Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:1 - 8:22
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Punishment will even overtake the sinners who have long since been deceased.
Jer_8:1
They shall bring out the bones. Not only shall many of the dead bodies remain unburied, but the sepulchers of those who have till now "lain in honor, each one in his house" (Isa_14:18), shall be violated. The inhabitants of Jerusalem meant are evidently those of the upper class, for the others were buried, with but little regard to the security of the corpses, in the valley of Kedron (2Ki_23:6). According to some, the motive of this invasion of the chambers of the dead is avarice (comp. Herod; 1.187, Darius at the tomb of Nitocris); but the context, without excluding this view, rather suggests malice and contempt. Thus "the wrath of man" was to "praise" Jehovah (Psa_76:10).
Jer_8:2
And they shall spread them, etc. Not as an act of solemn mockery, for the agents are idolaters themselves, but God so overrules the passions of his unconscious instruments that no more effective ceremonial could have been devised. Whom they have loved, etc. The prophet is designedly diffuse in his description. With all their misspent zeal, these unhappy idolaters cannot even find tombs.
Jer_8:3
Which remain. The words are certainly to be omitted in the second place where they occur. In the Hebrew they stand after in all the places, and the word for "places" is feminine, whereas the participle, "the remaining," is masculine. The Septuagint and Peshito have nothing corresponding. There is a clerical error in the Hebrew.
Verses 8:4-9:1
The incorrigible wickedness of the people, and the awfulness of the judgment.
Jer_8:4
Moreover thou shalt say, etc.; literally, and thou shalt say. The section is introduced by a formula which connects it with Jer_7:2, Jer_7:28. Shall they fall, etc.? rather, Do men fall … doth a man turn away? One of those appeals to common sense in which the prophets delight. Who ever sees a fallen man stay quietly on the ground without attempting to rise? or a man who has wandered out of the path persist in going in the wrong direction?
Jer_8:5
Slidden back … backsliding. The verb is the same verb (in another conjugation) as in Jer_8:4, and the noun is a derivative from it. The Authorized Version, therefore, has slightly weakened the force of the argument. They hold fast deceit. They cling to a false view of their relation to their God (comp. Jer_4:2; Jer_5:2).
Jer_8:6
I hearkened and heard. The Divine Judge condescends to speak after the manner of men. He will be his own witness; for it is his own people, Jeshurun, which is on its trial. Not aright. It is a compound expression, equivalent to "insincerely," "untruly" (comp. Isa_16:6). Repented … turned; rather, repenteth … turneth (or, returneth). To his course. The Hebrew text, sometimes represented as having a different reading ("courses," in the plural) from the margin, really gives the same reading with one letter misplaced. The singular stands in the parallel passage, Jer_23:19, and offers no difficulty. As the horse rusheth; literally, over-floweth. Both the Authorized Version and the Vulgate (impetu vadens) efface the second metaphor. The uncontrollable passion of both people and war-horse is compared to the all-subduing course of a winter stream or torrent.
Jer_8:7
The appeal to the regularity of animal instincts reminds us of Isa_1:3. Yea, the stork, etc. The minatory birds obey their instinct with the most unfailing regularity. Those referred to are:
(1) the stork, whose "regular and sudden return is one of the most interesting natural sights of Palestine. The expression 'stork in the heavens' refers to the immense height at which they fly during migration" (Tristram);
(2) the turtle, or turtle-dove, whose return is the sure sign of spring (Son_2:11);
(3 and 4) the crane and the swallow, or rather, "the swift and the crane." These birds are again mentioned together in Isa_38:14 (the psalm of Hezekiah), where special reference is made to the penetrating quality of their note. "The whooping or trumpeting of the crane rings through the night air in spring, and the vast flocks which we noticed passing north near Beersheba were a wonderful sight." The introduction of the swallow in the Authorized Version is misleading, as that bird is not a regular migrant in Palestine. The note of the swift is a shrill scream. "No bird is more conspicuous by the suddenness of its return than the swift," is the remark of Canon Tristram, who saw large flocks passing northwards over Jerusalem, on the 12th of February. It is an interesting fact that the swift bears the same name (sus) in the vernacular Arabic as in the Hebrew of Jeremiah. The judgment; better, the law (see on Jer_5:4).
