The princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths from Jerusalem. Jeremiah 24:1 The nobility of work W. L. Watkinson. I. ALL LABOUR BECOMES TRULY NOBLE REGARDED AS THE SERVICE OF GOD. To regard labour simply as a stern necessity of human life is to convert the workman into a slave, and his toil into drudgery. The glory of the angels is found in the fact they are messengers of God. And all the work of our hand attains its highest glory wrought out in the love and fear of God. The apostle gives us the true point of view ( Ephesians 6:6-8 ). Here we have God the Taskmaster. "Doing the will of God." Not only what we are pleased to call our highest work for Him, but our lowliest toil also, serving Him with two brown hands as Gabriel serves in the presence of the throne with two white wings. Here we have also God the Paymaster. "Whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord." God is a grand paymaster, He is a sure one, and rich beyond all hope are they who do His bidding. In the class-meeting a poor man said to me, "It was very strange, sir, but the other day, whilst I was looking after my horses, God visited me and wonderfully blessed me; it was very strange He should visit me like this in a stable." "Not at all," said I, "it is a fulfilment of the prophecy: 'In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses Holiness unto the Lord,'" &c. In an old book I was reading the other day the writer laughed at some commoner who had just been made a peer, because he had his coat of arms burned and painted even upon his shovels and wheelbarrows. In my reckoning, that was a very fine action, and full of significance. If a man is a true man he is a man of God, a prince of God; and he ought to pat the stamp of his nobility on the commonest things with which he has to do. II. ALL LABOUR BECOMES TRULY NOBLE REGARDED AS A MINISTRY TO HUMANITY. Few men, comparatively, realise the social bearing of their toil, and therefore know it as an insipid thing, when in truth it is their rich privilege to taste in all their work the joy of a good Samaritan, for all conscientious work is an essential philanthropy. With one hand we work for ourselves, with the other for the race, and it is one of the purest joys of life to remember this. Let us be blind workers no more, but consciously, lovingly, do our daily work, rejoicing in the social glory and fruitfulness of it. Princes, smiths, carpenters, let us not forget we too toil for the larger happiness of all men, so shall we prove in our toil some of the sublime pleasure Howard knew when he opened the door of the prison, that Wilberforce felt striking off the fetters of the slave, that Peabody tasted when he built homes for the poor. III. ALL LABOUR BECOMES TRULY NOBLE REGARDED AS A DISCIPLINE TO OUR HIGHER NATURE. Many, alas! sink with their work, but the Divine design in the duty of life was the perfection of the worker. Our toil is to develop our whole nature. Our physical being. Our work is neither to pollute nor destroy, but to purify and build up the temple of the body. Sweat does not mean blood, and there is a blessing in the curse. Our work should develop our intellectual self also. Much of our business may become a direct mental education, and it need never hinder the flowering of the mind. But chiefly the work of life ought to subserve our spiritual .perfecting. In all true work the soul works and gains in purity and power by its work. The carpenter's work tests his moral qualities, and Whilst he builds with brick and stone, timber and glass, he may build up also character with silver, gold, and precious stones; the smith fashions his soul whilst he shapes the iron on ringing anvil; the husbandman may enrich his heart whilst he adorns the landscape; and the weaver at the loom weave two fabrics at once, one that the moth shall fret, the other of gold and fine needlework, immortal raiment for the spirit. The King of glory has consecrated the workshop by His presence and glorified work by His example. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) One basket had very good figs. Jeremiah 24:2, 3 Two baskets of figs A London Minister. I. THE SAME NATION MAY CONTAIN TWO DISTINCT CHARACTERS, YET BOTH MAY BE EQUALLY INVOLVED IN A NATIONAL VISITATION. There are laws of retribution m operation in relation to nations which, so far as the outward condition is concerned-, are no respecters of persons. II. SUBMISSION TO DIVINE CHASTISEMENT WILL LEAD, IN TIME, TO DELIVERANCE FROM IT, WHILE RESISTANCE WILL BRING RUIN. Two members of a family may be suffering from the same disease; the physician will insist upon submission to his treatment from both his patients. If one refuses, he must not complain of the physician, supposing he grows worse. God desired to heal the Jewish nation of its idolatrous tendencies; for this purpose He had decreed that it should go into captivity. Those who submitted willingly are hem promised that the discipline should be "for their good," and that they should be brought again to their own land; while those who resisted, would be "consumed from off the land that He gave unto them and their fathers." III. LESSONS, 1. In this life retribution to nations is more certain than to individuals. God can deal with individual characters in any world, therefore we sometimes find the greatest villains