PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1
Thomas Kelly Cheyne [1841-1915] · 535,674 words · 592 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 121
HOMILETICS. Yer. !.-Forgiveness for many through the righteousness of one, I. GoD IS GREATLY DESIROUS TO PARDON HIS CHILDREN, 'l'he command is giv.in to" run to and fro" and search for the one righteous man. God thus expresses his anxiety ,o forgive. "He 1raiteth to be gracious." The first movement towards exercisi…
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Vere. 12, 13.-0ulpable unbelief. The Jews are accused of unbelief as a sin. It is therefore sometimes to be regarded in this light (e.g. Heh. iv.). Let us consider the characteristics of a culpable unbelief and its origin. J. UNJIELIEF IS MORALLY CULPABLE WHEN IT ABISES FROM AN EVIL HEART. 1. This unbelief must be dis…
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Vers. 22-24.-Man rebulced by nature. Man considers himself to be" the lord of creation." He alone of all creatures is made in the image of God. Yet there are things in nature which should put him to shame. Jeremiah indicates two of-these. I. 'l'RE DIVTh'E ORDER OF NATURE REBUKES THE WILFUL DISOBEDIENCE OF MAN. 1. .…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHOTIS. Ver. 1,-..4. wicked city spared/or the sake of one saint. The challen~e is very bold o.nd striking. It proves how thoroughly the prophet, as taught by tho Spirit, had read the national corruption. At the same time it furnishes n gauge of the long-s~fl'e~ing mercy of God, and the influence…
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Ver. 18.-Sparing mercy. The judgments described as about to be inflicted are very fearful, but they were amply deserved. The wickedness of ihe people was such as to justify their complete destruction. Yet they were spared ere they were tot.ally extinct I Why this unlooked-for restraint? I. IT BAB CHARACTERIZED ALL Goo…
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of which, personally, they are not guilty; but every one he.s the opportunity of im- proving the world, by doing his best to keep his own heart right. Others are to blame, and there are times when they must be faced, blamed, and resisted; but there is given a daily need, duty, and opportunity to do in our own hearts…
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people, this carelessness about truth, ho chastises them to make them feel their wrong attend to his will, And alter their deceiving ways so as to correspond with it. They ar~ told beforehand what is coming, and the very instrument of chastisement is displayed before them. They had no ground for saying, "Suffering came…
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from a disappointed God. God is described as having cast out the heRthen to mRke room for the vine which he had brought from Egypt. And in the land where he planted it it grew downwards and upwards and outwards, 8preading far and wide. "Why then," say the people, "bast thou broken down her hedges, so that all which pas…
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prophet spoke. He hoo. to deal with an actual present as well as a foreshadowed future. The present in which he and his audience lived teemed with idolatry, perjury fraud, and oppression. These things were not lies. It was no lie to point to th~ manifest seed that Israel was sowing, and surely thllre was nothing more r…
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Dtit what does all the strife avail? The bonm\aries are fixed. If in that which is natural Goel has t.'1.ken so much care in the line between sea and land, is it not certain that ho will take equal care in that which is spiritual? God's work continues on the solid land, away from all disturbance of his foes. Nay, more,…
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this particular time these men had become ve1y successful, and we must infer very influential. Wherever money is heaped up it makes influence. .And even tholl''li such oppressors were not numerous, their very position gave them power. But o;'cr against them, wHh 1111 their power, all their wealth, all their pretensions…
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makes it clear that burnt offerings and all sacrifices are nothing without repentance and reform, he will be thought very little of. He must let the people sin and sin as much as they like. '!'hey will cram the temple area with multitudes of flocks and herd& to take the effect of sin away, if only they may go on sin…
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whatsoever. It is the fruit, the certain fruit, of a man's seekin"0 the truth and then when he has found it and conscience tells him that he has found it, of his straightway practically putting it into action, embodying it in word and deed. It is the proclnct of the three highest faculties God has given to man-intellec…
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too. But he must also be my Might. The power to endure, the strength to toil, tho daily grace for daily need,-whcnce can it come but from him who ha.s said," Beca.usc I live, ye shall live also?" True ma.nhood, real virtue, is therefore a.n impossible thing apart from Christ. More or less stunted a.nd distorted form…
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nlone, but a world, is to be pardoned. "For he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but," etc. And our pardon will be not as Sodom's or Jerusale~'s would have been-leaving the people still the slaves of sin; but the beginning of a new life in which we shall grow more and more into the fulness of the …
