Introduction.

I. Title. So called from the name of the-II. Author. Jeremiah, the S. of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth (i. 6) in Benj., called to proph. office 70 yrs. aft. d. of Isa., in 13th yr. of K. Josiah (i. 1). Some yrs. aft., Jer, came to Jerus., visited cities of Judah, prophesying above 40 years (ii. 6). Jehoiakim spurned his predictions, cut the roll in pieces, and burned it. Jer. rewrote it with additions (xxxvi.). Falsely accused, in the reign of Zedekiah, of deserting to Chaldæans, he was imprisoned. By order of Nebuchadnezzar he had the choice of going to Babylon, but preferred to remain with his own people. They, disobeying his message, went to Egypt, taking him and Baruch with them (xliii. 6), there he still sought to turn the people (xliv.), but we have no further acc. of him. Trad. says the Jews put him to death at Taphanhes (Jerome). Jer. was contemp. with Zeph., Hab., Eze., and Dan. "The hist. of Jer. brings before us a man forced, as it were, in spite of himself, from obscurity and retirement into the publicity and peril which attended the prophetical office. Naturally mild, susceptible, and inclined rather to mourn in secret for the iniquity which surrounded him than to brave and denounce the wrong-doers, he stood forth at the call of God and proved himself a faithful, fearless champion of the truth, amidst reproaches, insults, and threats. This combination of qualities is so marked, that Havernick regards it as a proof of the Divine origin of his mission. In Eze., on the other hand, we see the power of Divine inspiration acting on a mind naturally of the firmest texture, and absorbing all the powers of the soul" (Angus). III. Time. B.C. 628-585. "The style of Jer. corresponds with the character of his mind; it is peculiarly marked by pathos. He delights in expressions of tenderness, and gives touching descriptions of the miseries of his people" (Angus). "His style. though inferior to that of Isaiah in power and sublimity, is marked by pathos and tenderness, in accordance with what seems to have been the cast of his mind. He excels in expressing and awakening the softer emotions" (Litton, Lowth). With this Horne agrees, and he adds, "The middle part of his book is almost entirely historical, and is written in a plain prosaic style, suitable to historical narrative. Ón many occasions he is very elegant and sublime, especially in xlvi.-li. 1-59, which are wholly poetical, and in which the Prophet approaches very near the sublimity of Isaiah.'

Two or three of the prophecies of Jer. clearly announce the Messiah. Thus, in xxiii. 5, 6, He is called the Lord our righteousness, and on this passage Dr. Hales says this is "to intimate that He will be a mediatorial God, by whose hand we shall obtain justification from the name, wherefore it calls him by the name of the name; that is, the ineffable name Jaoh, here put for God Himself. Again in xxxi. 22 we have a distinct prediction of the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ; and in xxxi. 31–36, and xxxiii. 8, the efficacy of Christ's atonement, the spiritual character of the new covenant, and the inward efficacy of the Gospel are most clearly and emphatically described. Comp. Epistle to the Hebs. viii. 8-13, and x. 16, et seq.

The character of Jeremiah is reflected in his writings. His speech is clear and simple, incisive and pithy, and though generally speaking somewhat diffuse, yet ever rich in thought. If it lacks a lofty strain, the soaring flight of an Isaiah, yet it has beauties of its own. It is distinguished by a wealth of new imagery which is wrought out with great delicacy and deep feeling, and by a "versatility that easily adapts itself to the most various objects, and by artistic clearness" (Ewald). In the management of his thoughts, Jeremiah

has more recourse than other Prophets to the law and the older sacred writings;
and his style is rich in repetitions and standing phrases. These peculiarities
are not, however, to be regarded as signs of the progressive decline of the
prophetic gift, but are to be derived from deeper foundations, from positive
and fundamental causes. The continual recurrence to the law and the fre-
quent application of the prophetic parts of Deuteronomy, was prompted by the
circumstances of the time. The wider the people's apostasy from the law of
God extended itself, so much the greater became the need for a renewed
preaching of the law, that should point to the sore judgments there threatened
against hardened sinners, now about to come into fulfilment. And as against
the guile of false prophets, whose influence with the infatuated people became
ever greater, the true witnesses of the Lord could have no more effective means
of showing and proving the Divineness of their mission and the truth of their
testimony than by bringing strongly out their connection with the old Prophets
and their utterances (Delitzsch).

a Josephus says this town is 20

stadia distant fr. Jerusalem, and Jerome describes it as three Rom.

miles north of that city.

"Dr. Robinson considers the present Anâta to

Occupy the site of this ancient town, portions of the wall of which, as also the foundations of some of the houses,

still remain."Henderson.

"The first and last of the kings under whom each Prophet prophesied are often thus specified in the general title." -Fausset.