apparently unmarked by Him now. 2. Outward circumstance is no standard by which to judge God's estimate of character. Job's friends were not afflicted as he was, but God esteemed him far more highly than He did them. 3. Moral crime is commercial ruin to a nation. Israel lost God first, and then her national prosperity and greatness. A body soon decays when the life has departed, and a putrid carcase will soon be visited by the birds of prey. ( A London Minister. ) What seest thou, Jeremiah? Reflections on some of the characteristics of the age we live in T. G. Horon. It is not difficult to see the force and application of this homely but sententious little allegory. Jeremiah lived in those days of declension and disaster in which the invasion of Judea by the King of Babylon was not only threatened, but actually took place. He saw the departure of "the King of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem," and these were all "carried away captive" to Babylon. Nevertheless, many of every class were left behind, and these were placed under the government of that weak and wicked king, Zedekiah. Those who were "carried away" comprised the best of the population with regard to intelligence, religious feeling, and patriotism. Their sorrows and afflictions humbled them, so that they repented of their idolatries and obtained mercy of the Lord. In due time the way was prepared for the return of the exiles to their own land; and there, under the leader. ship of such men as Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel, they founded afresh a pious commonwealth, in which the worship of the true God was ever afterwards main-rained down to the time of the coming of Christ. In them was fulfilled the promise contained in verses 4-7. On the other hand, the Jews who remained at home with Zedekiah "and his princes" revolted against God more and more. They abandoned themselves openly to licentiousness and idolatry. Their temper fiery and mutinous, their language blasphemous, their whole conduct infamous. (See vers. 8-13.) These were the evil figs, so evil that they could not be eaten. The point suggested to us by Jeremiah's vision is, that there occur periods, or special circumstances, in the religious life of nations, which tend to develop and force the maturation of character with unusual energy and astonishing rapidity. In such times, you do not find people merely good or bad; but the good are very good, and the evil very evil. Now, it is evident that no parallel whatever can be drawn between our position and circumstances in England at the present time and those of Judea in the days of Jeremiah. We are not, as a nation, suffering either from internal anarchy or from external assault. But still it may be, that other influences and conditions of society are at work, producing an exactly analogous result to that at the time referred to in the text. I. CERTAIN PECULIARITIES OF OUR TIMES AND POSITION MY BE NOTED. 1. This is an age of extraordinary intellectual and social activity. The most absolute liberty of speech exists, and men shrink from the utterance of no opinion, the broaching of no speculation. This unusual activity and daring of thought produces rapid and extraordinary changes in both political and ecclesiastical affairs. Amid the astonishment and whirl of such events, it requires a great effort to keep the mind calm, and hold fast in our judgments, utterances, and actions to the sober requirements of sound principle and acknowledged truth ( Proverbs 17:27 , margin). 2. The very full and clear religious light which we enjoy. 3. The corresponding increase of activity in the Church. All manner of special devices are being tried and carried out vigorously whereby to reach all classes, to instruct the most ignorant and reform the most vicious, whilst ancient and ordinary means of grace are sustained with unprecedented interest and efficiency. II. WHAT DO ALL THESE THINGS IMPORT? and what do they necessitate on our part individually? Truly we find here divers potent and stimulating agencies in operation, calculated to arouse us up to repentance and godly solicitude, and then to prompt us on to vigorous Christian life and action. If we yield to them, how fast and far may we soon be carried in the path of faith, in a career of usefulness! What bold, what firm, what fruitful Christians we must become if we enter fully into "the spirit of the times," considered as engaged on the side of Christ and His Gospel! But if we refuse to do so, if we set ourselves to resist these powerful influences, how strenuous must that resistance be! how determined and how self-conscious that action of the will which still fights against God and clings to worldliness and sin! Facts are in harmony with these reasonings. Illustrations abound on every side. In this earnest age you find earnest men both for good and evil. Was ever war conducted on so fearful a scale as we have lately witnessed? In our day, we have also seen such specimens of commercial roguery and robbery, conceived on so magnificent a scale, and executed under so clever and admirable a cloak of hypocrisy, as no previous age has ever presented to the world. On the other hand, look at the men who stand foremost in the van of religion and philanthropy. These are God's heroes; men are still living amongst us worthy of comparison