Jer_8:8
How do ye say, We are wise? Jeremiah is evidently addressing the priests and the prophets, whom he so constantly described as among the chief causes of Judah's ruin (comp. verse 10; Jer_2:8, Jer_2:26; Jer_4:9; Jer_5:31), and who, in Isaiah's day, regarded it as an unwarrantable assumption on the part of that prophet to pretend to instruct them in their duty (Isa_28:9). The law of the Lord is with us. "With us;" i.e. in our hands and mouths. (comp. Psa_1:1-6 :16). The word torah, commonly rendered" Law," is ambiguous, and a difference of opinion as to the meaning of this verse is inevitable. Some think these self-styled "wise" men reject Jeremiah's counsels on the ground that they already have the divinely given Law in a written form (comp. Rom_2:17-20), and that the Divine revelation is complete. Others that torah here, as often elsewhere in the prophets (e.g. Isa_1:10; Isa_8:16; Isa_42:4), simply means "instruction," or "direction," and describes the authoritative counsel given orally by the priests (Deu_17:11) and prophets to those who consulted them on points of ritual and practice respectively. The usage of Jeremiah himself favors the latter view (see Jer_2:8; Jer_18:18; and especially Jer_26:4, Jer_26:5, where "to walk in my Torah" is parallel to "to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets." The context equally points in this direction. The most natural interpretation, then, is this: The opponents of Jeremiah bade him keep his exhortations to himself, seeing that they themselves were wise and the divinely appointed teachers of the people. To this Jeremiah replies, not (as the Authorized Version renders) Lo, certainly in vain made he it, etc.; but, Yea, behold I for a lie hath it wrought—the lying pen of the scribes. Soferim (scribes) is the term proper to all those who practiced the art of writing (sefer); it included, therefore, presumably at least, most, if not all, of the priests and prophets of whom Jeremiah speaks. There are indications enough that the Hebrew literature was not entirely confined to those whom we look up to as the inspired writers, and it is perfectly credible that the formalist priests and false prophets should have availed themselves of the pen as a means of giving greater currency to their teaching. Jeremiah warns his hearers to distrust a literature which is in the set-vice of false religious principles—a warning which prophets in the wider sense of the term ('The Liberty of Prophesyings') still have but too much occasion to repeat, tit is right, however, to mention another grammatically possible rendering, which is adopted by those who suppose torah in the preceding clause to mean the Mosaic Law: "Yea, behold, the lying pen of the scribes hath made (it) into a lie;" i.e. the professional interpreters of the Scriptures called scribes have, by their groundless comments and inferences, made the Scriptures (especially the noblest part, the Law) into a lie, so that it has ceased to represent the Divine will and teaching. The objections to this are:
(1) the necessity of supplying an object to the verb—the object would hardly have been omitted where its emission renders the meaning of the clause so doubtful;
(2) that this view attributes to the word soferim a meaning which only became prevalent in the time of Ezra (comp. Ezr_7:6, Ezr_7:11).]
Jer_8:9
The wise men are ashamed. It is the perfect of prophetic certitude, equivalent to "the wise men shall certainly be ashamed." And why? Evidently because they have not foreseen the calamities impending ever their nation. They have preached, "Peace, peace; when there was no peace" (Jer_8:11); and hence they find themselves "taken" in the grip of a relentless power from which there is no escape. What wisdom; literally, wisdom of what? i.e. in respect of what?
Jer_8:10-12
These verses are almost the same as Jer_6:12-15; the differences are in Jer_6:10. They are omitted in the Septuagint, and Hitzig regards them as an interpolation, at any rate from the point where the present passage coincides verbally with its parallel. His grounds are:
(1) that Jer_6:13 follows more naturally on Jer_6:10 (" … them that shall inherit them") than on Jer_6:12;
(2) that Jer_6:10 is deficient in symmetry; and
(3) that the deviations from Jer_6:13-15 sometimes loosen the connection of the clauses, sometimes sink into the colloquial style. The arguments seem to be inconclusive. Jeremiah is apt to repeat himself; and the element which is common to this paragraph and to ch: Jer_6:12-15 seems equally appropriate in both connections. It should be added, however, that the cautious and reverent block has come to the same conclusion as Hitzig. To them that shall inherit them; rather, to them that shall take possession of them, i.e. by violence.
Verses 8:13-9:1
Further description of the judgment; grief of Jeremiah.
Jer_8:13
There shall be no grapes, etc.; rather, there are no grapes … and the leaf is faded. It is the actual condition of things which the prophet describes. Elsewhere Judah is compared to a vine with bad grapes (Jer_2:21); here the vine does not even pretend to bear fruit. Another figure is that of a barren fig tree (comp. Mat_21:19). And the things that I have given them, etc.; rather, and I gave them that which they transgress (viz. laws). The construction, however, which this rendering implies is not perfectly natural, though supported by most of the ancient versions, and it is better to alter a single vowel-point, and render "And I will give them to those who shall pass over them." The phrase to pass away is constantly used of an invading host; e.g. Isa_8:7; Dan_11:10, Dan_11:40.
Jer_8:14
Why do we sit still? The prophet transports us by a stroke of his pea into the midst of the fulfillment of his prophecy. The people of the country districts are represented as urging each other to flight. True, it is the resource of despair. No defensed cities can defend them against the judgment of Jehovah. Let us be silent; rather, let us perish; literally, let us be put to silence. Hath put us to silence; rather, hath caused us to perish; i.e. hath decreed our destruction. Water of gall; a phrase characteristic of our prophet (see Jer_9:14; Jer_23:15). It is a little difficult to find a rendering which shall suit all the passages in which rosh (gall) is mentioned. In Deu_32:33 (and so Job_20:16) it is clearly used for "venom" in general; and yet in Deu_32:32 of the same chapter it obviously means a plant. Another general application of the term seems to have been to bitterness in general, the ideas of bitterness and poisonousness being taken as interchangeable. The Authorized Version may therefore stand.
Jer_8:15
Health; rather, healing. Another rendering is tranquility (same sense as in Ecc_10:4). Trouble; rather, terror.
Jer_8:16
The invader is introduced with the same mysterious indefiniteness as in Jer_4:13. From Dan; i.e. from the northern frontier (see on Jer_4:15). Trembled; rather, quaked (so Jer_49:21). His strong ones. The phrase "strong ones" generally denotes oxen, but here (as in Jer_47:3; Jer_50:11) horses.
