The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 22

of Judah and Jerusalem saw nothing in these circumstances, any more than in tho prophet's visions, to nlarm them very much. And so, still, ungodly men are nt ease iv the presence of facts and indications which Jill those who believe God's Word wit\ unspeakable alarm. How foolish, then, is it to take the unconcern, the powerlessness to understand God's signs, which characterize ungodly men, as any evidence of the unreality of that which God has declared I "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be," etc. Lot was as" one that mocked unto his sons-in-law." The Jews crucifiecl our Lord because he saw so clearly and declared so plainly the character of the.ir trusted leaders and the destruction that was coming--one even more terrible than that which Jeremiah foretold. But the Jews neither saw nor believed anythin" of the kind, (2) Its being by means of natural laws does not make it the less God's p~nishment of sin. The rapid growth and yield of the almond tree was a perfectly natural thing: there was no interference with the orderly course ,vhich such forms of plant life assume. And the war between the empires of Egypt and Babylon, in the vortex and- whirlpool of which Jerusalem was dragged in and dragged down; all this which the prophet's second vision told of, was it not the inevitable though sad misfortune of any such diminuth·e power as was that of Judah and Jerusalem when placed in like circumstances? Her lot was cast just in the place where the two raging seas of Egypt and Babylon met. What wonder if her poor little barque went to pieces beneath the violence of those waves ? It was sad enough, but yet perfectly natural ; indeed, one may say, inevitable. And so it would be quite possible to explain all God's punish- ment away, and to regard it like the early blossoming of the almond tree, and like the seething troubles which must come upon little kingdoms placed as Judah was, when great empires on either side of her go to war, as only what was to be expected, what was in keeping with the natural order of things. Let any one read Gibbon, and from his account of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, you .would gather no idea of a Divine righteousness arising to inflict :merit;ed punishment on e.n awfully corrupt and degraded people. Believers in God can and,\io see this, but the great historian has not felt himself bound to point out any such cause of the long series of disasters which he so eloquently relates, The inspir13d prophet and seer of Pa.tmos has, however, done this; and in the Book of the Revelation, the woes coming upon that blood-stained empire are told of in symbolic but terrible form, and in con- nection with that God-defying wickedness.which was the source and cause of them all. And so to-day, under cover of the fact that God works according to the natural order of things, men evade the teaching of the events that befall them. Because God pllil.ishes sin by the action of his natural laws; men deny that he punishes sin ot a.II. His hand is not recognized in it, and therefore no repentance is awakened. They deem themselves unfortunate, and that is all. If we would be more faithful with ourselves, we should "hear the rod and who bath appointed it." No calamities or disasters come without meaning and intent ; they are sent for moral and spiritual purposes, however much they may appear to be but natural and necessary events. Each of them will own, if interrogated," I have a. message from God unto thee." (3) It will increase in severity if there be need. 'l'he first vision is simply that of the almond tree ; an emblem of gentleness rather than of severity. But the second vision, that of the boiling caldron, suggested a far other and more terrible visitation (cf. the plagues in Egypt, which increased in terribleness as they went on). And it is ever so even unto the "con- 1mming fire" (Heb. xii 29). (4) It often comes from unexpected quarters.. The "seething pot" that the prcphet saw had its face northward. Now, the reader of the history of the times of which.our prophet tells-the times of King Josiah-:will know that it was from the south, from Egypt, they expected that troubles would anse. And iu the next chapter (ver. 16) mention is made of trouble that did arise from that quarter though what particular event is referred to it is not easy to say. But tho great t~ou ble was to come from the north, from the last quarter from which they anticipated it. KiDg Josiah lost his life in doing good service to that northern power, the great A.Bsyrian kingdom, by fighting against Egypt. It was not, therefore, to be expected that thence calamity would come. But nevertheless it was thence that their great overthrow and destruction came. And little do the transgressors against God ever know or even dream whence his judgments against them will arise. It is not only "in such an hour," but from such a quarter" as they think not, that the Divine dis- OIi, I, 1-19,] TIIE BOOK OF THE l'ItOPHE'r ,JEUEMIAH. 15