with the spiritual heroes of ancient times, in regard to all that is noble in faith, self-denying in zeal, munificent in giving, or abundant in labours. These, indeed, are among the good figs, which by God's grace are very good: and to the production of such instances of exalted and matured piety, the present times are not in the least unfavourable. One might speak of books, as well as men. And if, on the other hand, it be true that infidelity and immorality were never so speciously or so boldly advocated as now, in sensational novels, in shallow critiques, or in vulgar serials; so, again, we defy any age to show such noble and masterly treatises as are now written by men of sanctified learning and genius, either in exposition of the Scriptures, or in vindication of their contents. Then there are public institutions and societies to be looked at. If chapels are multiplied, so are theatres. Look at the state of our large towns and cities. Were ever such facilities for evil doing? such criminal attractions for the young? so many places where vice is seductive and sin made easy? The kingdom of Satan is as active and roused up to new exertions as is the kingdom of Christ. It is said that, in the early colonisation of Van Diemen's Land, one man took a hive of bees, and soon the island was filled with swarms, and both the trees and rocks dropped with honey; another took a handful of thistle-down, and ere long the country was overrun with prickly and gigantic weeds. Like such actions, are the deeds of all men now. Shall we, then, multiply honey-hives, or scatter thistles in the earth? Let us seek to be good, and do good: and then, behold what glorious possibilities belong to us, of being pre-eminently holy, blest and useful! ( T. G. Horon. ) Figs good and bad J. Parker, D. D. Events are divided. "What seest thou?" I see two kinds of events, one good, and the other vile: and there they are in life. It is so in families: how do you account for it that one son prays, and the other never saw the need of prayer? The one is filial; the other has a heart of stone. Look at life broadly. What seest thou, O prophet, O man of the piercing eyes, what seest thou? Two events, or series of events, one excellent, the other vile; one leading upward, the other downward. What seest thou? Heaven — -hell. The vision is still before us; we need to have our attention called to it. He who deals in singularities, in isolations, never enters into the philosophy of Providence, the method of the sublime organisation which is denominated the universe. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. Jeremiah 24:5 The action of love J. Parker, D. D. The Lord says He will send His people into captivity "for their good." How marvellous is the action of love! The parent sends away the child he cannot live without for the child's good; men undertake long and perilous and costly journeys that they may accomplish a purpose that is good. Jesus Christ Himself said to His wondering disciples, "It is expedient for you that I go away." Who can understand this action of love? It would seem to us to be otherwise: that it would be best for Jesus to remain until the very last wanderer is home. Are we not sent away? have we not lost fortune, station, standing? have we not been punished in a thousand different ways-chastised, humiliated, afflicted? have we not been suddenly surrounded with clouds in which there was no light — yea, and clouds in which there was no rain, simply darkness, sevenfold night? Yet it was for our good; it was that our vanity might be rebuked, that the centre of dependence might be found, that the throne of righteousness might be seen and approached. Let us look upon our afflictions, distresses, and losses in that light. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Outward circumstances no standard by which to judge of one's true state A. R. Fausset, M. A. The captives already in Babylon are compared to good fruit, such as is fit for use and sweet to the taste. The party in Jerusalem as yet free, is compared to bad fruit, unfit for use, and nauseous to the palate. And yet if one judged by the mere outward aspect of things, the state of the captives in the enemies' city seemed a much more undesirable one than that of their brethren in the metropolis of their own land. Hence we see that the good or evil of one's circumstances is not to be judged by outward appearances. Often what seems a peculiarly hard and distressing position proves to have been the very best for us. God humbles us, and tries us sorely at the first, in order to do us good in our latter end. ( A. R. Fausset, M. A. ) For I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and l will bring them again to this land. Jeremiah 24:6, 7 God's regard for His people I. THE NATURE OF GOD'S DECLARATION RESPECTING HIMSELF, "I will set Mine eves upon them for good." 1. This denotes — (1) His omniscience over them ( Job 34:21 , compared with Job 31:4). (2) His providence for them ( 2 Chronicles 16:9 ). (3) His grace to save them ( Romans 8:29 ). 2. It implies — (1) Divine personality — "For I" ( Ezekiel 34:11 ). (2) Divine attention — "Will set Mine eyes" ( Psalm 32:8 ). (3) Personal affection — "Upon them" ( Ezekiel 16:5, 6 ). (4) Great kindness — "For their good" ( Isaiah 54:8 ). II. A DESCRIPTION OF THE DELIVERANCE HERE DECLARED, "I will bring them into this land" 1. Here we have the idea of distance ( Ephesians 2:17 ). 