Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 9:23

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

23 26. See summary introducing the section. Piety alone is the source of true glory. Circumcision, as the mere external mark of the covenant, of itself brings no man, Jew or otherwise, favour with God. 23, 24, and 25, 26 form two detached utterances, which have no relation to this context, and we cannot now say where they should be placed. The former is quite in agreement with other sayings of the prophet (Jer 8:9, Jer 17:5 f., Jer 22:13 ff.). It is accordingly retained as his by Gi. and Co., while Du. rejects it.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

To the end of Jer. 10 the prophet urges upon the people the practical conclusion to be drawn from Gods righteous dealings with them. The three things on which men most pride themselves are shown in this verse to have proved vain.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jer 9:23-24

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.

Glorying

An idea in this text to which we assign special prominence is this–There is at least so much similarity between the nature of God and the nature of man, that both can take delight in the same thing. The spirit of the text is saying, Take delight in loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, because I take delight in them; learn the Divinity of your origin, and the possible splendour of your destiny, from the fact that you have it in your power to join Me in loving mercy, righteousness, and judgment. God addresses three divisions of the human family–the wise, the powerful, the wealthy. And is there any other class which may not be placed in one of these categories? Each class is sitting at the feet of its chosen idol–science, arms, wealth; all clad in robes of royalty, if not of godhead. In the hand of each idol is the sceptre of a venerated mastery, and the temple of each shakes with the thunder of heathenish worship. Such is the picture. Now to these temples God comes, and, with the majesty of omnipotence, the authority of infinite wisdom, and the benignity of all-sustaining fatherhood, says, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. Glory! That is a word which is pregnant with meaning; and it can be better explained by paraphrase than by etymology. Let not man glory in wisdom, might, and wealth, so as to be absorbed in their pursuit, so as to make a god of either of them, so as to regard them as the ultimate good, so as to commit to either his present happiness and endless destiny. Wisdom! That, too, is a word fraught with large significance. The wisdom referred to is not that which cometh from above–beautiful with celestial hues, and instinct with celestial life: it is a wisdom which is destitute of the moral element; the wisdom of an inquisitive, prying, restless intellect; that eyeless and nerveless wisdom by which the world knew not God, and which, when looked at from above, is foolishness; the wisdom which is all brain and no heart; the wisdom of knowledge, not of character; the wisdom which dazzles man, but which, when alone, is offensive to God. One substantial reason for not glorying in the kind of wisdom which we have attempted to depict, is the necessary littleness of mans vastest acquisitions. Science is a race after God; but can the Infinite ever be overtaken? Science, perhaps, never got so close to God as when she bound the capitals of the world together with bands of lightning, and flashed the wisdom and eloquence of parliaments from continent to continent. High day of triumph that; she was within hand reach of the veiled Potentate–one step more, and she would be face to face with the King–was it not so? What was there between science and God in that moment of sublimest victory? Nothing, nothing, but–Infinity! There is no searching of His understanding. Another point will show the folly of glorying in the kind of wisdom we have delineated, namely, the widest knowledge involves but partial rulership. You say you have found a law operating in the universe. Be it so: can you suspend or reverse the Divine appointment? Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a voice like Him? The argument is this,–however extensive may be our knowledge, knowledge can only help us to obey; it never can confer aught but the most limited rulership; and even that sovereignty is the dominion not of lord, but of servant, the rulership which is founded in humility and obedience–the rulership whose seat is beneath the shadow of the Great Throne. Is man, then, without an object in which to glory? It is as natural for man to glory as it is natural for him to breathe; and God, who so ordered his nature, has indicated the true theme of glorying: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me. Here let us rejoin the earnest student of science, supposing now that, in addition to his being ardently scientific, he is intelligently devout. He goes to work as before; the flame of his enthusiasm is not diminished by a single spark; his hammer and his telescope are still precious to him, but now, instead of being in pursuit of cold, abstract, inexorable laws, he is in search of the wise and mighty and benevolent Lawgiver; in legislation he finds a Legislator, and in the Legislator he finds a Father. What we want, then, is personal knowledge of a Person: we would know not only the works, but the Author, for they are mutually explanatory. Know the man if you would understand his actions; know God if you would comprehend nature, providence, or grace. The devout student says he finds Gods footprints everywhere; he says they are on the rocks, across the heavens, on the heaving wave, and on the flying wind; to him, therefore, keeping company with science is only another way of walking with God. The text, however, goes still farther; it relates not only to personality, but to character: the Deist pauses at the former, the Christian advances to the latter. Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. The idea would admit of some such expression as this: Any knowledge of God, the Creator and Legislator of the physical creation, should be regarded as merely preparatory, or subordinate to an apprehension of God as the Moral Governor: that if you know God as Creator only, you can hardly be said to know Him at all; that if you tremble at His power without knowing His mercy, you are a pagan; if you seek to please Him as a God of intelligence, without recognising Him as a God of purity and justice and love, you are ignorant of Him, and your ignorance is crime. Let him that glorieth, even glorieth in God, glory in knowing God as a moral Being, as the righteous Judge, as the loving Father. There must not be adoration of mere power; we must not be satisfied with utterances of amazement at His majesty, wisdom, and dominion; we must go farther, get nearer, see deeper; we must know God morally, we must feel the pulsations of His heart–His heart!–that dread sanctuary of righteousness, that semi-eternal fount of love. The whole subject, then, may be comprehended in four points.

1. God brands all false glorying. Upon the head of wisdom, power, and wealth, He writes, Let no man glory in these. There is a wisdom which is folly; there is a power which is helplessness; there is a wealth which is poverty. God warns us of these things, so that if our boasted wisdom answer us not when we are on the Carmel of solemn encounter between light and darkness, we may not have God to blame.

2. God has revealed the proper ground of glorying. That ground is knowledge of God, not only as Creator and Monarch, but as Judge and Saviour and Father. Reason, groping her way through the thickening mysteries of creation, may exclaim, There is a God; but faith alone can see the Father smiling through the King. It will be in vain to say, Lord, Lord, if we cannot add, Saviour-Friend

3. God, having declared moral excellence to be the true object of glorying, has revealed how moral excellence may be attained. Is it objected that there is no mention of Jesus Christ in the text? We answer, that loving kindness, righteousness, and judgment are impossibilities apart from Christ; they are only so many names to us, until Jesus exemplifies them in His life, and makes them accessible to us by His death and resurrection. Do we require the sun to be labelled ere we confess that he shines in the heavens?

4. God has revealed the objects in which He glories Himself. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Let it be propounded as a problem, In what will the Supreme Mind most delight? and let it be supposed that an answer is possible, it might be concluded that the attainment of that answer would forever determine the aspirations, the resolutions, and the ambition of the world. We might consider that every other object would be infinitely beneath the pursuits, and infinitely unworthy of the affections of man. At all events, this must be true, that they who glory in the objects which delight Jehovah must be drinking at pure and perennial streams. (J. Parker, D. D.)

What do I glory in

What does a man glory in? At what point does his life leave the plane of indifference and rise into a boast? What is it that provides for him the river of his most exquisite delights? The answer to these questions is fruitfully significant. If we catch a man in his gloryings we take him at his height. Some mens gloryings are to be found on a purely carnal level; they are sought and proclaimed on the plane of the brute. Other mens gloryings are found in spiritual realities, among the things of the Eternal. Unworthy glorying is the minister of stagnancy, paralysis, and death. Worthy glorying is the minister of progress, liberty, and life. Let us look at the unworthy gloryings. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. That is a very surprising negative. I did not expect that wisdom would be banned from the circle of a legitimate boast. Is there not an apparent contradiction between the counsel of the prophet and other counsellors of the Old Testament Scriptures? Get wisdom. Fools despise wisdom. A wise son maketh a glad father. We know, too, how our poets have spoken of the beautiful thing called wisdom. Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers; blossom comes, but the fruitage lingers! The wisdom here admired is a ripe and matured product, the ultimate issue of a prolonged process. It is not in this sense that the prophet uses the word; he employs it with quite another content. It is the wisdom of the mere philosopher; the product of speculation and theory; a wisdom devoid of reverence, and detached from practical life. Life can be divided into watertight compartments, having no relationship one with the other. We can separate our opinions from our principles, our theories from our practice. Love of the fine arts can be divorced from the practice of a pure life. Our artistic wisdom can be imprisoned as it were in an iron-bound division, and separated from our moral activities. The musically wise can be the morally discordant. The possession of musical technique does not necessarily make an agreeable man. The wisdom of music can be divorced from the other parts of a mans life just as the music room in a hydropathic establishment is shut off from the kitchen. A man can be skilled in the decrees of counsel and in traditional lore, and yet he may be morally and spiritually corrupt. The wisdom of a theologian can be a wisdom without influence upon morals. A man may preach like a seraph and live like a brute. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. This is a reference to mere animal strength. It includes a bald athleticism in the individual, and a bald materialism in the State. But surely strength is good? Athletic strength and skill are very admirable. But here, again, the prophet is referring to strength which is devoid of reverence, and therefore strength which is detached from service. All right use of strength begins with a deep reverence for it. So it is also with the material might of the State. A sword may be good if it be reverently regarded. The sword of Gideon; that is always a curse! The sword of the Lord and Gideon; that is an instrument of benediction! Let not the rich man glory in his riches. Do not let us relegate this warning to a few millionaires. A man with a small income may regard his money as irreverently as the man with an overflowing abundance. The prophet refers to the spirit in which possessions are esteemed. He refers to riches held without reverence, and therefore not exercised in wise philanthropy. Possessions used irreverently are used blindly, and therefore without a true humanity. But how people do glory in bare and graceless wealth! It is a false confidence. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord. How far are we away from the brutal, the material, and the merely opinionative! Here is glorying which centres itself in the unseen, and fixes itself upon the Lord. Understandeth. The relationship is reasonable and intelligent. God wants no blind discipleship. We are to be all alert in our fellowship with the Almighty. We are to worship Him with all our mind. In malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. Understandeth and knoweth Me. That is a profound term, suggestive of certainty and assurance. It has about it the flavour of the familiar friend. We are to intelligently use our minds to discover the thought and will of God, then we are to act upon the will, and in our obedience a deep communion will be established. This, then, is the line of individual progress. We begin in exploration; we use our understanding in discerning the mind of God. Then we pass to experiment, and we put to the proof the findings of the mind. From experiment we shall attain unto experience; our findings will be revealed as truth; our knowledge will mature unto wisdom. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. What does God want us to know about Him? That I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness. We sometimes say concerning a distinguished man whose presence we have met, I rather feared him, but his first words made me feel at home. And here is the first word of the Almighty, and the word is not law or statute, but loving kindness! Not only kindness, for kindness may be mechanical and devoid of feeling, but loving kindness! A dainty dish is served by affection. What else does He want me to be sure about? That I am the Lord that exercise loving kindness and judgment. Do not let us interpret judgment as doom. Judgment is vindication; it is suggestive of sure sequence. When I plant mignonette, and mignonette comes in its season, the sequence is indicative of judgment. Judgment is the opposite of caprice and chance. The Lord is a God of judgment, and all my sowings will be vindicated. All these deeper issues are in the hands of God. The Lord is a God of judgment, and of righteousness. This word is only confirmatory of the preceding word. Judgment is proceeding and the Vindicator is righteous. He cannot be bribed, He is not of uncertain temper. He changeth not. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

On the unreasonableness and folly of glorying in the possession of external privileges and advantages

I. The unreasonableness and folly both of individuals and of communities glorying in the possession of external privileges and advantages. In fact, there is no passion in our nature which so effectually defeats its own end, or so completely mars the accomplishment of its object, as that of pride. Wherever respect is impudently claimed, even where there is real merit at the bottom, it is always reluctantly conferred. Our pride and self-love in turn take the alarm, and are hurt by the boldness of the claim. Competitors and rivals, envious of the merit, feel a malignant pleasure in disappointing the expectations of such candidates for fame. And as most men have a tincture of envy in their composition, it commonly happens that very few regret the disappointment. To obtain real, and, in general, unenvied praise, merit, however transcendent, must not be glaringly displayed, but in some measure exhibited under a veil; at least, it must be so judiciously and delicately shaded, as to moderate its lustre.

II. The knowledge and practice of the duties of religion and virtue, while they are the only true foundation of self-esteem and real glory, are likewise, considered in a national view, the only just objects of public respect and confidence. Great intellectual endowments, and the performances to which they give birth, can only be regarded, when abstractly considered without respect to their application, as splendid monuments of human genius; when applied to bad purposes, they justly become the objects of our detestation; but the qualities of the heart, incorruptible integrity, for instance, disinterested benevolence, exalted generosity, and tender pity, irresistibly command the esteem, and conciliate the affection of all who have either seen or heard of such virtues being exemplified. (W. Duff, M. A.)

Aims of life

Men think too much of themselves on one account or another–either on account of some external condition, or on account of some internal traits and qualities. Now, it is not to be understood from this declaration of the prophet, that a man shall take no thought of, and have no pleasure in, external relations. There is pleasure to be derived from them but there are a thousand secondary things in this life which we are very glad to have, and which we are glad to be known to have, though we do not put our heart chiefly on them. It is a pleasant thing for an artist to have vigorous health; but that is not his power. It is a pleasant thing for a poet to be a musician; but that is not what he glories in. It is a pleasant thing to an orator that he is rich; but there is something that he glories in besides riches. Wealth alone affords a very small compensation of glory. Knowledge is often regarded as the chief and characteristic reason why a man should think much of himself; but here we are commanded not to glory in knowledge. There is great excellence in knowledge; but knowledge is relative. Mathematics will exist after we are dead and gone; but knowledge of spiritual elements, knowledge of the highest realm, knowledge of right and wrong, knowledge of character, knowledge of truth–these are all related to our present condition, and are so far affected by our limitations that the apostle explicitly declares that the time will come when the universe will be revealed to us, and when our notions in respect to it will have to be changed as much as the notions of a child have to be changed when he comes to manhood. Our wisdom in this world is so partial that we cannot afford to stand on that. And when you consider what have been regarded as the treasures of knowledge, the folly of it is still greater. Many a man might just as well have been a grammar or a lexicon, dry and dusty, as the man of knowledge that he is, so useless is he. And yet men are oftentimes proud that they know so many things, without any consideration of their use. Go out and see what men know who know something. Men that have useful knowledge, and the most of it, are the men that usually are the most humble, and are conscious of the mere segment of the vast circle of the knowledge of the universe that they possess. Knowledge is a good thing; but a man is a better thing. A man in his essential nature and destiny is larger than any special element or development in this life. Therefore, let not a man glory in his knowledge. Especially let him not glory in it in such a way as to separate himself from his fellows, and look down upon them. While it may be supposed that these views, derived from the face of Scripture, are applicable to our modern condition, it is very probable that the glorying spoken of by the prophet was that which constituted a peculiarity in the East. In Egypt, and afterwards in many Oriental kingdoms, knowledge was the prerogative of the priesthood. Those who had knowledge became a privileged class, and received honour and respect; and naturally they plumed themselves on it, as men plume themselves on titles today. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. In other words, let not a man because he belongs to the learned class have contempt for those who have not the privileges that he has. There are multitudes of men who have not very much to boast of in the way of kindness and humility and gentleness, but who are proud of their culture. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. That is, let no man glory in the attributes of strength. In the time of the athlete; in the time of the warrior; in the time when men, being head and shoulders in their stature above all others, as Saul was, gloried in their stature; in the time when men boasted, as David did, of running through a troop, and leaping over a wall; in the time when expertness and skill were in the ascendant; in the time when men were trained to all forms of physical strength and prowess–in such a time men would naturally come to make their reputation stand on these things; and the tendency to do so has not perished yet. Men glory in the fact that they are tall and symmetrical. They glory in their personal beauty. They glory in their grace. They glory in their walking and their dancing. They glory in their riding. These things are not absolutely foolish, although the men who engage in them may be. It is not to be denied that they may be useful, and that they may reflect some credit upon those who practise them. But what if nothing else can be said of a man except that he rides well? The horse is better than he! Low down, indeed, is the man who pivots himself on these inferior and often contemptible qualities. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. We may as well shut up the Bible, then. That is too much! Yet a man has a right to glory in his riches, provided the way of his glorying is through his own integrity as well as skill. Such are the competitions of business, such are the difficulties of developing, amassing, maintaining and rightly using wealth, that a man who organises it organises a campaign, and is a general; and when a man of simplicity and honesty has come out from the haunts of poverty, and has, by his own indomitable purpose, and industry, and honourable dealing, and truthfulness, accumulated property, about no dollar of which you can say to him, You stole it; when a man by integrity has built up a fortune, it is a testimony better than any diploma. It tells what he has been. The true grounds of glorying are given in the next clause of the text: Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me. The knowledge of God–a knowledge of those supreme qualities or attributes which belong to the higher nature, a knowledge of the great elements which constitute God–this may be gloried in; but men have gloried in their knowledge of gods that were contemptible. There was not a decent god in all antiquity, such that if a man were like it he could respect himself. The passions of men were the basis of their character. Therefore it is not enough that you glory in a god. Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. It is as if He had said, I am the Lord that exerciseth loving kindness without any regard to return, and without any limitation. I am continually developing, through the ages, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust. I am a God of lenity, of goodness, of kindness; but the kindness is not merely superficial–it is kindness springing out from the heart of God That is the glory of God: and who would not-be-known as glorying in it? Now, knowing this, being penetrated with a sense of having such a God, of living in communion with Him, of beholding Him by the inward sight–having this ideal of life constitutes a knowledge that exalts, strengthens, and purifies men. But take the qualities that make the true man, as set forth in Scripture–the man in Christ Jesus. How many men can glory in themselves because they have conformed their lives to these qualities? If a man, being a mineralogist, has a finer crystal than anybody else, he rather glories in it, and says, You ought to see mine. If a man is a gardener, and has finer roses than anybody else, he glories in them. He may go to his neighbours garden, and praise the flowers that he sees there; but he says, I should like to have you come over and see my roses; and he shows them with pride. Nobody shuts his own garden gate when he goes to see his neighbours garden. He carries his own with him. Men glory in such outward things; but how many glory in those diamonds, those sapphires, those precious stones which all the world recognise as the finest graces of the soul? How many men glory because they have the true, universal, Christian benevolence of love? Have you in yourself any ideal? Are you aiming for character, for condition, or for reputation–which is the poorest of them all? It is worth a mans while to be able to answer to himself the question, What am I living for? What is it that incites me? Is it vanity? Is it the animal instincts? Is it the external conditions of life? Or, is it the internal elements of manhood, that take hold upon God and heaven? (H. W. Beecher.)

