V ers. 19-21.-The-eonfession of the idolatrous Gentiles. I. THE PROPHET'S DESCRIP- TION OF JEIIOVAR, God, he says, is his Strength, his Fortress, and his Refuge. l; The way in which the descriher individualizes himself. To the prophet individually Jehovah has a satisfactory relation. So far as external sufferings and losses are concerned, the prophet ca.nnot escape some share; but so far as concerns his most important interests, he is effectually separated from his fellow-countrymen. When the invader comes they lose everything; but just then the prophet will be able to say more than ever that Jehovah is his Strength, Fortress, and Refuge. What he has learned to value most cannot be spoiled by any human hand whatever, and so it is seen that each one of us may be in the midst of a perishing multitude and yet not of them. 'l'hese people had long boasted of their resources, their securities, and their satisfaction in life. 'l'hey had virtually said to the prophet, " What better are you than us? Though you. speak differently and live differently, your end will be the same." But the end was not the same. 'l'he invaders took from the people all that was precious to them, and then it was made evident that what was most precious to the prophet remained secure and unin- jured with him. 2. The necessi!y that the prophet should be able to say this. Strnugth, defence, and security for the individual-even in the midst of a nation having none of these things-was not only possible but necessary. In the last resort, no amount of strength in the community in which we live will do us any good. '!'here may be strength of a certain kind all around, but that may only emphasize our own wealmess. Suppose the position of Jeremiah reversed. Actually , he was living almost a solitary bdiever amid a nation of unbelievers; and yet this was far better than to have been an unbeliever amid a nation of believers. There is no way to me.kc God our Strength, Fortress, and Refuge, save by personal trust and obedience. 3. The•sufficiency of tliat in which the prophet here expresses his confidence. It is when we really address Jehovah, thinking of what we need and of what he is, that the feeling of an inexhaust- ible sufficiency will come to us. And this is the way one me.y come to speak who knows history, who has had somewhat in personal experience both of need and supply, and, above all, who looks heavenward, assured by a feeling of the heart which_ rises above all reasoning, that he is connected with Oao able to do exceeding abundantly beyond any conceivable need of man. II. 'l'HE ANTICIPATED coKF11:ss10N OF THE GP.NTitEB. The words here are words of strong co1,tra~t. 'l'he Gentile is openly mentioned, but the children of Israel p,re thought orr. xvII. 1-27.] TIIE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEHE:'.IIAil. 115
of at the same time. 1. The Gentiles are represented as coming to Jehovah. They h:wc groped their way out of darkness and disentangled themselves from superstitions, whih the very people whom Jehovah had brought to himself with so much power and patience, making their way clear and safe, would not inwardly come, even though they were ont- wardly brought. Their hearts were not changed with their changer! circumstances. And it is a thing which cannot be too much remarked, that the Gentiles have Ion.!; hat! an understanding, not only of the New Testament, but equally of the Old, which the children of Israel have been utterly unable to reach. And not only are these Gentiles to come; they are to come from the ends of the earth. God's drawing power is felt everywhere. Jerusalem is the centre from which light and truth in their gre:i.t historical manifestations have gone out. But God can make his centre of spiritual light any- where, according to the necessities of the individual and of the time. 2, ·when the1;e Gentiles come they have a confession to make. They have to confess the utter empti- ness and falsehood of their idolatries. They have, indeed, been tanght all these things ; sucked them in with their mothers' milk ; but this makes their own turning from them all the more remarkable, for what a man is taught he too often clings to, just because he has been taught. It is to be further noticed that these idolatries have always had the same character. The conception is not of gods who once were strong and true, but who have at last come into dotage and a.re unable to help their worshippers. The lies that tend to deceive and ruin the present generation have actually deceived and ruined many generations before. And yet those things which the Gentiles show signs of for- saking Israel clings to with a mad persistency. Israel bas chosen lying, vanity, and loss, and forsaken that great Jehovah whom their fathers inherited. The less<:m is, not to value tradition for its own sake, seeing it may only hand down lies. A tradition is nothing unless it is something more than a tradition. There must be the personc1l experience of God, the personal reception of truth. Every man must come out of Egypt, cross the flood, and come to Sinai for himself. To every such one tradition will become invaluable; for of the things handed down he will know which to receive ancl transmit, and which to reject. Each of us who comes- to reject-intelligently and decidedly, courageously and opeQ.ly-o iying and empty tradition, at the same t-ime weakens tho force of that tradition just as far as our individual influence may extend,-Y.