2. How He brings them back. (1) By the death of His Son ( Revelation 5:9 ). (2) By the obedience of His Son ( Romans 5:19 ). (3) By virtue of His intercession ( Hebrews 7:25 ). 3. This is — (1) A rich land. (2) A large land. (3) A peaceful land. (4) A land of security. III. THE BLESSINGS DESIGNED FOB THEM ON THEIR RETURN. 1. Negatively — "Not pull them down." (1) Not condemn them ( Romans 8:1 ). (2) Not visit their sins upon them ( Hebrews 8:12 ). 2. Positively — "I will build them up." (1) The foundation of the building ( 1 Corinthians 3:11 ). (2) The dimensions ( Romans 11:5 ). (3) The materials ( Ephesians 2:1 ). (4) The cement by which this building is united ( Colossians 2:2, 3 ). (5) The instruments employed in building ( 2 Corinthians 4:7 ). 3. These plants had been — (1) Fruitless. (2) Cumberers. (3) Injurious. Yet God did not pluck them up. 4. But He transplanted them to a superior soil: "I will plant them." (1) In a delightful situation ( Psalm 48:2 ). (2) In a good and fertile soil ( Psalm 1:3 ). (3) Where there is plenty of sun and rain ( Psalm 84:11 ). IV. THE RESULTS OF ALL THIS. 1. "And I will give them a heart to know Me." (1) As a gracious God. (2) A covenant-keeping God. (3) A faithful God. (4) A mighty God. (5) And a God of salvation to His people. 2. "And they shall be My people." As proved by their — (1) Studying the Bible. (2) Offering up prayers and praises. (3) Attendance on His house. (4) Living to God. (5) And simply believing on Christ. 3. "And I will be their God." (1) By ruling in their understandings. (2) Subduing their wills. (3) And living in their hearts. 4. "For they shall return unto Me with their whole heart." (1) Positively-Nothing shall prevent them, for "they shall" return. (2) Cordially — Their "heart" shall be delighted in returning. (3) Personality — Each and all shall return in the same person, "unto Me." (4) Dissatisfaction — They return from all things sinful to God. ( T. B. Baker. ) I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. Heart-knowledge of God By this great promise of the text is not merely meant that God will lead the converted to know that there is a God, because that may be known without s new heart. Any man possessed of reason may know that there is a Supreme Being, who created all things and preserves the universe in existence. The text promises that the favoured ones shall know that God to be Jehovah. Man fashions for himself a god after his own liking; he makes to himself, if not out of wood or stone, yet out of what he calls his own consciousness, or his cultured thought, a deity to his taste, who will not be too severe with his iniquities, or deal out strict justice to the impenitent. The Holy Spirit, however, when He illuminates the mind, leads us to see that Jehovah is God, and beside Him there is none else. He teaches His people to know that the God of heaven and earth is the God d the Bible, a God whose attributes are completely balanced, mercy attended by justice, love accompanied by holiness, grace arrayed in truth, and power linked with tenderness. When the heart is content to believe in God as He is revealed, and no longer goes about to fashion a deity for itself according to its own fancies and notions, it is a hopeful sign. The main stress of the promise lies, however, in this: "I will give them a heart to know ME"; that is, not merely to know that I am, and that I am Jehovah, but to have a personal knowledge of Myself. It is not enough to know that our Creator is the Jehovah of the Bible, and that He is perfect in character, and glorious beyond thought; but to know God we must have perceived Him, we must have spoken to Him, we must have been made at peace with Him, we must have lifted up our heart to Him, and received communications from Him. If you know the Lord your secret is with Him, and His secret is with you; He has manifested Himself unto you as He does not unto the world. He must have made Himself known unto you by the mysterious influences of His Spirit, and because of this you know Him. I THE SEAT OF THIS KNOWLEDGE "I will give them a heart to know Me." Observe that it is not said, "I will give them a head to know Me." The first and primary impediment to man's knowledge of God lies in the affections The heart is the seat of the blindness; there lies the darkness which beclouds the whole mind. Hence to the heart the light must come, and to the heart that light is promised. 1. I understand by the fact that the knowledge of God here promised lies in the heart, first, that God renews the heart so that it admires the character of God. The understanding perceives that God is just, powerful, faithful, wise, true, gracious, longsuffering, and the like; then the heart being purified admires all these glorious attributes, and adores Him because of them. 2. The heart-knowledge promised in the covenant of grace means, however, much more than approval: grace enables the renewed heart to take another step and appropriate the Lord, saying, "O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee." All the saved ones cry, "This God is our God for ever and ever; He shall be our guide even unto death" 3. All true knowledge of God is attended by affection for Him." In spiritual language to. Know God