PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 2
Thomas Kelly Cheyne, 1841–1915 · 355,481 words · 309 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 2 — Section 241
One of the most interesting of these results is the discovery of a great lyric movement among the conquered Jews, as well those in Babylon as those who remained in their much-loved home. " If I forget thee, O Jera> salem," was their dominant thought, even when surrounded by the wonders of Babylonian art ; and it na…
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Before introducing the question of authorship, we have still to examine briefly the two remaining poems — ^tbe third and the fifth. The former agrees with the three elegies already considered in the technical respect of its alphabetic structure, and more particularly with the second and fourth (in the order of the …
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Let us first of all consider the internal evidence, and let ni test the theory of Jeremiah's authorship by its applicability to the third chapter of the book, as the part which, upon the face of it, can most easily be claimed as Jeremiah's. It will be readily admitted that, if we take the poem literally, it points …
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already been softened by time. To assert, witb Dean Plumptre, tbat tbe bom poet " accepts tbe discipline of a self-imposed law just in proportion to tbe vehemence of his emotions," is incapable of proof from modern Euro- pean poetry, and, if possible, still more opposed to the facts of Hebrew literature Some of the…
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Ver. 2. — In the night. Notonlybyday, but even in the season of rest and unconscious- ness. Her lovers . . . her friends; i.e. the QeigWiourii»g peoples, with which Judah had fomed alliances, such as Egypt (Jer. ii. 36), Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidnn (Jer. xxvii. 3). This is a favourite ■phrase of Jeremiah's…
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rather, Kath proclaimed a festival. When uehoTali Bummons the instruments of hia vengeance, the prophels dopcribe it as the " proclaiming a festival." The Persians oi' Chaldeans, as the case may be, obey tho summons with a holy glee, and destroy the enemies of the true God (comp. Isa, xiii. 3). Hath trodden, etc…
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haracter is essential to Christian influence among men. 2. Loss of power entails loss flibeirty. Jerusalem weakenid and conquered becomes a vassaL Only the strong can le free. Spiritual failings lead to the loss of spiritual liberty. 3. When the Church ease* to influence the world she will hecorrte subject to the wo…
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festival was an occasion for the meeting of Jews from all quarters. Townsmen met countrymen. Herdsmen from the south met agriculturists from the north. When this assembly was interrupted, the people suffered in many respects. 1. The loss of brotherly association. We are tempted to forget our brethren if we cease to …
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first. If man is born to trouble, he who seems at one time to have an unfair advantage will have to pay for it by the keener suffering of bis adversity when that comes. 2. This fact should warn its against the folly of enjoying the present without prepctring for the future. The more heartily we enjoy earthly treasur…
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II. The TBonBLG is fourfold. It is various in form, touching one in one way and another most in a different way. But for each it is complex. \. Itbwnsasfire. At once it is felt to be fierce, poignant, and consumino;. Thus does Grod seek to bum the chaff out of us. 2. It catches our feet like a net. God arrests the h…
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Ver. 4. — The decline of national religion. Nowhere has the great truth of the close dependence of national prosperity upon national religion been more plainly and empha- tically taught than in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. Their spiritual insight detected the true cause of national degradation. Whoever looks…
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II. Thk holt house of Jerusalem was sacrileqiouslt abused bt the heathen JONQUXBOBS. The temples of their gods are always the object of a nation's reverence and sometimes of affection. But the Jews had especial reason for venerating their sanctuary; it was the scene of their sacrifices and offerings, the depository …
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III. The confession to which affliction and contrition lxad. Identifying the nation with himself, the prophet exclaims, " I have grievously rebelled." There is candour and justice, there is submissiveness, there is spiritual discernment, in this outspoken acknowledgment. Ko excuse, no extenuation, no complaint, is h…
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THE PAST. The ways of Zion mourned now, but the very fact that such a thing should be said showed that they had once been filled with rejoicing. The gates had been crowded with worshippers from every district of the land. Zion was glorified as the site of the temple, and the temple was glorified as holding within it…
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Ver. 12. — The observation cf suffering. L A beeminqlt dnbbasonablb complaint. " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? " So speaks Jerusalem, personified under the guise of the weeping widow, with the tears on her cheeks and the beauty faded, deprived of all her pleasant things, and left in solitude so far as …
