Holy Bible

Do no wrong. Jeremiah 22:3 Wrong W. Birch. The meaning of the word "wrong" is, something that is twisted from the straight line. Do you say you have not done wrong? When you set yourself up as a pattern of goodness, and at the same time turn up your nose at your erring acquaintance, it leads one to think that your angelic profession may cover the filthy rags of human sin. Some people profess too much. If they would acknowledge to some fault and confess that occasionally they are common metal like everybody else, we should respect them. People who will not permit you to think that they have ever done wrong, are often very unfeeling in their dealings with a person that has "made a fool of himself." The man who feels himself to be a wrong-doer, is the most compassionately helpful to those that have fallen. When I hear anybody speaking harshly or ridiculing somebody who has done wrong and been found out, I fear that the only way to save them is for God to let them also fall into the mire of iniquity. Bear patiently with wrong-doers, and give them time to repent. Had they possessed your light, your education, your good parents and your virtuous surroundings, they might have lived a nobler life. When a man or a woman has done wrong, do not cast a stone at them; let us, if we can, lead them on to the path of right. 1. Let me urge that you do no wrong in your intentions. Let us weigh well our motives. Before doing any act, we should consider its intent, and ask ourselves, "What is my intention? Is it the glory of God, the good of man, or only my own advantage — my own indulgence?" When the intention is wholly selfish it is pretty sure to cause disappointment and misery; but when the intention is unselfish, it is likely to result in happiness both to ourselves and others. 2. It is also a matter of course that every true Christian should do no wrong in his practice. We profess much; let us seek to practise what we profess. I do not suppose that we are at present on such a high level as that shown in the spirit of the life of Christ; but let us aim at it, and though we fall, let us rise and try again. A farmer one day went to his landlord, Earl Fitzwilliam, saying, "Please, your lordship, the horses and hounds last week quite destroyed my field of wheat. The earl said "I am very sorry; how much damage do you think they did?" The farmer replied, "Well, your lordship, I don't think £50 would make it right." The earl immediately wrote out his order for £50 and handed it to the farmer, saying, "I hope it will not be so bad as you think." So they parted. Months afterwards, the same old farmer came to the hall again, and when admitted into the library, said, "Please, your lordship, I have brought back that £50." The earl exclaimed, "Why, what for?" The farmer said, "Well, because I find that the trodden field of wheat has turned out to be a better crop than any of the others. So I have brought the money back." The earl exclaimed, "This is as it should be; it is doing right between man and man." He tore up the order and wrote another, saying, "Here, my good friend, is an order for a hundred pounds; keep it by you till your eldest son is twenty-one and then give it him as a present from me, and tell him how it arose." Now I think the honest farmer sets a good example to us all No doubt the tempter whispered in the ear of his soul, "The earl will never miss that £50. Why, farmer, you don't mean to say you are going to give the morley back!" But the honest old John Bull of a farmer replied, "It would be wrong, you know, for me to keep that £50." Do no wrong to your neighbour, either in competition of business, or in your social and political relationship. Every man has a weak side to his character, and a tendency to do wrong in some direction. In other words, every man is a spiritual invalid who wants a heavenly prescription to restore him to health. Now, when your body is ill, you send for a doctor who counts your pulse and asks where your pain is, and how you feel. If you do not tell him all the truth, he does not know how to treat you. In the same way, when we are spiritually sick, we should confess all the symptoms of our sin-disease to the Great Physician of heaven. Let us be humble and honest enough to tell Him our sins. ( W. Birch. ) Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him. Jeremiah 22:10, 11 The prophet and the exile B. Moffett, M. A. I. "THE DEAD," probably Josiah, for whom a long mourning was kept ( 2 Chronicles 35:24 ; Zechariah 12:11 ). Shallum is Jehoahaz ( 2 Kings 23:33 ). II. The chapter, even the text, suggests THE PICTURE OF THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE PROPHET AND THE SYMPATHY OF THE PROPHETS. 1. Jeremiah had begun to work when a better time seemed to dawn ( Jeremiah 1:2 ). His hopes had been baffled, his words neglected, by "the guilt that scorns to be forgiven." Could human lot be more sad than thus to foresee the coming ruin, and to be helpless to avert it? 2. The true prophet, in spite of the people's sin, sympathises with them ( 1 Samuel 12:20-22 ). The Prophet of prophets did so. The king's captivity was only a type and foretaste of that of the nation. III. THE LOVE OF ONE'S COUNTRY IS FREELY RECOGNISED IN SCRIPTURE ( Psalm 137 ; Psalm 102 ). National life is an ordinance of nature. National as real as home affections. The sorrows and joys which they bring are alike used for our discipline by Him who knows whereof we are made. IV. THE CAPTIVITIES, TERRIBLE AS THEY WERE, SERVED GOOD ENDS. 1. To wean the people from idolatry. 2. To draw them nearer to God. All affliction used aright does so. 3. To turn the people more to prayer, which seems to have become more common after the Babylonian captivity ( Isaiah 66:1, 2 ; Daniel 6:10 ; Daniel 9:3, 19 ). V. THE DEAD ARE IN THE HANDS OF GOD, BEYOND OUR REACH. Weep rather for those who are living, torn away from the city of God. 1. Those who have been ensnared by their own sins and carelessness. 2. Those who are brought up in vice through circumstances of birth. Slaves of worse than Egyptian bondage ( John 8:34 ). 3. Those of our own countrymen who, from duty or circumstances, are in foreign lands, and away from outward tokens of the Church. But should we merely mourn for these, and do nothing for them? VI. Jeremiah a forerunner of the Lord, and A TYPE OF HIS SERVANTS IN WITNESSING TO THE TRUTH, and in the endurance of persecution and disappointment of hope. ( B. Moffett, M. A. ) Did not thy father eat and drink. Jeremiah 22:15, 16 God's expostulation with Jehoiakim Job Orion, D. D. I. GOD REMEMBERETH THE PIETY AND USEFULNESS OF OUR ANCESTORS, AND OBSERVETH HOW FAR WE RESEMBLE THEM. The Eternal Mind cannot possibly forget anything. All things past, as well as present, are naked and open before His eyes. He remembers all the way in which our fathers walked; the secret piety of their hearts; the evidences of it in their lives, and all the service they did for God and their generation. He remembered how piously Josiah walked, and mentions it to his honour. God hath a kind remembrance of His faithful servants, when they are departed out of this world; and is "not unrighteous, to forget any work and labour of love" which they have performed. Let it be further observed, that God takes notice how far we resemble them. Thus He chargeth it upon Jehoiakim, that he had not trod in his father's steps. God can and will make a just estimate, what our religious advantages are, compared with theirs, and what improvement we make of these advantages. He observeth every instance of declension from that which is good, and the principles from which our departures from God and religion flow. II. YOUNG PERSONS OFTEN FORSAKE THE RELIGION OF THEIR FATHERS, THROUGH PRIDE, AND LOVE OF ELEGANCE, POMP, AND SHOW. This was the case of Jehoiakim. No doubt it is lawful for persons of rank and fortune to build themselves houses and to beautify them; provided it be suitable to their circumstances, and no injury to justice or charity. But it was pride that led Jehoiakim to covet so much splendour, and practise so much injustice. This is a sin that easily besets the young, and often leads them to forsake the ways and the God of their fathers. They set out beyond their rank and circumstances, and begin where their wiser fathers ended. And this their pride and vanity leads them to forsake the religious profession of their fathers. Thus Jehoiakim, it is probable, turned idolater. He forsook the God of Israel, and persecuted His faithful prophets. Hence so many among us forsake the principles and profession of their ancestors; because the favour and preferments of the world and public fashion are not on that side. Set out in life, young friends, with moderate desires, wishes, and expectations. Be content with your rank and station. Endeavour to cultivate and strengthen religious principles and dispositions. Never compliment any at the expense of truth and conscience. Thus you will be able "to do justice and mercy," and will retain that steadfastness in religion which is true politeness, and improve in that humility which is the brightest ornament. III. IT IS A GREAT DISHONOUR AND REPROACH TO ANY TO FORSAKE THE GOOD WAYS OF THEIR FATHERS. Having fully known their manner of life, their devotion, purity, temperance, patience, charity, and love to God's house and ordinances, they must act a very mean and scandalous part, if they neglect these virtues, and show themselves blind to the lustre of such good examples. How justly may such be expostulated with, as Jehoiakim was in the text! Did thy father, young man, do justice and judgment, and assist the poor and needy? Was he sober, diligent, grave, and devout? And will it be to thy credit to be giddy, dishonest, idle, extravagant, and an associate with rakes and sots? Did thy mother, young woman, fill up her place honourably? Was she active, prudent, serious, and good tempered? Did she sanctify God's Sabbath, and labour to keep thee from pride and levity, and dangerous acquaintance? And wilt thou forget all this, and run into every fashionable folly? Will this be for thy reputation and comfort? But there is a more weighty thought than this, yet to be urged; and that is, if you act thus, you will forfeit the favour of God. There are terrible threatenings, in the context and other places of this prophecy, against this wicked Jehoiakim. All his wealth, pomp, and power could not shield him from the judgments of God. A few years after this prophecy, the King of Babylon seized him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon; but, being released upon his promise of allegiance, he afterwards rebelled, was slain in a sally out of Jerusalem, and was "buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (ver. 19), and had no child "to sit upon the throne of David" ( 2 Chronicles 36:6 ; Jeremiah 36:30 ). If you forsake the religion of your pious ancestors, it will be to your shame. IV. THE WAY OF RELIGION IS THE WAY OF WISDOM, HONOUR, AND HAPPINESS. 