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Jeremiah
Chapter Seven
Jeremiah 7
Chapter Contents
Confidence in the temple is vain. (1-16) The provocation
by persisting in idolatry. (17-20) God justifies his dealings with them.
(21-28) And threatens vengeance. (29-34)
Commentary on Jeremiah 7:1-16
(Read Jeremiah 7:1-16)
No observances, professions, or supposed revelations,
will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an
interest in free salvation, who allow themselves in the practice of known sin,
or live in the neglect of known duty. They thought that the temple they
profaned would be their protection. But all who continue in sin because grace
has abounded, or that grace may abound, make Christ the minister of sin; and
the cross of Christ, rightly understood, forms the most effectual remedy to
such poisonous sentiments. The Son of God gave himself for our transgressions,
to show the excellence of the Divine law, and the evil of sin. Never let us
think we may do wickedness without suffering for it.
Commentary on Jeremiah 7:17-20
(Read Jeremiah 7:17-20)
The Jews took pride in showing zeal for their idols. Let
us learn to be earnest in the service of our God, even from this bad example.
Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. Let us be as
diligent ourselves, and as careful to teach our children the truths of God, as
many are to teach the mysteries of iniquity. The direct tendency of this sin is
malice against God, but it will hurt themselves. And they shall find there is
no escaping. God's wrath is fire unquenchable.
Commentary on Jeremiah 7:21-28
(Read Jeremiah 7:21-28)
God shows that obedience was required of them. That which
God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The
promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall
be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the
gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice
of Christ lessens our obligation to obey.
Commentary on Jeremiah 7:29-34
(Read Jeremiah 7:29-34)
In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be
degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart
is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the
innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The
destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many;
they having made it the place of their sin. Evil pursues sinners, even after
death. Those who will not, by the grace of God, be cured of vain mirth, shall,
by the justice of God, be deprived of all mirth. How many ruin their health and
property without complaining, when engaged in Satan's service! May we learn to
relish holy joys, and to sit loose to all others though lawful.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jeremiah》
Jeremiah 7
Verse 2
[2]
Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say,
Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to
worship the LORD.
The gate —
The east gate, which was the publick place of going out and coming in, and
where the people were then wont to assemble.
Proclaim —
Proclaiming signifies both the authority by which he spake, and the divulging
of what he spake plainly and boldly; possibly, it might be at some publick
time, when all the males were to meet.
Verse 4
[4] Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of
the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
Saying —
Because this was God's house, they flattered themselves that he would not
suffer the Chaldeans to destroy it, therefore the prophet cautions them not to
deceive themselves, trusting to the temple and its buildings, as the two courts
and house, and holy of holies implied in the word these, which he doth as it
were point to with his finger. The emphasis, in this threefold repetition,
seems to relate to the confident, and reiterated boasts of the temple, that
were in their mouths.
These —
The prophet standing in the gate at which the people entered, as it were,
points at the several buildings pertaining to the temple.
Verse 6
[6] If
ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not
innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
Oppress not —
Here they are cautioned against three sins, that this people were generally
addicted to, oppression, blood, and idolatry; and instances in the worst of
oppressions, of such as God hath more especially taken into his immediate
protection.
Verse 9
[9] Will
ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto
Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Will ye steal —
Can you think that this can be grateful to me, or advantageous to yourselves,
to frequent my house, and yet retain these odious sins.
Whom —
Such as they had set up new, and never had any experience of, and therefore
could have no reason to serve them.
Verse 10
[10] And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name,
and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Delivered —
After they had appeared before God with their sacrifices, they thought they
were privileged to return to all those wickednesses.
Verse 11
[11] Is
this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?
Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
A den — Do
you look upon this house as a sanctuary for robbers and murderers.
Verse 12
[12] But
go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first,
and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Shiloh — A
place in the tribe of Ephraim.
Where —
Where I did at first give you the pledges of my presence.
What I did — He
utterly forsook it.
Verse 15
[15] And
I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the
whole seed of Ephraim.
Even —
The ten tribes.
Verse 16
[16]
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for
them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
Pray not —
Certainly the prophet did pray that God would save a remnant, though not that
he would revoke his decree; or save the body of them.
Verse 18
[18] The
children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead
their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
The children —
Here God shews how busily they are employed from the youngest to the oldest for
their idolatry.
The queen — As
the sun was looked upon as king, so the moon as the queen of heaven.
Verse 20
[20]
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured
out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field,
and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Shall not be quenched — He follows the threatening with shewing his resolution is not to be
revoked.
Verse 21
[21] Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your
sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Put —
Ironical words, take those that are peculiar, and to be all burnt to me, and do
what you will with them, I will have none of them.
To your sacrifices —
That part of your sacrifices, which you are allowed to eat, they are but as
profane food.
Verse 22
[22] For
I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought
them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
For —
God doth not condemn these offerings, save only comparatively in respect of
obedience, not so much these, as obeying his commands.
Verse 25
[25]
Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this
day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up
early and sending them:
Since the day —
The church of God hath never wanted teachers raised up and sent by God.
Verse 28
[28] But
thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the
LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off
from their mouth.
Cut off —
There is no believing them in any thing they say.
Verse 29
[29] Cut
off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on
high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his
wrath.
Cut off thine hair —
This was an usual token of sorrow among the Jews.
On high places —
Upon the high places where thou wentest a whoring from me.
The generation — A
generation destined to the wrath of God.
Verse 30
[30] For
the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set
their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
In the house — It
was not enough to have their idols abroad in the hills and groves, but they
must bring them into God's house.
Verse 31
[31] And
they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of
Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded
them not, neither came it into my heart.
Tophet — It
comes from Toph, a drum, because they beat drums to drown the children's
screeches, when they burnt them in sacrifice upon the altars, called here high
places, to Moloch. Tophet was situate in a pleasant valley near Jerusalem, a
place in the possession of the children of one Hinnom, Joshua 15:8.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Jeremiah》
"REMEMBER SHILOH!"
Jeremiah 7:1-15
INTRODUCTION
1. In the days of Jeremiah (ca. 600 B.C.), the people of Judah faced
difficult times...
a. The northern kingdom of Israel was history, taken into Assyrian
captivity
b. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had defeated Assyria, and was
making his way into Judah
2. The people of Judah had developed a false trust...
a. One condemned by the Lord through His prophet Jeremiah
b. One which we do well to remember and avoid today
[We read of that false trust and how the LORD responded to it in Jer
7:1-15...]
I. THE FALSE TRUST OF JUDAH
A. TRUSTING IN THE TEMPLE...
1. To excuse their failure to fully serve the Lord - Jer 7:1-7
a. Jeremiah commission to preach in the temple - Jer 7:1-2
b. Calling for repentance when the city was in danger of being
destroyed by Babylonian forces - Jer 7:3
c. Their trust was in the fact the temple was in Jerusalem
1) Their attitude: "We are safe; surely the Lord will not
allow His temple to be destroyed!"
2) As implied by the threefold statement "The temple of the
Lord...!" - Jer 7:4
d. The Lord required more than rituals involving temple worship
and outward piety
1) Repentance and service was to be done "thoroughly"
(truly, NASB) - Jer 7:5a
2) Affecting their individual and daily dealings with people
- Jer 7:5b-6
e. Such true service would spare them from Babylonian captivity
- Jer 7:7
2. To excuse their obvious sins - Jer 7:8-11
a. Again, theirs was a false trust - Jer 7:8
b. Blatantly transgressing the Law - Jer 7:9
c. Then going to the temple, believing that such excused their
conduct - Jer 7:10
d. Yet the Lord could see through their hypocrisy - Jer 7:11
B. THE LORD'S RESPONSE...
1. To the folly of such a false trust: "Remember Shiloh!" - Jer
7:12
a. Where the tabernacle had once been - Josh 18:1
b. Where the ark of the covenant had been captured by the
Philistines - 1 Sam 4:10-11
2. God would do likewise with Jerusalem and the temple - Jer 7:
13-15
a. Because of their failure to heed His prophets - Jer 7:13
b. What happened at Shiloh would happen at Jerusalem - Jer 7:14
c. They would be taken into captivity, just like Ephraim
(Israel) - Jer 7:15; cf. 52:12-30
[In 1 Co 10:11-12, we're told that God's dealings with Israel were
written for our admonition. With the very real danger of falling, what
application can we draw from our text in Jeremiah? Perhaps one
about...]
