Obey My voice, and do them. Jeremiah 11:4 Obedience of primary import Christian Age. Much is said about the demoralising effects of army life. Perhaps there is a tendency to moral decline in the army, but one thing about army life is good. It is a good thing to learn the lesson of implicit obedience to properly constituted authority. A Christian must learn this lesson. No man can be a Christian who does not obey God. And why should this be thought a difficult thing? Soldiers do not complain because they are required to obey. The hard thing about a soldier's life is to be required to obey an unreasonable and incompetent leader. Many officers are superior to the men in the ranks only in official position. In all other respects they are inferior. But the Christian is never subjected to this sort of humiliation. He has but one Leader. The pastor is not the Master. Christians are all comrades, all brethren, all equal before one Lord. One is yore Master. What He says, we will do. Where He sends, we will go. ( Christian Age. ) Then answered I, and said, So be it, O Lord. Jeremiah 11:5 The soul's "Amen" F. B. Meyer, B. A. Jeremiah was naturally gentle, yielding, and pitiful for the sins and sorrows of his people. Nothing was further from his heart than to "desire the evil day." Nothing would have given him greater pleasure than to have played the part of Isaiah in this decadent period of his people's history. But what was possible to the great evangelic prophet in the days of Hezekiah was impossible now. In Isaiah's case the noblest traditions of the past, the patriotic pride of his people, and the promises of God all pointed in the same direction. But for Jeremiah there was an inevitable divorce between the trend of popular feeling led by the false prophets, and his clear conviction of the Word of God. It must, indeed, have been hard to prove that the prophets were wrong, and he was right; they simply reiterated what Isaiah had said a hundred times. And yet, as he utters the terrible curses and threatenings of Divine justice, and predicts the inevitable fate of his people, he is so possessed with the sense of the Divine rectitude that his soul rises up, and though he must pronounce the doom of Israel, he is forced to answer and say, "Amen, O Lord!" I. THE SOUL'S AFFIRMATION. 1. In Providence. It is not possible at first to say "Amen" in tones of triumph and ecstasy. Nay, the word is often choked with sobs that cannot be stifled, and soaked with tears that cannot be repressed. And as these words are read by those who lie year after year on beds of constant pain; or by those whose earthly life is tossed upon the sea of anxiety, over which billows of care and turmoil perpetually roll — it is not improbable that they will protest as to the possibility of saying "Amen" to God's providential dealings. In reply, let all such remember that our blessed Lord in the garden was content to put His will upon the side of God. Dare to say "Amen" to God's providential dealings. Say it, though heart and flesh fail; say it, amid a storm of tumultuous feeling, and a rain of tears. "What thou knowest not now, thou shalt know hereafter." 2. In revelation there are mysteries which baffle the clearest thinkers. It must be so whilst God is God. There is no fathoming line long enough, no parallax fine enough, no standard of mensuration, though the universe itself be taken as our unit, by which to measure God. But though we cannot comprehend, we may affirm the thoughts of God. That we cannot understand is due to the immaturity of our faculties. But when He who has come straight from the realms of eternal day steadfastly affirms that which He knows, and bears witness to what He has seen, we receive His witness and say reverently, "Amen, Lord!" 3. In judgment. God's judgments on the wicked are a great deep. Did we know more of sin, of holiness, of the love of God, of the yearning pleadings of His Spirit with men, we should probably understand better how Jeremiah was able to say, "Amen, Lord!" II. THE GROUND OF THE SOUL'S PEACE. "Yea, Father!" When face to face with the mysteries of the atonement, of substitution and sacrifice, of predestination and election, of the unequal distribution of Gospel light, be sure to turn to God as the Father of light, in whom is no darkness, no shadow of unkindness, no note inconsistent with the music of perfect benevolence. III. THE TRIUMPH OF THE AFFIRMING SOUL. "Amen, Hallelujah!" Mark the addition of "Hallelujah" to the "Amen." Here the Amen, and not often the Hallelujah; there the two — the assent and the consent; the acquiescence and the acclaim; the submission to the win of God, and the triumphant outburst of praise and adoration ( Revelation 15:3 , R.V.). ( F. B. Meyer, B. A. ) They obeyed not.., they did them not. Jeremiah 11:8 Sins of omission I. THE GREAT COMMONNESS OF SINS OF OMISSION. 1. In a certain sense all offences against the law of God come under the head of sins of omission. Every sin is a breach of the all-comprehensive law, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." How multitudinous our omissions in respect to this command! Too often we have had other gods beside Him. So, too, in regard to our "neighbour." What sins of omission daily occur in our various relationships — our neighbours, our children, our household. 2. Sins of omission are seen in all who neglect to perform the first and all-essential Gospel command: "Repent and be converted"; "Repent and be baptized"; "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." 3. Sins of omission in religious duties. Multitudes neglect the outward worship of God. But others show religious regard; yet what omissions as to prayer; how lax in devotion are the most of us! As to the Bible: left unread! As to service: talents wrapped up in napkin! Our omissions lie upon the horizon of memory like masses of storm clouds accumulating for a horrible tempest. II. THE CAUSE OF THIS EXCESSIVE MULTIPLICITY OF SINS OF OMISSION. 1. The great cause lies in our evil hearts. Absence of clean heart and right spirit is at the root: "Ye must be born again." 2. The conscience of man is not well alive to sins of omission. While conscience will chastise men for direct acts of wrong, not awake to sins of neglect. 3. These sins are multiplied through indolence. In the face of eternity, life, death, heaven, and hell, multitudes are simply ruined because they neglect the great salvation, and are absolutely too idle to concern themselves. 4. Ignorance. With many ignorance is wilful; have Bible, conscience; yet sin against light and knowledge. 5. Men excuse themselves so readily about these sins of omission. A more convenient season is anticipated for repentance, faith, prayer. 6. Many neglect because of the prevalence of the like conduct. To omit to love and serve the Lord is the custom. But enlightened conscience warns us that custom is no excuse for sin: it will be no plea at the bar of God. III. THE SINFULNESS OF SINS OF OMISSION. They cannot be trivial, for — 1. Consider what would be the consequences if God were to omit His mercies to us for one moment! Suppose Jesus had left an omission in His plan of salvation; the whole would have failed, and humanity left without remedy or hope. 2. Reflect what an influence they would have upon an ordinary commonwealth. If one person has a right to omit his duty, another has, and all have — watchman, judge, merchant, husbandman; society soon collapse, kingdom break to pieces. 3. Think how you would judge of omissions towards yourselves. In the case of your servant, you instantly resent it. So in a soldier. Even in your child: to neglect your command is regarded as equally criminal as to commit offence. 