The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 109

Y or. 1.-Tl,e kind of return which Jehovah requires. In eh. iii. there has been much spoken concerning return. There is the impossibility pointed out of a d,vorced wife relurning to her husband; yet J ehovah's own people, whose conduct has been even worse, he presses to return. The fact is mentioned that Israel hnd been told to turn, yet had not turned. There is also the fact that Judah had made a feigned turninu. A true return is seen to be the prime condition of all the glorious future which God had shadowed forth, first for Israel, and then for all nations, And then the chapter con- cludes with a touching outburst of penitential emotion. From all which it will be clearly seen how timely and needful is the exhortation which introduces eh. iv. Return of a certain kind is, after all, not so difficult, if only there be certain conspiring oircum- stances. The most undemonstrative and unlikely man may have his fee\iuus roused up, and then comes decided utterance. Right words are spoken, right"'purposes declared. But what of the carrying of them out? What about the difficulties in the future-the fightings without and the fears within? The return which God desires is a permanent return, just as when, after a long frost, there comes a complete thaw, and, with genial warmth following, renewed life, growth, and fruitfulness. I. OBSERVE HOW GoD RECOGNIZES THE INSTABILITY OF THE APOSTATE PEOPLE. It is not simply that he apprehends instability in their resolutions towards himself. Their ,-ery apostasy is itself an unstable thing. With all the hold which idolatry seems to have upon them, they are not thoroughly fixed in it. Evidently there are ways of appealing to them which draw forth a resolve to make some sort of turning. Never should we forget that sinners, even the most persistent of them, are unstable in their ways. Instability there of course is from the common fluctuations of life; but, more than that, the very purposes of the sinner are more unstable than he thinks. A thick- skinned conscience is often more in appearanc<l than in reality; the penetrable point has not been discovered-that is all. Even when to all outward appearance a man seems quite contented with the life which others condemn, he may have very trying li,a>..cry,uµoi within him. Hence the strange anomaly sometimes presented of wicked men doing deeds of helpfulness to others. Gamblers, out of their unrighteous gains, are known to indulge in most eccentric acts of beneficence. After all, the powers of evil have a most uncertain tenure over those who may seem most their slaves. lL THE ONLY TURNING FROM EVIL WHICH CAN BE COMPLETE AND PROFITABLE IB THE TURNING TOWARDS GoD. Not only from sin, but towards God. That is the only way of keeping clear both of Scylla. and Charybdis. 'l'o turn from a life that is self-con- demned, by trying to make another path of one's own, may seem to be successful for a while, but in truth it is only travelling in a circle. 'fhe man whose springs of know- ledge and strength are in himself, or in the counsels of men, will come back to where he started. Think, for instance, of those drunkards who have taken pledges of total abstinence, and set their feet towards a manlier and purer life, only to find very soon that appetite and habit are not so easily mastered. At last, after many failures, a per- manent keeping comes. There is a struggle, crowned with victory, because the soul, having lost all its self-confidence, has really turned to God. The departure into sin is from God, and to him must be the only satisfactory return, III. THE FORSAKING OF SIN MUST DE A COMPLETE FORSAKING. Into this demand for completeness there must be put the utmost significance of the word. God's people might visit all the high places in turn, and laboriously erase every outward vestige of idolatry. On everything like an approach to idolatry the most rigorous penalties might be imposed. '!'here might be a domiciliary visitation, and a ransacking of every house from garret to basement, lest there should be anything hidden away, such as La ban's 1,eraphirn which Rachel stole. But what of all such exertions? '!'hey could only end in the taking of abominations out of the sight of man. The essential thing was to take them out of the sight of God. The high places and groves in every heart must be purged of their idolatries. Here the edicts of a king and the vigilance. of reformina enthusiasts were of no avail. By the very necessity of the case, the puttmg away mist be an individual act. Forth from the heart proceed the outward visiblo abominations, and the only way of stopping the procession was by a thor?ugh cleansing of the source whence it came. Such prayers are wanted as for the creating of a clean tieart, and the setting of one's secret sins in the light of God's countenance. 'l'Le l1cart, deceitful a:id desperately wicked, only God can know, and only God can Cllt, I\', 1-31.] 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMlAH. 10:3