II. THE FALSE TRUST OF CHRISTIANS
A. TRUSTING IN THE CHURCH...
1. Could we have a false trust as "members" of the church which
Christ built?
a. Like the Jews who cried "The Temple of the Lord..."
b. There may be those who cry "The Church of Christ..."
2. Acting (and perhaps believing) that membership excuses:
a. Negligence and inactive service?
1) With an attitude based on faulty reasoning?
a) E.g., The church will be saved, I am a "member", so I
will be saved
b) E.g., As long as I am a "member", I can get by
2) Yet remember the parable of the tares - Mt 13:41-43
a) One may be in the kingdom (church) now
b) But cast out of the kingdom (church) at the last day
3) Salvation is dependent on individual allegiance, not
group association! - Jn 15:2
b. Sinful actions?
1) Like the Jews who disobeyed God, then claimed exemption?
a) E.g., living in the world, then going to "church"?
b) E.g., engaging in immorality, worldliness, but being a
"faithful member"?
2) God has not changed!
a) His grace demands holy living - Ti 2:11-12
b) Despise His grace, expect His wrath! - cf. He 10:26-31
3) Salvation is dependent upon God's grace, not church
ritual!
B. THE LORD'S RESPONSE...
1. To the folly of such a false trust: "Remember Sardis!" - Re 3:
1-6
a. They had "a living name", but that did not free them from
the threat of condemnation - Re 3:1-3
b. As always, salvation was based on individual consecration
- Re 3:4-6
2. To the folly of such a false trust: "Remember Laodicea!" - Re
3:14-22
a. They had become "lukewarm" - Re 3:14-15
b. They were in danger of expulsion because of worldliness - Re
3:16-17
c. They were in need of rebuke and chastening - Re 3:18-22
CONCLUSION
1. Like the Jews whose salvation from destruction depended upon
wholehearted service to God, so our salvation depends on complete and
faithful obedience to the will of Christ!
2. We must avoid the fallacy of "virtue by association", and remember
that God has promised to do to us just as He did to Israel if we are
not faithful - cf. Ro 11:20-22
－－《Executable
Outlines》
07 Chapter 7
Verses 1-34
Verses 1-7
Jeremiah 7:1-7
Stand in the gate . . . and proclaim.
Boldness in preaching
Some preachers are traders from port to port, following the
customary and approved course; others adventure over the whole ocean of human
concerns. The former are hailed by the common voice of the multitude, whose
cause they hold, the latter blamed as idle, often suspected of hiding deep
designs, always derided as having lost all guess of the proper course. Yet, of
the latter class of preachers was Paul the apostle. Such adventurers, under
God, this age of the world seems to us especially to want. There are ministers
now to hold the flock in pasture and in safety, but where are they to make
inroads upon the alien, to bring in the votaries of fashion, of literature, of
sentiment, of policy, and of rank? Truly, it is not stagers who take on the
customary form of their office and go the beaten round of duty, and then lie
down content; but it is daring adventurers, who shall eye from the grand
eminence of a holy and heavenly mind all the grievances which religion
underlies, and all the obstacles which stay her course, and then descend with
the self-denial and faith of an apostle to set the battle in array against
them. (Edward Irving.)
Enter in at these gates to
worship the Lord.--
The character required in those the would worship God
The heathen had a notion that the gods would not like the service
and sacrifice of any but such as were like themselves, and therefore to the
sacrifice of Hercules none were to be admitted that were dwarfs; and to the
sacrifice of Bacchus, a merry god, none that were sad and pensive, as not
suiting their genius. An excellent truth may be drawn from their folly: he that
would like to please God must be like God. (H. G. Salter.)
Amend your ways and your
doings.--
Religion, the best security to Church and State
I. Religion, and
the general practice of it in a nation, is the surest establishment of states
and kingdoms.
1. This is true in a natural way; because the duties of religion have
a natural tendency to those things which are the foundations of that
establishment, namely, peace, unity, and order.
2. But besides a natural tendency in virtue and goodness to the
establishment of states and kingdoms, as many as believe religion must likewise
believe that the general practice of it in a nation will be always attended
with a supernatural blessing from God. For this is the result of all the
declarations of God, as to the manner and rule of His dealings with mankind,
whether persons or nations, that as many as faithfully serve and obey Him,
shall be assuredly intituled to His favour and protection.
II. In every nation
it is the proper business of the civil magistrates, as such, to vindicate and
maintain the honour of religion. And when I am speaking of authority, and the
vigorous application thereof by the magistrate, I cannot omit one thing, which
is a mighty enforcement of it, a good example; which, in its nature, is the
most forcible way of teaching and correcting, and without which, neither the
instructions of ministers, nor the authority of magistrates, can avail, to the
effectual discouragement and suppression of vice.
III. Without a
serious regard to the moral and spiritual duties of religion, the greatest zeal
in other matters, even though it be for the established worship of God, will
not secure the Divine favour and protection, either to persons or nations. The
external rites of religion are good helps to devotion, and proper means of
maintaining order and decency in the public worship; and a zeal to preserve
them, with a serious regard to those pious and wise ends, is very laudable: but
to believe that zeal for them will atone for a neglect of the moral and
spiritual duties of religion is a dangerous error. (E. Gibson, D. D.)
The temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these.
The folly of trusting in external privileges
I. We are to show
the extreme folly of trusting to any religious privileges, while our hearts
remain unrenewed and our lives unholy. On what ground can we rely on the
continuance of God’s favour under such circumstances? Should we, because a
friend had conferred many benefits upon us, and forgiven us many offences, be
justified in supposing that there would be no limit to his endurance? Yet the
Jews--and their case is not singular--seemed to claim a special right to the
continued favour of God, in virtue of their religious privileges; not
considering that those privileges were a free gift; that they might at any time
be withdrawn, without a shadow of injustice; and that while they lasted they
were intended to operate, not as inducements to presumption, but as motives to
love and thankfulness and obedience. They had in themselves no spiritual
efficacy. Neither the character of God, nor His promises, held out any ground
of hope on which to build such a conclusion. It would not have been consistent
with His holiness, or wisdom, or justice, that the sinner should escape under
the plea of any national or personal privileges, however great. And His
promises, both temporal and spiritual, were all made in accordance with the
same principle. “If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments and do
them . . . then I will walk among you, and I will be your God;. . .but if ye
will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments,. . .I will
set My face against you.” The whole tenor of God’s providential dispensations
is likewise to the same effect. And accordingly, the Jews, great as were their
national mercies, found on numerous occasions that they were not exempt from
the just displeasure of their Divine Governor. Yet, with all these proofs of
God’s righteous judgments, their constant cry was, “The temple of the Lord, the
temple of the Lord”: they caught hold, as it were, of the horns of the altar
with unhallowed hands; and, notwithstanding the threatenings of the Almighty,
were ever prone to trust in those external privileges. At the very time when
they were committing the grievous enormities of which the prophet Jeremiah
convicts them, they were zealous for the outward worship of God, and boasted
highly of their religious profession. But could any folly be greater than that
of supposing that this insincere worship could satisfy Him who searcheth the
heart and trieth the reins? The prophet forcibly points out the extreme folly
and delusiveness of such expectations: “Go,” he says, “unto My place which was
in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first; and see what I did to it for the
wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works,
saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye
heard not; and I called unto you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto
this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place
which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.” Having thus
considered the extreme folly of trusting to external privileges, while the heart
is unrenewed and the life unholy, we are--
II. To show that
this folly is too common in all ages; and that we ourselves, perhaps, are
guilty of it. How many pride themselves in being zealous Protestants, or strict
members of the Established Church, or regular attendants on public worship,
while they live in the spirit of the world, and without any scriptural evidence
of being in a state of favour with God! How many trust to the supposed
orthodoxy of their faith; or to their zeal against infidelity, enthusiasm;
while they are ignorant of the scriptural way of salvation, and indifferent to
the great concern of making their calling and election sure! How many cherish a
secret hope from the prayers of religious parents, the zeal and piety of their
ministers. In short, innumerable are the ways in which persons deceive
themselves on these subjects; fancying that the temple of the Lord is among
them; and on this vain surmise remaining content and careless in their sins,
and ignorant of all true religion. Now let us ask ourselves, in conclusion,
whether such is our own case. On what are we placing our hopes for eternity?