4. Consider what God thinks of omissions. Saul was ordered to kill the Amalekites — not one to escape: he saved Agag and best of the cattle; therefore the Lord said, "I have put thee away from being king over Israel!" Ahab was commanded to kill Benhadad on account of great criminality: Ahab only captured him; therefore, "Because thou hast let this man go, thy life shall be for his life!" The man with one talent was condemned because he neglected to sue it. IV. THE RESULT AND PUNISHMENT OF SINS OF OMISSION. 1. They will condemn us. "The King shall say, I was hungered and ye gave Me no meat," etc. The absence of virtue rather than the presence of vice condemned them. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." 2. If persevered in, they will effectually shut against us the possibilities of pardon. "He that believeth not" — is there pardon, rescue for him? No; he "is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the Son of God." Will the mercy of God blot out sins uurepented of? Nay; sins will cling to us as the leprosy to the house of Gehazi. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found Jeremiah 11:9 A sad relapse C. J. Ball, M. A. 1. The prophet calls the people's relapse a plot or conspiracy; thereby suggesting, perhaps, the secrecy with which the prohibited worships were at first revived, and the intrigues of the unfaithful nobles and priests and prophets, in order to bring about a reversal of the policy of reform. 2. The word further means a bond, which is the exact antithesis of the covenant with Jehovah, and it implies that this bond has about it a fatal strength and permanence, involving as its necessary consequence the ruin of the nation. Breaking covenant with Jehovah meant making a covenant with other gods. If you have broken faith with God in Christ, it is because you have entered into an agreement with another; it is because you have surrendered to the proposals of the tempter, and preferred his promises to the promises of God. ( C. J. Ball, M. A. ) Therefore pray not thou for this people. Jeremiah 11:14 Futile prayers C. J. Ball, M. A. It is futile to pray for those who have deliberately cast off the covenant of Jehovah and made a covenant with His adversary. Prayer cannot save, nothing can save, the impenitent; and there is a state of mind, in which one's own prayer is turned into sin; the state of mind in which a man prays, merely to appease God, and escape the fire, but without a thought of forsaking sin, without the faintest aspiration after holiness. There is a degree of guilt upon which sentence is already passed, which is "unto death," and for which prayer is interdicted alike by the prophet of the new and of the old covenant. ( C. J. Ball, M. A. ) Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand. Jeremiah 11:21 Intimidating the prophet Life of John Bunyan. Think of Bunyan when he is brought before the judge, and the judge says, "You! a tinker! to go about preaching! Hold your tongue, sir!" "I cannot hold my tongue," says Bunyan. "Then I must send you back to prison unless you promise never to preach again." "If you put me in prison till the moss grows on my eyelids, I will preach again the first moment I get out, by the help of God." ( Life of John Bunyan. ) Intimidators put to silence There is the story of a conversation between the burgomaster in Hamburg and holy Dr. Ducken when he first began to preach. The burgomaster said to him, "Do you see that little finger, sir? While I can move that little finger, I will put the Baptists down." Mr. Ducken said, "With all respect to your little finger, Mr. Burgomaster, I would ask you another question. Do you see that arm?" "No, I do not see it." "Just so," said Mr. Ducken, "but I do; and while that great arm moves, you cannot put us down, and if it comes to a conflict between your little finger and that great arm, I know how it will end." It was my great joy to see the burgomaster sitting in the chapel at Hamburg, among the audience that listened to my sermon at the opening of the new chapel. The little finger had willingly given up its opposition, and the great arm was made bare. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ).

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Jeremiah 11:1 . The word that came to Jeremiah, &c. — At what time the prophecy, contained in this and the following chapter, was communicated to the prophet, is not expressed; but Blaney and many others assign it to the latter part of the reign of Josiah,” when the people, who, in the eighteenth year of that prince, had solemnly engaged to perform the obligations of the divine covenant, may be supposed to have relapsed, in course of time, into their former disregard and neglect. The prophet, therefore, is sent to recall them to their duty, by proclaiming the terms of the covenant, and rebuking them sharply for their hereditary disobedience.” Jeremiah 11:2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; Jeremiah 11:2-5 . Hear ye the words of this covenant — God speaks here chiefly to Jeremiah, but seems, at the same time, to address, together with him, all those pious persons who were like-minded with him, and who reproved the wicked manners of the people. The covenant here spoken of was the covenant of the law of God, delivered by Moses, to which the people had frequently promised obedience. And speak unto the men of Judah, &c. — Lay the tenor of the covenant before them; and say, Cursed be the man that obeyeth not, &c. — Deuteronomy 27:26 , it is, Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them: and all the people shall say, Amen. The people’s saying Amen, testified their assent, and made the law a covenant; but they had, besides this, formally and explicitly covenanted with God, Exodus 24:3-7 , with religious rites and ceremonies, used in stipulations, and afterward consented that God should punish those that violated that covenant, Deuteronomy 27:26 . Which I commanded, &c. — Which law, (that you by your restipulation made a formal covenant,) I, who am the Lord, and so have a sovereign power to lay laws upon my creatures, commanded your fathers; in the day that I brought them from the iron furnace — And thus obliged them to obedience before I laid my law upon them. The use of the iron furnace being to melt and purify metals, it was a proper representation of that state of sore affliction in which the people of God were for many ages in Egypt. Saying, Obey my voice, &c. — For which kindness I required no more of them but a gentle service to me, in obeying my voice, as to the things of this law which I gave them in charge; so shall ye be my people, &c. — Nor did I only lay my commands upon them, but also encouraged them to obedience, by my gracious promise, that if they would obey they should be a people whom I would peculiarly protect and bless. That I may, or, rather, might (for he refers to the time past) perform the oath, &c. — As if he had said, I required their obedience for their own good: for I had sworn to their fathers, that I would give their posterity a land abounding with plenty of all good things, upon condition of their obedience. I have performed that oath; I have brought them into such a land, and showed myself faithful to them. Then answered I, So be it, O Lord — God having ended his speech, the prophet says, Amen, as God had commanded, Deuteronomy 27:26 ; either asserting the truth of what God had said, or expressing his desire that the people would do according to their covenant, or even assenting to the curse as just and reasonable. Jeremiah 11:3 And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, Jeremiah 11:4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: Jeremiah 11:5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD. Jeremiah 11:6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. Jeremiah 11:6-8 . Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, &c. — That all may hear, for all are concerned; saying, Hear ye the words, &c., and do them — Let it be thy work to call upon this people, not only to hear, but to do the things which I have commanded them, and which they have engaged to do. For I earnestly protested — Hebrew, in protesting I protested; a way of speaking by which the Hebrews expressed the seriousness and earnestness wherewith any thing was done: by protesting, he means the same with charging and solemnly enjoining, with promises annexed to obedience, and threatenings denounced in case of disobedience. This, God says, he had done with a great deal of patience and diligence, even from the time that this people were brought by him out of the land of Egypt to the present period. Yet they obeyed not — And, because they were resolved not to be subject to God’s commandments, they would not so much as incline their ears to them, but walked every one in the imagination of his evil heart, following their own inventions; and each one acting as his fancy or humour led him, both in their devotions and in their conversations. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant — That is, all the threatenings contained in it. Observe, reader, the words of God’s covenant shall not fall to the ground. If we do not by our obedience qualify ourselves for the blessings of it, we shall, by our disobedience, bring ourselves under the curses of it. Jeremiah 11:7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. Jeremiah 11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not. Jeremiah 11:9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 11:9-11 . And the Lord said, A conspiracy is found, &c. — Namely, by him whose eye is upon the hidden works of darkness. There is a combination formed among them against God and religion, a dangerous design to overthrow the government of Jehovah, and to bring in counterfeit deities. In other words, All sorts of people have been alike disobedient, as if they had conspired together to break my law. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers — They made some steps toward a reformation in the former part of the reign of Josiah, but now they have agreed to turn back to their former idolatries. Therefore behold, I will bring evil upon them, &c. — The evil of punishment for the evil of sin, which they shall not be able to escape by any evasion whatsoever. Let us remember, those who will not submit to God’s government, shall not be able to escape his wrath. Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot extricate themselves. And though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken — God will not hear them crying to him in their adversity, who refuse to hear him speaking to them in their prosperity. Jeremiah 11:10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Jeremiah 11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. Jeremiah 11:12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. Jeremiah 11:12-14 . Then shall the cities of Judah cry unto the gods, &c. — “When great calamities threaten men, their fears suggest all possible ways of seeking for succour. Thus, when the Jews found themselves forsaken of God, they betook themselves to idols, but found all such applications vain, and to no purpose: see 2 Chronicles 28:23 . For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, &c. — See note on Jeremiah 2:28 . Ye have set up altars to that shameful thing — Hebrew, ???? , bosheth, shame, so called, because it was what they had cause to be ashamed of, and what would certainly bring them to shame and confusion. See note on Jeremiah 3:24 . Therefore pray not thou for this people — See note on Jeremiah 7:16 . Jeremiah 11:13 For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal. Jeremiah 11:14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. Jeremiah 11:15 What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. Jeremiah 11:15 . What hath my beloved to do in my house, &c. — “Why doth this, my chosen and peculiar people, as they love to call themselves, make their appearance before me in my house, since they have gone a whoring after several idols of the nations round about them, and thereby have disowned me, and broken the marriage contract that was between us? See note on Jeremiah 2:2 . God calls the Jews his beloved people, because they called themselves so, and because they were still beloved for their fathers’ sake, Romans 11:18 ; and he would not cast them off utterly, for the sake of the covenant he had made with their progenitors.” — Lowth. And the holy flesh is passed from thee — “The flesh of thy sacrifices, which thou offerest up to me as an atonement for thy sins, does not at all profit thee, being rendered unacceptable to me through thy many and great provocations, in the commission of which thou continuest without remorse.” — Lowth. But the words are rendered by some, The flesh of my sanctuary shall pass from thee, and may mean, that the parts of the victims, which by the Mosaic law were the portion of the priests, should not be given to them, since the temple would be destroyed. According to this interpretation the prophet must be considered as addressing the priests, of whom there were, without doubt, many in Jerusalem. When thou doest evil, thou rejoicest — Thou gloriest in thy wickedness. Or, at a time when thou offendest most against my laws, thou exultest, and behavest as if thou didst every thing that is right. Jeremiah 11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. Jeremiah 11:16-17 . The Lord hath called thy name, A green olive-tree — Perhaps Jeremiah here alludes to Hosea 11:7 , where Israel is compared to an olive-tree. The Jewish nation, which, in its flourishing state, is often compared by the sacred writers to a vine, is also sometimes compared to an olive-tree, chiefly because of the fruits of holiness and righteousness which God might justly have expected from them, after all the care and pains he had bestowed upon them to make them fruitful. Fair, and of a goodly fruit — Amiable and serviceable, pleasant to the eye, and good for yielding food. With the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled a fire upon it, &c. — The words ??? ????? , here rendered the noise of a great tumult, occur Ezekiel 1:24 , and are there explained to be ???? ???? , like the voice of a host. Here they undoubtedly signify the confused murmur, noise, and tumult of the Chaldean army, coming to desolate Jerusalem and its dependances with fire and sword, described under the image of an olive-tree, whose branches are cut down that they may be burned, or which is burned as it stands; its branches, or lofty boughs, as ??????? more properly signifies, meaning the priests and princes. For the Lord that planted thee — And expected fruit from thee in vain; hath pronounced evil against thee — Hath passed a condemnatory sentence upon thee, and marked thee out for destruction. For the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah — The evil of whose heinous sins shall now be followed with the evil of most dreadful punishments. Jeremiah 11:17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal. Jeremiah 11:18 And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it , and I know it : then thou shewedst me their doings. Jeremiah 11:18-19 . And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it, &c. — This relates to the ill designs which the men of Anathoth had contrived against the prophet, which he here saith God had revealed to him. See the following verses. But