On the insufficiency of human wisdom, power, and riches

I. The prohibitions contained in the text.

1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Men may be wise in their own conceit,–they may be wise and prudent in the opinion of others,–their measures and counsels may be, apparently, wisely devised; yet God can and frequently does frustrate their counsels, and turn the wisdom of man into foolishness.

2. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. What is man, the strongest man, but dust, turned into dust, crushed by the mighty power of God, as a moth is crushed between the fingers? Just consider upon how little the life of the strongest man depends,–on so trifling a thing as the respiration of a little air; that being stopped, he dies. Nor is the combined power of the many, able to stand at all against the will and the power of God.

3. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. To hear men talk of their thousands, and to observe them pursuing wealth, one might suppose that riches bestowed every happiness and produced every safety. Yet ask the rich man if he is happy; and he will answer, if he honestly answer, No. Is he free from the fear of evil? can he bribe death and prolong his short life? can he redeem his soul from hell?

4. It is not only folly to glory in or boast of wisdom, strength, and riches; but it is also sinful; it is idolatry; it is setting aside the Lord God as our strength and our portion.

II. The command in the text. But let him that glorieth, glory in this, etc. That man alone is truly wise in whose heart the knowledge of the Lord is treasured up; and who reduces that knowledge to practice; and that man alone is truly blessed who so far understands and knows the Lord, as to put his trust at all times in the Lord God of Israel. This knowledge and understanding of the Lord God in all His adorable perfections, as revealed in His holy Word, and as He is reconciled in Christ Jesus, are of immensely greater value than all the wisdom, and all the power, and all the riches which this world can bestow.

1. The Lord exerciseth loving kindness in the earth. They who through faith in Christ have Jehovah for their Father,–their portion,–have all that can satisfy an immortal soul throughout eternity. Of His loving kindness they have experience; and their experience teaches them that Gods loving kindness is better than life, and therefore their lips praise Him.

2. The Lord also exerciseth judgment in the earth. While He delights in visiting the humble soul, and the penitent soul, and the believing soul, with tokens of His loving kindness, He also visits the impenitent, the unbelieving, the proud, with His sore judgments: and sometimes in this world He makes them lasting monuments of His awful justice.

3. The Lord also exerciseth righteousness in the earth. For the exercise of righteousness, the Lords omniscience, hatred of sin, love of holiness, power, and faithfulness, fully qualify Him.

Conclusion–

1. To those who trust and glory in human wisdom, strength, and riches. Know we not that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God? and that power belongeth unto God?

2. To those who in some measure know the Lord and glory in Him. Your knowledge is still but small and imperfect: for, how little a portion is heard of Him! but the thunder of His power who can understand? Still, enough of Him and of His ways may be known here for every necessary purpose. Walk as children of light. Seek also an increase of light by studying the Word of God; by earnest and diligent prayer, that the Spirit of truth may open your mind to behold, to comprehend more and more, the truths which are revealed in that Word. (E. Edwards.)

On the grounds of pride

I. The various forms of pride.

1. High birth is one of those external circumstances which give rise to pride. Ever since civil society has existed, a certain respect for antiquity of descent has been maintained. But if we reflect on the origin of this deference we shall find that, so far from affording a foundation for pride, it suggests many reasons for its exclusion. Do you, proud man! look back with complacency on the illustrious merits of your ancestors? Show yourself worthy of them, by imitating their virtues, and disgrace not the name you bear by a conduct unbecoming a man. Nothing can be conceived more inconsistent than to exult in illustrious ancestry, and to do what must disgrace it; than to mention, with ostentation, the distinguished merits of progenitors, and to exhibit a melancholy contrast to them in character. After all, what is high birth? Does it bestow a nature different from that of the rest of mankind? Has not the man of ancient line human blood in his veins? Does he not experience hunger and thirst? Is he not subject to disease, to accidents, and to death; and must not his body moulder in the grave, as well as that of the beggar?

2. Perhaps the proud man is invested with a title. Remember, however, that this is an appellation of honour, and not of disgrace, and the greatest disgrace any person can incur, is the assumption of sentiments unworthy of human nature. Have you obtained your distinction by your own merit? Continue to deserve and adorn it by your exertions for the common welfare, and by a behaviour which indicates that you consider yourself as a member of society. Has your title been transmitted to you from your ancestors? I say to you, as I said to the man proud of his birth: beware lest their honours be tarnished by your contemptible enjoyment of them!

3. Some are proud of office. Were offices instituted for the general benefit, or for the private gratification of the individuals to whom they are severally assigned? This question the proud man himself will not venture to decide in favour of his own pretensions. With what appearance of justice, then, can the man, who is intrusted with the common interest, pretend to look, with a contemptuous eye, on any honest member of the community?

4. Riches, affording a more substantial and productive possession than either birth, titles, or public office, may seem to lay a better foundation for pride. The man who enjoys them is in some measure independent of others, and may command their services when he pleases. He may, therefore, have some ground for treating them with disdain. I must confess that persons who possess an opulent fortune, as well as those who are placed in the higher stations of society, have many opportunities of observing the servile obsequiousness of mankind, and may, therefore, be tempted to despise them. But this is not, in strict propriety of speech, that contempt of others which arises from external circumstances alone. It is a contempt of contemptible qualities. Are you, in reality, proud of your wealth? Show me what title that wealth gives you to deprive your fellow men of their just portion of respect!

5. Corporeal advantages constitute the subjects of that pride with which many are infected. They value themselves on their strength, or on their beauty. Let the strongest man consider that the horse or the ox is still his superior in point of corporeal vigour; that his individual power is of little avail against the united force of his fellow men, whom he affects to brave; and that a fever will make him weaker than the child in the nurses arms. When a man exults in the elegance of his person, although this folly be not uncommon, especially in youth, nothing can be conceived more ridiculous. But this source of pride is more frequent among the daughters of Eve, who seem sometimes to consider personal attractions as the chief distinction of character. Let her, whose pride centres in her beauty, consider what her figure will be in the grave!

6. Sensible of the utter insignificance of external advantages of any kind, as a ground of exultation, there are Who value themselves exclusively on their genius, their erudition, their wit, or even on their religion. Such persons are most ready to laugh at the fool who is proud of anything but mind. The prophet, however, was of opinion, that even wisdom itself is no subject of glory. By the term wisdom, in the text, he understands those mental qualities which attract the admiration of the world. By converting thy abilities into sources of vain-glory, thou displayest thy ignorance of their end, contractest their utility, by limiting them to thy own narrow sphere instead of diffusing their salutary influence through the wide circle of humanity, and subvertest thy own importance by relinquishing the honourable distinction of a necessary part of the great community of mankind. Dost thou boast of thy genius and thy knowledge, abstracted from mildness and benevolence? Reflect that the most miserable and odious being in the universe is also possessed of abilities infinitely superior to those of the most sagacious of the sons of men!

7. Religious pride is, if possible, still more odious and absurd than that just now mentioned. It is a combination of shocking inconsistencies. It unites confession of sin with self-righteousness, humility before God with insolence towards men, supplication for mercy with the assumption of merit, the prospect of heaven with the temper of hell.

II. The only solid foundation of self-esteem. He who understandeth God has his soul impressed with all that is grand and sublime, is capable of contemplating Deity, and beholds every terrestrial object sink in comparison. He that knoweth God is acquainted with infinite perfection, and has acquired the conception, though still obscure and faint, of unerring wisdom, of consummate rectitude, of inexhaustible beneficence, of irresistible power, of all that can exalt, astonish, and delight the soul These attributes, brought to his view by frequent adoration, he must admire, and love, and imitate. This is the true dignity of human nature, restored, by grace, to that state from which it had been degraded by sin, nay, raised to higher capacities and expectations than were granted to primitive innocence. The more we aspire after this excellence, the more ambitious of this exaltation we become, the more is our nature improved and our happiness increased and extended. This is the glory of a Christian, of an immortal soul, of an expectant of heaven, of a blessed spirit! (W. L. Brown, D. D.)

Of false glorying

Such is the weakness of our nature, that if Providence hath conferred upon us any remarkable quality, either of body or mind, we are apt to boast ourselves because of it. In our more serious moments we must condemn such vanity; but pride is so natural to man, that we find it difficult to subdue.

I. The natural or acquired endowments of the mind. A great genius, fine parts, and shining talents, are strong temptations to glorying. When a man is conscious that his understanding is more enlightened, his judgment sounder, his invention finer, his knowledge more extensive than that of the rest of mankind, he is in great danger of indulging a little vanity. Yet, still, there is no foundation for boasting. If those accomplishments are natural they are the gift of God, and call Him their Author. If they are acquired we owe them in a great measure to the attention and labour of others, who have contributed to improve them. What a poor figure would the greatest genius have made without books and a master! Like the diamond in the mine, it must have remained in its natural state, rough and unpolished. It is education and letters which enable men to make a figure in life. Besides, is it not Providence which places us in superior circumstances, and enables us to prosecute sciences and arts? After all, what is the so-much-boasted wisdom of the wise? Is it not at best, only a less degree of folly? How shallow is their understanding and how circumscribed their knowledge! Let me add, how liable is the greatest genius and the finest scholar to have his faculties deranged! A fall from a horse, a tile from a house, a fever in the brain, will impair the judgment and disturb the reason of the greatest philosopher.

II. The superior qualities of the body. A fine face and an elegant figure are engaging things, and mankind have held them in a certain degree of admiration. Hence the possessors of those properties have sometimes become proud and vain. But what is beauty? A piece of polished earth, a finer species of clay, regularly adjusted by the great Creator! Those upon whom He hath bestowed it had no hand in the workmanship, and contributed nothing to finish it. Instead of being puffed up more than others, they should be more humble, because they are greater debtors to Providence. How little reason such have to be vain, we have many striking examples; an inveterate jaundice, a malignant fever, a rapid consumption, will spoil the finest complexion and impair the stoutest constitution. It were well if the fairest of this worlds children would aspire after something more durable than looks and dress; even to have the image of God drawn upon the heart, and the life of Christ formed within them.

III. The more elevated circumstances of our lot. It is no doubt natural to prefer independence and ease, to straits and toil. Who does not wish to live in plenty, rather than in penury? Yet what is an immense quantity of gold and silver? It is no better than dust, a little more refined, upon which men have agreed to put a certain value. If it is hoarded up it is no better than stone or sand. If it is wasted and spent it is no longer ours, but the property of another; and how quickly riches change masters, we have every day striking examples. Riches are intrusted to men as stewards, and they are accountable for the use which they make of them. If they employ them for the honour of God and for the benefit of their fellow creatures, they are a valuable talent, and shall receive an ample recompense; but if they minister to pride and vanity, to profusion and luxury, to avarice and oppression, they are to be accounted a curse. Honours and titles are no better foundation for glory than opulence. If they have been transmitted by our ancestors, we have derived them from them; if they have been conferred, directly, by the king, we are indebted to him; and we are under greater obligations for such an act of favour. At best, what are they but an empty name? They may procure a person precedence, and a little more respect; but they can contribute nothing to his dignity of character. Again, the voice of fame is a bewitching thing, and numbers have been strangely captivated with it. Hence they have courted it with the greatest servility, and by the lowest means. There is nothing so humbling to which they have not submitted, to gain this empty sound. Have not some sacrificed the principles of honour, of conscience, of integrity, to obtain applause? And what is so precarious and uncertain as the breath of a multitude? It is fickle as the wind, and variable as the weather.

IV. The religious acquirements which we may have attained. It is the voice of reason, and the language of Scripture, that every good and perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights. In us dwelleth no good thing! On the contrary, we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. If then a good work has been begun in us, it hath been imparted to us by the Spirit of God, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Are your understandings more enlightened, your wills more submissive, your affections more spiritual, your morals more pure, you owe it to a Divine influence. There cannot be a stronger evidence that we are entire strangers to grace, than that of thinking of ourselves above what we ought to think. The very nature of grace is to give all the glory to God. The more of it we receive, the more self-denied will we become. The obvious conclusion from this subject is, that pride was never made for man. It originated in hell, and is the offspring of guilt. Let us tear it from our bosoms as the most unwarrantable and unchristian disposition which we can possibly cherish. (David Johnston, D. D.)

Human glorying corrected

I. The things in which not to glory.

1. Those which to the natural man seem most desirable–wisdom, strength, riches.

2. Those in which these Jews inclined presumptuously to boast–external, carnal advantages.

II. Every man must have something in which to glory.

1. That which he esteems as his highest blessing and honour.

2. God sets before us the best objects of glorying.

(1) Me; both understood and known.

(2) The qualities in which God delights.

Mercy, or loving kindness, as opposed to their vaunted strength. Judgment, and righteousness, as opposed to their oppression of the weak and distressed. (J. P. Lange.)

A prohibited and a sanctioned glory

I. The glorying which is prohibited by God.

1. Glorying in wisdom is the glorification of self; therefore forbidden. The mind that knows and the subjects known are both from God.

2. Glorying in strength is forbidden as self-glorification. History shows Gods repudiation of this boast: in destruction of Sennacheribs army, decline and fall of empires founded on mere force, etc.

3. Glorying in wealth is forbidden as self-glorification. Sad to behold a spirit entombed in a mausoleum of gold and silver.

II. The glorying which is Divinely sanctioned. To glory is an instinct in man; is right, therefore, where the object is worthy of him. God here presents Himself. There is a gradation set before us:

1. Understanding God. Early education calls this into exercise; events of life afford it discipline; profound, spiritual verities may be by it examined.

2. Knowing God. This is more than understanding Him. Eternity will reveal new deeps of Gods eternal love and being.

3. In the understanding and knowledge of God, the spirit of man glories, and may glory forever. God glories in our glorying in Him. (W. R. Percival.)

False and true glory

I. What we are not to glory in.

1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Neither in the largeness and compass of his knowledge and understanding, nor in his skill and dexterity in the contrivance and conduct of human affairs.

(1) Because the highest pitch of human knowledge and wisdom is very imperfect.

(2) Because when knowledge and wisdom are with much difficulty in any competent measure attained, how easily are they lost.

2. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might.

(1) If we understand it of the natural strength of mens bodies, how little reason is there to glory in that, in which so many of the creatures below us do by so many degrees excel us!

(2) Or, if by might we understand military force and power, how little likewise is that to be gloried in, considering the uncertain events of war, and how very often and remarkably the providence of God doth interpose to cast the victory on the unlikely side!

3. Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

(1) Riches are things without us–the accidental ornaments of our fortune.

(2) At the best, they are uncertain.

(3) Many men have an evil eye upon a good estate; so that instead of being the means of our happiness, it may prove the occasion of our ruin.

II. What it is that is matter of true glory.

1. The wisest and surest reasonings in religion are grounded upon the unquestionable perfections of the Divine nature. Divine revelation itself does suppose these for its foundation, and can signify nothing to us unless these be first known and believed: for unless we be first firmly persuaded of the providence of God, and of His particular care of mankind, why should we suppose that He makes any revelation of His will to us? Unless it be first naturally known that God is a God of truth, what ground is there for the belief of His Word?

2. The nature of God is the true idea and pattern of perfection and happiness; and therefore nothing but our conformity to it can make us happy. He who is the Author and fountain of happiness cannot convey it to us by any other way than by planting in us such dispositions of mind as are in truth a kind of participation of the Divine nature; and by enduing us with such qualities as are the necessary materials of happiness: and a man may as soon be well without health as happy without goodness. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)

False and true grounds of glorying

I. False grounds of confidence.

1. The wisdom here meant is not heavenly, but earthly wisdom; that penetration and sagacity which many naturally possess, and some to a considerable degree; or that knowledge of various kinds about the things of this world, which they acquire by study and experience. Why should not the man who has wisdom, glory in it? Because all such glorying is vain; because he has at last no real foundation for glorying; because, after all, his wisdom cannot secure success, and may prove in the end, and if gloried in certainly will prove, to have been foolishness. It is the Lord who gives success, and whose counsel alone will stand.

2. By might we may understand either strength or power; strength of body, or the power of rank, station, or influence. There is no real ground for confidence in these things. As there is no king saved by the multitude of his host; so a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. The mightiest empires have been suddenly overthrown, and the most powerful monarchs destroyed in a moment.

3. How continually do we see people trusting in their wealth, and boasting themselves in the multitude of their riches! But how vain is such confidence! It is like leaning on a broken reed.

II. Thy true ground of glorying.

1. The knowledge of God, here meant, is a knowledge of Him in His true character and perfections. It is a knowledge of Him as being at once a merciful Father and a righteous Judge; a just God, and yet a Saviour; abounding in mercy, love, and truth; and at the same time hating iniquity, and who will by no means clear the guilty. The knowledge spoken of in the text is an inward, heartfelt, experimental knowledge of Him. It is such a belief of Him in our hearts, as leads us to fear and love Him, to rely on and confide in Him. It is a knowledge founded on trial and experience.

2. They who know the Lord, in the manner that has been described, have a sure ground of glorying. They glory in that which will never fail, deceive, or disappoint them. (E. Cooper, M. A.)

False and true glorying

I. There is a disposition in men to glory and self-confidence on account of the personal accomplishments which distinguish them in the eyes of their fellow creatures.

1. Bodily strength inspires the idea of great actions in its possessors, and frequently makes them arrogant and proud. It induces them to assume what does not belong to them, to violate the properties of life, and to carry about with them a spirit of defiance and insult in their intercourse with their fellow creatures.

2. Worldly wisdom inspires confidence more than that which is attached to the grosser qualities of the human frame; and no men are more in danger of being wise in their own eyes than those who possess this quality.

3. Nothing is so calculated to fill men with insufferable pride as the possession of extraordinary riches. It produces a semblance of homage or respect–it commands the services of mankind–it levies a contribution on all nature and society, and gives to those who possess it a sort of universal empire; and it is not at all to be wondered at that these minds are more tempted by pride and glory than those who seek to be distinguished by worldly wisdom.

II. The false and erroneous basis on which these sentiments of glory and self-confidence are founded.

1. Neither separately taken, nor in their combined form, will they ever teach their possessors their true use; but they frequently turn to hurt, not only to society at large, but to their own possessors.

