Promises to Israel; threatenings to Judah.

1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. 2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. 6 Set up the standard toward Zion retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish,

and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. 10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.

11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,

12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.

13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.

14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

15 For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.

16 Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.

18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.

LECTURE 1189.

The conditional nature of the divine promises.

The first two verses of this chapter are closely connected with the subject of the chapter next before. They are addressed to the ten tribes of Israel, on the prospect of their repenting and turning unto God. He promises them, that in case they were willing so to do, they might return, and be no more removed. And He tells them, that they should then bear solemn testimony to the truth, judgment, and righteousness of the Lord: so that the Gentiles by their means should worship Him, and glorify his

name.

These promises addressed to Israel are close followed by fearful threats proclaimed against the men of Judah and Jerusalem. They are warned that unless they take measures to bring forth better fruit, unless they become circumcised inwardly in the spirit, see Rom. 2. 28, 29, the fury of the Lord will come forth against them like unquenchable fire. Proclamation is made for the people to take refuge within the defences of their cities, on account of the enemies whom God will send, and against whom therefore no defences can avail. The invader is described as on his way, like a lion coming up from his thicket. Desolation is denounced against the cities, and against the people mourning and woe; the hearts of the king and princes failing them for fear, the priests and the prophets being overtaken with dismay. Jeremiah himself, as though actually experiencing the woe which He foretels, thus gives vent to the expressions of astonishment: "Ah, Lord God! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul." He speaks for the moment as one who had relied upon the promises of God, independently of the obedience of the people. But as he dwells on the particulars of the approaching calamity, he signifies that God's promises are conditional; saying, "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved." He remarks too that a voice from the land of the ten tribes gives Judah warning of the coming evil. And it is "because she hath been rebellious" that the evil is to come. When therefore the bitter end of wickedness reaches a man, even unto the heart, let him not think that God's gracious promises have failed; but let him know that the fault lies in his own faithlessness. God tells us all most truly in the Gospel "Ye shall have peace." But He tells us no less plainly the terms on which we are to have it. And if any man sets at nought the commandments of God, and would yet plead his title to the promises, his end is destruction, and his disappointment is thus to be explained: "Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee."

A vision of terrible things to befal Jerusalem.
anger.

19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce

27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.

30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

LECTURE 1190.

The compassion of God in the midst of his threatenings. The destruction coming on the cities of Judah, and the desolation of all the country of Jerusalem, are here set forth by Jeremiah in language the most forcible, and with the expression of the most lively sympathy, on the prophet's part, in the calamities impending on his country. He hears in his soul the "sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war." He feels as though the spoiler had taken sudden possession of his tent. The causes of the cala

mity he knows to be the people's forgetfulness of God, their skill in doing evil, their ignorance in doing good. The effects he sees in a vision, an awful vision, in which various objects pass before the view, expressive of disaster and distress. He beholds the earth as it was at the beginning," without form and void." He beholds the heavens as they were when there was no light, but only darkness visible. The mountains tremble, the hills are moved as a light thing, man is no where to be seen on the face of the earth, no birds are flying in the air, the fruitful place is a wilderness, and the defenced cities are heaps of ruins.

There could be little doubt as to what this vision portended. But that there might be none it is added, "thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate;" that is to say, the whole land of Judea. "For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black," this was the meaning of the vision seen by Jeremiah. Jerusalem was the city, whose inhabitants should flee in terror from the face of their enemies; and all the cities of Judah in like manner should be left without a man to dwell in them. But even in the midst of this awful sentence it is mentioned, "yet will I not make a full end." And he who was commissioned to proclaim it, was no less inspired to express the compassion of the Lord, in the language of his own affectionate concern, " And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?" Even this signal manifestation of the terrors of the Lord is not without some token of the continuance of his love. He speaks by his prophet as though concerned for the reverses and disasters, the wailing and weeping, of his people. How ought this reflection to melt our hearts, when at any time we suffer by God's chastisements! He does not willingly afflict us. He would not have us undergo distress and anguish, if it were not the necessary consequence of our manifold sins. He makes not a full end at once, but usually gives us many an opportunity to turn unto Him and to be saved. Oh let us not fail to use aright our season of grace. Let us tremble at God's warnings. And when we consider, that it is in love He warns us, and that even his most awful threatenings are accompanied with expressions of compassionate concern, let us much more be moved to love Him, because He has thus continued to love us, when we feel that we have been most unworthy of his love.

O Thou, who art all compassion, make us sensible of the greatness of thy mercy, the tenderness of thy love. And however much we are dejected by the consciousness of our sins, let our hearts be warmed with thankfulness by this thought, that when we were sinners thy love to us was manifested by no less a proof than this, the gift of thine own Son to be our Saviour!

The hypocrisy, obstinacy, adulteries, and infidelity of the Jews. 1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

bled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

2 And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.

5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assem

8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. 9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.

12 They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.

17 And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up