Return again to Me, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 3:1-5 The backslider invited to return J. H. Evans, M. A. We have here a wonderful display of God's character: forbearance, pity, and love. I. WHAT IS INFERRED. A departure from God. 1. The life of an ungodly man is one long departure from God. Every step he takes leads him farther away. 2. What departures we find even in the holiest and best! Secret neglects. Seductions in daily avocations and companions. Tampering with sin. II. WHAT IS DECLARED. A returning to God as a promising God, as a forgiving God, as our God and Father in Christ Jesus, in real humiliation of spirit before Him; for "whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy." Observe, the return is not a mere turning away from sin; it is finding the way back again to God. The very fruit and work of the blessed Spirit. III. WHAT IS DISPLAYED. Touching tenderness. 1. God Himself speaks. 2. He points to the Cross. ( J. H. Evans, M. A. ) Return to God R. J. Johnstone, M. A. 1. Let Christian believers behold in these words with whom it is that they have to do. There have been times when the Lord made you rejoice before Him — when your fellowship with Him was delight. And so He would have had you to continue. But your joy changed into sorrow, your light was quenched in darkness; not because you were forsaken, but because you forsook. You did evil in the sight of the Lord, and He delivered you into the hands of the Philistines. But He did not forsake you utterly, nor cast you off forever. He brought you back, and restored to you "the joy of His salvation." Soon you forgot it all. You did evil again in His sight. He departed from you, and you were carried captive by your enemies. In the land of Babylon you wept, and hung your tuneless harps upon the willows, for you could not sing the Lord's song in a strange land! You remembered Zion, and eagerly longed that your captivity might come to an end. And the Lord ended your captivity and brought you back. Yet, notwithstanding all your sad experiences, you have again and again forgotten and forsaken Him. What should be your feelings when you think of these things? Should there be any sorrow like unto your sorrow? Yet be not afraid; conclude not that your sins must of necessity have separated forever between you and God; say not that for you there is no hope in Israel, and no place left for repentance. Had you to do with man it might be so. Were you to be dealt with as you have sinned, It could not but be so. But the Lord God is merciful and gracious, His love continues as strong as ever. He cannot bear to give you up. He compassionates your weakness. He laments your folly. 2. Let those who are still in the gall of bitterness — alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, be assured that this language is addressed even to them. You are His, although you are now strangers and foreigners; for His hand did form you, and you were not designed to be His enemies. You have chosen to be so; but all the enmity is on your side. Your enemy He has never been; nor is He now your enemy! He is emphatically the friend of sinners. ( R. J. Johnstone, M. A. ) Backsliding process H. G. Salter. A church is sometimes astounded by. the fall of some professor in it: this is the fruit, not the seed or the beginning of backsliding. So a man is laid on a sick bed, but the disorder has only now arrived at its crisis; it has for some time been working in his system, and has at length burst out and laid him low. So the sin of departing from God and secretly declining has been going on while the profession has still been maintained; the process of back. sliding has been working silently yet surely until a temptation has at last opened the way for its bursting forth, to the scandal of God's people and true religion. In the sight of God the man was fallen before, we only now have first discovered it. ( H. G. Salter. ) Therefore the showers have been withholden God inflicting punishment on those who turn away from Him J. Parker, D. D. If God is immanent in the universe, not a Deity immeasurable distances away from His creation; if without Him it could not hold together for a moment, there is nothing unreasonable in the thought that He should sometimes show resentment at the spirit of evil, indicate some emotion at least in the presence of ingratitude. We do the sage ourselves. Parents sometimes give children to feel that the penalty of ill-behaviour is the withdrawment of a privilege, the abbreviation of a holiday, the suspension of a pleasure. Sometimes by deprivation God inflicts punishment upon those who turn away from Him. In this case the penalty was one of deprivation — the showers had been withholden. Sometimes the penalty is positive, and there are too many showers. God drowns the world that denies Him. He does not withhold the showers for want of water; the debt, go is always ready: the river of God is full of water. It may be unscientific and ignorant to think that God interferes with nature, but it stands to our highest reason as a probable truth. If He made it, He may interfere with it; if He constructed it, He may sometimes wind it up, visit it, operate upon it, assert His eternal proprietorship. If the great landlord allows us to walk through his fields freely and joyously, he may sometimes, say, once in twenty-one years, put up a fence or a boundary, which being interpreted means, This path is mine, not yours; the boundary will be taken down again tomorrow, but it is here today to signify that you have acquired no rights by constant use. It is not an unnatural intervention, nor do we see that it is an unreasonable intervention on the part. of God if we deny Him, neglect Him, scorn Him, operate wholly against the spirit of His holiness, that He should now and again withhold the shower, or send such deluges upon the earth as shall wash away our seed and make a desert of our garden. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) The chief cause of calamities Quiver. Great honour has always been paid by all nations to their supposed gods, and it has always been reckoned a crime to rob them of the glory of which they were supposed to be so jealous. One of the Greek comedians in a stage play asks this question, "Who was the wicked author of the vines being blasted by the frost?" And he gives the answer, "He who gave the honours of the gods to men." This heathen writer teaches us a lesson when we fail to trace our trials to the first cause. Who shall say that some dishonour of the name of God may not be the cause of our afflictions? Sorrow does not come out of the dust. The seeds of disease are not driven about recklessly. The lightning does not strike by chance. There are reasons for what seems evil which we cannot trace, and perhaps one of the chief causes of the calamities which befall men may be found in their want of regard for the honour and glory of the Divine Name. ( Quiver. ) Writ thou not from this time cry unto Me, My Father, Thou art the guide of my youth? Jeremiah 3:4 The Divine Guide Homilist. We are all travellers, but are not all travelling in the tame direction. We need a guide. There is only One to be relied upon. I. WHY WE NEED A GUIDE. 1. Because of our ignorance of the way. 2. Because of our liability to take the wrong path. 3. Because of our liability to leave the right path after we have chosen it. II. WE SHOULD TAKE GOD AS OUR GUIDE. 1. Because He knows the way. 2. Because He knows the trials that will befall us. 3. Because He knows the perils that we shall encounter. 4. Because He is our Father, and therefore kind and considerate. III. WE SHOULD ASK GOD TO GUIDE US NOW. 1. Because the present time is the best. 2. Because the present time is the safest. 3. Because the present may be the only time. ( Homilist. ) Taking God as our Guide in youth J. C. Herdman, M. A. I. IT IS DUE TO GOD. 1. He is your Maker, who gives you all things; therefore He has a supreme and sole right to you. 2. He has bought you at a vast expense, that you might be delivered from the curse of sin and the wrath to come. If an artist pays a large sum of money to get back his own painting from some one into whose hands it has fallen, and then labours to improve it, would you not say that he has a good title to such painting? Thus with the ransomed children of God. II. IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOURSELVES. 1. You need a guide.(1) Consider your character. Ignorance of the future, and without experience, should you not tremble to go alone?(2) Consider your situation. The road is beset with dangers, infested with robbers, filled with bypaths!(3) Consider the importance of your steps. Begin to wander, and who shall tell the issue? Worn out with fatigue, benighted in that trackless wilderness, you fall a prey to the forest beast, or are dashed in pieces over a hidden precipice. One evil habit may lead you to ruin, must cause you pain and trouble. One false step in youth may mar you forever. 2. God is infinitely the best Guide. That He is a sure and safe Guide, none can doubt. He is wise, knows all things, and can proportion trials to your strength. He never fails. You live in a world of changes; but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But He is also a pleasant Guide. He is powerful to bring you out of trouble; He is gracious in it. In the day of the east wind He stays His rough wind, and "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." ( J. C. Herdman, M. A. ) God's tender expostulation with the young E. Cooper, M. A. I. THE PARTICULARS OF THE PROPOSAL. 1. That you should make God your Father; to love honour, and obey. 2. To choose God for the Guide of your youth; to regard His authority, follow His will, and comply with His directions. (1) By His Word. (2) By His Spirit. 3. To do these things instantly, without delay. II. MOTIVES FOR CO-RELIANCE. 1. The grace and condescension of the proposal. 2. The reasonableness of such a proceeding. Refuse the offer of His heavenly guidance, and you will be like a vessel in a boisterous sea without a pilot to direct your course. 3. The seasonableness of the proposal. "From this time." The time past cannot be recalled. You may deeply regret that you have hitherto neglected to make God your Father, and to choose Him for the Guide of your youth. But regret will not recover the time which is past. Opportunities lost are gone forever. Your business is to improve those which remain. The present time is still your own. ( E. Cooper, M. A. ) God the Guide of youth J. Wooldridge. I. THE PROPOSAL. 1. It requires penitence. You must feel your depravity and lament your guilt. 2. It includes prayer. A life of communion with God. 3. It implies yielding yourself up to God, to walk in His ways, be guided by His counsel, and glorify His name. II. YOUR OBLIGATIONS. To whom will you give your affections if you withhold them from Him? III. ADVANTAGES TO BE GAINED BY COMPLIANCE. 1. Safety. While leaning on your own wisdom, and walking in your own strength, you are liable to stray, stumble, fall. 2. Happiness. "In His favour is life." "No peace to the wicked." 3. Honour. Associated with the servants of God, angels, archangels, etc. Yes, and with Christ Himself, whose meat was to do God's will. IV. COMBAT OBJECTIONS. 1. Sins too great for pardon. Christ's grace sufficient. 2. So weak. He takes by the hand, helps, upholds. 3. What need for being so religious? But you have no religion at all, if not wholly in earnest. 4. Not yet. This is impious as well as foolish. Every day and hour you are on the brink of death. V. YOUR REPLY. Only two answers: will, or will not. Turn not away. ( J. Wooldridge. ) The importance of early dedication to God D. E. Ford. I. THE ASSUMPTION. That the person is in a state of unregeneracy. Multitudes are thus. Refusing to listen to God. In the neglect of the claims of God there is an amount of daring of which we can hardly form a conception, especially in the case of the child of many prayers. II. THE IMITATION. Why should you from this time say, "Thou art the Guide of my youth?" 