1. The way of religion is the way of wisdom ( Psalm 111:10 ). With this the New Testament agreeth ( 1 John 2:3, 4 ). Many think themselves wiser than their good fathers; and perhaps they may have juster notions of religion, and be more free from superstition and enthusiasm. Yet, "while they profess to know God," they may "in works deny Him," and "love the praise of man more than the praise of God." And thus they prove that they are not so wise as their fathers. 2. The way of religion is also the way of honour. Josiah was universally esteemed while living, and much lamented when dead. The prophet Jeremiah lamented for him. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him, and "made them an ordinance in Israel," that his remembrance should be kept up by some annual form of lamentation ( 2 Chronicles 35:25 ). Luxury and extravagance, splendour and show, are not the way to be truly honourable. The just, the generous, the friendly man, he who is strictly religious, and soberly singular, and who studies to do good to others, though he hath a mean house, and dresseth and liveth plain, this man will be held in reputation. 3. The way of religion is the way of happiness. It is the way to enjoy prosperity, and to have comfort in it. While we do well, it will certainly be well with us. If our views extended no further than the present life, it is our wisdom and interest to be steadfastly religious. But when we consider ourselves as in a state of trial for another world, and that our future state will be either happy or miserable forever, according to our present behaviour, it must be the greatest folly and madness to neglect religion, to sacrifice it to anything else, or not to make it the main business of our lives. ( Job Orion, D. D. ) With the burial of an ass. Jeremiah 22:18, 19 Dishonoured in death J. Parker, D. D. Jehoiakim was king, and yet not one word of thanks do we find, nor one word of love, nor one word of regret expressed concerning his fate. We should learn from this how possible it is to pass through the world without leaving behind us one sacred or loving memory. He that seeketh his life shall lose it. A man that sacrifices daily to his own ambition, and never sets before himself a higher ideal than his own gratification, may appear to have much whilst he actually has nothing, may even appear to be winning great victories, when he is really undergoing disastrous defeats. What is a grand house if there be not in it a loving heart? What are walls but for the pictures that adorn them? What is life but for the trust which knits it into sympathetic unity? What is the night but for the stars that glitter in its darkness? There is an awful process of retrogression continually operating in life. Experienced men will tell us that the issue of life is one of two things: either advancement, or deterioration; continual improvement, or continual depreciation: we cannot remain just where we are, adding nothing, subtracting nothing, but realising a permanence of estate and faculty. The powers we do not use will fall into desuetude, and the abilities which might have made life easy may be so neglected as to become burdens too heavy to be carried. It lies within a man's power so to live that he may be buried with the burial of an ass: no mourners may surround his grave; no beneficiaries may recall his charities; no hidden hearts may conceal the tender story of his sympathy and helpfulness. A bitter sarcasm this, that a man should be buried like an ass! ( J. Parker, D. D. ) The doom of the defrauder, libertine, and assassin T. De Witt Talmage. After a life of private or public iniquity, a man's death is not deplored. The obsequies may be pretentious — flags, wreaths, catafalques, military processions; but the world feels that a nuisance has been abated; he is cast forth by reason of the contempt of men; figuratively, if not literally, he is "buried with the burial of an ass." I. There is the romance of FRAUD. The heroes of this country are fast getting to be those who have most skill in swallowing "trust funds," banks, stocks, and moneyed institutions. I thank God when fortunes thus gathered go to smash. They are plague struck, and blast a nation. I like to have them made loathsome and an insufferable stench, so that honest young men may take warning. II. Next, I speak of the romance of LIBERTINISM. Society has severest retribution for the impurity that lurks about the cellars and alleys of the city. It cries out against it. It hurls the indignation of the law at it. But society becomes more lenient as impurity rises towards affluence and high social position, until, finally, it is silent, or disposed to palliate. Where is the judge, or the sheriff, or the police, who dare arraign for indecency the wealthy villain? Would God that the romance which flings its fascinations over the bestialities of high life might be gone! Whether it has canopied couch of eiderdown, or sleep amid the putridity of the low tenement house, four families in a room, God's consuming vengeance is after it. III. Next,. I speak of. the romance of ASSASSINATION. God gives life, and He only has a right to take it away; and that man who assumes this Divine prerogative has touched the last depth of crime. Society is alert for certain forms of murder. For garroting, or the beating out of life with a club, or axe, or slung shot, the law has a quick spring and a heavy stroke. But let a man come to wealth or social pretension, and then attempt to avenge his wrongs by aiming a pistol at the header heart of another, and immediately there are sympathies aroused. If capital punishment be right, then let the life of the polished murderer go with the life of the ignorant and vulgar assassin. Let there be no partiality of hemp, no aristocracy of the gallows. ( T. De Witt Talmage. ) The ignominious burial of the wicked T. Thain Davidson, D. D. Christ tells the story of a prosperous farmer who was clean intoxicated with success, and could not entertain a thought but of his gains, — how the very night that he had decided on the enlargement of his premises, a voice from heaven called his soul away; and whatever monument with flattering title his friends may have erected over his grave, God wrote his epitaph, in one word of four letters, "Fool." "Buried with the burial of an ass." No one will for a moment suppose that a splendid catafalque and imposing funeral obsequies betoken the close of a noble and honourable life. Ah! many a man is laid in one of yonder cemeteries with every form of ceremonial pomp, with gilt, and nodding plumes, and long rows of carriages and costly wreaths; and if the truth were told, a nuisance is being got rid of; the world will be better now that he is gone. Well might the artless child, who had been wandering among the tombstones, and reading the epitaphs, turn to its mother and say, "Mother, where are all the bad people buried?" ( T. Thain Davidson, D. D. ) A kings humiliating burial John Trapp. Our Richard II, for his exactions to maintain a great court and favourites, lost his kingdom, was starved to death at Pomfret Castle, and scarce afforded common burial. King Stephen was interred in Faversham monastery; but afterwards his body, for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffined, was cast into the river. ( John Trapp. ) I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. Jeremiah 22:21 Influence of prosperity W. H. Lewis, D. D. In heaven, the more abundantly God's bounties are dispensed, the more is He loved and adored; but on earth, the richer His gifts, the more will He be neglected and disobeyed. A striking proof of our depravity, that constant prosperity hardens, and is unfavourable to piety. I. ABUNDANT EARTHLY BLESSINGS DO TEND TO MAKE THE HEART REBELLIOUS TOWARDS GOD. 1. Scripture teachings are emphatic on this matter ( Deuteronomy 8:12-14 ; Hosea 13:6 ; Proverbs 30:8, 9 ). 2. Experience confirms Scripture. In many instances we see that the highest human virtues and holiest saints of God were unable to withstand the influence of prosperity. They could endure affliction, and profit thereby; as certain liquors ripen in the shade, which under the noonday beams turn to acidity and corruption. 3. It is doubtful whether there ever was a single instance of piety which could pass uninjured through the ordeal of unmingled prosperity. The tone of religion is lowered amid riches and honours. Where simplicity and humility of spirit are preserved amid prosperity, it is owing to some hidden trouble, which like the cord on the feet of the aspiring bird keeps the proud spirit lowly and abased. II. WHAT, THEN, MUST BE THE EFFECT OF PROSPERITY ON THOSE WHO HAVE NO RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE TO COUNTERACT IT, AND WHO ARE AVOWEDLY LOVERS OF THE WORLD AND ITS PLEASURES? 1. They will not heed the messages of God. 2. Religion, with its sober realities, is despised." 3. Those favoured of fortune are the most pitiable objects in the world. III. THEY WHO HAVE WORLDLY PROSPERITY SHOULD BE LED TO SELF-INQUIRY AS TO ITS EFFECT ON THEMSELVES. 1. Are you the same simple-hearted and sincere follower of Jesus as when you began to lay the foundation of your worldly exaltation? 2. What a caution is here to those who are seeking prosperity! Can you discover a means of preserving a lowly spiritual mind amid prosperity? Unless so, there is no alternative but that you must suffer adversity to keep you humble, or become worldly and spiritually hardened. 3. They who have become more indisposed to hear the voice of God should awake to their peril. 4. Prosperous ones may well regard their ease with apprehension. ( W. H. Lewis, D. D. ) Prosperity baneful S. Thodey. I. THE EXACTNESS WITH WHICH GOD OBSERVES ALL THAT RELATES TO HUMAN CHARACTER AND CONDUCT. 1. All our relative circumstances are immediately before His eye; and He notices with tender and faithful scrutiny the various effects which His merciful dispensations have upon the mind. 2. The circumstances of human life, however produced, are undoubtedly under the guidance of providence, and therefore subservient to a wise and perfect design. Each man's history is arranged and adapted with utmost precision to the growth of permanent character. II. THE TENDENCY OF UNSANCTIFIED PROSPERITY TO RENDER US INSENSIBLE TO THE CLAIMS OF RELIGION AND SEPARATE US STILL FURTHER FROM GOD. 1. Uninterrupted comfort tends to lessen our confidence in God: to form in the mind a feeling of self-confidence: a security nothing can shake: so much so that religion can make no entrance into the mind. 2. It hardens the heart. God would have every temporal blessing raise the inquiry, "Lord, what is man?" But wicked and irreligious men are only concerned for enjoyment, and for scope for their ambition. They feed and grovel like swine beneath the oak, without looking up to the boughs that bore the fruit, or the hand that shakes it down. 3. Then comes pride. Nebuchadnezzar. God is forgotten, prayer neglected. 