2. These things are utterly incapable, either separately or combined, of supplying some of the most pressing wants, and avoiding some of the most obvious evils to which our nature is exposed.

3. They are of a very transient duration and possession.

III. There is an object which is of such a nature that it will justify the glory, the confidence, the self-satisfaction, which it is declared ought not for a moment to be connected with those which are before enumerated.

1. True religion will teach us the proper regulation and employment of all these endowments.

2. There is a perpetuity and pledge of future and eternal felicity in the religion of Jesus Christ; not only that which produces present tranquillity and peace, but that which furnishes the pledge of an enduring and eternal happiness. (R. Hall, M. A.)

The Gospel the only security for eminent and abiding national prosperity

The Jewish nation had come to rely on their wealth, power, and political wisdom.

I. The inefficacy of the common grounds of confidence.

1. Reason has been appealed to, but its impotence in the conflict with passion, ignorance, and irreligion is demonstrated on every page of history.

2. Education has been relied upon, but knowledge and virtue are not inseparable. Philosophy, culture, the arts, did not save Rome or Greece from ruin.

3. The efforts of philosophy to reform and elevate mankind have proved signal failures in the past.

4. National wealth is thought to be the perfection of prosperity. But in all ages and lands it has proved the most active and powerful cause of national corruption.

5. Nor is military genius and prowess any safer ground of confidence than wealth, as the history of nations illustrates with solemn and awful significance.

6. Political wisdom, statesmanship, the boast and confidence of nations, is inadequate to secure and perpetuate national prosperity.

7. Our boasted free institutions, bought and maintained at immense sacrifices, and the envy of the nations, are not a guarantee of the future.

II. There is efficacy in the Gospel of the grace of God, and nowhere else, to secure eminent and abiding national prosperity. It was devised and bestowed upon mankind for this purpose; and in its principles, provisions, institutions, and moral tendencies, it is eminently adapted to elevate, purify, and bless nations as well as individual man. The proofs of its power to do this are not wanting. See the effect of Christianity on the laws and institutions of the old Roman Empire–on the social and political life of Germany at the Reformation–on our own history and destiny as a nation by means of our Pilgrim Fathers–on the condition of the Sandwich Islands, and in South Africa among the Hottentots. Hence patriotism demands of the Christian Church today earnest prayer and the faithful application of the Gospel. (Homiletic monthly.)

False and true grounds of glorying

I. The reasons why the wise man should not glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty in his might, nor the rich man in his riches.

1. All these things are the gifts of God, and have neither power nor potency without Him.

2. They are all of uncertain continuance. As no man can call them into existence, so no man can command their stay.

3. It ought to moderate our tendency to glory in riches, to remember by what huckstering practices, by what base, material means they are usually got.

4. Further, wisdom, power, and riches are all things which we must leave at death, even if they do not before leave us.

II. In what we may safely glory.

1. The knowledge of God affords a just ground for glorying, first, because God Himself, the object of it, surpasses all created excellencies. He combines in Himself in a transcendent degree whatever is deep in wisdom, whatever is majestic in might, whatever is rich in goodness.

2. This knowledge of God as being actually all that to His believing people which they can need is worthy of being gloried in, as distinguished from human wisdom, might, or riches, because it places mans confidence on an unshaken basis; and because, moreover, it is a kind of knowledge which elevates while it humbles the mind, satisfies its desires while it invites the exercise of all its powers; fills it with pure, noble, enduring excellence, expires not, but only becomes perfected at death, and fits the soul for the permanent occupations and enjoyments of the eternal state. (Stephen Jenner, M. A.)

True and false complacencies

I. False sources of human complacency.

1. It is a false complacency when men prefer a lower to a higher species of good, when they prefer the material to the moral, the external to the internal possessions. If a man makes the culture of his soul the supreme concern of life, a due regard to riches will not injure him, because they become, in that case, a means to a worthy end. But if, ignoring his inward life, he fixes all his trust, and finds his treasure in something external, the passion for riches must lead in the end to the corruption of his character.

2. There is the preference of the physical or natural to the spiritual attributes of being. What is force without conscience? What is will without righteousness? What is might without mercy? It is like the blind fury of the earthquake, the hurricane, or the avalanche, inspiring terror, wonder, and pity, but no true joy to the rational part of the man.

3. There is the preference of the intellectual to the spiritual. While the pursuit of wisdom is of all the noblest to which we can devote ourselves, provided it be inspired by religion, it is, perhaps, of all the most disappointing if that inspiration be wanting. Of what profit this weariness of the flesh, this aching brow, these nightly vigils, this impaired health? How bitterly have such men, from Ecclesiastes downwards, turned in satire upon the wisdom they had spent a lifetime in acquiring. But it is not wisdom, it is the untrue spirit in which wisdom has been pursued, that deserves the satire. Had they from the first yielded up their souls to intercourse with the Father of Lights, had they cultivated wisdom as a gift and emanation from Himself, to be used in the service of His creatures, these disappointments might have been avoided.

II. What, then, is the true source of the souls complacency? It is to be found in the knowledge of the eternal God.

1. We believe in His just and merciful administration of the worlds affairs. He exercises loving kindness, justice, and right in the earth.

2. We believe in the essential goodness of God. In these things I delight, saith Jehovah. He governs the world in right and in love, because He is in Himself a righteous and a loving Being. Nowhere does the righteousness of God more impress the conscience, fill the soul with a deeper awe, than at the foot of that cross, where He was made sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And nowhere do the beams of the eternal mercy break forth more brightly from the parting sky than above that cross. There the grace that pardons sin, that justifies the sinner, that plucks up the love of sin by the roots, that pours the balm of celestial hope and peace into our wounds, the grace that deeply humbles, yet nobly exalts us, is ever revealed. (E. Johnson, M. A.)

Duty of a prosperous nation

I. What it is for a prosperous nation to rejoice in themselves.

1. It is to rejoice in their own national prosperity because it is their own, and superior to that of other nations.

2. A people rejoice in themselves when they ascribe their national prosperity to their own self-sufficiency.

II. What it is for nation in prosperity to rejoice in God.

1. It is to understand and know that God is the Governor of the world.

2. For a nation in prosperity to rejoice in God implies rejoicing, not only that He governs the world, but that He displays His great and amiable perfections in governing it.

(1) There is reason to rejoice in the judgment or wisdom God displays in the government of the world.

(2) There is reason to rejoice in the moral rectitude and perfect righteousness which God displays in the government of the world.

(3) There is reason to rejoice in the perfect benevolence which God displays in the government of the world. He is continually doing as much good as His wisdom, His justice, His power, and His goodness enable Him to do.

III. This is the duty of all mankind, especially of every nation in the day of prosperity.

1. Because God has given them all their national prosperity.

2. Because He only, in His governing goodness, can promote and preserve their prosperity.

Application–

1. We have seen what it is for a people, in prosperity, to rejoice in themselves, and to rejoice in God, and that these two kinds of rejoicing are entirely opposite to each other. The one is right and the other is wrong; the one is pleasing and the other displeasing to God.

2. Have we not reason to fear that our national prosperity will be followed with national calamities and desolating judgments? (N. Emmons, D. D.)

Pride of worldly greatness

As that is a rebellious heart in which sin is allowed to reign, so that is not a very enlarged heart which the world can fill. Alas, what will it profit us to sail before the pleasing gales of prosperity, if we be afterwards overset by the gusts of vanity? Your bags of gold should be ballast in your vessel to keep her always steady, instead of being topsails to your masts to make your vessel giddy. Give me that distinguished person, who is rather pressed down under the weight of all his honours, than puffed up with the blast thereof. It has been observed by those who are experienced in the sport of angling, that the smallest fishes bite the fastest. Oh, how few great men do we find so much as nibbling at the Gospel hook! (T. Seeker.)

Baseless pride

Many a man is proud of his estate or business–of the economy, order, and exact adjustment of part to part, which mark its management, who ought, to be very much ashamed of the neglected state of his conscience and heart. Many a woman is proud of her diamonds, who cares little for the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. It is his conscience and heart, not his estate or business, it is her spirit, not her diamonds, which he and she will carry into the eternal world with them; and if God will only induce them to cultivate spirit, and conscience, and heart, by taking their diamonds and possessions away from them, is it not most merciful of Him to take these away, and so quicken them unto life eternal?

The true ground of glorying

The passage assumes that it is right to glory, and the tendency of our nature is to glory in one thing or another. The heart of man cannot remain empty. If you dont fill it with one thing, it will fill itself with another. If you dont tell man of the true God to worship, he will worship a false one.

I. A solemn prohibition.

1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.

(1) Primarily, the reference is to the wisdom of statesmen, to political sagacity, and forethought. These are not to be gloried in, as the only way of escaping from political difficulties, or averting impending disaster and coming judgments. Political sagacity is not a thing always to be trusted. It does not always bring peace with honour. It may be another name for ambition–for the power of outwitting your neighbour, and, under some pretence or other, invading anothers country, and destroying his liberty. It may have its root near low cunning, cheating, and chicanery. Let us rest assured that in all schemes of political sagacity, whatever their seeming success for a while, unless they are founded on principles of justice and righteousness, disaster and ruin will ensue. For God–who ruleth all the worlds–will do right; and He has said that, while righteousness alone exalteth a nation, sin is the reproach of any people.

(2) The text refers, secondarily, to glorying in wisdom of all kinds–the wisdom of the student, the scholar, the philosopher. Men are more apt to be proud of mental gifts and intellectual acquirements than of any other thing. There is an innate splendour, an imperial dignity, about them which does not attach to such worldly possessions as riches, gold, silver, jewellery. The man of great wisdom and intellectual gifts may be inclined from his elevated place, from his eyrie heights, to look with pity, with contempt, on the traffickers in small things–the trader, the handler of tools–while he himself is occupied with thoughts big as the infinite, vast as immensity, and long as the ages. And yet his pride may be checked by the thought of his utter dependence for his thinking power on the Divine hand. No gift comes more directly from the hand of God than mental power. A little clot of blood will paralyse the active brain, and fling reason from its throne. Then, how small after all is the sum of his knowledge and his vaunted wisdom. How men now laugh at the astrology, the chemistry, and the physical theories of other days! And so, as truth is infinite and knowledge advancing, the thought that the time will come when our philosophies shall have passed, when succeeding generations will wonder that we ever believed them, when they shall look on our advances in knowledge and wisdom as the groping of children in the darkness, and estimate our present savants and scientific men as the merest sciolists and drivellers, this thought may well clothe us with humility. Besides, unaided human wisdom could not find out God. Men tried the problem long, but it became the darker and deeper. Didnt Paul find the ignorance of the most enlightened nation on earth registered in the public square when he said–Whom, therefore, you ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you?

2. Glorying in might is prohibited.

(1) Military prowess. Other nations might, if they pleased, glory in their vast armaments, but Israel was not allowed to do so. Her strength was in the Lord. Their armaments didnt preserve those nations. Assyria is overthrown, her glory is gone, and Egypt is this day in the hands of strangers. Have the nations of Europe nothing to learn here? Napoleon I, at the head of his legions, made the world stand in awe of him. He overthrew Austria at Austerlitz, and then sprang upon the Prussian army, and smashed its power at Jena. But he in turn is worsted at Waterloo, and we see him gnawing his heart on a rock at the equator. Napoleon III, little more than twenty years ago, considered himself the arbiter of the peace of Europe. He gloried in his might. In overweening pride he attacked Germany. She turned upon him in righteous indignation, pulled the imperial crown from his head, and sent him an exile to another land. Our military prowess and scientific frontiers, our naval strength and greatness, will do little for us, if Gods arm be lifted up in anger against us. Why, not long ago, the storm seized our guard ship Ajax, one of our most powerful ironclads, and made a play thing of her at the Mull of Cantyre; and more recently the Bay of Biscay grew angry with the Serpent warship, and flung her a shipwrecked thing on the Spanish shore.

(2) The prohibition refers also to the individual. How apt are we, in days of health and strength, when life is a joy, and the movement of our limbs a music, to put the day of sickness far from us, to fancy that the clear eye will never be dimmed, the strong arm never be palsied, and the heart, now so warm, will continue to beat and throb with unfailing vigour. We may see the sick, the frail, and the weak around, but we are inclined to look upon them as a class different from ourselves. Is there not a secret glorying in all this? How foolish is this! For who can do battle with the King of terrors?

3. Then you are not to glory in riches. Nothing is more contemptible than that a man should be proud simply because he happens to have a good account at his bankers, or a great deal of money in his purse. Why, any man, however worthless, who makes a happy hit may have that–a gambler on the Stock Exchange or a pawnbroker. How uncertain are riches as a possession! How many homes have we seen made desolate! How many households broken up and families scattered during recent years! I am not insisting on the uselessness of money. I am not inveighing against the possession of wealth. I am only cautioning you against making it the source of your happiness, or the ground of your glorying; for it cannot satisfy the deepest needs of the human heart. Didnt Queen Elizabeth, on her deathbed, say–I would give ten thousand pounds for an hour of life? Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

II. An exact direction. Let him that glorieth, etc. Here is the subject of glorying. Understanding God, and knowing Him practically, so as to love Him and walk in His ways. To understand Him is now possible, for He has made known His ways to men. His whole dealings with His people are a revelation of Himself. To know God is now possible; for He hath revealed Himself in the person of His own dear Son, who is the brightness of the Fathers glory, and the express image of His person. We may understand and know Him as thus revealed; and if we do, we may glory. If you rejoice in any other, after kindling a few sparks, you will lie down in sorrow; but if you glory in knowing God, that is a thing which, stretching into eternity, casts a shadow over the brightest sublunary splendours, and remains an everlasting possession. (J. Macgregor, M. A.)

He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord

There is a French proverb to the effect that to do sway with one thing you must put another in its place. Men must glory in one thing or other, and so it is not enough that we be told what not to glory in, but we must also be told what we are to glory in. We need a word, Thou shalt not; but to give that word force, and make it last, we need another word, Thou shalt do this.

I. The false glorying which we are warned against. Glorying here means far more than mere coarse, outward strut and brag. We are all ready enough to blame that, if not to laugh at it. There may be a far deeper, stronger pride, and glorying, which is quiet and calm and hidden. Indeed, if you think of it, the worst sort of pride is not what is shown by outward braveries. The man who parades his finery, and is so anxious to strike us with astonishment and awe, shows so much concern for our opinion, and is so set upon making an impression on us, that we cannot help feeling flattered: his huge effort to stand high in our eyes, and stir our astonishment, must be complimentary. And even when he walks with his chin in the air, or prances proudly past us, or looks down loftily from a great height, we must see in all that proof that he thinks a good deal about us, and is by no means indifferent to the impression he is making. Whereas, a really prouder man, haughtier and more scornful, might be far too careless of us, or our judgment, to take any trouble about us: might scorn to make us feel how high he was, and care nothing whether we appreciated his greatness or no: heeds us no more than he does the birds that fly over his head, or peer at him from the hedges, and would as soon think of showing off before them as of standing on his dignity before common folk like you and me.

1. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.

(1) No doubt the chief thought in Jeremiahs mind is political wisdom, cunning devices of the statesman. At first sight it seems a cheap bargain to snatch the near profit and risk the anger of God. But in the end such wisdom turns to folly. Gods wisdom will last longest. The wisest thing in the end is always found to be the right, duty, obedience. And here is something which puts all men on a level; makes the simple equal to the genius. The differences between mere human smartness and sagacity only reach a very little way. It is so very little of the future that the best can foresee: and how precarious it all is! Whereas, righteousness and duty never change and never fail, and the wisdom of doing Gods will must show itself sooner or later.

(2) Pride of intellect. This is the most tempting of all kinds of pride, and the most stubborn. Often you could pay no greater compliment, and give no greater pleasure to a talented, clever, wise thinker, than to warn him against glorying too much in his intellectual superiority. There is no reaching these men. Raised aloft on a high pillar of self-sufficiency and self-satisfaction, happy and snug in the consciousness of their culture, cleverness, criticalness, they look down on all the world at their feet. In Gods sight what a farce this must be!

2. Might. Some trust in horses and some in chariots. The might of Israel was the presence and protection of God. What a shame for them to sink into dependence on arms and armies! Here, again, we must seek to apply the warning to our individual case. The apostle John speaks of the pride of life as one of the lusts of the world to be overcome. And, perhaps, there is nothing in which men more readily glory than in this hold of life. You may be too superstitious, actually, to boast about it, and may remember dimly the terrible suddenness of change, the chances of death, the risks of sickness, too much for you positively to glory aloud. But yet it is amazing how complacently, when we are in health and strength, we can look on the feeble and ailing, as if they belonged to a set apart from us; as if there was a class of people who were to be sickly and fragile whom we might pity, but to which we did not belong. This quiet, complacent self-satisfaction is really glorying in our strength. And the foolishness of this is seen herein, that there cannot in all the world be anything so certain to happen as the utter collapse of that glory in the case of every man and woman alive.

3. Riches. Money answereth all things, and is a very likely thing to glory in. It is the readiest power and easiest to enjoy, and therefore handiest for use. And though there is scarcely anything more senseless than purse pride, or haughtiness of heart on account of wealth, still nothing is more natural than trust in the power of the purse. Against this danger comes the prophets warning, calling us to remember how insecure is all wealth, and, therefore, all glory in wealth. How precarious our peace if wealth be its basis. Is not the history of our day full of desolate stories of swift and sudden disasters? But, besides, even though no such chance befall, how helpless riches are to heal the wounds and woes of life!

II. Right glorying. The cure of the false is by putting the true in its place. We have good news–a glory to tell of as blissful as the worlds fairy tale, and with this charm of charms, that it is all true, and sure, and everlasting,

1. Knoweth Me. How it leaps to the highest height at once! We have been too long lingering about the cisterns, the broken cisterns. And now, in a bound, we go to the wellspring of living waters, God Himself. There is no rest for you till you get there, till God is your portion. What a glad thing it is we can get that I that we all are offered it!