is to love Him. "He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love." It is the great passion of the renewed soul to glorify God, whom he knows and loves; knowledge without love would be a powerless thing, but God has joined this knowledge and love together in a sacred wedlock, and they can never be put asunder. As we love God we know Him, and as we know Him we love Him. Admiration, appropriation, affection are crowned with adhesion. To know a thing by heart is, in our common talk, to know it thoroughly, Memories of the heart abide when all others depart. A mother's love, a wife's fondness, a sweet child's affection, will come before us even in the last hours of life; when the mind will lose its learning and the hand forget its cunning, the dear names of our beloved ones will linger on our lips; and their sweet faces will be before us even when our eyes are dim with the shadow of approaching death. If we can sing, "O God, my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed," then the knowledge which it possesses will never be taken away from it. II. THE NECESSITY OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. 1. To know God is a needful preparation for every other true knowledge, because the Lord is the centre of the universe, the basis, the pillar, the essential force, the all in all, the fulness of all things. You may learn the doctrines of the Bible, but you do not know them truly till you know the God of the doctrines. You may understand the precepts in the letter of them, and the promises in their outward wording, but neither precept nor promise do you truly know until you know the God from whose lips they fell. The ancient sage said, "Man, know thyself." He spake well, but even for this man must first know his God. I venture to say that no man rightly knows himself till he knows his God, because it is by the light and purity of God that we see our own darkness and sinfulness. 2. The knowledge of God is necessary to any real peace of mind. Suppose a man to be in the world and feel that he is right every way except with regard to God, and as to Him he knows nothing. Hear him say, "I go about the world and see many faces which I can recognise, and I perceive many friends upon whom I can trust, but there is a God somewhere, and I know nothing at all about Him. Whether He be my friend or my foe I know not." If thoughtful and intelligent he must suffer unrest in his spirit, because he will say to himself, "Suppose this God should turn out to be a just God, and I should be a breaker of His laws! What a peril hangs over me. How is it possible for me to be at peace till this dreadful ignorance is removed?" He is the God of peace, and there can be no peace till the soul knows Him. 3. That this knowledge of God is necessary is clear, for how could it be possible for a man to have spiritual life and yet not to know God? If you do not know Him you are not a partaker of His grace, but you abide in darkness Into His heaven you can never enter till He has given you a heart to know Him; do not forget this warning, or trifle with it. III. THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. 1. One of the first effects of knowing God in the soul is that it turns out our idols. God so enamours the soul of the converted man, so engrosses every spiritual faculty, that he cannot endure an idol, however dear in former times; and if perchance in some back-sliding moment an earthly love intrudes, it is because the man has withdrawn his eye from the splendour of the Deity. 2. The second good effect of the knowledge of God is that it creates faith in the soul; to prove which I might give a great many texts, but one will suffice ( Psalm 9:10 ): "They that know Thy Name will put their trust in Thee." We cannot trust an unknown God, but when He reveals Himself to us by His Spirit, then to trust Him is no longer difficult; it is, indeed, inevitable. 3. This knowledge of God creates good works also ( 1 John 2:3 ). A heart to know the Lord begets and nurtures every virtue and every grace, and is the basis of the noblest character, the food which feeds grace till it matures into glory. 4. To know God has over us a transforming power. Remember how the apostle writes ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). Every thought which crosses the mind affects it for the better or the worse, every glance is moulding us, every wish fashions the character. A sight of God is the most wonderfully sanctifying influence that can be conceived of. Know God, and you will grow to be like Him. 5. The knowledge of God causes us to praise Him. "In Judah is God known; His name is great in Israel." It is not possible for us to have low thoughts of Him, or to give forth mean utterances concerning Him, or to act in a miserly way towards His cause, when we practically know Him. 6. The knowledge of God brings comfort, and that is a very desirable thing in a world of trouble. What saith the Psalmist? "God is known in her palaces for a refuge." 