h Seven ſignifies many, 1 Sam; 2: 5, Job 5: 19. The Prophet | @ Either the words which from time to time thou didft reveal ,,, complains, that Hieruſalem, or the Country of Judah, that had been | to me, were by me 6 greedily digeſted, and though ſome of them very numerous in People, now grew feeble, neither able to main- | were dreadful and terrible words, yet becauſe they proceeded from tain thoſe ſhe had born, nor yer to bear more. i In the midſt of | thee, I was glad to hear them, and to be thy Inſtrument to com» her proſperity ſhe became thus miſerable k A part ofthem were | municat them to thy people, or ( which, better pleaſeth the Lear= confounted by the Judgments of God which came upon them be- | ned Author of our Engliſh Annotations, and poſſibly may be more [ES fore thei: Captivity. ! For the remainder of them ( faith God ) | the ſenſe of the place, ) thy word of Commiſſion, ( of which ſee EF they ſhall be deſtroyed by the Sword of the Enemy. Chap: x. ) by which I was made thy Prophet, was at firſt very
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o * Wo is me, my mother, that thou haſt born me | grateful and pleaſing to me, I was glad at the heart, when thou at any time didft reveal thy will ro me. » Thou art the Lord of Hoſts,
Ch, 20.14. a man of ſtrife, and a man of contention to the whole
| , : and ſo able to prote& thy Meſſengers. Lord, I am called by th earth »: I have neither lent on ufury, nor men haye Name, I became a Prophet by thy Authority, therefore do thou owk lent to me on uſury, yet every one of them doth curſe | prote&, and defend me.
me 7, 17 *I fat not in the Afffembly of the mockers, nor
The Prophet in this verſe cannot be excuſed from a great mea- . ; : B87 flv of Paſſion and Humane Infirmity ; he almoſt curſerh the day | * ejoiced o : I ſat alone becaufe of thy hand, for thou haſt filled me wich indignation p.
of his Birth, denouncing himſelf a woful miſerable Man, to be : =" | born a Man of Strife and Contention to the whole World, that is | o Some, and thoſe the moſ, interpret theſe words, as an Argu-=
thoſe Nations in it, againſt which God fent him to denounce his | ment the Prophet uſeth with God to obtain his favour, becauſe Judgments ; which Denunciations, how true ſoever, and the truth | though the Country was fall of wicked Men, ſuch as ſcoffed at the of which they afterward did effeQually find, yet they were not | Denouncings of God's Judgments, yet he had no ſhare with them, | able to bear, and therefore they ſtrove with him, and contended a- | therefore he deſires he might have no ſhare with thoſe wicked men,
gainſt him ; yet it was not for his Sin. » Uſury was forbidden | in whoſe company he had had no delight, and in whoſe profane the Fews, Dut. 23. 19. and ſo was the more odious; but ſaith the | contempt of God he had no ſhare: But the Learned Author of our Prophet, I have not followed that Trade, I have neither lent nor | Engliſh Anorations thinks, ( and that very probably, it we conſider borrowed upon Ulſury, I have done them *no wrong, nor given | what follows) that the words ſhould rather be tranſlated thus, 7 them any occaſion againſt me, yet they will not bereconciled tome, ſate not in the Aſſemblies of thoſe that made merry ; intimating, that.
bur ſpeak of me all manner of evil ; This was the Lot of the Old though he rejoiced in his Heart TO God gave him Commiſſion a. | | 6 I1 2 £
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be his Froph , yet God liad all along filled his month with ſuch |!
dreadful Meſſages to be delivered to his People, that his whole pro-
Rica] Fife had been'to him a time of mourning and ſolitude. p * time when he fat alone, mourning and weeping in ſecret for the wrath. of God tevealed'to him againſt his People, and by him to * be revealed unto the People.
Chap 18 Why is my * pain perpetual? and m wound in- 4s. curable which refuſeth tobe healed 9? wilt, thou be alto- —&. gether to me *as aliar, and as. waters | that fail r,
$4 mor 9 The words are judged tobe the words of Jeremiah, and that
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* Chas.2. F.Ch. 25: . Fea.79. 2.
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with relation unto himielf, complaining of the hard Task which Godhad pit upon him, continually filling his mouth with ſuch /bitter | words of evil againſt the people, as expoſed him ro their -moſt implacable Rage againſt him, and perſecution of him, ſo as .-his miſery ſeemed like a pain and a wound, for which was no re- .medy bur patience. r Jeremiah,though a great Propher of the Lord, - was ( as Elijah) a Man ſubje&- to like paſſions with other Men ; he here chargeth God with unfoithfulneſs, as if he had deceived -his ExpeRations, and had been *o him as a pit of waters that pro-' "miſed fair, but failed a Man when he had moſt need of them. "The Servants of God have ſometimes been {ſurpriſed with ſuch paſſions "and'temptations, 1 Sam: 27: I« Plal: 77: 7, 9. : Itis an hard thing Zech. 3» nor to ſee, and yet believe. _ 119 © Therefore thus faith the LORD, * If thou re- K.22* cuarn, th ill bring th in /, a»dthou {halt ſtand turn, then I will bring thee again /, ou ſhalt ſtan 1144.23, before me 7: and if thou * take forth the precious from 'the vile, thou ſhalt be as my mouth «: let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto Ar the firſt reading of theſe words, one would take them to be a proniite of God to reſtore this people to their former ſtate, if they would:reform ; but upon a more wiſe - and diligent conlide- / ration of what follows both in this and in the following verſe, they " ſcemrather Gods Werds unto the prophet, rebuking his Diftdence - and diftruſt in God, and romiſing him, that if he did return from
E. :- that his diffidence and diftruſt in Gad's promiſe and providence, z
he would reſtore him to the former favour he had had with him, : and;he ſhould be his Prophet to reveal his mind to the People. , « | "Andif he would ſeparat the precious Truths of God from the vile <conceits of Men, or rather preach ſo as to diſtinguiſh good and ' bad Meu one from another, then God would continue him as his "Prophet," to ſpeak in his Name unto-the pzople. w He chargerh the Prophet to keep bis ground, and. not to go over unto wicked \Men but to uſe his endeavour to reduce them to that Obedience which he yieided to him.
brazen * wall x, and they ſhall fight againſt the, but * they ſhall not prevail againſt thee y, for I am with