THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
EDITED BY THE REV.
JAMES HASTINGS, D.D.
EDITOR OP "THE EXPOSITORY TIMES" "THE DICTIONARY OP THE BIBLE'
"THE DICTIONARY OP CHRIST AND THE GOSPELS" AND
"THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS"
JEREMIAH— MALACHI
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
EDINBURGH : T. & T. CLARK
1915
CONTENTS
TOPICS.
FAOK
The Fountain op Living Waters ..... 1
The Old Paths ....
15
The Call op Lipk
25
The Pride op Jordan .
39
Habit
57
The Marred Vessel
75
The Lord our Righteousness
95
Everlasting Love
113
The New Covenant
129
The Discipline op Change
145
The Perfection op Sorrow
-
161
The Death op the Soul
1 1 1
God and the Sinner
195
A New Heart
213
Life from the Dead
231
Open Windows .
255
A Promised Inheritance
271
The Valley op Achor .
291
The Blessing of the Dew
305
A Meeting with God
319
The Wideness op God's Mercy
337
Life for God
357
Life by Faith
375
The City Without Walls
393
A Brand Plucked out of the Fire
411
The Supremacy of the Spiritual
429
Contrition
449
The Fellowship of the Saints
. 461
Religious Conversation
479
A Peculiar Treasure .
. 493
VI
CONTENTS
TEXTS.
Jeremiah.
II. 13
VI. 16 IX. 2 XII. 5 XIII. 23 XVIII. 4 XXIII. 5, 6 XXXI. 3 XXXI. 31-34 XLVIII. 11
I. 12
XVIII.
4, 27
XXXIII.
11
XXXVI.
26
XXXVII.
3
VI.
10
XII.
13
II.
15
XIV.
5, 6
IV. 12 IV. 10, 11 VI. 8 II. 4
Lamentations.
Ezekiel.
Daniel.
Hose a.
Amos.
Jonah.
Micah.
Habakk.uk.
3 17
27
41
59
77
97
115
131
147
163
179 197 215 233
257 273
293 307
321
339
359
377
CONTENTS
Zkchahiah.
II. 4, 5
, ,
III. 1, 2
• 1
IV. 6
• .
XII. 10
.
Malachi.
111. 16
>
III. 17
, , ,
Vll
PAflB
395 413 431 451
463, 481 . 495
The Fountain of Living Waters.
JER.-MAL. — I
Literature.
Ball (C. J.), The Prophecies of Jeremiah (Expositor's Bible), 74.
Foote (J.), Communion Week Sermons, 75.
Mclntyre (D. M.), Life in His Name, 207.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Isaiah and Jeremiah, 249.
Mellor (E.), The Hem of Christ's Garment, 236.
Melvill (H.), Sermons on Public Occasions, 256.
Meyer (F. B.), Jeremiah : Priest and Prophet, 24.
Price (A. C), Fifty Sermons, x. 113.
Voysey (C), Sermons, xix. (1896), Nos. 25, 38.
Woolsey (T. D.), The Religion of the Present, 87.
Christian World, Sept. 3, 1914 (J. H. Jowett).
Christian World Pulpit, i. 481 (W.A. Essery).
The Fountain of Living Waters.
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. — Jer. ii. 13.
1. " I see a wide extended valley. At its head, embosomed in trees of imperishable verdure and fragrance, amid which the birds sing strains of loveliest music, is a fountain that gushes with unabating force from depths which the eye of the vulture hath not seen. Its waters fling their diamond spray into the sunlight, and weave with its beams webs of unearthly glory. There is a safe and sheltered way to the fountain, forbidden to none, but open without fee or recompense to all. The way, how- ever, is nearly forsaken, and the valley is covered throughout its length and breadth with busy workers, parched with thirst, and striving with might and main to hew out cisterns which the rains of heaven may fill, and from which they can drink at pleasure. This is the vision which the prophet saw, and God by his mouth tells us that amid all these cisterns there is none that will hold any water." x
2. In Hebrew the waters of a spring are called " living " (Gen. xxi. 19), because they are more refreshing and, as it were, life- giving than the stagnant waters of pools and tanks fed by the rains. Hence, by a natural metaphor, the mouth of a righteous man, or the teaching of the wise, and the fear of the Lord, are called a fountain of life. " The fountain of life " is with Jehovah ; He is Himself the Fountain of living waters ; because all life, and all that sustains or quickens life, especially spiritual life, proceeds from Him. Now in Ps. xix. 8 it is said : " The law of the Lord " — or, the teaching of Jehovah — "is perfect, reviving (or restor- ing) the soul " ; and a comparison of the statement of Micah and
1 E. Mellor, The Hem of Christ's Garment, 239. 3
4 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS
Isaiah that " Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem " with the more figurative language of Joel and Zechariah, who speak of " a fountain going forth from the house of the Lord," and " living waters going forth from Jeru- salem " suggests the inference that " the living waters," of which Jehovah is the perennial Fountain, are identical with His law as revealed through priests and prophets. It is easy to confirm this suggestion by reference to the river " whose streams make glad the city of God " ; to Isaiah's poetical description of the Divine teaching, of which he himself was the exponent, as " the waters of Shiloah that go softly," Shiloah being a spring that issues from the Temple rock ; and to our Lord's conversation with the woman of Samaria, in which He characterizes His own teaching as " living water," and as " a well of water, springing up unto eternal life."