Holy Bible

Arise, and let us go up at noon. Jeremiah 6:1-9 Christian effort F. Jackson. That spirit-stirring call of the text, so needful to arouse the Chaldeans on their march to the ancient, is as needful for us on our pilgrimage to the new, Jerusalem. 1. In other passages, the early years of childhood and youth are pointed out as the special time for God's service. While the heart is warm and pliant. Ere the hardening influence of a selfish world, having closed it to the Saviour's call, has swept and garnished it for tenantry of evil. 2. "Arise, and let us go up at noon." It is midday with you, to whom the text is speaking. It is the period for active endeavour. Now the calls of the world are dinned most loudly into your ears. In the earlier hours, and at the close of your passing day, you were and will be alike incapable of prolonged toil. Now the requirement is made of you, and to what behests does it bid you attend? Make the most of your time. Are you poor? Strive for independence. Are you rich? Strive for place and power. Are you intellectual? Seek a sphere for display, a stage for self-glorification. Thus speaks the world, and were some of its directions pursued in moderation, pursued subordinate to higher and nobler motive, there might be wisdom in our chastened regards. But, alas! how many go to extreme in these observances, and become the slaves of time and sense. Apply those misdirected energies to a nobler cause. The rewards of time are not worth such care as this. In themselves, they are of scarce more value than the withered leaves which crowned the victor in the ancient games. Arise, and go up at noon to seek the incorruptible crown. Ye are soldiers engaged in warfare. The sword is drawn. The banner is spread. Its emblem is the Cross. Your weapons are not carnal. The din of military music shall not spur you to the dangerous assault; but strains of sweetest melody shall speak to you of peace, peace on earth, goodwill to men; peace which the world can neither give nor take away. 3. But have you passed that period of activity, and in your retrospect of its busy hours do you feel how prodigally your energies have been wasted? Have ungodly habits become so confirmed, that now at your journey's end, being dead to the enticements of the present, you are not alive to the requirements of the future? Shall an appeal, which might impress a heart yet warm and flexible, fall coldly on the worn and weary conscience of the aged? The gracious and long-suffering Master has still this call to summon you, "Arise, and let us go by night." Ye have heard and disregarded the call throughout the day, and therefore may not be as those who, having never been hired earlier, received every man a penny, but whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. Go by prayer and penitence, by sought and found spiritual guidance, or soon the light of life will be extinguished in outer darkness. 4. But ye have been watchful and faithful. Ye arose, and went up at noon. It is not woeful to you that the day goeth away. It is no cause of regret that the shadows of evening are stretched out. "Behold! I come quickly," the Saviour says to you; and joyfully ready is your reply, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." All things are yours: love and reverence from all without, peace unspeakable from all within. Ye shall arise and go. The shadows stretched before you shall be dispelled forever, and the brightness of that noon which shall fade no more shall rest upon you. ( F. Jackson. ) Woe unto us! for the day goeth away. Jeremiah 6:4 "Woe unto us!" W. R. Hutton, M. A. The Babylonians are represented by the prophet as coming to plunder the Holy City, like flocks being led to their feeding ground. They hurry to the work of destruction, yet they are not speedy enough, for work takes time, and time flees fast away. "Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away," etc. "Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces." We have no city to destroy, and it is morning; yet, standing, as we do, almost on the threshold of another year, these words are worthy of consideration. The day of opportunity that tills year contained is going away, the shadows of the evening are stretched out. And with the departure of the day and the deepening of the shadows of the night, some among the bravest hearts may well exclaim, "Woe unto us!" For all who are Christ's servants, as they grow in grace, more clearly come to see the great issues of life, the vast importance of the days and months and years which God has given them to spend to His glory. With this clearer sight comes the consciousness of the awful waste of time for which men are answerable, a waste which can never be repaired. True, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin; but only if there he true repentance. As you really understand the cleansing and accept it, so you will grow most earnest in guarding the gift of time. 1. Save time in your work. Surely it is "woe unto us" that we have been so half-hearted often in our time of work; so ready to lay down the task that is difficult, or so ready to do it lazily and badly. The great characters in history are mostly the indefatigable, who, while they worked, worked hard. 2. Save time in your leisure. Do not spend it all in amusement, which excites, but does not profit. If you have your evenings free, use some to the glory of God, by helping children, by showing acts of kindness, by improving your own knowledge. 3. Again, save time on Sundays. How can men's religion be real and true if they spend Sunday mornings in bed? ( W. R. Hutton, M. A. ) Opportunities for self-rescue Homilist. I. Heaven granted these men of Judah an opportunity FOR ESCAPING A GREAT EVIL; so it has to all unconverted men. The evil to which the Jews were exposed was very great: it was captivity, slavery, utter destruction of the country. But this was only a shadow of the moral dangers to which every unconverted man is exposed. He is in danger of losing his soul. To lose a soul is to lose all true liberty, pure sympathies, harmonious affections, real friendships, self-approving conscience, true hopes, and means of improvement. And when these are gone, the worth of existence is gone, for it becomes an intolerable curse. II. The opportunity which these men of Judah had for escaping their danger was NOW DRAWING TO A CLOSE; so is the opportunity of all unconverted men. The whole day of life scarcely opens before it begins to close. 1. This opportunity is constantly departing to return no more. 2. This opportunity is constantly departing though the work be not done. III. The closing of the opportunity of these men of Judah was FRAUGHT WITH TERRIBLE CALAMITY; so it will be with all unconverted men. "Woo unto us," exclaims the doomed Jew in bitter anguish. "Woe unto us"; we have not only lost our country and become the slaves of a heathen despot, bug we have shamefully neglected the merciful opportunities with which providence has favoured us. These words remind us of the language of Christ ( Luke 19:41-44 ). Conclusion — "Now is the accepted time." Today is "the day of salvation." ( Homilist. ) The old and the new year Canon Nevill. The old year is dying, the new year is about to commence. And whether the past has been wasted, or redeemed and used for God; whether the work of the past has been done or left undone, still there is a work for all of us. Each day and each year brings its own proper duties, and our conscience needs to be awakened and stirred to the right performance of them. The day goeth away. And you feel that there is something solemn about this passing from one year to another. 1. Some of you are anxious about your spiritual condition. Take the past year as a whole, and perhaps you may be able to hope that some progress has been made. But it has not been all progress. The picture has its dark side. You have had your temptations, you have had your troubles and annoyances; and you have been forced to see how weak your strength is, how poor your best resolutions, how much you have fallen short of what you had intended a year ago. The day goeth away. But if the past has not been what you wished, must you therefore give up in despair? Nay, you may be thankful if you have advanced at all. You could have made no way whatever but for the grace of God. Believe that He who has been with you hitherto will enable you to live more and more to your Master's glory. 2. Again, the close of the year may suggest its thoughts to those who, as our fellow labourers in the schools, or among the sick and destitute, are trying to do the Lord's work, and to be a blessing to their neighbours in their generation. You look back over the year that is gone, and there are abundant reasons for regret. Opportunities for good have been lost which never will come back again. Some one was lying ill, and you knew of the illness, but you delayed your visit. You would go tomorrow: you had other things to do today. And tomorrow you went, but it was too late. Death had come before you. Or again, you might have taken a bolder and firmer course, had your zeal for God been stronger. You saw some evil done, and you did not protest against it. You heard ill-natured words, and you did not try to check them. You might have spoken for God, and you cowardly held your peace. Yet all has not been failure. Feel as painfully as we may our weakness and want of faith, still we may see and thankfully acknowledge the evident signs of God's presence with His people here. ( Canon Nevill. ) A New Year's sermon P. Hope, B. D. I. THE FACT HERE INDICATED. The day glides imperceptibly away, from morning to noon, from noon to eve. Does not this strikingly typify our life in this world? Do not our years glide on like the minutes and hours of the natural day? And, ere ever we are aware, do we not perceive that the shadows are lengthening? Are we not reminded of the flight of time by many things which we see around us? The old men, with whose slow step we were familiar, are disappearing from the scene; those whom we knew in their prime now bear the marks of age. But does not this suggest to us one particular in which the analogy between the natural day and our human life signally fails? We know the very hour, we can ascertain the very minute, when the sun will set. But how different is it with the life of man? Who can tell when, in any individual case, that life shall end? Who