Jer_8:17
A new image to intensify the impression of dreadfulness. Serpents, cockatrices; rather, serpents (even) basilisks. The second noun is in apposition to the more general "serpents." "Basilisks" (Serpentes regulos) are the renderings of Aquila and the Vulgate. Some species of highly venomous serpent is clearly intended; more than this we cannot say. The root probably means "to hiss." Canon Tristram thinks of "a very beautifully marked yellow serpent, and the largest of the vipers found in the Holy Land," called the Daboia xantheina. He adds that it is one of the most dangerous.
Verses 8:18-9:1
The captivity of Judah and the deep sorrow of Jeremiah.
Jer_8:18
When I would comfort myself, etc. The text is here extremely difficult, and if there is corruption anywhere it is in the opening of this verse. Ewald and Graf suppose an ellipsis, and render, "(Oh for) my enlivening [i.e. an enlivening for me] in trouble!" Hitzig more naturally renders in the vocative, "My enlivener in trouble" which he supposes to be in apposition to my heart. Do Dieu wavers between this and the view that it is an address to his wife, "Quae marito solatio est." (See, however, Jer_16:2.)
Jer_8:19
Because of them that dwell in, etc. The Hebrew simply has "from them," etc. The prophet is transported in imam-nation to the time of the fulfillment of his prophecies. He hears the lamentation of his countrymen, who are languishing in captivity. Is not the Lord in Zion, etc.? is the burden of their sad complaints; "king" is a familiar synonym for "God" (comp. Isa_8:21; Isa_33:22; but not Psa_89:18, which is certainly mistranslated in Authorized Version). But why" in Zion?" "Zion" was properly the name of the eastward hill at Jerusalem, where lay the oldest part of the city (called "the city of David"), and the highest portion of which was crowned by the temple. Why have they provoked me to anger, etc.? is the reply of Jehovah, pointing out that their sufferings were but an exact retribution for their infidelity (comp. Jer_5:19).
Jer_8:20
The harvest is past, etc. For "summer," read fruit-gathering. The people again becomes the speaker. The form of the speech reminds one of a proverb. When the harvest was over and the fruit-gathering ended, the husbandmen looked for a quiet time of refreshment. Judah had had its "harvest-time" and then its "fruit-gathering;" its needs had been gradually, increasing, and, on the analogy of previous deliverances (comp. Isa_18:4; Isa_33:10), it might have been expected that God would have interposed, his help being only delayed in order to be the more signally supernatural. But we are not saved (or rather, delivered).
Jer_8:21
For the hurt, etc.; literally, because of the breaking, etc; I am broken; comp. Jer_23:9, and the phrase "broken in heart" (Isa_61:1, etc.). The prophet feels crushed by the sense of the utter ruin of his people. I am black; rather, I go in mourning (so Psa_38:6; Psa_42:9). The root means rather "foulness" or "squalor" than "blackness" (comp. Job_6:16, where "blackish," an epithet of streams, should rather be "turbid").
Jer_8:22
No hope or remedy is left; again a proverbial expression. No balm in Gilead. Gilead appears to have been celebrated in early times for its balsam, which was expected by Ishmaelites to Egypt (Gen_37:25) and by Jewish merchants to Tyro (Eze_27:17). It was one of the most costly products of Palestine (Gen_43:11), and was prized for its medicinal properties in cases of wounds (comp. Jer_46:11; Jer_51:8). Josephus mentions this balsam several times, but states that it only grew at Jericho ('Antiq.,' 15.4,2), Tristram searched for balsam in its ancient haunts, but in vain; he thinks Jeremiah means the Balsamodendron gileadense or opobalsamum, which in Arabia is used as a medicine both internally and externally. But if Pliny ('Hist. Nat.,' 24.22) may be followed in his wide use of the term "balsam" so as to include the exudations of the "lentisens" or mastick tree, then "balm of Gilead" is still to be found; for the mastick tree "grows commonly all over the country, excepting in the plains and the Jordan valley". Is there no physician there? We hear but little of physicians in the Old Testament. They are only mentioned again in Gen_1:2 (but with reference to Egypt, where medicine was much cultivated), and in 2Ch_16:12; Job_13:4. From the two latter passages we may, perhaps, infer that physicians were rarely successful; and this is certainly the impression produced by Ecclesiasticus 38:15, "He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician." The remedies employed in the Talmudic period quite bear out this strong saying. The physicians of Gilead, however, probably confined themselves to their one famous simple, the balsam. Is not the health … recovered? Gesenius renders, less probably, "hath no bandage been applied to the daughter of my people?"
1. This is marked by a constant habit of sin, a falling without rising again. The best man is often guilty of mistakes, but he soon seeks to recover himself (Psa_37:24). His habit is upright, the direction he follows on the whole, though now and then he may lose ground for a short time, is right. But the man who is persistently depraved makes the wrong way his main course, and if he ever deviates from it does so accidentally or only under some temporary impulse, soon returning as by instinct to wallow in the mire, where only he feels at home (2Pe_2:22).