Are we resting upon anything superficial or external; upon anything short of
genuine conversion of heart to God? True piety is not anything that can be done
for us; it must be engrafted in us; it must dwell in our hearts, and show its
blessed effects in our conduct. (Christian Observer.)
Verse 5
Jeremiah 7:5
If ye thoroughly amend.
Thorough amendment
1. Religion has to do with character and conduct. Religion is that
which “binds,” and it has a tremendous grip. It has to do not only with creeds,
and forms, and rites, but with character and conduct.
2. Religion makes little of mere emotion. Some persons delight in the
excitation of the sensibilities. The Master’s word is, “If ye love Me, keep My
commandments.” This is the proof of genuine love. The mother takes her boy’s
kiss as a sign of emotion, but sees in his obedience the proof of principle,
which is more than mere feeling.
3. The text promises permanency; not merely a visit, but an abode
where one can root and grow, work and worship, till transplanted to heaven. (T.
L. Cuyler, D. D.)
Reformation must be thorough
Some men, when they attempt to reform their lives, reform those
things for which they do not much care. They take the torch of God’s Word, and
enter some indifferent chamber and the light blazes in, and they see that they
are very sinful there; and then they look into another room, where they do not
often stay, and are willing to admit that they are very sinful there; but they
leave unexplored some cupboards and secret apartments where their life really
is, and where they have stored up the things which are dearest to them, and
which they will neither part with nor suffer rebuke for. (H. W. Beecher.)
Verse 9-10
Jeremiah 7:9-10
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely . .
. and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Fate
“It is my fate,” is the excuse for many a career of shame and sin.
I do not think that most persons who practically rest satisfied with this
explanation of the evil of their lives put it actually into words. They are
content with a vague undefined feeling that some excuse or explanation of the
sort is possible. Perhaps we should all escape many perils and evils if we more
frequently took care to formulate our undefined thoughts into language, and
carefully examine their nature.
1. Our idea of God’s dealings with us is very largely influenced by
the condition of the age in which we live. The language of inspiration will be
interpreted by us according to the meaning which, in other directions, we already
attach to the words which it must employ; and thus the government of
communities by laws has so modified our thought of the Divine government that
we no longer have the rude conception of a Divine Ruler acting from caprice; we
have now rather the idea of a Being who acts through the operation of great
universal laws. That conception of God is so far true, and that interpretation
of the words of revelation so far accurate; but there has grown up with it the
thought that God acts only thus, which is false. We attribute to the action of
the All-wise God the imperfections--the necessary imperfections which belong to
human institutions. Now, we must not transfer to God our own finality and
failure. God’s laws are universal and general; God’s dealings with men are
particular and individual As, in the physical world, we find that equilibrium
is produced by the action of two equal and opposite forces, so in the moral
world we have universal irresistible laws, and we have tender loving
individualisation, and the resultant of the two is God’s calm and equable
government of men. Everywhere we see man demanding, and by his conduct showing
that he possesses that liberty of action and power of control in the material
world which, to palliate his sin, he denies to belong to him in the moral
world. You know that the application of heat to certain substances will
generate a powerful destructive force. You know such to be a physical law, and
what do you do? Do you sit down and say, It is a law of nature, and I cannot
resist it? No. You say, “I find it to be a law, and I shall take care either
that it shall not come into operation, or if it does come into operation, I
shall construct machinery to direct its force, and so make it operate only in
the direction which I choose.” You ascertain certain laws of health, that
infection will spread a certain disease, and do you say, The disease must
spread, I cannot fight against a law? No. You take care to keep the infection
away from you, to disinfect, and so prevent the operation of that law; and yet
that same man when he finds that there are places which will taint his moral
nature with disease, that there are scenes or pleasures which will generate in
his soul a destructive force, says, “I cannot help it, these things will act so;
I have no liberty.” You have no liberty to prevent their acting so on you, I
admit, no more than you have power to prevent fire igniting powder; but you
have power to keep away from them; you have power to prevent those conditions
arising under which alone the law will operate. Oh! when we know and feel the
evil in the physical world, we take every precaution against its recurrence.
How much less zeal and determination do we display concerning our souls!
2. To say that you have a peculiar kind of nature which cannot resist
a particular class of sin is to offer to God an excuse which you would never
accept from your fellow man. You treat every one of your fellow men as having
power to resist the inclination of his natural disposition, so far as its
indulgence would be injurious to you. If a man rob you or assault you, no
explanation of a natural desire for acquisition or for aggression would be
listened to by you as a reasonable excuse. To admit the truth of such
principles of uncontrollable natural impulse would at once shake society and
destroy all human government. And do you think that such excuses as you would
not admit are to be accepted as excuses for, or even explanations of those sins
which do not happen to fall within the category of legal crimes, but which,
much more than those crimes for which the law imprisons and hangs, are
destroying the moral order of God’s universe, and outraging the highest and
noblest principles of truth, and purity, and love? But it cannot be denied that
we have strong natural dispositions and passions which we have been given
independently of ourselves, and for the possession of which we cannot with
justice be held responsible? Certainly--and you never find fault with a man for
any faculty or temper which he may have--but you do hold him responsible for
the direction and control of it. We can point to countless noble careers to
show how the strong impulses of individual natures are indeed irresistible, but
their action is controllable. The great heroes whom we justly reverence, who
rise above us as some snow-capped mountain towers above the dead level of a
low-lying plain, are not those who have destroyed, but those who have preserved
and used aright the natural impulses and passions which had been given them.
That is the true meaning of such lives as those of St. Paul, or Martin
Luther--St. Augustine, or John Bunyan. Ay, and there are many still amongst us
who use their natural dispositions and their natural affections, their natural
passions--even their natural beauty, which might have been used to lure souls
to hell--to win many a one to a nobler and purer life. What a solemn
responsibility, then, is the right use of our natural disposition and talents,
for others as well as for ourselves. To you, my young friends, especially, I
would say, Do try and begin early to recognise the solemnity of life. Do not be
downhearted or dismayed if, after you have felt the power of Christ’s death,
and when you would do good, evil is present with you. Do not let such moments
harden you. Try and realise then all the love and mercy and tenderness with
which the crucified Lord looks upon you, as He once looked on the fallen
apostle, and, like him, “go forth and weep bitterly.” Then it will be well with
you. Sin shall not reign in you, though for the moment it seems to have
conquered you. (T. T. Shore, M. A.)