1. The claims of Him who asks it. 2. The dangers of delay. 3. The final consequences of refusal. ( D. E. Ford. ) God condescending to be the Guide of youth Evangelist. I. HAS NOT GOD ALREADY ACTED A MOST WISE AND FRIENDLY PART? 1. Review your general privileges. Who formed you from nothing into being? who assigned you a rank among human creatures? who prepared in a parent's heart the affections which welcomed and nourished the helpless stranger? who reared you up to youth? who kindled the dawn of mason? whose hand opened for you the warm and widening circle of friendship? 2. You are bound by peculiar obligations. It is no small thing that an heritage has been found for you in Britain. You are not the children of savages, mingling in their barbarous manners. II. IS NOT GOD ABLE TO FILL UP, THROUGH ALL FUTURE PERIODS, THE RELATIONS TO WHICH HE INVITES YOUR NOTICE? He offers Himself as a Father and as a Guide. His power, His wisdom, and His goodness will support the titles. III. DOES NOT THE SEASON OF YOUTH NEED SUCH A FATHER AND SUCH A GUIDE? What can preserve the morals of youth? Shall the frail bark live in the tempest? Shall flames surround a military magazine, and not produce an explosion? Can a lamb make its way through a herd of wolves? IV. MAY NOT THE SEASON OF YOUTH BE THE ONLY ONE THAT SHALL DISPLAY SUCH ADVANTAGES AS ARE ATTACHED TO IT? You know not that you shall survive this age; that you are under sentence is felt by yourselves, and sometimes lamented. Can you charm death away? Can you obtain a momentary respite? ( Evangelist. ) An address to youth W. Jay. I. YOUTH NEEDS A GUIDE. 1. We are expressly assured by the prophet, "That the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." And if this be true of old travellers who have long been moving Zion-ward, how much more of those who are only beginning to start! 2. There is one kind of knowledge in which the young must be deficient — that which is derived from trial, and which we call experience. 3. Now, too, the passions and appetites begin to rage in their violence. These becloud the understanding, and prevent reflection; and rendering them averse to reproof and impatient of control, urge them on, and plunge them into a thousand improprieties and embarrassments. II. GOD IS READY TO BECOME YOUR LEADER, and it is your duty and privilege to place yourselves under His direction. He is infinitely wise, and cannot lead you astray. He has conducted millions; and "the wayfaring man, though a fool, has not erred" under His direction. He is infinitely powerful. He can support you under the heaviest burdens, deliver you from every adversary, and "make all things work together for your good." He is infinitely kind. He will bear with your infirmities, and sympathise with you in all your troubles. And He is infinitely faithful: not a word shall fail of all that He has spoken. III. HOW YOU ARE TO ENGAGE HIS ATTENTION. "Cry unto" Him. This familiar expression intends prayer and supplication; and it prevents you from using as an excuse for the omission of the duty — that you are not masters of words, and cannot deliver yourselves in proper language. For what is prayer? Is it not the desire of the heart towards God? If you cannot pray — cannot you cry unto Him? IV. THERE ARE PARTICULAR SEASONS IN WHICH HE EXPECTS TO BE SOUGHT AFTER BY THE YOUNG, and from which He dates the expostulation — "Wilt thou not from this time," etc. 1. When they leave the house of their friends, and the wing of their relations. 2. When bereaved of their parents. 3. At the commencement of a new period of life. 4. When the young see friends or companions carried off by a premature death. 5. At times of peculiar convictions and impressions. ( W. Jay. ) Youth encouraged to seek unto God R. Winter, D. D. I. THE IMPORT OF THIS LANGUAGE. 1. Gratitude. 2. Confidence. 3. Prayer. 4. A determined compliance with God's will. II. THE FORCE OF THE APPEAL MADE BY GOD. 1. Tender expostulation. 2. Seasonable admonition. 3. As arising from events which point out most clearly your need of an interest in the Divine favour. ( R. Winter, D. D. ) God to be chosen as a Guide by the young Ray Palmer, D. D. I. YOU GREATLY NEED SOME FAITHFUL AND EFFECTIVE GUIDANCE IN THE SHAPING OF YOUR LIVES. 1. Because the path of duty and of safety is often exceedingly difficult to find. Often, when determining what you are bound to accept as duty or to receive as truth, you have many circumstances to consider, many probabilities to estimate, many opposing arguments to weigh. While the general direction in which you are to move, if you intend to live wisely, is obvious enough, you may still find perplexities at every point, to extricate yourself from which will try, perhaps baffle, your utmost wisdom, who is sufficient for these things? 2. Because your own strong impulses are likely to mislead you. It is easy to believe that to be right or useful which accords with inclination. It is hard to think that to be obligatory, or best, to which the feelings are averse, and which involves the necessity of self-denial. 3. Because there are many who will studiously seek your ruin.(1) There are found even in the best conditions of society, the openly debased and vicious.(2) Besides these, there are many — corrupt in heart — who will seek to reach you with influences fitted to destroy your virtuous sentiments, and principles, and ultimate well-being. 4. Because so many are continually ruined. Where many fall, there is reason that all should fear. II. THE REASONABLENESS, THE WISDOM, OF MAKING GOD YOUR GUIDE. 1. You owe it to God Himself thus to honour Him with your confidence. It is His right. 2. God alone can afford you a sufficient guidance. Where can you find another to whose care and leading you can safely and without anxiety, commit the infinitely precious interests of your being? III. WHEN SHOULD GOD'S OFFERED GUIDANCE BE ACCEPTED? "From this time." 1. The present is a practicable time — a time in which without hindrance God may be intelligently" and cordially accepted as a guide. 2. The present is the very time that God Himself proposes. Remember now thy Creator." 3. It is at the present time that your need of the blessing in question is becoming manifest and urgent. 4. The present may not improbably be the only time in which you will have it in your power to secure the Divine guidance ( Proverbs 1:24-29 ). ( Ray Palmer, D. D. ) Divine guidance for life's journey Rev. Mark Guy Pearse says: "I have read somewhere of one of our naval officers who sailed from Mexico round the Cape Horn to Rio, a distance of eight thousand miles, and for ninety days neither touched land nor scarcely saw a sail. At last he judged himself to be some twenty miles from Rio, and lay-to for the night. The next morning it was a dense fog, and he came on very cautiously, and when the fog suddenly lifted there in front of them rose the well-known Sugar-loaf Rock at the entrance of Rio Harbour. Thus it is that in spite of the great and wide sea where no landmarks or guide marks are, where are restless tides and currents and changeful winds, yet heaven stoops to teach men if they will be taught. The sun in the heavens gives every day its unerring counsel, the stars come out at night to whisper their cheery assurance. So He bringeth men to their desired haven. Now, if men can believe that, and so believe it as to trust themselves to it, I do not wonder that any can doubt that heaven bends over us to teach us where we are and whither we are going. If it is scientific to believe that heaven can grade us over the great sea, it does seem to be just simple common sense to think that heaven can lead us safe. God the best Guide The sailor, out on the restless sea, has one unfailing star to which he can always look with confidence, knowing that it will always be found at the same place. He may perhaps admire the brilliancy of Venus, or look with wonder at the ever-changing moon, but when he wants to take his bearings he looks at the unfailing, unchangeable polar star. Thank God that we have an unfailing Guide that will remain the same when the heavens have passed away. He, our Lord and Master, is the one absolutely unfailing star of hope to which we can look with implicit confidence. Thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. Jeremiah 3:5 The limitation of evil W. L. Watkinson. I. SOME OF THE RESTRAINING INFLUENCES OF LIFE. "As thou couldest." By many considerations we are restrained from fulfilling the evil impulses and designs of which we are conscious; our potential wickedness is not allowed to become actual. 1. There is the restraint imposed by revelation. The possession of God's Word was a grand discipline to the people of Israel. To know the moral perfections of God, to discern the moral significance of human life, to possess the moral law expressed with such clearness, fulness, and force, was a rare privilege. This kept Israel back from the things of lust and cruelty and shame which defiled and destroyed their heathen neighbours. Are we not today restrained by the same gracious influence? Our poet speaks of "the silver streak" that comes between us and the Continent, delivering our nation from fears, wars, and contagions. Is not that revelation which is in our hands a silver streak coming between us and contemporaneous paganism? 2. There is the restraint imposed by grace. The direct Divine action on our mind, will, conscience, feeling. This was the master-restraint of the antediluvian world. As a horse is held in by bit and bridle, as a ship on some rocky coast is held by her anchor, so have we all in dangerous clays been restrained by the Spirit of grace. Let men quench that Spirit, and the disastrous consequence is soon revealed. 3. There is the restraint imposed by society. Our civilisation, which is the grace of God organised, is full of restraining influences to which we owe far more than we sometimes think. The civil law. Public opinion. Social etiquette. Business. Domesticity. If it should be suggested that the laws, institutions, and properties of society which forbid excess are themselves expressions of the moral sense, it will at once be palpable to most that these circumscriptions are dictated by fear, policy, and selfishness rather than by any love of righteousness for its own sake. That one wolf holds another wolf in check must not be construed to mean that we are a flock of lambs. II. NOTWITHSTANDING THE RESTRAINTS OF LIFE, WE DISCOVER THE WICKEDNESS OF OUR NATURE BY GOING AS FAR AS POSSIBLE IN THE DIRECTION OF TRANSGRESSION. Israel hitherto had abstained from the extreme acts of transgression which would have involved immediate retribution, but they showed their disposition by playing with the fire, by trifling on the edge of the abyss. So in these days we show what we really are by going as far as we dare or can in actual disobedience. We go as far as our material will permit. "As thou couldest." As thou couldest with impunity. We are intemperate, with a due regard to our health; freer indulgence would destroy us, and that is not what we mean. We are uncharitable, with a due regard to our reputation; we must not infringe the law of libel. We are ambitious and vain; but our ostentation must be limited by considerations of pride and covetousness. As thou couldest with decency. We must not qualify our reputation; we must not be guilty of bad manners, bad form, bad taste. As thou couldest with advantage. Carrying out unrighteousness right up to the point where it ceases to be lucrative, and breaking it off just there. And let none conclude that sins toned down by such considerations are of less malignant quality, or less offensive before God, than are sins of a more violent or exaggerated order. III. MANY WOULD AT ONCE PROCEED TO GREATER LENGTHS OF WICKEDNESS IF THE RESTRICTIVE INFLUENCES OF LIFE WERE WITHDRAWN. 