, the leopard …” (Jer 5:6). These wild and dangerous animals metaphorically represent the Babylonians whom the Lord was shortly to bring against Judah. Following the fall of the Northern Israel, such wild animals became a great threat to the safety of the people living in the depopulated area (See 2Ki 17:25 ff).

Although not stressed here, the message is clear enough. The ox that throws off the yoke and flees from its owner will be devoured by wild beasts. Henderson’s comment stressed the aptness of choosing these three wild animals to represent the terror coming upon God’s people. “The lion is the strongest, the wolf the most ravenous, and the leopard the swiftest of the wild animals.

In chapter five Jeremiah discusses the various reasons why God must judge His people. The nation has been guilty of at least six terrible sins: (1) moral corruption (Jer 5:1-6); (2) sexual impurity (Jer 5:7-9); (3) treacherous unbelief (Jer 5:10-18); (4) religious apostasy (Jer 5:19-24); (5) social injustice (Jer 5:25-29); and (6) international deception (Jer 5:30-31).

1. Moral corruption (Jer 5:1-6)

In order to impress upon the mind of the prophet the necessity for divine judgment the Lord instructs Jeremiah to walk to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and make a personal observation of the moral condition of the city. Specifically he is to search in the broad places or marketplaces for a man, i.e., someone who was worthy to be called a man. Jeremiah was to search for a man who does what is just and right and who seeks truth or faithfulness. The Hebrew word translated truth often times refers to the faithfulness of a man in performing his duties to God and his fellowmen. See 1Ch 9:22; 1Ch 9:26; 1Ch 9:31; 2Ch 31:15; 2Ch 31:18, etc. The prophet is looking for a man who was true to God, true to man and true to himself. But sometimes in the Old Testament this Hebrew word has a more specialized meaning. It refers to faith in the promise of God to bring a Redeemer into the world. See Hab 2:4. Cf. Rom 1:17. Faith in the Gospel promise sustained the Old Testament heroe. See Gen 4:1; Gen 5:29; Gen 49:18; 2Sa 7:18-29; Hebrews 11. It may well be that Jeremiah here is to search for a man who possessed Messianic faith. Abraham prayed that Sodom be spared if there were ten righteous men. But God here goes even further. If Jeremiah can find one just man in the city who seeks truth or faith He will forgive Jerusalem and withhold the execution of His wrath.

With the zeal of Diogenes Jeremiah searched for a real man in the streets of Jerusalem. He found many who used the name of the Lord in their oaths but only to sware to that which was untrue (Jer 5:2). To use Gods name in a solemn oath and then lie was tantamount to blasphemy against the holy name. God was looking for truth or faithfulness or faith in the hearts of men. Not finding it in the men of Judah God brought disciplinary disasters upon them. The judgments of God are sometimes rehabilitative and sometimes retributive. Here the former class of judgments is intended. God had smitten them but they felt no pain; God had almost completely destroyed them but they refused to accept the correction. With stoic determination they endured the discipline of God hardening their faces and refusing to repent (Jer 5:3).

Jeremiah could not believe what he saw among the common people on the streets of Jerusalem and so he began to make excuses for them. These people are poor; they are uneducated in the way of the Lord; they know nothing of the judgment, i.e., religious law of their God. It is their lack of education which causes them to foolishly sin, and the hardship of their poverty has caused them to harden their hearts in unbelief (Jer 5:4). Jeremiah was confident that he would not find a real man among the down and out; but he was not ready to relinquish his search. He decided to check on the great ones, the wealthy and cultured of the nation. They had all the advantages of education and instruction in the way of the Lord. They were literate and could read the law of God for themselves. But Jeremiah found that the up and out were worse than the down and out. Among the elite he found nothing but lawlessness and license. They had altogether broken the yoke of divine restraint (Jer 5:5). The straps which they burst were the thongs by which the yoke was secured to the neck (cf. Isa 58:6). These men wanted to be free from the law of God and from any divine control. They wanted to do their own thing. Thus, in the entire nation Jeremiah could not find one man who by Gods standards was a real man.

Because of the all-pervasive apostasy, God will bring judgment upon Judah: a lion from the forest, a wolf from the desert; and a leopard or panther watching over their cities (Jer 5:6). Lions were common in the hills and valleys of Palestine. A few leopards are still to be found in the hills of Galilee. The singular words: lion, wolf, leopard, are probably to be regarded as collective singulars. These animals may be symbols of the calamity which would befall Judah. On the other hand, numerous prophecies make it clear that the land would be overrun by wild creatures after the Jews had been deported. See Eze 14:16; Eze 14:21; Lev 26:22; Deu 32:24; 2Ki 17:25 ff.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Having thus declared that judgment was determined on, the prophet now carefully declared the reason for it. This was, first, the utter corruption of conduct. Among the people not a man was to lie found who was truthful and just. Disappointed in his search, he turned to the great men and the rulers, and they also had “broken the yoke and burst the bands.” Therefore judgment was indeed inevitable, and pardon impossible.

The second reason was that they did not believe the message. They had declared that punishment would not fall on them. The declaration of judgment is then repeated, and the terror of it is described. When it falls, if they inquire why Jehovah has thus visited them, the reply would be because they had forsaken Him.