On necessity
I. Men are very
fond of ascribing their sins to the temptations of the devil, and in such a way
as, in the main, to put the responsibility upon him. It is surely taught in the
Word of God that evil spirits do foment wickedness; that they suggest it; that
they persuade men to it. It is not taught that they infuse it, and perform it
in men. It is taught that Satan persuades men to sin; but the men do the
sinning--not he. The power of temptation depends upon two elements: first, the
power of presenting inducement or motive on the part of the tempter; and,
secondly and mainly, the strength in the victim of the passion to which this
motive is presented. No one could tempt to pride a man that had not already a
powerful tendency to pride. The chord must be there before the hand of the
harper can bring out the tone. No one could be tempted to avarice that had not
a predisposition to the love of property. No man could be tempted to hatred, or
to cruelty, or to appetites, one or many, unless there pre-existed a tendency
in that direction. Hence, the simple fact of temptation is, that you do wrong,
while Satan merely asks you to do it. It is your act. It may be his suggestion,
it may be his thought; but it is your performance. And you do it with plenary
freedom, urged, fevered, it may be, by him.
II. Men relieve
themselves, or seek to do so, from the sense of guilt and responsibility, by
attributing their sins to their fellow men. They admit the wrong, but they put
in the plea that the circumstances were such that they could not help
committing it. The example and impunity of other men in transgression are
pleaded, the persuasions and influences of other men are pleaded, certain
relations to other men are pleaded, as if these things were compulsory. Men
attribute their sins to public sentiment, to the customs of the times, to the
habits of the community. Are they intemperate? Intemperance is customary in the
circle in which they walk. Are they unscrupulous in their dealings?
Unscrupulousness is the law of the profession which they follow. And when they
have been charged with continuous sinning--with the violation of conscience,
with the violation of purity, with the violation of temperance, with the violation
of honesty or honour--they have still pleaded, “Yes, we have sinned; but we are
not exceptional; we do not stand alone; we are nouns of multitude; all men do
these things”--as if the inference was, “Because all men do them, they are not
so culpable in us.” Men may sin by wholesale; but they are punished by retail.
There were never such dividends in any bank on earth as are apportioned in the
court of conscience. There every man not only is particeps criminis in
the transgression which he joins others in committing, but he is
responsible for the whole sin, though thousands and millions participate with
him in it. It is an exceedingly fashionable habit at present to put upon
society the guilt of the transgressions of men. Are men idle, and is there deduced
from idleness the accustomed fruit? Society has not made the suitable
provisions for these men, or they would not have been idle! Are men
insubordinate, and do they violate the laws? Society has not made proper laws
for such men! They have not by society been rightly educated, or they would not
have been insubordinate! Are men full of vices and crimes that spring from
fertile ignorance? Society, as a schoolmaster, ought not to have let them be
ignorant! Do men murder? Society is to blame! Do men steal? Society is the
responsible scapegoat for thieves! You shall find philosophers on every side
that wag their heads and say, “Now you see that society does not fulfil its
duties and functions: society ought to have stepped these things.” I will admit
that in society there are many things that men ought to do which are left
undone, and many things that they ought to leave undone which are done; but to
say that upon society is to be put the responsibilities of the individual
characters of all its citizens, is to imply that you give to society power to
enforce those responsibilities; and if you give to society that power, you give
it a power such as was never contemplated even by the extremest despotic theory
of government. Society may in some instances be the tempter, and may in some
instances have its individual part in the wrong-doing of its citizens; but it
does not take away from any man that does wrong, the whole, undivided, personal
responsibility of that wrong.
III. The last class
of the category of excuses is that of fatality. “We are delivered to commit
sin; we are bound over to do it; we cannot help doing it”--so say some men. On
the one hand, men are apt to be jealous of their liberty; but to avoid
responsibility for transgression they disclaim their liberties, and plead a
want of power to choose; a want of power to do that which they have chosen; or
a want of power to reject that which they have determined to reject.
1. One class of men regard thought and volition as the inevitable
effect of natural causes. They are no more avoidable, they say, than are the
phenomena of nature. Effect follows cause as irresistibly in the one case as in
the other. And so man is just as helpless as a mill wheel, which is made to
turn over, and over, and over, by a power that is not under its control.
Against this theory, we oppose the universal consciousness of men in the
earlier stages of their moral character. Men know perfectly well that they have
no plenary liberty; that they have only limited liberty. It is certainly true
that, if blue is presented to my eye, I cannot prevent the impression of blue
being made on my mind. It is true that, if light is presented to my eye, I
cannot prevent the inevitable effect that light produces. But if, for any
reason I prefer not to have light, although when it shines I cannot hinder the
happening of its actual effects, I can prevent my eyes from coming where the
light falls. There is profound Divine wisdom in that part of the Lord’s Prayer
which seems strange to our youth--“Lead us not into temptation.” Well might
powder pray, “Deliver me from the fire”; for if the fire touches it, there is
no help for it--there must be an explosion. And there are many circumstances in
which, if inflamed passions, inflamed tempers, in the soul’s warfare in life,
subject themselves to certain causes, they will lead a man to sin. Therefore
the plea is, “Lead me not into temptation: let it not come upon me.” Men are
responsible for their volitions, and for those conditions which produce
volitions--and this is the opinion of men generally.
2. A more frequent and more subtle plea of irresponsibility is
founded on the modern doctrine of organisation. One man says, “I may lie; but I
was delivered to do it when I was created with such an inordinate development of
secretiveness.” Another man says, “I may be harsh and cruel; but I was
delivered to be so from my mother’s womb; there is such immense destructiveness
in my organisation.” Another man says, “You that have largo intellectual
developments, and are able to see and foresee, may be responsible for falling
into sin; but I have no such development; I cannot foresee anything; I have to
take things as they find me, and I am not responsible.” At first it would look
as though this was very rational; but it is not. It is not phrenological. It is
not philosophical. And that is not all; the men that use these pleas do not
themselves believe in them. There are abundant proofs of the falsity of the
claim which they set up; but for my present purpose it is quite sufficient to
say that, when men sin and plead fatalism or organisation as a justification of
their wrong-doing, they do not believe the doctrine that they themselves
advance. No man will accept an insult from another on the plea that that other
man cannot help giving it. If a man deals you a blow in the street, not
accidentally, but because, as he says, he is naturally irritable, having large
combativeness, and cannot help it, you do not listen calmly to the explanation,
and say, “All right, sir; all right.” No man admits for one single moment any
such thing as that men are to be excused for all sorts of misdemeanours,
because they happen to be peculiarly organised. The whole intercourse of man
with man would be destroyed; the community would be dissolved; society would
rush, like turbulent streams in the midst of spring rains, down to destruction,
if you were to take away the doctrine that a man can control his conduct, his
thought, his will. It does not follow that, because a man follows his strongest
faculty, he must follow it to do wrong with it. Here is the fallacy--or one of
the fallacies--which men run into. If a man has large secretiveness, it does
not follow that he should lie. A man may be secretive, and not transgress.