but He who knows the end from the beginning, and who is the God of our lives and the length of our days? But whether the period of our sojourn upon earth be brief or protracted, it is quickly passing away. Whether we are to be cut down when the shadows have stretched out far, or while they are yet comparatively short, in the case of every one of us they are lengthening; and in the case of not a few, it approaches eventide, and their sun declines to its setting. But surely there arises here another question. When the day declines and nightfall comes, what then? "After death the judgment." Death does not reduce us to nothingness, but detaches us from time to land us in eternity. It places us before the tribunal of the Most High to receive the sentence which is to fix unchangingly our final doom. "We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." II. WHAT EFFECT THE CONSIDERATION OF THIS FACT SHOULD HAVE UPON US. 1. It should have this effect, to impress us with the solemn and abiding conviction that it is a fact. We are ever prone to take it for granted that though the end of life is no doubt approaching, it is still distant from us; that though the duration of life is very uncertain to men generally, and to our friends and neighbours around us, we are much less likely to be suddenly removed, and may reassuredly count upon a protracted span being afforded to us is a strange and subtle delusion of the human heart, and sedulously fostered by the enemy of souls, the father of lies. How needful to learn and lay to heart the lesson here taught; how needful to be thoroughly persuaded that it is a solemn fact that our life is a vapour which appears for a little time and then vanishes away; that not with respect to our fellow men merely, but with respect to ourselves also, the days of earth are drawing to a close, and that to any one of us the end may come very soon and very suddenly! 2. But, further, it is of the last importance that we not only really believe this fact, but that we give practical effect to the belief. What are your resolutions for the future? Will you be stirred up to greater diligence and devotedness ere your sun go down! And if you, if any of you, are still far from God, living in carelessness and unbelief, will you not take warning by the lengthening shadows to make your peace with God ere it be too late? ( P. Hope, B. D. ) Difficulties of old age S. H. Tyng, D. D. I. THE APPOINTED PERIOD OF GRACE IS COMING RAPIDLY TO A CONCLUSION. "The day goeth away." It has been enjoyed in the fulness of its privileges. It has been for some, far protracted. But while unimproved, it has tended only to increase the guilt and danger of the soul. For fifty years the Redeemer has called upon some now aged sinner to turn to Him and live. How difficult is it to arouse him to a consciousness, or belief, of the privileges which are yet remaining, and of the duty which yet rests upon him! The recollection of wasted opportunities drives him to despair. II. THE SHORT PERIOD OF GRACE NOW REMAINING. He set out early in the morning to go astray from God. Through the whole day, he has been pressing forward in his course, with unabating rapidity. And now, when the shadows of the evening are stretched out, and exhausted nature is asking for repose; alas, is this an hour in which to commence the journey of a day? Death now stands at the door. The line which separates him from eternity, has dwindled to a hair. And he is tempted to yield to total despair of escaping at all from the ruin which is so close upon him. The difficulty which his own heart presents as thus arising from his shortened remaining period of probation, Satan employs as a temptation to him, to be quiet and careless under his conscious load of sin. III. THE INCREASED HARDNESS OF HIS OWN HEART. When young, conviction of sin impressed his mind. His eyes could weep under the preaching of the Gospel. He then often felt strongly excited towards a life of holiness and piety. But now he has no such feelings. The rain which descends to refresh others, seems rather to hasten his decay. The summer and the harvest have passed without advantage, and every succeeding day of autumn seems only to dry, and harden, and seal up the earth against the arrival of a frost-bound and cheerless winter. IV. THE PRIDE OF CHARACTER WHICH IS ALWAYS AN ATTENDANT UPON ADVANCED PERIODS OF LIFE. The heart may be often moved, the conscience awakened, and the emotions aroused, in the bosom of an aged transgressor, and a strong desire be felt, to lay down his burden, and find peace in believing in Jesus. But an assumed dignity and coolness of manner are drawn over a broken, bleeding spirit, because an acknowledgment of these awakened feelings will be so humiliating to the age and station of the individual concerned. But there remains no other course of safety. To this humbling ground, sinful man must be brought, or he will assuredly perish. ( S. H. Tyng, D. D. ) Opportunities lost Bp. Stevens The opportunity for success was lost; the day of action had been misspent, and the result was, captivity and slavery. The day of action was going away; the shadows of the evening which was to cover them with its darkness and sorrow, were already stretched out. Just so it is with multitudes now in reference to the work of their salvation. The Gospel of the Son of God has been preached in their ears, until it has become stale and powerless. They listen to it, but take no heed to its requirements. 1. Look at the opportunities which the Church affords to all attendants on her service, not only of learning their duty, but also of practising it to the glory of God. 2. Then, again, look at the opportunities for repentance and faith which God has given you in the daily providence of life. You have been rich, perhaps, and He has made you poor — Why? That He may give you spiritual riches, which moth and rust can not corrupt. You have been poor and He has made you rich — Why? That you might "remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth." You have been well, and He has laid you on a bed of sickness — Why? That you might consider your latter end. You have been sick and He has made you well — Why? That you should love your Divine Healer, and seek for your spiritual healing. Your life is full of the echoes of God's voice speaking to you in His daily providence, as well as in the inspired Word and through the ministry of His Church. Yet hour after hour has glided away, and you have hesitated, procrastinated, put off to a more convenient season. Shall life's sun go wholly down, shall the night of death wrap you in its starless mantle, without one honest effort on your part to secure your soul's salvation? ( Bp. Stevens ). An inch of time "Millions of money for an inch of time," cried Elizabeth — the gifted but ambitious Queen of England, upon her dying bed. Unhappy woman! reclining upon a couch — with ten thousand dresses in her wardrobe — a kingdom on which the sun never sets, at her feet — all now are valueless, and she shrieks in anguish, and she shrieks in vain, for a single "inch of time." She had enjoyed threescore and ten years. Like too many among us, she had devoted them to wealth, to pleasure, to pride, and ambition, so that her whole preparation for eternity was crowded into a few moments! and hence she, who had wasted more than half a century, would barter millions for an inch of time. The shadows of the evening are stretched out. The setting sun Bp. Stevens. There is something at once grand and solemn in a setting sun. It is the sinking to rest of the great king of day; the withdrawing from the busy world the light that has called out its activity, and the covering up with the veil of darkness the scenes that glistened with the radiance of noon. There is, however, in the setting of the sun of life, that which is equally grand, still more solemn, and surpassingly sublime. 1. The sun, when it sets, has run a whole day's circuit; his pathway has apparently traversed an entire are of the heavens, and slowly, patiently, but surely, it has done its allotted work. And so the aged Christian, when he dies, is described as having "run his race," as having "finished his course." He has toiled a whole day of life, and has come to his grave in a "good old age," having "finished the work which was given him to do"; and though all his labours have been imperfectly done, though he himself feels more deeply than he can express his unprofitableness before God, yet he looks for acceptance, not to any merit of his own, but only for Christ Jesus sake, who of God and by faith is made unto him "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." We can contemplate with satisfaction, then, the aged disciple, having "borne the burden and heat of the day," patiently waiting for the stretching out of the evening shadows and the hour of his own sunset. 2. Another point to be considered is, the fact that the setting of the sun is not always like the day which it closes. The morning may have been bright, and the evening hour dark with tempests; or the rising may have been obscured by clouds and mists, which gradually faded away and left a clear sky at sunset. So the sunset hour of Christian life does not always correspond to his previous day. We have seen the last hours of the believer shrouded in impenetrable gloom, and we have seen them gilded with hope and radiant with the forecast glories of the upper world. The way in which a Christian dies is not always an index of his spiritual condition. He is to be judged by his life, not by his death. Self-denial, the mortification of our passions, the resisting of earthly temptations, the putting into active exercise, and amidst opposing difficulties, the whole class of Christian affections which flow out from the simple principle of loving our neighbour as ourselves, and the manifestation of that life of faith, of prayer, of holiness, of zeal, which necessarily results from the constraining love of Christ in the heart all these qualities and tests of character scarcely find a place on a dying bed, so that persons thus situated have few opportunities to develop the true evidences of the work of grace. The varieties of Christian experience are literally innumerable; but whatever their nature, we must not judge of the validity of one's hope, or the genuineness of one's conversion, by his dying hour. Yet, when that dying hour accords with a long life of piety, or a true profession maintained in health and strength; when it is but a concentrating within itself of the glories which have been more or less visible in the whole track of his experience, then is it eloquent in its revelations of the riches, and peace, and joy which God generally gives to those who are faithful unto death: and though we cannot order when or how our lives shall close upon earth, yet it should be our aim so to live as to secure, if God pleases, a serene, if not a triumphant exit, that our setting sun may, like the sun in the firmament, grow larger and more resplendent as it declines, until passing away it shall leave behind a trail of glory spread all over the place of our departure. 