I was like a lamb or an ox, &c. — A proverbial speech, expressing a false security, or insensibility of danger. Dr. Waterland, in agreement with the Vulgate, Bochart, and Houbigant, reads this clause, But I was like a gentle lamb; and Blaney, For I was like a tame lamb that is led to the slaughter. But Lowth justly observes, we may very well admit of the common translation. For the word ???? Šhere used, certainly frequently signifies an ox, and the disjunctive particle, supplied by or, is elsewhere often understood, though not expressed. The meaning here is, that the prophet would have met with a fate similar to that of a slaughtered lamb or ox, if God had not revealed to him the designs of his enemies. Many commentators suppose that Jeremiah here speaks of his own sufferings as figurative of those of the Messiah. “All the churches agree,” says St. Jerome, “that these and the following words respect Jesus Christ and his passion. It was against his life that they formed their designs: he was the true lamb, meek and innocent. Jeremiah is here a figure of the divine Saviour; he here suffers from his brethren, and represents, in his person, him who was a man of grief, and tried by all sorts of afflictions.” Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof — Let us not only put an end to his prophesying, but to his life. The Hebrew is literally, Let us destroy the tree (or the stock ) with the bread thereof; and bread, it must be observed, is sometimes used for the corn of which bread is made, as Jeremiah 5:17 . The meaning then is, Let us destroy the prophet and his doctrine. We have no other mention of this conspiracy but this here. It is, however, very plain, both from this verse and what follows, that the men of Anathoth (which was Jeremiah’s own town) were offended at his prophesying, and had conspired to kill him. Jeremiah 11:19 But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying , Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. Jeremiah 11:20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause. Jeremiah 11:20 . But, O Lord, thou judgest righteously — It is matter of comfort to us, when men deal unjustly with us, that we have a God to go to, who doth and will plead the cause of injured innocence, and appear against the injurious. God’s justice, which is a terror to the wicked, is a comfort to the godly. That triest the reins and the heart — That perfectly knowest what is in man, that discernest his most secret thoughts, desires, and designs. Let me see thy vengeance on them — That is, do justice between me and them in such a way as thou pleasest. “When men continue implacable in their malice,” says Lowth, “we may lawfully expect and desire that God will plead our cause, and judge us according to our righteousness. For the bringing wicked men to condign punishment tends both to the manifestation of God’s glory and the good government of the world. And to pray against our enemies in this sense, namely, not for the satisfying our private resentments, but the setting forth of God’s justice, is not contrary to the spirit of Christianity. So St. Paul prayed against Alexander the copper-smith, 2 Timothy 4:14 .” It must be observed, however, that, according to the Hebrew text here, the words are merely a prediction; ??? ???? ????? , being literally, I shall see thy vengeance on them; that is, I foresee it, and predict it, though I lament they should have given occasion for it. Jeremiah 11:21 Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand: Jeremiah 11:21 . Thus saith the Lord of the men that seek thy life — That are combined to kill thee; saying, Prophesy not in the name of the Lord — The meaning is, that those men of Anathoth threatened that they would kill him if he did not cease to prophesy such things as he did in the name of the Lord, namely, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, the desolation of Judea, and the carrying away of the people into captivity. For if he had spoken falsely in the name of the Lord, and promised them peace and prosperity, they would have heard him prophesy gladly: they were thus exasperated at him, and opposed his prophesying, because he told them those truths which they had no mind to hear. This passage sufficiently shows that Jeremiah is to be understood in the literal sense here, which, however, does not by any means forbid our considering him in this instance as a type of Christ, and prefiguring, by his sufferings, those of the Redeemer of mankind. It manifests also the usage which the prophets generally met with from their own countrymen, who became their enemies because they told them the truth. The people of their own towns, even their friends and relations, could not bear to hear the solemn warnings which they gave them, and the prediction of those judgments which were coming upon them for their sins. Jeremiah 11:22 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: Jeremiah 11:22-23 . Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will punish them — Hebrew, ??? ????? , I will visit, namely, this their wicked conduct, upon them; I will inquire into it, and reckon with them for it. The young men shall die by the sword — Though they be young priests, not men of war, their sacred office shall be no protection to them. Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine — Which is a more grievous death than that by the sword, Lamentations 4:9 . Thus two of God’s four sore judgments would overwhelm their town in destruction, which should be so entire that there should be no remnant of them — None to be the seed of another generation: they sought Jeremiah’s life, and therefore their lives shall be taken: they wished to destroy him, root and branch, that his name might be no more remembered, and therefore there shall be no remnant of them: and herein the Lord is righteous. Thus evil would be brought upon them, even the year of their visitation — And that would be evil sufficient, a recompense according to their deserts. Such is the consequence of opposing the truth and cause of God, and his servants in the execution of their office! Such is the deplorable condition of those that have the prayers of good ministers and good people against them. Jeremiah 11:23 And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, CHAPTER VII THE BROKEN COVENANT Jeremiah 11:1-23 and Jeremiah 12:1-17 THERE is no visible break between these two chapters. They seem to summarise the history of a particular episode in the prophet’s career. At the same time, the style is so peculiar that it is not so easy as it might appear at a first glance to determine exactly what it is that the section has to tell us. When we come to take a closer look at it, we find a thoroughly characteristic mixture of direct narrative and soliloquy, of statement of facts and reflection upon those facts, of aspiration and prayer and prophecy, of self-communing and communing with God. Careful analysis may perhaps furnish us with a clue to the disentanglement of the general sense and drift of this characteristic medley. We may thus hope to get a clearer insight into the bearing of this old world oracle upon our own needs and perplexities, our sins and the fruit of our sins, what we have done and what we may expect as the consequence of our doings. For the Word of God is "quick and powerful." Its outward form and vesture may change with the passing of time; but its substance never changes. The old interpreters die, but the Word lives, and its life is a life of power. By that Word men live in their successive generations; it is at once creative and regulative; it is the seed of life in man, and it is the law of that life. Apart from the Divine Word, man would be no