shot out; it speaketh deceit : [one] fpeaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth 9 his wait, or, wait for him. Shall I not vifit them for thefe [things?] faith the LORD: fhall not my foul be 10 avenged on fuch a nation as this? For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wildernefs, or, the paftures of the plain, a lamentation, because they are burned up, fo that none can pass through [them ;] neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone, because there is no provifion for them, the Chaldeans fhall make the whole country II defolate. And I will make Jerufalem heaps, [and] a den of dragons, a species of ferpents which are only found in defolate places; and I will make the cities of Judah 12 defolate, without an inhabitant. Who [is] the wife man, that may understand this? and [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD hath fpoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perifheth [and] is burned up like a wilderness, that none paffeth through? who can understand the law of God, which threatens fuch things, or his prophets, who foretel them? who can fee the 13 cause of this calamity? And the LORD faith, Because they have forfaken my law which I fet before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; 14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught 15 them: Therefore thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Ifrael; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall 16 to drink. I will fcatter them alfo among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will fend a fword after them, till I have confumed them. 17 Thus faith the LORD of hosts, Confider ye, and, as you your felves are not fufficiently affected, call for the mourning women, which are used to attend as mourners at funerals, that they may come; and fend for cunning 18 [women,] that they may come: And let them make hafte, and take up a wailing for us, that their weeping may 1. may affect us, that our eyes may run down with tears, 19 and our eyelids gufh out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard, that is, fhall be heard, out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, becaufe we have forfaken the land, because our dwellings 20 have caft [us] out. Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, who are most easily impreffed with grief and fear, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation; not artificial, but real lamentation; instead of bringing them up in gaiety and diversions, teach them mourning fongs, for they will have occafion to use 21 them. For death is come up into our windows, [and] is entered into our palaces, neither palaces nor fortifications can defend us from deftruction; it enters every place, to cut off the children from without, [and] the young men from the streets, in which they can play no more by reason 22 of the fury of the enemy. Speak, Thus faith the LORD, Even the carcafes of men fhall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvest man, and none fhall gather [them;] they fhall lie unburied, and none fhall think it worth their while to gather 23 them up. Thus faith the LORD, Let not the wife [man] glory in his wifdom, as if he had found out a way to escape the defolation, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, as if he could refift it, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches, as if they would be his 24 ranfom in that day: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD which exercise loving kindness, or tenderness to the penitent, judgment in punishing my enemies, and righteousness, in the earth, in fulfilling my promifes and defending my people: for in thefe [things] I delight, faith the LORD; I delight in exercising these myself, and in thofe who practise them. 25 Behold, the days come, faith the LORD, that I will punish all [them which are] circumcifed with the uncircumcifed, because they are as finful and impure as they ; 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all [that are] in the utmost corners, I. corners, that dwell in the wilderness; or, thofe that poll the corners of their hair, (referring to the Arabians, who cut off their hair before, and left it long behind, to make them look formidable) for all [these] nations [are] uncircumcifed, and all the house of Ifrael [are] uncircumcifed in the heart; therefore I will reckon with them all together, and they fhall fare alike. REFLECTION S. T becomes us to be tenderly affected with the IT here expreffes himfelf in the most pathetic terms, in the view of thofe defolations which were coming upon his people. Thus fhould we be affected when we hear of the defolations of war; of multitudes flain in battle; tho' they should not be our own people, yea, tho' they are our enemies, for they are men. So many precious lives are loft ! and fo many immortal fouls are gone into eternity! 2. Prevailing falsehood is a proof of national degeneracy, and a symptom of national ruin. This feems to have been the reigning vice of Ifrael in Jeremiah's time. He reprefents them as almoft all treacherous and deceitful, ftudying falfehood, and every method to overreach and undermine one another. It is very fad with a nation when there is falfehood in judicial proceedings, in trade and commerce, and in common converfation. Too much of this character may be observed in our nation; the many shameful bankruptcies among us fhow it. But let us be valiant for the truth. It requires courage to defend an honeft caufe, when it is much run down; or to fpeak for a worthy character, when it is generally afperfed; and more especially when fpeaking truth would expofe us to fufferings and reproach. Nevertheless let truth be ever facred with us; for God fees and abhors all deceit. When once men violate the truth, they generally proceed from evil to evil, till at length they have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for ever. 3. We learn what should be the fubject of our glory and confidence. Not our wifdom, might, or riches; for they are are of uncertain continuance, nor can they defend us in time of calamity, much less in the time of death. Let us glory in the knowledge of God, and truft in his perfections. He is righteous, juft, and kind. He makes himself known by these attributes; he delights in the exercise of them, and in those who endeavour to refemble him. To have an acquaintance with this God, and an intereft in him, will be a fupport and comfort to us in every evil day; and in him we may fafely confide. Let us therefore be followers of God as dear children. 4. Wicked chriftians are no better than heathens. It is really melancholy to fee that Judah is put upon a level with Egypt and Edom, Ammon and Moab, as being as bad as they, and fharing in their fate. What fignifies it to us to be baptized, without purity of heart and complying with the terms of the covenant? to have the fign, without the thing fignified? to be christians in name, and heathens in heart and life? None will fare the better for these external advantages; nay, if they do not improve them, their punishment will be heavier than their's who never enjoyed them. He is not a chriftian who is one outwardly, and baptifm is not that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a christian who is one inwardly, who is baptized of the spirit and walketh in truth. СНАР. Х. Some fuppofe that this chapter was written after the first captivity in Jehoiakim's time, when Daniel and others were carried captive, and is an addrefs to thofe captives concerning the heathen among whom they were fettled, v. 1-17. and that the rest of the chapter concerns those who remained in the land, and might think themselves fafe. 2 H I EAR ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O houfe of Ifrael: Thus faith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven: for the heathen are difmayed at them; the Chaldeans are noted aftrologers, they they pretend by eclipfes, the conjunction of the planets, and other figns in the heavens, to foretel future events, to determine lucky and unlucky days, and the like; learn not these 3 things of them, nor be difmayed at them; For the customs of the people are vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the foreft, the work of the hands of the workman, with 4 the ax. They deck it with filver and with gold; they faften it with nails and with hammers, that it move 5 not. They [are] upright as the palm tree, but fpeak not they must needs be borne, or carried, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither alfo [is it] in them to do good. The prophet, being struck with a fenfe of God's infinite greatness and glory, compared with idols, turns to him, and 6 Jays, in a noble apostrophe, Forafmuch as [there is] none like unto thee, O LORD; thou [art] great, and thy 7 name [is] great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain; or rather, when he ball approach unto thee: forafmuch as among all the wife [men] of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, [there is] none like unto thee; none 8 of their wife men or kings, whom they have deified. But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the ftock [is] a doctrine of vanities; or, the very wood itfelf, being a rebuker of vanities, (that is, idolaters) and reproaching the fupidity of thofe who imagined that fome divine power was 9 lodged in it. Silver fpread into plates is brought from Tarfhish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workmen, or filversmiths, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple [is] their clothing: they [are] to all the work of cunning [men."] But the LORD [is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and an everlasting king, the author of life and being at his wrath the earth fhall tremble, and the nations fhall not be able to 11 abide his indignation. Thus fhall ye fay unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, [even] they fhall perish from the earth, and • Dr. BLAYNEY. from They dreffed their images often in coftly robes and different fuits, as the lady of Loretta, who had one for every day in the year. |