Finally, the reason for final judgment is the revolting and rebellious heart of the people. They were not ignorant, but obstinate. They had eyes, but saw not, and ears, but heard not. They had flung off the fear of God deliberately. Greed had been their curse, and had expressed itself in this persistent rebellion. The whole reason is graphically summarized as “a wonderful and horrible thing.” Prophets, priests, and people were united in their sin, and there was no alternative other than that of judgment.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Widespread Corruption

Jer 5:1-6; Jer 19:1-15; Jer 20:1-18; Jer 21:1-14; Jer 22:1-30; Jer 23:1-40; Jer 24:1-10; Jer 25:1-38; Jer 26:1-24; Jer 27:1-22; Jer 28:1-17; Jer 29:1-32; Jer 30:1-24; Jer 31:1-40

Diogenes, the cynic, was discovered one day in Athens in broad daylight, lantern in hand, looking for something. When someone remonstrated with him, he said that he needed all the light possible to enable him to find an honest man. Something like that is in the prophets thought. God was prepared to spare Jerusalem on lower terms than even Sodom, and yet He was driven to destroy her. Both poor and rich had alike broken the yoke and burst the bonds. The description of the onset of the Chaldeans is very graphic. They settle down upon the land as a flock of locusts, but still the Chosen People refuse to connect their punishment with their sin. It never occurred to the Chosen People that the failure of the rain, the withering of their crops, and the assault of their foes, were all connected with their sin. There is nothing unusual in this obtuseness for as we read the history of our own times, men are equally inapt at connecting national disaster with national sin.

How good it would be if the national cry of today were that of Jer 5:24 : Let us now fear before the Lord our God! Notice the delightful metaphor of Jer 5:22. When God would stay the wild ocean wave a barrier of sand will suffice. The martyrs were as sand grains but wild persecutions were quenched by their heroic patience.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

The subject is continued in the fifth chapter, only with more perspicuity. Individuals are more brought before us. How fallen must have been their state when the prophet had to say, “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it” (Jer 5:1).

Does not this tell us what might have been had Abraham but had faith to plead further for Sodom? He stopped at ten (Genesis 18). Ten could not be found. Here, Judgment could be averted for one. Alas, they had all alike despised the chastening of the Lord (Jer 5:3), and turned from the truth.

This amazed Jeremiah the prophet. He could scarcely credit the utterly apostate condition of his nation. There must surely be righteous ones somewhere. He would seek them out. “Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds” (Jer 5:4-5).

His visit to the great we have not here (we may get many such later), but only proving that ignoble and noble are all one in the rejection of the word of GOD. So judgment must eventually have its way, though some years elapsed ere its fulfilment. Of this he continues to speak in Jer 5:6-19.

How terrible the indictment of Jer 5:7! – When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.”

What a word for the people of GOD today!

How awful to contemplate the yet patent fact that those who profess to be part of that Church, blessed with all spiritual blessings in CHRIST, should ever turn wantonly to the world and its follies, as Judah had done before – though they were on a much lower plane, their blessings being earthly and temporal. “Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” (Jer 5:9). To Christendom He says, I will spue thee out of My mouth!” (Rev 3:16).

“And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken Me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours” (Jer 5:19).

Sowing is followed by reaping: dreadful was the reaping of Israel; more dreadful will be the reaping of apostate Christendom – Babylon the Great” (Revelation 17, 18).

Their moral condition is further exposed in words too plain to need comment (Jer 5:20-29), and all summarized in the last verse.

“A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jer 5:30-31).

Solemn words! Ponder them carefully, my reader, and see if they be too severe to describe the great world-church of today.

Jerusalem’s evil condition fully manifested, the sixth chapter opens with a call to the children of Benjamin to flee from her midst. Only thus could they escape being partakers of her sins. They remained and fell with her.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Jer 5:1

The lot of the prophet Jeremiah resembled that of most true prophets in that it was sad; but it was, perhaps, exceptionally sad. The age in which he lived was one which, in many particulars, recalls our own; it was an age of crisis, of decaying faith, of change impending and actual. Jeremiah was not naturally a man of strong fibre. Timid, shrinking, sensitive, he was yet placed by God in the foreground of a forlorn hope, in which he was, as it were, predestined to failure and to martyrdom.

I. In this chapter Jeremiah is striving to bring home to his people that things are not as they should be. The days were evil, alike among high and low; there were carelessness, unbelief, self-seeking, insincerity, and, amid all, men were completely at their ease, they were quite secure that no evil could happen to them. Jeremiah thought differently; he knew that greed, falsity, unreality, corruption cannot last. They may be long-lived, but doomsday comes to them in the end.

II. No one will understand the Hebrew prophets who does not feel that they are not uttering vulgar, material oracles, but impassioned, imaginative, metaphorical appeals to eternal principles. The first step in understanding them consists in knowing that they were mainly forthtellers, not foretellers; mainly moral teachers, not predicting seers. The certain doom of sin, the sure hope of a Saviour-these are the two simple and awful principles which, on page after page, they set forth with so inspired a force.

III. A sneer has been made on the very name of the prophet of whom we are speaking, and the world thinks it has effectually depreciated any warning about present danger or future peril when it has called it a Jeremiah. Neither the world nor the Church can tolerate a prophet until they have killed him. One thing only can support him, and that is faith. He must see things as they are, see them steadily, and see them whole. For truth and faith the prophet will face death; he will gladly take his place by the side of God’s victors, who have been earth’s defeated. All men may hate him for Christ’s sake, but he will be content.

F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 161.

I. In the search for a man-look out, in the first place, for one who has a conscience. A true man will aim at having his conscience so healthily active, so acutely, yet not morbidly, sensitive, that it shall not be misled by any specious reasoning, nor deceived by any evil example; but will sharply recoil from what is evil, and sting its possessor if he dare to yield to it.

