: What he prayed for, the Matter of his Prayer in the follow- q len iS comme to paſs w 8 ing Verles will inform us ; but it ſhould ſeem by it, that he was — — - ſpoken pals 7, and be p ] *
not without his perplexities ; though he yielded an abſolutc Obe- dience to God's command, yet he prayeth for a clearer Revela- £z0a of his meaning in thus thing,
17 Ah Lord GOD, behold, thou haſt made the heaven and the earth by thy great Power and ſtretch-
* en. 18. ed out arm, 474there 1$ * nothing || too hard for 4. VET.27%» thee lt. |
a
p Ds Fy oh: u He beginneth his Prayer with a Recognition ofGed's Omni- ih thee, PRency, and the infiniteneſs of his Power, which was ſhewed $4 v714 F//Ees
in his firſt making the Heaven andthe Earth, as we read, Gen. 1. Pſal. 146. 6. God himſelf uſed this inſtance to confirm his Peo-
r The word fgnifies Ramparts, or rather Battering Rams, En- gines of War which thoſe Nations uſed to batter Walls, or to ſhoot great Stones into places beſieged. s They are already Be- fieging Hiruſalem, and have been for ſome time. ; And the City is even ready. to be taken and cannot hold out. #4 So many daily are killed, eicher wich the Sword of the Enemy, or by Famine for want of Proviſion, or by the Peſtilence. w Thou arc juſt, and righteous in all this, and haſt done but according co what thou chreatnedſt to do, to a finful People that will not obey thy Voice. : |
25 And thou haſt ſaid unto me, O Lord GOD,
ples Faith in his ability to do what he pleaſed, Chap. 27. 5. Itis| BUY Thee the field for money, and take witneſſes :
obiervable char the Servants of God in Holy Writ, uſed in their Prayers to give God ſuch Names as might hc)p co confirm their
ys
| for the City is give into the hagds of the Chalde- || Or; ans x : though.
x In
thine * eyes are open upon all the ways of the ſons of + 1,4, - os
*ERE vs | In this Verſe _ the Particle q vau, is ill tranflated Ard and WS. Far in dis livter Chauſe. The Learned Author of the Eng. Annota-
(.n at). d.D.( % | L
oc #143651 wall that it had been better tranſlated when as in - prop Law: re as Gn. 4+ 11, Pſal. 102. 5.0r albeit, or tho as 1t
Pj is tranſlited, Jiſ. 17.11. Pſal. 23. 4+ and Ter, inſtead of, And in the beginning, as It is Chap. 23. 22+ Lord ! faith the Prophet, ex- pound thy m2aning to me, why, when the City is upon the matter P ready to be yielded up to the Chaldeans, and cannor poſſibly hold bY ont long, thou ſhouldeſt ſer me to make Purchaſes for thine
Enemies to poſleſs. 26 © Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, ſaying, n 27 Behold, 1 am the LORD, the * God of all o Ver. 17- , . f - 2 by fleſh : Is there any thing too hard for me y : : y The Lord beginneth this Revelation for the Propher's fatis- faction, with the Preface expreſſive of his power, and univerſal dominion from which Jeremiah might underſtand tha t he could do whatſoever he pleaſed, and Man that was bur fleſh, Gen. 6. 3. could not hinder his effecting what he defigned todo. God isallo 7 tg the God of the Spirits ofall fleſh, Numb. 16. 22. but he exprel- #3 TO ſeth Man here only under the notion of fleſh, as Gey. 6. 3. to de- Wo js, note his vileneſs and inconficerableneſs as to any grapling "ED Bai with God and encountring his Purpoles,
238 Therefore thus ſaith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Baby- lon, and he ſhall take it.
29 Andthe Chaldeans that fight againft this city, ſhall come and * ſet fire on this city and burn it with the houſes z,, * upon whoſe roofs they have offered incenſe unto Baal,. and poured out drink-offterings
unto other Gods to provoke me to anger 4. |
| T Thou judgelt righc, this City ſhall be taken, and that by this Wig LW very Army of Cbaldeans which now beſiegeth it, they ſhall ſet en. . fireon it, and burn the Houſes ; I have made all fleſh, and I have LR power to diſpoſe of it, I will give this City into their hands. c But in this execution of my Vengeance [ ſhall not aCt by Pre- Togative, but as a juſt and righteous Judge, vindicating the vio- lation of my Laws, they have polluted their (Houſes, by Idolatry upon the Roofs of them, and they have offered zncenſe, paid a Divine Homage to the Idol Baal, and in them they have worſhip- ped other Gods, therefore I will watch over, and protect them no longer, but ſend the Chaldeans by their Fires to purge them.
30 For the children of Iſrael, and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth : for the children of Iſrael, have only provo- ked meto anger with the works of their hand, faith the LORD 6.
b It they. had offended me on!y by ſome particular fingle acts, or by ſome few Omiſſions, or but for a ſma]l time : I might have been judged too ſevere upon them, but from the time they firſt began to be a Nation they have maſe it their Buſineſs, Courſe, and Trade, paſling from one Idolatry to another, Cc.
3I For this city hath been to me as | a provocati- on of mine anger, and of my fury, from the day that they built it, even to this day c, that I ſhould re-
move it from before my face 4.
# Solomon finiſhed the Building of Hieruſalem, and he at leaſt ſuffered Idolatry init, 1 Kings 11. 4, 8. People have always been ſo fond of worſhipping God according to their own Fancies and "0A Inventions, that even in Jadah (except in David's time) the LN Worſhip of God could hardly be preſerved pure, during the en- tire Reignof one King. d As it they had done it on purpoſe to provoke me to deſtroy the City, and caſt the People of it out. Nothing more eaſfie than for 2eople to keep cloſe to-the Divine Rule, as to External Ads in Worſhip; nothing is more provo- cativeof God than their doing the contrary. Yet nothing hath ©. been more rarely done inany Nation, as if Men had ſet them- DO ORE ſelves to dare a jealous God.
Þ 32 Becauſe of all the evil of the children of Iſrael, 8 and of the children of Judah which they have done, bp to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their prieſts, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jeruſalem e,
e Still God maketh their deſtruCtion to be of themſelves, as the meritorious Cauſe, provoking him to that Wrath he executed upon them. The whole Head was fick, the whole Heart fainr.
All orders of. Men were corrupted, ſo as there was no hope for eheir Reformation or growing better .