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Vers. 3-5.-The rich and the poor meet together. They do so- I. IN MOST MOURNFUL WAYS. 1. In their common exposure to .~orrow and death. :t. In their yet more mournful subJection to the blYlldage of moral evil, both alike leagued together in rebellion against God (cf. text). From which learn: (1) No circumstances al…
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cherish sympathy with all our brethren, The poor with the rich, and they with the poor. It is equally difficult but equally obligatory on each. (2) To be eacrer in 0 telling to the poor of this gospel of the meeting of the rich and the poor. (3) To come to Christ and to his cross, and to abide there, that the Spirit o…
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n;arvel. Especially, too, when they have daily to endure the supercilious and half- ~cornful treatment which the possesssion of wealth almost invariably begets towards those who have it not. 6. The hard s/111,qgle wliicl1 faith in God and hi., goodness cannot but have amid the hardships qf povei·ty. It is true that …
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2. .And he has done so with sorrow. Grief had been for ages going about the world, a sad-robed, sombre, and ever-tearful guest in whatever house she took up her temporary abode: nnd there was no house she did not visit. But since the Lord Jesus became the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," she, in virtue of t…
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Yer. 24.-The sillcenfetter. In ver. 22 the prophet has spoken of the soft, UI1stable sand holding in and beating back the mighty surgings of the sea; but here he tells of what would seem a still more uclikely thing, that the goodness of God should lead mm to fear him. He selects that prominent proof of God's goodness, …
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Ver. 24.-God's gifts of the mins and tlie ha'fltlest. "The Lord our God, that giveth raiu, both the former o.nd the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us," etc. 'l'o a country so liable to drought o.s Palestine, the regular, periodic rainfall was of the utmost importance. If they had not the former rain-that w…
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grow to be constant, delightful, and more intimate each day. And so the harvest of peace with God, of holy calm, of settled obedience, and of loyal, happy service, was daily reaped. And in the case of those who have passed into the skies, the harvest of glory has been reaped also, or rather is being reaped, the joy of …
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gospel, but many who gather with them Sunday by Sund,i,y, and in their ,veek-day assemblies, are yet unconverted and unsaved. 'Where is the harvest? vVhy does it not come? "How long, 0 Lord, how long?" these servants of God continually cry to him. And so, too, with the individual worker for Christ. He, too, can look…
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been owing to neglect of those Divine aids which God has placed within our power- the blessed aids of prayer, watchfulness, and the diligent use of grace already given- then not pity but censure must be awarded to those of whom we speak. "'!'hey have not because they asked not;" or if they asked they "asked amiss." …
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in the strength of God's grace that it shall be so no more. Turn to him your Lord and Saviour, who came that you might have lifo, and might have it more abundantly, and beseech him to give you what you must have or die. And so for you and for WI all we would pray- " Diffuse, 0 God, those copious showen, That earth…
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favour to them. They were independent of the prophets, but were much bound to the people for their sympathy and support. But whilst independent of the prophets they were greatly assisted by them in furthering the service of God. And they al~ had means of knowing the truth. They were able to try the spirits, whether …
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dar~n~s_s and is gone. But it is deeply significant of the dulness of on1· spiritual sens1b1hty that we can gaze so often on the world of wonders around us without beina0 solemnly impressed with the presence of the living God. II. THE SELF-WILL THAT SPURNS THE DIVINE CONTROL. A contrast is here drawn between the su…
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save your goods by flight. In eh. iv. 6 the war i~.. to ~ opened wit~. sacriflcee (comp. so.me o.dvice was given to the inhabitants of Isa. xw. 3 with 1 8am. :nu. 9); next thew the conntry districts. There, Jernsalem was is o. forced march, so as to ta.ke the city by represented as the only safe refnge ; here. storm…
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of infirmity (sc-e Isa. !iii. 3, 4), but the con- it with reference to J ereminh's inner expe- text clearly limits it he,ro to bodily trouble. rience. There are, we must remember, two Ver. 8.-Be thou instructed; rather, Let selves in the prophet (comp. Isa.. xxi. 6), thyself be corrected (Authorized Version e.nd the…
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Ver. 16.-Stand ye in the ways; literally, thy God?" (Micah vi .. 8; comp. k,. i. 11 ; station yourselves on (or, by) roads, i.e. at the Amoe v. 21-24; Hos. VI. 6; Micah vi. 6-8). meeting-point of different roads. There (as All these passages must bo read in tb.e li"'ht the followh1g words state) the Jews are to of t…