2. This is characterized by absence of repentance after sinning. No man is heard to repent (Jer_8:6). After a good man has fallen into sin he is overwhelmed with shame, plunged into dark depths of grief, tortured with bitter pangs of contrition, like Peter when he "went out and wept bitterly." But the persistently depraved man feels no such distresses. The sun shines as brightly after he has contracted a new crime as before. His serene self-complacency is not ruffled by one spasm of inward revulsion.
3. This is characterized by an impetuous impulse to sin. A good man may fall into sin. One who is persistently depraved rushes into it. To the former sin comes as defeat after a battle in which his better nature has fought and failed; to the latter it comes unresisted, welcomed: he "returneth to his course" with eagerness, "as the horse rusheth into the battle."
II. PERSISTENT DEPRAVITY IS FAR MORE CULPABLE THAN A CASUAL LAPSE INTO sin. All sin is culpable. Sin cannot be entirely accidental in any case, or it would cease to be sin. But persistent sin is by far the most evil form of sin.
1. A casual fall may be induced by powerful external temptation; persistent depravity must rise from an internal appetite.
2. A casual fall may come as a sudden surprise when a man is off his guard; persistent depravity must be clearly perceived and consciously cherished.
3. A casual fall may be the result of a sudden outburst of passion which results in something approaching temporary insanity; persistent depravity must be calm and cold-blooded, standing the test of reflection. This is altogether beyond what could be anticipated. You are not surprised that a man should stumble occasionally in the darkness of this world, amidst the snares and pitfalls of temptation, with the natural weakness of humanity, or that he should sometimes miss his way or be lured aside from the right road to pleasanter paths; but that he should not care to rise after falling, not think of returning when he sees the error of his way, but should keep to it with a consistency which would be heroic in a better course,—such depravity is unnatural and monstrous.
Jer_8:7
I. THE BIRDS REMIND US THAT WE ARE SURROUNDED BY DIVINE ORDINANCES. Migratory birds have their appointed times. Every creature has its special vocation. To the lower animals this comes as a necessary law, as a course determined by unconscious instinct. To man it comes as a mandate of duty, an impulse in the conscience, a way to be clearly perceived and freely chosen. But, though the same method for exacting the performance of the Divine ordinances which obtains in nature is not enforced on man, those ordinances extend to him; to him also they come with Divine sanction. Though man is physically free to rebel, morally he is no more his own master than are the birds who are bound by the laws of their instincts. Freedom from compulsion is not freedom from obligation.
II. THE BIRDS REMIND US THAT IT IS AS WELL TO OBEY THE DIVINE ORDINANCES. In their migrations they find their welfare secured. Driven by the inward impulse of Divine law written on their instincts, they speed them over vast tracts of unknown lands, and at length find themselves in the clime and at the season which is beat suited for them. What an image of implicit faith I We are called to go forth, like Abraham, we know not whither, but like him to find a possession in the unknown land (Heb_11:8). The future is unseen, the way is wild and pathless, dark clouds as of brooding storms gather on the horizon; but if we take as our compass the known will of God, we too shall find sunny climes beyond the seas of trouble, a home at the end of our pilgrimage.
III. THE BIRDS, BY THEIR EXAMPLE, REBUKE OUR DISOBEDIENCE TO THE DIVINE ORDINANCES. Free to roam through illimitable regions of air, the high-flying stork, the turtle-dove, the swift, and the crane all keep to their true course, not dropping down, tempted by the attractions of leafy vales or fruitful gardens, not turned aside terrified by the horrors of high mountains, lonely deserts, or stormy seas, till they reach their destination in punctual obedience to the mysterious law of their nature. These migratory birds are representative of external liberty restrained by inward law. We are not under any outward compulsion nor any inward law of instinct like that of the birds. But we are capable of following a higher law. We have light which is denied to them, and high motives of fear and love to prompt to obedience. If we disobey, the obedience of the birds is an ever-recurring rebuke.
Jer_8:8, Jer_8:9
1. Authority. They were official prophets and teachers whom Jeremiah opposed. Errors gain power when they are pronounced ex cathedra. The belief in papal infallibility is but one instance of a common human weakness.
2. Pretentiousness. The self-styled wise men of Jeremiah's age were confident and boastful. The world is too ready to take a man at his own estimate of himself. Vehement assertion is often accepted instead of solid proof.
3. Numerical force. Jeremiah stood as one against many. No mistake is greater than the assumption of so-called common sense, that truth may be presumed to reside with the majority. How often from the days of Noah downwards has it been found with the few!
4. Popular style. These "wise" men knew how to suit the taste of the multitude; they could prophesy smooth things. There is a fearful fascination in literary style. The great danger to the cultivated is that they should select for their guides those writers whose language is most pleasing in place of those whose arguments are most sound. Lies may be commended by brilliant epigrams, and unwholesome passions fostered by splendid poetry. The ease and fluency of Hume and the wit of Voltaire were effective with many persons who would not have been moved by bare arguments.
II. IF LITERATURE IS UNTRUE IT SHOULD BE TREATED AS WORTHLESS.
1. Style is but the vesture of thought, and thought is but idle fancy if it does not correspond to fact. The first question to be asked about a writer is not, "Are his ideas novel, original, striking? Are they beautiful, grand, imposing? are they pleasing, popular, acceptable?" but simply, "Are they true?" If this question in answered in the negative, all other recommendations may be considered as worse than worthless. The sweeter the bait, the more dangerous the trap.