3. Another interesting thought connected with this subject is, that the sun is not lost or extinguished when it sets. This may seem a very trite remark concerning the natural sun, but it is not so trite when we speak of the soul set in death. For are we not apt to grieve over the going down of our friends to the grave, as if they were to be forever hidden in its dark chamber — as if the bright spark of their immortality had been suddenly quenched? 4. And this leads us to make one final observation, namely, that when we see the sun set, we know that it will rise again; and so when we see the body of our friends borne to the voiceless dwelling of the tomb, we know that they also shall rise again. ( Bp. Stevens. ) Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from thee. Jeremiah 6:8 The way to prevent the ruin of a sinful people Archbishop Tillotson. I. THE INFINITE GOODNESS AND PATIENCE OF GOD TOWARDS A SINFUL PEOPLE AND HIS GREAT UNWILLINGNESS TO BRING RUIN AND DESTRUCTION UPON THEM. How loath is He that things should come to this extremity? II. THE ONLY PROPER AND EFFECTUAL MEANS TO PREVENT THE MISERY AND RUIN OF A SINFUL PEOPLE. If they will be instructed, and take warning by the threatenings of God, and will become wiser and better, then His soul will not depart from them, He will not bring upon them the desolation which He hath threatened. III. THE MISERABLE CASE AND CONDITION OF A PEOPLE, WHEN GOD TAKES OFF HIS AFFECTION FROM THEM AND GIVES OVER ALL FURTHER CARE AND CONCERNMENT FOR THEM. Woe unto them, when His soul departs from them! For when God once leaves them, then all sorts of evil and calamities will break in upon them. ( Archbishop Tillotson. ) A warning to the nation B. Whichcote, D. D. I. THE CAUTION. 1. Whereby are we to be instructed? By the state of affairs, and by the reason of things, or the right of cases.(1) God is a being of all perfection, of infinitely vast comprehension and understanding and power: and therefore He is able to attain those effects, and to teach men by all things that fall under His government.(2) Things managed by Divine wisdom are intensely expressive of notions, because they do partake of the excellency and sufficiency of their cause.(3) God doth nothing in vain, nor to fewer or lesser purposes than the things are capable to promote, or be subservient unto.(4) Because the affairs of mankind are the choice piece of the administration of providence: And God doth in a special manner charge Himself with teaching the mind of man knowledge. 2. Wherein are we to be instructed?(1) In matters of God's offence. For we are highly concerned in God's favour or displeasure.(2) In instances of our own duty: if we have departed from it, to return to it; if we have done the contrary, to revoke it with self-condemnation and humble deprecation. 3. What is it to be instructed? (1) To search and examine. (2) To weigh and consider. (3) To understand and discern. (4) To do and perform. II. THE ENFORCEMENT. 1. An argument of love and goodwill, "lest My soul depart from thee." 2. An argument from fear, "lest I make thee desolate," A double argument is as a double testimony, by which every word is established ( 2 Corinthians 13:1 ). 3. This double argument shows us two things.(1) The stupidity and senselessness of those, who are made to the perfection of reason and understanding, and yet act contrary to it.(2) The impiety and unrighteousness of sinners, who are a real offence to God, cause His displeasure, and bring upon persons and places, ruin and destruction. Sin is a variation from the law and rule of God's creation: it is contrary to the order of reason: and when I say this, I say as bad as can be spoken. In sin there is open and manifest neglect of God, to whom all reverence and regard is most due. By sin there is a disturbance in God's family: it is an interruption of that intercourse and communication there ought to be amongst creatures; for every sinner destroys much good. By the practice of iniquity we mar our spirits, spoil our tempers, and acquire unnatural principles and dispositions. ( B. Whichcote, D. D. ) They have no delight in it. Jeremiah 6:10 The impediments to the right celebration of religious ordinances W. Muir, D. D. You will readily admit, that the feeling of delight accompanying the performance of anything is, for the most part, a sign and measure of its profitable accomplishment; that that is usually well done which is done cheerfully and with the heart; and that nothing, on the contrary, is more commonly deteriorated in the performance of it, than what is entered on with the apprehension of its being a piece of drudgery, and gone through as a mere task. How true does this remark hold in the department of religion! If we approach the exercises of religion, whether reading or hearing the Word, or the sacraments, or prayer, as formalists come to them — if we take no lively interest in them — if we are actuated merely by the force of custom, the power of example and other motives of expediency, how can they ever profit us? Are we not changing the sources of heaven's blessings into empty and broken cisterns? I. In attending to the circumstances that operate to take away from us delight in Christian ordinances, we observe, that an unfavourable change in the frame of mind, as persons are engaged In religious exorcises, often occurs, at least at times OCCURS, UNAVOIDABLY, however our desires and endeavours may be set against it. At one time we will be attending with deep earnestness, at another time listening with cold indifference. There is now a great acuteness in receiving instruction, at another time almost a deadness that blunts the edge of the best directed observations. Now, all such changes as these are still, in so far as they are traceable to constitutional temperament, to be ranked among the class of what the Bible calls our infirmities, and when they are met by meditation on the Word of God, and by prayer, in order that we may be cured, they are not charged as criminalities against us. At the same time, take good heed lest you ascribe to those things over which you think you have no control, what all the while springs from sinful negligence. II. First, the state of mind I have described, shows THAT THERE HAS NOT BEEN WITH US DUE CONSIDERATION BEFORE WE HAVE COME TO THE PUBLIC ORDINANCES OF RELIGION. We do not consider that the services of the sanctuary relate to God in our adoring, or praising, or supplicating Him whom the universe celebrates as its Maker, whom angels, principalities and powers reverently worship — we do not consider that the services of the sanctuary are the appointed means through which the soul is called to discourse with its own original, with Him who is the source of bliss. We do not consider that the services of the sanctuary present the sublimest objects for the exercise of the understanding, the most splendid for attracting the imagination, the most engaging for affecting the heart. Accordingly we do not in our petitions implore that fixedness of heart which is required in the true and spiritual worshipper; we do not enter the sanctuary cherishing the serious thought that we come hither to seek the blessings which the mercy of the Saviour gives to every one who feels his need of them, and asks them. On the contrary, we come to the sanctuary altogether unconcerned; we sit down without offering in our minds one preparatory petition; we possess a frame of mind that is akin to levity; we are chargeable at least with indifference, which can only be excusable in our waiting on an empty ceremonial. Even allowing that the individual still possesses some desire to receive the benefits of religious ordinances in the sanctuary, they are rendered quite impracticable to him, except where the devotional exercises of every day are preparatory to those of the Sabbath. The want of serious consideration before we come to engage in religious ordinances, leads directly to want of due reflection when engaged in the performance of them; for such trains of thought as we have been cherishing, are not easily broken down, and, in fact, we cannot authoritatively dismiss them — they have fastened themselves by innumerable links to the mind, and though many of these links may from time to time be detached by us, still numbers are left which are quite sufficient to rivet the objects of our affectionate concern to our memories and our hearts. Such objects, through long usage, become great favourites with the mind, and hence, it not only attends to them in the season of disengagement from other things, but strives to get back to them, even when occupied in the ordinances of religion. Then when we think how base and degraded our natural dispositions are, surely it is a most unreasonable expectation that we are prepared for the spiritual exercises of the Sabbath, if we have had no preparatory devotional exercises for such a day. III. MOST SERIOUS AND GRIEVOUS IS THE EVIL OF WHICH I AM NOW SPEAKING. Whatever degree of it adheres to us its tendency is to destroy utterly the capacity of religious feeling, and to increase that searedness of conscience which is the forerunner of open profligacy. Let us then be roused to consideration. Let us come to religious ordinances with serious thoughts on their nature, their reasonableness, their awful sanctions, and their inestimable utility; and, having especially in view the example of the serious worshipper who prays for the spirit of prayer, and who is a suppliant in private for the grace of supplication which is to be employed by him in public, let us endeavour when we join in religious ordinances to preserve seriousness of mind. Let us for this purpose devoutly consider the object we have in view, whether engaged in the Word, in sacrament, or in prayer. Let us not give a single moment's encouragement to thoughts upon other subjects. Let us withstand the inroads of such thoughts — let us cast them out as of Satan, when they enter, and let us try to prevent them entering at all. Let there be prayer, consideration and serious concern; and thus entering into the great truths, into the sweetness of religion, there will be no longer felt the weariness with which we set out. The satisfaction and delight, so conducive to our improvement, will then take the place of the fatigue and irksomeness of the mere bodily worshipper. The Sabbath will be the most acceptable of all refreshments, the Psalms of the sanctuary will be the sentiments of gratitude and joy, the prayers offered will be as the flame which first ascended in holy ardour to its origin, and the Word will be the principal vehicle of calling into action every good resolution. Religion will then become that very privilege it is intended to be; the elements, set upon the table, will appear as the memorials of all that is dear and precious to our souls; the sentiments of holy love will be awakened in commemorating the blessed Friend who gave His soul for us sinners; and thus the sanctuary and its services wil