4. Leaves a dulness and lethargy of mind. All Divine threatenings, warnings, promises unheeded. III. VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH GOD REBUKES THIS TENDENCY AND HUMBLES MEN. God speaks to men in various ways, and He distinctly marks the various impressions produced upon the mind by His communications. He speaks to us by His Word and ordinances, by the instructions we receive in religious education, by the various dispensations of His providence, by affliction, by mercies. ( S. Thodey. ) The perverseness of prosperity Anon. Why is prosperity so perverse? I. BECAUSE PROSPERITY OFTEN TENDS TO HARDNESS OF HEART. II. BECAUSE PROSPERITY OFTEN GROWS PROUD AND SELF-SUFFICIENT. Religion and the Bible are well enough for the poor, who need comfort, but what do they want with it, who have "more than heart could wish"? III. BECAUSE PROSPERITY IS OFTEN IMMERSED IN CARES OR PLEASURES. There is no room for religion. The voices of the counting house, the mart of commerce, the shop; or the voices of the pleasure takers, who call men to partake of their pastimes, so fill their ear that they will not obey the voice of God. "I have my nest in the cedars." ( Anon. ) The Christian prospering in business A. J. Morris. The voice of God to the prosperous, which they are in danger of not hearing, concerns — I. HUMILITY. 1. This humility will be shown towards God. There is a natural tendency in wealth to foster a spirit of sinful self-sufficience and independence of God. Many things conspire to this. Wealth is power. Not only the labour of the hands, but the thoughts, the will, and consciences of men may be bought. Wealth not only gives a sort of independence, but a sort of sovereignty. And, thus, it is an object of esteem and reverence. Now, whatever natural religion may teach us, it is certain that the Bible teaches, that "God giveth power to get wealth," and that we have nothing "which we have not received." Now, how comprehensive is the claim for humility involved in all this! It makes every difference, whether we be the authors of our wealth, or whether it be the gift of God. If we receive all, the more we have, the more we have received. The prosperous Christian should realise this; and, realising this, he will be grateful. The bounty of Providence will endear the thought of God. In proportion to his joy will be his thankfulness. 2. This feeling of dependence will respect the future, will influence the mode of regarding the continuance of good things. He who feels deeply that we are in the hands of God; that we are in a state of probation; that the great purpose of God is to try us, to reveal us, to exercise us, and especially to sanctify us; that we deserve nothing, while we receive everything; and that crosses and afflictions are often among the most gracious methods of Divine discipline; will regard the fluctuations of life as Divine dispensations. He will not say only, "It is the course of things," "It is the lot of man," "It must be expected," "It can't be helped," but he will say also, "It is the will of God." 3. Another aspect of this humility will be towards men. In pleading for humility in the rich Christian, I do not advocate an impossible equality, or a forgetfulness of outward distinctions. But I mean, that the feeling of human brotherhood and of Christian respect and affection should be displayed towards all; and that the favours of Providence should only bind us to a more careful regard to the will of our common Father, and a more delicate respect to the feelings of our brethren. II. SPIRITUALITY. 1. Spirituality is opposed to extravagance. He who prizes the manliness and integrity of his soul; he who would not render himself unfit for the possible reverses of life; he who would maintain a taste for the most exalted pleasures; he who is duly alive to the perilous corruption within him, ever ready, like a magazine of powder, to ignite from the smallest spark, or, like a river, on the removal of a little portion of embankment, to burst forth with desolating violence; he will err on the side rather of defect than of excess, and "deny himself" too much rather than smooth the way and strengthen the temptations of "the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life." 2. Spirituality is opposed to worldliness. He is worldly who "walks" not "with God; whose conversation is not in heaven; whose affections are not "set on things above"; who has no keen eye for the mysteries of the kingdom, no quick ear for its voices, no delicate sensibility to its impressions. Have you not many before your minds who have become worldly through prosperity 3. Spirituality is opposed to indolence. Prosperity says, "Take thine ease"! and men are but too ready to comply with the suggestion. The man well-to-do contributes to societies that perform the works in which he was engaged. He now works by proxy. He assigns his sphere to others. He is not idle; he supports all good things. But, my brother, the power to do this is additional to the powers you used to have, not instead of them. You did good then by personal service. That obligation remains. The ability to give does not destroy the ability to labour, and the purse cannot answer the demand for activity and effort. III. BENEVOLENCE. The very means of riches, the common way and method of getting rich, should teach this lesson. Why has God appointed commerce? Why given to men different faculties and spheres? Is it not all designed to impress the doctrine of brotherhood, and to draw out affections and promote deeds in keeping with it? The prosperous Christian should be a liberal Christian. It is not enough that he continue his gifts; he must increase them Proportion is God's rule. He estimates what we part with according to what we keep. A healthy saint will delight in being able to relieve his brethren, and one of the chief charms of prosperity, will be the power it gives him to be a minister for good. His first care will be his own, the needy kindred whose trials he may soothe by generous gifts, or whom he may more worthily and wisely serve by enabling them to serve themselves. His next will be the welfare of those by whose assistance he has succeeded. He will not think his duty done by a mere payment of wages; but will seek to promote their physical and mental and moral well-being. ( A. J. Morris. ) The danger of self-confidence Plain Sermons by Contributors to the Tracts for the Times. Christians are taught, at least in words, to believe that riches and, indeed, any kind of worldly prosperity are exceedingly dangerous to us — that they prove, very often, too great a trial for men's principles; a snare in which they are entangled to their own destruction. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God," to submit himself to the mortifying precepts of the Gospel. The word in the text translated "prosperity" signifies properly "calmness, tranquillity, self-satisfaction." It does not merely mean the possession of money, and other such advantages, but also any state or business of life, which makes a person unwilling to apply to his heart or his conscience those truths of the Gospel especially, which might lessen his confidence about himself, and him spiritual estate. When "God speaks to men in this their" fancied prosperity, "how often in the pride...of their hearts do they refuse to hear." They will "not hear, because they will not consider." Thus, for instance, when things go well with a man, and he has sufficient to maintain himself and his family comfortably his case is one of great difficulty and danger. There is this which makes prosperity a greater danger to us than adversity, that it renders us less willing to listen to the voice of truth and conscience. When worldly things have gone well with a person, and he has yet neglected his eternal interests, there is still hope that adversity may bring him back to his God. But if things have gone ill with a man, and yet he is still worldly-minded and irreligious, what hope is there that prosperity will effect what adversity could not do? The reason is, because worldly business, especially if it be at an successful, is apt to intoxicate the mind, as a dram, and to make a man unable to collect his thoughts and fix them steadily on any object which is not some way or other connected with his immediate interests. But adversity, and suffering, if the heart be not quite hardened against the convictions of conscience, as they make us feel our frailty and dependency, so they have a natural tendency to make us look beyond this present scene for support and con. solation. Let it also be considered, that a life of prosperity, and ease, and freedom from trouble, is the least suited for the exercise of those graces and virtues which are peculiarly Christian, and by which our souls are to be fitted for an entrance into that blessed land where sin and sorrow shall be lab more. It is quite certain and unquestionable, that the Gospel of Christ is uniformly addressed to us, as to persons on their trial and probation for an everlasting reward, — to persona who have it in their power to refuse or to receive the gracious offers made to them, — to persons who are to be through life exercised and disciplined, and led on by degrees towards that perfection of holiness from which our nature was degraded by the transgression of our first parents. Here, then, we may see and acknowledge the great danger of a life of prosperity, ease, and self-satisfaction; and, at the same time, the real benefit of adversity, suffering, and self-distrust. If, then, our gracious God have spoken to us in our prosperity, and we have refused to hear; if He have spoken to us in adversity, and our hearts have been somewhat softened at His gracious chastisement, then let us learn to bless Him for all His dispensations, indeed, but most of all for His punishments. ( Plain Sermons by Contributors to the Tracts for the Times. ) Man in material prosperity Homilist. I. ADDRESSED BY ALMIGHTY GOD. 1. Be humble. "Charge them that are rich," etc. Through the depravity of the heart, wealth has a tendency to fill the soul with self-sufficiency and pride. 2. Be spiritual. Through the depravity of the heart, wealth is often used so to pamper the appetites as to carnalise the soul. 3. Be generous. There is a tendency in wealth so to feed selfishness. II. REFUSING AN AUDIENCE WITH HIS MAKER. Material indulgence deadens the moral tympanum of the heart. "I will not hear" though Thou speakest in nature, in Providence, in the Bible, in conscience, in a thousand holy ministries, I will not hear. Why? — 1. Because I am happy as I am. I have all that I want; not only to supply my need

