The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 203

Vers. 12-16.-Warning voice,. I. SuCll VOICES ARE PERPETUALLY HEARD. The prophet speaks of three such here. 1. Shiloh (ver.12). 2. The Lord himself (ver. 13). 3. Ephraim (ver. 15). II. And THEY TELL EVER THE BAME TBUTHS. 1. The Divine anger against sin (ver. 12). 2. 'l'he utter uselessness of their "trust in lying words" to escape that anger (ver. 14). 3. The absolute need of repentance. III. And MEET, ALL TOO OFTEN, WITH THE BAME RECEPTION. They were rejected. "Ye heard not; and I called you," etc. (ver. 13). IV. But a.re vmDI0ATED IN LIKE AWFUL MANNER. 1. By their sin becomin<>' ineradicable, so that they a.re given over to a reprobate mind, and are" guilty of a~ eternal sin" (cf. Mark iii. 29). Hence (ver. 16) the prophet is forbidden to pray for them (cf. 1 John v. 16). 2. By the judgment of God falling upon them (ver. 15). CoNCLUBION. 1. Watch and pray against unbelief in these warnings. 2. Take heed to them yourselves. 3. Hold them up to others. 4. Bless God for them.-C. Vers. 12-14.-Shiloh, or the God-forsaken shrine, It is to many minds impossible to a.void a feeling of deep sadness when we look upon the ruins, noble even in their desolation, of some fonner beautiful and august sanctuary of God. There are many such scattered over this and other lands: Tintern, Furness, Melrose, etc. Our imagination pictures them when in the zenith of their glory, with their many stately towers and tapering spires, their long-drawn a.isles and lofty roofs, the glorious vista of high-arched nave and choir and glittering sanctuaries stretching away further still in the dim distance, the gleaming altars, the magnificent service, the vast throng of kneeling worshippers, the soul-enchanting music, and the murmur of myriad pmyers. The memories of saintly men and women who have worshipped and are buried there crowd upon the mind, and we wistfully.wonder where and why that consecrated genius has flown which had power to rear for God shrines so glorious as those whose ruins we are beholding must once have been. It is sad to think of such glory and beauty as these forsaken shrines once had gone for ever. The Jews who came back from the Captivity wept when they thought of the glory of the ancient temple, which they never more might see. But if the departure of material glory may cause sadness to the mind, how much more the departure of that which is spiritual I If we mourn that we shall no more have the presence of some fair temple of the Lord, how much more when we lose the Lord of the temple I And it is such sadder loss that Shiloh, the God-forsaken shrine, has to tell of. And we observe upon it that- I. THERE ADE FEW MORE MOURNFUL HISTORIES TUAN THAT OF SHILOH. Shiloh was one of the earliest and most sacred of the Hebrew sanctuaries. There for full three hundred years the ark of God remained and the priests of the Lord ministered. As soon as the promised land was ma.inly subllued, Joshua brought the ark of God from Gilgal, near the Jordan, to Shiloh. The place was probaLly chosen for its seclusion and hence its safety, it being off the great highways of the land. Ilethel, which other- wise might have been chosen as especially sacred, was yet in the hnnds of the Canaanites. Hence Shiloh, in the territory of the powerful tribe of Ephraim, and of their great ancestor Joseph, a tribe which more 11nd more had been coming to the front amongst their brethren, was chosen for the sanctuary of the ark of God. 'l'here, ns afterwards at Jerusalem, "the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testi- mony of Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord." What glad festivals; what gracious deliverances ; what Divine responses to their inquiring of the Lord; what holy memories of thronging worshippers, of accepted sacrifices, of saintly priests and prophets who had dwelt there, were all associated with that shrine at Shiloh I There Eli ministered, and Hannah came to present her offerings, to pour out her prayers and to pay her vows. There she brought Samuel, and there the Lord called him to his high service as he ministered before him. All their truest and noblest life drew its inspi- ratio11 from the God who had placed his Name there, and whom there they went to worship. But at length, under the rnlc of Eli, that well-meaning but weak-willed high priest, priesthood and people alike sank down into a state of moral and religious degra• 202 THE BOOK OF THE PROPilE'l' JEREMlAH. [en. vn. 1-34.