7. To know God also brings a man great honour. "Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because e hath known My name." Think of it — "set on high," and set on high by the Lord Himself, and all as the result of knowing the name of the Lord. 8. The man who knows the Lord will have usefulness given him ( 2 Corinthians 2:14 ). We cannot teach others of things which we do not know ourselves. If we have no savour in us there cannot be a savour coming out of us. We shall only be a drag upon the Church in any position if we are destitute of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus; but if we are filled with a knowledge of Christ, then the sweet savour of His name will pour forth from us as perfume from the flowers. IV. THE SOURCE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE. None but the Creator can give a man a new heart, the change is too radical for any other hand. It would be hard to give a new eye, or a new arm, but a new heart is still more out of the question. The Lord Himself must do it. 1. It is evidently a work of pure grace. He freely gives to whomsoever He wills, according to His own declaration, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." 2. It is evidently a work which is possible. All things are possible to God, and He says, "I will give it to them." He does not speak of it as a blessing desirable, but unattainable; on me contrary He says, "I will give them a heart to know Me" 3. It is a work which the Lord has covenanted to do ( Hosea 2:19 ; Jeremiah 31:32-34 ). ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) A believing knowledge of God The manner of knowing the difference between believers and unbelievers as to knowledge, is not as much in the matter of their knowledge as in the manner of knowing. Unbelievers, some of them, may know more and be able to say more of God, His perfections and will, than many believers; but they know nothing as they ought, nothing in a right manner, nothing spiritually and savingly, nothing with a holy, heavenly light. The-excellency of a believer is not that he hath a large apprehension of things, but that what he doth apprehend, which may perhaps be very little, he sees it in the light of the Spirit of God, in a saving, soul-transforming light: and this is that which gives us communion with God, and not prying thoughts, or curious raised notions. ( J. Owen . ) To know God -- a new, a gladdening experience A touching story is told of the child of a French painter. The little girl lost her sight in infancy, and her blindness was supposed to be incurable. A famous oculist in Paris, however: performed an operation on her eyes and restored her sight. Her mother had long been dead, and her father had been her only friend and companion, when she was told that her blindness could be cured, her one thought was that she could see him; and when the cure was complete, and the bandages were removed, she ran to him, and, trembling, pored over his features, shutting her eyes now and then, and passing her fingers over his face, as if to make sure that it was he. The father had a noble head and presence, and his every look and motion were watched by his daughter with the keenest delight. For the first time his constant tenderness and care seemed real to her. If he caressed her, or even looked upon her kindly, it brought tears to her eyes. "To think," she cried, holding his hand close in hers, "that I had this father so many years and never knew him!" They shall return The whole heart must be given to God J. R. Miller. Suppose a mother gave her child a beautiful flower-plant in bloom, and told her to carry it to a sick friend. The child takes it away, and when she reaches the friend's door she plucks off one leaf and gives it to her, keeping the plant herself. Has she obeyed her mother's command? Then afterwards, once a day, she plucks off another leaf, or a bud, or a flower, and takes it to the friend, still retaining the plant. Did she obey the command of her mother? Nothing but the giving of the whole plant could fulfil the mother's direction. Now, is not that a simple illustration of what we give to God? He commands us to love Him with all our heart and with all our being, and we pluck off a little leaf of love now sad then, a little bud or flower of affection, or one cluster of fruit from the bending branches, and give to Him; and we call that obeying. ( J. R. Miller. ).

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 24:1 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. Jeremiah 24:1 . The Lord showed me — Probably in a vision; and behold two baskets of figs — Such as used to be offered up for first-fruits; were set before the temple of the Lord — Hebrew, ?????? , appointed, offered according to law, as Blaney renders the word; that is, they were brought and placed before the temple for an offering of first-fruits, as the law had directed. After Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive Jeconiah — Concerning which, see 2 Kings 24:11-16 . This was in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. With the carpenters and smiths — Or, the artificers and armorers, as Blaney translates the words; the former, ???? , being “a general name for any handicraftsman, whether working in wood or metal;” but the latter, ???? , from ??? , to shut in, or enclose, meaning properly, “the armorers who made the coats of mail which enclose the body. And it is reasonable to presume that the king of Babylon would be solicitous to carry all these off, with intent, not to employ them in his own service, but to prevent the Jews, who were left behind, from furnishing themselves with arms in case of a revolt.” Jeremiah 