Secretiveness may leaven every faculty of the mind, and that without making one
of them commit sin. It has a broad sphere, and a wholesome sphere; and if you
say, “I must follow my strongest faculty,” I reply that it does not follow that
you must follow it contrary to moral law--contrary to what is right. Then
another thing to be considered is the determining influence. A man is either
sane or insane; and the distinction is this: If a man can no longer control his
action by the antagonism of faculties; if, for instance, by the antagonism of reason
and the affections he cannot control the passions; if the antagonism among
themselves of the balanced faculties is so weak that the individual is
incapable of governing himself, then he is insane. But if a man is not insane,
there is in him a power proceeding from the balance of faculties, by which the
erring one or ones may be controlled. So that every man, up to the point of
insanity, has latent in him, if he pleases to educate it and exercise it, the
power of controlling by other forces in his mind those which incline him to go
wrong. Well, now, if there be this antagonistic power, it becomes a question of
dynamics. Men say, “I have such a powerful tendency to go wrong that you ought
not to punish me.” It is not to punish you, so much as it is to stimulate the
dormant faculty from whose inactivity that tendency proceeds, that you are made
to suffer. If when my child is convicted of wrong, he having been tempted by
vanity to break down into lies, I severely chastise him, and put him to shame,
I inflict pain upon him not only as a punishment, but as a restorative. For I
say to myself, if that child’s conscience is so feeble, I must give him some
stimulus. If his fear is so influential in the wrong way, I must spring it in
the other direction. In other words, just the opposite of the popular pleading
is true. The weaker the child is to resist evil, the more powerful must be the
motive that is brought to bear upon him to do well. I remark, in view of these
statements and reasonings--
1. Sin is bad enough ordinarily. I do not refer to its influence upon
others, but to its reactionary influence upon our own moral state. Not only is
it bad enough, but ordinarily it is made worse by the mode in which men treat
it. If men stopped, whenever they did wrong, and measured it, and called it by
its proper name, and turned away from it, although the process of recovery
would be slow, it would in many respects be salutary, by way of strengthening
and educating the mind; but when men commit sin, and institute a special plea,
and defend their wrong-doing, and conceal it, and equivocate concerning it,
they are corrupted even more by the defence than by the wrong-doing itself. How
sad is that condition in which the compass will not point to the polar star! If
there be fatal attractions on the ship, and if the shipmaster has steered by a
compass that is not true in its directions, it would be better if he had thrown
it overboard; because he has perfect confidence in it, and it has been lying
all the time. And if the conscience, that is the compass of the soul, is
perverted, and does not point to truth and right, and men are guiding
themselves by it, how fatally are they going down to destruction!
2. What is the reason of the stress that is laid in the Word of God
on the subject of confessing and forsaking sin? “Let him that stole steal no
more,” etc. “Confess your faults one to another.” This doctrine was the great
recuperative element. It was the preaching of John. It was the initial
preaching of Christ. It was the preaching of the apostles. It is the
annunciation of the Gospel. Confess and forsake your sin. Own that it is sin.
Be honest with yourself. Make at last to yourself a full and clear
acknowledgment that wrong is wrong. All men fail, and come short of their duty;
but some justify, and palliate, and excuse, and deny, while others confess, and
repent, and forsake--and these last are the true men. (H. W. Beecher.)
Organisation and responsibility
That men are variously constituted is a fact not merely profoundly
interesting to the speculative philosopher, but of the greatest practical
consequence to the Christian philanthropist. While the genus, man, is founded
on a common basis, the individual is marked by characteristics singular to
himself. Let us look at some special instances of peculiar organisation, and
then consider them in relation to personal responsibility. For example, take
the man whose dominating characteristic is acquisitiveness. That man’s creed is
a word, and that word is but a syllable: his creed is Get; nothing less,
nothing more,--simply Get! With him benevolence is a matter of weights and
scales; with him buying and selling and getting gain are the highest triumphs
of mortal genius. Ask him why. Instantly he recurs to his organisation. He
says, “God made me as I am; He did not consult me as to the constitution of my
being; He made me acquisitive, and I must be faithful to my organisation; and I
will go forward to meet Him at the day of judgment, and tell Him to His face
that He has me as He made me, and I disclaim all responsibility.” The
organisation of another man predominates in the direction of combativeness. The
man is litigious, quarrelsome, cantankerous, violent: Ask him why. He says, “I
must be faithful to my constitution; my whole manhood is intensely combative; I
did not make myself; God has made me as He made me, and I disown all laws of
obligation.” Here is a man with little hope. He sees a lion on every way; he
dreads that ruin will be the end of every enterprise; he knows not the
sweetness of contentment or the repose of an intelligent hope; he is always
mourning, always repining; his voice is an unceasing threnody, his face a
perpetual winter. Ask him why. He says, “God so made me; if He had put within
me the angel of hope, I should have been sharer of your gladness; I should have
been your companion in the choir; I should have been a happier man: He covered
me with night that owns no star; He gave my fingers no cunning art of music; He
meant me to look at Him through tears and to offer my poor worship in sighs.”
We cannot enter into all the questions which may lie between God and man on the
subject of organisation. Let us take one or two such cases as have just been
outlined. We found the acquisitive man getting gold, getting at all risks;
getting till his conscience was seared and his understanding darkened. In that
case ought we to sympathise with the man, saying, “We are sorry for you; we
lament that your organisation compels you to be avaricious: we know you cannot
help it, so we exempt you from all responsibility”? No! we would say as in
thunder; No! we do not find fault with the organisation of the acquisitive man;
but if he pleads the excuse already cited, we openly charge him with having
degraded and diabolised that constitution; he has not used it, but abused it;
he has not been faithful, but faithless, and must be branded as a criminal. The
man’s organisation is acquisitive; be it so: that circumstance in itself does
not necessitate crime. There are two courses open to the acquisitive man. To him
we say, Do be faithful to your organisation, do get, get money by right means,
get exaltation by legitimate processes; but with all thy getting, get
understanding, “for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of
silver,” etc. The combative man; what of him? Do we sympathise with him? “Sir,
your case demands commiseration, inasmuch as you must be faithful to your
organisation, and that organisation happens to be a dreadful one”? No! to the
combative man we say, There are two courses open to you: you can fight with
muscle, and steel, and gunpowder; you may train yourself to be pitiless as a
tiger; you may be petulant, resentful, hard-hearted: the choice is before you
to pronounce the elective word! Or, there is another course open: you may choose
weapons that are not carnal; you may resist the devil; you may “wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.” The argument which the fatalist bases upon organisation is
self-annihilating when applied to the common relations of life. All human
legislation assumes man’s power of self-regulation, and grounds itself on the
grand doctrine of man’s responsibility to man. At this point, then, Divine
revelation meets human reason, and insists upon the same principle in relation
to God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Verse 13
Jeremiah 7:13
I spake unto you, rising up early.
God’s call to sinners
I. A gracious
call. We are utterly undeserving of it. Though we are transgressors, guilty,
corrupt, depraved,--yet God calls upon us--to escape--to live--to be saved--to
turn unto Him, and be forever blest and happy.
II. An affectionate
call. The call of a merciful Creator who hath no pleasure in the death and
destruction of His fallen creatures: and would rather they should repent and
live; the call of a tender Father, who looks with compassion upon the prodigal
wanderer, invites and urges him to abandon his wretchedness and want, and come
back to his home of plenty, and his Father’s bosom again, and assures him of a
joyous welcome if he will; the call of a Friend--that Friend that sticketh
closer than a brother--even of Jesus our best friend, our elder brother.
III. A varied call.
From every part of the outspread volume of creation, there issues a voice
calling upon us, to know, fear, adore, worship, the great Creator. And as well
as by His works, we are called upon by His ways--by His dealings with the
children of men. The misfortunes and calamities that occur to others; and the
bereavements, afflictions, and trials that happen to ourselves--the constant
experience we have of the uncertainty of our present existence, and of the instability
of all earthly good, by these and many similar things we are addressed and
admonished to seek a more enduring substance, a more incorruptible and unfading
inheritance. From every page, also, of the book of God there proceedeth a call,
exhorting us to depart from iniquity, and follow after holiness,--to supplicate
for pardoning mercy and for assisting grace.
IV. An
oft-repeated--a reiterated call. We are not appealed to once or twice, and then
abandoned to our folly. Forbearance is exercised towards us from year to year;
“line is given upon line, and precept upon precept,”--here a little and there a
little; so that we may have the last possible opportunity of being saved, and
may not be left in despair until the last moment of the day of grace hath expired,
and our souls be beyond the region of impression and awakening.
V. An earnest
call. Men may be light and trifling. God is always serious--always in earnest.