2. The test of truth in religious literature is conformity to the Word of God. The Scripture is a guide and authority to the Christian. God's word in nature, providence, and conscience must be heard and interpreted if men would speak truly on these subjects. The profession to be speaking Divine words founded either on a pretended revelation or a boast of superior intelligence, is vain unless the private words of the individual harmonize with the general truth of God's world-wide revelations.
3. Experience will test the truth of literature. If literature concerns itself with serious subjects, it cannot be regarded as a trifle of idle hours. It will be brought into judgment. Experience will try it. No lie can be eternal. The self-styled "wise" men will "have to be ashamed," "dismayed and taken," when events contradict their untrue language.
Jer_8:11
(See on Jer_6:14.)
Jer_8:14, Jer_8:15
II. DESPAIR WILL ARISE ON THE RECOGNITION OF THE WRATH OF GOD. The Jews are to see that their God has put them to silence. Philistines, Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, might all be resisted; but who shall resist God? Men can only fight against God with confidence until they perceive him fighting against them. Then hope is madness.
III. DESPAIR WILL BE HEIGHTENED BY THE SENSE OF GUILT. The Jews are to see that their calamity is the punishment of sin. It is deserved. It is justly given. Men hope on while they refuse to admit their sin; but conviction of sin is fatal to hope.
IV. DESPAIR MAY FOLLOW A CONFIDENT HOPE. The Jews had looked for peace and for a time of health. Yet none came. Hope may be very bright and yet very delusive. The splendor of the sunrise contains little promise that the day will close without storms. Subjective confidence is no guarantee of objective truth. Things are not the more true because we believe them very firmly. We may feel safe and be in danger. A peaceful death is no security for a joyful resurrection. It is little that a man has overcome the fear of death; the important question is whether he has removed the ground for that fear. The faith that saves is not confidence in our own security, but submissive and obedient trust in Christ.
V. THE POSSIBILITY OF DESPAIR IS REVEALED, NOT TO PRODUCE IT, BUT TO WARN Us FROM IT. If it were inevitable, or, being experienced, invincible, it would be cruel to prepare any for it. Why not let the poor doomed wretch enjoy his brief hour of sunshine before he is sent "to dwell in solemn shades of endless night?" But the revelations of a possibly dark future are given in mercy to warn us from sowing the seeds of despair and to point to the way of escape. No soul need despair since there is One who "is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" (Heb_7:25).
Jer_8:20
I. THE MOST HOPEFUL EXTERNAL EVENT IS NO SECURITY FOR DELIVERANCE FROM THE GREATEST TROUBLES OF LIFE. Even harvest did not bring deliverance. People are too ready to rest their confidence on various indications of God in the outside world.
1. Time. The harvest is a new waymark in the course of time. Many trust blindly to time to bring them some help, while they do not stir a finger to secure it.
2. Change. The harvest indicates a new season. The sanguine are too ready to believe that any change must be for the better.
3. Material prosperity. The harvest brings bread for the body. Must it not, therefore, lay the foundation of perfect and lasting good? To those men whose "god is their belly" the harvest would seem to promise complete satisfaction.
4. Indications of the merciful kindness of God. He sends the harvest. Then, it is reasoned, he wishes to bless, and therefore will permit no harm. But experience proves the error of these anticipations, and reflection should soon detect the fallacy which underlies them. Outward events do not always correspond to inward experiences; the latter have their own separate conditions. God may deal mercifully with us now and in earthly things, but his present forbearance is no proof that we shall never suffer from his righteous wrath in the season of judgment.
II. THE MOST HOPEFUL EXTERNAL EVENT DEEPENS THE SENSE OF THE INTERNAL DISTRESS WITH WHICH IT IS CONTRASTED. The harvest past, and yet undelivered!
1. A new stage of time has gone, and the deliverance is still delayed.
2. Outside events change, but the essential condition remains unchanged.
3. Material good is enjoyed while real good is still unattained, and this makes the minor blessing seem but a mockery.
4. God is merciful, and yet we are not delivered! Some fearful evil must be at the foundation of such a strange condition.
5. A time of rest is looked for but comes not. After harvest should come rest. Distress is heightened by the disappointment of expected deliverance.
6. Approaching troubles increase the gloom of present distress. The harvest is past. Now we look forward to chill autumn, to stormy winter. Not saved in harvest! What are we to expect in less propitious times?
Jer_8:22
II. MANY PROFESSED REMEDIES ARE FORTHCOMING. Gilead has her balm. Every new physician has his patent nostrum. The world does not suffer from the small number of remedies which have been proposed to cure all the ills that flesh is heir to. It is rather in danger of being poisoned by a superabundance of most incongruous drugs. Every religion brings its own remedy. Philosophy, in its highest ambition, aims at a practical cure of society. Political innovations, social reforms, education, sanitary improvements,—all seek this result.
III. No EARTHLY REMEDIES SUFFICE FOR THE NEEDED CURE. The balm of Gilead is found in abundance, but, alas! it will not heal the smart of Israel. Physicians advise, but their advice is futile. Nothing could effect the deliverance of the Jews in the days of Jeremiah, though lying prophets and astute politicians did their best. No earthly remedy can heal the widespread evil of the world (Isa_1:6).
