a Job xxxviii. 3; 1 Pet. i. 13. and there was no feebleness in Je for work, and fixity of purpose to do it thoroughly. not dismayed, at the opposition he was certain to meet with. conb "Naturally defound, marg., "break to pieces." (18) a defenced city, i.e. spondent like one, guarded well round with Divine defences." iron self-distrustful, pillar, symbol of his Divinely strengthened will. (19) not prevail, and with such an assurance Jeremiah may well banish all timidity and hesitation. “They shall no more prevail against thee, than they could against an impregnable wall or fortress." Opposition (r. 19).-In proportion as we are faithful to God we are assailed by man. I. The vehemence of our foes," fight against thee;" they do not fight against principle so much as against persons. II. The certainty of our security, "they shall not prevail." Saints may be weary, maimed, fearful; but not, in the end, defeated. III. The source of our confidence. 1. The abaling presence of the Lord; 2. The constant manifestation of the power of the Lord." CHAPTER THE SECOND. remiah's charac ter, and he possessed a far higher quality than physical courage in his power of patient endurance."-Spk. e Comp. Eze. iii. Com. 9. Also Je. xXV. 10, xx. 2, xxiii. 18, etc., xxvi. 10, Xxxv. 15, xxxviii. 6. d Stems and Twigs. a Eze. xvi. 8: Ho. ii. 20; Joel is intended to set forth the zeal and piety they had evinced at that early period, and which were 1-4. (1) moreover, this first prophecy is to be closely connected with the call. (2) ears of Jerusalem, i.e. in the most i. 8. public places where audience is to be gained. This implies that "Prob. the v. the Prophet was to leave Anathoth. remember thee, or, for thee; what thou hast so strangely forgotten. "Israel is here represented as a young bride." The reference is to the forty years in the wilderness of Sinai. (3) holiness, i.e. a consecrated thing. (Lev. xxii. 10, the same word is used.) offend, or incur the guilt of touching a sacred thing. (4) Jacob.. Israel, though the ten tribes had been taken into captivity, many of the Israelite nation remained, blended with Judah; and all are addressed. The ingratitude of men (vv. 4-6).-Here we are called to consider-I. The complaint he makes it may be urged against us, for there is-1. The same folly; 2. The same ingratitude. II. His challenge in relation to it. 1. Have you ever found Him a hard master? 2. Or less gracious or merciful than He professed to be? Tell me then (1) What will ye say in justification of yourselves? 2. What line of conduct will ye henceforth pursue? d b as strikingly contrasted with their idolatrous practices at the time of the Prophet."-Hen derson. c"A people particularly dedi cated to Me, as the firstfruits of the increase of the ground are, by their law, consecrated to God, Ex. xxiii. 19. a Mi. vi. 3. b Je. x. 15, xiv. 14, 22, xvi. 19; 1 Co. viii. 4. 5-8. (5) what iniquity, or injustice in dealing with them." d C. Simeon, M.A. vanity, the usual description of idols, and idolatrous worship. become vain, its worshippers acquiring its character, Ps. cxv. 8. (6) led.. wilderness, comp. De. viii. 15, 16, xxxii. 10. deserts, etc., figures to represent the entire lack of all ordinary conveniences of life; and many dangers present. (7) plentiful country, lit. a Carmel-land. The fertile district of Carmel being made to represent the whole land. (8) handle the law, ie. the Scribes, or perhaps Levites. pastors, i.e. the temporal rulers. prophets, i.e. those who received and communicated special Divine messages. Three shameful possibilities of human life (rv. 6-8).-I. The possibility of dishonouring the great memories of life. 1. As when the vividness of their recollection fades; 2. When their moral purpose is overlooked or misunderstood; 3. When their stimulating and strengthening function is suspended. II. The possibility of under-estimating the interpositions of God. 1. Re с "A people's character never rises above that are its better of its gods, wh. nature." .'"-Bucon. d Is. lxiii. 9, 11, lot to behold. beyond presented a most uninvit-member the Deliverer; 2. And the Giver. III. The possibility ing and hideous of the leading minds of the Church being darkened and perverted. pices and naked 1. Such men should watch themselves with constant jealousy ; conical peaks of 2. Such men should never be forgotten by those who pray, 8 aspect; preci chalky and gravelly formation, rising one above another, without a sign of life or vegetation."Robinson. g Dr. J. Parker. v. 5. W. Dunlop, 2. vv. 6, 7. E. Scobell, 313. "After we had passed the salt desert, we came to the Malek-elmoat-dereh, nature of the ravines, without Note on v. 6.-When the Prophet describes this wilderness, according to our version, as the land of the shadow of death, his meaning has been differently understood by different people. Some have supposed it to mean a place where there were no comforts or conveniences of life, but this seems too general; and to explain it as a particular and distinct member of the descripIs. x. 18, xvi. tion, pointing out some quality different from the other circum10, xxxvii. 