2. But observe what it is that is known about God particularly. The historical meaning, the thought in Jeremiahs mind, is this–that, instead of fretting, and fighting, and scheming, and sinning to hold their own among the rival nations, they should rather fall back on God the Ruler of all things, comfort themselves in calling on Him, glory in this that they know He is the Ruler among the nations, and will guide for good those who seek and serve Him. This is life eternal to know Thee. As a man seeking goodly pearls, sells all to get the one; as a man finding the treasure in the field, sells all else to get that field; so, having got this knowledge, the charm is gone from all else. The bare knowledge of the fact at once disenchants of all else. Think of a poor beggar begging alms, and, gathering them carefully in a wallet, keeping them safe, suddenly told of plenty and wealth come home I How the news, once known and believed, would make him fling away his wretched scraps, secure now of abundance of comforts.

3. Let him glory. It is not a mere saying, that it is a blessed thing should a man chance to do it, or be able to do it, but it is a counsel and command to do it. Do not keep propping up your peace with false trusts and props, but cast yourself on God. (R. Macellar.)

The pride of knowledge

Have you ever seen a boy blow up a bladder? It has not grown–it is puffed up! It has become big, but it is filled with wind, as a pin will demonstrate. Now, the apostle says, knowledge blows a man up, and makes him look big, so he seems to himself to be large. Love is the only thing that builds him up. The one swells him out, so that he appears greater than he really is. The other develops him by actual increase. The one bloats and the other builds him. The apostles declaration is, that the mere realm of ideas, the simple sphere of knowledge, tends to produce among men immense flabation, and a sense of importance, while love, the Spirit of Christ, is the thing which augments men, enlarges them, strengthens them, with foundations downward and a superstructure upward. (H. W. Beecher.)

Rich in grace rather than in goods

I have read of one who did not fear what he did, nor what he suffered, so that he might get riches; For, said he, men do not ask how good one is, or how gracious one is, but how rich one is. Oh, sirs, the day is coming, when God will ask how rich your souls are; not how rich you are in money, or in jewels, or in land, or in goods, but how rich you are in grace; which should provoke your souls to strive, in face of all discouragements, to be spiritually rich. (Thomas Brooks.)

Earthly riches unavailing

There are three things that earthly riches can never do; they can never satisfy Divine justice, they can never pacify Divine wrath, nor can they ever quiet a guilty conscience. And till these things are done man is undone. (Thomas Brooks.)

Knowing God-the greatest good

Twelve days before his death, little thinking it to be so near, Coleridge wrote to his godchild a remarkable letter, in which the following sentences occur–I declare unto you, with the experience that more than threescore years can give, that health is a great blessing, competence obtained by industry is a great blessing, and to have kind, faithful, loving friends and relatives is a great blessing; but that the greatest of all blessings, as it is the ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian.

Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me.

The knowledge of God

So much emphasis is laid upon knowledge by the writers of Scripture, from its earliest to its latest books, that we might almost say that knowledge is religion. Indeed, the Master Himself did say as much (Joh 17:3). Yet religious knowledge is not religion. That may be possessed by him who is ignorant of God, and lives without Him. Nevertheless, religious knowledge may be the foundation of religion–the material from which the Spirit draws the living fire of faith and love. A knowledge of the facts of the Gospel history is of infinite moment, because they so clearly, so impressively, so attractively show forth the hidden nature and unspeakable name of the Eternal. Their importance is evidenced by the fact that the whole of the epistles are devoted to an exposition of the purposes and meanings which are infolded in them. Yet we may master all these things intellectually, and not possess the knowledge of God–the knowledge to which the Scriptures attach such great importance, the knowledge which is eternal life. Clearly there is a knowledge within knowledge. So vitally necessary is the inner illumination, that one man may possess but little knowledge of the facts through which God has revealed Himself, and yet may know Him; and another may have an exhaustive knowledge of the facts, and not know Him at all. It is not religious knowledge that saves, but knowledge of God–knowledge of His mind, which is deeper than anything coming from His mind; knowledge of His heart, as heart only can know heart, by an instinct, a sympathy, an appreciation. Here we see the infinite worth of the life of Christ as manifesting God; because the Spirit that was in Him appeared in forms which we can best appreciate, and which are best adapted to impress our minds and hearts. We show ourselves to each other in a thousand ways, consciously and unconsciously, in the tone and manner in which we speak to a child, or give instructions to a servant, or address our equals; in the way in which we cherish or sacrifice our comforts; in the presence or absence of proofs of loving thoughtfulness. So read, the life of our blessed Lord and Master was continually giving some evidence of what God is, and was shedding light all along the pathway of men; into every dark valley and gloomy forest; upon every mystery and sorrow and care. We have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But let us try and still further unfold the method by which men come to the knowledge of God. The beloved disciple says: The Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Now, in what way is that understanding given? Partly by the historic Christ, partly by the Christ within. The one operation or manifestation of Christ must never exclude the other. To be with Christ is to acquire the power to know Him. To live in the Gospels is to understand Him who is their central figure, their Divine glory. Christ is the Light without; He also opens the eyes to see. He is the supreme revelation of God given for us to know; He also creates the spiritual understanding which apprehends the truth and glory and divinity of the revelation. Not by logic, then, do we attain to the knowledge of God, but by spiritual perception, by faith. And this knowledge of God is not a comprehension, but an apprehension, of Him, a seizing hold of Him by our spiritual sense, in response to the hold with which He has seized us. (J. P. Gledstone.)

How to learn about God

The knowledge of God is not a thing which can be fixed in the beginning, except in words; in its very nature, the knowledge of God among men must, to a large extent, be progressive; and it must follow the development of the race itself. There has been, and there is recognised in the Word of God from beginning to end, a steady progress in the disclosure of the Divine nature; and we see that in the thoughts respecting God among men there has been a gradual augmentation of the conception of the Divine character, arising from the process which I have already delineated. It is true that in the Bible there is much sublime portraiture representing the character of God; but, after all, no man knows God until he has personally found Him out in such a way as that he feels that God has touched him. No man can say, I know God as a living God. except so far as he has interpreted Him out of his own living consciousness. Now, suppose you say of God, He is just, true, righteous, pure, benevolent, lovely. Those qualities being enumerated, there will probably be a thousand different conceptions of the personality which they go to make up. What are the circumstances which will make this difference in your conceptions of the Divine nature? I will explain. Some there are who are far more sensible to physical qualities than others. The sublimity of power is to their thought one of the chief Divine attributes. God is omnipotent. That idea touches them. He is omniscient. Their eyes sparkle when they think of that. He is omnipresent. They have a sense of that. He is majestic. He has wondrous power. According to their conception He is God of all the earth. None can resist His might. That is your sense of God. If you only have such a God, you are satisfied. Another person wants a scientific God. He says, I perceive that there is a law of light, a law of heat, a law of electricity; I see that everything is fashioned by law; and my idea of God is that He must be supreme in science; that there are to be found in Him all those qualities which science is interpreting to me. His God will be just, generous, faithful; but He will be just, generous, faithful after the fashion of some Agassiz, or some Cuvier, or some Faraday. Another man conceives of God from the domestic side, It is the mother nature that he thinks of–the nature that is full of gentleness; full of kindness; full of sympathy; full of sweetness; full of elevated tastes and relishes; full of songs; full of all manner of joy-producing qualities. Another, who is an artist, will feel after the God of the rainbow–a God of beauty. So every person will be dependent upon the most sensitive parts of his own soul for his interpretation of God. What is it that makes one flower blue and another scarlet? No flower reflects all the light. If a flower is purple it absorbs a part and reflects the rest. If it is blue it absorbs some of the parts and reflects others. The same is true if it is red. And as it is with the colours of flowers, so it is with our conception of God. What you are susceptible of, and what you are sensitive to, in the Divine nature, largely determines what your conception of God is. Each individual puts emphasis on that part of the character of God which his own mind is best fitted to grasp. For instance, God is said to be a God of justice, of truth, and of benevolence. Now, which of those elements is first? Which governs the others? If God is first sternly just, and then suffers and is kind, that is one sort of God. If He is first loving, and then in the service of love is stern, and severe even, that is another kind of God. I hold that the emphasis which you put upon the Divine attributes determines the character of God in your mind; and when you say, I hold that God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, just, good, true, faithful, benevolent, you have said what this man says, what that man says, and what I say. We are all agreed, then, are we? Oh, no! If I could take a Daguerrean picture of the conception which each one forms of God, it would be found that one puts more emphasis on justice than love, and that another puts more emphasis on love than on justice. It would be found that one emphasises one attribute, and another its opposite; and that the conception which each one forms of the Divine character depends upon the quality which he emphasises most. The next question which you would naturally propound to me is, Since these are the ways in which God is conceived of by men, how shall each fashion in himself the living God? I call the Bible a picture gallery. It is an historical record which is open to all; but it behoves us each to have some conception which we call our God, our Fathers God, the living God. I know of no other way than that which has been practised by the race from the beginning. I know of no other way than for you, in filling out the catalogue which the Word of God gives you of the elements of the Divine nature, to employ the actual perceptions and experiences of this life, in order to kindle before your mind those qualities which otherwise would be abstract to you. Suppose, then, that you have built up in your mind, by some such process as this, a personal God–a God of your own–who fills the heaven with the best things you can conceive of, to which you are perpetually adding from the stores of your daily experience? for it seems to me that God is a name which becomes more and more by reason of the things which you add to it. Every element, every combination of elements, every development which carries with it a sweeter inspiration than it has been your wont to experience, you put inside of that name and you call it God. You are forever gathering up the choicest and most beautiful phases of human life; and with these you build your God. And then you have a living God adapted to your consciousness and personality. Now, let me ask you–for I come back to my text, whether it is not a good text to stand on? Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Why, he is a savant! He is a philosopher! He is world-renowned. He is bathed in peoples observation. Does not a man rejoice in that? A great many do. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. A great many men do rejoice in their might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. If that were obeyed it would upset New York in twenty-four hours. Now and then we are brought to the edge of the great invisible realm, and then we are made to feel that we need something besides wisdom, something besides might, and something besides riches. When a man lies sick in his house, feeling that all the world is going away from him, what can riches do for him? It can be of but little service to him then. When a man is fifty years of age, and he has large estates, and a high reputation as a citizen, if he is going to leave the world, what can his wealth do for him? If he knows that he is going fast toward the great invisible sphere, does he not need something to hold him up when the visible shall have broken down in this life? The great emergencies of your life make it needful that you should have something stronger than wealth, wiser than philosophy, sweeter than human love, mightier than time and nature: you need God. For when flesh and heart fail, then He is the strength of our soul, and our salvation forever. (H. W. Beecher.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom] Because God is the Fountain of all good, neither wisdom, nor might, nor riches, nor prosperity can come but from or through him. Nothing can be more rational than that the Source of all our blessings should be acknowledged. Riches cannot deliver in the day of death; strength cannot avail against him; and as a shield against him, our wisdom is foolishness.

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

The Jews did glory in the counsel of their wise men, the strength of the soldiers, and the wealth of their cities; but here God takes them off from their vain confidences, that neither their counsels and policy, Ecc 9:11, nor their forces and arms, Psa 33:16,17, nor their wealth or riches, Pro 11:4; Eze 7:19, should be able to deliver them from being either destroyed or carried captive by the Chaldeans. In these, or some of these, men are apt to put their confidences, and neglect God their only succour in distress; and therefore he puts them upon that in the next verse.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

23. wisdompolitical sagacity;as if it could rescue from the impending calamities.

mightmilitary prowess.

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

Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,…. Not in his natural wisdom, or knowledge of natural things: this is often but an appearance of wisdom, and is science falsely so called; and whatever is real of this kind is of God; and the best falls short of leading men to a true and saving knowledge of God; the foolishness of God is wiser than it; and it is made foolish, destroyed, and brought to nought by him: nor in evangelical wisdom and knowledge; not in that which is less common, or what fits men for public usefulness, as ministerial gifts; for such are received from above; are more for the use of others than a man’s self; there is something better than these, which a man may not have, and yet have these, which is grace; those may fade, or be taken away; and a man have them, and be lost eternally: nor in that which is more general, speculative knowledge of Gospel truths; for if it is attended with conceit, it is little or nothing that a man knows; if he is proud of it, his knowledge is not sanctified; and it is no other than what the devils themselves have: nor in that which is more special; wisdom in the inward part, or a spiritual and saving knowledge of God in Christ; this a man has wholly of free grace, and should give the praise and glory of it to God, and not attribute it to himself:

neither let the mighty man glory in his might; not in his natural might or strength; this is of God, and is greater in some of the brutes than in men; and is what God can take away, and does often weaken it in the way by diseases, and at last destroys it by death; nor in moral strength, or in the power of free will; which is very weak and insufficient to do anything that is spiritually good: nor even in spiritual strength; this is from Christ; it is only through him strengthening his people that they do what they do; and all supplies and increase of it are from him; and therefore no room for glorying:

let not the rich man glory in his riches; these come of the hand of God, and are what he can take away at pleasure; they are very uncertain and precarious things; there is a better and more enduring substance; these cannot profit in a day of wrath, nor deliver from death, corporeal, spiritual, or eternal. And the intention of the words here is to show, that neither the wise man with all his art and cunning, nor the mighty man by his strength, nor the rich man through his riches, could save themselves from the destruction before prophesied of. The Targum paraphrases them thus,

“thus saith the Lord, let not Solomon the son of David the wise man praise (or please himself) in his wisdom; nor let Samson the son of Manoah the mighty man please himself in his might; nor let Ahab the son of Omri the rich man please himself in his riches.”

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(9:22-23)

The True Wisdom. – It is not a reliance on one’s own wisdom and strength that brings well-being, but the knowledge of the Lord and of His dealings in grace and justice (Jer 9:22-25). Idolatry is folly, for the idols are the mere work of men’s hands; whereas Jahveh, the Almighty God, is ruler of the world (10:1-16). Israel will be made to understand this by the coming judgment (Jer 9:17-25).

Jer 9:22-25

The way of safety. – Jer 9:22. “Thus hath Jahveh said: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in his strength; let not the rich man glory in his riches: Jer 9:23. But let him that glorieth glory in this, in having understanding, and in knowing me, that I am Jahveh, dealing grace, right, and justice upon earth; for therein have I pleasure, saith Jahveh. Jer 9:24. Behold, days come, saith Jahveh, that I punish all the circumcised (who are) with foreskin, Jer 9:25. Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, Moab and them that have their hair-corners polled, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the heathen are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

After having overturned the foundations of the people’s false reliance on the temple, or the sacrifices, and in the wisdom of its leaders, Jeremiah finally points out the way that leads to safety. This consists solely in the true knowledge of the Lord who doth grace, right, and justice, and therein hath pleasure. In Jer 9:23 he mentions the delusive objects of confidence on which the children of this world are wont to pride themselves: their own wisdom, strength, and riches. These things do not save from ruin. Safety is secured only by “having understanding and knowing me.” These two ideas are so closely connected, that the second may be looked on as giving the nearer definition of the first. The having of understanding must manifest itself in the knowing of the Lord. The two verbs are in the infin. abs., because all that was necessary was to suggest the idea expressed by the verb; cf. Ew. 328, b. The knowledge of God consists in knowing Him as Him who doth grace, right, and justice upon earth. , grace, favour, is the foundation on which right and justice are based; cf. Jer 32:18; Psa 33:5; Psa 99:4; Psa 103:6. He who has attained to this knowledge will seek to practise these virtues towards his fellow-men, because only therein has God pleasure ( pointing back to the objects before mentioned); cf. Jer 22:3; Psa 11:7; Psa 37:28. But because the Lord has pleasure in right and justice, He will punish all peoples that do not practise justice.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Punishment Predicted.

B. C. 606.

      23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:   24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.   25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;   26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

      The prophet had been endeavouring to possess this people with a holy fear of God and his judgments, to convince them both of sin and wrath; but still they had recourse to some sorry subterfuge or other, under which to shelter themselves from the conviction and with which to excuse themselves in the obstinacy and carelessness. He therefore sets himself here to drive them from these refuges of lies and to show them the insufficiency of them.

      I. When they were told how inevitable the judgment would be they pleaded the defence of their politics and powers, which, with the help of their wealth and treasure, they thought made their city impregnable. In answer to this he shows them the folly of trusting to and boasting of all these stays, while they have not a God in covenant to stay themselves upon, Jer 9:23; Jer 9:24. Here he shows, 1. What we may not depend upon in a day of distress: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, as if with the help of that he could outwit or countermine the enemy, or in the greatest extremity find out some evasion or other; for a man’s wisdom may fail him when he needs it most, and he may fail him when he needs it most, and he may be taken in his own craftiness. Ahithophel was befooled, and counsellors are often led away spoiled. But, if a man’s policies fail him, yet surely he may gain his point by might and dint of courage. No: Let not the strong man glory in his strength, for the battle is not always to the strong. David the stripling proves too hard for Goliath the giant. All human force is nothing without God, worse than nothing against him. But may not the rich man’s wealth be his strong city? (money answers all things) No: Let not the rich man glory in his riches, for they may prove so far from sheltering him that they may expose him and make him the fairer mark. Let not the people boast of the wise men, and mighty men, and rich men that they have among them, as if they could make their part good against the Chaldeans because they have wise men to advise concerning the war, mighty men to fight their battles, and rich men to bear the charges of the war. Let not particular persons think to escape the common calamity by their wisdom, might, or money; for all these will prove but vain things for safety. 2. He shows what we may depend upon in a day of distress. (1.) Our only comfort in trouble will be that we have done our duty. Those that refused to know God (v. 6) will boast in vain of their wisdom and wealth; but those that know God, intelligently, that understand aright that he is the Lord, that have not only right apprehensions concerning his nature, and attributes, and relations to man, but receive and retain the impressions of them, may glory in this it will be their rejoicing in the day of evil. (2.) Our only confidence in trouble will be that, having through grace in some measure done our duty, we shall find God a God all-sufficient to us. We may glory in this, that, wherever we are, we have an acquaintance with an interest in a God that exercises lovingkindness, and judgment, and righteousness in the earth, that is not only just to all his creatures and will do no wrong to any of them, but kind to all his children and will protect them and provide for them. For in these things I delight. God delights to show kindness and to execute judgment himself, and is pleased with those who herein are followers of him as dear children. Those that have such knowledge of the glory of God as to be changed into the same image, and to partake of his holiness, find it to be their perfection and glory; and the God they thus faithfully conform to they may cheerfully confide in, in their greatest straits. But the prophet intimates that the generality of this people took no care about this. Their wisdom, and might, and riches, were their joy and hope, which would end in grief and despair. But those few among them that had the knowledge of God might please themselves with it, and boast themselves of it; it would stand them in better stead than thousands of gold and silver.