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 22:1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, Jeremiah 22:1-2 . Thus saith the Lord — The prophecy which follows to Jeremiah 23:9 , was evidently delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim; for it speaks of his immediate predecessor as already gone into captivity, and foretels the death of Jehoiakim himself. Blaney thinks it followed immediately after what is said in the xixth and xxth chapters to have passed in the temple precincts, from whence, as from a higher ground, he supposes the prophet is ordered to go down to the house of the king of Judah. Hear, &c., O king of Judah — Namely, Jehoiakim, ( Jeremiah 22:18 ,) who was established upon the throne by the king of Egypt, in the place of Jehoahaz, in the year of the world 3394, according to Archbishop Usher. That sittest on the throne of David — Thus the prophet puts him in mind of the promises God had made to David’s family, if they would live in obedience to his will, 1 Kings 8:25 . Thou, and thy servants, and thy people — Thy courtiers and other officers, who attend continually on thee, comprehending likewise all the people of the city: all whom this word of the Lord concerned; that enter in by these gates — Namely, the gates of the palace, whereby they went in to the king. The king was evidently at the gate of his palace, with his principal officers, when Jeremiah presented himself before him. Jeremiah 22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates: Jeremiah 22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3-5 . Thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgment, &c. — That is, administer justice to all your subjects. The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow are particularly named, as persons who have the fewest friends, and therefore are the most exposed to the tyranny, injustice, and oppression of the great. And do no wrong, do no violence, &c. — Compare Jeremiah 22:17 , where we find Jehoiakim charged with these sins. For if ye do this thing indeed — If ye will, not in pretence, but reality, do what is just and right to every one, and see that inferior magistrates, acting under you do so too; then shall there enter, &c. — See the note on Jeremiah 17:25 , where, instead of the gates of this house, the text reads, the gates of this city. And the context here shows, that the prophecy is directed, not only to the king’s court in particular, but likewise to the whole city of Jerusalem, one part of which was called the city of David; and the whole looked upon as a royal city, and the place of their king’s residence. Kings sitting upon the throne of David, &c. — There shall then be a succession of kings, and that uninterrupted, reigning in Judah, of David’s line, kings who shall enjoy a perfect tranquillity, and live in great state and dignity. But if ye will not hear these words — That is, if ye will not so hear as to obey them. I swear by myself, saith the Lord — That is, I resolve absolutely upon it; for God is not in Scripture said to swear, unless as speaking after the manner of men, and according to the actions of men; so that whenever this expression is employed, it is only to signify, that God would not revoke the thing spoken of, but that it should be immutable. Here, therefore, it implies that the sentence pronounced should certainly be executed, and that nothing could reverse it but the people’s sincere repentance, which condition is expressed in the foregoing part of the verse. See Hebrews 6:17 . This house shall become a desolation — This palace, of the kings of Judah shall fare no better than other habitations in Jerusalem, sin as certainly effecting the ruin of the houses of princes as those of mean men. Jeremiah 22:4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. Jeremiah 22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. Jeremiah 22:6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. Jeremiah 22:6-9 . For thus saith the Lord unto, or, concerning, the king’s house: Thou art Gilead unto me, &c. yet surely, &c. — “Though thou wert never so precious in my sight, as valuable for riches and plenty as the fat pastures of Gilead, and thy buildings as beautiful for their stateliness as the tall cedars of Lebanon, yet unless thy princes and people reform, thou shalt become nothing but ruin and desolation.” Thus Lowth. But Blaney translates the verse, Gilead art thou through me, O summit of Lebanon; surely I will make thee a desert, cities not inhabited. Which he interprets as follows, “Lebanon was the highest mountain in Israel, and was therefore an apt emblem of the reigning family advanced to the highest rank of dignity in the state. Gilead was the richest and most fertile part of the country. The meaning then is plainly this, By my providence thou art not only supreme in rank, but hast been rendered exceedingly wealthy and flourishing. But the same power that raised will likewise be exerted in reducing thee to the lowest state of indigence and distress.” And I will prepare — Hebrew, ??????? , I will sanctify destroyers against thee — That is, I will solemnly appoint and set them apart for the work of destroying thee. And they shall cut down thy choice cedars — Having compared the king’s palace, or the city of Jerusalem, to Lebanon, Jeremiah 22:6 , pursuing the metaphor, he threatens to destroy them and their most beautiful edifices by the Chaldean army. And many nations — Persons of many nations; shall pass by this city, &c. — Namely, when on their travels; and they shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city — They who have heard that this had been a very strong, rich, and populous city, and that it had been called the city of God, and the place of his especial residence, would be astonished to find it, through his judgments, a scene of ruin and desolation, and would require how such an effect came to be produced. Thus was fulfilled that threatening of Moses, Deuteronomy 28:37 , that God would make the Jews an astonishment to other nations. See likewise 1 Kings 9:8 . Then shall they answer — Some shall answer, or they shall answer one another. The reason is so obvious that it shall be ready in every man’s mouth. Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God; have revolted from their allegiance to him, and from the duty which they had solemnly covenanted to perform, and worshipped other gods and served them — In contempt of him; and therefore he gave them up to this destruction. Jeremiah 22:7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. Jeremiah 22:8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city? Jeremiah 22:9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. Jeremiah 22:10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. Jeremiah 22:10 . Weep ye not for the dead — This seems to be spoken of King Josiah, killed in battle with the Egyptians: see 2 Kings 23:29-30 , concerning whom the prophet here says that he was rather to be rejoiced over than lamented, since, by being taken soon out of life, he escaped the terrible evils which came upon his country. But weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more — Namely, Jehoahaz, who was carried captive into Egypt by Pharaoh-necho, and never more returned to his country. He is called Shallum in the next verse, but in all other places Jehoahaz. It seems probable that Shallum was his name before he ascended the throne, and that he changed it for Jehoahaz, as his brothers Eliakim and Mattaniah also assumed the names of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah on the like occasion, 2 Kings 23:34 ; 2 Kings 24:17 . Jeremiah 22:11 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more: Jeremiah 22:12 But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more. Jeremiah 22:13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; Jeremiah 22:13-16 . Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, &c. — “The prophet proceeds to denounce God’s judgments against Jehoiakim, (see Jeremiah 22:18 ,) who, it seems, built himself a stately palace in those calamitous times, and took no care to pay the wages of the workmen; but maintained his own luxury by the oppression of those who were to live by their labour: a crying sin, and too common among the great men of the world, severely prohibited both in the Old and New Testament.” — Lowth. See Deuteronomy 24:14-15 ; James 5:4 . That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers — Hebrew, ????? ?????? , chambers to the wind; that is, exposed, or open, to wind on every side. They used to enjoy the cool air in these chambers; the windows being so placed that they might receive the wind from whatever quarter it came. Shalt thou reign because thou closest thyself in cedar? — Will a house, finely adorned and furnished, be a fortress and defence to thee against thy enemies, that come to deprive thee of thy kingdom? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice, &c. — Did not Josiah live, and enjoy comfort in life as well as thou dost, though he did not indulge himself in such delicacies, and had not such magnificent apartments? Did he not live in sufficient plenty, and in a state suitable to his character, and yet strictly observed justice, both in his private and public capacity, and not betake himself to such sordid methods of injustice and oppression for the support of his grandeur? He did no wrong to any of his subjects, never oppressed them, or put any hardship upon them, but was careful to preserve to all their just rights and properties. Nay, he not only did not abuse his power for the support of wrong, but used it for the maintaining of right; he judged the cause of the poor and needy — Was ready to hear the cause of the meanest of his subjects, and do them justice; and then it was well with him — The blessing of God was upon him as the reward of his justice and integrity. He was comfortable in himself, and was useful to and respected by his subjects, and prospered in all that he put his hand to. Was not this to know me, saith the Lord? — Did he not hereby make it appear, that he rightly knew, worshipped, and served me, and consequently was known and owned by me? Observe, reader, the right knowledge of God implies the doing our duty to our fellow-creatures, as well as to God, particularly that duty which our place and station in the world require us to perform. Jeremiah 22:14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. Jeremiah 22:15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? Jeremiah 22:16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD. Jeremiah 22:17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it . Jeremiah 22:17 . But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness — They are for that, and for nothing else. For this cause Jehoiakim is compared to a lion, by the Prophet Ezekiel 19:6 . Observe, reader, in covetousness the heart walks after the eyes, Job 31:7 ; it is therefore called the lust of the eye, 1 John 2:15 : and the eyes and the heart are then for covetousness when the aims and affections are set upon the wealth of this world; and when they are so the temptation is strong to fraud, oppression, and all manner of violence and villany, even, as it is here said, to shed innocent blood. Jeremiah 22:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying , Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying , Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! Jeremiah 22:18-19 . They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! &c. — “The prophet here repeats part of the funeral ditty or song which the public mourners used to sing at funerals, (see note on Jeremiah 9:17 ; Jeremiah 20:14 , and compare 1 Kings 13:30 ,) signifying, that neither Jehoiakim, nor his queen or family, should be buried with those solemn lamentations with which the memory of his predecessors, particularly that of his father, had been honoured: see 2 Chronicles 35:25 . Saying, Ah Lord! or, Ah his glory! — That is, how is his glory departed and vanished! another burden or chorus of the funeral song. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass — None attending him to his grave, none mourning over him. Or, the meaning is, he shall have no burial: for the carcasses of asses are not buried. Drawn and cast forth, &c. — The expression seems to be taken from the custom of dogs to draw about a carcass before they tear and devour it. Jehoiakim, having been advanced to the kingdom by Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, 2 Kings 23:34 , followed the fortune of that king, and upon the conquest of Egypt by the Chaldeans, Jeremiah 46:2 , after three years’ reign, was taken prisoner by Nebuchadnezzar, and put into irons, Daniel 1:2 ; 2 Chronicles 36:6 . But afterward, it seems, the king of Babylon released him and made him a tributary king. After three years’ obedience, however, Jehoiakim rebelled, in confidence of assistance from Egypt. Soon after which Nebuchadnezzar’s army overran Judea, besieged Jerusalem, and probably took Jehoiakim prisoner in some sally that he made upon them, and killed him, and then cast out his dead body into the highway, denying him the common rites of burial: see 2 Kings 24:1-6 . Accordingly, he is said to have slept with his fathers, but not to have been buried with them: see also Joseph. Antiq., lib. 10. cap. 7, 8. Jeremiah 22:19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 22:20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed. Jeremiah 22:20 . Go up to Lebanon, and cry, &c. — The verbs here being in the feminine gender, the city of Jerusalem, or the land of Judea, seems to be addressed and called upon ironically to go to the tops of the high mountains, and to the frontiers of the country, and cry aloud for help to the neighbouring powers, but in vain, since all those who had any inclination to favour her, the Egyptians in particular, were themselves disabled and crushed by the arms of Nebuchadnezzar. Cry from the passages — Hebrew, ?????? , from the borders, or rivers, which are the bounds of your country. For the word signifies, not only the fords, or passages of a river, but the parts along each bank, and the confines or extremities of a country. For all thy lovers are destroyed — Or broken, as ?????? signifies: all thy foreign allies, whose friendship and assistance thou hast sought, and whom thou hast courted, by complying with their idolatries, are humbled. Jeremiah 22:21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. Jeremiah 22:21 . I spake unto thee in thy prosperity — Spake by my servants the prophets, in reproofs, admonitions, counsels; but thou saidst, I will not hear — Didst manifest by thy conduct that thou wouldest not obey. Such is too often the effect of prosperity. It puffs men up with pride and high-mindedness, and makes them despise the word of God, thinking themselves too wise to stand in need of advice, and therefore they defer attending to it, till they are in extremities, when it becomes of little or no benefit to them. The word ????? , however, which we translate prosperity, properly signifies security, and may be spoken of the false security in which the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem lived in times when they were threatened with the most grievous calamities, and which had been denounced to them by the prophets, from the time of Hezekiah on account of the idolatries and various other acts of wickedness of their kings and people; who nevertheless continued in their vices without any amendment. This hath been thy manner from thy youth — From thy being first formed into a people. See the margin. Jeremiah 22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. Jeremiah 22:22 . The wind shall eat up all thy pastors — Thy kings, princes, priests, and false prophets, who have presided over thy civil and religious affairs, shall be destroyed by my judgments, as plants are blasted by winds. God’s judgments are often compared to a scorching and blasting wind. Thy lovers shall go into captivity — Thy allies shall themselves be made captives by the Chaldeans, and shall not be able to preserve themselves, much less to give any assistance to thee. Jeremiah 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! Jeremiah 22:23 . O inhabitant of Lebanon — O thou that inhabitest the city which for pleasantness and delight may be compared to Lebanon. Or he alludes to the stately buildings of Jerusalem, elsewhere compared to the tall cedars of a forest: see note on Jeremiah 21:14 . That makest thy nest in the cedars — Who livest in houses built of cedars. How gracious shalt thou be — Or rather, how humble, or suppliant, wilt thou be, when pangs come upon thee — Those pangs of affliction which shall suddenly oppress thee, whereas before thou wast too proud to hearken to any advice that was offered. The Hebrew, ?? ????? , is rendered by Buxtorff, quam gratulaberis tibi, How wilt thou gratulate thyself when pangs, &c., understanding it as spoken ironically. Jeremiah 22:24 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; Jeremiah 22:24-28 . As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah were the signet, or, rather, the ring, upon my right hand — By Coniah he means Jehoiachin, whose name was Jeconiah, 1 Chronicles 3:16 , (for all Josiah’s sons had two names, and so had his grandchild Jeconiah,) here, in contempt, called Coniah; yet would I pluck thee thence — Though he were never so near and dear to me, as dear as a signet, or ring, which every man keeps safe, yet his wickedness would make him forfeit all my favour toward him. “The ring was anciently worn as a mark of sovereignty. When Alexander was dying, he gave his ring to Perdiccas, thus, as it were, marking him out for his successor.” And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee — We are informed, ( 2 Kings 24:15 ,) that Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin, that is, Jeconiah or Coniah, to Babylon, and his mother, and his wives, &c. Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol, &c. — Blaney renders the verse more literally, thus: “A contemptible, broken idol is this man Coniah? Or a vessel in which none delighteth? Wherefore are they cast forth, he and his seed, and thrown upon a land which they knew not?” As if he had said, “Would any one have thought that this man, who was invested with royal dignity, should be rendered no better than a broken image of royalty, a mere potsherd, utterly contemptible and useless?” Jeremiah 22:25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. Jeremiah 22:26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. Jeremiah 22:27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. Jeremiah 22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? Jeremiah 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. Jeremiah 22:29-30 . O earth, &c. — The word earth, or land rather, as ??? may be properly rendered, is repeated three times by way of emphasis, to engage the deeper attention. The prophet speaks to the land of Judea, which he commands to write down the following prediction, that it might be remembered by them, and the truth of it be thereby made manifest. Write ye this man childless — Hebrew, ????? , solitary, deprived, destitute. The LXX. render it ?????????? ???????? , an ejected, or expelled man; a man that shall not prosper in his days — This latter clause seems explanatory of the former; and that again is further explained in the following: “For no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.” That Jeconiah had children appears both from this verse and Jeremiah 22:28 ; but according to this prophecy, no man of his seed sat upon the throne of David. This seems the true exposition of this passage, which has been considered as attended with considerable difficulty. “I cannot,” says Blaney, “agree with the generality of commentators, who suppose that God hereby declares it as a thing certain, and, as it were, orders it to be inserted among the public acts of his government, that Jeconiah should die absolutely childless. Other parts of Scripture positively assert him to have had children, 1 Chronicles 3:17-18 ; Matthew 1:12 . Both Jeremiah 22:28 , and the subsequent part of this verse, imply that he either had, or should have, seed. But the historians and chroniclers of the times are called upon, and directed to set him down childless; not as being literally so, but yet the same to all intents and purposes of public life, for he was to be the last of his race that should sit upon the throne of David; and his descendants were no more to figure as kings, but to be reduced to the rank and obscurity of private persons. And in this sense the prophecy was actually fulfilled, for, allowing Zerubbabel, who is called governor of Judah, ( Haggai 1:1 ,) to have been a lineal descendant of Jeconiah, yet he could not be said to sit upon the throne of David, and reign, or rule, in Judah, seeing he was but a provincial governor, a mere servant of the king of Persia, in whom the sovereignty resided; nor were any of those persons kings who afterward reigned in Judah, even of the family of David, until the time of Christ.” Jeremiah 22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 22:1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, CHAPTER XXVI INTRODUCTORY "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."