1 God accounteth Men and Women to have forgotten that, the. ſight and :efleftion upon which hath made noſuch impreſſion upon taem, as to produce a praftice ſuitable to thoſe notices, according to the condu& of a reaſonable Soul, which teacheth every Man, having notice of a great evil brought upon a Man by ſuch or ſuch praices, to avoid running into the like danger. It was the aggra- vation of this Peoples ſins, rhat they were committed in the Holy Land, and in a City which God had more favoured than any other place, to have done theſe things in any place had been guilt enough, but more to do it in the Land of Judah, and in the Streets of Jeruſa-
lem. | xo They are not | humbled evcn to this day, neither
have they feared mz, nor walked in my law, nor in f
my ſtatutes that I ſer before you, and before your fa- thers.
m Neither they nor you are humbled ; for the Prophets paſſing from che ſecond Perſonto the third, and by and by from rhe third Perfon again to the ſecond, lets us know, that he intendeth what he ſpake as well of them to whom he ſpake, as of them concerning whom he ſpeaks ; from whence we alio learn, that Reformation and Obedience is the firſt fruits of Contririon, or true Humiliation. God accounteth thoſe not humbled, bur haraned who are not reformed, and become obedient to his Will let their pretended At7rron, Contrition, or Humiliation be in outward appearance what it wall. . :
11 \ Therefore thus ſaith the LORD of hoſts the God of Iſrael o, Behold * I will ſer my face againſt you for evil, and to cut off all Judah p. /
» Theſe Names are frequently given to God, in threatning Pro-
hecies, partly to lt this Prop'e know thar God 1s able ro make good lis Word and to bing the tircatned Evils upon them ; and
M I = p
partly to Jetth?m know that the dealing thus with them would not maks him-quite his relation to 1ael, tut he was and fill would
- approve himſeFfthe God of thoſe who were his'true Iracl. p The | meaning 1s, my 4ull deſign againſt yon is ro bring Evilupon you 3
this is expreſſed under the notion of ſetrinir hi ſerting his eyes againſt them. F / _d roans, _ wo PSs x ye _ L will rake the remnant of Judah, that have e | < t the1r Tacesto go into the land of Egypt, to ſojourn
there, and they ſhall all be conſumed, andfall in the
and by the tamine ;. they ſhall die-trom the leaſt even unto the greateſt, by the ſword, and by the famine: and they ſhall be anexecration, 'and an aſtoniſhment, and a curſe, and a reproach q. 2 RI
7 This is no more than the Prophet had told theſe very Perſons
words for the confirmation of the truth' of them to them now thacr they were there, "y .n | ; TING 13 ForI will puniſh them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have puniſhed Jeruſalem, by the ſword,by the famine, and by the peſtilence. . Pn 14 So that rioneof the remnant of Judah, which are
gone intothe lane of Egypt'to fojourn there,ſhalleſcape
or remain, that they ſbould return into the land of Ju- dah, to-the which they + have a deſire to return, ' to dwell there: for none ſhall return but ſuch as ſhall e- {cape 7. | n Thereis a great variety in the reading of w wil vs ſome reading beſides ſuch 2 have a deſire pay dro dagy = " os they have a delire to return. Others, for they have 4 deſire fo return The words fcem to hint that theſe Jews went into the Land of £- gypt, not with a deſign to live there always, but ro ſtay for a while rill the heat of the Chaldeans in enquiring after the Blood of Gedal:ah ſhould be over, then thinking to return into their own Country ; which one ſhould think were true, conlidering it notonly as wr fi Native Soil but alſo a place where was now room enough,and the might live in much greater plenty than they could in Feypr. Ti only difficulty is in the laft words,compared with what in the ſame Verſe went before; it is ſaid in the beginning of the Verſe that none of them ſhould eſcape, and in the cloſe, none jhall return but ſuch as ſhall eſcape. But reafon will guide us to interpret the firſt none in a reſtrained ſenie, 7. e. none of thoſe who have been the Authors of this Counſel and Rebellion againſt God, and who went into Zeyp:
ruch who were in Egypt ( at leaſt the firſt of them ) in the niſhment with which he puniſhed the len Jin 6 OR _ of thoſe who in Egypt have burnt incenſe to Idols, and defiled them< ſelves with the Idolatry of Egypr, but there ſhall ſome eſcape, ſuch as have been forced into Ezypragainſt their Wills; and ſuch as being. ſo forced when they came here did not fall in with the .Idolatry of the Egyptians ( for we may gather from the next Verſe, that all of them did not ) theſe Men thall again return into the Land of Judah 20 to me ſ{eemeth the faireſt and moſt probable ſenſe of the words. |
15 © Then all the men which knew that their wives had burnt incenſe to other Gods /, and all the women chat ftood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt inthe land of Egypt, in Pathros, anſwered Jeremiah, ſaying t, | |
J The burning of Incenſe was a Religious Rite, which God had
appointed theJews as a piece of Divine Homage to be paid to him a- lone,and by an orginary figure is put for Worſhip. So as burning Incenſs to other Gods, is the ſame with worſhipping other Gods, # It ſhould ſeem that all the Jews had not been thus tar guilty, and thoſe that did it were moſtly Women, or at leaſt they were the Leaders in this Idolatry, and one would think the Phraſe implyethy that thoſe who were thus culpable did it with ſome privacy, {o as all their Husbands did not know of it, but thoſe that did were as bad as their Wives, conniving at them,and juſtifying them in their Ido- latry, and joyning with them in the following peremptory anſwer to, and contempr of the Prophet.
16 As forthe word which thou haſt ſpoken vnto us in
name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. s.
u Weread Ch. 43. 5. Johantan and the reſt only denied that God had ſpoken ſuch things,and told Jeremiah, he had ſpoken falſely;bur now theſe Women and Men riſe higher, they acknowledge Jeremiah had ſpoken to them inthe Name of the Lord, bur tell him in-p/ain and dirett terms they would not obey it. And indeed this is\in the hearts of all ſinners that are ruled by their Lufts, though they will ſome= times pretend, that what they hear 1s not the Will of God, but ſpo- ken out of Malice and prejudice ; yet they are pre-reſolved they will not do it, let their underſtandings be never 1o well informed.