He is in earnest in what He does, and in what He speaks. All the appeals and
persuasions by which the Almighty follows you, as children hastening madly on
to destruction, are embodied in the very terms, and wear the very air of the
utmost earnestness; yea, so serious and earnest are they, that, when it is
considered from whom they come, and to what they relate, the wonder is, that
men are not at once startled by them, and arrested in their downward course,
and constrained to hasten to the only safe Refuge from the gathering and
impending storm.
VI. An urgent call.
Its reference is to the present: it demands immediate attention and instant
compliance. (C. Cook.)
Verse 16
Jeremiah 7:16
Pray not thou for this people.
Intercessory prayer forbidden
1. God’s prophets are praying men.
2. God’s praying prophets have a great interest in heaven, how little
soever they have on earth.
3. It is an ill omen to a people when God restrains the spirits of
His ministers and people from praying for those condemned.
4. Those that will not regard good ministers’ preaching cannot expect
any benefit by their praying. If you will not hear us when we speak from God to
you, God will not hear us when we speak to Him for you. (M. Henry, D. D.)
Verse 17-18
Jeremiah 7:17-18
Seest thou not what they do in the streets of Jerusalem?
The streets of the city
I. As an index to
character.
1. The streets are the pulse of commercial prosperity. The man who
goes from a dull, sluggish place to a city of great business activity must
quicken his pace, or get run over.
2. The street on which a man lives is no index to his character. It
does not even indicate the amount of money he has. Not a few proud families
stint their table to pay their rent on a costly street, in order to make or
keep up appearances. Their fine street, to those who know the facts, is an
index of their pretensions. Another man who has plenty of money lives on a
cheap street, because he is too niggardly to pay rent for more comfortable
quarters. To those who know him the street is an index of his meanness. A
Christian man may choose to live on a cheap street, because he prefers to save
money with which to do good. His street indicates self-denying liberality.
3. What can be seen on the streets of a city, however, is to a great
extent an index of the character of its people. Dirty streets suggest dirty
morals. If indecent handbills pollute the streets of a city, it indicates
either sinful apathy, or a very low moral tone.
II. As a test of
character. To walk down one of our streets is to some men like going into a
furnace. Their moral courage is tested at nearly every step. There is within
them a demon of drink that can be waked from his sleep by the smell of a beer
barrel. A deep-sea diver laid his hand on something soft, and curious to know
what it was, he took hold of it to examine it. Fatal curiosity! The long
tentacles of an octopus reached out and grasped him in its deadly embrace. The
friends above, feeling the struggle, drew him to the surface, to find only a
corpse still in the clutches of the monster. Many a young man has come from his
pure country home to the great city, and, prompted by a curiosity excited by
the signs on the streets, has entered one of these homes of the devil fish.
Soon its slimy tentacles are wrapped around him, soul and body. (A. C.
Dixon, D. D.)
The streets and their story
The prophet evidently knew what was going on in the city. He had
gone up and down the streets by night and by day, and had seen the sins and
iniquities of the people. The great city of Jerusalem lay like a putrid sore,
filled with all manner of pollution and corruption. The time had come for a
warning. Hiding no detail of its iniquity, he catalogued before the sin-laden
people the awful record of their sin, and launched against their filthiness and
impenitence the sentence of the condemnation of God. It was no pleasant task.
To sing in sweeter strains the adoration of God and the beauties of holiness
had been a far more gladsome work--but to sing of holiness in such a city had
been like singing of springs amid the sands of the arid desert. Moreover, the
Word of God had commanded, again and again, “Cry aloud, spare not lift up thy
voice like a trumpet,” etc. I suppose an over-cautious but easy-going city
cried out against the prophet who left his harp to throttle sin. I suppose its
wicked inhabitants had a great many sneers and scoffs for the preacher who
ventured to look in upon their wickedness; but he heard God’s Word and he did
it; he called things by their right names, and shook above them the
thunderstorm of Divine wrath and the penalties of the broken law. Sin must be
assailed in the name of God. Its colours must he shown, clear of the prism
tints by which it dazzles and deceives. Its wages, hidden too often behind the
screens of shame and misery, must be brought to light, and men warned in the
name of facts, in the name of experience, in the name of God, against the man
traps of hell. I want to show you sin as it is and it always must be, and from
its actual facts of awful misery I want to read a warning. The old legends ten
of a dual life that walks the earth; how in the shades of night, when all else
is slumber bound and still, another life comes out and fills the night with
weird events. The elf folk, hidden all day in earth caves and crannies, now
come out and fill the sleeping earth with a weird, unnatural life. The old
legend has a sort of awful reality here in our darkened streets, for when the
day is spent, and the life of business sinks to rest, and the great buildings
darken into shadow, another life comes out and passes to and fro in the
darkened streets and plies its concerns in the silent shadows. It is a life of
sin and of shame. We pause a moment, and watch and listen. Now and then a
belated passer-by hastens with hurried step, but it is almost noiseless--this
night life on these silent streets. Here and there, there are figures standing
within the shadows. A young man emerges from the building, where late accounts
have kept him long after the hours of accustomed toil. A dozen steps, and he is
accosted; there is a rustle and a voice, and then maybe a woman’s laugh ringing
out with strange echo in the darkness. They loiter along with slow step, and
together are lost to our view, and the night covers up this silent trap of
hell, whose snares are spread for unwary feet. A little further and we drive
hurriedly across the glare, where the crowds flow along the great night
arteries of the city--a motley crowd, vastly differing from the daylight
throng. There are hundreds of young men, scores of young women, whose days are
spent in shops and behind counters, and whose nights court ruin in the streets.
The air is noisy and the lights are dazzling; here and yonder are those brilliantly
lighted stairs that lead up into apparent gloom, for all the curtained windows
show by their darkness. It is the old story: “The idle brain is the devil’s
workshop.” The life that simply works to live, and that only six hours, if six
hours will keep the body, courts the devil for his master. And yet, go out
among the thousands of young men in this city tonight, and let us question them
as to the object of life, and you may well wonder at the multitudes who only
live to live. No thought of anything above the body, no glimpse of anything
beyond the sky--an animal life, serving only appetite and seeking only
pleasure. Oh, is that all of life? To spend the day in toil, the night in empty
pleasure; our days for nothing, and our future in eternal poverty of soul. Oh,
hear me preach the gospel of yourself, your better self; its possibilities, its
powers, its future. Think what you may be, and then be it, by God’s grace, and
cheat the devil as you save your soul. I marked most of all in these streets
the presence of death. They were full of dead men, of dead women, of corpses,
walking, talking, jesting in loathsome death. Do you remember Valjean’s dream
in “Les Miserables”? How, conscious of his crime, he slept, and sleep revealed
to him the death of sin. He dreamed he was at Romainville, a little garden park
near Paris, full of flowers and music and pleasure. But as he in his dream
comes to this domain of revelry, the flowers, and the trees, and the very sky,
all are of the colour of ashes. Leaning against a wall he finds a man at the
corner where two streets meet. “Why is all so still?” The man seems to hear not
and makes no reply. In amazement Valjean wanders on through vacant rooms and
courts and through the gardens, all the colour of ashes, and finds everywhere silence
by the fountains, in the pavilions, everywhere these silent men and women, who
have no answer to his questions. In horror he endeavours to fly from the ashen
abode of terror, when, looking back, he finds all the inhabitants of the
lifeless town suddenly clustering about him, and their ashen lips open, they
cry to him, “Do you not know that you have been dead for a long time?” And with
a cry Valjean wakens and feels his sin. So I saw in these ways of sin dead men
all about me. Beneath that silken robe and sparkling necklace, loathsome death;
behind that laugh and empty jest, a dead man; walking, talking, drinking,
feasting, and yet dead. Dead in sin, helpless in habit’s chains, snared in the
man traps of hell. (T. E. Green, D. D.)