II. If you are hunting for a man, look out for a being that has a heart. I use the word in its popular sense, and mean a warm, loving, affectionate nature.

III. If you want to find a man, look out for a being who has a soul. I mean that is capable of earnest, serious, solemn thought.

IV. Do not forget to look for a being that has a mind. Our Divine religion is given us, not merely to save souls, but to save man-man in the entirety of that complex life which Christ Himself assumed and redeemed. Do not be afraid that in cultivating your minds you will weaken the foundations of your piety.

V. In your efforts to find a man, you must further seek for a being who possesses a will. The brute is guided by its instincts and passions, it is the glory of man to keep his foot upon his nature, and to hold the reins of appetite with a tight hand.

VI. In your search for a man, look out for one who has a creed and a faith.

J. Thain Davidson, Talks with Young Men, p. 31.

References: Jer 5:1.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 146; J. R. Bailey, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 166; W. M. Arthur, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 276; A. W. Momerie, Preaching and Hearing, pp. 197, 209, 222.

Jer 5:2

Commonplace belief in God.

I. Commonplace belief is the assent we give to something which is told us, because we see no reason for thinking the thing untrue in itself, nor yet for calling in question the trustworthiness of the teller; we see no reason why we should deny it; it would imply more interest in the subject than we possess to deny it. We assent to it, and forget all about it the next minute; we have other things to think about, other things to take into consideration, to arrange for, to be anxious about; but it makes no difference to us, whether it be false or true. It neither excites our intellects nor warms our hearts. But let a man believe that the dearest being in all the world is unfaithful to him, and mocks at his fondness when he is absent, and boasts how easily he is duped. Let a beleaguered garrison closed in by ferocious enemies, with food and ammunition spent, at last about to give in and take its grim chance, unable longer to resist-let it for a moment believe that to-morrow help will come, let but the sounds of familiar notes be carried on the breezes to ears growing indifferent and dead, and men will start up, cry, and look strong-wasted and gaunt though be their frames-and beat the drums and shout defiance, till the waiting wolves around them, just ready to spring, are daunted. These are not commonplace beliefs; these are what I will call realistic beliefs.

II. Many of us believe in God in a commonplace way, and because we do so the sensualists around us, who only care to eat and amuse themselves, are right when they say that our belief makes us no better than they are. It is quite possible that to many of us it would matter little if there were no God. We should be neither much better nor much worse. We should do the same work, think about the same things. We should only have to give up our private and family prayers, and perhaps that might almost be a relief. But there cannot be any worth in such a belief. If you do not believe in God as much as you believe in your children, your office, or your horse, how can you think that saying you believe in Him is a virtue which will secure your everlasting salvation?

“First amend, my son,

Thy faulty nomenclature; call belief

Belief indeed, nor grace with such a name

The easy acquiescence of mankind

In matters nowise worth dispute.”

W. Page-Roberts, Liberalism in Religion, p. 89.

Jer 5:3

There are many thoughts rolled up in this grand proposition. Perhaps this stands first: That if God is always looking at the truth, then the shortest way and the best, by which we can see truth, is to look as God looks.

I. If God’s eyes are upon the truth, then He looks more upon the true than He looks upon the false in everything. He does so: (1) as respects truth in the world; (2) as regards our actions.

II. If God’s eyes are upon the truth, are they not there for this very purpose, to defend and secure it. Is not then the truth quite safe? Why then are we anxious lest truth should fail in this world? Why do we talk as if truth were a poor, weak, sickly thing, and likely to decay; and its existence very precarious? Is not God the Guardian of truth?

III. Take the thought a step higher. The “truth” is Christ. All religious truth, all moral truth, in its highest aspect, all physical truth, in its first germ, all gathers and centres itself there. Where then are the eyes of God fixed? In Christ He sees His own dear Son; Him in everything, everything in Him. And what does He see there? A world forgiven; a propitiation; the pardon, the restoration, the salvation, the peace, the life, of the whole earth.

IV. Many events which are to be, lie for a long time wrapped up in the mysteries of prophecy. All the while-as much before the fulfilment as afterwards-it is truth to Him to whom all time and all eternity are one ever-present now. The subject of prophecy is a fact; as much a fact as it will be when it comes to pass. And the eyes of the Lord are upon it. That great flight of yet undeveloped truth is soaring on its high way, though man sees it not. The courses of nature-the history of our world-it is all ordained by a Secret Hand to secure that undeveloped “truth.” We are only travelling on to the purpose of the Almighty. That purpose is truth.

J. Vaughan, Sermons, 14th series, p. 45.

Jer 5:3

I. Who is the rebel here spoken of? To rebel is properly to renew warfare. In this its original meaning the word “rebel” is applicable to every sinner. The war between man and his God was ended once for all when Christ suffered. Therefore, whosoever sins, also rebels-renews a finished war, and breaks an established reconciliation. The rebel spoken of is, in general terms, a rebel against his God. He is: (1) a rebel against right; (2) a rebel against power; (3) a rebel against love.

II. Observe, as the text and the subject bid us, that even this rebel was not let alone. The hand of God is far-reaching. It is not only in the home of the son, it is not only within the paradise of the upright, it is also over the remote exile, over the wilful wanderer, over the obstinate rebel, that that hand is stretched out still, for correction, for control,-if he will, for blessing. So long as we live, God is dealing with us; we cannot get away from His presence; we cannot really make our escape from His Spirit.