"From the sixth

v. of this chapter

we may infer that Jeremy was very young when he was called by God to the prophetic

office."-Lowth.

c Hive.

d Dr. Porter.

a"This call was part of Jere

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

1-3. (1) the words, better, the life and acts. Some understand by the term "a collection of the prophecies of Jeremiah." Jeremiah, a name variously translated. Some say from ramah, to throw down, and so meaning "Jehovah shall throw down ;' others take it from ram, high, and think it means, "God exalteth." Hilkiah, poss. the well-known priest of this name. Anathoth, Jos. xxi. 13, 18. (2) came, lit. was, or began to come, from this time onward. thirteenth year, wh. would be the year after Josiah began his national reformations. Jehoiakim, etc., Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin are omitted in this reference, for they reigned only three months each.

The young Christian.-The young Christian, trembling on the threshold of life of service, is equipped and comforted by his Master. I. The young Christian's fears, arising from sense of1. Weakness, "a child," without influence, experience, stability; 2. Ignorance: how comprehend a theme into which angels desire to look? 3. Unworthiness: might not some one better known do the work required of him better? 4. Human opposition: he saw that children can see how men hate the truth. II. The young Christian's encouragements. 1. God sends him to work: "I ordained thee:" God will aid whom He sends; 2. Disclosure of God's purpose: no less God's purpose to send him than to save Israel; God's plan to use us, as well as to save others; 3. Promise of Divine presence: "I am with thee:" Wesley's saying, "The best of all is, God is with us;" 4. The message should be supplied, . 9: His words are spirit and life; wisdom and power of God. Learn:-(1) Advance courageously; (2) Expect opposition: "they hated Me before they hated you ;' (3) Look constantly for Divine aid."

Anathoth.-A poor village of some twenty houses, built among white rocks and white ruins, on a bare, grey mountain side. No trees, no verdure, no richness, nor grandeur, nor beauty; here, amid mountain solitudes and rocky dells, he (Jeremiah) mourned and wept over the foreseen calamities of his beloved country.... One can trace in nearly all the images and illustrations with which his writings abound, the influence of those wild scenes amid which he passed his boyhood. Mountains, rocks, wild beasts, shepherds, are again and again introduced.d

4-6. (4) word. . came," the way in which Divine messages miah's first ad came to the Prophets is never described. Probably they distinctly dress to the heard an inward voice; or felt an impulse to utter certain things. people. It was (5) formed thee, the figurative assertion of God's predestinano afterthought, tion of Jeremiah to the prophetic office, in fulfilment of the but a public proclamation, by wh. Divine plan. knew thee, in the sense of "approved of thee" from the first he as a fit agent for My purpose. sanctified thee, in the sense stood forth, of "set thee apart," not in the sense of "made thee holy." by an external ordained thee, or appointed thee by this public call. nations, authority, and to generally: to other beside the Jewish nation. (6) child, either speak not his own as young in years, or as inexperienced. He had never occupied words, but those of Jehovah.” —any public position. Spk. Com

claiming to act

Fears and comforts in prospect of labour for God (vv. 5—9).—

I The fears of God's servant in prospect of labour. 1. He feels his weakness, having no influence, no experience, being unstable; 2. He feels his ignorance; 3. His unworthiness; 4. He dreads the enmity of man. II. The comforts of God's servants in the prospect of labour. 1. The assurance they are called to the work; 2 The knowledge of the purpose of God; 3. The promise of the presence of God; 4. The fact that the message is from God. Jeremiah.

I am the man sore smitten with the wrath

Of Him who fashion'd me; my heart is faint,
And crieth out, Spare, spare, O God! Thy saint.
But yet with darkness doth He hedge my path.

My eyes with streams of fiery tears run down
To see the daughter of my people slain,
And in Jerusalem the godless reign.
Trouble on trouble are upon me thrown ;

Mine adversaries clap their sinful hands

The while they hiss and wag their heads, and say,
"Where is the temple but of yesterday-

The noblest city of a hundred lands?"
We do confess our guilt; then, Lord, arise,
Avenge, avenge us of our enemies! &

7-10. (7) say not, etc., comp. Ex. vi. 30, vii. 1, 2. thou shalt go, God renews a command which requires a simple and unquestioning obedience. (8) of their faces, the look of an audience often terrifies a young and untried speaker, and as Jeremiah had bitter judgments to announce, the faces would be likely to daunt him. I am with thee, the usual and all-sufficing assurance. (9) touched my mouth,' as a symbol of the bestowment of grace for the speaking or prophesying required. (10) set thee over, or given thee the oversight; set thee to have an eye to the conduct and the future of the nations. build.. plant, indicating the restoration of nations when they are duly repentant and reformed.