Home missions
First, glance at the circumstances and conduct of the Jewish
people, which gave rise to the language of the text. During the days of
Jeremiah, and of all the later prophets, they appear to have sunk into the very
depths of national degeneracy. The sanctions of the Divine authority, and the
terrors of Divine indignation, were equally disregarded with the promises and
protection of the Most High. The prophet would have awakened them to a sense of
their criminality and danger; but in vain. He interceded in secret for the
reversal of that righteous sentence by which they were doomed to prove the
folly and misery of their own ways; but this also was without effect. While his
voice was still tremulously pleading for their forgiveness, and the saint and
patriot blended in every gushing tear, and every irrepressible emotion,--the
mandate of almighty justice, tempted too far and wearied of forbearance,
imposed an awful interdict--“Pray not thou for this people,” etc. How happy
that no such solemn prohibition rests upon ourselves; but that we may pour
forth our utmost fervour in supplicating for mercy upon those who are ready to
perish! How unspeakable the happiness of reflecting, too, that we have an
Advocate on high, whose plea can never be thus silenced. What was the particular
nature of their idolatry at this season we know not,--or by what offerings they
sought to propitiate and honour that mysterious divinity which they worshipped
as “the queen of heaven”; but that it was a service accompanied with whatever
was fitted to inflame the jealousy and provoke the retribution of the God of
Israel, the tenor of this book and of their subsequent calamities suffers us
not to question. But there is one reflection forced upon our minds by the
mention of this subject, which is perpetually arising in the perusal of these
sacred documents,--how inveterate and how wonderful is the depravity of the
human intellect, as well as the corruption of the human heart! How great, too,
is the compassion, of God!--how impressive and encouraging the illustration of
His long-suffering! “He remembered that they were but dust,” etc. This is the
compassion and long-suffering which we are called every day to recognise,
amidst provocations and unfaithfulness which would have wearied out all other
grace but the grace of Omnipotence, and which no might could restrain itself
from punishing but that which upholds the mountains and which grasps the
thunderbolt. Its very power alone is our security. We cannot meditate upon
these facts without one other suggestion,--how great is the necessity for
continued zeal and diligence, on the part of good men, to counteract to the
uttermost the evils, not only of their own hearts and conduct, but of those
among whom they dwell The condition of men at large forces itself on our
notice, as one of universal calamity and peril,--“Seest thou not what they do?”
Let us suppose the spectator one from a distant region, an inhabitant of one of
the remoter provinces of intellectual being,--acquainted with the character,
and reposing with joyful confidence in the presiding power, of the
Creator,--but unread in the history of man. He has heard of redemption, and is
desirous to explore it; but he knows not yet the state of those for whom it was
designed. And he is permitted this momentary inspection of the human system,
that he may gather from it the elements of heavenly truth, and “the manifold
wisdom of God.” Alas! how perplexed and intricate would all appear! What
numberless anomalies, difficulties, and causes of shame and wonder, would everywhere
astonish and overwhelm him! For what end would such a system seem to have been
constructed, or wherefore still upheld, or tending to what result, or
interpretative of what purposes, or susceptible of resolution into its
contradictory phenomena by what reconciling and all-commanding principles, or
calculated to excite what other sentiment except the melancholy apostrophe,
“Wherefore hast Thou made all men in vain!” Descending from the contemplation
of the whole, he would consider each several particular with the intensity of
interest which that stupendous but appalling spectacle had summoned into being.
And first, he would probably be arrested with the secular condition of mankind,
and their extreme differences in the nature and degrees of social happiness.
The effect would be as painful as the scene was intricate. He would shrink and
tremble, as if within the boundaries of chaos, or the empire of darkness and of
blind misrule. He would next consider their religious state. And now, what
would be the agitation of his feelings, or in what explanation of such strange
appearances could he find or seek relief? Here, he would sicken at the sight of
gross and grovelling idolatries; there, at the bewildering glare of cruel yet
invincible delusions; and elsewhere, at the reveries and dreamy visions of a
spurious philosophy, neutralising at once every claim of human duty, and every
attribute of God. Nothing would seem to him so terrible as our exposure to the
jealousy and wrath of our Creator; nor anything so unfathomable as the mystery
of His compassion. Outraged, defied, forgotten; His being denied by some, His
noblest characters mocked, falsified, contemned by others; His best gifts
perverted to the vilest purposes, His gentle inflictions misinterpreted or impiously
repelled, His forbearance converted into an argument to set aside His veracity,
His glorious mad terrible name, eve where it is not unknown, employed only to
add force to blasphemy, or emphasis to imprecation and falsehood:--what could
the stranger anticipate but the kindling up of His fury, while its flame should
burn unto the lowest hell! Thus prepared--how would he dart his eager eye
toward the scenes of men’s future and everlasting habitation! To what, he would
ask himself, can all be hastening onwards? Where must this pilgrimage of sin
and folly end? Conceive now of the surprise and the delight with which he would
hear of the means provided for the restoration of men. That astonished
spectator is no creation merely of the fancy. Many “a watcher,” and many “a
holy one,” looks down upon the scene, and wonders. All that environs us is
revealed, in a light of which we are strangely unconscious, to innumerable
witnesses. We walk ourselves, at every step, beneath their gaze. And it is
their judgment, not ours, respecting the dependencies and results of moral
action, which shall be confirmed in the decisions of the last day. (R. S. M’All,
LL. D.)
Verse 18
Jeremiah 7:18
The children gather wood.
What can children do for God?
I. God is setting
up a kingdom in this world. A very glorious and gracious kingdom.
1. Righteousness. Teaches us to do justice.
2. Peace--to love and pursue it.
3. Joy. God makes all happy who come into His kingdom.
II. God expects us
all to work to set up this kingdom. Christ came to set it up; ministers preach
and labour for it; missionaries go to heathen; all God’s people aid.
III. Children can do
something to set up this kingdom.
1. You can pray; that God would make you willing subjects of this
kingdom.
2. You can talk; speak to others about Jesus, pardon, God, heaven.
3. You can work; give to missionary society, etc.
IV. Children are
always happy when trying to set up this kingdom. Why? Because make others happy.
Angels are happy, because employed making others happy. God is happy, for He
blesses every one. And, when we act like God, we ourselves are happy.
V. God will never
forget the labours of little children for Him. When children wanted to come to
Jesus, He noticed their disposition, and said, “Never prevent a child from
coming to Me”; then took in arms and blessed. When they sang in temple He
noticed their song, and said, “Hearest thou what these say?” God
loves,everything done by children, because it is a proof of their obedience and
love. (J. Sherman)
Children’s service
“Queen of Heaven,” i.e., Ashtaroth, or the Moon. The
Israelites fell into this idolatry in the time of the Judges. Solomon was
carried away by it. Josiah suppressed it. We may learn a useful lesson from
these young idolaters.
I. They wished to
be useful in religion.
II. They did what
they could.
III. What they did
was of service. What can you do? For example, in--
1. Money.
2. Word.
3. Effort.
4. Prayer.
IV. God does not
despise children’s work. This fact is one which should be seriously pondered by
children, parents, teachers. (Lay Preacher.)
Christians contrasted with heathens
It is said that Matthew Wilks, one of the founders of the London
Missionary Society, chose this text when he preached the anniversary sermon;
and in those days when trite and commonplace remarks from the pulpit were
considered orthodox, and anything that was a little fresh and novel was looked
upon with suspicion, every eye in the large assembly expressed astonishment at
the preacher’s selection. He had not proceeded far, however, when the feeling
of astonishment gave way to pure delight, when all seemed convinced that the
text, though uncommon, was by no means inappropriate. I have not seen the
sermon; I only know that he dealt with it in the following manner. He said, I
will contrast your objects with those of the worshippers of the queen of
heaven. I will compare your ardour with theirs. I will muster your agents. And
it was this part of the subject, in which he referred to the agents, namely,
men, women, and children, which gave rise to the system of auxiliary
institutions which now pervade the whole country, and combine in its support
young and old, rich and poor. (Eccentric Preachers.)