      II. When they were told how provoking their sins were to God they vainly pleaded the covenant of their circumcision. They were undoubtedly the people of God; as they had the temple of the Lord in their city, so they had the mark of his children in their flesh. “It is true that Chaldean army has laid such and such nations waste, because they were uncircumcised, and therefore not under the protection of the divine providence, as we are.” To this the prophet answers, That the days of visitation were now at hand, in which God would punish all wicked people, without making any distinction between the circumcised and uncircumcised, Jer 9:25; Jer 9:26. They had by sin profaned the crown of their peculiarity, and lived in common with the uncircumcised nations, and so had forfeited the benefit of that peculiarity and must expect to fare never the better for it. God will punish the circumcised with the uncircumcised. As the ignorance of the uncircumcised shall not excuse their wickedness, so neither shall the privileges of the circumcised excuse theirs, but they shall be punished together. Note, The Judge of all the earth is impartial, and none shall fare the better at his bar for any external advantages, but he will render to every man, circumcised or uncircumcised, according to his works. The condemnation of impenitent sinners that are baptized will be as sure as, nay, and more severe than, that of impenitent sinners that are unbaptized. It would affect one to find here Judah industriously put between Egypt and Edom, as standing upon a level with them and under the same doom, v. 26. These nations were forbidden a share in the Jews’ privileges (Deut. xxiii. 3); but the Jews are here told that they shall share in their punishments. Those in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness, are supposed to be the Kedarenes and those of the kingdoms of Hazor, as appears by comparing ch. xlix. 28-32. Some think they are so called because they dwelt as it were in a corner of the world, others because they had the hair of their head polled into corners. However that was, they were of those nations that were uncircumcised in flesh, and the Jews are ranked with them and are as near to ruin for their sins as they; for all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart: they have the sign, but not the thing signified, ch. iv. 4. They are heathens in their hearts, strangers to God, and enemies in their minds by wicked works. Their hearts are disposed to idols, as the hearts of the uncircumcised Gentiles are. Note, The seals of the covenant, though they dignify us, and lay us under obligations, will not save us, unless the temper of our minds and the tenour of our lives agree with the covenant. That only is circumcision, and that baptism, which is of the heart,Rom 2:28; Rom 2:29.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Vs. 23-24: THE ONLY BASIS FOR GLORYING

A number of principles are set forth in this passage which contrasts dramatically with the content of the prophetic burden in which it appears; they need careful consideration.

1. First, there is a warning against a false sense of security, (vs. 23).

a. The “wise man” must not glory, take pride in, or place his confidence in human wisdom; being incomplete, it is not trustworthy, (comp. Isa 47:10; Eze 28:3-7).

b. Nor should the “mighty man” trust in his might; material force is effective only in relationship to MATERIAL things; it is helpless before moral ideals and spiritual truth, (Isa 10:8-12).

c. And the “rich man” must not glory, or place his confidence in his wealth; there are too many things that material wealth cannot purchase or ensure, (Job 31:25-25; Job 31:28; Psa 49:6-9).

2. Second, there is a setting forth of the true elements of security (vs. 24b) – the things which the Lord practices, and in which He takes delight, (comp. Psa 36:5-7; Mic 7:18).

a. Loving-kindness (the Hebrew “hesed”) – the only proper response to divine grace – involving unquestioning and unwavering loyalty to the Lord, and obedience to His will and word, (Exo 34:6-7; Psa 51:1).

b. Justice – the administration of affairs in strict equity, and according to truth, so that all relationships are adjusted in such a way as is equitable and right – thus, securing the best possible conditions for human life and happiness, (Isa 61:8; Isa 5:16-17; Isa 30:18).

c. Righteousness – straightness, uprightness -involving such conformity to the divine will as links all things to Him; it strengthens the whole of life and defies all wickedness.

2. The secret of true greatness is found in knowing God – the all wise, all-mighty and all-sufficient One! (comp. Joh 17:3; Mat 6:33).

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

This is a remarkable passage, and often found in the mouth of men, as other notable sentences, which are known as proverbial sayings: but yet few rightly consider how these words are connected with the previous context. Hence there are many who are satisfied with a simple explanation, as though it were a subject abruptly introduced, and as though the Prophet commenced something new; and they confine themselves to those words: and thus they misrepresent the meaning of the Prophet, or at least diminish much of the force of what is taught.

The Prophet no doubt has a regard to what has gone before. He saw, as I have often said, that he addressed the deaf; for the Jews were so swollen with false confidence, that the word of God was regarded worthless by them. As then some were proud for their riches, and others thought themselves more prudent than that they could by any means be taken, and others thought themselves so fortified by wealth and power, that they could easily resist any evil, — as then the minds of all were possessed with so much pride, the Prophet, in order to confirm what he had said, declares here that men foolishly gloried, while they set up their riches, or their strength, or their wisdom, in opposition to God; for all these things would vanish away like smoke.

We now then perceive why the Prophet forbids here any to glory except in God alone, and how the passage ought not to be deemed as abrupt, but connected with what he said, when he denounced destruction on the Jews, which yet they dreaded not, because they were filled with this ungodly and foolish conceit, — that they had more than a sufficient protection in their own strength, or riches, or wisdom. The rest to-morrow.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE GROUND OF GLORYING

Jer 9:23-24

IN reading the Book of Jeremiah, there is a certain amount of sameness in that much of the Book is a lament. Israel was walking away from God and the heart of the Prophet was grieved. He saw clearly the certain judgments that were coming upon his people and he did his utmost to delay and, if possible, to effect, for them, escape from the same; but, while thus engaged in a continuous pleading for penitence and reform, the Prophet employs, on occasion, scintillating sentences that voice the soundest philosophy. Our text is one such.

As Joseph Parker, the great London preacher, once suggested, the Prophet here addresses three divisions of the human familythe wise, the powerful and the wealthyan inexhaustive classification of the human race. For, whether men belong to one of these companies, they almost uniformly choose the basal idea as a sort of an idol of worship that which Parker justly called Science, or Arms, or Wealth.

The text, interpreted in the light of the context, makes it clear that God is not necessarily honored by either class; and, in fact, if Science or Arms or Wealth are made idols, God is practically thereby dethroned, and the pagan worship will produce for its devotees disaster and final judgment.

It might be well, therefore, for us, as students of life, and as responsible individuals, to reflect long and carefully upon this text. Our lines of thought might very justly follow these grooves The Common Grounds, The Complete Grounds, and The Christian Grounds of Glorying.

THE COMMON GROUNDS

Beyond all dispute, the text does touch upon the common grounds, and men do worship either Science, or Arms, or Wealth.

Many esteem wisdom above all else! In fact, this age, to which we belong, if it have one idol that it esteems above others, bows at the feet of that idol, often falsely called Science.

The word science means knowledge, and knowledge is supposed to be a fair synonym of wisdom. To be sure, there is a distinction and a difference. A man may know a vast deal and yet be unwise, and a man may not be schooled at all and yet be possessed of the wisdom that is from above; but in the minds of most people the one is the other. Wisdom and learning are constantly employed as interchangeable terms, and the average man imagines that they are identical.

Solomon knew and made this distinction. He possessed a vast amount of knowledge. Speaking of his researches he said,

I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under Heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

I said, I will be wise; but it (wisdom) was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

The modern man is not embarrassed by such modesty. Bettex, the great German scholar, quotes from one of these the statement,

There is nothing that science cannot search out, and from a French savant, the exclamation, There is no longer any mystery.

How sublime the claim; but how superficial the speech! The fact is that the more we know the more we realize how little we know. An unschooled man may count the heavens a simplicity; it is to him only a broad space with some stars in it. But the instructed astronomer is more and more amazed at its incomprehensibleness. To him there are not only some stars, there are millions of stars, and billions of stars, and trillions of stars. In fact, the greatest of modern scientists, James Jeans says, The total number of stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of the grains of sand on all the sea-shores of the world.

But the heavens are not filled with stars merely, but with stellar systems, unthinkable in number, incomprehensible in greatness. But that is not all. The inter-stellar spaces are filled as well. The same Jeans tells us that in this solar system of ours there are hundreds of small worlds, asteroids, so to speak, driving with unthinkable velocity through the almost infinite space of the same, and the heavens, (the more they are studied), deepen in mystery and create astonishment on the part of the student. They literally stun him with their significance.

Thats one reason why many men are ready to bow the knee to the astronomical discoverer. He knows so much more than they do; but just the same, the creation is not a worthy subject of worship, nor is some information about it an occasion of boastfulnessa ground of glorying, since, like the light of a candle, mans information but deepens the darkness that lies beyond the reach of its rays.

Where, then, is the place of understanding? In the language of the Prophet, The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. * * Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? * * God understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof. For He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven. * * And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.

There are others who prefer personal might. The same text that says, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, said also, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might.

It is a fact that this disposition to secure and exercise power keeps almost equal pace with that of attaining and employing wisdom or knowledge.

The war element is still as regnant in the world as,is the practice of research. Twenty years ago Germany was famed for its scholarship. The students of the world wended their way to German universities; and to bring home degrees and titles from the same was the ambition of multitudes of students that would be scholars. But, at the same time, Germanys schools hardly surpassed either in character or competence, Germanys militarism. The former represented the quest for wisdom, and the latter the lust for power.

One might imagine that these two had no kinship; possibly, that they were opponents. But, if so, a single book will suffice for such disillusionment; and that book is entitled Hurrahs and Hallelujahs, and was published while the war was on, by a Danish professor who knew whereof he wrote. By copious quotations he proved the fraternal relations existing between wisdom, or Science, and might, or war. The former was not only the advocate of the latter, but the inspirer of the same.

It was German wisdom, German scholarship, German science that bethought and created the aircraft of war, the land-craft of war, the sea-craft of war, the infamous gases, and that staked out the lines that looked to certain success.

The demand for a larger place in the sun was not only the demand for more territory; it was also a proposal to increase light, for the scholar honestly believed that where the sword went, he could walk in its wake; and while it accomplished death for the millions, it would increase the light for the remaining living; and so Science and the Sword walked hand in hand, and the world, under their feet, weltered in blood.

Strange to say, mens consciences are not usually troubled on such account. Doubtless, Alexander thought himself a world benefactor. Napoleon Bonaparte probably never questioned that his conquests were advantageous to men. In fact, the love of might is such and the disposition to worship at her throne is so persistent, that from Caesars day to the hour in which we dwell, its mightiest exponents have been a self-gratified and self-glorying company. However, the supremacy of the scientist, and the self-satisfaction of the swordsman, is not left in undisputed possession of the world-field.

The third class must be reckoned with in the contest for greatness and self-glorying. And that, also, is named by the text.

For many, riches hold the coveted scepter!

Hence, Jeremiahs additional word, Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

The truth of the matter is that scienceparticularly that science of the present day, is not always sought for its own sake; and the sword, particularly the sword of the present, is not always unsheathed in behalf of righteousness. The sciences that relate to the acquisition of wisdom, for wisdoms sake, and that have to do solely with the uplift and improvement of man, are not the most popular sciences of the present day. On the contrary, a vast amount of the search and research of this hour, looks toward the creation of mechanical contrivances whereby wealth may be speedily and enormously secured; and the greatest single objective of modern wars has been the acquisition of more territory, which is simply wealth in another form.

Possibly on no single subject has there been so much of unjustifiable, and even senseless, praise, as upon that of modern and mechanical inventions.

A few years ago the propagandists of an improved age were pointing to the machinery that characterized the twentieth century. No other century ever saw anything akin to it. No other century knew aught of harnessing electricity. No other century understood the enormous horsepower, of the multiplied waterfalls of the world. No other century was ever able to send the voice of man along the telephone lines the world around, or flash messages over electric wires with such dispatch or by radio eliminate time and space.

No other century ever created such machinery with which to relieve the burdened muscles and strained backs of men.

No other century ever conquered the sea, sailing its blue waters with beautiful palaces, and with a swiftness that almost does credit to a kite. No other century ever banded the continents with railroad rails, and sent its steam engines hauling cars filled with people and freight, at the rate of twenty-to sixty miles an hour as this one has done.

No other century ever saw man move from point to point across the earth with a speed that reminds one of lightning.

No other century ever saw the heavens filled with bird-men, flying whither they will; and one well-knows that all of this, which voices education, represents power and creates riches.

In fact, each and every one of these three words has its unlimited circle of devotees, and from each and, the three combined, rise constant praises for their respective idols, wisdom, power, wealth!

And yet, turn your eyes from them and look at society. Study men; listen to the sobs of sorrow, rising from all quarters. See the hovels of poverty, daily multiplied; consider the millions of unemployed and starving that now menace the world. Consider the martial disturbance that, at this moment, is expressed in the civil strife of nations; and the uniform international complications that threaten us with another world war.

Listen to the defiant shouts of infidelity, the threatened anarchy of atheism, and tell me whether the wise man has rightly gloried in his wisdom; whether the mighty man has occasion of glory in his might, and whether the rich man has reasonable ground of glorying in his riches.

This mornings newspaper was the best commentary on our text. It shows wisdom defeated in its own ways; might in the act of suicide, and riches ruining the souls of those that coveted and secured them.

And whether one is a believer in the Bible or not, whether he makes any pretense of the Christian faith, he is compelled to admit that the gods of this world, like Dagon, have fallen from their pedestal and, with their faces flat in the dust, are as ignoble as impotent.

And yet, that it is right for man to glory, no one questions. The question is, In what shall he glory? The answer to that question turns our thought to

THE COMPLETE GROUNDS

The knowledge of God is the most superb reason!

Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me (God).

Solomon, writing to his son, and doubtless repeating the very words which he had heard from the lips of his father, said, Get wisdom, get understanding. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornamenti of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee (Pro 4:8-9).

But what is wisdom; wisdom of the highest sort; wisdom of the truest sort, except to know God?

Goethe knew a vast deal. He was a man of scholarship; he was acquainted with books; he enjoyed a wide observation; he was possessed of a mighty intellect; but he was a fool, just the same, and suffered in life and in death the consequences of folly. He knew not God. When he came to die he begged them to open the shutters and let in the light, and his very soul cringed before the increasing darkness.

A little child on the island down here in the Mississippi river, a few years since, was dying. She knew very little of books. She was only in her sixth or seventh year. She had traveled very little perhaps only five miles from home. She knew only a few people and had been acquainted with them for but a short season. The heavens above her was a mystery; the earth about her an enigma. The river that separated and flowed around her home was only a body of water, a mile long. She had never seen more; but when diphtheria was stilling the little heart, her face was a sheen. It was lighted with the light of another world, and her last words were an effective plea with her father and brother to give their hearts to God, and with the last flutter of her little heart, she laid her own little head back on the pillow and with a smile, fell asleep in Christ.

Oh, what would not the great poet and philosopher Goethe have given for a wisdom like that! She knew God! She knew Him as the Lord which exercised lovingkindness. She gloried in Him, and with outstretched arms went to Him as lovingly as my grand-babies crawl to my knees and recline on my breast.

Thats knowledge! Thats the wisdom that cometh down from Above, that is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated.

It involves an appreciation of His character. It sees in Him more than a Creator. It sees in Him a Father. It accepts Him as more than mighty; it accepts Him as loving. It approaches Him as One that is as patient, as powerful; as affectionate, as infinite.

There are people who stumble at the stories of the Old Testament. They read the report of how God saved Noah and his family from a flood that swept all the world, simply because Noah and his family believed God and lived righteously, and the skeptics laugh at it as a fairy-tale.

They read of how the three Hebrew Children were cast into the fiery furnace, and God, in the form of the Fourth, walked with them through the flame, and even the smell of the same was not found upon their garments.

They read of how Daniel was cast into the lions den, and of how he slept there, the night through, with safety, surrounded by the hungry, but Divinely-withheld beasts, all about him.

They read of how Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and after three days coughed up alive; and they laugh at the whole thing.

To them it is only a series of fish-stories. They take no stock in any of it! They say such things do not occur now, and they reason, that such things never did occur.

But, we answer, the God of old-time is the God of the present time, and He who wrought miracles once, is still working, and that to know Him is to know the One with whom all things are possible. And in proof of this position of faith, we cite our abundant, up-to-date illustrations.

We remind men that when the Duke of Alva came to Holland and was ready to slaughter a host of Christians in that low land, a tide to which he trusted his boats, expecting them to carry him to vantage points, was strangely held back for twelve hours. His purpose was defeated and the Christians were preserved.

It is a matter of undisputed history that a wind rose to scatter the Armada of Spain, and on the waters of the north sea so wrecked the Armada as to save protestant England from the purposed attack.

We know that John Knox, sitting one night before a window, was strangely moved to get up and take another seat. A feeling within him that compelled this shift of resting places; he could not understand, but he was obedient to it. A few minutes after he was removed, a musket ball crashed through the glass, straight through the place where he had sat, and buried itself in the opposite wall.

You know that the Sultan of Turkey declared that on a certain day every missionary should be banished from his land. Christians met for prayer, and the day before, the Sultan died and his threat was never executed.

Dear Mrs. Joseph Clark is now in our city, and also in this church this morning. Her sainted husband spent fifty years on the Congo, and only passed to his Heavenly Home a year ago. I have heard him tell many a time how one day the black men, that he had taught to know and love Christ, came running to his cabin, their faces frightful with fear, and said, White man; the warriors are coming and they will kill us all. Take the wife and the babe and flee to the woods and we will stay behind and fight.

Joseph Clark said, No; God lives and we will pray.

When they entered his tent to pray, there wasnt a cloud in the sky. At the end of twenty minutes in prayer, they came out; and looked and lo, a storm cloud had risen, and the boats of the warriors were not making progress, but were being driven slowly back. A few minutes later the fury of the wind was such that those boats were not only driven to the side of the lake whence they came, but with such fury did they strike the land as to wreck them, and even drown some of their occupants, and the warriors were convinced that God was with the missionaries and the Christian blacks.

So convinced, in fact, that they never attempted a fresh attack upon this Christian colony.

It was true when the Prophet wrote it. It is true now. It is a great thing to know God and have some appreciation of His character, His power, His wisdom, His affection for men. In fact, it is the greatest of all things.