1. Note the extent to which men resist these saving influences. As some engineers are wishful to drive a tunnel under the Channel and establish immediate relations with the Continent, so men are busy in all directions ingeniously attempting to evade the silver streaks which heaven has mercifully placed between them and the excesses of passion and appetite. The criticism of the Bible in the literary world, the impatience felt with it in the individual life, are frequently nothing more than a revolt against its noble righteousness. We fret at the narrowness of the way which leadeth unto life. In the name of free thought, of a free press, of free restitutions, the nude m art must be encouraged, outspoken writings protected, sexual life must be unfettered. With what strange infatuation do we rebel against and seek to escape the crystal deep which God has established between us and ruin! 2. The second sign of the irregularity and inordinativeness of our desire is found in the popularity of certain imaginative literature Modern society has put distinct and authoritative limits to many forms of indulgence; but human nature shows its old quality unchanged, for when it can no longer gratify itself in the actual world it betakes itself to the ideal world.Conclusion — 1. Let us recognise the glory of God's preventing grace. The Dutch call the chain of dykes which protects their fields and their firesides from the wild sea, "the golden border." God's grace directly affecting our heart, or expressed in the constitution of society and the circumstances of life, is a golden border shutting out a raging threatening sea of evil.(2) Let us confess the folly of our self-righteousness. The consciousness of a self-righteousness often stands in the way of men attaining the righteousness which is of God, but the foregoing reflections show how little our self-righteousness is worth. Looking into our heart, we know ourselves to be worse than the world takes us to be. As Victor Hugo expresses it, "Our dark side is unfathomable...One of the hardest labours of the just man is to expunge from his soul a malevolence which it is difficult to efface. Almost all our desires, when examined, contain what we dare not avow."(3) We see the necessity and urgency of the grace which converts and perfects. It is by no means wholly satisfactory that we are kept by restraining grace; the grace which converts us into a new self is what we must most earnestly covet and pursue. Christianity brings us a motive of unparalleled grandeur; it fills the soul with the highest visions, convictions, loves, ambitions. And there is a sublime concurrence of forces in its motive. ( W. L. Watkinson. ) The sinner's desperate depravity D. A. Clark. I. GOD IN HIS PROVIDENCE HAS SURROUNDED THE SINNER WITH MANY CIRCUMSTANCES OPERATING POWERFULLY TO MODIFY HUMAN CHARACTER. 1. Education. This makes Christendom differ from the dark places of the earth, which are full of the habitations of cruelty. 2. Human law. Look at some country in a state of anarchy. Look at some city or village where law is suspended. Look at France, while under the reign of terror, when law was abrogated, and see one company after another pass under the guillotine; and the executioners of today the victims of tomorrow; and, tell us, is not character greatly modified by municipal law? 3. The law of God. If men have no other belief in it, but that which may be denominated the faith of history, it still greatly modifies human character. 4. The troublesome supervision of conscience. This everlasting censorship, while it has held men back from sin, has been hated, warred against, scowled upon, by the whole human family. 5. The whole Gospel has modified human character beyond all calculation. It so commends itself to their reason, and applies such power to their consciences, that it becomes exceedingly difficult to understand it. It is so tender, majestic, commanding, and reasonable, that it for a time melts and overawes many who ultimately reject its provisions. 6. All the Gospel institutions — every thing associated with Christian worship operates in modifying human character, and rendering it in appearance better than it is. 7. The desire of heaven has the same effect. None, perhaps, are so abandoned as not to hope that they may, after all, live and be happy after death. 8. The fear of hell 9. The expectation of judgment. 10. Public sentiment. 11. Domestic affection. The silken cords which entwine round the family circle prevent the commission of many a crime. II. BY THESE CIRCUMSTANCES EVERY SINNER IS ACTUALLY RESTRAINED IN HIS WICKEDNESS AND HELD DOWN IN HIS DOWNWARD CAREER. 1. Men are uneasy under these circumstances, which shows them to be restraints. Let men be unrestrained, and they will be easy. It is only pain of some kind that renders them uneasy, and willing to change their position. Hence they will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. 2. Men are constantly trying to alter their circumstances. But they are too indolent by nature to try to alter their circumstances, unless they are circumstances of restraint. 3. When men at length alter their circumstances in any of these respects, they often show out a worse character; manifesting what they would have been before, if they might, if these restraints had been sundered and they let loose upon the world. 4. When these restraints are all removed, men are uniformly far more wicked than if they had not been imposed. III. EVERY SINNER DOES MAKE THE ATTEMPT AND SUCCEEDS AS FAR AS GOD WILL LET HIM TO SUNDER THESE LIGATURES THAT WOULD HOLD HIM FAST TO REASON, HOPE, AND HEAVEN. 1. See how he breaks over and breaks through the restraints of education. He Cries to throw off what he knew of God, and all he had learned of the Saviour, and of the operations of the Holy Spirit; all he had learned of the operations of the Godhead, in the history of the Church. And when he cannot forget, he raves at his own recollections. 2. When he has tried for a time, but has tried in vain, to retrace the process of education, he finds himself reined in by human laws. If he cannot forget God, perhaps he can snap asunder the power of human control. He can evade all human ties. He can rise above the law, and tread it down like the mire of the street. Or he can violate its precepts and despise its regulations, and hold on and hold out in despite of all its sanctions, presuming in his heart that God will not know, neither will the Almighty consider it. Thus he blesses himself in his own delusion, and trusts for safety in his own righteousness. But he meets with more disturbance yet. 3. From the law of God. Impenitent and unbelieving, he has read in that law what, if he cannot put down, he is a ruined man: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." Thus is dashed, at the first stroke, the whole fabric of a dark and fatal idolatry. If man worships his money, or his merchandise, or his farm, or his friend, or anything but God, or gives anything else his supreme affection, even if he does not professedly worship it, he is condemned of God. And He adds, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." But how unfashionable it would be to care about this commandment, and let the apprehension that God "will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain," produce a serious moment, or a pang of distress! 4. Not quite so easily does he dispose of the troublesome supervision of conscience. This vicegerent of Heaven stays often many a month after open war is declared. It sometimes will hold close conference with the heart, although the heart may wish to be alone. It will not go to sleep in the grave: it will watch, even while the wretch is dying, to secure the honour of God, and gather courage for a fresh attack just by the dying pillow And the agony of its first onset in the unseen world, hard by the place of dying, devils cannot know. For they have never spurned a dying Saviour, and they have never died. But all the embrasures that can be opened upon the soul by this moral avenger must be closed, or its eternal thunders will be heard and felt. 5. But still he has a slight conflict with the institutions of the Gospel. Every church-going bell fills his conscience with guilt, and each return of the day of rest reminds him of a mother's prayers. He must pervert its holy design, or writhe under the lashes of a guilty conscience. 6. The hardened sinner would dislodge himself from all thought of heaven or fear of hell. And yet these are very powerful ligatures, and often the last to be sundered. When men think of relinquishing heaven, they sometimes forget, that awakening previous question, "If I abandon the thought of heaven, where shall I then be? What means

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 3:1 . They say — That is, men use to say, If a man put away his wife — Or give her a bill of divorce, Deuteronomy 24:1 ; and she go from him — In consequence thereof; and become another man’s — Engage herself to another; shall he return unto her? — He cannot take her again according to the law, Deuteronomy 24:1-4 . Or, rather, will a man do such a thing? If the law were not against it, would any man be inclined to take such a woman again? Certainly not. Such playing fast and loose with the marriage-bond would be a horrid profanation of that ordinance, and would greatly pollute the land. Thus they had reason to expect, that God would refuse ever to take them again to be his people, who had not only been joined to one strange god, but had played the harlot with many lovers. If we had to do with a man like ourselves, after such provocations as we have been guilty of, he would be implacable, and we might despair of his ever being reconciled to us again. But he is God and not man, and therefore he adds, Yet return again to me — Namely, forsaking all those other lovers; which invitation implies a promise, that he would receive them upon their repentance and reformation. Jeremiah 3:2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. Jeremiah 3:2 . Lift up thine eyes — Do but look and consider whether I charge thee wrongfully or not; unto the high places — The places of thy spiritual whoredoms or idolatries, their false gods being generally worshipped upon the hills and mountains, 2 Kings 21:3 . Thy idolatries have been so frequent that thou canst scarcely show a place where some false god has not been worshipped. In the ways hast thou sat for them — To allure passengers. Thus the fondness of the people for idolatry is compared to the wantonness of a harlot, who lies in wait for men as for her prey; or, as the Arabian hides himself in the desert, to rob and spoil the unwary traveller. “The Arabs,” says Sir John Chardin, in a manuscript quoted by Harmer, “wait for caravans with the most violent avidity, looking about them on all sides, raising themselves upon their horses, running hither and thither, to see if they can perceive any smoke, or dust, or tracks on the ground, or any other marks of people passing along.” And with thy wickedness — Not only with thy idolatries hast thou polluted the land, but with all thy other wicked courses. Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. Jeremiah 3:3 . Therefore the showers have been withholden — Namely, by me, according to my threatening, Leviticus 26:19 ; Deuteronomy 28:23-24 ; that is, a drought was sent upon their land, either as a punishment of their wickedness, public sins bringing public judgments, or as an aggravation of it, in which case the clause ought to be read, Though the showers, &c. that is, notwithstanding the great drought, whereby thou hast been chastised, thou hast not been brought to repentance; and there hath been no latter rain — Though the latter rain hath been withheld as well as the former: concerning which two seasons of rain, see notes on Deuteronomy 11:14 , and Proverbs 16:15 . Thou hadst a whore’s forehead — Notwithstanding all this, thou didst still remain impudent and obstinate, as one ashamed of nothing. “The general import of the passage is, that though God had begun, in some degree, to chastise his people, as he had threatened, with a view to their reformation, his chastisements had not produced the desired effect, for they continued as abandoned as before, without showing the least sign of shame or remorse.” — Blaney. Jeremiah 3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? Jeremiah 3:4-5 . Wilt thou not from this time — Namely, that I have withholden showers, this time of conviction and correction; now that thou hast been made to see thy sins, and to smart for them, wilt thou not forsake them and return to me, saying, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now? Or from this time that thou hast had so kind an invitation to return, and an assurance that thou shalt be well received. Wilt thou not cry unto me, My father? — Wilt thou not, as a child, humble thyself, and call upon me, whom thou hast greatly provoked, and own me as a father, for such I have been to thee? Psalm 103:13 ; Malachi 1:6 ; Malachi 3:17 . Wilt thou not beg pardon for thy undutiful carriage toward me, and hope to find in me the tender compassion of a father toward a returning prodigal? Wilt thou not come and make thy complaints to me as to a father, and confide in me for relief and succour? Thou art the guide of my youth — The husband who didst espouse me, and become my guide in the days of my youth: alluding to the time when their manners had not been corrupted by idolatry. Though thou hast gone after many lovers, wilt thou not at length remember the love of thine espousals, and return to the husband of thy youth? Or the relation of a father may rather be referred to; as if he had said, Wilt thou not remember and lay to heart under whose eye and care thou wast brought up, and who was the guide of thy inexperienced years? In our return to God, we ought thankfully to remember that he was our guide when we were young in years, in the way of comfort; and we must faithfully covenant that he shall be our guide from henceforward in the way of duty, and that we will follow his guidance, and give ourselves up to his government. Will he reserve anger for ever? — Surely he will not, for he hath proclaimed his name, gracious and merciful. They seem to be the words of the people reasoning thus with themselves, for their encouragement to return to God. Repenting sinners may encourage themselves with this, that though God chide, he will not always chide; though he be angry, he will not keep his anger to the end; but though he cause grief he will have compassion. Behold, thou hast spoken, &c. — Or, as Blaney translates the clause, “Behold, thou hast spoken and done; thou hast wrought wickedness, and hast prevailed.” These are the words of God, or of the prophet speaking in God’s name, reminding them of, and reproving them for, their long and obstinate continuance in idolatry and other sins. The prophets had endeavoured to dissuade them from persevering in their evil courses, but their arguments had no weight with them; “they continued to do as they had said, or resolved; they carried their wicked thoughts into execution, in spite of all that was urged to the contrary.” Jeremiah 3:5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. Jeremiah 3:6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. Jeremiah 3:6 . Then the Lord said unto me — “Here begins an entire new section, or distinct prophecy, which is continued to the end of the sixth chapter. It consists of two distinct parts. The first part contains a complaint against Judah for having exceeded the guilt of her sister Israel, whom God had already cast off for her idolatrous apostacy, Jeremiah 3:6-12 . The prophet is hereupon sent to announce to Israel the promise of pardon upon her repentance, and the hopes of a glorious restoration in after times, which are plainly marked out to be the times of the gospel, when the Gentiles themselves were to become a part of the church, Jeremiah 3:12-21 . In the second part, which begins Jeremiah 4:3 , and is prefaced with an address to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, exhorting them to prevent the divine judgments by a timely repentance; the Babylonian invasion is clearly and fully foretold, with all the miseries which it would be attended with; and the universal and incorrigible depravity of the people is represented at large, and pointed out as the justly provoking cause of the national ruin. In the days of Josiah the king — This date of the prophecy, or sermon, must be particularly observed, in order to the right understanding of it. It was delivered in the days of Josiah, who began a blessed work of reformation, in which he was hearty; but the people were not sincere in their compliance with it. To reprove them for that, and warn them of the consequences of their hypocrisy, is the scope of that which God here declares to the prophet, and which he delivers to them. Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel hath done — The case of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah is here compared, the ten tribes that revolted from the throne of David and the temple at Jerusalem, and the two tribes that adhered to both. The distinct history of these two kingdoms is given us in the two books of the Kings; by referring to the notes on which the reader will be enabled the better to understand this paragraph, and many other parts of this prophecy. When God asks, Hast thou seen what Israel has done? he refers to the prophet’s acquaintance with that history, for as he lived between sixty and seventy years after Israel was carried into captivity, he could not otherwise see what they had done. She hath gone up upon every high mountain: &c. — See note on Jeremiah 2:20 . They had openly, and almost with common consent, apostatized from the worship appointed by God, insomuch that all their kings proved wicked and idolatrous: and no marvel, since from the time of their defection from the kingdom of David, they worshipped God by the golden calves at Dan and Beth-el, and hence easily proceeded from worshipping by the medium of images, to worship images themselves, and other false and imaginary deities. Jeremiah 3:7 And I said after she had done all these things , Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it . Jeremiah 3:7 . After she had done all these things — For which she might justly have been abandoned; I said, Turn thou unto me — Namely, and I will receive thee. Though they had forsaken both the house of David and the house of Aaron, who both had their authority from God without dispute, yet God sent his prophets among them to call them to return to him, that is, to the worship of him only, not insisting so much upon their return to the house of David as to that of Aaron. We do not read that Elijah, that great prophet, ever mentioned their returning to the former, but only to the faithful service of the true God. It is serious and genuine piety that God regards more than any ritual observances, whether with respect to matters civil or religious. But she returned not — Which God observed, and with which he was much displeased; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it — A sister, because descended from the same common stock, Abraham and Jacob; and as Israel had the character of a back-slider, so Judah is called treacherous, because, though she professed to keep close to God when Israel had backslidden, and adhered to the kings and priests that were of God’s own appointing, yet she proved treacherous, false, and unfaithful to her profession and promises, as is stated in the following verses. Jeremiah 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. Jeremiah 3:8 . And I saw — As if he had said, That which others discerned not, I saw perfectly; namely, both her hypocrisy and her incorrigibleness, notwithstanding what had befallen Israel, whose correction should have instructed and reformed her. When for all the causes — The various idolatries and other sins, for which I had given her — That is, Israel; a bill of divorce — Delivered her up into the hands of the Assyrians, and thereby taken from her the title of being my church; yet her sister Judah feared not — Was neither afraid of giving me offence, nor of the like punishment; but went and played the harlot also — Was forward enough to worship any idol that was introduced, and to join in any idolatrous usage, although she had seen the judgment of God executed upon Israel before her eyes. Jeremiah 3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. Jeremiah 3:9-10 . And through the lightness of her whoredom — “By this phrase,” says Blaney, “I take to be meant, that she was not nice in the choice of the objects, but was ready to prostitute herself to all that came in her way; that is, she eagerly fell in with all kinds of idolatrous worship indiscriminately, descending so low as to images of wood and stone.” That she defiled the land — Brought the whole land under the guilt of idolatry. Yet for all this — Though God saw what she did, and though she saw the shameful idolatry of Israel, and what she had suffered; yet Judah hath not turned unto me, &c. — When they had a good king that would have reformed the nation, they did not heartily concur with him in that good work. In the reigns of Manasseh and Amon, who were disposed to idolatry, the people were so too, and all the country was corrupted by it, none fearing the ruin which Israel, by this sin, had brought on themselves. God therefore tried whether they would manifest a different spirit and conduct under a good king, but the evil disposition was still the same, and they returned not to the Lord with all their hearts, but feignedly — They were forced indeed to an external compliance with Josiah, who went further in destroying idolatry than the best of his predecessors had done, joined with him in keeping a very solemn passover, and in professing to renew their covenants with God, 2 Chronicles 34:32 ; 2 Chronicles 35:17 ; but they were not sincere in all this, nor were their hearts right with God. For which reason God, at that very time, said, I will remove Judah out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, ( 2 Kings 23:27 ,) because Judah was not removed from their sin by the sight of Israel’s removal from their land. Jeremiah 3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 3:11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Jeremiah 3:11 . And the Lord said unto me, &c. — The case of these sister kingdoms is here compared, and judgment given upon the comparison. Israel hath justified herself more than Judah — Hebrew, ???? ????? , hath justified her soul: so the LXX. ????????? ??? ????? , and the Vulgate. The meaning is, that of the two, Judah was the more guilty, because, though Israel’s sins were more numerous, and their idolatry had continued longer, yet in Judah that and other sins were more heinous, because Judah had sinned against greater light, and would not take warning by that desolation which God had brought upon the whole kingdom of Israel. Observe, reader, this comparative justification stood Israel in little stead. It will little avail us to say we are not so bad as others, when yet we are not really good ourselves. And God’s judgments upon others, if they be not the means of our reformation, will help to aggravate our destruction. The Prophet Ezekiel makes the same comparison between Jerusalem and Samaria, that Jeremiah here makes between Judah and Israel, nay, and between Jerusalem and Sodom, and Jerusalem is represented as being the worst of the three. See Ezekiel 23:11 ; and Ezekiel 16:48 . Jeremiah 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. Jeremiah 