The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 328

vindicating God's ways with Israel or with other nations, they indicate the method of his dealings with themselves. This was singularly true of Jeremiah, and we have here u. striking illustration of it. This passage probably marks the time when the people of his own native city of Anathoth, and even his kindred, his "brethren of the house of his father," could no longer bear his faithful rebukes, and he was compelled to take refuge in Jerusalem (eh. xi. 21; xii. 6). Consider (1) the prophet's state of mi,id as here made manifest; (2) the meaning and force of God's remonstrance, I. THE PROPHET'S STATE OF MIND. It contains a singular mixture of good and evil, thoughts and emotions both noble and base. So conflicting and even contradictory sometimes are the 'l"oices of the truest human heart. 'rhis outburst of hostility from the men of Anathoth has plunged his spirit in confusion. Like a ship checked in its course, with its sails taken aback by e. sudden squall, its guiding principles e.nd powers are for a while disturbed, and its balance lost. Note different elements _of feeling. 1, IJeep perple:r,ity. He cannot reconcile the events that are taking place and the seeming prosperity of the wicked with the known rectitude of the Divine character. "Righ- teous art thou, 0 Lord; ... yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments," etc. Why this "yet"? If be is thus convinced of God's righteousness, why this wish to reason with him? There is a conflict between unbelief and faith, between the disposition to judge by sensible appearances and the desire to judge by eternal principles. And the difficulty is aggravated by the fact that the designs of the wicked seem to succeed because God smiles on them. " Thou bast planted them," etc. This fact of successful wickedness under the wing of a Divine Providence is the deep and awful mystery that has been a source of perplexity and trouble to thoughtful men in every age. David felt the full force of it (Ps. lxxiii.). His "feet had well-nigh slipped" because of it, "until h"' went into the sanctuary of God," and then the problem was solved. It is when we get away from our carnal reasonings into the sanctuary of spiritual contemplation and the realm of faith that we can alone hope to understand these things. When God's ways most perplex and confound us we must keep fast hold of right thoughts about himself. His judgments are a mighty deep. But as beneath the heaving, storm-tossed ocean there lie great mountains of the solid world, so does God's righteousness underlie all the agitations and conflicting phases of human history. Faith in that will give us rest and peace. 2. The se11se of his own rectitude. "llut thou, 0 Lord, knowest me," etc. 'l'his is not the utterance of vain self-righteousness. A "conscience void of offence," the persuasion that our purpose is pure and our hearts right with God, is never to be con- founded with spiritual pride. Without a shadow of vain-glory you may know well tLtat you are better than many around you, and could not do as they do. There are times in a man's history when nothing but the sense of personal rectitude can sustain him. When calamity comes upon him, when he falls, perhaps, from some high position and is cast forth upon the world homeless and friendless, what a bitter ingredient in his cup is an accusing conscience I On the other hand, he may defy everything to rob him of l1is peace, and, like Job, may preserve his soul in serenity in spite of blighted hopes and withered joys, a taunting world and scornful friends, if he can say, "My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high" ( Job xvi. 19). 3. The spirit of revenge. "Pull them out," etc. He would fain antedate the day of slaughter. This may have been au unguarded, momentary outburst of impatient resentment. But it was nano the less tvil and irreligious. Why was he rebuked for it if it were not wrong? (Similar examples in Moses, Elijah, Jonah, the disciples James and John,) Let us beware how we take God's judgrnents into our own hands. "Vengeance belongeth unto me; :I will recompense, saith the Lord" (Rom. xii. HJ). Never let us speak as if the punishment of the wicked, which is the Lord's "strange work," were regarded by us with complacency. 4. Human sympathy. "How long shall the land mourn," etc.? 'l'he prophet is true to himself here. He grieves for the misery inflicted on the innocent by the wrong-doing of others. The humane heart groans with the "groaning creation," and sighs for the time when all shall be renewed. He who" endured tho contradiction of sinners against himself" teaches us to take upon ourselves, as he did, the sins and sorrows of the world. • IL THE DIVINE REMONSTBANOE. "If thou hast run with the footmen," etc. (For explanation of these references, see Exposition.) Thero is extreme gentleness in this rebuke. It is interesting to note how uniformly gentle the reproofs God administered err. x.u. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 32!)