As Parker said, If you tremble at His power without knowing His mercy, you are a pagan; if you seek to please Him as a God of intelligence, without recognizing Him as a God of purity and justice and love, you are ignorant of Him, and your ignorance is crime. Let him that glorieth, even glorieth in God, glory in knowing God as a moral Being, as the righteous Judge, as the loving Father.

There must not be adoration of mere power. We must not be satisfied with utterances of amazement at His majesty, wisdom, and dominion; we must go farther, get nearer, see deeper; we must know God morally, we must feel the pulsations of His heartHis heart! that dread sanctuary of righteousness, that sempiternal fount of love.

Dear Father, to Thy mercy-seat

My soul for shelter flies:

Tis here I find a safe retreat

When storms and tempests rise.

My cheerful hope can never die,

If Thou, my God, art near;

Thy grace can raise my comforts high,

And banish every fear.

My great Protector, and my Lord,

Thy constant aid impart;

O let Thy kind, Thy gracious Word

Sustain my trembling heart.

O never let my soul remove

From this Divine retreat;

Still let me trust Thy power and love,

And dwell beneath Thy feet.

THE CHRISTIANS GROUNDS

To know God, in Christ, is to know Him best. In fact, that is why Christ came to manifest the Father. That is why God took upon Him the form of a servant. Thats why Christ could say, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.

It is difficult, indeed, to approach a God of holiness who dwelleth in ineffable light,a God of absolute justice; but in Christ we see the God of compassion, the God of love, the God of sympathy, who, having been tempted in all points, like as we are, knows how to succor us in our times of temptation.

Sin is a shame-faced thing. Men are compelled to look upon it when it has stained their lives with embarrassment and fear, and men are afraid to expose it to Gods eye.

The broken heart is not a thing that any want to parade. The stained soul hates the glare of day. The people who can glibly confess their faults, never feel their depth or really grieve their existence. But, somehow, God in Christ encourages us to confession, excites the soul to an undeserved sympathy, and even rouses the hope of pardon and cleansing.

There are some things that become the better for being broken. It is only the broken earth that produces harvest, and the broken cloud that sends rain, and the broken alabaster box that gives forth a sweet perfume.

It is when God is known in Christ that we can approach Him.

Jesus, who knows full-well

The heart of every saint,

Invites us all our grief to tell,

To pray and never faint.

He bows His gracious ear;

We never plead in vain;

Then let us wait till He appear,

And pray, and pray again.

Jesus, the Lord, will hear

His chosen when they cry;

Yes, though He may awhile forbear,

Hell help them from on high.

Then let us earnest cry,

And never faint in prayer;

He sees, He hears, and from on high

Will make our cause His care.

To know God in Christ is to hope even to please Him.

The will of Christ for us is conceded to be the best will; the will that is in our behalf; and consequently the will in which we can participate; and if any man will to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, Yea, more; he shall know Divine help.

Christ, who was. Himself Divine, could say, Lord, I come to do Thy will. His character was in consonance with Gods will.

Man, of himself, cannot so speak. He does not come to God to do Gods will, but God comes to him to impress and empower him to that end. If we work out our salvation, it is only because God worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

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

III. TRUE GLORY Jer. 9:23-24

TRANSLATION

(23) Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might nor the rich man boast of his wealth. (24) But let him that glories glory in this: The understanding and knowledge of Me, for I am the LORD who establishes kindness, justice and righteousness in the land because in these things I take delight (oracle of the LORD).

COMMENTS

The brief but beautiful treatment of true glory seems unrelated to either what precedes or what follows in the chapter. Men throughout history have been tempted to magnify the importance of wisdom, strength and wealth and fall down in adoration before this trinity in unholy worship. Wealth and strength are ephemeral and wisdom, if it is not rooted in reverent fear for God, is vain (cf. Psa. 111:10). Destruction and death await the nation or the individual who places undue confidence in the arm of flesh (Jer. 9:23). True glory belongs not to the wealthy, the strong, and the wise but to those who understand and know the Lord. To understand God means to have the correct insight into His divine nature; to know Him means to walk in intimate fellowship with Him day by day. Those who understand and know the Lord practice daily those things which are pleasing to Him. They demonstrate lovingkindness to those who are of the household of faith. They strive for justice for the underprivileged and weak. They walk in the paths of righteousness, i.e., right conduct. These are the qualities which make the relationship between God and man and these are the qualities which must characterize the relationship between the man of God and his fellowman (Jer. 9:24).

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(23) Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.The long prophecy of judgment had reached its climax. Now there comes the conclusion of the whole matterthat the one way of salvation is to renounce all reliance on the wisdom, greatness, wealth of the world, and to glory only in knowing Jehovah. The wise man is, as before in Jer. 8:9, and Jer. 9:12, the scribe, or recognised teacher of the people

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

THE ONLY SAFETY, Jer 9:23 to Jer 26:23. In such a calamity, where is help and deliverance? Not in human wisdom, nor might, nor riches. Could these avail, this ruin had not come.

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

The Way of Escape Rejected

v. 23. Thus saith the Lord, in once more picturing to the apostate Jews the one way of salvation, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, as though that were sufficient to bring him redemption, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, trusting in his strength and power to deliver him, let not the rich man glory in his riches, as though they could protect him from the threatening destruction,

v. 24. but let him that glorieth glory in this, make this fact the one and only foundation of his boasting, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that he has learned to know the true God, the Triune God and the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one Messiah of the world, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, His grace and mercy occupying first place in His attitude over against us, judgment, and righteousness, in the expression of His holiness and faithfulness in His Word, whether in reward or in punishment, in the earth, in His entire relation toward mankind; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord, He Himself is active in exercising His bliss in them, and He is anxious to have His children and all men walk in them.

v. 25. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised, literally, “every circumcision in foreskin,” that Isaiah He would visit in anger all men whose heart was not turned to Him in the true obedience of faith, whether they had submitted to the rite of circumcision or not:

v. 26. Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, the Jews with all the nations surrounding them, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness, literally, “all having their hair,” that is, their beard, “clipped at the corners,” a custom in use among the heathen nations, but expressly forbidden to the Israelites, Lev 19:27; Lev 21:5; for all these nations are uncircumcised, they had not accepted the rite by which the Jews were distinguished as the chosen people of the Lord under the covenant made with the patriarchs, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart, that is, in their case the outward observance of the formerly significant rite had lost its meaning, since they had not turned to the Lord in true repentance. Without such change of heart the rite of acceptance into the outward membership in Israel was of no avail, just as the Sacrament of Baptism has no value in the case of those who do not believe. A mere outward observance of the customs of religion will not bring men to true fellowship with the Lord.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Jer 9:23-24. Let not the wise man glory, &c. “Unless this wisdom hath for its object God himself, and teaches us to despise ourselves, to be humbled beneath the mighty hand of God, and to glory in him alone. All other wisdom is vain and dangerous.” Phocylides has said excellently,

If wisdom, strength, or riches be thy lot; Boast not, but rather think thou hast them not: One God alone, from whom these gifts proceed, Is wise, is mighty, and is rich indeed.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 1046
THE ONLY TRUE AND SUFFICIENT GROUNDS OF GLORYING

Jer 9:23-24. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and Knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth. [Note: The Authors first Sermon before the University, preached in 1785, now above forty-six years ago, and never before published.] TO know the Creator is the supreme excellence and chief good of man. The Jews enjoyed greater opportunities of obtaining this knowledge than any people upon earth: yet they neglected to improve their advantages; and, like the nations around them, sought their happiness in the creature, and confided in it for their security; having forsaken him who was their Rock of Defence. They treated Jeremiahs predictions of their captivity in Babylon with contempt. This the prophet saw and bitterly lamented: and hoping still if possible to reclaim them and thereby to prevent their calamity, and to secure to them a permanent enjoyment of their privileges, he exhorted them in the name of God himself to renounce all dependence on their own wisdom, might, or riches; and to glory rather in the knowledge of their God, and an acquaintance with him as their Protector and Deliverer. To us who have a much clearer revelation of Gods nature and perfections, the exhortation may be applied with still more propriety and stronger energy.

Let us then (as the text requires) first remove the false and insufficient grounds of glorying, and then propose such as are true and sufficient.

The usual grounds of glorying the prophet here proscribes:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.
It is by no means to be imagined that earthly things are to be utterly disregarded, and that Christians in these days are to expect those miraculous gifts of wisdom and power which were bestowed in the days of the Apostles, or that we are now called to forsake our several occupations as they were: this would be enthusiasm indeed. At the first promulgation of Christianity, it was necessary that the instruments used for that purpose should be both weak and illiterate, that the excellency of the power might more evidently appear to be of God: but the person who should now hope to speak by inspiration, to work miracles, or live like the birds of the air, without any thought for the morrow, would grossly misunderstand the Scriptures, and become an object of ridicule or pity to all rational and sober-minded. Christians.

Wisdom is highly necessary in religious concerns and in every department of social life; it capacitates us for instructing others; it enables us to make improvements in arts and sciences; it qualifies us for superior usefulness at the bar and in the senate: nor less in religious exercises; it gives a deserved pre-eminence to all who possess it; and a want of it (especially in a seat of learning) is deservedly attended with proportionable ignominy.

Power also is desirable; inasmuch as it may be used for the preservation of due order in society and most beneficially employed in punishing vice and rewarding virtue. Nor are riches to be disregarded, for they afford us many opportunities as well of encouraging industry, as of relieving the necessitous; and they give full scope for the exercise of our most benevolent affections. Each of them has its peculiar uses; and each is a precious talent capable of the highest improvement. Yet however they lay no solid foundation for glorying: and the prophets injunction is that we should not glory in them; by which he means, that we are not to esteem them too highly, nor to regard them as the principal objects of our pursuit, nor to place our chief happiness in them, nor to make them our trust and confidence.

And indeed what is there in our wisdom wherein to glory? The more knowledge we possess, we are only more fully convinced that we know nothing in comparison of what is yet veiled from our eyes: besides, the wisest counsels are often frustrated for want of power to carry them into execution; and though we excelled even Solomon himself, disease or accident may reduce us in a moment to a level with the brutes.

What is there in power? To have it is no little temptation to exercise it in an unbecoming manner and for selfish ends: it universally stirs up opposition in those who are subjected to our authority, and creates much trouble and anxiety to ourselves in the dispensing of it.

And what is there in riches? They often generate in our hearts covetous and sordid tempers (for it is seldom that our riches increase, but we immediately set our hearts upon them), they make us proud, overbearing, and oppressive: yet all the wealth of the Indies can furnish us with very little more than food and raiment: and there are so many thousand ways in which we may be impoverished, that Solomon observes of riches, they make themselves wings and fly away.

What ground then is there for glorying in any, or all, of these? There is not any in wisdom; for it is limited in its extent, defective in its operations, and uncertain in its continuance. There is not in might; for the very possession of it is dangerous, and the exercise of it vexatious to ourselves and others. There is not in riches; for they are defiling in their influence, contracted in their uses, and precarious in their tenure.

Besides all which in the hour of death all our thoughts perish, our rank and dignity are annihilated, and our wealth is transferred to another owner. And in the day of judgment, not all the wisdom, might, or riches, that ever were possessed by man will be sufficient to bribe our Judge, withstand his power, or elude his search.

Let us proceed then to consider what is the true and sufficient ground of glorying: Let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord who exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
The knowledge of God as far excels all other attainments, as God, the object of that knowledge, surpasses all created excellencies. But it is not every knowledge of God that lays a foundation for glorying. It is not the knowledge that there is a God; for that is common to the evil angels as well as the good. It is not the knowledge of God from the works of creation; for that comes as much under the observation of heathens as of Christians. But it is a knowledge of God as revealed in the inspired writings. This is strongly intimated in those two expressions in my text, understandeth and knoweth, which are designed to teach us, that it is only in a practical and experimental knowledge of God that we are to glory; or in other words, such knowledge as makes us stand in awe of his majesty, tremble at his threatenings, and seek an interest in his love and favour. Several reasons might be offered for glorying in this rather than in the forementioned possessions or attainments. I will assign three which will comprehend them all: First, because the knowledge of God is not subject to any of those defects, which are almost inseparable from wisdom, might, and riches. They are above the reach of far the greater part of mankind; this is equally attainable by all: they too often debase the mind; this invariably elevates and ennobles it: they leave us still longing for something unpossessed; this supplies all the wants, satisfies all the desires, and fills all the capacities of our immortal souls: they, through the depravity of our nature, often become means and instruments of pride, oppression, and avarice; this changes the proud, tyrannical and avaricious man into the image of God in righteousness and true holiness: they are destroyed at death; but this is perfected.

Again we may glory in this knowledge of God, because it transcends all their excellencies. Human wisdom may enable us to discharge the duties of civil life with advantage; but the knowledge of God rectifies our judgments about things of far greater moment; it makes us both see and feel the evil of sin, the beauty of holiness, the vanity of time, and the importance of eternity. It teaches us (which is indeed the very essence of wisdom) to pursue the best ends by the fittest means; to seek a crown of glory by a renunciation and abhorrence of every known sin, a firm reliance on the Saviours merits, and an uniform obedience to his commands. Power also may be improved for the good of the community; but the knowledge of God endues us with might for better purposes; it renders us mighty to resist temptations, mighty to subdue our evil tempers, mighty to mortify our lusts and passions, mighty to endure the bitterest afflictions, and mighty to vanquish the united forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Riches, too, it is granted, are highly beneficial; but the knowledge of God imparts more profitable riches: through it we are rich in possession, and in reversion too; it brings into our souls a sense of pardon, it fills us with a peace which passeth all understanding, and entitles us to all the blessings which God himself can bestow: for Solomon, on making this very comparison, observes that wisdom is a defence, and money a defence, but the excellency of knowledge (i.e. of spiritual knowledge) is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. And a greater than Solomon still more plainly affirms, that to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, is eternal life; i.e. is the way to it, and the very beginning and earnest of it.

Once more. We may glory in this knowledge of God, because it comprehends and unfolds to our view wisdom, power, and riches that are indeed infinite. The text particularly directs us to consider God as exercising loving-kindness (to his friends), judgment (to his enemies), and righteousness or justice (in the distribution both of his rewards and punishments). Now this is a view of God which we have not any where, but in the Gospel of Christ. In his dealings towards the fallen angels we behold only his judgments; but in his dealings with man we behold the exercise of mercy and loving-kindness, because he accepted the mediation of his Son on our behalf. The Apostle directs us therefore to look for the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The intent of the types and prophecies in the Old Testament, as well as the historical and epistolary writings in the New, is to hold forth Jesus Christ as that illustrious person in whom the Father would be glorified: He therefore, as being the brightness of his Fathers glory, and the express image of his person, is the proper object of our glorying: and so inestimable is the knowledge of Him, that Paul (the most learned and powerful, if not the richest of the Apostles) counted all things as dung and loss in comparison of it. Now the knowledge of this our incarnate God comprehends, I say, and unfold to our view, wisdom, might, and riches that are indeed infinite. Infinite wisdomIn the person, work, and offices of our Lord, are contained mysteries, which, though hid from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, were displayed with the fullest evidence upon the cross. It is true that the doctrine of a crucified Saviour was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but, says the Apostle, to them that are called, it is the wisdom of God; or, as he elsewhere terms it, the wisdom of God in a mystery: and so indeed it is; for it reconciles things which, to unhumbled, unenlightened persons, would appear contradictory and absurd. It shews us how sin may be punished, and yet the sinner saved: and this too not only without countenancing sin or dishonouring the law, but in such a manner as to bring more honour to the law, than if it never had been broken, and to manifest more indignation against sin, than if the offender had endured its deserved penalty. It shews us also how the divine perfections unite and harmonize in the great work of redemption; how God may pardon those whom he had threatened to destroy, without any violation of his word; and how he may restore rebels to peace, without any infringement of the demands of justice; or, as the Psalmist beautifully expresses it, how mercy and truth may meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other. It shews us further (which is wonderful indeed) mercy displayed in a way of punishing sin, and justice in a way of pardoning it; yea, more mercy than if the whole world had been pardoned without any such atonement, and more justice than if the whole human race had been, like their predecessors in iniquity, cast into the depths of hell. In God, as shining forth in the person of his Son, we behold also infinite might. Jesus Christ is called by the Apostle the Wisdom of God and the Power of God, because that, when mankind had destroyed themselves, and not a combination of all created powers could effect their deliverance, his own arm brought salvation. He sustained the dreadful weight of their iniquities in his own body on the tree, and ransomed an apostate world by his own most precious blood. To all appearance indeed he was crucified through weakness: he fell a sacrifice to the envy of the priests, the treachery of Judas, the cowardice of Pilate, and the rage of an incensed populace: yet by that very fall he bruised the serpents head and triumphed over principalities and powers. He submitted also to an imprisonment within the bowels of the earth; yet soon burst the gates of death, by which it was not possible he should be detained, and shewed himself to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead.

Infinite riches also are manifested in this our adorable Redeemer. How glorious, how unsearchable were the riches of the Fathers love, which rather than we should perish, bestowed, not an angel or archangel, but his only-begotten Son, yea, gave him up for rebels, to the most bitter, ignominious, and accursed death of the cross! How rich was the Sons compassion, to obey that law which we had broken, to humble himself that we might be exalted, to endure the penalties which we had incurred, and to die that we might live for ever! What unbounded mercy! Inasmuch then as this knowledge of God is not subject to the defects that are in wisdom, power, and riches, but transcends their excellencies, and comprehends them all in the highest degree; we may, we ought to glory in it: we cannot value it too highly, we cannot seek it too earnestly, we cannot contemplate it with too exalted joy, or trust in it with too confident assurance: this was evidently the sentiment of the Apostle when he said, I am determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. And again, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here it will be proper to observe the manner in which the inspired writer prefaces his exhortation in the text; Thus saith the Lord. The voice of the world is quite different; even they who are esteemed the wisest in the world hold up wisdom, power, and riches as the grand, if not the only, objects worthy of our pursuit: the whole multitude are following these with unabated ardour: all their affections are set upon them: their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, are excited alternately by these, as the loss or acquisition of them shall give occasion: these are the things most envied and admired: and, when obtained, are ever made the ground of glorying. But the knowledge of God and of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ is deemed scarce worthy our attention. If it were at our option to be the wisest, greatest, and richest person upon earth, but at the same time destitute of this knowledge; or to be endued with it, but at the same time live in a state of poverty, meanness, and ignorance, how few would shew themselves like-minded with God in this matter! Indeed, how few seek this knowledge at all, or even give it the least place in their thoughts! On the contrary, the generality treat it with contempt; and too many seem to apprehend, that we cannot glory in our God, but we must presently be beside ourselves: but (as says the Apostle) let God be true, and every man a liar; let the whole universe combine to extenuate the guilt of neglecting God, and to exalt wisdom, power, and riches, as the chief good of man; their opinions are of no avail: for thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, who exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; that I am He, who will amply and eternally reward those who glory in me, and will assuredly execute judgment upon those who idolize the world. While therefore we pay a just attention to those things which God allows, and the interests of society require us to pursue, let us take shame to ourselves for having preferred the perishing things of time and sense, to an acquaintance with our God; let us fear lest we be left to take the fruit of our choice, and to have our portion only in this life; let us receive the united testimonies of reason and revelation; and, in compliance with their dictates, let us prize above all things, follow with unwearied assiduity, and supremely delight ourselves in, the knowledge of this Saviour; that through him we may be mighty in subduing our evil habits, rich in faith and good works, and wise unto salvation; so shall we have cause to glory here, and be partakers of everlasting felicity in the world to come. Now to God, &c. [Note: The analysis of this is added, to shew how easily the short skeletons may be formed into entire sermons.] Jer 9:23-24. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth.