3:12-13 . Go, and proclaim these words toward the north — “The sin of the ten tribes being attended with more favourable circumstances than that of Judah, the prophet is commanded to call them to repentance with promises of pardon. In order to this he is bid to direct his speech northward, that is, toward Assyria and Media, whither the ten tribes had been carried away captive, which countries lay north of Judea.” And say: Return, thou backsliding Israel — Repent of thy backslidings, return to thy allegiance; come back to that good way out of which thou hast turned aside. And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you — Namely, more grievously than it has already fallen, or for ever; for otherwise his anger lay heavy upon them at this time. Observe, reader, God’s anger is ready to fall on sinners, as a lion falls on his prey, and there is none to deliver. But if they repent, it shall be turned away, for he is merciful, and will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity — Own thyself in a fault, and thereby take shame to thyself, and give glory to God. Confess and forsake thy sins; for he that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy. This will aggravate the condemnation of sinners, that the terms of pardon and peace were brought so low, and yet they would not come up to them. Sinner, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much more when he saith, Only acknowledge thine iniquity. The Hebrew, ??? ???? , is properly, Know thine iniquity, that is, in order to thy acknowledging and forsaking it. We must call our sins to mind, consider the number, greatness, and inexcusableness of them, that we may conceive a proper hatred to them, and sorrow for them, and thereby, and through faith in the divine mercy and grace in Christ, may obtain pardon and deliverance from them. That thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God — Against the infinite and eternal Jehovah, who had taken thee to be his peculiar people, and was in covenant with thee as thy God. And hast scattered thy ways to the strangers — To other gods, to idols, running hither and thither to worship them. The phrase is taken from the lewdness of common harlots, who promiscuously prostitute themselves to all comers: see Proverbs 30:20 . The clause may be rendered, Thou hast wandered among strangers, or strange gods; that is, thou hast not repaired, or had recourse, to one strange god, but many; under every green tree — Alluding to the heathen performing the ceremonies of their idolatrous worship in groves, or under large spreading trees. And ye have not obeyed my voice — So that your sin is not a sin of ignorance, but of obstinacy, for you shut your ears against my counsels, sent by my prophets for reclaiming you. Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: Jeremiah 3:14 . Turn, for I am married unto you — I am in covenant with you, and this covenant, notwithstanding all your unfaithfulness, I am ready to renew with you. Hebrew, ????? ??? , which Blaney translates, I have been a husband among you; observing, that God hereby “means to remind them that he had fulfilled the covenant on his part, by protecting and blessing them, as he had promised when he engaged to be their God: and therefore, as they had never any reason to complain of him, he urges them to return to their duty, and promises, in that case, to be still kinder to them than before.” I will take you one of a city, &c. — Some interpret these words thus: “I will receive you, though there should be but one from a city willing to return, and two from a province, or tribe.” This prophecy was accomplished in the letter, after the edict of Cyrus, when several of the Israelites returned to Palestine, but only by little and little, and, as it were, one by one. But undoubtedly it was intended to be understood chiefly, in a spiritual sense, of their conversion to Christianity, and their reception into the gospel church, into which they partly have been, and probably hereafter in greater numbers will be admitted, “not all at a time, or in a national capacity, but severally, as individuals, here and there one.” See Isaiah 27:12 . Jeremiah 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Jeremiah 3:15 . I will give you pastors according to my heart — This is likewise an evangelical promise, (compare Jeremiah 23:4 ,) implying that under the happy times here foretold all governors, both civil and ecclesiastical, should faithfully discharge their trust, in duly governing and instructing the people committed to their charge; and that all in authority should answer the character which God gives of David, namely, that he was a man after his own heart, whereas, at the time when Jeremiah lived, the princes, the priests, and prophets were the ringleaders in seducing the people, and enticing them to idolatry: see Jeremiah 2:8 , and Lowth. “Those are pastors after God’s own heart,” says Henry, “that make it their business to feed the flock; not to feed themselves and fleece the flock, but to do all they can for the good of those that are under their charge; that feed them with wisdom and understanding — That is, wisely and understandingly, as David fed them, in the integrity of his heart and by the skilfulness of his hands, Psalm 78:72 . Those that are not only pastors, or rulers, but teachers, must feed them with the word of God, which is wisdom and understanding, and is able to make us wise unto salvation.” Jeremiah 3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it ; neither shall that be done any more. Jeremiah 3:16 . And when ye be multiplied — That is, when the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up, and there shall be a vast increase of the members of the church by the accession of the Gentiles: for that the days of the Messiah are here intended, the Jewish masters themselves acknowledge; they shall say no more, The ark, &c. — The ark is here put for all the legal ceremonies, being, with the rites connected with it, the chief part thereof. The sense is, that whole worship, with all the rites and ceremonies belonging to it, shall wholly cease, Christ being come, who was the substance of what the ark and all other rites did but shadow out for a time. “Here,” says Blaney, “God comforts the Jews with an assurance that, though upon their return to him they might not find themselves in possession of exactly the same privileges as they had before, they should be no losers, but should receive ample indemnification, so as to leave them no just cause of regret. The ark of the covenant was the visible seat of God’s residence among his people; it was therefore the object of their boast; but after the destruction of the first temple they had it no more. But, to compensate this loss, they are told, in the next verse, that Jerusalem should be called the throne of Jehovah, to which, not the Jews only, but all nations should resort. By Jerusalem is probably meant the Christian Church: see Galatians 4:26 ; Revelation 21:2-3 . The greater privileges of this latter would, of course, supersede all boast on account of those which had belonged to the Jewish Church at any time.” Neither shall it come to mind — Hebrew, ??? ???? ?? ?? , which Blaney renders, Nor shall it be the delight of their heart; namely, as it formerly was, observing, that several passages of Scripture where the same phrase occurs show this to be the import of it. What value the Israelites set upon the ark, and how much they were attached to it, appears from many parts of their history. Neither shall they remember it — They shall forget the less in contemplation of the greater benefit. Neither shall they visit it — Or care for it, as Blaney translates ????? , which often signifies to look after a thing, which has been long lost or neglected, with a wish or design to recover or restore it. In this sense God is said to have visited his people, Exodus 3:16 ; Luke 1:68 ; that is, he again showed that he concerned himself about them. And so it is said of the people, Isaiah 26:16 , O Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; that is, they, who before neglected thee, in their affliction turned their thoughts and desires toward thee. Neither shall that be done any more — It shall be no more in use; neither shall men trouble their thoughts about it, or mention it. The Hebrew, ??? ????? ??? , is literally rendered by the LXX., ??? ?? ??????????? ??? , Nor shall it be made any more. So also the Vulgate, nec fiet ultra. The ark, once lost, was never to be made again, or restored: and for a good reason, which immediately follows; because, instead of the ark, Jerusalem itself, that is, the Christian Church, was to become the seat of God’s residence. It is probable that this great variety of expressions is used, not only to show that the ceremonies of the law of Moses should be totally and finally abolished, never to be used any more, but that it would be with difficulty that those who had been so long wedded to them would be weaned from them; and that they would not quite relinquish them till their holy city and holy house should both be levelled with the ground. Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. Jeremiah 3:17 . At that time — Of reformation, ?????????? , emendation, ( Hebrews 9:10 ,) when things should be put into a better state by the coming of the Messiah; they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord — Instead of the ark, the Christian Church, typified by Jerusalem, shall be the place of God’s special residence, power, and glory; where he will rule and act, and display his glory, in and by his word and ordinances, and especially in and by the Messiah. And all the nations shall be gathered unto it — Not only the Jews and Israelites, but many of all nations: many of the heathen shall be brought to worship the true God, and to embrace the Christian faith. To the name of the Lord — Which shall be both manifested and called upon in his church, as formerly at Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk, &c. — Both Jews and Gentiles shall now conform themselves to the will of God. The word ?????? , here rendered imagination, is derived from a root that signifies to see, and is sometimes applied to the judgment, and sometimes to the affections. Here it may comprehend both: they shall neither follow their own corrupt judgment nor affection, but wholly the word of God. Jeremiah 3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. Jeremiah 3:18 . In those days the house of Judah, &c. — Judah and Israel shall be happily united; the enmity that was between them shall be taken away, and they shall walk one with another, in a friendly manner, in the ways of God. This implies their being incorporated in one body, by one spirit, under Christ their head, and that without distinction of nations. This reunion of Israel and Judah, and their joint participation of the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom, is elsewhere foretold. See the margin. And they shall come together out of the land of the north — Namely, out of their captivity; to the land that I have given them — That is, the land of Canaan. Both Assyria and Chaldea fell into the hands of Cyrus, and his proclamation extended to all the Jews in all his dominions. And therefore we have reason to think that many of the house of Israel came with those of Judah out of the land of the north; though at first there returned but forty-two thousand, of whom we have an account, Ezra 2., yet Josephus saith, ( Antiq., lib. 11. cap. 4,) that some years after, under Darius, Zerubbabel went and fetched up above four million of souls to the land that was given for an inheritance to their fathers. And we never read of such animosities and enmities between Israel and Judah as had been formerly. And the happy coalescence between Israel and Judah in Canaan was a type of their union, and that of Jews and Gentiles in the gospel