- Jeremiah 31:1 IN this third book an attempt is made to present a general view of Jeremiah’s teaching on the subject with which he was most preoccupied-the political and religious fortunes of Judah. Certain (30, 31, and, in part, 33) chapters detach themselves from the rest, and stand in no obvious connection with any special incident of the prophet’s life. These are the main theme of this book, and have been dealt with in the ordinary method of detailed exposition. They have been treated separately, and not woven into the continuous narrative, partly because we thus obtain a more adequate emphasis upon important aspects of their teaching, but chiefly because their date and occasion cannot be certainly determined. With them other sections have been associated, on account of the connection of subject. Further material for a synopsis of Jeremiah’s teaching has been collected from chapters 21-49, generally, supplemented by brief references to the previous chapters. Inasmuch as the prophecies of our book do not form an ordered treatise on dogmatic theology, but were uttered with regard to individual conduct and critical events, topics are not exclusively dealt with in a single section, but are referred to at intervals throughout. Moreover, as both the individuals and the crises were very much alike, ideas and phrases are constantly reappearing, so that there is an exceptionally large amount of repetition in the Book of Jeremiah. The method we have adopted avoids some of the difficulties which would arise if we attempted to deal with these doctrines in our continuous exposition. Our general sketch of the prophet’s teaching is naturally arranged under categories suggested by the book itself, and not according to the sections of a modern treatise on Systematic Theology. No doubt much may legitimately be extracted or deduced concerning Anthropology, Soteriology, and the like; but true proportion is as important in exposition as accurate interpretation. If we wish to understand Jeremiah, we must be content to dwell longest upon what he emphasised most, and to adopt the standpoint of time and race which was his own. Accordingly in our treatment we have followed the cycle of sin, punishment, and restoration, so familiar to students of Hebrew prophecy. NOTE SOME CHARACTERISTIC EXPRESSIONS OF JEREMIAH This note is added partly for convenience of reference, and partly to illustrate the repetition just mentioned as characteristic of Jeremiah. The instances are chosen from expressions occurring in chapters 21-52. The reader will find fuller lists dealing with the whole book in the "Speaker’s Commentary" and the "Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges." The Hebrew student is referred to the list in Driver’s "Introduction," upon which the following is partly based. 1. "Rising up early": Jeremiah 7:13 ; Jeremiah 7:25 ; Jeremiah 11:7 ; Jeremiah 25:3-4 ; Jeremiah 26:5 ; Jeremiah 29:19 ; Jeremiah 32:33 ; Jeremiah 35:14-15 ; Jeremiah 44:4 . This phrase, familiar to us in the narratives of Genesis and in the historical books, is used here, as in 2 Chronicles 36:15 , of God addressing His people on sending the prophets. 2. "Stubbornness of heart" (A.V. imagination of heart): Jeremiah 3:17 ; Jeremiah 7:24 ; Jeremiah 9:14 ; Jeremiah 11:8 ; Jeremiah 13:10 ; Jeremiah 16:12 ; Jeremiah 18:12 ; Jeremiah 23:17 ; also found Deuteronomy 29:19 and Psalm 81:15 . 3. "The evil of your doings": Jeremiah 4:4 ; Jeremiah 21:12 ; Jeremiah 23:2 ; Jeremiah 23:22 ; Jeremiah 25:5 ; Jeremiah 26:3 ; Jeremiah 44:22 ; also Deuteronomy 28:20 ; 1 Samuel 25:3 ; Isaiah 1:16 ; Hosea 9:15 ; Psalm 28:4 ; and in slightly different form in Jeremiah 11:18 and Zechariah 1:4 . "The fruit of your doings": Jeremiah 17:10 ; Jeremiah 21:14 ; Jeremiah 32:19 ; also found in Micah 7:13 . "Doings, your doings," etc., are also found in Jeremiah and elsewhere. 4. "The sword, the pestilence, and the famine," in various orders, and either as a phrase or each word ocurring in one of three successive clauses: Jeremiah 14:12 ; Jeremiah 15:2 ; Jeremiah 21:7 ; Jeremiah 21:9 ; Jeremiah 24:10 ; Jeremiah 27:8 ; Jeremiah 27:13 ; Jeremiah 29:17-18 ; Jeremiah 32:24 ; Jeremiah 32:36 ; Jeremiah 34:17 ; Jeremiah 38:2 ; Jeremiah 42:17 ; Jeremiah 42:22 ; Jeremiah 44:13 . "The sword and the famime," with similar variations: Jeremiah 5:12 ; Jeremiah 11:22 ; Jeremiah 14:13 ; Jeremiah 14:15-16 ; Jeremiah 14:18 ; Jeremiah 16:4 ; Jeremiah 18:21 ; Jeremiah 42:16 ; Jeremiah 44:12 ; Jeremiah 44:18 ; Jeremiah 44:27 . Cf. similar lists, etc., "death . . . sword . . . captivity," in Jeremiah 43:11 : "war . . . evil . . . pestilence," Jeremiah 28:8 . 5. "Kings . . . princes . . . priests . . . prophets," in various orders and combinations: Jeremiah 2:26 ; Jeremiah 4:9 ; Jeremiah 8:1 ; Jeremiah 13:13 ; Jeremiah 24:8 ; Jeremiah 32:32 . Cf. "Prophet . . . priest . . . people," Jeremiah 23:33-34 . "Prophets . . . diviners . . . dreamers . . . enchanters . . . sorcerers," Jeremiah 27:9 . CHAPTER XXIX RUIN Jeremiah 22:1-9 ; Jeremiah 26:14 "The sword, the pestilence, and the famine,"- Jeremiah 21:9 and passim. "Terror on every side."- Jeremiah 6:25 ; Jeremiah 20:10 ; Jeremiah 46:5 ; Jeremiah 49:29 ; also as proper name, MAGOR-MISSABIB, Jeremiah 20:3 . WE have seen, in the two previous chapters, that the moral and religious state of Judah not only excluded any hope of further progress towards the realisation of the Kingdom of God, but also threatened to involve Revelation itself in the corruption of His people. The Spirit that opened Jeremiah’s eyes to the fatal degradation of his country showed him that ruin must follow as its swift result. He was elect from the first to be a herald of doom, to be set "over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, and to destroy and to overthrow." { Jeremiah 1:10 } In his earliest vision he saw the thrones of the northern conquerors set over against the walls of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. { Jeremiah 1:15 } But Jeremiah was called in the full vigor of early manhood; he combined with the uncompromising severity of youth its ardent affection and irrepressible hope. The most unqualified threats of Divine wrath always carried the implied condition that repentance might avert the coming judgment; and Jeremiah recurred again and again to the possibility that, even in these last days, amendment might win pardon. Like Moses at Sinai and Samuel at Ebenezer, he poured out his whole soul in intercession for Judah, only to receive the answer, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight and let them go forth." { Jeremiah 15:1 } The record of these early hopes and prayers is chiefly found in chapters 1-20, and is dealt with in "The Prophecies of Jeremiah," preceding. The prophecies in Jeremiah 14:1 - Jeremiah 17:18 seem to recognise the destiny of Judah as finally decided, and to belong to the latter part of the reign of Jehoiakim, and there is little in the later chapters of an earlier date. In Jeremiah 22:1-5 the king of Judah is promised that if he and his ministers and officers will refrain from oppression, faithfully administer justice, and protect the helpless, kings of the elect dynasty shall still pass with magnificent retinues in chariots and on horses through the palace gates to sit upon the throne of David. Possibly this section belongs to the earlier part of Jeremiah’s career. But there were pauses and recoils in the advancing tide of ruin, alternations of hope and despair; and these varying experiences were reflected in the changing moods of the court, the people, and the prophet himself. We may well believe that Jeremiah hastened to greet any apparent zeal for reformation with a renewed declaration that sincere and radical amendment would be accepted by Jehovah. The proffer of mercy did not avert the ruin of the state, but it compelled the people to recognise that Jehovah was neither harsh nor vindictive. His sentence was only irrevocable because the obduracy of Israel left no other way open for the progress of Revelation, except that which led through fire and blood. The Holy Spirit has taught mankind in many ways that when any government or church, any school of thought or doctrine, ossifies so as to limit the expansion of the soul, that society or system must be shattered by the forces it seeks to restrain. The decadence of Spain and the distractions of France sufficiently illustrate the fruits of persistent refusal to abide in the liberty of the Spirit. But until the catastrophe is clearly inevitable, the Christian, both as patriot and as churchman, will be quick to cherish all those symptoms of higher life which indicate that society is still a living organism. He will zealously believe and teach that even a small leaven may leaven the whole mass. He will remember that ten righteous men might have saved Sodom; that, so long as it is possible, God will work by encouraging and rewarding willing obedience rather than by chastising and coercing sin. Thus Jeremiah, even when he teaches that the day of grace is over, recurs wistfully to the possibilities of salvation once offered to repentance. { Jeremiah 27:18 } Was not this the message of all the prophets: "Return ye now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah hath given unto your fathers"? { Jeremiah 25:5 ; Jeremiah 25:15 } Even at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign Jehovah entrusted Jeremiah with a message of mercy, saying: "It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings." { Jeremiah 26:3 ; Jeremiah 36:2 } When the prophet multiplied the dark and lurid features of his picture, he was not gloating with morbid enjoyment over the national misery, but rather hoped that the awful vision of judgment might lead them to pause, and reflect, and repent. In his age history had not accumulated her now abundant proofs that the guilty conscience is panoplied in triple brass against most visions of judgment. The sequel of Jeremiah’s own mission was added evidence for this truth. Yet it dawned but slowly on the prophet’s mind. The covenant of emancipation (Chapter 11) in the last days of Zedekiah was doubtless proposed by Jeremiah as a possible beginning of better things, an omen of salvation, even at the eleventh hour. To the very last the prophet offered the king his life and promised that Jerusalem should not be burnt, if only he would submit to the Chaldeans, and thus accept the Divine judgment and acknowledge its justice. Faithful