more than a brute gifted with understanding, but denied all answer to the higher cravings of soul and spirit; a being whose conscious life was a mere mockery; a self-tormentor, tantalised with vain surmises, tortured with ever-recurring problems; longing for light, and beset with never-lifting clouds of impenetrable darkness; the one sole instance, among the myriads of sentient beings, of a creature whose wants Nature refuses to satisfy, and whose lot it is to consume forever in the fires of hopeless desire. The sovran Lord, who is the Eternal Wisdom, has not made such a mistake. He provides satisfaction for all His creatures, according to the varying degrees of their capacity, according to their rank in the scale of being, so that all may rejoice in the fulness and the freedom of a happy life for their allotted time. Man is no exception to the universal rule. His whole constitution, as God has fashioned it, is such that he can find his perfect satisfaction in the Word of the Lord. And the depth of his dissatisfaction, the poignancy and the bitterness of his disappointment and disgust at himself and at the world in which he finds himself, are the strongest evidence that he has sought satisfaction in things that cannot satisfy; that he has foolishly endeavoured to feed his soul upon ashes, to still the cravings of his spirit with something other than that Word of God which is the Bread of Life. You will observe that the discourse we are to consider, is headed: "The word that fell to Jeremiah from Iahvah" (lit. "from with," that is, "from the presence of" the Eternal), "saying." I think that expression "saying" covers all that follows, to the end of the discourse. The prophet’s preaching the Law, and the consequences of that preaching as regarded himself: his experience of the stubbornness and treachery of the people; the varying moods of his own mind under that bitter experience; his reflections upon the condition of Judah, and the condition of Judah’s ill-minded neighbours; his forecasts of the after course of events as determined by the unchanging will of a righteous God; all these things seem to. be included in the scope of that "Word from the presence of Iahvah," which the prophet is about to put on record. You will see that it is not a single utterance of a precise and definite message, which he might have delivered in a few moments of time before a single audience of his countrymen. The Word of the Lord is progressively revealed; it begins with a thought in the prophet’s mind, but its entire content is unfolded gradually, as he proceeds to act upon that thought or Divine impulse; it is, as it were, evolved as the result of collision between the prophet and his hearers; it emerges into clear light out of the darkness of storm and conflict; a conflict both internal and external; a conflict within, between his own contending emotions and impulses and sympathies; and a conflict without, between an unpopular teacher, and a wayward and corrupt and incorrigible people. "From with Iahvah." There may be strife and tumult and the darkness of ignorance and passion upon earth; but the star of truth shines in the firmament of heaven, and the eye of the inspired man sees it. This is his difference from his fellows. "Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak ye unto the men of Judah, and upon the dwellers in Jerusalem! And say thou unto them, Thus saith Iahvah, the God of Israel, Accursed are the men that hear not the words of this covenant, which I lay on your fathers, in the day that I brought them forth from the land of Egypt, from the furnace of iron, saying, Hearken unto My voice, and do these things, according to all that I shall charge you: that ye may become for Me a people, and that I Myself may become for you a God. That I may make good" (vid. infra ) "the oath which I sware to your forefathers, that I would give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it now is" (or simply, "today"). "And I answered and said, Amen, Iahvah!" { Jeremiah 11:1-5 } "Hear ye speak ye unto the men of Judah!" The occasion referred to is that memorable crisis in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, when Hilkiah the high priest had "found the book of the law in the house of the Lord," { 2 Kings 22:8 sqq.} and the pious king had read in the hearing of the assembled people those fervid exhortations to obedience, those promises fraught with all manner of blessing, those terrible denunciations of wrath and ruin reserved for rebellion and apostasy, which we may still read in the closing chapters of the book of Deuteronomy. { Deuteronomy 27:1-26 , sq.} Jeremiah is recalling the events of his own ministry, and passes in rapid review from the time of his preaching upon the Book of the Law, to the Chaldean invasion in the reign of Jehoiachin. { Jeremiah 13:18 sqq.} He recalls the solemn occasion when the king and people bound themselves by oath to observe the law of their God; when "the king stood upon the platform, and made the covenant before Iahvah, that he would follow Iahvah, and keep his commandments, and his laws and his statutes, with whole heart and with whole soul; to make good the words of this covenant that were written upon this roll; and all the people stood to the covenant." { 2 Kings 23:3 } At or soon after this great meeting, the prophet gives, in the name of Iahvah, an emphatic approval to the public undertaking; and bids the leaders in the movement not to rest contented with this good beginning, but to impress the obligation more deeply upon the community at large, by sending a mission of properly qualified persons, including himself, which should at once enforce the reforms necessitated by the covenant of strict obedience to the Law, and reconcile the people both of the capital and of the rural towns and hamlets to the sudden and sweeping changes demanded of them, by showing their entire consonance with the Divine precepts. "Hear ye"-princes and priests-"the words of this covenant; and speak ye unto the men of Judah!" Then follows, in brief, the prophet’s own commission, which is to reiterate, with all the force of his impassioned rhetoric, the awful menaces of the Sacred Book: "Cursed be the men that hear not the words of this covenant!" Now again, in these last years of their national existence, the chosen people are to hear an authoritative proclamation of that Divine Law upon which all their weal depends; the Law given them at the outset of their history, when the memory of the great deliverance was yet fresh in their minds; the Law which was the condition of their peculiar relation to the Universal God. At Sinai they had solemnly undertaken to observe that Law: and Iahweh had fulfilled His promise to their "fathers"-to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-and had given them a goodly land, in which they had now been established for at least six hundred years. The Divine truth and righteousness were manifest upon a retrospect of this long period of eventful history; and Jeremiah could not withhold his inward assent, in the formula prescribed by the Book of the Law, { Deuteronomy 27:15 sqq.