church, when, all enmities being slain, they should become one flock under one shepherd. It may also be implied in these words, as many commentators think is expressly declared in many other passages of the ancient prophets, that in the latter days the Jews and Israelites, after their conversion to Christianity, shall actually return from their several dispersions to dwell, as a nation, in their own land. Jeremiah 3:19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. Jeremiah 3:19 . But I said — Namely, within myself, God is here represented as deliberating with himself, after the manner of men, in what way he might, consistently with his divine attributes, receive the Jewish people into his favour, and admit them into the Christian Church. How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land? — How can it be consistent with my divine holiness and justice to receive such a rebellious people into my favour, to own them for my children, and restore them to the possession of that goodly inheritance which I gave to their fathers. Judea is elsewhere called a pleasant land, the glory of all lands, and the land which God had espied out for his chosen people: see Daniel 8:9 ; and Daniel 11:16 ; Daniel 11:45 ; Ezekiel 20:6 . A goodly heritage of the hosts of nations — The Hebrew, ??? ????? ???? , is literally, the glory of hosts, or, multitudes of nations, that which they esteem glorious, a phrase of the same import with that now quoted from Ezekiel, the glory of all lands. This pleasant land, and glory of the hosts of nations, is here to be taken figuratively, for the Christian Church and the privileges of the gospel covenant. And the condition of adoption into the former, and of enjoying the latter, are expressly stated by Christ and his apostles to be the same as are here prescribed, namely, true faith in God, as our Father, our reconciled Father in Christ, (which faith is always preceded by the repentance required, Jeremiah 3:13 ,) and uniform obedience for the time to come. Thou shalt call me, My Father, and shalt not turn away from me — On these conditions I will put thee among the children. Jeremiah 3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 3:20-21 . Surely, as a wife treacherously departeth, &c. — This may be rendered, As a woman is not faithful to her husband, or, her friend, as the Hebrew ??? signifies. Here God returns to the carnal Israelites; so that the Jewish doctors seem to be right in calling the spirit of prophecy an abrupt spirit. So have you dealt treacherously with me — God, by thus reminding the Israelites of what they had formerly been, endeavours to bring them to repentance and new obedience for the time to come. A voice was heard, &c. — Here the prophet, foreseeing that some of them would at length be brought to true repentance for all their misdoings, represents them as bewailing themselves upon the high places, the scenes of their former idolatries. Compare Jeremiah 31:9 ; Jeremiah 50:4 ; Zechariah 12:10 . Or, as some think, he alludes to the usual practice of praying upon the tops of houses in great calamities, Isaiah 15:3 ; and Isaiah 22:1 ; Jeremiah 7:29 . For they have perverted their way — This is that which they lament: for this they bemoan themselves. They have forgotten the Lord their God — Of this t

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 7 CHAPTER II THE TRUST IN THE SHADOW OF EGYPT Jeremiah 2:1-37 ; Jeremiah 3:1-5 THE first of the prophet’s public addresses is, in fact, a sermon which proceeds from an exposure of national sin to the menace of coming judgment. It falls naturally into three sections, of which the first { Jeremiah 2:1-13 } sets forth Iahvah’s tender love to His young bride Israel in the old times of nomadic life, when faithfulness to Him was rewarded by protection from all external foes; and then passes on to denounce the unprecedented apostasy of a people from their God. The second ( Jeremiah 2:14-28 ) declares that if Israel has fallen a prey to her enemies, it is the result of her own infidelity to her Divine Spouse; of her early notorious and inveterate falling away to the false gods, who are now her only resource, and that a worthless one. The third section { Jeremiah 2:29-37 ; Jeremiah 3:1-5 } points to the failure of Iahvah’s chastisements to reclaim a people hardened in guilt, and in a self-righteousness which refused warning and despised reproof; affirms the futility of all human aid amid the national reverses; and cries woe on a too late repentance. It is not difficult to fix the time of this noble and pathetic address. That which follows it, and is intimately connected with it in substance, was composed "in the days of Josiah the king," { Jeremiah 3:6 } so that the present one must be placed a little earlier in the same reign; and, considering its position in the book, may very probably be assigned to the thirteenth year of Josiah, i.e., B.C. 629, in which the prophet received his Divine call. This is the ordinary opinion; but one critic (Knobel) refers the discourse to the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, on account of the connection with Egypt which is mentioned in Jeremiah 2:18 , Jeremiah 2:36 , and the humiliation suffered at the hands of the Egyptians which is mentioned in Jeremiah 2:16 ; while another (Graf) maintains that chapters 2-6 were composed in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, as if the prophet had committed nothing to writing before that date-an assumption which seems to run counter to the implication conveyed by his own statement, Jeremiah 36:2 . This latter critic has failed to notice the allusions in Jeremiah 4:14 ; Jeremiah 6:8 to an approaching calamity which may be averted by national reformation, to which the people are invited; -an invitation wholly incompatible with the prophet’s attitude at that hopeless period. The series of prophecies beginning at Jeremiah 4:3 is certainly later in time than the discourse we are now considering; but as certainly belongs to the immediate subsequent years. It does not appear that the first two of Jeremiah’s addresses were called forth by any striking event of public importance, such as the Scythian invasion. His new born consciousness of the Divine call would urge the young prophet to action; and in the present discourse we have the firstfruits of the heavenly impulse. It is a retrospect of Israel’s entire past and an examination of the state of things growing out of it. The prophet’s attention is not yet confined to Judah; he deplores the rupture of the ideal relations between Iahvah and His people as a whole ( Jeremiah 2:4 ; Jeremiah 3:6 ). As Hitzig has remarked, this opening address, in its finished elaboration, leaves the impression of a first outpouring of the heart, which sets forth at once without reserve the long score of the Divine grievances against Israel. At the same time, in its closing judgment, { Jeremiah 3:5 } in its irony, { Jeremiah 2:28 } in its appeals, { Jeremiah 2:21 ; Jeremiah 2:31 } and its exclamations, { Jeremiah 2:12 } it breathes an indignation stern and deep to a degree hardly characteristic of the prophet in his other discourses, but which was natural enough, as Hitzig observes, in a first essay at moral criticism, a first outburst of inspired zeal. In the Hebrew text the chapter begins with the same formula as chapter 1 ( Jeremiah 2:4 ): "And there fell a word of Iahvah unto me, saying." But the LXX reads: "And he said, Thus saith the Lord," a difference which is not immaterial, as it may be a trace of an older Hebrew recension of the prophet’s work, in which this second chapter immediately followed the original superscription of the book, as given in Jeremiah 1:1-2 , from which it was afterwards separated by the insertion of the narrative of Jeremiah’s call and visions. {cf. Amos 1:2 } Perhaps we may see another trace of the same thing in the fact that whereas chapter 1 sends the prophet to the rulers and people of Judah, this chapter is in part addressed to collective Israel ( Jeremiah 2:4 ); which constitutes a formal disagreement. If the reference to Israel is not merely retrospective and rhetorical, -if it implies, as seems to be assumed, that the prophet really meant his words to affect the remnant of the northern kingdom as well as Judah, -we have here a valuable contemporary corroboration of the much disputed assertion of the author of Chronicles, that king Josiah abolished idolatry "in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon even unto Naphtali, to wit, in their ruins round about," { 2 Chronicles 34:6 } as well as in Judah and Jerusalem; and that Manasseh and Ephraim and "the remnant of Israel" ( 2 Chronicles 34:9 ; 2 Chronicles 34:21 ) contributed to his restoration of the temple. These statements of the Chronicler imply that Josiah exercised authority in the ruined northern kingdom, as well as in the more fortunate south; and so far as this first discourse of Jeremiah was actually addressed to Israel as well as to Judah, those disputed statements find in it an undesigned confirmation. However this may be, as a part of the first collection of the author’s prophecies, there is little doubt that the chapter was read by Baruch to the people of Jerusalem in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. { Jeremiah 36:6 } "Go thou and cry in the ears of Jerusalem: Thus hath Iahvah said" (or "thought": This is the Divine thought concerning thee!) "I have remembered for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; thy following Me" (as a bride follows her husband to his tent) "in the wilderness, in a land unsown. A dedicated thing" (like the high priest, on whose mitre was graven) "was Israel to Iahvah, His first fruits of increase; all who did eat him were held guilty, ill would come to them, saith Iahvah" ( Jeremiah 2:2-3 ). "I have remembered for thee," i.e., in thy favour, to thy benefit-as when Nehemiah prays, "Remember in my favour, O my God, for good, all that I have done upon this people," { Nehemiah 5:19 } -"the kindness"-the warm affection of thy youth, "the love of thine espousals," or the charm of thy bridal state; { Hosea 2:15 ; Hosea 11:1 } the tender attachment of thine early days, of thy new born national consciousness, when Iahvah had chosen thee as His bride, and called thee to follow Him out of Egypt. It is the figure which we find so elaborately developed in the pages of Hosea. The "bridal state" is the time from the Exodus to the taking of the covenant at Sinai, { Ezekiel 16:8 } which was, as it were, the formal instrument of the marriage; and Israel’s young love is explained as consisting in turning her back upon "the flesh pots of Egypt," { Ezekiel 16:3 } at the call of Iahvah, and following her Divine Lord into the barren steppes. This forsaking of all worldly comfort for the hard life of the desert was proof of the sincerity of Israel’s early love. [The evidently original words "in the wilderness, a land unsown," are omitted by the LXX, which renders: "I remembered the mercy of thy youth, and the love of thy nuptials, (consummation), so that thou followedst the Holy One of Israel, saith Iahvah."] Iahvah’s "remembrance" of this devotion, that is to say, the return He made for it, is described in the next verse. Israel became not "holiness," but a holy or hallowed thing; a dedicated object, belonging wholly and solely to Iahvah, a thing which it was sacrilege to touch; Iahvah’s "firstfruits of increase." This last phrase is to be explained by reference to the well known law of the firstfruits, { Exodus 23:19 ; Deuteronomy 18:4 , Deuteronomy 26:10 } according to which the first specimens of all agricultural produce were given to God. Israel, like the firstlings of cattle and the firstfruits of corn and wine and oil, was consecrated to Iahvah; and therefore none might eat of him without offending. "To eat" or devour is a term naturally used of vexing and destroying a nation ( Jeremiah 