III. Note the use made by the rebellious of the Divine discipline. “Thou hast stricken them, but they have refused to receive correction.” The correction is there, not for all only, but for each; only the rebel refuses to receive. (1) He misunderstands them. For a long time he does not connect them at all with the thought of God. (2) And when this cannot be; when the arrow fastens itself too deeply and too unmistakably within to leave doubt of whence it comes; then the misunderstanding of the Author changes into a misunderstanding of the motive. Then the man says, “Not because God loved me and would save, but because He hated and would destroy, is this misery come upon me; let me alone, that I may curse God and die.” (3) He who has misunderstood the correction goes on to neutralise it by a slight and superficial treatment.

C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets, p. 272.

References: Jer 5:3.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1585; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 271. Jer 5:5.-D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3401. Jer 5:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i., No. 38; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 148; W. M. Punshon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 244. Jer 5:13.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 147. Jer 5:14.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 156. Jer 5:21.-Ibid., vol. iv., p. 206.

Jer 5:21-24

Notice the results of self-will as shown in the text.

I. Self-will in relation to the Divine government destroys the natural capacities and faculties of man.

II. Self-will in relation to the Divine government plunges the soul into irreverence.

III. Self-will dissociates the gifts of nature from the Giver.

Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 246.

References: Jer 5:22.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xi., p. 201. Jer 5:22-23.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 220.

Jer 5:23-24

I. One of our besetting sins is the habit of overlooking God’s hand in the midst of His own works. It is a sin of very old standing in the world, and it has its root in unbelief, because men will not trust God’s word-will not in their hearts believe that He careth for them.

II. Note the practical lessons brought home to us by the return of the season of harvest. (1) One lesson is a lesson of patience, of trustful waiting upon God, arising out of a conviction that He will not fail in anything He has said; that “whilst the earth remaineth seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (2) Another lesson which this season teaches us is a lesson of thankfulness. God has reserved to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. He has again brought food out of the earth, and bread to strengthen man’s heart. Surely we should praise the Lord for His goodness, and lift up our hearts with our hands to Him in the heavens. (3) “The harvest is the end of the world.” And why is it so? Because it shows forth what will happen in the end-what will be the proceedings of the day of judgment. Everywhere we are taught that the day of judgment will be a day of sifting and separation. If the righteous scarcely be saved in that day, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 2nd series, p. 80.

References: Jer 5:24-Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times,” vol. viii., p. 185; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 880; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 179; R. Tuck, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 216; J. B. Heard, Ibid., vol. xx., p. 294; E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons to a Country Congregation, 1st series, p. 318. Jer 5:25.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 140.

Jer 5:31

In more modern phrase the text reads: (1) People decline to look facts in the face; (2) No state of things exists anywhere but that it has its results as well as its cause.

I. You may read and know, if you will, that as our country advances, as we say, in wealth and the products of wealth, there is something else which is increasing too, and a very strange spectre it is, to be growing as it does under such circumstances. That spectre is poverty. Can we think on this and not know that there is the further question to be asked, “What will ye do m the end thereof?” Whatever might be the various ways in which the economist or politician might describe the working of the phenomena, the evil cause lies farthest back, of course, in our feelings on the subject, and in the thoughts of our hearts; and the selfishness of classes, which have the history of the country for the present in their own hands, is the real root of all.

II. I know not that there have ever been in the world any principles, save those of Christ, which strike at selfishness as the root of all evil in society; and selfishness is a thing that can only be cured from within. No rules can put a stop to it, and unselfishness must be learnt as everything else has to be learnt, by practising-by beginning on a small scale, by going on to more difficult exercises; and the grammar of unselfishness is self-discipline and self-denial on a small scale. Any religion or religious sect which tells you not to trouble yourself about self-denial as a real discipline is an instrument of self-deception. It will not promote unselfishness; it will not in the end have any good or large effect upon society; and if churches become leavened into a general feeling that there is no special work for them in this direction, that it is not their business to teach self-discipline to each subject of their influence, the work of that church is nearly over, or at any rate it must make a new beginning.

Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 89.

References: Jer 5:31.-S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 4th series, No. 4; Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times, vol. x., pp. 258, 266. Jer 6:14-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 301.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 5

1. The apostate conditions of Jerusalem (Jer 5:1-9)

2. The impending judgment (Jer 5:10-18)

3. Sowing and reaping (Jer 5:19-29)

4. The horrible thing (Jer 5:30-31)

Jer 5:1-9. So degenerate had the inhabitants of Jerusalem become that the Lord promised if but one man could be found in the city who executed judgment and sought the truth, He would pardon Jerusalem. It was a general apostasy. A similar apostasy is predicted for the end of our age. Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall He find the faith on the earth? They were foolish, saith the Lord; they broke the yoke and burst the bonds; they have refused to return. They were as fed horses in the morning; every one neighed after his neighbors wife. Shall I not visit these things, saith the Lord; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Jer 5:10-18. The judgment messages had not been believed by the people (Jer 5:12). What the invader from the north will do to Israel is described in Jer 5:15-18. Again the promise is given, I will not make a full end with you. The Lord keeps in the midst of His people a remnant.

Jer 5:19-29. Their sowing was bringing a harvest. They asked, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? He answers them that they had sown their evil seed in forsaking the Lord and serving strange gods; the harvest would be serving strangers in a strange land. The good things promised had been turned away by their sins and iniquities. The question of Jer 5:9 is repeated in Jer 5:29. And what was true of that generation, is true of this present age also. The seed which is being sown is Bible rejection; the rejection of the gospel of Christ, the seed of apostasy, will bring a harvest of judgment as it did with Israel.