Benson Commentary Jeremiah 6:1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. Jeremiah 6:1 . O ye children of Benjamin, &c. — The prophet proceeds in his remonstrances, rebukes, and faithful warnings to the disobedient Jews. A great part of Jerusalem stood in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:28 ; on which account, and because Jeremiah, being of Anathoth, was of that tribe, and probably lived therein, the inhabitants are here addressed by the name of the children of Benjamin, and are directed to leave the city, which God was about to destroy, and to take refuge in the mountains. Blow the trumpet in Tekoa — One of those cities which Rehoboam built, 2 Chronicles 11:6 , twelve miles from Jerusalem. Set up a sign of fire — A beacon; in Beth-haccerem — A village between Tekoa and Jerusalem, built upon a mountain, situate in the way which led from Chaldea to Jerusalem. As the word signifies the house of the vineyard, it was probably at first some high tower, built among the vineyards, for the keepers of them to watch in, and that it afterward became a village of some note. The design of such signals of war as the prophet here mentions, is generally to assemble men together in order to their mutual defence; but, as he knew it was utterly in vain to attempt any thing of that kind, he seems only to have meant that by these means general notice should be given of the enemies’ approach, that the people might disperse, and escape from danger and destruction. For evil appeareth, &c. — See note on Jeremiah 1:14 . Dr. Waterland reads this verse, “Haste away the children of Benjamin out of, &c., and set up a signal in Beth-haccerem; for mischief threateneth out of the north.” Jeremiah 6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman . Jeremiah 6:2-3 . I have likened, &c. — There being nothing for woman in the Hebrew text, and the word ??? , here rendered comely, frequently signifying a pasture, a sheep-fold, and a habitation, the verse is translated different ways by learned men. Houbigant and several others read it and the next verse thus: “I have likened the daughter of Sion to a pleasant pasture, whither the shepherds, with their flocks, come to feed: they have pitched their tents near it, and they feed round it, every one in his place.” According to this reading, in which Sion is likened to a rich pasture, the shepherds and their flocks that come together to take possession of it, and eat it up, mean the Chaldean generals and their armies, who should possess themselves of Judea and Jerusalem, with as much ease as shepherds lead their flocks into a fresh and open pasture, and should enrich themselves with the spoil thereof. This is certainly a very easy and probable sense of the passage. Blaney, however, prefers rendering the word ??? habitation; and, taking the verb ????? to signify here, not, I have likened, but, I have destroyed, (a sense which it sometimes bears,) he reads the passage, “The habitation, even the delightful one, have I doomed to destruction, the daughter of Sion. The shepherds, with their flocks, shall come to her. And they shall pitch their tents against her round about.” “Jerusalem,” he observes, “is in like manner called simply ??? , the habitation, Isaiah 27:10 . And it seems entitled to the name by way of eminence, as the chief residence both of Israel and the God of Israel. Accordingly, speaking of the very desolation here intended, the psalmist says, They have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling-place, ???? , Psalm 79:7 . It is also called God’s habitation, Exodus 15:13 ; 2 Samuel 15:25 , &c. And, with respect to the epithet annexed, the delightful one, Jerusalem is frequently spoken of in terms that show it to have been, in a very eminent degree, the object of delight both with God and man.” Jeremiah 6:3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place. Jeremiah 6:4 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. Jeremiah 6:4-5 . Prepare ye war against her — The prophet now drops the metaphor, and tells them in plain terms whom he means by the shepherds namely, warriors. These seem to be the words of God giving a commission to the Chaldeans, by his prophet, to make war upon Jerusalem. Arise, and let us go up at noon, &c. — “The alacrity and eagerness with which the Chaldeans should undertake and execute the commission with which they were charged, are described in these and the following words in a beautiful vein of poetry. Though it was late in the day before they received their orders, they are for beginning their march immediately and though it was night before they got to the place, they are unwilling to put off the assault till morning.” — Blaney. Let us destroy her palaces — And make ourselves masters of the wealth contained in them. This was the motive that influenced them, and produced such eagerness. The end they had in view was not that they might fulfil God’s counsels; but that they might enjoy the spoils of all the stately palaces and rich houses of the nobles and great ones: hereby, however, God served his own purposes. Jeremiah 6:5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. Jeremiah 6:6 For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her. Jeremiah 6:6-7 . For thus hath the Lord of hosts said — To the Chaldeans: God would have the Jews to know, that they have not so much to do with the Chaldeans as with him; that they are his rod to scourge them for their sins. And thus God is said to hiss for, or hist, those whom he would employ in such work, Isaiah 5:26 ; Isaiah 7:18 . And he styles himself the Lord of hosts, to show that it is in vain to contend in battle with them whom he sent forth, and would be, as it were, the captain of their hosts. Hew down trees, &c. — That is, to be employed in the siege: see Deuteronomy 20:19 , where the same word is used as here. Cast up a mount — Throw up one continued trench, as a mount, round about it. This is the city, &c. — The Hebrew may be literally rendered, She is a city to be visited — That is, a proper object of punishment; the reason of which follows in the next words. As a fountain casteth out her waters, &c. — A metaphor, to express how natural all manner of wickedness was to her, how full she was of it, and how incessant in it. Violence and spoil is heard in her — I hear the continual complaints of those that groan under the oppression that they suffer, being cruelly used and spoiled in her. Jeremiah 6:7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds. Jeremiah 6:8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. Jeremiah 6:8 . Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, &c. — Take warning by the many threatenings and judgments I have denounced against thee; amend thy ways and doings, lest, if thou persist in thy wickedness, I be utterly alienated from thee; and I cast off all bowels of compassion toward thee, and give thee up to ruin and desolation. This threatening God fulfilled afterward, when he suffered the city and nation to be utterly ruined and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar: but it still received a further completion, in that final desolation brought upon them by the Romans, under Titus Vespasian. Jeremiah 6:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. Jeremiah 6:9 . They shall thoroughly glean — As if he had said, Come, ye Chaldeans, into my vineyard; collect the vintage; gather even to the very last grapes; the remnant of Israel as a vine — The prophet, by this, seems to express, that all the remains of the Israelites, who had escaped when the main body of them had been carried into captivity by the Assyrians, and who had taken refuge in Judea and Jerusalem, should also be carried away into captivity by the Babylonians. Turn back thy hand, &c. — That is, begin the work of gathering or gleaning anew: return again after the first time, and pick up those few inhabitants that were left before, and carry them also into captivity. Thus the Chaldeans did, as may be seen Jeremiah 52:28-30 . Jeremiah 6:10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. Jeremiah 6:10 . To whom shall I speak and give warning? — I cannot find out any that will so much as give me a patient hearing, much less will any take warning. I cannot speak with any hope of success. Behold, their ear is uncircumcised — A figurative expression, not unfrequent with the prophets, signifying the rejecting of instruction; as an uncircumcised heart signifies an obstinate and rebellious will. As if he had said, Their mind is unbelieving and carnal, and therefore not disposed to hearken to the voice of God. Nay, they are not only deaf to it, but prejudiced against it; and they cannot hearken — Namely, because they are resolved they will not. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach — Both the reproofs and the threatenings of it are so; they consider themselves as wronged and affronted by both, and resent plain dealing as they would the most causeless slander and calumny. They have no delight in it — More is implied than expressed; they have an antipathy to it, their hearts rise against it; it exasperates them, and inflames their passions; and they are ready to fly in the face of their reprovers. Jeremiah 6:11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. Jeremiah 6:11-12 . Therefore I am full of the fury — ?? ??? , the anger, or wrath, as it should rather have been rendered; of the Lord — An expression which is to be understood of that divine justice which is worthy of God, and which inflicts most heavy, and yet most just, punishment on the obstinately wicked, after having a long time waited for their repentance. I am weary with holding in — Or, as the words may be rendered, I have laboured to hold it in. They are the words of the prophet, who was unwilling to declare to the people the avenging justice which was ready to fall upon them. I will pour it out — The word in the Hebrew, ????? , is imperative, Pour it out: God, as it seems, commanding his prophet not to delay to denounce his judgments, about to be inflicted on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, of all ages and orders. The prophets are said to do things, when they declare God’s purpose of doing them, as hath been observed on Jeremiah 1:10 ; upon the children abroad — Or, in the streets, where they are wont to play: the sword of the merciless Chaldeans shall not spare them, Jeremiah 9:21 . The children perish in the calamity, which the sins of their fathers have procured. And upon the assembly of young men — Who meet together for diversion or conversation. The husband with the wife shall be taken — One sex, as well as the other, shall be a prey to the enemy. The aged with him that is full of days — From hence it appears, says Blaney, that the word, ??? , here and elsewhere rendered aged, “means only a man that has passed a certain time of life, which may be considered as his zenith, so as from thenceforth to be upon the decline. In contradistinction to whom is placed one who is arrived at what is esteemed the full period of human life; in respect to which the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, David, and Job, are said to have died full of years, or days. See the same distinction made Isaiah 65:20 .” No age or condition shall escape. And their houses shall be turned unto others, &c. — According to the threatening denounced by Moses, Deuteronomy 28:30 . Jeremiah 6:12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 6:13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. Jeremiah 6:13-15 . For, from the least of them, &c. — Old and young, rich and poor, high and low, those of all ranks, professions, and employments; every one is given to covetousness — Greedy of filthy lucre; and this made them oppressive, for of that evil, as well as others, the love of money is the bitter root. Nay, and this hardened their hearts against the word of God and his prophets: they were the covetous Pharisees that derided Christ. From the prophet to the priest, every one dealeth falsely — Not only in speaking false things, but, as the Hebrew, ???? ???? , signifies, doing falsehood; acting a lie; that is, playing the hypocrite; keeping up an outward form, or appearance, of piety, and desiring to be accounted righteous, when, before God, they were abominably wicked. They have healed also the hurt, &c., slightly — Skinning over the wound, and never searching it to the bottom; applying lenitives, soothing speeches, when there was need of corrosives, or sharp reproofs, which might have brought them to a true sense of the danger of their condition: encouraging them in their sins, and carnal security, by promising them peace and safety when they were on the brink of ruin and destruction. So that the ministry of these priests and prophets, instead of proving a blessing, became a real curse to them. Were they ashamed, &c. — Nothing is a greater sign of an incorrigible temper than being past shame. Such the prophet tells us was the character of the generality of the Jews at this time: their hearts were so hardened that they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Nay, it seems they even gloried in their wickedness, and openly confronted the convictions that should have humbled and brought them to repentance. This is thought by some to refer especially to the priests and prophets, who had soothed the people in their sins, with false hopes of peace, and yet were not ashamed of their deceit and treachery; no, not when the event disproved and gave the lie to their promises. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall — They shall have their portion with those whom they have deceived and destroyed. Jeremiah 6:14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein . Jeremiah 6:16-17 . Stand ye in the ways, &c. — He now turns his speech to the people, and gives them counsel; by a metaphor taken from travellers, who, being in doubt of their way, stand still, and consider, whether the direction, which they have received from some false guide, be right or not. Ask for the old paths — Inquire in what way the patriarchs, the judges, the kings, and prophets of former times walked, and imitate their practices. And ye shall find rest for your souls — You will find peace with God, will be safe under his protection, and in consequence thereof will have comfort and satisfaction in your own minds. See Matthew 11:28-29 . But they said, We will not walk therein — If they did not say so in express words, yet such was the language of their actions: though the prophets had directed them into the right way, and though they knew others had experienced it to be so, yet they would not be persuaded to walk in it, but deliberately refused the blessings offered them. Also I set watchmen over you — I gave you prophets, as so many watchmen, to warn you of the evils that threatened you. And they faithfully discharged their duty, admonishing you of your sins, and giving you faithful warning of the judgments they would bring upon you; saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet — That is, to the warning given you of approaching danger. It was customary, in those days and countries, to have continually watchmen placed on high towers, or on hills, who observed the country all round, to prevent any sudden hostile invasion, by giving early notice of any appearance thereof by sound of trumpet. “So the prophets, who were the observators of the manners of the people, and who had early notice from God what evils were coming, unless prevented by repentance and amendment of life, are called watchmen.” Jeremiah 6:17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying , Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Jeremiah 6:18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Jeremiah 6:18-19 . Therefore hear, ye nations — The very heathen are called upon to take notice of these threatenings and denunciations of God’s wrath against the Jews, lest they should think that the calamities which were soon to fall upon that people had happened by chance, and not by the appointment of that God whom they had dishonoured and refused to obey; and know, O congregation — Of Israel, namely, the general assembly of the people at Jerusalem; what is among them — Rather, what I have decreed against them. God would have all the world to know that the judgments which were coming on the Jews had been foretold by him, and inflicted for the punishment of their sins. Hear, O earth — God’s people, meant, it seems, by the word congregation, in the former clause; and the heathen nations are justly equivalent to the earth. Behold, I will bring evil upon this people — The Chaldean army, with all the direful effect of it; even the fruit of their thoughts — They may thank themselves for what is coming upon them, being the fruit of their contrivances and sinful imaginations. As they have sown, so shall they reap. They thought to strengthen themselves by their alliances with foreigners, which they formed independent of me, and in opposition to my express prohibition, and by having recourse to various species of idolatry, and other superstitions; and these very things will bring ruin upon them. Jeremiah 6:19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. Jeremiah 6:20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. Jeremiah 6:20 . To what purpose — incense from Sheba? — Sheba was a part of Arabia Felix, and famous for its spices and perfumes, Isaiah 9:6 . Here the prophet reproves the hypocrisy of the Jews, who sought to cover their inward corruption by the external shows of religion; which the prophets often declare to be of no value, when they do not proceed from a devout mind. See Jeremiah 7:21-22 ; Isaiah 1:11 . And the sweet cane from a far country — Respecting which, see on Isaiah 43:24 . A far country seems equivalent with Sheba before mentioned, whose queen is said, Matthew 12:42 , to have come from the uttermost parts of the earth, namely, from the southern extremity of the peninsula of Arabia, which, with respect to Judea, was a far country, and at the extreme parts of the earth, or bordering upon the ocean on the south. Jeremiah 6:21 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish. Jeremiah 6:21-26 . Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people — I will suffer such things to be laid in their way as shall be the occasion of their destruction. Or, I will bring calamities upon them, by which they shall fall. The neighbour and his friend shall perish — Men of all sorts and conditions. Behold, a people cometh, &c. — The Chaldeans are here again described, as in Jeremiah 5:15 ; a distant nation, violent, cruel, armed with bows and spears, and well mounted. A great nation from the sides of the earth — Or rather, from the coasts, ends, or extremities of the earth, as Dr. Waterland reads it. Their voice roareth like the sea — The shouts of hostile armies are fitly compared to the waves of the sea, which dash upon the shores with a great noise. And they ride upon horses — Of which there was a great scarcity in Judea, which was one reason that induced the Jews to enter into alliances with Egypt, that they might be furnished with horses from thence. We have heard the fame thereof — The prophet personates the people, and describes the very great consternation which Judah and Jerusalem should be in, upon the approach of this formidable enemy. Our hands wax feeble — We have no heart to make any resistance; anguish hath taken hold of us — We are in an extremity of pain, like that of a woman in travail. Go not forth into the fields, &c. — Thus he expresses the great danger that would be everywhere. O daughter of my people, &c. — Here the prophet calls upon them to lament the desolations that were coming upon them; as if he had said, Hear thy God calling thee to weeping and mourning, and answer his call. Gird thee with sackcloth — Not only put on sackcloth for a day, but gird it on thee to be worn constantly. Wallow thyself in ashes — Lie down among them; use all the tokens of the deepest mourning, and most bitter lamentation; and that not forced, and for show, but with the greatest sincerity, as parents mourn for an only son, and think themselves comfortless because they are childless. The expression, as for an only son, was proverbial among the Jews, to denote the greatest grief. For the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us — Though he is not come yet, he is coming; the decree is gone forth, let us therefore meet the execution of it with a suitable sadness. Jeremiah 6:22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. Jeremiah 6:23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion. Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Jeremiah 6:25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. Jeremiah 6:27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way. Jeremiah 6:27 . I have set thee for a tower, &c. — According to this reading, God speaks here by way of encouragement to the prophet, and tells him he had made him a fortified tower, that he might be safe, notwithstanding all the attempts of the wicked against him. But Lowth, with some others, thinks that “the sense would be plainer if the words were translated thus: I have set thee (in) a watch-tower, and (in) a fortress;” that is, God tells the prophet that he hath placed him as a watchman in a high tower, or fortress, to take an account of the people’s behaviour, and to warn them accordingly. That thou mayest know and try their way — That is, their actions and manners, and how they stand affected toward God and his word; that thou mayest bring their whole conduct under thy strict observation and scrutiny, as refiners do metals. Hereby the prophet is encouraged to reprove them more freely, and with authority, because God promises to defend him from injury, and would give him prudence to see what was amiss, and undauntedness to oppose it. It may be proper to observe here, that this latter clause of the verse favours the sense in which the LXX. and the Vulgate have taken the preceding clause. They render the word ???? , which we translate a tower, ?????????? , probatorem, a prover, or trier, which Blaney interprets thus: “I have appointed thee the office of an assay-master among my people, as to the gold thereof; that is, to try what is in them of genuine worth and excellence, which, like pure gold, will stand the utmost test.” Dr. Dodd considers the passage in the same light, observing, “The prophet in these verses evidently takes his ideas from metals, and the trial of them; and the verbs in the latter clause of this verse, referring to such trial, manifestly require something corresponding in the preceding part. But what has a tower and fortress to do with the trying of metals? In this view the reader will agree with me, that the passage is rendered much more properly in some of the versions, and indeed more agreeably to the Hebrew, I have given, or established, thee as a strong prover, or trier of metals among my people that thou mightest know, &c.” Jeremiah 6:28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. Jeremiah 6:28-29 . They are all grievous revolters — Obstinate and refractory; walking with slanders — Making it their business to detract from thee and the other prophets. Blaney translates the clause, They are all of them the dross of revolters, passing with a fraudulent currency; an interpretation for which he assigns plausible reasons. They are brass and iron — They have basely degenerated. It appears, upon trial, that they have nothing in them of the purity of silver or gold, but their impudence resembles brass, and their obstinacy iron. They are all corrupters — Hebrew, ???????? , corrupting, or adulterating; or, as Blaney renders it, instruments of adulteration, alluding to brass and iron, or any base metals, being used to adulterate the pure silver. The bellows are burned, &c. — All methods to purify and amend them are ineffectual. All the expressions to the end of the chapter are metaphorical. The lead is consumed of the fire — Before the use of quicksilver was known, the refiners used lead to separate the silver from the other substances mixed with it. Thus Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 31. sec. 31, “Excoqui (argentum) non potest, nisi cum plumbo nigro, aut cum vena plumbi.” The founder melteth in vain — Or, as Houbigant reads it, heapeth up fire in vain. For the wicked are not plucked away — Or rather, The dross of iniquity is not purged away. The word ???? , meaning here, it seems, the base ingredients among the metals; that is, the bad principles and habits, which prevailed so much, and adhered so closely, that all endeavours and pains used to purge them away and get clear of them proved ineffectual; so that, as it follows in the next verse, nothing remained but to throw them aside, as metal disallowed, and cried down by authority; counterfeiting silver, but not capable of being brought to the sterling standard. See Blaney. In other words: As base money is refused by every one, because it cannot bear the touchstone; so should these hypocrites and evil-doers be rejected both by God and man. Jeremiah 6:29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. Jeremiah 6:30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Jeremiah 6:1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. ; Jeremiah 5:1-31 ; Jeremiah 6:1-30 CHAPTER IV THE SCYTHIANS AS THE SCOURGE OF GOD Jeremiah 4:3 - Jeremiah 6:30 IF we would understand what is written here and elsewhere in the pages of prophecy, two things would seem to be requisite. We must prepare ourselves with some knowledge of the circumstances of the time, and we must form some general conception of the ideas and aims of the inspired writer, both in themselves, and in their relation to passing events. Of the former, a partial and fragmentary knowledge may suffice, provided it be true so far as it goes; minuteness of detail is not necessary to general accuracy. Of the latter, a very full and complete conception may be gathered from a careful study of the prophetic discourses. The chapters before us were obviously composed in the presence of a grave national danger; and what that danger was is not left uncertain, as the discourse proceeds. An invasion of the country appeared to be imminent; the rumour of approaching war had already made itself heard in the capital; and all classes were terror stricken at the tidings. As usual in such times of peril, the country people were already abandoning the unwalled towns and villages, to seek refuge in the strong places of the land, and, above all, in Jerusalem, which was at once the capital and the principal fortress of the kingdom. The evil news had spread far and near; the trumpet signal of alarm was heard everywhere; the cry was, "Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fenced cities!" { Jeremiah 4:5 } The ground of this universal terror is thus declared: "The lion is gone up from his thicket, and the destroyer of nations is on his way, is gone forth from his place; to make thy land a desolation, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant" ( Jeremiah 4:7 ). "A hot blast over the bare hills in the wilderness, on the road to the daughter of my people, not for winnowing, nor for cleansing; a full blast from those hills cometh at My beck" ( Jeremiah 4:11 ). "Lo, like clouds he cometh up, and, like the whirlwind, his chariots; swifter than vultures are his horses. Woe unto us! We are verily destroyed" ( Jeremiah 4:13 ). "Besiegers" {lit. "watchmen," Isaiah 1:8 } "are coming from the remotest land, and they utter their cry against the cities of Judah. Like keepers of a field become they against her on every side" ( Jeremiah 4:16-17 ). At the same time, the invasion is still only a matter of report; the blow has not yet fallen upon the trembling people. "Behold, I am about to bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith Iahvah; an inexhaustible nation it is, a nation of old time it is, a nation whose tongue thou knowest not, nor understandest (lit. ‘hearest’) what it speaketh. Its quiver is like an opened grave; they all are heroes. And it will eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; it will eat up thy flock and thine herd; it will eat up thy vine and thy fig tree; it will shatter thine embattled cities, wherein thou art trusting, with the sword." { Jeremiah 5:15-17 } "Thus hath Iahvah said: Lo, a people cometh from a northern land, and a great nation is awaking from the uttermost parts of earth. Bow and lance they hold; savage it is, and pitiless; the sound of them is like the sea, when it roareth; and on horses they ride; he is arrayed as a man for battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the report of him; our hands droop; anguish hath taken hold of us, throes, like hers that travaileth". { Jeremiah 6:22 sq.