10:25 ; Jeremiah 1:7 ; Deuteronomy 7:16 , "And thou shalt eat up all the peoples, which Jehovah thy God is about to give thee"; Isaiah 1:7 ; Psalm 14:4 , "Who eat up My people as they eat bread"). The literal translation is, "All his eaters become guilty (or are treated as guilty, punished); evil cometh to them"; and the verbs, being in the imperfect, denote what happened again and again in Israel’s history; Iahvah suffered no man to do His people wrong with impunity. This, then, is the first count in the indictment against Israel, that Iahvah had not been unmindful of her early devotion, but had recognised it by throwing the shield of sanctity around her, and making her inviolable against all external enemies ( Jeremiah 2:1-3 ). The prophet’s complaint, as developed in the following section ( Jeremiah 2:4-8 ), is that, in spite of the goodness of Iahvah, Israel has forsaken Him for idols. "Hear ye the word of Iahvah, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel." All Israel is addressed, and not merely the surviving kingdom of Judah, because the apostasy had been universal. A special reference apparently made in Jeremiah 2:8 to the prophets of Baal, who flourished only in the northern kingdom. We may compare the word of Amos "against the whole clan, " which Iahvah "brought up from the land of Egypt," { Amos 3:1 } spoken at a time when Ephraim was yet in the heyday of his power. "Thus hath Iahvah said, What found your fathers in Me, that was unjust, a single act of injustice, Psalm 7:4 ; not to be found in Iahvah, { Deuteronomy 32:4 } that they went far from Me and followed the Folly and were befooled (or ‘the Delusion and were deluded’)" ( Jeremiah 2:5 ). The phrase is used 2 Kings 17:15 in the same sense; "the (mere) breath," "the nothingness" or "vanity," being a designation of the idols which Israel went after; {cf. also Jeremiah 23:16 ; Psalm 62:11 ; Job 27:12 } much as St. Paul has written that an "idol is nothing in the world," { 1 Corinthians 8:4 } and that, with all this boasted culture, the nations of classical antiquity "became vain," or were befooled "in their imaginations," "and their foolish heart was darkened". { Romans 1:21 } Both the prophet and the apostle refer to that judicial blindness which is a consequence of persistently closing the eyes to truth, and deliberately putting darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, in compliance with the urgency of the flesh. For ancient Israel, the result of yielding to the seductions of foreign worship was, that "They were stultified in their best endeavours. They became false in thinking and believing, in doing and forbearing, because the fundamental error pervaded the whole life of the nation and of the individual. They supposed that they knew and honoured God, hut they were entirely mistaken; they supposed they were doing His will, and securing their own welfare, while they were doing and securing the exact contrary" (Hitzig). And similar consequences will always flow from attempts to serve two masters; to gratify the lower nature, while not breaking wholly with the higher. Once the soul has accepted a lower standard than the perfect law of truth, it does not stop there. The subtle corruption goes on extending its ravages farther and farther; while the consciousness that anything is wrong becomes fainter and fainter as the deadly mischief increases, until at last the ruined spirit believes itself in perfect health, When it is, in truth, in the last stage of mortal disease. Perversion of the will and the affections leads to the perversion of the intellect. There is a profound meaning in the old saying that, Men make their gods in their own likeness. As a man is, so will God appear to him to be. "With the loving Thou wilt shew Thyself loving; With the perfect, Thou wilt shew Thyself perfect; With the pure, Thou wilt shew Thyself pure; And with the perverse, Thou wilt shew Thyself froward". { Psalm 18:25 sq.} Only hearts pure of all worldly taint see God in His purity. The rest worship some more or less imperfect semblance of Him, according to the varying degrees of their selfishness and sin. "And they said not, Where is Iahvah, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that guided us in the wilderness, in a land of wastes and hollows (or desert and defile), in a land of drought and darkness (dreariness), in a land that no man passed through, and where no mortal dwelt" ( Jeremiah 2:6 ). "They said not, Where is Iahvah, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt." It is the old complaint of the prophets against Israel’s black ingratitude. So, for instance, Amos { Amos 2:10 } had written: "Whereas I-I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and guided you in the wilderness forty years"; and Micah: { Micah 6:3 sq.} "My people, what have I done unto thee, and how have I wearied thee? Answer against Me. For I brought thee up from the land of Egypt, and from a house of bondmen redeemed I thee." In common gratitude, they were bound to be true to this mighty Saviour; to enquire after Iahvah, to call upon Him only, to do His will, and to seek His grace. {cf. Jeremiah 29:12 sq.} Yet, with characteristic fickleness, they soon forgot the fatherly guidance, which had never deserted them in the period of their nomadic wanderings in the wilds of Arabia Petraea; a land which the prophet poetically describes as "a land of waste and hollows"-alluding probably to the rocky defiles through which they had to pass-and "a land of drought and darkness"; the latter an epithet of the Grave or Hades, { Job 10:21 } fittingly applied to that great lone wilderness of the south, which Israel had called "a fearsome," { Jeremiah 21:1 } and "a land of trouble and anguish," { Jeremiah 30:6 } whither, according to the poet of Job, "The caravans go up and are lost". { Jeremiah 6:18 } "And I brought you into the garden land, to eat its fruits and its choicest things; { Isaiah 1:19 ; Genesis 45:18 ; Genesis 45:20 ; Genesis 45:23 } and ye entered and defiled My land, and My. domain ye made a loathsome thing!" ( Jeremiah 2:7 ). With the wilderness of the wanderings is contrasted the "land of the carmel, " the land of fruitful orchards and gardens, as in Jeremiah 4:26 ; Isaiah 10:18 ; Isaiah 16:10 ; Isaiah 29:17 . This was Canaan, Iahvah’s own land, which He had chosen out of all countries to be His special dwelling place and earthly sanctuary; but which Israel no sooner possessed, than they began to pollute this holy land by their sins, like the guilty peoples whom they had displaced, making it thereby an abomination to Iahvah ( Leviticus 18:24 sq., cf. Jeremiah 3:2 ). "The priests they said not, Where is Iahvah? and they that handle the law, they knew ( i.e., regarded, heeded) Me not; and as for the shepherds ( i.e., the king and princes, Jeremiah 2:26 ), they rebelled against Me, and the prophets, they prophesied by (through) the Baal, and them that help not ( i.e., the false gods) they followed" ( Jeremiah 2:8 ). In the form of a climax, this verse justifies the accusation contained in the last, by giving particulars. The three ruling classes are successively indicted. {cf. Jeremiah 2:26 , Jeremiah 18:18 } The priests, part of whose duty was to "handle the law," i.e., explain the Torah, to instruct the people in the requirements of Iahvah, by oral tradition and out of the sacred law books, gave no sign of spiritual aspiration (cf. Jeremiah 2:6 ); like the reprobate sons of Eli, "they knew not" { 1 Samuel 2:12 } "Iahvah," that is to say, paid no heed to Him and His will as revealed in the book of the law; the secular authorities, the king and his counsellors, {"wise men," Jeremiah 18:18 } not only sinned thus negatively, but positively revolted against the King of kings, and resisted His will; while the prophets went further yet in the path of guilt, apostatising altogether from the God of Israel, and seeking inspiration from the Phoenician Baal, and following worthless idols that could give no help. There seems to be a play on the words Baal and Belial, as if Baal meant the same as Belial, "profitless," "worthless" (cf. 1 Samuel 2:12 : "Now Eli’s sons were sons of Belial; they knew not Iahvah." The phrase "they that help not," or "cannot help," suggests the term Belial; which, however, may be derived from "not," and "supreme," "God," and so mean "not-God," "idol," rather than "worthlessness," "unprofitableness," as it is usually explained). The reference may be to the Baal worship of Samaria, the northern capital, which was organised by Ahab, and his Tyrian queen. { Jeremiah 23:13 } "Therefore"-on account of this amazing ingratitude of your forefathers, -"I will again plead (reason, argue forensically) with you (the present generation in whom their guilt repeats itself) saith Iahvah, and with your sons’ sons (who will inherit your sins) will I plead." The nation is conceived as a moral unity, the characteristics of which are exemplified in each successive generation. To all Israel, past, present, and future, Iahvah will vindicate his own righteousness. "For cross" (the sea) "to the coasts of the Citeans" (the people of Citium in Cyprus) "and see; and to Kedar" (the rude tribes of the Syrian desert) "send ye, and mark well, and see whether there hath arisen a case like this. Hath a nation changed gods-albeit they are no gods? Yet My people hath changed his" (true) "glory for that which helpeth not" (or is worthless). "Upheave, ye heavens" (a fine paronomasia ), "at this, and shudder (and) be petrified," "be sore amazed" but Hitzig "be dry" stiff and motionless, { 1 Kings 13:4 } "saith Iahvah; for two evil things hath My people done: Me they have forsaken-a Fountain of living water-to hew them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that cannot" (imperf. potential) "hold water" (Hebrews the waters: generic article) ( Jeremiah 2:9-13 ). In these five verses, the apostasy of Israel from his own God is held up as a fact unique in history-unexampled and inexplicable by comparison with the doings of other nations. Whether you look westward or eastward, across the sea to Cyprus, or beyond Gilead to the barbarous tribes of the Cedrei, { Psalm 120:5 } nowhere will you find a heathen people that has changed its native worship for another; and if you did find such, it would be no precedent or palliation of Israel’s behaviour. The heathen in adopting a new worship simply exchanges one superstition for another; the objects of his devotion are "non-gods" ( Jeremiah 2:11 ). The heinousness and the eccentricity of Israel’s conduct lies in the fact that he has bartered truth for falsehood; he has exchanged "his Glory"-whom Amos { Amos 8:7 } calls the Pride (A.V., Excellency) of Jacob-for a useless idol; an object which the prophet elsewhere calls "The Shame" ( Jeremiah 3:24 , Jeremiah 11:13 ), because it can only bring shame and confusion upon those whose hopes depend upon it. The wonder of the thing might well be supposed to strike the pure heavens, the silent witnesses of it, with blank astonishment (cf. a similar appeal in Deuteronomy 4:26 ; Deuteronomy 31:28 ; Deuteronomy 32:1 , where the earth is added). For the evil is not single but twofold. With the rejection of truth goes the adoption of error; and both are evils. Not only has Israel turned his back upon "a fountain of living waters"; he has also "hewn him out cisterns, broken cisterns, that cannot hold water." The "broken cisterns" are, of course, the idols which Israel made to himself. As a cistern full of cracks and fissures disappoints the wayfarer, who has reckoned on finding water in it; so the idols, having only the semblance and not the reality of life, avail their worshippers nothing ( Jeremiah 2:8-11 ). In Hebrew the waters of a spring are called "living," { Genesis 21:19 } because they are more refreshing and, as it were, life giving, than the stagnant waters of pools and tanks fed by the rains. Hence