(Jeremiah 1:30-31. False prophets, false priests and the people were satisfied with it. How is it going to be in the end? Both prophets and priests were in league against the prophet of God. They misled the people; they were a curse instead of a blessing. It is not unlike the religious conditions in Christendom today.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Run ye: 2Ch 16:9, Dan 12:4, Joe 2:9, Amo 8:12, Zec 2:4

seek: Pro 8:3, Son 3:2, Luk 14:21

if ye can: 1Ki 19:10, Pro 20:6, Eze 22:30

if there: Gen 18:23-32, Psa 12:1, Psa 14:3, Psa 53:2-4, Mic 7:1, Mic 7:2

that seeketh: Pro 2:4-6, Pro 23:23, Isa 59:4, Isa 59:14, Isa 59:15, 2Th 2:10

Reciprocal: Gen 18:24 – there Gen 18:26 – General Gen 19:4 – all Exo 18:21 – men Job 22:30 – He shall deliver the island of the innocent Psa 60:4 – because Psa 94:16 – rise up Psa 106:23 – stood Pro 28:12 – hidden Isa 9:17 – for every Isa 50:2 – when I came Isa 59:8 – no Isa 59:16 – he saw Jer 2:29 – ye all have Jer 7:28 – truth Jer 8:6 – no Jer 20:8 – I cried Jer 44:15 – all the Eze 9:9 – The iniquity Eze 33:29 – because Eze 34:6 – and none Hos 4:2 – swearing

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

NO! NOT ONE!

If there be any that executeth judgment.

Jer 5:1

I. A nations moral ruin.The desperate condition of the Hebrew people is described in moving terms. Both high and low were equally corrupt, therefore judgment could not be delayed (Jer 9:9; Jer 44:22). When men become ungodly, the bands of society are dissolved. Ingratitude towards the God Who has fed them to the full is certain to make men reckless of the relative duties that they owe to their fellow-men. To love God first is the guarantee of love to ones neighbour. We have similar reasons to deplore the decline of religion in our national life.

II. Gods executioner.Babylon is summoned to destroy the sinful nation, though not utterly. But the people would not believe that their end was near. When warned by the preacher of the inevitable fate of the wicked, the ungodly will still whisper to themselves, even if they dare not say it openly, It is not He. But there is a precise exactitude in Gods retributive justice, so that men may read their sin in their punishment. If we forsake God, we shall be forsaken by Him; if we serve strangers in our own land, we shall serve them in a land that is not ours.

Illustration

Diogenes, the cynic, was discovered one day in Athens in broad daylight, candle in hand, looking for something. When some one remonstrated with him, he said that he needed all the light possible to enable him to find a man. Something like that is in the prophets thought. God was prepared to spare Jerusalem on lower terms than even Sodom, and yet He was driven to destroy her. Both poor and rich had alike broken the yoke and burst the bonds.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Jer 5:1. When God was threatening to destroy Sodom (Gen 18:26) he promised Abraham he would spare the city provided certain conditions could be found. He knew those conditions did not exist and hence was determined to go ahead with his plan for the destruction of the wicked place. Likewise the Lord puts the case of Jerusalem (capital of Judah) on a proviso, which is that a man can be found that executes judgment or ad

ministers justice. It is true that some individual, unofficial men were there who were righteous, but the city in its official conduct was corrupt. The last word of the verse is a pronoun and refers to Jerusalem, meaning that if the city could produce the characters described the Lord would pardon it, the city.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 5:1. Run ye to and fro, &c. In this chapter, which seems to be a continuation of the preceding discourse, God justifies the severity of the judgments denounced in the foregoing chapter. The expressions are strong, but not to be taken strictly in the letter, signifying only the extreme degeneracy of the times, and the great want of justice and piety in Jerusalem. And see now and know, &c. Search here and there, and in every part of the city. The words, saith the Lord, should be supplied; for it is plain that the first and second verses are the words of God. In Jer 5:3 the prophet speaks, and goes on to Jer 5:7, where God speaks again. And seek in the broad places thereof The word , thus rendered, means, no doubt, the market-places, and other spacious areas, where citizens used to meet to do business with each other. If ye can find a man Namely, a man fearing God, and working righteousness. If there be any that executeth judgment That in the magistracy rightly administers justice. That seeketh the truth Any one among the commonality that deals faithfully and uprightly. The universal corruption of manners was such, that a man might walk the streets of Jerusalem long enough before he could meet with any one that was truly religious. And I will pardon it Namely, the city of Jerusalem. The strong expressions of this verse, if they were taken strictly, would imply that Jerusalem was now worse than Sodom, in the days of Lot: for, in offering pardon to Sodom and Gomorrah, God came no lower than ten, but, according to the literal meaning of these expressions, he promises to pardon Jerusalem if there should be one righteous man found. But it seems evident that, as we have intimated above, they are not to be taken in so strict a sense as if, in so great a city, there was not one good man; for certainly the prophet could not be reckoned among the number of the wicked, and there were besides, Baruch his disciple, and Ebed-melech, and, without doubt, some others that were truly pious. So that the meaning can be no more than that there were very few good men compared with the number of the wicked.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 5:2. Though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely. These words being in every ones mouth, are but words, not sentiments. If men knew the grandeur of God, and studied his perfections, they could not trifle in his presence. Verbal confessions, the emanations of an infidel heart, are but aggravations of impiety.