24. stances mentioned by Jeremiah, seems to be a more just, as it is undoubtedly a more lively way of interpreting the Prophet. Others have accordingly understood this clause as signifying, it was the habitation of venomous serpents, or destroying beasts; some as endangering those that passed through it, as being surrounded by the hostile tribes of Arabs; some as being overshadowed by trees of a deleterious quality. They might better have introduced the whirlwinds of those southern deserts than the last particular, which winds, taking up the sand in great quantities, darken the air, and prove fatal to the traveller. This last would be giving great beauty and energy to the expression (the shadow the valley of the angel of death. of death), since these clouds of dust, literally speaking, overThis extraordi- shadow those that have the misfortune to be then passing through nary appellation, those deserts, and must, at the same time, give men the utmost and the peculiar terror of being overwhelmed by them, and not unfrequently do whole of this in fact prove deadly. Another clause, a land of pits, is also a tract of land, part of the Prophet's description. Irwin affords a good comment broken into deep on this part of our translation in the one place he says, "The water, of a dreari-path winded round the side of the mountain, and to our left, a ness without ex- horrid chasm, some hundred fathoms deep, presented itself to our ample, will, per-view. It is surprising no accident befell the loaded camels." In haps, be found another, "On each side of us were perpendicular steeps some forcibly to illustrate Jer. ii. 6." hundred fathoms deep. On every part is such a wild confusion of hanging precipices, disjointed rocks, and hideous chasms, that we might well cry out with the poet, 'Chaos is come again.' Omnipotent Father! to Thee we trust for our deliverance from the perils that surround us. 'It was through this wilderness that Thou didst lead Thy chosen people.' It was here Thou didst manifest thy signal protection, in snatching them from the jaws of destruction which opened upon every side." And in the next spire. Ah! the page, "At two o'clock we came suddenly upon a dreadful chasm souls of those in the road, which appears to have been the effect of an earthsunbeams lifted quake. It is about three hundred yards long, one hundred yards higher." Long-wide, and as many deep; and, what is a curiosity, in the middle fellowo. of the gulf, a single column of stone raises its head to the surface of the earth. The rudeness of the work, and the astonishing length of the stone, announce it to be a lusus naturæ, though the robbers declared to us that beneath the column there lies a prodigious sum of money; and added, with a grave face, they have a tradition, that none but a Christian's hand can remove the stone to come at it. We rounded the gulf, which was called Somah, and leaving it behind us, we entered a valley where we found a very craggy road." The first clause in this passage, through a land of deserts, is the most obscure and difficult to ascertain. Instead of travelling in the night, as he had proposed, -Morier. "Upward steals the life of man, as the sunshine from the wall; from the wall inthe roof along the to the sky; from that die are but Life is a thing which many people seem in a great hurry to get rid of, if we may judge by the number of "fast" young men nowadays, who use themselves up with the greatest apparent satisfaction. that bends be the dark and joyless ivy, round the cloister's wall wreathing its barren arms."— Southey. to avoid the burning heat of the sun, he says, "At seven o'clock "Far more vawe halted for the night. The Arabs tell us that the roads are lued is the vine too rugged and dangerous to travel over in the dark." Underneath its swellthe next day, "we reached the foot of a prodigious high moun- ing clusters, than tain, which we cannot ascend in the dark." The following day, he tells us, "by six o'clock we had accoutred our camels, and leading them in our hands, began to ascend the mountain on foot; ; as we mounted the steep, we frequently blessed ourselves that we were not riding, as the path was so narrow, the least false step must have sent the beast down the bordering precipice." Under another day he remarks that the greatest part of that day's journey was "over a succession of hills and dales, where the road was so intricate and broken, that nothing but a camel could get over it. The appearance of the road is so frightful in many places, that we do not wonder why our people have hitherto lain by in the night." 9-13. (9) plead, as in a court of law.a with you, the present generation. children's children, who will further develop the idolatry and rebellion. (10) isles of Chittim, cast lands of the Mediterranean Sea. Kedar, fig. for the Eastern lands. (11) changed their gods, the tenacity with which men keep hold of national religions has always been very marked. their glory, wh. was the revelation to them of the one, aving, and spiritual God. (12) very desolate, or dry. The heavens are poetically called on to shrivel and dry up in horror at such conduct. (13) broken cisterns, such as have cracks cr rents, through which the water wastes away. h Harmer. a "The expres is taken from the pleas of tice."