I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries. Jeremiah 23:3 Home missions Dean Hole. As when some beautiful picture which has been put aside and forgotten, hid, it may be, from the enemy in time of invasive war, is found and cleansed and restored, and the eye is delighted with the gradual revelation of colour and of form, the life-like features of the portrait, the characters and incidents of the historical scene, the sunny landscape, or the moon-lit sea: so in that great revival of spiritual life which came by God s grace little more than fifty years ago into this Church of England, the glorious truths of the Gospel, the joy Which we have in the presence of our Lord, in His Sacraments and Scriptures, in our praises and our prayers, in our daily duty done in His name, and in our works of mercy done for His sake, have been again abundantly given to the faith which worketh by love. Oh! blessed be He who of His tender mercy hath visited and redeemed His people. This merciful, marvellous restoration maybe divided into three developments. First, there was the restoration of Faith: Credenda , what we should believe. Then there was the restoration of Hope: Precanda , what we should pray for, and when and how we should pray, — a restoration of worship. Thirdly, there came the grandest development o fall — the restoration of charity, love: Agenda , the things we have got to do for God, our duty to Him and our duty to each other; to love Him with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our strength, and then to love our neighbour as ourself. It is impossible for a Church or an individual to be quickened with spiritual life, and not yearn that others should be saved. It is impossible for your heart and mine to be unfed with the sacred heart of Jesus and not to long that others should share our joy and peace in believing. Jubilant and thankful — thankful for the past, strong and of a good courage in the present, and hopeful of the future — we stand no more by broken cisterns, for God has struck the rock, and the streams are flowing, and our cry is, the Master's cry is, "O every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and drink" Our obedience is that of His mandate, "Go ye out rote the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the lame, the halt, and the blind; go into the byways and hedges and bring in all — compel them to come in." Surely we may ask, almost in shame, are we true sons of those forefathers who built such churches as this, are we true sons of the men who built those grand cathedrals, and churches, and hospitals, and colleges throughout England? Was there ever a time when it was so needful that the Spirit of the Gospel should be brought to bear upon the divisions and dissensions which are among us? I mean, for example, the jealousies that exist between the classes, the commercial rivalries, the disaffection which there is. Without going beyond the measure of our knowledge, without presuming to interfere between employers and employed as to wages and those matters which we cannot possibly understand, we have an influence in pleading the great principles of justice, and honesty, and love, which, though it may be resented at first by those who are in the wrong, must in the end prevail and be established. Was there ever a time when it was more needful for men who know that God is no respecter of persons to preach the equality of all souls for whom the Lord Jesus died? It has been well said that the Gospel code, if it could only be enforced by human laws and a human legislature, would produce a condition of security and success of which the most sanguine, the cleverest politician has never even dreamed. But the Gospel is something infinitely higher and better to you and me. To you and me Christianity means all that is brave and pure in our life, all that is bright and happy in our death. It means re-union with those whom we have loved and whom we loved the best. It means — I hardly dare speak the thought — it means that you and I shall be sinless, and shall see God. It is impossible to have such a faith and hope as this, and not to desire that all should share it, and that none should perish. It is impossible for us to love God and not to love our brother also. ( Dean Hole. ) set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them. Jeremiah 23:4 God-appointed pastors A. J. Douglas. God, in His wisdom, has most clearly indicated to every man his work. The doer carries within him the fitness for the work to be done. Each has most certainly been made for the other. A law of God brought them face to face at life's threshold. The same law unites them, when not interfered with, and stamps the union as Divine. As the vessel from the potter's hand, so we from the Divine mind. We and our work move along one continuous line till we scale the golden stairway where we end the now and begin the hereafter. The place to be occupied by us may possibly be of the most humble, but man is not estimated because of the place so much as how he filled it. Move along the line of God's plan and you will tap the fountain of Divine help. Each of God's intelligent workers has been given a place in the whitened fields, along the line of workers, and no position necessary to the many enterprises of the world has been by the great Creator forgotten. We are not surprised then, in the least, that the children of God should be provided with leaders, and that He would approach His flock and assure them of such provision made in their behalf. The men whom God has touched with a Divine sense of this sacred calling have adaptation to the work. God makes no mistakes in classifying His workers. His divinely appointed shepherds whom He will place over His people carry the evidence of such intention in their physical and spiritual construction. God prepares the shepherd to do the shepherd's work, and for him to throw himself out of his Divine gearing is to live an inharmonious life and walk where God could not walk with him, nor furnish him a comforting promise. The world would move as one harmonious whole, if every creature would keep within the laws made to govern him, and wear as his armour the outfit his Creator gave him. Like Moses, many may see from a human standpoint impossibilities in the way; but the same God, now as then, is abundantly able, willing, and ready to remove them. Woe and disappointment have been inevitable to all such as have overpowered this sense of God's wish, and have sought to follow some idle suggestion which reached the pride of the heart through the lust of the eye. With a shepherd's construction, having head, heart, and hand divinely adjusted to so important a calling, how readily each function reaches out, as the petal for the dew, after every nutritious element adapted to its growth. He who is to minister in holy things, early finds his thoughts running along the line of God's thoughts, and if he will yield to the Spirit's sweet influence, will gradually as growth gravitate to within the necessary sources for his equipment. While mental culture and literary discipline are necessary, and a holy familiarity with the doctrines of the Bible, the minister's wall and roof, yet God's ambassadors are expected to feed the flock of the fruit which comes from the bounty these attainments have led them to. The minister's knowledge should be principally used as the means to the end. Our peculiar gifts must be called into liveliest action and placed well to the forefront, and whatever else we may possess in the line of mental or spiritual gifts should be made to contribute subordinate, but loyal, help. But it is not enough that the doctrine be sound. While truth can be nothing but truth, and sound doctrine nothing less than sound, yet, the effect produced is all the better for having come from pure lips, and a heart known to be sincere. The man of God ordained to the high office of shepherd, whoso business it is to minister in holy things, and preside at His altar, should, as far as it is possible, live along the line of Christ's life. Without this he cannot be the safest counsel for the flock entrusted to his care. He should not only know how to instruct, but how to live, so that his doctrine and his life may not antagonise. Like Christ, he must do as well as teach. His should be a life of simplicity, free from exceptional practices and evil habits. Bold and fearless, yet humble and unostentatious. Mingling freely with the people, but in modest, quiet reserve. His language should always be the most chaste. His business relations with all men should be of the pleasantest character. Pulpit brilliancy may fill the pews and produce applause, but often spoils the preacher and cools the church. With an eloquent pulpit the church falls an easy prey to pride and vanity, losing sight of her humble, but dignified, mission, permitting the undershepherd to use the temple of God for self-glory. Bernard , whose power came from his tenderness and simplicity, on one occasion preached a very scholarly sermon. The learned only thanked him and gave applause. The next day he preached plainly and tenderly, as had been his custom, and the good, the humble and the godly gave thanks and invoked blessings upon his head, which some of the scholarly wondered at. "Ah!" said he, "yesterday I preached Bernard, but to-day I preached Christ." Congregations should arise from their pews more impressed with the power of Gospel facts than with well-rounded sentences and lofty flights of oratory. The Christian hearer should be made to feel the need of greater consecration. The sinner should be made to feel the remorse which comes from a correct estimate of a lost soul for which he has nothing to give in exchange. ( A. J. Douglas. ) Preachers must feed the people From the deck of an Austrian gunboat we threw into the Lago Garda a succession of little pieces of bread, and presently small fishes came in shoals, till there seemed to be, as the old proverb puts it, more fish than water. They came to feed, and needed no music. Let the preacher give his people food, and they will flock around him, even if the sounding brass of rhetoric, and the tinkling cymbals of oratory are silent. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Food attractive Everybody knows that large flocks of pigeons assemble at the stroke of the great clock in the square of St. Mark: believe me, it is not the music of the bell which attracts them, they can hear that every hour. They come, Mr. Preacher, for food, and no mere sound will long collect them. This is a hint for filling your meeting-house; it must be done not merely by that fine, bell-like voice of yours, but by all the neighbourhood's being assured that spiritual food is to be had when you open your mouth. Barley for pigeons, good sir; and the Gospel for men and women. Try it in earnest, and you cannot fail. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) I will raise unto David a righteous Branch. Jeremiah 23:5 Christ's Divine titles J. G. Angley, M. A. Some of the grandest productions of nature appear small or feeble in their origin; though nothing is little or feeble with God. The majestic oak, the pride of the forest, that breasts the heavens in power, springs from a little acorn-cup; the mighty ,river, that creates life, health, beauty, and fertility in a realm, rises from some feeble well-spring beside the mountain. Now the wonderful fact of growth in life, or progress in nature or grace, was pre-eminently a profound truth with Christ, in His pure human nature. He that was David's Root, as God, the almighty cause of all life, was yet David's Offspring and Branch, as Man. I. CHRIST IS THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH. He is called by this remarkable name by the prophets ( Isaiah 11:1 ; Isaiah 4:2 ; Jeremiah, in my text, and Jeremiah 33:15,16; Ezekiel 17:22-24 ; Zechariah 3:8 ; Zechariah 6:12 ). 