} With the graphic force of a keen observer, who is also a poet, the priest of Anathoth has thus depicted for all time the collapse of terror which befell his contemporaries, on the rumoured approach of the Scythians in the reign of Josiah. And his lyric fervour carries him beyond this; it enables him to see with the utmost distinctness the havoc wrought by these hordes of savages; the surprise of cities, the looting of houses, the flight of citizens to the woods and the hills at the approach of the enemy; the desertion of the country towns, the devastation of fields and vineyards, confusion and desolation everywhere, as though primeval chaos had returned; and he tells it all with the passion and intensity of one who is relating an actual personal experience. "In my vitals, my vitals, I quake, in the walls of my heart! My heart is murmuring to me; I cannot hold my peace; for my soul is listening to the trumpet blast, the alarm of war! Ruin on ruin is cried, for all the land is ravaged; suddenly are my tents ravaged, my pavilions in a moment! How long must I see the standards, must I listen to the trumpet blast?" { Jeremiah 4:19-21 } "I look at the earth, and lo, ‘tis chaos: at the heavens, and their light is no more. I look at the mountains, and lo, they rock, and all the hills sway to and fro. I look, and lo, man is no more, and the birds of the air are gone. I look, and 1o, the fruitful soil is wilderness, and all the cities of it are overthrown". { Jeremiah 4:23-26 } "At the noise of horseman and archer all the city is in flight! They are gone into the thickets, and up the rocks they have clomb: all the city is deserted" ( Jeremiah 4:29 ). His eye follows the course of devastation until it reaches Jerusalem: Jerusalem, the proud, luxurious capital, now isolated on her hills, bereft of all her daughter cities, abandoned, even betrayed, by her foreign allies. "And thou, that art doomed to destruction, what canst thou do? Though thou clothe thee in scarlet, though thou deck thee with decking of gold, though thou broaden thine eyes with henna, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; the lovers have scorned thee, thy life are they seeking." The "lovers"-the false foreigners-have turned against her in the time of her need; and the strange gods, with whom she dallied in the days of prosperity, can bring her no help. And now, while she witnesses, but cannot avert the slaughter of her children, her shrieks ring in the prophet’s ear: "A cry, as of one in travail, do I hear; pangs as of her that beareth her firstborn; the cry of the daughter of Zion, that panteth, that. spreadeth out her hands: Woe’s me! my soul swooneth for the slayers!" ( Jeremiah 4:30-31 ) Even the strong walls of Jerusalem are no sure defence; there is no safety but in flight. "Remove your goods, ye sons of Benjamin, from within Jerusalem! And in Tekoah" (as if Blaston or Blowick or Trumpington) "blow a trumpet blast and upon Bethhakkerem raise a signal (or ‘beacon’)! for evil hath looked forth from the north, and mighty ruin". { Jeremiah 6:1-2 } The two towns mark the route of the fugitives, making for the wilderness of the south; and the trumpet call, and the beacon light, muster the scattered companies at these rallying points or halting places. "The beautiful and the pampered one will I destroy-the daughter of Sion." (Perhaps: "The beautiful and the pampered woman art thou like, O daughter of Sion!" 3d fem. sing. in i.) "To her come the shepherds and their flocks; they pitch the tents upon her round about; they graze each at his own side" ( i.e., on the ground nearest him). The figure changes, with lyric abruptness, from the fair woman, enervated by luxury ( Jeremiah 6:2 ) to the fair pasture land, on which the nomad shepherds encamp, whose flocks soon eat the herbage down, and leave the soil stripped bare ( Jeremiah 6:3 ); and then, again, to an army beleaguering the fated city, whose cries of mutual cheer, and of impatience at all delay, the poet-prophet hears and rehearses. "Hallow ye war against her! Arise ye, let us go up" (to the assault) "at noontide! Unhappy we! the day hath turned; the shadows of eventide begin to lengthen! Arise ye, and let us go up in the night, to destroy her palaces!" ( Jeremiah 6:4-5 ). As a fine example of poetical expression, the discourse obviously has its own intrinsic value. The author’s power to sketch with a few bold strokes the magical effect of a disquieting rumour; the vivid force with which he realises the possibilities of ravage and ruin which are wrapped up in those vague, uncertain tidings; the pathos and passion of his lament over his stricken country, stricken as yet to his perception only; the tenderness of feeling; the subtle sweetness of language; the variety of metaphor; the light of imagination illuminating the whole with its indefinable charm; all these characteristics indicate the presence and power of a master singer. But with Jeremiah, as with his predecessors, the poetic expression of feeling is far from being an end in itself. He writes with a purpose to which all the endowments of his gifted nature are freely and resolutely subordinated. He values his powers as a poet and orator solely as instruments which conduce to an efficient utterance of the will of Iahvah. He is hardly conscious of these gifts as such. He exists to. "declare in the house of Jacob and to publish in Judah" the word of the Lord. It is in this capacity that he now comes forward, and addresses his terrified countrymen, in terms not calculated to allay their fears with soothing suggestions of comfort and reassurance, but rather deliberately chosen with a view to heightening those fears, and deepening them to a sense of approaching judgment. For, after all, it is not the rumoured coming of the Scythian hordes that impels him to break silence. It is his consuming sense of the moral degeneracy, the spiritual degradation of his countrymen, which flames forth into burning utterance. "Whom shall I address and adjure, that they may hear? Lo, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken; lo, the word of Iahvah hath become to them a reproach; they delight not therein. And of the fury of Iahvah I am full; I am weary of holding it in." Then the other voice in his heart answers: "Pour thou it forth upon the child in the street, and upon the company of young men together!". { Jeremiah 6:10-11 } It is the righteous indignation of an offended God that wells up from his heart, and overflows at his lips, and cries woe, irremediable woe, upon the land he loves better than his own life. He begins with encouragement and persuasion, but his tone soon changes to denunciation and despair. { Jeremiah 4:3 sq.} "Thus hath Iahvah said to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break you up the fallows, and sow not into thorns! Circumcise yourselves to Iahvah, and remove the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings." Clothed with the Spirit, as Semitic speech might express it, his whole soul enveloped in a garment of heavenly light-a magical garment whose virtues impart new force as well as new light-the prophet sees straight to the heart of things, and estimates with God-given certainty the real state of his people, and the moral worth of their seeming repentance. The first measures of Josiah’s reforming zeal have been inaugurated; at least within the limits of the capital, idolatry in its coarser and more repellent forms has been suppressed; there is a show of return to the God of Israel. But the popular heart is still wedded to the old sanctuaries, and the old sensuous rites of Canaan; and, worse than this, the priests and prophets, whose centre of influence was the one great sanctuary of the Book of the Law, the temple at Jerusalem, have simply taken advantage of the religious reformation for their own purposes of selfish aggrandisement. "From the youngest to the oldest of them, they all ply the trade of greed; and from prophet to priest, they all practise lying. And they have repaired the ruin of (the daughter) of my people in light fashion, saying, It is well, it is well! though it be not well". { Jeremiah 6:13-14 } The doctrine of the one legitimate sanctuary, taught with disinterested earnestness by the disciples of Isaiah, and enforced by that logic of events which had demonstrated the feebleness of the local holy places before the Assyrian destroyers, had now come to be recognised as a convenient buttress of the private gains of the Jerusalem priesthood and the venal prophets who supported their authority. The strong current of national reform had been utilised for the driving of their private machinery; and the sole outcome of the self-denying efforts and sufferings of the past appeared to be the enrichment of these grasping and unscrupulous worldlings who sat, like an incubus, upon the heart of the national church. So long as money flowed steadily into their coffers, they were eager enough to reassure the doubting, and to dispel all misgivings by their deceitful oracle that all was well. So long as trading in things Divine, to the utter neglect of the higher obligations of the moral law, was simply appalling to the sensitive conscience of the true prophet of that degenerate age. "A strange and a startling thing it is, that is come to pass in the land. The prophets, they have prophesied in the Lie, and the priests, they tyrannise under their direction; and My people, they love it thus; and what will ye do for the issue thereof?". { Jeremiah 5:30-31 } For such facts must have an issue; and the present moral and spiritual ruin of the nation points with certainty to impending ruin in the material and political sphere. The two things go together; you cannot have a decline of faith, a decay of true religion, and permanent outward prosperity; that issue is incompatible with the eternal laws which regulate the life and progress of humanity. One sits in the heavens, over all things from the beginning, to whom all stated worship is a hideous offence when accompanied by hypocrisy and impurity and fraud and violence in the ordinary relations of life. "What good to me is incense that cometh from Sheba, and the choice calamus from a far country? your burnt offerings" (holocausts) "are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not sweet unto Me." Instead of purchasing safety, they will ensure perdition: "Therefore thus hath Iahvah said: Lo, I am about to lay for this people stumbling blocks, and they shall stumble upon them, fathers and sons together, a neighbour and his friend; and they shall perish." { Jeremiah 6:20 sq.