24:2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Jeremiah 24:2 . One basket had very good figs — Dr. Shaw speaks of three sorts of figs; the first of which he calls “boccore, (being those here spoken of,) which come to maturity toward the middle or latter end of June; the second, the kermez, or summer fig, which ripens seldom before August; and the third, the winter fig. This is usually of a much longer shape, and dark complexion than the kermez, hanging and ripening upon the tree even after the leaves are shed; and, provided the winter proves temperate, is gathered as a delicious morsel in the spring.” — Shaw’s Travels, p. 370, fol. The doctor thinks that the latter sort were those which our Saviour expected to find on the fig-tree at the time of the passover in March, Matthew 21:19 ; Mark 11:13 . See Blaney. Jeremiah 24:3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Jeremiah 24:4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah 24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. Jeremiah 24:5-7 . Thus saith the Lord God of Israel — Here the Lord explains the parable of the good figs, the figs first ripe. These represented the pious captives who were sent first into captivity, as if they had been first ripe for ruin; but who should prove first ripe for mercy, and their captivity should help to ripen them. Among these were Daniel and his companions, and also Ezekiel. The calamities inseparable from a state of captivity were calculated to humble them, and bring them to repentance, and it seems had that good effect: while those who escaped being carried away became more and more hardened in sin. Like these good figs so will I acknowledge them — Namely, for my people, and will favour them accordingly. “The Jews, who were left in their own country,” says Lowth, “thought themselves better beloved of God than their brethren who were carried away captive. To check this vain confidence, God promises to show the latter particular signs of his favour in a strange land, and to show distinguishing marks of his displeasure upon the former: see Jeremiah 29:17 . For I will set mine eyes upon them for good — To order every thing for the best, that all the circumstances of the affliction may concur to the answering of the great intention of it. Accordingly we find that many of these, Daniel and his companions, for instance, found great esteem and honour during their captivity. And I will bring them again to this land — Some of them probably returned before the end of the captivity, some at the end of the seventy years. “They were sent abroad,” says Henry, “for improvement awhile under a severe discipline; but they shall be fetched back, when they have gone through their trial there, to their Father’s house.” And I will build them, and not pull them down, &c. — The meaning of these metaphorical expressions is, I will prosper them, and provide for them. And it may be understood, both of the prosperous estate God would give them in the land of their captivity, where they should both build houses and increase their families, (see Jeremiah 29:5-6 ,) and also of the blessings he would confer upon them and their posterity, after their return to their own land, ibid. Jeremiah 24:10 . And he engages to prepare them for the temporal blessings which he designed for them, by conferring spiritual blessings upon them. It is this that would make their captivity for their good: this would be both the improvement of their affliction and their qualification for deliverance. I will give them a heart to know me — I, who at first commanded light to shine out of darkness, will shine into their hearts, to give them the knowledge of my glory; even that true and saving knowledge of me which is eternal life; which is always productive of faith in, and love to, me, 1 John 4:7-8 ; of obedience to my will, 1 John 2:3-4 ; and a conformity to mine image, 2 Corinthians 3:18 . They shall become acquainted with me in a higher degree, and to a better purpose, than formerly; and shall learn more of me by my providences and grace in Babylon than they had learned by my oracles and ordinances in Jerusalem. Mark well the expression, reader, I will give them a heart to know me; not only the mind, but the heart; not only the understanding and judgment, but the will and affections are concerned in the true knowledge of God, which does not consist in mere notions and speculations, but implies the exercise of all spiritual graces and the practice of all divine virtues. And this knowledge is the supernatural gift of God, communicated by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, Ephesians 1:17 . The mere natural and unenlightened man has it not: for God and divine things knoweth no man but by the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 2:11 ; 1 Corinthians 2:14 : see also 1 John 5:20 . And they shall be my people — I will own them for my people as formerly, as well in the discoveries of myself to them, as in my acceptances of their services, and my gracious appearance in their behalf. And I will be their God — They shall have liberty to own me for their God, both in their prayers and praises offered to me, and their expectations from me. For they shall return unto me with their whole heart — They shall be so thoroughly changed in heart and life that they shall make my will their