Jer 5:4. Therefore I said, surely these are poor; they are foolishI will address myself to the great and the learned. Here the prophet found the same ignorance of God, in his covenant and in his providence. They looked solely at the things of the present life, and turned away their eyes from the dark cloud of a future world.

Jer 5:7. In the harlots houses. Hebrews Harlots house. The groves and places consecrated to idolatry.

Jer 5:8. They were as fed horses in the morning. The word mashkim here rendered, in the morning, has stopped the critics. The sense is, that they were as stallions in a morning when let out of the stables.

Jer 5:10. Go ye up, and scale her walls, said God to the Chaldeans; for they could not ascend there without a commission first signed in heaven.Take away her battlements. The LXX, Leave the foundations, meaning the temple, because they are the Lords. Severe was the stroke; but a father leaves hope for his children.

Jer 5:15. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far. This mighty, this ancient nation, whose language the Jews could not understand, is generally understood of the Chaldees. It is said however, Jer 5:10; Jer 5:18, that God would not make a full end. Hence, as he spared a remnant by the Chaldees, and a remnant by the Romans, the query is whether Jeremiah was not led, as is often the case with Isaiah, to glance at future times, the Assyrian language being then the travelling language of Asia. Hezekiahs servants told Rabshakeh that they understood it. Jonah, as appears from his mission to Nineveh, was able to preach it; and it was the court language of Babylon, for the magicians and Nebuchadnezzar conversed in Syriac concerning his dream. Dan 2:4. Hence, there is a high degree of probability that Jeremiah, as well as Moses, Deu 28:49, had a remote view to the Romans, whose language is very dissimilar to the Hebrew.

Jer 5:30-31. A wonderful and horrible thing The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. The LXX, The priests clap their hands.

REFLECTIONS.

In age and the decline of life constitutional diseases often make their appearance in characters so strong as to baffle all the healing art. So it proved in the present case. Jerusalem was approaching that crisis of crime which turns the balances of heaven to the side of vengeance. There was no man either on the bench, or at the altar, who stood up for equity in justice, or for purity in devotion. They would cover the foulest falsehoods by an oath of the living God. Consequently, though the temple gates were yet open, and though the altar yet smoked, devotion was but a civil homage and an accustomed respect for the Lord.

Ignorance was the character of the age. The poor were foolish; they were impetuously drawn away by every vice, and no impression was made upon them by the tender ministry of Jeremiah. On addressing the rich and the great, who by education knew the law, he found that they scorned the yoke, and wantoned in intrigue, in sabbath-breaking, and drunkenness. But mark now, the judgments denounced against them. As they laid snares for unprotected innocence, and sought to corrupt their neighbours wives, so God would lay snares for them. The prophet anticipating the calamity says, the lion is gone up from the thicket to make havoc of the flock; the swift and cruel leopard is couched to catch them by day, and the rapacious wolf shall enter by night in every northern avenue of the land. How well it would be for every sinner, before he launches into a course of crimes, to consider, and fully to consider, how he is to escape. Punishment may come in a thousand forms. Some arrow of the Lord may wound him, and against which he has no buckler. As thieves with all their dexterity do not always secure secresy and escape, and are made ashamed when taken, so it may be with a profligate age.

The complete character of Judahs crimes was a disregard of the sacred ministry. The priests and people preferred the false prophets; and though loaded with crimes, they were infatuated to a confidence that the sword should never come. Hence we must regard a spirit of slumber on the brink of ruin as the last mark of heavens displeasure against a devoted nation; and we must regard oriental conquests as a sort of harvests which reaped the earth.

Before God destroys a degenerate people, he takes counsel, and often draws a striking line of connection between their peculiar crimes, and their peculiar punishments. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Yes, I will be avenged. As they have chosen to serve strange gods, so the remnant who escape the sword shall serve strangers, and in a strange land. Divine justice being still the same, let all ages be instructed by the errors and ruin of Israel and of Judah. God will intoxicate the drunkards, and rule oppressors with a rod.

As the wicked go on, blind to the future, and love to be flattered in their sins, the prophet forces the idea of the future upon them, by asking what will ye do in the end thereof? The wicked in their criminal courses generally fail to do this, and go on till overtaken by the hand of justice. Yea, degenerate nations go on till political destruction comes by the sword.

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

Jer 5:1-9. The Sins of Jerusalem.Jeremiah is bidden to seek even one man in Jerusalem, for whose sake Yahweh may spare the city (cf. Gen 18:16-33), one man of justice and faithfulness (mg.); even the oaths they swear by Yahweh mean nothing. The prophet confesses that it is this lack of faithfulness that has brought a hard discipline on the city, though in vain; yet he turns from the man in the street to those of high degree, for they (emph.) know the ordinances of Yahwehonly to find them united in disobedience (Jer 5:5; for the figure of the rebellious oxen, cf. Jer 2:20). So comes the foe, like forest lion, or desert wolf (mg.), or lurking leopard; since Yahwehs provision of a fertile land has but led to wantonness.

Jer 5:7. assembled themselves in troops: read, with LXX, lodged, as 1Ki 17:20 (sojourn).

Jer 5:8. horses in the morning should probably be stallions (Driver); the suggestion of the figure is actual immorality, which may or may not have been coupled with the sensual worship of the Baalim.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

5:1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if ye can find a man, if there is [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon {a} it.

(a) That is, the city.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The depth of Judah’s sin 5:1-9

God gave His people reasons for the coming judgment. He stressed social and personal sins particularly.