by a natural metaphor, the mouth of a righteous man, or the teaching of the wise, and the fear of the Lord, are called a fountain of Proverbs 10:11 ; Proverbs 13:14 ; Proverbs 14:27 . "The fountain of life" is with Iahvah; { Psalm 36:10 } nay, He is Himself the Fountain of living waters; { Jeremiah 17:13 } because all life, and all that sustains or quickens life, especially spiritual life, proceeds from Him. Now in Psalm 19:8 it is said that "The law of the Lord-or, the teaching of Iahvah-is perfect, reviving (or restoring) the soul"; {cf. Lamentations 1:11 Ruth 4:15 } and a comparison of Micah and Isaiah’s statement that "Out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem," { Isaiah 2:3 Micah 4:2 } with the more figurative language of Joel { Joel 3:18 } and Zechariah, { Zechariah 14:8 } who speak of "a fountain going forth from the house of the Lord," and "living waters going forth from Jerusalem," suggests the inference that "the living waters," of which Iahvah is the perennial fountain, are identical with His law as revealed through priests and prophets. It is easy to confirm this suggestion by reference to the river "whose streams make glad the city of God"; { Psalm 46:4 } to Isaiah’s poetic description of the Divine teaching, of which he was himself the exponent, as "the waters of Shiloah that flow softly," { Isaiah 8:6 } Shiloah being a spring that issues from the temple rock; and to our Lord’s conversation with the woman of Samaria, in which He characterises His own teaching as "living waters," {St. John 4:10 } and as "a well of waters, springing up unto eternal Life" ( ibid . John 4:14 ). "Is Israel a bondman, or a homeborn serf? Why hath he become a prey? Over him did young lions roar; they uttered their voice; and they made his land a waste; his cities, they are burnt up" (or "thrown down"), "so that they are uninhabited. Yea, the sons of Noph and Tahpanes, they did bruise thee on the crown; Is not this what" (the thing that) "thy forsaking Iahvah thy God brought about for thee at the time He was guiding thee in the way?" ( Jeremiah 2:14-17 ), As Iahvah’s bride, as a people chosen to be His own, Israel had every reason to expect a bright and glorious career. Why was this expectation falsified by events? But one answer was possible, in view of the immutable righteousness, the eternal faithfulness of God. "The ruin of Israel was Israel’s own doing." It is a truth which applies to all nations, and to all individuals capable of moral agency, in all periods and places of their existence. Let no man lay his failure in this world or in the world to come at the door of the Almighty. Let none venture to repeat the thoughtless blasphemy which charges the All-Merciful with sending frail human beings to expiate their offences in an everlasting hell! Let none dare to say or think, God might have made it otherwise, but He would not! Oh, no; it is all a monstrous misconception of the true relations of things. You and I are free to make our choice now, whatever may be the case hereafter. We may choose to obey God, or to disobey; we may seek His will, or our own. The one is the way of life; the other, of death, and nothing can alter the facts; they are part of the laws of the universe. Our destiny is in our own hands, to make or to mar. If we qualify ourselves for nothing better than a hell-if our daily progress leads us farther and farther from God and nearer and nearer to the devil-then hell will be our eternal home. For God is love, and purity, and truth, and glad obedience to righteous laws; and these things, realised and rejoiced in, are heaven. And the man that lives without these as the sovereign aims of his existence-the man whose heart’s worship is centred upon something else than God-stands already on the verge of hell, which is "the place of him that knows not (and cares not for) God." And unless we are prepared to find fault with that natural arrangement whereby like things are aggregated to like, and all physical elements gravitate towards their own kind, I do not see how we can disparage the same law in the spiritual sphere, in virtue of which all spiritual beings are drawn to their own place, the heavenly minded rising to the heights above, and the contrary sort sinking to the depths beneath. The precise bearing of the question ( Jeremiah 2:14 ), "Is Israel a bondman, or a homeborn slave?" is hardly self-evident. One commentator supposes that the implied answer is an affirmative. Israel is a "servant," the servant, that is, the worshipper of the true God. Nay, he is more than a mere bondservant; he occupies the favoured position of a slave born in his lord’s house cf. Abraham’s three hundred and eighteen young men, { Genesis 14:14 } and therefore, according to the custom of antiquity, standing on a different footing from a slave acquired by purchase. The "home" or house is taken to mean the land of Canaan, which the prophet Hosea had designated as Iahvah’s "house" ( Hosea 9:15 ; Hosea 9:3 ); and the "Israel" intended is supposed to be the existing generation born in the holy land. The double question of the prophet then amounts to this: If Israel be, as is generally admitted, the favourite bondservant of Iahvah, how comes it that his lord has not protected him against the spoiler? But, although this interpretation is not without force, it is rendered doubtful by the order of the words in the Hebrew, where the stress lies on the terms for "bondman" and "homeborn slave"; and by its bold divergence from the sense conveyed by the same form of question in other passages of the prophet, Jeremiah 2:31 infra , where the answer expected is a negative one (cf. also Jeremiah 8:4-5 ; Jeremiah 14:19 ; Jeremiah 49:1 . The formula is evidently characteristic). The point of the question seems to lie in the fact of the helplessness of persons of servile condition against occasional acts of fraud and oppression, from which neither the purchased nor the homebred slave could at all times be secure. The rights of such persons, however humane the laws affecting their ordinary status, might at times be cynically disregarded both by their masters and by others (see a notable instance, Jeremiah 34:8 sqq.). Moreover, there may be a reference to the fact that slaves were always reckoned in those times as a valuable portion of the booty of conquest; and the meaning may be that Israel’s lot as a captive is as bad as if he had never known the blessings of freedom, and had simply exchanged one servitude for another by the fortune of war. The allusion is chiefly to the fallen kingdom of Ephraim. We must remember that Jeremiah is reviewing the whole past, from the outset of Iahvah’s special dealings with Israel. The national sins of the northern and more powerful branch had issued in utter ruin. The "young lions," the foreign invaders, had "roared against" Israel properly so called, and made havoc of the whole country (cf. Jeremiah 4:7 ). The land was dispeopled, and became an actual haunt of lions, { 2 Kings 17:25 } until Esarhaddon colonised it with a motley gathering of foreigners. { Ezra 4:2 } Judah too had suffered greatly from the Assyrian invasion in Hezekiah’s time, although the last calamity had then been mercifully averted (Sanherib boasts that he stormed and destroyed forty-six strong cities, and carried off 200,000 captives, and an innumerable booty). The implication is that the evil fate of Ephraim threatens to overtake Judah; for the same moral causes are operative, and the same Divine will which worked in the past is working in the present, and will continue to work in the future. The lesson of the past was plain for those who had eyes to read and hearts to understand it. Apart from this prophetic doctrine of a Providence which shapes the destinies of nations, in accordance with their moral deserts, history has no value except for the gratification of mere intellectual curiosity. "Aye, and the children of Noph and Tahpanhes they bruise(?) used to bruise; are bruising: thee on the crown" ( Jeremiah 2:16 ). This obviously refers to injuries inflicted by Egypt, the two royal cities of Noph or Memphis, and Tahpanhes or Daphnae, being mentioned in place of the country itself. Judah must be the sufferer, as no Egyptian attack on Ephraim is anywhere recorded; while we do read of Shishak’s invasion of the southern kingdom in the reign of Rehoboam, both in the 1 Kings 14:25 , and in Shishak’s own inscriptions on the walls of the temple of Amen at Karnak. But the form of the Hebrew verb seems to indicate rather some contemporary trouble; perhaps plundering raids by an Egyptian army, which about this time was besieging the Philistine stronghold of Ashdod (Herod., 2:157). "The Egyptians are bruising (or crushing) thee" seems to be the sense; and so it is given by the Jewish commentator Rashi ( diffringunt ). Our English marginal rendering "fed on" follows the traditional pronunciation of the Hebrew term which is also the case with the Targum and the Syriac versions; but this can hardly be right, unless we suppose that the Egyptians infesting the frontier are scornfully compared to vermin of a sort which, as Herodotus tells us, the Egyptians particularly disliked (but cf. Micah 5:5 ; Ges., depascunt , "eating down":) The A.V. of Jeremiah 2:17 presents a curious mistake, which the Revisers have omitted to correct. The words should run, as I have rendered them, "Is not this"-thy present ill fortune-"the thing that thy forsaking of Iahvah thy God did for thee-at the time when He was guiding thee in the way?" The Hebrew verb does not admit of the rendering in the perf. tense, for it is an impf. nor is it a 2d pers. fem. but a 3d. The LXX has it rightly, but leaves out the next clause which specifies the time. The words, however, are probably original; for they insist, as Jeremiah 2:5 and Jeremiah 2:31 insist, on the groundlessness of Israel’s apostasy. Iahvah had given no cause for it; He was fulfilling His part of the covenant by "guiding them in the way." Guidance or leading is ascribed to Iahvah as the true "Shepherd of Israel" ( Jeremiah 31:9 ; Psalm 80:1 ). It denotes not only the spiritual guidance which was given through the priests and prophets; but also that external prosperity, those epochs of established power and peace and plenty, which were precisely the times chosen by infatuated Israel for defection from the Divine Giver of her good things. As the prophet Hosea expresses it, Hosea 2:8 sq., " She knew not that it was I who gave her the corn and the new wine and the oil; and silver I multiplied unto her, and gold, which they made into the Baal. Therefore will I take back My corn in the time of it, and My new wine in its season, and will snatch away My wool and My flax, which were to cover her nakedness." And { Jeremiah 13:6 } the same prophet gives this plain account of his people’s thankless revolt from their God: "When I fed them, they were sated; sated were they, and their heart was lifted up: therefore they forgot Me." It is the thought so forcibly expressed by the minstrel of the Book of the Law { Deuteronomy 32:15 } first published in the early days of Jeremiah: "And Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked; Thou waxedst fat, and gross and fleshy! And he forsook the God that made him, And made light of his protecting Rock." And, lastly, the Chronicler has pointed the same moral of human fickleness and frailty in the case of an individual, Uzziah or Azariah, the powerful king of Judah, whose prosperity seduced him into presumption and profanity: { 2 Chronicles 26:16 } "When he grew strong, his heart rose high, until he dealt corruptly, and was unfaithful to Iahvah his God." I need not enlarge on the perils of prosperity; they are known by bitter experience to every Christian man. Not without good reason do we pray to be delivered from evil "In all time of our wealth"; nor was that poet least conversant with human nature who wrote that "