} In the early days of reform, indeed, Jeremiah himself appears to have shared in the sanguine views associated with a revival of suspended orthodoxy. The tidings of imminent danger were a surprise to him, as to the zealous worshippers who thronged the courts of the temple. So then, after all, "the burning anger of Iahvah was not turned away" by the outward tokens of penitence, by the lavish gifts of devotion; this unexpected and terrifying rumour was a call for the resumption of the garb of mourning and for the renewal of those public fasts which had marked the initial stages of reformation. { Jeremiah 4:8 } The astonishment and the disappointment of the man assert themselves against the inspiration of the prophet, when, contemplating the helpless bewilderment of kings and princes, and the stupefaction of priests and prophets in face of the national calamities, he breaks out into remonstrances with God. "And I said, Alas, O Lord Iahvah! of a truth, Thou hast utterly beguiled this people and Jerusalem, saying, It shall be well with you; whereas the sword will reach to the life." The allusion is to the promises contained in the Book of the Law, the reading of which had so powerfully conduced to the movement for reform. That book had been the text of the prophet preachers, who were most active in that work; and the influence of its ideas and language upon Jeremiah himself is apparent in all his early discourses. The prophet’s faith, however, was too deeply rooted to be more than momentarily shaken; and it soon told him that the evil tidings were evidence not of unfaithfulness or caprice in Iahvah, but of the hypocrisy and corruption of Israel. With this conviction upon him he implores the populace of the capital to substitute an inward and real for an outward and delusive purification. "Break up the fallows!" Do not dream that any adequate reformation can be superinduced upon the mere surface of life: "Sow not among thorns!" Do not for one moment believe that the word of God can take root and bear fruit in the hard soil of a heart that desires only to be secured in the possession of present enjoyments, in immunity for self indulgence, covetousness, and oppression of the poor. "Wash thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem! that thou mayst be saved. How long shall the schemings of thy folly lodge within thee? For hark! one declareth from Dan, and proclaimeth folly from the hills of Ephraim". { Jeremiah 4:14 sq.} The "folly" ( ‘awen ) is the foolish hankering after the gods which are nothing in the world but a reflection of the diseased fancy of their worshippers; for it is always true that man makes his god in his own image, when he does make him, and does not receive the knowledge of him by revelation. It was a folly inveterate and, as it would seem, hereditary in Israel, going back to the times of the Judges, . and recalling the story of Micah the Ephraimite and the Danites who stole his images. That ancient sin still cried to heaven for vengeance; for the apostatising tendency, which it exemplified, was still active in the heart of Israel. The nation had "rebelled against" the Lord, for it was foolish and had never really known Him; the people were silly children, and lacked insight; skilled only in doing wrong, and ignorant of the way to do right. { Jeremiah 4:22 } Like the things they worshipped, they had eyes, but saw not; they had ears, but heard not. Enslaved to the empty terrors of their own imaginations, they, who cowered before dumb idols, stood untrembling in the awful presence of Him whose laws restrained the ocean within due limits, and upon whose sovereign will the fall of the rain and increase of the field depended. { Jeremiah 5:21-24 } The popular blindness to the claims of the true religion, to the inalienable rights of the God of Israel, involved a corresponding and ever-increasing blindness to the claims of universal morality, to the rights of man. Competent observers have often called attention to the remarkable influence exercised by the lower forms of heathenism in blunting the moral sense; and this influence was fully illustrated in the case of Jeremiah’s contemporaries. So complete, so universal was the national decline that it seemed impossible to find one good man within the bounds of the capital. Every aim in life found illustration in those gay, crowded streets, in the bazaars, in the palaces, in the places by the gate where law was administered, except the aim of just and righteous and merciful dealing with one’s neighbour. God was ignored or misconceived of, and therefore man was wronged and oppressed. Perjury, even in the Name of the God of Israel, whose eyes regard faithfulness and sincerity, and whose favour is not to be won by professions and presents; a self-hardening against both Divine chastisement and prophetic admonition; a fatal inclination to the seductions of Canaanite worship and the violations of the moral law, which that worship permitted and even encouraged as pleasing to the gods; these vices characterised the entire population of Jerusalem in that dark period. "Run ye to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek ye in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if indeed there be one that doeth justice, that seeketh sincerity; that I may pardon her. And if they say, By the life of Iahvah! Even so they swear falsely. Iahvah, are not thine eyes toward sincerity? Thou smotest them, and they trembled not; Thou consumedst them, they refused to receive instruction; they made their faces harder than a rock, they refused to repent. And for me, I said" (me thought), "These are but poor folk; they behave foolishly, because they know not the way of Iahvah, the justice" ( Jeremiah 5:1 ) "of their God: let me betake myself to the great, and speak with them; for they at least know the way of Iahvah, the justice of their God: but these with one consent had broken the yoke, had burst the bonds in sunder". { Jeremiah 5:1-5 } Then, as now, the debasement of the standard of life among the ruling classes was a far more threatening symptom of danger to the commonwealth than laxity of principle among the masses, who had never enjoyed the higher knowledge and more thorough training which wealth and rank, as a matter of course, confer. If the crew turn drunken and mutinous, the ship is in unquestionable peril; but if they who have the guidance of the vessel in their hands follow the vices of those whom they should command and control, wreck and ruin are assured. The profligacy allowed by heathenism, against which the prophets cried in vain, is forcibly depicted in the words: "Why should I pardon thee? Thy sons have forsaken Me, and have sworn by them that are no gods: though I had bound them" (to Me) "by oath, they committed" (spiritual) "adultery, and into the house of the Fornicatress" (the idol’s temple, where the harlot priestess sat for hire) "they would flock. Stallions roaming at large were they; neighing each to his neighbour’s wife. Shall I not punish such offences, saith Iahvah; and shall not My soul avenge herself on such a nation as this?" The cynical contempt of justice, the fraud and violence of those who were in haste to become rich, are set forth in the following: "Among My people are found godless men; one watcheth, as birdcatchers lurk; they have set the trap, they catch men. Like a cage filled with birds, so are their houses filled with fraud: therefore they are become great, and have amassed wealth. They are become fat, they are sleek; also they pass { Isaiah 40:27 } cases { Exodus 22:9 ; Exodus 24:14 ; cf. also 1 Samuel 10:2 } of wickedness-neglect to judge heinous crimes; the cause they judge not, the cause of the fatherless, to make it succeed; and the right of the needy they vindicate not". { Jeremiah 5:26-28 } "She is the city doomed to be punished! she is all oppression within. As a spring poureth forth its waters, so she poureth forth her wickedness; violence and oppression resound in her; before Me continually is sickness and wounds". { Jeremiah 6:6-7 } There would seem to be no hope for such a people and such a city. The prophet, indeed, cannot forget the claims of kindred, the thousand ties of blood and feeling that bind him to this perverse and sinful nation. Thrice, even in this dark forecast of destruction, he mitigates severity with the promise, "yet will I not make a full end." The door is still left open, on the chance that some at least may be won to penitence. But the chance was small. The difficulty was, and the prophet’s yearning tenderness towards his people could not blind him to the fact that all the lessons of God’s providence were lost upon this reprobate race: "They have belied the Lord, and said, it is not He; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword and famine." The prophets, they insisted, were wrong both in the significance which they attributed to occasional calamities, and in the disasters which they announced as imminent: "The prophets will become wind, and the Word of God is not in them; so will it turn out with them." It was, therefore, wholly futile to appeal to their better judgment against themselves: "Thus said Iahvah, Stop on the ways, and consider, and ask after the eternal paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and find rest for your soul: and they said, We will not walk therein. And I will set over you watchmen" (the prophets); "hearken ye to the call of the trumpet!" (the warning note of prophecy) "and they said We will not hearken." For such wilful hardness and impenitence, disdaining correction and despising reproof, God appeals to the heathen themselves, and to the dumb earth, to attest the justice of His sentence of destruction against this people: "Therefore, hear, O ye nations, and know, and testify what is among them! Hear, O earth! Lo, I am about to bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their own devisings; for unto My words they have not hearkened, and as for Mine instruction, they have rejected it." Their doom was inevitable, for it was the natural and necessary consequence of their own doings: "Thine own way and thine own deeds have brought about these evils for thee; this is thine own evil; verily, it is bitter, verily, it reacheth unto thine heart." The discourse ends with a despairing glance at the moral reprobation of Israel. "An assayer did I make thee among My people, a refiner," {reading mecaref , Malachi 3:2-3 } "that thou mightest know and assay their kind" (lit. way). Jeremiah’s call had been to "sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" in the name of his God: in other words, to separate the good elements from the bad in Israel, and to gather around himself the nucleus of a people "prepared for Iahvah." But his work had been vain. In vain had the prophetic fire burnt within him; in vain had the vehemency of the spirit fanned the flame; the Divine word-that solvent of hearts-had been expended in vain; no good metal could come of an ore so utterly base. "They are all the worst" { 1 Kings 20:43 } "of rebels" (or, "deserters to the rebels"), "going about with slander; they are brass and iron; they all deal corruptly. The bellows blow; the lead" (used for fining the ore) "is consumed by the fire; in vain do they go on refining" (or, "does the refiner refine"); "and the wicked are not separated. Refuse silver are they called, for Iahvah hath refused them." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.