1. Earthly remedies are external. They may change the social order; they cannot cure the false ideas, unregulated passions, and vitiated conscience of which the habits of society are but symptoms. Spiritual disease must be treated with spiritual medicine. The physician for the body can do little in ministering to "the mind diseased." You cannot make men moral by the strictest puritanical legislation.
(1) The disease of sin is in the heart, and the remedy must reach the heart.
(2) So the deepest distress of mankind cannot be cured by the amelioration of physical comforts. A princely legacy is no consolation to a mother for the loss of her child.
2. Earthly remedies partake of the character of the disease. Human religions bear on their faces the marks of that very moral corruption which they aim at destroying. Sin can only be cured by something outside the sinful world; sorrow, by something above the scene of human distresses. We must go further than Gilead for the true balm, for Gilead will share with Israel the trouble for which we seek a remedy.
IV. GOD HAS PROVIDED HIS OWN REMEDY FOR THE MORAL AND SOCIAL HEALING OF THE WORLD. Christ is "the good Physician." The miracles of healing which he wrought on the bodies of men were signs of the work he came to effect for their souls.
1. Christ's remedy comes from higher than human sources. The healing of the sinless One is not tainted with the corruption which marks all simply human attempts at cure.
2. Christ's remedy goes to the root of the evil of mankind. His great work is not to effect an external revolution of society, but to cleanse the conscience (Heb_9:14) and heal the heart.
3. Individually, healing is brought to all, and the worst cases are just those for which Christ chiefly came (Mat_9:12). When all other remedies fail, his is most effectual, because it is
(1) most needed, and
(2) most glorified by the result.
4. Society must be healed by the application of Christian principles to politics, to commerce, to literature, to recreation, to domestic life.
II. IT IS UNMOVED BY THE CONSIDERATIONS THAT OUGHT TO AFFECT IT. (Jer_8:5.) The growing misery and unhappiness which it occasions are not strong enough to check the tendency to sin, if indeed their connection with it is clearly perceived or acknowledged. The cravings of the spiritual nature have to give place to "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." By-and-by they are stilled, not by being satisfied, but by being stifled; and a curious heedlessness, which is deaf to all the voices of prophetic warning and entreaty, increasingly characterizes it. Under such circumstances it is difficult to discover any common point of contact or argument that shall be valid to both parties. When reason is left behind, it is not to higher, but to lower, susceptibilities that appeal has to be made.
III. THE CONCERN, THE CLAIMS, AND THE GRACIOUS PROVISION OF GOD ARE AS NOTHING. (Jer_8:6.) The saint in the times of his calamity calls upon God to incline his ear. In the fearful condition and moral insensibility of his people to Shelf wickedness and danger God is represented as of himself inclining his ear and listening attentively for the lightest sigh of repentance. He calls, but no notice is taken. The means of salvation he has provided are neglected, or abused. The form of godliness is cultivated when the spirit has fled and the exercises of religion are the chief foes to its reality. What can be the conclusion to all this? They are spiritually dead. There is neither power nor inclination to seek for better things. Nothing but supernatural grace and long-suffering love can avail to save them.—M.
Jer_8:8-12
I. DIVINE ILLUMINATION ALONE CAN GIVE TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD'S WORD. The priests and scribes, because of familiarity with holy things, claimed to be wise. They were satisfied with the spiritual state of Israel. Had they been wise, they would have anticipated what took place. The Holy Spirit alone bestows Divine insight and foresight.
II. THE DESPISERS OF DIVINE TRUTH, AND THOSE WHO FALSELY PRETEND TO ITS CUSTODY, WILL BE PUT TO SHAME. "Refuges of lies" will be swept away. The judgment, when it comes, will find them wholly unprepared and helpless. "Take heed that the light that is in thee be not darkness." "Blind leaders of the blind," the sorrowing comes to them in vain for comfort, or is deceived to his own hurt; at last the victim of a misplaced confidence, to find himself "of all men most miserable." The sinner meets with no true correction or instruction; and in his desperation he receives from them no help. Their judgment is that they will share the fate of their victims and dupes.—M.
Jer_8:13-15
I. HOW HARD IT IS FOR MEN TO REALIZE THAT THE OUTWARD BLESSINGS OF LIFE DO NOT OF THEMSELVES SATISFY, AND CANNOT BE RELIED UPON! Each of US can remember how, one by one, the things of life had to be taken from him ere he learnt their real littleness and insufficiency. This is often the way God seeks to bless us. He takes away the object whose possession is misunderstood and whose properties are abused, that he may remove the temptation from the heart and leave it free for heavenly affections. "We can do without happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness." But to only a few is it given to know this. The multitude are as foolish scholars, "ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth."