} to the perfect justice of the sentence: "Cursed be the men that hear not the words of this covenant." "And I answered and said, Amen, Iahvah!" So to this true Israelite, thus deeply communing with his own spirit, two things had become clear as day. The one was the absolute righteousness of God’s entire dealing with Israel, from first to last; the righteousness of disaster and overthrow as well as of victory and prosperity: the other was his own present duty to bring this truth home to the hearts and consciences of his fellow countrymen. This is how he states the fact: "And Iahvah said unto me, Proclaim thou all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them. For I earnestly adjured your fathers, when I brought them up from the land of Egypt" ("and I have done so continually") "even unto this very day, saying, Obey ye My voice! And they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear; and they walked, each and all, in the hardness of their wicked heart. So I brought upon them all the threats" (lit., "words") "of this covenant, which I had charged them to keep, and they kept it not." { Jeremiah 11:6-8 } God is always self-consistent; man is often inconsistent with himself; God is eternally true, man is ever giving fresh proofs of his natural faithlessness. God is not only just in keeping His promises; He is also merciful, in labouring ever to induce man to be self-consistent, and true to moral obligations. And Divine mercy is revealed alike in the pleadings of the Holy Spirit by the mouth of prophets, by the voice of conscience, and in the retribution that overtakes persistence in evil. The Divine Law is life and health to them that keep it; it is death to them that break it. "Thou, Lord, art merciful: for thou rewardest every man according to his works." The relation of the One God to this one people was neither accidental nor arbitrary. It is sometimes spoken of as a thing glaringly unjust to the other nations of the ancient world, that the Father of all should have chosen Israel only to be the recipient of His special favours. Sometimes it is demanded, as an unanswerable dilemma, How could the Universal God be the God of the Jews, in the restricted sense implied by the Old Testament histories? But difficulties of this kind rest upon misunderstanding, due to a slavishly literal interpretation of certain passages, and inability to take a comprehensive view of the general drift and tenor of the Old Testament writings as they bear upon this subject. God’s choice of Israel was proof of His love for mankind. He did not select one people because He was indifferent or hostile to all other peoples; but because He wished to bring all the nations of the earth to the knowledge of Himself, and the observance of His law. The words of our prophet show that he was profoundly convinced that the favour of Iahvah had from the outset depended upon the obedience of Israel: "Hearken unto My voice, and do these things that ye may become for Me a people, and that I Myself may become for you a God." How strangely must such words have sounded in the ears of people who believed, as the masses both in town and country appear for the most part to have done, that Iahvah as the ancestral god was bound by an indissoluble tie to Israel, and that He could not suffer the nation to perish without incurring irreparable loss, if not extinction, for Himself! It is as if the prophet had said: You call yourselves the people of God; but it is not so much that you are His people, as that you may become such by doing His will. You suppose that Iahvah, the Eternal, the Creator, is to you what Chemosh is to Moab, or Molech to Ammon, or Baal to Tyre; but that is just what He is not. If you entertain such ideas of Iahvah, you are worshipping a figment of your own carnal imaginations; your god is not the universal God, but a gross unspiritual idol. It is only upon your fulfilment of His conditions, only upon your yielding an inward assent to His law, a hearty acceptance to His rule of life, that He Himself - the One only God-can truly become your God. In accepting His law, you accept Him, and in rejecting His law, you reject Him; for His law is a reflection of Himself; a revelation, so far as such can be made to a creature like man, of His essential being and character. Therefore think not that you can worship Him by mere external rites; for the true worship is "righteousness, and holiness of life." The progress of the reforming movement, which was doubtless powerfully stimulated by the preaching of Jeremiah, is briefly sketched in the chapter of the book of Kings, to which I have already referred. { 2 Kings 23:1-37 } That summary of the good deeds of king Josiah records apparently a very complete extirpation of the various forms of idolatry, and even a slaughter of the idol priests upon their own altars. Heathenism, it would seem, could hardly have been practised again, at least openly, during the twelve remaining years of Josiah. But although a zealous king might enforce outward conformity to the Law, and although the earnest preaching of prophets like Zephaniah and Jeremiah might have considerable effect with the better part of the people, the fact remained that those whose hearts were really open to the word of the Lord were still, as always, a small minority; and the tendency to apostasy, though checked, was far from being rooted up. Here and there the forbidden rites were secretly observed; and the harsh measures which had accompanied their public suppression may very probably have intensified the attachment of many to the local forms of worship. Sincere conversions are not effected by violence; and the martyrdom of devotees may give new life even to degraded and utterly immoral superstitions. The transient nature of Josiah’s reformation, radical as it may have appeared at the time to the principal agents engaged in it, is evident from the testimony of Jeremiah himself. "And Iahvah said unto me, There exists a conspiracy among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have returned to the old sins of their fathers, who refused to hear My words; and they too have gone away after other gods, to serve them the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant, which I made with their forefathers. Therefore thus saith Iahvah, Behold I am about to bring unto them an evil from which they cannot get forth; and they will cry unto Me, and I will not listen unto them. And the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry unto the gods to whom they burn incense" ( i.e., now; ptcp.); "and they will yield them no help at all in the time of their evil. For many as thy cities are thy gods become, O Judah! and many as the streets of Jerusalem have ye appointed altars to the Shame, altars for burning incense to the Baal. And as for thee, intercede thou not for this people, nor lift up for them outcry" ( i.e., mourning) "and intercession; for I intend not to hearken, in the time when they call unto Me, in the time of their evil" ( Jeremiah 11:9-14 ). All this appears to indicate the course of the prophet’s reflection, after it had become clear to him that the reformation was illusory, and that his own labours had failed of their purpose. He calls the relapse of the people a plot or conspiracy; thereby suggesting, perhaps, the secrecy with which the prohibited worships were at first revived, and the intrigues of the unfaithful nobles and priests and prophets, in order to bring about a reversal of the policy of reform, and a return to the old system; and certainly suggesting that the heart of the nation, as a whole, was disloyal to its Heavenly King, and that its renewed apostasy was a wicked disavowal of lawful allegiance, and an act of unpardonable treason against God. But the word further signifies that a bond has been entered into, a bond which is the exact antithesis of the covenant with Iahvah; and it implies that this bond has about it a fatal strength and permanence, involving as its necessary consequence the ruin of the nation. Breaking covenant with Iahvah meant making a covenant with other gods; it was impossible to do the one thing without the other. And that is as true now, under totally different conditions, as it was in the land of Judah, twenty-four centuries ago. If you have