"Jeremiah now appreciates the moral necessity for God’s judgment of His people, as he sees clearly with his own eyes the iniquity, selfishness and depravity of life in Jerusalem." [Note: Harrison, Jeremiah and . . ., p. 74.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The Lord challenged Jeremiah to search Jerusalem for a man who was just and sought the truth. [Note: According to later Greek literature, Diogenes similarly searched Athens for an honest man.] If he could find even one, on his "scavenger hunt," [Note: Dyer, "Jeremiah," p. 1137.] the Lord promised to pardon the city (cf. Gen 18:23-32).

"Obviously some godly people like Josiah, Baruch, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah himself were living in Jerusalem. But the words certainly applied to the mass of the populace. In short, corruption was so widespread that exceptions were not significant (cf. Psalms 14)." [Note: Feinberg, p. 412.]

"Justice" and "truth" are two terms that often appear together in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. They are covenant qualities that govern relations between people and God and between people and other people. [Note: Thompson, p. 236.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

{e-Sword Note: In the printed edition, this material appeared near the end of 2 Kings.}

JEREMIAH AND HIS PROPHECIES

Jereremiah 1:1 – Jer 5:31

“Count me oer earths chosen heroes-they were souls that stood alone, While the men they agonized for hurled the contumelious stone; Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam incline To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith divine, By one mans plain truth to manhood and to Gods supreme design.”

– LOWELL

TRULY Jeremiah was a prophet of evil. The king might have addressed him in the words with which Agamemnon reproaches Kalchas.

“Augur accursed! denouncing mischief still:

Prophet of plagues, forever boding ill!

Still must that tongue some wounding message bring,

And still thy priestly pride provoke thy king.”

Never was there a sadder man. Like Phocion, he believed in the enemies of his country more than he believed in his own people. He saw “Too late” written upon everything. “He saw himself all but universally execrated as a coward, as a traitor, as one who weakened the nerves and damped the courage of those who were fighting against fearful odds for their wives and children, the ashes of their fathers, their altars, and their hearths. It had become his fixed conviction that any prophets-and there were a multitude of them-who prophesied peace were false prophets, and ipso facto proved themselves conspirators against the true well-being of the land Jer 6:14; Jer 8:11 Eze 13:10. In point of fact, Jeremiah lived to witness the death struggle of the idea of religion in its predominantly national character. {Jer 7:8-16; Jer 6:8} The continuity of the national faith refused to be bound up with the continuance of the nation. When the nation is dissolved into individual elements, the continuity and ultimate victory of the true faith depends on the relations of Jehovah to individual souls out of which the nation shall be bound up.”

And now a sad misfortune happened to Jeremiah. His home was not at Jerusalem, but at Anathoth, though he had long been driven from his native village by the murderous plots of his own kindred, and of those who had been infuriated by his incessant prophecies of doom. When the Chaldaeans retired from Jerusalem to encounter Pharaoh, he left the distressed city for the land of Benjamin, “to receive his portion from thence in the midst of the people”-apparently, for the sense is doubtful, to claim his dues of maintenance as a priest. But at the city gate he was arrested by Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the captain of the watch, who charged him with the intention of deserting to the Chaldaeans. Jeremiah pronounced the charge to be a lie; but Irijah took him before the princes, who hated him, and consigned him to dreary and dangerous imprisonment in the house of Jonathan the scribe. In the vaults of this house of the pit he continued many days. {Jer 37:11-15} The king sympathized with him: he would gladly have delivered him, if he could, from the rage of the princes; but he did not dare. Meanwhile, the siege went on, and the people never forgot the anguish of despair with which they waited the re-investiture of the city. Ever since that day it has been kept as a fast-the fast of Tebeth. Zedekiah, yearning for some advice, or comfort-if comfort were to be had-from the only man whom he really trusted, sent for Jeremiah to the palace, and asked him in despicable secrecy, “Is there any word from the Lord?” The answer was the old one: “Yes! Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the King of Babylon.” Jeremiah gave it without quailing, but seized the opportunity to ask on what plea he was imprisoned. Was he not a prophet? Had he not prophesied the return of the Chaldaean host? Where now were all the prophets who had prophesied peace? Would not the king at least save him from the detestable prison in which he was dying by inches? The king heard his petition, and he was removed to a better prison in the court of the watch where he received his daily piece of bread out of the bakers street until all the bread in the city was spent. For now utter famine came upon the wretched Jews, to add to the horrors and accidents of the siege. If we would know what that famine was in its appalling intensity, we must turn to the Book of Lamentations. Those elegies, so unutterably plaintive, may not be by the prophet himself, but only by his school but they show us what was the frightful condition of the people of Jerusalem before and during the last six months of the siege. “The sword of the wilderness”-the roving and plundering Bedouin-made it impossible to get out of the city in any direction. Things were as dreadfully hopeless as they had been in Samaria when it was besieged by Benhadad. {Lam 5:4} Hunger and thirst reduce human nature to its most animal conditions. They obliterate the merest elements of morality. They make men like beasts, and reveal the ferocity which is never quite dead in any but the purest and loftiest souls. They arouse the least human instincts of the aboriginal animal. The day came when there was no more bread left in Jerusalem. {Jer 37:21; Jer 38:9; Jer 52:6} The fair and ruddyNazarites, who had been purer than snow, whiter than milk, more ruddy than corals, lovely as sapphires, became like withered boughs, {Lam 4:7-8} and even their friends did not recognize them in those ghastly and emaciated figures which crept about the streets. The daughters of Zion, more cruel in their hunger than the very jackals, lost the instincts of pity and motherhood. Mothers and fathers devoured their own little unweaned children. There was parricide as well as infanticide in the horrible houses. They seemed to plead that none could blame them, since the lives of many had become an intolerable anguish, and no man had bread for his little ones, and their tongues cleaved to the roof of their mouth. All that happened six centuries later, during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, happened now. Then Martha, the daughter of Nicodemus ben-Gorion, once a lady of enormous wealth, was seen picking the grains of corn from the offal of the streets; now the women who had fed delicately and been brought up in scarlet were seen sitting desolate on heaps of dung. And Jehovah did not raise His hand to save His guilty and dying people. It was too late!

