The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 330

said in them and done ·even iu Jercminh's own time and under his own eyes, and wheu further be recollected his own hasty complaints, he would surely feel that a trustful and patient waiting for the full event would have been much wiser. Perhaps no prophet. ever saw more of the accomplishment of his own prophecies than Jeremiah did. He did see the end of those who, in their pride and fatness, had reviled.him. Let us be true and faithful to what the Spirit of truth has made known to us as the will of God, and everything in the way of vindication will come if we only wait. We must not mistake precipitation and impetuosity for zeal. God's people have to wait for their own perfection and their own reward; they have also to wait for the execution of God's judgment against his enemies. 'l'hrough all the centuries that have passed since Jeremiah's complaint here, oppression and robbery have continued, and they' continue still. And as we think of such things, it will be well for us if we can end our thoughts where Jeremiah began: "Righteous a.rt thou, 0 Lord."-Y. Vers. 7-11.-The inheritance that has lost its charms. I. WE HAVE HERE REGRETFUL THOUGHTS OF THE PAST. We can see what the prophet once hoped a.nd desired. Not only what he had hoped and desired in those dreams of youth before God had touched his heart and claimed the service of his lips, but also what he had hoped and desired since becoming a prophet. Dear as Anathoth with its inhabitants_ may have been before, it would become dearer still when he thought of impending calamities to the whole land. There are cherished objects indicated by the words "house," " inheritance," and "desire of the soul.'' What is precisely indicated by shese words it is of course impossible for us to say ; but any of us, thinking for a little of the objects that lie nearest to our hearts, will comprehend -that the prophet is here speaking of separations he had found it very hard to achieve. He did not pretend that alienation from house and heritage and kindred was an easy thing. Then we must bear in mind that the references here have a deeper meaning than to Jeremiah's purely human relations. It is pretty well agreed that the full truth of these words is only reached when we tbink of Jeremiah as representative of Jehovah. God's separation from his people was the ·thing of most serious moment. God had a house ; God had an inheritance; God had a beloved object, an object of desire (Deut. xxxii. 9); God had been with these people now for many centuries, and there was much to make them precious in his sight. 'l'hey were the seed of Abraham, the descendants of those whom he had delivered from Egypt and guided through the wilderness into the land where they now dwelt. Things might have been so different, if only the people had been of a differen~ spirit. There was no necessity in the nature of things that Israel should have become so idolatrous, so hostile to Jehovah, any more than there was necessity that Anathoth should become a place of mortal snares and perils to the prophet. What a fall there was from the triumphal march a.cross Jordan, under Joshua, to the march at the heels of a conqueror all the way from Jerusalem to Babylon! Again we say things might have been so different. 'l'bat which God had cherished migbt have become a rich eartbly manifestation of his glory. The vineyard on a fruitful hill might have become.what it was intended to be-a fruitful vineyard. II. PRUDENT AND DECISIVE AOTION IN PRESENT NEOEBSITIES. Natural affection must yield to spiritual duty. Jeremiah might doubtless have kept the good will of his kins- folk, such as it was worth, if only he had been able and disposed to remain silent as a prophet. Happily there is no hesitation, there is no sign of its even being possible. Let us seize on every record that illustrates bow strong, how immovable, those become who put their trust in God. 'l'he path that Jeremiah had to tread was trodden after- wards by Jesus himself. His kinsfolk would have interfered with main force to stop what they reckoned the vagaries of one who was beside himself; and so as far_ as Jesus could be said to have had any abiding-places, they were in Capernaum and Bethany, not in Nazareth. So with Jeremiah. He bad to give up all that on earth he h!Cd any natural claim to, and throw himself on God, and those who perchance might help him for the sake of God. Nor was he disappointed. There is certainly no indication here of the compensations that came to the prophet for his fidelity and self-denial. It is hardly the place to mention them. But we do see this clearly, that when once the lower is relinquished, decisively relinquished, and a higher station taken up, the lower is seen lo be lower. Temporal and natural relations, that count for so much when one is in the rn. :,nr. 1-17.] TIIE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, 331