The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 300

HOMILIES IlY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 5.-The response of the spiritttal conscience to the words of 0od. "Aud I said, Amen, Jehovah." This expression, uttered by Jeremiah with apparent 01iginality, i, really an echo of Deut. xxvii. _15. There it expresses the agreement of the whole congregation of Israel: here it is the word of one mouth. 'I'he adoption by the prophet, at this juncture, of words so solemnly significant is very impressive. One stands sponsor for many; a righteous and earnest man for a nation of callous transgressors. And is it riot often so? What, indeed, would our poor, erring, depraved humanity do with itself were it not for these indiddual, mediatorial spirits, whom God raises up from time to time through the ages to interpret his will and to keep it in reverent obedience and spiritual trust for them who as yet are ignorant and alienated from his life? 'Ihe service such men render is of vast importance and but imperfectly understood. I. ONLV THOSE WHO ABE IN COMMUNION WITH GoD CAN TRULY UNDERSTAND AND APPROVE HIS JUDGMENTB. The commandment is intelligently alluded to, and its penalty stated. The correspondence of Judah's condition with that anticipated in the original passage is pregnantly suggested. All the more so that the transgressors did not feel or admit the correspondence. The prophet alone could say, "Amen;" but he said it emphatically and representatively. How many of God's people find a similar difficulty in acquiescing in his dispensations? 'l'hey do not examine themselves, or their conscience is not sufficiently awakened, and consequently they fail to recognize his judgments and to profit by them as was intended. II. GOD RAISES Ul' THOSE WHO BHALL RESPOND TO HIS VOICE AND MATh"rAIN PROVISIONALLY HIS COVENANT RELATIONS WITH TUE WORLD. The prophets were not only mouthpieces of Divine truth; they were saints whose consecration was essential to their spiritual discernment and the duo exercise of their functions. The people were for the most part spiritually asleep or dead. In their spiritual and moral constitution a medium was provided sensitive enough for the perception and trans- mission of Divine communications. It was no exaggeration to spenk of these messengers ·as." prepared, ordained, and sent." They wore specially raised up for this duty of sustaining the conscious relations of God with his people. This was a dim foreshadowing of the Messiah-consciousness. In a certain sense tho prophet repented, believed, obeyed, for the whole people, even as the high priest made solemn offering onco a year for the sins of the whole people. Not that this spiritual condition of tho inspired seer and saint could bo effectual for individual salvation of others ; but that it exercised a certain representative and general influence. 'l'ho prophet held the truth as it were in trust for others, continually and energetically sought to mediate between Jehovah and Israel, and urged the people to acts of repentance and obedience. With each prophet it might be said that a new opportunity was given, n new day of graco afforded, for the return of tho apostate nation to its primitive covenant relations with God. And in the succession of the prophets a. guarantee wns given of the em1uring character of those relations, even when the covenant itself was flagrantly broken and pmctically set aside by those whom it chiefly concerned. The essential point was that there should be no age without some person or persons who should sustnin a conscious spiritual connection with Jehovah for themselves and their race. Ill. THAT WHICH THE FEW HAVE UNDERSTOOD AND AC0EPTED SHALL nr-:coim TTIE COMMON INilERITANCE OF AU., The prophet was for the most part a. solitary and  300 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. [cu. xt. 1-28,