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pulalion of Jerus11lem) is c11utioned against supported by not e. few similar phenomena, ,,enturing outside the w11lls. The sword of that mibhfar, o fortress, has been inserted the enemy; rather, the enemy hath a sword. by mistake from the mo.rgin, where o.n early Fear is on every side; Hebrew, miigor missa- glossat…
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HOMILETICS. Ver. 7.-Wells of wiclcedn/!$8. I. IF w10KEDNESS IB ABUNDANT AND PERSISTENT, 11' '1:UST COME FROM A DEEP SOURCE, The wickedness of Israel is constantly renewed- ever fresh and abundant, like water in a well. Such water must flow out of deep fountains. The continuity of a course of sin proves that its ori…
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16). It was also a cause of their not rightly receiving it; for dislike to truth blinds the eye to the nature of it. n: 'l'HE BURDEN OF TRUTH. In spite of all these grounds for discourao-cmcnt Jeremiah feels that he must utter his message when once be considers its ori:in and characler. 1. Truth is a trust from God. I…
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The deceiving prophets do not make peace; they only talk of it. But in the tea.chiw, of true prophets and apostle.~ the way to secure solid peace is revealed. 1. This is show~ to be not immediate. Jeremiah was right in saying that the people must suffer before they enjoyed peace. Christ, the Prince of peace, came to "s…
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nl<l path, i.e. in the spirit of the religion of his fathers (eh. xxxi. 31-34). "Thcs~ times a.re the ancient times, when the world is ancient, and .not those which we count aucient, ordine retrogrado, by a computation backwards from Oul'sclves" (Francis Bacon). Ver. 17.-Watchmen. I. THE MISSION OF TIIE WATCHMEN,. 1…
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is led to regard his mission, and the troubles of Israel, with which this is 80 much concerned, as means for testing the character of the Jews. I. THE STANDARD OF MEASUnEMENT 18 DIVINE TRUTH. The prophet is to be an assayer. Men are to be judged by the truths of righteousness which he is inspired to see and to declare…
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is_ as a ~re,, t~at has broke~ out amidst_ combt)stible material. By-and-by "tho ,nckcd city 1s felt to be an mtolcrable evil. It 1s a menace to tho peace and good government of its neighbours. 'l'hcy cannot afford to ignore it, No time must be lost in bringing it to reason. Its excitements and dissipations wax madder …
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Ver. 16. - The old paths. Men are surrounded from their earliest years with various religious systems, the claims of which conflict. 'l'o a. conscientious mind, intellectual disquietude is the first result of this; in those less in earnest it produces and justifies indifference. .All religions tend, under these circums…
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III. THE NATURAL HUMAN DESIRE FOR MERE NOVELTY HAS TO DE OVERCOME. True religion is not to be despised because it is old. 'l'he truth, whim carefully studied Rnd spiritually realized, is ever new and fresh. And the "new truths" to which advancing time introduces us are justified only as we can organically and spirit…
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spiritual force. It ie by bearing the Word, and looking into the mirror it affords that a man is discovered to himself. ' 11. DETERMINE DESTINY. Sometimes in a good, sometimes in a bad sense. In the case before us it ie wholly the latter. As there was no reality or earnestness in Israel, so there was no point at which…
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speeding from the north. The alarm-trumpet sounding its shrill notes amid the quiot streets of Tekoa; be sees the signal-fires blazing from the heiaht of Deth-haccerem and answered by other like fires, all telling of distress ; and then, from hill-summi~ yet further away, he sees the never-ending train of fierce and…
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dre.w therefrom. And that this is the intent of these awful representations of God's wrath is seen in ver. 8, where God pathetically. pleads wHh Jerusalem to be "in- itructed " by his words, "lest his soul depart from " her. llemem ber, then: 1. It is only tl1e eye, purged by the Spirit of truth, that can see the truth…
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the Lord's pasture, is the fairest, loveliest scene this poor sin and sorrow stricken earth presents. Even now she is Christ's bride, and all spiritual beauty and comeliness are summed up in that. IV. Fon ATTRACTIVENESS. Of. ver. 3, which tells how other shepherds were irresis- tibly drawn to this pasturage, and ho…
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beautiful old age ie that described in the seventy-first psalm-beautiful for its confidence in God, for its humility and meekness, for the vigour of its desire for God's glory, and for its bright onlook int-0 the future I And such beauty often belongs to old age, so that "at eventide there is light." We probably all of…
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man who suffers himself to lose his religion, has many bitter moments of regret and remorse. How he curses the sinful folly which led him to lend an ear to the deceitful suggestions of the wicked one, and which have brought him to this wretched pass I Yes, it is a terrible thing to see the day of spiritual prosperity g…