And as is always the case in such extremities, there were men who stood defiant and selfish amid the universal misery. Murder, oppression, and luxury continued to prevail. The godless nobles did not intermit the building of their luxurious houses, asserting to themselves and others that, after all, the final catastrophe was not near at hand. The sudden death of one of them-Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah-while Ezekiel was prophesying, terrified the prophet so much that he flung himself on his face and cried with a loud voice, “Ah, Lord God! wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” But on the others this death by the visitation of God seems to have produced no effect; and the glory of God left the city, borne away upon its cherubim-chariot. {Eze 11:22}

Even under the stress of these dreadful circumstances the Jews held out with that desperate tenacity which has often been shown by nations fighting behind strong walls for their very existence, but by no nation more decidedly than by the Jews. And if the rebel-party, and the lying prophets who had brought the city to this pass, still entertained any hopes either of a diversion caused by Pharaoh Hophrah, or of some miraculous deliverance such as that which had saved the city from Sennacherib years earlier, it is not unnatural that they should have regarded Jeremiah with positive fury. For he still continued to prophesy the captivity. What specially angered them was his message to the people that all who remained in Jerusalem should die by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, but that those who deserted to the Chaldaeans should live. It was on the ground of his having said this that they had imprisoned him as a deserter; and when Pashur and his son Gedaliah heard that he was still saying this, they and the other princes entreated Zedekiah to put him to death as a pernicious traitor, who weakened the hands of the patriot soldiers. Jeremiah was not guilty of the lack of patriotism with which they charged him. The day of independence had passed forever, and Babylon, not Egypt, was the appointed suzerain. The counseling of submission-as many a victorious chieftain has been forced at last to counsel it, from the days of Hannibal to those of Thiers-is often the true and the only possible patriotism in doomed and decadent nations. Zedekiah timidly abandoned the prophet to the rage of his enemies; but being afraid to murder him openly as Urijah had been murdered, they flung him into a well in the dungeon of Mal-chiah, the kings son. Into the mire of this pit he sank up to the arms, and there they purposely left him to starve and rot. But if no Israelite pitied him, his condition moved the compassion of Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian, one of the kings eunuch-chamberlains. He hurried to the king in a storm of pity and indignation. He found him sitting, as a king should do, at the post of danger in the gate of Benjamin; for Zedekiah was not a physical, though he was a moral, coward. Ebed-Melech told the king that Jeremiah was dying of starvation, and Zedekiah bade him take three men with him and rescue the dying man. The faithful Ethiopian hurried to a cellar under the treasury, took with him some old, worn fragments of robes, and, letting them down by cords, called to Jeremiah to put them under his arm-pits. He did so, and they drew him up into the light of day, though he still remained in prison.

It seems to have been at this time that, in spite of his grim vaticination of immediate retribution, Jeremiah showed his serene confidence in the ultimate future by accepting the proposal of his cousin Hanameel to buy some of the paternal fields at Anathoth, though at that very moment they were in the hands of the Chaldaeans. Such an act, publicly performed, must have caused some consolation to the besieged, just as did the courage of the Roman senator who gave a good price for the estate outside the walls of Rome on which Hannibal was actually encamped.

Then Zedekiah once more secretly sent for him, and implored him to tell the unvarnished truth. “If I do, ” said the prophet, “will you not kill me? and will you in any case hearken to me?” Zedekiah swore not to betray him to his enemies; and Jeremiah told him that, even at that eleventh hour, if he would go out and make submission to the Babylonians, the city should not be burnt, and he should save the lives of himself and of his family. Zedekiah believed him, but pleaded that he was afraid of the mockery of the deserters to whom he might be delivered. Jeremiah assured him that he should not be so delivered, and, that, if he refused to obey, nothing remained for the city, and for him and his wives and children, but final ruin. The king was too weak to follow what he must now have felt to be the last chance which God had opened out for him. He could only “attain to half-believe.” He entrusted the result to chance, with miserable vacillation of purpose; and the door of hope was closed upon him. His one desire was to conceal the interview; and if it came to the ears of the princes-of whom he was shamefully afraid-he begged Jeremiah to say that he had only entreated the king not to send him back to die in Jonathans prison.

As he had suspected, it became known that Jeremiah had been summoned to an interview with the king. They questioned the prophet in prison. He told them the story which the king had suggested to him, and the truth remained undiscovered. For this deflection from exact truth it is tolerably certain that, in the state of mens consciences upon the subject of veracity in those days, the prophets moral sense did not for a moment reproach him. He remained in his prison, guarded probably by the faithful Ebed-Melech, until Jerusalem was taken.

Let us pity the dreadful plight of Zedekiah, aggravated as it was by his weak temperament. “He stands at the head of a people determined to defend itself, but is himself without either hope or courage.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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