II. HOPE WHICH HAS BEEN SO MISPLACED AND BETRAYED TOO FREQUENTLY INTRODUCES TO DESPAIR. AS the lesson has not been learned, there is no perception of the real mistake. The old blunders are repeated until, in the sweeping away of all that we had held dear, we feel that life itself is not worth living, because we can see no real good within our reach. "Who will show us any good?" We are convicted, too, of unpardonable folly. The dissatisfaction with the things of life is gradually equaled, if not surpassed, by dissatisfaction with ourselves. We are conscious of needs that are not met and yearnings that refuse to be stilled. And beneath all these is the miserable consciousness that, in pursuits so trifling and tastes so mean, our true nature is being degraded. We grieve over our shattered idols and our vanished comforts, and yet more, are angry with ourselves that we should so grieve. The question will at last come, "If these things be our chief good, what security is left of ultimate happiness? If the real end of life has not been sought, we are not only unfortunate—we must be culpable." For to seek the truth, etc; of life is not only a possible enjoyment we have missed, but a duty we have neglected. And yet of our own selves we feel unable to retrace our steps. Having the desires we have, which have been strengthened by years of indulgence, we cannot all at once or of our own motion replace them with better ones. A feeling of helplessness, convicted folly and sin, and indefinite denudation gradually dawns upon our affrighted conscience. How shall we escape from the consequences of our own actions? Whither shall we flee who, in seeking our good always in material things, have been living in practical atheism? We can do nothing else but, like the smitten Israelites, betake ourselves to our closets and sit still.
III. BUT THE JUDGMENTS OF HEAVEN UPON THE SINNER, HOWEVER TERRIBLE IN THEMSELVES, ARE NOT MEANT TO PRODUCE THIS DESPAIR. The false trust is removed, that we may find the true one. The worst calamities of life, and its grievous disappointments, will be more than compensated for if they lead us to the Savior. The prophet, speaking representatively for Israel, says, "Let us submit to God's judgment, and confess our sin as its cause." "Silence before the Lord" is the sure way to his restored favor and help.—M.
Jer_8:20
I. HOW MANY OCCASIONS HAVE THERE BEEN ON WHICH WE HAD EXPECTED AN IMAGINARY GOOD, OR LOOKED FOR A DELIVERANCE WHICH NEVER CAME! The man who has sought for wealth becomes rich only to find that his possessions fail to yield him the satisfaction he expected. False expectations have been entertained by the victims of misfortune that God would deliver them. True, they have no claim upon him, and they know that, if they were to be requited as they deserved, they would be left alone. The victim of unhallowed desires, hurried and driven as by an inward demon, fancies that, in his own nature or the course of life, he will come to a turning-point. He will "sow his wild oats" now; by-and-by he will settle down and marry and be respectable and virtuous. The events of life to which he looks forward take place, but there is no deliverance wrought by them. So many seek the Divine favor in formal religious observances, and do not find it. When many around us are being awakened from their indifference and converted to God, we are alarmed at our own spiritual deadness. The time of grace has slipped past unimproved. God has been gathering in his children, and we are left out.
II. To WHAT CONCLUSION OUGHT THIS TO LEAD US? That we ought to be anxious and in earnest there can be no question. Our chances appear desperate. Our power of moral recovery is greatly lessened as compared with the freshness of childhood's days. But whilst there is life there is hope. We have reason to congratulate ourselves that we have not been cut off in the midst of our sins. The door is still open. Let us, as those "born out of due time," awake to righteousness, and seek with tears an offended but loving Father. "Now is the accepted time;… now is the day of salvation."—M.
Jer_8:22
I. WHAT FOUNDATION WAS THERE FOR THE PRETENSION OF ISRAEL TO BE THE SAVIOR or THE NATIONS? Its own internal condition was deplorable. Materially and spiritually it was more in need of healing than those it regarded as barbarians and heathen. So of the Church, which has become corrupt a similar question may be asked. If those who profess the faith of Christ do not exhibit its fruits or possess its peace, they belie their profession and discredit the cause of their Master. When professed believers are as troubled with earthly cares and as downcast amid earthly trials as others, men of the world will doubt the efficacy of their religion, belief, and life. This is the burning question of Christendom through all time. Has it any means of curing the evils of humanity, the miseries of life, the wickedness inherent in human nature?
II. HAD THE UTMOST USE BEEN MADE OF THE RESOURCES AT COMMAND? Was there any one who knew the nature of the evil, and how to cure it? Why did they not seek Jehovah? Christians are frequently at a loss, not so much for lack of an orthodox creed as of a realizing faith. They have not been in the habit of going to Christ with their cares and sorrows. Earthly things have been allowed to divert their attention from truth and righteousness as the principles of life. But sometimes great mischief is done by wrong expectations of what Christ will do for his people. Men sow to the flesh and expect to reap a spiritual harvest, or their faith in Christ is but another avenue to an earthly end. Under such circumstances they cannot fail to be disappointed. We must look to religion for its proper functions; to Christ for what he has promised to give. Have we any grief which we do not, cannot take to Christ? Are we consciously resting on him for moral guidance and support and spiritual fellowship? They who always and in all things rest their souls upon a living Savior will know that there is "balm in Gilead," etc.—M.
I. LOOK AT THESE UTTERLY DECEIVED ONES.
1. They were worshippers of the gods of the heathen. The sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven: these were the objects of their worship. Reference is continually made to them and to their worship (2Ki_23:5; 2Ki_21:3, etc.).
2. And they were most earnest worshippers. Note the piling up of expressions to indicate this.
(1) They "have loved" them. Here is the root of all real worship. The object must be loved, and these people were drawn to and attracted by these false gods.
(2) They "served" them. This follows as a sure consequence. It is not said they believed in them; but that matters not: it there be that in the object of our worship which makes us like it—love is almost too sacred a word as applied to false gods—we shall serve it readily enough.