-Lowth. final judgment on the nation would be sus pended for many generations. Horsley. c See Kittim, Ge. x. 4. Ge. xxv. 13 Ps. cxx. 5; Cant. "The usua plan is to dig a tank in the ground, build round with stonework, sometimes raising this the ground, and putting on it a several feet above The fountain and the cistern (v. 13).—In these two evils we have all the sins of the people summed up,-apostasy and selfsufficiency. I. The fountain forsaken. 1. Its nature; 2. Its contents,-God, a Fountain of cleansing influence of cheering influence of reviving power-of fertilising results. This found tain is forsaken when men cease to think of God as the chief end of their life-when they overlook the law of God-when they do not cleave to the word of God-when they are beginning to look back to old times of bondage-when they look away from the cleansing fountain to their own works. II. The cistern preferred. 1. Domestic happiness; 2. Professional life; 3. Intellecality; 4. Social life. III. The disappointment involved. 1. That of one who has spent his best time and strength to no purpe: 2. Of one who must after all go to the rejected fountain; 3 Who finds that his past life has been a grievous sin. Note on v. 13.-In Eastern language, "living water" signifies liable to crack springing water, that which bubbles up. The people had for- and leak, esp. Baken Jehovah, the never-failing Spring, for the small quantity those near the which could be contained in a cistern; nay, in broken cisterns, which would let out the water as fast as they received it. When people forsake a good situation for that which is bad, it is said, Yes; the stork which lived on the borders of the lake, where there was a never-failing supply of water, and constant food, has gone to dwell on the brink of a well," i.e. where there is no fish, and where the water cannot be had 14-19. (14) slave? God called him to be son, not slave, Ex. iv. 22. why.. spoiled ? the answer must be, on account of his sins, so he must not charge God with his calamities. (15) roof. These cisterns are very surface of the ground and unscientifically constructed; and no more expressive fig. of untrustworthiness could be found than a leaky tank."- Thomson. f Roberts. a Comp. Job iv. 10, 11; Ps. xxxiv. 10, lviii. 6; Je. li. or 66 young lions, type of the dangers into wh. Israel's rebellion had brought him. Lions are sometimes taken to represent the Babylonian princes." (16) Noph, Tahapanes, places in broken. Egypt. crown, marg. feed on thy crown," or devour the best part of thy country. (17) to thyself, by on the W. bank of thy own doings. (18) way of Egypt, at this time some the Nile. Tahapanes, of the rulers were inclined to alliance with Egypt, while Daphne, on the others favoured alliance with Assyria. (19) thine.. thee, Tanitic branch the natural consequences of wrong-doing prove to be Divine These two cities judgments. or of the Nile. -Fausset. waters is to adopt stand for the Note on v. 18.-The Euphrates is always muddy, and the water, whole of Egypt." consequently, not good to drink unless it has stood an hour or "The two rivers two in earthen vessels for the sand and impurities to settle, are the two which at times lie half a finger thick at the bottom of the vessel. empires, and to Hence it was not without reason that the Lord said to the Israeldrink their ites, by the Prophet Jeremiah, "What hast thou to do in the way their principles of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?" (Euphrates.) For and religion."- this reason we find in the houses of the city and villages, parSpk. Com. ticularly those lying on the Great River, many large earthen vessels holding a pailful or two, which they fill from the Euphrates, and do not use till the impurities have settled at the bottom, unless they are very thirsty, and then they drink through their pocket-handkerchiefs.-(Rauwolf.)< v. 17. J. Marriott, 243. d Rosenmuller. a Ex. xix. 8; Jos. 16; 1 Sa. xii. 10. b"It was an incrustation at the 20-22. (20) broken thy yoke, that which Egypt laid xxiv. 18; Ju. x. upon thee. But God gave Israel many gracious deliverances, and received from Israel repeated promises of faithful service. high hill, etc., Is. lvii. 5-7. (21) noble vine, see Is. v. 1, etc. right seed, fructified and of good quality. unto me, or to my hurt and vexation. (22) nitre, not saltpetre, but the natron of Egypt, a mineral alkali. sope, Heb. borith, a vegetable alkali now called potash. Combined with oil it was used for washing. marked, as a stain that cannot be got out. bottom of the evaporated the used for washing. (Job ix. 30; Pr. xxv. 20).-Fausset. e "Though thou usest ever So the marks or Sin aroused by the law.