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II. The bioht feeling with kbgard to suffbkino fob sin. The absence of the wrong feeling can only be secured by the presence of the right one. If selflsh gladness, the gladness springing from envy and jealousy, is to be kept out. It must be by con- stantly cultivating pity for all suffering. Pity is to be the very f…
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Ver. 11. — My bowels are troubled (see on ch. i. 20). My liver is poured upon the earth. A violent emotion being supposed to occa- sion a copious disci large of bUe. The daughter of my people. A poetic expression for Zion or Judah. Ver. 12. — Corn. Either in the sense of parched com (comp. Lev. xxiii. 14; 1 Sam.…
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MANIFESTED. The Holy Land, Jerusalem, the temple, the holy of holies, the ark, — these are the sacred places, of increasing sanctity as the circle narrows, till the very footstool where God touches earth is reached. 1. The presence of God in our midst is no guarantee against the natural consequences of our misdeeds.…
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Q-od and that all the ordinnnces of worship are his. Beligion is not merely human and subjective. It relates to Grod and it goes out of the humaa world reaching up to the Divine. There is scope, therefore, for God's action in it. He may refuse his action. He may not hear the prayers, nor accept the offerings, nor em…
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AND WORTHY. 1. The mission of prophery is to see and declare wisdom and reality. The attractiveness ot the teaching is a snare if the matter of it is vain. People natur- ally favour the pleasant utterance of pleasant things. Doctrines are sonietiiues chosen because they are liked rather than because they are known t…
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Ver. 17. — Buinfrom God. In the fifteenth and sixteenth verses we find strangers and enemies indulging in unseemly jubilation over the fall of Jerusalem. Now, we see — what they do not see — that the cause of that fall was the direct action of God. This fact aggravates the dismay and wretchedness of the suffering ci…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1. — The anger of the Lord. Men have fallen into two opposite extremes of opinion and of feeling with regard to the anger of the Lord. Theie liave been times when they have heeu wont to attribute to the Eternal the passions of imperfect men, when they have represented the holy God …
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II. The eternal law of righteousness, the evee-living witness of bpikitual PROPHBCT, CAN NEVER CEASE. The words, the commandments and prohibitions, the outward ordinances, might pass away for a season of Divine displeasure, might be absorbed in the fuller revelation of the gospel. But the principles of the moral law…
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I. The oiboumstakoes that call fob considbbation. 1. Famine and the inhuman conduct to which famine sometimes leads. 2. Death hy the sword. 3. The privation of those religious offices which are the centre and inspiration of the nation's life. 4. The common suffering of all classes ; prophet and priest, children and …
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L The NATtrEE of the prophetic office as here indicated, a prophet was one who had a vision from the Lord. He was no prophet unless tie could truly preface his address with " Thus saith the Lord." And mu»t there not be something of this kind still? With respect to Divine things, what can any of us say that shall hav…
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to starration. The suffering which touches the conscience is the worst, and the little ones escape it altogether. — Y. Ver. 14. — Hie share of the prophets in ruining Jerusalem. L Wkat the fbophet ODOHT TO BE. The prophet of those times was a man bound to say things having depth and substance in them. And though th…
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Ver. 6. — This verse is verbaUy reproduced in Ps. oxliiL 3. In dark places; i.e. in Hades (comp. Ps. Ixxxviii. 7). As tbey tliat be dead of old. A strange comparison ; for what difference can it make whether the dead are men of the ancient or the modern world? The rendering, however, though perfectly admissible,…
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Ver. 22. — It is of the Lord's mercies, ete. ; literally, The Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. But the " we " is difficult, especially considering that in ver. 23 (which is ' clearly parallel) the subject of the sentence is, not "we," but "the Lord's mercies,'' Hence it is probable that the reading of th…
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of the nation ; if we sliould not rather say that the nation itself, persouifierl, is the speaker. In the first triad some have sup- posed a reference to the persecution suffered by Jeremiah at the hands of his country- men. The "dungeon," or rather "pit," will in this case be the " dungeon " (" pit ") mentioned…
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III. The man that has seen affliction has sained knowledge of some of THE DEEPEST FAOTS OF LIFE. We do not know life till we have felt pain. Buddha, while kept from all suffering in bis palace, was ignorant of the world and of man. Suffering opens the eyes to the facts of life and breaks up many idle dreams. Mere s…