1. The Divine titles of our Redeemer in Scripture are most expressive, and are full of spiritual truth and beauty. Among other glorious titles, He is called the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last, including all the letters of the Greek Alphabet, to denote His Eternal nature; as the Beginning and End of all things; as "the Author and Finisher of our faith"; as the origin, centre, and circle of all blessings for His people. He is the only and true Foundation on which the whole Church of God is built, and the chief Corner-stone of its perfection and beauty. He is our great Captain of salvation, and our Counsellor and Mediator before God in heaven; He is the Mystical Vine to give us Divine life; and the Heavenly Manna to feed and nourish our souls; as well as the living Water of purity and celestial joy. He is our Day-spring and Day-star from on high, to enlighten and guide us; as well as to give Divine knowledge and glory; and our Daysman and Deliverer to reconcile us to God. He is the Child born as man, to be our sacrifice; and the Son given as God, the Eternal Son of God, to impart infinite value to His work of salvation. He is the Prince of Peace, the King of Zion, our Great Prophet and High Priest; and our Peace. maker with Jehovah; our Redeemer from all sin; our Refuge in all danger; our Strong Rock in every storm; our Divine Saviour and Shepherd, who died to deliver us, and lead us to heaven; our Almighty Sun and Shield; in fine, the Righteous Branch, the Branch of Renown, the Righteous Branch of Jehovah, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." 2. Christ is the Righteous Branch, as the cause of all Divine light and life in the Church. The word rendered "the Branch," has a double meaning; it signifies both a shoot from an old stock, or a branch springing from a tree, vigorous in life, with rich blossoms and fruits; as well as the splendour of dawn, or the sun rising in eastern glory. This double emblem is most appropriately applied to our Redeemer; both in the sense of His human origin, as springing like a branch into perfect and glorious life from the family of David; and in His Divine nature as God, displaying the splendour of His majesty like the full-orbed sun rising over the earth and dispelling all darkness. 3. As the Righteous Branch Christ fills all His Church with Divine life and blessings. This may be illustrated thus: when a tree is transplanted from one field to another, it belongs, in civil law, to the ground where it has root, and receives nourishment and growth; for though it may be the same tree still in its roots, stock and branches, yet, as all these derive new and continued life from the place where it grows, it therefore belongs, in civil law, by right to the lord of the soil. So Christ, in taking our pure human nature into union with His Divine nature, made ours His own by lawful right, and He gives infinite value to humanity. His Divine and human nature are distinct, though united — separate, though in connection, like our own soul and body. And all of our Divine life, and all the blessings we spiritually enjoy, must come and be derived from Christ, and vivify and nourish our spiritual life, as sap rising from the roots of a tree gives all the stock, branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruit their support, beauty, and sweetness! II. HOW IS CHRIST TRULY THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS? 1. He only can restore righteousness to our fallen nature. 2. No sinner can ever be saved unless in some way by this righteousness of Jesus. 3. Christ is the Lord our righteousness in a twofold sense. He is the Cause, by His active and passive obedience to all the demands of Divine justice, and the Fountain of all our righteousness by His sacrifice on the cross. And as our Mediator in heaven, His continual intercession, and the blessed work of His Holy Spirit produce in our hearts holiness of life. This great work and doctrine may thus be illustrated. Suppose a powerful monarch goes to a prison-cell, where some favourite, who has been condemned for treason, lies expecting death. Royal mercy rises above law; royal affection remembers a friend's doom. The sovereign opens the prison door and bestows on him a full pardon. This frees the offender from all just demands of the law. But the monarch does more: he takes him again into his favour; he exalts him even to higher honours than he forfeited, and he admits him to an the communion of a friend, and to all the dignities of the state, and he bestows on him a royal title to an inheritance which nothing can destroy. 4. This scriptural doctrine, that Christ is our righteousness, must be implicitly the firm reliance of faith, and of all the heart. The natural man cannot receive this great truth. Like other things of the Spirit, it must be spiritually discerned.Remarks — 1. How Divine and comforting are the Scripture titles of Christ! This one of the Righteous Branch is most expressive and just for our Redeemer. Many kings and rulers have been unjust and unholy, but the Lord Jesus never! for all His own nature, all His moral government of the world are perfectly righteous, holy, and just, and all of His dealings among men shall shine forth as the rays of a full-orbed sun in glory! 2. How great and glorious are the blessings bestowed on Christians by the Redeemer's work as the ever-living and righteous Branch of Jehovah! Take heed, then, of being in Christ for Divine life and fruitfulness. The leaves and blossoms on any fruitful branch or tree, though all various, must derive all their life and beauty from the living stock. All real Christians have all their continued spiritual life, holiness, and perfection from Jesus. And as no flower nor blossom can he without a branch, nor no ray of light without a star or sun, so no beauty nor brightness can be without Christ, the righteous Branch and Sundawn of eternal blessedness. 3. What a blissful and long day of peace and happiness shall that be for all the gathered Church of God! Gentile and Jew, all nations shall join hands in perfect amity and goodwill No more discord, no more destruction, no more death. ( J. G. Angley, M. A. ) The Lord our righteousness H. M'Neile. I. INQUIRE WHO IS THE PERSON HERE SPOKEN OF; AND WHETHER ANY INDIVIDUAL HAS APPEARED, SINCE THE DAYS OF JEREMIAH, ANSWERING THIS DESCRIPTION. Jeremiah, we find, flourished in the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. In vain shall we look either to the times of the prophets, or to the commencement of the Christian era, for any individual answering the description in the text. 1. He was to be of the stock of David: to this description Christ exactly corresponded. He was born of a virgin, "of the house and lineage of David." 2. He was to be righteous. To this part of me description, also, Christ exactly corresponded. He "did no sin," and in Him "no guile was found." 3. He was to be a King. To this, also, the character of Jesus of Nazareth corresponded. He was born "King of the Jews"; He was so called by the wise men who came from afar to worship Him. When asked by Pontius Pilate if He were a King, He did not deny it; and when He was pressed, He replied in the affirmative — "Thou sayest that I am a King." A King He was, but in disguise — a King, but wearing the garb of a servant. 4. It is here predicted that He should reign and prosper. Here, certainly, the history of Jesus of Nazareth does not correspond with the prediction before us. To reign and to prosper, is to have victory over all open enemies, and to see his friends in peace, and happiness, and prosperity around him. But mark the history of Jesus of Nazareth. Being in disguise, He hid Himself: He refused to be made a King when the people would have done so; and, instead of reigning and prospering, He was despised, scorned, crucified, and slain; instead of having the victory over His enemies, they had the victory over Him; and though, from the inherent dignity of His person, they could not hold Him, for He was a King, yet He left the world under a disguise, and left His foes in apparent triumph, to rejoice in the success of their rebellion. 5. He was to execute judgment and justice in the earth. Here, again, the history does not correspond with the prediction. He was, indeed, just; but He did not execute justice; He did not establish an ascendency of righteousness. On the contrary, injustice, violence, and deceit remain to this day. 6. In the reign of the King here spoken of, Judah is to be saved, and Israel is to dwell safely. Here, certainly, the history of Jesus of Nazareth does not correspond with the prediction. In His days, Judah was despised and trodden down: according to their own confession, they had "no king but Caesar": — to Caesar, the Emperor of Rome, they paid tribute. 7. His name was to be called, the Lord our Righteousness. Now, what shall we say to this? Why, instead of all acknowledging Christ as the Lord our Righteousness, the bulk of professing Christians scoff at the very doctrine connected with this name! But I dwell not on this: — the speaker is a Jew, and the words must apply to Jews; — "the Lord our Righteousness"; — the Righteousness of the Jewish nation. Now I ask, Has the Jewish nation ever acknowledged the Messiah to be the Lord their Righteousness? Certainly not: therefore, the prophecy of Jeremiah has not been fulfilled. In examining this prophecy, we have seen that three points of the description have been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth; that three other points of His description have not been fulfilled in Him; and that the seventh has been fulfilled in a very partial manner, and not in a peculiar application to the Jewish nation. Now, it is an acknowledged truth, by all who believe the Word of God, that Christ, who, for a season, dwelt upon earth, shall come again. So that between what He did and what He shall do, all the parts of the prophecy shall be fulfilled in Him. Now, it is very remarkable that what we should expect from this prophecy He would be, we are told from other prophecies He shall be. For we are told that He will execute judgment and justice in the earth; and that He will reign as a King in the earth. II. CONSIDER ONE OR TWO OF THE IMPORTANT PARTICULARS WHICH ARE REVEALED CONCERNING THIS KING, SO PROSPERING AND REIGNING. 1. Concerning the reality and identity of the King's person. The human nature of Jesus, returning to earth as He quitted it from Mount Olivet, — the nature that was degraded, persecuted when on earth, — this same human nature shall be exalted in Zion; calling His brethren after the flesh, the Jews, to rally around Him, and to acknowledge Him as Jehovah their Righteousness in that day. 2. Concerning the appearance of the King in that day. On this subject the history of the Transfiguration was, I think, intended to instruct us. 3. Concerning the manner of His administration in His kingdom: the manner, I mean, of His interference in this kingdom. It was a Theocracy under which the Jews were placed. All difficult questions were referred to God Himself; and He gave answers by the Urim and Thummim on the breast of the High Priest. He either spake to the people by Moses, or by some visible appearance. The Lord Jesus Christ will reign by a visible interference; by stretching out His arm to award and to punish. And then will be said that which is written in the Psalms: "So that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous; there is a God that judgeth in the earth." ( H. M'Neile. ) The kingdom of the Messiah Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. I. THE PERSON OF THE MESSIAH. 