WE need no other introduction to our subject than that of the prophet [Note: Isa 1:2.]

Bearing in mind therefore the Saviours repeated admonitions [Note: Mar 4:9; Mar 4:23.], we shall

I.

Remove the false and insufficient grounds of glorying

Wisdom, Power, and Riches, are highly esteemed amongst men

And, if rightly improved, they certainly are valuable talents
[Wisdom enables a man to conduct his own affairs with discretion

It qualifies him also for instructing his fellow-creatures
It may lead a person to make many valuable discoveries
Thus it may profit individuals and the community at large

Might also is useful for the preserving of order in society

And it may be improved to suppress vice, and encourage virtue

Riches too may serve for the rewarding of industry

Or they may be employed in relieving the necessitous
None of these things therefore ought to be depreciated]
But they are by no means proper objects of glorying
To glory in any thing, is, to value it highly, pursue it eagerly, and seek our happiness in it
But we must not thus glory in Wisdom

[The wisest know that they know but little
Their best concerted plans they often want power to accomplish
Disease or accident may soon reduce them to a level with the beasts]
Nor should we glory thus in Might

[Power is a source of temptation to those who are invested with it
It indisposes a man to comply with reasonable restraints
It generally excites opposition in those who are subjected to it]
Nor are Riches at all more worthy objects of our glorying

[Wealth is very apt to produce covetous and sordid tempers
It frequently renders its possessors proud and oppressive
At best it can furnish us with little more than food and raiment
And we are liable to be deprived of it in a thousand ways [Note: Pro 23:5.]]

To glory therefore in any of these things would be absurd [Note: Who that considers what Wisdom is, would ever glory in it; so limited as it is in its extentso defective in its operationsand so uncertain in its continuance? Or who in Might, the possession of which is so dangerousand the exercise of which is so vexatious to themselves and others? Or who in Riches, which are so defiling in their influenceso contracted in their benefitsand so precarious in their tenure? If to this we add, that all these things perish and depart at death, and are utterly useless in the day of judgment, we can have no doubt but that the prohibition in the text is as reasonable as it is decisive.]

Having removed these common but insufficient grounds of glorying, we shall,

II.

Propose such as are true and sufficient

The knowledge of God in Christ Jesus is the only object of glorying
[The knowledge that there is a God is not the knowledge here spoken of
Nor is it the knowledge of God as He is seen in the works of creation
But the knowledge spoken of in the text is a view of him in redemption
It is in the Gospel only that Gods loving-kindness to his friends appears
In that too especially He denounces his judgments on his enemies [Note: Mar 16:16.]

And in both He displays equally his unspotted righteousness [Note: Psa 85:10.]

Not that a speculative knowledge even of this will suffice
The words understand and know imply a practical knowledge]
This is a just ground of glorying to all who possess it

1.

It is free from all the defects which are found in the foregoing grounds

[They render the mind low and groveling; This elevates and ennobles it

They never satisfy the soul; This affords it perfect satisfaction [Note: Isa 55:2.]

They may become sources of craft, tyranny, and avarice; This always changes us into Gods image [Note: 2Co 3:18.]

They end with our present existence; This is perfected at death]

2.

It transcends all the excellencies that are in the foregoing grounds

It imparts more excellent wisdom

[It rectifies our judgments about more important objectsIt teaches us to seek the best ends by the fittest means]
It endues us with more excellent might

[It renders us mighty to mortify our lusts and passions [Note: 2Co 10:3-5.]

It qualifies us to conflict with all the powers of darkness [Note: Eph 6:11-12.]]

It conveys to us more excellent riches

[It puts into our hands the unsearchable riches of Christ
It makes us rich in possession, and in reversion too [Note: Ecc 7:12.]]

3.

It comprehends all the foregoing grounds in the highest degree:

Wisdom
[This knowledge of God unfolds the deepest mysteries [Note: Col 2:2-3.]

It shews how sin may be punished, and yet the sinner saved
It shews how mercy is exalted in punishing, and justice in rewarding]

Might
[The salvation of a ruined world is a marvellous display of power
Hence Christ is called the Wisdom of God, and the Power of God

We have no idea of almighty power, till we know a redeeming God]
Riches
[Infinite are the riches of divine grace
In the glorious mystery of redemption they are all contained
The knowledge of God exhibits them all to our view [Note: Eph 2:7.]]

In this we cannot possibly glory too much
[We cannot possibly set too high a value on this knowledge [Note: 1Co 2:2.]

We cannot pursue it with too much earnestness
We cannot delight in it with too exalted joy
Let us therefore seek to know God as He is revealed in the Gospel
Let us take encouragement from that declaration of our Lord [Note: Joh 17:3.]

Let the fixed purpose of our hearts resemble that of the Apostle [Note: Gal 6:14.]]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

These precious verses seem to come in like a parenthesis: and yet not to be used with a parenthesis, being so precious, in the midst of a gloomy description of a degenerate and rebellious people. The blessed truths they contain can need no comment. Jesus is both the wisdom of God, and the power of God, and the riches of God. And in the knowledge and understanding of Him, there is enough to glory. And we are sure, that God the Father glorieth, and taketh delight in the glory of his dear Son. Mat 3:17 .

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

Glorying

Jer 9:23-24

An idea in this text to which we assign special prominence is this, There is at least so much similarity between the nature of God and the nature of man, that both God and man can take delight in the same thing. The spirit of the text is saying, Take delight in lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, because I take delight in them; come up to my moral altitude; place your affections where I place mine; learn the divinity of your origin, and the possible splendour of your destiny, from the fact that you have it in your power to join me in loving mercy, righteousness, and judgment. This idea is increased in significance by the fact that the appeal is addressed to man in his depraved condition: that is, notwithstanding his guilt, weakness, and moral disintegration, there is enough of divinity in his shattered nature to enable him to harmonise with the voice of God in lauding and magnifying all that is true and pure and good. This idea, rightly understood, fills us with adoring wonder. It is God seeking the sympathetic companionship of man; it is the Creator appealing to the creature to join him in the appreciation and service of moral excellence; it is the King inviting and welcoming a disloyal subject to an abandoned throne; it is the benignant Father identifying and honouring his own lineaments in the face of a rebellious and ruined child.

In the verses of which the text is a part, God addresses three divisions of the human family the Wise, the Powerful, the Wealthy. And is there any other class which may not be placed in one of these categories? Properly looked at, is not this division an exhaustive classification of the human race? It may, at all events, aid us in realising the spirit of the text if we keep this arrangement vividly before us. Here, for example, you have the devotees of science, philosophy, and art; they are the wise: there you have the plumed conquerors, and the crowned monarchs of immeasurable empires; they are the powerful: yonder you have the owners of the gold and silver, the proprietors of houses and land; they are the rich. Each class is sitting at the feet of its chosen idol Science, Arms, Wealth; all clad in robes of royalty, if not of godhood. In the hand of each idol is the sceptre of a venerated mastery, and the temple of each shakes with a thunder of heathenish worship. Such is the picture. Now, to these temples God comes, and, with the majesty of omnipotence, the authority of infinite wisdom, and the benignity of all-sustaining fatherhood, says: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.”

“Glory!” That is a word which is pregnant with meaning; and it can be better explained by paraphrase than by etymology. Let not man “glory” in wisdom, might, and wealth, so as to be absorbed in their pursuit, so as to make a god of either of them, so as to regard them as the ultimate good, so as to commit to either his present happiness and endless destiny.

“Wisdom!” That, too, is a word fraught with large significance. The “wisdom” referred to is not that which cometh from above beautiful with celestial hues, and instinct with celestial life: it is a “wisdom” which is destitute of the moral element; the “wisdom” of an inquisitive, prying, restless intellect; that eyeless and nerveless “wisdom” by which the world “knew not God,” and which, when looked at from above, is “foolishness”; the “wisdom” which is all brain and no heart; the “wisdom” of knowledge, not of character; the “wisdom” which dazzles man, but which, when alone, is offensive to God.

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.” If we follow an earnest student of science totally dissociated from religion, the meaning of the admonition may break upon us. His love of science amounts to a species of idolatry; the hammer of geology and the telescope of astronomy are the instruments through which all his knowledge of the heavens and the earth comes. With unwearying diligence he collates facts and notes phenomena; he estimates forces, weighs bodies, discovers laws, proclaims doctrines, with unabating enthusiasm; he is acute, too, in the detection of subtle processes, and most sagacious in the interpretation of unusual combinations of circumstances; every discovery fills him with passionate delight; his very dreams are of greatness; he is thrilled with the hope that presently the keys of the universe will be put into his hands, and not very far off is the glory of sitting on the dictator’s throne and determining the philosophies of the world. A flash of benevolence, too, gleams through his lofty purposes; for he says he will find out the causes of disease, and regenerate the physical nature of man; he will discover the primal laws of mind, and so affect the entire mental economy of man as to make an everlasting end of all human perplexity; in short, he will build a tower which shall rise unto heaven, and all nature shall lie at his feet, owning his perfect mastery, and declaring that every secret has been dislodged from her heart. Such are the ambitious intents of this youthful enthusiast. He goes to work with characteristic vigour; he gains knowledge with marvellous rapidity; his name attains eminence in scientific circles; his works become the text-books of scholars, and everywhere he is regarded as a wise man. So far there is much to admire; all his investigations, however, have been conducted just as you would explore a cathedral or temple whose architect and builder are dead and forgotten. Nowhere has he seen God. He has turned over a thousand pages in the great book which men call the universe, but his eyes have nowhere lighted upon God. Still, he is what is known as a wise man, and it is to such that God comes and says, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.” Such a man, in fact, has not begun the alphabet of true wisdom; all the while he has been in the rudimentary region of knowledge. As for Wisdom, he has not seen her hiding-place; he is but a well-informed fool, one who has not embraced and honoured wisdom. Where, then, “shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?… The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me…. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?… God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven…. And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

One substantial reason for not glorying in the kind of wisdom which we have attempted to depict, is the necessary littleness of man’s vastest acquisitions. The greatest men are ever the first to exclaim, “We are but of yesterday, and know nothing;” the most successful man of science, the man of peerless power, the man who has left his footprints on a wider track of the heavens and the earth than any other discoverer, comes laden with trophies, and as he lays them down in the museum, says: “Lo, these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him! but the thunder of his power who can understand?” The higher he ascended, the more he realised his own insignificance; when he attained the outermost verge of his appointed sphere he felt that he could hardly touch the hem of the royal garment. Science is a race after God; but can the Infinite ever be overtaken? Science, perhaps, never got so close to God as when she bound the capitals of the world together with bands of lightning, and flashed the wisdom and eloquence of parliaments from continent to continent. High day of triumph that; she was within hand-reach of the veiled Potentate one step more, and she would be face to face with the King was it not so? What was there between Science and God in that moment of sublimest victory? Nothing, nothing, but Infinity! “There is no searching of his understanding.”

Another point will show the folly of glorying in the kind of wisdom we have delineated: viz., the widest knowledge involves but partial rulership. You say you have found a law operating in the universe. Be it so: can you suspend or reverse the divine appointment? We do not refer to those regions in which God has been pleased to give man a certain power, but to the great, the necessary laws of creation. Can you turn back the currents of virtue which are evermore streaming from the heart of God? Can you, so to speak, amputate a limb from the vital organism, and keep it alive without connection with the Supreme Power? Can you place yourself at the tree-root, and tell the spring, which is advancing to clothe that tree with luxuriant foliage, that you can do without its services, and for once you will undertake to fabricate the verdurous garment with your own hand? Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a voice like him? The argument is this, however extensive may be our knowledge, knowledge can only help us to obey; it never can confer aught but the most limited rulership; and even that sovereignty is the dominion not of lord, but of servant, the rulership which is founded in humility and obedience the rulership whose seat is beneath the shadow of the Great Throne.

Is man, then, without an object in which to glory? It is as natural for man to glory as it is natural for him to breathe; and God, who so ordered his nature, has indicated the true theme of glorying: “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.” Here let us rejoin the earnest student of science, supposing now that, in addition to his being ardently scientific, he is intelligently devout. He goes to work as before; the flame of his enthusiasm is not diminished by a single spark; his hammer and his telescope are still precious to him, but now, instead of being in pursuit of cold, abstract, inexorable laws, he is in search of the wise and mighty and benevolent lawgiver; in legislation he finds a legislator, and in the legislator he finds a Father. Let us watch him in one of his engagements. It has come to his knowledge that geology and Moses are at variance; he sinks a shaft and descends into the lower parts of the earth, that he may himself be present in the very arena of controversy; standing round the shaft we hear the ring of his hammer as it smites the rocks; for a time a chilling and blinding fear seizes our misgiving hearts, lest every blow struck at the rock should be a blow struck at the face of revelation, from which revelation can never recover; down he goes through formations (the geological name/for cemeteries), through rocks which are tombstones: deeper and deeper he descends, getting farther and farther into mystery; now he looks at revelation, and anon he looks with anxiety at the rock; another blow and another look; his heart palpitates with strange emotion, a terror too awful for speech makes his knees smite together: shall he strike again? another stroke may dash the Bible out of men’s already trembling hands he pauses, he quivers, he weeps, he prays, and then he strikes! We await the issue with mysterious awe; slowly he returns to the surface; on his countenance are the traces of recent agony (such agony as mental warriors only know), in one hand he holds the hammer, in the other he grasps his Bible; for a moment he cannot break the silence of his own wonder, his very gladness is too deep for words; at length he lifts up his voice like a trumpet, and his contagious enthusiasm startles hallelujahs from every lip as he exclaims, “The word of the Lord endureth for ever!” And it is in that hour (holy and triumphant!) that God comes near and says, “Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me,” and then places on the head of the devout student a diadem whose splendour eclipses the brightness of congregated suns.

Man’s glorifying, then, is to be restrained until he reaches the “Me,” the personality, the living one: for example, you have found a law, be glad! speedily you find another law which confirms it, still be glad; your discoveries multiply, your museum is crowded with the memorials of brilliant conquests, still be glad, but do not “glory”; now put all your discoveries and conquests together connect the triumphs of your skill, and tell us what they spell? Read aloud! Let men and angels hear! You answer that, having put all together, the word which they constitute is God! Now glory! Now shout for gladness! Now make a joyful noise unto the Rock of salvation; and it any cold-hearted, sneering, unsympathetic brother should demand the reason cf your joy, put your finger on this warrant and answer, “Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.”

What we want, then, is personal knowledge of a Person: we would know not only the works, but the author, for they are mutually explanatory. Know the man if you would understand his actions; know God if you would comprehend nature, providence, or grace. The devout student says he finds God’s footprints everywhere; he says they are on the rocks, across the heavens, on the heaving wave, and on the flying wind; to him, therefore, keeping company with science is only another way of “walking with God.” Science becomes a wise and reverent guide, opening doors just far enough (for it can never do more than set the door ajar) to give him a glance at the milder glories of the Eternal King; and does he in return offer oblations to Science? Does he mistake the guide for the Sovereign? Nay! he thanks Science as you would thank one who had led you to a position whence you could contemplate “such a light as never shone on land or sea.” Science is nothing to the devout student, except so far as it brings him nearer God; he must find not only the writing, but the writer; not only the voice, but the speaker: as Science conducts him through the innumerable chambers of creation, he exclaims, “My heart crieth out for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Science may be an astronomer, but who wrote the glittering page which she attempts to decipher? Science may be a geologist, but who moulded the planet whose birthday she is ever anxious to determine? Science may be a botanist, but who traced the lines of beauty which she attempts to interpret? Science may be a metaphysician, but who constructed the mind, into whose mysteries she would penetrate? Science may be an agriculturist, but if God withhold the dew, only that, Science herself will die of thirst! Thus is the devout student continually reverting to the “who”; he “glories,” not in the architecture, but in the architect not in the ladder on which angels travel, but in the God against whose heart the head of that ladder rests.

The text, however, goes still farther; it relates not only to personality, but to character: the deist pauses at the former, the Christian advances to the latter: “Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.” The idea would admit of some such expression as this: Any knowledge of God, the Creator and Legislator of the physical creation, should be regarded as merely preparatory, or subordinate to an apprehension of God as the Moral Governor: that if you know God as Creator only, you can hardly be said to know him at all; that if you tremble at his power without knowing his mercy, you are a pagan; if you seek to please him as a God of intelligence, without recognising him as a God of purity and justice and love, you are ignorant of him, and your ignorance is crime. Let him that glorieth, even glorieth in God, glory in knowing God as a moral Being, as the righteous Judge, as the loving Father. There must not be adoration of mere power; we must not be satisfied with utterances of amazement at his majesty, wisdom, and dominion; we must go farther, get nearer, see deeper; we must know God morally, we must feel the pulsations of his heart his heart! that dread sanctuary of righteousness, that sempiternal fount of love.