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Vers. 4, 5.-How the kingdom of heaven is to be taken. "Prepare ye war," etc. It is lawful to learn from the children of this generation, who are wiser in their affairs than the children of light. Therefore, from the wa.y in which the enemies of J uda.h should assail her, we may learn how the kingdom of heaven is to be …
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And now ,'l"e ask- I. WHY SHOULD NOT THIS BE so? Many reply that if you find an adequate c11uso for any given effect, there is no need to look for any other. But, in answer, sec I let this book fall; what causes it to fall? The law of gravity will adequately oxpl~in it. But was that the real cause? Was not my will …
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taneousness. No force is needed to draw forth their streams. 6. Copiousness. 7. Effectiveness. The course of a stream is ever discernible by its effects. It tells on all that it touches, it leaves nothing as it was before it came. 8. Force. The fountain will have way given to it. It will break all barriers that block i…
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faith (cf. Acts, passim). "Line upon line, lino upon line," is God's counsol to us in this matter. 11. To THE STUDENTS OF ms ,vono. To none more lhan to these is this charcre necessary, if they are to keep a living interest in God's Word. We come to be ~o familiar with the main themes, and the forms in which they a…
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nccomplishment of one result, may yet be of much use in regard to another. Jeremiah's testimony, though it did not save the people from captivity, was of great service to them there, and to the whole Jewish people ever after. His words, which seemed as idle tales when he spoke them, became mighty through God in afte…
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ah_...ays involves the outrageous wickedness which is told of in their prophecies; it can ex1stand yet never" commit abomination," as did these to whom Jeremiah npoke. It is found in company with much outward religiousness, much moral propriety, much amiability of character; but wherever it is, Christ's word concern…
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will not be reserved for him who has been chargeable with blood-guiltiness like this? We observe- !. THAT IT IS AN ALL Too FREQUENT BIN. 1. The prophets of Judah and Jerusalem were guilty of it, notwithstanding ·that (1) they knew the truth; (2) they professed the truth ; (3) they were ordained to teach the truth. St…
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kling, that seems in all respects like pure, wholesome water. But the skille,l chemist drops into it the fitting test, and at once the poisonous substance is precipitl\ted, and thus is made evident to all. Now, with all these deceits of which we have been telling, their true nature may be made manifest if we apply t…
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~entinel who guards the approaches of the soul against its deadly foes; to pierce aoc.. undermine those blessed walls which keep ba.ck the inrush of the ocean upon the whole land, Let us not do aught like this. But pray- " Quick as the apple of the eye, 0 God, my consciooce make, Swift to discern when sin is nigh, …
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upon the love of ~he new, the tendency to be alway_s looking back upon the tenrlency to be_ always lookmg forward, and then the result 1s that men will come generally to practically act upon that prudent, though to many minds most prosaic, maxim which counsels- " Be not the first by whom the new is tried, Nor yet …
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often suffers them to wander in the far and drear country of mental unrest, and to feed upon its husks, and so come to themselves, and arise and go back to their Father's heart and home, from whence it had been better had they never strayed, 2. Some- times, and more often, moral. Religion is that which binds. It is a l…
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Vers. 18-30.-God's appeal, for vindication of his vengeance. Note- 1. THE CHALLENGE. (Ver. 18.) God summons the nations, the congregations, the earth, to serve as on a grand jury, and to vindicate by their verdict the righteousness of his procedure. Now, from this challenge we learn: 1. The universality of conscience.…
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Ver. 29.-" The bellows are burned." The text is a homely aud unusual oue, but its graphic force may help all the more to impress the truth taught by it. " The prophet likens the people of Israel to a mass of metal. This mass of metal claimed to he precious ore, such as gold or silver. It was put into the furnace, the o…
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Ver. 16.-The good way. The prophet here employs the memory of the past as a motive to repentance. He would fain persuade t.he people to return to the better ways in which their fathers walked. The calamities that were falling so heavily upon them were the result of their having forsaken those good old ways. Let them…
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tho pathless ocean; not so with any man as concerns his relation to the heavenly powers and tho eternal realities. Ho has always light cnou;:;h to '' discr!rn between tho righteons and the wicked, between him that scrveth God and him that serveth hi,n not" (Mai. iii. 18). 'l'ho truo way of life is clearly revealed to t…
839 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.