The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 70

which shall be raised to David, the King who shall reign and prosper and execute judgmcnt and _justice in the earth: he is the Governor who shall feed the Lord's people Israel (Matt. ii. 6); he is the Great Shepherd of the sheep brought again from the dead (Heb. xiii. 20); he who is also the Lamb in the midst of the throne, shall meet those who are gathered out of the great tribulation, nnd feed them, and lead them "unto living fountains of waters" (Rev. vii, 17); and thus being himself the Great Shepherd, he is competent to convey to all under-shepherds the resources whereby in all wisdom they moy feed the hungry with knowledge and understanding. If Jesus makes us truly righteous, then with the lips of the righteous we shall be able to feed many. The duties of a pastor after God's own heart will appear in all their magnitude to one who is considering tho pastoral work of Jesus himself. Such a one will take heed to himself, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost bath made him over- seer, feeding the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. He will have his eye on the grievous wolves that enter in, not sparing the flock. He will carry out the spirit of the commandment which God gave to Moses at Sinai : "Neither let the flocks nor herds feed before the mount" (Exod. xxxiv. 3); by doing his best to keep all within his charge from thoughtless trifling with holy things. H is a grc"t matter to be put in a position of spiritual pastoral responsibility; and all in such positions may joyfully remember that God will give them all needed strength. It is a sad thought for the careless pastor that it should so often be needful for the strangers to stand and feed the flocks he should feed-men that to a certain extent may be reckoned unauthorized. .And yet what can be done? Flocks must not die of hunger; and as the real physician is he who cures the disease, whatever his professional standing may be, so the real shepherd is he who feeds the flock, and the brand of interloper is affixed to him in vain. And so God would invite all his people to do what they can to be true: shepherds. In one sense the shepherds are as many as the sheep. It i~ better to bo ministering to the deep, undying wants of men, than just to their passing pleasures. He who strives to make himself acceptable to men by an incessant watching of their whims and prejudices is very much like the prodigal who found nothing better to do than feed the swine. It is God's will that we should feed sheep.-Y. Ver. 16.-The superseding of the ark. .Along with the denunciations and painful nescriptions which Jehovah has put into the mouth of the prophet., there now begins to l:.o mingled a gracious, evangelical element, God's severest condemnations aro meant to pave the way for return, repentance, reconciliation, and a reception of still more abundant gifts than before. Far and wide Israel has been scattered, but scattered only to be brought together again. Though there be but one in a city and two in a nation, God will find out the isolated ones and draw them bock to him. Then, with pastors after God's own heart, what can thero be but increase and multiplication of the flock of God? .And then comes what is evidently meant to be considered as a great blessing, though at first it seems to point to another sad apostasy, and to forgetfulness of one of the holiest and most precious treasures of the past. 'l'he ark of lhe covenant, with the tables of the Law deposited within, was the very centre o( religious associations to tho nation. But now it is to be no more spoken of. Gon, indeed, trusts that the memory of it was to pass oway. Reading such n verse as this, how ono is mado to feel the importance of time as an element necessary to the proper understanding of things I Such words as these spoken by Israel ot an earlier date would have been a very bad sign, but spoken at the time when all was ripe for them, they become just as much a sign for good. 'l'he ark of the covenant-the literal nrk with the literal tables of stone-could not be a permanent institution, For centuries 1t had been holy-holy not in word only, but also in deed. Consider how God honoured it, when for n. time it was lodged in Philistia; consider the culnIDities that cnme upon the men of Bethshemesh and upon U zzah, for their thoughtless handling of the ark. Much thus happened to make the Israelite very careful how he dealt with it. Dovid nnd Solomon in particular were very solicitous to honour tho ark to the utmost of their power. 'l'his is seen not only in the bringing of the ark up into the city of David, and the putting of it into the temple by Solomon, but perhaps even moro in the conduct of Solomon to Abiathar, when Abiathar was implicated in tho offence of Adonijah. Solomon spared the nmn he would otherwise have slain, because he had JE!a:m.111. F  GG 'l'IIE BOOK OF THE PUOPHE1' JEREMIAH. [cH. m. 1-25.