The meaning may be seen more clearly by listening to an evangelical man of science as he addresses a deist: You, he says, are amazed at God, as he walks on the wings of the wind, as he preserves the organisation of nature in perfect order, swaying his sceptre throughout boundless dominions from age to age; now, I am as amazed as you are, and as reverent, but I go farther: I adore his power, I also recognise his righteousness; I am lost in his wisdom, but I see that wisdom quite as much in the arrangements of the moral world as in the mechanism of the heavens; you see him enkindling suns, I also see him enkindling hope in the breast of desolation; you see him moulding globes, I also see him drying the tears of sorrow; you see him controlling the terrible forces of creation, and I also see him grasping the orphan’s hand, and leading the blind by a way they know not; you see him marshalling countless populations (populations distinct as the mountains but one as the globe), I also see him putting his hands on little children, and crowning them with the diadem of his blessing; you see him in the earthquake, the fire, the tempest, and you say, “Behold his might!” I see him in his incarnate Son, dying on Calvary, and say, “This is the power of God.”

He only knows God who knows him as the God which exerciseth lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. Science can never reveal the full-orbed Godhead. Science can only stand in the outer court, begging for the crumbs which fall from the banquet-table. Science can only see through a glass darkly. Science can never weave for herself a wedding garment which will entitle her to a place at the feast. Hear it and believe; it must be love that enters into the inner court it must be love that takes a child’s seat it must be love that sees face to face it must be love on whose shoulder is found the nuptial badge. It is true, in the widest possible sense, that, “he who loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” Love is its own microscope, love is the wise interpreter; sympathy can see farther than the telescope; the door of God’s innermost chamber flies back at the appeal of love.

If we are justified, then, in so rendering the text as to draw the doctrine that he only who knows God morally knows God truly, there is one all-important warning to be given: viz., you can only attain a moral knowledge by a moral process; that is to say, you can never rectify your relations to God by any other method than that which God himself has appointed, and that method is a moral one. No man can be saved on account of his great wisdom, or on account of anything in himself; the proudest philosopher must come to the same point as the unlettered peasant; both must come as little children to the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and “count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord.” Science can give no passport to immortality; science can give no guarantee of safety: “this is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Is there a more melancholy spectacle than that of a man of science who is ignorant of God’s moral nature, and who is, consequently, wandering into outer darkness? What answer can he render to the accusations which must eventually fall upon all who know not the true God? He has spent his life in exploring the temple, but never turned a loving eye to the God whose glory fills it; he has penetrated a thousand rocks, but knows not the Rock of Ages; he has questioned innumerable orbs, but never communed with the Bright and Morning Star; he is familiar with every flower which adorns the coronal of spring, but never owned the Rose of Sharon. Here is the worst of Ignorance here is an insanity which the holiest spirits mourn. Is not such a man laying up wrath against the day of wrath? Will not every rock, every star, every flower, every law of nature, become an avenging force, and smite the man who spent a life in God’s temple without even knowing that God delighted in lovingkindness, righteousness, and judgment? It must be so. The universe is in sympathy with its Creator, and having given up enough for the safety and joy of the good, all the rest would flame into a hell rather than the neglecters of God should be living witnesses that the throne of judgment has been abandoned.

The whole subject, then, may be comprehended in four points, (1) God brands all false glorying. Upon the head of wisdom, power, and wealth, he writes, “Let no man glory in these.” There is a wisdom which is folly; there is a power which is helplessness; there is a wealth which is poverty. God warns us of these things, so that if our boasted wisdom answer us not when we are on the Carmel of solemn encounter between light and darkness, we may not have God to blame; so that if our power crumble away in the day of battle, we may remember the divine communication; so that if our wealth be scorned in the extremities of our want, we may hear the voice which branded it as a false security! Each wisdom, power, wealth has its place, each is precious, each, properly employed, is beneficial; but when substituted for God the avenging fire falls upon them, and our defences are reduced to dust. (2) God has revealed the proper ground of glorying. That ground is knowledge of God, not only as Creator and Monarch, but as Judge and Saviour and Father. Reason, groping her way through the thickening mysteries of creation, may exclaim, “There is a God;” but faith alone can see the Father smiling through the King. It will be in vain to say, “Lord, Lord,” if we cannot add, “Saviour, Friend.” Men do not enter heaven because they have seen the shadow of the Sovereign, but because they have embraced and loved and served the Saviour. (3) God, having declared moral excellence to be the true object of glorying, has revealed how moral excellence may be attained. Is it objected that there is no mention of Jesus Christ in the text? We answer, that lovingkindness, righteousness, and judgment are impossibilities apart from Christ; they are only so many names to us, until Jesus exemplifies them in his life, and makes them accessible to us by his death and resurrection. Do we require the sun to be labelled ere we confess that he shines in the heavens? As life, animal and plantal, is impossible without the sun, so are lovingkindness, righteousness, and judgment impossible without Christ. The proof is found in the experience of humanity in all ages; all philosophers who know not Jesus might be summoned to attest the validity of the declaration. It is, then, through Christ, and through Christ alone, that we attain the celestial altitudes of mercy and righteousness and judgment. (4) God has revealed the objects in which he glories himself. “For in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Let it be propounded as a problem, “In what will the Supreme Mind most delight?” and let it be supposed that an answer is possible, it might be concluded that the attainment of that answer would for ever determine the aspirations, the resolutions, and the ambition of the world. We might consider that every other object would be infinitely beneath the pursuits, and infinitely unworthy of the affections of man. At all events, this must be true, that they who glory in the objects which delight Jehovah must be drinking at pure and perennial streams.

The voice of the text is Glory in goodness. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.” All goodness is centred there! That Cross is the sublimest revelation of infinite wisdom the most magnificent embodiment of infinite love. Have we been led into its mystery? Can we trace the meaning of the superscription? Can we catch the significance of the phenomena? Have we touched the flowing blood? Have we flung the arms of our love around the holy Sufferer? If we answer Yes, we are the true children of wisdom the heirs of unwaning light. We may pursue science, conquer creation, lay nature at our feet; but we must remember that to know everything but Jesus Christ is nothing but thinly disguised and ruinous insanity.

Prayer

Almighty God, we bless thee for Jesus Christ as a teacher sent from heaven. His words are words of life and power; they search the heart, they try the reins, of the children of men; they are sharper than a two-edged sword, We rejoice that thou dost enable us to submit ourselves to the searching criticism of Jesus Christ’s word. We have been false to ourselves; we have concealed our true nature even from our own eyes; we have looked on the outside only; we have forgotten our inner life, the life of motive, of secret impulse, of purposes we dare not explain; we have looked only to our hand, when we ought to have examined the very life of our heart. But Jesus Christ, thy Son, doth not spare us; he searcheth us as with a candle; he kindleth upon us the flame of the Lord, and in the light of that fire he searches and tries us, and sees if there be any wicked way in us. We rejoice in the plainness and the vigour of his speech. We thank thee that Jesus Christ layeth the axe at the root of the tree; we bless thee for his radical teaching, for his going to the roots of all evil things, for his making the tree good that the fruit may be good, for his purifying the fountain that the stream may be pure. May we learn of Jesus Christ in these things, and seek to do thy will, not as man-pleasers, not with eye-service, but with all the simplicity of love, with all the strength of entire trust, honouring goodness for its own sake, and loving truth because it is the speech of God! Deliver us from all deceitfulness, all falsehood, all pretence, and enable us to serve thee in spirit and in truth; and out of a life based on godly sincerity, may there come works of love, pity, charity, and beneficence which shall bless all with whom we come in contact! Have mercy upon us wherein we have sinned. We have done the things we ought not to have done, and we have left undone the things that we ought to have done. We accuse ourselves. If the surface has been right the motive has been wrong; if our hand has been clean our heart has been leprous. Do thou wash us in the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for the sins of men, the sacrificial blood which is our propitiation, our plea, and our answer before God! Let thine own people glory in the truth, feel its power, acknowledge its sovereignty, bless its giver. If there be before thee, or shall come within the influence of our word to-night, any man who is hypocritical, who seeks to cover up his real state from the eye of society and from the eye of his own conscience, apply thy word to such as a flame of fire, finding its way into the secret chambers of the soul and lighting up the darkest recesses of the life. Make us glad in the Lord! In the world we have mortification, disappointment, tears, broken staves piercing our hands, much sorrow, great difficulty. But in God’s house, on God’s day, gathered as we are around God’s book, surely thy children shall not plead in vain for the gladness which comes of thy presence. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Jer 9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

Ver. 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, ] q.d., You bear yourselves bold upon your wisdom, wealth, strength, and other such seeming supports and deceitful foundations, as if these could save you from the evils threatened. But all these will prove like a shadow that declineth – delightful, but deceitful; as will well appear at the hour of death. Charles V, whom, of all men, the world judged most happy, cursed his honours, a little before his death, his victories, trophies, and riches, saying, Abite hinc, abite longe; get you far enough, for any good ye can now do me. Abi, perdita bestia, quae me totum perdidisti; begone, thou wretched creature, that hast utterly undone me, said Cornelius Agrippa, the magician, to his familiar spirit, when he lay dying. So may many say of their worldly wisdom, wealth, &c.

Let not the wise man glory. ] Let not those of great parts be headstrong, or top heavy; let them not think to wind out by their wiles and shifts.

Let not the mighty man glory. ] Fortitudo nostra est infirmitatis in veritate cognitio, et in humilitate confessio. a

Nor the rich man glory in his riches. ] Since they avail not in the day of wrath. Zep 1:18 See Trapp on “ Zep 1:18 “

a Augustine.

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

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 9:23-24

23Thus says the LORD, Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things, declares the LORD.

Jer 9:23-24 This is a beautiful description of true wisdom in contrast with the false wisdom of the scribes mentioned earlier in Jer 8:8-12. Note the fivefold repetition of glory.

1. four Hithpael IMPERFECTS used in a JUSSIVE sense

2. one Hithpael PARTICIPLE in Jer 9:24

Jer 9:23 Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom The wise person will know that it is not in human might or riches but in YHWH that one’s strength lies (cf. Zec 4:6).

Jer 9:24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD

Notice all the things that humans tend to boast in

1. wisdom

2. strength

3. wealth

are not what should be gloried in, but

1. that he/she understands Me – BDB 968, KB 1328, Hiphil INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE

2. that he/she knows Me – BDB 393, KB 390, Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE

These INFINITIVES speak of human reception of divine revelation. They have heard and responded to the law of YHWH, the voice of YHWH (cf. Jer 9:13) and the Person of YHWH (i.e., Me, Jer 9:24; Hos 4:1; Hos 4:6; Hos 5:4; Hos 8:2)! This is the opposite of Jer 9:3 d and 6.

Characteristics of YHWH are delineated in this verse. The mandate that believers boast in God is a common biblical theme (cf. Jer 4:2; Psa 44:8; Isa 41:16; 1Co 1:31; 2Co 10:17; Gal 6:14).

The characteristics of God in Jer 9:24 can also be seen beautifully expressed in Exo 34:6-7 and Neh 9:17.

1. lovingkindness (see Special Topic: Lovingkindness [Hesed] )

2. justice (see Special Topic: Judge, Judgment, Justice )

3. righteousness (see Special Topic: Righteousness ).

for I delight in these things If YHWH delights (BDB 342, KB 339, Qal PERFECT), then we should take special notice of it and emulate it (cf. Isa 58:2; opposite of Jer 11:10; Jer 13:10).

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

Thus saith, &c. The lesson which follows is of universal application.

Let not. Note the Figure of speech Symploke, or Anaphora, for emphasis.

wisdom . . . might . . . riches. These are the three things which men boast of, and trust in. This was Jerusalem’s sin.

let not. Some codices, with six early printed editions (one in margin), Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “neither let”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Jer 9:23-24

Jer 9:23-24

Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah.

The knowledge of God and his way of salvation is greatly to be preferred above all the honors, power, riches, and achievements of mankind.

Loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness…

(Jer 9:24). As Green noted, These are covenant words. As we have repeatedly emphasized, it is impossible to understand God’s punishment of the Jews apart from its relation to the Mosaic covenant which the Jews had possessed for many generations, and which they had so wantonly violated.

The only proper ground for anyone’s glorying is in the right relationship with God; this is the thing that supremely matters.

The brief but beautiful treatment of true glory seems unrelated to either what precedes or what follows in the chapter. Men throughout history have been tempted to magnify the importance of wisdom, strength and wealth and fall down in adoration before this trinity in unholy worship. Wealth and strength are ephemeral and wisdom, if it is not rooted in reverent fear for God, is vain (cf. Psa 111:10). Destruction and death await the nation or the individual who places undue confidence in the arm of flesh (Jer 9:23). True glory belongs not to the wealthy, the strong, and the wise but to those who understand and know the Lord. To understand God means to have the correct insight into His divine nature; to know Him means to walk in intimate fellowship with Him day by day. Those who understand and know the Lord practice daily those things which are pleasing to Him. They demonstrate lovingkindness to those who are of the household of faith. They strive for justice for the underprivileged and weak. They walk in the paths of righteousness, i.e., right conduct. These are the qualities which make the relationship between God and man and these are the qualities which must characterize the relationship between the man of God and his fellowman (Jer 9:24).

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

wise: Job 5:12-14, Psa 49:10-13, Psa 49:16-18, Ecc 2:13-16, Ecc 2:19, Ecc 9:11, Isa 5:21, Isa 10:12, Isa 10:13, Eze 28:2-9, Rom 1:22, 1Co 1:19-21, 1Co 1:27-29, 1Co 3:18-20, Jam 3:14-16

neither: Deu 8:17, 1Sa 17:4-10, 1Sa 17:42, 1Ki 20:10, 1Ki 20:11, Psa 33:16, Psa 33:17, Isa 10:8, Isa 36:8, Isa 36:9, Eze 29:9, Dan 3:15, Dan 4:30, Dan 4:31, Dan 4:37, Dan 5:18-23, Amo 2:14-16, Act 12:22, Act 12:23

rich: Job 31:24, Job 31:25, Psa 49:6-9, Psa 52:6, Psa 52:7, Psa 62:10, Pro 11:4, Eze 7:19, Zep 1:18, Mar 10:24, Luk 12:19, Luk 12:20, 1Ti 6:10

Reciprocal: Gen 31:1 – glory Exo 28:2 – glory Jos 11:21 – the Anakims Jdg 1:10 – Sheshai Jdg 7:2 – Israel Jdg 16:20 – the Lord 1Sa 2:9 – by strength 1Sa 9:2 – choice 1Sa 14:6 – uncircumcised 1Sa 17:10 – give me 1Sa 17:44 – Come to me 2Sa 21:15 – and David waxed faint 2Sa 21:22 – fell by 2Ki 14:10 – glory of this 1Ch 16:10 – Glory 1Ch 20:8 – they fell 2Ch 25:19 – to boast Est 5:11 – the glory Job 32:13 – We Job 39:21 – and Job 41:15 – pride Psa 62:7 – In God Psa 105:3 – Glory Pro 3:5 – and Pro 10:15 – rich Pro 20:29 – glory Pro 21:30 – General Isa 16:14 – the glory Isa 20:5 – their glory Isa 28:5 – shall the Isa 41:16 – thou shalt rejoice Isa 45:25 – glory Jer 48:7 – because Jer 48:14 – We Jer 49:4 – gloriest Eze 28:12 – full Amo 6:13 – which Zec 12:7 – save Joh 17:3 – this Rom 4:2 – he hath 1Co 1:29 – General 1Co 1:31 – General 1Co 3:21 – glory 2Co 1:9 – that 2Co 10:17 – General 2Co 11:18 – many 2Co 11:30 – must Gal 6:14 – that I Phi 3:3 – rejoice Phi 3:8 – the excellency 1Ti 6:17 – trust Heb 11:26 – greater Jam 1:9 – rejoice Jam 3:13 – is a Jam 5:1 – ye

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 9:23. All human accomplishments and talents are failures when the might of the Lord is turned against them. The most Influential men in the kingdom of Judah had been dominating the common people for many years and they had led them into sin. Now they themselves were destined to feel the wrath of God whose law they had broken.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 9:23-24. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom Let not men value themselves on account of their wisdom, strength, or riches, which are things in themselves of a very uncertain continuance, and such calamities are coming, (see Jer 9:25-26,) in which they will stand the owners of them in very little stead. The only true, valuable endowment is the knowledge of God, not as he is in himself, which is too high an attainment for poor mortals to pretend to, but with respect to his dealings with men; to have a serious sense of his mercies to the penitent, of his judgments to the obstinate, and of his truth and integrity, in making good his promises and threatenings to both. It is in the exercise of these attributes God chiefly delights; and it is by these he desires to make himself known to the world; and he that forms a just and lively apprehension of God, chiefly with regard to these his perfections, will always demean himself suitably toward him. Judgment and righteousness are often equivalent terms, but here the former seems to denote Gods severity against the wicked, and the latter his truth, justice, or holiness. See Lowth. Upon the whole, all other wisdom is vain and dangerous, except that which has God himself for its object, and teaches us to despise ourselves, to be humbled beneath his mighty hand, and to glory in him alone.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 9:23-26. The Knowledge of Yahweh: Uncircumcised Israel.This paragraph contains two originally distinct prophecies, unrelated to their present context, though quite possibly Jeremianic. They teach the glory of Israels religion (Jer 9:23 f.), and the futility of physical without spiritual circumcision (Jer 9:25 f.). In the second, Israel is degraded to the level of other, uncircumcised nations.

Jer 9:26. The corner-clipt (Jer 25:23, Jer 49:32) are those shaved around the brow, according to the practice of some Arab tribes (cf. Herod. iii. 8, and contrast Lev 19:27*).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the {r} wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

(r) As none can save himself by his own labour, or any worldly means, he shows that it is vain to put our trust in it, but that we trust in the Lord, and rejoice in him, who only can deliver.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Proper grounds for boasting 9:23-24

This reflection on the nature of true wisdom contrasts strongly with the preceding dirge. In such crucial days, Judah’s only hope lay in her relationship with God. The thematic connection with the context is judgment.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The Lord commanded that the wise and strong and rich should not take pride in their wisdom and strength and wealth. One writer argued that Jeremiah ministered at a time when conventional wisdom was being challenged, and that this fact accounts for much of the opposition that he faced. [Note: Walter A. Brueggemann, "The Epistemological Crisis of Israel’s Two Histories (Jeremiah 9:22-23)," in Israelite Wisdom: Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel Terrien, pp. 85-105.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)