friends have sometimes stood by the drunkard or the gambler, and striven for his deliverance through all the vicissitudes of his downward career; to the very last they have hoped against hope, have welcomed and encouraged every feeble stand against evil habit, every transient flash of high resolve. But, long before the end, they have owned, with sinking heart, that the only way to salvation lay. through the ruin of health, fortune, and reputation. So, when the edge of youthful hopefulness had quickly worn itself away, Jeremiah knew in his inmost heart that, in spite of prayers and promises and exhortations, the fate of Judah was sealed. Let us therefore try to reproduce the picture of coming ruin which Jeremiah kept persistently before the eyes of his fellow country men. The pith and power of his prophecies lay in the prospect of their speedy fulfilment. With him, as with Savonarola, a cardinal doctrine was that "before the regeneration must come the scourge," and that "these things wilt come quickly." Here, again, Jeremiah took up the burden of Hosea’s utterances. The elder prophet said of Israel, "The days of visitation are come"; { Hosea 9:7 } and his successor announced to Judah the coming of "the year of visitation." { Jeremiah 23:12 } The long deferred assize was at hand, when the Judge would reckon with Judah for her manifold infidelities, would pronounce sentence and execute judgment. If the hour of doom had struck, it was not difficult to surmise whence destruction would come or the man who would prove its instrument. The North (named in Hebrew the hidden quarter) was to the Jews the mother of things unforeseen and terrible. Isaiah menaced the Philistines with "a smoke out of the north," { Isaiah 14:30 } i.e., the Assyrians. Jeremiah and Ezekiel both speak very frequently of the destroyers of Judah as coming from the north. Probably the early references in our book to northern enemies denote the Scythians, who invaded Syria towards the beginning of Josiah’s reign; but later on the danger from the north is the restored Chaldean Empire under its king Nebuchadnezzar. "North" is even less accurate geographically for Chaldea than for Assyria. Probably it was accepted in a somewhat symbolic sense for Assyria, and then transferred to Chaldea as her successor in the hegemony of Western Asia. Nebuchadnezzar is first introduced in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; after the decisive defeat of Pharaoh Necho by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish, Jeremiah prophesied the devastation of Judah by the victor; it is also prophesied that he is to carry Jehoiachin away captive, and similar prophecies were repeated during the reign of Zedekiah. { Jeremiah 16:7 ; Jeremiah 28:14 } Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldeans very closely resembled the Assyrians, with whose invasions the Jews had long been only too familiar; indeed, as Chaldea had long been tributary to Assyria, it is morally certain that Chaldean princes must have been present with auxiliary forces at more than one of the many Assyrian invasions of Palestine. Under Hezekiah, on the other hand, Judah had been allied with Merodach-baladan of Babylon against his Assyrian suzerain. So that the circumstances of Chaldean invasions and conquests were familiar to the Jews before the forces of the restored empire first attacked them; their imagination could readily picture the horrors of such experiences. But Jeremiah does not leave them to their unaided imagination, which they might preferably have employed upon more agreeable subjects. He makes them see the future reign of terror, as Jehovah had revealed it to his shuddering and reluctant vision. With his usual frequency of iteration, he keeps the phrase "the sword, the famine, and the pestilence" ringing in their ears. The sword was the symbol of the invading hosts, "the splendid and awful military parade" of the "bitter and hasty nation" that was "dreadful and terrible." { Habakkuk 1:6-7 } "The famine" inevitably followed from the ravages of the invaders, and the impossibility of ploughing, sowing, and reaping. It became most gruesome in the last desperate agonies of besieged garrisons, when, as in Elisha’s time and the last siege of Jerusalem, "men ate the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and ate every one the flesh of his friend." { Jeremiah 19:9 } Among such miseries and horrors, the stench of unburied corpses naturally bred a pestilence, which raged amongst the multitudes of refugees huddled together in Jerusalem and the fortified towns. We are reminded how the great plague of Athens struck down its victims from among the crowds driven within its walls during the long siege of the Peloponnesian war. An ordinary Englishman can scarcely do justice to such prophecies; his comprehension is limited by a happy inexperience. The constant repetition of general phrases seems meagre and cold, because they carry few associations and awaken no memories. Those who have studied French and Russian realistic art, and have read Erckmann-Chatrain, Zola, and Tolstoi, may be stirred somewhat more by Jeremiah’s grim rhetoric. It will not be wanting in suggestiveness to those who have known battles and sieges. For students of missionary literature we may roughly compare the Jews, when exposed to the full fury of a Chaldean attack, to the inhabitants of African villages raided by slave hunters. The Jews, therefore, with their extensive, firsthand knowledge of the miseries denounced against them, could not help filling in for themselves the rough outline drawn by Jeremiah. Very probably, too, his speeches were more detailed and realistic than the written reports. As time went on, the inroads of the Chaldeans and their allies provided graphic and ghastly illustrations of the prophecies that Jeremiah still reiterated. In a prophecy, possibly originally referring to the Scythian inroads and afterwards adapted to the Chaldean invasions, Jeremiah speaks of himself: "I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; for my soul heareth the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?" { Jeremiah 4:21 } Here, for once, Jeremiah expressed emotions that throbbed in every heart. There was "terror on every hand"; men seemed to be walking "through slippery places in darkness," { Jeremiah 23:12 } or to stumble along rough paths in a dreary twilight. Wormwood was their daily food, and their drink maddening draughts of poison. { Jeremiah 23:15 } Jeremiah and his prophecies were no mean part of the terror. To the devotees of Baal and Moloch Jeremiah must have appeared in much the same light as the fanatic whose ravings added to the horrors of the Plague of London, while the very sanity and sobriety of his utterances carried a conviction of their fatal truth. When the people and their leaders succeeded in collecting any force of soldiers or store of military equipment, and ventured on a sally, Jeremiah was at once at hand to quench any reviving hope of effective resistance. How could soldiers and weapons preserve the city which Jehovah had abandoned to its fate? "Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Behold I will turn back the weapons in your hands, with which ye fight without the walls against your besiegers, the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, and will gather them into the midst of this city. I Myself will fight against you in furious anger and in great wrath, with outstretched hand and strong arm. I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence." ( Jeremiah 21:3-6 .) When Jerusalem was relieved for a time by the advance of an Egyptian army, and the people allowed themselves to dream of another deliverance like that from Sennacherib, the relentless prophet only turned upon them with renewed scorn: "Though ye had smitten the whole hostile army of the Chaldeans, and all that were left of them were desperately wounded, yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this city." { Jeremiah 37:10 } Not even the most complete victory could avail to save the city. The final result of invasions and sieges was to be the overthrow of the Jewish state, the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people. This unhappy generation were to reap the harvest of centuries of sin and failure. As in the last siege of Jerusalem there came upon the Jews "all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zachariah son of Baraehiah," { Matthew 23:35 } so now Jehovah was about to bring upon His Chosen people all the evil that He had spoken against them ( Jeremiah 35:17 ; Jeremiah 19:15 ; Jeremiah 36:31 )-all that had been threatened by Isaiah and his brother prophets, all the curses written in Deuteronomy. But these threats were to be fully carried out, not because predictions must be fulfilled, nor even merely because Jehovah had spoken and His word must not return to Him void, but because the people had not hearkened and obeyed. His threats were never meant to exclude the penitent from the possibility of pardon. As Jeremiah had insisted upon the guilt of every class of the community, so he is also careful to enumerate all the classes as about to suffer from the coming judgment: "Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes"; { Jeremiah 34:21 } "the people, the prophet, and the priest." { Jeremiah 23:33-34 } This last judgment of Judah, as it took the form of the complete overthrow of the State, necessarily included all under its sentence of doom. One of the mysteries of Providence is that those who are most responsible for national sins seem to suffer least by public misfortunes. Ambitious statesmen and bellicose journalists do not generally fall in battle and leave destitute widows and children. When the captains of commerce and manufacture err in their industrial policy, one great result is the pauperism of hundreds of families who had no voice in the matter. A spendthrift landlord may cripple the agriculture of half a county. And yet, when factories are closed and farmers ruined, the manufacturer and the landlord are the last to see want. In former invasions of Judah, the princes and priests had some share of suffering; but wealthy nobles might incur losses and yet weather the storm by which poorer men were overwhelmed. Fines and tribute levied by the invaders would, after the manner of the East, be wrung from the weak and helpless. But now ruin was to fall on all alike. The nobles had been flagrant in sin, they were now to be marked out for most condign punishment-"To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." Part of the burden of Jeremiah’s prophecy, one of the sayings constantly on his lips, was that the city would be taken and destroyed by fire. { Jeremiah 34:2 ; Jeremiah 34:22 ; Jeremiah 37:8 } The Temple would be laid in ruins like the ancient sanctuary of Israel at Shiloh. (chapters 7 and 26.) The palaces { Jeremiah 6:5 } of the king and princes would be special marks for the destructive fury of the enemy, and their treasures and all the wealth of the city would be for a spoil; those who survived the sack of the city would be carried captive to Babylon. { Jeremiah 20:5 } In this general ruin the miseries of the people would not end with death. All nations have attached much importance to the burial of the dead and the due performance of funeral rites. In the touching Greek story Antigone sacrificed her life in order to bury the remains of her brother. Later Judaism attached exceptional importance to the burial of the dead, and the Book of Tobit lays great stress on this sacred duty. The angel Raphael declares that one special reason why the Lord had been merciful to Tobias was that he had buried dead bodies, and had not delayed to rise up and leave his meal to go and bury the corpse of a murdered Jew, at the risk of his own life. Jeremiah prophesied of the slain in this last overthrow: "They shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the ground; their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth." When these last had done their ghastly work, the site of the Temple, the city, the whole land would be left silent and desolate. The stranger, wandering amidst the ruins, would hear no cheerful domestic sounds; when night fell, no light gleaming through chink or lattice would give the sense of human neighbourhood. Jehovah "would take away the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle." { Jeremiah 25:10 } The only sign of life amidst the desolate ruins of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would be the melancholy cry of the jackals round the traveller’s tent. { Jeremiah 9:11 ; Jeremiah 10:22 } The Hebrew prophets and our Lord Himself often borrowed their symbols from the scenes of common life, as they passed before their eyes. As in the days of Noah, as in the days of Lot, as in the days of the Son of Man, so in the last agony of Judah there was marrying and giving in marriage. Some such festive occasion suggested to Jeremiah one of his favourite formulae; it occurs four times in the Book of Jeremiah, and was probably uttered much oftener. Again and again it may have happened that, as a marriage procession passed through the streets, the gay company were startled by the grim presence of the prophet, and shrank back in dismay as they found themselves made the text for a stern homily of ruin: "Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, I will take away from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride." At any rate, however, and whenever used, the figure could not fail to arrest attention, and to serve as an emphatic declaration that the ordinary social routine would be broken up and lost in the coming calamity. Henceforth the land would be as some guilty habitation of sinners, devoted to eternal destruction, an astonishment and a hissing and a perpetual desolation. { Jeremiah 25:9-10 } When the heathen sought some curse to express the extreme of malignant hatred, they would use the formula, "God make thee like Jerusalem." { Jeremiah 26:6 } Jehovah’s Chosen People would become an everlasting reproach, a perpetual shame, which should not be forgotten. { Jeremiah 23:40 } The wrath of Jehovah pursued even captives and fugitives. In chapter 29 Jeremiah predicts the punishment of the Jewish prophets at Babylon. When we last hear of him, in Egypt, he is denouncing ruin against "the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there." He still reiterates the same familiar phrases: "Ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence"; they shall be "an execration, an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach." We have now traced the details of the prophet’s message of doom. Fulfilment followed fast upon the heels of prediction, till Jeremiah rather interpreted than foretold the thick coming disasters. When his book was compiled, the prophecies were already, as they are now, part of the history of the last days of Judah. The book became the record of this great tragedy, in which these prophecies take the place of the choric odes in a Greek drama. Jeremiah 22:9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. CHAPTER XXVI INTRODUCTORY "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."- Jeremiah 31:1 IN this third book an attempt is made to present a general view of Jeremiah’s teaching on the subject with which he was most preoccupied-the political and religious fortunes of Judah. Certain (30, 31, and, in part, 33) chapters detach themselves from the rest, and stand in no obvious connection with any special incident of the prophet’s life. These are the main theme of this book, and have been dealt with in the ordinary method of detailed exposition. They have been treated separately, and not woven into the continuous narrative, partly because we thus obtain a more adequate emphasis upon important aspects of their teaching, but chiefly because their date and occasion cannot be certainly determined. With them other sections have been associated, on account of the connection of subject. Further material for a synopsis of Jeremiah’s teaching has been collected from chapters 21-49, generally, supplemented by brief references to the previous chapters. Inasmuch as the prophecies of our book do not form an ordered treatise on dogmatic theology, but were uttered with regard to individual conduct and critical events, topics are not exclusively dealt with in a single section, but are referred to at intervals throughout. Moreover, as both the individuals and the crises were very much alike, ideas and phrases are constantly reappearing, so that there is an exceptionally large amount of repetition in the Book of Jeremiah. The method we have adopted avoids some of the difficulties which would arise if we attempted to deal with these doctrines in our continuous exposition. Our general sketch of the prophet’s teaching is naturally arranged under categories suggested by the book itself, and not according to the sections of a modern treatise on Systematic Theology. No doubt much may legitimately be extracted or deduced concerning Anthropology, Soteriology, and the like; but true proportion is as important in exposition as accurate interpretation. If we wish to understand Jeremiah, we must be content to dwell longest upon what he emphasised most, and to adopt the standpoint of time and race which was his own. Accordingly in our treatment we have followed the cycle of sin, punishment, and restoration, so familiar to students of Hebrew prophecy. NOTE SOME CHARACTERISTIC EXPRESSIONS OF JEREMIAH This note is added partly for convenience of reference, and partly to illustrate the repetition just mentioned as characteristic of Jeremiah. The instances are chosen from expressions occurring in chapters 21-52. The reader will find fuller lists dealing with the whole book in the "Speaker’s Commentary" and the "Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges." The Hebrew student is referred to the list in Driver’s "Introduction," upon which the following is partly based. 1. "Rising up early": Jeremiah 7:13 ; Jeremiah 7:25 ; Jeremiah 11:7 ; Jeremiah 25:3-4 ; Jeremiah 26:5 ; Jeremiah 29:19 ; Jeremiah 32:33 ; Jeremiah 35:14-15 ; Jeremiah 44:4 . This phrase, familiar to us in the narratives of Genesis and in the historical books, is used here, as in 2 Chronicles 36:15 , of God addressing His people on sending the prophets. 2. "Stubbornness of heart" (A.V. imagination of heart): Jeremiah 3:17 ; Jeremiah 7:24 ; Jeremiah 9:14 ; Jeremiah 11:8 ; Jeremiah 13:10 ; Jeremiah 16:12 ; Jeremiah 18:12 ; Jeremiah 23:17 ; also found Deuteronomy 29:19 and Psalm 81:15 . 3. "The evil of your doings": Jeremiah 4:4 ; Jeremiah 21:12 ; Jeremiah 23:2 ; Jeremiah 23:22 ; Jeremiah 25:5 ; Jeremiah 26:3 ; Jeremiah 44:22 ; also Deuteronomy 28:20 ; 1 Samuel 25:3 ; Isaiah 1:16 ; Hosea 9:15 ; Psalm 28:4 ; and in slightly different form in Jeremiah 11:18 and Zechariah 1:4 . "The fruit of your doings": Jeremiah 17:10 ; Jeremiah 21:14 ; Jeremiah 32:19 ; also found in Micah 7:13 . "Doings, your doings," etc., are also found in Jeremiah and elsewhere. 4. "The sword, the pestilence, and the famine," in various orders, and either as a phrase or each word ocurring in one of three successive clauses: Jeremiah 14:12 ; Jeremiah 15:2 ; Jeremiah 21:7 ; Jeremiah 21:9 ; Jeremiah 24:10 ; Jeremiah 27:8 ; Jeremiah 27:13 ; Jeremiah 29:17-18 ; Jeremiah 32:24 ; Jeremiah 32:36 ; Jeremiah 34:17 ; Jeremiah 38:2 ; Jeremiah 42:17 ; Jeremiah 42:22 ; Jeremiah 44:13 . "The sword and the famime," with similar variations: Jeremiah 5:12 ; Jeremiah 11:22 ; Jeremiah 14:13 ; Jeremiah 14:15-16 ; Jeremiah 14:18 ; Jeremiah 16:4 ; Jeremiah 18:21 ; Jeremiah 42:16 ; Jeremiah 44:12 ; Jeremiah 44:18 ; Jeremiah 44:27 . Cf. similar lists, etc., "death . . . sword . . . captivity," in Jeremiah 43:11 : "war . . . evil . . . pestilence," Jeremiah 28:8 . 5. "Kings . . . princes . . . priests . . . prophets," in various orders and combinations: Jeremiah 2:26 ; Jeremiah 4:9 ; Jeremiah 8:1 ; Jeremiah 13:13 ; Jeremiah 24:8 ; Jeremiah 32:32 . Cf. "Prophet . . . priest . . . people," Jeremiah 23:33-34 . "Prophets . . . diviners . . . dreamers . . . enchanters . . . sorcerers," Jeremiah 27:9 . CHAPTER XXVIII PERSISTENT APOSTASY "They have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them."- Jeremiah 22:9 "Every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his heart."- Jeremiah 23:17 THE previous chapter has been intentionally confined, as far as possible, to Jeremiah’s teaching upon the moral condition of Judah. Religion, in the narrower sense, was kept in the background, and mainly referred to as a social and political influence. In the same way the priests and prophets were mentioned chiefly as classes of notables-estates of the realm. This method corresponds with a stage in the process of Revelation; it is that of the older prophets. Hosea, as a native of the Northern Kingdom, may have had a fuller experience and clearer understanding of religious corruption than his contemporaries in Judah. But, in spite of the stress that he lays upon idolatry and the various corruptions of worship, many sections of his book simply deal with social evils. We are not explicitly told why the prophet was "a fool" and "a snare of a fowler," but the immediate context refers to the abominable immorality of Gibeah. { Hosea 9:7-9 : cf. Jdg 19:22 } The priests are not reproached with incorrect ritual, but with conspiracy to murder. { Hosea 6:9 } In Amos, the land is not so much puni