Jeremiah, a lesson for the disappointed (v. 8).—Sketch the ungrateful treatment of the Prophets by the Israelites of all persecuted Prophets we know most of Jeremiah. See-I. How these words apply to him: his ministry may be summed up in three words: 1. Good hope; 2. Labour; 3. Disappointment. II. How these words apply to us.

Providential interpositions.-The_goodness or mercy of God is Been when it interposes for the help of man. Thus Moses was preserved on the margin of the Nile. The ravens, in a time of famine, bring Elijah bread and flesh, 1 Kings xvii. 6. The story known how Du Moulin, during the massacre of the Huguenots, in Paris, was cherished for a fortnight by a hen, which came constantly and laid her eggs where he was concealed. Also how, at Calais, an Englishman, who crept into a hole under a staircase, was there preserved by means of a spider, which had woven its web over the hole, and so the soldiers slighted the search there. It is related of Aristomenes that, being thrown for dead into a ditch along with others, he found his way out by means of a fox which came thither, and pointed a passage out. Lord Mountjoy, coming from Ireland, had perished, together with his ship's company, had not Providence wonderfully preserved them by

souls in hell means of certain sea-birds. Camerarius relates how, in the time where they re- of a siege, the inhabitants, who were sorely pressed by the word, but can Turks, placed a large store of beehives on the walls of the benever know hope sieged place, and furiously tumbling down the hives on their itself!"- -Spurenemies, the latter were so desperately stung, that in a pang of

member the

geon.

d Crane.

a It is the first

the Romans ap

indignation they gave up the siege, to the inexpressible joy of the besieged Christians, who were holpen by these new and wonderful recruits! And thus is mercy displayed in the meanest creatures.d

11-16. (11) seest thou, this indicates that God guided the of trees to blos-Prophet by visions. rod, or branch. almond tree, wh., putting som, and hence forth its flowers before its leaves, is an image of wakefulness and plied to it the activity.a The Heb. words shaked, an almond tree, and shoked, epithets vigi- hastening, have an affinity in their sound. So the almond is lant" and made the symbol of God's hastening. (12) hasten, or I watch for opportunity to perform it. (13) seething pot, a metal vessel used for cooking meat. The seething intimates that it was boiling furiously. north, the district of the Chaldæans. (14, 15) families. . north, the Assyrian kingdom is treated in the Bible as a composite kingdom, consisting of many provinces and nations. his throne, intimating a general council and determination to destroy the city. (16) judgments, as distinct from prophecies.

"watchful." Its blossoms, which are white and plentiful, burst forth in January, even before the

leaf-buds appear.

The seething pot is a figure of the Chaldeans;

and the conception seems to be

that it will boil over, and the contents pour desolation of Je

down to the

rusalem.

Lit., from the face of the region situated towards

the north.

с "Or 'Each prince shall pitch his royal pavilion, with all the marks of Sove ing to it, in token of having ob

reignty belong

tained a

com

plete victory, and

The almond tree in blossom.-"A little after sunrise, went out by the Jaffa gate, and, turning to the left, took the path that winds down the slope of Zion. As I went along, the pleasant sound of bees, the wild bees of Palestine,' clustering over the pink blossoms of an almond tree on the left, greeted me.

The tree itself, all flower, without a single leaf, was a gay contrast to the dark olives below. A few days ago it was brown and bare; to-day it is all brightness; and to this sudden change reference is made when Jeremiah is taken to one of the orchards of Anathoth and bidden look at the 'rod of the almond tree,' for it is added, 'I will hasten My word to perform it.'"-Note on v. 13.-To compensate in some measure for the scarcity of fuel, the Orientals endeavour to consume as little as possible in preparing their victuals. For this purpose they make a hole in their dwellings, about a foot and a half deep, in which they put their earthen pots, with the meat in them, closed up, about the half above the middle; three fourth parts they lay about with stones, and the fourth part is left open, through which they fling in their dried dung, and any other combustible substances they can procure, which burn immediately, and produce so great a heat. that the pot becomes as hot as if it stood over a strong fire of coals; so that they boil their meat with greater expedition and much less fuel than it can be done upon the hearth. The hole in which the pot is set has an aperture on one side, for the purpose of receiving the fuel, which seems to be what Jeremiah calls cils of God." the face of the pot. "I see," said the Prophet, "a pot, and the face thereof is towards the north;" intimating that the fuel to heat it was to be brought from that quarter. This emblematical prediction was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar, whose dominions lay to the north of Palestine, led his armies against Jerusalem, and overturned the thrones of the house of David.

taken entire possession of the city.'"-Lowth.

"In the destruc

tion of Jerusalem the Chaldæans would but fulfil the purposes and coun

Henderson.

v. 11. J. Saurin,

vii. 204.

d Dr. Bonar.

e Paxton.

17—19. (17) gird..loins, the sign of earnest preparation.