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II. These Divine limitations abe felt to be ieksomb to us when oub will IS IN conflict with God's will. All finite beings must be hedged about by their natural limits. Angels must be within the fence of their powers and rights. Pure spirits are under the law of God. But to these beings the barriers cannot be irksome…
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II. The assubancb of God's notice. No sooner is the cry out of his lips than the sufferer comforts himself with the assurance that God does remember his afiSiction. Thus speedily is the prayer answered, even in the very act of uttering it. Neverthe- less, it is not to be thought that God did not remember the afflict…
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Ver. 24. — ITie secret of hope. The reader of the psalms is familiar with the Btter- ancfi, " The Lord is my Portion." The characteristic peculiarity of the adoption of this confession of faith by the sufferer of the Lamentations is his taking it as a ground of hope. The present is so dark that he can have little jo…
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43 THB LAMENTATIONS OF JEBEMIAH. [oh. m. 1— 6Si spoken of as s time of pleasure. Older people do their best to damp the joyousness ol the young by telling them that these are their hnppy days, soon will come the dark days of trouble, let them enjoy the bright time while it lasts. Even if such a view of life were co…
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11. The reason ■why chastisement is only fob a season. This reason is to be found in the character of God. " He doth not afflict willingly," or rather, " from his heart." There is an essential diiferenoo between chastisement and mercy. Chastise- ment is necessary and sent reluctantly, but mercy springs from the hear…
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"examine their opinions. But opiniuns should not be matters of moral trial so much as questions for calm intellectual testing. The chief point is as to our behaviour. 2. The most important questions of conduct are those which concern our habitual actions. "Our ways " are not isolated deeds, but courses of action. We…
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XL There are no teabs which God cannot wipe away. The sufferer weeps " till the Lord louk down, and behold from heaven." But when God looks the tears will be dried. Belief comes from God. It comes in a look from God. It comes when heaven is open to the troubled soul. One look from heaven is enough. How is this 1 1.…
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n. A JUST VEBDIOT. The evidence may be clear, yet the decision may be unjust if the judge is partial or corrupt. It is the comfort of one who makes the highest appeal that God not only knows all, but will decide righteously. " Judge thou my cause," says the troubled soul. God will judge all causes at the great tribu…
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IL There is prater which is not unheard, but the answeb to which is not IHMBDIATB AND IS NOT JUST WHAT IS EXPECTED. Denial Is ODO thing, delay is another. Perhaps it may be said that every true prayer is both heard and answered. For every acceptable petition takes the tone of our Saviour's ever-memorable and incom- …
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II. The unfailino exercise of these attributes fob the belief aud salva- tion OF MEN. If" we are not consumed," it is not through any excellence or merit of onrs, but because of the forbearance and pity of him who does not willingly afflict the children of men. We tempt the Lord by our ingratitude and rebellion to l…
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II. The reward of the pious soul. 1. There is what may be called the reflex influence of waiting. The expectant seeker and suppliant finds the very posture he is led to assume good and profitable. " In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." 2. The Lord is actually good unto such as wait for him. He is …
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I. There is here an assertion of mnvERSAL and pabtiodlab providence. The inequality of the human lot has ever been the theme of meditation, inquiry, and study. It has been attributed to chance, to men themselves, to the operation of law. But the enlightened and religious mind recognizes the voice and the hand of the…
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I. The occasion of this sympathetic sorrow. 1. The afiSiction of " the daughters of the city." Whether by this expression we are to understand dependent towns or literally the maidens of Jerusalem, in any case it is the calamities of his countrymen that awaken compassion. 2. This affliction is of the extremest kind,…
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mountain-top, and "by the misty moonlight watched his disciples tossed upon the lake, toiling in rowing, and sorely harassed. But he loved them, and if he did not come forthwith to their relief there was a good i^eason for his delay. So oftentimes men think God careless because their probation is prolonged ; but in …
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II. This bofi ooheb raou ooNsiDEBiNe the bioet THwaB in thi bioht bpibit. 5S Tfi£ LAMBNTAMONS Ot* JEBEMiAil. [oh. ili. 1— 66 As the expression may be rendered, there must be " a taking to heart." Loss of hop« comes from taking to heart the sad side of human life. The same things are, of course, before us all. There…