To make cakes to the queen
of heaven.
On making cakes
(A talk with Children):--The people who lived in Jerusalem at this
time, alas! worshipped the sun, and called it Baal, also the moon, and called
it Ashtoreth,--just as our ancestors did at one time in this country, calling
the day upon which they worshipped the sun Sunday, and the day upon which they
worshipped the moon Monday. In Jerusalem, at the time referred to in our text,
the people used to offer cakes to the moon. These cakes were always made round
to resemble the moon. This offering was considered to be a very important one,
and all wanted to have a share in making the cakes and presenting them. Now the
first thing that had to be done was to get plenty of firewood. You cannot make
a cake without fire, and you cannot get fire without fuel. Thus I think I can
hear a Jewish mother say, “Now, my children, I want you to get some good
firewood for tomorrow--wood that will burn brightly; I am going to make some
cakes for the queen of heaven, and--who knows?--perhaps there may be a few tit-bits
left!” Off the children go. That’s just the work they like; they can stoop
easily, or jump over the hedge or fence, and tear their clothes without having
much scolding, as they are gathering wood for their mother. Little Hannah
gathers her apron full, and Dan or Benjamin as much as he can carry in his
arms, and they return home full of glee. They have done their part. But the
following morning the fire had to be kindled. It required strong arms to kindle
a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood vigorously together. The fathers could do
that best; for they had muscular arms, and they gladly did their part. Then
there was need of clean and gentle hands to knead the dough, and there were
none who could do that as well as the mothers, aunts, and the elder sisters. It
was their turn now, and the children would look earnestly on and wonder whether
the dough would go far enough to make the necessary number of cakes for the
“queen of heaven,” or the moon, and one or two over. They little knew that the
mother or sister had put in an extra handful of meal for that purpose. Then
there was the baking and the consumption of the odd cake or two by the little
wood gatherers. But beyond all this, there was a great pleasure reserved for
them all--the privilege of presenting to the moon the cakes in the making of
which they had all had a part, and which were as round and as perfect as a
woman’s hand could make them. Children have their part to do still. Often, as
in this case, the work begins with children. They cannot do much; they cannot
kindle a fire, or make a cake or a loaf; but they can gather wood, supply the
fuel, and others will kindle the fire and provide an offering fit for the altar
of God. You cannot as yet, at least, go forth to distant lands as missionaries and
Zenana workers, and take the bread of life--not as a gift to God, but as a gift
from God--to the heathen; but you can enable others who are older than you to
do all this. You can contribute your pence to the missionary society, etc. (D.
Davies.)
Verse 24
Jeremiah 7:24
Went backward, and not forward.
Backward
I. Illustrations
of going backward in regard to religion.
1. From Jewish history. Compare best days of Solomon, when temple was
dedicated, with these when jeremiah preached at gate. National mind darkened,
conscience enfeebled, heart hardened.
2. Churches. Galatia (Galatians 3:1-3; Galatians 5:7-8), Ephesus (Revelation 2:4), Sardis (Revelation 3:1).
3. Individual life.
II. Causes of this
going backward.
1. Negatively.
2. Positively.
III. Consequences of
going backward.
1. Displeasure of God.
2. Such as turn back are liable to sink into lowest depths of
irreligion.
3. Experience of deepest remorse and reproach of conscience.
Conclusion--
1. Stand fast in the Lord.
2. Despair not, but return. (R. Ann.)
The backslider defenceless
When Christian, in the Pilgrim’s Progress, thought
about going back, he recollected that he had no armour for his back. He had a
breastplate, he was covered from head to foot by his shield, but there was
nothing to protect his back, and therefore, if he retreated, the adversary
could spit him with his javelin in a moment. So he thought that bad as it was
to go forward, it would be worse to go backward, and therefore he bravely cut a
path for himself straight onward for glory. Look at that fact whenever you are
tempted: do not endure the idea of turning tail in the day of battle. May
retreat be impossible to you! God makes it Impossible by His grace. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
Verse 27
Jeremiah 7:27
They will not hearken to thee.
God’s foreknowledge of the sinner’s refusal of His Word
I. Instances
illustrative of the text.
1. The original transgression of first parents.
2. The old world.
3. Pharaoh.
4. Jews as a nation.
II. How can this be
explained and defended?
1. Unless God did know results such as described He would be
imperfect.
2. He is not the cause of the rebellion He foretells.
3. He never influences men to do wrong.
4. There are many ends to be attained by God.
By speaking, though He knows men will not hearken.
Conclusion--
1. Man’s free agency is his glory.
2. God’s infinite goodness is undoubted.
3. Our duty is manifest--to hear, obey, believe.
4. Thus men will be finally inexcusable, having had means employed
for their restoration to holiness and God. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Preaching without effect
God has been putting into the mouth of His servant Jeremiah a varied
message of reproof and counsel, of promise and blessing. The message contains
equal encouragement to those who should repent, and denunciations of wrath on
all who, rashly confident in external privileges, should continue to insult by
the impiety of their lives. Thus, there is a close resemblance between the
sermon which the prophet was instructed to deliver and those which, in our
days, the ministers of God must utter. We know it to be our business, in
dealing with a mixed assembly of those who make profession of religion and
those who make none, to use language very similar to that which Jeremiah here
employs; conjuring men that they “trust not in lying words which, cannot
profit,” but that they “amend their ways and their doings, lest God’s anger and
God’s fury be poured out and burn, and there be none to quench it.” Here, then,
it is, that our text comes in upon us with all its startling and perplexing
assertion; that losing sight of the peculiar circumstances of the Jews, we may
regard the ministers of the Gospel as commanded to preach, even if beforehand
assured that their preaching would be fruitless. We cannot but think, that,
determining by human computation what course would be the most fraught with
advantage to their hearers, preachers would reckon it best to keep silence if
they were certain none would be converted by their message. It admits not of
question, that men, who hear the Gospel, and give no heed to its announcements,
are disadvantaged by the very circumstance of having been its auditors. Now
there was actually given to Jeremiah that information, which, for the sake of
argument, we have supposed imparted to ourselves. Yet he was not on this
account to abstain from delivering his message. The certainty of rejection was
in no degree to interfere with the duty of proclamation. Now if ineffectiveness
of preaching in bringing round conversion, supposing it previously ascertained,
would be no sufficient reason for abstaining from preaching, there must be ends
answered by the publication of the Gospel over and above that of the gathering
in of the elect people of God. The way which shall be made by the preached Word
in each separate case is necessarily already known to the Omniscient, so that
with God it is previously a thing of as much certainty as it afterwards can be
with ourselves, who will receive and who reject the proffered salvation. The
foreknowledge has no influence on the reception; it lays no constraint on the
will, and it gives no bias to the will. And now, allowing only that God’s
foreknowledge, and not God’s predestination, enters as a prerequisite into such
a declaration as that made in our text, the question still remains to be
examined, why God should enjoin the preaching of the Gospel in cases where He
is assured that this preaching will be ineffective? We think that the grand
answer to this question is to be found in the demands of that high moral
government which God undoubtedly exercises over the creatures of this earth.
Let it be remembered, that each amongst us lives under the moral government of
God, which takes its character from the interference of Christ; that we are to
be tried before the assembled universe as beings to whom was offered
deliverance through a Surety; and is it not clear that, if this our last trial
be conducted with that rigid justice which must characterise every procedure of
God, it shall be made evident to every rank of intelligence that those that
perish might have been saved; and forasmuch as they are condemned for having
rejected salvation, salvation had been literally placed within their reach! (H.
Melvill, B. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》