broken faith with God in Christ it is because you have entered into an agreement with another; it is because you have foolishly taken the tempter at his word, and accepted his conditions, and surrendered to his proposals, and preferred his promises to the promises of God. It is because, against all reason, against conscience, against the Holy Spirit, against the witness of God’s Word, against the witness of His Saints and Confessors in all ages, you have believed that a Being less than the Eternal God could ensure your weal and make you happy. And now your heart is no longer at unity in itself, and your allegiance is no longer single and undivided. "Many as thy cities are thy gods become, O Judah!" The soul that is not unified and harmonised by the fear of the One God, is torn and distracted by a thousand contending passions: and vainly seeks peace and deliverance by worship at a thousand unholy shrines. But Mammon and Belial and Ashtaroth and the whole rout of unclean spirits, whose seductions have lured you astray, will fail you at last; and in the hour of bitter need, you will learn too late that there is no god but God, and no peace nor safety nor joy but in Him. It is futile to pray for those who have deliberately cast off the covenant of Iahvah, and made a covenant with His adversary. "Intercede not for this people, nor lift up outcry and intercession for them!" Prayer cannot save, nothing can save, the impenitent; and there is a state of mind in which one’s own prayer is turned into sin; the state of mind in which a man prays, merely to appease God, and escape the fire, but without a thought of forsaking sin, without the faintest aspiration after holiness. There is a degree of guilt upon which sentence is already passed, which is "unto death," and for which intercession is interdicted alike by the Apostle of the New as to the prophet of the Old Covenant. "What availeth it My beloved, that she fulfilleth her intent in Mine house? Can vows and hallowed flesh make thine evil to pass from thee? Then mightest thou indeed rejoice" ( Jeremiah 11:15 ). Such appears to be the true sense of this verse, the only difficult one in the chapter. The prophet had evidently the same thought in his mind as in Jeremiah 11:11 : "I will bring unto them an evil, from which they cannot get forth; and they will cry unto Me, and I will not hearken unto them." The words also recall those of Isaiah: { Isaiah 1:11 sqq} "For what to Me are your many sacrifices, saith Iahvah? When ye enter in to see My face, who hath sought this at your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more a vain oblation; loathly incense it is to Me!" The term which I have rendered "intent," usually denotes an evil intention; so that, like Isaiah, our prophet implies that the popular worship is not only futile but sinful. So true it is that "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination"; { Proverbs 28:9 } or, as the Psalmist puts the same truth, "If I incline unto wickedness with my heart, the Lord will not hear me." "A flourishing olive, fair with shapely fruit, did Iahvah call thy name. To the sound of a great uproar will He set her on fire; and his hanging boughs will crackle" ("in the flames"). "And Iahvah Sabaoth, that planted thee, Himself hath pronounced evil upon thee; because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves" { Jeremiah 4:18 ; Jeremiah 7:19 } "in provoking Me, in burning incense to the Baal" ( Jeremiah 11:16-17 ). The figure of the olive seems a very natural one, {cf. Romans 11:17 } when we remember the beauty, and the utility for which that tree is famous in Eastern lands. "Iahvah called thy name"; that is, called thee into determinate being; endowed thee at thine origin with certain characteristic qualities. Thine original constitution, as thou didst leave thy Maker’s hand, was fair and good. Israel among the nations was as beautiful to the eye as the olive among trees; and his "fruit," his doings, were a glory to God and a blessing to men, like that precious oil, for "which God and man honour" the olive { Jdg 9:9 ; Zechariah 4:3 ; Hosea 14:7 } But now the noble stock had degenerated; the "green olive tree," planted in the very court of Iahvah’s house, had become no better than a barren wilding, fit only for the fire. The thought is essentially similar to that of an earlier discourse: "I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then hast thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?" { Jeremiah 2:21 } Here, there is an abrupt transition, which forcibly expresses the suddenness of the destruction that must devour this degenerate people: "To the sound of a great uproar"-the din of invading armies "he will set her" (the beloved, symbolised by the tree) "on fire; and his" (the olive’s) "hanging boughs will crackle in the flames." And this fierce work of a barbarous soldiery is no chance calamity; it is the execution of a Divine judgment: "Iahvah Sabaoth Himself hath pronounced evil upon thee." And yet further, it is the nation’s own doing; the two houses of Israel have persistently laboured for their own ruin; they have brought it upon themselves. Man is himself the author of his own weal and woe; and they who are not "working out their own salvation," are working out their own destruction. "And it was Iahvah that gave me knowledge, so that I well knew; at that time, Thou didst show me their doings. But, for myself, like a favourite" (lit. tame, friendly, gentle: Jeremiah 3:4 ) "lamb that is led to the slaughter, I wist not that against me they had laid a plot. ‘Let us fell the tree in its prime, and let us cut him off out of the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’ Yea, but Iahvah Sabaoth judgeth righteously, trieth reins and heart. I shall see Thy vengeance on them; for unto Thee have I laid bare my cause. Therefore thus said Iahvah: Upon the men of Anathoth that were seeking thy life, saying, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of Iahvah, that thou die not by our hand:-therefore thus said Iahvah Sabaoth, Behold I am about to visit it upon them: the young men will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by the famine. And a remnant they shall not have: for I will bring an evil unto the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation" ( Jeremiah 11:18-23 ). The prophet, it would seem, had made the round of the country places, and come to Anathoth, on his return journey to Jerusalem. Here, in his native town, he proclaimed to his own people that same solemn message which he had delivered to the country at large. It is very probable that the preceding verses ( Jeremiah 11:9-17 ) contain the substance of his address to his kinsfolk and acquaintance; an address which stirred them, not to repentance towards God, but to murderous wrath against His prophet. A plot was laid for Jeremiah’s life by his own neighbours and even his own family; { Jeremiah 12:6 } and he owed his escape to some providential circumstance, some "lucky accident," as men might say, which revealed to him their unsuspected perfidy. What the event was which thus suddenly disclosed the hidden danger, is not recorded; and the whole episode is rather alluded to than described. But it is clear that the prophet knew nothing about the plot, until it was ripe for execution. He was as wholly unconscious of the death prepared for him, as a petted lamb on the way to the altar. "Then"-when his fate seemed sure-then it was that something happened by which "Iahvah gave him knowledge," and "showed him their doing": The thought or saying attributed to his enemies, "Let us fell the tree (s) in the prime thereof!" may contain a sarcastic allusion really made to the prophet’s