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hofts, the God of Ifrael; Behold, I will fend and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my fervant, and will fet his throne upon these ftones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. II And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt with peftilence, [and deliver] fuch [as are] for death to death; fhutting them up in infected places; and fuch [as are] for captivity to captivity; and fuch [as are] for 12 the sword to the fword. And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a fhepherd putteth on his garment; beautifully alluding to the ease with which he should make the conqueft; just as a fhepherd flips on his garment; foon, and without care or nicety; and he fhall go forth from thence in peace; without op13 pofition, and without fear. He fhall break alfo the images of Beth-fhemefh, that [is] in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians fhall he burn with fire; tho' an idolater himself, he fall deftroy their idols; and tho' a worshipper of the fun, hẹ fball break its images and burn its temples.

I.

T

REFLECTION S.

HE refolution expreffed in v. 5. is very proper for us to make when we read or hear the word of God, viz. to do what he requires of us, whether agreeable or difagreeable, whether fashionable or unfashionable; whatever pains, labour, or felf denial it may coft us. This is the way to have things well with us. And in order to confirm this refolution, it will be proper to make it in the presence of God, and with an appeal to him, ás a true and faithful witness.

2. We have here a deplorable inftance of the grofs hypocrify which men are fometimes guilty of in their tranfactions with God and his minifters. The people came refpectfully to the prophet to enquire the will of God; refolving to do it, and appealing to God for their fincerity; and yet they were determined not to obey if it

was

was difagreeable to them. Thus many pretend refpect to minifters, come and fit before them as God's own people, and profefs obedience and fubmiffion; till the word comes to cross their inclinations and worldly interefts; then they will not obey; but like thefe hypocrites, begin to find fault with the word itself, or the preachers of it. They will defire their prayers, but reject their exhortations. This is horrible prevarication both with God and man; and the portion of fuch hypocrites will be peculiarly dreadful.

3. God will bring upon finners the evils which they think to escape by indirect means. These men wanted to go to Egypt that they might efcape the fword and famine: and God threatens, v. 22. to destroy them in the land where they defire to fojourn, by fword, famine, and peftilence. It is impoffible to outrun the judgments of God. Men now bring themselves into poverty and contempt by dishonest methods of increafing their fubftance; or a fretful, impatient difpofition, leads them to change their fituation, their bufinefs, or their connections, to avoid fomething that disturbs them; but wherever they go, crof fes will attend them, because they carry with them their own irregular paffions. The way to be happy, is to take pains to mend our bad tempers, and make God our friend. With a humble, patient, devout fpirit, we may be comfortable any where; without fuch a difpofition we shall be comfortable no where.

4. Obferve with what infinite ease God can transfer the poffeffion of the greatest kingdoms. He calls Nebuchadrezzar his fervant, because he was to execute his pleasure; foretells that he fhould deftroy Egypt, that antient, rich, and populous kingdom; defcribes the very spot of ground where he should pitch his tent; and the ease and security with which he should make the conqueft. Let us reverence this glorious Being, who doth according to his will, and fear that power, which no creature can refift.

CHAP.

CHA P. XLIV.

Jeremiah in this chapter reproves the jews in Egypt for continuing in idolatry, after the exemplary judgments inflicted on their nation for that fin; and, upon their refufing to reform, denounces destruction to them, and to the kingdom wherein they fought protection.

THE word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at 2 Noph, and in the country of Pathros, faying, Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Ifrael; Ye have feen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerufalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they [are] a defolation, and no man dwelleth 3 therein, Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incenfe, [and] to ferve other gods, whom they 4 knew not, [neither] they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I fent unto you all my fervants the prophets, rifing early and fending [them,] faying, Oh, do not this 5 abominable thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to 6 burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerufalem; and they are wafted [and] defolate, as at this day. Therefore now thus faith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Ifrael; Wherefore commit ye [this] great evil against your fouls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and fuckling, out of Judah, to leave 8 you none to remain; In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incenfe unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth; having learned the idolatry of the Egyptians, and practifed that, befides the idolatry you were used to practise in your own land; on which account God is deter

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9 mined to deftroy you. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the ftreets of Jerufalem; perhaps referring to Solomon's wives in particular, efpecially his Egyptian wives, who had enticed him to idolatry; tho' not to them alone. (v. 15.) 10 They are not humbled [even] unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my ftatutes that I fet before you and before your fathers.

II

Therefore thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Ifrael; Behold, I will fet my face against you for evil, 12 and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to fojourn there, and they fhall all be confumed, [and] fall in the land of Egypt; they fhall [even] be confumed by the fword [and] by the famine: they fhall die, from the leaft even unto the greateft, by the fword and by the famine: and they fhall be an execration, [and] an astonishment, and 13 a curfe, and a reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerufalem, by the fword, by the famine, and by the 14 peftilence: So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to fojourn there, fhall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a defire to return to dwell there, being uneafy in Egypt, and wishing to return: for, or, whereas none fhall return but fuch as fhall escape; that is, only the pious few who were carried with the rest against their will, as Jeremiah and Baruch, c. fome of them or their feed may return after the cap

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tivity.

Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incenfe unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jere16 miah, saying, [As for] the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken

unto

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17 unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incenfe unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerufalem: for [then,] before the Chaldean invafion, had we plenty of victuals, and were 18 well, and faw no evil. But fince we left off to burn incenfe to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, that is, to the moon, (an idolatry chiefly practifed by the women) we have wanted all [things,] and have been confumed by the fword and by 19 the famine. And when we burned incenfe to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men? without the knowledge and confent of our husbands?

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Then Jeremiah faid unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had 21 given him [that] anfwer, faying, The incenfe that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerufalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it [not] into his mind, as 22 very offenfive to him? So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, [and] because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a defolation, and an aftonishment, and 23 a curfe, without an inhabitant, as at this day. Because ye have burned incenfe, and because ye have finned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his ftatutes, nor in his teftimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto 24 you, as at this day. Moreover Jeremiah faid unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that [are] in the land of Egypt: 25 Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Ifrael, faying; Ye and your wives have both fpoken with your mouths,

f This was a direct falfehood; many of them having been deftroyed, and others carried captive before that event.