(3) And then they "walked after" them. That which lured them at the first drew them more and more, and so it became the habit of their lives.
(4) And they "sought" them. When they found the worship of some of these gods was pleasant, they sought out more of them; or it may mean that they got at last to have a real faith in them, and hence "consulted them as oracles, appealed to them as judges, implored their favor, and prayed to them as benefactors."
(5) And they "worshipped" them. See them at their worship on Mount Carmel, on the day when Elijah challenged their priests to put to the test his God and theirs. None could doubt the sincerity of their worship or the earnestness with which they cried all that morning long, "O Baal, hear us!" And those to whom Jeremiah wrote were such thorough worshippers of these gods. They withheld no proof of their devotedness.
3. But yet they were utterly deceived and disappointed. See in text and in immediate context how these gods dealt with them. Ardent votaries as they had been, those whom they worshipped let all the hideous woes come upon them which are told of here: death, desolation, degradation, and despair. That was what their gods did for them. They had spent their all on these pretended physicians, and were nothing bettered, but made worse indeed.
II. ENDEAVOR TO EXPLAIN BOTH THEIR INFATUATION AND THEIR DISAPPOINTMENT.
1. As to their infatuation. It can hardly be possible for any reader of the history of these people to avoid asking the question, "Wherefore was it that they were so given to idolatry?" Their whole national history showed that nothing but sorrow and shame had come from idolatry, and yet here they were forever, not merely falling into it, but deliberately and persistently going after it. What could be the reason?
(1) Partly, no doubt, the example of the great and mighty nations around them. We must remember what an infinitesimally small kingdom that of Judah was—about the size of an ordinary English county, and how insignificant they were; how the influence, therefore, of the great empires which pressed them on either side could not but be felt. And this was all on the side of idolatry. Idolatry had done them no harm; the gods they worshipped had, so it would seem, lifted them up to greatness and power surpassed by none, All seemed to say to the poor, weak, little kingdom of Judah, "You had far better do as we do and trust our gods rather than your own."
(2) The spirituality of the worship God required, and the absence of all such demand on the part of idolatry, was another argument for idolatry and against the worship of God. No graven image, no representation of God, nothing that would help the senses to conceive of God as like to themselves, was granted to the Jews; God was a Spirit, and he was to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. No statue, no image, no painting, no symbol even, was to represent him. It was not allowed that the Jew should be able to place in his house or carry about with him, as other nations did, any material emblem of his God (cf. Deu_4:15; Isa_40:18). But spiritual worship of this kind has ever been found far more difficult to maintain: it demands a condition of heart and mind so purified that to the gross and sensual such worship is impossible, and to the ordinary mind it is far from easy. The anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament, and the Incarnation itself, are condescensions of God to the confessed feebleness and incapacity of man for such pure worship. But, on the other hand, idolatry, abounding with "chambers of imagery," lending itself to all the clamor of the senses,—what wonder that it was preferred?
(3) Add on to this the fact that strict obedience to the Levitical Law involved such isolation from all other people, such scrupulous care, such heavy sacrifices of time, wealth, ease, and the good will of men; in short, was altogether, as St. Peter afterwards said (Act_15:10), "a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear;" whilst idolatry wooed them with its sensuous, brilliant, luxurious, and easy rites; and again we ask, what wonder that idolatry was preferred?
(4) And present earthly good seemed to be associated with it, and absent from the worship of God (cf. Jer_44:15-19, "For then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off,… we have wanted all things"). And
(5) lastly, the license allowed by the lax moral code of idolatry, and its positive sanction of gross licentiousness; this, contrasted with the stern frown of the true Jewish faith upon all such sin, was more than sufficient to attract in crowds a people so debased as the Jews had now become. Then, as still, the most powerful and the most depraved passions of human nature were not only permitted free indulgence by idolatry, but actually patronized, protected, and prescribed. All ancient history attests this, and the result on the heathen world, not only history but God's providence and his Word alike (Rom_1:1-32.) have plainly declared.
2. As to their disappointment. Idolatry, however for the moment it may seem to have brought good along with it (cf. supra), resulted at last in such unparalleled woe as the prophets, one and all, continually declared must come from it. But whilst no idolatrous nation has ever stood permanently in its greatness—let the decayed and perished empires of antiquity witness—there can be little question that sentence against the evil work was executed more speedily, more sternly, and more notoriously against the Jews than against any other idolatrous nation whatsoever. It cost them more than any other people, and they have not paid "the uttermost farthing" even yet. The rabbis say that in every one of the innumerable cups of affliction which Israel in the course of the long ages has had to drink, there has been mingled some of the dust of that golden idol-calf which Moses ground to powder beneath Mount Sinai. We are told how, when he had done this, he cast the powder into the stream from whence the camp drew its water, and made all the people drink of it. Now, wherefore was sorer Judgment meted out to Israel than to others because of their idolatry?
(1) Because they were the beloved of the Lord. A man may see a strange child doing a disgraceful action and may take comparatively little notice; but if it be his own son, whom he loves, will he not feel and resent it then as otherwise he never would?
(2) And "chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God." They were to be the channel along which the truth of revelation was to flow to mankind at large, and if that channel were not kept free from pollution, neither could the living waters which flowed along it. Hence the prompt and stern measure