-A contented citizen of Milan, who had never passed beyond its walls during the course of sixty years, being ordered by its governor not to stir beyond its gates, became immediately miserable, and felt so powerful an inclinamany methods of tion to do that which he had so long contentedly neglected, that, washing away on his application for a release from this restraint being refused, thy sins,...yet he became quite melancholy, and at last died of grief. How well stains will al- this illustrates the Apostle's confession that he had not known ways appear in lust unless the law had said unto him, "Thou shalt not covet !" the sight of God,Sin," saith he, "taking occasion by the commandment, wrought away by a sincere in me all manner of concupiscence." Evil often sleeps in the repentance and soul until the holy command of God is discovered, and then the enmity of the carnal mind rouses itself to oppose in every way the will of God. "Without the law," says Paul, "sin was dead." How vain to hope for salvation from the law, when through the perversity of sin it provokes our evil hearts to rebellion, and works in us neither repentance nor love.d till they are done reformation. Lowth. d C. H. Spurgeon. a "The people prob. appealed to the maintenance rifice, and the and even of the daily sac- 23-25. (23) say, in self-defence. valley, of Hinnom, ch. Mosaic ritual: vii. 32. swift dromedary, a "young female wh. has never had more a foal." (24) wild ass, "symbol of an untamed and reckless confidently per- nature." her occasion, the pairing season. (25) thirst, or haps to Josiah's splendid restora- lusting after these vain idols. 'Do not wear out thy shoes and tion of the expose thyself to thirst and weariness in undertaking long journeys to make new alliances with idolaters." no hope, marg. Is the case desperate?" Self-rindicating sinners reproved (rv. 23, 24).—I. The self-vindicating ways of sinners. 1. In a way of direct denial; 2. Of vain excuse; 3. Of hypocritical palliation. II. The charge which God brings against them. 1. By an appeal to fact; 2. By a most apt comparison. 26-30. (26) house of Israel, here the whole Heb. people remaining in their land. (27) stock, a thing that cannot move itself. stone, this word being feminine in Hebrew is represented as a mother. back unto me, a token of contempt and aversion. (28) where.. gods, why do not they comfort and help you in your troubles? cities.. gods, besides the national deities, tutelary gods abounded. (29) plead with me, for help in trouble-time. (30) sword.. prophets, with prob. allusion to the violent persecutions of Manasseh. The folly of neglecting God (vv. 27, 28).-I. The conduct of inners towards their God. 1. It is a state of ease; 2. Of trouble. | II. The folly and danger of it. 1. The disappointment it will occasion; 2. The reflections to which it will give rise. Address (1) Those that are at ease in their sins; (2) Those who are brought into any kind of trouble; (3) Those that have already begun to seek the Lord." c C. Simeon, M.A. "As there is a foolish wisdom, so there is a wise ignorance, in not prying into God's ark, not inquir ing into things not revealed. I would fain know all that I need, God's secrets to of Folly of idolatry shown.-The following incident occurs in the life of the Anglo-Saxon missionary, Winfrid, afterwards called Boniface. On his recommencing his missionary work in Hessia, he found that, during his absence (at Rome), many of the converts had relapsed into their old superstitions, and therefore resolved to destroy one of the chief objects of veneration in the neighbourhood in which he was labouring this was an eminent cak near Giesmar, in Upper Hesse, which for ages had been sacred to Thor, the god of thunder. Many times had the zealous missionary declaimed against this idolatry, but without effect. He determined, therefore, to strike a blow at the object itself, happy for me and remove, if possible, the stumbling-block from their midst. that God makes Mr. Maclear (Missions of the Middle Ages) thus describes theme of His court, though not scene-One day, accompanied by all his clergy, he advanced, His council."axe in hand, to cut down the offending monarch of the forest. Bp. Hall. The people assembled in thousands to witness the great controversy between the new and the old belief, many enraged at the interference of the stranger preacher, many more confident that an instant judgment would strike down so daring an offender. But scarcely had the missionary begun to ply his axe than it was apparent that Thor could not defend his own. If he was a god, he was certainly either gone on a journey,' or was asleep and needed awaking; for in vain his votaries supplicated his vengeance. After a few blows of the axe, a crashing was heard in the topmost boughs; a mighty rushing wind, says the chronicler, seemed to shake every branch, and then the leafy idol came down to the ground, and split into four quarters. 'The Lord, He is the God!' the people shouted, thus acknowledging the superior might of the new faith." d "A man is never astonished or know ashamed that he of the other d Hassell. Jehovah from 31-34. (31) O generation, a highly-impassioned exclama-a "So far was tion. have.. darkness? a strong appeal. are lords, and proving a nig will have our own will. (32) ornaments, Oriental females gardly and au |