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IIL The consbqubnoe of ha visa GrOD fob a Poetion. The life is filled with hope. A man can only hope according to his portion. If his portion is in this world, his hope will have a corresponding character ; whereas if his portion is really in God, his hope will partake of the necessary elevation and fulness of his p…
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I. The Lobd oasts off. There is a discontinuance of the signs of his presence. Enemies get their own way, and, worst of all, the prophets find no vision from the Lord. He is not towards Israel as he used to be. But then, what a qualification comes in! Not for ever. Indeed, the casting off only emphasizes the bringin…
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n. Compensations for the loss of benbe. Loss of vision is a serious matter to oiw whose intellect is full of life and activity. So Milton seems to have felt, judging from his touchini; references to his blindness in his poetry. But this makes it all the more needful to recollect the other side. The blind have exempt…
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Ysr. 63. — 2%e musie o/theivieked. L The fleasubes or bad men. Musical tastes •le, of course, irrespective of moral character. There are certain oiiginal qualities both in eye and ear which remain and demand satisfaction, whatever the moral character may become. If a person of musical tastes becomes a Chrlsriau, tha…
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Ver. 5.— They that did feed delicately, etc. i.e. luxuriously. The rendering has been dis- puted, but without sufficient ground. " They that did eat at dainties," i.e. pick at their dainty food, is forced. The Aramaic mark of the accusative need not surprise ua in Larnentations (comp. Jer. xl. 2). Brought up in …
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Vet. 15. — ^They oried unto them, ete. As they leave the city they are pursued by the maledictions of those whom they have op- pressed. It is unolean. The cry with which tlie leper was directed to warn off passengers, lest they should become in- fected (Lev. xiii. 45). There may be an allusion to this, but, tlio…
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IL Fine gold is dimmed when bare talents abe wasted ob abused. Intellectual ability, artistic taste, gifts for music, philosophy or science, stored knowledge, refined culture, natural genius, and educational acquisitions are like fine gold. Yet this gold may be dimmed : 1. When the gifts and acquirements are idly Ti…
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not only in the rare case of a protracted siege, when at last rich and poor both suffer from the severities of famine, that we may see some who once fed delicately wandering desolate in the street. All who have gone down into the haunts of the very poor and have investigated the severest cases of wretchedness know h…
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Ver. 14. — Blindness. The prophets and priests are so dismayed that they wander through the streets of Jerusalem like blind men. No doubt the confused movement o( these men as they run to and fro, not knowing whither to turn, is the chief idea in the mind of the poet. But the image of blindness by which he illustrat…
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II. How IB REAL contamination TO BE AVOIDED ? Granted that we know what things are defiling and can distinguish them from the objects of conventional ostracism ; how are we to behave ourselves in regard to the unclean things? We are to avoid contact with them. But here a difficult question arises. As Christians we a…
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Ver. 2. — " Precious sons . . . fine gold," . . . become " earthen pttehert.'' The prophet's appreciation of the proper dignity and value of his nation was naturally very exalted ; in proportion were his sorrows and humiliation when his country rebelled against the Lord, and became, in consequence, a prey to the des…
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IIL The unfaithfulness of the leaders brinos penalties and calamities upon the feoflb. The constitution of human society is such that one must needs suffer for another. As the sins of the prophets and the Iniquities of the priests had no small share in bringing about the ruin of Jerusalem, so a corrupt literature an…
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Vers. 3, 4. — Natural affection gone. I. Note an unfavodbablb (X>ntbabt with THE LOWER CREATION. Everything is to be estimated according to its nature. It matters little what the sea-monster here stands for. It is sufiScieut to know that some fierce destructive creature is thought of. Truly there is a vast differenc…
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Yer. 6. — 3%« i^n of Sodom. God was doing nothing new or indefensible in allowing Jerusalem thus to be wasted and humiliated. The Israelites had in their possession illustrations more than one of how great sin had been followed by great suffering. Jeremiah quotes Sodom, and he might have said sometbmg about Egypt wh…
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IIL The worthlessnebb or here reputatioic. Reputation by itself is always to be looked upon with caution. If we would have reputation to be a valuable element in judgment, it must be by asking in whose voice the reputation lies. The voice of the multitude, the voice that takes up a cry and as it were transmits an ec…
1,224 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Text from OCR of an original historical scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.