rule, and my glory their end, in all their intentions, affections, and actions, and my service their chief and most delightful business from day to day. This follows upon the former: for they that have a heart to know God aright will not only turn to him, but turn with their whole heart: while those who are either lukewarm in their services, or formal and hypocritical in their religion, may be truly said to be unacquainted with him. Jeremiah 24:6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. Jeremiah 24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: Jeremiah 24:8-10 . As the evil figs — so will I give Zedekiah — Or rather, so will I make Zedekiah, as ??? should be rendered here, and as the same verb is rendered Jeremiah 29:17 . And they that dwell in the land of Egypt — Whither, it is probable, many of the Jews had fled upon the coming, or the report of the coming, of the king of Babylon: see chap. 43., 44. I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms, &c. — The Lord, by his prophet, uses the words of Moses, wherewith to express those tremendous judgments which he designed to bring upon this wicked prince and people, as well because the Jews had, or professed to have, great reverence for that man of God, how little soever they had for Jeremiah, as to let them see that what the Lord here threatened, and soon would bring to pass, was but an accomplishment of what he foretold by Moses should befall them in case of their disobedience, by which predictions they ought to have taken warning. To be a reproach, and a proverb, and a taunt — To be made a jest of and a by-word: see Daniel 9:16 . And a curse in all places whither I shall drive them — Men shall use this phrase as a form of execration, “God make thee like Zedekiah, and those who remained with him;” compare Jeremiah 29:22 . On the contrary, to make a man a blessing, implies that his name should be mentioned as a signal instance of God’s favour: see Genesis 48:20 ; Zechariah 8:13 . Till they be consumed from off the land — My judgments shall follow them so closely that neither they nor any of their posterity shall ever enjoy any possession or property in their own country. This seems to be spoken of those miserable remains of the Jews who, when the rest were carried into captivity, were, either by secreting themselves, or some other means left in the desolated country. Jeremiah 24:9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. Jeremiah 24:10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 24:1 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 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 24:2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. CHAPTER XXVI INTRODUCTORY "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."- Jeremiah 31:1 IN this third book an attempt is made to present a general view of Jeremiah’s teaching on the subject with which he was most preoccupied-the political and religious fortunes of Judah. Certain (30, 31, and, in part, 33) chapters detach themselves from the rest, and stand in no obvious connection with any special incident of the prophet’s life. These are the main theme of this book, and have been dealt with in the ordinary method of detailed exposition. They have been treated separately, and not woven into the continuous narrative, partly because we thus obtain a more adequate emphasis upon important aspects of their teaching, but chiefly because their date and occasion cannot be certainly determined. With them other sections have been associated, on account of the connection of subject. Further material for a synopsis of Jeremiah’s teaching has been collected from chapters 21-49, generally, supplemented by brief references to the previous chapters. Inasmuch as the prophecies of our book do not form an ordered treatise on dogmatic theology, but were uttered with regard to individual conduct and critical events, topics are not exclusively dealt with in a single section, but are referred to at intervals throughout. Moreover, as both the individuals and the crises were very much alike, ideas and phrases are constantly reappearing, so that there is an exceptionally large amount of repetition in the Book of Jeremiah. The method we have adopted avoids some of the difficulties which would arise if we attempted to deal with these doctrines in our continuous exposition. Our general sketch of the prophet’s teaching is naturally arranged under categories suggested by the book itself, and not according to the sections of a modern treatise on Systematic Theology. No doubt much may legitimately be extracted or deduced concerning Anthropology, Soteriology, and the like; but true proportion is as important in exposition as accurate interpretation. If we wish to understand Jeremiah, we must be content to dwell longest upon what he emphasised most, and to adopt the standpoint of time and race which was his own. Accordingly in our treatment we have followed the cycle of sin, punishment, and restoration, so familiar to students of Hebrew prophecy. NOTE SOME CHARACTERISTIC EXPRESSIONS OF JEREMIAH This note is added partly for convenience of reference, and partly to illustrate the repetition just mentioned as characteristic of Jeremiah. The instances are chosen from expressions occurring in chapters 21-52. The reader will find fuller lists dealing with th