1. His human incarnation — "A Branch." This term is often used by the prophets, to represent Christ's assumption of our nature. 2. His personal perfection — "A righteous Branch."(1) In His essential nature as God, Jesus Christ was infinitely pure, holy, just, and good.(2) In His human nature as man, He was perfectly righteous, and free from everything sinful and impure. 3. His sovereign character — "A King shall reign." He possessed every qualification requisite for the dignity of His character. He is infinite in wisdom, righteousness, power, and goodness. He is not only a Prophet to instruct, a Priest to atone, but also a King to rule and save His people. II. THE NATURE OF HIS KINGDOM. "A King shall reign and prosper," &c. 1. A universal kingdom. His presence fills all space, and His power is unlimited. 2. A mediatorial kingdom. This refers to Christ's official character, as the "Mediator between God and man." 3. A spiritual kingdom. The kingdom which Christ established in the work of redemption, is designed in its personal influence to destroy sin, that "grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life." 4. A celestial kingdom. Heaven is often denominated a kingdom, and is the promised inheritance of the Lord's faithful people ( Luke 12:32 ). ( Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. ) The nature and prosperity of the Messiah's reign Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. I. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. "A King" ( Numbers 24:17 ; Psalm 2:6 ; Psalm 45:1 ; Isaiah 32:1 ; Zechariah 9:9 ; Luke 19:38 ; John 18:37 ; Revelation 17:14 ). There are three things we look for in a King. 1. Supreme power ( Ephesians 1:21 ; Romans 9:5 ; Philippians 2:9 ; Colossians 1:18 ). 2. Legislative authority.(1) Christ s authority to govern all arises out of His being the proprietor of all ( John 1:10 ; Colossians 1:16 ).(2) His legislative authority is still more confirmed by virtue of His redeeming acts: He has bought us with a price, and redeemed us to God by His blood. 3. Righteous administration; or the exercise of certain qualities essential to good government.(1) In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; He knows all His subjects — is acquainted with their infinitely diversified necessities. And such is His immaculate purity, that it is impossible for Him to enact any laws that will not subserve the interests of His creatures.(2) His justice is equal to His wisdom; justice and judgment are the habitation of His seat.(3) He is so merciful as to be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." II. THE NATURE OF HIS REIGN. "A King shall reign," &c. 1. The reign of Christ is spiritual ( Luke 17:20 ; Romans 14:17 ). 2. The reign of Christ is benevolent. Look at the Alexanders, or Caesars, or mighty chiefs of antiquity, marching at the head of vast armies, while every battle of these warriors is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood. How violent their operations! how cruel and sanguinary their triumphs! Oh, how unlike the means used by the Lord Jesus to subdue the world to the obedience of Himself! ( Isaiah 42:2 .) 3. The reign of Christ is equitable. It is founded on principles of justice, reason, and truth ( Hebrews 1:8 ). The laws by which He governs are holy, just, and good: the obedience which He requires is not only right in itself, but essentially connected with human happiness. 4. The reign of Christ is perpetual. Earthly kingdoms have their rise, progress, perfection, declension, and ruin ( Isaiah 9:7 ; Hebrews 1:8 ). III. THE PROSPERITY WITH WHICH THAT REIGN SHALL BE ATTENDED. The word "prosper" is always used in a favourable sense. To prosper as a king implies — 1. To have an increase of willing subjects. 2. To have adequate provision for the supply of all their wants. Our heavenly King possesses infinite treasures of grace and glory. 3. To secure their real happiness. Christ's subjects are all happy — by the indulgence of benevolent dispositions — by the conformity to righteous laws — by the practice of holy duties — by the anticipation of future felicities ( Psalm 72:7, 8 ; Isaiah 11:4-9 ; Isaiah 52:9 ). 4. To subjugate or destroy His enemies ( Psalm 2:9, 12 ; Isaiah 60:12 ). But as Christ came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, He is employing means to conquer its prejudice, and slay its enmity.Observe — 1. If Christ shall reign and prosper, how great is the folly and madness of infidels, sceptics, and sinners of all descriptions, who attempt to prop the tottering throne of infidelity! 2. This subject should inspire the souls of Christ's devoted subjects with joy and gladness. ( Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. ) The Lord our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:5, 6 Jehovah-Tsidkenu A. Saphir, D. D. After his conversion the apostle Paul must continually have been meditating on the state of Israel. Much as he loved the Gentiles, and clearly as he saw the disposition of God that now the Gentiles should be brought in, he never could forget Israel. What shall we say then? he exclaims. Look at Israel. look at the Gentile nation! Israel for centuries has been striving most anxiously after one thing, to be righteous before Jehovah; they have not attained it. Why then has Israel not attained it? Because they sought it not by faith but by works ( Romans 10:3 ). Why have the Gentiles attained it? Because by the grace of God they have been made willing to receive Jesus as their righteousness." Now look at the Jews going about to establish their own righteousness. They wish to be righteous before God. They wish to be such men as God approves — to be counted righteous and just so that He may be pleased. Therefore their idea of righteousness before God entirely depends upon their idea of God and of God's requirements. God has not left them in ignorance about this. If men who have not the revelation of God form a conception of God according to their own ideas it will be exactly in proportion to their moral condition; therefore the heathen nations made unto themselves gods like unto themselves, as ambitious, as impatient, as self-indulgent, as impure, as changeable as they were themselves. Israel knew the Lord. "I am Jehovah; I am God, and not man, spirit and not flesh; I am holy, be ye also holy." And not simply had God revealed Himself unto them, but He had given unto them also the law as a mirror in which they should see what His idea of men was. Israel had the law of God, and in the law of God they had the character of the righteous One described. And now Israel went about to establish a righteousness of their own. In this process those of them who were sincere in themselves and those of them who really sought not merely to be righteous, but to be righteous before God in order that they might have communion with God, very soon came into the knowledge of their sin, and into the most painful consciousness of their defilement, and, therefore, wishing to he righteous before God, they soon began to cry unto God out of the depth, and to know that innumerable sins had taken hold upon them, and that woe is unto them because they are undone and of unclean lips, and unto such through the knowledge of the law there came death under the law, a longing after pardon, and after the power of God's Spirit operating on their hearts. But those were always the exceptions, the small minority, the "remnant according to the election of grace." The majority of the nation lowered their standard of God, and lowered their standard of the law, and so far did this deteriorating process go on that they not merely came into the idea that they were able to fulfil the law, but they came even to the idea that they were able to do more than the law commanded; that they were able, by extra exertions and by observing precepts which God never has enjoined, to have a treasury of merits, works of supererogation. Curious inconsistency — as long as men go about establishing their own righteousness they are proud before God. But then you would think that if a man is proud, and if he has got the kind of self-consciousness so that he can stand, as it were, before God, that then he would be sure of his salvation. One of their most celebrated prophets, whom they called the "law of the world," was on his death-bed, and one of his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, what sayest thou now?" The Rabbi said, "Heaven and hell are before me, and I know not whither I am going. If I were to be summoned into the presence of an earthly king I might well be afraid, and yet his displeasure would only last a few years, and his punishment, however severe it may be, must come to an end; but I am now going into the presence of the Lord God Most High, whose wrath is everlasting, and His punishment is infinite, and I know not whether I shall be acquitted." Going about establishing a righteousness of their own, lowering the idea of God, lowering the standard of the law, proud and unbroken in spirit, and yet without any peace or assurance of the favour of God. Such a one, also, was the apostle Paul before he was converted; he went about establishing his own righteousness, and afterwards he said that he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, according to the law blameless, but now he wishes not to have his own righteousness, which is by the law. There is another righteousness of which both the law and the prophets have continua

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:1 . Wo be unto the pastors — Or, as ??? is by some rendered, Alas for the pastors! or, Ho the pastors! For it may be a particle of calling, as the LXX. and Syriac represent it, and not of commination, as in our translation. The word pastors comprehends both civil and ecclesiastical governors: see note on Jeremiah 2:8 . This acceptation of the word agrees with the prophet’s complaint elsewhere, that their rulers, as well as their priests and prophets, were rather corrupters than reformers of the people’s manners. And the Messiah himself, whose coming is foretold, Jeremiah 23:5 , for the rectifying of these disorders, was both a king and a priest. Jeremiah 23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:2-4 . Therefore thus saith the Lord against the pastors that feed my people — That undertake the care of my people, though they do not faithfully execute their trust. God calls them his people, his flock, the sheep of his pasture, with respect to the ancient covenant which he had made with their fathers. They are said to have fed this people, because it was their duty to have done so. Ye have scattered my flock — Namely, by acts of violence and oppression, driving them from their places to seek more safe and quiet abodes. Or, instead of looking after them, you have suffered them to be dispersed, and through your ill example they have gone astray to idolatry, and that, with your other sins, has brought upon them their expulsion from their own land and a general dispersion. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings — Will deal with you as your sins have deserved. They would not visit the flock in the way of duty, and therefore God will visit them in a way of vengeance. And I will gather the remnant of my flock — Though there be but a remnant of my flock, a little remnant left, that has narrowly escaped destruction, I will gather that remnant; will find them out wherever they are, and will find out ways and means to bring them back out of all countries whither I have driven them. It was the justice of God for the sins of their shepherds that dispersed them, but the mercy of God shall gather them when the shepherds that betrayed them are cut off. And being brought to their former habitations, as sheep to their folds, there they shall be fruitful, and increase in numbers. And I will set up shepherds over them — Who shall make it their business, not only to rule, but also to feed them, namely, with knowledge and understanding. They shall fear no more — As they formerly did, when they were continually exposed to the oppressions of their rulers at home, or the invasions and assaults of their enemies from abroad; but they shall be preserved in peace and safety, and none of them shall be lacking. Though the times may have been long bad with the church, it does not follow that they will be always so. Such pastors as Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, though they did not live in such pomp as Jehoiakim and Jeconiah lived in, nor made such a figure, were as great blessings to the people as the others were plagues to them. The peace and prosperity of the church are not connected with, much less do they depend upon, the pomp of her rulers. Jeremiah 23:3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. Jeremiah 23:4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Jeremiah 23:5-6 . I will raise unto David a righteous branch — The house of David seemed to be quite sunk and ruined by the threatening pronounced against Jeconiah, ( Jeremiah 22:30 ,) that none of his seed should ever sit upon the throne of David: but here we have a promise which effectually secures the honour of the covenant made with David, notwithstanding that threatening; for by it his house will be raised out of its ruins to a greater lustre than ever, and shine brighter than it did even in the days of Solomon. We have not so many prophecies of Christ in this book as we had in that of the Prophet Isaiah. But here we have a very illustrious one. Of him, doubtless, the prophet here speaks, and of no other person. Even the Jewish doctors, as well as Christian interpreters, understand this as a prophecy of the Messiah, who is called the branch: Isaiah 4:2 ; Isaiah 53:2 ; and the man the branch, Zechariah 3:8 . And here he is termed the righteous branch, not only because he himself was righteous, but because he makes his people righteous; and a king that shall reign and prosper — Not like kings that now were of the house of David, going backward in all their affairs, but one that shall set up a kingdom in the world, which shall be victorious over all opposition; one to whose hands the good pleasure of the Lord shall be committed, and under whose care and management it shall prosper; one who shall execute judgment and justice in the earth — All the world over, Psalm 96:13 . The present kings of David’s line were unjust and oppressive, and their affairs therefore did not prosper; but this king shall break the usurped power of Satan, institute a perfect rule of holy living, and in due time make all the world righteous. In his days — That is, under his dominion, when his kingdom shall be set up and established upon earth; Judah shall be saved, &c. — The people of God, typified by Judah and Israel, shall be saved with a spiritual and eternal salvation, a salvation from the guilt and power of sin, into the favour and image of God here, and into the kingdom of his glory hereafter. At which kingdom, till they arrive, God will be a special protection to them, their refuge and strength, and very present help in trouble; so that they shall dwell safely — Confiding in the care of their strong helper, and preserved in perfect peace. And this is his name whereby he shall be called — Namely, by his people, and by God; the name whereby he shall be known, and which shall at once be descriptive both of his person and office. THE LORD, Hebrew, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS — Though of the seed of David according to the flesh, he shall indeed be JEHOVAH, God in human nature, and OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS; namely, justifying us by his merits, sanctifying us by his Spirit, and directing us in every part of our duty by his doctrine and example; the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth in him with a faith that worketh by love. Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jeremiah 23:7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; Jeremiah 23:7-8 . Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord — Here the prophet proceeds to fore-tel one very important, although remote, consequence of God’s raising up the righteous branch to David, namely, the great salvation which should thereby come to the Jews in the latter days of their state, which should be so illustrious as far to outshine their deliverance out of Egypt. That they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, &c. — These words we had before, Jeremiah 16:14-15 , where see the note. But here the passage seems to point more plainly than it did there to the days of the Messiah, and to compare, not so much the two deliverances themselves, giving the preference to the latter, as the two states to which the church should grow after those deliverances. About four hundred and eighty years after they were come out of Egypt, Solomon’s temple was built, 1 Kings 6:1 ; and at that time that nation, which was so wonderfully brought out of Egypt, was gradually arrived to its height. And four hundred and ninety years (seventy weeks) after they came out of Babylon, Messiah the Prince set up the gospel temple, which was the greatest glory of that nation that was so wonderfully brought out of Babylon: see Daniel 9:24-25 . Now the spiritual glory of the second period of that nation, especially as transferred to the gospel church, is much more admirable and illustrious than all the temporal glory of the first period of it, in the days of Solomon; for that was no glory, compared with the glory which excelleth. Add to this, the prophet, it seems, also foretels a second gathering of the Jews from their dispersions, namely, one that should take place after the coming of the Messiah, and the ruin of their city and country by the Romans, and therefore yet future. Now this work of God, whenever it shall be effected, including, as it undoubtedly will, their conversion to Christianity, and perhaps, also, their restoration to their own land, will assuredly appear so wonderful as greatly to outshine every former deliverance wrought for that people, and therefore may well put every other out of remembrance. St. Paul calls this restoration of them, life from the dead, ( Romans 9:25 ,) meaning that it would be a miracle as surprising as the resurrection of a multitude of dead bodies. Jeremiah 23:8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. Jeremiah 23:9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. Jeremiah 23:9 . My heart within me is broken — This seems to be the beginning of a new discourse against the false prophets, with whom afterward the priests are joined. The first word of it in the Hebrew, ?????? , is rendered by the Vulgate, Ad prophetas, To the prophets, as if it were the title of the following prophecy. In this Jeremiah describes the terror and concern which were upon him when he considered the horrible sin of these prophets in pretending a divine mission when they had received none, and in uttering as messages from God what were really their own inventions, and in direct opposition to every thing God had spoken. And he declares that, upon a view of their guilt, and of the evils they were bringing on themselves and their country, he was in trouble and agitation, like that of a man who had lost his reason through intoxication. Jeremiah 23:10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. Jeremiah 23:10 . For the land is full of adulterers — Under this term, which properly respects those who violate the marriage-bed, persons offending by any species of uncleanness are comprehended, as also such as by fraud and falsehood circumvented others, and tempted them to join in the commission of those illicit actions which implied breach of faith and duty toward God. Because of swearing the land mourneth — By swearing here, it seems, is not only meant false swearing, or perjury, but also profane and idle swearing, or taking the name of God in vain. Compare this verse with Hosea 4:2 . The Hebrew word, ??? , signifies indifferently swearing or cursing. The Jewish forms of adjuration, used in their courts of justice for the discovery of the truth, had usually an imprecation joined to them; and the prophet’s words here may import, that men ventured to forswear themselves, and incur the imprecation implied in an oath, rather than discover the truth in cases wherein they were called upon to be witnesses. The land is said to mourn when it is afflicted with drought, barrenness, or any other uncommon calamity. And the swearing here spoken of is represented by the prophet as one of those crying sins for which God had visited the nation with these and other severe judgments. And the sins here mentioned, which abounded so much among the people, were in a great measure owing to the bad example and corrupt doctrine of the priests and prophets. See Jeremiah 23:11-15 . The pleasant places, or the pastures, of the wilderness — Or, of the plain, as the words may be properly rendered; are dried up — The wrath of God is extended to all places, whether more or less inhabited. See note on Jeremiah 12:4 . And their course is evil, &c. — This seems to be intended of the prophets and priests, to whom this discourse is chiefly directed, (see Jeremiah 23:9-11 ,) and it implies that they not only erred in single acts, but that the whole course of their actions was evil, and particularly their power, rule, and government. For they both made use of ill arts to establish their authority over the people, and they employed it, not for the bettering, but rather for the corrupting of their manners. Jeremiah 23:11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:11-12 . For both the prophet and the priest are profane — The priests, by their formality and hypocrisy, profaned the ordinances of God which they were appointed to administer; and the prophets, by their lies, false doctrine, and corrupt practice, profaned the word of God, which they pretended to deliver. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness: saith the Lord — Even in my temple, where they assemble under a pretence to worship and do me honour, they say and do many things contrary to my law, and are guilty of various acts of profaneness and immorality. Such profaners of things sacred were formerly Hophni and Phinehas. Wherefore their way shall be as slippery ways — In which they shall not walk with any steadiness, safety, or satisfaction: or they shall fail and miscarry in all their designs. Jeremiah 23:12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. Jeremiah 23:13-14 . I have seen — Rather, I saw, namely, formerly, before I cast them out of their own land; folly — Hebrew, ???? , stupidity, infatuation. The LXX. render it, ????????? , iniquities, or unlawful actions, and the Vulgate, fatuitatem, sottishness; in the prophets of Samaria — That is, in those that belonged to the ten tribes, whose chief city was Samaria. They prophesied in Baal — Pretending they had their relations from Baal, they caused the people of that kingdom to err — That is, they seduced them from the worship and service of the true God to idolatry. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing — Hebrew, ??????? , a thing to be detested, an abomination. He compares the sins of the prophets of Samaria with those of the prophets of Jerusalem, and pronounces the sins of the latter to be more enormous, because they pronounced their false prophecies in the name of the true God, and pretended that he was the author of all their impostures: the wickedness of their lives also reflected great dishonour upon his name and religion. Compare Jeremiah 3:11 . They commit adultery — See Jeremiah 29:23 . And walk in lies — Utter what they themselves have feigned, and call their inventions divine visions, and use all manner of deceit and fraud. They strengthen also the hands of evil-doers — They confirm men in their evil ways, both by their own bad example, and by promising them peace and security, notwithstanding their wicked conduct and ungodly deeds. See Jeremiah 23:17 ; and Ezekiel 13:22 . They are all of them unto me as Sodom — See Deuteronomy 32:32 ; Isaiah 1:10 ; Ezekiel 16:46-48 . Jeremiah 23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Jeremiah 23:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Jeremiah 23:15 . Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets — The priests also, and all ecclesiastical guides, are included. Behold, I will feed them with wormwood — Will afflict them with most bitter calamities. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth — Or, hypocrisy, which seems rather to be the meaning of ???? , the word here used. Certain it is, that this was a vice they were generally addicted to. These false prophets affected to be looked upon as pious, while they indulged themselves in various acts of wickedness; and as this could not be totally concealed, the people took example from them, and indulged themselves in vice, while they put on the garb of piety. The Jewish nation continued much in this habit even to the times of Christ, as is sufficiently evident from what is said of the Pharisees in the New Testament. Jeremiah 23:16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. Jeremiah 23:16-17 . Thus saith the Lord, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets — People are under no religious obligation to hear what is contrary to the revealed will of God, or to obey those who enjoin things which that does not require. They make you vain — Or rather, they deceive you, as the words may be properly rendered: or they make you trust to and undertake vain things. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were fed by these false prophets with the vain hopes of being able to drive the Babylonians from their walls, and raise the siege of the city; yea, and of shaking off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar entirely, and being quite free for the future. They speak a vision of their own heart — A pretended vision which they have framed themselves. They say still — That is, they persist to say; unto them that despise me — That are destitute even of my fear, and therefore slight my authority, and violate my commands; The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace — Whereas, in truth, I have said the contrary, and have assured them, There is no peace to the wicked — Thus they both make me to patronise sin, and to contradict myself. Jeremiah 23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. Jeremiah 23:18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it ? Jeremiah 23:18 . For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord? — These are either the words of God expressing that none of these pretended prophets knew any thing of his designs, as he had not revealed them unto them, and they could not otherwise know them; or else they are to be understood as the words of these false prophets, who, among other things, told the people, that God’s counsels were not to be absolutely known; and that therefore neither Jeremiah, nor the rest of the prophets, who foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, were informed more than others of what God intended to do. Jeremiah 23:19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. Jeremiah 23:19-20 . Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth with fury — A severe judgment of God, that shall resemble a whirlwind for the sudden and utter destruction that it shall bring. The same word, ???? , is elsewhere translated a storm. It is called a whirlwind of the Lord, both to denote the greatness of it, and to signify that it should come forth from God, and be of his sending. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked — Whatever these flattering teachers may assert to the contrary. Blaney translates the verse, Behold, the whirlwind of Jehovah! it goeth forth hot, even a settling whirlwind; (so he translates ?????? , which we render, grievous, ) upon the head of the wicked it shall settle. And he observes, “The hot, scorching wind, blowing from the south, (see note on Jeremiah 4:11-12 ,) is evidently here alluded to, that blows, not with a transient blast, but exerts a continued force upon the head of the unfortunate traveller till it has effectually destroyed him:” an emblem this of the consuming and insupportable wrath of God. The anger of the Lord shall not return — The prophet speaks of the judgment as of a messenger, which should not return till it had done its errand, and executed what God had resolved it should effect. In the latter days ye shall consider, &c. — Though you will not now believe it, but flatter yourselves with vain hopes, yet hereafter, when it shall be too late, you shall consider it perfectly, that is, when this judgment hath over-taken you, you shall fully believe and understand that God did indeed bring it upon you, for the punishment of your sins. Jeremiah 23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. Jeremiah 23:21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. Jeremiah 23:21-22 . I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran — They were always ready to bring you pleasing tidings as from me, though I had given them no commission so to do, or revealed any thing to them. But if they had stood in my counsel — Been made acquainted by me with my will and pleasure; and had caused my people to hear my words — And not their own conceits and inventions; then they should have turned therefrom their evil way — This was the design of all God’s messages by his prophets, and therefore all true prophets made this their principal aim. And the giving encouragement to men to continue in their sinful courses, or in a state of carnal security, is often mentioned as a mark of a false prophet. Jeremiah 23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Jeremiah 23:23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Jeremiah 23:23-24 . Am I a God at hand and not a God afar off? — Do these false prophets imagine that I am only a God in some particular places, and that I cannot see or know things done privately, or at a distance from the place where they suppose me to be? Do they think to impose upon me, or vent their own dreams in my name, and I not discover them? As if either distance or secrecy could place any thing out of the reach of my power and knowledge. Atheism, or ignorance of God, is generally the foundation of a wicked life. Men think God does not see, or does not regard them and their actions, and will not call them to an account for them, and therefore they go on in their trespasses. By a God at hand, some understand, in heaven: as if he had said, Do you think my eyes are limited like yours, so that I cannot see men’s practices though at a distance from the place of my peculiar and glorious residence? Others interpret the particle with respect to time; Am I a god of yesterday, like the idols? Am not I the Ancient of days? the eternal God, of whose majesty, omniscience, and omnipresence you ought to have been sensible? Can any hide himself in secret places — Can any man hide his projects or intentions, his thoughts or desires, his words or works, that I shall not see them? Surely not. No arts or concealments can hide any man’s practices or even the counsels of his heart from the eye of God, nor in any respect deceive his judgment of them. Do not I fill heaven and earth, namely, by my essential presence, as well as by my universal providence? Am I not continually present, and continually active through all parts of the universe? As I am above all, so I am through all, and in all, Ephesians 4:6 . Jeremiah 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. Jeremiah 23:25-27 . I have heard what the prophets say, &c. — I am perfectly acquainted with what these prophets have thought and said, though they think I take no notice of it, and so continue to act the same counterfeit part over again. Saying, I have dreamed — I have had a divine vision, or have received information from God in a dream. This, it appears, the false prophets often pretended, when they had received nothing of the kind. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets? — How long shall I bear with them while they prophesy the deceit of their own hearts? while they utter, for prophecies, that which they have feigned or devised themselves? Will they never see what an affront they put upon me, what an abuse they put upon my people, and what judgments they are preparing for themselves? To cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, &c. — They act as if they designed to draw my people off from worshipping and serving me, and from all regard to my laws and ordinances and to the true prophets. Indeed, their palming upon the people counterfeit revelations, and fathering their own fancies upon divine inspiration, was the ready way to bring all religion into contempt, and make men turn atheists and infidels. Jeremiah 23:26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Jeremiah 23:27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. Jeremiah 23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:28-29 . The prophet that hath a dream let him tell a dream — Or, as some render it, let him tell it as a dream. Let him lay no more stress upon it than men do upon their dreams, nor expect any more regard to be paid to it. Or, he that pretends to have a message from God, either by dream, or vision, or voice, or otherwise, let him declare it. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully — Let him speak it, as truth; so some read the clause; let him keep close to his instructions, and you will soon perceive a vast difference between the dreams which the false prophets tell, and the divine oracles which the true prophets deliver, and will easily discern which is of God and which is not. Those that have spiritual senses exercised will be able to distinguish. For what is the chaff to the wheat — There is as much difference between my will and their dreams, as there is between the chaff and the wheat. Is not my word like fire? — Quick and powerful, capable of trying men as metals are tried in a furnace, and ready to burn up that which will not bear the trial. And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces — As a hammer breaks to pieces the hardest rock, so is my word, when properly applied, able to break the hardest and most obstinate heart, and to beat down the confidence of the most hardened sinner. Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Jeremiah 23:30-32 . Behold, I am against the prophets that steal my words, &c. — “That imitate the true prophets, speaking in my name, as they do, and saying, Thus saith the Lord, (see Jeremiah 23:31 ,) and using their words, but applying them to their own purpose: or, it may be, adding their own inventions to them.” So Lowth. Others paraphrase the verse thus, “That conspire together what to say to deceive the people, and to steal what they say one from another.” Or, perhaps the meaning rather is, That utter, as revelations made to themselves, things which they have learned, and, as it were, stolen from others. That use their tongues, &c. — That take their own tongues, as Blaney renders it, and say, He (the Lord) hath said. “The phrase of taking their own tongue,” he observes: “is, I think, very easily to be understood of those who, without any inspiration, took upon them to deliver messages to the people, and pretended that they came from God.” I am against them that prophesy false dreams — False things, under the notion of revelations made to them in their sleep. And cause my people to err — To wander from the right way; by their lies, and by their lightness — By their groundless assertions, their folly, their rashness and inconsistency with themselves: or, by the flatteries of their preaching, soothing men up in their sins, and by the looseness and lewdness of their conversation encouraging them to persist in them. Yet I sent them not, &c. — They are not my messengers, nor is what they say my message. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all — All the profit they aim at communicating is to make the people easy, but they shall not be able to do even that; for my providences will be such as will fill them with painful apprehensions and distressing fears. Some read the clause, They do not profit this people, considering the words as implying more than they express, namely, that these false prophets not only did the people no good, but did them a great deal of hurt. Observe, reader, none can expect God’s blessing upon their ministry who are not called and sent of God. And those that corrupt the word of God, while they pretend to preach it, are so far from edifying the church, that they do it the greatest mischief imaginable. Jeremiah 23:31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Jeremiah 23:32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 23:33 . When this people, or the prophet, &c., shall ask thee, &c. — “The remaining part of this chapter is directed against those who called the word of God, spoken by the true prophets, A BURDEN, by way of reproach; meaning that it always portended evil, and never good;” the word ???? , a burden, generally signifying a calamitous prophecy. See note on Isaiah 13:1 . “Ahab intended to cast the same slur on the Prophet Micaiah when he represented him as one that never prophesied good concerning him, but evil, 1 Kings 22:8 .” The false prophets, who said, Peace, peace, it seems, derided the true prophets, whose predictions were full of threatenings, as if God’s messages were a burden which they were weary of hearing; and made a jest of these words, The burden of the Lord, with which God’s prophets sometimes prefaced their prophecies. Upon this account God forbade the use of that expression, as in the following verses. See Lowth. Jeremiah 23:34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. Jeremiah 23:35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? Jeremiah 23:36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. Jeremiah 23:36 . For every man’s word shall be his burden — You shall be made severely to account fo

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. CHAPTER VIII BAD SHEPHERDS AND FALSE PROPHETS Jeremiah 23:1-40 , Jeremiah 24:1-10 "Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!"- Jeremiah 23:1 "Of what avail is straw instead of Grain?is not My word like fire, like a hammer that shattereth the rocks?"- Jeremiah 23:28-29 THE captivity of Jehoiachin and the deportation of the flower of the people marked the opening of the last scene in the tragedy of Judah and of a new period in the ministry of Jeremiah. These events, together with the accession of Zedekiah as Nebuchadnezzar’s nominee, very largely altered the state of affairs in Jerusalem. And yet the two main features of the situation were unchanged-the people and the government persistently disregarded Jeremiah’s exhortations. "Neither Zedekiah, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of Jehovah which He spake by the prophet Jeremiah." { Jeremiah 37:2 } They would not obey the will of Jehovah as to their life and worship; and they would not submit to Nebuchadnezzar. "Zedekiah did evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done; and Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon." { 2 Kings 24:18-20 } It is remarkable that though Jeremiah consistently urged submission to Babylon, the various arrangements made by Nebuchadnezzar did very little to improve the prophet’s position or increase his influence. The Chaldean king may have seemed ungrateful only because he was ignorant of the services rendered to him-Jeremiah would not enter into direct and personal cooperation with the enemy of his country, even with him whom Jehovah had appointed to be the scourge of His disobedient people-but the Chaldean policy served Nebuchadnezzar as little as it profited Jeremiah. Jehoiakim, in spite of his forced submission, remained the able and determined foe of his suzerain, and Zedekiah, to the best of his very limited ability, followed his predecessor’s example. Zedekiah was uncle of Jehoiachin, half-brother of Jehoiakim, and own brother to Jehoahaz. Possibly the two brothers owed their bias against Jeremiah and his teaching to their mother, Josiah’s wife Hamutal, the daughter of another Jeremiah, the Libnite. Ezekiel thus describes the appointment of the new king: "The king of Babylon took one of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him; he also put him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land: that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand." { Ezekiel 17:13-14 } Apparently Nebuchadnezzar was careful to choose a feeble prince for his "base kingdom"; all that we read of Zedekiah suggests that he was weak and incapable. Henceforth the sovereign counted for little in the internal struggles of the tottering state. Josiah had firmly maintained the religious policy of Jeremiah, and Jehoiakim, as firmly, the opposite policy; but Zedekiah had neither the strength nor the firmness to enforce a consistent policy and to make one party permanently dominant. Jeremiah and his enemies were left to fight it out amongst themselves, so that now their antagonism grew more bitter and pronounced than during any other reign. But whatever advantage the prophet might derive from the weakness of the sovereign was more than counterbalanced by the recent deportation. In selecting the captives Nebuchadnezzar had sought merely to weaken Judah by carrying away every one who would have been an element of strength to the "base kingdom." Perhaps he rightly believed that neither the prudence of the wise nor the honour of the virtuous would overcome their patriotic hatred of subjection; weakness alone would guarantee the obedience of Judah. He forgot that even weakness is apt to be foolhardy when there is no immediate prospect of penalty. One result of his policy was that the enemies and friends of Jeremiah were carried away indiscriminately; there was no attempt to leave behind those who might have counselled submission to Babylon as the acceptance of a Divine judgment, and thus have helped to keep Judah loyal to its foreign master. On the contrary Jeremiah’s disciples were chiefly thoughtful and honourable men, and Nebuchadnezzar’s policy in taking away "the mighty of the land" bereft the prophet of many friends and supporters, amongst them his disciple Ezekiel and doubtless a large class of whom Daniel and his three friends might be taken as types. When Jeremiah characterises the captives as "good figs," and those left behind as "bad figs," (chapter 24) and the judgment is confirmed and amplified by Ezekiel, (chapters 7-11) we may be sure that most of the prophet’s adherents were in exile. We have already had occasion to compare the changes in the religious policy of the Jewish government to the alternations of Protestant and Romanist sovereigns among the Tudors; but no Tudor was as feeble as Zedekiah. He may rather be compared to Charles IX of France, helpless between the Huguenots and the League. Only the Jewish factions were less numerous, less evenly balanced; and by the speedy advance of Nebuchadnezzar civil dissensions were merged in national ruin. The opening years of the new reign passed in nominal allegiance to Babylon. Jeremiah’s influence would be used to induce the vassal king to observe the covenant he had entered into and to be faithful to his oath to Nebuchadnezzar. On the other hand a crowd of "patriotic" prophets urged Zedekiah to set up once more the standard of national independence, to "come to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Let us then briefly consider Jeremiah’s polemic against the princes, prophets, and priests of his people. While Ezekiel in a celebrated chapter (chapter 8) denounces the idolatry of the princes, priests, and women of Judah, their worship of creeping things and abominable beasts, their weeping for Tammuz, their adoration of the sun, Jeremiah is chiefly concerned with the perverse policy of the government and the support it receives from priests and prophets, who profess to speak in the name of Jehovah. Jeremiah does not utter against Zedekiah any formal judgment like those on his three predecessors. Perhaps the prophet did not regard this impotent sovereign as the responsible representative of the state, and when the long-expected catastrophe at last befell the doomed people, neither Zedekiah nor his doings distracted men’s attention from their own personal sufferings and patriotic regrets. At the point where a paragraph on Zedekiah would naturally have followed that on Jehoiachin, we have by way of summary and conclusion to the previous sections a brief denunciation of the shepherds of Israel. "Woe unto die shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My Pasture! Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have not cared for them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings." These "shepherds" are primarily the kings, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin, who have been condemned by name in the previous chapter, together with the unhappy Zedekiah, who is too insignificant to be mentioned. But the term shepherds will also include the ruling and influential classes of which the king was the leading representative. The image is a familiar one in the Old Testament and is found in the oldest literature of Israel, { Genesis 49:24 } J. from older source. { Micah 5:5 } but the denunciation of the rulers of Judah as unfaithful shepherds is characteristic of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and one of the prophecies appended to the Book of Zechariah. (Chapters 9-11, Zechariah 13:7-9 .) Ezekiel 34:1-31 expands this figure and enforces its lessons:- "Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool. Ye kill the fatlings: but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not strengthened, Neither have ye healed the sick, Neither have ye bound up the bruised, Neither have ye brought back again that which was driven away, Neither have ye sought for that which was lost, But your rule over them has been harsh and violent, And for want of a shepherd they were scattered, And became food for every beast of the field." { Ezekiel 34:2-3 } So in Zechariah 9:1-17 , etc., Jehovah’s anger is kindled against the shepherds, because they do not pity His flock. { Zechariah 10:3 ; Zechariah 11:5 } Elsewhere { Jeremiah 25:34-38 } Jeremiah speaks of the kings of all nations as shepherds, and pronounces against them also a like doom. All these passages illustrate the concern of the prophets for good government. They were neither Pharisees nor formalists; their religious ideals were broad and wholesome. Doubtless the elect remnant will endure through all conditions of society; but the Kingdom of God was not meant to be a pure Church in a rotten state. This present evil world is no manure heap to fatten the growth of holiness: it is rather a mass for the saints to leaven. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel turn from the unfaithful shepherds whose "hungry sheep look up and are not fed" to the true King of Israel, the "Shepherd of Israel that led Joseph like a flock, and dwelt between the Cherubim." In the days of the Restoration He will raise up faithful shepherds, and over them a righteous Branch, the real Jehovah Zidqenu , instead of the sapless twig who disgraced the name "Zedekiah." Similarly Ezekiel promises that God will set up one shepherd over His people, "even My servant David." The pastoral care of Jehovah for His people is most tenderly and beautifully set forth in the twenty-third Psalm. Our Lord, the root and the offspring of David, claims to be the fulfilment of ancient prophecy when He calls Himself "the Good Shepherd." The words of Christ and of the Psalmist receive new force and fuller meaning when we contrast their pictures of the true Shepherd with the portraits of the Jewish kings drawn by the prophets. Moreover the history of this metaphor warns us against ignoring the organic life of the Christian society, the Church, in our concern for the spiritual life of the individual. As Sir Thomas More said, in applying this figure to Henry VIII, "Of the multitude of sheep cometh the name of a shepherd." A shepherd implies not merely a sheep, but a flock; His relation to each member is tender and personal, but He bestows blessings and requires service in fellowship with the Family of God. By a natural sequence the denunciation of the unfaithful shepherds is followed by a similar utterance "concerning the prophets." It is true that the prophets are not spoken of as shepherds; and Milton’s use of the figure in "Lycidas" suggests the New Testament rather than the Old. Yet the prophets had a large share in guiding the destinies of Israel in politics as well as in religion, and having passed sentence on the shepherds-the kings and princes-Jeremiah turns to the ecclesiastics, chiefly, as the heading implies, to the prophets. The priests indeed do not escape, but Jeremiah seems to feel that they are adequately dealt with in two or three casual references. We use the term "ecclesiastics" advisedly; the prophets were now a large professional class, more important and even more clerical than the priests. The prophets and priests together were the clergy of Israel. They claimed to be devoted servants of Jehovah, and for the most part the claim was made in all sincerity; but they misunderstood His character, and mistook for Divine inspiration the suggestions of their own prejudice and self-will. Jeremiah’s indictment against them has various counts. He accuses them of speaking without authority, and also of time serving, plagiarism, and cant. First, then, as to their unauthorised utterances: Jeremiah finds them guilty of an unholy license in prophesying, a distorted caricature of that "liberty of prophesying" which is the prerogative of God’s accredited ambassadors. "Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make fools of you: The visions which they declare are from their own hearts, And not from the mouth of Jehovah. Who hath stood in the council of Jehovah, To perceive and hear His word? Who hath marked His word and heard it? I sent not the prophets-yet they ran; I spake not unto them-yet they prophesied." The evils which Jeremiah describes are such as will always be found in any large professional class. To use modern terms-in the Church, as in every profession, there will be men who are not qualified for the vocation which they follow. They are indeed not called to their vocation; they "follow," but do not overtake it. They are not sent of God, yet they run; they have no Divine message, yet they preach. They have never stood in the council of Jehovah; they might perhaps have gathered up scraps of the King’s purposes from His true councillors; but when they had opportunity they neither "marked nor heard"; and yet they discourse concerning heavenly things with much importance and assurance. But their inspiration, at its best, has no deeper or richer source than their own shallow selves; their visions are the mere product of their own imaginations. Strangers to the true fellowship, their spirit is not "a well of water springing up unto eternal life," but a stagnant pool. And, unless the judgment and mercy of God intervene, that pool will in the end be fed from a fountain whose bitter waters are earthly, sensual, devilish. We are always reluctant to speak of ancient prophecy or modern preaching as a "profession." We may gladly dispense with the word, if we do not thereby ignore the truth which it inaccurately expresses. Men lived by prophecy, as, with Apostolic sanction, men live by "the gospel." They were expected, as ministers are now, though in a less degree, to justify their claims to an income and an official status, by discharging religious functions so as to secure the approval of the people or the authorities. Then, as now, the prophet’s reputation, influence, and social standing, probably even his income, depended upon the amount of visible success that he could achieve. In view of such facts, it is futile to ask men of the world not to speak of the clerical life as a profession. They discern no ethical difference between a curate’s dreams of a bishopric and the aspirations of a junior barrister to the woolsack. Probably a refusal to recognise the element common to the ministry with law, medicine, and other professions, injures both the Church and its servants. One peculiar difficulty and most insidious temptation of the Christian ministry consists in its mingled resemblances to and differences from the other professions. The minister has to work under similar worldly conditions, and yet to control those conditions by the indwelling power of the Spirit. He has to "run," it may be twice or even three times a week, whether he be sent or no: how can he always preach only that which God has taught him? He is consciously dependent upon the exercise of his memory, his intellect, his fancy: how can he avoid speaking "the visions of his own heart"? The Church can never allow its ministers to regard themselves as mere professional teachers and lecturers, and yet if they claim to be more, must they not often fall under Jeremiah’s condemnation? It is one of those practical dilemmas which delight casuists and distress honest and earnest servants of God. In the early Christian centuries similar difficulties peopled the Egyptian and Syrian deserts with ascetics, who had given up the world as a hopeless riddle. A full discussion of the problem would lead us too far away from the exposition of Jeremiah and we will only venture to make two suggestions. The necessity, which most ministers are under, of "living by the gospel," may promote their own spiritual life and add to their usefulness. It corrects and reduces spiritual pride, and helps them to understand and sympathise with their lay brethren, most of whom are subject to a similar trial. Secondly, as a minister feels the ceaseless pressure of strong temptation to speak from and live for himself-his lower, egotistic self-he will be correspondingly driven to a more entire and persistent surrender to God. The infinite fulness and variety of Revelation is expressed by the manifold gifts and experience of the prophets. If only the prophet be surrendered to the Spirit, then what is most characteristic of himself may become the most forcible expression of his message. His constant prayer will be that he may have the child’s heart and may never resist the Holy Ghost, that no personal interest or prejudice, no bias of training or tradition or current opinion, may dull his hearing when he stands in the council of the Lord, or betray him into uttering for Christ’s gospel the suggestions of his own self-will or the mere watchwords of his ecclesiastical faction. But to return to the ecclesiastics who had stirred Jeremiah’s wrath. The professional prophets naturally adapted their words to the itching ears of their clients. They were not only officious, but also time serving. Had they been true prophets, they would have dealt faithfully with Judah; they would have sought to convince the people of sin, and to lead them to repentance; they would thus have given them yet another opportunity of salvation. "If they had stood in My council, They would have caused My people to hear My words; They would have turned them from their evil way, And from the evil of their doings." But now:- "They walk in lies and strengthen the hands of evildoers, That no one may turn away from his sin. They say continually unto them that despise the word of Jehovah, Ye shall have peace; And unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his heart they say, No evil shall come upon you." Unfortunately, when prophecy becomes professional in the lowest sense of the word, it is governed by commercial principles. A sufficiently imperious demand calls forth an abundant supply. A sovereign can "tune the pulpits"; and a ruling race can obtain from its clergy formal ecclesiastical sanction for such "domestic institutions" as slavery. When evildoers grow numerous and powerful, there will always be prophets to strengthen their hands and encourage them not to turn away from their sin. But to give the lie to these false prophets God sends Jeremiahs, who are often branded as heretics and schismatics, turbulent fellows who turn the world upside down. The self-important, self-seeking spirit leads further to the sin of plagiarism:- "Therefore I am against the prophets, is the utterance of Jehovah, Who steal My word from one another." The sin of plagiarism is impossible to the true prophet, partly because there are no rights of private property in the word of Jehovah. The Old Testament writers make free use of the works of their predecessors. For instance, Isaiah 2:2-4 is almost identical with Micah 4:1-3 ; yet neither author acknowledges his indebtedness to the other or to any third prophet. Uriah ben Shemaiah prophesied acording to all the words of Jeremiah, { Jeremiah 26:20 } who himself owes much to Hosea, whom he never mentions. Yet he was not conscious of stealing from his predecessor, and he would have brought no such charge against Isaiah or Micah or Uriah. In the New Testament 2 Peter and Jude have so much in common that one must have used the other without acknowledgment. Yet the Church has not, on that ground, excluded either Epistle from the Canon. In the goodly fellowship of the prophets and the glorious company of the apostles no man says that the things which he utters are his own. But the mere hireling has no part in the spiritual communism wherein each may possess all things because he claims nothing. When a prophet ceases to be the messenger of God, and sinks into the mercenary purveyor of his own clever sayings and brilliant fancies, then he is tempted to become a clerical Autolycus, "a snapper up of unconsidered trifles." Modern ideas furnish a curious parallel to Jeremiah’s indifference to the borrowings of the true prophet, and his scorn of the literary pilferings of the false. We hear only too often of stolen sermons, but no one complains of plagiarism in prayers. Doubtless among these false prophets charges of plagiarism were bandied to and fro with much personal acrimony. But it is interesting to notice that Jeremiah is not denouncing an injury done to himself; he does not accuse them of thieving from him, but from one another. Probably assurance and lust of praise and power would have overcome any awe they felt for