The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 130

Dtit what does all the strife avail? The bonm\aries are fixed. If in that which is natural Goel has t.'1.ken so much care in the line between sea and land, is it not certain that ho will take equal care in that which is spiritual? God's work continues on the solid land, away from all disturbance of his foes. Nay, more, looking at the fiaure here from the Cbristian point of view, we see that even within what seems its ~wn sphere, the raging of the sea can soon be stopped. Let us think of Jesus quelling the wa,es, and we shall feel that the greatest storms of opposition and persecution are entirely in the hands of God. How long these storms may rnge and what they may do entirely depend on the purpose which he wishes them to subserve.-Y. Vers. 26-29.-The worst kind of wickedness found among the people of Jehovali. God's people are well acquainted with the voice of those scorners who speak as if hypocrisy was the invariable accompaniment of a religious profession. 'l'hey do discover, it must be admitted, far more frequently than they ought to discover, that religious profession is a mere pretence; and thereupon they never forget the few well-established instances which are a ground, in season and out of season, fo1· a sweeping charge of l1ypocrisy. But $Uch people, unfortunately for themselves, are not readers of the Scriptures; else they would discover that God does not wait for outside malevolent critics to make the most of the hypocrisies to be found amongst his people. God not only sees and laments this peculiarly odious form of wickedness, but is exceedingly 11lain in his description and tenibly severe in his denunciation. In this matter out- siders cannot tell God's people anything they do not know already. Note- I. 'fIIAT wnrcn OUGHT TO BE FOUND .AMONGST Goo's PEOPLE. 'l'bis is just the thing which makes the whole discovery so inexpressibly sad-that this wickedness is found where tbrre should have been found a character diametrically opposite.. It is the scene of the wickedness that indescribably aggravates the wickedness itself. That a good mau, a really good man, ,;houlcl be found in a den of thieves is impossible. Vain would it be for him to continu:' there and yet plead his uprightness. A den of thieves does actually give character to every one who willingly inhabits it, and so, passing from the bad to the good, a certain high reputation must attach to every one who openly ranks himself among the people of God. It was not because these Israelites dwelt in a certain territory or were descendants from certain ancestors that they were reckoned the people of God. '!'here was a covenant, the terms of which were to be taught to every generation and diligently observed by it. And this covenant emphatically required that these people should live among themselves an upright, brotherly, loving life. Without this, worship was vain; indeed, without this, worship, in the true sense, was impossible. In the howe, union was to be preserved by subordination and purity; and in society, by the safety of life and property to the individual. God's people are " the people of his pasture and the sheep of his band," and it ie manifest that, in the right order of things, a sheep's clothing should cover a sheep and not a wolf. II. THAT WHICH .ACTUALLY IS FOUlil'D. Wicked men are found where none but the devout, the upright, and the gentle ought to be. Further, this wickedness is so marked off by bold and indignant expressions that every one guilty of it may know Jehovah's eye to be upon him. For such a man there lies no way of escape among vague generalities. He cannot get off by alleging, with apparent seriousness, that, while there are undoubtedly deceivers among the people of God, he at all events is not to be numbered amongst them. If a man is behaving himself after the fashion here described, he certainly must know it. With regard to certain actions, the nature of them may come out so openly that it is easy to effect the consequent exclusion and sepa- ration of the offender from the people of God. Bnt there yet remain many wickednesrns, the worst of wickednesses, which a man may go on committing and yet keep his 11ame written in the human record of those who profess service to God. He may even make bis very position a vantage-ground for the laying of bis snares and the perfecting of his wiles. He may be able so to conceal his hand and his purpose as to deceive even bis victims, who, instead of arguing that because there is great wickedness the doer of it must be a bad me.n, begin at the other end and say that a maker of long pr1iyers cannot possibly be bad ; be may be driven to the infliction of a painful blow, but, that must be reckoned bis calamity rather than his fault. Now, the descriptions in this passage make it evident that God sees into all the doings of such men. Alid at OH. v. 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 127