own warning ( Jeremiah 11:16 ): "A flourishing olive, fair with shapely fruit, did Iahvah call thy name: to the noise of a great uproar will He set it on fire, and the branches thereof shall crackle in the flames." The words that follow ( Jeremiah 11:20 ), "yea, but" (or, and yet) "Iahvah Sabaoth judgeth righteously; trieth reins and heart," {cf. Jeremiah 20:12 } is the prophet’s reply, in the form of an unexpressed thought, or a hurried ejaculation upon discovering their deadly malice. The timely warning which he had received, was fresh proof to him of the truth that human designs are, after all that their authors can do, dependent on the will of an Unseen Arbiter of events; and the Divine justice, thus manifested towards himself, inspired a conviction that those hardened and bloodthirsty sinners would, sooner or later, experience in their own destruction that display of the same Divine attribute which was necessary to its complete manifestation. It was this conviction, rather than personal resentment, however excusable under the circumstances that feeling would have been, which led Jeremiah to exclaim: "I shall see Thy vengeance on them, for unto Thee have I laid bare my cause." He had appealed to the Judge of all the earth, that doeth right; and he knew the innocency of his own heart in the quarrel. He was certain, therefore, that his cause would one day be vindicated, when that ruin overtook his enemies, of which he had warned them in vain. Looked at in this light, his words are a confident assertion of the Divine justice, not a cry for vengeance. They reveal what we may perhaps call the human basis of the formal prophecy which follows; they show by what steps the prophet’s mind was led on to the utterance of a sentence of destruction upon the men of Anathoth. That Jeremiah’s invectives and threatenings of wrath and ruin should provoke hatred and opposition was perhaps not wonderful. Men in general are slow to recognise their own moral shortcomings, to believe evil of themselves; and they are apt to prefer advisers whose optimism, though ill-founded and misleading, is pleasant and reassuring and confirmatory of their own prejudices. But it does seem strange that it should have been reserved for the men of his own birthplace, his own "brethren and his father’s house," to carry opposition to the point of meditated murder. Once more Jeremiah stands before us, a visible type of Him whose Divine wisdom declared that a prophet finds no honour in his own country, and whose life was attempted on that Sabbath day at Nazareth. { Luke 4:24 sqq.} The sentence was pronounced, but the cloud of dejection was not at once lifted from the soul of the seer. He knew that justice must in the end overtake the guilty; but, in the meantime, "his enemies lived and were mighty," and their criminal designs against himself remained unnoticed and unpunished. The more he brooded over it, the more difficult it seemed to reconcile their prosperous immunity with the justice of God. He has given us the course of his reflections upon this painful question, ever suggested anew by the facts of life, never sufficiently answered by toiling reason. "Too righteous art Thou, Iahvah, for me to contend with Thee: I will but lay arguments before Thee" ( i.e., argue the case forensically). "Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are they undisturbed, all that deal very treacherously? Thou plantest them, yea, they take root; they grow ever, yea, they bear fruit: Thou art nigh in their mouth, and far from their reins. And Thou, Iahvah, knowest me; Thou seest me, and triest mine heart in Thy mind. Separate them like sheep for the slaughter, and consecrate them for the day of killing! How long shall the land mourn, and the herbage of all the country wither? From the evil of the dwellers therein, beasts and birds perish: for they have said (or, thought), "He cannot see our end". { Jeremiah 12:1-4 } It is not merely that his would be murderers thrive; it is that they take the holy Name upon their unclean lips; it is that they are hypocrites combining a pretended respect for God, with an inward and thorough indifference to God. He is nigh in their mouth and far from their reins. They "honour Him with their lips, but have removed their heart far from Him; and their worship of Him is a mere human commandment, learned by rote". { Isaiah 29:13 } They swear by His Name, when they are bent on deception. { Jeremiah 5:2 } It is all this which especially rouses the prophet’s indignation; and contrasting therewith his own conscious integrity and faithfulness to the Divine law, he calls upon Divine justice to judge between himself and them: "Pull them out like sheep for slaughter, and consecrate them" (set them apart from the rest of the flock) "for the day of killing!" It has been said that Jeremiah throughout this whole paragraph speaks not as a prophet, but as a private individual; and that in this verse especially he "gives way to the natural man, and asks the life of his enemies". { 1 Kings 3:11 Job 31:30 } This is perhaps a tenable opinion. We have to bear in mind the difference of standpoint between the writers of the Old Covenant and those of the New. Not much is said by the former about the forgiveness of injuries, about withholding the hand from vengeance. The most ancient law, indeed, contained a noble precept, which pointed in this direction: "If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him." { Exodus 23:4-5 } And in the Book of Proverbs we read: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, And let not thine heart be glad when he is overthrown." But the impression of magnanimity thus produced is somewhat diminished by the reason which is added immediately: "Lest the Lord see it and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him": a motive of which the best that can be said is that it is characteristic of the imperfect morality of the time. { Proverbs 24:17 sq.} The same objection may be taken to that other famous passage of the same book: "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat: And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, And the Lord shall reward thee". { Proverbs 25:21 sq.} The reflection that the relief of his necessities will mortify and humiliate an enemy to the utmost, which is what seems to have been originally meant by "heaping coals of fire upon his head," however practically useful in checking the wild impulses of a hot-blooded and vindictive race, such as the Hebrews were, and such as their kindred the Bedawi Arabs have remained to this day under a system of faith which has not said, "Love your enemies"; and however capable of a new application in the more enlightened spirit of Christianity; { Romans 12:19 sqq.} is undoubtedly a motive marked by the limitations of Old Testament ethical thought. And edifying as they may prove to be, when understood in that purely spiritual and universal sense, to which the Church has lent her authority, how many of the psalms were, in their primary intention, agonising cries for vengeance: prayers that the human victim of oppression and wrong might "see his desire upon his enemies"? All this must be borne in mind; but there are other considerations also which must not be omitted, if we would get at the exact sense of our prophet in the passage before us. We must remember that he is laying a case before God. He has admitted at the outset that God is absolutely just, in spite of and in view of the fact that his murderous enemies are prosperous and unpunished. When he pleads his own sincerity and purity of heart, in contrast with the lip service of his adversaries, it is perhaps that God may grant, not so much their perdition, as the