Jeremiah. He was only free from their depredations, because-from their point of view-his words were not worth stealing. There was nothing to be gained by repeating his stern denunciations, and even his promises were not exactly suited to the popular taste. These prophets were prepared to cater for the average religious appetite in the most approved fashion-in other words, they were masters of cant. Their office had been consecrated by the work of true men of God like Elijah and Isaiah. They themselves claimed to stand in the genuine prophetic succession, and to inherit the reverence felt for their great predecessors, quoting their inspired utterances and adopting their weighty phrases. As Jeremiah’s contemporaries listened to one of their favourite orators, they were soothed by his assurances of Divine favour and protection, and their confidence in the speaker was confirmed by the frequent sound of familiar formulae in his unctuous sentences. These had the true ring; they were redolent of sound doctrine, of what popular tradition regarded as orthodox. The solemn attestation NE’UM YAHWE , "It is the utterance of Jehovah," is continually appended to prophecies, almost as if it were the sign manual of the Almighty. Isaiah and other prophets frequently use the term MASSA (A.V., R.V., "burden") as a title, especially for prophecies concerning neighbouring nations. The ancient records loved to tell how Jehovah revealed Himself to the patriarchs in dreams. Jeremiah’s rivals included dreams in their clerical apparatus:- "Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams- Ne’um Yahwe - And tell them, and lead astray My people By their lies and their rodomontade; It was not I who sent or commanded them, Neither shall they profit this people at all, Ne’um Yahwe ." These prophets "thought to cause the Lord’s people to forget His name, as their fathers forgot His name for Baal, by their dreams which they told one another." Moreover they could glibly repeat the sacred phrases as part of their professional jargon:- "Behold, I am against the prophets, It is the utterance of Jehovah, That use their tongues To utter utterances" "To utter utterances"-the prophets uttered them, not Jehovah. These sham oracles were due to no Diviner source than the imagination of foolish hearts. But for Jeremiah’s grim earnestness, the last clause would be almost blasphemous. It is virtually a caricature of the most solemn formula of ancient Hebrew religion. But this was really degraded when it was used to obtain credence for the lies which men prophesied out of the deceit of their own heart. Jeremiah’s seeming irreverence was the most forcible way of bringing this home to his hearers. There are profanations of the most sacred things which can scarcely be spoken of without an apparent breach of the Third Commandment. The most awful taking in vain of the name of the Lord God is not heard among the publicans and sinners, but in pulpits and on the platforms of religious meetings. But these prophets and their clients had a special fondness for the phrase "The burden of Jehovah," and their unctuous use of it most especially provoked Jeremiah’s indignation:- "When this people priest, or prophet shall ask thee, What is the burden of Jehovah? Then say unto them, Ye are the burden. But I will cast you off, Neum Yahwe . If priest or prophet or people shall say, The burden of Jehovah, I will punish that man and his house." "And ye shall say to one another, What hath Jehovah answered? and, What hath Jehovah spoken? And ye shall no more make mention of the burden of Jehovah: For (if ye do) men’s words shall become a burden to themselves. Thus shall ye inquire of a prophet, What hath Jehovah answered thee? What hath Jehovah spoken unto thee? But if ye say, The burden of Jehovah, Thus saith Jehovah: Because ye say this word, The burden of Jehovah. When I have sent unto you the command, Ye shall not say, The burden of Jehovah, Therefore I will assuredly take you up, And will cast away from before Me both you And the city which I gave to you and to your fathers. I will bring upon you everlasting reproach And everlasting shame, that shall not be forgotten." Jeremiah’s insistence and vehemence speak for themselves. Their moral is obvious, though for the most part unheeded. The most solemn formulae, hallowed by ancient and sacred associations, used by inspired teachers as the vehicle of revealed truths, may be debased till they become the very legend of Antichrist, blazoned on the Vexilla Regis Inferni . They are like a motto of one of Charles’ Paladins flaunted by his unworthy descendants to give distinction to cruelty and vice. The Church’s line of march is strewn with such dishonoured relics of her noblest champions. Even our Lord’s own words have not escaped. There is a fashion of discoursing upon "the gospel" which almost tempts reverent Christians to wish they might never hear that word again. Neither is this debasing of the moral currency confined to religious phrases; almost every political and social watchword has been similarly abused. One of the vilest tyrannies the world has ever seen-the Reign of Terror-claimed to be an incarnation of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." Yet the Bible, with that marvellous catholicity which lifts it so high above the level of all other religious literature, not only records Jeremiah’s prohibition to use the term "Burden," but also tells us that centuries later Malachi could still speak of "the burden of the word of Jehovah." A great phrase that has been discredited by misuse may yet recover itself; the tarnished and dishonoured sword of faith may be baptised and burnished anew, and flame in the forefront of the holy war. Jeremiah does not stand alone in his unfavourable estimate of the professional prophets of Judah; a similar depreciation seems to be implied by the words of Amos: "I am neither a prophet nor of the sons of prophets." One of the unknown authors whose writings have been included in the Book of Zechariah takes up the teaching of Amos and Jeremiah and carries it a stage further:- "In that day (it is the utterance of Jehovah Sabaoth) I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, They shall not be remembered any more; Also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness Will I expel from the land. When any shall yet prophesy, His father and mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah": "And his father and mother that begat him shall Thrust him through when he prophesieth. In that day every prophet when he prophesieth Shall be ashamed of his vision; Neither shall any wear a hairy mantle to deceive: He shall say, I am no prophet; I am a tiller of the ground, I was sold for a slave in my youth." No man with any self-respect would allow his fellows to dub him prophet; slave was a less humiliating name. No family would endure the disgrace of having a member who belonged to this despised caste; parents would rather put their son to death than see him a prophet. To such extremities may the spirit of time serving and cant reduce a national clergy. We are reminded of Latimer’s words in his famous sermon to Convocation in 1536: "All good men in all places accuse your avarice, your exactions, your tyranny. I commanded you that ye should feed my sheep, and ye earnestly feed yourselves from day to day, wallowing in delights and idleness. I commanded you to teach my law; you teach your own traditions, and seek your own glory." Over against their fluent and unctuous cant Jeremiah sets the terrible reality of his Divine message. Compared to this, their sayings are like chaff to the wheat; nay, this is too tame a figure-Jehovah’s word is like fire, like a hammer that shatters rocks. He says of himself:- "My heart within me is broken; all my bones shake: I am like a drunken man, like a man whom wine hath overcome, Because of Jehovah and His holy words." Thus we have in chapter 23, a full and formal statement of the controversy between Jeremiah and his brother prophets. On the one hand, self-seeking and self-assurance winning popularity by orthodox phrases, traditional doctrine, and the prophesying of smooth things; on the other hand, a man to whom the word of the Lord was like a fire in his bones, who had surrendered prejudice and predilection that he might himself become a hammer to shatter the Lord’s enemies, a man through whom God wrought so mightily that he himself reeled and staggered with the blows of which he was the instrument. The relation of the two parties was not unlike that of St. Paul and his Corinthian adversaries: the prophet, like the Apostle, spoke "in demonstration of the Spirit of power"; he considered "not the word of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." In our next chapter we shall see the practical working of this antagonism which we have here set forth. Jeremiah 23:3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. CHAPTER XXXI RESTORATION II THE NEW ISRAEL Jeremiah 23:3-8 ; Jeremiah 24:6-7 ; Jeremiah 30:1-24 ; Jeremiah 31:1-40 ; Jeremiah 33:1-26 "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby she shall be called."- Jeremiah 33:16 THE Divine utterances in chapter 33, were given to Jeremiah when he was shut up in the "court of the guard" during the last days of the siege. They may, however, have been committed to writing at a later date, possibly in connection with Chapters 30 and 31, when the destruction of Jerusalem was already past. It is in accordance with all analogy that the final record of a "word of Jehovah" should include any further light which had come to the prophet through his inspired meditations on the original message. Chapters 30, 31, and 33 mostly expound and enforce leading ideas contained in Jeremiah 32:37-44 and in earlier utterances of Jeremiah. They have much in common with 2 Isaiah. The ruin of Judah and the captivity of the people were accomplished facts to both writers, and they were both looking forward to the return of the exiles and the restoration of the kingdom of Jehovah. We shall have occasion to notice individual points of resemblance later on. In Jeremiah 30:2 Jeremiah is commanded to write in a book all that Jehovah has spoken to him; and according to the present context the "all," in this case, refers merely to the following four chapters. These prophecies of restoration would be specially precious to the exiles; and now that the Jews were scattered through many distant lands, they could only be transmitted and preserved in writing. After the command "to write in a book" there follows, by way of title, a repetition of the statement that Jehovah would bring back His people to their fatherland. Here, in the very forefront of the Book of Promise, Israel and Judah are named as being recalled together from exile. As we read twice { Jeremiah 16:14-15 ; Jeremiah 23:7-8 } elsewhere in Jeremiah, the promised deliverance from Assyria and Babylon was to surpass all other manifestations of the Divine power and mercy. The Exodus would not be named in the same breath with it: "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the Israelites out of the land of Egypt: but, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the Israelites from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither He had driven them." This prediction has waited for fulfilment to our own times: hitherto the Exodus has occupied men’s minds much more than the Return; we are now coming to estimate the supreme religious importance of the latter event. Elsewhere again Jeremiah connects his promise with the clause in his original commission "to build and to plant": { Jeremiah 1:10 } "I will set My eyes upon them" (the captives) "for good, and I will bring them again to this lan