The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 196

selves will be put to shame. The idolater and atheist are their own worst enemies. 3. Not to be escaped 01· ended. 'l'hey are playing with fire. It will soon find its proper objects in themse!Yos and their profaned offerings. Nor will they be able to quench that which they have kindled. So helpless will transgressors ever be. In the least of the calamiti.is that they provoke upou themselves there ia a beginning of penal fires and eternal miseries.-M. Vers. 31-33.-The desecration of Tophet. This valley was the scene of Solomon's Moloch-worship, of the child-sacrifices of Ahaz and Manasseh, and of the varying idolatrous rites of succeeding times. If the temple still maintained externally its consecration to Jehovah and its position as the centre of the theocracy, the valley of Ben-Hinnom was the acknowledged centre and high place of Moloch. Its vicinity to Jerusalem brought it into prominent opposition to the temple. Some signal exhibition of the Divine wrath is, therefore, called for. This is furnished by the iconoclastic zeal of Josiah, the great slaughter of Israel in war, and the gradual use of it as a receptacle for filth, sewage, unburied dead, etc. The prophecy, repeated in eh. xix. 11, is speedily translated into history. We have here an instance of the Divine laws- I. THAT THAT WHICH IS MORALLY CORRUPT SHALL ENTAIL DESTRUCTION. Where there is filth in God's universe there will be fire. Corruption is the beginning of death, in this world and that which is to come. JI. THE INWARD, MORAL CHARACTER OF THINGS AND PERSONS SHALL HAVE EXTERNAL PHYSICAL EXPRESSION. It will not always be concealed. '!'hat which is whispered in the ear shall be spoken from the house-top. 'l'he trap will be labelled and the pitfall plainly shown. The externalizing processes of history and development in nations, indi,·iduals, etc., tend to declare by outward and unmistakable signs the real character. Of this Tophet is an illustration. The judgment its revolting practices bring upon its votaries is the occasion of its permanent defilement. It gradually is transform(ld into a scene of physical abomination, and, to the spiritual imagination, the type and symbol of eternal perdition. Gehenna fires-how different their first and last senses, and yet how related! 'l'he same law will operate in holy and spiritual men. The inward nature will cast the slough of corruption, and shall be clothed upon with a "body," which shall express, further, and fulfil it. When that which is really and spiritually filthy is sentenced to be" filthy still," the saints shall find embodiment and circum- stances corresponding to their inward condition, and constituting the elements of their reward.-M. Vere. 1-34.-17.e relations of righteQfJ,sneBB and religion. This chapter, as indeed so much other of Jeremiah's prophecies, teaches not a. little concerning this great theme. In this chapter we note how it shows- I. THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS IB THE PRINCIPAL ?:HING. 1. It is God's solemn demaud (ver. 2). (1) Jeremiah is charged to proclaim it in the Name of the Lord and as his word. (2) He is to go where there will be a vast congregation of the people: "In the gate of the Lord's house." (3) Probably at a time of national gathering, at one of the feasts, so as to secure a. yet larger audience. (4) At a moment when the word of the Lord might be expected to win most attention from them-as they were "entering in at the gates to worship Lhe Lord." 2. It is God's perpetual demand. See the whole chapter, the whole prophecy. "Amend your ways and your doings" (ver. 3) is its constant appeal. 3. At first it wo.s his only command, and it is ever his first command (ver. 22). Our first parents were commanded to obey before sacrifice or any rites of religion were appointed. And so with Israel (ver. 22). 'l'he moral Law was given before the cere- monial. And it was given in a far more imperative form. 'l'be moral Law begins "'l'bou shalt;" the Levitical (Lev. i. 2-ii. 1), "If any man will." Hence from all the foregoin" it is evident that ri"hteousness stands before all else in the Divine esteem. II. RELIG;ON WAB GIVEN Foi THE BAKE 01' AND AS AN AID TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, RighteoUBness is not for the sake ofreligion, but vice versii. No doubt they render mutual help, but the proper relation of the two is as aforesaid. And religion can be a help to righteousness and ought ever to be, even as it has often been and is. 1. By supplying fresh '!Wtivu. Apart from religion, righteous condu~t becomes simpl_y moralit)'.', and bases itself upon laws of expediency, or at beat draws its force from motives that r1Se no cu. vn. 1-34.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 195